Because of the disagreement of Raizer and Naomi, the West Alley Gang was split into two factions. Of course, it wasn’t publicised but the tension between the two was clear as day. Jasper, who wasn’t even sure what was going was left in the middle. He would have to choose between his two siblings even if it wasn’t at that very moment.

***

A month later.

A few kilometres outside the city of Waham.

A group of twenty people were on a wagon on their way to Waham. But now they were resting at a nearby forest.

“Sigh, this is so annoying.” Said Zeke.

“You’ve been saying that every five minutes.” Said Maeve who was Zeke’s number two.

“I know. That’s just how annoyed I am. Having to babysit a grown man like that dimwit. I could be doing a lot of work you know.”

“Well, even you can’t ignore orders from ‘him’.”

“Yeah, I know. Where the hell did Dread even go?”

“I believe he went to hunt. He said something about being hungry.”

The two that were talking to each other were Zeke and Maeve. Zeke was a man who had brown-black hair. He had brown eyes and had a book on his waist instead of a sword. He is also number four on the most wanted people in the continent but now, he was sixth.

Maeve was a slim woman in her twenties like Zeke and had shot hair. She had an eye patch on her left eye and two rings on both her middle fingers. She wore cowboy like clothes with a long coat that touched her feet. She had two revolver type magic guns strapped down on her waist along with two daggers. She was Zeke’s number two and was always close to Zeke in order to protect him since he wasn’t much of a fighter.

A man appeared from the forest carrying a giant boar on his shoulder. The boar that he was carrying was known as a Greater Boar. An evolved form of an ordinary boar. It was Dread. He threw the giant boar on the ground. The ground quaked as its large body thudded on it.

“Mealtime boys.” Said Dread as he smirked.

Dread was a big man. No, he was a huge man with bulging muscles sticking out. He had an aura about him. An aura of a wild beast which would kill its prey just because. He had black hair and his body was covered with scars. Iron gauntlets hung from his waist. He was a close combat fighter, so he didn’t use a sword but instead, he used his fists.

The men under Dread quickly got up and started to dismantle the giant boar. Dread found himself the closest shade under a tree and sat there.

“Hey, meat brains.” Shouted Zeke at Dread.

Tension filled the air as Dread’s members stiffened from fear.

“What the hell is that guy doing? Doesn’t he know the boss’s temper.”

Zeke jumped out of the wagon and walked up to Dread who was glaring at him.

“We’ve got to go. You are wasting my time and this little break of yours is annoying.”

“Hehe. Are you talking to me?” asked Dread with a deep intimidating voice as eerie red energy gushed out from his body.

Zeke looked at Dread unfaced by him.

“Can you stop releasing your bloodlust like a crazed animal. Look what’s it doing to your people.” Said Zeke as he peeked at Dread’s members who were having a hard time to breathe.

Dread chuckled slightly and retracted his bloodlust.

“I did say I was hungry didn’t I. And besides, I never did tell you to come with me.”

Veins popped from Zeke’s forehead.

“You think I wanted to be here babysitting your meat brained ass. I’ve got ton of things to do, okay.” Said Zeke frustrated and annoyed. He then let out a sigh before continuing speaking. “This is annoying. This was your mission in the first place. I can’t believe you failed.”

Dread kept quiet as his face turned red with rage.

“I was actually quite surprised to hear that the gang you chose and were boasting so much about ended up failing. Not only that, but the Lord of this town also didn’t even tell you about this failure. Thanks to yours truly, I was able to find out what had happened.”

Dread didn’t respond again. The members of Dread started to feel terrified. No one had ever spoken like that to Dread. Yet, this unknown guy just spoke to him like he was scolding a kid.

“Is that guy crazy?” said some of Dread’s men.

One of them shook their heads. “That’s Zeke, the Analyst. He is also a member of the Bandit Society and outranks our boss.”

“Wait, what? Really? That scrawny guy.” A gun click was heard. When they turned their heads to look at Maeve’s direction, she had her gun pointed at them accompanied by a glare from her right eye. The men shushed themselves and continued working on the boar.

Zeke then looked at Dread. He’s probably boiling from anger. I’m starting to feel sorry for that stupid Lord. But more than him, I feel sorry for ‘them’. I think they were called the West Alley Gang? Sigh, this will be a disaster. But I guess this trip won’t be wasted because I’ll be meeting ‘her’. I’m quite excited.

After an hour of cooking and eating, they resumed on their journey. They managed to arrive in Waham at the darkness of the night.

At the gate of the city.

“I hope you won’t interfere in my fun.” Said Dread, looking at Zeke.

“Go ahead. Have fun. But I hope you don’t overdo it.”

A smirk creeped over Dread’s face as he hopped off the wagon. There were three guards patrolling at the gate. For them, it was just another night of patrolling.

“Ah, man.” Grumbled one of the guards.

“What’s up with you?”

“I’m just frustrated. Damn them.”

“You mean the West Alley Gang?”

“Yeah. Who else would I be talking about?”

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“I feel you brother. They think they own this city. They walk around the city collecting ‘protection fee’ from the citizens. My cousin told me about that.”

“Yeah, right. I’m just waiting for the time the Lord will give us the order to raid them. They’ve become a lot cocky.”

“I don’t think that’ll be happening though. The Lord has closed the doors of the mansion, not allowing anyone to enter. It seems something happened.”

“What?! Then what about the West Alley Gang? We can’t have them doing whatever they want.”

“I heard the Guard Captain reported this back when they started acting out of line.”

“You mean a month ago? What the hell is the Lord doing?”

“Shut up you too. Talking about the Lord behind his back is the same as treason.” Interfered another guard.

“Sorry.”

Distant footsteps were heard as the guards talked to each other. They were drawing closer and closer.

“W-what the hell? An orc?”

Due to the thumping of the footsteps to the ground as they drew closer, they sounded more like that of a giant monster. A giant body emerged from the empty abyss with a grin.

“A human?” The guard walked over to the titan of a man. “Sorry but you’ll have to show me a form of identi-“

Blood splatted through the air as the headless guard thudded the ground. A pool of blood emerged as the man drew closer.

“What the hell?” both guards drew their swords and pointed them at the incoming human. “You, stop there!”

Dread raised his fist that was smeared in blood. That signalled the guards that the man hadn’t come to play nice.

“Aaaahhh.” They both screamed as they charged at Dread.

Both their swords tore through the air. Dread stood there as their swords made contact. They both smiled in satisfaction as they had struck their target. Their smiles slowly disappeared as they realised that no blood was spilled.

They slowly looked up at the titan of a man as despair sank in their hearts.

“Now look what you have done. You ruined my shirt.” Said Dread.

Confused as to what he was talking about since his shirt was not damaged at all, two hands loomed over both sides of their faces. Dread grabbed their heads and slammed them together. Their brain matter spilled out like a crushed watermelon. Blood sprayed like a hose pipe, dirtying Dread’s shirt. Their lifeless corpses thudded the ground, with disfigured heads.

“I guess I said that too early, huh?” said Dread looking at his bloodied shirt.

The wagon drove as it stopped near Dread.

“I’ll be going on ahead.” Said Dread.

“Sure, whatever. Just don’t kill the Lord just like the one in Volis, okay. We’ll be following behind you.”

Noise grew closer as dozens of guards appeared, wielding spears, swords and shields.

“Finally, some fun.” Dread smirked as he charged at them, mowing them down one by one.

He threw a punch and heads went flying. A soldier appeared behind him and swung his sword. It broke the moment it made contact with his body. He smiled as he swung his giant fist, shattering the soldier’s entire face.

“W-what is with him? I-is he even human?”

“Don’t faulter everyone. Keep pushing. The is no way he can take on all of us.”

Dread locked his eyes on the man who was speaking. He charged at him, his movement blurring. He was so swift that no one saw what had happened. The only thing they could see as the moon’s light showered the area was a titan of a man holding the head of the person who was just shouting. Blood oozed from the neck like a fountain, painting the ground red.

Even though his head was detached from his body, his eyes were still moving in the sockets as if he was still conscious. His body tumbled to the ground as despair sank in the hearts of the soldiers.

The reason for that was because the man who had just died in a blink of an eye was the vice-captain. A man whose strength nearly rivalled that of the Guard Captain.

“V-vice captain.”

“Now. Who is next?” asked Dread with a grin.

That night, screams echoed throughout the city of Waham as people were slaughtered.

***

At the lord’s mansion.

A maid was rushing towards the room of the Lord. She knocked hurriedly on the door as sweat dripped from her cheeks.

“Lord Barco. Lord Barco. I believe there is an intruder. A lot of screams can be heard around the mansion and they are growing closer.”

“I understand. You can leave then.”

“…”

The voice that had answered the maid wasn’t that of the Lord, but that of the Guard Captain. The maid left immediately from there as she disappeared through the darkness of the hallway.

Duncan breathed a sigh of disappointment as he looked over to his Lord who was crouching on the floor like a baby, biting his nails. He had bags under his eyes and his hair was even falling off his head. His once beautiful aristocrat chambers were now a mess as the chairs and tables were on the ground, shattered. His bed didn’t even resemble a bed the Lord would sleep on. The sheets were torn and filled with grim. The beautifully decorated curtains that would surround his bed were torn and lying on the floor. It was as if a beast had rummaged the room.

As Lord Barco looked at Duncan, tears flowing down his face, he asked his subordinate a single question. A question he wished an answer desperately for.

“Duncan. What should I do? What should I do? Tell me what to do?”

Crazed eyes glared at Duncan, waiting in anticipation.

Even Duncan was disgraced by this side of his Lord. As a Lord, one should never show a pathetic side in front of their subordinates. Duncan looked at him and clicked his tongue. But no matter how disappointed or angry he was, he still needed to do his duty, and that was protecting his disgrace of a Lord.

“Don’t worry my Lord. I shall go and defeat the intruder at once. Please stay here for me to return.”

“Y-yes. If it’s you then I can rest easy. After all, you are a wielder of mana.”

Duncan was a commoner and it was rare for commoners to be able to utilise mana. Those few who did however have become outstanding soldiers and knights and Duncan was one of them.

Unlike the Esteria kingdom which had an academy that allowed even for commoners to study with the nobles, the Slavia kingdom was completely different. Its academy allowed only nobles and commoners were sent to the army where they would learn everything they needed about fighting.

Their training didn’t include mana training but there were those who were lucky enough to catch the eyes of their Captains or Generals who knew how to wield mana. Some were natural talents who awakened their mana while fighting or training.

Duncan was one of those few. Born in the city of Waham, he was able to teach himself the way of the sword. At fifteen years old, he joined Baron Barco’s army and further improved on his skills, eventually awakening his mana. Of course, he was nothing special compared to other people outside the city of Waham. But the people of Waham saw him as a sword prodigy.

Even though Duncan didn’t know what was happening, he knew that his Lord had something to do with it. Baron Barco was a low-class noble who didn’t have much wealth, territory or influence. To change that, he had made a lot of deals in the past with the gangs of Waham to give them freedom to do whatever they wanted, for commission of course.

This was illegal and if he was found out by the military of the country, there was no doubt that his head would go rolling. Thanks to the fact that this city was far from the capital, the military rarely patrolled this far away.

Five years back, he had made a deal with an unknown person. Better yet, an unknown group. The group promised him a sit at the council, which was where all the upper-class nobles were on. The council was created as a gathering place for nobles to help each other and to also voice their opinion on the affairs of the kingdom. It was also a good place to create connections with other nobles, increasing your sphere of influence.

Not only that, but he was also commissioned a lot of money for working with them. The only thing he had to do was sit back and watch over the gangs, especially the East Alley Gang. Since the East Alley Gang was part of their plans, the only thing he had to do was ignore their strange movements.

But when the East Alley Gang was destroyed, Barco was so shocked that he didn’t know what to do. He reported it to his employers, and they weren’t happy about the news. That was because the weapons they had provided the East Alley Gang were hard to get and they had to pull a lot of connections just to get them.

He was given a second chance and was told to choose a gang that was the powerfullest of them all.

The South Alley Gang was the powerfullest at the time, so he chose it. A threatening warning was given to him but he was confident in them.

The unknown group made a deal with the South Alley Gang. They accepted the deal and their purpose was clear but a war broke out with them, the North Alley Gang and the West Alley Gang.

This was something that went along with their deal so it should’ve been something good for them. But their power was reduced to nothing by the might of the, once weak, West Alley Gang. Because of that a desperate alliance was formed between the South Alley Gang and the North Alley Gang.

The North Alley Gang was filled in on the details of the deal by the South Alley Gang and they were happy to accept it. Of course they were tempted by the money and the weapons they received. Not only that, the soldiers of Barco were also ordered to ignore the two gangs and focus on extinguishing the West Alley Gang.

But that was easier said than done. The reason behind that was because they didn’t know the location of the West Alley Gang’s main base. Following Naomi’s traps which she set after noticing all of this, both the soldiers and the gangs fell one by one. Afraid of the harsh punishment he would receive, he kept quiet about the matter and never reported it to his employers.

All this time, stress has been eating away at him and now, finally, his demons were catching up.