"He really did it. That monster, haha!" Harley let himself crash on the ground completely.
All of a sudden he felt a rush of energy move into his legs and he could move them once again.
’My legs! And my essence isn’t extinguished.’ He smiled, stretching his hands backwards.
Vernox, who had swords stabbed into the dragon’s neck, fell down to the ground. He lay there for a few seconds before standing up once again.
Far behind them, Rachel was sitting on a horse. Seeing the dragon fall, she immediately rushed forward towards them.
The elderly man had his mouth open as he stared at the dead dragon. Both Harley and Vernox didn’t know what the princess wanted the man to do, but they had completed their mission. It was time to leave this cursed place.
Harley looked at the dragon’s corpse from where he stood. It was indeed massive. And now he knew that his essence didn’t run out and go limp; it was that he was consumed by fear.
It was almost like the [Cold blooded] attribute targeted against him. And even if he didn’t have a heart to translate the fear, his body still responded.
’Damn. I could never have done that.’ He smiled. However, this wasn’t any of his half-sincere smiles, but one that came from a deeper place.
He beat an unbeatable trial... He really did it.
’Zero percent survival rate?’ Harley’s gaze went cold as the smoke widened even more.
He remembered the day on the ship that he hated his entire life and everything he had achieved up till then. The day that he, as an ant in a world of lions, decided to reach for the stars and beyond.
"Hm?" Harley’s gaze moved as a hand carried his head gently.
He looked to see Rachel having a smile on her face. She knelt down beside him, placing his head on her lap.
"You guys did it." She smiled at him. However, the smile didn’t reach her cheeks.
"You are a remarkable person. Your determination is what kept you till this point. Throughout this siege you... were scared. But you pushed past fear and did what you had to do to survive. I envy you." She let out a laboured breath, removing her blindfold.
Her dark eyes stared at the sky as she stayed silent.
Harley thought about what she said, then he chuckled.
"I was just lucky." He smiled.
At this moment he was happy to have passed through such a trial. But now, what next?
All of a sudden Vernox shot up from where he sat, looking at Harley.
At that moment the sound of the Oracle was loud in his ears.
{You have completed the third scenario. Move to the final scenario.}
Harley’s eyes widened as he turned and looked at Rachel who was just above him. He got up immediately, standing once more.
His right leg was shot with an arrow earlier, so he couldn’t move much. But he stared at Rachel with a cold gaze. No... This was more like a scared gaze.
"I really envy you, Harlequin." She spoke, standing up herself. "Not everyone has the will to try and break the shackles of circumstances—"
"What did you do?" Harley asked, cutting her off. "That’s not the one we want to kill."
Seeing Harley staring at her with such an expression, the young woman felt a pang in her heart.
Vernox too was approaching her. But Harley stopped him from going any closer.
"You will not die here, Harley. And I want to guide you, to retrieve... What was taken from you."
"JUST SHUT THE HELL UP AND TELL US WHERE THE THING IS!" Harley shouted at the top of his lungs.
He glanced at the time left to clear the trial, and his eyes shook.
[1 day, 19 hours remaining]
"The creature you seek is on an island not far from here. It is known as the island of bones. It’s shaped like a human, so you can’t miss it." She said, looking at Vernox.
Meanwhile Vernox looked at Harley, and then handed him the silver sword. It was still a bit warm to the touch, but Harley wasn’t thinking about any of that.
"I know you might hate me. But without the both of you we would have lost this war. And I thank you." She bowed a bit.
The elderly man that was glaring at the corpse of the dragon suddenly turned in the direction of a small road that led to the next street.
There, the princess and many other resistance members were coming back. Seeing them, the man knew that the Knave was dead.
"Princess—!"
*Whoosh!*
The princess rode past the man, heading towards Vernox and Harley.
The princess reined in her horse sharply a few paces away, her white stallion kicking up dust. She dismounted in one fluid motion, armor glinting under the hazy sun that filtered through the smoke still rising from the dragon’s corpse. Her soldiers fanned out behind her, weapons drawn but uncertain, eyes flicking between the dead beast, the two exhausted men, and their own princess.
Harley’s grip tightened on the silver sword Vernox had just handed him. The blade felt heavier than it should, still warm with the dragon’s blood. His chest burned with something far hotter than battle fatigue.
Rachel stepped closer, her dark eyes soft in a way that made his stomach twist. She reached out, placing a gentle hand on his arm.
He flinched but didn’t do anything after.
"Harley," she whispered, voice trembling with something that sounded way too much like genuine longing. "I wish... I wish I could be with you forever. Just like this. You and me, beyond all this blood and betrayal and broken things. You showed me a side of yourself no one else has seen. In the quiet moments... you let me in. I’ve never wanted anything more than to stay by your side."
Her fingers slid up to his shoulder, then around his back. Before he could pull away, she wrapped her arms around him in a tight embrace, pressing her body against his as if the world were ending and this was her last anchor.
Harley froze.
For one heartbeat, the warmth of her, the familiar scent of her hair, the memory of the one shared night and soft laughter—it all crashed over him like a wave.
Then the rage ignited.
It exploded through every vein, every scar, every lie she had fed him. She had used him and Vernox. Dragged them across this cursed kingdom, pointed them at the wrong enemy while the clock ticked down on the real creature they needed to kill.
All so she could win her war that wasn’t their business. All while smiling at him, sleeping with him, making him believe—for one stupid, fragile moment—that someone could see the good in him and not just the monster.
His good side. The one he had buried so deep he almost forgot it existed. She had coaxed it out, only to drive a knife through it.
"I hate you," he snarled, voice low and guttural.
Rachel didn’t let go. If anything, her arms tightened, as if she could will the hatred away with sheer desperation.
Harley’s hand moved before thought could catch up. The silver sword flashed upward in a brutal arc. The blade sank deep into her side, just below the ribs, twisting with all the fury he couldn’t contain.
A wet, sickening sound cut through the sudden silence.
The princess didn’t react. She stood perfectly still a few feet away, eyes wide but not with horror—only confusion. Her soldiers shifted uneasily, hands on hilts, waiting for an order that never came. Whispers rippled through the small crowd.
"Priestess!"
"Princess, give us the order!"
"Why isn’t she—?"
"The Knave is dead, but—"
Rachel only gasped softly against his chest. She didn’t scream or struggle. She pulled back just enough to look up at him, blood already staining her lips. Her dark eyes shimmered, not with pain, but with something eerily close to peace.
"Thank you," she whispered, so quietly only he could hear. "For everything."
Then her legs gave out. She crumpled to the ground at his feet, the silver sword still buried in her side, blood pooling dark and fast into the dirt.
Harley stood over her, chest heaving, the rage still roaring in his ears like an ocean. He... felt nothing.
He didn’t feel guilty, or regret. Only a cold clarity on what he had to do. Killing her was just to satiate his rage.
She had seen the parts of him he never showed anyone—the fear, the fragile hope, the stupid, broken desire to be more than what the world had made him. And she had betrayed it all for her kingdom’s sake.
But then again, Harley had been wary of anyone within the trial, for they were all fashioned against him, for him to lose.
"Ah, what was I thinking? That was not like me." He mumbled, remembering the time he let her in, despite knowing that she was just an illusion of some sort.
Vernox took a half-step forward, then stopped, staring at the body. His face was unreadable.
The princess finally moved, dismounting fully now, her expression shifting from confusion to something sharper. But Harley didn’t care. They were far from the harbor—closer to the castle on the opposite side, the distant spires visible through the haze of smoke and ruined streets. The island of bones waited somewhere across the water, and their time was almost gone.
[1 day, 18 hours remaining]
Harley yanked the sword free with a wet rip. Blood flicked from the blade onto Rachel’s still face.
"She used us," he said, voice flat and venomous, speaking more to himself than to anyone else.
"I hope it was worth it, Rachel."
Harley turned away, limping toward the small road that would take them closer to the harbor—where boats could still be commandeered if they moved fast enough. Every step sent fresh pain up his injured leg, but he welcomed it. Pain was honest. Pain didn’t lie in your arms and whisper forever.
Vernox fell into step beside him without a word, the elderly man and the confused soldiers left staring at the princess who still hadn’t given any order, and at the seer who had just thanked her killer with her dying breath.
Behind them, the dragon’s corpse continued to smolder, a monument to the wrong victory.
"We don’t have much time." Vernox spoke, hanging Harley’s arm around his neck before speeding up their pace.