Chap­ter 6 — To Kill! sets the scene for a night rid­dled with ten­sion, secrets, and shift­ing loy­al­ties. Rajah Muda Saf­fir, hav­ing grown impa­tient and sus­pi­cious of Budu­dreen’s vague reports, begins to doubt the inten­tions of his sup­posed ally. Believ­ing the first mate of the Itha­ca might be schem­ing to keep Vir­ginia for him­self, the Rajah pre­pares for retal­i­a­tion. Under cov­er of dark­ness, he lands on the island with over five hun­dred armed Dyaks. His plan is clear—take what he believes is owed to him: the chest and the girl. Budu­dreen, mean­while, jug­gles dou­ble alle­giances while attempt­ing to out­ma­neu­ver both the Rajah and his fel­low West­ern­ers. His ambi­tion blinds him to the chaos about to erupt.

Simul­ta­ne­ous­ly, von Horn leads Vir­ginia away from her father under the pre­tense of safe­ty. His inten­tions are less than noble, col­ored by obses­sion and oppor­tu­ni­ty. Budu­dreen, sig­nal­ing to his hid­den men, pre­pares a sur­prise attack on the camp. With mul­ti­ple forces mov­ing toward a vio­lent clash, the island becomes a trap wait­ing to snap shut. Num­ber Thir­teen, observ­ing events from a dis­tance, wres­tles with his iden­ti­ty and a grow­ing emo­tion­al depth. Though cre­at­ed as an exper­i­ment, he begins to grasp com­plex feelings—fear, long­ing, and guilt. His thoughts turn dark, even con­tem­plat­ing the death of Pro­fes­sor Max­on, the man respon­si­ble for his tor­tured exis­tence. But a greater force begins to sur­face: con­science.

The storm of con­flict reach­es its height when Muda Saffir’s Dyaks charge the camp from one side while Bududreen’s trai­tor­ous crew approach­es from anoth­er. The camp’s defens­es col­lapse under the sud­den assault. In the midst of this may­hem, Num­ber Thir­teen charges into the chaos. His goal isn’t revenge—it’s to pro­tect the inno­cent. He finds Pro­fes­sor Max­on near­ly over­pow­ered and inter­venes with­out hes­i­ta­tion. His strength proves for­mi­da­ble, scat­ter­ing attack­ers and res­cu­ing both the Pro­fes­sor and Sing. This self­less act rede­fines him not as a beast, but as some­thing clos­er to man.

Vir­ginia, sep­a­rat­ed in the con­fu­sion, evades cap­ture through sheer deter­mi­na­tion. Her instincts guide her back toward the camp, only to find it aflame with vio­lence. See­ing Num­ber Thir­teen bat­tling attack­ers to defend her father forces her to con­front her assump­tions about his nature. He, once feared as a soul­less cre­ation, stands between life and death with nobil­i­ty. Pro­fes­sor Max­on, bad­ly shak­en but alive, begins to see the unin­tend­ed con­se­quences of his exper­i­ments. What he sought to cre­ate in a lab now behaves with more human­i­ty than those born of nature.

Beneath the sur­face of vio­lence, deep­er themes emerge. Von Horn watch­es the fight­ing from a dis­tance, unwill­ing to risk him­self yet ready to claim any cred­it that might arise. His cow­ardice con­trasts stark­ly with Num­ber Thirteen’s brav­ery. Mean­while, Budu­dreen is cap­tured by Saffir’s men, accused of betray­al and quick­ly stripped of any pow­er he once held. The cir­cle of treach­ery clos­es in on itself, leav­ing chaos as its only lega­cy.

Num­ber Thirteen’s role begins to shift from crea­ture to pro­tec­tor, and he embraces it despite the risk. His under­stand­ing of right and wrong sharp­ens, dri­ven not by pro­gram­ming but by choice. These moments show that iden­ti­ty isn’t fixed by ori­gin but shaped by actions and intent. As dawn approach­es, the bat­tered sur­vivors count their loss­es. The camp lies in ruins, the attack­ers scat­tered, and trust shat­tered. Yet with­in the destruc­tion, some­thing unex­pect­ed has grown—hope root­ed in trans­for­ma­tion.

The events of this chap­ter strip away illu­sions. Alle­giances are test­ed, inten­tions exposed, and char­ac­ters forced to con­front the con­se­quences of their choic­es. Buried in a jun­gle of deceit, one fig­ure stands redeemed—not by sci­ence, but by heart. The jour­ney of Num­ber Thir­teen is no longer just a sto­ry of unnat­ur­al birth but one of earned human­i­ty. And with that, the island becomes more than a back­drop to adventure—it becomes a prov­ing ground where true char­ac­ter is revealed.