"Hmm? What’s going on?" the mayor looked at Yasu’s frustrated face as he stood there without answering his question.

"I asked you if you will give me your bo— Oh, I see. I shouldn’t be asking questions," the mayor said. "I should be ordering you instead."

"Ans—"

"You!" Stanley’s sudden voice surprised everyone, forcing them to look at him.

They saw his feral face with his gritted teeth. "You hold no remorse for killing my brother," Stanley said. "You never cared about my brother’s life in the first place."

The mayor looked puzzled for a moment before he chuckled. "Of course not, you dumb little child. I never cared about any of you," he said. "Now stop talking and sit there. I need to finish this."

"You don’t deserve to live," Stanley grunted out the words as his body fidgeted.

The mayor looked surprised. "How are you still talking?" he asked. "I just ordered you to stop."

"I will kill you," Stanley shouted and took a single step forward. However, his body was way too weak to even keep him standing.

He felt to the ground in a thud, surprising everyone there. The mayor continued looking at him with a puzzled face for a moment before shrugging.

"Illan, kill him," he ordered.

The hulking Illan walked toward Stanley, step by step while the Mayor turned toward Yasu to force him to accept the body change.

Freddy looked at Stanley with a pained expression, while Sheila was only surprised. ’How did he break free?’ she thought. Was strong emotion truly the answer as she had suspected before?

However, even knowing that she couldn’t do anything. She could only watch as the big fellow walked over to Stanley and pulled out the giant sword.

’Why isn’t he moving?’ she thought. ’Your body is strong. Move. Fight back.’

However, Stanley did none of that.

"Yasu, you must listen to me," the mayor started speaking with Yasu while Stanley was about to be killed. "You will accept my request. All of them."

Yasu struggled with himself, knowing that he would die if he did so. His words stuck in his mouth, not coming out at all.

"There is no point in holding on, Yasu," the mayor said. "All of your family and friends are dead. You will die soon too. Accept my words, accept my request."

Yasu finally fell into despair and the mayor’s words worked on him. His head moved on its own as a nod of acceptance.

The mayor smiled. He was going to get a new body.

Illan pulled out the sword that belonged to Stanley and slammed it onto the ground.

At the last moment, Stanley rolled to the side.

His body was extremely weak and tired, so he couldn’t even get up and run away. He had to stay on the floor for the longest, just catching his breath, to protect himself.

He had somehow broken free out of the hypnosis, but the old man Sam’s ropes still suppressed his powers, and thus his body. He waited until the last moment to dodge Illan.

And then, he used all the remaining strength in his body to ball his palm into a fist as hard as he could.

When he put enough strength on his grip, something happened.

The short sword in his palm finally activated.

A glowing red light flared behind him, directly burning a few of the ropes that tied him up.

"What?" the mayor was surprised. Where had the weapon come from? Had Yasu not taken away everything?

Unfortunately for the mayor, Yasu did not see the metal rectangle as a weapon at all and had left it remains hidden in Stanely’s palm for all this time.

The ropes burned as Stanley moved the sword slightly upward. The sword stopped as he instinctively stopped squeezing when he felt something hot scorch a bit of flesh on his back, but that didn’t matter anymore.

The ropes were undone.

As soon as Stanley moved aside his arm and tossed away the rest of the rope, his powers returned to him, his body becoming strong again.

He saw Illan cut his head off with his own sword.

Stanley slid backward, the sword missing his head by a wide margin. Then, he jumped forward and over the sword, and arrived directly next to the mayor.

The mayor’s eyes widened. "No, you—"

Before his words could finish, Gallan moved ahead and punched Stanley in the stomach. However, that barely stopped Stanley.

Stanley squeezed the sword in his hand and the red glowing blade popped out in an arc as it fell on the mayor.

The mayor put his hands up to protect himself, and as he did so, the sword was carved through the wrist of his right hand and a few of his left hand’s fingers.

The mayor only felt the burning, tearing pain he felt in his arm after they had all fallen to the ground.

"Aaaaaargh!" he shouted in pain, sounds that were blissful to Stanley’s ears. He wanted to hurt him even more. "I-Illan! Stop him."

Hearing the mayor’s shout, the giant Illan swung his sword sideways at Stanley.

Stanley jumped back, dodging the sword. He was about to go attack the mayor when he saw two red glow come at him, aiming for his chest.

He moved to the side as two plasma bullets flew past him. Stanley looked at where the bullets came from and saw Gallan holding onto the gun. 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

’Is that Sheila’s?’ he thought. No, Sheila’s gun was still in the distant hallway. This one belonged to the mayor. It was the same one he had used on Stanley and Sheila earlier today.

Stanley looked at Illan, who he didn’t want to hurt, and Gallan who he wouldn’t hesitate to kill. Then, he stared at the mayor who was finally calming himself.

That one he would be happy to kill.

He squeezed his sword once more as the red plasma blade came out, bathing the right side of his body in a red glow.

It was time to finish this once and for all.