After bringing Derris to the nearest emergency shelter to rest for the remainder of the battle, Rono and I walked through Triana land’s forest and through very thorough searching, we found Ori, Anna, and Gollie waiting far away from the eyesight and earshot of the Council of Six museum. Anna pointed us out as we approached with a look of excitement. Gollie crossed his arms and gave an approving nod and smile and Ori…looked very mad at me.

“Arno! Rono!” Anna eyed Rono down from head to toe and said “I’m gonna stab you!”

“W-what?!” Rono, knowing the full extent of her power, was rightfully scared. Regardless of how worried he looked though, Anna pierced Rono’s chest with her stemata and he dropped to the floor and kicked his feet in the air in pain, clutching his chest the whole time.

“God damn it, Anna! Are you trying to kill me?!”

“You’re so ridiculous! You’ll be fine!” Anna crouched and rubbed his head to comfort him. Ori didn’t waste another second and confronted me.

“Didn’t I tell you not to get involved? Aren’t we a team Arno?”

“We are a team. That’s exactly why I decided to come. You said it yourself way back when, didn’t you? You’re usually a logical person, but I’m the exception to the rule. Let me be that exception again, Ori! I won’t fail this time.”

She gave me a cold glare but I returned it with a fiery, passionate one. She briefly looked away and said “Do whatever you want. Not like I could stop you once you’ve made up your mind. Everyone else, gather up. I already have an idea of what to do.”

Jack

When I finally came to, I was somehow seated in a chair made of bones in the council of six’s Museum. When I tried to get out of the chair, I noticed that hands made of bone kept my wrists and ankles restricted. Not only that, but I had bone where my metallic jaw used to be. It was probably Daniel’s doing.

Speak of the Devil. I looked up to find the gazes of Enyeto and Daniel trained on me.

“Good morning, sleepyhead! We’ve got quite the surprise for you!” Daniel said as he moved aside to reveal three people. A woman, a man, and a child. Judging by the way the child had some of the features of both parents I could tell that this was a family. They were blinded and gagged and Daniel began circling around the three of them with Enyeto a few steps off to the side.

“Jack, Jack, Jack. I’ll say this once and only once: Thirty seconds. Pick one to live.” Daniel stopped dead in his tracks and waited for my answer.

“I’m not playing your games Daniel! Get me out of this damn chair, now!” I yelled at him with a growl as I tried to free myself.

“You’re trying to bare your fangs, but no matter how intimidating, a caged beast is still a caged beast. 25 seconds left by the way.” He said with a malicious grin.

Pick one? Does he seriously want me to choose between lives? As if one weighs more than the next? I can’t believe I ended up in this situation. Because of me, two of these people are going to die. He’s giving me a set time limit so I can’t even stall things out. If I had to choose though, if I had to choose which one was the most important.

That’s when the mother and the father pointed both of their heads toward their child and made muffled screams. Of course. Their parents, after all. Naturally they’d want to protect their child, their legacy, their everything. With their approval, I made my decision.

“The…child.”

“Hm…I guess that makes sense. Put everything into the next generation. Sure thing.” Daniel undid the child’s chair and took off her blindfold and gag. When she took a look at her surroundings she ran to her father’s side and tried to drag him out of the chair. The father made such an authoritative scream, she shuddered away for a brief moment. I took this chance to ultimately convince her to run away.

“Your parents will join you in a moment. After all, I’m a counter-terrorist. I’m gonna save them!” I tried giving her a reassuring smile, regardless of how beat up I looked. It must have been convincing enough, because even with tears welling in her eyes she recognized my uniform, gave a nod, and ran for the exit.

“You know, ‘your parents are gonna join you in a moment’ is a funny way of phrasing things given what’s about to happen.” Daniel said as he raised his scepter.

“N-no…”

The crystal sphere began to glow as he charged the stemata for the fleeing girl.

“Danny…big brother. You’re better than this! Please!” I tried to appeal to his soft side. Did he even still have one?

The moment I saw the malicious grin on his face was when I realized that he was going to go through with this act of violence no matter what came out of my mouth.

“Girl! Move out of the way! Now!” I screamed as loud as I possibly could as a collection of bones sprouted from the floor and made a fine point as it rushed toward her. She turned around and tried her best to move out of the way, but the bones still pierced through an entire portion of her lower body. She stumbled across the floor right in front of the exit. Blood slowly began to spread and pool around her body. She…she’s not dead, right?

“Mrrrrrgh!” The father screamed in a fit of rage and tried freeing himself from his restraints, breaking skin and bleeding in his vain attempts. The mother let out a cry of sorrow. Daniel on the other hand…

“Pffft! Hahahahahaha!” Was over the moon with joy.

He moved for the father’s gag and blindfold and ripped them off. When he did, the father screamed all sorts of expletives at him. With each swear, Danny’s grin grew wider and wider until he grabbed the father’s hair and got up close and personal with him.

“You hate me right? Good, good. I like that fire in your eyes. It’s nowhere close to the fire I had that day, but it’s a good start. I might let you live! After all, the only way you’re beating someone like me is if you hate me more than I hate you. That’s the only path towards strength. That’s what lies in the heart of man. No matter how you try to fool yourself, no matter how you try to spin it and say otherwise. Hatred for others is the only way this world operates—”

A crash through the glass ceiling could be heard for a brief moment before the room was covered in a plume of smoke. When the smoke dissipated, Enyeto was revealed to be in the spot Daniel was in a moment ago, blocking with his blade an attack from Arno Achebe. But he wasn’t the only one here. Directly after him, Anna dropped and used her stemata to summon a mound of flesh that encompassed all but the head of the little girl.

Daniel raised his scepter and with it, a flood of various bones came rushing toward her. She paid no mind however since a giant arm crashed through the ceiling and sent the wave of bones flying. Directly after, Gollie and Ori dropped in.

“We’re already way off script, Anna!” Ori aimed her sniper at my chair and burnt off all of my restraints with four successive shots of her sniper rifle.

“I couldn’t help it! Besides, I can already feel it. If I was even a couple of seconds late, she would’ve died!” Anna said as if she had any say in the girl’s fate at this point. She doesn’t…right?

“Grah!” Through sheer grit and willpower, Arno put all of his being into adding even more force to his punch with his stemata and overwhelmed Enyeto for a brief moment. But that moment was enough. The middle of Enyeto’s blade cracked and shattered into pieces. Before Enyeto could even react, Arno’s punch drove right through the shattered pieces of his sword and into the former chief's stomach and launched him right into the wall.

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

With Daniel briefly stunned by the group’s entrance…

“Hey, Danny…I got that answer for you…”

And Enyeto, impressed with the man that not only made him draw his blade, but broke it within the same instance…

“I know exactly how to combat your hatred!” Arno brandished his fist, prepared for battle.

Arno

We’re finally here. After everything we’ve been through and experienced, it was time to face Daniel Rosarian. But before that, I have something I have to say.

“I…love Ori Haustoria.” I said.

…

“Huh?” Jack said

“Hwhat…” Ori’s expression immediately went blank.

“Eh?” The rest of our group said in unison.

“What the hell are you yapping about…” Daniel was beginning to grow irritated.

“When you mentioned the job of a counter terrorist and ‘suppressing hatred that spans generations,’ I’ve been thinking this entire time: what could combat something like that?” I opened my hand and looked into my palm as I sunk deeper into thought. “I’m certain that the people that attacked Haustoria hated us. If that’s the case, then how did we survive? What kept us going after the fall? I wasn’t thinking about revenge or anything…I just wanted to keep Ori safe. No matter what or who I was up against in that lawless land, it was nothing personal for me. I wasn’t able to tell what that feeling for her was that made me want to protect her from this day forward, but now I know it for certain: it was love.” I clenched my fist once more “And that love is stronger than anything you can throw at me, Daniel Rosarian!”

Ori immediately dropped to her knees. Anna gave her a thumbs up. Did I say something wrong?

“You disappoint me, Arno. You think I didn’t care enough about my people? You think none of us loved each other?! That’s bullshit!” Daniel slammed his staff into the ground. “Life isn’t some fairy tale! Peace and love isn’t gonna stop them from hating us!”

“You’d be surprised. Despite all of our differences, we still have things in common. We want to protect the things we care about. We want to preserve the things we were entrusted in…we want to be happy. Through that alone, we can find common ground with them. That’s why… I won’t stop reaching out! I understand. Life was cruel to you. But I promise you, you and your culture won’t be eradicated. It’ll all live through Jack.”

“So you’re saying that I’m going to die here…and the cultures, hopes, and dreams of the entire Rosarian people will rest on the shoulders of Jack?”

“Yes…” I resolutely responded. This was the reality of the world I signed up for. Although I can empathize with him, although I understand that our roles could easily be reversed, I have people that I care about. People that I love. And I can’t let him do as he pleases.

“I’d love to see you try. I won’t be holding back anymore. After all, the chiefs are all here! And once you all die, it’ll be an endless domino effect of killing and possessing until everyone in the country is under my thumb!” He raised his staff and as it changed from a glowing blue to a scarlet red color, he pushed his stemata beyond its limits. “Overclock.”

Deep red strings of light snaked around the room and entered the display cases of the chiefs. Each case shattered and as they stepped out, a weapon made out of the bones of other fallen Rosarians was waiting for them. Ori quickly got a glance around the room, tapped her sniper rifle three times, and gave orders.

“Arno, Enyeto! Gollie, 4 o’ clock! Rono, 6 o’ clock! Jack, 8 o’ clock!”

With our orders given to us, we all dashed to take on the person Ori told us to handle. All while Anna ran to the little girl to ensure her safety. She’ll be out of the fight for now since she used up her stemata, but we’ll be able to carry out the rest of this fight.

“Enyeto!” Danny used his stemata to create a skeletal blade made out of a spine right next to Enyeto. He grabbed the blade and brandished it as I rushed towards him. I did a jumping start and propelled my kick to make contact with his face, but in response he simply angled the point of the sword my way and it extended to nearly take my head off. Luckily, I was able to dodge out of the way just in time. I wasted not even a second recovering and driving my fist into his abdomen. The pure shock and force of the punch sent him crashing through the wall. I projected forward and chased him outside, but I immediately saw him plant the sword and use it as steps to get onto the roof. I followed him up and continued my assault by zipping back and forth, hitting him wherever I saw an opening.

“If you think the same trick you've been doing all this time against me is going to work, then I’ll end you here, Arno! This isn’t enough! This isn’t enough to defeat Danny!”

He’s right. I’m trying to speed through this fight because I wanted to save this trump card of mine, but I’m running out of energy. I guess I have no choice…

I landed and slid across the glass panes that encompassed the roof of the building. As I did, I looked below to find all my comrades fighting down there. Not only that, but they seemed to be slowly gaining the upper hand. Rono even finished his fight and was helping Jack.

“Embarrassing, isn’t it?” Enyeto noticed me studying the fight below. “These are the supposed leaders of the army that were going to ‘wipe Holia off the map.’ That poor boy’s ambitions were too big for his abilities. He’s talented, but I’m not sure that any one man could use a stemata on the scale that he planned to.”

I briefly thought about all of the moments I saw Danny use his stemata and they were all large scale attacks. Our first interaction, the interaction over the lake, the undead beast that Gollie fought…these were all within this one night.

“He’s killing himself…” The words left my mouth.

“Exactly…For the past ten years, every move he’s made has been with the intention to go all out on this one night. He trained day in and day out for this moment and now that it’s finally here, he’s enacting the revenge plan he always sought. But it’s not enough…I knew it would never be enough…I guess I’m a dead man walking…trying my best to help an old friend’s son see the path he’s walking through to the end. I just wish…” The chief then was brought to his knees.

“W-woah, hold on!”

“I just wished things were different for him! Different for us! We’ve done everything we could to bend and preserve who we are and still lost! I don’t blame Danny for a second for ending up this way, but is this seriously the end?” His tears dropping on the glass roof signified the years of strain and abuse he went through. Again, I was reminded of the cruelty of this moment. The cruelty of this battle. The cruelty of this world.

“Did you mean it? When you said that we’ll live on through Jack…Do you think it’s possible?

“He has no choice but to move forward…and carry the blood-stained past of the Rosarians with him…” I responded. But did I really believe my words?

“That’s such a heavy burden…” Enyeto gave an exasperated sigh before returning to his feet. “Arno Achebe…Give me your best shot. I, Chief Enyeto Rosaria will not go down in any other fashion!”

I was amazed, his will that was just beaten and bruised not even a second ago coalesced to turn into an immovable wall of steel. An iron-clad determination that refused to go down to any normal attack. I understand what you’re asking of me, Chief Enyeto…

I prepared my stance. I winded my arms far back and put one leg far in front of the other for my trump card.

“Blazing Soul: Overclock!”

Danny

I witnessed as one by one, all of the chiefs fell to the hands of these…rookies! Damn it! I looked over at Chogan fighting the big CT, but he was overpowered. I looked at the Haustorian, and she kept her distance throughout the fight while dealing damage. Not only that, but they all swapped and covered all shortcomings that made themselves obvious enough. This woman’s shotcalling is on a different level! I can’t even step in because I’m already at my limit!

Just as they were bringing down my last hopes, I decided that enough is enough. I would simply have to kill them all myself. What is a limit, if not a simple concept?! A shackle! I broke free from those walls several times to get where I am, I can do it again—

Before I could lift my staff to activate my stemata once more, a shockwave of dust kicked up and enveloped the room. Seconds after, the sound of the shockwave was delivered to my ears. What the hell?! Did a monster just crash land? What could attack with such force?!

I soon got my answer…

The dust cleared to reveal that pesky Haustorian Arno Achebe…with Enyeto at his heel.

“I see you’re sporting a new look, Arno. A change of appearance won’t change the outcome of something already in motion!”

Instead of a white set of armor, The armor was now a complete gold with steam that gave a red hue emanating from the crevices of it. But there was something off about Arno himself as well. He raised his head and gave me a look of pity. As if I was some dog at the side of the road! Like some poor rabid animal he had to take down! You think you’re some super hero, Arno?!

“Bring it on—”

Before I could even register what happened, I looked downwards to see the man’s fist plunged into my stomach. As blood began to stain my robe, I coughed up even more of it as soon as the realization hit me that the encounter was already over. How did he do this? It must be an overclock, but what does the overclock do?!

I have no time to even think about it. I barely even have time to counter…damn it! My body’s getting heavier! I’m losing my vision…Is this seriously where the Rosarian legacy ends?! Screw that! I’ll keep fighting even if I’m the last one left! Screw the Chiefs!

As I began to dive into the abyss that is death, that’s where I found it. The only way I’ll be able to trump this new power of Arno’s…I'll become a horror beyond anyone’s imagination. I’ll become exactly what they think of when they think of me…NO! I’ll become even worse.

It’s time I took inspiration from his mantra…

“Malevolent Soul…Unspeakable horror…”