Bjorn was temporarily at a loss for words. The last thing he had expected when first catching sight of those awful teeth that seemed to stretch for miles, the air filled with discordant cackles as Enz lost his head… was unexpected employment opportunities.

The merc squinched his one good eye shut before blinking it wide open with awful searing pain.

“Fuck, that hurts!”

“Well, yeah. We just got finished trying to kill each other. A couple nicks and bruises, fourth degree burns and hairline fractures all over your neck and skull are bound to happen. But that scene’s over and done with. Now it’s time for the next chapter of our lives!”

Bjorn gazed at a politely smiling Eric for long moments. “You’re serious,” he said.

Eric solemnly nodded. “As the grave. So, what do you say?”

The man flashed an agonized smile, clearly suffering from his injuries despite the drugs now flooding his system. “You do know we took a job, right? If we break it our word to our employer, even if we didn’t have to sign a single damn paper…”

“It will have absolutely no adverse consequences for you. First of all, because tonight’s a very special night with ancient talismans in play that will pretty much make everything we do tonight retroactive for all time, and second of all, because the System itself Censored the goblins something fierce for being twisted little fucks. And that, dear Bjorn, means you can exit stage left of every foul deal they ever made that might have strung you or your family up in really bad straights. And do it without any penalty at all.”

Bjorn glared at Eric as if he thought the smiling young man was taunting him right before making the kill. Then his remaining eye twitched like a man rapidly reading well-buried interface messages, his horribly burned and scarred face lighting up with the first glimmers of what might actually be hope in his eye.

“Well, fuck it. You’re actually on the up-and-up! Alright. Color me intrigued. What’s the job?”

Eric rubbed his hands together. “Oh, I think you’re going to love this! How’d you like a long term low stress position guarding choice territories along with access to all of Blue Corp’s high end features and resorts? And at very competitive rates! It will be like getting new world hazard pay while enjoying all the amenities of a fully developed sector!”

Eric flashed the smile of a salesman going for the hard-sell. “Best of all, upon taking a single oath, you and your companions will be able to enjoy all the amenities and opportunities to be found in what will soon be the wealthiest and largest collection of Delving rifts to be found anywhere here on Earth! Delves absolutely chock full of all the sweet, sweet potency and potential for epiphanies, level-ups, and breakthroughs that you could hope to find on any newly emerging world!

“Even if it’s still a work in progress, at present, Ashland will be an absolute wonder of an adventurer’s playground very, very soon. Just as soon as we get the infrastructure and construction of our first delving town with a nice Italian villa and renaissance architectural theme all wrapped up! The high rises will, of course, be behind the touristy shopping mecca closest to the first delving rift, with a few green family-friendly parks between them to keep it scenic and classy, like the best areas of Chicago.”

Bjorn, wheezing for air, gazed at Eric for long moments. “You’re serious. You’re actually serious.”

Eric nodded solemnly. “A lot of exciting things have been happening of late, as you can no doubt tell. With added uncertainty comes added opportunity, but also the need for quality security during these perilous times. And I think you guys might really appreciate all the perks and benefits that come along with working for Blue.”

Bjorn gazed at Eric for long slow moments, looking as surprised as Eric when he actually nodded. “Alright. I… by fuck, you’re right! I can break the kill contract without any bad karma at all.” He swallowed, looking oddly vulnerable. “Alright, Eric Silver. If Blue’s hiring and somehow you’re acting as their point man? Well, I’ve heard only good things about working for Blue. I assume this includes my men?”

Eric nodded enthusiastically. “Sure! Reese and Gil are welcome to sign up too. But I think our odds are even better for a smooth transition and genuine interest if you’re already signed up.”

Eric then smiled at the pair of mercenaries that were presently crumpled on the ground. “Don’t worry, they’re both still among the living! My guess is that their suits are doing a great job of keeping them stable, but I’m betting you know that already. Now, I believe my good friend Caliban just sent you an information packet? Give it a read and sign when you’re ready! Just make sure it’s within the next five minutes, because I got places to be and people to kill, you know?”

Bjorn took a shuddering breath, remaining eye flicking back in forth as if panicked that Eric would grow tired of waiting and just end him out of boredom. Yet surprisingly enough, Eric did no such thing.

“Signed and sealed,” Bjorn said with a breathless hitch in his voice that was only half thanks to severely damaged lungs.

“Awesome. I think you made a great investment in your future right there. So, why do you look so shocked?”

The man just stared at Eric for long moments as fires blazed in the distance before answering. “I’ve been in this game for decades. A hell of a lot longer than you’ve been alive. And you managed to get the drop on me, find the flaw in my Perception technique that left me so damned overconfident before disarming me of the one weapon that would have so easily...”

Bjorn tried to close his eye again and could only bear it for a moment. “And my life is now utterly in your hands. You’re closer to Bronze 40 in stats, just from what I’ve seen. Not a White tier Contender at all. Even if you lack all the Bronze tier perks that would make you a true monster.” He flashed a bleak smile. “Of course, without our spirit-linked blasters, which you were smart enough to tear from our hands before you took us all down, you don’t have to worry about our specialized perks at all. And even if Black Diamond Delves will still end you quicker than spit, if you’re not very very careful with an equally elite team daring only the shallowest delves… everywhere else in this primitive world is basically your oyster.” The mercenary chuckled painfully. “No wonder so many factions are desperate for your head. If you grew this powerful this fast…”

Eric winked. “I know, right? If I play my cards right, maybe one day I’ll hit Silver, and take control of a dozen worlds.” His smile grew. “Or maybe I’ll ascend all the way to Gold.”

“An imperial rank,” Bjorn chortled painfully. “Considering how well you fought today… I might, just might, give you a four in ten shot of hitting halfstep Silver status at least. But Gold? Come on, kid. The emperor and his dark consort are the only two who’ve ever achieved that rank in the last thousand years.”

Eric froze at those words, suddenly all ears. “Wait, seriously? How does that even work?” Yet even as he said the words he had a vague impression of his mother, riding the crest of a glorious ascension who was determined to fly off to unimaginable adventures all through the multiverse after putting her final affairs in order. Not just to capitalize on her magnificent ascent, but because even she, even after consuming a dozen worlds, knew better than to stay any longer than the bare minimum needed to orient herself and go.

“Alright, who exactly is the emperor’s consort?” Eric asked.

This earned a snort. “The mistress of death herself. Just one of the reasons why no newly forged Gold would dare wear out their welcome. Not that any have, nor are there any records of any Golds emerging in the centuries since their rule… but the rumors are out there. Somehow, everyone knows that should one actually ascend to such glorious heights, they will be feted by the imperial clan itself, be given grand prizes and accolades for their clan… and that they had best leave this sector just as soon as their affairs are in order.”

But Eric was just gazing at the man in stupefaction. “Wait! Wait, wait, wait! Are you saying that Evelyn Death is the Emperor’s wife? The mother of his children?”

The mercenary frowned. “Be thankful you’re on a newly ascending world and no one of significance cares about the blatherings of a child. Were it otherwise…”

But Eric had already turned away, his cheeks blazing. “Fuck.”

This earned a snort. “Don’t you dare look flustered after kicking our asses, kid. You’ll make us all look bad.”

Eric forced a very human smile. “Fair. Alright, let’s get you all someplace secure, where you can recuperate without any random wandering asshole making mincemeat out of all of you.”

Bjorn shuddered. “At any other time…”

“Sure. But that time sure as fuck isn’t now.”

This earned a tired nod. “Alright. But my men…” His eyes widened to see two of his men on a stretcher of bone, orc skin, and sinew, being pulled along by none other than a very intact and now armorless Enz who now looked far too fucking young with his sandy hair, smooth cheeks and guileless purple eyes with his power armor off, for all that he was a Bronze classer himself.

The man gave Bjorn an awkward grin. “Reese and Gil are secure, sir.”

Bjorn just stared… before giving a slow shake of his head as Eric expertly and with odd care picked him up and placed him on the suddenly expanding stretcher. “Do I even want to… no. You know what? I don’t think I do.” At that point Bjorn closed his eyes and went still, clearly doing his part to let his body heal.

Eric took a deep breath, sending a quick message to his rather alarmed friend.

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

“Did you rescue the children trapped in those houses that I pinged, Morlekai?”

“Of course. Alice will enjoy playing the doting aunty until we can find surviving kin and more permanent homes for them. But Eric, we need to talk. You just bit off that man’s… I saw you eat him alive!”

“I think it’s a bit more complicated than that, seeing as he’s walking right next to me, trying to find the courage to talk to me.”

“Complicated!? Eric, I was a master of blood and Vampiric magic long before there was any System! My class is now an enhanced version of my nature, System granted thanks to your Tier-2 Pod and doing some godlike force a massive favor… yet not even I would dream of biting through high tech steel like it was nothing! And you didn’t just drain that poor fool of blood… you devoured him. Not just his physical being, but the imprint of his psyche upon reality itself! I felt myself forgetting that he had even existed, until he popped back a minute later!”

Eric winced. His early devil-may-care euphoria of righteous battle, vindication, and revenge had quickly turned to shame when he was forced to judge a terrified man’s soul with the spirit of his ex wife begging for clemency. Forced to witness in her pleading gaze the story of a struggling hero who had saved her and her entire clan from orc slavers, desperately playing the idealist, the hero, and actually surviving to ascend. He had lived as righteous a life as any could upon that broken world, before desperation had him progressing along unexpected paths that would at least bring hard credits to an impoverished people… only to find himself hoodwinked into a century-long Terran contract, what should have been a one-off run for a complete newblood like him.

“Please!” The memory of that desperate spirit wept and begged, crying tears of blood. A spirit that just happened to be an elf, who had left many children behind in her husbands care after falling in battle in the war between orcs and elves, countless worlds away. A valiant champion who had blessed her husband with a final gift before her passing.

A second chance. Life from death. So that their children would not become orphans, with only elderly grandparents to care for them. Only with a creature as strong and fate warping as a child of the Winter Queen, a Contender who had, for a time, danced as a Golden Phoenix upon the ethereal currents between stars, there had been no mercy or reprieve that she could claw from random chance. Only make her case, a desperate final plea, to the lastborn son of her ultimate queen.

So what the hell was Eric supposed to do?

Certainly he wasn’t going to snap the begging former hero and father in half twice, when the hot blood of vindication had been replaced with the painful knowledge that, despite Bjorn’s smiling threats, Enz would have purposely skewed all his shots and given the game away so that no Sylvan prince’s blood would be on his, or the memory of his wife’s, hands.

Like it or not, Eric had devoured a good man. Utterly.

Before being given a second chance to make a first non lethal impression… so he had taken it.

And he hadn’t even been forced to give back the cultivation level he had earned, since his victory had already happened. Even if Eve did give him the mental impression of thinking him a softy, it had been said with a certain amount of fondness, and Eric had definitely sensed an imperial regalia about her spirit he had never picked up before. Or perhaps, never wanted to pick up before. So he was going to try very hard to forget that he had ever done the deed with the Emperor’s wife, and instead focus on much more healthy things. Like world domination without slaughtering well-meaning fools who just needed a second chance.

Eric cleared his throat, catching a stunned-looking Enz’s eye. “So. That just happened.”

Enz stopped cold, before slowly lowering himself to his knees and kowtowing before Eric.

He didn’t say anything, merely trembled, choking back silent tears.

Eric sighed, turning away. “Come on. Let’s get your friends to the arena, get you guys some solid employment opportunities, and we’ll never speak of this again.”

The clearly overwhelmed young Bronze just banged his head thrice upon the ground before standing upright once more, tears and blood both streaking down his tormented features. Eric sighed and made his way back to the arena as quick as he could as the man’s desperate plea to his long dead wife was like a spear in Eric’s heart, one that his exquisite Perception wouldn’t allow him to ignore. And so what if he stopped on a dime when Enz dared to whisper his name, as if just trying to find the courage to speak, when Eric was being tortured by every heartfelt, humanizing confession he overheard, and the growing knowledge that, as much as he might play the hero in his own mind’s eye, to countless others he was a terrifying monster to be avoided or placated at all costs.

“Prince Silver…”

“Please, for fuck’s sake, Enz. Just call me Eric.”

The man froze, and how odd it was that his features didn’t look much older than Eric’s own. He gave a quick nod, still radiating an odd mix of shame, reverence, and fear.

“Yes, Eric.” Enz swallowed, before taking a deep breath and forcing himself to say the words. “I know that this is your world, that we are the unfortunate villains in your tale, and that we are beyond fortunate to have earned even the tiniest amount of your clemency.”

“True. So what’s your point?”

The man flinched, but spoke on. “I… I heard children back when we had ported in. I have the growing fear that they are not in the care of locals merely hiding from our presence.” The man swallowed. “My… forgive me, my Hero’s sense—”

“Wait, you have a Hero’s sense? You’re that much of a fucking protagonist? Why the hell didn’t you tell me before I bit your head off?”

Enz opened his mouth, before flashing a wry smirk. “Because you got the drop on me and you’re literally twice as fast as I am?”

“Fair point. So, you were saying?”

“The children, Eric. I know our lives are in your hands, but there are at least three children who won’t survive much longer in this cold.”

“Yes. I know. Don’t worry about it. My friend already took care of it.”

This earned a blink. “But my sensors didn’t pick up any…”

“He’s a vampire in blood crow form.”

Enz’s eyes filled with horror. “Prince Silver!”

“No, idiot. He didn’t eat them. Morlekai’s good people. Besides, his sister’s pregnant. I’ll bet her nurturing instincts are going crazy right now, and now she’ll have three little ones to dote on until relatives or foster parents can be found.”

Enz’s eyes widened with surprise, before he closed them in shame.

“Don’t trip, Enz. We’re walking at a fast clip.”

“And now I’m the one who feels like a monster, having taken credits and coin to hunt a true hero of his people.”

Eric shrugged. “Don’t feel too bad. I’m about as bloody as you can get and still be on the hero spectrum before you kick me right off and onto the power-mad villain end of the scale.” He flashed a bleak smile. “Honestly, dude, you throw in some self-righteous tendencies and a soft spot for cute damsels in distress, and I’m pretty much there already.”

Enz blinked at this, before giving Eric a sad smile. “And now I think it is you who is being unfair to yourse—”

“Yours isn’t the first head I bit off tonight, Enz. I devoured two brother Contenders right before I met up with your squad. I consumed their potency and power along with their heads, embracing shockingly twisted paths of ascension in ways that I’m sure would be considered absolute perversion at any other place and time. And I didn’t give a fuck, how much they pled and begged.”

Enz froze. Swallowed the sudden nervous lump in his throat. “I see.” He then blanched, giving a terrified curse when a stumbling man with milky-white eyes and squirming tendrils growing on his neck lurched out of a nearby ally and abruptly collapsed at their feet, mouth opening wide to whisper twisted words of challenge and threat that send shivers down Eric’s spine before collapsing in a melting pile of slimy tendrils that squirmed toward their group.

“Ignes Pilum!” Eric shouted, shooting out a bar of white-hot flame, quickly turning the puppet to ash.

“By the seven sacred eyes!” Enz shouted in horror.

Eric exchanged looks with a horrified Enz. “And that’s why I took out those two opposing Contenders. Who do you think is responsible for the pile of flaming shit Freetown’s become? Because seriously, Enz. Why would I fuck up my own home base? Blue Quarter, I mean. I get a 20% cut of the profit generated from all the territories I throw Blue Corp’s way, without having to sweat a single trade dispute, farmer’s quarrel, mining incident, or tax form. And their only real stricture was to not wipe out Freetown, no matter how annoying the goblins are. Why the hell would I shit on a set-up that sweet? Now that, Enz, would be absolute madness.”

“Wait! A fellow Terran was responsible for this?”

Eric nodded. “His name was Jeffrey. He almost made a puppet of me too. Then I infected his blood, popped out of his belly, and ate him alive right before his driver crashed into dinosaur central.”

Enz looked genuinely horrified. “Then I’d say your kills were righteous in the extreme. But how is his puppet still alive?”

Eric grit his teeth. “Because that one was controlled by Jeffrey’s mentor, the one who I’m betting taught him some twisted fucking secrets before infecting his mind. I think he was the one controlling that particular puppet.”

Enz furrowed his brow, before his eyes widened with renewed horror. “So the madman who taught those Contenders to make fresh abominations is still around?”

Eric nodded. “And he’s not a man. He’s a Squid-brain.”

Enz froze, the companions on the stretcher moaning softly with the jostling. “Eric! Do you have any idea of the threat, the peril those things represent? They shouldn’t even be allowed on a newly ascending world! Even I know the codicils that well!”

Eric flashed a bitter smile. “Sure. But since when have my enemies ever played fair? But that’s not the fun part.”

“What’s the fun part?”

Eric glared at the flash-fried pile of calamari. “Squid-brain just told me I have one hour to leave Freetown or he’s coming for me personally, strictures be damned.”

Enz’s gaze turned strangely pitying. “Eric… I won’t even say it, but I know. I loved and cherished an elven Paladin for over a decade. I knew her strengths… and her weaknesses.”

Eric flashed a bleak smile. “No natural Psionic Resistance, no matter how high our stats. And the damage we suffer from Psionic blasts can’t be regenerated in seconds.”

Enz frowned. “Eric, no one can regenerate injuries in…” He blanched when Eric sliced off the tip of his finger, cursing softly under his breath when it regrew in just a handful of seconds.

“Speak for yourself. But yeah. I know. Me taking on Squid-brain is practically a death sentence.” Of course he had just been cheating a bit. He wasn’t in combat and he had only clipped off a tiny bit of flesh and skin at the very tip of his finger. But it seemed like even healing that much without a spell was an extraordinary feat for anyone not forged on an ascending planet.

Enz swallowed, gazing at Eric for long moments. “If only I had had that skill. Maybe I could have…” He gave a sad shake of his head. “So, what are you going to do?”

Eric’s cocky smile faded, dismayed by how haunted his eyes looked, peering back at him from Enz’s oddly sympathetic expression.

“First we’re going to meet up with my associate in the colosseum. He’ll get you all squared away. After that? Well, I guess we’ll see.”