Chapter 5.10 - Worm

The next morning I went to school. I already copied the abilities of Panacea and Glory to myself, and now it was worth copying the other Wards. For example, Kid Win. He’s a techie, and this direction of development now interested me the most.

“Hi, Eros. How was your trip?” Clockblocker, who’s currently Dennis, greets me.

“Fine. Hey Dennis, when I was browsing the internet, I found out about the dinner party live broadcast. It was quite a spectacular dinner.” Classmates and my girlfriend decided to go to the dinner party to enjoy Friday, I made up an excuse about the fact that I needed to go to my parents in Boston to explain my absence as I was playing hero at that time.

“Yes, it was a crazy event.” Dennis agreed. I saw him at dinner in the back rows. “Piggot was furious. Oh!”

Clockblocker covered his mouth with his hands. He just gave me his identity to the Wards.

“Yes, do not worry.” I slapped him on the shoulder. “I can identify any cape by one touch.”

“You still don't want to join the Wards?”

“After watching the angry speech of the Armsmaster, and then the entire list of reports, how can you convince me? No thanks. I do not want that trouble.”

“Yes, this bureaucracy is killing me.”

“What is killing you, Dennis?” Kid Win approached us, he is my main goal at the moment.

“Hello, Chris. Laws, rules and regulations. I am already thinking of going to Black Cloak’s team. He has simple laws.”

“Are you serious?”

“Of course not. But the bureaucracy and the writing of reports are making my liver squirm. ‘I will go to the Black Cloak, whom I dislike shall urinate in their general direction.’"

“Oh, you joker.”

Done talking, we walked from the locker room to class. There I greeted Panacea with a kiss and joined the society of carefree students.

After the end of the second lesson the director came into our class.

“Children. Today’s classes are canceled. I ask you to go home. Have a nice day everyone.”

“What is going on?” I turned to Panacea.

“We have a class in which the Wards study. So in case of emergencies, the entire class is dismissed in order to not reveal the identities of the masks.”

“I see, do you know what is the emergency?”

“Sorry, but no. I need to go to the hospital. Once classes were canceled, there will be a lot of wounded.”

“Ok, good luck. Will see you tomorrow. Or call by phone, if you decide to visit. I will go to the slot machine hall.”

The people scattered, and I moved home. Maybe I should also make my base in the docks? And I should constantly carry my suit in a backpack, and get to the center and back by vehicle transport.

At home, I sat down and access the Internet via my toaster laptop, extracting information from it. Forums and news sites as always, are seething with shit, but today this shit stream was especially full-flowing.

To begin with, in the morning someone posted on the Internet all information of the masks of the Empire Eighty Eight. And by “all” I mean everything: real names, residential address, place of work, vile personal habits, and so on. By the nature of the information and the details, I would bet that it was the work of Tattletale. But my power told me that it was not. Behind this was a master mind at work, though Tattletale still had some but not entirely clear relation to this.

Then PRT woke up after yesterday's shame and unfolded in the media about information on my slandering. My codename was changed from Black to Black Executioner, thousands and millions of dead victims were recorded in the atrocities, and now they turned the brainwashing propaganda around the zombie box, where they called upon the heroes to unite in the face of danger and give me a furious judgement. Well, something like that.

I have long since taught the symbiote to deflect the tentacles of clairvoyants from me, like Tattletale. But today they flickered around on an unprecedented scale. I had to switch to the new mode - I did not just reject other people's tentacles, but cut them off and fed them to my symbiote. This required constant tension, because in order to effectively confront other symbiotes, I had to feed the "cutting tentacles" with my will.

To make it so that life doesn’t seem like all honey, the PRT accompanied by the heroes of the Protectorate broke into the house of Purity and kidnapped her daughter. She, naturally, could not stand it, but for some reason she rushed to attack not the headquarters of the PRT, but the long-suffering docks, breaking the last surviving buildings there.

And the cherry on the cake was the attack of a swarm of hornets on the school of Winslow, where more than a hundred students died from their bites. Looks like now I know where the Zerg Queen went to school. However, knowing the infamous cancer-like local public, I am surprised that there were only a hundred victims.

I turned on the TV and came across a live broadcast where it showed Purity destroying buildings. Then she got to the operator and expressed her ultimatum to ... Undersiders. It seems like there’s something wrong with her head. And besides, she’s trashing my city without asking me for permission. Find and punish!

Today I decided to use the system of underground express tunnels, that is, drain sewers. All I had to do was go down to the basement, and then open the door leading to the network of underground passages. On them I flew pretty quickly, having emerged to the surface already at the docks. Maybe, well, fuck hiding my anonymity! I will publicly declare myself as God of Brockton Bay so I will walk everywhere without hiding? Anyway, local games with cloaks and masks do not attract me.

Having flown into the air, I spread my tentacles around the neighborhood and began to search for Purity, at the same time examining the surroundings. The malicious violator of my laws was found on clouds of dust rising from destroyed buildings. I caught a glimpse of her and found quite a few injured and even more dead. And here is her crime.

“Are you completely overfucked, stupid brainless bitch?” I addressed to Purity, flying up to a distance of five meters.

“Are you with them?!” She screamed with epileptic voice.

“I work for myself, to my own. Why the fuck are you smashing my city?”

“They took my daughter !!!”

“Well, then go and thunder PRT’s headquarters, or drown the tower of the Protectorate! Why did you came into the docks and put ultimatums here to the Undersiders? Maybe due to the fact that you are simply afraid to face the PRT, and therefore you are trying to harass those who just can not resist?”

“Give me back my daughter!” Purity emitted hundreds of rays that pierced through the surrounding houses.

“Why do you do this? I didn't kidnap her.”

“It's your fault!” It seems that this fool is unable to communicate as a proper human. “Bring back, to me, my DAUGHTER!!!”

This time the rays of light rushed straight towards me. I had to fill the surrounding space with darkness, and then also deflect the racing photon charges with my tentacles. It’s kind of pleasurable, I can tell you. It's like trying to turn a pancake in a pan, using only your hands. Of course, I could just dodge, but I need to test my defense.

In response to the blatant aggression, I surrounded Purity with darkness, and then I began to break open her defensive fields, in parallel injuring her symbiote. Filling tentacles with my will turned out to be extremely effective. Now I tried to use this technique as often as possible so that I do not forget how to do it.

Any idiot would have guessed the idea of “fill magic with your will.” Here, only having an abstract idea of what needs to be done compared to having a concrete understanding of how this can be done are two different things. If it were not for the almost random enlightenment in the battle with Lung, I would never understand how this is possible.

After a dozen seconds, the resistance of Purity abruptly subsided, and I launched my lustful tentacles inside her body. So, what we have here? Oh What an interesting symbiote! This blonde does not use its abilities even by ten percent. It is necessary to deposit this tasty piece somewhere so that it will not be lost.

I looked around and headed for the coast. Here was the area, which the locals called “Ship Graveyard”. There are dozens and hundreds of rotting ships of various sizes. I began to collect them with telekinesis, crush, heat, and clean from impurities. This time I did not need the extra purity of the metal, so after five minutes, I collected a sufficient amount of metal and formed a high tower from it. On its outer surface was a narrow circular staircase, along which there were prison cells. The doors for cells not planned by project.

I chose one of the chambers almost at the very top, covered its insides with wooden boards that I found nearby, set up a hole in the floor as a toilet, and then threw Purity inside. Then I pierced her symbiote several times so that it would not rock the boat, and destroyed Purity’s brain area called the “Crown of Pollentia”, through which ordinary mortals could exchange information with the symbiote. Now, Purity has lost all of her super-duper-forces and has become an ordinary person.

I covered the outer part of the chamber with a layer of metal and welded it to the tower. Now Purity could interact with the outside world only through a small barred window.

“Think about your behavior, bitch.” I told her at last. “You just killed a bunch of people, and there wasn’t even any benefit to you or others.”

“My daughter!” she croaked.

“You will hardly ever see her. I'll give chance to Theo, your son. I hope he have more brains than you.” At this I turned and flew away, not listening to the plaintive cries and lamentations.

This tower shall be called Tower of the Black Lord, it remains only to fill it with slaves and prisoners, cut a huge fiery eye from above, and I can declare myself Sauron. And, yes, it will still be necessary to stamp the all-powerful rings and distribute them to the most useful minions.

I headed straight to the city center, where PRT headquarters were located. There was also a base of guards. The protectorate dwelt on an oil-producing platform in the bay, and I was going to deal with them a little later.

When I got to the building I wanted, I searched it from top to bottom and found Emily Piggott by body shape. I entered her office and broke straight through the window. In addition to the director of the Investigation Committee, there were Armsman, Miss Militia, Aegis and some unknown cape in a red suit.

“Well, well, well. Caught at the crime scene.” I smiled at them. “Don't get up, I'm not your boss ... for now.” I held the most frisky capes with telekinesis, pressing them to the chairs. “What can you say in your excuse? Speak, Emily Piggot.”

“What do you think you’re doing?” This lady gave out as soon as I returned her ability to speak. “Do you even know what you are doing?”

“Hmmm ... Let me think. Putting presumptuous maniacs in place which threatens the residents of the city?”

“That’s you! You maniac!” The Armsmaster shouted, frantically creaking with his suit in an attempt to overpower my telekinesis.

“The city must be saved from you and your justice.” Says Emily steadily while glancing at me, then proceed to glare with displease at Armsmaster.

“Come on? Maybe you think that I kidnapped the daughter of Purity. Or maybe I am manipulating the media to spread the obvious lie? In general, I have no desire to fight you with your methods. I have my favorite method. Only mass executions will save the nation.”

“By what right do you decide who should live and who should die?” Piggot did not give up, balancing on the verge of a heart attack. The security staff started knocking on the door of the room with something heavy, but telekinesis could hold the door in place even if it were turned into dust.

“Again, these stupid questions. By right of the strong. After all, this is the right you are using, trying to demonize me, aiming to tame your dogs to go against me who’s displeasing you for going against your likings. I am unfamiliar with all those present here, and therefore, I will leave alive a couple of possibly innocent people so that you bring my words to the public. This city belongs to me, and only my laws are valid here. If you break them, punishment will follow immediately. I am tired of appealing to your common sense, and I can only rely on the fear of death and the horror of the inevitability of punishment. Die”

While I was making this entire speech, I scanned the abilities of the Armsmaster and Miss Militia. The shooter couldn't interest me at all with the original, but the techie was somehow inexpressive. If you do not count the skill of creating spatial pockets, then Armsman is nothing special. Unless to copy other's caps’ inventions.

So after a second, Emily Piggot was dispersed into bloody dust, while Armsmaster and Miss Militia lost all their equipment, clothing, and abilities. With a couple of living trophies, which are the masks, I flew out the window, heading for my tower. On the way, I flew to CNN’s studio, where I diligently dispersed all the workers, starting from the director, and ending with a cleaner.

Moving towards the tower, I stumbled upon an interesting scene. In the middle of the street lay an upside down ambulance van. Next to it stood Queen of Zerg and Grue. And in front of them stood a three Imperial masks - Hookwolf, Stormtiger and Cricket. Without slowing down, I picked up these three and carried them to the sky, like an eagle carrying a helpless prey. The corpses of people that I found in the neighboring streets testified to the fact that they are breaking the laws.

The capes shouted loudly, cursed, and Stormtiger even tried to attack me, but everything was useless. A minor issue arose only with the Hookwolf. He was a typical werewolf, so his body was mixed with the body of the symbiote, but I just filled my tentacles with will and grabbed him, despite the resistance.

When I reached the tower, I repeated the procedure of deprivation of abilities with the masks of the Empire, after which I shoved them into the cells and began to analyze their abilities in a more relaxed atmosphere. According to the study, Hookwolf and Cricket were found to be completely useless. And given the reliably known number of victims of Hookwolf, I decided to use him to conduct an interesting experiment.

I was interested in the system of "growing up" symbiote. Or rather, is it part of the game, or is it something more mundane? To clarify the answer to this question, I placed the Hookwolf in a large steel cube with several holes, and then with telekinesis threw it toward the sea. According to my calculations, the cube flew about thirty kilometers before falling into the sea. After waiting fifteen minutes, I was convinced that the state of my symbiote did not change. So either Hookwolf grew up gills, or indirect damage is not considered a cause of death. Or it’s all about distance.

I wanted to repeat this experience with Cricket, but my power told me that a call from Tattletale had come to the phone in my apartment. It took me a couple of minutes to find her location and to get my telekinetic tentacles around her, with which I could catch and reproduce sound.

“Alo-Alo, Black Cloak on the phone.” I said to the Tattletale under the ear.

“What? Where? Black Cloak? Where are you?”

“I am far from you, on the shore of another day, but even time cannot hinder me. Okay, jokes aside. I responded to your call for help. What have you got there?”

“Actually, I called to warn that the Protectorate announced a general mobilization. From minute to minute, several dozens or even hundreds of heroes will arrive in the city and try to kill you.”

“Yes-ah? It will be fun. After Lung, I need new sacrifices in order to become stronger.”

“You ... you are impossible! This is not a game! This is all for real.”

“And here you are mistaken, this is a game. But you really shouldn't know about it. Otherwise, you will meet with a player, and this, believe me, is not at all something that I wish to my friend.”

“What are you talking about?”

“All right, forget it. Perhaps I should lure all these heroes to the docks, and then explain to them who is in charge here. As I understand this region has such a fate to be razed to the ground by a herd of insane capes. So, if you have a desire to, you can spill to the Protectorate with “reliable information” that I am hiding in the docks and trembling in wild horror. Yeah, that’s a genius plan!”

“Uh-uh ... good. Are you sure about what you are doing?”

“Heh. Do not make me laugh. In this city I am the only person who knows what I am doing and why I need it. Just take a seat comfortably and watch the battle of fucking epic scale. Bye.”

I ‘disconnected’ from communication and concentrated on my surroundings. So, I still need the tower, but it is worth protecting it from crazy shots. So, I need to hide it. It is not so high, soI can just bury it. With telekinesis, I pulled the rock out from under the tower, lowering its height from two dozen to two meters. It was not very convenient to bury it all, because the ventilation of occupied cells could be disrupted.

After that I flew to the city center, hiding behind the houses. If I am going to fight with the strongest capes, then it is worth doing so that I could not suffer in principle. Now my control over telekinesis allowed me to control a matter at a distance of five kilometers which is ten times my previous ability. And this number still continued to grow. So I can hide near the city center and fight in the docks via my telekinesis. And my protection from prophets will not allow anyone to find me. Well, I hope so. Although it is worth being on the lookout.

Time on the clock was half past one, when masks began to appear on the roof of the PRT building. Fifteen minutes later their number reached hundreds. Some time was spent on making ardent speeches, after which those who were born to fly rose into the air, and the rest crawled along the ground using various kinds of transport.

At that time, I depicted my presence at the docks near the warehouse, where I once killed a hundred Merchants . While the heroes were getting to me, my voice echoed throughout the city, drowning out the brainstorming speeches coming from the speakers of the city alert.

“The villains of the Protectorate, you came to this city uninvited to encroach upon the legitimate authority in my face. I am the Black Cloak, and this city belongs to me. Your empire of lies and deception has no power here. Get the hell away, or I'll destroy all of you. The weapons that you lash at me shall be the end of your reign! You first started this war. I have long treated you with prudence, but my patience is exhausted. Now my strength will speak for me. Die in agony, monsters!”

My "body" was surrounded by streams of darkness, which stretched with tentacles and "grabbed" nearby heroes. All the shots, blows and other abilities just passed through my props, while I, with telekinesis squeezed blood vessels in the heroes' brains, waited until they fainted, then under the cover of darkness carried them to the tower I created.

The rest was an epic battle for the heroes and a boring chore for me. Grab, neutralize, store. Few heroes could resist me. Of the triumvirate, only Legend was present. He, like a few more masks, completely surrounded himself with the body of a symbiote, which made him almost invulnerable. But my extreme concentration on one tentacle allowed me to make it almost a unique conductor of my will, which was enough to pierce any target.

I tried not to kill anyone. If I thought the mask’s abilities were interesting, then I deprived them of consciousness and kidnap them. The rest I wounded or just drove away. As time went on, after an hour, they were only able to continue the fight with only a dozen masks. Eidolon and Alexandria did not appear. Finally, all this bothersome fuss finally got to me, and my thunderous voice again echoed over the city.

“The villains of the Protectorate, you lost. Your stupid perseverance has already cost the lives of thousands of people who died under the rubble of houses. I still hoped that you would come to your senses, but you continue to persist in your heresy. Therefore, I will kill one of you every five seconds until you all leave the city. Countdown started from… now.”

Five seconds later I killed one of the capes, “shooting” with a brick using telekinesis. The stone literally evaporated the head of my victim. The wounded masks tried to hide, but over and over again I found them and destroyed them. After a minute, the retreat began, which after another thirty seconds turned into a random retreat.

Only Legend remained hanging in the air, refusing to admit defeat. He was covered in blood, his suit was torn to shreds, but he still continued to fly and shoot with his “rays of kindness”.

“What are you up to?” I personally addressed him.

“I will destroy you !!!”

“For what?”

“You are killing heroes.”

“What kind of heroes? You are villains. You are destroying the population of this city. You filled the news on TV channels with flow of lies. You attacked me. You cover crime, instead of fighting it.”

“You are lying!”

“Ha ha ha ha. Your tantrum is proof that I am right. You are aggressors, liars and manipulators. You are villains. You are ready to sacrifice all the people of this city, just to not let them get out of your control. The blood of all those who died today is on your hands. They died for your rotten ideology, for the interests of others, for the sake of your lies.”

“Shut up !!!”

“No, I will not be silent. On my side is truth and justice. I give you five seconds, after which you die.”

Legend confusedly looked at me, looked around the battlefield, looked at the corpses of his comrades, then sharply accelerated and took off into the distance. Tears filled his face, and his mouth curled in sobs. Leaving the city, he admitted his defeat. He acknowledged the meaninglessness of the deaths of all those whom he had led. I think he will not recover soon from such a psychological shock after being invincible all this time.

For the rest of the day I fumbled in my Tower of the Dark Lord, filling it with valuable specimens. I need to think over how to take care of their warmth and how to feed the prisoners. In the meantime, I just preoccupied with heating the prison, so that my captives do not huddle from a banal cold. Outside the window, the season is currently not warm.

Already in the evening I visited the studio of the ZBS channel, where I made a victorious speech that the villains of the Protectorate were defeated and their false speeches were exposed. At the question and answer stage, I was asked:

“What do you think, what will be the next step of the Protectorate and the PRT?”

“No idea. They were already convinced that they could not resist me. All they have left is to incite one of the Endbringer to Brockton Bay, or even all three at once.”

“Do you think the Protectorate is behind the Endbringer?”

“It is quite likely. Hundreds of masks die every year, but the core of the Protectorate does not change. If it comes to that, there are many ways to get rid of the Endbringer. But the Protectorate always leads the capes to the slaughter. They are on their "example" show how to be killed by the destroyer. At the same time, they themselves remain unscathed, and all those who believed them die. I think this is all have a hidden reason.”

“I do not know what to say. And what are the ways to get rid of the Endbringer you say?”

“You will know soon. When one of them come here, I'll show you.”

After an interview on television, I began to clean the city of criminal elements. Brockton Bay was practically under siege because government forces surrounded it and blocked it. The police could not cope with the maintenance of order, and every trash poured out onto the streets of the city, clearly believing that my warnings did not concern them. I had to dissuade them in this, for one scanning the minds of people in search of answers to the questions: “Did you sell drugs? Have you robbed people? Have you raped female/male/animal/corpses?” If at least one question was answered yes, then such a person is immediately dismembered on the spot with my telekinesis. I collected corpses from all over the city at the docks, where I cremated and scattered the ashes through the air.

By midnight, mentally exhausted, I went to bed.

In the morning I remembered my promises and began to fulfill them. To begin with, I found the daughter of Purity in the shelter and delivered her to the closest relative - Theo Anders, her maternal brother. As it turned out, the Kaiser did not survive the battle with Lung. The subsequent attempt to make a mess in the city was an amateur job of the Empire’s masks, left without leadership.

The next step, I took up the request of the governor of the city and Tattletale, and went to look for Coil. The blockade of the city played into my hands, where he could not escape. It took me almost half an hour to find him using my abilities. The power of clairvoyance was constantly failing, but at one point I got the exact location of Coil, which I immediately went to. I was interested in the power of the prophet, and I was going to explore it.

The base of Coil was underground. The main entrance was well guarded, but the emergency exit was only locked with simple locks. But what is a lock for a person who owns telekinesis and is capable of clairvoyance to see the principle of his work, or any digital combination? So I entered Coil’s office, taking him by surprise.

“Good afternoon, Coil.” I greeted him right under his ear, standing behind his back. Only Coil and Dina Alcot were in the room. She saw my appearance, but was in no hurry to notify her captor.”

“What? Black Cloak? How did you get here?” Responded the villain who almost jumped.

“Well, for starters, I walked, walked and walked, and then here I am. What? Why are you so surprised?”

“But ... your appearance was not in the predictions.”

“Yes, talking about the strength of this girl?” I walked to the child, who looked like a prisoner of Buchenwald, and laid a hand on her head. Healing power ran through her, clearing from drugs, restoring the body and rubbing drug addiction in her memory. “Tell me child, what is the probability that I am here and now?”

“Zero point zero percent.”

I smiled slyly..

“What is the probability that I will break off a piece from this table with hand right now?

“Zero point zero percent.”

I defiantly walked over to the table where Coil was sitting, and broke off a piece from the corner. Naturally, I did this with telekinesis, but it looked like I used brute strength.

“See, her power does not affect me. She just couldn't see how I would appear here.”

“What do you want?” The forehead of Coil was covered with perspiration.

“People says that you can control the fate of people. I want to check how it works. See this cube?” I showed the dice in my hand with the gesture of a magician, pulling it out of my sleeve. “Now I will throw it on the table, and if a six falls out, then I will tear off your left hand. Dina, what is the chances that Coil will lose his hand?”

“Sixteen point, sixty-six hundredths of a percent.”

“See? Everything is fair. I will not manipulate the cube. Everything will decide the fate.”

I threw a dice, and a three fell on it. Coil jerked, but could not budge. My telekinesis kept him in place better than any shackles.

“Lucky. Again. What is the probability, Dina?”

The girl smiled with sadistic smirk and replied:

“Sixteen point, sixty-six hundredths of a percent.”

I threw the die again. On the top of dice was one. I literally felt that at the moment of the throw something happened to the future.

“I think it is worth increasing the chances. Now I will tear off your left leg if an even number falls out. What are his chances of staying with two legs?”

“Fifty percent exactly.” The grin on Dina's face turned into a grin of a hungry shark.

I threw a dice ten times in a row and every time an odd number fell out. The more I watched this situation, the better I understood how the power of Coil works. He literally created two lines of fate, reducing all possible probabilities to these two options. And then from two options, he chose the one that suited him more. After that, his fate was predetermined. And what's more, even my destiny was in a rigid framework, despite all my resistance. It is an interesting experiment.

Ten minutes later, after the next cube tossing, Coil finally lost consciousness. There was blood from his nose, and the whites of his eyes reddened with multiple hemorrhages. I cured him with the help of my strength, but did not continue the torture. Coil’s symbiote was also on the verge of losing consciousness.

“I think we are done for today.” I said, taking the girl to hand. “You already understood that you are powerless against me?” During these ten minutes, I have watched at least a hundred virtual attempts of Coil trying to kill me or flee. All of them ended in terrible injuries for him.

“Y-yes.” Squeezed out the villain.

“Wonderful. So I do not advise you to try to escape from the city or even from its center. If I feel like it, I'll kill you right there.”

“Understood!”

“Dina, what is the likelihood that Coil will die before tomorrow morning?”

“Ninety-three and seventy-one-tenth percent.”

“What?” I freaked out.

“This answer does not take into account your actions.”

“But I'm not going to kill him today. And I am not going to allow it to anyone.”

“The chances haven't changed.” Dina slightly frowned. “My head starts to hurt again.”

“Good. Come on, I'll take you to your parents. I can find answers without your help. By the way, what is the probability that you will survive today?”

“Zero point, three thousandths of a percent.” In the girl's voice panic was felt.

“Something is not very good.” I sympathized. “But as you said, this chance does not take into account my intervention. And I need you alive.”

The path to the surface was accompanied by panicked whispers of the mercenaries guarding the base. For them, my appearance was akin to teleportation. I think even Coil did not understand how I got to him. After all, before entering the room, I broke the security cameras there, and the sound of the door opening was muted by telekinesis.

After returning the girl to the joyful parents, I climbed onto the roof of the nearest high-rise building and sat there, watching the sea. The sight was frightening. Thousands and millions of tentacles were stretched out over the horizon toward the city. And these were only the longest ones. There in the distance was a symbiote of frightening proportions. Perhaps it was even comparable to mine. It was smaller, but much older. It seems that my words about the invasion of the Endbringers were prophetic. But now every inhabitant of the Earth will be convinced that behind the attacks of the Endbringers is the Protectorate.