“Shit,” Crow said and rushed toward the collapsed section and used his Spectral Vines to move the stone and earth aside. He couldn’t rush it because the entire area was unstable.

It didn’t matter. Seconds later, Otto pushed his way out of the collapse and gave Crow a big, goofy smile. Then he dug into the ground until he could pull out his shield.

“Is… he dead?” Acco asked.

“Otto not know.” The giant shrugged as if to say, ‘who cares?’

“Then why are you smiling?”

“Because…” Still in the pile of debris, Otto reached down and pulled out the paladin’s hammer. “New toy.”

“You crazy bastard,” Acco shouted. “You carry that thing around, and every Paladin of Absence will make it their mission to hunt you down.”

“Otto like. More battle. Break metal-men.”

“Hehe,” Crow chuckled at the giant’s enthusiasm. “Get us out of here. I don’t want to be in this passageway any longer. There are likely to be more of those bastards around. And now that we’ve made a mess of their place, they’ll be out for—”

“Transgressors!” Buer roared. A bright light exploded from his body, turning the mountain of debris around him into nothingness. It was like the stone and dirt ceased to exist.

He climbed out of the wreckage of the wall, and his arm was clearly broken. Not only that, his helmet was missing, which gave them another shock. There was no hair on his smooth pate, which made his blue eyes seem even more sinister. They tattooed the flesh on his skull with the same starburst on his pauldrons. It was an eight-pointed star, with the northern point coming down his forehead to the tip of his nose. It almost looked like a spider the way the ‘tines’ of the star draped across his skull.

Otto slammed the bottom edge of his coffin shield into the ground, and it sunk in almost a half meter. He grabbed the massive hammer and laughed at the bedraggled paladin.

“Otto bring oblivion. Come,” Otto boasted. The hammer in his hand spun around like a quarterstaff. Buer was shocked by the demonstration of power and control because it was something he could not manage even if he had practiced for another five years.

“Crow,” Acco whispered. “I can’t Star Slide out of here. There is a barrier preventing us from leaving.”

“Alright. Take Song Xue and go back inside. Can you do that?”

“Yeah, stay safe. The Minnustern had an alliance with Astrologers, and they aren’t like people think. They have powerful connections and should not be underestimated. However, they honor their word religiously. Breaking a vow is one of their greatest sins. If you can get a promise out of them, that’d be best,” Acco explained what he knew.

“Let us watch everything. If things go sideways, we can work with the Coven and come out to help,” Song Xue said and then looked at Otto. “He might be enough on his own.”

With that, the two left.

“Return my weapon,” Buer said. He was surprisingly calm about the situation. Crow didn’t believe a person could feel no fear, but he had to admit, at the very least, this guy didn’t fear death.

“Yes.” Otto swung his arm forward, and the hammer’s haft slid through his hand as if he were wielding a spear. The head of the hammer smashed into the paladin’s breastplate, denting it beyond repair. Buer stumbled back while gripping his chest and coughing up blood.

“Don’t kill him,” Crow warned.

“Why?”

“They trapped us down here, and those tattoos aren’t simple. If he dies, I’m positive he’ll become a beacon for the others.”

“Okay. Otto break.”

The hammer came down on Buer’s legs and intact arm in quick succession. The hammer pulverized the man’s bones, but he’d live. Their order had some powerful healers, which worried Crow. He didn’t enjoy leaving trouble behind, but he wasn’t stupid enough to drag an unknown entity along with him. The paladin might even have a way to heal himself, which meant he might be a wolf.

“Keep hammer?” Otto asked.

Crow grabbed it and used his sensing ability to find any formations. He didn’t find anything amiss, but he wondered why Otto wanted it.

“Why do you want the hammer? Why not use that throwing ax you got from the dragon trials? What did you call it?”

“Decapitator.”

“Is that its actual name?” Crow realized Otto had never told him the name of the Soul-Linked throwing ax he got from the trials all those years ago. He hadn’t even seen the big guy use it but didn’t think much about it since he loved his shield so much. “And seriously, why aren’t you using it?”

Otto looked away, and his left foot toed the ground like a bashful woman. The entire scene was utterly ridiculous, considering the broken paladin groaning next to him and the hammer covered in blood.

“Otto no like.”

“C’mon, asshat. That ax is bigger than that stupid hammer.”

“Otto no like name.”

“Is that why you aren’t using it?”

Otto nodded.

“What is its name?”

Otto sighed and finally spoke one word. “Dialogue.”

Crow paused a second, but before he comprehended what had just happened, the paladin burst out laughing. Even broken and beaten, he could ignore his pain to pay attention to their conversation.

“Not funny,” Otto said, and the ax appeared in his hand as he approached Buer.

“G-go ahead,” Buer coughed, a trail of blood leaking from the corner of his mouth. “I’ll die a log, you fucking lumberjack!”

Crow couldn’t stop himself from laughing, and Otto looked back at him like a wounded bear.

“Sorry. Sorry. It’s a little funny.”

“Keep the hammer,” Buer laughed and groaned while his body shook. “A man needs a manly weapon. I call it Deliverance.”

“Thanks,” Otto said, a big grin stretched across his face while his ax disappeared. He hefted his new weapon onto his shoulder while pulling his shield from the ground. Crow had to admit the hammer was an impressive-looking weapon.

The two brothers began walking away.

“W-wait. Who are you?” Buer called after them.

“I’m Hank Rudder, and this is my brother Hal,” Crow said without turning around. He still did not know the powers that backed Hal, but maybe the Minnustern and that mysterious organization could go head-to-head. That’d be fun to watch.

Crow said it so casually that Buer didn’t even second guess it. Otto chuckled from beside him, and the two didn’t bother to look back at the paladin attempting to delay them. It was likely that the Minnustern was involved with the current events happening around them. If they really worshipped the Void, then it would make sense that they release the Scath onto the unsuspecting residents of this realm.