“Stop hiding, it’s pointless!”

Hector continued to walk around with his golden mech suit, checking behind pillars and shooting his gatling gun around the place. He couldn’t figure out where we were hiding, making him grow impatient in this long game of hide and seek. Obviously, we weren’t just going to show ourselves and happily accept death. We chose to persist and figure out a way to defeat him.

“You hide because you are weak! You have no power, so all you can do is cower in fear! So pathetic! If it were me, I would have just given up already!”

His ramblings went on and on for minutes, yet all of his words were met with silence.

“Screw this.”

Hector pointed the mech’s right arm towards a pillar. A churning noise played out from the machine, followed by sparks of red energy charging up from his palm. The sound continued to grow and the light shone brighter, eventually reaching the peak of its sequence.

“I’ll just bury all of you along with this fortress, hahahahaha!”

A red laser burst forth from the arm, cutting through the pillars like paper. The room’s structure started to collapse, with large pieces of stone falling down from the ceiling.

“Aw jeez, that guy is crazy!” Scarlet complained. “Why would he do such a thing to his own fortress?!”

Obviously, the guy was getting desperate. A little too desperate, fufufu!

“That doesn’t matter,” I said. “We have to take him down now before the entire place falls apart!”

“Got it, chief!” Scarlet said as she spun her revolver. “Let’s go!”

Scarlet and I broke out of our hiding spot and charged after the golden mech suit from behind, with her firing bullets through its armor and me holding onto my white sword.

“There you are!” Hector noticed us and dragged his laser over our direction.

The crimson ray of light zoomed right towards us, but we were able to duck just in time to avoid its line of fire. Its laser died down shortly after that, giving us the chance to start our counter attack.

“Did you think your little surprise attack would catch me off guard? Nice try,” Hector scoffed.

“Nice try indeed!” Scarlet let out a wide grin.

She holstered one gun beside her shorts and shoved her hand on her red cloak.

“Eat this!”

She took her hand out and threw a couple of metal balls towards the mech. The balls blew up into clouds of gray smoke, covering his vision entirely.

“Aghk! You cheeky brat!” Hector spun around and started shooting his gatling gun everywhere.

Scarlet continued to gun down the mech suit, jumping around and firing from all sorts of angles. At first, I thought it was weird for her to be attacking an armored mech suit with bullets, but now, I was starting to understand what her plan truly was.

“What are you trying to do?!” Hector laughed. “As if those bullet would actually hur-”

Suddenly, the mech stopped moving and the gatling gun stopped firing. Smoke started to leak out from the machine and sparks lit up on many of its parts.

“H-Huh? What’s going on?!”

“You really thought I was firing randomly?” Scarlet chuckled. “All this time, I was aiming for all the possible weak spots of that suit. Joints, pipes, wires, small glowing openings, anything that seemed like a vulnerable area. It took a while, but I guess I finally hit the right spots!”

“My precious toy! How dare you!” Hector screamed.

“Stop acting like a manchild and accept defeat already,” I climbed on top of the mech.

I shoved my sword through a small opening on the glass head and forced it open. Hector sat there with his controls, gritting his teeth with his hair completely disheveled.

“You were supposed to be my slave! I had you under control! You were powerless against me! Yet why are you standing above me, with that condescending look on your face? It pisses me off!”

Hector tries to kick me away, but I dodge it and strike back with my sword. As soon as the slash made contact, a yellow glow manifested from him.

Tsk, I forgot about his Magium shield.

“You didn’t think it would be that easy, did you?!” Hector pointed a pistol on my face.

My initial instinct reacted to jump away, with the bullet barely grazing through my hair. I fell down to the floor awkwardly, but still managed to stick the landing on my knees.

“Die!” Hector jumps off the mech suit and tries to shoot me down mid-air.

“Protect!”

The blue shield manifested itself to protect me from his bullets.

“You and your stupid magic powers!” Hector slammed his body against the shield and tried to destroy it with his fists and kicks. “I despise people like you. Those who are blessed have it easy! Why do you get to use magic while I can’t, huh? What was I missing? Why was I not chosen? Why did I have to struggle in vain just to get what I wanted?!”

“Easy? What are you talking about?” I said. “What part of my life was supposed to be easy?”

“Shut up, you wannabe Hero! Don’t talk like you’ve lived long enough in the Under Sectors!”

Little cracks started to form on the shield, which goes to show how powerful his strikes actually were. Hector wasn’t the top dog of the Midas Hogs for nothing. He reloaded his pistol and tried to shoot once more, but Scarlet shot his gun away.

With the power of her metal legs, she sprinted forward and opened with a couple of kicking combos. Hector blocked her attacks with his arms and responded with a couple of attacks of his own, fighting back against the acrobatic lady. If it weren’t for that shield of his, his bones might have already been broken by now, but it was still impressive how he was able to put up a fight with only his fists.

However, it would all come to end as Scarlet tripped him down to the floor with a low blow and planted her foot on his chest. She forced her leg down on Hector, causing his yellow shield to grow even brighter and cracks to form everywhere. Eventually, the shield broke into pieces and Hector was starting to feel the pressure.

“I suggest you surrender,” Scarlet smiled at him.

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“Screw you.”

Scarlet increased the force on her foot, causing Hector to wince and groan in pain.

“Ahk! I….can’t breathe!”

“You’re not into this sort of thing, right?” Scarlet said. “Just accept your loss.”

“F-Fine! I accept defeat! Please stop!”

Scarlet let her foot go and knelt down closer to Hector’s face.

“What are we supposed to do with him now?” she said.

I walked over to stare at the defeated man. Hector’s eyes continued to glow a fierce yellow, but mostly all I could sense from him now was anguish.

You’re not feeling bad for the guy, are you?

So what if I do? He’s still a human being…..I can’t help but feel a sense of pity for the guy.

“What now?” Hector said. “If you’re not going to kill me, then what are you going to do?”

I pursed my lips and stared at him in silence.

To be honest, I hadn’t thought about it. Now that I defeated the Midas Hogs, it was now time for me to decide. What was I supposed to do with all the evil people? So far, most of the slave hunters were shot down by the slaves, a seemingly no-brainer decision for them. But what about me? Now that the boss laid there defenseless before me, what was I supposed to do? What would a Hero do?

Should I just kill him….? But I made an oath not to…..

This….is harder than I thought.

If it were me, I would kill him on the spot. The reasoning is simple, really. Hector forced men to work as slaves in the mines and sold women off to un~gentlemanly men. He’s ruined the lives of countless people, including your own. You were beaten, bullied, almost starved to death, forced to do his bidding and subjected you to acts of villainy. If it weren’t for him, everyone would have probably lived a better life.

His existence….is worth erasing.

So why hesitate?

“Do you really think you can just stand there and wait for something to happen, Lars?” Hector said. “Wait…..you think I’m just going to change my ways and become a better person?! No way! I’d rather drop dead than try to care about other people! The only thing that matters to me is that I get everything that I want!”

I grasped my fist. “I don’t understand, why are you like this? Do you not have any shred of goodness in your heart? Is there no other way out of this?”

“There’s lots of people like him around the Under Sectors, all living for themselves at the cost of other people. It’s why I chose to go down this path, to bring them to justice with my cool-ass guns!” Scarlet spun her revolvers. “But I don’t understand how we’re supposed to deal with them without killing…”

“Just kill me,” Hector muttered with a sigh. “Only the strong survive in this world and get what they want in life. Things such as caring for the weak are meaningless. I just so happen to be the weak one this time.”

There was only really one answer I could think of. To spare his life.

However, I couldn’t just let him get away unpunished. But it’s not like we can imprison criminals like in the Over Sectors. There’s no Enforcers here! No justice system! No rules! Simply anarchy! My mind feels like it's splitting itself apart! Kill or spare?! To punish or to let go?! Should I just give him a second chance?! But he isn’t willing to change!

What would the Hero Artorias do in this situation? What would my Master do?

Shadows start to form around my vision. My senses started to feel a little dull. Voices whisper out to me, telling me what to do.

Yes…..I don’t have to kill them.

Lars, stay with me. Calm down.

I’ll just make it so they’re unable to do anything bad ever again.

“Um…Lars? That look on your face is a little scary…” Scarlet muttered.

That’s right.

Lars! Don’t let it control you!

“H-Hey, Hector…”

“Oh, have you finally decided to kill me?” Hector let out a soft grin.

“No….I’ll spare your life.”

“How ridiculous. I’ll just have my revenge and-”

I pulled his arm and started twisting it behind his back.

“A-Agh! What are you doing?”

“If I break your limbs, then surely you won’t be able to do anything evil anymore, right?!”

Yes, this is the right thing to do! Hahahahaha! Eureka!

“W-Wait! No, please don’t-AHHHHHHHHH!”

I increased the force of my pull and twisted the joint all the way to its limit. Tear away at his muscles and ligaments, making it so he can never move his arm to harm others again!

I don’t even have to kill anyone! I’ll keep my oath, but I can still bring punishment to criminals this way! That way, they will get what they deserve! I’ll make them feel a pain so intense that they’ll be too afraid to do anything ever again.

“Please let go! Stop! It hurts!” Hector cried for mercy.

Idiot Lars, stop letting it take over your thoughts! You’re the one who’s supposed to be making the decisions!”

“Lars, aren’t you taking this a little too far?!” Scarlet asked. “Hey! Can you even hear me?!”

This isn’t enough, I need to make him feel even worse! Maybe cutting off his limbs completely would do the trick! He deserves it anyway, right?!

“AHHHHHHHHH! I give up! I give up! I swear I won’t do anything bad ever again! Just please stop!”

I have to say it.

Black.

Call upon its name.

Black.

You’re losing yourself, Lars!

“Bla-”

I covered my mouth.

H-Huh? Wait a minute. Why? Why am I doing this? This isn’t right.

Looks like you're finally back to your senses, fufufu!

“Stop…….”

I looked towards Hector’s face in surprise. For the first time ever, his golden eyes melted into tears. The breath in his lungs wavered erratically and his teeth chattered against themselves. He looked at me as if he was staring at something horrifying.

“Hector….” I muttered.

“Stay away from me!” Hector shoved me and crawled away. “I-I get it! I won’t do anything evil ever again! Just please don’t hurt me!”

“W-Why are you suddenly changing your mind?” I tried to approach him.

“Wait,” Scarlet grabbed my shoulder. “Just leave him be.”

She looked towards Hector. “I don’t think that guy is gonna do anything ever again.”

“Why?”

“Huh? Do you have some sort of memory loss problem? You made him piss his pants just a few seconds ago!” Scarlet sighed. “I didn’t think you could be this scary….”

“N-No, that’s not who I am! That wasn’t me doing those things!” My hands shivered. “S-Something was controlling me!”

I moved Scarlet’s grip off my shoulder and ran after Hector. As soon as he saw me, he screamed.

“Wait! I’m not going to hurt you!” I said.

“T-Then leave me alone!” Hector whimpered.

“I just wanted to apologize!”

“Apologize? Why are you apologizing to your enemy?”

“Well…..I….”

“Don’t tell me. Are you still trying to play the Hero?”

“U-Um…..”

Hector pointed his finger towards me. “Stop lying to yourself. You’re no Hero. You’re a monster!”

I froze in place.

Me? A monster? No….

“I didn’t mean to….”

“I told you! Just leave me alone! I’d rather die than spend another second with you!” Hector stood back up and ran towards the opposite direction, with one of his arms wobbling loosely.

This is not how I wanted things to end…..

Upon taking another step forward, my legs gave in and I dropped down to the ground. It was like all the energy in my body had been sucked out in the snap of a finger. My eyes started to feel like closing and everything was slowly growing dark.

“Lars!”

I heard Scarlet’s voice call out my name, but everything else she might have said after that had become incomprehensible.

[Black Skill Unlocked: Punish]