Inu's once pristine clothes were tattered with ashes, but even he knew they looked much better than him.

His gray hair had grown and now fell chaotically on his forehead. He hadn't bathed so it remained dirty like his robes. His look wasn't at all complemented by the sunken-in eyes either. He had been so utterly sleepless he could've thought his Intra was the only thing keeping him alive.

However, it was all made worse by the contrast as he stood before the king who wore sharply textured black clothes topped off by a pure purple cloak and a thin silver crown. Of course, the feature that dominated his appearance was his sharp, dark gaze held without blinking. One could tell his Intra from that alone. He was as sharp as Minds came.

His son, Jakaan Locke, on the other hand, had soft eyes that were disturbed by locks of black hair much like his father's. The biggest difference was that in his eyes there was an inexplicable glint of magenta.

Inu had heard theories about it. Some said it was a curse. Inu saw it as a mere indicator of the boy's immense gift with spatial manipulation. He was the only person recorded to have been able to teleport with a mere blink of his eyes. And at 13 years of age!

Still, his father looked at him with disappointment. At his 'power unfit of a king'.

Jakaan looked at him with a shy smile and nodded in greeting before assuming a neutral expression. Inu couldn't help but pity the boy.

"Aomon, the time in which expected your visit had passed," the king said in a low tone that echoed in the hall that was empty air, save the pillars, King's Guard, and throne. "How do you explain yourself?"

Inu came to a stop ten steps from the throne and stood tall. "I owe no explanation."

Jakaan flinched at the clanking of armor as the King's Guard aimed their weapons only to be stopped by a raise of the king's hand. "Halt." He tilted his chin up at Inu. "What are you here for."

"Let us be men of necessity this day," Inu replied, raising his hands loosely. "I have information."

"I received a report from Jean. The description was bountiful."

Inu knew that already. He had received part of the same explanation slightly after the temple's doom.

Jean had told him how she figured out his location through a process of elimination and using her memorized knowledge of his exploits and potentialities to figure out where he could have taken shelter with Liv. Inu remembered it like a dream, having stared at her with empty eyes as she spoke. He'd had a passing thought of strangling her to death.

Ultimately, he blamed himself for the temple's fate. He should've never underestimated Jean due to her charade of nonchalance.

Inu gritted his teeth before speaking. "I am not here for a report."

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

"But related to the girl? She is alive then." The king leaned back and waved the guards to the side. "I pray by information you mean a solution. You seem to have failed your initial mission."

Inu nodded with a face of displeasure.

"Remind me, with what words did I wish you on that mission?"

"I do not remember," Inu lied, "and it is of no importance any longer. Th—"

"An end without casualty is idealism below your intellect. Still, you may go, and you may fail. If only to remember reality."

Inu looked at the king with unamused eyes feeling his face melt down with a frown.

The king raised a hand in response. "Apologies. Say your due by all means."

"I know the girl's location. Rather, where she will be."

The king tilted his head carefully, an analytical look on his face. "And? Do you still cling to a hope of peace?"

Inu's eyes hardened. The king had figured out his visit by now. Now he was just dragging Inu's face through the mud. Still, as Inu thought back to the innocent deaths and the wiped-out beauty of the temple, he found the necessary words. "No. The girl must die."

The king's eyebrows heightened and the man stood up. "You know something I do not," he said, walking toward Inu one slow step at a time. "Tell me."

Inu eyed him and glanced at his son who had grown tense in the atmosphere. "She plans to destroy the capital. Infiltrate it and bring the Shadow with her."

"That..." The king furrowed his brows before stopping before Inu and looking around the enormous hall, a masterpiece of ancient matter manipulators. "How sure are you?"

"Positive."

"What would that achieve? Kill a mass of innocent people to what end? To spite me? You?"

"Us. The people. The world."

"Troublesome. You should've killed her while she slept," the king said with his back turned.

Inu stared without response, twitches in his expression.

"What?" The king turned to observe Inu who defaulted with a blink. "You agree now, do you not?"

"Irrelevant," Inu spat. He was close enough to kill the man before the guards could intervene. Instead, he got back to the matter. "She does not care for her own life and threatens those of others. If she attacks, I know her path. She will come to the capital through the way of the Spine.

"You know this how?" the king said as he walked away with echoing steps and disappeared by a pillar. "By setting a trap?"

Inu looked to the throne of sharp stone and gems of magenta light, doing his best to ignore the boy beside it. "She told me she would. The Spine's history intrigued her. I assume she wanted to see it before she died."

The king walked behind him, but Inu didn't turn his head. "Then she shall," the king tapped a hand on his shoulder causing Inu to flinch. "Fine work, Aomon. Your contribution to Stratum will not be forgotten."

Inu said nothing, the words passing through his ears like he wasn't even there. The king walked back to the throne and sat with a hand on his chin. "I assume you know her powers well. How many soldiers will do?"

"All of them," Inu answered, humorless. "Just know that if you send Hakro Manus, you will lose him. No matter what."

"Hakro remains at base. He will insist on finishing the mission."

Inu scoffed. "A good man walks to his death despite fear. A prideful one runs to it without any."

The king seemed amused, but his lips did not do so much as hint at a smile. "Do not go walking, Inu. I request your stay at the Royal Keep. Let me and mine take care of you. The world needs you still."

Inu nodded tiresomely and turned from Jakaan's complicated smile. "I wonder about that." He made his way out of the hall, servants opening the doors for him. "These days, I really do."

How could he, while committing himself to the absolute right, feel his soul be sullied? Even his own voice didn't sound like it once had. It wasn't that of the boy who lay dying or the one who once rose for all that was beautiful in the world. It was the voice of their ghost. A tired grounding noise from deep inside a place that wished for its end. For it was the voice of the man who doomed his allies in an unjust purge to save lives. To save. Lives. More lives. More. To infinity and the everlasting darkness that would cradle him one day and tell him he did right. There was more in the world. All out of the effect of him. One man. Inu AOMON.