Liv's jaw hung as she stared at the temple descend into chaos. 'What the hell is going on?' Then her head reeled back in realization, feeling repulsed at the mere thought. Probably because she knew it to be correct. 'This is all her work. The Mind of Hexa. While I fought Hakro, the rest of the Hexa wreaked havoc in case I survived. All to blame me and turn the masses into their allies.'

That was it then. The whole stay at the temple had blown up in her face.

To top her realization off, a woman of the temple pointed at her, yelling, "She's there!"

Liv's face twitched with indecision. Feeling the hateful gazes of hundreds never got easier. The only thing that quelled the shame was the rage, so there was only one outlet she could push her emotions in.

She would not run. The Hexa would be annihilated as an example of what happened to those who sought her out. And this temple would not be her grave even if she had to slaughter every single person in it to survive.

She was about to clasp her hands and unleash her fury. Then he heard Inu's voice call out to her, "Liv." The man panted with his hands on his knees. "We have to escape."

Liv looked down at him, taking short, pointy breaths. He looked so vulnerable, but she couldn't let his appearance deceive her. "How did they know, Inu? How?!" she snapped at him.

Inu shook and stood up properly with an expression of pure sadness. "I don't know. I don't—" his eyes widened. "Fabian... is he?"

He didn't know? That was all he could say? He couldn't even tell how he could have been deluded.

Liv spit at him. "I can't believe I trusted you."

Inu's eyes grew as he turned slowly to face away. Then he grabbed his forehead and seethed. Liv backed away. Was Inu... breaking down? Was that even possible? The answer seemed to come as Inu screamed and punched the entrance to the stairwell to the top of the wall. The stone remained unharmed, but so did Inu. His adaptability has simply made him more durable. He was unable to even hurt himself. A man condemned to watch others suffer.

He looked at his hand and seemed to sob just once before looking back to Liv with embarrassment. He then turned to the mob of people rushing at the wall to rip Liv apart for imagined crimes. "Halt!" He yelled. Nothing changed. "Listen to me! I am Inu Aomon. We bear you good people no malevolent intent!"

To try using his name as a negotiation tactic. Oh, how far Inu had fallen.

"It's useless," Liv said, all too familiar with the scenario. The roars of the crowd were too loud for anyone to think. Even Liv barely managed even with the distance to the crackling of flames, collapseing of buildings, and approaching stomps. "It's time for us to part ways. I'm going to look for the remaining members of the Hexa. You can go die for all I care."

"When will it end?" Inu asked.

"The killing?" Liv asked, looking at the mob below. "It'll never end."

"That can't be the answer. It can't..." Inu fell quiet. He was just talking to himself. Reality was too much for an idealist.

"Fear not," a voice that made Liv's blood sizzle came from behind, "in between the killing, there is peace to be enjoyed." Liv turned to see, Hakro hop onto the bridge. There was blood dripping from his arm and his left leg seemed to be more or less limp. Nevertheless, he stood in his pride. "And without war, how is peace to be enjoyed?"

Liv's upper eyelid descended, making darkly gleaming half-circles of her eyes. "Is that why you hunt me? To appreciate peace?" she spat, pure hatred coating every word.

Hakro puffed out his chest as a snide grin spread across his face.

Liv's expression turned empty. A reason besides duty was expected. But nothing like that. Such a pseudo-philosophical justification for all this carnage and death. It was... utterly unacceptable. "I loathe you," she sneered.

"I know," Hakro said with a laugh. "But you're helpless."

He knew it. He was aware of what kind of person he was. So twisted and miserable he derived pleasure from making others suffer and hate him. Just like he hated them for having grasped the happiness that avoided him like the plague. He simply thought of it as natural to do what he found pleasure in. And the world played along. His existence was proof. The world favored evil.

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

"Helpless?" Liv asked, raising his hands before her. Then the rectangle formed. Hakro dashed into movement, jumping down from the wall to escape her sight as fast as he could. He knew how the Empt worked. But she was fast with the activation. She would get him. Or that's what she thought before Inu jumped on her, undoing the rectangle.

She turned to Inu with large eyes. Then she glanced back and Hakro was gone. Turning back to Inu's self-righteous expression after that only intensified her pent-up rage.

"You promised you wouldn't use the Empt!" Inu yelled.

Inu's face twisted in an instant as she formed her piercer and aimed it at Inu's neck. It was a clean hit, but it didn't even penetrate. However, the damage was done. Inu stumbled back, stupified. His expression seemed to ask, "How could you?"

Liv simply wondered why she had waited so long to try killing the man. Then she faced the mob and clasped her hands again. She heard their rage intensify as she teleported away from where they had all been heading. She teleported a few more times while looking around the temple, wondering how exactly it had fallen so fast. Had they manipulated the households during her stay to make the plan go right no matter what? Just how much had they prepared? And how had it all gone unnoticed? It was just too much.

When she stopped on one roof to look for any remaining members of the Hexa, she heard the crack of a tile. She turned, but before anything else, she was hit. The world deformed, and confusion descended on her as she tumbled down the two-story building, dull impact turning into searing pain as she hit the different levels of the roofs and fell onto the ground.

She had survived for so long that she had forgotten that all it took to break her body was one hit. She put all her effort into putting hand on her mouth, only for it to come away with blood. More blood. She opened her eyes painfully and started into the blur above as a man landed beside her. It wasn't Hakro. Thank the gods it wasn't Hakro.

However, he had a uniform. It was the Senses of Hexa. He looked the oldest of the Hexa with black hair and a firm look in his eyes. Liv thought he would try to end it fast but soon came to find that there was no human in the Hexa.

Senses' face didn't even twitch as he pushed a knee to her chest so that she couldn't breathe while he took both her wrists into his one strong hand and put a hand over her mouth. She squirmed in a panic, but her body was too sluggish and all her spatial manipulation had drained her to the core. She had been bleeding for a while and the effects were right behind.

"I have the girl! She's here!" Senses yelled out in a hurried voice that was not at all reflected by his expression.

Liv waited for him to do something, but he just waited. All the while her heart beat out of her chest at her impending doom as breathing became impossible even through her nose with the knee on her lungs.

What was he waiting for? Hakro to come finish the job? Was killing her just not his duty, so he didn't bother?

Liv waited as well. And soon the mob arrived on the spot, yelling in the name of the gods how they would butcher her for... killing the head priest's son? Liv gritted her teeth even harder and resisted the urge to lash out. She had to preserve her energy until the chosen moment.

But as she saw Fabian's gentle eyes in memory once again, her eyes welled up before narrowing in rage to find the dull eyes of the Senses of Hexa staring at her. When the mob had arrived in the area, Senses seemed to relax. But Liv found that it wasn't because of them. It was because of him. Hakro Manus jumped down from one of the roofs even with only one properly functioning leg and smiled down at her.

"Do my eyes deceive me?" he asked, blinking. "Caught by Yuko, were you?"

Liv bit down harder still and let out a mumble as she kicked her legs furiously.

Then Hakro got serious. "Don't take that hand off her mouth," he commanded.

The mob surrounded Liv who lay at the foot of a building, Hakro yelling for them to stay back and repelling any especially enthusiastic ones. Unfortunately, he had sense enough to know Liv was dangerous, no matter what.

He just didn't know how dangerous.

Liv gritted her teeth for the last time as hard as she could. Then the rock she had put in her mouth after falling from the roof grew into a piercer, stabbing through her upper lip and into Yuko's hand. Deeming it insufficient, she concentrated and through the touch on her lips, she manipulated the piercer further, making it grow inside Yuko's arm and pierce his bones.

Yuko let out a gargled sound of agony as his dull eyes became mortified, looking at his hand from where protruded multiple minuscule spikes. Nevertheless, he held on. Hypnosis was never the point, though.

Too consumed with one hand, he forgot the other. Liv took all her saved-up strength and ripped a hand from his grasp. He was strong for a man, but nothing compared to Hakro. Though, even Hakro didn't manage to see what was happening before Liv put her hand to the ground and a spike shot up to pierce Yuko's skull, lifting the man into the air.

Even Liv couldn't believe it. Hakro was in utter shock. Then there was a flash of raw emotion. Liv showed a red smile with her bloody teeth as she took the massive inhale she had been missing.

Finally, she made the rectangle, enclosing Hakro within. From the distance, she could hear Inu's yell begging her not to reap what she had sowed. She wouldn't listen. But Hakro used the spike she had made to block her sight before rushing at her. She couldn't do anything. Hakro would reach her before she managed to switch position and use the Empt. She had to reset the activation, as she switched the target.

She couldn't escape Hakro in the state she was in. She had to do it. Use the Empt. If only to kill those who couldn't escape. When Hakro came back to sight, he was reaching for her at arm's length, but then a barrier appeared and there was a vacuum sound.

All was dark, and Liv was gone.

It wasn't over yet.