“Phew,” I let out as I withdrew my partial manifestation. I wanted to do a full-blown physical manifestation, but that would have cost more than my maximum holy power capacity. This little ‘miracle’ was draining enough to wipe out pretty much all the holy power I had left. No wonder they didn’t happen frequently in most of the religious stories of my old world.

The conjured light faded from the sky, and the small aura surrounding Ray faded away as well.

I was keeping an eye on Edwin but if he decided to act up then I would let the curse that I placed on him take care of it. Of course, I didn’t have nearly enough holy power to place the curse I spoke of. The curse that I placed on him would only activate once and only when I manually activated it, but it would make him suffer excruciating pain.

As long as he didn’t know the restrictions, I figured it would serve as sufficient motivation to keep him going for a while.

Though when he started proclaiming my message, it was possible that whatever Overseer he was aligned with might smite him. Whether or not I would help him at that time would depend on how fervently he showed his repentance.

“Work hard, Edwin!” I cheered him on, though he wouldn’t be able to hear me anymore.

I examined the devastation below me and recalled how absurdly powerful Edwin had been once he got serious. These goblins didn’t stand a chance at all. The difference in strength was beyond absurd.

Looking around, I could count the number of survivors on one hand. Though all the ones who followed me would respawn, it was still a depressing result and I had to admit that I felt a little bit guilty. From the start, I had been more focused on saving my followers than the others, despite their ability to respawn. Because my options were limited, I waited until I was sure my help was necessary.

Even after the battle had taken a turn for the worse, there were so few surviving followers that I decided to wait until after they all died to intervene. I only had a small number of followers, after all, and I couldn’t obtain faith from those who gained a sure knowledge of my existence.

However, seeing the results, I felt a tinge of regret. The goblins who survived looked hopeless as they stared at the ruins of their home and the corpses of their kin.

This scene struck a chord within me. It was too similar to what happened to my hometown, albeit on a different scale. This was the same thing that was happening on Earth. Even now, this same thing could be happening somewhere else on this continent.

That was why I picked the name that I did.

There was a story from one of the now-dead religions of Earth. The story of a man who bore the burden and weight of many souls in a single body. He could not be restrained with shackles and chains, and no one had the strength to subdue him.

Legion.

It was powerful. It was a name that would represent me for many thousands of years. It would inspire fear in my enemies and hope in my allies. This name would reflect my purpose and my ideals.

The resistance of Earth failed. Therefore, I was the last hope of Earth.

This name would represent the weight of my burden. This name would belong to both me and everyone who followed me. We would break the chains on this world and shatter the chains winding around Earth.

It might have been arrogant of me to take this burden upon myself. It might have been naive to want to save the world when I didn’t even have a church yet and only had thirty-one followers.

I knew as well as the next guy that dreams betray many.

However, I passionately believed that hard work betrays none. I would make my hopes into reality and bear the weight of the fight that my brothers and sisters could not finish. I would liberate this world and establish myself as an absolute power.

Today, tomorrow, and forever, I would be Legion.

***

After Legion, as she now knew he was called, ended his manifestation, Ray examined Edwin carefully to judge what actions she was safe to take. The warrior completely ignored her as he collapsed to the ground, his arms and legs spread wide in an x-shape while he stared up at the cloudy, blue sky.

She watched him warily for over a minute, unsure of how to act. Just a few minutes ago they had been fighting to the death and now…

Now, she had no idea how she was supposed to feel about him.

Was he an ally? Definitely not.

A friend? As if.

There was no way that she could put him in the same category as Lexi. Kelsey, Helen, and Ven were tentatively on that list, but this man was far from it.

Yet she didn’t think she could still call him an enemy either. Just one look made it obvious that he had no more will to fight.

Edwin chuckled, breaking the awkward silence.

“Young miss, go and tend to the illusionist. Our fight is over.”

“Illusionist?” Ray asked, turning to look toward Shaman.

The old goblin lay on the ground where she had collapsed a short distance from the bodies of Urg and the silver-ranked assassin.

“Samantha coats her blades with poison. It might already be too late,” Edwin warned.

He reached for his enchanted bag, pulled out a red vial, and tossed it to her.

“This is a medium-quality healing potion. Use it if it's not too late.”

Ray caught the potion smoothly and ran toward Shaman’s prone form. The old goblin was barely breathing. Foam spilled from the corners of her mouth as the light in her eyes flickered.

She kneeled beside the old goblin, uncorked the bottle, and lifted the rim to Shaman’s lips.

“D..don’t...” Shaman whispered.

Ray hesitated as the old goblin started speaking.

“Healing potions… cannot… save… me… anymore. Do not… prolong… the pain…”

Shaman’s body convulsed as she started to cough. When the coughing fit subsided, she looked up at Ray. Her eyes were filled with a mixture of sadness and contentment.

Ray looked around desperately, hoping against hope that someone had a way to save Shaman. All she found was death and destruction. Trog limped over, holding a broken arm against his chest. Lords Cedric and Tyrion, who stood back during the final charge, approached as well. As they met her inquiring gaze, they shook their heads sadly. Ray could only see two other surviving goblins, and both were in critical condition. She knew without anyone telling her that they would die soon.

She returned her attention to the old goblin. Shaman smiled kindly and reached up with her hand, searching. Ray tossed the potion aside and immediately seized it with both of her hands, holding it tightly.

Shaman reached into a normal bag hanging from her belt with her free hand and withdrew a small candle.

“It is… inconvenient… to do this without illusions,” Shaman wheezed.

She looked at Trog and the goblin assassin walked over. He lit the wick of the candle in Shaman’s hand.

Shaman pushed the candle toward Ray. Her body seemed to flicker for a moment but Ray dismissed it as a trick of the light.

“This wax is fate, and this flame is my burden.”

Ray tilted her head to the side, not quite understanding.

“The flame is now yours to carry. For over three centuries, I have carried this burden but I… I could not save our race. I could not burn either strong enough or long enough to overcome our fate. My time has come, but your time is just beginning.”

Ray accepted the candle and held it tightly against her chest as the wax began to melt, a small tendril oozing down the side. She ignored the pain as it burned her skin, her entire focus on the dying goblin leader.

“Shaman, I… I can perform a baptism right now! If you swear to Legion, then you can respawn!” Ray urged, a hint of desperation entering her voice.

“No, young one. I… will not be shackled… to this world. My soul… shall be… free…!”

As she breathed out the last word, she closed her eyes. She almost looked as if she were asleep.

And then she was still. Her body slowly crumbled to dust and drifted away in the wind.

Ray leaned back and craned her neck to look at the sky. There was a peculiar tightness in her chest and her eyes stung the slightest bit. She hadn’t known Shaman for very long, but the old goblin was still someone who had treated her well.

She looked down at the burning candle as hot, melted wax ran over her hand.

“The flame is mine to carry? What does that mean?”

“It’s an ancient tradition,” Trog supplied, his voice shaking with suppressed grief. “Though she couldn’t change herself, she believed that your coming was a sign that it was time for the goblins to move on. She passed the mantle to you.”

Ray pushed herself to her feet. She looked around, taking in the hundreds of goblin corpses scattered throughout the camp. She met the eyes of each of the silent goblins surrounding her. Each of them had tears streaming down their faces but their eyes held no hint of despair. Rather, she saw a cold fury.

Trog’s hands were shaking, and he clenched his teeth.

Ray finally understood what it really meant to be called ‘monsters’ by the humans. This was the goblin’s plight. An entire tribe was wiped out almost to the last goblin in just this one assault. Because they didn’t all have Legion, most of those who died wouldn’t come back. Shaman, Urg, and Frog wouldn’t come back yet every single one of the adventurers who died today would respawn.

What had this fight even accomplished then?

These goblins spent their lives running and hiding in the woods. They spent their lives praying to a creator that disappeared over a thousand years ago, begging for a salvation that never came.

This was the plight of all monsters.

She was surprised when Legion declared his intent to be the god of monsters. He reached out his hand and offered a new way. As she looked around the goblin camp and took in the destruction once more, she knew that some lives were saved because she had followed his requests and offered them a new path.

Ray clenched the candle tightly, crushing it as she pushed herself to her feet.

“Until now, I did not understand,” she started.

She was met with questioning glances and she cleared her throat to continue.

“I did not understand what it meant to be a ‘monster’. I thought I knew when adventurers tried to capture and sell me. I thought I knew when I saw other ‘monsters’ in chains.”

Trog, Cedric, and Tyrion focused their eyes on her.

“What does it mean to be a ‘monster’?” Ray asked. “Is this what it means?”

She gestured to the destruction surrounding them - the wrecked houses and walls, the hundreds of dead goblins, the scorch marks, and the blood staining the dirt.

“Does it mean that we must be hunted by quasi-immortal zombies for our entire lives?”

She shook her head.

“I cannot accept that. We have our own god now. No longer will ‘monsters’ be seen as lesser creatures, fit only to be playthings or a source of income.”

Trog growled, his eyes narrowing fiercely. Tyrion squared his shoulders and wiped the tears from his eyes. Cedric grinned and revealed his sharp teeth.

“They call us ‘monsters’?” she smirked, baring her fangs. “As Legion has declared, we will embrace the name that they have given us and turn it against them! If they call us ‘monsters’, then let us become monsters!”

She paused and heard a few grunts of approval.

“If they persecute us, we will return it tenfold, and if they murder us we will return it a hundred times over!”

Ray raised the crushed candle up high, displaying it for the remaining three goblins to see.

Trog fell to one knee and bowed his head. Tyrion and Cedric followed.

In front of all of them, the candle and the flame also crumbled into dust and drifted away like an illusion.

“Let’s get this place cleaned up and then get out of here.”

“By your command,” Trog replied.

“We have to gather and bury the dead and then search for a new place to set up camp. Oh, and we have to figure out what to do with Edwin… Also, we’re going to have to figure out how to rescue the goblins who respawn in the temple…”

Trog cut her off.

“Let’s focus on the problem in front of us and take it one step at a time.”

She nodded at the suggestion. Before they could go much further, she held out healing potions that she found in her enchanted bag.

“Trog and Cedric, both of you have broken arms. If you use these, it should help you recover.”

Trog accepted the vial and raised it to his lips, downing half of it. His arm straightened out and the various cuts and bruises on his body recovered. Cedric downed the other vial with similar results. Tyrion fought Bill, but he stayed back for the rest of the fight and was lucky to avoid Edwin’s ‘Earthquakes’.

The three of them split up and began to gather the corpses.

“Good job down there. My little seraph is starting to become a leader.”

“So you knew I was a seraph?”

“You’re an immortal, but you’re not a dragon, an elf, a fae, or a slime. Wasn’t it obvious?”

She pursed her lips.

“Seraph…” she tried out the word, testing how it felt.

It was a familiar word and evoked fuzzy memories that had remained dormant for weeks now. Maybe it was time to openly claim her race.

“As I was saying, that was a decent speech. I’m happy that we’re finally both moving in the same direction,” Legion continued.

Ray shook her head, her anger rising.

“Don’t get ahead of yourself, buddy. I’m still a little annoyed that you waited so long to intervene. Why the hell did you ask me to let Lexi die?”

“An excellent question. Now that we’ve finally taken our first real step forward, I think it's time that we take a moment to sit down and talk. I will explain what I can do and what my limitations are, and I will make sure that you are educated in my teachings that I came up with.”

Her anger simmered away.

“As long as you have a good explanation…”

“Anyways, now that we have more followers, we will also need to talk about the next step.”

“The next step?” she muttered aloud.

“See if you can’t convince those three to get baptized. Our next task is figuring out how to get those goblins out of the temple after they respawn.”

“You got any ideas?”

“Have you ever heard of Moses?”

“No…?”

She felt amusement channel through their connection. If she could see him, she was certain that Legion would be smirking.

“Good.”

Ray looked toward the distant town of Cairel. Once her final few tasks in the goblin village came to an end, she would return. There were lots of questions to answer and problems to solve.

However, she knew that she wouldn’t be doing it alone. The young seraph began humming to herself as she strode through the destruction while avoiding the scattered remains.

It felt to her as if many things had ended but, as with any ending, this was really just the beginning.