Bloodied goon: "You crazy motherfuckers... We'll be doing this world a favor by killing animals like you..."

  The man lunged at Jargen, his knife gleaming in the pale moonlight. The blade pierced his chest, cutting into the flesh with brutal force. Jargen screamed -- a guttural, agonized cry that seemed to echo into the heavens.

  The other looters grinned, their faces twisted with sadistic glee as tears streamed down Jargen's bloody face.

  The full moon hung overhead, its cold glow casting long shadows across the alley. But for a fleeting moment, its light dimmed -- a winged shadow streaked across the sky. Then, without warning, a deafening shockwave erupted at the alley's entrance. The ground trembled violently, and a thick cloud of dust filled the air.

  Bloodied goon: "What the fuck...?"

  Two glowing grey eyes pierced through the swirling dust. The figure that emerged was humanoid, yet eerily otherworldly. With a single sweep of its arms, the dust cleared, and spheres of energy were conjured around two of the looters -- the one attacking Jargen and another nearby.

  With a sharp snap of its fingers, the spheres collapsed inward, taking the men’s torsos with them. A cloud of blood and guts sprayed the cobblestone walls, and the remaining looters screamed in terror, scrambling to flee.

  But their feet wouldn’t budge. It was as if invisible chains bound them to the ground.

  Silhouette: "Be grateful your friend screamed as loudly as he did..."

  The entity approaches them, walking towards Virno. As he got closer they could finally see it for what it was: a menacing old man, cloaked in shimmering grey energy.

  His glowing eyes lock onto Virno.

  Ballo (Silhouette): "And you... You must be Virno von Virtus."

  He extended a hand, sensing the magical amulet beneath Virno's bandages.

  Ballo: "Ah, you haven’t put it to use yet... Let us start by addressing that. You know you're no good without a weapon."

  He casts a familiar glyph out of his hand. Virno could feel his insides moving... Just like when Sadduccee did when he first met him. But, this time, it was different. His chest tightened. He felt a cold grip around his heart, squeezing tighter and tighter. His breath grew ragged, his heartbeat hammering in his ears. Then came the pain -- a searing, unrelenting agony that brought him to his knees.

  Virno: "STOP...!"

  He coughed up blood, his trembling hands clutching his chest.

  Ballo: "Hmph. Not enough of a threat, am I...?"

  As Rel tried to rush to his friend’s side, he found himself immobilized as well, his limbs frozen in place.

  The old man conjured a blade of glowing grey energy, raising it high above Virno.

  Old man: "If this is your end, boy, it will be because you lack what it takes to survive what lies ahead."

  As the blade came down, a voice erupted inside Virno’s head.

  Disembodied voice: "This madman is going to kill you! Do something! FIGHT, COWARD!"

  Virno’s mind raced, his life flashing before his eyes. Beneath the bandages on his chest, he felt a sudden warmth -- a flicker of energy that quickly spread to his right hand. Glowing particles of grey energy coalesced into the shape of a blade, solidifying into a gleaming silver sword.

  On instinct alone, Virno raised the sword just in time to block the old man’s strike. Sparks flew as the two blades clashed, and the force sent Virno staggering backward.

  Ballo's lips curled into a grin.

  Ballo: "Good... Very good."

  He dispelled his weapon and once again extended a hand to Virno.

  Ballo: "My name is Ballo... It’s a pleasure to finally meet you."

  Still clutching his new sword, Virno swatted the hand away and struggled to his feet, his ribs screaming in protest. Ballo notices two large purple splotches around them.

  Ballo: "Look at you... How many times have those ribs been fractured? Yet you rise. Hold onto whatever gives you that strength -- you will need it."

  Virno: "SHUT UP. You know nothing about me!"

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  In a surge of anger, Virno swung his sword at Ballo, but the blade stopped short, deflected by an invisible force.

  Ballo: "If you can still muster the strength to swing that sword, then you ought to aim it at your enemies..."

  He turned to one of the remaining looters, snapping his fingers to release the man’s shackles. The looter, sensing his freedom, bolted toward the alley’s exit -- only to crash into an invisible wall of energy.

  Ballo: "And where are you going...? The only way you're walking out of here through this young man."

  The looter, desperate and terrified, turned back toward Virno, brandishing his knife.

  Ballo: "Do your best... I promise I won’t interfere this time."

  The man turns toward Virno, rushing him, desperate for survival. Between the overwhelming pain he was experiencing, the mysterious man standing beside him, and the criminal approaching him with murderous intent, Virno didn't know what to do... He couldn't make up his mind. The voice in his head screamed louder than ever.

  Disembodied voice: "MOVE! RAISE YOUR SWORD AND SLAY HIM, LEST HE'LL SLAY YOU...!"

  His chest heaved as his heart pounded.

  Disembodied voice: "If you fall here, what becomes of your mother? Your friends? Everything you’ve fought to protect will be for nothing...!"

  But his grip faltered, and the sword slipped from his hand, clattering to the ground.

  Disembodied voice: "Fool. In the end, you were as weak as your father was..."

  Those words hit like a dagger.

  Time seemed to slow. As the looter lunged forward with his knife, he missed. With a blur of motion, his forearm flew off in the direction of his swing, severed cleanly by Virno, the blade that he had just dropped re-materializing in his grasp in an instant. Blood sprayed across the alley as the looter collapsed, screaming in agony.

  Virno (thinking): "You keep painting this fucked up picture of my father... But I see through it, now. He wasn’t weak -- in fact, I can only hope to become as strong as he was!"

  The sword pulsed in his hands, responding to his renewed determination.

  Rel: "Virno!"

  Punjo: "H-how did...?!"

  Ballo: "Do you finally feel that, young man...?"

  Virno’s chest burned with exertion as he gripped the sword tightly. Feeling the warm blood of his enemy drip from the blade of his sword into the back of his hand, he was starting to come to a realization.

  Ballo: "The power to protect is a blessing bestowed only to a few. It is no shame to fail to protect when you are powerless to do so..."

  The remaining looters closed in, their chains vanishing.

  Ballo: "But to refuse to protect when one has the means..."

  Virno grabs his sword with both hands, ready for battle.

  Ballo: "There isn't a drop of honor or kindness in that refusal..."

  For most of his own life, Virno only knew a distant, unloving father. He had always thought the distance between them was a product of Charles' disregard for his own son... But in the last few days, he had started to understand. His father's choices were finally making sense to him. He recalled what he taught him...

  Virno: "There is only cowardice in that refusal. Only a coward would turn his back on duty...!"

  Moving like the wind, Virno became one with the blade -- it had been too long since he felt the grip of a true sword. All the sparring lessons he had with instructor Pocna overrode his own brain's influence, granting his movements a deadly, mechanical precision. As one looter rushed him, he sidestepped and delivered a clean slash, cutting the man in two... It was clear to him now this weapon was far from ordinary.

  Virno: "All those years... You weren't running. You weren't hiding. You weren't living your life without giving mother and me a second thought."

  Another came at him from behind, but Virno spun and drove his sword through the attacker’s chest.

  Virno: "... You were fighting. Not for your own sake, or for the sake of wealth and fame... but for our own. Fighting something far beyond anybody's ken. Letting go of what you loved, pushing us away, however much it hurt you... just to keep us safe. That was *your* duty, wasn't it...?"

  The remaining looters screamed and scrambled toward the alley’s exit, pounding on the invisible barrier. Their cries fell on deaf ears.

  Virno: "... I understand it now. I understand the burden of sacrifice. We can paint this world however we like, we can try our best to make it seem like everything we do is necessary and justified in some way... much like Jargen and Punjo believe like they are merely slaying pests. But I know what I'm doing. I know I'm killing people. People just like you... and just like me."

  Virno moved methodically, cutting them down one by one.

  Virno: "In the end, appearances matter little. It doesn't matter what others think of you. It doesn't even matter what you think of yourself..."

  He grabs one of them by the neck, driving the blade into his belly, slicing it open.

  Virno: "... What matters is that you do what must be done -- your duty. And, my duty..."

  He lets go of the corpse, slowly walking towards his final target. His final opponent fell to his knees, pleading for mercy.

  Virno: "... Is to protect. To protect mother. To protect Faya. Rel. Punjo. Jargen. What I have left... I must protect."

  Bandit: "Please, I beg you! I will turn myself in, you can take me out of the slums and straight into the city guard's barricades! Please, just don't kill me...! I have a family, a wife and a small daughter, I --"

  Without hesitation, Virno drives the sword through the man's open mouth and down his throat. The man's horrifying screams are quickly drowned out by the blood flowing from the internal lacerations caused by the sword, making him choke.

  Virno: "The women you raped and the men you killed had families, too..."

  He drives the blade deeper inside.

  Virno: "... Your family is no more valuable than theirs."

  He pulled the blade free, letting the lifeless body crumple to the ground.

  For a moment, Virno stopped and stared at the fallen foes around him, taking in the deaths caused by his very hands. As he did, Ballo swung his right arm in a wide motion while he snapped his fingers, releasing the shackles around everybody else's feet and lifting the barrier at the entrance of the alleyway.

  Jargen, bloodied and broken, stumbled forward and grabbed the old man by the collar.

  Punjo: "Jargen, don't...!"

  Surprisingly, no mysterious force stopped him. He held him up.

  Jargen: "He's just a kid! What is your problem?!"

  But Virno stepped forward, his expression calm and resolute.

  Virno: "Jargen... I'm not just a kid. I know what I signed up for -- I will shoulder this burden, no matter how much it comes to weigh on me."

  Jargen's anger gave way to shock.

  Virno: "C'mon, let that guy go... If it wasn't for him, you'd have a knife through your chest by now."

  Rel shivered, the image of Virno’s unflinching blade burning into his mind...