Kyle arrived at the royal palace. Since he was back sooner than expected, many of the guards showed surprised faces on seeing him ride through the entrance of the castle, and alone.

"Hero! You are back with such haste! Where is the Indeterminant? Is he running an errand somewhere, or perhaps he sent you back early? Why are you covered in blood!? Did something happen!?!"

"The Indeterminant has left for the Empire, and I have returned after taking care of a few criminals which I happened to run into."

"The Indeterminant has left!?"

"He has betrayed our country for the Empire!?"

"What will we do about this!? When the king hears of this, he will be furious..."

Kyle held up a hand to quiet the guards.

"There is no need for worry. Even without the Indeterminant, I, the hero of the Ruthobold kingdom will fill any gap he has left in this country. Rest assured, there will be not a single just person in this country who holds any fear of the unknown future, for as the hero I will stand as a pillar for those who work in the dark, as a figure for those who have gone unrecognized despite suffering through endless tasks."

"Hero..."

"Thank you hero... you are truly the one this country needs..."

"I am sure that even without the assistance of the Indeterminant, that with you at our side we will live at peace knowing that there is someone here who is fighting for our safety. I too, as a guard have a duty and a responsibility to protect others... so I understand your desire, hero. I look forward to working alongside you."

Kyle smiled at the three guards, who seemed to be ready to stand by his side in battle.

"I only hope that you all continue to strive along the path of justice. I am sure that there will be times where you are unsure of anything... times where you do not know what right and wrong is, or perhaps even times in which what you think is wrong is actually right, and what you think is right is actually wrong. However, know this- always continue striving to do what is right. Just as inspiration has struck me, so too I am sure it will strike anyone who continues to search for the truth."

With that, Kyle left the guards, who were inspired by his words. He dropped off his horse in one of the nearby stables, and headed inside the palace to see the king.

"Will he choose to follow the path of justice alongside me, or will he forsake his people for his position and prestige?"

----

Ruthobold sat in his throne after a successful discussion, right after the Indeterminant and the hero left the room with the Emperor.

He had done it.

He had shown to the people of all countries on the world stage that he had power over the Emperor.

The Emperor had even dug himself so low as to offer his own land in exchange for the hero's assistance, and Ruthobold had still declined the offer, one which only a country which held an absolute advantage could refuse.

'If only.... if only I could take care of that one mishap... if only I could somehow rid the evidence... no, there is no evidence in the first place... but he knows... the Indeterminant knows, and in order to weaken my reputation all it takes is a single rumor to be spread. No evidence is needed- his word would be believed without doubt. It is such a troublesome thing.'

The courtroom of nobles were mostly quiet, and the children of Ruthobold entered the doors one by one, walking down the aisle in a line, before they all genuflected before their father together, and then took their positions next to him.

'Look at them.... my wonderful children, all fit to be the heirs of the throne... not a single one has disappointed me...'

Ruthobold furred his brow as he recalled the hero.

'None except that stain...'

Ruthobold put his hand on his chin in thought.

'But... even if the Indeterminant managed to get that information and used it against me, he certainly has proven very useful to the Kingdom... he has a way of getting people to do as he wishes, and seems to know exactly how things will play out... I wonder when he will return with the news of the Emperor's attack on him.... then, we can make out the Emperor to be the aggressor, and demand that the weakened Empire compensate us for such a plot... he is certainly quite the mastermind, that Indeterminant... and he was said to be the leader of the heroes? He is quite the villain for a symbol of justice.'

The king then turned to the crowd.

"My people, I am sure you are all considering whether my words and demeanor towards the Emperor were the right decision. However, I tell you all to fear not. We of the Ruthobold Kingdom cannot allow our hero to simply leave to another country on some mission to serve another country. If we do so, then who is to say that the Empire will return him to us in one piece? On the contrary, I dare say that they might use OUR hero as cannon fodder! They will allow their hero to sit back and reap all the glory and rewards, while putting the heroes of other nations on the front lines in the danger! It is crucial then, that we are to keep our hero within our borders, and only allow him to leave under the strictest circumstances!"

'And of course, I need to keep a closer eye on the hero... I need to silence him before he says any more unnecessary things...'

None of the nobles seemed to dissent on this line of thinking.

However, this was an obvious reaction. What noble would want a hero to leave their lands and assist another country? Even if this hero was vulgar, and even if some of the nobles had begun to think that this hero was actually an antihero in disguise, to simply give up their greatest asset to another country was unthinkable and would significantly weaken the Ruthobold Kingdom overall.

As this conversation came to a close, Ruthobold then proceeded to shift gears, and the regular discussions of the court took place.

More nobles fought among themselves regarding the allocation of food to the peasantry, and some even brought up the new issue of the workers guilds gaining too much influence, and started arguing that there should be a tax implemented on these guilds- one which the noble's craftsmen were exempt from.

Of course, this was met with much opposition by the men in the faction which supported the theory of appeasing the peasants in order to stabilize their positions.

The courtroom was completely split.

While no faction could be said to be in the right or wrong, from a certain point of view one would say that those supporting the peasantry were in the right. However these were the nobles who had greater lumps of wealth stocked up, and wanted to stabilize things as they were. Each group was fighting for their own positions, and not actually interested in the peasantry.

The nobles who held less assets were the ones which supported the change, and as such it could be argued that the other side was simply sitting on their piles of wealth while pretending to be concerned about the common man.

A while passed of debating, and the courtroom had become chaotic.

Suddenly, the doors opened, and in entered Kyle.

He was covered in blood which had mostly dried on his armor, and he had no weapon in his sheath. In the confusion of the battle, he had not used his sword which the Indeterminant had taken the trouble to purchase for him, yet it didn't seem to be at his side either. It must have been lost somewhere.

Many nobles began whispering at his entrance.

"Is that the hero? What is he doing back so soon?"

"Why is he covered in blood? To come into the royal court in such a state..."

"Even if he is the hero.... this is too insolent... to approach the king like that..."

Kyle however, walked through the court with a proud look on his face. Knowing that he was here in order to propagate his form of justice through the Kingdom, he could not help but beam with excitement.

Kyle stepped forward, and the king, who had the royal sons and daughters on his sides, sat there looking somewhat disturbed.

"Hero... I see that you have returned quickly... is there any particular reason for this?", the king asked cautiously.

'Something is off about the way the hero is carrying himself...'

'He seems much different than before... even compared to when he openly proclaimed that he was the child of a whorehouse... he seems much bolder right now... is he about to do something vulgar once more?'

Some of the nobles were whispering behind the back of Kyle, however he heard every murmur with his acute hearing.

"Your highness, something occurred along the way.", Kyle said with a smile. "However, as the hero, I have taken care of the matter personally."

Ruthobold looked surprised and concerned on these words of Kyle.

"What happened, hero?"

Kyle then turned to face everyone, and begun pacing.

"Ladies and Gentlemen of the noble courts, my king, and his beloved sons and daughters... I bear news both grave and great... news which will shock you to your very bones, and news which will reassure you despite the uneasiness of the resulting chaos.... the Emperor, Percius himself, was plotting in secret against not only his people, but against the people of this Kingdom.... yes, that is right... the Emperor made a statement so dastardly and villainous that I could not allow him to return safely to his country without ceasing to sleep at night. If I allowed him to leave this country safely... then he would have gone on to commit crimes against the people of the lower class, forcing them to struggle under a harsh and disturbing reign... therefore, I have slain him, and all those who sympathized with his disturbing desire to see the least among us furiously struggle at the bottom of society."

The court gasped in silence.

'Did this hero just say that he.... he killed the Emperor?!'

'And while in our lands!?!?'

'This will mean war!!! I have to go make preparations now...'

'How could such an idiot take the position of a hero?! Has he no regard for diplomatic consequences!?'

'I knew it... I knew it... this man is not a hero... he is most certainly an antihero....'

The king however, remained calm.

"This... plot... this grave offense... this statement which could not be forgiven, could it be the case that he made an attack on the Indeterminant?", Ruthobold asked Kyle.

'Perhaps this too is a part of the Indeterminant's plan which I was not informed of...', the King thought.

"Oh, no! Not in the least! On the contrary, the Indeterminant was the first one to flee the scene after I discovered that the Emperor was an evil man, and attacked him. I did so out of a sense of justice, of course. The Indeterminant originally planned on leaving this country for the Empire, and has most likely fled there even now as we speak. I was unable to catch him, and as such I have returned here after taking care of the Emperor and the guards who were plotting with him."

"What plot are you talking about!?", someone shouted out.

Kyle smiled at this.

"A good question. Let me respond with a question to you all. Do you all believe that prostitutes are the shame of the nation? Would you all avoid the streets where prostitutes waltz about, trying to make a living? If a prostitute were to ask you for a piece of bread on the street, would you give it to her, or would you walk away in attempt to cease association?"

"What does that have to do with this!?!"

The man who shouted out was the older man who had reproached Kyle at the banquet.

"Because it is for this injustice, that I decided that the Emperor was an evil man... he was one who found prostitution to be the shame of his nation, one who would never be found with a prostitute... one who was 'too good' to be seen with such a 'filthy' person."

Kyle spit as he said this.

"The very fact that one would look at another human being as filth is enough to deem them as an unjust tyrant. Or perhaps you wish to contradict me?"

"I knew it!! I knew it!!! Men of the court!! Ladies and gentlemen, this man is no hero!!! This man killed the Emperor for a reason as silly as this, plunging our nation into a potential war!!! I dare say it, this man is not a hero, but rather he is an antihero who has disguised himself as a hero!!!!"

The older man was now standing in fury while pointing maliciously at the hero.

Many people were murmuring, and some of them agreed.

"Indeed... he did do something so vulgar at the banquet... what if he is actually an antihero..."

"What if he actually killed the Indeterminant and is lying about this to deceive us..."

"But what if he is indeed the hero... he was chosen by the Indeterminant after all... surely that isn't something so easily done."

"Yes, there is no way he could be a false hero, unless the Indeterminant himself was false!"

Many nobles began arguing at this point about who was right and who was wrong.

Chaos enveloped the courtroom, however the older man took over.

"NO!!! This man killed the emperor for something as trivial as not wanting to associate himself with whores!!! HE KILLED THE EMPEROR BECAUSE THE EMPEROR TRIED TO HAVE PUBLIC DECENCY!!! Can you all not see this!?!"

Kyle's expression had struck a vein, and he was walking towards the man with an irritated smile on his face.

"Public decency?"

"Public decency, you said?"

Kyle jumped over to the man, and grabbed him by the throat.

"I will show you what is truly indecent! The fact that people like you seem to believe that you have some sort of privilege... that you are better than everyone else, and that you have the right to look down on others as you please...."

Kyle squeezed the man's throat, hard, until blood started coming out of his mouth.

His eyes bulged, and his beard became stained with blood.

"Ugh.... you piece of shit... do what you want with me, but everyone will know now that you are no hero!!! Blegh!!!"

"What are you speaking of, villain? I am merely removing a single criminal from this world who doesn't deserve to live."

Kyle then grabbed the face of the man, and with sheer grip strength, began to crush the skull of the man.

After digging his fingers into the man's bones, many cracking sounds were heard.

People around began to scream, and frantically fan out of the seats.

"HELP!!! MURDERER!!!"

"Spare me!!!"

Many people were jumping over each other and throwing others out of their way to escape.

Kyle then gripped the skull like a bowling ball, where his fingers had pressed holes into, and tore it off.

The sound of a spinal cord and vertebrae tearing from the man's neck were overtaken by the intense screams of the people around.

A spray of blood covered Kyle, and he looked over to the crowd of people rushing towards the doors.

'How greedy, trying only to save themselves at the expense of others...'

Kyle reeled his arm back as if he were a pitcher, with the head of the noble firmly clutched in his hand. The vertebrae flopped back, and Kyle held one hand on the forehead to steady it.

He wiggled his fingers around to loosen them from inside the skull, and then thrusted forward in the motion of a softball pitcher, and with an underhanded throw chucked the head over to the crowd of people.

It flew across the room at a great speed, spinning around with the spinal chord flying about as if it were a streamer or a tail at the end of a comet.

The head smacked itself into the back of a man who was shoving his way through.

"Oof! Agh!"

The man fell forward after losing his balance from the sudden impact, and grabbed onto the people in front of him, however this only brought them down with him as well.

This led to a domino effect of people toppling over each other, and one woman who looked back saw the head on the ground and witnessed Kyle staring at her with an amused face.

"Agh!!! The- he- agh!!! Help!!!"

Many people started screaming and crawling towards the door, each trampling over each other in attempts to get out the door.

It was complete chaos.

Kyle simply smiled, and yelled out "Looks like that was a strike!"

Kyle's attention then left the group of nobles who forced their way through the doors, clawing and fighting to escape, and he turned rather to the king who sat behind him.

He saw the king and his children, sitting in their chairs. The children seemed to be overcome with fear, however the king himself seemed to have a look of disgust and anger on his face.

Not a single one of them had moved from their spots.

They were all too shaken by the scene which had occurred in front of them to do anything about it.

'Well, that much is obvious for a pampered group of royals...', Kyle thought as he flicked the blood, brain matter, and chips of the mans skull off his fingers. 'This is why I need to fill this court with people who understand what hardship is... those who don't understand the labors of the needy will never give any thought to them...'

Kyle approached the king while he slicked back his hair with his bloodied hand, using the congealed blood as a gel, and smiled sinisterly.

"Your majesty, I have a question to ask of you. What do you think about raising the status of a certain 7 prostitutes to nobles, and the removal of all those pathetic nobles from their positions? If they are so sheltered as to not even be able to stay inside this court room after witnessing a trivial and everyday scene of justice, then they surely are not worthy of their titles."

"That is.... that is preposterous!! You've just murdered a man in cold blood for no reason!! He was right!! You are no hero!!! You are nothing more than the son of some whore off the street, and you don't deserve that title!!! Leave my sight immediately, devil! Else I will call the guards and have every last one of them hunt you until you are removed from this world!!"

"I see... so you and the Emperor were both plotting together in secret, outside my jurisdiction... yes, that is how it must have been... you both couldn't stand the sight of the son of some whore as the hero, and you both were plotting to get rid of me as soon as it benefited you to do so... that is quite a crafty position... one which a man of justice would never assume. I will have to eliminate you as well."

"Guards!! Kill this man!!!", the king shouted.

At this point, most of the nobles had fled and the entrance had opened up, and the guards from the hallways began pouring in.

They were led by none other than the guard who Kyle had conversed with just earlier.

"Hero... why have you done this?!", he exclaimed while unsheathing his sword.

"I am simply doing what is just, my friend. This king is a fiend, who plots against the poor in order to secure his position. Why don't you put down your sword and join me in removing him from his lofty position?"