His mind snapped into place and his eyes shot open as he gasped for breath, beginning to pant.

  Kaelen: *pant* Damn it! All that progress, lost! *sigh*

  He was staring at his own house, meaning he would have to refight Brother Green and Tali. Neither would be hard now that he knew what to do, but it was extremely annoying none-the-less. He followed his own footsteps from the past, get to the Perimeter, kill Brother Green, stop Talyndra, and then confront Lord Nerve. Repeating actions as close as he could, this time cutting the nerves that had gone for him last time, using a sickle to sever them. He manages to sever most of them, but not all of them, one of the nerves manages to touch him for just a second.

  Kaelen: Not again! You little-!

  He had messed up yet again. And he knew it, as he crumbled to the floor, falling asleep. He could still fight it! Only one had touched him so he should wake up faster than the other time, maybe fast enough to wake up before he died! He just had to try, he wouldn't give up here and now. He woke up on another chair that felt disgustingly familiar. He tried Blazing it and nothing happened. A Sigil bound into the chair. But for some reason Lord Nerve didn't Blaze him immediately, was it because he had done better in their fight this time? Or maybe he had been right and he had woken up early enough for Lord Nerve to have only just tied him to the chair?

  Kaelen: How sweet of you to not kill me.

  Lord Nerve: I thought we could come to a nice little agreement.

  Kaelen: Oh?

  Lord Nerve: You killed Sister Spark, Brother Shade, Brother Green, and now tried and almost succeeded to do so with Sister Initiative as well.

  Kaelen: That I did. I'm surprised you noticed.

  Lord Nerve: You're strong-

  Kaelen: Why thank you very much.

  Lord Nerve: Don't interrupt me again Kaelen Calder.

  Kaelen: Sorry, sorry. My bad.

  Lord Nerve: As I was saying. You're strong. Very strong. For a normal human anyways.

  Kaelen: And what? You aren't a normal human?

  Lord Nerve: Of course not. So I thought maybe instead of me killing you, you could join the Circus Lights and continue living.

  Kaelen: And what? Wear a clown uniform all day? Go around saying my name is Brother Weapon or something?

  Lord Nerve: Effectively, yes.

  Kaelen: Yeah. I'm not doing that.

  Lord Nerve: By the time we're done here, you will do.

  Kaelen: Done with what?

  Lord Nerve removes his mask and grins at Kaelen, as nerves creep out from the ground growing up Kaelen's legs and torso before reaching his neck stabbing into it.

  Lord Nerve: Nerves are terribly useful, you know? For me at least.

  Kaelen: What are you doing?

  Lord Nerve: I'm going to start stimulating all of your nerves with low level pain signals and slowly increase them until you give in.

  Before the pain even started, Kaelen was trying to think of a way out when he couldn't Fabricate anything. Sure he could use his Sigil, but what good would that do in this situation? Of course he could die and try to avoid this situation again, but he had already had to repeat the entire Event so far and he really didn't want to do that again, so he had to find a way to use his other Sigil to win. He could cut himself free and then what? Lord Nerve was too good at dodging or reacting. So good that it didn't make sense.

  It must be something to do with his Sigil. The Sigil of Nerves. The main use was obvious, the summoning of nerves. Whilst thin, the rate at which Lord Nerve could summon them more than compensated for most of their weaknesses. There must be something else to it, and he had to figure out what fast, before he was in absolute agony. The main clue was the dodging, it was way too fast. Inhuman and almost predictive in nature, he could've sworn Lord Nerve had started to dodge one before Kaelen had even summoned it. That and the pausing and slowing down that Lord Nerve had suffered when he was barraging Kaelen with the nerves... Nerves... Nerves... Nerves... -That's it!

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  Kaelen, grinning: GOT YOU!

  Lord Nerve: Oh? Do you really? Got me how?

  Kaelen, grinning: THE NERVES YOU SUMMON! THEIR YOUR OWN! ANY TIME I HURT ONE OF THEM IT HURTS YOU! RIGHT?!

  Kaelen could tell by the look on his face he had gotten it exactly right. Lord Nerve had made a massive mistake in removing his mask and showing his face. Kaelen summoned a dagger in his hands and from the floor cutting the ropes, and then summed spikes all around, cutting the nerves in half. Kaelen summoned a blade quickly and then swung at Lord Nerve's neck. Even if he blocked it would hurt him. All Kaelen had to do was keep on cutting. Cutting and cutting and cutting until Lord Nerve was in more agony than anyone could possibly dream of. This fight was about to get a whole lot easier.

  He manifested a new sword. Blunt and rusty with nicked edges that were barely serrated. The blade was long and designed to hurt as much as possible, trading utility for sheer pain. No more clean cuts, just ragged, uneven, and rotting cuts. If the best way to win this was to make Lord Nerve hurt, then Lord Nerve was about to experience more pain than the sum total of the rest of his life's experiences. He knew more about pain than was right, he had personal experience on what would and wouldn't kill someone, and of course due to his time as the "real Kaelen" he knew his swords well enough. He was almost getting excited.

  Of course, to overcome the sheer amount of nerves he'd have to deal with, he made two blades. When the barrage started Kaelen was ready, slashing, cutting, slicing, and dicing the nerves as fast as they came, faster even. He knew Lord Nerve couldn't do this forever, the faster he made nerves, the more pain he experienced, and the more pain he experienced, the closer he would get to giving up and the closer Kaelen would get to winning. He saw Lord Nerve hesitate for a moment before continuing to summon nerves. Kaelen started to step in closer to Lord Nerve all the while chopping and carving up nerves, trying to force Lord Nerve to speed up how fast his nerves were going.

  Lord Nerve clearly didn't realise what Kaelen was doing, as he did exactly that, speeding up. Kaelen grinned, switching out his swords for similarly designed steel wires, one on each finger. Ten miniature blades, moving as fast as Kaelen could think, in a range just as large as the atrium itself, so when the nerves began coming from the roof and walls nothing changed for Kaelen. His fingers were dancing, the wires following in step, cutting down everything in their path, nerve after nerve divided in two. Blood was beginning to cover the room at a disgusting rate. Kaelen saw the perfect chance and pulled his left middle finger in, the wire attached, wrapping around other wires in the room changing its momentum and direction until it was going straight for Lord Nerve's neck.

  He had no other choice but to create a massive nerve wall, Lord Nerve didn't have the time to think up anything more specific or complex. When the wire sheared through them, Lord Nerve crumbled in pain, dropping to the floor. Kaelen walked over to him, dropping all of the wires and summoning a basic sword, holding it against Lord Nerve's neck.

  Kaelen: It's weird. I know I haven't dealt any actual damage to you, yet I know I've won. I'll give you two choices. Give up, or die.

  Lord Nerve: I... I can't. They'll kill me.

  Kaelen: I'll kill you.

  Lord Nerve: What does it matter then?

  Kaelen: Choose.

  Lord Nerve: Choose?

  Kaelen: What weapon?

  Lord Nerve: Sword is fine. Just make it quick. And Kaelen?

  Kaelen: Yes?

  Lord Nerve: One day you're going to meet your end at the hands of the Circus Lights, I swear it.

  Kaelen: If it is going to end, then it is going to end in your blood. All of you who wear those masks are my enemies, you and your ilk, the Circus Lights, I will hunt you all down. I don't like killing people. I hate it. But then... You aren't human. You're a disease that needs to be culled. You hurt my friend. You hurt her sister. You hurt several people, burning them to death under the sun. You aren't human, you're the shit on my boots that I've just noticed. And so I'll hunt you, to the edge of this world. To the edge of any world. Run and hide all you want. I'll find you. And I will kill you. All of you.

  In a single swing, Kaelen took off Lord Nerve's head, his body falling over onto the floor.

  [Lord Nerve - Health Points: 440/440 (-440) -> 0/440]