Opening her birthday gift from Baren, Kagami tilted her head at the piece of jade carved into a maneki neko pennant. "A necklace? Aren't these a symbol for good luck?"

"They are." The old warrior replied.

"I thought you didn't believe in good luck?"

"I don't." Baren said rather bluntly. "But, at some point, you and your team are going to leave this island and I won't be there to watch over you. I wish for this to do the same when that time comes."

Staring at the shattered remains of the necklace her mentor had given her, Kagami let out a sigh. What was left of it had been placed in a cup along with the string and set on the coffee table. Several of the pieces still glinted with crimson.

Luck was a myth. A coincidence was simply a funny moment. She didn't believe in fate either. Destiny was a scam. Faith was for the blind. She simply wanted to think that even from the other side of Remnant, Baren was still watching over her. She knew no matter where or when, Baren would always be by her side when she needed her the most. Always.

She let out a slow exhale and lowered her head. Her body still felt exhausted to the point she just wanted to collapse and not move. Plus now, her chest was burning and aching. She couldn't complain much though. She was still alive.

She groaned and closed her eyes. "Eugh..." She huffed. No, she was still going to complain.

Also in the living room were her friends, Jayde and her friends and her cousin. All of them sat on edge with narrowed eyes directed towards the kitchen.

Why?

Because Auran had brought the madman that tried to kill her into the house.

As the gunman sat in a chair at the table, Auran was on her knees in front of him carefully wrapping his foot. Luckily for him, the bullet had gone straight through.

"There." The medic cut the end of the gauze and pulled back.

"Hmph." He cocked his head to the side and smirked. This is how things should be. Him in a throne with the rest of the world on their knees before him. This is what it felt like to be a king. This is what it meant to be a god.

"Thank you." He gave her a nod. He then glanced over at Manis who had her arms crossed and was staring him down. "You don't all have to be so upset." He raised his voice slightly as he looked into the living room. "If I can't kill you I can at least talk to you."

"Talk to us about what even?!" Kris snapped while baring her teeth.

He smiled back at her. "Your untimely demise, you arrogant little girl."

Fury lit up in the short redhead's eyes. Cheyenne quickly placed a hand on her shoulder, calming the brewing rage boiling up inside her.

"Tch." Cracking his neck, he rose to his feet. "My name is Blackjack, as was my father's and his before him. For twenty-one generations my family has lived here in Vacuo. Since before the Great War, before Mantle invaded, back when this land was an oasis. It was perfect. It was beautiful. It was sheer magnificent. It was his Kingdom and it is my Kingdom to rule!"

Blinking, Elise leaned over and whispered. "This guy is as crazy as Rey."

"You're telling me." Kagami eyed her. "He definitely has a few screws loose." She paused. "Or all of them."

"He's just as bad as the Asturias twins." Krimson quietly grumbled under her breath. "Why does Vacuo attract the crazy ones..."

"You ran away here, didn't you?" Melony flashed her a toothy shark grin.

"Alright, alright, we get it." Jayde grunted slightly as she moved her hands behind her head. "You're the psycho in charge of the Order of Crimson."

"I am the chosen one destined for glory who is leading those worthy to eternal greatness." He corrected her with a scowl. "And you've been killing my loyal followers. I don't appreciate that."

"Why?" Kasune flexed her jaw. "Because a god is worthless if no one believes in them?"

"Tch. I don't need people to believe in me when I have unlimited power." He crossed his arms.

"Then why are you so upset about it?" Manis raised an eyebrow.

He grew quiet for a moment. After exhaling through his mouth, he eyed her. "When I am the new King of Remnant with the powers of the Gods in my hands, I'll make sure scum like you are the first to go."

"I'd like to see you try." She shot him a cold look while tapping at her armored forearm.

With the tension so thick in the air that she could swim in it, Auran took a very deep breath and rose to her feet. Well, if she could swim. She could probably swim. Not well though. It's not like she had a lot of chances to practice in Vacuo.

She let out a breath of air and pushed the random thoughts away. She then started putting her medical supplies away. "If you wish to talk to everyone, then kindly do so. Afterwards, you can return to wherever it is you live. I'll even give you a bottle of painkillers for your foot before you go."

"Hm." Blackjack eyed her before smiling. "See, now this is how you should respect the King of Gods." He held out his arms as pride filled his eyes. "All of you could learn so much from her."

"Like how to invite psychopaths into my house?" Kris grumbled under her breath.

He slowly breathed in. His eyes closed for a moment. As he exhaled, he moved his hands behind his back and stepped forwards towards the group in the living room.

Everyone tensed and shifted. All of them pulled away and narrowed their eyes. They cautiously watched each movement of his body down to the swaying of his jet black hair.

Suddenly, he stopped walking. Silence fell and an unnerving pause echoed across the room. "Your employer is dead." He suddenly said.

"What?" Kaito furrowed his brow. "What do you mean? Who?"

"Billy..." Krimson trailed off as her shoulders fell.

"Billy?" Jayde glanced at her before quickly looking back at Blackjack. "You..." She bared her teeth before suddenly shooting to her feet. "You killed Billy?!" She flexed her upper body and grimaced as the stitches in her chest tore.

Seeing pain flicker in her eyes, his smile grew more sinister. "Crushed beneath the brick and mortar of his own establishment. I heard he put up a rather good fight." His smile twisted as he flashed his canines. "But it wasn't good enough."

Jayde growled more before letting out a small gasp. Reaching up, she gripped her chest. Blood was seeping through her shirt and onto her hand.

With a trembling breath, Kasune helped her sit back down. She kept her hands on her shoulders to help calm her down. She knew it wouldn't help though. She wasn't even calm. Her blood was boiling with rage and her chest was pounding with frustration.

"So sorry for your loss." Blackjack mocked. He then cocked his head to the side. "The other woman is being dealt with as we speak."

"Other woman?" Cheyenne tilted her head.

Melony thought quietly for a moment before her eyes widened. "Pithaya." She barely managed to utter the name.

"Whatever you wish to call her. I do not care." He shook his head. "You have crossed me and I plan to make an example out of you. Nobody dares to cross me and do you know why? Because I-"

"Have no respect for anyone." Kagami clenched her jaw and stood up. She balled her hands into fists and clenched them so tight that her fingernails dug into her palms and her knuckles turned white. "Because even your friends you would happily torture and kill and string up for the everyone to see."

She started to move towards him. Her body was burning with exhaustion and aching in complete agony. Yet each step she took held a fierceness, a power that only comes from complete defiance. "Because you humiliate women and mock them as they cower in silence out of fear you'll humiliate them more."

She stopped an inch from him, her face a centimeter from his. "Because you've built a facade of power to hide a fragile ego and pathetic pride that can't handle the fact you're not as important as you think you are. And the only way your brain can mentally cope with this truth is by building up your own delusional belief that you are that powerful."

She softly panted as she held her ground. She couldn't keep standing like this for long. Her body was going to cave in on itself. "The only amount of power you hold is the fear you force into people's hearts. But I am not afraid of you. You have no power over me. You are not smarter than me. You are not stronger than me." She let out a sharp breath and crossed her arms. "And I'm going to personally make sure to bring your puny little make believe castle crashing down, King of Gods."

Silence washed across the room again. This time, it was a silent fire burning without so much as a crack or pop. The absolute hatred and raging fury burned hotter than the sun on the sands at noon.

Blackjack let out a snarl. His body trembled. He let his arms fall to his sides and turned his hands into fists. "The second you leave this house I will personally shoot you dead on the spot. And that goes for each and every one of you!" He raised his voice and quickly looked around at everyone. "You will all perish by my hands! Do you hear me!?"

"Hear you loud and clear, ya nut case." Elise huffed.

"Now why don't you leave? I think everyone is done talking." Manis opened the door and motioned for him to leave.

With a low growl, he stepped towards her. His head sunk low between his shoulders. He paused and glared her up and down. Finally, he scoffed. He blew strands of his hair out of his face before making his wait out. "I'll be waiting."

She pushed the door closed and kept her hand on it. She stood there for a moment, just breathing in and out. With a sharp inhale, she turned towards Jayde and her friends. "What the hell did you get yourself into this time?" She hissed.

"A big mess." The emerald Huntress weakly chuckled back before grimacing. Auran was already tending to the torn stitches on her chest.

"I should have killed him where he stood..." Krimson bared her teeth before biting her lip hard enough to draw blood.

"Yeah. You should have." Kris gave her a look before eyeing Auran. "Why couldn't she have just killed him? It would have made everything easier! You're no fighting rule is dumb!"

The medic paused what she was doing. She went to speak only to look away and lower her head and shoulders in silence. She let out a small exhale and went back to work. "I know."

"Then why-?!"

"Enough." Manis cut her off with crossed arms and narrowed eyes. "Drop it. Now. If you want to go fight him so badly go ahead and walk out there. She won't stop you. I won't stop you. But you'll die."

The redhead let out a deep growl before she heard someone fall. In an instant, she looked over to see Kagami collapsing to her knees.

"Kagami!" Cheyenne rushed over. "Are you okay??"

"Definitely not..." She panted with her hands in her lap. "Been way better..."

"Okay. Enough of this." Melony flashed her shark teeth. "Pithaya is in trouble. We need to get to her."

"Right." Kasune nodded. "We need to get out of this house without that freak noticing us. If we cause a scene we'll never make it to Pithaya in time."

"Why... do we need to get to Pithaya?" Kaito asked with a rather confused tone.

Everyone, including Auran, turned to face him and raised an eyebrow.

"What?" He blinked.

"That guy just said someone was about to kill her." Elise shifted her shoulders. "She's going to die if we don't do something."

He let out a chuckle and smiled. "No she won't." He shook his head. "They can try to kill her but they won't."

"What?" Krimson blinked. "Can Pithaya even fight?"

"Well, yeah?" He shrugged and smirked. "Listen, she'll be fine. You can't exactly kill a witch."

Been a while, eh? *breathes in and exhales* Yeah... I'm so excited for the next chapter though. Hopefully it doesn't take too long to work on.