Redemption Is Not For Everyone

“Kitezh, I understand now. We are both evenly matched. If we keep fighting one-on-one, it will just be a matter of who falls from exhaustion. I don’t want to take that risk of guessing who has more energy to fight.”

Grigori said this as he approached Kitezh’s head. She had her eyes shut. Her head was throbbing. However, she had no way to comfort herself, as her head was still stuck on the guard’s body with mutilated arms.

“Even having two phenomenon powers is not enough. My actual phenomenon is tentacle. You’ve already seen how it works, and you countered it quite easily… most of it,” Grigori explained with a beat.

Kitezh looked at Jadwiga. She had a cold look on her face, like she wanted to kill Kitezh.

“It has t-to do with w-what you did to Jadwiga. You can control people’s minds with that tentacle. Stop controlling Jadwiga now!”

BAM!

“OW!”

Kitezh was struck with another yellite stone in the face.

“Are you sure that’s how my tentacle works? What if I told you Jadwiga was deceiving you this whole time? That’s right, she’s working for me,” said Grigori without a stutter.

“You’re lying! You’re controlling her!” yelled Kitezh.

“And suppose I am lying. What are you going to do now? Kill Jadwiga? Whether she is under control or not, it looks like she is dead set on killing you now.”

“Hell no! I’m not killing her! I just need to kill you and stop your tentacle manipulation.”

“Kitezh, I understand your line of thinking. However, what if I’m actually manipulated right now?”

“What are you saying?”

“I know you believed the Demon Lord was manipulating Jadwiga. You spared her from death because you wanted to change her. What about me? I’m giving you the chance right now. Would you save me from this deceit from the Demon Lord?”

“Uh… No!”

“Why not? Jadwiga wanted to kill you then, and is ready to kill you now. I’m doing the same thing. What makes me different? Just because I’m a captain trying to do what’s right for you and the city of Kitezh?”

“Uh…”

“Now that I mention that, you sparing Jadwiga like that is really not like you. The real you would have relentlessly killed her to not deal with her. You wouldn’t want to hear her side of the story.”

“Someone else told me to spare her! My friend Nadia!”

“Your friend? I would call it a manipulator. You just decided to listen to her word and believed sparing Jadwiga was the smartest decision?”

“And you can't tell me whether someone's decision was good or not!”

“I know about the incident at the tavern. You decided to spare Nadia, too, despite everything horrible she did during that night shift. You call that 'your good decision?" What happened to the old you?”

“Why are you even questioning this? Those were my decisions. If anything, you’d just be scolding me for keeping up that old behavior!”

“I’m just curious. Ever since the shatter phenomenon incident, you learned you couldn’t act alone anymore. You actually took cooperation more seriously. But ironically, it just led you up to this very moment. Think about it, would you be here right now if you just continued your apathetic behavior?”

“You never approved of my previous behavior. I’m dealing with new enemies that apparently you were working with this whole time. Are you telling me this whole thing was just some sort of test for me?”

“I like to refer to it as a simulation.”

“A simulation of what?”

“What happens when you actually decide to go out of your comfort zone and get involved too much. What happens when your curiosity gets the better of you. Can you think back to what was the first thing that led to all of this?”

Kitezh thought about the past when everything happened.

“Kitezh, this task is really, REALLY IMPORTANT!” Marigold’s voice from the past echoed.

“Marigold brought that task to me,” Kitezh thought. 

“Bring Kitezh the Invisible Phenomenon,” Kitezh remembered the text on the task.

“That task was just a test?! You're telling me I was NOT supposed to task from the beginning? What would have happened if I didn’t accept it?” Kitezh shouted in full perturbation.

“Now you know Lev, the shatter phenomenon, is actually someone who worked with the Demon Lord. Maybe he and his party would have fought those swamp wolves and saved the town, all while staying undercover. Life would have continued peacefully for everyone in your party. But to be honest, I have no idea if it would play out like that. What we are seeing now is what happened after you made that life-changing choice,” Grigori explained.

“What about you then? Why are you attacking me? Why are you using the shatter and chimera phenomena that belonged to other people? You stole these powers for yourself. Doesn’t that make you an inevitable enemy for me?”

“I am just playing my role in this world the same way as you. Think about it, you know now that I am the tentacle phenomenon. Do you know what that means?”

“Hmm, you had the same circumstances that led you here. Was it due to-“

“In my previous life, I used to have a family. I was a father with a child. Let’s just say, an event of family fun could unexpectedly turn foul if the wrong actor shows up. It was a man of authority, but I could see it in his eyes. He used that position to go all out with his sick pleasures with little consequences. How is it fair to be born into a life with promise, only for you to somehow be someone’s enemy?”

As Grigori told this summary, his voice began to shake with rage. He cleared his throat and calmed down.

“Ever since I got to this world, I was much like you. Do you actually think I enjoy being some military captain? I just carry out all these tasks daily the same way you do. That was, until I started learning more phenomena like you. I wanted to explore something new in this world.”

“That can’t seriously be your own reason.”

“Truthfully, I would not necessarily say that. There are stronger reasons due to the Demon Lord, Koschei. Though, are you going to believe those reasons?”

“I, uh... I don’t know.”

“That brings me back to Jadwiga. You spared her, despite her reasons to kill you having flimsy support. If you had gone ahead with your actions, she would be dead right now, and you wouldn't be dealing with this current situation. Do you think it was worth saving her? Or would it be much better to kill her back then? Maybe you could kill me right now to stop everything right now, and never give me a chance for redemption.”

Kitezh couldn’t think of a response. Grigori had a point. She had lost her sense of reasoning in an attempt to trust others.

“Jadwiga right now has reset her behavior. She wants to kill you right now,” Grigori continued.

Grigori suddenly reached into Jadwiga’s bag using the tentacle arm merged with her body. Jadwiga herself didn’t even flinch as the arm pulled out a kunai and held it to her throat.

“Maybe we can fix this timeline right now. I kill Jadwiga, and we pretend all of this never happened. It makes sense, doesn’t it? I wouldn’t be here killing you if you didn’t team up with Jadwiga,” Grigori said without remorse.

“No way! What would I gain from you killing her?”

“If I’m being honest, I don’t see any benefit for you by keeping her alive. It would only benefit herself. Has Jadwiga already told you of her fate?”

Kitezh remembered what Jadwiga told her when she first interrogated her.

“She was meant to die, and was supposed to go to some afterlife. She said it was something planned by Koschei. I don’t believe any of that, though.”

“What if it actually is true? It was something said by Jadwiga, yet you don’t believe it.”

Grigori shook Jadwiga’s shoulder. She stayed silent the entire time.

“It wasn’t even this current version of Jadwiga that said it. Don’t you think it must be true?” asked Grigori.

Kitezh was thinking about the question, but she realized what was happening. It was exactly what Grigori was accusing her of. Kitezh agreed with what Grigori said about her behavior.

“I’ve been way too concerned about other people. I’ve been concerned about their fate."

Kitezh shut her eyes and looked away from Grigori and Jadwiga.

"You know what? I need to stop right now. Why do I need to answer these questions? Why do I care what happens to Jadwiga?” Kitezh questioned.

“Kitezh, are you allowing me to kill Jadwiga?”

“No, I’ve got a better idea.”

Kitezh’s body pulled out her dagger and turned to Jadwiga. Kitezh turned her head back to Jadwiga when she realized what she had to do right now.

“I’m the one who is going to kill her!”