ONE WEEEK HAD PASSED SINCE LANYA'S CORONTATION and she’d been hard at work. After many members of the Akuni nobility were killed in the attack just two weeks ago, she needed to find people who were sufficiently capable of filling the vacuum of power that had been opened up. Zero and Musuko became Lanya’s most trusted advisors at the time. Many noted and trustworthy individuals were asked to fill the position upon the suggestion of these advisors.

On one of the last days during these sessions where the three of them tried to find valid candidates for the nobility, Lanya sat at one side of a triangular table.

“We’re just about done with this,” she remarked, “but we still need one more person to fill in the gap. Unfortunately for us, this spot might be the hardest to fill. We’ve already used up most of our ideas for people. We’ve brought in the Meiji twins, Ani and Shisuta, famed philosophers from all across both Akuni and Aotoshi, and even still we find that our pool of options has run dry. So, what are we to do?”

Zero and Musuko began contemplating one final suggestion for noble status. After little more than a few seconds, Zero’s mind went to the most qualified person he could think of. He recalled a man devoted to Lanya’s cause in stopping the Saisei Coalition and would stand beside her regardless of the risks. After all, what risks would an immortal being have to fear?

“I have an idea,” Zero chimed in, breaking the silence. “What if I were to bring an old colleague of mine in?”

“That is already a risky move,” Musuko rebuked. “What if we were to be accused of nepotism? Would it not be better to select an individual who is most qualified toward their craft? I cannot help but feel a certain discomfort toward the thought of turning the nobility of Akuni and Aotoshi into a sleepover with all of our friends.”

“Although I do believe your concerns are valid,” Lanya responded, “it is better to allow Zero to explain himself. After all, he knows better than to bring somebody into a position of such power without any reason beyond being their friend. So, Zero, would you mind telling us who this man would be and why he would be a great choice?”

“I have known this man for nearly two-hundred-fifty years now,” he began to explain. “His name is Satsujin Oritsu and I am doubtful that there is anybody else on this entire continent with as much of a moral backbone as him, let alone just the two countries of Akuni and Aotoshi. To reject him from the nobility is the same as rejecting Socrates of an academic position. He has been helping us to ensure the end of the Saisei Coalition since Yukan’s death.”

“Another maila, I presume?” Lanya asked.

“Precisely.”

Lanya paused, contemplating the possible consequences of putting a maila in the nobility, but by the end, she came up empty. She turned to Zero.

“Very well,” she began, “we will host a hearing for Satsujin to see his moral quality and whether he is worthy of a noble status.”

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The next day, the hearing was held and Satsujin’s nature was exactly as Zero had described it, but even stronger. Words would fail to describe the display of gentility they witnessed, while still being able to avoid being a doormat. Throughout the hearing, Satsujin was holding something in his hand, evidenced by how awkwardly he kept that one hand closed while the other was able to do whatever. By the time the interview was over, Satsujin met up with Zero as he walked out of the chamber door.

“That was probably the easiest job interview I’ve ever done,” Satsujin started.

“Yeah,” Zero replied before getting into what he wanted to talk about. “Why did you keep your hand closed throughout the entire ordeal?”

Satsujin froze before slowly opening his fist and showing it to Zero.

“Kasegi’s eye? I thought you turned it in to the authorities?”

“I was going to,” Satsujin revealed “but then a thought occurred to me. You see, the Saisei Coalition isn’t dead yet. I’ve found out their hideout and I’m going to trash it tonight before destroying the eye. Without anything to claim a leader, they’ll be disconnected and scattered in approach, resulting in their extinction becoming inevitable.”

“You’ve thought about this for a while,” Zero remarked. “Your sharp mind hasn’t dulled one bit in all those years. I don’t want to delay you any longer. Go on and do what you need to do.”

“Thank you, Zero,” Satsujin said before giving his farewells and heading to the Brass Gate Inn.

Once he arrived at the bar and opened the door, most of the people at the bar looked over to him. He was no regular at the establishment and his arrival at the bar caught the attention of the regulars.

“Do I know you?” the bartender asked him.

“No, you don’t,” Satsujin answered dryly, “and I won’t be here for too long, so you need not learn about me.” The bartender, although perplexed by this statement, ignored its cryptic nature.

“Very well then,” he replied before going back to serve another one of his patrons.

As he walked toward the door to the backroom, he took a small ingot of metal from his pocket, holding it like a professional rock-skipper holds their projectile before launching it. The heavies at the door stopped him before his entrance.

“Password?” one of the heavies asked. Just then, Satsujin took the garnium ingot and touched it against the two men. They evaporated quietly as the bloody mist stained the ceiling of the Brass Gate Inn and Satsujin walked into the backroom preparing to bring an end to the terror that the Saisei Coalition had wrought upon Akuni and Aotoshi. But then, a voice in the back of his head stopped him. It was not a voice he could hear, but rather a mental voice, possibly even his own. It spoke to him thusly:

“This is your destiny, Satsujin. You weren’t brought here to destroy the Saisei Coalition but to save them from destruction. You weren’t supposed to abolish any leadership for them, you were supposed to be their leader. So, what do you say? Will you let destiny fulfill itself?”

Satsujin did not anticipate that he would go through with this plan. He had always been one to fight for justice. Yet, there was only one thing that Satsujin wished more for than that: power. Why would he reject this opportunity when it would allow him to have more power than any living being, even the rest of the maila?

Satsujin took a small dagger from his pocket and, with hands shaking, raised it to the level of his head. He pushed the dagger toward himself, directly into his right eye, impaling it and destroying any chance of seeing from it again. He paused and barely held in the cries of pain as he tore the eye from its socket, the optic nerve now loose against his cheek. Pushing the optic nerve in, he placed the amethyst eye in the new gap that had been formed. He picked up his organic eye from the floor before bringing it outside with him. Passing through the streets, he saw a small bonfire. He tossed the old eye into this flame, casting aside his noble past in honor of what he saw as a greater future.