With my cleaver still in my hand, I growled at those surrounding me. As one, they smirked back. A series of Notifications hit me from those I’d killed before being pulled here. I’d leveled again, which was nice, but of no interest to me at this particular moment in time as I dismissed them and tried to produce a spicy ball. I had people to kill.

Unfortunately, I was still bloody neutralized. It would have to be death by cleaver for these smug bastards. I took a step forward and a silvery dome shaped shield popped up around me.

No form of Neuma manipulation is possible outside of this shield.

“You bunch of fucking pussies!” I screamed at them.

I looked down at my cleaver, devastated to find it had gone dull as the high-powered paladins and Justiciars parted to create an approach for an even more gaudily armored man. Black, shoulder length hair, slicked back, framed the kind of stuck up face that made you want to take a shit in a pie crust and pelt the bastard with it.

“So the seed has finally arrived,” he said, gloating as he came to stand right in front of me.

I glared at him, moving as close to the shield as I could. “My Soul Mate is back there fighting for her life and so help me, if she’s killed while I’m stuck with you bunch of pricks, I will hunt down and kill every single, last mother-fucking worshipper of Justice, rip off their heads and shove them up their arses. Starting with you,” I said, jabbing the shield with a thick clawed demon finger in the direction of the newest arrival.

The shield crackled and gave me a solid jolt of energy. I’d half expected it and prepared myself to show no reaction at the pain it caused.

Gladivel MonDiar. Beacon of Justice, First Justiciar. Level 195

Sneered at me. “Pathetic! You aren’t close to challenging Justice’s glory. And kill? You? How will you do that as you rot in a cell at least until you are properly housebroken.”

“Why aye, fucking arse licker,” I said, briefly dropping into high school Clive, while I focused on contacting Sania through our bond. I got nothing. This shield had cut off all of my connections to the outside world and it was only at that point I realized that I couldn’t feel any of my followers.

Panicked and frustrated, I searched my powers for any available options. To my surprise, I couldn’t manipulate my own Neuma at all. Not even to heal the wounds I had taken before I’d gotten here.

Next, I attempted to activate the vision aspect of Neuma. To my surprise, it overlayed my vision. It wasn’t much, but it was something.

Gladivel MonDiar was still talking. It seemed like he had a whole monologue prepared for this moment. The last thing I needed was another long and boring speech. So I focused my attention on trying to manipulate the shield. I found that it was malleable, but any attempt to pull the Neuma toward me was futile. Whatever held the shield in place was damn strong.

“Clive!” the prick snapped loudly at me. He began ranting at me. This time I listened as he gave me the now vastly condensed angrily shouted version of his earlier monologue.

“… since you came here! You were not deemed worthy of our attention until now.”

“So you saw the opportunity to sneak in and steal me like the bandits you are. Well, listen up, turd burger. You really need to let me go.”

“We really don’t as it happens. You’re becoming too much of a danger to our invasion plans to roam free any longer,” he replied, ignoring all of my insults like a pro. “We know you intend to join with the rest of your pathetic little army to help the Fortress of elves.”

Only half listening, I started working on the shield again. First, I tried to push out, but that didn’t work either. It was set in its shape and no amount of effort would distort it. On a whim, I tried to push the area of the barrier in front of me into itself and create a gap.

As the area slowly thinned with my efforts until it was almost nothing. I cheered internally on the verge of opening it up. But now wasn’t the time to make a break for it. If I did get out, surrounded by these super powerful ass holes I’d be screwed and I didn’t want to give away that I had power I could use against them.

“ARE YOU EVEN LISTENING!” Gladivel screamed, red faced. If his shouting didn’t let me know I was getting to him, the throbbing vein in his forehead sure did.

“Look,” I said, with the most irritating smile I could muster. “You took a punt here and you’ve ended up punting yourselves right in the arse. This isn’t going to play out how you think it is.”

Gladivel slammed a gauntleted fist on the shield. It didn’t affect him at all. “I assure you Clive, if you do not cooperate, you will be Judged. The importance others may put in your existence is not reciprocated here in Delosha.”

My shit-eating grin faltered a little at that. I was actually in Delosha. I didn’t know why I should have expected something different, but it still came as a bit of a shock.

Deep down, I was banking on my Protectorate transport ability to get me the hell out of here when it refreshed. But that might only work in my own territory.

“You are concerned now,” Gladivel said more calmly. “Finally, you understand your predicament. The truth can be hard to bear, yes?”

“Like how you were supposed to land on your mother’s legs and she’s never forgiven your father since?5” I replied a little more testily than I’d planned.

As he replied, I pulled up my Protector menu:

Protectorate: 180,000 Square Mile

Climate: Temperate-Tundra-Hyperborean.

Coast Line: 5,000 miles

Warning: You are outside of your Protectorate.

Attributes unavailable.

I roared in frustration, surprising the men and women gloating over me. They looked mildly confused by my random reaction.

“What?” I snapped at them. “Will you just put me in fucking cell or something now? I need some quiet time to think, and I know you all need to get back to blowing each other.”

“You are planning something?” Gladivel said with a sly smile. “Do not waste your time. We will have you strung up by your feet like a pig on a butcher's hook. Powerless, and well-guarded,”

After a dramatic sigh, I chuckled tiredly. “Whatever, man. Just crack on with it, will you?”

“Fear not. I will once you have answered my original question.”

“You’ve asked me a question? I haven’t been listening to a goddamn word you’ve said, mate.”

He spun away from me, his anger rising once more. “Put him in a cell,” he snapped to the others. Send Karelia down to alter his misconceptions over his future.”

“I’ll catch up with you later, you prick,” I shouted after him.

The shield I was in suddenly contracted, pressing against my body and filling me with electric shock like pain.

I could barely focus as the paladin operating the shield somehow manipulated it to leave my cleaver holding hand sticking out. One of the Justiciars grabbed my cleaver and tried to pull it from my grip. Being attuned to me, there was no chance it was ever coming free. But I couldn’t even gloat as the ongoing tight fitting electrocution shield affected my facial muscles, so I just glared at him with my teeth clench tight.

I wished I’d just let go. It was a battle I didn’t need to win and now I had definitely lost, as the bastard started hacking at my hand with his silver glowing broadsword. It took a few solid blows before my hand came free and it was my damn human hand, too.

They all laughed and I couldn’t even insult them as they closed the shield up over my heavily bleeding stump. A stump I couldn’t heal while I was stuck in the damn shield. I was defenseless, at their mercy.

Another of the Justiciars created a portal, and two of the paladins grabbed me and the shield and carried me through into a much darker area.

They left me paralysed for a time though I could just about hear talking over my prolonged electrocution.

After what felt like an eternity, they returned. Carrying me into a cell and turning me upside down where my feet were shackled to the ceiling by a third person.

Access to your Neuma is blocked.

Only then was the shield dropped and the full details of my new situation came to me. My hand was excruciating. I felt like I’d ground most of my teeth away, too and the smell down there. It was putrid. The rot and the damp were easily overwhelmed by that special open sewer kind of smell. My bonds were back, too. I could sense all 658 bonded.

“Enjoy your quiet time,” one of the paladins who’d brought me here said with glee.

“I will,” I growled back in reply. “Though not as much as I’ll enjoy chopping you into mince.”

He snorted, his derision clear as he slammed the cell door closed as they walked off. I inspected the two guards standing either side of the cell door. Their backs to me, complaining about being put on prison guard duty. I paid their words no attention but inspected their identifiers:

Barry Gon: Level 65, Nova Hasia, City Guard. Elman (Human II)

Andra Blesik: Level 66, Nova Hasia, City Guard. Elman (Human II)

Idiots, I thought. Putting guards on who were a similar level to me as a deterrent. They weren’t really giving the whole Protector and demi-god abilities the credit they deserved, and I’d use them both to escape and fuck them up royally.

“Clive! I thought you were dead,” Sania said. Her voice flooding into my mind with almost painful force.

I closed my eyes, blocking out my surroundings to talk to her and Danivra who had also entered my mind.

“Yeah, sorry about that. Dirty fuckers used a shield to block me. How are you all? Still fighting? I worried I might have lost you. I literally just threatened the head Justiciar or whatever that I’d attempt to destroy the whole of Delosha if you were dead. I fucking would have as well.”

“I believe you,” she replied. “We’ve survived. With Grigor’s arrival, we managed to match them. From that position, we’ve been running a fighting retreat. The last of our army is just arriving now and Justice are running. Disappearing through portals.”

“How many have we lost?”

“Very few. A couple of over excited goblins. All of the Nystiobek survived. Now stop talking about us. Where are you and we’ll come and get you.”

“I’m in Delosha, in a cell at the minute. Blocked from using Neuma, but I’m pretty sure they have no intention of killing me. Now I just have to wait for my opportunity to get out of here.

“Can you teleport?” Danivra asked.

“Nope. I need to get to my protectorate first. Don’t worry though. I’ve got this, I promise.”

We talked for a while longer. I didn’t mention the lack of hand or swinging upside down, I just tried to stay calm for them so they didn’t worry.

Purposeful footsteps distracted me from the conversation. I suspected someone called Karelia was coming to pay me a visit, and that they were likely a torturer.

“Okay guys, gotta go for a minute and focus on getting out of here. I’ll be in touch as soon as I can.”

“Hurry back, Clive. Or we’ll be coming for you,” Sania said.

“We will.” Danivra agreed. “Whatever it takes.”

“Thanks guys, it won't come to that though.”

The cell door clanked open, so I dropped the communication. As my torturer entered. To my utter surprise, she was a Dokalfar and she had the most vibrant, almost glowing red hair. Damn my wandering eyes. Even in my current position I couldn’t help notice that she was incredibly hot.

Karelia: Nova Hasia Lead Behavioral Physician. Level 68 Dokala (Dokalfar II)

“You look like you’re going to be an enormous amount of fun to work on big man,” she said. Looking me over like a starving man at a rack of honey glazed, slow roast ribs.