I let Jaina organize dealing with the supplies. Then I bid everyone a good day. I figured the showy stuff was over for now.

Raynor lead Tassadar around showing him the town. Probius was scanning everything, and unsurprisingly his scanner was much more potent than the ordinary Probes' version. Amanda was talking to Guzman and Nolan about something.

John vanished, his pets emulated his ability. Already had them trained. Figured.

Mith was bouncing around smelling everything. He got lots of pets as his met each person.

Let's see, that left the 8 Unit Upgrade tokens. I'd wait on using those. I figured it be best to use them on any powerful limited units that were coming up, or maybe save them for units I could get after I used the Theme Restriction Reduction token.

The Building Upgrade tokens were next.

I trekked back into the Valley, Mithril trailing behind me. Once upon a time this was a tiring activity, now I barely noticed it.

Alina let me know that the Stargate was complete.

I paused. I wanted to go look at it before it warped into orbit, but I had a lot to get done and it would still be there tomorrow.

I felt my BTC squeeze.

[ Congratulations you have survived Phase 1 ]

What?

[ You have been determined to be the Victor of this Phase ]

Well, we have done some amazing things, but I ready don't like the tone...

Wait, victor against who? Who was I competing against?

[ Your awards will be available at your Hub ]

My what now? Where the hell is that?

[ Prepare for reset ]

What? NO!

The whiteness claimed me.

There was that fucking desk again. This time it was all green.

The infinite expanse of bright white nothing crashed into my perception. The glare hurt.

Worse the brightly glowing asshole, somehow looking down on me, despite not having any discernable eyes.

My unnamed Case Worker.

"Well look at you, slick. Managed to take first place. That's going to look great on my quarterly report." A sneering tone.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

"Wha... " I began.

"Now don't go talking and ruining the little sliver of good will I'm feeling right now." The vaguely human-shaped mass of energy snapped it's fingers. Who did it think it was, Thanos?

My mouth refused to work, and even my thoughts became sluggish.

"What kind of luck do you have? You got advanced technology right at the start. A fucking Demigod animal companion which kept trying to work more fortune into the very land around your starting zone." Cockbag, yeah I'm going to think of it as Cockbag from now on, tsked.

"Then you got the Class 6 threat of John Wick. We all just about shit ourselves. We reclassified him as a Level 8 after you got done equipping him, and he learned magic. Holy fuck what a nightmare. The paperwork - well you know about the paperwork." Cockbag shrugged.

"We threw in the towel when you summoned the pint sized Cosmic Disaster. He's not even in the lists, we checked. You Ryan are broken." It was yelling by the end of that sentence.

Cockbag visibly shuttered.

Who was he talking about? The little Dragon?

"It doesn't matter anymore. I get to take it all away, now." Cockbag cackled like a crack fiend finding a whole bag of rocks.

Huh? No, no, no, no, no. What happens to my people, my friends? Mithril?

"Sadly, I can't take without giving." Cockbag reached down to shuffle some papers. "What's this you ask? This is an already notarized Adjudication stating that the package we have prepared for you is fair."

Pretty sure that was a lie.

What kind of bullshit is this? Cosmic level lawfare. In the name of all that is holy, why?

"Guess what the best part is? The best part is, I don't have to explain, annnnnyyyything!" There was a sinister glee in it's voice. Seriously, what had I done to piss this asshole off this much?

I tried to struggle against whatever was binding my tongue. I couldn't do anything, but listen to the rambling entity that was a match for any ridiculous cartoon villain.

"Let's get rid of those pesky classes shall we. Oh, this is going to be so much fun." No, everything about how it said that was a clear indicator it wasn't going to be fun for me.

Cockbag reached inside my chest, but it was worse than it sounded. It stirred it's arm around like it was rummaging for something. I felt nauseous, but I wasn't allowed to throw up. I wanted to yell but I was forced into silence. I wanted to attack but couldn't move.

"Ah-ha!" Cockbag latched onto something in me and pulled it out. The pain was worse than when my Paladin Class shattered, but similar.

I went blind, my senses trying to shut down. Really my brain was trying to give up and shut down, but even that was denied me.

My very soul was being violated. I could do nothing. I had thought I had known rage before now.

"Do you know why I hate you?" A burning oil slick poured into my ear.

It reached into me again.

No, please.

Out came another piece of my soul. I was burning and freezing all at once, every one of my nerves screamed in agony.

"It's because you don't deserve this. You have been giving a golden opportunity, and your ideas about how to use it are so... ordinary. You are here to entertain, so be entertaining. Or become the entertainment."

Cockbag dug in for another part of me.

Not again.

This time the loss of another bit of my soul felt like every rejection I'd ever received, every time I'd ever failed, and the loss of everyone I'd ever loved. All at once.

"That's three Ryan. Three paths to power you were wasting. Three methods to shake the foundations of reality that you practically ignored."

I wanted to weep but nothing came out. Something about not being able to express my pain and rage was somehow worse than the pain itself.

It patted me on the head.

"There, there, all done. A rest in a Lethe Waters Vat will fix you right up." Insincere sympathy laced with contempt.

I still couldn't see properly, but I tried to glare at the sadistic entity. I couldn't talk, but I tried to spit.

No good. Fuck!

I felt Cockbag lean close.

"Don't worry Ryan, we are going to take the memory of this away. Come tomorrow, none of this will have happened as far as you are concerned." It knew it was going to get away with this, knew there was nothing I could do.

I felt myself being moved but it was distant like it was happening to someone else.

As I was picked up and then lowered into a liquid I heard,

"I'll take good care of your people."

I had never heard anything more dreadful, than those words.

As darkness finally made itself known, I heard mocking laughter.