The Deceitful One

Andrew slowly opened his eyes and began to survey his surroundings. Currently, he was sitting with his back against a large rock in a clearing in the middle of the forest.

After being punched in the head and getting knocked out by Ron, his forehead was bleeding and he was having a little difficulty remembering what had happened earlier.

He looked around in a daze and soon the memories of Henry's head exploding and Emma's head being stamped on by Alfredo surfaced in his mind.

"Henry..." Tears begin to stream down Andrew's face as his eyes reddened, "Emma..."

How much he wished that the things that he had seen before he was knocked out, were nothing but a dream. But he knew it was the truth.

Soon, he began to recall more memories. He remembered Bryan heavily wounded and bleeding profusely as he was forced to watch his friends die in front of him.

Finally, he recalled the betrayal that hurt him the most. He grit his teeth in anger, "Ron..."

All of a sudden, he finally remembered how he had gotten to this forest in the first place. Alarmed, he got up to his feet and looked around as he thought, 'That's right! It was Ron who knocked me out. But where-'

However, his thoughts suddenly came to a halt when he saw a figure, about twenty feet away from him, looking at the full moon with his back facing toward him. Andrew instantly recognized him.

"Ron!!" He stomped towards Ron, his eyes spewing fury. He firmly grasped his shoulder and turned him around before landing a solid hook to Ron's face.

"Why did you do it!?" Andrew screamed at Ron as he delivered another left hook.

However, Ron didn't even raise his arms to defend or counterattack. He simply let Andrew punch him over and over again until his face was bloodied. All the while, he simply stared at Andrew expressionlessly.

Andrew grabbed Ron's collar and screamed in his face, "Did we mean nothing to you!?

"All the things that we went through together! All the battles that we fought together!

"Did all of that mean nothing to you!? Henry is dead! Emma is dead! And all of this is on you!

"Why!? Why did you do it!?" Towards the end, there was no longer any anger visible on Andrew's face. What replaced it was grief, heartbreak, and anguish.

Looking at Ron's bloodied and expressionless face, Andrew raised his fist to deliver another punch, "Answer me, you son of a bitch!"

However, this time Ron raised his hand and accurately blocked Andrew's punch. The wounds on his face healed at a fast pace. And the blood that was trickling down his cheeks, reversed and entered back into his wounds.

'Control over blood! A Blood Path Transcendent!' Andrew's eyes widened. All this while, he along with everyone else on the Strike Team thought that Ron was a Water Path Transcendent. But it was all a lie!

He was a Blood Path Transcendent from the very beginning. Water Path was his secondary Path that he displayed to fool others.

Ron looked at Andrew's face and realized that the latter must have deduced that he was a Blood Path Transcendent.

With the same expressionless face, he replied, "There you have it. Now you know why, don't you? I've always been a member of the Holy Blood Sect. Infiltrating the Silver Owls was my mission."

As he finished speaking, Ron raised his right hand and delivered a punch to Andrew's solar plexus, causing the latter to bend over like a shrimp. He then followed it with a roundhouse kick to the side of his face!

Andrew was swept off his feet and landed on his back a few feet away. However, he didn't utter a sound of pain.

What escaped his lips was a laugh, "HAHAHAHAHA!"

A laugh filled with sorrow and pain.

Tears streamed down Andrew's face as he mumbled with a miserable smile, "So it was all a lie... Everything we shared in the past... All of it...was a lie."

Ron listened to Andrew's words with a deadpan expression. However, tumultuous waves were churning inside his heart. He thought inwardly, 'No! I must end everything right here, right now!'

"Get up, Andrew!" Ron screamed, "Let's finish this. I'll cut all the ties that I have made over the last decade with your death. Get up and fight me!"

"Ahh..." Andrew slowly got up to his feet, "I thought we were brothers. But I've been living a lie my whole life..."

The look in Andrew's eyes had changed! He raised his head as he looked at Ron coldly, "I'll avenge Henry and Emma. Even if it means the death of me."

The duo then got into a fighting position as they faced each other. The wind howled viciously as it shook the leaves of the surrounding trees. For a moment, silence ensued in the clearing in the middle of the forest.

And the next moment, both Andrew and Ron disappeared from their positions as they sprinted toward each other. Their fists collided, emanating a sonic boom that tore through the air. And thus began, the fight between former brothers and now enemies.

...

"Did you know?" Alfredo spoke with a reminiscent look in his eyes, "When Anthony was born, his mother had passed away during childbirth. Meanwhile, his father had also passed away due to the schemes of a Wisdom Path Transcendent a few years later..."

Bryan didn't pay any attention to what Alfredo was saying. He only wished to escape from here. However, that was proving to be fruitless because of the runic paper that was stuck to his neck.

This item prevented him from gathering and utilizing any spiritual force. And without spiritual force, a Transcendent was only slightly stronger than a regular human being.

Bryan's mind raced at a fast speed as he tried to think of ways to escape but he couldn't. An idea then emerged, 'Wait! I can call Benny!'

However, he soon discarded this idea completely, 'No, I can't endanger him. He's still just a child and no match for a Rank 2 Transcendent of the Blood Path.'

Although, in theory, he could summon Benny and have him take him to the Dreamworld. He decided against it. Because, even if he did call Benny, the latter would first have to fight off Alfredo, which was simply impossible.

'Thankfully, I didn't get Benny with me for this mission...' Bryan breathed a sigh of relief inwardly. Before coming to this ruin to set up traps along with his team members, his intuition had warned him that it was going to be dangerous.

That's why Bryan had argued with Benny before coming here and had strictly instructed him to stay in the Dreamworld and not come to the Waking World without his permission. In the end, Benny could only reluctantly agree.

Because of the warning given to him by his intuition, Bryan too did not want to come on this mission. However, in the end, he had to because of his team members. More precisely, he came because he was worried about Elijah and Andrew.

Thinking of his two close friends, Bryan couldn't help but feel despondent and helpless, 'Ron has already taken Andrew away... I...don't know if he'll make it...'

However, he found some comfort in knowing that at least Elijah would be all right. And deep down Bryan felt that he might not even be able to make it out alive. He couldn't help but smile bitterly at this.

He had such grand dreams of achieving eternal life. And here he was, on the verge of death.

Alfredo stopped speaking when he realized Bryan wasn't listening to him. Angered by this, he crouched down in front of Bryan and grabbed his hair viciously as he lifted his face.

"You bastard, I am talking my heart out and here you are not even paying atten-" But before he could finish his sentence, he was cut off by Bryan as the latter spat on his face.

"Go fuck yourself!" Bryan glared at Alfredo, "Who cares about your dead grandson? Do you want to know what he was like before his death?"

Alfredo remained silent as he looked down. His hair covered his eyes.

Bryan continued with a maniacal grin, "He begged for his life like the filthy dog he was! They say a person shows their true colors in the face of death. And Anthony did exactly that, he cried and begged for mercy like a fucking coward before I smashed his skull to a pulp."

Alfredo narrowed his eyes as he looked at Bryan and replied coldly, "Looks like you're not aware of the situation you're in."

He raised his fingers which glowed with an eerie dark green aura. Then he muttered something in Ancient Hymmnos and stabbed his fingers into Bryan's left eye.

"Aaaaarrrggggghhhhhh!!!" Bryan screamed in utter pain as Alfredo removed his eyeball and crushed it. Strange curse marks then began to form around Bryan's left eye and they soon merged with his skin.

Amidst Bryan's howl, Alfredo chuckled coldly, "This is a special curse technique that I've developed over the years. Not even a Mid-String Transcendent can heal your eye. Of course, that is if you manage to escape and get someone's help in the first place."

Bryan's body writhed wildly on the ground as he tried to resist the pain. However, the pain only got worse. He felt a stinging and burning sensation in his left eye that soon threatened to reach his brain. He had never felt such pain before!

Alfredo's lips curled up into a cold grin, "Now, show me your true colors, boy."

Bryan withstood the pain and glared at Alfredo with his right eye as he spat through gritted teeth, "FUCK YOU AND YOUR DEAD FUCKING GRANDSON!!"

Alfredo was now at the tipping point. He gave into his rage and raised his hand to kill Bryan once and for all. However, right at that moment a cold voice entered his ears,

"Not yet, Alfredo."