"I heard that there were only three people who managed to survive the raid on the monster's lair."

"Is that why Senator Augustus has issued a state of emergency and declared that we should all stay inside our homes?"

"That's the rumor."

"That's like, not cool at all."

"Why did they have to fail? Couldn't they have just beat the thing the first time around?"

"And why did three people make it out alive? Shouldn't they have like, fought to the death or something?"

"Totally."

Three girls sat inside a bar/inn.

These girls were beautiful, but it was the same type of beauty that a popular idol has on the cover of a magazine.

With skin caked in makeup and adorned fancy clothes and accessories, it was a fake beauty which would never measure up to natural beauty.

"Leonardo kept on going on and on about how he was going to be the one who killed the thing."

"Yeah. So he was all talk then?"

"Totally."

"What a pushover. I can't believe he would talk so big just to die."

"Right?"

The three girls nodded while sipping on some drinks which they had helped themselves to.

After all, the town was now close to a ghost town.

With many owners of businesses having been killed in the recent events, those businesses didn't have anyone to tend over them anymore.

If an apocalyptic event were to occur, stores would cease to be a place of barter and trade, and become a place of stocked food and equipment.

So, these girls felt no guilt at helping themselves to the alcohol inside the bar. After all, the owner was dead and there were no guards patrolling the city to prevent such petty theft. The situation was far too grave for anyone to be worrying about such matters.

"So like, didn't the Senator say he had a plan or something?"

"I heard that he hired Slith. That famous mercenary."

"Oh my goodness! I would like, totally love to meet him if he showed up."

"I bet he's such a hunk. He's probably a much better man than Leonardo was."

"He'll like totally kill that monster, and then we can like have a party with him or something."

The three nodded to themselves while continuing to laugh together.

"Should we just leave this town? I mean, it's probably done for. We should get out of here once the monster is killed, right?"

"Yeah. Where should we go though?"

"Maybe to the Capital?"

"Hmm.... maybe we could try another big city, but I don't think we should go to the capital. The competition is pretty high there."

"Yeah you're right. And there's all the politics. What about Touchette?"

"OH! I'd love to go there. Sign me up!"

The girls nodded in agreement, having decided where to go.

"Well, for tonight let's party! Once this curfew is lifted, let's see if Slith will drink with us!"

Two of the girls walked over to the couches where the other was laying down, taking seats and relaxing.

Suddenly, they heard a creaking at the door.

It sounded like someone was trying to open it.

They did not knock.

They merely were trying to budge the door open.

Of course, the three had locked the door.

"Hey! I'm coming, just a sec! I wonder who it could be? Not even a knock, just trying to come straight in?"

One girl got up and headed over to the door to take a look through the peekhole, but before she was able to make it to the door, she heard the sound of metal snapping.

The lock on the door broke in two.

"I still think it would be nice if you actually had a stinger that I could use to pick the lock. Now I have to break it open."

"Well excuse me for not having a stinger!! I didn't choose to be born with or without one!! This is just the way I am!!"

"But can you even call yourself a wasp without a stinger? It's strange, isn't it?"

"I'm more of a human than I am a wasp!! Just like you, right?"

"I guess so. I don't have the same shape as a spider I suppose. But I still can create silk. Ah, speaking of which, can you create honey? I'm sure their excellencies would appreciate it if you were to expand the menu in the dictatorship."

"I'm a wasp, not a bee!! Sorry that I can't create honey!"

"Ah. How do you feed your children then?"

"Well the workers would just hunt whatever came by and feed it to them."

The door had been broken open, and nonchalantly a beast that took the form of a spider with a large sack on his back walked into the bar. Inside the sack seemed to be another figure, who was conversing with the monster.

The three girls dropped their jaws, speechless as the two seemed to banter pointlessly. They were so filled with shock that they weren't even able to utter out a scream for help, nor question the beast in front of them.

Despite the fact that the three were paralyzed with fear, the two continued their banter, as if ignoring the very existence of humans in the same room.

"Ah I see. I guess that makes sense. But how the heck did you feed an entire colony of thousands of wasps? Surely food must have been pretty tight."

"Mmm... I'm not actually sure. The workers would always bring me a ton of food and they wouldn't really bother discussing matters of the entire colony with me. They were always saying 'This isn't something for the queen to worry about.' and 'Please, eat to your hearts content my queen. We will get by on the scraps that you leave for us.' I wonder how much they actually ended up eating?"

Alicia seemed to think back in guilt at not realizing the struggles of her own offspring, but she quickly forgot this as she remembered that these offspring were nothing more than clones of the same person. They were not individuals, and so there was no need to feel guilty. More than anything, they were something which she could mass produce.

Coran then looked forward, turning from Alicia to see the three girls shivering in terror at seeing the monster which had broken into their home.

"M....m.....m.....m...m..."

One of them couldn't quite seem to get the word 'monster' out.

"Alright. This house wasn't marked. As a matter of fact, only one of the homes looked to be marked, so they've probably gathered all in one space.", Coran mused.

"Yeah.", Alicia replied.

Drawing his bow, Coran strung his tongue across a set of three arrows which he held in his firing hand, coating them all with poison.

Loading them all simultaneously, while being careful not to expose Alicia to even the slightest bit of poison, Coran fired off the three arrows- all of which hit their targets dead in the hearts.

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

The three girls did not even have time to scream as the holes in their chests were created, and Coran walked over and collected the arrows, placing them back in his own quiver.

"I suppose I should stop poisoning all of these people. We won't be able to use them as food that way. I was trying to be cautious, but perhaps that caution is leading me to waste resources. Ah, but I suppose using them as food would be a bit of a waste as well... I think I have a different use for them."

Coran smiled as he grabbed the corpses of the three women- one in each of his sets of arms, he brought them outside, chucking them into a pile.

"Coran, if we keep at this pace then it's gonna take all night. Shouldn't we speed things up?"

"Ah, you're right. I'm glad to have you by my side, you know. I feel like you're always there to say something to correct me when I'm being inefficient."

"Um... t-thank you....", Alicia replied quietly.

Coran then sped up his process, barging into each house and exiting quickly before moving onto the next home.

As if he was a lawnmower, he pressed on through the field cutting down the grass.

He began to store many of the bodies in a pile in the middle of the road, and bit by bit this pile increased in size.

----

A husband and wife in their 50's sat at a table with nothing more than a candle to provide light.

The wife's eyes were inflamed from crying as the husband cradled her in his arms- a look of fury and self loathing in his eyes.

"Why?"

The husband put his hand to his forehead as if he had a migraine, whispering out this word.

"Why!?"

He slammed the table with his fist, causing the fire lighting the candle to waver, but it did not blow out.

"Why did it have to be him!?! Why couldn't it have been me!?! Why did he go on and on about becoming a mercenary!? About becoming a hero!! Walter!! If only.... if only you had just not gotten involved...."

The wife could not stop herself from letting out another wave of tears, and the husband held her tighter.

"Why couldn't he have just settled for life as a farmer!?!"

The husband was disappointed in himself for not disciplining his own child enough.

He had clearly allowed his son too much freedom.

He didn't agree with his decision to train himself and become a mercenary, but he did nothing to stop it.

'A boy must be free and make their own decisions if they are to become a man.'

This was what Walter's father believed.

But now, because of that belief... because he had not done anything to stop his son from embarking on such a dangerous career, his son was dead.

Dead.

Dead.

His son would never again be able to eat his mother's home cooking.

He would never again chat happily with his friends.

He would never again be able to come home and talk to his father about his own dreams after a long day of work.

Because they had been crushed.

They had been extinguished, along with his very life.

"I should have been harder on him.", the husband said while holding his head in agony. "Why did it have to be him??"

From the stairway, a raspy voice was then heard by the husband and the wife.

"It wasn't just him. I don't discriminate between scum."

Down the stairs came a beast, walking almost silently.

A horrible mix of human and spider, which had all sorts of equipment and a large sack on it's back.

However, the husband only had enough time to glance at this beast before it's arm.... or rather, the armament that covered it's arm, was pierced straight through the head of the woman who he held.

"What!?"

The man did not have time to process this however, as the next moment his own brain was pierced.

----

A woman sat in her home, with her own child on her lap as she fed him.

"Here you go. Come on. Open up."

The child opened his mouth and ate the porridge which he was fed.

"There you go."

The woman seemed to be holding back emotions, hiding from her child that anything was wrong.

But it could not be further from the truth.

Her husband was a butcher who had gone on that mission out of a sense of duty.

Now, she was a widow.

'He was always such a caring man.... he gave too much for others.... he wasn't exactly smart, but he would never abandon someone else in need.... and yet, this is the result of that kindness.... how will I raise this child without a father to guide him?'

As the woman fed the child, she could have sworn she saw a shadowy figure run past the window.

'My imagination?'

And then, another window shattered.

'No... it wasn't. Something is out there....'

The woman held her child close, and looked down to see that he was scared.

"Mom....", he whimpered.

"Shh.... it's ok. Don't worry. Nothing is wrong."

"Where is dad? When is he gonna get home? I'm scared..."

The woman was looking around frantically, trying to find which window had been broken as the child asked this question.

"I'm not sure. But hopefully soon. Don't worry.", she reassured him, but her expression now was one that was anything but reassuring.

"You'll be with him soon.", a grizzly voice blurted out from above the two.

Looking up, a spiderlike beast was hanging from the ceiling by a set of wires attached to his two human hands. On his back was a large sack and inside it two eyes could be seen peeking out.

"Agh!!"

The woman and child screamed out at the same time, but before she could even move the spider dropped on them, thrusting the lance like armament which covered his arms through the chests of the two.

Extracting it with a spray of blood, the spiderling grabbed the bodies and broke another window, jumping through it to exit the home.

----

A single man sat in his home, completely drunk.

"You dumbass!!! Abel!!! I told you to never touch magic!!! It was magic that got your mother killed!! Why did you do that!?! Why did you go and train in magic without telling me!?!?!"

The man threw his bottle of alcohol at the wall, where it shattered, splashing all over the place.

"AGH!!!! WHY!!!!!????"

"That name again.... Abel.... I keep on hearing it, but I don't have a face to attach it to. Was he really such an important person?"

The man turned around with fury in his face, to see a black and silver blob in front of him.

"What's it to you!?! Abel was my only son!!! Why did he have to go and become a damn magician!!!"

"It doesn't mean anything to me. I was simply curious. That's all."

Coran then hurled his spear at the man like a javelin, pinning him to the wall through the head.

"Now all that's left is that one place.... I already checked the orphanage, and that woman wasn't there.... so the only one left is the largest home with the guards standing by it.", Coran noted.

"Do you have a plan, Coran?", Alicia asked.

"For her? I have a special execution planned."

----

An hour had passed since the time that Brutus arrived at the home of Senator Augustus.

The three sat patiently while enjoying a meal which one of the guards had prepared for them. With the butler now missing, the servants in this home were low staffed. The butler would often organize and manage the entire affairs of the household, but without a leader things had descended into chaos.

"There is something that has been picking at my mind.", Brutus said while cutting a slightly burned steak.

"What is it, Senator Brutus?", Augustus questioned, putting down his own silverware.

"As we know, there is absolutely no way that Slith could have lost. But why then has he taken so long? I highly doubt that he would come back later or send someone else to collect his payment."

"Then, what do you think has happened, Brutus?"

"I believe that the monster ran. I am not sure how powerful or how intelligent this thing is, but it might have been smart enough to escape before Slith arrived. Slith may be the strongest and fastest assassin in the world, but if the monster is truly powerful then it might have been able to escape, and Slith might be having trouble trying to track it down."

"Ohh... I see.... that makes perfect sense. Then, you don't believe that Slith is dead?"

"Absolutely not. You may not have seen that man in action.... but I witnessed him once before."

"And?"

"Well.... to even say that I witnessed him would be an overstatement. It was over before I even had time to witness anything."

"I see.... so he is truly that powerful?"

Brutus nodded.

"Tremendously so. If he really did ever lose, then it might as well be the end of the world- because whatever defeated him was likely a demon lord."

The three then laughed together at the prospect.

"But then again.... the heroes have been awakened.... perhaps that thing really was one of the demon lords...."

"There's no way, Brutus. It would have to be a demon, right? Why would a spider be a demon lord?"

"Hmm.... that's true. Well, anyways.... I suppose even if Slith does die, we still have the heroes to rely on, but..... if Slith actually died, then I wonder if the heroes would really be able to deal with it. I don't think Slith was too far off from a hero."

"Ah, enough of this talk. I'm sure he'll come knocking on that door any moment saying 'Ah, I got distracted by something else', or 'It tried to run and I had to chase it halfway across the country.'"

Brutus nodded with a chuckle.

"You're probably right."

"I've already put the people of the city on lockdown, but it certainly is concerning if that thing really is running around the country...."

"Yes.... but I don't think it would have time to go around killing if Slith was chasing after it."

"Ah, you're right."

Finishing their meals, one of the guards took away the trays of the three and they continued their discussion.

"Putting the matter of the monster aside.... will we really be able to pull off an assassination of the Emperor? Are you absolutely certain that you can get it done in a way that allows you to take the throne?"

Brutus smiled.

"Emperor Percius IV removed all factions from the Empire aside from those who supported him, but he never realized that my faction existed in secret. There is nobody to go against us if the only blood heir is killed."

"But won't it be an issue that you've been removed from your position as Senator?"

"That is only known to a select few. If we work quickly, and silence those who know, then we won't have to worry about it."

"But what about the hero?"

"We just need to take over before he gets back from the campaign that the Emperor sends him on. If I can make it to the position of the Emperor, then as a hero it would be his duty to serve me, no matter how much he personally hates me. Or else he will become no better than that false hero from the Ruthobold Kingdom."

"What if word spreads about you being removed from the position of Senator during the time before the hero leaves for the campaign?"

Augustus was bombing Brutus with holes in his plans.

"Gr..... ah, just don't worry about it. People will give in once they see how many armies are at my back, even if they don't agree. And that Emperor is a fool who considers himself to be the law above all, so I can use his tyranny as an excuse to take back my position."

'Doesn't that make you no worse that the tyrant on the throne then?', Augustus thought, but he did not dare voice these words. After all, Brutus sitting on the throne was best for him, so he wouldn't complain.

It was then that the pitter patter of rain began to pelt the window, and Brutus pulled back the curtain to take a look outside. The moon was covered by the clouds, it's light hidden from view.

"Ah. It seems the storm that hit the Capital earlier has made it's way here. I suppose that's what this entire day has been. Just one big storm."

A knocking sound was then heard at the door as the rain seemed to get harder and louder.

"That must be Slith.", Augustus said while standing up. "I had better let him in quickly before this rain gets too bad."

The Senator made his way to the door. The guard who had acted as a servant was currently in the kitchen washing the plates, and he didn't want to bother him with such a menial task- especially when it would be faster to just do it himself.

Looking through the peekhole, the Senator saw nobody at the door.

"Hm? That's strange. I could have sworn someone knocked...."

Peeking open the door, the sounds of heavy rain bombarded the ears of Augustus.

As soon as the door was cracked open enough to see through, Augustus was met with the snakelike eyes of a monster.

A hoarse voice spoke through the crack as Augustus stumbled backwards, surprised at what he saw.

"We're here to finish off a job. Could you please let us in?"