CHAPTER 302: WHO WILL FALL FIRST?

Damon had always believed the guy had acted out of instinct, unable to control himself at the sight of the legendary item. Greed and the lust for power had overcome him, and he’d betrayed Damon in a momentary lapse of judgment. At least a part of him had wanted to believe that.

But deep down, he had always known it wasn’t that simple. If it had been a whim, then why cripple him afterward? There were plenty of other ways to get what he wanted.

Now he could see everything in a different light. It wasn’t just personal. It was strategic.

What if Aiden hadn’t stumbled into his life by accident? What if he had calculated his approach, wormed his way into Damon’s trust, and then waited? Waited for the perfect moment to strike.

What if everything had been deliberate?

But why even bother with a nobody like him? Sure, he had the fragment of the legendary item quest, but no one else knew about it.

Unless the guy came across the same legendary item quest as well, or at least knew the headstart Damon had and plotted everything right from the beginning, going as far as resetting his entire character and starting from scratch as a vampire!

This seemed even more unlikely.

While a Legendary item was extremely valuable, a random quest that only had a small fraction of success toward resulting in a legendary item was pretty much worthless. Why would someone bet everything on an insignificant quest like that and on a nobody like him?

It just did not add up. Yet it was the only explanation that made any sense.

Damon’s fingers curled tighter around the armrest of his chair as the implications settled in.

If Aiden’s betrayal had been planned from the start, if every word, every joke, every late-night dungeon grind they’d shared had been part of some long con, then what kind of idiot had he been to mistake poison for brotherhood?

The man had been a snake right from day 1, and he had been naive enough not to see it. His pride burned just as much as his fury. He hadn’t just been betrayed, he’d been played.

Damon’s jaw clenched so hard it ached. He wasn’t that naive kid anymore. He wasn’t the clueless idiot chasing glory with stars in his eyes. He was a predator now. And Aiden had no idea what kind of monster he had helped create.

He let his aura settle, suppressed the rage burning in his chest like wildfire. There would be a time for reckoning. But not here. Not now. Not in front of an audience. No, Damon would bide his time and when the time came...

Damon silently let out a breath. He silently observed as everyone’s attention shifted back to the legendary item and the bidding. A few still looked at his booth, but there was nothing to see, so they eventually turned around.

Aiden’s bid was shocking. However, this was a legendary item after all. It looked like the others were not willing to give up on it so easily, especially when the other party looked like a whimp and a nobody.

The bid for the treasure chest continued to increase explosively. Phoenix was quite adamant this time as she kept throwing money as if her funds had no limits. A few others were also equally stubborn.

Damon recognized one of the guilds, a dark faction guild from the undead race. They were quite notorious in the game, and the players pretty much lacked any morals.

Damon was going to move on to the next group when he noticed that a gaze was lingering on him. He turned to see Aiden looking directly at him. Well, he had, after all, displayed his killing intent for everyone to see, so this wasn’t all that shocking.

But it sent a ripple of unease through Damon’s spine. He did not know why, but he felt as if the guy still had many hidden secrets behind him. Was he somehow related to one of the super ten, maybe?

Damon tried to get a read on the players around him to see if he could recognize any of them. Perhaps if he could link someone to a super ten, then he could learn more about Aiden.

He looked around quite a bit. Unfortunately, he only saw random players who even hesitated to be seen near Aiden. They were backing away as if they were backing away from a madman.

Damon frowned. His stare bore into Aiden, who simply tilted his head slightly and offered a faint smile. That same disarming, harmless smile Damon had fallen for once. This time, he didn’t flinch.

No matter how deep Aiden had buried his secrets, Damon would drag them into the light, one bloody layer at a time.

Aiden continued to look at him for quite some time, but Damon ignored him. There was no point in having a staring contest with each other. Rather, he needed to observe the others who had come for the auction.

Meanwhile, the bids continued to rise, and soon the mid-tier guilds and even the top-tier guilds stopped messing around and stepped back. They simply couldn’t afford to stay in the race any longer.

Only four groups were now actively bidding. One was the Northern Frontier guild, the super guild from Canada, which Damon was already sort of familiar with. The second one was also possibly a super guild, even though Damon didn’t recognize any of them.

He could learn a little from their identity, though. They were all of Asian origin, and there was only one place they could belong to. This group was no doubt from the super guild, Celestial Thunder Sect.

In the same way, Damon could guess the other two guilds in play. The third undoubtedly being from America, the Legion of Justice super guild, and the last one probably from the European Union, the Saviors of Humanity.

While the groups were already together, Damon was pretty sure that the guilds hadn’t even been officially formed yet.

In fact, all of these guilds, who were always at each other’s throats, cooperated just this once to create a huge shock factor when they came together in the future and revealed themselves at the same time. This happened during the time of a demon war.

But now, in this timeline, everything was going to change. With the treasure chest now in play, at least one of them would be forced to come out from the shadows. Then it was only a matter of time before the others would be forced to reveal themselves.

This did not look like much, but this in itself was a huge blow. They wouldn’t be able to use the demon war to make themselves look righteous and claim most of the player base for themselves.

Damon grinned as he wondered who it would be. The first one to take the fall and the first one to start the domino effect. No matter who it was, he did not care.

He needed blood and chaos. He needed the world to burn just enough for him to rise higher in the smoke.

Let them tear into each other. Let them scramble for glory, for public support, for that polished image of saviors and legends. Damon would be the monster beneath their golden pedestals. He would devour them all when they least expected it!

***

Golden Ticket bonus Chapter~~