Peter couldn't understand it.
No, he vehemently denied it.
But this denial fell flat in front of the rambunctious monster before him.
"There's no way you could have done that, not to the whole of this town..."
"Don't tell me the rules!What is impossible is made possible by the whims of the divine! ANd this-" he announced as he swept his hand forth, cutting through the fog, "- Is no mere fog, but the divine product of eight God-like beings! Pray tell, what could mere mortals do in the face of such a thing?" he asked with a teasing voice, as Peter looked at him disbelievingly.
"Then..." He said as his sentence wandered off, as he realized the full implications of Grant's claim.
"Indeed!" Grant exclaimed, as he went into full monologue mode, the favorite of all cultivators throughout the world.
"Every time they killed a beastman, suffocated a dwarf, or hung an elf from a tree, in reality they hung their own teammate. Tell me, what is worse to you? The idea that they were brainwashed into believing they were beastman, cursing their fellow followers for their injustice all the way to the underworld, or to retain their sanity in those last moments, begging mercy of their fellow acolytes, only to receive the same mercy that they had once given?"
Peter did not respond, merely staring down the man- no the monster that stood before him.
He had thought it righteous anger before, to punish the injustice done to a child, but now?
Now he could only see a monster, no, a devil who delighted in the torment of others.
"Come now, I'd say I was rather generous, merely punishing them the same way they hurt others. That is nothing if not just. Surely, the man who denied Richmond the corrupt a peaceful death? Who made sure that he only had faith in his head by beating him over the head with a source of faith?" he said, pointing at Peter's shield.
"A nice touch by the way, if I do say so myself. Surely you can appreciate mine?"
"What of the outside world? I assume that something similar is playing out on the outside?" Peter asked calmly, ignoring the theatrical demon.
"You wound me good sir!" said Grant, dramatically placing his hand upon his chest. "Do I look so repetitive to you? No, I couldn't be bothered to deal with them. Rather, I have delegated that work to others. Don't you worry though, that demigod guildmaster will be sure to finish it up."
Though Peter didn't respond at first, his mind was racing
So this was it...
He finally lost.
Here he was, at the end.
It was... relieving.
Noticing the change in Peter's aura, Grant tilted his head curiously. "Oh? You seem rather happy for a man about to lose it all. Got a card up your sleeve I'm not aware of? Well I'm not worried, others carry cards up their sleeves, but I carry entire decks!"
Peter looked relieved, as if a load had been taken off his back.
"Now that we've lost, I have no reason to hold back." he announced, as the divine aura increased, and all the damage Grant had inflicted vanished, leaving a revitalized Peter.The shield glowed, as it's presence increased and killing intent intensified on both sides.
"Before I die, I will see to it that you are dragged down to the pits of Tartarus with me!" He declared, leaping at Grant, and Grant laughed, reciprocating with the opening of a portal, as the Shroom father lumbered through, with a roar filled with pure rage echoing through the battlefield.
The progenitor swung it's arms, sending the paladin flying back as Grant leapt onto his creation
"By all means! COme get me!" He declared.
The battle had begun in earnest.
As the fog dissipated, a gruesome sight came into full view.
The corpses that littered the streets, that hung from trees and littered the place, were all the corpses of believers, the corpses of their fellow extremists.
The confusion merey intensified, as the minds of the cultists cleared, the fog lifting, and the truth was revealed to them.
Horror filled their eyes, as some of them even began to throw up in horror and disgust.
Samson however, in particular had found the person to blame.
"You!" he said, blindly pointing at all the non human beings in the area.
"You are all to blame! It's your fault, you filthy beasts!"
The axobodl progenitor shook his head, complaining. "Even when the truth is shown to you, you deny it? Their deaths are no one's fault but yours. You are the ones who led you own followers to death, and even killed them yourselves. To blame intended victims for surviving is foolish.
A foolish accusation for a foolish man" THe salamander like being shook it's head in disappointment.
"Shut up!" The man screamed, as he threw a punch, with killing intent strong enough to knock out most people in the area.
Only the axobodl's and the guildmaster managed to endure the strength of the killing intent.
Bam!
And then the punch came, blowing the arm of the progenitor off, as the sound of tearing flesh could be heard, followed by the sound explosion of the punch that followed. .
A'Tan looked unbothered, merely regarding his missing flesh emotionlessly.
His arm was still there, but all that remained was tendon and bone.
Snap!
To the confusion of everyone there, he merely pulled it off with a simple click.
And under the frightened eyes of the crazy believers, the beast's arm grew back in a matter of seconds.
Bones
tendons
flesh
scales
All of it in a matter of seconds.
He regarded his skeletal arm in hand while disregarding them.
"This will make a good reward for one of my children." He said simply, crushing the old arm, with the feeling of divinity flooding the area. As the bones snapped and were crushed under hand, they changed and took new form.
In his hand was his hand, now having taken the form of a daunting shield, made out of merely bones, and yet the quality of the shield could be seen from a glance.
"This, this will do."
Another punch came flying at him, but this time A'Tan easily deflected the blow, using the shield with ease.
"Impossible!" said Sampson, still in denial, but A'Tan shook his head.
"Only strength. Does Isis not smile upon you? Where is your divine grace? Have you no faith?" The axobodl said, the last statement a taunt.
A devotee with no divine power is one who either has no faith, or their God has disavowed them.
Either is a slap to the face, and Sampson burned at that statement.
"Yooooouuu!" He screeched as he just started throwing throwing punches, raining down on the progenitor.
He deflected them with ease, each punch sliding off the shield, bruising with each punch, as they rang hollow against the bones strength.
"Rage without anything to back it up. How... Unseemly. If all you have is strength, then you're nothing!"
The axobodl roared, as the throaty sound inspired equal response from the beasts followers.
Unbeknownst to them, their veins throbbed a dark purple as something ancient inside of them swelled.
Had Grant been there, he may have smiled mysteriously, or even been worried, but for now, it went unseen.
There was a battle to prioritize right now after all.
The shroom father groaned in pain as the paladin lopped off multiple arms with his shield.
Grant made an oof noise as he opened his divine realm letting out Fanfare and the saurian shroom progenitor, with the former letting out a poisonous fire onto the paladin.
Swells and burns plagued the man for a second, before the light of Isis shone once more and he recovered from the attacks.
"Hiding behind your familiars? A coward as well!"
Grant chuckled at the challenge. "That's a rather funny thing to say. Why would I hide from you? You just happen to be a perfect chew toy for my familiars? Where else could I find a paladin who can fight two dragons at once to treat them to?"
He continued, this time the paladin threw his shield with great force at the head of the dinoshroom's head, only to be casually deflected by the liquid blade, which had transformed into a trampoline, ricocheting the shield back at the paladin.
Thunk!
The shield sunk into his chest, causing blood to spurt, as Peter struggled with the shield, instead pulling out the whip.
The whip reeked of blood.
"Ooh!" Grant exclaimed. "The scent of self harm! I just can't wait to hear your story!"
The efforts of the progenitors merely doubled.
The dinoshroom swung those giant clubs for hands as it rode in, dealing pure bluntforce damage.
Fanfare attacked from afar, forcing the paladin to dodge and swerved when the waves of flame and poison rolled in, or to even swiftly dodge when the dragon-like shroom dove in from above.
THe shroom father laced his countless arms into the ground, confusing for a moment, until the ground rumbled.
THe arms appeared at random, forcing the paladin to constantly be on his feet, unable to catch his breath.
He did still get a good few blows in however.
Leaping up, he managed to land on Fanfare, tearing one of the mycelium wings out of the dragon's back, causing it to squeal in pain at the pure shock of it.
Arms torn out of the ground when opportunity permitted it, and he even managed to use the dinoshroom's own charging momentum against it, tying it down much as a rodeo rider can force a bull to the ground.
Of course, at intervals when one of the progenitors seemed in danger, Grant intervened.
The blade would plunge in to interrupt the fight, or even Grant himself would plunge into battle, backhanding the man.
The fight was a harrowing fight for all, except for Grant.
He was just wondering why the paladin was self harming.
Oh the stories that could be....
Hisssss
The steaming sound could be heard as heat emanated from A'Tan's skin
The S-class mage merely looked on in horror as the creature merely walked it off.
The mage had attempted to appear distracted fighting the guild leader, only to turn around and initiate a surprise attack. Unfortunately, it proved pointless as the beasts skin merely recovered at a terrifying rate.
"Sneak attacks... I would applaud your effort, but one does not applaud half hearted efforts." the axoboldl progenitor calmly stated as he turned his attention to the mage.
Whistle!
Out of nowhere, a giant feathered beast appeared, tearing the arms off the mage before landing next to the man, handing the arms to the progenitor.
"For your shamanistic efforts." Canuck said, and the axobodl nodded graciously.
"Thank you Canuck, I'll treasure your gift." She nodded, ruffling her plumage a little.
Canuck had changed, evolving further down the korvold line, becoming a korvosaurian.
Her wings had separated, dividing into a pair of feathered wings, and scaly, almost reptilian arms, with sparse feathers decorating them.
Her body had become toned, and a prominent and feathered tail had emerged, less bird like and almost prehistoric even.
A blend of dragon and dinosaur blood, and the terrifying agility she had shown was proof of that, capable of easily ambushing an S-class
"That, is what we call a sneak attack."
The man merely screeched as he looked at the blood spurting out of his arms.
"Why... why does Isis not give me strength?" he asked, disbelief filling his eyes.
In battle under the banner of Isis, he had easily regenerated his limbs, without problem as he led the crusades of Isis across the empire, helping those in need.
When out clearing monsters, when defending the people he had felt Isis' love. So why, why when he was here to purge the monsters from society...
... did she not show him her favor!
Canuck tutted. "Reading Isis' doctrine, how one such as yourself can not realize the fault in your thinking is unbelievable. Even an outsider can see it before you do. " She shook her head.
She had done as Grant had suggested, train and study.
Of course one of the greatest churches of the empire fell under this field of research.
Corrupt priests like Richmond, even if they were to infiltrate the church, could never feel the goddess' great love.
Perhaps when he had done things with good intent, he had felt her goodwill.
But now, harming the children of the empire?
Her children?!
They received no blessing.
"No..." he said, about to adamantly deny it, before being killed by a clean stab through the chest.
Thaddeus made no comment, merely stepping over the corpse, walking over to A'Tan.
A'Tan had already restrained the "S-class" Sampson, the man having never truly been a challenge, merely a stepping stone.
"Where is your master?" Thaddeus asked calmly as he walked over to the weird salamander like monster.
He had to ask now, before the people involved in the fight started asking questions.
After all, the real problem behind it all, the paladin was still at large, an important piece to the equation.
A'Tan looked indifferent as he responded. "The situation that you're worried about has been handled already. A mere paladin defeating my master? I think not."
Peter was a good fighter, but even he could only hold so long against three progenitors and one Grant.
The body became sluggish, and seeing that Peter would no longer provide a good practice target for his creations, Grant lost interest in the fight, deciding to end it.
Flick
A golden chain emerged, quickly binding Peter, and this time, he couldn't get out.
Peter struggled, desperately trying to fight out of the chains, but it was in vain.
"Don't bother, unless you find yourself interested in breaking Fenrir's record." he said languidly.
Peter stared at the man. "You could've done this at any time." he stated, not accusing, but acknowledging, accepting the truth.
Grant was clearly stronger than him by a mile, a thousand even.
He didn't even sense the chain rattling out to bind him, and hadn't even gotten a serious blow on the man.
"Yup." Grant said, not bothering to argue wit him.
Grant brutally kicked Peter across the face, forcing him down on his knees, while he himself sat on a chair.
"Class dismissed." he said, and the progenitors nodded, merely departing into the divine realm quietly, affirming the strength of Grant in Peter's mind.
"Kill me." Said Peter, as he quietly waited for his execution.
"Nuh-uh. Not until you tel me your backstory." Said Grant as he wagged his finger.
"You owe me that much, and you owe the innocent that much."
