Chapter 193 — Ends III

"You saw the video I shared?"

Zavier nodded, tears flowing fresh down his face.

"Please relay my thanks to Uncle and Aunty. For... for giving my parents justice. For making that monster suffer the way he made my father suffer."

His voice broke on the last words.

Damian squeezed his shoulder.

"Here is the daughter of the person who manipulated your parents. I’ve removed her core. She can’t defend herself anymore."

He gestured toward Mara, who was staring at Zavier with dawning horror.

"Do whatever you want with her. Release your pent-up hatred. Make her pay for what her family did to yours."

Zavier looked at Mara, his expression mixing grief with something approaching bloodlust.

But... he hesitated, his hands shaking, his moral conditioning fighting against his desire for vengeance.

"I... I’m not like them. I can’t just torture someone. That’s not who I am."

Damian’s voice became sharp, cutting through the hesitation.

"In his last moments, your father wished he could end their bloodline for what he suffered! For what he was forced to do... Are you transforming back into that nervous, fearful Zavier again? The one who let Nobles walk all over him?"

Zavier flinched.

"What is this about wrong and right? When your father went through all that torture, when your mother suffered and died in agony, did the enemy think it was wrong? Did they care that your parents were innocent?"

Damian stepped closer, his voice carrying absolute conviction.

"Remove this so-called morality principle from your mind. This world was never about right or wrong. It was only ever about power... And the weak don’t have the luxury of thinking about philosophy and ethics."

His crimson eyes bored into Zavier’s.

"Remember what I said during recruitment day? BITE! You bite the Nobles back! You bite so hard they start fearing you! They need to fear the consequences of their actions!"

He pointed at Mara.

"What you do today is the consequence they should fear! So man the fuck up! And finish this!"

Something broke in Zavier’s expression, grief and rage overwhelming hesitation.

He walked toward Mara slowly, pulling out a knife from his spatial ring.

"Wait! I didn’t do anything to your family! This isn’t fair! I’m innocent!"

Mara’s desperate pleading fell on deaf ears.

Zavier’s first cut was hesitant, shallow, barely drawing blood.

Damian spoke from behind him, his voice calm and instructional.

"Deeper... Make it count. She has enhanced vitality even without her core. She won’t die from surface wounds."

"AHHH!"

The second cut was deeper, Mara’s scream echoing through the forest.

"Good. Now the other arm. Learn how to inflict the pain, practice makes it more effective."

Tears flowed down Zavier’s face as he worked, his hands shaking, his expression showing he was crying for his parents rather than taking pleasure in the violence.

But he didn’t stop.

Cut after cut. Wound after wound. Each one precise enough to cause maximum pain without killing quickly.

Damian continued providing calm guidance, teaching torture techniques with the same tone he might use for explaining mathematics.

There was a reason why Damian was doing all this. Zavier needed this to release the hatred inside of him. And...

Damian wanted to make sure that Zavier’s moral compass became more and more suited to the reality of this world.

The nervous and kind Zavier needed to die today.

"Argh!"

Mara’s screams filled the night, raw and desperate, her voice eventually giving out leaving only wet gasps and sobs.

An hour passed... Maybe more. Time lost meaning in the darkness.

"..."

Finally, Mara stopped moving, her body hanging limp, blood pooling beneath her.

Clank

Zavier dropped the knife, staring at his hands covered in blood, his face empty.

"Father... Mother... You are avenged."

His voice was hollow and mechanical.

He stood there looking lost, his eyes unfocused, his purpose fulfilled leaving him directionless.

Damian stepped forward and placed his hand on Zavier’s shoulder again.

"Remember what you said on the day of the funeral. Your purpose now is to be the judgment of Nobles who suppress commoners. To make sure what happened to your family never happens to anyone else under our protection."

Light slowly returned to Zavier’s eyes, purpose rekindling.

Damian’s tone softened slightly.

"Don’t forget that we have thousands of family members as well now. Thousands of children in orphanages who depend on us. Who need us to be strong so they can be safe."

Zavier remembered the faces of children they’d rescued from trafficking and the families they’d relocated to Tranquil City. The people who trusted the Mafia to protect them when no one else would.

His will to live formed again, stronger than before, no longer clouded by grief and uncertainty.

The restrictions he’d carried – the morality, the hesitation and the fear of becoming like his enemies – all of it dissolved.

The beast inside Zavier had awakened.

And he would become the nightmare that Nobles feared in the darkness.

A weapon pointed at the established order, forged through suffering, sharpened by vengeance and guided by someone who understood exactly how to aim him.

Damian watched the transformation with satisfaction.

’Good. He has the will to live again. The Mafia will fill the place of his family in his heart. It won’t be the same... but it is still something.’

Kuro pecked at his shoulder, bringing his attention back to the present.

Damian looked at Mara’s corpse, feeling nothing except clinical assessment of a problem solved.

"Kuro. Dispose of the body. Make sure nothing remains."

The raven grew larger, his beak opening wide, shadows gathering.

The corpse vanished, consumed completely, leaving no trace that Mara Kestrel had ever been in this forest.

Damian turned to Zavier and spoke like nothing happened at all.

"Let’s go, Zav. You need to get some rest."

"Okay... Boss."

They walked back toward the Academy together, leaving the clearing empty except for bloodstains that morning rain would wash away.

The last member of the Kestrel branch that had attacked them was gone.

And the differences between the Mafia and Noble authority had started to escalate to a point where all the moral lines were starting to get breached.