"You are my son, after all. I was right."
"I hope you've had an eventful life, father. I'm about to take it away from you."
"You're not the first one. I mean the group. There's been others before, and after nine lives, like cats, they would be as good as dead."
"I'm on my last fuel, that's true. But that won't take away any motivation I have to kill you."
Helios jumped on him so fast his brain did not perceive it until it was too late, one horrifying metal sound later, he was at the circle of the Structure again.
"I saw it. What it was that killed me. A tactical claymore connected to his right leg, exploding on impact. Took me out instantly."
"Having more lives doesn't make you stronger."
"No, but it makes me able to retry again and again, almost infinitely. Right now, Helios thinks I'm actually dead. We'll use that at the last second on the next run."
"You can rest-"
"I think I've rested enough. I want to go out there and lose my shit, I need to kill him and no one will take that away from me. Helios is mine. You all just serve as pawns, distractions for me to go for the kill."
"Ismael, have some respect. We tried our hardest too."
"I sacrificed him, I have his lifeforce in my left hand, I know where he is. I can sense him."
"And in your right hand the prison of your mother. That was Agony. She gave birth to you, then went on to unknowingly give you more lives. It was by extension. Everyone here has a role, and yours is to commit a murder. So go and kill, son of Helios."
"Anaïs, you knew. About her."
"Of course I did. I'm the one who turned her into a witch in the first place. Don't you think it's poetic."
"I think it's strategic. I think you're insane. But so am I."
"Ismael. Go and kill."
"I know, I know. This time I'll need people. Genova and Amphelise."
"I'm glad you have a plan, but bad news is, we tried everything", Genova admitted, exasperated.
"Amphelise. If, hypothetically, all of the Cardinals were reunited to kill Helios, would they win?"
"All of them at the same time? Yes. No hesitation. But they're not all here."
"They are. We're all here, even if Universalis died. Nerida and Ashnael are never really far away from you, we'll just exchange Alice with Ashnael for now and attack when we're ready."
"Ismael, you should know this by now, Ashnael did not pass the test."
"Yes he did. The idea that he didn't pass doesn't ake sense since you've kept him in the school behind us anyway. If you can introduce a logical rule into your process, you can make him a permanent resident of the Structure by allowing him to get the ten lives. When he's down to one, use Agony's corpse to give him a thousand more like you did for us."
"Why me? Am I useless?"
"Yes. I remember what you told me at Cressenie. That I was using my friends to cover up for the stain on the world that I was. And that's entirely true, I did that, but I refuse to drag on my selfishness to Perseus. I won't use you, I'll be used by whatever Perseus can throw at me and I'll make it. Anaïs, tell Ruin and Piper to join us too."
"They gave up a long time ago."
"Perfect, that's why I want them. Helios can't see coming a plan that makes no sense, he's not used to seeing an enemy deprived of will to fight just standing there in front of him. He knows them nd remembers them but by the time his brain understands the situation it'll be too late."
"You can't use my friends like that."
"You used my mom to make me kill my dad."
"But it was necessary."
"As it is now. Get your friends and Ahsnael. And take Alice away."
Anaïs sighed and grabbed her by the hand, leaving in anger. After some time, the ambience changed drastically as Ashnael made it inside.
"Apparently you did this for me, Lord of Sacrifice", he said with joy, crouching down to his level.
"Good morning, Count of Murder. Here's the plan. We run full force into the forest. At about one minute and a half we'll reach a cave, which is his lair. He might not be in it, but that's a good start for now. He thinks fast and is extremely strong physically, more than any of us here. Has a contigency plan for every situation and the fact that he's a Nephilim doesn't help."
"Hey, nobody told me he was a Nephilim."
"And there it is. The determining factor. Ashnael has a giant, heavy ego. But at the sight of a Nephilim, everybody drops. We'll set the perfect balance for him to use his abnormal ego and at the same time his natural fear of the Nephilims."
"When do we start?"
"As soon as you're ready."
Anaïs started the ritual while Ismael prepared himself mentally in the tunnel before the forest.
"You've chnaged a lot since Cressenie."
"I'm the same monster I was, only more careful."
"You don't remember Helios?"
"Not a glimpse of a memory. Nothing. But I just know I'll remember him well after that."
"This replacement thing, if it works, we're saved. But what's after Helios, those Amphelise mentionned..."
"There's always a bigger fish, he'll make it hard to get through him, but if we do, we should be able to grow enough to take down anyone. And...doing this with Ashnael now, is also a way to keep him around for future threats. We'll need Faviel and Cassius. Along with Nerida."
"What's so special about them?"
"They're Cardinals like me, if I had them with me, two or three lives, would have been enough to kill Helios."
"I'm here!"
Ashnael joined them with Amphelise, Ruin and Piper. They discussed the plan for a moment and finally, Ismael opened the door, only to find Helios standing there.