At this, Hurricane’s eyes widened even further.

“You… could tell?”

“The fact that you are able to use the Stormbringer Angelica so masterfully after a mere few days, able even though you were completely useless before, signals that something is wrong. It doesn’t take a genius to make that observation.”

“Tch…” Hurricane gritted his teeth a bit at being called useless, but he had to hold in his anger right now. His life came first. Even for an arrogant person like him, he valued his life more than his insatiable ego. “The method… it’s called Blood Training.”

‘Hm… makes sense, considering Heartbeat wields the Bloodcaller Angelica.’

“Tell me more,” Finn ordered.

“I don’t know the details either… but all I know is that Heartbeat did something to my blood. It trades lifeforce for more power…”

“And you took the trade?” Finn scoffed. “How idiotic.”

“You wouldn’t understand…!” Hurricane gritted his teeth. “You’re talented… strong… and took away what was originally mine by simply waltzing into the room… I have to become stronger… stronger than you… even if it means trading my own lifeforce…”

“… Have you ever considered using your jealousy as motivation… instead of hate?” Finn asked quietly.

“Hah… motivation? You think I haven’t tried to get stronger, since before you even arrived? I couldn’t, Finn… my body is disabled, somehow. You may be blind, but at least you can use Angelicas properly…”

“So? Adapt. There are plenty of Ghost Hunters who fight without Angelicas at all.”

“In that case… I’ll always be inferior… and that is something I can never accept…”

“… Egotistic to the bitter end, I see.” Finn sighed. “That’s all I need to hear. Leave this place. I’ll tell the others you died. Wait until we kill the Emperor, then escape through the portal after we do.”

“You’re… really not going to kill me?” Hurricane laughed darkly, coughing a few times. “You’ll regret this, you know. I’ll spill all your secrets.”

Finn spun around so that he was turned away from Hurricane, then began walking away.

“I’m keeping you alive. This way, next time you come at me, you’ll have more information for me to dig out.”

Hurricane gritted his teeth in anger at the calmness in Finn’s tone, and slowly pulled out a knife from his belt. His wounds had pretty much healed already now thanks to his Blood Training, which was a factor he purposely didn’t tell Finn about.

‘Heh… I told you… you would regret this…!’ Hurricane thought in his mind as he leaped up into the air, ready to plunge the knife directly into Finn’s back. His expression was one of triumph as he descended from the jump, while Finn, with his slow reaction speeds, still hasn’t even turned around.

‘Victory… is mine!’

But-

“…!”

Hurricane’s body froze in mid-air as an enormous tentacle penetrated his chest, causing him to gag and drop his knife to the floor. The weapon clattered a few times as the tentacle squirmed and wiggled, draining Hurricane’s blood.

“I-Impossible… how…”

“… Do you think I’m stupid?” Finn whispered, still not even bothering to turn around. “You laughed there at the end. I already noticed your injuries had healed, and was expecting a surprise attack like this. How futile.”

Saying this, he finally spun around to face his prey, skewered like a lamb on one of his six powerful tentacles.

“Too bad, Hurricane. I was truly hoping to use you.”

Finn retracted his blood-stained tentacle, the tip of the glowing white appendage now shining red. Hurricane, now with a enormous hole in his body, collapsed to the floor, coughing blood out of his mouth.

“G-Guh…” He gurgled, unable to even speak.

“Face the reality… Storm,” Finn said calmly. “You don’t want to get stronger to fight Ghosts. You just want to get stronger so you can say you’re better than everyone else. You aren’t a Ghost Hunter — just an egotistic teenager trying to be cool.”

“I hope, in your final moments, you can realize this,” Finn continued. “If you had been truly committed to slaying Ghosts and nothing more… none of this wouldn’t have happened.”

The realization hit Hurricane — no, Storm — like a truck. In the brief final few seconds of his life, he finally saw the truth. How wrong he had been. How he should’ve listened to Archon. How absolutely pointless his one-sided rivalry with Finn was.

Storm’s life flashed before his eyes, from the birthday party where his journey all started to his fight with Archon. Finn was right. He wasn’t really a Ghost Hunter. He hated Ghosts, yes… but he let his own ego get in the way of that. Rather than focusing on getting stronger himself, he was constantly worrying about others. ‘Are they getting stronger than me?’ ‘Are they just better than I am?’

In his mind, Storm repented. He apologized to Archon, to Iris, to Octane, to Melvia, to Fanatic, to everyone who he betrayed. He realized how selfish his actions were, and just how devastating the consequences were.

Telling Heartbeat about Archon and Melvia… that was irredeemable. He could only hope the two were still safe — and if they weren’t, well… he would pay them in hell.

And so… not wanting to die with guilt and regret as the last emotion he felt, Storm, with a shaking hand, plunged his finger into his own pool of blood, then began writing a line of text on the floor beside.

He wanted to talk. He really did, but he couldn’t. He knew Finn was blind and couldn’t see this. But even so… he wanted to do something.

Slowly, shakily, he traced out one final message with his own blood.

And then, his hand fell to the floor, and the light faded away from his eyes. Finn turned back around and retracted his tentacles completely before starting to walk away, but a voice called out to him inside his head.

[Wait, darling.]

‘… What?’

[Storm… he left a message on the floor. You can’t see it, but I can.]

‘Huh…?’

[It says…] After a short pause, Zelestria continued. [‘Heartbeat has a dangerous secret’.]