093 PastXBeginning

Lara flew in fast directly to the Pyramid directions after defeating the web spitting spider. A few minute already past and she is now nearing the foot of the pyramid.

She looked over the east side step and saw a shadow of a man climbing the stairs and almost at the summit. "Bradford!" She shouted as well as fired the gun multiple times into the air.

Bradford heard the gunshot and look for its source. He saw Lara riding on an eagle firing her gun upwards. "Yes, it is Lara!" Instead of continuing his climb Bradford changed his directions and run to Lara's direction. "Over here, Lara!!!" Shouted Bradford while waiving his hands.

"Good he saw me. Hurry up Aquila! We can't let Marco get a hold of it first." Lara urged her Nen beast.

*creeeeee* Aquila screeched in acknowledgement.

*boom* *booom* *booom* *booom*

"Who is that?" Asked Bradford as he saw a half naked-bloodied man with tattered pants, with explosions occuring on his shoeless feet that propelled him amazingly fast to his direction.

A wild speeding Marco appeared. He used his powerful fiery steps with reckless abandon as more burn wounds appeared on his feet and legs. The more power he put on the explosion, the faster he gets, but his Ken is unable to fully neutralize the damage causing some of the explosion to burn his feet.

He outpaced the flying eagle and reached Bradford in record time, dragging the man on his neck and landing at the top of the pyramid.

Marco landed with his sorefeet on the ground and grinaced in pain. He almost lost his footing and let go of Bradford. But with sheer will, he forced himself to stand and get a grip on the struggling Bradford.

Once Marco recovered his balance, he turned around and face Lara while putting Bradford in front as a shield. "Hello, Lara Croft. Fancy meeting you here. I'd assume you have disposed our Trinity Spy?"

"I didn't. Silver did." Honestly answered Lara while pointing his gun at Marco. "Now why don't you release Bradford so we can decide who gets to acquire the Dagger of Xian?" Challenged Lara.

"I would like to oblige, but I have to reject your kind offer. You see, your young apprentice did quite do a number on me. I am afraid I do not have the strength nor the energy to fight you fairly."

Hearing the mention of apprentice, Lara tried to look around but could not see a shadow of Silver. She then observed Marco's current situation and was both surprised and worried. Surprised Silver was able to do this to a genuine hunter 3 or 4 time his age and worried for Silver's current health.

"Do not worry, he has escaped after leaving me... well, like this." Marco gestured to himself with his free hand. "And seeing Slade is not here yet, it could only mean two things. He is either dead or still fighting with Grylls. You see, I am at a disadvantage."

"If you already know your situation, why struggle? Give up the Dagger and I'll swear to let you live and put in a prison. I swear to you as a double hunter." Lara negotiated.

"Hahahahahahaha. You are not a very good negotiator, Lara. I decline whatever your offering." Laughed Marco.

"Ever since I could remember, my father has been fascinated by this dagger." Marco reached out to the dagger of Xian and pulled it. However it won't come off from Bradford's open palm. Marco frowned and continued. "He used to tell me how this Dagger could grant immortal life and power beyond belief. But seeing the previous owner died, I doubt the immortality part. One night he returned with the Seraph key to try and look for this very place." He paused for a while and look at the scenery at the top of the Pyramid.

"He traveled for two years, yet could not find even a shadow of this place. Then, the Trinity family connived with the other 9 Dons at the time and decided to put matters on their own hands. They sunk the ship my father at before taking the now vacant Don seat." He paused for others to take in his words.

"The skull you took at the sunken ship, was that your father's?" Lara asked as she started to connect the dots together.

"Yes, I was 9 at the time. They also went further burning me and my family along with the rest of the estate. But I survived, and I swore to put my revenge on Trinity and the Ten Dons myself! I could still clearly remember the night it happened. It was 9pm when I was hurriedly woken by my mother. We ran all over the place to escape the hell fire. We managed to escape along with some of our servant, but the Trinity family was not having it. They were waiting in ambush and killed everyone who tried to escape. We had no choice but to return to the burning mansion and seek refuge in the cellar. But the fire still burned through the cellar only which I survived by my mother's protecting embrace."

"Everytime I see this burnt body in the mirror, it reminds me of my promise and strengthen my resolve. And this... this dagger will help me complete my vengeance!" He roared in anger.

"I can help you deal with the Ten Dons! They are a crime family to begin with, I'm sure we can gather enough force to fight them. Don't do anything rush that you will regret in the future." Lara wanted to calm Marco and lowered her guns. She felt pitty of his past and offered an alternative.

"It is not just about destroying the Ten Dons Lara, it is also about sending the message. The last member of the Bartoli family that they tried to erase will be the the sole reason the whole Dons and their family perish. And this time, I'll make sure every single family and person connected to them will not survive." Marco grinned evily.

"You are crazy! That will be genocide! The hunter association won't sit idly by." Lara argued.

"With this dagger? The Hunter association can't do a thing. Now let's start the ceremony!" Holding the dagger in Bradford's hand, he stabbed the dagger of Xian into his heart without hesitation.

"What?" Bradford/Lara asked in confused manner.

Then Bradford's hand was able to let go of the dagger. He hurriedly step aside and watch Marco's corpse fall on his back.

He kicked it a few times to look for any reaction but found none. "Is he dead?"

Lara landed not far from the two and checked for any pulse in Marco's corpse and was shocked to see a normal pulse. She then tried to pull the dagger from Marco's heart but she find it impossible to remove. "He is still alive, what the hell is going on?"

"I got a bad feeling about this, Lara" Bradford whispered.

"Me too Bradford, me too."