Kaden stabbed a guard in a well practiced manner. This unfortunate guard had come too close and Kaden had to get rid of him. They had armor, so Kaden knew to ambush them from behind, cover their mouth and then cut open their neck.

"This one has nothing...", Kaden mumbled to himself as he quickly inspected things the dead guard had.

He was wondering how were the guards being following him. It was obvious they were able to! Yet, Kaden had not yet been able to determine how this was happening.

"Only good part about this is that I get to kill people who need to die", Kaden told to himself as he left. He had been moving continuously for a very long time. "Still, this is a disruption! I can't work! I have more important people to kill."

Kaden paused for a moment about that thought. There was something special about it. Like he would need to focus. Then some shouts, likely at the dead guard, returned Kaden's thoughts to his current danger. He previous passing thoughts now gone.

"Maybe I can kill all of them in one go", Kaden thought. "Leave a corpse... and, say, a bomb."

Then again, he had very little time making bombs or any kind of traps.

Kaden kept running and yet, no matter where he went, his pursuers seemed to locate him soon enough. He even tried to observe them come, but it made no sense to him. The guards seemed to be randomly fumbling around and yet they just happened to find him. No communcations detailing his routes or anything. They just found him.

"This makes no sense!" Kaden felt rage grow in him. "Even if there is someone very powerful guiding them without their knowledge, why not just come kill me."

It was a game! It had to be! Someone was making him run around like a rat in a maze for their amusement.

"Disruptions!" Kaden cursed.

A guard randomly walked out of a nearby door and Kaden stabbed his knife at the guards neck, spilling blood everywhere.

"Anyone that matters at least...", Kaden added. He felt something odd at that moment. He stopped and held his head, trying to think. "What is this? I have intense feeling I'm missing something. This is not the first time."

Kaden shook his head. Perhaps it was that powerful enemy messing with his head. Yes, that had to be it. He cursed once more and decided he would find this person and kill him or her very very slowly.

"I have work to do and this only wast..."

-----------

In reality Kaden's ball of mana was losing mana in somewhat lopsided manner. The mana that represented his human side was using mana at a very quick rate, but the phoenix side had nearly completely halted.

"If one side runs out, he won't be complete anymore and will die", Zeruek made a passing note.

He had very little to do otherwise. With Kaden around, he was not even going into stasis like he had spent ages until Kaden came.

------------

"Im missing something", Caden thought as he flew around.

Something odd was going on. It had become very clear. For some reason after he kept himself in state of focus, he suddenly did not need to fight against the feeling anymore. There was no incoherent rage and fear of weakness. His thoughts were clear.

He randomly ran into opponents trying to take advantage of this supposed weakness, but Caden found, if he kept his discovery in mind, the opponents seemed to not be a problem. Sure, he might have to fight them. They would mock him and say they were going to consume him and all that. Even after the insults and seemingly obvious danger due to their strength, Caden found himself able to solve each situation. Either by fighting or avoiding them entirely.

By now Caden noted, if one of these random encounters was coming and he focused hard enough they would just go away. When he did this, the world seemed unreal. It was missing... feeling. During his deepest concentrations he even felt there was something else. Someone else. He felt different kind of rage leak over. Similar incoherent rage and hate as he had previously and was greater than his own had been, but just somewhat different kind.

Yet, he was not able to discover where or how this sensation reached him.

"There is no reason to return home", Caden told himself as he landed and hid away in random cave left behind by some Cari or perhaps even a lower beast. In the past he would have never entered such a filthy place, thinking it above himself. Now it didn't matter. "I'm not even sure what is real and what is not. I may be under some spell. Yet, whether this is real or not, whether I am weak or not, it is out here where I can grow strongest. If I am to return home, it will be once I can proudly do so rather than cower in fear of what lies outside."

Caden was determined to discover the truth of his situation. No matter what he discovered, he had already deciced to travel and grow in strength. Knowing he had path forward solved his mental state. Now he needed to solve the truth. See what ended up being truth while the false illusions disappeared.

Caden focused on the feelings of that someone else and determine what it was.

----------

... I must kill them all!" Kaden huffed to himself as he was getting tired.

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

There was no rest. Each time he tried to stop and recover some strength, he was interrupted.

"I will have to kill everyone", Kaden thought.

Thats what he wanted, but there was very little he could do. At best he could light up some trash on fire, but it wouldn't spread. City simply had protections against stuff like fire spreading. Nor would it really even disrupt his pursuers much. Still, it was all he could achieve.

A random guard appeared in front of Kaden trying to stop him. Kaden brutally killed the man, stabbing him multiple times in frenzy. They deserved it. They should all die.

Kaden continued moving. He was getting more and more tired. Spending some time stabbing the guard in such agitated manner did not really help, but Kaden didn't care.

Suddenly he stopped. Intense feeling of strangeness entered his mind. Strange, but somehow familiar.

Kaden breathed heavily. "It must be the puppet master behind all this!" He determined and started to push away the feeling.

He would find this person who directed all these guards. Then he would kill him. If that was not possible, he would escape and remember him.

The feeling came back again. This time it still had the feeling like something was extremely off, but also trying to convey another feeling. To stop and think.

"Haha, I will not fall for this", Kaden laughed and continued running. "Clearly the puppet master is trying to make me stop and get caught. I must kill him and all those who work for him. Perhaps they are weaker than I thought and I'm getting close. I will take my time to butc..."

------------

There it was. Caden could feel it. Someone very familiar to him, but he could not say who it was.

"It can't be anyone from the clan", Caden determined. "The sensations I get don't match mother or father. The only ones who could give a feathers length about me. Anyone else wouldn't even bother putting me in this kind of test to make me grow."

No, while it was someone familiar, it was not the clan or his parents. Who else was familiar? He did not interact with anyone else. They thought he was weak or he himself had been afraid to approach.

The feelings Caden was receiving, if he concentrated, was rage and hate. Considering how things had been for himself, this another person was likely feeling everyone else was enemy.

Yet, Caden felt like he had been able to somehow touch this person somehow momentarily. Sure, Caden had been brushed aside with distrust, but a connection was made, if just for a moment.

"I don't care", Caden muttered to himself. "Whoever it is, I must make a connection. We must work together to break whatever this is!"

He now knew there was something and it was possible. Caden was no longer fumbling in the darkness. There were no longer confusions about it.

The previous connection happened by chance. Now he knew what to do, where to look for and he would do it better.

------------

"... haha die, DIE, DIE!" Kaden screamed as he slashes wildly with his blade.

The guards had tried to ambush him, but they had underestimated his fury. His conviction. His enemies fell before him. Their blood spilled. Not just these ones. All of them! They would all die!

"I need more strength...", Kaden mumbled to himself as he dragged his tired body in the dark alleys of Corand.

"...focus..."

The puppet master was getting better! Before it was just feelings, but now occassionally words got through. Yet, why was it saying stuff like 'focus', 'observe','false'.

"I must not be distracted!" Kaden mumbled. "My purpose is clear. All those at fault must die. This puppet master is only distracting me!"

How annoying. Kaden was aware of the likely possibility that he would fall there today. He knew it, but he would take as many along with him as he could. He only wished he had the time to grow stronger. That he had more strength. How many enemies he could have killed, if that was the case?

Footsteps. Running. Another attack was coming. Kaden raised his blade, ready cut down more enemies. He ignored the exhaustion as he struck the foolish guard that rushed at him first. As the guard bled on the streets, two more came. Kaden struck again and cut down the second. He then raised his hand to block an attack from the third one.

Kaden was knocked back hard. This guard was stronger. More so than Kaden. This did not deter Kaden even as he watched a spell coming at him. He blocked a common fireball with his blade. It exploded there, front to him, not on him, causing Kaden's some burns on his clothes, hands, face and burning off majority of his hair.

The pain was inconsequential. Only thing he knew was that his enemies needed to die.

The last guard was proving more difficult. Kaden was barely able to fight against him with his dwindling strength.

"... focus ... see oddities ... make them disappear ..."

"It must be my weakness", Kaden told himself. "The puppet master is getting through my defenses."

Still ... what could the words mean? Kaden found himself thinking of the words despite everything. With how it came to him so strongly now, it was difficult to push aside. As if he thought it himself. Yes, the unfamiliar thoughts were surprisingly familiar and in them there were truths that he had no answer for yet. Things he had noticed.

Things were odd. The guards. Why was all this happening? Why was he fighting this strong guard and no one else had appeared now that he had been stopped there?

What did focus mean? Focus on what? The oddities?

"Fake! FAKE!" Kaden said to himself as he stuck against the strong guard once more. Yet, despite his initial reaction of distrust, he knew there was truth in it. "But... I must be able to continue my work. To do so, I must survive. Why am I wasting so much time killing pointless targets. Whether they are at fault or not, those more at fault will live, if I waste time with the weaker ones. They can be purged later, but here I am dying because I cannot... focus."

There it was. Yes, Kaden needed to focus. He now knew this. Would need to kill this fool before him and then forget about random civilians, random guards, random...everythings. He would need to become stronger to kill all kinds of military officers. Church officials. The ones that mattered. The ones that would trigger most beneficial chaos. Perhaps then, the weaker ones would not survive the waves he set in motion.

Far more efficient solution.

Kaden needed to focus. Focus his rage where it was useful and not scatter it about uselessly!

"Yes!" Kaden shouted mentally. His blade suddenly glowed brightly with a sickly green glow. His weapon cut through his enemy's defenses and the blade struck deep. The green mana caused near instant havoc and his enemy's flesh started to dry up and blacken. "Vengeance mana!" Kaden had finally done it. "Fake words or not, I was spreading my rage thinly. I must focus on what matters. Be clever and not waste time on pointless plots."

"... Focus. Whoever you are, we are both stuck in some illusion! Odd things happen, but they go away when you think clearly. You will see the fakeness of everything..."

It was now completely clear. While the message itself seemed very odd, it probably was not some puppet master. Even if it was, it had shown him the right way and allowed him to understand.

Right... where were the guards coming from? Why did they come in increasingly difficult manner. At first alone, one by one. Not one of them even called for help, even if they had the time.

Kaden frowned. "Indeed, things are fake and suddenly I can now see it once I ... I took control of myself?"

What kind of illusory attack was this that made your enemy stronger, if they noticed it? Was it an attack?

Kaden looked around. It was quiet. He could still hear guards, but even as he prepared to fight them, they no longer just found him as he held grip of his mind and his latest understanding.

"I will now rest and then find out who this other person is", Kaden muttered as he disapeared in the shadows. "It seems familiar. Very familiar."