I enter the Architect's office and place the rope and collars on his desk before putting the blood on the floor into a spatial bead.
"You're way more efficient at this than any janitor. Now, there's a bathroom on the floor, so go wash yourself. I didn't comment on it but there's something in your face."
I guess stabbing him can wait. I'll go wash my face first. My clothes and armor are also covered in blood.
As I'm walking towards the bathroom, I extract the blood from my clothes and put it in a spatial bead. I then remove my armor.
I enter the bathroom, turn the lights on, and head towards the sink. There's a mirror there, so I look at my reflection, and am surprised by what I see.
My right eye has become red, while my left eye is still its usual green. There's also a small red crystal attached to my forehead above my right eye, and a longer crystal of the same color going from the top of my right cheek all the way down to the side of my jaw. I guess these formed during my fight with Hugo.
I grab the bigger crystal and pull on it. It's stuck, but I eventually manage to get it out. The skin under it is severely damaged, so I cast a healing spell which quickly solves that problem. I then do the same with the smaller crystal. As it comes off, my right eye turns back to its normal green color, as if a red fog within had now been lifted.
I look at the two crystals. They feel almost cursed, being a result of my loss of control earlier. Will they appear again on my body if I let my anger take over? There's a lot of magical energy in them, but I'm scared of trying to use it, so I also put them in a spatial bead.
Now, I shouldn't waste any more time before stabbing the Architect. The longer I wait, the worse things will get.
I walk back to his office, and find him using a laptop that wasn't there earlier. He signals for me to approach, then says:
"You caused quite a panic in the audience today. I'm getting a lot of complaints. It shouldn't be anything I can't handle, but what did you even do in there?"
"I simply defended myself against Hugo."
"And I see your eye is back to normal, what happened to it?"
"I'm honestly unsure. There are still parts of my own power I don't understand."
"I see, I see."
He types a few things on his laptop, then continues:
"For now, I'll send you to Marian's old office. Take the day to make yourself comfortable there. Don't touch the computer, however, I'll have a new one sent over to replace it."
"Will do. But first, I had an idea that might improve the whole organization I would like to discuss with you."
"Oh? Let's hear it then."
There's my chance. I channel energy through my body, using what I learned from my fights against Hugo and that older Sword Fighter to maximize my speed. I then, in the blink of an eye, break my sword out of its bead and shove it into the Architect's chest, pinning him to his chair. I can't see his facial expression because of the mask, but he probably didn't expect this. I can only hope he'll understand why I did this one day.
"Matt... What is the meaning of this? Did my brand... not work...?"
"I'm only doing what I must to help you as best I can. I understand that this is counterintuitive, but I did this for your own good."
Ah, right, there's one more thing I must do to bring this plan to fruition. Focusing on the magic within my body, I direct it to start violently leaking out, causing bright and colorful flames to cover me. Bathed in this much energy, the brands on my neck and lower back start slowly dissolving.
I smile as I realize that my plan succeeded. By adding a brand of my own creation that adds suggestions that don't directly contradict the ones from the Architect's, I managed to modify my actions and gain the upper hand in this battle. I wasn't sure that expelling power from my body like this would actually clear the brands, so I decided to not take a risk and add instructions to first defeat him. However, my original hypothesis that sending enough magic through a spell etched on a body like this could break it appears to have been correct.
Jacob looks at his wound, then at me, and asks:
"How did you do this...? What kind of... monster are you?"
For the first time, I speak while in Aurora's form. I'm surprised by how distorted and unrecognizable I sound, as if multiple voices were layered on top of one another.
"I'm not sure myself."
I pull my sword out, causing his blood to start freely flowing out of his body. He raises a hand towards me, and I can sense that he's focusing his magic.
"I command you to heal me."
As he says these words, a wave of magic hits me. It's not too surprising that he would have access to other, less permanent mind control spells, his brand seems to simply be that concept pushed to its highest possible level. The spell in question hits the power still flowing out of my body and disappears, unable to continue existing near me.
"With pleasure, boss."
I stab him again before saying:
"You're right that I underestimated you. When we first met, my first impression of you was that of an arrogant leader who believed himself untouchable. I made mistakes trying to defeat you, and you exploited them masterfully. However, you were fighting something you couldn't understand, and so I ended up on top."
I pull the sword back out and continue:
"I'm aware that I've only won through sheer luck. Without my very peculiar and unique powers, I would have been at your mercy. This has been a learning experience."
"Sometimes... even being the smarter one... isn't enough to win. You'll go far, Aurora. Make sure to not fall... in the same traps as me."
He expires, which causes an extremely uncomfortable sound due to the mask's voice modulator. I start attaching magic threads around his body to bring him with me as I feel his magic join mine, but the whole building suddenly shakes violently. I extend my detection range and find multiple large spells going off.
He even planned for his own death. He intends to bury this place along with whoever killed him. This will likely get rid of most, if not all, relevant evidence for an investigation into his organization, as well as kill the innocent people still in the complex. A lot of pillars were destroyed, so the whole place is collapsing on itself.
I close the bead around him, then put a hand against a wall and send energy through it. It's not very conductive, so I'll have to spend everything I have left on this. I create magical tendrils that grab on to the collapsing parts of the building and hold them in place, creating a temporary structure that significantly slows down the destruction. I can feel my energy quickly leaving my body, but I need to hold this up until everyone made it out.
I can sense a multitude of small power sources going upwards, likely through staircases. A few much bigger ones are also mixed in, two of which are familiar to me. Looks like Jeremy and Marian are going to make it out alive.
Once I can't detect any more people in the area, I let go. I hear a loud rumbling all around me as I fall to the floor, my legs unable to support my weight anymore. The flames on my body went out some time ago, and I'm too tired to move.
I look at the Architect's desk and laptop. There's probably some useful information in there. Using the last of my strength, I enclose them into a spatial bead that I bring into my hand.
I'm level 100 at least, so I don't think a collapsing building will kill me. I'll just take a nap here, on the floor, and figure something out later. I am so very tired, after all.
A large block of cement falls from the ceiling on my head. Now I really can't move anymore. I close my eyes and start drifting out of consciousness as the rumbling around me intensifies.
As I'm slowly enveloped by silence, I see the faces of my two siblings behind my closed eyelids. I can't wait to tell them all about this.
