"You should have just taken your share and went about your way, Colonel."
"Unlike the rest, I'm not your little dog you can make do tricks for treats."
"That vessel you ordered us to seize was not filled with mercenaries or low-life pirates, but instead it was carrying innocent wealthy families who were passing by on a cruise."
"The wealthy are never innocent!"
"I did what I had to do."
"And what was that? Giving us orders to kill them all and sink the ship but not before taking everything of value.
"You knew that I wouldn't stand for that, so you had the team restrain me while they completed the 'mission".
"Obviously not well enough, those fools."
"By the time I came to, almost all the cruisers were slaughtered!!"
"The sole survivor I stumbled upon was a little girl, no more than a couple of years old. She had shellshocked eyes and blood splattered all across her face!"
"I did what had to be done to protect her!"
"Even if it meant killing my fellow comrades who were blinded by their loyalty."
"But hey, at least I sank the ship like you asked. I sank it along with everything and everyone else."
"Oh colonel, don't get it twisted; this was never about the valuables. I probably would have destroyed it all anyway."
"No, this was about erasing those predators who stood at the apex of this world; this was to liberate any victim they may have had their claws around."
"Now tell me! Where is the girl you saved?"
"Fuck…you."
...
"So where's the third place, Maro?"
"I'm not sure; the local I asked a while back said I'd know I'm close when I see 'them."
"Say, where'd you get that gun?"
"Oh, this? It's what I took from one of the assassins."
"And this chain from the guys at Rist's place"
"You seem to be gathering more and more of those hexes."
"What?! You're saying this gun is one too.
"It would seem so."
"How can that be?"
"Listen up, kid; there's definitely going to be more of those guys, so before we get there, I'll teach you a few things so you're not completely useless."
"It's a lot, but one of the main things is that not all hexes are equal; they'll vary depending on how much of it is made from that ore I told you about. So while that gun may be considered a hex, it has very few fragments, so don't rely on it too much.
"Now your ring and chain are something we can work with. I believe that you may be able to access the laws. In your previous encounters, you were already channeling more of the laws than any average person would."
"That burst of energy you feel, the heightened pain tolerance, it's all from one specific law;
"The Law of Action"
"It is said that to achieve, one must take action; this is the lowest level law and one that all us monks must master."
"So you're going to teach me how to master it?"
"Mastering it would take some time; for now, I want you to listen to your heartbeat, slow your breath, feel the blood pumping from your heart and the air you breathe oxygenating it, realize the life flowing through you, and then attach it to your hex."
"Okay, what now?"
"Now nothing, I just shed light on a couple of things, but I don't expect you to get it right away, so keep it up."
"What kind of lesson was that?"
Just then I see four, what look like radio towers, surrounding the pathway up ahead; they are each parallel to the other in the shape of a square, and at the center the pathway turns more into a circular platform with a hole at the center. The odd thing was that as we walked closer and closer to it, the water surrounding us gradually became shallower until there was a point we were about twenty-five feet above the water.
"These must be the things that guys said we'd see."
"So this is the place? Where are they?
"You remember me, don't you, boy?"
I look down through the opening at the center to see Ramsey standing on the sea floor with two men in suits at each of his shoulders; one of them was the karambit-wielding one I fought earlier.
"Yeah, I do; I owe you from earlier for tackling me like that. But more importantly for lying to us."
"Hey, Gramps, I think you should deal with things down there; he may know where Rist is as well."
"What? Are you going to disappear again like last time?
"Read the room, kid."
I look up at the towers surrounding us; there are about five or so of those suits clinging onto the sides of each of them.
"I got it up here, Gramps; don't hurt yourself on the fall."
"You said you owe me; well then. Come."
I look down through the opening and then walk off; while falling through, I end up face to face with a man whose ankles were chained together and then attached to the underside of the pathways. He just dangled there, upside down, shirtless with his face bloodied. He had short, dark hair with deep burgundy highlights and a piercing stare. I landed on the sea floor; the ground was soft, almost quicksand-like, and the water level was at my ankles.
"Finally here, are you going to throw away your life to rescue him up there?"
"I don't know who the hell that is."
"Fool! You don't even know the face of the man you've been looking for this entire time, yet you've been fighting within inches of your life."
That must mean the man chained up there is Rist; he really did have him captured like Maro said.
"You've got some nerve to show up here again, punk. I'd never forget that stupid bell."
"Let me finish what I started, General."
"General? Do they have those in the lifeguards?"
The man runs towards me with weapons spinning in both hands; again he tries to go for the kill. What Maro told me must be working because now he seems awfully slow, and I feel way lighter. He tries to go for my neck again, but I easily dodge and slip behind him mid-attack. I then extend my arm, gun in hand, and point backwards, with the muzzle resting on his nape; I squeeze.
….
"You're Rist, right? Don't you worry; I'm here to save you."
"Who the hell are you, and why do you have my gun?"