Chapter 191

"It seems everyone is well aware of what will happen tonight. Alright, then I'll cut to the chase and get to the point."

Leon pulled a pistol from his back waist, disengaged the safety, cocked the hammer, and gripped it tightly in his hand.

Rebecca glanced at the gun in Leon's hand, a hint of surprise flashing across her face, but it was fleeting, and she showed no other reaction. (3)

"Actually, I already know who the mole was who framed me back then." Ling

Upon hearing this, the three merely let out a heavy sigh of relief, showing no sign of panic.

They all knew Leon's ways very well; this guy never fought a battle he wasn't confident of winning.

He said he knew who the mole was, so he definitely knew. (Seven)

(But Rebecca thought the captain was just putting on a show. In her opinion, since they already knew who the mole was, they should just shoot him!) Nine

Leon lowered his head, fiddling with the pistol in his hand, and said slowly, "Dance..."

"It's such a shame that the team reunited after three years, and it had to be in this way."

"I never imagined that you would be the one to betray me."

Leon slowly raised his pistol and pointed the cold muzzle at the person beside him.

Martin.

Rebecca's eyes widened, her blue pupils reflecting the small, black pistol. She swallowed hard. "Captain... are you sure it's Martin?"

Before Leon could speak, Victor said from the side,

"Martin, you're surprisingly calm. Don't you want to explain anything?"

Martin was sweating profusely. His current "calmness" was entirely due to his panic; he didn't know what to say or do.

The moment Leon pointed the gun at him, it felt as if the area of his brain responsible for "thinking" had been pierced by something.

In that instant, all five of his senses failed him; he could only feel his heart pounding wildly in his chest.

Thump thump—thump thump—

After a long while, Martin finally managed to open his mouth with all his might.

"Captain, I—"

Bang!--

A gunshot rang out, and the bullet struck Martin squarely in the chest.

The thin boy, his face filled with surprise and terror, collapsed to the ground.

"Martin!"

Rebecca exclaimed and quickly knelt down beside him, "Martin! Martin!!"

Snap—

After the gunshot, Leon immediately threw the cold weapon onto the dining table.

He leaned against the edge of the table, hunched over, and breathed heavily.

Victor glanced at the pistol on the table, then walked to Leon's side and gently placed his right hand on his shoulder.

"You don't need to blame yourself, Captain... To be honest, I was also surprised that Martin was the mole... But he made the wrong choice after all, so don't feel too much pressure."

Leon's lips were pale. He forced his back to stand up, which was about to collapse, and looked up at Rebecca.

"Get rid of him. There's a swamp not far away, and it only takes ten minutes to go there and back. If we dump him there, no one will find out."

After a brief period of grief, Rebecca accepted the reality and carried Martin's body outside.

Victor was about to look up at them when Leon suddenly put his arm around his shoulder.

Victor quickly looked away and helped Leon lean against the dining table.

The room was eerily quiet; the only sounds were Leon's heavy breathing and the scraping of the corpse against the floor.

"Are you feeling better, Leon?"

Leon ignored him, closed his eyes, clutched his chest, and silently adjusted his breathing.

Victor Leon's reaction, Victor immediately lowered his eyes and looked at the pistol on the table.

This is the last chance.

The former adjutant of the Dragon Slayer Army slowly reached out and grasped the short, powerful pistol, and then—

He pressed the muzzle of the gun against Leon's temple.

Leon felt the hardness and coldness of the gun barrel, and slowly opened his eyes. "So it was you..."

"Ten minutes round trip is enough for me to kill you and leave, Casmod."

Victor said coldly, "Tomorrow's headlines will be: The former adjutant of the Dragon Slayer Army executed the imperial traitor Leon Casmod, but unfortunately, he failed to save the youngest son of a certain minister from his clutches. What do you think of this story?"

Leon sneered, "You never used to have a sense of humor."

"People change, Casmod. You shouldn't have come back. Did killing Constantine make you think you were capable of challenging the Empire?"

"So the Empire and the Dragon Race... really did collude together?"

Victor cocked the pistol and placed his index finger on the trigger.

"Leon, for so many years, you've always been the one winning against me; but in today's contest, you've lost miserably. You've failed, Leon, and the one who defeated you is your long-time underdog. Don't you feel regretful?"

"Regret? I swear, Victor, you'll be the one who regrets it after you pull the trigger."

"Ha, no wonder you were once Dragon Slayer Hero, still so stubborn even on your deathbed. Well... I'd like to see how you'll make me regret it!"

The murderous intent in Victor's eyes was becoming increasingly palpable.

He pulled the trigger hard, ready to listen to the wonderful sound of blood splattering.

Click—

The crisp sound of the mechanical latches echoed in the room.

But not a single spark of fire could be seen.

Victor's heart skipped a beat, and then he frantically pulled the trigger several times in succession.

But the pistol didn't react at all.

Before he could figure out what was going on, Leon's iron fist came crashing down on his face.

Victor suddenly felt dizzy and fell backward.

The stench of blood filled his nostrils. Victor collapsed to the ground, staring at the indifferent man before him.

"You... how could you...?"

"I told you, I knew who the mole was all along. You should have confessed when I said that, and maybe I would have spared your life."

It's fake; Leon wouldn't keep him.

I said this just to make the traitor regret his actions even more before he died.

Leon walked slowly toward Victor and stepped on his calf.

The intense pain rendered Victor unable to move. He glared at Leon and asked resentfully, "When did you start to doubt me?!"

"When? If I had to say when, it would probably be about three years ago."

Leon said slowly, "After all, besides me, you're the only one who knows the locations of each raiding squad."

During the Silver Dragon War, after Leon was framed, the locations of all the raiding squads were exposed.

Besides the army's commander-in-chief Leon, only his deputy Victor knew the locations of each squad.

"Of course, based on this alone, it is impossible to confirm that you were the one who framed me back then."

Leon slowly crouched down, looking at Victor's weathered face.

"So, three years later, I returned to the empire and began my planning."

"You probably think that I've just returned to the Empire and am not yet familiar with everything, so you subconsciously treat me as a pawn on the chessboard."

"Two days ago, when we first met, you intentionally guided me to make thoughts and choices according to your ideas."

"You brought up the fact that Martin gave his stepmother a gift, and then deliberately steered the conversation to his stepmother's hairpin when the banquet started."

"You said that's mammoth ivory, which can be enchanted and used to make weapons with strong penetrating power. Heh... sounds a lot like the weapon that backstabbed me with, doesn't it?"

"If Rebecca hadn't told me in the beginning that Martin had a bad relationship with his stepmother, I probably wouldn't have contacted Martin at the party beforehand after leaving your bar, and your framing might have succeeded."

"But unfortunately, I am not a piece on the chessboard, Victor, I am the one who moves the pieces."

Victor's heart was racing, his breathing was heavy, and the drastic change in his experience was making him somewhat incoherent.

"No... impossible... impossible!"

Leon smiled faintly and continued,

"Nothing is impossible. Oh, by the way, your guitar pick was also a crucial clue that exposed your identity as the mole."

"You're right. Ivory is very malleable. It can be made into hairpins or picks to wear around the neck."

"I don't know if you think I'm ignorant or what, but anyway, where would someone who's so poor he can only afford a broken guitar get the money to buy a pick made of ivory?"

"Besides burning, the best way to destroy evidence is to turn it into something completely new."

After a pause, Leon added, "But considering what you just said about 'defeated opponents,' I can reasonably assume that you want to keep the thing that killed me as a record of your victory, right?"

Victor's pupils dilated as he screamed, "Leon! Don't think that just because you've defeated me, you've defeated the entire Empire! The Empire will avenge me!!!"

Leon shook his head.

"Victor, being second best all the time is not your fault. Victor, becoming the Empire's lackey and turning against me is your biggest mistake."

"If you hadn't been so impatient this time, perhaps I wouldn't have been able to see through your identity so quickly. And the reason you're in such a hurry is because... the Empire is putting pressure on you, am I right?"

The fact that the Empire went so far as to send Constantine to kill Leon shows just how much they wanted to get rid of Leon.

Leon, in turn, took advantage of their impatience, making Victor mistakenly believe that he was following his lead. In reality, every step Leon took was aimed at catching an even bigger fish.

In the past, General Leon never played any psychological warfare when leading troops into battle. He would just charge in and that was it. Anyway, not many dragons could withstand a full mana bar from him.

Why is he so able to manipulate people's hearts now?

Please, do you think General Leon took prisoners for nothing these past two years? He also learned a lot from that Dragon Queen.

Victor was silent for a moment, then let out a nervous laugh. "Yes... yes... you're right, Leon. But what about Martin? You used Martin as bait to lure me out as a big fish. When his father finds out his son is dead, and you happen to be back in the Empire, guess what he'll think?"

Leon scoffed dismissively, "Victor, is this the last method you could think of to make me fail?"

"What...?"

"As a teammate who's been through thick and thin with you, you should know that Rebecca has a habit of assembling her guns, right?"

Leon took the pistol from before and examined it closely in front of Victor.

"She could quietly play with the gun all night, taking it apart, putting it back together, taking it apart again, and putting it back together again. To add to the fun, she would usually have an extra bullet. And that bullet... was a blank, practice round."

"Blank round..."

"Yes, blank rounds that can't kill." (9)

Leon slowly rose to his feet. At that moment, Rebecca helped the "resurrected" Martin through the door.

Martin clutched his chest, his expression grave. "Captain... blank rounds won't kill, but they still hurt... I think I've broken at least two ribs."

"A real man should be patient. Look at Victor, he didn't even cry out in pain when I knocked his nose crooked," Leon declared righteously.

Rebecca helped Martin to the table, then, with a cold expression, walked behind Leon, pulled another pistol from her waist, and handed it to Leon.

Leon cocked his pistol, pointed the muzzle at Victor's forehead, and...

"Is there any more information you'd like to tell me about the Empire?"

God of Death was imminent, the smell of gunpowder filled his nostrils, and Victor's last taut string snapped.

"Don't kill me, Leon... don't kill me! I was wrong, I know I was wrong, I really know I was wrong, I shouldn't have risked my life for the Empire... please forgive me, please? Please, Leon!"

It seems we won't be able to get any more information out of him.

"Victor, you don't know you're wrong, you just know you're going to die."

Bang!--

A gunshot rang out, and all was silent.