Robert struggled to keep his eyelids from closing. With excessive amounts of blood pouring from his mouth, he gasped for air.

Time seemed to slow down and he knew that even though he was ‘’lucky’’ that he was born with his heart on the right side of his chest, that notion did not give him any solace.

Grasping the straws, the survival instinct that he had always been so proud told him that now was the time to think outside of the box. Weakly lying in a puddle of his own blood, Robert weakly pulled out a cell phone and chose the last contact he would ever imagine calling.

Nervously waiting for a few rings that seemed to be an eternity, he finally heard a gruff voice answering the phone with suspicion.

‘’34th street in Runa, dark alleyway. I am…dying. Save…Me and you get what you want.’’

Without giving anything else away, Robert decisively hung up the call and dropped the phone on the cold and contaminated ground. With his last strength he mustered all he could and crawled towards the ampoule containing the general antidote for poisons.

He reached out for the medicine and sighed deeply before leaning weakly on the wall in a sitting position. Gritting his teeth, he stuck the already dirty needle on his neck and emptied the ampoule.

Realizing that his consciousness was getting blurry from all the abuse he endured during his small and simple delivery, Robert could not help but chuckle lightly.

‘’Haeh..hehhah… Begging mercy from the enemy. How far are humans willing to stoop?’’

Finally unable to hold on anymore: He closed his eyelids and his sitting position was quickly devolving into full fledged collapse, leaving his trail of blood on the wall behind him.

----------------------------------------

Karl approached Rob from behind and tapped his shoulder.

‘’Who do you think is the sender and how they found out?’’

Rob had an uneasy expression on his face and keenly observed the box for traps. Without registering Karl’s voice, he continued to inspect the delivered package.

After a brief moment, Rob breathed out a sigh of relief and finally paid attention to Karl.

‘’Were you saying something? Sorry I was too distracted.’’ Rob scratched the back of his head awkwardly and gave a reassuring smile.

Shrugging his shoulders, Karl gave a nasty grin and could not help but tease Rob.

‘’So it would seem that the feared master in Runa can be embarrassed too. I asked where do you think they found out about us?’’

‘’No idea man, I have a hunch that we will find out when we open the surprise box.’’

The two shared a look of intrigue and finally decided not to stand on ceremony.

Rob lifted the box on the table and cautiously started to remove the sealing on the box. When they opened it little by little a putrid smell assaulted their noses.

‘’Fucking hell, they are way too cocky to send a box full of poison to a poison master?’’ Karl cursed while pinching his crooked nose.

‘’I know this smell…’’ Rob muttered in a quiet tone and an uneasy image formed inside his head. Could the package not be what he imagined?

Disregarding the disgruntled Karl, Rob ripped open the box and froze. Karl could see the shock in the famous Spider’s eyes and kept his mouth shut.

Abrupt silence fell and Karl knew that Rob needed some time alone so he promptly gave a few reassuring taps on his shoulder and said his goodbyes.

‘’I am sorry for your loss, Rob.’’ Karl’s voice slowly disappeared as he left the room.

Rob stared blankly at his former comrade, nay brother’s decapitated head. The eyes were still open and Rob felt pain in his chest as he knew the look: Torture and unease.

Rob slowly moved his hand to close the eyes of former brother in arms, and sobbed inaudibly.

‘’Nate you dumb cunt, how could you leave this world before me? I always told you that your filthy mouth will get you killed some day, but I always believed that you knew how to have discretion…’’

Quietly mourning the passing of his former brother in arms on his knees, the grief slowly turned into despair and then finally blazing rage.

‘’I will get vengeance for you Nate. This I promise…’’ Clenching his fist heavily, Rob muttered between his clenched teeth with ideas of murder and destruction swirling in his head.

Slowly standing up to his feet, Rob spoke with a gentle tone to the bodiless head.

‘’Let’s get a proper burial for you, so that you will not be forgotten in the ashes of history…’’

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

‘’Find out who is the sender, I will make sure they will have to pay the price.’’ Rob called Karl with a loud voice and reddened eyes.

Karl, who had been waiting for Rob behind the closed door poked his disfigured face from behind the door and saw that his friend was processing his feelings in a relatively calm fashion. Breathing a sigh of relief, he entered the room.

Just as he was about to enter the room he felt tremendous pressure closing in. Rob had noticed it as well and quickly closed the box and put it in a corner.

‘’Prepare for battle, I can feel that this is not your everyday Tom Dick or Harry.’’ Rob muttered with a serious voice.

Summoning his staff, Rob already started his incantations for virulent poison and Karl clasped his relic and started to strengthen himself.

‘’Found…You…Good’’

The wall collapsed with a resounding blast of pure dark energy and a dark figure emerged with these words.

Seeing the culprit, Rob and Karl could not hide their shock as they had never seen a man like him.

‘’Who the fuck are you supposed to be and why are you here?’’ Karl ripped his outer garments, leaving a traditional martial arts uniform left with marks of time.

The black figure disregarded Rob and Karl entirely and fixed his gaze on the box laying inconspicuously in the corner. Slowly walking past Karl and Rob, he went to the box and with his back turned he growled with a low voice.

‘’Good. Follow….Box…Kill all.’’

These words tensed Karl and Rob and they heard other members rushing to their location.

‘’Shit, the others are no match for this monster. We need to get them to leave first.’’ Karl tensed his very being and was ready to pounce.

Rob nodded and cast his poison to the man in front of the box and yelled with a furious tone.

‘’Get the fuck away from my friend, fiend! Eat shit and die!’’

Greenish purple mist surrounded the strange, tattooed man and it observed the mist with curiosity. The dark purple tattoos lit up and consumed the mist little by little while it was still seemingly in thought.

‘’Angry? Friend…In box?’’ After these words, Two shattered the box with a kick and picked up a lone head.

‘’Your…Friend?’’

Finally turning with a head in hand to look at Rob and Karl, the fiend brought Nate’s head closer to his mouth and took a bite.

‘’Trash. Disgusting. Fresh better.’’ Two uttered and threw the head away like garbage.

Furious, Rob and Karl could not take it anymore despite knowing they had to buy time and launched their assault: With Karl as vanguard and Rob bombarding from behind, it would maximize their efficiency.

Karl, trained in multiple martial arts to cover his shortcomings in his earlier life, aimed his kick at Two’s neck. Fully realizing the gap of strength between them, he could only try to aim for vulnerabile spots that could buy the other members time to make their escape.

Two simply raised his arm to block the kick from Karl and snorted disdainfully before slamming him into the head with the free hand.

‘’Weak.’’

Rob saw Karl flying across the room spurting blood and imbuing his staff with pure mana instead of a poison attribute.

‘’You might be resistant to poison but even a big guy has to get hurt when you get hit by this.’’

Almost vanishing from his position, Rob took a stance with his staff like using a spear and shoved it at Two's chest. Seeing that he had caught Two unprepared, the staff plunged deep into Two’s chest.

Let’s see how tough you are now cunt? Rob thought and knew that he had dealt a critical blow when he felt the staff thrusting into a solid mass of flesh.

Realizing that something was wrong when he had not heard even a slightest grunt, Rob raised his eyes to meet the creature’s eyes.

What greeted was a mocking, cold pair of eyes that contained only brutality.

‘’Die.’’

Two clenched his right fist and prepared to deliver a fatal blow and swung at Rob who was clinging to his staff lodged deep inside his flesh.

Rob quickly let go of his staff and retreated with haste next to Karl.

‘’Brother…I am afraid this is going to be tough.’’ Rob spoke grimly.

Karl just wiped the bloodstain off his mouth and spat out one of his teeth. Grinning stupidly with a missing teeth, Karl spoke in a joyous tone.

‘’We can always look at the good side of things. At least we are worthy enough to get the attention of the big boys.’’ Chuckling, Karl made one more remark.

‘’Plan B?’’

‘’Plan B.’’ Rob chuckled and nodded.

Rob patted dust off himself in a dignified manner and spoke with a grave voice.

‘’I originally did not want to use this but you have left me no choice. This is my ultimate move, if you can withstand it then you win.’’ Bracing himself for something great, Rob started to churn out massive amounts of mana.

Two understood what Rob was trying to convey and a hint of caution entered his madness filled eyes.

‘’Come. I…Am…Invincible…’’ With this said, Two’s tattoos started to glow and darkness started to roll in like smoke.

Rob prepared a stance and pointed his hand towards Two.

‘’Master tactics: Reverse advance!’’ Rob yelled his movename, and a bright flash of light filled the street along with a massive sound covering the neighborhood.

Two covered his face with his hands and the dark tattoos lit up in a sinister dark purple light. The atmosphere trembled from a black pulse emitted by Two and soon the sound and light faded, leaving behind only Two standing tall amidst the ruins of Rob’s former hideout.

Sweeping his cold gaze in the surroundings, Two knew that he had been hoodwinked the moment he could not find or sense the Spider. Letting out a furious howl filled with madness and carnage, Two started his pursuit.