What happened felt like a dream to Lucian.
Boom! Bam! Pow!
It happened so fast.
Leon ca in, destroyed the box and disappeared like a ghost.
There was no hesitation, no wasted movent, no ti wasted on taunting except the taunting smile at the end.
"..."
The mont the event ended and Leon disappeared, Lucian froze, staring at the reinforced tal crate that was scorched but still intact but whose contents were now all destroyed as his PTSD triggered.
His eyes widened as his breathing turned irregular.
His dual-colored eyes stared fixatedly at the empty interior of the crate, and then a look of fear appeared in Lucian’s eyes.
BZZZT!
His brain seed to explode as flashbacks filled his head.
He saw himself in a dark underground chamber illuminated by dim yellow light, he saw a masked man in an insectile full-face mask standing before him, he saw him holding a syringe with a malevolent-looking liquid inside.
’No!’ ’No!’ ’No!’ Lucian’s body started convulsing as his eyes showed fear, goosebumps filled his skin as his hair stood on end.
None of his companions noticed though as they stared at where Leon just disappeared, only the invisible C-5 drone above captured everything.
Lucian saw the masked man inject the contents of the syringe inside his body, then he felt his world turn upside down.
He felt pain like needles stabbing into his entire body, into his eyes and his brain! He felt a splitting headache, he felt like dying but he didn’t die. His unusual physique ant he was forced to endure through it all.
’F*ck! I want to die!’
He saw his eyes change, one becoming dark green while the other turned brownish red.
He saw his face aging.
He saw himself laying down cowered in a corner of a dark room, shriveled like a dried up plant, extrely emaciated. He was just bones.
Then he saw himself kill Sister Mariah!
He saw the light of life fading in her eyes! That mont stayed embedded in the back of his mind, and the reaction to that flashback made blood vessels rupture in his eyes as they turned blood-red.
His breathing turned aggressive.
As these mories flashed through his head, they triggered extre reactions as amid the commotion of his congregation stampeding on each other, Lucian felt negative thoughts fill his head, and then he felt the urge to kill!
His hands clenched and unclenched as his eyes stayed widened in fear, rage, and confusion.
He looked at Xena who stood closest to him with a glazed look in his eyes and then his right hand rose as the vivid image of strangling her neck filled his head!
Lucian just wanted to snap her neck and see what would happen.
Standing just beside him, Xena Rousey didn’t notice his abnormality as her neon green ADE flared around her in a fit of rage. With a livid expression on her face, she clenched her fists tightly as she glared into the chaotic crowd.
She was anxious and angry.
And though she couldn’t see him, her emotions got the best of her as she moved to attack anyone on sight but Lucian stopped her.
"Don’t move". He said solemnly. "You may walk into a trap".
In the end, Lucian didn’t succumb to his PTSD, he regained control of himself at the last mont though the lingering effects of the flashbacks that he just had remained.
The mont Lucian cautioned her, Xena paused as then her eyes constricted as she felt a chill run down her spine. ’F*ck! I lost control of my emotions!’
’That smile was clearly to taunt and make lose all reason and go after him!’ She felt her hair stand on end.
She hissed. ’I may have really walked into a trap!’
The group of 5 E Rank Ascended terrorists stood in absolute silence as they observed their surroundings, waiting for the attack.
Beneath them, about 50 terrorists in black paramilitary armor and insectile full-face marks stood around the altar, protecting their leader.
And beyond the 50 terrorists, the congregation already gave in to their panic as they ran around like headless chickens.
More than 20 people already died in the stampede! And it was not stopping.
Dozens more were injured, and in a few minutes they all found a way to crawl out of the grand square.
In less than 5 minutes, the grand square beca eerily empty and quiet except for Lucian and his 4 Holy Champions who stood on top the erected altar, and the 50 terrorists in black paramilitary armor who stood around them.
Throughout as all this happened till the crowd dispersed completely, none of the terrorists made a move after what they just experienced.
Lucian stared into the distance with complex emotions in his eyes.
In the end, he took a deep breath and finally broke the silence. "What are you waiting for?" He asked in a gentle voice. "Did you co to see or you ca to hide in the dark? If you ca to see , co out and face ".
For a few seconds after he demanded, there was no response.
But after 30 seconds, there was finally movent.
Clank! Clank!
The clunky sound of heavy tallic boots reverberated as all eyes turned towards an alley leading away from the grand square where the owner of the footsteps ca out from.
A robot ca out, a familiar towering black humanoid 10-feet tall robot with a square-shaped head.
This ti, a human sat on its shoulder... Thomas Riley!
Staring at him, Xena hissed in hatred but the sight of the intimidating robot deterred her from making any sudden move.
All the terrorists tensed up, only Lucian relaxed as he exhaled and looked straight at Leon. He didn’t say a single word, they just looked at each other for an entire minute as if they could read each other’s minds while the world around them burned as the invasion continued.
And then, Lucian finally broke the silence. "When did you learn the truth?"
Leon didn’t need him to explain, he knew what he ant but just for banter, he tilted his head to the side and asked in a confused manner. "What truth?"
Lucian looked straight at him. "Don’t ss with , you know what I’m talking about".
Leon chuckled and smiled at the terrorist leader in a taunting manner. "After the conversation that we had, I visited Saint Serena Cathedral and had a conversation with the presiding Priest there".
"Oh," Lucian nodded. "That explains it".
"And by the way," Leon grinned. "I finally read that your favorite ’5 Aspects of Divine Restoration’ book".
"Oh, really?" Lucian smiled. "What do you think about it?"
Leon shrugged. "It’s a cute representation of the 5 Classes".
"You’ve still not changed". Lucian shook his head in disappointnt. "It’s actually more than that, your failure to realize that ans you’re still as misguided as the last ti".
"Misguided?" Leon smirked. "I wouldn’t really call myself that".
They both kept quiet for a few seconds then looking at him, Leon said. "You know, I’ve been thinking," he placed his right hand on his chin and looked straight at Lucian. "The last ti, you told about the story of your life, I think it’s only natural I also tell you about mine right?"
Lucian raised his eyebrows. "Really? Right now?" He gestured at the distant fiery explosions of the ongoing invasion.
"Why not?" Leon shrugged. "You told your story right after you and your boys whooped my team’s ass and killed my comrades".
"That’s fair". Lucian nodded.
Leon then gestured at his 4 Holy Champions and the 50 terrorists in black paramilitary armor and insectile masks who currently had their weapons pointed at him.
Before Lucian could answer, Xena butted in. "NO!" She answered aggressively.
Lucian smiled. "Is this your plan?"
Leon shrugged in an innocent manner. "Plan? What do you an? I’m just trying to tell you my story here".
Lucian shrugged, then despite Xena’s vehent objection he gave an order to the 50 terrorists who hesitated and then they also left the grand square.
Lucian looked at Leon and said. "My friends are not leaving".
"Friends?" Leon raised an eyebrow. "You actually have friends? I thought they were just you know, terrorist buddies". He chuckled.
Xena’s face darkened even as the others keenly followed Leon’s movent with their eyes, but Leon didn’t do anything.
Instead, seated on the robot’s shoulder, he took his ti. "Well, my story is one that’s filled with a lot of plot holes".
He looked at Lucian. "Now, if I tell you that I’m soone from the past, would you believe ?"
Lucian raised his eyebrows but he didn’t interject.
Leon continued, delving deep into the first day that he awakened in Neo-Tokara with fragnted mories, wondering what happened to him.
He told the terrorists the truth of his life, but of course he held a lot of details back. As he spoke, the terrorists despite being wary against him beca intrigued as they listened to his story with curiosity and rapt attention.
Leon narrated like an S-rated author.
He dissected every part of his story, even to the part where he hunted Parasite, the leader of the Zr gang alongside his friends.
More than 10 minutes later, he was still in Parasite’s part of the story and it was ramping up in excitent to the action parts.
But this was when Lucian finally interrupted him. "What exactly are you planning? Did you really co here alone?"
His face turned weird. "Do you believe you can beat us alone?"
Leon stared at him with an aggrieved expression for interrupting his story, then he grinned.
"As a matter of fact, yes, I do believe I can beat the 5 of you alone".
"..."
The face of the 4 terrorists apart from Lucian darkened but Leon didn’t pay attention to them as he looked straight at the terrorist leader. "Lucian, do you know which Class is strongest at E Rank?"
"Oh?" Lucian raised his head up and looked at the towering black robot. "Is this what gives you confidence?"
Leon revealed a delighted expression. "Of course! What did you think?"
Leon no longer smiled as he looked at him. "I told you that I’ll kill you, right? That I’ll hunt you down till the Extremist Movent is no more".
"Well, I’m here to fulfill my promise".
The entire conversation despite the tense nature of this eting between the both of them unnerved the bystanders- the 4 terrorists.
Lucian looked at Leon and revealed a genuine confused expression on his face as he asked. "Why exactly do you want to kill ? What did I do to you?"
Leon smiled darkly. "Did you really just ask that?"
"Look at the current state of the city, what do you see? All this and you still have the nerve to ask that?"
"But I’m not the one who did it". Lucian retorted calmly.
Leon opened his mouth to speak, but no words ca out.
Lucian continued. "Is this not what I warned this city about?"
"I told them to cleanse the city of heretics and they refused," he shrugged. "It’s not my fault if the sa heretics invade their city".
Leon looked Lucian in the eye. "Did you know about this invasion before?"
"No". Lucian answered honestly, then he smiled. "But I don’t need to know because God knows everything, he is omniscient".
"Oh save that bullshit," Leon waved his hands dismissively. "Since I knew about you, you’ve always been a God this, God that man. In what way has your God transford your miserable life?"
"God gave purpose".
"By making you kill your mother?"
Lucian’s gaze darkened at he glared at Leon, but then his eyebrows relaxed again. "Her death was a necessary sacrifice for God’s mandate to be fulfilled".
Leon laughed. "You always have an excuse for every cri that you’ve committed".
Lucian shrugged. "I’m blaless, I’m just fulfilling God’s mandate to liberate a world that’s going astray".
He looked at Leon. "Tell , why are we even having this conversation? Why are you not attacking yet? Are you just wasting my ti...?"
Lucian paused mid-sentence as his eyes constricted.
Xena Rousey’s eyes widened.
In that mont, both of their thoughts aligned as they realized exactly what was going on at the exact sa ti!
’He’s wasting ti!’ Xena hissed.
She finally understood Thomas Riley’s tactic.
Over the years, Lucian’s need for sustenance with Ozempic grew worse as from the initial 5 hours for shots, it reduced to 2 hours between shots just to keep his body from deteriorating, but now just an hour separated each shot of Ozempic.
But even this hour becos heavily cut down when he engages in extre physical activities like battle.
Xena and Lucian didn’t just realize Leon’s current plan, they also deduced his initial plan imdiately.
Clearly, after Lucian had the premonition, Thomas Riley found a way to infiltrate the crowd and have been watching them since. This was how he learned the passcode to the reinforced tal crate.
If they were in Leon’s position, their plan would have entailed patiently waiting for Lucian’s next shot to confirm the tifra between shots.
But if they were him, they wouldn’t allow the second shot as that’s when they’ll attack to destroy the box and its contents because in that mont, Lucian will be in dire need of sustenance.
In essence, he would be in his weakest state. He would be like a fish stuck in a desert in need of water.
But the mont the shield shattered and the crowd dispersed, Leon’s original plan was disrupted and hence why he changed his plan, accelerating his tifra forward to destroy the box in the crate.
At the sa ti, he improvised on the spot and switched to ti-wasting tactics using psychological warfare.
Everything that Leon had been doing since he erged on the robot’s shoulder, his story, his words, everything was perfectly fabricated and was just a ti-wasting tactic!
’Dammit!’ Xena raged for not realizing the truth earlier.
She realized that Leon’s taunting smile at the end after destroying the box was not coincidental, it was also an elent that played a role as it ssed with her head and affected her from thinking straight.
As for how Lucian himself couldn’t realize till now, Xena guessed that losing his dication had a profound impact in his psyche which also affected him.
’Dammit!’ She cursed again as she glared at Leon. ’What an insidious man! He’s like a f*cking snake!’
Seeing the expressions on their faces, Leon easily guessed what was going through their minds as he chuckled and said. "Oops... you caught , haha".
Then, the look on his face changed, turning serious and provocative. "But what are you going to do about it?"
Instantly, the atmosphere in this grand square turned tense as it crackled with static electricity.
Bzzzt!
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