The clash between the two Loup-garous gave each a chance to assess the weaknesses and the strengths of their adversaries, along with their preferred fighting style. Both Loups were proficient in magic but used them differently.

Ben-Renee favored magic that enhanced his strength and claw sharpness, preferring to fight like a berserk animal while also keeping in control. His enchanted claws were so sharp that they could cut concrete walls like butter without any indication of the claws breaking. He was also capable of basic fire magic, enough to complement his specialty in close quarter combat. The Loup was also nimble for his size, capable of dodging Jacques’s homing bullets, something that surprised the gunslinging Loup.

Ben-Renee, however, did not wish to risk getting himself shot, so he made sure to overwhelm Jacques as close as possible, within the point-blank range of his revolver. Jacques was aware of this and was able to counter it. While he considered himself a gunslinger, years of experience enabled him to understand the inherent weakness of gun combat.

If he was not an experienced and proficient mage himself, he might not have thought of this. He should thank Raine for the idea, even though he still could not decipher the secrets of his one-of-a-kind counter spell.

Ben-Renee dashed within Jacques’s personal space while risking his head from being shot at point-blank range and slashed Jacques with his enhanced claws. The attack hit something, but to Ben-Renee’s surprise, it wasn’t Jacques’s flesh.

Rather, it was one of the Loup’s guns, which Jacques’s kept close to him with his left hand. The gun itself was unscathed, its metal gleaming as if polished. Jacques, while reluctant, realized that this was an opportunity he could not miss.

With his sharp, canine teeth, he bit down Ben-Renee’s stopped arm. The strength of the Loup’s bite was able to penetrate Ben-Renee’s arm, drawing blood and causing considerable flesh wound. Ben-Renee howled in pain and kicked Jacques repeatedly, trying to force him to let go. Jacques himself did not want to risk having his jaws broken, so he broke free, panting and spitting out Ben-Renee’s blood. His teeth, however, were still blood splattered.

“Damn,” said Ben-Renee as he held his injured arm. “I didn’t think you’d fight like that.”

“Why not?” said Jacques as he was recovering. “I’m not going to win without pulling all the stops.”

“Such is the unspoken rule of our present. Sometimes, I envy those who lived their whole lives in havens without ever seeing the real world. Then again, it’s better to have a dream than a nightmare, don’t you agree?”

“Oh, cut that Nihilo bullshit,” said Jacques, evidently annoyed. “If you think this world’s an illusion, then kill yourself and find out. You don’t need to drag everyone down with you.”

“Honestly, I don’t believe in the sermons,” said Ben-Renee. “But I don’t go around breaking our trusts and selling us out.”

“You deserved it.”

“That’s what you believe, Jacques Barlow,” said Ben-Renee. “Then again, I’m sure anything I’m going to say is not going to convince you otherwise. Whatever your vendetta against us doesn’t mean anything to everyone but you.”

Jacques ready himself for another round. He needed to make his next shot count. Ben-Renee may have been wounded, but he was far from defeated. In fact, Jacques was worried that his adversary had something up his sleeve. Something that could easily turn the situation around.

They each readied themselves, knowing that the next attack would be their last. They knew they could not waste anything, with Jacques steadying his aim and imbuing the last bullet in his revolver with magic, while Ben-Renee cast a spell. To Jacques’s surprise, Ben-Renee was already too close for Jacques to make a shot. He realized that the massive Loup enhanced his legs to move at impossible speed. This caused the gunslinger to break his aim and dodge. Ben-Renee’s claws grazed Jacques’s chest. The speed of his attack was enough to cause great damage to the Loup, causing him to bleed profusely.

Ben-Renee, however, did not expect his attack to miss, though it wasn’t going to stop him from trying again. But then, by this point, his attack became too predictable for Jacques to miss. Jacques would not give his adversary another chance. But as he readied himself to shoot Ben-Renee, he abruptly changed his plan. Holstering his other revolver, he turned his remaining gun around, holding its barrel with both his hands. Ben-Renee dashed towards him, but this time, Jacques was prepared. He already raised his revolver over his head. Then, at the very last second, Jacques’s turned aside, and swing his revolver down.

The revolver, enhanced to the point of becoming a makeshift hammer, hit the back of Ben-Renee’s head. The force of the attack was strong enough to crack the bigger Loup’s skull. Jacques did not come out of this exchange unscathed, as Ben-Renee’s claw left a big gash through his thigh right after the strike. The force of the attack and the pain tripped Jacques, causing him to fall. He grunted in pain as his blood pooled under him.

Elsewhere, just as the Fa’ar kid managed to dispatch some of the snipers with the last of his make-shift grenades, he looked at the battlefield below to find Jacques in pain and bleeding hard. He was clutching his maimed thigh, which was bleeding profusely. Without hesitating, the kid quickly climbed down from the balcony and ran on all fours towards Jacques. This concern to the Loup’s well-being proved to be the kid’s mistake, as the moment he ran out into the open, he became an open target.

Several attackers noticed the Fa’ar kid and turned their attention towards him. They started rushing towards him or shooting at him, causing the kid to start moving around to dodge, relying on his Fa’ari nimbleness. This diversion also caused Raine and Karkas, who by this point were already at their limits, to realize what happened while they were focusing on defending themselves. They, too, realized the peril that Jacques was in.

“By Sobek! Jacques!” exclaimed Karkas as he rushed towards him while pushing aside the cultists who were fixated on the kid. Raine also used this diversion to kill the distracted cultists.

Jacques, meanwhile, grunted in pain as he tried to move his leg. Ben-Renee’s last attack robbed him of his mobility. Yet, he was surprised when his adversary was still able to move despite of Jacques’s attack.

But that was the last of Ben-Renee’s strength. He only managed to raise his body before his arms became weak, causing him to fall again. His head was bleeding profusely, and his eyes indicated that he was already dying, but still aware enough to have one last conversation with the Loup.

“Guess we…took each other out…huh?” said Ben-Renee.

“I’m not close to death, if that’s what you mean,” said Jacques.

Ben-Renee weakly chuckled. “Ah…I should’ve heeded her advice when I decided to plan this ambush. I knew Senesin’s…off the game, and I knew he’d…say this is the place to find me. But, like a fool, I…became overconfident. Such allies you have…Jacques Barlow.”

Jacques could not say anything except grunting in pain. The kid reached him and tried to say something in the line of “Are you okay?”, only that nothing came out of his mouth. Jacques, however, could understand.

“What do you think?” he replied, sarcastically. The kid scrambled to get some bandages he kept in his satchel and was going to wrap it around Jacques when the Loup said, “Wait! Close the wound first. Do you have a knife and a lighter?”

The Fa’ar nodded as he pulled out what Jacques needed.

“Now, do exactly what I tell you. Heat the blade of the knife. I’ll help with the magic.”

The Fa’ar did just that, with Loup using a basic fire spell to increase the heat and intensity of the flame. In no time at all, the knife was already red hot.

“Now press that blade over my cut wound. Don’t hesitate. Just do it.”

The Fa’ar did hesitate, not wanting to hurt Jacques even more. Nevertheless, Jacques forcefully put the heated knife to his open wound, causing him to grunt loudly in reaction to the immense pain. The Fa’ar panicked, worried that he made the wounds worse. Rather, Jacques, barely conscious, said, “N-now…clean the wound…and wrap it up.”

The kid nodded and pulled out his water canteen. As he poured out the content to clean the blood, Ben-Renee weakly laughed and said, “Why bother? You will never…escape us. We never forget…a betrayal.”

“Yeah, I figured you’d say that,” said Jacques after he recovered from the pain. “Feel free to come. So much easier than going around the wasteland, anyway.”

Ben-Renee managed to scoff. “That arrogant attitude…will not help you. You are…horribly outnumbered…and outmatched. And if they know…you’d wish you say things differently.”

Jacques’s expression turned serious, hiding his worries behind his lupine expression. Even the Fa’ar kid could feel something changed, especially when Jacques said, “Don’t you dare.”

Ben-Renee, however, did not wish to take more of his energies to taunt Jacques, so he used the last of his strength to say what he had to say.

“I’m sure he told you why he turned against us,” said Ben-Renee to the kid. “But he’s not the reluctant killer he made you think. He…killed that Sun Child…by—”

“Enough!” Jacques raised his voice uncharacteristically. The Fa’ar was taken aback by his angered tone.

Unfortunately, he couldn’t stop the dying Loup.

“—his hand,” finished Ben-Renee. “We Loup-Garous…called him ‘bisclavret’, The Lupine Terror. He would finish a job…no matter who the target is. You…should be worried, little rat. I’m sure he won’t hesitate…if you disappoint him.”

The Fa’ar simply mouthed ‘Liar’ as he kept working on the Loup’s wound. Ben-Renee did not catch this. What convinced the Fa’ar, however, was when Jacques used the last of his bullets to shoot the Loup-Garou in the head. One would think that it was enough, as Ben-Renee was already dead, but instead, seething in rage, Jacques continued to shoot the body with energy bullets, expending more than the six-chamber and shooting repeatedly. In his rage, he even forgot about his injuries. He stood up, held his gun with both of his hands, and repeatedly shot Ben-Renee to the point where his body was riddled with bullets.

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“I said enough!” exclaimed Jacques. He would have continued if it wasn’t for the Fa’ar, now concerned with Jacques’s uncharacteristic action and mental state, grabbing him and tried to stop him. He even tried to shout “Stop!” but only whispers came out of his mouth.

Nevertheless, he tried again, this time, either through desperation or determination, the kid managed to say a complete sentence.

“He’s dead, Jacques!” said the kid. “Stop shooting!”

Jacques, realizing what he had just done, stopped and looked at the Loup’s heavily damaged body, then at his revolver. He let his anger get the best of him, all because of what Ben-Renee said. Horrified, his grip on his gun weakened, letting it fall to the ground as he started to be reminded the true reason for his vendetta, and the reason for his insistence of working alone, and his reluctance to save the kid, and even him considering the option of killing the Fa’ar to free him from his suffering.

All these thoughts caused him to not realize that the kid regained his voice, even if it was nothing more than a coarse voice. He did not realize this until Raine and Karkas reached them after taking care of the remaining cultists, which was made considerably easier after what Jacques did. They saw what Jacques did and approached him when they saw how the kid tried to stop him from continuing what he did.

“What happened?” asked Raine. “Jacques, what happened?”

“That Loup…angered him,” said the kid, staggering his words to alleviate the irritation in his throat. “But…that can’t be right…can it? Jacques?”

Raine wanted to say something, but was then drawn to the unfamiliar, croaked voice. It did not take long before he realized who was speaking.

“Kid…did you just talk?” asked Raine, astonished.

“I guess I am,” said the kid. “But I might…need to stop. My throat’s…dry.”

He coughed afterwards, prompting Karkas to share some water. The Fa’ar did not hesitate to gulp it all down.

Raine did not spare any time to ask Jacques, who looked upset and unusually agitated. Raine was going to touch his shoulder as a comforting gesture but decided not to do it. Instead, he simply remarked, “Something shook you up so badly. It’s not like you at all.”

“I’m fine, Raine,” said Jacques.

“Doesn’t look fine to me.”

“I said I’m fine!”

Jacques’s raised, angered voice surprised Raine. This made him even more concerned.

“Look, buddy, don’t keep it to yourself. If you need to talk about it, then talk. I won’t judge.”

“You can say that because you weren’t there. You were not…”

“I think I can elaborate on that.”

The unknown, woman voice was followed by a portal opening out of nowhere. A blonde human with long, straight hair walked out of it, followed by a brown furred Fa’ar beside her.

“Claire,” said Jacques with a growl.

“You cannot deny it forever,” said Claire. “It’s everyone’s mistake, Jacq. Not just you.”

“Everyone?! You don’t know how I felt when I pulled the trigger, human! You may be there to share the guilt, but I was the one who pulled the trigger!”

“We could’ve stopped you, Jacq.”

“Then why didn’t you?! No, don’t answer that. Nihilo forced your hands. Of course, they would! I made a promise to end them once and for all and now I found that my old friends rebuilt it! I thought you two were horrified!”

“We were, Jacq. Honestly, we were,” ensured Maril. “But we can’t let the name die just—”

“That name is already cursed ever since they decided to fuck things up in the wasteland! You two have clearly been pulled to their dogmas, haven’t you?!”

“Oh, spare me,” said Claire with a scoff. “Don’t lump me in with the die-hard idiots with a death wish. The Church has a purpose now, one that is not an illusion.”

“You’re practically confirming that you are!”

“Whoa, wait!” interrupted Raine. “Time-out, fellas! Why don’t we sit down and tell us what’s exactly going on before you start shooting spells at each other, hmm?”

“Raine, stay out of this!” warned Jacques.

“No.” Maril shook her head. “The man has the right to know.”

“They don’t even know what Nihilo is before I told them! They don’t need to know!”

“But they know who Jacques Barlow is…or rather, what you want them to think who you are.”

“Eh?” said the kid. “You mean…that Loup…is saying the truth?”

Maril turned her head to Ben-Renee’s body, then returned to the kid and said, “Whatever Graulon said to you have a basis of truth because I told him everything. Jacq was the one who ended the old Nihilo, but it only came because he realized what he did.”

“You mean the one where he’s supposed to kill the child savior?”

“Supposed to? Well, he has a way with words, doesn’t he? He did his job well, Jacques. But of course, we both worked with him long enough to realize that it’s unusually sloppy. It’s understandable, since his target was a child, after all. Maybe he wanted to believe that it wasn’t his bullet that killed his target. How could he be so sure? It was a chaotic mess. A stray bullet shot by a backup assassin must’ve finished the job he botched. But Jacques…oh, he’s far too good for that. He is by no means a perfect assassin, but that doesn’t mean he is a bad assassin.”

Jacques could try and convince his friends that Maril was lying, but instead of staying silent and looking pathetic, he rose to his feet despite the pain caused by his injuries and put one of his guns to Maril’s head, further confirming what he said was not the whole truth.

“Do it, Jacques,” said Maril. “It’s so easy. Just fill the chambers with shots and pull the trigger. But then, there’s Claire, and that bullet could easily be redirected to him.”

Maril was referring to the kid. This caused Jacques to hesitate.

“What’s wrong? Fa’ars are disposable,” said Maril as she turned around to face the Loup. “We rats don’t deserve anything after what our ancestors did to yours. To this world. Those so-called lore-keepers made sure of it for a thousand years. Sure, it can get quite distorted, but then, the truth’s distorted to our detriment. Maybe after a couple of years, they will turn us into diseased animals with none of the rights reserved for humans or beast people. We’re just rats, after all.”

“No, you’re not,” said Karkas. “Rats can’t be deceitful, or caring, or even forgiving.”

Maril chuckled dryly. “Try and tell that to the hardliners. Maybe they’ll let you out with just some reprimands, or maybe they’ll lynch you for talking such heresy. Ah, I’m just kidding about that lynching part. But they’ll lynch us first whenever we are involved. They have a point, though. If they didn’t do that first, the Fa’ars would end up outsmarting them. I’m sure that’s the ‘deceitful’ part you said, buyan.”

Karkas couldn’t refute that fact. He could only look away awkwardly.

“Then again, Jacques, maybe you didn’t see him as a Fa’ar at all,” said Maril. “He looks like he’s around that child’s age if he had five more years of his life ahead of him. Wouldn’t you agree?”

Jacques, in his anger, would tell Maril to shut up, or he would skip that and shoot her right there and then. But she had been telling the truth. She somehow managed to convince him that she was right. Maril’s fearless murine expression was enough for Jacques to realize that she was willing to show Raine and Karkas how dangerous he was when he was blinded with vengeance, and also managed to make Jacques hesitate by words alone. She knew the Fa’ar kid meant more than just a Fa’ar to the Loup, especially when the wolf man hesitated when he became aware of Claire’s magic. For Jacques, the kid reminded him of his greatest mistake.

In a way, the kid was similar to the Sun Child. Forced from birth by a prophecy that he would be their savior, he was denied a name and a childhood. Jacques could not say for sure what the Sun Child’s fate would be, but the Loup was sure that he would never be a normal person when he reached adulthood. Jacques’s bullet fatally wounded him, but not instantly, giving the Loup an opportunity to hear the dying child’s words as he cradled the human and comforted him.

Jacques’s decision was made the moment the Sun Child declared his gratefulness for his death, and after he made Jacques promise that the Loup would carry his retribution. Jacques, disillusioned after the seed of doubt was already growing for some time, readily swore upon the child’s last breath. The rest was history, and so was his outlook on life.

Knowing that Claire and Maril were not bluffing, and that the kid was already an important part of his life, Jacques reluctantly lowered his gun.

“Now,” said Maril, who turned towards the rest of the group. “I suggest you stay out of Nihilo’s business if you wish to live the rest of your lives in peace. Our problem is with Jacques Barlow only.”

Jacques did not argue. He knew that, after his allies learned what he really did, there was no way they would want to continue working with him anymore. Killing a child aside, he clearly lied to his friends. He did not wish for them to know about this. In fact, if Maril just stayed silent and let him deal with the remains of the Church of Nihilo, he would feel better, as he would be taking it to his grave.

He stayed silent and sadly looked at Raine, Karkas, and finally, the kid. Jacques wished he knew about the kid’s name before this happened. It didn’t feel right not knowing his name, as his previous situation of meeting a young person with no name ended in tragedy. He could simply ask him and be glad about it before his inevitable end.

And as usual, the kid continued to surprise him when he was the first of the three to walk to Jacques’s side, readying his sawblade weapon, one that struck terror to the hearts of both the enemies and his own allies. He considered turning it on to show that he was serious but decided not to. With the current state of his throat, he could not speak normally just yet, let alone shout over the loud noise of grinding saw. He needed the Fa’ar lady to listen to what he had to say.

“He saved…me,” said the kid. “He may…not be the best…person, but Jacques…saved me.”

“Kid, I….” Jacques knew he never saved the kid, but the Fa’ar turned to him, silently telling him not to say anything.

“And he is…a friend. Mi tanem,” continued the kid. “Mi…tanem keb.”

“What does that mean?” asked Jacques.

“It means ‘best friend’,” said Maril with a sigh. “Wow. I never thought you’d be the one who’d stay by his side, Fa’ar. Hope you’re as prepared to die as the gerisla, cabo.”

The Fa’ar’s determined look was the answer he gave to Maril, who could only nod.

“So,” said Maril. “Who else is prepared to die?”

There was a considerable pause. Jacques knew Karkas and Raine were not as forgiving as the kid, especially Karkas. While the four of them trusted each other and Karkas even fought with the gunslinger Loup side-by-side, this fact would surely shatter whatever respect the Croc had towards the Loup. Even Raine, who sometimes annoyed Jacques with his antics and infectious optimism, would not want to be associated with someone who both lied about who he was and a child killer, even if it was executed with great reluctance. There was never an excuse for that.

Thus, he would understand if Raine and Karkas wanted to cut ties with him then and there, which made it even more surprising when Raine walked forward with his usual smile clutching his sheathed sword.

“You know,” said Raine. “I always had a suspicion that Jacques’s a wanted criminal. He’s withdrawn, acting like a piece of shit, and worst of all, I found out that he’s buying stuffs that put a strain on our money. I mean, sure, he always said that he works alone and he doesn’t care if we starve or not.”

“Raine…that’s low,” commented Jacques.

“And to top it all off, I happened to find out that he was the one who did it. I can understand that he’s trying to bury his mistake and forget about it. Sure, I feel hurt by it, but do I feel betrayed? No. Not when I understand him enough through our fight. He is my rival, but you know what? I don’t hate him. So, if you think revealing his past is going to change that, you’re sorely mistaken. Then, of course, it depends on whether Jacques’s going to shoot me to get his point across.”

“Get my point…? What do you mean, Raine?”

“You know some stories where the hero injures his companions because he believes he can solve things by himself? I won’t let you do that, Jacques, not after we’ve been through together. The kid’s got the right idea. I might as well go through with this. Can’t have a Fa’ar upstage me, right, kiddo?”

“Oh, Shut up, sabangse,” retorted the kid, albeit with chuckle.

Raine then turned his head back to find Karkas, who, unlike the kid and Raine, was far more reluctant to go through with it. Nevertheless, Raine, with his usual light-hearted banter, said, “You in or out, big guy? We could use some support.”

“I….” Karkas hesitated. He was understandably conflicted, knowing that, once again, he blindly followed a person that quite possibly did not deserve any respect from him. Even if it was an accident, Jacques still took the life of a child. Now that he knew that it was not an accident, it further his reluctance in associating with the Loup-Garou Karkas may not follow the river god’s teachings, but he agreed on one thing.

Pulling out a young sprout deprives its chance to grow into a tree that will bear fruit for years to come.

Everyone understood if Karkas did not want to go with it, so Raine did not want to waste time and returned his attention to Maril and Claire.

“Well, here we are,” said Raine, his hands outstretched. “Whatcha waiting for? Send in the cavalry and be done with it.”

Claire let out a deep, menacing chuckle. “So eager to die, aren’t you all?” she said. “Well, then. Welcome to your ends.”