"Stay back!" I tried to shout. It came out as a wheeze.

The Huntress turned her attention to Seraphina. "The holy knight. Crippled but still fighting. Admirable but pointless, but admirable."

Seraphina struck anyway.

Her holy blade met The Huntress's palm.

Abd stopped.

"You're brave," The Huntress said. "I respect that."

Then she broke Seraphina's sword, she just grabbed the blessed steel and shattered it like glass. Seraphina stumbled back, shock clear on her face.

The Huntress's palm strike hit Seraphina's chest in an almost gentle manner and Seraphina collapsed unconscious before she hit the ground.

"She'll live," The Huntress said calmly. "I'm not here to kill you, not yet anyway, you're too useful for that for now, I'm here to teach you a lesson."

She gestured. And someone appeared from nowhere, placed Seraphina's unconscious body beside me.

"The lesson is simple. You are children playing at war. We are war itself."

Adrian was back on his feet. Blood ran down his face. His holy aura flickered but didn't die.

"I won't let you hurt them."

"You won't stop me either." The Huntress finally drew her weapon.

It wasn't a sword. It was something worse. A scythe that was as black as void, radiating power that made the air itself flinch.

"This is Fate's End," she said. "The weapon that killed lots of people that stood in my way. Would you like to see how it works?"

She moved like the wind. Faster than Adrian could react, faster than I could track. The scythe blade stopped a hair's breadth from Adrian's throat.

"Like that," The Huntress said. "Now. Where were we? Ah yes. My offer."

She stepped back. Adrian didn't move, frozen in terror, his eyes wide.

"Join the League," The Huntress continued. "Both of you. You're aware right? You know the truth. Why die defending a lie?"

"Because the lie has innocent people in it," I managed to say.

"Innocents?" She laughed. "There are no innocents. Only those who don't know they're in prison, and those who do. You're just discovering your cell. We broke out centuries ago."

Around the arena, League soldiers had corralled the civilians into groups. Thousands of people huddled together, terrified.

They stood atop one group, blade ready. Shadow held another group at swordpoint. Venom circled a third group, poison dripping from his hands. And in the center of the arena, Cipher stood among the resistance members who'd revealed themselves. Kaeel. Aria. A dozen others. All surrounded. All trapped.

"Here's how this works," The Huntress said. "You have five minutes to decide. Join us, or I give the order. Every civilian here dies. Every resistance member dies. Everyone you care about dies."

"And if we join?" Adrian asked. His voice shook and it was bleak.

"Then you live. You learn. You help us burn down the Council's empire." She smiled. "You become truly free."

I tried to stand. My legs wouldn't cooperate. Seraphina was unconscious beside me. Lucille was pinned down somewhere by League soldiers. Ravenna and Marcus were both out of commission.

We'd lost before the fight even began.

The Huntress had played us perfectly. Let us fight each other. Exhaust ourselves. Then struck when we were weakest.

"Four minutes," she said.

Adrian looked at me. I looked at him.

We'd just been trying to kill each other five minutes ago. Now we had to decide whether to become villains together or die as enemies.

"Hadeon," Adrian said quietly. "If we join them, we might be able to sabotage from inside. Learn their plans. Find their weakness."

"You're thinking of playing spy?"

"I'm thinking of surviving long enough to fight back." His jaw clenched. "But I won't decide for you. This is your choice too."

I looked at the crowds. At the terrified civilians. At my team, broken and bleeding.

At Seraphina's unconscious form.

At the League soldiers, ready to murder thousands at a word.

The system chimed. Barely audible. Almost like it was struggling.

[CRITICAL DECISION POINT]

[JOIN LEAGUE: 23% survival rate, become villain for real]

[REFUSE: 8% survival rate, everyone dies]

[UNKNOWN OPTION: ???]

Unknown option.

There was always an unknown option.

I just had to find it.

"Three minutes," The Huntress said.

Think. What did we have? What advantages?

We were exhausted. Wounded. Outnumbered. Outmatched.

But we weren't alone.

The resistance was here. Scattered, surrounded, but here.

The civilians were here. Terrified, but thousands of them.

And somewhere in this city, Victoria was still missing. Helena had gone somewhere. Other allies existed.

We just needed time.

"I have a question," I said.

The Huntress tilted her head. "Ask."

"Why the offer? If you wanted us dead, you could have killed us already. Why recruit?"

"Because you're useful and you're already aware. Because you could help us accomplish in decades what would take centuries alone."

"But mainly because the Council wants us dead, and anything the Council wants, you oppose."

She smiled. "Smart. Yes. The Council issued termination orders for both of you. They see you as threats to their narrative control. So we want you alive and fighting on our side, just to spite them."

"So it's not about freeing us. It's about using us."

"Freedom and usefulness aren't mutually exclusive." She checked an invisible timepiece. "Two minutes."

Adrian's holy aura flared slightly. He was preparing something. Some desperate final attack.

But it wouldn't be enough and we both knew it. But maybe it didn't need to be enough. Maybe it just needed to be a distraction.

I caught his eye. Gave the smallest nod.

He understood.

"One more question," I said.

"Make it quick."

"When you killed the last hero who learned the truth. The one who became the Demon King. Did he beg?"

Her eyes narrowed. "No. He fought. Futilely, but he fought."

"Good." I smiled through bloody teeth. "Because we won't beg either."

"That's your answer? Suicide?"

"That's our answer. Find another way."

The Huntress sighed. "Disappointing. I had hoped you'd be smarter."

She raised her hand.

Adrian's holy aura exploded in a signal flare.

Brilliant white light shot into the sky.

For a moment, nothing happened.

Then the arena walls exploded inward.

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