Fortunately, Rao was alive. Of course, as much as Fenrir might have preferred Rao to be alive, that didn’t mean he wouldn’t still tease Rao about how unfortunate it was that he survived.

But Fenrir quickly stopped teasing him once Rao actually felt bad about it. Then he reminded Rao that he didn’t actually want him dead.

It was hard not to tease that soft side of Rao.

The group went back to town after giving Shogun and Rock a chance to rest. For most of the trip back, Fenrir let the others talk among themselves while he tried to think of new moves or powers for himself. He couldn’t be the only one not developing cool, new moves or anything like that. At the very least, he had to figure out a way to improve what he already had.

But right as they were close to town, he and the others became distracted by the sight of a damaged boat only slightly bigger than The Shoebill drifting into the harbor. It looked like it underwent a serious battle to have taken as much damage as it did. From a distance, it looked like it was a miracle that the vessel was still floating at all.

Rushing into town to check up on it wasn’t even a question.

 

The ship was already docked and surrounded by people checking up on it by the time that the group made it into town.

“What… what do you think happened?” Azalabulia asked.

“Looks like they were attacked,” Fenrir answered. “Might be the End Bringers again. Though… I don’t recognize their boat.”

“You can recognize them?” Serra asked.

“I spend enough time down there that I know every boat that belongs to somebody here. Might be from Catsville or Spike Port, though. Can’t tell since the mast was wrecked. All the usual places where a flag would be have been damaged…”

“Something wrong?” Rao asked. “You sound like something’s up. Talk to us, bro.”

“It’s a gut feeling. The moment I saw which parts of the ship were damaged and which weren’t, I immediately thought how convenient that is. It’s something I would do if I wanted to sneak into a place while having an excuse for not flying their flag. We don’t have an official flag here, but I’d be able to recognize any ship that belongs to us. I wouldn’t recognize every ship from the other towns, but they all have flags. So if somebody wanted to sneak in here and get close, coming damaged and without a flag would be the way to go. But… I’m probably being paranoid. It’s not like anybody from the End Bringers would know me that well… unless we have a spy who’s gotten close to me, but I doubt it. Mary is our only spy.”

“Huh. I guess it is kind of suspicious when it put it that way. You think we should be careful?”

“It never hurts to be. Even if they don’t know about me, it would be a smart tactic to use in general. Somebody feigning that they need help after being attacked is more empathetic than a random traveler wanting to join the town, for example. Makes it easier to believe them and look past the little things that don’t add up. But sometimes, there are things too big to ignore.”

“I think I see what you’re talking about,” Azalabulia said.

“You probably do. Serra?”

Serra tilted her head before looking at the damaged ship for a few moments. “I… feel like something is wrong, but I don’t know what.”

“Rao?”

Rao shook his head. “This is all you.”

“Look.” Fenrir pointed to the sides of the vessel. “No weapons. Completely unarmed and harmless. Now, tell me. How did a ship take that much damage to those specific places without taking damage to anywhere critical? Or rather, given how screwed the mast got, that should have been critical. Anybody or anything capable of dealing that much damage to the ship would have slowed it down and been more than capable of taking it out. The only way this ship made it back here is if its aggressor let it come back, and why would they do that?”

“I thought you said you were being paranoid?”

“Paranoid about them potentially knowing me, not anything else. The longer I look at this ship, the more it feels exactly like one of my plans. This is a basic infiltration technique. I did this all the time. This… might sound bad, but I was inspired by terrorists going over borders while pretending to be climate refugees. When your entire goal in a game is to be the biggest troll possible to cause as much chaos as possible, the real world is full of examples to learn from.”

“I’m sorry bro, but the more I learn about how you used to play games, the more I wish I could punch past you in the face.”

“I was garbage who found enjoyment in ruining people’s days. I deserved a lot more than just getting punched in the face.”

“At—at least it was only in games,” Azalabulia said. “You never acted that way in real life… right?”

“Not at all. Even if I was a horrible person off the internet, I would have been too scared to actually do anything.”

Serra snerked. “You were brave enough to punch a groper.”

“I was also drunk.”

“Wouldn’t you protect us even if you’re sober?”

“Well… yeah, but—”

“Then that’s what matters.” Serra gave him a couple of pats on the back to go with her words.

“Thanks. Anyways, we’re getting distracted here. Aza, take Shogun and get to the highest point you can that gives you a view of the harbor. I want you ready to give support if needed.”

“Gi-give support?” Azalabulia asked. “Do you expect a fight to happen? And… wouldn’t my magic be too strong to use in the town?”

“If these guys are anything like me, I want to be prepared for the worst. And if they are like me… they’re probably going to do one of three things. One, try to sneak in and join us. Two, unleash some sort of weapon, maybe a deadly disease or gas or something, to try and wipe us all out. Or three, try to inflict as much terror as possible by suicide bombing us. The third one was my go-to. Act like I need help, gather as many people around me as possible, and then boom.”

“Bro… that’s so screwed up,” Rao said.

“I know. I don’t want to make a big scene or anything, so can you and Serra try to get people away as subtly as you can? If they catch on that we’re trying to clear the area, if they have a plan, they might set it off early. Aza will provide overwatch, you two clear the area, and I’ll talk to them.”

“I… don’t think I’d be good at that,” Serra said. “Can I go with you instead?”

As much as Fenrir wanted to keep Serra away due to how potentially dangerous it could be… it was just a game as far as Serra’s avatar was concerned, and he didn’t want to be somebody who never let her stand by his side even if it was for her own safety. “Alright. Rock, you help Rao get people away. They’ll think you’re just being a cute dog who wants to play, so distracting them should be easy and look natural.”

Rock barked and ran ahead without waiting for any additional orders. After all, all she needed to do was be cute. That was easy for her!

“Everybody good?” Fenrir asked.

Everybody still there nodded.

“Alright. We might be overreacting here, but it’s better to play it safe than sorry. Stay calm and focus. Don’t get jumpy or paranoid. Leave that to me.”

With that, everybody got to work. Azalabulia took Shogun up to the top of a nearby building that gave her a perfect vantage point of the damaged ship, Rao and Rock began their task of distracting people to try and pull them away from the area instead of allowing them to form a curious crowd, and Fenrir and Serra went toward the ship itself.

Fenrir wanted to try and ask Saya where she was, but he knew that would be pointless. That would be sharing information in-game with a method that nobody else was capable of. Saya wouldn’t give him that information no matter how much she wanted to.

There was somebody else there who called out to him before he could reach the ship, though.

 

“Oi!” Tabitha shouted.

Fenrir and Serra stopped to see what she wanted. The expression on her face made it clear that she had something serious on her mind. “What’s up?” Fenrir asked.

“You goin’ down to that ship?”

“Yeah.”

“Ya got a bad feelin’ about her too?”

“I do.”

“There’s no way a beat-up girl like her would make it back here alive.”

“Exactly.”

“I was gonna go grab the princess and her maids, but if you’re here, want me to come with ya instead?”

“It’d probably be a better idea to go and let them know what’s going on. Kind of surprised they’re not already down here.”

“She only rolled in a few minutes ago and most folk went to check on her and her crew. Don’t think anybody else has realized somethin’ might be wrong.”

“Got it. Alright, go let them know and I’ll—”

Serra tugged on Fenrir’s arm. “I’ll go tell Nell.”

Fenrir looked down at her with a tilted head and asked, “You sure?”

Serra nodded. “Tabs is more useful for this than me. I… can’t talk to groups and distract them, but I can go get Nell.”

Fenrir gave Serra’s head a little pat before nodding. “Alright. Go let them know what’s going on. Me and Tabs will check the ship out.”

Now it was Serra’s turn to nod before leaving to go inform Nell.

“Got your hammer with you?” Fenrir asked.

“Always,” Tabitha answered, taking it off from her hip to show it off.

“It looks… even smaller than before.”

“Because I improved it! The smaller it is, the easier it is to carry around without it gettin’ in the way.”

“Does it still turn into a giant hammer to smack people with?”

“Ya think I’d ever consider makin’ it so it don’t?”

“Good point. Oh, hang on. Rod, wrap get on standby around my arm. You probably won’t have time to change forms once it starts.”

Rod did as told and changed into his chain form, wrapping his entirety around Fenrir’s right arm. He was ready to lash out at any moment.

Now, with his partner swapped out and Rod around his arm, Fenrir rushed over to the ship and saw that Rao and Rock already did a good job of clearing some of the crowd out. Though, it was mostly those around the edge of the crowd who they were able to get away. Those near the center right around the ship were still more densely gathered than Fenrir would have liked, but trying to get them away without causing a scene was going to be difficult.

Only being as generic as possible had a chance.

“Hey, let’s give them some space,” Fenrir said as he pushed his way through the crowd, Tabitha following behind him like a child after their parent. Given the size difference between them, some might have assumed they actually were child and parent.

“There he is! Wondered when you’d show up,” one of the players in the crowd said.

Given his leadership role in the town, even if Nell was the official leader at the very top, those nearby were happy to give some space when Fenrir asked for it.

But they didn’t leave.

Fenrir didn’t want to tell them to completely go away, either. He had to hope that they would gradually lose interest and leave. If too many left at once, that might trigger any potential plan.

But for the moment, Fenrir turned his attention to those sitting on the dock next to the ship. The men and women who looked just as banged up as the ship.

That made even less sense.

They wouldn’t look so messed up unless they were boarded and got into a physical fight, Fenrir thought.

As for the ship’s survivors, there were seven of them of varying races and sizes. Three of them looked like normal humans, but the rest were almost like chimeras similar to Eva. Some had horns and tails, others had limbs covered in fur, and one of them even had feathered wings with arms and legs covered in scales.

The one with scales was the first to speak up when he saw Fenrir. “Hey,” he said. “Sorry about causing a scene. I hope it’s alright if we recover here.”

“No problem,” Fenrir said. “We’d be happy to help. What happened?”

“It was… it was the End Bringers. We were sailing from Spike Port to go on a little vacation south. Thought it might be fun to get a change of scenery. Got ambushed on the way down. They were… fucking monsters.”

While everybody else around sounded worried for the crew and thankful that they managed to escape, all Fenrir could do was try his best not to roll his eyes. There’s no way they’re not the End Bringers. They’re even doing what I’ve done before and making their group sound scarier than it actually is. “Sounds horrible, but you survived, and that’s all that matters.”

“Heh. Yeah. Thanks.”

“I’m impressed you were able to escape with your ship in that condition.”

“We were lucky. Some rough waters came in and almost capsized us. Their ship was even smaller than ours and could barely handle the waves. If it wasn’t for those waves… we would have died.”

“Did they board you at all?”

“No? Thank god they didn’t. Don’t think we could have fought them off if they did. We’re not fighters, you know? We just want to play the game and relax.”

“I get you.”

While an inexperienced actor might have looked obviously relieved after hearing that, the man Fenrir talked to didn’t change in his expression at all. All he did was nod and smile a little. Even back in the day, when Fenrir remembered his first few times infiltrating enemy bases, he’d usually let out a sigh of relief when he realized he was in. It took him a few times to train that reaction out of his system.

Of course, lacking such a reaction could have meant that the ship’s crew were innocent and not actually plotting anything…

But that feeling in Fenrir’s gut only grew stronger the more he talked to them. He was already convinced of their guilt.

“Anything you can tell us about the End Bringers?” Fenrir asked. “Sorry, I’m sure you’d rather relax, but if they’re in the waters then we need to know what to look for.”

“It’s fine, I understand,” the scaled leader of the crew answered. “They had a real small boat. I’m guessing it was designed for sneaking into enemy waters while trying not to bring any attention to itself. Couldn’t tell for sure how many crew it had, but at least three. Had a cannon on the front firing something like uh… what’s the name for it? Grapeshot, I think?”

“Yeah. I know what you’re talking about.”

“That’s what it fired at us. Felt like we had a massive shotgun taking shots at us while we ran for our lives. Well, sailed for our lives.”

“That explains how your ship got so damaged. Gotta say, you’re lucky.”

One of the crewmembers twitched when they heard that.

It took every ounce of Fenrir’s willpower not to smile. Got you.

“Yeah, we are,” the leader said. “Honestly, the only reason we’re alive is because of luck.”

Fenrir nodded and turned his attention to the twitchy crewmember. A normal looking woman wearing heavy clothes whose hands were fidgeting around underneath them. “You alright? I could bring a healer over for you.”

Singling her out caused a noticeable reaction among the rest of them. She wasn’t the only one who looked nervous after that. “I-I’m fine,” she answered.

Fenrir then focused on the man next to her. “You?”

The group looked more relaxed the moment that Fenrir took his attention away from the woman. “I’m good. Thanks. Looks worse than it is,” the man Fenrir asked answered.

“By the way,” the leader spoke up, bringing attention back to him, “are you the leader around here?”

Given how those who lived there reacted to Fenrir showing up, it was easy to figure out that Fenrir was at least somebody of importance.

But for the sake of the conversation, he had no problem taking all the credit. “Yeah. I run things around here,” Fenrir answered.

Silence.

It didn’t take long for the other players nearby to feel that something was wrong after the group of refugees suddenly became so quiet.

“Keep an eye on things, Tabs,” Fenrir said.

“Ya can count on me,” Tabitha replied.

With a sigh, Fenrir dropped the feigned niceties. “So, End Bringers, right?”

“The ones who attacked us? Yeah,” the leader answered.

“No, I mean all of you. You’re from them pretending to be refugees who need help, right?”

The show was over. Some of the gathered crowd backed away while others drew their weapons.

“Is this a weird test or something?” the leader asked. “Why would we be—”

The suspicious woman from before stood up and pulled her top layer off, revealing several canisters strapped to her all around her torso.

There was no time to hesitate.

Fenrir charged forward and slammed into her at full force, knocking her backward into the water and falling in after her.

The canisters only activated once she was underwater. At that point, the gas that burst out of them clouded the water but was immediately diluted to the point of ineffectiveness.

It helped that Fenrir kept his mouth shut and pinched his nose shut with one of his hands, keeping his eyes closed too just for good measure. While the gas did get diluted, it was potentially still too concentrated immediately around the woman.

Meanwhile, he used Rod to wrap around her arms and torso to restrict her. That stopped her from swimming to the surface to save herself from drowning.

Fenrir might have taken a quick breath before falling into the water, but his enemy didn’t. He stayed underwater for as long as he could, keeping his eyes shut the entire time. It was only when he was about to run out of air that he opened his eyes and saw that the cloudy mist in the water was thoroughly diluted and no longer visible.

The woman he bound with Rod no longer struggled. The only movements that came from her were occasional twitches.

Fenrir was happy to leave her down there as he went for air.

As for everybody else, the conflict was already over by the time that he reached the surface. Several of the “refugees” were dead, the leader was knocked out with Tabitha stepping on his head, and the rest of the crowd who wanted to protect their new home dealt with the rest.

There weren’t any signs of explosions, so Azalabulia never got a chance to fire anything off… but he did spot an arrow that looked like it made a bit too much of an impact.

“Enjoy your bath, onii-wan?” Saya asked after pushing her way through the crowd. She offered him a hand to help get him out of the water, too.

“It was alright,” Fenrir answered. “Figured I should wash your scent off me.”

Saya had Fenrir about halfway out of the water when she heard that. Needless to say, she let go of his hand and happily let him fall back in.

“Oi, now’s not the time for flirtin’. Do that later,” Tabitha said.

“We-we’re not flirting,” Saya pouted.

“Uh-huh. Help that wet dog out already.”

As much as Saya wanted to be a pouty tsundere and refuse such a thing, she opted for helping Fenrir instead.

“Thanks,” Fenrir said. “Don’t worry, I’ll give you more reasons to call me the worst later. Anyways… where’d you even come from?”

“I was watching the whole thing,” Saya answered. “I felt suspicious as soon as I saw the boat coming in.”

“Nice intuition.”

“Don’t be a narcissist.”

“How am I being a—oh. Right.”

Saya stuck her tongue out at him. “Anyways… after they docked, I thought it’d be a good idea to keep watch on them. I was ready to shoot as soon as they did anything. And I did. You’re lucky that you’re so fast or else I would have shot you in the back.”

Fenrir looked behind him and saw that, across the river, there was an arrow embedded in the ground that would have gone straight through where the woman was standing. “I—I see. Thanks for not shooting me in the back.”

“Hmph. It’s not like I tried missing you or anything. Seriously this time. I really didn’t miss you on purpose.”

Fenrir patted Saya’s head before letting out a relaxed sigh and looking around. “Is everybody alright?”

“Yeah, we’re fine,” one of the friendly players answered.

“What about you?” another one asked Fenrir. “We saw the water get all foggy there.”

“I’m pretty sure I’m fine, but I’ll have a healer check me out anyways. Pretty sure that, between the water diluting it and me not giving it any way to get in my system, I protected myself. Well… I guess I wasn’t protecting my ears, but I think they’re probably fine.”

“What should we do with the survivors?” Tabitha asked.

“Take them to building we used for the last prisoner. Bind them and make sure they don’t have any weapons on them. Gag them, too. Can’t risk one of them knowing incantation-based magic like Aza.”

Tabitha nodded and picked up the knocked-out leader, slinging her over his shoulder with ease. However, given that she was a small and short girl, and the leader was a large and tall man… she ended up dragging his face against the ground behind her. “Alright, let’s get ya to your cell!”

Nearby players helped with the other two End Bringers members left alive, following Tabitha with them in tow.

“Bro!” Rao shouted as he ran toward the scene. “Everything good?”

“Yeah!” Fenrir shouted back. “Though, I’m kind of pissed off now.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Well, I just learned that we have an enemy who has no problem trying to suicide bomb us using chemical weapons. That’s what I would have done if I wanted to inflict terror in a group of players and make them paranoid. So, even though I don’t want to give in to that… we’re going to need to set up a checkpoint to get in and out of the town. Something like what Catsville and Spike Port already have. A wall that reaches out into the water and has a gate that allows ships in and out. Until the End Bringers are wiped out to the point where not a single one of them even thinks about ever touching this game again, we’ll have to implement measures to protect ourselves against their plans.”

“You make it sound like you want to wipe them out, onii-wan,” Saya said.

“Who said anything about wanting? I mean, I do want to, but I meant to imply that I will wipe them out.”

“What happened to wanting to live a peaceful life over here?”

“That’s still the plan, but I can’t do that if I have to deal with wannabe griefers trying to ruin our fun. Trust me, I know from experience. The only way we’re going to get any sort of peace from them is by wiping them out so entirely that they can’t even fantasize about rebuilding. Even just rolling into their base and wiping them out wouldn’t be enough. We have to crush them until not even dust remains.”

“Bro, we’re talking about dealing with the End Bringers here,” Rao said.

“I know. And they’re dealing with me.”

“Not gonna lie bro, I’m torn on whether that sounded badass or cringe.”

“Co-come on, I felt like that was a pretty cool line.”

“I’dunno bro. I’m leaning more toward cringe.”

“Agreed,” Saya said with a smug smirk.

“You guys are really taking the wind out of my sails right now,” Fenrir said and slumped his shoulders.

Given that they still had a crowd, some of the nearby players joined in on the teasing and laughing. It was only then that Fenrir really started to feel flustered and turn red.

I wish Aza was down here. She would have appreciated that, Fenrir thought.

“Onii-wan, you might think you can hide in your thoughts, but I’m still here to remind you how cringe you are,” Saya said, not giving him a single moment of respite.

You’re the worst, Saya.

“Hey, that’s my line. Also, what’s so bad about keeping things light? You want to leave that griefing life of yours behind, don’t you? You should be grateful that we’re here to tease you and knock you down a notch so that you don’t completely revert to your old ways.”

Fenrir’s eyes widened when he heard that.

Saya was right. If he really went and tried to wipe out the End Bringers in old Divine Brigade fashion, that would require falling back into his old habits. He was already thinking about using their tricks right back against them and more.

But that wasn’t who he wanted to be anymore and he already made the decision to change.

While old Ryouta might have been all for chemical warfare, suicide bombing, burning down forests, and other horrible tactics that would have been tried as war crimes in reality, that wasn’t who he wanted to be anymore. He didn’t like that kind of person and he had no intention of becoming that kind of person again.

New Fenrir, on the other hand, had other ideas.

Ideas that were more in line with the original internet days of trolling.

“I’m an idiot,” Fenrir said. “I was thinking about fighting fire using fire. That never worked against me and only motivated me to try even harder no matter how many losses we suffered.”

While everybody else was curious about what Fenrir was talking about, Saya smiled and crossed her arms over her chest.

“We can’t give them fuel for their flames. We have to douse them. Take all the fun out of it. Break into their base, paint giant dicks all over their walls, and sing stupid songs about friendship and happiness in their faces.”

Of course, the Divine Brigade did all of that, too. It was just that they did that in addition to those other, horrible things.

It was like a fifty-fifty balance before. Now that they were up against a group that went all in on being horrible and edgy, that meant Fenrir had to go all in on being silly and a troll.

I ever tell you why we were named the Divine Brigade? Fenrir asked Saya.

“Nope. And I already know why, but you sound like you want to tell me about it, so go ahead,” Saya replied.

Thanks. So, back in the day, we had two options to choose from. The Divine Executioners and The Clown Brigade. This might come as a surprise to you, but we decided to combine them. That was the Divine Brigade. These End Bringers—they’re like The Divine Executioners. All the edgy parts of the DB without any of the fun things. So, now it’s time for us to go full on Clown Brigade. All the trolling without any of the edge. One of the best ways of dealing with edgelords like them is to treat them like they’re jokes. The less seriously you take them, the less interest they’ll have. They want reactions, after all. They want to be feared. If we give them that, we give them power over us. To them, that’s winning the war no matter how many individual battles they lose.

Fenrir looked at Rao and said, “Scratch the wall and gate. Let’s put up a giant billboard in the water instead.”

“A… billboard?” Rao asked.

“What better way to invite them and treat them like friends? Imagine it. A billboard with a picture of an edgy looking End Bringers member surrounded by puppies and cupcakes.”

“Wait, we’re going to be friendly to them?”

“We’re going to act friendly to them. This,” Fenrir tugged on Rod’s chain, bringing the floating corpse of the woman he drowned closer, “is how we’re still going to treat them if they try anything.”

“I’m not sure I get it, but I trust you.”

“Thanks. I promise you that I know what I’m doing. Though… I should get Nell’s permission first before we do anything like that.”

If Fenrir wanted to stand against somebody like Kadi, he would never reach that level if he couldn’t even resist giving in to what the End Bringers wanted.

They wanted him to try and wage war against them. They wanted him afraid. They wanted him to try and be a badass with cool one-liners.

But being cringe was all they were going to get, and Fenrir knew better than anybody else that being cringe was a lot easier and more fun than being a badass.