"Where are we going?" V could tell Eika was still considering the situation as she asked her question. Well, if we believe the Champion of Deception, The Champion of Good needs our help." L nodded, she had almost forgotten in all the recent chaos, but before they wandered into the frozen north's prison, V had been contacted by Deception. "Assuming of course this is not, you know, a deception?" She offered bitterly. V shrugged, "We are probably falling behind on champion kills anyway. If this is just a trap, we have a fairly high level of firepower now that Eika is powerful and your... uh...matters are settled?" L raised her eyebrow but did not comment on V's inelegant description. Tilting his head, V continued. "You know, there is also a possible opportunity here. L, your way of revealing the lies on my status seems inherently unsubtle. It is possible if we get the help of the Champion of Deception, he could discover more about my status without.... whatever was happening before." Amara, or as he now wished to be called, K, spoke up. "I don't really care where we go as long as we go. This place is positively frigid." 

The group traveled in relative silence as they continued to move south. Each member of their party was absorbed in their own thoughts. Eika contemplated her own status as "Chosen One" and how she might be able to help V with whatever plots were arrayed against him. The Champion of Death examined his own merged memories, making sense of who he now was. Luna was trying to figure out if the direction they were heading was back to that village, it had some really great stew. L was trying to formulate contingency plans for all outcomes, the Goddess of Motherhood's betrayal, her support, something in between, the potential for V's powers to kill him or perhaps anyone a part of this group; unfortunately, she was having trouble. V was trying to sort all that had happened to him in his mind, to make sense of everything. He always felt like something was flitting around the edges of his awareness. He was unable to feel it before, just as he originally had zero control over his blessing. Admittedly, he had little control now, but could at-least reliably use it to 'unleash' Eika for a short time. He wondered if his growing self-awareness and control was because of this supposed powerful race he had been incarnated as. If he was becoming stronger over time, it would make some sense, he supposed.

After hours of mostly silence, V suddenly spoke up. "You know, I just remembered some of what the Champion of Knowledge said when he had me strapped down and was experimenting on me. He was amazed at how 'adaptive' I was, and spoke as if he had never seen anything like me before. At the time I sort of just thought he was a raving lunatic, and he definitely was, but perhaps he saw the true nature of whatever I have been transformed into? His raving about being an amazing 'subject' might not have been simple raving." L grimly nodded. "It is my experience that the extremely insane often have pearls of wisdom lost somewhere within the storm of their own minds. Knowing what we know now, it’s probable your assessment of his words is correct; however, it is not very help-" L stopped and readied her sword, gripping its hilt tightly. Her instincts as a warrior had kicked in, something was wrong. She could not tell what exactly, but the feeling was undeniable. V did not comment, but readied himself at her sudden actions. Eika grabbed Luna and pushed her closer to V. K, for his part, seemed unphased. L's blessing did not indicate any heightened danger, which was unusual. However, she assumed it could be fooled by any number of powers or blessings. Her long-honed instincts were more reliable.

The next minute passed in tense anticipation. As they drew closer to exit of the canyon that they had originally traveled north through, the silhouette of a human appeared, obscured heavily by the snow. Their group halted; V attempted to look at the status of the newcomer. Couldn't hurt right?

┌——————┐
Name: Nyxil
Class: Divine Warlock lv 12
Blessings: Blessing of Laughter, Blessing of Storms, Blessing of Lakes
└——————┘

Well, that was somewhat worrying. "L ch-" She nodded "I’ve already seen it. This person could be trouble. If they are showing three blessings, they might have more, those three might be misdirection for the ones they want to keep hidden." Eika nervously and quietly laughed "At-least there are not any lakes around here...haha..." Eika knew it did not matter, the Blessing of Lakes could do anything, she wondered if maybe it would just let them make big lakes anywhere, they wanted. A male voice called out from snow. "I’m sure you can see; I have defeated a great number of our kind so far." V noted at minimum it would be six, at maximum it would be eleven. He hoped it was six. "We don't have to fight. If you surrender to me, this can work out for all of us. I will not even make you help me! You can go and live whatever lives you desire. I will swear on it." For reasons that V was sure had to be related to a blessing, the entire party could sense that the man would be unable to break his vow. Unfortunately, it was still not a viable option. V called back. "You can't honestly expect us to surrender to someone we can’t even see properly." The man called back "If it helps you." The man drew closer to the group as he spoke. "Even if you have a Divine Samurai with you, it's not going to help you to close the gap between us. As a Divine Warlock, my abilities are already considerably esoteric. Add the collection of blessings I have, and it becomes considerably difficult to even come up with a countermeasure against me, much less defeat me. It’s in everyone's best interests to just surrender. I could even offer to help if you are all trying to accomplish something specific. Other than winning the game of course."

The man drew close enough that they could see his form properly. If V was forced to compare him to one of his old worlds fantasy race's, he would have said that the man looked like a cross between an orc, and a demon. Redish green skin, large build, and one horn sat upon his head. A broken horn sat on the other side of his brow, two or three inches above his maroon eyes. V could feel L tensing up, preparing to strike. As this man had not outright threatened to kill him or the others, V assumed L would wait for the threat to escalate, or for him to give a kill command. "I assure you; my somewhat abnormal visage is nothing to fea-" Without any pretext or warning, the man gasped, his eyes bulged in terror and pain and just like that, the champion died right before their eyes. K quickly spoke up. "Well, I’m glad to have gained a level. I think I will take one of his letters. We don't actually know what his blessing was, I think it might have been vengeance or revenge or something like that, but I’m not certain I want to risk it being lakes. I also don't need his class, as mine suits me fine." Eika stood dumbstruck and slack jawed as L failed to relax. V hesitated a moment. "You...uh... you can just kill people then? Just, outright kill people? Ya Champion of Death I get that it’s in the name, but doesn't that seem...unfair in comparison to... most everything?" K looked over calmly at L and V. "Oh, no need to worry you two can relax. I can't do that to you. Or to most champions."

L did in fact, not relax as K continued. "My Class, Divine Lich. Its stats are unbelievably terrible for the most part. But it does start with a situationally powerful ability. I can bring death to anyone who fears it. Make their fear of death become real, so to speak." In his old world, fantasy stories with liches normally portrayed them as being quite powerful, he figured a divine version would be even more busted. "Aren’t most people afraid of death? You said it wouldn’t work on me, but I’ll be honest I don’t want to die." K smiled, as a mother would to her child while comforting them. "Well, there is fearing death and fearing death. Virtually all living things fight against death, it is their natural state. However, that is not the same as fearing death. He gestured to Eika, even this girl would be immune to that ability. Despite her general level of anxiety." Eika's ears flicked, she was not sure how to respond to that. "My blessing allows me to sense other's relationship with death. In a limited fashion anyway. That girl would gladly throw herself into deaths jaws if it was to save someone she cared for. She fears dying, but she does not fear death. She will not run away from it if she sees it as her only choice. That man would avoid death under any circumstance. He would flee and cry and scream and beg and bargain. Anything to escape his fate. Unfortunately, most champions are either made of sterner stuff, or actually seem to be just insane. So, this ability rarely has viable targets. However, this man was fearful of death in the extreme. I think it is because he carried the grudges of all that died with him. I could feel that he was both being hunted by them, as well as wielding them. The feeling is why I think he may have been the Champion of Revenge, or Vengeance, or Regret or some such."

He looked over at V and smiled as he continued. "You treat death as a business partner. Taking, giving, using, being used, a profitable relationship for you both." He pointed at L, a harsher look on his face. "You treat death like a force of nature that one must know how to use, and how to avoid. Like a hurricane, leading your foes into it, while avoiding it yourself as much is possible. You do not fear it, but you strive to fight against it for the sake of those you are attached to." Gesturing vaguely at Eika he shrugged "As I have said already, she sees it as a sort of monster to fight against. Always waiting to take her life, or the life of others in exchange for someone else’s. Of the... five... of you she is the closest to fear." K paused a moment before giving Luna a sidelong glance. "As for them... One is hardly even aware of death's existence. I am unsure she is even capable of fearing it as she hardly even understands its existence. The other..." A strange and misty expression fell over K for a moment. "She and death are almost as lovers. She embraces it freely, dancing the dance of death, for others, for herself. She does not fear death, it is closer to say she waits for its tender kiss at the end of her long, macabre dance."

No one had any response, although Eika did look a little sad. Clearing his throat, V shifted the conversation. "Well. Let's search his body. Might have a weapon or something we can take. Also let's... not kill people right away. He could have been useful to us. You never know." L searched the dead man’s body; the only item of note was a dagger. It shimmered with a strange self-perpetuating glint and intricate runes filled with silver snaked up and down the blade. Touching it provoked a somewhat sickening feeling in everyone but Eika. Although Luna outright refused to touch it while pinching her nose, on account of it 'being stinky.' After a short debate on what they should do with it, Eika took possession of the dagger and tucked it into her leather armor. The group resumed its trek south as L resolved to keep a closer watch on K.

Much further south, in a city forsaken by sanity.

A man, or maybe it was a woman, no one was really sure, smiled as they sat in their study. They reached their hand toward the bell sitting upon their desk. Upon its gentle ringing a man quickly entered the room. "What need have you?" The man bowed low as he spoke. The being stood up and began to eagerly pace. "How is the angel coming along?" The man bowed even lower; his voice trembled. "Lord of Lies, you must forgive us. Her mind is resilient, precious little progress has been made but I swear we are doing all we can!" Nodding, the being sighed. "I do not blame you; she does have quite the powerful convictions. Any sign of my rival making any moves to secure her?" The man hesitated again "No-not exactly. We think that the city's merchant guild might be their next target, we believe they think that if they secure their influence over the guild, they will be able to control the distribution of food in the city." The being stopped pacing for a moment and chuckled. "Luckily a merchant's guild is not very powerful if all of its merchants work for us..." The man continued holding his head low. "Of course, Lord, the shroud of deception that has been pulled over the city will soon be banished. I am sure of it!" The Lord of Lies rubbed the man’s head quietly for a moment before dismissing him. "Go, carry out your duties. I must prepare, the city may be experiencing a shift in balance soon enough." The Lord of Lies looked north and he played with a spherical paperweight.