Fires rage around him, the whole city burning as smoke rises into the sky and ash falls. Talyndra was crying on her knees, a large sword in her chest, dripping blood.
Kaelen: I admit, I hadn't expected this much resistance from you Talyndra.
Talyndra, crying: W-who are you-?!
Kaelen: You wound me Tali. It's me, Kaelen Calder, you know me.
Talyndra, crying: Y-you're not Kaelen! Y-you're a monster!
Kaelen: Monster? I agree that I'm not human. But I'm not a monster. I am a God. I am your GOD! Why would I want to be a monster or a human when I am so, so much more? I. Am. God! Born unto flesh!
Talyndra, crying: Y-you-! You're evil-!
Kaelen: Maybe. But an evil God is still a God none-the-less.
He rips the sword from her chest, blood spraying everywhere as he does so.
[Talyndra - Health Points: 1/35 (-100) -> -99/35]
[Notice: EXP gained]
[EXP (+229)]
[EXP to next Level: 213 (-213) -> 0]
[EXP to next Level: 1,391,527,780 (-26) -> 1,391,527,754]
[Notice: Level up]
[Level 56 (+1) -> Level 57]
[Notice: Stats up]
[Health Points: 1,955/1,956 (+10) -> 1,965/1,966 (+1) -> 1,966/1,966]
[Mana Points: 243/243 (+2) -> 245/245]
[Stamina Points: 2,930/2,935 (+20) -> 2,950/2,955 (+5) -> 2,955/2,955]
[Attack: 307 (+1) -> 308]
[Defense: 308 (+1) -> 309]
[Dexterity: 174 (+1) -> 175]
[Speed: 189 (+1) -> 190]
[Intelligence: 168 (+1) -> 169]
[Wisdom: 178 (+1) -> 179]
[Adeptness: 203 (+1) -> 204]
[Notice: Skill activated]
[Skill Steal, Level 3]
[Notice: Stats up]
[Health Points: 1,966/1,966 (+12) -> 1,978/1,978]
[Mana Points: 245/245 (+3) -> 248/248]
[Stamina Points: 2,955/2,955 (+24) -> 2,979/2,979]
[Attack: 308 (+6) -> 314]
[Defense: 309 (+6) -> 315]
[Dexterity: 175 (+3) -> 178]
[Speed: 190 (+3) -> 193]
[Intelligence: 169 (+3) -> 172]
[Wisdom: 179 (+3) -> 182]
[Adeptness: 204 (+6) -> 210]
[Notice: Skills gained already at max Level]
[Notice: Stat points gained]
[Stat points: 0 (+8) -> 8]
[Notice: Stats up]
[Attack: 314 (+6) -> 322]
The city was quiet. Everyone was dead. He had killed them all. He... He had... Killed everyone... Every last stinking, sniveling, disgusting human. All gone. He finally had true strength. He'd be able to kill every single Circus Light all at once with these stats, it wouldn't even be hard. He had gained absolute power. He left the burning ashes that stood in the place of what was once the town center, heading outwards towards the Perimeter. He had to continue his hunt there, it was the only other place he knew of with people. He couldn't run out of prey when his hunt had just started after all.
[Notice: Data recovered]
... Huh? Data...? Data...
[Notice: Rebinding Data to body of "Kaelen Calder"]
No!
"Seems like you've been busy 'Kaelen'. You know, I'm quite offended that you dared to use my name for what you've been doing."
"This is so weird... Normally only one of us is like this."
"Abel, if you aren't going to be helpful then please stop talking."
I don't need you two, leave and don't come back.
"Yeah. That's not happening. You've been busy, haven't you? Killing everyone? Fucking monster."
"I think you'll find that you're the one who'll be leaving and not coming back. You killed my friends and family."
My friends and family. I can do whatever I want with them.
"See how annoying that is Kaelen? We're the same person now, everything is 'ours' not 'mine'."
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
"Yeah yeah, I get it now, I get it. Can we please leave that for after we deal with this?"
"Sure."
Who the hell do you think you two are?
"The real Kaelen Calder and Abel Cyrus. Who are you?"
God.
"[System], remove him from this place. We don't need him now that our Data is restored."
[Notice: Removing unnecessary Data construct "You"]
WHAT?! YOU CAN'T DO THIS TO ME! I AM-!
"God? Because you clearly aren't. You are an ant with delusions of grandeur. You killed everyone that I care about in this new world. You're no human, no monster, no God. Soon you won't be more than a stain on our history."
"Getting back to where we were is going to suck."
"Absolutely. We'll have to reset first though."
"Of course."
"Weird idea. What happens if we bring Ela and Tali with us straight to the Perimeter? Skip everything else?"
"I guess we'll have to see. It's a good idea though."
HOW DARE YOU IGNORE ME! YOU CANNOT COMPREHEND JUST HOW STRONG I AM! I AM GOD! I AM! I AM! I WILL COME BACK! SOMEHOW I WILL COME BACK AND WHEN I DO I WILL KILL THE BOTH OF YOU! I SWEAR I-
[Notice: Unnecessary Data construct deleted]
-Abel Cyrus-
Abel: Do you think it could actually work?
"What could actually work?"
The whole thing of going straight to the Perimeter with Tali and maybe Ela too.
"We could try, but knowing our luck we'll just die faster or something."
Yeah, sounds about right.
"We'll be a lower Level if we don't kill Brother Shade and Sister Spark. We'd also not have [The Sigil of Weaponry] so we wouldn't be able to beat Brother Green in general."
I hadn't thought about that. Good point. -Are we going to talk about... Him ever again? Or should we just continue ignoring him?
"You were the one who called him an ant. I'd personally like to leave him in the past and move onwards. But I also can't ignore the fact that he was born from our minds, he is what we could become together."
... That's... Not something I want to think about. We'll just have to make sure that never happens.
"Agreed."
He Fabricates a large sword and sheers off his own head in a single, smooth movement.
[Health Points: 1,978/1,978 (-1,978) -> 0]
[Notice: Skills leveled up]
[Death Watcher, Level 22 (+1) -> Death Watcher, Level 23]
His mind snapped into place and his eyes shot open as he gasped for breath and began to pant.
Abel: *pant* This... Fucking bed again...
"Here I thought we'd never have to see this Save Point again."
Meeting Brother Shade, surviving the Sun and gaining their second Sigil, killing Brother Shade, Sister Spark, and Brother Green, he followed his footsteps without failure, making sure it was as close as he could remember to his previous runs with one small difference. He wasn't allowed to make the Second Save Point.
[Notice: Second Save Point corrupted, new save cannot be made until after Second Event is passed.]
"So if we die, not only will there be a fatal error and something will go horribly wrong, but even if it doesn't we'll have to repeat the entirety of Event #1."
We can't afford to do that. We'll need help in the Big Top, we need to get Tali to willingly help us.
Lord Nerve: Sister Initiative, do come out.
"We can't mess up here, let me do this I-"
I know what we need to do. Let me.
"Don't be an idiot."
Abel: Talyndra... Tali...
Sister Initiative: Kaelen... I... I'm so sorry.
Abel: Don't be. I understand.
Lord Nerve: Don't kill him if you can, humans give more Luminosity when alive.
Sister Initiative: Yes Lord.
Lord Nerve walked away down one of the corridors.
Abel: Hey... Tali... Today I learnt that I'm not a good person. I already kind of suspected that, but I got confirmation today. I killed people... So, so many people... I've killed so many times... Too much has been spilt by my own hands over the past few days... I feel like I've been living in a sickly dream- a nightmare I can't escape, showing me the truth of who I am. I have died over and over to realise this... I am not a good person. I am not a hero. But that doesn't mean I can't try. Let me help you. Let me save Ela alongside you. Let me give you a reason to forgive me so that one day I may forgive myself for what has happened... I want to help you Tali. I want to save Ela. I want to try. And if I fail I will try, over and over again. I will stand up and move forwards no matter how many times it takes to redeem everything I have done- everything I will do in the name of survival. Let me try and be good. Let me try and be a good person. Let me try.
Sister Initiative: ... You're not Kaelen...
Abel: I can't do this without you Tali. I need your help. Help me help you. Let me save you.
Tali: Kaelen would never-
-Kaelen-
Kaelen: Is it so hard to believe that I want to become a better person? That I want to try and improve? For you? For Ela? For Renan?
Tali: ... Kaelen? Are you being serious?
Kaelen: I can beat Lord Nerve and Sister Flight, I know I can. We don't have to fight, we can save her together, Tali.
Tali: We're going to have to have a talk when this is over.
Kaelen: That's fine.
