Strongest Among the Heavens
Chapter 477: Sacrifice

Chapter 477: Sacrifice

It appeared a couple secret service agents were sent to patrol the halls. No suspicion was cast on the man and walking hastily walking through. A man and a woman together at a ballroom party in a mansion and hurriedly moving was a dime a dozen.

Kazi made a sharp turn, entered a room, and closed the door behind them.

Pauline blinked rapidly, realizing this was going way too fast. "H-hey, hold on—"

That was when Kazi let go of her hand. Kazi sped-walk over to the window and started unlocking it. Pauline stood there, blinking in complete confusion. The room was empty of people and decorated with pleasant furniture. So...why the window?

Click! The window opened.

"Oh. Huh, I thought you were going to—"

"See the butlers?" Kazi interrupted. She was still several steps behind, literally and figuratively. "They’re out for a smoke. Their limos are unguarded."

"What are we talking about here?"

"I’m talking about planting meth."

A blink. A look behind her. Then a tilt of the head. "Huh?"

"I kept some in the car. I am going go fetch it and plant in their trunks. After that, I’m going to call the police, give some evidence and testimony, and get everyone that was involved in my operation arrested."

That was the plan.

That had always been the plan.

This place, this ballroom dance, all of it hinged on framing these people.

"What in the world are you talking about? You make the meth, don’t you?" No response from Kazi. Pauline calmed herself down with a breath. "You’ll get caught. Don’t do it."

"I have to." Kazi slammed a foot on the window. "It seems even nobles like us can develop a conscience."

"A conscience? What are you talking about, Pavvo? Seriously?"

"I’m talking about justice."

"Justice?"

His foot did not leave the window. Pauline suddenly realized he would jump.

"You...you’re dead set on this. Why? Why suddenly feel this way when..."

When we just started to get to know each other?

"Pauline." Kazi looked over at her. "The world can’t be changed. It’s a pile of dirt, water, and shit. Utter shit with people at the top that will always keep writhing and coming out. But...we can’t stop fighting just because the world isn’t going to change. All it takes is one person to change and save lives. Like that day when the boy couldn’t breathe. The system could only do so much for him. People like us, we need to fill the gaps."

"...Pavvo..."

"I do feel a bit of regret though. The fact you and I are associated means the authorities will ask you questions. It’s not like you did anything so be honest." A chuckle. "Be yourself, Pauline."

"Myself?" Pauline laughed. She laughed so hard that tears spilled. She didn’t stop smiling though. "You’re hilarious, Pavvo. Hilarious."

"Your mother doesn’t dictate who you are—"

"I know. But you’re leaving anyway. Oh, and my butler, he rats me out too. Oh, and my cousin, my mother plans to give most of her wealth and business to him. Oh, and everyone else too. I am the sole daughter of the amazing Madame Devereaux and not a single person considers talking to me. Not one." Pauline laughed and threw her arms up. "I don’t know why I can’t make people love me. I..." Her voice and smile dropped to decisively hollow emotion. "I just don’t."

"Just because someone loves you doesn’t mean they will always be good for you. Your butler still takes care of you. Your mother still asks about you. And I..."

These past ten days, he didn’t want to admit. He hated admitting it. He never wanted to admit it. But....

"I like you too. I’ve spent much of my life reading and combing through fairy tales and mythologies. I’ve met and seen so, so much. You grow weary. Cynical. You wish and hope heroes, knights, and magic exist when you know they don’t."

Pauline Lannes de Montebello and her mythical violet eyes. It was the first part of her saw. It would be the last too. The words he spoke came out not as Pavvo, not as some manipulation, but as Kazi Hossain. As the little boy from nowhere Bangladesh.

’In another life, if I had served under your instead of her, I think things would have turned out a lot different from me.’

"I’m glad I didn’t stop completely wishing. I am glad I got to meet a princess in a fairy tale—who is kind, beautiful, funny, and noble. I am glad I met you, Pauline Lannes de Montebello. I will fully acknowledge my selfishness when I say this: don’t give up. Keep living. Keep walking. Everybody in this world is deserving of love. Even you. Especially you. I can’t imagine people not loving someone as incredible as you."

Pauline looked at him like he had changed her world. He hated seeing that look so he turned away and jumped. He casually scaled down the chateau.

"Thank you! Thank you so much for everything you’ve done!"

He looked up and saw her grinning face hanging out the window. Kazi couldn’t help but smile back as he went down, down, down—

"Pauline!" He yelled, stopping at the window of the first floor. "Tomorrow will be a better day! I promise!"

He dropped and disappeared into the bushes. Behind Pauline, the door swung open and a secret agent came to check. Pauline told the agent her dress was falling apart and that her boyfriend had gone out to fix it.

Kazi never saw Pauline again.

***

Back then, he was young and full of hunger, hate, and want. Kazi knew history. He knew what humanity had done over and over again and he came to a simple conclusion.

The world was beyond saving.

The world could not be changed.

People were always the same.

Yet...in every era, no matter what, there was a glimmer of hope. A rebellion, a kindness, a great act. Great men always existed and so Kazi sought to make himself one of those people.

He failed. Along the way, he met people that challenged his ideology, evolved it, and, when he was older, decommissioned it entirely. Pauline was neither of those. Pauline was one of those people that, looking back, made him think there was hope in society still. Following Pavvo’s arrest and the police calls on the families he framed, Pauline apparently went further into isolation. After all, the real Pavvo had no idea who she was and when he tried visiting her, the fallen noble screamed and told her to go away.

Pauline had no idea what truly happened that night. He wanted to tell her. He wanted to say, "Those days and evening we spent, it was me."

"Choose...choose, Kazi Hossain."

The sky blackened. The form in front of him was Pauline and not Pauline. Izanami, the goddess of death, her ugly soul had taken over and corrupted her corpse.

If he didn’t take this offer, he would never get to see her. Speak to her. Tell her.

One thousand souls. Matsue would be scarred. However...all scars healed.

A small price for the greater good.

Could this even be considered that?

Was he telling himself he accepting because he had to or because he believed that Pauline’s life meant more to him than one thousand strangers?

"My hunger must be sated. A goddess must be given her due." Darker. Her eyes became darker. Her true intentions seeped out. "This woman or these people—choose."

Pauline was a filthy noble. As a boy born with nothing, he hated her family. He hated everything that led to her being alive.

But...

Damn. So it was true. It was true what they said about him. Kazi tried. He honest to god did. He tried to be spiteful. He tried to loathe everybody. Every single one of those elites. Everyone who did nothing as his people suffered. At the end of it though...

"You’re far too nice for your own, Kazi."

His father was right. He couldn’t enact change. He couldn’t do anything with such a mentality. He couldn’t help it. He couldn’t stop feeling this ache for everybody and everything. When he killed and slaughtered, it always struck him what a waste it was afterward. He wanted to be better. He had to be better.

Today though...

’I don’t want her to die. I want to see her again.’

"Yes," Kazi said, quieter than he should have been. "Please bring Pauline back."

Izanami smiled. Her eyes blackened and everything around shook. Black smoke arose from the ground and from the smoke, humans materialized. Everybody whose souls had been seized by Izanami returned. Even the five students of Miyamoto Musashi. At the corner of his eye, he saw them.

He heard screams too. He heard agony and sorrow.

He ignored it as Izanami’s soul left Pauline and he caught the unconscious noble woman.

"K...azi..."

Pauline had been dead. He could feel the meticulous adjustment of her organs. Her eyes blinked once, twice, three time, and as though coming back from a long sleep, she looked up at him with bags.

"Oh...hey..." Pauline smiled, bright and true. "Good to see you. You look...funny."

Her eyes closed again.

Meanwhile, everything around him both rose and fell.