“So,” McKenna said, finishing her bite of chicken. “You’re telling me that you own Darielle because of some contract that you signed, and you signed it just to piss off that particular Fey Woman that we just killed?”

Colin had just spent nearly an hour telling her the short versions of his exploits since he got stuck in this world. Their meals came partway through his story, and they ate while he spoke. He did keep the parts about the Antagonist Class and being a Demon Lord Candidate for later. The party that his wife brought with her was also listening to his story with interest.

McKenna herself had stayed quiet for most of the story, though he did feel her emotions come through at a few points. With Rielle, it was a weird mixture of rage and confusion. With Larry, she seemed to repress a laugh at Colin’s expense.

Around the two of them, both party members were eating their meals in silence, and all of them wanted to hear what Colin had to say. Both remained separate according to their previous party, but neither avoided each other.

“Originally… yeah,” Colin said, taking a bite out of the sweet roll he was holding in his hand. “It didn’t take long for her true worth to be apparent, and I have not regretted getting her away from the Fey and that Prince.”

“And you also chose a Librarian Career?” McKenna asked.

“A Mindscape Librarian, yes,” Colin answered primly while taking another small bite.

“Why?”

Colin shrugged, “it was a tier four career. The highest career that I qualified for, and it is interesting. It hasn’t provided anything beneficial yet, but…” he trailed off, placing an open palm up. It took only a thought and a small mana expenditure to conjure one of the books from his Library. He produced a book titled the Battle Bards of the Sandalwood Basin and said, “I can do this.”

“Oooooh, that’s neat,” The woman Gnome, Milma Maggins, coo’d.

“I can do other things, but unfortunately, it requires expensive books to build up my Library,” Colin shrugged. He let out a breath, then eyed McKenna, “What about you? A berzerker and… what? I can’t tell what your other Class is.”

Giving Colin a wicked smile, she said, “I am a Priest of Conflict.”

“Really? Not war, battle, death, destruction, or… anything else? You went with Conflict. Why?” Colin asked.

“To be in conflict, you must be put against another person. More often than not, combat is the main way one can be put into conflict, but I was hoping for a more expansive definition. I get bonuses for my skills when I use a skill against another person. Whether that is actual combat, stealth, magic, theft, or anything else that puts me against another person, it all seems to count as a conflict for my Divine Magic Subskill,” McKenna explained.

“That’s pretty smart,” Larry commented, breaking the silent stalemate between the groups. “There are some Priests in Hell that use Conflict as their Infernal Aura, and they are some of the scariest things in Hell.”

“Really, like who?” McKenna asked the disguised Incubus. She had no idea what he actually looked like, given his shapeshifting nature, but she would admit to herself that she was curious. She’d dealt with several types of beings in this game, but not any Demons or Devils yet.

“The most notable one that I know of is… Andras. I haven’t met him personally, but his information is well known down there. Besides his level, at least. He is a Warrior who specializes in spears, A Priest who walks the path of Conflict, his career is Cabal Idol, and his Specialized Class is called Solar Devastator. Not sure what a Solar Devastator is, but it sounds Awesome,” Larry happily explained.

“And… is Andras important?” McKenna asked the Demon.

“Ha! Is he important! He’s a Demon Noble, and if Satan ever dies permanently, he’s likely to be the next Archdemon of Wrath,” Larry let out a sigh. “It’s a big deal.”

“Okay,” McKenna said, voice softening as if she was talking to a beloved family pet. “Thank you for letting me know.”

Larry nodded once and went back to eating with gusto.

“So, are you going to tell us what you did to Lady Mer?” One of the people that came with McKenna asked. He was one of the pair of Brothers, the one without the Hammer. “That looked pretty nasty, man.”

“Of course it did; it was a Ritual and a Curse. I doubt anything like that is exactly pleasant,” Colin scoffed. “Long story short and without telling what it is called, so no one gets ideas, it creates chains forged from every magic type I have, and it wraps around a target to ravage their body with their powers. The duration is pretty short, and if she hadn’t died in about six more seconds, she would have been able to get away.”

“How?” the other brother, Thore, asked.

“It’s part of the curse, die or get away, meaning she would have been teleported away in a burst of power. The one consistent thing about curses, from what I know, is that they have a consequence for the caster and a terrible effect or effects for the target,” Colin explained.

“Then what consequence did you pay?” Rielle asked him, concern evident.

Colin saw McKenna look at Rielle with a stink eye and only told himself to pay attention. It was entirely to make sure his wife didn’t corner the Death Fey.

“My body has been damaged. My maximum health has been halved, and my natural recovery rate has decreased to one-one hundredth its normal speed. Also, it is worth mentioning that it hurt like absolute Hell while it was being cast and for a little bit after. I’m fine now,” Colin told them before anyone asked.

“Last question, can you do it again?” The not-Thore brother asked.

He debated how to answer him. There shouldn’t be any harm in saying it, but this man had been interested in knowing more about the Ritual Curse since they stopped in the Skillets of Power to eat. If it hadn’t been for McKenna threatening him with her War Gaff, he likely would have kept pestering Colin until he answered.

He simply shrugged, “maybe, but I probably won’t. It didn’t last long, but that ritual was excruciating when it started drawing away from my health. Besides that, Ritual Curses have requirements that the target has to meet. The late Lady Noistra Mer met the requirements for this one. Before you ask, I will not tell you what they are. Unless you decide to get specialized abilities and skills for them, it’s not worth it.”

“Hey! Who says that’s your choice to make?!” The Not-Thore said, accusing Colin loudly.

“I do, and guess what? It’s my knowledge, my advice, and I am the one that has the info you want. I guess that makes it my choice, doesn’t it,” Colin asked rhetorically.

“Dude… why are you taking this so seriously? This is just a game? If you didn’t want to share the requirements, then all you have to do is say so, just chill man,” The Norse-Style Brawler said, raising his hands placatively.

Smirking, he responded, “A game, huh? Well, this may be a game to you, but it’s been my 24/7 life here for a while. So spare me your mindset; I don’t want it,” Colin told him.

“So, on that note,” Thore said, holding up his information tablet. The smartphone-like device displayed the time as 2:53 pm, and Colin watched as Not-Thore blanched. “We need to be heading out.”

“Why?” McKenna asked.

“We work the afternoon shift at the Community Hospital, and we need to get ready so that we aren’t late. Again,” Thore said pointedly to his brother. “So on that note, Gran Rae and I will be calling it a day here.”

McKenna nodded to the brothers, and Milma waved at them cheerfully as they vanished.

“I think I am going to leave too,” Rodman told them, standing from his seat. “I’ve been in this world a lot lately trying to get here to participate in this event before it ended. I will still be playing but not for as long as I have been, Milma,” Rodman told her. “If that doesn’t work for you, I was a solo player before you guys, so I’ll be fine.”

“I hope you know that I will be inviting you to join me often,” Milma grinned at him. “Playing anything is fun with more people.”

Returning her smile, Rodman nodded and vanished as well. This left the mage, Thera-Flae, that had been quiet this whole time, and Milma herself, and neither had been annoying or a problem, unlike the brothers.

“So, how long have you two been married?” Thera-Flae asked suddenly.

Colin hesitated to answer, but McKenna answered after a moment of his silence. “Four years,” she said, grabbing and holding onto his arm. “And most of them were happy, until recently.”

“Recently?” Milma asked.

McKenna shook her head, brushing off their questions. “It doesn’t matter. He’s back, and I will not let him go again.”

Milma and Thera-Flae looked at each other with concern before looking at Colin.

“Don’t worry, honey,” Colin told her, taking her hand with his free arm. “I won’t be going anywhere again, this was a fluke, and I likely can avoid anything new.” He just held her for a moment, letting the silence drag on until she relaxed. When she released his arm to go back to eating, he spoke again, “speaking of new. Can you tell me what that necklace is that you used?”

She chewed, taking her time and letting him wait before she swallowed the food and spoke, “It’s called the Void Edict. It is a legendary item, and it has a lot of powers. I only have two right now, Onyx Defenses, which you saw, and another called the Lesser Bane Edict. It charges a weapon with some kind of special energy from the Void and gives it a shifting Bane-like power.”

“That’s pretty cool,” Colin told her, looking at the black chain around her neck that hung down beneath her shirt.

“Oh, it’s pretty awesome,” she said with a nod. She then pointed her iron fork at Colin as if it were a sharp knife, “the only real downside is that it destroys whatever item it is attached to. I don’t want to think what it would do to a body if I want to punch someone with it,” she shivered.

“DevilWalker, we should not be around her,” Colin heard Nox whisper to him.

“Why?” he asked, and McKenna shrugged.

“I don’t know, something about seeing a body get ruined the same way the weapons that I’ve used it on gets to me,” McKenna said.

“DevilWalker, I would not suggest this lightly. I know that she is very important to you, but if she has an artifact from the Void or is related to it, then something terrible may become. If there is anything worse than the Circles of Hell or the Paradise of Heaven, then it would be the Void,” Nox explained quickly, trying to keep it short. “She is a danger.”

Colin nodded, “May I see it?”

She nodded and pulled on the chain to raise the item from her shirt, handing the caged crystal to Colin without removing it.

Colin appraised it.

Name: Void Edict. Weight: 340 grams. Item Quality: Indescribable.

A Gem made of crystalized Voidstuff trapped within a cage of treated Sansinite and Silver alloy, held by a chain of the same material. This item was lost several millennia ago after an incursion from the Void nearly brought the Korogrant Continent to its knees. When the leader of the force, ‘The VoidBorne,’ was finally slain, his spilled blood congealed into this gem. And to contain the spilling essence of the Void, this cage was manufactured.

The powers that form the cage that holds this item back from its full potential come from some of the greatest forces in the known planes.

Woe be unto the world if The VoidBorne returns to complete its task.

When worn, this item grants the following bonuses: +5 Build, +5 Luck, Onyx Defenses, Void Edict 1 Ability.

Your Knowledge: Lore skill is now level 10. Your understanding, prompt information, and Charisma bonus when discussing this knowledge, has increased by a small margin when Lore is involved.

“Uhmm, Honey? What do you know of this?” Colin asked, showing her the description he was seeing.

“I don’t know,” she said, looking over it. “This line here that talks about powers that formed the cage and the line below it are new to me. I don’t have an Appraisal Skill, I had it identified and the screen shown to me, and it’s very… ominous.”

“Oh yeah,” Colin agreed, looking over it. “I think you should tread lightly with this thing,” he shook the item in his hand for emphasis.

She pulled it away from him and sighed while looking at the item. “Woe be unto the world if The VoidBorne returns to complete its task, huh. I guess we will have to make sure that if it happens, it destroys our enemies before we level up from it,” McKenna said, smiling wickedly at Colin.

“Our enemies?” Colin questioned, quirking an eyebrow.

She nodded once, “yes, our. It’s part of our marriage agreement. Your enemies are my enemies, and mine are yours. And I did make a few of them, so we may be busy.”

“Oh, I missed you, McKenna,” Colin told her, his smile wide.

“Nope, I want to hear you say it. It’s been months you owe it to me,” she demanded, pulling away from him and jabbing him in the chest with her forefinger.”

“I love you, McKenna.”

“I love you too,” she returned, going back into his arms and kissing him. He immediately reciprocated an action and held on to her as if she were something that would vanish.

Both women from McKenna’s party watched with gooey expressions on their faces, enjoying the scene. Larry rolled his eyes and returned to his barely seared and mostly raw steak. Paladin just shook his head and smiled as he went back to his food, a Japanese-inspired sushi, and rice platter. Rielle looked away from the scene, red creeping onto her cheeks at the open display of affection.

When they did break away after a few moments, both simply stared at each other for long moments.

“Please tell me that you are not an illusion created by a greedy Mousekin?” she asked, her voice low.

He shook his head, “no point. An illusion would say anything to prove that it was real and not a fake. But I really am here,” he said anyway.

“Good,” she said, looking away from him to see Milma and Thera-Flae staring like there were a perfect romantic couple. “What are you two staring at?”

“You,” Milma answered unabashedly. “That was the happiest thing that I’ve ever heard, and it was freaking adorable!” she squealed, bouncing a little in her seat.

While Thera-Flae was a little more reserved about it, she nodded in agreement with Milma. “It was.”

“So,” McKenna started, letting out a cough to clear any more comments like that before she started again. “What’s your next plan, Walker?” McKenna asked, enunciating his screen nickname to make sure it came out instead of saying his real name.

“We are taking a break,” Colin announced to everyone. “We just defeated the Golem Overmind and worked hard for it. We are taking a few days off from fighting to rest, prepare, and hopefully catch up on lost time,” he said, eyeing McKenna specifically.

“That sounds like a great idea, but do you know how or when you will be able to get home?” she asked. “I’m happy to have found you again, but I cannot stay here.”

Colin sighed. He knew that question was coming, and he wasn’t sure how to answer it. She wanted him to be where she could always find him if she needed him, and that meant being in the real world where one couldn’t be magicked away. He could read the expression on her face that said she did not want to be separated again.

“I don’t know,” he admitted. “The timeline isn’t clear.”

“What do you know?” McKenna asked.

“Fulfill my role and win or find a mysterious doorway that will lead out of here,” Colin shrugged. “Neither path is especially promising, so I decided to play it by ear and see if I can find out more as I go. I’m getting stronger fast, but there are so many that are stronger than me that I need to be ready.”

“Fair enough,” she said, letting out a sigh. “As long as I can find you again, it’s all good.”

“Agreed,” he responded, going back to eat his meal.

It was a minute of silence between them all as McKenna just basked in Colin’s presence, every second that passed by relaxing her. The others mostly ate their meals while other patrons came in and ordered their meals. They all complained of hunger since they had to stay indoors and hide while the Golems rampaged.

Among them, a teenage girl in a padded stealth suit hurried in. A loose hanging mottled gray cloak covered the outfit with the hood pulled up and over her dark hair. She pulled it down upon entering the restaurant, and Colin recognized her after a moment. Your first rescue in a magical world tends to leave an impression.

“Daphne!” Colin called, gesturing her over.

“Walker?” she said, furrowing her brows. She walked over and looked down at him while he swallowed his bite. She smiled a little at his rush to finish, “You’re alright. I’m glad to see that.”

“Yeah, I had to fight tooth and nail to do that. How did you manage?” Colin asked curiously.

Her smile turned a little sheepish, “you know that I’m good at hiding, right? Well, I did that almost the whole time. It almost got bad near the end when a couple of those junk bots started ripping apart the house I was in to get to me and the other three people I was hiding with.”

Colin smiled at her, genuinely glad that she was okay, “Well, I’m glad you made it out. Henrietta said that she hadn’t seen you since this whole thing went down. She didn’t sound concerned, though,” Colin mused.

“Oh, Heni has a board that tells her if one of her people is different than, um… fine. I think she has it set up to know if we are poisoned, unconscious, wounded, sick, and dead,” Daphni said, shivering at the thought.

“You forgot the cursed setting, sweetie,” Henrietta said, walking up to the tables. Her dark hair was pulled back into a tail, and the dress she wore was reasonably clean, thanks to the messy apron she wore over it.

“Heni!” she cheered, turning to hug the older woman who stood there.

They embraced for a moment before Henrietta pulled away and held the young woman at arm’s length. Looking over Daphne with a shake of her head, she glared and pointed towards the kitchen. “Go eat in the kitchen and tell Barry to give you an extra helping of the soup. If you don’t, I will know. Go!” she urged.

Daphne looked between Henrietta and Colin before hurrying into the kitchen at her withering glare.

Then Henrietta turned to Colin and gave him a knowing look, “I trust that you won’t spread that information around, DevilWalker. If people like a certain Prince and a few others found out about that, they might be able to trace the magic here and then convict us.”

“Of course, I was merely curious how you could be so calm about this. Besides, I don’t want to talk about that. Henrietta, I want you to meet my wife, McKenna.” Colin gestured to the Elf on his arm and smiled.

“Wait, THE wife,” Henrietta asked, looking at Colin.

He nodded and started rubbing McKenna’s shoulder affectionately.

“Your husband has been a real help around here. Before this Rogue Golem thing, he not only rescued Daphne from being given to the Fey as a slave, he helped us with a few other jobs. Mostly things that we couldn’t be attached to.”

“Oh yeah, delivering a letter to the Cult of Scylla was that hard and not at all beneficial to me,” Colin moaned. “Oh, woe is me.”

Henrietta chuckled a little, looking around to make sure no one was listening, “you also guarded one of our people discreetly, gave us a Prince’s ransom, and gathered paperwork that kept one of our people safe. He has been very helpful.”

“Good to know that he’s been helpful to somebody,” McKenna told her.

She nodded, “he has been. Look, I got to go; some customers are ready to order. I’m glad you’re alright, DevilWalker. It was a pleasure to meet you, McKenna.” She said, hurrying off towards a group of tables and pulling out a pad and pen.

“How was the Cult of Scylla beneficial to you?” Thera-Flae asked.

Colin leaned forward and spoke in a tone low. “I got a special skill that grants me spell-like effects based around divine entities. So far, I have Loki and Scylla.”

She stared at him, stunned at that for a moment before realization hit. Her mouth turned upward in amusement, smiling at him as if he was telling a joke. “There’s no skill that does that. You’re just screwing with me.”

“Of course I am. I also didn’t create a red lightsaber to help me kill the Golems,” Colin said, drawing the blade and setting the enchanted Trench Knife on the table. “Oh wait, I did that myself. I would ignite it, but I am sure that Henrietta wouldn’t enjoy that. Right?” he asked, not changing his volume.

“You do anything weird like that, and my Boss will have some words with you, DevilWalker,” Henrietta called, not even breaking stride.

Nodding, he resheathed the wicked-looking trench knife and felt satisfied with the show of his work.

“Okay,” Milma said. “We have some things we need to do before we log out for the day too. McKendra, you have our contact information, right? Text me if you want to party up; we are going to see if any of the shops are selling anything we can use.” The Gnome woman stood from her seat and pulled Thera-Flae behind her. The woman allowed herself to be pulled along and waved goodbye to everyone before leaving.

McKenna waited a moment before she spoke frankly, “Anything you want to tell me now that they’re gone?”

“Oh, honey, Yes, but not out in the open. Besides, I have one last task to do before I can relax, and do you want to know the best part?”

“Of course,” she answered with a happy pluck in her voice.

“Nox found him pretty easily,” Colin told her, showing his teeth. “Right?”

“It was effortless,” the shadows spoke. “It doesn’t help that he’s celebrating ALAN’s defeat, and it seems that he hated that Golem more than everybody.”

“Shall we?” Colin asked McKenna, then turned to the rest of his group.

<><><><><>

It only took twenty minutes to walk to the Venom Sea dive bar. It was nothing special and was mostly intact compared to the buildings around. But this place itself looked like it was ready to crumble at the slightest disturbance to its structure. A wall had been blown out of the building, and a pair of large Warrior Golems laid in pieces around it.

From their approach, it was even more obvious that Nox was right, and this was the place. An insane cackling from the inside immediately drew their attention as Colin knew that voice. Several days earlier, he’d heard a desperate man claiming to warn of a coming army that no one believed. That disbelief lasted only a few minutes because ALAN’s first attack started right then and there.

“Hahahaha! It serves you right, ALAN! You overthrew me only to lose yourself, HA!” he proclaimed, then paused as glass broke against a wall. “You had to betray me, your maker! I’m practically your father, you tinman asshole!” AidenBrand yelled to no one.

“This is him?” McKenna asked, unsure of what Colin told her. “He sounds like it could be him, but he doesn’t seem like the evil mastermind type.”

“Agreed, but ALAN took over for him to prove himself superior. It makes sense he’d be a little incensed by the usurper.” Colin said, shrugging. “Shall I?”

“He’s all yours,” McKenna said, drawing her War Gaff from the sling in which it hung.

“Rielle and Larry, just make sure he doesn’t escape any other way. Paladin, you don’t have to do anything. I know how you are about players,” Colin told the big man.

“Thank you, Walker. But I want to go with you. This man cost a lot of NPC’s their lives, and I want to see you kill him once,” Paladin said, flexing his fingers in preparation.

Colin nodded, drew his Lesser Infernal Edge first, and made sure it was topped off with mana before peeking around the corner.

AidenBrand was covered in scratched-up, dirty, and scavenged pieces of Golems that he’d converted to armor. It sparked and hissed with his every movement, and the player didn’t seem to notice. A helmet sat on a counter in front of him, making it easy to see the solidly built man’s beard and wiry hair. There was no obvious weapon nearby, but Colin knew better than trust that they weren’t on Earth.

Across from AidenBrand, on a seat facing him, sat a sprawled out Golem. It was limp, of course, but it bore a striking resemblance to the Golem that he’d seen ALAN wear several times. AidenBrand picked up a bottle, finished it off, and threw the bottle at the lifeless Golem while cackling at it. “Ha, take that you Skynet reject! Hahaha!”

It was when AidenBrand turned to get another bottle that Colin rushed inside. He ignited the Lesser Infernal Edge and hurried towards the Golem Maker before he did anything tricky. But his rush accomplished nothing of the sort. AidenBrand jumped back and pressed a button on the armor he wore.

A field of sparks erupted and bounced around the scraped together armor, creating a small electrified bubble. With his current momentum, he had little choice but to press forward, knowing he could likely survive the field, but he didn’t have to. McKenna shouted an attack, and a dagger spun through the air and into the area, a pink glow suffusing it.

“Ow, fuck!” AidenBrand cursed as he pulled his bloodied hand away from the ruined button. He waved it a few times in an attempt to ease the pain slightly, and Colin swung the Lesser Infernal Edge.

The Golemist flinched his way into a clumsy block that made his armored forearms take the attack. He pulled the blade back and swung again, this time empowering the swing with his Aligned Strike Skill.

AidenBrand screamed as his arms up to just before his elbows were severed, the severed limbs vanishing in a burst of light. Weirder yet, the stumps that remained did not look like the revealed flesh that he’d seen before; only a plane of light kept the scene from truly being gory.

The man fell back on his ass with a horrified look on his face, “What did I do to you?!” AidenBrand moaned. “I was just minding my own business, I swear! If this is your bar, I’ll pay for the drinks!”

“You better forget about the drinks, AidenBrand. I came here specifically to finish a couple of scores that I had with you,” Colin told him. He turned off the Lesser Infernal Edge and sheathed it, then drew his Mythic Xiphos. “I don’t suppose you remember a small place called Scutch Town, do you?”

“What? Why does that stupid town matter?!” AidenBrand yelled, trying to work his arms into a fold in his clothes.

“You not only subjected a town to the Horror of a Scarecrow Golem bound with a Horde Wraith, but you also left it there unsupervised. That was the first of my Scores that I have to settle with you since I had to kill it, and I will say that what I did to your hands will cover that quite nicely on that count,” Colin told him with a wicked smirk.

“What? You’re DevilWalker?” he sobbed. “That means you-”

“Yup, I also defeated ALAN, your masterpiece. I have to say, if it had gotten a little more time, that damned thing would have been able to wipe out the entire city. And it would have been entirely your fault, AidenBrand. I do feel inclined to tell you that it also hated you, and it felt like it had to prove that it was better than you. Sounds like a terrible Daddy Complex,” Colin said, grabbing the large man with his free hand and throwing him into an upright seat.

“But you beat him, and it’s over! Why are you coming after me?!” AidenBrand demanded while she scrambled in the seat to keep his balance.

“Maybe because of how many NPC’s died? How about the percentage of the city that was destroyed? Or how even how this inconvenienced me personally so that my skill training ground to a halt? Take your pick,” Colin told him.

AidenBrand growled, “Fuck, fine. You got me, as you can see, I am shit in actual combat. I’m a builder, not a fighter. What do you want, or are you just going to kill me?” he grumbled as he stopped whimpering.

“Well, I came to exact my form of retribution on you, AidenBrand. Everything that has happened recently has been on you, and I didn’t want you to feel like you got off scot-free after this,” Colin gestured around him to the rubble that was the building and the city.

“Then get on with it,” AidenBrand ordered. “If I am going to die, then I would rather get it over with.”

“Oh, I have two things to do to you,” Colin told the man, pointing the Ravenous Mythix Xiphos at the man’s sternum. “The first is rather simple, AidenBrand.”

In that instance, Colin dropped the sword and drew a throwing knife from his pouch. He checked the enchantment quickly and pressed the point of the blade against AidenBrand’s clavicle. Immediately, the Golemist started screaming in pain as the frozen blade burned cold against his flesh. He held it there, slowly pressing it in even as more of the meat froze and moved.

When AidenBrand finally moved to try and stop his assailant, Colin reached back and drew another knife. Without checking this one, he plunged this one into the large man’s left elbow joint, the tip alight with flames. Again, he screamed and moved to strike at Colin with the other arm, and Colin drew another. This knife plunged into his chest, around the improvised armor, and the enchantment started causing the blood to revolt in his skin.

After a fourth knife, Colin left AidenBrand moaning in a heap upon that chair. His body was still being damaged by the elemental effects that the enchantments were inflicting, but Colin wasn’t finished.

He used the Heretic Scribe Ability to place down a circle around AidenBrand’s seat with a mental flex. The infernal energy seared the simple magic circle into the wooden floor, and he called to the hurting man.

“AidenBrand, hey!” Colin yelled. “Move your head if you can hear me, oh good. This is the only warning that you’ll get from me. If I even hear your name mentioned in passing, for any reason that isn’t past tense, I will find you and do far worse to you if I have to track you down. Got it!” Colin demanded.

AidenBrand nodded.

And without further ado, Colin fed mana into the circle and spoke the phrase. “A gift to you, Terror of the Strait of Messina. I hope you’ll accept it, in my name. Enjoy!” Colin said, breathing out the words as his MP dropped.

Colin stepped back to stand with McKenna, who had entered the room as Colin started the torture. From within the circle that Colin’s ability created, water flowed out like a tide and splashed along without spreading more than a few feet further. Then a set of jaws erupted out from the floor, already open with AidenBrand directly in between both jaws. Both McKenna and Colin saw AidenBrand look at them in horror a moment before the teeth closed with a wet snap.

You have Killed the Player AidenBrand, the creator of ALAN, and your Ability Player Killer 1 has triggered. You have gained 19,819 of their held experience points to next level. You now have 496,425/501,785 until level 25. Your Channel Effigy Skill is now level 6. Your Personal Blades Skill is now level 12. Damage and critical damage with all personal blades have increased. Dodge rate has increased.

Colin nodded after the water disappeared like smoke in a breeze, and the body of AidenBrand was gone. And just like that, a knot that appeared in Colin’s stomach eased up and released itself as he defeated a foe that had plagued him inadvertently for some time. Now, if he made his way to Scutch Town, he felt like he could tell them honestly that AidenBrand had paid for what he did.

“Alright,” Colin said, walking over to pick up his Mythic Xiphos and sheathing with a satisfying hiss. “So, McKenna, Paladin, shall we grab the other two and see if there is something to get for dessert? I feel like we earned… it.” Colin trailed off.

“What is it, Walker?” Paladin asked, moving closer to him to help defend him if it came up.

“It’s nothing. Come on, dessert, my treat!” Colin announced, walking out of the building. He tried to ignore a change to his Character sheet that had been announced only seconds before.

Due to your actions at this moment being incredibly immoral and the many other questionable acts leading up to this point, the system has evaluated your current Moral Alignment, and you are now Evil 2.