Raoul took swift steps backwards. The weapon continued to assail Frost but to zero effect. Bullets were merely swatted with the swish of her reaching hand.

"Raoul. Once again, I've come to understand that you do have a heart of your own. Because your wrath can be easily justified. And still, you needed a blindfold to hide how brightly people burned because of your wrath. Did you regret it?"

Something seemed to snap in Raoul.

Suddenly, he sent out a barrage of attacks.

< [As Ordered] >

< [As Ordered] >

< [As Ordered] >

< [As Ordered] >

< [As Ordered] >

"Using that Skill over and over again isn't an answer. Nor is it a justification. They're all excuses."

< "The same hands that tried to protect were also the ones that took. The residual heat made it impossible to hold onto new people. Before long, I realized that it was best to keep my distance. These hands… shall remain severed, so they may never take again. In the end, the wish I wanted… is cradled in the arms of misery. I don't remember its face." >

She held onto the barrel of his weapon, shoved it down, and then reached towards his blindfold. His flames became hotter for just a moment, but when her fingers grasped onto it, he found himself surrendering to her touch.

//////// < ALERT > ////////

< Raoul has entered a Sub State >

< [The Wolf Without a Paw, Lacking Foresight] >

< Do all evil >

< EFFECT: Reduce RESIST and all ATT stats to 0 >

< "… But…" >

< [Blind Retribution] >

< [Blind Retribution] >

< [Blind Retribution] >

< [Blind Retribution] >

< [Blind Retribution] >

Frost tore off the blindfold, and she was greeted with a pair of crimson eyes.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

"Look at me. Tell me everything you have to. Shoot me as much as you need. I'm not going to burn like the rest."

Discolored streaks ran down Raoul's cheeks.

They were the trails of dried out tears, a memory of a heart that used to bleed, and eyes that had once been capable of crying.

Upon looking at him closely, his entire body reminded her of a piece of coal, burning despite lacking a flame.

Suddenly, the Traumatic Clock ticked. Fragments of his memories appeared behind him.

The first showed the memories of burning villages. Entire fields of homes reduced to ashes. Beside it was a memory of a ragged Raoul as a child staring idly at what was lost. Held in his hand was the severed hand of a dear friend.

< "I was lost in who to blame. I ran away though I was capable of helping. I couldn't stand the sight of the flames. When I returned, I saw the hand of a person I don't recall sticking out of the rubble. I pulled, and only his hand returned to my side. They were a human." >

The next revealed a bag floating along a river. Hastily, Raoul opened it, only to find a severely beaten Cer. The young girl was left in a near death state, and yet, her first words to Raoul when he opened the sack was:

"I was hungry… I… have your share… Don't be mad…"

< "How couldn't I have been? It was a sight worse than losing her." >

Next to it was a harrowing vision of hell. Raoul's first major offensive against the humans was a retaliation for what they did to his own sister. Two thousand humans were made to kneel on stubs as they held their hands out.

He recalled walking through the streets to personally sever their hands, no matter the age, their condition, or whether they were innocent or not.

< "My blindfold was justice. In my heart, I do not regret what I did to them. Nor what followed after. It only became repetitive, because it did not change anything." >

The third memory showed a brother defending their sister as a Demi-Human attempted to take her hands. Raoul showed indifference to it, and turned his head away as the two were left to bleed out.

< "One day, there will be someone worse. I've come to acknowledge it. This world harbors monsters parading as people. But we only have ourselves to blame." >

The fourth memory was the City of Spades Massacre. Countless thousands died in a single day as Raoul's three-headed wolf devoured buildings containing families. They entered from the mouth and spilled from between its legs as mince.

"To call the 2nd Branch for a personal vendetta is unlike you, Raoul. I thought you had moved on from being tethered to such emotions."

Andra, the 2nd Apostle of Galia silently reprimanded Raoul.

"As per the requirements of becoming a Star of the Nexus, you are to abide by the contractual law of abandoning your past. I expected Nosferatu to be the first to fall. Not Benevolent Galia's favorite. Our pursuit of Scarlet Logic ends here. As for the twins… your warmth will be most important."

< "Warmth. The bloodlust in her eyes didn't match what she was saying. But in hindsight, she was the only Star of the Nexus who knew wrath like it was her own child. I never knew she was worried about me. If only I had known what she meant." >

*Crunch*

"Ra…"

"…oul…?"

"Why kill them?"

"They didn't do anything wrong…"

This memory revealed Raoul's brutality as a Wayfarer. One faint graze of the twin's shoulders resulted in a bullet through a person's skull. If one spoke when the twins did, their chests would be ripped open.

As a result…

< "D-11. The twins became infamous for their body count. They didn't rely on Serum S unlike normal Wandering Healers. And still, people died when they tried to heal them with Serum H. I took lives to protect them. But Andra was right. They needed warmth. I became the same misery who knocks at the door of my heart. I suffocated them by waiting outside theirs. What little light they had left was snuffed out. Act X gave them a strand. That false wick has never given them the warmth they needed. Nothing has." >

The final fragment revealed a familiar face as Frost sensed movement behind her.

Ara laid on a frozen platform lifted by a hundred hands.

"An excellent specimen. Bzzt. It has the same hair as my late brother. Bzzt. You have outdone yourself O' Wise Black Wolf. Bzzt. Fear not. Bzzt. She will be saved and brought to the new world. Bzzt. If you so wish, I can lobotomize this one with a needle. Bzzt. I see how you look at it. Bzzt. It can be yours. Bzzt."

< "I desperately wanted to destroy that Insectid. Ara… was a friend. I allowed them to stay by my side, because…" >

"Raoul. Walk a bit faster. And try to keep eye contact. I'm not living in the City of Spades anymore. You're not in whatever dumpster backwater world you used to come from. Looking into people's eyes aren't gonna get you jumped."

A brief flashback of Ara taking his hand played. That same hand was near identical to the one that belonged to an old friend.

Raoul was down to his final bullets.

But he had more to say.

< "But at that point I couldn't kindle a spark of hatred in my heart. The reality was unchanging. A once roaring heart froze over. I asked myself: 'what was the point?'" >

< "In nihility all becomes equal. Because nothing matters." >

< "Uriel, her colleagues of the Broken Thorn…" >

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