By now, fights were a common occurrence in the now tense environment of this outpost.

The sounds of a fight breaking out brought tension as people began gathering or fleeing the scene.

A human, being beaten by a "beastman" relentlessly, that was a cruel and vicious sight, one to tug at any heart strings.

The beastman was one of them, who understood the importance of purity, after a thorough brainwashing, willing to sacrifice himself for the good of purging the empire of monsters.

It was a dark sight, but one that brought the fanatics secret joy, as they watched the hackles rise on their fellow man. To see the anger grow in their eyes.

It didn't take much to rally countless men and woman to their case, and to scare the inhumans and their traitorous allies into struggling back.

There were far more inhumans than the fanatics had remembered, but that was fine. They could work around it. The match had already been lit, and the fire of rage properly placed.

And it wouldn't burn out until the whole of the outpost had been properly purified, and from there the empire.

----------------------------------------

Theodore groaned at hearing the report.

THe fanatics had made their move.

Seemingly after having been backed into a corner, they had just started fighting all of a sudden, starting a rebellion of sorts, claiming they were going to wipe the outpost clean of inhuman blood.

He had no idea what had caused them to go insane like this. There was no clever planning like last time.

They had called witness to a scene of a man fighting a beastman, and all of a sudden called people to arms to purge the filth. An escalation of the most ridiculous scale.

Regardless, they were dangerous, with multiple S-class threats amongst them including a man called Sampson.

They needed to be subdued, and he could only pray Peter hadn't gone crazy as well.

Thaddeus sensed the presence of divinity as a giant salamander like monster approached him, with a giant bone like weapon in hand.

He recognized the creature from one of the many reports he had received as some sort of evolved axoboldl as Grant called them.

The man was unsure of how to react to the monster's sudden appearance, until the creature spoke, with a deep and resonant voice, with a calm sincerity.

"My master has sent me to assist you in suppressing the church."

Thaddeus eyed him carefully, realizing quickly who the master likely was, through an instinct and a distinctly missing man dressed as a raven sage.

"And where is your master?" he probed, and the monster responded.

"Dealing with the real threat."

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Paladin Peter picked up his shield bittersweetly.

He rejoiced at the thought of finishing it all, but he did not relish in the betrayal of his oath.

He knew what he had done was wrong, but even so, he would do it all the same.

Let the church judge him once all was said and done.

Unknowingly, his arm trembled as he tightly wrought the shield around his arm.

The door was right there, and once he stepped out, he would go to fulfill his duty, to correct his failures from all those years ago.

To kill.

To slaughter.

To-

BOiNG!

The paladin paused against his will, as something unseen to him refused to let him pass.

Bringing his shield back, he slammed his shield against the unseen boundary with great strength, only for it to bounce back harmlessly.

"Is this your doing Grant?" he said calmly, already guessing who it could be.

The guildmaster, while certainly a threat to him, was known for his combat prowess, less so his magic prowess.

On the other hand, the man known as a newly arisen foe and with a talent for magic.

"Yoooouuuu got me!" Came back a cheerful voice, as Grant hopped from a shadow. The man chuckled, clapping his hands.

"So this is what you had planned. A little rebellion, hmm?" He said, a tint of mockery in his voice. "Truly, a plan befitting a paladin. I suppose that's the nature of paladins. They make better hounds than they do leaders."

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Peter ignored him calmly responding. "I do not think yo have room to speak. For all your bravado, violence still bled out onto the streets, and people have still died. You claim to stop my plans at every step, and you've done well, this I'll admit, but it's clear you've failed."

He said this with such authority, yet Grant merely cocked his head.

"Did I?"

"I have no time to play your game joker. Raise the shield, or I'll make you raise the shield."

He threatened. The paladin did not want to kill the man, but if he continued to stand in his way, then he would have to be slain.

Grant chuckled. "Make me? Ohh, I like the sound of that. Let's do option 2!"

As soon as he said that, the shield flew towards his face, as the paladin lunged, flying faster than most eyes could see.

clang!

It met with an equally strong weapon, the sound loud enough to be heard for miles, were it not for the barrier that had been put up.

Grant had pulled a weapon out almost instantaneously, deflecting the blade with ease.

A silver, liquid-like weapon, which had congealed in the form of a blade.

"Tut tut tut. Using a shield as a weapon. ANd here I thought those were meant to protect people?" Grant said, clearly taking a dig at him, reminding him of the shield's purpose.

Peter felt anger flare up within himself as he lunged again, imbuing the shield with the light of Isis, the shield blazing.

The fight between the fallen paladin and the madman had begun.

----------------------------------------

It was a confusing sight to say the least. The number of inhumans was too many, far more than there should be in the town, and the number of humans far too little.

Were there this many beastmen originally?

The fanatic Samson felt there was something wrong with the number of inhumans and humans. Even discounting the fact that there would be a certain number of foolish men who would side with the beasts, the numbers on their side were all wrong.

The fanatic finds himself distracted from these thoughts as the guildmaster emerged from the masses, bludgeoning the fanatics as he went by with firm hits, seeking to inhibit, rather than kill. Behind him another one of those foul beasts, a monster that seemed akin to a salamander, followed by more of it's foul brethren, who did as the guild master did, apprehending the righteous men.

"Guildmaster!" he boomed, drawing attention from the gigantic man.

"The beastmen have gone insane! They must be put down with how they are rioting!" he said confidently, assured that his play would force the guildmaster to either heel, or even aid him.

The guildmaster merely looked at him confused. "What are you talking about?" he said, genuinely confused.

Looking out into the crowd, he could see no people joining the Isis puritans, and on the contrary, they had united with the inhumans to suppress the crazy rabble. Only the human puritans were fighting. Who was rioting exactly?

"The only one who's been rioting this whole time have been you fools!"

"What are you talking about!?" Sampson said, growing frustrated. "Look at them! Look at all the people who-" he faltered as the fog lifted, not merely from the whole of the outpost, but from his eyes.

No human was on his side.

Why had he thought anyone had taken their side besides his fellow followers.

The only ones rebelling were themselves.

"What?" Sampson said in utter confusion.

What was going on?

----------------------------------------

Peter raised his shield, bringing it down with all of his might, as Grant changed his blades shape, taking the form of a shield mirroring the paladin's, deflecting the shield.

"You see, that's how you use a shield!" he exclaimed, before the blades shape changed into a hammer, swiftly descending upon the paladin.

The paladin, unable to dodge, raised the shield to protect himself.

Bang!

HIs legs gave way under the impact of the hammer as he withstood the blow,which felt like the full weight of the mountain.

"THere you go!" Grant exclaimed. This battle that had gone well over an hour had been one filled with taunts and mockery, as well as purely random comments.

"Can't catch me!"

"Have you tried throwing it?!"

"I know harder lobsters!"

"I don't like bananas in my sundaes!"

"Do you not shut UP!" The paladin shouted as he glowed, raising his shield up as he channeled his divine power, apologizing to his mistress for using his power this way, to shut up this eccentric man.

The aura flung Grant back a few meters as he cartwheeled away.

"Why should I? You up and ruined the beginning of my retirement with this goddamned purge of yours, getting in your head is the least that I can do!" Grant said, as a hint of annoyance crept into his voice as he casually got up, revealing the real reason behind shouting random phrases..

The glowing paladin looked at him with ridicule. "That's all this is to you? A game?" He asked. "People are dying out there, and the entire towns falling apart, and you're worried that your vacation is going to ruin?" He said incredulously. His previously high appraisal of the man dropped significantly, having once praised his devotion to children, only to see this callous disregard for life.

Grant chuckled. "Yes, people are dying out there. So?" he asked, cracking his neck nonchalantly. "I didn't send those fools out to die. I'm not the one dragging them all down in a suicide attempt"

"You failed to save the people killed in the riots." Peter pointed out, reminding him of his failure.

"Did I? Did I really?" Grant asked him irritating paladin Peter, who had made no effort to hide his expression.

Grant paused, as if remembering something. "Oohhh. You still think they're dead!" he said excitedly, slamming his fist into his palm. "I'd forgotten to show you it, didn't I?"

"Show me what?" Peter asked, wary what this seemingly crazy man could show him.

Clap cap

WIth a rapid clap of Grant's hands, the sound of countless bodies dropping could be heard, as they fell from the sky, dropped by entire flocks of drows and dravens, their numbers darkening the entire sky.

Peter didn't understand at first. These were the corpses of the victims, yes, but what did that matter?

Was he planning necromancy? This thought rattled Peter ashe prepared to purify any such attempts until he noticed something.

Life.

They were still filed with life.

All of these "corpses" were alive, merely comatose.

people he had ordered to been killed.

But how?

Their bodies were all over the town!

Seeing Peter's growing confusion, Grant posed a question.

"Peter, Peter. Did you ever notice that whenever you had someone killed, I always took someone in turn?" he asked, as uneasiness grew in Peter's heart.

"Of course, and each time I tried to find you, I got lost in the fog." he responded warily, and Grant rattled.

"Well, you wouldn't have found me anyway. I was never near you." Grant commented, causing Peter to look at him as if he were crazy. "What are you talking about!? You killed all of them! How could you not be there?" the confused paladin argued, for the deaths that had occurred had obviously been by the hands of this man.

Who else could've killed them?

"Kill them? Me? No, no, no, surely you know me better than that?! I'm not one to settle with something so simple as ending their life. A little extra is what makes the death special after all!"

"What did you do to them?" Peter said with growing worry, with the way the mad man amped it up.

Grant tutted as his finger twitched in disapproval. "Not what I did Peter. It's what your followers did to one another."

What he said sent a shiver went down Peter's spine, when he heard the thrill in Grant's voice. The mask almost seemed to curl up at that very moment, twisting into a grin.

"Why kill them myself, when I could have them do it for me?"