Naomi could hardly process the scene. "E... Edmund..?"

"Such a shame, Eddie," Kaz uttered, his tone devoid of remorse. "And here I thought we were kindred spirits."

"Kaz..? Why... why did you...?"

"He's fulfilled his purpose; this place is on the cusp of bursting thanks to his magicks. Unfortunately, I couldn't let him throw a spanner in the works after getting this far. When I said we'd die here today, I truly meant it. We must go out as martyrs."

"He sacrificed himself to give us an out, and you... you..."

"An out? We never needed an out, Nams. No, his surrender would've undone years of progress for our movement. Had we taken his gracious out, imagine the headlines tomorrow, the things they'd say about us. 'Magus Revolt Promptly Quelled by Bureau' on the front page of every major news publication in Alondis. No one would ever take us seriously. Not the public, not the government, not even our brethren. The only way we can get people to listen is by leaving our mark right here, right now, by blowing this factory sky-high."

"What of your family..? Your wife and daughter? The loved ones you said you were doing this for. Won't they be devastated?"

"Ah... them?" Kaz levered himself up and turned his gaze to the ceiling. "They're already gone."

"Huh..?"

"Happened last fall. We relocated to the slums after I was sacked from my job. The timing couldn't have been any worse; Rose Blight had ravaged the district. Magicks are useless against illnesses, and the medicine wasn't cheap. In the end, my baby girl didn't make it to winter. And Marian, she... she died shortly after."

"And?" Garreth directed his sabre at the magus. "You expect sympathy after doing in the poor bastard who stuck his neck out for you?"

"Perish the thought. Just felt it was fair to let these folks know the motivation behind my actions before I reduce them to dust."

"'Fair' is leaving innocents out of your deranged personal vendetta against society."

"Save your judgments for the afterlife, and know that your deaths will be a crucial stepping stone to a world where those with the Gift aren't treated like pests," the magus steadied his staff, sights fixed on the Bureau agent. "I'm going to need you to back me up on this one, Nams. Our magicks combined, this place won't even last a minute."

Naomi gritted her teeth. "I... I can't go along with this. I'm sorry, but... you're on your own."

"That so? How disappointing. Then again, I always did peg you as a weak-willed—"

Garreth sped ahead in the hopes of taking him by surprise.

"Wait!" Naomi exclaimed, her lips moving on their own.

A split second was all it took for the Bureau agent to wrap his head around the girl's warning. Detecting the magicks beneath his feet, Garreth folded his right arm over his torso. Sure enough, a skewer of steel sprung up from the pavement, shredding through the Bureau agent's sleeve and driving him back. Forced on the defensive, the now sleeveless Garreth assumed a guarded pose.

"You're sorely mistaken if you think it'll be that easy," Kaz derided.

Spotting faint concentric rings fringed by runic letters etched into the concrete floor surrounding the magus, Garreth worked out the source of the attack. "Magick circles, eh?"

"Eddie's handiwork. Impressed?"

"Suppose it draws power from him every time it activates?"

"Even in death, he aids our cause as an energy source."

The Bureau agent scratched his head. "The Gift brings the worst out of folk, doesn't it..."

"Talamh stailinn!"

An arc of gleaming blades materialised above Kaz as he chanted the invocation; they loomed over his head like a swarm of predatory birds. And with a wave of his rod, the armaments descended upon Garreth, slicing through the thick air in a cacophony of high-pitched whines. The Bureau agent retaliated with a whirlwind of parries, denying magick flow to each blade his sword made contact with and sending them clattering to the ground in droves.

As his sabre clashed with the onslaught of steel, Garreth found it impossible to make headway. There was no opening amid the endless torrent of projectiles buffeting him. Kaz evidently had more than enough mana left to ignite the whole district. Mesmerised by the agility on display, Lynn stopped to watch as her partner adroitly dodged and deflected the cascade. His lightning-fast manoeuvres were unlike anything she'd ever witnessed.

"Enjoying the show?" the overseer said dryly, eyeing her through fogged-up glasses.

"A-ah, sorry!" Coming to her senses, the girl hurried over to the orc and severed his binds.

"About damn time," he rubbed his lenses with his tie. "Why you chose to prioritise the small fry over us is beyond me, but I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and overlook this slight..."

Inspecting the half-elf, the overseer bit his tongue. And a subdued grin played on his green face.

"Oh? Well, I'll be an ogre's uncle..."

"Is something the matter..?"

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

"No. Just surprised over the kind of people they let into the Bureau nowadays." The overseer got up and massaged the rope burns on his wrists. "More importantly, shouldn't you be helping your friend?" Swinging around, Lynn learned his remark was not far from the truth. While Garreth did well to protect himself, save for a few cuts and bruises here and there, it was clear the magus had him pinned down.

"What's... wrong?" Kaz taunted, battling drowsiness as his mana neared zero. "Getting... tired?"

On the verge of exhaustion, Garreth heaved his chest and wiped the blood dripping from the gash on his cheek. As seasoned as he was, head-on confrontations with magi were not ideal. The relentless bombardment had taken its toll on his stamina. And the magus indicated no sign of letting up. The space had gradually heated up as the fight raged on; the blistering flames had taken on an indigo hue. It was only a matter of time before the factory erupted into a fiery mess.

"Shit..." struggling to keep up, the Bureau agent came to terms with the fact that this place was a lost cause and called out to his partner. "Freed all the hostages, rookie?!"

"Yes, sir! All twenty-two children are here and accounted for! So are the overseers!"

"Round them up and get the fuck out of here! Steel mill's done for!"

"W... what about you, sir?!"

"Don't worry about me! I've got my hands full with this blueblood!"

"B-but..!"

"Just go, dammit!"

Listening to their exchange, Kaz targeted Lynn and the hostages. "Can't... have you... running away now!"

Rows of blades shot forward, dispersed in such a way as to hit everyone in the room. In a flash, Garreth spun around and knocked all of them down with but a single cleave. "I won't let you!"

Lynn stood rooted to the spot, conflicted about how to proceed. The stakes were astronomically high, unfairly so. Frantically scanning the room, she thought of potential escape routes, all while wrestling with the conscious decision to leave her partner for dead. Her chest pounded as the lives of dozens rested on her shoulders. And the conflicted expression painted on her reddened countenance captured Naomi's attention.

"If you're planning on escaping, you're out of luck," the magus spoke up. "Those flames are blocking the only exit here, and passing through them is out of the question. You'll be incinerated the instant you touch them. And don't bother busting through the steel bars. Every one of them is rigged with magick circles."

"T-then, how are we supposed to—?"

"Our only shot at making it out of this alive... is if Kaz dies. If the outpouring of magicks ceases, we can ensure the factory won't blow up with us in it. Your best move right now is to kill him."

Registering Naomi's request, the Bureau agent furrowed her brow. "Are you okay with that..?"

"Kaz... Kaz lost himself long ago. I failed to realise that. No... I didn't want to," the magus choked up. "So I beg of you, please put him out of his misery. For the sake of us all."

Brushing the sweat off her forehead, Lynn looked at her switchblade. She knew this was the opportune moment to make use of her talents here. Everyone's survival depended on it.

The half-elf girl flitted her knife between her knuckles and nipped it by the tip, its stainless metal surface pressed against her finger and thumb. Raising the switchblade over her head, she recalled how she used to practice throwing knives in her youth. While the weight of the handle felt strange in a hand she seldom used, she had faith in her abilities and let her instincts guide her movements.

"Wait, seriously..?" Naomi stared at her. "From here?"

Separating Lynn and the rampaging magus was a breadth of thirty yards, the deluge of blades forming a barrier with few, if any, gaps. It was not merely a question of trajectory but timing as well. Failure was not an option. The switchblade was the only weapon she had remaining at her disposal; one go was all she had. Drawing her arm, she took a deep breath and closed her right eye as she honed in on Kaz.

As she emptied her mind, the crackling flames and clashing steel faded into the background, and the Bureau agent planted her foot forth, positioning herself for the perfect throw. Isolated from the chaos, she tightened her form and flung the switchblade in a forceful but precise downward swing. The knife whizzed past the never-ending hail, narrowly avoiding the oncoming blades as it travelled the full length of its charted course.

It then froze mid-flight, suspended inches away from the Kaz's chest.

"Almost... got me there," the magus tapped the switchblade with his staff, causing it to plunge onto the concrete. "Cheap tricks... won't work on me... you damned dirty—!"

"Now, sir!" Lynn shouted.

By the time Kaz made sense of the girl's words, her partner was in front of him; the magus had unwittingly played into Lynn's hands. In actuality, the knife served as a distraction which provided Garreth with the window to strike. Kaz scrambled to realign his stave with the enemy, but it was already too late. With a swift sideward sweep, the Bureau agent lopped the magus' head clean off his neck. And Naomi turned away, trembling.

Kaz's decapitated body dropped to its knees before falling to the ground with a resounding thud; his mask slipped off his face as his head rolled across the floor, revealing haggard, middle-aged features and a peaceful gaze. "Don't drag others into your death wish, you selfish bastard," Garreth swiped his sword, clearing the blood off its blade. Sheathing his sabre, the Bureau agent pivoted away from the magus' corpse and made his way toward Lynn and the hostages.

"Sir!" the half-elf girl scampered up to him. "A-are you okay?"

"At ease, rookie," Garreth pressed the gash on his cheek with the handkerchief in his jacket. "As bad as it looks, these are merely surface wounds. I won't be bleeding out anytime soon."

"O-oh, thank goodness..."

"Our primary concern should be escaping this nightmare. The risk of entropic meltdown should be minimal since the spellcasters have been dealt with, but..."

The Bureau agent's intuition told him something was amiss. The zone was still rapidly degenerating. It was a subtle feeling, but one that made his hair stand on end. Nevertheless, distinguishing its origins from the frenzied magicks was easier said than done; it was like listening for a whisper amid a hurricane. If it didn't stop, however, it could spell disaster. Hoping to find the culprit, Garreth keenly focused on the disparity in air pressure around him.

As he did, a spire of steel lunged at him from across the room. Before he could respond, Lynn shoved him out of the way. Staggered and alert, Garreth whipped around. And his eyes widened as he realised what had transpired.

In his stead, his partner had been stabbed straight through the gullet. Shakily, she grabbed the protrusion, trying to pull away, only to shiver as a sharp pain shot through her body. Throat punctured by the spike, Lynn could only manage gurgles as pails of blood flooded her airways. Unable to breathe, the girl teetered on the brink of death, her eyes welling up with tears upon grasping her fleeting mortality.

Lynn then laboured to look at her partner one last time and, while fighting to stay alive, mouthed a remorseful "I'm sorry" before her consciousness drifted away.

"I... I told you, didn't I?" Edmund, lying on his stomach with a trail of blood behind him, gazed up at Garreth. "Lay a finger... on any one of them... and I'd use all I have left... to set this place off."

And from outside the factory, violet rays streamed through the windows. In the blink of an eye, shards of glass and debris were sent flying in all directions as a cataclysmic explosion reduced the plant to rubble; the shockwave it produced rattled the bones of all those in its vicinity and split the very earth.

That day, ten minutes before noon, all of Alondis was shaken to its core.