"DAMN THOSE BASTARDS!" Devon shattered the glass of wine he had in his hand. 

Devon rarely had any outburst of anger. Even when he did, he simply channelled that energy to do something constructive. According to him, self-control should be treated as a finite resource because if not, then the part of the brain exerting control gets tired - it requires energy and that gets depleted, leaving the person drained. So, the repressing of anger required careful thinking.

Whenever he lost his cool, Devon immediately started thinking about is anger in rational terms by asking himself questions like- If the anger is boiling up, how will it be cooled? If it explodes, whom does it burns? How will it affect his surrounding? Will it cause pain to the ones he cared about? What are its benefits? 

Usually, by thinking about these questions, he could repress his anger. But this time it was different. The information he was given by the Lizardmen was beyond his expectations. 

At first, the Lizardmen thanked him for his contribution to their war against the nagas. And then they dropped a bombshell on him. Someone had been secretly hunting the Lizardmen for a couple of days. 

Ordinarily, Devon wouldn't give it a second glance over such a situation. The Lizardmen kept dying because of their own foolishness, there was nothing new in that. But what the Lizardmen told next immediately caught his attention. 

First, the killings took place outside the nagas region and the nagas never ever went out of their region to kill the Lizardmen. Thus this incident was peculiar. And second, whenever the nagas killed the Lizardmen, they stripped them of their weapons and armours leaving the corpses behind, intact. But not this time. Nothing was left behind their fallen kin. Not even a finger. Nothing. Just the bloodstains. 

This was one thing the nagas would never do. For the nagas were prideful creatures, who respected the dead even if someone was their mortal enemy they would never act like savage beasts. Unlike the Lizardmen. Thus, Devon quickly deduced that this was done by a third party. But the only ones who could do something like this were either the mermen or Devon.

But neither would ever do such a thing. For Devon, the Lizardmen were like dairy animals that gave him the gift of beast crystals he needed to make his soldiers and son strong. He would never do anything rash to sabotage his relationship with the monsters.

Similarly, the mermen would never interfere in the business of the land-dwelling monsters. Not unless they were provoked but the Lizardmen knew very well not to put their hands inside the hornet's nest thus the mermen wouldn't attack them either. 

This left him with only one possibility. The syndicate was here. But Devon had his eyes and ears all over the swamp... Well at most of it. And so far he hadn't received any reports stating that the syndicate had arrived there.

But how was it even possible? The syndicate would've mobilised in large numbers. Maybe in a few thousand. So how the hell were they able to hide such a large mass of people and make their way into the swamps? Also, his scouts didn't report sightings of any vehicles or dropships. Devon was sure that he'd know about their arrival even before they stepped a foot in the swamps, yet all the clues were leading him to believe that the syndicate had already arrived there and was striking down the Lizardmen one after another. 

All in all, the attacks were way too sudden and well-choreographed. Sometimes he doubted the leaders of the syndicate were capable of pulling something like this off. In his eyes, the syndicate comprised of brutes who only knew how to smash something rather than making rational decisions. In short, they were in constant "Hulk smash" mode. But then again, if it wasn't the syndicate then he couldn't think of anyone else who'd attack the lizardmen. 

Devon let out a few heavy sighs in quick succession. Trying to gain control over his emotions. He needed to remain calm and think of ways to get out of the situation and take care of the syndicate once and for all. 

"Anger is a thing I channel into my passions, I make it my rocket fuel to create a better world. A better world for my son." Devon mumbled while Alex wiped the wine off the table.

"Sir, you're still not used to your strength. Please be careful." Alex politely asked his master to keep his rage in check. 

He too was shocked by the possibility of a potential attack on them. Despite that, he knew what he had to do - kill anyone who threatens his master or die trying. But Devon had other plans for him. Devon knew he had forfeited his life the moment he started meddling with syndicate's affairs. He also knew the Lizardmen were the only hope of his survival, but he wasn't too hopeful. 

The syndicate wasn't as big of a fool as he had anticipated. They wouldn't dare to invade the swamps if they didn't have a way to take care of the Lizardmen. So if the Lizardmen couldn't help him... No one could. Even the countermeasures he had placed around his base won't be able to hold out the warriors indefinitely. 

Logically speaking, he was 95% sure that he was going to die in the upcoming battle. But he didn't care. Karma was onto him, but he needed to make sure of something. He needed to protect Gary at all cost and the only man he trusted to do so was Alex. 

"Alex, I have a final request for you." Devon wiped the wine off his hand, "In case a war breaks out... Promise me you'll leave me and take care of Gary. I have already made the arrangements. You guys can leave for Mexico. There Alejandro will give you your new identities. Also, I've included a stack of beast crystals that are to be fed to him at regular intervals. Selene knows about it."

"Sir, with all due respect, I'm not leaving you to die." For the first time ever Alex refused to acknowledge Devon's command, "I know your methods were wrong. I know you were wrong. But to me, you're also the one who saved my life and gave me strength. I'm not leav-"

"You will abandon me. And THAT'S AN ORDER!" Devon was touched by Alex's loyalty to him, but he didn't deserve it. Not one bit. 

Alex immediately went silent. Even he knew that fighting against the syndicate was suicidal. He knew he won't be able to convince his master to leave along with his son. His master had already resigned himself to fate and he highly suspected that Devon actually wanted to die... The struggle for living had been too much for the man and it was time he got some rest.