SoK final chapters (Patreon)

Hey. These've been done for a while, but getting myself to edit them was strangely difficult. Here's everything that came after, and the ending of the series, at least until it potentially gets a ton more interest all of a sudden.

Gonna do all the chapters all together so that was it isn't four chapters clogging the feed. I have thoughts, but I'm not really sure what they are, so maybe I'll say something more poignant at some point in the future. Suffice to say, this isn't the entire story I wanted to tell, but without interest, it wasn't worth the effort, I'm afraid.

Chapter 215 

TJ almost hesitated to throw himself forward as a similarly massive serpent appeared in front of him. With Sarah getting her Valkyrian Ascension Skill, he’d been forced to think about how other Classes could get Divine Transformation, or a Skill like it. Now, for the first time, TJ couldn’t just think of that in hypotheticals but had to fight it. In fact, this was the first time that TJ was having to fight a person after the Integration. He’d never had to think about how many Skills someone would have, about what they could do and how much more flexible they’d be than a monster. 

Sven didn’t give him any opportunity to think about what Skills this new enemy would have to bring to bear. TJ had always thought that, even if his Strength stat could be outclassed by enemies that he fought, he would always have an advantage in terms of sheer size. After all, as a snake well over a hundred feet long and nearly three feet thick, he had thousands and thousands of pounds to bring to bear against any enemy that came close to him. 

When he looked at the Divine Transformation of a descendant of the Earth-swallowing serpent, TJ came to understand why it was that his original evolution to Copper tier had said that his new Divine Transformation Skill’s focus was adjusted to adhere to the form of the Storm-Calling nature of Kukulkan, to exemplify the physical prowess and magical stature of your Bloodline Origin. You use the strength of Kukulkan’s body to supplement the power of your Divine workings. 

Evidently, some divine transformations didn’t care about the magical nature of their predecessor. 

The ashy scaled serpent that looked up at him had eyes that were hungry voids, though they still looked like Sven’s. Still they had the dark gray sclera, and his mouth was darker than the ambient light should have allowed it to be. In every way, shape, and form, Sven was twice as large as TJ, and he lunged forward with his mouth open wide to snap into TJ. Winds exploded all around TJ as he threw his body into the air, and he didn’t hesitate to throw blades of wind coursing with electricity at the enemy that glared at him from below. TJ didn’t expect his opening attack to do much, but he was more than surprised by the defense present. Sven opened his mouth even wider, and a swirling tornado of corrosive energy ripped out of his mouth and tore TJ’s attacks into nothing. 

“You’re thinking you can stand against me like that?” Sven’s voice rose in an ever more manic cackle. He said nothing more as he coiled and sprang into the air toward TJ. In a position like this, TJ could out maneuver the other man, the winds coming to his aid as he pushed the dark serpent away. He managed to create some good distance between them as he flew higher, and Sven tumbled toward the ground, making TJ allow himself a small smile. Smashing against the ground didn’t even seem to stun the massive serpent. Instead, he looked up and shook his head in obvious disapproval. 

Instead of pressing the attack, the other man threw his head back and roared in a way that TJ’s own throat was incapable of. As the sound shook the air, TJ saw hundreds of enemy warriors rush forward toward his home. They skirted around his battlefield but seemed to deliberately show themselves to him as they closed in on TJ’s subordinates. Dozens stood beside the lakeshore, and TJ mentally discounted them from the assault with a slight smile. 

Without thinking about it, TJ felt himself bare his fangs at those who would threaten his worshippers, but he didn’t throw himself into battle once again. The smug twist of the Jörmungandr’s head was a further testament to the fact that it was a trap. TJ couldn’t know how many of these enemies there were, nor could he throw himself at them without opening himself up to retribution from the enemy he was most concerned with. From his Appraisal, Sven out leveled him by, in total, twenty-seven levels between Race, Class, and Occupation. That, combined with the fact that he knew nothing about the other man’s Skills meant that he was at a severe disadvantage, only mitigated by the fact that TJ was positive that Sven didn’t enjoy benefits like the Ziggurat. 

From above, TJ locked eyes with Sven, lying on the ground, smirking up at the coatl. TJ’s rage continued to boil ever brighter in his stomach, but he was still left unsure of what to do. Between his Path of Worship and his own morals, he wasn’t going to stay up here and watch people who depended on him get slaughtered, least of all children, but he would also be consigning them to death if he jumped down there and got himself killed without a plan. He started to draw a little from the Ziggurat, allowing the boiling power housed there to flow into him. 

“Devotees of the Storm Serpent!” Sarah’s voice cut through the beginning sounds of battle cries as she stepped forward, glowing with Divine light. “Defend yourselves; be armed with Divine Might and prove yourselves against these people who want to murder you and your families!” 

She didn’t say anything more as her body flared with light, and she flashed forward. Her ax and shield flashed with ice as she swung them out in a wide circle and sent a burst of frost over the nearest ten attackers. The Valkyrie didn’t hesitate to deal deadly blows, even as she fought people. The enemies nearest to her wore their own armor as they tried to surround her. She said nothing but roared in effort as she dodged several attacks before she twisted and buried her ax in somebody’s neck, nearly decapitating them in a single blow. Behind her, the rest of TJ’s followers raised their hands and drew power from the curling Storm overhead. None were quite so eager to spill blood as TJ’s strongest follower, but those who’d been blessed by the Storm Serpent’s Awakening proved themselves to be formidable opponents. 

Despite the immediate momentum going toward the inhabitants of North Tempe, the attackers from the New Republic didn’t seem to be afraid, and their leader didn’t rush to assist them. When one and then two others fell in that first rush toward the encampment to Sarah’s decisive movements and their limp corpses fell, TJ gained a faint amount of experience. He looked down at the attackers, who still looked entirely unworried, and then they all began smoking. 

TJ couldn’t think of any other way to put it, just that each member of the New Republic’s army started to emanate smoke as if they were all simmering embers. On the side of North Tempe, each fighter was enveloped by flickering lightning as they defended their homes. With Skills empowering them, the first contact was made, and momentum swung even more in North Tempe’s favor. 

A barrage of crossbow bolts flew forward, the fletching screaming through the air. Seth had gained a Skill to imbue lightning into his shots, and each one struck true as they flew away. Shields raised, and the attacks pinged off, and the Avenger began shooting at people’s feet instead. Explosions enveloped the attackers, but there were no cries of pain, only of determination. Spears flew through the air from Farid, each one striking at the attackers, but as the aggressors from the New Republic gained momentum, they seemed to take less damage. The Zealots gathered together as Sarah retreated from initial contact, Connor and Sarah together making the core. 

First contact began, and Molly rushed forward, lightning coating her body before then splitting into two flickering copies that tore into whatever was nearby. The lightning dog ripped through her enemies as Sam and Mimi beside her defended. Michelle stood behind, wearing her full set of armor while blasts of red flame and green healing shot out from her in every direction. Tessie, with the rest of the Acolytes in the settlement, sent constant volleys of attacks that the enemies didn’t seem to care about. 

Sven still seemed to be as willing as ever to sit on the back lines, even as the defenders used ranged attacks that weren’t answered in kind. Considering what TJ’d heard about the other leader, he was expecting more ferocity as well as an almost mindless need to kill and devour, but that wasn’t the case. There was a palpable tension to how he lay coiled, ready to strike, but the snake, thicker than two grown men embracing, didn’t do anything but watch TJ without looking at the battleground. 

Sven seemed to know what would happen on the battlefront, and his confidence was rewarded. There were none on the New Empire’s side that could compare to the Elites within North Tempe, but numbers remained a quality in and of itself. Then once they started fighting back, TJ witnessed the effect of the smoke. Each wound sustained, whether by the attackers of the New Republic or inflicted by them, caused the smoke to grow thicker, and as it went from the faint gray of a dove’s feathers to the deep smoke of charcoal, the effects became known in the front lines. 

Frenzied shouts filled the air as every one of the New Republic attackers took on some aspect of the Jörmungandr. Scales began to cover their faces as sclera went dark and mouths were filled with fangs. Then with an ever-increasing blood lust, they threw themselves at whatever they could reach. In just a few short seconds, TJ’s people began screaming in pain as the frenzied beasts attacked with reckless abandon. Weapons were largely forgotten as scaled beasts wearing the form of men and women leapt onto the defenders. Everyone in reach was more than strong enough not to be brought down by a single person’s weight, but it was obvious that the smoke that choked the air was more than just a color. 

Obvious weakness began to spread through TJ’s people, and he felt himself behind to swoop down to help them and only barely managed to pull himself back into the air before entering Sven’s reach. 

“How long can you watch them?” Sven laughed as the smoke choked the area more. “When will you come down and accept your fate?” 

TJ shifted his thoughts instead to where the source of the smoke was. It was tied to Sven’s Class or the Class he was bestowing on these fighters, but they didn’t seem to be spending copious amounts of their MP or Stamina to create and maintain such an overwhelming effect. He tried to feel the origin of the spell or Skill but felt nothing. It was almost certainly a ritual of some sort, but he couldn’t feel the origin. With his understanding of rituals, though, it needed to be close, though. There wouldn’t be a ritualist powerful enough to effectuate a massive, long-range effect when TJ himself couldn’t. 

Maybe it was foolish pride that led him to think such a thing, but TJ kept his attention close as he looked for the source of the Skill that was turning the tide against his people. There were scattered members of Sven’s men and women who weren’t actively fighting, but there seemed to be a certain pride that they all took in the inevitability of their success. They didn’t circle around to truly leverage their superior numbers, and, from above, TJ felt like he was watching a child’s approach to war. There was no maneuvering, no secondary plans, just forward movement from the larger force with a seeming trust that they would achieve an easy victory. 

Then TJ turned his head to those that had been left beside the lake. They had settled there and were now standing in a circle that TJ cursed himself for not noticing. Obviously, they’d begun their ritual on the back lines, only a half mile or so away from their allies. Next to the water, they’d taken themselves to the lower ground, but out of sight from the defenders on the upper level. They could, very easily, be entirely forgotten and left to continue their working unimpeded, until TJ turned his attention to them, but he didn’t need to occupy himself overly with them, though he Appraised them and received confirmation of the danger they posed. 

Cultist of the Jörmungandr (Copper (I)), 42 

The waves on the shore began licking higher, touching the ankles of the furthest down short ritualist. They quickly began to notice what was happening and turned to face this new threat, but it was too late. 

Acalan made himself known with a massive wave that broke bones and bodies alike. 

Chapter 216 

The ahuizotl was a monster. In fact, TJ had always known that Acalan was a monster, an Elite-tier one at that. If he wanted to, the ancient water creature could shred through most of TJ’s citizens without anyone being able to stop him, especially if they were near the lake’s edge. After all, the water was his habitat and his element. That same water, under Acalan’s control, destroyed the ritual as well as those who were enacting it. The smoke that was choking the front lines of battle disappeared as soon as he made his attack, though the enemy combatants remained as crazed and focused as ever. 

Sven reeled back, rearing up like a cobra as his attention went toward his cultists that maintained what would turn the tides of battle against TJ’s defenders. As the massive serpent turned toward the water’s edge to defend his people, TJ laughed in the sky, the sound more like crackling thunder than a living creature’s voice. It was far too late for Sven to be able to turn the tide of the battle against his ambushed cultists. 

The water wrapped around each of their bodies and yanked them into the deeps, their screams and thrashing leading to nothing as Acalan leaned over the first. His face, somewhat of a mix of a rat’s with a wolf’s, disemboweled the poor cultist, and he didn’t stop until the man became a corpse. Then with careless ease, the monster threw the corpse deeper into the center of the lake where it splashed and sank away. Acalan, finally allowed to sate his hunger for human flesh, leaned forward to chomp into the second and third. His jaws opened wide and ripped one head off the second cultist to die before carving out the third’s chest down to the spine in another bite. His paws crushed the other two, and with each strike that killed one of the significantly weaker humans, it was obvious that the dozen would-be ritualists were doomed. 

As the sixth died at Acalan’s hands, it was only with the barest, most obvious struggle that Sven was able to hold himself back from continuing to throw himself into the bloody water. A part of TJ wanted to see that fight, to see how Sven would fare in battle against the formidable monster in his home territory, but it wasn’t to be. Instead, the other serpent turned his rage to TJ and snarled something that the flying man couldn’t understand. That fury was obvious enough, though, and TJ remained there in the air, finally deciding to channel and focus his Storm Manipulation to prepare himself for what was coming. 

Regardless of that preparation, TJ hadn’t prepared himself for what followed. Sven paid him no mind and rushed at the battle lines. TJ cursed under his breath as he swooped down toward the soldiers on both sides, but Sven was significantly faster than him. Fortunately, Sarah noticed the enemy’s approach and called out a warning. 

“The black snake is a bad motherfucker! If you get close, he’ll kill you!” 

Then entirely disregarding her own words, she rushed forward at Sven. The leader of the New Republic opened his mouth wide, and that devouring cyclone emanated out of his mouth once again. Sarah dodged past it, only barely remaining protected as their enemy moved surprisingly quickly to lash out at her. Her shield somehow managed to hold up against the decaying breath, though several of Sven’s own warriors could not. They crumbled into dust and were sucked into his gaping maw as, when he saw that Sarah was too quick for him to easily fight against, he turned his attention back to the struggling front lines of fighters. 

TJ advanced as fast as he could but was forced to watch as three of his own defenders came face-to-face with death. Then a part of TJ’s heart broke as Molly’s father leapt in front of his wife. William’s body struggled to hold together as he hunkered behind his shield, but his Divine Armaments couldn’t hold up against the devouring breath. Lucy cowered behind him, trying to pull William free, but as the shield disappeared, the Zealot’s arms were reduced to dust and Sven’s fangs pierced into his torso. The man’s face was screwed up with pain as he looked only at his wife. This man, this fellow father that had put so much work into fortifying North Tempe at TJ’s behest was gone that quickly, the unforgiving jaws of an enemy showing no mercy. 

The Heaven Devouring Serpent then turned his attention to the rest of the fighters, but TJ finally arrived, multiple tons of snake smashing down into his enemy from above. 

“Finally! You face me directly,” Sven shouted as he whipped his head around and caught TJ’s tail in his mouth. Immediately, TJ felt his HP drop precipitously as Sven showed why the Jörmungandr had gained the Title of the Heaven Devouring Serpent. TJ burst with electricity as his concentrated Storm Manipulation forced his MP out as an attack, but to little effect. Instead of a concentrated burst of wind or lightning or even cold, TJ wreathed his body in electricity that only jolted his attacker as he continued to grind his fangs into TJ’s spine. 

Fortunately, Sarah arrived then, her ax glowing with frost as she sunk that into the center of Sven’s mass. His scales cracked under the attack while the frost spread a dozen feet in both directions. 

“You’re too weak to worry me,” he scoffed at TJ as he threw himself at Sarah. “You better understand what brings true power in this world! Feed me!” 

No longer did Sven care to recruit people to his cause. Instead, he seemed to see everything on the battlefield as food, and his soldiers, those that hadn’t been flattened by his own attacks or killed by the defenders, seemed to have the same opinion. They threw themselves without weapons other than their own bodies at TJ’s defenders. He watched as Sam and Mimi fought desperately against three of the crazed attackers. The elder brother was forced to the ground, but the Amazonian grew in stature as she lunged forward with her spear. 

TJ wrenched his attention away from that battlefield, instead focusing on the one individual that was most important to take care of. While he gathered himself and prepared a more impactful attack, Molly, wreathed in a purple lightning that he’d never seen before, threw herself at Sven. Paired with that was a grating shriek that reminded TJ that this poor teenager just watched her father get ripped to pieces, pieces so small they might as well be dust. Her fangs crackled with lightning as she ripped into flesh and scales, and Sven rebelled against her. 

The massive serpent’s head whipped around and tore into Molly’s flanks, and she screamed in pain. She whipped around and sank her own fangs into his head just above Sven’s eye, so he released her and then pulsed with smoke. It looked much the same as the smoke that his cultists had summoned, TJ saw as Molly and Sarah’s transformations were somehow forcefully dispelled. Molly stumbled on her hands and knees before standing up and bolting away toward her mother. She picked her mother up and carried her away while Sarah didn’t seem to care that she’d just been weakened. 

Instead, she raised her ax again and pushed her Divine Smite into the weapon before she smashed it into the frozen section of Sven’s body. Ice shattered as her attack struck home, carving out a massive section of his torso. In retaliation, he screamed and turned toward her, his black smoke coalescing back into his body as his devouring tornado turned toward whatever was nearby. 

The people closest to Sven, all his own fighters, were pulled into his mouth, and TJ saw as the single serious wound his enemy had sustained healed over. Instead of allowing him to continue to try to heal himself, TJ sent compressed blades of wind toward Svan while also preparing another present from above. 

His preparations were immediately rewarded as the Heaven Devouring Serpent turned toward the blades of wind and used his swirling vortex to consume the attacks. Those seemed to heal the monstrosity even further, though he stopped maintaining the devouring tornado active at all times. Obviously it had a cost that was difficult to maintain when under assault by several enemies, who could, even if not meet him directly in open combat, provide a substantial challenge. 

Sven tilted his head in an obvious taunt, just in time for a thick blue bolt of lightning to strike him on top of his head. additional ripples of lightning course down his body and made him shutter as Sarah resummoned her Valkyrian armor. TJ swore he could hear her laughing as she smashed her ax into the serpent with renewed strength while ranged attacks from Seth and Farid both peppered the massive serpent. This time, slowed by TJ’s lightning, the blows clove deeper, and the ice spread further. Before she could raise and drop her ax once again, though, Sven’s body rippled, the scales fastening together with the sound of a magnetic clasp coming together. Again, the black smoke pulsed out from his body, though this time Sarah invaded the attack as Sven’s underlings pushed in. 

“We’ll take them,” Farid grunted as he summoned another two spears and pierced through two of the raving creatures that bore the skins of humans. With his assault, they turned their attention away from TJ once more, and the rest of North Tempe’s defenders rallied to fight against the enemies while TJ and Sarah focused on the leader of the New Republic. 

“Enough,” Sven growled as he threw himself at TJ. A part of TJ said he should fly into the sky, allow however many of his people to die as was necessary to ensure he could kite Sven down, but he felt a surge of pride preventing him from doing so. Instead of going the way of the coward, he pulled deeply on the essence of the Storm above and around him as he used Divine Manifestation to strengthen Divine Transformation. This gift from succeeding in his first Divine Tribulation made his body swell, or, rather, through the expenditure of his HP and MP, create an additional frame of lightning, clouds, and frost for nearly a foot in every direction. 

Sven didn’t care about the threat TJ presented, his fangs piercing through TJ’s defenses and into his neck as the crazed black serpent’s coils wrapped around TJ. He did the same thing back, his fangs, modified by Shredding Bite and then Storm Fang, tearing through his enemy’s defenses as he continued to draw on the resources from the Ziggurat. 

TJ had millions worth of resources to strengthen himself here, and he didn’t hesitate to do so. A small part of his mind kept a tab on his people, those fighters who were on the front line and bleeding for him. To them, he gave plenty of HP to ensure they remained alive, but beyond that, he provided nothing more. Instead, he focused on ripping his enemy to pieces. Sven didn’t do anything more than grind his fangs into TJ’s flesh and somehow drain TJ’s resources at an accelerated rate, but that was enough of a threat that TJ settled in to rely on his immense reserves to steadily wear this fool down. 

Fortunately, as Shredding Bite had evolved to become Storm Fang, TJ could attack not only with his Strength at around 2,500, but also with his Intelligence, Willpower, and Fixation, each of which he was sure dwarfed Sven’s. TJ’s fangs crackled with ice and lightning as his tongue concealed his greatest attack. The blade of wind, strengthened by Storm Fang, Divine Transformation, and Wind Scythe, would be a deadly weapon, but before TJ could release it in tandem with his bonus attack from Nascent Deity, Sven did the same. 

The tornado reappeared on TJ’s neck, draining his resources of their tens of thousands down nearly to zero in a single fell swoop. TJ’s body went limp and he nearly lost control of Divine Transformation, Divine Manifestation, and Storm Manipulation. 

“You go for the throat. You kill your prey, you don’t plan about it,” Sven rumbled as he released his jaws only long enough to resettle his bite around TJ’s neck and kill him. 

The realization that he’d taken too long made TJ’s heart drop as he realized there wasn’t anything he could do. His caution to make sure it was a killing blow had opened him up to taking one of his own. Of course, the man with the same Title as him, a Nascent Deity, had all of the perks that the Title provided. 

With a ululating cry, Sarah appeared, and, instead of using her ax, simply threw her arms around Sven’s neck and did a barrel roll, twisting his body into a painful corkscrew before his killing blow could land. Sven had largely recovered his resources from his amplified attack, but he hadn’t recovered the ability to do the same devastating blow that he’d just done. 

And TJ wasn’t finished yet. 

Sven threw himself in a circle and dislodged Sarah’s grip, but TJ’s jaws found the larger serpent’s neck once again. This time, he didn’t care about the smaller points of damage, instead refocusing everything on the tip of his tongue for a split second before he released the wind blade from his flickering tongue. 

In one second, half a dozen blades appeared directly beside Sven’s neck, too close for him to block. The first two were deflected by black magic-eating smoke. The third skated off his scales. The fourth cut through the defenses, the fifth bit through bone, and the sixth severed his spine. 

Sven’s Bloodline allowed him the possibility of recovery from this, but TJ would show no mercy to the murderer of his people. He twisted his neck and ripped through flesh before, with a final scream of rage, he tore Sven’s head from his neck and held it aloft in the sky. 

A primal desire consumed him, and before he thought about it, he swallowed the head and felt a pulse of experience go through him while the kill notification flashed in his eyes while Sven’s people went silent. 

Chapter 217 

The System gave him a series of notifications, but TJ didn’t pay them any mind. For now, he looked down at the surrounding soldiers of his own side and the enemy’s and thought about what to do with them. Warring emotions failed him, and as he looked down at the crumpled bodies of his subordinate on the ground, the hopes he held for mercy struggled to prevail against the need for vengeance, and to prove the danger that they posed to others. After all, he and his people needed to keep themselves safe, but he also didn’t want to be known as a brutal faction that would kill anything they came across. That was a really good way to make themselves Public Enemy number one. 

Watching the people below, TJ saw another half dozen twisted bodies from his own fighters. Those who had followed him into battle, even with his assistance from the Ziggurat, had died. With a thought, he deactivated his Divine Transformation and slowly drifted down from the air. 

“Sarah! Molly! Farid! Come here.” 

No sooner than TJ had spoken had the three people come forward. Molly remained under the effects of her Divine Transformation, though tears soaked her face and lightning lashed out uncontrollably with each step she took. TJ cursed his own idiocy. Of course she wasn’t ready to talk from a position of power; her father was just murdered in front of her. He thought of dismissing her but decided that would be worse and kept her close as he asked Farid, “How did so many people die? As far as I know, I was keeping them all topped up with plenty of HP to at least survive the attacks.” 

“I’m not too sure,” the man answered, turning to look at the people who had stood on the front line. Connor stepped forward, his Divine equipment smoking in the wake of the fight. 

“The smoke weekend the ritual,” the Zealot answered. “The healing came through, but sometimes it wasn’t enough. Sometimes, it was just a deadly blowout, right.” 

The man’s voice was quiet, contained, but boiling emotions were obvious behind every word he said. TJ nodded and was left wondering what he was going to do about all of these aggressors. What did the Geneva Convention say he should do in a situation like this? Obviously, countries didn’t exist anymore, but the idea of committing war crimes wasn’t a comforting one. 

“I don’t know what you’re thinking so hard about,” Sarah said. “A bunch of murderous motherfuckers came to our home, tried to make us slaves, and when we resisted, they lost. Now, their leader is gone, but they still came here with every intent to murder and enslave and probably rape and pillage while they were at it. Seems to me that they get the death sentence.” 

Molly growled wordlessly in agreement. 

“Wait a second,” Farid said, with a disbelieving tone, “I understand we kill people to defend ourselves, but this isn’t defending ourselves. This is outright murder! I can’t say that I am fine with that.” 

“No,” Sarah argued back, “this is an expected repercussion of trying to go on a genocide. From what we heard, the so-called New Republic is making itself the new fascist totalitarian government that swallows everything around it. Anybody who resists is turned into a slave or killed, and those conscripted are brainwashed into being what you see before you. and even if we weren’t talking about brainwashing, we have people behind us who saw what was happening and got out of there!” 

“And so we know how easy it is to fall into this,” Farid snapped back. “Obviously there are Skills at work here that limit the amount of culpability we can lay on somebody’s head when they’ve got a murderous megalomaniac standing at the head!” 

“These people heard the word apocalypse and decided that that meant they could be the second coming of Genghis Khan,” Sarah scoffed. “The guy who murdered, conquered, and raped so much that something like one in four people from East Asia have his blood in their veins. Instead of being reasonable, and working together with people, even before more than a week had passed, and Sarah’s Skills could be put to blame, they had assholes telling people who were lower level that they weren’t citizens. In case you forgot, we have dozens of people who are here because they saw what was happening there and said that they weren’t okay with it!” 

“Because they were in the right place at the right time,” Farid replied. “Because TJ was strong enough to come in and take them out! What kind of an option was available to them otherwise? They were getting pushed further and further into corners where they couldn’t do anything but comply. I will not be party to a wholesale slaughter of people who were forced and twisted into evil positions by a small amount of evil people!” 

“So what do we do about the people that we know were privy to this?” Sarah demanded. “What about Raya? She’s been leading these people and twirling her mustache in the background while all this was happening. What do we do about her? What about the asshole guards who stood on the lines and beat down the weak and the elderly? How do we determine when somebody started to become an asshole because the people around them were, and when do we determine that it wasn’t weakness of character but of level? Because if we leave them alone, obviously there’s just going to be another desperate person who steps into the same place and does the same thing. Even if they’re too afraid to come against us, there will be plenty of other people who can be victimized to buy it, and I say it is our duty as the victors, and as those who are strong enough to do something about it, to cut them down right now. The roots are poisoned; now rip them out.” 

As her voice raised, the hundreds of people nearby with stats high enough to hear her listened to one of TJ’s most trusted subordinates recommend their execution. They stopped holding still and were about to riot before TJ reactivated Divine Transformation, when suddenly a truly massive serpent reappeared in front of them, one that had decapitated their leader and eaten him. Their willingness to rebel obviously faded, he spoke. 

“This is an uncomfortable conversation to listen to,” TJ told them all. “The effects from it will ripple over you, and I don’t blame you for wanting to do something to protect yourselves. The second that somebody raises a weapon against one of my people, every one of your death warrants will have been signed. So, if you see somebody near you start to try to attack me or my people, think about maybe stopping them to make sure that you have the possibility to live.” 

With that, the stirring in the crowd died off, and a few of the enemy combatants turned to their neighbor and eyed them suspiciously as every person settled into an uneasy but unthreatening stance. 

“I don’t disagree that there are people who are absolutely guilty of crimes that should get them put to death in this world,” Farid conceded now that there was quiet once again. “But how many innocents are you willing to murder to make sure that those worthy of death get that punishment?” 

“I hate the idea of putting an innocent to death,” Sarah whispered, “but every one of these people is strong enough to make a tyrant out of themselves if they get to a remote enough location. I can guarantee that, for most people, being at level 35 right now is impressive. We’ve got these soldiers who’ve been forged by the slaughter of innocents into weapons that can destroy the lives of tens of thousands more. If I need to choose between the weight of several hundred innocents who have unwillingly taken part in the murder of other civilians and the weight of tens of thousands of lives on my shoulders because I let a few evil people go, I’ll choose to have the blood on my hands and the regret on my soul, instead of hearing stories of the devastation that some have wrecked when given freedom.” 

“Then imprison people, rehabilitate them, keep them from gaining experience for long enough that they can’t do that anymore. I’m sure that the innocent people here would prefer to be alive and slightly weaker than the people around them than killed when they were in the top ten percent of strength. Come on, there’s gotta be something more than just killing them all,” Farid reasoned. 

“And what about the people here that have been killed?” Molly demanded, her voice horse. “Yes, spend killed my dad, but he could only do that because of all these people here. All these people who, in case you forgot, ten minutes ago were laughing as they ripped people to pieces.” 

“But the ability to make a choice to commit a crime is one of the most important aspects to making a decision in the justice system that follows! There’s a reason why there are crimes whose punishments are deferred or adjusted when it can be proven that those so-called criminals were unable to mentally control themselves at the time of the crime. You know, an insanity plea? If that existed in the regular world, how much more important is it to be able to determine the content of someone’s character and their own ability to control themselves at the time of committing a crime?” 

“And nobody’s ever gotten away with literal murder because of an insanity plea?” Molly scoffed as her anger was partially consumed with subs that threatened to consume her voice. “Look at these bodies on the ground or the ashes that remain of my dad. Is it just to let these murderers walk free? How many other fathers, mothers, and children have been slaughtered because these people lack the strength of character to get out of it nasty situation when they could?” 

“What justice is it to murder these people?” Farid demanded. “Explain to me the justice in murdering soldiers who could not, very literally could not, say no to the orders they received. Yes, some of them were jerks, assholes, and bastards before they were influenced to do this. Do you honestly think that people who thought it sounded good to be bullies also thought that it sounded good to rip people apart with their bare hands and cover their faces in blood? Look at them! Look at the discussed on their faces! They’re afraid, afraid of you, and afraid of me. I understand why; we’re stronger than them; we could do whatever you want to them! Isn’t that what they were doing? The only difference is that we can make the choice and they could not.” 

Be quiet settled over the group as they turned and what was happening behind them. Yes, most of Sven’s soldiers of the New Republic were terrified. Of course, they’d been threatened with death and that frightened them, but most also booked like people coming out of a drunken stupor. Their faces were consumed with a fear of what they had done, of disbelief of their own actions. 

Finally, TJ spoke. “The people in control at the top of the New Republic will be put to death. Specifically, Raya and the other closest lieutenants and supporters of Sven. I lack and understanding of due process, and frankly, I don’t really care to go through that at this time I’ve seen glimpses on what Raya wanted to do, and despite everything else, those people at the top would have been privy to the most vile and horrible aspects of Sven’s plans and actions. However, the foot soldiers will be excused and pardoned, on the condition that they assist us with locating who the ring leaders were. Farid, I appreciate your call for mercy, and I’d like to accommodate that as much as I can. Unfortunately, the thought of the people who orchestrated this walking free is, at best, repugnant.” 

As TJ said it, a mostly positive reaction spread through the people nearby. A few of them, for whatever reason that TJ didn’t care enough to think about right now, seemed to dislike what he said, but then he raised his voice and used Storm Manipulation to ensure that the words carried to everybody nearby. 

“Do not run! The assumption if you do so is that you are guilty of crimes meriting execution. Comply, and you will be put to serve to protect others while also losing opportunities to hunt and gain experience for a short time to ensure that you cannot create a country similar to the New Republic. If you find this unacceptable, you can speak to me at a later time, but for now, any resistance will be met with debilitating, if not deadly force.” 

With that, the short-lived but bloody battle was over, and with it, TJ remembered his words to the System before he’d returned here after the Tutorial: 

“I’ll be your monster.” 

Maybe he’d regret showing this mercy. He certainly hoped not. 

Chapter 218 

Days passed after TJ had made that declaration, and though he still considered his decision to be a merciful one, executions were something that, at the very least, turned his stomach and ruined his day. He hadn’t wanted to actually talk to any of the people he had unilaterally, declared as guilty of offenses, meriting death, but he also felt it was necessary to do so. Most of the conversation went the way that he had, and he continuously subjected himself to begging, pleading, tier stricken faces, and heartbreaking suggestions for alternative courses of action. 

Getting them all into his custody had been a fraught day as well. Not even a full day passed before TJ led his people across Tempe Town Lake and toward the New Republic’s lake and base of operations. They found it in chaos, Spencer’s death obviously having been communicated into the rest of the residence. Those who had been controlled and commanded by the leaders, we’re no longer nearly so docile, and a bloody revolution or extermination was about to occur when the residents of North Tempe made their appearance. Among them came other refugees from the New Republic, and seeing others who were spared from their own fate, the survivors quickly turned against those few in power who were the root of their suffering. 

The subjugation of the few people who continue to stand against liberation was quick, though bloody. 

“It’s almost like bullies who’ve been able to do whatever they want,” Sarah said, “think that they can continue to use brute strength, and violence to do whatever they want.” 

“That’s what we’re doing,” TJ replied. “Histories written by the victors and all, but let’s not lie to ourselves. We want a war, and now the people who ruled the enemy team are going to be put to death.” 

With those words, the people accompanying him went quiet once again. 

Anybody who begged on behalf of their children, especially made TJ’s heartbreak. He didn’t want this, he never had, but he also remembered the faces of the innocent whose minds were twisted because of these people’s lust for power. A part of him wished he could be pitiless about it, that he could listen to these people protesting their own weakness before Sven’s power, that he would feel nothing when Sarah raised her ax not as a Valkyrie or a fighter, but as an executioner. 

Instead, his stomach twisted, and his eyes were wet with tears as, despite his Bloodline’s insistence of this being right and necessary, that was his own logic dictating that as well, he mourned this loss of life. How many millions had died since the apocalypse had begun? How many more would be slaughtered at his hands in the search of some sort of justice? 

Despite his own softness of heart, TJ never truly wavered in the decision. He hated watching the blood of these people be spilled, their last-minute protestations and resistances, drained away from them by being connected to his Ziggurat. Ritualistic transfer drained them of everything but their last few dozen HP, and they were cut down with impunity. 

Finally, the last execution to take place was that for Raya. For the first day or so, she had been painfully calm, self-aware, and collected. TJ had gone to speak with her, just as he had with one of the other prisoners sentenced to death, and her responses were so deluded that he started to wonder if an insanity plea could make sense. 

“The government isn’t going to stand for you doing this. It’s better if you just let us go. If you have to conduct a citizen’s arrest, I suppose you can, but only for it a while. I’m a horticulturist, so I don’t know what the timeline for that is, but it can’t be too long. “ 

“Raya,” TJ scoffed. “You’ve been enslaved and murdered people for months. No government came to save them then, and it’s not going to come save you now either.” 

“No, you don’t understand anything.” The obsessed, calculating researcher from before was gone, and left behind was a woman somehow so convinced of . . . TJ wasn’t exactly sure what she was so sure, but she genuinely thought that there wouldn’t be punishments for what she had done. Every conversation he attempted to have with her ended the same way, and eventually, he stopped trying. When the first of her closest associates were sentenced and killed in accordance with the policies he had promised, Raya became childish, crying, screaming, and pouting. Her protestations were grating, and every day, her mental state fell further. 

The day of her execution, the act hung over TJ’s head until it happened, and when she was taken to the top of the Ziggurat, her screams filled the air until there was nothing more. TJ’s stomach twisted further, but at last it was done. 

People tried to talk to him that day, but he couldn’t bring himself to care to engage with them. Too much of his mind was enveloped in thoughts about what he should do and be. That was sad. It didn’t take him long to come to a conclusion. 

“If I must,” TJ announced to North Tempe, “I’ll be a villain to everybody outside of the bounds of my rule. I’ve made it no secret that my goal in establishing this town and continue to gain levels was to protect my son. That hasn’t changed, but if you all are willing to, I am happy to protect you all as much as I protect my own.” 

For those who had been in his little settlement for a while, this was no surprise, but while many of those from the New Republic had seen him as little more than a new dictator taking the place of the old, many others didn’t care if that was the case and only wanted safety. With brief exposure to others who were protected by him, they quickly threw in with their lot, and being told that they only needed to follow him to be safe was enough to bring cheers. 

“I’m not going to give any more of a speech,” TJ continued, feeling quite lame. “Just don’t be idiots. Listen to what the people who follow me tell you to do; don’t break the laws of being a civilized person, and I think you should be able to live a pretty happy life here. If you can’t do that, be on your way. I’m not gonna kill any more people; if you want to commit atrocities, do it far enough away that I can’t hear about it and maybe you won’t have me knocking down your doors and taking your heads. Otherwise, welcome to North Tempe.” 

More scattered cheers filled the air as TJ stepped down. Lisa, Molly’s mother, stood nearby. she had largely stepped away from any of the actions taken under TJ’s command since her husband’s death, while Molly grew more eventful by the day. 

“TJ,” she said, her eyes tired and red. 

“What can I do for you? If I can, I will.” He gave his answer with as much earnestness as he could. 

“I’m tired. I’m not sure what else I can say. If you’ll keep me around, I’ll be grateful, but I’m done killing things. I’m done watching things die.” 

“That’s totally fine,” TJ waved off her concern. “I’m pretty sure that Tessie is entirely done killing, and many more will do so as well. Those who can stomach this world will be those who stand at the forefront. I can’t imagine being in your position, where my child is the one who can protect me, and I can’t do the same for them. If there’s anything I can do to help you, I will. I will tell you, you’ll probably be living a pretty boring life, and I’ll leave it up to you to find something to fill your days with.” 

She didn’t answer, her eyes giving the faint appearance of a smile before she nodded and walked away. There were plenty of things that TJ wanted to say to her, but he decided against it. After all, what could he say? “Sorry your husband got killed. Better luck next time?” 

He saw as Molly activated, Divine Transformation, and ran away at her mother’s approach, and simply side. maybe he could do something for them in the long run, but the best thing that he could think of to offer all of these people with stability. The best way he could do that was to evolve, and that was what he threw himself into. 

The weeks blurred past, the impending System event coming ever closer, and TJ still had no idea what the evolutionary requirements could be. He’d crossed one of them, and he assumed that reaching level 100 was another one, but he wouldn’t be able to gain that many levels that quickly. He threw himself into expanding his Divine Authority over storms, and was frustrated to see that, when it progressed another rank toward Silver tier, being two out of five steps, his progress did not count for an evolutionary requirement. Before too long, though, he received his second evolutionary requirement completed notification. 

You have gained a Bronze-tier Divine Authority. Divine Authority domain: the Heavens 

Silver-tier evolutionary requirements complete: 2/5 

This second Divine Authority was a strange, different one from storms. In fact, TJ had stumbled across it more than consciously gained it, and quickly understood that, while Storms as a Divine Authority, granted him an understanding and a ruler ship over storms, the broader domain of heavens was more of a further point of worship toward him. When it too, took a step toward evolving to Silver, he progressed to three out of five steps taken to evolve to Silver. All the while, he continued gaining levels however he could, and when he passed the baseline of 2,000 Fixation, he gained yet another step toward evolution. 

With only a week left until the System event, TJ managed to cross the fifth requirement: defeating a Boss at the top of Copper tier. Different from when he had evolved from untied to Copper, though, TJ’s mind was immediately pulled away at that time. Instead of a slow, intimate conversation with the System, he was asked a single question. 

“Would you like for protected observer Thiago Jorge Harris V to be brought into the external world?” 

Unlike before, TJ had enough confidence in his strengths at this point to begin to provide a world to his son that could keep him safe, and he gave an answer that made his voice and heart shake together. 

Yes. 

All that fear was washed away in one short second as TJ was taken to the evolutionary space. Knowing that his son waited for him on the other side, he quickly scrolled through the evolutionary options and, while ensuring he understood what he was choosing and made the best decisions he could, he barely read them as he flicked through menus, made decisions, and was thrust into the oblivion of evolution. 

Unlike the evolution to Copper, TJ knew that this would be faster, and when consciousness returned, he nearly wept, feeling the warmth of a little girl on his left and a little boy on his right. When he opened his eyes and looked at the little one on his right, those unshed tears spilled over. 

“Daddy sad. Why sad?” 

TJ didn’t have a response to Junior and simply took him tightly in his arms and allowed gentle sobs to shake him for just a few short seconds. As he gathered himself, he stood up, took Luz’s hand in his left and Junior’s in his right and said, “I couldn’t be happier, buddy. Let me show you around, ’cause this is your new home.”