"We're picking up a foreign magic signal within the Rotation Level!" someone said as I stared intently at the static-covered screen as chaos happened around me.

"Can you identify?" I asked them flatly as my gaze continued to stare ahead.

"It's... It's the Dark Crow, Grand-Guard Inerish!" they answered to which my mind snapped to life.

"Where is he specifically?"

"He's forcing his way through a maintenance tunnel as we speak."

"Get me my airship and have it ready and notify the crews down there of where we are to be headed!" I ordered them before I ran as fast as I could back to the hangar. No matter what anyone said or who it was, I didn't listen, I just kept on running and running until I arrived at my aircraft.

"We're ready to go." the pilot told me.

"Then go!" I snapped before I had even gotten on board, but, with a last-minute leap, I made it on and the pilot headed to where we needed to go. Civilian authorities had been notified and workers were already getting the highly secured doors and hatches opened. And before we had even begun our descent, I leapt from the airship and landed before the workers.

"Grand-Guard Inerish!" the security team's head let out as he and his men snapped to attention.

"How long until this door is opened?" I demanded to know as I moved towards to the civilian teams.

"Longer than usual, whatever is blowing up the interior is forcing the place into lockdown."

"Hurry up and bypass it!" I told them as I heard the faint echoes of something beyond the magic-dense, steel doors.

"Stand clear!" one of the workers declared as the door began to hiss an almost dangerous quantity of magic-rich air. Within seconds a green fog had already begun to fill the air and it put many of the others on edge. These fears were put to rest, however, when the seemingly idle civilian workers immediately started to handle it with their array of equipment.

"There!" a city-guardsman let out when we caught sight of explosive blue flashes further down the tunnel.

"WHO'S THERE!?" a strangely joyous voice cried out as he noticed the daylight come down into the rarely opened passageway.

And to make it clear as to who it was, I pulled out my sword and slashed a line of purple fire towards him, "Get here already you stupid bug."

"Medical supplies on stand-by!" a man declared as another branch of the city's infrastructure arrived at the scene.

Yet, as I was getting impatient, I went on ahead into the tunnel and I made it to the bottom of the stairs, "Explain what happened..."

"He's gone!" Nin answered with a bright smile that seemed to catch the light coming from behind me.

"What?" I asked as my legs suddenly felt weak.

"Smiling Jhurack is no more, no more!" Nin repeated before I suddenly collapsed to the ground. Then, I began to cry and the tunnel echoed and bounced it about, much to my embarrassment.

"Y-You can prove it...?" I asked as I felt years of stress and pressure disappear from my life. More importantly, I felt my future open up once again as he approached me.

"He's gone, Inerish. He's gone!" he laughed as he mocked me with an affectionate gesture.

"Stop that..." I demanded as I managed to get a hold of myself.

"It's all over, no more, he is gone forever." he repeated to me as I began to fiddle around with my equipment.

"Announce it into this, please." I begged him as I held my arm up before him.

"Gladly," he smiled, "attention Thrurstradtur, Smiling Jhurack is gone. I beat him, I beat him."

And with that, the tunnel focused the city's relief down at us and all kinds of shadows appeared around us. Discipline had vanished from my men and a cheering mania took over everyone as Nin started to wander up the stairs. I watched cautiously as he went up there, but even as he went out into the light fully, the cheering only got louder. I found myself smiling and then I slowly got up as my communicator went off.

"Come again, Grand-Guard Inerish?" someone asked me anxiously through it.

"The Dark Crow won, everyone." I told them so that they might believe it easier, then, in a spiteful act towards regulation, I turned my equipment off. I didn't want anyone to interrupt this moment, I just wanted everyone to lose themselves in a moment of joy. From the lowliest citizen to the most esteemed of the Sundial's inhabitants.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

"You did it, Grand-Guard Inerish!" one man wrongly attributed.

"Diciplinary duties for you for the next week." I told him quickly and firmly.

"The hero is right there." the man next to him corrected as he gestured over to the aloof osibindah as they stared up at the sky.

"Before you go, Nin, we will need to talk." I reluctantly told him as I awkwardly looked away at my airship.

"I... I guess I can take the moment to talk." he slowly said to me as I began to walk to my airship just as slowly.

"I will need you to explain to me what happened." I told him after I closed the airship's sliding door behind him.

"I beat him, isn't that enough?"

"No, I wish it was, but, I will need you to give me a run down at the very least before I let you go anywhere."

"Where should I even start...?" he let out in confusion as his happiness seemed to make way for utter loss.

"The confrontation within the penthouse and all the way until we just met up."

"Well, whoever suspected Jhurghdak all that time ago was right, their intuition was right. He was involved with it entirely, a partner or something, it's hard to tell." he explained as he looked down at this peculiar piece of jewellery that I know he did not have before.

"He attacked you?" I asked him as I turned my gaze to the bloodied, hole and slash-ridden bandages he had on.

"Yeah, he shot me here in some kind of duel I found myself in..." he answered quietly as he pointed at the circular hole on his upper right.

"You were the one who shot him in turn?" I asked to which he nodded.

"I'm not... I'm not in trouble for that, am I?"

"It would be rather low on the list of problems you caused for us last night." I semi-seriously answered so I could rile him up for my own amusement.

"You can't be serious..." he let out as the joy just vanished from him.

"Don't worry, Nin. Everything will be looked over, many people owe you that at the very least."

"That's... A relief to hear."

"Besides, we have full video reference that showed you were acting in your assigned capacity."

"Those screens are all still around?"

"No, they were reported as gone the moment you reached the penthouse."

"So people don't know I killed Jhurghdak as well?"

"No, though, I have to admit, we may need to... Alter the truth as it were to keep the matter clean."

"You're looking out for my safety, aren't you?" he rightly guessed with that question.

"I am, Nin, even if we presented the best argument we could, Jhurghdak was simply too popular. And I fear that the people would not stomach it well if it was revealed to be the case."

"You should just let them know, I am used to everyone in this city and the whole country and the whole world hating me..."

"No, I want to take care of you, this once, at the very least." I answered firmly at first before I got more playful.

"But yeah, Jhurghdak worked right with him and this entire time he's been living right above Lari's head." Nin let out with a flat tone before I tried to reassure him with an affectionate touch.

"Don't worry about any of that now, do you hear? She's safe now."

"Yeah." he let out as that smile returned.

"It's nice to see you smile, I must admit." I told him as I smiled myself.

"How can I not smile? I'm going to see Lari again and... I can try and put everything back to the way it was." he sighed but even then, he kept the smile as well as he could.

"So, to get us back on track, what happened when you chased Smiling Jhurack out of the building?"

"I was transported to some part of the city by him. Well, before that he healed me of my wounds like he has done before and he started acting strange, his mannerisms vanished and he began to..."

"Fizzle?" I guessed as Nin began to make electric noises with his hands.

"Yeah, whatever happened in the penthouse, he began to physically change before he took me to some place full of cogs, then, he revealed this to me and he vanished once I took it." he explained as he held the strange feather up.

"So that's evidence?" I questioned with a stern tone as I contemplated snatching it from him.

"It's a holy artefact belonging to Ihtuntar."

"Ihtuntar is a dead god." I reminded him to which he just shook his head.

"It's complicated." was all he had to say before he tucked it away into one of his bandages.

"Killed Smiling Jhurack within the depths of the city." I told myself as I realised I won't be able to take it from him.

"Not much point in me telling you the truth if you are just going to lie, right?" he laughed before I huffed in amusement at his words.

"Don't worry about what I am doing, just focus on seeing that girl of yours." I told him with what seemed to be a bit of envy. Regardless of it, I shook my head and played it off as being part of my response.

"Can I get a lift? I... I blew most of my returned magic trying to get out of that place."

"Sure, I'll have my pilot take you to the hotel where your friend is." I told him as I moved to open the door, but, I found myself held up as I considered something.

"A lot of work left on your end, I take it?" Nin tried to joke as he leaned around to look at my face as I smiled.

"Oh, take me to the gods and goddesses once it's done." I let out before I suddenly latched onto Nin to give him the strongest hug I could. Then, once he got over the initial surprise, he returned it and I couldn't help but cry once again.

"Are you okay, Inerish?" he asked as he patted my back.

"Thank you... Thank you for defeating him..." I whispered against his strong, bloodstained chest.

"Anytime." he joked as I finished the hug.

"Look after yourself now, Dark Crow, it's been a pleasure working with you." I told him as I wasn't sure if I would ever actually talk to him again now that it was all over.

"I'll try to." he told me as I left the airship and closed the door again. Then, I went up to the pilot and knocked on the cockpit.

"Take him to where he wants to go!" I called out to them through the glass and metal before I took a step back as the airship started to rise up.

"What now, Grand-Guard Inerish?" one of my men asked as he tried to fix up his attire following all the cheering and brief partying.

"We get to work." I told him as I turned my equipment back on so I could start handing out orders. That final fight had caused a lot of damage that extended from the very depths of the city and all the way to its pinnacle. Buildings were destroyed and lives were no doubt lost and without Smiling Jhurack to fix it all somehow as he had before. We, the people of Thrurstradtur were left to do it.

"Shall we send word to the people in charge of the Rotation Level?"

"Yes, and someone get me a direct line to the other emergency services." I told them as I straightened out my posture.