I wake up as I feel an enormous amount of magical power flow into my body. I get up and see that there's no one left in the audience. The announcer's microphone is only sending static into the arena.
I turn towards Hugo's body. My memories of our fight are sparse and blurry, so I'm surprised to see a corpse with shredded arms and a red bloody paste where the head should be. He's still bleeding out, so I haven't been unconscious for very long. There's no doubt that the energy now flowing into my body was his.
I actually killed another human. I came up with a plan specifically aimed at avoiding that, yet here I am looking at someone who died by my hand. I don't know if there was any way around that. He was way too fast for me to be able to put him in a spatial bead, and simply wounding him would have allowed him to come after me later. I'm still ashamed of myself for having lost control during that fight, however. I start feeling nauseous as I realize how senselessly violent I just acted. Is this really me? Is that how I want to be?
I grab my sword and pull it out of the dead body before storing it back in its bead. I then head towards the door I didn't use to enter the arena in the hope that I'll find Jacob, Marian and Jeremy somewhere in that direction.
As I walk through the corridors of the underground complex, I extend the range at which I can feel magical power. After a few minutes of aimless wandering, I pick up on two familiar sources. I start running in that direction, eventually going up a flight of stairs leading to a locked door. I kick the door open and enter.
The Architect, still wearing his mask, is slowly clapping while sitting on a desk. In front of him are Marian and Jeremy. They're on their knees, their hands are tied, their mouths are gagged, and they're wearing magic-suppressing collars.
"I did not believe for one moment that you would manage to defeat Hugo. You truly are a great find, Matt. And looks like you yet had more powers you hadn't shown us!"
"It's over, Jacob. Release the prisoners and surrender, otherwise..."
My head starts hurting as the desire the kill manifests itself once again. I can't lose control now. I take a deep breathe, but Jacob responds:
"Otherwise what? You know you can't do anything against me. You just exhausted yourself fighting a level 100 adventurer. How arrogant would you have to be to believe you can defeat another one? And don't believe the brand I put on your body is the only way I have to mark people."
After hearing this, I start focusing on Marian and Jeremy. The energy flows normally on their body, but there's a spell left on each of them. It's different from the brand he's been using up to this point. He explains:
"As soon as I will it, this brand will instantly kill them. If you try anything against me, cast any spell, resist to any of my demands, or even just move from where you are... It's over for them."
I expected he would have additional tools I didn't know about, but this is needlessly cruel. The only thing I have going for me here is that he believes I'm exhausted, unaware that I still have a chunk of Hugo's strength left. However, as soon as I move, the two hostages will die, and I'd much rather avoid that.
The Architect laughs, the voice distortion on his mask causing a wave of fear to grip me.
"Now, Matt... You truly had everything needed to defeat me. You can make yourself immune to my brand. You figured out how to remove it from others, and then used that knowledge to gain reliable allies. And you were smart enough to play the role of my subordinate in an attempt to trap me after being branded. However, you've underestimated me. I've founded this organization over a decade ago. Since then, I've come up with plans for all situations, no matter how improbable they seemed. I knew it was only a matter of time before someone like you came along."
He gets up and walks towards me. He puts his masked face way too close to mine as he caresses my cheek and continues:
"So all I had to do was figure out how you'd act after making yourself immune to my brand, and prepare accordingly. By branding everyone in the organization, even those willingly loyal to me, I increased the chances of one of them having their brand removed. Of course, they all had the order to pretend to help anyone who removed the spell."
He walks back towards his desk, then turns to look at me again.
"Now, it wasn't a certainty that you would end up trying to get the help of Hugo or any of the others. So I had plans for that too, but I didn't end up needing them with you. By trying to maximize your chances of victory by multiplying your allies, you fell into the most obvious trap I had laid."
He grabs a bottle of water from his desk. A small opening forms in the mask as he takes a few sips.
"I truly did order Hugo to kill you, but I believe I found a better use for you. The reason you're immune to my brand is that you created an isolation pocket of sorts around it, right? Well, if you want the hostages to be spared... Remove that pocket."
He can't be serious! If I want Marian and Jeremy to survive, I have to willingly subject myself to the brand's effect? That would mean losing control over my own actions and becoming his pawn, and I certainly cannot allow my power to fall into his hands.
"Don't think too hard about it, the clock is ticking."
Marian tries to scream through the gag, telling me to not do it, that I can't allow myself to become mind controlled, but I don't want to sacrifice her. It's probably the right thing to do, but...
I'm running out of time, I need to find a solution now. His brand works by injecting ideas into a person's mind, so...
"Matt, if you haven't removed that pocket in five seconds, they're gone."
Five seconds. That's enough.
As I stare at him, trying to get as much time as possible, I start etching a brand of my own on my back. It's a lot simpler than his, so it should be finished soon.
"Five, four, three, two, one..."
"Okay! Okay... I'll remove the pocket."
Both Jeremy and Marian protest, but I still bring my hand to the brand. I send a small amount of magic into that isolation pocket, causing it to break down. My energy then flows into the Architect's brand, activating it and causing me to immediately start seeing him as an ally.
He laughs once more before saying:
"Yes, what an obedient pet you are, Matt! Now, the goal of these arena battles was to level you up. Unfortunately, since you spared the people I had prepared for you, you didn't grow as much as planned. To compensate for this..."
He walks behind his desk, sits on his chair, then points one hand towards Jeremy, and one hand towards Marian.
"... execute them."
I can see the panic in their eyes as they hear the order, but I can find no fault in it. If this is what the Architect wants, then it's obviously the best course of action.
I break my sword out of its bead and head towards Jeremy. His eyes implore me to spare him, but his death is simply a necessary step towards a greater good. Of course, I should always make sure to send healing magic through my sword before killing someone, anything else would be bad form.
I plunge my sword into Jeremy's chest. When I pull it back out, he falls on the ground, his blood flowing into a puddle. Marian screams and starts crying, but her gag stops her from forming coherent sentences. I walk towards her, charge a healing spell into my sword, then stab her too. She also falls on the ground, lifeless, as the Architect cackles behind his desk.
"Yes! It all worked according to plan. Matt... Or should I call you 'Aurora'? I don't think I'm going to sell you anymore. If you can defeat a level 100 while only being level 80, who's to say what heights you'll reach once you're level 100 yourself? Marian was at the head of my forces up to this point, but that position has obviously been vacated. So, I'm promoting you! Matt, from now on, you shall take care of most of the internal affairs of the organization. I'm counting on you!"
"This is an honor. Simply let me know what you expect of me."
"Your first order shall be to dispose of these bodies. You'll find special containers on the lowest floor of the building for that, just stuff them in and the team in charge will take care of the rest. Oh and please call a janitor in to take care of that blood."
"I can take care of the blood myself, boss."
"Really? You truly are amazing. Very well then. Clean this place up, and then come back for your next assignment."
I grab the two bodies and leave the office, going down the stairs to find these containers.
I eventually reach a room in which I find multiple roughly human-sized containers. I place each body in one, and notice that there's an indicator on the side that can be changed to display whether the container is full or not, so I update both of them. The rope used to tie their hands and their collars are valuable, so I grab them.
As I'm climbing the stairs back up, I think about how dedicated the Architect is to building a brighter future. It truly is an honor to be able to work with him. However, stabbing him without first infusing my sword with a healing spell would help him even further, even if he doesn't realize it yet. I should get that done as soon as possible.
