Chapter 104: CONFESSION
Aldren smiled gently.
"Stubborn till the end, just like your brother."
Alfred shook his head at Aldren’s words.
He drew a slow breath, steadying himself as he rolled his fists into balls.
"Now that I think about it, your brother had a really fearful expression as he died. He yelled so loud that I had to slit his throat first."
As Aldren said these words, a smile bloomed on his face, as if he were reminiscing on one of the most epic moments of his life.
Alfred’s fists trembled.
His eyes flickered as red vein-like membranes began to sprout along the pupils.
The eyes shook, holding back tears.
"You are just a psychopath, animal," Alfred yelled, bursting into motion.
"That’s the expression I have been waiting for. Why maintain a stupid facade when you were going to break in the end?" Aldren asked.
Alfred’s fists shot forward, locking onto Aldren’s head like a missile.
Aldren sidestepped, almost too casually.
The fist flew by.
Aldren watched as Alfred pulled back.
He did not counter or hold Alfred’s arm, only looked at the withdrawing arm with a calm gaze.
Alfred brought his other hand more ferociously at Aldren’s jaw.
Again, Aldren sidestepped.
Alfred did not relent; his fists moved in wild, erratic, uncontrolled bursts.
"You bastard, my brother liked you, always talking about what he did with you, and you repay him with death? You don’t even deserve to live."
Aldren smiled hearing Alfred’s words.
Those words seemed to bring even more joy to him as he dodged Alfred’s attacks.
Alfred saw the smile.
It fueled his rage further.
"You belong in a zoo," Alfred yelled as he punched at Aldren’s ribs.
Aldren did not dodge this time.
He stood, withstanding the full brunt of the attack with a dense layer of aether coating.
"Friendship? Kindness? You think your brother was ever good to me?" Aldren asked, his voice causing fissures in the earth around them.
"You know nothing. A warrior needs freedom to grow, but your brother denied me that. Constantly helping me with everything, even something as minute as killing a bunch of initiate rank experts who bullied me when I was at Master rank."
Aldren looked at Alfred with a smile.
"How do you expect me to grow if I was in constant fear? Even your so-called saint brother, Light, had to leave the shade of Master Zuriel to practice on his own."
Alfred stared back at Aldren.
"Who the hell gets angry that they are being helped?" he asked, jumping back to create space between him and Aldren.
His body was pulsing from restrained anger.
"Kindness is a cage when it gets too much," Aldren replied, spreading his palms wide.
"So, that justifies your murder? You could have just left him and gone your way," Alfred yelled, tears rolling down his face in small droplets.
"What is a warrior without sacrifice? You think I can just leave your brother without thinking about him?"
Aldren’s voice dropped.
"You think I don’t want the position of planet governor? Your brother was the major obstacle in my life; I had no choice but to kill him."
Aldren’s voice dipped as he completed the last statement.
"I couldn’t help it. I just had to."
His eyes turned red as he said those words.
"Light was a good person. Maybe I killed him because of that. He was too good for a world this corrupt."
Alfred said nothing; he fell to the floor on both knees, looking at Aldren.
Aldren’s skill flickered out as his mind wavered.
Alfred noticed.
He could not move.
His mind was too paralyzed to do anything.
"No, I can’t kill you too."
Aldren yelled, looking away from Alfred.
Tears rolled down his face as he turned to the side.
"I can’t tear down all he has worked for."
Alfred looked up, only slightly, but he could not hold it for long.
"Those Crimson Fang, Lilura. I would end all of them myself," Aldren yelled, his sword appearing in his hand again as he prepared to shoot into the sky.
Blood splattered.
The earth was painted red.
A blade thrust from behind, piercing through his heart and coming out the other side.
Aldren’s eyes widened, surprise etched on his face as he turned back.
For a moment, he froze.
Then, a shift.
He fell to the floor, a smile plastered on his face as he landed with a thud.
Alfred looked up from that point.
He saw Amelia pulling her katana out of Aldren’s fallen body.
Her eyes were wide in shock as she pulled her weapon out.
After a while, she looked away from the corpse and walked towards Alfred.
"I have a potion here," she said, bringing a blue vial out of her AI space.
Alfred took it, glancing at it for only a moment before he drank it.
He felt life being restored to him as the potion took effect.
"And I have a change of clothes you can manage. I don’t know if it would be your size since they are Silas’s."
Another set of clothes appeared in her palm and she handed it to Alfred.
"Thank you," Alfred said, taking the clothes and standing up.
"I will be over there while you finish," she pointed her finger at a place in the distance.
"No, the governor is lying on the floor there, unconscious," Alfred said, pointing at Max’s body.
"I don’t know if the clinic is still operating but can you try to get him there?"
Amelia nodded gently. "They are still open," she said.
Having come from that area, she was sure.
After all, she had seen wounded Corps members and guild members being transported into the place.
What surprised her, however, was Max’s body on the floor.
But she did not delay further.
She reached his position in a single leap, took his body from the floor, and ran towards the clinic at full speed, her body creating a trail of blue as she moved.
After she had gone, Alfred remained silent for a while before he looked back at Aldren’s body.
"I know you are not dead."
Aldren smiled.
"What is the difference now? I would die soon anyway."
Alfred sighed.
He walked closer to Aldren and rested on both knees.
"Is there a cure for Max?" he asked, his voice slow and gentle.
Aldren shook his head. "Ask Lilura about that," he replied.
"So, Lilura was with the Crimson Fang, that sly bastard."
But everything seemed to click.
The problem started after Lilura was taken in and this fight all began after Silas went to meet Lilura.
"Does that mean Silas knew about this?"
Alfred wondered aloud.
"Yes. That boy is really something," Aldren said with a smile.
Alfred also smiled, sitting beside Aldren.
"I hate you," he said, not hiding the hatred in his voice at all.
"Who wouldn’t? Even I hate myself at this moment," Aldren said, his voice shaky.
"Funny how I still did not become the governor even after all I did," he added, smiling wider as he said those words.
"Funny how Light planned to make you the governor instead," Alfred countered.
Aldren’s smile froze as he raised his head.
Then he dropped it back, a smile still on his face.
Alfred shook his head with a sigh.
His hand covered Aldren’s eyes, sliding down as he closed them fully.
He stood up calmly and wrapped Aldren in a thin sheen of aether.
He looked at the clothes in his left hand.
Removing his tattered ones, he began to get dressed in the new clothes.
After a moment, he was fully dressed.
"Now, let’s go Lilura hunting," he said, his body blasting into the air with a single leap.
Meanwhile, Amelia was just entering the clinic.
Her steps were hurried as she moved past the wards.
Not just her.
Behind her, it could be said that all the nurses and doctors were following her.
After all, Max was the pillar of the planet; they could not afford to let him die.
She set him on a bed in the biggest ward before finally calming down.
"What happened to him, Lady Amelia?" one of the doctors asked.
"I don’t know, isn’t that your duty as a doctor?" she asked with furrowed brows.
The doctor nodded.
"Okay, we will check on him."
Amelia nodded and ran back outside.
"I have cleared this area," she muttered as she looked at the blood-soaked compound.
The blood and corpses piled the road, from the compound, even extending beyond the gates.
"Let me check other areas," she muttered.
Just then, someone crossed her mind.
"He would be fine. If I am doing this well, then nothing can be wrong with him," she muttered beneath her breath.
But she could not brush off the unease she was feeling.
She just shrugged.
"I am probably overthinking things," she said.
Her gaze shifted towards the gates, her mind thinking of where she could be needed.
She did not know where things were chaotic, so she decided to follow her instincts.
Her body jerked slightly as she launched like an arrow, aether covering her entire body in a dense shell.
