“The next day, the ambitious officers returned to Vigilant Patrol. This time not to grind Chapter 4, but to conquer it.”

“Reginald, I'm afraid I don't understand why you said that.”

“I heard the Strategists say you have to lay out your goals before you can achieve them. Did you ever notice the Ultra Rares only have one Eclipse Strategist? He's more of a DPS than a support, too.”

Clyse stopped to consider the matter. “Fine me if you aren't right. Mentor Tendradius Pux is the only one, and he mostly just buffs his own damage. You look like more of a Strategist than he does, with your glasses and clipboard and all.”

“That's what I was thinking. And you could easily be a Reaper. Those shears practically demand it. They only have Nonneros for that at present.”

Reginald and Clyse continued their conversation even when horizontal and cutting through the air toward action courtesy of Ulrik and Burmin Trivvis. Whatever class Clyse looked like she might fit, true Reapers never paused before battle for a little chat, was what they claimed even in the face of several counterexamples Reginald and Clyse raised, or rather shouted down at the officers carrying them. True Reapers never troubled themselves about accuracy. Commandment of Heroes had no such stat.

Even Rares no longer considered the Chapter 4 Pirates worth defeating. Instead of stopping to fight the chaff, they ran right through the hostile ranks. The first wave's four Pirates might not have been able to form any ranks as such, but if they had, those would have been run through as surely as day follows night and bad words followed Bel Felicitous Fasde. Vinnette Melban hurried after them, turning and twisting to avoid enemy contact.

“Excuse me . . . Pardon me . . . Genuinely sorry . . .”

The twin Reapers said nothing till they slammed into nothing. Their burdens slid backwards and they all toppled to the firm ground while letting some firm words and phrases escape into the open air. Vinnette giggled and strained to pull them up, but Clyse and Reginald rose on their own to begin the battle, eager and invigorated by their inspirational conversation.

“I'll start things off with a Promotional Campaign! After that, how about some Cost-Cutting!” Clyse sheared a Pirate and the one next to it. The Attack Down found no purchase on the effects bar of the dead, but that was no concern of the inflicter. “There are my two actives. Anyone else?”

The three DPS officers did not have to be told to use skills, except for that time. Two of them were still frustrated by the invisible wall, and the Reaper class bonus had nothing to offer when it came to dealing with frustration in an emotionally healthy way. As much as they had raised their stats, HP, Attack, Defense, Speed, Critical Chance . . . no Wisdom to be seen, or even Intelligence or Intellect. Flinch Resist might have helped them face the implications of their current train of thought, but nothing else.

“Death of Horses!”

“Inferno Strike!”

“Lanmaran Lash!”

The slaughter continued for five waves of four to eight Pirates each before the Rares could move on. The Reapers pushed Reginald forward first to make sure the next area was accessible, which proved they had advanced farther along the path of the Strategist than he. More Pirates appeared, though Reginald assured them the chapter had other enemy types.

Five waves later that seemed like a lie, but Ulrik let it go and dashed for the next area. “Not again!” he shouted, even though it had obviously happened again.

“It stands to reason the number of waves per stage would increase.”

“It stands just as much to reason that they would stay the same. Many things can stand to reason at once. For instance, am I going to throw you into the ocean and watch you drown, or not? Either is possible!”

“Gack! Ulrik, I do know how to swim.”

“Oh.” He set Reginald down. “Maybe they can Class Evolve you to Swimmer. 'Swimmer Reginald gains a 15% class bonus to Defense against Flood enemies in addition to a 15% bonus to Nova damage.' And then! Swimming trunks costume.”

“Like Hyl DeMereanch's? Since there's no chance of summer alts for men.”

“Yes, except less handsome.”

“Of course, of course. But with an easier name to remember! Complete Inspection!”

“What's up addicts, Billy Does Mobile is back, and why? I have to do this tier list for Commandments of Heroism somebody suggested. It's a rating of how hard or easy it is to remember the character's name. Now the top tier, it's not S, let me just fix that, it's Liya tier. Liya. You know, the tanned girl with the fishing spear? Two prongs? You do know, because her name's so easy to remember.

“Now the bottom tier, that's easy, it's Lyiss . . . Lyinis . . . the new Eclipse. We'll just put Tendraaaaadius Pux in there right away. Could you tell I was looking that up on the wiki? I had to do that because I can't remember it.

“Now we need a tier, I'll call it the Count Putty tier, where it's easy to remember kind of the contours of the name, right? But is it Count Poitmen or Count Poitnem? I can never keep it straight. Then the next tier, you need at least four for these, is the Darlotte tier for when I can remember part of it but not all of it. Darlotte . . . Glofal. Wiki again; you could probably tell. So we have all the little hero pictures lined up at the bottom and the wiki open. Let's get going.”