Aside from watching the semifinals with Lisa, Bath was currently underground in the jerboa caverns. While the majority of the jerboas had unexpectedly left with Dean to form a new dragonleaf city, a few hundred were left. The one currently in charge of the remainder was a jerboa named Kessalo.

"They've given us quite a bit of information, Creator," Kessalo said reverently, prostrating himself at Bath's bare feet.

"Do tell," Bath said calmly. "I'm curious."

The jerboa spoke as he led Bath towards the interrogation cells. "In the information booklet you gave us, you said that humans have 100 kursi per billion. That means Earth should have between seven-hundred and fifty and eight hundred kursi. However, Ritus and Fungsoeng together only have around six hundred and thirty-one kursi. We're still at least one-hundred short."

Bath nodded as he drifted beside Kessalo. He knew all of this. "So, who are these kursi?"

"The United States has seven kursi under its control. Three of those are among the seven."

"And the others?" They now arrived at the interrogation room's door, though a better description for it would be a heavy drape.

"Borrowed from other countries," Kessalo explained while darting through the doorway. Inside, two-way glass and soundproofing enabled them to peer in on the kursi without their noticing.

Bath followed after Kessalo without replying. He already knew what the interrogation room looked like, already knew the state of the kursi held within. The smell, though...he hadn't bothered to smell the room remotely. It was the kind of smell he'd imagine a prey would make if it were kept alive for days. The scent was unfamiliar: Bath didn't play with his food.

"Which countries?" he said after a few moments of quiet.

"Besides the United States, the United Kingdom, China, and Brazil. The UK provided two, while China and Brazil provided one each."

"Do we have information on how many kursi each of those countries possess?"

Kessalo rubbed his little paws together nervously. "The UK kursi both said that there is one more back home. The others, though, we can't confirm...since there's only one from each country. They could be lying."

Bath snorted. "Let's find out. Which are the Chinese and Brazilian kursi?"

Kessalo pointed them out. "Those two."

"Watch," Bath stated confidently. Then he generated spikes throughout the two kursi, directing them to shoot out through various sensitive points. At the same time, he formed two avatars of himself in each kursi's holding cells.

"Hello," he said softly, eyes alight with a hungry gleam.

"Fuck!" the Brazilian kursi swore weakly. Fear flashed in his eyes. The Chinese kursi was silent, though his face contorted into an agonized grimace.

"In case you haven't noticed, I'm the Dragon. You've actually forced me to come personally..." he ran his tongue over pointed teeth. "I don't take pleasure in your pain. Answer my questions, and I'll leave you unharmed and healed. Of course, I'll have to insist you join COTD at the end of all this. But we'll talk about that later."

"Fuck you," the Brazilian swore once again.

Bath shook his head pitifully. Why did humans bother with impudence when they were so impotent? He deepened the spikes in the Brazilian kursi, twisting them in place. He addressed both of them, saying, "In case you doubt the extent of my capabilities, trust that I know when you're lying. Now: how many kursi exist in Brazil (China)?"

The Chinese kursi spat. Bath twisted the spikes in him, just as he did to the Brazilian kursi. Neither responded to his question, so Bath sighed and gave each a complex look.

"I'm not going to kill you, no matter what you do; your bodies are too valuable. I can sell you, however, as slaves. I hear that there are countless buyers on other planets. If you want to stay among humans, you need to answer my questions.

"I'll ask again: how many kursi?"

Bath didn't know, but both kursi were far more freaked out now than they had been the past few days. They hid this well, leading Bath to assume the scent of fear on their bodies had built up over time. The reason for their heightened fear was, in part, due to the fact that Bath was the head of a purported terrorist organization. However, the most terrifying thing of all, for both kursi, was the black hole of Bath's shell. They hadn't realized the color of his shell during the first battle because they'd been focusing on controlling the sapients on the ground.

When Bath appeared before them now, they had no doubt in their minds that they had come face to face with a soulless demon.

The Brazilian kursi began to shake on the table where he was strapped down. "Twenty. There are twenty more. Please don't hurt my family. Don't damn us all." His voice was weak, hopeless. Bath narrowed his eyes. He hadn't ever threatened to hurt his family members. And what was with the damnation plea? He'd already stated publicly that he had nothing to do with any afterlife nonsense.

The Chinese kursi chose instead to bite down on a false tooth. Bath clucked his tongue as he prevented the suicide capsule's contents from poisoning the man. Seeing that his last resort failed, the kursi cried out, "I submit! China has 69 more kursi."

Bath retracted the spikes in both men, pleased that he'd broken them in such short order.

"Why are there so many under the control of the government?" Bath thought it peculiar, considering the fact that the United States had so few. No doubt many kursi were pulled into Ritus or Fungsoeng before being found by the government. But how did the two organizations gain such power?

"China's population has rapidly grown over the past hundred years. Kursi born before 1900 largely moved to Taiwan and Hong Kong when the last dynasty fell."

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"The start of Fungsoeng," Bath noted out loud.

The Chinese kursi appeared slightly surprised. "Yes, precisely. After 1900, any kursi were picked up by the government."

Meanwhile, in the other cell, the Brazilian kursi responded to the same question of government kursi control.

"Several anti-imperial kursi who were alive back before the colonial period absolutely refused to join Ritus," he explained. "Instead of forming a new organization, they elected to join forces with the government to make a better Brazil."

Bath nodded. "Reasonable." While Bath didn't care much for humanity hundreds of years past, he hadn't been totally unaware of the New World genocide and understood how kursi living through the disaster would harbor enmity towards the West.

Then he asked both of them, "Why do you fight against the Church of the Dragon?"

Both of them seemed at a loss.

Bath sighed, then spoke. "Hasn't COTD eliminated all of humanity's woes? Why fight humanity's salvation? I have the power to end scarcity, to endlessly extend human lifespans, to destroy all ailments. Truly, I don't understand why so many fight COTD. The only explanations I can understand are that people are either extremely religious, or selfishly power-hungry." He looked at them expectantly.

The kursi didn't know how to respond. Sure, what Bath was saying was true, but...his shell was a writhing black mass. Didn't that signify depravity?

Seeing that neither kursi was going to answer him, Bath shook his head. "No matter. I'll send you and the others who came with you to my subordinate Lepochim. He's the superior of COTD's kursi. Listen well to his commands."

Bath's two avatars then disappeared, leaving no trace behind. Kessalo, who had watched the entire exchange, looked up at Bath like he had something to say.

Bath's face broke out into a grin. "Yes?"

The little jerboa bobbed up and down on his long legs. "That was awesome! They listened to you so quickly. They were so scared, heh. They never looked at me like that."

Bath's grin widened. "I'm terrifying because they know me as the Dragon. You're terrifying because you're a little white rodent. Did you know that humans find dolls creepy?"

Kessalo shook his head, ears swerving back and forth. "Nope. Dolls? What are those?"

Bath created a little wooden doll and suspended it in air. "This."

Kessalo's tail twitched. "Humans fear dolls?"

Bath snorted. "Humans fear things that do the opposite of what they expect. If they see a doll move on its own, they find that immeasurably creepy. If the doll goes as far as to torture and kill humans, even more so."

"Umm..." Kessalo trailed off, not really understanding where Bath was going with this line of reasoning.

"Humans expect rodents, particularly ones with big ears and eyes, to be innocent. The last thing they'd expect is for jerboas to assassinate and torture humans. Understand?" He gave Kessalo an expectant look.

"Oh, so humans think we're terrifying because we're not what they expect."

Bath nodded. "Take advantage of that. Play on that aspect of the human psyche to invoke more fear in them."

"Yes! Thank you for your wisdom, Creator."

Bath nodded. "Of course. Anyways, I expect you'll see to it that the prisoners be transferred to Lepochim. I'll be watching for any problems."

"Okay!"

With that, Bath disappeared in a puff of glittering dust.

---

Lisa was eager for the final match. They'd broke for an hour to allow spectators to eat dinner and enable the competitors to clean up. Especially that poor man who'd been drenched head to toe in purple rot juice...Lisa shuddered thinking about how disgusting that would be.

"Now, the final match is about to commence. Everyone, please take your seats."

The roar of the stadium subsided as all found their places and waited expectedly for the competitors to walk onto the field.

"Now, for the final match you've all been waiting for...Bear Skull Legion versus Edgier Than You!" The two teams walked on at the announcement. Then, Lisa cried out, "Begin!"

She had wondered what Bath had planned for this match, though refrained from asking him. She wanted it to be a surprise. But as the first few seconds of the match ticked by, she glanced over in Bath's direction, confusion apparent in her eyes.

The teams below stood stock still, everyone below prepared to react to whatever challenge came their way. However, ten seconds passed. Nothing.

Bear Skull Legion was the first to spring into action, breaking the fragile calm. Edgier Than You reacted as expected, the land-shaper sending out a barrage of spikes from below while the other teammates attacked head-on. Even the caretaker entered the fray, no doubt planning to test out flesh-shaping on the enemy.

The fighting went on for a solid five minutes, with many on both sides being rendered incapacitated only to be revived again and sent back into the fray. Neither side seemed significantly more powerful than the other, meaning that the winner would likely be decided by less than a hundred points. Even as the teams fought, they moved with a certain caution, prepared to deal with whatever might come their way.

Lisa kept one eye on Bath and the other on the fight. She focused both eyes on the brawl below when she saw Bath's stoic mouth turn up into a smile. 'He's going to do something...'

Down on the field, out of nowhere, appeared countless human, bear quasi-sapient, raptor quasi-sapient, and even two wolf quasi-sapients. However, they were all small, maybe a tenth of their normal size. And they all looked like children's toys: the humans represented as dolls, the quasi-sapients as patchwork plush animals.

Bath's voice rumbled out: "For each opponent you incapacitate, you generate one of these." He didn't explain anything else, content to leave them with that little tidbit of information.

Lisa's eyebrows drew together. The toys below all had sinister expressions, with many of the dolls holding butcher knives or giant epee-like syringes. The stuffed animals also set her on edge, their stitching coarse, their button eyes seeming to suck in light. All of the toys had wide, gap-toothed smiles.

They were small, and not as fast as the zombies from before, but they were everywhere, strewn on the ground like refuse. Lisa looked on as the two teams began to fight off the many toys, only to find that they couldn't be killed or blown apart. The best anybody could do was dismember them so that they couldn't move, but even then their disconnected arms would flail and catch nearby people with their weapons. Decapitated animals heads would snap at anybody who came close.

Edgier Than You's land-shaper formed a large dragonleaf platform and beckoned the rest of her team onto it as an escape from the treacherous ground below. The other team's land-shaper followed suit and created his own platform. While the two teams continued attacking, a new tactic was to throw opponents off the dragonleaf platforms to the dolls.

However, after a minute or so passed, the dolls managed to form a tower, climbing one on top of the other to reach the platforms. The land-shapers reacted by making platforms further up that everyone could jump to. Once again, the two teams appeared to evade the ever-increasing horde of dolls.

At the eight minute mark, the dolls suddenly stopped moving. Then, all of them started to grow until they were life-size. All of them collectively snapped their heads up, eyes glued to the foes fighting at least one-hundred feet above. The army of toys jumped on the dragonleaf platforms, following the path the competitors originally took to their current platform. Within thirty seconds, at least fifty dolls were leaping towards the main fighting platform.

Then, they started to throw the team members off the edge of the platform to the waiting toys below.

Lisa, along with the rest of the audience, watched in abject horror as the dolls systematically destroyed each of the competitors, cutting limbs from bodies and goring their torsos. The syringes were particularly terrible, with injection spots swelling up into enormous necrotic blisters that ruptured into geysers of puss. And the raptor stuffed animals were fairly awful, pulling teeth from screaming competitors' mouths...

Lisa sighed in relief when the ten minutes elapsed. She shot Bath a questioning look. 'Wasn't that a bit much?' she thought to herself. 'There are kids in the audience.' His face shone as calm as ever, looking down over the Arena. With a wave of his hand, the dolls disappeared and the competitors were restored to perfect health.

"Skull Bear Tribe: 1290 points. Edgier Than You: 1210 points. The winner is Skull Bear Tribe. Congratulations to all competitors for a fine evening." He smiled, showing teeth. "All are dismissed."