The crystalline blue haired mage climbed up on shaking hands minutes after the explosion, she reached up to her bloodied mask and cast it to the ground, her two black eyes staring fixedly on the centre on the explosion.

All the while she gritted her teeth as she battled the red energy that was going wild inside her body, when the smoke cleared her eyes trembled as she saw a bubbling layer of red energy slowly dissipating and giving way to a standing figure.

---

Raylin gasped with effort, his chest expanded and contracted rapidly with every breath, he didn’t even want to look at his body as he could already feel the steaming heat he radiated onto the surroundings that burned the air.

His two blue eyes locked onto the shaking mage, he lifted his head high as the last of his Nuclear Qi, returned inside his body and slowly extended his leg.

Thud.

Thud.

Thud.

His steps echoed on the dishevelled forest floor his right arm hung limply to his side it looked like meat paste on a skewer, with each step he drew closer to the mage until his mighty figure stood above her.

“This battle is over, one of your warriors is dead and the other is down, your Ranger has no energy remaining and you can’t cast any more spells with my Nuclear Qi running it’s course in your body, you have lost,” he stated firmly.

“Surrender now, and I will have you imprisoned in the Dynasty where a fair trial will be held for attempting to assassinate a captain of the Dynasty’s 7^th division, if you divulge the identity of your employer and whoever showed you how to reach Elhaine undetected through the astral leylines, I will plead leniency for your transgressions,” he said towering over her, each word was like a firm decree.

[Honours Heart 1^st activation]

[Do not kill needlessly]

[+5% to all stats]

The mage looked up at him her black eyes trembled ever so slightly as she looked at him her blue hair fell dishevelled around her face.

“You really are exactly as they say, the one who walks the Honourable path, the honourable star,” she said softly her lips trembled ever so slightly as she looked at him.

“Why?!” she groan out her expression a mix of pain and bewilderment at the mercy she was being offered.

“A world without honour, is hell,” Raylin replied, his words were firm and filled with resolute power that one in his condition had no right to possess.

The woman looked at him with wavering eyes, “My name is Reyna and you King slayer will have my eternal respect,” she murmured.

Raylin’s eyes scrunched when a new voice suddenly came from his back, “You’re a fool King slayer,” the voice mocked.

Putchi.

“Guh,” Raylin gasped as something cold passed through his back and slipped straight into his heart, he gasped for breath as his body convulsed.

Thud.

 He crumpled to his knees.

He tilted his head back slightly to see who the assailant was, and from the corner of his eye he saw the shadows move.

“Rogue… Shadow Blade… Assassin,” he muttered softly as his vision started to go black, it was no wonder he didn’t detect him.

‘NO, NO, NO, NO!’ he shouted as the world started to fizzle out, ‘Not like this,’ he cried in anguish.

‘Every thing I’ve done, all the power I gained it was all to learn the truth, about my wife and my father,’

‘I refuse to let it end like this!’ he roared internally.

---

The Rogue and the Mage stood looking at each–other, “Took you long enough, Rodrick,” Reyna spluttered and stumbled back against a tree.

“I had to wait for the right moment, this was no ordinary opponent,” he said and rubbed the sweat from his for head.

He looked over Raylin who was flat on the ground, and his eyed widened as a golden hew suddenly covered his entire body.

---

Raylin blinked and suddenly the dark forest returned to his vision.

[The Honourable Path : Hidden Skill]

[Honour’s Miracle]

The word flashed across his retina as he pulled himself up from the ground.

“Dammit, what the hell is this guy!” he heard his assailant shouting.

As he pulled himself up Raylin gasped as he saw his body stitching itself up, but the changes didn’t end there as he noticed the golden energy surging into the exoskeletal suit filling it with cracks.

His mangled arm was returning to its original shape, he looked up and saw the two standing still with gapping eyes.

Shing.

Raylin furrowed his brow as he heard a strange ringing sound, and tried to turn his head, but that was when he noticed something strange, the ground seemed to be spinning.

He saw a spurt of red in air, when his gaze fixed on a headless body, ‘Wait isn’t that…’ his thoughts stopped with a thud.

---

The bald swordsman panted, as the hot blood rained down on his shining head, his sword extended just a foot from the headless body.

“That’s pay back!” he shouted and fell to his knees as he clutched tightly onto his dozen broken ribs, his body didn’t look to be in any great condition after being smashed through a dozen trees.

“Is he really dead this time?” Reyna asked as she looked at the body that was still standing.

Rodrick inched forward carefully as if afraid that the body would jump back into action and gave it a push.

Thud.

It slumped down and hit the ground lifelessly, he looked at the head and saw the disbelieving blue eyes that were unreactive, and nodded, “I think so,” he said, though he didn’t sound so certain.

The bald swordsman sighed and slumped against a tree trunk as he threw of his mask, “I sure do hope so, he really was a fucking monster,” he panted with a pained look.

They all suddenly snapped their heads as they heard footsteps, but it was just the last member of their team Velma, the Ranger.

Velma hugged herself tightly as her legs dragged lethargically across the ground and a series of shivers came over her a sign of energy exhaustion, she looked at Reyna and muttered softly, “Next time you get a job like this consider me out, I almost died from a heart attack when he survived that second shot,” she said with a tired sighed then she too slumped against a tree.

“You and me both sister,” the bald swordsman wheezed in agreement as he rubbed some of the blood on his bald head.

Rodrick, the Rogue, walked up to Reyna and looked at her carefully, she was unusually quite as she looked at the lifeless head on the ground.

“You alright Reyna?” he asked crouching by her side.

She looked up and shook her head with a dazed expression, then she slowly shook her head and reached into her pocket.

When she pulled her hand out she was holding onto an old and battered pocket watch, she looked at the rotating hand and took a deep breath.

“The Dynasty’s radars have definitely detected the disturbance, with the staff at the gate all dead it should give us at least an hour before the ships land,” she said quickly.

She looked at Rodrick, “Take a picture of his corpse and show it to his father for the reward,” she ordered.

“You really want that…” he begun to say, but he was quickly cut off by Reyna.

“The reward is useless for us, but anything that comes from this planet will be valuable on the black market,” she said and looked back at his body, her eyes focused particularly on the shattered exoskeletal suit.

“With the suit destroyed we’ll able to take his body without being tracked, we’ll meet at Hade’s Helm two days from now after you receive the reward,” she said to Rodrick.

“Very well,” he nodded, and the shadows leapt up enshrouding him in their embrace as he vanished.

“Come on,” she said to her two remaining accomplices.

---

Where do the dead go… it’s hard to say… because no one really knows?

Even the dead know not, for it is a place where there is nought, and in such a place is where Raylin found himself.

Wondering the corridor of nothing, it was a strange place where nothing could be felt where nothing ever happened, where even the dead with countless regrets stood still.

That was how it always was, until a peculiar disruption occurred.

“Hey, hey wait don’t shit with me,” a freaked voice travelled through the undisturbed nothingness, where it started and where it ended would never be known.

“You can’t be serious only 38% of me came through, holy shit, holy shit, holy shit,” the voice spluttered out on repeat.

“By Kaizel’s name,” the voice seemed to curse, “If you only managed to transfer 38% of me then why do I still have my godforsaken tics!” the voice went on with a tinge of annoyance of annoyance.

“Hey what’s this crap about a merging match found?” the voice questioned seeming spooked.

“Penis strike, penis stri…” the voice repeated the vulgar phrase, “Argh,” the voice groaned in frustration.

“I’m so going to kill Cabear the next time I see him!” the voice cried in anguish.

There in the darkness of nothingness a soul flashed, with desire, with purpose and most of all unshakable conviction.

[Merging Process initiated… 0.1%]