‘Why did it have to be over there?’ Arden bemoaned.

  The Godstone directed him to a place near the mountain’s summit. Now, a monolithic monstrosity was preparing to greet him along the way.

  “Damn it.”

  The roar of the Stonelord rang out into the night once more. This time, it was noticeably louder. Closer.

  “That thing is getting closer,” Arden said. “You can stay here and fight me and get killed by the Stonelord, or let me go right now and possibly escape.”

  Arden continued taking steps back and the assassins kept the pace. None of the three made any major moves. Arden didn't want to start a fight right now, while the others were waiting for backup to arrive.

  Arden eventually backed up to a tree while the assassins stood next to the fallen Spawn of the Stonelord.

  Another roar alerted them that the Stonelord was approaching. For now, they still had time. It was fast, but not too fast. It was made of stone after all.

  Arden planned on stalling for the Stonelord to arrive and pray that it would assume that the assassins killed its child and attack them instead. Then, Arden would escape as the monster did what monsters do best.

  Unfortunately, that wasn't going to work.

  In half a second, the pair of assassins leapt forward with their curved sword already in motion. Arden hastily raised his sword and felt sharp pain in stomach and his chest. He had been stabbed by the pair. When the swords were pulled out, Arden saw the curved swords now looked like traditional daggers with serrated blades.

  ‘Shape-shifting weapons?’

  Arden yelled in pain as the blades were repeatedly pulled out and plunged back into him.

  “Give us back our master!” The assassins shouted in unison.

  The assassins used their weapons as conduits for hate, not mere tools. Every strike with the weapons were meant to inflict as much pain as possible.

  However, over his time in this trial, Arden had grown accustomed to pain. It was a constant companion.

  Through the pain that washed over Arden every second, Arden gritted his teeth and fought back in his trademark masochistic way.

  His head slumped forward towards assassin number three's neck.

  It was weird how often Arden relied on his mouth. Back in the slums, he bit off Yaan’s finger. In the magicarriage, he bit off his own finger. This time, he sunk his teeth into the soft flesh of assassin number three's neck.

  Warm blood cascaded down Arden’s face. When some inevitably came into his mouth, he had to stop himself from gagging from sheer revulsion.

  Still, he made sure to put on a performance for the assassins.

  The assassin's attacks became more frequent and frenzied. Their screams of rage had turned to panic as the monster they were hunting let them know that they were nothing but prey.

  Arden wrenched his head back and took a large chunk of viscera with him. He spat it to the ground as assassin three clutched his throat in pain.

  “He did not taste good.”

  No one else moved, so Arden stabbed his sword through the wounded assassin's neck. Arden’s Status told him of the assassin’s vital status.

  You have slain a mundane awakened human, Reza of the Setting Sun.

  As the corpse fell to the ground, Arden rushed towards assassin number four. As was expected of a trained killer, the assassin snapped himself out of the momentary shock he felt from watching his partner get killed.

  “Die, you monster!” the assassin yelled.

  The assassin’s dagger glowed bright as it pierced Arden’s chest where his heart was. Arden let out a pained yell as his advance was stopped. The assassin twisted the blade.

  For the next few moments, Arden could feel his insides being ravaged by something in the knife, like the knife was constantly shifting to different forms. Arden fell to his knees and looked up at the satisfied assassin with vacant eyes.

  His eyes sharpened and his face contorted into a wild grin as the assassin's satisfied face fell.

  “I have your knife,” Arden whispered.

  Arden roared as he slashed across the assassin’s legs, and brought him to the ground too. Arden didn’t waste the opportunity. As the assassin tried and failed to regain strength, Arden mounted him and held the sword to his throat.

  With one hand on the blade and the other on the hilt, Arden pressed forward with his entire weight. Whether the assassin died from being choked or blood loss, Arden didn’t care. He just needed to kill him and move on.

  The assassin tried to push Arden off of him, but couldn't. He couldn’t muster up enough strength. He could barely keep the sword from slicing his throat. After a moment, the assassin felt his consciousness slipping.

  As he looked up at his killer, the assassin had a single thought.

  ‘Why isn’t he bleeding?’

  Arden felt the man’s resistance give up, and he was greeted by another message.

  You have slain a mundane awakened human, Frome of the Setting Sun.

  Arden rolled off of the corpse and took several deep breaths. He slowly got to his feet and took a deep breath.

  ‘How many does that make? Six?’

  Arden didn’t want to think about it. That could be done in a place where he wasn’t under constant threat of death.

  He continued.

  The assassin’s knife was still inside of him with its metal magic blade taking hold of his insides like tree roots. He could feel it reaching every part of him. It was no longer changing shapes, but with the way it was now it wouldn’t matter. Arden was doing enough damage to his body simply by moving with it still in him.

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  Arden’s speed had severely diminished. At this point, he was somewhere in between a limp and a jog. Every step sent paroxysms of pain through his body, but he forced himself to continue.

  Pain was a measure of life after all. The current anguish he felt just meant that he was still very much alive. No matter how much he wished for the pain to stop.

  Remembering the star cores in his pocket, he threw them back the way he came. With any luck, the Stonelord would follow the trace of its spawn and not Arden. Maybe it would even attack Arden’s pursuers. He didn't know if star cores contained traces that could be tracked like that, but Arden was willing to try anything at this point.

  Despite everything, Arden smiled. The idea of using his enemies against each other was an enjoyable one.

  Arden didn’t know how far he limped along, but as he looked up and saw the sky, he realized that he had been walking on an incline. The trees had all but disappeared behind him, and with the natural shielding now gone, Arden felt the full force of the raging winds.

  Cold and unrelenting.

  He took a few more steps forward and realized that this was the end of the road for him. In front of him was a sheer drop, at the bottom of which was a crater filled with trees and a lake next to a clearing.

  His ascent stopped right here.

  Arden shivered in the cold and the raging emotions welling up inside of him. It just felt so unfair. He was so close to the end, but now there was no way forward.

  “This world is cruel,” he said, lacking emotion.

  Arden stood at the edge of the cliff and turned around. Facing him was a small army all in matching black outfits except two.

  One of them was an androgynous man with long black hair. He wore no hood, and his outfit had red detailings on it, letting everyone know that he was more important than the rest.

  The other man not dressed like an assassin was instead dressed like a noble. White and gold decorated his outfit, just like it had when Arden first met the man. Now, it was sullied with dirt and blood as well.

  The leader stepped forward with an amused smirk on his face and his hands held behind his back.

  “You are a hard man to track, Arden. You escaped the prince’s crownguard and left a trail of corpses in your wake since then. It hasn't even been a full night yet. I wonder how many more will fall before your end.”

  Arden stared at the other man, Nux Valtorin.

  “Hopefully, at least one more.”

  Nux appeared shaken. He looked far worse than he did when he had many sleepless nights. It looked like his faith was shaken. He looked at the monster he created.

  Nux didn’t want this. He just wanted to save the world, but his actions had led to everything going wrong.

  He was supposed to help people who needed it, and no one needed more help than the man who arrived in an unknown world days before it was going to end. But instead of helping him, Nux shunned him.

  Despite Arden’s initially kind actions, Nux believed that he was here to take away the Godstone. The weight of the world was on Nux’s shoulders, and in his paranoid state of mind, he feared everyone he didn’t already implicitly trust.

  When he stabbed Arden in the back the first time, Arden called him out for his paranoia and lack of heroism, but Nux didn’t listen. He didn't want to. He already knew that he wasn’t a great hero, but he wanted to become one. In his mind, anything that came out of the demon Arden’s mouth was a lie. The righteous thing to do would be to reform him.

  Then came Silverbrook.

  When Nux killed the woman and brought her body back to his carriage along with Arden, he thought that the devil would be contained and demoralized. He went to sleep for the first time in a week and woke up rested.

  Since then, there was a nagging feeling that he had overreacted, but he couldn’t dwell on it. He needed to keep going.

  The mortem catalyst broke him.

  He saw first hand just what he had done to Arden. He saw the agony that he was responsible for. He saw that Arden’s words were the truth.

  Nux was no hero, and Arden was no monster.

  No hero was capable of inflicting that much pain, and no monster was capable of feeling such grief.

  Despite that, Nux reluctantly knew that for the safety of the world, he could not allow Arden to live this time. Nux had driven the servant to take the Godstone for revenge. Nux knew that he himself was to blame, so he would be the one to rectify it.

  Nux unsheathed his sword by only a few centimeters, but couldn't pull it any further. A quick glance revealed that shadowy tentacles held the blade in place.

  Nocturne spoke.

  “It would be prudent of you to not do anything stupid, prince. Hold yourself momentarily. There is something I need to know.”

  Nocturne's expression turned stony.

  “In the carriage you killed an old man. He was my assassin troupe's mentor. Why did you kill him?”

  “Because he tried to kill me after I was just set free. I told him that I didn't want to be his enemy, but he wouldn't listen.”

  Nocturne slowly nodded his head.

  “I guess I can understand why you did what you did. But how did you kill him?”

  Arden glanced at his sword and smirked.

  “Trade secret. I'm sure an assassin like you understands.”

  Nocturne sighed and put his hand to his forehead.

  “You’re fated to die if you continue acting flippant.”

  Arden couldn't help but laugh. With one hand he grabbed his threadbare bloody robes and pulled, tearing it apart completely, exposing his ghostly pale and thin body.

  Several assassins started murmuring amongst themselves when they saw his body.

  A wide hole in Arden’s chest where he had been stabbed by the prince. Blood had dried around the wound, but to everyone's surprise, no more blood flowed. The same could be said about the countless other marks that scoured his body left by assassins since then, including the knife left by his latest victim.

  “Death has trouble finding me, you see. And when she does, I just slip her a few gold coins to look the other way.”

  Nux paled.

  “You're absolutely insane," he muttered.

  Unbridled fury crossed Arden’s face. He looked like he would win a staring contest with the devil by causing the devil to flinch away.

  “Because of you!” Arden shouted. “You attacked me every day! Nearly castrated me! You gave me potion fatigue! You starved me for days!”

  The memory of Vera's crying face and her soft lips that tasted of blood flashed across his mind.

  “You killed her! Desecrated her body! And all I could do was watch because I was too weak!”

  Arden’s eyes betrayed the lunacy that swirled around his mind. Like a tidal wave that had built up enough momentum, there was nothing he could do to stop it.

  He didn't know this was how he would react when he found Nux Valtorin again, but it didn't bother him. He saw the regret on Nux’s face, but paid it no mind. Nux would pay dearly. Arden rode the wave of mania, and would ride it until the end.

  His broken fingers fumbled around his waist and extended into the pouch, and pulled out the Godstone, ignoring the pain in his hand. Pale platinum light shined behind him, no doubt emanating from the peak of the mountain.

  “But now I have this, your oh so precious Godstone!”

  Everyone flinched at the sight of glowing rock. They all felt its power, and all wanted to use it for their own deeds, some selfless, others selfish.

  Arden held the Godstone in his fist and held it out over the cliff.

  “You’re bluffing,” Nux said.

  “Then test me. Attack me, if you truly think I wouldn’t let go. Come and take it.”

  “You’re bluffing!” Nux repeated, louder this time, like he was trying to convince himself. “No one in this world would be willing to doom everyone to satisfy a grudge!”

  Nocturne and his assassins of the Setting Sun didn’t move. They could see the desperation and resentment in Arden. He was serious about dropping the Godstone.

  In Arden’s malicious madness, he had an idea. It wasn’t a smart idea, or a good idea, but it felt like the right idea. The perfect way to get back at this world. He grinned.

  “Then it's a good thing I'm not from his world.”

  Without giving anyone any chance to respond, Arden opened his mouth wide and tossed in the Godstone. The horror on Nux’s and Nocturne’s faces was delightful. They moved from their places to intercept Arden, but it was too late for them.

  Arden swallowed the Godstone.