D’s shadow danced across the midtown rooftops as he made his way towards the Chief Minister’s manor, their sturdier construction and wooden-slat roofing made for better footing than the generally thatch rooftops in the slums. He took every precaution each time he came across another roadway, checking to make sure it was absolutely clear before leaping across as nothing more than a silhouette in the night.

Now that I’m back in the city, I feel like a hunter again…

D smiled pleasantly at the irony of his situation, taking into account every moving shadow and clink of metal. Trying to forget and move past the pain and horror he just went through… it felt strangely therapeutic to be back on familiar ground.

Still… it seems much too open when compared to the forests… no real cover to help against things that quick and that large…

He shifted uncomfortably as he ran, as a cold shiver danced down his spine.

*Thwoom!*

He nearly stumbled at the thunderous burst of sound and light erupting behind him. He pivoted to cover behind a chimney instinctively, popping his head out just in time to see another large wave of flame burst from the direction of the adventurers’ guild.

“Damn, I think they bit off a bit more than they could chew with that one!” D grinned, then promptly buried it under the guilt that followed.

The guild, the guards aligned with the minister, the bureaucrats and the sailors… seems he is targeting everyone that wasn’t part of his camp. Planned it out, too… ‘cept for the temples and the royal garrison.

D scanned the skyline once more, evaluating the areas with the heaviest signs of fighting against his mental map of Njord.

Seems I guessed right to take midtown to cut into the noble’s district in uptown. If their main force is elsewhere… then this should be a breeze. Why are they doing this, though? What did I miss?

D ground his teeth, perplexed as he returned to his route. He hated how quickly things had turned sour, with hardly any time for him to properly research and gauge the city.

He was greeted by the clash of blades and furious shouts of more street fighting almost directly in line with his route. D quickly looked around then closed his eyes, checking his mental map again.

Damnit, as long as I am quick and quiet… I should be able to slip past it.

He maneuvered across the far-side slopes of the gabled rooves, using the gradient as cover as he tried to pass around the market square.

Inside the square, a squad of the baron’s soldiers had surrounded a guard and couple men, while another had lit a fire in the house behind them.

He gritted his teeth while watching their desperate struggle, cursing under his breath, before pushing on towards a large open courtyard and the main thoroughfare separating Midtown and Uptown.

Just as he was getting ready to drop off the roof, the piercing wail of a young girl tore through the night air. “SAAMM!”

D froze, his eyes locked dead ahead, buffeted as he was by the gut-wrenching cries of a woman and blood-curdling howls of dying men. He closed his eyes for moment, grimacing, and instinctively reaching for his talisman.

When he opened them again, he found himself staring off into the smoke-wrapped rays of light from the moon.

“Fuck me.” It’s one thing to pass by something you can’t see, but to ignore it right in front of my eyes… I wouldn’t be human anymore, would I?

**

D inhaled deeply, pivoting into a sprint back up the roof. As soon as he hit the top, he dropped into a power-slide, gaining speed rapidly heading down the other side, simultaneously taking a quick account of who was left.

Archer posted back for security… one on the woman and daughter, one about to execute the guard. If I don’t hit the archer first, I would almost certainly take an arrow dead-on. But if I go for the archer, then…

D steeled himself. There was only one choice he could accept, and it wasn’t an easy one to make.

Diffuse Presence. Acceleration. Precision.

D leapt from the edge of the roof, quietly whistling through the air like an owl. The archer noticed too late, only when D’s shadow blocked the light from the shaded moon.

“WHO TH-“ Before he could finish his shout or raise his bow, D’s boot rode the soldiers face into the ground, splattering chunks of skull and grey matter across the cobblestone square.

“Damnit! There’s another one!” The swordsman finished his strike, severing the guardsman’s head with a meaty *schwick*, while the other soldier yanked the woman’s hair, tearing some out before he shoved her into the ground.

Acceleration. Agility. Swift Strike.

D deftly dodged out of the way of the first sword swing. His hand struck like a snake, grabbing hold of the swordsman’s arm while delivering an uppercut to the elbow with his free hand.

“GYAAA-!“ The swordsman howled with the *crack* of cartilage and bone.

D maintained his offensive, as he ripped the sword from the soldier’s loosened grip and stabbed it through his chin and out the back of his skull, sending a deluge of blood out from his freshly shish-kabobbed mouth.

The last soldier’s eyes bulged red, and he howled with senseless rage as he charged at D.

What a joke, compared to real monsters…

With a drop and twist, he delivered a low-kick with enough force to sweep the last soldier off his feet and sent him hurdling into the ground. With a deft movement of his hand, he whipped the dagger out from its’ sheath on the swordsman’s corpse.

D didn’t waste the moment’s advantage, and with a bloody glint in his eye, he sprinted behind the soldier and stabbed the blade between the soldier’s throat and shoulder blade, piercing deep into his heart.

Just how it’s always… done.

He was rewarded with a spray of blood from wound. He stepped back, looking at all the fresh blood on his hands, and the outstretch arm from the dying soldier as he clawed for life that he could no longer hold on to.

I’m supposed to hunt monsters, not men. Although… the two often aren’t as far apart as they may seem…

He grimly surveyed the market square filled with death and disembodied limbs, catching the occasional face ducking away in secret behind their windows, before settling on the freshly widowed woman and her daughter, mourning over the three dead men.

“Papa! Brother! Mom… mom… why won’t they move?”

D clenched his jaw tightly at the child’s cries, words lost on his tongue, but only when the mother noticed him and mouthed the words “Thank-you”, did he turn to leave.

He clenched his jaw tighter, tight enough to grind off a piece of a tooth, before he silently turned away and stormed back to his mission without looking back again.

If you knew I could have acted sooner, if you knew I could have saved their lives, would you still be thanking me?

“Fuckin’ hells. All the fuckin’ hells.” D grunted, blending back into the smoke filled night while his eyes dripped with a bloodlust fierce enough to drown out his own shame.