Chapter 583: Confession
"If you don’t kill me, I will become your slave, just like Dupravel. I will stand by your side as your number one ally within the Council. So please.... Please let me go, Skyshard." The Twelfth Elder begged, as Leo chuckled at his words.
He had the Twelfth Elder exactly where he wanted him now, as him showing weakness in the negotiations was the exact moment Leo had been waiting for.
"I don’t understand, Twelfth Elder, if you haven’t done anything wrong, if it’s Mu Fan or the Righteous Faction framing you, why would you agree to become my slave?
If you’re morally upright, why would you not stick to your truth?" Leo asked, as he balled his fists and clenched his fingers, ready to punch the Twelfth Elder’s nose the moment he lied.
"T-t-that..... I–I-I" The Twelfth Elder hesitated, Leo’s sinister smile giving him chills, as he paused and checked himself before being punched.
"Yes, yes, I admit it. I was the one who sent mercenaries to hunt Luke Skyshard down for an entire year.
I pushed him to become a stronger warrior, but only because I believed in his potential, and wanted to cultivate the best Dragon Candidate....." the Elder’s excuse tumbled out, but before he could finish, Leo’s fist drove forward.
*CRACK!*
The sound was sickening as bone gave way, his nose flattening under the force while blood erupted down his face in thick streams, splattering across his chin and dripping onto his robes.
"ARGHHH—"
The Elder’s scream tore through the chamber, muffled by the bubbling of blood clogging his throat as he writhed helplessly against his binds.
Leo loomed over him, shaking his hand once before curling his lips into a razor-thin smile.
"Wrong. You didn’t give a shit about my brother’s potential as a warrior." He said, his voice calm, steady, yet dripping with venom.
"You wanted a Dragon you could control. Nothing more. Nothing less." He concluded after leaning in, as he looked the Twelfth Elder hatefully in the eye as he said it.
"Mmfgghhh—"
The Elder whimpered through the blood, his body shuddering as his head lolled forward, but Leo gripped his hair and forced his head up, ensuring he could not escape the weight of those words.
"Next I’m going to unsheath my dagger, so from here onwards, I suggest you speak the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, because if you do not, I’m going to personally torture you till you arrive on the doorsteps of death.
But if you confess your crimes willingly, MAYBE there’s a possibility of making a deal...." Leo said, as he observed the aura around his own body flickering ’black’.
He had lied about the possibility of making a deal, but it did not matter, as for now, his goal was to make the Twelfth Elder confess.
"Alright.... Alright, I’ll tell you the truth, don’t unsheathe your dagger.
I’ll confess.
But it’s a long story, so I hope you listen to my side of it." The Twelfth Elder broke, as for once Leo immediately backed off.
*Step* *Step*
He walked back towards his chair, sat down with one leg put over the other, and gestured for the Twelfth Elder to speak, as he gave him his space to narrate his side of the story.
"So, to explain why I chose to train you and Luke so harshly, I need to go back..... back before I ever became the Twelfth Elder.
As only then will you understand the full picture of my story." He began, spitting a mouthful of blood on the floor beside him.
"As you already know, I was once best friends with the previous Dragon, Noah Ashburn. He wasn’t just my leader or my battle partner. He was my sworn brother.
And his loss at the hands of Dupravel shattered me back in the day." He said, as his eyes shifted towards Dupravel with a renewed sense of burning hatred within them.
"Whispers spread that it had been an inside job, that someone within the Cult’s Council had leaked our mission.
Afterall, how else could the Serpents be there?
Somebody must have tipped them off, and apart from our crew, only the Elders Council knew about the details of our mission.
And so, I was furious and on the verge of rallying a revolt against the Council when the First Elder approached me for the first time in my life." The Twelfth Elder recalled, as he let out a long, weary sigh.
*Sigh*
"He told me that if I wanted to change the system, I had to do it from within. He promised to back my rise if I remained loyal to him.
So I agreed.
And with his support, I won the elections on Planet Vorthas and became the youngest Elder in the Council.
But in truth, I was nothing more than another vote in his pocket.
My stature translated to no real power."
"At first, I entered the Council determined to uncover the traitor who had betrayed us, but no matter how much I searched, I found nothing.
And soon, I became distracted.
Instead of looking for my suspect, I became entangled in the web of power that came with being an Elder and became obsessed with climbing higher and gaining real influence."
He lowered his gaze towards Leo, speaking with quiet shame.
"I realized there was only one path to true power within the Council: raising your own Dragon Candidate.
Every First Elder in our history had been the one behind a Dragon’s rise.
With even Noah himself being raised by the current First Elder.
That is why I was desperate to cultivate one of my own."
"I realized that in our Cult, only the Dragon is worshipped like a god apart from Lord Soron, and the man who controls the Dragon inevitably becomes the man who controls the Council."
"For years, I head no good news about any promising Dragon Candidate, but then suddenly, by a stroke of fortune, Mu Fan, while working undercover within the Righteous Faction, discovered two individuals who might carry the bloodline of the Timeless Assassin.
Making them two potential Dragon Candidates.
And so when I learned of this, I did everything I could in my power to bring you into the Cult before the Righteous Faction could claim you.
And in doing so, I even saved you from certain death.
But I knew I could not openly raise two candidates... afterall, I was the Twelfth Elder, the weakest seat in the Council.
If others discovered you lived, someone higher would have taken you instantly."
"So I sent you to Rodova Military Academy, not because I believed you could truly graduate as the best, but because it was the only place where nobody else could lay their hands on you.
And at least there, you were mine to protect."
"As for Luke..." his voice faltered before continuing, "I put him through that brutal training because I had read in a book that nothing spurs a warrior’s growth more than life and death struggles.
That was my logic. Nothing more. I never intended for him to fall into a coma. But when it happened, I was forced to cover it up. One lie led to another, and the slope grew slippery until it brought us all here."
His head hung low, his words ragged. "But I swear to you, I never wished for him to end up like that. If anything, I wanted him to become the next Dragon just as much as I wanted it for you."
He explained, as Leo silently let him continue, his rage bubbling with each passing moment.