The healing process revealed to me just how badly mauled I'd been after that singular attack from Jorge. It went far beyond feeling my bones pop back into place or all but feeling new blood filling my veins as Focus and buff assisted healing made the process almost tactile, it was the damaged pieces literally falling off me. I knew that my tungsten scales and carapace had been damaged by the attack, but actually seeing it as new scales and carapace rapidly grew in that fully registered the damage to me.

The massive carapace plates of my back, that got as thick as three inches in places, had been bent into sharp 'V's where they hadn't simply failed and shattered. This was a metal that I'd watched shrug off rounds designed to kill airplanes and that would go THROUGH hills and feet of armor smashed up and crumpled like it had been simple aluminum can stomped on by a heavy boot. The fact that I'd endured such a blow well enough to be brought back and not simply bisected spoke of both how durable I now was and just how horrifyingly powerful some of the forces we were facing these days were. These heavy chunks of twisted metal instilled more fear in me than any of Jeremy's accidental horrors.

I was more than happy to let Jack take them away for experimentation so I wouldn't have to think about how terribly close to death I'd come. I circled a bit closer to the bonfire as a soul deep chill rippled through me. I'd died, more than that I'd died without having gone to confession after killing two people. H-had I nearly gone to hell?

No, I couldn't have. The bible not only had allowances for its followers to defend themselves and others, it even encouraged its followers to strike down the wicked with both words and deeds. It didn't allow for murder, and I hadn't murdered those men. Hadn't I? Sure, it seemed like 'Bones' hadn't been capable of actually harming me and he'd died so horribly easily, but that didn't make it murder. I was still heaven bound, even if it would take a few centuries of purgatory, wasn't I?

I couldn't shake the thought of both Jorge and 'Bones' hanging off me like heavy anchors with rictus smiles as they dragged me down into the darkness of hell. Would I still be able to reach Heaven if I added another damned soul to the mix? It wasn't like I had been a bastion of righteousness before the Event. I had been drenched deeply in several of the deadly sins despite my attempts to try and put them behind me and rise above my simple animal desires. If I had really died then, what would be waiting for me?

We were already coming up upon the stadium where the combatants were being held and yet it felt to me more like I was the one being guided to the gallows as I was flanked by Omar and Jack. I felt myself caught in a roiling conflict as a dozen different concepts and guidelines rolled through me like a turbulent sea. Bible verses calling to forgive those who wronged us waged war with cold facts such as 'Mercy for the criminal is cruelty for the victim' and 'Mercy is a luxury of the strong'.

I intellectually knew that a great many of these people were more victims of Jorge than true criminals, yet some of them were actual criminals. I'd dealt with enough bullies and thugs growing up to know that they would see compassion and mercy as a weakness to exploit, they needed to see consequences for their actions or nothing would change. Yet I still found my mind whirling like a fan to try and find some sort of out that would exempt me from having to do what I knew needed to be done for fear of my own immortal soul.

As we entered the stadium I closed my eyes and bowed my head as I turned to my rock in this emotional storm.

Lord God.

Lift up I who is tasked to carry out the sentence of death, I ask that You guide me with compassion and justice. As You forgave those who crucified Your Son, Jesus Christ, may I too be forgiven and find mercy in Your eyes.

May my actions be motivated not by hatred or revenge, but by a desire to uphold the law and protect society.

Grant me the wisdom and discernment to distinguish between justice and vengeance, and may I always seek to serve You and up hold Your commandments.

As Jesus prayed for those who crucified Him, may I too pray for those I execute, asking for their souls to be spared and for them to find redemption in Your loving presence.

May Your grace and mercy be upon me, and may I be the instrument of Your peace and justice in this world.

In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.

As the prayer finished I sighed out a slow breath as the turmoil in my mind calmed. The old prayer had reminded me that upholding law and protecting others was a necessary act that God and Jesus both understood and allowed so long as I did not let my anger guide me. I would take no pleasure in what had to be done.

The old baseball, soccer, and football stadium easily held the twenty nine people being held prisoner and their wardens of buzzing bees, fluttering moths, and prowling hounds. What caught me off guard was the sight of a deer with wind chime like antlers standing before the crowd. I quickly realized it was Dustin and began to ask what the old professor was doing here.

Then the sound of his gently rattling horns as he slowly swayed back and forth reached me. It was such a wonderfully unique sound that was almost painfully familiar as I listened to it. I found myself lost in trying to place the musical rattling pings of his dangling antlers. Was it a crystal xylophone it was reminding me of? Perhaps the sound of someone playing glasses or spoons?

"Ah you've arrived." Despite not having legs I felt like I tripped as his antlers stilled and fell silent. "Then I shall take my leave. I hold no desire to bear witness to whatever depraved barbarity you have planned for these people, irregardless of how necessary you believe your actions to be. Good day sirs, madam."

I watched the deer man leave, still feeling terribly disoriented from his music, a feeling that seemed to be shared by everyone in the stadium. When I gathered myself enough to slither onto the field with my escorts I could see a new ripple of emotions move through the crowd.

Fear, dread, shock, confusion, were by far the majority of the emotions I saw. My people saw me looking whole and unharmed and called out a joyous welcome. Cami looked up at me with a fragile hope as I coiled at home plate and raised my head high to 'stand' far above the gathered people.

"You have attacked us," I began simply, keeping my voice as devoid of emotion as possible. With the metallic reverb my voice had, it came out sounding almost mechanical. "I have warned you, repeatedly, of the consequences of such acts." The stench of fear flooded the stadium as I paused, "Your crimes are only mitigated by the fact many of you were forced here against your will and the fact God frowns on needless violence. This does not mean you will be getting off without consequences." I spotted the Chupacabra knock off trying to hide himself in the middle of the crowd. I pointed at him with my tail. "Spider."

As we'd discussed beforehand Jack and Omar cut through the crowd and grabbed the man up, dragging him forwards even as he struggled against them with a wild fury. They brought him before me and forced him to kneel. "Matilda, if you'd please." She seemed startled but recovered quickly, several of her moths quickly descending and wrapping his arms and legs in silk. Omar and Jack backed away into the stands to watch the proceedings grimly.

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"Fuck fuck fuck, no! Please no. Fuck!" Spider whimpered as he struggled against his bindings, "Come on man, have some mercy! God said to have mercy and forgive people, si? I promise it won't happen again."

"I already showed you mercy Spider." I stated flatly, "I give you several chances to turn away from this path and warn your friends from the path as well. Now three people are dead because you refused to change. This is not the towering empire that can afford to show you the careless and infinite mercy you have grown used to. We are a shattered nation trying to pick up the pieces and you have been seeking to smash those pieces still further."

I lifted my tail letting the heavy blade point skywards in a ready position as I continued, "I am sorry we do not have a priest to deliver unto you your last rights. I will allow you to have a moment to make your peace with God."

"No! Please! Come on man! This is too much!" Spider wailed as he thrashed about. He looked deep into my eyes and I felt a flash of fear spike in my mind. It soon was burned away as hesitance left me and was replaced with grim resolve. "Fuck! Come on bro, it was just us having some fun! We weren't doing anything too bad! Just let me go and I promise I'll go straight! Just don't k-!"

"May God take mercy on your soul." I activated Myoelectric mutagen, letting the extra strength pour into my muscles as I swung the eight foot slab of metal in the rough shape of a sword down on Spider with a clap of thunder.

Considering the size of the tool being used and the strength it had been swung with, the result was less a cut and more an explosion as Spider's body burst apart like a watermelon with an m-80 inside it. Gore splattered the two nearest rows of people, myself, and the stadium walls. a lot of people screamed, others looked very green under the gills, a few openly vomited. More than a few people looked at the bloody splatter on the ground and the few pieces of bone and flesh buried and cooking under my electrified tail with open horror.

–You have slain Félix Perez–

–Gained 400xp!–

"Vergib mir Gott," I sighed quietly as I turned to the crowd, pointed, and said, "Camila."

Omar and Jack both climbed down from the stands and approached the ashen looking woman and carried her over while trying to avoid stepping on the blood and offal as much as possible. They placed her tiny trembling form before me and after a long pause Matilda tied the woman down and let the other two men return to their seats.

"Camila," I said, voice cold as I looked down at her. "You have admitted to being a spy. While you did betray your companions to side with us, you did so for the worst reasons. You turned against people you knew, who were friends and brothers to your husband, for slightly more comfortable living conditions. This shows you to be a shallow and fickle ally at best, one likely to turn on us the second you think you could get a slightly better deal elsewhere. Were it up to me I would literally brand the word traitor into your flesh and cast you out." I watched coldly as the woman wilted visibly. Tears building in her eyes.

"You are very lucky then, that your fate is not left to my judgment." I turned to look at Omar who outright glared at me as he quickly realized what I was doing. "Omar, you will be leading our people so I leave this woman's fate up to you. What is to be her fate?"

Cami turned to look up at my friend with pleading eyes while I did my best to keep emotions out of my gaze and simply wait for him to decide. Omar's frown deepened as he looked down at the bat. Consternation, anger, annoyance, worry, all flickered across his face as the silence lengthened. He shifted into a pose not dissimilar from a famous barbarian king as he grunted and leaned back in his seat, drumming fingers along his leg. He looked at me for a good minute, before looking at his hands, and finally letting his tumultuous gaze linger at the silently pleading woman stuck to the floor before him. He let out a long slow sigh as his posture sagged before pushing himself to his feet.

"I agree with a lot of Joe's sentiments on this case," Omar stated firmly, "However, I was once not too different from you Cami. I was an uncaring asshole who did the least he could do to afford my many vices. Then someone gave me a chance and encouraged me to improve myself, constantly pushing me to be better, and ever improve myself. So as I was given that chance, I shall now offer you this chance to do and become better. You will be allowed to stay among us should you desire it, or leave. Should you betray this opportunity, there will be no third chance. At best you will be banished, at worst." He gestured to the bloody crack in the ground where Spider had once stood. "Do you understand?"

"Yes, thank you! Thank you! I won't let you down sir!" Camila all but wept as she seemed to go nearly boneless with relief.

I simply nodded at his judgment, doing my best to try and make it clear to everyone that Omar was the one in charge and not me. Hopefully it would make his transition into official leadership easier and make these conscripts and thugs afraid of just what he could do that would keep someone like me in line. I waited for Matilda's moths to free the woman from her silk before turning back to the crowd and pointing to the three men I'd identified as official members of Tango who were still alive.

One by one, they were dragged up and placed before me. A tarantula, an alligator, and a big horn ram none of them seemed to have evolved. All of them were radiating fear and desperate hope as they were secured before me. I was silent for a moment as I cast a judgmental eye over each of them. None of them seemed like the type to be hardened jailbait or part of one of Texas' larger gangs, they just seemed like scared young men who were realizing too late they'd taken things too far.

"I will be honest," I rumbled, "I do not know any of you. All I know is that when Jorge called you to war you not only answered but were willing to lead others in his plans. While that does not speak well of your character, it is hardly enough to call down any harsh punishments." Some tension left the three, but I noticed that the gator in particular seemed to be waiting for the other shoe to drop. I obliged him. "So I will let those you led here speak in your defense or condemn you."

I looked out over the crowd of conscripts, "If you have seen these men commit great evils or anything you believe makes them worthy of life, speak now. Their lives hang in the balance."

There was a beat of silence before a gorilla woman raised her voice, telling how the ram had come across Spider attempting to violate her and run him off. Several spoke of the gator doing what he could to secret them more food and doing what he could to make things more comfortable for them. Not a single person had a bad thing to say of the ram, who many declared to be 'rude but fair'. The tarantula had far more people condemn him, speaking of his frequent brutality, and the way he'd silently watched people while they slept. Then the accusation of cannibalism came up.

"They're lying!" The tarantula instantly denied all eight eyes wide with terror. "I never did such a thing."

"He did," the ram stated with a cold fury. "I was there while Jorge was ripping you a new one for that shit and threatening to step on you if he caught you pulling that mierda again." He spat a thick wad of snot at the tarantula, "Would have ripped your fucking gili legs off myself if he hadn't stopped me."

"That's a load of bullshit Tomb-!"

I brought my tail blade down full force on the tarantula man, resulting in a new explosion of gore coating everyone. There were very few things that could mitigate cannibalism in my eyes, none of them were in play here. Someone willing to commit such an unforgivable crime was less than a human in my eyes. Simply a rabid animal to be put down.

–You have killed Carlos Mendez–

–Gained 400xp–

"Well then," I said pleasantly as one could while coated in the exploded gore of two men, "Now that we've got that unpleasantness out of the way, I think it is about time we escort you back to your church to help make clear to everyone there about the recent change in management." I turned and smiled up at Omar, "Hey boss," my smile got all the wider as he scowled at me for that, "Should we send a runner up to the Veranda? I bet Sargent Donald would like to be part of this."