Hirrus stared at where the GM had once been.

He tried very hard not to be enraged.

It… mostly worked.

GM Dave clearly knew what Cerberus’s words meant, but had only blurted out more adventurer nonsense. At least from the context, Hirrus could guess that JudoThrow was perhaps one of the other GMs, whatever that title meant.

He didn’t relish the idea of having to fight someone like GM Dave.

As much power as Hirrus held now, the man in red armor was almost entirely immune to anything Hirrus could do. Fighting against that sort of power was not going to be possible.

Hopefully that wouldn’t be the case.

He had to calm down by forcing himself to believe that GM Dave had it under control somehow. The man was clearly being run ragged, so if there was anything Hirrus could contribute, he had to trust that the man would have unloaded it on him instead of taking it on himself.

But everything was out of his hands for the moment. His minor rampage hadn’t given Nidra enough time to be reasonably expected to have new information about where to find Keynes.

GM Dave hadn’t given him any tasks to manage.

He was, for a few moments, adrift.

The last thing Hirrus wanted was to become lost in his own thoughts. Getting lost in his own thoughts was what had nearly made him want to return to Yenon instead of coming to help Nidra’s cause. He needed to be set straight.

To that end, he had to admit that if anyone was still following him, they deserved the leverage this would give them.

He headed to the hotel where he had left Dahlia.

The building was fully intact - no holes blown in the walls like after the attack in Inoha - which he took as a good sign.

He entered the hotel room to find her resting on the bed - as was proper for someone so heavily pregnant - while Barin sat nearby reading a small book with an image of a lithe man printed on the front that was just this side of lewd. It made Hirrus a bit uncomfortable, but Barin had a right to his own habits.

“Hirrus?” Dahlia said at the sight of him. “Is everything alright?”

“So far,” he said, moving to her side. “The work continues. Half of the shadow council has been slain now, but I believe the last was the strongest. It should be easier from here.”

“I doubt that,” she said with a smirk. “And I suspect you do as well.”

“Maybe,” Hirrus admitted, shaking his head. “No matter what I have yet to face, my most powerful foe is time. It won’t be long before we’re back to normal, and anything left undone will never be finished.”

“So then, what are you doing here?”

“I don’t have a clear answer for that,” he admitted with a grimace. “Not without filling in a lot of details.”

“Well,” Dahlia said, gesturing down at her belly, “I am a captive audience, aren’t I?”

Hirrus took a few minutes to explain as concisely as possible the events of the last week.

Dahlia listened intently, brow furrowed. Her obvious concern worried Hirrus in turn. He didn’t want to put undue emotional stress on her if he could help it. But when he tried to gloss over details - especially the very real danger he was in, and the consequences that might befall him if he failed, and the inner demons he found himself facing - Dahlia’s eyes narrowed in a way that made it absolutely clear that such coddling was not acceptable.

He found himself backtracking and forcing himself to be honest with her. She was one of his closest friends. Her concern for him was genuine, and she couldn’t help him if he tried to hide the truth.

Once he’d finished - explaining everything from the trip to Denstad through the latest conversation with GM Dave - Dahlia screwed up her face in a grimace. True to Hirrus’s expectations, she could see what was wrong. When she spoke, her words echoed his worst fear.

“What would Julissa say?” she asked.

Hirrus couldn’t hide his flinch. She had cut right through everything else to his deepest fear. Julissa was the most important thing in his life, and she had always been so good and pure. He knew she would be disgusted with his actions.

“No, no,” Dahlia said gently, reaching out and putting a hand on his. “Whatever brought that look to your eye was not what she would say. I know in her heart she would be worried for you. Worried for the pain you’re putting yourself through.”

That didn’t really make things better. Of course Julissa would be worried for him. That was why he was so angry with himself for committing unspeakable acts of violence in her name.

“I know how you feel,” Dahlia said, bringing her hand up to his shoulder. “What you’re doing feels good, right? It feels good because it needs to be done. You’re doing the right thing. You shouldn’t be ashamed of it just because you enjoy it.” She gripped his shoulder tightly. “What you’re doing is returning the world to balance. Bringing Justice. If I could be, I would be out there as well.”

“You don’t understand,” Hirrus said, shaking his head. “I want to be doing worse. I want them to suffer.”

“Is that not right?” Dahlia asked, her lips curling into a smirk. “Have we not suffered at their hands? You can surely be the better man and choose not to torture them, but I don’t think anyone would fault you if, for one day, they experienced what we have for our whole lives.”

He watched the pregnant woman with rapidly widening eyes.

Dahlia was right.

She was right.

Hirrus felt the emotional weight in his heart cracking.

“I felt all this time I was walking the path between man and monster,” he said at last. “But now I see. I was becoming what they wanted for their stories. Merciless. But this isn’t their tale. If it were, they would not be dead at my feet by the hundred.”

“You are simply consequences,” Dahlia said, her smile turning true. “Consequences they must face. But consequences that must come to pass.” She waved him away. “You’re running out of time and tiring me out.”

“I’m sorry,” Hirrus said. “But I very much needed to hear that.” He found himself unexpectedly smiling as well. “I am well cared-for, with you looking out for me.”

Dahlia laughed at that, finally allowing herself to relax back against the bed.

Hirrus paused before leaving, looking over at Barin. The man was still sitting at the table reading, paying him no mind at all.

“And you?” Hirrus asked. “Are you alright?”

“Don’t you worry about me,” Barin said without looking up, making a show of dramatically licking a finger and turning the page of his book. “I’m starting to like being arrested, now that the accommodations are more to my taste.”

Hirrus couldn’t really argue with the man. Despite the unusual circumstances of their meeting, he had behaved admirably. As much as he appeared to be a seedy - if foppish - information dealer, he had proven to be a good friend to Dahlia, caring for her when he had no reason to. With the end so close, Hirrus had to consider the possibility that Barin was one of his most important allies.

Speaking of allies, though, he ran into Nidra before he was out of the building.

“Hirrus,” she snapped, urging him to hurry up. “We’ve found Keynes.”

“Good,” Hirrus said, moving into a light jog, his long legs forcing Nidra nearly into a run to keep pace. “Where?”

“He is in the guildhall right now,” Nidra said. “But you must hurry. There’s no telling how long before this opportunity disappears.”

“I assume you have a plan of attack,” Hirrus said, quickening his pace slightly to open the door back to the street, holding it for her to exit behind him.

“Yes, but…” Nidra paused in the exit, looking around carefully. “You should take more care than you are. Battle Orders executed a complex maneuver based around recognizing you on sight. It’s likely that many more adventurers than that know what you look like. They may follow you here.”

“I had no choice,” Hirrus said, though he did feel a little twinge of fear. He found himself scanning the street for adventurers as well. “But it will be easy to be cautious from here. There’s no time left, is there?”

“This ends at midnight,” Nidra confirmed with a nod. “One way or the other. Now come on. I had Ten prepare something for you for the plan.”

Hirrus was reasonably sure he didn’t like her ominous tone about the plan. But he didn’t have any other option but to fall in line beside her and follow.