Friday, 29th August 1582.
Ron sat on the couch in his living room, holding a black and white photograph of him and Celine. The photo was taken back when they were still in Damascus.
As he saw the happy smiles on his and Celine's face in the photo, tears began to trickle down his face and fall on it.
He wiped the tears from it, not wanting to ruin the photo. As he stroked Celine's face in the photograph, he mumbled, "Celine…. I miss you."
His shoulders began to tremble as he started sobbing silently. Remembering all the good times that they had together, he couldn't help but cry even harder. But when he remembered her in her last days, and how she had completely gone insane, his eyes narrowed.
"My love… I'll avenge you. And then… I shall join you in the afterlife." He spat through gritted teeth. After Celine died, he had no reason to live. On many occasions, he had thought of simply ending his life.
But when he thought about what the old tramp had made Celine go through in her final days, and how he had tricked him into killing her, he was filled with rage. He swore that he wouldn't die until he killed that tramp with his own hands.
He then thought about Rick and how he had claimed that Alfredo was been the one to plot Celine's death. Now that he thought about it calmly, it was very unlikely that Alfredo would have any hand in it.
After all, the presence of his teacher deterred him heavily. Thus, he would never have had any designs on Celine. And that could only mean one thing. "You lied to me, Rick. Now I'll fucking kill—"
However, all of a sudden he realized something and was taken aback. He mumbled, "But why would Rick even lie to me in the first place?" Suddenly, his eyes widened as he thought of a possibility.
He muttered in shock, "Don't tell me…. Is it the homeless tramp again?"
Ron got up to his feet and paced around the living room with unease. He knew that the old tramp was an Illusion Path Transcendent, hence, it wasn't impossible for him to disguise himself as someone else.
When he thought about this, he felt that it made sense. Gradually, he was beginning to connect the dots together.
He muttered under his breath, "The old man tricked me into killing Celine…. Then disguised as Rick and tried to sow discord between me and Alfredo."
Suddenly, he paused in his footsteps and rubbed his temple. "But why? Why go through all this?"
He then recalled how the tramp had mentioned that he was once an old friend. When Ron thought about this, his eyes suddenly widened in disbelief. "It can't be."
Only one person came to mind: Bryan!
"You really are alive," he spat through gritted teeth. It was all beginning to make sense to him. If the old tramp was indeed Bryan, then he would definitely go after Alfredo and him. And everything that had happened until now, was exactly that.
He realized that if his speculations were indeed true, then not only him, but even Alfredo was in danger.
"Fuck! I need to inform him right now," he made up his mind to meet up with Alfredo. He was willing to overlook what happened between them yesterday. If Bryan was indeed the person behind all of this, he needed to work together with Alfredo.
Just as he was about to open the door and leave his apartment, he heard loud knocks come from the other side.
KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!
Ron's eyes narrowed as he instantly put his guard up. He was beginning to get paranoid, especially after his deductions about Bryan. He stood a few meters away from the door and loudly asked, "Who is it?"
"Sanguine est primordium," came the voice from the other side of the door. Ron instantly recognized this secret code. This was the customary greeting between the members of the Holy Blood Sect, they used this to identify one another.
However, Ron was still feeling paranoid. He began to think if it was Bryan behind the door who managed to get this secret code out of one of the members of the organization.
He refused to open the door and then said, "I don't believe you."
A few of seconds of silence ensued and the next moment, a blood-red claw pierced through the wooden door. Following that, the door was unlocked and three men wearing suits walked in. The only similarity between them was their crimson eyes.
Ron recognized all of them. They were all Rank 2 Transcendents of the Holy Blood Sect, whom he had interacted with in the past. However, Ron still didn't let down his guard. He felt that Bryan could be any one of them.
"What the hell do you want?" he asked as he took drew back a few steps.
Seeing Ron act so defensively against them, the three Transcendents began to feel that their suspicions might indeed be correct.
The one standing in front looked at Ron and coldly replied, "We are here under orders to take you back to the base. Cooperate with us or we won't hesitate to use force."
Ron sneered, "What the fuck for?"
The Transcendent replied, "Alfredo was found dead in his house earlier this morning. We have reasons to believe that you are the culprit. I will only ask you one more time, will you cooperate or not?"
Ron's eyes widened in utter shock. His speculations had come to pass! If he was skeptical about it a few minutes ago, now after hearing the news of Alfredo's death, he was certain that the one behind all of this was indeed Bryan.
His hands clenched tightly as his eyes reddened. He muttered to himself, "So, it is indeed you."
"Yes," suddenly a mocking voice was heard from outside the apartment. "What are you going to do about it?"
Ron looked in the direction of the voice and his eyes turned bloodshot in rage. It was none other than the old tramp. He was currently standing right behind the three newcomers. Strangely enough, they didn't seem to be aware of him at all.
"BASTARD!!" Ron roared in fury as his palms turned into blood claws. He then dashed toward the old tramp.
The Transcendent who was standing at the front suddenly gave out instructions. "Everyone, subdue him. He has gone rogue!"
Overcome by rage, Ron had lost all sense of reasoning as he began to wildly fight the three Transcendents, trying to reach the tramp behind them. A terrifying battle took place right in the middle of Nadir, drawing the attention of everyone nearby.
A few minutes later, the walls of the apartment had crumbled. Blood spikes protruded from everywhere on the floor and even the ceiling. Surprisingly, the three Transcendents had died and Ron was the victor.
He looked at the three Transcendents in shock and confusion. He couldn't believe that he had actually managed to kill them. Throughout the fight, he had a feeling that the three were holding back. No, to be more precise, they were being held back by someone.
Just as he was looking at the three corpses, a familiar voice, one that he loathed, drifted into his ears. "Tsk, tsk, tsk, I heard killing fellow members of the organization is taboo. Now, what will you do Ron?"
Ron looked in the direction of the voice and just happened to see the old tramp dissipating into gray smoke. Before he could even make a move, the tramp had completely disappeared.
His last words echoed inside the room. "You killed your fiancee. You killed Alfredo. And now you killed three fellow members. Who will you kill next? Sean? Hahaha…."
The mocking laughter put Ron in a daze as he stood rooted in place for a long time. He looked at the three corpses on the floor and then at his bloodied hands. "What… have I done?"
In his fit of rage, he ended up killing the three Transcendents. However, the other reason was that the Transcendents were also being held back. And this was true.
The three Transcendents were indeed being held back by Bryan. All he had to do was put them in an extreme state of drowsiness. This effectively hindered their movements as well as decision-making skills, making them easy targets for Ron to kill.
Ron was now stuck between a rock and a hard place. On one hand, the people in the organization thought that he was the one that killed Alfredo. And now, he had ended up killing three Rank 2 Transcendents that were sent to question him.
He didn't know what to do. He felt lost and helpless. The next moment, his gaze fell upon the photograph of him and Celine, which happened to fall on the floor during his fight earlier.
Picking up the photo, Ron's lips quivered ever so slightly as he mumbled, "Celine…."
The next moment, his eyes narrowed and shone with great resolve. "It doesn't matter even if the whole world becomes my enemy. I will not rest until I've avenged you."
He carefully put the photo inside his pocket and then fled the place. The earlier battle had caused a lot of commotion and soon enough his apartment would be stormed by police and Transcendents alike.
After what he had just done, he would no longer be able to go back to the Holy Blood Sect. Although he hadn't killed Alfredo, the fact that he killed the people who had come to question him, would definitely put him on the wanted list of the organization.
After all, in their eyes, he had killed four—not three—Rank 2 Transcendents of the organization. From this day forth, Ron would be constantly on the run, living the life of a rogue Transcendent
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