Disdain for the syndicate leaders

Following that meeting he had with Sofiya, where she sent him Aldenis' message, Vlad only checked his blood and dark energies techniques to see if there were any drawbacks from using them, in case he really encountered a Haki user.

Time passed in a seeming peaceful manner in the secluded zone outside Sagletius. In two weeks, the orphan kids began looking even more normal, yet still had some way to full recovery, which Vlad overseed with an attentive manner.

The boys even began to get interested in training in the same manner Robert did, but Vlad forbid them from doing so, saying to them.

"When I feel you're in a good state to train yourselves, I will consider it, just see that you learn some things from Elisabeth and Sofiya that I might have no clue about."

The boys only nodded their heads while looking at Robert, who was training with a desire to be just like him, and Vlad, who was observing everything from a distance in a calm and relaxed manner.

As for the little girls, they spent their time more and more with Elisabeth, learning all sorts of things from here, such as cooking or sewing clothes, to even how to behave in certain situations, which made Vlad smile a bit seeing them doing something aside from playing.

Like this time flew by, and almost one month since he escaped from Mayer Loftso camp passed. He heard some things from Sofiya about him, but this time, he didn't focus on him. His mind was prepared on the syndicate's bastards who controlled and terrorized an entire district.

The day of the meeting arrived, which made Vlad start preparing to go inside the Forgotten District. Cleaning himself up and wearing some new clothes Sofiya bought for him in the passing day, she walked back to the district.

When he first tried those clothes in front of Sofiya, she constantly nodded at him, taking turns to look at him from all directions as if she was a designer.

The clothes in question were a white buttoned shirt made of silk, a pair of black work trousers which compared to his simple trousers. This pair was really a new concept for him. She also presented him with a pair of leather boots, a black flock coat that looked to be a different type than the coat he found in the junkyard. This one seemed simpler and common, only having some buttons at the sleeves and the ones at the ends to close it, yet the piece that surprised him was not the trousers nor the flock coat. Instead, it was a hat, precisely a black felt hat.

He didn't buy a mirror to see his reflection, but from how Sofiya and the other kids looked at him he guessed that he looked good. Like this he chose those exact clothing for this special day, and in doing so, also giving the dead a last entertainment to their eyes.

Changed in the clothes, and strapping Nemesis around his trousers, with the sun beginning to get outshined by the moon, night flowed slowly over Sagletius.

After doing the last check on everyone in the orphanage, Robert and Aerius, he walked in the night's cover towards the Forgotten district.

After 10 minutes of walking while encountering some beasts that he slew using Nemesis without even being splashed by their blood, he at long last arrived inside the district without even being stopped by anyone.

Walking on the streets, he could see that there was still activity inside. Only that it was mostly the adults gambling, drinking and doing all sort of things that Vlad couldn't even be bothered to focus.

As he passed towards the district's centre, he could see some women around their houses seeming to wear as little clothes as possible, trying to look in seductive ways at the guys walking around the district.

Vlad looked at them for brief moments before continuing walking toward the district port. This port was closer to the Gargoyles Syndicate and the market. However, the hangar Aldenis made reference to was situated in closer proximity to the district's periphery.

Walking calmly, he could see some syndicate members patrolling around. They were wearing red clothes, and when he got closer to them, he noticed one of the guys who had their faces scared.

He stopped walking toward Vlad and only said to him.

"Fuckface, you better don't shit on boss trust. By what luck you manage to scam the boss, it's unknown to me, but you better follow with your words, or we'll kill you even if we don't know who you are or how strong you are."

Hearing that comment from what seemed to be the leader of the group, made Vlad turn his attention on him and look straight into his eyes while his eyes shone with dark lights. Instantly the person with scars felt a cold wind passing down his spine, without even being windy outside.

Yet when he turned to look at Vlad's eyes, he saw that his dark-green eyes switched in colors, turning in the color of pure blackness, which instantly made the hairs on his body react, triggering his defense mechanism.

He took some steps back, bowing a little his head at Vlad, not wanting to look again in his eyes, then as he did so, he later heard Vlad's cold tone resound in his ears.

"Criminal, you're not in the position to talk to me about what I'm doing. Only the old man has a right to question my actions, not animals like you. As for the old man, he will be alive as long he doesn't kill himself.

Lastly, you better don't miss any of the dead on the streets." Then Vlad continued to walk toward the warehouse, but suddenly he stopped and said to the syndicate guys.

"Also, make the peasants stay inside, so I don't kill them by chance when I start hunting the other bastards from black and blue."

Hearing Vlad say that in his cold tone made the leader nod his head before speaking to Vlad.

"Yes, sir, we know the plan as boss Aldenis instructed us to don't mess up on this mission."

"Good, now if you excuse me, there are people that would love to meet me." Ending saying that Vlad passed from the central zone of the district and began walking towards the port, following a darker alley.

When he arrived in this alley, he unsheathed Nemesis, covered his face in a blood mask that he used when killing the syndicate guys who wanted to r.ape Elisabeth. Finishing his preparation, he began looking around the alley for any activity of the syndicates he had to target. In no time, he began hearing signs of activity around him. The curses of people were clearly heard by him, accompanied by the screams of pain coming from some men. With a cold face, he walked in the direction of the commotion.

Then he saw a group of 7 black-clothed syndicate members seeming to torture and beat 4 adults in a gruesome manner. Some were missing limbs, while others missing fingernails.

Using [Enhancement], he arrived as if a ghost appeared in front of the syndicate guys from Gargoyle Syndicate and from a cutting motion, he slashed the first syndicate guy in halves. Blood splashed around the other syndicate guys and the tortured guys, but not even a drop splashed around Vlad as if it didn't dare to even dirty Vlad's clothes.

Quickly he switched his attention on two other syndicate guys in proximity and executed a spinning attack that targeted both of them in the range. Yet again, blood didn't splash on Vlad, and so he followed with the other 4 guys that were in a shocking state.

By the time they recovered from their shocked state, two who were the quickest to react instantly choose to escape, but Vlad looked at them and gave a cold snort. With his free hand, he made a rising gesture with his index finger, and the blood on the ground raised and stabbed them on their legs, leaving a sinister stake like torn pierce from their legs and escape from the knee.

They dropped to the ground and screamed in agony before quickly feeling that they couldn't breathe. Vlad stared coldly at them while his eyes shone with dark lights. Soon after he made the two guys stop screaming, he turned on the other two slower guys who by the time choose to also try to run be fronted by Vlad, who was in a cutting motion with Nemesis that seemed to also shine with a blood light.

Two slashing cuts were enough for Vlad to kill those guys who were unarmed, lamenting their slow reaction even when they started with a strong front, torturing anyone they felt like.

He was not even able to use his swordplay. Instead, only use three cutting motions and a spinning attack. Turning at the two guys who seemed to convulse, with cold eyes, he raised yet again his free hand, and the blood on the ground gathered around the dropped guys forming in the form of two spears and stabbed them on their back, piercing their heart and pinning them on the ground.

Then, he walked to the four guys who were tortured, unbind their constraints and left them alone. The tortured guys shook hard when seeing the bloodied-up mess as if they already suffered from some trauma.

Hearing the guys shaking, Vlad nodded his head, and with a pushing hand motion, all the blood around the alley began to be pushed towards different directions, leaving only the dead bodies.

Following that, he began moving towards where the hangar was located. This time he didn't encounter along the way any syndicate group roaming around like headless chickens. Yet when he arrived around the hangar, he sensed 18 guys being spread around the location.

Closing his eyes and pushing his [Enhancement] powers even more on his ears and nose, he began moving along their way. Slowly with silent steps, he walked toward the hidden syndicate members while holding Nemesis in his hand.

Fixing the hat on his head, after some minutes, he arrived closer and closer to the behind of a syndicate member wearing blue clothes. His face was facing an opening of the hangar, where he probably used to look at the syndicate bosses and their meeting.

Vlad didn't bother himself with this problem and gave a swift head cut to the syndicate member who, until the last moment, didn't hear anything.

The head and body hit the ground with a dropping sound, but this didn't alert any of the spread syndicate guys watching closely on their bosses.

After the first kill of the guard watching over the hangar, he began walking to his next target, which he killed using a heart thrust which made the guy only give a slight grunt before dropping dead. As if he was death unleashed on the mortal ground, sensing the smell of death from the syndicate members present made Vlad quickly end them in a swift moment.

There was not much resistance when he took them by surprise, backstabbing them or quickly cutting their heads whenever they noticed that someone was behind them.

In 10 minutes, he killed all of the syndicate guys, which were split in 9 for the two groups, the black ones and the blue ones. Finishing with cleaning the hangar's periphery that the meeting took place, Vlad swung Nemesis, and all the blood on its blade splashed on the ground.

Seeing the sharpness of the once rusted sword being enhanced this much along those weeks made Vlad smile evilly. There was no longer any sign of rust on the blade, only the edge spark light coming from it.

Feeling that he almost forgot something along the way in all his killing, he facepalmed himself softly and thought in his head.

'Damn, I've got drawn to the killing part and forgot to check on those guys' names. Argh, let's hope those guys I killed were not part of the list, because it would be such a wasted human material if they really were. '

'Yet this cleaning so far works too well, as if something really prepared a trap for me, or are those syndicate guys really so weak compared to devil fruit users or haki users? '

'It's hard to tell. I might need to spar more with old Nius when we meet again to find if I'm on par with those haki users.'

Passing off his earlier thoughts, he turned to look at an opening of the hangar, and as he expected, there looked to be three men staring at each other in a circle, seeming to argue about something.

A tall and lean middle-aged man with dark hair and savage burn scars on his face's left side and was wearing a black coat that had the head of a gargoyle visible on his back. On the coat, there were other death motifs on it, which made Vlad stare more intently at this person.

Next to him was a man long-limbed as a stork, with a wiry body and brown eyes, and having a scar around his neck while also missing his left eye. He was wearing a dark-blue coat that had the head of a large serpent.

The two were staring intently at an old man who was wearing specific clothes for this meeting. He could see Aldenis wearing a buttoned black shirt with a red flock coat.

Picking his ears a bit before appearing in front of those syndicate guys, he heard them arguing about the person who started disturbing their operations.

[Aldenis POV]

[20 minutes before midnight]

'It seems I have arrived quite early at this place, well let's take a seat on a wooden box and wait for those bastards to appear.'

'The plan is set in motion. All I can do is wait for that Vermilion to appear and clean up this place without me having to risk too much.'

[10 minutes since Aldenis appeared inside the abandoned hangard]

'Aren't those guys coming, don't tell me they smelled something wrong? Did my boys betray me? No, no. Slow down, Aldenis, there's no need to bother with this now. Those bastards will come for sure.'

Then after some minutes before, he thought that Aldenis heard the footsteps of two guys stepping on the ground of the hangar.

"Old bastard, to think you would arrive this early for the meeting, this time it seems you took your sleep but forgot to die." said the long-limbed guy with a stork body called Paldot to Aldenis with some hate in his eyes.

After that followed the other person next to Paldot, it was the middle-aged guy called Nellon, who looked at Aldenis without any facial changes. He was cold without being bothered too much by this meeting.

This meeting for him was more about figuring out who was the one causing them trouble, killing their men all day long.

"Sir Aldenis, we'll be short with you. I think you also know we got a killer on our turf who is decimating our syndicates. So Paldot and I decided to summon this meeting, to have you also here so we can't figure out a plan to stop this killer from continuing to disturb our operations." said Nellon while looking straight in Aldenis' eyes.

"As you can tell Aldenis, the pressure on us is huge, the nobles want more from us, and if things don't go peaceful, we'll get eaten alive by them. They might be snobbish bastards, but when it's about money, those fucker suddenly group up like they are some piranhas ready devour everything." ended Nellon saying this with some remains of fury in his eyes and tone.

'That's your fault, you morons, for getting too deep in business with those nobles. You gave them your finger, and now they instead of taking your entire hand, they just go for your entire body. Don't worry, you bastards, I'll make sure that even those nobles will join you in hell.'

"That's really unfortunate to hear that, Nellon, but what can my Behemoth's do? If we don't know who is the killer is, are you suggesting I start searching all the district for a single person and spread out my people, letting other syndicates or gangs appear in the district?" Asked Aldenis with a smile on his face while staring at Paldot and Nellon.

Paldot laughed evilly and said to Aldenis, confirm his question. "That's right old man, you'll be our watchdog while we bring the money. Listen well, old man, we have our suspicions that you're most likely the one targeting us, but we can't confirm for sure. Your syndicate is the only one that didn't suffer from getting his men killed, so this draws all the lines towards you. You either comply with us, or you'll be taken out. We got the approval of the nobles to see you out."

As Aldenis heard Paldot say those threatening words, he also heard a subtle sound of bodies dropping on the ground, which started making him think fast.

'The prince sure is someone swift to take action. There's not even a sound coming from the guys Paldot and Nellon brought to take care of me or my guys in case I brought them.

Good, my bet was totally right. Those greedy bastards actually teamed up to take me out, probably thinking that I was the one ordering the killing of their men. Well, they are not entirely wrong about one fact. I also want them dead.'

"Heh, you little piece of shit, are you threatening me? You from just little thugs become what you are because of my helping hand. Yet look at you bastards, are you teaming up against this old me, who only wants to conduct business in peace? You want to eat everything inside this district and terrorize the simple people all day long? Not under my eyes, you bastards, I've let you guys in your own place for far too long, letting you terrorize people thinking that it's for the better good of others."

Taking a deep breath and giving a hearty old laugh, Aldenis looked with a disdainful face at the other two syndicate leaders who wanted his life and said to them before drawing a firearm from the belt of his trousers.

"What are you waiting for, you rats? You want to rule this place, then come kill me if this is what you desire."

Paldot and Nellon also took their firearms quickly in their hands, and the three turned into a stalemate until Paldot screamed out in the hangar as if to make his men act.

"Guys, the time has come, shoot this old man." screamed Paldot so hard that it resounded around the hangar area.

The stalemate continued while Paldot, who was holding his firearm towards Aldenis, looked confused. Even Nellon had a weird sensation.

Then they heard the footsteps of a person walking slowly in their directions. As the footsteps came closer to the three, he heard a cold tone of a young adult resounding in his ears.

"Impressive old man, you still have your balls to act crazy. That's more like someone worthy of working under me."

[General POV]

Vlad, who heard most of the conversation between the three syndicate leaders, began walking inside the hangar after noticing that the other two wanted to kill the old man. Then as he was getting closer to the large warehouse, he heard Aldenis's last part before drawing his firearm.

Hearing that made Vlad's cold expression behind his mask smirk a bit. Still, with his blood mask on his face, he walked towards the syndicate leaders while also praising a bit Aldenis.

Paldot and Nellon distanced a bit from Aldenis to make space for them to look at who was the newcomer. It was a quite tall man wearing a crimson mask, assorted by a felt black hat where they could see his jet-black hair flow down.

His clothes looked close to someone wealthy from the common district, only that it looked a bit too dark compared to the wealthy tastes.

Feeling that the newcomer's steps were getting closer and closer, Nellon made a sign to Paldot, and while gritting his teeth, Paldot targeted Vlad while screaming at him.

"Stop there, bastard. If you're here to save the old man dream on, he's our target. One step closer, and I'll shoot."

Vlad smirked and took a step forward, not minding Paldot treats. Then the syndicate leader being with an angry face, cursed Vlad and began shooting him.

Seeing the bullets getting towards him, Vlad's flock coat began being covered by plates of medieval armour. Paldot shot 7 bullets quickly and began reloading his gun with bullets, and yet again shot Vlad like a mad person, even if his eyes turned crazy from the constant shooting.

When Vlad was getting closer and closer to them, Paldot, who wasted about 35 rounds of bullets while shooting Vlad roared in anger and madness.

"JUST DIE ALREADY, YOU MONSTER. WHY DON'T YOU DROP DOWN ALREADY!? DO YOU THINK THAT 35 ROUNDS OF BULLETS COME CHEAP YOU MONSTER!?"

Hearing Paldot scream, still under the mask, he said in a cold tone, with a large amount of disdain.

"How can I die if your little bullets can't even scratch my armour? It's my fault that you rats have no brains and when you encounter someone stronger than you start despairing?

Ohh You're actually angry, parasite? To think parasites even have feelings, the old master would be surprised if he knew that."

Taking a slight break from taking as he walked towards the leaders, he said to him.

"You want to kill me, kill the old man? Go on try to see if it could work." ended Vlad while his disdain entered both Nellon and Paldot's ears.

Paldot, the one missing an eye, roared like an animal, quickly reloaded his gun, and turned towards Aldenis and shoot him. The old man thought that he was safe now that Vlad was here and never expected that Paldot would target him instantly, him eyeing Nellon to do the shooting on his end.

Hearing the gunfire in his direction, he gritted his teeth and closed his eyes, feeling that he was close to death, but seconds passed, and he felt nothing. Feeling the weirdness of the situation, he thought that he already arrived in heaven or hell. Still, when he opened his eyes, he saw his body being covered by a crimson-looking armour, later hearing Vlad's cold and disdainful tone resound in the hangar.

"See, you parasite, you can't even kill the old man. Sigh, to think that such people actually controlled the lives of so many people living here. Not even having the power sole power to act as he wishes. Hahaha, so comically and to think I thought that there would be someone powerful enough to play with me, this is really sad." switched Vlad from his disdainful tone to an evilly laugh towards a sad tone.

Then he looks at Paldot and Nellon while his eyes shined a bit with dark lights before drawing off Nemesis from his side. With his drawing motion completed, he only coldly said to Nellon and Paldot.

"I'll not even bother too much with you since you can't entertain me."

Ending saying that, he began to sprint while Paldot was shooting towards Aldenis with madness in his eyes. Nellon took his eyes off Aldenis and ran away from Vlad's direction, trying to escape this masked person.

Seeing that Vlad targeted Paldot, who was going crazy not being able to kill Aldenis or Vlad, he choose to use this chance to escape, but as he was running towards the exit, he heard a cold laugh run in his ears.

Suddenly, he felt a pain assault his legs, and he dropped to his knees. He looked while screaming in pain at his legs and saw that there was now a large piercing wound run in his knees nerves and on the ground being stabbed two short spikes.

"Rat, I thought you were more experienced compared to this raging animal, but sure good attempt. If maybe you faced some self-righteous idiot, he would forget about you and let you escape scot-free."

Vlad's cold tone accompanied by a slight cold laugh was heard in the slightly illuminated hangar warehouse. Then as he approached Paldot to kill him with Nemesis, he saw Aldenis hold his gun and with a cold expression, after seeing Paldot stop to reload his gun, shoot him in his head, splashing his brains on the ground.

Taking a breath while staring coldly at Paldot with his old eyes, he then turned towards Vlad, who stopped when he saw that Paldot got killed by him and said while his expression showed some appreciation.

"Your Highness, thanks for saving old me. I really thought I was done for when that crazy bastard started to fire at me all of a sudden."

Vlad looked coldly at Aldenis, smirked a bit, saying to him a bit annoyed. "Old man, did you really had such a hard time dealing with those weaklings? Sigh, they are just barking, but sure those bullets of theirs are quite dangerous if you can't protect yourself, so they have that."

The old man, still having the blood armour on him, showed the side of an old servant towards his king, bowing his head a bit agreeing with Vlad.

"Your Highness, that's the main reason those guys are dangerous, and I couldn't deal with them. They don't care about the lives of their men, while I do care."

"Forget it, old man. To think I even got excited about meeting someone stronger on this splendid night. Well, I still have to clean out the rest of them. Maybe I found something interesting along the way."

As he said that, he began walking towards Nellon, who was dropped on the ground crying in pain, unable to even move.

Hearing Vlad's footsteps, he raised a bit his upper body from the ground with his body, took his gun and shoot relentlessly. All the 7 bullets got deflected by Vlad's blood armour, which instantly made Nellon thrown the gun on the ground in fury and roared towards Vlad, still with a hint of pain.

"Who are you monster, and why are you doing this to the syndicates? We didn't offend you, so why are you doing this and especially work for that old man? Hahaha, you did me well old fox, hiring this assassin from the assassin guild to get us good? Who's he, the fabled Lord Cranfon?"

Vlad smiled coldly under his mask, and suddenly the blood mask began to disintegrate and get back in his skin. Nellon saw for the first time Vlad's face and felt it was familiar that he saw someone looking closely at him.

He remembered a young man looking dignified, helping and talking with the peasants from the forgotten district, telling them that he would soon work to get them a better future.

Some of his madness even began to lessen, and he only muttered "Prince Lucius."

"Ehh, old man, did you hear him? It seems that even he remembers Lucius."

Hey bastard, you asked me why I'm doing this? Have you ever thought about others except you and your comfort? Probably no from how you treated the abandoned people gathering from all corners of the kingdom here to seek a better future. Since I came here, I only saw depravity and bastards drying this place out of life."

Hearing Vlad say that Nellon crawled using his arms towards Vlad's legs and began begging for his life while hitting his head on the cold floor.

"Your Highness, I can be useful. I know many secrets about the nobles that would be helpful for your return to the throne. I also know some things about your father, his Majesty Opheltius. So don't kill me. I swear on my life that I will be the most useful dog you can ever get."

Begging with all his breath, it made Vlad quite pissed to see such a person that once thought of himself so mighty be crushed in this state.

"Such a degenerate person, to drop so low and beg for mercy after destroying so many people lives." As he said that, he raised Nemesis high and with a swift cut, he slashed Nellon head.

The blood that seemed to splash on him got pushed away. After executing Nellon, he turned to look at old Aldenis, and with some disdain in his tone, said.

"He even confused me with my father. Well, I don't really care that much about these things, but there's something stuck on my mind, he said about my grandfather Opheltius, so when I finish cleaning up the rest of the district, you better got all the information you have on my grandfather."

With that said, Vlad began walking towards the exit, not bothering to remain for more to entertain Aldenis. As he started moving, he heard Aldenis say to him. "It shall be done, your Highness."

......

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