《Journey of the Son of Ares》


 Chapter 1: The World Is Yours

    The boy looked up at a dark figure standing in the sky above the forest, his mouth agape. The small animals had scampered away at the mere feeling in the air. With a hand on his chest, the boy felt how his heart thrummed. It wasn''t a dream or a vision, but it was hard to believe. He''d never seen a man float before, and if he wasn''t mistaken, the man was peering back at him. Suddenly, a hopeful thought occurred to him.


    "Father?" he asked.


    The man in the sky moved. It spurred a sudden fear in the boy, who turned and began scrambling towards home. Fallen leaves crushed beneath his feet as he ran over mossy rocks, trying his hardest not to trip on tree roots. He made it quite a long way. Then the man fell from the sky, landing in front of the boy with such force it blew the boy''s golden hair back.


    The boy went still in shock as he watched the man rise from a firm crouch after a fall that should''ve shattered his legs. Shock turned to awe as he beheld the man''s mature but youthful visage. One of his eyes was hidden under a patch, but the boy only paid attention to the uncovered one. It was bright and unfazed.


    The man promptly dusted off his clothes before noticing the boy''s stiff posture and wide-open blue eyes. "Oh, I''m¡ª" he coughed a little. "Please excuse my landing," he said before raising his hands. "I come in peace." Aurelius couldn''t help but note the polished leather the man had around his waist while he had a broken rope to tie his pants. "It is an honor to meet you, Aurelius. I''m Gabriel, a subordinate of your father."


    Aurelius'' vibrant eyes went wider, his pupils dilating despite the light of day. "My father? Is he here? Is my father with you?!" He pumped his fists. "Oh, oh, if he''s here, tell him it''s my birthday." He laughed to himself. He had planned it for years. "I want to make it like he returned at the perfect time."


    Gabriel''s friendly expression faltered. "There''s a lot we have to discuss. Could you show me to your home?"


    Despite his mother having forbidden exploring the forest, Aurelius had explored enough to navigate back to the farm with ease even as he bombarded Gabriel with questions about his father.


    The polite man brushed off most of the questions. The rest he answered with words that didn''t quite make sense. At times, Aurelius was convinced Gabriel was speaking another language all together.


    "What about that floating thing you did? What is that?"


    Gabriel looked at Aurelius weirdly. "That? It''s just an application of essence."


    "Oo, what''s that?" Aurelius asked.


    Gabriel paused. He looked at Aurelius seriously before glancing around with his mouth open and eyebrows knit together.


    Aurelius pumped his fists. "Well, what is it?!"


    "Essence is..." Gabriel rubbed his forehead before talking normally again. "It''s a power you can use to shape reality in a way. With it, you can strengthen your body and senses. Even make things out of nothing. But it can be dangerous."


    Aurelius'' eyes shined. "Cool." He probably wouldn''t have believed it if he hadn''t seen it. "How does it work? Tell me, tell me!"


    "I''ve answered your questions, so how about you answer some of mine for a change?" Gabriel suggested.


    "What? But you haven''t told me anything!"


    Gabriel chuckled and ruffled his hair as he glanced around the forest. "You like nature, don''t you?"


    Aurelius moped for a total of two seconds before beaming up at Gabriel. "I think nature likes me."


    "Pfft, right. You sure have your father''s... lack of inhibition."


    Aurelius squinted. "What''s that mean?"


    "I don''t know. They''re just words." Gabriel waved a hand and smiled. Aurelius had never seen a smile like his. It made him smile too. "But tell me, Aurelius, do you have any friends around here? I was under the impression you had company beside your mother. Some children around your age."


    "Ah, well, there''s my uncle and my cousins. But I''m not really... I''m more..." Aurelius struggled before pivoting his tone. "We play around. Sometimes. Often, actually. We''re friends." Gabriel let the silence linger, and Aurelius frowned, casting his gaze down.


    "Did something happen?" Gabriel asked.


    Aurelius looked around and mumbled something. "Wait a second. I think we''re going in the¡ª"


    Gabriel grabbed his shoulder. "Did something happen?" Aurelius turned to look up at him. "You can tell me."


    Aurelius shook. "It''s okay. It''s resolved. We''re family."


    "What is?"


    "Well, we were playing, and I did something wrong, and..." He gestured with his hands. "His arm went in the wrong direction. It''s still not healed. But once it''s fine, we can all play again, so it''s resolved."


    "Ah, alright." Gabriel rubbed Aurelius'' shoulder and assured him, "I''m sure it''ll all be okay."


    "Y¡ª Yeah," Aurelius said with an uncertain nod.


    Gabriel''s face suddenly froze, his eye shifting as he stood up. "Aurelius, I think your mother wants to see you."


    Aurelius turned around, and in the distance before a large cottage, he saw his mother''s eyes, wrinkled and teary.


    ''What is...'' he thought as Gabriel walked past.


    Aurelius ran up behind him and asked what was going on. Gabriel just walked ahead. Then he saw his mother''s hard expression. They were both like statues. Aurelius ran to his mother and clung to her, asking her the same question. She just caressed his cheek.


    ''Why is nobody saying anything?'' he thought in a panic, just this once wanting for his mother to wag her finger and swear if he went into that forest one more time...


    "Aurelius, go inside," his mother said sharply.


    Aurelius furrowed his brows and looked at Gabriel who seemed to agree. "Is this about my father?" Aurelius asked. Gabriel nodded. "Then I''ll stay."


    Gabriel glanced at Aurelius'' mother before turning his gaze to the ground and kneeling. "The truth is... I have failed you," he said, his voice breaking and his words filling the air with something heavy.


    "What?" Aurelius turned to his mother. "What''s he talking about?"


    Gabriel looked at him with sad eyes that Aurelius realized had been hidden before. "Your father, Aurelius. My commander... 106 days ago, he passed away."


    Aurelius'' feet stuck to the ground. He was being pulled in. Sucked into the depths. He wanted to move. To lash out, but he couldn''t. It was his father''s friend. He had joked and laughed with him just a minute ago.


    He stared at Gabriel, his empty eyes starting to turn red as he refused to blink. Then he saw it. He was a traitor. It was a trap. He launched himself at Gabriel with a faraway scream. "Mom, run!"


    He attempted to tackle Gabriel, but as Gabriel stuck in place, he wrestled and tried twisting him. He looked back. His mother was still there, hands trembling, her gaze on the ground. "Go, Mom! Go." His voice turned weaker as he exerted all his force to no avail.


    ''Come on, show me who you are,'' he thought as he squeezed his arms around the man as hard as he could. If the man hit him or flung him, it meant Aurelius was right. He was there to hurt them. That''s why he lied.


    But when nothing happened, he looked up. And when he saw Gabriel''s tears, his strength faded, and he broke. His face twisting as his lips quivered and his hands shook.


    ''Don''t cry. Strong people don''t cry,'' he thought, but when the first tears came, there was no stopping it. Soon he sobbed with his face against Gabriel''s chest.


    What was he supposed to wait for now?


    ***


    It was already evening when Aurelius sat against the frame of his bed in the V-shaped attic. His eyes were bloodshot and tired as he stared at his mother''s bed opposite his own.


    He had been sent away while the adults talked downstairs. There was no sound coming from there, though. Maybe they were just sitting around a table and staring at each other. Uncle didn''t like him. Mother had barely said anything since he came.


    There was a sound, and Aurelius turned his head. Gabriel walked up the stairs with his head down. Then he came into the room and sat down, leaning against his mother''s bed.


    Aurelius wanted to snap at him. Tell him he had no right to touch his mother''s bed. But he saw the pain in the man''s eyes. He was haunted, a hundred ghosts at his back.


    As they looked at each other there with pained expressions, not sure what to feel, Aurelius wished for the first time that he would never have met Gabriel at all.


    "I''m sorry for the way I acted. I¡ª" Gabriel paused and took his gaze away from Aurelius and directed it at his feet. "I wasn''t sure how I was supposed to tell you. Ares was my commander, but he was also like a father. In a way, you and I are like brothers." He looked up at Aurelius and smiled with a tired curving of his lips. Aurelius'' mouth twitched, still unsure what he was feeling.


    Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    "When will you leave?" Aurelius asked.


    "I will depart immediately if you wish," Gabriel responded firmly. "I volunteered to be a messenger as I am the sole survivor of your father''s troop, but I have things to take care of on the other side of the world. However, I could teach you the ways of essence manipulation before I leave. The incident with your cousin... I can help you make sure that you will never hurt anyone like that again. I will help you control that power. With it, you can even help others. Like your father."


    Aurelius'' eyes opened just a little wider, some of their vibrancy reborn. "I can be like my father?"


    Gabriel nodded. "I''m sure of it." He moved forward and went to a knee, putting a hand on Aurelius'' chest. "You are a very special person, Aurelius. Never restrict yourself. The possibilities for you are infinite. Always remember that." He put a hand on Aurelius'' knee, and Aurelius'' heart was filled. And then he spoke those words. "The world is yours."


    ***


    Those four words echoed in Aurelius'' mind for four long years. The beauty of his art reflected them.


    In the middle of his tensed hand, streaks rippled around a ball of essence that gave off a faint glow. The ball wasn''t very large and at times struggled to exist, but it was mesmerizing nonetheless. In it, he saw an abstract reflection of his 16-year-old self.


    When he let his hand loosen, the ball disappeared. Then he took out his gray notebook and jotted something down as he sat on a rock in the forest.


    "Close-range essence usage: no progress."


    Then he looked over the other categories. Long-range essence usage, reinforcement, enhancement, and defensive essence usage abilities had all started to stagnate almost a year ago. Now his progress was just pathetic.


    Aurelius breathed out slowly and rubbed his forehead. He did it harder and harder until he lashed out, squeezing his hand into a fist and pumping it three times before hitting the rock he was sitting on. The rock crumbled, sending him stumbling off to the side.


    He grumbled as he dusted off his clothes.


    He had done everything, reviewing the advice Gabriel had given him during the months he was his mentor. It was now evident that he was stuck. After having mastered the fundamentals, his progress had died down. Trying to better his setups without a teacher was like stumbling in the dark. And of course, Gabriel had refused to give him advice too far off into the future because he would''ve started skipping steps.


    In other words, there was no escaping this slump. Unless...


    ***


    "No," his mother answered as she devoted her attention to the stew she was cooking.


    "Please, just consider it," Aurelius begged.


    "I have considered it, and my answer is no. How many times do I have to tell you?"


    Aurelius stood and walked over to her. "Listen, we can''t stay here. We can''t keep living like... Can''t you understand that we have a better life waiting for us?"


    She kept her eyes on the pot. "Where? A world away in the Great Zalfarian Empire? You just can''t get him out of your head, can you?" Then she turned. "Aurelius, we are here because your father thought it best."


    Aurelius shook his head. "No, he wouldn''t have wanted this. He''s the Hero of Zalfari. If we go there, they''ll welcome us and¡ª" He stopped when his mother glared at him.


    "The last thing your father would have wanted was for you to go to Zalfari. He fought for that nation so that you wouldn''t have to."


    Aurelius bit his tongue. He may have been smart enough to know what was right, but he was still too stupid to say it in a way that made it undeniable. "Then not Zalfari. We can go elsewhere. Somewhere I can put my skills to use. A place like Mircrest where I can help people. And help us." He gently grasped her mother''s shoulders.


    "Mircrest?" She shook him off, her face hardening. "Stop it. The answer is no. Do you have any idea what that place is like? All the corruption, crime, and debauchery. There is not a single upstanding citizen to be found there."


    Aurelius squeezed his hands into fists. "You know that''s a lie."


    "I won''t put what we have here at risk for what is... out there." She pointed her finger disdainfully and put her attention back on the food.


    ''What we have here?'' Aurelius thought, his eyes narrowing. ''What we have here is a chance for you to die working the fields and me becoming a useless failure. I have no friends, no property, no community, no purpose. Nobody wants me here except for you. So what do we... What do I have here?''


    He returned from his thoughts as his mother looked at him like she disapproved of the thoughts he''d had. It truly felt like she could see all the dark thoughts in his mind he covered up with shame. If she really could see them, of course, she would think him unfit to continue his father''s legacy.


    Then she brought her hand up and patted him on the head with a slight smile. "I''m sorry that you''re unsatisfied. I know you have dreams. But life isn''t what you think. Often our dreams lead us into our nightmares."


    Aurelius opened his mouth, but no words came. Was he wrong to want to follow his heart? Was it so selfish? He didn''t know, so he didn''t argue against his mother.


    He nodded and turned away, heading for the back door of the cottage. The door opened and a man came inside. When he noticed Aurelius, he gave a smile to mask the spite he held for him.


    "Good morning," Aurelius said with a nod.


    "Is it? You haven''t destroyed more of my land, have you?"


    Aurelius gave an affirmative sound as he walked past, only to be stopped as the man grabbed his arm.


    "When did you grow to be so rude as to not even answer your uncle?" he asked.


    Aurelius looked to the side and down, a dark thought passing through his head. His uncle wasn''t a small man by any measure; however, his head barely reached Aurelius'' shoulder. "Sorry, I thought I did."


    "Tch." He shook his head and patted Aurelius harshly on the shoulder. "Go on. You have work to do just like the rest of us."


    Aurelius shrugged the man off and headed out. There he saw his eldest cousin.


    He raised a hand in an awkward greeting. "Hey."


    She just pursed her lips and walked past. Aurelius'' eyes went to her elbow, and he grimaced slightly. It was a sight that haunted his dreams. The arm never fully healed.


    He was about to walk into the backyard when he heard something and looked back to see his mother conversing with the two. Despite whatever his mother said, it was obvious that he had no place there.


    ***


    Months went past with Aurelius spending entire nights staring at the roof, thoughts about that conversation and all like it spinning in his mind. Every day his beliefs were further reinforced. He wasn''t improving anymore, and his time was wasted on pointless work when it should''ve gone into training, but there was no way to convince his mother.


    He couldn''t stay in place any longer.


    Making up his mind, he took his large bag from under his bed at past midnight and silently made it out. It was a struggle to get out without having the floor creak under his feet, but he managed. Only when he was out could he think again.


    So simple was the act. Just take your stuff and go. But under the night sky, the forest was so dark, and the cottage unusually familiar. Nevertheless, it had to be done.


    His mother thought she knew best, but it was her selfishness that kept him trapped in this place, useless and without purpose. But he had a purpose. He existed in this world for a reason. He was there to continue his father''s legacy.


    Without restrictions, he could do so much good. To others and himself. The world would be better for this choice, so it was one he had to make.


    He thought of his father. He represented the strength he sought to achieve, the adventurous spirit he reached for, and the determination to face and conquer the world.


    ''I''m going to be just like you,'' he vowed with his wondrous gaze on the stars and felt an irrepressible boost of energy within.


    Under the night sky, he felt as if the stars were smiling at him. He looked back at the cottage one last time, wishing his mother goodbye before entering the darkness and beyond.

 Chapter 2: Traveler

    After a few months of travel, Aurelius woke up one day, tied tightly to a chunky tree with some kind of wire and seated in front of a dim campfire. He raised his gaze, a splitting headache making the simple act of using his eyes feel like death.


    It took a while for him to even be able to notice the boy in baggy mercenary clothing with unusually soft facial features.


    "You conscious already?" the boy remarked, his voice strange and his expression barely changing since the moment he noticed Aurelius open his eyes. "Good thing you kept supplying essence for reinforcement. Otherwise, you''d be a corpse right now, and I''d be stuck with a bunch of cripples as assistants."


    Aurelius'' head slowly moved from side to side for a while before he managed to keep still and ask, "How did you... Wha... Who are you?"


    "I can tell you what I did later. For now, all you need to know is that I''m your new partner," the person said, tilting his chin down with a lifeless stare before he loosely pointed at Aurelius. "And you''re the one who will help me get my hands on some enhancers."


    ***


    Just a day before, Aurelius was traveling through a foreign forest in simple brown clothes that revealed his long but compact muscular frame. His cheeks were hairless and smooth, which created a sharp look. His golden hair, on the other hand, was unformed and swayed in the wind as he exhaled through his teeth. Lastly, there were his steady, blue eyes that he opened before connecting the palms of his outstretched arms as he heard a young boy scream out.


    Essence then traveled all the way through his body to the tips of his fingers. There, it built up for a short moment before shooting off in the form of a light blue beam¡ªroughly the size of an apple¡ªinto the distance. He felt a bit of fatigue right after, to the point of being tempted to drop his shoulders, but then there was an impact and a loud animalistic whimper.


    Aurelius had expected such sounds but hurried to the scene anyway after quickly hiding his bag.


    After dashing to the scene, he found a small, brown-haired boy sitting limply with his eyes wide. The boy didn''t seem capable of looking away from the wolf, which had a gaping hole in its torso.


    Aurelius'' nose crumpled up at the sight before he walked up to the boy and covered his eyes, much to the shock of the boy, who hadn''t even seemed to notice Aurelius'' presence.


    Aurelius took hold of the boy gently and said, "Please don''t look that way."


    "Are you the one that did that?" the boy asked, his voice shaky.


    "Yeah, I am. I didn''t want to, but I didn''t have time to think of a better solution than that," Aurelius said as he glanced at the wolf''s remains. "Anyway, a boy like you shouldn''t be wandering around a forest like this. Where do you live?"


    "Uhh," the boy mumbled as he looked around and then pointed in a direction, "My house is that way."


    After taking a quick look in the direction where the boy pointed, Aurelius asked, "Is it far?"


    "I guess," the boy said, his voice wavy.


    After hearing the boy''s answer, Aurelius tapped on his forehead twice, making his brain tingle and his eye color deepen.


    Suddenly he could feel the movement of every muscle, joint, and hair on his body. He could also distinguish all the different smells that the forest provided, see even the smallest details in all the trees and plants around him, hear the rustling of the leaves and the chirping of the birds much more clearly, and even vividly feel the small beads of sweat on his forehead. It was an overwhelming feeling, but he had gotten used to it over the years.


    Aurelius then picked the boy up and said, "Hold on tight."


    Lastly, he flexed his leg muscles twice in rapid succession and felt a pulse of essence. After having enhanced his senses and the physical prowess of his legs, he lowered himself into a running position and burst forth.


    Not having reinforced his body may have been a little reckless, but reinforcing his body would have required him to split his focus even more, and since he was carrying a child, he definitely wasn''t planning on tripping or hitting a tree.


    While the boy held on for dear life, Aurelius dodged the trees ahead skillfully as his hair fluttered wildly in the wind. He had gotten used to this type of travel after having done it since he was just a small child. The pace had been a bit slower back then, though.


    It didn''t take long before they reached a small town, and when they did, Aurelius let the boy down and was about to apologize when the boy started jumping up and down. "Again, again!"


    "Sorry, I''m too tired already," Aurelius said, scratching the back of his head with an awkward smile.


    The child started sulking, so Aurelius put on an exaggerated frown and ruffled the boy''s hair as a form of apology before changing the topic. "So where''s your house?"


    "Oh, I live right there," he said, pointing towards a flat, one-story wooden house with walls that were in rather poor condition.


    "Hmm, I think your mom has some words for you," Aurelius said after seeing a brown-haired woman in a worn-out dress walking out of the house the boy had pointed to and towards them. She had probably seen them out of the window. "Well, it''s time for you to meet your maker," Aurelius said, clapping the boy on the back with a slight smile, all too familiar with the scene.


    "Lucas, how many times have I forbidden you from going into the forest?!" the woman yelled as he strode toward them menacingly.


    This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.


    "I know, I''m sorry," Lucas apologized with his head lowered.


    ''Hmm, straightforward approach. Interesting,'' Aurelius noted inwardly with a nod.


    Then the woman bowed her head to Aurelius and said, "Thank you for bringing my son home."


    "Ah, don''t worry; it was no trouble," Aurelius said with a wave of his hand, but then got a little more serious. "There are some lone wolves in these forests, so I hope you''re a little stricter in the future."


    Lucas watched with horror as he was betrayed by his hero, and his mother''s expression grew worse by the second. Aurelius looked away. It was for the best.


    "Lucas, go to your room. Now!" the woman yelled, her face red with anger as she furiously pointed towards the house.


    Aurelius watched with pursed lips as Lucas ran inside the house before turning back to the woman in front of him. "I''ll be going now as well."


    "Ah, would you like some food? You can take it as a thank you for saving my son," the woman offered generously.


    "I don''t need any kind of reward. I''m just happy to help." Aurelius said with a soft smile. "But... I haven''t really eaten anything for a while now. What do you have?"


    "Just some rabbit stew," the woman answered.


    Aurelius'' shoulders dropped. "Sorry, but I don''t eat rabbit," he said.


    "What kind of man doesn''t eat rabbit?" the woman asked, seemingly in awe.


    "Oh, I just don''t eat anything besides predatory animals. I don''t think it''s right to kill animals that aren''t causing any trouble."


    "Well, aren''t you a saint. But people need to get food somehow."


    "Sorry, I didn''t mean it like that." He put a hand out apologetically with an awkward smile. "I just think I should get my food from predators since I have the ability to do so."


    Right as Aurelius thought the conversation was over and was about to walk away, however, he heard the woman call out. "Ah, there''s also freshly baked bread."


    ***


    "Thank you for the food. I''ll be continuing on my travels now. Oh, and tell Lucas that I''m sorry," Aurelius said, exiting with a wave.


    It was late already. The sun was starting to fall lower than the trees on the horizon, and the clouds were getting progressively darker.


    ''I should probably go buy a map somewhere,'' Aurelius thought after walking deeper into the town as he looked at the few bronze coins he had left from selling an animal he had hunted a few days before. It wasn''t enough.


    The woman had thought he was the son of a wealthy merchant or an elite soldier. Well, he was, but it sure didn''t show in his funds. Then the conversation had just turned into a lecture about essence, like it always did when talking to people who weren''t familiar with it.


    Aurelius heard some commotion in the distance. He looked around, and the few people that were out this late were walking away with hurried steps or exchanging fearful glances.


    Aurelius approached and found the commotion to be caused by the outside of a pub that sure sounded like it was filled to the brim. What caught his attention, however, was a pair outside the pub. It was a woman in a shabby flower dress being harassed by an intoxicated, burly man dressed in a black outfit that had all kinds of weapons attached. That conversation likely didn''t include a lecture on essence.


    Aurelius'' eyes narrowed slightly, and the ends of his lips curled down as he looked around at all the bystanders and held back a shake of his head. They weren''t responsible, and they likely had no way of helping. He was not to judge them. Aurelius remembered his notebook and Gabriel''s advice, as he always did.


    ''It is the duty of the strong to shape a righteous world,'' he reminded himself.


    He walked up to the two and grabbed the man''s hand. "Hey, sorry. I just recently got introduced to the concept of romance, but even I can see that the lady isn''t very enthusiastic about you. Maybe you should try your luck with another one," he said with a helpful smile.


    "Get off of me, ya¡ª" the man was saying, but stopped when Aurelius tapped his forehead twice.


    Aurelius'' eye color transformed, and the man let go. Aurelius then watched as the man turned and walked inside the pub before stopping the supply of essence from being directed into his brain and sighing.


    "You should hurry up and leave," the woman said as Aurelius turned around to face her. "Now."


    Aurelius'' brows furrowed as he put a hand on his head. "Wait, was I wrong? You liked him? Damn, sorry. I''m really bad with these things," Aurelius apologized, scratching the back of his head as he tried figuring out ways to fix the situation, thinking he had scared off an innocent man.


    Then he noticed that the people who had been glancing around fearfully in the area were gone.


    "No, thank you for that, but..." the woman said and pointed at the door of the pub that had just been opened again. "There''s a problem." Tens of men in similar black outfits streamed out, carrying weapons.


    "See, I told you his hair''s golden." The man from before exited laughing while pointing at Aurelius and held his hand out in front of one of the other mercenaries.


    Aurelius turned around and immediately understood the situation. Nevertheless, he stayed where he was.


    "Go. Run away," the woman urged, shaking him by the arm.


    Aurelius kept his gaze on the men dressed in black and answered, "No, I don''t think I will."

 Chapter 3: Mercenaries

    "You''re not the only one here that can use essence," the woman said, trying to convince Aurelius to run, but he simply waved her off.


    "I''m not? Good to know. But you should go now. This might get dangerous," he answered, his gaze staying on the mercenaries who were starting to surround them.


    The woman gave up finally and left before the mercenaries managed to surround Aurelius.


    After she was gone, he raised his hands and talked while directing his focus to a large man with short black hair and a thin scar between his dark eyes, whom he assumed to be their leader just because of the air surrounding him, "I''m sure we can resolve this peacefully."


    "We can... but we won''t," the large man Aurelius directed his focus at spoke.


    It seemed like he had been right about who their leader was. He wasn''t very enthusiastic about his correct guess, though.


    "Well, maybe we''ll let you go if you give us all of your belongings," the mercenary leader brought forth a not-so-generous offer, seeing that Aurelius was starting to prepare himself for battle.


    Aurelius tilted his head slightly to the side. "I don''t own much, but the answer''s still no."


    "You''ll regret that," the man said, rolling up his sleeves.


    Aurelius shook his hands, warming his wrists up. "Really?"


    "You''re taking this a little too lightly. It would be best for you to understand that if you lose, we will kill you."


    "Oh, I know that."


    "You may think you do, but you can''t comprehend it until you experience it," the man said, his voice even lower than before.


    Aurelius looked around and wondered if he had made a mistake by staying. Maybe running would have been best. Suddenly, a thumping in his chest started. Regardless of that, Aurelius tightened his jaw and made up his mind.


    "Okay then, make me comprehend it," Aurelius said and readied himself.


    There were 18 men around him in total. Well, 17 if the weak link next to the leader of the group was counted out. The weak link was a boy, maybe his age, with ash-brown hair that reached his eyes, coupled with dark eyes and round features that stuck out. He had a slightly browner skin tone than the other mercenaries, and he was dressed in baggy clothes, which could have hidden how skinny he was if one didn''t take a peek at his thin wrists. He also seemed to be very nervous, continuously making all kinds of subtle movements. Maybe he was the brains of the group, and those movements were just a part of his thinking process. That would have also explained why he stood right beside the leader.  Whatever the case might''ve been, if Aurelius needed to escape, he would surely run towards him if the leader switched positions.


    He doubted that he could be fatally wounded by these people in one hit, so he thought that he could gauge their power a little before deciding whether to fight or escape. It was exactly how Gabriel had told him to approach a battle against an unknown opponent.


    "Should we use our weapons?" one of the men asked the leader.


    "He can use essence. Swing your weapons to your heart''s content."


    ''They intend on killing me? Am I supposed to do the same to them?'' Aurelius considered. ''No, that''s too harsh for these people. Though, I can''t hold back in a bad situation.''


    After such thoughts, the battle began.


    Aurelius, of course, started by quickly performing his basic setups. He tapped quickly on his forehead two times, his senses flaring up. Then he squeezed his interlocked hands as tightly as he could, concentrating before feeling a reinforcing reaction. And lastly, he flexed all his primary muscles lightly twice in rapid succession, enhancing his muscles.


    The familiar sensations calmed him down quite a bit as he started to focus on where the first attack would come from.


    Immediately after, he heard the striking sound of a blade cutting through the wind directly behind his head.


    He ducked down while turning and grabbed a hold of the arm holding the blade before thinking of his next move, which was a palm strike to the face of his attacker. He made sure not to put too much power into it, but the man still ended up falling unconscious.


    After dealing with his first opponent, Aurelius glanced at the leader, whom he assumed was the only essence user out of the bunch, and was surprised to see that he still stood far away with his arms crossed, not having moved a muscle.


    He was then forced to avert his focus from the leader because another attack was coming his way from the right.


    He grabbed the hand holding a blade aimed at his neck with his right hand and was about to direct his full attention to that attacker when another came from his other side. His left hand shot out to grab that attacker''s hand as well.


    He had managed to restrict them, but more were coming. In addition, the man he was holding on his right dug his pockets before bringing out another weapon and aiming it at Aurelius.


    Aurelius grunted and twisted his body, throwing the man on his right in the leader''s direction from where men were rushing at him.


    He turned back, crossing his legs awkwardly, and threw the man he held with his right hand at his other attackers. He lost his balance in the process and fell onto his side.


    Not only that, but he heard the leader laugh and grit his teeth.


    Aurelius pushed himself off the ground and to his feet before the enthusiastic, armed men managed to jump on him. He then proceeded to dodge a stab from one of the mercenaries closest to him and shift his balance before twisting his hips and throwing a sharp counterattack in the form of a fist to the jaw. Upon impact, a crack resounded and the mercenary''s head spun before he flopped onto the ground.


    Aurelius''s eyes flew open, and he grimaced. He couldn''t dwell on it any longer as a group of yelling men came rushing at him. He could''ve run at that moment, but he put on a stern face and rushed forward.


    Aurelius didn''t cross his feet once afterward, and not doing so became much easier as the number of conscious mercenaries was reduced to the single digits. Eventually, their number was reduced to only two.


    The leader and the boy standing next to him.


    "Was your strategy just to drain my essence by making me fight these people first? It doesn''t seem like a very good strategy. I''m not drained at all, and I''m certain your men don''t appreciate being used as cheap pawns," Aurelius said, his still, deep-blue eyes directed at the leader. This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.


    His breathing was getting uneven. Truth be told, he was a bit drained. Maintaining double enhancement and reinforcement for a while was no easy feat.


    The leader gave a small chuckle and then answered, "The point wasn''t only to drain you. It was just to see how you fight. I also couldn''t care less about "my men". We''re mercenaries. We do what we have to assure our victory."


    "Alright, I guess," Aurelius said with an exaggerated raise of his eyebrows. "Anyway, isn''t that guy going to fight?" he asked, pointing at the boy next to the leader, who seemed to have calmed down or stopped thinking


    "No, he''s kind of an apprentice of mine, so he''s just gonna watch what I do."


    "An essence user?" Aurelius pried.


    "Yeah," the leader answered simply.


    ''Oh, so maybe he was just excited to see what I could do. Was he disappointed?'' Aurelius thought, seeing that the boy''s hands were no longer twitching.


    "Well, that''s that. Let''s fight," Aurelius said, consciously raising the amount of essence being supplied for his reinforcement and muscular enhancement, feeling the effects immediately.


    The leader huffed a little before tapping on his temple quickly and just once, causing his eyes to go fully black, and squeezing his right hand. Aurelius could sense that the man''s right hand radiated essence. The essence in the man''s right hand then spread throughout his body.


    Aurelius''s breath started running short as he looked at the man. The mercenary leader seemed to be better with setups than him.


    He still stood his ground, however, since he remembered Gabriel saying something along the lines of, "Setups tell you about the time someone has put into practicing setups. How hard one hits or how fast one moves is the actual tell when it comes to someone''s battle prowess."


    In addition, the man''s essence usage was rough. He didn''t seem fully aware of how to channel essence. Otherwise, Aurelius might not have even been able to sense anything after his setup was complete.


    Once the leader was done with his setups, he wasted no words and rushed at Aurelius. His movements were faster than any Aurelius had seen in the past few years. Even the smallest animals didn''t move at that pace.


    In just a second, they were suddenly face-to-face. Aurelius hadn''t even fully processed what had happened. This wasn''t like the battle with those other mercenaries. He couldn''t simply calculate his moves while dodging. Against an opponent with similar speed, everything he did had to come from instinct. There was no room for thought, and any mistake could be fatal.


    Aurelius quickly leaped backward, attempting to create space, but the leader simply leaped forward, and they were in the same extremely uncomfortable situation again.


    The leader grunted and punched downward. It was a strike that Aurelius could easily dodge, and he did exactly so. Then the punch connected with the ground, creating a tremendous sound. The ground beneath Aurelius shook, and while he struggled to regain balance, the leader launched at him and aimed a punch at his midsection. Aurelius was unable to dodge the blow in time and ended up simply trying to reduce damage by blocking with his forearms.


    He ended up getting launched for tens of meters and only stopped when he hit a tree and got the wind knocked out of him. He raised his gaze while trying to catch his breath, only to see the leader in the air about to land on top of him.


    He realized the right move instantly and stopped trying to catch his breath. Then he closed his eyes for a split second, during which he cut off the supply of essence to his brain, muscles, and bones, shutting off his enhancements and reinforcement. He inhaled, cold sweat running down his face and into his mouth, spreading a taste of salt. Finally, he extended his arms and put his palms together, pointing the tips of his fingers at the man flying through the air towards him with his hands above his head, ready to strike.


    Aurelius wasn''t sure he would survive the encounter, but at that moment, he accepted whatever fate had in store for him and stayed still.


    Suddenly, the leader''s eyes flew open, and his smile disappeared.


    Then, as a beam of essence shot out of Aurelius'' hands, the leader twisted his body in a panic and managed to evade the beam just barely before clumsily landing on the ground in front of Aurelius.


    The leader rose to his feet, and Aurelius did the same after coughing a few times. Then they took their stances once again, with Aurelius being the one doing the setups this time.


    The leader exhaled with a devilish grin before springing into action before Aurelius had finished his setups. Unfortunately for him, he wasn''t quite fast enough.


    He had probably assumed Aurelius would complete the same set of setups as earlier, but that was the flaw with observing someone''s actions and expecting to know everything. There were always variables in a battle.


    Aurelius was aware of his limited time and scrambled through the setups, but he realized he didn''t have time and looked up to see the leader aiming a possibly lethal strike at his head. At that moment, he neglected reinforcement. There was no time for calculation. It was all instinct, as it should be.


    He lowered his body to the right, spreading his stance and dodging the leader''s attack with the help of his enhanced senses and the speed that enhancement provided. Then, because the leader had likely been sure of the success of his attack, he wasn''t ready for a counterattack that came in the form of a palm strike loaded from Aurelius'' low one-side dominant stance, from where he pushed with all his power, transferring his momentum to the leader''s left side ribs. There was a crack, and saliva flew from the leader''s mouth as he was launched diagonally upward in the direction of the forest.


    Aurelius didn''t watch and admire his feat that had launched a grown man capable of essence use into the air even higher than the trees, however. Instead, he reinforced his body before taking a couple of running steps and jumping after the leader. He had seen how jumping in an arc could go wrong, so instead of that, he aimed his body like a projectile and shot off directly after the leader.


    The leader was still conscious and mobile, but he could do very little as he flew through the air as a target. His apparent lack of prowess in other types of essence usage besides reinforcement and enhancements meant all he could do was focus on reinforcing his body while he waited for what was to come.


    The wind rushed past Aurelius'' airborne figure, and as he got closer and closer to his target, he stopped the supply of essence to his senses and loaded up an attack he was conflicted about using.


    He tightened the joints in his hand in a half-closed position, streaks of essence starting to gather into a sphere shape as he imagined what it would do to the man. It was likely that the hit wouldn''t kill him since he was doing it while he was maintaining enhancement and reinforcement, but that was certainly a possibility since he didn''t seem to be good at defensive essence usage and was trying to simply endure the blow with reinforcement.


    He cursed how he had jumped into the air so thoughtlessly as if running wasn''t an option. Why had he felt the urgency to end the fight? He had created enough distance to end the fight just by walking away. Was that still possible? It was, wasn''t it?


    His time to think ended once he reached a distance where he could land a hit on the man. He had made his decision.


    The streaks in his right hand grew weaker, and he grabbed a hold of the man, who then shivered before taking a peek at Aurelius from behind his guard.


    Right then, he remembered something Gabriel had told him when he taught him about battle for the first time. He hadn''t even gotten his notebook at that time and hadn''t written it down.


    ''Right, this guy was right,'' Aurelius thought as he looked at the helpless man below him. ''I just couldn''t understand it before I experienced it.''


    "Look, Aurelius," Gabriel had said with a serious look in his eyes. "Killing intent reflects, so if there''s ever a situation where you have to fight. For example, if some bad people come to your home and threaten your family, you''ll maybe have to kill those people, but don''t do it for the wrong reason. Don''t get swept up by the atmosphere. After you win, you should calm down and think the situation through. Never kill a person needlessly."


    Aurelius smiled after the memory popped up in his mind and loosened his grip on the man. Then he said with a loud voice that he hoped the man could hear even with all the noise the surrounding wind made, "You helped me see something new. Thanks for the fight."


    Then he brought his knees to his chest, and with his legs, he pushed himself off of the man. The man plummeted into some trees below, and Aurelius flew just far enough back to land on his feet outside the forest.


    He turned around to look at all the mercenaries lying on the ground. Some were unconscious, others were visibly conscious but seemingly too afraid to move.


    Then he looked at the boy he had determined to be their weak link, and he made his hand into a fist a couple of times to see how hurt his hand was. "Don''t worry, your master is alive."


    "Thank you for sparing him," the boy said with a deep bow.


    "It''s nothing. Thanks for the fight," Aurelius said with a wave as he turned his back.


    He needed to go get his duffel bag before it got too dark. Otherwise, he would need to stay here, and that option didn''t seem great.


    As he was walking, there was a sound from behind him. It was a mix of a thump and the sound of a shoe scratching against little rocks on the ground. It was like the sound of an enhanced human exploding toward something. Towards him.


    But he hadn''t sensed any essence usage!


    He turned immediately, having maintained full-body reinforcement and enhancement, but before he could set up a shield or even see who his attacker was, there was an impact on his chin. In an instant, his senses went dull and he collapsed onto the dirt, falling unconscious.

 Chapter 4: Partnership

    Aurelius''s heartbeat went back to normal after awakening at the campfire, and he squinted at the ash-brown-haired stranger, realizing that she was actually a girl. But that wasn''t really the priority. "Enhancers?"


    "Good god." the stranger''s lifeless look disappeared as her face dropped before she buried her head in his arms briefly before rubbing her eyes and continuing. "How exactly are you that strong with basically no knowledge? Who taught you?"


    "Gabriel taught me," Aurelius answered with a nonchalant shrug.


    The stranger gasped, her eyes wide. "Gabriel?"


    Suddenly Aurelius'' heartbeat hastened. "You know Gabriel? Is he famous here?"


    The stranger''s upper lip curled into a sneer as she leaned forward. "No," she said, shaking her head with disappointment. "It was a rhetorical question. Did you really expect me to know your lousy teacher?"


    Aurelius furrowed his brows, flexing his body in a sudden want to get himself free. "Gabriel''s not lousy. You''re lousy! And what''s a retanical question?"


    The girl slowly put a palm to her forehead and moved her gaze to the pitch-black sky.


    ''I feel like she''s thinking something not nice right now,'' Aurelius thought as he looked at his exasperated companion.


    "Okay," Aurelius said.


    The girl moved her gaze back to Aurelius. "What?"


    "I''ll do it. I''ll help you get the enhancers or whatever, but I want something in exchange," Aurelius explained, one of the many wisdoms in his notebook running through his mind.


    "Hmm, sure," the girl said, tilting his head slightly. "What do you want?"


    "I want to reach my full potential and be a hero like my father."


    The girl tilted her head a bit more with a deadpan look. "And you want me to do what exactly?"


    "I want you to teach me. You''re fast, but there was something else to what you did back there," Aurelius said, adjusting his position from uncomfortable to a bit less uncomfortable. "I have some good senses, you know. And your energy signals weren''t normal. They were too fast. I don''t know if you know, but setups¡ª"


    "¡ªemit energy signals that build until the essence is released. I know," the girl reassured Aurelius.


    "So teach me your setups," Aurelius demanded, his voice fluctuating as he tried to get more comfortable as he was wrapped in wire.


    "Oh, you''re a bit off your mark there. You think I have instant setups, but the truth is, I don''t have any setups."


    Aurelius stopped trying to seek comfort and was awed at what he had just heard. "Setupless essence usage?"


    ''Why did Gabriel not tell me about that? Surely he knew about it. I bet he could do it too,'' Aurelius thought.


    "It''s called motionless magic," the girl noted. "I can teach it to you, but I can''t promise you that you''ll learn it. And your fundamentals should be excellent before you begin learning it, or else you''ll have a lot of issues."


    Aurelius furrowed his brows as he came to a realization. ''So that''s why he didn''t tell me.'' He puffed and felt like crossing his arms. ''I would''ve waited until I had a handle on my fundamentals. Of course, I would have.''


    He then concentrated back on the conversation. "Don''t worry, my fundamentals are great. And you''re my age, and you can do it, so of course I''ll be able to learn it."


    "So awkward but so arrogant." the girl scoffed. "How old are you?"


    "I''m 16."


    "Arrogant and wrong," the girl added to his own statement. "I''m 19-years-old." You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.


    Mouth and eyes wide open was Aurelius.


    The girl continued speaking, as she figured Aurelius wouldn''t. "So yeah, that''s that. You help me with the enhancers; I teach you motionless magic."


    Aurelius managed to collect himself enough to nod. Then he remembered his uncomfortable position again and addressed it for the first time, "Could you take these wires off me now? Or do you want me to break them?"


    The girl sighed and stood up before beginning to approach Aurelius. "I''ll take them off. You probably couldn''t break them anyway."


    "Can I try?" Aurelius'' curiosity was awakened.


    "Don''t. I was just joking," the girl said very quickly and very seriously. It didn''t seem like she trusted Aurelius'' patience very much. "It''s hyperwire, but it''ll break if you try hard enough. Depends on how good you''re at compression," the girl explained as he removed the wire.


    "Compression?" Aurelius asked about the foreign term.


    The girl stopped for a second to show Aurelius. She put her hand out and flexed her fingers, which were curled up halfway. The joints in her skinny hands became even more apparent as they popped out as if wanting to squeeze through the skin and flee her body.


    Then streaks of blue light appeared, and a sphere of compressed essence appeared at the streaks'' meeting point at the center of his palm.


    "Compression, as in this," the girl said before relaxing his hand, letting the streaks fade away.


    "Oh, you mean close-range combat essence usage." Aurelius nodded with a smile of realization.


    The girl sighed and got back to work with removing the wires. "Yeah, whatever."


    "Oh, now that we''re on the topic of names, what''s yours?"


    "I''m... Cade," the girl said with some trouble as he worked with the wire.


    "You''re a girl, right? So why were you with mercenaries? And why were they with you? I thought mercenaries were exclusive or something."


    "I needed some help... or fodder. And yeah, mercenaries are some A-grade pieces of shit, so I pretend to be a guy. Pretty good at it too, though doesn''t take much to fool those dumb bastards."


    "Well, it''s good to meet you, Cade. I''m Aurelius," Aurelius said, having to look over his shoulder to see Cade.


    "You northerners really like long, overly complicated names, don''t you?" Cade spoke monotonously as he kept his focus on the matter before him.


    "Hey, there''s nothing wrong with my name." Aurelius took Cade''s comment to heart. "My father was the one who gave it to me. He''s Zalfarian."


    "Is your father that Gabriel you mentioned?"


    "No, Gabriel''s Gabriel."


    Cade raised her brows. "Ah, right. But why hasn''t your father taught you if he''s your hero."


    "He''s not just my hero. He''s a hero... And he hasn''t been able to."


    "You don''t know him do you."


    Aurelius jolted. "I know my own father."


    "Whatever you say," Cade said exasperatedly. "So anyway, you''re from the west, then? What are you doing on this side of the great ocean?" Cade kept the conversation going naturally.


    "No, I''ve lived in the Thropes for all my life. My mother is from there."


    "Oh, a child of a Zalfarian and someone from the Thropes, huh? How did that happen?"


    Aurelius had no real explanation and looked around the dark forest a bit before coming up with something to say. "My father just wanted to see the world and found my mother. What about you?"


    Cade stopped for a few seconds again to think of an answer. "Mircrest. Lived there my whole life. My father was a soldier, and he helped me learn motionless magic when I was 12. He died a few years later. My mother got sick and followed soon after."


    "I''m sorry about that. But..." Aurelius'' face twisted. "At 12?"


    "I was... am gifted," Cade answered and got back to work.


    "So about these enhancers?"


    "Right, they''re a kind of miracle drug. They''re the blood from the hearts of cursed beasts."


    "Huh, where did you think you''d find one of those? Even Gabriel told me he had never seen one with his own eyes."


    "The Cloud-Piercing Mountains."


    "Ugh, isn''t that a long way away?"


    "It''s not as far as the maps would have you believe. It''ll take five days at most, and besides, a long journey is good for you, isn''t it? More time for you to train under me before we separate?"


    Aurelius turned as best he could to face Cade. "But I was planning to go to Mircrest too. Wouldn''t it be better to go together?"


    Cade took the time to look back at Aurelius and make herself clear. "Look, I only wanted you as my partner because fighting beasts is easier with someone and because you just so happened to beat my former partners."


    "But I can help you with other stuff too, as long as you help me with motionless magic."


    "I don''t need your help outside of this, and besides, people who are around me too much always end up dead. That''s because out of all the people I''ve ever known, I''m the strongest, but I can''t protect others. You''ll surely learn that one day as well," Cade said, and there was a sound of the wire rubbing against itself as Aurelius was freed and Cade gathered the wire into a portable shape.


    "But we could do a lot of good together. I''ve heard of how corrupt Mircrest is and some Numen organization that''s responsible and I''ll stop it."


    Cade shook her head. "You have no idea what you''re dealing with. You really should stay out of Mircrest and never even think about Numen again." She gave Aurelius a cold look. "Do you understand?"


    Aurelius was speechless.


    Cade then threw the neatly packed wire onto her bag on the other side of the campfire before offering Aurelius a hand. Aurelius took the offer and was easily pulled up to his feet.


    Cade didn''t let his hand go just yet, though. On the contrary, she squeezed it harder with her surprisingly small hands. "So that''s our deal. For a few days, we will help each other, and afterward, we will walk our separate paths. Is that understood?" She didn''t wait for Aurelius to answer. "Good. Now go to sleep. Our journey begins tomorrow."

 Chapter 5: Waterfall

    "Found it!" Aurelius yelled with a wave of his hand as he took his duffel bag off the ground and dusted it off a bit.


    Cade hadn''t bothered to help in the search and walked over nonchalantly. "Let''s go then. Or do you have some other treasures hidden here?"


    "Oh, come on. Hiding my bag is the best option when on a temporary visit."


    "Your bag is far more likely to be taken from here than off of you, so I wouldn''t waste my time with such things."


    "But what if I like forget it or something?"


    Cade rubbed her temples and shook her head a little as she walked past Aurelius. "Ah, never mind. Let''s just get moving."


    ***


    "We can stop here for a while," Cade said, hopping onto an unusually large boulder with feather-like movements. "We''ll continue moving again in an hour."


    "What about food?" Aurelius asked after sitting with his back to a tree and setting his duffel bag beside himself.


    "We''ll hunt later," Cade said.


    "You eat once a day? Now I know why you''re so skinny."


    "If you want to, you can go ahead. Nobody''s stopping you."


    Aurelius gave a thumbs up and stood up, about to get right to it.


    However, Cade spoke again, and Aurelius stopped in his tracks. "I was just thinking this would be a good time to teach you, but another time will do."


    Not even a second had gone by before Aurelius was back to sitting. "Uh, forget eating. Who likes food anyway?" Aurelius said with an exaggerated shrug.


    Cade gave a slight raise of his eyebrows and began the lesson. "First up, could you make it clear what terms you use when it comes to essence?"


    Aurelius nodded. "Okay, so there''s close-range combat essence usage," Aurelius said, putting up one finger.


    "Compression," Cade commented his own term for it.


    "Long-range combat essence usage." Aurelius put up another finger.


    "Lengthened compression."


    "Enhancement."


    "Hmm." Cade nodded.


    "Reinforcement."


    She nodded again.


    Aurelius was starting to think there were no more differences.


    "And then there''s defensive essence usage."


    If Cade had been drinking just now, all of it surely would have flown out as she burst out. "What?!"


    Aurelius was pretty sure he saw some snot fly out of her nose.


    "What''s wrong?" Aurelius asked, his brows furrowed.


    "Defensive!? What kind of pacifist was this Gabriel? What the..." Cade wrapped his head in his arms.


    "Eh, what''s the problem with defensive essence usage?" Aurelius asked, his voice coming out as a kind of whine.


    Cade lifted her head and yelled, "Are you telling me you''ve only been using materialization for shields? It''s not just for defensive things. You can make anything with materialization! That''s the most important of all forms of essence." Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    "Huh?" Aurelius'' face dropped. "Are you serious?" he asked, even his voice changing to a deeper tone.


    "Well, it''s widely disputed what''s the most useful, but..." Cade sighed. "Why am I getting this worked up? It''s not like I''m the one who got screwed over. Your teacher is a scumbag, though."


    Aurelius would''ve defended Gabriel like he always did, but this time he was blind-sighted. Had he really been lied to about something so important? Why?


    "Having you enter the world with such shitty guidance is a war crime," Cade remarked.


    ''Oh, It''s...'' Aurelius buried his face in his hands.


    "It''s not that."


    "Huh?"


    "I said it''s not that." Aurelius raised his head. "He did it because he thought I wouldn''t enter the real world. I was never supposed to be here."


    "What do you mean? Enter the real world? You come from the fucking clouds or something?"


    "No, not the clouds?" Aurelius cleared up the confusion.


    Cade stared at him before wiping her eyes. "Right... so why did you leave if you weren''t meant to?"


    Aurelius shook his head before saying with some trouble, "My mother''s fine. I left because I wanted to. I want to get stronger and gather some wealth."


    "You¡ª" Cade raised a hand and was about to say something, but Aurelius continued speaking.


    "Listen, I had to. It''s the only way I can give her the life she deserves," Aurelius said before his troubled expression changed into just a frown. "The life my father should have given her. She''s 42 years old. She should be able to enjoy her remaining years to their fullest. But if I''m there, I won''t be able to provide it for her. That''s why I had to go. I want to earn enough wealth to give her everything she wants because that''s what she deserves."


    Cade slowly lowered his hand. "Ah, alright. I get it. But this Gabriel, how long did he teach you?"


    "He taught me for a few months while I was 12."


    Cade leaned closer with raised brows. "Hmm, really?"


    "Yeah. What about it?" Aurelius asked defensively.


    Cade leaned his head back and sighed. "No, nothing. Just... nothing. It''s much easier to hurt yourself and others with materialization than with other forms of essence usage. Even the purely combat-oriented ones. So don''t worry, you didn''t get screwed."


    "Oh, okay." Aurelius nodded slowly with his mouth open.


    "Well, that aside." Cade flicked her wrist. "Maybe it''s best if we just focus on motionless magic for now. So let''s get to it."


    ***


    "Think of the feeling the setup gives you and recreate it without it. Act like it''s there, and if you''re a slick enough actor, your body will believe your mind," Cade explained, as Aurelius breathed deeply with his eyes closed.


    Cade had chosen the spot carefully. It was right next to a waterfall that was so aggressive it made it hard to hear your own thoughts.


    She proceeded to give Aurelius some more guidance that he heard if he was lucky before going off into the distance to watch as the boy trained. Aurelius'' whose chest rose and fell at regular intervals. Even his expression didn''t flinch as the water crashed deafeningly right beside him while he tried to concentrate on what he was learning. A technique that was barely grasped by people in the highest echelons of militaries.


    A glint of nostalgia appeared in Cade''s eyes. What a cruel first session it was. She had been furious after her father subjected her to it. But Cade wasn''t sure if Aurelius even could get angry. She could imagine him maybe throwing something akin to a tantrum. Fury? Not really.


    Aurelius seemed like a child. A lonely child at that. Awkward and dumb. Though, dull in a perhaps amusing way. Even while he fought the mercenaries, he was nothing but a child with god''s hands.


    That said, he had talent and despite whatever his past looked like or his ambitions were, if he developed himself well, he would shed his childishness in no time... hopefully. Because the person who Cade watched in that moment going against Numen would have been a psychological slaughter that would make even her puke.


    After she noticed no immediate change in Aurelius, she went away.


    Only half a day later did she return. She had a pretty clear idea of what a child prodigy like him would look like after zero progress from hours and hours of work. But when she arrived at the waterfall, she stood a little dazed, seeing Aurelius claw into his scalp, his eyes dark.


    "...struggle like this? I shouldn''t¡ª" he muttered under his breath.


    "Hey!" Cade called out.


    Aurelius turned, seeming about to yell at her. However, when he saw her, his expression turned into an eerily difficult one to read. "Oh, hey," he said, wiping his hands on his clothes. There was blood under his fingernails. "Sorry, hey. I was just taking a little break. I''ll go back to train¡ª"


    "You''ve done good work. It''ll be easier tomorrow. You should rest."


    Aurelius nodded and came back to camp with her.


    On the way there, Cade wondered just how wrong she was. She wondered if the Aurelius she knew was just an act. That would have been terrifying. But even more terrifying was the idea that it wasn''t an act.


    If clawing at his head was the true form of the seriousness Aurelius showed glimpses of, he was dangerous. How long would it be until the world perverted Aurelius'' idealistic pursuits into something hideous?


    Cade shook her head as she imagined it. What if Aurelius went through the same as her? What if he would sink deeper?


    If Cade had told Aurelius the truth at that moment¡ªif she had told him that she executed every single one of the mercenaries while he was unconscious¡ªhe would have likely looked at her as if she was a monster. But in fact, he had the potential to be so much worse.


    Trained for a few months at 12 and self-taught afterward. Already, he was something the world might have never seen before.


    The simple truth was nobody who acted like a maniac from frustration at failing something impossible should''ve had gifts like his. For the world''s sake.

 Chapter 6: Cloud-Piercing Mountains (1)

    "I got it! I did it!" Aurelius celebrated with his hands raised.


    Cade, who was napping down below on a bed of leaves, opened her eyes. "What exactly did you do?"


    Aurelius hopped to his feet and did a setup for enhancement before dropping from the boulder. "I got some essence to flow. I felt it."


    Cade closed her eyes and lowered her head back onto his palms.


    "Oh, come on, that''s something, right?"


    "Hmm, I managed that in a week, if I remember correctly."


    "Exactly, I''ve only been at it for two days."


    Cade opened one eye. "The 12-year-old me."


    "Tch." Aurelius dropped his shoulders and turned away.


    "I''m just messing with you," Cade said with a smile. "You''re on a good path. Just keep working hard, and you''ll be able to do it in battle in a year, maybe."


    Aurelius turned to look back and smiled. "I''ll do it in a couple of months."


    Cade laid back down. "Keep dreaming, son."


    Aurelius snorted before hopping back up onto the boulder and sitting down to continue his practice.


    ***


    "Wakey wakey." Cade''s pleasant voice assaulted Aurelius'' ears as he felt a shoe push his side.


    "Argh, I''m awake!" Aurelius grunted before doing a series of stretches on his back that made it look like he was having a convulsion.


    "Well then, get your ass up," Cade said, gesturing a rising movement with her hands.


    Aurelius sighed with his mouth almost wide enough to fit a tree trunk in it before saying with a wave of his hand, "Two more minutes."


    "Tch." Cade kicked Aurelius. "No. Today''s the day we''ll kill a cursed beast. Act competent."


    "Alright, alright." Aurelius yielded and slowly got to his feet. Cade turned with satisfaction, and Aurelius dusted off his clothes. "Act competent. Pfft."


    Cade shook her head before walking over to her stuff.


    Then something occurred to Aurelius. "About these enhancers, why do you want them?"


    Cade crouched down and opened her bag. "You''re seriously asking about that now?" she asked with clear disbelief in her voice.


    "Well, my mind has been on this motionless magic thing, you know," Aurelius rationalized. "So, can you tell me? Are you an addict?"


    "No, nothing like that," Cade said, turning to look Aurelius in the eyes. "Enhancers are a kind of booster for essence usage. They aren''t like cigarettes or something." She tilted his head and gazed at the light-gray, pillowy clouds. "But some do get addicted. To the power, that is."


    "They can help me get stronger?" Aurelius asked, optimism clouding his eyes.


    Cade brought her gaze back to Aurelius, her eyes suddenly dark. "No, they can help you get a one-time feeling of superiority before leading you to a miserable death. That''s what they did to my father, at least. I''ve never tried; never will."


    Aurelius gulped, the hope in his eyes gone. "Ah, okay... Sorry."


    "But to answer your question, I''m after them for money," Cade said, turning back to her bag and starting to dig through it. "Miracle drugs squeezed out of the heart of a cursed beast go for a lot, as you can probably imagine."


    "Is there anything you need it for?"


    "Naw, I was planning to use the money as a decoration or just burn it for fun," Cade said, her voice unnaturally low. She then zipped her bag up and threw it onto her shoulder before turning to Aurelius again. "Yes, I need it for something. I''m going to sell the enhancers we get here. There are people relying on me. That''s why I can''t die."


    ***


    On the horizon, there were five mountains with sharp tips that obstructed the path of the clouds at various heights. The mountains were of dark gray stone; there was barely any greenery in sight.Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    Aurelius wiped some sweat off his forehead and stopped running. Cade only noticed after having gone far ahead and turned around with her hands raised on her sides.


    Aurelius motioned for him to come back, and Cade let her hands fall before beginning to walk back.


    "What is it? Are you tired?" Cade asked after entering talking range.


    "I just figured it would be good to rest before we start battling," Aurelius explained.


    "We won''t fight for a while." Cade rubbed her forehead. "You know, we have to find the beast that lives here first."


    "Find? But aren''t cursed beasts known for being aggressive?"


    "Cursed beasts just get that kind of reputation because they need to kill a lot to become cursed, but when they reach that state, they get what they want and settle down. Being a cursed beast is kind of like the ideal afterlife for a beast."


    "Huh?" Aurelius'' mouth was wide. "Are you saying a beast becomes a cursed beast? All I was taught about cursed beasts is that they are able to use essence with more versatility than beasts."


    "Well, it''s not like you''d have to know any of this if you don''t plan on trying to kill one, so your teacher probably didn''t think it was necessary to educate you about them," Cade said, scratching the side of her neck. "You don''t really need to know more than that, either. Just be ready for anything. They''re a really unpredictable bunch."


    "Yeah." Aurelius nodded, and they started heading towards the mountains again.


    They never talked as they ran since it wasn''t very practical, which always irritated Aurelius, who was overflowing with curiosity, but now that they were walking, Aurelius couldn''t really think of anything to ask. Eventually, he got a hold of a good question.


    "Hey, Cade. Who is the strongest person you know?"


    "Me," she answered simply.


    "But outside of you."


    "Nobody."


    "Not even anyone you''ve heard of. Like in history?"


    "Hmm." Cade paused. "Well, of course, there''s the Soldier of God, but even you know about him."


    Aurelius'' eyes flew open with excitement. "Who is that?"


    Cade looked at Aurelius with a look that seemed to communicate genuine concern. "Seriously?" She sighed before looking back at Aurelius and opening her mouth. Her eyes then widened, and nothing came out of her mouth.


    "What is it?"


    "Nothing." She waved a hand. "So, about the Soldier of God. His real name is Solomon. He was the hero of a nation in the West that''s now a part of Lundkirk. Some say he was like a one-man army, but suddenly, he just disappeared and left his home to be taken."


    "Lundkirk? Well, it''s not like one man could do anything about an empire. But how do you know that if it''s on the other side of the Great Ocean?"


    "My father told me. I never liked history much, but I was always eager to listen to my father, and he had a lot of stories about him. A lot of people in Mircrest are immigrants from Solomon''s nation, so he''s respected over there."


    Aurelius looked down with his lips slightly pursed before looking back at Cade. "Oh, but how did he get so strong? And what about the nickname?"


    "You ever heard of mythical techniques?"


    Aurelius shook his head.


    "Thought so. Well, mythical techniques are¡ªas you could probably tell from the name¡ªmyths, so it''s not like I can blame your teacher for not telling you about them. But I do believe that they exist. Otherwise, people like Solomon wouldn''t exist."


    "So what about these techniques is so mythical? Are they just really strong?"


    Cade squinted. "Well, kind of, but not really."


    ''Hmm, I see,'' Aurelius thought with his hand on his chin.


    Cade thought for a moment and then opened her mouth again. "Mythical techniques are like adaptations of normal techniques that break the laws of essence usage. From what I''ve heard, Solomon''s technique was the creation of barriers. Beyond that, it''s hard to separate fact from fiction since people like to come up with whatever when no proof is needed."


    "But what about the nickname?" Aurelius asked with borderline unhealthy ardency.


    "Huh? That?" Cade said, glancing at Aurelius before turning his gaze to the mountains. "It''s because his parents were supposedly completely normal, so his extreme gifts were thought to have come straight from the man in the sky himself. I don''t believe in that stuff, though. Nature works in odd ways. Talent isn''t as simple as having the right parents."


    "Oh." Aurelius'' mouth was wide with awe as he stared at the mountain above. "Haha, that''s right. You''re right."


    He had to go. To run. Pursue further.


    He took his bag off and threw it into Cade''s hands before performing a simple series of setups and launching into a sprint. Essence rushed into his legs as he ran like he had never before. There were no obstacles between him and the heights anymore.


    ''If Solomon was able to become known as one of the strongest without special parents, I can surely become one of them too,'' Aurelius thought, pushing his lace further, his eyes beginning to water, his mouth beginning to dry, and his breathing becoming ragged as he rushed head first into the rocky landscape and ran up the sharp angles of the cliff face. Launching himself tens of meters with each step. ''I''ll work harder than anyone and become the strongest. Just like Gabriel said.''


    He was free of everything. No tether could touch him as he moved at such a pace. Sometimes his feet were on the verge of slipping, but he had no fear. His body was reinforced, and his senses were sharp enough to prevent any fall from becoming too steep.


    Eventually, his pace started to slow, but by then, he no longer had any ground to cover. Just like that, he was on the mountaintop.


    He felt a need to lean his hands on his knees and calm his breathing, however, he stood tall, embracing the burn in his lungs, and he breathed the cold, fresh air.


    He looked down at a dot, which he assumed to be Cade. Aurelius wasn''t sure what made him so sure, but in his mind, he could see Cade amused, smiling at the ridiculousness of his deeds.


    At that moment, some black birds flew past at a pace high enough to make a whistling sound. They grabbed Aurelius'' attention, and for a while, he watched as they flew away with the wind that made his clothes flutter like mad.


    The sun was already starting to go down, painting the sky a bright orange color and tinting the fluffy and straight clouds alike with a rare shade of pink.


    Bliss.


    Aurelius chuckled for no particular reason. The chuckle then turned into full-fledged laughter. He then spread his arms, looked forward into the horizon, and roared an announcement so loud even trees and rocks could hear and perhaps even understand the intent behind his words, "The world is mine!!!"

 Chapter 7: Cloud-Piercing Mountains (2)

    "So what was the point in that?" Cade asked right after Aurelius made his way down the mountain.


    Aurelius grinned, squinting his eyes so they almost looked completely shut. "I just felt like doing it."


    He was then startled by his own bag being thrown in his face. "Don''t tire yourself out yet, dumbass."


    "Huh?" Aurelius said, taking his bag and putting its strap around his shoulder. "But you said stamina wasn''t that important right now, since we won''t find that beast for a while."


    Cade walked past him without a glance and headed towards the mountains Aurelius had descended from. "I meant that it didn''t matter if you took a couple more running steps. I didn''t tell you to run up to the mountaintop just for the sake of it."


    "Eh." Aurelius shrugged. "I''ll be fine," he said, catching up to Cade. "After all, there are two of us and one of him."


    "Him? It''s an it," Cade corrected. "The beast is not a person. Don''t think of it as one. And don''t rely on me. You''re responsible for your own life."


    "Ah, yeah," Aurelius said with a wary smile. "So how are we going to find this thing? Do we just look from the mountain tops?"


    "Mountain tops? What makes you think that? Did you see something at the top?"


    "A beautiful scenery. The beast has reached its life goal, right? After you do that, you have nothing more to look forward to, so you just relax in a beautiful place somewhere. Isn''t that what you would do?"


    "Oh." Aurelius could see Cade raise her brows slightly. "Well, that is what some people may do, but beasts usually seek a cozy place to rest. That''s something closer to a cave than a mountaintop."


    "But what''s the point of just locking yourself in darkness after having achieved something so great?" Aurelius asked with a slight frown.


    Cade looked at Aurelius and then back at the mountain. "Sometimes when you achieve something great, you lose something valuable in the process, and suddenly, you start feeling a desire to go back to how things were. So even though a cursed beast has no rival in nature, it feels the need to dig itself into a cave to dwell in just to feel like a mere beast again. To feel like it''s all back to how it was."


    "What about you? After you get all the money to the people who rely on you, where will you go? The cave or the mountaintop?"


    Cade looked to the sky. "There will always be more people relying on me. Not that I dislike that. I''ll carry all the weight I can."


    "But when will you rest?"


    "Maybe someday. But for now, this is all I have," Cade answered, bringing her gaze back down and then to Aurelius. "What about you?"


    "Umm... Well, after I fulfill my potential and get wealthy, I''ll return home, get my mother and go live somewhere nice."Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.


    "Where do you plan on finding that nice place in this world?"


    "Ah, well maybe... I know, Zalfari! I''ll take us to Zalfari." Aurelius hadn''t thought about things that far yet, so his heart was pounding with enthusiasm as he gave birth to such an idea.


    Cade was quick to shoot Aurelius'' hopes down. "Zalfari has a history full of war."


    "Really? Not more than a place like Mircrest thought, right?"


    "Much more."


    "But there''s no war right now," Aurelius said.


    "Not that I''ve heard of, but then again, I''m not very knowledgeable about these things."


    "Well, I''ll think about that after I reach that stage," Aurelius said and started looking around the mountains. "Now, about that cave."


    "Oh, that. It should be in one of those mountains. At least my source says so. Someone saw a creature fly into the mountain and disappear. I couldn''t get any more details than that, so we''ll have to just look for a cave of some sort all over until we find it."


    "Well then, let''s get to it."


    ***


    It was beginning to get dark as the sun slowly hid itself behind the horizon. Aurelius and Cade had split up in the search for an entrance to a cave, but they weren''t sure from which height they were to look, and the varying shapes of the mountains made it hard to tell the difference between caves and simple depressions.


    Aurelius sprinted hopefully for probably the hundredth time, up to something he thought could be the entrance, only to be disappointed again as all he found was that the shadows were playing tricks on him.


    Then he was startled by a voice coming from behind.


    "Rey, how about we stop searching for today?"


    Aurelius turned to Cade, who was standing above him on a small cliff. "Rey?"


    "Yeah, as in an acronym of Aurelius?"


    "Oh, but what for?"


    "Yelling Aurelius in battle is a bit much."


    Aurelius scratched. "But are you sure about Rey? What about A¡ª"


    "Rey''s fine," Cade interrupted. "So about the cave, I think we should look for it tomorrow. It''s already getting dark."


    Aurelius agreed and was about to cut off the essence being supplied to his brain, but he looked around one last time as he said, "Yeah, I guess that''ll¡ª" He gasped. "Look there!" Aurelius yelled, pointing at one of the mountaintops, before rushing off again.


    At first, it didn''t seem like Cade was going to follow him, but before he knew it, she was running on his side.


    Eventually, they stopped close to what had looked like a cave from afar, which was just a few tens of meters below the sharp peak of the mountain.


    It was only after they got closer that they realized it was real. It was the real cave.


    Aurelius jumped up to it in a hurry to confirm it and was surprised to see that it went straight down. The cave was just a drop into the depths of the mountain. Cade came up as well and looked into the pitch-black darkness that the hole with a diameter of about 3 meters offered.


    He frowned and sighed before crouching down to pick up a rock and throwing it into the hole. There was no sound of it hitting anything.


    "This is going to be a long day, Rey," Cade remarked, emphasizing the nickname.


    Aurelius believed her.


    Then a faint blue glow appeared for just a split second, and right as Aurelius and Cade both turned their heads to the hole where the light had come from, an ear-piercing screech came from behind. No, from both sides. It was everywhere. The pair turned around and looked around with their backs to the cave.


    "Was that the beast?" Aurelius asked.


    "Sure sounded like it," Commented commented with a hand on her chin. Then her eyes flew wide, and she turned to Aurelius, reaching out. "Get away from the entrance!"


    Aurelius turned with his eyes wide and was about to interlock his hands. He had neglected reinforcement for the moment to make the toll of the constant enhancement of his senses and legs more bearable.


    Then there was a flash of crimson. Something exactly the size of the hole flew out of the cave at a surely uncontrollable speed. Before his hands touched each other, it smashed into Aurelius with rage.


    There was a series of cracking and popping sounds as Aurelius'' mind went blank, and he was launched far enough by the impact to cause him to tumble down the entire length of the mountain to what seemed to be his certain death.

 Chapter 8: Cloud-Piercing Mountains (3)

    It had been a trick. A demonstration of materialization so fine and quick that it had been only a translucent flash that still did its job in preventing the soundwaves from traveling their original path, making for an effective distraction as the origin of the soundwaves was confused. Then the beast flew out of the cave and slammed into Aurelius.


    Cade had not seen Aurelius perform any setups. So if her eyes did not fool him, as they very, very rarely did, Aurelius was dead.


    Cade didn''t bother to check.


    ''He did his job in luring out the beast. His life was his own responsibility. Forget him. Just another name. If he is still alive, he''ll survive by himself until you take care of the beast, anyway,'' Cade rushed through thoughts, resolving to give the beast all her attention and throwing her bag aside.


    Once the beast slowed down from the burst of speed, it was revealed to her in all its monstrosity. It was a hawk-like, malnutritioned-looking bird monster. It had wide wings riddled with black and gray feathers, like most of its body. There was something that separated its wings from the rest of its body, however. There were red marks on them, which made them leave a red trail as the beast sped around.


    For some reason, it hadn''t seemed to notice Cade and was about to pursue Aurelius. That''s why Cade breathed in and took a stable stance before outstretching her arms and putting her hands together before a beam shot out. As expected, it was noticed and dodged by the beast.


    The goal hadn''t been to hit it, though; it was just to attract its attention. At that, it had succeeded.


    The beast turned to Cade with an exaggerated movement of its wings, fixing its bloodshot, black eyes on her. Then it flapped its wings directly behind itself, launching at Cade with a sudden burst of speed.


    The beast seemed to have incredible agility and unorthodox speed that worked in large bursts. It also seemed to be fairly durable since it had such confidence that it launched itself at things with no regard for its own safety.


    Still, regardless of its durability, it should have known better than to act so recklessly. Cade made up her mind to make sure to teach it that.


    The beast enjoyed its rush of speed all the way up until Cade dodged out of its way and materialized a spike as the extension of her arm and shoved it into the side of the beast. Dark red blood, diluted with some black substance, spurted out of the wound and onto Cade as she drew it all the way across the beast''s tough hide.


    She couldn''t do much damage, though, as the beast hit the wall of the mountain instead of her and started thrashing with its wings. It managed to slam one into Cade, flinging her off the platform.


    It then turned around to see what damage it had caused with the hard impact, only to see Cade unscathed, standing on a smooth, almost translucent light-blue platform.


    Not only had she used lengthened compression, enhancement of both her body and senses, and materialization but also reinforcement. She wiped her sweat and some diluted blood off of her forehead with her sleeve before readying herself again. There was a limit on how long she could exert herself enough to fight a cursed beast with relative safety, so she had to end it fast.


    She rushed forward toward the idle beast, another platform materializing under her feet. The beast didn''t wait to be attacked, however, and took action. It wasn''t in its nature to act defensively, and Cade knew it.


    That''s why she knew that once she jumped up and raised a materialized sword above her head, the beast would launch its usual dashing attack. The beast was very eager to test its beak''s durability against her sword, but she wasn''t really in it for her ego. She was in it to rip the beast''s heart out and squeeze it dry.If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    The beast''s speed truly was in a league of its own with regard to all the individuals Cade had observed during her life. In an instant, the beak was almost about to hit Cade in the stomach.


    Cade outstretched one of her legs, touching the beast''s beak lightly. She was immediately swept up by its speed. It was as expected. Cade turned a full flip''s worth, all the while the materialized sword disappeared and streaks began orbiting around a ball of energy in her hand.


    Right when her flip was done, the beast was right below her, and without a shred of hesitation, Cade slammed the ball of energy into its back.


    There was a moment of silence or extreme sound. It was a mystery what really happened during such compression. Everyone had their theories. Well, almost everybody. Cade didn''t really care. Pondering the sound phenomena behind extreme compression was, in her opinion, a waste of time. All that mattered was the damage done. And it surely was done, as the beast''s movements stopped and its body stiffened before being launched into the rocks below as if pulled by the gravity of the sun.


    Cade was quick to follow by bending her legs, materializing a platform above her feet, and jumping downward. There was a whistling sound as Cade materialized blades as extensions of both her hands. She then landed on the beast''s back and, with one fluid movement, stabbed the blades into the center of its body. A screech echoed throughout the mountains as the incapacitated beast gained enough energy to flail its body wildly.


    It rolled around, forcing Cade to get off its back. It then tried slamming Cade to the ground with its long wing. A stupid decision that cost it the tip.


    The beast thrashed around to create space, seemingly realizing it had to escape. At the exact moment it was going to do so, a long sword materialized in Cade''s hand as she slid under the beast''s stomach and carved its flesh wide open.


    She couldn''t do it for long, though, as the beast entered the air with a flap of its wings, and with another flapping motion, it was already far away. Despite its injuries, the beast somehow maintained its speed and ability to burst forth.


    Cade looked on with her teeth clenched as she let the long sword fade from existence and took a stance for lengthened compression. She closed her eyes and breathed.


    All of this for nothing? Never.


    She opened her eyes and watched as the beast flew far away, its speed unusually stable.


    The ball of energy, slightly smaller than an apple, happened to contain all the essence Cade could muster. It wasn''t anything special, though. It didn''t guarantee victory just by hitting. The beam had to go through the beast''s brain or heart to do damage, and annihilating the heart was out of the question, so only one target remained.


    There was a split second of tremendous pressure before a thundering vacuum sound assaulted Cade''s ears. Then all that gathered essence found its place in the world and shot off with a single purpose.


    The beam flew hundreds and hundreds of meters in mere moments, disregarding any external influences as it pierced through the air to make its way to the beast''s brain.


    There was no way for Cade to know if the beast was aware of the beam, so she had simply made an educated guess on the beast''s state of mind and assumed it would keep flying forward mindlessly with the simple goal of getting as far as possible. Then all that remained was to approximate the moment its head and the beam would meet based on its stable speed.


    As the two got closer, Cade smiled. She could already see the beam perforating the beast''s brain and it falling limply to the ground. When the beam and the beast looked to be just a few meters from each other, however, Cade''s face dropped as the beast initiated a burst of speed.


    Cade''s veins popped out as she readied herself for what was inevitably a futile effort. She focused on her legs and took off sprinting. She would maybe have been able to keep up with the beast otherwise, but she had used up all her energy already.


    Regardless, she couldn''t just sit still.


    But then she suddenly stopped in her tracks as she saw something in the distance. An impossible idea passed through her head, and she scoffed but focused her essence on her senses nonetheless.


    Then her body relaxed, and an unbearable excitement and satisfaction started creeping up her stomach as she watched the boy with golden hair stand on a curving platform in the sky.


    ''He hasn''t learned proper materialization yet, so he''s using a shield as a platform,'' Cade thought, resisting the temptation to laugh due to the dire situation.


    Nothing had been resolved yet.


    Cade eagerly watched as Aurelius put his arms together.


    ''Lengthened compression,'' Cade thought with a nod. ''Wait, what?''


    Aurelius separated his hands, a thin, ethereal substance remaining between them. He then quickly moved his right hand to the left and his left hand to the right, making them unite in the middle for just an instant before zigzagging them with a lightning-quick movement as a whistle cut through the air and a wide ethereal blade flew off.


    Cade watched unmovingly in awe at the foreign technique as the blade slit through the skies, quickly crossing the hundred-meter distance to the beast, and without giving it a chance to react, divided the beast in half.

 Chapter 9: To Mircrest

    Aurelius turned his gaze from the corpse of the cursed beast to Cade, who entered the sight, threw her bag down, and dug a set of six vials out of it.


    "Are you okay?" Aurelius asked Cade, who walked one fatigued step at a time towards him and the corpse with the set of vials tightly in his grasp.


    She didn''t answer, instead gesturing for Aurelius to get out of the way. He obeyed, understanding her intention, and proceeded to watch with a mix of disgust and curiosity as Cade dug out the cursed beast''s heart.


    It was a heart unlike anything Aurelius had ever seen. Simply a perfect black sphere, the size of a large man''s fist.


    ''How does something like that function?'' Aurelius asked in his mind, not willing to bother the exhausted Cade with such a question.


    Cade materialized some kind of rehearsed chamber for the heart that had holes on the bottom and spikes on the roof, which started descending promptly. The spikes pressed down on the sphere with an amount of force Aurelius was unsure of, but at last, the sphere broke down like a mix of muscle tissue and finely crafted glass. The holes on the bottom then led the completely black blood that burst out of the heart into a large materialized cup, which Cade used to pour the blood into the vials, managing to collect 4 and a half vials worth of blood.


    "Shit!" Cade spat out a curse.


    "What is it?" Aurelius asked with a raised eyebrow as he leaned his head forward.


    Cade turned to Aurelius. "Enhancers have an optimal amount that is to be consumed for maximum effect. Go below or beyond that amount, and you''re wasting it. That is if you don''t go far beyond it and take two vials worth. Of course, then the effect won''t be smaller."


    Some involuntary excitement appeared in Aurelius'' mind, despite knowing the matter at hand shouldn''t have excited him. "You can take two?"


    Aurelius came to regret his words as he saw Cade''s jaw tighten. He would have liked to go back in time, but he had to vanquish the thought in order to listen to the words that spilled from Cade''s mouth.


    "That''s what my father did... right before he died." Cade breathed deeply. "But yes. You can take two and survive. It depends on natural talent. The Soldier of God could probably take two enhancers once in a while and live without too many side effects. As for others, some die from one vial, others from two. Some soldiers around the world can take two and survive with only some brain damage."


    "What about three?" Aurelius asked immediately after, only to once again regret his words the second they had left his mouth.


    Cade kept her composure, though, and generously satiated Aurelius'' curiosity without complaint. "No. Take three and you''re dead. Guaranteed."


    Cade''s brief response made it clear she didn''t want to discuss the matter further, so Aurelius stopped himself from asking any more questions.


    "Ah, sorry, you don''t have to answer my questions if you don''t want to."


    Cade waved a hand and went to sit down with her back to a tree. "Don''t worry about it. I understand your curiosity. Besides, you''ve done more than enough to earn the right to ask questions." Cade''s gaze softened slightly, and she bowed her head. "Thank you. Without your help, I would have been in a very bad position."


    Aurelius opened his mouth and waved his hands in front of him. "Oh, no, no. I wasn''t much help at all. You did all the work while I was immobilized straight off the bat."


    "It sounded like you broke a bone or something when that thing hit you. Are you okay?"


    "Oh, yeah, I''m fine," Aurelius said, stretching from side to side with his hands up. "My back is just a bit¡ª" He groaned and fell down from a spike of pain.


    "Hey, just take it easy. Try not to exert yourself in the near future. It''ll probably heal before you get to Mircrest, so just be careful on your way there."


    Cade looked down at her feet for a while before bringing her head up and smiling slightly. The smile didn''t last, as Cade''s expression turned into something Aurelius couldn''t comprehend.


    "Ah, well, anyway," Cade said, and she was about to follow up with something, but then she froze, and her eyes went wide. "How did you do it? How did you survive the beast''s first hit? I didn''t see you do any setup before the hit. Did you have reinforcement on?"If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    "Ah, about that." Aurelius scratched his head. "I just remember waking up at the base of the mountain and seeing you fight. I don''t know exactly what I did."


    Cade gasped. "Try motionless reinforcement."


    "Wha¡ª"


    "Now," Cade said, snapping her fingers with unprecedented intensity in her eyes.


    "Okay, okay," Aurelius said, not fully understanding Cade''s intentions, but trusting her anyway.


    He closed his eyes and tried to simulate the feeling of grasping his hands together and flexing in order to send the impulse up to his brain. Then some essence was freed to flow in his body.


    Aurelius let out a small laugh, which he could hear as Cade dragged his foot forward on the ground. However, shortly after, the essence dispersed, leading to nowhere, exactly like before. He opened his eyes and dropped his shoulders with a sigh. Then he was greeted with the unusual sight of Cade pressed up against the tree behind her as if trying to escape inside the tree.


    Cade went back to normal quickly after seeing Aurelius open his eyes with disappointment, though.


    "Wait, you thought I unlocked motionless magic in just three days, didn''t you?" Aurelius said, his disappointment turning into amusement.


    Cade sighed and looked elsewhere. "I''ve heard crazy stories. Got a little irrational. I guess you managed to interlock your hands and reinforce right as the beast hit you. Really no explanation as to why you''re alive other than that."


    "Maybe it was instinct. Like a life or death awakening," Aurelius theorized with a glint in his eyes.


    "Yeah, right." Cade snorted. "I think you just got the setup right in time."


    "What would you have done if I had unlocked it?"


    Cade looked back at Aurelius and answered casually. "I would''ve killed you... probably."


    Aurelius wasn''t exactly sure whether Cade was joking or not. He couldn''t think about it for long, however, as he was shocked by Cade''s next words.


    "Well, I suppose you won''t have to worry about that from now on, since I won''t be there when you do unlock it, no matter how long it takes."


    Aurelius furrowed his brows. "What?"


    "We''re separating today, so I won''t be following your progress from now on," Cade explained with a flick of her wrist.


    Aurelius stepped forward and looked down at Cade, who was sitting. "But we''re both going to Mircrest, right? So why separate?"


    "Haven''t we been through this already? I can''t protect you. You might have survived this time, but you''ve only been with me for three days. How much longer do you think it''ll take for you to die?" Cade explained with something that sounded like spite to Aurelius'' ears.


    "I''ll get stronger. You don''t have to worry about me."


    "Look, Aurelius, I''ve been alone for a long time, and that''s for a very good reason," Cade said, looking up at Aurelius with a slight frown. "You may very well get strong enough to stand by my side, but I still don''t work well with others. I was with those mercenaries because they were easy pawns to control and throw away. I was going to kill them anyway after I completed my mission here. You''re different from them."


    Aurelius'' expression twisted with repulsion. "You were going to kill all of them?"


    "Yes, exactly. They were scum who deserved to die."


    "Were?" Aurelius'' voice shook.


    Cade sighed. "What do you think happened after I knocked you out?" Aurelius stepped back, and Cade continued talking. "That''s right, I''m a ruthless murderer. You don''t want to be long-time partners with someone like me."


    Aurelius gulped. "Ah, I... well, Gabriel would have probably done the same. I may not agree with your actions, but I can''t say you''re a bad person because of them. Those mercenaries were bad people, after all."


    Cade rubbed her eyes with a shake of her head and sighed again. "Look¡ª"


    "I promise I''ll take care of myself," Aurelius interrupted. "Oh, and... and I''ll help you as long as you teach me more. Think about it. You needed me to get those enhancers, right?" Aurelius walked forward with a look of determination before extending his hand. "I have people relying on me too, so I can''t die either."


    Cade gazed into Aurelius'' eyes and hesitated a few times before slowly raising his right hand and grasping Aurelius'' hand tightly. Aurelius pulled him up, and they proceeded to stand face-to-face silently for a while, both peering into the other''s eyes intently.


    Cade then opened his mouth. "I''ll think about it. On our way to Mircrest."


    Aurelius smiled at the word ''our''. "That''s a promise?"


    Cade nodded solemnly. "That it is."


    ***


    In the south, where lay the heart of Mircrest, Acelot, there was a towering castle. The castle resembled a church with its high-roofed rooms, crystal lamps, and rich wall paintings. It used to belong to the royal family, but after the execution of kings, ownership of the castle transferred to the nation. Or so the population thought, except for a select few who knew exactly what inhabited the place.


    Within the castle, in a large room with dark walls decorated with crimson patterns, a young man''s legs lie crossed on an unnecessarily wide wooden table that could be described as a masterpiece of craftsmanship.


    The man''s skin was a light brown shade, and he rolled a rough bronze coin around in his fingers with his other hand in a fist supporting his cheek as he sat in a chair akin to a throne with his eyes barely staying open. But the coin suddenly came to a stop as the man twitched, as if waking up from a trance.


    "What is it?" A vexed female voice resonated in the room, seemingly coming from nowhere in particular.


    The man on the throne-like chair gave a faint smile before opening his silver eyes wider and tilting his head slightly, making his auburn hair shift out of the way of his sight. "I feel like something interesting is on its way."


    The owner of the vexed voice suddenly emerged from the shadows. The woman wore a dark cloak and a simple, purely white mask, accented by straight and shiny purple hair that leaked from the sides of her mask.


    "Something destructive?" she asked, suddenly curious about the matter, even though there was no other evidence for it than the man''s obscure words.


    The man''s smile grew into a grin as he answered, "I don''t know. Probably. And even if not naturally, I''ll make it so. That''s a promise."


    "To me?"


    The man chuckled. "No, no, not to you." He looked at the bronze coin in his hand, and his expression gradually grew unusually grave, and a glint of nostalgia appeared in his eyes. "To that boy in the dark, dirty alley."

 Chapter 10: The Slums

    "So, what''s the plan when we go to Mircrest?" Aurelius asked after they packed up and began to walk, leaving the Cloud-Piercing Mountains behind.


    Cade kept her gaze forward. "I''ll sell the enhancers and give the money to those who depend on me."


    "What then?"


    "Not sure. You said you wanted to do good right? We can probably get some more jobs and spread the profits to those in need."


    "But what about the corruption in Mircrest? That''s the reason I''m heading there in the first place. To destroy Numen."


    Cade turned to her side. "You''re serious about that?"


    "Of course I am. They''re evil and shouldn''t just be allowed to exist. We should do something about that since we''re able to." Aurelius said like it was obvious.


    "You think we''re capable of destroying the most heinous criminal organization in the entire world? Aurelius, Numen has ties to almost all major businesses that there are in Mircrest. It''s developed past something that plagues Mircrest. Numen is Mircrest."


    "Okay, well, maybe not destroy. But fight against."


    Cade tilted her head with narrow eyes. "With what?"


    "The people of Mircrest."


    "Huh?"


    "We can get more money and help the people of Mircrest. Then we can get them on our side and make a difference in those election things they have there, right?"


    "It isn''t that simple."


    "Explain it to me, then. I don''t care how complicated it is. I''m here to help people. Aren''t you?"


    "Explain what? The entirety of Mircrest''s political landscape?" Cade asked, glacing at Aurelius. He nodded enthusiastically. Cade laughed, but then saw Aurelius'' serious expression and looked to the sky. "Oh, what the hell."


    ***


    Close to the northmost border of Mircrest, there was a dirty place. It was one of the cities of the poor. Such places in Mircrest were denied a proper identity and simply went by the name of the Slums.


    Through said Slums, there was a large stream of water that flowed through the middle, which made it necessary for a bridge to unite the two halves of the city.


    Under the beginning of the bridge, there was a platform typically used for fishing. One particular, not very eye-catching youth, liked that place a lot. Instead of a fishing rod, however, he held a cigarette. The youth was the owner of a set of well-fitting dark clothes that hugged his skinny frame. He had a pair of narrow, dark eyes, which were coupled with disheveled black hair that seemed to have been attempted to style into a side part but given up on halfway through.The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    The young man brought his fingers up to his face before lowering his wrists back to the rusty railing in front of him. Then he opened his mouth, and smoke rose up into the cold, dark sky. The young man looked at the cigarette in between his fingers¡ªor rather, what was left of it.


    He sighed and flicked the stump into the stream of water that seemed almost pitch-black before pulling out a box from his pocket and opening it with his thumb. The box was empty.


    ''Didn''t I buy this one today?'' he thought with a mix of annoyance and amusement before turning around and throwing the box into the stream as well. ''Whatever.''


    The young man walked through the Slums, the locals walking past like he didn''t exist, giving him a poorly hidden look of disgust, or making brief eye contact before beginning to hurry their steps. What a wonderful community the slums had.


    Before long, he made it back to his shabby residence, where a woman, sub-par on the attractiveness scale, greeted him with a smile. "A fine evening today, isn''t it, Balgair?"


    "No. I feel like shit," the young man answered right before making his way into the staircase.


    The woman said something from behind him, but he didn''t care to listen and hopped up the stairs quickly before entering his room on the third floor. Straight after entering, Balgair lay down on the single low-quality, wooden bed with a mattress as comfortable as a hairy spider crawling on your opened eyes.


    ***


    The next day, things seemed as usual, with Balgair up on the roofs of the Slums and his prey filling the streets. There was nothing special in sight for a long time, however.


    Balgair was looking for a catch that would last him a few months, not a few days. What he needed was some rich idiot, confident enough to move with only a guard or two.


    That''s when a blonde woman dressed in a silver-colored dress showed herself. Alongside her, there was a young man dressed in a neat gray suit.


    ''Is he the guard?'' Balgair thought, his eyes moving back and forth between the woman''s handbag and the man beside her. ''Well, I really hope there''s something in there,'' he thought before standing up and covering the lower part of his face with a half-mask.


    He then performed a series of setups and jumped down from the roof, landing right in front of the pair walking through the streets in broad daylight.


    The man immediately pushed the woman back and performed a quick setup that led to him materializing a sword as he rushed towards Balgair.


    Balgair wasn''t surprised and pinched the tips of his thumbs and index fingers together before bringing them together and drawing them off of one another, revealing a kind of ethereal wire. He then wrapped the wire around the man''s blade, trapping the only method of attack his incompetent, knightly ass was most likely capable of. The rest was easy, with him simply kicking the guard in the stomach, sending him flying into a crowd of shocked people before snatching the fine bag out of the woman''s hand, giving her a wink in return.


    Balgair then put his sense enhancement and reinforcement on mini supply and focused his essence usage on the enhancement of his muscles before jumping over the crowd that had formed around them and speeding out of sight.


    He proceeded to coordinate through the maze that was the city''s architecture. Surely the one who designed this shit had to be doing at least some type of narcotics. A hidden smile rested on Balgair''s lips, and he passed through alleys and streets, the illumination varying with each leap.


    His plan had worked smoothly. All he had to do now was make sure nobody could have followed him. Easy as...


    A hand from behind grasped the bag in his hand as he was maneuvering through a narrow alley full of pipes, trash bags, and dumpsters.


    He instinctively grasped the bag tighter, making his forward momentum disappear as he was yanked by the bag.


    ''How did the guard catch up?!'' Balgair thought in shock as he amplified his mini supplies, balancing his essence usage.


    Then a prickling sensation went through his body, followed by a cold sweat not long afterward.


    "Let go of the bag. It''s not yours," the young man in simple dark-brown clothing with golden hair and his hand on the bag said, his vibrant blue eyes the opposite of what would be called intimidating.


    Balgair gritted his teeth after recovering from the initial shock. "What''s it to you, Goldilocks?"

 Chapter 11: First Encounter

    Aurelius tried his best to look scary as he peered into the narrow eyes of the thief. "What''s it to me? Does that matter? I''m just doing what''s right."


    "Tch." Without wasting a single second, the narrow-eyed man aimed a kick at Aurelius'' head, forcing Aurelius to let go of the bag in order to block.


    The kick didn''t come, however, and the man instead switched stances and kicked Aurelius in the stomach. Aurelius managed to block the blow with his arms, but despite his enhancement and reinforcement, he was launched back by the unprecedentedly powerful kick.


    ''Isn''t he supposed to be just a thief?'' Aurelius thought as he recovered and gave chase to the man who had already gotten far.


    The young man had used the pipes in the alley to get around quicker, but Aurelius was worried about the durability of the pipes and didn''t want to cause any issues, so he stayed low while running behind the thief.


    After making it through the packed alley, Aurelius and the thief found themselves in a kind of intersection of alleys. The thief jumped to the right, hopping from a pipe to the wall of the building a couple meters from the ground. He then hopped from one side of the wall to the other, getting higher with each jump.


    Aurelius wasn''t going to let him get to the roof, however, and loaded up his legs before taking a leap, which led him within hand''s reach of the thief. He then reached his hand out and tried grasping the thief, but got his own hand grabbed instead, as the thief managed to notice him and turn his body while airborne.


    The thief was about to kick him, but his plan of grabbing Aurelius backfired immediately as Aurelius grabbed him and held on tight as they plummeted to the ground.


    The thief''s eyes went to Aurelius'' hand and then to his eyes. Then Aurelius felt the thief''s grip lose all strength.


    ''He stopped enhancement?'' Aurelius thought, not sure if he should be confused or impressed.


    They then fell onto the moist stone street, with the thief taking most of the impact since he was on the bottom. The thief''s expression didn''t change much at the impact, however.


    Aurelius now knew to be impressed. The thief realized the situation in an instant. He didn''t try struggling pointlessly, and he shut off his enhancement, putting all his essence into reinforcement to avoid any real damage.


    Aurelius'' slight respect for the thief then exploded as the thief''s grip regained its strength, with no sign of setups.


    ''Motionless magic!''


    Seeing the shock on Aurelius'' face, the thief smiled widely enough for it to be seen through the mask and was quick to push Aurelius off of him. He then rolled backward before jumping to his feet and throwing.


    Aurelius was expecting the thief to run, but to his surprise, he threw the bag into a trash pile on the side and took an awkward-looking fighting stance.


    "Fuck the bag. Let''s just fight."


    Aurelius tapped his forehead, and the blue in his eyes got deeper. He hadn''t expected to need anything besides enhancement and reinforcement, but now he did. He entered a wide but centered stance from which he could quickly dash forward and suppressed a smile.


    Then the pair engaged, both dashing forward with their own strikes, but surprisingly, the thief''s strikes had no power, as if every strike were a faint. Aurelius'' strikes weren''t really working either, as they were all either taken to highly durable areas by redirection or avoided completely.


    Aurelius instantly realized the battle was not going anywhere in this manner, so he stretched one of his steps, stepping his right leg in between the thief''s legs, and tried grabbing the wrist of the thief in an attempt to make the fight more rough and less technical.


    As expected, the thief avoided it like the plague, but to the extent he did, it was certainly unexpected. The unexpected didn''t stop there. Aurelius went to grab him by the throat with his other hand, extending himself even further. Right then, he was met with a furiously sharp counter in the form of the thief''s right fist hooking right into his face.


    At the exact same moment, Aurelius sensed something from his fingertips. He couldn''t linger on that feeling for long, though, as his consciousness jumped, and he fell to his side.


    "My opponent extends, I contract. My opponent contracts, I extend," the thief said with a chuckle as he stood over Aurelius.


    Aurelius was still dazed and could just barely make out the words. He was mesmerized by something he saw. On the thief''s neck were scratch marks.


    Then the thief loaded up a kick. Aurelius put his hand up to block the kick, which was aimed at his head. He just needed a bit of time to recover before he could get back to fighting.


    He didn''t have to block anything, however, as in the next instant, the thief was engaged by Aurelius'' trusty partner.


    Stolen novel; please report.


    Aurelius lowered his hands to see before it was over.


    Cade ducked the thief''s first strike, and tried to grasp his wrist, but the thief was quick. The movement of his arms seemed almost unnaturally quick when compared to every other movement of his.


    Cade noticed this and adapted.


    She switched her stance, kicked the thief''s front leg in a way that forced his stance to widen, and in the split second, the thief''s was put into an unnatural position for him where his movements couldn''t rely on familiarity. Cade twisted her body, delivering a swift blow to the thief''s chin.


    The thief''s eyes rolled back, as he limply turned according to the momentum of the blow, and the movement that happened next as the thief fell to the ground could best be described as him folding in two.


    Cade averted her attention from the thief and looked down at Aurelius with disapproval. "Don''t just throw your bag in my face and rush off." Then she revealed a slight smile and offered Aurelius a hand. "And if you do, don''t get your ass beat right after. It makes you look embarrassing."


    Aurelius closed his eyes and shook his head before grinning sheepishly. "Sorry about that. But this guy was special," Aurelius said as he took Cade''s hand and pulled himself up.


    Cade glanced at the unconscious thief lying with his face in a dirty puddle, then looked back at Aurelius. "Doesn''t seem very special to me?"


    "He did motionless magic," Aurelius said with a deeper tone than usual.


    Cade frowned. "Seriously?"


    Aurelius nodded.


    "Well, he did beat you, so he''s obviously strong, and his hand movements were quick. He seemed to have decent combat experience as well," Cade said as she walked over to the thief and turned him around. "But let''s see." She pulled the mask off the thief''s face. Immediately afterward, she frowned and turned to Aurelius. "Are you sure? Motionless magic? This guy is about your age. Maybe younger. And he''s a petty thief. Although he''s clearly an overqualified one, I don''t know if he would have the opportunity to learn motionless magic."


    Aurelius tilted his head. "Well, he didn''t use any setups. Is it possible that he''s self-taught?"


    Cade''s sighed. "No, there''s no way."


    Aurelius shrugged. "Well, I''ll go return the bag."


    "What about this guy?" Cade asked. "Are we going to deliver him to the authorities?"


    Aurelius took the bag and headed back. "Let me think about it."


    He then sprinted back to the intersection with the bag in hand before turning to the pipe-filled dumpster alley and maneuvering his way through it.


    ''Those scratches. He turned his reinforcement off completely to maximize his power. Either the amount of essence he can control at once is miniscule by nature, or he just wanted to get all the power behind his punch he could and decided to say goodbye to reinforcement because he was so confident,'' Aurelius thought, figuring out the depth of his observations with his head now clear enough to think.


    ''So, in order to maximize his battle prowess, he turns different usages on and off depending on when exactly he needs them. Awesome,'' he thought with a smile, but then his face dropped as he realized something. ''What if he wasn''t doing motionless magic? The scratches weren''t bleeding. Oh, why didn''t I think of that before?'' jumbled thoughts flew around Aurelius'' head.


    He didn''t have any more time to think about that just then, as he reached the place where the owner of the purse still was. The man she was with was currently curled up, apparently still suffering from the kick he had endured earlier. It seemed he hadn''t used reinforcement and had received an enhanced kick, so it was no wonder he would be in pain for a long while.


    The man suddenly regained his vigor once he saw Aurelius with the bag in his hand.


    He postured himself properly and walked up to Aurelius with an intention Aurelius couldn''t quite figure out.


    "Give the¡ª"


    Aurelius looked down into the man''s eyes with a friendly smile. "Oh, you''re shorter than you look from afar."


    The man was left speechless, and Aurelius quickly walked past him to the woman behind him. "I think this is yours," Aurelius said, extending the hand holding the bag towards the woman.


    The woman smiled and took the bag before covering her mouth and saying with a light laugh, "It certainly is." The woman curtsied. "Thank you for getting it back to me."


    Aurelius smiled. "No problem, I''m always happy to help."


    The woman raised her brows and said with a tilt of her head, "Ah, did you, by any chance, manage to apprehend the thief?"


    Aurelius paused for a while, and then scratched the back of his head and looked at his feet. "I''m sorry, he got away."

 Chapter 12: Recruitment

    Balgair''s weary eyes drifted open as his head swayed to the side, the back of his head rubbing against the thick concrete pole.


    What then greeted him were heavy, cold winds, the sounds of waves crashing against the platform they were on, the darkness of evening, and dark clouds only letting slivers of light pass and illuminate the figures of the boy-looking girl who was sitting down, watching him and Goldilocks, who was standing up and looking towards the sea. He looked down at the wire that squeezed him against the pole.


    "Don''t even think about it," the boy-looking girl said.


    "Tch. Hyperwire?" Balgair raised his head. "Who the fuck are you?"


    Goldilocks turned around and looked down at Balgair with the same non-intimidating gaze he had earlier. "I''m Aurelius. She''s Cade."


    Balgair raised his brows and tilted his head, his annoyance radiating through his gaze. "I didn''t mean your names, dumbass. I meant, what organization are you part of? Why are you sticking your nose in my business?"


    Then the boy-looking girl named Cade butted in, "Dumbass? What does the guy tied to a concrete pole at a dock have to say about someone else''s intelligence?"


    Balgair snorted. "Fuck you. I''m not in this shit because of intelligence. Also, off-topic, why do you look like that if you''re a girl? Haven''t you considered letting your hair grow, not ripping out your eyelashes, and wearing some tighter clothes? Then you''d maybe actually get someone to want your ass."


    Cade jumped up to her feet like her weight was that of a feather and walked a bit closer before shoving the bottom of her shoe onto Balgair''s left cheek. "You know, I don''t really want anyone to want my ass, but I get where you''re coming from. Projecting desires onto others is a common habit of less developed people, after all."


    Balgair shook his head violently to get the dirty shoe out of his face, but it had no real effect except to make Cade push his face harder.


    Then she continued talking, "And how do you suppose this doesn''t have anything to do with intelligence? You''re the dumbass going around stealing in broad daylight. You seriously never expected any trouble to come your way? Your type of weaklings should just stay inside and work some regular old job before they die."


    "Hey, Cade, stop that," Goldilocks said from the side, putting a hand up but not moving an inch.


    Balgair gave up trying to shake his head and tried kicking the Cade''s single grounded foot from under him, which managed to get the girl to back away. He then wiped his cheek on his shoulder before spitting on the ground as the two individuals looked at him unpleasantly.


    "What''s your partner''s deal? Is he mentally challenged or something?" Balgair switched his target from Cade to Aurelius. "Why did you chase me when you had nothing to do with the matter? And why haven''t you turned me in if you''re not gonna kill me?"


    Cade tilted her chin up and crossed her arms. And before Aurelius could open his mouth, she answered, "He''s not mentally challenged. A little unsophisticated, yes, but not unintelligent in the least. You see, he was the one who figured out your trick."


    "What trick?" Balgair asked.


    Aurelius showed a slight smile. "You can''t actually do motionless magic. You''re a fraud, but a very skilled one. I actually didn''t think of that myself, and I''m not sure how. I thought I had mastered the basics, but you really opened my eyes there," he explained, gesturing with his hands in an erratic manner.


    ''Yup, he''s nuts,'' Balgair thought as he looked into those pair of frantic eyes that were directed straight at him. They were the eyes of a child. Or maybe more like those of an annoyingly curious baby that simply couldn''t stop staring at you like you were some kind of alien creature.


    "The fact that you''re able to make do with your low affinity by simply having a constant supply you can manipulate as naturally as you breathe is just amazing. I mean, lowering one supply as you heighten another based on situational predictions in battle is super special."


    Balgair''s eyes widened as he saw the ability he had mastered with years of work, figured out by someone the same age as him after sharing one brief encounter.


    "That''s right. I was right," Aurelius said, turning to Cade and pointing at Balgair whose surprised look told the story.


    "It seems so," Cade said with a tilt of her head.


    Balgair sighed. "Fine, he''s not stupid. But can you tell me what you want now? I hope you didn''t bring me here just to confirm my technique before handing me over to the authorities or killing me and throwing my body into the sea."


    The ends of Cade''s lips curled up a bit. "I would normally have opted for the latter option, but my partner here has other plans."


    "Like what?"


    Aurelius opened his mouth. "I want you to help us with something," he said, a serious expression on his face for once. "I want to make Mircrest better. To help the people and get rid of injustice."


    "So? What do you intend to do?"


    "Well, me and Cade had the idea of a heist in mind. From there, we can use the funds to help the underprivileged and affect the political landscape of Mircrest. It''s a democracy, right? So all we have to do is shape the conditions of the next election so that we can remove corruption and steer the country toward a brighter future."


    Silence followed Aurelius'' speech.


    Then Balgair burst into laughter. "What the hell are you on? Did you come up with that plan all on your own? You lost to me in a fight. There''s no way you can actually have an effect on a whole country. Especially when there''s a crime organization like Numen around."


    Cade nodded with a slow blink in acknowledgement. "Numen is certainly a problem. However, there are still measures we can take to have an effect."


    This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.


    "Like what? It''s Numen. They control almost everything, and the almost is there only because of the people they just straight up merc with barely any reason. They have branches all over the country that have the military power of the wealthiest houses around. We try to mess with them, and we are dead. You''ve seen the newspapers about that governor''s family, right? They nailed them to the courthouse''s wall by the backs of their mouths." Balgair gritted his teeth, and his face crumpled up as he put his words together like he was lifting bricks. "They did that to even his children. And you wanna go after them? What the hell is wrong with you?"


    Aurelius looked at Cade nervously. Cade looked back at him briefly, but her face hadn''t changed a bit. "I know what type of people they are. That''s why I''m doing this."


    "You''ll get yourself and everybody you love killed," Balgair said with a low voice. It wasn''t a threat or anything that carried bad intentions. They were honest words of prediction.


    "I love nobody. My life is all I am putting at stake, and it is for a cause I am ready to die for."


    "Why do I care?" Balgair shook his head. "You''re just a crazy motherfucker trying to die in a heroic way. Not like you can actually do anything to change the world."


    "Is that what you think?" Cade asked as she walked to the side, where two duffel bags were, before pulling out a box and revealing a set of vials filled with black liquid. "Just last week, we were in the Thropes handling a mission, and this is what we came out with. All without a single scratch on either one of us."


    Balgair furrowed his brows. "Enhancers? The two of you killed a cursed beast? And without injuries? Ridiculous."


    Cade put the vials back and began walking towards Balgair. "Oh, that''s right, you wouldn''t be aware of what we''re capable of yet."


    Balgair watched with no real expectation but almost forgot to breathe once blue streaks began coalescing into the center of Cade''s palm, replacing the faint illumination in the area with an unnatural, unstable blue luminescence. And as she walked closer, the mass of essence grew larger and larger, even though its mass seemed to be condensed as much as possible.


    Balgair kept a calm, unimpressed look as she approached, but it was really the first time he had seen essence handled so naturally. And it was all motionless!


    Balgair had simply heard of motionless magic before, and that had been from the individuals with the highest status he knew. He had separated from those people a long time ago and discarded their talk as simple myths after having tried to practice motionless magic for months to no avail.


    But now it was in front of him. He couldn''t deny that the mass of essence was fake as it was right in his face.


    The streaks started to look more and more like lightning as Cade got closer, and the mass kept growing. Balgair could no longer remain calm. His sense of safety was crumbling as logic no longer mattered when that mass, which now seemed just barely controllable, approached.


    "Do you understand it now?" Cade asked.


    Balgair tried backing away by leaning to the side and trying to frantically push himself back with his feet.


    "Answer," Cade said. "Say it!"


    Balgair stared at the mass that had grown to the size of a human head. It was probably the most beautiful thing he had seen in his entire life, but his mind could not process the unbelievable masterpiece that was shoved in his face, as it was too consumed by the fact that any moment, that beauty could spread off and explode his being completely out of existence.


    Finally, he gave in.


    "Stop! Stop!! I understand!"


    The streaks died down, and the mass faded from existence, leaving only Cade''s dark figure standing over Balgair, who was drenched in cold sweat.


    "Well?" Cade asked. "Will you join us? Aurelius wants to know more about your technique, and you''re obviously ridiculously overqualified for a petty thievery. I''m not particularly interested in whatever story you have, but I know that if someone in the underworld has your fighting skills, he is bound to have a lot of experience that translates into connections and knowledge. Now, we''re in need of those connections and knowledge, so it''s your lucky day. You''ll get a 5 percent cut of the heist profit, and you can go on your own path from there. You won''t have to get involved with big, scary Numen if you''re too afraid."


    Balgair did his best to slow his breathing before gulping. "Before I answer, I want to know you. I don''t do business with strangers. Let''s start with origin. Your partner looks like a Zalfarian royal, but since you''re so desperate for funds, he''s got to be banished or something, right?"


    "Eh, I''m not from the Great Zalfarian Empire," Aurelius said from the side, pointing at himself.


    Balgair''s gaze turned to him with wide eyes. "You''re not?"


    Aurelius tilted his head. "No, I''ve lived in the Thropes my whole life," he said slowly, processing all the new information as he spoke.


    Balgair chuckled lightly to himself as some shivers went down his spine. "Goldilocks, how old are you exactly?"


    "Ah, I''m 16 years old," Aurelius answered nonchalantly. "Why do you want to know?"


    Random pieces of information Balgair had picked up throughout his studies connected and formed a picture that brought an unintentional smile to Balgair''s face. He glanced at Cade, whose inquisitive expression answered Balgair''s question.


    ''She doesn''t know,'' he thought.


    "What is it?" Cade asked.


    Balgair looked down for a while and collected himself before gazing back at Cade with a neutral expression. "Ah, nothing... I''ve made my decision. I''ll join you."

 Chapter 13: Heist Plans

    "This place?" Cade asked as she looked around the shabby, mostly empty pub Balgair led them to. "Really, snake-eyes."


    "Yes, this place. And call me by my name. Snake-eyes is a poor nickname, anyway," Balgair answered as he led Cade and Aurelius to an empty table, amateurishly crafted from differently colored wooden planks.


    "Well, Balgair is a poor name as well. Pick your poison," Cade said as she sat on one side of the table with Aurelius, Balgair sitting opposite them.


    Aurelius raised his hand. "I think your name is just fine, Balgair."


    Balgair sighed and shook his head before ordering a drink. "So, how about you introduce yourself now, boy-looking girl? I happen to be quite curious as to how thou reached the ultimate status of boy-looking girl."


    Cade stared at Balgair with dead eyes. "You know you''re not funny, right?"


    "Well, he''s laughing." Balgair pointed at Aurelius.


    Cade looked to her side, where Aurelius was, his shoulders shaking as he sniveled with his eyes closed, mouth open, and head leaned back.


    ''How did he... Well, it''s already midnight, and we haven''t slept in over 24 hours. I guess it''s good for him to rest up a bit,'' Cade thought.


    Then she looked back at Balgair. "He''s asleep, dumbass."


    Balgair put his palm on his mouth and gasped. "Really? I thought looking dumb as hell was just his natural state of being."


    Cade rubbed her forehead. "You know, I don''t really get why he wanted you to join us. You may be a decent combatant, and you may possess a peculiar technique, but I doubt you have enough brain cells to teach it to anyone."


    Balgair leaned back and kicked his legs out under the table. "Then why did you take me in? Are you just incapable of saying no to your naive little boyfriend?"


    Cade crossed her hands and snorted. "I said I doubted your teaching ability. I don''t outright disbelieve in it. What I''m saying is that I''m giving you a chance. Help us and teach Aurelius, and you can stay as a member of our team."


    "Hah, you think I want to stay with you that bad?" Balgair asked as if genuinely amused by such a thing. "What if I just walk?"


    "Oh, you won''t walk. If you try getting away, I''ll kill you," Cade stated, like it made no difference.


    Balgair maintained his amused smile and chuckled a bit, but Cade could see him shudder slightly.


    Then Balgair raised his hands. "Okay, I''ll teach your boyfriend. But would you mind telling me why you''re with him? I mean, look at the guy," he said, pointing at Aurelius sleeping figure.


    Cade dug at her teeth with her tongue as she thought of an answer. Then, with her brows slightly raised and an indifferent tone, she said, "Aurelius is special. I''ve never really met anyone who views essence like he does. It''s life for him. And I believe he''ll become one of the strongest ever."


    "One of the strongest?" Balgair said this with pure shock on his face, looking like he would burst out in laughter any moment. "He couldn''t beat me."


    Cade scratched her head a bit. "He''s inexperienced. But he''s a quick learner. Fight him when he wakes up, and you''ll lose," she said before putting her forearms on the table. "He also has a kind of instinct. I''m not sure how to explain it, but he''s capable of great things when it matters most."


    Balgair put his hands on his head with an exaggerated frown. "You sure it''s not just because he''s attractive? I wouldn''t blame you. The dude looks like a prince."


    Cade sighed and pointed at Balgair. "You should shut up about that before I crush all your teeth." She then leaned back and crossed her arms again. "Besides, I''m not fit for relationships. People around me tend to die a lot," she continued, glancing briefly at Aurelius. "Rey is just a companion, and he has enough potential to be a permanent one. Or so I hope."


    "People around you tend to die a lot? Could you be a little more dramatic?"


    Cade put her palms on the table and looked into Balgair''s sly eyes. "Tell me your story. After that, I''ll think about what to make of what just came out of your mouth."


    "You know, death threats kinda lose their kick when they''re overused," Balgair said as he dug his ear with his pinky finger. "But whatever. My story isn''t really remarkable. I was born without mommy and daddy, rolled with some criminal organizations for a while, and now I steal the purses of young women to buy cigarettes while I wait to die."


    This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    Cade leaned her cheek against her fist. "Hmm, sounds about right."


    "Yup, ain''t life just great?" Balgair said before turning to the counter. "Hey, Jason, where the fuck is my drink? I asked for it minutes ago."


    The bartender with a bald head and a goatee pointed to the counter in front of him, where a rose-colored glass stood. "Come and get it, Fox. There''s no table service at these hours."


    Cade was surprised to see Balgair obey the bartender and actually go get the drink. She got even more intrigued when the bartender pulled Balgair closer and whispered something. Then Balgair whispered something back, and the bartender looked a little surprised before nodding.


    Cade didn''t bother to enhance her senses and just asked Balgair when he came back to the table, "What did he whisper to you?"


    "Just some racist shit. Apparently, no whites are allowed here. They tend to be loud and start fights," Balgair answered. "I just told him that Goldilocks is from Zalfari. People here tend to generalize all whites as people from the Thropes."


    Cade widened her eyes with interest in the conversation. "Oh, I think the stereotypes about people from the Thropes are exaggerated. People there are actually quite courteous and fairly intelligent."


    "Well, it is what it is. If you really want to help, go tell them to teach proper manners to the ones visiting outside countries and help them with some technological advancements. It''s about time they stop being so stubborn and forget their little villages."


    "Well, can you blame them for being stubborn and adamant in their way of living? People from Mircrest and Arkryk have done nothing but try to conquer them. If they had accepted all their gifts of technology, their cultures and societies would have been consumed already."


    "Yeah, yeah. I know my history. You don''t have to preach all the things you''ve heard on your travels to me. It would actually do you some good to pick up a book. I think you''d learn something very, very interesting," Balgair said with a smug look in his narrow eyes before taking a sip of his drink.


    Cade scoffed and slapped Aurelius on the arm. "Hey, wake up. We''re about to talk business."


    Aurelius shut his mouth and returned his head to its normal position before looking around frantically. "What? Huh? What is it?"


    "Focus. We''re going to discuss something, and then you''ll get to sleep in a real bed."


    Aurelius rubbed his face with his palms before shaking his head and then starting to listen.


    "So, about the heist," Cade said. "We were thinking of a really wealthy house with a past of corruption but not much military power."


    Balgair put his elbows on the table and interlocked his fingers. "There are really none of such houses that don''t have ties with Numen. And I would rather you just kill me than be hunted by them for the rest of my life."


    "Are you sure? I also don''t want to get involved with Numen, so if there''s a house that does meet those requirements, it''s our best choice."


    "But why do they have to be really wealthy? Why not just wealthy? That''s enough for your purposes, right?"


    "Well, Aurelius thought it would be best if we didn''t completely bankrupt our target. I have no opinion on the matter."


    Aurelius nodded proudly at the introduction of his requirement.


    Balgair rubbed his forehead and let out an exasperated sigh.


    "Well, there''s the Venenum house, which meets the requirements of being really wealthy, corrupt, and not affiliated with Numen. But they have the most military power of any single house. So no to that," Balgair said. "Then there''s the Boerlow house, which meets every requirement except for really wealthy. That house is dying, and Numen doesn''t really care for it, so we can go in and take everything with little to no consequences. I suggest we do so."


    "House Boerlow it is," Cade decided.


    "But wait, we''ll bankrupt them."


    Balgair leaned in closer and peered into Aurelius eyes. "I get that you''re an idiot, but please start trying your best to be less of an idiot because it''s really getting on my nerves. The Boerlows are corrupt. They deserve what''s coming for them. And besides, after we''re through with them, they''ll be able to afford good lives."


    Aurelius pursed his lips and sat back. "Fine," Aurelius said, standing up with a sigh. "Now, where can I find that bed you were talking about?"

 Chapter 14: Ruler of Mircrest

    In a square-shaped garden located in the midst of a large castle, a woman with short, black hair clothed in a pure white dress was tending to the plants as a guest in stylish, black trousers and a loose shirt with thin, crimson markings on it entered.


    The guest looked around, his golden earrings with diamonds hanging off of them swaying in the process. Some strands of his auburn hair also came loose, so he slicked it back, leaving only a few strands alone, inexplicably. As he looked around with his light, sliver eyes, he wasn''t surprised to notice the floors overlooking the garden were filled with soldiers.


    He walked over to the middle of the garden, where there was a small tree that cast a shadow on a pristine white bench. Then he turned and sat down, the woman in the white dress behind him.


    "You came alone?" the woman asked.


    The man spread his arms onto the backrest of the bench before leaning his head as far back as he could and watching the woman''s upside-down figure with a smile on his face. "It seems so, doesn''t it?"


    "I have heard you were a cautious man. I''m also inclined to believe so, as you were able to overtake a dear friend of mine," the woman said, stopping her work to look at the smiling man in the eyes. "So tell me, are you the man I was supposed to meet? Are you the real Ruler of Mircrest, as they say? You look far too young. I also imagined you to be taller."


    The man returned his head to its original position and then looked at the ground in front, where clear water flowed in between plants. "Don''t worry, I''m real. As real as can get," the man said, standing up and bent over before ripping off the head of one of the plants. He then turned to the lady in white and bowed slightly, gesturing the dark violet plant at her. "It''s nice to meet you, Mrs. Venenum," he said with his head lowered before shifting his gaze toward the lady with only the movement of his eyes as a charming grin appeared on his face. "You may call me Gadreel."


    Mrs. Venenun walked forward with her shoulders back and took the plant out of his hands with a tight, rapidness in her movement. "These are poisonous," she said as she looked at the plant before throwing it away.


    Gadreel stood up straight and flicked his wrist. "Oh, you don''t have to worry about me," he said and began walking around the garden with long, slow steps.


    "You think yourself invincible? I was told that you''re not especially strong," Mrs. Venenum said from behind.


    "I''m fairly strong, but I wouldn''t call myself invincible," Gadreel answered without looking back. "I know my limits."


    "Is not being able to arrive in time one of your limits? You''re almost an hour late."


    Gadreel stopped shortly and turned to respond to the bitter lady''s question. "Not really, no. I came late on purpose. You ministers are all so self-absorbed and arrogant that I like giving you a reminder of your true worth once in a while."


    "You think you''ll get away with such behavior forever?" Mrs. Venenum asked with a judgmental look in her shady eyes.


    "You think you''re in a position to do anything to me?" Gadreel asked and waited for a response, but the bitter lady just stood there, looking... well, bitter. Poisonous, one might say. "That actually ties into the main topic of our little meeting," Gadreel said, raising a finger and then pointing it at Mrs. Venenum. "You''re out of line."


    "How so?" Mrs. Venenum asked, feigning obliviousness.


    Gadreel turned and began to walk around the garden with those long, slow steps of his. "Oh, you know. You''ve known for a while now. I''m not your dear friend. I''m a man who consumes all I want, and I do it by all means. And what I want for the time being is to grab every nook and cranny of Mircrest. That means I''m going to place a Numen branch in Venalia as well."


    "You are going to do no such thing as long as I live," Mrs. Venenum said firmly.


    The tree was between the two of them at the moment, but Gadreel could visualize what her eyes must have looked like the moment she uttered those words.


    He just didn''t care. "If that is so, then I will take your life," he said, taking a peek from behind the tree at Mrs. Venenum, who was staring right at him. "I don''t think it''ll have to come to that, however."


    "Issuing threats while standing in the midst of hundreds of soldiers. You must really believe in the air of invincibility you carry. However, I''ve seen your type crumble many times before," Mrs. Venenum said, not a hint of fear in her eyes.


    Gadreel put his hands behind his back and smiled, squinting his eyes in an exaggerated manner. "There is no ''my type''. I am alone. The sooner you realize that, the better."


    This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.


    "Really? Then tell me," Mrs. Venenum said, raising her hand, ready to snap her fingers. "What do you suppose stops me from doing thi¡ª" Mrs. Venenum suddenly stopped as a thin blade extended from the two fingers of an uninvited guest lightly touched her throat.


    "I do," a feminine voice came from behind the pure white mask, the individual worse with a black cloak.


    Gadreel looked around with amusement as the soldiers on the upper floors panicked and orders were yelled out.


    Mrs. Venenum slowly shifted her gaze to the side, keeping the rest of her body completely still. "Purple hair? You''re¡ª"


    "Yes, I''m your dear friend''s former guard," the masked woman said, tilting her head to the side. "I switched my employer. Do you have something against that?"


    "I don''t, but it was to my understanding that you were killed," Mrs. Venenum said, looking at Gadreel. "Killed by him."


    The masked woman chuckled slightly.


    "That''s enough, Sherridan. You can retract your blade," Gadreel said as he maintained eye contact with Mrs. Venenum.


    Sherridan stepped back, letting her blade disappear. Mrs. Venenum understood Gadreel''s intent and raised a hand, motioning the soldiers to return to their positions.


    "I apologize for my curiosity," Mrs. Venenum said with a bow of her head. "I won''t doubt you again."


    "Good, good. But I didn''t come here to get respect. I came here to tell you to stop resisting my expansion," Gadreel said, his smile fading quickly as his tone got lower.


    "You say that as if I''m going against natural law," Mrs. Venenum spit out with a frown. "But Venalia has the lowest crime rates out of all the cities in Numen of which the rest are under the control of your underlings."


    "That may be true, but the crime is not organized. It is composed of sudden happenings rather than calculated events," Gadreel explained. "And you''re an underling of mine, as well. You''ll come to find that out eventually."


    Mrs. Venenum scoffed. "Calculated events? You think organized crime is somehow more moral than non-organized crime. Oh, but you don''t care about morality, do you? You build orphanages one day and burn whole towns down the next."


    There was something in Mrs. Venenum''s eyes. She looked at Gadreel like one might look at a wild animal. It was slightly unpleasant, but not worth bringing up.


    "You''re quite right. I''m not concerned with morality. What makes organized crime superior, though, is the order found in chaos. It is predictably unpredictable... much like me, some may say."


    "Crime is unpredictably unpredictable, then? I see no sense in what you say."


    "A very rare few do. I''ve come to find out in this short life of mine," Gadreel said and turned his gaze to the beautiful little plants all around. "You see, crime is the purest expression of human nature, and it is a fool''s errand to try to prevent it without truly understanding. The real solution is to grasp it and make use of it. To control something of a fundamentally rebellious nature is a great feat, but it is one that leads to ultimate balance."


    "You really are a rare breed of man," Mrs. Venenum said with something of a small laugh. "I suppose it''s best to end our meeting here. I will consider your proposal, and from then on, we will see what happens."


    Gadreel looked back at Mrs. Venenum and shut his lips, smiling a gentle little smile with a small tilt of his head. "I agree. Let us end this here. It was interesting speaking with you."


    Mrs. Venenum raised her brows. "Interesting?"


    "That is how I describe pleasant things. Be honored," Gadreel said and turned to leave.


    Sherridan walked by his side, synchronizing her steps with his, as she often liked to do. As they were just a few steps from the entrance, Gadreel turned around.


    He then spoke with an unprecedentedly low tone that left no space for doubt about the seriousness of his speech, "I think it''d be best to inform you before I go, I''m only giving you time to think as a gesture. Do not delude yourself too much into thinking you actually have a pair of rational, functioning choices. If you resist me, you are dooming yourself. I will wipe your bloodline off the face of the planet."


    Mrs. Venenum didn''t seem intimidated. She was a good actor. "You should also know that the order within your organized crime is just an illusion. One day, it will escape your control and reduce Mircrest to nothing but ash."


    "You''re exaggerating." Gadreel turned and disappeared into the dimly lit entrance, leaving only some choice words behind, "Though that would be an interesting sight."

 Chapter 15: Respect

    The bell of the pawn shop rang as Cade pushed the door open and entered on her lonesome. She had replaced the mercenary clothes with a thin black trench coat that almost reached her knees and a pair of fitting trousers.


    She looked toward the shy teenage boy with black hair behind the counter. "Get Jimmy."


    The boy flinched and turned to go into the backroom.


    Not long after, a thick man with a beard that covered his throat came from the backroom. He rubbed his eyes before putting on his monocle. "Well, if it isn''t Cade? How are you?"


    "Not here to cure your loneliness," Cade said as she took out the box from her bag and put it on the table. "There''s four and a half there. Give me my money."


    "A half?" Jimmy''s upper lip curled. "What do you want me to do with a half? Shove it up my ass?"


    "You''d like that, wouldn''t you?" Cade said with a scoff. "Just give me the money for the four. I''ll take 25 gold for the half. You can make it into a mixed enhancer and sell it to some cheap prick."


    "25 gold? You drank the other half yourself and got some brain damage, huh? I''ll give you ten gold for it, max. And that''s being generous when my trouble is taken into account."


    "Fine, 10 gold, but if you take off 2% of your cut on our future deals,"


    "Deal," Jimmy said with a snobbish smirk. " He then took the box and went into the backroom, returning with a stack of banknotes. "Here, you go. 100 gold for each, 10 for the half. 410 gold. My cut is 7%. That''s 410 minus 28,7: 381,3. 381 gold and 3 silver. You happy?"


    Cade grabbed the stack of banknotes and flipped through them. "All at separate banks, not a single one more than 10 gold?"


    "As always," Jimmy said, putting his hands in his pockets and sighed as Cade stuffed the banknotes into a pocket and turned. "I''d say it was a pleasure working with you, but it never is. A real pain you are."


    Cade stopped but didn''t turn. "Your client is happy, and you''re richer than yesterday, so how about you quit moaning about having to go through some banking troubles and do some good with that money of yours? Maybe it''ll make you a half-decent man again if you spend it on something other than yourself for once."


    "Oh, I should be a hero like you, huh? Tch. What happened to those mercenaries I got to help you, by the way?"


    "They don''t exist anymore," Cade said, stretching her neck a little.


    "Should''ve known. You cold bastard." Jimmy''s voice was hoarse. Perhaps the leader of the mercenaries had more than just a connection, like he said.


    "Mmm, well, goodbye for now, Jimmy," Cade said, waving with the back of his hand before pushing the door open and entering the street, accompanied by the sound of the bell.


    ***


    "Can you put that out? It smells bad." Aurelius asked Balgair who was sitting a couple meters from him with his head raised, blowing smoke at the roof.


    "I can, but I won''t," Balgair answered with a dead look in his eyes.


    "Ah, okay," Aurelius said and shifted his focus. "Does this thing have to have this many pockets?" he asked, checking all the various pockets on the tight black jacket.


    "I don''t know about your pockets. Just pick something you wanna wear and let''s get out of here."


    "But I just want to wear my old clothes. I don''t need new clothes."


    "For god''s sake. Cade left like an hour ago. Let''s have this sorted before that bitch gets back. Don''t wanna hear both of you whining at the same time," Balgair said and stood up to stretch his legs a bit.


    Aurelius frowned. "Don''t call her that."


    Balgair met Aurelius eyes and stayed still for a moment before raising his hands. "Okay, fine. I''ll go get you some clothes real quick. Be ready to like them because I will go jump off a cliff if I have to be in this place for any longer than ten more minutes."


    Balgair left the changing room and returned not even half a minute later with a full set of clothes.


    "There." He threw them into Aurelius lap.


    Aurelius changed in a hurry. He believed what Balgair said about jumping off a cliff.


    This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.


    Aurelius moved around a bit. "Wow, these are nice."


    Balgair sighed with the slightest hint of a smile on his face. "They look fine."


    The clothes consisted of a tight, long-sleeved, black undershirt that would have made Aurelius'' abdominal muscles and obliques visible if not for the vest that went around his traps and waist. The vest was tight and felt protective, but still allowed nimble movement. His pants, on the other hand, were stretchy, fairly thin, and loose, needing to be tied around the waist with a white ribbon.


    "How did you come up with these?" Aurelius asked with his mouth wide as he looked at himself in the large mirror and moved around.


    Balgair took the cigarette out of his mouth and smiled. "Just looked around for the most expensive stuff that I could afford with the money Cade gave me. Didn''t wanna give back a single piece of bronze.


    Aurelius breathed a sigh. He would''ve liked to take another set of clothes, but these were good. And the budget was Cade''s choice, so it was fine.


    "Let''s go with these," he said. "I''ll get multiple sets."


    ***


    Cade jumped down from the beginning of the bridge onto the space below and turned to see her shocked partners.


    She tilted her head and nodded. "Nice clothes, Aurelius. Thought you would''ve gone with something more colorful, though." Her gaze then went to the unfamiliar bag on his shoulder. "A new bag also, huh? High quality, too. Didn''t know you liked to spend."


    "He doesn''t. I do." Balgair butted into the conversation with a smirk. "No change, by the way."


    Cade shifted her attention to Balgair, her eyes narrowing. "I assumed so." She paused and then continued on to other matters. "Well, I have some more business to attend to before the heist. I''d prefer it if Aurelius came with me, but you could maybe do some more research on House Boerlow. Make sure they''re not associated with Numen and come up with a plan. I don''t think we''ll need much, but in case the need for equipment rises, set the budget at 100 gold. I won''t pay for anything needless, though."


    Balgair and Aurelius approached Cade as she spoke, and by the time she was done, they were within hand''s reach. Balgair blew some smoke before putting the cigarette back in his mouth and extending his hand. "You got banknotes?"


    A smack resounded, and the cigarette flew out of Balgair''s mouth. Aurelius flinched in surprise as Balgair seemed to turn and almost fold in two before he bounced back with rage in his eyes. "What the fuck?!"


    Cade snorted. "Oh, I assumed you''d know not to smoke in my presence. Even smokers should know that cigarettes smell like shit, so are you actually surprised?" She turned to Aurelius and pointed to Balgair. "You really put up with this? Grow a backbone."


    Balgair pumped his fist, but after Cade looked back at him, her eyes asked a mocking question. His twitched before he let out a sigh.


    Cade tapped Aurelius on the back and turned. "Present me the budget, Balgair, and I''ll pay for it then if I deem it necessary. We''ll see here in 5 days time. Go commit your slow suicide somewhere else with those cigarettes of yours," she said as he and Aurelius left Balgair behind.


    Aurelius looked at Cade with pursed lips. "Did you have to do that?"


    "Do what? Give him a smack?" Cade asked with her brows raised. "Look, he''s not a good person. You shouldn''t feel so bad for him. He feels bad for no one but himself. If you want to help someone like him, you can''t do it by being gentle. His kind just views that as weakness, and it goes in from one ear and out the other."


    "Ah, alright, Aurelius said, looking at his feet. "You''re trying to help him, then?"


    "I''m being the leader of this group. Part of that is being harsh enough to make sure even the slackers do their part properly. So, no, I''m not trying to help him. I''m just making him work. You can help him if you want to, but you''ll have to earn his respect before you''re able to."


    "How do I do that?" Aurelius asked as he kicked some small rocks on the concrete platform they walked on


    "It''s simple," Cade answered, her firm gaze forward. "Be better."

 Chapter 16: Easy Killing

    "Oh, Cade, it''s so good to see you." A woman who looked about 50 years old came to greet Aurelius and Cade after they knocked on the door of the orphanage building.


    It was a large stone building that looked more like an academy than an orphanage. The place must have housed hundreds of children. Finally, it made sense why Cade was helping with the funding so actively.


    "It''s good to see you too, Fria," Cade said, her voice higher than usual. Then the pair embraced each other.


    Aurelius was a bit surprised at how warm Cade acted so suddenly. Cade had worn a warmer expression the whole few hours that they traveled to get there, though, so it wasn''t that surprising. Everyone needed someone special in their lives that they could show affection to. Gabriel''s words.


    Fria then turned her bright eyes to Aurelius. There was a sudden curiosity in those dark green orbs of hers. A wide grin grew on her face as she looked back at Cade.


    "You go¡ª" Fria shrieked like she was about to implode.


    Cade shook her head profusely and used a deep voice to make things clear. "No, no!"


    "Oh, I knew it," Fria said with a gasp. "And look at him! He''s so tall. I bet he''s stro¡ª"


    It seemed like Cade almost shoved her palm inside the woman''s mouth completely. She then looked at Aurelius, who was nervously chuckling at the side. He just wanted to go practice materialization somewhere quiet, but now he had imaginary daggers threatening to pierce his soul.


    Cade then looked the woman in the eyes. "He''s 16. And I''m not like that, so would you shut up? I''m too tired for this right now."


    The woman raised her hands and mumbled something into the palm pressed against her mouth. By that time, Aurelius had performed a vanishing trick.


    Cade heaved a sight before putting on a serious expression as she let go of Fria.


    Fria settled down as well, and her gaze got firm. "What have you got for me?"


    "A few hundred gold," Cade answered without hesitation.


    Fria''s eyes went wide, and it seemed like she was going to yell something when she leaned in and whispered, "What did you do? I can''t take that amount."


    "I sold some enhancers. And you''re going to take the money. It''s untraceable, I assure you. Hide it somewhere safe," Cade responded without worry.


    "Enhancers?" Fria said aversely, but fortunately she didn''t start a lecture. "But what do I spend it on? I already have enough saved up to provide the kids with all the necessities for years to come, thanks to you. What do you want me to do?"


    "Provide it for more years to come. And for better education. Give the kids the opportunities they should have. And if there''s still money left over, give it to others in need."


    "Fine, but you should stop endangering yourself like this. We already have enough."


    "Yeah, well, I''ll think about it. But my duty is to keep this place standing, and I''ll do so until my dying breath," Cade said, determination in her eyes. "You never know when that''s going to be, so it''s better for you to have too much than too little."


    ***


    Despite looking for a quiet spot, Aurelius found himself interacting with some of the kids, who were really interested in pulling out strands of his hair. It was fun before there were tens of kids there, all pulling at his hair. After that, it turned into some type of tag game.


    However, against Aurelius'' wishes, they didn''t stay at the orphanage for long. Cade gave Fria the banknotes, and they left. They proceeded to continue their travels through the night in roughly the direction they had come from.


    As the sun started to rise, they finally arrived.


    "What is this place?" Aurelius asked as he looked at the building before him. The house was seemingly two stories high and had pristine white walls and sharp architecture. The door was dark wood, and the windows were so finely made that one wouldn''t even have known they were there if not for the light being reflected off of them.


    "It''s my friend''s house," Cade answered.


    Aurelius looked at Cade confusedly. He didn''t even have to say anything before she answered.


    "She''s also from the orphanage."


    "How did she afford this house, then?"


    "She''s smart, and she doesn''t give up," Cade explained as she took out a hidden key. "And she happens to be a criminal."


    She opened the door. It was the finest house Aurelius had ever seen. The floors were clean to the point of mirroring the sunlight that shone through the windows.


    "There''s a guest room upstairs. Go get some sleep," Cade said.


    "What about you? Aren''t you a guest, too?" Aurelius asked as Cade walked away.


    "I''ve got my own room," She said over her shoulder.


    ***


    For some reason, Aurelius wasn''t tired. He tried to sleep for a while but gave up, deciding to head into the backyard instead.


    There he had his hands together with a thin, ethereal object in front of him. Materialization worked in odd ways. Supposedly, like all essence usage types, it had its own rules and regulations, but it was still a mess in Aurelius'' eyes. He had started practicing it ever since he heard about it from Cade, but he hadn''t made much progress since he had poured most of his attention into motionless magic. Not that that was going any better.


    Sometimes he wondered if he really had any talent. Things seemed to blow up in his face when he believed in them the most. He also couldn''t help but wonder why he wasn''t taught sooner. If someone had told him about essence, he would probably be on Cade''s level by now. Twelve years had been completely wasted.


    The imaginary mass crumbled and faded. Aurelius couldn''t grasp it. He grunted and pumped his fist with the intent to hit something, but stopped midway and just let it go, shaking his head.


    Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    "You really take your practice seriously."


    Aurelius turned to Cade, who sat down beside him on a fully ethereal chair, made with no setups or anything.


    "Tch. Yeah, just rub it in," Aurelius said, shifting his gaze.


    "Oh, sorry. I didn''t mean to," Cade apologized. Aurelius wasn''t sure about the authenticity of her words, though. There was rarely any variation in her tone. "I was just saying. You don''t get emotional about much outside of essence. Why is that? Is it really that important to you that you can''t focus on anything else?"


    "Yes, it is. At least, I like to think that way. Sometimes I don''t feel like I''m doing enough. Of course, I care about other stuff, but I think strength is the key to it all. For example, how can I save anyone if I''m not strong?"


    "The key to everything, huh? You know, people who say that rarely think what it all entails. What about when you are finally strong enough? What will you do? Who will you save? How will you save them?" Cade asked and waited a little for an answer. A couple seconds passed before she continued. "It''s frighteningly common for people to chase one thing and one thing only without really thinking farther. It seems absurd, but I think it has something to do with how humans are fundamentally wired. We always want to be chasing something. Always something better. It doesn''t even matter if that thing exists. We do it anyway. Even I, despite my consciousness of the matter, do it to an extent."


    "Ah, right," Aurelius responded, scratching his head.


    Cade sighed and stood up, the chair vanishing. She walked forward and began to speak with her back to Aurelius as she looked to the sky. "Do you see me as a monster?" she asked.


    Aurelius furrowed his brows. "Ah, oh, no. Of course not," he said, stumbling over his words.


    "You''re just saying that because I''m teaching you, right?" Cade said with a light chuckle.


    Aurelius put his hand on the seat of his chair. "No, I just... You just want to help the people at the orphanage, so how is that bad? You''re doing what you can to better the world."


    "Mmm, Aurelius, tell me, have you ever killed anyone?" Her tone was deeper.


    "I''ve killed some animals. And that beast, too."


    "No, no. Have you ever killed a person? A living, breathing human being."


    Aurelius shrunk. "Ah, no. Never."


    "Do you think you will?"


    "I hope not. But if it''s necessary, I''ll do it." Aurelius said.


    "I don''t know if you should. There are things in this world that no one should experience. Killing is one of them."


    "How horrible is it?"


    "That''s the thing." Cade turned to look Aurelius in the eyes. "It''s not."


    Aurelius leaned back and let out a mumble mixed with an exhalation, "What?"


    "It''s addicting. When you take the life of a horrible person and put out the light in them, you know that person will never hurt anyone again. It''s so easy and rewarding. It''s something like a drug. You do it, and suddenly there''s an indescribable satisfaction. But afterward, you feel dirty. And that''s dirt that doesn''t wash off. It''s dirt on your soul."


    Aurelius'' mouth was dry, like it was filled with sand. "But you''re doing the right thing, aren''t you?"


    Cade squatted down and dug her nails into the dirt, shifting her gaze to the ground. "No. Not the right thing. Maybe the right intention, but not the right thing. Taking a life is never something virtuous. It carries an aura of negativity, no matter what."


    Aurelius gulped and licked the dry inside his mouth. "How do you do it, then? How do you deal with it?"


    "I just do it. I don''t think about it much. It''s just commands I make to my body, and my body does the killing. Then I go on to look people in the eyes, and sometimes they don''t look human. They seem like simple animals. Like walking bags of meat. Something you''d find in a butchery that has, for some reason, gained consciousness. Then I can''t help but think of how easy it would be to just kill them. I think about it all the time." Cade stood back up and let the dirt in his hand slip through his fingers. The dirt was dry and flowed like sand. "I have dreams about it. All the time, I can''t get it out of my head. Sometimes I wake up and... I want to hurt myself. I''m not sure that I deserve to live."


    Cade looked to Aurelius. He had been holding his breath and only exhaled after she finished. However, he couldn''t get a word out.


    Cade looked down. Aurelius could recognize regret in her eyes. He also noticed something for the first time. The underneaths of Cade''s eyes were sagging. Had they always been like that?


    "The orphanage helped, though," Cade said, looking at the building on their side. "After my mother died, I kind of just wandered around. Fria took me in. Things have been rough. Not enough food or water. I had a chance to help. The people at the orphanage gave me a chance to provide something to this world." Cade looked to Aurelius. She pursed her lips and rubbed her eyes. "I''m sorry. I didn''t mean to just dump all of this on you."


    "Ah, it''s nothing," Aurelius finally managed to say.


    "I''ll stop bothering your practice now." Cade turned toward the house in order to head back inside. Then she stopped to say, "Aurelius, I''m not sure how you''ll be forced to handle things in the future, and I''m not saying my judgment of myself will apply to you if you ever do kill a person. Just... don''t become like me."


    "Ah, okay." Aurelius said, scratching his arm and blinking irregularly. Then he caused Cade to stop. "Wait. Um, Cade... I don''t think you should suffer. So please... don''t hurt yourself."


    Cade turned back and smiled faintly before going inside.

 Chapter 17: Preparations

    "House Boerlow," Balgair read out loud, "reportedly has no connections to Numen on the basis of their decline."


    He flipped through other notes of his, but there was not much he could find on House Boerlow specifically. He had studied all the most important houses in Mircrest and even those outside of Mircrest to complete his data, but there wasn''t much to be found.


    "So, the house is going to shit and Numen doesn''t care to help since they would rather have another house rise to fill the spot and just form a connection with them," Balgair voiced his thoughts to nobody. The room of the inn was empty enough for it to have a bit of an echo despite its lack of size. Or then Balgair was just hearing things.


    He sighed and leaned his head back over the backrest of his chair.


    ''I doubt I''ll need to read through history for this, though. Boerlow was established when Numen was founded and began its decline before Numen began expanding all over during these past years. As weird as the sudden expansion is, it works out. And since the banks are charged outrageously for the protection of large assets in this current economy, Boerlow most likely has a safe of their own,'' he thought.


    "Well, I guess that''s that. Time to go see what that place looks like."


    ***


    The Boerlow mansion was located south-east of the slums on the northmost border of Mircrest and took two days of travel. Balgair had left straight away since he was in a bit of a hurry, and even after all the wait, the sight of the mansion did not disappoint. The house may have been on the verge of collapse, but it was still the Boerlows. The house was probably still among the hundred richest houses in the nation.


    The estate was larger than Balgair had expected, and he had expected a lot.


    It had likely required hundreds of square meters worth of space to be cleared of the trees that tightly packed the surrounding area. On top of that, the whole area was protected by tall, spiky metal fences that allowed one to see the mansion, garden, and the smooth stone path that led to a square-shaped fountain that stood right in front of the mansion.


    The mansion was highly textured, with pure white walls that seemed smooth, like the work of a sculptor.


    Balgair walked off the gravel path he was on and started circling the mansion, just far enough to not attract the attention of the guards that stood in pairs at the entrance and all around the mansion.


    When he reached the side of the mansion, the backyard came into sight. There lay other houses, which, on the other hand, while luxurious when compared to normal houses, were bland brick buildings of a light-brown color.


    ''Such a noble thing to hide all the ugly,'' Balgair thought with a yawn and a crack of his neck.


    He counted eight buildings in total that seemed to belong to guards and servants. Their size was probably enough to house 40¨C56 people in relatively good conditions. Likely, about half of that number were guards. It wasn''t a job Balgair had any business doing on his own.


    Balgair tapped on his head a few times and started looking through the windows.


    When all that was resolved, Balgair headed back to the entrance. He entered the gravel path and began walking towards the guards while whistling. The guards turned their heads toward him, and not long after, the gate opened.


    Out came a man with short brown hair and a face so flat one could''ve thought he was born with his head under a boulder. "Who are you? What are you doing here?"


    Balgair smiled sheepishly and took off his imaginary hat with a nod. "I''m with the Rust Bank. I heard you were in need of our services."


    The man''s nose crumpled up. "What are you talking about? I''ve never heard of such a bank."


    Balgair tilted his head in confusion. "We heard you cut ties with your bank and were looking for services from others."


    "My master has done no such thing, and there has been no appointment made by any banker. Leave this place before I make you," the man said, waving Balgair off.


    Balgair suppressed a smile. "What? Please just let me talk to Sir Gaius."


    The guard was taken aback. "Sir Gaius? There is no Sir Gaius here."


    "Oh, please. This is the Gaius mansion, is it not?"


    "No, this is the Boerlow mansion."


    Balgair looked around with his mouth wide. Then he gave a low bow. "My deepest apologies. I have wasted your time."


    The guard shoved Balgair who proceeded to stumble a couple steps. "Apology not accepted. Get the hell out of here, you incompetent bastard."


    Balgair walked a few steps with his upper body crouched down before straightening his posture. He then dug a cigarette out of his pocket, lit it, and inhaled some smoke before scoffing with a grin as his eyes narrowed into slits. ''What a dumbass.''


    ***


    Three days later, in the dead of night, Balgsir arrived under the bridge with a cigarette tucked in between his lips. After he met Cade''s deadpan eyes, he spit the cigarette out and waved at his partners with a smile. "How''s it going?"


    Aurelius seemed to have fallen asleep on his feet but quickly shook awake after Balgair arrived. "Everything is going well."


    Balgair''s smile widened, but his eyes dropped. "And I don''t give a shit." Aurelius'' face dropped. "So, how about we get to business?"


    You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.


    "Well, give us the briefing," Cade commanded monotonously. They had probably been waiting for quite some time.


    "Sure. No budget will be needed, although I''d really like to spend your money," Balgair started. "I couldn''t get any blueprints of the mansion, so I just went to look around the place. I managed to confirm that they are currently associated with a bank, so it is almost certain we''ll find banknotes instead of gold. I got a good look at the things. Depending on how accurate my predictions are, the search and cracking the safe will take somewhere from half an hour to two hours. If I can''t crack it, we will probably be able to take the safe with us if something goes wrong and time runs out. Also, according to my estimation, there are probably about 50 guards and servants. Half-and-half."


    Cade put a hand on her chin. "30 to 120 minutes? If we just knock the guards out, we may not even get 10 minutes of peace."


    Balgair nodded. "That''s right. Logically, we should just kill them."


    Aurelius immediately threw his hands to his sides in protest. "What?! We can''t just kill them. They''re just doing their job. These people have children. You can''t just talk about them like they''re puppets. They''re human. Their lives have meaning."


    Balgair leaned his head slightly forward. "Yes, they are human. Humans die all the time. What''s your proposal here? Wasn''t the heist your idea? Are you now suggesting we should half-ass the mission? What point would there be in going there just to leave things unfinished?"


    "Can''t we knock them out multiple times?" Aurelius proposed.


    Balgair sighed. "You really think knocking out people is some kind of miracle substitution for killing? It causes brain damage. Have you even gotten hit in your life? Ever broken a bone? Of course, you haven''t. You''re a fucking brat." Balgair put a hand forward with his palm facing up. "Look, when you knock someone out, you are causing brain damage. That person might never be the same again. In some cases, that''s worse than death. And you''re suggesting we do that to them multiple times? You know, being knocked out twice in quick succession is almost guaranteed brain damage."


    "Ah, but what if we tie them with hyperwire," Aurelius tried.


    "There are probably more than 20 guards. All of them are essence users. You know how much hyperwire that will take? No matter the cost, it will also be impractical as hell when you consider the amount of time it will take to tie them up coupled with the chances they will all break out," Balgair answered before sighing. Aurelius kept quiet, so Balgair decided to voice some more thoughts. "Tell me, Goldilocks, have you ever considered what it means to be a hero? You want to be one, right? Well, let me tell you. A hero isn''t someone who''s morally righteous. A hero is someone who is capable of letting go of their strict morals and doing what is necessary to change the world for the better. If you really want to do this, you better do it right, or you''ll only make things worse for everyone."


    Aurelius raised a finger. "I¡ª"


    "Okay, shut up, both of you," Cade said, digging her ear with her pinky. "I''m tired of listening. Here''s what we''ll do." She took a deep breath before beginning. "The first step is to get the Boerlow family out of the mansion to make things go smoothly and lessen the amount of guards. You have a plan for that, correct?" She looked at Balgair and, who had his hands crossed. After he gave a silent nod, she continued. "Then we will go in during the daytime so that we don''t raise the suspicions of the surrounding town''s people in case there''s noise. We will attack the guards first and incapacitate them all, after which we will take the servants captive. We will put them all in one place, which I and Aurelius will watch over as you go for the safe. We will make sure nobody escapes to alert others or try to come for you. After you crack the safe, we will leave in different directions and meet up here."


    Balgair grinned. "You got a lot of trust in me?"


    Cade chuckled. "I''m the one who will be taking the money."


    Balgair''s face dropped. "Oh, right."


    "By the way, you know a guy who can exchange banknotes for gold, right?" Cade asked Balgair.


    "Yup, I know one. He takes a 10 percent cut, but he''s untraceable and trustworthy. I don''t think you have any better options, either. It''s rare to find a criminal who has the status to exchange fifties and hundreds without suspicion."


    Cade nodded. "That''s good."


    Aurelius raised a hand, and only after Cade and Balgair put their attentions on him did he open his mouth. "What about disguises?"


    Balgair raised his chin. "Ah, right, we have that hair of yours to worry about. Somebody sees it, and we''re fucked. Nobody has that colored hair in these parts, so you''ll be an easy guy to identify by just that one feature."


    Cade dug at her teeth with her tongue before butting into the conversation. "Let''s just get some cheap dark clothes, accompanied by balaclavas and masks. That will be enough."


    "We can buy those on our way," Balgair said, and an amused smile grew on his face. "Now let''s go. We have a mansion to rob. Goldilocks, boy-looking girl, and good-old me. Can''t wait to see how this will go to shit."

 Chapter 18: The Heist (1)

    "Sir Boerlow, a letter came in!" a young guard came rushing inside the mansion''s dining hall with a letter in hand.


    Another older guard with short black hair and a thin mustache snorted. "Better be an important letter for you to disturb us like this."


    The guard shook and turned to the guard with a bow. "Commander, I was told it is from the President."


    The plumpy man called Sir Boerlow furrowed his brows and raised his hand. "Give it."


    The young guard was quick to run up to the master and hand him the letter. Sir Boerlow then waved for the guard to leave before opening it. His brown eyes quickly jumped through the letter before he put it down and looked at the Commander. "The Boerlows are to greet the President in town in an hour. It appears the President has begun his tour through Mircrest early this year."


    The Commander took a sip from his cup. "He''s starting with Boeria? And such short notice. Odd, isn''t it?"


    "The president is an odd man. Also, perhaps he wanted to spare us the preparations, knowing of our current financial situation. He is known to be courteous, is he not?"


    "Hmm, you may be right. Are we all to leave?"


    "I don''t think that''s a good idea. The signature on the letter seems authentic, but in the event that it is a trick of some sort, I will take my family and a dozen servants and guards with me to the town. You stay here and guard the mansion," Sir Boerlow said, standing up. Just as he was about to leave, however, he turned to ask, "You have that with you, right?"


    The Commander flashed a smile and dug out of his pocket a vial with a black substance in it. "You mean this? Oh, don''t worry. Nobody is going to break into this place."


    ***


    "They''re leaving," Balgair said as he leaned to the side from behind a wide tree with his gaze on a pristine carriage. On the sides of the carriage, there were a few men in robes with a circular symbol sewed into the chest area. "Let''s wait a few minutes before we move."


    "Okay. I''ll go in first," Cade said. "After I get rid of the guards at the gate, you and Aurelius head in from the sides. Deal with the guards inside. In the meantime, I''ll round up the servants and restrain them."


    Aurelius and Balgair nodded, putting their balaclavas and masks on.


    Cade walked past the pair, dragging both of their hoods over their heads before putting her own hood on as well. She then got moving, changing positions to a better one for the ambush.


    Balgair waited a bit before he went right after her, leaving Aurelius alone on one side of the mansion while he traveled to the other side. As he did so, however, he had to cross the path the carriage went along.


    As he got out of the cover of the trees, the guards finally noticed his movements and were probably about to open the gate and give chase when suddenly Cade jumped behind them and briefly dealt with them. Balgair looked on with a smile, and Cade simply nodded back as thanks for the distraction. She then disappeared from sight as Balgair ran into the other side of the forest and went around before arriving at the other side of the mansion.


    That''s when he started hearing yells from Aurelius'' side. ''That idiot went in too soon,'' he thought, clenching his fists before jumping over the metal spikes of the metal fence.


    ***


    Aurelius had made it into the entrance hall of the mansion. It was a fine area filled with paintings and illuminated by a large crystal lamp hanging from the ceiling. There were two staircases on the sides, both leading up to the second floor. It seemed a bit impractical, but Aurelius didn''t have time to worry about that while he was under attack.


    Aurelius dove and grabbed the hand of the guard that had attacked him before turning on his axis and throwing the man across the room. The man flew through the air before clashing with the stone wall. His reinforced body and momentum managed to make a small crater and send small rocks flying.


    Aurelius couldn''t rest for even a moment, though, as immediately afterward, another guard let out a yell and aimed an ethereal blade at his neck.


    Aurelius didn''t have enough time to make a shield, so he tried his best to evade the blade. He got as far away from the blade as he could, narrowly managing to dodge the strike, and no blood dripped onto the already crimson carpets of the mansion. However, it felt as though his mask and balaclava were damaged. Aurelius wasn''t sure, though, and didn''t have time to check.


    After the guard withdrew the blade, Aurelius took his chance and jumped in. The guard was faster than expected, though, and managed to create enough distance to not be reached by Aurelius. He then swung his blade wildly twice in diagonal patterns.


    Aurelius didn''t feel much and jumped back, but then a cold feeling came from his left hand. He looked down. The area between his middle and index fingers had been cut in half by a few centimeters.


    As soon as he saw it, the pain began. First, it stung. Then it felt like it was on fire. Like a wildfire was burning in his hand, threatening to spread to other parts of his body. Aurelius breathed through his locked teeth, trying to calm his rapid heartbeat, and wrapped his left hand with his right, putting pressure on the wound. Then he fell back as the blade swept across his face, only slightly missing his eyes.


    The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.


    He let go of his hand as he fell to the ground in order to jump back up with the help of both his hands, despite the pain. He successfully managed to get to his feet before the guard could get on top of him. However, as he was about to grab the guard, the other guard came back into the fight, launching at him like an animal.


    Aurelius pushed the guard with the blade back before quickly turning his attention to the guard rushing at him. He then simply brought his hands up before swiftly and forcefully bringing them down on the guard like a hammer at the exact time the guard was about to hit him. His target was hit and collapsed onto the floor at his feet.


    It was then that the guard with the blade managed to come back with a powerful swipe of his blade. Just as Aurelius was about to back away, however, his ankle was grabbed by the man he had knocked down. Aurelius looked down in surprise, but he knew it. He had held back. It was no wonder the man was conscious.


    The best Aurelius could manage in the short time he had was to lean back. It wasn''t enough. The blade cut him diagonally from the navel to his right-side hip. It felt like it went through the bone.


    Aurelius cried out as he fell back, his ankle still in the grounded guard''s grip. The guard aimed his blade downward as Aurelius put his hands together, creating a wall with his fingers. A shield was supposed to come into reality, but it didn''t. Maybe it was the blood pouring out of his left hand onto his chest. Maybe it was because he deserved to die.


    Then the blade was brought down on his stomach.


    It had no power in it any longer by the time it reached him, though. All the force was zapped as soon as a vacuum sound resounded and an rough, aquatic beam if essence blew a hole into the guard''s chest.


    The blade disappeared and the guard fell limply onto Aurelius all the vessles of blood severed in his chest pouring their contents onto him. Bile rose up in Aurelius'' throat and tears grew onto the edged of his eyes as the corpse weighed on him and the smell of rust spread like it was rushing to infect every corner of the world. He felt like shoving the corpse away and turning to run away, but he couldn''t. Not a single muscle would listen to him.


    "Cade''s rounding up the servants. She took the guards I handled at the side entrance. Apparently, the ones you handled were gone by the time she got there. You held back, didn''t you?"


    "Ba¡ª Balgair? You¡ª"


    "Argh. What''s this?" Balgair asked as he walked up to Aurelius and looked to his side. "You held back again? When will you learn?"


    There was a small whining noise that intensified for a split second as Balgair delivered a kick to the other guard''s face.


    "Now then, I have to start searching for the safe. Are there any more guards in this place? We''ve already taken care of eight," Balgair asked, watching with his hands in his pockets as Aurelius lay underneath the corpse he created just now.


    "You..." Aurelius calmed his uneven breathing and stumbled around his words as his eyes stung. "Where..." He gulped. "Where is Cade?"


    "She''s rounding up the servants and other guards, making sure nobody blows the horn," Balgair answered, his tone sounding unusually soft. He just didn''t care. At all.


    Aurelius breathed through his teeth as his upper lip, nose, and brows twitched. "You killed him."


    Balgair looked at the corpse beneath him and scoffed. "I saved your life. Show some gratitude." He took the corpse by the back of his neck and threw him aside. Some blood came out of the man''s mouth, falling onto the ground and splashing onto Aurelius'' face in the process. Balgair then looked down at Aurelius, whose body was tight like a stone. "Get your ass up, you useless moralizer."


    ''If I had restrained that guard before Balgair got here... If I wasn''t so weak, that person would be alive.'' Aurelius slowly sat up and raised himself to his feet, holding his left hand tightly. ''Balgair is right. He saved me. Because I needed saving, the guard died. It''s my fault. My sin is weakness.''


    After he got up, both their attentions were directed to a man upstairs with his elbows leaned on the handrail. The man had a thin mustache and short black hair, which complimented his tight facial features. He looked down with his brows furrowed and his mouth opened weirdly, which made his expression seem to be one of disgust or signaled that he was utterly unimpressed.


    The man wore a guard''s uniform, but the circular symbol on his uniform was sown with a golden color instead of the plain white the other guards had.


    Aurelius let go of his left hand and clenched both his hands into fists as he looked up.


    The guard then opened his mouth. "Right when I finally got some sleep..." He squeezed the stone railing so hard there was a crack. "Now tell me, who are you, and what do you want on your gravestones?"

 Chapter 19: The Heist (2)

    There was a moment of silence during which Balgair looked down at the guards at his feet before looking up at the man upstairs. "Sorry, I didn''t hear you just now. How about you come down so we can talk?"


    Without seemingly a single doubt, the guard jumped down, smoothly hopping over the railing on the second floor. He took the impact well as he hit the ground and dusted his clothes off a little. "So you''re here to rob the place? The president''s letter a part of your plan?"


    "Yes and yes," Balgair answered, making loose wiping gestures with his hand as Aurelius watched, unsure if he should stop Balgair from revealing information. "What about you? You in command of this bunch?"


    "I am, and I really don''t like people coming over here to put holes in my men," the commander of the guards said as his eye color deepened as he enhanced his senses motionlessly. "I think that''s enough talking."


    Balgair walked forward in front of Aurelius and popped his neck before taking a relaxed stance with a focused look in his eyes. "Yeah, let''s do this. I was getting bored, too." Then he gestured for Aurelius to step forward. "Keep up or die."


    Aurelius'' essence supplies had run out, so he had to perform a couple of setups. Reinforcement and double enhancement all at the same time. They had no time to waste. Aurelius walked to Balgair''s side and exhaled as he lowered himself into a battle stance.


    The Commander snorted. Then there was a sound of the floor cracking under sudden, tremendous pressure. In the next moment, the Commander was between Balgair and Aurelius.


    They attacked at the same time, while the Commander focused on one side, pushing Balgair away while evading Aurelius'' reach. Balgair received the push well and managed to stay on his feet, but knocked up a bit of dust in the process. Aurelius, on the other hand, had missed with his first strike and wasn''t quite ready for the Commander to lean his upper body in Balgair''s direction, aligning with his earlier momentum from the push, before raising and extending his foot into Aurelius'' wound located in his mid-section.


    Aurelius cried out shortly before grunting and regaining his balance. He saw Balgair attack just as he recovered and did the same. Obviously, their speed of recovery was surprising, as the Commander stumbled into his stance before just barely dodging Balgair''s punch. That wasn''t enough, however, as right after, it was Aurelius''s first to dug into the Commander''s ribs.


    The hit was perfect, but the Commander seemed barely affected. Sure, he went back enough to create space for a moment of peace, but not enough.


    ''Did I sprain my wrist?'' Aurelius thought while shaking his right hand. He didn''t remember having hit something that felt so hard, even while his body was enhanced and reinforced.


    Balgair turned to him with a wild movement, like he was going to launch at him. "What the hell was that? You had a perfect opportunity. Why isn''t he dead?" Balgair spoke with a voice so loud he was almost yelling and pointed at the Commander.


    "What do you mean?"


    "You could''ve killed him. Why didn''t you?" Balgair asked, like he was offended somehow.


    "What? I hit him as hard as I could. You overestimate how strong I am," Aurelius answered with a rare annoyance at Balgair''s unfounded constant expectations.


    Balgair turned back to their enemy. "Tch. I know you can hit harder than that. It''s like you have an unconscious safeguard in your mind so that you don''t hurt anyone a little too badly."


    "You done quarreling, kids?" the Commander asked. "Good, let''s get back to it then." Again, he launched forward. This time, the ground was not scathed. He had lost a bit of his explosiveness.


    Aurelius and Balgair moved farther apart in order to surround the Commander. They then attacked from both sides, Aurelius with punches and Balgair with whatever he could come up with.


    This time, the Commander wasn''t in the business of countering, though. He simply slapped away punches and attempted to grab him as he evaded the kicks Balgair threw.


    ''Is he trying to tire us out?'' Aurelius wondered. ''No, he''s waiting. Waiting to counter when a good chance comes. But there will be nothing like that if we keep this up. There''s no way he can throw a powerful counter without exposing himself.''


    Aurelius looked at Balgair, and his eyes flew wide as the joints in his neck flexed. ''The Commander knows that! He''s waiting for one of us to lower our guard before delivering a significant hit, without caring if he receives damage in the process.''


    Aurelius opened his mouth. "Don¡ª"


    That was when the Commander took his chance. Balgair, despite his carefulness, had gotten a little too used to attacking without suffering counterattacks. The Commander dodged a punch from him before twisting his waist and delivering a precise kick straight into the side of Balgair''s head.


    Aurelius screamed out as he watched Balgair''s body get tense. Balgair collapsed onto the carpet, and in the next moment, his cheek was pressing against the floor, and thick blood flowed out of his mouth. He was still moving, though, his nails clawing at the carpet.


    The Commander didn''t have the chance to regain his balance before Aurelius took him by the back of his neck and slammed his face into the ground hard enough for a small depression to form.


    The Commander had trusted in his chances to survive whatever damage he received as a result of exposing himself to a powerful counter. Then it would be one-on-one. Aurelius couldn''t let that happen.


    A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.


    Aurelius pressed the Commander onto the ground, but he still managed to rollover so that he was facing Aurelius. He reached up. Aurelius slapped his hand away. He removed the hold he had on the Commander''s head, pinning his hand instead.


    Then he kneeled, pinning the Commander''s only remaining hand. He angled his elbow and hit the Commander.


    The Commander had to go to sleep. He wouldn''t stop hitting him until he did. The sound of his elbow hitting the Commander''s cheek echoed throughout the room and resounded in Aurelius'' ears. As the Commander''s wriggling started to stop, the sound got more hollow. After a dozen hits, the sound seemed to disappear.


    Then the Commander wriggled for one last time before there was an impact on the back of Aurelius head. Somehow, the Commander had gotten enough space to move and momentum to throw and land a kick.


    A nice strategy. Aurelius'' face loosened as he fell backwards. Before the Commander could enact his revenge, Balgair''s shin found its way to his stomach.


    The Commander launched backwards, body parts scraping against the floor as he tumbled. He hit the wall fairly gently, since most of his momentum had been lost.


    Aurelius struggled to support himself with his hands and get himself upright. Balgair didn''t seem to be doing much better. He seemed to be something like half-conscious.


    The commander chuckled, drawing Aurelius'' attention. "Didn''t think I''d have to use it against some lousy robbers," he slurred his words as blood flowed out of his mouth along his lower lip and chin, dripping onto the golden-colored symbol on his chest.


    Aurelius quickly started to come back to his senses as his mind figured out the meaning behind the Commander''s words. His fears proved true when the Commander pulled a vial out of his pocket and popped it open before hastily gulping it down.


    Balgair took a step back as the Commander started twitching. "E- enhancer? Ca¡ª We need help! Come over here, now!"


    Aurelius stood up and stumbled a few steps before gaining balance. He contemplated which direction he should go. Try to face the Commander or try to escape. Death everywhere.


    The Commander laughed out loud before he slammed the side of his fist into the wall. It was a single attack with no momentum behind it, breaking the stone apart like glass. He tensed up as the veins in his face showed themselves for a moment before going back to normal. He then pressed his back against the wall as he pushed himself up with his feet in a slow effort. Then he looked down at his hands, pumping them into fists. Finally, he pushed himself off the wall and shook his feet and body.


    "I expected a lot, but nothing quite like this," the Commander said, excitement and awe in his voice as he breathed deeply, his frame seeming larger than before.


    Aurelius and Balgair stood still, too afraid to turn their backs. They stood there in suspense, hoping Cade had heard and would arrive shortly.


    "You have another helper, huh? I''ll just go kill him right after I''m done with you," the Commander said, flashing a devilish smile before launching at Balgair.


    Balgair couldn''t react before the Commander had his neck. "You die first." He was going to break his neck!


    Aurelius rushed toward the pair with a scream from the core of his being before slamming himself into the Commander. It was all the power he had, but the Commander was barely fazed. He managed to create some distance with the push, but not enough to escape. He had to go forward.


    The Commander and Aurelius launched at each other with screams that reflected opposites in battle. The world seemed to shift, and the tides of wind caused by rapid movement disappeared for a moment, as if fleeing due to not being able to fathom the two individuals. Aurelius and the Commander clashed with all the power each had. To Aurelius, it didn''t feel like much. The effort was hollow rage. He just did it by doing it. It felt silent.


    There was something scraping against the back of Aurelius'' forearm. Was it the Commander''s spine?


    Aurelius pulled away. There was a hole in the Commander''s stomach that leaked blood and something else. Aurelius wasn''t sure, and he didn''t want to know, but he couldn''t look away.


    The Commander''s legs gave out as the excitement in his eyes turned into nothingness. He fell forward into a ready pool of blood. As he lay on the ground, he was still moving. Aurelius wanted to crouch down. He wanted to run. He wanted to rip off that filthy hand of his. Burn it. Burn it all. Turn and forget everything. None of it should have existed.


    Aurelius touched the side of his face. Wet. He looked at his fingers. Blood. Apparently, the Commander had landed something as well. Nothing much.


    Aurelius clenched his jaw. He turned to Balgair who was holding his throat with his body curled up. He blinked his wide eyes a few times before gulping.


    Aurelius opened his mouth, gesturing lazily while pitting pressure on the wound on his side. "Go start the search."


    Balgair nodded and ran upstairs, obeying without a single moment''s notice. Aurelius looked back at the Commander. He had dug out a picture from his pocket. Aurelius then felt his emotions drown as he saw the text on the back of the paper.


    "Happy Father''s Day to the best dad in the world."

 Chapter 20: The Heist (3)

    "Ca- We need help! Come over here, now!" Balgair''s screams reached all the way to the area behind the mansion, where Cade had gathered all the fearful servants and unconscious guards.


    Cade''s jaw tightened, and she turned immediately after the screams traveled to her ears. She hesitated for a moment before facing the servants and saying with a deep voice, "If even one of you moves, you all die."


    She then proceeded to cross the few hundred-meter distance, with every step creating depressions in the ground.


    ''What could it be? Why would they need help?'' she thought as she came closer and closer to the mansion.


    Then, instead of going around, she loaded up power into her legs and jumped over the entire building, barely touching the roof. When she came back down, her momentum carried her a couple tens of meters forward, despite her feet scraping on the ground. The bottoms of his shoes probably lost a centimeter or two in the process.


    After managing to stop in place, she turned around, her hood coming off. The mansion doors were open, but there were no noises that suggested an ongoing fight.


    Cade lunged right in with a single thought. ''Please be alive.''


    Her feet scraped against the red carpet in the entrance hall of the mansion as her eyes jumped around, finding what she was looking for in an instant.


    Her companion was on his knees, his hands and head hanging limply, a puddle of blood underneath him. "Re¡ª Rey!" she yelled as she rushed to his side. She raised his head in order to see his eyes. What she saw was not something she had expected to see yet in many years to come. The vibrancy in his eyes had been wiped away.


    She froze for a second or two. Aurelius didn''t let out a single sound, and it didn''t seem like he had anything he wanted to say. It looked like he wanted nothing. They were the eyes expected to be seen when gazing into the eyes of an old man on his deathbed, with his faulty memory having wiped any notion of life from his world.


    Cade turned her head to the side.


    There were two men lying close together, one seemingly temporarily unconscious, the other permanently so, with a hole in his chest. It had been the lengthened compression that killed him. But the edged of the wound seemed rough. The work of an amateur. It had been Balgair.


    Cade turned to the only other remaining victim.


    He had his eyes still open, looking at his hand like he was holding something invisible there. He had a hole in his torso as well, and naturally, he lay in a puddle of blood like the others. However, there was something in the blood. Something black.


    ''The guard used an enhancer!'' Cade realized. ''That''s why Balgair called for help.''


    She took a look at the wound in the guard''s stomach area. It was also rough around the edges, but the shape was irregular. She looked at Aurelius right forearm, which had not a single spot that wasn''t covered in blood.


    Her face went loose before a frown formed. "Rey, look at me," she said as he looked into the eyes of Aurelius, who seemed to look through her and through everything else. She shook Aurelius slightly, but his expression didn''t change.


    She snorted and slapped Aurelius so hard that the sound echoed in the hall and probably outside as well. Aurelius'' body leaned to the side. He would have fallen over if Cade hadn''t kept him upright. However, Aurelius'' expression hadn''t changed. The only change was that the red mark appeared in an instant.


    She looked at him and pursed her lips before slapping him again and again. His cheeks turned dark red fairly quickly, but she didn''t stop. Instead, she increased the power with each slap. It continued for almost a minute when Aurelius'' expression broke.


    His eyes narrowed as tears built up. His lower lip shook profusely as the corners of his mouth twitched downward. He leaned his body to the side, wanting to lay down. Cade held him still. He started to slap and claw at her hands, but she didn''t let go.


    "Rey, Rey, calm down, breathe, breathe," Cade said softly.


    "No," Aurelius whispered as tears streamed down his cheeks. "Don''t touch me," he said, cracks in his voice.


    Cade frowned. "Please, Rey. We can''t do this now. We have to get out¡ª"


    "No!" Aurelius burst out, pushing Cade back hard enough to collapse her balance and make her fall onto her back.


    A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.


    Cade got up immediately with her head tilted, concern ridden all over her eyes. "What is it? This isn''t all because you killed him, right? What happened."


    Aurelius averted his eyes, looking down at his left side. He picked up something. His left hand had a bad cut on it, which Cade only noticed now. He then handed Cade a pocket-sized piece of paper with dried blood on it.


    Cade looked down at it with horror. On the piece of paper, there was a pair of tall stick figures. One had long strands of noodle-like hair, and the other had short, spiky hair. In between the two stick figures, there was a smaller stick figure with long hair and a wide smile.


    Cade breathed deeply through her nose for a while before she saw through the paper that there was writing on the other side. She flipped the piece of paper, and her horror grew.


    On the paper was a short message made with clumsy handwriting: "Happy Father''s Day to the best dad in the world."


    Cade looked up at Aurelius, whose tears seemed to have no end. Furthermore, he was covering his mouth with his bloody left hand while his body convulsed like he would throw up at any second.


    Cade shook her head slowly as she bit down on her lips. After a bit of thought, she moved and not long after, Aurelius was in her arms, knocked out.


    Her gaze hardened as she looked upstairs. ''Just a bit more, and it''ll be over.''


    ***


    The safe was nowhere to be found. Cade and Balgair had searched everywhere. Behind every painting, in every closet, and under every desk.


    "Our time''s running out," Balgair said solemnly as he started feeling hopeless. "What do you want to do?"


    Cade turned around and looked at him. She had her balaclava on, but he could imagine what her expression must have looked like just from the painful look in her eyes. "I don''t know. We can''t let it all be for nothing. I tied Aurelius with hyperwire, but I''m afraid he''ll hurt himself if he regains consciousness while we''re still here. Let''s keep looking for a while longer. If we still can''t find it, let''s give up and leave."


    Balgair stomped down, a curse word slipping out, "Shit."


    Then his mouth and eyes widened. ''That sound?'' The floor shouldn''t make that kind of sound when stomped on.


    He looked at the floor of the head office room they were in. Unlike other rooms in the mansion, this one didn''t have the normal red carpet. It was a wooden floor with a detachable large carpet with white, red, and gold flowers and other symbols all over it.


    Balgair turned to Cade, who seemed to have figured out the same thing.


    Balgair hurriedly walked to the edge of the carpet before lifting it up. And there it was. A square-shaped hatch on the wooden floor. Cade squatted down and opened the hatch with her fingers, and the door to a safe was revealed.


    Balgair smiled with relief and rolled up his sleeves.


    Cracking the safe didn''t take long. The Boerlows had put their trust in their hiding spot for the safe and hadn''t seemingly thought much about the safe''s security.


    However, when they got the safe open, they found only a fraction of what they were supposed to.


    Balgair dug through the safe. "What? There are only three thousand gold banknotes here. Where''s the rest?"


    Cade looked down with disappointment. "Maybe we overrated their financial situation."


    "No, it can''t be this bad. It can''t. Let''s look for another safe."


    "Do you think we have the ti¡ª" Cade was saying when the sound of the gates opening came into her ears.


    Balgair grunted and started shoveling the banknotes into a bag.


    In the meantime, Cade went down to the first floor. She took a look at the gates and confirmed that her ears hadn''t fooled her. She then took the unconscious Aurelius into her arms at the entrance of the mansion before jumping up onto the second floor.


    Balgair had managed to get all the banknotes into the bag, and he stood up, looking at Cade for advice.


    Cade exhaled and tried to clear her mind. "I''m going to take Aurelius with me. He needs treatment and can''t get it on his own. You can take the banknotes with you. Take them to that guy you know and get them exchanged. We''ll meet in two days at the bridge, like we planned."


    Balgair nodded before turning and breaking through the window at the back of the room. Cade jumped after him, and they proceeded to run in opposite directions.

 Chapter 21: This Place

    It was all a haze for a moment. Then the blurriness started to fade, and the pain came. It felt like someone was pinching Aurelius on the area between his navel and hip, as well as on the area between his index and middle finger of his left hand.


    Despite the pain, Aurelius pushed his upper body back towards the wall behind his bed. His neck was awfully tight, but he had no energy to give it a good crack. He simply moved his eyes around.


    He looked at his own miserable condition first. His waist and hand were wrapped in bandages, and he had bruises in places he didn''t remember being hit on. His wrist was also of an unpleasant, greenish color. He remembered thinking it was sprained the first time he hit the Commander. He wasn''t sure what it was, but it didn''t look good or feel good.


    Then he looked to his sides. He lay on the other half of a large bed in an unfamiliar room of comfortable size. All of it seemed to have been built out of wooden planks of different textures and shades. What caught his attention was that on the other side of the bed lay an abused blanket; somebody had been sleeping right beside him.


    He looked at the nightstand beside the other side of the bed. His notebook was there. His precious gray notebook that could do no wrong. Why was it out of his bag? Finally, his gaze traveled to his companion.


    Cade was sitting on the windowsill in thin clothing, her legs curled up against her chest. Just then, the sound of raindrops revealed itself to Aurelius. He hadn''t heard them before, but they''d been there the whole time. Aurelius hadn''t been hearing the world, but it had been there, talking to him. Now he was listening.


    Cade hadn''t seemed to notice Aurelius waking up yet. No, of course she had. She just chose to hold her hand against the window and watch as the drops of rain raced down the window.


    Aurelius stayed quiet. Was he supposed to greet her, thank her, curse her, or what was it? Aurelius didn''t feel like saying it, whatever he was going to say. He just watched Cade.


    Her figure was still. She looked so peaceful. It was as if she was untethered from the world. Nothing could touch her, but she couldn''t touch anything. It was sad in a way, but so beautiful.


    Aurelius noticed that her hair had grown. As he looked at her at that moment, he couldn''t believe she would ever hurt a person. Perhaps that was what people thought when they looked at him as well. He looked at his right hand. Those people would be wrong now. He was no longer what people saw outside. He couldn''t claim to be. His existence had become something of an unintentional lie.


    He looked back at Cade. Her eyes had turned. They were pointed directly at him and his sorry frame. She really looked different. Aurelius wondered how long it had been. It couldn''t have been more than a few days. Suddenly, he faintly remembered waking up on their way back from the Boerlow mansion. He had cried for her to let go and even hit her as she carried him before he quickly tired out and lost consciousness again.


    However, there was no judgment in Cade''s eyes. Her eyes seemed to be lighter. They were always so dark while they were out, but as the window reflected light into them, a silver flow appeared. He had the urge to hug her, but he remembered that the world wasn''t his servant. Cade wasn''t his caretaker. She had her own issues and didn''t exist to bother herself with Aurelius'' troubles. He had no right to push it onto others, so he didn''t. He just clenched his hands into fists around his blanket.


    "How do you feel?" Cade asked, leaning back against the wall beside the windowsill.


    "I..." Aurelius began before stopping to breathe. Then his shoulders dropped. He trembled slightly, holding back vomit. "Why are we here, Cade?"


    Cade''s thin eyebrows tilted slightly as she pulled them down. "Why are we... in this inn?"


    "No." Aurelius shook his head slightly before uttering with a fluctuating voice, "Why are we here in this world, doing what we are doing?" Aurelius looked at the planks on the roof. "Why should we... I keep going?"


    "We are supposed to," Cade said with a light knock on the window. Aurelius looked at her. She looked away. "We are strong and gifted, and all the things that tie us to duty. We have to do it. We are supposed to do it. You know, one is lucky if they get to be without the choice of ''what am I going to do with my life?''. I and you have it right under our noses. Do everything in your power to make the world better, it says. Other people can''t do as much as us, and they really like using that fact as reasoning as to why all the work should be left to us. They are right. Can''t say they aren''t. But I made up my mind long ago. I don''t need duty. I made a promise to myself to protect the beauty in this world. That''s why I keep going. It''s the same for you, isn''t it?"


    Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.


    "A hero." Aurelius chuckled. The chuckle turned to a cough. Once that was over, he laid down again. "Gabriel asked me what I wanted to be... how I wanted to live. I told him I would be a hero. I would help everybody. Make the good prosper, and make the bad into good."


    "You were always going to fail if it''s something like that."


    Aurelius looked down at his hand and pressed on the wound behind the bandages. "I guess so. You protect the good without caring for the bad. Maybe I should too, but I want everybody to be what they can be at their best. The world could be so good."


    "The world could be, but it isn''t, and it won''t be," Cade said with a sigh. "Until you accept that reality, you won''t be able to achieve anything. The steps your ideal world requires are steps that no human society can take, especially not this one. And besides, people will always seek conflict. Negativity is present everywhere. Give a man paradise, and the first thing he''ll do is complain. Better to focus on preserving the good than on changing the bad. It''s really all that we can do with the power we have."


    "Hmm." Aurelius stretched his body to grab his notebook from the side. "You read my notebook?" he asked after getting his hands on the thing and returning to his original position.


    "I''m sorry," Cade said and lowered her head slightly. "I let my curiosity get the best of me."


    Aurelius tapped his fingers on the notebook''s gray leather cover. "You could''ve put it back, and I wouldn''t have known."


    "I know."


    "I don''t blame you," Aurelius said, opening the notebook. "Though I am a bit embarrassed," he said with a slight smile that didn''t match his sorrowful eyes that pointed to the first page of the notebook. On the page, it read "the world is yours" in all capital letters. The letters were made up of a bunch of messy lines drawn with a heavy hand, and the text went diagonally from the upper left corner to the lower right corner.


    "I don''t think it''s embarrassing," Cade said softly as she turned and hung her legs off the windowsill.


    Aurelius snorted quietly and flipped through some pages before finding the quote he was looking for. Then he read it out loud, "Some animals in this world only seek to destroy. And not for the sake of their survival, but just for their entertainment. Those types of animals are okay to kill since it makes the world a better place." After he finished, he looked at Cade, who still sat on the windowsill with a complex expression. It seemed she was tensely waiting for Aurelius to tell her his thoughts. He proceeded to do so. "We were hunting when he said that. I wrote it in my notebook later that day, according to memory. I don''t think I forgot anything, but I wish I did. Gabriel was in the Zalfarian Elite Troop. He must''ve killed hundreds, if not thousands. What I wrote must''ve been his rationale when it came to killing." Aurelius spilled his thoughts, and a glint appeared at the bottom of his eyes. He turned his gaze away from the eyes of Cade, looking up at the roof instead. "I thought it was okay for me to kill, too. I thought it wouldn''t be that bad. But it is. It''s horrible. I put my bare hand through a man''s chest. I practically ripped out his heart. Or his soul. And life just went away. At that moment, it didn''t matter if he was good or bad. I could do that to him regardless. I could kill anyone. Good or bad. How can it be right for me to have such power? The guy also wasn''t all bad. He had a family. He had love in his life. Possibly more than I do. He was a murderer for sure, though, so maybe I did make the world a better place. But what does that matter?"


    Cade stood up and stepped closer. "It does matter. You may be a murderer now, and because of that, you may feel like you can''t be what you want to be anymore. But you can. You can be a hero. As Balgair said, a hero isn''t someone who is perfectly in tune with upright ideals, but someone who is capable of letting go of those ideals in order to change the world for the better. And that''s what you have done."


    Aurelius looked at Cade with his eyelids lowered. "Everything is a mistake," he said, before he put his hand on the page where the quote was and ripped it off. "I''m done." He crumpled up the page and threw it at Cade before turning his back and wrapping himself in his warm blanket.

 Chapter 22: Bounty

    Balgair sat against a tree with a large bag filled with banknotes on his side. His head was still throbbing from the Commander''s kick. He looked at the bag of money and sighed. He could just walk away now. Cade would maybe hunt him down. And maybe she wouldn''t. Balgair wasn''t sure if she had the connections and skills for something like that. But still.


    ''I guess I''ll go,'' he thought.


    He still had that one thing to accomplish, after all.


    ***


    "He''s at your friend''s place?" Balgair asked, his face twisting in a dumbfounded manner. "Didn''t know you had friends."


    "Haa haa," Cade laughed very loudly because Balgair was very funny.


    Balgair sighed and looked around. "Well, are we going to go somewhere else to talk?"


    "Under this bridge is fine. I don''t suppose there''s a better place either," Cade answered. Balgair lifted a finger as he was about to open his mouth. Cade interrupted before he even managed to get a word out: "No, we''re not going to your bar again. It''s morning, for god''s sake. You''re really not thinking about drinking this early. Are you even old enough to drink?"


    "Hey, I''m at least Aurelius'' age," Balgair blurted out defensively.


    "Yeah, whatever," Cade said with a shake of her head. "You got the banknotes?"


    Balgair nodded and took off the bag on his shoulder before handing it to Cade. "There was 3000 gold in that safe. My 5 percent cut makes it 2850."


    Cade looked inside the bag. ''Shit. It''s not enough. After I spread 500 to those in need, it''ll be even less. We can''t do much to further our plan with just, 2350 gold.''


    Then she looked up at Balgair and asked, "You sure you didn''t swipe any extra for yourself?"


    Balgair raised his hands high. "Hey, 150 gold is plenty for a street rat like myself. Besides, if I wanted to steal from you, I wouldn''t have brought you the money."


    Cade nodded and put the bag on her shoulder. "I guess this is farewell. It hasn''t been a pleasure, but you''re not the worst of them."


    As she was about to turn, Balgair yelled, "Wait!" She looked at him and widened here eyes, prompting him to speak. "How is Aurelius?"


    "Why are you acting like you care?" Cade asked with a tilt of her head.


    "Hey, he kind of saved my life. Of course, I''m grateful," Balgair said, as if insulted. "I''m not an asshole."


    Cade looked to her sides before stating the obvious. "You are, though."


    "Oh fine. Still, I do care. And I know Aurelius is probably pretty shit right now. So, can I see him? Thank him or whatnot."


    Cade exhaled. ''It would probably make him feel better.''


    She then clicked her tongue, and answered, "Yeah, sure."


    ***


    Aurelius woke up after midday. He was hungry, but didn''t feel like eating. He didn''t have the energy to get up either way. He was once again at the home of Cade''s unknown friend. The inn had just been a place to crash for the night on their travels.


    For hours after waking, he just stared at the roof, at his body, and out of the window, but he wasn''t really looking. He wasn''t really thinking, either. He didn''t even care to swipe away his disheveled hair that was irritating his eyes. He was in somewhat of a limbo state.


    Then his senses were greeted with some new stimulation when he heard the door being unlocked downstairs. He turned his head to the left, looking out of the open door, where the sound came from.


    "Aurelius? Are you awake?" Cade''s voice came into Aurelius'' ears.


    Aurelius grumbled as he turned his body slightly towards the door before answering, "Yeah, what is it?"


    Cade noticed Aurelius'' sunken cheeks and frowned. "Have you eaten anything?" Aurelius stayed quiet. It had been days. He would starve himself to death at this rate. Cad sighed. "Balgair''s here," Cade said as the sounds of stairs being climbed started to echo.


    "Why?"


    There was no answer before Balgair''s face was revealed to Aurelius as he entered the second floor and started heading into his room. "I wanted to thank you."


    "Thank me?" Aurelius asked as Cade and Balgair entered the room.


    "Yeah, for saving my life."


    "For killing the Commander, you mean."


    Balgair exhaled a dissatisfied breath.


    Aurelius frowned. "Well, you came here to thank me. Now you''ve thanked me. You''re free to leave. You weren''t supposed to help is further than this in the first place."


    Balgair looked at Cade and said quietly, "Could you give us the room?"


    Cade looked at Aurelius before nodding and leaving the room, shutting the door in the process.


    Balgair looked around for a place to sit before simply leaning his back against the wall.


    Aurelius tilted his head. "So, what more is there to discuss?"


    Balgair reached for his pocket. The one he kept his cigarettes in. But he quickly retracted his hand and sighed. "Look, I''m sorry for how I treated you. I know I''m an asshole."


    "Do you?"


    "Yes, but it''s not like I want to be. Shitty people are shitty people because of shitty people. And I''ve known nothing but shitty people all my life." Balgair looked down at his hand as he popped his knuckles with his thumb, pushing each of his other fingers down in their turn. "I grew up in the slums as an orphan. Slums far worse than the ones you''ve seen. The streets can get much dirtier than you can imagine. You probably saw some puddles of piss and even some feces lying around during your time in the slums. But when I was a child, it was a regular occurrence to have a few liters of blood mixed in those puddles. It wasn''t all that unusual to have guts lay on the streets or find dead bodies in random alleys."


    If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    Balgair breathed deeply and wagged his finger with a comic undertone. "Now, crime happens everywhere, but in the slums, it isn''t crime. There are no real laws. Nobody gives a shit. Everybody just hates everybody while looking out for themselves."


    Aurelius listened with his gaze downcast and his lips tightly sealed. There was a moment of silence where nobody said anything. Then Balgair chuckled.


    "It''s a cruel world we live in, ain''t it?" Balgair said. "Terrible, terrible stuff. Crime is a horrible thing, and the first chance I got, I became a part of it." Balgair walked up to the only window in the room and gazed out, where only a forest was in sight. "This house was paid for with dirty money. I can smell it. I''ve always been able to smell it. And that smell is on more things in this world than it is not. That says a lot. So, anyway, I started teaching myself all kinds of stuff. I learned how to cheat, lie, steal, and, most of all, kill. I was often surrounded by people, but I was always alone. I didn''t see a use for others, and I really just despised everyone. That, of course, led to conflict. I won''t go into detail, but I ran. I just didn''t want any part of it anymore. Not because of the constant violence or any other reasoning concerning that morality stuff. Just didn''t think it was worth it. Chose to just waste away somewhere else while I lived a miserable life, and that''s what I''ve been doing ever since. Hasn''t been long, but I was starting to grow tired of it."


    "Weren''t you supposed to be here to thank me? Why are you telling me this?"


    Balgair turned and scratched his head with realization. "Oh, right, I''m kind of a shit storyteller. My bad. What I''m trying to say is that this world is shit. It''s pure and utter filth in every meaning of the word. And I am part of that filth. That Commander was a part of that filth, too. You''re not." Balgair leaned back and put his hands on the windowsill. "I know you want to be a hero. I know you think you have this great responsibility to save people. Maybe you do, but the way you''re going about it, won''t work. You can''t try to save people who don''t want to be saved. The world appreciates authenticity, so you better give authenticity to it. Be clear about who to protect and who to eliminate. Learn to draw a line. I can draw that line for you this time and say that no matter how many Father''s Day cards that piece of shit Commander gets, he is still the same filth that kills with no remorse. He should''ve died, and you killed him. It was a good first kill. I''d swap first kills with you in a heartbeat, that''s for sure."


    "Fuck that," Aurelius spat. "How can you draw the line?"


    For a moment, Balgair was startled by Aurelius cursing, but quickly formed a counterargument. "I can draw the line because I see clearly. A loving daughter doesn''t resurrect the hundreds of people the Commander probably slaughtered during his life. What I also see clearly is a little wannabe hero sulking because his hands got a little dirty." Balgair exhaled and brought his hands forward to help punctuate his point. "What you did maybe wasn''t according to your morals, but that just means your morals are shit. What you did was right. Everybody knows it. Even you probably do, but you''d rather give up than let your morals evolve. But if you''re truly interested in helping people, you have to evolve," Balgair said, and in the same way, there was a sound of the front door opening again. Aurelius paid no mind to that, however, as Balgair posed the real question. "So what will you do? Act depressed and waste away, or evolve and become someone capable of changing millions of lives for the better."


    "What''s with the speech? Since when do you care about millions of lives?"


    "Sorry, it''s just... I''ve seen so much filth that I''ve become able to see it with my eyes closed, so trust me when I say this. You''re not filth, Aurelius. You''re right about me not caring about millions. I have barely enough to care for myself, but I don''t hate you, and I don''t want you to be depressed over stupid shit."


    Finally, Aurelius'' deep frown got a bit less deep. "Depressed over stupid..." he said under his breath. Then he looked Balgair in the eyes. "Thanks for coming, Balgair... but will this be our last conversation?"


    Balgair smiled. "No, I don''t think so. Well, it depends on whether you''ll have me. I''d like to continue being a part of this group."


    Aurelius smiled slightly. "It¡ª"


    The door opened, and Cade walked in with a young woman with silky, slightly curled brown hair. The woman wore neat, round glasses and had freckles on her cheeks that blended smoothly with her tan skin. She also possessed a row of white teeth, which she seemed eager to show off. That was until she saw Aurelius.


    "Aurelius, this is Aleyah. She''s the one who owns this place," Cade said, gesturing to Aleyah. "Aleyah, this is Aurelius; he''s been my traveling companion for a few weeks now." Cade gestured toward Aurelius.


    "What have you done, Cade?" Aleyah asked as her shoulders dropped.


    "Huh? What do you mean?" Cade asked with furrowed brows.


    "You don''t know?" Aleyah gulped before answering with a severe tone, "Your companion is wanted by Numen. There''s 1000 gold on his head."

 Chapter 23: A Golden Target

    Miniscule stone bits broke away and fell down a hundred meters as Gadreel walked on the large, rough stones that lied on the edge of the former Royal Castle''s balcony.


    Gadreel sighed and looked at Sherridan who was a few tens of meters from him, sitting with her legs crossed and watching with a cup of tea in hand. "This would be a bit more fun if you weren''t here."


    The pale woman with fair facial features glanced at the small round table on her side, where her pure white mask lay. "You afraid I''ll save you if you fall?"


    "It would be a little anti-climactic if I fell, and you swooped in to save me." Gadreel put one foot over the edge, balancing on one foot while keeping his gaze on Sherridan. "Takes away all the thrill."


    "Don''t worry," Sherridan said, a smirk appearing on her face, "I won''t save you. I''m just here to watch."


    Gadreel smiled back before looking down. There was someone running at the main entrance. Gadreel smiled. He recognized the man.


    ''Don''t disappoint me, Qiel,'' Gadreel thought as he stepped over the edge completely and started to plummet towards the ground like a rocket.


    He maneuvered his body in the air, his clothes flapping wildly in the process. He didn''t care to use any essence, so it was a bit of a chilly experience. When he was just ten meters from the ground, however, reinforcement and enhancement snapped on, and an ethereal spike appeared in his hand. He shoved the spike into the wall of the castle and slowed himself down just enough to meet the ground gently.


    "Hello, Qiel," he greeted the startled young man, who wore a western-style hat that he liked to hold on to at all times. It was possible that it was just a habit that came out when he was nervous. Gadreel would''ve needed to get a spy on him to know. "What do you have for me there?" he asked, pointing at the rolled-up piece of paper in Qiel''s hand.


    "Ah, here," Qiel said, bowing and handing the paper to Gadreel, who quickly rolled it open. "It''s a¡ª" Qiel started, only to be startled by the sudden appearance of Sherridan with her mask on. "A wanted poster."


    "Yeah, I can see that," Gadreel remarked.


    "Yes, of course," Qiel said with a forced smile.


    Gadreel looked up from the poster before having looked it over completely. "Well? Anything else?"


    Qiel took his hat off and started rotating it in his hands. "Ah, yes. The Boerlows were robbed. That person is supposed to be the main culprit. Sir Boerlow hashed out a deal with the manager of the Numen branch in Boeria despite their earlier disagreements, so now Numen has taken the search for the culprit into their hands. About the sketch, there is none because he was wearing a mask and nobody saw his face."


    "Qiel," Gadreel said slowly as he rubbed his forehead, "I pay you to keep a lookout for interesting things in the world and report about them to me, so if the next sentence that comes out of your mouth doesn''t communicate to me the reason why I should give a shit about this thing you brought to me just now, I will carve out your insides." After Gadreel was done articulating his thoughts, he put on a soft smile and uttered a simple word in the Arkryk language, "Saeqe?"


    Qiel''s lips quivered as he stumbled back a bit and accidentally let go of his hat. He picked it up and answered Gadreel''s question, "Yes, I understand. Um, look at the description, please."


    Gadreel tilted his head slightly and brought the paper up to read it out loud. "Approximated height around 190 centimeters. Proficient essence user with no noticeable weaknesses. Approximated age around 20¨C30 years old. Blue eyes..." Gadreel paused and looked at Qiel with a devilish grin, scaring the fidgeting man motionless. He then looked to Sherridan. Even she seemed to shrink back slightly at seeing his expression. He looked back at the paper and read the interesting part out loud. "Golden hair."


    ***


    A few days later, Gadreel arrived at a club located in the busy center of Boeria. He walked into the establishment alone. The multicolored lights illuminated his black dress shirt, his gray slacks and most of all, his gold and diamond earrings, which he had put on just for this special occasion. He didn''t actually like wearing the things, but he had to look the part, didn''t he?


    He looked around with round, edgeless sunglasses on. It was hard to see, but at least his hair was slicked back out of the way of his vision. Once he saw what he was looking for, he slithered through the mass of people without getting touched and made it to the door beside the counter.


    Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.


    Gadreel knocked on the steel door a couple of times before a hatch at eye level was opened.


    "Entry code?" the one behind the door asked.


    Gadreel removed his sunglasses and gazed into the man''s eyes. "I don''t know your code, but I''m here to talk to your boss. Felix, was it? Hurry up and let me in before I kick this hunk of steel into your face."


    The man behind the door hesitated for a moment before he shut the hatch. Then the door clicked, and Gadreel opened it.


    Gadreel walked in and shut the door before digging at his ear. Then he glanced at the doorman, who seemed to have his hands half-raised in front of him. He shook his head and began walking down the hall with multiple hazy glass doors on the sides.


    The doorman''s voice came from behind. "Who are you?"


    Gadreel dug at his teeth with his tongue briefly before turning back slightly and raising a finger. "I am the one you don''t ask questions from."


    He then strode straight forward and entered the room at the end of the hall. A lively conversation died in an instant as Gadreel strode in.


    Gadreel, however, was pleasantly surprised to see a somewhat familiar face there. He had seen the man once or twice before, but he didn''t make a habit of paying attention to things at random.


    "I assume you''re Felix," Gadreel said as he looked at one of the four people in the room. The man looked to be nearing his forties and didn''t look to be taking it well. He had thin brown hair and was clean-shaven, most likely in a desperate effort to look younger. It didn''t really work, but the effort was commendable at least. As his only redeeming quality, he had a fairly toned physique that his shirtlessness showed off.


    There were a total of two men in the room, who both sat on couches, accompanied by two half-naked young women. The couches had a glass table between them with two opium pipes on it. There was a work desk at the back of the room with a spinning chair behind it; nobody was actually sitting on the chair.


    ''Seems like they''re having fun,'' Gadreel thought as he waited.


    Noticing that nobody was doing anything, he looked around at the other man and the two girls, raising his eyelids. "You have three seconds to get out," he said, nodding to the side.


    In that instant, everybody except Felix scuttled out. Gadreel walked towards the couch opposite Felix and then by it all the way to the desk at the back of the room. He made the chair stop and sat down on it, throwing his feet onto the desk before finally breaking the silence. "Can you talk?" he asked Felix, who had stood up without purpose and was standing in the middle of the room miserably with his shoulders hunched. It was unclear if he was experimenting with an extended bow.


    Felix gulped. "What?"


    "I am asking if your moron brain is able to form coherent sentences after you''ve pumped it full of drugs, or has my visit here been in vain," Gadreel said while he kicked down things on the desk to fit his feet on it.


    "Oh, yeah. I''m good. I didn''t... I''m not high. Maybe a little, but... I''m sorry, I didn''t get your visitation announcement." Felix stumbled through his words with as much grace as a 7-year-old.


    "That''s because I didn''t send one."


    Felix opened his mouth once or twice without a word coming out before asking, "May I ask why?"


    "Because I don''t need to," Gadreel answered with a flick of his wrist. "Numen is my family. I''m kind of like a father to all my dear branch managers. Especially those who supported me during the overtaking. So tell me, does a parent need to send a letter before coming to visit his child?"


    "No, sir," Felix said with a bow. "Thank you for coming. I am happy to see you."


    "Happy to hear it." Gadreel put on a wide smile with his eyes squinted so that it looked like there was only darkness in his eyes. Then his expression went straight, and he pointed at the couch. "Now put your shirt on, sit down, and give me all the information you have on this golden-haired robber you''re after."


    Felix nodded and put his shirt on before sitting down. "Um, where should I start?"

 Chapter 24: The Emperor and the Retiree

    A few hours after dawn in the Great Zalfarian Empire, a wooden carriage arrived at the gates of a large yellowish mansion in the woods. The guards at the gate stopped the carriage at once and demanded that it be turned around. No appointment had been made. The one in the carriage knew that.


    He jumped out, his long golden hair obstructing his sight. He swiped it to the left, away from his blue eyes, and threw a friendly smile at the guards. "Hello, gentlemen. Fine morning."


    The guards were both startled, but recovered from the shock quickly and bowed deeply. "Yes, Your Majesty," they said in sync.


    Alexander waved a hand. "No need to be so tense. Act as if I''m not here."


    "Ah, I''ll open the gate right away, Your Majesty," the older one of the guards said, running to the side.


    "Don''t bother," Alexander said, and he jumped over the gate, his white and gold robes fluttering in the process. He landed lightly on his feet on the other side of the gate and immediately began striding toward the mansion.


    In front of the mansion, there was a set of stairs that led to a platform that had two sets of stairs on its sides. After he climbed those stairs, he came to the mansion''s entrance, and as he was about to open the door, two children with completely different hair colors came rushing out.


    They noticed Alexander and quit running around.


    One of them pointed at him. "Hey, you''re His Emperorness."


    Alexander chuckled. "Gabriel''s told you about me?"


    "He talks about you all the time," the other one of the children said.


    Alexander smiled and asked, "Where is Gabriel now?"


    "He''s on the balcony. We can lead you there," the child answered and ran back inside.


    Alexander followed after him onto the second floor and into a smallish balcony with only a couple of chairs and a round table. He wasn''t there to see the chairs or the balcony, though. He was there to see his dirty-blonde-haired, one-eyed friend.


    Gabriel turned as he heard them approach, revealing his only working bluish-green eye. "To what do I owe this visit, my pri¡ª excuse me... Your Emperorness?" he said as a lively smile appeared on his face.


    Alexander laughed. "So it was you who taught them that." He ruffled the hair of the two boys, and said, "Thanks for the help. You can go back and play now."


    He then looked back at Gabriel and went to sit down.


    "Good kids you have here."


    "They''re fine when there''s less than three of them," Gabriel said with a warm smile. "When it''s all six of them, I feel like I''m drowning."


    "Drowning in affection."


    "The best thing to drown in, I suppose."


    "I''m happy that you''re happy."


    "I''m happy that I''m happy, too." Gabriel sipped his coffee. "No, but seriously, adopting was the best thing that ever happened to me."


    Alexander let out a soft breath and looked at Gabriel''s cup briefly.


    "Does Your Emperorness yearn for a cup of coffee?" Gabriel asked, pointing at his own cup with an uneraseable grin.


    Alexander looked at the backyard of the mansion, which was filled with trees, bushes, and bright yellow flowers. "No, His Majesty doesn''t yearn for coffee." He turned to face Gabriel. "You know it''s ''Your Majesty'', right? You used to take this stuff so seriously."


    "I''m not in the Elite Troop anymore. I''m just an old man nowadays. You''re an old man, too, it seems. No longer a prince. A few more years, and you''ll have gray hairs popping up."


    "Yeah, I''m starting to get why my father was the way he was. I''ve only been emperor for a little over 3 years, but it has felt like 30 years."


    "Eh, I''m just kidding. You look great. I bet, Her Majesty thinks so, too. I heard she''s pregnant again."


    "That she is. Five months now. But what do you mean again? It''s only the second time."


    "Second time means it''s happening again, doesn''t it? Also, have you thought of any names yet? Don''t say Alexander. That would make him the eighth Alexander in the royal family''s history, right?"


    "It would, but naming him Alexander would make things a bit complex. You remember my firstborn, right? Alexander, the seventh of his name. How do you think that would go?" Alexander looked to his side and started acting as if he were addressing his children. "Hey, Alexander. Not you, Alexander. You, Alexander. Or no. I was actually talking to myself. Me, Alexander."


    Gabriel laughed so hard that he barely managed to not spill his coffee into his lap. If it were anyone else, Alexander would''ve suspected the authenticity of the laughter. Especially when the joke wasn''t even really that funny. "What''s with you royals naming your children the same thing over and over?" Gabriel asked.


    Alexander dug at his ear. "I don''t know. Maybe we''re just especially unimaginative folk. It could be that you can''t run an empire properly if you have too many ideas."


    Gabriel exhaled through his nose and sipped his coffee. "So, what is it that you came here for?" he asked with a serious expression. He knew very well that the Emperor had no time to converse with friends just for fun.


    The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.


    "Mm, right," Alexander said, reaching his hand into the insides of his robes. He wished he could''ve enjoyed his best friend''s company for just a little longer, but it was over now. "Take a look at this," he said and handed a poster to Gabriel. A wanted poster.


    Gabriel eyed the poster before raising his eyes. "Aurelius."


    Alexander nodded. "He has left the Thropes, and begun to walk his own path."


    "Hmm, it seems so," Gabriel said slowly.


    "What will you do about the letter now?"


    "I will deliver it to him when the time comes. But that isn''t what you came here to hear. So let''s get to the point now," Gabriel said. "You''re here to ask my predictions and council on whether you should get involved or not, correct?"


    Alexander nodded.


    "Well, my advice is to do nothing," Gabriel said and handed the poster back. "Kendrick is making his preparations to restart the war, and when it starts again, we won''t have Ares here to save us. You can''t focus on things on the other side of the Great Ocean."


    "I know, but I''m asking whether it''s better to have him fighting Numen alone or fighting Lundkirk with his people."


    "Your father promised Ares that his son would not be involved in the war. That promise comes with the crown. Are you going to break that promise?"


    Alexander buried his face in his hands. "No, of course not. But he''s already in trouble. If we just ask¡ª"


    "Of course he will come if you ask. The boy is the most pure-hearted being in this world that I have ever seen. There''s also the fact that Kendrick killed his father and grandfather and is now threatening to kill you as well as your entire bloodline, including him."


    "That just means it involves him already," Alexander said with his arms spread.


    "Perhaps, but his father fought 12 years away from his son because of that promise. He had a reason for that."


    "I understand that he didn''t want his son to ever become like him, but we need Aurelius."


    "He isn''t ready, Alexander. And he has his own fight going on. He''s trying to carve his own path. He wants to help the people of Mircrest, so leave him be. If we really do desperately need him here someday, he will come."


    Alexander tapped on the round table. "What did you tell him? What did you tell Aurelius?"


    "I taught him everything he needed to know."


    "Everything needed in the Thropes? Didn''t you think he would go out into the world?"


    "He will survive with what I taught him, and he''ll learn more as he grows."


    "Does he know about Kendrick? Does he know about what the Conqueror of the West did to his family?"


    "You expect me to tell that to a child?!"


    "He has to know! No wonder he''s in Mircrest and not here, since you didn''t tell him what danger his home is in."


    "Stop it," Gabriel hissed. "I understand you want to survive, but don''t put it all on Aurelius. It''s not his responsibility. I chose to omit information to keep him safe from himself. When he learns that his father and grandfather were both poisoned, he''ll be furious and will probably want to go deliver justice to Kendrick right away, but he won''t be able to. Not yet. So let him grow in Mircrest. He wants to help the people there, and the people there need help. He''s adequate to save Mircrest. Trust me. He''s a world changer, and his type doesn''t die easily."


    "I''m sorry." Alexander raised his hand with his gaze downcast. "You''re right. But do you think Mircrest is safe? Aurelius could very well die, despite his strength and potential. Numen''s leader is dangerous. Rumors say he took control of Numen two years after joining at the age of 18. I''ve also heard he plans on expanding. Apparently, he wants to destroy Nexus and expand to Arkryk before challenging the Conqueror of the West."


    "He''s on our side, then," Gabriel said, raising his cup.


    "He''s an abstract genius. He''s on no side at all. He creates and destroys without any meaning." Alexander scoffed. "A maniac is what he is."


    "I guess so, but safety is an illusion. Mircrest may not be safe, but neither is any other place in the world. Some places just feel safer than others, but it''s all part of the same mess." Gabriel looked at the flowers in the garden. "Besides, if you let him be, he will grow far more capable in Mircrest than he would by training here."


    Alexander breathed the fresh air radiating from the garden deep into his lungs. He then stood and bowed. "Thank you for the advice."


    As he was about to leave, Gabriel stood as well and embraced him. "Thanks for coming to me about this. You''re doing well as the emperor. Just don''t become your father."


    Alexander pulled away and nodded before walking inside from the balcony, a dark expression on his face. ''I won''t break the promise. But please grow strong and help us in this war, Aurelius, Son of Ares.''

 Chapter 25: The Beginning of Annihilation

    Cade buried her face in her arms as she sat with her back against the guest room''s wall. "How? Just how did this happen? How did they find out about his hair?"


    Balgair eyed the wanted poster for the whatevereth time. "There''s no way you''re 190 centimeters. 187 max."


    "Can you take this seriously?!" Cade snapped. "Besides, this is all your fault. You should''ve known the Boerlows were associated with Numen. Now it''s your problem, too, since you''re part of this group, apparently."


    "I know, I know," Balgair said with a wave of his hand. "It''s already done, though. We may not know what caused it, but does that really matter? You''re concentrating on the wrong things. We should just shave his hair or dye it and move on. No harm done."


    "No, we won''t do anything to my hair!" Aurelius objected.


    "Oh, come one, I get that it''s a part of your identity and all, but it''s an easy solution. They have no pictures. They only know your hair color. If they don''t have that, they''ve got nothing."


    "It''s my father''s hair. We won''t cut it, dye it, or do anything else to it. I''ll wear a hat or something."


    Balgair sighed. "Whatever. Problem solved. No need to panic."


    Cade''s eyes widened. "It was the cut in the balaclava."


    "Huh?" Balgair turned to look at Cade"


    "I remember there being a cut on the side of Aurelius'' balaclava. It was small enough to not be noticeable, but large enough to let a few loose hairs fall out if cut," Cade explained. "They got the hair from the ground, and since golden hair is so rare, they were able to figure out that it belonged to one of the robbers."


    Aurelius touched his forehead. "I remember. It was the first cut I received. The guard who did it was the only one in the mansion who lived. He can confirm he cut me on the side of the head from where the hair could''ve fallen."


    Cade rubbed her eyes. "Well, that''s that. What now?"


    "Now we get Goldilocks a hat," Balgair said.


    "The plan? What about the plan? Will we just cower away and leave it be?" Aurelius asked. He shook his head. "No, I won''t go along with that. I came here for a reason. I will help these people, no matter if there''s a bounty on my head." He clenched his jaw, and his nose crunched up. "I''ll just rid the world of bounty hunters in the process. Let them come."


    Cade closed her eyes and exhaled. "Listen to yourself, Aurelius. That won''t do. We can''t just stroll around and see how many hopeless people try to kill you. If we''re not careful, Numen will track you down and execute you. No man can win a battle against thousands of trained soldiers, no matter how strong."


    Aurelius glanced at her and then out of the window.


    "You know, we don''t have to suffer this with him? If it''s so stressful for you, just leave Aurelius to fend for himself," Balgair said to Cade.


    Cade side-eyed him and snorted. "You can go if you want to. I won''t abandon a companion due to a bit of trouble."


    Then Balgair raised his hands. "Oh, I''m not leaving. I''m with Aurelius all the way. Let''s adapt our plan to this situation."


    "Oh, it''s our plan now?" Cade asked with a mocking tone.


    "It is. I''m a part of it, regardless of your opinion."


    "Why? You don''t want to help the people of Mircrest."


    "You know, I''m starting to think it wouldn''t be so bad to do some good for once in my life," Balgair said with a shrug. Cade shook her head, and Aurelius kept quiet, so Balgair began to elaborate on his idea. "So about the adaption, we can do what Aurelius suggested. It would certainly help with removing bounty hunter scum from the world, but the problem with his plan is that it''s stupid as fuck and would get us all killed."


    "So, what is your oh-so-brilliant adaption idea?" Cade asked.


    "Well, let''s start with who issued the bounty," Balgair said.


    "Numen?" Cade asked.


    Balgair wagged a finger. "Specifically, the Boeria branch of Numen."


    "Wow. Big difference." Cade said monotonously.


    "It is a big difference. You see, Numen doesn''t operate as a single entity. Each branch oversees a specific area. No branch gets involved with the business affairs of another."


    "So what?" Cade asked.


    Balgair looked to Aurelius, who was completely silent while staring at him. There were thoughts in those eyes. Thoughts unlike the ones he''d had before.


    Balgair grinned. He was bound to get excited by all the potential. Never before had he liked the universe more. The puzzle came together wonderfully. Things really did go around and come around.


    "So if one branch gets wiped out, the others aren''t really concerned. Some necessities may be transferred to other branches. For example, the responsibility of handling business with the houses in the area of the wiped-out branch may be given to surrounding branches."


    This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    "You''re suggesting we wipe out a Numen branch? Are you insane?" Cade asked. "And won''t bounties be included in necessities?"


    "The bounties on the enemies of the branch, maybe. The bounties issued by an outsider in exchange for payment, no chance."


    "But the Boerlows are associates, so the bounty on Aurelius is personal for them."


    Balgair shook his head with a smile. "No, they''re not. I told you, the Boerlows aren''t associates. Their house is on the verge of destruction. They won''t be around for long, so Numen is just waiting for it to collapse and another to take its place. The head of the Boerlows knows this, but he was probably so angry he just had to get revenge. That''s why he paid whatever sum he had to get Numen to help with hunting Aurelius down."


    Aurelius straightened his posture and commented, "You want us to wipe out the Numen branch and get rid of the bounty that''s not personal... just to get another bounty put on us, which will be personal this time."


    Balgair looked at Aurelius with delight. "Look at you, using your brain and all." He laughed, then got serious. "No, but you''re on the right track. There''s just one thing you got wrong." He raised a finger. "We won''t be the ones wiping them out."


    Cade furrowed her brows and scoffed. "You think you can get someone else to do it? There''s nobody that wants trouble with Numen."


    "Oh, sorry. Let me elaborate," Balgair said. "We won''t be the ones wiping them out... or that''s how we''ll make it look like."


    "We''re going to frame someone? Who?" Cade asked.


    Balgair flashed a wicked smile. "I know a gang of criminals who don''t like Numen much due to some shared history. Some members left that gang for Numen and there was a bit of a conflict a year or two back. The gang is situated a bit far from Boeria, but the Boeria branch is the only sizeable branch close to them, so it''ll be somewhat believable, and that''s all we need."


    Cade licked her lips as the ends of her lips started to curve up. "And then that gang will be destroyed by Numen. It''ll be two birds with one stone. Hah, this might work."


    Aurelius opened his mouth again. "Is the gang strong enough to possibly wipe out a Numen branch?"


    "I think it''s possible," Balgair said. "And it''s not like Numen will think so hard about that if they find evidence."


    "About that, what evidence will we plant for it to be believable? How will we frame them?" Cade asked.


    "Umm, not sure. I thought, we could maybe kill a member or two of the gang and leave them at the sight, where we wipe them out. They had these symbols on their outfit the last time I checked, so that''ll do."


    "Won''t they figure out that the corpses predate the assault?" Cade asked.


    "Oh, right. We''ll have to transport it and all... Or not. Haha, we''ll just kidnap a guy or two and kill them before we wipe the branch out."


    Cade nodded slowly in realization. "I''m happy we chose to make you a part of this."


    Balgair chuckled at the compliment. "Thanks. Your words really warm my heart."


    Cade and Balfair then looked at the brooding Aurelius. It was understandable that the plan bothered him.


    He then opened his mouth, and something unexpected came out. "We''ll need time. If we do it right away and Numen gets suspicious, they could easily figure out that it was us. Let''s give it time before we do it."


    Balgair nodded. "Oh yeah, good point. But how much time? Is one month good?"


    "Half a year," Aurelius said without hesitation.


    Balgsir threw his arms out. "Half a year? That''s too much? Where will you be for all that time? There''s no way you won''t be noticed in Mircrest for half a year."


    "I''m going back to the Thropes. Not far from the border," Aurelius said solemnly, unaffected by Balgair''s emotions. "I need practice. I need to get stronger. I need to be alone."


    "No," Cade said, "I''ll come with you. You need me to teach you."


    "No, I don''t. You''ve taught me enough. I need to practice by myself. I can''t focus purely on myself if you''re with me." Aurelius objected firmly. "Besides, you need to further our plan. Put those thousands of gold to good use. You should start building connections that can help us fight Numen''s influence. You should also help the people. Donate to legitimate charities and make a name you can use in the future to get the support of the people."


    Cade opened her mouth, but closed it before any words came out.


    "I think it''s a good idea," Balgair voiced his support. "I''ll do further research on how we will make our plan work while Cade furthers the plan, and you get stronger."


    "It is decided, then," Aurelius said, narrowing his eyes before speaking with nothing but determination in his voice, "In half a year, we will meet again and begin the annihilation of Numen."

 Chapter 26: Beautiful Tones

    "He''s been gone for longer than expected," Gadreel remarked as he walked down the city streets of the capital with Sherridan by his side. It was getting late, and the streets were starting to empty.


    "Well, he is supposed to still be a teenager. He needs time to train. If you''re right and think he will try to wipe out the Numen branch of Boeria, he won''t just need to be ''not the obvious suspect'' but also strong enough to do it," Sherridan commented.


    Gadreel looked up at the cloudless, light-blue sky. "Oh, he''s strong enough. He''s the son of Ares. And he has companions as well."


    "Are you really sure he''s who you think he is?"


    "Yeah, I''m sure. The bounty description was understandably wrong about his age. Also, nobody except the royals of the Great Zalfarian Empire has golden hair, so it''s rather obvious that it''s him. Nobody who''s a part of the most prestigious bloodline in the world would be in stealing from insignificant noble houses if they weren''t the secret love child of the Hero of Zalfari."


    Sherridan snorted. "Well, if he''s so strong, why is he hiding?"


    Gadreel moved his eyes around as he answered, "He''s preparing for something bigger. I''m just not quite sure what that is."


    "You think he could be preparing to start a war against Numen?"


    Gadreel yawned. "Could be."


    Then something grabbed his leg. He pulled away in an instant with a murderous look in his eyes. It was just a homeless man sitting in a lotus position.


    "Hey, you''ve got some nice clothes there, youngin," the vagabond blathered. "Got some spare change?"


    Gadreel put a hand up to stop Sherridan from disappearing the man. "What do you plan to do with the money I give you? Be honest," Gadreel said.


    The vagabond laughed hoarsely, his fingers going through his scruffy beard. "I''ll buy me some ale."


    Gadreel revealed a wide smile and put a hand on Sherridan''s shoulder. "Could you go get us some alcohol, dear? The best money can buy."


    Sherridan snorted once again, and in the next moment, she was gone. Gadreel heaved a sigh and went to sit down next to the vagabond, who was rubbing his eyes. He was probably wondering if he actually just saw the purple-haired woman disappear.


    "I appreciate it, youngin," the vagabond said. "You''re a real blessing."


    Gadreel laughed. "A blessing, eh? Don''t hear that often."


    "Oh, I''m sure you do. You''re one generous boy."


    Gadreel swung his head from side to side. "I give and I take. Nothing noble or ignoble about it, the way I see it."


    "A philosopher you are," the vagabond said with a cough.


    Gadreel dug the single most important bronze coin out of his pocket and started fiddling with it. "I hear that a lot these days."


    "Wouldn''t have expected, lookin'' at yer fancy self."


    Gadreel looked down. He was just wearing some slacks and a white shirt. He didn''t have his golden earrings on, either.


    "What do you mean?" Gadreel asked the vagabond to elaborate.


    "I''ve heard philosophers to be the ''live in a barrel without clothes'' type. Sinful earthly possessions and all that."


    "Oh, yeah. I''ve heard about a guy like that, too. His name started with a D, I believe. You him?"


    "Me?" The vagabond burst into laughter or a coughing fit. Gadreel couldn''t really tell. He wouldn''t have been surprised if the man dropped dead right then. "No, I''m not him," the vagabond said.


    "Oh, yeah, you''re missing the barrel," Gadreel pondered with his hand on his chin.


    Again, the vagabond laughed. Gadreel was a pretty funny guy in his own opinion, but the vagabond was exaggerating.


    "I''m not this way because of thoughts, but the lack of thoughts, youngin."


    "Makes sense," Gadreel said and turned to face the direction where Sherridan had gone. "Ah, there comes our alcohol."


    Gadreel lifted his hand, and in the next moment, there was a fine bottle of whiskey in it. "Thank you," Gadreel said before removing the lid of the bottle.


    He then poured the whiskey into his hand, where two fine glasses made of pure essence appeared in an instant. He then handed one glass to the vagabond and handed the whiskey back to Sherridan who sat in front of him and the vagabond, forming a triangle.


    "You''re a magician," the vagabond said with a shaky voice.


    "I dabble," Gadreel said with a chuckle.


    Sherridan materialized her own glass and poured out some whiskey. "What are we drinking to?"


    "To alcoholism," the vagabond suggested.


    "To honesty," Gadreel said with a smile.


    "To alcoholism and honesty, it is," Sherridan said, raising her glass.


    "Cheers!" the vagabond said.


    Gadreel then proceeded to wordlessly down the glass. What followed was a coughing streak that lasted for about a minute.


    Sherridan watched with a smile, and when it finally ended, she said, "You''re supposed to sip that."


    "Oh, thanks for the heads-up," Gadreel said, wiping his mouth.


    "You don''t drink much, do you, youngin?"


    Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work!


    "Not really, no. There''s no thrill in it for me."


    "You one strange fella,"


    "That he is," Sherridan commented.


    "You married?" the vagabond asked.


    "Kind of," Sherridan responded. "We spend our days in each other''s company, even though we mostly hate each other. We also continue to stay together for some inexplicable reason. What is marriage if not that?"


    Gadreel laughed and pointed his thump at Sherridan, "She''s my bodyguard. I''m in a dangerous profession, and despite my magician skills, I need protection."


    "How''d you meet?"


    "My former boss paid her to assassinate me," Gadreel said. "I talked her out of it with my silver tongue, of course." Gadreel stuck his tongue out and pointed to it. The vagabond leaned closer and squinted. Gadreel put his tongue back in his mouth and finished his story, "She''s been under my employment ever since."


    The vagabond ran his fingers through his scruffy beard with narrowed eyes. "I didn''t see no silver on yer tongue."


    Gadreel rubbed his forehead. "It''s an idiom. It means I''m good at talking."


    "You talk, and she fights?" the vagabond asked and turned to Sherridan. "You''re the man of the house, then," the vagabond said, sipping his whiskey for the first time.


    Sherridan flexed and pecked her biceps one at a time. The vagabond''s eyes went wide. Sherridan probably thought he was impressed with her non-existent muscles, but quickly realized it was the whiskey.


    "Good alcohol?" Gadreel asked.


    "You kidding?" the vagabond said. "It''s like God himself pissed into my cup."


    Gadreel laughed. "Glad you like it."


    "I love it!" the vagabond declared for all to hear. "If you can afford this, no sweat; I don''t get why you don''t drink it all the time."


    "Probably so that he won''t turn into you." Sherridan laughed on her turn.


    "As I said, Alcohol really doesn''t bring me joy," Gadreel explained.


    "Then what do you live for?" the vagabond asked.


    "I made a promise when I was young," Gadreel answered. He could see Sherridan roll her eyes.


    "You''re still young," the vagabond said.


    "Younger," Gadreel specified and poured more whiskey.


    "Well, what was this promise?"


    Gadreel leaned closer with a serious expression. "That''s none of your business." Then the sound of a guitar being played in the distance hit Gadreel''s ears. Immediately, Gadreel exploded with joy. He grinned at the man and handed him the whiskey. "Here, you can have the rest. I got to go."


    "Ah, right. Thank you," the vagabond said with a startled but respectful nod.


    Gadreel jumped to his feet, stopping the materialization of the cups, and ran off. Sherridan followed.


    They soon came up to a man about Gadreel''s age. He wasn''t a beggar by any means. He looked like a university student.


    "What are you doing out here?" Gadreel asked.


    The young man looked up and stopped playing. "Uh, I''m playing the guitar."


    "Really? That''s crazy," Gadreel said and extended his hand. "Give it here."


    "Huh? What do you mean?"


    "Your guitar. Give me your guitar."


    "What? No."


    "Come on. Give it. I won''t steal it, I promise. You know, I''ve never broken a promise in my whole life," Gadreel said, but seeing as the young man was still holding onto his guitar, he added a little incentive. He took a 10-gold banknote out of his pocket and handed it to the young man. "Here, I''m buying the guitar."


    "Are you serious? Ah, here. Take it." The young man handed the guitar over after getting the banknote in his hands. "Why did you want the guitar?"


    Gadreel looked at the young man like he was an idiot. "To play a song, of course." He then sat down and began.


    First, he warmed up a little by moving his fingers through the strings and letting the tunes climb. When he was done warming up, he left silence linger for a moment before beautiful tunes emerged into reality.


    It started high and went low before climbing peacefully into a metaphorical flight of stairs that it glided back and forth in before spinning around and spreading out like a blooming flower. The last ten seconds of the music were strictly major. Then it all ended in a minor tone. However, at that point, the minor tone didn''t sound so sad. It was fitting. Perfect.


    The song lasted a couple of minutes, but by the time Gadreel finished playing, tens of people had gathered around to listen.


    Gadreel looked at the guitar with an expression that maybe looked like it had substance, but really it was empty. Then he lifted his head, and a round of applause resounded.


    "That was beautiful," the young man said in awe.


    "Not as beautiful as it once was," Gadreel said without turning his gaze.


    He stood up with a charming smile and bowed to the audience before handing the guitar back to the young man.


    "Didn''t you buy it?" the young man asked.


    "I did, and now I''m donating it back to you," he said, letting go of the guitar and walking away into the crowd.

 Chapter 27: Half-Motionless

    The final step was missing. Aurelius tried to follow through, but it was just out of his reach. He couldn''t complete the motionless magic. Well, at least he now had Balgair''s mini-supply technique down. The guy was a surprisingly good teacher and had left instructions for Aurelius in his notebook before they separated.


    He stood up and looked down from the cliff he had sat on. He took his bag off the ground and dug out his notebook. He opened it and took hold of the pen that was attached to it. Then he crossed another number out of the chart he had made. 42. It was the 42nd day that he was in the Thropes. It had been about 2 months since he learned about motionless magic and materialization from Cade. Practicing wasn''t going so well.


    He did still have 138 days left in the Thropes. During that time, he needed to learn how to use motionless magic with reinforcement and maybe with muscular enhancement as well. In addition, he wanted to be able to make a stable blade and platform with materialization before he left. Those two were necessary for him to learn, and they were supposed to be fairly simple. He just hadn''t had much time to practice them yet.


    He scrolled through the notebook thoughtlessly. Something caught his eye. Instinct. The word instinct. A quote from Gabriel again. There was probably more Gabriel than Aurelius in the notebook. Well, it was given to him by Gabriel, so it made some sense. Aurelius didn''t have much on his mind and decided to just read the text.


    ''You have good instincts like your father. You know, he trained all of us in the Elite Troop. He also had a hand in the selection process for the Elite Troop. I once heard someone ask him a question about how he managed to pick out such talented individuals. He answered that it was through instinct. Apparently, he just looked at us with those surgeon''s eyes and saw straightaway the potential we had, or, in other words, the danger we posed. No matter the strength, there are secrets in the mind that decide our battles. People fall into two categories. Hunters and prey. You might think that all soldiers are hunters, but that''s not necessarily true. Some soldiers should be civilians, and some civilians should be hunters. There are strong prey as well as weak hunters.''


    Aurelius rubbed his eyes and skipped over some text.


    ''...so be aware of the instincts you have and control them instead of letting them control you. Instincts can help to defend against a surprise attack, but they can also lead to accidentally hurting someone.''


    Aurelius exhaled, closed the notebook and put it back into his bag. Then he walked closer to the cliff. It was a fine place to practice.


    There was a straight-down drop off the cliff that stretched tens of meters. Aurelius raised his gaze. Ahead, there was nothing but forest. It went as far as the eye could see, all the way to the tiny spot on the horizon where the sun was rising.


    It would be a beautiful day.


    Aurelius smiled, stood up straight, and took one more step to the pointy edge of the cliff. Then the rock beneath his feet broke loose. It slid down diagonally, so quickly that Aurelius couldn''t catch himself and was just bumped by the cliff, falling backward onto the ground.


    Aurelius grasped at air with his mouth open in a silent scream before he realized he''d have to brace for the fall. He maneuvered his body in the air to face the ground, which was closer than he had expected. In a panic, he brought his arms forth, but before he could interlock his hands, the reinforcement was already complete.


    Aurelius tumbled through leaves and branches before he made it to the ground. It was an uncomfortable experience. He was more worried about his clothes, but they were the ones he had bought with Balgair, and Balgair really seemed to know quality clothes. Perhaps he helped Aurelius only to waste Cade''s money, but that was beside the point.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    When he came to the ground and dusted off his clothes, he processed what he had just experienced. He wasn''t sure if it had just happened or not. Did he complete the reinforcement motionlessly or not? His hands had been interlocked, but did it happen before that, or did he just imagine it?


    Then he relaxed, closed his eyes, and tried again. He imagined performing the setup, and fooled his senses enough to get the essence flowing, but he couldn''t quite get the essence to realize what it was supposed to do. If speaking in terms of giving orders, Aurelius stumbled over his words enough so that the essence didn''t know what he was trying to say.


    Aurelius then began to walk toward the cliff. When he was right under the place he had fallen from, he enhanced his whole body briefly. He jumped and grabbed onto cavities in the cliff and proceeded to repeat the process until he made it to the top.


    He then situated his bag a bit farther from the edge. His body could take the fall, but he wasn''t sure if the same applied to his belongings.


    After putting his bag down, he went to sit at the edge of the cliff again.


    That was when a screeching sound resounded in his ears. His body shook, and a memory emerged.


    The cursed beast rammed into him before he could interlock his fingers, but it was already done. His reinforcement had already kicked in.


    Aurelius'' eyes went wide as a large bird flew overhead. ''It was the same then. What I did just now. I did it out of instinct back then. That word. Instinct. It really was powerful. It had made something otherwise impossible for him at that time into something he could grasp in the heat of the moment without fundamental understanding. He had to learn how to control it, like Gabriel said. Then he could go above and beyond his imagination.''


    Aurelius looked at his arms and quickly neared them, intending to interlock them, but stopping before they could touch. He closed his eyes and carried the setup further in his mind. He imagined the sensation of his hands touching, interlocking, and squeezing. Then his muscles suddenly burst with energy and hugged his bones, which felt like diamonds inserted into his body.


    He opened his eyes with possibly the widest smile he''d ever had. ''It''s half-motionless magic! That shouldn''t be possible, should it? It mixed all the fundamentals up. The beginning movement of the setup that the body recognizes spurs the essence flow, giving the necessary boost for the rest to be carried out in the mind.''


    Aurelius laughed like a maniac. He truly was only one step from the real thing. It wouldn''t be long before he would grasp true motionlessness. And when the half-year was up, he would be able to utilize it in battle.


    ***


    On the dawn of the 44th day, in a large town dedicated to the poor but not so poor as well as the rich but not so rich, Balgair sat on the top of a gray apartment building made out of uneven bricks. He hung his feet off the ledge as he ashed his cigarette onto the streets below, where people were starting to go to work.


    The town was called Wescaster. There was really nothing special about it, really. Except for the fact that there was no Numen branch there or even close to there. And Numen branches were all over. They were everywhere. Everybody and their grandpa probably walked by a Numen member on a daily basis.


    Now there were only about ten branches of Numen that had real power. The kind you could contend against an army or destroy a city with. However, small branches with fifteen or so members were in every single place where crime happened. Which means absolutely every place that more than one human resides in. All places except this. This little shit called Wescaster. The place where Balgair spent his early teenage years, and the home to the single gang of criminals that had gone against Numen and survived. Now, they would be destroyed eventually in the future, but Balgair was just going to move that eventuality up on the timeline.


    Balgair smiled as he swung his feet. ''I wonder, Laen. Do you believe in fate? I''m starting to.'' Balgair took his cigarette and shoved it head first into the pile that lay next to him that contained somewhere between five and ten cigarettes. Who kept count?


    He looked up, his smile growing as the sun illuminated all below it. ''You really should''ve killed me. No, no, no. You knew. You knew I would come back. You wished I would. Well, I''m here now. And you will regret.''

 Chapter 28: The Evaporation Squadron

    "Right on time as always," Gadreel said with a brief raise of a hand as the door to the main hall of his castle opened and 20 or so men walked in.


    The men seemed to all be in the 30¨C50 age range, and each one carried the air of a veteran. They wore tidy black uniforms that had a target circle right above their hearts.


    "Thank you for allowing us this visit," the man at the head of the group said with a nod.


    Gadreel crossed his legs as he sat on the throne of gold and silver that was set on an elevated platform at the end of the room. "Of course. Now what can I do for you, Izir?"


    Izir was one of the youngest in the entire troop, but his presence weighed the most out of anyone in the troop by far. He had short and neat black hair as well as a prominent jawline, and his dark skin matched his eyes to a tee. "Oh, I expect you knew what it was I wanted before I even requested to see you."


    Gadreel leaned his cheek into his palm and smiled faintly. "Have I ever told you how fitting I think your name is? Izir. It''s so sharp, as are you."


    Izir lowered his chin but kept his dark gaze on Gadreel. He looked at Gadreel''s forehead like he was ready to put a spike through it. Sherridan appeared by Gadreel''s side that second. Next five figures, wearing black masks and hoods, came out of hiding. They were called the Five Shadows. A lazy name, in Gadreel''s humble opinion, but they were of the utmost competence. They situated themselves in front of the stairs that led up to the throne''s platform, standing between Izir and Gadreel.


    Gadreel stood up and raised his hands. "I apologize for my personality. I should take this more seriously."


    "I don''t want to fight you, nor do I want to interfere with your plans," Izir as he slowly made his way forward, leaving his troops behind. "But you owe me a debt, Gadreel. I suppose it is time for you to pay."


    Gadreel made his way down, but the leader of the Five Shadows stopped between him and Izir. Gadreel tapped on his shoulder. "Move," he said, and the masked man peered into his eyes for a moment before peering into those of Izir and stepping back.


    Gadreel and Izir stepped forward, and stood within hand''s reach of one another. Izir was a head taller and had a lean but muscular frame with round shoulders that made Gadreel look somewhat like a child.


    "You know, you could kill me here and now, and just get what you want without problems," Gadreel said, poking the target circle symbol on Izir''s chest.


    Izir raised his chin and breathed deeply. "Could I? Or would you do to me what you did to William?"


    "But you''re stronger than William," Gadreel said, leaning his head back a bit.


    "And William was stronger than you. That doesn''t change what I saw that day," Izir said, trying to meet Gadreel''s eyes. Gadreel, however, was too busy aiming his silver eyes elsewhere, looking around without a care in the world.


    Finally, he turned to Izir and smiled as he looked into his dark eyes. "Your heart seems to be beating faster than usual." Gadreel tilted his head, feigning worry. "Have you been smoking?"


    Izir pursed his lips. He clearly didn''t want to be in contact with Gadreel. But he wanted something so much that he had to come. Gadreel respected that.


    Gadreel''s expression turned serious. "Your words hold true. I do owe you. However, I have my own plans for the kid."


    Izir gritted his teeth. "This is all I want from you. You can''t deny me."


    Gadreel raised his brows. "I can''t? Sure, I can. And I am doing so at this very moment," he said, mockery lacing his words.


    Izir''s hands squeezed into fists. In the same, Sherridan was about to launch. Gadreel put out a hand, though, and Sherridan relaxed.


    Then Gadreel laid his hand on Izir''s shoulder briefly. "Don''t worry, friend. I will fit you into my plans."


    "I have to be the one who kills him," Izir demanded.


    "And I will give you the opportunity to do so. I just won''t give it now."


    "When?"


    "When it is time." Gadreel said with a slow nod.


    "I won''t wait more than a year."


    "It is up to me how long you wait," Gadreel said, sharpening his gaze. "Go after him before I give you permission, and I will have your Evaporation Squadron slaughtered before you even catch a glimpse of golden hair."


    Izir swallowed and exhaled. Then he extended his hand.


    Gadreel smiled and grasped his hand tightly. "I''m glad we could come to an agreement. Also, don''t worry about the kid dying before you get to him. Just worry about what you''ll do once you get to him."


    Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.


    Izir freed himself of Gadreel''s grasp. "Why are you giving him time?" Izir continued with an annoyed question.


    ''I thought we were done here already?'' Gadreel thought as he cracked his neck a little to soothe himself. Then he sharpened his gaze.


    "Why are you so hungry to kill an immature brat?" Gadreel asked in return. "Seek him out now, and you''ll deal with him, no problem. Is that what you want? Will it bring glory to your father''s memory if you kill the teenage son of Ares?"


    Izir sealed his lips and looked down.


    Gadreel looked down as well, an exaggeratedly baffled look on his face. "What? There''s no golden hair strand down there. Look at me and answer the question... Look at me!"


    Izir looked up and stepped closer, glaring straight into Gadreel''s eyes as he ground his teeth.


    Gadreel didn''t back away and instead leaned his head a bit forward, meeting Izir''s sharp gaze with a pair of calm, expectant eyes. He then articulated his question again. "Do you think it is better to kill him when he''s a pathetic imitation of his father, or when he''s grasped his potential?"


    "That could take decades!" Izir snapped.


    Gadreel shook his head while keeping his eyes steady. "It won''t. I''ll make sure of that. You have my word."


    Izir breathed, managing to calm himself a little.


    "That''s right. Breathe and think. I am giving you an ample opportunity for revenge, and you just whine. I promise to deliver you a battle that''ll honor your father, so thank me, shake my hand, and get out!"


    ***


    After the meeting was over, the Five Shadows were tasked with escorting the Evaporation Squadron. As soon as they made it out of the hall and the door closed behind them, the leader of the Shadows took his mask off, revealing a pale face and a head of blonde hair. He then looked at Izir who was beside him, and blinked his deep-green eyes a few times. "Good to see you, Izir."


    Izir nodded at the man and kept walking.


    "Come on, give your old pal even a few words."


    "Why did you leave the Evaporation Squadron to work for that guy, Leonardo?"


    "You know why," Leonardo answered. "I always wanted to lead, but ended up just being a co-leader. Then Gadreel offered me a leading position, and he didn''t ask you first."


    "He deliberately didn''t ask me first."


    Leonardo nodded. "Probably. The guy probably figured out my exact thinking process after our first meeting. He knew exactly what I wanted."


    "And you like that about him?"


    "I love that about him. He always puts on a show. I''ve never had as much excitement in my life as I''ve had while working under him."


    "That''s because he''s reckless."


    "What is recklessness to normal people is certainty to geniuses. And he''s a genius among geniuses."


    Izir snorted and shook his head.


    Leonardo shrugged. "Say what you want, but you know it''s true. He''s one of a kind. I''ve never seen anyone rag on you like that. It was hilarious."


    "Shut up," Izir spat with narrow eyes. "You were tense as hell the whole time."


    "No, I wasn''t. I knew you wouldn''t touch him."


    "Yeah, right. You would''ve stopped me if I did?"


    "Sherridan would''ve."


    Izir tilted his head slightly. "I''ve seen her fight. She''s just really fast. I could handle her."


    "She may not be particularly strong, but she can decapitate you before you realize that she''s in the same space as you. There''s no chance you could handle her," Leonardo said with a laugh before turning to Izir as they made it to the gate. "It was good to see you. And don''t worry. Gadreel always keeps his promises. You will get your chance. You have my word on that as well."


    Izir nodded and shook Leonardo''s hand. "Thank you. I''ll make the most of that chance."


    Leonardo smiled. "I know you will. Be patient. I would hate to have to kill you."


    "You think you''d be able to?"


    "I don''t know, but if Gadreel wanted you dead, you''d die for sure. You bore witness to his overtaking, the same as I did. You know what he''s capable of."


    Izir sighed. He didn''t want to remember that time. It was all chaos for everyone except for one person. And they way it ended. The duel. It was a sight from which one wanted to look away but couldn''t, for it was the truth. The truth presented by the devil himself.

 Chapter 29: Revelation

    At sundown, the door to Aleyah''s home opened, and a woman in a thin black trench coat walked in. The woman had ash-brown hair that stopped at the middle of her neck and was cut into bangs on the front.


    "Cade?" Someone poked her head out of the kitchen.


    Cade took her shoes off before turning her head to the right and nodding. "Aleyah, good to see you."


    "You''ve grown your hair!"


    Cade rubbed some of the lower parts of her hair. "Think it looks fine?"


    "It looks great. How did you grow it so fast?"


    "Have you checked your calendar? It''s been three months."


    "You''ve been gone for that long?" Aleyah scratched her head. "Seems I''ve been drowning in my work." She waved her hand. "Well, don''t just stand there. I''ll make some tea."


    Cade took her trench coat off and laid it on the railing beside the stairs before entering the kitchen, where Aleyah lit a few candles.


    "How long do you plan on growing your hair?"


    "Is that all you have to ask after three months?"


    Aleyah looked at Cade with her mouth open as if insulted to her core. "I''m making small talk. What do you want me to ask? ''Hey, Cade, how''s the killin''?'' ''You done a lot of killin'' lately?''" Aleyah demonstrated a few serious questions with a deep voice.


    "Ha ha," Cade said monotonously as she sat down with an exasperated sigh. "You know my personality is more than just killing, right?"


    Aleyah put a spoon in her mouth while she worked on the tea. "Is it now? News to me."


    "Tch." Cade shook her head. "I''m not going to grow my hair, just so you know. I''m cutting it when Aurelius gets back."


    Aleyah put a spoonful of something into the teapot and froze. "Cade," she said, turning to Cade while seemingly on the verge of ripping her eyes out, "you''re going to be single forever."


    Cade sighed. "So be it. I can''t fight with long hair. It limits my vision and will probably get me killed."


    "At least you won''t die a virgin," Aleyah said with a shrug. "All I''m saying."


    "Yeah, well, fuck it."


    "Oh, come on." Aleyah took a seat at the table. "I know you want that sexy golden lion."


    Cade inhaled deeply before a light-blue dagger appeared in her hand. She then spun it in her fingers like the greatest circus performer in history before pointing it at Aleyah. "I know we''re best friends and all, but I will carve out your vocal cords if the words ''sexy golden lion'' even slip out of that hole in your face ever again."


    Aleyah burst into a fit of laughter, almost falling from her chair. "I''m sorry. I went too far. But you do like him, right?"


    Cade continued fiddling with the knife in her hand. "He''s three years younger than me. Doesn''t know really anything about really anything and has the linguistic skills of a 7-year-old."


    "And he killed the enhancer-boosted head guard of the Boerlow family by shoving his hand through him... at 16."


    "He''s just obsessed with essence. That''s really the only redeeming quality he has when it comes to living in this world of ours." This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    "But you''d like for him to be obsessed with¡ª"


    Cade pointed the knife at Aleyah and she quieted down. For a while.


    "So what do you know about him? You talked a lot while traveling together, right?"


    "As I said, he''s obsessed with essence. When we talked, it was about motionless magic, materialization, and really nothing else."


    "Geez, must''ve been fun." Aleyah seemed to remember something and put up a finger. "Oh, but he must''ve freaked out after finding out you were a girl all along, right?"


    Cade pursed her lips and sighed. "Not really, no. He just wanted to talk about essence," Cade explained.


    Aleyah''s mouth went wide before she burst into laughter. She laughed and laughed and looked at Cade''s serious expression before laughing some more. "Just your luck."


    Eventually, Cade just shrugged. "Still, it was more fun than with the mercenaries, for sure. Having to watch those animals, knowing I shouldn''t kill them yet, was probably the least fun I''ve had during my entire life."


    "Why did you go undercover, then? I told you it was stupid. You should''ve just gone and established your dominance," Aleyah said, puffing out her chest with a comical expression.


    "Doesn''t work. Not on mercenaries, at least. I could kill the entire troop, and the last one alive still wouldn''t admit to being inferior to a woman," Cade said with a light laugh. "The prehistoric days without essence seem to be ingrained so deeply into their brains that it has become a permanent part of their personalities. Can''t believe some women actually consented to produce more people into this world with the ancestors of those people."


    Aleyah cast his gaze down. "Probably didn''t."


    Cade exhaled through her nose. "Right, well, those people are gone now."


    "Good," Aleyah said and went to check the tea. "But do you really not know anything about that companion of yours?"


    Cade scratched her head. "Well, Balgair said something about him being a royal. But Aurelius denied that."


    Aleyah took a few mugs out of a cabinet and started pouring the tea. "Oh, I''ve heard something similar. Apparently, in the Great Zalfarian Empire, everyone in the royal family has golden hair and isn''t able to grow facial hair. And that goes for everyone with the same blood. Like the genes are so dominant that no matter who your other parent is, you''ll have golden hair and blue eyes. A bunch of bullshit if you ask me," she said, bringing two cups of tea to the table.


    Cade let the knife disappear and grasped the handle of her mug. "Huh? Why does everybody suddenly know so much about Zalfari? I literally didn''t even know about the whole country for most of my life."


    "Probably because of the war," Aleyah answered as she sipped her tea. "You know, Zalfari was the first country that managed to stop the Conqueror of the West. And Zalfari is smaller than Lundkirk. Do you know how insane that is? The Conqueror of the West is the greatest general in history, and Zalfari managed to negotiate a temporary truce."


    Cade sipped her tea and asked, "But wasn''t it because of internal issues?"


    Really, all she knew about Zalfari was that it was on the other side of the ocean, and they were about to lose a war against the Conqueror of the West.


    "Well, kind of. But that was only after ten thousand of the best soldiers in Lundkirk were slaughtered."


    "What?"


    "Yeah, they all died in some battle, and Lundkirk''s military took a massive hit that caused all kinds of problems. There were attempted revolutions and stuff, so the Conqueror of the West had to stop the war for a while."


    "How did they die?"


    "They say the God of War came down from the heavens to fight for Zalfari."


    Cade''s upper lip curled. "You''re joking, right?"


    "No, no, that''s actually what they say."


    "A god came down from the heavens? That''s your explanation?"


    "Well, the more realistic explanation is that some soldier named Ares killed all of them, and because he died, the Zalfarians couldn''t attack Lundkirk."


    "One man killed ten thousand?" You expect me to believe that?"


    "More believable than the God of War story, in my opinion."


    Cade swallowed a mouthful of tea and burped. "Do Zalfarian''s have anything else than myths?"


    "Probably not. Also, guess what? Rumor has it, that Ares, the soldier, not the mythological god, was the son of the Emperor and the greatest female soldier in Zalfari. What''s next? The Conqueror of the West is the son of the best board game strategist in the world?"


    Aleyah laughed at her own poor jokes as Cade''s mind swirled with thoughts.


    ''Golden-haired. Zalfarian royal. Son of the Emperor. Extremely talented. Had a capable teacher in the Thropes. "Who is the strongest person in history, you know?" Aurelius asked. Balgair joined immediately after hearing about his story. "You''d find out something interesting if you read a book," Balgair said.''


    Cade''s hand went loose, and her mug dropped. It clanked against the table before jumping onto the floor and shattering into a million pieces, letting the remaining tea flow all over the ground.


    Cade buried her face in her hands. ''I''m an idiot.''


    "Cade, what''s wrong?" Aleyah asked, startled by the mug shattering.


    "Aurelius," Cade said as she exasperatedly sat up straight and put her gaze on the roof, "he''s the son of Ares."

 Chapter 30: A New Year

    It was getting colder. The winter in the south was mild when compared to the ones Aurelius was used to, though. It snowed a little on some days, but not enough to even cover the ground fully.


    It was Aurelius'' 153rd day in the Thropes. More importantly than that, though, was that a new year had begun and Aurelius had become 17 years old. And, as per tradition, he spent the whole day writing.


    He listed the things he had done, highlighting the parts he was proud of and the parts that brought him shame. Usually, those two were balanced, and so were they this year as well.


    He had killed a man, but he had learned about motionless magic and now had a firm grasp on it. He had stolen a fortune from a man he didn''t know, but he had made new friends, and he thought he''d had a positive effect on Balgair. Furthermore, he had also left his mother without a word, but he had started a plan that would eventually help millions.


    He didn''t want to do anything bad, but it was the price he had to pay. He could do no good deeds if he was too afraid of doing some bad. That was what he had learned. No more being depressed over stupid stuff. He had to be efficient. In order to help, he had to sacrifice parts of himself. But that was what being a hero meant.


    Aurelius sat in the air on a light blue ethereal box that blocked out wind. And gave him calm. No sound made it through. It was that soundproof feature that the cursed beast had used against him. Cade had said it was possible to let sound through if one was a good enough manipulator. You really could do anything with materialization.


    Aurelius closed his eyes and concentrated. Then reinforcement snapped on. Next, he put his focus on muscular enhancement. Then his senses.


    He opened his eyes with reinforcement, double enhancement, and materialization all at the same time. He could feel the box shaking. He could maintain it all for maybe 30 seconds if he stayed still and concentrated. If he pushed through that amount of time, it would all fall apart, and he may fall without managing to reinforce in time. The fact that Cade could do all of it while fighting and keep it up for multiple minutes was beyond amazing.


    She really was something.


    Aurelius smiled and exhaled before relaxing. In the same, reinforcement and both enhancements ended their functions.


    Motionless magic still felt foreign. He had been using setups for years, but now they were wholly irrelevant. It was like an accessory had been stolen. Like a part of his life was gone.


    But another part had come to replace it. He had to remember that. A new part of his life had begun. That fact had finally sunk in. He no longer had family around him. Only his companions. He wasn''t bound to them by blood. In a sense, he was the most alone he had ever been. But that didn''t have to be a bad thing. He could develop much faster alone. And that is what he would do.


    He would evolve.


    ***


    The 180th day had come, and Aurelius left the Thropes. He would probably not return to the Thropes again for a long time.


    On his travels, he wore a piece of black cloth wrapped around his head and a straw hat on top of it, which he traded for one silver coin. It was a good deal, in his opinion.


    It took him longer than expected to find Aleyah''s home by himself. He wasn''t the best at reading maps or taking directional instructions, so he was used to kind of just following Cade around. She always seemed to know where she was going.


    When he finally found Aleyah''s house, he walked up to it and was about to knock when the door opened and Cade showed herself. Her hair was long. It went all the way to her shoulders, and those short, clipped hairs on her forehead somehow seemed to accentuate her soft features.


    Balgair hadn''t changed a bit, though. He poked his head from behind Cade before she got a word out and practically yelled, "You see that, Goldilocks? Boy-looking girl is girl-looking girl now. She actually looks good, too. I wouldn''t believe it if she wasn''t standing right in front of me."


    Cade''s eyes narrowed. "You''re late." It seemed she hadn''t enjoyed her time alone with Balgair.


    Aurelius adjusted his hat with a wide smile. "It''s good to see you, Cade." He put a hand up and looked at Balgair. "And you, Balgair." Cade didn''t move out of the way. "Can I come in?"


    Cade sighed and walked away from the door, heading straight to the kitchen. "There''s food."


    If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    "What food?" Aurelius asked as he removed his shoes.


    "Potatoes and steak."


    "What steak?"


    "I don''t know," Cade said exasperatedly. "Eat or don''t eat. I don''t care."


    Aurelius looked at Balgair with a worried look. This wasn''t just Cade''s regular attitude. Something was wrong. Was she mad that he didn''t take her with him?


    He took off the cloth wrapped around his head, prompting a stifled laugh from Balgair. "You really need a haircut, man."


    "That''s kind of hard these days," Aurelius said, his face twisted with a hint of comedy.


    "I can cut it if you want to," Balgair offered with a hand out. "I cut my own hair."


    "Ah, thanks," Aurelius said with a brief smile before turning to go into the kitchen.


    "Oh, about her." Balgair leaned on the handrail next to the stairs and nodded towards the kitchen. "She''s mad you didn''t tell her who you are."


    "Who I am? What..."


    Balgair''s eyebrows went up as he nodded. "Uh huh. We both know you''re the son of Ares."


    Aurelius face dropped. "How long¡ª"


    "¡ªhave we known?" Balgair finished for him. "Me?" He pointed at himself. "I realized on the day we met." Then he pointed to the kitchen. "Slowpoke over there realized while you were gone."


    Aurelius rubbed his forehead and walked into the kitchen. He sat down on the kitchen table, where Cade was shoveling food into her mouth. "Cade, I''m sorry. When I was young, Gabriel told me I shouldn''t tell anyone. It was better if nobody knew."


    Cade looked up with a mouth full of food and chewed for a good half a minute before saying, "I''m not mad you didn''t tell me." He looked at Balgair who stood, leaning on the wall of the kitchen entrance. "I''m mad I didn''t realize it when this prick did."


    Aurelius looked at both of them before bursting into laughter.


    "You''re as lively as ever," Cade remarked.


    "Sorry," Aurelius said, wiping at his nose. "I just missed you guys."


    ***


    They shared a meal while sharing their experiences. Aurelius told them about his discoveries, like half-motionless magic and other advancements of his. Cade talked about how she spread the gold to poor communities all over Mircrest in untraceable amounts. Apparently, she had done it under the name Deity. When asked about the name, Cade just rambled on about some stuff Aurelius didn''t quite comprehend. The main point was that they needed a mythical presence that the people would cling on to. That was how they could make their existence known to the powers in Mircrest that were against Numen. Such was the way they intended on altering the power balance of the entire country.


    Balgair didn''t seem to be impressed.


    Then it was his turn to share. The room got more serious.


    "You know the Boeria branch''s location?" Aurelius asked.


    Balgair nodded. "Yeah, it''s hidden in a nightclub."


    "How will we get there unnoticed?" Cade asked.


    "We could just kick a wall down. Or then we go in at daytime because, you know... it''s a nightclub."


    Cade scratched her cheek. "You sure we''ll get that to work?"


    Balgair waved a hand. "Just trust me. I''ll get it to work. My ass is on the line the same as yours."


    Cade gave a mini-shrug mixed with a nod and shifted the topic of conversation. "So about the gang of criminals, you figured out their current patterns and made up a plan."


    Balgair leaned his head back slightly. "I''ve got things figured out; don''t worry."


    "How will we do it?" Aurelius asked, despite Balgair''s notion.


    Balgair sighed. "The gang takes hostages once in a while, so a few of them stay behind to guard them during nights. We''ll have to wait for a chance that way."


    "Can''t we just grab them in the streets?" Cade asked. "A lot easier that way."


    "Well, if we do it like that, we''ll leave more evidence or witnesses that could nullify our framing efforts." Balgair raised a finger. "But if we do it in their base, there will be no one to see, and they will erase the evidence for us."


    "Alright," Cade said, putting her hand on the table before standing up. "That''s enough detail for now. Let''s all go to sleep now. We depart tomorrow morning."


    Aurelius smiled, happy to sleep in a familiar bed again and excited at the prospect of getting the bounty off his head.


    Balgair, on the other hand, had a grin on his face as he twirled and looked at his glass, his eyes shaded. Then he raised the glass and said, "To Wescaster."

 Chapter 31: Heavy Names

    A few days of traveling went by pretty quickly. Aurelius was no longer a stranger to all the troubles there were in constant traveling, and with Cade and Balgair, the trip had shaped up into something fun.


    However, what they were going to do weighed him down. It didn''t help that Cade and Balgair weren''t really the best people to talk to about it. They just scoffed at his remarks, as if the value of human life was an elaborate joke living in his mind.


    That''s why he sought some time alone at the docks of the city they were passing through. After he arrived at the place, he sat on the ledge and hung his feet while he looked down at the rippling water. Even when it didn''t feel like there was any wind, the water just had to keep moving.


    Then a foreign hand touched his shoulder. He hadn''t expected there to be anyone in this place at this time.


    He looked to his left and saw a man sit down beside him. The man was slim and wore clothes that seemed to be of really high quality. He had dark skin that was coupled with a large head of hair that was in a dome shape.


    "Yo, fine morning today, eh?" the man asked with a smirk.


    Aurelius looked back at the water. "Yeah, I guess."


    The man followed Aurelius'' gaze. "Mmm, so how did a lil boy like you get 1000 gold placed on his head by Numen?"


    Aurelius''s eyes widened, and he turned, ready to supply essence. He knew the underworld was present everywhere, but he had thought he could at least get a single moment of peace. Also, the piece of cloth was starting to put pressure on his hair, which was starting to get painful, so he removed it just this once. This was the consequence.


    The man raised his arms with the same smirk still on his face. "Hey, hey. I''m not here to try putting your head on a plate. Guessing by how long you''ve been wanted, many people a hell of a lot stronger than me have tried and failed."


    Aurelius relaxed his arms, realizing that if the man had been lying, he would have tried ambushing him instead of doing what he did. "Then why are you here?"


    The man tilted his head. "Can''t two people talk out of interest nowadays? I mean, you''ve got golden hair and baby blues, plus you''re wanted by a criminal organization. I''m just curious as to how a brother ends up like you."


    Aurelius chuckled a little and sighed. "I get it. But you''re gonna need to tell me something in response."


    "That''s my job, fella," the man said with a laugh.


    "That''s your job?"


    "That''s your first question?"


    Aurelius gave a nod.


    "Well, I''m an informant. I''m like a library for criminals. Pays good money, I assure you. And I don''t have to get my hands or feet dirty. Pretty nifty, am I right?"


    "Oh, that''s cool. You won''t sell my whereabouts, though, right?"


    "Of course not, you my guy," the man said, patting Aurelius on the back. "Now you gotta answer my question, though. How did you get yourself in trouble with Numen."


    "I stole thousands from a family that happened to have ties to Numen. You can probably guess the rest."


    "Damn, son. Where''d all that money go? You should go buy some new clothes with it or something."


    Aurelius looked down with a frown. The outfit Balgair had gotten him was working just fine. What was so bad about it?


    "Is that your second question?" Aurelius asked, looking at the man briefly.


    The man scoffed. "Forget it."


    "Oh, by the way, what''s with your hair?Seems a bit impractical to have a dome like that on your head. No offense."


    The man laughed a little before answering, "None taken. The hair serves its purpose. It hides my massive brain. You wouldn''t believe the intellect I''m hiding under there." The man gestured wildly with his hands.


    This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.


    "Pfft, yeah, yeah."


    "You don''t believe me?" the man questioned, sounding all serious.


    Aurelius raised his hand in a panic. "No, no. I believe."


    "Eh, just kidding. My mother liked to style it like this when I was little, so I kept it," the man said, chuckling as he shook Aurelius by his shoulder. "So what''s with your hair then? I''d say it''s even more peculiar than mine."


    Aurelius touched his hair. "Yeah, I guess you''re right about that. It''s from my father. Not much else I can tell you."


    "You''re from Zalfari?"


    "Why does everyone keep asking that?" Aurelius asked, remembering that Balgair assumed so as well.


    "Oh, you don''t know?" the man asked, with a tilt of his head. "That''s weird."


    "Well, what is it? Tell me."


    "Zalfarian royals are the only known people to have golden hair. And they''re exclusive about it, too. People in Mircrest probably don''t have much knowledge about things on the other side of the Great Ocean, but some may have heard of it."


    "You seem to know a lot about it, though."


    "Well, an informant''s supposed to be informed," the man said, tapping his head. "But I''m sorry to say, this isn''t really my expertise."


    "Well, is there anything else you can tell me?"


    "In exchange for?"


    "Well, what do you want to know?"


    "Where do you come from, how old are you, and who are you traveling with?"


    "I''m from the Thropes, I''m 16 years old. I can''t reveal who I''m traveling with, though. Ask something else."


    The man held up a hand. "No, that''s enough. You should''ve just said you were alone if you didn''t wanna tell who you were traveling with, though."


    Aurelius scratched his head.


    "But you''re from the Thropes? That''s... Wait, 16... Was it 18 years ago that... he disap..." The man leaned his head back and laughed. "Shit, that''s wild. Wow, like for real."


    "What?" Aurelius asked and impatiently pushed the man a bit to get him to say it.


    The man looked at Aurelius with a smirk. "You''re the son of the Zalfarian God of War."


    Aurelius'' face dropped. "What?"


    "Or the Hero of Zalfari. Whatever you wanna call him. Depends on what side you''re on."


    Aurelius gulped, and seeing his expression, the man only grew more sure of his theory.


    Aurelius stared blankly at the water. ''God of War?''


    The man''s expression grew more solemn as Aurelius stayed quiet for even longer. He then patted Aurelius on the back again before standing up. "I guess here''s a good point to stop our conversation."


    Aurelius turned and reached out a hand. "Wait, can''t you tell me more?"


    "Sorry, I really don''t know much. I''ve just read the few history books I''ve got my hands on and just managed to connect some dots. I''m not sure, though, so it''s probably best to go off of your own information."


    Aurelius put his hand down. "Ah okay. Can I get your name, though?"


    "Oh, I''m Damian. And you are?"


    "Aurelius."


    "Your father gave you that name?"


    "Yeah. How''d you know?"


    The man tapped his head again with the same smirk on his face.


    Aurelius chuckled.


    The man then turned and waved. "Well, see you around, Aurelius. Maybe come to Arkryk sometime; I got a nice place there."


    "Huh? Okay, alright. We''ll see, Damian," Aurelius said, watching as Damian''s figure got smaller and smaller before he turned the corner and disappeared from sight.


    Aurelius then turned back to the water. ''The God of War or the Hero? Depends on which side you''re on. Is it like that for me too? Do people see me as a monster?'' Aurelius thought, his hands interlocked and rubbing against each other in an effort to create some warmth.

 Chapter 32: The Man Himself (1)

    "Tell me, Aurelius. If someone killed your entire family, what would you do to that person?" Balgair asked briefly after they sat down in a mostly empty caf¨¦ for breakfast.


    Aurelius scratched at the cloth on his head with a dubious look. Then he looked toward Cade, who was sipping her tea peacefully, like she hadn''t just heard what Balgair said. She looked back at him.


    She was a hard person to read, but when she wanted to, she could communicate her emotions without words quite obviously. This time, her eyes seemed to say, "Do not get me involved."


    After the clear rejection, Aurelius turned back to Balgair, and with an expression twisted by uncomfortability, he answered, "I would kill him."


    "Yeah, of course, but how? You''d make it painful, right? Do what he did to your family times 100."


    "Eh, I don''t think that would be necessary. I''d just make sure he never hurt anyone again."


    Balgair sighed and threw out his hands. "You''re thinking too logically. Imagine the situation. Imagine the anger. It''s not just about who died. It''s about how," he said as he wrapped his fingers to form tight fists.


    Aurelius'' lips twitched slightly as he opened his mouth again. "So then what?"


    "Torture... You know, cut someone''s fingers, toes, limbs, and all that before they''re dead," Balgair said, relaxing his hands and pointing one open palm up, as if what he was saying was obvious.


    Aurelius grimaced and grabbed a hold of the table. "What? No! You can''t do that to a person."


    "I can''t?" Balgair laughed. "Sure, I can. Humans can do anything they can imagine to another person. The universe has no safeguard for such things. It could happen to your loved ones too."


    Aurelius grabbed Balgair''s hand that he was holding out. Balgair expression then proceeded to twist as Aurelius squeezed. "Stop talking," he hissed, his gaze firmer than anybody would''ve thought possible just roughly half a year ago.


    Balgair gritted his teeth, but didn''t make an effort to pull his hand back. Instead, he just tightened his hand and endured with an annoyed look on his face. "Face reality, Aurelius. It could happen to you. It doesn''t matter if you don''t want to think about it. So tell me, if someone you loved was tortured, would you not seek vengeance in the same form?"


    Aurelius huffed and let go of Balgair''s hand.


    "Come on." Balgair turned. "You understand me, right, Cade?"


    Cade shoved some scrambled eggs into her mouth and shook her head. After she got the eggs down, she then answered, "To me, it just sounds like you''re trying to get Aurelius'' validation. I don''t care who you so righteously tortured to death, but let it go. Stop bothering Aurelius with your mental health problems."


    Balgair let out a hmph as he turned back to his food and stayed silent.


    Aurelius crossed his arms and sat back, his eyes on the roof of the caf¨¦. What was Balgair''s intention? Seeking validation. Was Aurelius some sort of guru on morality to him? Someone whose words you could trust and take solace in if he validated your deeds.


    Aurelius sighed and did something akin to a long blink before saying, "Well, what would I do? I''d be angry, and I would hunt that person down. But beyond that, I don''t know." He looked at Balgair with a tilt of his head. "These things are impulse decisions, right. No one in their right mind would torture someone. It''s always overwhelming emotions. So if you''re trying to say it''s somehow right to do if everyone would do it¡ªeven me¡ªthen I would say that you''re just wrong because everybody doing something doesn''t mean it''s right."


    Balgair prepared a quick argument and said, "Yeah, but it''s about accepti¡ª"


    Aurelius raised a hand. "I''m not finished." He laid his hand flat on the table and leaned slightly forward, not sure what was going to come out of his mouth next, but somewhat knowing its core substance. "I know this quote. Yes, it''s from my notebook. It''s, uh... something like ''anything that deals with the word ''over'' is often negative, even if it doesn''t seem like it at first glance''. I don''t know if it''s exactly that, but you get it, right? Everything that goes over is not a good thing. Now, I''m not sure if I agree. Gabriel is a really reserved person, and he did say that his words were flawed, and I should think things through myself. I''ve been seeing that lately, too. But I think doing something simply because you''re overwhelmed with emotions is never the best possibility. Especially when the emotion is something as negative as anger. So what I think would be the thing to do is just think about what the person harmed would want. Would a loved one want for her... or him to be revenged in such a gory way, costing the one who loved them their sanity, purity, and humanity?"


    Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.


    Balgair leaned his head into his hands limply and scratched at his scalp. "Geez. How do you sound so idiotic and wise at the same time?" Balgair then squinted and shook his head. Aurelius thought he recognized the emotion as dissatisfaction.


    Aurelius was slightly amused by Balgair''s comment, but didn''t take the time to chuckle or laugh. "I''m not really..."


    "Hey, it''s good to have these conversations sometimes, but please... I''m having breakfast right now," Cade cut in after Aurelius'' words faded. "Can you talk about the morality of torture some other time?"


    "You want to just sit here quietly?" Balgair asked as he twirled with the mug in his hand.


    Cade tilted his head and asked, "Would that be so bad?"


    Balgair clicked his tongue and turned his attention to his food.


    Then Aurelius remembered something he''d been meaning to ask. "Hey, about the kidna¡ª"


    Both Cade''s and Balgair''s eyes went open as they shushed him. Aurelius'' lips parted to reveal his clenched teeth as his brows flew up. "Sorry," he whispered as he looked around. There weren''t many people close to them, but as he sat with his back toward the path to the exit, he could never be sure.


    Aurelius cleared his throat before rephrasing his question. "I have a question about the thing we''re going to do. The two people. If they are postered, you know. Wouldn''t that make it apparent to the other bad people that the thing we do is not real?"


    It was tricky trying to ask in a caf¨¦ if the people they kidnapped were going to get reported, so that their framing effort would be figured out after they planted the false evidence at the sight of a branch of a country-wide criminal organization that they would destroy.


    Cade and Balgair didn''t listen to half of it, though, as their attentions were drawn to the door of the caf¨¦ while Aurelius was posing his question. Their eyes then followed something as if they were in a trance.


    Aurelius didn''t care to look. He was just annoyed. "Hey, did you hear me?"


    Cade and Balgair snapped out of it, and as they didn''t seem to know what Aurelius had said, he repeated himself.


    Balgair''s face fell. "Aurelius, come on. Do you think the bad guys are going to report to the authorities? Or to anyone for that matter? Why? Why would they do that? And before you ask your next question, no, they will not be able to convince the other bad guys it wasn''t them. It''s not like they can just say, ''oh, no, it wasn''t us. The guys you found at the scene actually just disappeared a while ago.''"


    Aurelius scratched his head with a light laugh. That was going to be his next question. But now he felt relieved. Balgair and Cade were super smart. They had it under control. Aurelius rested his hands on his head and leaned back to gaze at the roof.


    Then someone walking to the door bumped into him and there was a splashing sound as coffee slapped the floor.


    Aurelius turned to a man hissing in pain as he rushed to lower the coffee mug in his hand onto a nearby table. "I''m so sorry. This is my fault," Aurelius said with his hands in front of him as he grabbed napkins and shoved them into the man''s hand that had hot coffee all over it.


    "No, no, this is my own doing. I''m so clumsy. You''re not to blame," the man said as he wiped the coffee off of his hand. He wore simple black and white clothing that didn''t attract much attention, but even if he would''ve worn brighter ones, surely all the attention would have still gone to his face.


    Aurelius couldn''t help but to notice the piercing marks on his ears and the lack of earrings, as well as a single long, fine scar that ran through the man''s face. The scar went diagonally from the left side of his forehead to the right corner of his mouth. From the look of it, the cut had been quite deep and very precise. Carefully made, even.


    "Please let me buy you a new coffee as compensation. That''s the least I can do." Aurelius said, quickly glancing at Cade and Balgair who had unreadable expressions, wary gazes, and tense postures for some reason. Then he looked back to the man. "You can sit here with us while we wait for the order."


    The man looked up at Aurelius with his light-silver eyes that were slightly covered by straight auburn hair that flowed down freely. Then, with a wide smile on his face, he said, "Oh, I would love that."

 Chapter 33: The Man Himself (2)

    Balgair''s mouth went dry, and his heart thumped as he watched the foreign man casually converse with Aurelius before sitting down at their table. ''Why am I...?'' he thought, but he couldn''t pinpoint what it was that he felt.


    For just a second, the foreign man locked eyes with Balgair and smiled faintly before nodding as a greeting. Balgair nodded back twice with inexplicable urgency and zero thought.


    It felt like at any second, the room might explode into chaos.


    "Just wait here; I''ll go order," Aurelius said, prompting the man to avert his eyes.


    Cade raised a hand. "No, I can go."


    Was she feeling the same as Balgair? Or maybe she was just not feeling social. That''s right. Balgair was imagining it all. The scarface in front of him was harmless. He wasn''t a bounty hunter, for sure. Aurelius had his hair hidden. No way some bounty hunter would coincidentally bump into them and be able to tell from just the eyes. Besides, it was three against one. Nothing to be nervous about.


    Aurelius nodded and sat down next to the scarface who then commented, laying a hand on his bare neck briefly with his eyes squinted in a friendly manner, "You have very nice friends."


    "Thanks." Aurelius smiled brightly as ever, despite the weird physical contact. He probably thought of it as a cultural thing. Balgair knew that it wasn''t.


    Aurelius'' brows furrowed as he looked down and seemed to concentrate on something separate from the conversation. It took a few seconds before Aurelius got back to reality and raised his head, and when he did, the scarface twitched. A faint smile appeared on his lips, but it disappeared so quickly that it seemed like just a twitch of his facial muscles.


    The scarface then leaned back loosely on his chair and glanced at Balgair again before asking, "So, what are kids like you doing on your own?"


    Balgair opened his mouth to speak, but only something high-pitched came out, prompting the man to smile bemusedly. Balgair cleared his throat and asked with a hint of annoyance, "Kids? You''re probably like three years older than us. Keep it in your pants, oh great senior."


    "Hey, show some respect," Aurelius let out a slight snarl.


    The scarface laughed. "Are you siblings?"


    Aurelius was about to speak when Balgair took the opportunity. "Yeah, he''s my little brother."


    "Are you sure you''re not the little brother?" the scarface asked with a curious tilt of his head.


    Balgair was starting to get over his initial feeling already. But no, he couldn''t. He was supposed to listen to his instincts. The scarface reminded him of Laen. Same good looks and charisma. But amplified to the max. His kind were always the worst monsters. The kind that lured you in with a shapeless touch and ripped out your throat when you relaxed.


    Aurelius laughed and switched the topic. "Uh, by the way, do you mind if I ask..." He touched his face.


    "Oh, my scar?" the scarface said, turning his gaze and lifting his auburn hair. "It''s from an old friend. We had a little scuffle a few years back."


    "Must''ve been quite the scuffle for him to slice up your face like that." Balgair said with a firm gaze.


    "Oh, it was," the scarface said with a relaxed smile and lowered his hands to his sides. "He was always much stronger than me."


    "Was?" Aurelius asked.


    "He unfortunately passed a while ago."


    "Oh, my condolences."


    The scarface flicked his wrist. "Don''t worry, he had a fitting death. And I made sure to it that he was buried properly."


    "You wealthy?" Balgair asked.


    "Excuse me?"


    "You mentioned a proper burial. That''s something wealthy people say. What house are you from?"


    The scarface waved a hand. "A small house, I''m afraid. You wouldn''t know it."


    The ends of Balgair''s mouth curved up slightly as he said, "Oh, I''m a pretty knowledgeable guy."


    The scarface turned his face to the side a little, facing away from Aurelius. Then his expression and something behind his eyes changed, sending shivers through Balgair''s body. "Are you now?"


    If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    ''He''s... worse than Laen. I know it. This guy''s abhorrent,'' Balgair said as his side eyes started to get watery from staring right into the scarface''s eyes.


    The scarface''s expression changed in an instant, though, as he turned for Aurelius to see his expression again. "No, but I''m no longer in touch with my family in any case, so I can''t really claim my house. That said, I do admire my father. I''m fine being simply a rather affluent wanderer, however."


    Aurelius smiled even more brightly than before and asked, "What are you looking for?"


    "Interesting things. The world is full of them. All waiting to be discovered. I realized that at a certain point in my life and decided to seek all those things out," the scarface explained. Balgair could usually tell lies apart from the truth just by the feel of how they sounded to his ears, not to mention reading body language. But this person. His words had no sound. His body language didn''t seem to have any substance relating to the inner workings of his mind, as if the being controlling movement was separate from the one producing speech. It was all a jumbled mess. The clues got mixed up, and signals were thrown all around. The man made large gestures like an innocent little child while averting eye contact like a guilty teenager caught red-handed. The scarface could have been telling the truth, lying, or doing whatever third option existed in the realm of possibility, and Balgair could not tell at all. He was unreadable, like a book with the letters of every word upside-down and disorganized. "I also make a point of helping all the people I can, since my wealth really means nothing in my pockets."


    Aurelius laughed. "We''re pretty similar, you and I."


    "That''s nice to hear that I''m not alone." The scarface said with a light chuckle of his own.


    "Oh, but what kind of interesting things are you looking for?"


    The scarface smiled and pointed at Aurelius. "Things like you."


    Balgair got ready, and Aurelius leaned back with caution. "What do you mean?"


    The scarface scratched his head. "Oh, I don''t know. You just seem special. I don''t encounter much niceness anywhere, but you just seem to radiate this warmth. It''s like you''re the definition of a good person. It''s special people like you that I look for. You are very interesting to me."


    Balgair was still on guard, but Aurelius seemed to relax. He scratched his head with a slightly uncomfortable-looking smile. "Oh, haha. Thanks, I guess. I don''t really know if you''re right about that, though."


    "I''m sure I am," the scarface said, right as Cade came back to hand him a new coffee. "Thank you, dear," the scarface said, but Cade remained wordless.


    ''Took long enough. No wonder this place is so empty when the service is so slow,'' Balgair thought. He''d already had enough of the scarface a while ago.


    The scarface then turned to Aurelius. "Well, I''ll be going now. It was a pleasure to meet you." He extended his hand.


    Aurelius took his hand and shook it with a relaxed smile. "The pleasure was all mine. And sorry again. My name is Aurelius, by the way. I hope we meet again."


    "Oh, I''m sure we will. Fate works in funny ways." The scarface stood and bowed slightly. "And you can call me William."


    Then the man was gone. Balgair could finally let out a deep exhale and relax.


    "Uh, hey, Balgair," Aurelius said.


    "Huh, yeah, what is it?" Balgair redirected his attention, a plethora of possibilities running through his mind.


    "When that guy touched me, my essence flow got weird," Aurelius explained. "You think that''s normal."


    Balgair gulped and remained silent for a bit before laughing it off. "Maybe it was just your body''s reaction to you catching feelings for the guy. I don''t blame you, though. He was real pretty."


    Aurelius seemed to be contaminated by Balgair''s nonchalance and laughed as well. "Yeah, it was probably just my imagination."


    Cade also seemed to ponder the matter, but didn''t engage in the conversation. Balgair pushed the whole thing out of his mind as well. Whatever Kind of fucked-up trouble Aurelius was in wouldn''t be any of his concern for long, anyways.

 Chapter 34: Everyone Is Envious

    Sherridan heaved a sigh and shook her head as she walked the streets of Wescaster in a wig and common clothes alongside her whimsical little prince. "Please tell me there was a point to that."


    Gadreel spun the pencil in his hand as he kept his gaze on the piece of paper that lay on a small drawing board in his grip. On the paper, there was a terrifically accurate portrayal of the Aurelius kid. Sherridan hadn''t known Gadreel could draw, but of course he could.


    Gadreel let out a slight chuckle before answering. "Of course, there was a point. Everything I do has a point."


    "Yeah, right," Sherridan murmured while memories of Gadreel''s past actions popped up.


    "No, no. Seriously," Gadreel said as he kept drawing. "I wanted to get a good look at him. And I needed to exchange a couple of words to know his nature."


    "And now you know?"


    Gadreel turned his gaze toward her with a smirk. "And now I know."


    "Well? Tell me."


    "Tell you what?"


    "His nature," Sherridan specified to get the wriggly little man talking. "Explain it to me."


    Gadreel laughed. "What? I can''t just explain it to you. The natures of people are sacred things that cannot be expressed with words. It is an interconnection of all that moves in someone''s head. In other words, it''s a puzzle with changing pieces that decides everything."


    ''One of these days, I will rip out this kid''s throat,'' Sherridan thought, rolling her eyes at the nonsensical words of the genius who controlled the entire country.


    "Just kidding. Of course, I''ll tell you. I''ll be doing a fair bit of extrapolation here, of course, but as we know, I am very rarely fallacious," Gadreel said, accompanied by the sound of rhythmic taps on the drawing board. "Aurelius is the son of the greatest warrior the world has ever seen. He knows that and seems to look up to his father. He wants to be just like him. To do so, he seeks to become powerful in order to help people. However, he doesn''t seem to know his father very well. It seems he looks up to an idea that can''t survive in the world. That''s where his naivety really stems from. After he gets to know more about his father, that naivety will be uprooted. I assume that process has already been started."


    Sherridan''s mouth opened wide as she realized it. "That''s where Izir comes in."


    "What a smart girl you''ve become," Gadreel remarked joyfully, patting her on the head that was covered by a blonde wig.


    She took Gadreel''s wrist into a firm grip and squeezed hard enough to almost break bones. Gadreel threw on an exaggerated frown, resembling a dissatisfied child. ''I''ll rip out his eyes too,'' Sherridan added inwardly to her earlier plan.


    She let go, and Gadreel shook his hand a bit before going back to drawing. "But yeah. That is where Izir comes in. Those partners of his will be a part of that process, too. They are peculiar individuals. Both of them. They seemed to see through me a little. I wasn''t acting as well as I could to see how perceptive Aurelius is, but his partners figuring me out was still impressive. At least on the boy''s part. The girl just seemed paranoid. The boy, however, seemed like he had experience working with sly people. He''s a smart kid, clearly."


    <div>


    "Anything else?" Sherridan asked, barely able to keep herself from falling asleep during each step. "Did you get any reads on their strengths with your extra magical magic?"


    "As a matter of fact, I did," Gadreel answered. "Aurelius has a very, very good grasp of essence. He is undoubtedly proficient in motionless magic. Probably the one of the best anyone has ever been at his age."


    Sherridan scoffed, warranting an unreadable glance from Gadreel.


    "He is the son of Ares," Gadreel said. "He has genes that were bred to be optimal for essence mastery. You shouldn''t compare yourself to him."


    "You think I''m envious of a kid?"


    "I know you are." Gadreel snorted with his eyes on the drawing. "He''s barely old enough to drink alcohol and is probably a few years away from surpassing every single being in this world. Everybody is envious."


    "Except for you, that is," Sherridan spat with obvious mockery in her voice.


    Gadreel pointed the end of his pencil at Sherridan with a wink. "Of course. But once he comes to realize the completeness of it all¡ªthe essence of nature¡ªI''ll get a bit envious, too."


    "You''re always rambling on about that, but you never actually explain it. The essence of nature," Sherridan said, very close to choking the man.


    "I''ve explained it plenty of times to you. You just don''t have an affinity for it. You''re too... brutish."


    Sherridan took Gadreel''s hair and smashed his head against the brick wall next to the sidewalk, forming a small depression.


    Gadreel winged in fake pain. "Ow, my hair." Then a smiled formed, and he turned his head slightly, letting his hair twist into a bundle. He opened one eye and glanced at Sherridan with comical intentions. "You see? Bru... tish."


    Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.


    Sherridan let go, having had her anger quelled for the moment. She always let the bastard off so easy. Well, the little prince had his redeeming traits.


    As Gadreel then dusted off his clothes, he finished his explanation, "There is an obvious truth to the case of Aurelius. You see, he''s the ideal human. But the world isn''t ideal. All societies are made up of people who are far from what they should be. You can probably imagine why that''s a problem in our golden-haired friend''s case. In simple terms, the ideal human isn''t fit for an unideal society. That is why Aurelius'' path will be one of endless struggle that will end with him being completely eradicated or no longer ideal. That is what the world does to a person such as him. I''m very interested in watching it happen." Gadreel walked a few steps before looking back with his eyes curving down into something demonic-looking. "Oh, and I''m also very interested in being a part of said process."


    ***


    That night, Balgair wandered off to the roof of the rather large hotel they were staying at. It was the best in the meager city. Wealth had its benefits. However, on the roof, he found his ultra-favorite person, whom he loved with all his heart.


    Cade turned to him with a disapproving look. "You''re here?"


    "Nah, fuck this," Balgair said, swiftly turning to exit.


    "Wait," Cade called out behind him. Even then, it sounded like an order.


    Balgair swung his body around with a deadpan expression before asking, as lifelessly and spitefully as he could, "What?"


    "Come here." Cade gestured with a finger. "Come on. You scared I''ll hit you?"


    "I considered the possibility," Balgair said as he took a cautious step forward.


    "Good," Cade said and turned back to face the distant pitch-black of the sky.


    Balgair huffed and walked to stand beside her.


    "You thought about kicking me off just now, right?" Cade asked, her gaze static on the sky.


    Balgair looked down. It was probably close to a 50-meter drop. "Yeah, I considered it. But you wouldn''t die. And even if you did, Aurelius would kill me, so it would be pointless."


    Cade turned her gaze toward Balgair with a smug look. "I thought you said you could beat him in combat a while ago."


    Balgair snorted and looked in the opposite direction from Cade. "Since then, I''ve seen him shove his arm through a noble''s commanding guard, who had downed an enhancer a couple seconds ago, as well as master motionless magic."


    "Tch. He hasn''t mastered it."


    Balgair rolled his eyes back to Cade. "Well, he''s pretty fucking good at it. Much better than he should be, considering he heard about it for the first time half a year ago. I tried to learn to from his instructions and got absolutely nowhere." Balgair''s face fell even more as Cade averted her gaze. "Admit it, Goldilocks is a monster. And he''ll only grow stronger. You won''t be the strongest for long. I wonder how that must feel."


    Cade snorted but said nothing.


    Balgair let out a light chuckle as he dug at his pocket for a box, but remembered who he was talking to and slumped his shoulders. He was about to turn and go find another place when Cade stopped him by grabbing his shoulder.


    "Well?" he asked. "Gonna throw me off?"


    "I care about Aurelius," she said with a sudden look in her eyes.


    "Okay?" Balgair dug at his ear with a tilt of his head.


    Cade''s jaw tightened for a moment before she spoke again. "I''ve never wanted to be the strongest."


    Balgair sighed and grabbed Cade''s hand, which was on his shoulder. "But you really seem to like it."


    "I don''t."


    "Yeah, you do. Don''t keep me here just to lie. I''m a filthy guy with nothing but dark desires, so I know such desires when I see them. You want to be the strongest, real bad. You may care about Aurelius. I actually believe that you do, but you also find it very satisfying to have such a talent grovel at your feet for guidance."


    Cade withdrew her hand from his grasp before giving him a sharp push with that hand, sending him stumbling to the side. She then pointed at him and said, "Don''t talk about him like that."


    Balgair burst into laughter with a clap of his hands. "Don''t you mean, don''t talk about you like that? Damn, you''re a twisted person. Everything you do has to not be for yourself, huh?"


    Cade stepped up to him and grabbed him by the collar before he could react. She then hung him over the ledge of the roof. Balgair only smiled.


    "What do you think Goldilocks would say?"


    Cade''s face twitched with anger. "You''re a piece of shit."


    "I know. You are, too. You just haven''t realized it yet," Balgair said before grasping Cade''s arm and pulling himself back into balance without resistance.


    Cade stayed quiet as Balgair walked past.


    Balgair got all the way to the exit before leaving a few words behind. "It was nice chatting with you, but how about we never do it again?"


    Cade flicked her wrist as bye with her back turned before walking off the ledge and plummeting down. What a show-off.

 Chapter 35: The Wescaster Incident (1)

    At nightfall, Aurelius, Cade and Balgair watched from the roof of one of the many abandoned buildings in the ruins of eastern Wescaster. These ruins had apparently been left here when a gang war broke out, and after the gang''s leader, Laen, had triumphed, he built his base in them. Supposedly, it was underground.


    They had been scouting the place for some time now. Balgair said there was still an unresolved conflict going on that involved the taking of hostages. In other words, today was the perfect day for the kidnapping, as a few members would stay behind as guards while the others went home.


    All they had to do was wait. And that''s what they did. Aurelius leaned his back against the side of the roof and closed his eyes. He focused on cooling his mind. When he opened his eyes again, the blue would have to stay still as ice.


    ***


    Finally, it happened.


    Balgair grinned as a dozen men of various statures, all wearing the same types of blank, dark clothes, exited the abandoned building in the midst of the ruins. At the front of the group was a certain slender 29-year-old blonde male who looked like a prince of some sort.


    ''It has been too long, Laen,'' Balgair thought with a hint of a smile.


    Then he dove in a hurry as Laen turned to point his sly, sharp gaze all over the place.


    Balgair didn''t need to see anymore. He waited a few minutes in hiding, listening as his voice gradually faded, before looking to confirm that the gang had disappeared.


    He looked to his sides, where both Cade and Aurelius lay, seemingly asleep.


    Aurelius seemed to always be able to sleep anywhere. Perhaps that was his innocence at work. Balgair was surprised the heist hadn''t had a more lasting effect. Maybe that was something to be worried about. Maybe his nature was actually capable of far more monstrous things, despite his pride in his morals.


    It was rare to see Cade sleep, but Balgair didn''t think that was because she had issues sleeping. She just didn''t seem to need to do it a lot. She seemed more machine-like than human at times. To Balgair this day was larger than life. To Cade, it was Tuesday. Just another mission. What was taking a few lives when one''s kill count was already close to four digits?


    Balgair sat down and waited.


    The gang was composed of creatures of habit. That didn''t make them entirely predictable, as their animalistic selves contained a ton of impulsivity, but it was a gamble Balgair was willing to take. He decided on a time of two hours. Three hours would have been too much of a gamble, and there were lots of ways he could get things right even with an inaccurate prediction.


    With that decided, Balgair started the count.


    ''1... 2... 3...''


    With time, the stars moved.


    ''7200.''


    Balgair stood up and went to shake awake his partners in crime.


    Cade slapped his hand away after a few seconds and stood up, rubbing her eyes. Aurelius, on the other hand, opened his eyes wide the first second of being awake and looked straight at Balgair before putting a hand forward. Balgair froze for a few seconds. Those eyes weren''t the same. What had been like a joke previously had been drained of all humor. Of everything except determination.


    Balgair shook himself awake and grasped Aurelius'' hand before pulling him up to his feet.


    "How long since they left?" Cade asked.


    "Tens of minutes. I wanted to make sure they weren''t coming back," Balgair answered, with his gaze on the central building from where the gang had exited.


    The trio then proceeded to make their way off of the rooftop silently, hopping from one roof to another.


    They made it to the central building pretty quickly. Balgair stopped at the entrance doorway that was broken and painted around with the stylistic freedom of a druggy maniac. Balgair snorted before entering.


    The building was ripped apart, like the others. The interior had marks of arson, the floor still being covered in ash like all those years ago. Blades had cut extensions to windows, and furniture had been shredded and crushed. The blood had dried into the wooden desks littered around the room so that their color had turned into a shade of maroon like the light brown and crimson had merged.


    Three pairs of footsteps echoed as Balgair, Cade, and Aurelius walked through the ruined space in a triangular formation.


    When they finally made it to the square-shaped metal staircase at the end of the room, they stopped in their tracks. It only went up.


    Balgair looked to the side of where the stairs down began. There was a trapdoor under the fake concrete. A key was needed. Well, this time the key was in the form of compressed essence.


    If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.


    Balgair walked forward and tapped his foot on a certain spot. "Right here," he said, looking at Cade.


    "Are you sure?" Cade asked, unprecedented uncertainty in her voice.


    Balgair waved a hand. "Yeah, don''t worry. Just follow my lead. I''ve got it all down."


    Cade gave a long blink with a tilt of her head before walking forward and tensing her hand. A mass of essence built up before she slammed it down, and the metal exploded.


    Cade looked back with a hissing sound.


    "They won''t hear it," Balgair assured as he went up to the destroyed trapdoor and started descending the ladder made of bent iron rods shoved into the earth.


    Everything was dark, but once he got down, the illumination of oil lamps in the room comforted him.


    The main room was exactly as he remembered it. Oil lamps hanging by the low roof, so that one had to duck to not hit their head; cigarettes and booze all over the floor; and finally, the grand round table, which he had once feared. He walked up to it, and tapped his fingers on it a few times before lifting his gaze to the passageway in front that led down to the cells. He heard footsteps. And soon, two men came into sight.


    "Who are you?!" One of the men yelled in a groggy voice.


    Then a younger voice came. "F¡ª Fox? But Laen killed you."


    Balgair smiled. "Well, I''m back." He turned back to the ladder from where Cade and Aurelius descended. "And I brought friends."


    The men saw Aurelius'' hair color, and greed flashed in their eyes, before an immediate attack came. Aurelius held a palm forward as golden light from the lamps illuminated the blue in his eyes and made him look like a deity. A hazy, light blue wall flashed into existence, and Balgair watched as Cade rushed forth, jumping over the round table. Right as she was about to hit the wall, it disappeared and Cade assaulted the pair. With a few hits, both slumped to the ground.


    Cade turned to Aurelius. "You sure it''s believable for these guys to destroy a Numen branch?"


    Balgair walked around the round table and headed into the dark passageway. "Those two are the weakest. Now we have some hostages to save."


    They made their way down, and after kicking down some metal doors, they got to a pair of little children. One girl and one boy. They were both around ten years old, with the boy seeming to be the older one out of the two. Both were shivering in the darkness, their bodies bruised all over. The only light in the area was the faint blue ball that Cade had floating above her hand.


    Balgair turned to his companions. "You two take care of the kids. They''ve been through a lot. I''ll go check on the safe."


    "There''s a safe here?" Cade asked.


    Aurelius grabbed his arm as he was about to walk past. "We didn''t come here for money. Let''s get out now."


    "We need more funds, remember?" Balgair ripped his hand loose. "Besides, the gang isn''t coming back any time soon. Relax."


    Balgair then made his way back to the main room. There was a safe hidden here somewhere, for sure. Balgair didn''t know where it was, though, and he didn''t intend on finding out.


    He sat in the chair and waited. It would take some time for those softies to make the kids feel better, and since they thought there was no hurry, it would buy Balgair enough time.


    Balgair closed his eyes as he reminisced about the old times. After escaping, he had sworn off such a risky life, but he knew he couldn''t keep to such a lifestyle. He knew he would die young. No matter what. So when he bumped into his two companions, he decided he would scratch that itch he''d had for a long time. Now, it was done. He would get his revenge. It was written in stone.


    The ones guarding the hostages didn''t work all night.


    These people were flith. They had two turns based on their filthy habits. One during which the others went out to drink and do drugs, and the other for the rest of the night. In the first point, the gang didn''t really care about the hostages very much. Their guard duty wasn''t duty to them. They just liked beating the hostages throughout the night. Balgair guessed it was more fun while drunk, and after getting some fresh air. He didn''t really know. All he knew was what he had observed during his own captivity.


    After a while of waiting, Balgair leaned forward as his consciousness jumped and his face twitched. Chatter from the first floor of the abandoned building was carried down through the trapdoor opening.


    Then the chatter came to a halt.


    The gang had noticed the trapdoor. Soon they would be rushing through the entrance and there would be no escape for anyone. Not that Balgair wanted to escape. Of course not. He had been waiting so long for this.


    It was time for a reunion.

 Chapter 36: The Wescaster Incident (2)

    Aurelius'' head snapped back as his enhanced hearing picked up on the foreign chatter. He let go of the boy''s shoulder as he stood up and began making his way to the room with the round table.


    "Was that Balgair just now?" Cade asked.


    She seemingly hadn''t kept her senses enhanced and couldn''t tell.


    Aurelius looked back with shaded eyes and gave a slight shake of his head. Cade looked back at the kids and touched both of their heads. "You two stay here. We''ll come get you, but don''t go anywhere before that. Alright?"


    The kids nodded profusely.


    Cade then turned, and they hurried towards the room with the round table.


    They both quickly skidded to a stop, however, as they saw Balgair running towards them.


    "Is it the gang? Are they back?" Aurelius asked, his voice hissing through his teeth.


    Balgair pursed his lips and nodded with his gaze low.


    "Shi¡ª dammit!" Aurelius hissed, squeezing his fists. Their plan was ruined. "Is there another exit in this place? If we can just grab the kids and the unconscious¡ª"


    "There''s only one way out, and by now, the gang is already in the main room where the unconscious members are. There''s no escape."


    Cade glared at Balgair with narrow eyes. "You said they wouldn''t come back."


    Balgair''s face twisted as he threw his hands forward, and yelled as quietly as possible, "I thought they wouldn''t. I swear."


    "Stop it," Aurelius said with a sigh. "We don''t have time for this. If there''s really no escape, we have to make do with what we got. The bounty on me isn''t the priority anymore. There are kids down there. They''re the main focus now."


    "So what do we do?" Balgair asked, visible concern in his eyes.


    "There is only one thing to do," Aurelius said as his eyes narrowed, all the light reflected off of their deep blue disappearing as they grew and throwing them into darkness. "We''re going to kill every single member of this gang. That''s the least we can do with the amount of preparation that has gone into this."


    Cade clenched her jaw and looked at both Balgair and Aurelius. Aurelius wondered what she saw. But he didn''t have time to linger on it, as she nodded. "Aurelius is right. It''s the only thing to do now. We will end this now and look for options after it''s done."


    All agreed, and they turned to make their way to the room with the round table. This time the triangle formation was different, with Aurelius and Cade in the front and Balgair in the back. When they arrived, the echoes of their footsteps faded as a group of a dozen men came into view.


    They stood on the other side of the large table and wore the same blank clothes with barely any folds in them. These were practical people, it seemed. Most of them were cleanly shaved and wore various kinds of tight hats, some of which seemed to be able to be pulled down to hide the face.


    "Oh, what do we have here?" the man in front of all the others spoke with an amused voice. He had a slender build and a sharp jawline, accompanied by blonde hair that was parted at the middle, with the hair curving strictly to both sides. The faint light from the oil lamps showed the man''s sickening expression clearly.


    ''How is he so calm?'' Aurelius thought. ''Surely, he didn''t expect us. He''s just arrogant because they outnumber us.''


    The man kept quiet for a while. Aurelius doubted that he was expecting an introduction, though. After a while, the man continued speaking. "You''re the brat wanted by Numen. Thought you''d be older, but I don''t mind. Easier killing for me." He then pointed at Cade. "But who are you? I like your look. Sharp. I might just keep you after I deal with your boyfriend," he said with a smile, prompting the ones behind him to chortle.


    Aurelius leaned back and whispered to Balgair, "Is he the strongest?"


    Balgair nodded quietly. Aurelius looked back at the man at the head of the gang and inhaled before upping his essence supplies.


    The blonde leaned forward after noticing something. "Wait, you have a third member?" He squinted before leaning back with a laugh. "Is that Fox I see?"


    In a blink, Aurelius had launched and cleared the round table before aiming his fist at the blonde''s head. Even against someone with strong reinforcement, that one hit would be enough to kill.


    His target''s eyes flew open as he materialized a shield motionlessly at the last second, while the others surrounding them tried to attack in time to save their leader. They couldn''t match Aurelius'' speed with their reaction times, and the blonde was left to fend for himself.


    This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.


    Aurelius let out a grunt as his force met the shield. The materialization shattered at a touch, but Aurelius couldn''t make contact with the blonde, as he was blown back just enough by the impact on the shield for the hit to only graze him.


    Their leader managed to catch himself barely, and after shakily recovering his balance and gulping while blood dripped from his nose and his eyes welled up, he looked at his underlings with his teeth clenched together, and his nose crumpled up. "Kill them all!"


    Aurelius managed to recover his balance from having thrown his body forward with the punch right before chaos broke loose.


    Every single one of the gang members got to setting up blade materialization of all kinds and rushed at Aurelius. Then Cade rushed into the mob on the right, and three died in an instant.


    Aurelius grabbed the first attacker from the left and pulled him forward before kicking him in the chest and launching him into a few men behind him.


    ''I can''t let their leader escape!'' Aurelius thought and turned back.


    "Balgair, take care of¡ª" he said as he pointed to the men on the left, but Balgair just rushed toward the leader.


    There was bloodlust in his eyes.


    Aurelius couldn''t think any more, as the one''s on his left came rushing at him.


    ''Hopefully, Balgair could handle the blonde,'' he thought as he lowered his essence supplies and turned.


    A blade came flying at Aurelius'' head in a diagonal line. In the next moment, he had shifted out of the way. He let the man lead through with the slash before taking the back of his head and throwing it into the ground. He had to deal with things quickly. There were still five seemingly well-trained gang members coming at him.


    He proceeded to dodge the next two slashes, shifting to opposite sides before push kicking one back and grabbing the other before delivering an elbow to his face.


    The men seemed a little drunk, but they fought well nonetheless.


    Next, an oil lamp hanging from the roof came flying at his head. Aurelius ducked in a hurry, but then the oil lamp just crashed into the roof above him, and shattered glass came raining down as the area grew darker. Some shards slipped into the space between his neck and undershirt. Fortunately, his tight vest kept any shards from going lower than his neck, and the shards couldn''t puncture his skin.


    Still, Aurelius cursed the low roof before receiving a kick directed towards his face with his forearms.


    He sprung up to his feet right after and found a spike coming at his head from the left while a punch came from his right.


    He leaned toward the one throwing the punch and mimicked the move he had seen the commanding guard of the Boerlow mansion do, pushing the other while kicking the other. Both men curved at the impact before they flew into the rough stone walls of the room. He forgot that he wasn''t fighting a two against one, though, and came to regret such a position as a blade was about to cut his torso.


    Then a vacuum sound came, and the man with the blade was blown in half, his legs staying where they were, but his upper body being hurled through the air before landing with a dull impact.


    Aurelius tensed as he regained his footing and stopped the last of the assailants by grabbing his hand that was holding a blade. It was an unnatural way to materialize. Not as an extension, but as a completely separate object. Aurelius didn''t wonder the purpose or skill behind the action, however, as he put his fist against the man''s chin in a fairly gentle manner.


    The man turned limp and fell.


    Aurelius looked around at the splattered remains and broken people around. Then he remembered the leader.


    "Balgair, you..." He looked around, as did Cade, but he was no longer there. He grimaced as he looked at each of the bodies around, looking for a sign of him. But he simply wasn''t there.


    Both he and the blonde were gone.


    Aurelius looked at Cade, who was evidently just as shocked. Maybe even more.


    "I saw him win. The leader was knocked out right after the battle started," Cade said, and Aurelius'' felt his heart squeeze.


    His confusion transformed into hatred as he remembered the bloodlust and all the weird events that led up to this gory scene. "Did Balgair just... use us?"

 Chapter 37: The Wescaster Incident (3)

    On a distant rooftop, Gadreel and Sherridan watched as a dozen men entered the abandoned building at the center of the ruins, and only a few minutes later, a familiar black-haired young man ran out into the nearby forest, dragging behind him a man by his leg. Gadreel recognized the man getting his face scraped off by the asphalt as the leader of the gang that had just entered.


    "Mm?" Sherridan let out a hum of confusion.


    What a peculiar event it was! Surely, though, all of it was the result of a plan. A very, very meticulous plan. Gadreel could sense it radiating from the youth rushing away.


    All he had to do was reverse engineer it all in his head, and after a few moments of thought, it all clicked.


    "I see~," Gadreel said with a wide smile as he tapped his forehead, where there was no longer a scar to be seen. "What a cunning fellow, indeed."


    ***


    "What are you doing?" Aurelius asked as Cade rushed at the ladder.


    Cade turned her head back with her teeth clenched. "I''m going to kill that scumbag."


    "No," Aurelius said, raising his hand with a long blink of his eyes, "you won''t."


    Cade turned fully back and stomped towards Aurelius. "I won''t? He planned all this out. He wasted our time to get revenge."


    "He wasted nothing. We dealt with this scum," Aurelius said, pointing to the corpses at their feet that were flooding the room with their stench, "and it only took us a week. We also saved two kids today. Fuck Balgair. Let him go."


    "If that''s the case here, why did he run from us? He could''ve just killed their leader, and we would''ve accepted the situation despite him using us."


    "You remember our conversation at the caf¨¦?" Aurelius sighed. "Balgair wants to torture the man. He knew I wouldn''t allow that, no matter what he had done, so he took the man. He wanted to kill the man painfully more than he wanted our company. That''s fine by me."


    Cade''s face scrunched up at Aurelius'' reaction. Perhaps she couldn''t understand how he could be so calm. Honestly, he wasn''t sure himself. He just wasn''t angry. Simply disappointed.


    "Well," Aurelius said, turning to go back to get the kids, "let''s go get those kids back home. Nothing else matters right now."


    Aurelius could hear as Cade finished some of the gang members off before catching up. She then conjured a ball of essence above her palm again to illuminate the passage again as they made their way down.


    When they made it back, the girl flinched at the sight of their bloodied saviors. The boy''s expression stayed hard. "Are they dead?" he asked, looking straight at Aurelius through his disheveled black hair.


    Aurelius crouched in front of the pair and picked both of them up into his arms. "Don''t worry about them. You''re going home."


    No further questions were asked, and they headed for the exit. When the lights of oil lamps became visible, Aurelius let off a hissing exhale. "Hey, kids. There''s something up ahead that you probably shouldn''t see. But... I won''t close your eyes for you. You can choose now whether you keep your eyes open or closed. You decide."


    Cade looked at him with furrowed brows, but Aurelius didn''t falter. He didn''t know what was right. Maybe he was being irresponsible, but maybe the real irresponsible thing was to close their eyes when they had gone through the things they had. It was all so blurry, so he decided to let them decide what they would see or not see. It was their authentic life experience either way.


    The boy looked at the girl. "Bell, close your eyes."


    The girl with short black hair that was formed in a kind of round shape hesitated before asking, "But what about you?"


    The boy smiled with his lips sealed. "I''ll close mine too."


    "M''kay," the girl said with a nod and shut her eyes tight.


    "I would advise you to breathe through your mouth ," Cade mentioned as they entered the room with the round table.


    Aurelius looked at the corpses with a frown as he made his way around the table. He looked to his right. The girl kept her eyes tightly closed as she pressed her nostrils shut with her fingers.


    Aurelius looked to his left and widened his eyes, as he saw the boy staring all around. At no point had he even thought about closing his eyes. His chest rose and fell, but his lips were still sealed.


    Cade had noticed, as well. Aurelius looked at her with a mixed expression. She did the same to him. However, there was nothing they could do now.


    Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.


    The boy had made his choice.


    ***


    The boy chomped down on his spoon, making all kinds of expressions. The girl opposite him giggled uncontrollably, swinging her feet.


    Aurelius looked on from the side as he ate. Cade, who sat opposite to him, looked at the pair, too. Particularly at the boy, Daniel Sparrow. 12 years old. He wasn''t very sizeable for his age. Aurelius had thought him to be younger.


    Both of the kids were of House Sparrow. The girl was Bell Sparrow. Nine years old.


    They had been kidnapped a month or so ago. They didn''t know. Time had passed weirdly in the darkness.


    Aurelius wondered what the kids would grow up to be. He hoped they would recover. Forget the entire thing. Live lives completely separated from the filth of the world. On second thought, that didn''t seem possible. And if it really was impossible, what really was the future? What was the point? What was childbirth other than judgment?


    ***


    "Well, I''ll have to part with you here. Cade will lead you the rest of the way," Aurelius said as he nudged the children on his sides forward.


    They had gotten to House Sparrow before it got dark. Tracking the location was tough. Balgair could''ve helped.


    "What? Why?" Daniel asked, his voice a high whine that had become somehow uncharacteristic of the boy during the time Aurelius had interacted with him.


    Aurelius crouched down and touched his hair. "You see this? There''s a wanted person in Mircrest right now who has hair like this. If the guards see me, they''ll attack me. So it''s best if I stay here."


    Daniel crossed his arms and blew his hair out of the way of his sight. He wasn''t budging. What was he expecting?


    Aurelius looked to Cade. "Could you give us a moment?"


    Cade left with Bell, and Aurelius looked back at Daniel. "Well? You have something you want to say to me?"


    "A person with your hair? That''s you. You''re the wanted person," Daniel said with an irritated huff.


    Aurelius smiled, and a light laugh escaped his lips. "I''m sure your parents are eager to see you. You should hurry up."


    Daniel smiled back before leaning over toward what Aurelius thought might be a hug. Then he pulled out one of his hairs. He stretched the hair out and looked at it with amazement before wrapping it around his finger.


    ''Creepy little kid,'' Aurelius thought with a sinking heart. He had really expected that hug.


    "You''re super strong, right?"


    "Huh?" Aurelius couldn''t quite process the question.


    "You killed those guys without getting a scratch. I mean, you slaughtered them! One of them was blown in half. And you don''t look phased at all," Daniel gushed.


    This time, Aurelius'' heart sank for real. "Stop that." He pinched Daniel.


    "Ow! What?"


    "Don''t talk like that."


    "Mmm... So, where''s the third guy? He didn''t die, right?"


    Aurelius pursed his lips briefly. "No, he didn''t. He just took off after something selfish. I''m not sure why."


    "Was he your friend?"


    "I thought so." Aurelius hung his arms loose, letting them touch the ground a little in his crouched position. "But I guess not."


    "Are you sad?" Daniel tilted his head.


    Aurelius stayed quiet for a long while. Then he looked Daniel in the eyes. "No. I''m not sad."


    Unexpectedly, the boy smiled.


    He then bowed awkwardly before turning halfway and then turning back. He put his hands behind his back and straightened his posture, like he was going to make an announcement. Was this what they taught wealthy kids?


    "Uhm," Daniel started turning his foot in the gravel a little before looking back up to meet Aurelius'' deep blue eyes with his darker ones. "When I grow up... I¡ª I want to be just like you."


    Aurelius didn''t know. He didn''t know whether to smile or frown. Should he slap the boy? Should he grab him by the shoulder firmly? Should he tell the boy to never say that again? Should he tell the kid to work hard so that he can reach his level? No. Certainly not that. Anything but that.


    At that moment, Aurelius wanted nothing more than to see a future where the boy never became what he was.


    He couldn''t do anything, though. The boy had already scurried off after Cade while he had been stuck in a trance.


    He was left there, his teeth clenched, while he wiped at his eyes for no reason. There were no tears coming out. No. Maybe he was wiping to make sure none would ever come out. But he knew he couldn''t keep that up forever.

 Chapter 38: The Hunt Is Just Beginning

    "Well," Cade said as she shoved her hands into her pockets, "what now?"


    Aurelius kicked the gravel at each step as he mumbled, "I don''t know. Let''s just go back to Aleyah''s place. Then, I think we should just spread the rest of the money. Nothing else to do, really."


    "Shouldn''t we go back to loot the underground bunker? Balgair said there was a safe there."


    "Balgair said a lot of things. I''m not interested," Aurelius answered with a dead tone.


    Cade breathed deeply without objecting.


    It was true. They really had no direction now. Their plans were a mess. Balgair had left them on a deserted island of sorts. Now they had to make do with what they had. They had no measures against the bounty anymore, but maybe they would be fine.


    They hadn''t gotten any bounty hunters after them thus far.


    ***


    At a beach south of Wescaster, Gadreel sat loosely on a metal bench as he lost himself in his thoughts. It was early in the morning, and not many people were roaming the streets. However, one person was as lively as anyone Gadreel had ever seen. That person was a child building a sandcastle.


    Gadreel smiled and sipped a drink Sherridan had brought him at his request before leaving somewhere to do something. He wasn''t particularly interested in what that something was. She had her own interests, as did he. And his interest was the child building the sandcastle.


    He looked to be thirteen or so. He was rather large, with a tall and slightly burly frame. He was a charming kid, though. He could probably beat up the ones his age and steal their girlfriends. Gadreel chuckled at the thought.


    But still, the kid was making a sandcastle with what seemed like self-made tools. It was almost inexplicable as to why someone like that would have invested so much time into something as pointless as building sandcastles. He had the potential to do so much more. From an animalistic point of view, the kid had it all. He could assert his dominance over other males, attract females and flex his muscles before roaring at people for absolutely no reason, like a true alpha.


    Gadreel tilted his glass from one side to the other and watched as the liquid flowed, thinking, ''Ain''t that the life.''


    He knew why the kid was building sandcastles. It was simply because he could, and it was what he liked most in the universe. Sure, the world gave people certain gifts, and everyone had some chance of doing something grand, but it was when rejecting such a fate that a human truly reached something special.


    Once a person denied what he was given and sought something senseless in many eyes, he reached a realm that couldn''t be touched by simple human minds. It was a sort of ascendance above the search for meaning or any other kind of cheap thing to latch onto while waiting for death. It was a kind of eulogy of oneself to something so high that death didn''t matter. Once you, yourself, were more important than the world or any kind of higher power that had a fate in store for you, you could find life.


    Gadreel sensed his time was coming to an end and drank up the liquid in his glass before looking to his side, where Sherridan stood. He gave the kid one last look. It seemed he''d finished the castle. It was a glorious little thing. Gadreel wished the child all the happiness in the world.


    Sherridan followed Gadreel''s gaze. "What is it?"


    "Nothing. Don''t worry about it," Gadreel said, then turned to the table on his side that had his finished sketch of Aurelius on it.


    "You want to release that now?" Sherridan asked, moving her gaze to it as well.


    "No." Gadreel shook his head with a hint of a smile on his lips. It was funny watching Sherridan try to predict his next move. She never seemed to get it right, despite them having been so closely together for a few years now.


    Sherridan''s shoulders dropped as she let herself fall onto a chair made purely of materialized essence. "Then what?" she asked with her cheek resting on her fist. "You will do something? I''ve never known you to just settle down."


    "Oh, I won''t settle down." Gadreel closed his eyes and imagined the months to come. He sensed it would all soon start to unravel. "The hunt is just beginning."


    Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    "So, what will you do with this?" Sherridan reached over to grab the sketch and began waving around hours of Gadreel''s hard work.


    Gadreel gritted his teeth. The woman sure could rip the paper apart and have no consequences. Gadreel wasn''t sure if she would do that. It appeared she had spent so much time with him that she had begun adopting his trait of unpredictability.


    Sherridan noticed Gadreel''s look and laughed. "Seriously? Of all things, this is what gets you."


    Gadreel loosened up and leaned back. "Huh? What a weird feeling that was! For a second, I thought I didn''t know your next action." He put a hand out. "Well, give it back."


    Sherridan snickered at his confidence and put his hands on the paper, threatening to rip it apart. "What makes you so sure I won''t rip this up?"


    Gadreel tilted his head wordlessly with a knowing smile on his lips and gestured for her to hand it over.


    Sherridan faked a ripping motion, but as there was no reaction, her face fell. "This is part of your next plan. Your plan is excitement. Knowing you, this is probably your threat that you will not proceed if I rip this." She let out an exasperated sigh and handed the thing over. "You''re a real pain, you know?"


    Gadreel smirked as he took the paper into his hands. "I love you, Sherry."


    Sherridan grimaced and pointed a finger at him.


    Gadreel raised his hands with terrible panic. "Hey, I told you that I loved you, and now you''re threatening to murder me in broad daylight!" He wagged a finger with a parodic expression. "You''re a really toxic partner."


    "Tch. Well, stop with the theatrics and tell me the plan. What''s next."


    "You''re no fun," Gadreel moped with a deep frown as he lowered his arms and flopped down. He then straightened his posture and put the paper back on the table before tapping on it. "As you predicted, this is next. We''ll deliver this to Numen''s Wings."


    "And the spies will do what with that? Find out where he is right now. I could''ve tracked them from that abandoned building if that''s what you wanted."


    "Not just right now. They''ll keep tabs on him. I want to know where he is at all times."


    "For what?"


    "So that I can get give him presents," Gadreel exploded into an explanation. "I have these brand-new socks I knitted myself! He''ll love them. They''re golden, just like him."


    Sherridan rolled her eyes before reaching over to the drink on the table, gulping it down and casting a murderous look at the innocent Gadreel.


    "Fine, fine," Gadreel yelped before his eyes went serious. "I''m sending the twins first."


    Sherridan scoffed. "First and last. You wanna kill the kid so soon?"


    Gadreel tilted his chin to the side. "He won''t die."


    "I''m sure you think you know a lot, but this is different," Sherridan said, pressing a finger against her temple. "The twins are dangerous. They could pose even me some issues. Their coordination is impeccable."


    Gadreel waved a hand. "Well, maybe he will die. But I did promise Izir that Aurelius would grasp his potential before too long. I''ll have to risk him dying in order to fulfill that promise. And I always fulfill my promises."


    Sherridan let out a sharp exhale. "Fine. Do what you want. But let''s get going now. This place is boring."


    Gadreel agreed and took the paper before standing up. When he was about to turn away, however, the child kicked his sandcastle as hard as he could right into the middle, sending sand flying high into the air and making the wall collapse outwards. Gadreel smiled with a tiny laugh. "Attaboy."


    "Huh?" Sherridan''s face twisted as the kid kicked the castle again and again before stomping it flat. "Is the kid an idiot? What was the point in that?"


    "It had no point. That''s the point," Gadreel said and began walking away.


    "He did all that for something without any meaning? The kid''s just got some screws loose."


    "No, the kid''s exemplary," Gadreel said, looking at the light-blue, cloudless sky with closed eyes. "Even at such a young age, he''s grasped the idea of life."

 Chapter 39: Darkest Hour

    Balgair finished off his cigarette by shoving it into Laen''s forehead. No grunt or whinge came. Balgair frowned. I guess a little burn wasn''t much when your hands and feet had already been cut off.


    "Come on. Make a sound. I prepared this basement just for this moment. If you''re going to just keep quiet, all the days it took to soundproof this place will have gone to waste," Balgair said as he flicked the cigarette stump away before going to put his red gloves on. The real thing would begin now.


    He looked at the bloodied bandages on Laen''s hands, arms, and legs. He''d have to replace them in a bit to keep the massive clump of dirt breathing.


    He clapped his hands together, sending a powerful vibration throughout the room that seemed to shake Laen''s consciousness, as he jolted. His dull but bright-colored eyes traveled up to meet Balgair''s narrow, dark ones.


    "Your extremities were just a precaution. The real thing starts here," Balgair said. He wasn''t sure whether he had a grin or a frown on his lips.


    Laen''s body jolted again as his lips separated into a grimace.


    "It''s no good," Balgair said as he set a kit of equipment onto a table beside the metallic X-shape Laen was tied to. "It''s hyperwire. Only way to escape would be compression." He turned to Laen with what he knew was a joyful expression. "I believe that would be a bit hard for you now, though."


    Laen gritted his teeth as he tried to rip his body free. Balgair only cackled at the sight.


    Balgair dropped a piece of equipment and grabbed one of the chairs in the room. "Oh, right. Maybe we should have a little chat before you can''t talk anymore." He held out a hand. "So... Any last words?"


    Laen seemed to struggle for a moment. Well, creativity never was his strong suit.


    "My men will find me," he said, talking during seemingly painful exhalations. "Then I''ll make you regret this."


    Balgair scratched his head awkwardly before bursting out into laughter. "You men are dead! D-E-A-D! Get that through your fucking head already. Everybody who could''ve helped you is dead. And you will be, too, soon enough. Before then, I have some fun activities for us to enjoy, so don''t worry."


    Laen''s face twitched.


    Balgair opened his jaw wide with sincere worry in his eyes. "You gonna cry?"


    "You''ll burn for this," the brave gang leader whined.


    Balgair stood up, and after a couple of strides, he slammed his palm into Laen''s face. He squeezed his face, contorting the skin around his mouth. Laen tried biting him, but his teeth couldn''t get through.


    "Where will I burn? In hell? Hah? You''re bringing religion into this now? How pathetic are you?" He let go of his face and was about to punch him, but stopped himself. He took a step back before reaching his hand to Laen''s and squeezing on the bloody stump that remained. A bloodcurdling scream followed. "Have you forgotten what you''ve done? You''re going to be burning right along with me. We''ll be there together forever. Isn''t that wonderful?" He spoke over Laen''s screams.


    "Stop! I''ll bite my tongue. You won''t have anyone to torture then," Laen threatened in agony.


    Balgair snorted in response. "I remember having said the same thing. But here I am standing. That gives you hope, right?" He turned away to look around the tight room. "I''m not as dumb as you, though. I mean, who would let someone escape after having done to them what you did to me?"


    "What?" Laen struggled to get a word out. "Slaughter your little group and make you m¡ª" Laen didn''t get to finish, as Balgair grabbed a piece of the kit and swung it at Laen''s stomach, peeling his skin off.


    A continuing shriek went through the room over and over as Balgair watched with disappointment. "That''s just the first one. Would you stop being so dramatic?"


    Laen breathed deep, shuttering breaths with his gaze down. The area of his stomach quickly became red and started flowing with blood.


    "This will last for days, just so you know. You can bite your tongue if you want to, but that''ll be slow as well. I''ll make sure you don''t die of blood loss. Besides, I''m sure even you agree that infection suits you well."


    Balgair''s hairs stood on end as he imagined the scene. It wasn''t excitement he felt. Why? What else? Then he looked at that image in his mind and imagined others. In every single one, Laen was dead. But it felt like nothing. He was just dead. What did that change? In the near future, Laen would simply die, no matter how. The only one who would now be affected was only Balgair.


    Suddenly, he felt a grimace trying to form on his face as he looked at Laen''s pathetic figure. ''What the


    ... What am I hesitating? No, I can''t be. This is all I''ve wanted. This is it,'' he thought.


    Then Aurelius'' words ran through his head, ''So what I think would be the thing to do, would be to just think what the person harmed would want. Would a loved one want for her... or him to be revenged in such a gory way, costing the one who loved them their sanity, purity, and humanity?''


    "Argh, shut up," Balgair grunted, holding his head.


    Laen exhaled a weak chuckle, noticing Balgair''s state. Balgair turned with flames in his eyes before throwing his fist into his face. Laen went limp immediately, and his head hung low, blooding flooding out as a few teeth slipped out and clinked against the concrete floor.


    Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.


    Balgair realized what he''d done and grumbled before going over to the chair and flopping down.


    Again.


    ''Would a loved one want for her... or him to be revenged in such a gory way, costing the one who loved them their sanity, purity, and humanity?''


    "Yes! I want it. I''m the one hurt here! I should be able to decide without people telling me I''m wrong." He stood up in an instant and flung the chair, leaving a couple of dents behind.


    He buried his face in his hands before laying down on the cold ground and spreading his limbs out.


    "Why shouldn''t I have this? Why can''t I get what I want for once in my life? Why?!" He hammered the ground with his fists, forming cracks in the ground.


    Then he put his hands on his face and rolled from side to side. "No, no, no, no, no. This time... This time, I''ll get what I want. Goldilocks can go to hell. I''ll give this bastard the most painful death ever, no matter what. Even if I lose my humanity. Even if I lose everything. I''m fine with just this. My life is ready to end. It''s never been worth living in the first place." He started climbing to his feet as he looked at Laen. "You hear that? You won''t escape me. I''m not as dumb or weak as you. I''m better. I''m so much better. That''s why we''re here."


    "Ah, that''s right. You wouldn''t believe my plan. I realized how this was all going to go the moment I set my eyes on Goldilocks. I knew. Then I made it happen. All that effort for this moment. For..." His brows knitted as he looked at Laen''s unconscious body, hanging helplessly from the hyperwire tying it up. Laen had always been such an imposing figure. Someone to fear. Someone to admire. Someone who Balgair wanted to be like in order for him to be respected. He wanted Laen''s cunning, his ferocity, and his craziness. All the things that made Laen a monster, Balgair tried to mimic. But now he saw it clearly. "I did this all for you... For nothing."


    Balgair''s face fell as he gulped slightly and walked up to Laen, raising his head to make eye contact. What he found was a half-closed pair of empty eyes that were too pathetic to even look at. "You''re nothing," he said, but not as an insult. It was a simple observation, without any emotion imbued. No emotion except for disappointment.


    ''This guy? I''m sacrificing my life for this?'' Balgair withdrew his hand, Laen''s head slumping back down. ''No, it can''t be like this. All those years for this? No way. No, no, no,'' he thought as he grasped his hands and pulled. The pain made no difference, though.


    "Can I... No! I won''t. I won''t go back. Not ever," he talked to himself as he paced around the room, tapping on surfaces and fiddling around with his sweaty fingers. "But could I go back? No, of course not. I ruined it. Cade would kill me. Hell, even Aurelius would after how I used them."


    His hands squeezed into fists multiple times in a second as he crumbled onto his knees and hung his head. Then he hit his fists on the floor with a roar filled with anger. His fists went through the ground, but he kept going, removing his hands and hitting. "Why... do... I always... mess it up?!" Another scream echoed as he pummeled the stone into bits.


    Then he reached up and grabbed the table before supporting himself up. He looked at the table as he ground his teeth together before grabbing a large knife.


    He then stomped his way to Laen and bashed the man''s head with his palm, proceeding to hold it against the metallic object he was tied to. He breathed through his teeth as he glared into Laen''s unconscious eyes, his eyes glinting with an uncontrollable rage. "You''re nothing."


    His hand, holding the knife, closed the distance between it and Laen''s neck before he could think to stop. In the next moment, Laen was dead.


    Balgair blinked, his eyes wide and his mouth opened. His jaw shook as he let go of the knife lodged in Laen''s throat. Laen''s head fell down for the last time as blood streamed from his mouth onto the handle of the knife, coating the shiny, silvery grip with crimson.


    Balgair tried to say something. Yell about how stupid he was. About how he shouldn''t have done what he just did. About anything. Or just nothing.


    In the end, not a word or sound came out.


    He tried to take another step back, but his loose feet had lost touch and his ankle rolled. He fell onto his ass with his eyes still glued to the now-dead Laen hanging off of the X.


    No last words, no scream of pain before he went. Nothing. It fit him perfectly. But to Balgair it was lacking. It was so lacking, he could die. No, he would die. He actually would.


    There was nothing anymore. Both sides of the world now rejected his existence. At least it was now confirmed. He had always thought it was like that, but never was it as clear.


    Everything would be better off if he didn''t exist.


    He had no strength to keep himself upright anymore, and collapsed to the ground hopelessly. There was no reason to get up anymore.


    Balgair''s knees came up, and his head went down as he curled up into a ball, tears beginning to flow from his eyes. At that moment, which was supposed to be the most triumphant in his entire life, he had been reduced to a ball of sobs and misery.


    There was no reason to get up anymore.


    It was all over.

 Chapter 40: The Twins (1)

    "That''s the place," Cade said, pointing her thumb to a regular-looking shop nearby.


    "Huh? You sold the enhancers there?" Aurelius asked.


    "The place isn''t how it looks."


    "Hmm," Aurelius squinted, trying to look for anything interesting inside the shop. "You plan on doing more jobs for the owner?"


    "I''m not sure," Cade answered with a shrug. "I made a deal with him that applied to the cuts in future profits, so it''d be a waste to not work with him anymore... But I guess that doesn''t really matter anymore."


    Aurelius looked back at Cade. "Why doesn''t it matter?"


    "I''m with you now. We work together, and if you aren''t interested in those kinds of jobs, then it doesn''t matter, if a little deal is wasted."


    Aurelius heart melted at her words, and he launched at her with his arms spread, expecting a warm embrace. Instead, he got a firm hand pushing on his chest. "Calm down," Cade said, looking away. Then she looked back, but before Aurelius could see her face, the front of his straw hat was tilted down in front of his eyes. "Your hat is falling."


    Aurelius adjusted his hat with a sheepish look before they began navigating the busy streets of the wealthy city. It was a nice change from all the dirty and dull places Aurelius had been to in Mircrest. However, there was a sinking feeling in his chest that he should be elsewhere, doing something more useful.


    He and Cade finally found their way to a nice inn and got a room.


    "Wow, this is nice," Aurelius said as he looked around the polished floors and tables, all made out of dark wood.


    He walked further in and went to throw his bag onto one of the two beds in the room before he began heading back to the door. On his way, however, Cade stopped him.


    "Where are you going so fast?" she asked. "We should stick together right now."


    "Don''t worry about the bounty. I''ll keep this on." Aurelius gestured to his hat. "Nobody will notice."


    Cade frowned. "But where are you going?"


    "I saw some good-looking foods on our way here. I thought I could go check them out now," Aurelius answered before lowering his gaze. "And I want to just walk around. Clear my head a bit."


    He hadn''t gotten a single moment alone to really think about the situation with Balgair.


    "Alright," Cade said with a nod before digging some coins out of his pocket and handing them to Aurelius. "Buy some for me, too."


    ***


    Aurelius lifted the two children up by the back of their shirt and pointed them at each other face-to-face. "Now, now. Say sorry. And no more fighting."


    "Sorry," both of the children said in sync with beaten tones.


    Aurelius smiled and lowered the kids. The flame inside him had been nourished once again. "Say, why were you two fighting in the first place?"


    "He stole my money!" one of the kids shouted and stomped forward with a reinvigorated fury.


    "I didn''t!" the other yelled back and reached his hands forward, trying to grab a hold of the other boy.


    Aurelius just kept his hands separating the two, without really any push back. His arms just worked kind of like solid walls, separating the two kids.


    Aurelius gave a small laugh, and the kids turned to him. Then he asked the accuser seriously, "Did you see him steal it?"


    "No," the kid answered honestly with a shy tone before bursting out, "but I know it was him!"


    Aurelius nodded. "Alright." Then he turned to the accused and gestured for him to leave. "You can go."


    "What?! You''re just letting him leave? But he stole three bronze coins from me."


    Aurelius scratched the back of his head. These kinds of situations were really difficult. Then he dug some spare change from his pocket and handed it to the kid. "Here you go."


    "Huh?" The kid looked at the coins in his hand in awe. "But... Why are you giving me this?"


    "Well, you got wronged, so you deserve to be righted. Or something like that."


    "Oh, like karma?" the boy asked. "My mom said only the Lord watches over karma. Are you the Lord, mister?"


    Aurelius laughed. "Everybody can watch over karma. All of us can do some good. So, how about you go and buy something nice for your mom? I''m sure she deserves it," he said, patting the kid on the head.


    The child then went running with the coins tightly in his grasp. Aurelius watched with a smile. That money had been nothing to him, but to the child, it meant the world. A thought occurred to him just then. Maybe he would one day be something like ''the Lord'' the child spoke of.


    Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.


    That''s right. He had all the tools for it already. All he needed in order to be able to do that was to just keep in touch.


    ***


    Cade inhaled through his nose as she pushed the back of her head against the bed she lay on horizontally. Then a long stream of breath came out of her mouth, and her body went loose.


    ''He wants to be alone, huh?'' Cade thought. ''It''s probably because of Balgair. He seemed to take it so well, but it''s clear he isn''t really that calm on the inside. He hasn''t really gotten colder. He hasn''t really changed. He even went easy on those gang members. The only one he tried to attack lethally was their leader.''


    Cade sprung up to her feet before walking to the large window at the opposite side of the entrance. She put a hand on the smooth windowsill before looking down at the bustling street below. The steer was fairly narrow, making the mass of people look even denser.


    She looked up, her gaze slipping past the tile-roofed brick buildings on the opposite side of the street and going straight to the light gray sky, entirely covered by clouds. The clouds were getting darker by the minute. It would rain soon.


    She sighed, and as she spaced out, memories of Aurelius'' eyes came to mind. When they had met, his eyes had burst with vibrancy every second, as if everything he saw was the best thing ever. After the heist, they had stayed blank for a while. It was understandable, but eventually the vibrancy came back. It wasn''t as strong, though. Cade wondered how long it would be before Aurelius'' cold act would become reality. When would those eyes of his be permanently drained?


    Cade imagined his eyes emitting only a navy hue for the rest of his life and shuddered at the thought. She didn''t want that to happen. But what could she do? He was seeking out everything that was causing this to happen to him. He was engaging with the bad in the world more than he was engaging with the good. His corruption was inevitable.


    Right then, rain fell. It started with a couple of droplets, but in just a few seconds, it became a torrent.


    Cade hummed as she watched the streets clear, people hurrying out of the rain while holding various objects above their heads. She turned away, wondering when Aurelius would come back.


    Then the muffled sounds of the torrent became real. All too real.


    Reinforcement and double enhancement snapped on out of instinct before Cade could even turn around to the enormous hole surrounding the window of the room.


    Then the slim figures of two people with unordinary cloaks and masks came into sight. Black and white. One half of their clothes and masks were black while the other was white, both their outfits mirroring each other.


    Cade didn''t have time to wonder about the peculiarity of their outfits, though, as both of them rushed at her in the same instant they had exploded into the room.


    They were fast enough for Cade to instantly realize she had to get out into the open before engaging them. Fighting in the enclosed space while outnumbered would be her demise otherwise.


    Cade dodged both of their attacks before creating enough space to slip by them and dive out of the window. She materialized a platform outside the window and used it to hop onto the tile roofs before looking back.


    The pair was right behind her, both jumping onto the same roof in quick succession.


    Cade touched her hair. It was already getting soaked, but more important than that, the right side of hers bangs had been clipped without her even noticing. She put her attention back to the pair that was trying to circle her.


    They were obviously bounty hunters. Really, really good ones at that. But how had they found her and Aurelius? And why were they going for her?


    "Rey!" she called out as loudly as she could, in case her partner could hear and come to even the odds.


    She then looked to her sides, where the pair stood wordlessly, ready for battle.


    The sound of the cold droplets hitting the tiles on the roof became muffled in Cade''s mind once more as she settled into the situation.


    It had been a while since she''d had a real battle.

 Chapter 41: The Twins (2)

    Cade rotated in the air before falling back to her feet and being engaged again by the masked duo. She materialized two short blades that were in line with her hands. She then proceeded to block the strikes from both sides.


    Only after one encounter, she could tell the pair of bounty hunters had top-tier skills, including motionless magic and excellent chemistry. Their attacks complimented each other perfectly, making avoiding all their attacks almost impossible. Not impossible enough for Cade, though.


    Her materialized blades faded, as she got a sense of the pair''s attack patterns and leaned back to dodge a stab at her head. She then grabbed the hand of the one who tried to stab her before leaning forward, and letting the blade miss from her other side.


    She then rotated and grabbed the hand of the other hunter before pulling on both hands she had a hold of. And as the pair were readying follow-up attacks as a reaction, Cade jumped into the air and, with a complete rotation, kicked both in their unprotected stomachs, launching them back almost enough for them to fall off the roof.


    She looked down at her feet, where broked tiles lay. This wasn''t a very optimal place to fight, and due to the rain, they were slippery.


    Cade looked to her sides before sprinting forward. She maneuvered on the rooftops around town, the hunters right on her tail. However, when she plunged down into an alley, they seemed to lose her. At least she lost them. She continued running but tried to make her steps as soundless as possible. It wasn''t very possible, though. The puddles weren''t very good friends of stealth.


    Once she came to an intersection, she was then met again with the hunters. No, just one. Without thought, she lunged forward. It was a golden opportunity.


    Then she was rammed from the side. By the other hunters who had stayed out of sight.


    Right. They were bounty hunters. Of course, setting little traps wasn''t below them.


    Cade tumbled in the dirty, brown puddles of the alley before continuing her momentum into a move up to her feet and sliding to a halt.


    She then materialized a pair of daggers and hoisted them up as she looked at the pair of bounty hunters before her in the narrow alley. In such an environment, Cade wasn''t sure if she held the advantage or not. Running away would be harder for sure, but having her opponents line up was nice, as long as they didn''t get on both of her sides.


    She hissed out an exhalation before the battle started up again as she dove in. The hunters lined themselves up purposefully, and only one of them engaged Cade when she attacked.


    She tried for the throat, the hip, and the eyes, but all three attacks were swiftly blocked or dodged before the hunter jumped over her. They wanted to get on both sides of her. She couldn''t let that happen.


    She rammed into the hunter, who had rammed into her previously, and felt the difference in strength. She knew herself to be stronger than the hunter before, but she was even stronger than expected. Or maybe it was the other one that had rammed her. The pair got so confusing.


    Despite the strength difference, the hunter wouldn''t let her through. She couldn''t just push or throw her away because the hunter was holding onto her so tightly. She also couldn''t seem to land a significant hit on her.


    Cade grunted as she sensed an attack from behind and got down, slamming the hunter into the ground. She knew she wasn''t safe, thought, and turned around to see the faint blue blade above her coming straight down at her eye. A shield rushed into reality as he held up a hand. The knife met the shield, and a dent formed that spread cracks all over.


    Cade pushed the shield and hit the other hunter in the process, sending her back enough for Cade to be able to switch her focus to the hunter behind her.


    The one she''d slammed to the ground hadn''t stayed down for long. She would make sure that wouldn''t happen again, launching a full-force kick at the head of the hunter.


    Unexpectedly, the hunter didn''t try dodging, which wouldn''t work, as the hunter, didn''t seem to be in a position for such a sudden movement. Instead, the hunter tried to block the kick with her forearms and a small shield.


    This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.


    Cade smiled as the shield shattered, and the kick dug into the hunter''s forearms.


    Her smile faded quickly, when the hunter managed to catch her foot as it was going down and kicked her one remaining leg from under her.


    Cade fell into the muddy puddles and immediately had to roll in order to dodge a strike from the other hunter, who had rejoined the fight. She then put her hands on the ground before spinning her body, sweeping the other hunter''s feet from under them before going back onto her back and kicking upward at the hunter who had knocked her down.


    The hunter managed to block it, but fell back in the process, so Cade rolled back and jumped to her feet before engaging the one hunter she had swept to the ground.


    The encounter was brief and all hands. Cade then managed to land a palm on the hunter''s chest, pushing her back to her partner.


    The second round was over, so to speak. Cade was completely exhausted. She would have liked to use materialization more in the 1-on-1 moments, but the hunters were too good for her to trust she could get it done with one hit, so she wanted to preserve her energy.


    It seemed such a strategy had backfired, though. She was breathing heavily, while the pair seemed just fine, both dusting off their clothes like it was just another day''s work.


    Then, before Cade had managed to calm her breathing, it started again.


    The pair launched at the same time.


    Again, their attacks came in pairs. One attack came, and then the other. Before Cade could recover from blocking or dodging one attack or the other, the next was on its way. There was time for counters. Damage from blocks and grazing hits was starting to accumulate.


    More and more of Cade''s hair kept getting cut as it moved wildly along with her movements, even with its weight amplified by the moisture from the rain.


    Finally, Cade saw an opening. She ducked one attack as she lowered her center of gravity and materialized a blade, aiming it at the exposed side of one of the hunters. Instead of going straight through the hunter''s ribs, however, the blade simply grazed the hunter, as he somehow managed to move out of the way of the lightning-fast attack.


    Cade had been lured into attacking in that exact way.


    Time seemed to freeze for a second as she came to the realization before a tremendous kick to her stomach sent her through a brick wall and the one behind it. The hunter had put their all into that one.


    Shrieks resounded in her ears. It was dulled by the ringing in her ears after hitting the back of her head on the walls. There were civilians here. She couldn''t endanger them. She had to run.


    She tried opening her mouth wider to suck in a breath, even if it was just a gasp. However, she couldn''t even do that. Only a flood of blood came out, and nothing came in return.


    She propped herself up and watched as the hunters entered through the cloud of dust and looked around the room where a family or two were running out, making some noise Cade couldn''t register.


    The hunters noticed Cade''s location immediately and dashed forward, but before they could finish her off, she hastily compressed some essence into a ball and pushed it into the floor. Another cloud of dust was kicked up into the room, and wooden shrapnel flew around.


    The hunters guarded themselves with shields, and when the dust faded, they found Cade standing with her hands outstretched in front of her, the tips of her fingers pointing at them.


    A vacuum sound dominated all the noise in the room for a brief moment, and when it faded, the pair of hunters lay with their backs against the brick wall opposite the one, Cade had been kicked through.


    They had apparently both maintained their shields, seeing as they were both alive. Cade had still held back on the beam, to not endanger any non-targets.


    Cade approached while swiping her disheveled hair from her eyes.


    ''Should I call for Aurelius again?'' she thought, but decided against it. ''Not necessary. This is nothing I can''t handle.'' She put her hands forward as she entered the narrow alley drenched in rain, her opponents only a few meters from her. ''I won''t die in the rain. How could I? I''m the strongest.''

 Chapter 42: The Twins (3)

    Cade maintained her sharp gaze as she and the hunters faced off. Both had gotten a taste of what the other had to offer. There was no longer any figuring out left to do. From this moment onwards, it would be true combat.


    As always, the pair bolted at her at the exact same time, with seemingly no communication. Cade was no longer that impressed with their chemistry, though. When it was expected, it was nothing special.


    The first attack that came was a kick. Cade ducked just enough to avoid the shin aimed at her head at the speed of an arrow. The hunter ended up behind her, and she turned her attention to the other, who came from her left with a blade pointed at her neck.


    She leaned back, letting the blade pass, and did nothing else but step to the side and let her attacker''s momentum carry her forward.


    She then turned to the one who had tried to kick her and was coming from behind. That hunter''s materialization didn''t seem to be that good, since she preferred using her fists. Or maybe she was preserving her energy. It didn''t really matter.


    Cade grabbed the hunter''s wrist before pulling and spinning her around with great effort to keep the other hunter from attacking.


    She then materialized a blade and stabbed it at the hunter''s back. In the process, she noticed the hunter throwing a spinning back elbow, and ducked to avoid it while carrying through on her stabbing attempt. The stab missed, however, as the hunter was able to spin themselves loose.


    As Cade was then revealed to the other hunter, a kick came flying right at her.


    She put her forearms up to block it and was launched back, perhaps a ten-meter distance. She shook her arms as she looked around the intersection she found herself at.


    She couldn''t go on fighting at such a pace for much longer. However, she was confident she could finish these hunters before she ran out of energy.


    She backflipped out of the way of two blades that crossed at the previous location and materialized a few blades that she flung at her two assailants. The projectiles were easily blocked, but that didn''t matter. Right as she got back to her feet, she dashed straight at the pair and materialized blades into both her hands.


    She swiped her hands at her sides, aiming her blades at both of the hunters'' necks. Both were blocked, and counters followed. Cade could tell the two apart now, though, so she leaned to the side she knew was weakest.


    One blade she avoided, one blade she blocked.


    She then closed the distance, so that she and the weaker materialized were face-to-face. Then she swiped her blade at the hunter''s hands, making her push away. Her back met a brick wall.


    Before Cade, could step forward, she had to turn and redirect the swing of the other hunter. Thankfully, they had gotten slower. Their stamina had depleted more than hers. Following the redirection, she kicked the hunter on her side, furthering the distance.


    After that attack was over, she turned back to her target, and with full force, she slapped away her attack before grabbing the hunter''s mask and slamming their head on the brick wall behind them.


    She didn''t have much time before the other recovered, though, so she threw the hunter on the ground as a large blade materialized in her hand, and she prepared to plunge it into the hunter''s heart.


    Then she heard the desperate shriek of a girl from behind. Her eyes went wider as she turned and realized the source of the shriek was the hunter who was dashing at her.


    This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    The hunter was just a child, probably a few years younger than Cade. But that didn''t matter now.


    Cade''s shock wore off as fast as it had come into existence as she turned to quickly finish off her target before she would do the same to the other.


    She didn''t get the chance to plunge her blade down, however, as the heel of her target met her chin, and she stumbled back into a chaotic state. Then an impact was delivered to the back of her head, shaking her world.


    She wasn''t sure who did what after that.


    The next thing she felt was being pushed at the brick wall on her side, and then her head was slammed through it before she was flung forward and a shin flying at high speeds hit her face.


    ***


    Aurelius ran through the rain as fast as he could, following the sounds of chaos, before he arrived at a building that had been run through.


    He skidded to a stop, the wet street whinging under his feet. Then he entered the building, which had its interior covered in clouds of dust.


    He looked to the side, where a father held her small daughter in a corner, covering her head with his arm. "What happened?" he asked.


    The man shivered and gripped her daughter harder. "A woman. Two masked men. They ripped through the building."


    "When?" Aurelius pressed, his imagination already creating pieces, but he was completely unsure where to place them.


    "J¡ª just minutes ago. Maybe ten. I''m not sure. There was still coming sound from outside," the man answered, his gaze pleading Aurelius to do something.


    Aurelius launched out of the building and into the alley before jumping onto a roof and running for some time, almost slipping on the slippery tiles multiple times.


    He looked around frantically. ''If Cade had defeated them, she would be looking for me. But why would someone go after her? Is it because of what happened in Wescaster?''


    He slid to a stop and scanned the surroundings before yelling, "Cade!"


    Balgair was gone. She was the only one on his side. He couldn''t lose her now. He couldn''t lose her ever.


    "CADE!"


    ***


    Aurelius stared up at the broken wall of his and Cade''s room. His hands had gone numb from squeezing them into fists for too long.


    He didn''t know.


    He didn''t know why this was happening. He didn''t know what he would do. He didn''t know anything. He just did not know.


    He gritted his teeth as his expression turned to a tight frown, and he jumped up to a platform that materialized on the level of the broken wall.


    He strode into the room and looked around, hoping to see Cade waiting for him. Maybe tending to some small injuries. Or just sleeping it off. She was the strongest person Aurelius had ever met. Her defeat was not real.


    Then his eyes met a white shape on the floor. An envelope.


    Aurelius squatted down and picked the thing up before looking at its blank front side and opening it up.


    His eyes dug into the words on the letter. Then his jaw muscles popped out, and his teeth ground together hard enough to create a screeching sound.


    On the letter, it read, "We have your partner. We will keep her alive until sundown. If you want to see her, come to the abandoned factory on the south-west side of town. Value the life of your companion and come alone."


    Aurelius looked up from the letter and glared at the setting sun in the distance as the rain began to lessen.


    Then he thought, without a single bit of hesitation, ''I''m going to need some enhancers.''

 Chapter 43: The Twins (4)

    A bell rang as Aurelius pushed the door open all the way and strode into the shop, every step carrying the weight of a stomp. The young man behind the metallic desk jolted and looked up.


    His eyes met those of Aurelius, which were shaded by his hat and bore no sign of lighting. "You sell enhancers?"


    The young man gulped as he leaned back and stood up with his legs shaking. "Ah, le¡ª let me get my boss."


    The young man entered the backroom, and after a minute or so, he came back and stepped to the side before a burly bearded man wearing a monocle came out with a displeased look on his face. The man put his hands on the desk and looked straight at Aurelius. "Get out; we''re closed."


    "No," Aurelius answered, putting down the two bags he was carrying, "you''re not."


    The man let out a surprised and disrespectful scoff. "We''re closed if I say we''re closed."


    Aurelius walked forward to the desk and glared into the man''s eyes. "I know you have enhancers."


    The man threw his hands out. "This is a pawn shop. What makes you think we''ve got enhancers?"


    Aurelius leaned forward, laying his palms on the chilly desk. "Cade told me."


    "Hah, that fu¡ª"


    Aurelius'' eyelids lowered, depriving his eyes of the last bits of light there were to be seen there. Now they were only dark slits. "Be careful."


    The man''s remaining words were left in his throat as his eyes opened. Then he leaned back and scowled. "You two close, huh?"


    Aurelius remained silent, waiting for the man to get back to the matter at hand.


    The man sighed and shook his head. "Whatever. I still can''t give you enhancers."


    "I''m not asking."


    The man''s upper lip curled. "You think you can rob us without consequences? I know people more powerful than you could imagine. Anything happens to me and your¡ª"


    In an instant, Aurelius was on the man''s side of the table. He pushed him against the wall before lifting him up by the throat. The young man on his right was about to move when Aurelius glanced at him, rendering him still as ice.


    He then looked back at the man struggling for breath. "You will give me the enhancers, or I will kill you. Sure, I can pay you. 100 gold. The same price Cade sold them to you." The man''s expression worsened. Aurelius tilted his head and widened his eyes with a severe look. "That''s not negotiable."


    The man seemed on the verge of passing out with his face red, so Aurelius lowered him. The man dropped to his knees and coughed for a while. When he finally managed to control his breathing, he looked up with bloodshot eyes. "You won''t get away with this."


    Aurelius looked down and answered, "I don''t care."


    ***


    Right when the sun was on the edge of the horizon, Aurelius looked up at the largest of all the buildings in the factory while standing in the drizzle. He then threw his hat away and got the cloth off of his head before shaking his hair around a little, letting it enjoy the moisture of the drizzle. Lastly, he grasped the enhancer vial in his pocket to make sure it was still there before he walked forward and drew open the steel doors of the building.


    Surprisingly, the room was illuminated, with a large oil lamp hanging from the roof shining its faint light in the center of the room, leaving the corners dark.


    Then he saw her. She hung her head, seemingly unconscious, while tied with hyperwire to a metallic chair in the middle of the room.


    Then he saw them, standing on her sides. A pair of thin-framed individuals dressed in clothes that were half-black and half-white.


    His nose crunched up as he asked the pair, "What do you want?"


    The one on the left pointed at him. "You."


    The one on the left did the same slightly after. "Dead."


    There was a flicker in Aurelius'' eyes. The pair were so young. Just a couple of girls, probably no older than Aurelius himself. Then his gaze firmed again. He couldn''t let his mind clouded. Something more important than him was on the line. He would need to do anything.


    "You''re after the bounty. So why go after Cade? She''s stronger than me, and doesn''t have anything to do with this."


    The masked girl on the left walked behind Cade and laid her hands on her shoulders. "She is close to you, so of course she was bound to be involved. According to our information, she is your weakness. We also know you to be more unpredictable."


    Maybe they had info on her beforehand. That would''ve made it obvious why they had targeted her. It was better to fight someone whose strength was more known.


    ''According to their information? Information from whom?!'' Aurelius thought as he squeezed his hands into fists.


    This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.


    Aurelius swallowed dryly before asking, "So what now?"


    This time, the person on the right answered, saying, "Now you sacrifice your life for her and die. All you need to do is let us kill you, and she will be released."


    Aurelius couldn''t help but notice the resemblance in the girls'' voices. They were sisters!


    Aurelius exhaled deeply, trying to process the situation. "How can I know she isn''t already dead?"


    "You see her chest rising and falling, no?" the one behind her asked.


    "Her hair is in the way," Aurelius said, prompting the masked girl to pull Cade''s head up by her hair. There were bruises on her face. Something Aurelius thought he would never see. Her mouth was hanging slightly open. Aurelius could even hear her breathing. Still, he said, "I still can''t see it," Aurelius lied. "Let me test her pulse."


    The masked girl tilted her head. "And let you run away with her?"


    "If she couldn''t escape you, how could I even while carrying her?"


    "We don''t know what you''re capable of yet," the one on the right said. "We won''t take the risk."


    "Then give me some insurance that her life will be spared," Aurelius demanded.


    "There is no way for us to do that. You need to just trust us."


    "Fine. I''ll make you another offer then." Aurelius tilted his chin down as his hand reached into his pocket. His face then grew dark as he brought out the enhancer. "Let her go, and I won''t consume this before slaughtering both of you."


    The one on the right seemed to shudder just the tiniest bit. Just enough for Aurelius'' enhanced senses to catch. Before entering, he had turned on Reinforcement as well as double enhancement, which were now running on mini supplies that Balgair had taught him.


    It seemed that keeping his senses enhanced had paid off.


    Now he knew the pair didn''t have enhancers of their own. Maybe they were short on funds, or maybe they just didn''t take them for the same reasons Cade didn''t. Whatever the reason was, Aurelius now knew he had an advantage.


    Immediately, after Aurelius issued his threat, the one behind Cade, materialized a knife. She then pulled Cade''s loose head up by her hair and pressed the piece of materialization against her throat.


    Aurelius heart jumped. At that moment, he wanted to lay down his arms and die to make sure Cade stayed safe. He couldn''t do that, though. The game he was playing was a dangerous one, and any move could lead to death, but he had no other choice but to play.


    He had to be cold. He had to be more than he was, or he would lose everything. At times like this, he would have given anything to have the intellect of Balgair. With that, all this could be resolved. In a situation like this, strength wouldn''t cut it. He had to be smart.


    He took off the lid of the enhancer and articulated himself as clearly as possible, "Lower... your... weapon."


    The one behind Cade kept her weapon still and looked to her side. "Go take the enhancer from him."


    Exactly as Aurelius predicted, they wouldn''t try killing him with a beam if he had the enhancer. It was already clear they didn''t know what he could do, and they wouldn''t take the risk of starting a battle.


    The masked girl approached steadily with steps that seemed to all be the last step before launching forward at full speed. She then reached out her hand. "Give the enhancer to me, and we''ll let her go."


    Aurelius looked at Cade and ground his teeth together before begrudgingly putting the hand holding the enhancer forward. Aurelius kept his gaze on Cade. When the masked girl was about to grab the vial, however, it dropped out of Aurelius'' hand.


    It wasn''t an accident. Aurelius simply let the vial, which was worth over a hundred gold, drop to the ground.


    In a split second, he turned to face the masked woman, who seemed startled despite her mask covering her expression. Aurelius had expected such a reaction.


    He moved his foot forward before putting all his momentum into his hand, taking the girl by the throat and slamming her onto the ground hard enough to form a depression in the asphalt.


    Aurelius also managed to catch the vial before it hit the ground and shoved it back in his pocket. The girl wriggled on the ground for a moment, but gave up once Aurelius flexed the joints in his hand and a ball of compressed essence game forth to reality.


    He then looked to the other masked girl, who had drawn blood from Cade''s throat. Not a lot, though. It seemed she had stopped when she realized she would lose her bargaining power if Cade died, and her sister would die.


    "Now," Aurelius said, "let Cade go."

 Chapter 44: The Twins (5)

    The large space, basked in faint yellow light, stayed quiet for a while after Aurelius managed to even the odds.


    If the other party lost their leverage, the situation would fall apart. Every movement was crucial, and at any moment, Aurelius'' hostage could escape his grasp. It was too late to make her unconscious, though. He had to keep reinforcement on and he couldn''t lose the compressed ball of essence, or the girl would get the opportunity to try escaping without being blown to bits immediately. In other words, he couldn''t use enhancement to its full effect in this situation, and there was no way to knock the girl out without it.


    Aurelius tightened his grasp on the girl''s throat while he looked to her sister. "Get closer. When you''re close enough, we will be able to make the exchange."


    "You come closer. My hostage is in a chair."


    "My hostage is unconscious," Aurelius spat, "and I can''t hold this compression for long, so if you don''t want to see your sister''s brains splattered on this asphalt, then get moving!"


    The masked woman tilted her head down and began striding forward, dragging the chair behind her. She seemed awfully confident that Cade wouldn''t wake up. What had they done to her?


    Aurelius watched in suspense as he focused every bit of his sense of touch to feel any movements his hostage made.


    When the one dragging Cade along then stopped just a couple of meters away, Aurelius slowly let go of the girl''s throat, and let the compressed ball of essence fade away bit by bit. The masked girl stepped to the side of Cade''s chair. Both knew that if the other made any sudden movement, a hostage would die in the blink of an eye.


    Aurelius let go of his hostage as the masked girl backed away from hers. Then, Aurelius figured it was safe to dash forward.


    He let go and let the ball in his hand disappear before enhancing his body to the max and launching at Cade. When the masked woman saw her sister be freed, she materialized a long blade and stabbed it at Cade''s throat. Aurelius had known it before it happened, though, and a wall of essence had already formed.


    Aurelius picked up the metal chair Cade was tied to, as if it weighed as much as an apple or two, and ran straight at the back wall of the factory space. The hunters were already behind him, though, so he wasted no time in ripping through the back wall and jumping to the steel roof of a nearby building.


    The sun had set, and it had grown dark. Everything was dark gray, muddy and slippery from the never-ending drizzle.


    He proceeded to maneuver from rooftop to rooftop while he put reinforcement on a mini-supply and tried to figure things out. He tried waking Cade up, but had no success. He couldn''t break Cade free in a situation like this. He had to simply give the hunters what they wanted. He already knew they weren''t willing to sacrifice each other for their mission, so the path was clear.


    Aurelius jumped to the highest roof in the area, over half a hundred meters in the air, and put the metal chair down before looking back. The hunters were about to make their way up as well, jumping from roof to roof.


    Aurelius reached in his pocket and took out the vial. He then closed his eyes for a split second and moved his lips in something akin to a prayer before taking off the lid and gulping down the cursed beast''s lifeblood.


    Immediately, his entire body tensed, and afterward, an illusory feeling traveled throughout his bloodstream. Then, warmth exploded from the center of his body and spread everywhere, lighting up his brain and tickling the backs of his eyeballs.


    It all happened so fast, but it was such a unique and utterly addicting feeling.


    The thing that scared Aurelius deep within was that even before his mind had thought it, his body had jumped forward into action. In the air, he faced the pair of hunters that were trying to make it to Cade. Then essence seemed to explode in the area as they clashed in the dark gray expanse. Aurelius couldn''t hold his strength. It was so great that it had to be expressed.


    He strengthened reinforcement and coated his body in a layer of materialization. Then his bare hand met the blades of the twins and before they could slice his skin, he crushed the materialized essence like glass between his fingers. The girls gasped, but Aurelius spared no time before shoving the airborne figures of the cloaked hunters back where they came from. The pair couldn''t counter the impact and plummeted to the rooftop they had jumped from.


    Aurelius was left alone in the sky, standing on a faint blue platform of essence that provided almost all the illumination there was, while he stared at the hunters below. The shove hadn''t done much. The girls had recovered quickly and were now standing about ten meters apart on the steel-plated rooftop, the only evidence of their fall being the depressions that decorated the plates of steel.


    Aurelius walked a few steps in the sky until he was right in the middle of the masked girls and let the platform disappear, things growing dark for the moment he was falling to the ground.


    When he landed, he crouched straight away, and two light blades crossed at the place his neck would have been.


    Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.


    Aurelius bounced up in an instant and pushed both the girls back with his palms. They flew farther than expected. Aurelius looked down at his hands. He wasn''t sure at what rate his essence supplies were at. Hell, he wasn''t even sure what he was using. Everything came so naturally in this state. It was like heaven. Not in the sense that he was in the presence of gods, but in the sense that he was one. Things just listened to his commands and lined up exactly as he wanted.


    The hunters rushed from both sides. This time, they seemed faster. Aurelius poured all the essence he could muster to pretty much anywhere he felt it could fit and watched things happen. Despite the darkness, his sight was so clear that he could distinctly see each movement of the hunters in the dark, and his body seemed to react by itself. The enhancer... it had amplified his instincts.


    Everything was great. Aurelius dodged and dodged. Even when he was hit, it was nothing but a dull impact that faded as fast as it came. All the while, he swung his arms and felt as the world shifted under his power. It was all so right.


    It was too overwhelming to follow as attacks flew around. The hunters worked with all sorts of blades and bounced off of one another like they were part of the same being. Aurelius smiled as he watched. It was great. So great. All the attacks went right before his eyes.


    Then he fired back. Instantly, his eyes went wide with ecstasy. Just one hit! One hit was all that was all that was required from him to crack a multitude of one of the hunter''s reinforced ribs.


    The hunter continued fighting, but blood dripped from underneath her mask. Aurelius could feel his victory creeping closer as he was throwing strikes that got closer and closer each time. The only thing keeping these people alive was their battle prowess. Without it, they were nothing to Aurelius. If the fight had been a simple contest of speed, Aurelius would have won a thousand times over.


    It was just a matter of time until he won, though, as the hunter''s still hadn''t landed anything significant. Or so he thought.


    He truly hadn''t felt a thing.


    But he was no longer able to live his fantasy when, during an encounter, his knees buckled and he collapsed onto his back. His eyes flew open in confusion, but then he looked down, and the questions turned to unfiltered horror.


    His body was more covered in blood than clothing. And among the stripes of crimson, there was a sickening amalgamation that moved in swirls of black. Aurelius gasped for breath as blood boiled at the back of his throat. He tried to flood his body with enhancement, but none of it had any effect.


    At that moment, Cade''s words came back to him. ''Enhancers can help you get a one-time feeling of superiority before leading you to a miserable death.''


    Tears welled up in his eyes as he looked up at the black-and-white hunter about to plunge the shining sword into Aurelius''s heart. He tried to form his last thoughts, but all his head could process were the whines coming from his own mouth as he struggled back. Behind him was the other hunter, though, with her own blade hoisted up in the air.


    He would die like this. He didn''t want to, but he deserved to. Perhaps, it was right.


    Then the blades came down. At least half way, until a figure cut through the air and came down with her own blade, going straight through the hunter''s cloak and neck all the same.


    The hunter behind Aurelius was still and silent for a moment before letting out a wail and bringing her blade down at Aurelius'' helpless figure, spilling blood onto the wet plates on the roof, dyeing the whole thing red. Aurelius'' tried lifting his forearms as defense, but no shield came forth.


    One wasn''t necessary, though, as his savior rushed at the other hunter. She twisted the hunter''s arm, and a crack came before a scream that held within a palpable pain that nobody could escape from.


    The scream didn''t last long, however, as a blade went through her throat and she slumped down to the ground, motionless and dead.


    Aurelius opened and closed her mouth as oxygen was running out. He was gradually choking on his own blood, but his neck wouldn''t move and he couldn''t spit the blood out.


    It was then that Cade came to his side and went on her knees before turning him to his side so that the blood could flow out freely. Aurelius looked at Cade''s expression, which was riddled with worry as bits of glistening light formed at the bottoms of her eyes. He smiled with blissful ignorance of the situation.


    "Why?" she asked. "Why did you come for me? Why did you take an enhancer? I told you not to!"


    Aurelius tried reaching up a hand, but fell short. Cade noticed the effort and took his hand into hers.


    Then Aurelius opened his mouth and painfully managed to get out a few words. "For you."


    Cade''s expression shaped into a deep frown as he squeezed Aurelius'' hand. "Hold on. I''ll take you somewhere warm. Just stay with me. Re¡ª Rey? Rey!"


    She yelled, but Aurelius couldn''t hear. His consciousness faded, and his eyes rolled to the back of his head while a smile stayed plastered on his face.

 Chapter 45: Falling

    A teenage girl opened the door hurriedly after a single knock resounded. Well, not a knock. More of a kick, really.


    Once she opened the door, her eyes met an unprecedented sight. The image of a fallen angel with golden hair and a body covered in bloody slashes. Even for a clinic that specialized in severe cases, she hadn''t seen someone who had taken as much damage as the tall man that a woman enveloped in darkness was carrying. There was so much blood pouring out of the man that he should''ve been dead in minutes, but somehow he still seemed to be breathing.


    The woman looked down and saw the puddle of blood on the ground. There was a swirling black mixed in it. She stepped back and was about to close the door.


    Then came the woman''s voice. "Please," she said, and the girl looked at her face, covered in streaks of water from the drizzle and probably from her eyes as well.


    The girl let out an exhalation before fully opening the door and letting the woman inside.


    ***


    Gadreel spun an ink pencil in his hand while looking through some reports in his workroom, located in the former Royal Castle. Everything was calm everywhere, it seemed. Or maybe the branch managers were just lying. It was possible. He could feel his iron grip starting to slip. He had to do something in the near future to keep everything rolling smoothly. The memories of humans were so short and biased. Reminders were necessary, even though his previous displays should''ve been unforgettable.


    He sighed and looked to his side, where Sherridan appeared not long after. "How''d you know?" she asked.


    "How''d I know you were coming?" Gadreel asked back before shrugging casually. "I don''t know. Maybe I smelled you or something." He waved his hand in front of his nose, warranting a glare from his assistant.


    "I''ve got news," Sherridan said with a bit of displeasure in her tone. It meant good news.


    Gadreel leaned his cheek on his fist. "Do go on."


    "The son of Ares triumphed against the twins. A lot of blood was found at the scene, however. He is likely in a very bad state right now."


    "Aha, alright. Anything else?"


    Sherridan tilted her masked face down. "The twins are dead."


    "Yes, I would assume so."


    "And next is?"


    "Well, we probably don''t have his location right now or know his state since the spies didn''t want to get too close while he was on guard, so what can we do?"


    "You don''t mean that."


    Gadreel raised his brows. "Sure, I do. We''re leaving him alone for now. He needs time to recover and he''s worked hard. Also, after the twins, I''m sure he''ll ramp up his training. Sending any more bounty hunters in the foreseeable future would be distracting. Oh, and I''m thinking we ought to give him a little gift."


    Sherridan tilted her chin up, looking down at Gadreel with those terrifying eyes of hers. "A gift?"


    "Yeah," Gadreel said as he spun the ink pencil a couple rounds before dropping the damn thing and looking up at Sherridan. "Although the timing will be a little tricky with it, I''m sure it''ll work. The kid will be delighted!"


    Sherridan backed up a little with slow steps. Maybe she recognized the expression Gadreel was wearing just now.


    ***


    Aurelius breathed in. Then he breathed in a little more. One more time. Next came a fit of coughs. He tried to keep his body jolting to a minimum, though. Every single move hurt like a stab to the heart.


    There was a comforting warmth, though.


    Aurelius strained his neck to look down at his hand that was wrapped up in Cade''s gentle grasp and pressed by her head. She was sleeping while sitting, her face serene with her eyes closed in a relaxed manner and her lips a straight line. Aurelius frowned at the purple spots on her cheeks and the bandages on her forehead, though.


    He tried lifting his other hand to touch her head, but before he could manage to move, the door to the room opened, and a young girl with bright eyes and curly dark hair walked in.


    Her expression seemed to be a mix of shock and joy, her eyes open and her lips curving up. It was weird, considering that Aurelius had never seen the girl before. This wasn''t Aleyah''s place or any other place Aurelius had ever laid his eyes on. The room was yellow, with a single window so small that it seemed to have no purpose. The bed was angled to keep his upper body upright and it had guardrails that would keep people from falling.


    Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.


    Cade had brought her to a hospital. How could she? It wasn''t safe.


    "Relax; nobody knows you''re here," the girl said as she walked in and sat down on Aurelius'' other side. "She made sure of that," she said, nodding at Cade''s sleeping figure.


    Aurelius exhaled and relaxed his body, a burst of pain following his sudden movements.


    The girl turned to look him in the eyes with wonder. "You really are still alive. That''s incredible. Having lost the amount of blood you had, I saw Cade''s words about you certainly surviving as a simple delusion. But here you are. Awake after just four days. Even after you showed signs of improving, I was sure, you''d be asleep for a long time."


    "Ah, thank you," Aurelius said, glancing at Cade, making sure not to move to wake her up. He wasn''t sure what he would tell her. He looked back at the girl and asked, "What did you do to me? How am I alive?"


    "Blood transfusion," the girl answered, and after seeing Aurelius'' very well-informed expression, she launched into an explanation. "It turned out that yours and Cade''s blood is compatible and she was able to give you her blood since you were running really low. It took a lot out of her. She''s been sleeping a lot lately and looks really pale."


    "Why''d you make her do it then?" Aurelius asked, his gaze on Cade.


    The girl smiled. "Oh, I didn''t make her. We have blood in store for these types of situations, but she insisted. Something about her being a strong essence user. I''m not sure if essence has anything to do with this stuff, but who knows? It may. You certainly should''ve died, given your injuries."


    "My injuries? What exactly?" Aurelius asked as he looked down at his bandaged body. Everything was sore. He couldn''t really tell what pain was coming from where. It was all too constant.


    "You had somewhere around forty cuts. Most weren''t very deep, but a lot of your muscle tissue has been damaged. Tendons as well. My father spent the whole night sewing them all shut. You''ll be left with a lot of scars, for sure, but none on that pretty face of yours," the girl said with a smile. Her expression got more serious pretty quickly, though, as she said, "Now I''m not sure what rate you are able to heal at, but I''d say that you''ll need to be in recovery for maybe half a year."


    Aurelius smiled and said, "I''ll be fine in a month." He proceeded to cough a couple of minutes later.


    The girl showed a soft smile as she stood up. "I''ll leave you two to talk things out," she said.


    Aurelius followed her gaze and noticed his coughs had woken up Cade, who was raising her head, a part of her still in dreamland. When her gaze met Aurelius'', though, all her drowsiness faded like vapor. Her skin was like polished marble.


    Her jaw shook as she reached out a hand. Aurelius stuck his own hand at her, grabbing a hold of Cade''s.


    Her head tilted to the side, and a sad smile formed on her face. Then she was embracing Aurelius tightly. She was as fast as ever. Aurelius smiled, not paying any heed to the extreme pain, as he leaned his head on her shoulder.


    No words were exchanged. None were needed.


    They both knew what the other had to say, so it was all unnecessary. Both were sorry and regretful. But all that mattered was that they were alive and together.


    Aurelius slowly raised his hands to his sides before wrapping them around Cade and closing his eyes.


    "I never want you to leave me," Cade said. They were words that surprised Aurelius in the comfortable silence.


    And even though Aurelius hadn''t known it, those words were all he had ever wanted to hear.


    "I won''t," Aurelius promised.


    A promise he never meant to break.

 Chapter 46: Written In Blood

    It took a few days for Cade to make a complete recovery. She went to pay for the collateral damage in town, and after that was done, it was time to leave.


    Cade carried both of their bags while, Aurelius slowly walked beside her, using a pair of crutches. His hat had been lost, so he had gotten a new one. A flat, black hat with wide rims, that shadowed his face completely. In addition, Cade had bought him a smooth navy blue scarf that he could conceal the other half of his face with, leaving only his eyes visible. Eyes, which probably looked as dark as the depths of the Great Ocean.


    Traveling was pretty peaceful. There was no running this time. Only walking and sitting in carriages.


    There were few coachmen that provided long trips for strangers, though, so they needed to take multiple trips a day, which was a little infuriating. Still, it wasn''t that bad.


    All of Aurelius'' wounds hadn''t quite closed yet, though, so what made the trip worse was that his body ached at every shake of the carriage.


    Cade seemed to notice his expression twitching at the pain and asked, "Do you want to stop to rest somewhere? We don''t have to make the trip while you''re still recovering."


    Aurelius leaned the back of his against the wooden interior of the carriage. "No. I''d like to get to Aleyah''s place as soon as possible. The longer I stay in town, the bigger the chance that someone else will come after me."


    "You sure?" Cade asked, tilting her head. "I''m not sure if those black and white hunters were people who just saw you going around. I don''t think they were after the bounty as much as they were under someone''s orders. They seemed to know exactly who you are. For a duo as strong as them, 1000 gold shouldn''t be enough to go against the son of Ares. Lots of easier ways to make money."


    Aurelius looked at Cade, his face limp with mental exhaustion. "Under whose orders?"


    "I don''t know," Cade answered. "Probably under the Boeria branch manager''s orders. Maybe he realized who you were and saw an opportunity to boost his reputation."


    "I see." Aurelius closed his eyes and let out a sigh. "I don''t get it, though. Why would such young and talented girls be bounty hunters? Are you sure we had to kill them?"


    "Yes, I had to kill them. They tried killing us first. It doesn''t matter how they got into their line of work. They knew full well what they were doing. They were strong enough to have a choice in the matter as well. There are no excuses for them."


    An expected answer. Aurelius pursed his lips. Sometimes Cade''s coldness was annoying. She was the rational justification that Aurelius couldn''t grasp, let alone commit to. In a way, he was envious. Things would''ve been so easy if his mind worked like hers. Maybe it would take him being more like her in order to become what he wanted.


    Aurelius breathed a little deeper before a relaxing sensation started to overtake him, and he managed to fall asleep.


    ***


    Cade shook him, shook him and shook...


    "I''m awake! I''m awake," Aurelius said, waving his hand before closing his eyes again, prompting Cade to shake him awake again.


    "Come on. We have to go through the city on foot. There''s a traffic jam," Cade said.


    Aurelius groaned before painfully standing up, putting on his hat and scarf, taking his crutches, and exiting the carriage. Cade paid the coachman, and then they stepped into the stream of people.


    It was noon, and the sun shone straight into Aurelius'' eyes. It wasn''t the most pleasant awakening experience he''d ever had. That one time with the spider crawling into his mouth while he slept in the Thropes probably took the top spot.


    He shuddered at the thought and looked around as he tried his best to avoided being bumped.


    The streets were overflowing with people, while carriages tried to make their way out from the middle of it all.


    "Where are we?" Aurelius asked while he walked behind Cade, who paved the way through the mass.


    He tried figuring it out by the architecture, but there was nothing special about it. The place was a bit similar to Wescaster with its gray brick buildings that had flat roofs. The buildings just weren''t quite as tall as the ones over there.


    "Boeria!" Cade yelled as she kept moving.


    Aurelius'' consciousness jumped a little, and the remaining sleepiness in his system faded. He pressed his hat down and tightened his scarf.


    He looked down at his feet while they moved. "What''s with the crowd?"


    "I''m not sure. Even the coachman didn''t know, and he''s here a lot, so this must be a special occasion," Cade said, her voice loud.


    "What do you¡ª"


    "Huh? Hey, over there. It seems people are gathering just around the corner," Cade said. Aurelius quickly glanced up to see where she was pointing before putting his gaze down and moving on.


    "Are we going to go look? Or should we move the other way to get away from the crowd?" he asked.


    "Let''s go see, since our trip has already been disturbed," Cade said, changing the direction a little and continuing to shove people aside.


    Aurelius kept his gaze down and followed. When they made the big turn, Cade stopped for a while. There were sounds of... sobbing? Aurelius glanced up a little just so he could see her. "What is it?"


    "You don''t¡ª" Cade stopped herself. "Ah, don''t look. Let''s just go." She turned to Aurelius and gestured for them to go the other way.


    Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.


    "Huh?" Aurelius let his curiosity win and shifted his gaze a little higher, so that he could see what it was. "What are¡ª"


    He paused, his face twitching, but his eyes staying still. Finally, he averted his gaze and felt chills run through his ribs. It was like cold, demonic claws were scraping his torso.


    ''What did I see? What did I see? What? What? What? What? What? What? Was that. That. No. It...''


    "Let''s¡ª" Cade''s cold hand grasped his wrist suddenly, prompting him to shake and pull away. "Rey!" she yelled as he started making his way closer.


    As he got closer, he noticed that the stones on the ground were no longer visible. It was all just vomit. But that didn''t stop him. He had to be sure about what he saw. It couldn''t be that he was imagining something like that. Even imagining something like that was a crime. An offense against humanity. He had to confirm that he hadn''t committed such a crime.


    Though he wasn''t sure which was worse¡ªhim imagining it, or someone having brought such a horrific thing to reality?


    The sounds of people sobbing, shrieking, and vomiting started to be so common that it all drowned out.


    He pushed people out of the way and strode forth. He had to bear witness. If such a thing was real, he had to know. And if it was, he had to punish it.


    When he finally made it to the front, where the authorities had set up fences and signs, he lifted his gaze from his feet and bore witness.


    He stopped breathing. At that moment, Aurelius was sure he had never and would never see anything so atrocious ever again in his life. It couldn''t get worse than this.


    That was because it was a human. And what makes a human.


    A square, a circle, and the thing itself. All human.


    It took a while to really process the sight. The sight of the ordinary gray brick building that had a fresh corpse nailed to it.


    The corpse was that of a man who was not even fifty. He had thin brown hair, and his face was clean-shaven. He also had a toned physique that was semi-impressive for someone his age. That was irrelevant, though. What really grabbed attention were the spikes that had gone through the man''s body. They were everywhere, sticking the man into a position with his arms and legs spread. Through the hands, elbows, shoulders, hips, knees, feet, and even through the neck, so that the man''s head was held up, and he could face the crowd with a blank, everyday look. It was as if he were still alive and listening to a boring story.


    One of the most frightening details was that the man seemed to have been unsuspecting, even right before he was killed. He had probably not been aware of his impending death until it had already happened. Just like that, his consciousness had been erased from the world.


    It didn''t end there, however. That was just the beginning.


    Surrounding the one corpse. There was part of another, and another, and another. They were arms. Arms cleanly severed at the shoulder and nailed to the wall in such a way that the complete work, which was composed of dozens of arms, made a circle. And surrounding that was a square. A square made up of legs.


    Aurelius'' jaw tightened even more than it already had unconsciously done, but he couldn''t express it. Just gritting his teeth wasn''t enough to express the emotion brewing inside of him. The sheer disgust at how someone could play with human lives and desecrate corpses in such a manner.


    How could something so filthy be allowed to exist in this world?


    Aurelius brought his hands up to his eyes and dug his nails into the insides of his eyes for a moment. Then he saw the text. The text written onto the bare upper body of the corpse in the middle.


    ''Killers'' was written on the forearm. On the forearms. It was the same on both hands.


    Then Aurelius looked at the shoulders and chest. On the left shoulder, there was the letter U. On the chest, there was the letter R. On the right shoulder, there was the letter I. ''URI''. Aurelius directed his gaze up as his wide eyes consumed the image, committing every piece to memory. The text on the forehead was clear. ''Spirit''.


    The last one that Aurelius noticed was the writing on the stomach. And right when he thought, his eyes couldn''t go any wider, he saw it. ''Golden One''.


    Aurelius spun his head around as his consciousness shook, and his eyes darted around. It was then that he started to hear the surrounding chatter.


    "That''s... Numen... the leader..."


    "The branches... conflict..."


    "No... statement... the authorities..."


    "He''s Felix... how is... someone..."


    Aurelius''s gaze whet back to it for one last time as he noticed something more he had missed. A text above it all, written with all capital letters made up of large, rough strokes. It was crimson. Written with blood, like all of it.


    "The... Idea of a Human?" Aurelius read out loud, his voice hissing through his clenched teeth.


    He wanted to throw up, but he couldn''t. For some reason, it seemed like too little of a reaction. It meant nothing in the face of something like this. He twitched as he felt a touch on his shoulder. He turned around to see Cade, who had a deep frown imprinted on her face.


    Then he felt the right reaction, and his head stopped spinning for just a second before his eyes rolled into the back of his head and his eyelids fluttered before he fainted into Cade''s arms.

 Chapter 47: A Young Man

    It was a long time ago.


    "Hey, William," a bald man in military uniform said as he opened the tall doors to a large office where the head Numen was working.


    The one sitting behind a desk raised his head, a frown in his lips, and his brown hair just long enough to cover his eyes. He didn''t seem bothered by the hair, however. It was more like he had grown and styled it that way for the sole purpose of concealing his gaze.


    He wore loose, pristine white clothes coupled with golden earrings, necklaces, and rings


    "Why are you here, Franz?" William asked.


    Franz bowed upon entering. "I have something you may be interested in."


    "Oh," William said, leaning his cheek on his fist, "what is it?"


    The military man stood tall and put his hands behind his back before saying, "I have caught the one responsible for the collapse of the Verdua branch."


    William''s expression turned into one of deep displeasure as he stared right at Franz. "The ones responsible were executed months ago."


    Franz closed his eyes and nodded. "Yes, the ones who committed the act. But there was a third party involved."


    "I urge you to get to the point. Did you come here just to waste my time? I hope you do not intend to simply infuriate me with this visit. For your sake, that is."


    Franz shook his head. "No, of course not."


    William stayed quiet and waited. Franz could feel it as the patience in the room drained out and was replaced by palpable frustration. It was all according to that man''s instructions, though.


    "I have brought the one responsible here," Franz said hurriedly. "He turned himself in and even provided evidence. Then he said you would want to meet him. He seemed completely willing to sacrifice his life for the opportunity to see you."


    "What do you know about him?"


    "Nothing... He''s a ghost. The spies tried finding any background information on him, but they came up with nothing," Franz answered. "Though, on the way here, I discovered something. He''s completely intolerant of gore. He gags at the mere sight of blood. Still, he seems fiercely intelligent. That''s why I thought you might be interested."


    "Oh, I''m interested. Do not disappoint me," William said before making a brief gesture. "Bring him in."


    Franz nodded and exited, wiping the sweat off his forehead. It had all gone, like the young man had said. Once he got outside the room, he called out to the young man, who casually tilted his head in response. The young man then waltzed to him and thanked him before entering the office, Franz following right behind him.


    The young man stopped a few steps in and bowed deeply. "It is an honor to be in the presence of a man as great as you, Ruler of Mircrest."


    William waved a hand. "Raise your head." The young man obeyed. "Now, Franz here tells me I would want to meet you. Why is that?"


    The young man meekly held his hands at his crotch, one hand grabbing the wrist of the other. "I¡ª"


    "Oh, a couple more things," William interrupted. "Your explanation is to be exactly 74 words long. You have one minute. Should you fail to impress me within that minute, I will kill Franz for wasting my time. And you will watch as I rip him apart. Ah, and after that, I''ll also kill you. But that was to be expected, no?"


    Franz shivered and had the urge to run, but then he looked at the young man.


    He was calm as ever. "When does my time start?" he asked.


    William leaned back in his chair with an amused smile. "14 seconds ago."


    The young man nodded and took the time to inhale before beginning. "I''m a man with a single purpose. And what I want is to become your assistant. I believe that would be to your benefit as well. Currently, I have no allegiances. I would serve you and you alone. You would probably agree that a man, who is able to collapse one of the largest Numen branches alone without being close to getting caught, would be fitting to assist even an individual such as you."


    Silence followed. Then William burst into laughter. "Good, very good. You shall both keep your heads," he said as he applauded.


    The young man bowed. "Thank you, Ruler of Mircrest."


    William stood up and walked around his table before coming to face the young man. "Call me William," he said as he looked down at the young man, who stood significantly shorter than him. "From this day on, you are my assistant. Your duty will not be easy. I will not care for you. I will not trust you. You may die a sudden death for no reason. You will likely see things that would make the hardest of soldiers vomit. I expect you to be ready for this."


    "I am," the young man said with a nod. "I will serve you as best as I can."


    William smiled and extended a hand. The young man grasped his hand without hesitation and smiled. But Franz saw that it wasn''t a smile of enthusiasm. It was the kind of irresistible smile that came after a perfect strategy. The thing that made Franz want to shrink himself into something unnoticeable in the pair''s presence was that they had the exact same smile.


    "Well, then," William said, letting go of the young man''s hand. "What shall I call you?"


    "You can call me whatever you wish," the young man said. "I have no name."


    "Hmm." William tilted his head. "That won''t do. A child needs a name. No matter if the child has been raised by the world." William raised a hand and laid it on the young man''s cheek. "No need to fret. I''ll give you a name." He moved his hand from the young man''s shoulder and touched his hair. His expression changed when he saw the young man''s eyes clearly. "You have peculiar features. A unique nature calls for a unique name... How about..."


    If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    ***


    "Gadreel."


    A head of auburn hair rose up at Sherridan''s call.


    "I wish you wouldn''t wake me when I''m having nice dreams."


    "Too bad. We''re here," Sherridan said and opened the carriage door.


    Gadreel groaned as he stood up and dusted off his clothes before stepping out into the night in the city of Hample, which contained the 11th largest Numen branch. He put his hands behind his back and walked through the uneven street, assembled from polished stones that shone with bluish-white moonlight.


    "By the way, I get why you did what you did to Felix, but I''ll be honest. I think you''re slipping. You''re getting consumed by your desire," Sherridan said. A hurtful and sudden statement that left Gadreel shocked. Sherridan noticed his reaction, but only went further. "We''re here because you suspect an overtaking, so why is it that you''re watering the seeds?"


    "Me killing Felix won''t affect my rule," Gadreel stated.


    Sherridan scoffed. "What do you mean? Of course, it does. You can''t just kill your allies without reason and expect your other allies to turn a blind eye. If they feel threatened, they''ll take you out before long. No matter how cunning you are, you won''t be able to save yourself if the whole of Numen turns against you."


    Gadreel scratched his head. "Well, I suppose so. The thing is that Felix was a drug addict. His branch was also getting into worse shape."


    "But that goes for half the branch leaders and their branches."


    "So what you''re saying is that I''ll be the targets of a bunch of losers if I keep doing what I''m doing?" Gadreel laughed as Sherridan''s face dropped. "Don''t worry, I know what I''m doing. What happened to Felix might very well cause me trouble in the future, but I find it more likely that it will motivate other branch leaders to better their businesses and hide their drug addictions. I see this as an absolute win."


    Sherridan snorted. "Yeah, whatever. But if you get overtaken, don''t expect me to care."


    "Care?" Gadreel asked, his tone a mix of amusement and surprise. "I don''t expect you to care no matter what happens to me. I would never expect anyone to care about anything. The curse of indifference is too familiar to me for me to do something like that."


    Sherridan looked at Gadreel with dead eyes. "The curse of... What are you talking about?"


    "I haven''t told you?" Gadreel said with his brows raised before turning his gaze to his feet. "Well, maybe I have, but I''ve just used a different name. The names don''t really stick with such concepts. Oh, but my point is that I don''t expect anyone to care about something, since I don''t care about much myself. I would say that it''s a curse, but some may call it a gift." Gadreel''s light eyes turned dark as he gazed at the dark alleys all around. "But those people don''t understand what it''s like. They don''t know what it feels like to watch somebody you thought you cared about die and feel so distant, as if that person, who you thought to be the light at the end of your tunnel, was just an illusion."


    Gadreel could feel Sherridan''s gaze on the side of his head. She was unable to see his face. It was best that way.


    "You''re not talking about William, right?" Sherridan asked. Her words inferred that Gadreel hadn''t wanted to lose William. What she really was asking was whether Gadreel hadn''t gone all out. It was a mocking sound that rang in Gadreel''s ears.


    Gadreel turned to Sherridan, moonlight illuminating half of his face as he held a hint of rage in his eyes. "William was like a father to me. He showed me a glimpse of what I live for. We went to war with all we had. I will not hear another word from you that soils the glory of our clashing. Do not suggest that I went easy on him ever again."


    Sherridan backed away, her eyes flickering behind her mask. "Huh? I didn''t¡ª"


    Gadreel turned with a grunt. One that expressed an anger that was ultimately void, with no target. "I lack some inherent human facilities. I am the way I am because I was born this way. Truly, I have never had a choice about how I live. I want you to know when the end comes that I am not the way I am because I willed it. It is simply who I was meant to be despite my never-ending rebellion."


    "And what does that mean?" Sherridan asked with an abstract disgust in her voice.


    "It means I''m never truly free, no matter how much I indulge in impulsivity. I''m a defined creature. One with no home. I was born that way, and I will die that way. So please do not resent me when everything crumbles because it inevitably will," Gadreel answered and stopped to gaze at the moon. "No, maybe I want you to resent me. I''m not sure. All I know are my instincts, which lead me to fulfillment. I''m unable to feel outside myself. In a sense, I''m pathetic because of this incapability of mine. If I didn''t possess my finesse, I would be fated for misery. And even with my finesse, I am never complete. That is, except for my final moment. I will be complete then, for sure." He then turned to Sherridan with her narrow eyes and smiled a sad smile. "I wonder if I''ll cry."

 Chapter 48: The Prayer

    At sunrise, Aleyah came to open the door and greet the duo. Aurelius just went ahead and limped inside without so much as noting her presence, bumping her a little in the process. It was the first time Cade had seen Aurelius like that. And even though Aleyah didn''t know Aurelius at all, even she looked shocked.


    Cade looked down and sighed as she stepped inside. Aurelius threw away his scarf and took his shoes off with his feet before going straight for the staircase.


    "Ah, don''t go there," Aleyah said in a hurry. "The guest room is occupied."


    Aurelius looked at her wordlessly before dropping his bag. Cade directed her inquisitive gaze at Aleyah as well, who looked troubled.


    She leaned towards Cade and whispered, "I''ll tell you about it later." She looked at Aurelius, who dug his notebook out of his bag and went to sit at the kitchen table. "Right, there''s food. You must be hungry."


    "Yeah, thanks," Cade said with a tired nod before moving into the kitchen.


    "Um, could I ask where that one boy is? Balgair, was it? Did he die?"


    Cade sat down opposite Aurelius and leaned her elbows onto the table. "He''s not dead, but he is gone. I don''t expect we''ll see any more of him."


    Aleyah opened her mouth, but didn''t get a word out. She then turned and went to get a few plates.


    She brought them to the table and tried to give one to Aurelius, who just put up a hand. "No, thank you."


    It was then that Aleyah saw it. The thing that Aurelius had been drawing almost constantly for the rest of the trip since Boeria. Aurelius was no artist, but any imitation of that scene was bound to be horrific Cade pursed her lips and took a plate for herself.


    "What is that?" Aleyah asked, her nose twitching with disgust.


    "The leader of Boeria''s Numen branch. The whole place was annihilated before we could get to it. And it seems it was all just to deliver a message," Aurelius answered monotonously as he kept detailing the limbs nailed to the wall like decorations.


    "What kind of message is that?"


    "''Stay out of my business.'' Whoever he is, he''s giving me an out. My bounty is gone now."


    "The Idea of a Human?" Aleyah read out loud. "Who did this?"


    "Not who. What," Aurelius corrected, his words like insults. "It could be the leader of Numen. Could be one of the Houses. Fuck, it could be the president." Aurelius was about to slam the table but held himself back. "I don''t know. But it was directed at me. On some sick kind of personal level." He pointed to the text on the man''s body, where it read ''Golden One''.


    Aleyah stepped back, holding her forehead, and tried to get a word out.


    Cade took a deep breath. "Don''t worry. Even if someone knew our location previously, I made sure we weren''t followed here."


    Aleyah nodded nervously and remembered the food. She then fetched some soup and left Cade and Aurelius alone.


    For a long time, not a single word was heard in the entire house. Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.


    But when Aleyah came back, Cade remembered that there was still something.


    "Could you come with me?" Aleyah said, gesturing out of the kitchen.


    Cade stood up silently and left Aurelius to drown in his notebook. She then followed Aleyah upstairs and to the guest room. When that door opened, she saw a young woman with blonde hair lying where Aurelius had been half a year ago. The woman was bruised, and her neck was bandaged. She turned shaky eyes from the white roof to Cade and Aleyah as they entered, and Cade''s frown got deeper.


    She''d seen such eyes before. Such blank pearls. She put a hand on her chin and cracked her neck a little. There were some people for her to kill.


    ***


    Cade was gone for longer than expected, and Aurelius finally headed upstairs.


    As he was right at the door of the guest room, it opened and Cade walked out with narrow, shaded eyes. She was going to kill someone. Aurelius stumbled and felt pain radiate through his body that sent him falling backward to the ground. As he fell, the impact only caused more pain.


    Aurelius groaned while Cade looked down at him. She then stepped to the side and went to walk past him.


    "Wait!" Aurelius said. "What''s going on?"


    "None of your concern. You can take my room. Go rest."


    Aurelius sprung to his feet and walked up to the guest room. He rushed the door open and paused. His eyes went straight to the bruised girl in the bed, who flinched at the sight of him.


    He shut the door and turned to go after Cade. "Hey, let me help."


    Cade turned back to him with a deadly serious expression as she was about to go downstairs. "You can barely walk."


    "Yeah, but I can take care of some low lives. That''s who you''re going after, right?"


    Cade took a step toward him, and soon they were face-to-face. "My answer is no."


    Aurelius'' hands shot up, and he grabbed Cade by her collar. "Come on! I can fight."


    Cade''s eyes stayed steady as she grabbed Aurelius'' wrists. "You need to rest."


    "I''ve done nothing but rest the past week. All the while, people are getting murdered, robbed, and defiled. Isn''t this enough rest? I just want to help. Things are getting worse, worse, and worse. And I''m not doing anything!" Aurelius'' jaw shook as he tried to make her understand. "I¨C I''m helpless."


    "Calm down. You have a purpose here," Cade said, pointing at the door. "Stay and watch over her while I go looking outside. That''s what you can do right now."


    Aurelius opened his mouth, let out a sigh, and relaxed his grip. Cade then turned and walked off, while he made his way to the guest room door and sat down next to it. He took out his notebook and started scribbling something, but gave up halfway and hung his head.


    Aleyah exited and looked at Aurelius in surprise. "What are you doing?"


    "Guarding her," Aurelius answered, his voice deep and targeted at the floor. He knew it was a lie. He was just sitting there while holding a pathetic excuse close to his chest.


    "Ah, right," Aleyah said, opening the door to the guest room. "Hey, Betty, you have a really strong guard outside, so sleep tight." Aurelius heard a low mumble come from the room before Aleyah closed the door and gave Aurelius a wink before walking off.


    Aurelius bumped his head on the wall behind him a few times before hanging it again. He then opened his notebook on his lap and scrolled through the walls of text in it. Gabriel this, Gabriel that.


    Why did the guy even teach him anything? He could''ve just left after delivering the news. What point was there in sticking around if he would leave in just a couple of months? Was he there to just play dad for him? Right when Aurelius started to think of him as one, he just left.


    But, of course, there was a clear reason for it all. Aurelius had too much potential to be ignored. He just had to do it. In life, if you were super talented at something, you had no choice. That was the thing you would do.


    Aurelius had always thought of his talent as a means to an end. However, it was obvious that it didn''t work that way.


    You couldn''t assign a meaning to the meaning assigned to you.


    While he had the talent to be the strongest, he had no talent for saving people. He had no talent for being a hero. He was meant to be powerful, and it seemed that was all he was ever going to be.


    He would never save anyone. He would just grow more powerful. He would never own a fortune because his fortune was the enormous amount of essence in the palm of his hand. He would never hold a loved one because they would be crushed by him. He would never see any beauty because it all lay so far below him.


    The day he got to know of his power, that power became his world. And now he had nowhere else to live but that world. His path had been decided when Gabriel descended into his world.


    Aurelius slammed the back of his head into the wall behind him, and there was a dull impact. He wasn''t hurt. He shut his eyes peacefully and prayed. He prayed for the past to be rewritten.


    He prayed that he would never have met Gabriel.

 Chapter 49: Breaking Down

    "Hey, you outside." The unusually hoarse voice of the girl startled Aurelius, who was half-sitting and half-lying down right outside the guest room.


    "What is it? Do you need something?" Aurelius asked as he got to his feet, his wounds aching from the sudden movement.


    "No. I''m fine." The voice got lower. "But I feel bad making you stay outside. There''s a chair in the room. How about you come inside?"


    "Ah, are you sure?" Aurelius asked as his hand moved to the door handle.


    "I wouldn''t have asked if I wasn''t."


    Aurelius scratched his head as he opened the door and met eyes with the girl lying in bed. She had plump cheeks that seemed to get a little red when they stared at each other. Then Aurelius'' gaze went to the bandaged on her neck, and he bit down on his lip as he closed the door and walked to the chair in the room.


    "You know, when I heard Cade had a partner, I didn''t expect you to be so..." the girl started, but trailed off.


    Aurelius was about to ask her to continue out of curiosity but remembered his manners. "Ah, I''m Aurelius."


    "I''m Elizabeth. But you can call me Betty... if you want. Or no. Elizabeth is fine. Betty''s just a dumb nickname I got from..." Elizabeth sighed. "I''m sorry. I''m not good with... I don''t want to talk about myself. I gave you a chair to sit on, so how about you tell me about yourself?"


    Aurelius raised his brows. So it was that kind of trade. "Eh, I don''t really know what to say. But you''ve known Cade for a long time, right? How about we talk about her?"


    Elizabeth pouted slightly. "Well, I was with her in the orphanage, but I don''t really know anything about her. She''s a private person."


    "Mmm, she''s always been that way?"


    "Yeah, even more so when we met. She didn''t even speak. She just glared at you and probably expected you to understand. I don''t know."


    "You don''t like her?" Aurelius asked, a hint of a smile on his lips.


    "No, I adore her," Elizabeth gushed, holding her hands to her chest. "She''s so strong and cool and brave, and... it''s like she knows the world. Like she controls it. And whenever something happens, she makes it right, no matter what." There was a light in Elizabeth''s round eyes as she said those words. She seemed to have complete trust in her.


    "Yeah, and now she''s out there to handle the one''s that did this to you," Aurelius said, but came to regret opening his mouth as Elizabeth''s expression felt. It seemed he had butchered the delivery of his words somehow.


    "Did what to me?" Elizabeth asked, clutching the blanket over her.


    "Ah, well, no, I..." Aurelius tried. "A¡ª assaulted you. Gave you those bruises."


    Elizabeth gave a weak chuckle and brought the blanket to her chest. "R¡ª right."


    Aurelius'' eyes blanket. ''They didn''t just assault her, did they?'' His hands squeezed into fists. ''Those fucking filthy fu¡ª''


    "Don''t look at me like that," Elizabeth said, her voice breaking.


    Aurelius snapped out of it and put his hands on his face for a moment. "I''m sorry. I didn''t mean to."


    He looked up at Elizabeth, and they sat there motionless and silent for a while before Elizabeth turned her head away and faced the lone window of the guest room. "You''re strong, too, right?"


    "What? Well, yeah, I guess. I''m not quite on Cade''s level yet, but I think I''ll be stronger than her before I''m 18," Aurelius answered, looking out of the window as well.


    Elizabeth snorted. "So you''re a genius among geniuses. I''ve always wondered how it feels like to be one of you."


    "Huh? I didn''t say¡ª"


    "You can go through life without worrying about your safety and get everything for free. You never have to experience what it feels like to be wary of incoherent people in the streets. You don''t have to deal with mundane issues, nor do you even have to look people in the eye. You can live all your life without caring about anyone and just trample on everyone."


    "That''s not true." Aurelius shifted his gaze to Elizabeth and found her eyes staring right at him.


    "Yes, it is."


    Aurelius eyes narrowed. "And how would you know? Do you know what it''s like to walk the streets and see all the people you should be helping, but aren''t? When you''re powerful, every moment that you spend on yourself is a moment you should be spending on helping those in need because you have the means to. And when all I really have is strength, I can''t just give it away. It''s tied to my being."


    Elizabeth''s expression turned ugly. "You don''t have to do any of that. It''s your choice."


    This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.


    "My choice?" Aurelius asked as he leaned forward and thumped his chest with his hand. "You''re saying I should just live in the way that gives me the most benefit out of how the world is? I should live with no respect for myself or anyone else? Like the ones Cade is after right now!" he yelled, pointing his finger out. When he saw Elizabeth''s state, his hand fell and his posture crumbled. "I''m sorry."


    "No, I''m sorry." Elizabeth sniffed. "You''re a good person. Sorry for blaming you. The truth is... I really... I want to be just like you."


    Aurelius slowly raised his head, his eyes wide. Elizabeth looked confused at his expression. A little fearful, even. Aurelius shuddered as a distant memory flashed through his mind. His stomach sank.


    "What is it? Did I say something?" Elizabeth asked when Aleyah burst into the room.


    "What''s going on here? Why did I hear yelling?" She cast an accusing gaze at Aurelius. "Why are you here?"


    "Ah, I asked him to¡ª"


    Aurelius raised a hand. "You''re right. I shouldn''t have come here." He stood up, holding his mouth as he made his way out of the room.


    After he was out, he jumped down the stairs, uncaring about his injuries, and rushed to the backyard, where he vomited into the nearest bush. Afterward, he coughed a little as some droplets of water fell from his eyed. Then he vomited again. It repeated over and over before there was nothing coming out anymore.


    He turned and stumbled a few steps before falling face-first into the dirt. Weirdly, the dirt felt comforting. Despite its filthiness, its coolness relaxed the burning sensation inside. Because of that, he just kept lying there. No one came to check up on him. He didn''t want anyone to. He just liked watching the sun fall with his face on the ground.


    Eventually, though, from his peripheral vision, a familiar, elegant figure approached. Cade had changed clothes since the last time he saw her, half a day ago.


    Cade looked to the side, where Aurelius'' vomit was, before crouching right beside him. She then put down the cup of tea she had with her before laying a hand on his back. "What happened? Aleyah said you talked to Betty."


    Aurelius mumbled something incoherent with his mouth up against the ground. He didn''t even try saying anything.


    Cade let a little smile show as she rolled him to his side. "Come on, Aurelius. Tell me what''s bothering you."


    "I''ve ruined everything... They all... No... Me too... Be me," Aurelius started sentences he would maybe finish some day in the future while holding back tears. "Should I be happy? Because I''m not. I''m not happy at all. I''m not, and I think I should be."


    Cade went from crouching to sitting down as Aurelius rolled onto his back, and together they watched the stars be obstructed by a series of wavy gray clouds. "You don''t have any obligation to be happy, Aurelius. I wouldn''t say I''m an expert on this topic, though. I''m not very happy myself." She looked at Aurelius and smiled. "But I''m happy I have you."


    Aurelius smiled faintly as well. But then he asked a question that shifted the mood. "What did you do to the ones who assaulted Elizabeth?"


    Cade pursed her lips as she exhaled through her nose. "I found them and killed them. Nothing more to it than that. They will never make another victim."


    Aurelius sighed. "They weren''t essence users, were they?"


    "No, they weren''t. I knew that when I left."


    "Then why didn''t you take me? I could''ve helped."


    Cade made a difficult expression.


    "You don''t think I could''ve stomached it," Aurelius said, his brows knitted. Cade didn''t have to answer. Aurelius rose up into a sitting position. "Look, I''m better now. I can do what''s necessary."


    "That isn''t better. It''s¡ª"


    "No. Listen to me. You can''t keep preaching to me while you do all the dirty work. I live in this world the same as you. I''ve seen how horrible it is, and I''m ready to sacrifice parts of myself to make it less horrible," Aurelius insisted before his posture sank, and he directed his gaze away. "Also, to be honest, the more I''ve discovered about the world, the more I''ve just wanted to burn it all down."


    Even while looking away, he could see how Cade''s expression changed in the darkness. Then both of them were startled as a voice came from behind.


    "That''s my line. I''ve had the same thought. Over and over," the dark figure said as he stepped into the backyard. And with a smile on his shaded face, he said, "Maybe we''re not so different after all, Goldilocks."

 Chapter 50: New Beginning

    The surrounding night seemed to get darker as Aurelius'' heartbeat drummed in his ears. He stood up and ignored Cade, trying to grab a hold of him. Walking past her, he took her tea mug. Next, with a quick movement, the tea went into the bush and the mug went along with Aurelius'' arm as he gathered momentum.


    Before Balgair managed to react, Aurelius had hurled the mug at his face as hard as he could with his injured body, the piece of porcelain shattering right as it came to touch the low life''s face. Balgair stumbled back and fell with a loud yelp. It seemed he''d been prepared with reinforcement. Otherwise, he would''ve died.


    He didn''t have the chance to get up, though, as Aurelius put a knee to his chest and delivered his fist to Balgair''s cheek, where the mug had shattered. The area already had multiple cuts on it already from the shards, but it was nothing compared to the damage that was to follow.


    Balgair tried defending with his forearms while he was getting pummeled on his back, but Aurelius was simply too strong. He ripped Balgair''s guard wide open and hurled full-loaded strikes right at Balgair''s nose and cheeks. Just a couple of hits later, Balgair stopped fighting back. It may have been because of his inability to do so, or him just giving up. Either way, Aurelius couldn''t care less.


    The back of Balgair''s head bumped against the ground with each hit, and a depression was beginning to form.


    Abruptly, the strikes stopped and silence descended.


    Cade was there, holding Aurelius'' arms behind his back. "That''s enough."


    Aurelius sucked in a few breaths before slowly looking over his shoulder with glinting, teary eyes. As his body relaxed, Cade let him loose and inspected Balgair.


    Aurelius stood up and walked in a circle, his mind in a frenzy. His gaze traveled to Balgair whose face was covered in blood and his nose flat.


    "He''s still breathing," Cade reported.


    A painful cough came from Balgair. "Barely," he managed to say.


    Aurelius got onto his knees next to Balgair in a panic. "I¡ª I''m sorry. I didn''t mean to."


    Balgair wiped his face with his hand before, his expression twisting in pain when his nose was touched. "Didn''t... mean to? Tch. Psycho," he said, his voice as flat as his nose, both influencing each other.


    "Don''t worry. It''ll heal," Cade assured, her gaze on his nose. "Aleyah can treat you." Cade raised her head to look at the entrance to the backyard, where Aleyah stood stiff as a statue.


    Aurelius looked to Aleyah. Aleyah didn''t look back. On the contrary, she seemed to avoid his gaze intentionally. Aurelius bit his lip as he disheveled his own hair.


    ''Why? Why did you do that? You can''t just launch at people. What''s wrong with you?'' he thought.


    "Ah, don''t look so concerned," Balgair commented as Cade was taking a closer look at his injuries.


    Then Cade leaned away and looked down on him. "Yeah, Aurelius really shouldn''t be concerned, and neither should I. So how about you tell us what really happened, and I decide if I want you to live?"


    Aurelius cautiously opened his mouth. "That''s right. Tell us why you betrayed us."


    "I betrayed you..." Balgair started rolling his head to direct his gaze at Aurelius, "because I wanted to torture Laen to death, and I knew you wouldn''t let me. I bet you figured that much out already based on that conversation of ours in the caf¨¦."


    "We did. So why are you here now? To try using us again?" Aurelius asked.


    "I didn''t do it," Balgair said sharply, every word having a sharp edge to it. "I did not torture him. I realized it was useless. Meant nothing."


    "You expect us to believe that?" Cade asked. "After all the trouble you went through to get him?"


    "No, I don''t expect you to believe it. I came here expecting this. Perhaps I just really like being abused," Balgair said with his usual snarky, sarcastic tone. "I took from myself everything I lived for, only to come here... because¡ªah, am I really going to spell it out for you? I am here because you are the only people I have. And I did, maybe, in some sense, enjoy the little time we spent together. Okay?" Balgair said, his voice cracking a little here and there.


    Maybe it would''ve been cute if his face wasn''t flat, bloated, and drenched in blood.


    A moment of silence followed Balgair''s words. Aurelius and Cade looked at each other with complicated gazes. Balgair widened his eyes, seeming to scream internally for someone to say something.


    Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.


    It was Cade who took the opportunity. "The gang''s leader, Laen, what did he do to you?"


    Balgair''s face twisted. "Do you really have to know?" Everyone remained quiet, so he went on begrudgingly. "He took everything from me, okay? Laen killed everyone I cared for. Sure, I wasn''t that close to them, and they were just using, but I thought that all relationships worked that way. They were all I had. Then he took me prisoner. Do I need to elaborate more than that?"


    "Who were those people?" Cade asked.


    Balgair let out an exhausted laugh, his eyes glinting. "We were just some little gang of petty criminals, and Laen slaughtered us for being on his territory or something. I only survived because of his whims."


    Cade was about to open her mouth again when Aurelius butted in. "Ah, I think that''s enough."


    Balgair and Cade both looked at him, their eyes asking for his decision.


    "I believe that he didn''t do it," he said, looking at Cade. "We''ll keep a closer eye on him in the future, so he won''t be able to do what he did again. He also doesn''t seem to have any other motive to betray us anymore. The Boeria branch was annihilated anyway, too, so our objective was achieved. No harm came to us this time, and I don''t think Balgair could have enemies powerful enough to cause us real trouble, so if he betrays us again, we can simply cut him loose for good."


    "Nice thinking there," Balgair said with a wink.


    Cade looked down at Balgair and then up at Aurelius. "Well, I guess our best choice now is to start with a clean slate."


    Aurelius smiled faintly. "Yeah. A new beginning."


    Balgair gave a pained laugh. "And here I thought my life was over."


    ***


    "Sir, a letter came in," a young man with small round glasses with golden frames said as he entered.


    The room was an office at the top of one of the highest buildings in all of Mircrest, and in it was the manager of the 4th largest Numen branch.


    "From whom?" the man with slick blond hair asked as he turned to face the door.


    "The Ruler of Mircrest, Gadreel, Sir," the young man said, his words slipping out of his mouth at an unusually fast rate.


    "Have you opened it?"


    "Of course not, Sir," the young man said as he strode to his boss'' desk in a hurry.


    "Why not. You are my assistant, are you not?"


    The young man nodded. "Yes, but I couldn''t. This is Gadreel we speak of."


    The man took the letter into his hands and looked at it briefly before looking up. "I have told you not to idolize the brat, have I not?"


    The young man''s mouth opened wide. "Sir, what if someone hears?"


    "Tch. Like someone would," the man said, leaning back in his chair. "Gadreel is a plague. He has no business sense. He''s whimsical and dramatic."


    "But you supported him when he faced William."


    "That was because I saw his potential, but now it has become clear he does not intend to use his superior intellect for anything truly intellectual. And to top it off, he''s a coward. He even hides his scar to keep up appearances." He then opened the latter and read its contents. "It seems his whims have taken him again. The Rulers'' Banquet has been moved up in the calendar. Instead of taking place in the middle of the year, it will be held just a few months from now, barely over a quarter into the year."


    "Will you take me with you this time?" The youth asked, a mix of fear and excitement in his voice.


    "If you want to come, sure. But know that you will be outside the dining hall for the entire duration. Though it would be good for you to meet the others within the top ten branch managers, you''ll only get to exchange a few words after the banquet."


    "Thank you. I promise not to cause you any trouble."


    "Yes, I know," the man said, shaking his head and waving the young man off.


    Right as the boy was at the door, however, the man called out to him, "Opis, do remember not to engage the number one branch manager. Franz of Acelot would likely kill himself without hesitation if Gadreel wished it, and he''s much more perceptive and clever than many think."


    "Of course," the young man said with a deep nod.


    "I cannot protect you from the other branch managers, so do your best not to offend anyone," the man said, raising a hand and flicking his wrist with an indifferent expression. "In Numen, if you make one mistake, you''re dead."

 Chapter 51: Red Lake City

    "He''s not here," Balgair''s said with a serious, deep voice as Cade walked out to the backyard of Aleyah''s house. Balgair''s voice had mostly gone back to normal since his nose injury two weeks ago, and he wore all black and the night was dark, so he blended in seamlessly.


    "It''s not him I''m looking for," Cade responded as he walked over to stand by the sitting Balgair''s side.


    Balgair shifted his gaze from the stars and looked up at Cade''s eyes questioningly. She could see that his eyes had changed. Lost a bit of their edge, for better or worse. That''s how she knew he was authentic in his return.


    "We rarely talk, and when we do, we''re fighting. But we''re supposed to be permanent companions now. It would be for the best if we at least tried to be friendly," Cade clarified.


    "You want to talk?" Balgair asked, surprisingly, without a shred of mocking in his voice. "Sure, let''s talk."


    Cade nodded and sat down beside Balgair. Then a moment of silence followed. Cade had pondered the idea of really talking with Balgair for a while, but hadn''t thought much about what to say.


    Balgair glanced at her a few times before asking, "So, what exactly are we supposed to talk about?"


    "Uh, we''re departing tomorrow, but do you think..." Cade trailed off as she touched her nose.


    Balgair touched his as well and gave a painful chuckle. "Don''t worry. My nose is fine, if just a little deformed. And we can''t wait around for me to heal for months when we have stuff to do. Besides, I''ve heard they got wicked good healers in the south. And also..." Balgair quit his rambling and frowned. "Oh, don''t look at me like that. You know I deserve this. Pitying me will just serve to plant the idea in my mind that maybe I don''t. And we both know that won''t do, hah. I''m actually surprised at how worried you were about me when... Ah, well, I guess you were just worried about Aurelius. But Aurelius is fine; he''s just doing what he has to," Balgair said as he went to lie down.


    Balgair''s hand went to his pocket, but it came back empty, and he sighed.


    "You threw them away?" Cade asked.


    "Eh, I guess. Look at me being all reformed. My old self would have laughed his ass off at me."


    "Your old self is a wicked bastard."


    "Yeah, and I''m just a bastard."


    "You can be more."


    "More of a bastard?" Balgair laughed.


    Cade just looked at him quietly, expecting him to take things seriously.


    Balgair sighed. "I don''t know about that. I want to be what you and Aurelius seem to think I could be, but I just can''t imagine a future where that version of me is real," Balgair said and seemingly stopped, but when Cade was about to speak, Balgair started up again. "To be honest, I find myself disgusting most of the time, but I can''t be anyone else, and I''m afraid to die, so I can''t do anything but stay in a state of self-pity while I throw around excuses, blaming everyone else for what I am. I don''t try to change because I think it''s a fruitless endeavor that would only lead to my ruin, but I''m not actually sure that it would. Maybe I could be something great, but I''m afraid I won''t be, so I won''t try. Self-improvement is overrated anyways. I''d rather just sit around and wait to die."


    Cade looked at Balgair who lay with his hand under his head as he gazed at the stars. Balgair''s eyes were dark, bearing only a few glints from starlight. Cade smiled.


    "What?" Balgair asked, his brown furrowed at Cade''s sudden joy.


    "You haven''t even realized it yourself, but you''ve already taken a massive leap on your way to being something great," Cade said and put a hand on Balgair''s shoulder. "I know it may not feel like it right now, but Aurelius and I like having you around. I keep people at arm''s length. It''s just the way I am. And Aurelius is going through something right now, so he''s not very friendly." Cade shook Balgair a little as he lay there, a glint in his eyes. "But I want you to know that we''re both proud of you."


    Balgair''s mouth opened, but no words came out.


    Cade then stood and bid goodnight before walking back inside.


    On her way out, she heard something. Something silent. A feature hidden and suffocated for what must have been years and years. She looked back.


    As Balgair lay there with his arms and legs spread, enveloped in darkness, tears flowed from his eyes, unable to be suppressed any longer. Cade showed a sad smile and went inside, leaving one of the strongest people she knew to sob alone under the stars.


    Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.


    ***


    Aurelius cracked his neck as he walked downstairs. Most of his injuries had healed. They had left their mark, though. Long, thin scars now traced all over his forearms, chest and back. No matter. Scars were good reminders. He could die like any other man.


    He puffed out a frustrated breath and locked eyes with Balgair on accident. After quickly looking away, he found Cade. "Are we ready?" he asked.


    "Are you ready?" Cade asked, eyeing his casual clothing.


    "I''ll change in a bit," Aurelius said with a wave of his hand. He then looked around. "Where''s Aleyah. I''d like to thank her... and apologize."


    Cade pursed her lips with a difficult expression. "She''s been out since morning. I said goodbye already. But don''t worry; she knows you''re sorry."


    Aurelius closed his eyes and scratched his head. "So, we move through Venalia and avoid Acelot while we head to the South. What then? Have you mapped out the details yet?"


    "I''ve got something." Cade pulled out a map and pointed at the southern side of Mircrest where wide areas were colored brown and a patch of blue lay.


    "Red Lake City?" Aurelius said, squinting at the map. "The mountainside?"


    "It''s called Akario," Balgair butted in from behind.


    Aurelius turned his head and glanced at him briefly.


    Cade nodded. "Balgair helped me pick the place. The mountains make the place more isolated. There''s a city there, but there''s also nature and areas where it''s possible to train without drawing attention. There are some issues with homeless people there, though. The mayor isn''t very friendly to the unfortunate and doesn''t care much for the working class. Numen''s influence is also very small due to how disconnected the place is."


    Aurelius took another glance at Balgair. "Is this mayor an old enemy of yours as well?" Balgair''s slightly lively eyes narrowed, and his mouth turned upside down as he lowered his head. Aurelius turned back to Cade, who was shaking her head. He put his hands up, and said, "Fine, that sounds good to me. I''ll go get ready. We leave in half an hour."


    ***


    There was a flash in the darkness, and the leader of the Five Shadows kneeled before the desk in Gadreel''s office. The chair turned, but Gadreel wasn''t there. Instead, Sherridan held the seat. "Hello, Leonardo."


    Leonardo stood up, taking off his mask and letting his blonde hair fall to the sides of his face. "What is this? I was summoned. Why is Gadreel not here?"


    "He''s..."Sherridan paused as she played with a knife in her hand. "a bit busy."


    "The Banquet?"


    "Mmm, Gadreel needed to clear things up with Franz and acquire a bit of evidence in order to make a convincing case after the fact."


    "He''s going to maim him?"


    "I don''t know about that. Gadreel does destroy people, but not in a sense you may be able to comprehend. Violence isn''t enough. He destroys people completely. He damages their souls. I have a name for it. Psychological mutilation."


    "Fancy," Leonardo quipped. "So I repeat... Why am I here?"


    "You have been given the duty of tracking and watching after the son of Ares."


    Leonardo cocked his head. "You want me to kill him? Thought that was Izir''s job."


    "Are you deaf? You''re just supposed to keep track of him and his growth. Send in some reports on what level you think he''s at, and then we''ll proceed from there," Sherridan explained, seemingly more interested in the knife in her hands than Leonardo.


    Leonardo likewise threw his respect out of the window and kicked the gorgeous carpet as he yawned. "You intend to use my talents for the mere work of a spy? How about I just kill the kid? Will this farce be over then? It has been getting rather boring."


    "Trust in Gadreel," Sherridan said with a roll of her eyes. "Look, I don''t know why he is making you do this. I assume he''ll give you further orders at a later date. But hey, if you can kill the kid, go ahead. Not like I give a shit. I just work here."


    Leonardo gave a laugh before his face turned unamused. "Fine, I''ll go and watch the kid. But tell Gadreel my time is not to be wasted. I live for battle, and killing the royal brat wouldn''t be the first time I''ve disobeyed orders to get what I want."


    "You walk a tight rope," Sherridan remarked. "Oh, but if you do face him, don''t freeze even if it may be in your blood to bow your head to every golden-haired man in the vicinity, Zalfarian."


    Leonardo gritted his teeth as he turned his back and walked out, leaving the laughing lady in the chair behind.

 Chapter 52: Rulers Banquet (1)

    It took a couple of months, but the preparations had been made. This day would be magnificent. Gadreel smiled softly as the large double doors swung open and two long lines of servants were revealed.


    "Good evening, Gadreel," a plump man with spectacles standing at the end of the two lines said with a light bow.


    "Long time no see, Mr. President," Gadreel said with a nod as he made his way inside.


    "What of Sherridan?" the President asked. "Could she not make it to this year''s meeting?"


    "No, she''s here," Gadreel said as he glanced around the hall filled with oil paintings, marble sculptures and golden decorations of various shapes. He then made it to the President and laid a hand on his shoulder, startling the man slightly. "I''m excited to see what you have prepared. I have told you what an exemplary host you are, yes?"


    "I am hardly worthy of such praise," the President said, shaking his head. "My staff, on the other hand, is the best of the best."


    Gadreel put his hands in the pockets of his pure white slacks. It had been some time since he wore this suit, although he liked it a lot. Like all good fashion, it was simple but striking. The shoes, slacks, and suit coat were all white, while the dress shirt was black and the tie was crimson. The president just wore a regular old tuxedo. Boring old man.


    "You''re too humble," Gadreel remarked as he climbed the stairs.


    "One would be a fool to praise himself in the presence of a man such as you, Gadreel," the President responded as they got to the second floor, where two servants were waiting to open the door to the banquet hall.


    Gadreel shook his head with a chuckle at the President''s comment and walked into the banquet hall. It just so happened that they were already there, sitting at the long, stretched oval table. All ten of them. And as soon as they saw Gadreel, they went silent and stood up.


    Gadreel didn''t say anything, instead just looking around the structure. The banquet hall was empty except for the table and six enormous pillars rising to the round roof, decorated by murals and unorthodox textures. The hall was lit by candles, and red light seeped in from the sides where colored glass panels were. If one were to go look, they could see just how far back the President''s mansion really stretched. It was unnecessarily large, even for Gadreel''s taste. And he lived in the Royal Castle by his lonesome.


    He then looked back at his subjects. "Good evening!"


    "Good evening," they all responded in unison.


    Gadreel walked to the other end of the table by going around on the left side, while everyone''s eyes followed him. On the way, he laid a hand on the shoulder of an older man with a gray goatee. It was always a pleasure to see Franz.


    He then sat at the end of the table as the President did the same on the other side.


    With him, the President, and the ten highest-ranking branch managers in Numen, the influence over the entire country of Mircrest was at stake here. Gadreel inhaled, as his charisma only increased due to the conditions. "Well then, let us begin the banquet."


    ***


    "Betrayal is a dirty act. But if it is flashy enough, it will appear clean. And what is reality other than appearances?" Gadreel spoke with his hands behind his back, hidden under his black cloak.


    Franz stood on his side on the faint blue platform in the sky and followed his gaze to the city of Verdua, the city where the young man, now known as the right-hand man of the Ruler of Mircrest, grew into what he was.


    In just a couple of minutes, the city would be infiltrated by an army of Numen members. But they would not be there at the command of the Ruler of Mircrest. They would be there under the command of Gadreel.


    Franz had seen it in this young man. He had the potential to conquer the world, but Franz hadn''t known it would all happen so fast. Gadreel had only been a part of Numen for approximately two years and had already swayed the minds of the branch managers to his side. It seemed what Franz had seen in the boy had quickly become so apparent that he was staring to be enveloped in an irresistible glory.


    Oddly enough, it didn''t seem like William suspected Gadreel. What their conversations looked like within closed doors was a mystery, but Franz assumed Gadreel had somehow been able to form a kind of familial bond with William.


    And now that bond of safety would be destroyed with this declaration of war.


    Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.


    "Are you sure about this?" Franz asked, his voice shaking.


    Gadreel turned his head with a sly grin. "Is that worry I see? I never knew you were a man of such emotions, Franz."


    Franz tried saying something, but his jaw was stuck. He had never known himself to be such a man, either.


    Gadreel chuckled slightly and looked down at the city. "I was born into this playground as a player, and I loved the feeling of acting as a player so much that it seems I went too far. Nowadays, I can''t shake the feeling that I''ve transcended this little playground and there is nothing more to do. I have begun feeling like something akin to a god. And that is the last thing I want to be."


    "So now you challenge another god?"


    "Exactly," Gadreel said with a snap of his fingers. "I was not born to indulge in pleasures like measly men, nor was I born to carry out a duty like the stern ones. I was born as nothing. I have no code, responsibility, or anything else that would tie me down. I am freedom itself. I am a true expression of this world where you can do anything, and I am the rebellion against this society that does nothing."


    Franz shook his head with a smile. "You''ve brought back memories from my youth. I remember thinking something like, ''How truly bored do these humans have to be to invent rules into a ruleless world only so that they can complain''. But I guess with time, that rebellion drains out, and you become an enforcer of the rules you once despised."


    "You are funny, Franz. But I do not laugh." Gadreel said, side-eyed Franz briefly. "You see, growing up, to me, is utter nonsense. Time doesn''t exist. And if it did, it wouldn''t be a line but a circle. So the person in time is nothing but a figment of one''s imagination. Change is death, but fortunately, I will not have to experience it like you."


    Many of Gadreel''s words puzzled Franz. Sometimes he went so far as to think even Gadreel didn''t know the true meaning behind his speech. But that last sentence was stamped into his mind the second it came out.


    "What do you mean? How will you not experience it like me?"


    Gadreel turned and smiled in a way that was separate from all the extravagant lies his body language told. It seemed there was authentic care and a parental softness in that smile. "I am but a child, and there was a time when I believed my life would be never-ending, but after blood spread from my hands to my chest, the universe spoke to me. It told me that, no matter what, I will not see the years of men. What I have stolen from many shall be stolen from me, and thus, I shall die a child."


    ***


    "¡ªreel. Gadreel, are you with us?"


    Gadreel''s mind shifted, and his blank eyes rose to look at the president. "Ah, yes. Please excuse my inattentiveness."


    The president''s mouth opened wide. "Oh, no, please do not apologize. I am sure you are under very much stress. If you wish, we can end the banquet now."


    All the eyes in the room turned to Gadreel as he sighed lightly. Gadreel''s eyes met those of Franz, and in both their eyes there was a common appearance. Apparently, they''d been thinking of the same history.


    Gadreel raised a hand and bowed his head with a long blink. "No, the night is still young. I''m sure there is still much to discuss. My mind just wandered for a while there." Then he looked to the one who had talked last, a man with slick blonde hair. "Jameson, I heard that your branch has been expanding its business into the pharmaceutical industry."


    "Indeed, my business was getting stale, so the expansion was a bit of fresh air," Jameson said and went back to eating, not expecting a follow-up.


    "I also heard that your assistant had much to do with it. A fact you forgot to mention."


    Jameson seemed to dig at his teeth with his tongue before replying, "Right, Opis'' performance on this project was noteworthy."


    Gadreel smiled with satisfaction. "Is he here?"


    "Yes... Opis did come along. What of it?"


    "Excellent." Gadreel looked to the President''s butler and said, "Bring the boy here. I want to exchange a few words."


    The butler bowed and went right ahead. Jameson wore a look of concern and was about to object, but then Gadreel stood up and doubled down. "Actually, bring all the managers'' assistants here."


    Every pair of eyes surrounding the table was squinting, so Gadreel saw it fit to clear things up. He spread his arms and exclaimed, "I have a story to tell!"

 Chapter 53: Rulers Banquet (2)

    "I was maybe 10 or 11 when I killed for the first time. I didn''t do it out of anger. Nor did I do it because I really wanted to. I just did it because I could and it felt like the right thing to do. The man had killed someone I knew, so I supposed he ought to die. His last words were... Well, I don''t really remember what his last words were. I''m not sure if he had any. I was too busy stabbing him to use my ears," Gadreel said as he circled the long table in the large hall.


    He held his hands behind his back as he walked and eyed the nine assistants standing on the sides of the hall behind their bosses. There was nobody behind Franz.


    Gadreel stopped and raised his hands in a grand manner. "That''s not what I wanted to talk to you about, though." He lowered his hands and looked some of the assistants in the eyes. Many had glasses. Weirdly, all three who were women had blonde hair. "But this is your first time seeing me, and I thought it would be good for me to introduce myself a little better." Gadreel looked around sheepishly. "I am not sure why I thought telling you that was a good introduction, but I guess I thought it appropriate to start from the beginning."


    He kept quiet for a while longer before going back to take a seat on his seat. He took a glass of wine into his hand and took a sip while the expectant eyes of everybody in the hall harassed him.


    When he was finished, he got back to it, saying, "I grew up in the city of Verdua. As you know, it has been a pile of ashes for quite some time now. But with my intention to expand Numen everywhere, I see it appropriate to rebuild my home in the name of Numen. And for a city as large as Verdua, I need to pick the very best manager for the branch." He pointed at all the assistants. "I think I''ll find someone fit for the role among you."


    Needless to say, the branch managers looked quite shocked. None wanted to lose their assistant. Gadreel''s act was also disrespectful in many ways.


    The assistants looked tense. Some more than others. But they''d been that way as soon as they stepped into the room.


    "Well, before talking business, I''d like to tell more of my story. I also wanted to share my assistant experience with people who understand," Gadreel said, addressing the assistants. He then pointed to the branch managers. "These guys just don''t get it."


    "So, about my assistant days. I was maybe 17 or so when William took me in. William was an extraordinarily competent man. Because of that, he didn''t really like inferior people interfering with his business and kept clear of assistants despite his workload. When we met, however, he began trusting someone to be as competent as he was." Gadreel started sharply tapping on the table at regular intervals. "He was a careful man. But he thought he knew me, and in a sense, he did. He certainly knew the persona I had created like the back of his hand. It was like we were reading the same script. I was the writer, and he was the director. But he did not know I was also the actor."


    Gadreel looked at the president, whose eyes were still and unexpectedly fearful. His lips curved as he kept on telling the story. "William started giving me more responsibility. He had begun to trust me as more than a helper. I was beginning to resemble just an extension of him. I was his successor. Almost like a son."


    "Why did you do it?" The President squeezed out those words that rang in Gadreel''s ears.


    And Gadreel stopped. For a second, he froze. Quickly thereafter, when he managed to gather himself, he responded, "It simply had to be done. For me. For my life. And even¡ªin some sense¡ªfor William."


    ***


    Chaos erupted down below.


    Gadreel breathed down his cloak as Franz watched with open eyes.


    "Relax, Franz. Worry yourself over nothing. Do not think useless thoughts. This is the way things have to be."


    "But... how many will die tonight?"


    "Tens of thousands," Gadreel stated as just another fact. Franz didn''t have to say anything for Gadreel to know the contents of his mind. "It is only natural for them to die. Humans die all the time, and because of their deaths, there will be more life. It''s not sad if you think about it longer. Nothing is sad. Nothing is happy. When you think about things longer and apply a rational mind to them enough times, their emotional value just fades."


    "I thought you wanted to feel it all," Franz said, his voice accompanied by the screams from the pit of flames and blood that would not be Verdua much longer.


    "I do. But I don''t. I have no choice in the matter. My mind processes things unlike others and strips from me everything all the uncertainty that makes one human," Gadreel retorted, and again, Franz was silent. "Those people below. You don''t know them. But I know them. This is my home. It is only right that I destroy it when I am one who knows its flaws."You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.


    "Tell me again. Repeat what you swayed me with on the day we met," Franz said suddenly. "I want to see if I still agree."


    Gadreel looked at Franz ambiguously before nodding.


    "Why should I care for others when there is nobody here to care for me? Isn''t life experienced individually for a reason? Isn''t it our will to gain individual experiences that keep us alive? From what I''ve seen, everybody lives as such. So then, let the superior wills prevail and damn those whose wills amount to nothing, for they keep those who are superior from their individual experiences."


    Franz grumbled and put his hands behind his back, turning to the sight below. "Fine then. The ones below are worthless, so what comes next and the uncertainty it brings will surely provide worthy experiences."


    Gadreel let out a sigh of relief and smiled. "Exactly."


    ***


    Gadreel sighed as he finished the long story. "You surely know the rest." He stood up and each person in the hall shook. "Well, what do you all think? An inspiring story, wasn''t it? Now, is there anyone who would like to volunteer for the position of branch manager in Verdua?"


    The silence was perfect.


    Gadreel raised his brows and shook his head. "Oh my, how loyal you all are."


    The president was stiff as a brick. The branch managers were clenching their teeth. The assistants were standing like their spines were iron.


    Gadreel then looked for that one person. The one he was supposed to see today. A young man with thin gold-framed glasses.


    "You," he said as he pointed at the young man. He was maybe a year younger than Gadreel but shivered when addressed by him.


    "M¡ª me?" the young man asked.


    "Yes, you are Jameson''s assistant, correct?" Gadreel asked and he nodded. "Your name?"


    "Opis, sir."


    "Oh, a fine name." Gadreel made a gesture with his hand. "Come over here."


    Opis left from his spot and walked forward. The distance was only tens of meters, but the young man''s slow steps made the trip last.


    Gadreel smiled faintly as he could see Jameson''s twisted expression from the corner of his eye.


    Opis finally arrived on Gadreel''s left side and bowed. "It is an honor to be in your presence."


    "Likewise. I''m sure you''ll be a great man. Jameson told me about how you single-handedly expanded your branch''s influence to the pharmaceutical scene," Gadreel said as Opis raised his head.


    "I¡ª I di¡ª" Opis tried, completely flustered, eyeing both Gadreel and Jameson, unable to decide who to cater to.


    "Right, Jameson?" Gadreel asked as he turned to Jameson and snapped his fingers.


    Opis''s breath ran short as the glimmering candlelight illuminated the beads of sweat running down his face.


    Jameson''s face twisted. "Gadreel, what are you¡ª"


    "Are you questioning the ruler?" Franz pressed the issue from the opposite side of the table.


    "I am merely making sure the isn''t a misunderstanding," Jameson retored, his voice almost a yell.


    More voices were about to erupt as all the branch managers leaned forward, but then a powerful fist slammed down on the table. "Please be quiet. All of you," Gadreel said gently as the slam reverberated throughout the hall.


    "Now, Opis," he said as he turned to the nervous wreck in front of him. "Do you want the position?"


    Opis gulped and looked around. "Can I¡ª But, what¡ª in the first¡ª"


    "Answer," Gadreel said, his tone deathly serious. "Yes or no."


    Opis eyed Jameson whose face was neutral except for his wide, glaring eyes. Then he looked at Gadreel. "Y¡ª yes."


    "Great." A smile burst onto Gadreel''s face. "But I''m not giving it to you."


    Opis'' tense expression dropped as if his soul had been sucked out. "What?" he asked, his weak, breathless voice barely a whisper.


    "Oh, the Verdua branch is in the far future. Your reward for your accomplishment will be something far more... immediate," Gadreel said with a soothing tone as he put forward a hand.


    Opis'' sucked his cheeks in as he stared at Gadreel''s hand. Then he moved slowly and clasped the hand in his own. Gadreel smiled.


    Then with his left hand, Gadreel took a steak knife from the table on his left and sunk it into Opis'' right eye. Blood sprayed onto Gadreel''s white suit and Opis'' mouth opened wide, but he didn''t have the time to scream properly before his body was yanked forward by Gadreel pulling him with his right hand.


    Opis ended up in Gadreel''s arms with his back facing him, and with one fluid motion, Gadreel took the knife from his eye and threw it into his right hand after letting go of Opis. As expected, Opis squirmed. It truly was a horrible way to go. And it only grew more horrible as Gadreel took his free left hand and gouged Opis'' left eye.


    Only then did the screaming reach its peak.


    Opis could no longer see Jameson. He couldn''t know what emotion had overtaken his mentor whom he had betrayed only moments before.


    Was he furious, regretful, disgusted, or did he even feel anything? Opis could not know. And after Gadreel pulled his head to the left and put the steak knife into the right side of his neck, he could no longer ask.


    The screaming stopped, and the awfully dull sound of the knife penetrating the neck kept repeating as the only distinguishable sound in the hall. The sound came again and again until the object no longer squirmed.


    Gadreel breathed a sigh of relief and dropped the knife as he retracted his hands. The knife made a suppressed clank sound as it hit the carpet before the corpse of Opis slumped onto the wet floor.


    Only then did Gadreel look around, the face of his pristine white suit, covered in lines and splotches of blood.


    Everything was still. Even Jameson could only stare with his mouth and eyes wide in terror and shock. Only Franz had moved from his seat.


    Gadreel leaned toward the table and grabbed his wine glass. "You know, I didn''t expect to be betrayed so soon," Gadreel remarked and turned his gaze to Jameson.


    "You knew..." Jameson breathed out.


    "Of course." Gadreel tilted his chin up and looked down at the man. "I think we''ll bury you next to the 11th."


    Jameson opened his mouth too late. Wood crunched, and more blood splattered as an ethereal great sword went through Jameson''s chair and the center of his chest. Jameson let out some noise. Maybe they were meant to be words. Nobody would know.


    "There is nobody here to listen to you. At least have the grace to die in silence," Franz said from behind Jameson before drawing back his great sword.


    Jameson slumped forward and slammed his head on the table. And as Jameson''s life poured out through his chest, Gadreel raised his glass. "Please take note of this event, ladies and gentlemen. I hope you all have learned today that if you are going to defeat me, you have to be... perfect."

 Chapter 54: Trigger (1)

    The wind was cool and fresh. The sun was out and one could feel its radiating warmth. Summer was here.


    Aurelius stood at the top, his upperbody clothed in a thin white t-shirt that exposed some of the scars on his forearms while he wore his usual loose black pants tied with a white ribbon at the waist. His grown-out hair fluttered, no longer needing to be covered as the bounty was no more.


    "You''re not gonna shout it this time, are you?" Cade asked, coming up behind him.


    Aurelius''s smile faded as he looked at Cade on his side.


    Cade made an expression like she had seen god and mimicked Aurelius'' voice poorly as she whispered, "The world is mine!"


    Aurelius'' cheeks flushed as he stood there slack jawed.


    "Oh, yeah. You thought I didn''t hear it?" Cade asked, smiling from ear to ear.


    Aurelius covered his face with a groan. "Of course I did. I''m an idiot, remember?"


    "Tch, stop sulking. You were a kid back then. It was over a year ago." Cade said, bumping him with an elbow. "Now look. We''re here. Akario. Look how peaceful it is."


    Aurelius took his hand off of his face and looked. Oh, how peaceful it was. Grassland stretched far to where a humble city lay, surrounding a long lake of glistening, turquoise water. There were leaf trees and goats. Flowers and butterflies. It was possibly the most beautiful land Aurelius had ever seen.


    ''Who knew Mircrest could be so beautiful?'' Aurelius thought.


    Then a lengthy groan came from behind as some rocks grinded under a boot.


    "Are we there yet?" Balgair''s hoarse voice echoed. Aurelius and Cade looked back. "My essence isn!t essencing very well no more if you know what I mean. Oh, and I seriously gotta wash my ass."


    ***


    After a few days of wandering, the trio found housing at a local orphanage near the lake after they made a hefty donation. They couldn''t stay there for long, though. When rumors got out about a charitable group floundering around, there would be trouble. They tried to keep quiet at first during their travels, but when none of it worked, they just began announcing themselves to be part of a group called Deity and moving on quickly enough after improvements were made in the orphanages so that they wouldn''t become targets. That way, they made a name for themselves and helped spread hope while doing good and avoiding any damage.


    The bad side was that their way of traveling was that it made them easy to track. And someone was tracking them. Balgair was sure of it.


    Those twins he had been told about as well as the Boeria massacre, were definite signs that someone was after Aurelius for real. Someone had plans for him. If they weren''t careful, they''d be used by someone wicked.


    That beautiful face in the caf¨¦ haunted him. That was him. The man who was after them.


    He''d done his research. Back when he made his way up in the criminal world, he had studied everything he thought could help him. However, nothing pointed to that mysterious man. But one day it had hit him. There was no real information about the leader of Numen either.


    The thought had seemed impossible at first. A man in control of a whole nation after their little trio? And how could the man be so young when Numen was so old? It was incomprehensible.


    If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    The thought that the young man was the son of the leader of Numen had also crossed his mind. Maybe he was just some rich child playing games. But his aura rejected that thought. And he had possibly touched Aurelius'' essence flow somehow during the encounter. He was real. Maybe he really had overtaken Numen. If so, was there really a chance for their trio to do anything except walk the steps he had laid out for them and do what he had planned.


    Was it possible to escape something of this caliber?


    Balgair shook awake as Cade''s voice called him over. Balgair stood up, his bare feet on the grass patch near the lake. He looked to his side where Aurelius was running around with a group of overjoyed children. Of course they loved him.


    Balgair then headed back to the terrace where Cade sat.


    "What is it?" he asked as he took a cup Cade offered him and sat down on a rough wooden chair.


    Cade sipped her coffee and shrugged. "You looked like you needed a drink."


    Balgair looked down at the coffee in his hand. "Yes, but of a different kind." He gazed up Cade''s frown and grinned. "Well, thanks anyway." He took a sip and put the cup down before laying his hand on the table.


    "You''re shaking," Cade remarked.


    "A bit," Balgair said nonchalantly as he glanced at his hand.


    "Withdrawal?"


    No way. It had been months since he stopped.


    "Just shivering," he clarified. "You''re so scary."


    Cade laid her cup down and looked away. Balgair followed her gaze to the distant mountain range.


    He sighed at the breathtaking sight. "My hands used to shake no, and then before I started smoking. One of the main reasons I kept doing it was that it kept me still."


    "Why do they shake? And how exactly does smoking help?"


    "You said it youself. Smoking was my slow suicide. By doing it, I was telling myself that I was fine with dying. But when I don''t do it, I know I deep down want to live. There''s nothing more terrifying than the thought of losing that. That''s why my hands shake. I think so at least. Don''t quote me on that."


    Cade''s gaze remained serene. "I won''t."


    Balgair had to admit that she was maybe acutally slightly beautiful sometimes. Just a bit. He looked at Aurelius and shook his head.


    ''Just get married already or something.''


    "He''s stronger than me now," Cade said following Balgair''s gaze. "I''m not sure if the enhancer had something to do with his progression."


    Balgair turned to her with his eyebrows raised. "You think he''s stronger? But I never saw him beat you when you were sparring on the trip."


    "He holds back," Cade said, leaning her face on he palm. Her eyes got softer when she looked at him.


    Balgair clicked his tongue and leaned back in his chair, letting his head fall back. He stared at the bright sky as he wondered.


    ''He really has everything, doesn''t he? What happened to God creating every man equal, huh?'' For some reason, in his bitterness, he smiled. ''Whatever. He''s my friend, and I''m happy.''


    ***


    Under the dark sky, a man stood at the border of Akario, his black cloak fluttering in the mountain wind. He removed his mask, revealing a head of blonde hair.


    Leonardo sucked in a lungful of air with his eyes closed before spreading his arms high.


    ''Now I just have to wait,'' he thought, ''and then it begins.''

 Chapter 55: Trigger (2)

    "I''d think twice about going swimming. They dumped corpses into that lake in the old days. That''s why it''s called the Red Lake. Imagine that," Balgair said, bumping Aurelius with his elbow.


    Aurelius turned to face him with his frowning mouth open. "That''s not true."


    "Yeah, it is." Balgair laughed. "How do you think I heard about the place?"


    Aurelius'' expression dropped. ''He''s joking, right? But if he is, then why is it called the Red Lake?''


    "Nevermind. I''m kidding. Go ahead and swim, boy," Balgair said and tapped Aurelius on the back. "The girls are waiting."


    Aurelius looked around and saw multiple heads turn away. ''What''s that about?''


    After a little doubt, he decided to go on ahead, but just as he was about to take his shirt off, Cade grabbed his forearm.


    "Your scars. I think it would be best to not show them. Well, more than they can already see."


    Aurelius saw Balgair grinning at Cade but didn''t pay it any mind and nodded. He jumped down from the terrace and made his way into the water. It was still fairly cold despite summer being around the corner, and once he stepped in, his feet sank into the sand.


    He walked until the water was up to his thighs. Then he dove in. The cold jumpstarted his system and he came up breathing raggedly, but after only a couple of deep breaths, the cold faded. He was still.


    It had been years since he last swam. Gabriel taught him.


    He swam towards the center without using any essence. It would have defeated the purpose.


    It took almost an hour of swimming to get to the center. Once he was there, he reinforced and the coolness was pushed away. He then turned to his back and watched the clouds move.


    They had gotten darker since he left the shore, and they had covered the sun, letting only slivers of golden light through.


    He could barely see Cade and Balgair anymore. That was how far he had come.


    And now he could just float. He had done so before. Only on a much smaller scale. Once he realized that, he understood the depths he faced. He could use essence if he liked, but he would not be able to reach the bottom of the lake if he were to try. There was something terrifying about that fact.


    He turned once more and looked down into the dark depths.


    ''Maybe there really are corpses down there,'' he thought.


    Then images started flooding into his mind. The mercenary''s fear-ridden face as Aurelius loowed down at him. The Commander staring at his daughter''s drawing with hollow eyes. The shivering children kept in dark cells underground, where nobody could hear. Both of the twin girls'' corpses in Cade''s hands. And finally the leader of Numen''s Boeria branch attached to a wall with spikes through his limbs and an array of mutilated body parts surrounding him. All for a message. A message to the Golden One. To Aurelius.


    Aurelius recalled Balgair''s words at the caf¨¦, ''There is no safeguard against such things.''


    Truly, the world was lawless. People could do anything, and so many would do exactly so if given the power. It was sickening. It was all so wrong, yet there was nobody who could definitely say what was right.


    Maybe some thought that the ugliest side of the world was how animals could mutilate children and there would be no moral consequences. But in actuality, the ugliness lay in doing incomprehensibly disgusting things while understanding just how wrong they were.


    Humans could be precisely conscious of the reprehensibility of an action and take it, nonetheless. Just because they could. Just because they didn''t care. Just because they hoped it would lead to stimulation.


    There was nothing scary about a creature with no comprehension of good and bad. Such an existance was simply sad.


    The scariest thing in existence was what a human being could do to another.


    As he floated there in the dark liquid, Aurelius began to feel like the resistance was growing. The liquid seemed to be getting thicker, imitating the texture of blood.


    Aurelius closed his eyes and could see it. Blood everywhere. His blood, the blood of his friends, loved ones, family, enemies, strangers.


    Suddenly, it felt like the lake would swallow him. His breathing went ragged as he kicked down. He opened his eyes and looked to the shore. Cade. Balgair. So small. So far.


    He gulped and realized how dry his mouth was. Shivers went down his spine. Something was coming to eat him. He looked up at the dark clouds that closed up.


    Aurelius put his hand on the surface and concentrated in a hurry. A faint blue platform appesred and he scrambled onto it. He then dashed forward creating platform under his feet. He took long lunges all the way before he reached the shore.


    When he did, the clouds had opened and as he looked back, he could no longer understand what had overtaken him.


    This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.


    "You cold?" Cade yelled down as she threw him a towel from the terrace.


    "Uh, yeah. Something like that," he answered as he wiped his face and hair before wringing the water out of his shirt.


    Cade jumped down from the terrace and walked over. She put a hand to Aurelius'' forehead, startling him.


    "Am I okay?"


    "You''re okay," she assured with a smile.


    Aurelius gave a weak laugh and walked past her to go change out of the wet clothes.


    ***


    Droplets of water hit against the windowsill. It was a rainy night in Akario. Mist had risen from the lake.


    Someone knocked on the door. Aurelius lay on his bed in clean clothes with his gaze on the roof.


    "I''m not up to play right now," Aurelius answered through the door.


    "Yeah I wasn''t thinking of playing touch-butt at this hour either." Balgair voice came.


    Aurelius let out a sigh of relief. "Come in."


    The door opened and Balgair waltzed in. Aurelius sat up freeing up the space for Balgair to sit next to him.


    "So what are you suddenly all mysterious about? Having bad thoughts?"


    "Yeah, you could say that," Aurelius answered leaning his elbows on his knees.


    Balgair tapped him on the back and said, "Good thing I am the professor of bad thoughts."


    Aurelius chuckled and turned his head to look at Balgair. "You ever think we''re bad people?"


    "Who? Our trio? Hard to say if you wanna group us all together. We''re all different people. You''re certainly the best of us."


    "I don''t think so. Cade''s a better person than me," Aurelius said, promting Balgair to scoff. "Hey, I know you don''t like her, but she¡ª"


    "I kind of do, though," Balgair interrupted. "We get along just fine these days if you haven''t noticed. But she undoubtedly walks a thin line between good and evil. You know how hot and cold feel the same when touched at their extremes? It''s the same with good and evil. Cade has a very strict world view. If she views you as bad, she kills you. It''s good so extreme it can very well be mistaken for evil."


    "Then what about you and me? How good or evil are we?"


    "Shit, I don''t know. I''d say that I''m just a piece of shit, but to be honest, I''ve been repeating that to myself for so long that it almost seems like a coping mechanism. And you? Well, you have good intentions. What your intentions lead to may be the base on which people judge you, but you can''t really affect the result with your intentions. Results are what matter, and skills make results, so I guess only how good you are at something makes up the roof for how ethically good you can be... uh..." Balgair dug at his ear with his pinky. "I''m just rambling, aren''t I?"


    "I don''t know, but it sounded intelligent," Aurelius answered with a high-pitched voice.


    Balgair sighed and threw an arm around Aurelius'' shoulder. "What I''m meant to say is that you have the right intentions, and as long as your main focus is helping people, you''ll be a good person no matter the results. But since you''re skilled and all, I think the results will¡ª"


    "Aurelius," Cade''s voice came from down stairs.


    Aurelius'' ears perked up. Her voice was unlike the one he was used to hearing. A single emotion in her voice stood out. Panic.


    Aurelius jumped up and rushed downstairs, Balgair trailing behind him.


    "What is this?" Aurelius asked as he stopped at the door where Cade stood looking at a sobbing teenage girl who stood out in the rain about ten meters from the door.


    "She asked for you. I haven''t seen her before and she refuses to come closer. Keeps mumbling something I can''t hear," Cade whispered.


    "It''s a trap," Balgair said, receiving glances from both Aurelius and Cade. "Someone''s after Aurelius. They want him out in the open. The girl was probably threatened into doing this."


    "And what do I do?" Aurelius asked.


    Balgair''s face twitched and he seemed to swallow.


    "Do nothing?" Aurelius almost yelled.


    Balgair closed his eyes.


    Aurelius looked at the girl and shook his head. He turned on reinforcement as well as double enhancement in an instant and walked out slowly into the misty rain.


    The girl stopped her sobbing and seemed to mouth something off. Cade followed slowly behind Aurelius while Balgair stayed inside.


    Aurelius couldn''t sense anyone. No scent. No sound of breathing. No footsteps. Not even a trace of essence leaking anywhere.


    Then the girl''s gaze went to the side.


    Aurelius'' heart jumped as he was only a few meters from the door and looked back. Cade with her back to the door. And a shadowy figure behind.


    Aurelius opened his mouth to yell, but the shadowy figure was faster. An ethereal blade had already gone through the door... and through Cade''s stomach.

 Chapter 56: Trigger (3)

    Time seemed to freeze.


    Cade''s eyes bulged as she looked down, blood leaking from her mouth. Hands trembling, unsure of what to make of reality.


    Aurelius unconsciously let out a roar so loud it echoed throughout the mists of Akario. He lunged at Cade in an instant. Then the blade disappeared as quickly as it had appeared, and the shadowy figure ripped the door from its hinges, hurling it at Aurelius.


    Aurelius flexed the joints in his hand, and a ball of compression came forth. He slammed it into the door, sending wooden shrapnel exploding in every direction.


    The door still managed to slow him down enough that he could only watch as Cade failed to react to the Shadow''s movements. The Shadow hit her in her wound that spurted blood and followed up with a knee to her face as she curled up before an elbow to the back of her head.


    His movements were magnificient, each one perfectly setting up the next, taking into account the natural reactions of the human body and capitalizing on both his and the target''s momentum.


    But Aurelius could not see it. His eyes were so red that they looked like they would start bleeding. He let out a weird sound as he rushed his body to match the speed of his perception as Cade''s body slammed to the ground, her open eyes twitching and her mouth opening and closing.


    Barely over a second had passed since the blade went through Cade''s stomach.


    A beam of essence shot from Balgair''s hands. The Shadow ducked and connected the movement to set up a kick that landed squarely on Balgair''s chin. A cracking sound resounded. Balgair''s body seemed to turn off completely as his legs gave out underneath him and he fell into a squat and bounced to the side from the force in his joints.


    It was only then that Aurelius reached the Shadow.


    The Shadow recovered his stance from the previous kick and seemed to be prepared for something. That something just wasn''t Aurelius.


    Aurelius'' hand shot out and took the Shadow by the throat before slamming him through wall of the orphanage with the full force of his momentum and strength. The wall burst apart, but Aurelius could not care for the building. He flexed the joints in his free hand while holding the Shadow by the throat.


    A ball of essence built up, and Aurelius shoved it into the Shadow''s face. However, just as it was about to hit, a small plate of essence appeared to shield the Shadow''s face. The man didn''t even need to raise a hand for materialization. Even if the creation was stationary, Aurelius had never seen a feat of materialization so impressive. The plate was the most refined Aurelius had ever laid eyes on, despite being created in a split second without any kind of set-up at all.


    Clearly, the man''s strength was materialization.


    The ball of essence struck the plate, and there was a flash of blue particles that lit the dark mists.


    Aurelius tightened his grip on the Shadow''s throat before rotating and throwing him into the dark mists, disappearing from sight. The Shadow didn''t resist and was flung into the air like a weightless stone.


    Aurelius widened his stance instantly after the release and breathed in. His hands clasped together, and a beam shot out where Aurelius calculated the Shadow''s trajectory to take him. A vacuum sounded. The beam shot off. Aurelius shot off right behind it. He leapt and hurled through the air, all the way to where he saw a faint blue shield appear to block the beam.


    He had counted on the Shadow''s disorientation, and he had been right to do so. He could sense the overconfidence of the Shadow. He hadn''t expected Aurelius to be so fast. So ruthless. And he would suffer for it. He would die fast. Then Cade would live.


    The beam clashed with the shield of essence, and particles burst out. It was like a bigger version of the earlier encounter. Only this time, when the shield faded, the Shadow found Aurelius gleaming blue eyes, waiting to tear every muscle fiber in his body apart.


    Aurelius flexed the joints in his hand once again. Then he feinted for the head and pushed the ball of essence into the Shadow''s side. The Shadow was meant to explode, his organs being obliterated and flung all over. But that didn''t happen. Aurelius gritted his teeth as the Shadow simply launched almost a hundred meters away, tumbling against grass and rocks on the way. The Shadow had seen the strike coming and prepared. It would not happen again.


    The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    Aurelius wasted no time and pushed a crater into the ground as he lunged forward. He had directed the fight to an open area, so the Shadows no longer had his tricks. He was going to die.


    Blood leaked from under the black mask as the Shadow managed to skid to a stop. When he did, Aurelius was there. Just one punch to the cheek, and the mask split apart. There was a crunching sound, and Aurelius lips curved.


    The Shadow fell back and Aurelius pursued. He reached out a hand and ripped the mask off. A bloody mouth, a head of blonde hair, and a pair of wide eyes revealed themselves.


    Aurelius materialized claws at the tips of his fingers, and his hands shot forth. One grabbed the throat, claws digging into the neck. The other went up, claws entering an eye cavity. After entering, the claws closed up, and Aurelius ripped out the prize.


    The man''s scream was bloodcurdling. Aurelius scowled at the sight, but remembered the sight of Cade convulsing on the ground, helpless and in pain. His eyes lit up and he squeezed the eyeball in his hand to mush before throwing the man face first into the dirt before stomping on his neck. "Answer my question before you die. Don''t and I''ll shatter your spine; leave you here to rot to death while paralyzed." To prompt an answer, he pushed his foot down. A pained, involuntary whine came in return. "Who sent you?"


    "The President," the man said in a muffled voice.


    Aurelius knit his brows and squatted down raising the man by his collar. Then his eyes shot wide. He didn''t have time! He was about to flex the joints in his hand.


    "She''s alive," the man said, his voice a gurgle from all the blood in his mouth.


    "What?"


    "The girl I stabbed. She''s alive. You''re my target. I used a thin blade on her. That''s why I also had to knocn her out."


    "Why?" Aurelius raged, shaking the man as blood flooded from his eye.


    "I thought making you mad would make you an easier target. Others just needed to be neutralized."


    Aurelius breathing calmed down. The man said something.


    "Huh?" Aurelius couldn''t pick it up even with enhanced hearing. He out his head forward.


    Then the man whispered, "Karase aki."


    Aurelius eyes shot open. Gabriel returned to him. The few phrases of the Zalfarian language he had been taught. ''Karase aki. You will die.''


    Aurelius''s hesd shot back instinctually as a blade came up. The man leaned back and kicked Aurelius back before taking off running.


    Aurelius ground his teeth loudly as he regained his footing and launched after the man. He followed as the man made his way through the mists with extreme finesse. He seemed to know the path. Aurelius couldn''t catch him despite the physical advantage.


    When he finally stopped, Aurelius heart sand. Just a little boy out in the mists, shivering uncontrollably with an ethereal blade at his throat.


    "I''d recommend letting me go. For the kid''s sake," the man said, smiling.


    Aurelius squeezed his hands into fists. For an instant the idea of a beam shot through his mind. Then there was the image of the boy with a slit throat and a hole in his chest. Aurelius gave up.


    "Next time we meet, I will take your head off," Aurelius said, pointing at the man, his eyes heavy and severe.


    "We will not," the man said. "The President has declared a bounty on your head. Apparently, you were behind the Verdua massacre and a couple other more recent happenings. You''re the most wanted man in the country now. 100 000 gold on your head alone. Good luck with that." The man snorted as he walked away backwards and disappeared into the mist, the boy firmly in his grip.


    Aurelius could do nothing. He stood there with wide eyes, staring at his bloody hands. The President? Verdua massacre? He had been framed. Why? Who was his real enemy? The country? The country he had worked so hard to save wanted him dead more than anything else. It couldn''t be. But he knew it was.


    With this, his time in Mircrest was over. Everything he had worked for was ruined.


    His hands reached up, and nails dug into his scalp. He breathed raggedly as he pulled on his hair, eyes shaking.


    ''No, no, no, no...'' he whined inwardly as his head shook as his eyes darted all over, tears building up.


    Then his mouth opened wide only for a single roar, "NO!"

 Chapter 57: Birds Just Sing

    "Don''t worry, I won''t hurt you," Leonardo said as he walked alongside the scared boy.


    The boy rubbed his hands against each other, whimpering. "C¡ª can I go home now?"


    "What?" Leonardo flicked his wrist with a smile. "Are you tired of my company already."


    "It''s not that. I just¡ª"


    "Don''t worry, you''ll get to go home soon enough. You just need to tag along with me for a little longer. That''s okay with you, right?"


    "Mm, I guess." The boy said wrigling uncomfortably as he walked along.


    "Great," Leonardo said, clapping his hands. "What''s your name, by the way?"


    "L¡ª Leo."


    "Really?" Leonardo exclaimed. "My friends call me Leo. My full name''s Leonardo. It''s a little fancy."


    Leo chuckled nervously. "Do you have many friends?"


    "Ah, I lost a lot of them a few years back, but I''ve made some new ones. And I like being alone for the most part."


    "Me too," Leo said quietly.


    "Oh, so that''s why you were out at night. But be careful in the future. There are lots of bad people in the world that could hurt you."


    "Like you?"


    "Eh, I''m not a bad guy. I was just following orders." He ruffled Leo''s hair. "Besides, I wasn''t going to ever hurt you. I just needed to escape from the guy that was chasing me. You saw him, right? He''s scary. He gave me this." He pointed at the hole in his face.


    Leo looked up cautiously. "Does it hurt a lot."


    Leonardo chuckled. "Yeah, it hurts, but I''ve had worse. And on the bright side, I''ll have a surprising report to give."


    "Report to who?"


    "The one who owns this country."


    ***


    Aurelius sat in a forest on the outskirts of Akario, watching as Cade lay serenely in front of him. He reached out his hand and touched her smooth cheek. She would live. She would always live.


    "Things are settled," Balgair said as he came up from behind. "Now we need to confirm the bounty."


    "And then?" Aurelius asked, not moving his gaze from Cade.


    Balgair stood at his side and looked down at them. "Look, it''s obvious by now. The leader of Numen is after you. He seems to be playing some kind of game. He doesn''t want you dead. He wants you to do something."


    "Something? What something?"


    "The only thing you really can do now is travel to the Great Zalfarian Empire. And that''s what you should do."


    "He wants me to gone?" Aurelius asked. "So why doesn''t he kill me. If he has my location and all kinds of assassins, he could do so."


    "My guess is that he either thinks there would be hell to pay if he killed you or he wants you to gather forces against him from Zalfari and attack, spreading Zalfari so thin that Lundkirk can fianlly conquer them."


    Aurelius looked up at Balgair. "Why would he want to do that?"


    "Maybe he wants the favor of the Conqueror of the West. Or maybe... Argh, I don''t know. It''s confusing, alright? The scale is too big. I don''t know." Balgair shook his head and sat down, wrapping his head in his arms.


    "You don''t have to be with me if you don''t want to," Aurelius said as he looked down at the wound in Cade''s stomach.


    "Nah, it''s not that," Balgair said. "It''s just so weird. I can''t figure anything out. It''s the leader of Numen we''re dealing with, so it has to be a large conflict, and with you involved, it probably has something to do with Zalfari, so I just don''t know."


    Aurelius held up a hand. "Wait, you said the leader of Numen thinks I''ll escape."


    "Well, why else would he place a bounty so large that entire armies would hunt you for? He can''t possibly think you would stay after that."


    "But what if I attack him head on."


    Balgair sat there with his mouth wide, drooling. "What?"


    The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    Aurelius put up a finger. "Listen. If I just get enhancers, I could be able to assassinate him, don''t you think?"


    "Well, it''s possible, I guess, but do you think you''re capable of that."


    "With two enhancers, I''m sure I can face anyone."


    "Two? People die from two."


    "The Soldier of God could take two and survive."


    Balgair laughed. "The Soldier of God? He''s a myth."


    Aurelius sharpened his gaze. "Could you remind me who my father is?"


    Balgair frowned. Aurelius smirked.


    "Fine. But how do we get you two enhancers. Our funds are almost spent and everybody would rather sell you than sell to you."


    "Simple. We''ll go to the Thropes and get it from the source."


    Balgair''s expression dropped. Then he dug at his teeth with his tongue before responding. "It''ll take a while, but I guess it''s possible. The hyper-activity caused by your bounty will also die down. What then? What happens after the leader of Numen is dead. Chaos."


    "We''ll go to the president. Replace him if necessary. We will get things under control. Whatever the consequences, Mircrest will be better off without its scheeming criminal dictator."


    Balgair looked up at the misty sky. "You''re really doing this regardless of my opinion, yes?"


    "Yes."


    Balgair laughed. "You live an exciting life. God must love you."


    "You believe in a God?"


    "Hell no. Just saying that anyone who spectates you must be entertained."


    "Like you?"


    "Mmm, maybe." He pointed up at trees. "Maybe the little birds."


    Aurelius chuckled. "I used to think so too."


    "That the little birds watched you?"


    "I grew up in the middle of nowhere. Me and my mother living with my uncle''s family. His children didn''t like me very much. I didn''t need them to like me, though. I liked being in the forest around us. I felt like the animals there were the only friends I needed. Now, however, that side of me seems to be lost."


    "You no longer hug trees, huh? What a tragedy."


    "I no longer think the birds sing for me. They just sing. I suppose there''s beauty in that. I still love nature. That gives me hope that maybe nature loves me too."


    Balgair laughed and lay on his back. "At the age of 17, he realized there''s beauty in things outside himself."


    Aurelius burst out in laughter as he denied it and launched at Balgair.


    "He was a wise young man. Aurelius, son of... a bitch." Balgair finished his narration as he escaped Aurelius'' grasp after being pinched.


    "Preposterous!" Aurelius yelled as he ran around the camp they''d made, trying to catch the nimble Balgair.


    "Oh, that''s a new word. Fancy." Balgair laughed in his escape.


    "It''s one of yours," Aurelius shot back.


    "Impossible," Balgair declared. "I don''t use such nerdy words."


    "Yes, you do!" Aurelius yelled as he got a hold of the criminal and put him to the ground. "You''re a nerd, Balgair."


    "No!" Balgair cried desperately.


    "A foxy nerd," Aurelius claimed in detail.


    "That sounds sexual!"


    Aurelius strengthened his grip. "It is!"


    Balgair''s voice went high as he yelled, "Cade, help me! He''s a pervert. The man you love is a golden fox lover!"


    Aurelius paused. ''The man she loves?''


    "Ha!" Balgair exclaimed, kicking Aurelius off. "My false accusation strategy remains undefeated."


    Aurelius jumped to his feet and tackled his accuser.


    "Agh, my back!" Balgair yelped. "I never told you, but I''m actually 70 years old... and retired! You''re beating on the elderly," he said with a cough.


    Aurelius burst into laughter as he wrestled the elderly man, who kept coughing as best he could.


    Eventually, the wrestling match ended in a draw as the pair collapsed onto the ground, laughing uncontrollably.

 Chapter 58: The Last Hunt (1)

    "He''s back?" Gadreel said with a slight tilt of his head. "Already?"


    Sherridan stood at the door of his office. "He said it was rather urgent."


    ''This should be interesting.'' Gadreel leaned back in his chair and gestured with his hand. "Then let the man in."


    A few minutes later Leonardo walked in, a white patch over his other eyes. He bowed promptly. "I have returned with a surprise."


    Gadreel smiled and pointed at his other eye. "That it?"


    "Sharp as ever," Leonardo commented sarcastically and removed the patch to reveal an empty socket. "It seems he likes holding back when training. I''m not going to lie, I panicked there a little.


    Gadreel laughed. "How did you lose it?"


    "He took it out with claws. Crushed it."


    "So he''s ready, then?" Sherridan asked from the side.


    Gadreel nodded. "I knew he was ready for the most part already since I already placed the bounty, but it seems I can move my plans a bit before schedule."


    "And by that you mean?" Leonardo asked and paused. "Are you sure?"


    Gadreel grinned and he flicked his wrist. "Tell Izir I''ve gotten what I want from the boy. He can kill him now." He clapped his hands. "And so, the last hunt begins."


    ***


    Cade stretched loosely as Balgair set up their first camp in the Thropes. The stab wound had already healed during the month they had spent traveling.


    They traveled straight through the country. They no longer had specific places to avoid¡ªthey were wanted everywhere¡ªso traveling had been much faster this time. They had been in a hurry since innocent men with large frames and blonde hair started being mistaken for Aurelius, leading to multiple deaths all over the country. The sooner it started being apparent that he had left the country, the less innocent people would die.


    All they needed now was to find a cursed beast. Then they could launch an assault on Acelot and assassinate the leader of Numen. At least that was what Aurelius wanted.


    "Hey, Balgair," she said and the head of black hair turned.


    "Yah?"


    "This thing with Acelot. Whose idea was it exactly?"


    "Whose idea do you think it was to waltz into the capital and kill one of the most powerful men in the world with only a handful of enhancers?" he asked with a dumbfounded expression.


    "Uh..." Cade turned to look for Aurelius. He had already disappeared into the maze of trees. "You just agreed with him?"


    "Hey, I didn''t hear push back from you when you were informed," Balgair quipped.The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.


    "That''s because I was informed and not asked," Cade said with a blank face. "I assume there was some kind of planning process where you could have said something."


    Blagair''s shoulders slumped. "What do you want me to do? He''s the strongest," he said with a wink.


    He knew it irritated her. But it was true. He had defeated the assassin, who had wiped the floor with her. She touched her stomach. The physical wound had healed, but the one on her psyche had yet to close up.


    "If you want to change plans, tell him," Balgair said. "But what is there to do except go to Zalfari where the leader of Numen wants him?"


    Cade looked down at her hands, mumbling, "We could go to his home. The farm deep in the Thropes where nobody would find us."


    "Oh, so you two could get married?" Balgair said, his eyes slumping.


    Cade looked up to meet his eyes. "Yeah."


    Balgair leaned back and raised his brows. "Well, that was mature. Go you. But when do you plan on confronting him about it? As established, the guy''s a... bit slow when he''s not in battle, you know. Wait for too long, and he''ll be having children with essence." Balgair laughed.


    Cade rubbed his face. "I don''t know. But would it be so bad to escape?"


    Balgair rubbed his chin. "Well, now that I think about it, a farm could be nice. But am I even welcome? I''d just be third wheeling."


    Cade smirked. "You can sleep with the sheep."


    Balgair deadpanned. "Yeah, fuck you. We''re going to Acelot."


    They both chuckled until a booming sound in the distance made them quiet. Balgair performed a few setups before both of them rushed into the direction the sound came from.


    When they made it to the scene, Cade''s jaw hung loose while Balgair laughed again.


    A few tens of meters ahead, Aurelius had his hands out, holding onto the front paws of a muscular four-legged creature with grey-striped skin. The pair pushed against one another, the creature seeming eager to scratch Aurelius'' eyes out while Aurelius smiled as brightly as the sun.


    Aurelius let go and maneuvered to the side so quickly that the creature flopped to the ground. When it regained its footing, it jumped at Aurelius with its maw wide. Aurelius squealed gleefully as he jumped away awkwardly.


    After the encounter, the creature bared its teeth and grumbled while Aurelius laughed.


    They repeated the same drill again and again with a few variations. It was amusing to watch one playing around while the other was thirsty for blood.


    After a while of watching, Balgair dashed up to Aurelius, causing the creature to flee. Cade followed leisurely.


    "Hey," Aurelius said, "you scared it off."


    Balgair gave a short laugh. "You talk like it was a bird you were playing with."


    Aurelius shrugged. "I''ve seen birds with the same colors."


    "And I''ve seen birds that thing could swallow whole." Balgair snorted.


    "You done playing around?" Cade asked as she walked up to them. "We need to talk about our searching strategy."


    "For the cursed beast?" Aurelius asked, scratching his head.


    "No." Cade deadpanned. "For Balgair''s dad."


    "Good luck with that," Balgair commented.


    Aurelius wore a puzzled expression. "You think we''ll find him here?"


    Balgair laughed while Cade rubbed her forehead. She wasn''t even sure if Aurelius was doing it intentionally nowadays.


    "I say we look for settlements and question people. Looking for marks all over would take ages and seeking out an informant would require leaving Aurelius out," Cade argued.


    Aurelius raised his hands casually. "I''m fine with anything. But I don''t mind spending a few months here. I need some more training. And I need you for sparring," he said to Cade.


    "There''s nothing to be gained from sparring if you''re just going to hold everything back. And we''ve sparred more than enough already. You just need more battle experience."


    "It''s sparring. You''re meant to hold back," Aurelius whined.


    "Yeah, but you''re still meant to try."


    "I do," Aurelius insisted.


    "Yeah, whatever," Cade said flatly and turned her head to look at the surrounding area.


    They would need to reach a high point to¡ª


    A deafening boom shook the earth and Cade turned back to where Aurelius and Balgair looked on at an enormous cloud of dust. It sounded like a mountain had been blown apart. But how could it all of a sudden?


    Then came an inhuman shriek. One very much like the one Cade had heard about a year ago at that place. The Cloud-Piercing Mountains.

 Chapter 59: The Last Hunt (2)

    "That was..." Cade mumbled from behind as Aurelius launched forward.


    He maneuvered through the trees like he had done so many times before, only ten times faster. The trees were reduced to nothing more than blurred colors in his eyes. The wind whistled behind him. Not even it could catch up.


    The boom had been distant. Probably around ten thousand meters.


    When he finally arrived on the scene, he saw a deep crater that led to darkness, and out of it, came flying a large white bird, unlike the one he''d fought once before. Its body was plump like a common bird, but its eyes were shining red dots that matched the color around its circular mouth which dripped blood.


    The bird stopped after rushing out of the crater. Aurelius'' brows furrowed once the bird didn''t flap it wings. It was floating. No. Standing. It was materialization clear as day. Of course. The thing was a cursed beast.


    Aurelius looked at the surroundings and saw a path of broken forest. What had the cursed beast fought? And for quite a while at that. The amount of damage was huge.


    ''Whatever. This is my chance,'' Aurelius thought and was about to clasp his arms together when another emerged from the crater''s darkness.


    It was a ripped but huge four-legged monster with no face. The being oozed a shadowy aura and once it opened its maw, there came a deep roar from behind a set of pure white teeth. The roar seemed to echo inside Aurelius'' skull.


    Two cursed beasts? Fighting? How?


    Then the thing leaped into the air. In return, the white bird swung its winds in a pattern and a series of blades shot off. The shadowy creature had to dodge, but it didn''t. It simply went on ahead and the ethereal blades broke against its skin.


    Aurelius breathed deeply. It was what Aurelius had done with his arms once. When he took the enhancer against the twins, he''d coated his hands in essence unconsciously. He had tried repeating it after the fact, but it had been impossible. What he had done that day was outside the restrictions of essence usage. It wasn''t a shield, nor was it reinforcement. It was nothing. Nothing but essence. But that wasn''t possible. It made no sense.


    Aurelius started circling the area as the two curse beasts wrecked everything in sight. The white bird hadn''t moved, simply shooting off ethereal blades with a technique that seemed to resemble the one Gabriel had taught Aurelius. He had abandoned the technique since it wasn''t fast enough, but the bird used it with simple movements. There was no need for the creation of the essence mass that long-range essence usage required. The bird simply materialized the blades and shot them off.


    But how could a materialization move so fast? Wouldn''t it just get out of control and disappear?


    Aurelius looked on with wonder as the two pure naturals fought. The shadowy beast''s movements were almost instantaneous. It almost looked like it wasn''t moving at all. It just appeared from place to place.


    Aurelius caught sight of Cade and Balgair and held up at hand. They saw him and stood back.


    He needed to make things quick, so none would escape. So he waited and waited, moving to cover each time the battle got too close. Eventually, the battle slowed down. Even cursed beasts got tired. Aurelius wasn''t sure if he had been noticed. He''d done his best to conceal his presence, but maybe they had seen him and just didn''t care.


    But he had seen them for sure. And he had learned their patterns.


    The shadowy beast moved with two legs making a move first and its body staying still until the last moment when it pushed with its other two feet and launched himself. It was a kind of awkward delayed movement. But it was effective since it made its speed unpredictable.


    What wasn''t unpredictable, though, were the periods he took when loading each movement.


    Aurelius clasped his hands together, hidden in between trees and started tracking the shadowy beast. He waited until it was facing him so that the white bird would be looking away from him.The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    Then Aurelius started building up essence carefully. He couldn''t hold off the energy of the beam for more than a few seconds and if it shot off too soon, his advantage would be gone. He had to release it right when the chance came.


    When the beast appeared in a spot to avoid an ethereal blade and stopped to launch forward, a beam shot forth, and without having a chance to react, the shadowy beast''s head ripped clean off.


    There was a moment of silence as trees stopped falling and the earth ceased cracking. The white bird looked on in silence, and as it was about to love to devour its prey, it became prey.


    Aurelius shot forth, the ground beneath his feet cracking. Aurelius took to the air with a push from his left foot and navigated with his arms through the air while the wind fluttered his clothes.


    The white bird shook and turned with a wing up, but the next thing it knew was Aurelius holding onto the back of its head as a blade gently sunk into its neck.


    The materialization under its feet disappeared while its shining eyes went dull. It fell to the ground amongst the broken forest, Aurelius landing on top of its belly. When the blade in its neck disappeared, the wound became obstructed by a flood of blood.


    Aurelius walked off of the beast and looked around. For hundreds of meters, there was nothing but fallen trees, and beyond that, lay a range of mountains encircling the area.


    He caught sight of Cade and Balgair, walking into the scene with expressions of awe. Only then did Aurelius fully realize what he''d done. He had killed two cursed beasts like it was nothing. He was about to smile, but then there was a pang in his chest. He felt pride from killing now?


    He tried to say something to Cade who approached, but his mind went blank.


    "Good job," Cade said as she hopped over a tree. It seemed she had realized to grab the vials from camp after the dust cloud went up. "I can take it from here. You can go rest while I collect the enhancers. We''ll have plenty left over now."


    Aurelius nodded and walked off to the side. He looked up to the sky. Clouds were covering it all. The day had become gray.


    "Aww, man. It''s beginning to drizzle. The camp is gonna get soaked?" Balgair who had seemed to be lost in thought whined, grabbing Aurelius'' attention. It was then that Aurelius felt it too. Cold droplets on his neck, like a shake awake from dreams.


    "It''s fine." Aurelius put up a hand. "But you were thinking about it too, right?"


    Balgair knocked it off and put on a serious face. "Yeah, something is off here. We should get going as soon as possible and set up camp elsewhere."


    "But how did the cursed beasts end up here?" Aurelius asked. "This is too close to Mircrest and two in the same place?" He shook his head. "It doesn''t add up."


    Balgair stopped breathing.


    "What is it?" Aurelius asked fearfully.


    "You remember what I said about exiting a little on the northwest side of the border?"


    "Yeah?" Aurelius said slowly.


    The issue with traveling through the least densely populated areas of Mircrest was predictability, so they had deviated from the path a little illogically just in case.


    "But these beasts drew us east. And they came from the east. From the path, someone would assume us to take." Balgair looked down at his feet and then back up. "These beasts were bait. And we fell into the trap."


    Aurelius froze much like Balgair. They listened to the surroundings and looked around without moving their heads.


    "What''s up?" Cade asked as she walked up to them. She''d probably been too busy collecting the enhancers to hear the conversation. The box in her hands now held a full set of enhancers. Eight in total. More than enough. Maybe.


    Aurelius gulped and looked to the side, meeting Cade''s calm eyes. "The cursed beasts might have been released by someone."


    It was then that Cade froze as well. She opened her mouth, yet no words came.


    Aurelius'' words held much to unpack. Like the fact that they now faced a group able to restrain two cursed beasts well enough to transport them to a far-off location as well as being led by a strategic genius.


    Now they had no idea what to do. Instincts said run, but if they did, might that alert someone? But if someone was listening? They would have already heard. And they had. Surely. In conclusion, they were already surrounded. They could only wait, frozen in place.


    Then came applause.


    If he had not predicted it, Aurelius'' heart might have stopped as men who all seemed to be made of stone walked firmly out of the forest all around. The men wore black uniforms with white target circles on their chests. When he thought no more would come, their number only increased. Ten, fifteen, twenty. No. Twenty-five. No. Thirty. No!


    Aurelius turned fully to see the man who approached with an unreadable expression while clapping his hands together at regular intervals.


    He seemed younger than the others but still well put together with well-textured short black hair, and he had a jawline as sharp as a blade. His mouth was a straight line but expressed nothing in particular much like his eyes that were simply dark. There was no particular emotion there. An array of emotions was there for sure, but none tainted his sight. Those eyes were pure darkness simply out of nature. They were what Aurelius imagined death to be.


    "You didn''t disappoint me, Aurelius, Son of Ares," the man said after ceasing the applause and stopping a fair distance away from the trio. "You are strong and you are quite intelligent as well. Though my expectations were quite high, you have surpassed them," the man remarked with his hand on his chin. He then raised the hand and his lips curved into something that maybe could have been called a smile before slowly saying, "You ought to be proud. Your father would be. I am sure of it."

 Chapter 60: The Last Hunt (3)

    ''What? Who?'' Aurelius thought as his eyes began to sting.


    "Ah, you must not know who I am. Apologies for my bad manners," the man said as he lifted a hand casually. He then nodded slightly as he introduced himself, "I am Izir, Son of Klaz, leader of the Evaporation Squadron. I wish to have a discussion."


    Aurelius furrowed his brows and took a step back without thinking.


    Izir simply gestured forward. "Please, sit and have a talk with me."


    He then moved his arms and materialized walls that he moved in order to push fallen trees out of the way. Having cleared the area, he made a table and two chairs out of essence.


    Aurelius watched the display of mastery and froze.


    ''Thirty is too many,'' he thought. ''Even if they aren''t all as good as this guy, we probably can''t beat them. Should we escape? Can we escape? Cade and I probably can, but is Balgair fast enough?''


    Aurelius glanced back at Balgair and gritted his teeth. Cade and Balgair were still both frozen in place. Cade''s eyes were hostile. Balgair''s were full of despair. They both sensed what he sensed.


    Aurelius looked to the man exuding confidence as he sat at the table of essence. ''Why waste essence when there''s a battle coming? They are here for a battle, right?''


    "Come now, don''t keep me waiting in this rain," Izir hollered from the table. "If this keeps up, we''ll be drowning in mud soon."


    Aurelius glanced warily at the members of the Evaporation Squadron. He''d never seen a group with an aura like the one they had. Each man seemed built from stone. It was like their presence demanded death.


    Seeing no other option, Aurelius took a step forward. Cade reached out a hand, but then just let it fall. Aurelius'' wet shoes sloshed in the fresh mud. The drizzle was intensifying by the second. His hair was already wet and sticking to his face.


    Izir''s lips curved as Aurelius pulled the ethereal chair on the other side of the table and sat. Izir placed his open hands on the table. Aurelius saw it as a gesture and mirrored him.


    He breathed deeply before breaking the silence. "Izir, Sir, I don''t desire a battle. If we can resolve this peacefully, I hope we will do so. It would be best for both parties. Many people would die otherwise."


    Izir raised his brows. "Oh, please elaborate. What will happen if a battle breaks out."


    Aurelius interlocked his fingers and tilted his chin down, coldly gazing into Izir''s black eyes. "If you resort to violence, I will be forced to do the same. We will do battle. We will go all out. And I will kill every single one of you."


    Izir cocked his head and snorted. Then with a flick of his wrist, he made Aurelius'' chair disappear. Aurelius fell into the mud with a surprised yelp before jumping up in an instant. He could hear the members of the Evaporation Squadron scoff and Cade grind her teeth.


    He looked at her partner and held up a hand after seeing her murderous eyes pointed through him at Izir. He couldn''t let a fight break out as long as there was just the slightest chance that it wouldn''t.


    He materialized himself a new seat and sat down. "That was awfully childish. I thought we were supposed to have a mature discussion."


    "Oh, I am trying to have one, but it''s difficult with a foolish child as my counterpart."


    "I''m foolish because I trust negotiation efforts?"


    Izir blinked slowly before answering simply, "Yes."


    Aurelius hardened his gaze once again. "What do you want?"


    "You should know."


    "Money?"


    "No?"


    "Glory? Fame? Approval?"


    "No, no, and no."


    "Fine then. Don''t tell me. But you are here on the orders of the leader of Numen, yes?"


    "I don''t take orders from him. The Evaporation Squadron is more of a part of Mircrest''s military than a part of Numen."Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    "So what? The leader of Numen controls both."


    "No, he doesn''t. He''s just under the illusion that he does."


    "So he isn''t as powerful as he is thought to be?"


    Izir paused before leaning forward. "He is none of your interest anymore. You are none of his. You''ve already fulfilled your purpose in his plans."


    ''Fulfilled my purpose? How? What have I done?'' Aurelius wracked his brain. ''The Verdua massacre! I''m the scapegoat. That''s his crime and he needed someone to bear the fault!''


    "So I''ve fulfilled my purpose, and you''re here to kill me because of it? You are just following orders after all."


    "I''m not," Izir insisted, putting weight on his words.


    "Then what do you want?!" Aurelius roared so loud it echoed.


    Izir ground his teeth before uttering, "Revenge."


    "What?" Aurelius'' mind shook as he looked through his memories. But he found that there was too much. He had hurt and killed too many to determine why he was wanted dead. It was the most shameful realization in his life. He was about to hand his head when he heard Izir.


    "Not against you."


    Aurelius raised his head, his brows furrowed.


    Izir cracked his neck before explaining, "I''ve lived in Mircrest for most of my life, but I spent my childhood in a western country named Lundkirk. I am proud to say, my father, Klaz, was a part of the legendary Kendrick''s first campaign. He was one of the original members of the army that helped the Conquerer of the West grow Lundkirk from a small, oppressed nation into the largest empire the world has ever seen."


    Izir paused to take a deep breath while Aurelius stared straight ahead.


    "Lundkirk was built of blood and bone, but my father survived all the hell he was put through just so he could make the world better for my mother and myself. He told me that each time he went to battle, he thought of the day I was born. He told me he had never experienced happiness akin to what he felt that day. The memory of that happiness gave him hope while crawling through the battlefield with multiple stab wounds. It''s what brought him home to me. Until it didn''t. Until he faced a god in man''s clothing. Until he went up against your father with ten thousand of the most capable soldiers Lundkirk had and was cut down in a millisecond."


    Izir slowly leaned forward only to spit on the table in front of Aurelius while letting his words linger. Aurelius paid it no mind. He was frozen in thought.


    "Did you know your father treated enemy soldiers like ants?" he asked, his face alarmingly close to that of Aurelius. "You''ve heard of his mythical technique Divide, yes?" He leaned back and observed as Aurelius'' eyes grew slightly wider. "Oh, you haven''t? I suppose even such legends don''t carry over the Great Ocean. Hmm, so you know very little. Want me to enlighten you?"


    Aurelius said nothing. He did not know what he was waiting for. He didn''t want to hear about the technique. He wanted Izir to close his mouth and never utter his father''s name.


    "You see, your father, Ares, was born when the Emperor of Zalfari, Alexander the 5th, decided to have a child with the Empire''s strongest female soldier. I''m guessing the female soldier had no real say in the matter. She had family to protect, so better do what the Emperor says," Izir explained calmly in an almost sophisticated manner, making slight gestures with his hands.


    Aurelius sat like there was a rusty nail as long as a leg going through his spine, his nails trying to rip into the table of essence. His only comfort was the uncertainty behind Izir''s words.


    Izir seemed a little amused, but his tone only got darker. "It''s not clear what happened to the woman after Ares was born, but I guess all that matters is that the Emperor now had the materials for the perfect soldier. And oh did he capitalize on that. Already as a teenager, Ares was a numb killing machine. Lifeless as a doll. His name was known by all, but not a single person loved him. The only person who didn''t hate him was his father. That''s why he just nodded at every single order, no matter what," Izir spat the words through his clenched teeth as the pace of his speech built up. "He was so hungry for even a single drop of affection that he went around killing thousands of people who had parents, siblings, friends, wives, CHILDREN! And you know how he did it?! He rushed through fields, wielding his Divide, separating people''s heads from their bodies without sparing a SECOND to look at the faces of the men from whom he stole EVERYTHING!"


    Aurelius shook as he looked down at his hands that had lost their tenseness. Every word coming from Izir should have angered him, but he did not feel a bit of hatred.


    "You''re the same as him. I hear you killed David. He was a former member of the Evaporation Squadron, but he fell in love and had a daughter. Eventually, he came to me wanting to quit for a safer line of work. I understood. I let him go and even made sure he got a nice position as a guard for the Boerlow family. Then you shoved a hand through his chest. And here you are, thinking you''re a hero. Just like you father," Izir said before taking a deep breath, as if making sure he didn''t explode. "His wife and daughter fell into poverty after you killed David. They would be living in the Slums had I not stepped in and ensured that they''ll be able to live well until his daughter grows up. Not that you''d care."


    Aurelius'' eyes shook, but Izir couldn''t see. "Thank you," he whispered.


    "What? Don''t thank me. You have the right to be what you are. That is your heritage. You are the result of a monster, a whore, and whatever incestual moronic villagers that made your mother. You''re an abomination, and in this forest, I will rid the world of your filthy bloodline. That I swear in the name of my father, Klaz."


    Aurelius slowly raised his gaze to meet Izir''s burning eyes as the drizzle had transformed into and downpour. "My father killed your father. In war. In a battle in which he died. He was protecting his country."


    "He was protecting a tyrant. Kendrick would have made Zalfari better. The only ones who would''ve had to pay were the royals. Your father killed my father for nothing, and he did it with no respect for life. He killed thousands that day. His death alone will not suffice."


    "So you''ve come here to kill me in the name of all those my father killed? Will you act like it''s not simply what you desire? You act like a hero as you thirst for blood and condemn my father who only ever wanted to protect."


    Izir drew a deep breath. "You still think of your father a hero?"


    Aurelius remained steadfast. "Of course, I do."


    "Hmm, I suppose you would," Izir said, his tone solemn for the very first time. Then he straightened himself as the atmosphere grew tense, the rainfall louder.


    And then it began.

 Chapter 61: The Last Hunt (4)

    The table of essence separating them disappeared and Izir lunged forward with incredible speed. Aurelius let his materialized chair disappear and gritted his teeth as he met him head-on. As they met, Izir extended an arm, a blade extended from the back of his hand. Three slashes followed. Aurelius materialized shields on the backs of his hands as he had done in sparring and deflected each blow at an angle that made the blade slide off.


    The barrage didn''t end with three slashes, however. Izir rotated and thrust forward a materialized needle. An immediate counter to Aurelius'' shields that were meant to redirect. His movements were as sharp as Cade''s but even more precise. His technique told of his experience.


    But he had underestimated Aurelius. In response to the attack, Aurelius didn''t try disengaging. Izir''s soldiers hadn''t joined in yet. This was his opportunity to end it before it began. Kill him in one move!


    The needle came straight at Aurelius'' chest while he had strained his position during the earlier barrage, but his balance was firm. So in a split second, he twisted his body, letting the needle graze his shoulder as he counterattacked. A blade materialized as an extension of his open palm as he leaned into the dodging movement and slashed at Izir''s neck, keeping his momentum in an attempt to decapitate. Blood spurting from Izir''s headless body. That''s what he wanted to see.


    Aurelius grunted as his spine groaned from the twist and the needle drew blood at his shoulder, but his eyes only tracked his blade. Izir''s eyes flew open when he realized the situation and barely managed a flimsy blade with his other hand to redirect the sword just enough to fly past his head.


    It came with a price. He lost his footing more so than Aurelius and was caught off guard when Aurelius lunged back into combat. There was an exchange of blows that made the air tremble and sent booming sounds echoing. The movements were too quick for materialization to happen during them, and materializing early was as good as warning the opponent. Fists to forearms, elbows to palms. Too equal. Aurelius had to shift the battle, but Izir''s soldiers began to move.


    ''I have to do it,'' Aurelius thought as he pressed Izir, who had been forced to defend due to his bad starting position.


    Aurelius blocked a fist and feinted a rotating movement. Izir shifted only to expose himself. Aurelius planted his right foot firmly in the mud and exploded into a palm strike to Izir''s stomach.


    Aurelius couldn''t run to Cade and turn his back to the enemy. He had to make moving back a reaction to Izir''s attack. And now it would come.


    Izir recovered from the palm strike with a stoic expression as he slid to stop in the mud. Then he went a little lower with his legs and burst forth. His hand tensed and a ball of compressed essence swirled into existence.


    Aurelius put his hands together and tensed his body, a shield of essence manifesting. The ball of compressing slammed ragefully into the shield and Aurelius mouth opened in a silent scream as a huge force launched him back tens of meters.


    Then his body was jerked to a stop as Cade grabbed a hold of him. Aurelius'' head throbbed and he felt a line of blood flowing from his nose. He wiped the blood and steadied himself.If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    "Are we going to fight?" Cade asked as she looked at the soldiers getting into formation.


    "You think we can all escape?" Aurelius asked, looking around. Cade didn''t respond so he outstretched a hand. "Cade, we need the enhancers now."


    "Rey," Cade said, prompting Aurelius to look her in the eyes. "We should escape."


    Aurelius opened his eyes wide. Betrayal, shock, fury. He looked at Balgair. A clever little guy. Like a little brother. He had once held himself so importantly. But now he looked down, glancing up at Aurelius, telling him to do it.


    "What the fuck is wrong with you?" Aurelius snapped. "You want us to ditch you, moron? You heard Izir. He''s after me. They''ll track us down no matter what. Your sacrifice won''t mean shit," Aurelius hissed as he glanced at Izir who stood 30 steps away, listening with a disgusted expression. He wanted them to in-fight. He would probably have preferred nothing more than Aurelius dying alone in the mud.


    "Hold!" Izir barked at his troops. "Son of Ares, my grudge is with you alone. Your companions may leave unharmed," Izir''s commanding voice said loudly for all to hear.


    Aurelius paused visibly. Cade''s expression dropped, and she opened her mouth, but before she could get a word out, Balgair laughed out loud. He then faced Izir and only stopped laughing when he slicked back his wet black hair. "You think you got honor? Shit, man, you won''t even give Aurelius a fair fight. What''s the point in revenge if you''re sharing it with thirty other dudes? But don''t worry, I respect your honor. I care about it so fucking much that I''ll stay just to even the odds and make you seem not as much of a loser," Balgair said all others falling quiet. Aurelius tried to grab him and tell him to be quiet, fearing that after this, he couldn''t make the deal and let his friends walk out alive. Balgair slapped Aurelius off of him with a whisper. Then he pointed to the mud. "That''s your dad right there," Balgair said to Izir. There was a moment. Then Balgair snorted and spat down where he had pointed. He looked back to Izir who ground his teeth and finished off. "Oh, and fuck your whole extended family."


    Aurelius looked on with his mouth open in silence. Balgair looked back and winked. "You said it yourself. Your sacrifice won''t mean shit, so we fight together. And we win." Balgair reached for the box in Cade''s grip and despite Cade''s unsure eyes, he took one. "Believe it or not, I''ve never done hard drugs before."


    Aurelius looked back at Izir and readied himself mentally, quieting his mind. Izir had done the same. He was no longer clenching his teeth at Balgair''s comments. His eyes were loose and apathetic like he couldn''t care less about the repercussions of what was going to happen.


    Cade handed Aurelius an enhancer as he stared at Izir. Izir put a hand in his pocket and took out a vial. Aurelius cursed in his mind. The first round had been fought already. What happened next would be something more animal than human.


    Both opened the vials and chugged down the warm substance. It was far more than Aurelius remembered. It was as if his chest opened up, and spewed light into the sky. As if he was walking in heaven. From his peripheral vision, he could see as Cade and Balgair did the same. First time for both of them. But theirs didn''t seem like Aurelius remembered his feeling like. They seemed to be in pain. Like they wanted to puke it out and forget the whole thing. Their bodies rejected it. They rejected that monstrosity.


    For a moment, worry washed over Aurelius. For the well-being of his companions, but also a selfish fear of being rejected for that same monstrosity.


    The worry was drowned out when another wave of power hit and Aurelius gathered himself. Warmth and an intensity unlike any other he''d ever felt raced through his body. So exhilarating he had to hold back from smiling.


    He looked forward and took a step. Cade and Balgair could take care of themselves. He had more important things to do. Wreak havoc.


    He roared as he hastened into a sprint, and Izir hit his chest twice echoed by his men before he made a roar of his own. "TO BATTLE!"

 Chapter 62: The Last Hunt (5)

    Roars withered as ethereal blades slammed into each other. There was a moment of tension, the full, enhanced forces of two of the strongest people in the world pressing against each other. Izir was pushed back, but the opportunity went away as the formation of soldiers closed him in.


    Blades pierced from all sides. Too much chaos to dodge everything. He couldn''t even see most of the blades. He leaped back as his flesh was cut on the sides. Most were flesh wounds. Some stabbed into his stomach. He didn''t push the pain away. Not again. Not like last time. He embraced it.


    Even as he leaped back, however, he was still surrounded. As more blades stabbed at him from the sides, he jumped high into the air and took in the formation.


    About half the squadron was on him. The rest were occupied by his companions. The men surrounding him had taken the shape of arrows coming in from the sides, when he retreated, there were rows of men on both his sides. Simple but effective.


    Then a beam shot at him. And another. And another. He twisted his body and set up a few shields just in case before materializing a platform and pushing him toward the ground. He shot onto the ground and landed in a crouch. The surrounding men staggered before three came up to grab him while the others inflicted blows or prepared beams and compressions.


    Aurelius was faster. And more prepared. He was alone, so he could improvise while the squadron followed their set strategies.


    He grabbed an outreached hand and broke it at the elbow before using the man as a meat shield. A blade pierced through him, but didn''t quite reach Aurelius who then pushed the man before shooting a hastily prepared beam through the man and the next. But even the least loaded beam Aurelius could manage took too much time to prepare. A miscalculation.


    A ball of essence slammed into his back. The clothes on his back were torn to shreds at the exact moment of impact. His eyes shook wide as he turned everything but reinforcement onto mini supplies and focused everything he had on not being paralyzed by the shock. His spine ached, as something surged through his body, making muscles tense.


    His face slammed into the mud, and for a moment, he thought himself paralyzed. But then he caught sight of Cade''s figure struggling through the assailants, her face bloody and twisted with desperation.


    Mini supplies gone. The power returned to his shoulder and he ripped his body forward before hurling himself up to his feet with a flip and slamming his fist into the first face he saw. The man''s face crushed under the pressure, but Aurelius didn''t care. It was onto the next one.


    He turned, after having taken in the assailants at his back and proceeded to break and stab and kill everything before him as he dodged the strike he saw from his peripheral vision and turned when someone he had foreseen was at his back.


    He soon found that the men had abandoned the arrow shapes. But there had been no signal. No, they were improvising. And like a hivemind, they split apart right as Aurelius wondered where their leader had gone.


    Aurelius was about to rotate, a ball of compression writhing in his hand. But before he could complete the motion, someone put a hand on the ball of compression. And as the essence of pure destruction touched flesh, Aurelius'' hand jerked back from the impact, undoing his rotation. There was a scream. Then a ball of essence slammed into Aurelius'' side as Izir punched forth.


    Aurelius managed a shield. But what good it did could be summarized as ''not a lot''. No setup and hasty construction.


    There was a spear waiting at his back when he launched back. Having seen it, Aurelius twisted in the air so that the spear grazed his side before he split the mess of a formation and tumbled, slamming each body part into the mud and tree parts on the ground before his back hit a tree trunk.


    And as he sat there, eyes hollow, blood pouring out of his mouth like it was made to do it, he couldn''t help but blame Balgair for provoking the enemy. He turned his head with a groan for a split second of seeing his friends slowly die before a beam shot at him.


    Aurelius'' hand shot up and a tilted shield came into existence, but only to redirect the beam a little before it dispersed and left Aurelius'' reinforcement to fend off the last of the energy which tore his skin apart.


    He weakly slumped to the side and let the beam pass by, only taking part of his shoulder.You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.


    In the mud, it was cool. He looked up through his blurry eyes at the approaching men. It was the end.


    And at the end, laying in the mud, his back, side, and hand ripped to the bone, Aurelius cried. Not for pity. Not for anything. Just sadness flowing down his cheeks. Tears with no purpose except the self-expression of a helpless young man who thought he was more.


    Izir looked at him, the sniveling boy, not with disgust, but apathy. "After this, I''ll kill your friends," he said as he put his hands together and prepared a beam from ten meters away. "Stop crying. This was how it was always going to end. You were simply too stupid to see it."


    Even the mere act of breathing became a hellish labor as Aurelius curled up and closed his bloody eyes, the overwhelming pain searing his mind.


    The rain was loud like drumming. A moment of silence. Then flesh was sliced. "REY!"


    Aurelius'' eyes shot wide as Cade''s voice called out in the darkness. He heaved a breath as she met Izir head-on. She wasn''t strong enough. They were evenly matched, but she was already injured and then she was beaten down by more.


    Aurelius just couldn''t take it. The pain, the loss. These people beat down everyone in their way, not because of a grudge, but because they were all like him. Like Izir.


    The man was a plague. An angry plague, spreading over men. They were all lost and angry people just looking for somebody to punish. But Aurelius would not be that somebody. He could bleed and be killed, but he would not be a victim. Not of this devil.


    Aurelius looked at Izir and saw an ugly red face with jagged teeth biting on his love and he could not take it. That man was pure evil, so even if Aurelius had to give in to that sensation, it was only right.


    Aurelius shook his body as he pushed to pain away, remembering what blood coursed through his veins. Yes, it was right. It was so right!


    Aurelius ripped forward and materialized claws before pushing himself into the first person who came his way. He scratched at his face, taking his eyes before punching his hands forward multiple times, giving the man tens of stab wounds in a split second before he flung his body forward with wild momentum and ripped through a group of men, untouchable.


    Then he met eyes with Cade. He felt like puking. Not because of how she looked at him, but because of how for a moment he wanted to rip her to pieces all the same. To find out what she was made of. Did she really think herself stronger than him? He pushed the torturous thoughts away and focused on combat.


    He remained untouched on his way to Izir and when they met eyes, he could see the man shake. That''s right. Deep down, he hated him because he feared him. Aurelius'' smile grew.


    "Creature," Izir whispered as he pushed away from Cade.


    "Hah!" Aurelius let out a mocking laugh straight from the heart before they met in the field.


    Aurelius'' feet slid in the mud as he planted his feet, grabbed Izir''s hand, and moved faster than he thought possible.


    ''Slices on the forearm, block the right hand, right fist straight to the chin, pull back, claw at the ribs, elbow to solar plexus. Sword on the left. Grab the arm. Pull. Claws to throat. Crush. Throw by the forearm to the left,'' a flow of thought coursed through his mind faster than they were registered, as Aurelius completed a series of movements that got only sharper and more lethal with every strike.


    Then he turned back to Izir and kicked his knee at an unnatural angle. There was a sound. Bones broken? Joints torn? Not sure what it was. Couldn''t be good. More men. It was time to end this.


    The calws disappeared, replaced by two blades as the remaining men rushed at him for their leader''s sake. Aurelius danced through attacks, eyes jumping at every movement. Everything was torn. His body screamed and so did he and everyone. Die. Just die. Everybody dead.


    His eyes were blurry. There was no intention in any movement anymore. He could not see faces. But he could fight. Even with nothing else, he could fight. He could kill. He could be a monster. At the end of the world, he was going to be a monster.


    Blades shredded through flesh.


    "Help!"


    Whose voice?


    "Now Aurelius!"


    There was no end to it.


    "We''re dying!"


    The blades were whistling.


    "Snap out of it!"


    Oh, how peaceful the ripping of flesh seemed.


    The smooth flow of a blade against the skin.


    Blood was life.


    Aurelius knew nothing but life.


    He was covered in it.


    Life flooded.


    A shriek came, and Aurelius slowed, his body a tired mess. Lazily, he turned only to see his friends struggling for their lives. Losing. They were losing. He rushed out, leaving everything behind. Balgair''s hand was a stump with blood rushing out, his hand having been chopped off.


    Aurelius froze. He had torn humans to pieces all along, but as he watched his friend evade the enemy while frantically holding onto his lost hand, he felt his guts being squeezed.


    ''Hold on. I''ll save you,'' he thought as he dashed through mud to reach his friends surrounded by enemies.


    Everybody was tired. Cade fought with sloppy movements, but she was alive. She was always alive.


    The enemy turned as Aurelius made it close, but instead of engaging him, Aurelius jumped over to Balgair who''d been screaming his name. He was there. His friend could lie down. He was there to take it all on.


    But why had he not seen it? Izir had disappeared, and he had not seen it. But he saw it now. Balgair, bleeding out from his hand with an arm firmly wrapped around his weak neck.


    Aurelius reached out a hand, his feet sinking into the mud, impossibly more heavy than before. "Izir, please."


    Balgair looked scared and sorry. He didn''t deserve this. "Aurelius, it''s not your fault," he said, his voice low.


    "Yes... it is," Izir said before pulling back.


    "NO!" Aurelius shrieked, the high tone piercing ears.


    His feet struck into motion, but the distance was impossible, and Izir was too fast. Balgair tried to maneuver out of range to no avail.


    A blade went through Balgair''s stomach. Again and again, until no doctor could save him.

 Chapter 63: The Last Hunt (6)

    Balgair''s eyes went wide with shock but loosened only moments afterward. His eyes were gentle on Aurelius. He didn''t even look down. He accepted it. Aurelius could not.


    Aurelius'' ears locked as he let out a scream that didn''t sound human in any sense. His eyes went out. Izir threw Balgair to the side like thrash and they met.


    Their hands grabbed each other. This time around, there was no more restraint. All Aurelius knew was blood and bone, and how to break it all. He dug his nails into Izir''s large hands before twisting his wrist with force directed clumsily in the hopes that something would break.


    Luckily it did. Izir''s wrists broke apart and he let out a slight winge, the only humanity the man had shown in a window of a split second. Aurelius shook his body, twisting the wrists more violently before taking him by the forearm and swinging his body widely, slamming Izir''s figure into the mud face first, so fast and hard that the veterans surrounding them shuddered, but before he could inflict further damage he was forced to retreat as a dozen blades crossed where his neck had been.


    He jumped through the air, ready to shield himself from strikes which eventually came. When he made it back to the ground he turned his gaze to Cade. She was surrounded and still fighting. Roughly half the squadron was dead, but Aurelius was on the finish line, and Cade seemed no better off. She fought with her face twisted into an ugly expression. However, her battle was going just fine. The squadron had underestimated her.


    ''Wait, is she... crying?'' Aurelius shuddered at the thought.


    No, it was just the rain. It had to be. She couldn''t break down. She was his strength. If she broke, so would he. And then they would both die.


    Aurelius'' back and side ached as a warm liquid flowed out of his mouth in a constant stream. There was some black in the crimson. He grunted as he met more resistance while he made his way to Cade. But after she noticed him, she made her way to him.


    "Where is it?!" Aurelius growled.


    Cade''s lips trembled as tears built up. She wanted to protest, but she knew it was useless. She could do nothing but obey his command even if it was as good as murdering him. It chipped away at Aurelius'' being, but he knew what he needed. He knew what was right. Izir needed to die.


    Aurelius fended off the squadron as they came after him. All fifteen veterans out to murder a teenager. Still, he faired as well as anyone could with his injuries. Avoiding contact slyly while not making it too obvious worked for a while and it was all he needed. He had covered for Cade while she got it.


    When he finally saw her figure again, coming back from where she had hidden it, he smiled. No warmth, affection, or love. A simple, wide, psychotic smile coupled with eyes reduced to slits that glowed blue with power. Now he would kill them all.


    He kicked away his nearest assailants before jumping above the crowd again. It had worked previously. But this time it had been too obvious. And no matter the power of an individual being obvious in battle never led to good things. And that''s when a beam ate at his torso from behind. He''d only guarded attacks from underneath because that was where all his enemies were supposed to be.


    His body twirled in the air. Izir''s head still must''ve been swimming since the beam hadn''t been on point. If it had, Aurelius would lay dead.


    Cade rushed to catch him.


    "Rey," she muttered, shaking him slightly. "Can you fight? Should I¡ª"


    "No." A single flat word shut her up. "You will not."


    Aurelius didn''t want to hear it. He just grabbed the vial out of her hand and staggered to stand back on his own two feet, his side bleeding profusely, back likely fractured, ribs broken, mouth dripping with blood, eyes red.


    He glared at the entire squadron rushing at him and in the few seconds he had, he chugged down the second enhancer.


    "Hold!" The squadron stopped in their tracks and split apart, revealing Izir. "I guess this is it."The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    Aurelius chuckled. The man thought he of all people would die from two enhancers? Ridiculous. Giving him to digest the¡ª


    His eyes went wide as the veins in his neck bulged, their color tainted. His body shut down in an instant, leaving his being to crumble into the mud. He squirmed and squirmed, gritting his teeth, foam beginning to form in his mouth.


    "Rey? Rey. Rey!" Cade rushed to his side, hesitating to touch him as he let out whining noises and grasped at the ground, desperate to regain control.


    Then she looked up at Izir who stood there smiling. That''s when Aurelius realized that Izir knew. He knew this would happen. And now he stood there with his hands folded. After murdering Balgair, he was allowed to be alive. Allowed to kill him. And after that, he would kill Cade. It was all over because he thought taking a second enhancer came without consequences.


    And while Aurelius was still adapting to the enhancer, Izir raised a hand. "Fire." A single apathetic word, signaling the end of everything.


    Over ten hands clasped together. Aurelius shut his eyes as hard as he could. Then the impact came. He shuddered and looked up. Beams going on both sides, as a precaution even thought Cade couldn''t move fast enough anyway at this point. But how was he alive? He struggled to move his neck enough, then he saw Cade and a half-empty vial.


    And with whatever power she could muster from the one-and-a-half enhancers in her system, she deflected the power of ten beams with a single curved shield more refined than any Aurelius had ever seen.


    He looked on with wonder. But then the shield faded and all the relief with it. However, as he jerked his head toward her, begging his body to obey just this once, his body moved like an automatic weapon and he was there, putting forth both hands around her and putting up a shield twice the size.


    She exhaled as he body relaxed and Aurelius'' horror grew at the sight of her hands. Nothing but red.


    The beams finally stopped, drained of the initial power build-up. Aurelius let the shield blink out of existence and stood to the awe of the squadron.


    Izir had placed his bet. ''Wait for the momentary paralysis and kill him before he can ingest the second enhancer'' had been the idea. They had not taken her into account. He hadn''t either. But as he gently lowered her, he wished he never had to rely on her again. That peaceful face that trusted in him, and those torn-apart hands that suffered for him. He never wanted to see such a sight. It was all on him.


    He looked back up at Izir and there was a moment of silence. Then Aurelius limped forward before realizing he felt no pain. He straightened himself and took another step. He walked like on a morning walk before accelerating into running steps and clashing.


    This time he moved too fast. It was simple really. Hands moved and crushed everything in their way. He could wrap his hand around a neck and a simple squeeze was enough for death.


    But as he shielded a beam they seemed to have one more coordinated strike in store. A blow came to the back of his head, shaking his consciousness before a ball of essence hit him in his stomach.


    Breathless, he was launched into the air and hung there in a kind of limbo for a while. Only another reminder that he was not invincible. But one that didn''t matter much.


    He closed his eyes right as his momentum stepped and he began plummeting toward the ground, hugged by gravity.


    At that moment, he dove into his memories. That cursed beast''s slashes and his father''s Divide. They seemed to possess a shared quality. Speed. How interesting. It wasn''t long-range essence usage like Gabriel''s technique had suggested. No. That technique was a pathetic knock-off.


    It was materialization, separated from the host body at such a speed that it reached the opponent before inevitably dispersing. Aurelius'' eyes jumped open. At the same time, some shields popped into existence to guard him from the pathetic attacks of the humans below.


    Aurelius let out a laugh full of child-like excitement at a new toy before he came down onto the ground once again. Mud splashed and the men covered their eyes. But as they looked back, Aurelius was gone.


    Immediately after landing, he jumped back into the air. This time his body spun in the air purposefully. The men could watch him hurtling through the air for only a peaceful moment before he moved his hands.


    And when he did, they saw their doom.


    His hands moved, only a glowing blur in his eyes. Then it was done. Tens of ethereal blades shot off in an instant and the wind whistled as he landed.


    Men fell, arms and legs severed. Aurelius didn''t even know who he had killed or how. Most of all, he didn''t care. After disposing of the ones still standing with a few more slashes his way, he ripped his way through to Izir, faced off, and fainted high before kicking the man''s previously injured knee inward. The crack was loud. Louder than any before. And the bones stuck out from the back of his leg the very next moment.


    He fell back, screaming as Aurelius watched with a hollow expression. He looked at him like staring into the void. After a blink, however, he took in the man''s pathetic figure coupled with an ill-fitting gaze. A pained man deserved pained eyes. Not ones of hatred or defiance.


    But in the end, he was nothing. Aurelius did not care enough to break the man in the end. He only felt a deep emptiness left by having everything not of animalistic nature carved away only so that he could reign victorious over this pathetic creature below him.


    He stepped on the man''s chest. Izir was about to move his arms, but then he no longer had them. Two simple slashes had done away with any remaining competence the man had.


    Aurelius gazed directly down at him before materializing a long blade. "Like father, like son," he spat and put the blade through Izir''s heart.

 Chapter 64: The Last Hunt (7)

    "Like father, like son."


    Balgair heard his best friend''s words and a tear flowed down the side of his face as he lay there putting pressure on the wound.


    It wasn''t like what had happened with Cade. The wound was there from a real sword meant to kill. So it was over. That was it.


    But although he could move his mouth and produce sound, no words came.


    He just watched as Aurelius hissed and looked around with ferocious eyes for bodies to rip apart. But everyone was already dead.


    Then Cade rose to her feet, wobbling as her hands and mouth dripped with blood. Her eyes were tired, but more than that, they were worried to the point of tears.


    She grabbed his hand once she made it close enough. "Rey, please we have to... before the after-effects¡ª"


    For a second Aurelius looked at her, disgusted. She probably thought his disgust was at her. But Aurelius was just disgusted at himself. Balgair could see it so clearly. The flaws in the man he saw as flawless. But even then, he held no contempt against him. Seeing his flaws only made him feel that they were closer. Like true brothers.


    He wheezed a breath before relaxing his body and letting the pain settle in.


    Aurelius looked away from Cade quickly. His eyes darted around before finding those of Balgair. He ripped his hand from Cade''s grasp and rushed over.


    He kneeled at Balgair''s side, splashing some mud on his face. Finally, Balgair stopped putting pressure on the wounds. No point anymore. He just wanted a few words before he went. Unfortunately, he didn''t know what it was he wanted to say. Maybe it was best to just listen.


    But no words came either.


    "Aaaaaa, nonononono..." Aurelius mumbled as he shook his head, searched for the wounds and hovered his hands over Baglair''s midsection, trembling and unable to touch.


    Then he put his hands on his face and ripped at the hair on his forehead while rambling incoherently about some hospital or something. The downpour had stopped, but droplets of water flowed down Aurelius'' face.


    Cade approached warily and crouched at his other side. Her frown deepened as she reached out a hand and touched Balgair''s face.


    He smiled. "T¡ª thanks," he said with a slight chuckle.


    Aurelius took his hands off his face to reveal his shaking eyes. "Balgair! You... We can¡ª"


    "No... Goldilocks. This is it," Balgair said, his voice an unintentional whisper.


    "What?! Hey, look at me. Do you want to die? You''ll survive, but we have to work fast," Aurelius said as he wrapped his arms around Balgair in order to get him up.


    "Stop," Cade said, averting his eyes. Then louder, "Stop!" She pushed him back onto the mud, away from Balgair.


    Balgair tried saying something, but his low voice went unheard.


    "Balgair is dying here, relaxed with his friends. Not while being delusionally rushed to a faraway place where he still won''t be saved!"


    Aurelius rushed forth and smacked her, making her fly back. He wasn''t listening. He tried grabbing Balgair again. Only this time it was his hand pushing Aurelius away.This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.


    Aurelius'' eyes opened wide. "Why are you resisting? You believe her?" He pointed at Cade with animalistic eyes. The Aurelius he knew was covered by something horrible.


    He tried grabbing Balgair again and that time he succeeded despite Balgair''s best efforts to push him away.


    Balgair took a deep breath and bellowed, "Stop!" Aurelius froze as Balgair shook his head with teary eyes. "I''m going to die, you idiot. Just let me be in peace while I do. Smile, Aurelius. Don''t be depressed over dumb shit." Balgair smiled and chuckled. "I''m dumb shit. I would''ve died in any case. I''m just thankful I got to be friends with you before I did."


    "No, stop," Aurelius said with a face twisted in pain. Somehow, he was so good of a guy that he could act like the biggest asshole. "Stop talking. Argh, why you? Why couldn''t he kill me? Just no. What?"


    ''Oh, no. What am I leaving him with?'' Balgair thought horror seeping into his calm mind as he watched his best friend tear himself apart.


    "It''s not your fault," he whispered.


    "It is my fault! I never should''ve taken you along. If I hadn''t started all this, everybody would be alive!" There was nothing Balgair could do. Aurelius was ripping himself apart from the inside. "I should never have left. I should''ve stayed at that farm. Lived at that farm. Died at that farm." Aurelius hit himself on the head as he crumbled at Balgair''s side.


    "No. My life was hell." Balgair looked to the dark sky. "I would''ve died like a rat in a hole if you hadn''t come along... These few months with you two were worth more than my entire life."


    Cade crouched back down by his side, unfazed by the red mark on her cheek. Aurelius couldn''t bear to look at her. It may have been the enhancer at play, but he would bear all the punishment himself. That''s just the type of person he was. Always had to take the hardest journey.


    Cade smiled down at him. "I''m happy I met you. And even when you''re dead, I''ll be happy I knew you."


    As Balgair looked into her usually dull eyes, he could see a sparkle of light when those words came. He knew they were real. More real than any other he''d ever heard.


    He wanted to respond. Tell her how much those simple words meant. How they made his heart flutter. But he couldn''t talk through the blood at the back of his throat. Only gurgles came out.


    Aurelius opened and closed his mouth multiple times, but not a sound came. In the end, he just sat there with his eyes and mouth open for eternity. Balgair could feel his eyes tempting him to close them, but he wouldn''t. Not yet.


    As he looked at Aurelius'' sad figure, he imagined another world. One where he didn''t die. One where they moved past all this, escaped Mircrest and lived happily somewhere till the end. It could be a farm where they reaped and sowed. It could be Zalfari where they worked under the emperor in luxury. It could have been anywhere. Traveling all around with an unbreakable connection. They would both marry and have children. Then they could watch as those children played and grew old together. It would be a big family. A bundle of happiness.


    He wanted to chuckle but couldn''t. He looked at Aurelius and in his sad eyes, he saw that he''d thought about the same thing. Probably much more than he had. It had been the only thing running through his mind when he tried to rush him away from here. That fantasy was the only thing that could make him hurt the ones closest to him because it was all about the ones closest to him.


    ''Why did I only see it now?''


    If he had seen that fantasy before, he wouldn''t have risked everything like this.


    ''I don''t wanna go. Not here. Not now... I don''t want to die. I wanted to be better.'' He looked at Aurelius. ''I wanted to be just like you.''


    ''Would that man really have let us go?'' A desperate thought at one''s grave.


    But of course he wouldn''t have. He just wanted Aurelius to know betrayal as well as death. He must''ve had something set up. It was over the second they went to those beasts. It was over all along.


    Balgair bit his teeth together and put up a hand. A hand, dirtied by blood and mud. Aurelius looked at it before clasping it and bringing his forehead to it. Then he burst into tears. Seeing that, Balgair couldn''t hold his own and did likewise.


    Until the very end, they shared tears like they had so many times before done with laughter.


    ***


    Life faded from Balgair. Cade shut his eyes. Aurelius went closer before going backward.


    He snorted and his weeping turned into wails. He looked at Cade and only then did she understand her. Only when he looked at Balgair''s lifeless figure could he comprehend what went on in the background when Cade had first met him.


    She knew this, but she still got close to people. How could she bear it?


    Aurelius turned and walked away. But his power was gone, bile rising in his throat. He stumbled forward, barely staying on his feet as he wailed at the sky.


    When he fell, he fell hard, but Cade was there to catch him. She looked down at him with a sad smile. "It''s going to be okay. You''ll be okay."


    There was so much faith in those desperate eyes of hers. Faith in him. His recovery. But he didn''t have it.


    He was never going to be the same.

 Chapter 65: Ultimatum (1)

    Aurelius woke up in a village Cade had managed to drag him to before she passed out from exhaustion as well. Cade''d had to bear that reality while he had just slept through it.


    When he first woke a few days later, she was already awake and had taken care of everything. She buried Balgair, she made sure nobody knew Aurelius had a bounty on his head, and she paid the debt they owed the village head, the same old woman who had treated their wounds.


    The worst thing was that he felt at peace when he woke. Aurelius remembered what had happened, the peace turned to emptiness. Eerily similar sensations, but one destroyed your soul while the other caressed it.


    Then he realized he could barely move from all the pain, food tasted bad, and he couldn''t keep himself from throwing up dark red and black. It came from his eyes and nose as well. Someone came in once while it was happening and ran out yelling something about a demon. The amount of scars on his body had increased from wounds he didn''t even remembere and the skin on his back and side was no longer smooth.


    To top it all off, if someone came while he was in this state, he would be killed in a second. Just a little anxiety to boot. Cade didn''t seem to have the same problem, but maybe she just knew pain better than him. Yeah, that was definitely it. But even knowing that, Aurelius couldn''t bear it any better.


    While he couldn''t move, people had come and gone. They prattled on and on about things that Aurelius couldn''t care less about. The voices had gotten so annoying he''d yelled and nobody came after that. Not even Cade.


    ***


    Balgair''s grave was on the side of a mountain. There was a stone with his name on it. Nothing more. Just the one word. Balgair.


    Aurelius saw it and wanted to rage. To take the boy from the grave and wake him up. Make him look at his pathetic grave and say, "Hell no, man. Gotta have a few more words on there before I''m done."


    What was there to write now? The date of birth was unknown. No other worthy names. Snake-eyes? Aurelius laughed at the idea, but his face went straight when he realized there was nothing funny about it.


    He sighed before crouching down and materializing a small blade at the tip of his finger. In the stone, he carved the words "A dear friend". And below it, even if it might have been a lie in some mind that wasn''t his, he wrote, "A little brother".


    When he stood up and looked down at the words below, he would have given a tear if there were any left. There were not. They''d all flown out with the blood.


    An image flashed. He stumbled back and held his forehead. More angry at the thought than anything. But it wasn''t just a thread of masochism taunting his mind. It was a warning. A possibility.


    What he saw was Cade''s grave. And what he would write on it.


    "A loving partner"


    ***


    He sat and ate, dressed in familiar, low-quality, light brown clothes. Nobody talked. They were mimicking him. He''d barely said a word in the full week they had spent there. But it was time to leave soon. That night would be their last.


    Aurelius grumbled before putting his spoon down beside the bowl of rabbit stew. It was a sign. Talk.


    They got it. The village head cleared her throat and with her raspy voice she asked, "Aurelius, I have heard what you plan to do. I say go back to your mother. She will take you back like all mothers and you will be able to leave this life you have mixed yourself up in."


    Aurelius looked at her, wanting something more.


    "Come now, you are a young man," she said. "You have lost someone, yes. But that does not have to define you. It doesn''t have to define the rest of your life. You have a good heart. Do not let yourself become heartless."


    Aurelius looked down and sighed. Then he tilted his chin up and snorted. "What would you know about me? Cade''s told you stories, but do you have any idea of who I really am beyond the loving eyes of a teenage girl?" He looked at Cade sitting on the far right. And then eyed the village head''s family as he sat at the end of the table, opposite the village head herself. "Let me tell you all exactly who I am. I''m the man who left his widowed mother alone with her piece of shit brother. All so I could go play hero under the guise that I was doing it for other people." He shook his head. "I wasn''t. I never cared as much about other people as I cared about living up to the idea I had of my father. The people worshipping me like I was their god. That''s what I wanted! Not for them to be happy or well off. I never cared! I just want to murder people and be thanked for it!"Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.


    He stood from his seat, slamming his hands on the table and breathed raggedly as he looked around.


    "Aure¡ª" Cade started.


    "Shut up! Just... shut up."


    It was then Aurelius knew what he looked like despite not having seen his own face for a while. The beauty was no longer there. His face was smooth, scarless, and cut to perfection, but he was no prettier than a bloodthirsty dog. He could feel the ugliness on his face even without observing the disgust that was all over the faces around him.


    "I shoved my hand through a man''s chest by my own initiative. I took a father from a child. And since then, I have taken many more. Everywhere I''ve gone, people have died. And now we''re at the point where merely the idea of me kills people even when I''m not there. I''m a damn monster. I''m like a nightmare come to life. And all this because I wanted to be my father." He laughed, his eyes wide. "And you tell me I have a good heart. A good heart!? What is wrong with you?" He looked at Cade''s shocked face. He knew she tried to keep it still, indifferent, detached. But it was too late. She''d let him get close and now she would pay the price, as he broke her. "All this time I''ve been lying to myself, thinking we''re good people... we''re not. Me and you, Cade, we''re monsters. We kill and kill and kill because it''s what we''re good at. And because we''re so good at it, we can''t help but like it, so in order to keep doing it, we make up all these theories and go on killing only specific people with our excuses ready at hand. That''s how we make our paradise of blood." He shut his eyes tight before continuing. "In these past years, I''ve become like you, and you love me for it. But for the very same reason, I ha¡ª" he choked on the words before. "I hate you."


    Cade jumped up from her seat and walked around the table while Aurelius stood there, frozen. Then a knuckle dug into his right cheekbone. Piercing pain blooded his skull. It only got worse when she took him by the hair on the back of his head and slammed his face on the ground.


    He looked away, but she turned his head to the side so he would see her. And she wasn''t broken. He was just an idiot.


    "So you want to rush into Acelot by yourself, and now you think, ''Hmm, but what about Cade?''. So then you go on a rant about some shit and now you think I''ll just leave your life because of a couple of words?"


    "I¡ª"


    He didn''t get the opportunity to continue as she put him on his back and mounted him before hammering his face. She wasn''t even using essence and neither was he, but he couldn''t get out from under her. He could only move his head around while his cheekbones and teeth ached and blood started spitting from his nose.


    There wasn''t the slightest hint of sadness in her as she pummeled him. And despite people telling her to stop and prying her off of him, she kept going.


    "I killed Balgair''s gang. I killed the twins. I murdered every single person I had to to keep you by my side, and after I was done with them, I put you back together. Physically and emotionally!" She took him by his collar and put his bloody, bloated face against hers. "I carried you here and Balgair to his grave like I did with my mother and father and every other companion I had. Why do you think I did it? Why?!"


    "Because... you had to."


    "Because I move forward! I live my life like they would want me to. I''m not a petty, childish sack of shit like you. I don''t push people away after they walk through hell for me," she yelled, her spit flying into his miserable face until she let his body flop back to the sullied ground. "I want to go to Acelot more than you, and despite whatever amount of essence you can conjure up, I am stronger than you. You don''t understand because you''re never been alone. But when you find yourself in the dark with nobody to talk to or complain to, you will know my pain. And if you survive, you''ll finally understand it."


    "Cade..." the village head toucher her shoulder.


    She slapped the hand away. "I know. I will make up for this. But this child needed to be taught a lesson." He looked down intensely as her weight rested on Aurelius'' upper body. She she out her hand on his face. "Your suffering is your own. You''ve always taken the ones who share that suffering for granted. It''s about time you realize how very lonely this world can be, and how graceful it has been with you. You go to Acelot, I follow. Not for you, but for Balgair. Other than that, I don''t give a shit what you do."


    Finally, she stood up and walked away.


    Aurelius'' head swam. He lay there in his blood for some time before he wiped his nose and sat up without minding the eyes on him. Thankfully no children of the village head''s family were present. Aurelius'' eyes were teary, but only as his body''s natural reaction to the damage to his face. He had no sadness or tears for himself. What Cade said was true. Every word. And now he knew he had lost something too large to process.


    ''D¡ª did... she mean it?''


    What if he begged? Now was his chance. Make her know he realized it now. He knew it now, so there was no problem anymore!


    But as he stood up, he had no intention of going to her.


    There was a knock on the door.


    There was still a problem. Aurelius couldn''t move past it. He should suffer.


    The door opened and a young boy with messy hair walked in. A startled look came on his face as he saw Aurelius. But he didn''t look away. On the contrary, he focused on him. Then he raised a scroll. "A man gave me this. He said it was for you."


    Aurelius knit his brows as anxiety filled his head and his hair stood on end. ''How...''


    "Gaas? The scroll is from Arkryk," the village head noted the material.


    The scroll was handed to him and he opened it. Then his stress turned to horror.


    His eyes zipped through the text.


    From Oprheus, Supreme of Nexus, the criminal organization with a wider range of influence than even Numen.


    An ultimatum.


    During the next year, he was to either assassinate Gadreel, the Ruler of Mircrest or his mother would be killed.

 Chapter 66: Ultimatum (2)

    Aurelius stared at the text in his room, illuminated by a faint blue light above his palm.


    Again.


    Aurelius¡ªSon of Ares¡ªI find that we have a common enemy. You see, we both think the world better off without Numen, and in order to bring about such a reality, the leader of Numen has to die.


    His name, if you were not already aware, is Gadreel. Among the highest echelons of the criminal world, he is referred to as the Ruler of Mircrest. He is a cunning and immoral presence that plagues mankind. He resides in the former Royal Castle in Acelot.


    During the next year, you are to eliminate him. Of course, you will be rewarded for your service. The prize is 100,000 gold. Should you refuse my offer, I will be forced to conclude you are against me.


    Before you make your choice, I warn you that I am a man willing to do anything to reach the world I envision. And as I found you now, I can find your family¡ªor what remains of it¡ªin the Thropes. Unlike Gadreel, my resources span over the entire world.


    I have great respect for your father. He was a man who knew to serve the lesser evil in the war. I hope you take after him and do what is right.


    From the Supreme of Nexus, Orpheus


    He couldn''t take his eyes off it. His family, meaning his mother. She was involved in this now too?


    100 000 gold. With that sum, you could create your own world. That''s why even though he had made it out of Mircrest, there were still people dying simply because they looked a bit like him in the greedy minds of the desperate.


    Cade stepped into the room. If she was sorry for his swollen face, she hid it well. "You got a letter? We should leave right now."


    ''We?'' Aurelius thought with his stomach tied in a knot. He outstretched a hand. Cade took the letter and read through it. Her expression changed gradually into something severe.


    "This means..." Cade''s words faded.


    Then both aired their thoughts with one word each.


    "Death," Aurelius said.


    "Revenge," Cade said.


    Both looked at the other, Aurelius wondering how or why that was what came out of her mouth.


    "We can kill the one responsible for Balgair''s death and be rewarded for it." Cade''s expression almost resembled one of disgust. "Do you know what we could do with that money?"


    "You want to kill the one responsible? I''m right here," Aurelius responded.


    "Enough!" Cade shook her head. "Tch. You think self-pity is gonna make the problems go away. It won''t. You''re just fucking pathetic."


    "Well, what do you want me to do, huh?! Be all happy about being an accomplice to an overtaking? What do you think that will happen if we kill this Gadreel?" Aurelius pressed his finger into the side of his skull. "Think! Does this Supreme of Nexus want to get rid of him to make the world better? He wants to take over Numen."


    "Numen. Nexus. What''s the difference?" Cade snarled.


    "There is no difference. That''s the damn point, you moron!" Aurelius spread his arms. "We crawl through hell to kill a man we''ve never even met, only for another to replace him?"


    "You heard that man. Gadreel orchestrated everything. He is the reason Balgair is in the ground. He is the reason you''re the most wanted man in probably the whole world. Besides, you have to do it!"


    ''You,'' Aurelius repeated in his head. ''Ah, right. I''m truly alone in this now. She is only here for Balgair.''


    Cade continued, "What else can you even do? Wait around and see if the leader of Nexus is a man of his word? Go back home and lead them right to your mother?"This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.


    Aurelius looked down at his interlocked hands before aiming his cold gaze at Cade. "I can kill Orpheus. Go to Arkryk and rip his head from his body for threatening my mother. How about that?"


    "You''re an idiot. What if Gadreel takes over Nexus?"


    "Gadreel didn''t threaten my mother."


    "No, he didn''t threaten anyone. That''s because he actually killed someone close to you!" Cade''s lips drew a straight line. "Or is it that you just didn''t care about Balgair that much?"


    Aurelius breathed deeper. "Get out."


    "Oh, that''s it, isn''t it? The thought of your mother getting hurt is more horrible to you than your friend being stabbed to death right in front of you."


    "That''s not true."


    "Oh, but I think it is."


    Aurelius stood up and walked over to her. He looked into those eyes he once cherished. At the person whom he once felt inseparable from. But now it had all fallen apart. All of it in mere moments. It was his fault. In the depths of his mind, he had wanted this. He had made it happen.


    "I''m sorry, Cade. It seems you never really knew me."


    She put a hand on his chest, breaking the tension or raising it. Maybe both in some way.


    "It feels like that same heart''s still there." She looked at the hand and then up at him. "Odd."


    ***


    Aurelius woke up in his room... In his room.


    He thought he blinked a few times before getting out of bed. Wondering what was happening, he stepped out of bed and descended the stairs.


    ''A dream?'' he thought. For a moment he hoped it was. Then he looked down and saw his naked, scarred body, and his hopes were crushed.


    The stairs creaked. He heard laughter. Giggling children. Once he got down, he became even more confused. It was home. Through and through. And at the back door, stood a woman he hadn''t seen in years.


    "Mother?" Aurelius asked, reaching out.


    She didn''t notice. He walked closer, but nothing happened. Then he followed her smiling gaze out of the door and saw a boy with golden hair and blue eyes running around with a pair of girls and another boy.


    It was an irregular foggy day. One that Aurelius remembered details of despite having pushed it back into his mind for as long as he''d lived.


    He looked back at her mother who still smiled. It wouldn''t last.


    Aurelius stepped out, his mind empty. He ought to stop it. But before he could get more than a few steps from the kids running around the yard, it happened. The eldest of the children, a spirited girl, grabbed the golden-haired boy, her nails digging into his skin. Her arms wrapped up in his. Then something happened like a skip in time.


    The golden-haired boy was sobbing as he knelt over the screaming girl whose other arms was bent unnaturally at the elbow.


    That arm never worked the same again.


    Aurelius stopped in his tracks and forgot to breathe as a furious man in farmer''s clothes rushed onto the scene. The girl passed out from the pain and the man looked at the golden-haired boy. Then with hatred in his eyes, he kicked the boy in the chest.


    Aurelius touched his stomach. He had no memory of pain more traumatic than that one. But where was his mother? She was supposed to be there. Aurelius remembered her wails as she tried to claw her brother''s eyes out, and how her small nose broke from his fist.


    He looked back. She was still inside. But in place of the door was a pitch-black hole. He furrowed his brows and walked forward, entering the void.


    The scenery changed. Black and crimson. Her mother saw him now. She stood in the kitchen. He walked towards her, her silent gaze following him.


    He was unsure what to say until he got around the corner and saw what was behind her.


    "Mo¡ª"


    "Why did you come back," she asked, her voice calm but her eyes furious. "You should''ve stayed where you ran away to."


    "I didn''t¡ª" he swallowed. "Mom, there''s something behind you. Please..." He gestured for her to come towards him.


    She stepped back with indifferent eyes. A faint blue ball of streaks grew in the hand of the figure behind her. Aurelius wanted to run, but his feet were too heavy.


    The ball of compression pushed into her. She exploded, painting the walls. Aurelius'' eyes flew open as his body lost all movement. Blood flowed down his face.


    The figure looked at him.


    He barely managed not to slip as he scrambled to get outside. But they were already dead. His uncle and his three children, all corpses now. He looked down and stumbled, a blade through his stomach.


    He screamed.


    ***


    He sat at the side of his bed, with his hands on his notebook. He could barely see to read in the dark. It was still the middle of the night, but he couldn''t sleep. He would not even try.


    And despite trashing his notebook in his mind, it was what he eventually turned to. Every. Time. Nothing had changed. He knew more now, but he was still the same person he was at the beginning.


    It couldn''t go on. He flipped through the book. It wouldn''t go on. He had to change. He hit his forehead with the firm notebook. He couldn''t anymore. Not like this.


    He had to gather his stuff. He would need to organize and move.


    After an hour of repeating the same idea in agony to convince himself, he did exactly so, and then he walked out of the house. He walked through the village in a clear direction before stopping to look into a cottage with one sleeping person inside.


    He stayed there for a while. Observing her figure, sleeping in a fetal position. Her hands lay loosely in front of her. Her delicate fingers were almost in fists. Her thin lips were parted slightly to let the air in and her chest went slowly in and out. Lastly, to complete the image, her eyes were closed gently.


    Aurelius dragged a hand from his forehead to his mouth and kept it there to block sound as tears built up in his eyes that started to grow redder each minute he stood there. At that moment, she was perfect. But he couldn''t stay forever.


    It took all his strength to rip himself away from the sight. As he finalized the decision, he raised himself into the starry night sky on a faint blue platform. There, he gazed around and below. Then he inhaled and raised his shoulders before moving.


    One step closer to Arkryk.

 Phase 1 Afterword

    Hello, AC here. It''s been a while since I''ve talked to you directly. Things were happier back then. Well, Aurelius did kind of put his hand through someone''s chest, but you know... got bigger issues now.


    It''s all just beginning, though. "The Last Hunt", I think, was one of the first ideas I had when I started planning JSA roughly a year ago. It was also one of the monumental points that the story was structured around.


    It was meant to turn things on their heads. Like a rude awakening, the purpose of the Last Hunt was to take the uncertainty in the story and slap you in the face with the answer. This is a story where plans don''t work, winning has a price, and relationships aren''t indestructible.


    The story was never about Mircrest or Numen. Nor was it ever just about strength or duty. It has always been and will always be about the Golden One and the world.


    This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.


    And when the ones that kept his feet on the ground are gone and his enemies have doubled, is there any room for anything but raw strength?


    That is the story of Phase 2: The liveD.


    However, I am sorry to tell you, the uploads are taking a break. I''m not saying that I will be taking a break because I won''t be. I''ll probably be gone for a few months, and in that time, I''ll be rewriting and making edits to the first phase, completing my final outline for the second phase, and writing a bunch of chapters for my backlog.


    I am a little afraid that people will drop the story because of the break, but I trust that you''ll be patient with me.


    Again, thank you for reading Phase 1: Gilded, and if you could drop a rating or a review, I''d really appreciate it. And in case anyone has any questions, I''d be happy to answer them in the comments.


    See you soon.

 Update

    I apologize to anyone who has been waiting for Phase 2. I said it might take months, but I never thought it would. And it''s still going to take a while more. 16 days more precisely. JSA is coming back on the 20th of August.


    Now onto my excuses. I''ve deleted about 30% of what I''ve written for the second phase thus far. And while I worked on rewriting some early chapters and editing some of the later ones, I decided to take on a little side project that ended up ballooning into a 200-page novel. I''m very proud of the quality, but I don''t have high hopes for how it''ll do on RoyalRoad.


    The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    Chapter 7 was just uploaded. If you''re interested, please check it out. Here''s the link: https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/91283/the-kings-eyes</a>


    Anyway, lack of focus with a sprinkle of depression is kind of kicking my ass, but I''m fighting back as best I can, and I think I''ll last at least a couple more rounds.

 Chapter 67: The liveD

    It was silent after the knock. Damian walked slowly towards the door from the pristine white couch of the living room. Nobody was supposed to knock.


    Once he made it to the door, he tapped his forehead twice and looked through the small peephole. Behind the door, there was no one to be seen. Only an undisturbed front lawn was visible where bare trees swayed. Their leaves would be returning soon.


    "Yo? Someone there?" he called.


    ''Should I run? No, that''s the expectation. If the objective was to catch me, they wouldn''t knock,'' he thought before performing a few setups.


    With reinforcement and enhancement of both the muscles and the senses complete, Damian opened the door. For a moment, he saw nothing. Then there was a flash of something moving at incomprehensible speeds even for his enhanced sight.


    ''Huh?'' Damian''s mind stood still as before he could even sense any pain, he was blood floating through the air. Crimson splashed onto his colorful clothes and the smooth white walls.


    Fingers. His fingers. The fingers of his left hand, all except for his thumb were gone. Sliced off in a second with no warning or reasoning. Senseless, unfiltered violence.


    Damian thumped as he fell back onto the ground, his fingers hitting the ground right after. He couldn''t breathe. His bloodshot eyes shook like never before.


    At the door stood a man with sharply-fitted jet-black clothes, the only exceptions being his silver belt buckle and crimson gloves. Over it all, the man wore a long and open, black, hooded coat.


    Damian grabbed his hand, pain and blood flooding. His eyes darted all over the figure landing on his featureless gloves, sharp shoulders, and finally his gleaming blue eyes. There they stopped.


    The man removed his hood and brushed back his golden hair and cocked his head with indifferent eyes before taking off his gloves and shoving them in both sides of the pockets of his textured pants.


    Damian had only seen the man''s face once before, and despite it having been one and a half years ago, that face had been imprinted in his mind so thoroughly that seeing him now, he could tell just how much he had changed. If before, he had looked like an angel, he now seemed like the physical manifestation of God. His face and body had fully matured. No longer could a single fault be pointed out. His skin was smooth and tan and his features were perfectly cut and symmetrical. He was like a sculpture made by a virtuoso with no hesitation and absolute mastery.


    "Don''t worry, you can get them reattached," he said before walking past. "Hmm, at least you didn''t lie about having a nice place," he remarked nonchalantly.


    Only after, he was gone from Damian''s sight, could he draw breath again. Quickly thereafter, Damian picked up his finger before rushing to the kitchen for something close to freezing temperature. He scrambled all over with his hand leaking blood all over the tiles on the floor.


    He quickly sanitized the wounds before grabbing towels and soaking them in cold water. After wrapping his severed fingers as well as his hand in the towels, he put the other towel into a bag and put it into the water as cold as he could get with his system.


    The coolness of the towel helped him cool his panic. He had to get to a doctor within hours. But he had bigger problems.


    He walked into his living room and found the problem looking out of the large window and down at the city in the distance, his hands wrapped behind his back.


    "Please, allow me to explain," Damian begged pressing on the towel a little harder than necessary.


    Aurelius turned to glance at him quickly before gazing back at the city. "No need. You were only doing your job when you gave away my location to the Ruler of Mircrest. And I was an idiot to trust you. You could say I deserved it. I say you deserved that," Aurelius said, nodding to Damian''s hand.


    Damian gulped as he walked up to the window, careful to keep his distance. He started saying something, but by then it was clear that Aurelius didn''t want to hear any more of it. His mind then drifted to the logistics of the situation.


    "Oh, I see," he said, raising his chin as he realized it. "You''re the liveD."


    Aurelius looked at him. Damian wasn''t short by any means, but standing next to Aurelius made him feel like a dwarf.


    "I was afraid you''d be expecting me, but seeing as how they are still making a fuss about me in Mircrest, I don''t blame you," Aurelius said, his tone increasingly weird.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    Damian looked down. ''100 000 gold is enough to make any man drool. Of course, it would seem like he''s still in the country despite you having left almost a year ago,'' Damian realized his mistakes while taking hissing breaths. ''And with the rate the liveD has been tearing through Nexus, I should''ve known it could be no one but him.''


    Aurelius'' eyes narrowed as he looked at the city. "So... Doresh. The safest place in Arkryk. I should''ve known you''d be here. That way I could''ve saved a lot of time and wouldn''t have had to converse with any criminals."


    Damian raised his gaze. He hadn''t heard about anyone asking questions. That could only mean one thing.


    Aurelius met his gaze and answered his unasked question. "I fail to see why I should spare any criminal lives only for them to ruin my operations."


    Damian gulped. ''He wouldn''t engage in a conversation like this only to kill me later, right?''


    "Can I ask why you looked for me?" Damian asked, praying inside.


    Aurelius inhaled and looked down on the city with hard eyes. "In the next few months, you''ll help me prepare an attack on the Supreme of Nexus... and I will end him."


    ***


    Six years past, in the capital of Arkryk, a crowd of people was split as a line of heavily guarded carriages passed through the city.


    All were empty except for one, where a man with a young face coupled with dirty-blonde hair and a dark gaze of disdain lounged. He wore rich but thin clothing that shifted loosely over his muscular figure as he looked around, his eyes fluttering from boredom. Then, curiously, a sharp rock came flying in through a window. It hit the floor having been wrapped in a curtain.


    The man jumped to his feet and banged on the door, yelling for the guards to stop the carriage. Moments later, the whole line stopped and the door opened. Stairs were brought for the man as he descended from his carriage and looked the crowd over.


    People trembling from his mere presence.


    "Sir, it''s not safe for you to be¡ª"


    The man raised a hand and shut the guard''s mouth before speaking to the crowd of peasants. "Do not fret, nobody has to get hurt. You see how I have been wronged, yes? My property has been destroyed, and my presence disrespected. I oblige you to hand over the wretched criminal, so this can be solved formally, for without responsibility, we are but animals," the man talked as he walked amongst the crown while he straightened his clothes.


    The crowd split as whispers broke out. The man frowned. "If I ignore such a crime, what kind of example would I set for all those who look to me as a guide." Still, no criminal was brought forth. "It seems I will be forced to convict you all." More whispers. Then some yelling, and finally, a boy and his mother were tossed into the clearing that had formed around the man.


    The boy had curly hair and a pale birthmark on his right cheek and was but 12 years old, however, his gaze had developed into something so purely negative it was almost admirable. His mother didn''t seem aware of it, though. She simply shut her eyes and held onto her son who kept glaring at the man.


    "Did you throw the rock boy?"


    "He didn''t I swear he¡ª"


    "I did," the boy interrupted his mother.


    "Do you know who I am?" the man asked.


    "You''re the King of the Rat Bastards," the boy said and spat at his feet.


    The man frowned. "Am I now? Says who? Your father?" The boy''s face twisted with anger as he tried to get out of his mother''s grip. "Oh, I guess the right form is ''said''. Assuming my so-called rat bastards flogged your incompetent father."


    The more the boy tried to rip loose, the harder his mother held on. "I''ll kill you," the boy seethed. "The last thing you''ll see is me looking down at your corpse!"


    The man squatted down. "Since you seem confused even now, I shall introduce myself properly. I am Oprheus, the Supreme of Nexus. I killed your father, boy, as I have killed many others before and will kill in the future. And you cannot stop me. Do you know why?"


    The boy ground his teeth so loudly that it almost echoed. An amusing sight.


    "It is because power is my birthright, and you have none. I''m sure your parents have nurtured you in a way that would suggest you can do the impossible. Hell, you obviously believe it, you brat. But you can''t. You''re a common child. This conversation I give you now is more special than your entire existence. The world has no spot for the giftless. You, your father, and your mother are all akin to the wind. You are born, you pass through and you die down. I, on the other hand, was crafted to be special. My birthright was to have it all, but I earned it myself, nevertheless. And that is simply because of the specimen I am. Those are the existences you and I behold."


    This time the mother glared up at Orpheus as well.


    "You may have it all, but you also have a bad heart."


    "Oh?" Orpheus raised a brow as the mother stood up. "A bad heart? Then you must have a good one. And the function of a heart is to keep one living and breathing, so tell me... what kind of good heart stops its function so easily?" Orpheus manifested a blade at the tips of his fingers and shoved his hand through the woman''s chest.


    Her eyes went wide. For her it was sudden. Like Orpheus'' hand would have teleported and suddenly she was dead. When he took his hand out, she collapsed as if her legs had turned into liquid. The boy stood still during the exchange before rushing to his mother in a panic.


    Orpheus guessed the boy hadn''t known his actions did not only merit consequences for him. And although he was ready to die for his stunt, he hadn''t imagined her mother''s fate. Orpheus shook his head lightly as he loosely flung the filth from his other hand. Such selfishness.


    Orpheus looked around to see the shaking crowd. His guards repelled any and all attacks, but it didn''t really matter.


    Before turning to leave? He glanced down at the boy one last time. "I will forgive you for the window as I see how you grieve but do reform yourself. You may yet have a future ahead of you."


    The boy turned his bloodshot eyes to Orpheus. "The gods will punish you"


    Orpheus laughed. "No, little boy, the gods have punished you through me. Why else would I have my power if the gods did not want to see this?" Orpheus paused and let the boy gape at the truth of the world. "Exactly. The gods hate weakness. That is why strength prevails in the world. And while you hope for a savior from the heavens, the gods laugh at your suffering, and I do too."

 Chapter 68: Uzbec

    "I am so, so sorry, Sir," the young servant with an attractively proportioned face apologized for maybe the 3rd time. It was starting to be an annoyance. The servant ought to have started apologizing for apologizing. "Master Orpheus is hurrying here as we speak, I assure you."


    The man stood up from his rather comfortable chair, walked up to the windowsill of the oversized and decorated room, and observed the cobweb in its corner. The servant''s voice rose, but the man gestured for him to shut up. Then he touched the cobweb with a finger before opening his mouth and touching his finger to the inside of his cheek. He turned back, wiping his finger on his clean but wrinkled suit. "My beard, though only a stubble, turned gray in the past few years. My hair, though having maintained its black color and textured look, is thinning." He raised his brows at the servant as he walked towards him. "Do you know why that is?"


    "Y¡ª you''re aging, Sir. Gracefully, if I might add," the servant answered, staying still as a brick wall.


    Orpheus''d had them trained well¡ªor conditioned.


    "Yes, it seems so, doesn''t it?" the man asked, his voice deep as he looked down at the servant with hard eyes that wrinkled slightly on the sides. The servant didn''t budge.


    "Sir¡ª" the servant started as they stood at a distance uncomfortable for him.


    "Just call me Uzbec," the man said.


    The servant seemed to notice that Uzbec didn''t breathe at all. His breath was all that filled the air when nobody was talking. Then the servant held his breath as well. It became deadly silent. That''s when Uzbec saw it. As he peered into the servant''s eyes, they started to quiver from fear.


    Uzbec''s lips curved up slightly in a wry manner and exhaled sharply. The servant shuddered and stumbled back, almost falling over his own feet. When he regained his balance, he stood up straight as a nail, an apology on his lips.


    "Fetch him. Now," Uzbec said, nudging his head at the door. "I know he''s in the building. As regrettable it is to remove him from being neck deep in young, beautiful whores, I''m afraid my patience for assertions of dominance has depleted with age."


    "I was told¡ª"


    His words faded as Uzbec tweaked his expression, drawing a line with his lips and bringing his eyelids down to his pupils and making his right eyelid twitch.


    The servant fled the room with a flurry of stutters.


    After the door closed, Uzbec spun on his heels, his expression returning to normal in a split second. He then walked over and flopped back onto his armchair. ''It seems I have yet to lose my edge,'' he thought.


    Only minutes later, the doors opened and a man in a bathrobe, accompanied by 3 guards with full-black masks entered.


    "Uzbec, the old and trusty," the man in the bathrobe announced with his arms wide. The man had smooth skin like bronze and a face handsome like those of the descended gods of old.


    "I am but forty years of age, Orpheus," Uzbec said with a squinting smile as he waved a hand. "You too will soon be this current age of mine. What will happen to you then?"


    "My women love me for my personality, I assure you," Orpheus answered making his way to shake hands with Uzbec.


    Uzbec gave a laugh and stood up, shaking hands with the man before they both retreated to armchairs with a long glass table of delicacies in between.


    A certain atmosphere enveloped the room.


    Uzbec shattered it immediately. "I assume your whores will stay the same age, though."


    The guards some meters behind Orpheus seemed to get hostile, but Orpheus raised a hand to stop them. Even then, his face had dropped.This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.


    Uzbec waited patiently.


    Orpheus seemed about to engage in serious conversation, only to burst into laughter. "Ah, a double meaning!" He clapped his hands. "How clever! Can you believe it?" He asked, turning to his guards. "He meant that even though I age, my whores stay young and beautiful because I replace them for young ones. But also because I kill them before they age!" He laughed some more after explaining it to his guards who showed little to no reaction.


    Uzbec only observed Orpheus'' act.


    Orpheus wiped tears from his eyes before calming himself. He looked at Uzbec''s expression. "Oh, I understand you may not approve of my practices, but it is truly not mine to control. The Supreme of Nexus can''t have children," he said with a nonchalant shrug.


    "You could refrain from intercourse," Uzbec suggested.


    Orpheus raised his brows before looking around and beginning to smile before laughing once again. "Oh, Uzbec, you never change." He took a delicacy from the table and swallowed it whole. "Always going after people, even in retirement."


    "I am no longer retired."


    "Oh, yes. Did not work out, did it?" Silence. "Oh, did I strike a nerve? I am quite sorry. I mourn with you. When I lost my family, I was devastated as well."


    When he killed them, that was. And he wasn''t devastated. Uzbec was sure he had been too busy swimming in the fortune he inherited to mourn. The man understood nothing of love. Or pain. Uzbec would''ve killed him for the sake of it if he had the chance. The sentiment was one shared by all. That was why Orpheus occupied the position of the most protected man in the world. In recent times, it had become even more extreme. To the point of paranoia.


    "But to the heart of the matter, you truly are a gifted man. Just look at what you did to poor Adreno. Out of all my best attendants he has proved himself to be the most unwavering. I thought him to be steel, that boy. Then you come in and Adreno comes out shivering and stuttering like a little rat." He looked to his guards. "You saw it, yes? Fascinating. Truly fascinating what you can do to a person without even touching them, Uzbec. Tell me, is it practice or talent?"


    Uzbec leaned forward to take a delicacy from the table before leaning back and crossing his legs. "Enough chatter. What is your commission?"


    "Oh, but we were just getting to the interesting things. You know so much about me, but resist all inquiry to yourself. It is downright unfair, I dare say." Orpheus laughed at his use of the word. "But seriously, I can hardly take you seriously on your critiques of my sexual conduct if you shut me out so entirely. Who knows what kind of secrets you''re hiding beneath that dark shell? Maybe you''re not back from retirement for wealth as you say you are. Could it be that you derive pleasure from your work?" Orpheus finished his speech with a dramatic gasp.


    "I see now that my time is being wasted on the merit of old relations. I will take my leave now." Uzbec said, standing up from his seat and going to exit the room.


    Then there was a crash of glass shattering. Uzbec turned to see the magnificent table shattered on the floor.


    "Oh, my. My hand must have slipped." Orpheus shook his head. "Well, now that I have your attention, might we talk about the commission?"


    The man truly was too proud for an honest plea, so he had to resort to such childish tricks.


    Uzbec raised his brows, tucking his arms behind him. "Well?"


    Orpheus put a leg over another and laid back. "The liveD. You have heard the name, yes?"


    "The new folk tale?"


    "Exactly. But it is much more than that. They have been targeting different bases of Nexus and wiping them out and at speeds that seem impossible."


    "They? Isn''t the folk tale of one man?"


    "Tch, of course, it is about one man. It makes for a better story. But no one person could wipe out my reinforced bases full of elite combatants like the liveD has. In addition, I have witnesses saying they saw multiple individuals fleeing the scenes."


    "So your offer is?"


    "Twenty thousand gold for you to identify and eliminate this organization. Are you willing?"


    "I am," Uzbec responded with a nonchalant tilt of his head. Then something occurred to him. "But why are you devoting such attention to a relatively small matter? Is there something special I should know of this liveD?"


    Orpheus popped his neck. "What do you mean?"


    "Does it have to do with your relationship with the king? He has resources enough for such a thing. I think you would''ve considered that by now."


    Orpheus snorted a laugh. "You suspect your king first?"


    "I have no king," Uzbec said with a disgusted furrowing of his brows. "Borders do not touch me."


    Orpheus grinned amusedly and gestured in Uzbec''s direction with one hand before. "Oh, how I have missed you." Then his face went straight and he spoke in a formal monotone. "It''s not a ploy of the king. That I am sure of. Our relations may be sour, but he can''t get rid of me. Nexus is this country''s true backbone."


    It was true enough that the king would''ve gotten on the offensive earlier if he had any intention to. The amount he was secretly in debt to the man was ludicrous.


    "A ploy by Numen then," Uzbec pried.


    "No, I don''t think so. Too slow for Numen. Gadreel works fast. I hear his overtaking was quite spectacular." Orpheus waved his hand. Then he rolled his eyes around the room and landed on Uzbec. "If it is Numen, however, you''ll be out of work."


    "Why is that?"


    He showed a mischievous smile. "Because my plans for Numen are already in motion."

 Chapter 69: Laughing Rain

    Aurelius stood still among nature as rain fell. The dull sound repeated itself in such a constant manner that it sounded no longer like the cause of single drops. It was more like one being. One being that surrounded him.


    Once upon a time, Aurelius had thought he had a unique bond with nature. He thought the birds were signing for him. He thought the trees and rocks understood his mind and flowed along. But in the shapeless, indifferent rain, he understood all of that to have been a delusion.


    Nature was separate from him. He didn''t blend in it. It pushed him out. He couldn''t sink his feet into the stones or become one with the water. His flesh was a barrier that made him separate.


    The trees around him didn''t care about him. They didn''t even acknowledge his existence. To them, he was just an insignificant outsider. One that simply thought too highly of himself.


    If anything, nature thought him pretentious.


    The rain in Aurelius'' ears transformed, turning into something filthy. Something more human, as if reaching out to him just to tell him how pathetic he was. Right then, he could recognize that constant sound.


    Drops splashed against him like separate chortles. The sounds mixed, making a whole. Like an orchestra of human voices.


    It was laughter.


    ***


    Aurelius sat with a slouching posture and stared at his naked flesh after waking. It was the same dream. Over and over. It would never end. He could still see Balgair dying in his arms. He didn''t even need to close his eyes. He was always there. In his darkest most miserable moment.


    Had Aurelius lived only so that he could repeat Balgair''s death over and over before he himself withered away? Did a coward truly die a thousand times?


    The days were so cold. He tried to not think too much. His mind always wandered to the sleeping figure of that girl he left behind. He couldn''t go an hour without thinking about it. Without imagining a different present. One enjoyed in the warmth of her smiles.


    With dead eyes, he looked around the bedroom Damian had given him. It was the best room he had ever slept in, he had left the large window without blinds so that he could watch the city below. There was no risk of the sun waking him. He always rose first.


    After sitting there and staring for what felt like either an hour or a minute until the sun finally showed just a slither of itself, Aurelius turned to his nightstand and got his crimson gloves. They fit perfectly and the red feel to them warmed him. They also hid his scar. One of his very first. The one he got during the heist on the Boerlow mansion. The one on his hands, going between his middle and index fingers.


    How many had he gotten after that? He looked sorrowfully at his arms and legs and torso. All full of them. 50? 100? 200? He didn''t know. He wasn''t one to count. That was if they even could be counted.


    There were amateurish slices, tiny and clean cuts, large and precise ones, and lastly the ugly patches of skin on his back and side. None were on his face. Even with the body like the devil''s, he maintained the visage of an angel.


    He put his gloved hands to his numb face and dragged them down as if peeling off a mask.


    He could feel things change inside him. It was time. For the day. Again.Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.


    He only needed one last thing. He searched through his bag before finding it safely tucked away. Then he took off one glove and opened the vial that was almost half empty. He dipped in his pinky and put it in his mouth. Closing his eyes, he let the faint sensation he clinged to spread throughout.


    After a while of indulging, Aurelius was about to put the vial away. However, he was struck by a desire and pulled it back.


    ''Just a little more. Just for today. It''s a big day. A special day,'' he thought, pushing and pulling.


    The push was winning. He would do it again. He got closer. He¡ª


    A knock at the door shook him. The door opened. Aurelius quickly tucked the vial behind his back.


    "Hey, it sounded like you were awake, so I¡ª Sorry," Damian said and covered his eyes from Aurelius'' nudity. "Uh, the plan. I thought we could work out the plan and¡ª" Damian stopped to grunt in pain. Pain from his fingers. "We should begin our travels today. I got a solid idea."


    "Right... Good work. I''ll be right there."


    ***


    They ate breakfast together. Aurelius ate breakfast with the man whose fingers he had chopped off the day before. As he watched Damian handle his food with one hand, he couldn''t help but lower his gaze and clench his jaw.


    Damian had hurried to a clinic and had succeeded at getting his fingers reattached. Rehabilitation would take some time, though.


    While Damian explained his plans, he used his food as a distraction. He looked up for brief moments but then took his eyes off Aurelius like he would die if he held eye contact for more than a second. "So I went through all possible options and I came to the conclusion that¡ª"


    "Are you afraid of me?" Aurelius interrupted.


    Damian looked up in surprise and took a while to straighten his posture before saying, "Intimidated. You''re intimidating."


    "Good. That you''re not scared of me. That is good. I... was harsh. Impulsive as well. I thought if I did that to you, I''d feel better. If I knew how I''d feel now, I wouldn''t have done it. I am... I regret it."


    Damian nodded stiffly. "Thank you, Aurelius. I understand. You''ve been through a lot. I don''t blame you."


    "You don''t?"


    "I don''t. I felt guilty about selling your location too. But backstabbing is what the business is all about." His eyes went wide a second after he realized what he implied. "No, I don''t mean it''s the only way. It''s common, is all. I wouldn''t betray you. This you. You''re different. Believe me when I say, I may not like my situation, but you''re the last man I would want to make an enemy out of."


    Aurelius took a deep breath. "Good to hear. Now. Your plan."


    "Right, so the spy¡ª"


    "Spy?"


    "Yes, the one I... You weren''t listening."


    Aurelius gave a long blink.


    Damian sighed and started over. "The objective is to kill Orpheus. One of the most powerful people in this whole wide world. You come in here announcing that typa stuff. Helluva thing to do. You see, on the rare occasions that he leaves the premises of his estate, he sends multiple identical decoys. What you suggested was to try to identify the decoys and attack him on the move, correct?"


    Aurelius nodded. "Or I could infiltrate his estate and kill him there. In, out, done."


    "Two enhancers were part of the plan, correct? How long exactly do you think you can hold off the might of Nexus on your own? How will you escape such a fortress with your energy reserves already depleted? When do you take the enhancers? You need to ingest them before the attack starts, correct? How long will you be able to function under the influence? You need to think these things through. You''re not invincible. There is a very hard way for you to find that out. I hope you don''t. Not in that way at least."


    "Fine then. Tell me your perfect plan."


    "I say we use a spy. Not for fishing out the real entourage. I''m sure the servants are kept far away from that, and infiltrating the guard is almost impossible."


    "Why?"


    "The guards are kept track of. They''re the ones who pose the real threat to Orpheus. I bet his food is kept a close eye on as well, so poisoning would be a fool''s errand."


    "Okay. Where are you going with this? Just tell me what the spy will do."


    "He will seek Orpheus'' calendar."


    Aurelius knit his brows. "What? Do you think the guy keeps a calendar? He''ll have to steal from his secretary or something. How is that any better?"


    "Not his real calendar. Just where he will be in the near future."


    "I have two months, Damian."


    "Oh, that''ll be enough. Orpheus is a fairly busy man. The spy will see or hear something and we will go ahead and scout that place until Orpheus arrives. And when he does..."


    "I erase him from this world," Aurelius finished. "So who is this spy you think is right for the job?"


    Damian nodded. "His name is Amadeus."

 Chapter 70: Reminiscences (1)

    With his auburn hair spread sporadically over his half-shut silver eyes, Gadreel lay thoughtless in bed. He gently ran his fingers along the deep scar that stretched diagonally between his eyes from forehead to cheek. Getting assassinated in his sleep had never scared him. And ever since he had acquired Sherridan, the thought of an assassination seemed amusing.


    That woman was a miracle born of hardship. He hadn''t pried into her past too much. She had threatened him over it. Well, of course that hadn''t stopped him. She just didn''t have much of a past. She had erased it with blood.


    Child soldier was his guess. It would''ve explained her need for a master-servant relationship despite how powerful she was by herself. She wanted the familiarity of the only close relationship she had ever had, but of course, she also desired to live out her childhood fantasies of being a kind of dominant servant.


    Her hair color had the same explanation as that of the Zalfarian lineage. That was to say no explanation.


    How frustrating the world was. When there finally was something interesting, it was such a murky matter that it simply had no charm to it.


    Ancient rituals probably somehow related to essence and or the blood of cursed beasts to mutate bloodlines. That''s what William had said. Whatever. All just theories.


    It was weird though. William had told Gadreel of Sherridan when he asked. He really didn''t expect Gadreel to betray him. Even when it was so obvious. Even when he retreated and cultivated power of his own.


    Nevertheless, when the moment came, William put up a fantastic fight abandoning all delusions. It was admirable, though it still was a little embarrassing how a man so observant could be so blind in the first place.


    But Gadreel had to wonder if he had succumbed to delusions himself.


    Sherridan had retreated. She was gone. Where? Gadreel did not know. She had been gone for months, having begun to turn sour ever since the Son of Ares ripped the evaporation Squadron to shreds before disappearing completely.


    The bounty had worked against them and the delusions of men had made it impossible for even spies to keep track of Aurelius. Spottings were everywhere. So really spottings were nowhere.


    Gadreel had gotten sleepy. Expecting something to happen was such a bore sometimes. Even his appetite had disappeared. It seemed Sherridan had gotten enough of Gadreel. She had asked him so many questions only for his answer to always be the same: "I don''t know."


    Well, she would return when something happened and Gadreel needed her again. Hopefully.


    Gadreel rolled over in bed. "I know nothing," he said weakly with a chuckle.


    Then he buried his head in his pillow. Lately, he found himself reminiscing. Like a man on his deathbed. Exactly like he had done once before.


    ***


    Back when his face had no scar, after the complete annihilation of Verdua, Gadreel had retreated to his mansion deep in the woods on the South-Eastern side of Mircrest where most of his supporters gathered. His attack on Verdua had been a little premature. It was always the statement he was going to make, but he hadn''t informed his support before doing it. Making it too formal would have ruined it.


    Of course, there was outrage of sorts. Jameson in particular had been vocal about the matter. It did not matter. Now that they had been revealed as traitors, they were stuck.


    The war had begun. Everyone was ready. They all expected a civil war, unlike anything that had been seen before.


    That is when Gadreel slept.


    He would not leave his quarters, he would not speak, and he would not listen. Franz visited him constantly, worrying that now that he had erased his past, he was empty. It was true in a sense. He did feel empty, but the emptiness was familiar.This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    He himself was not sure what it was.


    Then one night he woke to seemingly nothing in his enormous chambers. Just a feeling. He did not move. Not even an inch. Then he felt a sharp touch on his neck as he lay on his side. He shot one eye open and the touch was withdrawn. Then he closed the eye again. He waited a while before turning nonchalantly as if asleep.


    Without opening his eyes, he said, "I''ve been expecting you."


    Then a weight descended on his. A knee on his chest. "Have you? You guards sure hadn''t."


    "Through the front door?" The knee pushed down harder, making Gadreel lose his breath a little. As a reaction, he tightened his core, but it was good manners to not use essence when one''s counterpart wasn''t either. "Ah, I forgot to tell them. Silly me. I will miss Jaque and Roff. They were the most pleasant out of the bunch, but hard workers all of them."


    "Mmm, you''re a good actor." A blade pressed against his throat and opened his skin. "If this is you buying time, forget it. I''ll get out of here long before even half the reinforcements needed to defeat me arrive."


    Gadreel opened his eyes and peered at the woman with purple hair shrouded in darkness. "Do you want to know why I did it?"


    "Don''t tell me you urinated just now," she scowled misinterpreting.


    "Not yet," Gadreel responded, sparing a glance down at his crotch before looking back up sternly. "I mean Verdua."


    "Crazy bastards do crazy bastard things. I need no explanation from a madman."


    "But you have not killed me yet."


    "Sharp observation there." The faint blue blade pressed down harder.


    "I did it," Gadreel said as he reached out to touch Sherridan''s arm and closed his eyes, "because I wanted to." Sherridan''s blade disappeared and Gadreel''s eyes jumped open.


    In her moment of shock, he pushed her knee off his chest to the side so that she was straddled on him. Then he launched into a sitting position, wrapping his arms around her waist so that they were chest to chest, peering into each other''s eyes.


    Suddenly there was a blade to Gadreel''s throat once more. But he did not care.


    "You do what you do because you want to as well, do you not?" There was something in Sherridan''s eyes. A flicker of excitement. Gadreel pushed on it. "Yes, I know a fair deal about you, Sherridan. You know about me as well, I presume."


    "I know enough to kill you," she answered coolly, feigning indifference.


    "But not enough to let me live?" Gadreel inquired, tilting his head. "Then let me tell you. I am Gadreel. You could say that I''m a man of great ambition, but that description would skew my character. You see, I don''t care about really anything. I just want to feel something," Gadreel said, putting real emphasis on his words for the first time in the conversation as he tightened his hold on her waist.


    Sherridan wrangled in his grasp a little. "You know I could kill you before you knew it happened, right?" she said, a kind of natural vexation in her voice.


    Gadreel gave a small laugh and leaned closer until their lips almost met, ignoring the blade to his neck, and whispered, "Do it... if you wish."


    She had never experienced anything remotely close to her predicament. William was a power player. He never gave it up. He always just pushed and pushed. Sherridan had never even heard of anyone giving the opposing party all the power just to show that they were unable to use it for whatever reason.


    A moment of silence passed. Gadreel did not die. Sherridan relaxed in his grasp and the blade disappeared. "Tell me, why haven''t any reinforcements come by now? The guards outside should''ve been noticed by now, but nobody has rushed into the room."


    "That? It''s because they''ve been here the whole time. You''d be surprised how many men fit in a basement." Gadreel laughed to himself. "We must be surrounded by now. They were here just in case you killed me for some reason."


    Sherridan showed a wicked smile. "You really are quite something."


    Gadreel loosened his grip and leaned back. "I''m quite aware. For better or worse."


    Sherridan almost chuckled and leaned in closer, leading to Gadreel back on his back. "I regret to inform you, however, that I am not yours with this little trick."


    Gadreel took his hands off her and raised them over his head. "Of course not. You are a free woman. I merely do not want to kill me when the play is just beginning."


    "And what is my role in that play?"


    "You have none. Unless you''re under William."


    "I am not under him."


    "You''re following his orders now, aren''t you? Well, technically disobeying them as we speak, but you''re here because of him."


    "So you would rather have me under you."


    "I quite like you on top of me," Gadreel said with a smile. "But I would most prefer you by my side."


    "So that I could be your friendly slave?"


    "Oh, but you don''t do it for money." Gadreel propped himself up with his elbows to get a little closer. "You just want to feel something. Like me."


    "That''s how you intend on using me? Convince me that I want to do what you want me to do?" She scoffed.


    "No, I won''t use you. You will use me," Gadreel said, laying back down and shutting his eyes.


    She laughed. A genuine laugh. With that, Gadreel knew he had her. For life.


    "Use you? How will I do that?"


    "You will make me provide you a spectacle unlike any other."


    "And what will I do?"


    Without opening his eyes, Gadreel spun them both on the large bed, reversing the position. Then as he was on top, he finally opened his eyes again and said with a wavy voice, "You will watch."

 Chapter 71: Violent Impulses

    Damian knew Amadeus through a woman named Zila. She ran their spy operation concerning law enforcement. Damian sold the information, and Amadeus gained it through Zila''s plans. Amadeus infiltrated law enforcement and got insider information to sell to criminals.


    In other words, they were scum who helped criminals avoid the law.


    Despite his disapproval to put it lightly, Aurelius went along with it. He had to. Damian insisted it had to be Amadeus. Nobody else had the skill and especially not the motive to go against a powerhouse like Nexus.


    The problem was that Amadeus had gotten out of the business at around the same time Zila was caught and executed by law enforcement. The only lead they had was some guy Damian had heard Amadeus work with.


    After a few days, Aurelius and Damian were making their way into a hideout, Aurelius'' head well-hidden under a hood.


    As expected, Damian had brought them to a nasty place.


    Damian had a reputation around scum. A rather famous nickname even. It brought trust which made things easier.


    They were let into places and found themselves in the dark basement of a gambling den. They walked through a hallway with stained walls and lamps made with tinted glass, bathing the area with faint red light. On the sides, there were multiple rooms filled with sounds of... moaning?


    "Urgh." Aurelius looked at Damian who looked back at him with a helpless expression.


    "Aurelius, remember, I do the talking. You''re here just to ensure that things don''t go bad. Oh, and these people probably don''t even speak Miran."


    "No problem," Aurelius said in the language of Arkryk. Damian looked a little shocked. "Oh, you thought I did so much killing I forgot to pick up some Rykian on the way?"


    "Your accent is horrible. Just don''t talk, and this will go over smoothly."


    "Tch." Aurelius made his way to the reinforced door at the end of the hallway and knocked on it hard.


    The door opened and a man larger than Aurelius himself greeted them with one of the deepest frowns he had ever witnessed.


    "Hello, I am Damian, I go by the code name Bird of Midnight. I''m looking to do business with your boss, Hermeris."


    The burly man leaned his head back and grumbled, "Who is your friend?"


    "Bodyguard," Aurelius answered bluntly.


    "You can come," the burly man said to Damian. "Your bodyguard stays."


    "No, I don''t."


    "No, wait," Damian said hurriedly. "It''s fine. He can wait here."


    Aurelius glared at Damian and then at the burly man. "Look, if you don''t let me through, I will put a fu¡ª"


    "The Bird of Midnight!" A flamboyant voice called from the back of the room. "Come in, by all means."


    If he had heard the name, he had been listening for a while. He was just waiting for a chance to butt in and make himself appear in better light. Aurelius looked at the burly man who stepped aside and frowned. He was instructed to act unfavorably. Mercy for him then.


    Aurelius marched into the bright red room after Damian and gazed at the man on the couch at the back of the room. Hermeris was a rat of a man with greasy hair and no visible jaw but a smile like it was everybody''s honor to look upon him. He looked almost 40 with two barely clothed girls around his arms who looked young enough to be his daughters. The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    Hermeris spoke to a pair of younger men before waving them off. Aurelius brought his hood lower before his eyes as the men passed and went out of the room.


    He still heard Hermeris'' insufferable voice. "I have heard of you, the Bird of Midnight."


    "It''s just Bird of Midnight," Damian said, his voice straight line.


    "And you brought a friend?" Hermeris asked, ignoring Damian''s comment.


    "A bodyguard. Now onto business, I¡ª"


    "A fine man he is." Aurelius had trouble making out the sentence. There was an unfamiliar word. Still, he knew he did not like it. "Is he for sale?"


    "No."


    "I was asking him."


    "No," Aurelius answered.


    "I could make you a very rich man."


    "Hermeris, tell us what you know about the name Amadeus."


    "Hah, an informant coming to me for information?" Hermeris scoffed and crossed his legs. Then he said something about him only being... a pimp? Aurelius did not know the word.


    "He covers his tracks. But you have done business with him, have you not? Where can I find him?"


    "He comes to me."


    "We both know he doesn''t," Damian sneered. He couldn''t stand the man either. It made Aurelius like him more. Not enough to ever consider him a friend. At the end of the day, he was a selfish person who took the easiest way of the world.


    "Are you insulting me?! After I let you bring in your brute? What is under that hood of his?"


    "You don''t want to know."


    "I beg to differ," Hermeris spat and motioned something. A large hand tried to grab Aurelius. He caught it by the wrist without looking.


    Then with one estimation of the opponent''s position and a rapid backhand to the jaw, the burly man slumped to the ground.


    "You two," Aurelius said to the ladies. "Leave, please."


    "You don''t obey him. You obey me," Hermeris said in a panic. "Stay!"


    There was a frozen moment. Then Aurelius stomped the ground so hard the girl practically bounced to their feet and ran out.


    "Now, you tell us, and I may just let you live," Aurelius said, taking his hood off.


    Damian stood wide-eyed. It was too late now. He probably cursed Aurelius.


    Maybe he could look at what was in front of him and tell himself it was none of his business. He couldn''t save everyone in any case. Aurelius couldn''t abide that logic. Excuses for weakness of character.


    The man in front of him had gone his whole life violating people and getting away with it. So much so that he thought the end would never come. Now Aurelius was there. He was the end. The bounce back of the world that had misfunctioned to let this creature prowl around for so long.


    "You." Hermeris sneered at Damian. "You said this was business? What is this circus?"


    Aurelius was in front of him and grabbed him. The man''s eyes swam. He had never been thrown before. Not like Aurelius threw him. He hurled through the room like he was a common piece of trash and thumped on the floor. Aurelius followed almost bored.


    "Amadeus. Do you know where he is? An..." Aurelius couldn''t think of the Rykian word for Approximation. "Give us a city. Or I kill you."


    The man coughed, having fallen on his back before rolling around on the carpet. "I don''t know. He told me he was relocating to Silvia almost two years ago. That''s all I know."


    ''Shit. That''s even further from the capital. It''ll take us over a week to get to Orpheus from there," Aurelius thought.


    "I gave you what you wanted. Now, get out!"


    Damian gave Aurelius a pained look. Aurelius raised a brow at him.


    Then he reached a blood-red hand out to Hermeris. "Right, our business is concluded," Aurelius said in his own language.


    "What?" Hermeris asked but took Aurelius'' hand.


    Aurelius squeezed before kneeing Hermeris'' elbow inward.


    The man screamed. Aurelius looked around, fairly sure that the room had thick walls. Intentional design.


    "We''ll make for Silvia today. If we don''t find Amadeus there, we will make another plan. I don''t have the time¡ª"


    "You think you can get away with this?! People rely on my services. People more powerful than you can even imagine!"


    Aurelius glanced at Hermeris and then at Damian. "You should wait outside."


    "Arghhh!" Hermeris knew how to make sound. "Nryaahhh!" Pathetic sound.


    "Just be done with it," Damian said.


    Apparently, he was going to stay. His choice.


    "You''re a coward!"


    "Don''t mind him. Make it quick. He doesn''t deserve attention."


    "Tch. Hiding behind gloves." Hermeris spat up at Aurelius from his knees. "You''re pathetic."


    Aurelius'' eyes went wide, his expression twitching. "Oh yeah?" Aurelius removed his right glove and a flicker of blue light appeared in his hand


    "No, don''t!"


    Damian was too late. The ball of essence spurred into existence in a split. In the next moment, Aurelius exploded Hermeris'' head.


    Bits of brain and skull flew and the room was covered in gore. The lamps broke and they were led in a dim, flickering light.


    Damian stared into the distance; Aurelius at the remains. Both of their whole front sides were smeared in blood.


    Aurelius breathed in through the mouth. Out through the nose. Then he turned and exited with a steady step. "Come. We have work to do."

 Chapter 72: The Pianist

    He thought of his mother as he played. Soft, repetitive pressing of keys made sound that enraptured the people. All people. Even a brute could recognize beauty if shoved in his face.


    As his hands moved along the keys of the piano, the pace grew as did the intensity. It made him remember the times when his audience consisted of two people so deep in love. With each other. As well as with him. And when they sat before the fireplace, huddled together under a blanket, Amadeus had rushed through the piece as he did at that very moment. Back then it was to go and jump into the huddle with his mother and father. But as he played alone in the underground bar with an audience more intoxicated than even he himself, Amadeus rushed through the piece, for he wanted the memories only for a moment.


    But he had to live the memory until the end. Until they were both murdered by that man. And how he could have kept them both were he not a dumb, impulsive, and utterly helpless boy. His face twisted as he played and the fingers that had caressed the piano in the beginning now hurt it. It didn''t deserve it of course. It was his savior. But when your savior only provided you with a pleasant lie after failing to actually save anything, what good was the savior?


    Amadeus rejected its solace and hacked away at the piano. All the right notes at a pace the audience could only marvel at. But it was not beautiful. It was a butchering of beauty. Because beauty did not exist, and Amadeus did not like lying even if it was the only thing he was ever any use at.


    An unfamiliar face then showed itself among the crowd. It was a well-dressed man with a dome of hair on his head and his hand wrapped up.


    Amadeus watched him with knit brows while he played. Then the man''s rather wide mouth opened and he moved his lips. ''Amadeus, I presume.'' he mouthed.


    Amadeus'' heart went cold. He even skipped a few notes before rushing the piece to its end. He stood up with slow and measured movements like nothing had happened before giving a bow and getting off stage.


    "Fine performance," the newcomer said, waiting for him amid the crowd.


    Amadeus smiled brightly and shook hands with him. "Thank you, my friend."


    "No need for thanks. I am but a humble servant of truth," the man spat the code.


    Amadeus felt like a sigh but only clapped the man on the shoulder. "I see you''re my kind of man."


    "You don''t say. Care to join me for a drink?"


    "Outside, please. I hear the sundown will be gentle."


    ***


    After a few steps outside in an empty alley, Amadeus wheeled on the man his face like blue stone. "So who the fuck are you?"


    The man raised his hands. "I''m here with a proposal. I think we know each other. My name is Damian, Bird of Midnight."


    Some weight lifted off Amadeus. "So you''re the handler Zila went on and on about. She used to talk about you like you were as charismatic as the Conqueror of the West with connections to the damned devil in hell."


    Damian scoffed. "And I heard you can ''turn into other people''. Though Zila didn''t hold the hyperbole, I wish she was true with that."


    In reply, Amadeus gave a little grumble.


    Damian tilted his head. "So, onto business."


    "Hold. A mutual friend doesn''t equate to trust. And I''m out if you haven''t heard. I quit before Zila was..." Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.


    "Yeah. I heard. But you''ll want this."


    Amadeus'' eyes narrowed. "How much do you know about me."


    "I know what he did to you."


    Amadeus frowned, giving Zila a little curse. "So what?"


    "I''m offering you revenge. You can play a part in his death."


    Amadeus snorted, looked at Damian, and then laughed. "You''re on smoke. Say it clearly. You''re offering me a pipedream." Amadeus exaggerated to test Damian''s faith.


    Damian wasn''t shaken in the slightest. "You''ve heard of the liveD?"


    Amadeus'' eyes went a little wider. "You work for them?" Now Damian had his attention. The liveD was quite the mystery. Amadeus just assumed it was a ploy by Numen.


    "Not them." Damian pointed up. "Him."


    Amadeus looked up and on the roof of a four-story building, there was the most handsome man he had ever laid eyes on. Their eyes met and Amadeus couldn''t move. The man''s expression was one of slight curiosity, but lacking any trace of impression. He was wearing a hood, but as he sat on the edge of the roof it was easy to see what lay under it. A head of golden hair.


    Amadeus knew what was happening in Mircrest, so he knew that it couldn''t be. But it was. It was obvious to all educated individuals that the man was of Zalfarian royal blood. The rumors about him being the son of Ares had seemed a little fantastical, though. Amadeus had thought it more likely that the man was just a banished royal.


    However, the very second Amadeus saw him was the second he realized that the fantasy was true. The myth of Ares was true. And he did have a son. A son that was the greatest man Amadeus had ever seen.


    "So the son of Ares is the Devil from Above the Clouds."


    Amadeus muttered under his breath.


    He could see Damian''s smile with his peripheral vision.


    Then Amadeus asked the only natural question, "What do you need me to do?"


    ***


    Amadeus was a curly-haired lanky boy with bronze skin that was contrasted by a pale birthmark on his cheek.


    Aurelius didn''t go down to greet him. Instead, he made his way back to the long carriage he and Damian had traveling in.


    Greeting the two coachmen, Aurelius made his way inside. Aurelius had been doubtful about the two at first. Then it became clear why Damian had handpicked them. They were father and son. As long as paid well, they had no reason to put themselves in harm''s way by going against Aurelius. And paid well they were.


    The carriage was so comfortable Aurelius felt guilty being in it. His whole life, he had gotten by with bare necessities. He had a hard time getting it through his head that it was in his power to own that comfort for life. He was happy about that. If he had felt entitled to it, he would''ve been just like the animals he put down.


    He sat down on his side of the carriage and started writing in his new black notebook. After years of careful writing, the gray notebook had become full. Now it collected dust as Aurelius scribbled manically into his new one.


    He made notes on Amadeus. The intention was to ponder over his nature. Aurelius found himself fixated on the type of clothing he wore or the way he looked at Aurelius. He had seen it before. That reverence. It made him sick to his stomach.


    He put the notebook away as he heard footsteps approach the carriage. After collecting himself behind the door, Aurelius burst out calmly and looked upon Amadeus who now held a suitcase.


    The moment went still. Nobody said anything.


    Amadeus looked about to extend a hand but refrained. Aurelius understood and extended one himself. Amadeus shook it eagerly.


    "Your hands are really big," Amadeus said with an enthusiastic smile then shook his head in what seemed like embarrassment.


    After the handshake, Aurelius motioned for Damian to get inside before addressing Amadeus formally. "It''s good to have you on board. Damian vouched for you. I trust you''re capable of this mission. I still have to ask if you''re sure you want to do this. There is a chance you''ll die... And a chance that it will be useless."


    In a split second, Amadeus wiped all emotion from himself. Damian wasn''t lying. If the excitement was an act or not, Aurelius was not sure. But he sure couldn''t see a single shred of it left behind. Amadeus could become what he wanted to even if it meant forgetting himself.


    "I think you''ve heard already," Amadeus said, his voice coming out as a stable line. "Orpheus is responsible for my father''s death. I confronted him as a stupid child. Then he killed my mother right in front of me. I would be here even if the percent of success would be .01."


    That... wasn''t what Aurelius wanted to hear.


    Still. "Then there is nothing more to discuss. I will do everything in my power to ensure your work results in that man''s death," Aurelius said. Then something peculiar came to mind.


    Amadeus showed a slight but confident smile. "In that case, I promise to fulfill my role."


    Aurelius nodded with respect to Amadeus'' determination before turning to go back inside. "You''re in charge of forming your intelligence mission. Just run it by us when it''s done. Now let''s go. We have under two months to kill the center of corruption in this country."

 Chapter 73: Grim Control

    "Uzbec, hold him would you."


    A beautiful voice shook him from his reverie. Blinded by the yellow seeping in through the window, Uzbec squinted as he followed the voice. Suddenly a weight fell on his arms. It was a boy. His baby boy.


    But he... "I¡ª I can''t see his face," he said, bringing his gaze to his wife in worry.


    The yellow had taken her face as well. Too much light.


    "What are you talking about, silly? It''s your boy. Look at him." Her voice was so soft, but...


    "No, I can''t. I can''t see. His face, I can''t¡ª"


    "Look at him!" she shrieked. "Look at what you did to him."


    Uzbec''s neck wouldn''t move.


    "Look!"


    Uzbec''s face twisted. Anything. He would have done anything to not look. At his boy. His sweet boy. Then his dear reached out to him. The skin of her hand melted before she could touch him, and as her body charred, Uzbec couldn''t watch.


    His gaze flinched to the boy in his arms. He almost dropped him from instinct. His dead boy.


    ***


    Slow blinks. Slow. Blinks.


    The carriage shook on the bumpy road, making Uzbec''s loose body bounce on the seat once in a while. He looked like a corpse that had been tied to the seat as he relieved the nightmare with empty eyes.


    Retirement had treated him nicely in the beginning. Especially surprising, considering that he never meant to retire. Do what you do best and die doing it, was what he was taught. Of course, his teachers were those who sought to take advantage of his... skillset. They sure died doing what they did best. Uzbec made sure of it.


    He had longed for a woman in his life before. When he was in his 16th year, the dream took up residence in his skull and couldn''t be evicted by any measure. Before he was 20, that dream had been stomped, pissed, and shit on before being flayed and burned to death only to be hung as an example for his future self.


    When he looked at himself in the mirror and did not see blood, he felt there was something missing.


    But as the years rolled by, his numbness turned into something else. His emptiness was filled with more emptiness and somehow he was more human for it. And after becoming a freelancer, he found himself taking vacations. Just to be. Exist in the world. Observe it. Experience it.


    And when love came to his doorstep, he didn''t run against all his instincts. Because she was not a threat. She was just... a blind woman. Not physically. Just in some way that made her unable to see that thing in Uzbec that others were repulsed by. Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work!


    As time passed, Uzbec may have gotten a little blind himself. He didn''t see himself indulging in gore, unleashing his rage, or rotting his mind in pure disgust. Still, it was there. Nothing lasted forever. Uzbec couldn''t keep his hands clean for long. Not in a world such as the one he inhabited.


    The new thing was that he had grown a conscience. A conscience was a mistake. That was what he was taught by his abusers. Things taught with words faded, though. No teacher-like experience.


    Sparing a person is a fine way to acquire an enemy.


    That''s what he learned. You never know what connections people have. A boy you might see your infant son in might be connected to a crime circuit. And after you see your dead family sway from their necks, no screaming is loud enough to cover the creaks in your mind. Torturing everybody even remotely responsible for it changed nothing but their expressions.


    Still, he made it last. As long as humanly possible. He was taught to start with the pinky. First the nail, then the skin, then the bone, then¡ª


    "Sir, we have arrived," the coachman called from outside.


    Uzbec looked up and breathed.


    Every time he exerted himself, whether it be to break a man''s neck or get up from a cushioned seat, he couldn''t help but think, ''What am I here for?''


    He regretted not doing it when he had a blade to his own throat. But now it was time to move. To do his job.


    Do what you do best and die doing it.


    ***


    The scene was unlike anything Uzbec had seen during his life. The bodies had been cleaned out, but the blood remained. He analyzed its spatter patterns as he walked around, careful of the gaps in the stone floor.


    The former Nexus base was a wreck. So this was the work of the liveD. It had happened about half a year ago. One of the first attacks, all of which took place in isolated areas.


    It was an amateurish trait. The liveD used to be unsure, so it had picked the easiest targets and since then it had moved on to harder ones. Still, the liveD had unrivaled combat power. Its strength may come from ambushing, but seeing as the other bases have been expecting strikes since the 3rd one, the element of surprise couldn''t have been relied upon that much.


    He analyzed the slashes on the ground and knit his brows. It seemed the slashes came from around five places. It was a group after all then.


    Was it the Five Shadows? Numen was behind the liveD it after all.


    Then Uzbec''s eyes stilled on the wall. When combined with the marks on the floor, the pieces formed a complete picture. Uzbec saw the assailant moving through the room. The angles of the strikes from every position and their middle told the story. It was one individual. The liveD was one man. One very fast, nimble, and dangerous man with a knack for ruthless violence.


    Uzbec began pacing around as he thought. He had thought of himself only as a proficient killer for most of his life, but truly he did his best work when his mind was free to flow. He himself had a knack for connecting things. When focusing, his mind just brought the right things to him.


    ''Attack patterns start from the West, moving East, suggesting the origin to be Mircrest. Unless it''s a distraction. In that case, this scene might be meticulously framed in a confusing manner. A revolution might be brewing. It would explain the timeline of the attacks. Nexus would be the logical first point of attack as well. Orpheus'' and the King''s sour relationship is known, but they depend on each other''s cooperation,'' Uzbec thought.


    ''The one behind this might be of average intelligence or a genius. Hard to know which, but a strength of the highest caliber rarely finds itself in the hands of the dull-minded.''


    ''The Ruler of Mircrest has very strong allies. Strong enough to be behind this. And if the Ruler of Mircrest does not qualify as a genius, no one does. All evidence suggests to Numen. But there is a chance the evidence is wrong. There is certainly a chance.''


    Uzbec headed out and motioned to his coachman.


    His gut told him there was more to it. And he was an animal that trusted its gut. A weapon sharpened with loss was a weapon that was not to be pointed without care if one wanted to keep things peaceful. However, Uzbec''d had enough of peace. It was time for something more.


    With a blade in his hand and a target in his mind, he felt life was his to control.

 Chapter 74: Reminiscences (2)

    William was a man like no other.


    The next time Gadreel saw him after the Verdua Massacre was the negotiation. The Acelot branch of Numen worked as the stage. It was an unrivaled structure under the National Museum of Mircrest.


    After walking through the ancient structure, and admiring all the finest paintings and statues were presented in gold, Gadreel and his backers were escorted through the hall that once served as the King''s Court into the underground.


    Gadreel entered the second lowest floor of the structure under the guise of wanting to leave Mircrest and Numen behind and create a new organization. No consequences were to follow from his "impulsive disrespect of William''s authority".


    When he made it into the room illuminated by an array of candle chandeliers, he shut his eyes before turning his head. When he opened his eyes again, they locked straight onto William''s. He was perfect as always with his powerful presence, handsome, fair face and his white robes. However, he had swept his hair back, only a few strands loose over his forehead. Gadreel had never seen it styled like that. William had changed a little. Gadreel liked it. The hair looked good.


    The man drowned in golden jewelry and sat in a chair that, if sold, could''ve fed a hundred orphanages for a thousand years. Gadreel didn''t resent him for it. It was in his nature. He was the peak of humanity after all.


    William didn''t share the sentiment. He looked at Gadreel like a cursed beast would look at a lowly animal whilst an invisible wall separated them. Gadreel knew his mind. At that very moment, he was thinking of all the ways to torture and kill him. By the way he eyed Jameson, William probably thought gutting Gadreel''s allies in front of him was a good start. Jameson was careful to avoid William''s eyes as he sat down.


    Gadreel took the first word as he pulled his chair at the end of the ridiculously lengthy table opposite William. "Friends, it is under dire circumstances that we gather this fine evening."


    William''s glare intensified. Oh, it seemed he was considering a nailing. That was one of his favorites. Nail a man to a wall by the back of his mouth.


    "I might take a moment to thank Izir and his squadron for lending their hand in overseeing this negotiation." Gadreel gestured to the handsome man on the side with his soldiers. Then continued after sitting. "The unity of Numen has been broken, but I assure you it was for no insignificance. On the contrary, the matter is quite worthy of life."


    "Yes, we heard. You want an organization of your own," William said, snarky. "Was it the desperate need to prove yourself great caused by abandonment issues that led you to this... awful show?" Gadreel tried responding but was cut off immediately. Seeing the assertion, he laid back with a calm smile. "Oh, no. It wasn''t that. Then may it be your apathy?" At that, Gadreel raised his brows. "Yes, I know. You are a miserable soul. I''ve known it since the beginning, but I gave you the chance to be mine. I took you under my wing and you paid me back by cutting it off. You were my son, Gadreel. Now you are dead in my mind. And if there is one thing I do, it is to shape reality according to how my mind perceives it. In the words of Ares, ''Karase aki.''"


    Gadreel smiled in jest. "Talking in the words of the slain? I never thought I''d see the day. You surprise me, William. How about I return to you with the words of Kendrick, ''Even as the gods rage at my deeds, I shant hesitate, for the plane of mortals is the property of the apex of humanity and under the heavens, my voice echoes unlike any other.''"


    "Arrogant sophists, both of you," William spat. "The only difference is that the Conqueror of the West vanquished a man meant only for warfare while you will be killed by one wholly uninterested in physicality."


    "Is that a formal statement? If so, I fear this negotiation is over."


    "It never began, Gadreel. You are a man of depth. Repulsive depth, yes. But depth nonetheless. State your business. Issue your challenge."This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.


    "My champion against your champion?"


    "I represent myself. You do the same. Let us descend a floor to the arena. Let us settle this like the aforementioned apex of humanity."


    "You seem to forget that Kendrick is not a warrior. Neither am I. Besides, haven''t you thought about what happened to your assassin?" Gadreel snapped his fingers. Then Sherridan appeared by his side, a mask on her face.


    Wlliam''s face dropped. "You disappoint me Sherridan. For a woman such as you to be charmed by a reptile is a disgrace."


    "Did you forget he charmed you as well, and you''re certainly no young woman?"


    "I will kill you for this, know it," William said, his tone informative. "You''ve outlived your purpose."


    "I don''t take kindly to threats."


    "Then you''ll be pleased to know I don''t make them lightly."


    "Well then, let us duel. See if your word holds."


    William looked like he had been slapped for a moment. Even Gadreel wasn''t fond of insulting the man so. If a sight could kill, William angry was it.


    But as quickly as the anger came, it was gone. William leaned back. "I will refrain. Your prowess is admirable. However, when you are defeated, the things I will do to you will make you regret breathing in my direction."


    "I can''t wait," Sherridan answered feigning boredom. Gadreel could sense it. William''s words filled her with fear. She knew what he could do to people. What he would do?


    William had no code. He existed loosely in the world.


    "Now, now. Play nice." Gadreel wagged a finger. "But now that the ridiculous duel is forgotten, could we discuss my purpose here today."


    "More lies?" William sneered, leaning back in his chair.


    "No, certainly not. You will have proof very soon in fact. That''s because," Gadreel said, standing up. "I am here to announce a trade embargo on Acelot."


    The members of the Evaporation Squadron were the only ones to not bat an eye. They probably didn''t even know the term. William''s eye twitched, but then he was completely calm. Freakishly so. One could only achieve that kind of calm if practiced, and there was only one reason for the Ruler of Mircrest result to calmness practice. He was mortified.


    Even Gadreel''s allies couldn''t believe it, but suddenly it made sense. Starve the capital. Stop the business. William will pay.


    ''But to what end?'' they were all thinking.


    "Your terms?" William asked, still leaning back in the same position. He had stayed completely still. Another practiced mannurism. Was it only obvious to Gadreel?


    Gadreel sat back down carefreely before leaning forward and cupping his ear with a hand. "Huh?"


    "Terms!" Gadreel nodded to affirm that he heard loud and clear. Then he squinted. "What are the terms of your trade embargo? Stop the clown act and talk."


    Gadreel looked around the room as all eyes were on him. He could feel them looming, trying to press on him. He could not be pressed.


    "Terms?" Gadreel asked. "No terms."


    Finally, William''s eyes showed something. A flicker of anger. The whole room shook when he slammed the table. He did that only to unnerve all who listened as his next words were soft like a mother''s. "You''re a sick human, Gadreel. You may try to justify it. Make it into something good. Something beneficial. But you know it just makes you wretched and miserable. I saw that it did, but I never thought you would''ve been stupid enough to do something like this in a hopeless effort to combat it. You can''t fight it. You will never get what you want."


    "You know what I want?" Gadreel waited. Then laughed. "Then why ask for terms?"


    William just stared at him from the other end of the table, eyeing Izir once or twice.


    "You amuse me, William. Thank you for this. I will be back. Now, I fear we are done for the foreseeable future. To tell you the truth, I am eager to see how this pans out." With that, Gadreel left, his entire entourage with him as well as the Evaporation Squadron that was to escort them out from Acelot. They would be one of the last things to go in or out of its walls for some time.


    As they walked through the museum for the second time, Gadreel stopped in front of an enormous painting. He stayed there for a while, even as impatient eyes weighed on him.


    "Do you know what you''re doing?" Sherridan asked suddenly at his side.


    Gadreel turned with a patient smile and looked through her eyes. She really was quite nervous. William''s words had that effect on people. He touched her shoulder. "Don''t worry." He then pointed at the painting in front. "What do you see?"


    Sherridan seemed to relax although begrudgingly and humored Gadreel. "Jungle. Symbols. Humans in red. A temple. An eye?"


    "Good. Good." Gadreel patted her again. "Do you know what it all is?"


    "There''s no title."


    "But of course. Only a lousy artist needs to name their works. Your answer?"


    "No clue."


    "It''s a depiction of a religion from the Age of Water and Blood. They worshipped the Watchful. That religion is dead now. So is its god."


    "And?" Sherridan asked, looking gazing at the masterpiece with her arms crossed."


    Gadreel spared her a glance. "Do you know how a god dies?" He paused and the room went silent. Gadreel grinned his eyes on the manic humans dancing, drenched in blood. "Suddenly."

 Chapter 75: The Love Dream

    The carriage ride never stopped. Aurelius liked it that way. The steady shaking of the carriage as it moved through rough forest paths provided comfort as it continued to infinity. The occasional drizzle made the nights pass in perceived peace under the faint shine through the blurry windows.


    However, he still found often his mind wandering to the days he and Cade maneuvered through the expansive forests of the Thropes with absolute freedom of movement. With his mind''s eye, he could see how Cade''s body zipped in between trees, pushing Aurelius to his limits. He could hear himself howling like an idiot as she threw her bag into the sky and jumped to swing off a branch to survey the area before coming back down like an angel with her bag back on her shoulder like it never left.


    Those days provided an unlimited warmth in him. To him, they were happiness incarnate. The irony was how that warmth was tucked far away out of what he called necessity only so that he could suffer the void inside on a daily basis. A void he could only avoid with a pen and paper or blood and blade.


    But as the journey towards the capital continued, no blood was spilled. Somewhere deep inside, Aurelius hoped for bandits. He would tell himself it was so that others would never have to deal with those bandits again. But the other part of him¡ªthe part that liked the structured feel of the crimson gloves and the taste of black blood¡ªknew the truth.


    Aurelius didn''t want to talk about it. Not to others. Not to himself. Thankfully, it was silent in the carriage. Aurelius had feared Amadeus'' seemingly extroverted nature, but he truly was a perfect mimic. He took one look at Damian and knew to keep his mouth shut. His eyes still wandered to Aurelius on occasion. Aurelius chose to ignore it for a time, but then he started eyeing the kid back, at which point, he got rid of the problem. But Amadeus'' whole aura disturbed him. He could feel the reverence that filled Amadeus, and it made him sick.


    So when they stopped on a path near a town to get supplies and some air and Amadeus asked Aurelius to accompany him to town, he answered bluntly.


    "No."


    Amadeus didn''t seem discouraged in the least. "It would be good for us to discuss the details of my operation."


    "Talk to Damian."


    "I already did. I want your input and it is good for you to be up to date," Amadeus said in a business-like manner. Despite his youth, it seemed authentic.


    Aurelius turned with a sigh and walked away looking at the light blue sky under a layer of smoky white clouds. "Then later."


    Amadeus took a few running steps to catch up with him. "I insist."


    "You can''t insist," Aurelius said without looking at him.


    "I would also like to talk about my mother."


    Aurelius stopped. "Damian has told me. I''m sorry."


    "I don''t need your sorry. I need you to listen. So won''t you listen?"


    Aurelius looked at him with contemplative eyes and nodded. "I''ll go get a hat."


    Amadeus thanked him and he went to go tie his hair before putting on a hat. When he got out, Amadeus was waiting for him and they got moving through a dark green plain towards a town in the distance.


    It was awkward. Amadeus didn''t seem to know how to begin. Their gazes were both fixated on the distance.


    Then Amadeus asked, "What are you doing this for?"


    Aurelius gave him a wary glance. "I thought you wanted to talk to me about your mother."


    "I also want to talk about this."


    Aurelius snorted at his shameless ploy. "My motivation? What is it to you?"


    "I know that you''re a great man, but I don''t think that''s enough for someone to face the entirety of Nexus alone."


    Aurelius shut his eyes, repressing a scoff. "Great man? Is that what you see when you look at me?"


    "Handsome man is what I see." Amadeus laughed lightly, nudging Aurelius with a shoulder with a wink.


    Aurelius didn''t take it in the spirit in which it was given.


    "Sorry," Amadeus apologized quickly. He cleared his throat. "Don''t worry. I don''t think about you like that. You should be more careful with Damian."


    Aurelius furrowed his brows at Amadeus. "What?"


    Amadeus'' eyes grew a little and he backed off. "Oh, wait, you don''t know? Damian''s a homosexual. At least I''m pretty sure," he said with a shrug. The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.


    Aurelius blinked. "Huh? How do you figure?"


    "Takes one to know one," Amadeus said with a playful click of his tongue. "I''m the best of both worlds."


    Aurelius processed for a while. "So you like women... and men?"


    "Yeah," Amadeus replied, tucking his hands in his pockets. "Are you... opposed to that?"


    Aurelius leaned his head back with furrowed brows. "What? Why would I be?"


    "Uhh, no reason." Amadeus coughed. "Sorry, I got a little sidetracked. Bad habit."


    Aurelius gave a light laugh, as he was reminded of all the senseless conversations he entertained with Balgair once upon a time much to Cade''s exasperation. Then he looked back to the clouds and his face went straight. "Orpheus threatened my family."


    Amadeus was quiet for a while. "He threatened your father?"


    "You don''t know?" Aurelius eyed him. "My father is dead."


    Amadeus'' mouth went open. "Ah, sorry, it''s just... I''ve heard a lot of different things."


    "Ah, right." Aurelius gave Amadeus an apologetic look. "In any case, Orpheus threatened those close to me, and he is a bane to all that is good in this world."


    "I see. But even though you''re his death, you don''t think yourself great?" Aurelius didn''t answer. Amadeus had the sense to not push it. Unfortunately, he didn''t have the sense to stay quiet. "Can I ask, who is Cade?"


    "What?" Aurelius stopped, turning to Amadeus. "Who did you hear that name from? Damian?"


    ''Did I mention her to him?'' he asked himself.


    Amadeus seemed in a panic as he put his hands up in defense. "Y¡ª you."


    "What are you talking about? I haven''t spoken to you since we first met?" Aurelius snapped only to slowly realize it. "I said it in my sleep."


    "Yes, you did," Amadeus confirmed, a little unnerved.


    Aurelius licked his dry lips before continuing toward the town. Amadeus caught up but left the matter there.


    They stayed silent the rest of the way. Aurelius forgot why he even came in the first place. When they made it into the town, they wandered around for a while as Amadeus mapped it out.


    Once they made it to the center of the town, Aurelius felt a freezing shiver run down his spine. His eyes shook as he looked up at the flagpole that stood in the middle of the square. He gulped down the acid in the back of his throat and shook the memories out of his head.


    He looked for Amadeus again only to find him looking at Aurelius with a complicated expression.


    Aurelius walked past him. "Not a word," he snarled in Amadeus'' ear.


    After shuddering, Amadeus took the lead again and Aurelius followed him around, carrying the mountain of supplies with ease.


    Their last stop was a caf¨¦ that seemed about to close. Aurelius wasn''t sure what they were headed there for, but after Amadeus looked inside and beamed at Aurelius, he could guess. Suddenly, it occurred to Aurelius why Amadeus wanted him to come along so badly.


    The owner came to usher Amadeus away, but Amadeus said something that made the owner let them in.


    Aurelius stepped into the warm caf¨¦ and looked to his right. There, there was a wooden platform, and on top of it, a simple wooden instrument¡ªthe piano if Aurelius wasn''t mistaken. Amadeus stepped onto the platform in a triumphant manner that Aurelius had never recognized anywhere before.


    "May I play you something?" he asked with a noble bow.


    Aurelius sat down on one of the many wooden chairs next to a round table solemnly and gestured for Amadeus to go ahead.


    Amadeus smiled and went to sit down. First, he adjusted the chair. Next, he lifted the lid off the keys. Then he put his back straight and set his foot over some kind of small platform that hung from the bottom of the piano. Lastly, he raised his hands and flicked his wrists into a set position.


    Aurelius watched with growing interest as Amadeus'' eyes seemed to link with the white and black of the piano. His gaze seemed intimately focused like a hunter skinning his prey, but more delicate. A thing of beauty.


    Then his fingers pressed down. Aurelius'' mouth grew wide as the sound echoed. He had heard music before. Sounds ringing and repeating. But never anything like what Amadeus demonstrated. The sound overlapped in its echoes and as it faded a new, more refined sound came to replace it.


    The sound slid up and down seamlessly as did Amadeus'' fingers. The movement of Amadeus'' fingers was perfect. The kind of perfect that reminded him of Cade.


    The way her body flowed as she fought. The way her shoulders bounced as she laughed at Aurelius'' stupidity. The way her delicate fingers touched his body. The way her thin lips curved up when it was peaceful. The way her hard eyes turned gentle as she looked at flowers. The way her soft brown hair fluttered in the wind...


    Back in his own body. Only a few minutes passed. Aurelius found himself with his face leaning on his palm as he watched with a mind purged of the ugliness of the world as Amadeus swayed with his eyes closed and chin pointed to the roof. It was unconscious for him. To tap into that beauty whenever.


    Even as he didn''t even look, his fingers pressed all the right keys, with the right amount of force. Aurelius had never even heard music comparable to what he heard then, but he knew it was all as right as could be. The dynamics. How some sounds popped out while others stayed in the background. The absolute mastery over what came to the surface ruled Aurelius'' mind as he fell into his mind once again.


    And for what seemed like an hour, he could see something he had never been able to before. He saw his mother and Cade sitting at a table before him. Back home. And even though he could not see them, he could feel his father and Balgair there with them. And something more. He slowly turned his head and looked at Cade. But not at her eyes. At her stomach. It was round. Aurelius put a hand over his trembling lips and looked up. Cade was looking at him with a pure smile. Pure love.


    Aurelius'' lips tightened as he swallowed back the tears before waking in the moment. Amadeus'' hands slowed, every press deliberately designated for its correct spot. All up until it was ended. He let the last of it echo out before slowly taking his hands off the instrument. He slowly exhaled, leaning his head back with closed eyes.


    Aurelius wiped his eyes as Amadeus turned to look at him.


    "It''s called the Love Dream," Amadeus said, his voice seeming completely different as he sat in front of the piano.


    Aurelius found himself in envy. What it must have felt like to possess such an ability to evoke beauty in the mind. At that moment, he would''ve abandoned all his cursed abilities for it.


    When Aurelius had wiped his eyes, he found himself to be smiling. His expression cleared quickly, but all that he wanted was to experience it once more.


    "Could you play it again?" Aurelius requested.


    Amadeus lit up and nodded, turning back to what seemed to be his other half. Once he began, Aurelius hoped he would never stop.

 Chapter 76: Notes of a Dying Soul

    Aurelius and Amadeus had been gone for some time. Damian just walked outside for a while before going back into the carriage. His fingers ached. He was happy he had gotten feeling back. At the same time, he was extremely pained for the exact same reason.


    That pain would have turned into resentment if a primal fear didn''t linger in the back of his mind. No matter how many times Aurelius whined in his sleep, he was still the same man who had severed his fingers and walked past like nothing happened. Damian blinked and could see how his eyes gleamed coldly with brain matter splattered all over. His shoulders shivered as he sat on his bed. Then he looked up at Auelius'' side, his gaze passing Amadeus'' mattress on the floor.


    Unconsciously his eyes drifted to the rectangular bulge in his bag. The black notebook.


    Damian resisted the urge but soon found himself with the notebook in his hands. He enhanced his senses with a quick setup before reading with his back to the door.


    The first page was... there was no first page. Only rough tears on the side. It had been ripped out. Violently at that. But why? Aurelius worshipped the damn book.


    The whole first page was short passages, scribbled over indecipherably. There was a drop on the roof. Damian shook before scrambling to turn around. Nobody there. It was just beginning to rain. Damian cursed with a deep breath and considered ?utting the notebook back, but opened it again.


    Slowly, he turned the page. The sight of it made his eyes flinch away. It was a drawing, one of extreme detail that seemed to have been obsessed over for hours. He looked back slowly.


    ''The Idea of a Human?'' he thought with a gulp.


    It was the most horrid art piece he had ever seen. If it could be called that. Severed arms and legs surrounded a nailed corpse in circles and squares.


    ''Did Aurelius make this?''


    When he had realized Aurelius to be the liveD, he had confirmed to himself that the rumors were exaggerated. He was a man of unbelievable power. Not unbelievable cruelty. At least that''s what Damian told himself to work with him. But as he looked upon the Idea of a Human, he could see it. The way Aurelius looked as he dragged corpses to a flagpole and what followed.


    It was said that the face of the liveD was the mark of death. If you saw it, the next time you would feel the sun on your skin was when it radiated on your mutilated corpse. Damian was beginning to wonder if it had been a lengthened sentence.


    He flipped the page as droplets began to echo on the roof of the carriage. On the top rows, there were numbers scribbled followed by entries. The writing was erratic like he had just written any word that came to mind without any care for cohesiveness. It wasn''t anything to look back on. Just something to get out of. No regard for structure. Just words.


    ''I am not a man. They are not men. This is not life,'' Damian read.


    His eyes went through the mess of words some of which were softly written with a loose hand while others were written like the aim was to scratch through the page.


    ''I''m killing nothing. It''s all a net. The world.''


    Page four.


    ''I''m positive. They negative. They are. Definitely.''


    Page six.


    ''I don''t talk. They see me gesture. They nod.''


    ''Nobody likes me. I''m glad. Though, they should hate me. I am what they hate. They just don''t want to admit it.'' If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    Page eight was destroyed with scribbles. He looked closer. Under the scribbles, he could see the headline. ''Mission one. Done.'' In the middle there was one word, ''Haha.''


    Page nine was a drawing. Damian didn''t know what it was. He didn''t want to know. He moved.


    Page twelve made him stop.


    ''Today... I think... want to end it. Kill myself,'' he read. ''I will. Want. Won''t. Now. Not now. After. It''s done. All safe. I will leave this world. Leave it behind. I don''t want to see any more. No more. This fi...''


    The door opened. Damian felt his heart jump and the notebook flew from his numb hands. He turned with a beg on his lips, but he already felt dead.


    It was the coachman.


    Damian forced his expression felt and held his breath while he grabbed the notebook off the ground calmly. He breathed inaudibly through his nose.


    "Um, ''scuse me, Sir. Did the man tell when he would be back?"


    Damian shook his head. "They will surely be back in just a while. Is there a problem?"


    "Naw, no problem, Sir. Horseys need the rest. Just mapping out the schedule. Some paths can''t go in dark, ya know."


    Damian nodded.


    "Well, thas that then. I''ll leave ya," the man waved a hand and shut the door.


    Damian''s shoulders slumped as he felt his heart. It was punching his chest. He needed to put it away. How didn''t he notice the man''s approach? He enhanced his senses again and moved to the back.


    All for him to open it again.


    He scrolled through the pages. Then there was one that caught his eye. It was not far from the beginning. The whole page was black. Just black. He looked at the opposite page. Violent was a subtle way to describe the writing.


    ''What is WRONG with people? They''re sick. It''s a sickness. Did she see it? This. Did she see?''


    ''Not even an animal would do something like that.''


    ''They are dead. By my word, they die.''


    There were scribbled sketches on the bottom of the page. Was that... Damian gulped... A flag pole?


    The rain got louder. Filled his head. The light shine shone less. Damian squinted as he squatted. He should have put the book back.


    Nevertheless, he read the very bottom line, ''I hate this fucking world. I HATE IT.''


    ''Outside. Footsteps!'' Damian yelled to himself and put the book back with hate. He had memorized every little detail and made it exactly as it was.


    He jumped up and walked to the door slowly. The door opened in his face and saw Aurelius. He climbed into the carriage with his head crouched. He felt even larger than before. Had his posture changed?


    He looked at Damian with eyes that seemed... normal. "What is it?"


    "Ah, nothing. Nothing." Damian got out of the way and wondered what he was even doing.


    Amadeus seemed in a wonderful mood as he walked in. He was completely dry. Damian wondered how but immediately remembered Aurelius.


    "Hey, if you want, I can sleep on the mattress," Aurelius offered Amadeus.


    Amadeus began denying profusely while rambling on about something. It was eery just looking at the pair. Images flashed in Damian''s mind as he looked at Aurelius'' expression of normality. He didn''t even want to know what his mind really looked like.


    He swallowed and was about to leave to tell the coachmen they could move. That''s when he noticed Aurelius staring at his bag. At that pocket. Damian''s chest froze. He was about to say something to stray his attention but noticed his tongue trembling. He turned instinctively and was about to walk out when Aurelius turned to look at him. He walked a few steps and was in front of Damian.


    How? How? How? How? How?!


    Damian pointed outside. He opened his mouth. No words would come.


    Aurelius looked outside where rain fell.


    "Wha¡ª" Damian tried.


    Then his feet were already off the ground. Aurelius was still looking out of the door. Damian didn''t even know if Aurelius had enhanced, but he had never felt more fear. All air left him and he was about to kick Aurelius but stopped himself. Nothing was more useless. If Aurelius wanted to... Hell, if he even squeezed a little on accident, the things Damian called his bones would be nothing but shattered glass inside his throat.


    Damian looked to Amadeus, begging. He had backed away and was just standing still with his slack-jawed.


    Damian gasped as black spots appeared in his squeezing eyes. Then Aurelius let him drop to his ass.


    Only then did he look at Damian with a frown. "Your second offense," he said. "There won''t be a third."


    Damian nodded as he curled up grasping his numb throat, taking in air with large hoarse gasps.


    Aurelius walked back to his bed and sat down, staring at the ground. "Sorry. That was..."


    Who was he speaking to?


    "Amadeus."


    "Yes?" he asked immediately. If he had fear, he didn''t show it.


    "Go tell the coachmen. We have to move."


    Amadeus agreed and moved quickly. When he was gone, Damian had managed to relax. He still didn''t get up. He just watched Aurelius who sat there with a dark frown coupled with squinted eyes and thought back.


    Back to when he had first approached Aurelius sitting alone on that dock in Mircrest. At that moment he knew, Aurelius'' writings were correct. At some point, he really had killed himself.

 Chapter 77: Cold Read

    "You''re a real asshole, you know," Amadeus said as he stepped onto a rock beside the one Damian sat on. He remained standing on the boulder cooly with his hands in his pockets.


    Damian turned to him with shock and then disgust. His eyes seemed to say, ''How dare you insult the one who recruited you?'' or some bullshit like that.


    It had been a day since the motherfucker went through Aurelius'' diary and he had isolated himself like he was a victim or something. Amadeus had sensed Damian''s decline from afar but hadn''t thought it was his place to interfere. Now he was a part of the group. He was the key to putting that bastard Orpheus in the ground.


    Aurelius seemed to keep Damian around since he had crucial information, but he still served a purpose. Amadeus would be damned if he let Damian ruin his chance at vengeance just because Damian had no motivation.


    He may have been there just because Aurelius needed him and saying no wasn''t an option. But he had a chance to do some good for once in his life. It was high time to get some sense into the pathetic bitch''s head. And if Aurelius wasn''t going to do it, Amadeus would.


    Amadeus clicked his tongue. "You go through a person''s most private belonging and get grumpy after he knocks some sense into your dumb ass. Fucking hell. And we''re talking about Aurelius himself here."


    "Where''d you get a tongue like that all of a sudden, huh?"


    "You forget, I''m naturally ill-tempered. I''m just a fine actor."


    "Tch... right," Damian turned back to look down at the path where their carriage lay next to a campfire that lit up the night.


    The father and son who served as coachmen sat before it, but where was Aurelius?


    Amadeus shifted his focus back to the matter at hand. "Nice deflection, by the way. Is that your social finesse trying to make an appearance? I thought it got cut along with your fingers," Amadeus provoked with a laugh.


    Damian eyed him darkly. "Fuck you."


    "And there it went again. I mean, seriously? Can''t you come up with anything better than that? Maybe Aurelius is right. You really are useless."


    Damian hostility turned into fear. He tried to hide it, but to Amadeus, it was all but obvious. The micro tension around his mouth and eyebrows told the story.


    "Gah, look at yourself!" Amadeus burst out. "You''re pathetic. Bird of Midnight what a fucking joke."


    Damian seemed about to rush him but backed down. His body language suggested tension towards the campfire.


    Amadeus laughed. It was genuinely comedic. Damian really thought that this was a test and that Aurelius was lurking somewhere, waiting for Damian to attack.


    Eventually, Amadeus calmed down and relaxed his posture to ease Damian. It was pitiful looking at how tense he was. He really thought himself the victim. "You actually think Aurelius is some kind of monster holding you hostage like you''re a princess?"


    "He cut my fingers off, waltzed into my home, and told me I would help him. How the hell should I see it as something other than being a hostage?" Damian sneered. "You think you know him? We visited Hermeris on our way to you. Aurelius exploded his skull and didn''t even flinch. Our whole fronts were painted. There were fucking brains, flowing down inside my shirt. I burned my clothes and got new ones. He just washed his. And while he did, he had this look on his face. Like he''d done it a thousand times before. Like ''here I am once again''. That''s who he is."


    "Right... and he had no reason to do that." Amadeus exuded sarcasm. "All quiet now are we? About your fingers, let me guess. You sold his location in the past, pretending to be his friend?" Damian turned to him with a questioning look. "I figure things out when I''m bored. And it was fairly obvious he did that to you," Amadeus said, nodding at Damian''s hand.


    "You and your body language."


    "No. Me and your body language," Amadeus corrected playfully. "My point stands. You''re a formal person who likes to act likeably." A bit of an opposite to Amadeus himself. "He believed your act, you stabbed him in the back. Thus... that." He gestured to Damian''s hand. "Though, admittedly, it''s not very wise to mutilate those you plan to work with."If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    "What''s that? Did I hear you insult your hero?"


    Amadeus curled his upper lip in annoyance. "You heard me admit the flaws of my hero."


    "Hero." Damian scoffed at the word.


    "That." Amadeus pointed a firm finger. "That is what I don''t get about you."


    "That I don''t see him as a hero?" Damian gestured his confusion with his bandaged hand. "How is that surprising?"


    Sure he had seen an ugly side to Aurelius. And in his insatiable curiosity, he tried to see more. Maybe he did. But those writings were Aurelius'' escape. His expression of loathing towards the monstrous things he had done to combat all the evil he saw. But how did Damian not understand what he was fighting against?


    "You''re an orphan. Aren''t you?" Amadeus read Damian''s reaction and continued after the confirmation. "So you turned to crime in order to survive and even thrive. Oh, and because you feel apprehension towards violence you turned to the informant business." Amadeus connected the dots much to Damian''s chagrin. But something was still missing. Why didn''t he hate them? Those people? He couldn''t understand, so he just asked Damian, "You''ve dealt with criminals all your life, so how do you not get it? What Aurelius is doing it all for."


    "What do you mean? Are you asking me if I''ve been threatened before?" Damian genuinely laughed. "He''s doing it to me himself!"


    "No! He isn''t doing it because he''s being threatened. Can''t you see his fight against evil started way before that."


    Damian kept being amused. "Fight against evil. Reminds me of how young you are. Giving evil a name and thinking it can even be eradicated in the first place."


    Amadeus'' mouth opened. With that, the puzzle that was Damian was solved. "You think evil is natural. Just a thing that exists and nothing can be done about anything."


    "And you don''t? You worked with me helping criminals, remember? How do you justify that?"


    Amadeus couldn''t help but smile at all the bafflement. "I don''t! I did it because it was easy, and I hated myself for it. Fucking hell. You just did it with no thought, telling yourself anything just so you wouldn''t feel guilty."


    Damian looked down likely realizing just how much of a piece of shit he really was. "So how is it that you''re lecturing me?"


    "Because you need it. You''ve entertained your fatalism for so long for your own sake that you''ve forgotten how much shittier the world is than it could be. You have no goals. You stand for nothing."


    "And I should stand for Aurelius?"


    "You should stand with him!" Amadeus threw his hands up. "Or are you so egoistic that you can''t do even that? Fucking moron."


    "How ab¡ª"


    "Shut the fuck up," Amadeus snapped at him. "Aurelius has fought the shit of this world more than anyone. That''s why people love him. Not because they''re deluded by his legend and revere his power. Still, the guy can''t get a fucking break because he can''t forgive himself for the things he''s done in the process. The things that anyone would excuse in a heartbeat if they knew the full extent of his sacrifices." Amadeus looked down at Damian in disgust. "And you''re here to make him feel more like shit when he needs your help. He''s given you a chance to repent and you just whine about your fingers. Looking at you now, I kinda wish he would''ve ended your sorry existence. But he just won''t. All because he still believes you can have a positive effect on the world. That''s how great of a man he is."


    Damian looked up with a defiant look, but it faded as he saw the graveness on Amadeus'' face. He seemed about to say something but just gulped.


    "The liveD is already a legend. If he manages to kill Orpheus, that legend will never die. You have a chance to be part of that. If I were you, I''d be licking Aurelius'' feet."


    "Aren''t you already doing that?"


    "Perhaps. I can tell you it''s a lot better than sucking off fatalism."


    "Right," Damian replied, trying to look cool. He knew he just got his ass verbally kicked. Amadeus was about to make his exit when Damian kept going. "One last thing. Do you suppose that once Orpheus disappears evil will just be wiped out?"


    Amadeus didn''t turn back. It was a simple question. "No. But the criminals of Arkeyk will shit themselves. Eventually, there will be a power struggle. But by then the people will have hopefully grown a backbone. One man can''t change things. However, he can set the movement off."


    "Very hopeful of you. I''m sure you''re not just telling yourself whatever you need to know so that you can see Orpheus die."


    Amadeus turned back halfway and smirked. "It''s possible. But my point still stands."


    "And that is?"


    "Aurelius is a man worth a billion of you. Now you can stay here and tell yourself he''s a big bad man and I''m deluded or you can swallow that mouthful of shit with some dignity and help change the world."


    Damian offered no response. Amadeus didn''t expect one. He made his way back to the camp and enjoyed a conversation with the old-timer and his respectful son. It took a while, but eventually, Damian showed himself. Amadeus smiled at him and gestured towards a seat. He then enhanced his senses as best he could and looked around. After a while, he managed to catch sight of Aurelius. He sat alone on top of a tree, shrouded in darkness. Even at that distance, he could probably hear them discuss. He probably hadn''t heard his and Damian''s discussion. Maybe that was a good thing. Still, it was best if he heard the next.


    Amadeus looked back to Damian. "I take this to mean you found your resolve."


    "You could say that."


    Amadeus snorted amusedly. "Then we''re one step closer to making this work. And I think it just might."

 Chapter 78: Arrival

    Aurelius just stood there in shock, the feeling of crying clawing at his mind, but his eyes were unable to muster a single tear. The golden one just looked back at him with disgust that he concealed as soon as he turned to his partner.


    "What is it?" she asked, her voice gentler than he remembered.


    The golden one smiled at her as he moved his mouth. Aurelius couldn''t hear anything. He wasn''t even making any sound. Still, she smiled back at him as he wrapped an arm around her as they walked away.


    "No," Aurelius whispered under his breath. He gritted his teeth and reached out a hand to the pair that made their way away from him. But they couldn''t, right? They couldn''t just abandon him in the filth. But as he tried to reach them, the firm, white fingers of the hands of the dead pulled him back. He wrangled, trying to break their grips but they pulled him down as he watched the pair leave him to his misery. "Don''t leave me!" he roared, but his voice ran out.


    Then fingers wrapped around his face. They covered everything except a single eye that was left to watch the golden one. He had never been so full of emotion, and his emotion was single. An unbridled, absolute hate. "I hate you. I hate you! I HATE YOU! IHATEYOU! IHATEYOUIHATEYOUIHATEYOU!" His screams were muffled by the hands that covered his mouth, but he screamed until the words became just noise, and didn''t stop until it devoured him and he became death.


    ***


    He woke up, his body twitching with violence. In an instant, he found himself holding Amadeus against the foot of his bed. Amadeus put his hands up quickly but struggled to get a word out. Aurelius let go in shock and withdrew backward.


    "Sorry. I''m sorry, I¡ª" Amadeus apologized while Aurelius was unable to think. "Are... you okay?"


    Aurelius ran his hands over his face, shaking his head as he steadied his breathing. "Get out," he said quietly. Amadeus didn''t seem to hear, so he repeated it louder, "Get out!" Too loud. Amadeus flinched and scampered out of the carriage.


    Aurelius sighed and rubbed his eyes as his expression twisted in pain.


    ***


    Morning had come and everyone was already out, sitting on stones, sharing breakfast when Aurelius made his way out, adjusting his gloves before cracking his neck. He walked over to the group of four, stone-faced and talked about the only thing he wanted to talk about. "I hear we''re going to be in the capital by evening," he said as he glanced around before looking at the coachman.


    "Yes, sir," the old coachman said with a firm nod. "It has been a pleasure working for you. If you ever need my services again, I am yours."


    "I see," Aurelius said with a light nod in return and turned to upbeat Damian who seemed to have grown closer with the others in the past few days. "When will we launch the operation?"


    "As soon as we get there," Damian responded promptly with a confident smile. "I''ll gather some information on the sight first. Then we just scout the personnel and figure out an opening to get Amadeus inside."


    "Good. The deadline is one month and two weeks by now," Aurelius updated. He had trouble perceiving that he had been in Arkryk for almost a year. It had felt like ten. "Do you suspect problems?"


    "No problems," Damian confirmed.


    "We''re going to get that fucker Oprheus in a few weeks and we''ll be on our merry way," Amadeus said with a snort, putting his hands on his head and looking up at the turquoise morning sky.


    Aurelius glanced at the coachman and his son. They seemed uncomfortable with the idea of a man like Orpheus being killed. He might''ve been scum, but his death would be felt nationwide. Still, it was for the best.A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.


    Aurelius sat down on a stone in between Amadeus and the coachman''s son. He thought to apologize to Amadeus for earlier, however, the boy seemed entirely over it already. He wasn''t sure hoe to deal with that.


    "Would you like some rye bread?" the coachman''s son asked, his voice shaking slightly. It was the first time he talked to him. "Here. It''s really hard, but that''s not a problem, right?" He smiled as he handed the piece over to him, reaching out.


    Aurelius took it with a nod. He enhanced his jaw instinctively as he bit into it and the bread crumbled like it was made of thin glass.


    The young man laughed out loud with wide eyes and looked at his father who shook his head with a mix of amusement and embarrassment. "I usually have to rip..." he babbled something Aurelius didn''t really follow. Then he turned to watch Aurelius intensely. "Is it true that you could''ve ran to the capital faster than our horses?"


    "Mmm," Aurelius sounded as he ate. "It would''ve taken me maybe two days if I ran."


    "What?! Then how come you travel by carriage?"


    "Companions," Aurelius said, pointing to Amadeus and Damian. "I need them."


    The young man leaned back in thought. "What about Cade? Is she your companion, too?"


    Everyone froze, including Aurelius. "Where did you hear that name?"


    "Ah, they just... it was mentioned. And..." The young man''s words faded as he looked around, especially at his father who seemed frightened at what door had been opened.


    "You mumble in your sleep," Amadeus said, a little tense himself.


    Aurelius started to understand the situation better.


    "I''m sorry. My son is a fanatic and doesn''t understand," the coachman rushed to explain.


    Aurelius put a hand up to stop him before letting out a sigh. "It''s fine... And to answer your question, she''s not. Not anymore, and it''s my fault." The group relaxed a bit, leaving Aurelius bathing in a loose melancholy with his gaze downcast. "I''m sorry, but I''m not someone that anyone should be fanatic over. I know that I have some desirable qualities, but I''m not all that great. I''ve achieved nothing, and I continue to fail whenever it counts the most. In all honesty, I''m a failure of a son. A mentally weak person who just relies on physical gifts." He raised his head to look the sad and confused coachman''s son in the eyes. "You help your father with his work and make him proud by being a reliable worker and a respectable man. You''re a good son. I should be the one admiring you."


    ***


    At nightfall, Aurelius and Amadeus watched as Damian paid the coachman before returning to the group. Aurelius raised a hand in goodbye before turning to face the capital. There was a light mist in the air that made the castles in the distance look haunted. The architecture was rough in the capital. Even the castles were something of a product of pure functionality. Castles built just to be taller than others were a true horror.


    "I''ll go do my thing now," Damian said, tapping Aurelius on the arm. "I told Amadeus about an inn. I''ll meet you there."


    Aurelius nodded and they were off. The sky was gray. Just pure gray. He looked at Amadeus. His face was expressionless except for the sadness in his eyes. Amadeus had lived in the capital as a child. It was in these streets that...


    Aurelius was about to say something but stopped himself. A ten-minute walk got them to a fairly large and well-kept building of stone and wood.


    Amadeus went to talk to the receptionist while Aurelius tried to not stand out. Fortunately, the people in the capital seemed to keep to themselves. Sadly, that applied two-fold around suspicious activity.


    "I thought you''d appreciate your own room," Amadeus said, handing a key to Aurelius as they walked through the inn''s halls.


    Aurelius took the key and noted that Amadeus had gotten only two. He looked at Amadeus and wondered if he was missing something. "Will you and Damian be sleeping together?"


    Amadeus burst out in laughter for a split second before calming himself. He shook his head at Aurelius. "He can get his own room."


    Aurelius put a hand on his face and nodded slowly in embarrassed realization. "Ah, I can pay for mine¡ª"


    Amadeus put a hand up. "No need. I''m glad to pay for yours." He then unlocked his door and went inside, leaving Aurelius standing alone in the hall.


    Aurelius shook his head. ''I feel like he chooses not to hear the words coming out of my mouth sometimes," he thought before hurrying to his room because he knew he looked strange with his hood on inside.


    ***


    Firm knocks on the door got Aurelius out of bed.


    "We need to talk." It was Damian. "Now."


    Aurelius put his inside clothes on before answering the door. "What is it?" He asked, concerned as he saw Damian and Amadeus, both with looks of uncertainty and... fear.


    "There''s someone after you. Someone that you can''t ignore." Damian paused before emphasizing. "Someone we can''t ignore."


    Aurelius let them in with a creeping feeling in his stomach. He hardly remembered a time when he felt unnerved. But what could it have been? There was nobody that could match him in combat anymore. Not even close. By now, he could''ve taken on the Evaporation Squadron alone. Maybe even without enhancers.


    Damian gave a tired exhale as he sat on a chair and Aurelius closed the wooden door of the room. He then rubbed his face but still didn''t say it.


    "Well?" Aurelius asked. "Who?"


    Amadeus sat down on the ground and leaned back on the wall before uttering a single word, "Uzbec."

 Chapter 79: The Shadow of Death

    The name was unfamiliar, but the weight with which it was spoken drew Aurelius silent, nevertheless.


    ''More moving parts.'' Aurelius clenched his jaw, looking at the ground. ''Why now?''


    He looked up at Damian and fierce eyes. "Who?"


    Damian leaned his head back and turned it from side to side. "Uzbec is a man known in the underworld as the Shadow of Death. Wherever he goes, people drop dead like flies and out come the most horrible stories I''ve ever heard. Or actually, he''s like a ghost. He''s not tracked through any physical description or a signature. It''s just that when something horrid happens in Arkryk, it''s connected to him. Uzbec could be a sadist of the highest echelon, but the much more terrifying possibility is that he doesn''t take pleasure in torture and killing. He''s just very, very proficient at them. As far as I know... or knew, he had disappeared. Retired, I thought. Well, he''s back now."


    "If he''s that good, how would you know that he''s back?"


    "Obvious," Amadeus chimed in from Aurelius'' peripheral vision. "He''s baiting a reaction of some kind."


    "So? He''s barely on my trail, let''s just do what we set out to do. Why are you so down all of a sudden?"


    Damian rubbed his eyes. "Look, whatever we do from now on, it could be what he expects and if it is, then all our plans are fucked."


    "He won''t expect us!" Aurelius yelled out.


    The claim his year''s work could be ruined by a single man coming from retirement didn''t bode well at all.


    "Sit." Damian gestured to a chair opposite his. "Aurelius, please."


    Aurelius drew a breath and took a seat. "Go ahead. Tell me what you want to tell me."


    "By now, Uzbec has gone through a lot of the evidence you''ve left behind. If we''re lucky he has yet to figure out your identity. Still¡ª"


    Aurelius leaned his elbows on his knees and stared at Damian. "My mother..."


    "She''s safe. Don''t worry," Amadeus said hurriedly and turned to Damian. "Tell him."


    Damian nodded. "She''s safe. Even if he''s figured it out, Orpheus might not know."


    "Then we need to hurry!"


    "What we need to do is to calm down and watch ourselves," Damian said so calmly it only riled Aurelius up more.


    "While they go kill my family?"


    "Look, Aurelius, they probably don''t know where she is. They could probably find her meaning their threats aren''t empty, but I doubt they have her pinned down. In other words, we''re in a race, but if we take a headstart and trip..." Damian paused and shook his head with a severe look.The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    Aurelius put his hands to his forehead and massaged his temples. "Fine. I promise not to do anything rash." He raised his head and eyes both the thoughtful Amadeus who was looking out of the room''s window and Damian who was looking at the floor. "What more do you need from me?"


    "First things first, what evidence do you think you might''ve left behind?"


    "Nothing. I left nothing. I talked to nobody outside business. And when in business I killed everyone who saw me. If I didn''t I''d have been outed by now."


    Damian was unsatisfied. "Think back. Is there anyone who you lived with during your travels? Anything might link you to the liveD."


    Aurelius shook his head firmly. "Ever since I started going after Nexus bases, I¡ª"


    It dawned on Damian as well and his expression twisted. "The flagpole..." He looked away when he mentioned it. "You did it for someone in particular, didn''t you?"


    "There was a girl... and her little brother."


    "How old?"


    "19, the girl. 15, the boy. But they won''t say anything," Aurelius hurried to add, trying to convince himself more than anything.


    "Sometimes they don''t need to..." Damian looked sad. "You can''t go now. We''re going ahead with the operation. Just with more caution even than before."


    "Will he torture them if he finds them?"


    "I don''t think he''ll need to." Damian couldn''t even meet his eyes as he said it. "But that might not be a bad thing. He won''t kill anyone unnecessarily. If she tells him everything she knows, they''ll most likely live." Aurelius nodded in response. "What else could he know?"


    "I suppose, he could maybe figure out that the attacks were done by a single person," Aurelius muttered, his mind still on those two. Then he realized something that made him fill with hope. "He doesn''t know about you." He looked at Damian and Amadeus, both looking back at him.


    Suddenly, it seemed like things might work out, after all.


    ***


    "He''s likely been acquiring partners as of late," Uzbec stated, scratching his beard as he sat behind a desk.


    "He?" The envoy asked, tilting her head. She was a thin woman. Approximately 27 years of age. Thin blonde hair tied into a ponytail. Sharp hairline. Eyebags, hidden under a cosmetic product. She smelled of flowers. A perfume. Ylang ylang. She was close to Orpheus. She had likely worked for Nexus all her life. Her shoulders were square and her legs were tightly held together. Her lips were tightly together. She seemed to be a virgin. At least by what Uzbec could tell at a glance.


    He turned in his chair and looked at the city in the distance. Doresh. "Yes, the attacks were done by one person. The ones I have looked at thus far at least."


    "How did you come to your conclusion about the partners?"


    "Irregular activity, shifts in the underworld, cases with matching descriptions. Footsizes and blood spatter on scenes. He could be branching out or acquiring allies. I lean toward the latter."


    "For what reason?"


    "History."


    "Except for one case."


    "The first? I think it''s disconnected. Doesn''t fit the image. The liveD is a methodical man, assuming that he is a man. His slaughters are efficient. In and out. He undoes life. He does not impale people."


    "I am afraid Orpheus still wants you to investigate it."


    "I will reconsider it then. Anything else?"


    "You say the attacks are by an individual. What motive could he have? How is he connected?"


    "Revenge is the most likely. If he''s connected it is to a rebellion of some kind."


    "And Numen?"


    "I have eliminated the possibility. The damage is too small."


    "Tens of bases have been annihilated. A fifth of the whole."


    "Too small," Uzbec emphasized. "That''s all."


    "I would like to¡ª"


    "That is all."


    "I understand."


    "Oh, before you go. I will give reports to Orpheus in person from now on. If he sends you again, he will get your head back in a box."


    "May I ask why?"


    "No." It was her scent. "Get out."


    The woman followed orders.


    Uzbec turned back and pondered over the matter with the first case. He felt that something large-scale was about to happen. Still, perhaps it would be worthwhile.

 Chapter 80: With Hearts

    "Would you like to have some tea?" Amadeus asked as Aurelius leaned on the doorframe of his room.


    Aurelius looked back into his room. The window was white with fog as a constant drizzle pattered. The rain always brought bad memories to mind.


    "Uh," Aurelius said as he turned to Amadeus, "sure."


    "Great," Amadeus smiled and turned to walk away. "I''ll go get the tea. Your room?"


    "Yours," Aurelius decided before walking back to the desk in his room, looked at the frantic scribbles in his notebook that he had meant as poetry, and flipped it closed.


    ***


    "Thank you," Aurelius said as he took the tea and set it on the table. "Is there something in particular you wanted to talk about?"


    Amadeus sat opposite him and waved his hands. "No, not really."


    "It''s not too late for second thoughts," Aurelius reminded him. The mission was hazardous and in the end, it would all be up to his strength. "I never wanted to involve anyone innocent in all this."


    "What?" Amadeus shook his head incredulously. "How could you think that? Of course, I''m not having second thoughts." He scoffed lightly. "Damian told me about your initial plan. It''s suicide, even for you. This plan is our best shot. Orpheus has nothing but enemies, but he''s survived all this time. If we don''t do this, he''ll keep living... and thinking that he deserves it." The last words came out with some spit. Amadeus wiped his lips and took a sip of tea.


    Aurelius looked at him with sad eyes. "You''re right. I''m sorry," he said, but half-heartedly. He knew where Amadeus was coming from and that he had no right to stop him. Still, nothing ever went right in the world, and Aurelius was starting to feel that all he could do was watch as things went horribly wrong.


    "Ah, come on," Amadeus said with a sigh. "We''re doing good here. Let''s not be so down. Even the Uzbec thing. Just an overreaction."


    Aurelius put a hand on his chin and fell into deep thought. "No. He really is a threat. I know what sort of dissection some people in this world are capable of." He thought back to the Idea of a Human. "Some people just destroy. I feel that he is of that nature. If I get the chance, I''ll end him too."


    "Your tea is getting cold," Amadeus said with a light tone. Aurelius raised his brows and took to drinking. "All that is true, but... don''t you think you''re destroying yourself." He cast Aurelius a look of sympathy while he sipped the tea quietly. It was an unfamiliar taste. "For almost the whole past year, you''ve only subjected yourself to the worst this world has to offer with no solace in anything."


    "And the world is better for it," Aurelius asserted his gaze on the swirling tea that went calm. "The tea is good."


    Amadeus clicked his tongue, prompting Aurelius to look at him. "When does it end?" he asked.


    Aurelius just looked at him, thoughts swirling in his mind, but not a single one rising to the surface. All he could do was look for an escape. "Why are we having this conversation?"


    "Because it''s what you need?"


    "You think so?"


    "I do."


    Aurelius took another sip. A bigger one. Then he let the hot tea cool in his mouth before swallowing and putting the cup back down. "You''re a smart person, Amadeus. But you don''t know me. Sure, you know the liveD. You may even know the son of Ares. But you don''t know Aurelius. You don''t know the boy who left his mother alone to pursue strength and wealth. To make a name for himself as a hero, to feel that he mattered. That he had a purpose in the world... like he thought his father did."


    "Then tell me."


    Aurelius'' upper lip curled as he looked Amadeus in the eyes. "I don''t like the way you look at me. You don''t even listen to me. It feels like you''re worshipping an idea of me inside your head and you don''t even see that I''m a person. It''s the same with everyone."


    "It''s just that you think¡ª"


    "Shut up." Aurelius'' hand shot up. He lowered it slowly. "Just be quiet. For once... listen." He rubbed his eyes before steeling his gaze and meeting Amadeus'' gaze again. "I understand it. I do. I have what everybody else wants but can''t get, so they make up fantasies about me that fit their image. They think my life is perfect. Hell, I can''t blame them. Sometimes it feels like my life would be perfect if only it weren''t me living it." Aurelius paused as Amadeus'' eyes hadn''t changed. He had an understanding look to him. Like he had expected every word. It was sickening. Aurelius buried his face in his hands even though it muffled his voice. "Maybe I should be happy. But I''m not. My life''s gone to shit. Strength and wealth? I don''t care about those things anymore. I just wish I never left. I wish I''d stayed in my little bubble until the day I died. But I can''t go back now. Not empty-handed handed at least. Not like the failure I am." He paused, thinking back further than he had in a long time. "In the state I am now, even my own mother wouldn''t recognize me."Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    For a while it was silent. And it felt good.


    "Yeah, you are fucked up. Really, really fucked up," Amadeus said, grabbing Aurelius''s attention. But for once he didn''t feel the need to correct him. Amadeus shrugged. "What can I say? You''re fucked up... but you''re my hero." He put his head down and rubbed his forehead. "The thing is... you''re just drowning yourself. On one end, there are the people who would just run away and live selfishly by taking advantage of the strength you have. Those are the people who say your life could be perfect. That''s because they''re cowards." He snapped his fingers, pointing at Aurelius. "You''re on the other end. But that''s just as bad."


    Aurelius scoffed at the notion. "Because I do what I''m supposed to?"


    "Because you do nothing else," Amadeus put it bluntly. "You feel like people don''t see you as a person, but the one who doesn''t think of you as a human at all is really yourself. Why is that? Does it feel like an excuse? You just can''t to yourself that you''re human, too. That you can''t keep living the way you are."


    Aurelius leaned his elbows on the table with tired eyes. "You don''t know what it''s like."


    "Your life?"


    "Everything. The world. My mind. I only want to help others because it''s the only thing that feels good."


    "I..." Amadeus trailed off and a silence fell, only broken as he found his words again, looking past Aurelius. "The piano has been my escape my whole life. No matter how ugly life got, it helped me through it all. It never lost its beauty. The feel and the music were always there for me." He glanced at Aurelius. A little shy this time, only now having opened himself to be read as well. "Is it like that?"


    "I... guess."


    "Then you should never stop. For the sake of others as well as yourself."


    "But... I don''t feel like I''m saving people anymore. More like I''m just a murderer." Aurelius averted his gaze to sip the tea.


    "Because you''re detached?"


    "I don''t know." The words came sluggishly as Aurelius shook his head.


    "Then... I don''t know." It seemed even Amadeus ran out of things to say. "What about Cade?"


    "What?"


    "Do you feel detached from her?"


    "That... I... What?" Aurelius looked for Amadeus to fill the silence, but he let it linger. "I guess. But I''m the one who left. I betrayed her as my partner."


    "You think your link can never be repaired?"


    "I... haven''t thought about it," Aurelius answered, a little embarrassment leaking into his voice.


    "Well, what kind of person is she?" Aurelius glanced at Amadeus uncertainly. "Come on. Give me a clue."


    Aurelius put a hand on his mouth as he thought. Then, quietly, he said, "She''s... capable. Like, always. Levelel-headed, too. And strong. But she still has a sensitive side. I could always tell when she was hurting. That was until I... became the source of her hurt. Now I just think of her smile and the way we used to talk so casually. I feel like I never appreciated how much she did for me. How much she cared."


    Amadeus cracked a smile and Aurelius stopped in embarrassment. "I think you should go back to her. You need light in your life, and she sounds like that light."


    "I''ve actually been thinking about that... since your performance. Your music. It made me see a light that I hadn''t seen in a long time." Aurelius laughed at himself a little. "I even tried to write poems... even though I never really read any. Gabri¡ª my teacher liked to recite them to me when I was young, though."


    "Oh, let me hear one."


    "I''m not... They''re horrible."


    Amadeus smiled and gestured for him to go on. Perhaps he owed it to him for the performance.


    Aurelius sighed before reminding himself. "Fine. I have one that goes like..." He cleared his throat.


    "The clouds are like water


    Painted any color


    Bright as the morning sky


    Indifferent as a dark night"


    Silence. Amadeus just sat there, smiling.


    "Come on," Aurelius reached out to push him. "Say something."


    Amadeus drank the last of his tea before bursting with energy. "I think it''s great! You really missed your calling."


    "Don''t patronize me," Aurelius spat, regretting telling him.


    "I''m not, I promise. It''s authentic, I could tell."


    "It doesn''t even make sense. There are no green clouds."


    "That doesn''t matter. It came from your heart. Like music comes from mine. Equal in beauty."


    "That''s a lie."


    "That''s doesn''t matter either. At the end of the day, we humans live with our hearts. Not our minds."


    Aurelius let out a chuckle and shook his head. "You know you remind me of a guy I knew. Balgair was his name. I mean, he was crude and liked to smoke a lot, but he had this way of lifting me up." Without noticing it, a soft smile had grown on Aurelius'' face.


    "We all need someone to lift us up," Amadeus said with a smile of his own.


    "Who do you have then?" Aurelius asked as he, too, drank the last of his tea.


    "The idea of you," Amadeus answered, pointing a finger at his forehead.


    Aurelius almost burst out, but held it in and almost choked. Amadeus stood up, seemingly concerned as Aurelius flailed back and forth.


    Then there was a knock at the door. Aurelius managed to not drown in the tea and Amadeus went to answer.


    It was Damian. "I found the double. All of the preparations are complete. The operation is tomorrow."

 Chapter 81: The Idea of a Human

    It was quiet everywhere. Gadreel had never had many servants. Just a few necessary ones. Ones he could trust. If anyone asked him whether he preferred to be feared or loved, he would''ve deemed the question pointless. It was so easy to be both simultaneously.


    Treat them well like they were a part of yourself, but let them see the uglier side of yourself. In an understandable light, of course. Everything in the world had an ugly side to it. Gadreel was no different. For that, they could love as well as fear him.


    The thing was that Gadreel fundamentally didn''t feel anything from treating people well. On occasion, he gave bonus checks to his maids. They cried, kissing his hand, spent it on their children or whatever they wished, and had a glint in their eye for a while. Gadreel curved his lips up at all that, but what he understood others to feel deep in their core was alien to him. The touch of an ethereal force on the soul caused by the interaction of some kind seemed like a worldwide deception.


    Grief? Joy? Surprise? Horror? Disgust? All just an external perception as far as Gadreel was concerned. He''d learned how they looked on others and what they did to people, how they made them act and how he could use them. But never had he felt any of that. That... touch was...


    Gadreel made it to the dining hall''s door and pushed it open, intruding on the silence that had continued on and on ever since he woke. And in his white getup, he walked over to the table that had been set for him.


    He sat down and ate, thoughtless.


    The consumption of food. Being alive.


    There were people who starved to death. Gadreel had once thought he would too. Then he realized that he was a different human. That he did not know his parents, perhaps not because they had abandoned him, but because they did not exist. A human like that. A person? A child of the world. An intellect conceived for the purpose of experience. But a lacking experience. One beyond the heart.


    Beyond good and evil.


    How was it to take control? Observing this weird race of people and finding that you are above them. Only to find that you are not. That existence, after all, is equal. That while people die to their feelings, you who would die for them, are just the same but different. And how you view each other is just a matter of... delusion, under which lies a truth so simple you want to reject it for being what it is in a manner so straightforward that it seems like an act of disrespect in and of itself.


    How dare you sully my perfectly incomprehensible existence? How dare you show me a God to being in the form of simplistic discovery?


    People want to understand. They don''t want to understand. In whichever order. Life, while shoved into a box, is sensation without explanation. A mystery, not to be solved, but observed. Recognized for all its absurdity while passing by.


    That is... what is... life.


    "Pain once shook me awake. Now I sleep again. And I am afraid," Gadreel muttered as he finished his food.


    "Excuse me." The voice of a young man surprised him slightly. "Did you say something to me?"


    "Qiel," Gadreel said sluggishly. "I didn''t know you were coming."


    Qiel showed himself through the door opposite Gadreel, wearing his Western-style hat even while inside. "You didn''t get my letter?"


    "Letter?" Gadreel raised his brows at that. "I haven''t read any." Then he gestured at a chair. No matter. Sit."


    Qiel went to take a seat but seemed uncomfortable still. "Is something the matter?"


    "How so?"


    "You look like you haven''t slept."


    "I have slept. Plenty." A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    Qiel nodded hastily. "Right, of course."


    Gadreel rubbed his face. "What do you think about me, Qiel?"


    "W¡ª What?" Qiel seemed to tense at the question and fell silent, but Gadreel''s gaze told him to answer. After stuttered mumbling he managed. "You''re a supremely intelligent man without limit in the world."


    Gadreel yawned. "I mean my personality. Intelligence is not a personality trait."


    Qiel was even more baffled by this and seemed to want to move on to another topic, but Gadreel knew what he would say.


    "You''re a... generous man. A model of what a human should be. You''re tactful even if ruthless in the pursuit of your goals. And you are strong, in an intangible way."


    Gadreel gave a slight smile. "A model..." he tilted his head at Qiel. "Do you know what I think the Idea of a Human is?"


    Qiel gulped audibly, having some sort of image in his head. "I¡ª I don''t, I''m afraid."


    Gadreel looked downwards to the side. "I''ve always thought the most human human that all humans aspire to be is one that feels most deeply. I have seen men like that. Men so full of contempt they have crushed their wives and stabbed their children. I have also seen men who are so deeply and unwaveringly enamored that their courage is unbeaten and their endurance for suffering limitless. But there is a one-dimensionality to these beings. I have rarely seen men who exhibit both qualities. Never both to an extreme. But those people might still be called two-dimensional. Do you think the Idea of a Human is two-dimensional?"


    Qiel shook his head.


    Gadreel looked back at him. "Then how many?"


    "T¡ª Three?" Qiel answered, a whine to his shaky voice.


    "Yes," Gadreel nodded. Then more enthusiastically. "Yes! Qiel it is good that you came. Good. Very good, in fact. For quite some time now, I have felt that I am dead. You remind me that I am not. Not yet." Gadreel closed his eyes and breathed deeply with his chin to the ceiling. "You are correct. The Idea of a Human is three-dimensional much like this reality of ours. The Idea of a Human feels a stabbing contempt as well as a limitless love, however, it does not stop there." Gadreel was glad to be speaking again, but he gave a turn to Qiel. "What more is there?"


    "Both... At the same time?"


    "Yes, of course. Both. Three-dimensions is a world in and of itself. It is a world of feeling. Of sensation." Gadreel spread his arms in a grand manner before squeezing them back in close and putting the tips of his fingers to his temple. "But we humans live in our minds. The world is truly ours. But at the same time, we have never touched the world. We are animals. We have brains. We live through these brains. But the brain never touches. The brain never sees, hears, smells, or tastes. Our bodies do, and they tell us what it is like." Gadreel moved his hand on his forehead before drawing it away as his eyes watched. "So then, to be three-dimensional, one must transcend our bodies. One must feel the world for everything it is. Feel the contempt, feel the love, feel both, feel what is beyond, in between, and all at once. That... is the Idea of a Human."


    Qiel blinked and it was silent for long. A pleasant silence. Expanding on the little Gadreel felt was always pleasant. Or at least serene.


    As he saw that Qiel was afraid to speak, he talked first. "Well, onto other matters." He gestured with a hand. "Please, go on."


    "Right." Qiel nodded and cleared his throat. "As I''m sure you recall, I sent you a report on a matter in Arlryk that might''ve interested you approximately 7 months ago. About a figure called the liveD."


    "And there has been a new development?" Gadreel asked, raising his brows in genuine interest.


    "Well, you see, I believe the liveD is the son of Ares," Qiel declared. "I know you believe he is in hiding, waiting for the dust to settle in Mircrest, and you have increased protection on the Acelot branch in case of an assault, but I ask that you will hear my theory."


    Gadreel smiled lightly. "Oh, but of course I will hear it."


    "Thank you, Sir." Qiel interlocked his fingers and smiled nervously. Then he started building a puzzle with his words and solved it while Gadreel observed his speculations, commenting here and there.


    The theory was logical. All the way from how the liveD was most likely to be one man rather than a group to how impractical it was to stay in Mircrest.


    "So the son of Ares left Mircrest and went to Arkryk to continue his battle against organizations whose existences he objects to?" Gadreel looked for confirmation. Qiel gave it in the form of a nod. "And while he is strong enough to kill off the Evaporation Squadron, he just abandoned the ones responsible for him being hunted? Why not attack Acelot? Or any branch for that matter? Or even the president now that he knows that he works for me?" Gadreel paused only to let Qiel open his mouth but stay silent. "That''s right. ''Why?'' is the question. Your puzzle is one with pieces missing. I work with a puzzle like that as well, however, I do not involve you in that work. Please refrain from doing the same to me," Gadreel concluded and stood.


    Qiel simply nodded and left his gaze downcast. "I see. I am sorry."


    "Don''t be. I was interested to hear of Uzbec''s return. Thank you for bringing that to me," Gadreel said not to beat the poor young man into a hole. He meant it. William had once said he would rather have an Uzbec than a Sherridan. The man''s capabilities were known far and wide. It was truly rare to find an individual who accepted his nature when it was one of unfiltered but controlled violence. "Now, I must go. I tire of this day. I wish for the next to come soon."


    Fortunately, the next was soon. As it was then. Right before he saw William the next time.


    The last time.

 Chapter 82: Infiltration

    They started with kidnapping. Damian had the target ready. With a matching physical description and a lonely existence, one particular servant was the perfect object of impersonation. Aurelius worried about there not being any reference for personality. Amadeus responded with a nonchalant wave of his hand and had a few minutes of conversation with the young servant before they knocked him out in his own home.


    Amadeus first covered his birthmark with a salve that dried in a way that took on the face''s color perfectly. Then he took the man''s uniform and locked himself in a room for a while and came out talking Rykian in the way of the capital. Aurelius knew because he didn''t understand all the words right away.


    There were differences in how Miran was spoken in Mircrest and the Thropes, but many of Arkryk''s dialects were borderline incomprehensible. Damian said it was because of Arkryk''s business landscape. And Miran, he said, was the common tongue that had been kept strictly the same after the founding of the Thropes. Apparently, Mircrest was founded by rebellious ''Thropians'' and the language was kept the same so they could one day absorb the Thropes without issue.


    The information was new and boggled Aurelius'' frenzied mind, but he listened eagerly to Damian''s explanation while Amadeus asked a few questions from the restrained and blindfolded servant. Damian seemed to explain eagerly as well, seemingly having discovered a passion for the linguistic history of the continent in wait for the operation to begin. For morning to come.


    Aurelius still wasn''t sure how it would all go down. Having to rely on an innocent person to do the dangerous part after being on his lonesome for so long was nerve-wracking. And the dangerous part was only becoming more and more dangerous in Aurelius'' mind. What if he was exposed? Caught by Uzbec? Hell, what if he came face-to-face with Orpheus? Would he try to assassinate the man right there?


    He wanted to cancel it. Send Amadeus home and go in alone. But it was too late.


    As they ran through the plan over and over, morning arrived. Amadeus said something in Rykian as he stood up.


    Aurelius and Damian followed suit, watching with grave eyes as Amadeus was about to leave.


    "Wait?" Aurelius said in rykian, walking over to Amadeus. Then right as he turned to face him, Aurelius wrapped Amadeus in an embrace. "Do not take unnecessary risks for my sake." He gave him a few powerful pats on the back before pulling apart, holding the boy with both arms. "The world needs your music, and the last time you play should be for yourself; not me."


    Amadeus''s expression changed from surprise to something pleasant and he opened his mouth. Only to shut it and give a firm nod. Then he turned his back and left.


    Aurelius hadn''t felt so helpless since...


    The capital was colossus. Walking from one end to the other would''ve taken at least a day. Orpheus'' fortress was still too large in relation. It was like a city of its own. Three walls surrounded it with servants and their families within the first layer, soldiers and their families within the second layer and finally Orpheus'' castle behind the last wall.


    Getting inside the first layer had been relatively easy. The second layer, however, was a world of its own with nothing but soldiers behind it. How wealthy Orpheus was to keep such an army of his own was a mystery, but Aurelius would''ve placed him among the five richest men in the world.


    The question was, could Amadeus really make it in without a problem like he said?


    ***


    Amadeus walked through the first layer of the gate with a polite smile, the guards nodded to him as he entered.


    The castle ahead was larger than any building he had ever seen. Or structure for that matter. It was ugly sculpted gray and dark gray rock stacked gradually higher towards the center that one could see only if he was looking at the sky.


    Soldiers were not only on the walls but located at the gates as well as guard towers all around the angular castle.


    Amadeus kept a straight but pleasant face as he walked inside. Exactly as if he''d seen the place a thousand times. He then made his way through the red-carpeted halls confidently following the mental map he had inquired from the object of his impersonation.


    He greeted other servants who of course didn''t recognize him but reciprocated out of a sense of obligation from his apparent familiarity. He spun around a corner to a less populated wing of the castle, smoothly stole a tray of wine and grapes off a cart, and opened a side door into the servant''s staircase. If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    Then he put his head down and started making his way up, his expression growing more grim with each step.


    There was a reason he had asked to interrogate the servant alone. The first question he''d asked was instructions to Orpheus'' quarters. Aurelius was untouchable physically, but he had a flaw of character. Amadeus wouldn''t let such a flaw risk the operation.


    The plan Amadeus had first pitched was to ask around about any future occasions during which Orpheus might be absent. The risk was minimal. All there was to do was make inquiries to servants, and if unsuccessful, approach soldiers with some made-up stories. If neither of those yielded anything, he would try seeking a job in the decoy staff and find out that way. If done in rapid succession, lower risk attempts wouldn''t sabotage higher risk ones.


    However, Amadeus knew that the lower-risk ones were just hopeful thinking. The plebians of this place didn''t know anything, and he wasn''t going to let his chance at revenge slip through his fingers because of cowardice. His ''plan'' had just been a necessary lie to get Aurelius on board.


    Making it to the end of the small staircase, Amadeus pushed himself onto the top floors of the castle. He wasn''t supposed to be there. His interrogation had yielded as much. Only a few servants were allowed on the very top floors.


    He heard chatter in the hallway and slipped back into the staircase. After waiting until it passed he rushed out and almost ran as he was careful not to spill any wine. He had no idea about the structure of the top floors, but he knew there was a staircase in the middle that led to the highest floor where Orpheus'' quarters were. With that information, he could just wriggle his way through the different halls and avoid any people and open rooms. Fortunately, the floor was almost completely abandoned, luxurious rooms left to gather dust. Meant for family, Amadeus assumed.


    Then he saw it. The large spiral staircase was in the middle. He waited until there was no chatter or footsteps before approaching and beginning to walk up. He glanced down and saw a fall that would''ve killed an enhanced soldier, but quickly averted his attention to walk with a measured pace. Servants had a certain way of walking, he''d observed.


    Unfortunately, so did soldiers. And it was a silent one.


    It was a cough that shook him almost out of his own body. His eyes flew wide as he felt his heart in his throat. Then he amicably looked to the other side of the staircase. A man with a black mask making his way down. He realized had stopped walking and resumed promptly in the exact same manner.


    He and the soldier got closer. He was sure to be one of Orpheus'' close men, but it wasn''t likely that servants were paid much attention. As they were past each other, Amadeus grew hopeful.


    Then a hand landed on his shoulder. He turned, startled and saw shaded eyes watching him.


    "Who are you?" the soldier asked with a muffled low tone.


    Amadeus was a master at faking all things, but tone of voice was nigh impossible to fake convincingly. The human ear just had a way of telling. What he could do was adapt his natural reaction to the subject.


    "Wha¡ª Oh, I''m just doing a delivery." His voice shook and cracked, but not overly. Just like a servant''s would if stopped by a scary soldier. "Adreno asked me to take this to Orpheus and he''s... I''m¡ª" Amadeus pulled a name from his interrogation. One close to Orpheus. That gave him some space to work but brought all kinds of risks.


    The soldier''s eyes narrowed. What if Adreno would walk up to them? What if he was out sick today? Then the soldier grumbled to himself. "Alright. But Orpheus is in a meeting right now. Leave the tray behind the door." With that, he was off.


    Amadeus was tempted to laugh. His ways of finding out if Orpheus was in the room had been quite risky. He ought to thank the dutious soldier.


    He rose to the top floor and left the tray behind the door before sneaking inside.


    The room''s roof rose from the sides to the very sharp top. There was no illumination in the place, but the light through the shadowy windows lent the room a shade of dark blue that contrasted with the black.


    He was clear, however, he wasn''t loosening up. He walked with utter silence through the room, gazing around with curiosity. It was unexpectedly messy. Of course, Orpheus was a lousy piece of shit, but he hadn''t even let himself be cleaned after. Bookshelves, bust sculptures, and golden decorations were dusty. In the corners of the room, there were paintings worth fortunes just lying around. And most of all, there was a piano left unattended. The most beautifully made piano Amadeus had ever seen. Only to be left to gather dust and fall apart in the hands of a moronic, treacherous, filthy, imbecile piece of the world''s feces.


    On the other hand, the bed was obviously well-kept. It was huge. Unnecessarily so to the point, it was ridiculous. On top of that, it had tall white curtains around it.


    Amadeus didn''t linger on that for long, however. He made his way to the desk at the end of the room and started the search.


    The desk was dusty but less so than the other things. It was used on occasion. There had to be some indication of where he would be. A letter of invitation. There had to be.


    Amadeus searched the drawers with increasing nervousness. He checked them for false bottoms as well, but there were none. He looked through unorganized stacks on the desk. Still nothing. Then he crawled around looking for some on the floor.


    That''s when he found it.


    The next meeting between the leaders of Nexus. He looked through it with scrambling fingers. His open mouth started to curve up as he saw it wasn''t held in the castle. But then his face went loose. It was in half a year.


    His lower teeth bit into his upper lip until he tasted blood, a reckoning inside his mind. Then he heard a clink and his world fell out from under his feet. He looked to the side. There was no new light. The door had remained closed, but there was someone in the room.


    Amadeus'' frenzied gaze then pointed at the bed where there was a gap in the curtains and he met the fearful eyes of a chained young woman whose mouth hung agape.

 Chapter 83: Facing Demons (1)

    Amadeus almost jumped up. But he realized just how delicate the situation was. One hurried movement, one sign of hostility, and it was all over.


    Amadeus let the papers be and stood up slowly. The woman gripped the bed curtains tightly but didn''t let out a sound.


    She wasn''t far from his age. A little older. That was good. Amadeus could use that. Or so he thought, but as he stepped closer, holding his eyes gently on the woman, he began to see the human in her. And once he did, the act crumbled. It always did.


    She had long blonde hair and light-colored eyes. Amadeus bet she was what people would''ve called the pinnacle of beauty, however, here she only had a blanket that exposed her soft shoulders as well as large chains around her wrists.


    When he made his way to the bed, she shrank away, expression twisting like she was about to cry. Surprisingly, Amadeus couldn''t see any physical damage on her. But her mind was another case completely. Amadeus felt like running out, finding Orpheus, and stabbing him to death as he thought about how long she had been kept there. And what would happen when she no longer was wanted? The same that had happened to so many more.


    Amadeus crouched as he arrived at the side of the bed and held up a hand as a gesture of peace. The woman had backed up to the other side of the bed, going as far as the chains would allow.


    "What''s your name?" Amadeus whispered softly and hoped the woman spoke Rykian or Miran.


    "W¡ª what?" she asked, half-sobbing.


    "Your name," Amadeus repeated calmly. "I''m Amadeus. What''s your name?"


    "I¡ª Inga. My name is Inga," she said.


    Amadeus could see slight relaxation in her shoulders and nodded. He couldn''t waste much time here. Orpheus'' quarters were a bust. He had to get the information in another way. A slightly more complicated way, but he had experience slithering through obstacles. This was no different.


    He just had to get this woman on his side before he left, so she wouldn''t alert others of his presence.


    "Inga... it''s a beautiful name." Amadeus smiled at her. She remained wary, but it was progress. He glanced at her chains and frowned deeply. "You want to leave this place, don''t you?" She stayed quiet, probably thinking it was some sort of sick test. "It''s fine. You don''t have to answer. I''m going to get you out of here. Orpheus won''t be around much longer."


    "Huh? What will you do?"


    "I am going to kill him." A strategic lie.


    "You can''t." Inga shook her head profusely, afraid to death. "Orpheus is God."


    Amadeus'' face twitched. "The liveD is God," he snapped a little more loudly than he intended.


    Inga was startled. Then she shivered in recognition of the name. "You''re¡ª"


    "Shhh," Amadeus hushed her, returning to his calm demeanor. "Don''t tell anyone you saw me, alright?"


    There was silence. Then Inga gave a faint nod. Amadeus gave her an encouraging smile and looked back to make sure everything was in its place before sneaking out again. When he made it to the other side of the door, he took a breath and wiped his forehead.


    His time was running out.


    He cleared himself and took on the measured gait of a servant once again, beginning to make his way down the stairs.


    People were bound to question those who went up. Not as much as those who came down.Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.


    He had gotten a fairly good layout of the castle for his purposes, but to most of it, he was blind. Still, he couldn''t break the relaxed, confident stride or his illusion routine as he made his way through the foreign halls.


    He had expected to find something conclusive in Orpheus'' chambers, but he still had alternatives. One thing he knew for sure, he wouldn''t leave without the information.


    With that thought, he stumbled upon what he searched for and an awkwardness almost overwhelmed him as he stepped inside the neat office where there was a thin woman dressed in a suit with tied-up blonde hair.


    "Ehm, excuse me, miss," Amadeus said as he entered.


    The woman lifted her sharp eyes with a dangerously inquisitive look. "Yes, what is it?"


    She was who Amadeus had gained knowledge about when he asked about Orpheus'' secretary. In reality, she was just a servant who happened to be close to Orpheus. Not too close. Orpheus didn''t trust anyone enough to let them into his business so thoroughly as a secretary, but that could''ve been Amadeus'' saving grace.


    If there was nobody who knew everything about things, he was safer in his impersonation. It was a gamble, but one he was willing to take.


    Amadeus shut the door behind him discreetly and approached the desk the woman sat behind. "I don''t want to take too much of your time. I am here to volunteer for the decoy missions."


    "You''re a servant, are you not?" The woman asked, squinting slightly in irritation.


    "I am, yes, but it was to my understanding that you are in need of decoy servants as well."


    "Those positions are taken."


    It was as expected, but Amadeus hoped there was some wiggle room that could allow him his answer. If not, he had made a grave mistake.


    "I''m aware, but¡ª"


    "Are you not happy with your current occupation?"


    "Of course, I am. My¡ª"


    The woman leafed through some papers on her desk. "Your number?"


    Amadeus felt a rise in his heartbeat and was forced to concentrate on pushing back any physical clues to his mental state. "321." There was a slight whinge in his voice that made him curse inwardly.


    The woman raised a brow as he gave Amadeus a glance. There were no records of names or servant numbers with portraits which made the infiltration relatively easy as long as Amadeus didn''t interact with people the servant interacted with often.


    However, there was no telling if the woman still recognized him. The wait was agonizing. And it lasted. Oh, it lasted.


    Amadeus''s vision grew blurry as he started to panic inside and think up visualizations of how he could get out, all ending with a hole in his chest or his head rolling on the ground.


    But then the woman spoke and he felt salvation. "You were saying?"


    Amadeus took a second to recover and remember his ploy. "Ah, yes, I wanted to offer myself as a backup for the decoy servants. For example if one of them falls ill."


    "Is that so?" She really didn''t care at all. Good. "Why?"


    "To further my career. I''m ready to take on more responsibility. So is it possible? Please, I beg of you."


    The woman tilted her head in boredom, but Amadeus had appealed to her. After having spent some time on the matter, she had no reason to refuse. "I suppose."


    "Thank you, miss. Thank you so much." Amadeus bowed fervently. And then he went for it. "Would you tell me when the next decoy mission is so that I''ll be ready?"


    Amadeus watched the woman closely from under his thankful eyes. But then his act shattered from just words in the hallway. He didn''t even process them properly before the shivers ran down his spine. Despite his best efforts his mouth opened and his jaw trembled. His breath was caught and he felt like he was choking.


    ''Not now. Not here!'' Amadeus panicked.


    The woman''s eyes were on him. He was so close! But it didn''t matter as he was reduced to a fearful child once again. The situation he had simulated so many times and lived through with his refined skills showed itself and crumbled him.


    "The Son of Ares? Pure conjecture if you ask me," he said. It was him. Amadeus could never forget that voice. That damned, slimy voice.


    "From what I''ve gathered," another voice said. The voice was unnaturally grim even as it was muffled by the door between Amadeus and it.


    "Hah, are you sure you haven''t lost your edge, Uzbec?"


    Amadeus turned. ''Uzbec?! He''s... here? How? Why?'' He tried to move, but his legs felt like they had sunk into the floor.


    The voices were getting closer. Coming toward the office Amadeus was in. He would''ve said it was just his imagination, but the woman was expecting them as well.


    "Well, I''ll meet with the king on the 12th day of this moon. If this business is international, he''ll be forced to play a hand in it," he talked again as Uzbec remained silent.


    The information Amadeus sought fell into his lap, but before he could feel his emotions rise, they crashed. With a sound that seemed to Amadeus like the collapse of a castle, the door opened and two men walked in.


    Amadeus grew numb as he realized after all these years, Orpheus still towered over him. He wanted to run, but a glance from Uzbec''s black and animalistic eyes froze him. His appearance seemed to have been fed by the horrible legend that enveloped his name. He looked like a young and old man simultaneously while possessing an air akin to that of an undead.


    But despite all that, Amadeus couldn''t take his eyes off Orpheus'' chiseled face as he looked down and cocked his head. "What''s this now?"

 Chapter 84: Facing Demons (2)

    In the midst of all the chaos in his mind and rigidness in his body, Amadeus was consumed with a single question.


    ''Does he... remember me?''


    Orpheus'' eyes reflected a careless disdain as he peered at everything below him, but did he know he was looking at a boy whose parents he had murdered only some years past?


    Orpheus moved his gaze over Amadeus quickly as if he was just there to be passed by. "Michaela, I need you to do something for me," he said to the blonde woman.


    Amadeus slowly gathered himself in a non-suspicious manner. Then his mind began to race with ideas of success. He had the information. All he had to do was to get out, tell Aurelius Orpheus would visit the King of Arkryk on the 12th, and justice would be done at long last.


    Still, he had to wait to be dismissed, so he stood there, looking down at his feet impatiently. Orpheus and Angelica were discussing some political matters. Orpheus might have been a stinking pile of dogshit in the shape of a human, but he still had enough intelligence and self-preservation instinct to be aware of the relevant matters in his life.


    Amadeus glanced to the side as nervousness started to creep up his spine. The bodyguards were there. Three men with black masks behind Uzbec. He shouldn''t have looked, but he did, and in that brief moment, his eyes locked with Uzbec. It was only for an instant, but every cell in his body screamed at him for it. He looked away quickly, but Uzbec kept staring at him like Amadeus suspected he had been doing for the entire time.


    Under his gaze, Amadeus did all he could to keep himself from breaking out in a sweat. He could feel as his senses became more acute. That''s when he noticed Uzbec was breathing only through his mouth. The scent of the blonde woman''s perfume caressed his nostrils, but the last thing he needed was to be set at ease.


    Under Uzbec''s gaze and beside Orpheus he found himself wondering why such beings were allowed to exist. Orpheus had massacred his family by the time he was 20 just so he could inherit the entire family fortune and Uzbec''s trail of bodies was multiple times longer than that of the liveD which had already become notorious across the entire nation.


    They were like some kind of lizards that had clothes themselves in human skin and prowled around, wreaking misery, pain, and impurity because it was all they knew.


    "Great, please send him my regards, Michaela," Orpheus finished and turned to leave, passing by Amadeus without a glance.


    Then they were gone... almost.


    Right at the door, Uzbec stopped and turned. "Excuse me, servant, what exactly were you doing in this office?"


    Amadeus raised his head, turning to face Uzbec. Even after the surprise, he retained the good sense to look at Uzbec''s feet instead of his eyes. "I was requesting an opportunity, Sir," he said bowing his head.


    "What opportunity?" Uzbec asked, making himself sound curious.


    Amadeus paused and tried forming an answer that he hoped would not raise any suspicions. Orpheus was observing dubiously, looking like he would rather be in his quarters.


    Then Michaela answered from behind so as to not waste any time, "he wanted a position as a decoy."


    "Hmm, quite the odd request," Uzbec mused with a hand on his chin. His tone sounded so genuinely normal that Amadeus raised his gaze almost out of curiosity for one who could master the art of pretend so profoundly. And once again he met Uzbec''s eyes and discovered that he truly was a different beast entirely. Somehow, within his eyes, there was not a bit of light. No kindness, no remorse, no sympathy, no sociality, no agreeableness. Not even a hint of anything human.Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.


    One''s tone of voice was the hardest thing to fake. Amadeus knew it very well. But even though Uzbec was very adept at faking, such as gaze simply couldn''t be faked.


    "I thought I might be of more use that way," Amadeus answered hurriedly, putting his head back down.


    Uzbec stepped forward. "You don''t like your job?"


    "Gah, what are you doing?" Orpheus scowled and grabbed Uzbec''s arms from behind.


    Uzbec slapped him off without looking back and walked up to Amadeus, looked down at him, and asked again "Do you not like your job."


    "Yes, I do, Sir. Of course, I do. My maste¡ª" Amadeus said, acting like he was trying to stay courageous. Then he realized he wasn''t acting. He was shaking.


    "Who are you?"


    "321, Sir."


    "Not your number. Your name."


    "I don''t understand, Sir. What did I do wr¡ª"


    "Your name!"


    Amadeus took a glance at Orpheus who was right behind Uzbec shaking his head in annoyance. This was nothing to them. Amadeus didn''t even know why it was happening, but to them, all of it was a game.


    "Ulrich," Amadeus said the name of the real servant, looking down and putting a little sob in his voice.


    Suddenly Uzbec calmed down. Then it was like Amadeus could feel the room temperature lower.


    "You''re from Duran, aren''t you?" Uzbec said. "Like me."


    Amadeus glanced up nervously. His heart was slowing but in an eerie way. Like it would slow all the way down to a stop.


    Uzbec was smiling, his eyes squinted.


    The panic settled in. It was a question he had to answer and do so quickly. He intuited the time he had before his answer would seem suspicious. Certainly, he had some leeway due to his earlier nervousness.


    But that didn''t mean the question was easy. It was simple, the depth it had seemed endless as Amadeus rushed through it.


    It was possible that Uzbec had gone through the servants'' records. He was after the liveD, and though he had gotten on Aurelius'' trail, there had been a period when he was introduced to the job. Of course, the assumption was that the liveD was an organization of people which meant that they could have men on the inside.


    If that was the case, which it probably was, Uzbec would indeed have gone through the files, and even if he hadn''t memorized everybody''s numbers and information, he would likely have remembered someone who was from his hometown. The possibility that he had noted that a servant named Ulrich happened to share part of his origins was real enough.


    On the other hand, it was possible that he hadn''t read the files. Even if he had it was more likely that he didn''t remember any individuals. Hell, he could''ve remembered wrong. The chances of Ulrich being from any other town than Duran were marginally higher. But still, the possibility did exist.


    Uzbec was a true sadist to the core.


    He asked the one question, he could''ve been aware of and knew an infiltrator knew he could know. It was a question to be answered quickly. And most of all it was something an infiltrator would never ask the subject of his impersonation.


    Amadeus cursed in his mind, his thoughts having been tied to a knot in the three seconds he just stood there.


    Yes or no.


    Did Uzbec read the files? Did he remember? What were the chances Ulrich was from Duran?


    Amadeus wanted to check Orpheus'' face for clues. However, he most certainly wore an expression of displeasure and confusion which could''ve indicated both Uzbec having read or not having read the files.


    Amadeus made a face, and then cautiously moved his lips apart, the answer unclear until it slipped out of his mouth. "No."


    "What?" Uzbec leaned in with an inquisitive look. "Really?" In the middle of that word, his tone shifted back from friendly to grim. He turned back to Orpheus. "It seems I remembered wrongly."


    Amadeus glanced up and noticed the sweat caught on his brows. Then he saw Orpheus'' half-grin. Something was wrong.


    ''Oh, no,'' Amadeus thought slowly, one part of him in shock, the other already reckoning.


    His instincts screamed at him to do something, but it was too late when Uzbec turned with a deeper darkness in his eyes and grabbed Amadeus'' head with a steel grip. Amadeus didn''t know what was happening. Only that it was the end of something bad and the beginning of something much, much worse.


    Then his legs went out from under him and he felt his head be slammed on Michaela''s desk. It repeated until he was numb and slumped.


    ***


    When he woke up, he was naked in a dim, stained chamber and was tied to a cold metal chair with a tilted footrest. A terrible pain slowly sunk in, but it wasn''t from the side of his head. He strained himself to look down with drowsy eyes and a scream escaped his mouth.


    In place of his leg, there was a bloody stump.

 Chapter 85: Inferno (1)

    Amadeus thrashed, teeth clenched against the pain. It was no good. He was tied with hyperwire.


    When he realized, he put his head down and relaxed his whole body. Soon the raw pain faded into his subconscious and it became like an out-of-body experience.


    ''This isn''t real," Amadeus thought in desperation, his eyes hollowly looking down at his sorry physical state. ''I wasn''t caught. How could I be caught?'' The question gave rise to anger and made him try to enhance before ripping through the hyperwire that tied his forearms to the chair. It was a hopeless effort. Hyperwire could only be broken with compression and without immaculate control, one would blow their arm off in such a position.


    "Quite the roar for a servant." A remark from the dark.


    Amadeus raised his head in surprise and turned his head, to find Uzbec''s dark figure in the dim corner of the room, sitting with one leg over the other and a hand on his chin.


    Amadeus cursed his idiocy and tried to play it off. "My leg... What did I do?!"


    Uzbec snorted and stood up, proceeding to walk around Amadeus and come into sight on his right side. He looked down at Amadeus and seemed about to answer when suddenly a knife appeared in his grip and he slammed it down through Amadeus'' right hand.


    Amadeus gasped before a scream escaped his mouth. He could''ve stopped, but he kept screaming if only to keep up the act. He didn''t know what else to do.


    Uzbec leaned in close and watched him as he suffered. "What did you do? That is what you want to know?" he asked with intensity in his voice. Then he straightened up and spoke with an eerie calmness. "Nothing in particular."


    His erratic behavior was likely just an interrogation tactic of some sort, but awareness of that made it no less unnerving. A man who would so willingly act a maniac for an advantage was to be feared even more than a simple maniac.


    "Then why am I here?" Amadeus cried. It was easy to act by amplifying already existing emotions. "Whatever I did, I''m sorry! I''m sorry!"


    "You are here because you are a spy. Or because I am here to find out if you are one," Uzbec explained as he gripped his knife more tightly.


    "W¡ªwhat?" Amadeus muttered, confusion on the outside, rage on the inside.


    Uzbec pulled the knife out of his hand, sending another surge of intense pain through his body. Amadeus screamed out only briefly before he stifled it. He knew what this meant.


    Uzbec let the knife disappear and grasped Amadeus'' bleeding hand tightly, causing even more pain to surge out. "So let me ask you to save us both time. Are you a spy?"


    Amadeus gritted his teeth and seethed. To be done in by a hunch acted upon loosely was more punishment than failing on his own. All because a servant''s life meant nothing. Uzbec could take his chances and get off scot-free.


    Now, Amadeus had a choice.


    He put on a sour expression and tongued his teeth. It was still there. He could''ve done it right there, however, he refrained.Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    Uzbec''s question was a simple one. If he was a servant, he would be killed straight away. If he was a spy, he was in for a world of pain. But in that pain, there was a chance of Aurelius coming to his rescue. The 12th was 7 days away. If he was rescued before that, he could relay the information and the plan would go ahead.


    In other words, the question was: die a painless, worthless death or live in pain to see justice be done. To Amadeus, it wasn''t even a question.


    And so he spat in Uzbec''s face as he leaned in, squeezing his injured hand. "Fuck you."


    Uzbec didn''t blink. He only stood straight again without letting go of Amadeus'' hand and said, "Good." There was satisfaction in the word. One could imagine a slight smile on the man''s face.


    "Well, what are you waiting for?" Amadeus asked. "Are we here to torture and be tortured or are we here to hold hands?"


    "I can see that you know pain," Uzbec observed a hint of respect in his tone. Then he squeezed more tightly, making Amadeus grumble with deep annoyance.


    "You say that like you are an authority on the matter," Amadeus spat, beginning to shiver and grow pale by the second. "Easy to act like it when you''re not the one with a headache, stab wound, and a fucking amputated leg!"


    Uzbec glanced at Amadeus'' left leg as if only now remembering it again. "Right. It was a necessary precaution. I hope you understand." Amadeus heard a slight mocking in the voice and raged.


    Then Uzbec''s eyes gleamed and he pressed Amadeus'' bleeding hand on the metal chair''s armrest with his hand on top. Then, a knife appeared in his free hand and he raised it high before stabbing through his own hand as well as Amadeus''.


    Both their eyes went wide, but it appeared for different reasons. Amadeus repressed his scream and seethed before gaining control of his breathing again. Uzbec simply watched him closely, showing no sign of having been stabbed in his hand.


    When he finally withdrew the knife and took his hand off, he showed a slight frown as he walked behind Amadeus to get a metal cart with medical supplies. Then he took some bandages and walked around Amadeus while he calmly spun the bandages around his own hand.


    "When I was a child, I was taken to rooms like this often. It wasn''t a happy time, but for some reason, I''ve grown sentimental about it. There is something so exciting about youth. The potential one had and the progression one made. Thinking about it is reinvigorating."


    Amadeus just kept shivering. The room temperature was fine, but the cold metal chair against his naked body wasn''t very comforting, and the blood loss was getting to him. Soon, however, Uzbec would mend his hand as he did with his leg and feed him. Then it would go on.


    Amadeus leaned his head back and sighed with the pain. Suddenly he took part in the conversation Uzbec was having with himself. "So now you torture others. Because it reminds you of your youth?"


    "Hmm, not quite," Uzbec said, stopping in front of Amadeus and glancing at him before focusing on finishing the bandaging on his hand. "I''m simply good at it."


    "And why are you telling me this, huh? Did your torturers talk this much as well?"


    "No. They gave instructions."


    "Why do you talk then?"


    "To establish a baseline. I get a sense of how people act to see irregularities."


    ''But you won''t see mine when I spin you a story,'' Amadeus thought in the depths of his mind where the pain didn''t reach.


    Uzbec finished the bandages on his hand and turned his attention fully to Amadeus. "I also feel that this is the only time when I can be truly honest with others. It''s my way of showing the world who I am. Yours is..." he glanced at his fingers. "the piano. Is it?"


    Amadeus nodded sluggishly at his deduction. It was a lie. ''I only ever tell lies,'' Amadeus thought.


    Uzbec brought his skinny metal chair from the corner to Amadeus'' side and began to wrap up his hand in silence. Uzbec was giving him time to think. That was for a reason. He likely depended on Amadeus thinking up something incoherent in the midst of his pain and exposing something on accident. However, Amadeus intended to expose nothing.


    Nothing except for what would get him out of Orpheus'' castle and give Aurelius a chance for a rescue.


    That''s why for the first day he said nothing as Uzbec began his brutal procedures accompanied by inquiries into the identity of the liveD and his organization. Not until the salve wore off and his birthmark showed itself. That''s when he spoke again.


    "Bring Orpheus and I''ll talk."


    It was time for him to properly introduce himself.

 Chapter 86: Inferno (2)

    It didn''t take long until Orpheus waltzed into the torturing chamber, bringing with him a familiar scent. Amadeus recognized it as the one Inga, the woman in his chambers had had.


    "I pray for your sake that this is something important, Uzbec," Orpheus remarked as he rolled his eyes around the chamber.


    Uzbec glanced at him before looking back at Amadeus with observant eyes. "More important than whatever you were doing."


    Orpheus snorted and then looked at Amadeus as well. "I see you''ve gotten somewhere with this one. Any information?"


    They spoke like Amadeus couldn''t hear them. Good.


    "No," Uzbec answered bluntly.


    "Really?" Orpheus almost sounded impressed as he looked at Amadeus'' amputated foot, stabbed hand, broken toes and peeled skin.


    "He seems trained."


    "Then why am I here?"


    "He said he''d talk to you. I thought it was a good opportunity."


    Orpheus sighed and put his hands behind his back before settling in front of Amadeus. "Well? Talk."


    "...not trained." Amadeus struggled to speak.


    "What?" Orpheus asked.


    Uzbec stood up and came to pour some water down his throat before he could repeat.


    "I''m not trained," Amadeus said with a cough.


    "Then you''re quite the natural," Orpheus complimented with a mocking undertone.


    "No. Not a natural." Amadeus shook his head slightly, the weakness in his body making every movement a sluggish effort. "Pain is nothing for a man tortured by his emotions. You don''t remember, do you?"


    "He''s rambling," Orpheus said and turned to leave. "Inform me when you have something useful."


    "Look at me!" Amadeus roared out with a violent movements movement against his binds. He saw Orpheus twitch just slightly and smiled. Orpheus turned with embarrassed rage, but Amadeus simply continued. "...when I speak to you."


    The Orpheus began stomping in his direction. "You wretched little¡ª" Uzbec stopped him with a hand on his shoulder. Orpheus did so begrudgingly, but then threw on a fake smile and laughed it off, wagging his finger at Amadeus. "Aah, I see what you tried there." His face went straight and his eyes turned dark. "It won''t work. You''re alive as long as Uzbec thinks he''ll get something out of you."


    Amadeus remained unfazed and moved his head around to relieve the strain in his neck. He responded casually, "You really are one dumb piece of shit." Uzbec raised his brows in reaction, seemingly impressed. "But what can be expected from an inbred, spoiled brat." Amadeus'' words faded towards the end. It was what he wanted to say and why he had gotten Orpheus to come down, but maybe he''d crossed the line.


    Suddenly Orpheus was no longer a comfortable distance away and Amadeus was choking. Orpheus was a large man and looked all the larger standing next to the chair and glaring down as he squeezed his grip on Amadeus'' throat. "Say that again," he seethed.


    ''I would if I could," Amadeus thought despite his face turning red and his body starting to convulse.


    He looked at Uzbec who observed Orpheus with interest.


    "Look at me!" Orpheus'' scream shook him and he turned his attention to see himself mimicked further. "...when I choke you." Orpheus laughed at his own shitty joke, but didn''t stop choking Amadeus.Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.


    Amadeus started seeing black, but he couldn''t pass out. If he didn''t get Orpheus to come down again, he would surely die. That''s why he had to squeeze it out. "You killed... them."


    "I''ve killed quite a few people," Orpheus laughed, relieving some pressure, but only enough that Amadeus could take short gasps. Then he shook Amadeus by his throat with a grin. "You''ll have to be a little more specific."


    "My... parents."


    "I did, did I?" Orpheus asked with a frenzied look. Then he let go and Amadeus erupted into a fit of coughs. But right after, Orpheus hit him in the face. Amadeus'' head hit the back of the chair and was dazed, but he could still feel the following blows.


    "Well... I... don''t... care," Orpheus said in between hits. Then he got close again and held Amadeus'' head tight. "I don''t care a out your fucking peasant parents. I mean seriously why does everybody expect me to care? They''re fucking peasants! There are millions of them. Their lives have no meaning! They''re the very definition of insignificance!"


    Amadeus looked at the blurry image of that despicable murderer as the taste of blood lingered in his mouth and wondered why his parents were dead while he was alive. He wanted some even slightly plausible reasoning that could justify it, but he found none.


    "Your parents mean less than nothing to me. Fuck you. I own this world." Orpheus spat in his face before taking one hand off his face and getting ready to bash his face in.


    "Wait." Uzbec stopped him. Orpheus backed off with a scowl. Uzbec walked in front of Amadeus and observed his state.


    Amadeus just felt numb, wanting this part to be over, so he could return to the proper torture.


    "He has a grudge against you," Uzbec said to Orpheus.


    "Oh? How did you figure that out?" Orpheus asked, the definition of sarcasm.


    "Idiot," Uzbec said, his gaze darkening still as he turned away from Amadeus to talk to Orpheus. "Why would he want you here."


    "To aggravate me obviously," Orpheus scoffed.


    "No. He''s a professional. Everything he does has a purpose," Uzbec complimented monotonously.


    ''I was wondering when they''d figure that much out,'' Amadeus thought with sluggish amusement.


    Then Uzbec turned back to him with eerie intelligence in his view. "Do you recognize that birthmark?" Orpheus moved to Uzbec''s side to look and furrowed his brows. "I thought it might''ve been hidden just to avoid drawing any unnecessary attention, but now..." Uzbec scratched Amadeus'' cheek and brought his hand back with some dried salve under his fingernail. "High quality. I think it had another purpose entirely."


    Amadeus felt his heartbeat rise as Orpheus watched him. And it rose ever still as he saw Orpheus begin to remember.


    "I see." A grin grew on his face. Then he looked at Uzbec. "He threw a rock through the window of my carriage some years ago. I''m pretty sure I put my hand through his mother in response."


    ''Pretty sure?'' Amadeus seethed at the words.


    Uzbec was unamused, thinking. He looked down at Amadeus. "You wanted us to know this."


    "Perhaps he wanted closure." Orpheus laughed. "What good that did him."


    "No, he wants to die." Uzbec scratched at his beard. And walked around Amadeus'' chair. "His grudge suggests he was sent to spy because he wanted to do it rather than because of his skills. He''s telling us he isn''t capable enough to have any information. The liveD might as well have sought him out and sent him straight here. Hell, it might''ve been an ally of his. As far as we know, I could be wasting my time on a man with a grudge instead of a valued member of whatever the liveD is."


    Orpheus tilted his head, looking at Amadeus who stared at him cursing him in his mind. "You want to die, do you? But you''re far too young."


    "I don''t know anything," Amadeus said, his tone low.


    "No. I think you do," Orpheus said like a disapproving parent. He looked at Uzbec. "He brought me here so that I would arrive at that conclusion. I want you to keep prying away at him." Uzbec nodded, seemingly having had the same thought. "Playtime is over. I want to know exactly who these saboteurs of my business are." Orpheus looked to have finished and turned to leave. Every step was like a stomp to Amadeus'' ears.


    ''No. That can''t be it. It can''t!'' He felt his heartbeat in his skull and started to go into a panic.


    But then, to his own stupidity, Orpheus turned back again. "Oh, I heard some screaming out of here. This place isn''t meant for torture. Well... your kind of torture. I suspect it''ll take a while to break him. Take him to your base."


    As planned. Amadeus reminded himself to not try his luck again. Asking more from the world could only end badly


    "What if we''re intercepted in a rescue attempt?" Uzbec asked.


    ''Say that it won''t happen, you nonchalant bastard. Call me worthless," Amadeus thought as he glared at Orpheus.


    "You won''t. You''ll be sent out with merchants. Even if someone''s watching, they won''t even know you left."


    Amadeus'' soul sank. And right as Orpheus was going out, he spoke even thought he shouldn''t have. Just an omen of what was coming, so that he could see Orpheus'' facade that would crumble as Aurelius slaughtered his forces.


    "The liveD will kill you."


    Orpheus stopped and turned only halfway to look at him. "When I am, death is not, and when death is, I am not. You on the other hand... are already dead." He turned back with a satisfied smile and walked out of the room.


    Orpheus was right. He just didn''t know how. But more than that, unbeknownst to him, there was a world of pain between life and death. He would find that out soon enough.

 Chapter 87: Inferno (3)

    ''Maybe I can give them some kind of sign as I''m transported. Something to let them know I''ve been taken and by who,'' Amadeus thought before Uzbec stabbed him with a needle and he lost consciousness.


    When he woke up, they''d already arrived. He swayed in his seat, pain so abundant he never felt anything else. Every little touch of his stump of a leg sent something akin to a rough beam of essence up his spine. That and the stab wounds, peeled skin, and needles scraping his bones¡ªcourtesy of Uzbec''s torture room''s custom chair¡ª, radiated pain that made Amadeus feel like he was burning up.


    ''Hot... so worse... than cold,'' Amadeus mumbled in his head, nearly stumbling over his words even there.


    It was bad enough now, but it would only get worse. Uzbec knew not to start too big. The damage was supposed to accumulate and drive the subject insane until they wavered on the edge between life and death and lost their values. However, the worst thing was that Aurelius did not know where he was. Hell, he didn''t even know Amadeus had been taken. But he still had to hope for an end to the nightmare. And it was a nightmare. One of which the god was Uzbec.


    "What. A. Travesty," Uzbec mused as he circled Amadeus. "Truly. You wouldn''t know. I figure you were born North."


    Uzbec liked talking. Getting closer to his victims. It was how he infiltrated their thoughts. His method was to violate people in every possible way. Living inside their heads.


    Amadeus wagered he liked that. It was as if Uzbec yearned to feel his victims'' pain. Just to feel something.


    Still, it worked. Amadeus had been born North. There was no way for Izbec to know that. He just did. It made Amadeus wonder what else he just knew. Lying to Uzbec was like rubbing broken glass on your eyeballs, you didn''t do it unless you had no other choice. Because he was one scary fucking man. Especially in a room that had its walls covered in tools for torture.


    "Oh, the Southeast Arkryk is quite something," Uzbec kept yammering about that place. Amadeus had to admit it was a novel experience listening to a man speak about a place where he was dreaded as well as worshipped like the devil. "There were people starving everywhere. Do you know what that looks like? When the body eats itself and becomes simply skin tightly wrapped around some sorry old bones. Then when the food shipments came, people went crazy. It was a riot every time. And every time fathers and mothers scrambled over bags of grain so their children could live, only to have their existences obliterated by beams of essence. Rough ones. Designed that way. Nowadays, such technique is seen as underdeveloped and barbaric. 50 years ago, it was the usual. Beams ripping bodies to pieces like you''ve never seen before."


    Amadeus thought about asking for water since it felt like he really might be dying of thirst, but remembered that Uzbec knew exactly when he needed to drink and he wouldn''t do so until it was time.


    "Then the gang wars... That''s where I really started. As an agent of chaos for the sake of order." Uzbec had lost his parents early. Amadeus figured it was in some way that left one scarred for life. Made a person so damaged to the core that he could do nothing but spread that damage. "You''ve heard of the gang wars, of course." Of course, he had. It was the bloodiest internal affair in the history of Arkryk. Though, the story had originally said that the government had settled them, they were the place where Uzbec''s legend was tracked down to. "They were tough bastards, I admit. The leaders of all the gangs had some kind of purpose in their heads. When I first introduced myself, all of them told me they would never break. They all did. Some broke quickly. Others lasted a week or two."


    Amadeus didn''t want him to continue. He tried to wipe his mind of the things he had heard. Believe that things like that weren''t possible even for the worst of humanity.


    Uzbec walked to the wall and observed the tools strapped to it. He ran his fingers over the hilts of various blades and contraptions with a disgusting sentimentality. "I can tell you it wasn''t the pain. More like the loss of identity. I had men impaled and burned, but that wasn''t what broke them. After I had them ravished for days and made them eat feces until they couldn''t swallow, they didn''t want to get out any longer. Even if they would have been able to go back in time, they wouldn''t have. All they desired was death. And end to the nightmare. They just wanted to die so badly they were ready to do anything."Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.


    Amadeus began to shake, the needles in his bones screaming at him not to move.


    "I was young then. Of course, I am no longer such a barbarian." Then he took hold of one rust saw and turned to Amadeus. "I will proceed with sawing off your other leg. While I do, tell me about the liveD. If what you say satisfies me, I will stop... for a time. If it doesn''t, I keep sawing."


    Amadeus tensed and forced himself to look up. Then he felt a cold touch on his shin, and with a horrible sound, his skin ripped apart.


    ***


    In the following days, Amadeus knew he had once been alive. He was vividly aware of it because he was no longer.


    He didn''t see any longer. His eyes received no more light. They remained half rolled up and he felt himself on the edge of ascendance beyond the pain


    However, the pain remained. He was beginning to think it always would. It was omnipresent.


    His shin was cut in half, but his calf muscles remained. Uzbec had left it like that after Amadeus told him everything. Every single detail... about his theories about the Lived which he had developed with unending enthusiasm before meeting Aurelius himself whose involvement he denied outright to Uzbec''s displeasure. He had his theories and an unnaturally refined intuition, but Amadeus still could sense his uncertainty.


    In return, Uzbec told him about his youth. About how he became to be the man he was. Amadeus felt an unnerving acceptance emanating from Uzbec. He looked at himself as a finished development. He accepted his nature fully, the horrible thing he was.


    However, there was something admirable about it. Amadeus found himself becoming attached to the man. He felt deep, deep hatred for him, but he was attached, nonetheless.


    It was funny in a sense. They were telling stories to one another like friends. Uzbec was just making his brain dull with pain, but not enough to suppress his memories of his old theories about the liveD which is spun in extravagant fashion. Though his memory had stopped working properly, he was able to use the expected incoherency as a curtain to his mind. The pain almost made the lying easier. It almost made him laugh, and sometimes he did, but he wasn''t really laughing. It was more like weeping without tears.


    There was no sleep in the room. Amadeus was unable to relax under the needles and constant harrowing pain. Uzbec on the other hand, seemed like a night creature that slept during the day with its eyes open.


    At some point, Amadeus started to see things. He was happy about it since he got to see his parents. It was the first time he cried. Uzbec of course slapped him until he stopped. He didn''t like it when others cried or showed any other kind of softness.


    Weirdly, during the entire experience, Amadeus had started to feel closer to himself. He suspected it was Uzbec''s influence. Amadeus was coming to accept himself just like Uzbec did. He did not know what his nature was, but that was fine. He demanded no more of himself than the last of his endurance and a firm faith in his friends.


    It took days for him to really believe it. He considered grinding his teeth on multiple occasions, but didn''t allow it. Then after he lost his voice, he found that only one voice remained inside his head and it agreed with him.


    He opened his eyes and truly saw for the first time. His body was merely an extension, and he felt pain no longer.


    He looked straight at Uzbec who was frowning at his nonchalance at the knife through his hand.


    "You were right," Amadeus said hoarsely, noticing that his voice had returned he hadn''t screamed for some time.


    Uzbec raised his brows. "What?" His voice was even deeper than usual.


    Amadeus smiled faintly but got serious quickly before saying what he had left for the right moment. "The liveD is the Son of Ares. The liveD isn''t even an organization, and has no ties to one." He laughed to himself. "Everything you''ve sent to Orpheus until now has been figments of my imagination."


    Uzbec stood straight up and took a step back to observe him under the single dirty lamp in the room. He was observing, looking for some clue.


    Amadeus showed no emotion as he continued. "It''s too late."


    "I would advise you against trying to play me. Many have tried, many have failed. Hope is not something you can afford."


    "You''ve never met anyone like me before. You''ve certainly met anyone like Aurelius before."


    "Aurelius?" He said it with his usual tone, but his eyes were wide, twitching. He realized he had been fooled by a man who could barely form coherent thoughts for most of the time.


    "That''s his name," Amadeus said without hesitation. There was a feeling in his stomach and it spurred him on. "For the likes of you, he is a God of Death who knows only two words, ''Karase aki.''"


    Uzbec rolled his eyes around the room before finding a specific tool and with an evil glimmer in his eyes, he walked to it, but then his feet shook. No? The whole world shook as suddenly a thunderous sound came from somewhere. Everywhere.


    There was a flicker in Uzbec''s eyes as he steadied himself. It was fear. The message was clear. There was no escape.


    Amadeus stretched his fingers, and even though they dripped with blood and stung with peeled skin, all he could do was smile.


    ''Finally.''

 Chapter 88: Fantasie

    Uzbec burst into motion. He rushed to the steel door and worked the complex set of locks before he left the room for the first time.


    Amadeus only looked on with a satisfied smile, knowing he would come back. Aurelius would scour the premises. Uzbec knew he couldn''t escape. And he didn''t want to.


    It had been clear to Amadeus for some time what would happen in the case of a situation like this, and he was fine with it. But even though he had gone against Aurelius'' wishes, he would fulfill his last one.


    So even as he was strapped to the chair, he outstretched his fingers and suppressed the winces of pain. He closed his eyes and felt his hands move beyond the hyperwire that had restricted his world for long.


    Then, without opening his eyes, he saw as the sleeves of a fitting black suit appeared around his arms that he lowered to touch the keys of white and black. He looked to the side and smiled at the crowd.


    They were in a luxurious gala. The stage was dark wood with tall crimson curtains on the sides. The audience stretched, but all faces Amadeus knew. All the pleasant people he had met as well as those of whom he had heard. It was a gathering of the finest people all in fabulous dresses and suits, seated under golden chandeliers and in front of black tables that reflected like the grand piano in front of him.


    At a table in the front was, Aurelius surrounded by an older woman and a boy his age as well as a young woman with ash brown hair and and her eyebrows raised in muted expectation.


    Beside them sat a couple in each other''s arms. His mother wore loop earrings while his father had a black leather watch that he fiddled with when he was nervous on Amadeus'' behalf. At the same table sat his grandmothers who poked at his grandfathers to stop their conversing as the performance was beginning.


    Then there was Zyra wore a smug grin in her magenta dress while Damian¡ªthe only one in a navy blue suit¡ªwas waiting to see if Amadeus was all he was cracked up to be.


    Then there were Amadeus'' acquaintances from the bars which he frequented as well as his old master, sitting with his daughter, the only woman Amadeus had seriously loved. His master nodded at him while her daughter gave him a shy wave like the one she had given him when he had last seen her.


    He nodded back at all of them as thank you for being there for him in his most important moment, and thus, always and forever.


    Then his fingers pressed down and began to travel the distance to the listeners'' souls from his own with only the slightest hope it would reach them. And when it did, a connection was established to never be broken.


    The pace rose and rose, but stayed coherent and Amadeus could feel the eyes on his widen in wonder of how many hours he had spent just so every note would sing at the right moment. Then as it slowed, it became calm and there was space to reflect on the music being played. To process what the world had given them.


    That was the beauty in the moments of calm that happened in between periods of life. Moments of such pure existence and truth that it made all the other life lived feel like a lie. But a blissful lie.


    Life was lived and cared about so deeply for the moments of peace where one could look back on what a play it all was and marvel at how it was all so perfectly constructed to lead to that single moment. The moment of reflection you owned forever above all experiences. The moment of acceptance.


    Amadeus looked down at his hands launching all over the keys with such perfection he would never have believed it was possible. He couldn''t explain it. He could just feel it. How right every movement was to his hands. It was as if his soul was leading him toward one way and no other could do.


    Then his attention turned to his right hand. The fingers began to hasten with no effort of Amadeus''. And then his left hand joined and they went on a journey together.


    The sound of so many notes at such a pace was incomprehensible to the mind as anything, but a whole, so the mind constructed an image. To Amadeus, it was a moving picture of life.


    The ups. The downs. The everything. Accepted as a whole.


    It was the acceptance of the world and embracement of all the good it has done to him that freed the soul of the putrid sludge it was infested by on the account of others.


    When a man thought more of his enemies than his friends, he became his own enemy.


    And Amadeus was not an enemy of himself any longer. He still felt hatred as pain radiated from his hands and drips of blood stained the pristine white keys of the piano. However, the hatred was no longer him. It was something made external. Not because he pushed it away, but because blissed pulled him harder.


    It took him and he ran along. He looked up and saw the candles of the chandelier above turn to stars that shot down at the pace of his fingers raced back and forth through the keys.Stolen story; please report.


    There was a crashing sound and Uzbec''s voice was heard. "What are you doing?" It was one of annoyance, aggression spewing out as he rushed back into the room with panic.


    "Playing," Amadeus responded absent-mindedly without letting his fingers stop even as he came to a calmer place. Even as the music slowed, it had to stay alive.


    "Playing what?"


    Amadeus'' face twitched at the man''s ignorance. "Impromptu."


    Uzbec said something more, but Amadeus didn''t listen to his insignificant babble as his pace started to differ before rising to its crescendo once more and his fingers raced up the keys as his audience caught their breaths. Then down and up again with strong notes before coming down to a quiet and peaceful waltz. Then it was ended. In somewhere far away, he rose from his seat and walked slowly to the center of the stage.


    First, he noticed Damian''s slack jaw. Then his eyes went to Aurelius who wiped his clear eyes. His mother and father were whispering to each other and his grandparents were making signs of praise his interlocked hands.


    Amadeus smiled but was jerked back and his eyes flung open. The back of his head hit the back of the cold chair.


    "You''re going to help me survive this," Uzbec whispered as he held Amadeus'' forehead from behind. "Try to say a word to him and I slit your throat. Understand?"


    Amadeus close said nothing.


    It was true that Aurelius would let Uzbec go to save him and Uzbec would be able to escape somehow, and if he got away with what he knew, Aurelius'' family was as good as dead and his war against Nexus would be ruined.


    But as it stood, that wasn''t going to happen.


    Both Amadeus and Izbec held their gazes forward as sounds of slaughter began to carry through the heavily reinforced door. Uzbec had surely prepared his forces somehow. Amadeus could figure that his plan relied on being able to inflict some kind of wound on a slowed-down Aurelius with the help of him as a hostage so that he could escape with the information he gained from the meeting.


    It was a solid plan. Amadeus had figured that Uzbec''s base was based inside a Nexus branch that was boosted by Orpheus'' resources.


    However, Uzbec didn''t know what he was dealing with. Amadeus saw as the man began to turn pale at the approaching screams that were cut off by the sound of slices cleaving through bodies into the very construction of the building.


    He was coming and fast. Faster than Uzbec could have imagined.


    "What the hell," Uzbec muttered under his breath as a multitude of roars were all cut off. Tens at the same time and then the sound of corpses slamming into walls with a crush.


    There were no roars after that. Only screams of horror and suffering. Ones Uzbec specialized in evoking, but ones that shook him in his soul. Because they were left short, unsavoured. The one evoking them did not care for them. He did not inflict pain for its own sake. Pain was a mere consequence of the death he wreaked in his wake.


    Amadeus sluggishly tilted his head up to look at Uzbec in his wide, frenzied eyes. "Karase aki," he reminded.


    Uzbec''s eyes jumped to Amadeus before he slammed a hand on his mouth, unwilling to hear any more of his unavoidable demise.


    But he heard it still. It was close. Right at the door. No more soldiers or guards. Just him, his hostage and his soon-to-be killer.


    Amadeus gathered the drops of blood on the armrest of his chair to the tip of his finger and left his message unbeknownst to Uzbec.


    Then he closed his eyes once again and saw the crowd. Only now Aurelius was shaking his head. Telling him not to do it. Of course, he understood, but he didn''t want to.


    Still, some things had to be done, and in a way, it was all perfect.


    Amadeus bowed with unending gratitude and was met with overwhelming acclaim. His hearing was taken over by the applause and he looked up to find that as far as his eyes took him, he could see nothing but people he was grateful for and those who were grateful for him.


    They applauded his genius, his courage, his fullness of being, and most of all, his ascendance.


    Truly, the ultimate rebellion against life was a happy death.


    He slowly opened his eyes. Uzbec had taken his hand off his mouth and now held a knife firmly to his throat that was already dripped with blood.


    Then there was a bang at the door. One that would have taken the full strength of a soldier, but for Aurelius it was delicate.


    "Open the door," Aurelius'' low voice carried over.


    Uzbec wore a straight expression only to be crumbled by a shiver as Aurelius punched the door so hard it bent inward and it sounded like a building had been dropped onto the ground.


    "Do you want advice," Amadeus asked.


    Uzbec glanced down, drained of humor. "Shut up."


    Amadeus didn''t listen and said his piece. "When you intend to torture someone, check the teeth first."


    There was a moment of quiet before the flash in Uzbec''s eyes as he realized it. That flash contained more emotion than all of what he had shown previously combined. But too late. Too slow.


    Amadeus had already enhanced his jaw and ground his upper molar inside which some powder had been allocated years ago. By the time Uzbec forced his mouth open, it had already mixed with his saliva and he swallowed. The poison worked fast and began to corrode his organs. It wasn''t pleasant, but nothing like the horrible external sufferings Uzbec had subjected him to.


    The experience was given solace by Uzbec''s face as he stared down at Amadeus with his animalistic eyes, turned into ones of small prey. He''d told Amadeus that he had killed an adult soldier at the age of 12, but Amadeus wagered he felt more in danger now than he had back then. Surely he could try trading blows with Aurelius, but he knew how it would end. They all knew.


    ''One less burden for you. One less burden for the world," Amadeus issued his final apology, hoping Aurelius would somehow grasp it.


    That''s when the door exploded and his figure was revealed.


    Fortunately, right before Amadeus''s mouth flooded with the taste of blood and his eyes rolled back into his skull to never return, he saw it.


    He stood¡ªthe sharp shoulders of his dark attire wrapped in a cloak¡ªat the end of a hallway which had its wall painted with smears and floor riddled with broken bodies. Amidst flickering lights, Aurelius stood bloodied but detached like a man carved to perfection by the all-mighty himself. His glaring blue eyes gleamed through even the patches of darkness when the lamplight tried to escape down the hall. He looked at Amadeus with crushing emotion, but he pushed it all away. Then he flicked his gaze up at Uzbec and there it stayed, deadset as Amadeus faded away, his mission complete, assured that evil would be eradicated while his applause continued.

 Chapter 89: Counterbalance

    Aurelius remained standing at the point where he had shattered the steel door and stared at the torturer, his blue eyes streaked with red as his poignant grief and rage waited to explode.


    Uzbec was a disgusting man to look at. So openly vile to the point of taking pride in it and making it a basis for his identity. He was everything Aurelius despised in the nature of man.


    "So you are Aurelius, Son of Ares," Uzbec said, his voice as low and dark as one would expect from a man of his stature.


    Over the years, Aurelius had begun to be able to see through people and gaze upon their weakness, but when looking at Uzbec, his eyes showed him an abstraction. The old torturer was not as physically weak as one might have expected. He was tall, with a large frame and might even have been described as charming in some context. Yes, his weakness was of a different kind entirely. One Aurelius hadn''t seen in a man like him.


    "He killed himself," Uzbec continued, seeing that Aurelius had no intention of talking with him. "He had a poison tooth or something akin to that. I''m not sure I''ve seen the like before." He sounded disappointed in himself at that. "Was this a part of your plan?"


    Aurelius gave no sign of even having heard the man. He just kept staring, glaring with pointed eyes into Uzbec, trying to see into whatever structure the man had resembling a soul.


    "That girl described you as so caring I have trouble believing that you would sacrifice your own men in such a way," Uzbec said. Aurelius'' eyes widened and he breathed hard through his nose. A moment passed and Uzbec tilted his head. "Aren''t you going to ask whether she''s alive or not?"


    She was. She had to be. Aurelius couldn''t be the cause of her death.


    Uzbec blinked and put a hand on Amadeus'' chair, leaning on it loosely. "Don''t worry, she''s alive. She told me what I wanted to know rather quickly. I''m a man of necessity." Uzbec frowned and gestured towards Aurelius. "Much like you."


    "Take your hand off that chair."


    Aurelius hadn''t known his voice could go so low, sound so different. Nevertheless, he walked forward. And Uzbec backed off.


    It didn''t make sense. Why would Amadeus do such a thing to himself? Of course, Uzbec would try to take him hostage, but at least there was a possibility of having him give the information about Orpheus. That was who they all were after in the end. Then again, his physical state...


    Aurelius'' face twitched as he looked down at Amadeus'' pale corpse so full of signs of torture it was unbearable to imagine the intensity of his pain. How he had endured it, Aurelius did not know.


    Aurelius'' eyes jumped to Uzbec and he looked at the man through his eyebrows as he growled, "You disgust me."


    Maybe Amadeus couldn''t allow the man who did this to him to get away with it. Still, he wouldn''t have let Orpheus get away. He couldn''t have. Aurelius observed his body in desperation. He saw the repeated stab wounds through Amadeus'' hands and felt his rage boil. He walked to Amadeus'' left side while Uzbec mirrored him, sticking close to the right wall of the hideous room.


    "Admit it. You and I are creatures of the same nature," Uzbec said grimly, his back to the wall as he looked for a window of escape.


    Aurelius took Amadeus'' wrist gently into his grasp and tried to feel a pulse that wasn''t there before closing Amadeus'' eyes.


    "We both know what you''ve done and more than that, why you did it. At least I follow orders. There is something I seek beyond self-satisfaction," Uzbec argued and Aurelius couldn''t keep quiet any longer.


    "I dream of a world where no one is what I am... does what I do," he said as he looked at Amadeus with sorrow before turning to rage and glaring at Uzbec. "You yearn for such an excuse. To do this to people." Aurelius felt dirty for it as he pointed at Amadeus, making an example of him. "You throw away restraint and become an animal of your own volition." Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.


    "You ripped off a man''s jaw and beat him to death with it," Uzbec stated indifferently the instant after Aurelius finished. There was no emotional infliction in his voice which made it impossible to refute. They were mere facts. "After that you made another man eat his own fingers before stabbing him to death. Then you killed all the others and impaled them on a flag pole upside down for the whole town to see." Uzbec paused to hear any refutations. When none came, he added, "Even. The. Children." He shook his head and looked out of the doorway. "Especially them. They''ll never forget."


    Aurelius'' eyes went hollow, his rage sinking into his stomach as he was reminded of the things it had made him do. "I... That happened once. It was a mistake."


    "Ah, yes. A mistake." Uzbec waved a hand. "Forget about it then, by all means." Aurelius'' nose twitched with spite as Uzbec turned to stare back at him. "Once a torturer, always a torturer. Sometimes a single thing defines you. I assumed you''d know that, Son of Ares."


    Aurelius looked down shaking his head, mind empty.


    "I wonder how you justify it. Being seen as some kind of saint while you''re just a devil on the other side of the issue. From above the clouds, they say," Uzbec scoffed, but then he put his gaze down as well and seemed to reflect, diving deep into his own mind. "I liked it. Having a family that saw me in such a manner. You like it, too, I know. We like having people think we''re something that we''re not. Because sometimes we don''t want to believe it ourselves, and in those moments of disbelief, we can indulge in that fantasy through them. A fantasy of not being damaged like we are. To not be so sick that someone could actually love us."


    Both Aurelius and Uzbec raised their gazes and met eyes once again both only partially visible in the flickering lamplight, but this time the emotion between them was more complex. But it changed nothing for Aurelius. He just saw Uzbec''s weakness for what it truly was. He just couldn''t resist his shadow and it consumed him as well as those whom he loved. He was a pathetic failure in self-control that caused nothing but suffering. Aurelius was nothing like him.


    It was ridiculous to even compare them.


    As he looked at the man he couldn''t help but think, ''How could someone so weak hurt me?''


    In thought, he looked down at his hand clenched hand. He opened it and saw that there was blood on it. Fresh blood. Not like that which had been spilled from him earlier. It was Amadeus''.


    Aurelius looked down and touched Amadeus'' smooth hand which was the mysterious instrument of indescribable beauty, and under it lay a bigger mystery even still. Text, written in blood.


    "King" and "12th".


    Aurelius froze in thought. Before looking up at Uzbec who seemed to have figured out the situation as well.


    The 12th was the day after tomorrow. Orpheus would meet with the king. Aurelius could finally end all of it. But once he realized that it all felt so empty. The mission was done, but all he wanted was his friend back. All of his friends. He just wanted to be together and feel the warmth of life again.


    But he was slowly realizing that was gone. It had been taken from him. By the malicious efforts of others and by mistakes of his own. Once he would have given anything to undo. But it was all said and done, and he had ended up here, in this horrid room with this intolerable man.


    He looked once more at his bloodied hand and muttered, "All good is lost to me." Then he looked up at Uzbec once more and came to an epiphany. "I was made this way for a reason. In this bright season, I''m freezing."


    Uzbec took a subtle sidestep toward the doorway. "What?"


    "I am the counterbalance. You, Orpheus, and all the others are a cancer to this world. I don''t care anymore about what I have to do, what part of myself I have to sacrifice. I will kill all of you, and I will keep killing you. Your torture will be eternal."


    "You won''t get anywhere," Uzbec said, maintaining himself, but Aurelius could feel it as the man enhanced himself. He could already see how the man would try his escape.


    Aurelius dug into his own stomach and wrenched back the rage. "Neither will you."


    Uzbec stopped his subtle movement and all was still. "So what now?"


    Aurelius tilted his chin up and looked down at the man for his final statement. "Now I crush your skull."


    At that, Uzbec snapped into movement. He rushed and the moving elements overwhelmed the sight. He was a blur of a man as he ran, but Aurelius almost disappeared when he did.


    If Uzbec would get out of the and collapse the doorway with compression, Aurelius would lose him. The thought sent a force of essence down to fill Aurelius'' legs as he burst and reached the man.


    Uzbec turned with a malevolent sharpness to his movement and struck out with a sharp blow. In an instant, Aurelius had leaned out of range and in another, he was back. With a violent twist at the hips, Aurelius delivered a swift but brutal elbow to the man''s cheek and heard a crack, but he had already shifted back and shot another elbow of the same kind to the other side of Uzbec''s head which crashed him just like the first and a multitude of teeth spewed out mixed with blood.


    Uzbec retained consciousness only because Aurelius willed it. However, he could not keep his footing and fell to the stained floor where he would stay forever, as Aurelius stomped his head flat.

 Chapter 90: Sorrow, Spite, and Shovels

    In the dead of night, Aurelius rose one step at a time toward Damian who stood in wait on the hill where his house was. In his arms, he carried Amadeus'' body wrapped in his black and bloody cloak. Amadeus'' face wasn''t visible, so Damian might have denied the conclusion from himself, but after Aurelius raised his head and met Damian''s gaze, his eyes like shattered glass, he could deny it no longer.


    Aurelius didn''t know what kind of reaction he had expected, but he was shocked nevertheless as Damian shook his head profusely before backing off and pacing around until finally rushing to him. He reached for the cloak on Amadeus'' body, and Aurelius almost stopped him. But in the end, he did nothing. Damian lifted the veil that protected him from the sight only to break further apart.


    Blood drained from his face as he stuttered back. Surprisingly the only thing that spewed from his lips was an apology. And another. He wiped his eyes and then looked around like he was expecting the environment to change.


    "I was too slow. I should''ve figured it out sooner. Oh my god, he was there for days." He put his hands on his head before erupting." Days! With Uzbec!"


    Aurelius wasn''t sure if Damian had noticed Amadeus'' legs. He thought it best not to point it out.


    Damian turned a full circle before rushing closer to Aurelius with an intensity in his eyes. "Where is he? You killed Uzbec, right? Right!?"


    Aurelius mumbled affirmatively, looked down, and sighed. "Go get a white cloth and shovels."


    Damian''s eyes went wide as he seemed to remember something. "What about the mission?! What about Orpheus?"


    "It''s handled. Please do what I asked."


    Damian didn''t look right. Aurelius hadn''t expected Amadeus'' death to have such a reaction on him. He didn''t know what he had expected.


    Still, Damian gathered himself and walked off with hollow steps while Aurelius continued onto the top of the hill.


    It was windy. Aurelius could barely feel it, but he could very well see it in the sway of the trees that were far and wide. They weren''t very tall trees, except for the one at the peak where Aurelius stopped. There he laid Amadeus down to lean on the trunk of the large tree.


    He turned in the direction where the wind blew and felt the desire to disappear along with it. But he was not allowed such a privilege. More precisely, he did not allow himself such a privilege.


    It was then that he felt a little drizzle. He could!t believe it. He put a hand out cautiously and a few cold little drops confirmed it.


    Suddenly he guffawed uncontrollably. He stooped quickly. But then he did it again. Longer that time as the dull, dark gray sky kept drizzling. He laughed until he bent over and put his hand on his knees. His nails dug in as a pour of aggression washed over him. He dug and shook with a climbing roar before he straightened to scream at the whole monochrome world. He felt like shooting a beam of essence into it that would explode the entire world.


    He touched his face, but even as his eyes drooped and stung, they remained dry.


    He turned slowly to face his failure.


    Slowly, he walked back to Amadeus and squatted down beside him. The cloak was set to cover his lower body, but even as his upper body was exposed he existed serenely with his eyes closed. Maybe he preferred it that way.


    "I don''t blame you for anything." He looked down from his closed eyes. "I just wish you would''ve let me save you. I could have if... I..." He sighed and dropped down and scootched his back to the tree.


    And there he sat next to another dead friend, body loose with helplessness, eyes hollow with despair.


    "I don''t know where I''m going," he admitted to no one in particular. "Even after Orpheus, I don''t know. All I can think of is shoving my hand through where his heart should be." Then to Amadeus. "I know you think I''m great, and I know you think I don''t see myself that way. You can have your opinion. I think I understand why you think that way. But I really don''t think you''re right. And I really don''t think I can believe in myself. This me... The person I''ve become..." He snorted. "The liveD... That name is just an abstraction. A twisted justification for what I do. But there is no justification for what I''ve done. All the barbarous bloodshed, the hideous cruelty... I''m not sure anybody can ever love me again. If Cade saw the way I am... Well, she might be the only one who could understand, but even she wouldn''t like it. I think she always saw me as innocent. From the very beginning, she was honest with me, trusting in my nature." Then he thought of his mother and swallowed dryly as the drizzle intensified. "She can''t see me like this. I''m beginning to wonder if I should ever go back. Just let her forget about me. I don''t know. Maybe that''s selfish. To be honest, I don''t know what is and isn''t selfish anymore. I don''t know anything except that the surface of this planet is teeming with disgusting, infectious, malicious people who need to die, and I have the power to kill them." He looked at his hands covered by his crimson gloves and clenched his fist. The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    In oblivion, as he was most lost, the only guide he had was violence against the deserving, so that was what he would follow.


    Right then Damian appeared with two shovels and a large white cloth.


    They got to work straight away.


    It was fortunate that the soil was good, as they used no essence in the effort. Damian didn''t question it. He had already figured since Aurelius could''ve materialized a shovel for himself but had him bring one anyway.


    "How''d you do it?" Damian asked grimly as he thrust his shovel into the soil.


    "Stomped on his head until his bone structure was damaged so thoroughly his skull was almost nothing but a shape of shattered pieces," Aurelius explained, voice monotone and old. "Then I kept stomping until my foot met the ground."


    "Quicker than he deserved," Damian grunted as he kept digging.


    Aurelius didn''t take his eyes off the matter at hand. "Then I suppose you would''ve wanted to do it."


    Damian was quiet for a long while after that. He was deeply hurt. Perhaps more deeply than Aurelius himself. Why, Aurelius did not know. The time after they figured that Amadeus had failed had taken a toll on both of them, but Damian had blamed himself even more intensely than Aurelius. Even after the matter was settled, Damian stayed spiteful because he had not expressed his rage like Aurelius had done so many times and once again. Damian had likely remained feeling helpless throughout.


    That''s why Aurelius didn''t oppose him when he muttered, "Wouldn''t have been your first time torturing someone."


    Aurelius kept shoveling. He heard Damian halt for a second as he realized his words, but after he went back to normal, Aurelius answered, "No, it wouldn''t."


    Damian didn''t apologize, but his utter silence told the story.


    Aurelius hadn''t wanted to talk about it? But now that it was out in the open, he was drawn to a confession to someone alive. "I have a history of moralism. For a long time, I spent so much time thinking about what kind of person I was. If I was good or kind or strong or admirable. I wanted to be all of those things. It was all I really wanted. To be like my father. The Hero of Zalfari." There were no emotions with those words like there once had been. No worship or pride. They were just words that had become less and less meaningful to Aurelius as time passed. "I''ve only ever had a few people who I''d call close friends. Two of them I''ve held dead in my arms. Both were my responsibility. Both died because of me. You don''t even know."


    Damian kept shoveling quietly as did Aurelius. For a moment, Aurelius considered talking being a mistake. Then Damian mumbled, "Yeah."


    So Aurelius continued, "Many have died because I didn''t accept what I was. I realize that now. And now... I exist only for suffering. Mine and anyone''s who makes this world what it is."Aurelius stepped into the pit and kept shoveling, grunting between sentences as he threw dirt out." I am not noble. I don''t even think about what I am anymore. In the past year, nothing good has happened." He let those words sink in, as much for himself as for Damian. "I have no hope for myself anymore. I''m not getting better. I''m just moving. Doing what I have to do."


    They shoveled in silence for some time.


    "Orpheus," Damian reminded suddenly, his shadowed eyes downcast, his figure drenched in rain.


    "Visiting the king tomorrow," Aurelius answered, the day having changed, sunrise only hours away.


    As Damian knew Aurelius left no witnesses, he didn''t ask if the news about the branch would affect Orpheus'' meeting. The news would take time to confirm and relay, and by that time, Orpheus would have already gotten on the move.


    They talked no more.


    They simply dug until they decided wordlessly that the grave was deep enough. Then they wrapped Amadeus'' body in the cloth. By then, Damian had of course noticed the legs but said nothing.


    The cloth got wet in the enduring drizzle as Aurelius lowered him gently to the bottom of the grave. A droplet fell on Amadeus'' left eye and Aurelius could see it clearly through the cloth. He truly had a beautiful soul. Aurelius crouched down and thought about what to leave behind. Then, almost out of instinct, he gripped a chunk of his hand, and with a swift motion of his hand as well as a flash of essence, he cut it off.


    He placed it on the cloth above Amadeus'' chest. It took a long moment to sink in before he could get himself out of the grave. Damian said his farewells too before they laid the dirt over Amadeus.


    As the last of Amadeus was covered up, Aurelius realized why he had left the hair behind. It was a part of him and it died with Amadeus.


    At last, Aurelius wondered if he would ever have such a friend again.

 Chapter 91: Reminiscences (3)

    A trade embargo strictly on the capital of a nation was unheard of. That''s why nobody was prepared. Acelot was the center of commerce, not production. Like gluttons, they consumed everything and produced nothing. So when Gadreel''s forces began obstructing trade routes, the city''s economy came to a halt and as an effect so did a large part of the entire country''s, as there was money coming out of the capital.


    The trade embargo wasn''t a simple thing. Far from it. Such a thing required enormous resources, and there was nothing apparent to gain from it. It was a lose-lose situation. Gadreel could feel the knives of his allies scratching at his back, but so could William, as he had allowed such a thing to happen. It wasn''t long until the president became disillusioned with William as well and took an objective stance to settle the situation.


    So in barely a month, another meeting was called out of necessity. One of unseen scale.


    Gadreel walked into Acelot along with his allies, escorted by the evaporation squadron. His allies wore grim expressions as they looked around. Gadreel smiled softly.


    Acelot was Mircrest''s oldest city. A thing of beauty sculpted by pioneers. Even the old temples had been maintained for their simplicity and antique material. The common houses were also pleasant to look at, made of large rocks framed with wood and decorated with windows at the root of which grew flowers. However, the flowers were dead as were their keepers, starved to death on the streets.


    Gadreel heard someone gag in the background and noted the smell. Not the most pleasant.


    He didn''t quicken his step, though. As he walked he kept looking around. The quality of the streets got better when they neared the center, and people avoided them more. The sky was dark and gray with just a hint of orange in the distance, but the time of light had already passed.


    Once they got to Mircrests National Museum, they were taken in by a group of grim soldiers. They were the president''s people.


    Gadreel took his cloak off and threw it at one of them. The man simply let the cloak fall and acted like nothing had happened. His straight face provided some humor.


    As they walked through the King''s Court into the underground, Gadreel straightened his pure white suit and checked the buttons of his black dress shirt before fixing his crimson tie.


    Then he walked into a room of chandeliers and hostility on the second lowest floor. At the table sat William in surprisingly black robes and obsidian jewelry. Next to him was the long-faced, stringy Mr. President as well as the plump Mr. Vice-president with his little spectacles.


    Gadreel had maintained his signature stylish hair that met his eye level. With an untouched air and the addition of gold-diamond earrings dangling from his ears, he looked around with his unreadable silver eyes as well as an appropriately charming smile on his lips. "I have arrived."


    He greeted William''s soldiers and branch managers with a couple of nods in different directions before sitting at one end of the table. There were some faces he knew to be from the government. Some he didn''t recognize at all. They were of no matter.


    William sat in silence with dead-set eyes full of repressed spite and violence. He didn''t look like he had slept in days. Just as planned. The threat of further betrayal as well as Sherridan had gotten to him. Still, Gadreel avoided his eyes, preferring to address others as his allies took their seats and gathered around the large table, his soldiers blocking the entrance.


    "I must ask, Gadreel, what made you do this?" the president asked.


    Gadreel looked straight at him with seriousness in his eyes. "What makes anyone do anything?"


    "That is a question. An answer, please."


    "It is an answer if you are capable of thought," Gadreel replied with uninterest. "Your thinking is not mine to do."


    The president frowned at that and laid his hands on the table. This meeting was quite different from the last one. This time not only the most important people in Numen were present but also the heads of central government and plenty of military leaders, making it effectively Mircrest''s most significant gathering in ages.


    Nobody was happy. Hell, everybody was on guard like the room could explode into frightening violence any second. Given, it was for a very good reason. Many bloody battles had already been fought over the trade embargo and this was the night it would all be finished.


    However, it was unlikely the conflict would be between both sides. No, the conflict would be very one-sided. Someone would be eaten alive.Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    Many thought it would be Gadreel. They despised him. It was a common thought that Gadreel did not comprehend the weight of his actions. He understood full well. He just didn''t care. No matter how many innocents starved to death and were dumped on the streets to not sully the air their children breathed, his heart was not moved.


    "Gadreel," William growled almost inaudible from the other side, "do you know how much damage you''ve caused? For all of us."


    "I do," Gadreel answered, not even a twitch in his expression.


    "I see." William blinked, whatever hint of emotion disappearing. Then he raised his voice and spoke again. "We have come to the end. Either one of us dies here or we both die later. I wonder if you haven''t realized that."


    "I said I wanted an organization of my own. You don''t need to die for that."


    "It''s too late for that. Tens of thousands are dead because of you."


    Gadreel looked around then stood up and walked around his chair. "I lied. What I wanted was not my organization but your organization."


    William recoiled. He knew of the possibility but did not yet see Gadreel''s next move.


    Then Gadreel addressed everybody. "As I see it, you all have two options. Side with me or side with William." William''s eyes opened as he saw Gadreel''s plan unfold. All this preparation for a few words that would put everything into perspective. "Now we all know William. He is cruel, unnecessarily so. It is why we all fear him. He likes that, but it is what makes him unreliable as a leader. He is petty. He will never forgive those who wrong him even at the cost of his country. My trade embargo is a demonstration of that. He does not negotiate. The Ruler of Mircrest as you know him puts his own needs above the collective."


    William looked to be clenching his fists under the table and his eyes were growing red with ferocity, but he couldn''t speak. Everybody in the room was curious about Gadreel''s words. Obstructing his ability to speak would only enrich their flames of curiosity.


    The president was the next to speak. "And are we supposed to think you are any different? You are the cause of larger catastrophes than William."


    "I have caused incidents, yes, but the accumulated damage to Mircrest caused by his egoism is much greater in comparison. And I can assure you, it doesn''t get worse than William." Gadreel put his hand on the table before sitting back down and crossing his legs. "Your main concern should be who will cause more damage is sided with. William will surely execute all who went against him, but you don''t know what I will do? I bear no grudges against people who were against me when this began, so I will naturally welcome those who side with me now. To William, people who side with him will be former traitors, so I correct myself in that the only two real possibilities here are as follows." Gadreel raised one finger." You all side with me, things go back to normal as no one outside this room will know of the change in leadership, and everybody lives except for William that is." Then he raised another finger. "Or no sides change because nobody wants to join me and siding back with William means execution in any case. If that happens, this will become a bloodbath. And I''m sure nobody wants that. Especially you, my opponents." Gadreel flicked his wrist, and in the next moment, Sherridan stood by his side, her expression hidden behind that blank mask.


    William''s eyes were downcast and his allies looked rattled. They were turning. Gadreel''s plan was working.


    Then William raised his hand. "Everybody who sides with me will receive impunity. I give you my word."


    The hall seemed to freeze. Gadreel felt tingling in his fingertips that spread into every part of his body. William didn''t mean it. It was an obvious lie. But he could see the effect. People wanted to forget all this and go back to the way things were. So much so they would believe the words of William.


    Gadreel''s allies eyed him uncertainly. The silence spanned minutes until Gadreel laughed out loud. Everybody sat in uncertainty while he kept chuckling and guffawing uncontrollably.


    Before long it drained out of him and he slammed his hands on the table. "You don''t believe this, do you?! William does not spare people. Your two choices remain. Side with me or this will become a bloodbath." Nobody said anything and Gadreel''s body shook, his eyes dilating. He turned to the president. "You think his word can be trusted?! On what basis?!" It was ridiculous. To have his logic be ruined by idiots.


    "This is not a matter of trust in William but trust in both of you," the president answered with a stable voice. "We may not trust William, but nobody is ready to side with you simply because of that. You may have proved our leader''s weakness, but you have yet to show any strength of your own. You have failed to provide us with an incentive to be led by you. Nobody will give you power. If you want it, you must take it."


    Gadreel brought his shaking hands up to his temples. "Y¡ª y¡ª y¡ª you''re all moronic." He shook his head as his eyes grew hollow, whispering, "I can''t believe it."


    "I told you." Gadreel''s gaze jumped to William who suddenly spoke. "They''re tired of fighting our battles. You should have known that it''s come to this." They both knew where this was heading.


    That''s why Gadreel lashed out, turning to his side. "Sherridan, kill him now!"


    She stood still as a rock. Gadreel''s eyes widened as he repested before grasping Sherridan''s cloak only to have his hand swatted off.


    "Fight your own battle." She glared at him with cold eyes. "I''m here to watch."


    Gadreel fell back to his seat, his breath escaping him as he met William''s eyes and saw his death await him.


    "In all honesty, I never expected your betrayal for this very reason. I thought you''d see this coming, and you were never ready for this." William stood up and announced what everybody already knew. "Let us descend a floor. It is time to settle this. Me and you, Gadreel. A battle of leadership to the death."


    ***


    The next thing Gadreel''s numb mind became conscious of was the silencing of the crowd as he walked into the circular arena on the lowest floor of Numen''s main branch. The combatants there had bled so much that the ground had become burgundy. Gadreel''s blood would mix with that of the rest. Meaningless as all the others.


    And as he faced William bare-chested and the difference in their physiques became apparent, everybody knew that they were watching an execution.


    Like a lamb to slaughter.

 Chapter 92: Amor Fati

    Orpheus walked with a steady step into the King''s Palace, servants showing him the way while he rolled his eyes around the place.


    ''The old fool wants me here to look at his gold-coated pillars?'' he thought with a scoff.


    He was wearing a toga with a purple sash for the occasion. It was rather over the top, but the women liked it. He greeted them back with a charming smile.


    Finally, after Orpheus walked around the entire fucking complex, the king decided to show himself.


    He was the same strong, jawed, wrinkled man with white hair as the year before and the year before that one, snorting so aggressively it made his bushy mustache and knit brows quiver. He wore a toga as well. Only his sash was obsidian like his crown.


    "Orpheus," the old man warbled, "great to see you."


    Sarcasm had the habit of leaving Orpheus quite unamused.


    "Likewise," he replied, and after a delay, "my king."


    "Yes, yes." They shook hands before getting into the room prepared for the meeting. "Let us make haste."


    "Oh, time for your nap soon?" Orpheus mocked as he observed the servings on the table as he sat on a couch opposite the king''s while their guards surrounded the room.


    "I see age has done naught for you charm."


    "Well, at least it hasn''t decreased," Orpheus said with a meaningful glance before reaching for a delicacy laid on the top platter on the table. The king waited as he gave it a sniff before throwing it over his shoulder and carrying on. "Onto the matter at hand. The liv¡ª"


    "Kendrick has broken the treaty. The Zalfarian War has begun once more," the king said and Orpheus''s face dropped. There was a moment of silence as the king observed Orpheus'' reaction. If he was amused, he didn''t show it. Instead, he kept his serious demeanor and continued. "The Conqueror of the West advances on the Great Empire of Zalfari. Once Alexander the 6th falls, we are next."


    Orpheus cracked a smile. Then it faded and was replaced by a frown. "You''re serious."


    The king raised his brows at the question. "It was a matter of time."


    Orpheus stayed blank-faced until he realized something and laughed. The king eyed him and he suppressed his laughter only to burst out again.


    "What?" the king growled.


    "The old man will probably die before that," Orpheus said and signaled for a servant to pour him a glass.


    The kung clicked his tongue as he recoiled onto the couch, shaking his head. "You know nothing. Kendrick... that bastard... he''ll never die. He rejuvenates on the blood of his enemies."


    "Look who''s bought into a legend. I didn''t think you were the superstitious type."


    "The Conqueror of the West is no legend. He''s simply a man who makes other men who have never touched him kill and die for him even if it means leaving their loved ones behind. He''s the Conqueror of the West only because Ares slowed him down. Otherwise, he''d have the entire world in his grasp by now."


    "Then we just need another Ares. No, a better one. To kill him for good."


    The king looked at him like a grown adult indulging in fairy tales. "Your ignorance never ceases to amaze. There will never be another Ares. Ares and Kendrick are the pinnacle of men that emerge from collisions of the highest order."


    ''Again with the collisions,'' Orpheus thought with a scoff.


    "Why tell me all this if that''s the case."


    "We will die, you and me. That is our fate. That is why I hope you stop bothering me with unnecessary nonsense," the king rambled. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.


    Orpheus laughed at the man in scorn. "Who made you king?"


    "Nobody. I was born one. As was my father and his father before him."


    "Right." Orpheus rubbed his eyes. "You call me ignorant, but did you know the son of Ares is in Arkryk?"


    The king leaned forward, his interest aroused. "Where did you hear this?"


    "Uzbec." The king grimaced at the name, so Orpheus decided to explain. "I have him investigating the liveD, and he believes that the son of Ares is him."


    "Tch. What a story. Is he unaware of the active manhunt in Mircrest?"


    "And how is that going?"


    The king fell silent before redirecting the conversation. "You want my help with your problem. The liveD being the son of Ares instead of a rebellion against your organization would make things international. Don''t dream of it."


    Orpheus leaned forward and steadied his gaze. "I dream of what I want. And when I bring you evidence, you will help me with this annoyance. It is bad for my business which is in turn bad for your business."


    "Business," the king scoffed. "I am a king."


    "Whose crown was bought," Orpheus continued. Then he interlocked his hands and prepared to make his final point. "We will talk about Kendrick another time. If this son of Ares has enough of his father in him, I wager he''ll be a good resource."


    "Let me guess, you want to use him against Numen."


    Orpheus smiled quietly at that. Then he rose to his feet and walked away. "Try to enjoy your life old man. You never know how long it''ll last." He chuckled before adding one final word, mimicking the king, "Amor fati."


    The king''s nose wrinkled in scorn at his usage and waved Orpheus out, a stream of guards with black masks following after him.


    His servant briefed him on things while he walked back to his carriage. He didn''t listen. He couldn''t wait to be out of the old palace. It made him feel like a fossil.


    He got into the carriage and headed off with his entourage, but right as he had sunk into some pleasant thoughts of later plans as horseshoes clacked in the background, his carriage came to an abrupt stop.


    "Hey?" Orpheus banged on the side of the carriage. "What is this?"


    "Master, there is a person in the way."


    Orpheus''s face wrinkled and he burst out of the carriage in frustration. They hadn''t even made it out of the palace''s premises and there were already issues. He looked around the boringly pristine hall that connected the palace entrance and the outside world. It stretched endlessly with large pillars and large windows on smooth walls.


    Then he saw the cause of the problem. It was a fairly young man with a grim look in his eyes that did nothing to distract from his outrageous hair and crimson clothes under his black cloak.


    Orpheus knit his brows but saw that his entourage''s commander was going to handle it. Then he found himself wondering how the young man got inside unnoticed.


    Suddenly the man raised a hand. Orpheus'' commander stopped at that and got himself on guard. His commander said something in audible.


    The man lowered his head before responding as he raised it back up. "I am here to see justice done." Then he locked eyes with Orpheus. "All of you will die."


    Silence took the hall. Then there were a few laughs. Orpheus didn''t laugh. He raised his voice and gave the command even as the eerie feeling in his stomach grew. "Kill him." His commander turned around seemingly without having heard. Orpheus growled, "Kill hi¡ª"


    There was a flash. Just an image. As if something from imagination just to fill the gap in Orpheus'' senses about something so fast he could not comprehend it.


    In the image, there was a shattered window and a man with golden hair flying through the air horizontally, feet pointed at his commander. In the next moment, there came the loudest sound Orpheus had ever heard. The impact shook his entire body and he fell off the side of the carriage.


    He had no concern about whether someone had seen because all eyes were on the cloud of dust that slowly faded to the horror of everyone present. Orpheus got himself up just in time to see as the cloud lifted and reality was revealed in all its brutality.


    His commander who had trained from birth and killed more men than Orpheus employed was made into a smear that painted the massive crater in the wall. All in a split second. From breaking through the window to driving his feet into the man before slamming into the wall. It was violence taken to the extreme. And calculated all too well from the positioning to the measures needed for such speed and force as well as getting the proper landing.


    Then, out of the crater that dripped with blood and was decorated by the commander''s insides and extremities, stepped out a barbarian angel with flowing golden hair, the bottom of his cloak and legs entirely splattered in blood.


    His eyes were blue, but they could not be called that. The pupils had grown so unnaturally large he looked like his soul was a pit of black encircled by a ring of deep blue. And those eyes were directed straight at him.


    The man was young beyond belief, but he had an incomprehensible age to him as if he had always been and would always be. His lips were sealed and seemed like if they were ever opened, they would devour everything.


    Like that, the man directed his attention to Orpheus while everybody stood frozen. Everybody except Orpheus'' whose legs had begun to shake. He told them to stop, but his body seemed to have a will of its own, and it wanted nothing more than to escape that man.


    Then the man threw away his cloak and revealed a sharp-shouldered figure specialized for killing, from its unstainable darkness to its crimson gloves.


    Then, within the seemingly endless moment, the man opened his mouth and fed upon the fear with a statement, echoing that of the other.


    "Et ne karase aki."

 Chapter 93: No Longer Human

    Amadeus had forgotten the extent of violence Aurelius was capable of. His duty had been to provide an opening for Aurelius. However, he forgot whatever next steps that had been agreed upon as stared at the crater in the wall. It had suddenly just appeared there while the man who had stood in front of him had had his existence annihilated in a blink.


    What he then saw was Aurelius walk toward Orpheus'' entourage which was composed of a hundred men in black masks. They were a fearsome elite that would have rivaled any army in the world, and Aurelius walked alone. All their work had been to get here while the final encounter had been taken for granted. His breathing turned irregular and his hands trembled. At last, Damian''s nervousness had caught up to him as he realized what a mountain of a task it was in reality.


    Aurelius had taken his enhancers already. Damian could feel it in the air. It set him at ease to know Aurelius had become something more. His presence wiped away logic and turned men into chaotic animals. He wasn''t a cursed beast. No. More like a cursed human.


    He was the darkness of light.


    And as Orpheus managed to gather himself in a roar of command, the dreaded combat began. Damian watched, standing still in the same spot just tens of strides away from the first collision. It didn''t!t matter. He could do nothing in any case.


    The flashes and crashes of essence overwhelmed his senses and he felt as if he was watching it from behind his own eyes.


    Moving at speeds far too fast for him to perceive, Aurelius clashed with the soldiers before Damian saw either leave their spots and then someone was dead. And it was never Aurelius.


    Orpheus'' guards had been in formation as it began, but it was broken soon enough. They encircled Aurelius and rushed him from all sides, but they could not touch him. Aurelius did not move. He appeared and disappeared.


    The guards had just lost their commander and nobody could take his place in such a situation. Some tried. But their barking of orders turned into screams of pain soon enough.


    Stone shattered, blood-spattered, metal clattered. On and on. They kept going at him, even as he avoided every single attempt from all sides simultaneously only to shoot off a hundred slashes that sent heads and limbs hurling through the air.


    In his daze, something landed at Damian''s feet. He looked down as it rolled over to reveal a pair of hollow eyes. Damian recoiled and felt bile rise in his throat. He held it back but then came to his senses. He needed to leave.


    He turned and rushed to the window that Aurelius had shattered and enhanced his legs before jumping up onto the wide windowsill. Only then did he remember the plan again.


    But he looked back once more if only to marvel at Aurelius'' art. In the midst of black masks, he parried, spun, and lashed out. Every time he did someone died. Some tried to hit him with balls of compression only to explode themselves. Others shot beams only to be slashed. Most waited for an opening that never came in anything but their imagination, which is when they struck. All just to have their lives of harsh training and brutal combat spat upon by a lethal attack that didn''t even require Aurelius'' attention for a split second.


    The sight made one question existence. It was a thing that, once witnessed, could not be unwitnessed. Nor could one take their eyes off of it. Even Orpheus just stood there. The carriages behind his had been annihilated by Aurelius'' intentional slashes. The only way out was on feet or through Aurelius. But in reality, there was no escape. If Aurelius willed it, Orpheus would have already been dead.


    He was just occupied with passing judgment on the ones whose selfishness had allowed Orpheus to come so far doing what he did. While doing so, he looked like he was born to do nothing except that.


    However, Damian could peek under the surface and glance at the truth of the situation. The truth about Aurelius and those he surrounded himself with.


    He was not a man. They were not men. And this... this wasn''t life.


    ***


    Amid bloodshed was where Aurelius felt most comfortable. The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    The enhancers opened his being to the world and he was free to express his nature. Blades aimed at him cut through the air and whistled in his ears, but they posed no danger. Not when he was like this.


    He grabbed a man by the wrist and sensed two more attacks in the same. However, the coordination of elites was nothing to him. He simply twisted around, yanking the soldier he had grabbed so fast seemed to almost lose consciousness. Then he did lose it, as Aurelius used him as a meatshield. In the same, he dodged the third strike from behind and elbowed his assailant in the face before slitting his throat without turning around. After that, he swept his hand and slashed through the meatshield into the man behind him, bisecting both.


    Then new ones took their place. Five people struck at him and all lost their hands or hearts before they knew what happened. Some even seemed to have taken enhancers, but that didn''t matter.


    Only Aurelius could wield two enhancers in such a way. Only he was able to comprehend their power and feel as their darkness swelled inside him.


    He''d been afraid of darkness once upon a time. The unknown had made him shiver and reject even the forests he thought of as his home.


    But now he had become the unknown. Unknown to others and even more to himself. So what replaced his pure love was a perverse fondness for what he once shied away from on the single basis that he was similar to it. He needed to grasp something. And the only thing he could was vile. Because how could he have loved the pure any longer after having his purity swept away so thoroughly?


    A monster, by definition, was outside of nature. Such was Aurelius'' fate.


    And in due time, only Aurelius was left, his whole frame stained in gore as he stood alone amid the pond of mutilated corpses. His company was the sound of blood dripping into the pool at his feet and that of the carriages'' wheels spinning on air.


    He turned to look away from it all and met the eyes of that scum. A man with dirty blonde hair and a dark gaze of disdain that made Aurelius boil with rage. He was a large man but shrunk in comparison to Aurelius and grew smaller still in his paralysis.


    Aurelius stepped towards the man, foot splatting in blood. "You killed my friend," he said in his Rykian tongue.


    "You''re¡ª" Orpheus tried, his voice weak at seeing his invincible guard shattered by a single man who took no injuries.


    "You threatened my mother," Aurelius growled, doing his best to articulate every syllable so that the man would understand why he would die.


    "I didn''t!" Orpheus objected. He dared to object! "Gadreel did! It was Numen. They are your enemy."


    Orpheus stepped back. Aurelius made a movement forward and found Orpheus in arm''s reach, so he grabbed the man. He grasped the man''s collar so hard his hands turned white. Then he shook the man violently and let loose a roar that he had been keeping in, suffocating for this very moment.


    When his voice ran out, Orpheus'' legs had gone loose. He was held up purely by Aurelius. And once he let the man go, he slumped to the bloody ground like a fucking worm. He lay on his back as he pushed himself away in panic. He moved only his hands like his lower body had been paralyzed.


    Aurelius looked down at him with narrowed eyes and blinked slowly before beginning to take measured steps toward the whinging man on the ground.


    "The palace guard will be helpless against me. Stop thinking about stalling. Think about me." He stopped in front of the man and crouched, whispering. "What do see?"


    "I¡ª I see a man..." the man talked in shock, growing paler by the second. He breathed like he was trying to bite the air. "that¡ª that I could make... v¡ª v¡ª very rich."


    "Really?" Aurelius glared at the man with wide eyes. Orpheus nodded profusely. The Aurelius showed his hand, having taken a glove off. In it grew a ball of essence. There was a flash of terror in Orpheus'' eyes as they reflected the blue light, but before he could react, Aurelius had struck. The ball of essence sunk into his thigh and acted according to its nature of destruction. The leg exploded with a meaty sound and Orpheus burst out into sound. It was a deep sound, but his growl, turned to a roar, and the roar turned to a scream, and before he knew it, Orpheus'' voice was but a high-pitched whine as he cried the loss of his leg.


    He still did not realize. Aurelius put his glove back on and jumped up before hopping on Orpheus, digging his knee into the man''s chest. He grabbed the man''s sweaty, fleshy face with both his hands. "Think about what you did!!!"


    The man cried, but Aurelius only felt more angry. The same pit in his stomach as always when he realized the extermination of evil brought back no lost good. "Think about what kind of life you led! Regrets you have! Realize your misery before you die!"


    "Fuck you!" the man groaned as he squirmed in agony. "I don''t even know you."


    "That''s your mistake." Aurelius seethed. Then he rose and lifted Orpheus by his throat the life was fading from the man. It was time to end it.


    He drew back his arm and firmed his hand straight, staring straight into Orpheus'' eyes. Then, from the toes of his backfoot to his waist and finally, his torso, Aurelius twisted in an act of violence before shoving his hand through Orpheus'' heart.


    His hand went through and the life faded from Orpheus.


    But he wasn''t done. He walked to the wall, dragging Orpheus'' corpse behind, grabbing a piece of metal from a broken carriage on the way. At the wall, he slammed Orpheus into it and shoved the pipe through his chest to keep him still.


    Lastly, he wrote a message in blood above the head of the world''s largest criminal organization''s head. He left the scene when the palace guard arrived, leaving them to marvel at his work. By that time, he was growing dizzy and sick. His time with the enhancers would last him for his escape. Then it was up to Damian.


    His mission was done. And in his success, on the wall, it read with large, sharp letters: "The liveD lives."

 Chapter 94: Reminiscences (4)

    Gadreel looked at his bare feet and curled his toes in the burgundy ground. He then did his setups. And as his senses became enhanced, he could feel all the eyes on him. They dug into his skinny parts and drilled through the bone. Maybe they looked for his soul. Gadreel almost smiled in despair at the thought, as he knew they would find nothing.


    Then he raised his head and firmed himself for a step toward William who was waiting, standing proud like a lion, waiting for its prey to come to him.


    There was a chill in the air that made Gadrel shiver. As he did, he could almost hear the silenced chuckles of the crowd. They were laughing at him. At his efforts. What kept him moving was the idea of victory and vengeance against those people. He would remember what he felt like at this moment as he had them executed.


    He looked around the crowd, searching for Sherridan. The stands were raised into the air by solomonic columns. From there came the only light source in the arena. As per tradition, the watchers illuminated the spectacle, holding on their palms materializations of their essence the radiated faint blue light.


    More spectacular than that, however, were the frescoes on the dome roof of the underground. On it, there were depictions of angles and demons amid bloodshed. Wings of white and gold, red and black. All to receive just the faintest of light.


    Suddenly, William''s voice grated his eardrums. "I am so very disappointed in you, Gadreel. We could have done great things together."


    Gadreel mumbled in return.


    "Look at me," William said quietly, voice rising. "Look!"


    Gadreel''s eyes snapped to him in surprise. And he drew in a quick breath through the nose. It was cold. He was out of place. "It... T¡ª this doesn''t have to be this way."


    William looked disappointed before squinting his eyes into dark slits. "I know it feels unfair. You were not made for combat. Quite the opposite, I imagine, but this is what you led us to. Accept your fate, and die with dignity."


    "I don''t want to," Gadreel muttered, hair falling over his eyes.


    "What? Tch. Speak like a man."


    "I don''t want to die." Gadreel gritted his teeth and glared through locks of hair. "I won''t die."


    William swept his hair back and looked down at him with wry amusion. "And how will you achieve such a thing, I wonder."


    Gadreel made it into the center of the arena and took his stance, much practiced but unused. He stayed on his toes and kept himself straight.


    "Try you might," William said lightly as he settled into his low stance, and then with a voice as low as the depth of hell, he finished, "but you won''t."


    Then they both struck out. Gadreel knew combat, but it became obvious that it was not to the same extent as William. Gadreel was slight in frame and not particularly tall, while William possesses a muscular frame and fearsome explosiveness.


    Their fists and arms met as they twitched and twisted in reaction to each other''s movements, but the only one taking damage was Gadreel. William was simply stronger and fought in a way that came to trading blows.


    One punch dug into Gadreel''s ribs. He wanted to ball up and collapse, but he kept going. At that moment, he felt that he couldn''t take another. In the next encounter, he dodged a punch, grabbed William''s wrist, set a foot behind William''s, and summoned all the torque he could muster before getting the first good hit in. His knuckles met William''s cheek, and William grunted as his head flew back on the impact, but Gadreel still wagered he hurt himself more.


    Immediately after, William rushed in ragefully. Gadreel felt a spike of fear at the usually-collected man acting like such an animal. But he recovered and decided to take advantage. He repositioned his feet for maneuverability and waited to use William''s force against himself. Then there was a flash of movement, and his ribs were hit again. Twice.


    He crumbled to one knee, and William''s took hold of him, locking him in a position where his upper body was leaned back to the extreme. He couldn''t use any of his major muscles, effectively paralyzing him. But William couldn''t throw hard strikes without abandoning the position.


    William took Gadreel by the hair on the back of his hand and glared down balefully at Gadreel''s twisted expression. "Tell me, where did you get these kinds of skills?" Gadreel didn''t answer. "Tch. Who are you really?"


    "Good question." Gadreel smiled despite the pain and rather uncomfortable position he was in. "I never felt that ''Gadreel'' truly lived up to it."


    William let out a small chuckle, seemingly only for contrast, when his face went dead, and he kneed Gadreel in the chest. Next came an elbow, but Gadreel managed to barely avoid it as he managed to break free.


    He was back on both feet, but his sense of balance was confused, leading him to stumble back. William had seemingly expected it, as he was rushing at him the very next second. His attacks were even more ruthless than before, his whole body behind each one. Gadreel managed to dodge the first punch and kick, but then William jumped into the air and twisted his body so rapidly the next thing Gadreel knew was being on his back, head bobbing from side to side.


    William gave him no rest, jumping on his chest and starting to rain down blows. It had become apparent to everybody that William had no interest in the types of duels the elite usually held.


    Essence duels were a show with the events being the acrobatic maneuvers of inhuman speed, the use of compression, and creative adaptions of materialization. Beams were of course forbidden to protect the audience, but other than that everything went. The flashier, the better was the rule when fighting for a crowd.


    William, however, had no such allusions. He simply bashed in Gadreel''s skull in the most violent way he could imagine, while trying to break Gadreel''s limbs whenever he tried to fight back. All Gadreel could do was minimize the damage. Block what he could and roll with what he couldn''t


    There was a reason William was not materializing a blade and stabbing Gadreel straight to hell. He wanted to make it last. To make a point.


    This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.


    Gadreel had his own reasons. But he was beginning to forget them as his animal instincts began to surface in the whirlwind of violence.


    Suddenly it stopped. William quit punching and slapped Gadreel''s guard open before putting a hand on his face. Gadreel heaved a breath that stank of iron. William pressed his cheeks and deformed his mouth.


    "How I wish you could see yourself now," he said, and Gadreel knew he sincerely meant it. If he''d had a mirror, he would have shoved it in Gadreel''s face. "I wonder what made a pathetic scoundrel like you think you could overtake me. You should''ve settled for your position." William spat before showing a diabolical grin and smothering Gadreel''s bruised face with his blood. "A brat like you. Even afraid of his own blood. You just never learned how to shut up and take it."


    Gadreel was largely unbothered by words, but when that last sentence clicked, his mind coursed with electricity, and an impulse shocked him to the core. Something in him that had been repressed for so long was triggered.


    He didn''t know what it was. He couldn''t make it out. It was simply recognition of a mark left by a grimy sensation, pain, humiliation, and sadness. All emotions long forgotten. Like they had never existed in the being he now was.


    Still, he lost control, and the sense of strategy that he had held at the back of his mind evaporated.


    With a groan that turned into a roar, he raged and lashed out. He slapped William''s hand away with unseen speed and hit him straight in the nose. He fell back, and Gadreel followed. The position was reversed, and Gadreel held nothing back, mind-blind with memories of savagery.


    He rained down on the surprised William, who bled for possibly the first time any of the occupants in the vast arena had ever seen. Only a drop from his nose, but soon followed by more, as Gadreel materialized a blade for the first time. He ripped William open. He punched to keep him down while he shoved the dagger in and out anywhere he could. William protected his vitals and allowed only minor wounds, but he was on the losing end.


    It was power unlike anything Gadreel had ever felt before. He was making an evil spirit¡ªfeared by all¡ªcrumble under him.


    But like all good things, it didn''t last. As Gadreel went for a stab at the neck, William made his hands come to a dead stop. His grip was firmer than anything Gadreel had ever felt before around his thin wrists. There was a crack. Gadreel''s left wrist was bent and broken. He barely got a chance to feel the pain from that as William shoved him back before kicking him in the chest so hard he was launched back.


    William kipped up with rigorous haste and was on his feet before Gadreel. When Gadreel tried to rise, William was there and shoved him down. Back on one knee. The same position as before, but now William didn''t want a word.


    He materialized a fine, thin blade. The sharpest Gadreel and ever seen and put it down diagonally against Gadreel''s forehead. Gadreel was in silent suspension before the pain. It wasn''t bad at first. Only cold as it cut through his flesh and blood began to drip down. However, William pressed down until it scraped bone. Gadreel''s mouth opened in a gasp, and he jerked his body with full force, only for his chilling fear to expand into every bit of his skin and bone, telling him that he was trapped.


    Trapped in that vast moment, he truly felt like an animal. No comprehension of the ego. Just an observation of the world and an instant reaction according to instinct. He was conscious but nothing more. He was alive and he would soon be dead.


    Then William began to drag the blade down across his face. And his silent gasp turned into a scream he had never before experienced. It was the gut-wrenching scream of a being that had done everything to experience something but was about to die horribly without ever grasping it.


    The pain was electrifying, waking every cell in his body to action. And he twisted in William''s grasp to his best ability, praying the universe for just one opening to wrangle himself out.


    It never came, he was held frozen but so alive that he could feel every single movement of the blade marking his bone with its downward passage. All the while, William stared down intensely into his eyes.


    Before it finally overcame his cheek bone and opened a hole at the side of his mouth. Only then did William take the blade from his skin and let the blood pour down his ruined face.


    While still holding, Gadreel in the same position, William turned around.


    "What do you think, Richard? Has he learned his lesson?" he yelled up at the president in the stands, his voice so frighteningly usual.


    Gadreel had space to move, but his eyes were hollowly staring at the dome roof, no will in his body any longer.


    "Surely he must have," the president responded. "But what does that matter?"


    A grin spread on William''s face. "Nothing," he said, his voice dark. Then he drew his hand back, ready to put the blade in Gadreel''s heart.


    Gadreel absent-mindedly took a loose hold of William''s wrist, as if pleading. William scoffed and cut the wind with a whistle.


    In that millisecond before the blade penetrated Gadreel''s chest, his eyes regained themselves, and he saw, on the frescoes of the roof, amid the demons and angels was God.


    At last, Gadreel realized the perfect moment when William least expected trickery. And in the same, a course of his own energy traveled into William''s body, and with a thought, he snapped William''s pathways.


    A hand hit his chest, but there was neither a dagger nor force in it. There was a brief instant in which nobody knew what had happened, after which William realized it to some abstract extent and was mortified.


    Gadreel didn''t hesitate. He may have been on one knee, but William''s essence was only now continuing its flow, so when Gadreel moved, William was still. And with a movement enhanced to its maximum, Gadreel jolted and threw the most forceful punch of his life into the solar plexus of William with a shockwave, breaking him for all to hear as the crushing of ribs resounded throughout the arena.

 Chapter 95: Reminiscences (5)

    William stumbled back, his eyes glassy, confused, and jumpy, as, for just a moment, his supreme intellect disappeared. After three steps¡ªtwo rigid and slow, one loose and fast¡ªhe fell to the ground and doubled over, blood pouring from his mouth. That sound was the only one in the entire arena, as even the audience was too shocked to even gasp. They all just looked on intesely, their egos absorbed by the spectacle.


    Gadreel broke that air with a laugh. A sudden, irresistible exhilaration and triumph spring from him. The first laugh was short. The next was longer. And before long, even as his broken wrist pressed his mind and the throbbing wound in his face never stropped burning, he laughed continuously as if from compulsion. A force greater than himself expressing itself through him. To the others it surely sounded like the insane laughter of an unrestrained maniac, but to him it was the genuine jubilation of a spirit that had long been suffocated by a mix of suspense and boredom.


    "Hnnn." Someone grunted. Gadreel looked up and found that it was William. He hadn''t known the man could make such a sound. "How?"


    Gadreel got up slowly to stand tall before William. "The true nature of essence," Gadreel''s said with a voice just loud enough to be heard by William, tapping the side of his head. "You never realized it. None of you did. For you know nothing of the world."


    William opened his mouth to say something, but his face twisted, and he spat a flow of blood. Still, he refused to lay down and accept defeat, instead shaking his head as he was curled up on his knees. "You know nothing about yourself." He strained to talk. But talking was all he had anymore. No matter how brutish, when a person''s violence was taken away, they settled for talking.


    Gadreel did him the courtesy of entertaining him for his last moments. "No, William. I know everything about myself that needs to be known. I regret to inform you; it just goes against much of what you think of me." William snorted in response as if denying Gadreel''s words as lies. This only fueled him to continue. "Honestly, I''m surprised you never realized my aversion toward gore to be entirely fabricated."


    William''s eyes widened for just a moment before going back to normal, and though Gadreel couldn''t see it, he was quite sure William''s pores had opened. It was a natural reaction. William had considered the matter for sure. He would''ve been an idiot if he hadn''t after Franz''s betrayal, as Franz was the one who had informed him about it in the first place. However, he had most likely dismissed it intuitively since he thought he knew Gadreel.


    Now he realized his arrogance, and it broke him mentally more than he had already been broken physically.


    "I suppose you can figure out why I did it," Gadreel said before taking a quick glance around and deciding the best course of action. The arena had grown dimmer as people were unable to keep focus on their materializations in the face of Gadreel''s performance. At that moment, the watchers'' systems were filled with adrenaline as their stress levels overloaded. Memories created in that moment would be everlasting. That''s why Gadreel would make an untouchable myth of himself that day. "It''s because otherwise I would have been too big of a threat. After all, everyone fears a man with no weakness," Gadreel explained, his voice loud and echoing. Then he stomped his foot before roaring, "And that is what I am! A man with no weakness. If any of you disagree, let us have a contest. I will bury you next to the former Ruler of Mircrest."


    William seemed to have had enough. With a raged groan, he launched up and at Gadreel. He was still fast, but only because he ignored his injuries despite the drawbacks.


    Gadreel turned, and as he saw his former father figure rushing at him with pure and overwhelming murderous intent, his world slowed down.


    All pretense then drained from Gadreel''s face as he watched William authentically. He felt that moment border on serene. The one of pure emotion he had been seeking.


    William, in all his cruelty, fraud, and barbarism, was a tragic character, and Gadreel did truly respect him for it. For never trying to make others see his tragedy, instead being fine with it and making it a device for growth.


    However, nothing could grow forever. As Gadreel looked into William''s eyes, he knew the man had met his ceiling and served no other purpose. Still, he took no pleasure in what would happen next.


    "By now you''ve probably figured out that a duel was what I wanted all along. A duel which I would of course have lost under normal conditions. That is, if you didn''t let your guard down."


    "You were lucky," William growled.


    "I sheperded a series of events to this single moment of my inevitable victory. I don''t imagine you would ever have given me the slightest opportunity if there was any kind of notion of me being a willing participant in all this. However, you knew of the vastness of my intellect, so you can imagine what a pain it was to somehow get me into a situation where you were convinced I was forced into it. The solution, of course, was to rely on the illogicality of others." William was limp, but as still as a statue, as Gadreel made the truth of the matter evident. "The entire past two years were all for this moment."


    William raged like a wraith. As Gadreel launched to meet his challenge, he saw his own awoken reflection in William''s eyes and almost paused. Almost.


    He dodged William''s whistling punch by closing the distance swiftly before putting a palm on William''s stomach. The man had missed and was riddled with confusion as Gadreel touched his belly in close proximity.If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    Then Gadreel closed his eyes and felt his soul carry his essence from his heart all the way to the tips of his fingers. It came into contact with William, and for a millisecond there was a slight barrier that vibrated in hesitation of letting it through, but Gadreel pushed, and that natural barrier broke.


    The essence materialized amid William''s internal organs. The sound was surprisingly hollow, as if someone were being stabbed behind a wall. William leaned forward and pushed his body against Gadreel soundlessly. It was probably the closest contact they had ever had. Then Gadreel felt a hand squeezing his arm, nails digging into his flesh, but didn''t react, and it stopped soon enough. William stayed on his feet even after Gadreel pulled away, but the life was lost from the man. His eyes were down. Not even looking at his stomach but simply the ground. And though he was full of questions, his despair and, most of all, his pride seemed to keep him from asking them.


    Nobody else had seen what had happened, and the light of essence grew brighter as the audience remembered it, wanting to see more clearly.


    There wasn''t much to see, however. Gadreel had tried squeezeing the essence into crystals as an experiment. As expected, there was a lot of splintering that obliterated William''s internals.


    William opened his mouth, and he seemed about to puke out his organs but drew it back. And with bloodshot eyes, he looked up at Gadreel. Under all the entitlement and anger, the man was almost sad in his confusion. If Gadreel had been capable of pity, he still wouldn''t have felt it for William. Maybe some kind of pain due to the attachment would have been possible, but at the end of the day, William was a part of a system that did to people what had now been done to him. He was responsible for his own pain, though it was by Gadreel''s hand.


    "Why, Gadreel? Or... whoever you... really are," William struggled to say as blood started to cover his chin. Gadreel wasn''t sure if his fatal injury or his pride was hurting more. William took a dumb, weak step forward, assisted by essence. Then he stood at arm''s reach from Gadreel and groaned, "All this... Your whole existence. Why?"


    William had finally acknowledged that he didn''t know Gadreel, so the least he could do was be honest in this final moment. So for the first time, he showed his real face, devoid of all humanity.


    William''s mouth opened wider, and he looked away as if to check if he was still in reality. Then he looked back, but now his being had succumbed to some force. Always, always when they had established eye contact, it had been clear that William was the older one out of the two. That he was senior, superior, in control. But suddenly, William looked at Gadreel like he was immortal.


    Gadreel knew why. He had seen that face of his too many times. It was the first memory he had of himself. One of the emotions that were wiped away.


    Humans and even animals always had something on their faces. Some indication of consciousness, even if it was just the eyes moving. They always interacted with the world. But as Gadreel stood there before William, all his pain had ceased even as blood covered half his face from his grotesque wound, and he was no longer connected to anything.


    William''s eyes shook with the realization that the apathy he thought he had previously grasped was far vaster than he would''ve guesses. It was bottomless. Gadreel, in fact, was not bored as he had thought, but completely devoid of even the faintest sensation that made up a human life. He stood there with no indication of even knowing William and no recognition of his existence.


    He was like a strange god, not of that world at all.


    Then he answered, his charismatic voice having turned into a deep monotone. "You wouldn''t understand. But if you must have an answer,"¡ªGadreel raised his brows slightly¡ª"it''s because I was born."


    William looked about to say something, but only blood poured out of his mouth. But as he died, Gadreel felt that they finally understood each other, even if only a sliver. William may not have known why, but he had seen under Gadreel''s second mask. He understood that Gadreel wasn''t just pretending to be a normal human being, but pretending to be a human being at all that was pretending to be normal. That was the most anyone had ever known about him, and in a sense, it was quite enough.


    "A boy long dead thanks you," Gadreel said as the traces of humanity returned to him and he became an abstract part of the world again. William''s eyes seemed to understand a little more, but there was undoubtedly a question in his mind. What was he thanking him for? Gadreel took on a ferocious smile and answered, "For the spectacle."


    Then he set his foot down with a stomp and slide before loading his hand and bursting it toward William''s forehead. It slammed him and took hold, tracing the essence in his body, unresisted.


    Then Gadreel repeated the crystalization of essence, but with more brutality, and the materialized crystals of essence exploded through William''s head and expanded into a U-shape behind him.


    In that moment, the entire arena flickered out into darkness, and only the crystals of essence that annihilated William''s being remained as illumination.


    Gadreel felt his stomach sink with relief, like returning to a familiar routine after a sidestep. Then he turned to the audience as light came back on and spoke with an uncharacteristically deep voice that echoed in the silent arena. "You are all now under my rule. Well... most of you." He flicked his wrist. "I never gave my word of anything." He searched for and found the eyes of Sherridan. "Kill them."


    Then the real bloodbath erupted as Sherridan moved like the wind to slash open a dozen throats in a second before the Evaporation Squadron took to action against William''s Five Shadows as Gadreel had instructed them earlier. Then the vice president stabbed the president in the back. Gadreel looked amusedly at that, and as he spun around watching as the audience descended into hell, joy spread on his face.


    He breathed deep and felt alive as strange nostalgia flooded his smile and turned it into something childish. Something akin to the wonders of discovery and creativity. It was like how a boy looked while smashing toys together.


    Whirling around amid the blur of bloodshed, Gadreel felt like a child god, and for maybe the first time in his life, he could imagine himself feeling something. It was as if his whole life had been a lie, all for this single moment where he grasped the truth.


    For that moment, the idea of life was his.


    ***


    Gadreel mumbled drowsily as he turned in his perfect bed before realizing he''d had the same dream again. He had fed on it so many times; the dish was getting moldy, but he kept going back to it.


    He chuckled to himself. "Perhaps you were right when you called me loser before," he said, turning his head to the shadowed side of his chamber. "Sherridan."


    The curvy silhouette of the woman revealed itself as she slowly walked out of the shade. She never walked slowly, but it seemed something was different.


    "Orpheus is dead," she said. "Slaughtered by ''the liveD''."


    Gadreel raised his brows at the news as he sat up. "Oh?" Then he sensed something coming. "What of it?"


    Sherridan glared at him. "I think it''s about time you tell me what the hell is going on."


    Gadreel leaned back on his hands and looked up with expectation. "It seems it has begun."


    "What has?" Sherridan asked in her snarky manner.


    With serenely closed eyes, Gadreel replied, "The end."

 Chapter 96: Intoxicated

    "Damn, you just keep growing." A familiar, slightly snarky but sarcastic voice woke Aurelius. Suddenly it felt like there was sand in his eyes as he realized it wasn''t Damian nor any other living soul. "I thought you were too huge before, but now look at you." The boy was blurry in his vision, and the surroundings were dark, but Aurelius could still make out the boy''s main features. Black hair that had been given up on in the styling process and playful, narrow eyes. "I can''t believe I ever beat you up. You''re one scary fucking guy, you know that?"


    "B¡ª Balgair?" Aurelius'' voice wavered, breaking. He lifted himself from the ground and leaned back against a rock. Then his vision became clear, and he could see Balgair again sitting on a mossy rock a few steps away from him. He wore a set of clothes Aurelius had only seen on him at some point on their travels to Akario¡ªthe city of the Red Lake. It was made up of a white dress shirt, a thin black tie, and a dark brown overcoat.


    Aurelius, dressed in his most recent outfit, looked around and saw that they were in a forest. It was familiar, but he didn''t remember from where. Not the place he had slaughtered the Evaporation Squadron. He would remember every single detail of that location forever.


    Balgair laughed in that young, reckless way of his, like he didn''t care about whatever sound he made. "You look like you''ve seen a ghost," he said, but quickly scratched his head afteward. "Sorry, that was cliche as hell. Well, anyways..."


    Aurelius looked at his feet before bringing his knees to his chest and hugging them. He then looked up at the black sky. He could hear Balgair slump and sigh, but he didn''t say anything for a while.


    They just stayed there in each other''s company. Aurelius wasn''t sure if he liked it or not; part of him yearned to rush to Balgair and shake him, hug him, and tell him he was his best friend. The other side of him withheld those desires. Connection came at a price, he had learned. To feel warmth was to shiver when it was lost. Not only that, but its loss was his fault entirely, and it harmed those outside of him. He couldn''t allow that any longer.


    His was a cultivation of self-reliance. His path was changing, but he couldn''t forgive himself for allowing his past to happen.


    "Look, Aurelius, you can''t become like me," Balgair said, causing Aurelius'' hearing to perk up, but he didn''t move his eyes from the sky. "Or worse. Isolating yourself only leads to misery. For you and others."


    "But it doesn''t lead to death," Aurelius mumbled.


    Balgair snorted. "Everything leads to death. And don''t get all survivor''s guilty on my ass."


    Aurelius chuckled briefly but stiffled anything that tried to follow as the glimmer of amusement was followed by intense pain in his soul. The sadness was unbearable, so he didn''t touch it. He went around and continued on like he had gone through.


    It was a wonder how Balgair''s crude humor had appealed to Aurelius from the very beginning, especially when he was at his lowest.


    "I''m sorry," Aurelius lowered his head to look Balgair in the eyes. "I''m so sorry. If I''d been as strong as I am now¡ª"


    "Oh, shut the fuck up," Balgair said, reeling back as if exasperated. Then he returned to his original position, and there was something genuine. "If a demon came to me and told me I had to repeat my life eternally exactly the way I lived it the first time, that demon would be my angel for one simple reason. You know why?" Aurelius stayed quiet, blinking frequently. "For you and for Cade. The time I spent with you two is the reason my eternal recurrence wouldn''t be torture. It was the happiest time of my life."


    Aurelius rubbed his hands together for some warmth in the world that was growing so cold. He tried to process Balgair''s words but they didn''t quite sink in.


    Then Balgair caught a brief laughing fit that absorbed Aurelius'' attention. Balgair laughed like a mad witch, which made Aurelius furrow his eyebrows in amusement, but then he managed to calm himself and tell what was so funny. "My bad for third-wheeling, though. If I hadn''t been there, you and Cade would''ve fucked already."


    Aurelius frowned, but it only seemed to make Balgair laugh more. But it wasn''t just Balgair. He wiped his eyes and quieted before pointing with his thumb where the sound was coming from.


    Aurelius turned his head and tuned in. He heard laughter and rustling deeper in the forest. Familiar laughter. All too familiar. Suddenly it clicked, and he recognized the forest for the place where they had camped after the incident in Akario. Where he and Balgair hnd wrestled and choked on laughter at immature jokes.


    He found himself wiping his eyes as well and realized that those times, even though filled with hardship, were the happiest of them all. Because he had Gadreel and Cade. Because they had each other.


    Aurelius turned his head back to Balgair, who already had his eyes on him, a knowing look in his eyes. "Go back to her, Aurelius. You need her, and she needs you. Take her to your home. You''re safe now."


    Aurelius'' chest filled with the idea of Cade and his mother at the same table with him and it even seemed possible to make that paradise. "But can they forgive me? I left Cade just like I left my mother."


    Balgair hopped down from the rock where he sat and squatted in front of Aurelius in a relaxed manner. "Look, they''re your family. You''ve made mistakes, yeah, but you acknowledge them, and you''re sorry. They''ll see that. They''ll understand."


    Balgair put a hand out and looked for some kind of contact. Aurelius stayed still in his limbo of reflection. Seeing that, Balgair just bumped him on the arm. However, the light bump spread like a shockwave and turned into an enormous radiating pain throughout Aurelius''s body.


    Balgair stepped away as Aurelius twisted in pain, his breathing intensifying. "Sorry for the pain," Blagair said, a friendly, apologetic expression on his face as he stepped away. "It''s time to wake up."


    The radiating pain exploded inside Aurelius body, and with a new environment assaulting his senses, he took on a burst of nausea and gagged. Something hot rose from his system, and he puked an amalgamation of red and black onto the white sheets. This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    He was panicked at first but quickly remembered falling unconscious after rendezvousing with Damian.


    He got up from the bed, but lack of balance led him to slam into a wall before pushing off and putting his hands on another. His filthy, bloody hands. They were still filthy. He was wholly uncleaned and covered in the gore of a hundred men from head to toe.


    His hair was crispy with dried blood and held in it tiny pieces that Aurelius didn''t want to know the origin of. All he could think of was relieving himself of the terrible ache in his body and mind.


    Aurelius stumbled out of the room directionlessly, shaking his numb limbs. His filthy outfit was sticking to his skin in the most uncomfortable way possible. He breathed through his mouth, fearing he would throw up again if he used his nose that stung already from a hot smell.


    "Ah, Aurelius!" Damian''s voice carried over to his ears, and Aurelius looked to his left, where he saw the blurry image of a man rushing at him. He blinked and saw Damian with dark bags under his eyes, coming to him from his pristine white sofa.


    He grabbed Aurelius by the arm. Aurelius flinched away at first, but then allowed him to help.


    "I''m sorry for not cleaning you up... I was..." Damian trailed off. "Please, come and take a seat."


    Aurelius'' mind had gone into a fog. He stepped over to the living room as if unconscious and plunged down onto the soft white couch, only the slightest thought about how he would sully it in the back of his mind.


    Damian sat next to him awkwardly while Aurelius stared straight ahead.


    "Are you... all right?" Damian asked cautiously.


    Aurelius shook his head too many times before stopping and falling silent. "No," he mumbled, his voice breaking. He coughed and swallowed before leaning back and relaxing into the couch, settling into his own filth, the monster he was. Then something occurred to him, and nothing objected to it. He found himself wondering why he hadn''t thought of it before. "Do you have liquor?"


    "Y¡ª yes... I do. Why?"


    Aurelius kept staring into the distance. "Can you give it to me?" He framed it like a question, but the ''can'' in the beginning was no more than a decoration.


    Damian stood up and walked past Aurelius'' vision. Aurelius looked around, his vision finally growing more conscious now that he had something to look forward to.


    On his right were the large windows that showed the city of Duresh down below. The same windows in front of which he had first announced his plan to anyone. Now that mission had been complete. And he felt nothing. Less than nothing. Just a vast pit devoid of even color that was his entire being.


    In front of him was an oval-shaped glass table. To his left was the kitchen, which Damian then stepped out of with a tall bottle of orange liquid in his grasp.


    He sat back next to Aurelius and gave him a glass. Aurelius took the bottle and wouldn''t have listened to objections, even if there were any. There weren''t.


    He opened the bottle and threw away the metal cork before putting his feet on the glass table, throwing his head back, and pouring the fluid down his throat. A pleasant flame spread, enveloping his mouth and overtaking his senses. And for just a second, he felt satisfied.


    Damian sat meekly next to him. Aurelius glanced at him and poured into the glass in his hand, which was originally intended for Aurelius himself. "Drink," Aurelius said. Damian did exactly so. Only then did Aurelius think to ask, "How long was I unconscious?"


    "Three days, I think."


    "You think?"


    "Three days," he affirmed.


    Aurelius leaned forward and sighed. "And how did I get here?"


    "I carried you... after you collapsed."


    "You carried me all the way here from the capital?" Aureliis asked, turning to look at Damian, who seemed to move back slightly. "Thank you." Aurelius meant it. Then he took another chug. He closed his eyes and breathed through his nose. "You must be exhausted. I won''t bother you any more than I already have," he said. Damian didn''t seem to leave, so he continued. "Don''t worry, I''ll leave tomorrow. You''ve done your job." He still didn''t leave, so Aurelius opened his eyes to see what was up.


    "Could I have another?" Damian asked, offering his glass.


    Aureliis rubbed his face, only noticing then that he still had his gloves on. It didn''t bother him. "I''m sorry, you don''t have to drink with me." Damian didn''t withdraw his glass. "Seriously," Aurelius said, his tone intentionally deeper.


    "We ought to celebrate."


    "Celebrate what?" Aurelius scoffed.


    "Orpheus is dead. Uzbec too. It deserves a toast."


    Aurelius shook his head slightly but poured Damian a glass nevertheless.


    "May they burn in hell," Damian said, raising his glass before drinking.


    Aurelius said nothing but drank as well.


    "So what happens now?" Damian asked after a while.


    "What?" Aurelius mumbled almost back in the same fog as he sipped away.


    "To the liveD. What becomes of it?"


    "The liveD lives in the nation''s heart," Aurelius sais with a shrug. "I don''t know." Aurelius rubbed his face and took another sip while he thought. "All I know is how to erase. I knew Orpheus needed to be gone, but now I don''t know what will follow." His voice was one of a rambler. "I only hope that the king keeps the order and the people are able to prevent the rise of Nexus again or others like it."


    "Ah, I see," Damian said. Aurelius could hear the disappointment in his voice. The sure realization that all this could''ve been for nothing. "Listen, I think you''re a great man. Honestly. I''m sorry for how I treated you before."


    Aurelius slowly reclined. "Aargh, fucking hell."


    "...I''m sorry?"


    "Why do people keep saying the same things?" Aurelius turned to Damian with a sudden movement and watched him flinch. "Look at yourself. You''re terrified of me." Aurelius turned back, drinking more before coughing mixed with laughter. "How could I be a great man... when even my own allies don''t trust me?"


    "I do. It''s just..." Fortunately, Damian trailed off before Aurelius'' head exploded. But then he continued. "You''re a symbol, Aurelius, of hope. You are the fight against evil. You make people believe in a better future. One where the terrors of this world are past and..."


    "Such a world doesn''t exist," Aurelius broke in with a deep, monotone statement.


    Damian sighed. "You don''t have to do everything alone. The world just needs more people like you. People who want to do good. And people look up to you. You''re an inspiration to them. They want to be just like you. And once there are enough people like that, then everyone will be happy, or at least happier."


    "Just like me." Aurelius scoffed, took a sip, and the color and humor drained from his face in an instant. "People keep saying that. I want to be just like you; I want to be just like you," Aurelius tore at his hair with a grunt. "I get it! Everybody wants to be me. I am the dream!" He took another drink and erupted in a short fit of coughs before settling back down, sinking deeper into the couch. "Hell, I thought so myself once... That I would be happy if I made myself this pinnacle of strength." He rubbed his forehead with his fingers, relishing the touch of his gloves, like the hands of another. "Fact is, I didn''t even notice it when I became it." His eyes stung as he looked at the roof. He took another sip. Then doubled. No cough. "To be honest, I wish it had stayed that way," he said, his voice like gravel. He blinked and felt something wet at the corner of his eyes. He suppressed it out of instinct and wiped it away. "Because when I finally did realize... that I had become it..." His eyes were red. "That I had become exactly like my father... like I always wanted." His voice broke, and his body shook. "I was so, so disappointed."


    He sank back and was about to take another sip but stopped and threw away the bottle that crashed and broke. The emotion he had locked inside came bursting out, and he covered his face as he wept. Even then, he did so silently, only giving away the slightest shake in the shoulders and the occasional sniff.


    However, when he felt a hand fall on his shoulder in silent understanding, it was somehow reassuring. He didn''t need words. He didn''t want them. It was, for that moment at least, enough that he could finally weep aloud once again.

 Chapter 97: Departure

    Aurelius woke before sunrise like his first night at Amadeus''. This time, however, he didn''t wait for light. He left his gloves in his bag, and though his body longed for it, he had no enhancers left.


    He dressed himself in silence, looking out of the window in his room. When he was ready, he threw his hood on and made his way out. But right as he was at the door, Damian stepped out of his room. He wore black night clothes, but there was no sign of drowsiness on him.


    "You were going to leave without saying anything?" Damian asked, no sign of hostility. Just well-handled disappointment.


    Aurelius opened his mouth but fell completely silent. He realized then how he always did the same thing only to regret it afterward.


    "It''s okay," Damian said, shurgging. "You don''t have to talk to me if you don''t want to." Damian turned and seemed about to go back to his room.


    "Wait," Aurelius said, and Damian turned back, a slight change in his expression. Something like a pleasant surprise. Aurelius bowed his head. "I''m sorry... for doing things this way. Or trying to. It''s just that I''m not very good at things like this, so I tend to avoid them."


    "I see." Damian leaned on the wall. "Well, now is a good time to practice. So... what becomes of us now?"


    "I, well... I''m going to Mircrest."


    Damian raised his brows, eyes hardening. "Numen?"


    Aurelius shook his head weakly. "Cade."


    "Ah." Damian''s eyes softened. Then, surprisingly, he smiled. "That''s good. You deserve it."


    It was uncomfortable. "I''m not sure. Cade and I left on bad terms. I''m not sure she shares any of my feelings."


    "Oh, come on." Damian got a little playful. "How could she not? Have you seen yourself? If a woman who had never seen a man had a wet dream, it''d be of you."


    "Uh... what?"


    Damian shook his head, laughing lightly to himself. "Nevermind."


    "Okay... Well, Cade is special. I just need to apologize and..."


    "I''m sure it''ll be fine. We all make mistakes. The way you talk about her, she can''t just be another woman. You have a connection. She should know that."


    "Thanks," Aurelius said, smiling slightly before raising his gaze. "What about you?"


    Damian scratched his cheek. "I have some plans of my own. Reckless, you would call them. But about what we spoke about yesterday, after getting to know you, I want to be just like you, too." Aurelius didn''t know whether to smile or frown, so his face stayed straight, only twitching slightly in one direction or the other. Damian out a hand up. "Now, I''m talking in a symbolic sense. I want to become what the liveD represents for the people of Arkryk."


    "How?"


    "I''m not quite certain yet, but if there is possibility for reform, it must be grasped. I''ll follow your legacy. Yours and Amadeus''."


    At last, a smile grew on Aurelius'' face as he remembered Amadeus. "Thank you." He bowed.


    "Hey, I haven''t done anything yet. Let''s see if I''m actually good for something," Damian said, scratching the back of his head with an awlward laugh.


    "You are," Aurelius said, and he meant it.


    "Thanks you. It means more than you think, coming from you."


    Aurelius nodded, but then a thought occurred to him, and his mood soured slightly. "I''m sorry, Damian, but I have one more favor to ask." Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.


    "Name it," Damian said, hands on his sides.


    "It''s some information. I promise I''ll use it only if I need to."


    "Okay." Damian nodded cautiously.


    Aurelius then asked for what he needed, and Damian''s look turned disapproving the second it left his mouth. Still, he obliged, and Aurelius nodded his thanks.


    "Farewell, Damian," Aurelius said as he turned and opened the door into the night air.


    "Until we meet again, Aurelius," Damian said with a smile. His tone was like he was correcting what Aurelius had said.


    Aurelius turned back slightly and nodded. "Until then." Then he walked out, one step closer to Mircrest.


    ***


    He ran through low mountains as he entered the western side of Arkryk in the afternoon. The pace was brisk, and the air was fresh. He hadn''t sweated from such running for some time. It was like gliding for him. He rushed past the rough trees that had had their tops broken somehow, and their branches were pointed down as if frowning.


    It made him reminisce about the Thropes and his earliest days of travel. Everything was so new then. Now he ran, not to discover what was ahead but to leave behind what was past.


    The wind humming in his ears and the air pressure pressing gently on his nody to let him know he was part of the world had become meaningless to him. It was all just part of a process. A means to and end.


    His surroundings blurred, and he only noticed changes in color. Otherwise, everything was just the same. It was sad doing what once felt to be so invigorating to find that it was no longer of any significance. It was like the past had been nullified, erased, and reduced to bits that had no critical value. All that he once worshipped seemed like lies, and he felt himself to be a fool for believing in any of them.


    Still, he kept going. Even as he came to a swamp and could have gone over it, he ran through, hopping from stone to platform of essence. However, his shoes got wet, and he slipped and stumbled once or twice, dirtying his clothes. At least the smell changed. It had been quite noticeable even after he washed himself and his clothes.


    When he made it through the swamp, he came upon a small town.


    He put his hood on and walked through it, thinking of maybe buying some food along the way. His enhanced nose caught the smell of fresh bread coming from far away and followed it. To his surprise, at the source, he found a shop run by a little girl with pigtails.


    Upon making eye contact, the girl announced the price for one bread and a discount for two with her arms crossed over her chest.


    Aurelius smiled at her and asked for one, handing her some coins in exchange.


    "Mister, this is too much for one. Way much!"


    Aurelius chuckled a little and took one bread before leaving. He got over halfway through the town before a sound struck him. He turned quickly to where the loud smack came from.


    "Did I teach you to run your mouth, huh? Did I?!" The large bearded man with a scarred face grunted as he held the boy by the wrist. "Damn brat. First your brother dies, and now you can''t work either? Do you want to follow him? Is that it? Do you want to die?"


    "No," the boy cried, his left cheek red and bloated. "I''m sorry. I''m sorry!"


    "Shut up." The man looked around to make sure no one was staring. Nobody was. He turned back to the boy and whsiepered. "Listen, if you don''t man up and do as I tell you, you will never come back home again, do you understand?"


    "But my¡ª my head hurts. I can''t."


    The man grunted again and brought his hand back, but as he was about to bring it down on the child, it came to a dead stop.


    Aurelius felt the calloused hand of the ugly man and snarled, "What kind of man beats a child?"


    "Who do you think you are?" the man asked, almost baffled that he was being laid hands on. "Get off me, you¡ª" Aurelius received a hit to the face but did not move in any sense of the word.


    The man stmbled back, holding his hand in pain. He was beginning to feel fear, but it didn''t hold him back from running his mouth. "Arrogant traveler... come to town and judge us...  the people of this town... how I should raise my children."


    Finally, Aurelius grabbed the man by his mouth and lifted him into the air. "You like hurting people weaker than you, is that it? You take your bitterness out on your children; they grow up and do the same. It never ends, does it?"


    The man kicked at him. And eventually Aurelius let the man fall to the ground. He scrambled away to lean his back against the nearest wall while Aurelius walked after him.


    "Arran!" the man yelled.


    Aurelius looked around in with furrowed brows. Did the man see acquaintance and call him? He saw nobody coming. Then something hit his foot, and he shook it off. Only then did he turn his gaze down where he found the child, on the ground, where Aurelius had thrown him.


    The man had called his son to defend him. Or use him as a shield? Aurelius'' eyes gleamed with fury as he ruahed at the man, squatting and grabbing the man by the collar. He shivered back and shook in Aurelius grasp, making whining noises.


    "I should fucking kill you," Aurelius whispered, every word laced with fury. More than he meant to.


    Then his hand went up and grabbed something that had flown at the side of his head. He looked at it. The thing was a rock.


    "Let him go!" the child yelled, another rock squeezed in his trembling hand.


    Aurelius backed off, absentmindedly, and watched as the child rushed back to his father. They embraced each other teafully as Aurelius looked around at the people staring.


    He enhabced his legs and leapt away with tremendous force far beyond the crowd and landed at the edge of the town, where he walked away, rubbing his face in mental agony.


    He could never do anything right.

 Chapter 98: Past Sins

    Aurelius kept running through the night, feeling like he would never sleep again. Essence kept his senses vivid and helped him navigate through the dark. Before he knew it, dawn had come, and he found himself in a place he had been conflicted about returning to.


    Uzbec''s words had bothered him. Even though he said she was alright, he had to know for sure. Uzbec could have lied for some reason. And Aurelius had left without a word last time as well. He had to at least apologize for that. In some far corner of his mind, he even yearned forgiveness even though he would''ve never given it to himself.


    As he stood on a hill, looking upon the small town, he could see the flagpole clearly. It was like a metal beacon that was painted white, and on its head there was a sharp metallic shape.


    Aurelius clowed his eyes and shook the memories out of his head. His body jolted slightly, as he felt like he would puke but repressed it. He didn''t remember that much. For a while after it happened, he had told himself that it wasn''t him that did it. It had been like something had possessed him. But it was him. However, he wasn''t that person anymore. He had become better. More methodical. He had realized the error in his actions and evolved.


    That was the truth of it. That was what he believed.


    And with that in mind, he took the first step forward. And then another. They were monumental steps that carried all the weight of the world on them.


    As he made his way toward the town, he reminisced about how it was when he first arrived there after coming from the Thropes and crossing the north-west border of Arkryk. Leaving Cade had crushed him, but his coming task was more pressing on his mind. It made him focused. This time, he didn''t know what kept his mind together.


    She thought of Vivy. The first time they met, she had smiled at him. He hadn''t smiled back. She still smiled the next time. And the next. Aurelius had told himself that he was indifferent towards her. Sure, she was nice, but he couldn''t look at a person like her anymore. With what he had learned about people, he didn''t see kind people the same anymore.


    Still, he prolonged his stay to learn some more Rykian from her and began smiling back. He learned how diligent she was. She worked tirelessly at a shop and provided for her little brother, who had dreams of academic success. They were a tight package, the two of them, living on the outskirts of the town in a small wooden home.


    One time, Vivy told Aurelius that she liked him. He was quiet for a while before telling her that he liked her as well, but she frowned at that. It always felt like she knew what he really meant when he spoke. She was clever like that. In truth, he did always see her as younger, even though they were the same age.


    For the weeks he spent there, planning and training, they grew close, but there was always distance between them. To Aurelius, it felt like Vivy was looking past him at something in her own imagination.


    Once Aurelius saw her defending her little brother from a local gang of thugs. She was small and didn''t have a sharp tongue, but she had an unwavering determination to protect what she cared about. Aurelius remembered having felt a kind of reverence at the sight. He had never felt it before. It was... true strength.


    The gang members were essence users, though not very good ones. Pathetic really. However, they posed a threat for the regular citizens, so Aurelius got involved.


    He was an idiot, not knowing who he was dealing with. He intimidated a few of them, but he didn''t make things clear enough. It turned out that their leader had ties to Nexus and had the absolute confidence of his men.


    Their leader then decided to send a point.


    On that day, Vivy''s little brother, Ron, was dumped on their doorstep. He was bruised, and his face was swollen, but most of all, he was naked and bleeding.


    Not even an animal would have done such a thing. Cruelty like that was a trait unique to humans. Inflicting suffering for its own sake like that. Sure, it was a message and a trap, but most of all it was an exertion of power that was over the line of being animalistic.


    Vivy cried, thinking he was dead at first. But when she knew he wasn''t, she called Aurelius'' name in a way he still remembered vividly. It was like a prayer. After that, it was a blur. But everything Aurelius had done, he had done it out of the very same cruelty he so despised in humans.


    Now he had come to reckon with those actions. He put his hood on as he entered the town and began to walk through it to the other end. People glanced at him, but didn''t pay too much attention. The manner in which the people of Arkryk conducted themselves was why Aurelius had been able to stay undiscovered for so long. That wasn''t a very positive notion however, because it was also the reason crime was so prevalent there. People were conditioned to look the other way.


    He galbced around as he made it to the center of the town, where the houses were larger and made of stone instead of wood. He looked up and saw the flagpole again. There were dark red stains on it that hadn''t been able to be washed away. Aurelius hoped there was some use for them but didn''t want to look at them, scurrying around and past.This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    Then he finally made it to the house he was looking for. He stopped and gathered himself for what felt like hours. However, right as he was about to knock, he met a pair of eyes that shone turquoise in the sun.


    He opened his mouth about to say something when she dropped the basket in her hand and rushed to embrace him. He kept his hands off her as she squeezed her skinny arms around and pressed the side of her face into his chest.


    "I knew you''d come back," she said, her voice muffled.


    "I¡ª" Aurelius couldn''t get a word out but laid a hand on her head of thin blonde hair.


    "Ah, sorry," she said, maybe thinking she squeezed too hard and let go. She took a step back and looked up at him with her thin lips in a smile.


    "It''s nothing," Aurelius said and looked around. "Could we¡ª"


    "Right, yeah," Vivy responded quickly and opened the door.


    Aurelius crouched as he stepped in after Vivy so that he wouldn''t hit his head.


    "I''m home!" Vivy yelled brightly as she put down her basket. "Ron is probably studying in his room; we can go into the kitchen," she said as she changed her shoes. She had different pairs for inside and outside use.


    Aurleius nodded and made his way into the kitchen, only to freeze again. While Vivy hadn''t changed much, Ron had. His blonde hair had turned a darker shade. A dirty-looking one. His eyes were heavier.


    "Hello," Aurelius said at the kitchen''s entrence.


    "Hello," Ron said, using Miran as he had always done previously. But it was no longer a sign of connection. More like a statement that Aurelius was a foreigner.


    Aurelius took the hint and said nothing more. Fortunately, Vivy walked into the kitchen right after.


    She looked troubled at Ron being there, but put on her best face. "Hey there, me and Aurelius were going to talk. Would you like to join us?"


    Ron''s hands trembled until he squeezed them into fists. Then he stood up slowly, grabbing some crumply old papers he was reading. "I have to study."


    "Of course." Vivy nodded awkwardly as she stepped aside and watched as Ron walked out. There was a clumsiness in his step as he limped on the creaking wooden floor.


    After he was gone, Vivy gestured for Aurelius to sit down. As he did, he heard a door get shut in the distance. "Don''t take it personally. He''s been like that ever since... Would you like something to eat?"


    "No, no, please, let''s just..."


    Vivy understood and sat down as well. Aurelius had had an idea of what he would say, but suddenly all that seemed worthless. It was silent for a while.


    Vivy fiddled with her hands awkwardly. "That man..."


    Aurelius'' eyes jumped. "What did he do to you?"


    "Nothing," Vivy recoiled in surprise as Aurelius. "He just asked some questions. About you. I''m sorry, he just saw through me, and Ron was home; I didn''t¡ª"


    "It''s fine." Aurelius breathed deeply. "Everything is resolved now."


    "That man... is he?" Aurelius nodded to her unspoken question. "Oh," Vivy said with mixed emotions. He looked down at her hands. "I was so worried about you."


    ''Worried... about me?'' Aurelius thought, furrowing his brows. It was almost absurd to him. He didn''t know quite what he had expected, but that wasn''t it.


    The news about Orpheus'' death hadn''t spread yet, and Nexus would probably try to keep it that way for as long as they could. Aurelius realized that if he told her he was responsible for it, she wouldn''t even have believed him. It would''ve been absurd to her. They truly did live in opposite worlds.


    "About what happened..." Aurelius said, looking at her regretfully. "I''m so sorry. I was just so angry. I couldn''t control myself."


    She frowned sympathetically. Sympathy was the last feeling Aurelius thought he would get for doing what he did. "I''m sorry I put you in that position."


    Aurelius'' stomach dropped. He stared at her, dumbstruck. Only then did she realize the manner in which she had rationalized his actions to suit herself. She had idealized what he did to be out of her will, shifting the blame onto herself.


    The horror Aurelius felt at how he had affected her mind made him want to retreat. There were times when he became acutely aware of how toxic he could be to certain people. He built his solitude on those feelings, and now he felt it again.


    "Uh, about Ron, is he doing alright?"


    "He''s better, focusing on his studies. He faints sometimes... in the bathroom. And has these trembles, but other than that, he''s gotten over it."


    "And the limp?"


    Vkvy frowned thoughtfully. "The healer says there''s nothing wrong with his legs, and sometimes he can walk just fine, but other times he can barely move at all. I have no idea about that. We''re just hoping it''ll go away in the future."


    "I''m sure it''ll be okay," Aurelius said, only trying his best to assure her. Then he put his hand into his pocket and took out a pouch of coins. "In any case, I thought this could help you two."


    Vivy took it into her hands and looked inside. "Aurelius, I can''t take this."


    "Don''t worry, if you don''t tell anyone about it, it''ll only be of help, especially if something happens."


    "No, but I can''t ask this of you."


    Aurelius put a hand up to prevent her from giving it back. "I don''t need it. I don''t even want it. It''s best for everyone if you take it." He then stood up. "I''m afraid I can''t stay here any longer."


    "What is something wrong?" Vivy asked, almost jumping out of her chair.


    "No. But I have a destination."


    "Oh, alright. But thank you so much." Vivy bowed her head. "I can''t tell you how grateful I am."


    Aurelius felt discomfort at such a gesture. "Please..."


    Vivy looked up at him. "You look like you aren''t sleeping well. Are you sure there isn''t something you would want to talk about?"


    "I''ve talked too much already. About everything."


    She laughed a little at that. "Come on, you''re like the opposite of a blabbermouth."


    Aurelius chuckled a little even though he didn''t find her words to be very funny or even true.


    She came close and put a hand on Aurelius neck, making him bend down a little before kissing him on the cheek. "Take care of yourself, alright?"


    Aurelius tried to smile and nodded. He then made his way out of the kitchen to the door. A door opened in his sight, and Ron peaked out. Aurelius was unsure what to think or to do, so he waved. Ron waved back.


    However, as Aurelius opened the door and walked out into the street, he had the feeling that Ron was watching him, making sure he had left and wasn''t coming back.

 Chapter 99: Reunion

    Aurelius breathed and breathed out, walked in circles, rubbed his face and made sure his casual brown clothes looked proper.


    ''Argh, but what if she just turns me away immediately? I can''t just burst out. She''ll be surprised and probably angry, but if I just apologize, it''ll be fine. She can''t hate me, right? Oh, god. What if she hates me? No, no, no. I have to go and find out. It''s the only way,'' Aurelius made up his mind with a familiar white house in the distance. Aleyah''s place. Cade was almost certainly there. She had to be.


    After finally gathering himself, Aurelius walked up, each step to the door like a mountain for him. Then he knocked, and a surge went through his body. And again. Every second telling him that it was real. That moment he had longed for, to see Cade again, became a nightmare as it was really going to happen and he would have rather been anywhere else.


    For the past year, it was what he had thought of the most, but in the moment, he lost all his words. Everything convincing about him suddenly became unconvincing. He felt an urge to run back to Arkryk and take care of things there first, but he didn''t let himself move.


    Then the door opened.


    A woman with silky but curled brown hair and freckles showed herself. It was Aleyah. She had changed quite a bit. Maybe it was that she wasn''t wearing her glasses. Or maybe it was her twisted expression of mixed fear and disgust.


    "Hello, Aleyah," Aurelius said as pleasantly as he could with the tension in his body, expecting Cade to peak from behind her at any time.


    "You..." Aleyah said rather rudely.


    Aurelius glossed over it, deeming it understandable. "I''m looking for Cade. Is she here?""


    Aurelius was about to make his way inside when Aleyah blocked him off. "She doesn''t want to see you."


    "Please just let me through. I need to talk to her," Aurelius explained calmly.


    "Didn''t you hear what I said?" Aleyah gave him no ground.


    "Aleyah, you can''t keep me from talking to her."


    "Hah, is that a threat?"


    "You''re Cade''s friend. I would never threaten you."


    "But you''ll force entry to my home? Is that what you''re saying? Oh, aren''t you a saint?"


    Aurelius frowned, but he knew where she was coming from. "Look, I''m sorry. I''m sorry for what I did. I''m here to apologize."


    "Apology not accepted." Aleyah stepped back and went to close the door. "Bye."


    "Wait!"


    Aurelius shoved his hand in the door''s way. Aleyah pushed it shut, nevertheless. The heavy door almost crushed Aurelius'' hand and he screamed out. Upon hearing it, Aleyah pulled back.


    "What the hell?" she yelled. "You didn''t enhance?! What is wrong with you?" She took his hand and examined it, pressing around spots. "Well, it''s not broken." She looked up at him. "What did you do that for?"


    Aurelius had no answer. "Is Cade here?"


    "No, she isn''t." Aleyah shook her head. "Good god, you''re such a problem. What is your deal, seriously? First you up and leave without a word and now you''re begging to talk to her. How could you do that to her? Abandon her like trash."


    Aurelius was taken aback. "What? I didn''t... She''s the most important thing to me in the world."


    Aleyah guffawed. "Yeah, right." Then she turned serious. "I can''t believe you. The way you left her..." Aleyah''s eyes wandered to the side, her voice growing quiet. "I''ve never seen cry before."


    Aurelius'' eyes went wide, he blinked, and they grew wider still. ''Cade... cried?'' He struggled to process it.


    "I... I don''t¡ª"


    Aleyah sighed and after a moment of silence, she spoke again but with a softer voice. "Fine, if you want to talk to her, she''s at an orphanage." She yielded suddenly. "One that was built recently not too far from the capital. You can come in. I''ll give you instructions. Want something to eat or not?"


    ***


    Finally with his affairs in order, Aurelius found himself on another doorstep. He raised his hand slowly and knocked on air a couple of times for practice before the real thing.


    Then he did it and waited in silence. He looked up. The building was quite large, but more so it was cleanly made with polished bricks of high quality, possibly having received aid from the government.


    Aurelius was startled from his thoughts as the door opened. He turned his gaze back down and his heart seemed to skip a beat, but the face he saw was only vaguely familiar.


    "...Fria?" he asked, the name coming to him from two years ago.


    The woman nodded and recognized Aurelius soon enough, her mouth hanging open. "Oh, it''s you." Her tone was surprised and reserved, but not all that judgmental.


    She was the very same woman he had met briefly the time Cade brought him to an orphanage before the Boerlow heist.


    "Is Cade here?" Fria nodded, but there was conflict in her expression. "May I come in?"


    Fria peaked her head outside to see if any of the passersby on the street were looking and then made way for him. He thanked her and took off his hat after getting in.


    "Cade is in the backyard with the children. You two can go speak upstairs for some privacy," Fria said.


    Aurelius nodded his thanks and walked towards the backdoor. He clenched his hands into fists a few times and couldn''t help but note how sweaty they were. With every step, he became more conscious of his bodily functions. Each inhale exhale. Every blink. Every step. Until he was there, at the door, and looked out into the backyard.


    There was a fence going around the playground where there were all sorts of wooden constructions and lines of jumping, laughing children. There was one wooden plank in the middle of the playground to which there was a long line. One older-looking boy stood on the plank as one child at a time stepped on the plank and they proceeded to try wrestling each other off.


    Aurelius'' attention was taken when he noticed someone at his feet.


    It was a little pale-haired boy with large bright eyes. "Wow, you''re tall," he said, his voice dreamy and gasping. Then he seemed to remember something. "I''m going to get some water." With that, he scurried off.


    "Uh, thanks... for the notice?" Aurelius said, but the kid had already gone. He shook his head and turned his attention back to the playground.


    He glossed over the plank in the middle and looked for Cade, but not quite sure what to expect. Then, in the corner of the playground, he saw a ring of youths and wondered if there was a fight going on as he began to walk towards it.


    When he got closer, he realized the rowdiness was mostly just laughter. Bullying was the first thing that came to mind, as the youths in the ring were made up of the older ones.


    He had attracted a lot of eyes by the time he made it to the ring and when the ones there noticed him, they stepped aside, allowing him a view of what was happening.This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.


    The ones who had noticed him had gone silent, but most were still rowdy as two individuals in the center of the ring were facing off.


    The one facing Aurelius was a brawny boy with curly hair who looked 14 while the one facing away from him was in a thin black trench coat. Most of all, he could''ve recognized that ash-brown hair anywhere even though it had grown so long compared to before.


    Aurelius was frozen as he watched the girl step lightly forward as her opponent charged like a bull. Then she twitched and with a sharp but unbelievably natural movement kicked the boy''s shin. Then she simply moved to the side and let the boy fall on his face. The boys and girls in the ring laughed as the boy jumped up with seemingly newfound energy and clasped his hands together.


    The girl twirled casually and Aurelius got to see half of her face. She was looking away toward the sky, saying something when a cool breeze came and made her hair float. The moment was something ethereal. Aurelius'' eyes were drawn to her perfect visage and her beautiful brown eyes that seemed rounder than before as she gazed longingly above while gray clouds approached. The hair on her forehead was amateurishly clipped short, but she had never cared much for such things.


    She had her flaws, but they were so small compared to all else that it was laughable. She was truly the most beautiful thing in the world. And in that moment, it felt like she was frozen in time. Perfect forever.


    Until she turned fully and her eyes met those of Aurelius. Her mouth which had been left open from her earlier words went shut. The brawny boy who was ready for another round was stopped in his tracks by a firm raise of Cade''s hand.


    Everyone had noticed now, and for a while, it was quiet.


    Aurelius opened his mouth and tried to tell her what Fria said about upstairs, but nothing came out. Not a sound. He gestured something, but it was all nonsense.


    He was simultaneously overwhelmed and underwhelmed with emotions. He searched Cade''s eyes as he had so many times before, but no longer did he see any trace of that bond they had. The times when they could look at each other and feel a connection that was deeper than physical seemed past. They were disconnected entities floating around. Or maybe it was just Aurelius that was disconnected. Disconnected and alone. He almost couldn''t bear that thought. The idea that he had broken something that simply could not be fixed. It destroyed his insides.


    It seemed like an eternity that they stood there staring at each other, Aurelius'' emotions fluctuating while Cade steadied herself. Then she moved. She walked briskly to Aurelius and past, gesturing for him to follow without emotion.


    The life returned to the playground as Aurelius left it behind and followed Cade all the way upstairs to a room. A room that seemed to be hers. A narrow bed on the left, an old table in front of a large window, and drawings made by the children attached to the wall on the right.


    Aurelius walked in and turned around as Cade shut the door.


    As soon as she was sure nobody heard, her voice went flat. "Why are you here?"


    Aurelius swallowed and took a while to answer. Even then it came out weakly. "I am... sorry. For the way we separated."


    "I don''t need your sorry," she said, leaning to the wall, but losing none of the intensity in her gaze. She left it at that and Aurelius wasn''t sure how to respond.


    He gathered his courage and pushed away all the uncertainty. "I''ve been thinking of going home. I would like you to accompany me."


    "Seriously?" Cade cocked her head almost mockingly. "Why would I do that?"


    "Well... If you want to?" Aurelius said, looking down at the wooden floor.


    "I don''t." Cade snorted, shaking her head. "I don''t even know why you would want that."


    "What? Of course, I do. I want to be with you."


    "Why?" She asked, glaring.


    "Because I love you," Aurelius slipped out.


    Cade''s eyes widened slightly but narrowed again in a second. "Is that why you left me alone without a word?"


    "To protect you."


    "From Orpheus?"


    "From me."


    Cade''s grimness was interrupted by a short laugh. "From you... Wow. Of all the things you could say." She shook her head. "Fucking ridiculous."


    "He''s dead. Orpheus. I killed him."


    "Congratulations." Cade raised a hand loosely. The leader of one of the world''s most infamous crime organizations was dead and she flicked her wrist.


    Aurelius''s expression twisted as he begged her to feel what he felt. "Don''t you understand I was afraid?"


    "Oh, right," Cade replied, bathed in sarcasm, "because I couldn''t handle the danger."


    "It was my responsibility," Aurelius pleaded with his hands open in front. "I couldn''t involve you."


    "We were companions." Cade pointed a firm finger, accentuating every word. "That is not your choice." She tilted her chin up. "If you decide to be alone, then you''re alone. Can''t have people only when you want them. Not how it works."


    "I understand that now, so please..."


    "You say so, but you don''t." Cade sighed. "Tell me the truth. Were you really more afraid of me being hurt because of you than me seeing what you were? Because it seems to me that you only got rid of me to get to be as monstrous as you wanted without anyone holding you back." She tilted her head and raised her brows. "Eh, the liveD?"


    Aurelius pursed his lips at her accusations. It seemed like no matter what he did, she saw it in the worst light possible. For that, he felt a tinge of something towards her that he never had before. Hate. Just the slightest amount, but it was there. Wanting to shut her mouth. Then he remembered the time they were crouched over Balgair''s dead body and how he had spoken to her. It made him sick. So sick he had told himself it wasn''t him that said those things back then.


    "Well, do you have them?" Cade asked, seeing that Aurelius wasn''t responding.


    "Huh?" Aurelius shook awake from his unpleasant inner world.


    "The enhancers. You had three and a half. I assume you didn''t need them all for Orpheus. So where are they?"


    Aurelius froze, letting out some noise while he looked for a story to grasp. "Right, they''re with me. Well, not with me. In my bag. But I left my bag in the room I rented."


    "Fine, let''s go."


    Aurelius hurried to somehow redirect. "Ah, no, I... sold them."


    Cade''s eyes dropped. "As I thought."


    "No, Cade, I... There were other occasions. You don''t understand¡ª"


    "Understand what? That you''re a depraved addict? Oh, I understand. I see it more clearly than ever."


    Aurelius took a step forward in aggression, but if there was one person in the world who would never be afraid of him, it was Cade.


    "You reek of blood," Cade scowled. "How can you come here like that? How can you live like that?"


    Aurelius would''ve retorted, saying she was the same as him, but realized that was no longer true. He looked around the room. It was true what she had said in one of their last conversations. She moved on in life. She had settled down and washed the blood off her hands. If it could ever be washed off, that was.


    Cade tried to push him away with a hand, but he grabbed her wrist and squeezed. "I''m stronger now." That much was true and Cade knew it. He had far surpassed her. It was evident. Still, her expression didn''t change. She enhanced and so did he, so surely she felt the difference in their strength, but she seemed to have made up her mind of not acknowledging him in the slightest. He doubted it would have changed anything even if he crushed her hand entirely. Maybe it would''ve made her eye twitch a little.


    In the end, he let go. Cade stood aside and gestured for him to leave. He went but turned one last time to look at her as he had his hand on the doorknob. "I''ll be staying at an establishment around the corner. Room 4. You can come by if you feel like¡ª"


    "I won''t."


    "Well, if you consider it... Please, just consider it."


    For the first time during the conversation, Cade looked down as she sighed. "Rey... you remember when you said you hated me," she said as if talking to the floor.


    Aurelius frowned. "I didn''t mean that. I just¡ª"


    "I know." Cade raised her gaze and purged her pity. "I never forgot it. You took a fucking wrench to my heart, tore out my intestines, and left. I just don''t want to see you. Ever. Go home."


    "But..." Aurelius'' eyes grew red as he forgot any bit of hate for her, remembering what he had done. The loathing he felt towards himself boiled as sorrow laced his voice. "I can''t live without you."


    Cade''s face handled a complication of emotions, but relaxed and was wiped clean of any weakness. "Then kill yourself."


    ***


    Aurelius stepped into his room with a blank face, blank eyes, and a blank soul. He threw the door shut with unintended force and collapsed to his knees at his doorstep. He folded over and became just a ball of sorrowful flesh, drowning in its own mistakes.


    How he had gotten there was something he could figure out simply by looking at his actions and hating them all the more. What had he thought back then? The idea that he was doing what was for the best seemed completely incredible.


    No, Cade was right. Everything he had done had been for his own sake. He only ever thought about himself. When he tried to think of some good thing he had done for someone else it suddenly seemed that there were only selfish reasons behind them.


    And as he kneeled there pathetically, his forehead on the ground while he wiped his eyes with his wrist. No tears came, but his eyes were as red as they possibly could be, bloodshot with hate. Hate. Pure and simple, primal hatred. An uncontainable rage seemed to seep into him and transform his body into a monstrous construct of war as it had been many times before. It was then that he saw how dominantly it had been his hunger for violence that had driven him. All else had been a justification to satisfy that primal need. An animal was all he was. A dysfunctional, destructive animal, harmful to those around it.


    There was a knock and Aurelius was on his feet in a split. He threw the door open and saw the woman he had rented the room from shiver with fright at him.


    "Ah, there was a delivery, sir. To you," she said and handed him a scroll.


    He couldn''t believe it. His mind seemed to float away from his body and his heart seemed to stop as the scroll was handed to him and he saw the familiar material.


    He looked up with his hollow, bloodshot eyes. The woman bowed his head and walked off quickly.


    Aurelius almost fainted. His legs and hands trembled while his face contorted with emotions so visceral they made him feel like he had never felt anything before that moment.


    Gaas. The material was gaas. The scroll was made of gaas. Gaas. The material as the scroll he received a year ago in the Thropes. From Arkryk. No. Not Arkryk. It had never been from Arkryk.


    Aurelius finally understood.


    Orpheus hadn''t lied. He had never sent any message. Aurelius had been used.


    He opened the scroll. It was empty except for a few words.


    At the very top, it read, ''From Gadreel, Ruler of Mircrest.''


    Above the message, there was a pair of smooth, inky, squinted eyes and a curved smile. An expression of unfiltered mocking. However, the message itself was so cruel it made every spiteful thing Aurelius had endured in his life seem wholly insignificant in comparison.


    ''It was me.''

 Chapter 100: The Purest Expression (1)

    As Cade had surmised earlier, it was beginning to rain, and she didn''t think it would stop any time soon. Ever since Aurelius had left the orphanage, she had been consumed by her inner conflict. It pressed her, and every time she pushed it away, it came and bit her harder.


    She had seen what terrible shape he was in, but that hadn''t soothed her anger. Only after she said that thing did she realize how she didn''t want it. She went to bed early that night. Even earlier than usual, and as drops of water started to crash against the window, she jumped out of bed.


    She threw on her clothes and ran out into the rain. There was still some light in the sky. She realized only after her breath started to become strained that she''d forgotten to enhance. But more than that, it seemed her body had made the harder choice for her. Without knowing it, she''d already made up her mind.


    She couldn''t live without him either.


    A woman behind a desk was taken aback as Cade rushed into the establishment.


    "Room 4!" she yelled. Her voice was determined and seemed to just rush out.


    The woman gestured the way with a frightened look. Cade went where she pointed, not sure what to expect. She didn''t know Aurelius like she used to. He seemed so different. So grown.


    She feared he had already left as he ran up to the door. She knocked firmly on the door and was left standing there with her mouth agape. The door was open, but more than that, Aurelius'' stuff was there.


    "Oh, no. Oh, nonono..." She rushed into the room and looked around for something that would give her a clue. Anything that would exile the ideas the sight gave her. She even peaked under the bed, like she''d find him hiding under there.


    Then she noticed a notebook on the table left open on the last page. A cold sensation ran down her spine. Aurelius'' notebook was his treasure. He would never leave it behind. Unless...


    Cade walked to it with hollow eyes, afraid of what she''d see. She was surprised to see a scroll on the table. She recognized its type and quickly figured out from where she remembered it. The one Aurelius received from Orpheus was from the same kind.


    A confusion grew inside Cade, but she was at least thankful her main worries were averted. He read the scroll and blinked before turning her attention to Aurleius'' notebook. It was black, unlike the one she had seen with him. On the last page, there were quite a lot of writings, even though the second last page was empty.


    She could tell that some of it was old and some of it recent. The majority of the old writings were written or scratched over, while only a few lines remained unobstructed.


    Up on the page it read, "The former Royal Castle." And around it. "A sign. A bait. A gate." Among other such things.


    But in the very center of the page was the part that caught her attention. There was an old line there, written with a different type of pencil. And under it there was another line that seemed like the last thing that had been written in it. The two lines made a poem. One that made Cade bite her lip as she read it and sent shivers down her body.


    Blood screams, but I can''t hear.


    My doom nears, but I can''t fear.


    ***


    It poured up on the high cobblestone walls of the former Royal Castle. No guards in sight. In a flash of light, with the motif of thunder that shook the eardrums of Acelot, Aurelius appeared. His silhouette was black to the momentary dark blue and white of the dark gray sky. But after that brief moment, he blended in perfectly.


    He disappeared into movement again, and in a blur, he found himself walking the steps to the castle''s entrence. The wall around the entrence continued to ridiculous heights, but he didn''t care for such things in the moment. All he cared for was the next step toward the answer to his problems.


    And so he kicked down the high doors of dark wood that led into the main hall of the castle before walking into the darkness. His hair was matted and stuck to his forehead, from where drops flowed down to his chin and dripped onto the ground, making the only sound in the hall besides footsteps. Step, drip, step. Those were the echoes of the hall.


    The only light in that world was a line of grand candle chandeliers that led to a throne at the very back of the hall. The size of the construct was unimaginable. Certainly the largest inside space Aurelius had ever seen and doubly decorated. From the polished stone floor to the carved domes on the ceiling, it was utterly magnificient. It was larger than life by definition. No single generation would''ve been able to build such a thing. It was so tall that it would''ve been gratuitous for giants and long and wide that there were hundreds of grand chandeliers that took tens of steps to cover in the hall. However, everything past the pillars on both sides was pure darkness, as the candlelight from the line he walked didn''t stretch quite so far.


    Aurelius wasn''t fooled by appearances, though. He knew he had walked into a trap. But he had come prepared. His washed outfit was already covered in lines of blood, much like it had been with Orpheus. This time, he felt that it would be a bloodbath, unlike what he had experienced before. It would be unlike anything anyone had experienced. It was a bloodbath to end all bloodbaths. The omega.


    He looked up at the roof that was composed of multiple domes in amid pillars that had clearly been carved with unbelievable attention to detail, made up of various chaotic patterns that still made sense when observed closely.


    It was a shame. Aurelius could imagine the generations that had worked so closely on the carvings and issed an apilogy in spirit, for after what would happen there that day, nobody would look at the building the same again.


    Finally, Aurelius brought his gaze down with a gathered grimness and observed the man sitting on the throne ahead, Gadreel. He knew it straight away. His figure may have been slight, but his presence was enough to fill any stucture. On his upper body he wore an oversized burgundy shirt with elaborate markings sown into its evidently perfect silk, and hanging from his ears were a pair of golden diamond earrings. They were simple but caught the eye.


    However, something else entirely took Aurelius'' attention. The man on the throne had a boyish face without losing any of his profound air. That was complemented by his head of auburn hair that had been swept back, only leaving a few strands loose, inexplicably. But most prominent of all his features were his glinting silver eyes that met Aurelius'' eyes without wavering. It had been a long time since anyone met Aurelius'' gaze in such a manner. It wasn''t even on the grounds of equality. Gadreel looked at him like he expected Aurelius to yield.The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.


    Even though there was no scar on his face this time, something was evident.


    ''William?'' Aurelius recalled the name from an encounter over a year ago when he was still with Cade and Balgair on route to Wescaster. He recognized him, but only on the basis of appearance. The very soul of him was different. It was evident that William wasn''t his real name, even if Gadreel hadn''t been it either.


    At that moment, Aurelius found himself wondering just how much the man had directed his life with an invisible hand while laughing in the background.


    "You''ve grown," Gadreel said, breaking the silence with his soft, devilish voice. He switched his sitting position and grinned darkly. "I knew I could make you."


    For a while Aurelius had felt almost detached from the unreality of it all, but with those words, he felt his emotions reach back to his soul and swirl within. Right at that moment, there was a flash of light from the multicolored stained glass panels that were littered throughout the hall, namely high above the throne.


    Then came the thunder. Aurelius shuddered with a glance around himself. Gadreel, on the other hand, didn''t move at all, only observing Aurelius while the hall grew dim once again.


    Aurelius glared at Gadreel, who then stood up in a relaxed manner. He walked a few steps to the side, making strange signs with his hands before looking around. Aurelius could hardly believe his eyes as Gadreel turned his back. All he had to do was shoot off a beam of essence through his back, and that would be the end of it. Or not. Gadreel was making a statement. This would not be over quickly.


    "I know you have many questions, but let us not drag this out. Long conversations are where intrigue goes to die," Gadreel said as he completed his spin and walked in the other direction. He looked at Aurelius with a charismatic tilt of his head. "Don''t you agree?" Aurelius stayed silent, not having moved from his spot. When he burst, there was going to be nothing more to it, and he was still evaluating.


    Gadreel was certainly the best actor Aurelius had ever met. That said a lot when he had kept the company of a genius like Amadeus. He simply had to admit, Gadreel was another breed entirely.


    Whatever act he had put on in their earlier meeting, it was remarkable. To be able to hide the extremity of his being to such an extent.


    His eyes. They were so soft but sharp. So cold but warm. So alluring and so repulsive, all in the same. How he could hide such complexity was incomprehensible to Aurelius. He exuded intelligence so far beyond what seemed human. Just looking at him, you could tell that he perceived the world on a higher level.


    And Aurelius of all people could sense that the world perceived him on a higher level as well.


    The air, no, the essence around him fluctuated like it was worshipping him but simultaneously couldn''t decide if it was infatuated or inflamed by him.


    "Come now." His voice was slow and sweet, but his words were stern. "Talk, boy of Ares."


    "Why?"


    "Why?" Gadreel seemed almost disappointed, stopping in his tracks and turning to face Aurelius properly. Then he took a step toward him. "Why what? I don''t think you know the very meaning of your own question." Another step. "If I were to ask, you would tell me that you meant to inquire as to my motives regarding my actions on a larger scope." Aurelius found his mind quiet, his whole being taken by Gadreel''s voice. "However, what you really want to know is why you, isn''t it?" Gadreel framed it like a question, but even a fool would have known it wasn''t one.


    Gadreel''s claws on Aurelius'' mind didn''t feel good, but Aurelius was too consumed with him to resist. "Tell me," he growled, clenching his fists.


    Gadreel walked a straight line slowly, as if on the edge of a blade. "I am enamoured by you, repulsed by you. In a strange sense, I feel that we are soulmates. Twins in the womb, but cursed and wanting to eat each other."


    "What role did Orpheus have in this?"


    "Him? An obstacle to me. One you so gracefully did away with." He gave Aurelius a nod. "For that, gratitude."


    Aurelius'' body was completely still, only breathing in and out but shallowly. More in than out. "You said you made me. Why would you do that if you knew I would try to eat you?" He wanted to deny it.


    Gadreel stopped, still quite some distance away, and listened to the echoes of Aurelius words. "So that we could eat each other," he replied, touching his hand to his chest almost affectionately. "Consume one another and become whole."


    Aurelius'' nose wrinkled slowly as he reeled back before lashing out. He grunted, slicing the air with his gloved hand. A blade shot out, cutting a pillar clean through. "You disgust me," Aurelius said with his twitching eyes on Gadreel, who hadn''t flinched. He was close enough for Aurelius to kill him in seconds, but he felt that wasn''t enough. It had been fairly evident since the beginning how many soldiers Gadreel had hidden in the structure.


    Gadreel smiled at his outburst. "As do you, me." He then began to take steps backward, as if tempting Aurelius to attack, knowing that he wouldn''t. "However, that is why you are perfect."


    Aurelius furrowed his brows as he looked at Gadreel lightly stepping back to his throne and wondered how the world had created such an existence as him.


    "Tell me, Gadreel," Aurelius spat, "how much of my life was according to your plan?"


    "According to my plan? That is quite difficult to ascertain." He paused and raised his brows subtly. "How much of it I foresaw? Ever since I came to know of your existence: everything."


    Aurelius swallowed and felt his anger rise, from the twitching in his fists to the burning in his chest.


    Every moment of his life, happy, sad, or otherwise, determined by something external was unadmitable. Only then did the extent of Gadreel''s control dawn on him. Not just Orpheus, but everything, everyone.


    His relationships with Cade and with Balgair had been manipulated and stripped according to his will. Just like war had stripped his father from him. Nothing was ever only his. But it wasn''t the world that had led him down this spiral. It was the man standing before him.


    Gadreel had sent the twins and brought him and Cade closer together only so that it would hurt so much more when he ripped her away. Aurelius began to turn his head as he stared straight ahead, his eyes beginning to sting. Not just the twins. The Boerlow Numen branch. Killing his own men to send a message. And then that assassin who stabbed Cade and threatened that child. And finally, Izir.


    He thought of Balgair and was back in that moment, holding his young, dying friend. His breath hadn''t smelled of cigarettes then. Balgair deserved more than to die in the fucking mud. He deserved better! More from the world. More from Aurelius. The life he had lived¡ªhe should''ve had another, better one. He should''ve found a woman he loved, made his jokes, and had adorable children Aurelius would be godfather to.


    Instead, he was dead and buried with broken bones and stab wounds in his chest. All because of Gadreel. But not because it was necessary. Because it fit his vision.


    Aurelius breathed out and felt everything except for his bruning hatred fade away. He was there to rip Gadreel apart, slaughter his allies like animals, and make his castle crumble.


    "I do have one offer." When Gadreel made it back to his throne, he walked behind it and pulled out a large sack of what seemed like coins. "Here. Your reward." He threw the sack forward, but it wasn''t like Aurelius could claim it even if he did care. "10 000 gold. I know it''s not the sum we agreed upon, but then again, that promise wasn''t in my name." Gadreel laughed at that. He chuckled in this situation. "Assassinating me would have been approximately ten times harder, though, so I consider it to be more than fair." His tone grew dark quickly. "If we do battle here, I promise it will make your assault on Orpheus seem like something from a playground." Then he waved his hand to dismiss the idea for a moment. "What I said earlier about us consuming each other, that isn''t necessary. Instead, you can take this money and return home. You''ve done me a great favor. Leave Mircrest alone, and I have nothing against you."


    Aurelius couldn''t be sure if he was lying. It seemed too much to bring him here just to turn him away. It was possible that Aurelius could have stayed and become troublesome again. Much more troublesome than before.


    However, the plan to buy him off was nonsense. A sadistic joke. They both knew it. They both knew he would never accept, but Gadreel still made the offer to taunt him.


    For all these years, Gadreel had turned Aurelius into something hideous and guided him into hell. Now it was Aurelius'' turn to guide him, and he would utilize all his developed monstrous faculties to make that a reality.


    With that in mind, Aurelius spared nothing in his response. "In my whole life, I have never hated anyone as much as I hate you now. I have ripped men to pieces from far less. You''ve created in me something that even you can''t imagine. And you will not escape me. Today, here, now, no matter what, karase aki."


    Gadreel looked satisfied, and Aurelius swore that he would make that expression disappear. "Then you will not leave here alive."

 Chapter 101: The Purest Expression (2)

    For the first time since he began to converse with Gadreel, Aurelius took a step forward. However, instead of preparing any defense, Gadreel sat back down on his throne. Aurelius felt the pressure build around him and calculated the best course of action.


    He could pinpoint a deal of the soldiers hidden in the complex structure, but a surprise attack against them likely wouldn''t have been very effective. His sole method to better his odds in the situation seemed to be driving a drift between Gadreel and the combatants he relied on. However, Gadreel had expressed a desire to make the interaction brief, so Aurelius had to make it something Gadreel couldn''t outright dismiss.


    "Where''s your scar?" Aurelius asked.


    Gadreel seemed amused, leaning back. "What scar?" he dismissed it outright.


    "The one that lines your face. I saw it. It was real." Aurelius spat. "What kind of man hides his scars?"


    "You want to talk about what kind of man I am? Oh, but you are much more interesting out of the two of us? I''d much rather talk about you, Son of Ares."


    "No," Aurelius rejected his attempt at redirection, but Gadreel kept talking.


    "18 years old and you''ve killed¡ªwhat¡ªthousands?"


    "Not even close." Aurelius scowled, raising his tone.


    "Oh, then how many?" Gadreel provoked with rising intensity. He gripped the armrests on his throne, leaning forward with eyes wide in a mocking gaze.


    "You think I''m... What does it¡ª"


    "You don''t even know. Not a clue. It''s as if¡ª"


    "Shut up." Aurelius had no idea. He had seen so much blood, he didn''t know.


    Gadreel grinned at his reactions. "Now what I''m¡ª"


    "They deserved it. All of them."


    "Every single one?" Gadreel shook his head with squinted eyes.


    Aurelius seethed and felt the urge to rush him. His body tensed, and the essence inside him fired up as he leaned on his front foot. What good was talking anymore? No matter how many of them there were, he could take them. Kill them all.


    However, he felt a need to convince Gadreel. To win this feud of words. "Every single one!" he yelled, spit flying. "And you." He turned and roared so that the whole hall trembled. "And everyone who opposes me now! You heard your master. My mountain of corpses goes beyond sight. So think, is today the day you are willing to die?" If they weren''t concerned with any kind of morals or principles, at least they would listen to their survival instincts.


    No response came, but Aurelius heard some slight movement. Most were likely hiding in the domes on the ceiling, some in the deepest shadows behind him. He had hypothesized many positions where they could be, so he was ready for whenever they would drop down and rush him. Aurelius was sure there were some behind the pillars, even though his earlier test slash hadn''t hit anyone.


    Then Gadreel laughed. Aurelius looked at him as he sat uncontrollably on the throne. It was like his whole existence was for mocking Aurelius.


    "You must have wondered where I got the forces needed to face you," Gadreel said, gaining his seriousness back at an unsettling speed, and the momentarily lessened tension heightened evermore. "A year ago I set a close associate of mine on the task of gathering me a force needed for a man like you. Not an easy task in the least, even with my finances, but he delivered." Aurelius'' eyes followed Gadreel''s every little movement as he swept his hand across the whole hall in a grand manner. "In this hall are the strongest combatants in Numen, that is to say, Mircrest as a whole. They make up roughly 30 percent. The remaining are the highest tier of elites from Arkryk, Lundkirk, the Thropes, and even Zalfari." Gadreel looked as if he pitied Aurelius. "I figure the Evaporation Squadron posed you quite a lot of challenges even when you were not so lonely. And this... This is so much more."


    Aurelius didn''t respond. He wasn''t sure he could. If there truly were hundreds of them, and they were on the same heights as the Evaporation Squadron, how would he handle them? No, but if they were higher... Aurelius'' hands began to tremble. It was then that he noticed his fists had opened. When? He didn''t know.


    "These soldiers... they are quite similar to a historical military group. Possibly the most famous of all. The Elite Troop of the Great Zalfarian Empire... led by your father, the Zalfarian God of War." Aurelius perked up at that title and bit his lip, soon tasting blood. "That''s right, they are the same breed of cold-blooded predators your father led to hundreds of battles with almost never a single casualty. They do not fear death, for they have lived with it their whole lives. Around them inside them. Nor do they have any allusions of morality in what they do." This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.


    Aurelius cooled his heart and glared up at Gadreel with icy eyes. "Then you are all evil, and as I kill you without hesitation, I''ll be a positive effect for all that is good in the world."


    "Oh, ever the hero," praised Gadreel with a snicker. He corrected his posture and tilted his chin up with a smile playing on his lips. He blinked slowly as he looked down at Aurelius, and the smallest human element flickered out of his eyes. "Good and evil?" he asked the air and gave a slight shake of his head. "Such things don''t matter to me. I see things for what they truly are. Everything under the sun is as meaningless as can be." He widened his dead eyes ever so slightly. "However, there is an experience in existence that can''t be taken away. That experience is beyond good and evil, and it is the reason for my life." He paused and accentuated every single word that was to follow. "In other words, I am beyond good and evil."


    Aurelius looked at the man on the throne, and only at that moment did he see the gaping pit in the middle of those genius silver irises expand. He had seen his share of human malevolence and sheer vileness, but never had he gazed into such a vast, empty pit of darkness. Gadreel was like the expression of all that he had seen at its worst. Aurelius has come face-to-face with absolute evil.


    He looked down at his hands that were sunk in his flawless crimson gloves and stretched his fingers before snapping them into a firm fist. He felt a pulse of essence waiting to explode, and his confidence returned. If he lacked strength, he would simply evolve to a higher echelon of power. As Gadreel said, he was alone; nobody was there to hold him back.


    He looked up at Gadreel, and utter silence followed to the point you could hear the muffled rain in the distance outside the grand hall. Aurelius looked further up from Gadreel and reflected. At that moment, it felt like the outside was a whole other world, only able to be seen through the collections of stained panels of glass. The flamboyance of their colors and formation made up a mess of symbolism that was incomprehensible to him. There was a meaning to it that was ungraspable to him. To all humans, he imagined, though many could probably sense that there was something there. He wagered that Gadreel could grasp it, though.


    As he arrived at that though, there was another flash of light that shone inside in a plethora of different colors, painting the hall as beautiful for just a second. One of the windows showed the streak of lightning as white ripping through the sky. That was the moment when Aurelius shot his eyes back to Gadreel, who stood with expectation in his demonic eyes. However, Aurelius had lost the tension in his body and didn''t seem about to attack.


    Then thunder shook the hall, and Aurelius snapped into ferocious motion. He twisted with violence, slicing his right hand horizontally through the air, and sent a great slash to cleave Gadreel in half.


    However, in the moment it took for that faint blue divide in space to cut its way to Gadreel, another figure appeared. She moved faster than anyone Aurelius had ever seen, to the point it was hard to believe she was real. Her purple hair swayed wildly as she came to the rescue of Gadreel and blocked the slash. She was so fast and the distance between him and Gadreel so vast that Aurelius doubted that enhancers would''ve made a difference. The woman then straightened only to fall back to Gadreel''s side, hiding her body in her cloak and face behind a white mask. She seemed to be his personal guard. That was good. It meant she was probably the strongest of the bunch. Nothing Aurelius couldn''t handle.


    "How sad," Gadreel remarked. He hadn''t been shaken at all by the course of the event and calmly retreated to his throne, where he sat cross-legged. Finally, with a hand on his cheek, he gave the command, "Bury him."


    Only then did all the others engage. Their numbers were staggering, and Aurelius'' hands trembled with the expectation of violence as the veterans landed all around him. However, they were still observing. Nobody wanted to be the first to die. Everyone wanted to be the one to kill him, but every opportunity was a gamble. Aurelius had counted on that greed.


    Then came the first. Five men in completely black robes, not an inch of skin able to be seen. From all sides at once.


    Aurelius'' eyes slid from right to left in a split second before he sent his slashes. His hands moved like coiled snakes before tens of slashes riddled the air. For last, he sliced the air, bringing his straight hand together behind his back and sent off slashes that, for a moment, seemed almost like wings.


    The slashes were blocked, but they did their job in holding the four in front and on his sides back. Then he turned to the one attacking from behind. His first target. The man was in the air with a balf compression growing in his hand. Aurelius had no intention of letting him use it.


    He outstretched his hands and directed them at the man. The enemy panicked and materialized an object in the air that he used to push himself toward the ground. However, no beam shot from Aurelius'' hands. Instead, he was there right when the assassin landed and grabbed him by the throat before putting a blade through his stomach.


    For some reason, he felt that he recognized the man.


    He took the man''s mask off, and sure enough, he found a familiar face accompanied by a head of blonde hair and unaccompanied by one eye. And eye he had taken from the man over a year ago.


    It was the man who claimed he had been sent by the president, but of course, it was actually Gadreel. He was behind everything.


    The man gurgled on blood, Aurelius'' materialized blade having gone through his spine. That wasn''t quite enough, though. "I told you the next time we would meet, I''d take your head off."


    There wasn''t much time, but he was the man who had stabbed Cade. Aurelius would never let that go. He took his hand off the man''s throat only to slice it with the same blade as he had stabbed him with. The blade went cleanly through and through, but the man twirled around before falling to his knees.


    Aurelius was there to catch him, though, and instantly put the finger of both hands in the deep cut on his throat before, in an act of pure, unfiltered violence, ripping his head off. He left it fly away and thump on the ground before rolling around to stare blankly at his next opponents.


    He let the headless body collapse to the ground and become meaningless while he looked at his crimson gloves. He had almost forgotten why he was so fond of them. Then he looked around at hundreds of elites who seemed to have backed off slightly since he last observed them.


    "There will be no burial here," he said, addressing Gadreel''s command. "Nobody buries scum." He wiped his hands on his black coat and raised his hands as he tuned into the heat of combat. His senses of taste and smell drowned out as he focused on his superior functions and uttered a single word, "Next."

 Chapter 102: The Purest Expression (3)

    Much of violence was made out to be complicated. The amount of techniques and strategies that were practiced and memorized was endless. Aurelius had come across quite a plethora of them, all their wielders thinking they had reinvented the wheel.


    In reality, there was no shortcut to violence. No way to make it more sanitary or efficient. It was all the same thing. Trying to twist it one way or another just created a weakness.


    That''s why he couldn''t help but snort as the so-called elites assailed him in close succession, all just for each of them to die in a blink. They may have thought they had lived with death before, but that changed soon enough. Aurelius had that effect.


    The severing of arms, legs, and heads. The puncturing of stomachs, hearts, and lungs. The crushing of knees, ribs, and skulls. Aurelius imagined they had quite a different sound when it was done with his kind of disregard. Each of the greedy bastards died knowing there was a long line before and after them.


    There was no point in dressing it up. Violence was as primal as any animal could get. It had an honesty to it. No matter how you did it, it was the same. No point in wasting feelings on it then.


    It was combat. It was Aurelius at his core. He had never had any need for special techniques or strategies. He had his instincts. His constitution was optimal. Those whose weren''t should''ve stayed out of his way. Their mistake.


    Aurelius was all-seeing, his eyes having widened as he fought in constant motion. He had no focus, only a constant flow of enemies. He revolved in flux. The faint blue glow of essence was everywhere, all of it in existence with the single purpose of killing him.


    For him a year ago, it would have been overwhelming. Before that, he would''ve fainted from the sheer thickness of the malevolent intent in the hall, not to mention the heavy iron scent of blood. But with him now as he was, the challenge was adequate. Just the right amount to make him lose himself in it. For that, a part of him was grateful.


    That part was the boy inside. If it had been aware of what was happening, he would''ve cried and cried until the end of time.


    ''How could you?'' he would have cried.


    Aurelius didn''t know how he could. He just did. That''s how it had been from the very beginning.


    He spun and instinct drew his head back right in time to let a glowing blade pass over his eyes instead of into them. Just a split second later, and he would be dead. He hadn''t even been conscious of the movement before it happened. It was nothing to dwell over, though. It was probably the 20th such occurrence during the battle, and it had barely begun.


    Before he noticed it, he had kicked the man in the stomach so hard his spine seemed to crack. All in the same movement of leaning back. And without getting the time to regain good footing, he was attacked from all directions.


    He grabbed the wrist of the one behind him and flipped to the side, twisting the assailant''s arm. He grunted and tried lashing out, but Aurelius threw him into another assailant''s ball of compression before that could happen. Then he twirled and sliced someone''s head in half before using him as a meat shield to rush at an aggressive group that had bothered him from the beginning.


    In the same, beams of essence shot through his meat shield, but he had already jumped to the side towards the very middle of the hall and spun in the air, dodging attacks as he shot off a slash full of momentum at the group''s leader. There were ten of them in the mercenary group, all with different kinds of demon masks. They formed a tight guard and deflected the slash.


    Aurelius had expected as much based on a few earlier encounters, so as soon as he landed, he laid himself flat to avoid attacks and shot off a beam. The beam blew a hole through one of the men before reaching their leader and taking his head clean off. He figured that would lessen their coordination.


    The beam continued on its path and almost made it to Gadreel himself before being blocked by his guard. Aurelius cursed. Then he found himself in quite the position, on the ground with raw spikes of essence raining down. He put his hands together into a setup and formed a shield to block the spikes. Then he separated his hands, and the shield became two halves that he used to push his attackers aside. Finally, he launched himself up from the ground.


    He was almost surprised to find someone waiting for him in the air with a raging ball of compression. The man wore no mask over his scarred face, his gaunt features and dark eyes on display. More than that, he didn''t seem afraid of Aurelius. It wasn''t hard to figure out that he had taken an enhancer.


    Aurelius met the man head-on. The attack might''ve seemed simple, but being in the air with a ball of compression could get complicated. Aurelius couldn''t afford that and took a gamble in grabbing the man''s wrist and pulling him in. Then he materialized a sharp tip at the end of his fingers and shoved his forearms through the man. Before the ball of compression could touch him, the man was dead.


    Aurelius materialized a platform under his feet and hung in the air, but let the man drop down below into the swarm of mercenaries. Before a second had passed, he was hit from both sides as a couple bounced at him from the pillars on the sides. They were a pair of women in red clothes, and they had blades as extensions of their arms.


    Simultaneously, beams of essence shot at Aurelius from ten different directions, as he was exposed. However, they were waiting for him to drop back down to the ground, so he couldn''t do that. Instead, he jumped up and flipped over one of the women, kicking her into the other and sending a slash after them. It bisected one, but he didn''t know about the other. He was shot with another beam of essence and made a shield, but was still spun while still in the air. It took effort to regain his equilibrium and prepare to land.


    Then his body screamed at him to turn. Behind him, he found another woman in red, this one with a black mask. She had come from the darkness above. Her feet sunk into his stomach and sped up his return to the ground. There was a ferocious emotion to her. Aurelius wondered for an instant if he had just killed someone akin to a sister to her. However, those thoughts didn''t reach deep enough to do anything. In his distraction, he wasn''t ready to lose his air and hit the unforgiving ground with a gasp. The back of his head took a hit, and he was in a daze for as long as he could afford.


    The woman landed on top of him and materialized a spear when his eyes went wide and he put his hands together as if he would shoot off a beam up at her. The woman didn''t flinch. She had seen Aurelius'' earlier trick. She likely had figured out that beams weren''t Aurelius'' strength.


    This forced Aurelius to improvise while all of the mercenaries dawned on him as well. He twisted and let the spear wound the side of his neck out of necessity. It ripped through the flesh, quite a lot deeper than Aurelius thought it would. No time to regret the move.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    He grabbed the spear and exerted force in his lower body to kick the woman in the back. The woman stumbled over him. The spear disappeared. Aurelius looked up. Too many people. He jumped up to his feet while materializing and went to work with blades.


    He got into the mess of mercenaries and counted on what he had counted on for the entire battle: their greed. Everyone wanted to be the one to kill him. It was all a gamble for the right moment to strike. If they weren''t all just looking out for themselves, Aurelius probably would''ve lost already.


    As expected, they gave him space to work, backing off instead of swarming him and coming at him one at a time. It was still just a small circle that Aurelius had to constantly spin around in, but he got into the rhythm, and it became a dance.


    Turn, dodge, slice, shuffle, block, and again. Working with blades was messy, but it conserved energy, and at that point, he didn''t have much. However, it became apparent that he couldn''t fight that way for long. He cut off someone''s hand that held a ball of essence and shoved the hand at someone else before the ball dissipated. The man flew back, his clothes skin ripping apart at the touch. But in the same, Aurelius had to dodge a couple more strikes and reposition himself, only to receive a cut or two more on his arms or legs.


    Someone launched at him foot first in a stupidly courageous kick. The man wore a blue cape with a symbol on it that Aurelius recognized from somewhere. He flew through the air like a beam, but Aurelius managed to sidestep and slice his throat as he went by before crashing into some others. But right after, a gigantic man ran into him from behind with a low roar. Aurelius was pushed, but turned and took hold of the large, gruff Thropian before taking advantage of his momentum and throwing him at the crowd behind him.


    Right after, came a smiling man with bloodshot eyes. He was screaming as loud as he could. Another enhanced one. It just didn''t stop. He tried to hit Aurelius with compression. Aurelius dodged. He stabbed at Aurelius. Aurelius dodged. Then he smashed the man''s nose in with a headbutt. There was a loud crunch before Aurelius felt his calf get cut by another man''s blade. He kicked behind him without looking and hit at least someone.


    In his distraction, he was slammed from the side. He flew off his feet and tumbled on the ground, but used his momentum to get back on his feet and stabbed a couple more particularly aggressive ones. He avoided strikes while securing an area for himself amid the enemies before taking in the appearance of the one who slammed into him. It was a shirtless sweaty and bloodied man with slick black hair. His face and body were both chiseled and riddled with scars, but no wounds, even though he seemed to have been quite engaged in the battle.


    "Everyone in Numen talks about you!" he yelled as he spread his arms while the crowd made way for him to get at Aurelius. "I''ve been waiting to meet you." Aurelius barely paid attention to the loud idiot''s words as he dealt with his enemies in close combat. "You haven''t disappointed yet!"


    Aurelius was forced to focus when the man rushed at him, obviously on an enhancer. Aurelius, on the other hand, was starting to run low on energy. He rushed at the man as well and met him in hand-to-hand. The man was skilled. Maybe a kind of champion of Numen. Aurelius didn''t care. He countered the man''s techniques with superior speed and sharp combinations while remaining vigilant of the enemies around him who tried to look for openings.


    When Aurelius tried to end it with a stab, he was grabbed. The champion spun him and grabbed him from behind. Aurelius went into a mode of panic and thrashed. He headbutted the man and waited for an opening to escape from his grasp, but the champion didn''t try anything, just holding him. He figured he had to break out with pure strength instead of a maneuver and exerted himself, but then one all-in-black assassin flew in and tried to stab him. He twisted and ripped himself half free of the grasp. He kicked the assassin in the head and was about to turn at the champion when a beam flew at him. All the while he saw the red woman in the black mask as well as another assassin rush at him from different sides. He had to dodge, but he didn''t know to which side. It was chaos, and finally, he was overwhelmed.


    He just did something, twisting himself out of the way while putting the champion in the line of fire. The beam put a hole in him sideways, and Aurelius was free. A blade came at his throat, a spike at his back, and a dozen more opportunists all around, including the one who shot the beam, killing his allies in the process.


    His speed was on the brink of exhaustion. He was covered in almost as much sweat as blood, and his breathing had been uneven for longer than he remembered.


    He had to prioritize. He materialized a blade and met that of the assassin, hitting it aside. Right after, he turned in a hurry to avoid the spike and rushed at the woman. He stabbed at her but missed. He needed her then and there. She was dangerous. He grabbed her arm. She squealed as he pulled her back. He let the materialization dissipate and compressed before hitting her in the neck. The result wasn''t pretty.


    He turned, knowing he had wasted too much time on a single individual. He was hit right on the nose so hard his eyes stung. He saw blurry blades and guarded himself, letting his forearms get ripped but avoiding any serious damage. Then he was slammed from behind. He bounced around without spirit, only avoiding compression attacks absolutely.


    It was a haze. He tried to regain himself. He was only accumulating damage and couldn''t respond. He grunted and tried to lash out, but it was futile. There were too many of them. The horrible image of dying in that dimly lit hall bathed in blood with a backdrop of strikes of lightning. Then he sensed something and turned to the assassin in black robes. There, he saw death.


    Then the throbbing in his body seemed to disappear as all his senses reset to orient themselves. Blood filled his mouth. What had happened? He had no idea. The pain on his face erupted. A rageful flame spread from the bridge of his nose that was sliced in the middle.


    Aurelius turned with the slash and met a strike of compression. That ball of blue streaks filled with essence magnetized his gaze. Its deliverer was a man with a blue demon mask, and there was a ferociousness behind the strike that made Aurelius see the human behind it. It made him feel like relaxing his body and closing his eyes. What if he just let it happen?


    But as it got closer, Aurelius rushed to materialize a shield. The shield burst to pieces on impact, though, and the strike hit him square in the chest. His eyes rolled up on impact.


    The next thing he knew was floating in the air, gravity not yet pulling him down. His body shook awake as he twisted in the air to dodge beams. He opened his eyes and found a grand chandelier hanging on top of him. He turned and deflected the beams he couldn''t dodge with a shield. Then he materialized a platform to stand on, from which he jumped to the top of the candle chandelier, where he materialized another platform.


    He touched his nose, which radiated. He let out a pained sound at the slightest touch. He rubbed his gloved fingers together just to feel how slippery they became. The slice was deep and cut into his right cheekbone as well. It would be his first facial scar. But he couldn''t find any care for that matter. Maybe because he didn''t see much of a future beyond the castle.


    Only at that moment then that the blood on his face was mostly his own. His nose had been bleeding even before the wound, and now it was flooding. He glanced down and was horrified. He''d forgotten the tear on the side of his neck, and now from the whole left side of his neck and downward were just layers and layers of dried blood. He hadn''t bled like that in so long; he''d almost forgotten what it felt like to have your life and warmth pump out more and more with every beat of your heart.


    Finally, he resulted to it.


    The last favor he had asked of Damian before leaving Arkryk was supposed to be just a precaution for much later. ''Where can I get more enhancers in Mircrest?'' had been the question. Damian had given him a location in Acelot that Aurelius visited before arriving at the castle.


    And so, as he touched his lower back under his overcoat with a hand, he found a leather strap there with exactly three vials. He saw the most maneuverable of the soldiers begin to make their way up the pillars while others shot beams at the chandelier. Aurelius unstrapped a single vial and opened it as he walked onto the edge of the chandelier on self-made platforms. He then looked down at the huge drop to the swarm of soldiers.


    He took one slow, tired blink before opening the vial of black substance. With already regretful eyes, he poured it down his throat and felt it fill his body like a replacement for his soul.


    All just to let the battle continue.

 Chapter 103: The Purest Expression (4)

    He was the liveD once more with hot blood running through his veins as the cold masses below sought him out. Aurelius swiped his hair back as he looked down with drained eyes and showed his teeth like a threatening animal.


    Particularly pale mercenaries with ritualistic scars on the sides of their eyes rushed up the pillars to confront him. Aurelius hadn''t noticed them before. He didn''t recognize their origin, but their skill was doubtless. They jumped from pillar to pillar, burying their materialized blades into them before jumping further up with remarkable speed.


    Aurelius calmed his nerves, and even the slightest of trembles left him. He was perfectly still, standing on the platform above the chandelier. Still, his heart thumped in expectation and only got faster.


    Beams shot up. Aurelius burst into movement. He rushed forward, leaving his platform behind. He began to plummet the long distance down to the masses and braced himself. As expected, the ones who had been trying to make it to him were startled.


    One of the scarred men yelled out, and they all jumped at his falling figure in the dark. Aurelius materialized another platform and stopped his fall. He downed into a crouch before bursting up. His arms moved wildly, and a series of slashes shot at the group all around him.


    They were pushed back, but without a moment''s notice, Aurelius singled out their leader and leaped. He closed the distance in a second, and soon all he saw was their leader''s terrified eyes before he was dead.


    The men screamed out, and Aurelius felt his exhilaration rise. He turned at them with a devilish smile. Pushing himself off the pillar their leader was impaled on, he hurled himself at the group. They yelled out some word as they attacked him. Revirum? It might have been Zalfarian. But in the end, who cared where they were from? They were dead in 13 seconds. Aurelius let them fall freely to the ground and splatter.


    Beams shot up, but not as many as before, as their ineffectiveness had become evident. After dispatching the scarred men and any others who followed him up, he latched himself onto one corpse and fell with it. Nobody seemed to realize where he was, as he''d disappeared from sight. The speed picked up, and his overcoat flew up. By then, it was too late to shoot him. He stood up on the corpse and concentrated on his legs.


    The corpse beneath broke the impact, and the ones around him scattered. It didn''t matter. His landing was perfect, and in a crouch, he fired off a long slash at foot-level. It severed tens of feet at once. With its unpredictability and undetectability for the ones behind, it was the perfect attack.


    Aurelius got up into his stance and was assaulted once again. Something within the mass of mercenaries had changed. The dominant emotion was not greed anymore but fear. An overwhelming dread filled the dim hall of the castle. They had finally realized Aurelius was exactly who he was said to be. In all their lives, they''d seen numerous dominant combatants. However, they had never witnessed an individual who reigned over violence in Aurelius'' fashion. In all the world, there was only one King of Violence. Now they knew who it was.


    Pride was death. They had no room for it. They assaulted him in droves without concern for being the one to end it. Their survival instinct made them act in unison against him. But they were too uncoordinated, sloppy, and, most of all, late. When others took enhancers, they lost a part of themselves. Aurelius only gained. With black blood in his veins, he became alive, and the images flashing in his eyes became mere illusions to his heightened being.


    He didn''t understand it. He didn''t even want to. It was so beautiful and pleasurable that he didn''t dare to analyze it. All he knew was that he had been made for enhancers.


    As the world became a stinking mess that stung Aurelius'' nostrils, he became closer to it. Even as his ears burned with gurgled screams, Aurelius roared out even louder. The tearing of flesh was ceaseless. Bodies bent and broken in ways Aurelius had never imagined possible became common imagery as he fought the superhuman beings with sharp, striking movements and ever-building momentum that could only destroy.


    But even as more than a hundred corpses lay on the ground, individuals wiped and groups exterminated, Gadreel had made no move.


    Aurelius got stuck on the sight that was intended to be glanced at and let out a noise from the back of his throat. It was a kind of primal rage that he used to pave his path, hurling himself over a group encircling him. He spun in the air, gathering his momentum before lashing out, sending an enormous slash at Gadreel, who sat at the end of the hall bathed in blood. There was a flash of lightning, and the world was painted blue and white for an instant.


    Then the slash hit. Gadreel didn''t even move. The full brunt of the all-out attack was blocked by his guard.


    Aurelius'' feet splashed in blood as he landed, and immediately he left the groups of mercenaries behind. He was doing what he should''ve done long ago. The thumping of his feet echoed as his power dug into the ground and sent him flying forward. He was just strides away from Gadreel and could almost smell his blood when he was hit back. She was fast. Faster even than before.


    Aurelius blocked the strike aimed at his chest but went flying back in a shockwave. The mercenaries he left behind were coming. He repositioned his feet before going forward again and met the purple-haired woman who had come forth as well.


    He drew himself back before stepping in and trying to impale her. She ducked with unnatural smoothness and tried to attack him from below. He dodged, took her hand, and tried to break it. She, however, bent along with the twist of the hand and delivered a hit to his ribs.


    Aurelius'' body was shot through his numbness, but he didn''t let go and shot back with an elbow before trying to slash at Gadreel. The woman took the elbow to the side of her head but rolled with the blow before wrapping Aurelius'' arms up with hers.


    When she drew his hands, they came face-to-face. It was then that Aurelius saw her dark eyes in the holes of her pure white mask. They were eerily similar to Cade''s, but older, more experienced, and possessing a brutal desire.


    Aurelius ripped himself free, spurred by primal instinct, and pushed away. He slid far to the side of the throne and put his attention on Gadreel in a last-ditch effort. He outstretched his arms and put them together, ready to fire a beam. Suddenly he came to a stop, his mind pausing on a detail. If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.


    Gadreel sat on the throne with his guard in front of him, where she and Aurelius'' encounter had taken place. But his posture betrayed no tenseness; he sat with his shoulders back and one leg loosely crossed over the other as he looked away. He wasn''t even looking at Aurelius!


    In that wasted moment, Aurelius had been surrounded once again. Aurelius''s instincts fired up as Gadreel''s guard looked about to rush in.


    Then Gadreel spoke. "Sherridan, stay where you are." His calmly reprimanding words made the hall go quiet for just a moment, as everyone was taken more by his voice than his words.


    Aurelius struggled to process his choice as he was assaulted once again. It was a vivid reminder of the odds he faced as mercenaries he''d never seen before poured in. But in the heat of the battle and with the enhancer flowing through his body, he sank into a rhythm.


    He warpped around the hall, maneuvering around pillars and different groups with his body in a frenzy, but even as visceral images assaulted his mind, he found himself internally at peace.


    It was dead silent; he stood on clear water, little ripples spreading from his feet. He looked down at his naked body, which he could also see in the distorted reflection on the water.


    His eyes stung at the sight of his scarless body, but he wiped them of tears. It was fiction. A mere fantasy. He couldn''t stay young forever. He reached his hand out and gazed at the empty horizon through his fingers.


    He wondered at which point he had grown so old. It seemed like yesterday that his possibilities were endless, and now he could see nothing in his future except bloodshed and death. When did his mind become so scarred it could not imagine his body without any?


    Aurelius looked down at his hands, and his lips quivered. ''I''m... so lost in this world.''


    He heard wet steps and turned around. His breath left him, startled at what he saw. A boy wearing dirty shreds of clothes walked toward him crying. The boy looked up, and under his disheveled auburn hair, there were a pair of crying silver eyes. So innocent and human, Aurelius almost couldn''t connect the boy to the Gadreel that now existed.


    Aurelius was hesitant to let him get close and stepped back. Seeing this, the boy paused before breaking out in an even louder wail. They were the cries of a broken child. Like Aurelius was when he lost his father.


    "Why?" the boy cried, his voice wavering and clogged with snot. "Why am I even alive?" He hiccupped as he aimed his pleading eyes toward Aurelius.


    Only the discovery of the hopeless abandon that the world whisked children into could produce such grief. The pain was so upsetting that it seemed like there was nothing in the world that could compensate for it. But children always found a way like children did. Through fantasy.


    Dreams made children endure many a dark night.


    Aurelius wanted to be a hero. But then again...


    "I... don''t know," Aurelius answered. It was all he could answer.


    Suddenly the boy stopped crying. Aurelius expected him to begin again, but he began to wipe his eyes. Slowly at first. Then with a violent swipe as if disdaining the tears. He spoke again, his voice deep with a dark charisma that only Gadreel could possess. "I find the question quite simple. You are alive because it is your will, like it is for every organism. And deep inside, you know you yearn to be alive. To be stirred. So be honest..." He looked straight at Aurelius, who found his body covered in scars and wounds once again. The fantasy had ended and with a simple question delivered by Gadreel with his gaping eyes plunged him back into reality, "What stirs you?"


    The water surface gave out from underneath, and Aurelius went sank into its depths.


    He found himself roaring as his body throbbed with exertion against the remaining enemies. He held blades of essence in his hands, gritting his teeth while he kept the two enemies on his dies at bay. The man with the blue demon mask and the remaining of the five black assassins.


    He was assaulted from behind and twisted. He delivered a sharp counter. Instant kill. No need to even look who it was. In the same, he hurled the corpse at one attacker before firing off a slash. The assailant managed to block it, having observed Aurelius do the same to many others. It didn''t matter. Aurelius rushed at him, having expected it, and impaled him through the corpse.


    When he had disposed of them, he looked around and found only five mercenaries remaining. The ground was littered with nothing but bodies lying with their eyes open in a pool of blood so vast that one couldn''t see the floor anywhere. At such a sight he could do nothing but laugh. The mercenaries were holding onto their wounds, all from different groups with no coordination left.


    Aurelius'' laughter''s echoes sounded evil even to him, but he no longer cared. He looked around at the pathetic remains of the once mighty ambush that would have destroyed any army but could only give him a few wounds. "You all¡ª" He could barely speak in his hysteria. "¡ªare already dead." He followed up with another burst of laughter that made the ragged soldiers rage.


    Without a second of hesitation, Aurelius was back in the battle and dodged all attacks and maneuvered with way into the midst of two assailants. One had his face painted, and the other wore a mark with his slit eyes barely visible. Aurelius took the more aggressive one with face paint by the wrist and elbowed him before turning to the other. The masked man aimed a ball of compression at him, so he hurled the dazed one with the face paint into him. The ball of compression did a number on him while Aurleius used the distraction to circle around and attack the masked man at an angle. It was a straightforward punch that spelled the end to the man, crushing his skull.


    Right after, Aurelius found himself surrounded by the three remaining ones and not in the best position, but he maintained his ferocity. He turned and deflected attacks, dealing counters to create distance. He hit a remaining veteran with a palm strike before spin-kicking the assassin. Then he turned to the man with the blue demon mask and was about to finish the job.


    Then he heard a light step in the blood behind him that carried a power far more immense than what he had faced so far.


    It was as if he heard a cold whisper in his ear as he sensed a murderous instinct so sharp that nothing except another such instinct could combat it. He pushed the blue mask rapidly before twisting in a hurry. He knew it was her before he saw it. He didn''t know why it was now that she entered the battle, but he''d been wary of it ever since he first saw her speed.


    But it was even more terrifying than he had thought.


    Out of the corner of his eye, he saw her cloaked figure as he turned, but for what seemed like the first time ever, a person disappeared from his sight. She turned into a blur. And as he turned around, his senses seemed to slow down. For just that moment, it seemed like he could sense every slightest unit of time.


    A curved blade appeared in his sight, making its way closer and closer to his face before it was all he saw. He knew it but could do nothing to stop it from happening. A freezing sensation spread from the corner of his right eyebrow as the blade cut his skin like it was nothing, separating one part from the other, driving a drift that opened a flood of blood.


    Aurelius'' mouth went wide in a silent scream as the blade dug deeper. While he turned to the left, the blade sliced to the right, crossing from his eyebrow down into his eyes. Aurelius tried to minimize the damage, but it seemed futile as the blade slashed his eyelid. The pain was so delicate and burned on the sensitive area before going even further down to his cheekbone and ripping through the flesh.


    The moment spurred on, and Aurelius heard as Sherridan skidded to a stop behind him.


    "Men always forget." Her voice sounded indifferent even as she achieved more in an instant than the combined efforts of hundreds of the world''s most elite mercenaries. "A soldier with a mouth is never perfect."


    Aurelius'' scream went from silent to deafening as he cupped his right eye, blood pouring down onto his palm.


    Suddenly he felt the malevolent spirits of the corpses gather with the thick stench and surround him with pressure, begging for him to die. His blood loss began to make his head heavy, and his energy was fading as his lungs gasped for air in desperation. For the first time, he really processed it. The idea that he¡ªlike all men¡ªcould die.

 Chapter 104: The Purest Expression (5)

    His right eye radiated with blinding pain. Suddenly the numbing effect of the enhancer turned into hypersensitivity and all the biting pain from his deeply sliced neck, nose, and cheek flooded back as well as the throbbing in every muscle fiber and all the wounds that riddled his body.


    No room to breathe. Aurelius snapped back into constant flowing motion, even though every movement like like it would be his last. He wanted to collapse, be embraced, and have his veins wiped clean of filth, but none of that was possible anymore. His honed instincts stayed sharp, however, his panic and enduring agony made for clumsiness. And with his mind frenzied by Sherridan''s every movement, his whole being was overwhelmed with tension.


    He couldn''t see her nor predict her. She was out of his grasp in a world where everything was in his grasp. Even his slashes were starting to dissipate before reaching their target. Their makeup was too flimsy and they flew too slow. The technique Aurelius had worked over a year to perfect had betrayed him and his eyes went wide as he realized he needed his second enhancer and quick.


    But he didn''t seem to be able to get a chance to take it with his remaining assailants in constant flux. They came at him from all angles striking from one side and regaining their position on the other side before rushing back at him. All Aurelius could do was use his improvised acrobatics and superior speed to mitigate the damage, but he was getting sliced up.


    Despite that, he remained collected, as knew of a way to get the second enhancer which would spell his victory.


    With Sherridan in the picture, he had to center his focus on her, especially because she seemed intent on killing him with every strike. She never engaged him head-on. Instead, she was a looming presence as he was getting cut up by the remaining two of the elites: the man with the blue demon mask and the last survivor of the squad of shadowy assassins.


    The man with the demon mask was stronger and the shadow faster. And even though they had been among the most active in the battle against Aurelius, they''d managed to conserve their stamina. That, and they were clearly the most proficient out of the bunch, likely the vice-leaders or champions of their squads.


    Having observed them for long enough, Aurelius began to set traps. While constantly Sherridan was zigzagging from the dark spaces beyond the pillars that lined the main hall, Aurelius began to be able to predict her as well. She had the terror of the unknown on her side, but Aurelius'' capabilities were known and that could be exploited as well.


    Aurelius began to feint attacks at the demon mask. While they attacked in unison, Aurelius started leaning away from the shadow and focusing his attention on only one.


    They struck from both sides with blades. Aurelius avoided the shadow''s attack and struck a blade of his own down at the demon mask. The man grunted under Aurelius'' blow even though the contact had been blade on blade. Aurelius took advantage of the moment and struck out. The demon mask barely managed to avoid the blow and created distance. Aurelius turned to see the shadow''s blade right at his neck and put up a hand in a panicked state. He let out a grunt as his arm was sliced through his overcoat and tried to counter. The shadow had already created distance, though.


    He had been ready to follow up his initial strike when Aurelius avoided it, but didn''t get too greedy with the opportunity. He had read Aurelius.


    Immediately after, Sherridan attacked diagonally from behind. Aurelius was already breathing raggedly from the earlier encounter and located Sherridan only to form a shield as a hurried defense. Sherridan seemed to change her attack mid-air, hitting the shield with a flying kick that rattled Aurelius. He spun toward the middle of the hall from the impact and was immediately met with another barrage from the duo. He''d learned his lesson and went back to splitting his focus.


    More encounters followed with Aurelius being trapped and whittled away at. He couldn''t do anything but wait. He was losing stamina, blood, and power, but there was nowhere to escape.


    He had never faced such despair in battle before. Even when he faced off against Izir, he had Cade to look to. Now, he was all alone, surrounded only by his sin and enemies. The loneliness he thought he''d felt before seemed like a puddle compared to the ocean of his misery at that moment. But what truly pressed him was the fact that he had come to know intimately by then: it could always get worse, and it was nothing short of a miracle if it didn''t.


    More abnormal was that as he countered the attacks of the three, he wondered about them. Where did they come from? What were they feeling now in this hell of theirs? What did they think of him?


    Did they have mothers who worried and cared for them, fathers who inspired them, or maybe even siblings who they spent leisure time with? What did all those relatives of theirs think about them? The world extended so far. Aurelius couldn''t wrap his head around it. But what had led them on such a path? What did they think of themselves?


    Had they, at any point, as they watched their comrades be slaughtered to seemingly no end, think: ''Why are we here? Why do we kill? Why do we die?''


    What did they see when they looked at Aurelius? According to Gadreel, they saw him as nothing more than an obstacle to wealth beyond their imaginations. Was that really possible? Why wouldn''t they have thought: ''I don''t know this person. I have no reason to fight him.''


    If they''d just thought like that, maybe their comrades would still be alive, and they wouldn''t have to endure the brutality Aurelius had honed to perfection over the years. Why couldn''t they see that?


    Why were all of them fighting him at the cost of their lives even though they knew nothing about him? After all this, he wagered it was just because there was nothing else to do. All their friends were dead, and even if they didn''t seek revenge, the battle was what they lived for. It may as well have been what they died for.


    As he came to that conclusion, Aurelius saw something that he didn''t want to accept. But just the mere glimpse of the suggestion made him bitter with a simple sadness.


    ''I''m the same... Aren''t I?''


    Aurelius managed another set of attacks, but in an instant, he felt a cold sensation spring from his behind. He pushed his chest out from instinct, but Sherridan sliced it open, nevertheless.


    His anger came back and he realized his frustrations. It was time to execute. To where he was heading, he did not know, but he would take Gadreel and his myrmidons there with him.


    Again, the shadow and the demon mask rushed at him, taking advantage of his moment of vulnerability. Aurelius knew then that the seed had sprouted and went forward with his plan. He grasped the last of his energy and bared his teeth.


    The first attack came. It was the shadow. Aurelius sidestepped and focused on the demon mask''s attack. It was a broad swing coming diagonally down. Aurelius materialized a shield over his sliced forearm and deflected it. The swing went by and hit the ground. Aurelius then turned the shield into a blade that grew from his arm and attacked. He instantly swung down at the demon mask''s arm. He blocked Aurelius'' attack half-heartedly and tried to flee. Aurelius wouldn''t accept it and got down to launch himself forward in pursuit. Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.


    However, as the demon mask backed away to reset, Aurelius turned, dodged a blade and stabbed the shadow through the neck. Aurelius could practically hear his jaw drip under the mask and blood seeped down as Aurelius held him up.


    Even elites with decades of experience fell victim to patterns. All Aurelius had to do was condition them to favor risk with a reward. If he didn''t make it too obvious, he could create an opportunity from nowhere. And that''s what he did.


    The demon mask had reset quickly and came at him in a hurry, not to mention loudly. It was a poor choice. A devastating event, Aurelius had learned, often provoked an immediate action made on impulse. Leaders knew how to control it, but the demon mask was no leader.


    He wasn''t a brute by any means. He knew Sherridan was looking for an opportunity and a better one than a distraction created by him, hadn''t crossed his mind.


    He thought Aurelius would have trouble with disposing of him quickly enough. Of course, he did. Aurelius hadn''t used his slashes since his right eye was injured.


    But then Aurelius turned, letting the shadow fall, and unleashed a barrage of over ten slashes. Up, down, diagonal, vertical, horizontal. Double each. They hit unexpectedly and cut the demon mask into pieces.


    Aurelius seethed with exhaustion but turned in a hurry. It was his only opportunity to consume his second enhancer. If he managed to push Sherridan back, he''d get the time to gulp down the vial. And while the pair wouldn''t have allowed it, Sherridan would likely wait for Aurelius to suffer side effects instead of attacking him during the ingestion process. What she wasn''t aware of was the tolerance Aurelius had built up during the past year. He didn''t know it himself before he had taken two enhancers before the assault on Orpheus but had gained the ability to regulate the side effects of enhancers to the point of delaying or slowing down their impact or even getting rid of them completely.


    But to get that opportunity, he needed to perform one last feat. Having analyzed Sherridan''s patterns she would come from... the left!


    Aurelius turned. His heart boomed. Nothing there. Sherridan was behind him. He turned, hand first. His blade sliced air. Only then did he hear movement. His eyes snapped upward, and there she was, blade aimed to decapitate. Muscles exhausted and momentum gone, Aurelius could only try slipping down and to the side.


    He was fast, she was faster.


    Her curving blade took him under his left eye and the tip sliced through his cheek all the way to his jaw. Thankfully, it was over quickly. Unfortunately, the pain that followed was so much worse.


    Aurelius'' face lit up with pain once more and he let a steady stream of sound out of his mouth but not because of the hurt. It was because his jaw had gone out of place. He turned to Sherridan clumsily as she was about to rush him for what seemed like the last time.


    Sherridan stopped and came to a pause. The same for Aurelius. He wasn''t sure why at first. Footsteps echoed. Aurelius turned his eyes away from Sherridan despite the death risk, all just to watch as Gadreel made his way down from his throne and waltzed into the shallow ocean of blood.


    Suddenly his footfalls were the center of attention. To top it all off, he began to applaud. Looking at him, Aurelius realized that stepping into the blood was the first time the man had been touched by filth during the entire battle.


    He walked with dignity, his charming features accentuated by the ruins he walked upon. His eyes swept through impaled bodies, broken pillars spattered with a million drops of blood and Sherridan''s empty figure until landing on Aurelius.


    He gave a few slow, resounding applause before raising his brows and shaking his head. "Marvelous. You are marvelous, Son of Ares." For a moment, Aurelius fell under his spell and Gadreel''s words actually lifted his heart. Maybe it was his despair or his brokenness, but for some reason, Gadreel''s words gave him solace. Just a modicum of pride at his Father''s name being attached. "I can''t tell you how wildly you make my heart beat," Gadreel said, resting a hand on his chest as he walked towards Aurelius. His intelligent eyes possessed a kind of gravity to them.


    Aurelius let out a noise that was followed by a pain that made him regret it. He touched his jaw tenderly. It went back into place with a snap that got a whine out of Aurelius.


    Gadreel chuckled at the effeminate noise. "I must say, though, you''re in quite bad shape." He stopped a fair distance away and put a hand on his chin as he mused. "You looked like an angel when you came here, but oh how you''ve fallen. I''m afraid the wounds on your will become some ugly scars," Gadreel said, shaking his head regretfully. A grin overtook his face. "That is if they ever heal."


    "Had enough?" Sherridan''s muffled monotone cut Gadreel''s laughing off.


    Gadreel put a hand up in apology and assumed a more serious demeanor. "Funny you should ask. I was thinking the same thing."


    Aurelius watched in suspension as the two interacted, helpless to do anything.


    "Meaning?" Sherridan asked.


    Gadreel turned to Aurelius. "I think we both agree that you''re on the losing end here. Fairly? Obviously not, but losing, nevertheless. You''re a genius when it comes to combat I''ll give you that. Even if I were to possess your prowess, I can''t say I would''ve done any better than you have. Worse, most likely. I''ve never seen anyone move like you. I''m not sure how some of your maneuvers are even possible for a human body. That is just how godly you are." Gadreel''s eyelids dropped, shading his eyes into terrifying half-circles. "But you''re done. That is if you continue in the state you are. You wouldn''t have died on the next attack, I''m sure, but you know Sherridan will get the better of you eventually."


    Aurelius wasn''t keen on talking in the state he was in, so he just leaned his head forward slightly, gesturing for Gadreel to get to the point.


    "You have a second enhancer, yes?" Aurelius didn''t move respond in any way. Gadreel took that as a response. "If you want to take it, take it."


    "What?" Sherridan exclaimed, surprisingly some emotion in her voice. Almost outrage.


    Aurelius just stared, prompting Gadreel to elaborate. "You won''t be attacked while you drink it, but after that, it''s fair game."


    Aurelius tried to process the offer. Letting him drink the enhancer, but not giving him time to take in its power. It was a gamble, relying on Aurelius'' ability to handle the side effects. If Sherridan attacked him right after he ingested it, a timer would start. He had to fight Sherridan at the same time as the side effects, and if he failed to kill Sherridan before the side effects kicked in, he would be killed with ease.


    It still didn''t make complete sense from Gadreel''s point of view until Aurelius remembered that Gadreel had never answered his initial question: "Why?"


    At first, there were other possibilities, but it had become obvious from Gadreel''s demeanor that this whole thing wasn''t for any kind of benefit. He had arranged it for intrigue. This was all just for that.


    With that taken into account, the offer made sense.


    At least from what Gadreel knew. However, Aurelius wouldn''t be paralyzed by the side effects like he was a year ago against Izir. He could fight through the side effects. In other words, the deal was purely advantageous for Aurelius. He couldn''t let that show.


    He pushed elation out of his system and channeled all his skepticism into an inquisitive look that he aimed at Gadreel.


    "How can you trust such a deal? Well, it''s not one we gain much from breaking. Also, you may look at it as me trying to preserve my dear Sherridan." Gadreel nodded to her and she snorted. "Oh, by the way, you''re alright with this, aren''t you, Sherry?"


    "I''ve told you not to call me that," she said with a low voice. "But yes." She looked at Aurelius and tilted her head. "I wouldn''t do it if I were you, though."


    Aurelius realized then that Sherridan hadn''t taken an enhancer during the battle. The possibility that she couldn''t get her hands on one was out of the question, so it had to be something else.


    Gadreel cast a jarred look at her comment. She shook her head in response. "You''re naive, thinking there''s no price to pay for that power," she said. It was unsure which one she was speaking to. "There is always a price. You have no idea what cursed blood really does to humans."


    ''Hah, superstitions,'' Aurelius concluded. ''What an idiot.''


    If Sherridan had taken an enhancer, perhaps she would''ve been able to end the battle already. But because she didn''t because he couldn''t bear the idea of drinking it. She cowered from the deepest depths of power and that was why she would lose.


    Aurelius reached for the leather strap on his lower back and took a second vial. The tension grew as he eyes Gadreel and Sherridan before uncapping the black substance.


    "When the substance leaves the vial, the finale begins," Gadreel said, hands in his pockets. His posture exuded power, shoulders back and relaxed. He tilted up his chin and amusedly observed Aurelius with his intelligent eyes.


    Aurelius had saved his words as he didn''t have many. So before the finale began, he let out one calculated sentence, glaring at Gadreel. "I''ll kill you, no matter what."


    Then Aurelius drank.

 Chapter 105: The Purest Expression (6)

    The liquid was thick and slimy, but no longer so disgusting. It was familiar and comforting. He couldn''t savor it for long, though. His nerves were wrecked by tension and pain. He had to get the substance down as fast as possible. He drank slowly at first, but suddenly poured it down and gulped.


    Time seemed to slow down.


    He put his focus inside and regulated his essence in a way he hadn''t grasped before, controlling the ingestion process. He couldn''t let too much of the substance be absorbed too quickly. The energy exploded inside him, but he pushed it down. He formed something like a shield around his core, letting the energy seep through cracks.


    Exhilaration took away or amplified the pain. Aurelius couldn''t tell which, but it felt good. So good. Almost too good to be true. But it was true. He was true. Oh, how he missed that power.


    He almost didn''t care for an instant as Sherridan launched at him. He felt invincible once again. His hands trembled with a power he had to exert. If he didn''t, he thought he actually might die.


    A laugh escaped him, followed by a trembling noise of insanity. Discolored veins bulged in his neck, and his pupils dilated so much they threatened to consume his irises whole.


    Suddenly Sherridan was there. Right there in front of him with a thousand possible attacks. Aurelius didn''t even move. She tensed her hand, and streaks came forth to form a ball of compression. But then she just kicked him before thrusting a blade at his chest. The kick was almost the definition of instantaneous, and so was the thrust. Aurelius dodged both, not moving any more than absolutely necessary. He looked down at the blade with neutral eyes.


    The combination was followed up by a spin move that switched Sherridan''s angle. Aurelius sensed the compression coming and was forced to hurry. All in all, it was a mesmerizing combination. Unpredictable, almost to the point of awkwardness, but with every movement flowing seamlessly into the next, each one carrying an impossible speed and lethality.


    Aurelius turned to Sherridan and smacked her hand aside before trying to put a hand through her stomach, but she was gone from sight before he could reach her. Even then, she didn''t see her movements.


    Her movement speed was somehow different from her attacking speed. It was a particular skill. Sadly, it reminded him of Balgair''s hand speed, which had kind of the same quality.


    Oddly, Aurelius didn''t sense any attacks coming. It didn''t make sense. Why would Sherridan lay off the pressure? Suddenly Aurelius felt a large crack in his inner shield, and the enhancer almost overwhelmed him.


    His eyes flew wide, and he launched into movement. He maneuvered around pillars, too busy to pay attention to Gadreel, who observed the battle amiably from far away, standing some distance from his throne.


    He had his hands full controlling the outburst of energy that threatened to paralyze him even if for a split second. Sherridan had first tested him, and after figuring out Aurelius'' ability to hold it back, she seemed to back off to look for cracks. Normally Aurelius wouldn''t have been afraid, knowing his own abilities well, but he knew Sherridan''s speed was different. Even a single mistake in withholding the energy would cost him his life. Because of that, he had to move and keep moving. That way, he would make a harder target in case of a momentary freeze-up.


    Aurelius was in the air, jumping from pillar to pillar as Sherridan flew at him from above. In a panic, he accidentally released more energy, and his veins almost felt like bursting as he forced them to operate despite it.


    He blocked Sherridan''s attack but was altered on his course and slammed into the pillar. He materialized a blade and dug it into the pillar to slow his fall. He stopped after dragging and felt like his head would explode but kept moving. He looked around. No trace of her again. He looked at Gadreel and realized an opportunity. He launched himself from a pillar towards him. In the air, he channeled some of his newfound energy into gathering it down from the tips of his left foot''s toes and bringing it up to his right arm. He spun and put all his torque into an enormous slash that he sent at Gadreel. Far away though he may have been, the slash would''ve been lethal to even some elites. And Gadreel was no elite, was he?


    Aurelius expected some sort of panic. Gadreel put a single hand up against the slash with confidence. Aurelius furrowed his brows as he made a platform and changed his course midair. Then the slash hit. For a moment, Aurelius wasn''t sure what had happened as a dust cloud was kicked up. Sherridan''s figure became visible, and Aurelius was almost relieved. It was a sign that his final words hadn''t been for nothing. However, he found it odd that he hadn''t thought for a second that Gadreel had been harmed. Not even a delusional hope.


    He saw Sherridan turn to Gadreel and enhanced his senses. From what he could tell, Gadreel told her not to worry about him. He wasn''t sure if he made it out correctly or if he could trust it, knowing Gadreel, but it was something.


    Sherridan got on the move again. Aurelius'' situation with the enhancer had barely been helped. The amount of energy was more than he remembered. He wondered if he should''ve drunk less than a whole vial but deemed it a waste.


    He tracked Sherridan, losing her only a couple of times. Then they met in the air.


    Aurelius had never done combat similar to what followed. He wasn''t fully prepared for it, but what followed was nothing but art for him. The pinnacle of combat that he realized in the moment, he would never experience again.


    The hall around them seemed to whirl as Aurelius and Sherridan materialized platform after platform. They warped around so high in the air that the fall would have been lethal while unenhanced. They clashed again and again. Their resets were so fast it seemed like their blades and hands met again every second. They were in synchrony.


    Aurelius found that his lips were stretched in a wide-open smile. His wide eyes gleamed as they jumped around, tracking Sherridan.


    It seemed like a dream. His heart was beating out of his chest as he materialized a platform to launch himself upside down at yet another encounter that may have very well been the last. But it wasn''t, and right after, they materialized new platforms to do the same thing. Aurelius reset and loaded up unrestrainable power in his leg muscles before exploding himself up into yet another clash. Again. And again.Stolen novel; please report.


    Hundreds of faint blue platforms popped in and out of existence, formed of what Aurelius imagined to be millions of tiny blue spirits obeying his will. To Gadreel down below, it must''ve seemed something otherworldly. Aurelius burst out in a yell of laughter at the thought as he met Sherridan in combat, unlike anything he had ever imagined before. He liked to think that it was the same for her as well, but she didn''t let out a sound even when he managed to graze her in their encounters, which wasn''t often.


    They formed a geometric shape in the sky from all the platforms, and their encounters made sparks akin to the lightning raging on outside the castle hall.


    But Aurelius began to branch out, breaking the shape. He directed the battle toward the pillars, throwing Sherridan toward one, following after. He swept around the enormous pillar to attack Sherridan from the other side, and their battle turned into one of tactical maneuvers. They spun around the pillars, both trying to direct the other according to their own will.


    Materializations glowed around them like they were inside a spinning crystal. The match was unreal but even, and with each second, Aurelius felt closer to victory. He sensed an anxiousness in Sherridan. She had been waiting for Aurelius to slip up and be taken by the side effects, but he hadn''t been. Not even for a moment.


    He had been suppressing the energy absorption so tightly that it hadn''t even been close. But then, as Aurelius tried to give way to the absorption, he lost his grip. He felt a drag and squeeze on his heart, and his materialization went out from under his feet, sending him hurling through the sky, clasping his chest with his mouth wide.


    He flung his limbs about, trying to materialize, but was unable. Gravity took him, and he met the blood-soaked ground with brutal speed that would''ve broken every single one of his bones if his enhancement had failed.


    Blood splattered under him as he came to the ground. He suppressed the energy once more, forcing it back into his core painfully, so as not to be paralyzed by it. He hurried up to his feet, his whole side covered in the blood of those he''d slain.


    Sherridan hadn''t slowed, and Aurelius just barely managed to fend off the following onslaught. He was consumed by the action for a while. When he snapped out of it, he realized Gadreel wasn''t very far away anymore. He''d fallen closer to him. Furthermore, Sherridan didn''t seem to be blocking him off.


    From all this, Aurelius began to hatch a plan.


    One that would take a long time. Minutes that felt like hours he spent gradually losing to Sherridan while holding back the effects of the second enhancer. It had given him the energy that he needed, and it was always there if he needed more, but until then, he had to keep it firmly under control. Even one slip-up from being overwhelmed by the enhancer would mean his death with Sherridan.


    Sherridan was the very definition of lethal. She dashed in straight lines around Aurelius, striking once each time. Every time she did, she aimed to kill. Her rhythm was erratic to the point that it had a certain art. Aurelius could sense it instinctively, yet he could not comprehend it.


    She skidded to a stop and turned into a blur as she feinted multiple directions before shooting off in a zigzag that eventually came to Aurelius at the angle he least expected. Aurelius blocked and dodged, maneuvering with unorthodox but fluid acrobatics. He was never ready for the next strike, and he never got an opportunity to counter. But he did accumulate damage.


    Sherridan''s fast slices took him on the arms and legs, targeting tendons and severing a few. She almost cut his throat, leaving him gasping in relief when the next strike was already coming.


    Aurelius yelled out in pain, tried to rest, and wiped his eyes of blood. Everything was becoming more and more blurry. He was getting desensitized. Death was talking to him. Welcoming him into its embrace. And all the new and old wounds that ached, throbbed, and tortured him begged for him to accept.


    At a point, he did not feel like he saw anything but kept dodging, nevertheless. No matter what, it seemed he couldn''t stop struggling, so the only way was forward.


    Aurelius opened both his eyes, even as the other felt like a nail in his skull. There he was. Gadreel. Right in front. It would take Aurelius maybe four seconds to cross the distance.


    Aurelius put a shield up but was still rocked by Sherridan''s attack; however, as she was skidding to a stop behind him, he had already begun to rush toward Gadreel.


    Gadreel took a step back and eyed Sherridan as Aurelius sped towards him. He seemed to think Sherridan would be in time to save him. Aurelius wouldn''t let that happen.


    Each of his strides was like a horrible gust of wind that made one''s hair and clothes go wild, and soon he faced the genius young man. Only one long stride left. Aurelius felt that no slash would work against him. He needed contact.


    But then, he felt Sherridan''s presence at his neck. His hair stood on end as a cold tingling sensation spread throughout his body. A warning of the highest order: run!


    Aurelius did not run. He roared. And with blind rage, he reached out to grasp the cause of all his loneliness and torment. Simultaneously, Aurelius felt death closer than ever.


    At that moment, Aurelius'' calculated words must''ve been running through Sherridan''s mind.


    ''I''ll kill you, no matter what.''


    It was then that Aurelius pivoted with a furious twist. He faced Sherridan''s blade coming down at him. Even though Sherridan''s mask, he could read the silent horror as she realized what was about to happen.


    Maybe she realized it, maybe not. But Aurelius had been right in assuming she had an instinct to protect Gadreel even if it put herself at risk. As something unconscious, it made her tragically predictable in such a situation.


    Aurelius put himself out of the blade''s way, and it zipped past his right ear, cutting strands of his hair. One hand stayed by his waist, tendons flexed. The other went up. He leaned in and grabbed Sherridan''s wrist.


    Streaks of essence gathered hurriedly in the palm of his left hand, ripping apart his glove. The ball of compression formed faster than it had ever before, almost instantaneously with his absolute mastery.


    With sharp brutality, Aurelius pulled and pushed. He twisted, dragging the airborne Sherridan towards himself before delivering the ball of compression straight to her stomach.


    The impact made her body contort into a U-shape. Her stomach went back while her head and legs shot forward. Aurelius could see as her eyes rolled into the back of her head, and he lost his grip on her wrist as she launched back.


    He followed right after, dashing to where she would land and was about to shoot off a series of slashes but stopped. His hand moved with weight, drawing a single diagonal line for her. A blade of essence shot off and cleaved her from ribs to hip, and she fell limply onto the bloody ground.


    Aurelius skidded and slowed to a walk as he approached her as something in the atmosphere changed. The sound of her splattering to the ground was nothing but sad. His victory was clear, but as he kneeled to look into her eyes, he felt his heart shake in his chest. He glanced down at his left hand, which touched blood for the first time during the battle.


    Sherridan''s eyes were red under her pure white mask, and she did not pay attention to Aurelius but to Gadreel. At that moment, those eyes of hers were like a child''s. Lonely and abused, seeking a single string of warmth that could give her a little company and send her off into the scary darkness.


    Aurelius turned to Gadreel, looking to see the man''s expression. A part of him immediately wished he hadn''t turned, as on Gadreel''s soft and warm face there was an expression of such utter indifference that it shook even Aurelius.


    He stood up and looked down at Sherridan''s corpse. Her eyes had gone still, but Aurelius knew she''d been alive to see that expression of Gadreel''s. It was the last thing she saw. And from under her mask, there came a single tear. One of heartbreak. But that significance was made unrecognizable when the tear dropped down and became mixed with the blood underneath.


    Aurelius turned away and faced Gadreel, finally letting the second enhancer fill his being with all its might.


    It was time to end this.

 Chapter 106: The Purest Expression (7)

    They stood, feet dipped in blood, encircled by dead bodies, staring at each other. Aurelius'' eyes grew red and his face twitched as the shield around his core dissipated and the energy of the enhancer shot through his body. Gadreel observed with an eerie calmness mixed with the slightest hint of intrigue in his soft-devilish smile.


    Aurelius acted like the pungent smell didn''t bother him, but he was happy for his nose being sliced so badly he didn''t smell much of it. Gadreel, on the other hand, breathed out through his mouth and in through his nose.


    Blood flowed down Aurelius'' throat, and he felt an urge to puke. He resisted. More out of fear than anything. It felt like if he threw up, he would puke out his guts in the process. It would be like being turned inside out. To banish that image, he focused on his red vision.


    The image of that relaxed man in this world of pain.


    "Do you know why she was sad?" Gadreel asked, a playful intonation in his voice like it was trivia. Aurelius breathed in, pushing his chest out as the second enhancer was consumed. Gadreel tilted his head. "Why she shed a tear," he specified meaninglessly.


    "She cared about you," Aurelius muttered deep under his breath, his jaw still in excruciating pain but no more excruciating than the rest of his body.


    "Me?" Gadreel acted surprised rather mildly, like he didn''t care much even about his very own game. "No."


    Aurelius groaned, scratching dried blood off the side of his face. Every touch was tender. "Then why?" he asked because there was nothing else to do. The energy he had was bundled up, yet to be released. He couldn''t guess the justification for Gadreel''s demeanor. If he was able to be killed, Aurelius could do it whenever he liked, so it didn''t matter either way.


    Gadreel sighed, gazing down. "I suppose you wouldn''t understand." He looked up at Aurelius, his head tilted. "And still you care. While I do not." He shook his head slowly as if marveling at something. "How peculiar is that?"


    "I''ve been called a monster..." Aurelius put his right hand to his eyes, and it came back covered in blood mixed with black substance. He glanced up at Gadreel. "But you... What are you?"


    Gadreel took a step forward. The distance was maybe twenty to thirty steps. "This world is a playground where everything is permitted. I was born as a player into this playground." Another step. "I loved the feeling of acting as a player so much that it seems I went too far." Another. "Now I can''t shake the feeling that I''ve transcended this little place." He looked down at his feet as he stepped over a corpse with a demon mask. "Lately, I''ve started feeling like something akin to a god." He glanced up at Aurelius. "And that is the last thing I want to be."


    "You think this is funny?" Aurelius looked down at the man. The closer he came, the smaller he seemed. "Is all of this a game to you? Is it fulfilling to play around with people''s lives?"


    "A game?" Gadreel sounded insulted. "How could it be a game? This is my life you''re talking about."


    "What about their lives?" Aurelius waved a hand at all the corpses that lay in piles with not a shred of individuality left.


    "Their lives were their lives. They used them as they saw fit. I am only myself. Restricted to myself. I control no one but myself."


    Aurelius shook his head, his face twisting painfully. "What is this? Why?" It was senseless. It wasn''t that Aurelius couldn''t comprehend Gadreel''s motives. There was nothing for him to comprehend. No shred of coherent information. "Why? Why?" he whined, shaking his head. "Why?!" he roared so loud the noise swept the hall.


    He put a hand to his jaw as he watched Gadreel keep walking ahead without even seeming to hear anything before stopping under ten strides away.


    Aurelius had never felt more despair than at that moment, watching the man who stood at the height of his chest. Gadreel was silent in the face of Aurelius'' breakdown. He wasn''t even slightly amused. Just ponderous, as if he was still watching a battle from the sidelines.


    And while Aurelius used all his strength to remain standing while his blood drained into the ever-expanding pool at their feet, Gadreel remained unstained by it all. He was so detached there was almost something divine about him. He was like a true angel, indifferent to the suffering of humans. For some reason, it was Aurelius with his tired mind and slumped posture who felt like the smaller one.


    Aurelius tried to think of Gadreel''s words to decipher his meaning, but all that he''d said only tortured Aurelius'' strained brain. ''An experience in existence that can''t be taken away,'' he''d said. Gadreel''s ideas were like a plague to the mind.


    He scrutinized Gadreel. The whole time Aurelius had thought that if he just disposed of all his men, the rest would be easy. Now, something told him that that wouldn''t happen. He couldn''t just kill Gadreel. Gadreel wasn''t a man who just died. Aurelius knew that Gadreel knew that as well just by looking at his absolute confidence.


    Gauging the strength of an enemy had become second nature to Aurelius, but Gadreel''s strength was unreadable.


    Aurelius slumped his shoulders and looked down. Without the slightest sign, he burst into motion. When he looked up, he saw Gadreel''s still face. Aurelius was in killing range, and the man hadn''t even reacted. He aimed a blade at his chest but stopped.


    He lifted the man into the air by the throat. Even after Gadreel had clearly processed the situation, his body stayed limp. It didn''t seem like he had any hope of escaping Aurelius.


    "Tell me why?" Aurelius snarled and brought the man lower only to put his forehead up against the helpless man''s. "TELL ME!"


    Gadreel didn''t meet his eyes. Looking down at his left hand, the glove of which had been shredded. Gadreel then brought up his hand and grabbed Aurelius'' hand softly. Aurelius seethed and was about to put an end to him from impulse when Gadreel opened his mouth.


    He tilted his chin up, looking down at Aurelius with apathetic eyes as he whispered, "Because..." At that moment, Aurelius somehow knew what would come out of his mouth, and his heart dropped. "I want to be just like you."


    Aurelius'' eyes grew unfocused. He felt like his body would melt. At first, he considered that Gadreel was messing with his mind. Somehow he''d read Aurelius'' mind and was using anything he could. But it quickly became obvious that Gadreel was honest.


    It was the only reasonable explanation there was.


    Right as that was clear to Aurelius, he heard Gadreel inhale deeply. He screamed at himself to focus, but when his sight came back to him, it was already too late. Gadreel had opened his eyes, and Aurelius'' strength had vanished.


    How could he have forgotten the first time he met Gadreel? How the man had disturbed his essence somehow. How?!


    It was too late. As soon as Aurelius lost the strength to hold Gadreel up, he got his feet back on the ground and twisted violently. Aurelius tried to snap on reinforcement, but something was blocking him off. Gadreel still had a grasp on his bare left hand.


    Then came the impact. Gadreel''s left fist on his side felt harder and faster than anything Aurelius had ever experienced. It was the enhanced against the unenhanced, and the reality of it was brutal.


    Aurelius wasn''t sure if he felt it or heard it first, but before he knew it, half his ribs were broken.


    His eyes rolled into the back of his head as he was sent hurtling onto the side and fell on his face into the puddle of blood. The blood entered his mouth. He propped himself up with the arm on his unbroken side and spat. But with the spit came phlegm, and after it came blood. Finally, he threw up.


    He may not have thrown up his guts, but it sure felt like it. There was a pressure in his stomach that pushed up and kept pushing until the hot bile streamed through his throat and poured out beneath him.


    Once again, he was reminded that no matter how bad it was, it could always get worse. And in all likelihood, it would.


    Aurelius expected to be stabbed in the back as he was on his knees but didn''t panic. For some reason, the death that had loomed over his head didn''t seem that bad at that moment. It was almost desirable.


    "You know, our origins aren''t that different," Gadreel said, his tone ponderous. Maybe even a little tired. Aurelius could tell he hadn''t moved from his spot. "If I''m being honest, I don''t think I''ve ever been as close with anyone as I am with you."


    "Shut up," Aurelius said, his voice gurgling.


    "I wonder how I ended up like this. How does a human being become what I am?"


    "You''re not a human." Aurelius gnashed his teeth and made an effort to get back on his feet. "You look like one. But you''re not." Aurelius enhanced his body and managed to stand back up despite his crushed ribs. "You lack a single human trait." Aurelius turned to face Gadreel, leaning onto his left leg to alleviate the pressure on his right side. As he looked at the man, he felt something new. He didn''t just want to kill him. He wanted to break him down, to hurt him to his very soul. "Your mother should have drowned you as a child."


    Gadreel seemed taken aback. Aurelius could feel a modicum of pleasure at that. "I suppose so." Gadreel looked down before meeting Aurelius'' eyes gravely. "But I don''t have a mother."


    "No father either." Aurelius coughed and flexed his joints at the following agony. Then he growled, "If you were my child, I''d kill myself in shame for bringing you into this world."


    Gadreel chuckled a little, but his expression didn''t change. He put his hands in his pockets and smiled hollowly at the ground. "I wasn''t always like this... At least, I think so."


    Aurelius narrowed his eyes in confusion. It seemed like Gadreel was enjoying their exchange like it was some kind of friendly talk.


    Aurelius limped forward. When it rang, he spat blood and phlegm on Gadreel''s face. He reacted by closing his eyes and facing away slightly.


    When he opened his eyes again, he chuckled. The chuckle turned into laughter. He wiped the spit off his face. But even after it was gone, he kept wiping. Aurelius looked puzzled. After Gadreel was done wiping his face, he began ruffling his slicked-back hair that had started to unravel long ago so that it fell on his face, almost covering his eyes.


    When he was done, it was like a new man was standing before Aurelius. Gadreel''s locks of auburn hair were swept in front of his forehead, and his face was lined by a single diagonal scar.


    "Truth be told, it would''ve been best for this world if I was never born."


    "Then why won''t you die?"


    "Because I don''t care. I chose myself over the world long ago." Gadreel widened his wicked eyes. "It''s safe to say my earliest developmental stages were quite different from yours. But I had an ideal quite like you. And over the years, a description of me arose. The Purest Expression of Human Nature." Gadreel cracked a smile as Aurelius'' frown got deeper. "Your father¡ª"


    Aurelius had heard enough. Reinforcement snapped on, and he launched at Gadreel. With two enhancers still coursing through his veins, he was, according to his earlier estimations, much more capable than Gadreel. What happened before, Aurelius wouldn''t let happen again.


    However, Gadreel disappeared from sight, and something hit Aurelius'' shin. Aurelius fell forward, and pain shot through him from his ribs as well as his previously accumulated injuries. Only later did he realize Gadreel had predicted his movements and used Aurelius'' blind spot caused by his injured right eye.This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    As Aurelius struggled to get up, Gadreel was already speaking again. "¡ªwho you saw as a hero made your ideal one of pure goodness. I, however, got rid of such inconsequential concepts right from the start. Good and evil are interpretations of reality. There is no objectivity in reality, so I turned to the mind for answers."


    "Why do you care?" Aurelius said under his breath. Gadreel stopped to tilt his head and gestured for him to raise his voice. "Why do you care about this?!" Aurelius cried out in his ragged voice. "You could care about others... so why?"


    Gadreel took on a serious look, but right as Aurelius expected something to change, he responded, "Don''t blame me. I couldn''t care about people even if I wanted to."


    Aurelius'' sliced face twisted, and his red eyes turned wet. He went at Gadreel again, with something resembling a battle cry escaping his lips.


    Gadreel moved before him, predicting his moves and somehow baiting him into more predictable moves. Aurelius''s movements were sharp when it was no use and sluggish when he needed speed. Gadreel knew exactly how to use his weaknesses.


    But even when he had an opportunity, Gadreel didn''t counter. When Aurelius managed to break the pattern and almost hit him, Gadreel maneuvered himself to a safe reset or threw Aurelius to the ground.


    Every time he fell, Aurelius seethed more and struck out with whatever energy he managed to conjure, and the last bout continued.


    All the way through, Gadreel kept talking, his tone fluctuating with the movements.


    "The only truth we have is the truth of our minds." He dodged a strike and maneuvered around Aurelius, eluding his sight. "What defines us is not our actions¡ª" Suddenly he was right in front of Aurelius. He grabbed Aurelius and pulled him down with unprecedented strength. "¡ªbut our intentions!" he shouted as he headbutted Aurelius.


    The impact wasn''t the hardest, but it sent a wave of horrid electric pain into Aurelius'' brain through his already injured nose.


    Aurelius stumbled back but kept himself from falling. Gadreel seemed surprised at his ability. Aurelius made sure to take advantage of the opportunity and lunged at the man. He materialized a blade as an extension of his arm at the last second as he struck out with his left hand.


    As expected, Gadreel was going to the right. He was trying to take advantage of Aurelius'' blind spot again. However, when Aurelius was about to prepare his reset and follow-up strike, Gadreel was gone from sight.


    Then an uppercut caught him. It came from the left. Aurelius tried to grasp Gadreel and wrestle him to the ground in his dazed state. An elbow hit the side of his head right after.


    He spun and collapsed again, his brain going numb from the impact. When the blood from the ground splashed up on his face, he came back to his senses and rose again, seething more than ever.


    "My intention admittedly is to destroy. It is simply in my nature. But you... even as you slaughter with unseen barbarism, you do it to recreate."


    "No, I don''t," Aurelius spat before straightening himself.


    "Oh, but of course, you''ve morphed into something much more destructive as of late, so you must be feeling that it''s all wrong. But your essence has stayed the same. While I interact with what is, you still express what ought to be." Gadreel took a proper stance for the first time, his gaze growing more intense. "That''s one of the reasons why you''re the Idea of a Human."


    Aurelius huffed before engaging Gadreel once more. No longer any intention to back down. He wouldn''t listen to one more word of Gadreel''s delusions. The next opportunity he got, he would kill the man without hesitation.


    When he made up his mind, his chest filled with rage that looked for an outlet in Gadreel. His body was a broken, plagued thing, but it still moved according to his will. That was all he needed.


    For the first time, Gadreel met him in real combat. Neither used blades. Aurelius imagined if he touched something inside Gadreel, he''d contract whatever sickness his mind held.


    Aurelius and Gadreel blocked each other''s sharp strikes at a standstill for a few exchanges. That was until Gadreel fired a quick three-strike combo. With it, he landed a blow on Aurelius'' broken right side. Aurelius'' eye flinched at the impact, but nothing more. He absorbed the pain, turned it into energy, and countered.


    With a sickening twist, Aurelius sunk his fist into Gadreel''s cheek. Gadreel''s seemed to almost spin out of control but was in time to defend Aurelius'' lethal follow-up.


    He spun and kicked. Aurelius ducked and tried to sweep his feet before spinning back up into an acrobatic maneuver. He aimed his heel at Gadreel, who avoided the blow only barely. Gadreel countered, and Aurelius turned the counter into an exchange of blows that made both of them stumble back.


    Then they came at each other again. Gadreel spat blood before letting out a sound Aurelius joined him in. Deep, gurgled roars against helplessness and pain resounded as the two pummeled each other. After every grazing blow, they aimed for each other''s necks to kill.


    They spun in a complex movement before catching each other in the chin with hard and bloodied fists. Both almost lost the strength to stand, dropping to almost a squat before getting back into it.


    "Do you feel it?!" Gadreel shouted out in their exchange with his chin covered in blood from his nose and his cheek discolored.


    Aurelius did feel it. The second enhancer may have been all that kept him from collapsing and dying on the spot, but he still had an insatiable hunger.


    He ignored the pain and went on like it was his last day alive, enjoying the joy of violence to the fullest with no more shame, the purest and deepest feelings spurring from his soul of souls.


    He burned with rage, which made every hit of pain he caused Gadreel euphoric. It jolted him. His desire to kill Gadreel was the most visceral thing he''d ever felt, and he jumped at every opportunity.


    He abused his own body with sharp movements that ripped at his profusely bleeding wounds. All in an effort to batter Gadreel''s nose flat.


    Aurelius managed to grab Gadreel''s wrist and drew him into an elbow to the face. As the man was rocked and protected his neck, Aurelius hit him in the eyes and ribs before kicking him in the chest. The man went down for the first time in eternity and was stained in the pool of blood.


    Aurelius roared, materializing a spear above his head and striking down. It was only for an instant, but he could see Gadreel''s eyes widen like an animal''s before slaughter.


    However, Gadreel struck the spear and moved to the side. The spear dug into the ground, and Gadreel kicked up. His feet pushed into Aurelius'' chest with sudden force and launched him back.


    Aurelius managed to skid to a stop at a distance and watched as Gadreel jumped up to his feet. It was a stark reminder of how fresh his body still was compared to Aurelius''.


    "Hmm... I believe that''s the first time I''ve almost died," Gadreel said, stretching his neck.


    Aurelius looked down at him wordlessly.


    "Death is such a peculiar thing." Gadreel gave Aurelius a wry smile. "What is beauty to you, Son of Ares? The word is thrown around a lot. It has power to it when it provokes an image that is deep in the brain. However, it loses its meaning when the word is used so much it starts to provoke only the boring image of itself in written form."


    Cade''s face was the first thing that came to mind. The way she smiled at him. Aurelius shook his head. "You would never understand..."


    Gadreel began walking towards Aurelius. "Don''t tell me that you''re like all the rest of them. You must know."


    Aurelius frowned and looked for a way to put it into words. He had done it once in his notebook. It was something he had once known so closely. "It is..." It came back to him as he stared past Gadreel into a forgotten time. "Beauty is something that is significant by nature, existing in a moment that seems to last forever."


    Gadreel smiled. "Good. I''m of roughly the same opinion. And as beauty is akin to the provoking of significance in an infinite moment, death is its pinnacle." Gadreel stopped five steps away and stared at Aurelius through his eyelids. "Death is the most significant event in life. It happens so fast, yet it defines your entire being."


    "You''re wrong. You''re a monster, but you''ll die just like a man."


    "Oh, no. Death rewrites one''s past to fit a mold in which a narrative is manufactured. That is all history is, though as we live now, there is no narrative. It is all chaos, but in the end, I was always a man like everybody else. Just like your father."


    Aurelius let out a growl as he closed the distance and struck. Gadreel moved differently once more. Aurelius spun, hit, and kicked, but Gadreel was like a tide. Elusive but omnipresent and inexhaustible.


    Aurelius felt his borrowed energy fade. As he was assailed by Gadreel, he prepared for a final strike. Even as Gadreel struck his wounds, he didn''t counter. He defended and tried to get a hold of Gadreel''s movements. But he didn''t even fight like a normal human being. Aurelius had killed stronger men in seconds, but Gadreel was shapeless. And while his frame wasn''t large, his movements had a certain kind of torque to them. It was as if his every movement was calculated for maximum momentum when he finally struck in Aurelius'' most acute areas.


    But when Aurelius had established a solid pattern for himself, he struck out. Gadreel was caught off-guard as Aurelius grabbed him by his neck. Gadreel hurried to grip his forearms as he lifted him into the air quickly before going to smash him into the ground. It was a battle of whether Aurelius would finish him faster than Gadreel could mess with his essence.


    But Gadreel didn''t do it. He didn''t even seem to try. Instead, he shifted his gravity somehow in Aurelius'' grip. Then he threw his legs over Aurelius'' arm and tried to break it. Aurelius screamed at the twist on his elbow and hurried to smash the man on the ground.


    But as Gadreel was about to hit the ground, he maneuvered and kicked Aurelius off balance somehow before twisting harder, forcing him to roll. Aurelius lost his sense of direction for just a moment as he rolled, but when he stopped, he found himself on his knees with Gadreel holding him in some kind of elaborate lock position.


    Aurelius tried to rip himself free but felt only a pang of pain from his left arm. It was loose, broken. Then his ankle was stepped on and his right arm squeezed somehow from behind. He wagered he would''ve been able to get it free if his right side hadn''t been broken.


    Suddenly his head was jerked back. He glared up and found Gadreel''s gleaming gaze underscored by a bloody grin. Gadreel pressed a hand against his forehead. Aurelius'' control over his essence wavered. He pushed against the interference but was rendered powerless in his complete exhaustion. In the end, he felt that despite all his efforts, it was all exactly as Gadreel had wanted it. All he could do was watch as Gadreel brought a hand over his eyes and an impossibly sharp blade shimmered into existence.


    It was then that Aurelius realized what was going to happen and that he''d never known fear before. True fear. Skin tingling, bones trembling, the brain screaming at itself. The body did everything it could all at once but was helpless. Aurelius'' breath rattled in his broken ribcage, and above, he noticed Gadreel''s do the same. Their breaths went into a terrifying synchrony as the blade lowered towards Aurelius'' eyeball.


    Aurelius shut his eyes tight and found himself praying. His mouth moved in whispers despite his jaw injury. "Cade, Cade, please, Cade, please... Save me..."


    The cold blade dug in, driving its way straight to Aurelius'' skull. Aurelius'' eyes and mouth snapped wide. He gasped at the pain, thinking for a moment that the blade would go all the way through into his brain. He was almost relieved when it began making its way down.


    It sounded like someone on the other side of the castle hall was screaming. A horrible, gurgled sound as the man choked on his own blood in the process.


    Aurelius fought for control of his essence all the way. The blade went diagonally down. Over his already sliced nose and to his cheek. When his essence wouldn''t obey, he tried to wrangle his way out. He tried to move his limp left arm, but all of it was hopeless.


    Aurelius coughed up, and for a moment the scream in the distance stopped. Tears welled up in his red eyes. They felt like acid and blurred his vision.


    When the blade finally lifted, Aurelius made his final push. As if Gadreel was mocking him, he broke the interference on his essence and broke the lock. He twisted and elbowed Gadreel before launching himself forward to flee.


    Only a few steps in, his strength faded, and he collapsed onto his knees and slumped his posture, staring at the ground as tainted blood poured down from his face.


    "Aurelius," Gadreel called out. Aurelius shook at his voice and turned to look at the man, standing above him. "I thought you should know, Kendrick of Lundkirk has nullified the treaty. The Zalfarian War has begun once more."


    Aurelius'' jaw fell loose. He went completely and absolutely numb. Then he looked up above, a single thought mellowing on his broken mind, ''Why am I here?''


    He put his hands over his face before slowly sliding them down. A weak wail escaped his lips, metamorphosing into a primal scream. He dug his hands into the bloody ground. The stone was crushed in his grasp as he raged. He turned to look at Gadreel, who had taken a few steps back.


    Aurelius swallowed the blood swirling in his throat and stood up with an inhuman effort.


    "I will say, Aurelius, I have never been more correct about a human being as I have about you," Gadreel said, taking his hands from behind his back. "But I wonder, do you, yourself, know why you fight?"


    Aurelius glared at the man and then down at his feet before a single, seething whisper. "You killed Balgair."


    He raised his gaze to gauge Gadreel''s reaction. Aurelius froze at the sight of Gadreel''s furrowed brows. "Who?"


    Every bit of Aurelius trembled with rage. The joints in his right hand tightened. Streaks and materialized essence spurred into existence without intention, and for a moment he felt the essence around him vibrate.


    Gadreel guffawed, leaning forward with unseen intensity. "Can you grasp it?!"


    Aurelius'' face twitched with concentration, but he couldn''t feel it. That world rejected him, and the air around him settled. He gritted his teeth and reached behind him with his right hand.


    Gadreel seemed almost puzzled. Soon his face dropped, as in Aurelius'' hand was a vial. Aurelius uncapped it and glanced at Gadreel but saw something else. All around there were those he loved looking at him with disapproving eyes. Aurelius almost froze but swept them away and drank.


    This time, he felt nothing. What was left in the vial, he tucked back. Suddenly his core tightened with pressure that seemed almost to make him implode. The world became soft under his feet and trembled at his existence.


    Gadreel looked on with his mouth open. When he blinked, Aurelius moved. When he opened his eyes, which were still fixed on where Aurelius used to be, Aurelius was already in front of him.


    Gadreel''s eyes jumped to Aurelius, seeming to take in every detail, from his freezing blue eyes to his regal golden matted in blood. With a twist too instantaneous to be brutal, Aurelius put a hand into Gadreel''s chest.


    Gadreel shook once but seemed almost like he hadn''t noticed that he had died. He just looked at Aurelius with some unreadable emotion.


    Finally, he looked down, and blood dribbled from between his thin lips. He blinked. Aurelius searched with his numb hands before grasping something that seemed to pulse and ripped it out.


    Aurelius turned at the neck to look at his right hand ambiguously as the odd organ kept pumping blood with no body. Gadreel looked at it as well, tilting his head. Right after, his legs held him up no more, and he crashed down like the small giant he was.


    Aurelius looked down at the man with gleaming eyes as he grew numb evermore. All his sensations seemed to flee his body one by one until they were all gone.


    Suddenly something zapped in him, and his spine seemed to disappear. He went limp and slammed onto the ground. He couldn''t feel anything but only saw as his body convulsed. It was a foreign feeling. Like an ending to a nightmare in another''s body.


    His mouth began to foam, and he kept convulsing, the heart in his heart still pumping, thinking there was still a chance. Only then did it dawn on him that he would never be anything more than he was. His last wish would have been for Cade to be there at that moment. He would have liked to see her one last time.


    In that cold place, Aurelius'' eyes grew terrified like a little child''s. Deep inside, he found that he was willing to do anything to feel warm again. It was almost tearfully funny for him, at that moment, to realize he was much like that heart right in front of his eyes.

 Chapter 107: The Purest Expression (8)

    One night, in days wiped from mind, a boy limped from a fetid, unilluminated alleyway, sobbing. His poor clothes had been torn into shreds that hung from his body, leaving him naked to the world all the while blood trickled down his leg. His unruly hair looked black until he entered the torch-lit street, where it was revealed to be a dirty auburn shade. The boy looked around, lips trembling as he grasped his other arm by his side, helpless and so alone.


    "Are you okay, pup?"


    The boy squealed in surprise and turned frantically to find a wrinkly man with thin brown hair sitting barely a step away from him. He thought about running away from the strange-looking man but didn''t.


    "No," he answered with a sniffle. "How could I be okay?" His voice broke even as he tried to sound strong in his denial.


    "I see." The old man sighed, scratching at his mustache. Then he waved the string instrument by his side. "How about a tune?"


    "But I don''t have any money," the boy said, almost breaking into tears at the reminder.


    "Come now, don''t need money for art."


    The boy frowned in thought. "You have to buy the instrument, don''t you?"


    The old man showed a sly grin and whispered, "Who says I bought it?" The boy took a moment to realize the joke and giggled slightly. He had never imagined that a good person could steal. "I made it!" the old man exclaimed with a laugh and a proud smile.


    "Wow." The boy looked at the instrument in wonder. At that moment, the act of creating one''s own instrument for art struck him as a spark in the dark.


    "So, how about it, pup? Care to listen?"


    The boy was wary of everything in his hurt, but he had caught sight of the light he was searching for and wouldn''t let it escape. He nodded enthusiastically with his weak fists pumped. The old man smiled and gestured for him to sit. Sitting hurt, so the boy lay down on his back.


    The old man began to play, and the boy swayed his body along the sweet rhythm. The boy had never heard anything like it. The strings reverberated with a sound that, for a moment, seemed to make all the injustice in the world fade away.


    And so, the pair mused together under torchlight in the cobblestone streets of Verdua. While the old man gazed at the boy, he looked up at the stars in a dream.


    The piece was short, but it was so varied, it seemed like the entire world had been captured in those few minutes. One thing that stuck with the boy was how the notes toward the end were all in major. All except for the last.


    How was it so perfect? The boy could not understand.


    "That was..." the boy said after the old man finished. "Beautiful. It was beautiful."


    "Know what that means, pup?"


    "No." The boy shook his head with a smile, wiping his tears away. He may not have known what it meant, but the tune gave him hope. It brought images of a future where it would all be worth it. One where all his misery would be compensated. He couldn''t even imagine what could be so wonderful as to compensate for it, but that only made him more excited.


    ''After I survive these years, my life will be something to behold,'' he thought. ''A spectacle!''


    The old man ruffled his hair and said he was welcome to listen any time he wanted. And so the old man''s songs became his salvation in the struggle to survive.


    They became the color in his bleak world, the mountains in his flat mind. He was absorbed by its beauty every time he heard it. The piece of music became the only thing he looked forward to, his only source of will to live, to the point he couldn''t imagine a world without it. Where could he escape to if not the music?


    He also got closer to the old man, though they never seemed to feel a need to talk at length. One time the old man saw him eyeing a bronze coin in the hat he kept in front while performing. The boy was ashamed of his greed, but the old man said he should have it.


    While the boy''s promises to himself of a better future went unfulfilled, those times were the happiest he''d ever lived. As he swayed along to that single piece time and again, he watched flowers bloom and leaves wither.


    He may have slept in the dumpsters of the alleys where, in the dark, creatures crawled all over him, but at least there nobody could hurt him. It was his own little area. His home. And with the old man nearby, he almost felt satisfied with what life had given him.


    That was until one day he heard the old man''s voice engaged in an argument. He peeked out of the dumpster and saw a group of men around the corner in the very same spot where the old man had played the tune for him first.


    They were yelling something about money. He recognized those men and almost made a sound as he was flooded with emotions he''d done everything to wash away. He put a hand on his mouth and breathed through his nose.


    The boy couldn''t see the old man. For a moment, he indulged in the fantasy of not being the target of the ruthless men''s harassment. That fantasy was shattered as a scowling man with sharp brown hair smashed the old man''s instrument against the wall that the boy could see.


    There was more yelling, but the boy couldn''t make out the old man''s words. Only moments later the brown-haired man took something from his pocket. It was sharp and shiny, its glint catching the boy''s eye. The man thrust the knife forward.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    The boy ducked and put his hands on his ears. He kept them there even when he knew the men were already gone. He''d heard nothing. He could entertain the hope that nothing had happened until he went and saw. He considered staying there forever. Curiosity didn''t let him. He had to know.


    Once he got out of the dumpster and walked around the corner, he went blank. The old man was leaning against the brick wall under the torch with a pool of blood underneath him with the broken pieces of his instrument littered on the ground. His wrinkled hands were rested atop his wet belly, and his empty eyes stared down at his feet. His hat was gone. The hat he used to collect what little he got from generous passerbyes.


    A feeling surged from the boy''s chest, pressing up his throat until he felt he might choke. He could imagine screaming or clawing at his chest but just stood there still and silent. Truth be told, he didn''t feel any need beyond what he might''ve expected of himself.


    He blinked slowly once, and his eyes grew deeper. Somehow, the world seemed to become enhanced. It was all so clear at that moment. Multiple paths opened up for the boy. His years of suffering were over, but without further consideration, he knew which one he would take. It was something close to him, tempting him to grasp it, so he did.


    Then something poured out of him. He was completely still and did not make a sound, but it went out of his, nonetheless. It was his human core being forsaken by his will.


    Suddenly the only thing he could think was how unattractive the old man was. The wrinkles he had at times dreamed of one day having disappeared from his mind as a possibility.


    He walked around the old man thoughtlessly before lying next to him, gazing at his feet, hands on his belly, just to see what it felt like. It was ordinary. He couldn''t stand it.


    Then, in the distance, a scowling man with spiky brown hair approached alone. The boy grabbed something from the ground and pushed himself up from the wall, tucking his hands behind his back as he waited for the man to notice him.


    The man was yammering on to himself about bastard this bastard that until his gaze stopped on the boy.


    "Hey, brat, what are you doing, huh?" He spoke loudly. "Wait, I''ve seen you before."


    The boy frowned, not recalling such a thing.


    "Well, what are you up to? You trying to cause trouble?"


    The boy shook his head.


    "I don''t think so." The man stepped closer, towering over the boy. "How about you give me your money, and I''ll let you walk away?"


    The boy dug his single bronze coin from his pocket and showed it. "This?"


    "That''s all you got?" The man laughed. "Not a very good beggar, are you?"


    "You want it?" the boy asked. "Then take it."


    The man sneered before going to snatch the coin. At that moment, the boy rushed in. He grasped the sharp piece of instrument so tightly his hand turned white and stabbed the man. It wasn''t enough, but as if out of instinct, the next movement came to him. He struck the man''s groin and evaded his grasp before tripping him.


    With a huge thump, the man came crashing down. Now the boy smiled as he jumped on the large man. He was grabbed, but too late, as he managed to stab the man''s eye. The man screamed and thrashed, but the boy thrived in chaos and maneuvered to stab the man again and again. Blood splattered on his face and stained his clothes, but he cared about neither of those. He just felt a will that demanded more, so he took the man''s eyes, throat, and even his tongue. He stopped moving and screaming. The night went silent. But the boy kept hacking away, teeth clenched in a visceral smile.


    For a moment, he thought he heard the music. However, he''d already accepted that it was long gone. This art was purely his. It may have been primitive, but it was his. One day, it would become something else entirely.


    He beat the man''s skull with the piece before it got embedded so deep in his skull that the boy couldn''t pull it out. But even then, the boy kept brutalizing the man. He hadn''t done it to kill the man, to begin with. He didn''t care about what the man had done, nor did he care whether he thrashed or screamed. It was just nice to feel warm insides on his cold skin, and he had simply wanted to satiate some of his curiosity.


    ***


    Gadreel watched from the side with a melancholic smile as the boy dug out the man''s eyeballs and saw what else he could find and do. He wondered what had happened before that moment. Memories blurred, the details lost¡ªbut why were the things he longed to recall the most distant?


    Still, it was such a beautiful night. Gadreel walked over to the old man''s dead body and squatted coolly. "I wish I could remember your name," he said with a sigh.


    Finally, he turned to watch the boy standing atop the corpse of the man. The boy''s hands were drenched in blood as he spread them out with his eyes on the stars. Gadreel remembered that moment clearly. The promise he''d done his all to keep.


    The promise that he was done with the art of others. He would make his own art, concerning only himself. The world was only worth living in if it was his absolutely. Thus, he would make it his without the slightest consideration for any other living creature that walked the land. In that way, he could fulfill the old dream he was incapable of reproducing after his detachment. That was his only hope, for nothing else remained.


    With just a blink of the eyes, the boy was gone, and Gadreel found himself back on the floor of blood amid the grand castle hall. All in all, it wasn''t quite what he''d expected.


    With all that remained of him, he grasped the old bronze coin in his pocket with one hand. All the while, he reached out toward the wildly convulsing young man with his other hand as if reaching out to that long-dead part of himself. He whispered incomprehensibly as he watched Aurelius. He''d surprised Gadreel. He had thought Aurelius was something else, but it seemed that it was all in his mind. The young man in front of him was just a tormented boy with more power than he could handle. And while his wide eyes were overwhelmed with emotion, Gadreel still couldn''t grasp even a sliver of it.


    It was funny how little it really changed when Aurelius had ripped out his heart. Watching it pulsate in his hand, Gadreel would''ve laughed if he could''ve.


    He couldn''t. He was fading away from existence. His body grew hot to the point his forehead radiated warmth, but then he went cold to the point his teeth clattered. In such a way, he varied through states while the ceaseless torrent and strikes of lightning turned distant and tinny.


    His skull still pounded, but even that lessened by the time Aurelius stopped convulsing. Even with his mouth foaming and bloodshot eyes like stone, his body seemed to be fighting to breathe and stay in the world a little longer. Gadreel almost spent his last moments wondering what a powerful mix of emotions the young man would feel if he ever woke up, but it was too insignificant a matter to waste any thought on.


    What he ended up with was a question. A question he felt that an answer to could summarize his life. Even all the way from the dumpsters of Verdua to the Royal Castle of Acelot. A question of which the answer would determine if his promise was fulfilled. If Aurelius was what he was supposed to be. But a question to which there was no real answer.


    ''Was this it?''


    He surmised that a man who must ask such a question already had the answer. However, he''d turned the world into his canvas and humanity into paint. A greater spectacle did not exist. What was a man with no heart to do?


    With a final flash of lightning that sent ripples of colors through the stained windows around the hall, the coin fell from Gadreel''s grasp as the pressure was relieved. He didn''t cry, nor did he laugh. A dim light just faded from his eyes, and he died with a slight smile.

 Phase 2 Afterword

    Hey, the afterword is a bit late this time, but it''s for a good reason. Today it has been exactly a year since I began uploading JSA. I realize that may not mean much for some people, but for me, it''s like I''m married. There have been a few affairs, yes, but that is all in the past, mostly, for now.


    Quickly before I get on to the afterword, I''d like to thank everybody who has been here from the beginning. It truly means the world to me that others are experiencing JSA along with me.


    Now then, I have too much to say, so I think I won''t say much.


    For starters, the last time I had such a difficult time with a book was when I wrote my first novel, The Ruins. As I mentioned in the chapter titled "Update", the beginning was rough, and after that, it was still rough. Despite that, I don''t know if I would take a different path if I rewrote this Phase completely.Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.


    I''m not sure I like what I did with the prose in this book. Reviewing some sections, I feel as if I was making love with the keyboard like a horny teenager, and I''m not sure that''s a good thing. Still, without a doubt, this is the best thing I have written to date, but not quite as good as I expected it to be.


    In the end, writing this phase was a fantastic experience with some drug-level euphoria on occasion. I truly hope that you had as good of a time reading as I had writing.


    Lastly, because I''m an evil person, I have no solid date to give you as to when Phase 3 is coming out. My optimistic estimation is 3¨C6 weeks. I promise not to write an entire novel during my break this time.

 Chapter 108: What Is Left

    The sight was a thing of brutality and nothing else. Never in the entire world had there been so much blood in a single space. Cade felt her instincts trying to turn her from the sight, but it wouldn''t even have mattered if she had turned away. It wasn''t just the sight. The area assaulted every sense. Her eyes stung, and her expression twisted at the horrid stench. The air tasted of iron, salt, and feces.


    Corpses were littered all around, turned, twisted, and mutilated. All eyes in the room were hard and lifeless like stone mixed in with pale flesh. Cade had forgotten what it felt like to be looked at by eyes that didn''t see. She searched around only to find body parts lying lonely, looking for their owners. Blood dripped from the ceiling into the palm of a severed arm.


    At first, she thought he wasn''t there. But the state of the hall told her he couldn''t have left. Not after such a battle. Still, she couldn''t make out any sign of him.


    "Aurelius?" she called, her echoes sounding small in her ears. She glanced around.


    ''He has to be near,'' she thought as she walked in the endless pool of blood, stepping over dead bodies in the middle of the hall.


    Then he saw a distant glimmer in the dark. A single lock of golden hair hanging from a head of bloody hair. It twirled over the face that was barely visible under a mess of grotesque slices. Most noticeable, however, were the eyes. One had been sliced over and the white of it dyed red while the other was wide, staring at nothing.


    Despite everything, Cade recognized Aurelius absolutely and immediately. It was only her horror that held her from at first accepting that those young, bright eyes that had shined at her long ago had been stolen, turned dark and gray.


    For a microinstant, she lurched numbly in a premature grief. Then came an unconscious shriek. "Rey?!" She shot towards him and crossed the hall in an instant.


    As soon as she made it to him and saw the foam that had formed in his mouth, she rushed to his side and worked to open his airway. She then promptly ripped his shirt open. Somehow, even while having expected the worst, the sight shocked her. Aurelius'' musculature had been refined far beyond what it had been. Almost to an impossible degree, where every fiber seemed developed to its highest extent. And even then the layers and layers of scarring, wounds, and coating of blood were all she saw.


    There was more black blood there than she''d ever seen. ''Just how many enhancers did you take?'' she thought, biting her lip.


    She pressed her ear tightly to his chest. The moment seemed to last an eternity. Arrows of emotion shot through Cade''s body, ricocheting around in the vast emptiness. She froze in suspense waiting for just the slightest sign until it finally came. A single, faint beat of the heart.


    She drew back and looked at his face. Perhaps she thought he would be all there, smiling softly at her with his vibrant spirit restored. He wasn''t. She hurried to hear his heartbeat again. After another wait, she heard it. It wasn''t his life returning to him, and it certainly wasn''t the past being called back and remade, but it was something. Cade could live with that.


    She lifted Aurelius into her arms, determined to do anything for him to survive. In his state, that seemed like foolish hope, but she knew that if it was possible, he would live.


    Something rolled out of Aurelius'' fingers when she lifted him. It hit the ground with a meaty sound. She looked down to find that it was a heart. And only then did she notice the other man who lay on the ground at her feet. His frame was slight and seemed frail to an almost pitiable extent.


    She recognized his face somehow. It quickly occurred to her where they had met before, and it seemed like another world was revealed to her. She couldn''t begin to comprehend it. She didn''t want to.


    The man had a hand-sized hole in his chest, but somehow his lips were stuck, curved upwards. Both his hand and eyes were pointed where Aurelius had been.


    ''Is that... him?'' Cade thought.


    Her upper lip curled as he looked down at the man, hugging Aurelius'' large frame more tightly. Then she raised her foot over the man''s head, sending an electrifying burst of enhancement through her body before stomping down.


    ***


    Cade rolled to her side as she woke. Opening her eyes slowly, she saw a dark figure beside her. He was a broken man, wrapped in bandages from the neck with his face lined with sewn wounds. Still, his eyes lay closed.The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.


    Almost a month had gone by since she brought her to Aleyah''s. From then on, she had tended to him daily, never leaving his side. There was something nostalgic about it. Maybe it was because of how vulnerable he was again. In his unconscious state, it was easy to pretend nothing had happened.


    Cade scooched closer under the sheets, putting a hand to his chest. His heart was still beating. Surprisingly, it wasn''t so faint anymore. Cade hurried to put her ear to his chest to be sure. There he heard a lifelike pulse, the first real sign of recovery.


    Cade drew herself away to sit beside him on her knees and see if there were any other changes. When she looked up, however, it was already happening. Aurelius'' eyes fluttered.


    Cade raised a hand, muttering something. She was excited to see him, but fear also struck her. A fear that only something related to Aurelius could stir her.


    Aurelius looked around confused before jolting. Cade hurried to calm him. "It''s me, Aurelius."


    "Ca... de?" he said with a pained whisper.


    "Yeah," she rubbed her arm, understanding his shock. He must''ve thought he would die. There was no knowing what effect that could have on him.


    Aurelius'' body relaxed at her touch, and he tried to open his eyes, succeeding only on one side. His right eyelid was sewn shut. He touched it briefly before looking at Cade. His left eye was a deep, deep blue. "Is he... Is Gadreel dead?"


    Cade knit her brows. The last thing Aurelius remembered must''ve been him holding Gadreel''s raw heart in his hand, and still, he asked if the man was dead. "Yeah."


    "Am I..." He trailed off. Cade expected him to continue. He did not. He tried to move. The only thing that moved was his expression, from thoughtful to anguished. "How long has it been?" His voice trembled slightly.


    "A month or so."


    "How bad is it?"


    "You''re going to be alright, Aurelius." She smiled faintly at him. "Just like every other time."


    He looked down into his lap and whispered a thank you.


    Cade put a hand on his thigh. He froze before slowly turning to look at her with his one eye opened wide.


    ''Oh, no,'' Cade thought.


    "My leg," he whispered. He jolted into action, pressing and hitting his legs all over. "I can''t feel..." Aurelius'' voice turned panicked and breathy. "I can''t feel my legs, Cade. I can''t¡ª"


    "They¡ªthey''re just numb. You''ve been in bed for¡ª"


    "No, no, no." Aurelius shook, his face twisting.


    "Calm down. We can figure this out."


    Aurelius buried his face in his hands in what must''ve been terrible pain. He stayed like that for a while, not making a sound until suddenly waking. "Stab them," Aurelius suggested, breathing fast, in obvious pain from his sudden movements.


    "What? No."


    "If they''re just numb, I''ll feel the stab, right?" He talked fast as if in a rush to prove his darkest thoughts wrong. "Right?"


    "No, I can''t just. What if I nick an artery or¡ª"


    Aurelius grabbed her hand. "Please. Just... please. He was breaking under that voice. "Try my toes or something." His pupil seemed to tremble in his frenzy.


    Cade yielded and moved to his feet before materializing a thin spike of essence. He took hold of Aurelius'' right foot and looked up, hoping for Aurelius to have felt it suddenly. He stared back, unflinchingly waiting for her to do it.


    He stuck the needle in his big toe. Blood pooled out and dripped on the pristine sheets. Cade glanced up before pushing it in further. She felt sick. She''d blown up heads without reacting, but somehow she felt like puking at the sight of that light blue needle being plunged into flesh.


    The needle came to a stop, and Cade looked up, her heart silent. Aurelius still looked expectant. "What is it?"


    "Do you feel anything?"


    "No. Just go deeper."


    "It hit bone."


    Aurelius was startled but didn''t let it show for long. "So what?"


    "So... what?" Cade repeated.


    "So what?!" Aurelius yelled, only to regret it when he painfully remembered the condition of his jaw.


    "Aurelius, I can''t stab any deeper. Mutilating yourself will just cause more damage."


    "What good is not causing damage if I''m already paralyzed?" Aurelius seethed. "Fine, if you won''t do it..." Cade got ready to stop him as soon as she saw what he was going to do.


    However, after Aurelius raised his hand in the air, nothing happened. No materialization came forth. Cade sat back, shivering slightly, as she looked at Aurelius struggle. Aurelius stared at his hand, every joint popping as he tried to force something into existence that wasn''t listening to him. His expression turned even more agonized.


    "I can''t... do it," he said, his body tense in effort. "Why can''t I even..." His breaking voice made Cade feel just as helpless as he was. She''d imagined that things couldn''t get worse, but it seemed they had. "Why... why, why, why..." he repeated, hitting himself on the forehead with his palm. It wasn''t just frustration. He was trying to hurt himself.


    Cade jumped in to restrain him before he could do any real damage. "Stop it. Stop. It''s temporary. Your legs too. You''ll be fine, I promise. It won''t last forever." Cade held him tightly and let go when she realized it was hurting him even more.


    Aurelius mumbled under his breath. His forehead was red as he laid back into what must''ve been an uncomfortable position. He seemed to have given up on his legs as well. His face went loose with utter despair.


    Gazing at the emptiness in his expression, Cade wondered. Paralyzed and rid of essence, what was Aurelius?


    All his astonishing physical capabilities: strength, speed, dexterity, endurance. All aspects of his spirit: courage, perseverance, pride. Even the centerpieces of his moral character: altruism, empathy.


    In that moment, all of them seemed to be wiped away, leaving only some scarred husk, in a twisted position, staring with hollow disappointment down at his body.


    "He won," Aurelius muttered.


    "What?" Cade asked, coming closer to comfort him.


    Aurelius didn''t even seem to be reacting to her when he repeated, emphasizing every letter, "Gadreel won."


    Cade felt her stomach sink, and she moved away from Aurelius. She didn''t know everything that had happened between the two, but she knew one thing: Aurelius was alive, and Gadreel was dead.

 Chapter 109: Essence Paths

    Aurelius was a tortured man with a face of agony. It had been four days since he woke from his slumber. In those four days, his mind had barely engaged with the outside world. He just kept repeating those last moments. That moment of silence he shared with Gadreel as he''d ripped out his heart. After seeing into that man''s soul, he no longer knew if he could live the life of a human being. It all seemed so fabricated and false.


    He hadn''t talked much to Cade either. On many occasions the thought had occurred to him that everyone would''ve been better off if she hadn''t come to save him. Perhaps he was afraid he''d say that out loud and destroy whatever there was left between them.


    In all honesty, he had no motivation to do anything. Eating was his worst enemy. He was radically malnourished from only having been fed soup for the last month, so Cade wanted him to eat a lot. They had numerous arguments about that. All of which ended in Cade''s victory, usually by physical means. She pretty much shoved the food down his throat.


    Even though the food was intentionally made soft, every little bite shot his jaw to hell. It sent a spasm through his body that was riddled with wounds, of which the ones on his face were the most sore. The throbbing in his face never left, and the headaches he experienced¡ªmostly radiating from his eye wound¡ªwere almost unbearable. He couldn''t sleep because of the pain, but he didn''t want company either, so he just lay in that familiar dark room and reminisced about better times.


    He had no hope for the future. There wasn''t any single moment where he realized that the state of his legs and essence weren''t temporary. The obvious truth was a deep void he gradually sunk into. Then he was just forced to accept it. He''d taken almost three enhancers even though he knew that meant certain death for almost anyone but him. Of course there would be a price to pay for that.


    Despite that, it was all one fucking nightmare. He yearned to weep but felt that he couldn''t. Not ever. Not anymore. That night when he had cried in Damian''s home, he''d still had something human in him. Now he was a pale husk with hollowed-out eyes, covered in filthy wounds and wrapped in bandages.


    He smelled terrible and couldn''t even defecate by himself. If he could have killed himself, he would have. But he couldn''t, so he reached for the painkillers Cade brought him three times a day. They took the edge off the mind-splitting pain that stung and tore at his muscles, joints, and bones a hundred times a second.


    Broken was he like all those he himself had broken. The world did him violence in the same manner he had done to others, so perhaps all was well. He didn''t need to get better if it was meant to be. There was solace in that. With that, he sank into a mindless state where he could hope to forget his own existence, for what good was a powerless monster?


    ***


    One of the first conversations Aurelius was forced to have with Cade was about enhancers. Specifically, she''d made him promise he would never touch enhancers again. It was obvious why she was so adamant about that, having lost her father to enhancers. Aurelius, understanding that, had made the promise.


    She was being emotional, though. Aurelius needed to regain his control over essence. His connection to it had been broken somehow. If his experiences with enhancers had taught him anything, it was that his connection to essence was never stronger than when under the influence.


    It was clear to him what he needed to do. He was sure his belongings were somewhere in Aleyah''s place. All he needed to do was find the leather strap where he had kept his vials and consume the rest of his third enhancer.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    For this, Aurelius waited for a time when both Cade and Aleyah were gone to make his move. It took days of waiting, but finally he got a chance.


    He tried his legs first, of course, and collapsed loudly, his legs as limp as could be. Some of his wounds seemed to reopen and stain his bandages, but fortunately he was already on a double dose of painkillers he''d stacked for the occasion. Not that his legs needed any.


    Aurelius gritted his teeth and started crawling across the floor, dragging his lower body behind with painful exertion. The patheticness of his task wasn''t lost on him, but desperate measures were needed. Nobody else understood. He needed it.


    It took so long to get out of the room and into the hall. He leaned against a wall in exhaustion and reminisced about a time years ago when he and Cade had fought. He barely remembered what it was about. Something about Cade not allowing him to accompany her because of his injuries. Aurelius laughed at the memory. Compared to his current state, those injuries were so inconsequential that they might as well have been non-existent, but still they''d fought over something so small.


    After gathering himself, Aurelius began making his way again. It took tens of minutes of searching before he found it. The outfit he''d used for the past year lay in an old wooden cabinet in Cade''s room. Even his lone remaining crimson glove was there. Most of all, the leather strap was there with the vials.


    He quickly went through them, aware that Cade or Aleyah could be back any time. Then he found it. The remains of his third enhancer. Approximately one fourth of the vial was taken up by the thick black substance from the heart of nature''s purest creature.


    Aurelius uncapped the vial and looked at it intensely, considering things for some reason. It was dangerous, but if he succeeded, he would be the same again. He''d regain his power.


    He exhaled with a huff before taking in a quick breath and downing the vial. The first thing he noticed was the taste. It was different from before. It seemed like his whole being was rejecting the substance. In spite of that, he swallowed.


    However, right as the substance was about to enter his system, his throat closed up. He didn''t even notice what had gone wrong at first. He just sat there with the vial in hand, unaware. Then his throat began to spasm, and what followed was some of the most excruciating pain he''d ever felt.


    Despite his thoroughly broken body, the pain sent him into a series of seizure-like movements. He simply couldn''t sit still. By instinct he began spitting out the substance. He couldn''t stop. The more he tried to keep it in, the more he spat out.


    Aurelius was sent to the floor in a fit of spasms, his arms rigid at his sides. He rolled over from his side to his stomach, the black substance flowing out of his mouth and onto the floor. Tens of gold poured into cracks in wood, the last of his hope wasted on nothing.


    The pain didn''t stop. Aurelius rolled over again, his rigid spine bending in agony. His mouth opened in a silent scream. There came an old voice from the back of his throat, saying nothing.


    Something cold flowed down his throat. Just a droplet. Of what, Aurelius wasn''t sure. The enhancer was lukewarm, but the droplet was cold. Or maybe his senses fooled him.


    What didn''t fool him was the flash of pain that followed as the droplet got down his throat and into his system. His eyes rolled into the back of his head, his spine bent, and a loud gasp escaped his mouth as all his muscles seemed to spasm all at once and leave him in complete paralysis.


    Suddenly, he was no longer of the world. He was in blackness. Then he saw a faint blue beam in the dark from where it spread in opposite directions like lightning from nothing, striking the sky and ground simultaneously. Numerous strikes followed. They seemed to grow farther and expand into some complex shape.


    He realized what he saw was his own body where the paths of essence were revealed to him. But at his lower spine the paths of essence had degenerated and distorted. Furthermore, it seemed to be spreading.


    In the next moment, Aurelius was back in Cade''s room and heard someone rushing in. He tried to gather himself, but quickly noticed that his mouth was foaming and his body was still wholly numb and spasming. He couldn''t bear to see or hear Cade, so he just closed his eyes and wished it all away even for just a second. Fortunately, his disoriented mind was quick to grant his request, and he passed out.