POV: Trigger

Sighing while looking at King of Greed's door, I wondered if things would really spiral out of control that quickly. I mean, it's not like that happens that much… to me…

"You look really self-conscious right now." Commented Tiffany while giving me a frown that was used to try and hide her smile.

Which didn't work, "I'm starting to see why people always worry about weird stuff happening around me." She gave me a genuinely incredulous stare.

"You only realized that now?" I gave her a bland stare as a response.

She smiled at me and took a puff of her smoking pipe, "Don't give me that, you may be a magnet for trouble, but I think that's fine… wouldn't really be here if you weren't." I gave her a side stare before exhaling through my nose.

"Weirdest way of saying thank you." I commented, and she flipped me the bird. I can feel the love in the air…

Turning to look at her, I could see something interesting now, the way her eyes looked didn't seem… crazed anymore. Beforehand, it felt like they had a swirl of madness to them, but now it seemed like that was no longer the case.

…

Smiling while closing my eyes, I couldn't help but feel weirdly accomplished about that. Sure, there isn't a red carpet, and I didn't get anything out of it, but even the way I am... someone had their life changed by me.

And as Beth said, Tiffany wasn't the only one. I'm not a hero… but I don't get to decide that, do I? If others look up to me like that, then I only have two options, ignore those views or live up to them.

Seems like I already know what to do then.

Tiffany punched me lightly on the shoulder, making me open my eyes and glance at her curious look, "And now you look happy. Is it normal for you to bounce around like that?" Shrugging, I looked at the door of King of Greed again.

"That's what self-reflection looks like, you should try it at some point." My words were said in a relaxed manner.

Tiffany hummed, "If you say so. Looks like you are about to do something, I'll leave you to it." She left after saying that, and I went inside the chamber.

King of Greed was staring back at me. After a moment, she used the same trick as last time to send her voice outside the cocoon.

"Ah! You must have met Justice!" I nodded, knowing fully well that telling her that Justine essentially told me to just dump her.

She seemed to be eagerly waiting for me to do something, "What exactly are you going to do if I let you out?" King of Greed tilted her head to the side.

"Search for happiness, under the road of gold I leave behind. Everyone would be able to follow along." Well, then the next question is going to be the nail in the coffin.

After thinking about how to word it, I decided to look at her straight in the eye, "And if I don't want to follow you?" She seemed to lose the light in her eyes.

Actually? No, it's like her eyes became black pits for a moment, "What are you talking about? Last time I was so close… inside me, they sure would find joy eventually. If you become part of something greater, you would understand." Do I even want to know what she meant by 'inside me'?

Shaking my head, I sighed and looked away, "Then I guess you are staying there a bit longer." She stared at me for a moment.

Her eyes were now dripping some kind of black ink, her sclera pitch black and eyes that promised pain. Another thing to note was how her hair was no longer floating upwards but dropped and acted more like normal hair, "I'm sorry, but I always get what I want!" She reared her arm back and… something similar to Gold Rush appeared on her arm. But it was also different, it was like a mouth on her arm that was literally devouring her prison.

In an instant, she was near me, arm reared back in a completely exaggerated way before throwing a right haymaker with her mouth/gauntlet. I stepped in and, with Gold Rush, grabbed her gauntlet. The thing she was using as a weapon felt alive, it even twitched when I gripped it.

My left arm moved in a flash, the claws of a wolf always aim for the jugular, but to my surprise... she used her own free arm to catch my attack. Interlocking our fingers while Cobalt Scar was drawing blood from the dark skinned woman's hand, she didn't seem to mind.

It seemed like she was enjoying herself…

"See? Isn't it wonderful to just let loose?" At her question, I lowered my center of gravity and spun my legs and waist while tightening my hold on her arms, spinning her around like a rag doll and I threw her off me. When she was about to crash against a wall, the same gold circle she used to communicate appeared. She went through it, and I leaned to the side, already feeling her coming from above.

Her mouth/gauntlet almost grazed me, and I had to put my left palm to cover my neck from a kick. By the impact I felt… that would have broken something had it landed.

Using the same power from the kick she threw, she spun through the air in what seemed like a backflip. I was already moving towards her, Gold Rush reared back.

The moment she landed on her feet, she spun around while using her legs like springs, shifting her back and threw an uppercut from below with her own mouth/gauntlet.

My own punch came from above, I shifted my weight forwards while leaning my body lower, feeling the teeth of that thing grazing my temple while my own attack landed on her face, sending King of Greed like a rocket towards the door of the chamber.

A circle appeared there and I narrowed my eyes. The moment she was about to go inside the hole, I extended Gold Rush forward like I was going to grab something. Forcing my own magic circle open, I reached inside of it at the same time she went inside her own circle.

Feeling something land on Gold Rush, I held it tightly and yanked my hand out. Wrapped around my fingers was King of Greed, who I was holding by the head.

She smiled at me, and threw a kick towards my stomach that I blocked with Cobalt Scar. She still used the opportunity to take a swing with her living gauntlet, I let her go and leaned back. Seeing the teeth of that thing being stupidly sharp wasn't reassuring at all.

Another circle appeared on the floor, and she fell through it with a deranged smile on her face. She went out of her chamber… opening a circle myself, I jump through it and found Tiffany holding the left side of her stomach, she was missing a piece of her stomach.

King of Greed was standing over her, already preparing another swing of her gauntlet. I rose my gauntlet and dropped it like a hammer, a glowing golden wave went through the floor and when it reached King of Greed, she was sent high into the air, slamming against the roof of the hallway.

I opened one circle above Tiffany. Instead of slamming against the roof, she landed next to me and I caught her with my forearm, gently putting her down, "Bell, you heal her, and you can't nibble." I said with a completely straight face, trying to keep in my anger. Bell came out of my coffin and stuck her tongue out at me before starting to heal Tiffany. I was walking towards King of Greed, who was getting back up already.

The dark skinned woman smiled at me, "Come on! It isn't fun when you are just worrying over the little things!" I stared at her for a moment.

I glanced down at Cobalt Scar and Gold Rush, something wild was hammering in my chest and asked to be released. The overwhelming desire and the primal urges, like a wolf howling at the moon, demanding to go out.

Even if it was all in my head, I could feel it, that animal looking at me with predatory eyes. The urges of two E.G.O's were pushing at me at the same time, making something different.

… Something different, I thought back on something similar that happened before, Solemn Penitence.

Looking at King of Greed, I could feel my expression becoming predatory and animalistic. Alright, if it wants to come out it can, but those urges are still me. No use ignoring them, didn't do me any good before.

I always had this Primal Impulse, may as well put it to good use.

King of Greed suddenly looked unsettled and took a step back.

Those movements happened again, and just like last time, there was light.

Now, I only had one gauntlet covering my arm from hand to shoulder. The obsidian fingers with sharp silver claws, its color had simply become gold rather than a mix of black and gold, the gold motifs became silver one's. The gem at the back of it now had a silver wolf around it, like it was trying to eat the golden diamond. The cloth trimming had changed to white fur, my shoulder guard was an obsidian wolf head with silver trimming around the eyes and ears, bearing its silver teeth.

I felt my veins bulge and I exhaled, steam coming through my mouth, "Alright… if you want it, it's only polite to deliver!" And with that shout, I grabbed her by the head with my new E.G.O, and opened a portal in front of me that looked like someone clawed a golden tear in the air. I dragged her through it, ready to show her that telling me to go wild… is a bad idea.

POV change: Ryn

Once I heard that King of Greed has gone out, I knew something was going to go horribly wrong. Mainly because Trigger was working it and that could only end badly.

A golden tear appeared in front of me, and a blur of black and yellow passed right next to me. Something was thrown against the left wall, it bounced to the floor, then back to the roof, and finally to the floor again.

What I saw was a dark-skinned woman holding her bleeding head in pain, looking completely perplexed. I drew my sword wearily, that has to be King of Greed.

"Ryn… move." I suddenly had the image engraved deep into my brain, that some kind of monster was behind me. This was different from dealing with Abnormalities, like the jaws of some kind of predator were right next to me. This one didn't feel abnormal… it felt too real.

The most terrifying thing I've experienced had been seeing Human's devolve inside a Warp Train, and simply use those thousands of years to become animals. It wasn't the most bloody, the most disturbing or impressive.

But it was the reminder that Humans at the end are also animals. That felt wrong to me, and this was probably the biggest reminder of that.

I turned around to see Trigger, the visage wasn't unlike those sick people on that train.

Eyes of an animal, the expression of a beast, but the most disturbing thing was how lucid he seemed, this wasn't a human acting like an animal.

It was an animal acting like a human. All that primal violence fused with the reason and complexity of a human brain, a monster that knew how to use both sides of the same coin.

He walked past me and blurred from my view, his clawed gauntlet moved, and it felt like a death sentence was being thrown out.

King of Greed rose her weird mix of a mouth and a gauntlet to block the attack, but the claws of Trigger's new weapon threw her hand away along with taking a chunk of King of Greed's weapon.

She was surprised by this, judging by her downright terrified stare. He clenched his fist and stomped the ground hard before spinning his body to throw a backhand that caught her on the cheek and send her crashing against a wall, denting the whole thing.

Trigger was now standing over King of Greed, like a wolf about to finish his prey, while the Abnormality was simply looking up at him like he wasn't real.

I almost felt pity for the thing. Trigger kneeled down, and I thought he was about to finish it off.

And then he offered his hand

"Get up, it'll leave a horrible taste in my mouth if I told Justine how this ended. I also think you don't want to fight me anymore… call it a gut feeling."

Excuse me?