Shortly after Moirai and his followers had left the scene of the crime a group of disgruntled players arrived at it. The look on their faces was telling exactly how displeased they are.
They had been humiliatingly beaten to death by other players without having wronged them. This shame was hard to bear especially the realisation that the perpetrators had not even used magic to kill them.
They had hurried up to arrive at the place to confront the players responsible for their demise but they were too late and now everything in front of them had been burned to the ground leaving no traces behind at all.
The feelings continued to build themselves up because not even a single explanation had been left behind for them. They went crazy without having a way to vent their frustrations. They couldn't figure out why something like this had to happen to them. Of all the players in this world, what have they done to deserve such a fate?
Their thoughts were racing, for they were looking for the reason, but this plan was doomed for failure from the beginning. No one would suspect that the NPC they had disparaged was the real reason.
No, in their mind they thought about what they did wrong to offend these people. What was the reasoning behind their sudden outburst? Where exactly did it go awry? Could this tragedy have been prevented?
While they were still fuming about their mistreatment, they could not and should not get that resentment to their heads. Although the other party had killed them and utterly shamed them, they did not spread the message and even cleaned the battlefield, so that no other person could see the
gigantic shame they had suffered.
They had interpreted this act, as a warning but also as a way out for them. While they had done nothing wrong, they were not interested in pursuing this matter any further, after the others had dealt out this kind of punishment.
Seeking vengeance would only harm their reputation and bring even more shame onto them. For now, the best course of action was to swallow their pride and do not mention this event to anyone. By keeping their mouths shut, nobody would have to know about what has taken place in this now desolate space.
But just knowing is sadly not enough at times. Sometimes other values take priority even if their repercussions might be way more serious.
They were just not happy at all, being forced to follow the amicability of the other party, who are trying to dictate them on what they should be doing.
Even if the group of barbarians that had beaten them to death was not interested in escalating the situation they had caused the exact opposite kind of response. With their honour being besmirched to such an extent, they had no other choice, then to seek out this kind of group. Otherwise, they might never be able to sleep with a clear conscience ever again.
Still, with even the tiniest piece of evidence gone, the odds of them locating the evil-doors was really unlikely. As much as they wanted to get revenge, it did not seem feasible at the moment. They can imagine and talk about it but it only truly matters, when they can revenge themselves in person.
These group of players vowed loudly to not stop until they had avenged every wrong they had suffered and pay it back tenfold. Though their ambition was admirable, they still had absolutely no idea where to start. Just running blindly searching for a group of 8 players was just idiotic.
This kind of plan would never yield any results because this world was way too big to cover every place they might pass by or appear at. The first step should be to spread rumours about the group and to promise a handsome reward for any information about their whereabouts.
Though they would have to act with great care to avoid the suspicion of the other party, especially if they still could divulge this humiliation to the public. For the time being, they had no other choice than to act discrete and plan their revenge thoroughly. They oppurturnity would surely come, all they had to do is be patient and wait for the right time.
While the voice of reason asked them to reconsider, the decision had already been made and any risk of failure was immediately set aside to be ignored until it inevitable arrived. again. The feeling of honour had seized their minds and it would not vanish before the goal had been achieved.
They had become drunk on their newfound resolve and indulged themselves a little too much in the fantasy about their future prospects. This situation would continue for a long time to come and it would ensure that the vow they made was not the only stupid mistake they would commit. But in their current condition, they would not pose any threat to the perpetrators responsible for the plight.
Their fate would just repeat itself and they would have to relive it once more. In their eyes, they only died thanks to getting caught off guard.
This assumption was treated as a matter of fact and it was the perfect excuse for any bruised ego.
If not for the treacherous and vile acts, they would have won undoubtedly, they kept on repeating this kind of opinion loudly until it had become reality for them.
Not only were they proclaiming their superiority for everyone to hear but they also started to look down on the other party for resorting to such evil acts.
They had shifted the guilt from themselves in order to feel good about everything. By believing to be superior, they could still act just as haughty as before and acted like his nefarious deed practically never happened at all.
They could be at ease, while secretly planning their revenge. Everything will be taken care of leaving no potential danger behind. This was far from enough to quell their anger but it sufficed to appease it by a little.
When they vociferously condemned the barbarian act and also scorned them, they were able to distract themselves to prevent these acts from affecting them. Though no one other than them was able to hear about any of this, as this location was remote and not many players would appear here on their own volition.
But this did not matter, all they wanted to do was to let this world know about the injustice they had suffered. Screaming out all the feelings they were currently suppressing, was their way to cope with the situation.
-------------
This elation and happy atmosphere were not meant to last.
Right above them in the sky, several flying ants were carrying a bloated corpse of a monster. This ball of death was full of sharp hairs and other spiked objects attached to it.
No one was aware of what danger was looming in the sky. This messenger of death would cause a lot of devastation whether it would land. Though it appeared laughable compared to the potential destruction the ones on Earth offered, its reign of terror was just about to begin in this foreign land.
Its inevitable descent would mark the appearance of human ingenuity, and the subsequent loss of life would only be the beginning.
No one could have foreseen that such an object would ever come into existence in this world. However, the first contact will certainly be unforgettable. So much should be certain when this construct finally serves its purpose.
While its design was still crude and was not improved from its prototype, it still would be the first contact between players and the makeshift bomb designed by Moirai. This bomb was not carried to the group without any reason. Its one-dimensional usage was enough to deduce the intent behind it.
With its presence, it was only a matter of time before the current peace was no more. Their lives were just about to be claimed in the resulting explosion.
They were at the mercy of others without even knowing it. Oblivious to their impending they were still busy screaming at the world about the injustice they had suffered and made plans about their retaliation.
At odds with their treatment and with the lack of respect that was given to them, they had interpreted the actions as a weakness, showing others kindness was only met with contempt. Leeway and a path to retreat did just mean, that others still dared to think about getting their revenge.
This conclusion would have been the right decision if they had been dealing with another player but since they were dealing with the exact opposite their judgement became a bit faulty. The clash of cultural values was prone to cause a lot of tensions, for instance even Moirai would most likely never fathom how deeply the concept of honour is tied to the inhabitants of this world.
On the other hand, they would most likely never come to understand the questioning nature of Moirai. Their backgrounds could not be any more different, so it was no wonder that this group of players developed a gigantic misconception about the person responsible for their misfortune.
What they saw as a way out for them so that both parties could pretend as if nothing had happened, was not of any concern to Moirai. In fact, he could not care any less about what the group thought of him.
Far from it, this was a blatant threat. You will share the same fate as these corpses if you insist on causing trouble. Moirai thought that this statement would become more than clear after disposing of the corpses cleanly.
This difference in perception did not yield any favourable result with for both parties leading to the current situation. A threat of this calibre would have been an empty one, so one side was destined to suffer from the difference in cultures.
Its fall was widely anticlimactic and it just did what it was supposed to do. There was no tension as it slowly made its way to the ground. After landing on the ground it created a sudden noise amidst the crowd that had not noticed the descendants of this bomb at all. The noise erupted and filled the place for a short while drowning every other noise.
A while later the noise had died down and left behind the corpses who never knew what had happened to them. Their bodies had been pierced by the shrapnel and they had lost their lives on the spot.
No screams of horror could be heard and no pained expressions of any sort of anguish were visible on their faces. A quick and sudden death, that caught everyone in the perimeter. The aftermath was just a pile of corpses and a small crater where the ball had landed first.
No fight and signs of struggle were visible, it felt peaceful in an eerie way. This sight would cause anyone to shiver as it would seem inexplicable to them. No traces of magic could be found here. Their life came to an end without any magic at all. This thought alone would have scared most players out of their mind.
But since there is no one, who had seen this extermination it would remain a mystery how their lives came to such an abrupt ending. Without a doubt, not a single soul of them would have expected, that this attack on them, came from someone not harbouring any sort of ill-will towards them.
From Moirais perspective it was nothing more than the logical consequence that followed the actions they chose for themselves. In his eyes, their fate was negligible and only the explosion itself was of any interest whatsoever and even that was only met with a slight sigh.
What his victims were to think about his lacklustre reaction remains a question, which is better suited to be left to the imagination. Even after they would have returned to the scene of the crime for a second time, they would be none the wiser what had happened to them.
Moirai on the other hand just analyzed the results and thought about how to increase the efficiency of his bombs. The victims had just become a number in his hand and would forever remain that way. His focus was now placed on things he considered important and not as trivial as the group, who just happened to be part one of his experiments.
After the flying ants had returned to the ghost town they awaited their next orders, that would surely come after all those experiments were not enough in the eyes of Moirai.
It was hard to know what was currently going through his mind, as he watched the 8 people stemming from the table currently perpetrating doing push-ups without any magic empowering their body.
No emotional change in his face could be felt as he silently evaluated the performance and things he saw right in front of his eyes. Entirely unaffected by his surroundings, he appeared to be complementing something in the back of his mind, leaving others questioning what he was planning.
Even the people who spent a lot of time with him couldn't say exactly what was going on in his head. But they could say one thing with complete certainty, that it was quite different from the norm. Tom, as the person who had accompanied Moirai for the longest time of everyone, still did not know what he could expect from the likes of him. All he knows, that he was enjoying the time he was spending with him and that he was a good person to talk to.
Though even he would have not expected him to conduct such experiments behind his back as he was training the players right in front of them. He had high expectations of seeing these temple students in actions. It was not every day, that he could lay eyes upon something like this.
Yet this training was just the tip of the iceberg that Moirai had prepared for those players. With the appearance of a smile on his face, he called out a short break, while the group of players fell to the ground gasping for air after every ounce of strength had left their body.
But this was merely the beginning.