A snowpyre exploded as Gaius sank a fist into its stomach, sending a spray of flesh, ether cores and blood from its back. The monster didn’t even get a chance to make any dying noises as its peers took a step back from the nightmarish scene, and attempted to run.

Flickering within the dim light, five more snowpyres blew up in rapid succession as Gaius pursued with lethal force, every fist of his venting out his frustration at the current turn of events. Fine droplets of blood danced in the air by the time Gaius took aim at the last fleeing snowpyre with his Moonshot, and the monster jerked thrice as the boy pulled the trigger.

“Master Gaius.” The sculpture hiding in his clothes spoke. “There’s a small party of human Harvesters ten kilometres away.”

“Time to do what I do best, then,” said Gaius. He floated into the air, and vanished as he activated the Blink ability. He’d tried to use it to transfer between Heritage and the Intersection, and to Orb, but it couldn’t traverse the boundaries between the three realms for some reason. But other than that, there were apparently no other restrictions.

Gaius continued to blink towards the group of…well, trespassers didn’t cut it, as he was here to create more chaos in Orb. “How much of a threat are they, Nexus?”

“No Knights, all Squires. You’ll be beating them with your eyes closed,” replied the artificial intelligence. “Maybe they’ll even surrender without you doing anything.”

Gaius chortled, and took out the Auspices of Concealment. He placed it on his face, and changed it to reflect the face he’d used when he killed the avatar of the Human God months ago.

It was time for a new legend to begin.

With one last blink, Gaius appeared in front of the small group of Harvesters. The snow danced around him obligingly, and he saw the little bunch halt. Gaius stretched his neck and approached them, knife in hand.

“Who…who are you!” A teenage boy, two heads taller than Gaius, took a few steps back as Gaius’ features entered his eyes. “S-stay away! Don’t come near—”

His words ended as Gaius vanished and reappeared right in front of him. The boy had casually plunged a knife right through his heart before whipping it upwards to bisect his throat, and the tall boy’s hands released their grip on the artefacts they were holding.

“I’m the one who killed the avatar of the Human God, fool.” Gaius pulled his knife back out, and the corpse dropped onto the snowy ground. Blood began to dye the snow red, and for a time, none of the Harvesters dared to move. “I’m glad to see that the rest of you are cooperative.”

“You can’t do th—”

A teenage girl, with a green cloak around her, opened her mouth to speak, but in the next instant, Gaius had closed the distance. A huge gash opened up on her throat, and the girl crumpled onto the ground. “I don’t recall giving you lot the permission to speak.”

The last two members of the group, a short stocky boy, and an equally short girl, dropped their weapons onto the ground and raised their hands. Gaius smirked, and the two shivered visibly. It had probably taken all their self-control to stay silent.

Gaius beckoned with his qi, and all the items on the ground floated towards him. After stuffing his backpack with them, the boy proceeded to strip the two corpses until their undergarments were left, and took everything else. He hummed lightly the entire time, and when he finally closed his backpack, he looked at the two scared Harvesters.

“Make sure you bring more next time,” said Gaius. “Now then, I wish you a safe passage home.”

Gaius licked his lips, and the two shivered again. The surroundings warped as Gaius followed the pull of his Blink ability back to the Library, where he promptly emptied his backpack into a random room. Lots of little toys fell onto the ground, most of them items that the boy recognised. The ones he didn’t, he would leave it to Nexus to examine.

“I still think I should have used the Background Music ability, however. I’m not an assassin now, I’m closer to a killer,” Gaius said, his little mouth turning into a frown.

“You just want to feel cool,” Nexus rebuked. “If we count the time you spent on Earth, you have to be over forty. But more importantly…you didn’t have to kill these two, right?”

“Look, a final boss has his own BGM too, right? In Heritage, I’m probably that. Or maybe that boss who comes for anyone who stays too long in a particular dungeon that’s two hundred and sixty-four floors tall,” said Gaius, who then sighed. “Look, I had to, right?

“What do you mean, you had to?” asked the artificial intelligence. “These two children had to die?

The boy rubbed his head. “I’m not too sure either. It kinda popped into my head, I guess. But the point is that having music when I appear will definitely make my appearance more unforgettable.”

“Unforgettable…is that all you care about?”

“Is that not the case?” Gaius asked back. “I’m trying to make my presence known, right?”

“Is that it? These two died to make your presence known? That’s the reason?” Nexus raised its voice.

“I can’t have them forgetting me, right?” replied the boy, confused.

“People die whenever you show up, and that’s not unforgettable enough for you? You’re a small child butchering other children slightly older than you, and you think that’s not unforgettable either?!” The sculpture clambered out of his clothes and jumped onto a nearby table.

“What’s wrong, Nexus?” Gaius blinked. Something was distinctly off about the artificial intelligence. He’d never seen it that agitated before.

“There’s something wrong with you! Look at you! Do you not know what you’re saying? Is killing not enough for you? We’re talking about children here! Teenagers barely older than you, people who were of no threat to you!” The sculpture trembled.

Gaius was silent for a moment. His words had somehow triggered Nexus’ rage and a blinding storm of pain inside his own head at the same time. But more importantly, the boy could feel some truth within these words.

“What has gotten into you?! I’ve been staying silent for a long time, but killing people when you don’t need to — especially children that you could overpower and disarm — is that really what you want?” The artificial intelligence continued to rant. “I did not help you to enable the murder of children without reason! Ask yourself — what went through your head when you killed them? Was it truly necessary?!”

Blinding pain continued to assault the boy’s head, along with a burning emotion that the boy couldn’t quite place his finger on. As Nexus continued berate him, Gaius dropped onto his knees, clutching his head the entire time. Cries leaked out involuntarily from his mouth, and drool began to spill from his open mouth. His arms, gave way after a second or two, and Gaius dropped onto the ground.

“Master Gaius!” The sculpture stopped scolding the boy, but before it could do anything else, the boy waved his hand at it. Instinct was guiding him at this point, and in the moments he felt he had left, Gaius spat out his final order.

“Continue…speaking!” The boy forced out his next words. “Hurry!”

A scream escaped from his lips, and Gaius’s world began to cloud over with darkness.