The three linked triangles in his left eye flicked about, switching positions as it gazed down at the fallen boy. William Martin, seventeen years old, and a source of darkness like no other. He lay there, unmoving, while his eyes told him he was alive and his mind screamed at him to kill him.

‘He’s a threat! Kill him!’

‘Do you see those bodies behind you! It’s him! He caused this carnage!’

“No.” Kazi knelt down to the boy and checked his pulse. “He’s…out of mana. The darkness is gone.”

Hollow laughter echoed in the lands as the rain continued. Kazi remained rooted to where he was. “He’s just a kid.”

‘A kid that killed hundreds of people, enemy and allies alike. He’s a threat! Kill him! Kill him—!’

…

“Sorry, sorry. It’s just…” William’s laughter tapered off, smiling without meaning. “...you’re more of a father to me than my actual father was. He would have never said something like that to me.”

…

“Hey, Kazi. Let’s make it out of this alive, ‘kay?”

William held out a fist for him to bump. Chuckling, Kazi gently knocked on it.

“Yeah.”

…

Kazi’s eyes furrowed. Two fingers on his neck, he could have just as easily incinerated his neck with a quick application of Fire Finger. He considered it a hundred times. He thought about how he would explain himself to Sun-young, Marta, and everyone else.

He really considered killing him right then and there.

Maybe it was a mistake. Maybe he was being too optimistic. Maybe his emotions were getting to him, because he neither killed William or healed him. He left him there.

“He’s out of mana but…he’ll be fine.” His brows softened. He ran a hand through his dirty blond hair, inhaling sharply. “Physically, at least. Mentally…”

Mentally, Kazi was able to confirm that William’s condition was worse than he thought. Whatever the Wendigo did, it corrupted and added to his disorder and turned it into something it wasn’t supposed to be. Before, William was clearly confident in controlling himself.

He looked over his shoulder and down the hill. He witnessed the rise of many players and soldiers on the shore. He witnessed life after death. To think that William was responsible for all that death was…

‘Stop it. You made your decision.’ Kazi looked down at the teenager. His face down, Kazi was able to catch one side of his youthful face. Asleep, it was a soft reminder that he was indeed a kid. ‘It might be a mistake. He might kill more people, or he might carry this burden for the rest of his life.’ Inhale. 'I'm sorry.'

The burden of being a killer. Kazi knew that burden all too well. The weight of it didn’t hit him till he was older when his arrogance was gone. Afterwards, it was like a curse that plagued his dreams. Kazi, who was hailed as the Guided One, who was raised amongst a river of corpses, felt his heart ache. Genius, reputation and wealth were irrelevant, killing always had a way of getting back at the killer. Sometimes big, sometimes minor, yet always lurking.

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‘Huh?’ The sixth sense at the back of his head tingled and he looked up ahead, then to the left. Across the waters of Dublin Bay, he was just barely able to make out an explosion in the sky. His eyes zoomed in as if possessed by a binocular. ‘A…phoenix…? In Dublin City? What the hell is going on there?’

Up north was Dugball’s Bridge, the army’s way of reaching Dublin City. Luckily, Kazi had no need for that path. He was able to walk on water. Rather than go north and trail the shores of the land till he reached the bridge, then across the bridge, he could cross Dublin Bay and reach the city on his own, no boat or bridge necessary.

“Sorry, William. I have to go.”

Between the light of the Phoenix, he sensed a stronger, more robust darkness. There was only person in his mind capable of such magical might—Jack the Ripper.

He did hesitate though. Up ahead several kilometres, on the Dugbalm Bridge he surmised, was a presence unlike anything he had sensed before. Not as evil or pure as Jack and often fluctuating in magical energy. Closer yet out of sight, Kazi wasn’t sure whether to concern himself with it.

There were several additional presences too. Small pockets of battle being conducted by leftover soldiers and players. There was one particularly large battle far, far north of the bridge, to the point that he wondered if it was Kilmainham. Closing his eyes and failing to get an immediate grasp of his surroundings, he decided to chase after Jack. Time was wasting.

The longships and boats parked at Dublin City, belonging to the Vikings acting as reinforcements for the city, were devoid of people. It was like the Vikings and players had either fled or…

His expression hardened. ‘They never made it back..’

Each step required a careful placement of mana under his feet. Each step was full of conscious motion and control of energy. An impossible feat of control for anyone not named Kazi. He crossed Dublin Bay and arrived at the southern portion of the city.

That was when he zoomed in on a familiar figure leaning on the outside of the city walls. A large hole was beside the figure who looked like he had narrowly escaped, bloody and standing on his two legs like twigs.

Rather than recklessly charging into battle to face the encroaching darkness, Kazi appeared in front of him.

“Nash,” Kazi called out, looking him over. His injuries were bad, a small hole in his stomach. There was a woman, Andrea, lying in front of him. With a small gesture, he activated Divine Miracle Rain, summoning thick clouds, and healing her with the subsequent droplets. “What happened?” he asked.

“...thanks,” Nash managed to say, his gaze locked on the woman. Andrea, like him, wore a dark tweed suit. Coughing, panting, he continued, “A guy with a white mask. Jack.”

To speed up the healing, Kazi activated Divine Miracle Water. Andrea groaned into the ground as she was enveloped in water and healed exponentially faster. Kazi planned to move onto Nash but the dirty blonde raised a hand.

“Don't,” Nash said. “Don't waste your mana on me and go. Your lady friends are there. So go.”

‘Lady friends…? Sun-young and Marta!’ Kazi's focus snapped to the inside of the city. He wasn’t able to see but he was able to feel. Within the swirling darkness, underneath the droplets of rain falling into Dublin City, he sensed Marta and Sun-young, and he sensed one of them was rapidly losing their mana.

“I'll be fine.” Nash stood still, leaning on the wall, his eyes almost blank save for the flickers of agony. “Please, just…promise me…kill that bastard. For my friends.” His voice croaked. “Please.”

Kazi looked away, pretending not to see or hear the tears streaming down the battered man's face. The mana inside Kazi reached a boiling point.

“Look out for the shadows,” Nash warned. “It's…it's where…he…” he trailed off, the light in his eyes fading.

Kazi kept his back to him, still refused to look, and made a small gesture with his hand. A delightful aura of blue enveloped Nash, healing him though not waking him up.

“I will.”

He regarded Nash's words and conjured up a strategy in turn. If shadows were his ally, then Kazi would need to be the sun. He would need to become that which the shadows couldn't touch.

He took one step, then another. The hole in the city walls was a fool's way of entering. A direct pathway to death. The city seemed to be steeped in Jack's mana and if he so much as touched the walls Jack would know he was here.

So Kazi ran up. Up, up, up, till he was in the sky. Till the world below him was nothing but small pieces. He was climbing a staircase to heaven, creating blocks of mana underneath his feet and continuing to step up. He aimed for the absolute center of the city.

Finally, he was there. Kazi Hossain stood over Dublin City with the gaze of a god ready to hand down judgment. Lines of black were imprinted on his face.

Sadness, sorrow, life, and death.

All of it was within him.