The night was quiet and empty. The streets were lit by lamp posts. There were shadows, but Zariff did not need them right now. The buildings to the sides of him were all made of bricks or concrete and were about two or three stories high if he were to guess. Perfect for climbing.

He sighed heavily while soaking in the rain, being drained from his endless tasks.

“Damn you, White God,” Zariff swore as he gazed into the sky. “The dark clouds blocked the view of the stars and moon, as if to hide their laughter.” A metaphor he had learnt from the book called “The Caged Slave,” yet it resonated with himself all too well.

‘Must you always talk like that?’ the masculine voice in his head said.

“Does a stray learn how to live from their trainer?”

‘No, but that does not mean you have to speak so dramatically.’

“That does have some truth to it, but it is my way of easing the pain,”

‘Do something else! Blasted idiot, you sicken me.’

“Fine.”

He walked down the street in search of his target’s location. Then caught a glimpse of simply-dressed greyskins—all armed with guns—surrounding Sajar’s Electrical Repair Company. Sareel must have been expecting an assassin if he was willing to station that many guards.

He could not risk getting too close as he was now. Wearing a black hooded cloak and a white mask was an extremely easy way to alert many of his presence. But, he needed it to increase the reputation of the Black Liberator. It was required for him to become the symbol of freedom and revenge.

Zariff retreated into a nearby alleyway to avoid attracting any attention while he waited for his superiors to give him the signal.

‘Or you could just shred through them and fight your way to the boss.’

“Unnecessary bloodshed is not why I am here. My only goal is to kill the leader of the Savage Dogs, everything else is collateral.”

‘You might be worse than me.’

“I disagree.”

‘Would you kill a baby if it meant saving the world?’

“One life for billions, the baby would die either way.”

‘I would find another way to save the world.’

“But you just said that you needed to kill the baby to save the world, how else would you save the world if you refused to follow your own rules?”

‘I never said killing the baby was the only way to save the world.’

Zariff sighed. It took a toll on him when the voice would always break its own rules. He doubted there would ever be a time where he would be needed to save the world, so there was no point in arguing.

Zariff heard the crack of a gunshot echoing from a long distance away. A few moments later, multiple gunshots followed without stopping. A gang war must have been instigated, that was most definitely the signal given to him by his associates in team three.

‘That sounds like fun.’

“Now we can go.”

The light touched his skin, so he moved further down the alleyway. After reaching further down, Shadow Blink was ready to work. Near him were drunken Albanem whiteskins that tainted their clean white clothing and homeless people sleeping on cardboard. They were of no concern to him. Zariff focused his attention towards the two story building in front of him.

‘Why don’t you fight for your freedom?’

“Shut up!”

Zariff leapt straight above, arriving halfway up the building. Slowly, gravity began to pull him down.. Before it did, the darkness swiftly wrapped itself over his entire body—except for his eyes. He blinked. When his eyes opened, he suddenly found himself further up, as high as the roof of the building and the shadows were dissolving off of him.

He took a quick gaze at the rooftop for any Watch Dogs, then grabbed onto the ledge once it seemed safe. Letting himself go to rest on the ground, he took a deep breath in to absorb the seer energy he could get from the dark rooftop and picked himself up. Zariff still had not gotten used to the sudden short teleportation power of Shadow Blink.

‘Are you ready to do it again?’

“Almost.”

Zariff pulled out a vicious purple substance out of his violet mark, with a strange symbol he could not read, on his left arm. It slowly shaped itself to form an object, taking the form of a straight thin singled-edged blade. The rest of it moulded into a small rectangular guard, a grey leather grip and a small pommel. It was a sword called an alart—the perfect weapon for a “hero” such as himself.

With the necessary preparations set, along with the white mask and black hooded cloak to protect his identity, it was time to begin his mission. After moving to the back of the roof, he sprinted towards the front, feeling like a blur in the raging winds, flowing swiftly to a direction, moving faster than normal.

When he got to the edge, he leapt forward, crossing a long distance across the street and he could even feel the wind fighting against his body. Yet it was not enough to reach the building in front of him. He blinked, using Shadow Blink again to cover the missing space and this time, managed to actually land safely on the roof for once.

His sudden landing had alerted the Savage Dogs on the roof. They all began surrounding him while aiming their guns—that were likely illegally obtained—at him. All of them bore a more violent dog emblem compared to their Watch Dogs counterparts.

A smaller Albanem with a craggy face called out to him, “You! Blackskin! What sort of business do you think you have here?”

The one-eyed Albanem next to him said, “Did he just climb the building?”

The brown-haired Franem behind him commented, “I think he just jumped from that building over there.”

Their white irises were illuminated by the moon. There was barely any distinction between them other than the shape of the eyes. Same as everyone else in Alban, empty and without personality. He despised that.

Zariff enhanced his blade with the violet atra flames, blazing wildly as if it were begging to be released. He swung his alart through the air, spraying the violent dark fire at a wide area and burning half of the Savage Dogs. The flames were scorching their skins, spreading out and digging deeper in. They hopelessly struggled to extinguish the flames.

He ignored their irritating cries and rushed to one of the remaining threats. There he had found the same Albanem that called him a blackskin unharmed. He grabbed him by the nape of his neck, and threw him at one of the—currently stunned—Savage Dogs. The sound of bullets echoing out of their guns assaulted his ears. He sprinted swiftly, feeling the air trails of the bullets passing right next to him. None had hit.

The force of the momentum that he built up by running insanely fast allowed him to punch one of the Savage Dogs off of the roof. Zariff ran right to obtain cover behind an air ventilation machine near the edge of the roof, blasting one of the grunts with an atra slash and hacking through the other in his way.

Then he felt a bullet strike at his back, denting the invisible seer shield that he could never let break. He turned around to see a timid young boy—most likely of the age of sixteen—with a handgun, shrieking in fear as if he had seen a demon.

“Oh Al whit help me… I shot a bullet at his back and it bounced right off! Is he wearing albastar steel!?” he cried, shaking out of terror.

“Servants! Get in there! This guy is bulletproof,” a rough voice said.

The boy was about to pull the trigger again, so Zariff retaliated by thrusting his blade forward in the air—discharging a quick and small concentrated atra flame aimed at the boy’s face. As it struck him, the boy fell to the ground in pain, crying out loudly. But, after a while, he just stopped moving.

‘You would kill a child?’

“It’s him or me. If a child that knows how to fire a gun, aims it at you and fires it at you, then they are no longer a child.”

Zariff’s breathing was heavy, but he continued doing so to absorb the seer energy in the shadows provided to him by the cover. He was in no position to take another bullet. His only advantage was that they foolishly believed that he was wearing a luxury such as albastar steel armour—something that was only given to the high ranking warriors in society.

The Savage Dogs came charging at him wielding knives and blades rather than guns, but they lacked training and were easily cut down like sheep as he charged forward. Then he saw a ball of fire flying to his head. He reacted to this by swinging down his blade—sending out a wave of thin atra energy to slice it in half.

“Boys! Load him up with bullets! It’s only a guardian, he can’t block bullets forever.”

Words he did not wish to hear. Out in the open with no cover, what more could he do?

I’ll fight till I die. He thought to himself.

He did not halt his advance, nor did he hesitate in his charge. He only ran. Slashing through the Savage Dogs in his way while simultaneously breathing awkwardly. In his rampage, he met face-to-face with the Servant that exposed his advantage; he was swiftly cut down by Zariff’s alart.

Zariff had slaughtered many of them, only two had remained. The one in front of him was a Servant with three fireballs—black spheres with fire coating all over it—looping around him. The Servant launched two of them, but Zariff had easily slid under, then his enemy threw the last fireball.

Zariff was prepared to cut through the fireball along with the Savage dog Servant. But then he heard the sound of a bullet crack. Soon after, he felt something strike his seer shield at the abdominal, reaping him of any seer energy needed to use his abilities. Yet he still had no reason to feel fear.

Zariff quickly dropped to the floor, dodging both the last fireball and bullets that flew right over his body. Quickly, he recovered to his knees and threw his alart at the Servant’s heart—piercing it easily. Then he turned to the last remaining Savage dog on the roof, who’s hands shook in horror when reloading.

Unfortunately for him, Zariff had already reached facefront of him. The Savage Dog pulled the trigger, but his gun was knocked out of his hand. Zariff slapped him with the back of his left hand and then grabbed the nape of the Savage dog. Finally, he smashed their face into the ground, tainting the ground with their blood. In the end, he let go of himself, falling down while breathing heavily.

‘Well done, you managed to kill them all by yourself. Your teacher will be proud.’

“Save it.”

‘I wanted to ask you something. Why do you call each other such things like greyskin and blackskin when you’re all the same light skin colour?’

“Not the time.”

‘When is the time?’

“When I am done.”

The blood of those he had massacred stained his clothing. He had lost control of his breathing and his mind spiralled into a mess. He could feel something coming out of his throat, tried to hold it back, but ended up throwing up anyway. He did not mean to kill so many, nor had he wanted to kill a young boy.

They deserved it. They chose this line of work so they should’ve expected this would happen. They should be ready to die at any time, what makes this any different?

He turned his focus to his weapons currently buried in the body of his victim. Zariff walked up to the corpse of the Servant and reclaimed his alart from the dead body. Taking out a clean white cloth, it was used to clean the blood off.

He slowly breathed in the seer energy in the dark. If the information on the pig was right, then he should be slacking in his office on the fifth floor. He should be able to find him through looking around the glass windows. All he had to do now was find and eliminate Sareel.

‘Does this save people somehow?’

“It will improve their lives in the long term.”

‘How are you so sure?’

“Cairi assured me of this. I would trust that woman with my life and even abandon the thought of freedom.”

‘What a fool you are.’

His mockery only served to motivate Zariff even more. He began darting towards the seven story high electrical repair company, leaping across the street as he reached the edge, but still failed to make it over. Once again, he used Shadow Blink to cross the distance he had failed to achieve.

Teleporting himself at one of the clear glass panels. With his feet connected to a glass plate, he activated Shadow walk, coating his feet in black that wrapped around his feet, attaching itself to the surface of the window. This only worked when light did not shine on his feet.

After slowly climbing up using the dark rooms and avoiding the lit ones, he managed to find his target alone and undefended. Sareel Holmand, the leader of the Savage Dogs wearing a white suit when he was only of fourth rank—in all honesty, it was not his fault for being in such a low rank, but he did deserve it regardless.

Although he could not see his face from where he was now, he knew from the pictures that Sareel had a very punchable face with a big nose and a short jaw. His light brown hair was even balding at the sides and his body was slim, but very unfit.

Zariff got in a position to use his atra slice. But then he realised that a fireball had materialised over Sareel’s head.

“So he wasn’t sleeping after all?”

‘Why did you assume that?’

The fireball ball flew to the glass, shattering it to pieces. Regardless, Zariff kept his cool. He used his Shadow blink to teleport into the room and Sareel continued summoning fireballs while remaining seated. Zariff swung down his alart at the still target, forcing Sareel to jump off of his luxurious chair as it was cut in half.

‘He can only make a fire orb every second. And I expect you to pay me back with information’

“Fine!”

The last two fireballs were both sliced in half by his atra enhanced blade, but the flames had also burned his hands. Holding in the pain without a cry. Zariff charged at the man before another fireball could be summoned. However, Sareel quickly retreated out of the room, revealing that the way out was illuminated entirely with light.

He hesitated but still chose to rush out of the room. Zariff chased after Sareel through the hallways, blinded by the sudden intake of light in his retina, but that was not enough to stop him from gaining. Both were Vessels, but he was the faster of the two.

“Men and Servants! Kill the intruder!” Sareel called to his underlings to defend him—a cowardly move used by those who were weak.

One of the doors to his right had been opened right in front of him. A man in office attire holding a handgun walked out of there. He needed the weapon so he slowed himself down to lob off the hand of the holder and caught the gun. After that, he resumed running after Sareel.

When he saw any of the doors opening, he would use the gun to fire at any underlings of Sareel’s. He would not let anyone stop his chase. But then he heard the sound of bullets cracking behind his back and saw them flying over his head. The time to leave was now. With no use for the handgun, he dropped it.

‘How will you get out of this one?’

Sareel had stopped near a glass panel to open the door near it, probably leading to the stairs, but Zariff needed this. Zariff sprinted across the hallways like a blur, focused on only one thing. He tackled Sareel, taking him out through the glass and off of the building—shards of glasses scratching at his own seer shield. It was still better not getting shot.

‘Are you out of your mind!?’

“Yes!”

Sareel kicked Zariff off of his body, pushing him towards one of the building’s concrete floors. He slammed into it and then soon after resumed falling until he finally crashed onto the ground, leaving cracks near the impact. Yet he was unharmed by the fall. When he stood up to observe his surroundings, he had noticed several dead bodies around him, but more importantly he saw a group of Savage Dogs all aiding their leader.

‘Do you mind losing some of your sanity for a while?’

“I don’t.”

On his left palm, he summoned a dark hole—that took the form of a small purple circle, oozing out strange purple particles that looped in the glowing purple aura around it. One of his two last trump cards, but this one would slowly tick away at his seer shield so he needed to act fast. He used that dark hole to fire out a void blast, aimed at the head of one of the Savage Dogs, and watched as they fell down lifelessly; their face was quickly becoming corrupted by it.

“Hey! What the hell is that?” one of the thugs yelled.

“Eye of the Voidfather! Awaken and take my left eye!” Zariff incited the dark void hole ritual on his left hand. He would soon feel his left eye mutating into something else, so he kept it closed for now.

Inside of the dark hole, grew an eye with a purple iris. It glowed brightly, with black strings of particles seeping out of it. He directed it at the enemies in front of him, letting it suck in their souls into the void, leaving behind their lifeless bodies. The remaining ones tried firing bullets at it, but that too was siphoned into the void. It still would not take the souls of Servants and Vessel so he dispelled the dark hole.

The Servants summoned their fireballs and threw them at him. Due to being low on seer energy, he could only use a weak atra slash to combat this, so instead he activated his other trump card on his blade. By using all of the seer energy it had absorbed during the last, he sent out a supercharged atra slash—faster and stronger than the original—that disintegrated the weaker fireballs and then the remaining Servants.

And with that, the last threat was gone and there was no longer anyone else to disturb him on his mission. He walked up to see a bleeding Sareel, still breathing. Losing a seer shield was fatal for a Vessel. Once lost, they could only breathe in the air and hope they somehow absorb more seer energy needed to save them. A pitiable state fitting of a pig such as Sareel.

“Another one defeated. Anything left to say to the victor?”

“Bite your tongue…” he bled out. Zariff’s blade was stained by many, yet it did not pierce through Sareel.

“The next kill… will be faster and cleaner…” he felt a little dizzy after losing his left eye to the void father again. Receiving it back has always been the worst part of it, causing things such as splitting heads, internal bleeding and more. But before he left, he dug into the dead man’s corpse looking for any items worth retrieving for the government.

‘Looking through a corpse like a savage, oddly fitting of one deserving to rot in a cage’

“What the hell?”

Zariff found a transparent pink crystal that illuminated light reflected by the moon. He could even see that it had a tiny black sphere stuck inside the center. Ferolix were usually used by the maniacal ferol callers who would destroy cities for their so-called “god” of despair. To find one here meant that there were more of them around Silar which also meant that it was on their list for places to destroy.

“This is very bad, I need to warn the others.”

‘Keep the crystal hidden.’

“What? Why would you say such a thing?”

‘You should not trust your higher ups to have the responsibility to not abuse that thing. You can’t expect decency from people like them.’

He was right. They were not the most trustworthy people in the world and would likely use the crystal as a weapon. Especially the councilman. He could not allow that to transpire. If not for the people, then for the place he can still call home.

The council? The ferol callers? Two sides of the same coin. Two enemies I must destroy for my freedom. If not now then soon. I swear it on Al Whit’s name.