---I'm alive.

I'm bleeding. Somewhere, at least. I can feel it. I try to take stock of my condition, but it's difficult when so much of my body hurts. Signals from nerve endings all across my torso and limbs are crying out for my attention, telling me that something happened, that I should stop and take a look and understand the condition of my body. My clothing is ragged and torn, the force of Ultima managing to reach me and tear through the fabric.

But my weapons are still intact.

Most of my body is still intact. There's no damage so severe that I can't move.

That's all I need to know.

I can stop once the mission is completed.

I press two fingers together as my blade leaves its sheath, and the world of darkness around me is splits and bleeds. It clings to me as I emerge, splattering onto the deck of the ship and staining it in liquid shadow.

As my foot strikes solid ground, an echo of protest moves through my nerve tissue but quickly falls silent.

I have a single objective.

It doesn't matter if I'm the one who achieves it. All that matters is that someone does.

The one piloting that war machine must die.

Heat flows through my arm once more, pouring out of my fingers and channeling its way across the edge of my blade as I suck in a deep breath, filling my lungs.

The air warps around my sword, wavering as the flames surge and the steel glows white-hot.

My vision narrows to a single point. My senses hone onto a single target.

Kill.

That's all I need to do.

Kill.

Reach my target and kill.

All I can do is kill. All I need to do is kill.

That's my purpose.

That's my mission.

The world blurs as I throw myself forward, a streak of flames carving its way through the rushing air.

Will I reach her?

Will someone else reach her?

As long as I have killed, as long as the objective of death is completed, that's all that matters.

I don't know if I'll be able to walk after this. I can't be certain.

But that doesn't matter either, does it?

Not if I can kill.

I made sure to emerge from a blind spot. Either she tries to react to me and takes her attention away from one of her other attackers, or she fails to react to me because she's trying to defend herself.

Either way, I'll kill.

The objective will be met.

And then---