Chapter 140 – Grimly Singe-Minded

He dragged the noble and pushed him inside a cell. “Bastards, the Templars will cut all of your heads!” he pounded on the cell. He dully looked at the noble before trotting out to the corridor where he saw the rest of the group who survived the raid.

“Bihar, Rosie, Harriet, Gomez, are we the only ones that survived?”

“Yeah,” Bihar nodded, pressing his back on the grey wall. “Most of the comrades got gunned down. We expected to take casualties on our side. But this is just plain disastrous,” He nodded his head. “Aye, we knew that it was suicidal but it worked and we at least got one of the nobles we are after. The Officiator and the Head Judge escaped. Tsk, how come we missed that person?”

Rosie dusted her cape. “We don’t know that there was a last invitee that has a ship that fast. Shit, we messed up and now they are going after us. We manage to hide undetected but that will change now that the Lord Officiator and the Head Judge witnessed our raid. The place’s probably swarming with Inquisitors.”

Harriet folded her arms. She looked at the gloomy expression of her teammates. “So what we are going to do then? Continue the raids or should we go back?”

“And spit on our comrade’s death?” Gomez cuts in. “We agreed that it is either death or victory. We’ve come this far and it is thanks to the bastard currently cutting the skin of the noble we capture that we could make it this far.”

“He’s what?” asked Bihar.

“His interrogating the noble we caught. I don’t think he’ll last another minute once he cuts his tendons then cauterize his wounds. Then I am giving him an hour or less.”

“I see,” Rosie nodded. “Then I guess we should let him do so.”

Everyone nodded at that. They stood still for a second or two before leaving the corridor. He stayed for a while and listened in. He could hear the noble he pushed inside the cell shouting horribly. His shriek made his spine tremble. There was a continuous pleads of mercy before the noble finally bawled like a child, telling the person who was torturing him what he knew.

It was a confession made of stuttering and mumbling. The person that tortured the noble was quite patient. Allowing the noble to explain all he knew. By the time the noble was done talking. He heard a loud smack. The cell door opened and a person wearing a hood and cape that covered the webbings of pouches and bandoliers on him. The person sheathed his combat dagger and looked at him with dull impassive eyes. He thought that his eyes looked like a corpse. It was so cold that he still shivers at the sight of it. He spun and turned to the other direction. He carried his scoped rifle and disappeared within his sight.

The man was quiet as hell. He barely talks and when he does. His voice was filled with a cold seething fury. He still remembers the first time that they met the guy. They were trying to infiltrate Midland. But the security of the land was high. So in order to smuggle their way in, they tried kidnapping an official.

Things were going too easy when did. And when they thought the official was theirs. They saw him mutilating the official. They tried threatening the man first but it ended with them just one single step into death. The man was very cautious and before interrogating the official. He had set up a tripwire that would have blasted them open. Thankfully, Bihar was able to compromise with him.

Since the man was going after Midland officials. Bihar offered an alliance. The man hesitated and was clearly distrustful but agreed while decreeing his own terms. He would work with them but they are not his ally. He would help them only if their interest aligned. He was a paranoid man. So they had to appease him through trust.

The group didn’t regret associating with him. Although he was unhinged and grimly single-minded, the group was able to work with him. If they didn’t then there was no chance for them to reach the heart of Midland. The Templars trusted the man because he was not Cagan or a Bali native. Hence they were able to continuously do what they wanted because of it.

Still, he thought how that would change now that the Lord Officiator and High Judge knew of their existence. He warned them that it was reckless but they didn’t listen. He felt that they should have. But now their cover was blown and before long the Templars will be searching for them.

He could only shake his head at that thought. He walked to where the cell was and checked if the noble was alive. The noble was barely alive. He looked at his skinned cheek and down to his stomach, only to see a box attached to the noble’s stomach. He opened the cell, went inside and squatted to check what’s inside the box. He fiddled with the box only to smell a familiar scent.

He ripped the box open and there was a click. There was a bundle of dynamite that was rigged with a flint and a string. Pulling the string primed the bomb. And knowing this he sprinted away from the cell and started shouting for everyone who could hear him, to get out.

But it was too late. The bomb exploded and he felt his world rotate badly as he landed on the ground heavily. His bones broke. His limbs were facing the wrong direction. He looked at the building they were staying. It was burning and he could see that some of his comrades were able to escape but was badly injured, like him. He tried to crawl and take a deep breath. But he heard the cocking of a gun. He looked up. He saw the man’s cold and dull eyes. His gaze was piercing his soul as if the man was looking at him like a monster.

“Stan...I thought we had a deal?” he asked.

'Stan' gazed at him. “You Bali and Cagan fucks burned down Avilla City once. You killed people. And I saw you bastards gunned the servants at that tower. I told you bastards that it would be risky. But you didn’t listen and killed anyway.”

“You were planning to betray us?”

“I wasn’t supposed to. But things are different now. You guys failed. And now I hope you bastards go to whatever heaven or hell you believed in.”

He tried to shout curses. But he only heard the gunshot coming from Stan’s gun, and the darkness surrounding his vision instantly.