It was a familiar arrogance. Honestly, he had always been that way. She could not remember a single day when Damon Grey had been humble. That particular virtue had always been lost on him.

He always had been, and always would be, defiant.

Evangeline had never truly known what drove him. She dared not claim she understood even now. Perhaps even Damon himself did not have a clear answer. It was simply his way of life.

But she could say one thing with certainty.

She understood him.

She understood him, and that was why she smiled.

They were in a terrible situation. Surrounded, outnumbered and trapped. And yet Damon remained casually arrogant, disturbingly unchanged. His attitude was exactly the same as it had always been.

She did not want him to change.

This was Damon Grey after all.

Why would he fear overwhelming odds. Why would he bow when the world pressed down on him. Submission had never been a language he spoke.

The crowd watched as Damon casually walked forward, staff resting in one hand. His gait was unhurried, confident, as if the small army of chained knights and the fourth class presence meant nothing to him. The man was likely a Warden from the Black Tower.

Yet Damon did not seem to care in the slightest.

The Warden smiled beneath his parasol.

"So you have come to die with this so called hero."

Damon shook his head and glanced toward Evangeline, a smile hidden beneath his helm.

"No, not really. Honestly, I keep telling her the whole justice ideal is shit, but oh well. She never listens."

Evangeline wanted to roll her eyes.

Damon was not finished. He was probably wearing that cold, amused smile he always did. She knew he disliked her ideals. They had argued over philosophy more times than she could count.

Damon chuckled softly.

"If I can't change her, then I'll just change the world."

Evangeline blinked.

He could not change her, so he would change the world.

"Hah. Hahaha."

The Warden laughed loudly. The desert wind carried dust around him as he wiped a trail of tears from the corner of his eye. He found the entire situation amusing.

"I did not realize you rabble had learned to joke."

Damon shrugged and laughed as well.

"Laugh. It is funny. You are not the first person to laugh at my words. Most of them shut their mouths later. Or died. You will be joining them soon."

The Warden stopped smiling.

His expression turned cold.

"Kill them."

The sound of footsteps thundered across the arena as hundreds of chained knights charged forward, shaking the ground beneath them.

Damon glanced at his free hand.

"One thing I missed about having a body is…"

He raised his hand.

Black flames erupted from the ground in towering pillars. Screams tore through the air as the chained knights experienced the flames born from despair and passion of the elves for the first time in their lives. Flames born from the dark spirit Rashi Ignath.

"How easily I can take lives."

The air filled with burning flesh and drifting ash. Screams faded into choking silence as the flames devoured everything in their path.

There was a brief stillness after the destruction.

Even without his full mana reserves, Damon still possessed shadow energy. It would have to suffice.

Evangeline smiled.

Radiant light burst from her body, spreading outward in all directions. She surged forward, but not toward the remaining knights. She moved toward Damon.

The Warden remained calm, parasol resting on his shoulder. The crowd cheered for Evangeline, but still no one dared to move.

It was evident now.

The crowd was the real villain.

Not because they were evil.

But because they were weak.

Weakness was a sin. The original sin.

They believed, yet chose not to act. The crowd was a whole, but also individuals, and those individuals were weak in both heart and body.

They cheered while being punished because it cost them nothing.

They loved her while letting her die.

They wanted salvation without cost.

That was not something Damon hated anymore. He was not childish enough for that. Perhaps once he would have been resentful. Not now.

That was the thing about justice.

People loved to cheer for it. In the face of injustice, they were vocal, but they took no action. Because it did not affect them.

It was easy to critique. Hard to act. That was why evil often went unpunished because good meaning people were weak and complicit.

How could Damon believe in justice when strength alone could enforce or silence it.

Justice, after all, was an ideal of the strong.

Radiant light reflected in his eyes.

Unwavering. Unshaken.

She did not doubt. She did not waver. She was not afraid.

She had come carrying her ideals in her heart.

Evangeline's justice was backed by her strength.

Damon was blinded by its beauty.

'You've come a long way, Eva.'

She stood before him, armor slick with blood. Even amid chaos and death, she seemed to be smiling at him.

Damon chuckled softly, black flames burning around him as her light shone amid his dark embers.

For a moment, it felt like the world had stopped.

Two hearts. Two kin. United in an ancient world.

Evangeline reached him, arms wide.

Time seemed to slow.

Her hand curled into a fist.

Then she punched him as hard as she could.

Damon's head snapped to the side, reflexively retaliating with a punch of his own.

Her head jerked back.

The sudden exchange confused even the charging knights. Were they allies. Enemies.

Evangeline smiled beneath her helm.

"You damn crazy bastard. I was looking everywhere for you. I thought you were dead."

Her voice was cold, equal parts relief and irritation.

"What the hell. Is that how you greet me. Most people hug, you know."

She spat blood to the side.

"What kind of scum hits a woman."

"The kind that knows his rights," Damon shot back. "I respect women too much not to retaliate."

The Warden stared, bewildered.

A knight leaned toward him.

"Sir, should we attack or…"

The Warden sighed, irritation seeping into his expression.

"How dare you ignore me."

Damon glanced at him half-heartedly.

"Is this clown still here. I swear you attract the worst type of men."

Evangeline pouted slightly.

"No I don't."

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