Keith had a light smile on his face as he stared at the young man who was prostrating to him, keeping his forehead pressed on the cold floor.
"You know, you don't have to thank me for it. I helped her because I wanted to, and even if you were not in the equation, I would have still helped her." He lightly said, but his words did not affect the young man. "Get up." He commanded this time, and Ryou immediately stood up, not bothering to hide his tears.
Keith intently looked into the eyes of one of his most prized assets.
"Congratulations on entering the Spirit Profound Realm." He smiled and watched the boy bow to him.
"It is thanks to you, Master."
"Show me your Aura Beast." He looked at him with interest and smiled when he saw a greyish Aura ooze out of Ryou's body and take the form of a cat beast that resembled a leopard. "Suits you." He chuckled. "Are you ready to finish the task?"
"I require a few more days, Master." He apologetically said.
"It's all right." He shrugged and then poured himself some wine. "Sit."
Ryou calmly walked forward and sat at the table with him, waiting for his command, but even after minutes, Keith did not say anything and just sipped on his wine as he checked on some information on his tablet.
"What do you want in your life, Ryou?"
"My life is yours, Master." He replied without any hesitation, and Keith smiled at his words before raising his head and looking him in the eyes.
"Well, then there is something that you must always remember. A failure in a mission is acceptable, but not coming back alive would truly disappoint me." He firmly said. "Since you have sold your life to me, it is I who decides when you can die, not anyone else."
"Yes, Master."
"Good." He said and then handed the young man his tablet, which had a picture of a man displayed on it. "I will give you more time to take care of Christian Falken. Your new mission is to protect my family from this man."
Ryou frowned when he saw who it was. It was the same man who had been sentenced to 45 years in prison earlier today on charges of the planned murder of Jun Gouzo and his men. He had managed to avoid the death penalty thanks to all the people who came for his support, but there was nothing more they could do to save him.
"He will be breaking out of Prison in the next few days," Keith informed him. "And he might try to target someone close to me. He will aim to kill or if he has not lost all his mind, he will try to kidnap someone precious to me."
Ryou nodded his head, accepting the task, and Keith proceeded to provide more information to him.
"Amelia, Ayesha, Celine, Rebecca, Aunt May, and my Grandmother won't be here. You don't have to be responsible for their safety. My Mother won't have any problems either. His most likely targets would be Qingyue, Nana, and Kiara."
"If he is out for vengeance, he will not spare your subordinates too," Ryou said as he looked at the information about Ye Tian's strengths and skills. "And you are his prime target."
"Yes. He could target Sebastian." He nodded his head and leaned back in his chair, smiling at the young man. "But you don't have to be concerned about mine and Yingying's safety."
Keith remembered that according to the plan of Destiny, after Minami's death, Ryou was supposed to join an Assassin Organisation in the Underworld, and he was meant to hire his expertise to deal with Ye Tian.
Unfortunately, in his dream, Ye Tian had survived Ryou, and it also led him to gain a sudden boost in strength that helped him kill the Assassin who had come for his life.
He knew that Ryou would not be able to kill Ye Tian even though they were, apparently, equally strong right now, but that was not his intention.
Keith wanted to see if Ye Tian would gain in strength again after losing his Fate Value and if his Fate Value would see any rise.
The most disappointing route that Ye Tian might take would be to fall into his trap and rush straight to Australia to rescue Hummingbird and Viper, but he hoped that the stubborn man would exercise his mind better this time round.
He would have a really short window of time after breaking out of the prison, but Keith wanted Ye Tian to make one final noise before escaping Netheria, which would provide him more leverage against all those who saved him from the death penalty.
After going through all the information on the tablet, which included Ye Tian's most outrageous feats in the Mercenary world, Ryou understood why his Master had emphasised and reminded him to not throw his life away. It was because he did not want him to die in Ye Tian's hand.
"Is there more to him?" He seriously asked.
"Yes. Just like you, he possesses a very Special Physique, but his Physique is powerful beyond your understanding," He informed the young man. "Your task is to stop him, to foil his plans and to protect his targets. Your mission is not to kill him or fight him to death. You will be provided reinforcements in case things turn dire and it comes down to life and death, but at any other time, there will be no interference. This is your mission."
"Yes, Master." Ryou nodded to him and handed the tablet back.
"Go, get some rest." He said and watched the young man bow to him before leaving his study.
"Are the girls back in their rooms?" He asked, and the silent Shadow answered his questions.
"No, Master. They are still keeping Minami company, and Lady Kiara plans on sleeping with her tonight."
"I see." He nodded his head before making a call to Caesar, whom he had handed a very important task.
"Everything is arranged, Young Master. His allies would soon learn about the death of Tiger and the end of the Wolf Fang Mercenary Group. Ye Tian would most likely be informed about it on Thursday when his lawyer sees him in prison."
"Good." He ended the call and then leaned back in his seat as he switched on the television and listened to the news.
His action made his Shadow a little curious since listening to the news was one of his least favourite things to do in his spare time, but the sudden breaking news caught her by surprise too.
A passenger plane that took off from Sameran International Airport at 11 pm tonight crashed into the East China Sea. The fate of the 411 passengers and staff on board was unknown, but it was believed that there were no survivors.
Keith immediately turned off the news and closed his eyes, trying to calm down his turbulent heart.
Even though it was just a dream, it did hit him hard as he recalled what was meant to happen today. This was the day Destiny had planned for him to lose Kiara. She was meant to die along with all those passengers who were flying to Persia tonight. And her loss was meant to be the true beginning of his fall.
He clearly remembered the last time he had seen her in his dream. She had that light smile on her face even though her eyes were shedding tears. She was sad, unbearably sad since she believed that she could not be with him and decided to take a vacation to deal with her emotions. But she was never meant to return to him.
Taking a deep breath, he cleared his mind and stood up, lightly smiling at Yingying.
"Go, get some sleep." He instructed her before walking out of his study.
Walking aimlessly down the hallways, working on a piece of music in his mind, he found himself standing at the door of Minami's room when he came out of his thoughts.
He smiled slightly before turning away and heading to his room to get changed and returned a few minutes later.
Not bothering to knock on the door, he entered the room and found Kiara, Ingrid, and Minami on the bed, sitting cross-legged as they played around with Void.
"Hey, mind if I sleep you in your bed tonight?" He asked as he walked over and climbed into the bed, pulling Kiara in a hug as he laid back down with her in his arms.
He loved her melodious laugh as he tickled her soft belly, and after some playful wrestling with her and Ingrid in the bed, which amused Minami a lot, he pulled all three of them to sleep with him.
Basking in the warmth of their bodies and listening to their soft and steady breaths, he felt truly happy and entered the world of dreams with a smile on his lips.
