Police Chief Karl Williamson of Camdenton had been planning to retire and divorce his wife. Before the plan came to fruition, the System arrived and asked him a very important question. Do you wish to be saved from the taint of chaos?

The man hadn’t found comfort in religion for a long time. Yet, when those words appeared in front of his eyes, he had a fantastical epiphany that his life could change here for good. He could be done with the humdrum Police Chief role. He could run off to a faraway island where he could fish, meet exotic cuties who would treat him right, and be far away from his nagging wife of thirty years.

So he’d said yes, and everything he’d desperately wanted got smashed under the all-knowing, undeniable weight of a true divine power. Thrust into a endless white void filled with the hymns of singing angels, Karl watched all of his sins, his weaknesses, his faults get played in front of his eyes and given a sense of reason. ORDER. He was changed, becoming something better than the lowly, wretched human he had once been.

He listened the voice of his Lord and Savior, his greatest reason for existing, the Heavenly Father of Light and Order, Hypersun. The god’s voice thrummed with massive power that shook Karl to his core, filling him with joy and pleasure he’d never felt before. If he could stay in this void, listening to Hypersun forever, he would find this to be a heaven of its own. But Karl was one of the Enlightened Chosen to come out on the first wave. Upon being released from his Revelation Salvation Chamber, he knew what to do.

He’d hunted down and murdered the woeful, deplorable, inferior Chaos Marked who stayed as police of Camdenton. It was easy to find them around the Lake Ozark area. They’d had no idea he’d became apart of Hypersun’s vanguard since the System’s arrival happened while he was night fishing by himself to get away from his horrid wife.

After he finished that wonderful work killing his former subordinates who refused the offer of salvation, he found the mayor the next morning, dragged the bastard to city hall, and flayed him. His wife messaged him throughout, both disgusting and amusing Karl with her sinful existence. He played a clever game of pretending to be one of the… ugh… Marked to keep tabs on her.

It had been a necessary ploy since his wife and her location was a known quandary. Even though he’d shed all of his worldly possessions, titles, and wants to serve as a better vessel of the Lord of Light and Order, Karl felt that his previous life’s skills and experiences would come to play favorably.

He knew most of the regulars of the area. He knew where the most resistant people would reside. Those folks would choose the taint of chaos. They would choose evil seeping from all the worlds that hadn’t come under the rule of the Heavenly Lords, especially Hypersun.

So, Karl and a few good Chosen went and hunted those resistant Marked. It was a long and thorough effort.

Dangerous, too!

Bill Wilkinson, who owned a rifle and hunting store, was well-prepared and unwilling to budge an inch to have his heretical life extinguished for the good of the world. It took sacrifice, hard decisions, and just a little thought to out-maneuver the Marked and put a solid .45 through his sinful brain.

There were others like that, too, which made things difficult. It didn’t help that one of the Seventy-Two Chaos Zones had populated here of all places and a few of the Marked on his list had slipped Karl’s grasp there!

There was so much to do to barricade the Marked from entering the Chaos Zone. Karl didn’t have the Chosen manpower for it until the second wave was released. Would the Chosen he had now be enough? At the very least, today’s events had leveled up his Main Path to—

“Sir! What do you think of our efforts here?” a young lady’s voice cut through Police Chief Karl’s thoughts, bringing him back to the here and now. His adequately raised Focus helped him catch on to what his newly recruited assistant had been telling him. It was nothing more than what he already knew: the destruction of the Marked hiding here at Dr. Patterson’s private practice was met with no resistance.

He scanned the area as he walked over corpses of different shapes and ages. He paused to look sorrily at a young girl’s bloody body. The young Marked hadn’t been taught better to choose salvation over the taint of chaos, the poor thing.

Karl blamed the parents for this young Marked’s death. The killing stroke had come from one of his people, but the fault lied with the evils that existed in the hearts of mere humans and the seeding poison of the demons of the Seventy-Two Hells.

“These Marked aren’t of the greatest concern,” the Police Chief said.

“But to release them from the hold of evil is a necessary duty, isn’t it sir?” asked his assistant. She was a young woman with raven locks colored by streaks of blues and pinks—a cry for attention from her previous life until falling under the heavenly grace of Hypersun—and she originated from Kansas City. She was visiting Lake Ozark with her family before choosing salvation.

Compared to Karl’s hefty, pot-belly body, and tufts of hair surrounding a bald dome, she was a fountain of youth. Perhaps if the Light shone true upon them, and their paths were orderly, Karl would have Ruby next to him for the many years to come.

“It is a little sad though,” Ruby said, watching a fellow Chosen slice off the leg of a screaming Marked. There were still breathing Marked here. They’d been selected as part of the holy tribute to the Heavenly Lord Hypersun.

“What do you mean?” the saved Police Chief asked, looking up at the blessed eyes of Ruby.

“How they’ve missed the opportunity to save themselves,” she said. “I know it’s questionable, but I sometimes catch myself wondering if I should try to spare them. Give them a chance to be seen before Hypersun so they could be redeemed.”

She turned to Karl, her eyes dripping with endless crystalline tears as part of her Enlightened changes. She was an enrapturing sight, but he could clearly see that she was troubled. He held her shoulder.

“If the opportunity to rescue the few good Marked existed, I would take it,” he said. “But we’re at a disadvantage, Ruby. There’s still 45 hours until more of our brothers and sisters are released from their Chambers. Without those reinforcements, we’re outnumbered, outgunned. Yet, we’re responsible for the barricading of Ozark’s Chaos Zone.”

There were eleven Chaos Zones that existed in North America from what his more tech and internet savvy Chosen had informed him. Marked and Chosen were finding and reporting these zones online quickly. This was both a boon and a detriment since the Marked would know where to go, but the Chosen could coordinate and watch the movements of the Marked with these communication technologies.

“If all three billion and some Chosen were able to rise up together, this world would be made ready for our Lord!” Karl yelled, speaking for more than himself and the girl. It was good for everyone to hear him across the burning, smoking parking lot and smashed doctor’s office. The scene of destruction didn’t compare to what Karl and a few good men did to the hospital, the stores, and the local gathering points of the Marked.

“But we don’t have those numbers, and the powers of the enemy are plenty right now,” Karl said, lowering his voice to speak more personally to Ruby who was enthralled by his presence. He patted her shoulder again. “So, we must kill them for their own good, and to hold the defense until reinforcements arrive. If the Marked break through and gain the support of the Hell Princesses ahead of us, they may earn their prizes and greater powers before we’re ready. We can’t let that happen.”

“But wouldn’t they all lose in the end anyway?” Ruby asked. “Our great Lord will wipe them away. Or they will flee into a Chaos Portal if they find such a thing.”

“Yes, of course, they are destined to lose,” Karl said confidently. “But it’s our duty to stop them here no matter what.”

Karl was very sure of what must be done. It was as if he’d been given a special knowledge unlike the others. It wasn’t unique that the Chosen felt a need to hold the defense against the Marked when zones were concerned, but his rationalization felt special.

Perhaps it was partly due to his time spent leading the police department at Camdenton, or he was someone special among the Chosen. Nonetheless, he stood tall and powerful among the slowly growing group of Chosen who became apart of his new posse.

He looked over and saw a man who’d just arrived a few hours ago. He was dressed in the uniform of the National Guard and had already gained and leveled up his Main Path.

The Pathtakers were few and rare here, for it was a challenge in itself to find Marked that would put up a worthy fight that would award Od. The other option was to wait and receive their daily Od, but it wasn’t enough for Karl to get to his Main Path as quickly as he had.

The Chosen Guardsman nodded at the Police Chief, and Karl nodded back before returning his attention to Ruby.

“Do you understand now?” he asked.

“Yes, sir, I do.” Ruby sighed. “It wasn’t easy snuffing out the evil of my mom and brother, but maybe my father would come out on the second wave. If only we can get past these next 45 hours and see how things turn from there.”

“Patience, Ruby, patience,” the Chief said before turning his attention to two female Chosen dragging a particular Marked between them. They brought the wretch before Karl and tossed her on the ground.

From her feeble position knelt before him, Karl’s wife looked up, her cheetah-patterned glasses worn askew on her dirty face.

“Karl? Karl! What’s going on? Where were you? Karl?”

He thought he could endure her for just a few seconds to see if this wretched woman was worth being saved. The reordering of his life’s sins had reminded him of the reasons he’d married her in the first place despite how heretical their union was for falling under a false god of an outdated religion. But now, all Karl saw was a tainted creature of chaos. The very air around her made him want to gag, filling him with righteous hatred.

The [Holy Sheriff - Level 4] aimed his hand and filled it with a brilliant, dazzling light. The light shaped itself into a familiar but fantastical weapon—a beautifully ornate pistol with a heavy barrel and a single large, blessed bullet.

“Speak now, or forever hold your chaos,” the Holy Sheriff said.

His Marked wife looked around her, the reality sinking in, before she snapped with renewed hope reinvigorating her.

“A man was here today. His name was DeSean, some renegade punk from the Marines. He’d taken five of his people to… to kill your friends, honey.” She smiled.

He frowned and cocked back the hammer.

“He, he, he knows all about how to play this game! He was telling us to fight and get to our, um, Main Paths!” she stammered. “One of the newcomers here saw his suburban going eastbound down Route 7 but there’s no way he’d stay out there for long. There’s a Chaos Zone around the lake, right? Everyone’s whose in the know is going to want to go there, and I bet that horrid man will be there soon if he’s not already there.”

Karl relaxed the hammer on the magical pistol. He considered the number of issues that remained around the lake. Just a few hours ago, he received word of an explosion and a major fire spreading around Eagle Crest Road. Chosen on their way to their Main Paths had died to an attack that had been set by a clever guerrilla group of Marked.

Karl knew he needed to reinforce some weak points and keep watch of the major roads leading to Lake Ozark, especially the ones running through Camdenton. The zone wasn’t spread all around the lake, and most of his defense could be held closer to his home turf.

Could the renegade Marine be there right now? Or could that be a different band of Marked causing trouble? Had they reached the Zone already, or were they testing Karl’s defenses?

He’d have to speak with the Guardsman and some of the other Pathtakers to see how they could bolster their defenses further. At the very least, there were more Chosen from nearby towns, counties, and states trickling in to help barricade Ozark Chaos Zone.

“Is that all?” Karl asked, cocking the hammer again.

“Honey? Hubby? Oh my God, you can’t! We’ve been married for thirty years! Doesn’t any of that mean anything to you?”

“Even a day with you, Marked, was too long of a sin.” He scattered her skull across the parking lot and dispersed the weapon into motes of light.

“We should hunt down that Marine,” said the Guardsman, a [Bold Soldier - Level 3]. “Letting a Marked like that run around free can cause problems. He might already have his Main Path.”

“Oh, that can be a boon for us,” Ruby said. “I’m close to getting my Main Path. That Marked Marine can help me get there!”

Karl saw his people’s eyes glint with interest. Finding strong Marked could push them into their Main Paths easier, or level up their paths faster. It wouldn’t be wrong to hunt that Marked, but Karl knew better.

He shook his head. “We hold the defense. Keep those internet fingers warmed up and send out the messages to those who’ll help with our cause here. We mustn’t forget our purpose here, for it is a righteous cause.”

“I’m not a fan of waiting,” the soldier said.

“Are you a fan of action?”

“Yeah.”

“It’ll be coming. Plenty will. For the Marked will grow desperate like the animals they are. And we’ll be ready to show them the error of their ways.”

Ruby smiled and gave a hoopla. Other Chosen raised their voices in cheer.

Karl grinned proudly. They had a strong group here. More would come. They’d hold out against the Marked as best they could, then in… 44 hours… the next wave would arrive. Karl could feel the second wave would all be Pathtakers. The Marked would be outmatched and easier to dispose of with all of that heavy firepower.

And if this strangely named bastard called DeSean happened to show himself, the sheriff would gladly deal with the despicable Marine personally.