Ace couldn’t move. His heart rate spiked. He lost control of his breathing.

Hero marched slowly toward Ace, dragging the tip of his blade along the dirt road.

Ace’s shaky hands reached into his bag and grasped his two remaining dragon piercer bullets. His fingers wrapped around his whip sword’s handle; his thumb rested on the lever.

Ace fought against his erratic breathing and forced the air in his lungs into words. “Get away from them.”

Hero stopped dead in his tracks. That wasn’t what Ace was supposed to say. Things had deviated too much. Ace couldn’t be allowed to live any longer. Otherwise, Hero could no longer minimize the pain Fable endured.

Ace tightened his grip on the two dragon piercer bullets. “Split focus, [Possess].”

Ace hurled the two bullets toward Hero. One instantly collapsed to the ground, as if Ace had thrown it normally. The other spiraled through the air straight toward Hero’s neck.

Hero raised his shattered sword. “[Double Slash] X [Stasis].” With two quick strikes, Hero quartered the bullet before it could reach him. Its four pieces were drained of their color and became suspended in the air, frozen in time, just like the rest of the world.

Hero started to march toward Ace again. His cadence was slow and heavy, like a mountain that began to walk.

Ace drew the blade from his back, clicking the lever. The sword extended into a bladed whip, striking out at the lumbering ancient mountain that encroached upon Ace.

“[Warp].”

In an instant, Ace was face to face with Hero. Ace reached down to his revolver, but before he could pull it out of the holster, his body froze up. His stomach went cold as ice, then hot as fire.

Ace looked down to see Hero’s sword embedded in his chest. Blood trickled down from the corner of his lips.

Hero placed a hand on Ace’s shoulder. “I’m sorry. This is all my fault. I should have never let you live.” He slowly slid the blade out of Ace’s chest.

Ace’s back slammed into the ground. He could feel the temperature outside and inside his body inverting; his flesh and organs went cold as the blood that leaked from his chest warmed his skin.

Ace’s blood dripped out from the cracks in Hero’s sword onto the ground. For a brief moment, Ace considered closing his eyes; counting the sound of his blood splattering to the ground as if it were rain. He refused. He refused to be blind to the world any longer.

Ace’s eyes turned to a tiny grain of red in the road that amidst the colorless world stood out like a candle in the night. The dragon piercer bullet Ace had intentionally let clatter to the ground, despite imbuing it with his essence, suddenly flared to life.

The dragon piercer bullet ripped through the air, straight toward Hero. Hero followed Ace’s gaze to the bullet but it was too late. He barely managed to snatch the bullet out of the air, but didn’t have enough time to speak a skill.

A mountain of fire, condensed into the size of a marble, erupted inside Hero’s hand. The colorless world shattered. The instant time resumed, the dragon piercer bullet Hero had slashed exploded behind him in a cloud of smoke.

As the smoke cleared, Hero glanced down at his arm. His armor was charred. Crimson waterfalls coursed down his fingers. The pain would come any second now. His mission was done; now he just needed to level.

“Take me home, [Gate].” The air sundered into a circular portal of cyan essence beside Hero.

“[Flash Strike]!”

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As Hero raised his foot to step through the [Gate], a shing streak of white light cut through the air toward him. He raised his sword to intercept the attack. Draxl met Hero’s blade with his own in a flash of sparks, then skid to a halt just past Hero.

“Cut through, [Dispel]!”

An obsidian black dagger, laced with red runes, rocketed toward Hero’s portal. He attempted to grab it, but the pain in his burnt arm flared up; unable to move his arm, Hero watched as the dagger ripped through his [Gate], dispelling it into a burst of unformed essence that quickly faded into nothing. His gaze followed the dagger back to Riven’s hand as she vaulted out of the wagon.

Hero charged toward Riven.

“Feel the weight of the world, [Push]!”

Hero’s helmet turned toward Galina, standing just behind him, as she slammed her staff into the ground. The force of gravity on Hero multiplied tenfold. He struggled to move a single muscle; it took what little remaining strength he had to prevent himself from collapsing to the floor. He barely managed to turn his head toward the wagon, just in time to see Halvor leaping out of it.

“Kneel, [Quake]!” Halvor’s petrified body crashed into the road like a meteor. The ground beneath Hero shook violently. Hero could no longer maintain his footing. He collapsed to one knee.

“[Fracture]!” Halvor slammed his fist into the ground; from his fist, a fissure shot out underneath Hero’s leg. Before his foot fell into the ground, Hero planted his blade into the dirt and started to push himself up to his feet.

As The Hangmen surrounded Hero, he managed to lift his head toward Galina and whispered under his breath. “[Warp].”

“Galina behind you!” Cili shouted, flying overhead.

Galina spun around, just as Hero dropped his sword, and grabbed her by the throat.

“Galina!” Halvor shouted.

Halvor rushed toward Hero. Hero turned toward Halvor, and flung Galina at him, knocking them both to the ground.

“[Flash Strike].” Draxl transformed into a blur of light and rocketed toward Hero. However, Hero turned to face him and clotheslined Draxl the instant he got close. Draxl tumbled to the ground, clutching his throat and gasping for air.

Hero picked up his sword and turned his head toward Riven. “[Warp].”

Hero teleported in front of Riven. He raised his sword above his head, ready to cut her in two. Riven stepped back, out of range of his blade, but as she did, at the apex of his swing, Hero dropped his sword again, stepped forward, grabbed Riven by her collar, pulled her in, and then slammed their heads together.

Riven stumbled back, blood trickling down her nose. Her grip on her dagger fumbled for a moment. Hero reached down to the blade and snatched it before it hit the ground.

“Disarm, [Ricochet] X [Wind’s Grace].”

An arrow sniped the dagger out of Hero’s hand. Hero reached out for the blade as it tumbled through the air, but before he could grasp it, the arrow ricocheted off the wind, impacting the dagger again, and sending it flying out of Hero’s reach.

Hero turned to Cili hovering above the battlefield. He pointed to her feet. “Drag down, [Stasis].” His hand curled into a fist; the color drained from Cili’s feet.

“Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!” Unable to walk on air with her feet frozen by [Stasis], Cili rapidly started to tumble to the ground.

Hero pivoted to face Riven, but as he did, a blast of smoke from behind enveloped him, obscuring his vision.

“[Double Slash].” Hero carved a slit in the cloud of smoke with his sword. Through a tiny gap in the smoke, he saw Kai, lying down in the wagon bed with the barrel of his rifle resting on the edge.

“[Warp].”

Kai felt the wagon bed creak under a sudden weight as Hero vanished from his sight. He spun around to his feet, reaching for something in his pocket, but before he could pull it out, Hero drove his foot into his chest, sending Kai flying out of the wagon.

Hero grabbed the tarp and pulled it shut, hiding himself inside the wagon.

“Burn away, [Ignite].” Riven, the only Hangmen not on the ground, snapped her fingers; sparks along her fingertips transformed into beams of fire that ripped through the wagon’s covering.

However, as she glanced through the holes she burned, Riven didn’t see anybody inside the wagon.

As everybody pushed themselves to their feet, slowly regaining their breath, their eyes darted around the area, but not a single one of them saw Hero.

With Hero gone, they all looked to Ace, resting in a pool of his own blood, and rushed to his side.