Amidst all the chaos, a man stood atop a house that looked more like a witch's hut. Despite the unfriendly surface, I still took the risk of jumping atop behind him.

"Cain...?" He guessed, not looking behind.

I took a guess too. He was slightly different than the last time I saw him. His clothes were rougher and broken down. Furthermore, he had two new accessories: A black scarf and a beak mask.

What happened to him while I was asleep?

"Dr. Stein... is that you?" I reached out a hand, trying to grab something... maybe an answer.

"Don't recognize your own doctor? How cruel." He still didn't turn around.

"N-No, you just..." I stammered.

Why am I acting like this? Am I feeling... sympathy? No, maybe empathy if I continue with my ways.

"I'm joking. Calm down. Yes, it's me. I changed because of the impurity?"

"Changed?"

"When your impure ratio overpowers your pure blood to a tremendous extent, your body will undergo a mental and physical change, including your attire, centered around 'impurity'—the aspects of the impure blood, which in essence is what you humans call 'demonic'. This is known as the Malevolent State."

Malevolent State. It must be similar to the first underground hideout that I explored with Maria and that bitch.

"But then how are you still sane?"

"I wonder... Maybe because my impurity was always active and this gas merely stimulated it further. As for my purity, perhaps it's still sleeping, like always. But as long as it remains inside my body, I'll keep my sanity."

"Then..." I reached out my hand to him. "You can still anew. Let's leave this place."

Yeah, something is wrong with me. For some reason, I didn't want to see him suffer anymore. Did my god-level purity have that much of an impact on my mind?

He chuckled before answering: "That sounds like something my sister would say. Did she perhaps have god-level purity too?" He jumped off the roof and taunted a nearby impure being. "Sorry, Cain, but..."

"Grr? Graaaahhh!" Like a mindless creature, it didn't feel fear or a sense of caution. It just ran at Dr. Stein. In response, he grabbed the madman's face and his entire body exploded into oblivious, leaving nothing other than a puddle of blood.

"As you can see. Everyone I touch shatters into oblivion." He looked at his hands covered in gloves. "There's no turning back for me, however..."

Oi, oi, oi. And I thought I got a huge power-up!

He looked up at me. I set my comical reaction aside and met his serious gaze with my own.

"It's not too late for you. Your loved one is still alive, right? Then stay alive. Stop throwing yourself in danger. With the help of your purity, you'll be able to finally live a normal life. The human nation always stimulated your impurity, but I'm sure with Maria's help, only your purity will be stimulated in the alien nation."

As if fate answered for me, a wormhole exploded nearby, calling for Dr. Stein's attention. I followed him to the crime scene. We observed the situation from a tall hospital building, but by the time we got there, it was already over.

Dr. Stein reached out to the sky enveloped in grey. What embraced his tentative gesture were the dispersed embodiments of chaos.

"It's heavy..." he said with a lonely tone, accounting all of his hard work being swept away in an instant—due to his own hand at that.

"What is? The pressure of this tragic atmosphere?" I asked, trying to peer through his full-face mask.

"No... I'm referring to the weight of hundreds of people constantly pulling me down, attempting to take me to my grave."

On the surface, this man wielded enough power to make nearly everyone tremble before him. Not to mention, the entire faction was in ruins. That only left one probability: He was referring to those he killed.

Was he finally regretting his actions? I looked at him skeptically. Feeling my heavy gaze, he looked down at the disaster—countless corpses, burning buildings, a couple of malevolent people still roaming and clashing, benevolent people screaming in agony. But the type of person they were didn't matter. They were once upon a time something to Dr. Stein. They all shared his pain of discrimination.

"I don't regret anything. One's words and actions bear no weight if there are no feelings to resonate. Amongst those hundreds of people, there is only one who bears weight—my sister. 'Why is she with them?' I asked myself that countless times. My very own sister wants me dead. The one whom I dedicated my life to avenge. Not to mention, she was the kindest and most benevolent person. But then I remembered that justice is subjective. Even if what I'm doing is what I consider to be justice, it could be quite the opposite for her. 'Justice' and 'kindness' don't directly align, however, 'kindness' is what dictates the desire to bring about a change—to display your sense of justice."

I get what he's saying. Everyone indeed holds their own sense of justice, however, not everyone displays it nor bases their actions on it. If an objective villain attempted to destroy this world, it'd be seen as their justice. The only difference is that they'd be considered evil and their actions are based on that. However, a truly evil person would realize the flaws and cruelty in this world and do nothing about it. They'd watch from the sidelines and laugh while everyone suffered from the same trap they encountered. It is kindness that motivates one to do something about it, no matter how they're perceived. Well, genocide is a different story.

"But then again, maybe I did all of this for myself. Maybe I wanted to divert my attention away from the death of my sister."

He holds some truth, but...

"So, are you trying to justify your killing by saying it's out of the kindness in your heart?"

Is this me talking to my past self? If I finally have the mindset to question my past morals, then have I finally gained enlightenment?

"The suicide rate on Earth is high. Death is a blessing to some, and you should know that best."

"Some... That's right! Not everyone!"

"Do you count every grain of sugar you put in your coffee?"

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It's pointless. From the moment he realized that his sister didn't agree with what he was doing, I already lost my chance to persuade him. Then... should I just watch him self-destruct?

"Cain, if you ever stray from purity again, remember this: A main character is different from a protagonist. A main character doesn't need to be good and kind. The only thing readers expect from the main character is something interesting and entertaining. It doesn't have to be righteous."

This is unfair. Why are you only realizing everything now?!

I wonder why... why couldn't I say what I wanted to? Was there still a deep, dark part of me that wanted to see him cause more mayhem?

"Doc-"

Suddenly I was hit with an ominous pressure. I dropped to my knees and covered my mouth with my hand.

What the hell is this nauseating atmosphere?! This is different from Alpha's! Instead of pressuring the atmosphere with bloodlust, it is being pressured by pure strength! UTTER DOMINANCE!

"Cain! Ruuuuun!" Maria came out of nowhere and just started shouting at me to run.

"I failed." Dr. Stein sighed. Was everyone aware of the situation except me? "I intended for a fish to catch the bait, but it seems..." While he was talking, a blindfolded man appeared behind us grinning. "A megalodon took the bait."

"Yo. Are you two the masterminds? Let's have a talk~"

Is... he the source of this heavy, nauseating pressure? If I didn't get a buff from my impurity, I would've passed out.

"Kai... What are you doing here? Where's Yami Mikazuki?" Dr. Stein asked, turning around to face the blindfolded man named Kai.

"Yami? Who- ah, that big shot masked rebel. What about him? Don't tell me you set this entire Faction on fire just to rat him out. You could've just dropped that stink bomb in the Rebel Faction, imbecile. For the millions of lives that suffered from your selfish plans, you..." Before I knew it, he lunged at us in an instant. "Shall pay with your life."

"Kai!" Alpha plunged the sky between us, interrupting Kai's attack.

"Oh? Finally here, kitty." He jumped back, not even a hint of annoyance on his face.

"Who are you?" I finally spoke up after adapting to the atmosphere.

"Me?" He grinned. "The skills of a samurai; the precision of an archer; the strength of a brawler; the agility of an assassin; and... damn, I forgot the rest, but the most important thing is that I am..." He snapped his fingers and a BGM started playing. "The last boss."

Alpha and Maria joined us on the roof.

"He might act foolish, but his strength is the real deal," Alpha warned.

Even Alpha is acknowledging him? Wait... That ash-gray hair...

"Aren't you the Knight Commander of Division One-blah, blah, blah?" I whispered to Alpha.

"Hey, stop disrespecting my title like that. If you don't want to say the full title then just call me the strongest knight." She sighed. "Anyway, this monster is like an entity of his own. He has like, what, a hundred skills? The only thing we can bet on is the author going down with a cold so he doesn't have the mentality to utilize his skills properly, or just completely forget them."

"But if the author already has our defeat in his mind, we will lose nevertheless, right?"

"Don't be so pathetic!" She unsheathed her katana. "We just have to destroy that fate!"

"True," I agreed, unsheathing my sword.

"Oh, Cain! I miss you!" She recklessly jumped into my arms, ignoring the lethal weapon in my grasp.

Ah, right. There was this girl.

"Y-Yo, Maria. It's been a while, huh?" I looked away sheepishly.

Was I always this conscious of her beauty?

"Hm... you seem somehow... different," she accused, eying me from head to toe.

"Yeah. A very helpful doctor gave me a boost to work with." I looked his way.

"Speaking of..." Alpha glared at him. "Dr. Stein, are you responsible for all of this? No. Forget I asked. That mask says enough. I'll deal with you later. Let's take care of our common enemy first."

"Finally bringing the attention back to me. Hmm~ Nice. Nice!" He then shot us an analytical glance. "A party of four... not bad. But..." His grin widened and reached for his katana, a red lens glaring at us upon unsheathing.

image [https://i.imgur.com/67cjP0Z.jpeg]

"Isn't five the minimum requirement when facing a boss? Oh well, this should suffice for my first phase."

Phases? This guy is taking his 'boss' role seriously.

"EVERYONE FUCKING DODGE LIKE YOUR LIFE DEPENDS ON IT!" Alpha screamed.

"[Sheathed Stance: Thunder Skies]; [Gaze of the Abyss]"

While everyone followed Alpha's orders by increasing the distance as much as possible, she alone drove straight in. I had my questioning why she told us to run away, especially when Kai was slowly unsheathing his katana like a turtle.

Ahh, how naive of me.

In the blink of an eye, I felt something absolutely fucking dangerous fly past me. The next moment, there was even a line in the ground where I thought a fragment of my imagination was. Not only that but the following buildings were all sliced.

Is that similar to what I did earlier with my sword? What was it called? Something like a wind cut or blade wave, right?

I looked behind me and saw no sight of it stopping. I couldn't physically see it, but I could see the destruction it was continuously causing.

"Cain, eyes ahead!" Maria warned.

I quickly turned around, focusing on the battle. Despite the small distance we started with, Alpha still couldn't reach Kai. As he continued slowly unsheathing his katana, indomitable and overwhelming swordwaves continued to strive forth. At the frontline, even Alpha—who imbued her body with her Omen—couldn't defend against them. But, she tried her best to alter their trajectory, saving us from dodging multiple.

"Keh! I can't hold much longer. DODGE AND MEMORIZE OF ALL THE SWORDWAVE DIRECTIONS!"

They are coming!

"[The Zone!]"

Thanks to [The Zone], my god-level impurity physical enhancements, and my curse, I dodged every swordwave that came my way by a millimeter.

After ten seconds—and I'd like to take this time to tell, was fucking long for me because everything was happening so fast. It felt like the ten seconds of doing planks. Anyway, he finally unsheathed his katana and turned his back to us, removing the red lens. The series of swordwaves finally stopped. It was finally time for a counterattack.

Maria and I nodded at one another, planning to help Alpha in the frontline. Dr. Stein remained cautious in the rear.

"What?! Don't come here! It's a two-series attack, you damn kids!"

Kai then began sheathing his katana again.

"Shit, remember I told you to memorize all the directions? Just get out of that fucking range!" Alpha screamed instructions but did the complete opposite of what she told us...once again. She lunged at him, trying to interrupt his attack, but unlike his mandatory slow and subtle unsheathing, he quickened his sheathing as Alpha drew near.

Just then, upon sheathing his katana, we all breathed a sigh of relief. Who wouldn't be glad that we listened to Alpha? Why? Because... the swordwaves that previously passed through were all repeated instantaneously. In sync with the unsheathing and instantaneous swordwaves, Kai disappeared from our sight.

You got to be fucking kidding me. A two-series attack? Then, isn't this just one of his 'hundred' skills? Tell me that Alpha didn't really mean that.

"[The Zone Stance: Heavenly Domain]"

A voice echoed in the area, but the source was unknown until he suddenly appeared above me.

"[Plunge]"

He came striking down with a vertical slash. After what I've seen thus far, I didn't have the confidence to defend against that attack, so... I avoided the shit out of it! Good thing his airtime was enough for me to back away, but...

"[Derivative Stance: Everlasting Rain]; [Emergence]" He unrealistically destroyed the entire ground, perfectly around the two of us! I was thrown off-balance.

"[Sheathed Stance: Thunder Skies]; [Shukuchi]" With an unparalleled dash that decimated the gap between us in an instant, he before me, ready to unsheathe his katana. "[Derivative Stance: Everlasting Rain]; [Quick Draw]" A threw a swift, lethal slash at me but Alpha's Omen and Maria's petals defended against the attack in the nick of time.

Actually, they moved their shields to me ever since he plunged, but everything after that happened in an instant.

If that's the case, does our number advantage even matter?

Alpha quickly grabbed me by my sweater and dragged me away from him. Kai was about to give chase but blinded his vision using explosive petals-

Um...what? Isn't he blind? Also, doesn't this guy have a weakness?!

"[Unsheathed Stance: Thunder Skies]; [Shadow Steps]" He immediately approached us with unpredictable motion.

"Fuck it!" Alpha cursed, giving up and throwing me at him. He responded with a slash at me but Alpha defended against his attack, albeit with trembling hands. "Why are you attacking this brat specifically? This brat is not even involved in this mess!"

So, I'm bait now.

"Why, you ask? Because he looks fun to play with, and..." He parried her attack and kicked her away, aiming for me once more. "His expressions and narration are hilarious! Buahahaha!"

Maria materialized wings and pulled me away from Kai's attack. We took this opportunity to regroup.

Dr. Stein? I mean, you can't blame him. His only ability is destroying anybody he touches. Do you seriously think he will have the chance to touch this guy?

Finally giving us time to breathe, Kai began stretching. "Then, I guess that's enough for the warmup, right? I'm going to get more aggressive now~"