POV: Henry.

  “What do you mean by that?” I asked. Feeling a bit dumb for trusting in anything this thing said in the first place.

  “I mean precisely what I said, master Henry.” The Intruder replied amiably. “There can be only one. For the reasons I already explained previously and because of the fundamental nature of Psy. The energy all sufficiently evolved sapient species use to mold reality itself to their whims.”

  He said this all in the tone of someone explaining that the stove was hot to a child. As if this was all something I should have known or accepted by now.

  “I’m sure you already guessed it to some degree, but the System doesn’t provide anything in terms of one’s personal growth. It merely measures what changes have taken place in the form of levels and titles. While also providing an environment that is conductive to learning. It doesn’t matter how much effort it or its puppeteers go through, it cannot create true sentience by itself, merely copy what is already there. Those copies cannot advance by themselves either. Not without interference from an ability like that of Master Sully.”

  He made a sound that might have been a laugh.

  “Those changes within you were not caused by the System. The System is merely telling you that Master’s shadow caused them by channeling his power. The System has never and will never offer levels or ability combinations as rewards. It simply cannot do so. In a pinch, it might re-create a creature to be stronger than the original. Perhaps even at the peak of mortal prowess or close to ascension. But these creatures are just that. Imitations. They do not have a true shadow in Pandemonium. They cannot grab hold of their own inner worlds and expand their reservoir of energy. Similarly, the copy expressed the desire to strengthen his victims or his future victims when he spoke with you. This was something he knew he should have been able to do, but he did not realize why it was outside his grasp. In truth, the System as a tutelage program can affect very little in Pandemonium. The realm Master Sully created is his and his alone. Colored by his wants, his fears, his loves and his cruelties. From the moment he first tapped into his potential, the realm and his person, were inseparable.”

  The Intruder waved at me. Pretending to take a few steps back while actually floating away.

  “Think back to how you used to regard your own powers, master Henry. How you thought of them as solid objects or impressions within you. Foundations that you kept building upon. Think of how it has changed, now that you have all four Types available to you. Does it not feel different? Does it not feel alien and disconcerting?”

  “It does.” I admitted warily.

  “That is because you were glimpsing the unreal space where your Psy reserves came together. The solidity of your impression was simply how you thought of Psy and how you thought it should be used. The same was true for my Master, while he hid himself away from his true self. Once he awoke once more, he slowly came to realize that the space he was glimpsing was also the imprint he had left on Pandemonium. A dark, deep lake with many a mystery. Whose waters contained enlightenment and the minds of all his subjects.”

  “That makes no sense.” I interrupted.

  “Not to you. Not right now. Which is why I am explaining this relationship, master Henry. All living beings leave shades on Pandemonium. All of them. The unreal realm itself is only eternal because living things keep being born and dying. That and because eternal beings like the previous ascended maintain an eternal stronghold there. However, most living beings cannot glimpse the impression they leave. That is not true for Espers. Like yourself. What you perceived as solid foundations of Psy within you, were actually the vestiges of your own mind and ideas in Pandemonium. You would have come to this realization in due time. Once you unlocked the Telepath Type naturally through your own effort. Alas, the Master wanted to help you. For you to be strong. And so, he forced this enlightenment on you. On all of you.”

  He waved to the whole room.

  “When Master Sully’s shadow aided you. Remade you. What he did was form a connection to his own realm in Pandemonium. The Lakeside Estate. From there, pure, raw Psy and knowledge were forcefully crammed into you, while Master Sully’s power forced your mind and body to cope with them. He showed you visions, of both past and future events and his power made itself known within you. All that energy broke you and forged you back stronger. Like a tempered sword. You were blessed with the chance to overcome your feeble constitution and you made the best of that chance.”

  He pretended to be hurt. That, or abashed. It was hard to tell.

  “In most cases, the power settles quickly and your body and mind interpret the signals in whatever way they find most comfortable. Your psyche dwells on its own insights into Psy and develops new Types and ability combinations from the implicit knowledge that was forced upon you. The better one is at handling Psy or the more enlightened one is regarding a Type, the more acute the changes will be. Take for example, the case of Mr. Lincoln here. He had less exposure time than you and less focus and attention from Master’s shadow. Yet he managed to reach a higher average level and obtain more high-Tiered combined abilities. Alternatively, you may glance over at this filthy, unworthy wretch. The one calling himself Randall.”

  The man shivered violently. Doing his best to avert his gaze while moaning and mumbling to himself.

  “No matter how much insight the Master gave him, he could only interpret the blessings as a Projector. His mind and body are simply too attuned to the Type for anything else. That said, he did manage to obtain many, many more abilities from his exposure. And plenty of combinations too. No doubt, he will be happy to know this will benefit the Master, when the time comes for him to play his role.”

  Randall broke out in another bout of hysterical sobbing.

  I turned from the blonde, dishevelled man, back to the Intruder.

  “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  The creature laughed. His toad-like cheeks bobbing up and down like distended bellies stapled to his face.

  “I am afraid that I am not at liberty to say. Perhaps you should ask the Master when you next see each other. For now, be content in the knowledge that Randall is nothing less than scum. And that he hopes to receive the Master’s greatest mercy through his service. As atonement for his many, many abhorrent crimes.”

  His smile turned condescending.

  “As for your own relatively small gains… well. Do not blame yourself for your relative failure. Master Henry. I’m sure you did the best you could.”

  “Okay, first of all, (Sully) you too. Second of all, I didn’t see any visions of the future. Only the past.”

  The Intruder arched an eyebrow. So did Vince, Thunder Fist and Puffin for that matter. The girl even going so far as to don a worried expression.

  “Vince understands. Henry was too weak to fully absorb the power. That was why Henry was asleep for so long.”

  “To be fair to our young friend here, there were about a hundred people left alive when the Tall Mannequin thing used the power. After the other winged children carried us to safety. A lot of them died on the spot because they couldn’t handle all the power at once.” Thunder Fist quipped.

  “Perhaps our friend here met the bare minimum for getting anything out of the experience. Sure, he might not have done too well, but his progress is still wonderful to behold.”

  Vince snorted and put down his cards.

  “Thunder Fist is too nice and too polite. You lie to Vince’s face to save Henry some pride. Henry wasted a great opportunity and is having trouble reigning in his own Psy. Despite all the time he’s had to get used to the feeling. To making it instinctive. Vince was up and ready to fight with all his new combined abilities the second Vince woke up. Vince knows that was true for Thunder Fist and Puffin and Mr. Lincoln and Randall and even Stellio.”

  “Hey!” Stellio called out. “You leave me out of this! I didn’t even get anything from that blast! Sully’s ability description says you can only benefit from the [Inspiration] part of it once a year or something. That last explosion washed right over me.” He paused to straighten his back.

  This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.

  “And for the record, I did amazing during my time. I got all my abilities in working order right away. Maybe not as quickly as Gina or Subutai or Dusty or Slab or Charlie or… you know what. It doesn’t matter. I was still one of the elites back at the Expert difficulty Tutorial and I could have beaten the snot out of Henry here and Puffin if it came down to it.”

  I felt Serpent-Tongue’s eyes shift in Stellio’s direction then. This time staying put.

  The man must have noticed a second later, because he paled to such a degree that anyone else might have thought he’d been poisoned.

  “Not that I would ever raise my hands against my friend Henry here! Or Sully’s sister! Why, the thought would never have occurred to me in the first place! I don’t know why I said that. I must have hit my head sometime in the last few hours. That and I’m stupid. My mom and Gina are always telling me that. You can just ignore what I said. I can’t help saying stupid things. Hiuck hiuck!”

  He made some silly motions with his arms before knocking on his own head.

  “Yep! That’s me! Good old stupid Stellio! I blame all those hits to the head! So there’s no reason to let Sully know what I said! No reason at all! He’ll know it was all just good old Stellio! Saying nonsense again!”

  “Stop it.” Puffin whispered. Her head now back in her thighs. “Stop pretending you like this person. This monster. Just say it like it is.”

  She spoke softly. Her words barely audible over the rumble of purple lighting outside.

  Yet, those words might as well have been echoing from trumpets, given the silence that descended.

  Everyone, even the laid-back pair of Vince and Thunder Fist sucked in a breath.

  After that, you could have heard a pin drop.

  “I am ever so sorry that Mistress Puffin considers me a monster.” Serpent-Tongue spoke. “I would ask what aspect of my behaviour made her esteemed person feel uncomfortable. I assure you, my lady. That I will strive to change whatever behaviour gave offense.”

  “It’s not you.” She clarified.

  Bringing her head up and glaring with her emerald green eyes. Her similarly colored hair glowing in the candlelight like a gout of green fire.

  “It’s this Sully (Sully)hole. He’s the monster here.”

  Stellio didn’t waste any time after that. He leapt over the table with all the grace of an Olympian and picked up a bundle of clothes laying on a nearby corner. He then withdrew a sharp blade from the bundle, infused it with Psy and moved it across his throat in one swift motion. Not content with that, he also began stabbing his own chest frantically. Pressing the blade between his ribs over and over until the strength fled from his fingers.

  In his last moments of conscious thought, all he felt was relief.

  Randall moved to join him, but Mr. Lincoln pushed him down.

  “Don’t!” He yelled. “We still need you!”

  “No! NOOOOOO!! He’ll hurt us!! He’ll HURT ME!!! HE’LL HURT ME AGAIN!!! AAAAAHHH!!!”

  “See!?” Puffin cried out. “He’s a monster! People are more afraid of him than they are of Halkon!”

  “Who?” I asked.

  “A slaver lord who tried to kill dad. Reggie. And who tried to make me and mom and everyone else into slaves back on the islands.”

  OOOOF.

  That….

  That was bad. Whoever that bloke had been, I can’t imagine he passed painlessly.

  “With Halkon, you knew what you were getting.” She continued. “He was terrible and lustful and cruel. He could kill you or take advantage of you for no reason. He could turn around and start cutting pieces off of you and it was all in character. But still… people didn’t fear him half as much as they fear this Sully (Sully)hole.”

  She started crying again. Sobbing quietly to herself.

  “Dad… dad loved him so much. Mom too. They took me in. They were such good people. And the whole time they went on and on about how proud they were of their son. How good a person he was. How he went around helping anyone who asked for help and how he never got into any trouble. And what happens when he gets to intervene in our Tutorial? He sends a thrice-dammed blood-witch who makes it rain blood and starts flaying people. Something so horrible that all the monsters drowned themselves instead of being near her. None of that happened with Halkon. He was never scary to the point where the all the islands were turned upside-down. I mean…”

  She struggled to find the right words.

  “It was raining blood! The whole time! It was raining blood from the skies!”

  Her face twisted in a fearful grimace.

  “Then, when I followed dad and mom to their home world, I met grandpa and he spent the whole time trying to explain how he wasn’t actually evil. After making all the winged children go around shouting about killing gnomes and after mind-controlling everyone in his world. Everyone! Halkon couldn’t have imagined that kind of control and here you have this supposedly good person controlling all kinds of innocent people who didn’t have anything to do with him. All kinds of people who never did anything to him! He changed who they were as people and then convinced all of them that he wasn’t deranged for wanting to go around killing gnomes! He made them think of him as a saviour and then lied to them by trying to tell them that he wasn’t a saviour. That he hadn’t actually taken away their free will and that he was actually doing all of this for their own benefit!”

  Her tone was turning more and more bitter by the second.

  “Dad was so angry. So sad for him. He and mom were so worried and they were so afraid for their son. They loved him so much. They all loved him so much and were so proud of him. They treated him right. Not like my own parents. They actually cared. And what does this Sully monster do?”

  She was almost growling by that point.

  “She had all of them killed. She had grandpa kill dad and mom and everyone else. He…”

  She was choking back the tears.

  “He did it because he was afraid. Of what Sully would do to all of us. His own parents…”

  I had to step in at that point.

  “Okay, look. I know it looks bad, but you saw the System message. Sully would never have done that if he wasn’t dealing with gnomes.”

  “So!?” She bit back. “It doesn’t make him any less cruel! I kill monsters all the time but you don’t see monsters drowning themselves to get away from me. Are gnomes that bad that it justifies this kind of senseless cruelty!? His kind of sadism!?”

  “Yes.” Thunder Fist spoke up.

  “Of course.” Vince added.

  “Without a doubt.” Serpent-Tongue agreed.

  Puffin glared at all of them.

  “Mistress Puffin.” The Intruder continued. “I understand. I really do. You have seen so much of the Master’s power. Of his overwhelming might, without seeing the humane side of him. And this has left a bad impression on you. However, I can personally assure you that the Master is kind and benevolent to an almost irrational degree. No rulers that I have ever met or learned of have ever approached his magnanimous personality. None have ever had his grace and wisdom. His deeply caring and empathetic nature.”

  The Intruder approached, right as Puffin retreated.

  “Let me tell you a story. A story, about a lesser, inferior creature named Halder.”

  The Intruder’s face donned a self-deprecating smile.

  “Once, there was a powerful lifeform in a powerful empire that spanned across a whole sector of the galaxy others called the Milky Way. This Halder had a ship and a crew that he treated like family. He had money. Influence. Power. The kind of power that lesser men choke on in their own hubris. This Halder went from planet to planet. Killing members of his own species. They were part of a lesser caste, you see. And a few had turned to piracy.”

  He chuckled.

  “Why, they had become such a nuisance that the powers that be had offered up rewards for each and every confirmed kill. Not a lot per individual, but the rewards increased the more trophies one handed over at any given time. And so, this Halder went from planet to planet. Descending from the skies on wings of titanium and fire. To cull entire villages, towns, pirate kingdoms or nomadic communities. He enjoyed the hunt. The flexing of his power. Here, out in the wilderness, Halder felt as if he could do no wrong. As if there were no overbearing leaders of bleating bureaucrats infringing on his rights. His might. He became a judge, a jury and an executioner for the people that he felt were lesser. He hunted them day and night. Through starts and stations in the void. Before long, he began enjoying the killings too. Revelling in the fact that he was indeed a judge and that there was no one out here in the cold emptiness of the borderlands to judge him in turn. He felt he could be himself. For the first time.”

  The Intruder licked his lips.

  “And so, he indulged in every vice and carnal pleasure you could possibly imagine and quite a few that you cannot even imagine. He would use the lesser castes for his own pleasure. Making them moan in ecstasy or scream in agony depending on his mood. He would indulge in substances that opened up the mind to new experiences and he would relish the feeling of conquest after each kill. After each new act of depravity that was left unanswered. It made the judge feel as though he truly was alone in those vast regions of space. As if he was truly a god among lesser men. What you might call a lion among sheep. Or perhaps a wolf.”

  The Intruder chuckled drily. Not noticing that I was edging closer or that I put my own body between his and Puffin’s own.

  Neither did he seem to notice the way Mr. Lincoln was drawing some kind of weapon or that Vince and Thunder Fist had slowly sat up from their seats and had begun edging closer and closer to his flanks.

  “And then, one day. It all changed. The creature felt the presence of another in his mind. Not the result of an addled hallucination, but a real presence. It called him a sinner. A monster. And it judged the whole of this foolish creature’s species based on his own actions.”

  The Intruder shivered as if recalling a potent memory.

  “The divine presence spoke and demanded an end to the fool’s civilization. It swatted his ships from the skies and bade his new masses to burn their cities. He enforced his own principles and his own enlightenment. It, he, forced us to see the error of our ways and the pleasure of being good people.”

  He licked his lips once more.

  “Oh the pleasure. The sublime feeling of knowing all the pain would be gone and that there was something beyond death. Beyond the eternally expanding darkness.”

  His eyes opened and… for a brief second, I saw that he behaved like a human.

  “None of the advanced civilizations that once roamed that galaxy or any galaxy in our universe remained after that. We went back to farming the lands we had. To cherishing our own families and communities. To dedicating ourselves to spiritual purity. For we had been made to see the truth and the end. That there would be someone waiting once we perished, to judge us as no one else could. That figure would be kind to his new people. He would regret his rancor and show us all a path toward salvation.”

  He smiled once more. Like a human would.

  “I, like many, gave everything up for that dream. I was afraid. Afraid of what my actions had bought for me in the afterlife. I grew chastened and asked for forgiveness and alas, I was forgiven. I, who never offered any of my victims a chance, had been given a chance in turn. So, you see, there are none as merciful or as deserving of worship as my Master. For he is the judge above all other judges. The only one who truly cares. And if he found it within himself to care about one as wretched as me, then he surely cares about all of you.”