A village commotion drew Rodent out of the house with [Cane] in his hand. The villagers were gathered in the center and were not bearing arms.

Rodent blinked and looked to the village's gates.

Steinith stood, an iron-clad giant with an axe fitting his hands alone. His mass blocked the village's entrance. Rodent approached, seeing over the fence protecting the village, watching what approached.

A carriage stripped and thinned to its bare essentials stopped, tall posts on each corner with pegs sprouting across its height, bandits in black rags clinging to them, bows pulled, and arrows seated.

More bandits flooded out from the cart, each bearing various weapons, forming a line in front of the village.

Steinith hulked before them, annoyed. "State your business."

"Whaddya think?" returned the Leader at the front of a pack, holding a blade that zig-zagged twice to its pointed end. "Hand your stuff over. Food. Drink. Treasure. Drop it here, and we'll leave."

"Big demands from a tiny man."

"You might be a beast." The Leader stood before his men, making six in total, plus the four mounted on the posts. "But you're just one man." He glanced at the crowd behind Steinith. "And those you protect cannot fight. Where are those sent with you?"

"Being disciplined." Steinith smirked. "Just like you're about to be."

"My men have taken villages stronger than this." The Leader stashed his sword and opened his arms. "They can work around your size. You'll hurt us. But you won't kill."

Steinith pressed up on his chin, cracking his neck. "Only because we have a quota of allowed deaths." He looked and pointed at the mounted archers with a gauntleted hand. "You. You. You."

He pointed at two more in the line before him. "You and you."

He smiled, hand lowering. "Those I pointed at are allowed to live." He smirked at the rest. "The others will contribute to Deskar."

The bandits had struggled to hide their recoil; those who had been pointed at felt fear pump into their hearts when that metal finger laid upon them. However, even after being cleared of their death sentence, they still feared the man—as did those who were told that they were going to die.

All of them, through different means and conclusions, feared the giant, which only made him cackle as he hunched forward and bore his axe again. Shaking his head and unleashing a roar, the bandit leader pointed his sword forward. "DON'T BE FOOLISH! HE'S JUST ONE MAN! ONE JOINT ATTACK WILL KILL HIM—DON'T LOSE YOUR CONFIDENCE!"

Though unable to shake off their dread, the bandits were joined by this speech as they came together. Steinith lowered his head so that his cone-like helmet covered his face. Only his broad, sinister grin could be felt, an infusion to his soul.

In the next second, the six bandits charged forward, with the archers firing their arrows to ensure that Steinith did not swipe prematurely. Each arrow was fired seconds apart, forcing Steinith to brunt them as they bounced off his armour, allowing the six to approach with their weapons raised.

Freed, Steinith swung his axe down on the six, who raised their weapons together to fend off the attack. Despite his size, the giant struggled against the joined strength of six strong men. His face loomed over them.

His thirst for blood was apparent.

He felt the fears behind their scared faces, the stories they heard about him, further imagining what Steinith could do.

Their spirits and energies flooded into the giant.

Q: ACTIVATED

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Q | SUPPOSED SUPERIORITY | LV. 1

BECOME WHAT OTHERS SUPPOSE

Something different was in the air: an unseen but sensed happening. Rodent must have been tricked by his mind, staring at the hunched-over giant, who, above him, formed a phantom nobody else saw.

Rodent blinked at seeing this expanding, enlarging, hulking thing, red and transparent, as its armour cracked to reveal the growing muscles and rippling form.

Rodent looked back at the Steinith, who had blood pouring out of his mouth and dripping on the struggling bandits' faces—blood that wasn't his.

"Oh-ho?" Steinith's grin grew larger as more blood poured faster. "Is this what you imagine me of? How uncreative." He pushed harder on his axe, forcing the six men to their knees, the added strength not coming from his muscles. "Here's a monster of your own making."

The terror of the man doubled the size of the phantom, its weight felt by the pressure applied to the ground beneath it, the flattened grass and the cracks in the ground.

Rodent's heart beat faster... but he did not betray himself to fear.

"Leave."

Steinith raised his weapon and stepped back, his red phantom still above. It held its weapon with a large, animal-like face, muzzle open and fangs exposed, a forceful current blowing out from the sides of its maw.

The bandits, raising and falling, crawling and stumbling back on their feet, ran to the cart that was being turned by the horses, coming inside the barren center or onto the protruding pegs on the poles.

The archers, with their bows plucked, could not fire.

They were stunned in fear.

The cart sped due to its lack of weight. Their loot was dropped at caves and sites owned by them. Steinith smiled. His projection sunk into his body.

Q | SUPPOSED SUPERIORITY | DEACTIVATED

Rodent didn't understand what he saw. Beatrice joined his side, watching the affair without interest. Her eyes widened at seeing his. "You saw it? His ogre?"

Rodent blinked.

"That is his Q." Beatrice watched the giant cool off. Steinith, turning around, looked at the gathered crowd—growling at them. They flinched. He chuckled. "An ability given magical form. It's a rare gift. As if he wasn't already hard to kill."

"Do you have a Q?"

"No." Beatrice shook her head. "None in my family did. Qs are special." The crowd dispersed, with Steinith blocking the exit. "And they still remain a mystery."

"Hmm."

"Starting to see how outmatched you are?"

Rodent shrugged. "Meh."

"Perhaps you should find somewhere safe." The old lady sounded like she was subtly pleading with him. "Stay here for a bit. Learn how to live from the land—how to exist here."

Rodent smiled in a way that already told the old lady his answer.

"Another pointless death."

Before they could talk further, something happened at the gate.

"LET ME GO! LET. ME. GO!"

A woman sprinted from the gate, snatched by a gigantic pair of hands, grabbed her sides and raised her like a child, causing the woman's legs to flail.

"Well-well! Thought I wouldn't notice you sneaking out during the commotion?" Steinith stared up at the hoisted woman, grinning creepily. "What's the plan? Join the bandits? Be devoured by the Deskar? Speak now. Talk of what hope is waiting for you out there!"

The young woman tried to kick his chest, but it was too far away. She twisted, kicking his wrist, hurting her foot as the attack did naught to him. "I JUST WANTED TO ESCAPE HERE! ESCAPE YOU!"

"Keep talking like that." Steinith drew her close enough for his breath to spread across her face. "And I'll think you don't like me. You saw what I do to those I don't like, right? Are you sure you want to be on that side of me?"

Rodent clutched his [Cane] harder and watched.

"Actually... I didn't even kill those bandits." Steinith narrowed his gaze, smiling. "Which means that I can kill some of you. You. You would best exemplify what happens to those who try to leave."

He set her on the ground as she rushed to her worried family. He smirked and stepped toward them. "Death is a lazy punishment. I mean, you're not around to learn your lesson."

Before Steinith could reach the stunned family, a single person, an animal, a Rodent, stepped in his way. Steinith smiled like an excited psychopath at seeing him again. "Mr. Rodent! Come to claw at me again?"

He cracked his hands.

"You kidding? No way!" Rodent shook his head. "I've got something even better to offer?"

Steinith seemed even more excited. "Oh?"