The Maldread swung a massive claw right at Jonas' head, and he skillfully ducked underneath it and flanked around the creature like he had envisioned. The monster turned on the spot and charged toward him, only this time, the Maldread's attack came much more quickly than the first.

It grabbed him by the foot, and Jonas felt his entire body flip upside down. The beast flung him side-to-side, and his head jerked back and forth as the Maldread brought Jonas close to its open mouth. It was ready to devour him whole.

“Now!” Ralph summoned all his strength and leaped onto the creature's back, and he wrapped his massive biceps around its throat, and as he did, the group of fighters charged forward and flung themselves around the arms of the hulking beast. Being attacked by so many people shocked the beast, and it threw Jonas through the air, and he flew across the room and didn’t stop until he hit the stone wall and came crashing to the floor.

As blood poured from a gash in his skull, the last thing Jonas saw was the image of a handful of bloody slaves desperately trying to hold back a giant monster. Jonas’ eyes closed on their own accord, and he fell into a deep sleep.

“Now die!” Howard shouted as he wound up his body and threw the ball of flames toward the face of the Maldread. The creature's instinct kicked into overdrive as it completely ignored the ants crawling all over it, and it turned its head to avoid the flames, and as it did, a small explosion occurred.

The monster screamed in fury because the attack had left a fist-sized smoldering hole in its neck, and the impact from the blast was enough to knock it off balance. However, because so many people had been holding it, the creature remained firmly rooted to the spot as it struggled to free itself. As the Maldread recovered from the attack, Jaden leaped into the air.

Not even for a second did Jaden consider that his strength might not be enough to harm the beast, and as he stabbed toward its skull: he put every ounce of power he had behind the attack. The blade embedded itself right through the side of the monster's skull, and Jaden pushed with all his might, but unfortunately for him: the dagger wouldn't go any deeper. Hope drained out of him—he had failed.

“Move!” Yotama Yuki pushed him out of the way and wheeled herself around. She darted forward, leaped gracefully into the sky, and swung her body around to perform the best flying kick she had ever attempted. Her foot hit the hilt, and the blade was pushed deeper into the skull of the Maldread. The monster moaned terribly as the blade pierced its brain.

“Run!” Ralph boomed as he finally let go of the bucking beast, and everyone followed suit. The Maldread flailed its limbs like a toddler throwing a tantrum, and as it did, Yuki ducked just in time to miss having her head blasted off by its sharp claws. One person, however, wasn’t quick enough to dodge.

For a moment, Jaden didn’t realize that the creature's claws had barely scratched his neck, but as his hands trembled upward: a fountain of blood gushed out from his jugular. His eyes widened as he tried to stop the bleeding, but he quickly lost feeling in his legs and tumbled backward until he hit the cold, mossy floor.

“Young Blood!” Pete shouted, but he couldn’t run over because the Maldread was giving one last feeble attempt at killing them as it blindly scratched and clawed at anything in its personal space. It tripped over unconscious slaves—killing them in their sleep—until it crashed into a stone wall and fell over.

Jaden stared up at the ceiling as he felt the life drain out of his body. His fingers tightly enclosed around his neck, but it wasn't long before they grew numb, and he lost all feeling in his hands, and they fell to his sides. He tried to speak, but no words could escape the gurgling and choking sounds ushered from his throat as he died slowly and painfully.

‘Jonas, I failed,’ his eyes glazed over, and the brilliant light that filled his eyes had vanished. Death had immortalized the expression of terror on his face, and his consciousness went dark, and Jaden Jackson ceased to be.

“Die, die, DIE!” Howard screamed as he watched the monster bounce off the wall and fall to the floor. It cried and scratched at the dagger embedded in its skull, clumsily trying to pull it out. The creature failed in its attempt, and instead of pulling it out, it accidentally pushed it in deeper so that the hilt was nearly invisible. The Maldread gave one last cry, and then it huddled its knees together on the cold floor like a sad and lonely child.

The fighters watched as its hulking figure slowly breathed and bemoaned sad whimpers. Eventually, the noises died out, and the monster stopped moving. The silence that followed was strange, and the only noises left were the ragged breathing of the bloody slaves.

“It’s dead,” Johnson was the first to speak. “It's fucking dead, right?"

“We lost Jaden,” Pete looked miserable as he walked over to the corpse of their fallen friend. He gently used two fingers to close Jaden’s eyes and then ripped a piece of cloth from his shirt, which he used to wrap and cover up the gruesome wound on Jaden's neck.

Sadness overtook the hearts of those who heard the proclamation. Johnson, Simon, and James felt their backs hit the stone wall as they slid onto their asses – their expressions were crestfallen, and tears threatened to leak from their eyes.

“Jonas isn’t going to take it well,” Simon whispered. "You know how he is: he wears his heart on his sleeve."

“I can't believe he's dead,” Johnson bit his lip. "Before the breakout, he told me that he had plans to become a baseball player, and now it'll never happen. Fuck, it isn't fair.”

“Jaden was a good kid. He didn't deserve to die down here, nor so brutally. He deserved better," Simon buried his face into his hands. "Both of them—Jonas and Jaden—they both deserved better. What a fucking terrible hand they were both dealt."

“Jaden's gone, but Jonas lives. We need to help him cope and make sure he doesn't beat himself up over this because you know he will. He'll blame himself and put Jaden's death on his shoulders,” Johnson exhaled a deep breath. "We'll support Jonas and help him through this."

“You're right, we will,” Simon wiped the tears from his reddened eyes. "Jonas needs his brother. It's our responsibility to keep his head straight until he leaves for the Sin Assessment."

“I'll check on Jonas,” Yuki ran across the room toward his bleeding and sleeping figure. Looking at him closely, she grimaced at the blood pouring from the wound on his head, and hot tears began to leak out of her eyes as she saw the state of his mangled body. Slowly, she lowered herself next to him and then gently lifted his head and laid it on her lap, and she wiped the tears from her eyes because she wanted a smile to be the first thing Jonas saw when he woke up.

“What are you doing?” Ralph boomed, and everyone turned their head to see Howard Hurts walking toward the dead Maldread.

“Just checking to see if it's dead. All would be for naught if it weren’t,” Howard reached the creature's side before anyone could stop him. He slowly traced a finger on the creature's neck and couldn't feel a pulse. The monster was dead. His curious fingers playfully grazed the monster's disgusting skin, and they slowly treaded upward until they found the dagger. Like a knight pulling a sword from a stone, Howard dug his hands into the monster and used all his strength to yank it out.

“Why the hell would you do that?” Ahmed was shocked. “Are you so attached to that knife that you would risk all of our lives for it?”

“It's dead,” Howard chuckled. “And I paid a lot of money for this knife. I’m not leaving it stuck in the brains of some worthless monster. An Egyptian smith crafted it for me. It's supposed to resemble those old ceremonial knives the priests used to slaughter slaves when they made sacrifices to their gods.”

“Thanks for the trivia,” Ahmed rolled his eyes.

“Speaking of slaves,” Howard licked his bloody lips, raised the dagger, and pointed it at Ahmed’s chest. “Get back in your fucking cage, slave.”

Howard had spoken with his most intimidating voice, his Sin Scars glowed violently, but he was surprised to hear a bout of laughter from some slaves—including Ahmed.

“Are you off your meds?” Johnson chuckled. “Check out stumpy over here trying to keep us as his slaves after everything that happened,” Howard felt his face go rather red when he heard Johnson make fun of his new disability, but it didn’t change the fact that he had lost way too much to let them go. Garth and Xiao Lin were dead, as was Thomas Vale. If Howard let Ahmed, Yuki, or Jonas go, he was finished.

“You fucked everything up for me,” he snarled as he glared at Johnson. “I might not be as strong as I once was, but I’m still Howard fucking Hurts, and last time I checked, you’re my slaves. Now, get back in your fucking cages!”

“Howard,” Ahmed shook his head. “We both know that isn’t going to happen. We both know that you can’t take us all down."

“GET IN YOUR FUCKING CAGES!” As he screamed, Howard Hurts didn’t look as cool and calm as he once did. He looked pitiful as his gelled bangs flopped forward, giving him an awkward-looking hairstyle.

“Then we fight to the death,” Ahmed sighed. “It’s not going to go the way you think,” but Ahmed was distracted by something that made his mouth fall agape. The recently deceased Maldread began to stir and slowly rise from the ground. Noticing Ahmed’s expression, Howard quickly turned his head to look behind himself, but as he did, horror and dread filled his expression.

Not only was the Maldread alive, but the wound on its head had begun to heal, and only a tiny bullet-sized hole was left. The monster opened its mouth and roared as it slowly approached Howard Hurts, who was trembling with fear.

With one fluid stab of its hand, the Maldread impaled Howard through the chest, and from the opposite side, the survivors could see his beating heart grasped in the blood-covered hands of the monster.

“How?” Johnson whispered as horror overtook his body. Each of the slaves watched as the recently resurrected Maldread lifted the heartless Howard off his feet, and as it did, Howard slid farther down its arm until he was face to face with the creature.

Howard tried to speak, but his words were drowned by the blackish blood pouring from his mouth. His eyes widened, the dagger gripped in his one good hand hit the floor, and life drained out of his body. The Maldread opened its jaws, placed Howard’s head inside, and with one swift bite: the strongest gangster in all of Little Wrath City was dead.

Even in death, Howard Hurts had managed to fuck them one last time, and each of them realized that the Maldread must have healed once Howard had pulled the dagger from its skull.

“God saves us,” Simon whispered as his eyes began to water. The Maldread flung Howard’s body aside and stared menacingly at the crying, rat-faced man—like he took affront to Simon asking for God. Swallowing the mouthful of human that it still had in its mouth, the monster screamed in delight as it charged toward Simon.

“No!” Johnson froze, and his legs wouldn't move. He wanted to push Simon out of the way, but it was too late.

While watching the monster charge toward him, Simon couldn’t help but feel regretful that he would never get to see his daughter: he wanted to apologize to her. He would never see his wife and get a chance to make up for his past mistakes.

The creature was aimed for his heart and was sure to kill, but before the Maldread could impale Simon, he felt his entire body blast out of the way and hit the cold stone ground. Someone had come to his rescue and saved his life. Who had pushed him out of the way? For just the briefest of seconds, Simon felt grateful, but that was until he saw who had saved him and what had become of them.

“Ahmed!” Simon cried. The Maldread had impaled the old warrior through the chest, and he suspended him in mid-air. For just a moment, time seemed to stand still, and in his final brilliant hour, Ahmed turned his head to meet the eyes of Simon.

“Take Jonas and run,” he whispered, and then the Maldread threw his body across the room and tossed his heart into its hungry mouth. There was no time to scream or mourn, and as soon as the creature finished swallowing Ahmed's heart, it turned its head toward a new target and charged.

“Yuki!” Johnson screamed. “Run!” Yuki was still seated with Jonas’ head on her lap, and she watched as the monster approached her. With all the speed and power she could muster, she rolled to the side and began sprinting away from the creature. She hoped that it would keep its attention on her and not Jonas.

Yuki got what she desired. As the creature skidded to a halt, the two began a game of cat and mouse, where she would only avoid death by a hair each time the monster swiped its claws at her head.

Ahmed was bleeding to death on the ground, but his strength as a Sinner was a curse that kept him alive longer than a regular person could.

‘Jonas,’ he whispered in his heart as his vision faded. He hadn't the power to speak aloud, but he hoped that his young friend could hear him. ‘I cannot tell you how much I long to breathe the air of freedom, but the air I crave is not that of Hell, but the desert air of my home,’ a million thoughts ran through his mind, and it seemed like an eternity ago that he had been nothing more than a simple goat herder. ‘Life is so strange and unfair. I had a lifetime of hate and war, then another filled with slavery. Now I'm destined to die. Will I be forced to live another miserable life?'

There were no words to describe the emotions Ahmed felt in his heart as he slowly died atop the cold, mossy floor of the sewers. ‘Jonas, I’m going on with you. I long to see the faces of my family, and who knows, maybe I’ll see them on the other side,’ Ahmed knew the only thing that would be greeting him was a new life full of amnesia, solitude, and confusion. ‘Jonas,’ he wished that his young friend could hear his final words.‘Heartache and peril fill your path ahead, so please believe me. You must not give in, and you must not make wasted movements, and you must believe in yourself, and if that ever becomes too difficult, then try to believe in those that follow you—just as I believed in you—just as I still do…’ then he closed his eyes, and prepared himself for the next journey.

Jonas didn’t know that Ahmed was speaking to him. He didn’t know that they had beaten the Maldread once, nor that the monster had risen from the grave and was wreaking one last final assault against those he held dear.

He did, however, suspect something was wrong because he stood in the familiar room of blood and shadow. The bloody ocean that stretched endlessly was turbulent and disturbed because a storm occurred in the distance. The air inside the room seemed to be moving like air escaping a balloon; Jonas felt that the room had a crack and his rising anxiety told him something was wrong.

"Ah, Jonas. I'm afraid I have bad news," the shadow named Pride stood on the crimson-glass balcony and stared toward the center of the storm. He sighed, turned his head, and locked eyes with Jonas. For a moment, the two of them stared at each other.

"That can wait for later," Jonas kept calm but knew he hadn't time to spare for idle chit-chat. "You know there's a fucking Maldread rampaging right now. Pride, you need to wake me up. We can discuss whatever you want later."

"Unfortunately, this can't wait. Don't worry about the time, Jonas. An hour here only represents a few seconds in the real world, so there's time for us to speak."

"Then speak," Jonas looked impatient, but he knew that Pride usually had unique information to share. "Hurry up because we need a strategy to beat that Maldread. Those things are fucking insane."

"That Maldread is nothing—a runt. The fully grown ones are unstoppable monsters capable of wiping out entire cities. I felt it was born from Terry Coleman as soon as your battle with Howard Hurts started. However, even a baby Maldread has skin so tough that it's near impenetrable, and even if you do break through its hide, you'll be shocked to see how fast it heals, almost as fast as you."

"You felt it being born? You could have warned me, and we could have escaped earlier."

"You needed to focus on your fight with Howard Hurts. This battle is important because it decides the fate of you and your companions, does it not?"

"Whatever," Jonas shook his head and knew better than to argue with Pride, who would rarely admit defeat. "What do you need to tell me that's so important?"

"Do you remember how I told you that one day I'd reveal to you the secrets that I've been keeping?"

"The ones about my childhood and my existence? Yes, I remember," Jonas narrowed his eyes, and his heart jumped. How could he possibly forget about the promise of honesty that Pride had made? "You said you'd tell me everything when I was ready."

"You're not ready. However, I don't have much time left, so it's either now or never."

"What do you mean?" Jonas looked visibly confused. "Not much time left? Where are you going?"

"I once told you I felt like possessing your body and taking the reins of this life while you watch from the shadows. I fought the urge and realized soon that I was beginning to fade away. Jonas, you've grown in strength, and with every second you grow closer to becoming a True Sinner, I feel my existence fade away. I have maybe weeks left to live, but tonight you'll need a burst of strength beyond anything you've ever summoned, and it will come at the cost of my life—this is why I need to tell you some things now and to show you the secrets that I've been hiding. This moment is my last chance to tell you all the things I need to tell you."

"Pride," Jonas was at a loss for words, and his anxiety did most of the talking because his beating heart was so loud enough for Pride to hear it. For as long as he could remember, Jonas yearned for the mysteries and secrets of his past, but he never wanted to learn them at the cost of someone he cared about, and Jonas did care about Pride no matter how annoying he found him. "You don't have to use your life for anything. We can find another way to beat the Maldread."

"I've already told you, my existence was fading long before the Maldread showed up. The situation has sped up the inevitable, and I prefer it this way. Now, are you ready?"

"Not really," the reality hadn't set in yet, and Jonas was still in a state where he didn't accept what was about to happen. "But, I'm listening."

"Good," said Pride. "You've already accepted you're a Hellite sent by the Man of Light to live among humans, right?" Did Jonas accept this? He felt Pride had forced this revelation on him. Jonas sighed and nodded his head.

"I'm a Hellite, sent by a mystical being to live among the people of Earth. I accept it."

"Good," said Pride. "This saves us time. I don't know why he did it, but I think he needs you for something. He sealed your powers, left you to experience great tragedy, and set you on a course that involved Little Wrath City, Old Louie, and me. The Man of Light wants you to experience the things you've been through because he needs you to be strong. Mentally and physically strong."

"Are you kidding me? How could he possibly know I'd find Old Louie or Little Wrath city?"

"Because the Man of Light is all-powerful. Not God, but very close. He's strong enough to influence fate itself, and if a figure like that needs you for something, you know that you must be special."

"That doesn't make any sense. No all-powerful deity capable of bending fate needs me to do anything. You might be wrong this time."

"Jonas, I need you to accept the things I say. What I'm saying isn't guesswork anymore. These are facts I know to be true. With our last moments together, I wouldn't be telling you if I wasn't sure I was correct."

"Okay, continue," Jonas felt his mouth grow dry when he heard that it was his last moment with Pride, but part of him still didn't accept that the end was near.

"I don't know what the Man of Light needs you for, but it involves you becoming a strong Sinner. We know that a True Sinner needs four things to be successful: a background as a Hellite, a strong body, a brilliant personality, and a ruthless spirit. Whether you've realized it or not, you have all four. Your fate isn't to die in a sewer, Jonas. The Man of Light created you to do much bigger things. Me, your friends, the old quack—we're all just cogs in a machine that exists to help you grow so that you may one day be ready to take on the role that the Man of Light needs you. Everything you have been through has been to prepare you for the moment that he will appear and give you whatever mission he has stored for you."

"My fate isn't under my control?" Jonas looked angry. He didn't like the idea that the Man of Light had fabricated all his experiences and relationships under the guise that he needed Jonas for something.

"I said that a True Sinner needs four things to excel. The first is having a background as a Hellite, and you check this box off. We don't know who you and Drake's parents are, but we know they're here in Hell. Not only are you a Hellite, but you've got good blood. It's the kind that makes you feel proud of your heritage. You come from a line of strong Sinners: I know this because your talent is too great for the truth to be anything else."

"I don't plan on looking for my parents, so our heritage doesn't matter."

"If the Man of Light wants you to meet your parents, you will. That's the power and influence he has on your fate. The second thing you need as a True Sinner is a strong body. You've always been athletically gifted, but you needed a body that was hammered and forged by fire. Your time in Little Wrath City equipped you with a physically dominant body that can take and give a beating. You've fine-tuned your martial arts, though they still need some extra work, and you've reached the pinnacle of speed and strength without further manipulation with Sin, which means you also fulfill the second category. The last two categories are a brilliant personality and a ruthless spirit. This part is where the Man of Light is most devious. Drake is responsible for most of your personality traits, and it's his handiwork why you are the way you are. Drake's influence will forever linger in your personality, and he forged you into a good person with an infectious personality that is strong enough to manage your power."

"So even Drake is a product of the Man of Light? This conversation gets more surreal as it goes on. Am I even a real person with free will? You're telling me that everything and everyone I've ever loved is a product of someone else's will. That's terrifying and disgusting."

"It gets worse. You now have a ruthless spirit, and a True Sinner needs this most of all. The age-old question: can a Sinner be a good person and be strong? The answer is no. You need to get your hands dirty if you want to be able to hang with the best of them. Jonas, the worst part of this situation is not that your fate isn't in your hands. The worst part is all the tragedies that the Man of Light has forced you to endure—past and present, are because he wants you equipped with raw ruthlessness. The kind you need to survive in Hell. He fucked up your childhood, so you'd always have this twisted spirit ready to murder. That's the worst part, in my opinion, and it shows how devious and shitty the Man of Light is."

"My childhood sucked, but I don't understand how that's the worst part," Jonas shook his head. The things he experienced hadn't been pleasant, but he held no grudge because Drake had been the shining light that helped him through his childhood, and his brother's love overshadowed the tragic memories.

"You don't remember it all," Pride shook his head. "You blocked it out. I told you this before."

"Blocked what out?"

"The physical and sexual abuse of Jonas Ariel."