Behind the minuscule flicker of the orange flame, a wary face revealed itself, only one half of it visible through the flickering light…
While the other half of his face didn't even exist anymore.
"What a pathetic way to go. I knew that I was a goner from the get-go, but I can't help but feel bummed out about it, you know?"
"Seriously… Butcher? That cretin had to be the one to off me in the end?"
"And he couldn't even give the courtesy of doing it cleanly… like, really? An antler?!
"If you really think about it, it's kind of funny, isn't it?"
"Sorry for the blabbering…" The dead convict called Firestarter let out a weak chuckle, the flickering flame on top of his finger slowly growing dimmer. "I won't be able to do that for long, can I?"
"No, no, you can't." Altair made an attempt at sounding reassuring with a strangely warm tone and expression.
"Thought so." Firestarter let out another chuckle, this one came out emptier than the previous one.
"You know, the big bad Altair doesn't seem as scary as I've heard… well, nor as big, you are shorter than I expected, but I digress."
Altair just listened to the dead convict ramble on some more, the light fluctuation on the tip of his finger growing dimmer still.
As his eye reflected the fire, he gradually fell silent, staring even deeper at the flame, which was barely sustained by now.
"Firestarter… Tamara never bothered to give us a normal name, I swear to god he pulls them out of his ass…"
"I mean, look at you. Altair is at least a good name. You Red Mansion lunatics always freaked me out, but man, those names are cool, or at the very least, they are meaningful… or at the very least sound like that."
Firestarter tried to force out a chuckle, but nothing came out. This time, it was Altair who spoke up.
Altair leaned closer as the flame barely cast enough light for both of them to be in the light. "On the topic of names, what's yours? Your real name."
"I… I can't remember exactly. I guess not having one side of your head scrambles up your memory or something… I know it started with a D… it was something like Damian… no…"
Panic washed over his face as he stared at the flame, barely flickering now.
"It was… Deon."
"Deon…" Altair repeated his name.
"Would you like to make a deal with me? If you have a final wish, I will make sure to complete it; in return, borrow me your aberrant power." Altair's tone felt strangely warm and comforting.
"Deals? What a strange Aberrant power… well, nothing really comes to mind, but if it's not too big a bother, could you send my regards to Butcher?"
Altair just gazed at the flame, which was moments away from extinguishing.
"I will."
Firestarter heaved a sigh of relief before looking back at Altair, who was smiling at him reassuringly. For a monster of Red Mansion, he sure is a kind one.
"Thank you."
The light extinguished, and Deon fell silent. By the time Altair blinked, he found himself back in the middle of the forest.
The blood red leaves gently cascading down around him, the closer they got to the ground, the further they decayed.
By the time they reached the ground, the leaves were dry and brittle.
Meanwhile, heaps of the blood-red leaves were cascading towards Altair.
Thank you, Deon.
Altair's handcuffs began to heat up as the temperature around the young convict rose in seconds, the dry leaves on the ground being the first to catch on fire.
Hunter could only stare with wide eyes as the flames rose around Altair, whose face remained expressionless… if anything, his gaze felt cold.
The Shepherd was still nowhere to be found, but the noise of it clashing with the Wolf class Entity echoed around its domain.
The metal around his wrists heated up as the flames intensified, and the metal started to bend. Deon's aberrant powers granted him a special constitution, enabling him to conduct heat around his body without burning to a crisp himself.
Currently, Altair borrowed this very same constitution and power.
Using all his strength, the metal bent further as it glowed in a bright orange before it fell to the ground, bent and broken.
Around him, the cascading leaves turned into embers before they could even reach the ground.
"Finally." Scoffed Butcher, leaning against one of the decaying trees. "So, do you have a plan?"
"Yeah, I do."
As he spoke, he reached out for one of the trees reaching the end of its life cycle. It was a dead tree, perfectly dry for what Altair planned to do.
Burn the forest to the ground.
"You crazy bastard." Butcher couldn't help but laugh out loud as he figured out Altair's plan. "Straightforward enough, the Shepherd's domain is already struggling with the Wolf on its doorstep; if we continuously apply pressure, a crack will surely form."
Altair nodded while spreading the flames onto other trees, forcing both Hunter and Butcher to run far away from the rapidly spreading flames.
In mere minutes, the forest was engulfed in a raging inferno with smoke spreading everywhere.
Maybe it will reach one of the cities, show them a sign that I am here, that I'm not dead yet. This thought made him chuckle, but no one could hear him in the raging flames.
As he looked at the sky, he saw the world around him shake. The domain of the Shepherd would eventually be given out.
The collapse of the domain was bound to happen sooner or later.
The voice of clashing was suffocated by the cracking noise of flames and the heat that prickled Altair's skin, even with his current resistance to heat.
He was walking in the direction where Hunter and Butcher were heading, around him, the raging fire ravaged through the forest, following him like a trail of crumbs, except there was nothing small about this.
His jumpsuit was long ago burned to a crisp, his face covered in cold sweat from overusing a power that wasn't even his.
The world around him continued to shake relentlessly; the domain was crumbling.
Altair lowered the intensity of the flames; he needed to save his essence for something else. The rest of the domain's destruction was handled by the Lawless Abyss itself.
Finally, as the world around him turned quieter, he could hear a distinct noise of glass breaking.
There it is, the crack has formed.
Picking up the pace, Altair began to run towards it. Even if the two set off sooner, he had to arrive at the crack first.
No matter what.
As only one person could pass through them.
His lungs were burning, so were his muscles, but he focused everything on arriving at the crack faster.
Around him, the noise of the fight between the Shepherd and the Wolf slowly died down.
No matter which one came out of that fight as the victor, they were bound to go after them.
But thankfully, he was nearing the crack.
He was familiar with the place; it was the same part of the Shepherds' domain where originally a high-rise building stood, replaced by the colossal tree.
The place where the domain formed was the same place where it crumbled.
Just in time, he arrived at the place of the crack; it was still open, so Altair leisurely leaned against a protruding root of the colossal tree.
"There you are." Chuckled Butcher nervously; he seemed to be wounded, his Aberrant power was yet to kickstart his regenerative process, and Hunter was nowhere to be found.
"Where is Hunter?"
"The bastard attacked me. Where is his sense of loyalty?" Butcher answered with an angry spat but soon turned silent as he saw how close Altair was to the crack.
"Are you going to enter or what?"
"No. I won't." Answered Altair matter-of-factly. "But I want to ask you something before you go."
"What is it?"
"Why was my brother there when the aberrant corps cracked down on the Tamara group?"
"He didn't say?"
"Just answer the question."
"He wanted to facilitate a meeting between Masquerade and Tamara," Butcher answered. He didn't seem to be lying. "Is that all?"
"I also need to tell you something," Altair said as he took a step closer to Butcher.
"What is it? Just get it over with, I want to leave this damn place."
"You will." For the first time ever, Butcher heard something that sent a chill down his spine, a single chuckle that escaped Altair's lips, but that sound wasn't his own. It was the same forced chuckle as Deon's.
Almost like a ghost.
Around the two of them, the temperature jumped up hundreds of degrees in an instant — a suffocating heat robbing Butcher of his breath.
He couldn't even scream out in pain before Altair placed his hand on his shoulder.
His body was instantly incinerated as Altair touched him.
Leaving nothing of Butcher.