The sword comes down with a thunderous roar. The blade sinks deep into the earth, hurling debris and dust into the air. The building that stood behind the killer is split in half. The shock of the impact lifts the crowd off their feet. People scream in panic, not knowing what has happened, and flee. The killer turns to grab a boy from his mother. He says his taunting words to Brysen, but already a cloud of dust wafts in from the torn building and the screams of mass hysteria drown out his words. 

Brysen does not hear what the man says over the cries of frantic crowd, but he can see that he has a hostage, and quietly slips into the darkness behind a veil of falling debris. He leaves an afterimage, an illusion that looks exactly like him, in the dust cloud. The illusion pretends to cast a magical spell. Writing some glowing signs into the air. His real body vanishes from plain sight in a manner so deft that one could not tell that a switch had occurred, reappearing in the image of a hysterical little girl running from the chaos. The little girl keeps a safe distance from the killer, looking genuinely afraid, runs past him. But once behind the killer, a sword forms the girl’s small hands. She smiles and turns to pierce the killer through the back.