Now, I had named my standard blade of divine energy, and it had undergone a significant transformation. The color was now a darker shade of gold and the blade appeared denser and sharper. The most profound change, however, was not visible to the naked eye. Power now had a sense of gravitas that it lacked before. The attack took a while to charge up, but once fired, it flew steadily towards its target.

Gerinier was no longer laughing as he could sense the divine energy coming from my attack. He tried to defend himself with his own divine energy infused weapon, but it shattered against the golden light with little resistance. Gerinier tried to dodge, but only partially succeeded, as the attack hit him in the shoulder. The force of the attack sent him flying far into the distance, ragdolling his one-armed body. To make matters worse, [Pride's Fall] didn't stop there. It went straight through two of Gerinier's goons who foolishly stood behind him and even felled one of the massive redwoods before carving a deep furrow into the ground.

I was spent after the attack and would have fallen to Gerinier's war band had they launched a counterattack. However, they treated me like some kind of apocalypse and ran away from me in different directions, screaming for their lives. One of the fools even got clipped by the falling redwood. The only one who showed any loyalty was Gerinier's mount, who grabbed the bleeding wolfman with its jaws and retreated into the woods.

As I dropped to the ground, feeling like I was about to pass out, the golden light of victory infused my body, giving me the energy to stand back up. I realized that killing my foe was not necessary for the effect to trigger, which was a relief. As I inspected the battlefield, I saw that two of Gerinier's goons who had been hit by accident had both perished. This made me feel strange as I had never taken another person's life before. Although they were backwoods and probably cannibalistic, their deaths still made me uncomfortable. They had died so easily and almost by accident, as I hadn't even been aiming for them. I realized that collateral damage would be a real consequence of my actions going forward. What really hit me hard was how okay I was with killing these two.

I came from a society where murder was considered the most heinous of crimes. But I felt little remorse for the wolfmen and even less faith in the morality of my own society. This realization made me question whether I was a sociopath, and whether Verethragna was playing a role in my newfound moral acceptance of murder. To complete my quest, I was likely to face similar situations, which made this newfound perspective a boon.

As I was grappling with these thoughts, Sieg put on his backpack and walked over to me. He poked me in the ribs and said, "Let's go, Pax. Before they regroup or get reinforcements. Let's get the hell out of this forest." Without a word, I nodded and followed him. We left the carnage behind and redoubled our efforts to move at a quicker pace, putting my existential crisis on hold for now.

Due to the fear of facing Gerinier's extended family, we arrived at the town ahead of schedule. The town was heavily fortified with large wooden walls, about fifty feet tall, and adorned with strange symbols carved into the wall at different intervals. At first, I thought these symbols made the walls easier to scale, but I soon realized they likely served a mystical purpose.

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As we approached the front gate, I thought it would be difficult to enter, but to my surprise, it was not. The guard recognized Sieg from when he left, and my mask allowed me to pass with little issue. The town seemed more like a military outpost on the edge of the forest rather than a place where people lived. Everyone was armed and dressed in various uniforms. At the time, I had no reference, so for all I knew, the whole world was like this.

As we made our way to the merchant district, the militaristic theme persisted. There were more weapon and armor shops than anything else. I followed Sieg for about ten minutes until we reached what appeared to be a tavern.

"The establishment was named Wild Wolf and I was half hoping it was Sieg's attempt at a joke. But, he strode in before I could even comment, and sure enough, the bartender and all the staff had wolf ears. I tried to pull Sieg aside, but he was already talking to the barkeep about room prices. I was reluctant to spend the night in an establishment run by people I had killed earlier in the day, but Sieg, still partially caked in mud and looking exhausted, picked up his room key and gestured for me to follow.

"The Wild Wolf," I thought, hoping it was just Sieg's attempt at a joke. But it wasn't. He strolled right in and low and behold the bartender, as well as all the staff and most patrons, had wolf ears. I tried to pull Sieg aside, but he was already talking to the barkeep about room prices. The last thing I wanted was to spend the night in a place run by possible relatives of people I had killed earlier that day, but Sieg, still partially caked in mud and looking exhausted, picked up his room key and gestured for me to follow.

Once we got to our room, I slammed the door shut and confronted him, "Are you insane?"

Contrary to my aggressive tone, Sieg calmly put down his pack and sat on one of the beds before responding, "What is it now, Pax?"

Frustrated by his nonchalance, I bit back with a sharp response, "The Wolfmen, Sieg. I just killed two of them and one of their leaders earlier today. Why in the hell are you buying rooms in an establishment run by the same group? For all we know, I just offended a few family members. I highly doubt the two of us will last the night. That's what it is, Sieg."

Sieg looked at me cluelessly for a minute before responding, "Wait, do you think that everyone with wolf ears are somehow related?"

Now it was my turn to be confused. "Yes," I responded. "Isn't that how species work?"

"Species? People with wolf ears aren't a different species," he corrected me.

"They aren't?" I asked, surprised.

"No. Everyone knows that all anthropoid class sentients can breed with each other. All the differences are just traits. The most important factors are who your parents are and where you are born," he explained. "Since we're on the edge of Fenrir's territory, I'd say that one in three babies born here have wolf ears."

"That's wild," I said, finally starting to grasp just how different this world was from my own. I had a million more questions, but Sieg was already fast asleep.