"She was an ugly bitch, but still a good fuck..." A burly man on his knees, who was covered in blood and burns, grinned with his mouth leaking blood right before a flame-covered fist struck his head, exploding it like a watermelon.
Ye Tian stared at the lifeless and headless body of Abu Dingo with vacant eyes. The flame surrounding his body subsided.
Standing under the sinking sun, with smoke and the smell of iron all around him, he no longer felt the thrill or the satisfaction of a job well done.
He had killed them all and avenged his fallen comrades, but at what cost?
There was no one around him, who would enthusiastically approach him, grinning and congratulating him on his mission accomplished.
A tear slipped out of his eyes and he slumped down on the ground, crying loudly, utterly lost in his grief, unaware of the eyes that were watching him in amusement.
*Ring* *Ring*
A sudden ringing sound greeted his ear, and Ye Tian raised his head in the direction of the phone that was receiving a call.
At any other time, he would have never paid attention to such a thing, but this ringtone was Viper's favourite, and he instinctively walked over to the body of his fallen comrade, shedding some more tears as he looked at the lifeless face before crouching down and taking the cellphone out of his inner pocket.
"Check the Gallery."
He frowned at the caller's ID, and just as he was about to answer the call, it ended. He frowned some more when he found the phone unlocked and immediately entered the Gallery, where there was only a clip titled "Surprise" in it.
The chill in his heart sent tremors throughout his body, and his heart thumped against his chest as he heard the painful cries of the man in the clip, whose limbs were being chopped up by an Asian girl with a sadistic smile on her face.
It was Hound, his bald brother-in-arms, and a mournful cry leaked from his mouth when he saw his brother's head being chopped off.
Ye Tian had recognised the voice of the man whom the mad girl had addressed as Senpai, and though he was not in the clip, he knew for certain that it was Keith.
Next, there was a still picture of the heads of his three comrades placed on a table with sad emojis placed on top of each head. And just as he was about to crush the phone in his rage, a new clip began playing on the phone, which earned a furious cry from him.
It was the video in which Hummingbird was being gang-raped by the men of Abu Dingo. Her eyes were vacant and her face was pale in helplessness. There was no hope in her eyes for the future, and it was obvious that she no longer had any will to live. And that look on her face cut deep into his heart.
He felt that he had failed her, failed all his comrades, and the guilt he was suppressing by blaming everything on his enemies, suddenly intensified, flooding past his barriers, screaming to him that it was all because of him. They, who trusted him with their lives, were gone because of him.
The phone in his hand exploded into bits when the clip ended, but he paid no heed to it as he was wailing like a widow.
His cries of agony travelled far in the cold desert and even the wild predators who heard him from miles away fearfully escaped farther.
"You know, she loved you, right?"
Ye Tian froze when he heard those words and turned around to look at the source of the voice. His expression seemed like he had seen some ghost, when in truth, it was a ridiculously handsome man in an all-black suit, lazily smiling at him.
"Cigarettes?" Keith took his hand out of his pocket, holding a pack of a Chinese brand of cigarettes that Ye Tian loved smoking.
And the man on his knees felt his heart tremble in fear for some reason when it should have been thumping in rage at seeing that face.
There was no other living being around this place. And no one had ever sneaked up on him like that in a long while.
It was only now that his instincts had started screaming at him, and they were not telling him to kill the young man but were asking him to run from this place.
Keith tossed the pack of cigarettes to him, which he instinctively caught.
"Have one. I am in no rush." He lazily smiled again, and Ye Tian, glanced at the pack in his hand before and then back at him before he pulled out a cigarette and pressed it between his lips.
Keith watched in amusement as Ye Tian presses the tip of his finger and used the orange flame of his Special Physique as a lighter.
He could see that the man was trying to act calm and cool, when in fact, his eyes sneakily stole glances everywhere, making sure that they were all alone in this place.
"You disappoint me, Ye Tian."
And there were these words again that he had said to him when they met for the first time, and against his will, his Aura started raging in his body, a hazy Avatar of an angry dragon appeared around his body.
"You should have not come here, Demiliore." He coldly said and took a puff of the cigarette.
"I wanted to send you off with my own hands. How could I not come here in person?" He smiled at the man whose rage finally started building up. "And I wanted to tell you something as well."
Ye Tian narrowed his eyes at him, and his body had already started shining in a wired orange shine as those alarmingly hot flames sprouted from him.
"It's about the night I ravaged your childhood friend for the first time. You see, in her intoxicated state, she was calling me "Brother" over and over again..." Keith did not even get to finish his words before a punch, packing a terrifying force, arrived to greet his handsome face.
A sudden shattering sound reverberated in the surroundings, which Ye Tian was all too familiar with, and his eyes comically widened when he found Keith still in his place, unscathed and surrounded by transparent golden Shields of energy.
"You should have finished your cigarettes, Mr. Ye. It was, after all, the last cigarette of your life." Keith smiled at him, and his Aura burst out of his body, pushing Ye Tian away from him.
Soon, an Avatar of a Wolf made out of amethyst Aura appeared around Keith, and the density of his Aura made Ye Tian's heart palpitate in fear.
He could sense it now that Keith was no longer masking his strength. The difference between them was just too much to surpass.
"How could you be in Spirit Profound Realm? You are only 22 years old..." And suddenly he realised something. "It was you who attacked me that night."
"Yes. I hope you enjoyed all the exercises I have put you through in the last few days. Didn't want you to not be in your best shape for the last battle of your life."
His words agitated the flame around Ye Tian, and the surroundings started getting hotter with every passing second.
"A Wolf can not decide the fate of a Dragon!" Ye Tian roared before he rushed again at Keith, who simply smiled at him.
At the very last moment, when Ye Tian's claw reached for him, Keith moved sideways at a terrifying speed and buried his knee into the abdomen of the man who was much shorter than him in height.
All the air in his lungs burst out as his mind went blank for a while, and in the next second, Ye Tian found himself flying in the air, creating an arc as he reached the ground several metres away, tumbling on it like a rock.
His entire body was protected by his Aura, but Keith had still managed to break past it and hurt him so effortlessly that it scared him.
"The strong decide the fate of the weak, Mr. Ye. Mortals do not stand a chance against Gods." He lightly smiled and retracted his knee, standing straight again. "Take your time. As I said, I am in no rush."
Keith did not go forward and attack Ye Tian, and patiently watched the man struggle back up to his feet.
Playing around with your prey could prove very dangerous, and Keith was here today to seek that danger.
He wanted the child of destiny to give him an exciting battle, and more than that he wanted to witness the true Power of the first level of the Nine Yang Divine Physique, which Ye Tian was just a little push away from grasping.
"Ready when you are." He said and saw the 'dragon' rushing recklessly at the 'wolf' again. "You only learn your lessons the hard way, don't you?" He chuckled as he dodged the ferocious attacks of Ye Tian, who was in dismay at his agility, and then buried his other knee in his abdomen this time, yielding the same result. "Let's try again."
Ye Tian had never before been so humiliated, and this time, someone had humiliated him in something he took great pride in; his combat ability.
But he already knew what he had to do, and what he had to do was bide some time, which was going to be easy given how confident Keith seemed.
"I will kill you, Demiliore..." He vowed and rushed at the graceful and magnificent wolf again.
