"Yes... these people are bad guys."

"And bad guys need to be punished."

Ashley unleashed the full effect of her magical aura, directed only at the people of the lizardmen and birdmen village. Helen was not effected by it, however every single one of the people who were effected were thrown violently to the ground in a suffocating aura.

They couldn't move.

They couldn't breathe.

They couldn't think.

All they could do it sit there helplessly as Ashley looked at them with disgust.

Samantha was healing up the wound after carefully removing the plank from Ashley's head, and the Determined had arrived on the scene.

"What's going on here!?", Claire shouted.

However, Samantha looked at Claire with a face that said 'don't interfere'.

She handed Helen over to Claire.

"Take her somewhere else. I don't want her to see what's about to happen."

Helen was doing her best to stay strong and hold back the tears, but she left with Claire, who seemed to understand.

"I... I see. Come on, Helen. There's nothing you need to worry about. The antiheroes will take care of the bad guys who hurt you."

"Mhm!", Helen responded with a sniffle, as the two walked away.

The hearts of every single person under the effect of the aura were filled with terror far beyond anything they could have ever comprehended. Even Tora, Arlo, and Yerth who had experienced the direct malice from Trevor before could not even compare that to the suffocating rage and magical pressure that currently consumed every fiber of their being.

Tora had it engraved deep into his heart that he had messed up- big time.

"Garett", Ashley said, her voice cracking from the rage she was subduing inside herself. Her strands of hair fluttered rapidly as if she had a head of snakes, and her eyes wouldn't stop twitching. She was far beyond the realm of sanity. However, with a crackling voice, she barked out an order.

"Tie these two up. I found tonight's dinner."

"Got it."

Garett grabbed a couple of long sticks and took out some silk from his inventory, and bound the hands and feet of Tora and Pilir. He then stuck rods in between the bindings, through the hands and then the feet of the two who had caused a fight in their village and harmed Helen as a result.

Grabbing some stones and wood from the rubble, Garett quickly set up a large fire pit and hung the two like swine being cooked for a roast.

Tora and Pilir could not even move, much less say anything. They were completely terrorized and dominated, and tears started forming at their eyes as they were being set up as sacrifices.

"If you are going to act like animals.... then we will simply have to treat you like animals...", Garett muttered, while gazing into the fearful eyes of the two who were tied up but could not even move their mouths or scream out in fear.

The other lizardmen as well as the birdmen and women began to cry as well- tears falling from their eyes without making a sound.

Their mouths were too heavy to lift, even if they wanted to do so.

It was like being sucked into a black hole. That was the amount of force being exerted on these people.

Garett had already crafted a table and took out a butchers knife from his toolkit.

He smiled.

"You all... not only came into our house and disobeyed the house rules.... but you harmed a member of our family.", Garett stated.

"Watch as we make those who harmed our family suffer pain worse than death. Go back to your pathetic villages after this and spread the word that we are not to be fucked with like this.", Ashley said with her voice cracking, aimed at the dominated fools who lay helpless on the ground.

Ashley then lit a fire in her hand, and roasted the leg of Tora which was already partially cut from the halberd.

A slow roast, while Garett turned the handle of the fire pit to evenly cook the meat. When they were finished with the leg, Garett cut it off and plopped it onto the table.

They then fried the tail of the lizardmen after Garett used a diamond blade saw to cut off his armor.

They cut the tail off and threw that too into the pile of meat.

The lizardmen on the skewer cried bitter tears as their bodies were slowly roasted and sliced off, but their mouths were too heavy to let out a cry, and their throats were so dry from the flames that they would not be able to mutter a sound even if they weren't weighed down by this indomitable pressure.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

The other lizards watched in horror as Ashley and Garett seemed to enjoy this scene.

'Demons...', Rocko and Erasalis simultaneously thought.

'These people are monsters... demons... abominations... we should never have even tread on their soil... Arlo was right. We should have put ourselves at their feet before even kissing the same ground that they walked on...', Rocko thought.

'Is this what strength is? What have I been doing my entire life... I thought that our new methods made us strong and cultured... I... everything I have ever done was a lie. It was all meaningless! MEANINGLESS!! In the face of this absolute power, it is no wonder that they made so many lofty comments like 'I don't care about your insignificant squabbles'! Everything I know... is gone. There is no longer any point to living in the same realm as these beings... there is no point to anything... there is no point to living... what kind of fool am I to try and wage war on another people!?! When monsters like this existed in front of my eyes!!! I fancied myself a king! A leader! A man of culture!!! HOW COULD THIS BE POSSIBLE!?!?! HOW COULD THESE BEINGS EXIST!?!?!', Erasalis pondered.

They were both devastated at the overwhelming power produced by Ashley, and regretted their very existence as they watched their comrades be burned alive slowly.

One by one, each limb was roasted and chopped off, and thrown onto the pile of cooked meat, until there was nothing left but heads and torsos.

"I hope you all have learned your lessons... but now is time for the real terror."

The real terror!?

Was this not enough!?

Did she plan to do this to everyone!?!?

"Samantha. Heal these two up and let them go.", Ashley said with a devilish smile on her face while giggling uncontrollably.

"Is it not best that we let them leave alive as witnesses? Go forth. Tell everyone what happened to you when you fools allowed harm to come to one of us. Let them know that we are MONSTERS who will never give a second thought to crushing those who stand in our way. Would you call this mercy or sadism? Even I do not know, and I am ALWAYS RIGHT. HEEEHEEEEHEEEEHEEEHEE!!!!!!"

----

Samantha had healed up the two as Ashley suggested, and while Trevor and Garett were not completely satisfied with this conclusion, Ashley wasn't wrong in what she did. If they were to go public as the leaders of the slime village, they might as well become infamous for trampling anyone who thought they could dare to offend them...in order to inspire fear, and crush any seeds of rebellion against them. And the best way to do this was to allow the victims of their cruel methods to spread the message of horror on their own.

Who knows? If inspiring fear only worked on those who lacked intelligence to understand the difference between strength and otherworldly beings, then perhaps they would gather an army of dissenters and Trevor would not have to seek out those who disapproved of the antiheroes.

Of course, this was risky. But they had already long accepted the risk of going public as the leaders of the slime village.

There were benefits to be had. It was time to begin a reign of terror throughout the monster realm.

The uprooting of the status quo had begun.

Ashley once more contracted her aura, and let the lizardmen and birdmen go their separate ways as they ever so slowly raised themselves...unsure of whether they were even allowed to stand, and waiting in fear for Ashley to leave. Neither side had any more thoughts towards war. They were all so traumatized by the events that they had completely forgotten who they even were- much less the reason they came here.

The antiheroes then rushed over to the center of the village check on Helen.

Helen was lying in a bed in a house near the center of the village- the same house that she had once been lying in after being injured by Ashley. Claire was standing by and Coran and Berith were there as well. They were worried for her. Rithargus rushed in as well, and even Oraguth came.

Everyone was now present, and Helen sat their, dizzy.

Ashley walked up to her once again, and the scene from before repeated itself, but in a different way.

"Helen... are you alright? We beat the bad guys... you don't have to worry anymore..."

Ashley began crying as she took Helen's hand.

"I'm sorry for not being there to protect you!"

Tears were forming in the eyes of all the antiheroes. They were filled with a rush of hatred and emotions.

Even the demon, Garett and the traumatized Samantha, who typically lacked any sympathy for the innocent, could not help but weep at this scene.

Helen gave a smile.

"I'm fine, your excellency! Thanks to the healing, and thanks to you for beating the bad guys!"

"I... see... sniff..."

Almost everyone in the room now was on the verge of tears.

"We showed them that we are not to be messed with... I hope we proved our point and never have to deal with this again...", Trevor stated, his voice cracking up. "From this moment on.... we will crush anyone.... anyone who tries to resist us in any way, before they can even dare to lay a finger on our people... it must be a show of absolute dominance... there will be no room for leeway."

"Indeed.", Garett agreed.

Despite this villainous statement, there was not a single person in that room that held any more doubt towards the benevolence and goodwill of the antiheroes.

At this point, every single person who had come into contact with the antiheroes either viewed them as benevolent saviors or as terrifying monsters.

The only difference was a matter of perspective.

----

Later that night, a feast was held.

Once more, the tribal music played and drums were beat. Ashley was doing tricks were her fire magic and showing it to the surrounding goblins who were fascinated with it.

The entire tribe was gathered around the fire pit in the center of the village and everyone was eating, drinking, and making merry.

"This meat is delicious..."

"What is this?! Chicken?"

"Actually, that is roasted eagle. The other one is alligator tail."

"Oh!! So delicious! As expected of the antiheroes to gather such fine specimens of meat!"

Oraguth sat next to Garett, and with a kabob in his hand.

"I thought you were a demon at first."

"What's with that? I AM a demon."

"No. You are not a demon. You only act like one. Without a doubt, you are a caring ruler. No demon in the world would cry over the harming of ones subjects- especially one who is not even of their own race. Forgive me for my previous thoughts about you all, but I would like to pledge my full loyalty to you, as a representative of all the goblins here!"

All the goblins nodded in response. Their physical wounds had all been healed long ago, and their mental wounds were starting to be patched up on seeing the kindness of the antiheroes towards their subjects.

"I'll accept your loyalty. Never forget though that I am a demon. If you ever take our kindness for granted, you too will find yourself outside the realm of our protection."

"I would never even consider something like that. Not after today."

"I see."

Garett looked off into the distance with longing eyes.

'Perhaps this is what I wanted the entire time... to be able to sit side by side with those who love and respect me for who I am. Without the fear of betrayal.'

He had for just a moment, forgotten about the thrill of random chance, and took comfort in the safety of what was already a given.

He was satisfied with things as they were. That which was already determined.

"Speaking of which... where did you get this meat? it's very good.", Claire asked, while munching on a kabob.

She was a blockhead, but Garett had no intention of telling her.

"Where else? From a successful hunt.", Garett replied.