"I have never actually killed before…" Cardinal whispered. "But now, for the first time, I don't know which outcome would be worse."

"We would be dead without you though," Elsie replied.

He stood there silently as Spire dissolved now that Lid had been removed. It was gone for good. Cardinal wondered if he should feel some sort of relief. It had become clear that he had no choice. His mind went to the future he wished for himself.

"We have to go after Pilot…" He thought.

He took a step before the doors opened before them. Cardinal was in no mood to deal with the situation at hand. Pilot walked in by himself with an empty look on his face. He looked like he hadn't slept in days. No matter the circumstances, Cardinal knew it could not be good. He stopped short of reaching Pilot and noticed a familiar silhouette standing off in the corner. His eyes locked with Kot who gave him a sad smile in return and moved out of sight.

"I have attempted with everything I got to try to pry his name from his lips, but unfortunately all I could get is his gift isn't a gift, but Fawn's meddling to actually turning Pilot into the north shrines God!" He laughed.

"Shut the fuck up already!" Cardinal yelled.

He held his sword out holding out his next rune stone to Pilot. Pilot stared blankly at him

as he took the rune stone.

"The Gods of Twilight will gut you…" Pilot asked.

"The whole funny part is I realized I can tap into God's hatred and rage because Pilot is slowly mentally chipping away. Soon it will only be a God inside his flesh!," Kot stated.

'That's why I was told to bring him north…" Cardinal thought.

"But if I can control this god then Caym will be able to rule the world!" He screamed

'This could work…this could work…Okay, this has got to be the worst day of my life. We need to focus on reviving Pilot and then getting the hell out of here. But we can discuss that later, come on. Let's get moving.' Cardinal ruminated.

"You talk way too much you big fat ugly cat!" Elsie whined.

"What? Me? How dare you insult me!" Kot shouted.

Cardinal couldn't contain the anger deep inside him as he made fists with hands tightly clenched to prevent them from cracking under the pressure. He felt like punching Kot square in the nose, the bastard. Instead he turned back to Pilot who stood in silence.

"How dare you use precious souls against their wills to fight your battles!" Cardinal howled.

"Enough talking!" Pilot said.

One hand behind his back he sped at Cardinal with frightening speed. Cardinal raised his arm high in defense, but was barely able to block the strike. It was weak, but he blocked it and forced Pilot away with a kick. Pilot stumbled backwards for a few moments, but regained his composure and charged back again.

Cardinal lifted his arm blocking the attack before pushing forward with his leg pushing Pilot off of him. He jumped to his feet and lunged toward his attacker again, but Pilot was able to avoid him once more as he jumped high in the air.

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'I can't hurt Pilot...I can't do that to him like I–' Cardinal pondered .

He started to do a series of dodges as Pilot attempted multiple attacks each time faster than the last until finally he managed to knock him aside. He raised his sword after quickly retrieving it and prepared himself, but Pilot did something none of the others could possibly think of. He laughed and jumped over the top of Cardinal who tried to raise his sword above him to catch him.

"You think that dinky sword will dent me?" Pilot mocked him.

Pilot kicked Cardinal hard into the head, sending him flying backwards through the air, hitting his head repeatedly on the ground. He could see stars before his eyes. He could hear screaming and shouting coming from Elsie and Freeland.

"Minds Arrow!" Pilot shouted.

A large beam of cyan blue energy shot out from his third eye and collided with Cardinal's chest, throwing him against the walls of the room and stopping him midair. He fell heavily onto the floor.

"That's what I like to see, you are a fighter. A true hero," He commented.

He raised his hand into the air as Cardinal crawled his way towards him. The beam disappeared as he lowered his hand and Cardinal was left on his knees.

'He will kill me at this rate…" Cardian yelled inside his mind.

"I must say though, this really isn't very heroic. Your body may be strong for the moment, but let's face facts man, it won't be much longer until you are completely helpless," He smiled at him.

He stepped closer to Cardinal who remained sitting on the floor with tears running down his cheeks. They both remained silent for several long minutes as they stared at each other

Then Pilot began laughing. He began to laugh until the noise became so intense it shook the entire building.

He whipped his head down at Cardinal with an insane smile plastered on his face, it almost seemed like he was enjoying himself. His face softened as he crouched down beside Cardinal and put his hand on his shoulder.

"I have a new attack ready for ya!" He cackled.

The third eye on his forehead started to charge up with power and within mere seconds it exploded causing a blast of light that pushed everyone out of the building. He grabbed Pilot by the shirt and slammed him into the wall. His grip grew tighter as he pressed him harder, until eventually he broke the skin on Pilot's throat and sent streams of blood down the other's neck.

"NO!" A voice cried out.

He started to charge the explosion once again despite his crooked neck. The beam thinned hitting him directly in the stomach as he lost power and he released Cardinal who dropped to the ground coughing blood from his mouth.

"You pathetic little piece of shit, how DARE you?!" Pilot roared.

He raised the energy once more to try to kill him. However as he raised his sword and aimed it downward only to notice the new presence getting in between them both. Pilot was sent flying as this new white light spiraled into the room freeing him from Kot's spell.

It wasn't until now that Cardinal realized he could no longer sense Pilot. He was nowhere in the same place any longer. As he turned toward Pilot who lay crumbled on the floor, he saw that he wasn't moving, not even breathing. He reached out placing his hand on his chest feeling nothing.

"I got this brother!" Freeland shouted.

"I-I couldn't watch you be devoured by the three eyed demon…" Elsie muttered.

Cardinal was tired as Freeland made his way over to Pilot. He didn't bother looking at him. There was no point since he would know that he didn't live, so it's better not to even look at him at that moment. He felt the warm blood covering his hand.

"It's over...there's nothing more to do..." Elsie whimpered as she walked over to Cardinal.

"How could you even get in edgewise to null the rage in him?" He asked.

"I've been there before…" She noted.

They could both hear coughing in the distance from Pilot before Cardinal gawked to the back of him to check if Kot was still there, or if he had vanished completely.

"Cardinal, we need to get to Fawn…let's go to the warper!" Freeland yelled.

He could only nod numbly. He placed his hand on Pilot's back feeling for a pulse. He pulled back and let out a sigh of relief he hadn't died after all.

"I need to talk to Fawn…" He said.

He stood up and looked around as they walked out the door of the newly abandoned house. The sky was gray and dark blue streaks flew across the sky as rain poured down on the city.Freeland covered Pilot with his jacket to keep him warm from the elements.

"Well we could wait for morning to give Pilot a chance to heal, but he prolly wouldn't survive the night. Even though I feel bad, we gotta go, now!" Elsie replied.

"Follow me guys as I know all the warpers in this area," Cardinal noted.

The beam didn't go full impact at Cardinal, he noticed . It just hit him, not killing him. He wasn't sure why, but somehow it made him happy. It meant Pilot deep inside didn't want to kill him either. He felt elated as he ran past the three.