When Klein stood in front of the open back door of his house, he felt his heart racing. Not just because of the speed he rushed over or the previous ‘operation’. He couldn’t hear any noises. But he could smell smoke… From a cigarette.

His face was quickly covered by a white bird mask and his body was wrapped by a thick black hooded robe. He conjured up a long can with a sharp, metal, bird-beak handle. He took a step inside and those tinted red goggles looked over towards the staircase.

When he reached the top of the stairs, he saw his daughter’s bedroom door wide open. The smoke was coming from there…

“I know you’re there. Klein…”

“Woods?” He walked over cautiously and then looked inside, but immediately regretted it. Emerald was lying on the ground with a purple face, staring over at her daughter’s bed and reaching out her hand. There was no blood, only the smell of feces and urine. She hadn’t been dead long.

“Why?” Klein looked over at the woman who was sitting on Crystal’s small, messy bed. She puffed her cigarette slowly and coughed a few times. Then she spat out some blood onto the green carpet.

The little girl was sitting on her lap, but had a blank expression on her teary face. She didn’t even seem to see or hear her father, just staring into her mother’s lifeless green eyes. There was a syringe stabbed into the side of the 3 year old girl’s neck. However, Woods only kept her thumb on the plunger and didn’t press down.

“Kill yourself. Crystal lives. She’s just a brat. She doesn’t understand anything… Please don’t make me kill your daughter, Klein.”

“Why? Why are you doing this? Is it because of-”

“Don’t say that word, Klein. If she hears it…” Woods frowned and shook her head, “I don’t have a choice. It ain’t like I wanna die yet either. But you killed us with your bullshit research.”

“Bullshit research?! My research will save millions, no, billions!”

“Who gives a shit! Klein! Who cares?! Why do you care?! Just die! I’ll kill myself too! Everyone who knew about this shit will be dead and everyone else can survive!”

“For how long?!” Klein clenched his fists and dissipated his bird mask, glaring at the dejected old woman, “A few more years?! Everyone… Everyone should have a long, full life! At least sixty years, maybe a hundred! But what are we given?! Will my daughter even make it to her eighteenth birthday?! Without me, will she even survive a few months?!”

“And then what, Klein? Kill me, maybe take her away safely…” She snickered and shook her head, taking another long puff before coughing again, “You’ll both be hunted down sooner or later. But before then, everyone else in Verde will die! My daughter, my grandson, my nieces and nephews! Everyone dies, Klein, but they don’t gotta die today!”

“Death…” Klein looked back down at his wife’s lifeless corpse, “Why? Why do we ‘have’ to die? Why does anyone need to die?”

“Are you kidding me, Doc? That’s just the way it goes! The laws of nature! Everyone and everything dies eventually! Even Demigods and Deities! Now kill yourself!”

“Bullshit! The laws of nature are bullshit! Screw the Gods! And screw Kresvalia!” Klein reached out and Emerald’s corpse lifted up off the floor. Floating in mid-air. Then her face became paler, as she vomited out a bunch of poison and blinked her eyes in confusion.

“Lunatic! Damn it, Klein! This is evil!”

“Evil?! This is evil to you?! You twisted psychotic bitch!” He reached out his left hand and her entire body became completely manipulated, “You think I’m blind?! From the start, you’d never let my daughter go! You already poisoned her before I came in! You murdered my wife!”

“I’m just… Following orders… Klein… I did… What I had to do!”

“Orders?! Who gave those ‘orders’?! Tell me!” As Klein roared, Crystal flew into the middle of the room, hovering next to her mother. The little girl vomited, sweated and soiled herself, but she managed to remove all the toxins from her body in a matter of seconds! Then her complexion became much better and she looked completely healthy a moment later.

“I’ll see you again… Soon… Traitor.” Woods’ aged face turned purple and her eyes started bleeding as she smiled, “For… Kresvallia!”

“Kresvalia can go to Hell!” Klein sneered and lifted the dying woman into the air telepathically. Then he forced her to expel all the toxins in her body.

“Tell me! The name of your handler! All the other Spies and traitors in the village! Tell me everything!”

The middle-aged woman looked at him blankly for a moment, then sneered at him, “You’re the traitor, Klein! You think… They don’t know?! It’s… Too late… To run! Hah-hah-hahahaha-hahahaha~!”

Woods twitched and trembled violently, then burst into flames! As she burned, Klein lost control over the corpse and the bed was set ablaze… It didn’t take long before the whole room was covered in smoke and fire.

“Shit!” Klein held his confused and silent daughter in his arms, then rushed out of the room. Emerald followed closely behind, but didn’t say anything.

*Booom~!*

“What the hell?!”

The whole house shook and people were screaming everywhere across the village! Then there were more explosions and violent shaking. The house creaked and seemed like it would collapse at any moment, so Klein sped up the pace and rushed to the back door.

“Help!”

“Please-”

“Stop!”

“Mama~! Mama~!”

“Waaaah~!”

Screams and cries came from everywhere, along with explosions and gunshots. Klein saw dozens of men and women dressed in black. Some were wearing leather armor, others were wearing business suits or robes, but they all had their faces covered by helmets or masks. One man used a sword to decapitate a small crying child, while another used a bolt-action rifle to shoot the poor boy’s screaming mother.

All the houses and buildings across the whole village were burning. There was a woman with long red hair that shot fireballs out of her hands. While a red-haired man caused people to spontaneously combust from the inside out! Most people just used grenades or Molotov cocktails though.

It’s not like nobody fought back however. There were dozens of Guards around town, especially around Verna’s shops. But they had swords and crossbows, while there were people with pyromancy, guns and bombs on the other side.

“I… I can fix this… I have to fix this…” Klein’s brown eyes started glowing bright red as he pulled down the neck of his robe, breathing heavily. The ‘Plague Doctor VI’ slowly changed… The Doctor vanished, leaving only ‘Plague VII’.

“Daddy… I’m scared.” Crystal started crying in her mother’s cold arms, “What’s wrong with Mommy?”

“Mommy… Mommy is just a little sick. Don’t worry, Sweetie… Daddy… Needs to treat some patients. It won’t take long… Your Daddy is the best doctor in the world!”