The travelling hydrohand’s heart pounded, sending the deadly poison throughout his body. Without an antidote, he would die. Already, he could feel his strength leaving him.

Once again, Kari was driven to his knees. He clutched at his heart, teeth gritted so hard together that one might begin to worry they would break.

I can’t give up like this!

It seemed that the Wrights were wary of Kari, even despite his weakened state, unsure of what the powerful Gift-user was capable of. A litany of whispers accompanied a shower of thrown weapons.

Kari instinctually surrounded himself with bloodied ice. A temporary shelter. It was not a winning move. He was going to die no matter what. Time was his greatest enemy.

I’m going to die. Kari thought.

The realisation of it was harsh. Too harsh.

He hated it.

But at the same time, some part of him found peace. It would all be over soon.

A wave of lethargy struck him.

The boy saw the faint glow of a brazier hanging from a loop of metal screwed into a wooden beam in a dimly lit tent.

Weak, but gentle hands carried him, placing him in someone’s arms.

A figure retreated down a darkened path, disappearing into the night as a door slammed shut.

The warm feelings of his first crush on a pigtailed girl at the academy.

The cold, wet texture of being face down in the dirt of the stormy schoolyard. He kicked off his shoes so that the leather-manipulating bully wouldn’t be able to stop him from tackling him back.

Sitting, filthy and dishevelled in the headmaster’s office while both of the boys were lectured and reprimanded. The shame of Benson’s disappointed gaze burned permanently into the back of Kari’s neck.

The warmth of Benson’s approval at Kari’s great progress. The boy had created a mesmerising kaleidoscope with his Gift.

Benson’s shadow, sitting by the fireplace. The sound of turning pages.

The sound of thunder and distant wailing.

Utter destruction.

Kari’s prior life flashed before his eyes.

Something crumbled in Kari’s bludgeoned mind. Something that Kari didn’t need anymore.

His anger was tempered by the zen of inescapable death.

Now, there remained only a quiet, determined, impossibly perfect focus.

He would have his revenge.

No matter the cost.

He drew the rest of his water up from below. Bloody water reached up to his chest as he kneeled.

Kari slowly rose up. A crack was beginning to form in his shelter, exacerbated by the weight of the water he had just summoned; it didn’t matter, the hydrohand paid it no mind.

Kari created several hollow ice spears, their insides filled with bloodied water. He placed all of the insides into stasis with his enchanted bracelet.

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

The spear was different in shape from the usual ones that he used for skewering his enemies. They had rounded heads. Like Crassian torpedoes.

Then, Kari destroyed the water within. It simply worked. He knew it would. He could feel it, deep in the core of his being. A new sensation. Something he had never managed to accomplish before that moment.

This must be exactly how Benson felt, at the end of his life. Kari thought in detachment.

There was no more water left. This was everything.

Kari dropped his icy barrier. The noise of the outside world returned. The faintest shouting of children and merchants. The quiet crowing of birds lining the terraced balconies. The low tolling of a distant bell.

The first Wright that had attacked Kari began to stir. She had somehow survived Kari’s first strike. Perhaps she had armour or a similar enchantment to the older Wright that had shrugged off Kari’s punch.

Not that it mattered. Kari thought.

With an expressionless glance, Kari sent one of his weapons flying toward her. Then, he released the stasis on it.

Nothing matters.

The spear bumped into the wall of the house beside the Wright, who had just turned onto her side and begun to rise.

To know what came next requires one to know the answer to just one question: What happens when an ideal mixture of pure oxygen and pure hydrogen react uncontrollably?

An explosion.

An unbelievable amount of energy was released as the fuel inside Kari’s ice spear was consumed, turning back into water molecules. Even Kari himself had no idea how destructive his own attack would be. The shockwave blasted Kari backwards, tearing at his face and wounds. Dust and noise and chaos flew about in an indecipherable frenzy. The daggers on the floor skittered and clattered along with tiles stripped from the surface of the street.

Lowering the hands that Kari had found he had raised to protect his face, he felt something hot drip down his face; blood. It seemed that he had been cut by a piece of shrapnel.

A thick cloud of dust obscured his sight. Through ringing ears, a wailing of a baby could be faintly made out.

The entire street beside the Wright’s body had been destroyed. The home had been reduced to a pile of rubble.

Kari couldn’t see the rooftop above him, but he could sense the presence of Rhaspalaka and the one remaining Wright. They were both drenched in a sudden sweat.

The knowledge of this brought a crooked smile to Kari’s gaunt face.

He sent two spears at the nearest target and deactivated the stasis at a safe distance.

Seeing the missiles appear out of the dust, the Wright dodged with superhuman dexterity, as their compatriots had. The first missile missed, flying straight across the street into the side of The Library of Laajvaar where it exploded.

Unfortunately for the Wright, he dodged right into Kari’s second missile, which detonated, turning them into a fine red mist, shortly before demolishing the top two floors of the house below. Even the rooftops of the adjacent streets were affected, their tiles being stripped away from the force of the explosion, and even crumpling entirely in places.

The last Wright was blown onto their face as they tried to retreat. They rolled down from the mangled rooftop uncontrollably, falling three stories into the street where Kari was.

“GAHHH!!” they screamed. A male voice.

Kari willed his failing body to stagger its way through the dust and debris. Though his eyes couldn’t see, he was headed straight for where the Wright lay bleeding, their hip broken.

Finally, Kari reached them. Everything was covered in a layer of fine cream-coloured dust, but the air was clean enough for Kari to recognise the Wright from ten meters away.

It was Rhaspalaka. Of course, it was.

The man’s dark brown eyes were unfocused and a trickle of blood trailed from the corner of his mouth. He seemed to notice Kari’s slow approach, struggling with his palms to reach a sitting position. But he hadn’t the strength. As a result, the man appeared to be feebly clawing at the hard ground.

“You…” Kari snarled, pointing a wavering finger at the Wright. “You!!”

Rhaspalaka locked eyes with Kari, and an ugly smile crept across his lips, the corners of his lips almost twitching into a frown.

The Wright made as if to speak, but silence spilt out, quieting the screams coming from the main street in the wake of Kari’s rampage.

“Is this a sick joke?” Kari asked aloud. He couldn’t believe it. After all this, after everything he had endured to reach this moment in time… He couldn’t believe a pathetic cretin like this was responsible for everything he’d suffered. The man couldn’t even form a sentence in reply.

Rhaspalaka was too little. Too insignificant. It was unfair.

Taking the two ice spears that remained, Kari stood back. It was barely enough to be called a safe distance. He would be the last thing Rhaspalaka saw.

“Die!” Kari screamed with the last of his voice.

His final volley flew towards the cripple.

Rhaspalaka tried to speak again, but once more, only silence spilt out. Then, giving up, he merely smiled as if to say, “Your loss.”

And Rhaspalaka raised his hand.

…It was clasping a certain book.

Kari had enough time for his eyes to widen in horror and nothing else.

One of his missiles struck the book directly, splintering as it did so.

Then, it exploded, eviscerating the Wright’s body and turning the surroundings into a crater.