The exterior of the vault burst. A shower of metal shards and rocks rained down upon the vault, as water rapidly began to flood the area.

As the dust settled, the group looked to see a golden submarine in the water. Stepping out from the submarine was a man in a pristine, pure white suit, grasping an ethereal violet scythe longer than his lanky body. A set of wings, the same color as the man’s scythe, allowed him to hover just above the water pooling in the room.

However, the most terrifying thing the man had was a simple necklace; at the end of the man’s necklace was a symbol: three crossed blades forming a K.

The man looked down at the group. “Hm, none of you match the description, which means more are probably on their way. Okay, let’s get this over with.”

Without a moment of hesitation Lya dashed toward the unconscious Draumur, whom the group had been knocked away from. However, just moments after she started moving, she felt herself spiral off-course. A sickening crunch echoed through her body as she felt her kneecap shatter, the sudden force sending her tumbling into the water.

“What was that?” Ada asked.

“A bullet, I think,” Lou said. “I barely caught a glimpse of it even with everything moving slower.”

“Where’s the shooter?” Tay asked. She waited for an answer, frantically looking around the room, but none came. Her mythos couldn’t identify the attacker’s location.

“I’m curious,” the man said, “what are your numbers?” His scythe grew till it was large enough to encompass the entire vault. He raised his hand to strike. Then, for a brief moment, his hand appeared to vanish, before it stopped, now fully extended.

A howling gust of wind ripped through the room, and each member of the infiltration team felt a hollow cold course through their bodies--not too dissimilar from when they would pass through solid objects in the land of the dead while riding with Charon.

The man’s face shifted to disappoint, as he let out a hefty sigh. “Well, this is no fun. Might as well make it quick then. Do you mind helping?”

Now ready for an attack, as time slowed for Lou, he managed to see another bullet traveling through the air directly at him. Even still, despite anticipating the attack, Lou only saw the bullet when it was already half-way meaning he couldn’t pinpoint its origin.

Using the super speed communication offered by Lya, Lou managed to communicate the oncoming attack to Ada.

In the blink of an eye, Ada stepped in front of Lou and raised her shield. A flash of sparks, so bright it nearly blinded Ada, cascading into the air as the bullet slammed into Ada’s shield. The impact sent her flying backwards, into Lou, causing both to fall to the ground.

“Huh,” the man remarked, “I didn't expect that.” He turned to face the submarine behind him. “You’re getting sloppy White.”

Hearing the name White, Lya realized what they were up against. This was the duo Varrick had warned them about: Finale. If the hidden sniper was White Death, the avatar of Simo Häyhä, then the man hovering above them must be Reaper, the avatar of Thanatos.

Even if these were low level Killian family members, the group would still be doomed. That fact that two executives were here meant unless they let them escape, there was no chance of survival. The only ray of hope was that their mission seemed to be Draumur, not the infiltration team.

Another howling wind kicked up the water in the vault, as Reaper dashed toward Draumur. He grabbed Draumur by the back of his waterlogged coat. “Alright, time to go.”

“Run!” a familiar voice yelled out, from just outside the fallen vault door. Herman slammed his hands together, and all the water in the room turned into vapor, clouding the vision of everyone in the room.

Saxon, summoning all his might, drove his fist into Reaper, having appeared right before him using the mythos of Schrödinger's cat. Saxon's hand suddenly stopped, as if it had hit a steel wall.

Reaper had dropped Draumur to catch Saxon’s fist, and now slowly began to crush it. “Not a bad effort. I’d give it 4/10.” Reaper raised his scythe and cut through Saxon, though no wound appeared. Instead, a biting cold raced through his body as the scythe passed clean through him.

Reaper’s face turned to genuine surprise.

“Lya, grab him!” Saxon yelled out.

Through the vapor that permeated the room, Reaper caught a glimpse of a blur of orange running toward him. Another flash of sparks lit up the room as Ada blocked another shot from the White Death, this time aimed at Lya.

Just as Reaper was about to go after Lya, snakes flashed from behind Saxon’s head. He knew that the mythos of Medusa would, at best, paralyze him for less than a fraction of a second. Fortunately, that was all Lya needed.

Powering through the pain in her leg, Lya blitzed through the clouded space, and managed to swipe Draumur from right under Reaper’s nose. At the same time, with the paralysis having loosened Reaper’s grip on Saxon’s fist, Saxon managed to free himself, and take a short step back into the fog. Now obscured, Saxon vanished using the mythos of Schrödinger's cat.

Once freed from his paralysis--which was shorter than the blink of an eye--Reaper swung out with scythe. The gust of wind created by his strike instantly dispelled the mist in the vault.

He could now see the infiltration team fleeing from him. with Draumur, further down the tunnel.

“Which one of us was getting sloppy again?” White Death asked Reaper.

“It’s cold and wet, so can you just shoot them, and we can get this over with,” Reaper replied. “But only the ones that were here at the start.”

“Why’s that?” White Death asked.

“Managed to hit one when he rushed me, and the other on his way out, seems he was the last to leave,” Reaper responded. “Caught a glimpse of their numbers.”

“What were they?” White Death inquired.

“It’s not their value, the numbers were lying to me,” Reaper replied.

“Huh,” White Death remarked. “Still, it’s not like I can do anything with that shield in the way.”

Reaper’s eyes narrowed, as he turned his head toward White Death, who simply shrugged. “We both know that’s not true, and you’re just trying to be lazy. You don’t want me telling Crimson about this?”

“Then’ll I’ll tell her about how you only wanted one level of divination protection on the submarine,” White Death replied.

“Nobody ever checks twice!” Reaper retorted.

“Only you’re that careless,” White Death responded, entering the submarine. “I’ll swing around to pick you up. Better get going, it seems they’re getting away.”

“I’m gonna kill him one day,” Reaper murmured to himself, as White Death departed.

Meanwhile, the infiltration team arrived at Charon, who had returned from dropping off the Chimera family executives they had captured at the Underworld. The group piled into the limousine as fast they could.

Once everyone was inside, Herman slammed the door shut. “Drive!” he yelled.

Without hesitation, Charon transported them into the land of the dead, and took off through the collapsed tunnel.

As everyone caught their breath, Herman was the first to speak.

“That was Finale, right?” Herman asked.

“Think so,” Lya said.

“Didn’t Varrick say they wouldn’t show up?” Tay asked.

“He must’ve thought they wanted something the Chimera family had, but turns out it was someone not something,” Saxon replied, gesturing toward the unconscious Draumur.

“We should be dead,” Lou said.

“But we lived,” Herman replied.

“Barely,” Ada remarked.

“Hey, I hate to change the subject so suddenly, but I’m on the verge of passing out, so if you got questions for our unconscious friend, you may wanna do that soon,” Tay said.

“Right,” Saxon said. “If you would.”

Tay grabbed hold of Draumur, and called upon her mythos, the Oracle at Delphi, to extract knowledge from his memories. “Sorry, today’s taken a lot out of me.”

“That’s okay,” Saxon said. “How many questions do I have?”

“Three, limited to yes or no,” Tay replied.

Saxon nodded, and dived deep into thought.

Limited to yes or no questions, Saxon knew he wouldn’t be able to deduce the mastermind’s identity. The best thing he could do was try and narrow the profile he already had on the mastermind.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

So far, Saxon knew that the mastermind was a current member of the FMPD, likely male, had widespread influence within Fable stretching across districts, was able to access several avatars including Midas employees, was able to provide these avatars with misinformation about their mythoi, and possessed a mythos which allowed him to remanifest an avatars mythos without the foundation to the mythos provided by public interpretation, causing the newly manifested mythos to be based solely on the avatar’s interpretation of it.

Questions about the mastermind themself could be useful. However, yes or no questions made it difficult to confirm things such as height, build, or race. The only useful thing Saxon could determine was gender, but based on what Octave had told Saxon the mastermind was almost certainly male, so confirming that would be a waste of a question.

The one thing that had been bothering Saxon more than anything was location. The mastermind had so much influence across Fable, and still managed to stay unnoticed. If he was working alone like Saxon suspected he could be moving around constantly, but that just didn’t seem plausible. Based on the list of avatars at Midas who exhibiting changes to their mythoi, it was clear the mastermind had regular access to the same location year round, meaning it was unlikely he was moving around constantly.

From these factors, Saxon narrowed the mastermind’s hub of activities to be in one of two districts: Downtown or Backwater. Downtown would provide him with the influence, and would explain his connection with Midas. Meanwhile, Backwater would allow him to stay hidden, and its adjacency to Downtown meant he still reasonably maintained a connection with Midas; Saxon was also partial to Backwater given the mastermind’s connection with the Chimera family.

Saxon took a deep breath, and asked his first question. “The person who taught you about the mythos of the Chimera, how a Chimera is stitched together of multiple animals, and that avatars bring their mythoi into reality, meaning you could copy mythoi of mythological creatures, did you first meet them in Backwater?”

Though unconscious, Tay’s mythos dug deep within Draumur’s mind to find the answer. “No,” Draumur murmured.

Saxon nodded his head, confirming he had heard Draumur’s answer. He began to run through everything else again, to determine another question to ask, but something bugged him. This whole thing had begun with a wrong assumption: that Desmond wanted to be caught. Now Saxon was doing the exact same thing.

The mastermind being based in Downtown was a leap of faith made with no concrete evidence to support it. In desperation to solve this puzzle, Saxon was fabricating pieces that fit where he needed them to.

Saxon was a detective. He needed to find all the pieces, then solve the puzzle. If Saxon was wrong, then he knew people would be hurt; he refused to make that same mistake again.

“Did you meet them in Downtown?” Saxon asked.

“No,” Draumur replied.

Saxon chuckled under his breath. Even though this complicated things, and he had effectively wasted two questions, he couldn’t help but feel relieved knowing he hadn’t fallen into the same pitfall of false assumptions that he had so many times in the past.

Then, as Saxon continued to chuckle, a sudden thought arose in his head. An insane theory, one Saxon refused to believe with every fiber of his being, yet if it were true, then every piece fit. The only issue was that if he was right, then the puzzle he had finished was a fraction of the real thing.

If Saxon’s gut feeling was correct, he wouldn’t pin down the mastermind’s location, but their identity as well. With a heavy sigh, and silent prayer that he was wrong, Saxon asked his final question.

“When you left the Underworld, was your mythos already changed?” Saxon asked.

Draumur gritted his teeth and fought the air that rose from his lungs up to his mouth, subconsciously refusing to answer. However, Tay persevered, and her mythos overpowered Draumur’s will.

Draumur croaked out his answer. “Yes.”

Saxon laid back in his seat and stared at the ceiling. “It’s …”

The rear windshield shattered, as a hand reached through, and grabbed hold of Draumur.

“Sorry, this is Killian property,” Reaper said, yanking Draumur out of the vehicle. Upon yanking Draumur out of the vehicle, Reaper exited the land of the dead and tossed him onto one of the abandoned stops.

He then summoned his scythe, and with a snap of his fingers, re-entered the land of the dead. “And for stealing him, you’re gonna have to pay compensation.” Planting both of his feet on the track’s railing, Reaper pierced the roof of the limousine with his scythe.

The limousine dragged Reaper along the tracks, sparks flying from his boots as they skid across the rails. The vehicle was slowing down rapidly. The scythe connected Reaper to the vehicle meaning Charon couldn’t go into the land of the living without bringing Reaper with them.

Only one person wasn’t caught in analysis paralysis. Without a moment of hesitation, Ada leaped out of the limousine, through the shattered rear windshield, and toward Reaper.

“Wait!” Lya called out.

“Keep driving!” Herman commanded.

Summoning her spear and shield, Ada hurled it toward Reaper, as she tumbled out of the vehicle.

Reaper clicked his tongue. “You’re not one of the fun ones.” He removed his scythe from the limousine and used it to block Ada’s spear, but it didn’t work. Ada’s spear pierced straight through Reaper’s scythe, shattering it instantly. Reaper's surprise slowed his reactions just enough to where he wasn’t able to fully dodge out of the way.

Reaper slowly raised his hand to touch his cheek and saw a few drops of blood on his hand. “I sincerely apologize for my previous comment.”

Ada resummoned her spear, and took a defensive stance, expanding her shield to cover her whole body. With a flick of his wrists, Reaper reconstructed his destroyed scythe.

Both combatants now stood in the land of the living.

Reaper launched a lackadaisical strike at Ada’s shield. Sparks rocketed into the air, as Ada slid further back on the track. The pain from blocking the White Death’s shots hadn’t worn off, but compared to this was far less painful--though still far more powerful than anything she had felt before today.

Reaper dashed forward, and struck again at the shield, this time with a rising slash attempting to pierce through the shield with the tip of his scythe. The attack was powerful enough to send Ada flying into the ceiling of the tunnel.

Ada collapsed onto the tracks but managed to dull the impact with her shield, which was still intact. Ada tried to stand but slipped as her leg gave out. She needed the help of her spear to prop herself up, as she stood--though at any moment it looked as if she would collapse again.

Reaper cocked his head, a mixture of surprise, confusion, and even admiration across his face. Though he didn’t try much with his first attack, that rising slash he had made a fair attempt to pierce through the shield. It still wasn’t close to a serious attack, but given Ada’s skill level, Reaper shouldn’t have to be serious to break through one of her constructs; on top of that, her constructs most certainly shouldn’t be piercing through his.

“Hey, weird question,” Reaper called out to Ada, “but are you interested in joining?”

“Go to hell,” Ada yelled back.

Reaper vanished from Ada’s sight. For a moment she panicked, till a powerful gust of wind slammed her in the face.

“Yeah figured,” Reaper said, having dashed directly behind Ada. “Nobody who jumps to their death that quickly wants to be what they think is the bad guy.”

Ada spun around and put her shield up to guard against any incoming attack, but none came. Suddenly, an immeasurable aura of malice became apparent behind her.

“Shame,” Reaper said, “Flying General woulda liked you.”

As Ada turned to face him, crimson filled her view. She felt a warm sensation on her right shoulder that quickly turned to searing pain, as she realized that her right arm had just been severed from her body.

“I am curious about one thing though,” Reaper said, snatching Ada’s spear from her detached arm. “What happens if I do this?”

Reaper struck at Ada with her spear, as she raised her shield to defend. As the two collided a flash of blinding light exploded.

When Ada’s vision returned, she was staring down at her torso, a violet scythe embedded deep within it, her blood running down it. She could no longer speak or breathe properly as blood pooled in her mouth.

“I guess it makes sense,” Reaper remarked, pushing the scythe deeper into Ada, as she let out a grunt of pain. “If the spear can destroy anything, and the shield can protect you from anything then destroying each other is the only thing that makes sense. Spear destroys the shield, so it can still destroy anything, meanwhile the shield destroys the spear preventing you from being struck by it, so it can still protect you from anything. This is the only way it’s not a paradox.

"Anyway, your friends are probably a while away, so I should get going." Reaper began walking away and tried to remove his scythe from Ada’s chest, but he felt resistance.

He turned back to see her grasping the scythe with one arm, and flexing her abdomen muscles to keep it embedded in there. Ada stepped forward, driving the scythe deeper into her chest. She was determined to keep Reaper here for as long as she could; she would buy as much time as she could, even if it was only a second more.

“This is wrong,” Reaper lamented. “A will this great, an action this admirable, and it’s all for nothing.”

Suddenly, the dark tunnel became illuminated. The headlights of an oncoming train filled the space, and it was headed straight for the two avatars.

Ada grabbed the scythe with all her might. She noticed that when Reaper grabbed Draumur he was forced out of the land of the dead, and only when he tossed him aside did he re-enter it. That meant Reaper couldn’t vanish into the land of the dead with other people; so long as this scythe connected them, she could hold him here.

Reaper, sensing the danger, for the first time this fight, mustered real strength, and with ease ripped the scythe from Ada’s chest. Though he could’ve vanished, his respect for her actions prevented him from letting her die on a train; he would give her an honorable, and respectable death, and kill her himself.

Reaper swiped at Ada’s head to lop it off. But suddenly, a silver shield, he thought destroyed, stopped his attack. He knew Ada couldn’t have reconstructed it in such a short time, which could only mean it was never destroyed.

Ada grinned, having caught Reaper in her trap; Reaper mirrored the grin, filled with admiration for an opponent he thought far lesser than him.

“Well played,” Reaper said.

----------------------------------------

“Why did you do that?!” Lya asked, wrestling Herman by his coat.

“She made her choice, and if we stayed we would’ve all died,” Herman replied. “I was chosen as the leader, which means I have to make the hard choices. Trust me, I don’t want this to live with me, but now it will, and I don’t regret it.”

The echo of the horn reverberated through the limousine.

“What was that?” Lou asked.

“Must’ve been a train,” Tay said. “There should be one passing through here right now. You think it hit them?”

“Maybe,” Herman replied. “Still, it wouldn’t do much to a Killian executive. At best it may have slown Reaper down by a few seconds.”

“Ada probably bought more time,” Lou said.

“Hopefully,” Tay remarked.

“Well anyway, he got what he came here for, so let’s hope he leaves us alone,” Herman said.

“Hey guys,” Lya said, “where’s Saxon?”

----------------------------------------

Apparting in an alleyway where nobody was looking, Saxon dusted off his dirt-ridden, waterlogged clothes. Stepping out of the alleyway, he approached the massive tower that was before him.

Saxon entered the building, where a woman in a suit greeted him.

“Welcome to Kallipolis, do you have a reservation?” she asked.

“Should be under Eddi Ice,” Saxon answered.

The woman checked something on the computer in front of her. “Ah, yes, found it. Top floor. We just installed glass walls, so the view is the best in all of downtown.”

“Thanks,” Saxon said.

As Saxon ascended the elevator to the top floor, he continuously failed to calm his mind. Nothing he did helped to settle the vortex of questions that polluted his mind.

The elevator dinged as Saxon reached the top floor. He slowly walked toward the table situated at the far end of the room; the not-so-subtle comments the servers, and patrons made about Saxon’s appearance went in one ear, and out the ear, without a single thought given to them.

Once Saxon reached his table, he took a seat across from his old friend.

Eddi looked at Saxon and cracked a smile. “Ah, it seems you finally figured it out. Well done, detective.”