The Deceitful One

The two men along with the blond youth simultaneously crouched down and slammed their palms against the ground.

Rank 0 Spell: Blood Needles!

Three rows of red-colored thin needles protruded from the ground from the direction of the three men. When the three rows combined, the needles turned into thick spikes that raced toward Bryan.

Bryan visibly panicked as he saw the trail of red spikes constantly being generated from the ground and before he knew it, he was impaled by dozens of these spikes.

With hatred and resentment in his eyes, he looked at the blond youth as blood dripped from his mouth—dying the white mask red— along with the dozen holes on his body.

"Hahaha, turns out he was just a newly advanced Apprentice." One of the brown-haired men beside the blond youth laughed.

The blond youth, however, was puzzled as he mumbled, "Wasn't that… too easy?"

And indeed it was too easy. Because the next moment, the brown-haired man's decapitated head rolled toward the blond youth's feet. The look of contempt in his lifeless eyes and the arrogant smirk on his face was still visible.

The blond youth's pupils dilated as he instantly turned his head to look at where the brown-haired youth was standing.

But all he saw was a headless corpse lying on the ground as blood gushed out from its neck.

"A-Anthony look!" The other brown-haired man called out as he pointed to the area where dozens of blood spikes still stood erected.

The blond youth, Anthony, turned his head around to take a look. He could see the blood spikes still present, however, Bryan who was supposed to be impaled and dead had vanished!

'Illusion!?' Anthony thought in his heart in apprehension.

"He might be an Apprentice of the Illusion Path. Hurry, come closer and stand guard with your back against mine." Anthony screamed.

The brown-haired man panicked as he hurriedly ran toward Anthony and did as he was instructed.

Now both men had their backs against each other as they continued to rotate and surveil the area.

Bryan who was hidden behind a piece of machinery and peeking at the scared duo thought inwardly, 'Tsk, it was easy to take them by surprise and kill that fucker. But now…'

He knew how difficult it would be to fight these two Blood Path Apprentices, let alone kill them before anyone else showed up. The risks were too high. Furthermore, he would not allow a third party to benefit from their fight.

Moreover, both of them were now extremely vigilant and already aware that Bryan knew Illusion Path-related spells. Hence, his next attack wouldn't be as effective as the first one.

Without hesitation, he cast Shadow Concealment and nimbly fled the scene. He had already seen their faces, he would just have to kill them some other time. More importantly, they hadn't seen his face at all!

As Bryan exited the factory and sprinted away from the factory area, his lips curled up into a mischievous smirk as he thought, 'Hehe, let's see how long you fuckers can stand guard.'

After taking multiple reroutes and changing directions, Bryan vanished into the night as the full moon hid behind the dark fluffy clouds, further aiding him in his escape.

On the other side, inside the abandoned factory, twenty minutes had already passed. However, Anthony and the brown-haired man still had their backs against each other.

Beads of sweat dropped from their foreheads as they nervously looked around the factory. They were afraid that Bryan would attack them the minute either of them relaxed their guards.

"D-Do you think he might have just… left?" The brown-haired man asked meekly.

Anthony was dumbfounded by the other person's stupid question. He was about to berate him but he suddenly thought that this could possibly be true.

He was almost unable to suppress his anger from being deceived like this by someone whom he considered to be nothing but mere food.

However, he still remembered his grandfather's teachings and didn't dare to relax until he was sure that Bryan had actually left.

"Maintain full vigilance and slowly exit the factory. I'll take the front, you take the back." Anthony instructed through gritted teeth as the veins on the side of his forehead bulged from anger.

The brown-haired man simply nodded and then the duo slowly and carefully exited the factory.

…

7 Robison Street.

After taking numerous reroutes and making sure that no one had followed him, Bryan finally reached his apartment more than an hour after he escaped from that factory.

'Fuck me! I really need to speed up the refining process of Deceit.' He thought inwardly as he sat down on the couch in the living room and chugged down a bottle of water.

Only now did he realize how crucial an artifact that could alter the user's face was, in escaping from enemies.

After finishing the entire bottle of water and quenching his thirst from all the running he did tonight, Bryan finally took out all the items that he bought tonight from his pocket watch.

He first picked up the pistol and admired it for a few moments. Since it was a Rank 1 artifact, it would take him about a month and a half to completely refine it.

And even then, he would only be able to fire at most three enchanted bullets from it until his spiritual force depleted. He could only properly use this artifact when he advanced to a Transcendent.

However, he could fire as many normal bullets as he wanted from this pistol. Normal bullets as in bullets that aren't enchanted by the runes on the barrel of the pistol.

Thinking back to the introduction that the red-robed lady had given of this pistol and its effects, Bryan joked, "Kekk, very well then. You shall be called Hand Cannon!"

He then took out the small red box that carried the Dusk Crab's Crystal and looked at the black-colored trigonal crystal for a few moments before closing the lid of the box.

Bryan then grabbed one of the throwing knives he bought earlier and carved two simple runes on the surface of the red box. These were the preservation runes that he had learned from Livia.

These runes would make sure that the main ingredient would not be spoiled even if stored for long periods of time. However, the prerequisite was that Bryan injects his spiritual force into these runes on a regular basis.

After injecting his spiritual force into the runes, Bryan kept the small red box along with Hand Cannon, and the dozen throwing knives back inside his silver pocket watch.

He then got up from the couch, removed his clothes, and entered the bathroom to take a warm bath. After the short battle at the factory and the continuous running that followed, Bryan was truly exhausted.

Ten minutes later, he walked out of the bathroom naked and directly went to his bedroom. Bryan then took out his pajamas from his wardrobe, put them on, and then sat in a lotus position on his bed.

He took out Deceit from his pocket watch and began to refine it. What happened earlier today, made him realize that if used wisely, this simple-looking greenish-brown wooden mask would really come in handy and be a lifesaver.

After refining it for about thirty minutes, Bryan stored Deceit back inside the pocket watch and finally entered slumber.