Chương 21: Chapter 19 - Two Old Monsters

Little is known about the [Hero] who followed after Shalia Zinphyra. In fact, without multiple eyewitness reports of his appearance in southern Gram, there would not even be a record of where the [Hero] from another world entered ours. What we do know is both how his story started and how it ended. For the middle, we can only speculate that he was facing off against the [Demon Lord] in secret the whole time. Excerpt from "The Unknown Hero" I looked up from the floor at the [Hero], who had stowed his halberd.

"Answers… and a drink?" I asked.

"The first one's easy enough, but I'm kinda in the middle of nowhere on purpose. We can't exactly just go down the street to a bar." The [Hero] snorted.

"Don't play dumb. I read yer status an' I ken ye can teleport. Sae, if there's naethin' tae drink aroond here, we're gaun somewhaur else." My eyes narrowed slightly at the reveal that he knew what was on my status, but there wasn't much else I could do. I was still nearly out of resources, wrath form was on cooldown, and I didn't hold out much hope for beating the [Hero] in front of me even with all that up. Something about him just screamed "danger."

So, I figured it was best to play along with whatever his game was here. Besides, if he's taking me to a bar, that just lowers the likelihood of us getting into a fight, right? He wouldn't want the collateral damage.

"Och, for cryin' out loud, here. Take ma haund," he said as he bent down and offered a hand up. I took it with a healthy dose of skepticism, and then he helped me back to my feet.

"Noo, teleport us oot o' here. I dinnae like the feel o' this pocket dimension," he said with a brief shudder. I was starting to have dozens of questions of my own, but I figured that I wasn't the one who would be doing the asking. I stuffed those down and focused on the issues instead.

"I could teleport us out to Gram's capital," I started. Then, as he started to reply, I cut him off.

"But I'm completely out of mana." He frowned at me.

"Ye didnae use that muckle mana during oor fecht," he stated. Didn't use… that much?... Oh. He's saying I didn't use a lot of mana during our fight. I translated after a brief pause.

"No, I didn't," I replied.

"But you caught me at a bad time. I had back-to-back fights and was sitting on near-empty from the first one."

"Ah, that explains it," he replied under his breath. The good news was that even though I was low on mana, we were on my island. I had ways to get it back. And so, I charged back up to full, cast a quick [Disguise Self] to appear human, and then began casting a [Teleport to Beacon]. As I did, he had to let up on his <Spatial Lock>, the strange skill he had used to shut off my teleportation completely. I was incredibly tempted to try [Panic Button] once again. It would probably work.

[Panic Button] is near-instant, and I just have to wait for him to not be paying full attention. I thought as I watched the [Hero]… who was himself watching me like a hawk. But I don't know how he got here in the first place. I thought. I don't think the System just dumped him here. The "Hero has been summoned" message went out several minutes before he showed up. That makes it seem more likely that he has some spell or skill to locate me and teleport directly to me.

So, while I could have probably gotten away with it, it would have likely just been a repeat of the fight, but in my throne room… which was arguably an upgrade due to the buffs that I had in there. In the end, I decided that it wasn't worth the risk. I couldn't tell what exactly had caused the [Hero] to hold back from killing me, but I couldn't be sure it would protect me if I did anything too foolish. Though, I did finally realize something.

"Hey, [Hero]," I called out during the cast as he had finally stopped watching me cast [Teleport to Beacon] to go examine the rest of the room.

"What's your name?" I asked.

"Ye first, laddy," he shot back.

"I winnae be giein' ye ma name until I'm sure there's naethin' ye can daw wi' it in this wald."

"Titus," I called back immediately.

"And I guess I could [Scry] you or send you a [Message], but that's about it."

"Thomas," he replied.

"Since ye didnae gie me yer last name, I winnae gie ye mine."

"Don't have one," I shot back.

"But either way, nice to meet you, Thomas." I wasn't sure if that one was quite true, but I guess I would find out once we got done with the upcoming interrogation over drinks. He merely grunted in response and waved me off dismissively. Then he turned back to the shattered remains of one of the mana-gathering arrays that Mishael had destroyed and continued studying it. Fortunately, the [Teleport to Beacon] was soon complete. I placed a hand on his shoulder, and we soon reappeared in a dusty, decrepit basement.

Thomas coughed and sputtered for a bit before turning to me with a frown. I just shrugged.

"It's been a while since I used this one, okay? I don't really keep tabs on any of the cities." Without another word, we made our way out of the abandoned building. As we did, Thomas's Hero's Regalia suddenly changed to a pair of everyday civilian clothes. I blinked for a second in confusion.

"I didn't know that armor could do that without saying the words to activate it." He ignored my unspoken question.

"Noo, whaur's the nearest pub?" I shrugged.

"No idea, we'll just have to ask around." And so, ask around we did. Unfortunately, it would seem that the area where I had placed my beacon had degenerated into the city's slums, so we stood out like a sore thumb, and most people weren't willing to talk to us. Well, most of them.

"Excuse me, me lords," one man stated as he accidentally bumped into me. I caught him by the collar as he tried to walk away from us.

"Give it back," I said with a sigh.

"G-g-give what back, me lord?" he asked.

"The gold that you just stole from me," I replied.

"I wasn't born yesterday, and I've seen [Thieves] a thousand times better than you." Unfortunately, my grip was only on his patchy coat. That meant that after jerking off his piece of outerwear, he was free from my grasp. He took off running. He didn't make it far. A [Flash Step] and a [Fire Strike] took him to the ground.

"Don't worry," I called out for Thomas's benefit.

"Non-lethal. He's just out cold." I belatedly realized that perhaps I shouldn't have done that as I looked back towards Thomas and saw a kid standing right where I had [Flash Stepped] from with a look of mouth-open shock. My hand went up to the necklace on my chest on reflex as I was assaulted by the memories of Megan and me clearing out DeepMine's underbelly all of those years ago. I walked up to the trembling boy and then got down on a knee.

"Were you with him, or-" I cut off my question as the boy shook his head vigorously.

"Hey, I'm not going to hurt you even if you were. Just wanting to know if we should turn that guy in or not." He turned to nodding his head vigorously, and I laughed.

"Got a name?"

"Marcus," he said quietly.

"Nice to meet you, Marcus," I replied.

"They call me Jake. Now, if I'm not mistaken, you were going to try to pick my pocket, while I was busy with that other guy." Marcus's eyes widened in panic, and he turned to flee. At least, he tried to. I grabbed his shoulders with a firm, but not painful, grab.

"It's okay. I understand you're trying to do what you can to get by," I said.

"But a life of petty thievery isn't going to end well for you, okay?" He didn't reply, but his stomach ended up doing it for him.

"Tell you what," I replied.

"I don't have the [Steal] skill, so I can't get my money back from that idiot over there." I gestured back behind me.

"How about if you get my money back to me, and then I reward you for returning it? That way, you get some money legally instead?" Marcus nodded enthusiastically and shot back to me to trade over my missing 137 gold pieces. That wasn't a large amount to me, and I almost let him keep it all… but then I remembered where we were.

"What's the most I can give you that won't make you a target?" I asked Marcus quietly.

"Twenty-fi…," he started but then cut himself off with a shake of his head.

"No, probably twenty," he whispered. Without another word, I gave him a 20-gold coin and gave him a brief nod. He said thanks, shot off like a rocket, and then waved goodbye before slipping into an alley. Meanwhile, Thomas had just been watching the entire thing impassively. I almost forgot that he was there, and he nearly made me jump when he finally asked, "Noo, why'd ye dae that?"

"Does it matter?" I asked as I stood up.

"Aye, it daes," he replied.

"An' consider it the first o' the answers ye owe me." I sighed and thought for a moment.

"Well, I bopped that guy," I gestured behind me.

"Because he stole from me. As for the kid, even though he was trying to do the same thing… I just don't like seeing kids get hurt, alright? They don't deserve it." I stood up and turned to look at the [Hero].

"Or maybe this was all an elaborate scheme that I cooked up to look good in front of the [Hero] so that he doesn't murder me," I stated, deadpan.

"I'll be the judge o' that," Thomas replied without hesitation. From there, we dropped the unconscious thief off with the Watch, swore on truth stone that he tried to rob me, and then found a bar where we could finally fulfill the second part of Thomas's request from me. Unfortunately, we quickly learned that Thomas didn't have any gold to his name, so it seemed that I would be the one paying, even though I had no plans on drinking. As we sat at the bar, Thomas looked over the menu. Then, he turned to me.

"Whit kind o' drink is this alchemist's ale?" he asked. I muttered internally about how he picked the most expensive beverage on the menu but managed to keep that off my face.

"It's a drink designed by [Alchemists] to… well… get you drunk," I replied.

"No idea about the taste since I don't really have a sense of taste, but I imagine it tastes awful."

"That'll dae," he stated. Then, flagging down a waitress, he continued.

"My dear, twa bottles o' alchemist's ale, please." She looked horrified.

"Thomas," I whispered as I nudged him.

"They serve those in shots."

"I'm aware," he replied. Then, back to the waitress.

"Twa bottles o' alchemist's ale, please," he repeated. With a groan, I gave up.

"Just give him what he asked for," I replied.

"I'm good for it." It turned out that when you order that amount of alchemist's ale that they won't just let you put it on a tab… or at least, not when you show up at the bar as two random schmucks that no one had ever seen before. Even after I showed them that I was good for the cost, even if it made me wince, they were still incredibly hesitant to serve us. It turns out that most people don't like deaths from alcohol poisoning on their heads.

After finally assuring, with an oath, that we wouldn't die on them and that our estates wouldn't sue the bar if we did, the waitress came out and set the pints in front of us with a tight look on her face. I slid mine over to Thomas, but he quickly slid it back.

"Nae, ye're drinkin' wi' me," he said.

"I thought we were here to get you a drink," I protested.

"I don't even like drinking!" That part was… well, I guess I had kinda enjoyed myself the past couple of times I had been drunk, so it wasn't wholly true. However, I was aware of the fact that I didn't really know my own limits when it came to alcohol, and I didn't want to get drunk around a [Hero] who was going to be fishing for answers.

"Shut up an' drink," Thomas stated gruffly. With a sigh, I looked down at the pint of alchemist's ale. That's less than Titania had, and she was the biggest lightweight of all my incarnations. I thought. I should be able to drink this much with no problem. I glanced over at the [Hero]. And if I get him drunk while I'm not, I might be able to squeeze out an advantage. I liked the plan. With a nod, partially to psyche myself up, I lifted up my pint.

"Cheers," I stated as the [Hero] and I clinked glasses. If I hadn't been so confident in my plan, perhaps I would have noticed the fact that I started getting drunk a lot faster than I should have…

Thomas McKay watched the [Demon Lord] as their bottles reached half. He tried not to let his distaste show on his face, but the ale was arguably the worst drink he had ever had. … And given that he had once been in a spacefaring universe that drank some kind of intergalactic snail's urine, that was a difficult bar to clear. He shook that memory off and went back to looking at the [Demon Lord], who was swaying in his seat.

"Can you beliiieve that it wash the Gram army that came up with this shtuff?" Titus asked as he swayed in place.

"Good ole militant Gram. Don't know how to do anything half-hurt… half-hard… Don't know how to do anything." That should dae. Thomas thought. He had proposed the idea of getting a drink for a few reasons. None of them were because he was Scottish or liked to drink because he could honestly take or leave the stuff. The main reason was that the [Demon Lord] sitting before him was also an [Actor].

While Thomas thought he was a pretty good judge of character after all of these years, it wouldn't hurt to be cautious about a class specifically designed to project a false story. And Thomas was pretty sure that the [Demon Lord] wasn't faking his drunkenness. The only surprising thing was that it had happened so fast. <Shred Resistance - Poison> be daein' mair than I thocht it wid. Thomas thought. Meanwhile, Thomas was completely sober, with his skill <Poison Immunity> still active.

And so, as the glass got closer and closer to empty, Thomas started asking his questions, all with <A Pleasant Conversation About Nothing> active so that everyone outside of the immediate vicinity would only hear the two of them discussing things as trivial as the weather. He asked Titus where he had come from and what Titus had meant by not being the first one to kill him. And as he started getting jumbled, drunken rambles in reply, he instead got Titus to focus on the story of his first life.

Thomas sat there, ale forgotten, as the lad, yes, a several century-old [Demon Lord], but still a lad in Thomas's eyes, told a tale of an unfortunate journey to another world, a betrayal of the one he loved, and being hunted down by his friends. Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. However, some holes started appearing in the story.

Nothing major, but every time that the "Demon King" that gave him the quest came up, or the rival that opposed him, Titus paused more and said things that contradicted earlier parts of the story. That was the only part, though. And despite his evasiveness and particularly chosen wording, he was telling the truth. This will be mair difficult than I thocht. Thomas thought to himself as Titus got lost in ramblings leading up to the final confrontation with his friend, Jake.

If he wis juist evil an' happy aboot it, I wid hae nae problems wi' killin' him for guid. But if there's a chance for a different option-"And then, the countdown hitsh zero, and outta the portal steps Admin-" Titus' eyes shot open wide in panic.

"I mean, the Demon King-" However, that single word tore Thomas out of his thoughts. Before Titus could finish his "correction," Thomas was on him.

"Whit dae ye ken aboot admins?" Thomas asked with deadly seriousness.

"I don't know nothin'!" Titus blurted out and nearly fell out of his chair as he held up his hands in defense.

"He just called himshelf that, and it was on his health bar and everything!" The second part was the truth, mostly, but Thomas could tell that the first part was a lie. And that meant something else. The rival he wis mentionin' must hae been anither admin. Thomas thought as he looked at Titus with a new eye. He's met no' ane, but twa admins. That was impressive. Even with the myriad of worlds that Thomas had been transported to, he had only ever met a single admin.

Moreover, it would seem that the two admins were at odds… and one of them was most definitely a demon. Infightin'? Or dae the admins o' Heaven hae an unexpected ally? It was too early to tell, but if there was a chance of getting in touch with an admin that wasn't aligned with the demons, then there was a chance of Thomas getting his dearest wish.

"Come on then. Up on yer feet," Thomas said as he grabbed Titus' arm and tried to pull him up.

"We cannae be haein' this discussion here." Titus struggled away.

"Gerroff of me," he slurred.

"I can shtand up on my own." That statement was punctuated by Titus attempting to stand up and then immediately toppling over and knocking over a few unoccupied chairs. He called out some slurred sorries to the staff and then pointed a shaking finger at Thomas.

"You did thish to me," he accused. And then, his eyes narrowed, looking at his finger.

"I am very drunk. Or I grew another finger. That would be bad. My glovesh wouldn't fit." Thomas had underestimated Titus' drunkenness, so, with a quick deactivation of <Poison Immunity> he took a quick swig of what was left of his drink. He could feel the effects almost immediately. I need tae get him oot o' here. Thomas thought. Then, Titus's head flopped down onto the ground. An' possibly tae a healer.

Though a [Hero] bringing the [Demon Lord] to a healer was a pretty ironic situation, Thomas thought that killing the [Demon Lord] with alcohol poisoning would have been a touch worse. That and it would ruin his only chance at getting a lead on an admin. With a grunt, Thomas picked the [Demon Lord] up and slung him over his shoulder. He wouldn't be getting any more answers tonight, but he was sure the next morning's discussion would be very interesting.

I woke up with a groan and a splitting headache. The first part was the bigger cause for concern. Why was I uncons- Oh. Right. Drinking. I fumbled through my inventory, selected Singularity, and then materialized it. I then immediately had a halberd pointed at my chest.

"I see ye're awake… and alive," Thomas stated.

"Kinda wishing I wasn't at the moment," I groaned.

"But before you go and arrange that for me, I was just planning on casting a healing spell. You mind?" Thomas kept the weapon pointed at me but gave me an affirmative grunt.

"[Restore]," I cast. It took more mana than I expected, but I was soon headache-free.

"Ahhh, there we go," I said as I stowed my staff. Thomas lowered his weapon, and I sat up on the bed. Which… it took me about that long to recognize where I was. It looked like we were in a cheap inn or something. Two beds, mine was fairly lumpy now that I could feel it, but I couldn't exactly fault the [Hero] for picking this place. He didn't have much money, and if I was out cold, it wasn't like I would care about how comfortable the bed was. Though… Thinking of being out cold…

I thought as I eyed the [Hero] suspiciously.

"Did you drug me?"

"Nae, I didnae," he said with a wave of his hand.

"Ye juist cannae haud yer liquor nearly as weel as ye thocht ye could."

"Riiight," I replied, my doubts not alleviated in the slightest.

"But, that disnae matter," he said as he sat in a chair opposite my bed, with his halberd relaxed but ready.

"Afore ye passed oot like a wuss, ye were tellin' me whit ye ken aboot admins."

"Was I?" I feigned ignorance.

"I don't know anything about that. Are you sure you should trust the ramblings of a drunk [Demon Lord]?" His scowl told me he didn't buy it… and I didn't really plan for him to. I was just having fun antagonizing him for some reason. Probably because the worst he can do is kill me… and I don't really care about that. That thought made me pause. Wait, have I been playing this wrong? Should I just get him to kill me so I don't waste even more time hanging around another [Hero]?

The other option was that I could kill him, of course, but I didn't like my odds for some reason. Fortunately, both of those options sounded worse than the third one. If he's met an admin, maybe he knows more about the OmniverseEngine. I thought. And that info might be what I need to take it down… Thomas's impatient cough broke me out of my thoughts.

"Fine," I said with a sigh.

"Yes, I've met two admins for a given quality of 'met.' One was the… I think I called him the Demon King in my story, and the other was some unknown one who may or may not exist yet." Thomas looked like he had a question that immediately got swallowed up by another as I finished my sentence.

"Whit dae ye mean by no' exist yet?" I shrugged.

"Time travel shenanigans." Thomas frowned and muttered under his breath but then gestured for me to go on.

"So… yeah. I don't really know what else to say. The Demon King one, Admin, was a demon and a complete a-hole who didn't hold to his end of the bargain. The other one is AltSys, or at least that's what I called him, and he never refused the name. As for him… I don't know. I never met him in person, just messages and disembodied voices. On the a-hole scale, probably ranks right below Admin, but that's not a low bar to clear."

"Infighting, then," Thomas murmured.

"Alright, now it's your turn, Mr. [Hero]," I said as I folded my hands.

"How do you know about admins? And what's your deal?"

"I suppose there's nae hairm in it," Thomas sighed.

"Awricht lad, here's the tale o' how I became a [Hero]." He went back even farther than I expected, to where he was a young man in Scotland, and how he yearned to travel the world. … Which, he somehow decided that he would see America? Anyway, as he continued about how he fell in love with a young lass-err- young women there, I started to wonder if I should get him back on track. And then, just like that, we were back on track. He mentioned a truck appearing out of nowhere as he crossed the street.

Given the number of colorful names that he called truck-kun, I was already catching on from the beginning that that would be only the first of his many trips to another world. Anyway, the story was bog-standard. Chosen [Hero], summoned by a goddess of light, has to save the world from the forces of evil. However, I did have to interrupt there.

"And so that was the admin you met?" I asked. He shook his head firmly.

"Nae. Some warlds hae gods an' goddesses, but they're maistly juist fowk in chairge o' ae portion o' a universe. Admins are in chairge o' multiple universes. Tho, in a muckle different way." Then, giving me a look that told me to stop interrupting, he told the rest of the story. It turned out that for that world, called Iablia by its inhabitants, Thomas had his work cut out for him. Demonic forces mostly occupied Iablia, and nearly all of the people were enslaved. …

Which bore a striking resemblance to a certain version of Placeholder that I remembered seeing. Anyway, Thomas had to start a resistance. I could feel the pain that he felt as he talked about the brave men and women who died fighting for their freedom… and who also gave their lives to keep Thomas alive. They all knew that if they lost the [Hero], they would lose their last source of hope. And so, Thomas fought on for months… then years… then decades.

As the demons cracked down even harder, the people started cursing Thomas for coming, something which the demons encouraged with glee. People started leaving the resistance, and Thomas knew that he needed something, anything, that would leave a big enough mark on the world. And so, he gathered his strike force, or I guess I would have called it his party, and targeted the <Demon King> himself. They knew they would likely not make it out alive, but they went anyway. And true to their expectations, none of them did.

Thomas choked up a bit as he relayed how they all went down, one by one, just to get him to the <Demon King>. The <Paladin> who stayed behind to hold a door of the <Demon Kings> palace. The <Trapmaster> who had to stay behind, holding together a particularly diabolical trap set by the <Demon King's> army. The <Archer> who took a paralytic dart to his arm and led the demons off trail instead of being a liability in the upcoming battle.

The <Priestess> who used her very life to fuel a barrier at the entrance to the <Demon King's> throne room. And finally, the <Hero>, who would be slain in battle with the <Demon King>. … The only difference being that Thomas also won. He pulled the same BS last-minute powerups that [Heroes] are known for and that I've come to loathe, and he traded mortal blow for mortal blow. I frowned at that portion and couldn't help but interrupt.

"So, when did you meet an admin?" I asked.

"Because I know what happens next. You're supposed to get sent back to your world and-" Thomas scowled.

"Maybe if ye let me finish the story, I wid tell ye!" I snorted.

"Oh, right. Should have guessed. You get a visit on death's door, and the admin tells you thanks and gives you something for helping out." He cocked his head and raised an eyebrow at that. I laughed.

"Wait. No. Really? I was just trying to think of the most cliché way for you to still meet an admin!" Thomas grumbled a bit but finally replied.

"Aye. It turned oot exactly like ye said. I wis dyin' an' I kent it, but next thing I kent I heard a saft voice ca' tae me. She introduced hersel' as Sanithel, an' telt me that she wis an admin." He paused for a moment.

"She mentioned that she wis distressed at the state o' Iablia, but that she lacked the pouer tae enact ony real chynge. Houiver, since I had saved it, she offered me a single boon."

"Woah, woah, woah," I said, holding up my hand.

"I get that you killed the <Demon King>-" I paused for a moment as my mind went off on a completely different tangent.

"Does that feel weird because you're talking about a class from a different universe?" He nodded gruffly.

"Aye."

"Huh," I stated thoughtfully, then got back on track.

"Anyway, she said that you saved the world, but I know from firsthand experience on the other side that taking out the big bad doesn't mean that you automatically have saved the world. What about the demonic occupation? How was that dealt with?"

"Okay, smarty pants, whit dae ye ken aboot demons?" he asked.

"A lot," I shot back.

"They're evil, cowardly, stupid, and-" He cut me off.

"I meant aboot demonic kingdoms." He said with a sigh.

"How are they kept thegither?"

"Through fear and power of… Oh," I felt a bit dumb as I had my revelation.

"Their leadership. If their leaders aren't strong enough to cause them fear, then it all breaks apart."

"Exactly," Thomas replied.

"While I only killed a single <Demon King>, the fallout frae that wis bigger than I thocht possible. The demon's generals turned tae infightin', an' the resistance wis emboldened by the daith o' their martyr. I didnae turn tae sunshine an' roses in a day, o' that ye can be sure, but it at least made a wey forward." It was my turn to raise an eyebrow.

"And you know this because?"

"How did ye pit it?... Time travel shenanigans?" Being on the receiving end of that answer, I now realized how little that told me… and also how it basically told me everything I needed to know.

"Fair enough," I replied.

"So, what did you ask for from the admin?"

"Weel, she telt me that I wid forget aboot everythin' that happened tae me while I wis ower there, an' I couldnae staun for that. And so she gifted me the boon o'-""[Memory Protection]," I whispered. He gave me a serious look.

"Nae. <Mark of Persistence>. An' if I were a gamblin' man I wid say [Memory Protection's] whit ye got stuck wi'," he replied.

"Whit daes it dae?"

"Besides being a giant pain in the asp?" I asked.

"Well, I guess it made it so the [Demon Lord] reincarnation deal didn't quite work right, so it kept me instead of just cycling through new [Demon Lords]. It also made it so Admin couldn't do much to me, which was annoying at the time because I thought it meant that he couldn't send me home. Instead, it probably just meant he couldn't delete me."

"Haud on. An admin couldnae delete ye?" he asked. I shrugged.

"I guess? I mean, I don't know if that's because of [Memory Protection] or not. Admin didn't exactly seem like he was the best at his job."

"He's no' juist a reincarnator… he's a candidate," Thomas whispered, barely loud enough for me to hear. And then, he showed perhaps the first bit of enthusiasm I had seen from the gruff Scotsman. He jumped to his feet and began pacing.

"A mysterious pouer, gien near-directly frae an admin," he said as he turned to face me.

"Hae ye ever been able tae dae something that isnae magic or a skill? Something that disnae fit inside the rules o' this universe?"

"You mean… like an admin function call?" I asked.

"Like [[Message]], or [[View Item]]?"

"[[Message]]!? Ye can send a [[Message]]!?" he asked with a hearty laugh.

"That's perfect! If we can juist get a [[Message]] tae Sanithel, she can clear aw this richt up! She can mak ye nae langer a [Demon Lord]-" he paused there and looked at my shocked face.

"Aye, I could tell ye dinnae really want the job, pairt o' the reason I havenae killed ye-" He continued talking, but my mind was elsewhere. I could stop being a [Demon Lord]. Was the pre-eminent thought. I could finally give all of this up. I could leave. Part of me jumped at the chance. I could finally be free. The other part… was more cynical. And what would you do after that? Go back to your cardboard cutout of Earth and try to pretend that everything's okay?

Would you even be sapient anymore, or would you just go back to being an NPC; just trash that this horrible System uses to prepare the "people" that it actually cares about? And then there was a third part… that was too loud to stay inside my head.

"No," I said with cold certainty to the exuberantly pacing Thomas. He turned to look at me, and I repeated myself.

"No."

"Laddie, ye dinnae unnerstaun-""I understand plenty!" I shot back as I rose to my feet.

"And what I understand most is that this entire System, this whole… OmniverseEngine… needs to go down!" I shouted. Thomas's eyes narrowed, and his weapon reappeared.

"Laddie, I'm gaun tae gie ye the benefit o' the doot and say ye didnae realise that ye're threatenin' trillions o' lives when ye say that, or-""I. Don't. Care." I punctuated each point with a finger jabbed into his chest.

"This entire System is a joke! A cruel, heartless, evil, joke! What else would you call something that forces someone to become a [Demon Lord] and kill the woman that he loves?"

"I'm sorry aboot Megan, but-""But that's not all!" I shouted, nearly in hysterics now.

"Forces him into a time loop so that he not only has to watch himself do it all over again, he has to become the very reason why she's dead! Oh, and let's not forget the oh-so-amazing admins that this System has that showed me exactly how awful this world would be if I didn't murder the only woman I loved!"

"Titus, calm doon-"" I AM CALM!" I shouted, my wrath aura leaking out considerably and Thomas's own heroic one rising up to combat it.

"In fact, this is how calm I should be all the time! This is a reasonable amount of calm for the amount of sit that has happened to me! And it's also equally calm to say that this entire System deserves to be destroyed!"

"If ye dinnae calm doon, ye'll transform. Dinnae force me tae kill ye," Thomas stated evenly. I pointed his halberd right at my chest.

"Then, do it! Kill me, [Hero]!" I snarled.

"I don't need your help anyway, and I'll just be back in 50 years!" He hesitated for a brief moment, and I saw my window of opportunity.

"[Panic Button]," I cast, even as I snapped a [Disrupt]. Thomas's eyes widened as his <Spatial Lock> disappeared, and his halberd stabbed through air as I vanished. I reappeared in my secret room and tried to calm down despite everything. It's going to be a fight the next time he sees me, and I want to be ready. I thought. And being ready meant not becoming a giant molten monstrosity. I was sure Thomas would take that down with little to no issue.

And so, I took deep breaths as I entered the throne room and prepared for Thomas to magically appear again. I could [Scry] him… If I had gotten his last name. Frick. If I wanted any chance of defeating Thomas, I knew I would need a surprise waiting for him. So, I stood at the top of my throne steps, waiting with a fully charged [Lightning Spear] ready to go. … That was actually a pretty difficult spell to hold onto, and I was worried that I would accidentally let it off early if he didn't show up quickly.

Thankfully, he did, not 5 minutes later.

"[Lightning Spear]!" I shouted as I thrust Singularity at him.

"<Lightning Rod>!" Thomas answered in reply, slamming his halberd to the floor. My spell went off target and was absorbed into the Hero's Halberd. My chances of winning had just dropped lower than the floor, but I wasn't about to give up. I [Flash Stepped] forward as Herobane appeared in my hand, and I activated the sharpness and hero slayer enchantments. The bottom part of his halberd blocked my first slash. A quick [Blink] and I had a second slash aimed at his back.

It was blocked by a blur of the weapon caused by-"<Unbreakable Guard>!" I continued a relentless attack, [Blinking] around and trying in vain to get through the skill. Meanwhile, Thomas was unperturbed.

"Titus! I juist want tae talk!"

"And I have nothing more to say!" I snarled as metal continued ringing on metal.

"No admins can be trusted! I won't trade being a pawn in AltSys's games to be a pawn in some other admin's!" Seeing that my attacks were going nowhere, I changed tactics.

"[Hell Blaze]!" I [Overchanneled] with Singularity from point blank range.

"<Embrace of the Seraphim>!" came Thomas's skill in response. Ethereal wings of light wrapped around him, and the black fire cascaded around him. In the meantime, my eyes winced against the blinding light, and my HP dropped the slightest amount just from the presence of the skill. That gave Thomas his own opening.

"<Disarming Strike>!" he called out as he landed an upward slash on my arm with the axe portion of his halberd. I winced in pain, but that wasn't nearly the worst part. Herobane, seemingly as if it had a mind of its own, spun dozens of feet up into the open air. I [Blinked] up to catch it, but Thomas was right behind me, sprinting up into the air with a skill he called <Air Walk>. The main difference in our approaches, and the one that gave him the clear advantage, was that he retained his momentum while I did not.

He crashed into me heavily, and since his skill let him retain his footing even up there, he wrenched Herobane from my hands as I crashed back to the floor. The only thing that was hurt from the fall was my pride, but I tried to salve it by at least getting one good shot in at the [Hero] before his now near-inevitable win.

"[Shock Bolt]!" I cast, [Overchannelling] it to the max. Thomas was still in the air, and [Shock Bolt] was literally lightning fast. I scored my first hit of our match, and he spasmed a bit with the electricity.

"Awricht, that's eneuch!" Thomas yelled. Then, activating some [Blink] skill of his own, he appeared in front of me without his halberd. He jerked Singularity from my hands, tossed it away, and then easily caught my [Fire Strike] fist in his open palm. I growled and tried with my other hand, but he caught that one just the same.

"Gie it up, Titus. Nane o' the attacks ye hae left can hurt me," he stated, with a hint of sad resolve in his voice. However, it appeared that wasn't entirely true. My armor set effect was active, and the black flames that were burning into his hands seemed like they were doing something. So, I kept up the pointless assault by trying to kick him with different [Elemental Strikes]. They all bounced off harmlessly until he suddenly headbutted me. Hard.

"That's for bein' a hard-heided oaf!" he shouted as I reeled back, dazed. However, I was even more confused when he suddenly let go of my hands and wrapped me in a bear hug.

"An' this is for you," he stated as he wrapped me tight.

"I can barely begin tae imagine whit it must hae been like. I'm sorry ye had tae gang through aw o' that. But ye dinnae hae tae gang through it alane onymair." I beat uselessly on his armored back a few times, and my armor was likely causing minor burn damage all across his body, but he held fast… until I finally broke down into tears. It was kind of embarrassing, and to be honest, I'm not quite sure what caused the chink in my armor that allowed the tears to flow.

Maybe it was the fact that I really had felt alone all along, but I never voiced it. Or maybe it was that he felt almost like a parent since he was a rare person with a depth of experience that dwarfed my own. Or maybe it was simply the fact that he was someone else who had lived multiple lives and known the associated pain. To sum it all up, I think I cried because he simply got it. Eventually, the tears stopped, and I wiped the last of them away with my still-flaming gauntlets.

"Better?" he asked.

"Yes," I said quietly. At least, I assumed that the hollow void I felt in my chest was better than the seething rage I had been throwing a tantrum with all day.

"Guid. Noo, I dae think we should contact Sanithel," he held up his hands placatingly.

"But afore ye get worried aboot gettin' caught up in her games, I'll mak sure that ye dinnae. Tho, we micht hae tae be careful aboot oor phrasin'. Wi' me wantin' tae no' be a [Hero] ony mair, we micht juist try tae sell this as takin' oot a key player on baith sides. Oh, an' dinnae fash yersel aboot those twa admins. I'm sure that Sanithel can gie them an awfae time for ye." His last statement had missed the point. While I hated Admin and AltSys, I didn't want revenge on them.

I wanted revenge on the System that let both of them be in charge in the first place. I didn't process that too much, though, because his earlier revelation had shocked me. Who would want to give up on being a [Hero]? However, as I looked at him, really looked at him, I finally saw the tiredness seeping through the cracks. How many worlds could someone save before it becomes too much? How long could someone handle having the weight of existence on their shoulders?

And so, I didn't even need to ask him that question. I didn't need to know why he wanted to stop being a [Hero]. Because… I got it. And that meant that I would be the bearer of some pretty unfortunate news.

"The only problem is that I can't contact anyone," I stated softly.

"Placeholder has been disconnected. I can't send a [[Message]] out." That stunned Thomas to silence for a bit, but he eventually broke into a wide grin.

"It'll be fine, laddie! Ye can dae it!" he said as he slapped me on the shoulders… and recoiled because of the fire.

"Huh?"

"If there's nae admin aroond, ye can mak the chynge! I think it wis [[Edit Character]]... aye, that wis it! Ye juist hae tae use that an' then say guidbye tae [Heroes] an' [Demon Lords] in this warld!" That would get Thomas what he wanted, but removing myself from being [Demon Lord] wouldn't do enough for me. … But Thomas was offering me a [Hero]-assisted chance to muck around with admin functions. I didn't think I could pass that up.

"Sure," I nodded in agreement.

"That's the spirit, laddie!" he shouted in reply.

"Noo, whit dae ye need tae get stairtit?"

"Mana," I replied." Lots of mana."