The sun was setting upon the area as silence increasingly expanded its domain. There was nothing to see except abandoned houses and sometimes even forts. Barricades occasionally appeared but had no guards on duty. Even the rooftops had no bandits on patrol or reconnaissance. It was completely silent, like a great horror had taken a toll on whatever residents remained.

As the Champion proceeded further into the street, he finally spotted an arching roof towering above the rest. Purple banners hang from the top that smoothly moved with a gentle breeze. Of course, once the Champion steered clear of the street for the giant structure to become fully examined, the flags moved intensely. The wind picked up in motion with dread in its wake.

"There shall be nothing left of this abysmal structure," the Champion muttered, clenching his fist. He dipped down his gaze toward the tool of justice and sheer strength. "By the time the deed is done, only rubble and forgotten whispers will remain."

"Stop, stop, stop!" Jewel frantically demanded, while he appeared in front of the Champion to stop him in his tracks.

With a huff, the Champion scanned the pathetic void embodiment, surely a figment of his imagination and nothing more, then shoved him aside; however, Jewel only relocated himself back into position, his body morphing into shape in a matter of seconds.

"Proceed, and you'll be finished!" Jewel exclaimed, his narrow eyes belonging to that of a serpent. It was all the fool was, anyway.

"Stand in Good's way, but there is nothing you can do to stop it," the Champion decided, and attempted to step around Jewel, only to be blocked once more. He peered ahead to see an unguarded gate ahead, shut without seeming to open any time soon.

"Do what you may, but if so," Jewel remarked, unable to grab the kingly titan's attention before him. "She dies."

"What?" the Champion demanded, swinging his gauntlet into Jewel, though he only swept aside black particles that stained the street. As smoke rose off them, new particles appeared to make the body whole once more.

"I'll kill her, brother, and it won't be quick or painless." Jewel chuckled as the Champion fumed. "No, I think I'll make it slow... so slow that you can share the torment yourself from afar. Kill all those inside, kill your potential allies to guide you to your dreams, and you'll regret it."

"You're but a figment of my mind, an imaginary pigment upon a canvas of nothing!" The Champion grabbed Jewel's face, smoke rising at the contact, but it only repaired itself moments later. When he dropped his violently-shaking fist, he was greeted by a menacing smile and wide eyes.

"I'll find her, then when she's all alone and vulnerable," Jewel's hands lashed out in spikes, a whole volley of black particles spraying upon the Champion's chest, "I lunge! Her tongue will be plucked from where it once comfortably sat, and as she bleeds, as she tries to scream, I will stab her—"

"Enough!"

The Champion slammed his combined fists right into Jewel's head, straight into the ground. His body became no more, with a mere puddle of black substance as a grim reminder of who once stood there.

"Shimmer will not interfere with my deeds, but she will not be harmed by anyone or anything," he muttered, then emerged from his hunched state with smoke exerting everywhere. He wiped aside his visor clear of whatever thick smoke was blocking it. The gate, ever so powerful and dominating in its presence alone, would fall. The fort would fall, too. Nothing would dare stand a chance. Nothing would ever dare contest him, nor make him doubt his abilities for a single second.

Heheheh... Jewel distantly laughed. When the Champion looked over his shoulder, prepared to destroy the fiend once more, all the black particles had vanished. Without a trace.

I'll be sure to bring you the body in its mangled, tormented form, Jewel murmured in amusement. And because I'm feeling generous, I'll bring you it right after you walk out of this place. The first thing you'll see will be her...

"A dead man cannot perform any such matters," the Champion decided, but when he turned around, his heart sagged in dismay. He worried that Jewel could carry out the threats he spoke of with a vile tongue. Rather, he feared.

He hated Shimmer for abandoning him, for trying to make him stray off his righteous path, but he couldn't let her die. It would be cruel, unfair treatment. Guilt would come to crush him apart at the very core. Why? Why would he care about somebody he never wanted to see or hear from again? It made little sense.

Once a companion, always a companion. If Shimmer died, then it would be all his fault. Memories of the old times would surge in. Regrets about leaving her side would obliterate him. For somebody who abandoned him, who wished for him to not embark upon his heroic journey, she still meant a lot to him. He couldn't do much to change that; however, he could always deny it. The time wouldn't come, anyway. Jewel couldn't kill her. Nobody could kill her. He would never have to see her dead body and feel as if it were all his fault.

But it didn't matter. Thoughts as such only held him back. He had no use thinking of them, memories likewise.

He could only go forward.

The gate came into full view, covering all of his vision now that he was so close. The Champion placed his right gauntlet's palm flat against the metal bars until clenching them. They sizzled and melted on the spot with smoke as a product of their destruction. But it wasn't enough. It was too slow.

Huffing, the Champion reeled his right gauntlet behind him and swung after a burst of flames propelled him to do so. An explosion of molten metal and smoke erupted in the air with its piercing sound, a shower of sparks spraying everywhere as well. The Champion waited for his vision to return to normal before stepping through the hole he had just made. Molten lava burned into the street from where the gate had been penetrated.

A wide hallway lay before him, one that was walled in by black stone. Similar to the other fort he had infiltrated not so long ago, eyes were inscribed everywhere. On the walls, ceiling, floor—they were everywhere. Their yellow color was closely similar to those he had seen before, but none became real or began to talk to him. They were all just crazed writing at the end of the day.

Stalking down the corridor, with blood still dripping from his gauntlets and armor, the Champion barely batted an eye at what was around him. Nothing was interesting or new in the slightest. It was repetition that a madman would have for creativity. Pure insanity, something he would never succumb to.

"And there was this loud boom right down here..."

The Champion lifted his gaze off the floor to spot now-frozen bandits ahead. There were two, both of them staring at him in fear. Both parties had stopped, and the stare was even awkward for the Champion, who slowly looked aside.

"Is... is this the guy?"

"Yuhuh, we should run..."

Before the bandits could even turn, a bolt flew in the head of the one on the right. He stood frigid until falling over with a thump. His friend also froze in fear, unable to stop gazing at what had just happened.

"Fear, what a beautiful creation," the Champion muttered, then stomped forward as he put his crossbow away. "An indirect method of killing enemies without even needing to be there. Just the name, reputation, even a single thought can win the battle."

He approached the still bandit and snapped his neck in a blink.

"How tragic."

Lifting his sword over his shoulder, the Champion resumed onward. He was relieved that the place wasn't abandoned completely. And he was quite hopeful the bandits knew of his presence. His grand entrance. If not, then it would be less exciting. He would walk in and they would all still be talking and chattering and doing useless things. It would take a rippling effect of his detection to bring the crowd to their senses.

But he knew how to take the reins of the audience. He knew how to spur them up and receive the greatest, most grandest reaction ever possible, ever imaginable. They would see, experience, then die. One by one, they would all fall. By the masses, their numbers would drop until falling to zero. He always wanted to know what the last survivors thought while their allies fell around them.

When the corridor finally ceased, when a new light poured in that battled away the boring, monotonous darkness, the Champion's eyes widened. His heart pounded relentlessly. Thrill coursed through all his limbs, directly to the tips of his fingers. Step by step, his heart loudly thumped, then went back to its mad, insane pace.

"Let today be a victory for Good... and myself," he whispered, his gaze darting all over the new room he was about to enter.

The ceiling suddenly expanded upward at least a good twenty or so feet. A small chandelier dangled above the center of the rather-rectangular room. It looked like a dining hall by the tables and amount of bandits sitting around. In the left median of the room, two spiral staircases curved up until joining together at what resembled a platform. Another floor, perhaps, where other bandits were.

More to kill. More blood to savor.

Just before he could take the final step into the room, before the final decision was made, he was stopped. Again.

"Grave mistake, brother," Jewel said, his arms stretched to his sides to block the path. "Turn back and all will be forgiven. I will spare her—"

"You won't do a single thing, I'm afraid," the Champion decided, his right gauntlet convulsing at his side. He was so close to tearing apart his pathetic brother. There wouldn't even be a puddle of his blood afterwards.

"But I will!" Jewel snapped impatiently. "I'll kill her and you'll see that I'm not just a part of your mind. I'm not just some voice or ghost you see for no reason. I'm not fake!" Instead of falling into rage, he widened his smile and eyes madly. "I'm indeed very real. I can do everything I want, and there is nothing anyone can do! I am invincible!"

"You sad, delusional fool," the Champion murmured, and grasped Jewel's shoulders for smoke to rise up. Somehow, he was able to pull the once-amorphous black particles into shape, like they were actual shoulders. "You are nothing but a voice. You wish to be something, perhaps a nightmare in full form, but you're dead. You have crossed a line that has rendered you useless! You can't do anything but trick me, but I now know your strategies all too well!"

"You'll see! You'll all see! This world is—"

The Champion smashed the shoulders together right into Jewel's head. The body instantly fell to the floor in a puddle that he took no time to step over.

Finally, he could do what he came here to do.

And nobody would stop him.