"You're never gonna beat me, Eve," Stanley thought, eyes closed and body motionless in the air. His knives, on the other hand, were anything but motionless. They weaved through the building nearby as little more than streaks of shining silver light. Or they would be shiny if not for the constant drenching of spider guts that not even the high speed could thoroughly shake loose.

Eve had wised up and was no longer running into each building herself. Now she sat in the truck a block away while robotic crawlers did the dirty work for her. She still didn't have a chance to beat him, even when he wasn't 'cheating,' as she called it. But she was catching up… just a little. The new machines she was pumping out were crude and blocky things that nonetheless managed to effectively kill the spiders filling the city.

Stanley didn't have to cheat to win. His knives, combined with Split Minds, let him kill five spiders simultaneously, all in less than a second. If the bugs were grouped up enough, it was even more of a slaughter. Not that he was keeping an actual count of his kills. Instead, they were going by buildings or blocks cleared. The only thing slowing him down was collecting the Cores afterward.

Caffeine was enjoying a lazy morning on his back in Stanley's lap, utterly unbothered by the mayhem around him. Meanwhile, Daryl and Zeke had declined to compete. They stuck together a block away and practiced their own Skills and techniques in a much slower push.

The duo was not alone, however.

There were the wolves, who were mostly lounging around while watching over the others, something Stanley was perfectly fine with. He had heard enough about the nearly non-stop hunt they had run with Caffeine, and they had more than earned a vacation. He was even setting aside some Cores for them.

Also, along with the wolves was Bartholomew's entire camp. They had noticed what was happening as Stanley and company swept through the city in a whirlwind of death and destruction. They had also realized what a golden opportunity it was and immediately tried to ride the more powerful group's coat-tails through the city. Stanley had to have a word with them and explain just how this was going to happen. Speaking of which… another group had just emerged from the underground, drawn by the golden aura, no doubt. It was time for another speech.

Stanley was spending his time in the truck as much as possible, partly to provide power for Eve's ever-expanding robot army but also to stay near Adrian. His presence, or maybe just the increased Mana activity around him, all helped fuel the egg's growth. It was the least he could do for the man to simply stay nearby except when he needed to leave, like now, for instance.

He heard voices as he flew over to the mingling groups, and one name, in particular, set his mind just a little on edge. Emiliano. Stanley had heard the story by now, and he fully agreed with Daryl's choices while also completely expecting Zeke's reaction. But now it was his turn to express his own displeasure.

"Emiliano!" Stanley arrived in front of the man very abruptly, his Words of Power practically forcing the man to give him his full attention. "I've heard so much about you! So tell me, where is the one who tried to kill Zeke?" Stanley spoke loudly enough that all would hear… and it worked. One man's Soul gave him away. "There you are!"

"Come here." Stanley's Mind and Words dragged the man from the crowd and into the air before him. "Hang out." His word choice and internal interpretation of their meaning left the man dangling by his neck in the air while his hands clawed at the invisible band around his neck.

Stanley ignored the strangling man after that and turned his attention back to Emiliano. "Daryl must have told you about me, no?"

"I… he…" Emiliano was inside Stanley's Soul Shield, and Stanley wasn't going out of his way to make it a pleasant experience.

"You were in charge," Stanley continued. "That means the responsibility falls on you, right?" Emiliano didn't respond, and his gaze kept jumping to the choking man in the air beside Stanley.

"As for you…" Stanley turned his own attention back to the attempted murderer. "What should I do to you…" He wasn't that mad. Zeke was unharmed and alive. If the man had succeeded in his attempt… Stanley would skin him alive! With Adrian's help to heal him so they could do it again! And Again!

"Tommy! Look what I got!" Sara's excited scream sounded quite loud in the silent street as she flew toward another child, and Stanley realized he'd gotten carried away again. "Oh, well." He didn't feel bad about it this time. They deserved it. Meanwhile, Caffeine scrambled out of his lap and bounded after the girl.

Stanley dropped the now unconscious hanging man; that was probably enough punishment for now, and turned to address the crowd that was conveniently already giving him their full attention. "Listen up…"

Of course, Lee chose that moment to let Stanley know that he was finally going to enchant his walls. "Hold up a second," Stanley told him, "I'm giving a speech, and I want to get the timing right…" While one Split Mind said that Stanley was also talking to the people in the street.

"I have claimed this Lair!" Stanley shouted, "The Lair, and every Core inside it!" Obviously, that didn't go over well, despite his exhibition of power moments before.

Inside his Soul, Stanley told Lee, "Now!" While he continued addressing the people, "Now, I'm not a… Monster…" The Source blazed into life within him as he spoke, and Stanley grinned at the silent faces. Perfect timing! "I am, however, willing to share." No one dared to speak as he hovered over them.

Stanley waited, trying to remain calm as his brother worked his own magic far away. He knew Lee wasn't fighting anything, only crafting a rune, yet he couldn't shake the worry that he might get pulled into a Raid akin to what Stanley had just dealt with. So Stanley waited. He let the people feel the power, let them get a good look at him while he blazed with the Source.

It didn't last long. Stanley felt the strain on their Soul, saw the Notifications, and then felt the strain ease as the Source faded back into slumber.

Everyone was staring at him, and Stanley finally spoke again. "Twenty percent. I want twenty percent of the Cores you collect." A lot of Souls objected, but no one voiced their objections.

"Ten percent of that will go to our resident healer to make up for all the time he'll have to waste patching you weaklings back up." Because he knew Zeke would be healing people, the young man couldn't help it. That reminder did ease some of the anger in the crowd. Of course, that left the other ten percent, and someone finally summoned the courage to speak.

"Why should you get any, then? You think just because you're strong, you can bully us?" It was someone from Emiliano's group, someone who obviously thought they could rally the people into rebellion. He was also standing on the outskirts and so must have felt less from Stanley's Soul and the Source, or maybe he was just an idiot...

"I can totally bully you!" Stanley laughed at him. "Maybe you haven't noticed, but there aren't any orb weavers here." They weren't all dead, not yet. Stanley could feel them, though, and they were all hiding in the park, hiding from him. "Who do you think is responsible for that? You're paying for my protection." He didn't even bother to mention the B Grade. They probably wouldn't believe it until they saw it.

"And we're just supposed to take your word on that? This is extortion!"

Stanley was getting tired of this. Bartholomew's group had accepted his terms much more readily… Maybe he needed another show of power?

"Your arm's off."

It took the man a moment to notice that his arm had been… removed… and then the screaming started. Also, the blood.

"I don't care if it's extortion!" Stanley shouted over the man's cries. "This is how it is going to be! If you try to lie or avoid paying, then I'll take your legs as payment. Capiche?" He felt a bit stupid and resolved never to say that word again, but he also got a lot of rapidly nodding heads while Zeke, of course, healed the one idiot's arm.

"So get hunting! You're already falling behind as it is." Stanley ended his speech by pulling hundreds of Cores from the building he had just finished clearing. It was a very visible reminder of his power and how little he really cared about their meager contributions as well as how little they would actually get if they didn't step it up.

Stanley flew back to the truck and took his spot. "Next block, please, Walter."

"Of course, Sir," Walter replied amicably and drove the truck another block over. Stanley continued his harvests while Eve struggled to keep up with his pace. To be fair, she did have her bots regularly returning with piles of Cores. It just couldn't compare to the pile Stanley was amassing. A pile that he planned to feed to Caffeine. If the pug wanted to keep dumping his Attributes, then Stanley could use that to basically transfer Cores to Lee. It would all depend on who got to B Grade first because Stanley had a feeling that they would probably want to rank up at the same time again…

Block by block, back and forth, they cleared out the city. It was a long process, and Stanley let the locals go north to clear out this side of the river. This placed him between them and the park, which fulfilled his promise of protection, and, given the size and density of the city, should keep them busy for a long time. Even Stanley wasn't sure how long this was going to take, and he could clear a building in minutes. Of course, that was the smaller ones. Most were much bigger and with half a dozen on each block… It was going to take a long time. The upside was that it meant a shit-ton of Cores were up for the taking.

The knives eventually lost their edge, either from stabbing through corrosive spiders and the occasional very hot spider or just the constant use. Eve could repair them, and she did, but she also seemed to be constantly busy whenever he brought them back for touch-ups.

Stanley didn't mind her doomed attempts to slow his march toward victory. He didn't truly require the knives; they just made it a little faster. He could also use pretty much anything to bludgeon spiders to death. Of course, all that was beside his other powers… so Stanley used the downtime without his knives to practice everything else.

"Your heads are off!" he shouted at a three-story building, or more specifically, at the spiders inside. Dozens died instantly. "Not bad." Stanley chewed on a piece of boar bacon, savoring the taste while waiting for his throat to heal and then swallowing it.

"Mind Crush!" Shouting his Skill while using Words of Power did cause some synergy between the two, and it made Stanley glad that he was alone…

"I can hear you," Eve called from the truck behind him.

"I should have learned Latin…" Stanley grumbled while gauging the effectiveness of the last attack. He'd used the wide-area effect of the mental attack, and it seemed to have caught everything still living. "All your heads are off!"

Skill Level Up: [Words of Power]

It killed everything in the building, which was nice. Having to fly upside down for a bit to keep the blood in his throat from choking him was not nice. Still, it was effective and would probably become more so as it leveled. He ate another piece of bacon while waiting for the Cores to spawn.

Caffeine was still with Sara, who had her own stash of bacon to help keep him there. Stanley preferred that because he was still worried about the mimics trying something, especially since he was systematically wiping out the competition. He doubted any would get past Walter, so the truck should be safe too.

"Come and get me!" That one worked, but Stanley wasn't sure if they came out because he technically attacked them with the shout or if it compelled them to. Either way, it was slow waiting for them… "Die!" Unfortunately, a single word was insufficient to kill anything but the tiny spiders. Those were already a non-issue, though, and their numbers had fallen drastically since Stanley returned.

Stanley carried the Cores with him to the next building and left them in a pile at his feet for bait. Like before, the spiders couldn't resist the lure and boiled out of the building. "You shall not pass!" He really needed to think of more lines that sounded cool…

The spiders ran or jumped right up to him but then stopped. Stanley couldn't tell if they were being blocked physically or mentally; either way, they didn't advance. "Mind Crush." They all collapsed. "Die." A few actually died this time. "You are all dead!" He wasn't sure if the proximity helped, but they all died. How exactly they died was a mystery… Then he had to pick off the few stragglers that hadn't come outside, including the queen. Those almost never left their nest.

Walter had driven the truck further ahead, and Stanley realized Eve was taking advantage of the massed Cores inside. Many of the spiders could sense them, and they charged outside in pursuit. Only to be cut down by Eve's turrets. "Walter must be helping her." The spiders had never noticed the Cores inside his Domain before… "Traitor!"

Stanley pushed ahead again and saw one of Eve's machines attacking a bridge… Its beam cannon carved through the steel in a few sweeping passes, then it grabbed the chunk that fell free and carried it back to the truck. "Stanley, come melt this down for me!" Eve called as the robot dropped the chunk into a pit, followed immediately by a few more. Stanley obliged. He could afford to be generous. It was also a chance to experiment with his Skill on a non-living target.

"Melt." The singular word was much more effective this time, but there was a lot of metal in the pit. "Become molten." That got most of it glowing cherry red and oozing together, but Stanley wanted some better words. "How did that one go… double, double, something, something…" Oh right. "Fire burn and cauldron bubble." The pit wasn't precisely a cauldron… but his intent must have carried through well enough because it looked pretty liquid… though it wasn't bubbling.

"Seriously?" Eve said from the doorway.

"W…" Stanley coughed and shoved some food down his throat as Eve laughed. "What?" Stanley said once he could speak, "It sounds cooler than just saying melt…"

"You, quoting Shakespeare?"

"Is that what it's from? I knew I heard that somewhere!"

Eve shook her head. "Can you just heat it up a bit more?"

"Walter," Stanley called, "you know Shakespeare, right?" He seemed like the kind of person that would.

"Yes, Sir. I am afraid so." Stanley had a feeling Walter knew where this was going…

"Can you tell me some cool lines to use?"

Walter didn't sigh, but his Soul did. "I would be delighted to share my knowledge, Sir."

"Don't do it, Walter! You know how many annoying frat bros I had to listen to in college spouting that shit!"

Now Stanley really wanted to learn. "So… I need something else to make this hot…"

"If you were to continue as you started, might I suggest, like a hell-broth boil and bubble?"

"Like a hell-broth boil and bubble!" It sounded more dramatic when Walter said it, especially with his accent, but Stanley's version had some solid oomph and a nice reverb…

Skill Level Up: [Words of Power]

Walter and Eve both sighed dejectedly as Stanley flipped upside down and let the blood drip from his grinning mouth. Meanwhile, beneath him, the pit boiled madly with a soup of molten metal.

"I bet you could teach me some more good Shakespeare, Walter. Really spice up my attacks! Or maybe I can use song lyrics… or more movie quotes!"

Neither of them seemed happy about his idea, but Eve's disappointment faded as she held her hand near the roiling heat, and a spear of silver metal extended from beneath her skin. It grew downward until sinking just below the molten surface.

Stanley could feel her Soul in the metal spike, and it spread out inside the makeshift cauldron. After a few moments, she pulled back slowly, and the level in the pit dropped as more silver metal emerged from the molten soup, now clinging to the spike.

Eve repeated the exercise a few times as the heat slowly diminished. Ultimately, she had a stack of rough-looking and silvery metal blocks.

Stanley left Eve to her crafting after acquiring some extra bacon from Walter and continued on his hunt.

He wanted to make some decent progress before he would have to sleep, which was coming, and faster than it would have because of all the damage he'd taken. The injuries he kept inflicting on himself weren't helping either… but it wasn't a big deal. Zeke could help when it was time, and they didn't even need the cocoon right now.

He would wait until Zeke slept tonight and then try to grab a few hours before dawn. They could probably camp out in the trailer or even just claim a building if they wanted more room.

Given the lack of worry on that front, Stanley didn't have to hold back in his experiments… but apparently, Eve got tired of his shouting. "Your knives are ready!" she yelled out the door and threw them at him.

Stanley caught them easily and immediately sent all five into the next building to begin the slaughter while he flew back next to Adrian. This was going to be a long slog, and there would be plenty of time to experiment before it was over.