Following Gerald's order, the gangsters removed two men who clearly looked estranged from the others. Terror was evident in their eyes. Gerald approached them when they were kneeling in front of him, begging for mercy.

“It's fine.” Gerald walked with slow and steady steps. His footsteps echoed throughout the plaza until they stopped in an abrupt manner. He towered over the two whimpering kittens. They began mumbling out of fear which disgusted Gerald even more.

“I-It wasn't me, I promise you! It was Beck, he did it!” Seeing Gerald's attention focused on him, Beck also began to talk gibberish, so he wouldn't have to die.

“He's lying! It's Andrew! Don't listen to him!” As they argued, Bryan noticed Gerald reaching for his gun. Bryan laughed as he was about to execute them, noticing Gerald flinch when he did so. With a scowl on his face, he turned around to face him.

“What's so funny?” John and Brock stared at Bryan in confusion as well. All three of them stared at Bryan, his mask glowing a cold white. The robotic tone rang in their ears, an accustomed sound by now.

“We'll play another round.” Before they could even say anything, Bryan continued, leaving them no time to respond.

“None of them are rats, only one of them is the rat, or they are both guilty.” Hearing the consecutive statements, the three of them understood what he meant.

Andrew and Beck were still frozen in fear as everyone looked at them. Bryan enjoyed the dilemma, but he wondered how he had become so sadistic. In retrospect, he was not sure when it started. Bryan was contemplating his tendencies as the three leaders discussed in a hurry. They were uncertain when the mysterious man would stop them.

A frustrated John yelled, “He's fucking us!”. He was unable to do anything to stop Bryan.

“Should we attack him? Maybe if we're fast enough, we can stop the explosion.” Brock made some gestures to a guard nearby, translating the rough meaning.

Gerald shook his head at both of their suggestions, thinking how reckless they were.

“No, neither of those options will work. We only have to play along for now and when we get an opportunity, we strike him down. We can position a few snipers from the home base, giving us the adv-” Before he could even finish, John held up his hand.

“I'm the one in charge here, since when were you in charge?. You're second in command, so listen to me. We're going to strike now, got it? I'll give you the signal.” Gerald clenched his fist in anger. Brock nodded his head in agreement. Now was not the time for a fight, so he nodded. Besides, he had convinced both troops that their reign was now over, and he should lead instead. So the troops executing their commands wasn't a concern for him.

Bryan interrupted their conversation when they agreed on a signal.

“Finished your little tea party? So, which one is the lie?” When Bryan got no answer, he tilted his head in confusion.

John pumped up his chest, speaking with full confidence, “We've had enough. You better get out of here before we kill you.” Brock accompanied him, showing John support for his sentiments. Gerald hung back to observe the situation. Bryan could only shrug his shoulders in disappointment.

“So this is what it's come to? You'll regret this." John did not heed his warning. He ordered them to fire. However, when he was about to give the signal, a massive blast took place.

In the wake of the explosion, a strong gale swept everyone away, except Bryan, who stood firm. Although the blistering heat washed over them, they did not suffer any real harm. He surveyed the surroundings through the smoke. Bryan looked at Brock, Gerald, and John after the dust settled.

Gerald shook his head while John clenched his fists. Brock, who was unable to speak, looked down. No one understood what he was thinking.

Bryan began to speak after a moment of silence.

The final round has arrived. It's going to be a little different this time. After this, it's over.” Everyone's ears perked up at that announcement. As soon as he had their full attention, he began the final round. They were unaware that what he was going to say next would be the last impacting memory of their lives.

“Gerald is going to overthrow John and Brock, true or false?”

There was an eerie silence.

Despite Gerald's calm nature most of the time, his mood had changed now. He tried to maintain a natural face, but his nervousness revealed his true feelings. Brock and John looked at Gerald, who was still mulling over an excuse. When he felt their stares, he knew he had no time to think and said whatever came to mind.

“Are you going to listen to that lunatic? John, I've known you since we were kids. You too Brock. You really think I'll backstab you like this? Think about what he's saying.” The two's minds were a mess. While they've known Gerald since they were kids, hearing everything else Bryan said made them think twice about Gerald's character.

As they were still thinking, they focused their attention on Bryan, who stood still.

“Well, I'll give you the facts. Did you notice whenever you or Brock gave any commands, there was a half a minute where no one moved?” John and Brock nodded in full agreement, noticing that detail after he pointed it out.

"It was because they were waiting for Gerald's command instead. I noticed it from the beginning they were giving discreet hand signals while you weren't looking. Ask one of the troops." John looked at Gerald, who had his head down, before calling one of the troops over.

A soldier separated from the group and looked at John with a nervous expression. Although he saw his expression, John wanted to believe otherwise. He spoke in a low intimidating tone.

"Is this true? Are you rallying against me for Gerald?" Brock asked the same from his side as well. Looking to Gerald for guidance, both of them looked to him for help. Brock and John noticed this action this time, convincing them it was true. Gerald realized he had no way to explain their actions. He could only curse out loud.

"Fuck! Why didn't you take the hint, you idiots!" But they didn't respond. Brock and John just stared at Gerald, disappointed.

"Why did you do it? We are like brothers and if you had asked me I would have provided more." Gerald shook his head in denial.

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"You're wrong. You never gave me anything, either of you. You're too weak to lead so I had to take it into my own hands to lead us out of this hell hole. Everyone agreed with me anyway, so you should be berating them instead. No one wants you as leader anymore but they didn't speak up because they knew you would bury them six feet under." As Gerald explained, Bryan noticed the two of them seemed to zone out, as if they were deaf. Bryan concluded it was a state of shock. He shook his head in response.

“How touching. Yet, it doesn't even matter since you're all guilty anyway. Although I told you you'd live if we got through to the end, I changed my mind.” Gerald noticed things were going south, and he had to do something to turn the situation.

He pulled out a handgun tucked behind his back. When he was about to fire, Bryan let go of the red button. Yet, the explosion they were expecting didn't occur. A high-pitched ringing sound rammed through everyone's head. Yet, that's not all what it did. When Gerald pressed the trigger, nothing happened. He tried to pull it multiple times to no avail. The others tried doing the same with the same result. He shouted at the top of his lungs, waking John and Brock from their stupor.

“What the fuck did you do?!” Bryan shrugged his shoulders before walking away. He didn't have to explain it was all a program he coded from a mysterious entity.

They wouldn't understand anyway.

Gerald shouted towards Brock and John, who were still in disbelief.

“What are you doing? Stop him before he gets out of here!” The two leaders shook their heads, refusing outright. They both pulled out their respective weapons, walking towards Gerald, who was kneeling in defeat.

“Wait, wait. I'm sorry okay? I-It's my fault. Let's forget all this.” When they didn't respond to his pleading, Gerald turned towards the rest of the surrounding goons. With an authoritative voice, he exclaimed in anger.

“What are you waiting for? Shoot them down!” However, they didn't move an inch to save Gerald. They fixed their stares ahead. It was as if he didn't exist at all. Gerald got up and ran toward the barren desert when he noticed what was happening. Bryan, who was a good distance away, didn't notice Gerald's escape, and detonated all the charges he had set up.

A deafening explosion followed a brief silence after the detonation. Bryan watched as orange-flames engulfed everything they saw. Bryan turned towards John and Brock, who writhed around in anguish as the flames licked their bodies. It was the same for the rest as the crimson heat swallowed hundreds of goons from both sides. The surrounding rubble crushed a few, but more or less everybody burned to death.

Bryan watched the fire show from a distance the entire time. Bryan never even imagined that anyone escaped as he watched the town burn down.

Who could survive an instantaneous explosion with a large blast radius?

Watching everything burn away, Bryan gathered his belongings and walked back to the Red Viper's base. Charred remains littered the barren desert. Making sure everyone was dead, he walked towards a car further away from the base. The key was already inserted in, so he turned it to start the engine. When he was exiting the town, he saw a frail old man on the side of the road. Recognizing who he was, he pulled over for him to get in.

A serene expression graced Old Jacobs' face as he got into the car, creating confusion in Bryan's mind. Old Jacobs beat him to the punch when he was about to speak.

“I know it's you kid, take off the mask. It's starting to scare me a little.” A wry smile crossed Bryan's pale face as he removed the mask.

“How did you know it was me?” The old man looked at him for a while before shrugging a response.

“Just a feeling.” Bryan knew he wouldn't get anything more than that and started to drive. Old Jacob's voice turned hoarse when the ruined town was almost out of sight.

“John's dead right?”

“…”

Bryan remained silent at his words, confirming Old Jacob's guess. He hadn't expected Old Jacobs to be so calm about it.

“Are you angry at me?” Old Jacobs looked out the window, seeing the smoke rise up from the distance.

“He got what was coming to him for a while now. I stopped seeing him as my own a long time ago. He was never mine to begin with. You better hope everyone is dead in that godforsaken town. You don't want to take your chances with those lunatics.” Bryan looked to the passenger seat and nodded.

He was sure he tied up all loose ends, thus getting a grande finale for the longest chapter of his life. Thinking of Sylvia, he pulled out her necklace, placing the wooden sphere in the middle of his palm.

It's all over now, you can rest.

The two didn't talk the entire way back, driving away from a place they want to bury in the back of their minds.

However, were things ever so simple?

END OF VOLUME i