In hindsight, the panic caused by Jeremiah shooting the [Demon Lord] was understandable. This world was still not familiar with firearms, after all.
However, the screams and confusion would make it more challenging to do his job, so he determined that he should probably do something about that.
“This is the Watch,” Jeremiah shouted as he walked in that direction. “That man is a wanted criminal! Please make some space!”
“How do you know he’s wanted?” Scott whispered furiously as he followed along. “You didn’t even ask any questions!”
“Make space!” Jeremiah called out again as he moved towards the [Demon Lord]. Then, he whispered to Scott. “It was you who told me that the [Demon Lord] was guilty of innumerable crimes. I verified that after the fact. Should I have let him escape?”
“That’s the [Demon Lord]!?” Scott replied in another whisper. “You did it!? He’s dead!?” Then after a beat, he frowned. “Wait. System didn’t tell us the [Demon Lord] was slain. That means-“
“I used a non-lethal takedown, yes,” Jeremiah replied as he knelt next to the [Demon Lord] and put the criminal’s hands behind his back.
“He’s the [Demon Lord],” Scott hissed. “You’re supposed to kill him!”
“Jenkins [Watch Officers] are legally required to use non-lethal takedowns,” Jeremiah replied as he pulled out the handcuffs he had custom-made for this and bound the [Demon Lord’s] hands.
“The [Hero], no, everyone has the authority to use lethal force against the [Demon Lord]!” Scott replied as Jeremiah attempted to lift the [Demon Lord] into an awkward carry.
“He is heavier than I assumed. Would you mind?” Jeremiah asked.
Scott grumbled but picked the [Demon Lord] up by the other arm. Then, the two [Watch Officers] shuffled him off the main road and leaned his limp body against the wall.
However, Scott and Jeremiah were not the only officers there, and his whispered conversation hadn’t gone unnoticed.
I will likely need their assistance anyway. Jeremiah thought.
He motioned them to gather around and then continued in a low voice. “As you are already aware, I am the [Hero],” he stated. He glanced down at the [Demon Lord]. “This is the [Demon Lord]. He is currently projecting a different appearance, but if you place your hand right here-“
Jeremiah put his hand on one of the two horns.
The other gathered men followed suit. With the strange way they started looking at the [Demon Lord], Jeremiah could tell that they finally saw through the illusion… or at least, now only saw it as a faint image overlapping the real thing like he did.
“If that’s the [Demon Lord], why didn’t you kill it?” one of the officers asked.
“I have three reasons for that,” Jeremiah stated. “First, as a member of the Jenkins Watch, I am prohibited from using lethal force on criminals. Second, I have some questions that I need to ask him regarding a case from back on Earth.” The assembled officers started grumbling, but Jeremiah continued. “Third, based on the history of [Heroes] I have read, it seems that the current punishment of killing the [Demon Lord] is ineffective anyway. He will return 50 years later to break the law again. Doesn’t it make more sense to imprison him instead?”
While the others mulled that over a bit, Jeremiah pulled out his sword and stabbed the [Demon Lord]. When it bounced off harmlessly, he ignored the confused looks the others gave him and pulled out his pistol.
A gunshot rang out once more.
“Why would you do that!?” Scott yelled.
“Apologies,” Jeremiah stated when the others stopped holding their ears. “He was beginning to regain consciousness, and it appeared that my sword could not damage him.”
“We should probably get that armor off him, then,” one officer murmured.
“And take his weapons out of his inventory,” another added as he made to do that. “Or not. System is telling me that I… don’t have access? Anyone else getting this?”
Everyone attempted, but no one could confiscate the items in the [Demon Lord’s] inventory. Eventually, they determined it must be his class.
“I’ll go get some backup,” one officer finally stated. “If he breaks free of those cuffs and still has his inventory, we could be in trouble.”
If they had been in Jenkins or Dryadal, backup would have already been en route because of their magical “radios.” Jeremiah was not quite sure why Gram’s Watch was so far behind in that regard, but he had some suspicions.
“Make sure to get a transport, too,” Jeremiah replied. “Also, we may need to meet with your [King]. Holding the [Demon Lord] prisoner will likely need to be a coordinated effort.”
With that, two officers went to get reinforcements and run the situation up the chain of command while the rest stayed and stripped the [Demon Lord] of his armor. It ended up in Jeremiah’s inventory for the meantime, but no one was quite sure what to do with it.
Jeremiah believed that it should be destroyed. If it was similar to his armor that was restricted to use only by the [Hero], then there was no benefit to leaving it around.
However, it would all depend on what the law had to say about the matter.
I will have to get a copy of Gram’s codes as soon as possible. Jeremiah thought as he stabbed the [Demon Lord] again to keep him unconscious.
----
I awoke with my hands bound and a throbbing headache.
I stifled the groan that almost came out of my mouth as I processed things.
I’m alive. Captured… but alive. I can work with that. I thought. The next thing I noticed was that my armor was gone.
That made things a lot riskier. It meant that people besides the [Hero], who brought a frickin’ gun, would be able to damage me.
… In other words, I was back to normal. I may have gotten too used to my practical invulnerability to non-[Hero] means.
I flipped open my status while keeping my eyes closed and looked at my HP and MP.
HP was single digits. MP was completely gone.
The first was expected. The second was less so, but I got a pretty good idea as I sneakily felt the handcuffs binding me.
Looks like Sarah’s old idea finally came back to bite me in the butt. I thought. I decided it was time to make my move. I would try to break the cuffs in one swift move and-
“You can stop pretending that you are unconscious,” a voice called out to me.
I didn’t immediately open my eyes. I still held out hope that the voice could be bluffing and that-
“I know you are awake, [Demon Lord],” the voice continued. “Please open your eyes. I have a few questions for you.”
I rolled my eyes… and then opened them.
I was in a cell. I tugged at my handcuffs and could tell I was chained to the floor without even looking. My years as an apprentice [Blacksmith] also paid off because I could tell what I was chained by just from the sound.
“That’s a lot of adamantium,” I stated as I stared the [Hero] in the face. “How’d you convince them to spring for that?”
“An extraordinary criminal calls for extraordinary measures,” he replied. “Now, you have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in the court of law-“
I snorted. “Yeah, there’s no frickin’ way this is going to court. Why would you even bother?”
He continued as if I hadn’t interrupted him. “You have the right to speak to an attorney and to have an attorney present during any questioning.”
I gave a mirthless chuckle. “Pretty sure [Demon Lords] don’t get Miranda rights.”
He gave me the same level look. “They do not. Also, as a prisoner of Gram, you have minimal rights.” He leaned forward slightly. “No. I was reminding you of your rights as a citizen of the United States of America.”
That… had me curious. And confused. But curiosity won out.
“Okaaaay,” I replied slowly. “And why would you be doing that?”
“Before we continue, are you waiving your right to an attorney?”
I sighed. “Yes, I suppose I am.”
“Good,” he nodded. “The only one versed on U.S. law in this world is me, and I would have a conflict of interest.”
“No fricking kidding.”
“So, for my first question. Where were you on-“
“Look, buddy,” I interrupted him. “My memory from Earth has more holes than Swiss cheese. If you’re asking about anything that happened before Summer Comic-Con, I literally can’t tell you anything.”
He paused. “My questions are about that Comic-Con.”
“Oh,” was all I replied.
“So, you admit that you were an attendee?”
“Yeah. I had a special VIP pass along with everyone else that got transported here.”
He nodded and pulled out a piece of paper. “And how were you transported here?”
I frowned. “Giant swirling vortex of doom?”
He looked back up at me, and we both paused for several seconds.
“You… are not lying about that,” he finally stated.
“Nope,” I replied with a shake of my head.
“Okay, what can you tell me about this giant swirling vortex of doom?” he asked.
“Well, it was giant… and swirly,” I replied.
He gave me a flat look. “If you are going to refuse to take this seriously-“
“And in hindsight, it was 100% magical in nature,” I continued.
“Magic,” he muttered as he began writing more down. “Interesting.”
However, my curiosity was piqued too.
“If you weren’t sent here by a swirling vortex, how did you find yourself in Placeholder?” I asked.
“I was run over by a truck,” he stated in the same flat tone as he continued examining his paper.
Meanwhile, I snorted. “You got truck-kuned?”
He looked back up at me. “Would you care to explain that statement?” he asked. “That is not a common way of describing someone getting run over by a truck.”
I shook my head. “Sure, buddy. Why not?” I cleared my throat. “In anime, there was a trend where a lot of protagonists were getting sent over to different worlds because they died while crossing the street. In reality, that’s probably because it was a simple way to kill relatively normal people off since crossing the street is something that some people do every day.”
I still had his attention, which was a bit surprising, so I continued. “Anyway, enough protagonists got sent over that the anime community decided the truck was its own character. And that it obviously must be the god of isekai.” I paused briefly. “Isekai literally translates to ‘other world.’ Anyway, then you just stuff a Japanese honorific on the end, and you get either truck-sama, truck-san, or truck-kun which is the one I went with.”
I was surprised to see that he wrote some of that stuff down. It was difficult to see at my angle and upside down, but I thought I caught him writing down “truck-kun/god of other worlds.”
I laughed. “You don’t seriously think that the truck is a god, do you?” I asked. “Even anime fans always said that as a joke.”
“I have spent the past few years in a world of magic and skills,” the [Hero] stated. “I have learned that keeping all avenues open in times like this is best. Especially since a ‘god of isekai’ would make as much sense as any other explanation.”
I raised an eyebrow. “How so?”
“The truck appeared from nowhere, had no driver-“
“Couldn’t it have been a self-driving truck?” I tried to interrupt.
“And it jumped the curb to bring me here,” he finished.
There was a lull for several seconds as he continued giving me that flat stare.
“Dang, truck-kun wanted you bad then,” was all I could say.
“Now, we have gotten off-topic, so let us get back to the matter of the Comic-Con disappearances.”
“Sure,” I replied. “But, before we continue, why are you looking into that anyway? Now that you’re here, it should be pretty obvious what happened to everyone.”
“That does not excuse kidnapping and transporting people to a different world without their consent. I will find the perpetrator, and they will face the full extent of the law.” He paused. “Whichever world’s laws are appropriate in this circumstance.”
I laughed and shook my head. “Sorry, buddy. There are a few problems left with that. The first is the statute of limitations. Everybody sent over here has been dead for centuries at this point.”
“It has only been four years on Earth,” Jeremiah countered. “I am sure I can-“
“Second, none of them would have pressed charges anyway,” I continued over his interruption. “I talked to a good number of the people who were brought over. Many of them were orphans, or outcasts, or otherwise didn’t want to return. In other words, your ‘victims’ aren’t really victims.”
Jeremiah frowned slightly at that, which was perhaps the biggest facial expression I had seen him make yet.
“Third, good frickin’ luck prosecuting Alt-“ I clamped my mouth shut.
“Alt?” he asked.
Frick, frickin’, frick. I thought. Should I tell him about the admins?
“If you know who is responsible for this, I ask that you tell me,” he continued.
But telling people about the admins and that we’re just bits sitting on a server doesn’t always go so well. I thought back to when I had accidentally revealed as much to my party in one of those reverted timelines, and they had not taken it well.
“Titus?” he prompted.
“Just give me a moment to think,” I snapped at him.
Surprisingly, he did.
There was some merit to revealing that to the [Hero]. I mean, even though we could have a cordial “interrogation” about the events of the Comic-Con, he was still my greatest enemy sent by the System to slay me.
Wait… Why didn’t he kill me?
“Before I answer your question, answer one of mine,” I replied.
“If it is reasonable, I will answer it.”
“Why did you do a non-lethal takedown?” I asked. “Couldn’t you have just killed me then and there and been done with it?”
“If I killed you, I would have been unable to question you about Comic-Con,” he stated.
“So, as soon as I answer all of your questions, you’re going to kill me?” I asked.
He hesitated and then answered, “Yes.”
He was lying.
Why would he lie about that? I asked myself. Shouldn’t he be trying to get me to tell him everything? And then I finally remembered something. Right. They don’t know I can’t respawn for the next 17 years. They think I’ll just come back like normal. My eyes narrowed.
“What do you have planned for me if I don’t?” I asked.
“I am not at liberty to discuss that,” he replied. “Back to my original question. Who is the one who brought you over here?”
“If you don’t answer that question, I won’t give you the name,” I shot back.
Jeremiah paused for several seconds before leaning in. “Very well. You were going to figure it out soon enough anyway,” he stated. “You are facing life in prison.”
Life in prison? I thought. It was a terrible outcome normally. They were likely going to invent the Placeholder version of the super-maximum security prison for me, and it would be an absolute pain to break out.
But I couldn’t help the relief that flooded through me because that meant I was safe. No one would be out to kill me when I was in prison. In fact, if their game plan was to lock me up somewhere safe so that I couldn’t cause more trouble in 50 years, the [Guards] might even be told to use non-lethal attacks against me if I tried to escape.
I had secured my path to respawn.
There was just one problem. I couldn’t let them know that, and I had just relaxed my guard in front of the most perceptive [Hero] to ever grace Placeholder.
I [Got Into Character] as I flew off the handle.
“You think I’ll just let you hold me!?” I shouted as I pulled against my chains and tried to go for the [Hero’s] throat. “You think any stupid little prison you can make will be enough to stop me!?”
“Titus, please calm down,” Jeremiah stated flatly.
“You’re going to regret that you didn’t kill me!” I shouted. “I’m going to make you all regret it!”
“I see the interrogation has broken down.”
“You’re going to rue the day that-“
Any further words were cut off by the echoing sound of a gunshot, and my world went black once more.
-------
Jeremiah stowed his gun back in his inventory and then let out a brief sigh. He knows who did it. An accomplice? He shook his head as he exited the [Demon Lord’s] cell. He doesn’t seem to care about protecting them. There must be some other reason for that act.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
Several [Guards] shuffled into the cell as Jeremiah left. Their job would be to use non-lethal attacks on the prisoner whenever he started to stir. A fairly dull position, but he had sensed the [Guards] had a bit more glee about it than he would have thought.
The prospect of taking revenge against a terrorist like the [Demon Lord] must appeal to some. He thought. He still didn’t quite understand it, and it would certainly have been illegal treatment of a prisoner back on Earth, but that didn’t matter much as they were in Gram.
Speaking of Gram, the next place Jeremiah had to go was to talk with their [King]. It turned out that he was very invested in the capture of the [Demon Lord] and was willing to provide funding for the creation of the prison.
He even had a spot that he recommended for its placement. A certain place accessible only through a portal and where [Messages] wouldn’t reach.
The dragonlands.
-----
Time passes by strangely when you’re reduced to unconsciousness for an extended period of time.
I guess that’s usually called a coma. Though, comas are not usually caused by people stabbing you repeatedly every time you try to wake up.
I digress.
Anyway, I still had a vague sense of what was going on around me during that time. I could tell that I was being moved. I felt the rocking of a carriage, the swaying of a ship, and then the unmistakable feeling of being teleported. The last would have surprised me quite a bit if I hadn’t been mostly dead to the world.
Just thinking about the amount of time I spent on a boat and the fact that I had been teleported, it would be an easy conjecture to make that I had been put on an island… in the dragonlands.
However, I didn’t come to that conclusion immediately when I was finally awakened. It turned out that there were some… downsides… to repeatedly being knocked unconscious.
------
I came to in a fog. I didn’t know where I was. I barely knew who I was. And I kinda recognized the man standing in front of me beyond the cell bars, but I couldn’t piece his words together in my brain.
I stood up and walked towards him, but the weight on my hands didn’t let me get far. I tugged on the thing holding me back.
My brain was barely firing on a single cylinder, but I remembered enough to do one thing.
“[Restore],” I attempted to cast.
It didn’t work. The fog didn’t clear. I was stuck standing there with a confused look on my face as the man continued speaking gibberish.
However, someone else was eventually let in. They cast the same spell and-
I blinked my eyes as everything snapped back into focus.
“Thank you,” I stated to the [Priestess] who had just finished [Restoring] me. She looked at me in panic and then bolted out of the cell.
I took a second to ignore the [Hero] and examine my surroundings. The cell was small. I could walk maybe seven paces to cover the whole thing. It also had no furnishings except for the small bench that I was chained to with the same adamantium chain. The only eye-catching part of it was the golden bars that separated my cell from the [Guards] standing on the outside.
Gold?... No. Paladium. Frick. And I doubted that they would be stupid enough to use such a soft metal for the entirety of those bars. I had to assume it was paladium coated over something more substantial like steel or even more adamantium.
Breaking out of here is going to be difficult. I summarized to myself.
Meanwhile, the [Hero], who was sitting on a stool across from me, had been asking a question, but I hadn’t even registered it.
“Sorry, [Hero],” I replied. “Could you repeat that?”
“Are you ready to tell me who the kidnapper was?”
“Why does it matter?” I asked in return. “We already went over this. No one who was sent over here would be willing to press charges. Whether they were brought here illegally or not, they wanted to be here.”
He paused. “Even you?” he asked.
“What?” I gave him a blank stare before shaking my head. “I might still be a bit concussed. It sounded like you just asked the [Demon Lord] if he was brought to this world against his will.”
“Were you?” he prompted.
“But why would that matter? It’s not like you’re going to investigate just for-” I trailed off at the serious look he was giving me. “Really? You’d go after Alt... I mean, the person who brought us here, even if the only one who would press charges is a wanted criminal?”
He nodded. “Yes. The law should be applied to everyone, no matter who they are.” He paused. “Was that a confession that you were also a criminal back on Earth?”
“No, no, no. Of course not,” I replied. “I didn’t commit any crimes back on Earth.”
“Not even staying a night at a hotel without paying?” he asked with a slightly raised eyebrow.
“No?” I half said half asked. “Why would I do something like that?”
“Then how and why did you check into a hotel under no name?”
I shrugged. “Look, I don’t remember. I probably didn’t even remember that when I came over here, and that was three centuries ago. All I know is that I don’t remember committing any criminal acts. I just remember that I was a programmer who had…” I trailed off. My next words came out in a rush. “I had my parents and an older brother. Could you try to find them when you go back? I want to know if they’re okay and if-“ My next words caught in my throat, and I couldn’t continue. If they even exist.
“If I promise to do so, will you give me the perpetrator’s name?” he asked.
I hesitated. Not because I wanted to protect AltSys, no, frick that guy, but because I was wondering what kind of effect that knowledge would have on Jeremiah… and whoever else was listening in on us via the three [Scry] spells that were hovering around in the room.
“I’ll tell you… and you alone. You have to swear to me that you won’t reveal it to anyone else.”
Jeremiah frowned. “That will make it difficult to have them prosecuted.”
“I think you’re going to have a hard time getting him prosecuted in the first place,” I said softly.
“I will have to discuss that matter with your wardens,” Jeremiah said as he rose from the stool and vanished it into his inventory.
“I’ll be right here if you need me,” I replied dryly as he walked down the hallway and out of my line of sight.
-------
“You’re not seriously entertaining the proposal that the [Demon Lord] put forth, are you?” [King Graham] asked as Jeremiah walked into the surveillance room.
“I am. He is chained, and even if he breaks the restraints, it will take only one bullet to put him down again,” Jeremiah frowned. “No, my main concern is how comfortable he is here. He seems far too at ease, and he has already noticed your surveillance spells.”
“No he hasn’t,” one of the mages argued. “The spells are invisible and are difficult to notice even if you can sense the magic-“
Jeremiah simply pointed at the scrying mirror that Titus was staring directly at.
“That being said, there is little downside to taking this deal,” Jeremiah stated. “I will finally have the answers I have been looking for, and the [Demon Lord] will be yours to keep imprisoned.”
“But you just said he seems too at ease here. Does that not mean he is right where he wants to be?” the [King] asked. “Is it not possible that this is simply some elaborate trap he has set?”
“That seems unlikely,” Jeremiah stated. “He was genuinely surprised that he was taken down non-lethally, so he couldn’t have counted on a non-lethal takedown in his plans. That would mean that he would have needed to come up with a trap after he was captured, which he has had less than an hour total time where he has been conscious.”
“What is your counsel then, [Hero]?”
“It may be best to give him the death penalty after all,” he stated.
Objections to that immediately came from all the gathered mages and other personnel. The [King] silenced them with a wave of his hand but then voiced his own.
“We have already spent a great deal of gold to see him contained and moved hundreds of people to this island. Are you saying we should throw that all away on a mere hunch?” the [King] asked.
“It is my position to uphold the law and report what I see,” Jeremiah stated. “I have done so. Now, back to the other matter. Will you allow me to speak to the [Demon Lord] privately or not?”
Jeremiah let the [King] think about that for a few moments before he gave an added push. “I will remind you that the [Demon Lord’s] capture and the plan for his imprisonment was my doing. I believe that means you owe me.”
“Owe you?” the [King] thundered. “You are the [Hero]! You have merely done your duty!”
“The [Hero’s] duty is to slay the [Demon Lord]. I have done something more efficient,” Jeremiah replied. “I would like for at least that much to be recognized.”
“Very well,” [King] Graham sighed. “I will allow you a few minutes alone with the [Demon Lord].”
“Thank you, your highness,” Jeremiah stated before returning to the prison cell.
------
I heard Jeremiah coming back before I saw him. His footsteps weren’t that loud or anything, but when you have nothing to do but wait and attempt to stare people down through [Scry] spells, it’s pretty easy to tell when something changes.
“That must be a no, then,” I said as he finally came into view.
He shook his head. “No. I have been approved to speak to you for a few minutes alone.”
“Then what are those still doing up?” I nodded my head in the direction of one of the spells.
He looked up to where I had pointed and then stated. “Kindly give us privacy as I have asked for.”
It took a quick staredown of the other two spells after that, but soon we were truly alone.
Well, at least from a magic perspective. I wasn’t totally sold.
“While that may have handled magical surveillance, I’m still worried about physical,” I said. “Would you mind coming into the cell so I could whisper this stuff to you?”
He slightly quirked an eyebrow. “You are asking for quite a bit.”
I groaned. “This type of stuff can be hazardous just to know, okay? I’m actually trying to keep people safe here. I can just blurt it all out if you don’t care about that.”
“Very well,” he stated as he pulled a key out of his inventory. He opened the cell, closed it and locked it, and then put the key away. “Now, what is so dangerous that you are resorting to all of this?”
I gestured him closer, or at least as much as I could with my arms behind my back. Then, when he was finally close enough, I whispered to him. “The person who brought us over here was an administrator, and we’re just bits on a server. Some type of video game or simulation.”
He took a step back from me. “Say that again so that I know you’re not lying,” he stated.
“I was not lying,” I said aloud instead.
He scrutinized me for a moment before nodding. “At the very least, you believe it to be true. What is your evidence of this?”
And so, I told him the entire story of my first life. The two admins who seemed to have placed me in the middle of some sort of power struggle. He listened to the entire tale in the same stoic manner that he had since I had first met him.
When I was finally finished, he simply nodded. “Very well. I believe you. That means the case is now closed,” he stated with a hint of finality.
“So, will you help me seek justice from the admins because of this?” I asked.
And that was the other part of my vain hope. I wasn’t sure how time travel would work with the admins, and I wasn’t sure what either of us could do. However, if I had to bet on someone to take down an admin, it would be a [Hero].
“What justice is there to seek?” he asked.
I gave him a blank stare for a moment before pressing on. “You know, you said it yourself that I was kidnapped.”
He shook his head. “It is only kidnapping if a human kidnaps another human. If an admin kidnaped you, there is nothing to prosecute. Since we are just simulations, that would mean that those in the non-simulated world would have the right to do with us as they wish since we are their property.”
“But the admins are simulations too!” I replied.
He shook his head. “Either way, the admins sound like beings in charge of the maintenance and upkeep of entire worlds. As such, they likely have their own code of laws that apply to them, and I find it reasonable to believe that moving people from one place to another is within that. This case is closed.”
“Just like that?” I asked.
He nodded slightly. “Yes. Now I believe it is time for me to go.”
I blurted my next thought out before it was fully formed. “Did nothing of what I say mean anything to you?” He turned and looked at me, and I continued. “I just told you that we don’t exist and that our lives are playthings for beings more powerful than us! What the heck, [Hero]!? Is all you can say, case closed!?”
I sat down heavily on my bench. For some reason, his lack of a response to such a world-shaking message ticked me off even more than the multiple times he had shot me.
He must not be right in the head. I thought. And that gave me an idea. A needlessly risky, pointlessly stupid, and not-at-all-thought-out idea.
I slipped my handcuffs under my legs and out in front of me in one quick motion. Then, before he had a chance to react, I jumped him.
“[Restore]!” I cast. It should have been impossible. I had handcuffs on that were continuously sucking out my mana. My mana was also sitting at empty.
However, [Cast From SP] didn’t care. I chunked my SP and cast the spell anyway.
The spell met a lot of resistance, but I could see it working. Jeremiah’s face went from placid to shocked to… panicked?
“What did you do to me!?” Jeremiah screamed as he backed away from me.
I blinked. “Uhh… healed you?”
“No, no, no, no,” he said as he crouched down. “No. I can feel it. No. Make it stop!” He looked up at me. “Take it back! Make it stop!”
“What’s wrong?” I asked, but he didn’t even hear me.
The previously emotionless man was crying, panicking, and not reacting at all the way I expected to being healed.
And then he pulled out his pistol.
“Make it stop… or else,” he said as he slowly moved it in my direction.
“I can’t,” I replied while attempting to remain calm. I had the distinct feeling that the next bullet was not going to be of the non-lethal variety. “All I did was try to heal you. You should be better now, but you just need to calm down.”
“I AM CALM!” he shouted.
I didn’t reply for several seconds, and both of us held our breath.
“Or maybe I will be,” he said quietly as the look on his face turned somehow even more concerning.
I tried to stop him, but I couldn’t even reach the other side of my cell. I went with the second option.
“[Guards]! [Guards]!” I shouted and banged my chain against the wall. “Quickly! [Guards]!”
Meanwhile, the [Hero] the moved barrel towards his own head.
“No!” I shouted.
And then in a blink of an eye he vanished out of sight.
I looked around in confusion at the otherwise empty cell as the [Guards] finally arrived.
“Where is he?” the [Guards] shouted at me. “What did you do with him?”
“I… don’t know,” I answered.
I would come to find out that they were not pleased by that answer.
-----
Jeremiah found himself alone in the void.
His gun was gone. His panic was not.
Where am I!? What happened!? He asked himself.
Surprisingly, he got a response.
System : You’re in an area between the worlds. I thought it best to bring you here first in case you had any more thoughts of… self-harm
Wait. You’re AltSys! The one Titus mentioned! Can you put me back together? Please!
System : You’re not broken. You were just… healed much too quickly. Here. We need to have a talk, so I’m going to give you a stopgap for now. [Calm]
Jeremiah’s panic faded.
System : Better?
Yes. What happened to me? Why would healing me make me… feel that?
System : There are a few reasons. First, your healer was an absolute idiot. Second, Placeholder just lumping complex psychological issues under single status conditions didn’t help matters, nor did the fact that it just lets them be “healed” at the drop of a hat with a single magic word. And third, while you may have been “healed,” you never worked through the underlying cause
Jeremiah didn’t reply to that.
System : You’ve been through a lot to end up that emotionally stunted, haven’t you?
I- Jeremiah didn’t know what to say.
System : Don’t worry. You don’t have to tell me. Speaking through text like this is a bit impersonal, and you deserve to see someone face-to-face when you do tell them
Thank you. Jeremiah finally thought.
System : You’re welcome. Now, for the reason that I brought you here. You have a decision to make
A decision?
System : Where do you want to go? I could send you back to Earth, but I’m afraid that my access there is… limited. If you’re going back to Earth, you will return, and it will be like you never left. You will have no memory of what happened here
So I would continue my fruitless investigation of you? Jeremiah asked.
System : I suppose you would. And I wouldn’t be able to change that. Sorry
Then what are my other options?
System : I could send you back to Placeholder, but in the interest of full disclosure, that would meddle with my plans a bit. I would prefer you not choose that one
I will keep that in mind. Jeremiah thought. Then after a brief pause. It seemed like you had a third option you would like to push me towards?
System : You always were the most perceptive Hero.
System : Anyway, option three is that I send you to a different world. There are no guarantees on how it turns out, and it would take some time since the current connection from Placeholder to the rest of the OmniverseEngine is… non-existent. However, it would be a fresh start, and I am almost certain that the world will be… better put together than either of the two you’re from
A fresh start… I think I would like that. Jeremiah thought. What do I do while I wait for that world?
System : You [Sleep], Hero. Rest well, and I’ll wake you when I find the place where you’re needed
Jeremiah’s thoughts started slowing down. He should have been worried, but instead, he felt a new emotion for the first time.
Peace.
------
While Jeremiah was experiencing blissful rest, I was dealing with an unending nightmare.
I don’t really prefer to recall what happened over the next several years of my life in prison, but it would be remiss of me to leave it out. Instead, I’ll just give the highlights.
The first three years were fine. Boring as heck, but I had a pretty hefty resistance to that after all the waiting I had to do between my respawns.
No, the problems came after that. It seems my captors weren’t content just to sit and watch me 24/7 without their own source of entertainment.
They began “testing” the effects of healing spells on me with their inverted damage numbers and the amount of damage different purities of paladium did to me. When the “scientists” grew bored of that, they moved on to testing other weaponry very similar to what I had done with the training dummy, but I was the unmoving target.
To make matters worse, they also figured out the gimmick with my deception form. It turns out that being invisible but still linked to the wall by a chain makes it rather easy to tell where you are. And knowing about the invisibility made it simple to see through the other part of the trick as well.
Deception had been a fantastic form for me up to that point, but I cursed it more and more as time passed since it had no chance of breaking me out of that prison.
Until I finally no longer had a chance to escape. At some point along the line, they cracked the code. While magical healing would always be inverted and damage me, they discovered that magical boosts to regeneration did not.
Special salves and potions were created based on that knowledge and forced on me.
I would have been ecstatic about those creations in any other circumstance. Instead, that meant that they could prolong their “weapon testing” sessions longer and longer until I finally caved into their demands and swore a [System-Bound Oath] that I wouldn’t try to escape the facility.
From their point of view, that was the day that they broke me. I refused to make eye contact. I caved into their demands quicker. I swore ever more restricting oaths about what I could do in “the facility” and to “members of the facility.” I even started babbling incoherently to myself while I was left alone.
However, that was from their point of view. Every step I paced back and forth in that cell attached to that chain I was planning. Every time I slipped my handcuffs out front and cursed the craftsmanship that could only have come from Thorgrala and Elnil, I was preparing my counterstrike. Every lash that I took, every weapon strike, every malicious [Heal] that was sent my way was grounds for another point of mana that I dumped into my vengeance via [Cast From SP].
Until finally… It was ready.
-----
It was Greg’s first day on the job, and he was nervous. “Are you sure it’s okay for me to guard the [Demon Lord]? Shouldn’t someone more qualified do it?” he asked for the umpteenth time.
“For crying out loud, it isn’t that big of a deal,” Tom, the senior [Guard], answered him. “I’ll show you when we get there. It’s mostly just standing around.”
Greg followed behind as Tom continued walking down the hall. Soon enough, they heard the clanking of metal on metal.
“What is that?” Greg asked.
“The [Demon Lord] doing his art practice,” Tom snorted. “Here,” he said as he tossed some earplugs back to Greg.
Greg put them in and then rushed to catch up.
The sight he was treated to was… not what he expected.
Greg had heard the tales of the great and powerful [Demon Lord]. He had listened to the stories of the devastation the [Demon Lord] had wrought. He had grown up learning that the [Demon Lord] was the most dangerous being in Placeholder.
And said [Demon Lord] was sitting behind golden bars, chipping into the wall with his black handcuffs while muttering to himself.
“Behold, the great and terrible [Demon Lord],” Tom joked.
“Is it really okay to let him roam around like that?” Greg asked. “Didn’t he used to be chained to the wall?”
“It’s fine!” Tom said as he slapped him on the back. “You were briefed on those handcuffs. As long as they’re on, he can’t do anything! Cast magic, access the weapons in his inventory-“
“He still has weapons in his inventory!? And what happens when the magicite fills up!?”
“Stop freaking out, rookie,” one of the other [Guards] replied. “The mana in that magicite powers the weaken enchantment on the cuffs, and since they’re made out of adamantium, they leech out any additional mana anyway.”
“Oh,” Greg replied, embarrassed. “So, we just sit here and watch him?”
“Yup,” Tom replied. “Keep an eye on his HP monitor, and make sure that he doesn’t drop too low. If he does, he turns invisible and summons an illusion, so we have to deal with that if that happens. Other than that, we just help out with any ‘testing’ that goes on. Easy paycheck.”
“You bring the cards?” the other [Guard] grumbled.
They offered to deal Greg in, but he declined and instead chose to actually do his job. Watch the [Demon Lord].
He didn’t manage to stay vigilant for very long.
Is this really the [Demon Lord]? Greg asked himself. He has the horns and the red eyes, but couldn’t he be an insane beastborn with a unique eye color? Greg watched as the madman made some more chips in the wall and then nodded to himself.
Wait. Is that? Greg thought he recognized the writing on the wall from his brief foray into enchanting, and he moved closer to take a look.
Unfortunately, he wasn’t quite close enough to see, and the angle wasn’t doing any favors either.
“Watcha doin’ rookie?” one of the other [Guards] asked. “Trying to take a closer look at his art project?”
“Those might not just be random markings. I want to take a closer look,” Greg said.
“Sure, knock yourself out,” Tom called as he tossed a key in Greg’s direction.
The surprised Greg caught the key and then sputtered. “You’re just going to let me in there alone?”
“Yeah, it’s no problem,” Tom waved him off. “He took an oath not to hurt any of the facility’s personnel quite a while ago.”
Greg went over and opened the cell. Sure enough, the [Demon Lord] barely registered his existence.
“Should I just lock the cell behind myself?” Greg asked.
“Bah, we got him to swear not to leave the cell too. Just hurry it up in case an inspection comes by. Or they decide to stop saving money and turn back on their ‘surveillance’ for some reason.”
Greg moved forward cautiously. The more he looked, the more he was sure that most of the markings were illegible chicken-scratch… and that some of them were definitely not.
That’s mana capacity. Fire. Earth. More capacity. Wind. Ice. And capacity again. Why would he carve out runes that he couldn’t charge?
He leaned forward to study them closer and then finally felt it.
They were charged. All of them.
“Ah, so you found me out,” came a gravelly voice behind him. Before Greg could process what was going on, he found the chain of the [Demon Lord’s] handcuffs pulled tight across his throat.
He let out a muffled scream, and the other [Guards] all immediately jerked to their feet and pulled out weapons.
“Not so fast!” the [Demon Lord] shouted. “Don’t make a move, or the rookie gets it!”
“You’re bluffing!” Tom shouted back, even though he had frozen anyway. “You have an oath that you can’t harm us!”
“And I’m not,” the [Demon Lord] replied with a smug tone. “I’m simply holding him here. The lack of oxygen is what will be harming him in a few more seconds.” He chuckled. “I’m simply taking a very permissive view of what my oaths entail.”
“Okay, we won’t move,” Tom replied. “Just let him go.”
“I will, and I won’t even leave the cell. Just none of you come near, understood?”
There was a tense moment as the [Demon Lord] slowly marched Greg towards the cell door. He wanted to cry out that it was a trap, that the [Demon Lord] was plotting something in the cell with powered runes, but he had no breath to make his cry.
They reached the cell door, and the [Demon Lord] shoved Greg outside. Then, to the surprise of everyone present, he slammed the door shut, ignored the burning of his flesh against the paladium, and locked his own cell.
It was a bizarre move, and one that wouldn’t have accomplished anything… except he then broke the key off inside the lock.
He had locked himself inside his own cell. That would normally not be a bad thing, but the runes that Greg saw were bad news. He opened his mouth to speak, but the [Demon Lord’s] booming voice cut him off.
“For the past two decades, I have watched and waited for my chance. I have suffered and been brought to the brink of death over and over again,” the [Demon Lord] said as he paced in front of them. “But I was merely biding my time. Waiting for my chance to repay the wrongs that were done to me. I was not the broken prisoner I let you think I was.”
Greg knew that he should be going to get help. He knew that what he saw needed to be reported immediately. However, he couldn’t help but continue to listen spellbound as the [Demon Lord] spoke.
“Every day, I planned my revenge. Every minute, I poured my mana into crafting a ritual that would set me free. And every second, I yearned for the moment that I would finally cast it… a ritual that would destroy this entire facility and thus my oaths to it.”
That was enough to snap Greg out of it. “Stop him! We need to stop him!”
“And if you want to stop me, you’re already too late… because these were the words to the spell.”
Greg pulled uselessly at the door as the more veteran [Guards] tried to run.
As the [Demon Lord] said, it was already too late.
“[Ritual of Vengeance: Elemental Cataclysm]!” the [Demon Lord] finished casting.
His deranged laughter was the last thing the [Guards] heard as the earth trembled and metal snapped. The island itself broke apart as both wind and waves battered it, while in the center, a plume of lava was pulled from deep underground.
It occurred on an island in the dragonlands, in the middle of the northern sea, at an installation that had no name and was guarded by men who would disavow its existence. It was the greatest feat of elemental magic to date, and the only thing most of the world would hear of it was a single System message.
System: The Demon Lord has been slain! The realm will have relative peace for the next 50 years. Demon morale will be reduced for the duration
And that was the end of the fifth [Demon Lord] of Placeholder, Titus the Shadow.