(Zack)

"Alright," I say once I meet up with Nik. "I took care of my business. Let's go do this."

"Are you sure you want to?" He asks.

A shudder goes through me, but not because of the question, or what we're going to do. No, the Crystals are doing something to the Boundary. They did it a couple of days ago, too, and I felt it then. A 'gift' from my psychic abilities and existential heritage, no doubt.

Whatever they are doing, it must be to prepare for the coming battle. This battle is the one that decides the fate of all, after all. Should Maelnor fall, this Boundary will soon after. Only this pass prevents the monsters from being able to easily pass through from the Lost Territory into the rest of the Boundary, and they have grown powerful enough and numerous enough that they can ignore the Cities and what effort Adventurers come up with to stop them. Not only that, but if Maelnor falls, then both Maelnor and Kaelmar will no longer block monsters from passing through.

"Yes," I close my eyes and take a deep breath. "I need to do this, Nik. I absolutely need to do this."

Using the Experience Farm up until the last day of training, when we destroyed it, I was able to reach Level 25 of Demon. The moment I did, I took on Priest and began working on Leveling up the three Skills necessary for it. We felt confident I'd be fine, so I used some of my Bonus Experience, adding a total of 30 Levels to it.

Using Cure Bleed, Cure Poison, and Heal on Nik, the stronger monsters, and me net me a lot of Experience. We used some poison that Nik brought with him, just in case I did reach a high enough Level.

So I'm officially a Level 50 Archpriest, in addition to a Level 26 Demon. Combined with my every-five boosts from both normal boosts and Adventurer, my stats have gone up a lot. Using Demon Form and a bunch of Skills constantly, while also taking a lot of damage from all the stronger monsters, also raised my Vitality and Wisdom. Naturally, my Endurance has increased as a result, too.

If I'm not ready now, then the only thing that would make me ready is either another Ascension or Nathan's Blessing of the Crystal.

"Okay," Nik stretches out his wings, then straps me to him with Binding Darkness, and we're off into the sky, soaring over the fields and towards Talorn.

When we arrive, we rest for a little while, and he handles killing the small-fry that come at us on our way to the Dark Temple. He'll let me do the fight unless it looks like I need help.

A'Lutar is no King Monster.

When we reach his territory, he is nowhere to be found. At least, not in initially, but we know he knows we're here. No goblins approach us and we only spot rats and slimes on our way to the Dark Temple.

As it draws into view, I see him standing atop the steps to the Dark Temple, that crooked, decorated staff of his in his right hand. He's looking down at us, and the cold rage that has been building in me increases.

This is the bastard that made Luca cry.

A'Lutar Level 250 Health: 11,917,088 Mana: 7,035,561

Yes. He is no King Monster.

I hear Nik taking several steps back as A'Lutar and I stare at each other. This is not some foolish, cliché or trope of 'whoever moves first dies'. No, this is us establishing mental dominance over the other. He wants me to know he is the king of this area, and I want him to know that he does not scare me. Not in the slightest.

He will die here.

We stare at each other for hours, only moving when we cramp, and only enough to stop that. No more than necessary. My body is sore from standing so still for so long, but I can sense A'Lutar's frustration growing at my lack of fear. My defiance of his territory and power.

He knows I intend on killing him, on exacting vengeance for what he did to my teammates, and his attempt at cowing me has failed.

Finally, as the sun begins to set, the Goblin Chieftain moves. A tap of his staff to the ground, and a fireball explodes from the top, soaring at me.

"Demon Form," I shift, batting the spell away with my right hand before I reach for my sword, drawing it in one swift motion.

The fireball slams into the ground to the side, and I rush forward. Several more fireballs are shot at me, and I stop them with my sword, allowing its potent use of the Spook Ore and Primordial Essence and Primordial Ore to simply absorb the monster's spells.

It can't absorb it all, but what's left isn't enough to even singe my hair.

A'Lutar sends a cloud of toxic gas at me, and I hear him jumping into the air. His necklaces and feathers on his headdress and loincloth make enough noise to know that.

Flapping my wings, I soar up over the green cloud, soaring forward and blocking attacks with my sword or allowing them to slam into my armor. His spells aren't potent enough to hurt me, not with Zack's Blood neutralizing most of it and my 1,154 Willpower in a Level 8 Demon Form taking care of the rest. Maybe without Zack's Blood, I'd actually take damage from these weak attacks.

But with my much, much higher Level now than when he killed Braden and made Luca cry, what's leftover isn't more than an annoyance. He'll need to increase the strength of his spells if he wants to hurt me.

When I feel a stronger heat and power in a fireball, I know he's finally begun doing that, and this time, I dodge to the side. No point in taking damage when I don't need to.

Weaving to the side and below and above his spells, I manage to get close to A'Lutar. My flight speed is greater than his, since the flight spell uses my normal Agility value with a much higher speed per Agility than that. Even if the difference between our two flight speeds is not by much, it's enough that I can catch up easily.

I swing my sword, and he blocks with his staff.

His mistake.

This isn't my Primordial Dark Sword, it's Zack's Blood. I'm fighting seriously here. And attacking with the edge of my blade.

Your staff, despite how powerful it is, cannot resist something so sharp as this weapon, A'Lutar. The moment they connect, my sword cuts through the staff. A'Lutar's eyes widen, and I flick out my left hand.

I'm fighting seriously… as a rogue-based Dark Knight

The Zack's Blood knife and Zack's Holiday knife both embed themselves into the monster's eyes, right and left respectively. A'Lutar screams as he falls to the ground. The blades were long enough to cut into his brain, even if only a little bit.

I soar down, ramming my sword into the bastard's stomach and carving upwards. As we impact the ground, I yank out my blade and ram it straight into the beast's skull, just to make sure it's dead.

Fighting cleanly doesn't always win a fight. Sometimes, you have to play a little bit dirty, and there aren't many that can fight with two knives cutting into their brain via their eyes.

He was no King Monster.

I pull out my weapons and let the blood slide off of them, then I sheathe them and send the Zack's Holiday knife back into my Inventory, before pulling out the Kobold King's Heart and giving it to Nik.

"I'm going to burn his corpse," I tell him. "You go do your thing. I'll say my prayers when I'm finished."

Nik nods, then heads into the Dark Temple to reactivate it. It was his idea to use the heart, even though we normally need a corpse. When he found out I wanted to come here and kill A'Lutar, and hearing my strategy for doing it, he asked Big Flame, who said a King Monster's heart would be enough of a sacrifice, as long as it was fresh.

Since my Inventory puts things into stasis, it's still fresh.

Summoning up my power over fire through my connection to my Sacred Crystal, I manifest flames. Pure, raw, violet flames of my magic, which I send into the corpse. It begins to burn, the flames turning to normal orange and yellow ones as they do. Once the fire is started, I just watch.

He's finally avenged, Luca. A'Lutar is dead, and he won't be killing anyone else ever again. Your brother is finally avenged.

"Wind… Spike," a gravely, yet all-too-familiar voice says, and I hear the attack fly through the air, only to be absorbed by my armor. "Wind… Spike."

I turn around and face him. His skin has turned ashen, but he's not bleeding darkness, and otherwise looks like the same Braden I knew. His Health and Mana aren't all that high, since he wasn't all that powerful when he turned into a Fallen Adventurer. His clothes are dirtier, and the cloak I gave him has some dirt and blood on it, but that's it. Nothing a little elbow grease and the right soap can't get out, even though it's set in.

As his attack strikes me, I walk towards him. He casts it again, and when that one impacts my armor and dissipates, he casts another. He doesn't move at all, other than to cast the spell, his hands outstretched. His staff must have been lost or destroyed.

When I reach him, I slide my hands under his cloak and wrap my arms around him, and he puts his hands against my back.

"Wind… Spike," he casts the spell again, but it simply hits my skin. Even if I weren't still in Demon Form, it wouldn't do anything to me. "Wind… Spike."

I start crying as he tries to kill me. I know he's not really Braden, and I know that despite what the Crystals say, there's no way this can be comfortable for his soul. For him in the afterlife. It just can't be.

Fallen Braden continues to try to hurt me, until his Mana runs out, then he claws at my back, bites at my neck. I just keep crying. I can't save him, I can't bring him back. All that I can do is put him to rest. Let his body finally be at peace.

"I'm sorry, Braden," I whisper, feeling the tears against my cheeks, made colder by the chilly wind. "I'm so sorry, Braden. It's all my fault you died."

I feel the first snowflake on my cheek, hear them in the air, and with a sniffle, I squeeze. It doesn't take much, his body's weak enough that even if I weren't in Demon Form still, it would kill him.

Braden crumbles away, like most Fallen Adventurers do, and I catch his cloak as the tears start pouring down my cheeks even more heavily. I fold it over one arm as I pick up his clothes and boots, then I carry those over to where A'Lutar still burns and toss them onto it, keeping the cloak.

Nothing elbow grease and the right soap can't get out.

"Be at peace, Braden," I whisper, before breaking down entirely, crouching and putting my head between my knees, hugging myself and the cloak as I sob.

Why did I have to give him this stupid cloak?

When I finally calm down as much as I can under the circumstances, I make my way inside, feeling my form revert as I walk to the chamber with the Altar of Darkness in it. I can feel Big Flame's presence active here, and it feels almost giddy.

Nik's finished. Big Flame wouldn't be so giddy with his energy in here if he weren't.

The altar is burning, and Nik is kneeling in front of it. I kneel beside him and start praying as well, thanking the Crystals and Big Flame especially. Praying that things will continue to get better, and that I will continue to get stronger so I can protect my team.

When we finish, Nik and I head out front and stand on the flame sigil, which Nik then uses to warp us back to the Dark Temple in Maelnor. We head inside, and I go to the laundry rooms and start cleaning the cloak, carefully getting every last speck of dirt, blood, and whatever else off of it.

"What are you going to do with that?" Nik asks.

"Give it to Luca," I answer, and he raises an eyebrow. "He won't do the same thing as his brother did. Luca… knows what happens from going above what you know you can handle. He learned it with Braden."

Nik nods, then leaves, and I finish cleaning the cloak, then pull a Heat Pebble out of my Inventory and gently roll it across the cloak after activating it, to help dry it. Once it's dry, I send it into my Inventory, clean my armor and send that into my Inventory, then head to the baths to wash up. As soon as I finish scrubbing and rinsing, I join Nik in the cafeteria for a really late dinner.

A few of the Dark Knights come over and put their hands on my shoulder for a few moments. Or my head, or my back. It's both to comfort me and congratulate me, and I appreciate it.

After I finish eating, I walk home. The snow's getting a little heavier, now. This is the last major snowfall of the season, and we'll only get a few inches. I may have cheated and used my sight to know this, but that's okay.

Everything's okay, now.

When I get home, the others are all asleep. I don't bother checking their minds, I can tell just by looking at them. I crouch by Luca and pull the cloak out of my Inventory, draping it onto him. Then, I kiss him on the forehead.

"It's okay, Luca," I whisper. "Everything's going to be just fine. I promise."

I leave and make my way across the street, where Aurum's awake and moving about. He saw me come by and is pacing around. When I approach, he comes up to me and starts furiously waving his arms about as he rapidly talks in the beastborn way. I get him to slow down so I can understand him, then smile.

"Sorry," I apologize. "I should have warned you, Aurum. I didn't tell Max you were making a pie for him every day. I might have gotten a little mischievous when I went to tell him, and sort of told him that he had to sneak one out, eat it, and then sneak clean dish back in, all without getting caught, every day you made at least two pies. Sorry."

Aurum calms down, and I put a hand on his head, scratching behind his ears. He smiles a little, and I can sense his happiness and enjoyment of it. Then he notices the tears welling up in my eyes, and how I'm red around the eyes, with a little puffiness.

"I'm okay, Aurum," I smile at him as I stop scratching his head. "Everything's going to be fine from now on. Thanks for making the pies for Max. You can keep whatever money you didn't spend on the stuff for them."

His expression tells me that I'm overpaying by a lot. I don't even need to sense his mind to know that.

"I did that on purpose," I tell him. "I have something else to do tonight, Aurum, and it's late. Get some sleep."

He nods, then heads inside his home, and I make my way down to the Trading Post. The usual night worker is in there, but so is Jesse, looking sleepy, but serious. Nik must have woken him up and said I'd probably be by.

I haven't actually cashed in on Bounties in awhile, but this is one that I want to cash in on. That I need to. Not for the money, though. For finalization.

Walking over to the wall of Bounties, I pull off the one for A'Lutar and bring it up to the counter. The night worker gives it a curious look, but Jesse performs the confirmation with me, smiling.

"Congratulations," he says in his normal, deep voice, which causes the other worker to jump.

Guess he's never heard it before. That, or didn't expect it.

"Thanks," I smile.

Jesse pulls the reward from the System's thing that gives it to them, and sets it on the counter.

"Five thousand platinum," he says. "The reward for killing A'Lutar."

A reward so high, around since he became a threat, because of how powerful he was. This completion and reward is indisputable proof that A'Lutar is no more.

I accept the reward, then return home and climb up onto the roof, pulling out my first bottle of wine for the night.