“Once one becomes a demi-god, they gain godhood—or divinity—to a partial extent. The Apocalypse symbolizes the end of all things, how all things will return to chaos, and how all things have chaos inside them. Why do you think you have the Chaos Instinct ability?”

  My gaze shifted from the bloodied wound on my abdomen to Kael. I could feel my vision swimming and blurring, and I was fighting myself tooth and nail not to black out from the blood loss. I watched as Kael took a step forward, lowering himself in front of me.

  “The Apocalypse symbolizes inevitability, how all things will return to darkness and death. I used inevitability for a short, precise moment to curve my blade so it’d hit you regardless of where you moved. If you dashed backwards, the blade would have extended, if you grabbed it, it would have damaged your body and whatnot.”

  Kael’s gaze swept across the current chaos in Clifton, smiling to himself as he mused. “And now, inevitability is in my favor; the ritual will be completed and my fathers presence shall grace the world once more.”

  I coughed up blood, my breathing shallow and strained. “I-I… don’t hurt… Elizabeth and her child.”

  “Excuse me?” Kael looked down at me, finding himself unable to decipher my mumbled words.

  I collapsed forward, my body growing weaker and weaker by the moment. “I know I can’t stop this… I can’t stop you… it hurts a lot, it really does. But I just want a favor from you… before everyone does.”

  My bloodshot eyes found him, gradually growing weary. My lips parted once more, tried, crackled words peeling off in strained syllables.

  “Spare Elizabeth and her child. You once approached her and talked with her, finding her favorable—you even kissed her hand in a show of gratitude. I don’t know what the hell comes next, or what the hell will happen to me or you, but please… spare her and the child.”

  Kael’s brows furrowed momentarily. For a split second I saw something cross his face, something that surprised me—pity. “I wish I could, Isaac, but the ritual is too strong for me to interfere.”

  My eyes widened. “No!”

  I let out a guttural roar as my body shot up, a wave of adrenaline coursing over me, making me temporarily forget about the wounds on my body. My girthy titan hands curled around Kael’s throat, threatening to crush his windpipe.

  Kael’s breath came in short gasps, but his expression showed not a trace of fear. “It’s too late… if I wanted to, I could.”

  His strangled gaze found mine, and he feigned a twitching smile. “Contrary to what you think you know, I do hold you some place in my heart. If the ritual wasn’t bound by such laws, I would have made efforts to save those who you care about. But now, it’s too late; I can’t do anything to fix or meddle with this event.”

  “You… hold me in your heart?” My expression morphed, becoming more contemplative.

  “I… do…” Kael sputtered out, as if the confession was almost painful. “You’re among the only people in the modern day to have received the Apocalypse potion…”

  “Some random stranger gave me the potion in the market when I first got transported here. I didn’t want it initially, and I didn’t know it’d put me in such a hard place.”

  Kael let out a strained laugh, a laugh that bordered on a wheeze. “But it looks like you hate me, so you’re choking me and threatening to kill me.”

  “I do hate you… I’d never want to be associated with you,” I growled.

  “When I first met you, I told you I was the only person who claimed to have understood you. But I guess that’s wrong, because you’re not the Silas I cherish, the Silas I thought I knew and grew with, but… you’re just Isaac, you’re a desolate loser whelping in self-pity.”

  “I’d rather be that than whatever the hell you see in me.” I lowered my hand, dropping Kael to the ground.

  The latter landed in the dirty snow, rubbing his neck and gradually taking breaths to regain airflow. After a second, Kael looked back up at me and frowned.

  “You do know you’re paying the price by being this way, right? By sundown tomorrow, Emperor Katsuki will have your bounty so high for the tragedy even your own friends will have thoughts of turning you in.”

  “That’s why I want to visit your empire, take a little trip to the throne room and testify that you’re the cause of the tragedy. You may be trusted by the emperor, but that doesn’t mean what happened here was my fault.”

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

  Kael scoffed. “I wish you the best of luck.”

  He looked past me, gazing at both the creature eating Cosette’s body and the decapitated head of said body.

  “I take it my traitor is dead, a shame. And so many more bodies will fall…”

  “I know I can’t stop that; I’m not strong enough to defeat you or end this ritual.”

  Looking back at the group of citizens holding weapons, already engaging in a collective fight against the Rakkiounk, I felt my heart become increasingly heavy. I knew everyone I’m looking at, whether already dead or not, would eventually die anyways. This was the penance of living as Silas, seeing innocent lives get lost.

  I was unable to stop the ritual.

  Khorvath will resurrect one day.

  All because I had submitted to Silas’s whims. All because I had been tempted by the image of my father—the man I hated to the deepest pits of my heart. All because I thought I’d see sanctity and trust in Kael. This was the essence of the Apocalypse pathway, just like I had seen in my brief glimpse of the Astral Void.

  He who sets on a path to righteousness may or may not be bound to do evil.

  The darker part of me—the part the Apocalypse pathway cherishes and thrives on—the part that picked up the knife on that night in the kitchen—is, and will always be a part of me. I can push him down into my soul, never offering to talk of him again, but Silas is me, the part of me that claims agency through violence and bloodshed.

  But I am mostly Isaac.

  And right now, I will be Isaac as much as I can, and as much as the world needs me to be. I had unleashed him in Clifton a few times, but the last time I was knocked unconscious and dragged to a basement. Isaac may inherently be a ‘loser’ to some, but people like my friends—Ayumi, Shinso, Aizawa, and everyone else—all see me as Isaac, and what they saw wasn’t something that needed to be fixed.

  It was simply something that was fixed by them.

  It was Isaac's inability that caused today, and I know I can’t undo violence caused by Silas and Kael.

  But I will hold Clifton in my heart not as a complete failure, but an amalgamation, an extrusion of what happens to a soul when they dive into their darkness when promised with light. That doesn’t mean I won’t mourn. Silas doesn’t mourn, he simply moves on like the world owes him a favor.

  I will mourn these losses, I will reflect on past doings, and I will assure to myself and everyone else that Silas isn’t a mistake, but a part of me—a human part of me. Silas is a part that is faulty and midguided—a lost soul in a cold forest looking for a fire.

  At the same time, Silas was the one that screamed when I thought of myself as a charity case. Silas was the one who raised the knife to my father on that night. Silas was the one who wrote bloodied entries in my journal. Silas is my misfortune, my anger, the very reason I drank the potion. Most importantly, Silas is my apocalypse.

  I want to be the help against the apocalypse.

  But for now, all I could do was mourn, mourn and watch as the entirety of Clifton succumbed to chaos.

  This was a lesson to myself.

  Those who do evil will eventually receive their penance.

  …

  Emperor Katsuki shuffled out of the underground library, rubbing his eyes in a tired fashion. He had spent the last hour or two scouring the books and volumes Hazel had supplied for him. As he headed back to his quarters, his mind raced with the information that he had read and what had been given to him. Inside the book from his mother, he had taken a dive into her life, early years, and the circumstances that led to her acquiring power.

  In the books Hazel had laid out for him, the books covered strategies and detailed accounts of insurgencies and insurrections. He had read accounts of criminals who had taken parts in these actions—one in particular stemming from the Adligon Clans in the middle of the Khorvithian War.

  His train of thought was derailed the moment a figure rounded the corner, wearing casual attire. They had messy brown hair, ears, and a bushy tail—Demetruis.

  The vulpur initially didn’t know how to react to Emperor Katsuki’s presence this early in the morning, but he collected himself, clearing his throat before asking in a strained voice.

  “Why are you up so early, are your thoughts troubling you?”

  The emperor shook his head, tucking Mitsuki’s journal inside his pocket. “I’ve just been reading lately; I spent the last hour doing research.”

  “On what? More methods to help this crisis?” Demetruis’s tone suddenly became filled with optimism.

  “No, something deeper than that. Now, there’s an underground library I want you to take a visit to. There’s a dusty table filled with books, get those books and deliver them to my quarters.”

  “A… secret library?” Demetruis asked. “It’s pretty much common knowledge to anyone in the palace.”

  “My mother never told me about it, that’s all that matters at the given moment.”

  As he walked past Demetruis, Emperor Katsuki took a deep, shuddering breath. “If you encounter anyone in the next few days, remember this assignment I’ll be giving you.”

  The vulpur turned around, ears twitching. “Go on, your majesty.”

  “Don’t tell a soul, but it's dawned on me that a conspiracy is in the works against my friend. Allegedly, the conspirators know when Emperor Izuku will perish. Whether it’s superstition or fear-mongering is unbeknownst to me, but any intelligence you can gather will be a great help.”

  “What exactly do you want me to do?” Demetruis stuttered.

  A small smile formed on the emperor's face, a smile he didn’t want Demetruis to see, so he turned away and continued his explanation.

  “Until further notice, your position as a servant in this castle has been revoked. Instead, you’ll receive a promotion from my hand.”

  “A… promotion?” Demetrus’s tail began to wag back and forth.

  Emperor Katsuki chuckled dryly. “You’ll be my new head advisor until I know what I’m hearing is false. And, you’ll be working as a double-agent.

  “After a small amount of time here, I will send you over to Seraphis Kingdom to spy on the professionals dispatched by Kael.”

  Hearing these words, Demetrus’s eyes widened, and he feigned a smile that showed his sharp vulpur fangs.

  “I-I’m your head advisor like Kael?”

  “You’ll be his temporary replacement until I know wholeheartedly I can trust him. Anyways, I have your first batch of instructions for your remaining time here before you’re dispatched to Seraphis Kingdom."

  “I’m listening.”