CH448 Full Circle

***

Alex looked towards Brieger's dying form.

He nodded, both proud and impressed by his expedition party. That had been a textbook gang-up. Every move flowed seamlessly into the next—each action either setting up or exploited by the next one after it.

Even though Brieger was, on paper, individually stronger than any single member of the expedition party, the rapid, merciless sequence of attacks ensured he never once had the opportunity to properly bring that power to bear.

Alex caught the brief flicker of regret that flashed through the man's eyes just before his final breath left him.

He smirked coldly.

'He probably regrets antagonising me. He probably thinks he could have simply ignored me. But if only he knew…' Alex mused inwardly.

'…if only he knew he was always my target from the very beginning.'

Alex raised an arm.

A figure dove down at incredible speed, yet landed softly upon it as if carried by the wind itself.

Who else but his herald—the Queen Eagle, Senu.

Brieger likely believed Alex had only gone after him because of what happened at the arena... or maybe at the Casino. What he didn't know was that Alex had marked him for death long before he ever set foot inside Camp Red Rock.

As it turned out, Alex was vindictive.

Very vindictive.

And incredibly petty.

Everything traced back to the toll gate Brieger had ordered set up outside Camp Red Rock—and to the burly man and his group of tollmen who dared to turn their lustful gazes on the female members of the expedition party, most of whom were Alex's wives.

During interrogation, the scouting team discovered that Brieger had initiated the toll-gate scheme because business within his district of the camp was suffering—likely the result of poor management and rampant incompetence within his gang.

The toll gate was nothing more than a crude method of fleecing travellers and outsiders. The sort of people who lacked the power or backing to do anything in the camp, except swallow the insult.

Unfortunately for Brieger…

His men had insulted the wrong person.

After Alex severed the burly man's arm, he allowed the man to return to Camp Red Rock alongside the surviving tollmen. This was not an act of mercy—but a carefully calculated move.

A move targeting not just the burly man, but Brieger himself and the entirety of the Desert Razor gang.

For the tollman's careless words, Alex did not place the blame solely on the offender.

He blamed the one who put him there.

Thus, not only was the burly man marked to pay… Brieger—and his entire Desert Razor gang—were to be removed from Camp Red Rock as well.

Alex had two reasons for releasing the burly man.

The first was simple—to allow him to return to Camp Red Rock and report what happened at the toll gate, thereby placing Brieger directly on their trail without Alex needing to lift a finger.

The second reason, and the more important one, was far more practical.

The burly man would unknowingly lead them straight to Brieger's exact quarters—information which, according to the intelligence gathered, was known only to the gang's upper echelon and could not be reached by ordinary members.

Considering the failure at the toll gate—and the financial hole it would leave behind—Alex strongly suspected that the burly man would be summoned to Brieger's residence to explain himself.

So, before allowing him to leave, Alex discreetly slipped a Comms earpiece into the man's clothing. Powered by the Greater Rune embedded in the Rune Phone system, the device could be tracked seamlessly by OmniRune.

On top of that, Alex had Senu keeping watch from the skies.

With these two tracking measures in place, Alex had known Brieger's exact location long before they even arrived at Camp Red Rock.

The reason he didn't act immediately—and instead chose to play out the elaborate charade with Brieger—was because he needed proper context. A justification to erase the Desert Razor gang without provoking backlash from the rest of the Camp's power structure.

And perhaps, in hindsight, it was also arrogance.

Alex didn't want to consider someone at Brieger's level as his main goal—instead, the man was to be nothing more than a stepping stone.

So he crafted a convoluted scheme, one that would not only allow him to punish Brieger and dismantle his gang, but also earn him reputation, credibility, infamy and a subtle identity within the Wildlands.

There were a few unexpected hitches along the way, but in the end, everything worked out.

Naturally, this was a plan Alex shared with no one.

Not even his wives knew the truth. They likely believed he was reacting to Brieger's provocations, unaware that everything had already been set in motion after Alex analysed the intelligence they had gathered on Brieger's personality, habits, and flaws.

'That was a beautifully executed plan, if I do say so myself,' Alex nodded inwardly.

"You planned to attack Brieger since yesterday, didn't you?"

Zora's voice suddenly sounded beside him.

Alex flinched internally.

For a brief moment, he wondered if he had been found out.

"Why do you think that?" he asked, doing his best to keep his composure.

Zora raised an eyebrow, clearly puzzled by his reaction. Not thinking much of it, she replied casually,

"Isn't that why you had Havel and Shadow trail him back here last night?"

She continued, unfazed,

"You must have decided to make him your stepping stone in Camp Red Rock after his behaviour at the casino. The attack on Sergeant Lopota just gave you a legitimate excuse to act—and sped things up."

Alex shook slightly.

'Damn… this woman really knows me well,' he thought.

Although she was off about when he began targeting Brieger, she was almost entirely correct about everything else.

The scouting group had indeed traced Brieger back to his district the previous night. That was precisely why they were so familiar with the route through Camp Red Rock—it was a path they had already walked in the dark while shadowing him.

"When you put it that way," Alex said wryly, "you make me sound like some nefarious schemer."

"You are a noble, aren't you?" Zora chuckled. "And which powerful noble isn't a schemer?"

Bark!

Fen barked in wholehearted agreement.

'You traitor,' Alex grumbled inwardly.

He reached out and rubbed Senu's head.

'At least you won't betray me too, right, Senu?'

Almost immediately, Queen Senu spread her wings and took to the air, leaving his arm. She glided gracefully before perching on Udara's arm instead, allowing Udara to affectionately stroke her feathers.

Alex pouted at the blatant betrayal of his beast companions.

"Boss, look who we found," Kavakan suddenly called out.

Alex's eyes lit up when he saw who the weretiger was dragging over.

It was the burly tollman.

The very one who had started everything.

'Everything really does come full circle,' Alex smiled faintly.

He walked over slowly.

"We meet again," Alex said pleasantly.

He gestured to the devastation around them—the burning ruins, the corpses, the shattered courtyard.

"Do you like the sights?" he asked calmly.

The burly man was completely tongue-tied.

He couldn't believe it.

Brieger was dead. The Desert Razor gang was gone. An entire power structure erased in less than a day.

It was as if his world had collapsed.

Alex stepped closer.

"This," he whispered into the man's ear, so only he could hear, "is why you should be careful who you offend."

He paused, letting the words sink in.

"All of this happened because of you. You should have taken the money. But instead, you dared to stretch your hands toward something... people of mine."

Alex pulled back and met the man's gaze.

The burly man froze.

Alex's eyes had turned a deep, unsettling crimson—radiating a madness and rage the man had never encountered before.

It wasn't wild.

It wasn't hot-blooded or impulsive.

It was collected and cold

Calm madness!

"And now," Alex said softly, "this is the consequence."

Pucchi.

The wristblade of the Beta Brace extended in a flash.

Alex drove it cleanly up beneath the man's jaw and into his skull.

An assassin's execution.

He withdrew the blade smoothly and stepped back as the corpse collapsed to the ground with a thump.

Everything had indeed come full circle—

to a 'just' conclusion.

None of the expedition party spared the dead man another glance.

Instead, Shadow stepped up beside Alex and reported calmly, "Sir, a number of Brieger's men managed to flee while we were dealing with him."

She paused briefly before asking, "Should we pursue them?"

Rumble—

Before Alex could respond, a thunderous sound rolled toward them.

Moments later, a cavalry force came into view, galloping hard through the streets. At their head rode Rolfe the Broker and Bram the Blood Blade.

"Young Master Alex, we have come to assist you," Rolfe announced as the group reined in before the shattered gate.

"Don't act rashly. Brieger's base is practically a maz—"

Bram's words died in his throat.

Both men stared at the collapsed buildings, the scorched ground… and finally, at Brieger's corpse lying unattended in the courtyard.

They slowly turned to look at Alex and his party.

Stunned.

Alex met their gazes calmly.

A knowing smile curved his lips.

"You two are smart," Alex said evenly. "Good. I like smart people."

He glanced around at the ruined compound, and back to the men.

"It seems I'll be doing some business in this camp after all."

Rolfe and Bram's shock immediately transformed into barely restrained excitement. Rolfe was just about to unleash a torrent of flattering words when Alex raised a hand, cutting him off.

"However," Alex continued, "before that, I need to tie up some loose ends. A few of Brieger's men escaped."

He looked directly at the two men.

Rolfe immediately thumped his chest.

"Leave it to us, Young Master! We will round them up and present you with their heads!"

Alex blinked once.

"What am I supposed to do with their heads—eat them?" he asked dryly. "Kill them, capture them, sell them… do whatever you want. Just tie up the loose ends. That's enough for me."

Rolfe let out a dry chuckle.

Being the thick-skinned broker that he was, he simply rubbed his palms together ingratiatingly.

"We will see to it."

The next moment, he exchanged a look with Bram. Without further words, the two men turned and led their forces off to sweep the district for survivors.

Zora watched them go before glancing at Alex.

"What just happened?" she asked.

Alex shrugged lightly.

"I don't know. Either they're misunderstanding something, or I guess they've been drawn in by our strength."

A faint smile tugged at his lips.

"Either way, they'll be useful."

"Indeed," Zora nodded.

***

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