After Nico seemed to disappear, my Evil Eye kicked in and revealed she was still in front of me. She was just invisible or obscured through a crystal effect.

Then she dashed towards me brandishing two knives and stabbed them into the legs of my bone armor.

"Ow!" I said. "You stabbed me!" Her knives had pierced a little through the bone armor. It wasn't much. Just enough to hurt.

"I'm trying to kill you." She said, trying to pull her knives out of my bone armor. They were stuck in there pretty good.

“Me too. I'm just surprised your knives made it through my armor.” I summoned bone spikes above her and brought them down.

She flitted back 10 feet, dodging the spikes. I summoned 20 more spikes and launched them at her. She dodged to the side at lightning speed.

Those blue crystals must have been speed or agility boosting because she was moving incredibly fast.

I summoned a bone platform underneath her and raised it to the ceiling, attempting to crush her. She dodged off the platform when she realized what was happening.

She pulled throwing knives out of her belt and threw them at me. I summoned a bone shield and blocked all the ones aimed at my chest and head, but several hit my legs and stabbed me through the armor.

She pulled out a green vial and threw it at me. I put my shield up. It shattered and against the shield and caustic liquid ate through the shield and the armor on my right arm.

The liquid burned and ate away at my flesh. It caused pretty severe damage to my forearm. When it finally stopped burning, I couldn't close my hand anymore. The muscles were too damaged.

Great I had a broken left arm and a burned right arm. The only saving grace was that the caustic liquid cauterized the wound, so I wasn't bleeding.

I had to finish this soon or I was going to lose. I checked the room for exits. There were no windows or other doors. And I was standing in the doorway.

The answer was easy enough. I summoned a bone platform and raised it up in front of the door. Then I raised two more platforms to cover the openings around the side of the first platform and the room was sealed. She couldn't get out.

“No no no no no no! Don't leave me in here!” She said. Her voice was muffled by the barrier.

“You stabbed me several times and burned the hell out of my arm. You attacked first. What am I supposed to do?” I said.

“I thought you were going to kill me! I figured if I killed you first, you couldn't kill me,” Nico said.

“I mean, I was, but I'm reconsidering. How old are you?” I said.

“17. Why?” She said.

“Yeah, that's what I thought. There's something about killing a minor I really don't like. But you have killed a lot of people who didn't deserve it,” I said.

“I'm at a crossroads, Nicolette. I don't want to kill you but I can't let you go free and kill again. Unless you can convince me you're reformed and will never kill another innocent again, there's nothing I can do for you.”

“Nicolette? I haven't used that name in years. How do you know all this stuff about me?” She said.

“I'm an evil wizard, but not in the way that you'd think. I'm a wizard whose powers have to do with tracking down and destroying evil. And my powers show me all the wrongs you've committed, but it also shows me why,” I said.

“I know your parents were terrible and I don't blame you for killing them. Killing families because you're jealous of their happiness though is too far. It's not acceptable behavior and it rings evil to me.”

“Why do they get to be happy when I never got that chance? I wanted to be a happy kid! No one cared about my wishes. None of those families gave two shits about a kid living on the streets,” I said.

“Actually, it was worse than that. They hated me! They despised me. They lectured me and hit me for begging for change. Like it was somehow my fault for being in that position.”

“So I killed them. No one gets to attack me and treat me like shit without retaliation. I didn't necessarily plan to kill them. At least, not all of them. They just couldn't defend themselves against me. They were weak. So death was the result of standing up for myself.”

“Dorian was the first person to ever beat me in a fight. He looked down on me too. He lectured me for begging. Said something bullshit about getting a job and earning money to feed myself.”

“That fucker. If I could've gotten a job, I wouldn't have been begging! I tried to fight him too, but he smacked me down. Showed me my place in the world. But he appreciated my skills and gave me a job. Was I going to turn it down? What choice did I have?”

“I was living on the streets and barely surviving. I got less and less from begging the older I got. I didn't love that he wanted to hire me to kill and rob and steal, but as I said, what choice did I have? It was either doing that or starving and getting the shit kicked out of me on a daily basis.”

I sat in that moment, thinking. Would I have done any different? I mean, was I any better than her? I've killed several people under the pretense I was making the world a better place, but I was just a victim taking my anger out over being killed out on other people.

I wasn't even defending myself. I was committing premeditated murder. That didn’t mean what I was doing was wrong, but it didn't mean what she did was wrong either.

[Justice parameters realigned. Recalculating… Nico no longer reads as evil]

'Wait, what?'

[Your view of what constitutes evil has changed. So Evil Eye no longer reads her actions as evil]

'Wait. The system judges evil based on my perception? Not on an absolute scale of evil and good?'

[There is no such thing as an absolute scale of evil and good. Evil and good are just categories determined by the person judging]

'Wait, so does that mean I haven't been making the world a better place?'

[Define 'better']

'Will there be less harm happening in the world because I killed those people?'

[Are you counting the harm you caused those people in the equation?]

'… No.'

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

[Then yes]

'What if I did include the people I harmed in the equation?'

[Then the total harm done roughly equals out]

'Ok, but are less innocent people being harmed?'

[Define 'innocent']

'People who have caused the least harm to others compared to everyone else.'

[Then yes. Less innocents are being harmed as a result of your actions]

'Ok good. I was worried for a second there that I was doing something wrong.'

[I am happy to alleviate your worries]

"Hey, guy. You still there?" Nico said.

"Hey so I've decided not to kill you," I said.

"Oh yay. Yippee. Hurray. Can you hear the excitement in my voice?" She said.

"Your sarcasm isn't helping, but I see how it's not the best news you've ever heard," I said scratching my face. "I'm trying to decide if I should let you out now or after Dulce."

"What if Dulce kills you? I'll be stuck in here," Nico said.

"Wouldn't Dulce release you if she kills me?" I said.

"I don't know. That bitch is crazy. She's gone off the deep end. She might not even look for me," Nico said.

"Will you join my group, if I let you go? I want to keep an eye on you, but I also don't want you going hungry on the streets again and robbing people," I said.

"Be warned, I can tell when people are lying. If you lie to me, I will leave you in here to rot until you die of starvation," I said.

"Ok, ok. I'll join your group. What other choice do I have? I can't go back out on the streets. I'll end up robbing and potentially killing again, and then you'll come back and kill me. As long as you pay and feed me, I will serve you however you need," Nico said.

"Knock out the "however you need" shit. That sounds gross. I'm not having sex with a minor. You'll work for me doing things that don't involve exploitation," I said.

"Yes, sir. Now can you let me out?" She said. She sounded desperate.

"Yeah, sure. Meet me at Beer tomorrow night," I said. I lowered and removed the pillars of bone from the doorway.

"Yes, sir, Mr Uhhh… What's your name?" Nico said.

"Tom," I said.

"Ok, Tom. I'll see you at Beer tomorrow night." She disappeared for real this time. I didn't see where she went until I saw her thermal signature walking down the stairwell stairs. I laughed at how slow she was walking after straight up disappearing past me.

"See you, Nico," I said mostly to myself.

I followed the hallway around the corner again and arrived in an open space with a lot of tables and chairs. Dulce stood at the other end of the room, but she looked different.

She no longer looked like a thin woman vaguely in her 50's or 60's. She looked like a thin woman in her 20's. At first, I was confused, but then Evil Eye kicked in and I understood.

Her story made me sad. Really sad. It was tragic, but she had also chosen evil. Evil didn't choose her.

Dulce was a gifted magical practitioner when she was young. She was going to be a world-renowned adventurer, conquering dungeons and bandits, and traveling the land.

But then she fell in love. He ran an apothecary in the city. She couldn't go adventuring, leaving him alone for months at a time. So she put her dreams aside for him.

He adored her and doted on her constantly, and she did the same. He was kind, smart, and funny. The full package.

She helped him run the apothecary for 30 years, but then the worst possible thing happened. He died, and she didn't. He got sick and neither he or her could figure out how to make him better. They tried tons of different formulations, but nothing worked, and he passed.

The next 10 years were sad and lonely. She continued to run the apothecary, but when the store was closed she stayed up late into the night trying to figure out what medicine would have saved Bert's life.

When she finally thought she had found it, that was the second worst day of her life. The worst was the day Bert died. There was nothing she could do with the information. She couldn't save him. He had already passed long ago.

She longed for companionship, but she was the oldest person in the city. No one wanted to date her because of her advanced age. Most men died by age 40 and she had just turned 60. Her love life couldn't be any more hopeless.

Then Dorian came into the shop. They got to talking and Dorian learned a lot about her. Her magical talents, her experience as an apothecary, and her predicament.

He suggested a unique solution. Crystals. There was a crystal that returned the user's body back to its prime. Dorian gave her the first one for free and said to visit him if she wanted more.

She kept it in the back of the shop in her personal workshop. It glowed a deep purple. It sat there for a week until she gave in to temptation. She waited until a Friday. She wore her favorite black dress.

The purple crystal glowed in her hand. Should she do this? She had her time. She had her love. Was it right for her to chase the feeling of being desired and wanted again?

Did she care? She crushed the crystal in her hand and purple light entered her hand and ran up her arm into her body. She felt her skin tighten, her bones stop hurting, and she felt energized. She didn't feel that constant tiredness she always did.

She looked in a mirror. She was . . . sexy. She went out that night. She visited a newly opened bar called Beer. She picked up a man and took him home. They made love. She hadn't felt this good in a decade.

She sent him home and went to bed. When she got up in the morning, she saw the skin on her arm. It looked old. She was back to normal.

She went to see Dorian for more youth crystals. She offered to pay for them, but he said that's not what he wanted. He made her an offer. If she worked for him and did as he said, he would provide her with all the crystals she wanted.

She took the offer. It wasn't bad at first. All she had to do was use youth crystals and go on dates with men. She was more than happy to do that. It gave her her fix of validation and excitement.

But then the other shoe dropped. Dorian made her go to the same men she went on dates with and blackmail them into paying her to stay quiet. Turns out they were all married.

Then the other other shoe dropped. If they didn't pay up, she was to use her magical gifts to kill them in ways that made it look like an accident. She refused at first, but he said he'd cut off her crystal access.

After a few days, she came crawling back. After much prodding, she committed murder at Dorian's request. She cried afterward. Each murder became easier and easier.

I mean, they were men happily cheating on their wives. In her eyes, they deserved it. They found love and they took it for granted. She would never do that.

And then she met Jacob. He was smart, funny, and kind. She spent every moment she could with him. That had a negative side effect on her health.

The thing about crystals is they have a toxicity effect. The more you use them, the higher your blood toxicity gets. Luckily, the average body clears 1% of the toxicity per day. Common quality crystals, which is what Dulce was using, cause a 1% increase in toxicity per crystal used.

But she was spending all day with Jacob. She had to use multiple crystals per day to maintain her youthful appearance. Her blood toxicity got so high that she started exhibiting physical symptoms like muscle spasms and twitching.

Dulce's ability to clear the toxicity was higher than most, but this was too much even for her. Jacob recognized the signs and confronted her. He told her she needed to stop, for her health.

"I know you're using youth crystals. I happened to hear that an older woman owns the apothecary that you run. You can stop. You don't need to keep up this appearance for me. I love you. I will love you no matter what you look like," Jacob said.

"I can't take the chance that you'll leave me. My heart can't take it," Dulce said. "I love you, Jacob. I couldn't stand to lose you."

"If you keep using crystals you'll get sick, and eventually you'll die. I can't take that chance either. You and I will just stay here in this room until the crystal's effect ends. And then I'll show you how much I love you," he said.

Dulce got up and went to leave the room, but Jacob blocked the door. "Jacob, please move."

"I can't, Dulce," Jacob said, a single tear running down his face. "I love you too much. I can't watch you destroy yourself."

Dulce felt the all too familiar sensation of the crystal's effects ending. She had 30 seconds until Jacob saw her true form and became disgusted by her. "Jacob, please move! There's no time!"

"I can't do it. You'll have to go through me," he said.

"Jacob, I don't want to do this, but I have to," Dulce said, tears streaming down her face.

Dulce lifted her hand and summoned a powerful gust of wind. She formed the gust into a circle so it mostly hit the edges of the door rather than Jacob. She blasted it at Jacob and the door behind him. Jacob and the door flew back into the next room. Jacob lost his balance and tripped backward, falling and hitting his head against a table.

Dulce ran to the next room and used a crystal just before the previous crystal's effects ended. "I'm sorry, Jacob. I had to do it. You understand right?" She said this from the other room.

There was no answer from Jacob. "Jacob?" Dulce walked into the next room and saw Jacob lying unconscious on the floor.