The Shattered Man

If one possessed even a little bit of humanity, they would surely hesitate to strike down a small, innocent girl like Ella—but it did not apply to Jay. Although he was human, Jay swung his sword, attempting to finish off Ella. For him, it was not an act of murder.

It was an act of collecting something back.

"Hng!" Ella groaned as she rolled to the side, avoiding Jay's blade that stabbed the soil.

Sweat started to roll down her pale face. She clenched her chest where blood flooded out continuously and weakly raised her staff with her other hand. Again, a fireball appeared.

Ella shot the fireball at Jay and immediately charged up another one. Like rapid fire, she shot one after another. The blazing projectiles appeared smaller than usual, but that, in turn, consumed less of her mana—the energy source needed to use magic—allowing her to fire off so many in such a short amount of time.

Jay, however, was able to dodge them. He sheathed his sword and raised his palm, summoning small icicles out of thin air.

"Ack!" Ella cried again when one of those icicles stabbed her right shoulder.

As a result, she unconsciously lowered her staff for a second. But that second was enough of an opportunity for Jay to follow up. Mercilessly, he launched another set of sharp icicles at her while leaping toward her with his hand on his sword's grip.

First, it was the left hand, then the left upper arm, both thighs, and finally the right foot. Ella was hit with a total of six icicles. They dug shallowly into her flesh, but the greater pain originated from the cold that was spreading from those wounds.

"Why are you doing this...?" Ella asked, her voice cracking.

"Because you're me." Jay replied calmly. "Here, I will show you what I mean."

Jay opened his status window for himself and Ella to see. And upon seeing his status, Ella's tired eyes widened, and her jaw dropped. She had her suspicions the moment he attacked, but after looking at the status, her theory was confirmed.

Although some things were different from her status, the things that should be unique were the same.

"Let's finish this quickly before someone else sees us. I want to avoid misunderstandings if possible." Jay said, raising his sword for the final time.

Ella chuckled.

"Please watch over Luna." she said, her smile as wide as ever.

"Your kindness for others knows no bounds." Jay remarked silently before he swiftly cut off her head.

I don’t help people because I expect anything from them. I help because I like to see everyone happy.

A message in the voice of the beheaded Ella had entered Jay's head. Like the ones previously, he listened earnestly before shifting his gaze to the second screen that would always pop up alongside his usual status window.

[Completion rate of yourself: 16%]

It was a screen completely unique to him. It showed the progress of Jay's task—the task of becoming whole once again. Back then, when he had regained consciousness in the Southern Fields, it was not just his memories that he was missing. He was also missing certain traits that should have been normal for a person—being kind, scared, apologetic, or able to lie. A lot of things were wrong with him, and unable to live like that, Jay was set on becoming a whole and normal person again.

"Ugh...!" Jay winced as he grabbed his head.

The parts that he was missing had been scattered across the Otherworldly Tower and turned into living beings like Ella—Jay's kindness—did. And now, after defeating Ella, her kindness and memories had been transferred to Jay.

The moment when Ella had found herself in front of the Tutorial Section's church, when she had applied for a job as a Guide, when she had helped others, and when she had met Luna—all the memories starting the same day Jay had woken up flooded his mind. Even the way she had felt in all those moments was drilled into his consciousness.

I deeply apologize! I don't know what the cause of the fight was, but it looks like you were greatly offended by my friend! However, it would be too sad if you two were to face the consequences if the fight had continued. So why not just apologize to each other and make up?

And just like Jay, Ella threw apologies around without actually meaning them. She had offered those words because that would have been something a kind person would have done. Someone who wanted to resolve a person's conflict, no matter what.

"Luna..." Jay muttered softly.

Luna was the last person on Ella's mind. She was the one Ella was assigned to as a Guide. And now, with his kindness back and the memories and feelings of Ella mixing with Jay's, a sense of responsibility for her emerged from within.

However, it was too late to explain things to her.

"What did you just do...?"

Alerted, Jay turned his head in the direction of the shocked and menacing voice.

"I saw you..."

Standing not too far away was Luna. Her eyes were wide open and shifted from Ella's headless body to Jay's blood-stained sword. Strength had returned to her body as she clenched her spear.

"L-Luna, I can explain—"

"I don't need an explanation. I saw everything. I saw how you killed Ella." Luna cut off the panicking Jay with her cold and furious tone.

Jay looked for Erik, who should have been with her, but there was no trace of him.

"Shit...!" Jay grumbled under his breath.

The situation could not look worse for him. If it had been a stranger, Jay could have handled it somehow. However, out of all people, it had to be Luna—the person close to Ella and the person whom Jay wanted to get closer to.

And while Jay was pondering what to do, Luna rummaged through her things until she took out a gun and pointed it at the evening sky.

It was a gun that shot out a flare, signaling an emergency. Once it was shot, the police would immediately rush over.

"Luna, don't!" Jay shouted desperately.

"You murderer...!" Luna cursed, tears rolling down her cheeks as she launched the flare.

Cornered, Jay followed the trail of the flare before his eyes shifted to Luna, who put the gun down in order to clench her spear with both hands.

"Luna, listen! You've got it all wrong! I—Ella is me! I am Ella!" Jay began to explain, albeit desperately.

Even though he put on an awkward smile, he made a ridiculous statement that was unbelievable for someone who was not familiar with Jay's situation.

"A psychopath...?" Luna murmured pensively.

Not wanting to give him any further attention, Luna leaped to him and thrust her spear.

"H-hold on!"

Her attack was slow and lacked strength. But since Jay was shocked that the usually mild Luna actually tried to stab a person, he barely managed to dodge her spear.

Luna continued her barrage of attacks, causing only small grazes on Jay at the most. Still, she kept going, with rage and the thirst for revenge fueling her body and mind.

"Wha—"

However, Luna soon slipped on the soil that was drenched in Ella's blood and fell on Jay.

"Ugh..." Jay moaned painfully before he lifted his head.

Luna, who was on top of him, took notice of the situation faster and instantly grabbed her spear, pointing it at Jay's neck. The spear's tip was only a few inches away from poking his neck, but it was unsteady due to Luna's trembling.

"Why..." Luna muttered through gritted teeth as tears started to fall on Jay's face. "Why did you kill her?!"

When Luna attacked him or when she was on top of him, he could have fought back easily. However, he decided against that since Luna deserved an explanation. After all, she was Ella's friend. She was Jay's friend.

"I'm not your enemy, Luna." Jay stated calmly.

"Shut up!" Luna shouted.

She wanted to know the reason why Ella was killed, but at the same time, she did not want to hear a single word coming out of the mouth of the one she viewed as a disgusting murderer. Blinded by her emotions, she raised her spear.

"This should do it." Jay whispered to himself, determined.

Jay realized that there was a method to make her believe him. Since Ella's memories resided in his head as well, he could strike up a topic only Ella and Luna could have known about.

"This weekend..."

He kept talking, although his eyes were fixed on the spear's tip that was dangerously coming closer to his neck.

"You wanted to look for lightning magic tomes—"

Luna stopped. The spear's tip poked Jay's neck softly.

But to his disappointment, she did not stop because of what Jay had said, but because of the group of people that had arrived at the scene.

Nervously, Jay looked over at the people who wore police uniforms.

"Who launched the signal flare?"