Romans 6

"This is an outrage!" Xavier's voice rang out. "A complete outrage, I tell ya!"

Inside, he hurled one of his expensive chairs across the space. It crashed against a wall. It was quite the melodramatic scene, one bordering on sympathetic amusement.

Xavier leaned over his living room table, frantically scribbling with one hand while his other raked through his slicked-back hair, revealing the sweat glistening against his skin.

"My stock went down by another ten percent!" he screamed, drumming a fist against some papers strewn across the table. He was speaking to one of his servants. "Get in contact with my secretary! I need him to make trades—now!"

It was quite easy to figure out what had transpired. News of John Belfort—Arthur's name being bandied about like fresh gossip—had caused an uproar in the financial world.

Because of that, it had begun to drag Xavier's empire along for the ride. The fallout had created a media upheaval, and it appeared that the public had been far less forgiving when it came to the association with Arthur's demise.

"Darn it all, that stupid John!" Xavier bellowed as he swept more papers onto the floor in frustration, sending his own documents spiraling into disarray across his plush carpet.

As his servant scurried out, a figure appeared on the staircase—a blonde in a revealing nightgown. She had the look of irritation on her face. The woman rather easily fit the stereotype of a bimbo.

"Can you quit making a racket and come to bed?" she snapped, visibly exasperated.

"I can't sleep!" Xavier barked. "John ruined my company!"

"Listen," his wife chided, arms crossed defiantly, "you deal with corrupt politicians all the time. Why is John any different?"

"Because he is different!" he shouted, punctuating his statement by thumping a fist against the desk. "He was the feudal lord's successor and was about to become the feudal lord if it weren't for that stupid whore!"

"The Mizukage?"

"Yes, that's the one! John had power over this entire nation, and now because of some foolish headlines pointing at me, there's an ongoing investigation into my company!"

His wife had underestimated the fallout of Arthur's influence; it seemed the press had locked onto the narrative of corruption tighter than she or any average citizen could have anticipated.

She rolled her eyes, dramatically sighing.

"So what's your grand plan, then?" she pressed with a scowl. There was a sharpness in her tone beneath her seemingly superficial nature. Perhaps it was her husband's self-imploding obsession with power rather than their family. "Ya gonna spend money to clear his name?"

"No," he darkly chuckled, "I'm gonna spend money to clear my name!"

He honestly hadn't thought of that until his wife made mention of it.

"I'll make copies of the original documents I signed and forge them. Show the press how innocent I am while painting John as the villain!"

He rubbed his large hands together with a satisfied expression to show how seriously corrupt he truly was.

"Whatever," his wife sighed, knowing better than to engage further. "I'll sleep alone tonight, then."

She turned, stalking back up the staircase, leaving Xavier with his malevolent scheming.

As she disappeared, Xavier felt a tingling thrill. He knew the plan would likely work since it would be an attack against Arthur's name—albeit a deceptive one.

That being said, Xavier directed his focus on the basement of his mansion. But why there, of all places? It was because he was going to retrieve some information vital to that devious plan of his.

He made his descent, trekking deeper into his hidden recess of wealth and deception.

There, he arrived at a heavy steel door and fumbled for a complex combination to unlock the safe. With a click, the door swung open. Inside were blueprints, contracts, and documents across the shelves.

Xavier began rifling through papers insistently in the confined space. It was a clear show that he frequently used to profane alliances in the bastardized shades of black and white.

After a few minutes of searching, he finally emerged from the basement, carrying with him a massive stack of papers—all of which detailed everything about the Sun Stream Plaza.

He laid out the documents on the kitchen table. Then he began to mutter to himself as he scanned through the records, not understanding the deeper implications of what was about to transpire.

And that was no one double-crossed Arthur Bennett!

Then suddenly, something unexpected happened—the power abruptly plunged the home into darkness. The silence that followed made Xavier start sweating.

"What the heck?!"

He fumbled around, searching for a radio.

"It seems you really don't understand…" a voice droned from the eerie scene.

"Who's there?" Xavier shouted. He continued to fumble for a lamp in the dark, finding himself unable to see anything.

"It really is a shame…"

Xavier's eyes widened upon recognizing whose voice it was. "John! How did you get in my house?!"

"That really how you wanna start this off…?"

"You! You're nothing but a public fugitive now! If you're here for revenge, you'll—"

"I'm here for more than just revenge," Arthur stated coldly. "You broke our contractual agreement…"

Xavier waved a dismissive hand, trying to reclaim control over the conversation.

"It was just business!" he spat back. "My company's worth more than this whole country—more than you could ever hope to get back from it!"

Arthur found no reason to chuckle at this man's semblance of power over riches. Because of his silence, the tension grew.

Xavier leaned against the counter, still desperate to reclaim the upper hand. He yelled, "I thought I would help in keeping your secrets safe as long as it didn't cost me!"

"Oh…" Arthur said from the dark. "You expect me to believe that? After you gave away those secrets instead?"

Xavier opened his mouth to retort; Arthur's claims were more than true.

"You tried to give me up to the Mizukage, no?" Arthur wondered.

"Of course not!" Xavier confessed through gritted teeth. "She came to me asking for information! I didn't think it was some sort of investigation on you! I thought it wouldn't matter and that it was for your inauguration."

"So you admit to breaking our agreement…"

The lights flickered on momentarily before plunging back into darkness. Xavier's home had quickly become filled with dread. He shifted nervously, seeing how he had just confessed to having betrayed Arthur.

This wasn't just about fiscal reports or company standings—the stakes were personal. And Xavier wasn't aware of how deep the rabbit hole went for Arthur.

At that moment, Xavier's eyes darted to where the documents lay scattered. He believed that if Arthur was here, he could only be after the papers.

"You wouldn't!"

Suddenly, a woman's scream shot through the mansion, freezing Xavier's blood: "Somebody help me!"

It was his wife's frantic cry, seeped with terror laced in her tone. At that moment, Xavier stuffed as many as he could into his arms as panic flooded his senses.

He then sprinted toward the staircase, only to trip over an unseen object. The papers flew from his grasp, scattering across the floor like leaves.

"No! No! No!" he hissed, scrambling to gather the remnants of his desperation. "Guards, come quick!"

His heart began to beat faster as he lifted the papers from the floor, hearing more screams throughout the house once more. When they stopped, he began to hear measured footsteps echoing against the wooden floors close behind him.

In a rush of adrenaline, he cleared away what he could before slipping into the nearest shadowed corner, hiding and trembling. He was scared, truly and utterly frightened at what was happening.

"John!" he shouted into the darkness. "I'm just a businessman—a businessman, ya hear! Show yourself or I'll shred the papers!"

But the only response he got was mocking silence. He soon became aware of his racing heartbeat echoing within his chest as the footsteps inched closer.

"Don't do this!" he tried again. "I'll make you a deal! I'll hand over everything, and I'll be quiet! I promise! No one will even know that you were here!"

Still no reply came; the shadows began to gnaw away at his sanity. With every second that passed, his desperation swelled.

"Where are you?!" he cried. "Just come out already!"

His throat tightened as he drew breath, forcing himself to quell the manic spirals of fear that were unraveling the seams of his mind.

Then, a sound split the air; it was slow and sharp in nature. It was the sound of impending doom drawing ever closer, sending fear through Xavier's veins.

He pressed himself tighter against the cold, unforgiving wall. The shadows warped before him, swallowing the space like something out of a horror story.

He tried to run to the sides, away from the danger, but was met by another wall. His body then fell to the floor as he recoiled deeper into the corner, half-expecting the shadows themselves to come alive.

The footsteps became deafening, and a shadow emerged larger against the darkness. It was as though the night coalesced into a monstrous form, twisting and curving, the silhouette indistinguishable, treacherous, and menacing.

"I beg you, don't do—"

Just when he thought he could ask for mercy, he felt it—a piercing pain in his chest, an agonizing shock that caused the light from his vision to darken. He gasped as he raised his hands to clutch the air, only for his fingers to find cold metal embedded inside his belly.

His mind struggled to grasp the blade plunged deep within him. Blood spilled from his mouth, and he lay flat on the ground with trembling fingers struggling to recognize the truth of his predicament.

His breath then came in ragged gasps, fighting against the overwhelming sense of death pulling him deeper into the pit. He tried to catch a glimpse of the assailant lurking behind the shroud of darkness.

"You… you can't..." he murmured, his mouth trembling as more blood seeped out.

"Don't you know," Arthur's voice echoed. "For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord (Romans 6:23)."

The last vestiges of existence finally slipped from Xavier as he cascaded into nothingness.

Arthur picked up the documents, knowing that these were the same blueprints he had given the former mob boss. Just as he suspected, they had been altered.

Without needing to say another word, he stepped into the pale moonlight before ascending to the sky. Then he activated his Simian Sage Mode and placed one palm toward the mansion's direction.

'Sage art: water dragon jutsu…'

Three mighty dragons materialized from both the air and the lake nearby, twisting like serpents as they roared.

They then erupted forth, crashing through the walls and surging through the mansion like a flood, ripping apart the foundations Xavier had once stood upon. Furniture crashed and shattered while the torrent filled the space with a deluge; walls buckled and bucked under the onslaught of nature unleashed.

The water dragons swept through the darkness, washing away the remnants of Xavier's criminal estate while drowning his name in disgrace. Arthur watched from above as the torrents streamed across the ground, effortlessly crumbling everything beneath the tide—flesh and blood mingling with debris in a state of retribution.

Everything was obliterated.

As the water receded, leaving nothing behind, Arthur floated there to measure the aftermath.

The sight was haunting, to say the least, but Xavier Hillard was no more.