At Olympus, Harold Attano is walking the NXT Level Arena. He’s a man at the tipping point restraining himself from a mental break, Hera’s attempting to pass off inmates as her “Uprising”, and he missed it.
“Looking around this place they’ve slapped a new coat of paint on it thinking it’ll cover up what’s happened here.”
Harold looks over the arena, the stage is gone, torn down in the collapse, but to the keen eye its footprint remains.
“This is still the same place it was before. Just like those inmates, they haven’t changed, Nox is still a psychopath, Dahlia’s still a black widow, and Redgrave is still the motherfucker who killed my little girl.”
At his own mention of Redgrave, Harold’s venom rises to the surface but he manages to restrain his rage when he finds wooden remains of the stage in the shape of a cross.
“Just like you Tombstone, you’ve painted yourself with that World Champion’s brush. All nice and shiny but you’re still the Ferryman tarnished by dirt and sweat.”
Mr. Nobody continues his journey through the arena as he runs his hand across scars in the concrete wall made by sharp metal object.
“Over more, men like Friendly Felix Foley. The Odyssey Pool might as well be a simple paint can because it’ll never wash the blood away on that man’s hands, or the damage you’ve done.”
Continuing around the arena Harold comes across a hole in the wall where small insects are invading Olympus.
“Or someone like Nergal, who believes her fusion has somehow made her something different. She is still the intersection of humanity and infestation with that form of hers, still two minds about everything.”
Harold rushes toward the ring, he’s finally snapped, shedding his jacket.
“But confession time, I’m no different than any of you! I’ve attempted to paint over my past!”
The Arcadian Ghost removes his shirt.
“I attempted to act like something that I’m not.”
His shoes and jeans soon followed.
“But I realized something. What I was before… was better. I was driven, obsessed even… sharper than a blade, more potent than any infestation, and I wasn’t the one ferrying my dead the current OSW Champion did that for me.”
Mr. Nobody stands, center of the ring in only a pair of boxers.
“Now, Nobody will remember he could show up just like this, and he would still be the most dangerous thing in this ring. Because Arcadia once feared its Ghost due to what they couldn’t see, hushed whispers in back alleys, and nightmares of what hid in the dark. Now, the lights are on, and all the carnage once hidden away will happen for everyone to bear witness to and Arcadia will fear its Ghost again. I’m done painting over my past. I will now cover this canvas with the blood on my hands, tarnish my soul even more, and I am done being a man of two minds. I’m a dead man walking, before I die, I’ll take every soul I can into the night, and kill ‘till I die.”