Chapter 99. Threat
News about the feats of the Red Death spread throughout the western district of Burning Sands City.
Nobody knew how long this person had been in the city. Nobody knew where he came from. And nobody cared to find out. Everyone here was a criminal who was an outcast in society. And based on how the Red Death operated, he could be classified as a madman even among the people of Burning Sands City.
Many assumed that he may have been some very notorious person out there.
A lot of people also speculated that it was only a matter of time before he received an invite to join the Habakuk Crime Organisation. Of course, that was only possible if he managed to become a rank 2 warrior before anything untoward happened to him and he died. The Habakuk Crime Syndicate/organization, just like the other three major Syndicates, only reached out to rank 2 warriors to recruit them into their ranks.
They did not use force or coercion to recruit members. If someone rejected their offer, they’d just back off peacefully. However, there were occasions where if someone was too much of a threat and leaving them alive after they reject the offer to join any of the major Syndicates would come back to bite them in the end, they’d not hesitate to kill the person.
The Red Death was most likely such a person.
It was obvious that with how dangerous he was, if the Habakuk Crime Syndicate reached out to him and he rejected the offer to join them, they’d try to kill him.
The wise thing to do would be for him to accept the offer to join them when the time came.
However, no one knew for sure how things would play out. The Red Death was unpredictable after all.
****
Aiden returned to the first floor of the apartment.
Currently, he was seated on the bed in the bedroom.
His hair was quite tousled over his face.
"I need to get a hair cut after I leave this city" Aiden thought.
"Before I initiate my plan, let’s see the reaction of Barbosa to what I did. After all, he’s the ruler of this district. I need to know what action he plans to take after he hears about what I did so I can prepare beforehand. Although I have a theory on how he will react, I can’t rely on that. It’s risky"
His eyes turned crimson as his enhanced vision spread across the western district.
Very soon, he zoomed in on the Habakuk Crime Syndicate HQ. It was a very large mansion. There were a lot of trimmed gardens and beautiful ponds there.
Aiden’s gaze narrowed on a hall where a meeting was taking place.
Several individuals were seated across a table.
They were all rank 2 warriors. There were ten of them.
Everyone was an expert rank 2 warrior, except the one seated at the head of the table. He was a legendary rank 2 warrior. He looked handsome. He had black hair and black eyes. He wore some robes.
"I called this emergency meeting because of one reason" The man at the head of the table, Habakuk said.
"There’s a threat in the western district" he added.
Everyone was shocked.
Who at all could threaten the western district? What was Lord Habakuk trying to arrive at? He was a legendary rank 2 warrior. Apart from the other three crime Lords in the other districts who were also legendary rank 2 warriors, who could be a threat to him.
"Boss, if I may ask, who’s this person you speak of?" One of the people at the table asked a question everyone wanted to ask.
"The Red Death," Habakuk replied.
Realization dawned on everyone. So it was the famed Red Death. The guy who was the talk of town of the Western District at the moment.
A mysterious fellow with a blood related affinity who slaughtered several rank 1 warriors in a street.
He eliminated another gang of more than 100 people and took the apartment of the gang leader. He also slaughtered a small gang of 306 people that had 6 legendary rank 1 warriors among them, while wearing slippers and t-shirts.
The guy did all this in a single day.
Also, he was versatile in combat, able to switch to different weapons and adapt to the weapon style.
They had to admit, he was a madman and he was a genius.
But was he not just a legendary rank 1 warrior? He was inconsequential to them, who were expert rank 2 warriors. So they didn’t take him seriously.
Why did Lord Habakuk, who was a legendary rank 2 warrior think he was a threat?
"He may be weak now. But he certainly won’t be for long" Habakuk saw the looks of puzzlement on the faces of his subordinates and explained.
"Before I settled in Burning Sands, I did a lot of crime raids. I met my fair share of madmen and criminals across Hessington State. But I’ve never seen anyone like this guy before. He’s on another level. People like him cannot be judged with common sense. You are all analysing things from the perspective of expert rank 2 warriors, the fact that he’s a legendary rank 1 warrior, and the fact that he’s not a threat to you all right?"
Everyone looked at the other as nods of agreement spread through the room.
"Yes boss"
"Sure boss"
"Yeah boss"
Habakuk nodded "That’s where you are all wrong. Ask yourselves, if you were all legendary rank 1 warriors and all of you fought him at the same time, would you win?"
Realisation dawned on them. They now understood what Boss Habakuk was saying.
He was talking with regards to potential. The Red Death had serious potential. That was what made him a threat.
"We would honestly lose, boss"
"Yeah. No doubt about that"
"I guess we were shallow minded and didn’t see the big picture"
"Boss is really wise"
Habakuk was satisfied that they had realized where he was coming from.
"Keep an eye on him. Report to me the moment he becomes a beginner rank 2 warrior and try to recruit him politely into our ranks. He can become an asset to us" Habakuk ordered.
"Yes sir" Everyone replied.
"If he refuses, however, he’s a threat that cannot be left alive. He might grow strong enough to challenge our authority in the district. Eliminate him then and there" Habakuk added.
"Noted Boss"
"Yes sir"
Everyone nodded.
"Nothing said in this meeting leaves the organization.. if I hear rumors about this conversation circling around..." Habakuk didn’t need to finish.
All members knew the consequences of betraying the Organisation. Death.
In this situation, if news of the conversation spread in the city, all these high ranking members of the syndicate in the room would be held accountable and killed. Habakuk would not have any reservations. There were always rank 2 warriors he could nurture to fill their positions.
This was how the four major crime syndicates worked. If a member betrayed them in any way, whether by spilling secrets, disobeying orders, or by trying to leave or defect to another organization, they would be hunted down and killed.
Back in his room, Aiden listened to their conversation about him quietly. Yet no one in the Habakuk syndicate HQ knew that the person they were having a meeting about knew about their plans towards him.