Hearing Kamila’s story, Jack could only exhale, his shoulders tensing up as his hands balled into fists. Tyrah… Yun… Two soldiers who, despite not being awakened, had fought beside him, bled beside him, and ultimately died in a scheme he was involved with.

“Jack. It's not your fault.” Sahaqiel cooed, attempting to redirect Jack's guilt. Yet the pain he felt that touched his heart was only compounded by Lieutenant Jessica’s crying.

What could have been done differently? What should have been done differently? Where was Selfia? His Uncle Jin? Questions piled up in Jack’s mind, mixing with his anger, his guilt, and worst of all, the sense of dread that his enemies had succeeded in eliminating Selfia.

“She's right, Jack. It's not your fault. It's theirs,” Lilith said, pointing out into the distance.

Suddenly an explosion rippled in the distance of the city, the sounds of clashing, screaming, gunfire, and violin strings playing out that pricked Jack's ears.

Jack's breath caught, his eyes furrowing with rage, blood boiling as the unmistakable roar of familiar revolvers caressed his ears amidst the carnage.

Ivan.

“Stay here!” Jack ordered, turning, his brow furrowed, teeth clenched, realizing that the battle wasn't over.

Bloodlust took hold, a desire to purge those who would dare lay a finger on his loved ones.

Jack summoned his feathers, unfurling them into large electrified silver wings that enraptured the crowd of pediatricians.

Across Jack's body, spectral tattoos arced, oozing black flames as his eyes glazed over with red.

“Tanji!” Ada called out, yet he was gone, flying towards the vortex of mana in the distance and leaving behind Ruby to guard them as the crowd pointed and shouted.

***

“Fucking hell!” Ivan winced, teleporting away as the manic musclehead slashed with his nodachi.

“Stop running you little chicken shit!” Tenno laughed, casting a shield that blocked another clay explosion from the man in a maid costume and a musical note. The twin clowns attempting to pincer him as Ivan unloaded six shots from his revolver before teleporting again.

“Spread out! Keep up the assault and break his barrier! We have to kill him if we want to escape!” The Jester, bleeding from every orifice and visibly weakened.

“Can’t you see I’m trying?!” Ivan barked, reloading his revolver before his skin began to tingle, buzz, the hairs on his arms standing on end like in the presence of static-

“IVAAAAAN!!!” A roar sounded, drawing the gunslinger’s eyes to the yellow comet rapidly approaching.

“Oh. Oh shit! WAIT!” Ivan let out, teleporting as a spear of silver feathers shattered the red roof of the building he stood on and swallowed it in an electric explosion.

Jack followed a moment after, crashing through the structure like an asteroid, the clouds above darkening in his wake.

“Ha! You're fucked now!” Tenno bellowed, slicing at the Maid who threw a series of smoke bombs and explosives at the man.

“Retreat! Three’s backlash is in effect! We can't fight like this!” The maid called out, running across the rooftops of Lunacrypt.

“Don’t you think I know that?!” Ivan yelled, appearing from a puff of mana and sliding down a roof before leaping across to another building, narrowly blocking a slash from Tenno with his revolvers.

The Maid shook his head as the gunslinger was sent flying, signaling instead to the Jester. If anyone was going to have to be sacrificed, it might as well be the new guy after all.

Is what The Maid thought before his eyes widened, spotting in the distance, golden figures, multiple of them, lead by one carrying a familiar blood-red spear oozing with power.

“Ah… shit.”

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Realizing it was a trap, the maid spun to his comrades, just in time to see Ivan attempt to teleport only to be pulled out of his ability by Tenno and fall through the sky.

“Ah! And where do you think you're going?” Tenno called out as Ivan hit a nearby roof and tumbled into an alleyway, losing his cowboy hat in the process with an audible fuck!

Suddenly a roar, Jack emerging from the rubble of the collapsed house, fury contorting his face, the air vibrating with power, his eyes darting around in search of his prey until they locked onto the Jester and the Maid on a nearby building, the two immediately frowning.

The injured woman took a step back before doubling over, her body showing visible cracks from the strain of her earlier encounter with Jack. The Jester clutched her side as her mask fell off and vomited blood, the wound in her abdomen regenerating slowly for some reason.

“Why… am I not healing?” The Jester let out as The Maid screamed out for her. But it was too late, Jack was in front of her in a clap of thunder.

Eyes wide, she met his angry gaze that was merely an inch from her face, his hyper-focused golden irises tainted with crimson spots, the last thing she saw before her world spun, all sensation below her neck gone.

“NO!!” The Jester heard someone say before an incredible heat took her.

“Burn in hell,” Jack growled, incinerating the jester’s decapitated head and body until even the ashes were burned away. This time, he wouldn’t chance the Jester coming back. This time there would be nothing left to regenerate.

Jack flicked his other hand, the crimson droplets flying into the air.

Turning, Jack spun to face the Maid who had attempted to save it’s friend, the pawn stepping back with shaking legs.

“You,” Jack exhaled, the roar of thunder sounding, the air swirling.

“W-w-wait!” The Maid threw several clay explosives, the subsequent explosions blowing away a chunk of Jack’s face and flesh, yet it did nothing to stop the skeletal hand held together by ligaments of enhanced muscle rushing out of the black cloud.

“I think I'll kill you. Slowly,” Jack growled, his voice almost guttural as he snatched the fleeing pawn by his neck.

“NO!” The Maid screamed, pulled back by the hands wrapping around his throat, the only thing he could do in the moment was stare up in horror at the monster before him.

Half of Jack’s face was gone, revealing mangled flesh and bone, his left eye boiled away by the heat but regenerating rapidly.

“You dare,” Jack hissed, dangling the Maid off the ground.

Unable to speak, The Maid brandish a colorful knife, attempting to stab the monster yet the moment he did so it struck silver feathers, earning his ire.

Jack leapt, holding the flailing petite crossdresser in his hand before flinging the man at the earth.

A resounding boom sounded, the city shook, Tenno letting out a whistle before Jack descended from on high as the dust cleared.

Crawling out of a crater in the middle of the road, the mangled body of the pawn responsible for so many deaths could be seen pathetically clinging to life.

Jack walked casually beside the crawling man before moving to stand in front of him.

“W-ww-wait. Yo-” The maid let out before Jack’s foot pressed down on the back of the man’s neck.

“Shut up. There's nothing from your mouth I want to hear,” Jack said, anger fueling his bloodlust.

“AHHGH!” The Maid screamed, silver feathers piercing his skin, impaling him to the ground by his ankles and arms.

“Not laughing now are you? Any of you huh?” Jack growled, the pawn crying, his eyes pulsing, body spasming as metal feathers refused to let him go. “I’ve killed two of you now. And I’m coming for the rest of your organization.”

A crowd had gathered now, dozens of recording devices out, pointing at the naked man publicly executing someone.

“Fuck you! FUCKYOU!FUCKYOUFUCKYOUFUCYKahswk!!” The Pawn screamed, a crack sounding as blood spurted from the his now ruptured eye.

Jack narrowed his eyes, his feathers pressing down, cutting through flesh and bone until the man's screams were accompanied by the snapping of his limbs being amputated.

“Jack! Wait!”

A set of gold boots touched down nearby, a dozen royal guards landing as a dome of blood rose from the ground and pushed away the spectators.

“He’s lost. Let us take him into custody,” Jin approached Jack, the man beckoning for the latter to step away from the pawn. “We can bring him in for interrogation, extract information from him.”

Jack’s body pulsed with lightning, conducting into the metal feathers, the pawn screaming.

The scene caused Jin to frown, he had seen horrific actions, done horrific things, his own hands stained with blood of guilty and innocent alike… yet seeing the man he had met as a naïve teen with the gaze of a killer shook something in the veteran.

Tenno appeared, the man smirking as he crouched in view of the fallen pawn.

“Sup crossdresser. Looks like you might need a hand there buddy. Maybe a new set of legs?”

“Pfhuk.. Phuk you,” The pawn let out, blood pooling around his head pressed against the pavement.

“Tenno,” Jack said, his voice cold as he glared at the man. “Shouldn’t you be protecting the village? I spared your life for that purpose.”

The edges of Tenno’s eyes twitched before the man broke out into a wide smile. “I think, your Highness, the better question you should be asking, is where is your gunslinger friend?”

Jack’s eyes pulsed, his head snapping at the hole in the blood dome Tenno casually pointed at.

In an alley, a man with a cowboy hat was running, disappearing into the city of Lunacrypt.

But he wouldn’t get far as the thunder boomed and Jack vanished.