They were part of it. The administrator. The town officials. The very people he'd thought were victims. They'd been complicit all along.

Thousands of innocent civilians had died because of them. All for whatever gain stood to make from this secret operation. And now they also wanted to make a move on him and Elara? They wanted to silence both of them?

Finn stood up.

His body trembled visibly in protest. His magic reserves were nearly depleted. Every single movement sent fresh waves of agony through his entire body.

But he didn't care.

Another chance had presented itself again.

Greaves noticed Finn looking at him. Noticed the dead-eyed expression on the young man's face. And he went pale.

"Guards—"

Finn moved.

Reality inverted around him like a living thing. Greaves died first. His head folded in on itself with a wet sound. The guards followed immediately after. Their bodies twisted and popped like balloons as Finn started to treat them not as humans, but as walking masses of flesh and liquid held together by skin.

What remained of his humanity had simply... stopped existing.

In its place was only the desire to touch that tether again, to keep making character-defining actions that were significant to his life path as Arros.

The remaining officials and guards were terror-stricken. Any urge to fight vanished from their minds. Fighting was only an option when survival was possible… and this was not one of those moments.

They turned on their heels and tried to run. But in the same easy fashion, Finn killed them too…

Within seconds, he killed them all. And then he started walking back toward Greystone.

Behind him, Elara's previous expression of fear had morphed into one of worry. She struggled to her feet despite her injured leg and limped after him.

"Arros! Arros, wait! Where are you going?!"

He didn't answer. Couldn't answer. There was nothing left inside him capable of speech.

The walk back took hours. Finn's body was shutting down from blood loss, from exhaustion, from the sheer amount of magic he'd burned through. But he kept moving mindlessly as if he felt none of it. Driven by the singular impulse to keep killing, to keep pushing past the line of morality.

He reached Greystone as dawn broke. The gates were open, with the guards just about changing shifts. They saw him as he approached, covered in blood and barely standing, and immediately, they rushed to help.

But as they got close to him, without knowing why, primal instinct forced them to a halt. They could only watch with shaking legs as he passed them, trudging toward the town hall.

The city administrators were gathered in an emergency session, discussing the night's events, when abruptly, the door to the town hall was kicked down, startling the already frazzled council into silence.

Their eyes locked onto Finn and quickly recognized him, going into alert immediately. They exchanged knowing glances and signaled to the guards at the edges of the hall as Finn approached.

One of the administrators, diplomatic as usual, wanted to stall Finn with a few words so as to give the guards time to react.

"Captain Arros! Thank goodness, we heard—"

Finn killed him before he could finish the sentence.

Then the second.

The third.

The fourth.

Screams erupted. Chairs toppled. People fled. More guards rushed in.

Finn killed them too.

He moved through the town hall like a force of nature, inverting reality with every gesture. Some of them were guilty — complicit in the conspiracy.

Some might have been innocent.

Finn couldn't tell the difference anymore… He didn't even care to.

By the time Lyssa's team arrived — drawn by the screams and chaos — it was over.

Finn stood in the center of the town hall, surrounded by bodies. Blood covered every surface. His own wounds had opened further from the exertion, and he was barely conscious, swaying on his feet.

Lyssa and the other academy students stared at him with absolute horror.

They didn't know what had happened, but they knew this had gone beyond combat, or even self-defense.

This was massacre.

Slaughter.

Mass murder for the sake of it.

"What... what have you..." Lyssa couldn't even finish the question.

Finn swayed on his feet, staring at his hands. Hands that had killed so many he'd lost count.

He looked past his hands, reaching deep for that faint stirring in his soul. The tether. It was right there, almost close enough to touch.

But still not activating.

Still not enough.

What more do you want from me? he screamed internally. What else do I have to do? What line do I have to cross?

His legs gave out. He collapsed to his knees in a pool of blood — others' blood.

And then a hand touched his shoulder.

Elara.

She had followed him all the way here. Watched him kill the city administrators. Seen him become the monster everyone now saw.

And she was still here.

She knelt beside him despite her injured leg making her movements awkward. Blood — his blood, others' blood — soaked into her clothes. Her face was pale as tears streamed down her cheeks.

Her hands were gentle as they touched his shoulders.

As she pulled him into her.

The other students, even those that had grown to respect him, backed away, unable to come close because of how terrified of him they were. They'd seen what he could do. Seen what he'd become.

Only Elara remained.

Finn looked at her with empty eyes. Saw something in her expression that broke through even his hollow numbness.

Love.

She loved him.

After everything. After two years of him being cold and distant to her. Of treating her like a chess piece. After watching him commit massacre. After seeing what he truly was.

She still loved him.

The recognition should have meant something. Should have sparked some reciprocal feeling.

But there was nothing. Finn was empty. Two years of fighting to hold on to what remained of "Finn", of not giving into this life as "Arros", had killed a part of him he didn't think he could get back.

He opened his mouth to speak. To say something — anything. Maybe to tell her to run. To get away from him before he destroyed her too.

But no words came. His mouth only opened and closed in soundless gasps like he was drowning.

A sudden moment of clarity hit him and his body shuddered violently at what he'd done. At the extent he had gone to reach his goal.

He tried to explain to Elara. To vindicate himself. To make someone understand the madness that had driven him to this point. But nothing came out… Nothing but the same soundless gasps. Except, this time, it was different.

The other students watching from the distance, despite their terror, despite their horror at what he'd done, felt his pain. They saw it in every shuddering breath he took, and in every silent scream that didn't come out.

Something so deep it transcended words. A suffering that went beyond physical wounds or mental trauma. Something fundamental and soul-crushing and utterly devastating.

And they couldn't understand it. Couldn't comprehend what could cause such profound agony in someone so young. What experience could break a person this completely.

Only Elara remained close. Only she held him as he shook with soundless sobs.

It was at this moment that Finn finally felt what he'd been chasing after.

That final thread.

One last decision that would tip him over the threshold the tether required.

It was so simple. So obvious. Almost like the tether had been waiting for this moment.

Kill Elara.

Right here, right now. In this moment of vulnerability when she was holding him, trusting him, loving him despite everything he'd done.

Kill her, and the tether would activate. He was certain of it with absolute clarity. This would be defining enough. Character-breaking enough. The final line that would make this moment resonate through all of Arros's future life.

One decision. One terrible, unforgivable choice.

And he could go home.

Finn's hand moved slowly to her throat, shaking unsteadily, but moving nonetheless.

Elara felt the action immediately. Her eyes widened slightly as she understood what he was about to do.

But she didn't move. She didn't flinch... Didn't try to stop him.

She only stared at him with her tear-filled eyes that held love and sadness and acceptance all at once.

She knew what he was going to do.

And she was letting him do it.

Because she loved him that much. Because if this was what he needed, if this would somehow end his suffering, she would give him even this.

Finn's fingers pressed against her throat. Felt her pulse beneath his touch. So fragile. So easy to end.

One inversion of her blood flow. One reversal of her breath. One rejection of her existence.

That was all it would take.

The tether became tangible in his soul, ready to activate the moment he crossed this final line.

He could finally go home. Finally escape this prison. This hollow existence. Escape—

Finn's hand fell away.

He stared at Elara. At this girl who'd tried so hard to reach him. Who'd fought beside him. Who'd held him when everyone else fled in terror.

Who loved him enough to die for him.

And he couldn't do it.

Not because of morality. Not because of conscience. Those had shattered long ago.

But because even hollow and empty and broken as he was, even after everything he'd done and become, there was still one line he couldn't cross.

He couldn't kill the only person who still saw him as human.

Finn's head dropped forward, resting against Elara's shoulder. His body shook with silent sobs that felt like they were tearing him apart from the inside.

The tether faded. That final thread, that last chance to go home, slipped away as his decision solidified.

He was trapped. Truly and completely trapped. Not just in the past, but in consequences of his own making. In a defining moment that had turned him into something monstrous, and yet not monstrous enough to do the one thing that would free him.

Elara's arms tightened around him. She didn't speak. Moments like these needed no words. She just held him as he broke completely.

Around them, the other students watched in silence. They'd just witnessed something they couldn't articulate. A moment that felt more significant than all the carnage that preceded it.

A choice that somehow mattered more than all the deaths.

As Finn knelt in blood, held by the girl he couldn't bring himself to kill, he felt the last pieces of who he'd been dissolve into nothing.

Leaving only the cold, hollow thing he'd become over two years of desperate searching for a way home that didn't exist…

Leaving only Arros.

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