The Deceitful One

As Ron saw the silver tendril protrude from Bryan\'s back, he was overcome by unprecedented fear. He had never seen something like this before, nor had he ever felt this way before.

He had a feeling that this tendril was something that didn\'t belong to this world. The malevolent aura that it naturally emanated was the most vile and evil thing he had ever felt in his life. Not even those higher-ups in the Holy Blood Sect could make him feel this way.

In front of Bryan\'s tendril, even his master, Sean\'s aura appeared to be holy. He looked at the grin on Bryan\'s face and gulped nervously. "W-What have you done to yourself?"

According to him, Bryan must have paid a ridiculous price to gain something so diabolical. Suddenly he remembered that on that fateful night, Alfredo had viciously poisoned Bryan. It was a poison that should have killed him within a week of being infected.

Ron realized that Bryan had overcome the poison and in doing so, had also acquired whatever this thing was that was making his heart palpitate. But he didn\'t understand one thing, hence he asked, "What… price did you have to pay?"

Recalling the sheer amount of pain that he had to grow through during his metamorphosis, Bryan faintly smiled. "My humanity…."

Ron was silent for a very long time after he heard Bryan\'s answer. Although he knew it, he still asked, "Why go to such great lengths?"

Bryan\'s eyes narrowed. "For revenge, of course. Or did you forget how you stabbed me in the back that night? Or how Alfredo killed Henry and Emma? Or…."

He fell silent when he recalled his teacher protecting him from thousands of blood weapons. He gritted his teeth and added, "Or how Sean killed my teacher?"

Ron felt a sense of relief when Bryan didn\'t mention Andrew. After their fight that night, he had made sure to stuff a healing pill inside Andrew\'s mouth before leaving. He couldn\'t live with himself if Andrew really died. And just now, Bryan had confirmed that he hadn\'t.

For a moment, Ron saw himself in Bryan. At this moment, they were the same people, fighting for the same thing, broken and lost. In a daze, Ron muttered under his breath, "I see…. Blood begets blood, and revenge begets revenge…. The cycle continues."

Another tendril protruded from Bryan\'s back. Two silver tendrils flailed behind him as his eyes narrowed. Then, he coldly muttered, "Then end the cycle with your death."

Suddenly, Ron\'s entire aura changed as he stared back at Bryan, his eyes spewing vengeance. "Ah, you\'re right about that. I\'ll die tonight… but I\'ll take you down with me."

The next moment, two large bat wings sprouted from his back and unfurled. Its wingspan was more than double Ron\'s height.

Everything seemed to come to a standstill at that point. A gust of desolate wind blew threw the cemetery as two former friends stared intently at each other. The next moment, the world brightened as the sky split open.

BOOM!!

Violent lightning streaked across the night sky, marking the beginning of their battle. The two of them disappeared from their spots as rain droplets began to fall on the ground.

The next moment, another booming sound echoed through the cemetery as Bryan\'s fist collided with Ron\'s. The latter did not survive the collision for more than a second. Much to his shock, he realized that Bryan\'s fist had pummeled through his hand, almost slicing his forearm in two!

With a shockwave that caused the surrounding air to almost tear, Ron was thrown across the air as he flew over the sea of tombstones. As he landed on the ground, after destroying many headstones on the way, he got up to his feet and stared at this regenerating forearm.

He muttered in disbelief, "How strong is his body?" To be able to tear a Rank 2\'s body with just a fist, spoke volumes about Bryan\'s body. Of course, Ron didn\'t know that his physique was equivalent to a Rank 3 already.

Ron hurriedly got into a fighting position again, afraid that Bryan would rush at him at any moment and begin attacking once again. However, when he looked up, he was slightly taken aback.

Bryan was still standing in his position, with his arms behind his back, and his tendrils gently flailing in the wind. When he saw the look on Bryan\'s face, he couldn\'t help but smile bitterly as he thought, \'I see… so, you think I\'m beneath you, is it?\'

He shook his head and then looked toward his right. He searched for a few moments, trying to look for something. Finally, his gaze landed on a tombstone that was still intact. When he saw this, he sighed in relief.

\'Wait for me, my love…. I\'ll join you very soon.\' Ron thought to himself as he stared at Celine\'s tombstone. The next moment, he turned back toward Bryan\'s direction and his eyes narrowed, brimming with resolve.

He flapped his bat wings and then once again rushed toward Bryan at his fastest speed. He raised his arms and pointed at the latter. The next moment, half a dozen blood spikes formed in the air and flew toward him.

Bryan calmly stared at the incoming projectiles, his arms still clasped behind his back. Instead, the two tendrils came right in front of him and instantly destroyed the six blood spikes into pieces.

Right as he destroyed the last of the blood projectiles, he saw Ron right in front of him, with his blood claw aimed at his face. Bryan, with a solemn expression, transformed his arm into a silver demonic claw as well.

After his physique reached the level of Rank 3, he was able to transform parts of his body at will. Just like what he was doing with his arm right now. Although Bryan was confident that he could defeat Ron with just his human body alone, he didn\'t dare to be complacent.

Even if he was fighting an ant, he would give his all. Much less, Ron, who was considered a genius, and was of the same Rank as him. Moreover, Bryan didn\'t know what tricks Ron could still be hiding.

The silver claw clashed against the blood claw. When Ron saw the silver claw that appeared sharper than the sharpest of blades, his pupils dilated. However, he didn\'t have much time as the next moment, Bryan firmly grabbed his claw, pivoted toward him, and then landed an uppercut to his elbow.

"Aaaggghhh!!" Ron screamed in agony as he saw bones jutting out from his elbow, which was twisted at a weird angle. The next moment, Bryan raised his leg and delivered a roundhouse kick to Ron\'s face, sending him flying back once again.

Landing a dozen meters away, Ron groaned as he struggled to get back to his feet. He caressed his jaw, which was fractured and in the midst of healing. He then glanced at his broken arm which was also regenerating, albeit at a much slower speed.

This showed, just how damaged his arm was. He looked back at Bryan who was still standing at his spot and looking at him coldly. He couldn\'t help but sigh. "You\'ve really come a long way, Bryan."

Ron slowly walked toward him as his wounds began to heal slowly. "Who would have thought? That the playful kid from back then would grow up to be such a terrifying Transcendent."

When he thought of the times he had spent with everyone in the Strike Team back in Damascus, he couldn\'t help but sigh smile bitterly. He took a deep breath and then looked toward Celine\'s grave one more time. \'Soon… my love.\'

He looked back at Bryan and solemnly spoke, "You know, Bryan…. There\'s a forbidden technique that they teach a select few in the Holy Blood Sect. It burns the life force but in return, gives one unimaginable strength, albeit only for a short duration of time."

He raised his hand and then viciously inserted his thumb on his chest—the spot right above his heart—and then viciously twisted it. Ron spat a mouthful of blood as red veins began to form and spread outward from his chest.

Ron looked at Bryan once again and said, "Bryan, fight me with everything you have. Just like how I\'ll fight you with everything I have. No illusions, no tricks, no gimmicks."

Bryan intently stared at Ron\'s body which seemed to be going through some changes. Seeing the look in his eyes, he confirmed that Ron was indeed going to fight with everything on the line.

And the way Ron continued to look at a certain tombstone, which Bryan knew to be Celine\'s, further confirmed Bryan\'s speculations that Ron was indeed planning to fight to the death. His end goal really was to die!

Bryan heaved a long breath and then looked at Ron and nodded. "Very well. No illusions… no tricks."

The next moment, two more silver tendrils sprouted from his back as he got into a fighting stance of Myriad Martial Technique. In order to show Ron the respect a warrior deserved, he waited for him to finish his transformation.

Ron\'s height increased by quite a bit as his bones creaked. His bat wings became bigger and his skin turned a shade of sickly pale. His ears elongated and turned pointy, whereas his nose turned flat, just like a bat.

And last but not least, rows of sharp and jagged teeth grew inside his mouth. Ron\'s sclera turned black and his pupils, red. He looked at Bryan, a primal savageness glowing in his eyes.

It felt as if a mighty and ruthless mythical beast had just awoken in Ron\'s body, exuding an aura so wild and ancient that even Bryan was taken aback. Ron looked at him with malice and opened his maw.

ROOAAAARRRR!!