The Memory Space had transformed Mordecai into a grotesque monument to sorrow. Kevin's vision cleared to see the crazed illusion that has set before him. He looked at his hands, and both swords glared at him, as if they felt the tension in the air.

  "Carl, you here?" Kevin said as the space settled.

  Carl appeared next to him, "Yeah, what the hell man."

  Buildings curved inward like mourners bent over in grief, their structures warped in a cartoonish way. If he could describe it, he would be looking into a small fish bowl, and they were the fish. The waterfall shot up excessively high, the blue tinted liquid showering on them like an endless rain. The sky above, in which he saw the upper ceiling, now loomed ever closer, like the whole space shrunk in height. The rain fall that hit the ceiling dripped down the curved buildings that formed patterns of facial grievers crying blue-tears using the windows as eyes. and the curved pipes as open screams.

  "Oh, this nightmare continues," Chester said, materializing with his assistant next to him.

  Mira crept near her boss as she took on the surroundings. "Boss, hey, this place makes me wish we were investigating only in Port City."

  That fountain, once Mordecai's pride in the center of the town, pulsed like a grieving relative, gushing raw emotional water. The oppressiveness of the rain dripping down Kevin's body made him shiver, with ripples of despair washing his body three times over, like it was desperately trying to bring his mood to the depths of the sea.

  Pizer and Kiyo materialized next, and he jumped when he saw the building's many faces. "Hey, there Kiyo… stay close, yeah?"

  Kiyo pushed him off. "If this is what is going on in Kevin's head, then count me out next time."

  Most disturbing were the reflections. Every surface that should have shown their images instead revealed ghostly faces. There were hundreds of them, the citizens of Mordecai, showing their final moments of terror and loss. When Kevin moved, the faces followed, as if they were accusing him of the fate that befell them.

  The air itself as he breathed in felt like he was standing on the beach of a grand ocean, except, this was not saltwater. They were in tears. Each breath felt like he was inhaling someone else's problems.

  Paz, who materialized last, looked around and charged her aura. "This whole mindscape is a dark aura. Malikhil's fingers are all over this place. Be on your watch, Sword Master!"

  What was unnerving, as if it wasn't enough, were the wails. They were distant, and it reverberated from all angles. Kevin took a step back, and when he couldn't hear his own footsteps splashing in the rain, this horror of grief was going to convince him one way or another that the only sound that wasn't muffled was suffering.

  Shadows darted between buildings and his mind instantly went to thinking of the parents searching for children, or friends calling names that couldn't be heard. They weren't spirits or enemies, but memories playing on loop, trapped in the single moment of separation.

  In this place, gravity itself seemed affected by emotion. The heavier the thought, the stronger it pulled on him. Kevin felt the weight of his own unresolved grief threatening to drag him downward through the stones into the endless blue depths below.

  "This place," Carl whispered, his voice argumentally and unnaturally clear despite the distorted acoustics of the MindSpace, "it's grief made real."

  Kevin nodded, seeing it all too surreal. "Now you know why I do not sleep at night."

  "No, bud, I didn't know that," Carl said. "What the actual fuck man, who hurt you?"

  Before Kevin could respond, the water spirits began to rise.

  From every puddle, every dripping surface, and most dramatically from the central fountain, translucent blue figures emerged. They started as formless columns of water that gradually took on humanoid shapes – distorted Rowen citizens with hollow eyes that leaked endless blue tears. Their limbs elongated unnaturally as they pulled themselves from the liquid, their mouths open in silent screams that somehow pierced through the ambient wailing.

  "Defensive positions!" Carl shouted, his hands already crackling with electricity as the nearest spirit lurched toward him.

  Chester pulled Mira behind him, drawing his specialized weapon from its holster. "I count twenty – no, thirty of them. And more forming!"

  The first wave rushed forward with surprising speed, their watery bodies flowing around obstacles rather than moving over them. Kevin instinctively raised both swords, the Fire Scimitar blazing to life in his right hand while the newly-claimed Water Sword with energy in his left.

  "They're coming from all directions!" Paz warned, staff already glowing with defensive energy as she created a barrier around herself and Kiyo.

  Pizer flipped backward onto higher ground, drawing his knives. "Anyone got a plan beyond 'don't get drowned'?"

  A massive tendril of water shot from the fountain, narrowly missing Kevin's head as he ducked. The liquid reformed behind him into three more spirits that immediately attacked.

  The battle roared on.

  Kevin dodge a water dart while slicing at another. He remembered this power, this feeling of being in control of his own destiny. However now, unlike last time where he himself did not fight in the last Memory Realm, this time, it felt different than before.

  "Kev," Carl said. "You have reclaimed the damn sword. Why isn't the memory ending?"

  "I do not know bud, it must be a shared space. We did not resolve something." Kevin dodge another water round. "This thing is relentless, and they keep coming."

  A huge water spirit, this one larger than the others rose out of the fountain. Its form manifested into a snake like dragon, at least that is what Kevin figured it was.

  "Great, a water dragon," Carl said dodging as it crashed between them.

  "Carl, we have another round of these water creatures," Pizer said. He fell back against the building as his knives did more talking than he did at that point. Three smaller spirits surrounded him as quickly as he dispatched the last batch. "I do not think we will be able to push them back as they keep coming faster."

  The ground rumbled underneath them as whirlpools formed on the ground. More reptilian water spirits rose from the depths against them. Kevin could not get past the eyes. They were hollow inside and if it wasn't already complicated, he would feel depressed looking at them.

  Paz whiplashed a water spirit before blasting back several more. However, when she pushed those away, several more replaced their positions. "Flame Wheel!" she called, sending a ring of fire at the small crowd in front of her. They dropped to a puddle, but more spirits replaced them and absorbed whatever did not mist out. "This is annoying. What are we missing."

  Chester fired wind rounds after wind rounds. He darted between them, using his agile build to weave and dodge while firing his weapon at point blank range. The weapon clicked off ejecting the small Resonance Marble. He fumbled his pockets, then yelled. "Mira, lass, it appears I am out of ammo."

  She punched one, while dodging another. A water tendril whipped over her head as she ducked, reached into her pocket and flip-kicked the water spirit away. She threw two silver marbles at her boss. "I only have two ice left. Next time when you say…'This will be an easy case, Mira…" She hopped and kicked one more spirit, before flipping away, "Be sure so I can pack our battle gear."

  "Yes, yes, my dear assistant," Chester said, grabbing the two marbles out of the air and locked one in the chamber. Ice rounds flew out of his weapon freezing one spirit, while he whirled around and froze another. The frozen creatures hung suspended for a moment, and the look on their faces gave them an 'eternal anguish' about them.

  Kevin noticed a pattern, but he could not figure out why the pattern existed at all. At first it looked random as the waves were too far apart for him to see it, but as the rate of them reappearing, it was apparent.

  It was all coordinated.

  Chester paused mid-dodge, his ears flicking forward. Despite the chaos surrounding them, his eyes narrowed with focus.

  "Everyone, hold your positions!" he called out. "Don't fight back for ten seconds!"

  "Are you insane?" Carl yelled back, barely avoiding a water tendril that lashed at his face. "That is the absolute last thing we will be doing!"

  "Trust the investi-gA-tor," Chester replied, holstering his weapon and pulling out a small notepad. His paws furiously drawing on the pad, which if he wasn't in this place, would be interesting as he was sketching the movements of the spirits.

  "I don't trust you regardless," Pizer replied.

  For those ten excruciating seconds, the group defended without attacking, and the pattern emerged. Kevin was right. The water spirits didn't move randomly. They followed precise movements in the puddles, recreating the same movements over and over.

  "They're drowning," Chester announced, as he moved from one to another while dodging their attacks. "Each one is trapped in its final moments. Look!"

  He pointed to a spirit near Kevin that rose up, arms outstretched, before plunging down – only to repeat the motion exactly. Another repeatedly clawed at an invisible barrier, while a third reached desperately for something just beyond its grasp.

  "The spirits aren't attacking us," Mira added. "They're reliving their deaths. Over and over and over."

  Chester nodded grimly. "This isn't just water magic – it's a memory trap. Calix hasn't just drowned these people; he's frozen them in their moment of greatest despair."

  Kevin slashed at another spirit that got too close, but now he couldn't unsee the pattern, the creature wasn't lunging for him, it was reaching out for help. His stomach turned.

  "That's why fighting them only brings more," Chester continued, flipping his notepad closed. "Each one we defeat splinters into the next fragment of memory – the next terrifying moment of their drowning."

  Carl's lightning fizzled out as he lowered his hands. "So what you're saying is..."

  "They are herding us!" Kevin shouted. "Everyone, back to back!"

  "Kev, on your left!" Carl yelled.

  Reacting, he swung the Fire Sword above his head leaving a trail of light as he cleaved though three spirits at once. However, the rate intensified and they were instantly replaced by four more from the churning waters.

  Mira came from behind him and smashed the ice to pieces with a roundhouse kick. She stopped, and sniffed the air. "Boss…"

  "Yes, I noticed it too, the heavy Resonance in the area." he replied as he fired more rounds. "Look, I think the Green Cloak figured it out as well."

  Paz froze mid-step, her feathered brow furrowing as though a crucial memory had surfaced. Her amber eyes narrowed. She pivoted sharply, her taloned feet scraping against the ethereal surface of the Mind Space as she moved toward Kiyo and Pizer.

  The pair stood back-to-back in a defensive formation, Pizer's knife flashing in tight arcs as he slashed at the encroaching spirits. Sweat beaded on his forehead despite the Mind Space's lack of physical exertion. Kiyo's movements complemented his – her dancer-like agility allowing her to duck and weave as necessary.

  "You two," Paz called, "I am going to eject you from the Mind Space." She tapped her staff against the ground, sending ripples of resonance energy outward. "When I do, you need to do this..."

  She leaned in close, her voice dropping as she detailed her instructions. The air around them sparkled with green light.

  Kiyo and Pizer exchanged a quick glance, hesitation evident in their expressions. After a moment's consideration, they both gave reluctant nods.

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  "We got this," Pizer muttered, "Good luck!"

  Paz stepped back, raising her staff high above her head. The weapon began to glow with amber fire as she twirled it in a pattern before them. The air crackled with energy.

  "Now!" Paz commanded, completing the final motion.

  A flash of blinding light erupted from the staff's tip, enveloping both Kiyo and Pizer. Their forms, becoming translucent, then transparent, before vanishing entirely from the Mind Space, leaving only fading motes of light where they had stood.

  "Did you know she could do that?" Kevin said, slicing one after another.

  "Bud, there are alot of things I do not know about that Spore-Beast," he replied.

  Chester moved their position back to back. "Legend, sir. May I have a word?"

  Kevin sliced one of the frozen spirits with the fire sword and it melted with ease. "Chester, a little busy here, so drop the formalities. What you need, man?"

  "I am sure you are aware that we are purposely getting delayed. There is a huge Resonance buildup happening in the background, and although you cannot sense it, believe me when I tell you that it is there."

  "Do you know what it is?" Kevin asked.

  "I do have my theories. Would you like to hear them?"

  "Chester!" Carl yelled, as another wave formed, and then another. They were coming in every few seconds now. "For the love of God, spit them out!"

  "Well, my dear assistants, you may have been able to see how Grief exists, but you still have not accepted it nor dealt with your issues."

  "What do you mean? I have told Malikhil that I acknowledge that it is there."

  "Yes, yes you have and now you come face to face with a hit as it is in front of you. But Grief continues, like the tidalwaves of these enemies. You will experience it, and it will come at you. Repeatedly, over, and over. You fight and you fight, but you will not be able to fight it off forever. You cannot fight grief with grief."

  "Why are you so DAMN cryptic!" Carl yelled.

  The water swarms around them, threatening to drown them as they stand. Even with the swords, Kevin felt this was becoming impossible. He didn't understand. He had the sword in his hand. But it wasn't enough.

  And it wasn't enough. He has not solved what has been eating at him for all his life. He was taking on everything by himself, and even though his friends stood next to him, fighting by his side…

  He STILL took everything on himself. Fight Grief with Grief… That is what he was doing. There will always be another death. There will always be that grief that haunts him. It will consume him. He couldn't stop it before and although his mind told him otherwise that he was ok… No.

  He was not ok.

  Kevin looked to his friend, who fought beside him. Carl was taking all that sorrow within himself. Guilt was starting to seep from his pores from the disaster in Mordecai.

  He wondered if Carl could maybe be drowning with that grief himself. Then maybe he can take on his pain as well.

  At first, Kevin hadn't noticed it - the background noise of battle had been too chaotic. But as they stopped fighting, a strange auditory pattern emerged from the Memory Space itself.

  But as they stood still, the sounds began to change.

  The erratic splashing gradually aligned into something resembling rhythm. Individual droplets fell in sequence, creating a primitive, haunting melody. The wails that had seemed random now rose and fell in what could almost be verses, their tones complementing than competing.

  "Do you hear that?" Kevin asked, turning slowly to take in the evolving soundscape.

  Carl cocked his head. "It's... changing."

  The chaotic dissonance was resolving itself, note by note, into something that while not exactly joyful, carried a certain melancholy beauty. .

  "It's like they're finding each other," Mira whispered, her sensitive ears twitching. "Their grief is... harmonizing."

  Kevin felt it in his chest - the transformation from noise to music mirroring his own internal shift. The Fire Sword in his grip hummed with a steady tone, and when he raised the Water Sword beside it, the two blades resonated perfectly with each other, their notes neither clashing nor competing but enhancing each other's voices.

  From the central fountain, a new sound emerged - a clear, bell-like tone that cut through the ambient music. It rang once, twice, three times - calling for attention.

  Within the fountain, Calix's form dissolved. Where his image had rippled on the water's surface, the faces of Bryson and Mia now sparkled into view.

  The melody swelled, no longer bitter with isolated pain but rich with shared experience. Kevin understood now - the water spirits weren't enemies to be defeated but voices needing to be heard.

  ["We've secured Mia and Bryson's cocoons on the crystal! The crystal is reacting to them. They seem to be distorting the blue tint in the water. The research lab is underwater and nothing looks like its working.]

  That's when it hit him. He finally understood.

  He raised the Power Sword of Water in the air. "Nimue! I understand now. You have taken on the pain and grief of those victims when the Master Sword separated. You were dying and needed a host so you could take on their suffering.

  I am telling you now that you do not have to suffer alone. Carl will grieve for the fallen but he is not alone. I will grieve for my family but I am not alone. We will all SHARE this grief together. No more will anyone have to do this alone! Listen to the voices of Celia's parents. They will share this grief with you!"

  The sword flew in the air, and the vision of the Goddess Nimue appeared in front of it. She said voiceless words before smiling at Kevin and Carl. Next to her, a little girl appeared. They both floated in the air, smiling.

  "Celia!" Carl yelled. "I am sorry for what happened all those years ago. I will take that blame and I will hold myself responsible. Trust me now, that I will stand by Kevin in his decisions. Let me share your grief! You are not alone anymore!"

  Together, they yelled in unison.

  "NIMUE/CELIA! WE CALL UPON THE POWER OF THE WATER SWORD ONCE AGAIN!"

  The sword twirled and split into two daggers, as the two spirits inhabited each respectively and landed on each of the boys.

  "Kevin! We finished this! Together!"

  "Right behind you bud."

  The two boys criss-crossed each other with the dedicated friendship, leaving brilliant blue trails of light in their wake like comets streaking through the night. Their movements were synchronized, perfectly timed.

  Kevin's steps mirroring Carl's with perfect harmony. They circled the fountain, their feet barely touching the ground as resonance energy crackled around the daggers in their grip. The water's surface rippled in response to their presence.

  With a shared look of trust, they launched themselves skyward, bodies arcing through the air. The daggers rumbled with power, vibrating against their palms as they reached the apex of their jump.

  For a split second, they hung suspended, time seeming to slow as their eyes locked on their target. Then gravity reclaimed them, and they descended like twin thunderbolts, slashing downward in perfect unison.

  Their blades carved an incandescent "X" pattern across the fountain, water and light exploding outward as their combined power struck home.

  The corrupted water destabilizes and clears the blue tint. The water reptilian forms shed their watery skin revealing the Rowen people cleared of corruption.

  Carl tossed his dagger over to Kevin, "Finish this!"

  He grabbed it with one hand and then slammed the two daggers together to reform the Power Sword and then tossed it into the air.

  Slamming his fist into his palm once again, he summoned the Fire Sword, then snatched the spinning Water Sword from the air and hurled both blades into the fountain. As the swords embedded themselves in the spirit, Kevin charged forward. A radiant aura enveloped him while the weapons trembled and merged into one. With a single, devastating upward slash, he cleaved through the spirit.

  The fountain, purified of the tainted grief, fully runs clear, and returns to normal displaying its elegance once again.

  The Mindspace breaks and they are ejected back to the lab. This time, Kevin stirs and opens his eyes, as the Blue Power Sword of Water hovers above them, giving them a beautiful light.

  "Kevin, you are awake," Carl said. "Here, let me get that off of you." Carl disabled the Soul Siphon Matrix and stuffed it back in his pocket.

  Chester dusted off his clothes and offered his arm to his assistant. "It would seem that we are successful. That was a brilliant display of heroism from you two. I do say that I am impressed.

  "I think I am ok?" Kevin said, taking Carl's hand.

  The Save Point worked as it was intended. Water was all around them, but this time, the blue streaks that once incorporated the mix burned away, leaving the clear water around them.

  The cocoons of Celia's parents fell to the ground.

  "Bryson! Mia!" Pizer yelled.

  Cracks formed around the sides until eventually the entire cocoon burst and dissolved revealing both incumbents alive and breathing.

  Paz moved over to check on their status. She looked up at the crystal, in which that too, started to crack in several places. Upon bursting the young girl fell into Paz's arms

  "How is she?"

  She looked her over, and then touched her forehead as Paz closed her eyes.

  "The body is alive and well, however, her spirit…" she turned and looked at the Sword.

  The Sword faded out and in its place was Celia's spirit. The young girl they saw in the MindSpace, wearing the exact same clothes as of that day. Paz immediately fell to one knee and bowed in her presence.

  "Celia?" Kevin said. "No, you are Nimue. Why do you look like Celia?"

  "We are sharing our grief, as stated in our contract," Nimue/Celia said. She paused, as if she was talking to herself, nodded, then said, "She wants to know the condition of her parents."

  "They are fine, O' great spirit," Pizer replied. "They are unconscious, but I do not see any visible injuries."

  Nimue/Celia smiled. "Then all is well. Sword Master, there are revelations you must know, but first…" She moved near Paz. "Champion of Retsam, allow me to possess your body for a short time."

  Paz scoffed at him. "I willingly give my body to the Spirits of Retsam."

  Nimue/Celia floated into the kneeling Spore-Beast, and Paz's eyes glowed silver. She rose to the air with the hood of her cloak falling to the back. Paz's long golden hair floated with her and she pointed her staff to the water.

  "You may disable the barrier that keeps the water at bay."

  "Yo, is that safe?" Carl asked. He didn't get his answer from Paz when he looked at Kevin.

  Kevin shrugged. It was a first for him as well.

  Carl hesitantly moved over to the cube, and closed his eyes as he deactivated it.

  The water rushed in quickly to envelope the enclosed space; however Paz's staff glowed silver and the water obeyed her command, as a new pocket of air formed around her.

  Moment's later, the Caravan that was on the upper floor floated by them in the water. Like a tractor trailer, it backed into the air pocket.

  "Kevin," Carl said.

  "Yeah bud," he replied.

  "You know this is literally cheating. Wasn't you the one who always said that this was a video game way back when? You are cheating in your own video game."

  "Shh… just go with it," he replied, climbing aboard.

  Once they all boarded, Paz floated to the top of the Caravan, her staff still glowing with silver light. With a fluid gesture, she pulled the vehicle upward through the murky water, which swirled around them in cloudy ribbons. Carl pressed his face against one of the windows, watching ghost-like shapes of submerged buildings drift by, shattered storefronts and collapsed awnings telling silent stories of Mordecai's flooding.

  The Caravan rocked slightly as Paz navigated around a half-collapsed tower, its spire jutting like a broken finger through the water. Kevin gripped the edge of his seat, his knuckles whitening as the vehicle listed to one side. The pressure of the water created a creaking sound against the Caravan's frame.

  "We're almost there," Kiyo whispered, pointing upward where faint light filtered through the blue depths.

  With a final surge of power, Paz guided them through a narrow passage between two leaning structures and toward the upper floor of what must have been a marketplace. The water's pressure lessened, sounds becoming clearer, until finally the Caravan broke the surface with a tremendous splash, water cascading off its sides as they emerged into open air once more.

  The clouds in the sky parted as the rain ceased to fall. Already, Kevin could see the signs of the water receding as the top of the city structure's water line became visible as it drained away.

  They floated as the waves took them, back to the initial landing that they once crossed. As it hit the shore, the Caravan hummed to life and pulled away from the water and back onto the road.

  They all exited, and Kevin was glad to be on solid ground again.

  Bryson regained consciousness as Paz floated down and Nimue/Celia left her body. Paz fell back, and laid on the ground.

  "She will be ok," Nimue/Celia replied. "Her strength will return. She performed a great service, nothing short of a Champion of Rowen."

  Bryson looked over to Nimue/Celia. "Celia? Celia!" He was about to rush the spirit when he looked to his side and saw the small body of Celia next to him. Confused, he looked unsure as to where to go. "Celia, no!"

  Pizer took off his jacket and rolled it under Mia's head. "Easy there Captain. You have been out for a while."

  Nimue/Celia floated to Bryson and once again she looked as if she was talking to herself. "Your daughter performed a great service to the people of Mordecai. As such, she will make a full recovery. And I have been told to tell you that you packed on a bit of weight."

  Bryson fell to his knees and picked up Celia into his arms. "My Baby!"

  Mia stirred and as she looked at the ghostly apparition of Celia and listening to Bryson's sobs, she rolled her eyes. "Mama's Boy, all the way." It wasn't until she saw who he was holding did she stumble in her words and moved to get a better look. "Celia? That is Celia. Bryson, that is Celia, right?"

  "Mia, she has returned to us! She is alive!"

  "CELIA! CELIA! MY BABY GIRL! OH MY BABY GIRL!" Mia scrambled to partake in the reunification of their family as Kevin looked fondly and stared at the water.

  Kevin watched the family embrace, something ancient and wounded shifting inside him. The Power Sword of Water had cleansed more than just Mordecai's corruption - it had cleared away the fog in parts of his mind he'd been afraid to explore for decades.

  Images flashed before him: his mother's hands, calloused from double shifts but still gentle when she'd push his hair back; his brothers laughing around a kitchen table set with mismatched plates; the funerals he'd never attended, believing his absence somehow protected them. The pendant against his chest pulsed with a warm, steady rhythm that felt almost like a second heart merging with his own.

  He'd spent so long building walls around his grief, convincing himself he didn't deserve a family, that watching Bryson and Mia clutch their daughter made his chest ache with an emotion he couldn't quite name - something between joy and envy and a terrible, profound relief. They had survived their grief. Perhaps he could too.

  Another piece of himself had returned, and with it came not just memories but feelings - messy, complicated, human feelings that the hollow version of himself had been incapable of processing. The sword had named it "grief," but there was love tangled in there too, so tightly wound together he couldn't separate them. Maybe that was the point.

  Carl sidled up beside Kevin as the family reunion continued, their shoulders almost touching. For a long moment, they stood in comfortable silence, watching as decades of pain transformed into tearful joy just a few feet away.

  "You feel different," Carl finally said, keeping his voice low.

  Kevin glanced at him. "Different how?"

  "I dunno, man. More..." Carl gestured vaguely with his hands, searching for the right word. "Present? Like there's more of you here than before."

  Kevin nodded slowly, understanding exactly what Carl meant. The hollow feeling that had defined him for so long was gradually filling in, piece by piece. "Yeah. It's weird. Like I'm remembering how to be a person again."

  Carl's mouth cocked in a half-smile. "You were always a person, Kev. Just a really emotionally constipated one."

  "Thanks for that,"

  "Hey…" Carl said.

  "What?"

  Carl knelt down, took one of his claws and drew a stick figure in the sand.

  He stood up, and pointed. "Alright. Now tell me where the bad man touched you."

  Kevin punched him and they laughed so hard that the others turned to see if they were ok. After another moment, he straightened up. "You know when you're a kid and you fall and hurt yourself, but you don't really feel it until someone asks if you're okay?"

  "Yeah?"

  "I think I've been falling for thirty years," he replied. "And now someone's finally asking if I'm okay."

  Carl punched him this time. "Fuck you man, I have been asking that damn question for the longest. You just weren't hearing me."

  "Yeah, true."

  Carl paused. "Well, are you? Okay, I mean."

  Kevin watched Bryson press his forehead against his daughter's, tears streaming unashamedly down the hardened soldier's face. "Not yet," he answered honestly. "But I think... I think I might be, someday."

  ARC COMPLETE - THE GRIEF DAGGER