~~~Lee~~~

Lee never liked confrontation. It always left him anxious and twitchy. Now Jake was forcing him into it. Maybe Alejandro could handle this... though it wasn't looking good.

"One more step and we start blasting!" A man yelled right as Lee stepped into the circle of dim light and within sight of the front doors. The actual doors were missing from the wide opening into the gymnasium, but they'd built a barricade in the gap. What looked like stacked logs covered most of the doorway, leaving two small windows through which he could see heads peeking. A hand thrust through one opening, fire blooming around it.

Lee's mana was regenerating, but his Mana Mind range was nowhere near where he wanted it if a fight was going to break out. So he tested pulling the mana from the surrounding air while leaping forward.

It worked in that his mana went up slightly faster, but the pain from his channels was... excessive. It also lit up the already glowing veins in the back of his hands with an eye-watering intensity.

He had noticed the glow earlier and assumed it was from the Mana Burn, like last time. His next thought was if he'd just increased the debuff timer with that little stunt. Unfortunately, he didn't have time to check before the idiot behind the barricade threw the fire in his hand toward Alejandro's group.

Lee was close enough, and he shredded the spell before it landed. That hurt too. Which meant he was extra pissed when his Mana Mind reached the barricade and showed him the hidden doorway.

Silence fell after the man's spell fizzled in midair. Alejandro broke it. "Lee, I saw the notification... and the explosion! Are you... okay?"

Lee glared straight at the wide-eyed man peeking out of the narrow gap. The man who'd just thrown a spell at them. "It was nothing." He didn't know what his current state looked like, but was positive his eyes were glowing at the least. He pulled a bit more mana in to make his veins glow brighter and growled, "Should I nuke this place, too?"

Jake thought it was a good idea to force a confrontation on him, and Lee had chosen his tactic. They had to have seen his Mana-Flame Inferno; the explosion had been massive in every direction. Why not lean into that?

It seemed to be a good choice because the man inside the building backed up a step while yelling, "That was... you!?"

"Yes." Lee took another step closer and saw mana fly from the one other person visible behind the barricade. It was something new. An attack he'd never seen before... He figured it out a moment later when the mana stopped its forward movement just past the logs and instead spread out into a rapidly forming bubble over the doorway. It was a shield.

Lee acted before it was too late. He could see the mana locking into a grid-like lattice he suspected would act similar to the dungeon wall by blocking his senses. So he pulled the threads away before it could finish the spell and the entire thing collapsed.

The burning sensation was much worse, and Lee knew that this time he had definitely added to the debuff timer. He stumbled and almost fell, but turned the motion into another step as he glared at the man inside. The man who was looking even more worried after his shield failed.

"Don't come any closer! W... we have an army! They'll be back any minute, and if they find you..."

"An army?" Lee growled, taking another step. "You mean that little group of thugs that left an hour ago? The ones who went to invade my home?"

"Y... you... what? They..."

"They're dead," Lee said with a final step that brought him into melee range of the barricade. "They came to murder and abduct, so we killed them. Is that the army you're talking about? Are you one of them?" Lee drew his sword as he set his feet into the proper stance and waited for their reaction. He didn't have to wait long.

"You... kill them!" What followed his screaming order was… a whole lot of nothing. He threw another fire spell, which Lee disassembled, and no one else attacked.

Lee didn't know how many more were inside, and it didn't really matter. He struck with his sword and the blade chopped through the narrow gap in the logs, the extended range of the rune reaching even further to cut the crossbeam holding the door shut. Then he kicked it open.

It was always satisfying to see how much stronger he was than any human before the system. The door crashed open under his power, and then he got a look deeper inside as Alejandro came up behind him. Lee didn't bother to attack either of the two men behind the door. Instead, simply side-stepping and letting Alejandro deliver a nice shield slam to the fire-slinger's face.

One of the Guards went after the second defender, but the man fell to his knees on his approach. "I surrender! Please don't kill me!"

More shouts and screams resounded from deeper in the building, but Lee let the others deal with it while he closed his eyes and tried to deal with the fire flowing through his veins. Mana Mind would tell him if any magic came their way, and this group shouldn't have a problem with anything short of powerful magic. Between the enchanted gear and Saira to provide healing, they should be unstoppable.

[Mana Burn](28:51:53)

It did indeed go up. Four additional hours where he wouldn't be able to use mana. The increase felt disproportionate to the trickle of mana used. But then the debuff warned against further mana use.

It was Jake's voice that brought his eyes open again. "Not as bad as I expected," the hunter said while tossing a bloodied figure at Alejandro's feet. "But it's not good."

Another of the Guard quickly tied the man with what looked like ordinary rope. Then he touched it and the bindings lit up with yellow light. Neat.

The interior of the gymnasium was mostly open space, but the far end held doorways leading to enclosed areas. Jake had come from one of them, and a new crowd followed him out. A crowd of women... dozens of them, along with a few children.

In the flickering firelight inside the building, Lee couldn't see clearly enough to spot injuries on the group, but since Jake wasn't murdering everyone in sight, it must not be too bad.

Lee let the others deal with rounding up the prisoners. Not the recently freed prisoners with Jake, but the people who'd held them captive. Why they were capturing and not executing, he didn't know, but he had a bad feeling where it would lead.

They found just shy of a dozen people, all men, in charge of guarding the place while their 'army' was away. Jake lined them up and then asked the former prisoners who among their oppressors deserved to die.

It was a... decent solution to proving guilt.

That is until the first woman stepped forward, pointing. "That bastard! Kill him!"

So of course, Jake offered her a knife. "He's all yours."

The woman's clear rage faltered as she stared at the proffered blade. "I..."

Another woman snatched the blade. "I'll kill him!" She didn't hesitate, even when Alejandro tried to intervene. Jake got between them and let the woman make the trip unimpeded. Whereupon she started stabbing the bound man.

She didn't make it quick. Stabbing him in the gut while he first begged for mercy and then continued stabbing while he screamed in pain. It took a horrifyingly long time before silence once again filled the gymnasium.

Jake approached her and the gasping woman flinched when she suddenly noticed him next to her. She hesitated and then clutched the bloody blade close. "I won't..."

"Keep it," Jake said, and held out the sheath he'd removed from his belt. "You earned it." She stared blankly at the sheath for a long moment before reaching for it. Jake pulled it back slightly and said, "Just clean off the blood before you put it away." She nodded and Jake pointed at Lee. "Take it to that guy later and he'll enchant it for you. My treat."

Lee managed a nod himself when she looked his way. The whole experience made him feel sick, but he didn't protest. He couldn't imagine what they'd been through here, didn't want to imagine. If they wanted a little revenge, who was he to say no? He wished they would at least take the children away… though it looked like Alejandro already did what he could on that front by getting the kids further away and out of sight of the prisoners after giving up on stopping Jake.

Jake took the dead man's core and handed it off to the woman. "Your kill, your core."

Then he repeated the process with all the captured men, though only two other women did the deed themselves. The first broke down sobbing afterward and left the knife sticking from the dead man's throat.

The second took that knife and used it on three more of them, one after the other. She only stood there afterward, blood dripping from her hands and chest heaving. She didn’t do anything until Jake approached. Then she tried to stab him.

Jake avoided the attack with no apparent effort, smiling all the while. "Yes, hold onto that feeling. Let it propel you to power."

"Fuck you!" the woman screamed, then tried to stab him again. "They passed me around! As a fucking reward!"

"Now they’re dead and you’re still alive." Jake dodged her attack and held out another sheath. "Are you going to cry about it or get strong enough that it can’t happen again?"

She stared at him for a long time before taking it.

Jake executed the rest of the accused. The accusations levied against them erased any sympathy from the people watching the executions. Lee included. He would even have done the deed himself. If he had to.

Of course, many of the women only spoke Spanish, and Lee vowed to work on his own lacking understanding while watching Jake converse easily with them.

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Surprisingly, they still had five living captives that no one accused when it was over. Well, one woman did. "They all attacked..."

"I know you're lying," Jake cut her off. "Don't."

The woman wilted under his stare. "Yes... but they still deserve to die! They were here, and they did nothing to help any of us!"

"Maybe," Jake said with a shrug. "Just don't lie to me."

That set off more protests from the captured men. Including one cry of, "I was just following orders! I didn't have a choice! They would have killed me!"

Jake didn't like that excuse at all and stalked toward the man. "Seriously? Just following orders? That's your..."

Lee was sure he would kill the guy, but Jake stopped and turned to look directly at him, a smile on his lips. No, don't...

"Lee," Jake said. "You're in charge, right? So you can decide their fate."

God damn you! Lee silently cursed the man. How was he supposed to judge them? Especially when he didn't know if he would have done any differently? Sure, it was easy to say you would stand up against evil. But if it came down to obedience or death, would he have died? Just like that? He'd turned away from people that needed help... Hell, he only let Alejandro in because he thought the guy was useful... and maybe to steal his machete... Though the kids had affected his choice...

"Well?" Jake asked.

So many staring gazes drilling into him wherever he looked... Lee shut his eyes and struggled with the decision. These men hadn't technically done anything... which was also the problem. Could he require them to serve his future fort? That one guy seemed to enjoy following orders... but would he be able to trust them? He couldn't throw them in jail... it was capital punishment or nothing now. He opened his eyes and looked at Alejandro. "Thoughts?"

Leaders always had help, right? He didn't have to decide on his own. The usually bleeding-hearted man shook his head, his own expression grim as he stared at the women and children. As a father and husband, he probably felt no sympathy.

Lee slid his gaze to Saira next, where she moved among the former prisoners offering healing. She might also be the authority on something like this... but he didn't say that as she met his eyes. She also shook her head. That was two votes for execution. It should be an easy call now... but he still felt bad about it.

The world had changed drastically, and some people were now just plain fucked. Lee's class choice would have probably doomed him if not for the trait that kept him from dying repeatedly. What if he'd ended up in a place like this instead of with Alejandro? What if they demanded he make weapons and armor for them to go abduct and murder whoever they wanted? Would he have died to deprive them of his power, or stuck it out in hopes of a better future?

"Jake, can you actually tell if someone is lying?"

Jake shrugged. "Usually." He looked over the bound men. "Hear that? You lie, you die."

Lee ground his teeth against the pain wracking his body and walked to the first man. "Tell me your class and skills."

"I'm a Cleaner. My only skill just lets me clean stuff... I'm useless in a fight!"

Jake nodded when Lee glanced his way. So the man wasn't lying... and he was indeed useless. "You knew what they were doing to those women?"

The man cast a terrified look toward Jake before nodding his head in a jerking motion. "Y... yes..."

"Why not run away? Tell someone else what was happening here?"

"T... the... monsters! I would have... died." He wilted at the end and started crying. "Please, I just didn't want to die!"

Now Lee was regretting his choice to talk with them. He should have just killed them... "Did you leave the women alone because you had to, or by choice?"

"I... would never..."

"Oh, that's not good," Jake said, drawing his bow.

Lee froze while the man protested. Then held up a hand toward Jake to stop him. Why had he even asked that question? Sure, it sounded bad... terrible, even. But wanting to murder someone wasn't the same as doing it... didn't that count for rape too?

So he moved to the next one. "Tell me."

"I... I... I'm a Communicator. I can create a link between people to let them talk to each other at a long distance. But I can't send messages! I couldn't call for help, only link with people I can touch!" Already had his excuses ready to go... but aside from that, he was... actually useful. Not in a fight, sure, but as a support, he could be invaluable.

"Did you know?" Lee asked.

The man only nodded miserably as he stared at the bared blade in Lee's hand.

Lee went on to the next two, both with classes more useless than the previous, both having known what was happening.

The last man was the guy who'd tried to make a shield at the door. His partner with the fire hadn't survived Jake's culling. "I'm a... Shielder... but it's not as useful as it sounds! You saw how weak it was!"

"Cast your shield," Lee said. "Do it now."

He didn't want to, that much was obvious, but he cast it, even tied up as he was. This time Lee didn't interfere with the spell as it bloomed around the man in a full dome of yellow light. Rather than hit it with his blade, which he knew would absolutely destroy the spell, Lee punched it.

It hurt his knuckles, and the shield held. He hit it again. And again. It took ten punches before the dome fell... Lee wasn't the best choice for strong blows, but the shield was decent. He probably could have survived a few monster attacks... though from what he'd seen in Mana Mind, the spell latched onto the ground and didn't follow the man, which meant he'd only become trapped inside the dome until it failed. Then he'd die.

"I wanted to help them," the man said unprompted. "I protected one of the girls… once. When Lenard was hurting her… and… he beat her to death and made… me… watch!" He was sobbing when he said, "I never tried to help again…"

Lee didn't know what to do. They were just more victims of evil people…

He looked over at the clustered women, thinking he should just ask them what they wanted. Maybe a vote? The scared and weary faces sobered him, and Lee felt terrible about what they were doing here. They should have gotten them out of here already. "You are the... survivors here. What do you want done? I can kill them all, or put them to work."

Lee was pleasantly surprised when the consensus was to spare the men. Not unanimous, but a majority. He was more and more sure about his plan to build a fort, but he had no plan for building a democratic one. Power ruled the world now, and he wouldn't bow to the masses if he didn't have to. Not if they were stupid. But that didn't mean he wouldn't listen to reasonable opinions.

"Here's the deal," he said, turning back to the men awaiting his judgment. "You fucked up and let terrible things happen…" he trailed off and then said more softly, "But I don't know that I'd have done any better in your position..."

Silence reigned but for the sound of a fire popping, and Lee continued. "If you want to live, then I'm giving you the chance to atone and fight to protect the people you failed." Their eyes protested, but no one dared to speak. The threat of certain death now versus a possible death later was an easy choice to make.

"Don't mistake this for mercy. You will fight or you will die. Hell, you might still die." That was the stick. Now it was time for the carrot. Lee rapped his knuckles on his breastplate. "But you won't be helpless this time. Our armor and weapons are the best in the world."

Sure, it might be a boast, but with his runes, he felt it was a reasonable one, and he got enthusiastic, if not thrilled, nods from all of them.

The rest of his allies were not so agreeable.

Saira was glaring when he glanced her way, and Alejandro's expression was only marginally better. The Guards that came along eyed the conscripts with a mixture of distrust and pure hatred.

Lee sighed and then ordered the magic rope guy to let them all go. The man made no move to comply, looking at Alejandro instead.

"You heard him," Alejandro said and nodded at Lee even while frowning.

The sign of trust made Lee feel slightly better, and he hobbled over to the man while they cut the prisoners free. "Should we get out of here already?" He was hurting, tired, and just wanted to go to bed.

Alejandro looked at the dark windows near the roof and shook his head. "We should wait for dawn. I don't feel comfortable protecting this many in the dark."

"Shit."

Lee moved to find a quiet corner he could lie down in, and Alejandro stopped him with a hand on his shoulder. "I trust you, Lee... but are you sure about this?"

"If they each save even one life... isn't that enough?"

"Maybe... but it feels... wrong."

"I..." Lee cleared his throat. "I almost didn't let you in on that first night... I was so scared... doesn't that make me a coward, too?"

"But you still opened the door." Alejandro squeezed his shoulder, the frown shifting into a small smile. "You are a good man, Lee, and I will trust you on this. Though I will be watching them..."

"I appreciate that... and I need to rest." He lowered his voice. "I burned myself again... no more runes for twenty-eight hours."

"Not so bad." Alejandro smiled. "Better than three days, no?" He went to whack Lee on the back, and for once, hesitated before giving him a gentle pat instead. "Rest. We will stand watch." He glanced past Lee and added, "I will talk to Saira..."

Alejandro walked away while ordering the prisoners into a windowless room where they would spend the night. Probably something Lee should have considered before cutting them loose…

He didn't make it to a corner before Jake came strolling over. "Isn't it great to be in charge?" His evil grin belied his words.

"Fuck off and go kill stuff."

Jake laughed. "You know me so well! Have fun becoming a politician, and remember, you wanted this."

"I hate you," Lee groaned and slid down the wall to sit on the floor. "And I'm not a politician."

~~~Jake~~~

Jake spent a few minutes watching the crowd before he left. He was disappointed that so few of the women had stepped up when given the opportunity. Though that one might do well in the future… or not. It was always hard to predict how people would handle traumatic events. Some got stronger and some broke.

Sandy was a disappointment… Jake really thought she would rally after almost dying. But instead of a desire for power that would keep that from happening again… now she just wanted to be a crafter. Still, it was her life and her choice. He’d ensured she had that choice, and it was all up to her after that.

Freedom to choose. That was all that mattered in the end.

Plenty of people wasted their freedom and were willing to give it up if they thought it would make them safer, even though the opposite was almost universally true. That was still their choice.

Then there were the scumbags that took away the choice… sick monsters that preyed on people weaker than them… Well, if they wanted to play that game, then Jake would happily play right back. They didn’t have to do any of this. They could have hunted monsters instead of becoming them. They could have challenged themselves and grown stronger.

Instead, they wasted all that potential. Even the group that attacked his home was pathetic. They showed no tactics beyond a mob rush. They fought like people who’d only ever ganged up on something weaker than them. Nothing but trash skills on all of them.

Between the few people that got lucky with a combat class, and those smart enough to pick one at the start, almost none of them seemed to understand that it was just the first step. Every skill and class could evolve into something more. Something stronger. But you had to fight for it.

Jake shook his head as he headed out into the night. It was the same as always. People holding back. Refusing to reach for more because they might fail and lose what little they’d managed to scrape together.

Only now, the stakes were immeasurably higher. It wasn’t about promotions and fancy cars anymore. It wasn’t even really about survival.

It was about power.

Real, tangible power that could and would shape the world. Nothing like the billionaires and owners that used to control the world. The power up for grabs now was the real deal, and those who didn’t grab it when they could… well, they would always be at the mercy of those who did.

Power was freedom, and freedom was all that mattered.

Jake grinned as he gazed at the artificial hill looming ahead. There was power in there. Power just waiting for someone to take it.