2954 Victims and Perpetrators (Part 2)

'Whatever Nalrond does to me, I deserve it. This pain is the consequence of my actions and I'm owning it for once.' Acala thought.

"You destroyed my village!" Nalrond yelled as a left-handed slash cleaved Acala's arm at shoulder level and the limb into four smaller pieces.

No blood spurted from the wounds. The heat cauterized them instantly, searing the flesh and releasing a barbeque smell.

"You killed my people!" A right-handed strike tore apart the remaining arm as well.

"You killed my family! My wife!" Nalrond crossed his claws into an X-shaped cut that severed Acala's legs, leaving him a helpless stump.

"How dare you stand here like nothing happened?" The Rezar lifted Acala from the collar of his shirt, his eyes burning with mana while his claws sizzled on contact with the flesh. "How dare you live in comfort, well-fed and dressed while I couldn't even collect the ashes of my people?

"You should be hiding in some dirty hole like the rat you are. You should spend the rest of your life scared, running from one place to another without knowing what day will be your last!" Nalrond screamed every single word and soon found himself short on breath.

Yet his body was full of strength, his rage burned so strong that everything felt possible to him. Having his hated enemy at hand was a dream come true. He had imagined that moment countless times and it was turning out to be everything he had hoped for.

With one jarring sour note.

In Nalrond's fantasies, Acala fought tooth and nail. He would scream in pain, shouting with rage and desperation as his life neared its gory, violent end. Now, instead, the former Ranger refused to struggle and had yet to emit as much as a whimper.

"You have no right to be happy!" Nalrond shouted in frustration and when once again Acala refused to reply, the Rezar decapitated him. "You have no right to live! My people should have never saved you!"

Nalrond's right hand pierced through Acala's chest, puncturing his heart and seizing Dawn's white crystal. He unleashed his best spells one after the other, screaming in an animalistic roar in the attempt to split the host and the cursed object apart.

"Did you get it out of your system?" Dawn said, her voice coming out of the head on the floor that had shapeshifted into her own.

Crystals sprouted from the stumps and reconnected the main body with the severed limbs. The muscular body of Acala was replaced by a lithe feminine frame, yet when Dawn's delicate hand closed around the Rezar's claws, it had the strength of an industrial vise.

"I let Zepho become your punching bag because that's what he wanted. For some stupid reason, he feels guilty for what happened to you." The Horseman pulled Nalrond's hand out of her chest with deliberate slowness as the Rezar grunted in fury and effort, trying to resist.

"He can do everything he wants with his body, but when you dared touch mine, I had to draw a line, you scum." The crystal sprouts disappeared along with the wounds, leaving no trace of the slaughter.

"How dare you call me scum, murderer?" Nalrond spat every word, saliva dripped off the Horseman's face.

"I just like calling things by their name, thief." Dawn replied with a low growl. "Since you are such a connoisseur of vengeance, you won't mind me exacting mine!"

She closed her fist shut, crushing the Rezar's hand in the process.

Solus and Friya stepped forward to stop Dawn and help Nalrond but Lith grabbed their shoulders, shaking his head.

"Your vengeance?" Nalrond roared in outrage. "Yours?"

"Yes, mine!" The Rezar struck with his healthy hand only for Dawn to slap it away and then hit his face in a single movement.

The slap shattered his jaw and twisted his neck with so much strength that it gave him a concussion. Even with darkness fusion stopping the pain, Nalrond's vision blurred and his knees buckled.

"Or have you conveniently forgotten the part about what your people did to me?" Dawn grabbed the Rezar by the scales on his neck akin to what he had done earlier to Acala, making him bleed.

"I never even knew werepeople were real until I was forced inside the Fringe. I never planned on involving the Rezars in my feud with Sinmara. You guys butted in!" Since Nalrond kept struggling, she punched him in the chest.

Darkness fusion spared him from the agony but the shattered ribs made breathing almost impossible. The Rezar couldn't move anymore, there was no strength left in his body as he coughed out blood.

"With the excuse to be my jailers, the Rezars trapped me inside a small chest for centuries." Another slap broke the other side of Nalrond's jaw and aggravated the concussion.

"You starved me of light element with your arrays. You tortured me for decades until I gave up and shared my knowledge with the Rezars." Dawn let go of Nalrond, healing his wounds just enough to make sure he could keep listening but not argue back.

"You extorted Life Mastery and Body Sculpting from me. You stole another mage's work, breaking one of the most sacred taboos on Mogar. Not even the Guardians, not even the past Royals of the Kingdom, or the Magic Emperors ever did such a thing to the lowest commoner.

"Your people did." The Horseman took a brief pause, letting her words sink in before dealing another stab at Nalrond's righteous anger. "Your people took everything from me, even my legacy.

"They left me alone in the dark for years at a time until they needed something from me and only then would I know a short respite. Did you really think that after enduring centuries of this, I would have just walked away with a smile?

"That I would have let you Rezar scum live happily to enjoy the fruits of *my* labor?"

"You are a monster." Nalrond gasped, his voice barely a whisper. "Everything you've learned cost thousands of lives. We delivered justice to your victims."

"Please!" Dawn laughed at him with scorn. "If you truly believe what you say, you would have never learned my magic. If my spells are stained with blood, so are your hands.

"Your people never cared about my so-called victims. They knew about me only what Sinmara told them and they used it as a justification for their actions. Otherwise your ancestors would have gone out of their Fringe and fixed my alleged mess instead of hoarding my knowledge for themselves.

"The Rezars were no better than I am." Dawn spat on the ground. "Stop playing the tragic hero. Like it or not, sharing my legacy makes you the disciple I never wanted. Your hands are as bloodstained as mine.

"The only difference between you and I is that I moved on. Even after I discovered that a Rezar had survived, I didn't bother with a mad quest for revenge. When Verhen suddenly became a Light Master after meeting you, I didn't chase him down.

"I knew it was your doing, I just didn't care. I considered us even and let go of my resentment."