The Thresher Saint crouched.
It was a small motion, just a shift of its colossal weight, marble knees groaning as they bent, but the ground beneath it shattered. Cobblestones erupted like shrapnel, fissures racing outward in jagged veins. Dust plumed, and for the first time during the night, Dario was surprised.
No fear, never fear. But the Saint's face was smooth, featureless, a blank plate etched with a single pulsing sigil. No rage. No hunger. No intent he could parse.
"Ah," Dario murmured, tilting his head. "You're built for me, aren't you?"
If that were even true, Dario would narrow down his enemies even more so, he had only told very few people of the true intricacies of his Ego.
The Saint didn't answer. It leapt.
One moment it was grounded, the next it was airborne, its censer-flails whirling in arcs of molten gold, trailing incense that stank of scorched scripture. The night sky bent around it, warping under the weight of its Mandates. Dario grinned.
BOOM.
His body erupted upward, not in flight but in pure propulsion, a controlled detonation from the soles of his feet, the shockwave cratering the street below. He met the Saint midair, close enough to see the cracks in its marble skin, the way its hollow chest pulsed with golden light.
"Let's see your rules!" he taunted.
The Saint's flail swung.
Dario didn't dodge.
The spiked head connected, or it should have. Instead, the air between them detonated, a star-shaped rune flaring to life an inch from Dario's nose. The explosion hurled the flail back, the chain snapping taut. The Saint reeled, but its other flair was already in motion, this one trailing a shimmering path of sigils.
MANDATE: "Raise a weapon, and your limbs turn to stone."
Dario didn't use a weapon when fighting. He was capable but he never needed to. He laughed. "Nice try."
It was clear to him that the Phantasm was just trying to figure out his Ego.
Another rune bloomed on his own forearm, and with a crack, the petrification shattered like glass. He lunged, diving a palm into the Saint's chest.
The world sharpened. Patterns unfolded in his mind, the Saint's movements, the way its Mandates wove through the air like invisible threads. He saw the next flail appear and strike before the Saint's arm even tensed.
"Too slow."
He pivoted, letting the flail whistle past, Then grabbed the chain.
The rune ignited. The chain vaporized in a sunburst of light, molten links raining down onto the city below. The Saint staggered, but Dario was already behind it, planting another rune between its shoulder blades.
"Fire in the hole."
KABOOM
The blast sent the Saint careening through the air, its vestments aflame. It crashed into a clocktower, the structure collapsing around it in a symphony of splintered wood and grinding gears. Dario hovered, arms crossed, watching as the Saint hauled itself upright.
"It's tougher than it looks," he admitted. "But let's be real, you're just a fancy looking scarecrow. Soon it will be your master that I look down on as I burn his existence to ash."
The Saint's sigil flared.
MANDATE: "Speak, and your limbs are silenced."
Dario's jaw locked. His arms went numb, muscles seizing, but his grin never wavered.
"Oops."
A rune flared on his tongue.
The explosion ripped the Mandate apart, the force sending his hair whipping back. He spat out a wisp of smoke. "Tch. So much burnt paperwork."
The Saint charged, its remaining flail a blur. Dario let it come.
At the last second, he moved, not with speed, but with precision. A sidestep, a tilt of his head, each motion a razor's edge between evasion and annihilation. The flail grazed his sleeve, no harm but he saw that the Phantasm was getting faster.
"Almost."
He snapped his fingers.
Runes ignited along the Saint's arm, its torso, its legs… a constellation of death blooming across its body. The Saint froze, its faceless head tilting, as if confused by the light.
Dario raised a hand.
"Goodnight."
The world turned white.
A chain reaction of detonations tore through the Saint, each explosion peeling away layers of marble and gold, reducing its limbs to ash. Its torso cracked open, revealing the core a pulsing, golden orb etched with commandments.
Dario landed atop it, boots pressing into the crumbling surface.
"Final lesson." He whispered. "Rules are meant to be broken."
He drove his fist into the core.
BOOM.
The shockwave lit up the night, a miniature sun erupting in the sky. When the light faded, there was nothing left, just drifting embers and the smell of scorched stone.
Dario exhaled, rolling his shoulders. "Well, that was fun."
His eyes flicked to the city below. The other Phantasm that was hiding in glass was gone. He could sense no trail to follow, meaning it was a lot smarter than other Phantasm. He'd file that detail later.
And then he spotted them. Ruben and Corbin, staring up at him from the ruined street, their faces a mix of awe and irritation.
Dario dropped like a comet, landing lightly in front of them. "Enjoy the show?"
Corbin scowled at him. "The hell was that? That's the second one that's shown up, and it's on the same day."
Ruben's eyes narrowed as he stared deeply into Dario's, he asked him. "Was it here for you?"
It was a little unsettling. The two only arrived as he fought the Saint and didn't see him destroy the other one earlier on.
"Maybe it was, maybe it wasn't. Who cares." Dario ruffled his hair. "But Phantasm can be hyper-aware to Ego users, and it's nighttime, all phantasm gain a small boost in strength during the dark."
Corbin opened his mouth but Dario was already on the move.
"Never anything too worrying." Dario said before Corbin could speak as he caught up. "Anyway. Let's go. We should rest and enjoy the rest of this holiday before you guys are back in school."
Dario's eyes wandered slightly as he searched for anything that may be out of the ordinary, he also wanted to avoid any people that were leaving their homes due to the noise he had made.
***
The road stretched before them, a single, lonely ribbon of cracked asphalt cutting through the skeletal remains of an abandoned district made in case of emergency. The air smelled of rust and damp concrete, the only light coming from a bruised purple haze of the city behind them, where the echoes of Dario's battle still lingered like the distant thunder.
Kael's breath came in sharp, ragged pulls, his boots scuffing against the pavement as he struggled to match Remo's brisk, unbothered stride.
Finally, he stopped, bracing his hands on his knees. "Why…" a gasp, "...did we run?"
Remo didn't slow. His long coat whispered against the ground, the obsidian brim of his hat casting his face in shadow. "If you're winded from this," he said, voice flat, "you might as well hand your sword to a child. It'd be more useful."
Kael's head snapped up, his reddish-brown eyes burning. "You…"
"Remember what you're fighting for."
The words were a blade, cold and precise. Kael froze.
Remo turned then, just enough for the moonlight to catch the sharp line of his jaw, the faintest glint of his eyes beneath the hat. "The Witness saw everything," he said. "Dario's Egos. His "Promise." A pause. "He would have spotted us the moment that fight ended."
Kael straightened, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. "You're saying he has two?"
"Stardust and Revelation." Remo's gloved fingers flexed, as if tracing the shape of the words in the air and they actually appeared. "Stardust marks the target within five meters, automatically, if they harbour intent to harm. Not just at him. Anything. The runes do not travel. They just appear. One thought, one flicker of aggression in his vicinity, and you're already burning."
Kael's throat tightened. "That's…"
"Unfair?" Remo's lips curled, but there was no humour in it. "Revelation is worse. It could be classed as foresight. Or more like a varied certainty. Ask a question, and it guides him to the answer. A path. A thread. Even us, standing here, picking him apart, he could be unravelling it right now."
The wind picked up, carrying the distant wail of a siren. Kael's gaze flickered toward the city, then back to Remo. "We should warn the others."
Remo laughed, a sound like dry leaves crushed underfoot. "There are no others. No comrades Kael." He tapped his temple. "The Bureau, The Pillars, other Paladin. We're all just pieces on a board. Let's just continue playing the game."
Kael exhaled sharply, his breath frosting in the cold air. "So what now?"
"Now?" Remo adjusted his hat, his voice dropping to a murmur. "We disappear. I'll book for the Infinity Train towards the eastern territories in the nation. We'll tell the bureau we're conducting standard outreach." A smirk, thin and bitter. "And we wait."
Kael hesitated. "Being even more cautious than we already have been?"
Remo didn't answer at first. His eyes were fixed on the horizon, where the first hints of morning light were beginning to bleed into the dark.
"Yes," he said lightly. "But every king falls, Kael. Even one's made of gold."
With that they turned and continued walking away. Remo's coat flared behind him like a shadow given form.