How To Use Console Commands

Chapter 3

The vast majority of Avergreen had been decimated. Only a few buildings near the center of town had been spared the destruction. It was here that the surviving townspeople had gathered. They all looked haggard and panicked. Clothes were tattered, soot smeared their faces and some were limping from injuries. The four hunters that had accompanied Payton and his party stood in front of them, describing what had happened and likewise demanding to know how the town came to be such a state.

As Payton approached, his keen ears picked up their conversation.

"... and then they attacked! Every day!"

"They keep coming every day! The moment the sunsets, they attack!"

"They've grown in number! Reinforcements have come from Gobhood!"

Ravenus pulled Payton back while both Axter and Durandal took two more steps forward to protect their Dark Lord. At that moment, the villagers noticed the four Grigori and one of them, a woman wearing a grey bonnet, pointed to catch everyone else's attention.

"Grigori! There are four of them! If we give them up to Sir Gaolsheer, he will stop attacking!"

"But are they the ones he wants?" countered another. "Gaolsheer showed us no clemency when we offered up Burden! He wouldn't even take him!"

"Who cares!? He will surely reward us if we give him not three but four! Maybe even five if we throw in Burden!"

It sickened Payton that these people were willing to sacrifice five lives to save their own hides. Though he supposed when faced against overwhelming odds, it was easy to see how people to prioritize themselves over others. That didn't make it right but he understood the instinctive need to shove someone else in the way of the hungry, charging wolf to save yourself even if it was for just a few precious seconds.

I wonder what people from my world would think about this world. I wonder if anyone else from my world actually even landed here.

"Let's get them!" bellowed one of the villagers. Durandal was already drawing his swords and the air was growing colder around Axter.

Then the hunters linked arms and formed a human barrier between themselves and the villagers.

"No!" barked one of them. "These Grigori are not like your normal Grigori! They are named!"

That gave the mob pause. Even a Level 1 named individual could cut down a large portion of the mob with ease. Sheer numbers would eventually overwhelm the four of them, but more would die out of the effort. There was no telling how this Gaolsheer would react to the dead bodies of four Grigori instead of bringing them to him alive. Would the magical properties of a Grigori fade or die after some time after being beheaded? Would any body part do or did it have to be the head?

"The wolf is also the prophesied Dark Lord!" shouted another proudly. "He brought me back from the dead!"

Now the hesitation turned to one of fear with a little bit of anger thrown in there for good measure.

"Listen to us!" exclaimed a third hunter. "How could we allow ourselves to live in such a world where we grow complacent and let the likes of Gaolsheer just come in and kill half of our people? How could we let him just come here and raze our homes? Is this truly the world we wish to live in?"

"The Dark Lord offers something else!" announced the fourth hunter, the one that had been spared death. "Let us stand with him! Let us fight for our homes!"

There was a moment of silence amongst the villagers.

Then the moment passed.

"They've been bewitched by the Dark Lord! Their minds are not their own!"

Wait... can you bewitch someone if you're not a witch?

"We cannot trust anything they say!"

"Kill them! Kill them and brand them as traitors!"

It was time to step in.

Payton strode forward, pushing past Axter and Durandal. Lifting his head, he spoke as loudly as possible. "Say that I did hypnotize them or make them my thralls," he said coolly. "What's stopping me from taking your minds and doing the same to each of you? In fact, do you want proof that I can resurrect people?" He lifted a finger, lazily pointing it at one villager to the other. "Let's see... who should die...?"

Each of the people froze while he picked their references one at a time. His eyes drifted to the building right behind the mob. It looked like some sort of town hall with glistening pillars, broad stairs and even the flag of what he assumed was the town billowing on a pole in front of the broad doors.

"Delete."

Everyone froze with the villagers each looking to one another to see who was the unfortunate victim. A child was the first to point out something was happening to the town hall.

"Mommy! Look!"

One by one, each of them turned... and gawked in terror as their prized building slowly turned black from the very tip. The blackened structure dissipated into the winds like it was made of black sand or artfully crafted ash. The items inside were left untouched and clattered to the ground. Within a minute, the entire building had been consumed.

Bigger things take longer to disintegrate. Good to know.

"Would you look at that," Payton sighed dramatically, placing his paws on his hips. "I missed. Oh well. It proves my point. I can kill all of you just like that." He snapped his fingers, the sharp clicking sound making each of the villagers flinch. "Be grateful that I've decided to earn your loyalties instead of killing you and then resurrecting the dead as my immortal slaves."

Not that I know how to do that...

"So here the deal," he announced. "I can't stand how things are right now. Each of you are waited on hand and foot. You're being oppressed without knowing it!"

There were confused glances but the hunters remained stoic in their defense. Payton had spent the better part of the past three days convincing them of his ideals. He was lucky that while he didn't necessarily have a high Charisma score - at least he didn't think he did - Axter did and the hunters were... well... they were rather generic villagers who never had a need to really train up resistances to speeches. He hoped the same could be said about the villagers themselves.

"The Readers are killing you all slowly with complacency," he continued. "They feed you, clothe you and provide everything for you so that you're completely and utterly dependent on them. Then they justify acts of horror and cruelty because you owe them! You've grown to accept this and you just throw aside your own ability to make a choice because it's what the Readers want and you've long surrendered your free will to them!"

There were a few people who mumbled in agreement but most of the crowd still remained unsure.

Okay... time to pull out my main argument.

"You treat Grigori like lambs to the slaughter. To you, they are nothing more than cattle to be sacrificed to the Readers so that they can protect the world. Is that right?"

There was a greater sound of agreement from the mob. Some were even nodding.

"Well you are nothing more than cattle to the Readers!"

The shock value of the statement sparked outrage in some of the mob.

"Lies! The Readers and Listeners love us!"

"We are their loyal subjects!"

"They would never treat us like that!"

Payton smiled inwardly.

Got them.

"Really?" he accused, spreading his arms and gesturing at the smoldering ruins around them. "Would people who love and cherish you do this to you?" He let the words sink in and the noises of protest began to ebb. "You feed pigs, fatten them up so that they can be slaughtered for their flesh. How is what the Readers doing not the same? They provide everything for you so that they can do whatever they please with you when it suits them!"

"But this was not the act of a Listener! It was the Executioner! He's a vile named!"

That was an argument he had prepared on his way from the forest to town.

"Then where are your Readers? Your Listeners? Your Speakers? They aren't here to save you. I am. Worse yet, is the Executioner not under the employ of the Listener of Gobhood? What kind of monster would hire that kind of guy?"

It was a dirt trick, a horrible argument and most intelligent people would counter with the fact that Gaolsheer was his own person. What this ‘Executioner’ did - while it may reflect on the Listener's judgment - wasn't entirely on Faoster. From the looks of the crowd, however, it was working. More and more people were murmuring in agreement and nodded begrudgingly. Preying on people's stupidity like that made him feel sick but he needed these people on his.

"Let me help you," Payton said, lowering his arms and pressing a paw against his chest. "I want to change the world. I want to change the way things are now. I want to make sure that even people like you, who have everything, can always have more."

"What more could we have? We have everything!"

That was exactly what Payton was waiting for.

"How about a home in Gobhood? How about becoming named?"

There was a stunned silence that befell the mob. This was his opportunity to clinch the deal.

"I want to forge a world where anyone can earn a name and their abilities, powers and limits are only defined by their own ambitions! If you want to rise to the rank of a Listener, that is within your reach. Do you want to become a Reader? You will have the capacity to do so as long as you work hard! If you'd prefer to settle down and have a family, that is within your reach! No one will ever again be limited because of the circumstances of their birth!"

"Yes!" cried someone in the mob. "We can be heroes!"

"Right!" he exclaimed. "You can earn your name and you aren't privy to the whims of a Listener!"

"I can travel the world!"

"No border will be your limit!"

"I can fuck my pig!"

Payton hesitated on that one. "Uhm... Sure. I guess. Whatever floats your boat." He pumped a fist into the air. "Are you with me? Will you help me help you repel this Gaolsheer the Executioner!?"

A loud cheer erupted from the crowd. Not everyone joined in but it was enough to win the majority. With a sigh of relief, he nodded towards Durandal whom he tasked with organizing the defenses. With the former soldier's expertise on the battlefield, he would be pivotal in creating the defenses for Avergreen.

He turned towards Ravenus. "I'm pretty sure I didn't win over everyone. Keep an eye out for anyone that might sabotage us. If any of them defect to Gaolsheer, let them go."

The bat nodded and quietly disappeared into the shadow of a burned-out building.

That left Axter.

"The hunters mentioned there was one other Grigori in town aside from yourself. Would you take me to him?”

The chimera bowed almost like a butler and beckoned for one of the townspeople to approach. He interrogated the woman about 'Burden' and they were directed to the town jail. Said jail was a squat, stone building that sat off the main roads. The other buildings around it were clean, white and beautiful but this structure was dour, dark and built well away from other constructions. No one was guarding the jail and when they entered it, there was just a single jail cell at the far end of a single room. It looked more like a simple sheriff's office than a full jail though he guessed that in this saccharine world, few people were driven to crime, thus the lack of law enforcement.

At the far end of the cell was a large, hulking figure with a bare, grey chest and thick, stocky legs. He looked like a cross between a human and a rhinoceros. Two, large, ivory horns stuck out from his snout, the farthest from his eyes being the biggest while the second behind it was about half as big. Large scars crisscrossed his arms, legs and back, cutting through the dense grey skin to reveal the exposed, pink flesh beneath. His piercing green eyes regarded them with a bit of bitterness.

"So either you assholes are here because everyone else is dead or you're here because you were tricked by the stupid villagers and now you're going to be thrown in here with me." The man crossed his thick, meaty arms behind his head, revealing dense brown hair under his armpits. "Which is it?"

Huh... something is off about this guy. He's different from the other Grigori somehow.

"Neither," Axter said, his paws clasped behind his back. "My Master has decided to save this village despite how its poorly treated our kind and despite becoming a cesspool of decadence, complacency and ignorance. He has heard of your plight and come to rescue you."

The rhino waved a hand absently in their direction. "So you're recruiting me for some fucked up revolution. Is that it? Well, no thanks."

Axter's eyes narrowed, his pupils narrowing into slits. "The way I see it, you have no choice. Either you sit here and rot or you get up off your lazy behind and lend us your strength."

"And what's in it for me, huh?" The burly rhino gave them a cocky, lopsided smile. "And don't bother saying anything like 'my freedom' or some shit like that. The shitheads of this town told me pretty much the same thing. They'd 'keep me safe' and 'provide for me' or 'share their bounty' with me so long as I helped them along. But the moment that big black fucking ring appeared around the sun, they turned on me like someone flipped the fucking 'murder switch' on in their heads."

Payton's eyes widened in surprise as a little lightbulb went off in his head.

"Would you happen to come from a world called 'Earth'?" he asked.

The rhino's cocky features sank. "Wait... You too?"

A spark of relief touched his heart and he immediately crossed the distance between the door towards the cell doors. "Yeah. I'm from California. You?"

"London."

"I thought I recognized that accent!" Payton beamed brightly. "Oh my god! I can't believe I actually met someone from Earth!"

Having dropped his tough-guy attitude and leaned forward, beaming brightly. "Hang on. If this is really an Isekai, we got make sure we're actually from the same world. What year did you come here?"

"2020," he answered.

The rhino's features furrowed in confusion. "And you've been here...?"

"Just a couple of days."

The man rubbed his stubbly chin. "Huh... it was 2034 when I left Earth. Did Brexit go ahead in your world?"

"It was voted in favor, yeah, but it took years before anyone actually did anything about it."

"Weird. People voted against it in mine." The rhino snapped his fingers. "Trump. Was Trump voted President in 2020?"

Payton inclined his head in confusion. "You mean was he re-elected? I don't know. I was gone before that happened."

The rhino's features fell in shock. "You're kidding me. He won his bid in 2016? America actually voted for that buffoon?"

"He didn't win the popular vote... at least according to the official stats... He denies it though."

"Of course he did," sighed the man. "In my world he lost his bid in 2016 and tried again in 2020. That one he won but only because America was tired of how Hilary was handling the COVID outbreak and wanted someone who could shake things up. Didn't do much better to be honest but he blamed the previous administration for everything."

"Not much different from what happened with me," answered Payton with a shrug. "I guess we're from different versions of Earth."

The rhino held out a fist. "Close enough, bro."

That was a gesture that Payton could understand and bumped fists with the man. "Yeah. Let's get you out of there."

The beast got up and laughed softly. "Oh, dude. I can get out any time I want. Check this out." He absently brushed his fingers across the metal bars. The silvery steel immediately turned black and crumbly before collapsing under its own weight. "Apparently, I can make any inorganic thing I touch into pure carbon. That means things like steel or stone will just turn into black dust if I decide it. Leather and wood, though, are technically organic stuff so I can't do anything with that." He gestured at his feet which were currently locked in what looked like wooden stocks. "The villagers found this out and that's how they managed to wrangle me in here. I was honestly planning to just turn the wall into dust the moment the fighting started and get the hell out of here. Then you turned up! Lucky me!"

Payton stepped aside to let the hulking man step through. He towered over Payton, easily the tallest of the Grigori he had met and stood well-past seven feet tall though that could be because of his horns. Brimming with lean muscles, he was an absolute behemoth. Short brown hair stuck out between his small, leaf-shaped ears and ran down the back of his broad neck like a mane. Only dark brown shorts held up by a rope belt adorned his body leaving his huge, scarred torso exposed.

"Do you have a name?" Payton asked.

The rhino gave him a frown. "Honestly, I don't remember it. You'd think it's the last fucking thing I'd forget but the moment I woke up a few miles from here, I had no idea what my name was. I know who I was but not what my name was."

Weird... So even if we came from similar version of Earth with slight variations, I'm the only one that remembers my name.

Why? What made me so special?

"What about you?" asked the towering man.

"Payton Rendshaw. Somehow, I remembered my own name when I came here. As for my powers... Well... Apparently, I'm the Dark Lord that's supposed to end the world."

There was a second where his new companion stared at him in disbelief. Then, the man laughed and crossed his arms behind his head again. "Well fuck me! Not only do I get thrown into a weird world with this fucking amazing body and this weirdly selective power but I get picked up by the guy that's gonna bring the fucking Apocalypse!" He shrugged. "Sure, I can dig it!"

That brought some relief to Payton as he filled in their new friend on the plan and, in turn, the rhino told him of his history.

Burden was the name given to him as the villagers considered him a 'beast of burden'. He was found by some of Avergreen's hunters not too far away from the village, naked and scared. They brought him to the village where the then-mayor took pity on him and gave him a job working the fields in exchange for food and a roof over his head.

"It wasn't very comfortable but it was better than dying," Burden said as they made their way back towards the centre of town. "Before I came here, I was actually this little skinny guy that was always jealous of the big guys in the gym. I worked at a gas station." The rhino scratched himself behind his left ear. "In fact, I was shot before I came here. I'm pretty sure I died."

Payton stopped in midstep and so did Axter.

"What?" asked the lupine Grigori.

Burden shrugged absently. "Yeah. It was the graveyard shift and I was bored as hell. This guy comes in, pretends to be going around looking for some shit and then I hear one of the displays falling over. Like a dumbass, I leave my post and go over to see what happened. He had knocked it over and now that I was out in the open, he held a gut to my face and ordered me to empty the cashier. I did as I was told and the asshole still shot me." The rhino grinned at him though there was a bit of pain on the edges of his easy-going smile. "Imagine my surprise when I woke up here in this kickass body."

The reason he was probably okay with taking the mayor's offer is because, in comparison, he would have been dead otherwise. Everything from this point on is basically a gift.

But he actually died_..._

... I don't think I did.

"What about you? How did you end up here?"

He repeated his story about the mysterious email that had forced him to go through some bizarre and weirdly sexually charged scenario before he blacked out. He felt ashamed that the circumstances of his arrival on Lexcia was much more... vanilla than Burden's.

"So what's the plan, boss?" asked the rhino as they reached what had been the town hall. He inclined his head and glanced around for a few moments. "Did Gaolsheer destroy the town hall as a symbolic gesture or something?"

"No..." mumbled Payton. "I sort of did... as a symbolic gesture."

Burden stared at him for a whole five second before laughing. "Well shit! I lucked out! Okay! So we gonna kill Gaolsheer or something?"

It was Payton's turn to stare at the rhino incredulously. "You're awfully enthusiastic about taking the life of someone else and joining up with the Dark Lord."

"It's better than how I was living before," grunted the rhino. "I was literally living in horseshit. After a while, I got used to the smell but still. Even after that, do you know what Gaolsheer did? Did you see those charred corpses on the side of the road?"

Payton shut his eyes and shuddered. "I can't _un_see them."

"Those people actually took me to Gaolsheer to bargain for more time. They hoped that at least having me killed would offer them some leniency after he burned down the circus."

Axter let out a soft 'meep' upon hearing the destruction of his former home.

I'll have to deal with that afterwards.

"Do you know what Gaolsheer did?" continued Burden.

"No. What?"

"He had each and every one of the men and women who brought me to him impaled and then burned alive because he asked them to bring him three Grigori. Not one. Three. He let me run back to the village to convey the message. I got thrown in jail for it."

These were not the actions of a sane man. This was a monster who was out for blood and looked for any reason to spill blood. Any reason at all. This was also the symptom of this reality. No one was held accountable for their own actions. Everything and everyone was dependent on the Readers so if they sanctioned it or did nothing about a lunatic like Gaolsheer, no one had any options aside from accepting it.

That has to change.

"And you're okay with potentially starting a 'fucking rebellion' as you put it?" Payton asked.

Burden huffed loudly, his lips curling upwards sardonically. "I don't know how the world was when you left it but where I'm from, this shit won't fly. It's basically intellectual neutering mixed with a hint of communism while taking all the bad shit about capitalism and burning it on the stove until it smells like fascism. Sprinkle a good little hint of racism for garnish."

The colorful imagery made Payton smile and left him grateful to have someone else he could somewhat relate to.

"Well, I should give you a name and make you like the rest of my party," he said. He nodded over to Axter. "I know you're itching to check out the circus, Axter. You go on ahead. Burden and I can sort things out from here."

The chimera bowed thankfully and quickly took his leave.

"You're okay with me renaming your and deciding your class?" Payton asked.

"I suppose. Not like I have much choice in the matter." He jerked his chin at the lion. "I'm guessing he's the Mage?"

"How'd you figure?"

"Blue fur. That'd be way too obvious for a Rogue and he doesn't have the build for a Brawler. Might've been an Archer but I didn't see a bow or ranged weapon on him so I figured he's the Mage. I guess I could be a Brawler. Don't think I'd be a good Rogue though."

Payton grimaced a little as he accessed Burden's character sheet. "Actually, we already have a Brawler and Rogue so... we're kind of stuck with you being the Archer. Unless you're okay with being another Brawler...?"

Burden waved his beefy hand through the air. "Naw. I gotcha. Balance the party out. Good thing about this world is that your class is only a third of the shit that defines you. You've got your equipment and the skills you get from them as well. You could be a Mage but if you swing a sword around, you'd be just as good with that as you are with spells. I'm fine being an Archer."

A good decision as Burden's highest statistics were his Dexterity and Wisdom. Charisma was his lowest with Intelligence a close second. Strength was in the midrange. He'd make for a decent Archer with those statistics. A quick glance at his biography revealed that Burden was truthful about the events that had led up to their meeting. The only thing that was omitted was the fact that the former-mayor had taken great lengths to ensure that the villagers didn't speak about Burden, almost ignoring him entirely. Burden suspected this was to make sure any travelers and anyone passing by didn't suspect them for harboring a Grigori during a Black Halo but clearly that went down the drain when Gaolsheer arrived.

Like the others, there was nothing about his life before he arrived in Lexcia.

"I think I'll give you the name Tartarius Blackhorn. Sound good?"

The rhino arched a bushy eyebrow at him. "Tartarius as in Tartarus? The pit of the Greek Underworld where people go to be tormented?" He grinned savagely. "I like it. Nice and heavy."

"Great. Tartarius Blackhorn it is."

Like the other, the newly named Tartarius was engulfed in a soft aura of light but no outward changes were apparently. At least for the moment. Unlike Axter, he didn't pass out immediately either.

"So what now?" asked the rhino.

Payton looked to the distance, back towards the forest. "Now... we prepare."

******

Gobhood was more than just a simple city. It was the capital city of what one could consider Faoster's Province. Many smaller townships littered the province and had their own purposes but it was in Gobhood that all this wealth and prosperity fed and subsequently distributed. Apart from the normal coinage that was minted in Inferiorix's own country and spread across Lexcia, the other currency that was prevalent in the Province was goblins.

Yes, the smelly, little simple-minded green wretches were a form of wealth and status. If one owned a goblin, you were considered lower-middle class. The more goblins you had serving you, the higher your status. Naturally, Gobhood was the one place where there were more goblins than people. The population of three million only accounted for the humans living within its confines while there were easily double or triple that in goblins. The bothersome things scrambled through the pipes - called Green Vines - underneath the city to their individual assignments. Some delivered goods and produce, others rushed to fix broken items while others headed to their manual labor jobs.

Ultimately, the flow of Goblins was controlled by the four Speakers of the city.

One of the Speakers, known as the Emerald Mage, stood atop his tower overlooking the glistening lake that Gobhood was built around. It was a beautiful sight and with the sun setting, it was made even more breathtaking. A goblin scampered up to him, naked save for a ragged loincloth and holding a silver platter with a golden goblet. The Mage picked it up and took a sip from the wine. It was good. He had trained his goblins well. The miserable little thing - barely three feet high - turned and scampered off to its next assignment.

The door to his study sprang open and he sighed heavily. Only two other men would have the gall to enter his private chambers without announcing themselves first or sending notice. One of them rarely left the Greenworks so that could only mean one thing.

"To what do I owe this visit from our great and esteemed Master-at-Arms?" he asked lazily.

The Goblin Knight slammed a parchment onto his desk. "Gaolsheer has gone completely mad! I just received this via a messenger goblin! It says he's commandeered patrols wandering around Avergreen and is assaulting the town on suspicion of harboring Grigori!"

The Emerald Mage swirled the cup of wine slowly. "Harboring Grigori is a crime. The town should burn for this."

"It's a suspicion. He has no proof! We can't just let our heroes and adventurers go out destroying our townships! Avergreen provides us with a very steady supply of grain! Replacing all those townspeople and the infrastructure will take months!"

"Have the goblins take over, then," replied the Mage with an exaggerated yawn. "I do not see what the concern is."

"The concern is that if left unchecked, Gaolsheer is just going to go from town to town feeding his insane bloodlust until such a time that something is done about him!"

The Emerald Mage turned to look over his shoulder lazily at the Goblin Knight. "Then perhaps you should allow him to be promoted to the Advanced Classes, hmm? Maybe once he can start gaining levels again he can start investing points in his Intelligence or perhaps Wisdom so he can learn the error of his ways."

"Or we'd just be making a savage even more powerful! If he were ever to reach our level-"

"He'd have four of us to deal with as opposed to his one," answered the Emerald Mage, turning back towards the stunning sunset. "Besides, if he were ever to rebel or do something truly outrageous, you know Faoster would be the first to take up the blade and execute the executioner. If you wanted to dangle the possibility of death to him, remind him that Orphan will be paying a visit to Gobhood in a few weeks. Should his atrocities continue, you can be sure that our good Reader could obliterate him with a flick of a wrist. Maybe feed his heart to a demon."

The Goblin Knight growled and slammed a mailed fist into the table. "I just do not like the idea of letting a beast off the leash..."

The Mage scoffed softly. "Not everyone can be leashed like your goblins, my dear. Humans have free will, after all. They will do as they please and even were you to break them with your... methods, there is no guarantee that something won't set off that spark of rebellion that will see them lunging at your throat before you can even demand to know how they could break through weeks, months or even years of conditioning in a second."

"You have your methods, I have mine," the Goblin Knight snarled.

"Indeed." The Emerald Mage turned his back from the breathtaking sight of the lake towards the red-faced knight. "But you didn't come here to whine to me about our dear executioner. What truly troubles you?"

"Astute as always." The Knight's features softened as he straightened. "You know the purpose of Orphan's visit, yes?"

"Of course."

"Then I assume you've got a fresh batch of Grigori that you're going to offer him and the new Reader when he arrives."

The Emerald Mage batted his eyes as the Knight. "My dear, Knight. Are you asking me to share my bounty with you? Were pickings so scarce this time around?"

"No. I am here to warn you not to try what you did last time and steal from me!"

The Mage laughed heartily. "Oh dear. What a harsh thing to say. I would never do such a thing!"

The Knight slammed his palms against the table before leading forward and pointing an accusing finger at the Mage. "It was you! If only I could prove it! I know it was you!"

With a sigh, the Emerald Mage turned his back one more towards the Goblin Knight. "Still pining to be made a Listener, I see. We've all reached Grandmaster Class, done a great many things and kept the peace in this city for decades and yet every time a Black Halo comes, we still offer as many Grigori as we can to Orphan and the new Reader."

He stared at his cup, a cruel smile on his lips. "The difference between us is that you still do it in the hopes that said Reader will recognize our worth and elevate us to the rank of Listener."

"And you don't?"

"To me, it is but a ritual. A formality. The only reason I do it is because I must. There is no value in the Grigori to me. No. My interest lay in my goblins."

The Goblin Knight snarled in disgust and turned to leave. "Your experiments are just as much an abomination as Gaolsheer's bloodlust. Do what you will."

"I shall, my deer knight." The Mage's lips curled upwards in a twisted smile. "Believe me, I shall."

******

The sun was starting to set. The appointed time was upon them. The four hunters that had accompanied the party to Avergreen escorted Payton and his party of three other Grigori up the road towards the small camp that Gaolsheer had set up. The charred remains of villagers flanked them on their way up the road, a dire warning of their fates ahead. About halfway up the path, they veered off to the right, cresting a small hill to find Gaolsheer's camp. The soldiers from Gobhood had arranged tents in a circle and had lit a giant bonfire at the center.

They're so close to the road.

Payton found it impossible to think that someone like Gaolsheer hadn't set up scouts or lookouts for their approach. Given that they had first arrived on the main road, it was fully conceivable that the mad executioner knew that he and the others had arrived in Avergreen.

Which makes what happens next even worse...

Flanked by the hunters, Payton strode forward, heavy chains wrapped around his wrists. Gobhood soldiers emerged from their tents, weapons at the ready. The eyes of sharp lookouts with bows and arrows made Payton's skin crawl. The hatred in the expressions of these men was smoldering.

One of the tent flaps shifted and just by the sharp intake of breath from one of the hunters, he assumed the man that emerged had to be Gaolsheer the Gobhood Executioner.

If he had learned anything about MMOs back on Earth, it was that the characters that were unnaturally taller than the average person were important. Gaolsheer stood at a towering seven feet tall and was a beast of a man. His craggy features were marked with wrinkles especially around his lips, jaw and brow. The strong square jaw was connected to a thick neck that was framed by stark, white hair that had strange red-black roots. A barrel-like chest was barely wrapped in a blood-splattered white tunic with a black apron hung over his shoulders. The apron was bound to his waist by a thick, brown belt where there hung what appeared to be the skulls of his victims. The rotting features of his latest kill - which Payton assumed was the mayor of Avergreen - was still there. His massive legs were wrapped in black trousers that ended around halfway down his calves. Breaking from the appearance of a butcher, thick, heavy plate boots were wrapped around his feet, splattered with blood, mud and muck. His hands were similarly wrapped in heavy, black leather gloves that had iron plates embedded across the knuckles and the dorsal side of his hand.

By far the greatest feature of Gaolsheer was the enormous double-bladed axe - a labrys if he remembered his trivia. The weapon's head was simply enormous and bore the same three-eyed, three-headed goblin face at the center of the blade. Each curved edge was heavily serrated and easily as big as a normal man's neck. A tall spike erupted from the middle of the blade doubling the function of the axe as a spear. A wooden haft was protected by black, leather wrappings while a metal, spiked grip showed were the weapon was meant to be held. There were two such grips but Gaolsheer held it easily in one hand.

"Sir Gaolsheer!" exclaimed one of the hunters, stepping forward and kneeling. "We bring you the escaped Grigori!"

The towering man's red eyes widened in glee and his thick, cracked lips peeled back into a hideous grin, showing yellowed teeth and a smile that seemed to stretch his jaw as far as it could.

That's where those wrinkles came from.

Payton's eyes fell upon the man's wrists, to those gloves.

Gloves of Heavy Weapon Wielding.

Not only did the magical weapons provide some degree of armor and defense but they allowed Gaolsheer to wield any weapon that would normally take two hands in a single hand. His boots were called the 'Boots of the Marching Soldier' which gave him extra stamina and reduced the rate such stamina drained when he was on the move.

The last item for inspection was the axe, Goblinshredder.

Gaolsheer approached the party, completely ignoring the kneeling man and staring straight into Durandal's face. As the brawniest of the party, he likely caught Gaolsheer's attention the most. The executioner - his grin never fading - appraised Durandal even going so far as to lean down and take a long whiff of the boar's fur.

Payton ignore the creep-factor of the executioner and continued to regard the weapon.

Unlike the gloves or the boots he wore, Goblinshredder had a name that was highlighted in bright orange. It had a bit of flavour text as well and was marked with the 'Unique' flag. The gloves and boots were simply flagged as 'Magic' items and their text were bright green as opposed to normal items which were white. At level 20, Goblinshredder already had quite a few skills activated and many of them were maximised. The axe dealt a devastating 322 damage on its own but would deal double that when swung at a target's neck thanks to the Skill 'Neckbreaker'. It also possessed the Lightweight Skill which lowered its overall weight to make it easier to wield. Soulbound ensured that only the one it was bound to could fully utilize its skills though that didn't mean others couldn't swing it around. Perhaps the most sinister was the last two skills which had yet to be fully leveled; 'Blood of the Goblin' and 'Everthirst'.

"You must have a lot of blood in you," Gaolsheer rumbled at Durandal. "I think I'll save you for the main course." The Executioner then turned towards Ravenus who was next to Durandal. The hunger in his eyes didn't fade. "A bat. A fellow blood enthusiast."

Ravenus' hands shook at the comment but he didn't do much more than that.

Blood of the Goblin granted a stacking damage bonus to Goblinshredder for every goblin it slew that lasted up to five minutes. Each time a stack was added, the timer reset but once the timer ran out, all stacks were exhausted. Everthirst was more of a curse than a blessing as it instilled a constant need to spill blood on the person the item was Soulbound to but, in exchange, when blood was spilled, he would regenerate health.

Kind of like a Berserker.

Interestingly, Goblinshredder had one last piece of information on its item sheet.

Made by 'Hagden Hoblood.' I wonder who that could be...

"You have a strong body," chuckled Gaolsheer to Ravenus. "Now I am torn between you and the pig here on who to have as my main course." His eyes turned towards Axter next, the red orbs gleaming in glee. He ran his hands through the blue lion's mane. "Ah, but you I shall have for dessert. Such fine fur is only befitting a finale to a great meal."

Axter couldn't keep his composure and turned his head away, pulling away from the Executioner's fingers.

Gaolsheer didn't pursue, thankfully, and lastly turned towards Payton. When their gazes met, Payton opened the man's character sheet.

A Level 20 Brawler.

As a Brawler, Gaolsheer had incredibly high Strength and Endurance but sacrificed Dexterity and Charisma in exchange. His Intelligence and Wisdom were in the midranges but far below his primary statistics. There was a wide array of Class Skills that were mainly focused on melee attacks that could shatter armor, deal area of effect damage or see him striking at multiple targets in rapid succession. No recovery skills so he likely relied on Goblinshredder's Everthirst to maintain his health and stamina.

As for the biography...

"Ah, you are the smallest of them all..." Gaolsheer reached forward, gripping Payton's chin and forcing him to look up. Durandal almost took a step forward but Ravenus gripped his wrist, holding him back. "... Barely a bite. You would make for a fine appetizer."

Gaolsheer was originally just a farmer in a distant town and, much like everyone else in this world, was quite content with his lot in life. Because the town he lived in was so far from the capital, it could be raided by some of the more barbaric races or dangers that littered the world. During one Black Halo, a band of renegade goblins not under the control of Faoster attacked his village. Gaolsheer defended himself by following the advice a passing soldier had given him - 'Go for the neck'. He slew ten goblins on his own but succumbed to his injuries and some crude goblin poison. When Faoster arrived days later, tales reached his ears of the child who had killed ten goblins on his own. The Listener took the boy to Gobhood in a hurry, giving him the best medical attention. When Gaolsheer awoke, he was granted his current name, given gold and a choice; return to his village a rich man or train in the capital to become a hero.

He chose to become a hero.

Years later, Gaolsheer became renowned as a bloodthirsty warrior who was all too eager for conflict and blood. The Speakers - the lieutenants of the Listeners - refused to promote him and allow him to access the Advanced Classes. In frustration, he continued to go around the province seeking some way to prove to the Speakers that he was worthy. When the next Black Halo arrived, he added another title to his list of accolades - The Executioner of Gobhood. After slaying so many Grigori and personally giving them to Orphan, Gaolsheer was granted the hut on the outskirts of Gobhood and assigned the official task of being the Executioner of the Province.

It was clearly a ploy to keep him from circumventing the ruling of the Speakers but he was content so long as he could continue to feed his bloodlust. One of the Speakers even gave him Goblinshredder to keep him placated. Now his life was nothing more than killing and spilling blood. He had just recently stepped into the realms of torture...

"I've learned something in my many years of adventuring," Gaolsheer announced, bringing Payton away from his deep dive into Gaolsheer's character. "Whether they like it or not, many people in this world are divided into the Base Classes even if they are not named." He released Payton's chin and pointed at Durandal. "We tend to sort ourselves into these 'balanced' parties. You must be the Brawler..." His finger glided over to Ravenus. "You must be the Rogue..." Then it went to Axter. "I assume you must be the Archer... and, naturally, the smallest, physically weakest one must be the Mage."

Gaolsheer turned his back to them, shrugging dramatically. "So I was quite curious how your party would arrange itself when I heard that three of you had escaped."

The hunter that had announced their arrival, the one still kneeling, suddenly went rigid. Gaolsheer's malicious grin was now pointed at him.

"I am very disappointed that I was brought four Grigori instead of the three I asked for!"

Now!

Gaolsheer lifted Goblinshredder as easily as one would lift a feather. The muscles all over his thick, hairy arms bulged, veins popping over his forearms. The kneeling hunter squeezed his eyes shut –

“SpawnItem.”

CLANG!

The entire camp went still.

Goblinshredder slammed into the frame of a blood-smeared double-bladed axe with black leather all over its haft and spiked, metal guards over its grips. The three-eyed, three-headed emblem of Gobhood was emblazoned on the frame of the axe.

Another Goblinshredder but this one was held in all four arms of Durandal.

"In all your many years of adventuring," grinned the boar, "didn't you ever learn not to turn your back on a mage!?"

That was the queue for Axter. The ice blue lion, free of his crude, wooden shackles, swept his paws through the air in a wide arc. Icy shards sprang from the air and immediately began peppering the surrounding camp. The Gobhood foot soldiers were forced to duck and dive for cover to avoid being skewered. The ice-blue projectiles bit into the grass, tore through tent flaps and spooked the horses tethered nearby causing further confusion.

Ravenus ducked beneath Gaolsheer's guard, slipping beneath the surprised Executioner and wrapping his arms around the kneeling hunter. The bat Grigori immediately spread his wings and leapt into the air, beating those mighty, webbed appendages to kick up some dust right into Gaolsheer's eyes. The Executioner gagged and growled like a wild animal, waving his free hand in front of his face to bat away the dust.

The sound of heavy hooves cut through the chaos of the camp.

"Hey! Gaolsheer!"

The red-eyed, blood-stained man turned in time to see that wolf getting plucked from where he was standing by a rhino Grigori on horseback. Strange, burning runes blazed all over the rhino's arms, legs and chest. Several other horses from the villages came riding in, sweeping up the Grigori and immediately retreating with them. The cry came from that boar. The grinning, tusked Grigori threw his imitation of Goblinshredder into the air where it landed a few feet from Gaolsheer, its blade embedded into the grass.

With a snarl, he straightened and seized the grip of the axe... only for the axe to immediately crumble into shards and pieces at his touch.

"Nothing but a cheap imitation," he rumbled. Despite the setback, his grin returned, wider than before and the mad gleam in his eyes shone even more maniacal edge. "Gather the horses! Pick up your weapons! Avergreen is in-cahoots with the Grigori! We burn every inch of it to the ground!" He thrust Goblinshredder into the air with a tremendous bellow. "But first, I want those Grigoris' heads!"

The cry was heard even by Payton who was already some distance away, clutching Tartarius' waist tightly as the rune-engraved rhino pushed the horse he was riding to the limit. The big, horned man couldn't help from grinning as they left the soldiers' camp in the dust.

"I can't believe that worked!" he bellowed, throwing his head back with a laugh. "That asshole actually fell for it!" He lifted his head and let out a loud, long, "Hot damn!"

"Don't celebrate just yet," Payton warned as they reached the bottom of the hill. The soldiers were already scrambling and the sound of their horses' hooves were growing louder even though they couldn't be seen quite yet. "That's part one of Durandal's plan. Now comes the next part."

It had been just before noon when Durandal had gathered all the key players and began formulating his plan.

"Based on what we've heard about Gaolsheer," the boar had said, "he's going to look for any reason to spill blood. Something tells me that if we turn up to him without the exact number of Grigori or even the Grigori he's looking for, he's likely to throw a fit. I also find it hard to believe that if his camp was so close to the road, he didn't see us when we arrived."

"That's nice," Tartarius had said, sporting his new, fiery appearance, "but how does that help us?"

"It reveals that one he gets a taste for blood. He's not going to stop until he gets it. We can't fight him at his camp. He's got the numbers and it's his turf. We need to bring him here."

"How?" Axter asked. "The arrangement is that the villagers bring us to him."

"We lead him to us," concluded Ravenus. "Tease him. Mock him. Get him really close to killing one of us, blind him with his bloodlust and then bring him here where we can take advantage of the cover, narrow streets and ruins."

Durandal nodded gravely. "That's exactly what I was thinking..."

Thus far, their plan had worked. Gaolsheer was after them and as they charged down the road into Avergreen, the bloodthirsty Executioner was just cresting the hill, wielding his axe and not even bothering with a horse. With those boots of his, he could probably keep up with the horses even if they were making their way down at a full gallop. The guy was a beast!

Arrows sailed towards them but as they already had a good distance between them, the projectiles barely made it close enough to reach any of the party. The moment they entered the expanse of the town, diving into the burnt remains of the outer buildings, they purposefully slowed down. Enough to allow the horses to navigate the streets without tumbling over one another but fast enough to at least maintain a decent lead. The cover of the buildings ensured that they wouldn't be sniped from a distance either. This did mean that Gaolsheer and his men drew closer bringing the party within range of some of counterattacks.

Ravenus grabbed the bow and arrows from the hunter he had rescued. He knocked an arrow, turned and quickly fired a shot over his shoulder. The charging soldiers were forced to duck beneath the sailing arrow. The horses whinnied in despair as icy spears shot between them, causing further disarray in their ranks.

Still, they far outnumbered the retreating party and were drawing closer.

Too close, in fact.

"Now!" Tartarius bellowed.

The party's horses raced over a cleverly hidden layer of sharpened wooden stakes. The moment they were clear, villagers hidden in the ruins of the burning houses pulled on some ropes. The stakes immediately swung upwards, rising from the ground and forming a sharpened barricade. The soldiers were charging too fast to stop. Payton didn't turn away when he watched men and their mounts get impaled in the spikes, bringing the charge to a halt.

"They're going to think their warhorses and superior weapons will give them the advantage," Durandal had said during the meeting. "But their greatest advantage over us all are their horses_. We need to make sure they lose confidence in them and dismount. Without their horses, we can fight them one-on-one."_

That gave them some reprieve to make their way to where the town hall once stood. A rough barricade had been erected there. Villagers armed with crude weaponry were huddled behind the palisade. Tartarius rode through the small opening in the wall and pulled at the reigns, beckoning the stocky horse to slow to a stop. Payton immediately leapt off the horse and hurried to where the other villagers were already pulling the rough 'gate' over the opening, sealing them in. He helped carry one of the large logs to secure the gate before rushing up the short platform that allowed him to watch the approaching soldiers.

"Well, isn't this cute!" came Gaolsheer's bellow. "Traps. A wall. The little insects think themselves kings of a castle that they seek to defend!"

The Executioner emerged from buildings, mostly unharmed. Behind him, the soldiers of Gobhood drew their weapons and began to spread out, surrounding the barricade. All of them were on foot. Various other traps by other villages in the alleys had crippled their use of horses.

Exactly as Durandal had planned.

"What is your plan, Grigori!?" bellowed Gaolsheer, spreading his arms wide. "Do you seek to wait us out? Do you hope that you can hoard all your supplies there and pray that we will exhaust ourselves waiting? That we will starve before you do?"

The man threw his head back, letting out a loud, mad laugh. "You seem to forget, I am named! I am a hero! Your puny barrier and those little arrows of yours will never do anything more than tickle me!" He swung Goblinshredder in a wide arc. "As for you villagers? Why help the doomed beasts?"

"Because you'll kill them no matter what you do!" shouted Axter. "You showed that when we offered ourselves to you! Four of us came to surrender. As far as you knew, even with the one Grigori that had already been here, four was all you needed! But you still would have killed our hunter friend for giving you more Grigori than you asked for!"

This hardened the villager's hateful stares at the Executioner.

"So you would rather go out fighting than to die with dignity by my axe," laughed the Executioner. "Fine."

Now it's my turn.

"Open the gates."

The nearby villagers stared at him in surprise and even Axter was stunned at the statement. Durandal's eyes widened briefly before he nodded grimly and repeated the order. The original plan had been to let Gaolsheer's men charge at them. They had some more surprises in store behind the barricade that would have thinned their numbers but that would not be needed.

Payton was thinking beyond this battle.

The villagers began pulling open the gates much to the confusion of Ravenus and Tartarius. But when the two noticed Payton striding towards the door, they bit back their comments and let the Dark Lord stride proudly with his head held high. Thankfully, the pitfall traps they had made around the gates stood nowhere near the actual gate itself. When Gaolsheer sent his men rushing to them, many of them would have fallen to their deaths on spikes. The rest would have had to fight through a bottleneck while villagers and the Grigori attacked them from the wall.

Gaolsheer saw his approach and grinned savagely. The towering man stormed forward, each footfall like a little earthquake. As they drew closer, Payton became very much aware of the size difference between them and tried not to arch his head too much looking up at the man.

"Come to make a heroic sacrifice?" boomed the Executioner of Gobhood. "It will do you no good. Everyone here is marked for death."

Alright... Here goes.

"I'm not here to sacrifice myself," he responded proudly, trying to hide the shaking in his voice. "I'm here to defeat you."

The Executioner threw his head back and let out a tremendous laugh, his mad grin splitting his face. "That's what I love about killing you Grigori! Sometimes, you're so full of yourselves that you just don't know where you stand!"

Without another warning, Gaolsheer swung his mighty axe right at Payton's neck.

"Master!" Axter cried.

"Payton!" screamed Durandal.

"AGM!" Payton barked.

A dull thud echoed in his ear. A soft, white light surrounded him, seemingly keeping Gaolsheer's blade from biting into his flesh. Whether it was out of pure fear or somehow managing to steel his own nerves against immanent death, Payton never stopped staring right into Gaolsheer's eyes.

Ohmygod! Ohmygod! Ohmygod! It fucking worked! God Mode activated!

Trying to keep his composure, Payton made a show of rolling his shoulders theatrically and then brushing Goblinshredder's bloody blade aside. "Let me guess. You were going to make some witty quip about me actually 'standing' a head shorter after you cleaved my head from my shoulders, right?"

Everyone - villager, Grigori, soldier and named alike - all stared in awe. The madness was momentarily gone from Gaolsheer's eyes, replaced with mute shock. To the soldiers, they simply could not understand what was happening. They had seen Goblinshredder free people of their heads so many times before and this moment just defied expectations. For the villagers who had heard Payton claim himself to be the Dark Lord, this was the first time they had definitive proof of this power. And for the likes of the Grigori, they could not help but smile.

"Let's try this again," Payton said, arching his neck a little to expose it a little more to Gaolsheer. "Try to be more creative with your finish move, though."

The Executioner's madness returned and with a primal cry, he lifted his axe in both hands and sent it crashing down against Payton's neck.

Thud.

Nothing. The axe was once more stopped by the strange, white aura surrounding the wolf.

"Attack!" bellowed Gaolsheer, immediately taking a step back. "What are you waiting for!? Attack!"

Payton narrowed his gaze as the first of the soldiers began to draw his blade at him. While he was sure God Mode would keep him from dying against these weapons, he wasn't sure to what extent it would fully protect him. Could he still suffocate form lack of oxygen? Could they still hold him down and keep him from helping his friends and the villagers?

This was not a time to experiment.

"SetDurability 0!" he shouted.

The soldier he was eyeing took a step forward... then everything on his person just shattered and broke. His sword, his armor, his helmet and even his steel boots crumbled into metal shards at his feet leaving nothing save for a loin cloth.

"Eeep!" he cried, immediately covering himself as best as he could with his hands.

Payton immediately glanced off to his left, focusing his gaze on another soldier. Thanks to the way the console worked, he could just invoke the previous command with a thought and add the reference. In that same second, that man's weapons and armor immediately shattered. Then another was reduced to near-nudity. And another. And another. A rising laughter came from the villagers watching from the palisades as the great and feared Gobhood army was made a fool of by one wolf Grigori.

Gaolsheer was quickly losing his temper as he took several steps back away from Payton.

"Archers! Fire! Use your Skills!"

This will be new.

He had never seen any of the skills in actual action save perhaps for Axter using his ice spikes. It was at that moment that he noticed a little flashing icon on the bottom right-hand side of his vision; it looked like a little speech bubble that was constantly blinking orange at him. A quick focus on it and it opened what appeared to be a dialog screen. Names, skills and numbers were appearing across it, constantly scrolling as each of the archers amongst Gaolsheer's troops began preparing their skills.

Gobhood Archer prepares Piercing Shot.

Gobhood Archer prepares Triple Shot.

Gobhood Archer prepares Blast Shot

He couldn't believe he had never noticed this before.

"Fire!" bellowed Gaolsheer and even that was replicated on the dialog box. He could even scroll up and down the box to look back at past messages. Payton was so distracted with the new tool that he barely even noticed when the first shot - a glowing green arrow - launched from an archer's bow and passed right through his chest, the arrow embedding deep into the charred road behind him.

Piercing Shot does 0 damage.

"Huh?" he mumbled, returning his attention to the archers.

But he got distracted again when a bunch of gibberish and unknown characters appeared in the dialog box where he should have spoken. It was highlighted in red and seemed to be... glitching.

That's... strange.

Arrows came streaming at him, each one glowing a different color or encased in a different kind of aura. One arrow split into three different projectiles and homed in on him only for all three to bounce off his torso with no effect. Another, streaking towards him with sizzling stars, struck his chest and exploded. The shockwave didn't even blow his fur or hair back.

Triple Shot does 0 damage.

Blast Shot does 0 damage.

Freeze Arrow does 0 damage.

Fire Arrow does 0 damage.

Binding Arrow does 0 damage.

The archers ceased their assault, staring at Payton in awe as the smoke and dust cleared.

"You're clearly not doing anything with those twigs," he said lazily. "I'm just going to take them away from you." He waved absently in their direction, grabbing the references for all of their bows and immediately setting their durability to 0. The bows shattered into splinters in their grip. Fear immediately gripped archers and the soldiers began backing away.

Gaolsheer was still grinning but there was clear worry in the edges of his manic smile. "You must have a very powerful ability, Grigori." Those words were clearly printed in the dialog box. It begged the question if only Payton's words were scrambled or if every Grigori's words would be masked.

"But I see through your tricks!"

Again, his attention was returned to the Executioner who was now striding forward confidently.

Wait... Does he really know?

"You can nullify anything and everything you set your gaze on! You've even improved upon that skill to the point where your 'nullification' can 'nullify' objects themselves, removing them from the world!"

Wow... That actually sounds like a cool ability.

But it also means that it's possible to improve a Grigori's natural ability and evolve it into new and different ways. You just have to think about it creatively.

"Which means I can do this!"

His dialog box flashed, announcing that Gaolsheer used the ability Backslash. The massive Executioner immediately vanished from in front of him and -

Thud!

Brought Goblinshredder crashing down upon Payton's head.

Holy shit! That was so fast!

If he didn't have to keep his composure, Payton would have fallen to his knees, curled up into a ball and cried a fountain while clutching his head. Though no damage was done, he could imagine the kind of damage it could have done if he didn't have God Mode activated. It made him seriously consider keeping it on all the time.

But that's a handicap more than a benefit. If I keep it on, people are going to find ways of hurting me beyond just normal combat.

He glanced over his shoulder at Gaolsheer. Fear was in the man's red eyes.

Gaolsheer was coming up with ways to get around my God Mode. Far more intelligent people could find ways to work around it. They might try to banish to some Shadow Realm or hurt the people I care about.

I better use God Mode sparingly.

But for now...

"Sorry, but that's the wrong answer," he said, lifting a finger and pressing it lightly against Goblinshredder's blade that was currently sitting between his ears. "Seems that you can't use this thing either. So I'll have to take it away too."

Gaolsheer's eyes widened and that fear redoubled. "No -!"

"SetDurability 0."

Gaolsheer tried to pull the massive axe away but the mere force of the motion immediately shattered the powerful weapon. Shards of metal, splinters of wood and strips of leather flung away in all directions. Shimmering blue, green and red sparks danced between the shrapnel, likely the magic that gave the Unique weapon its special properties.

Time to finish this.

While everyone was still stunned at the act, Payton invoked GetItem. A second Goblinshredder immediately appeared in his paws. It was incredibly heavy and he clearly didn't have the Strength requirements to wield it effectively but he could still pick it up and turn around to face a devastated Gaolsheer.

"What... What are you!?" demanded the executioner.

Scampering footfalls and panicked cries erupted from behind him. The Godhood soldiers were making a retreat.

"Cowards!" bellowed Gaolsheer. "Die with dignity."

I can't let them escape. If even one gets away, they'll bring down the might of Gobhood on this town.

"Don't worry," Payton said menacingly. "I'm not letting them get away. SpawnItem."

Dozens of huge, bloody axes suddenly sprang from the air above the crowded street. The blades smashed into the charred road right in front of the fleeing soldiers. They scrambled to a halt as more and more clones of Goblinshredder came crashing in front of them, blocking their path and preventing their escape. More blades quickly encircled them, barring their escape through the charred buildings.

Payton turned towards the palisade. "Let's round them up!" he bellowed. "This battle is over!"

A loud cheer erupted from the villagers and they began shouting his name.

"Rendshaw! Rendshaw! Rendshaw!"

In that moment, Gaolsheer's eyes widened in terror. "You're named."

Turning back to the Executioner, he brushed aside the Goblinshredder in his paws, deleting it from existence. "More than that." He took a step towards the man and, perhaps for the first time in a while, fear caused Gaolsheer to toppled back, falling on his rump and even lifting his hand up in a feeble attempt to protect himself. "You seem to have forgotten what the Black Halo heralds."

"W - W - What?"

"On the day the Black Halo encircles the sun," the wolf recited. "A Dark Lord will rise to doom us all. Humanity's works shall be undone. Corruption will herald mankind's fall. On the day the Black Halo encircles the sun, Readers will die and their books will burn. Listeners will face their fate in turn. Speakers powers to world return. On the day the Black Halo encircles the sun."

Gaolsheer's jaw dropped open. "No... No... You can't be..."

"Yes. I am. I am the Dark Lord."

******

Of the four Speakers loyal to Gobhood and Faoster, the Greensmith was one of the most enigmatic. His works were well known in the entire Province, of course. It was his designs and instruction of the goblins under their command that had directly led to the prosperity of Gobhood and the entire province. His weapons and armor were what adorned each of the Gobhood soldiers that protected the land. The Goblin Knight's weapons were of his own design as the Emerald Mage's. Even minor pieces of equipment such as Gaolsheer's Goblinshredder were entirely his design.

It was already well into the night but the Goblin Knight had graciously entertained him. Nothing special. Just the two of them sharing a bottle of brandy by the fire. They remained silent for the most part, just watching the crackling fires while the Goblin Knight's very-well-trained goblins came in, served them some finger foods and refilled their bottles. That was what the Goblin Knight represented in this world; the discipline and utter loyalty of the goblins summoned by Faoster. Some would consider it servitude or slavery. The Knight would call it order.

The Greensmith smiled slightly to himself as he took a sip from the brandy.

"This is good," he commented. "Where did you get it?"

"Naturally from the town of Winhob to the north," answered the Knight. "They make the best brandies in the province. I trained the goblins there to make sure they keep track of how long the caskets have been full and detect the strength and flavor of the brandy just by smell alone." The Knight set down his glass. "But you didn't come here to partake of some of my finer drinks. What do you want?"

"Straight to the point as always." The Greensmith chuckled as gently swirled the amber fluids in his glass. "You know that when a smith creates a piece of equipment, they effectively put their heart and soul into it. It is forever branded with their name as its creator. We share a very special connection with it."

"Yes. What of it?"

"Imagine my surprise when I learned that one of my works was replicated."

The Goblin Knight rolled his eyes. "What foolish person would try to replicate your masterful work? I'm sure it is merely a cheap facsimile."

"Oh no. That's where you're wrong. It's a perfect replica. Down to the essence that binds it to my soul."

The feeling had been... disconcerting. It was like he had suddenly sprouted another finger. Part of him immediately knew it was wrong but at the same time, there was no denying it was his.

"What? How is that possible?"

The Greensmith shook his head gravely. "I honestly do not know. However, it does not end there." He lowered his glass and regarded the Goblin Knight gravely. "Mere moments after, I felt the very item that had been duplicated vanish. Almost as if the counterfeiter had realized his mistake and attempted to undo the very mistake he had made."

"I see. So what's the issue?"

The Greensmith held up his finger and waggled it at the Knight. "I thought much the same. Why worry, right? It could have been an honest mistake. Then, I was struck by the same odd sensation when that duplicated item vanished. I could only surmise that the original item was destroyed."

The Goblin Knight rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "It almost sounds like whoever was wielding this weapon of yours was likely fighting against some creature that could mimic it's equipment and then, in his battle, the original lost all durability and was destroyed."

"I thought that as well. At least until the weapon manifested itself again... followed by dozens of it appearing all at once."

Worry crossed the Goblin Knight's features. "What could it mean?"

The Greensmith rose from his cushioned seat. "I honestly do not know. But I am going to find out. I'm heading to the town of Avergreen. That is where the weapon underwent this strange behavior."

He turned to leave but paused just a few steps away from the chair.

"For what it's worth, the weapon was Goblinshredder."

The silence that followed confirmed the Greensmith's suspicions.

And he grinned.