Welnar and the Mistress stand in the street, staring each other down for a few seconds as they wait for the other to make the move… And Welnar is the one to take the initiative, sending the Scarlet shortsword to the right of the Mistress. It slashes and she blocks as he closes in on her left, throwing a hook that she only barely manages to dodge away from. The sword continues its autonomous assault, yet again forcing the Mistress to block. She quickly recognizes that she won’t be able to get a chance to fight back like this… Those scarlet weapons can cover any gaps Welnar leaves in his defense. “Two can play at that game…” She thinks, dashing far back.

  Welnar prepares to give chase, but a group of guards emerge from an alleyway, pink rings around their heads. They charge Welnar recklessly, swords drawn!

  “I don’t have time for you damn it!” He says, meeting their charge in the blink of an eye and pressing his palm against the stomach of the one in front, unleashing a blast of mana that sends him flying into the others! He quickly hops atop the pile of guards, pressing off of it as he comes crashing down upon the Mistress with a flying kick! She blocks it with the flat of her axe, although the sheer force causes her to struggle to remain standing as the ground cracks beneath her. For a brief moment, she is taken aback by Welnar’s sheer strength… But her train of thought is interrupted as she is caught off guard by the shortsword, managing to leave a gash on the side of her stomach while she was occupied with Welnar.

  And as that slash lands, Welnar hits the ground and near immediately throws a haymaker that collides with the axe with a loud clang once more, sending her skidding back. By now, he has made a realization… This woman…

  She’s terribly weak. Using even just one of the scarlet weapons is overkill on her… He’s certain he’ll be able to easily beat her with just himself. And he’s going to do just that, he thinks as he unleashes a flurry of blows. A left hook, a body blow, right uppercut, a body kick, Welnar does well to mix up his angles with each blow… The Mistress is struggling to keep up, taking a hit here and there. She tries a sudden, reckless downwards swing of her axe but he reacts swiftly, pivoting to the right as he pushes the axe the opposite way, throwing an elbow strike with the same arm that makes a devastating crunch as the Mistress’s nose breaks. She staggers back, holding a hand over it as blood now pours.

  Welnar presses forward, continuing his relentless assault. He pounds against her guard again and again as she desperately blocks with the axe. The sound of their clashes ring throughout the town… Eventually, Welnar throws an overhead punch and once it’s blocked, unleashes a burst of mana from his hand that sends the axe rocketing down into the pavement, leaving the Mistress exposed! He immediately follows up with a leaping knee strike to the chin that leaves her dazed, letting Welnar take a second to flow a massive amount of mana into his arms… Throwing a gut punch with enough force to lift her off the ground, and following with a devastating haymaker that unleashes a secondary, massive blast of mana! The Mistress flies down the street, bouncing off the pavement twice before landing on her feet… And falling to her knees, coughing up blood. She is utterly outmatched.

  {“I suppose it’s not too surprising. Someone who enslaves people to do their dirty work wouldn’t know how to get their own hands dirty…”} Monarch says to Welnar as he approaches the fallen Mistress. Her words drip with disgust.

  “I’m… I’m not losing! No!” She yells as she staggers to her feet, pulling on the handle of the axe. {“Hang on, I’m sensing a sudden surge of mana from that thing!”} Monarch notes. As she pulls, the axe handle suddenly splits in half, the halves connected by a chain that seems to extend from a small slot inside the handle… She starts to spin the whip-axe hybrid above herself, the chain continuing to extend far beyond what should be possible… And then, she swings! The chains crash against the pavement as the axe head comes flying toward Welnar from above. He wasn’t expecting an artifact… But…

  With a single step, Welnar moves out of the path of the axe. Once it closes in, he swiftly grabs the chain connecting the two halves… “Get over here!” He yells as he suddenly yanks on the chain with all his might, the Mistress yelping in surprise as she flies toward Welnar! Then, Welnar would simply stick his arm out, letting the Mistress fly straight into it as she is clotheslined. She hits the ground, out cold. Once he’s sure she’s out, Welnar finally lets out a deep sigh as the blue veins of mana fade, deactivating Mana Charge.

  “Not… The most effective artifact, I’ve gotta say…” He says to himself, looking at the chain-axe. {“Could sell for a bit though.”} Monarch says. And just like that, he needs no more convincing as he picks the chain-axe up, cutting open a rift into the pocket dimension of the scarlet shortsword and tossing the artifact in. Then, he turns his attention to the Mistress… Standing over her, he raises his hand to the air and grasps at nothing… Moments later, the ethereal, purple blade forms. He takes a deep breath… And plunges it into the Mistress’s chest. Then he rips the blade out, a white orb impaled on the tip once more… The third Heart.

  He pulls the orb from the blade, letting it dissipate as he inspects the Lustful Heart… Funnily enough, this one seems to have a heart symbol beating within it. “The only Heart to actually have a heart so far.” Welnar muses. Monarch chuckles. {“I’m not the one who named this whole thing.”}

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  He crushes the soul in one hand, energy flowing through his arm and into his chest. And seconds later, forged from scarlet, an axe forms. It’s not nearly as large as the one the Mistress wielded, although it’s definitely still quite weighty looking. He gently grasps the handle, and sure enough it does have quite the weight on the axe head… But as he grasps it, he notices the attunement with the Lustful Heart. He looks over at the group of still unconscious guards, and just out of curiosity focuses on one… For a moment, it feels as if his head is moving, yet he knows it isn’t. Then, like he’s piercing through something… And finally, it feels as if he’s not alone in his mind anymore. Although it’s silent, he knows that he’s entered the mind of that guard… {“You’re already never alone in your head, dummy.”} Monarch teases. {“You know what I meant!”} Welnar grumbles.

  He lets go of the scarlet axe, and feels himself exiting the guards mind. That ability seems pretty strong, but… It feels uncomfortable for him to use. Wrong, in a sense. He doesn’t plan on using it often…

  {“So, with the Mistress settled… Shall we go looking for that salesman’s sister?”} Monarch asks. Welnar puts a hand on his chin.

  {“Yeah… I guess I should do that, huh.”} He says. But… Monarch knows what he was truly thinking, deep down. And it worries her. He was going to just… Abandon that salesman’s sister and head for the next heart. His determination and dedication to this goal ever since those Monks has been stronger than ever, but… It seems like it’s making him care less and less about his fellow man.

  Monarch only hopes that he’ll start to become himself again once it’s done. Or maybe, once he’s fully regained his memories of Kali. Meanwhile, Welnar has dragged one of the unconscious guards off the pile, and propped them up against a wall. He delivers a single hard slap to his cheek, startling the man awake. “Hey. Your boss is dead, I turned her to dust.” Welnar says in a plain tone. The man looks at Welnar, then to his weaponry… Then to the other guards, still out cold in a pile. And finally back to Welnar. “W-what… Do you want?” He asks nervously, gulping.

  “I’m looking for a woman called Alyssa. Do you know where she is, or anybody who knows her?”

  “A-Alyssa? I… Uh… I think I recognize that name… S-she’s probably inside the complex…” The man says. Complex?

  {“I think the complex he speaks of, is the building that the Mistress initially ran out of.”} Monarch says. {“Really? That place didn’t seem too big… I doubt it’d be called a complex. Oh wait, unless it’s got a big underground area…”} Welnar responds.

  {“That’s what I was assuming.”} Monarch confirms. Welnar turns away from the guard… “When your friends wake up, tell them to leave and never show their faces around here again. If any of you do… I’ll have to make sure your face is never seen again, period.” Then, he begins to retrace his path back to the house the Mistress ran from… Along the way, he comes across groups of civilians now free from the Mistress’s influence. They look confused, unsure what to do now… Welnar pays them little mind. He can’t help them that much. The only one he’s after is Alyssa… Then he can sell that whip-axe artifact, and with the coins make his way to the last hearts. But… Why was Alyssa in the complex in the first place?

  A sudden sense of dread begins to creep into his mind. Welnar pushes it away for now as he finds the building this whole chase started with… He steps inside, the door still wide open. He searches through, finding what seems to be an ordinary house… Until he finds a door that leads down into the basement by a ladder. At least, that’s what he expected… But instead, he finds himself in the center of a large square room with numerous tunnels through the dirt leading all over… It’s like a mineshaft or something. When did they have time to make all of this?!

  {“Monarch? Uh… A little help?”} He asks. {“Already on it. Give me a bit…”} Monarch responds. Welnar walks along the perimeter of the room in the meantime, counting eight tunnels in here alone. And there’s probably forks here and there…

  {“Found something. Looks like some prison cells… She’s probably in one of them.”} Monarch says. {“Can you see Alyssa in one of them?”} Welnar asks. {“Nope. Doors are thick, can’t sense through them.”} She responds.

  Welnar nods, and begins following her directions toward the holding cells… As he does, that sense of dread continues to worm its way into his mind. He can’t help but question why she’s here… And what the Mistress could have done to her. {“Prepare for the worst, hope for the best Welnar.”} Monarch notes.

  After a few twists and turns, he comes to a room with four thick metal doors. They’re all locked with a simple bar that goes across them… He pushes the bar to the side on the first, opening the door, bracing himself… Nothing. The room is empty. Welnar opens the second door… Yet again, nothing. Then, the third… This time, there is something. Something that makes Welnar recoil at the sight…

  A woman is in the center of the room, forced to kneel with her arms and head trapped inside a pillory. She has only rags for clothes, and her body is littered with scars from all sorts of tools… “What… The fuck…” Welnar whispers to himself. He shakes his head, steeling his resolve as he walks toward the woman, kneeling down to face her. “Are… Are you-” He barely manages to get a word out as she suddenly shrieks and thrashes around wildly, trying to break free. “NO MORE! NO MORE!” She screams. Welnar instinctively jumps back, startled at the outburst.

  A few seconds later, she stops. Now only whispering a single word. “Mistress…” Over and over.

  {“Her mind… She must’ve been a tough girl. The Mistress was breaking her down, bit by bit until she could be controlled…”} Monarch summarizes. Welnar sits there for a bit in silence, watching her… {“Is there any… Any hope?”} He finally asks. He already knows the answer.

  {“Doubtful. And even if she did somehow recover… I don’t know if she’d truly be the same person.”} Monarch answers solemnly. Welnar slowly stands up… Letting out a long sigh.

  {“Give her peace, Welnar.”} Monarch says.

  {“I… I’d be killing an innocent woman. That’s not a line I want to cross lightly.”} Welnar argues.

  {“It’s not murder. It’s mercy.”} Monarch responds. Welnar grits his teeth… But he has no defense. “Damn… Sorcerers… I’ll make them pay.”

  He raises his hand. The scarlet axe follows. “I’ll make them pay… Every last one…”

  He brings his hand down, closing his eyes. The axe follows.

  A single thud hits the cold stone floor.