Grimset may have only skimmed the Dog Lover's Manifesto but he executed the throat slit and eye stab as instructed perfectly. Most living things have weak points. Hitting them causes more damage. The neck along the side of the throat has a large artery that is easy to hit while the cat is biting something. A good hit to it will deal double damage and cause a substantial bleed condition, basically losing the same amount of damage every second. Then there was the eyes. Hitting the eyes would cause a crit, as well a Stun condition and Blind condition in that specific eye. This meant two precise hits caused the Snow Lion to bleed out as it reeled from the damage. Long story short another snow lion was dead and the world was that much better.

I pulled the corpse into my inventory, "Are we sure we want to mess with this cult stuff?"

"Religion," Toad Corrected

"The achievements say cult," I insisted.

Toad considered, "Regardless of the terms the pacts are a separate issue from your and Grimset's weird cult, but since we have the pacts and need the cult, we may as well utilize them."

Grimset had been very quiet for a moment, "The title of Pope granted me the Cult of Doug Knowledge skill. It lets me know the holy text perfectly."

"I suddenly have doubts this is a good idea," I tried looking for Angelica again. I really should have asked her to find me again when dealing with Wilson's evil musical.

"As a man of faith, I will guide you," Grimset said. He was trying to sound comforting, which was creepy in this context. He cleared his throat and dropped the mask, "Do what we tell you!"

"You know you have gotten kinda pushy," I told him.

Toad Scoffed, "Gotten!"

"I have always been this way," Grimset countered my statement. He clearly meant to ignore Toad, but seemed to validate his jab.

I glanced at Toad mostly to stall for more time.

He nodded, "Grimset has always been tedious. However, in this moment he is also correct. Which is obnoxious."

A small crowd of goblins showed up. One of them looked at Grimset and me and asked, "Is this cult a sex thing?"

Grimset and I both said, "No!"

The same goblin then asked, " Could it be a sex thing?"

"On your own time, sure," Grimset said. Trying to end the discussion quickly.

"Sweet," two more said. They then high fived.

"Do we need to bow or something?" another asked.

"No," I said immediately.

"Let's not make snap decisions," Grimset cautioned.

"It would be awkward having people bow to me," I insisted.

"Oh to you," Grimset shrugged.

"Who would be bowing to you?" I asked.

"I am pope," He pointed out. He shook his head, "I doubt it would impress my family."

"Why not?" I asked.

"Both my sisters are doctors," he explained.

"You are an assassin, lawyer, pope, that has to count for something," I pointed out.

Toad nodded, "It is better than, astronomer, poet, general."

They both looked at me.

I shrugged, "I am unemployed you try-hards. Let's find the person that leveled."

The crowd of soon to be pact bound parted to reveal Rob Shiv. seeing everyone was looking in his direction he tried to step out of the way. He then turned to see what everyone was looking at. His shoulders slumped and he turned to face Toad, Grimset and me. "Yeah, I leveled."

"How?" Grimset asked, hurrying closer to him.

"I figured since I was suddenly Divine Scale, and all juiced up with Attributes, now was a right fine time to Craft new tools for thieving. I am not the best at that sort of thing." He scratched the back of his neck awkwardly, "Well, to cut to the chase, I have made a set of Heroic Scale thieves tools. I got an Achievement, Crafty Bastard. This caused me to level."

"And?" Toad pressed, "What did you get for leveling?"

Rob looked around at the crowd all watching him. Well over a hundred people were all staring at him. "I would rather not say. It's a private matter and all."

Grimset nodded, seemingly agreeing with Rob. He then draped his arm over Rob's shoulder, "Talk."

Rob considered, "I got way more attributes, and a Divine Scale Trait."

The crowd visibly gasped.

And then time stopped. Everything went impossibly still and the tell tail thrum echoed into the now perfect silence.

"I am getting tired of these constant interruptions!" I proclaimed in no particular direction.

"And I am getting tired of your shit! Lindsey shouted back, "How is this not an exploit?" She appeared out of the crowd and glared at me.

"Because the rules of the system are clear," Denise declared back. She was half yelling when she materialized behind me, but after she stepped around me she continued in a more professional tone, "A player will get Perks and Traits per level at a rate determined by their Scale. What don't you get?"

Lindsey almost lost her shit.

She was interrupted by Brandon appearing, "Honestly this is a good thing. It means Doug's forces will win, and thus Brand will be able to complete his quest. Europe will go into a semistable state for-"

"I don't give a shit about your fucked up plot," Lindsey snapped at him. "This isn't about rules, and it isn't about plot stability. This is about control, and everything that thing does," she pointed at me, "Gives Wilson more control."

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

This triggered another round of bickering. Lindsey wants the leveling retconned. Denise wasn't having it. This was her story and she was very proud of how it was shaping up. Brandon was trying to get the other two to acknowledge his feelings. I wasn't really focusing on that. Now was almost certainly the ideal time to try and kill a Narrator. They were down here. Hell none of them were what I would call tough. The scrappiest of them was Lindsey, and I knew I could beat her in a fight. It would take some doing but it was a certainty.

I felt the nail on my pinky finger. My pulse had quickened too. This was the perfect opportunity. My mind drifted to menus.

Activate "Empowered Critical"? Yes/No

I paused. This wasn't a conflict of conscience. I absolutely could kill Lindsey and Brandon. If it came to it, and it probably would, I could kill Denise too. I would feel bad about that. To me she felt more human. A paternal aspect of me had even made some associations with Denise and Kate. I knew that was nonsense and almost certainly some manipulation of Wilson's but… I would feel bad after she was dead.

That isn't what stopped me though. The opportunity was too good. Three easy targets staged perfectly. Hell Lindsey was just out of arm's reach as she and Denise shouted at each other. They were a half second away from getting in their own fist fight. No intervention from me required.

Where was Wilson or Grace? This was related to goblins. Shouldn't Marge be here?

Lindsey, Brandon, and Denise weren't sitting ducks. They were bait. Grace knew I was able to disrupt the system. Wilson almost certainly did too. He claimed I couldn't, but that was clearly to mess with Grace.

"At least I have a boyfriend!" Lindsey shouted. She grabbed Brandon's arm and pulled him from standing between them to standing next to her.

"Are you people seriously fighting over Brandon? Why would you fight over trash?" I spoke up.

"Why are you always a dick to me?' Brandon demanded. He took a step closer to me, but when he saw the look on my face backed up three more.

"More or less that, Brandon," I told him. I looked down at Lindsey and Denise, "Seriously, are we going to make a decision or not?"

"I told you he didn't have a way to disrupt the system?" Wilson said loudly. Like always he appeared behind me.

"I still have my doubts about your claim," Grace argued. Stepping into my view on the other side.

"Then why isn't one of them dead?" Wilson pressed her. "I mean another five minutes of that and I was going to kill one of them."

"You can't threaten me!" Lindsey started. Her tone was a lot less certain and she paled slightly before stepping out of my reach.

"Shut up," Grace cut Lindsey off. The two words stopped Lindsey in her tracks as much as a slap to the face would. "I want to hear Marge's stance on this before continuing."

"Really?" Marge asked. She walked over and studied Rob. "Actully I don't like it. This could swing too far the other way. We need blood during the battle."

"That's gonna happen," Wilson assured her. He met my gaze, "Most of it goblins'."

Marge tilted her head from side to side, "You sure. This is going to get out of hand quick."

"That tower has stood for centuries for more than one reason." Wilson assured Marge.

Marge looked up from Rob Shiv. She shrugged, "I guess we can make this work. The audience does like it when goblins get a leg up before they fall down hard."

Grace glanced back and forth between Marge and Wilson before eyeing me, "Looks like we will have to wait and see." She vanished.

Denise had been holding as still as she could since she was standing so close to me. She took several large steps away and turned to face me. Her expression was a bit over bright, "So it is decided. We will follow my plan, and let Doug and the goblins continue with this pact combo."

"Don't be an intern Denise. You never were in any danger," Wilson walked up to me and put a hand on my shoulder, "The kid here doesn't have some magic system breaking power. He laughed, "Besides, he is going to kill Lindsey first, if something like that were to happen, just push Brandon toward him and run the other way."

"Fuck you! Lindsey snapped. She had to pause and take a few deep breaths, "This needs a nerf."

"Nah," Marge argued. "Let it ride. This will trigger a bunch of big swings during the battle. We can work with that."

"Tell you what," Wilson told Lindsey, "Get one person other than Brandon to say no and we back this up."

Lindsey looked at Marge.

Marge shook her head as she lit up a blunt, "I am committed to the bit."

Lindsey turned to Denise. Then immediately turned to Wilson, "Like there is anything I could do to sway you."

"You could always dress up like a french maid," he considered for a moment, "or my dad, dealer's choice."

I stepped away from Wilson. Ew.

"So this is happening," Lindsey growled.

"You could always try and convince the kid," Wilson pointed out.

That surprised me. I wasn't exactly expecting to be included. Most of the time Narrators treated me like set dressing until I bullied my way into the conversation. Having Wilson do it for me was annoying.

Linsdey considered for a moment then shook her head, "I am not going to demean myself for your amusement."

Wilson shrugged, "Then we should probably get this going. Denise, do you have something on your mind?"

Ever since Denise had realized she was used as bait and or a sacrifice should I be able to kill Narrators she had been watching me. Our eyes met. In that moment a lot of information was exchanged. She was clearly trying to tell if I would have hurt her. I could see she understood I would have. Apparently that hurt her feelings.

She blinked a tear from her eyes, and wiped sweat from her forehead, "I don't think there is anything else to say." She blinked away.

That was probably going to cost me… or maybe not. Denise needed me. Possibly more than I needed her. Without me she would have a story to run.

Lindsey glared at me for a long moment before she also vanished.

Brandon considered for a moment and then spoke, "Now I know a lot of things were said. Probably things some of us regret, but I am willing to give you the opportunity to apologize."

I frowned at Brandon, "Fuck off."

He vanished.

"Welp this was a lot of pissing about for no real reason. I am going to make sure everything is set up on my end." Marge blinked out of existence.

That left Wilson and me alone. He looked around and then checked his phone. Eventually he put it back in his pocket, "I have to admit it, kid. You surprise me."

"What?" I asked. Playing dumb is a great way to fish for information.

"Cut the shit, it is just the two of us talking right now." Wilson grinned. "I should have come down here to find a Lindsey shaped puddle in the ice. Instead of debating the pros and cons of letting the goblins get a taste of power, I should have been half-heartly soothing Denise as she tried to get Brandon to stop blubbering like bitch."

"I see what you are doing, Wilson. You are trying to turn me into a monster." I accused.

Wilson burst out laughing. "Holy shit! Kid, you're fucking serious. Trying? Oh shit!" He stood up straight and all the emotion bleed from his demeanor. "Trying implies I haven't succeeded. Look back. You have crushed everything you have met. They either bend the knee or bleed. You are wrong though. I am not just making a monster. You won't be some creature in the night. When I am done you will be a World Boss. Every person on this rock will have to deal with you."

"I can move against you," I told him.

WIlson went back to his grin and his oily demeanor, "You can try. The first step is to stay the fuck away from the tower. How well do you think that is going to go with your army assembled for the sole purpose of attacking the demons? Think one step further. How well are things going to go when those pacts come due? Do you really think anyone is going to stay in that religion you are making? What about Angelica and Celeste? How much of their time are you going to waste?"

"You're not invincible," I told him. I tried to ignore that last bard. It had struck a nerve.

Wilson's grin widened. "You still got that one free shot. Take it."

I didn't move, "Not today." Now was not the time. I couldn't afford to miss my shot.

"Sure," Wilson said, his grin lessening ever so slightly. He really thought I was going to lash out. He stepped closer, "Pick your moment. Until then, get a move on. Don't forget to use the Carnyx. You already missed one good opportunity to use it."

"Grond?" I asked.

"Nope," Wilson shook his head. "We are going to get canceled."

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