TW: Description of violence 

...

Adam helped Reggie to his feet, slipping an arm under the wounded man's shoulder as he swayed. Reggie groaned softly, making him tighten his grip instinctively. The young man's steps were uneven and dragging, as his full weight was leaning into the only thing keeping him upright.

They slowly made their way toward the exit but stopped by the doorway, where the archer turned back as if compelled by instinct. His gaze fell on Valis, who was standing there in the middle of the room, motionless. He looked perfectly balanced and calm, like a man about to begin a routine chore rather than clean up after a brutal fight.

"Are you sure you can handle this on your own?" Adam asked with some tension in his voice.

Valis lifted his head, meeting Adam's eyes with a small, oddly gentle smile. It didn't match the setting, nor the blood already smeared across his knuckles and ground around him.

"Take care of Reggie," he said softly.

The tone was caring, almost tender, but the glint in his eyes said something entirely different.

Adam swallowed hard, nodded, and stepped outside, taking the young man with him. As soon as the heavy door clanged shut behind them, the warehouse fell into a silence.

...

Valis let out a long, quiet breath, as if he was finally alone with something he had been waiting for, and looked around. He remembered this place so well. The very same place where he was given his scars, where this famous duo of thugs beat him up so badly in the past. The smell of blood, the dirt, the same chain that was once around his ankle. But this time, he was on the other side.

The two men lay motionless at opposite ends of the room. They were bruised, unconscious, and breathing shallowly. One was sprawled near a pile of rope, the other near the heavy chain that once pinned Reggie to a support beam.

Valis walked toward the chain.

He rolled his shoulders, stretching his arms like a craftsman preparing his tools. He picked up the chain and let it slither through his fingers, as if he was testing the weight, the length, and the sharpness of its metal links.

"This will do," he murmured.

He dragged it to the thug Adam had knocked out, a big man with a swollen jaw and a broken nose, and wrapped the chain around him, looping it tightly around his legs and hands. The metal bit into skin, causing the thug to stir slightly, but he didn't wake up.

Valis crossed the room to the second gang member, the same one who had recognised him before, and grabbed the rope from the floor.

As he was finishing the last knot, the thug suddenly blinked awake.

The man's eyes fluttered, focused, and widened as they took in Valis's face so close to his own.

"Oh, hello there," Valis said pleasantly.

The thug rasped, "You—"

"Yes, yes, it's me. Surprise!"

Valis spread his arms in a theatrical welcome, as if greeting a long-lost friend at a party. The thug struggled weakly, but the knots held firm.

"I'm not sure which one of you to start with..." Valis said aloud. "Eeny, meeny... eh. Let's say your friend goes first. He made more noise during the fight, and I'm a fair man."

He leaned in, his voice dropping to a whisper.

"Reggie is a kind soul. Gentle. Too gentle to handle men like you. But me..." He tapped his temple lightly. "Well, don't count on me."

He straightened, clapped his hands lightly in delight, and turned toward the other man.

The thug's scream tore through the warehouse seconds later.

It echoed. Then echoed again. Repeated over and over. Day faded and night crept in. Time blurred into a single long string of sounds: cries, choked pleas, thuds, dragging metal, and Valis humming under his breath as though he were doing nothing more than routine work.

But no one outside heard them.

The building was too far from the road, just an empty warehouse, well away from any residential area.

...

Hours later, Valis nudged one of the men with his boot.

"Hey," he said lightly, as though waking someone from a nap. "Don't fall asleep yet. Repeat after me: "I a...po....lo...gise..."

The thug coughed, choking on his own blood, unable to form words.

Valis crouched beside him, tilting his head thoughtfully. "Hmm... We'll keep practicing."

The man's stomach rose and fell in shallow, pained breaths. His eyes rolled back, then forward, then back again. Sweat and tears streaked through dirt on his cheeks.

Valis wiped his blood-slicked hands on his trousers and leaned over him.

"You know," he said conversationally, "I didn't plan this. But life is full of little surprises..."

Three firm knocks thudded against the warehouse door.

Valis froze.

His hand tightened around his dagger as the silence filled the warehouse so suddenly that it felt like a physical weight pressing on his shoulders.

Another knock.

"Valen? Is everything okay?"

It was Adam's voice on the other side.

Valis's entire posture shifted, with his shoulders loosening and breath releasing. He walked to the door and cracked it open.

Adam stared. His face went pale instantly, eyes widening. Valis stood framed in the doorway, covered head to toe in blood, some dried, and some was still fresh. The contrast against his calm expression was almost surreal.

"What the hell..." Adam whispered.

Valis blinked innocently. "Oh, this?" He pointed at himself. "It's not mine."

He gestured with the dagger toward the man who was chained to the wall.

"That one's done for. I tried skinning him alive, but it got too messy... Just too much blood splashing everywhere. And he was too loud. So I eased his suffering. I think I did well."

Adam's stomach turned at the sight of the corpse, face down in a dark pool of blood.

He swallowed, forcing his gaze away and toward the second thug.

"And him?" he asked quietly.

"Oh, him? He's almost finished," Valis said cheerfully.

The man tied with a rope had a deep wound carved across his abdomen, still bleeding sluggishly. He trembled with each breath.

Adam's throat tightened. He wasn't sure if the feeling inside him was horror, pity, or both.

They wrapped the first one carefully in a sack and carried him out.

"Where are we going?" Adam asked, frowning.

"There, that way. Not far," Valis answered, quietly whistling the entire way.

They reached the top of the cliff and threw the sack into the ocean.

Valis was clearly in an excellent mood. When they returned, they glanced at the second thug, who was still breathing heavily.

"Valen..." Adam murmured, voice barely audible.

Valis tilted his head. "Yes?"

"We can still get him help. Or at least end this quickly..."

Valis blinked slowly, like someone trying to decipher a foreign language. Then he smiled, too brightly for the subject at hand.

"Help? Oh no, no. We're way past that."

He clapped Adam lightly on the shoulder. "Come on. Let's take him for a ride. He likes the ocean breeze."

Adam winced. "Valen—"

"Help me with the sack," Valis said, already pulling the coarse fabric over the dying man's body. "It's easier with two."

Adam hesitated, then obeyed. The thug let out a weak groan as the fabric rubbed against his wounds.

They carried him outside.

"He's still breathing..." Adam whispered.

"Who cares?" Valis replied without a hint of malice. "Lift on three. One... two..."

The sack hit the ocean with a distant splash.

The waves swallowed it quickly.

Valis didn't look away until the ripples faded.

"Go home," he said calmly. "Check on Reggie. Distract him from all this. I'll clean up quickly and join you."

Adam nodded slowly, still shaken somehow. He took a few steps back, turned, hesitated... but in the end, left Valis alone on the cliff.

The wind whipped Valis's hair as he stood there long after Adam disappeared. He crouched by the cliff's edge, stirring the water slowly, watching moonlight shimmer on the waves.

A small, contented smile curved his lips.

And for a long time, he watched, until he was absolutely sure the ocean had claimed the bodies forever.