Ultimate Level 1

Max rubbed Tanila’s hand as they walked out of the tent.

“You’re a lucky man,” she said, shaking her head slightly. “Never in my life did I imagine a family could be how you all are right now. After everything you faced. How they were treated. It’s almost as if none of it ever happened, and yet I know it’s not true.”

“But you can see it on their faces. They are putting on a show, but deep down the pain is still there,” Max replied. “Even my sister, for all her bravery and smiles tonight, cannot hide how she reacts when Callie cries. Whatever happens next will take time, but hopefully what I can provide will allow them to still pursue their dreams.”

She stopped, holding his hand, and pulled Max back, keeping him from continuing toward the stone building he had created.

“You don’t have to do this alone. Ever.”

Studying Tanila’s gaze, he nodded and smiled.

“And that means the world to me. Just know, the monster inside me… the rage that has been building up… the very thing Bob continues to warn me about.”

Both of them chuckled at his last words, and Max shrugged.

“Whatever those people and the ones like them are doing, I need to find out. Something is happening to people like me and would have happened to my sister had I not been here. I can’t let that go by without at least trying to stop them.”

“But what if it’s too much? I mean… whoever is doing this has the power to keep your queens in check. That kind of power…” Tanila sighed and frowned. “I’ve lived in a house like that… no, a cage. Never sure of what tomorrow might bring because the one who pulls the string doesn’t share and always takes out those who might threaten the power they desire.”

Squeezing her hand, Max lifted it up and kissed her soft skin.

“The problem is that eventually you and I both know someone must deal with this, and besides us, who is strong enough to face such a thing?”

She shrugged.

“Still… I can see the changes inside you. No matter how much you try to hide them.”

Max took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

“What scares me the most is how much more I’m going to have to change. All the betrayal. All those who have tried to kill us. Even worse is knowing that everything we believe in is possibly wrong. If it wasn’t for you, I’m certain I would have given in to Bob, and things would be completely different.”

“And yet you’re about to go in there and torture those men.”

Frowning, all he could do was nod at her statement.

“Hopefully only the one, but yes. You don’t have to join me. Part of me would rather you didn’t.”

She shook her head and motioned to her stomach.

“I won’t let you go down that path. There is so much to live for, and not all of it should require us to become monsters.”

“Us?”

“We both know that wherever this leads, more killing will be required. Only a fool believes that each life they take doesn’t affect them. Perhaps that is why we are trained so early to see the monsters, dungeons, and tower as nothing more than cleansing the land and getting stronger. That way, when we must kill, we are used to watching the light of life go out of someone’s eyes.”

She is right. You have changed so much since what you experienced on that other world. Tread carefully the next steps, or it may not matter how evolved I have become. You still direct so much of our path.

Tsking his teeth, Max nodded, and a doorway appeared in the side of the stone building.

“I’ll do what I can to limit it then. For now, let’s focus on what is before us.”

Tanila only grunted and let go of his hand, letting Max enter first, and the illumination of the lightstones inside spilled out of the doorway and onto the ground in the darkness of night.

Walking in he was assaulted by the smell of those who had been unable to hold their bowels any longer.

None of the four men seemed to be in any condition to talk as they all were covered in sweat, yet when Max came to stand before Terrance, the older man was smirking, looking like he was simply lounging near a campfire and relaxing.

“Max Hoste… oh how you plagued me, boy. Do you have any idea how much trouble you caused me?”

“Not near enough, or you wouldn’t have done what you did with my sister.”

“Bah, you don’t have any idea what I was doing! You don’t understand the—”

His words were cut off as Max’s hand moved, the back side of it slapping the older man, causing his lips to crack and bleed.

A red aura appeared around Max, and the light in Terrance’s eyes seemed to glow.

“Hah! Now you’re done for! Do you have any idea how long that will last? Years! Prepare to be—”

[ Consume is Cleansing JIH1U08 ]

[ Consume has finished Cleansing JIH1U08 ]

The smirk that had appeared on the attendant’s lips were gone when the aura vanished just a few seconds after.

“How?! That’s not…”

A sneer formed, and Terrance scowled, his eyes narrowing as he watched Max.

“Your skill! It should not have the power to do that! To break the rules of this place! Of this world! When Phaius finds you, he will—”

“Do nothing,” Max said as he bent down. “I’ve met him, and he’s on my side now.”

Spittle flung out as the older man started to move his jaw, his tongue thrashing inside, yet no words were fired back in response.

“Forget me for a moment. I’m going to ask some questions, and as you can see, hurting you won’t matter. Killing you won’t be a problem either. Whatever protection you assumed the system would provide you isn’t there. Only my kindness is something you can hope for.”

The other four men were trembling, and Max could sense their bodies shaking, one of them weeping as he sat in the filth that had escaped his bowls.

“Trust me, it’s far better to help me with what I’m going to ask.”

Clamping his jaw shut, Terrance shook his head, both eyebrows becoming one bushy line of hair as he stared at his captor.

“What do you do with the unskilled , as you call them?”

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A simple snort came from the older man, and Max sighed, pulling a knife from his storage. The simple knife was one he had crafted in the arena on the other world, its black glass shimmering in the light.

“Tanila, would you go and summon Batrire? I’m going to need her in a few.”

“Don’t do anything drastic till I get back,” she replied, moving toward the door.

Laughing, Max slid the robe up until the well-toned quad of his captive was free. Winking once, he plunged the blade into Terrance’s thigh, a slight howl escaping the weathered lips before the older man bit down harder.

“I won’t. I’ve barely begun to scratch the surface.”

The red glow surrounded him for about five seconds before vanishing again.

Sighing, Tanila moved quickly, knowing what he planned to do.

After she had left, Max pulled the knife free, stuck his finger inside, and tapped against the bone he had penetrated too.

The pained sound that came from Terrance for a few seconds proved that even the older man wasn’t immune to pain.

“If you’re smart, you’ll talk now, because once our healer gets here, this is going to get a lot worse.”

“I… won’t say…”

Max moved his finger around inside the leg, poking and prodding, cutting off any response that had been meant to dissuade him from this plan of action.

“Have it your way. Just know, everything I’ve suffered for the last year is going to be paid forward, and the interest to be collected may be too much to pay.”

***

“I… I can’t go back in,” Batrire said as she leaned against the outside of the stone building. “I understand, Max, but… even this is too much for you.”

Her voice warbled slightly as she spoke, and he nodded.

“Let me ask a question, and then you decide if it’s too much. What would you do if that man had attempted to do those things to Fowl, or to your parents? Would it be too much then?”

“That’s not fair! You and I both know the answer to that!”

“And yet he did it to my sister almost. He did it to me,” Max replied. “How many other teens has he done this to? Can we even begin to imagine the number of families that have been torn apart because of his actions?”

Their healer glanced over at Tanila, who frowned and shrugged.

Cordellia had the same expression as their mage, and when Batrire looked at Fowl, she began to nod.

“Fine… I’ll keep going… Just know I may need some time to recover after all this. You also need to know he’s at the limits of what can apparently be said. Each time you go down that one path of questioning, his heart almost stops.”

“What if you word it differently?” Fowl asked as he moved closer to Batrire and gently squeezed her arm.

“I’m trying,” Max replied. “Trust me… I’ve asked about a dozen ways at who is behind this, or what group is leading this, or where I can go to find out more answers. Each time we hit this roadblock.”

Gently, the warrior banged the back of his head against the stone wall on the outside of the building.

“That seems impossible. I mean what kind of magic can bind someone so badly that they can’t tell you anything without dying?”

“Everett has such a thing for my secret,” Max replied. “So there must be things even greater than that.”

“Yeah but where do these fools go once they are done with all the Choosing Days? I mean how long—”

Their warrior found himself unable to speak when Max moved so quickly and lifted him off the ground, starting to spin the dwarf around in circles.

“Put me down… I’m going to puke!”

Laughing, Max set his friend down and smiled, rubbing the brown hair on his short friend’s head.

“You’re a genius!”

Sputtering, Fowl glanced at everyone else and saw that Tanila had started to smile.

“What… I mean sure, I’m a genius… but why don’t you tell the other two how I’m a genius so they’ll know as well.”

“Where do they go after they are done with this? What if they have an unskilled? All of us know that they take them somewhere, but perhaps I’ve asked the wrong question on how to find out where!”

“It might work,” Tanila said as she motioned to the open doorway. “You better give it a try as the sun will be up in a few hours, and I have no doubts that word is traveling like a fire across dry grass. Besides, you don’t want your sister and family to come out here and see this.”

Whistling, Max nodded and after messing up Fowl’s hair once more, strode inside.

***

Deep, labored breaths came from Terrance, and the sweat that drenched his naked body, except for the smallclothes Max had left on him, ran like streams of water.

“We… take… everything…” After a few more breaths and a grunt that sounded like it was being wrenched from his soul, the older man spoke again. “To a secret location to the north of the capital.”

Gasping for air, their captive trembled as if he had somehow managed to escape a horrible fate by what had been shared just now.

“Can any of you point to the place on our map where we need to go?” Max asked as he turned to the four men, each of them wide-eyed from what they were witnessing.

“Me!”

“I can!”

Grinning, Max nodded, and walls began to grow up from the ground, creating small boxed-off areas that left the four attendants unable to see where one of the others might point.

“You get one chance. When I’m certain you’re telling the truth, I’ll let you go. But if I believe you’re lying…” Max paused, motioning to Terrance, who was only held upright by the stone blocks surrounding his hands. “You’ll also get to experience what he did.”

***

“It’s all basically the same location,” Tanila stated as she compared the places each captive had pointed at. “I’m not sure what’s out there, as any map I’ve ever seen hasn’t a base or a town listed there.”

“So we’re leaving? Going to the capital and then up north?” Fowl asked. “What about those five men?”

“I’ll be taking four of them with us to Peltagow. The other one won’t be making the trip,” Max replied. “I can’t for a moment begin to believe he’ll ever face justice, and I won’t loose him upon the kingdom again.”

“But you’re talking about…”

“Which is why none of you need to see this next part,” Max said. “He can’t live.”

All five of them stood there in silence, a few frowns present, but heads began to slowly move up and down.

“He’s right, my love,” Batrire said. “Come, let’s go inside and eat. Perhaps we can get a little rest before we start the journey home.”

Max watched as the two dwarves and then Cordellia moved back to the tent, leaving just him and Tanila outside of the stone building.

“You’re not going to go inside?”

She shook her head.

“I’m with you. Besides, I want to see how you handle this.”

“Actually I was thinking about asking Bob if—”

“No! If you’re going to do this, do not pawn it off. The problem with leading, making change, and doing what is right is sometimes you have to be the one that hands out punishment. All night you’ve tortured that man. Now it’s time to end it.”

She is right. Do not ask me to do what you must learn to do. There is coming a time when you will have to do more of this, and there is no better time than now to prepare yourself.

Max nodded, and the glass dagger he found himself holding a lot more often was in his hand.

“Let’s get this over with.”

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