A Glimpse of the Truth (Damien's POV)

Damien's eyes turned cold as all emotion left his voice.

"You should not have done that."

Sebastian, however, didn't seem to get the hint.

"Are you going to kill me now Damien? I am reeeeeally curious."

He kept on chuckling to himself with a crazy glint in his eyes.

Damien's eyes grew even colder after seeing that and finally decided to take action.

He used his left hand's thumb to crack the fingers of that hand.

It was his ritual that allowed him to instantly gain his calm when placed in precarious situations.

The chaotic thoughts that were messing up his brain were gone in an instant.

The only side-effect was that he often ended up doing things in this state that his normal self was opposed to.

Once his mind achieved a state of perfect calm, he logically analyzed the current situation.

He was standing in front of an armed and dangerous individual who had just killed a trusted and dear member of his Familia.

By killing one of his own, the man in front of him had just declared his hostility to the Familia in front of him.

There is only one end that all the enemies of the Familia meet.

Death.

It didn't matter if the man once used to be his friend, and was clearly not in the right frame of mind.

As the heir to the Familia, it was his duty as the heir to eliminate all threats to the Familia.

Damien cracked his fingers once again.

Any hesitation and reservations that he might have had were eliminated from his thought stream.

He was just a tool of the Familia.

A tool just had to do its job faithfully.

Now that he had decided to kill his old friend Sebastian, he had to quickly act on it in the most efficient manner.

Sebastian was armed with a pistol and had previously displayed the ability to wipe out a ten-man squad with ease.

Going by his current, he won't take the initiative to attack Damien.

That was good. Damien was only armed with a sniper rifle which was useless at close range.

Not preparing himself for the possibility that Sebastian might go rogue was a gross oversight on his part.

Damien mentally berated himself for still being so immature.

He was a member of the Familia.

It had never been possible to have a 'normal' life.

'Friends' were a luxury he could never afford to have.

Damien secretly sent an SOS message to the Familia members to assemble all available members to come to his aid.

Damien felt that perhaps only a 50-man team had a chance at taking Sebastian out.

Sebastian being this strong did not make logical sense, but Damien decided to trust his instincts.

After having completed his preparations, Damien continued to coldly stare at his former friend Sebastian Alaister.

The Sebastian he knew was a kind soul that used to hide away his pain and insecurities under a sarcastic and lazy façade.

He was definitely not the type of person to kill someone while laughing like a maniac.

"Are you really the Sebastian I know?"

Sebastian stopped laughing and pursed his lips momentarily.

For a brief moment, the crazy glint within Seb's eyes gave way to some sense of clarity.

"People change Damien. I am sure you will have too, by the time we meet in reality."

Damien felt stunned for a second.

Did… did Sebastian think he wasn't in reality at the moment?

That this was some kind of dream?

Was the shock of Ronnie dying that hard for him to handle…

No, Damien shook his head.

Sebastian was no longer his friend.

He was just an enemy.

He didn't need to concern himself about the mental state of his enemy.

The only state an enemy needed to have was that of being dead and buried six feet under.

Some don't even get the luxury of getting buried.

Damien turned over his wrist to look at the time.

It was around 9:25.

His men should have arrived by now.

Why weren't they here yet?

Damien looked at Sebastian again.

Sebastian only smiled back at him innocently.

"Aren't you going to do anything Damien? Could it be that you intend to let me go? I might actually feel disappointed if that is the case."

No.

This lunatic didn't have anything to do with it.

What then?

The only possible answer was the Bratva.

But with their current manpower, clearing out the remnants of the Bratva shouldn't be a challenge at all.

Then what could possibly be-

*BOOM!*

A huge shockwave passed through the room as the both of them heard the sound of a massive explosion taking place downstairs.

Damien's face paled instantly.

Bombs?

Since when did the Bratva have access to bombs?

The Caputo Familia had strict control over all channels of smuggling explosives into the country.

Did the Bratva manage to get an internal source?

Or was there a channel that even the Familia didn't know about?

"It's that damn avenger from the Bratva again!"

Damien instantly reacted to Sebastian's words.

"Nonsense! The Bratva doesn't have any avengers! That's not how mafias work! This is not some movie."

"Really, then who is this Katana-wielding dude that is trying to kill me right now?"

Damien felt incredibly confused.

Just what in the world was Sebastian going on about?

Were they just the ramblings of an insane man?

First, the nonsensical idea that a mafia would actually send an avenger after someone.

No, they don't do that. They let things settle down, investigate you, and THEN attack you using your weakness.

No one sends an avenger immediately after a loss.

The Bratva's war with the Caputos wasn't even over yet.

It was just a waste of valuable resources and manpower to try and hunt down one man.

Did Sebastian really think that the world revolved around him?

Moreover katanas?

This was the 21st century.

Nobody used cold weapons anymore.

Scoffing at himself for getting strung along by the nonsense Sebastian had said, Damien decided to focus on the matter at hand.

He needed to estimate his losses and come up with a plan of action and then-

*SPURT*

It really was a katana.

Defying all known laws of physics, a Katana floating in thin air stabbed right through Sebastian's chest.

Damien never saw it coming.

A raspy and ethereal voice could be heard echoing behind him.

"All your friends are now dead Damien Caputo. Burn the current scene into your memory. You no longer have a choice."

Damien's knees felt weak.

He rushed forward and held Sebastian as the light faded out of his ex-friend's eyes.

"You fucking Bitch! Don't you dare die like that! I am the one who was supposed to kill you!"

Sebastian still had a few breaths of life left in him.

He had somehow managed to anticipate the attack and shift his body just enough to avoid being killed on the spot.

But Damien knew that the wound was still fatal. At most Sebastian would live for a few breaths more.

As the malevolent presence of the killer left the scene, Damien suddenly froze.

Bits and pieces of information swirling around his brain started to connect with each other to form a clear picture.

The crazy ramblings that Sebastian had uttered, the leaking of Damien's identity, the abnormal kidnapping, the clear presence of supernatural abilities and the final words left behind by the killer.

They all pointed towards one crazy conclusion.

The more Damien thought about it, the more it all made sense.

And within that conclusion, Sebastian's current state led to the possibility of another hypothesis.

Realizing that Sebastian didn't have much time left, all Damien could do was laugh helplessly before uttering a few words into Sebastian's ear before he breathed his last breath.

"See you on the other side old friend. The next time we meet might not be as friends."

Sebastian's eyes seemed to widen in recognition before losing all light altogether.

Damien looked solemnly as the man who used to be his best friend died within his arms.

And the world faded to black.