CH8: Doomed Town

It was a strange feeling looking at a doomed town and feeling nothing. Oh, if there was any regret to be had, it was in the man beside me gripping his head and looking on at the cooling corpses, blackened cobblestones, and villagers slowly creeping out of their hiding places. One young boy cheered at the sight of the monsters that had tormented them, slain and smoldering on the ground. No monster had survived my trump card, and the people cheered without understanding their fate.

"What are you people cheering for? The queen will just send stronger monsters to ransack the town, looking for them. We aren't saved; they killed us all instead of only the pretty few." The best-dressed man in town said.

Someone got it; for a moment, I thought no one would get how fucked they all were. It was good for the mayor to spread the information around. I would hate for what comes next to be a surprise.

"Did you know before we attacked them?" Gray asked.

"It never crossed my mind. Really, who could resist killing a bunch of monsters." I said.

"What are we going to do? We can't let them kill the villagers? I don't care what you said about them eventually getting through; we can build defenses. We saved them; they're our responsibilities now." Gray said.

I shook my head. "If that's the case, then I have demands." The mayor stiffened at my words. "If your safety is my responsibility, then you will all pay me a tax. Doesn't that sound fair in exchange for your lives? Then, men must volunteer for service that is nonnegotiable. The healthiest and strongest will report for service. You won't leave the town unless I tell you to, so I'll build a wall to keep you in. Don't worry it will also keep the monsters out. Food is no longer your concern. I will ensure we have plenty for everyone who works." I said.

"What are you talking about? We can't make them out slaves. You're better than that; we are better than that. We are the party that will save the world; we can't replace the queen as more tyrants." Gray said.

"Then how could I give my protection to people I have no authority over. I am offering them a pact: their lives will no longer be theirs, and in return, I will protect and feed them. So long as their sons fight for me and their citizens do as I say and work, then I will continue protecting them." I said.

He wasn't getting the point. I wanted to protect the village, but I had to get something out of it. I couldn't just become responsible for them with nothing to gain. That kind of contract went entirely against my nature as a free spirit. If they wanted me to give them my time to protect them, then they couldn't remain free. In exchange for protection, part of their self-determination would have to go away. It was a matter of survival, not tyranny.

Gray must be from a different world than my own. No one in their right mind would give protection without some form of compensation. More than that, I was offering to not only train their men to fight the monsters in safety, but I planned to arm them with weapons that could be effective. Seals didn't require my personal energy to use, and they didn't need to know how to read either.

I could turn them into my own soldiers and begin making a stand against monster control. Humanity could have a shot that wasn't reliant on heroes. But Gray didn't seem to want that. His ideals were getting in the way of a fair solution.

"Will you offer us your protection without such intense demands?" The mayor asked.

I turned my back on the man. Suddenly, we were competing to protect them; what a politician. Unfortunately for him, I was unwilling to throw in my hat with such a crooked man. When the chips were down, and they begged for my protection, I would set it straight like an arrow.

That aside, in the meantime, I could do some planning for next time. I would have rather had a group to test out my experiment, but easy come, easy go. They didn't want help, so I wouldn't help them. It was as easy as that.

"I think we can both agree that helping you is the right thing to do and will not need any repayment. This situation is our fault, to begin with, and we are the best ones to set it straight." Gray said.

"Unless you can resurrect the dead, I don't think we are setting anything straight. You want us to set up rotations to protect this place. We are two people; we can't protect every citizen going about their day and leaving the village to tend to their farms and herds." I said.

"We will protect who we can. While we are in the city, we can protect people from the incoming monsters. I don't see why you're against it; think of the points we'll earn." Gray said.

He wanted to use my greed against me that wouldn't work. I knew how to hold off on gratification. The reason why I hadn't burned the doll hill to a smoldering pit of metal and plastic was to have a stock of points for a rainy day.

I shook my head and thought about the problem. The monster queen needed to set an example; that was the sort of thing rulers did when their rule was challenged. At the same time, it wasn't something they had to have free action to do. What if I did something crazy like, say, attacked the main gate or even defeated the Dullahan guard? If her front gate was attacked, there was no chance she would have time for posturing. Then again, she was a queen, so that was possible.

"Gray, are there any other members of our party, or is it only the two of us. Unless you have other members waiting in the wings, this will be where we part ways." I said.

"You caused this mess with your blatant use of your spell. Don't you have a sense of responsibility for these people? What of the people who are about to be attacked? Children will die if you don't act? You introduced yourself as a hero of the angel faction. What does that mean? Will you abandon people? Is that the way of angels?" Gray said.

I sucked in a breath and let it out. Gray was becoming ever more irritating with every word he spouted. No man was an island; my attempt to make something of this village was murdered in its crib. This man was its killer, but he had no remorse. Responsibility for my power was not to the people. The angels don't give a damn about the humans of this world, only the monsters who they oppose. Heroes mattered because they could change sides, and killing those of opposing factions empowered the other side's heroes.

"You met the angels; how many words did they have to spare for the people of this world. How many tears did they shed for humanity while possessed dolls ripped them apart. I know what the angels want, and it has nothing to do with these villagers." I said.

"What a strong case for why no human should bend the knee to them. With angels like these, who needs monsters." Gray said.

The villagers looked between us in fear while the mayor only smirked. I raised my finger and blasted a hole through the man's head. Villagers threw themselves to the ground while fathers protected their children.

Gray rushed me with a telegraphed punch that I deflected with a finger. I waited for something, a sign the man was more than a mere human. No signs came, but I felt like the bastard still deserved my spite; nonetheless, I gave it a few more minutes.

"What have you done? Have the angels deserted you? Is that why you've killed a fellow human?" Gray said.

People continued to back away as Gray closed in on me, water spewing up from a nearby well for a spell until the mayor twitched. Bones crunched as his body slowly morphed into the dark shape of a monster. The water gathered by Gray's spell died, much like my initial ideas to protect the village.

"I'm leaving; please stay in the village surrounded by disguised monsters. I'm sure you'll be able to sort out who is human and who isn't." I said.

The angels wouldn't desert me for killing villagers who get in my way. I could feel that clearly. I could sense through my connection to the hero system that I was still very much in their good books. Since the hidden mob was dead, it was time to go for my next target.

It really was a shame about the village. I would have loved to spark a change in humanity and give the villagers the chance to defend themselves. Maybe in the next village, the people might be far less willing to choose the side where they had to do nothing but cower and wait to be saved.

"The men you want to fight with you, we can't compete with monsters; they are stronger than us; most can't get close enough to swing a sword." The bartender said.

He flinched when I met his gaze. After a minute, I decided he probably wasn't a monster. The mayor slowly rose back to her feet, black breasts dangling while she looked around. Her lipless black face only had large eyes and a thin pink line of a nose. Her skin was ink-black and rippled under torchlight. While she wasn't the most beautiful monster I've ever seen, she was definitely up there.

She pointed to me, and something pressed against my mind. "If you don't let me return, my mistress will destroy this village. Nothing you can do will save them from her numbers." I calmly tossed a seal construct on her, binding her for transport.

I laughed. I couldn't help it; the monster girl was so ignorant of me. I had all the tools in the world to transform this place into the perfect fortress against any number of monsters. The little wall might not look like much, but I could make it impregnable with enough blood and energy.

The wound on her head slowly stitched together from long wormlike tendrils that made up her body. Was it any wonder she could take any form she wanted? I honestly didn't know what I was going to do if there were more infiltrators. This monster girl had been sloppy. At best, I could establish a chain of command and try to make my seals idiot-proof.

Intent-based defenses weren't where I thrived. I needed blood magic to really set them in this world. Maybe some earth magic if I felt like being frisky. With what I had currently, which was mostly dried monster blood and lots of cow blood, I could keep the monsters out for a few weeks, maybe a month, if I really made some tricky defenses.

No, I needed to pause any chance of a reprisal. Taking out her spy might have stalled her or forced her hand more thoroughly. I gave one of my trump cards, and the cooldown still hadn't run out. I had less than six hours before I could use Gehenna again.

I looked at the dirty villagers that I needed to turn into soldiers or at least competent placeholders. My efforts wouldn't matter a bit if they all died before even a week of training. I would have to make drills for them and coach them myself in the use of completely unfamiliar weapons. Gunpowder wasn't an option; I would have to use seals and go fully into repeating rifles.

First things first, I needed to bloody that Dullahan's nose or kill her.

…

"Fuck!" Satanos said.

Helel agreed with the angel of darkness. This situation could be described best as fuck. Their newest greatest hope planned to spread his seals to villagers and turn them into lean, mean monster-killing machines. That was great news and completely within the balance. Helel was sticking to that no matter what the monsters said.

"Best hero ever. Even if he falls, the monsters will have entire human populations to worry about. We won't even need to call in more heroes. Our turn cloak problem is over; we might as well call him back when he's done for an orgy for the next thousand years. Let's pack it up; we're done here." Satanos said.

Uriel slapped Satanos's arm playfully. "Stop it; you know this is only the first of many steps needed to change things. Queens, Tyrants, and dark goddesses stand between Atom and Diablos. We only win when she is forced out of Echidna." Uriel said.

Helel sighed; that was their bottom line. While queens controlled little swaths of land and spawned monsters, it was Tyrants who broke the back of humanity and the wretched dark goddesses that shattered the original gods of this world. Once the gods were defeated, she took the throne of her mother, the queen of heaven Mohweh, and held back the tides of darkness. Many competitors had battled her for her place and were gilded and added to her throne's power over the centuries.

Did Atom know they were always fighting a losing battle? He was the latest in a long line of dice rolls to find something to turn the tables in their favor. Finally, with him, they had a small chance.

Uriel flew to her side as they watched the blackness from the last remnants of heaven. Their home had been ripped apart, carved up, and given to the dark goddesses to collect the souls of fallen heroes and humans alike. What remained of their home continued to crumble; why else would they all stay together in one room, hundreds upon hundreds of angels, some cannibalized to keep their strength up. Only the strongest survived. They needed a hero unfailing in his duties who understood that in this war, no crime was too great, so long as he won, all would be forgiven.

Gray, the independent hero, couldn't understand that, and that's why his loss didn't bother them. It had been centuries since humans mattered to them as the light failed and souls all fell into the hells. Diablos was far out of reach of Gray, who barely rose through the tiers.

Helel decided a long time ago they needed a hero who could thrive despite the system and had a strong determination. At times, she had feared they would lose him, but those fears were unfounded. Atom offered for monsters to trade sides but was never tempted to join the side of Diablos. He wouldn't fall into the same trap that so many others had.

…

I left the village before the riders would set out. Trees rattled like dried bones bare of leaves in the winter and filled to the brim with bats of all shapes and sizes. A few bat girls even spied on me but didn't dare come in for an attack. It was just as well that after dealing with Gray, I was feeling foul and ready to fight. Harsh winds blew down on me from the castle on the cliff overlooking Doll Hill. I could feel powerful energies in the castle, some much stronger than my current self, with my most direct spell out of commission that left two, one a defense and the last a weapon effect.

I missed my old hammer; the great Mythril monstrosity was with my original, but that didn't mean I couldn't make a replica with different metals. Certain spells could channel effects from other schools, like how fire could become fluid like water to form weapons under a hero's control. I could make one with fire, but it would have an upkeep and cooldown at my current tier. Making one out of a construct was possible, but it would be fragile and take mental energy to sustain. I couldn't focus all my effort on keeping a hammer made of aura together when I was fighting someone as fast or faster than me. I needed a strong, possibly magic-resistant metal to forge into a hammer.

Forging was right; I had to do from scratch that I once imputed into a nanite forge. My original was so lucky or unlucky, depending on a certain point of view. I've probably had more pussy than my original which made me better from a certain point of view.

Jokes aside, I really needed to focus on the black armored warrior in the distance holding a helmet with no head. A pair of glowing rest eyes appeared in the slits of the helmet, and I couldn't help but wonder how the head hadn't fallen out of the helmet. Was it suctioned in it, or had the Dullahan applied crazy glue.

There was hair sticking through the bottom of the helmet loosely tied; maybe the Dullahan had tried a form of braid. I stopped my approach. The Dullahan raised its head up and tried to yell something over the howling winds.

I only put a hand to my ear and shook my head. The suit of armor waved its hand in a come here motion, and I shook my head. That was something was wasn't going to happen. I raised my finger, and with a flash, a beam of aura fired.

A crystalline barrier of blood appeared before the Dullahan, much to my excitement. Long range wasn't very satisfying. The Dullahan could rip the blood out of heroes, even those with blood magic of their own. Gray said that, but how good was their control. Could the heroes fight off the pull of, say, a seal designed to pull in fire? There weren't really seals designed to resist the pull of magic upon blood. I could only put forces upon an object and hope for the best. When dealing with blood, that was a frightening prospect. So, what was I going to do? Well, the answer was simple: I trained myself to resist forces upon my blood already in gravity training.