"Ugh...!"

For the umpteenth time since waking up from the most cursed dream of his entire existence, Leon groaned with visible pain.

30 minutes ago, he was already in extremely bad shape due to all the injuries that he sustained in the harrowing dream battle against the assassin, and then the subsequent battle against General Sylvari Charr.

30 minutes later, though his body was no longer bleeding as his Racial Trait already helped to curb the bleeding a bit, he was still in a world of pain.

And worse was the fact that his soul was still heavily damaged.

Since becoming an Ascended, Leon never really got the time to delve into the concept of souls in Neo-Tokara. But now, he was forced to believe every single notification that the ChronoSystem showed him before shutting down because he was truly in a nightmare of pain.

The pain he was currently feeling was far beyond anything he had ever felt before. Any other man would have been unconscious already.

In normal circumstances, Leon would have been unconscious too by now after enduring it for so long, but something kept him going.

Something that he simply refused to leave for later, something that he badly yearned to address now.

This is why after the battle ended, when Ren Nora teleported beside him, showing concern, Leon asked for help to rise up to his feet instead.

Ghost-in-the-Machine!

BZZZ!

"Are you alright?" Finally, all the sense of control and dominance that Ren Nora had been showing since in front of Sylvari disappeared the moment he materialized beside Leon as he showed genuine panic.

But Leon didn’t pay too much attention to him.

"Help me up".

Despite being confused, Ren Nora helped Leon up.

Every tiny movement of his body resulted in a new pulse of pain, but Leon gritted his teeth through it all. And when Ren Nora saw where he looked after standing up, he finally understood what this was all about.

Leon gave a mental command, and immediately the Doom Rover v0.2 Skimisher Class scooped him up before charging towards the only other man still standing in the ruins of the just concluded battle.

Seeing Leon rush in that direction, Ren Nora hesitated, wondering if he should stop him or not but in the end, he did nothing.

He simply watched Leon leave till he arrived at his destination.

SHWING!

Leon unsheathed his T-7 Naga Vibro-blade, and then he stood before Lt. Colonel Umar Farouq, staring into his eyes with bloodshot black eyes that were barely containing the rage trapped within.

Leon grabbed the hilt of the vibro-blade so tight that his hands bled, but he didn’t feel the pain because he was in even more pain.

Just like the assassin, Lt. Colonel Umar Farouq watched the battles from the very beginning to the end without making a single move.

He betrayed Leon.

"Why did you do it???" He finally brought his emotions under control and snarled with a voice filled with pain and rage.

Lt. Colonel Umar Farouq didn’t flinch nor did he avoid his gaze as standing with his back straight, he looked back into Leon’s black eyes.

That nonchalant look irked Leon even more.

He laughed and then winced in pain, then he laughed again. "Haha, is that it? You betrayed me because of money?"

"How much exactly did they offer you?"

"Did you ask me for more money and I didn’t give you, you backstabbing piece of sh*t?!"

Due to his rage and letting his emotions out, Leon didn’t know when Ren Nora appeared beside him but at some point, the General did.

He answered on Umar’s stead.

Ren Nora sighed. "He was blackmailed".

"Huh?" Leon asked but he didn’t take his eyes off Lt. Colonel Umar Farouq, wanting to find answers to his pain and rage within his eyes.

Ren Nora sighed again. "I listened to you and refused to get involved. But in hindsight, maybe I should have self-inserted myself in your mission to help you more. Maybe most of this would have been avoided".

He paused for a few seconds to organize his thoughts, then he said. "They contacted him that same night after you successfully infiltrated Neo Solace".

"The ultimatum was this: the first is facilitate information about Leon Ardent to them or they’ll bomb his hometown and level it to the ground".

"The second is to help kill Leon and be paid a flat rate of 500 million Neo Credits," Ren Nora sighed again. "And if not, he’ll suffer the consequences as all the markets in his Town will be bombed at the same time".

Leon’s eyelids twitched.

Ren Nora continued. "The third is if he fights with Leon to protect him, his hometown will also be leveled to the ground. And if he tells you the truth and calls Operation Killing Joe off, his hometown will also be leveled to the ground".

Ren Nora paused for a few seconds, then he added. "He didn’t really have a choice, there was no choice to make. He was put in between a rock and a hard place".

"Whichever option he choose, he was bound to suffer unless he agreed to help in killing you".

"As you already know, he rejected that option".

Leon closed his eyes tightly, remembering fragments of the mission process through the haze of his pain.

He remembered life in Neo Solace for the past few days, he remembered how perfectly the operation was going. To think they were already compromised from the very first day.

He smiled darkly, then he looked away from Umar.

He stammered. "What... w-what of his hometown?"

Ren Nora was about to answer when a loud beeping sound suddenly reverberated from the Lt. Colonel’s direction.

BEEP!

Lt. Colonel Umar Farouq finally tore his face away from Leon and paid attention to his smartphone.

{NEW! Unread Message- Link}

He clicked on the link and instantly, he saw LIVE footage of a terrain that was very familiar to him since he was a kid.

It was his Town, and currently it was burning!

BOOMMMM!

Just like they promised, for not helping to kill Leon, tongues of flames were now licking through all the markets in his hometown!

He could hear people screaming through the footage, he could hear the terror and pain in their voices.

Lt. Colonel Umar Farouq looked away and closed his eyes, clenching his fists tightly as he trembled in rage.

Ren Nora spoke up. "I ordered my forces to intervene the moment I learned the truth, they’ll be there in a few minutes".

Leon didn’t hear what Ren Nora said, all he heard was the sound of the spreading fire and the screams of terror and pain in the LIVE footage.

He laughed.

He laughed in a pained, crooked, and angry voice. He laughed till his whole body began aching with pain, yet he didn’t stop laughing.

’Ah, I hate this world!’

’I hate the rulers of this world!’

’I hate General Sylvari!’

’I hate Director-Prime Epsilon!’

’I’ll kill them all!’ He snarled.

’I’m going to burn every single one of them to the ground!’

Somewhere along the line...

THUD!

Leon collapsed, unconscious as he finally succumbed to all the pain that he’d been subjected to today, 28th September Year 714 A.G.

...

[Special Appreciation to thatotherguy008, Jah1140, byrdseede, and ImperialJadeDragon for the Golden Tickets! Thanks for the support throughout the month, I appreciate it.]