"Ahh, hahaha... This is just the worst... In this case, maybe I'll be much better off if I stay blissfully ignorant."

"What older sister, what depending on you if I have trouble. Ahh, so this is how it feels to be betrayed..." Bones went on a rant.

"What a horrible feeling." In the end, Bones summed up. His illusionary face portraying a smile that reeks the scent of despair.

"I did not kill her." Bones stated tonelessly.

"O-of course I believe you. But you will need to explain yourself. Don't run away. Explain yourself properly to the Navy Public Security Bureau." Eve replied, her voice shaking.

"Is that why you get close to people? Make them trust you so you can just betray them with ease. Once captured by the police, they never saw the light of day again. They as in, my predecessors, those tricked by you. Believe me?" Bones scoffed scathingly. "Of course, you do. But not because you trust me. But because you are the killer." Bones glared.

"W-what are you talking about? How can I be the killer? You're the one standing next to a corpse? Hebi, Ace, what do you think?"

"Bones..." Ace muttered, his face unreadable. Bones braced itself. Ready for whatever comes next.

"Nope. Not at all. I don't believe Bones is the killer." Ace crossed his hands behind his head.

"Eh?" Bones was totally not ready for that.

"I mean, my mom is a huge pain but I don't believe she'll entrust me into the hands of a ruthless murderer."

"Yeah, yeah, witches are shrewd beyond belief, I got to agree with Ace here." Hebi nodded. "But, Bones, you still need to explain."

"Y-yeah..." Bones stuttered. An indescribable warmth sprouted from deep within.

-Being trusted... I know their reason is a bit off but still, hahaha. Being trusted makes one happy. Being betrayed makes one feel pain. Is this what it means to be alive? I'm dead though.

"We are in a very precarious situation right now though."

"Heh, don't worry about it. If anything happens, just rely on me. I'm not the son of a god and witch for nothing."

"Alright then. I'll explain. It was during the second day..."

"I'm lost. Great, just great. The streets all look the same." Bones sighed. Glancing around the deserted, narrow street. The buildings hid the sun behind them, casting a shadow over the alleyway. It gave the place an eerie atmosphere. As if a ghost would appear at any moment.

"Punishment." Feeling a tug on its cloak, Bones froze. Bones' mind raced laps over delusions upon delusions. If it had a heart, it would have for sure hammered away at its ribcage.

Trying to regain its reason, it slowly turned around.

A little girl pulled its cloak, seemingly to appear out of thin air. Dressed in rags, her hair was a blast of black, greasy and short. However, her ears were pointy and sharp.

"Little girl, are you lost?" Bones asked.

"Punishment. Give me punishment." She finally looked up, her hair obscuring her eyes.

"Wait, wait, wait, hold up! Bones, you better not do it. You'll be a criminal. Yes, don't be rash," Hebi interrupted.

"What do you mean?" Ace and Bones asked simultaneously.

"Seriously?" Incredulously flicking his tongue, Hebi sighed. "I forgot I was talking to someone born recently and another who has been sheltered his whole life.

"The correct response here would be to rage and retort, my interest doesn't swing that way!" Eve nodded.

"See? At least someone gets it." A weird sense of camaraderie blossomed between Hebi and Eve, leaving the other two out.

"Anyway, continue with your story." Hebi coughed.

The little girl shook her head. "Gin says that bad girls get punished. He said that those who kill should be prepared to get killed themselves. You are the reaper who comes to take away my life right?" Bones was entranced by the lifeless pair of eyes that were transfixed on him. Dark, without a speck of light remaining.

"What," Bones started to question as he realised the bone-chilling implications behind her words. "But that means..."

"Come and end my life." She repeated.

Just as Bones was wondering what to do, three people showed up, caught up in their conversation.

"Like I said, I heard Ekal, that Ekal said something fishy." Amanda raised her voice.

"So, what? As if I care." Ferro shook her off. It was the usual scenario. Amanda and Ferro arguing, while a huge, armoured knight, Leer walked behind them.

"Leer, help me here. I can smell money here."

"... Yes, we should follow Amanda's plan."

Ferro exhaled exasperatedly. "You just follow Amanda blindly all the time. Come on, I know you l-"

Instantly, Ferro became silent. With an unbelievable speed, Leer grabbed Ferro on the shoulder with his mitt.

"Auu, alright, alright, I got it. I won't say any further." Ferro yelped, glaring at Amanda. "Seriously, how dense can you be? Just realise it already."

"What do you mean?" Amanda questioned. "Anyways, come on."

"Hmm? You guys are blocking the way. Get lost!" Ferro went into his gangster mode. "That cloak? I feel like I've seen it before somewhere..."

"Ah, I was wondering why you look so familiar. It's the three stooges."

"Hahh? What do you call us?" A nerve twitched on Ferro's face, as he ground his teeth.

However, before Ferro could draw his gun. Yet again, Leer was faster. Drawing his sword and tower shield. He stood between Ferro and Bones.

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"Move back!"

"Woah, woah, woah, I don't mean to fight." Bones panicked.

"You are the monster we met back then. You disguised yourself as a human?" Leer growled.

"Ahh, that cloak, I see. I remember now. It's really you!" Ferro exclaimed.

"I really have no intention of fighting. What did you mean Ekal was saying something fishy though?"

"Oh, he was mumbling to himself about running away. Like how he wanted to do nothing about it any longer. The promotion was not worth it so on and so forth. We can definitely squeeze some money out."

"Hahh." Ferro sighed. "I've told you this before. But a cornered rat will bite. It is not wise to pick fights with a desperate man."

"If you're afraid, then just say you are." Amanda stuck her tongue out.

"Wha-, preposterous. I'm not afraid."

"Hmm, that is weird. What would an elite officer like him have to be afraid of?"Bones wondered out loud.

Bones felt a tug on its cloak yet again. The little girl stared at him emotionlessly.

"Fine, fine, I get it already. I'll give your punishment!" Bones huffed, ruffling her hair. "By the way, do you have a name?"

The girl shook her head in response.

"I see, got to think of a name for you then."

"Is that required for the punishment?"

"Yes, of course, it is." Bones smiled softly.

"Oh right, I need one more favour. Do you guys have a boat?" Bones turned to the three.

"That was what happened during the second day." Bones concluded, facing towards the night sky in sorrow.

"It was like a jigsaw puzzle. I had pieces but I could not link them together. However, in the end, the last piece fell into my lap. Hahh," Bones sighed. "You, the moment, you betrayed me, everything fell into place."

"It hurts..." Bones muttered softly, clutching his heart.

"You are the one behind this string of murders. With Ekal as your accomplice, you got away scot-free everytime. That is, by framing a poor traveller who stayed at your inn. I was wondering how people don't get suspicious if they all stayed at the same inn. The thing is that they don't know, do they? You made a deal with the newspaper publishing company. How, specifically, I'm not too sure. But you manipulate the things that appear in the newspaper. I read it and not one line mention that they stayed at the same inn."

"Another point of suspicion is Ekal's behaviour. At first, I thought he was just not good around strangers. But when he was dealing with a lost visitor, he was fine. He was only nervous when talking to me or you. It's his guilt, right? He feels guilty towards the next scapegoat."

"He wanted to stop after all. The credit you let him have is not enough to get rid of his guilt. Even though his career is on a one-track path to promotion, his conscience is taking a guilt trip down to hell."

"You've done this kind of thing multiple times, haven't you? Getting close to the traveller. Make them open up to a girl like you. Then convince them to get captured and try to explain their case to the police. But of course, their defence fall into deaf ears thanks to Ekal."

"Wait, then how are you standing in front of the corpse right now?"

"I... I can't seem to remember. The last thing I remembered was reading books that I've brought along. Then I blacked out. Magic, it can only be magic. Magic to make one lose consciousness. Isn't that right, little girl?"

"Wait, what the little girl you were speaking about is here?" Hebi gasped. "Where?"

"... I see..." Ace muttered. His sclera glowed yellow as his pupils. "Falcon's eye!"

"She's in your shadow isn't she?"

"Woah, witchery crap..." Hebi shivered from head to tail. Remembering his traumatic run-ins with the witches. Shaking himself out of it, Hebi asked.

"Shadow? What do you mean?"

From Bones shadow, a little girl rose. Surfacing from the shadow as though as it was a stagnant lake. Sending ripples as she appeared.

"It really surprised me. I wanted to keep her close to me. But I had an inkling that you were somewhat involved in this. It would be bad if you recognize each other. So I told her to hide. But she hid in my shadow. That was great. I could keep her close and at the same time hidden. You're the one who put me to sleep didn't you?"

She nodded once.

"Yeah, I had a feeling it was so. Your magic, the moment you entered my shadow, it felt somewhat similar to that time. When I was knocked out. She is yours, isn't she?" Bones directed this question to Eve.

"Your executioner that is. Her role is to kill isn't it?" Bones ruffled her hair, his expression forlorn.

"While Ekal role is capturing the wrong culprit. Your role is information gathering because after all, the inn is the best place to gather information, right?"

"Ahh!" Hebi exclaimed, having understood.

"Wh-what, what's my motive for doing it?" Eve made one final resistance.

"Organ trafficking." Bones uttered resolutely. "The gruesomeness of the crime scene is just a camouflage. To make us think that the killer was a lunatic. When in fact you were harvesting organs."

"My master is a necromancer. In his diary, he wrote about how healing magic is really rare. Separated by tiers. The higher, the better. His sister was tier 3. However, only tier 5 and above can regenerate organs. A tier 3 is already rare enough. Meaning that organs are in high demand. With low tier healing magic and an organ, an organ transplant can be done. I heard the organs that were missing were the pancreas, kidneys and livers. According to my master's book, those organs are comparatively easy to transplant. It definitely beats finding a rare high-tiered healer, doesn't it?"

"I remember you saying how you were poor back then, didn't you? I guess, at least, not all the words that you spout were lies?" Bones half-smiled, half-grimaced.

"Mixing half-truths into lies are what made lies believable." She muttered, face downcast.

"So, it is true... I wanted you to deny it." Bones looked away. "Did someone force you into it?"

"As if I got a choice!" She spat. "We're dirt poor! It was either this or a life of stricken poverty. A life where I spend my life selling my body out. As if that counts as a choice. My parents, those who gave me a dream, sold me off. Just so they could put food on their table for one more day. To survive, I just did the same thing they did. To survive it means stepping on others. Devour those who are weaker than you. Do you think I do this willingly?" One eye twitching, her lips twisted to lopsided, twisted sneer.

"I'm ugly. Twisted. Broken. Yet I want to live! IS that so bad? I still don't want to die. Even if I have to step over others to do so!" She doubled over, slamming her fist to the earth.

Bones staggered. Feeling a sharp pang in his chest once again. "Eve..." It began to call out, stretching out to her. Even at this moment, Bones still found her beautiful. Especially at this moment, it was entranced by her desire. Her strong thirst, attachment to life. Her absolute denial towards death. She was beautiful. Bones wanted to call out, to reply to say that she was not ugly.

Her sneer turned into a smirk. She shouted. "Ekal, now!"

Bang!

In a flash, he stood upon Bones. While they were all distracted, Ekal managed to arrive. Closing the distance, he jumped through the window, jump kicking Bones. Brandishing a harpoon, he grumbled.

"This is why I wanted to quit. I really want to wash my hands off this."

"I thought it was a good idea at first. Easy promotion. But on second thought, it's way too scary. I don't want to fight. It's way too scary, not to mention tiring."

-Scary...? Tiring...? Bones felt something bubbling inside of him.

"Bones, did you fall for that? Iiiiiidiot! Bones you were wrong about one thing. You said that Ekal was nervous because he felt guilty? Wrong! He felt nervous because he was a coward, a huge coward at that. He wanted to back out because he did not want to get caught. Get it? I am the same way. What did you think that story was true? Iiidiot! I wonder how could a fool like you survive in this world? We are a bunch of trash. In the end, it's the trash that survives. To live, you have to dirty yourself. No one else is going to help you."

"Guilt?" Ekal questioned. "I feel guilty? As if. Do you feel guilty when you crush ants with your fingers?"

"Ekalll!" Bones roared. It felt wrong. After meeting the orcs, Hebi, Ash, the witch, the god and humans, Bones realised. Everyone had something that they wanted to do. His master wanted to be with his sister. Cro wanted to live peacefully with his family, watching his daughter grow up. Hebi wanted to travel around the world. Bones had seen. Their happy expressions when they talked about their dreams. To steal the chance for them to do what they want to is wrong.

Even if they had their own chance robbed away from them. Even more so if they did. They should know the pain. How could they inflict the same pain on others? Kill them? Take away their life. No, but Eve said that she had no choice.

Bones gritted his teeth.

Then what about Ekal? Did Ekal have some reason to behave that way? Then, what is it better to die rather than kill or kill so that you can live? Rob from others or be robbed? Is that the way of the world? Then what am I suppose to do? Forgive them? Do I even have the right to condemn them? If not? What? Allow them to run free, let them continue what they were doing? If not, stop them? How?

Kill them? Bones imaginary blood ran cold. To do the same thing they are doing?

Bones' illusionary nose inhaled sharply.

"Even so, I will stop you! I will save you!"