It had happened so fast, Nicky barely processed it when it happened. She hadn’t even realized that her brother had sent a blast of death magic straight at Eli until a few seconds after— when Hannah’s panicked voice cried out and broke Nicky out of her stupor.

  “Eli!” the little girl screamed, rushing to his side as he lay slumped against the wall.

  She raised her hands, and they began to glow with a golden light. It was healing magic. A rarity for children to be capable of casting. But Nicky barely even registered that anomaly. Nor did she pay attention as a crackle of purple electricity flashed, making Hannah recoil in shock as her healing magic dissipated.

  As the little girl blinked in confusion, Ethen hurried after her. But he was quickly apprehended by Justin who turned to Nicholas with a savage grin.

  “Hey, boss, do you mind if we play with our food a little?” Justin asked as he held Ethen in place, despite the young man’s struggling. “I’ve been starving all day, and I think it’d be a waste to end it all so quickly.”

  “Let go of me—” Ethen writhed to no avail.

  “Go ahead,” Nicholas replied, not even glancing back. “I don’t care what in damnation you do. Just make sure they’re dead.”

  “Got it, boss.” Justin laughed, before kneeing Ethen in the stomach.

  Ethen dropped to the ground as he wheezed out in pain. And that drew Hannah’s attention. She glanced back at Ethen with round eyes.

  “Ethen!” She rose back to her feet.

  Ethen brought a hand up at her as he grimaced. “Just get out of— urk!”

  Justin stomped a foot down on the back of Ethen’s head. “Oh, no you don’t. Neither of you are going anywhere except to see your friend.”

  As Justin spoke, a group of thugs grabbed Hannah, stopping her from getting away. She could only look on as Justin continued stomping down on Ethen.

  “And don’t worry, girlie. It’ll be your turn next. But trust me, I’ll have a lot more… fun before we’re through with you.” Justin smiled sadistically as the other thugs snickered around him.

  “You… bastard…” Ethen mustered out as he tried to shove Justin’s feet off him.

  But Justin just laughed and stomped down again— harder this time.

  All the while this played out, Nicky turned to her brother in horror. He walked away, barely even paying attention to the fact that he had just murdered a child and was about to have even worse befall a little girl.

  And Nicky couldn’t remain silent any longer.

  “Brother!” Nicky called out to him, and Nicholas came to a halt. He didn’t even turn to face her. But she stepped forward as she placed a hand on her chest. “You can’t do this. What has happened to you? What happened to the Nicholas I know? Please, we can still stop this.”

  Nicholas remained silent for a long moment. And finally, he turned to face his sister. But when Nicky saw the skull-like mask cover his face, she didn’t recognize him. She didn’t know who it was that was staring back at her.

  “Everything I’ve done, I’ve done for the sake of becoming stronger— for the both of us,” Nicholas said as he raised his head. “I’m not the one who has lost sight of that. And if you did… it’s not my fault.”

  “Brother—” Nicky opened her mouth.

  Then she bit back her words. And she finally realized that she was no longer staring at her brother. That she was looking at the shadow of the man he once was.

  At some point, he had changed. But she didn’t. She just never realized it.

  Nicky gritted her teeth as she stared at Nicholas’s back— as he turned and walked away without a care in the world as to the horrible crimes he had committed and would commit in his pursuit of power.

  Glancing back, Nicky watched as Justin continued to stomp down at Ethen. The young man was already unconscious. His face was a bloodied pulp. But Justin just laughed as he continued his beating, all the while meeting Hannah’s horrified gaze.

  Seeing this, Nicky recalled all the times she had been captured— on the brink of death, only to be saved by her brother.… and she had enough.

  In one swift motion, Nicky whipped out her crossbow with her right hand, firing the bolt straight at Justin’s face. The burly man blinked and looked up just in time to catch the projectile out of the air.

  His brows snapped together as he snapped the crossbow bolt in his hands.

  “You damn b—” Justin opened his mouth.

  But a second crossbow bolt struck him in his neck, and all that came out of his mouth was a gurgling sound. Stumbling back, Justin dropped to his knees as he clutched at his throat. Then four more crossbow bolts struck him in the head in quick succession, before he collapsed.

  Dead in an instant.

  Everyone in the room paused. Even Hannah stared in stunned silence at this sight. The Blood Swords just turned in horror to the source of the projectiles. And Nicky lowered her crossbow as she drew another bolt from her side.

  “That’s enough,” Nicky said as she faced the room.

  Nicholas paused once more, but he didn’t even face her this time around. She shook her head as she placed a hand on her chest.

  “I’m not going to stand idly by any longer as you go down this path. I will stop you, brother.”

  And the leader of the Blood Swords just sighed as he lowered his head. “I see you’ve made your decision, sister.”

  He started to walk away as he waved a hand dismissively at the thugs gathered in the room. They exchanged uncertain glances as he spoke casually at them.

  “Well? What are you doing? Kill her as well.”

  If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

  Nicky almost winced at his callous words. But she steeled herself as she loaded the bolt onto her crossbow while the thugs in the room took a moment to process what was going. And then one of them bellowed a war cry as he charged forward, only to be instantly killed by a crossbow bolt.

  That snapped the rest of them out of their stupor. They screamed and charged forward as Nicky fired crossbow bolt after crossbow bolt at the charging thugs. But thanks to her [Rapid Reload] Skill, she was able to keep them back as she called out to the little girl who had been freed from the guards apprehending her.

  “Get out of here while you still can!” Nicky shouted as she shot a thug that got too close to her.

  But Hannah just rushed over to the bloodied young man slumped under Justin’s corpse. “No, Ethen needs my help, or he’ll die!”

  Nicky cursed as she ducked under an arrow whizzing by her head. She instantly fired back at the archer with her [Return To Sender]. Then with a [Quick Step], she created some distance between herself and the group of thugs that were closing in on her.

  “I can’t fight them all off on my own!” Nicky yelled as she landed right in front of the little girl. She fired dozens of bolts with each passing moment, keeping the charging thugs back. “Both your friends risked their lives for you! If you die here, their sacrifice would be in vain!”

  “I can still save Ethen,” Hannah said as she placed her hands over the young man’s bloodied body. A golden light emanated from her palms as she spoke adamantly. “And Eli’s still alive.”

  “What—” Nicky blinked.

  And a thug appeared before her with a dagger, swiping down at her head. Despite his surprise attack thanks to a Skill, Nicky was faster than him. She barely ducked out of the way to avoid having her neck sliced off in that instant. Even still, he had managed to nick her on the face.

  Staggering back, Nicky felt the blood pouring down her face as she raised her crossbow. The thug tried to finish her off, but even though she had no projectile loaded on the weapon, she pulled the trigger.

  “[Piercing Airbolt]!” Nicky exclaimed.

  And a powerful air projectile shot out, tearing straight through the thug and shredded through over half a dozen other thugs further behind him. Nicky wiped the blood from her face as she looked around, eyeing the remaining thugs in the room as they regrouped and circled around her.

  She was exhausted, injured, and she was still outnumbered nearly ten-to-one. Not only that, she was running out of both Skills and ammunition as well. She wouldn’t be able to keep this up for long.

  “Look,” Nicky said as she raised her crossbow once again. “I know you’re worried about your friends. But you can’t save them like this. If you can get out of here and get the guards here in time, we might be able to survive.”

  “But I thought the guards were bought by the Blood Swords?” Hannah looked up at the redhead hesitantly.

  Nicky shook her head. “If you tell them that we have an Artifact of Death under our possession, they will intervene. They fear the Church of Life more than they fear the Blood Swords. They’ll call in the Inquisitors— maybe even the Templars— and then there’s nothing that my brother can do to you!”

  Would it actually work? Nicky didn’t know. Under ordinary circumstances, the guards wouldn’t dare challenge the Blood Swords thanks to the influence Nicholas had over the Lord of Velmond. But she just wanted to get Hannah out of here first and foremost.

  Whatever happened next… Nicky could only hope it would work out.

  “But…” Hannah hesitated as she stopped healing Ethen for a moment.

  Nicky shook her head as she raised her crossbow again. “Just go! I’ll cover your escape—”

  But the redhead was interrupted as a purple beam shot out and struck the crossbow out of her hand. She recoiled as a splash of the magic washed over her hands.

  “What was…?” Nicky asked as she raised her hands.

  And then she stared at her fingertips as they began to discolor, turning black. Her head spun as she felt a numbing feeling overcome her fingertips. Then she looked towards her crossbow, lying on the ground.

  The weapon was chipped and broken, which was to be expected. But what took her by surprise was seeing the wood begin to shrivel and wither away. The thugs surrounding her backed away as a set of footsteps approached her.

  And she looked up towards the masked figure walking up to her from the side. “Brother…”

  But he ignored her as he sighed, waving his Lesser Death Dagger in the air and it crackled with a purple electricity. “Must I do everything myself?”

  She fumbled for a dagger at her side. But her fingers were so weak, she couldn’t even hold it up. She dropped the weapon, and it clattered on the ground at her feet as her brother began to conjure up a spell.

  He swept his gaze over the crowd of thugs watching him from the side and addressed them disappointedly.

  “Are you all so weak that you cannot even deal with a single woman and a few children?” Nicholas said as he pointed straight at Nicky. “[Deathbeam].”

  The attack moved so fast, she could not dodge out of its path. It struck her in the shoulder, sending her flying back. But she didn’t even scream in pain as she landed on the ground. She just felt the entire right side of her body grow numb as it began to shrivel up and blacken like her fingertips.

  Nicky forced herself up. But her right side of her body, which remained limp and heavy, dragged her back down to the ground. Her breathing began to quicken as she stared up at her brother— seeing the cruel gaze of the skull-mask of her brother boring down into her.

  Nicholas barely even regarded her as he strode forward, instead continuing to talk to the watching thugs. “Do you really believe you can rival the Sapphire Stalkers with this meager power of yours? Do you truly think you can be a threat to the Church of Life if you are this weak?”

  Nicholas came to a halt before Nicky who just knelt there, glaring up at her brother. The two of them remained silent for a long moment, before he pointed his Artifact of Death down at her.

  “It is such a shame you have chosen to betray me, sister,” he said almost regretfully. “However, I will not let anyone stand in my path to power— not even you.”

  “Then kill me if you must,” she spat at his feet. “But do not call me your sister. I don't know what happened to you, but you are no longer my brother.”

  Nicholas raised his head for a moment, then he nodded as a purple glow overcame his Lesser Death Dagger. “Very well. Goodbye, Nicky—”

  However, he paused as a figure stepped in-between him and his sister. Even though his face was hidden under the mask, he was evidently bemused by the sudden interference.

  Hannah stood between Nicky and Nicholas with her hands held out wide. Even though the dagger was held up right before her face, the little girl didn’t flinch— she didn’t tremble.

  “What are you doing…?” Nicky stared at Hannah in shock. “Why didn’t you run away while you could?”

  “I can’t leave you here to die,” the little girl said as she stood defiantly before Nicholas the Bloodied Blade. “I’m not running away.”

  “T-that’s…” Nicky didn’t understand it. She just looked at Hannah, utterly befuddled at the complete lack of survival instincts from the little girl.

  Nicholas was also taken aback for a moment, before he broke out in a crazed laughter. He doubled over as he continued laughing as Hannah didn’t even waver at this sight. Finally, he straightened and pointed down at the little girl.

  “Then you can both die together—” he said simply.

  With that, Nicholas pointed the Artifact of Death down at Hannah’s head. But she didn’t even avert her gaze. The black blade crackled with death magic, glowing with a purple light. And Nicky winced as there was a flash—

  The attack would have torn straight through Hannah before killing Nicky. So the redhead expected herself to be embraced with death. To be overcome with the pain of nothingness, before being reunited with the Goddess of Life.

  However, nothing of the sort came.

  Nicky cracked an eye open to see Hannah still standing there before Nicholas. And the latter was also completely perplexed as to what had happened.

  “What…?” Nicky blinked a few times as she looked around.

  But the rest of the thugs in the room were as confused as her. However, Hannah looked like she knew what was going on. She looked to the side, and a voice spoke up.

  “So that’s the extent of the spells you can cast, huh?”

  Nicky’s gaze snapped to the side, watching as Eli rose to his feet. He had a finger raised, pointed in the direction of Nicholas.

  “How are you still alive?” Nicholas took a step back, his eyes growing wide.

  But Eli simply gave a toothy grin as his eyes flashed with a crimson light, a purple aura wisping off his body.

  “I understand it now.”