It started off only as a throb at his left arm, but he already knew what was going to happen. The further they walked, the greater the throbbing became. As the throbbing reached its peak, his draconic arm glowed with a black light as it converged into a straight line, like a torchlight.

  “A Moros Domain is nearby.” Ryder’s sight followed the direction the light and saw it was pointing at somewhere beyond the forest next to the road they were travelling on.

  Green narrowed his eyes and trotted next to his rider with caution. The other two dragons, on the other hand, casually strolled behind Ryder as they had been doing for the past two hours.

  “I’m not in the mood for it, Ryder. It’s been days since we had a proper feast.” Purple callously destroyed all the greenery he was walking through, like bushes and branches, as he complained.

  “Like it or not, the Goddess brought me here to destroy these Domains. It’s nice when we receive rewards for clearing them, but we shouldn’t expect it. More importantly, there won’t be anything left for the Terror of the East to terrorize if we don’t save the world.”

  “Bah! The world’s not going to be destroyed for at least a couple hundred more years. The Goddess recruits people like you because you’re a gullible idiot.”

  The human glanced back. “If you’re unhappy with our arrangement, you can always end our Pact and return to your seal. I’ve already given you a lot of freedom to do what you want, but this is non-negotiable.”

  Purple gritted his teeth and growled in a low frequency.

  “Haven’t you realized Domains always appear near a big settlement or city? You’ll likely get one if the villagers are still alive,” Brown claimed nonchalantly.

  The purple dragon’s pupils unconsciously shifted to the upper-right corner before returning to the center. “Hmph.”

  Green let out a mocking snort.

  Purple narrowed his eyes and aimed his pointy tail at the green dragon’s butt.

Clang!

  Ryder crouched, manifested his draconic eyes, and saw a black figure fighting against a bulky golem. The purple dragon had no choice but to push aside his retribution and squatted next to his rider.

  “Destroy. Destroy. Destroy. Destroy…” The golem with giant hammers for arms repeated. It was moving pretty slowly, so it was easy for the figure to dodge its attacks. It was an odd sight to the dragon rider because the figure had plenty of chances to strike the golem’s core and end the fight right away, but they never did.

  When the gang inched closer, they could see black/red miasma covering the golem’s body, though it was being partially quelled by the light in the figure’s hand. The person fighting against it appeared to be a black woman from Earth in a set of dark combat apparel.

  Ryder wasn’t sure if he should reveal himself. However, after Green urged him to, he jumped out and shouted, “Hey! Hi! I’m here to help!”

  The golem immediately turned its attention to the dragon rider and charged toward him. He raised his draconic arm and summoned an earth wall to block the golem, but it wasn’t very effective. It took only one swing of its hammer hands to crush the wall and continue its assault.

  When he erected a few more walls, the black woman took advantage of the opening and leaped to the golem’s back. She then placed her hand on the golem’s core, which was located on its head, and increased the intensity of the light on her palm. It was obvious from her expression that the miasma was searing her, but she didn’t let go while the golem continued to smash the walls. A few seconds later, it was as if a flashbang went off before all the miasma around the golem vaporized.

  Right as the dragon rider was about to congratulate her, the woman dismounted the golem and attacked him with spiked brass knuckles.

  Green used his vines to pull Ryder back while Brown shot a rock pillar up from the ground to hit the woman’s abdomen. The woman crushed the pillar into chunks with a single swing of her fist before jumping backward. She then opened a portal with a teleportation stone that closed itself after she threw the golem and herself into it.

  “...What the hell was that?” Ryder stood up and raised his eyebrows.

  Green shrugged before hopping forward with a distressed growl. When the rider turned to see what was going on, Purple retracted his tail with a smug grin while Green snarled at him.

  The human sighed. “Why are you acting like a kid, Purple? You’re thousands of years old.”

  “Exactly.” The purple dragon winked with a devilish grin and sauntered. “Let’s go!”

  Ryder sighed. He raised his arm and patted Green’s head to console him. The dragon whimpered a little before the gang continued with their journey.

  Less than an hour later, they arrived at a wide empty road that leads to a large village covered in miasma. Large chunks of the wooden walls and gate were destroyed, allowing a clear inside view of the village for the gang. There were golems of different sizes roaming around the buildings, most of which remained relatively intact. At the far center of the village was the core of the Moros Domain, a sphere floating atop of the biggest building in the settlement. It was guarded by a hulking golem covered in miasma.

  Ryder approached the village’s entrance and kneeled in front of the Domain’s border. The miasma was trying to spread out like a gooey wave, but something surrounding the perimeter of the settlement was blocking its way. Unfortunately, the barrier had started to show cracks at points where there was a thick mound of miasma.

  “Holy magic. Hmph.” Purple commented.

  “Seems like the caster isn’t strong enough to take down the core by themselves. Still, it’s impressive that the barrier is still holding up for a village this large.” The human stood up and looked around.

  Green abruptly turned back and constricted its pupils as he growled.

  “What’s wrong?” The rider turned back as well and noticed someone was hiding in a bush with his thermal mode draconic eyes. “Hello? Who’s there?”

  The bush rustled, but no one replied him.

  Purple rolled his eyes and lifted his finger, causing a gust of wind to appear underneath the person and shot them out of the bush. The person face-planted on the ground before panickedly sitting up. The individual appeared to be a green-skinned teenager with four arms and four eyes, though the lower set of eyes were tightly shut. Their sand-colored robe trembled as they tried to push themself backward so as to escape from the menacing dragon.

  “There’s no need for you to be afraid. We won’t hurt you.” Ryder performed the universal peace gesture and glared at Purple. Then, he slowly strolled toward the teenager with a comforting smile and spoke in a gentle voice. “We’re here to get rid of the miasma. Are you someone from this village?”

  The teenager tensed up even further as their lower set of eyes struggled to open. Their lungs heaved heavily as their glittering emerald eyes stared at the dragon rider for a few seconds. Once those eyes closed off again, they gradually calmed down and nodded before standing up.

  “Where are the rest of the villagers? Can you tell me what happened here?” The human approached the teenager further, whose breath became less arduous as time passed.

  The teenager replied with a trembling masculine voice. “T-the chiefs can tell you everything. Follow me.”

  Ryder nodded before the gang followed the teenager through the dense forest. They walked for about five minutes before arriving at a clearing next to a lake. There were lots of temporary shelters, all of which were built with crudely chopped wood. Most villagers were either trying to patch up the holes in the walls and roof or building more shelters with freshly-chopped woods. The ones who weren’t doing that were children and people preparing lunch.

  “Stay here, I’ll call the chiefs.” The teenager then sprinted toward the largest and most complete looking shelter.

  While they were waiting, Green decided to help out some of the villagers on his own volition. Ryder joined in and assured the villagers that his partner wasn't going to eat them. Brown rested at the sideline while Purple took a nap in the middle of the road, forcing the villagers to walk around him carefully.

  “You must be the Dragon Rider! We are truly blessed to have your presence here.” A middle-aged man spoke as he approached the human with a middle-aged woman. Both of them had the same unique physical characteristics as the teenager, though their robes were a lot more eye-catching and high-quality than the villagers.

  Ryder turned around, deactivated his plant magic, and wiped the sweat on his forehead away. “Oh, hello. You must be the chief.”

  “Chiefs.” The middle-aged woman corrected. “My name is Aviana.” She then pointed at the man. “This is Bezalel, the founder of our village and the inventor of the Nekefesh golems.”

  “Aviana’s more of a chief than I am. She’s the one actually taking care of the village while I’m just your local tinkerer.” Bezalel chuckled.

  “Nice to meet you, Aviana, Bezalel. My name is Ryder. I can’t say I heard of that kind of golem before.” Ryder shook their hands.

  “These golems rarely travel out of the village, so it’s only natural you never heard of them,” Aviana explained.

  “It’s quite embarrassing to say, but my creations didn’t pass the Oriza Trade Association’s inspection. That’s why they never made it into the market or anywhere else for that matter.” Bezalel smiled awkwardly.

  “However, we can assure you that these golems worked as intended without the influence of the miasma.” She shot a quick glare at her partner before looking back at Ryder. “Sarf told us that you’re here to get rid of the miasma. Is that true?”

  “Of course it’s true, Aviana. He’s the Dragon Rider, for goodness sake.”

  “Am I doing the talking right now or are you?” She glared at her partner again.

  The craftsman looked away and remained silent.

  “Yes, we’re here to get rid of the miasma. Can you tell me more about your village and golems first? As well as how and when the miasma appeared.” Ryder ignored their quarrels and took out his notebook.

  “The land that our village currently sits on used to be an abandoned graveyard. When Bezalel was working on his golems, he stumbled upon this place and made a laboratory here.”

  “It’s quiet here, you see. No one will get hurt if I fail, too.” Bezalel smirked.

  “He eventually succeeded in creating his first golem, which only required a little more than the ground where he created them.”

  “Wait, you’re saying the golems don't have a mana crystal core?” The human raised his eyebrows.

  Purple narrowed his eyes.

  “That’s right, Dragon Rider. It has always been my dream to make golems an affordable product, since crafting their cores from mana crystals is an expensive and time-consuming process. If golems can take care of all physical labors, there’s no doubt poverty and hunger will be eliminated. Furthermore, people will be free to do what their hearts truly desire and society will have more time to advance science, magic, and art.”

  “That’s quite the noble goal. Why didn’t your golems pass the Association’s inspection, then?”

  Bezalel scoffed, “Because they’re so stuck up in their own asses that they refuse to believe it’s possible to create golems without the use of mana crystals. If you ask me, they merely want to make sure all golem craftsmen will buy their expensive crystals so they can make a profit before us.”

  “I see.”

  “As Bezalel continued to build more golems, he used them to shape the graveyard into a more comfortable living space. As time went on, outcasts, vagrants, and misfits discovered the place and wondered if they could stay. Bezalel agreed because he pitied them, but he had no clue how to run a village. I was his acquaintance when we were in an academy, and since I had failed to run for chief in another village, I decided to give this place a shot.”

  “Aviana is incredible, let me tell you that. She managed to turn a dinky settlement into a full-fledged village in a decade! Not only that, our village has become quite the popular tourism site! Isn’t she incredible?” The middle-aged man’s eyes were sparkling with admiration.

  Aviana suppressed her grin and flattered as well, “It’s also thanks to Bezalel’s continuous improvement of his golems that our village could prosper the way it did. In a few more months, he’ll be completing his first proper humanoid golem that can perform more complex tasks.”

  Purple groaned in annoyance, to which Ryder responded by asking, “So, when did the miasma appear?”

“It suddenly appeared in the middle of the village a few days ago after a black figure showed up,” the chief answered.

  “A black figure?” Ryder and Green raised their eyebrow muscles. “Can you describe what this black figure looks like?”

  “According to the witnesses, they-”

  “It’s a woman with black skin!” Bezalel cut his partner off as she glanced at him in confusion. “I saw it with my own eyes. She was marching down the street with the golems before the miasma started appearing.”

  “I… see.” The human scribbled.

  “The miasma spread fast, and when it comes in contact with the golems, they start to go crazy and destroy everything around them.” The craftsman’s expression turned dark.

  “Fortunately, the miasma didn’t infect the villagers, unlike the rumors that suggest it would, and all the villagers made it out in time,” Aviana added.

  “None of the villagers were infected? That’s… surprising. What about the barrier keeping the miasma from spilling out of the village? Who cast it?” When Ryder raised his head to look at the chiefs, both of them exchanged a panicked glance.

  “We… have no clue. We were too busy trying to evacuate the village and lead them here.”

  “It’s likely a barrier cast by someone who made the graveyard. After all, it’s common knowledge that graveyards can give birth to unholy beings. I- We’re lucky that never happened as the village was built and that the barrier existed. I’m certain that was what happened.” Bezalel squeezed a reassuring smile.

  “Uh-huh. Right.” The dragon rider closed his notebook and put it into his pouch. “I’ll do my best not to damage any of the golems while we destroy the core-”

  “No, no, no.” The craftsman lowered his voice. “It’s perfectly fine if you need to destroy the golems when you get rid of the miasma. The golems are getting old, and it’s time to replace them with new ones, so don’t worry about it. Some of the villagers will get upset if they heard this, which is why I’m whispering right now. It’s always heartbreaking to see something that has been in your life for so long go away, but I think this miasma may be a blessing in disguise now that you’re here.”

  “...Okay. We’ll try to wrap this up by the end of the day-”

  “We expect a feast once we’re done.” Purple demanded.

  “Purple…”

  “You may work for free, Ryder, but I refuse to do so.”

  “If our food storage and kitchens aren’t destroyed by the golems, then yes, we’ll prepare a feast for all of you once this ordeal is over,” Aviana promised.

  “You better hope it isn’t, or your precious villagers will be my dinner.” The dragon grinned.

  “He’s joking! He’s just joking!” Ryder quickly reassured when he saw the chiefs’ horrified expression.

  After they bade goodbye, the chiefs led the gang to their shelter so Brown could deposit all their supplies somewhere safe. Green used his vine magic to create an extra layer of protection, since he wasn’t confident a village full of “outcasts, vagrants, and misfits” could be trusted. After a light lunch, the gang returned to the village’s entrance.

  “So… I think all of us can agree that the Bezalel guy is lying about the black woman, right?” Ryder spoke up once he was confident no villagers were following them.

  “She must’ve pissed off those two mortals if they were so eager to frame her as the culprit.” Purple snorted.

  “The chiefs likely intend to use you to ensure the black woman won’t return to the village. Perhaps she threatens their position in the village?” Brown pondered.

  Green growled.

  The human snapped his finger. “Good observation, Green. I do recall Aviana doesn’t seem as eager as Bezalel to lie about the black woman, so maybe the black woman is a threat to Bezalel specifically? Something related to the golems, perhaps? Hmmm…”

  “We should locate the woman first. She might be willing to tell us the full story if we approach her peacefully,” Brown suggested.

  “Why, exactly? We’re here to destroy the whatever-you-called Domain, not play detective.” Purple protested.

  “Because I need to know what’s going on first.” Ryder argued. “Besides, we can take care of that domain in an hour. The sooner we find her, the sooner we can wrap this up. You can wait here if you want, but don’t blame me if it causes our investigation to go slower.”

  The dragon snarled and reluctantly ambled next to his rider. To vent out his frustration, he undid the gravity spell he cast on himself and cracked the ground as he walked. The human let out a small sigh and ignored it.

  Green and Brown started sniffing around to pick up the woman’s scent. Purple rolled his eyes at their primitive tracking technique and traced the mana signature of the portal instead. It took around two hours, but they eventually found a cave about a 30-minute walk away from the village.

  When they got close to the cave, they saw more than a dozen golems walking around or sitting inside it. A large percentage of them had a more humanoid appearance, but all of them had a wide variety of colors painted on them. Some looked pretty with intricate patterns, while others looked like a bunch of children splashed random paint on them.

  “Destroy. Destroy. Destroy…” The golem the woman saved earlier was also in the cave. It was repeating the same word in an almost melodic tune.

  “Hi.” All the golems immediately turned toward the gang when the gang showed themselves. “Can-”

  Ryder was immediately cut off when a golem with a trumpet on its head screeched.

  “Uh oh.”

  A barrier was activated immediately in front of the cave. A flurry of rapid footsteps could be heard before a bright projectile flew toward him.

  Purple casually pulled his rider backward and destroyed the projectile with his other hand. “Looks like the lady in question has arrived.”

  The gang turned their attention to the origin of the projectile and saw the black woman glaring at them. There was a humanoid golem peeking out of a tree near her.

  “Uhm, hello. We’re-”

  “Leave. Now.” The woman strode toward the gang and raised her fist, threatening them with her menacing spike brass knuckle.

  “Please, just listen-” The dragon rider’s sentence was cut short again as he dodged another projectile the woman shot out by punching the air. “We aren’t going to harm the golems! I swear!”

  “Lies!”

  The woman proceeded to shoot out a barrage of projectiles that were too swift for him to dodge all of it. Unexpectedly, it was powerful enough to chip the tough scales on his draconic arm, which he took as a sign to change his strategy. So, when she closed the gap to punch him directly, he dodged in a way that allowed him to grab her arm and slam her back onto the ground. Green immediately summoned vines from the ground to hold her down.

  That restriction only lasted for three seconds before her body was enveloped in light and she tore through the vines like they were paper. She leaped back up and summoned a large spike shield made of light before charging forward again.

  Ryder reacted by going into full draconic armor mode. He was going to shatter the shield with a combination of earth and lightning magic, so she would be forced to stop.

  When two of them were about to clash, an unknown force threw the both of them back, like two identical magnetic poles repelling each other. Their magic instantly came undone as they fell to the ground.

  Green promptly stood in front of his rider and growled, ready to strike if Ryder wished so. When the two humans were on their feet again, the back of their left hand glowed brightly. They glanced at their own hands before looking at each other with surprise.

  The woman pointed at his hand. “The Sigil of Hecate?”

  Ryder showed it to her. “Yeah! Are you from Earth?”

  “Yes.” The woman spoke in a softer tone as she pulled down her mask. “Are you here to clear the miasma?”

  “You got it.” He smirked.

  She approached him and extended her hand, “The name’s Amara, epithet Paladin.”

  He shook it. “I’m Ryder, epithet Dragon Rider.”

  Amara raised her eyebrow.

  “Dragon Rider, Ryder, I know.” He shrugged.

  “I assume you have met the chiefs, or else you wouldn’t have wandered here. What did the both of them tell you?” She narrowed her eyes coldly.

  “A gist of the village’s history and how the miasma started. Bezalel said you’re the one that brought the Domain here, but we didn’t buy it at all. We weren’t sure how much he was telling the truth, so we seek you out to understand the full picture first before doing anything.”

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  “That sonova-” The paladin gritted her teeth before closing her eyes and took a few deep breaths. When she opened them again, she turned and waved her hand. “Let’s talk in the cave. I’ll explain everything.”

  The dragon rider nodded and gestured his dragons to follow her. She led the pink golem hiding behind the tree out before disabling the barrier. The golems inside stood as close to the walls as possible to make space for them to go through.

  “Are you sure they won’t hurt us, Amara?” The golem with a trumpet asked.

  “They won’t,” The paladin assured

  “You’re back, Amara! And Pinky too!” A feminine humanoid golem with only one eye exclaimed as she hugged the golem Amara brought back with her. The pink golem hugged back and let out a sound that resembled a sigh of relief.

  “Woah. Are those dragons, Amara? The ones you mentioned in your stories?” A skinny and tall golem with multiple eyes examined Green, which made the dragon uncomfortable.

  “Yes, they are. Don’t touch them though, Slinky.” She continued to talk to all the golems who greeted her as she passed them by.

  Ryder was surprised that the golems were acting like… humans. Granted, he rarely saw any golems considering they’re an expensive piece of equipment, but he was told that the golems are essentially emotionless robots.

  The cave became wider the deeper they went. It eventually led into a large circular space with an assortment of boxes and items tidily stacked up against the wall.

  “This used to be the village’s old storage cave, but it’s mostly empty now. What you see here is junk they didn’t bother to clear out.” Amara dragged two empty crates and sat on one of them. Ryder sat on the other one while his dragons rested around him. The golems all tried to squeeze in to listen to the conversation, though some of them were too large to make it in.

  “I came here about a month ago.” Amara crossed her fingers. “It was supposed to be a quick stop, but I was fascinated by their colorful personalities. Since I needed to take some time off to recover my wounds from my last Domain suppression, I decided to stay. I gradually became friends with most of them, but there was only one in particular who I’ve developed a close bond with. His name is Guard, the strongest golem in the village. Even though he never left the village, he was fun to talk to.” A smirk appeared on her face.

  “Then, one day, Guard noticed a few golems had disappeared. He came to me for help, and I obliged. We snooped around and tried to look for clues, but we were stopped pretty quickly, because I was an outsider and Guard wasn't doing his job. Five days ago, one of the servant golems notified us that there was a secret meeting between the chiefs. Guard was too big, so I had to sneak in by myself. It was there I overheard that they’re going to reset all the golems’ cores, essentially wiping their memories and consciousness away.” The paladin furrowed her eyebrows and tapped her forehead. “Bezalel said something about the cores he made had caused the golems to become a liability.”

  Purple snorted. “I knew it.”

  “What?” Ryder glanced at him.

  The dragon rolled his eyes. “Is the graveyard not obvious enough? The mortal didn’t invent a new technique to create golems. He clearly used the oldest method to create them by taking soul fragments from the bodies buried there to create their core. It’s why these golems here have such colorful personalities.” He uttered the last two words with disdain. “I believe that’s the reason why the mortals erased all mentions of the technique after I was sealed. The golems born from this technique will eventually become too difficult for their masters to control and will start talking about things such as ‘freedom’ and ‘love’. It is a perverted sight to see puppets made from souls of the dead mimicking the behaviors of living mortals. I-”

  Ryder cleared his throat loudly to cut Purple off. The dragon already noticed the animosity the golems were directing toward him the more he spoke, but he didn’t give a damn. However, since his rider had ‘spoken up’, he decided to zip his mouth.

  “Does he just say whatever is on his mind?” Amara frowned slightly.

  “Yes.” The dragon rider sighed. “Yes, he does. Please ignore him and continue.”

  “As I was saying, the chiefs were planning to round all the golems up and reset their cores. When I told Guard about it, he wanted to smash Bezalel into pieces immediately. It was quite difficult to calm him down since I was angry at the chiefs too, but I know there’s gotta be something else that prompted them to make the decision so suddenly. So, after the both of us calmed down, we came up with a plan to gather as many golems as we could before marching toward the chiefs’ office on the next day. Some villagers were concerned, but there were also some that joined our march despite not knowing our full intentions. Moments before we confronted the chiefs, someone dropped down on the roof near where we were standing and summoned a Moros Domain. It was hard to believe that neither Guard nor I noticed them until it was already too late.”

  “Did you see what they look like?” Ryder leaned forward. “Any notable physical characteristics?”

  “I only caught a glimpse of them before the golems started causing chaos from the miasma infection, so all I saw was that they were dressed in black.”

  He tilted backward and furrowed his eyebrows. “I see…”

  “It was very strange that the miasma infected only the golems instead of the villagers. I’ve never encountered a Domain that doesn’t affect living beings before.”

  “I thought the same thing when the chiefs told me about it. Hey, you know what?” The dragon rider snapped his finger. “With the both of us here, I can protect you while you purify the core instead of destroying it to get rid of the Domain. We may be able to find some clues about this anomaly and the person who planted the core.”

  “That’s an interesting idea we can talk more about later, but I would like to finish my story first, if you don’t mind.” Amara’s tone and expression remained neutral.

  “Yes, yes, of course. I’m sorry for interrupting.” He could feel his cheeks burning.

  “I saved as many villagers as I could while the uncorrupted golems used the shields I attached to them to block the corrupted ones. All the villagers made it out alive, but my shields didn’t last long enough for any of the golems to escape. As a last resort, I cast a large barrier around the village to prevent any golems or miasma from escaping. After I settled the villagers down, I told the chiefs I was going to save the golems next. You can probably guess what their reactions were. They’re also the reason why the help request they sent to the Guild had been unsuccessful.”

  “...You stopped the request because the people the Guild would send will destroy the golems without hesitation.”

  “It wasn’t a risk I was willing to take. I know I’m making the villagers suffer longer as a consequence, but I can’t stand by and let this group of… people be destroyed solely because they were made instead of being born. I’ve watched enough injustices back in our world, and now that I have the power to stop it,” She tightened her fist. “I will.”

  Ryder nodded. “So you’ve been saving the golems one by one?”

  “Yes, by luring them out and purifying them. Some of the villagers knew what I was doing and wanted to help, but I told them to stay put because it was too dangerous. It would’ve taken me another week to purify all of them if you hadn't stopped by.”

  “I see. So, what’s our strategy? My dragons are capable of keeping the golems company if we want to rush in and deal with the core directly.”

  “Is that how you’ve been clearing out Domains?” Amara raised her eyebrow.

  “It worked out most of the time for us.” The dragon rider shrugged.

  “If only it’s that easy for me.” She sighed. “No, we aren’t going to rush in blindly. However, you did give me an idea. Okay, so here’s the plan…”

X

  The sun was starting to wane as a corrupted golem trudged toward the edges of the village. They passed by dozens of semi-destroyed buildings until they noticed a small hole in the ground. Curious, they approached the hole and glanced at it. Suddenly, the hole widened and swallowed the golem into the ground. Right before they could send out an alert, Amara slapped her hand on their core and purified them. The golem’s core promptly turned from black/red to white/blue.

  “A… Amara? What’s going on?” The golem asked as the two of them were carried out of the village by earth magic before popping up in a spot covered by bushes. Ryder waved at the golem while Brown simply stared at them.

  “The others will explain the situation to you.” Amara led the golem to where the other rescued golems were staying. Once the golem calmed down, she returned to the dragon rider and kneeled next to him.

  “Should we do more?” he asked.

  “No, this is enough. We’ll distract the rest of them with the explosion. Try not to damage him too much if you can.”

  “Will do. Time to get this show on the road.” Ryder stretched his body, activated his draconic arm, and synthesized a bomb in his palm with all three of his dragons’ magic.

X

  The corrupted Guard was standing vigilant in front of the glowing, sickly core. While he resembled his rocky predecessors in terms of appearances, he also had distinctive humanoid features. Overall, it made him look like a vague sculpture of a smallish, buff giant with a claymore. Even in his miasma-filled state, he was still lucid enough to realize the golems in the village had decreased significantly. He knew an attack was coming, and he was ready to use all his strength to protect his new manipulating master.

BOOM!

  Guard immediately entered into his defensive mode as he scanned for the origin of the explosion. When he saw a large puff of smoke and a destroyed gate, he directed all the golems there to prevent any attackers from sneaking in. After zooming in his vision, he identified a lone figure standing in front of a swarm of mostly small-sized golems. The figure smiled smugly and dodged all the golems’ attack in a dance-like manner.

  Unbeknownst to all the golems, Ryder, Green, Brown, and Amara were rapidly approaching the core from behind silently. Since it was planted at the top of one of the tallest and biggest buildings in the village, there was no way Guard could’ve seen them.

  The paladin bit her lips as she climbed the miasma-coated building unprotected. Her holy magic could dispel the miasma, but that would also instantly alert Guard to their arrival. The darkness was penetrating her armor and slowly worming its way to her flesh, yet she persevered and didn’t make a single peep.

  A few grueling minutes later, both of the Goddess’ warriors arrived at their positions and nodded to each other. Amara took a deep breath, raised her arm, and slammed her hand directly on the surface of the core. The purifying light that followed enveloped the entire village and promptly drew Guard’s attention to her.

  Before the golem could take a step forward, Ryder, in his full draconic armor form, leaped out with his two dragons. Their sudden presence was a successful distraction as Guard, who was overflowing with magic thanks to the miasma, unleashed hellfire with a swing of his claymore at the dragon rider.

  All three of them hopped back as Brown and Green summoned sticky mud and vines respectively from the ground to hold the golem down. It didn’t work as he lifted his leg and took another devastating swing. Ryder sprung into the air, landed on the golem’s gigantic claymore, and ran upward. When he reached the golem’s shoulder, he used an absurd amount of mana to coat his sword with a layer of diamond-like substance and slashed downward. Even with all the human’s draconic strength, his sword only made it halfway through.

  “How’s the progress, Amara?!” Ryder roared as he bounced off of Guard’s head to dodge another slash of black flames.

  “90 seconds!” The paladin shouted in pain as the spherical core turned halfway clear.

  Green planted his feet into the ground and summoned thick, flexible trunks to hold Guard’s arms down. Meanwhile, Brown turned the spot he was standing on into quicksand. The dragon rider hopped from one destroyed roof to the next while using a combination of plant and earth magic to jam the golem’s massive joints.

  The combined attacks of the dragon rider posse worked and Guard was successfully restricted. Of course, that didn’t mean all three of them stopped reinforcing those bindings.

  Out of nowhere, the golem’s core glowed brightly in red and was accompanied by a loud screeching. A few seconds later, the golems Purple was distracting turned around and waddled back to the Domain’s core.

  “Where do you think you’re going?.” The dragon spoke as he enlarged his hand and slammed the ground, creating a huge crater in the main road so none of the golems could crawl out of it.

  As a final desperate attempt, the Domain’s core recalled all the miasma inside the village and poured it all into Guard. The golem roared as he grew to the size of an actual giant and set himself on hellfire. With a fling of his arm, he tore apart all the burning trunks around him and severely damaged the building Amara was standing on, causing her to slip. Since the core was affixed in the air, she didn’t immediately fall as she grabbed onto it.

  Ryder jumped between the buildings, summoned a couple of rock pillars that converged beneath Amara, and threw a fast-growing seed that turned into a wooden platform on top of the pillars, allowing her to regain a proper foothold. Seeing how the core had almost turned entirely transparent, he performed a Dragon Link with Green and Brown. Their eyes suddenly glowed bright red as their magic synced with each other and grew in power. Moments later, gigantic trunks as well as mud pillars burst from underneath Guard and pinned him down once more.

  Even though he was immobilized, the hellfire on his body was rapidly spreading to all nearby structures along the trunks and pillars, including the platform Amara was standing on. When Ryder noticed the hellfire was about to come in contact with her legs, he extended the length of a rock pillar to shoot past the platform and launch her into the air.

  The moment the paladin felt her body was propelled into the air, she let out a loud warcry and pumped the core full of her holy magic. The moment her hands left the core, a blinding flash of light exploded from the sphere. It instantly vaporized all the miasma and hellfire in the village. Guard fell to his knees while his size rapidly decreased after letting out a pained screech. The dragon rider ended the Dragon Link and, with the use of wind magic, caught the paladin with the core in her palm midair. They then landed safely in front of Guard.

  Amara tossed the crystal clear core to Ryder before rushing to examine Guard’s injuries.

  “Guard, are you alright? Guard!” Her palm glowed with white-gold as she smoothed it over the cracks on his body, mending him with her healing magic. The golem’s core flickered for a few moments before it turned completely dark and steadily lit up again.

  “A… ma… ra…?” A deep, magnetic voice rang out from the core in his chest.

  The black woman let out a sigh of relief. “Yes, I’m here. How are you feeling right now?”

  “Like… a bag… of bricks…” Both of them chuckled as he tried to get up.

  Brown ‘dissolved’ all the mud on his body before extending a rock pillar behind his back at an angle to push him up. Green removed all the plants on his body as well.

  “Dragons…?” Guard stood back up and rested his arm on the building behind him.

  “They’re with the Dragon Rider. I’ll explain the details to you later, but for now, is there anything you need? Any mental or physical discomfort?”

  “None that I can tell, though it does hurt my heart to see you so… exhausted.” Guard gently rubbed his thumb across Amara’s face before looking around at the destroyed buildings. “Did I-”

  “It’s not your fault, Guard. Remember what I told you before about the Moros Domain? We’re extremely lucky that none of the golems or villagers died.”

  The golem stayed silent for a few seconds before replying, “I see. Where are they, then?”

  “A safe distance away from the village. I’ll go and get the rest of the golems here.” She turned to Ryder. “Can you help me summon the villagers back?”

  “No problem.” The dragon rider deactivated his draconic form and made his way to the gates with Brown and Green.

  “Gonna call the villagers back now?” Purple asked as he sat on the edge of the crater.

  “Yeah.”

  “Tell them I’m expecting dinner in…” The dragon glanced at the sunset. “...three hours.”

  The human opened his mouth, but relented before the argument even started. “No guarantees.”

  Purple snorted.

  Ryder turned to Brown and asked, “Can you repair the village’s ground in the meantime? Thanks.”

  Brown nodded and started filling up the crater with nearby earth.

  “Let’s go, Green. I can already feel things are about to get messy.” The human trudged in the direction of the shelters.

  Green nodded and used his vines to pat his rider’s back.

X

  “It would appear that none of the golems were destroyed.” Bezalel chewed on the last word with stifled disdain.

  The villagers that Ryder brought back were standing to the left of the gate led by the two chiefs. On the opposite side, Amara and Guard were standing in front of all the golems.

  “You would’ve preferred that they were, don’t you, Bezalel?” Amara narrowed her eyes.

  “What is she talking about, chief?” A random villager standing behind the chiefs asked.

  “It’s nothing-”

  “The chiefs wanted to destroy all the golems! I marched with the golems to the chiefs’ office during the day the miasma appeared because we wanted to protest against their decision!” The paladin exclaimed.

  A blazing commotion was immediately lit among the villagers before they started asking a bunch of questions to the chiefs.

  Bezalel shouted with a tinge of anxiety, “Not necessarily destroy, but reset! I’ve found a fatal flaw in their design and it can only be fixed by resetting their cores!”

  “Resetting our cores means all our memories and personalities will be wiped away.” Guard chimed in to inform the villagers who weren’t aware of the fact.

  “Which would be no different from killing them!” Amara barked.

  “It’s something well within our rights to do because they are our property.” Aviana objected.

  “In the past, perhaps, but not anymore! They have developed a consciousness, which means they possess the same rights as any sapient beings! Whatever ‘flaws’ you found in them don’t give you the right to kill them!”

  “Yeah, Amara is right! The golems are my friends, and I won’t let them get killed!”

  “Please, the golems aren’t alive. They’re merely mimicking our behaviors. They may be intelligent, but that doesn’t mean they have a consciousness!”

  The villagers broke into two factions that followed one of those two sentiments, though there were more people on the pro-golem side.

  Bezalel stared at Aviana exasperatedly for a solution, but all she gave him was a solemn nod. He bit his lips and pointed at the golem with hammers for hands.

  “About two weeks ago, I was notified that Demol destroyed a building at the edge of the village, in the middle of the night, unprompted. There was a family living inside, and if it wasn’t for a group of passerby, they would’ve died in their sleep! I asked everyone involved to stay quiet because Aviana didn’t want the village to panic as we thought about how we should deal with the matter!” He turned back to face the villagers. “I understand these golems are very precious to a lot of you, but I can’t take the risk that they’ll go berserk!”

  A handful of villagers who were pro-golems closed their lower set of eyes with disappointment as they realized the craftsman really was telling the truth.

  “The risk that you should’ve been aware of when you use soul fragments to create these puppets?” Purple snorted.

  Horror and fury flashed past the chief’s face as he glared at the dragon. That revelation ignited another wave of commotion amongst the villagers, ironically uniting some villagers from both factions to direct their anger at the chiefs for hiding the truth about the golems.

  Amara and Guard turned around to face Demol, who was still repeating “Destruction” over and over again.

  “Is what Bezalel said true, Demol?” She questioned.

  “Mhm-mhm! It looks building I usually destroy, so I destroy! Demol did it no order because Demol is in-de-pen-dent! Destruction fun!” The golem in question chirped. “Demol going to destroy more, but stopped. Then stay in dark room until A-ma-ra saves earlier!”

  The paladin’s face darkened as the craftsman smiled smugly with a tinge of bitterness.

  “Do you see why Aviana and I have come to the decision to reset their cores now? Regardless of intention, golems pose an unpredictable danger to our village if they aren’t periodically reset! You have to remember that, while they learn and mimic our behaviors, it doesn’t mean they understand the intentions behind it. We don’t hurt people for reasons more than physical pain while they can lose all their limbs and still be fine if their core is intact. There’s no telling if they’ll interpret the things we do and say the same way as us!”

  Guard tried to retort, “Demol simply made a mistake because he’s still young. Also, his actions don't represent all of us. Since you’ve never proposed resetting our cores for decades until now, doesn’t that show you it’s an incredibly rare occurrence?”

  “Put some restrictions on the golems’ core and be done with it.” Purple scowled as his tail swished impatiently.

  “No. We refuse to have our free will restricted-”

  “So you can threaten us with your force if we don’t do as you say?” Aviana rebutted.

  “No, that’s no…”

  The argument between two sides continued on with repeated points as the sun disappeared into the horizon completely. Ryder, who had been standing at the sideline, suddenly came up with an idea. However, he wasn’t sure how he should propose it, since he felt like he was an outsider to the matter. Purple noticed his rider’s hesitation and rolled his eyes before shooting a glance at Brown. She lazily nodded and nudged the human’s leg with hers.

  “On my mark.” Her voice rang in his mind.

  “What-”

  As the argument reached its boiling point, a stone wall abruptly protruded from the ground, effectively shutting everyone up in an instant. When it returned to the ground, Purple gently kicked Ryder and forced him to stand in front of the two groups. Everyone, as expected, turned their attention to the tense teenager.

  “Uhm, if the golems want to be treated as people, then why not impose the village’s laws on them? You know, punish them if they do bad things instead of resetting all their cores?”

  “That’s not going to work.” Amara commented. “The golems and the villagers are still fundamentally different, so the laws will be discriminatory.”

  “The level of consciousness varies amongst us as well. Those with simpler cores won’t have the same processing power as those with more complicated ones. Like Amara said, it won’t work.” Guard added.

  “Then the chiefs merely need to draft up new laws with the golems. I mean, you can’t really expect to be treated like a member of society without abiding by the societal rules everyone else does. The villagers are all different from each other too, like the golems, but they still follow the law. If one of you did something bad, intentional or not, then they need to be tried and sentenced. It goes both ways.”

  Silence ensued as everyone deliberated over Ryder’s suggestion.

  A teenager in the crowd raised her hand. “I support the Dragon Rider’s idea! It was really scary when Demol smashed my home, but that doesn’t mean I want all of them to die. Lots of people still love the golems, including me, but I also think they should be punished individually if one of them did something wrong.”

  “Same here! They’ve helped this village since before I was born, and it’s totally unfair to wipe away their consciousness because of one bad thing!”

  “But what about the risks? Even if we have laws, they can still go crazy and do dangerous things-”

  “Oh shut up, Debby. The same thing can be said for all of us as well! Have you forgotten Guard saved you from a gang of thieves in the village before?”

  “That’s…”

  While there were some dissenters, many of the villagers agreed with Ryder’s idea.

  Bezalel sighed and looked at Aviana. She pinched her eyebrows, but ultimately nodded.

  “Fine.” The craftsman turned to his golems. “We’ll make up laws together, but you have to make sure none of the golems cause any more trouble while we do, Guard.”

  Amara’s frown turned upside down as she smiled at Guard, who was equally gleeful that things were resolved without violence.

  “Yay, everyone’s happy. Can I have my damn feast now?” Purple barked.

  “Yes, of course. Thank you for saving our village with Amara.” Aviana made a weird gesture with all four of her hands and lowered her head in front of the dragon rider gang.

  “Cook!” Guard turned around and called out, “Prepare our saviors a feast they’ll never forget!”

  “You got it, boss!” A humanoid golem with eight hands winked.

  “As for the rest of you, help the villagers settle back into their homes!”

  All the golems agreed loudly in unison before walking back into the village with its settlers. Some were still wary of the golems, but most were chatting happily with their rocky friends.

  “Thank you, Dragon Rider, for saving us with your ingenious idea.” Guard then looked at the dragons. “All three of you, too.”

  “I’m a little surprised no one thought of it, to be honest,” Ryder commented.

  “I believe it’s because all of us have become so accustomed to our decades-old dynamic. It never crossed our minds that the way we live alongside each other can change so drastically. Thank you again, Dragon Rider. If not for you, it might’ve led to bloodshed.”

  “You’re welcome! I’m glad I was able to help out.” The human smiled and entered the village with the gang.

  As for Amara, she scurried to the chiefs’ back and spoke with a chilling voice. “Don’t think I’ll forget the fact that both of you sent the Dragon Rider to get rid of me.”

  Bezalel’s heart almost leaped out of his throat, though he forced his nerves to calm down. “Technically, I didn’t tell the Dragon Rider to get rid of you. I only told him you appeared with the golems before the miasma did.”

  “You-”

  “That’s enough, Bezalel.” Aviana interjected as she tried to sound composed. “I’m sorry for going along with his foolish accusation. Consider all your spending in the village waived until you leave as my apology. I won’t try to justify my actions, but I hope you won’t reveal what we did to the villagers.” She then elbowed her partner to do the same.

  The craftsman took a deep breath. “I’m sorry, Amara. I… I panicked. I thought that would somehow fix the issue, but I was very wrong. I guess I never changed from my days as a student when I lied that the ancient golem spell I found to be my original creation…”

  “That is an awful apology for trying to kill me, old man.” The paladin mocked.

  He sighed. “I’ll do whatever you want of me, Amara, to make it up to you. I have no excuse for what I did, but I hope you won’t expose us to the villagers. They distrust us greatly already. Anymore than that will spell disaster.”

  “...You two better remember your promise.” Amara patted their shoulders with force before catching up to Guard and the others.

  Ryder slowed his footsteps so he would be far enough away from the crowd before asking, “What did you talk about with the chiefs?”

  She adjusted her pace to match with his. “Just demanding apologies from them for framing me as the one who spread the miasma.”

  “It was pretty messed up. Someone else might’ve tried to kill you.”

  “I’m glad it was you instead.” She smirked.

  “Speaking of which, can you try to recall more details about the guy who planted the core?”

  “Hmm.” The paladin closed her eyes and tapped her forehead. “I believe they had a broken horn? And… some sort of crest on their coat? It looked like chains, but I’m not sure. I’m sorry. That’s all I can recall.”

  “It’s alright. That’s better than having no leads at all. I know the others aren’t keen on tracking down clues that may lead to the Commanders by themselves, but someone has to do it.”

  “I bet the Terror of The East inspires a lot of confidence in you.” She glanced at Purple.

  “He does, even though he’s not as helpful as you may think.”

  “It’s not hard to believe, seeing how he demanded the feast earlier.”

  “Say, why do you think the Domain only affected the golems and not the villagers?”

  “An experiment, perhaps? I’ve never heard of miasma affecting golems before, so maybe the Domain is meant to test if it works?.”

  “Even if that’s the case, why not infect both the golems and the villagers at the same time? Won’t that make more sense?”

  “It may be intentional.”

  “...”

  “...”

  “I guess we can only hope whatever they plan to do with the result of this ‘experiment’ won’t come to fruition. We can spend some time tomorrow inspecting the core we obtained.”

  “Sure.” Amara lowered her voice. “By the way, someone by the epithet of Knight visited me a few months ago. He told me he had been rallying as many world-voyagers as he could to take down the Commander residing at World’s Edge. The attack will commence when the next blue moon occurs.”

  Ryder replied in a low volume too, “That’s only a few months from now. Why are they attacking the third strongest Commander so soon? I know that guy can be brash, but this is suicide.”

  “Apparently he managed to track Samurai down and convinced him to join the raid.”

  “Samurai? The guy who took down a Commander by himself?”

  “Says the guy who took down Black Dragon with only his dragons and no one else.”

  “...It’s not as impressive as you might think.”

  “I beg to differ. In any case, I’ll be heading to World’s Edge once things settle down in the village. What will you do?”

  “I’ll gather as many clues as I can about the one who corrupted the village before heading there. If I come across any world-voyagers, I’ll direct them to World’s Edge as well.”

  “Alright. I’ll show you my and other world-voyager’s address cards after the feast is over. Remember to update me if you find any clues. I’ll let you know if I found anything as well, of course.”

  “Will do. I’ll share the address cards of the world-voyagers I’ve come across later as well. For now, let’s relax and wait for the feast to start.”

  She raised her voice back to normal. “Yeah. Hopefully, they’ll prepare my favourite dish here - deep fried arachis~”

  “Ugh, really? That doesn’t sound appetizing.” He pouted.

  “It’s better than you think. The ingredients Cook uses help cover…”

  The two of them continued to chat as they sauntered into the night.