Faced with this, Kael didn't falter, neither did the elven man experience a rivulet of fear. He spun in a circle, spreading his arms as he smiled.

  "Is the cowardice in the room putrid, or is it just you fellows?"

  Kael's own sigil began to glow with a crimson light, making all the men around him widen their eyes in a mixture of shock and fear.

  The elven hair with crimson hair sighed, spinning his gun with his finger. "Shouldn't you be targeting the horned boy instead of me?"

  My eyes widened. "What?!"

  Kael looked at me, a smile still on his face. "You want to make it out of here alive? Fight!"

  I habitually reached for the rack of metal objects, grabbing a hold of the rusted one closest to a weapon. Even if I truly didn't know its purpose, it could make a sufficient weapon. My ear twitched the second I heard a small flick of a lever inside a gun. Before he could fire it, I ducked down and threw the weapon directly into the man's face.

  It spun through the air like a large shuriken, hitting the armed man directly in his head. The end of the weapon with the jagged surface collided with his forehead, piercing directly into his skull. The object, still entrusted with movement, lodged itself into the wall behind it, pinning the now dead man to the wall like a disgusting piece of art.

  "No, no, no!" I ran over, tears springing the corners of my eyes as I rapidly tapped him on the shoulders, checking for any semblance of responsiveness. He remained limb, eyes wide and mouth agape in a silent scream.

  "Damn it!" Kael darted over, kicking one bulky man in the chest. He grabbed a hold of the weapon, tearing it from both the wall and the man's shattered skull. Handing it back to me, he scowled.

  "You have to fight them, Isaac!"

  "I-I—"

  Kael sharply slapped me across the face, sending me back a half-step. I brought my hand to my cheek. "W-what..."

  Kael turned around, planting a foot to another man's chest, before lunging forward and tackling him to the floor. With the man on the floor beneath him, Kael placed his left hand in the center of the man's forehead. At that moment, he let out a shrill scream of pain as his body erupted with fungi and organisms of decay. The skin and muscles of his body rapidly peeled back, revealing bare bones in a pile of blood.

  "Fight, you imbecile!"

  Kael's left leg jutted out, kicking another guard in the face, followed by an abrupt legsweep that sent him to the ground. The man on the ground looked at me, eyes wide and filled with terror. His arm shot out, coiling around my ankles as he began to pull and pull on the cuff of my pants.

  "Help me!—" Kael's boot slammed into the back of his head countless times until the floor tiles beneath us were stained with blood.

  Kael, whose boots were stained with carnage, brushed himself off and growled. "I didn't want to waste my time on a loser like you."

  With a sudden burst of motion, Kael kicked me in the center of the chest, my body colliding with the wall. The wind had been knocked out of me, making my chest throb and hurt with tangible, insufferable pain. My eyes, half-lidded, locked onto the towering, crimson-haired man before me.

  He spoke up, his voice layered and bitter. "If you don't want to fight, you'll never survive."

  Kael's hand found its way to my cravat, pulling it upwards alongside my body. With my legs dangling above the ground, Kael's breath tickled the hairs of my skin as he whispered.

  "I can see why your father hated you."

  "Shut the fuck up!" I recoiled, kicking him in the chest. My grip on the weapon tightened so much my hands hurt.

  A cried out, both in pain and in anguish, my arms trembling and heart beating quickly. My vision turned blood-red as I swung the jagged tool directly at Kael's skull. The man, ever the more nimble, spun around with the grace of an acrobat just in time to dodge the assault. This misdirection was fatal. I watched in horror as the jagged end of the weapon sliced down the middle of a man's forehead, sending a wide stream of blood arching into the air.

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  He fell to the ground with a limp, dull clatter.

  Just then, the locked door shot down with a clatter, sending dust through every inch of the room. The Pollantors, alongside Captain Silas, scanned the room. Seizing this opportunity, I ducked behind a chair and covered my mouth, tears still streaming down my face. Captain Silas stepped forward, his face contorting with a mixture of disgust and fear at the sheer bloodshed in the room.

  It was enough to make an average passerby vomit violently.

  Kael's body suddenly dissipated into black shadows, melding with the wall, allowing him to remain unseen. Captain Silas's voice pierced the room like a bullet.

  "Isaac, come out in a defenseless posture, and I'll assure you we'll do no harm."

  His words only made me shrink further. My mind flashed with countless thoughts and theories. They're the Pollinators, the organization primarily fighting crime in Seraphis Kingdom. If they do find me, they'd most likely send the Requitors out to torture me to death. I had no idea why they were after me to begin with. I wanted to ask, but the words habitually stuck to my throat like glue.

  ...

  Aizawa, Mr. Ryujin, Catherine, and Carter burst into the downstairs level of Tavaran's, their expressions collectively scanning the dimly-lit room. They paid no heed to the depravity on the floor, as it was the least of their concerns. Aizawa's breath tightened when he saw the open door in the corner, running over to it. He looked back at the others and nodded.

  "Catherine, Carter, find Isaac and help him. Tatsama, help me dispose of them if the situation escalates."

  "Alright." They all nodded their heads in unison.

  The tip of Mr. Ryujin's tail ignited with azure-blue flames as he darted forward into the room, leaping through it with the agility of a lion and stealth of a tiger. Ascending up the countless floors of the building, he weaved and ducked through the different areas of pleasure, his face flushing slightly at the sheer unadultured stench of the building.

  Catherine and Carter ran beside Aizawa. Under normal circumstances, Catherine and Carter would be involved with Mr. Ryujin's fighting, but due to their lack of abilities from the Pollinators suppression, they had to resort to a more logical plan that would deter the chances of getting shot the most.

  "You're not a murderer, kid. I'm sure of it." Aizawa assured under his breath, talking to himself as he rounded another corner, ascending a flight of stairs.

  When they reached the top, two Pollinators stopped them mid-step, taking out their hand-guns and shaking their heads. "I'll need you to leave this scene. It's dangerous; there's a wanted criminal—"

  Mr. Ryujin suddenly descended from the ceiling, planting his hand into the center of their skills, sending them crashing into the floorboards. It wasn't enough to cause serious harm, but it knocked them out. He leapt back with a flip, kicking two more in their cheeks and sending them to the floor. Before one could their her gun, Mr. Ryujin's tail coiled around her arm, pulling the gun away from her.

  Before he could hesitate, Aizawa kicked her in the ribs, sending her back onto the floor.

  "Kid, we're coming!" Mr. Ryujin belted from the doorway, crashing into another Pollinator.

  Before they could make another move, vines suddenly shot from the ground, coiling around their necks and wrists, dragging them onto the floor. Captain Silas turned around, scoffing. "I could sniff the rebellion like a plague, always there, always waiting."

  The roots around them tightened, preventing even a sliver of movement. Aizawa's teeth gritted as he attempted to move, but he couldn't do much of anything.

  Catherine and Carter remained standing around the corner, waiting for the right moment to strike. At this moment, a blinding ray of purple light shone through the darkness. An illusory cloth made of energy ensnared Captain Silas's wrist, preventing him from moving. Aizawa nodded to the duo, signaling that they could move.

  The couple ran down the hallway, Carter sliding in between Captain Silas's legs and entering the room. Catherine leapt over him with a flip, rolling into the room where dust had begun to settle again. The floors were dark and stained with blood, the corpses of countless men littering the space like macabre accessories.

  "I-Isaac, sweetie?" Catherine whispered.

  ...

  I heard a voice call out to me, it was one I recognized on a level so deep it scared me. "Kid, get up, now."

  It was my father. He was barking orders at me like a commander. I covered my ears, the sheer pain of hearing his voice again sending tremors through my entire body.

  "Shut up! Shut up!" I cried out, tears continually running down my face.

  At this moment, the chair behind me was moved away, revealing a figure towering over me. He has short brown hair, dark-colored eyes, and has gray skin and a pair of sharp teeth. My father! Oddly, he extended both his arms and put them around my shoulder, pulling me into an embrace. His tongue darted out, licking the crevice of my ear as he whispered under his breath.

  "Look at you, thinking you could get rid of the person you really are."

  His hand slowly trailed up and down my back, tracing every contour and crevice that made me shiver. My body trembled, and my fists clenched with a rage so primal I couldn't bear to contain it.

  "I buried you in my mind! You can't be here now!" I barked, prying him off of me. With a sudden thrust, I punched him across the face.

  My father didn't move, his eyes remaining locked on my trembling form. He suddenly broke out into laughter.

  "You a-actually thought I was easy to get rid of?" My fathers body began to ripple and pulse as if made of liquid.

  "W-what is this..." I stumbled back.

  Within the ripples, I suddenly saw Catherine. She was bleeding from her lip, holding her cheek in the spot where I had punched my father. Just then it dawned on me—it was an illusion!

  "C-Catherine..." My ears began to ring, my vision turning black around the edges.

  My hands trembled uncontrollably and I couldn't stop them. My heart pounded so loudly in my ears I swore it had transformed into a pounding drum. My knees buckled, but I tried my hardest to keep them upright.

  Catherine remained silent, wide-eyed as she gazed at me. "Isaac...what..."

  At this moment, I fully registered my appearance. I was covered head-to-toe in blood, the liquid in my hair and staining my hands and outfit. The weapon I had used to kill two of the men was lying beside me, stained with the evidence of my act.

  Aizawa stormed into the room, his breath catching in his throat as he bored at the carnage. "No, no..."

  "Isaac, don't tell me..." Aizawa sputtered out, his hands trembling at his sides.

  I locked my gaze onto the man, noticing how he looked at me like I had three heads. I abruptly stood up, backing away as tears continued to run down my face.

  Just then, a voice sounded in my head—Kael's. "Run, it's the best thing you can do."

  I turned around, my gaze locking on the oriel window that overlooked the kingdom. The illusory black wings on my back habitually spread, the countless crimson eyes gazing in all directions. Murmurs and ravings sounded in my head, all repeating the same thing—run.

  I had no idea what I was doing, my wings flaring as I propelled myself out the window. I flapped and flapped my illusory wings, the ink-black energy pulsing and ebbing behind me.

  ...

  Captain Silas let out a groan as he managed to pry the illusory cloth off his hands, turning back and watching me leave. He reached for his gun, firing a bullet that landed directly in my back. I let out a cry of pain as I began to fall down, the icy lake gradually coming into view.

  The moment I fell through the ice, I lost consciousness.