Rahim rose from his exaggerated bow and kept his gaze solely focused on Elsa, completely ignoring the rest of the armed men in the study with them. The blonde could feel the same intensity that came from when Edward would focus solely on her but instead of the warm feelings that it would invoke in her, she was cold. The crushing pressure that weighed down on her from just being in this man's presence had her take a step back. th

Her guards on the other hand all readied their weapons. Stonewell had the woman pushed behind him as Hector held both of his maces to his side. The other eight guards had their rifles or pistols primed and ready to fire at the signal from the Captain. Among them was Klein who had sweat going down his head and his finger twitching on the trigger. He was shaken by the sheer intensity that he could somehow feel as it oozed from the intruder's body.

Like there was no force that would stop him and they were foolish enough to end up as his prey.

He watched the enemy slowly face them before gazing at them one at a time. Even though he couldn't see Rahim's eyes, he could feel that they were now scanning him from head to toe. The intruder turned to face him fully before speaking in a way that reminded the young guard of his teacher.

"Cameron, you're shaking. Remember to take a breath and focus. You've been trained for this moment."

He sounded just like Edward, the guard had to fight himself from lowering his weapon. This thing in front of him couldn't be who he thought it was. The young man would never proclaim such things and would be responsible for what had occurred so far. When the young guard said nothing back Rahim began to chuckle.

"There you go, you're beginning to focus. You are his favorite student after all, it would be a waste if you couldn't remember the basics."

Stonewell chose this time to take a step forward and snatched the intruder's attention. "You are surrounded, surrender and we will not use deadly force."

The reanimated soldier's snickers could be heard as he listened to the old man's threat. It made the Captain want to signal his men to fire but he stayed his hand. They had no idea what they were dealing with and it would be foolish to escalate the situation without getting to know as much as possible. Like for example, how did the long dead soul of Wrath's victim come back to life?

There was also the question of where Edward was.

Stonewell heard the story of Rahim many times and could easily guess what the warrior wanted if he was indeed who he said he was. He would've wanted Wrath's head on a platter but here he was going after so much effort to find Elsa. What did he possibly want with the blonde?

"Why are you here Rahim, couldn't kill Edward on your own so you thought about getting some leverage?"

The answer that the intruder spoke was devoid of the earlier amusement and did nothing to hide the amount of malice in his voice. "Killing Wrath will not take too much effort, but where's the fun in it if I don't make him experience the soul crushing void of having someone he loves killed in front of him? I mean sure, he may not exactly understand my pain but what he'll feel when I present him that Elemental's mangled corpse is certainly close enough."

Elsa gulped when she heard his intentions and knew them to be true but she also felt a defiance well up inside her. If this man really thinks she would sit around and let him hurt the young man she had come to care for then he would have another thing coming. The blonde took a commanding step forward as she raised both her hands and had her magic beginning to build in both her palms.

"I can assure you sir that your plan will not succeed. Now I do suggest you heed the Captain's words and surrender before we are forced to attack." Rahim tilted his head as he said nothing before raising both arms out and simply said.

"Take your best shot."

Stonewell quickly made a signal for two of his men to shoot the intruder in the legs to disable him but it was pointless. The angry avenger quickly moved out the way while covering the distance between him and the blonde rapidly. Elsa was about to let loose a few blasts of magic to pin the man down but Hector had already rushed head and swung one of his maces at his opponent's head.

The dangerous weight of metal was deflected when the hilt of Rahim's katana caught it by the shaft and batted it away before it could connect with him. He then reached with his free hand and grasped Hector by the neck before pushing him into a wall. The grip around the Queen's guard's neck tightened as he was lifted into the air with one hand while his attacker chuckled.

"You can't begin to imagine how long he wanted to do this…"

Heavy footsteps began to converge on the intruder as they were about to attempt to help their comrade but their enemy was not concerned. Using two of his fingers while keeping a grip on his weapon, Rahim pulled on the torch holder to reveal the secret passage and then bodily threw Hector in its direction. The noble landed a few feet from going inside as the other guards swung their weapons at the intruder.

With the grace of a dancer, Rahim slid effortlessly through each attack all the while keeping his sheathed katana in his hand. The guards tried whirling to face the man but each time they did so, he would turn with his back against theirs keeping him out of their sight. One tried tackling him but flew past as the intruder sidestepped at the last second before finally making his move. A swift but solid swing of his sheathed weapon on the back of guard's head had him on the ground unconscious.

Two more men rushed him in an attempt to avenge their fallen comrade and met the same fate when the enemy slid through their attacks and landed his strikes on the backs of their heads. Stonewell, having enough of being on the sidelines appeared out of nowhere ready to blitz the attacker with a furious barrage of attacks found himself in a stalemate. As the older man swung one of his swords, Rahim used his hilt again to block the blade then grabbed the Captain's other hand to stop a thrust aimed at his midsection.

The two of them were brought face to face with each other as the other guards began to reorganize themselves. Being so close to the enemy, Stonewell tried to peer into the small open flap of between the hood and mask where the eyes would be located but couldn't see anything in the shadows of the hood. As he struggled to overpower his opponent, the Captain couldn't tell if his opposition was also struggling. The older man strained his ears to see if he could hear any signs of strain from his enemy but there was nothing.

In fact, the older man couldn't even hear him breathing.

"Come on Stonewell, I know you can do much better than this."

The Captain felt the resistance against his arms begin to slowly increase as he was starting to be overpowered. It briefly reminded him of his first meeting with Edward in the stables when they had their handshake. If back then was any indication then trying to outmatch his opponent in strength was pointless as well as unlikely as he learned back then.

Fortunately, they weren't having a handshake right now.

Dropping the sword that was blocked by the katana, the older man grabbed his enemy's forearm before quickly jumping and bringing his knees to his chest while pulling his arms back toward him and jerking his body backwards. This led to Rahim becoming off balance for a moment, one long enough for Stonewell to throw him to the ground while quickly getting on top of him with a boot on his neck and a blade ready to come down.

Without giving his enemy a chance to retaliate, the older man swung his blade down with the intention of skewering the intruder's skull. Stonewell watched the blade get closer and closer until it pierced the mask and sunk into the hood and into the floor. Normally, this would bring about the end of the fight but the old warrior knew better.

He rolled out of the way of a strike from the sheathed katana and got back into his ready position with a new sword in his hand. As he did so, he watched Rahim simply reach for the handle of the sword pinning his hood to the floor and give it a tug to free the fabric so he could get up. Doing so however made the hood fall and everyone's eyes in the room widened when they saw what was under the hood.

Where they expected to see a skewered human head, they saw a black head shape with no features on it. The head looked like it was made out of sand as some of it fell off whenever the intruder moved.

"That's more like it. Would've killed any normal person but good thing I'm not exactly normal."

Rahim tossed the sword he picked up before he pulled his hood back up and covered his phantom head. The gesture seemed pointless to Stonewell but he said nothing as he considered his options. At first he thought he was fighting someone in a body like Edward's, one he could actually harm and kill even if it could heal. However that wasn't the case right now. When the older man stabbed his sword into the intruder's head, he felt no resistance as it sunk into the floor. Nor was there any sign that his enemy even felt the blade go through his head.

Which could mean that try as he might, physical attacks would not work on the enemy in front of him.

The thought was unnerving but he kept his wits. The phantom could still touch them so on some level, it was solid enough to attack them. The Captain's eyes focused on the katana sitting in his enemy's left hand and had a theory form in his mind. If the phantom could hold that weapon in his hand, that meant he was solid on his left hand. Perhaps, it could selectively control what part of it becomes solid and for how long which meant that fighting him was basically pointless as he could just remain in that state where their attacks would just go through him.

That line of thought gave Stonewell an idea on his next move but he had to be careful how he executed it. Trading physical attacks and seeing if the phantom could selectively control which parts became ghost-like would take time and during that time, the situation could worsen. He doubted that the phantom could walk through walls, he wouldn't have blown the ceiling if he could. There was also the fact that he took the time to dodge their attacks yet wasn't afraid of them shooting him. Those instances pointed to the idea that even though he may be able to let objects pass through him, he still couldn't completely walk through things.

Which meant that Elsa could incase him in ice and he wouldn't be able to get out.

The blonde had stayed out of the way of them fighting with two men by her side with her magic at the ready. One thing that he enjoyed about the young woman was that she was sharp. She was analytical and very intelligent, hopefully she's been watching and studying the intruder and came to the same conclusion he had. Stonewell couldn't verbally explain his plan since his opponent was special.

He was a soldier who trained in combating Elementals.

It wouldn't surprise the Captain if Rahim had kept an eye on Elsa the entire time in case she tried attacking him. Which unfortunately meant it would be that much harder to trap him in ice if he was actively watching out for it.

Unless…

Stonewell shot forward and with a few stabs at Rahim's chest which he deflected with his katana while backing up. After one particularly hard stab, Stonewell took a large step forward and swung his other sword toward the intruder's neck. The quick attack still resulted in being blocked by the hilt of the katana but that gave the older man his window.

Twisting the grip on his sword's handle, he was able to bring Rahim in closer by pulling on his weapon. When they were close enough, the old man quickly rearranged his grip on Rahim's hand which allowed him to pin the intruder's hand behind his back with a thick arm around his neck.

"Your Majesty, freeze us now!"

Elsa's eyes widened as she heard the older man's command. She had been waiting for an opportunity to freeze the intruder in his tracks without hurting any of her guards. As she watched him move through her men, she was well aware how much it reminded her of Edward when he trained the guards. He would always dodge and weave before picking precise times to counterattack. It was beautiful to watch back then but now it was just occuring to her how terrifying it could be. Seeing someone evade multiple attacks without showing too much effort before using one blow to drop his enemy.

And he hasn't even drawn his sword yet.

The blonde remembered all the stories behind that weapon and how deadly it was in the right hands. She tried not to, but once, she imagined how exactly Edward slaughtered the Mystic Guard. She wondered how when he first told her but seeing him in action and hearing the stories of that katana, she was able to get a clearer picture how. She could see him weaving through their attacks before swinging that deadly blade.

Ever since he told them that his name was Rahim, Elsa's heart clenched in fear at what the implications of him being who he said he was meant. Her first thought was what happened to Edward if Rahim was here and he didn't have his body. While she was happy that the intruder admitted that he didn't kill the young man yet, there was undeniable malice and bloodlust in his voice. He was going to kill Edward if it was the last thing he'd do.

The blonde had little doubt that he would sooner or later draw his sword and would cut through anyone that got in his way if they continued to bar his path. Even when he expressed his desire to kill her, she could only think that she needed to stop him or he would hurt the young man that she had come to care for.

Which made her predicament right now very precarious. While she did want to detain Rahim, she did not wish to freeze the Captain along with him. She had grown very comfortable with her abilities but she didn't think she would be accurate enough to get the intruder and not the older man. Even if she just froze them both and thawed out only the Captain, her current emotional state right now weighed on her mind.

She was scared, there was no point in denying it. She was scared of Rahim killing her, her guards, the Captain, her people, and her Edward. Her first instinct was to run even if she did have the advantage but her feet stayed where they were. Not because she was too caught up in fear; she knew that if she ran, Rahim would pursue. Whoever she ran into could also be dragged into this and she didn't want that.

So all she could do was deal with him now before anyone got seriously hurt.

Elsa let loose a cold stream of mist that encased both of the men's feet before climbing up to their waists. She then shot another blast at the hand that was holding the katana which her attacker responded with, batting it away with the sheathe, covering it in a thick layer of ice. Stonewell tried to wrestle the other arm while keeping the one he already had pinned but was beginning to lose his grip. Even with half of his body frozen, the old man held on for as long as he could.

Unfortunately, Rahim had lost what little patience he had.

Raising his ice covered weapon above his head, he slammed it down on the ice encasing his feet and managed to knock enough off to where he was only encased from the knee down. His ice that was on his weapon gave way and allowed him to flick his thumb to release a small portion of his blade. Twirling the weapon in his hand until he was holding the hilt, he slashed the katana in front of him which sent the ice covered sheathe flying toward Elsa. The blonde instantly raised an ice shield to catch the incoming projectile which gave Rahim time to swing his sword above his knees.

As he didn't have a body and was only confined in the black dust that constituted him, the blade cut through without any pain and freed him from his captured half. Unfortunately, Stonewell was right behind him when he made that cut and the blade was so sharp that even the tip cut deeply into the older man's legs. To his credit, the Captain did not scream or let up his grip but Rahim could feel the burst of anger that came from excruciating pain.

The intruder simply lifted his amputated stubs as the blackdust flowed from the boots that were still frozen to them and walked out of his ice prison. When he had his two feet, Rahim whipped his katana again and pointed the blade at his chest ready to impale both he and the old man together but heard rapid footsteps coming on his right. He was fast enough to turn his head to the right and see Hector coming into range before swinging his mace at his target's head but he was still in the Captain's grip which had become even harder to let go now that the older man was anchored to the ground. Rahim would've turned their joined bodies to make Stonewell take the hit instead of him but found himself being turned into the direction of the swing by the old man. He thought about swinging his katana at Hector to dissuade him but with the position he was in, there was no way the blade would make it in time.

So all he could do was watch the world become black for a moment as the noble swung the mace and knocked his hood and mask clean off his head and made him hit the ground. Stonewell leaned back in exhaustion as he was still secured to stand up and looked down at the prone attacker for a moment. When he noticed Hector coming his way with that mace, the rationalist thought about how likely the noble was to hit him across the head and not their attacker. Yet the fearless and somewhat insane part of him told him that it was their best chance to land something while the enemy was solid.

The cuts above his knees were beginning to bleed heavily but the old man could only stare down at his attacker in apprehension. He had already stabbed the enemy in the head only for them to walk it off without any difficulty. Plus he had seen them cut off their own legs to escape their ice prison then reconstitute new ones. What's to stop him from regrowing a head and continuing the battle?

"Bowman, take her Majesty and escape through the passageway."

The noble was at his side holding him up by his shoulders when he heard the order. His face didn't change into a surprise expression as he could already see what the Captain was getting at. They didn't know if the intruder would stay down so the best thing to do was evacuate the Queen. However, Elsa completely ignored him and rushed over to him while encasing the prone body of her attacker under a web of ice.

When she got to him, she immediately melted the ice around his legs and moved to his other side to support him. She didn't expect so much weight to come down onto her shoulders but suspected that Hector was taking the brunt of it. The blonde had her eyes focused on the wound and made a small patch over them to stop the flow of blood.

"Captain, we need to take you to the infirmary, that is the priority right now."

"No, our priority is your safety. We don't know if that ice will hold him, we need to get you to safety before he frees himself."

Elsa frowned and made an even thicker layer of ice on top of the web that already contained Rahim before turning back to the older man who still had a stern glare on his face. "You are bleeding through the ice I made around your legs, we are going to take you to the infirmary, this is not a discussion."

The old man looked ready to argue but the brief haze that clouded his eyes stayed his tongue. He was a tough asshole to be sure, however the amount of blood that he was losing made him dizzy. This gave Hector and Elsa the chance to help him out of the study. As they passed, Hector turned toward Klein with a stern expression.

"Move the unconscious men out of this room and secure it, no one goes in or out until her Majesty returns and we can safely move the prisoner."

The young guard nodded and went about helping the remainder of his fellow guards move the wounded. As he did this he crouched down and tapped on the shell of ice that covered their attacker. The ice was thick and completely encased the attacker, from what he could tell there was also no space for air to get through. With all that weight and no air, Klein was sure that any regular person would be dead if they stayed inside too long.

Speaking of which…

Now that this Rahim character was captured, Klein had the luxury of wondering who he was and what he wanted with Edward. He also wanted to know why he called Edward Wrath and why he would think that the young man loved the Queen.

Actually, Klein could see that last point. As long as he's known his teacher, he could tell that the guy was smitten with her Majesty. She was beautiful to be sure but there was something deeper than that. The sad glances and longing stares that he would send the blonde every so often showed deeper feelings than he would likely verbally admit.

There was also the looks the blonde sent his way when he wasn't looking.

Klein had seen Elsa look on to the young man with a fondness that was somewhat on par with her sister. The other day when she found out about the betting pool of who would kill who on Edward and Stonewell's training trip, she asked him to bet on the two men returning closer than ever. Cameron asked her what made her so sure that they wouldn't kill each other as the two of them were often at one another's throats but she responded that despite what he might say, Edward truly has come to appreciate the Captain and that he would be greatly saddened to see him go.

That made the young guard raise an eyebrow as he couldn't imagine Edward saying that about Stonewell, no matter if someone tried beating it out of him. Yet Elsa was so sure like Edward had told her himself. It spoke volumes that they might be close to one another. He also remembered that recently, the instructor had been acting as if he stumbled upon a fortune, his happiness was barely concealed and he looked to be almost skipping when he went to the castle.

There was also the time when Edward was a hardass to them during training because something was bothering him. He looked so detached from training them that he wouldn't speak very much or offer as much advice or encouragement. After the break between training, he was in that good mood, while the Queen somewhat mirrored his state. She was glowing for a while and many of the guards had to think if they ever saw her in such a good mood.

Perhaps there was something between them…

The young guard filed away that thought for later, for now he had an attacker to deal with. As he gazed into the ice, he could see movement beginning to come from the intruder and see cracks beginning to form. Fortunately, they were on the bottom layer of the ice so it would take some time for him to free himself. More footsteps alerted him that someone was coming, yet it was coming from the open passageway that was supposed to be secret.

The guards lined up a firing squad and waited for the newcomers to arrive so they could determine if they were friend or foe. Two figures emerged from the darkness revealing the two men that were guarding King Hans.

"Halt! What business do you have using that passageway and coming to the Queen's study?"

The two men said nothing as they both stared at the firing squad before turning their gazes toward Rahim who was still struggling to get out of the ice. The two of them had quickly scanned the surroundings and remembered Greed's orders, they were to not engage any of the guards and were only allowed to terminate the armor wearing attacker. Since the target has been captured, all they could do now was stand by and strike if he freed himself. #27 stepped forward and brought his hands up in a calming gesture.

"We were ordered by His Majesty to terminate an intruder who was suspected in the recent regicides and was likely coming to assassinate Queen Elsa. As we moved through the town, we noticed a squad of men had been killed that seemed to be guarding a secret passage, we wandered its tunnels until we arrived here hopefully in time to assist you."

Klein looked at the two with a suspicious glare as he remembered Her Majesty's warning that the Southern Isles' King could not be trusted. For all he knew, these two men could've been sent by Hans to assassinate Elsa themselves if Rahim had failed. Looking at the two of them, he could tell that both of them were definitely odd, there was just something off about them with their vacant yet focused stares.

Something about them screamed that they were very capable of killing without remorse.

Which made deciding what to do with them quite difficult. His first thought was to ask them to leave but they knew of the secret passageway that led directly into the Queen's study, they were a security risk. He also couldn't let them stay as they might be on the attacker's side and would free him if given the chance. Klein wished that the Captain or Edward was here since they would probably know what to do.

There were five of them to the two of them with readied rifles and swords to their swords. Perhaps one of them could run to the infirmary and notify the Queen of the development while four of them stayed back with their weapons at the ready. It was all he could think of, so he went with it.

"We will inform her Majesty that you two have come to help but you will remain under guard until she returns with a reply."

The young guard motioned for one of them to quickly find the Queen while the four of them kept the two men in their sights, unaware that Rahim was becoming more and more agitated.

Wrath sprinted past the gates to Arendelle ignoring the surprised look that the guards gave him as he ran past. He could hear Sven racing to keep up behind him but all he could focus on was the mass of anger beginning to get bigger and bigger. As he ran, he had time to weave his way through the inferno of rage that was coming from Rahim until he could finally get a glimpse of what was going through the warrior's mind.

All he got were quick images but he was able to make out one clear one. He saw Elsa, beaten and covered in gashes until finally seeing her head removed from her shoulders. It was the same image that had occupied his mind for some time whenever he thought about killing her himself. Back then he felt it was all that mattered to him, but now, the thought of the blonde dying filled him with such crippling desperation that he couldn't explain.

He needed to get to her before Rahim did.

As he continued running, more images came to mind. He watched the resurrected warrior kill two guards and the council member while retrieving his sword. He then watched him dispatching the security in the upper floors of the castle and blowing a hole into Elsa's study. His heart dropped when he saw the blonde in Rahim's sight but was relieved when she managed to capture him.

Still, he could feel Rahim's anger continue to increase and it filled him with a sense of foreboding danger.

He didn't know how the warrior could be brought back but it made him wonder what else the avenger could have up his sleeve. When they had their brief tussle in the trolls' home, he had thrown the bewildered demon quite a distance and covered it quite quickly. The amount of strength that he could exhibit was beyond a regular human.

Wrath didn't want to consider it but he wondered if thanks to the fact that Rahim was now a mass of black dust, he could perhaps use the Sin's abilities by using his own composition as power. If that theory was true then the avenger could become much stronger and faster but ran the risk of using up all the black dust that made up his body. The demon knew that Rahim wouldn't waste his chance at revenge and had a plan in mind to carry it out.

Elsa was likely part of that plan. And with the image of him killing her after putting in her such a state was any indication…

Wrath shook his head, he couldn't think of that right now. His own anger was beginning to rise, he thought that it was maybe because Rahim had reversed their roles of being predator and prey but right now he was holding his anger back at the idea that the avenger had laid a finger on the blonde.

If he so much as cut one strand of hair off her head…

His next footstep made a crack in the ground as he sped up.

I'll destroy him.

Ahimoth was briskly walking into the castle after having to take his time explaining the situation to the front guards. He was glad that Elsa seemed to trust him enough to let him in but he was still bothered by the situation. Rahim's armor was spotted as well as a council member being assassinated. This was already a bad situation and it would become infinitely worse if the Queen of Arendelle was adversely affected.

He had been asking the guards where the Queen was and that he had very important information to share with her and had been waiting for them to return with her location in the throne room. He would've gone through the castle looking for her himself but that would run the risk of them missing one another. So he reluctantly decided to wait until she arrived.

As he waited, he was trying to think of what he could say to Ian to get him to stop what he was doing. The Prince could see the appeal in having revenge against Rahim for killing him and his family. Hell, the large man was still a little sore over that fact and wondered if he really should be trying to stop the man from getting his justice. However, he knew that deep down that innocent people were getting dragged into this conflict and that Ian had no right to involve them.

Plus it wasn't completely Wrath's fault. The demon was a mindless beast sent on a hunt. He didn't know any better and currently seemed to regret what had happened. Edward even gave them information on where Rakat's army would be which the King had decided to personally see to. That showed that they both deserved a chance at redemption. Even if the Prince wouldn't tell Edward that to his face, he could at least try to talk Ian out of murdering him.

He thought back to when he first met Ian and considered if he wasn't beyond saving. The man he met back then was methodical as well as being very intelligent. He had the Queen captured and had the sense to return for his loose end and have him escape before they could get anything out of him. Also with Hans now King of the Southern Isles, it wasn't much of a stretch to assume he was still pulling the monarch's strings from behind the scenes.

Whatever Hans was here for, it would likely factor in Ian's plan.

He was interrupted when a guard returned saying that the Queen was in the infirmary which had the Prince moving there with a frenzied spring in his step. As he saw the door coming up he sent up a prayer that the blonde wasn't too damaged. He pushed open the door and was relieved to see that Elsa was fine as well as some other guy next to her that he didn't know.

It was the old asshole propped up in the bed that drew his attention. He could see the lacerations above the man's knees and sucked in a breath. As much as he didn't like the old guy, cuts like those were pretty painful and something he wouldn't wish on many people.

Elsa noticed him and approached him with a stressed expression as well as some strands of her hair sticking to her forehead thanks to the sweat that covered it. He could tell that she likely had been using her abilities with utmost concentration that likely caused such an expression. Lilian more than once looked the same and he learned to diagnose it in others.

"Prince Ahimoth, may I ask what you needed to tell me that was so important that you left Hans alone?"

"Your Majesty, the council member who was accompanying me has been assassinated earlier tonight and I believe the one responsible is coming to harm you as well."

The blonde's face didn't shift into surprise as he thought it would but instead she looked away from him and bit her lip. It was an odd reaction, almost like she knew something that she didn't want to tell him. He already asked her if Edward had killed those Princes which she said no to and she also told him that she would send the man away with her sister.

So what could she possibly hesitate to tell him?

Before he could ask, gunshots reverberated from down the hall. Everyone in the room jumped at the sound as the blonde's face transformed into one of horror. The old man on the bed looked ready to push the doctor that was tending to his wounds out of the way so he could get up but the man next to him pushed him back down. The guards outside the infirmary doors rushed in to report that there was fighting on the upper floors of the castle where the Queen's study was. Elsa looked ready to order men to see what was going on when Ahimoth was already jogging out the room.

"Wait!"

The large man stopped and turned to the blonde with a raised eyebrow. He could tell that something was on the tip of her tongue but something else stopped her from saying it. He waited for a moment for her to say something, anything that would warrant such a reaction but when she didn't he was out the door without a word. The Prince could hear the sounds of fighting as he ascended the stairs and when he turned the corner he froze.

He watched the silhouette of Rahim's armor dance and weave between the two soldiers that were guarding Hans. His katana was out and cut through the air with a distinct ring that many fell dead after hearing it. The two guards were quick and quite skilled but the figure was using Rahim's more aggressive two handed style. Each strike pushed them back until one of them made the mistake of trying to grab the hilt to stop the swing.

The attacker stopped midswing and quickly changed directions and swept the legs of the blonde one before cleaving him in two as he fell. The remaining one tried to attack his back but missed when his enemy quick stepped to the side and with his back still facing the guard, thrusted his katana behind him and impaled the remaining guard.

Ahimoth watched the guard sputter and looked down at the blade in his stomach before trying to lift his arms to likely wrap them around his enemy's neck. The attacker turned his head toward the dying guard before kicking the body off of his blade then flicking the blood off before resheathing his weapon.

The guard fell to his knees as the blood began to pool below him signalling that his life was quickly coming to an end. As he tried in futility to stop the bleeding, he looked up in time to see his enemy rush right past him. His body instantly shutdown as all of his muscles had one last spasm before going completely lax. He tried to turn behind him to face his enemy but the world turned upside down and he felt the side of his head hit the ground. His eyes were beginning to burn and he couldn't breathe but he still looked at his enemy who walked over to the headless corpse and kicked it over.

The Prince was rooted in his spot as he took in the otherworldly appearance of the assassin as he was expecting to see Greed under the hood and not just a black mannequin. The figure wiped his blade off from the blood and resheathe his katana and was about to go on his merry way when he finally noticed Ahimoth standing right there and he froze.

"Ahimoth…"

The large man was taken aback by the somewhat unbelievable tone the figure made but quickly got into a fighting stance as he prepared himself for an assault. Surprisingly, the figure didn't attack as he continued to stare at the Prince like he was a ghost.

"Yeah that's me, what's it to you?"

The intruder looked up for a moment before he shook his head and began to chuckle. It wasn't a chuckle that found something humorous rather it was a resentful one that sounded like he'd been repressing it for a long time.

"After all this time, I thought that you would at least honor my memory. Instead you let my death be in vain…"

Ahimoth was drawing a blank in his head but remained focused for any sign of attack. He thought that it was Ian wearing Rahim's armor but that wasn't the case and he couldn't shake the thought that the figure's voice sounded so familiar.

"You knew that I lived my life for one single purpose and when it was denied to me, you didn't avenge me. Some friend you are…"

The large man just now figured out where he had heard the voice before. It sounded like Edward's yet this one was filled with resentment and barely concealed anger. Still the Prince remained focused, he had already been stabbed by that katana once because he let his guard down, he wasn't going to do it again.

"Tell me, did Lilian convince you to forget the past? To let everything go despite all the people who died thanks to that monster? He was right there in front of you on his knees and YOU. DIDN'T. KILL. HIM!"

Ahimoth felt that roar of anger down to the pit of his stomach. A disturbing picture was beginning to form in his head on who or what was in front of him. His mind told him it was impossible, that this was some kind of trick or something but the sheer ferocity in his voice was genuine. It pulled at his heart strings if what the thing in front of him was saying what he thought it was.

"You banished Wrath instead of killing him when you knew I dedicated my entire life to killing him and when I was on the verge of succeeding he stole my body and you just let him live?! You knew how much that meant to me, all the pain I endured for years was made irrelevant thanks to you being WEAK!"

The Prince slowly lowered his arms in shock as his mind finally finished the picture that the figure in front of him provided so many clues. His jaw was open as the name he was afraid to speak was on the tip of his tongue. His mind tried to tell him that this was a trick but his body wouldn't listen, he was frozen in place as the figure quickly closed the distance between them and slugged the large man in the jaw making him hit the ground.

Ahimoth's head spun from the hard hit and when it finally cleared, he felt his collar being grabbed and him being lifted up until he was face to face with the featureless head.

"...Is that you, Rahim?"

The figure tilted his head before bringing the man closer so he could whisper in his ear.

"The friend you knew died in the Dark Forest when he was killed by Wrath. My body is gone, my home was taken from me, and I have no family to return to. All I have left is the vengeance that was denied me in my first life."

"Rahim you don't have to do this, we can fix this, together."

Rahim shook his head side to side as he let go of his old friend's collar and grabbed him by the neck instead. "Even though he put me through hell, that old bastard did teach me and my brother one thing. Dependence leads to inefficiency. So it'll be more efficient if I do this on my own, but I can spare a little time to convey my grievances to you in minute detail. You want to help? Try to stay conscious so i'll know if I need to work on my punches."

Ahimoth was in too much shock to stop the first blow to his face but tried to stop the next but failed. He caught the third one but the other fist got him in the cheek and dazed his mind. More punches began to follow and soon he couldn't muster the strength to lift his arms to defend himself. All he could do was lay there and take the beating his dead best friend felt he deserved.

As the blows continued to rain down on him, Ahimoth had one thought come to the surface that made him laugh on the inside. When he banished Wrath, he wanted to kill him for all the friends he lost to that monster but couldn't bring himself to do so just because his best friend's face had such a guilty expression on it and he would've forgiven Rahim for anything.

Looks like the feeling isn't exactly mutual...

Hey guys sorry for the late update, I had a lot of work to do and honestly I have no inspiration. Hopefully I'll be able to find some soon but in a while I'll have 6 day work weeks so writing chapters will be hardpressed when all I would want to do would be just sleep on my off days. Hope you enjoyed the chapter and will leave a review for it.