Chapter 59: The Executioner’s Last Mask

The crimson figure landed in the rain.

The street cracked beneath his boots, and water splashed around him in a wide circle. He wore a torn red robe and a broken mask over the left side of his face. The remaining half still showed a single, weeping eye.

Kai raised the broken Executioner blade.

His hand was shaking.

The stranger noticed.

"Your body is failing," he said. "Put down the blade and kneel. I will make your death quick."

Kai glanced at the wound in his side. Blood had soaked through his coat and reached his fingers. The red needle buried in his stomach made every breath feel like fire.

"You people keep saying that," Kai replied. "It’s starting to sound like encouragement."

The Executioner vanished.

Kai barely raised the broken blade in time. A crimson sword struck it and forced him backward across the wet street. His boots carved two long lines through the mud.

The Executioner attacked again.

This time, he aimed for Kai’s injured side.

Kai twisted away, but not fast enough. The blade sliced through his coat and opened the wound beneath it. Pain flashed through his body, and his vision turned white.

Sarah shouted, "Kai!"

She raised her staff and released a wave of light.

The Executioner turned his shoulder. The spell struck his robe and exploded against the fabric, throwing him through the wall of a nearby building.

Kai pressed one hand against his side.

"Are you trying to kill me?" he asked.

Sarah’s face tightened. "I’m trying to keep you alive."

"Then aim closer."

Kael charged before she could answer.

He crossed the street with his sword raised and swung at the hole in the building. The Executioner stepped out of the dust and blocked the strike with one hand.

Kael’s eyes widened.

The Executioner drove his knee into Kael’s stomach. The captain folded and was thrown across the street. He landed beside the remains of the family shack, his sword sliding from his hand.

"Kai!" Jax called from the rooftops. "He’s faster than the others!"

"I noticed that too."

The Executioner looked toward Jax.

That small movement was enough.

Kai threw the broken blade.

The weapon spun through the rain and struck the Executioner’s shoulder. It did not pierce the red armor, but the impact turned his body for half a second.

Kai was already in front of him.

His fist struck the Executioner’s mask.

The broken half shattered completely.

The man staggered, revealing a young face beneath the mask. He could not have been older than twenty-five. Black lines ran from his eye to his jaw, pulsing beneath his skin.

Kai caught him by the collar.

"Who are you?"

The Executioner smiled through the blood on his lips.

"You really don’t remember me?"

Kai’s grip tightened. "Should I?"

"I was there when they erased the first world."

The words struck harder than the man’s sword.

For a moment, Kai saw a room filled with white light. He saw people standing behind glass. He saw a younger version of himself shouting at someone he could not recognize.

Then the memory vanished.

The Executioner used the hesitation to drive his forehead into Kai’s face.

Kai’s nose broke.

The man twisted free and kicked him across the street. Kai hit the ground, rolled through the mud, and stopped beside the silver symbol beneath the destroyed house.

The symbol was glowing brighter.

The three empty circles around the crown began to fill with red light.

Kai looked at it, confused.

The Executioner saw his expression and laughed.

"You still haven’t understood. The second plant is not under your house."

He raised his crimson sword.

"Your house is built on top of it."

Kai pushed himself up.

"What did you say?"

"The Company didn’t choose your family by accident. They didn’t follow you there because of your little rebellion. They knew exactly where you would return."

The Executioner pointed at the silver symbol.

"This entire district was built around a buried processing plant. Every home is connected to it. Every person living here is part of its fuel."

Sarah stared at the symbol. "That’s impossible. This district has existed for more than a hundred years."

"That is why it works," the Executioner said. "The plant does not process bodies. It processes lives."

Kael forced himself to stand. "You’re saying the Company has been feeding on civilians?"

"Not feeding," the Executioner replied. "Refining."

Kai felt something cold move through his chest.

He looked at the broken house. His mother’s kitchen. Elara’s room. The table where they had eaten together. The walls that had protected them from the rain.

A buried machine had been beneath all of it.

"How long?" Kai asked.

The Executioner tilted his head. "How long has your family lived here?"

Kai did not answer.

He remembered his mother telling him that the house had belonged to his grandfather. He remembered the old stories about people in the district falling sick without explanation. He remembered the strange hum he had heard beneath the floor when he was a child.

The red needle inside his body burned harder.

The Executioner raised his sword.

"Your mother and sister are not merely hostages. They are registered sources. If the plant is destroyed, every family connected to it will die."

Sarah stepped closer. "Then we need to evacuate them first."

"There is no time," the Executioner said. "The plant has already begun its final cycle."

The ground shook.

A deep mechanical sound rolled beneath the street. Windows shattered along the district. Manhole covers flew into the air, and red light burst from cracks in the pavement.

People rushed out of their homes, shouting in confusion.

A child began to cry.

Kai looked at the terrified civilians surrounding him. Some of them were injured. Some were old. Most did not even know the Tower existed.

The Executioner watched the panic with satisfaction.

"Choose," he said. "Fight me and fail to stop the plant, or go below and attempt the impossible. Either way, the Company wins."

Kai looked at the red light beneath the street.

Then he looked at the Executioner.

"I’m tired of being offered choices by people who think they own the ending."

The Executioner lunged.

Kai moved to meet him.

Their weapons collided in the center of the street. The broken blade in Kai’s hand screamed as it caught the crimson sword. The impact drove both of them backward, but Kai’s injured body gave way first.

His knee struck the ground.

The Executioner pushed down with both hands.

"You are weak," he whispered. "You can barely stand."

Kai’s arms trembled beneath the pressure.

He looked past the Executioner at Sarah.

"Get my mother and Elara out."

Sarah shook her head. "I’m not leaving you."

"That wasn’t a request."

"Then make me."

Kai almost laughed.

Even now, she was arguing with him.

The Executioner drove his blade lower. The broken weapon cut into Kai’s palm.

Kael rose behind the enemy.

His sword was gone. His shield was broken. He had blood running from his mouth.

But he still had one hand free.

He grabbed the Executioner’s ankle.

The masked man looked down in surprise.

Kael pulled.

The Executioner lost his balance.

Kai twisted the broken blade and drove his shoulder into the man’s chest. Both fighters crashed into the side of the street as Kael continued pulling at his leg.

Jax dropped from the roof and buried a dagger into the Executioner’s back.

The blade sank through the red robe.

The Executioner screamed.

Sarah lifted her staff.

"Move away!"

Kai shoved Kael and Jax aside.

A column of white light fell from the sky and struck the Executioner. The street exploded beneath him. The rain turned to steam, and the surrounding buildings shook from the force.

When the light faded, the Executioner was on one knee.

His red robe was burned away. His body was covered in cracks, and black smoke leaked from his wounds.

Kai walked toward him, dragging the broken blade behind him.

The Executioner looked up.

"Kill me," he said. "You want to. I can see it."

Kai stopped.

The man was right.

He wanted to kill him. He wanted to cut away every connection to the Company and leave nothing standing.

But he remembered Sarah’s warning.

If the Executioner died, they might lose the only person who knew how to remove the mark from his family completely.

Kai lowered the blade.

"Tell me how to shut down the plant."

The Executioner laughed weakly. "You think I’ll help you?"

Kai crouched in front of him.

"No. I think you’ll help yourself."

The man’s eyes narrowed.

"You know what the Company does to failed assets. You fought them once. That is why you wear the mask. That is why you hate them."

For the first time, the Executioner’s expression changed.

Kai leaned closer.

"You don’t have to like me. You only have to decide who you hate more."

The street fell silent except for the deep machinery beneath them.

The Executioner looked toward the glowing symbol.

Then he removed the broken remains of his mask.

"My name is Dorian," he said. "I was not born an Executioner."

Kai said nothing.

"Below the house is a sealed elevator. The entrance is beneath the old water station. You must reach the control chamber before the final cycle begins."

"How long?" Kael asked.

Dorian looked at the red light beneath the street.

"Twenty minutes."

Sarah’s face paled. "And if we fail?"

Dorian looked at Kai.

"The district will be emptied."

A voice came from the sky.

The Company’s announcement system had activated again.

"Residents of District Four, remain indoors. Emergency purification will begin shortly. Do not resist evacuation."

The civilians began screaming.

Kai looked at the ruined house. His mother and sister were still inside, unaware of what was beneath them.

He turned to his friends.

"Kael, get the civilians away from the central streets. Sarah, find my family and take them to the eastern tunnel. Jax, stay with Dorian."

Jax stared at him. "You trust him?"

"No."

Dorian smiled faintly. "Good."

Kai picked up the crimson sword from the ground. It was too heavy for his weakened body, but he forced his fingers around the handle.

Sarah caught his arm before he could leave.

"What are you going to do?"

Kai looked toward the old water station, where red light was beginning to rise through the pavement.

"I’m going underneath my own home."

His eyes hardened, but they were not empty. Fear still lived there. So did anger. So did the desperate need to see his family alive when he returned.

"I’m going to find the second plant."

The street split open.

A massive metal elevator rose from beneath the district, surrounded by chains and burning red symbols. Its doors opened with a groan.

Inside, something waited in the darkness.

Something that sounded like thousands of people breathing at once.

Kai stepped toward it.

Above the city, inside the Company’s boardroom, the Director watched the live feed in silence.

An executive beside him whispered, "He found the plant."

The Director smiled.

"No," he replied. "We finally showed him where we buried the truth."

Kai entered the elevator.

The doors began to close.

From somewhere deep below, a woman’s voice whispered his name.

"Kai."

He froze.

It was his mother’s voice.

But his mother was still inside the house above.

The elevator descended into darkness.