In its infancy, the cult of Titus (or the “children of the flame” as they refer to themselves) was mostly overlooked by the watch.

Technically, the cult itself was guilty of hundreds of murders in their “rites.” However, their targets were primarily criminals, especially those who targeted the less fortunate or children. So, the watch was silently grateful that the cult was reducing their workload and taking care of a problem that had no lawful solution at that time.

The fact that they were also a slippery bunch who made their bases in the slums also made it even less desirable to take the effort to hunt them all down.

But that was only true up until they radicalized.

To this day, we’re not entirely certain of the cause behind their sudden change of behavior, but the cult graduated from kidnapping and murdering the scum of society to firebombing any that they saw as taking a stand against the coming of the “Lord of Flame.”

The most significant of those attacks was also the first, at the funeral of the first [Hero]…

Excerpt from A Brief History of Placeholder, Volume 1. Chapter 5

-----

Fire.

Not exactly the most intimidating thing to find myself surrounded by, but I was also surrounded by hundreds of panicked people and a roof that could still collapse on my head.

In some ways, the screams that echoed in that packed room reminded me of Comic-Con those many years ago.

However, there was one main difference.

“This way!” I shouted to Sarah as I grabbed her hand and shoved past people to the nearest wall.

I wasn’t the same person I was back then.

“[Earth Strike]!” I shouted as I kicked the wall with all my might. That blew out a small chunk, and a few quick [Earth Strike] punches did the rest to secure an escape route for the [Hero] and me.

As for the other people in attendance, well, fortunately, they weren’t the same as back then either.

“Sam, Ethan, Samuel, party invites!” Richard shouted.

The rest of the plan must have been communicated via Rich’s [Enhanced Party] perk because the next thing I heard through the commotion was Sam [Dual Casting] [Ice Shards] at the walls and ceiling to put out some of the flames.

Meanwhile, Sarah and I made it outside to witness a group of a few dozen black-cloaked figures frozen in place with vials of alchemist’s fire in their hands.

“What the frick are you doing!?” I shouted.

However, one of them must have not gotten the memo that “hey, your cult leader is standing right in front of you and is ticked off about your current course of action.”

He tossed another vial of alchemist’s fire at the gap we had just made.

If it had just been Sarah and me, that would have been fine. A level 8 [Cleric] could stand being lit on fire for a few seconds, no problem. The issue was the crowd of random civilians that were rushing out behind us.

I leaped into the air to intercept the vial.

I wasn’t going to be able to just catch it, though, or it would break. Those were made flimsy on purpose because the cultists kept them in their inventory until they were needed.

That’s how I ended up redirecting it by grabbing the vial in midair, doing a half-turn with the vial’s momentum, and then slinging it behind my back. My goal was to just get it anywhere I could away from the church and the crowd.

It was honestly a pretty smooth move, which made it seem all the more deliberate when the vial pegged one of the cultists full-on in the face.

“My face! My eyes!” the cultist screamed as he started rolling around on the ground.

That spurred the others into action.

“He’s a traitor! Brothers! Purge the traitor with your holy flame!” another shouted.

The few brief moments before they threw the vials gave me enough time to realize how many different options I had to handle that last vial. Things like…

actually look where I was throwing just let it catch me on fire since it wouldn’t do anything OR pull the vial into my inventory

I decided on option 3 for the next salvo.

“Stay behind me!” I shouted to Sarah and to the crowd of civilians. I snatched vial after vial out of the air and stuffed them in my inventory. However, as the crowd grew behind me, the attack area did too.

They eventually wisened up, and two cultists threw vials at opposite ends of the crowds since it wasn’t working on me.

“No!” I shouted. [Flash Step] was up. I could save only one side.

I was torn by indecision… until I heard the twang of a bowstring.

Two arrows shot out and shattered the vials in midair with pinpoint accuracy.

“Thanks for the assist!” I shouted as I charged at the cultists.

They drew daggers to try to meet me, but it would have made no difference if they had drawn butter knives instead. At level 19, there was no way they could touch me.

I sidestepped one swipe, stepped in, and punched the cultist in the gut. As he doubled over, I quickly grabbed him and threw him bodily into another cultist that was preparing to toss a vial into the crowd.

I heard a bowstring twang a few times during that but was too wrapped up in my own fight to see what the archer shot.

Meanwhile, another cultist had gotten behind me and tried to get me into a headlock.

I retaliated with a [Fire Strike] elbow mostly out of reflex.

That was… a bit much for what I needed.

“Brothers!” he screamed as he fell to the ground. “I’m dying! Help, brothers!”

Oh, frick! Negative HP!

Now, there’s a bit to be said about my reluctance to kill someone.

I’d already established, in my own mind, that it was okay to kill people who were guilty of violent crimes. AKA, see the sacrifices in the cult.

However, I still had one step of removal away from that. I wasn’t the one killing those murderers and rapists. I just was the one approving it.

So, while no one would argue that the man on the ground screaming in front of me was innocent of trying to kill hundreds of people, there was still a part of me that didn’t want his blood on my hands.

Especially since I was a big part of why that deluded man was there in the first place.

I knelt down and pulled out a health potion.

“Get away from him!” one of the cultists shouted as he tackled me to the ground.

“I’m trying…” I grit my teeth as the cultist stabbed me. “To help him!” I shouted as I backhanded my assailant in the face and then tossed him bodily onto the ground.

“Brothers! I, too, am dying! Avenge me against the heretic!” he shouted.

I now had two dying cultists on my hands. Based purely on my assumption that my [Fire Strike] did more damage, I assumed the other cultist was more critical.

I turned back towards him… and into the charge of five more enemies.

I grabbed the knife-hand of the first one as he stabbed at me, pivoted, and tossed him bodily behind me.

I ignored the flames as one of them tossed an alchemist’s fire at me, and I punched another of them in the face before he could make a move.

“I’m trying-“ I said as I ducked a slash from the third and then swept his legs out from under him. “To save your friend!”

There was a brief moment where the remaining cultists that were in my way backed down. At first, I thought they were actually being reasonable and would let me save him.

Then I remembered that I was currently yelling things at them while I was lit on fire.

“B-B-Brothers! We need your aid!” one of them shouted.

Even more of the group rushed toward me while the man on the ground had apparently reached the bargaining stage.

“I don’t want to die! I swear, I’ll do better! I will serve the true Lord of Flame with all of my heart!” he shouted.

You are not making it easy for me to want to save you. I grumbled mentally as I slammed two cultists’ heads together.

If only I could heal him from a distance… I would have facepalmed here if both my hands weren’t busy wrenching daggers out of the hands of cultists.

“Sarah!” I shouted. “[Heal] that guy on the ground!”

One cultist ran at me, screaming with a dagger above his head. I spun around him and kicked him into one of his friends.

Meanwhile, Sarah hadn’t replied.

Where is she? I found her via the party and looked over. She had formed something of a triage unit and was [Healing] the civilians that were dragged or carried over to her.

“Sarah!” I shouted. “That guy’s dying! Could you send a [Heal] over?”

Her head swiveled in my direction.

“Dying?” I barely heard her whisper. “Titus! Why didn’t you do a non-lethal takedown!?” she screamed.

“I don’t have a skill for that!” I shouted back as I punched two more cultists… who didn’t get back up.

Ship! I didn’t keep track of which ones I’d already hit!

“It isn’t a skill! Just make your intent clear to System!” she shouted.

Alright, I’m trusting you on this. Nonlethal, nonlethal, nonlethal. I mentally chanted as I [Fire Strike] punched one of them in the face.

Instead of falling to the ground screaming, his eyes rolled into the back of his head… then he collapsed to the ground.

“I killed him!” I said in a panic.

Fortunately, my panic was misplaced. As I bent down over the cultist, I could still hear a soft groaning coming from his mouth.

Oh. It just KOs them.

That was exactly what I needed. That didn’t stop me from briefly grumbling to the System.

Freaking patches. Couldn’t you have at least warned me somehow?

“Alright, no need to keep the kid gloves on,” I said with a grin. A [Fire Strike] elbow took care of one. An [Air Strike] kick took out two of them as I launched one of them into their friend.

I quickly mopped up the rest of the cultists around me. That just left me to take care of the ones that were still dying.

I sprinted over to the first one.

“Stay back!” he shouted.

“Drink,” I said gruffly as I shoved a health potion in his mouth.

He was too shocked to stop it, so he quickly drained most of the potion.

I pulled it away when he was done.

“Wait. I’m alive? Why would you save-“ he asked as he started to sit up.

I interrupted him by slamming his head into the ground.

Nonlethally, of course. Couldn’t have him dying again after all of the trouble I went to.

A quick repeat of that for the other dying cultists, and I was surrounded by nothing but KOed enemies.

Now, time to help out with the rest of the church…

I immediately noticed that the archer who had been helping me was in trouble.

She was entirely surrounded by cultists and didn’t have room to draw. She was instead bashing the cultists with her bow itself.

I rushed towards her to help.

I needn’t have bothered.

The dagger attacks? Couldn’t touch her.

The vial of alchemist’s fire that flew her way? Lit her dark red cloak on fire for only a brief moment before extinguishing.

The fact that she was surrounded? Well… It turned out she wanted to be.

“[Arrow Storm]!” she shouted in an authoritative voice as she shot an arrow straight up.

The cultists and I were a bit confused by her shot placement for all of a half-second. The near-literal rain of arrows that peppered the area around her put those questions to rest.

Every cultist surrounding her was dropped to the ground.

“Wow. Nice skill,” I muttered. Then, I realized that I really didn’t have time to stand around. I needed to get to the front of the church and get Lizzie to stop the madness.

I took off at a sprint.

------

The only level 25 [Huntress] in the world watched as the young man ran to the front of the church.

She nocked an arrow and aimed it in his direction.

All of the clues were there. The strike skills that he used. His immunity to fire. And the nail in the coffin was that the young [Priestess] had even called him “Titus.”

She drew the bow back to its maximum… and then Emilia sighed. She pulled the arrow back into her inventory and slowly released the tension on the bowstring.

If that really is Titus back from the dead, a single arrow won’t be enough. She shook her head. And if it isn’t…

She could imagine the headlines now.

“Head of Smith Trading Company shoots unarmed boy!”

However, there was another headline that she wouldn’t mind seeing.

“Head of Smith Trading Company apprehends [Demon Lord]!”

Also, while she hadn’t talked to Jake in years… she wasn’t about to forgive Titus for taking him from her.

She decided to follow behind him.

-----

Lizzie was shouting crazed encouragement to hundreds of gathered cultists when I reached her. To make matters worse, the cultists had the front door barred shut and were somehow managing to hold it.

“WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS!?” I shouted.

Lizzie turned to look at me, and she went as white as a sheet.

“My lo- what are you doing here?” she asked.

“Attending a funeral,” I said flatly. “Now, stop immediately and let them all go!”

“But these are the supporters of the [Hero]! These are your enemies!”

“Most of them are innocent civilians who had their lives saved by Jake!” I shouted back as I got in her face. I was practically frothing at the mouth at that point. “Either you stop this right now, or I’ll stop you myself!”

“Of course, my lord,” she said. “However, would you mind undergoing the trial once more? Just for the surety of those gathered here?”

She pulled out another vial of alchemist’s fire.

Now, at this point, I was suspicious of her sudden calm.

“Do it,” I said.

However, there was no point in worrying as there wasn’t a fire in Placeholder that I was afraid of.

“Children of the flame!” she shouted. “Here is proof that this man is a charlatan!”

She tossed the vial forcefully into my chest.

I screamed in pain as the flames licked out, and it burned.

I tamped down on the flames out of reflex before I realized the issue. It wasn’t the flames that burned but the liquid base.

I looked at her in a moment of recognition.

That birch… she had it made with holy water somehow.

“He’s a charlatan! Get the deceiver!” she shouted.

A group of them charged me, but they weren’t my main concern.

I [Flash Stepped] past them and over to the side of the group that was barring the door. A quick [Air Strike] kick cleared all of them out. Then, I yanked the bar out and tossed it away.

Right as I did, a familiar-looking former [Berserker] bust through the door and nearly fell over.

“Careful there, Garrett,” I said as I caught him. “Get them all to safety!”

He gave me a puzzled look and almost asked a question before he shook his head.

“Everyone! This way!” he shouted.

I charged the cultists again and KOed two of them before I noticed one taking aim at the throng of civilians.

“[Summon Dave]!” I shouted as I [Air Strike] punched it into the man’s face.

“Nonlethal!” I shouted after it as it quickly took the man down.

Meanwhile, the cultists were starting to realize that they were not currently on the winning end of things.

“Exalted leader!” one shouted. “We need aid! We should perform the summoning!”

“Of course,” Lizzie nodded. “Everyone, buy us time for the grand ritual!”

They poured out alchemist’s fire in a frickin’ pentagram, and 5 of them took their places at each corner while chanting ominously. Lizzie took her place in the middle of the flame and started making her own ominous chant.

As for me… I was unconcerned.

Well, that takes 6 of them out of the fight, for now. My gaze swept over another cultist who was rearing back to pitch more alchemist’s fire into the crowd. I already summoned my dave! I’m out of ranged attacks!

Then I remembered.

The cultists had been kind enough to provide me with one.

A vial of liquid fire smashed into the cultist’s face, and his own vial fell to the ground behind him. I quickly pitched vial after vial as I literally fought fire with fire.

Then, because there wasn’t enough chaos on the scene, a new group arrived.

“This is the watch! Stand down and be placed under arrest!” one of them shouted. It must have been done with some type of magic or skill because there’s no way a normal person could shout that loud. Either way, the shout was punctuated by the sound of dozens of heavily armored [Watch Officers] running in formation down the street.

“They must not stop the ritual! After them, brothers!” one of the cultists shouted.

Alchemist’s fire splashed against heavy shields as the lines of the two groups clashed together.

I took quick stock of the situation.

Watch is here to help handle the cult. I looked back at the church. Most of the civilians are evacuated. I saw a familiar red-clad figure shooting into the cult. And we have some adventurers here too.

I was confident of how things were looking.

“Put the vial away, and put your hands in the air where I can see them!” I heard a shout.

I honestly didn’t register that was said to me until the [Watch Officer] was right in front of me.

“Put the vial away!” he shouted again.

I gave him a blank look.

“But… I’m not a cultist! Why are you-“ I trailed off as I realized my current outfit.

The black cloak that I hadn’t changed out of.

The horns that marked me as “beastborn,” which a large portion of the cult was.

And the kicker was, of course, the alchemist’s fire that I had in my hand poised to throw at whichever cultist looked like they needed a face full of flame.

“Ah, frick,” I muttered.

I was about to put the vial back into my inventory when I saw the aforementioned cultist. He had somehow managed to corner a civilian and was raising a bottle above his head menacingly.

My hand basically moved on its own as I slung my own firebomb across the way at top speed. The impact itself was almost enough to knock the man off his feet, to say nothing of the burst of flame that happened after.

I didn’t get to see what happened with the bystander, though. I had other problems. Namely the sword that slashed down at my face.

“Give up now, or we’ll take you in by force!” the [Watch Officer] shouted.

“I threw that at a cultist!” I protested as I sidestepped the swing. “He was going to light someone on fire!”

He didn’t believe me.

“Stop resisting!” he shouted as he swung his sword in a horizontal slash.

I tried to dodge backward, but apparently, I had left a KOed cultist right there. I stumbled instead and had only one way left to block the attack.

I [Earth Strike] punched the sword.

Even off-balance, the attack was strong enough and surprising enough that the [Watch Officer] nearly lost his grip.

He gave me a wary look after that.

“High-level [Monk]!” the officer shouted. “[Requesting Reinforcements]!”

It was kind of uncanny how immediately as he shouted that skill, several other officers’ heads immediately snapped to looking in our direction.

Four of them disengaged with their current fight and rushed over.

Meanwhile, with my current opponent not wanting to engage, I realized I had a brief moment of respite. A quick check of my stamina showed that I was still doing fine, but I also realized I couldn’t afford to block every attack with an [Elemental Strike].

Fortunately, the KOed cultist behind me had a knife he was no longer using. I quickly snatched it up and held it in my familiar reversed grip.

That was when the other officers showed up.

“I thought you said he was a [Monk]-“ one [Watch Officer] said, but cut himself off as he got a good look at me. “Tiberius?” he asked incredulously.

Oh, good. I breathed a sigh of relief. Maybe we can resolve this diplomatically.

“Hey, Fred,” I replied. “Would you mind telling your buddies that I’m not with the cult? It’s making it really hard to help stop it.”

“Stand down-“ he started. Then his eyes narrowed. “No… Wait… Always dressed in black. Always sneaking out alone at night…” His eyes widened. “He is a cultist! Subdue him!”

They immediately fanned out to surround me.

I blocked the first overhead slash with my dagger and punched the second away from my other side with an [Earth Strike].

That only accounted for two of the five swords present.

Swords three and four ran me through from behind.

I grunted in pain but managed to bat the fifth sword away with my dagger.

“Brothers! He needs aid!” I vaguely heard a cultist shout.

I was too busy batting away swords left and right to really notice.

Then, one of the officers near me got lit on fire.

“See!” Fred shouted. “You really are with the cult! That’s why you’ve poisoned Sarah against me and gave me that awful advice!”

I looked at him in confusion for half a second before it clicked.

“I had nothing to do with the fact that you got friend-zoned!” I shouted back.

He charged me, and I effortlessly blocked his wild swings.

However, his assault wasn’t useless.

Oh, hail. I thought as 3 coordinated strikes came my way at the same time.

I would have had no place to dodge… If [Flash Step] hadn’t been back off cooldown.

I didn’t even look where I was going. I just [Flash Stepped] backward as far as I could.

Which is how I ended up right in the middle of a group of cultists.

I think I was just about as shocked as they were, but I definitely recovered faster. I dropped low and kicked them all with a single [Earth Strike] leg sweep.

Surrounded by KOed cultists, I got yet another brief moment of respite. I took that moment to pick up another dagger in my usual reverse-grip and take stock of the situation.

Cultists behind me, the watch at my front. I thought. Could it get any worse?

“Titus! You MURDERER!” Garrett shouted. His shouts quickly devolved into a wordless yell.

He charged me, greataxe in hand.

“I had to ask,” I muttered. I barely sidestepped a huge overhead swing that slammed into the cobblestone. Chips flew everywhere, and he was briefly stuck pulling it back out.

How did he know it was me? I asked myself. Then I looked at the clues. 2 reverse grip daggers. My dave that was still sitting on top of a cultist unopposed. The fact that I knew his name.

Ah. Right.

Then his next attacks were upon me. There was no way I could block those with a simple dagger, so I didn’t even try. I rolled to the side to dodge one diagonal swing, but he was on me with another before I was even back to my feet.

Frick, he’s higher level than me! I thought as I managed to dive backward out of range.

The saving grace was that all of his moves were telegraphed… and no one was moving in to help him.

“Quick, get him while he’s distracted!” I barely heard Fred call out.

“But his opponent’s a [Berserker]! Shouldn’t we capture him instead? That class has been outlawed for years,” came the reply.

I ducked under yet another wild swing and tried to think.

I could take him out of [Rage]… But he’ll probably just go right back into it. Besides, I need that cooldown.

I shot a brief glance over at Lizzie, who was still chanting in the middle of the flame.

My distraction was enough to earn me a heavy slash across the chest.

That took a significant chunk of my health bar, and I was down to around 5/8ths.

I grit my teeth. Sorry, Garrett. It looks like I’m taking you down.

I only needed one ability to take care of a [Berserker] like Garrett. In the brief moment before he recovered from his swing, I spun around him.

“[Summon Dave]!” I shouted as I plopped the ball of slime onto his back.

The [Berserker] struggled against it with wordless yells, but he couldn’t reach the dave on his back.

“Nonlethal, dave. Got it?” I said to the slimeball.

Unfortunately, the dave wouldn’t have the chance to complete the task I gave him. There was a twang of a bowstring, and before I could react, two arrows lodged into the dave, and his summoned life ended in a puff of smoke.

I shot a glance over at the archer and finally got a good look at her.

The elf ears and long blonde hair were giveaways, but the main thing that let me recognize her was the scowl she was sending my way.

Ah. Emilia. Nice to see you, too. I thought briefly as she shot an arrow my way.

Those two together put me into a rough spot. My main focus had to be on dodging the devastating swings that Garrett was sending my way, but that left me open to the precise shots that Emilia took to catch me off balance.

I was soon a pincushion that was at about a quarter HP.

I need to disengage somehow! Or… My mind flashed back to madness form. I shuddered as I looked at the chaos around me.

Fortunately, Garrett made a mistake in his [Rage]-induced state.

His greataxe started glowing as he dragged it along the ground, then he leaped high into the air.

“[Great Cleave]!” he shouted as he brought down a devastating two-handed swing.

No, no, no! I thought, but not for the obvious reasons. Nonlethal. Please. Nonlethal!

“[Reflect Attack]!” I shouted back as his blow slashed all the way through me and into the ground.

There was a brief flash of red, and then Garrett collapsed.

Did it work? I asked myself.

“I’ll…never… forgive you,” Garrett groaned softly.

“Oh, frick! Ship. Frick!” my vocabulary was reduced to butchered swear words as I realized that nonlethal had not worked on that attack.

“Here,” I said as I bent down. I stowed one of my daggers and pulled out a health potion. I also received an arrow to the back for my troubles. “Could you not shoot me when I’m trying to save Garrett’s life, you birch!?” I shouted at Emilia.

That led to an awkward position as I attempted to give life-saving potion first-aid to Garrett while also having to deflect arrows with my free hand.

I say attempted because I ran into an issue.

“No more potions,” I said as I looked at my inventory and down at the still-dying [Berserker]. I’d given him 4, but they weren’t the best quality. Most of the stuff I’d stockpiled was on Sarah because health potions didn’t even work on me.

Speaking of Sarah…

“Sarah!” I shouted. “Healer!” I hefted the huge [Berserker] onto my left shoulder and started running back towards Sarah on the side of the church.

“The [Berserker] is down! After him!” the watch shouted.

Emilia didn’t say a word. She just shot more arrows after me that I scarcely dodged.

As for the cult…

“The ritual is complete!” Lizzie shouted. “Now! By the power of flame, I call you here! From the land of brimstone and never-ending fire, I call forth one who shall destroy our foes. Come forth being of the abyss! [Summon Pit Lord]!”

I course-corrected and started sprinting in her direction.

Meanwhile, the ground started shaking. Everyone else stopped and stared as in front of Lizzie, a red symbol appeared on the ground and grew in size. 5 feet wide. 10 feet wide. 30 feet wide.

A malevolent presence started emanating from it as it turned black, and then giant horns slowly poked up from the ground.

Aaaand, now.

A quick snap of my fingers and the presence vanished along with the blackened area.

Lizzie looked at me in shock as I stood in front of her.

“You know, I don’t really like hitting women,” I said. I popped her in the face with a nonlethal [Earth Strike]. “But I guess I have to start getting used to this gender-equality stuff someday.”

I stowed my second dagger as I caught her collapsing body on my right shoulder and took off running again.

“Sarah! Healer!” I shouted.

“He’s captured the leader! After him!” one of the cultists shouted.

Meanwhile, Emilia had not stopped shooting at me. I zigged and zagged with a horde chasing after me but managed to make it to the side of the church.

I made it over to Sarah’s little triage unit.

She didn’t notice me until I was literally right next to her.

“You’re hurt!” she exclaimed.

“Him first!” I gestured at my left shoulder as I plopped the [Berserker] down in front of her.

“[Holy Heal]!” she cast.

The spell did its work, and Garrett was brought back into the land of the not-dying.

He made a wordless yell as he entered [Rage] again, but I KOed him with a quick [Earth Strike].

Meanwhile, there was a horde of people chasing us. I determined that wouldn’t do.

“Stay back!” I shouted as I tossed one of my last remaining vials of alchemist’s fire.

It was an effective deterrent… for all but Fred.

“Get away from her!” he shouted as he charged through the flames. He raised his sword and charged at me, and I prepared to receive him.

“No, Fred! He isn’t with them!” Sarah shouted as she interposed herself between us.

That was a mistake.

To the watch, the [Priestess] with silver hair was defending a cultist. To the cult, she was defending a heretic.

I need to defend her. I thought. I could think of only one way to do that, but as I stared at the gathering crowd, my nerves began acting up again.

You’ve gotta be kidding me, not now!

I guess my brain decided that would be close enough to public speaking for me to panic.

I needed something to help me, but my brain just kept jumping to subclasses, and none of mine would help there.

Until it finally clicked.

I just needed a new one.

I am an-

------

Sarah’s heart hammered as she stood between Fred and Titus. She had to stop this somehow!

Then she heard a laugh from behind her.

She turned around as the laugh echoed through the area and was followed by a slow clap.

“Titus?” she asked as she turned.

“Well done, everyone!” he said. “What glorious madness!” He wiped a tear from his eye. “Oh, if only my cult had succeeded with the summoning, but this one-” he carelessly dropped the woman who was on his shoulder to the ground, “-had to go and mess it up.” He shook his head.

“What are you saying?”

“I’m saying, you naïve little [Priestess], that I duped you,” he replied in a mocking tone.

Before she could respond, he took two steps towards her and kicked her in the stomach. The air was driven out of her lungs, and she crashed bodily into Fred.

“I am Titus! The reborn [Demon Lord] of Madness!” he shouted.

Sarah wasn’t buying it. His speech was a bit stilted, and something seemed off.

“So… everything was a lie?” she asked.

“Of course!” he shouted. “Why else would a [Demon Lord] stay with a naïve [Priestess] like you?”

That was projected towards the crowd, not her. And if that wasn’t enough, the son of a dave turned and winked at her!

“You’ve all been fun toys to play with, but I’ve grown so very bored of you all,” Titus continued with a sneer. “So, continue your little game of cops and robbers. I must take my leave.”

Fred charged Titus with a yell, but Titus dodged with only a slight twist of his body and then kicked Fred away with a blast of air.

He then vanished and reappeared in front of an alley.

“Farewell, Vir. You shall have to hope that we don’t see each other again.”

Sarah saw him whisper two more words, and then the alleyway behind him was engulfed in black flame.

What in System’s name was that? Sarah asked herself as he gave an exaggerated bow and then practically sauntered through the flames.

-----

[Actor]. The subclass did its job well enough at level 1 with the only skill it had. [Get into Character].

So, after establishing myself firmly as the enemy of the world… I found myself [Sneaking] in an alleyway.

I didn’t realize the entire city would be crawling with people looking for me, okay? I only had a few moments to come up with my plan!

I stayed quiet and still as another group of cultists ran past. However, one of them looked familiar, and he was lagging behind the rest.

“How did I get into this mess?” he muttered to himself.

I snuck over to him and grabbed him with my hand cupped over his mouth.

The cat-eyed [Rogue] fought against me and gave a muffled scream as I shushed him.

“I promise not to hurt you if you don’t make a sound,” I finally whispered. He reluctantly nodded.

I had my hand off his mouth for less than half a second before he took a sharp intake of breath. I clapped my hand back over his mouth before he could scream, and I hit him on the back of the head with an [Earth Strike].

“Bad choice,” I said. “Now, I can either leave you unconscious here in this alley, or you can help me escape. If you do the second, I’ll pay you.”

I couldn’t see his face since I was behind him, but I got a general feeling that he didn’t trust me.

“Open your hand,” I said. He reluctantly did so. I slapped a 100-gold coin into his hand. “Is that enough to buy your silence?”

He stared at the coin for a few long moments before finally trying to nod his head.

“Okay, good. If you scream, I’m going to knock you out, take that coin back, and hand you over to the watch. Understood?”

The coin vanished into his inventory, rendering my second threat moot, but he did try to nod his head again.

I slowly released him.

“There’s no way I can get you out,” he finally replied. “There’s way too many people looking for you.”

“What about the thieve’s guild?” I asked.

“Never heard of it,” he replied straightfaced.

“Rogue’s guild?” I asked. He gave me the same impassive face. “Whatever the frick you call yourselves, I don’t care. Would they help?”

“I think you may have something confused,” he replied. “There is no such organization-“

I slapped another 100-gold coin into his hand.

“-that would allow someone-“

I added a 200-gold coin.

“-even if they paid handsomely-“

I held up a 500-gold coin in front of his face.

“And this once I’m safely out,” I said.

He coughed. “-to not get away from the city.” He gestured behind him with his head. “Right this way.”

I’m glad I speak [Rogue]. Or, more specifically, money.

I followed behind him as we both used [Sneak] and navigated through the city.

We had to pause and let patrols pass us by fairly often.

Eventually, I got bored of the silence.

“So, you have a name?” I whispered.

He ignored me the first time. So I asked him again… and again.

He gave an exasperated but barely audible sigh.

“Dark Shadow,” he whispered back.

I don’t know what was worse, his nickname or the fact that he could say it with a straight face.

“I didn’t realize we were using our chuuni names,” I whispered back. “My bad. I’m the Lord of Flame, the [Demon Lord] of Madness.”

We stood there staring at each other for an uncomfortably long time.

He sighed again.

“Greg,” he said.

“Really?” I asked incredulously.

“You got a problem with that?” he asked.

I shook my head. “No… It’s just… unexpected is all.”

When the last patrol finally passed, we made our way down yet another alley.

He handed me a blindfold.

“Sorry, but we’re going to be using some secret passages. You can’t be allowed to see them.”

I sighed. “Fine. We’ll do it your way.” I put the blindfold on.

“Right this way,” he said as he put his hand on my shoulder.

I almost thanked him, but my eyes narrowed under the blindfold as I realized what he was doing. I slapped his hand off my shoulder.

“You get what I told you you would get for this job, not a gold more,” I stated. “If you try to [Steal] from me again, money will be the least of your worries.”

He tsked. “Fine, but how am I supposed to lead you?”

And that’s how the two of us ended up traveling along in single-file, with him giving me warnings whenever there were turns.

Or at least… usually.

After the third time of him running me into a wall, I threatened to dock his pay. He had model behavior after that.

“Stop,” he whispered to me. The next thing I heard was him whispering to someone else and then a door creaking open.

“Okay, follow me. Once we’re inside, you can take the blindfold off,” he said.

I grunted my ascent.

As soon as I was in and the door was shut, I took off my blindfold.

What greeted me was a bunch of ruffians all lounging about in various ways. Some were sharpening knives. Others were throwing darts.

But the thing that caught my attention was…

“I didn’t realize they invented pool while I was gone,” I muttered as I went over and examined the table.

“Who’s the pretty boy?” one of them asked Greg with a sneer.

“He’s a cousin,” Greg said without a moment’s hesitation. “Got caught up in the cult nonsense and needed a place to lay low for a bit.”

“The boss won’t be happy if he finds out.”

“And that’s why the boss doesn’t need to know,” Greg finished and slipped something into the speaker’s hands.

He eyed it for a moment, nodded, and then I was mostly left alone from there.

“So, what’s the plan, Dark Shadow,” I finally whispered to him.

“We lay low here for a few hours for the heat to die down. Then, I’m going to lead you blindfolded through some more of our tunnels. Then, you’ll pay me, and if I ever see your face again it will be too soon,” he stated flatly.

“Works for me,” I replied.

From there, we waited. As for me, I managed to convince them to let me play a couple rounds in pool. I was… a lot better at it than I thought I would be. I wasn’t sure if it was something I had played a lot of back on Earth or if I just naturally understood the angles at play.

Either way, I quickly toned my playing down since I was still getting HP back and didn’t want to have to fight my way out of the entire thieve’s guild.

Unfortunately, I didn’t realize I was going to have to do that anyway until it was too late.

I was in the middle of my umpteenth game of pool when I caught a glimpse of something out of the corner of my eye. I turned to look, but it was already too late. A [Rogue] slashed through my arm with a knife, and I was treated to a familiar notification.

System: You are stunned and are unable to act

I couldn’t move an inch. Well, except for my eyes and mouth. I used those to glare behind my assailant at the person who brought me there.

“What the hail, Greg,” I said. “I thought we had a deal.”

“Boss, uhh, he’s my cousin, and I told him-“ Greg started.

“Shut up,” the [Rogue] I finally recognized as Nick replied. “Smith Trading Company just put out a bounty for this idiot’s head. 100k if we bring him in alive. You got a problem with that?”

He nodded to two other [Rogues] who kicked my legs out from under me and then started dragging me along behind their boss.

Frick. Sounds like Emilia speaks [Rogue] even better than I do.

“Well, Nick,” I said. “You certainly moved up in the world.”

His eyes narrowed as he tilted my head up to get a better look at me. “I don’t know you. Don’t act like we’re buds.”

How long is this frickin stun!? Come on, stall!

“You don’t recognize me?” I asked. “In the good old days when I fought you, Rich, Ethan, and Samuel? Or the even older days when I saved your asps from those zombies?”

He snorted. “I don’t know how you heard about any of that, but I can tell when a man’s stalling. Don’t you worry, my blade was coated in concentrated scorpion venom. I’ve got all the time in the world to deal with you.”

“Oh, and how long is that?”

“5 minutes, and then you’ll get another little dose. We’ll keep you nice and stunned until you’re delivered safely.”

System: You are no longer stunned

Thank you, [Status Effect Resistance].

“I’ve got just two words for you, Nick,” I said.

“Oh, is that supposed to be a threat?” he taunted.

“[Hell Blaze],” I cast.

The room was engulfed in red and black flames, and I took off like a shot towards the door. I didn’t have a clue which way I was brought in, so I just winged it and just sprinted whatever way I could.

Somehow, I made it out of one of their exits, and even more luckily, it was next to the wall. A quick run, jump, and [Flash Step] combo, and I was at the top.

It was the middle of the night, and the darkness was punctuated by several uncontrolled fires lit across the city.

It was time for me to leave Vir behind for good. Or at least… for the rest of my current life.

There was one last thing that I needed to take care of, though.

“[Message] Sam Riley…” I trailed off. Wait. I think she married Garrett. “[Message] Sam Newman. I know I’m the last one you want to hear from, but the beastborn [Priestess] needs your help. She’s the [Hero], and tonight may have outed her-”

I continued composing my [Message] as I jumped from the walls and headed east.