A green eye stares at Ajax. A green eye lacking colour, ironically.

Ajax doesn’t know what he’s looking at. He was... he was just attacked by the holy knight named Creta who had just... impaled him? Where did he go?

What’s with that h-head on the ground? It looks just... just like... like a r-real head.

(It’s real)

Where did Creta go? He had just attacked me...

(This is his frozen body on the ground.)

NO! No, it isn’t. This is... this is something else... there has to be another explanation for this... this is--

“AAAAIIIIEEEEE!!!!”

Ajax hears a woman scream. In his periphery, he sees something approaching his head in a semicircle path from the left.

Without even thinking, he evades this object on pure reflex. It moves slower than he would have thought.

It is the head of a large hammer. The war hammer that Kinser is holding.

How did I just dodge that?

The hammer that was aiming for Ajax’s skull hits thin air.

Ajax looks over at Kinser. He is holding the beautiful war hammer. The hilt of the war hammer is as tall as Kinser’s legs and as thin as the handle of a baseball bat. The head of the war hammer is about the size of a cinderblock, made of shining iron.

But, unlike when Ajax had seen it earlier, right now, it is lit up divinely.

Lines of fluorescent red draw maze patterns on the surface of the hammer head.

The air around the hammer shimmers from the heat emanating from it. Ajax can see the shimmer of heat but he can’t feel it.

Ajax touches his face for a brief moment, remembering something.

There are frozen tears on my... why doesn’t it feel cold to me? I can feel the solid tears but not the cold of it. Same with this guy’s hammer... it’s clearly releasing heat but I can’t feel--

Kinser lifts his hammer above his head, in preparation for a downward swing.

Huh? Why does he move so slowly?

Ajax perceives Kinser’s movements to be slower than they should be. In actuality, Ajax’s reflexes have shot up. He is seeing all motion around him slowed down as a result.

Kinser swings the hammer down at Ajax.

The bed frame that Ajax was sitting on is destroyed, falling apart into splinters. The hammer tears a hole in the mattress of the bed. The inside of the bed is filled with what appears to be some kind of feather material.

Ajax has dodged the swing, moved to the right past the headrest and towards the door.

However, he doesn’t try to open it... turning his back on Kinser right now would not be a good move.

What the hell is this guy’s problem!? Stop trying to kill me with that thing!

Kinser, having seen Ajax’s path towards the door, frantically raises his hammer from the bed. Kinser cannot allow Ajax to escape. Not after what he just did to Creta.

He raises the hammer over his head again and swings it in a downward diagonal arc.

A strike like this will destroy Ajax’s left shoulder, chest and upper back and the heat coming from the hammer head will turn Ajax’s body into a mound of disconnected bones and bubbling flesh.

However, that simply doesn’t happen.

Ajax catches the hammer with his bare hands.

Kinser cannot believe his eyes.

This is heat strong enough to melt aluminum! How can he hold it with his bare hands!? He shouldn’t have any magic potential, yet he’s been using some kind of powerful ice magic combined with some sort of healing magic--

Kinser tries to wrestle the hammer away from Ajax but Ajax has become... strong. As strong as Kinser, a well trained holy knight.

Kinser becomes more convinced that Ajax isn’t a hero because when heroes land they’re, at most, as strong as the average Omicron citizen.

Ajax is... too strong...

Kinser sees the fluorescent red light fade from the head of his war hammer.

Ajax appears to be... getting even stronger? Kinser feels the struggle to retrieve his war hammer increase.

Kinser sees Ajax’s fearful expression as he tries his best to prevent Kinser from using this powerful weapon to bludgeon him.

Kinser puts more mana into his specially designed war hammer. As much mana as he can. The hammer turns bright reddish-white.

Ajax is surprised by the new development.

The hammer starts emitting not just heat, but a bright, white fire as well. Kinser is trying to shake Ajax off of the hammer with the increased heat. Trying to.

But... Ajax doesn’t fear any longer. His expression shows confusion instead.

Huh? I can’t... feel the fire. It just feels like a... pressure? Like heavy air? Where’s the heat? I haven’t lost my sense of touch, have I? No, clearly not--

Then Ajax remembers. The sensation. The sensation he had felt in his dream right before waking up here. The sensation he felt right after he was impaled. What it feels like... to...

Consume.

Kinser backs away immediately, letting go of the hammer.

The white fire disappears. The red light of the war hammer head fades to dark. Frost collects on the hammer very quickly.

Ajax holds the hammer for a moment before dropping it.

He feels vitality. A sensation of power and strength envelop and engulf his body, his very soul.

I feel... I feel amazing... I feel amazing! My god--

The hammer shatters as it lands on the ground. It fragments like ice and pieces of the hammer puncture Ajax’s body. Water vapour becomes visible as it condenses on the surfaces of the frozen hammer shards.

The shards look and behave as if they were just dipped in liquid nitrogen.

Kinser backs away to where Vonis is.

She is in a corner of the room next the window, cowering in fear, trying not to look at the battle in front of her eyes. Tears flow down her cheeks.

She is no longer sitting in her chair, rather, she’s sitting in an upright fetal pose on the ground, backed away from the two of Kinser and Ajax as much as she possibly can be.

If... if I don’t kill this guy... the heroes... he could... shit... isn’t... isn’t he unkillable? Creta stabbed him in the fucking heart, right!?

The shards of Kinser’s hammer cutting into Ajax’s skin promptly fall off his body, and the relatively small cuts heal without scarring. Ajax doesn’t even notice the pieces of the hammer hurt him. He doesn’t notice the cold of the hammer either.

Oh... I get it... the energy and mana of the hammer is absorbed into him, heals him and... turns into his strength... Ok... I guess I have no choice. I’ll... I’ll try with my strongest attack. He’s dodging my head shots so let’s go in assuming that’s a weak point.

“Ha... hahaha... this feels... wonderful!”

Ajax smiles deeply in pure joy at the overflowing life energy circulating through his body. He loves this newfound strength. A pure, natural high.

Ajax looks over at Kinser and Vonis. Kinser picks up the wooden chair.

He throws it at the closed glass window and shatters it.

“Aaaiiieeee!”

Vonis screams at the sound of glass breaking. It feels like death is getting closer to her.

“Wh-what the fuck are you doing?”

Ajax yells in confusion. His jubilance vanishes at the violent shattering, his face changing into an expression of fear. But, Kinser... isn’t trying to escape.

Kinser walks forward towards Ajax slowly.

“Just... just calm down... I don’t... I don’t know what’s... just r-relax...”

Ajax tries to reason with Kinser. He doesn’t understand what Kinser’s problem is. Why is Kinser attacking him? Why is he going so far to kill him?

Ajax is in denial.

Ajax’s mind is telling him not to look near Kinser’s feet. There is something there. Something he shouldn’t see. A testament to his... power. He cannot bring himself to face it yet.

It’s not real unless he looks at it. Creta’s shattered, lifeless body near Kinser’s feet.

Ajax is trying his best to drive the thought of the frozen remains of a once living man out of his mind. A man with a family. A life. Some degree of happiness. A man who was once a baby, grew up through childhood, faced hardships and pain.

A man who had tried to brutally slaughter Ajax. Yet a man who could have been redeemed in life, who Ajax could have forgiven if he truly sought out amends. A man who will never again have the chance, any chances, to do anything.

A man whose life was extinguished so easily.

The surface of Kinser’s armour turns from purple to red and starts dripping liquid metal onto the floor.

The air surrounding Kinser catches fire. Bluish-white fire.

Right now... Kinser appears to Ajax like an agent of heaven attempting to pronounce judgment upon him for... for what he had done to...

No. Don’t think about it.

Kinser pulls out a blue-hot knife. His secondary weapon, now that his primary weapon had been so effectively destroyed.

Kinser runs at Ajax quicker than expected. In Ajax’s shock at Kinser’s increase in speed and with his mind acknowledging Creta subconsciously, Ajax does not evade. Kinser tackles him to the floor and sits on top of Ajax.

Kinser’s knife enters a space between Ajax’s ribs and punctures his lung.

Ajax shrieks and spits blood. A small amount. The heat emanating from Kinser and his knife feeds into Ajax’s body so Ajax only feels the sharp pain for a moment.

Kinser takes the knife out the spot below Ajax’s left pec. The wound closes rapidly.

That’s not going to work... what I need is to--

Kinser tries to strike Ajax’s eyes to deliver a kill shot. Ajax dodges effortlessly. He tries again. And again.

Again.

Again.

Again, again, again--

Ajax bats the knife away with the back of his right hand. The knife is struck with such force that it stabs into the wall to his right, leaving a crack in solid concrete. Ajax’s speed and strength have quickly risen from the extreme heat and fire coming off of Kinser.

Kinser had shattered the windows so that he and Vonis wouldn’t suffocate from all the oxygen burning up in his shroud of flames.

The bed starts to catch fire. The wooden door as well.

Kinser starts panicking. He can’t get a shot at Ajax’s head. Ajax is just too agile. Kinser wants to stop Ajax from killing him. Kinser can’t die here.

He tries a new tactic.

Inflicting pain.

Kinser is sitting on Ajax’s hips. Just as Ajax is about to use his arms to push off Kinser, Kinser uses his gauntlets to gouge out Ajax’s belly. Ajax can’t dodge this attack.

“AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!”

Kinser’s gauntlets perforate Ajax’s body.

Ajax screams in panic and agony. Kinser starts pulling out Ajax’s small intestines. Tubes of meat.

Ajax feels indescribable loss at seeing his intestines leaving his abdomen before his very eyes. The smell of bile, partially digested food, blood and shit fill the air. The heat coming from Kinser makes the smell even more oppressive.

“How do you like that, scum!?”

Kinser feels giddy at inflicting Ajax such pain. Pain to confuse, to shock, to restrict, to torment. But his giddiness doesn’t last long.

...Huh? Why aren’t they burning? Even his intestines? They should be bubbling and charring right now...

Ajax’s ileum and jejunum aren’t being affected by the heat of Kinser’s gauntlets. They aren’t burning away in the fire surrounding Kinser’s body.

He’s... he’s immune to... to heat... even his insides... this isn’t... this isn’t magic... not even... not even dragons have this power... what is he? What is he!?

Kinser becomes even more terrified at the entity he’s facing. In deeper fright, he rips out another of Ajax’s organs and throws it out across the floor of the room towards Vonis.

Ajax’s liver. Blood fountains from Ajax’s belly.

How many times in the past five minutes has Ajax felt pain deeper than any he’s felt in the past 18 years he’s been alive?

Ajax screams in a blood-curdling shriek. He feels a burning sensation. The bile in his gallbladder is... leaking into his...

I can’t... I can’t... I can’t do it again... don’t make me do it again... not again... no... don’t you realize what’s going to happen to you, Kinser? Stop it... stop it!!!!

Kinser sees a light from Ajax’s eyes. His desolate, mournful eyes. A blue brightness and--

Consume.

Kinser’s bright red armour changes colour back to purple. Frost collects on the surface of it.

Kinser falls over on Ajax... his frozen vessel, robbed of life. All of the pain has disappeared from Ajax’s body already.

The man who had inflicted so much suffering upon Ajax has stopped moving... because...

No.

Because...

No, he’s... he’s not...

Because...

No! NO! NO! NO!!

Kinser is dead. And Ajax has taken his life.