We head back to the infirmary and set WarWolf back down on the medical bed.

BunBun suddenly bounces in excitement. “Miss angel lady. Umm, thanks for saving me from dying from the poison.”

“It’s my religious duty to do what I can to help.” She examines WarWolf’s legs.

“Teacher said you can heal anything! Can you, umm, make it so I can see again?”

Tempera rolls her eyes. “My powers are for life and death scenarios only. Assassins are shaped by their wounds. I wouldn’t rob you of that opportunity.”

“Please! You’re going to help WarWolf grow her legs back, right? Why can’t you help me too?”

“I only stopped the bleeding and sealed the wound. She’ll have to live like this from now on.”

WarWolf grabs BunBun’s hand, startling her. “Looks like both of us will just have to try extra hard to be great assassins.”

BunBun wipes her eyes. “I want to go home. Teacher?” She feels around till she grabs his tendril. “Can you take me back? I miss my momma.”

Teacher’s body shivers. “I can bring you back for only a bit. The graduates are supposed to stay together.” He carves a portal.

I lift BunBun into a hug. “I’ll come along too.”

BunBun pulls her hand away. “WarWolf needs you right now.”

“Hey, I promised to help you shower.”

“I don’t care! I can manage. Just have to walk more carefully. She…can’t walk at all.”

WarWolf whimpers a bit and then growls. “I don’t need my legs to hunt down my enemies.”

I look at WarWolf and then back to BunBun. “Okay, I’ll stay. Teacher, that means you’ll have to clean her for me.”

Teacher’s body distorts in and out of existence. “That’s really something a parent should do.”

BunBun sniffles. “You’ve been my papa for years. I love you.”

Teacher’s face splits into a smile. “I’ll take care of her.” He carves a portal and the two leave.

WarWolf covers her face with her arm and cries into it. “What am I going to do?”

“Hey, now the enemy will underestimate you. You’ll be an even better assassin.”

“That’s not the kind of assassin I was raised to be. It’s not the one I want to be.”

I lift BunBun into a hug. “I’ll come along too.”

VirtueVice appears between us.

WarWolf’s eyes widen.

“Looks like you’ve recovered nicely.” He smiles at her with his cloak.

“Am I in trouble for sneaking off?” I ask.

“No. I went looking for you two because something wretched has befallen one of your classmates.”

WarWolf looks up at him. “Don’t mince your words. We can handle the truth.”

“BladEagle has been…” his shadow cloaks us “murdered.

WarWolf goes pale.

I cover my face. “I can’t believe it.”

Lying to her feels so wrong. But what else can I do?

“Come along with me. It’s time to send off the dead.” VirtueVice creates a jagged portal and tears it open. “So many dead every year.”

We didn’t have a ceremony for the students lost in our first final exam so we didn’t know what to expect.

The bodies of the fallen students were laid out before their class on a pure white sheet.

I lift WarWolf onto my shoulders and we meet up with the rest of our class at BladEagle’s body.

WarWolf glares at the corpse.

Goopy notices and smiles at her. “There’s no way he died without a fight. I bet whoever did this to him is on their last legs.”

WarWolf slides off my shoulders. She growls at him and he jumps back.

CamOctopus holds Goopy and comforts him.

StarBorne looks at the body inquisitively. “Teacher told me that it was likely another attack from that traitor. Makes sense. Only a RiftRipper could defeat him.”

WarWolf turns to StarBorne. “We spared for five years. Nearly every day after class, we would compete. We didn’t keep track of every win to loss, but it was by no means a clear victory for either of us. He was supportive of me as a boyfriend, a friend and most importantly a rival.” She whimpers. “How am I supposed to grow without him?”

I crouch down and pet her. “You don’t need him or any of us. We’re only hear to give you a little extra support. But if we were all dead, you’d still be strong. Nothing will ever change that.”

WarWolf embraces me and sobs.

I don’t deserve this but maybe that doesn’t matter. It’s not about me. It’s about helping her. I didn’t just kill BladEagle, I took up his responsibilities.

“I’m going to become president of this school and change the exam so nobody has to lose their parents ever again.”

I’ll take up his dream too. This resolve I feel…is it him?

VirtueVice’s head moves off his shoulders into his hands. “That’s quite the aspiration you have.” He hands me a pure white knife. “The dead are the steps we climb to reach the truth.”

“I don’t recall that phrase,” says Goopy.

“It’s what my mother told me…” VirtueVice splits in two “before I strangled the life out of her. I fought to survive despite not wanting to live. Deep within that paradox lies true strength.”

WarWolf shakes her head. “It’s deception. There’s no meaning. The only message is that a moment of weakness means death.”

“Its truer for some than others.” VirtueVice turns to me. “The heart is where a hero’s power resides. For angels it is the fluids. For assassins…” he takes my hand and points the blade to the body’s head “it is the mind.”

WarWolf snatches the knife from me. “I’ll do it.”

VirtueVice nods and opens up a vortex within his cloak. “Cut out the brain and cast it into the void. Memory is a world without life. Let him fade into darkness.”

Is darkness really all that awaits us in death?

I feel someone’s arms around me.

“You were shivering,” says BunBun, escorted by Teacher.

“You’re not responsible, VirtueVice.” Teacher opens up his cloak. “BladEagle was my student. I’ll shoulder the responsibility.”

“This is pointless.” WarWolf bites her lip.

Goopy shudders but looks at her. “It’s not. If he was already killed by a RiftRipper, then his mind won’t be absorbed now. And if he wasn’t, then they can find the culprit and bring him to justice.”

I’m so confused. Is that what’s going on with me? Is mother’s mind inside me. But I’m not a RiftRipper. I have so many questions.

WarWolf glares at Goopy. “Even if the killer dies, BladEagle will just sink into darkness. There’s no undoing this. This ceremony is to give us hope.” She stabs the knife into the body’s head and punches it till the skull cracks. “Hope is a lie. Despair is truth.”

BunBun squeezes me. “What’s going on?”

“BladEagle is dead.”

“But he’s so strong.”

“Mortal strength can only get one so far. Right?” I look up at VirtueVice.

He nods. “Even the most skilled mortal assassin can do nothing against a RiftRipper.”

Goopy looks up. “But we aren’t fighting RiftRippers…so why do we have to become them?”

“Sacrifice is the source of power. We must shed everything so that we can melt into proper weapons.”

BunBun sobs. “I don’t want to lose everything.”

VirtueVice pats her head. “That’s the spirit. The greater the hope, the stronger the despair. And the stronger the despair, the more powerful the RiftRipper.”

WarWolf holds up BladEagle’s brain. “The smartest person I’ll ever know. And all that knowledge is gone now. Or worse…taken up by a traitor.” She places the brain in Teacher’s void.

Teacher sinks as he sulks. “Nothing. His mind has already been seized.”

CamOctopus looks up at VirtueVice. “This test wasn’t about our skills. It was about…despair.”

“Yes, and sad to say but you’re lie has been discovered.” VirtueVice’s form extends and grips CamOctopus.

Goopy tries to pull him off. “She wasn’t lying. We already agreed the killer has to be a RiftRipper. She didn’t do it. She doesn’t even want to be a killer!”

“I felt it only fair to allow you all to send off your classmate. CamOctopus didn’t pass the exam. She was knocked out by her fathers and they ended their lives to cover up her failure.”

“That isn’t her fault! It doesn’t make her a traitor.”

“This isn’t about traitors or blame. She’s not even going to be punished for lying. She simply lost her opportunity to become a RiftRipper.”

“Please, don’t do this.”

CamOctopus smiles at Goopy. “It’s okay. I’m not going to be punished. I’ll just end up a teacher or a parent. It’s what I prefer honestly. Maybe my fathers died to give me the opportunity for a different life.”

Goopy lowers his head. “It’s not an opportunity. It’s a deadly gamble.”

“Say any more and you’ll be seen as a traitor,” says VirtueVice, pointing his bladed tendrils at Goopy.

WarWolf stands up. “Who determined the result of the exam?”

“What are you getting at?” VirtueVice pulls in his blades.

“You must have watched it happen.”

“Yes. I saw it. I had a feeling they may cheat.”

“You’re lying.”

CamOctpus shakes her head. “He’s telling the truth. I did fail to kill them.”

“My father told me who orchestrated the attack on StarBorne. This isn’t about avenging BladEagle. That’s pointless. This is to protect CamOctopus.” She turns to Teacher. “VirtueVice is the traitor.”

Teacher goes pale. “Y-Y-You shouldn’t make such accusations.”

The room distorts and all the other students are hidden under black fog. “All you have is the word of a dead traitor to back up your accusation. The words of a traitor are dust. Gone and forgotten.” He turns to Teacher. “Take CamOctopus away. Put her with the other failures and quitters.”

Can VirtueVice really be a traitor? And if so, then what is he fighting against?