There was no war. Everything was easy for Ronin because this priest, powerful as he was, let his emotions get the best of him.

Once Ronin had stabbed him in the stomach and continued to siphon his Flame into his own dark heart, it was over for the Hope Revolution. He had killed their Hope.

And all that was needed to be done was to burn the remains.

He went over to the pyre in the middle of the encampment. The two boys in patrol, the Commoner Andre and the Noble Ricial, aimed their weapons at him as soon as he arrived.

“Hands in the air! State your name and your business with us!” They told him.

Ronin just raised his bloody hands with a wide sneer. Their eyes widened when he saw him holding a blood dagger.

The boys questioned at the same time. “Why are you—”

He used his Illusive Shift to stab their necks and kill them both in rapid succession. Once getting rid of the guards, he turned to the fire…

And cracked his whip in circular motion towards it, after drawing some runed with the blood of the priest earlier.

It was a rune for wind surge, causing the fire to spread out into the tents.

The people jolted awake from the smoke and there was screaming from one of them that burned. But Ronin does not want to waste their precious lives from the fire.

He had used the fire to lure them outside and let them come to him and kill them. Just like how Cermin did it with the Daemons.

He used his whip to latch on a lot of them and squeeze, gaining their Flames. He was not picky. He killed both Nobles and Commoners, men, women, old people and children…..

And made sure that Councillor Rozenaur was watching in his last moments.

So that he would know that this was all his fault for letting his emotions overcome his logic, for putting friendship above hatred, for…..

Having those kinds of feelings for Hyacinth.

This was his punishment, and Ronin was delivering it, but not out of personal grudge. He did not kill with sadism, but rather hunger. He craved suffering and the pain, and wanted to consume it.

To fill himself with the agony of others and feel it for himself. It was closer to masochism than sadism.

This was why he felt so alive when he killed others. He can see the torment to be at its maximum in their faces and their physiological reaction, and with every kill…..

It seemed to bring him more humanity after being a system for so long.

And so, in order to savor that agony from his main course, he let Councillor Rozenaur live for a while to see the people he saved to be massacred by him.

But he was seeing Ronin as a ghost from his past. The people didn’t know that it was the Daemon that saved them earlier from petrification that was killing them.

And seeing Hyacinth makes the suffering worse for Councillor Rozenaur.

And yet….

He still called out to him, pathetically crawling on the ground and reaching out.

“Hyacinth… Forgive me…. I have wronged you, but don’t… They’re innocent…..”

Ronin gave him a deadly wrathful look. He still has hope to change a monster’s mind!?

He went over to step on his outreached hand. “You never learn. Why won’t you just give up to despair and wallow in regret in your dying moments?”

“Ack! Hah….. Hya….. cinth….” Blood spluttered out of his mouth, while he panted for breath. “Did you also…. Feel despair when you died?”

He knows that Hyacinth was dead already?

Ronin didn’t need to ask as Councillor Rozenaur grabbed onto his foot and cried on his shoes. “I always had… been watching you all these years through the butterflies….. You notice them and sing to them, but never think about me when you do…..”

Ronin gritted his teeth. “If you knew, then why did you decide to be fooled!?”

“Because I’d rather be fooled….. as long as I see you again…..”

Something snapped inside Ronin, as if he wasn’t seeing Councillor Rozenaur anymore. He was seeing someone else.

Someone who was just as naive and emotional as him, who had stayed loyal to a ghost after so many years, a ghost that despised him.

“Yes. I felt great despair when you killed me. So much that it’s the only thing that’s left in me, and nothing else. I couldn’t believe in kindness, I couldn’t believe in friendship….”

He raised his dagger—

And stabbed him again and again!

“I could never believe in love! And it’s all because of you!”

STAB! STAB! STAB! STAB!

Ronin was never satisfied as the fire just continued to grow and burn people to ashes. Cermin was fast asleep in the wagon, and he had used a rune to keep him sleeping.

If he doesn’t wake up, he will suffocate from the smoke or be burned in flames.

But another ‘ghost’ stopped him, someone who wasn’t even noticed by anyone while this was all happening. It was not even offered anywhere to sleep in or to eat, and allowed to do as it pleased.

Because it was just a watcher in the grand scale of things.

“Aren’t you also doing what you despise about him? Ronin, you are the greatest hypocrite of them all.” Kai said coldly.

Ronin stopped stabbing at this, and huffed for breath. In and out, in and out, his chest heaving deeply.

“You want to act like you are logical and apathetic. That nothing affects you at all. When in truth, you are just as sentimental as everyone else. Perhaps even more.”

“You are a coward that couldn’t face the truth so you lash out. You are weak-willed and prefer to hide your anxieties with the concept of ‘planning’ and ‘preparation’. You stall because your heart is not ready yet.”

Kai knelt beside him. “No matter how much you level up or get stronger, if your heart and soul never changes, if you are still not ready to truly face your long drawn-out grudges….”

“How would you ever kill him?”

“I will kill him. I’m getting there.” Ronin turned to Kai with a growl. “You have nothing to say about this. Go back to your place as just some spectator.”

“I have a side now. Don’t you see? I am rooting for revenge to win.” Kai told him calmly. “I’m telling the truth so that it will win. I must help it accomplish what it wants….”

“So that when it’s my turn, I will do it perfectly.”

Ronin scoffed. “Is that your dream career now? To be a vengeful villain?”

“I want to be better at it than you.” Kai smiled. “So….. Are you just going to let him die now without him bleeding from your own hands?”

Ronin shoved the pesky child away. “I don’t need a wannabe’s advice. I will soon reach Level 100 now without any of your help, and I will be Ronin Dreadborne soon without your intervention either.”

He rushed with his skill towards Cermin. He was still sleeping peacefully in this wagon, only having his eyebrow creased.

Ronin summoned his three dogs to drag this wagon and bring them to the Edge. Riding off into the night until sunrise. Kai had run after them and joined on time.

They left behind an inferno, hellish fires that burned hope to ashes.

There was silence for the whole ride. The sleeping rune that Ronin used had worn off, and Cermin woke up to a start.

“Ugh….. Stop yelling… Stop it…..” Cermin said, covering his ears.

Ronin had already removed his disguise as Hyacinth, and turned to Cermin while driving the wagon. “Are you alright, Your Highness?”

“I had a dream. Someone won’t stop yelling at me to save the people from the Darkness….. Wait, where are the others?”

He looked around and only saw Kai sleeping with arms crossed. “Where is Councillor Rozenaur?”

Ronin pretended to look forlorn. “Daemons attacked last night. Rabuka and Volken. Lovushka was with them too, helping them. And you know how powerful Lovushka is.”

He was aware of what happened to Lachesis and those two that he had tasked to be chased after. This wasn’t a lie as if they had not moved away from the campsite faster….

This three really would have caught up to them.

“I tried to stop them but I couldn’t. It was too late. They burned and killed everyone, including Councillor Rozenaur. I had to save you and escape.”

Cermin was struck by this. He clutched his head.

“No….. There were almost hundreds of people… They should have outnumbered those three…..” Cermin said. “It doesn’t make any sense…..”

He was seeing through his alibi, which was really rare.

Ronin then chose to appeal to his emotions instead to make him forget his logic.

“It’s all my fault….. I should have done better. I tried to wake you too but you couldn’t for some reason…..” He shed some crocodile tears.

Cermin reached. “No…. No, Ronin. You did nothing wrong.”

It had worked, but Ronin heard a small thought in the recesses of Cermin’s mind:

(But I still find it hard to believe you. You would never cry so openly like this. Is it really you that I’m talking to right now… or the Lord of Darkness?)

(The fact that I can’t differentiate you two makes me worried. Which is my friend and which is my enemy?)

Like Councillor Rozenaur, Cermin was naive, but not blind. He chose to be naive.

Because it’s better to be with the one he cared about than see the truth.