Goblin Slayer: The Team Year Two

by GLG-3883

It's been just over a year since the team broke up to both continue aiding Goblin Slayer, and the frontier of course, but also to raise a family in the Sword Maiden's hometown. Now, they must reunite to face a series of some of the greatest threats the world has ever known. Rated M for dark/adult themes; the same as the series itself is known for.

49. Chapter 24 Part I

Hello people, and welcome back to Goblin Slayer: The Team Year Two. It's the moment you've all been waiting for, the siege of the goblins' last stronghold...and the boss fight against the Cambion.

Review Response: I see your point with the reviews' briefness; life is throwing me it's fair share of curveballs as well. Thank God it's just minor spurts of writer's block on rapid-fire, for lack of better description.

As for Elder Revenant, yeah he's getting a pretty healthy dose of character development isn't he? Although, truth-be-told, I'd rather deal with him than the 1st Revenant, who was basically the personification of "I don't give a shit", even though he was written that way.

Priestess has been getting into her role for some time, but in hindsight...her progress spiked last chapter didn't it?

Hehe "Only took about 70 chapters" that's a good one...but seriously, it's only fitting the two big cheeses do that at the end time.

---

Cambion walked into the guild hall of the frontier, and looked around. Dozens of adventurers, rookies, and veterans alike sat around the many tables minding their own business in every way imaginable. None of them recognized him, or at least knew enough about him to care as he approached the desk with an auburn-haired woman behind it, sorting through papers.

"Oh! Welcome sir." She said.

"Good day madam. I am here...to change the future." Cambion said.

"Really?" The receptionist asked.

"Yes, and I will need the help of all these good people to do so." Cambion said while looking at the adventurers populating the tavern.

"Well...I'm sure at least some of them will be open to whatever it is you have in mind sir, but you'll have to ask them yourself." The receptionist said.

"Thank you very much." Cambion said before approaching one of the tables.

"Then a couple of spear thrusts to its knees, and down went the ogre. Add a stab to the back of its head..." An adventurer trailed off before he and the other adventurers turned to Cambion.

"Greetings gentlemen." Cambion said.

"Uh, greetings. Can we help you?" One of them asked.

"I'm looking for volunteers. Some good people looking to improve their station in life." Cambion said and the adventurers looked at each other.

"Uh, the quest board's over there. If you have one in mind, set one up and let someone who's interested check it out." Another said.

"This is no quest mind you. It's a campaign." Cambion said seriously.

"Say what now?" An adventurer asked and others looked at Cambion, who walked around the guild hall.

"I've seen the way the wind is blowing; how many people are left in the dust while the highest-ranked adventurers swell their pockets and bellies while the rest of us have to wade through rivers of blood for a modest living. Why? Because they are given chances or abilities no one else has, no matter how much drive they have to acquire greatness. And then there's the non-adventurers! Those that have to rely on people who aren't even competent enough to handle the dangers, or wait for those that are to arrive too late. Where is the justice in that? More importantly...where is the honor in that?" Cambion asked and some adventurers murmured to each other.

"He does have a point." One of them said.

"Not everyone joins the guild for a reason." Another said.

"And look how few become Platinum Ranks." Another said seriously.

"But...what if we could change that? What if we could be true agents of justice, like those who claim to serve the Supreme God? I beseech you all, join me, and not only will we give this country what it deserves, but all of you will get to become Platinum Ranks yourselves, and live just as well." Cambion said.

"O.k. this does sound pretty sweet, but why the hell should we think you can pull this off?" An adventurer asked.

"I'm very glad you asked me that. Have you noticed the Evil Sect has taken the most serious blow it has ever received? Well...that was because of me. Don't get me wrong, I did not deal the carnage; that was the Ranger and Hero's doings, but...I am the one who set them up, from the inside no less." Cambion said, then several adventurers glared at him, stood from their seats, or even gripped their weapons.

"Are you saying you joined them and betrayed them? What's stopping you from doing the same to us?" A female adventurer asked.

"Don't insult me. The Evil Sect got precisely what was coming to them, and I myself obtained plenty of their ill-gotten power for myself, to be used for a cause actually worth pursuing. A cause I could most likely succeed at myself, but if I did, it would be pointless. Which is where all of you come in. There are fewer of you than I would have liked, but it makes no difference to one who has seen Heaven and Hell." Cambion said.

"What?" A priest asked seriously.

"I am hardly unique; countless people have traveled to other worlds through out history, and I have done so countless times over the centuries. In that time, I have discovered countless means to acquire holy and unholy powers. Powers I can share with all of you, and make my campaign of revolutionizing the way this world works succeed, and take significantly less time. So I ask you once and for all: Are...you...with me?" Cambion asked, and then conjured purple fire in one hand, and used Holy Light with the other, and the adventurers gasped and murmured to themselves again, and then exploded in cheers.

---

Back at Water Town, GS's team was getting their last batch of supplies before heading out to join the siege force, with Ranger's team helping them, and Ranger himself even went to Cow Girl and gave her rifle a quad-cannon modification.

"There, now you can snipe, shred goblins that get too close, or shred goblins that are just close enough." Ranger said as Cow Girl looked her new weapon over, and snickered.

"Now I can really be ranger material." She said.

"More like Goblin Slayer material." Ranger said.

"Eh, what's the difference?" Cow Girl said casually, and the two shared a smile before hugging.

"I would be genuinely surprised if you don't get a Silver Rank or above after this." Ranger said.

"No kidding." Cow Girl said before putting her rifle away.

"I almost feel sorry for those goblins...and the siege hasn't even started yet." Ranger said.

"I would say wish me luck but...it's the goblins who will need luck." Cow Girl said.

"Did I ever tell you you sound like my wife when you talk like that?" Ranger asked.

"Only about a million times..." Cow Girl said.

"Eh, I have things in common with Goblin Slayer, and you have things in common with Fighter...it's only fitting." Ranger said.

"Oh, and between you and me...he's getting better, if you get my drift." Cow Girl said.

"You mean...in bed?" Ranger whispered.

"Yep." Cow Girl said.

"Well, unless I don't know enough about him, he's got alot of catching up to do if he wants to beat me in the do-something-special department." Ranger said.

"Actually...I'm the one who does the special things." Cow Girl said and Ranger smirked.

"O.k...he and Storm Mage are officially the luckiest bastards I know." He said.

"Charming as ever. But on a serious note, Fighter is possibly the luckiest woman I know, in the same context too." Cow Girl said.

"Right. Well, enough quasi-flirtation. Get back to your team." Ranger said before kissing Cow Girl's forehead, and she went back to her team as Hero's team approached him.

"You trained one hell of a woman." Hero said.

"Who gets to work with another hell of a woman." Ranger said.

"What about us?" Sword Saint asked.

"I'm not saying that twice more." Ranger deadpanned.

"I for one will pretend you did." Sage said simply.

"Smart." Ranger said.

"Well, if you need help with the Cambion should you even find him, you give us a call." Hero said.

"Please...if anything, I would give you a hand like I did against the vampire queen." Ranger said.

"Oh really?" Hero asked seriously.

"Uh, yes! Last I checked, you got your ass handed to you the first time you fought her, and the second time...I, a Silver Rank, had to step in and save you." Ranger said.

"She had the Supreme's protection. Of course I lost to her!" Hero exclaimed.

"And the Sword Maiden had to remove her protection, so if it wasn't for her, nobody would have won." Sage said.

"Whatever. You have goblins to, crush and a legion of humans, elves, dwarves...and lizard people to support. You get to be part of history for a second time." Ranger said.

"And you don't? The Cambion is a national menace like the goblins are, and it's only a matter of time before he makes a move." Sword Saint said.

"Have you fought him before? Oh, right, with that Elder Revenant who makes the first one that came to this country look like a pushover." Ranger said.

"Right, and from what we've seen...he's nothing to laugh at." Hero said.

"Apparently. The first revenant we met claimed he could kill all three of you." Ranger said.

"That's...quite a claim." Sword Saint said.

"You saw what the recaller showed. He took and gave more abuse than can possibly be funny, and he was perfectly fine with either case." Ranger said.

"Still." Sword Saint said.

"And now we're dealing with the most powerful revenant in recorded history." Sage said.

"Who also happens to be her boyfriend." Hero said.

"O.k...first off, he's undead, so...gross. Secondly, just because he's stronger than me, doesn't automatically make him attractive. Lastly...he a complete stiff." Sword Saint said.

"Says the girl who had some pretty touching moments with him." Hero said.

"Anyway...thank the Supreme I used Smith to equip the adventurers here, and guess what? I did so for myself to make things to absorb." Ranger said.

"You know, normally I would ask if you're trying to make me jealous, but in this case...the world is probably at stake, so we'll need all the help we can get." Hero said.

"Wait...you do have some miracles leftover right?" Sword Saint asked.

"Of course. I never used Army of One this week, or this month for that matter, I have a whole canteen of holy water, I never used any normal miracles, aside from that one Smith miracle, so I'm good." Ranger said.

"Good. Well...we're off to join the army itself. Don't wait up." Hero said, then Ranger shook her hand and the two shared a smirk before the ladies left and Ranger joined his teammates.

"This also gives me an idea: the goblins have a superweapon, why can't we?" Wizard said.

"What do you call the World Spawns?" Fighter asked.

"I meant something else." Wizard said.

"Like...a Heaven Ripper?" Warrior asked and Wizard facepalmed.

"I mean a crossbow the size of a building or something like that." She said.

"Well, I wouldn't be surprised if the dwarves had something like that up their sleeves." H.E. Druid said.

"The dwarves are indeed a resourceful people. Having a properly-equipped army would be critical at a time like this." Lizard Priest said.

"What about your own people? Do you have anything special?" Ranger asked.

"Aside from the various summons, or transformation our priests and warriors can perform, we do not use these superweapons you speak of." Lizard Priest said.

"Have you ever found a way to become a dragon like you wanted? Because now would be a good time." Warrior said.

"Alas no. I have found a way to obtain the power of one, but I cannot become a dragon myself." Lizard Priest said.

"Too bad we can't recruit that elder dragon; he'd probably spit in our direction and tell us to fuck right off." D.R. said.

"Then again, if we could, we wouldn't need a siege force." Wizard's brother said.

"Priestess? Would you like to come with us, or Goblin Slayer?" Fighter asked.

"Goblin Slayer." Priestess said seriously, then Fighter looked at her curiously.

"You say that like it's obvious..." Fighter said.

"It sort of is. The Cambion is immune to my miracles, so there's nothing much I can do, and you all have the ability to heal now thanks to those necklaces and the improvements made to their enchantments. You don't need me as much as the siege force does." Priestess said.

"Good point, and having the archbishop with us would be a pretty serious morale boost." H.E. Druid said.

"On top of that...I sincerely doubt any of the goblins are immune to having a bolt of holy lightning shoved up their asses." D.R. said casually.

"Speaking of lightning..." Warrior said, and the team watched in awe as his hammer morphed into a two-handed version with a head half as big as Warrior himself.

"When did you get that?" Cow Girl asked.

"Worked on it myself for several days now...and I wanted it to be a surprise." Warrior said.

"Well...mission accomplished." Fighter said casually.

"You did train with it right?" Rhea Fighter asked.

"Yep. Now I can bust the Cambion's head like a goblin's. Actually...alot like a goblin's." Warrior said while brandishing his hammer.

"Well...I wish you the best of luck with that." Cow Girl said.

"As do I. That Cambion completely floored us last time. I hope all that training we did prepared you for this moment." Wizard's brother said.

"We'll be fine. Just make sure you crack goblin heads on our behalf as well." Warrior said.

"Hey, I get to outrank everyone on my team for once." Wizard's brother said.

"Uh, not to burst your bubble, but Priestess technically outranks all of us as archbishop, and she's Gold Ranked as well." Fighter said.

"Right..." Wizard's brother groaned.

"And definitely don't fall behind Sage." Warrior said.

"This is no time for her and me to compete." Wizard's brother said.

"That is very true." Rhea Fighter said, then Wizard hugged her brother, and he returned it.

"Take care of yourself." She whispered.

"You too sis." Her brother said softly, before Wizard sighed and let go.

"I'll watch her ass for you." Warrior said.

"One would hope so; you two are married." Wizard's brother said seriously, and Fighter hugged Priestess.

"This isn't good-bye." Fighter said.

"I know." Priestess said.

"Look after those people o.k.?" Fighter said.

"Of course...the Sword Maiden would do nothing less." Priestess said, and Fighter kissed her forehead.

"Well, let's go. Those goblins aren't killing themselves." D.R. said.

"Right." GS said and his team turned to leave.

"Hey. When you finally get to the Goblin Overlord do me a favor: take his head for us to remember him by." Ranger said.

"I will." GS said as he led his team out the door, and Hero shared a smile with Ranger before following her team...and Priestess took a last glance at her family, sighed, and then went after the others.

"She's going to look after an entire army...this will be quite an endeavor for her." Ranger said.

"A proper Sword Maiden in her own right." Fighter said, and Ranger wrapped an arm around her waist.

"Well, while she's off helping crush the last of the goblins, how are we going to find the Cambion?" Warrior asked.

"First, we should head to the frontier to see what the people there could tell us." Ranger said.

"Naturally." Wizard said before the team went to the manor, and when they got there, the whole team took a look at Ranger and Fighter's sleeping baby. Ranger and Fighter in particular had their morale bolstered to an intense degree, and the team left the baby in peace. They then went to the room with the gateway portal, and heard a knock on the door, Wizard answered it, and it was Bard.

"Oh, am I interrupting something?" He asked.

"No. We're just getting ready to go get the Cambion." Wizard said.

"Ah, yes...I thought it was strange none of you were there, but I forgot about the Cambion...somehow." Bard said.

"Where's Songstress?" Fighter asked.

"I thought she was here." Bard said.

"Maybe she's bathing?" Warrior asked, and Wizard went upstairs...then came back down.

"You called it, she just got out. Yes, she was in a towel." She said.

"Well, as usual, we'll keep an eye on your baby for you. But...please, for the Supreme's sake, don't let us become her full-blown caretakers." Bard said.

"We'll do our best. Now, let's go. We have a mission to do-" Ranger stopped talking when they heard a voice outside, and went to see Abbot running towards them.

"Ranger! Everyone! Thank the Supreme you're here..." Abbot said.

"Of course we are. Wait did something happen to the siege force?" Ranger asked.

"No...but I have terrible news..." Abbot said seriously.

---

Cambion approached the monastery as the monks were looking after the grounds, and doing their daily rituals and routines. Abbot himself stood before the alter, and backed away when Cambion walked in, and the rest of the monks gave him a wide berth as well.

"You have some nerve coming here..." Abbot said seriously.

"Calm yourself Father. I am not here to fight." Cambion said.

"Irrelevant. I know what you are, and what you have done. You trespass in the home-" Cambion cuts Abbot off.

"Be quiet! Where is the Heaven Key?" He asked.

"Safe...from you." Abbot said, and Cambion stared at him, then smirked.

"It's in Water Town isn't it?" He asked.

"Of course not." Abbot said.

"Don't bother denying it. The hands of the new archbishop is one of only two places in which it would be placed. But no matter, I have other things to do before I pay her a visit." Cambion said.

"Like what?" Abbot asked.

"That's none of your concern. But if you're so inclined, I suggest you use Vision to see for yourself, not that it will matter in the long run; you will actually do me a favor if you did." Cambion said.

"Is that why you haven't murdered me in cold blood like you did to the Sword Maiden?!" Abbot asked.

"I murdered no one. The Sword Maiden and her enforcer died because she represented everything that made this world stale. I gave her a fair chance to be of greater use than she ever was, but she opposed the services I mean to provide...and accepted the price." Cambion said.

"You pollute this house with your heresy!" Abbot snapped, then Cambion raised his eyebrows.

"Heresy? Interesting term. Your beloved Supreme is a passive and self-righteous idol that merely claims to be a patron of justice, but leaves countless to fend for themselves despite the fact they can't! I mean to put an end to all of that...and I will." Cambion said.

"Spoken like one who does not understand the true meaning of justice." Abbot said.

"If you want justice...then enforce it." Cambion said as he spread his arms out, and Abbot and the monks eyeballed each other.

"No..." Abbot whispered.

"What are you waiting for? I'm guilty of a heinous crime, you're a demon hunter...why not give me what I deserve?" Cambion asked casually.

"Because...I am not an avenger." Abbot said as Cambion lowered his arms.

"No, you fear me, as you and everyone else who supports how stagnant this world has become should. Now if you want to truly be of use, go find Ranger and his team and let them know I wish to see them again, and that my offer still stands. They will know what you mean." Cambion said seriously before opening a Hell Rift, and walking into it.

---

Now, Abbot was sitting in the room with the rest of the team surrounding him, and taking in the tale they heard.

"Damn..." Warrior whispered.

"It gets I went to the frontier...I discovered that he recruited every adventurer there." Abbot said.

"What?! How?" Fighter asked seriously.

"And why?" Wizard asked.

"He promised them all a chance to become Platinum Ranks, and live as such. As for why? I suppose he's either going to use them as a power source like the Demon Lord does with his followers..." Abbot trailed off.

"Or he's building an army..." Ranger said seriously and the whole team looked at him curiously, or with fear.

"That would not be good. Not good at all!" Abbot exclaimed.

"Why? Well, aside from what's obvious..." Wizard asked.

"Because...he has ways to empowering people with both holy and unholy power. The idea of an army of corrupted adventurers following him is frightening." Abbot said.

"Where are they going?" Fighter asked.

"My guess, the capital. After the Cambion is done with whatever he has planned..." Abbot said.

"Alright...how do we find a guy who can use Hell Rifts to be literally anywhere he wants?" Warrior asked.

"Can you use Vision Father?" Ranger asked.

"Yes, but I can't tell you where he will be, only where he is currently. If nothing else, I can't tell where his ultimate destination is." Abbot said.

"Dammit...so what else could we use?" Ranger asked.

"My chakras!" Fighter exclaimed and everyone looked at her.

"Say what now?" Wizard asked.

"Remember before we fought the leviathan we had the idea of using my chakras to search for it?" Fighter asked.

"But...that could kill you." Warrior said seriously.

"It could at the time, but I've gotten so much better at using them it's not even funny." Fighter said.

"I hope you're right. The Cambion could set his sights on the heart of the church for all we know." Abbot said.

"Then we should waste no more time. To the frontier!" Ranger said, and they all took the gateway to the frontier.

---

Cambion exited a hell rift, and looked over a cathedral in the middle of an open plain, surrounded by hills, and a few cities in the far distance. Inside, he saw acolytes aplenty going about their business, and some apparently noticed Cambion's aura because they either fled from him, or shuddered without even seeing him. When he reached the main hall, he saw none other than the Pope in front of an alter, who turned to see the half-blood demon behind him.

"Greetings Holy Father." Cambion said.

"What are you doing here?" The Pope asked.

"I came to deliver a message. One of great importance, if Your Holiness would oblige?" Cambion said.

"There is nothing you have to say that would vindicate your crimes." The Pope said seriously.

"Ah...of course, the all-seeing eyes of the Supreme, that ironically, are always blind. Fitting they lay within the skull of a fool."

"Mind your tongue, monster...!" The Pope growled.

"I have come to bring word of a new sun rising; a new authority to bring the order you will not." Cambion said.

"That is hubristic blasphemy you speak of, nothing more. There is only one authority here, and it is not you, one that lights no more darkness than it must to keep the world balanced." The Pope said.

"And that pathetic excuse is why you turn your head away from the lost? Why you call this place home and look to the horizon, while countless others drowned, in despair and horror!? No...I have given all the respect your authority deserves. Now, where is the husk of the Demon Lord's pet?" Cambion asked and the Pope recoiled.

"The Pet? You cannot be that mad!" He exclaimed.

"Mad? Hardly, it is a pet in more ways than one, as you should know well." Cambion said.

"Whatever you plan for it is futile. It obeys only the Demon Lord, you must know this." The Pope said.

"Oh I am stronger than ever, and my bond with the pet can and will be greater than its bond with my wretched father could ever hope to be." Cambion said while waving his hand.

"You're wrong. Whatever new world you have planned will be the same as it was when the Champion himself was needed." The Pope said.

"The new world I have planned will be one where everyone can be on the Champion's level, as they should rightfully be." Cambion said.

"No. If you persist you will drown in demons just like he did all those centuries ago." The Pope said.

"But not demons Father...or goblins, or even angels, but a new people. One who will see weakness itself as nothing but a footnote in history, and will feel all the stains on their ancestry wiped clean. A people made in the image, of the true Supreme God...me." Cambion said as he approached the alter the Pope backed into it, before he inhaled sharply.

"Holy Smite!" The Pope exclaimed and a bolt of lightning shot out of both his hands, and the Cambion simply stood there as the blessed lightning struck his chest...and took no damage, much to the Pope's terror.

"A pathetic effort from a pathetic deity. Fitting..." He said, and the Pope started trembling.

"Just what are you...?" The Pope breathed out.

"I already told you..." Cambion said simply, and then opened a hell rift, reached inside, and removed a burlap bag before dropping it at the Pope's feet. He then took three steps back to give the Pope some air, as he knelt to search the bag...and pulled out a handful of Gold Rank tags, before his eyes watered.

"The paladins..." The Pope whispered.

"Yes. Every one of them has joined the Sword Maiden in the same paradise they belong in, and the one I plan to turn Earth into. You yourself are a general without an army, in a war you are destined to lose. How could an all-powerful Supreme God forsake their followers like this? I assure you...I will make no such mistake during my reign." Cambion said.

"Please...shed no more blood. I will do your bidding...my Lord." The Pope said.

"Wise decision. Now I ask you again...give me the pet's husk." Cambion said and the Pope somehow muscled past his grief and fear, stood up, went behind the alter, stepped on a secret panel, the alter moved forward, and the Pope presented the Cambion with three pitch-black, dog skulls fused into one. Cambion then took the skull, looked it over, and then looked at the Pope.

"What is your will...?" The Pope asked.

"Send a message to the rest of the church. The days of their failures being excused are over, now they have a choice to make. Join me and give this world the justice they have cast a blind eye and a deaf ear towards, or cling onto the Sword Maiden's memory...and die for it." Cambion said.

"It will be done..." The Pope said, and with that, Cambion opened a hell rift and left the old man to grieve the lost paladins.

---

Back with the siege force, The sun lit the way as some adventurers scouted ahead as vanguards while the rest of the army got themselves together. Female Knight, and Heavy Warrior led R.W., A.C., and a group of human skirmishers all wearing light armor, carrying throwable weapons like axes or javelins, to scout ahead. Eventually, they reached a plain filled with gigantic skeletons.

"The boneyard. Seems like a nice...quiet place..." Heavy Warrior said nervously as he surveyed the area.

"Let's just get going. I for one don't want to wind up as part of the landscape." A.C. said as they went forward.

"What are you two worried about?" Female Knight asked.

"Look around. This isn't exactly a welcoming environment." A.C. said.

"You have a point there." H.W. said.

"O.k...if this is about the vampire queen, then- o.k. everyone knows she's dead..." Female Knight trailed off.

"But what if the Goblin Overlord is even worse than her, and he killed these...things, himself?" R.W. asked.

"Hey. If push comes to shove, he'll have the entire world's army coming down on his head, and Ranger destroyed the vampire queen with almost no one helping him. Speaking of whom, we have servants of the War God in our army now with the new Sword Maiden watching over us. We can win." Female Knight said.

"True..." R.W. said.

"Alright. Now, let's move it." Female Knight said,and a skirmisher approached.

"Ma'am! Scout report." He said.

"Let's hear it." Female Knight said.

"There's a series of caves, tunnels, and natural depressions in the land to the east of here. They're likely invested with goblins of all types, but it's a sure-shot to the citadel." The skirmisher said.

"I see..." Female Knight said.

"I also spotted a man in black stalking me. His purpose and identity are unknown." The skirmisher said.

"O.k...that's kind of spooky." R.W. said.

"Orders ma'am?" Another skirmisher asked.

"We should head back and let everyone know what happened...and what hasn't happened." Female Knight said, and they went back to camp. Everywhere they looked, hundreds of troops of all races were sorting out their armor, weapons, sometimes magic supplies like spell scrolls, enchanted items, and potions. Dwarf engineers, human alchemists and elf battlemages were constructing and supplying siege engines from balistas, to trebuchets, to siege towers armed with cannons...and this was just the first wave.

---

"...and some man in black was apparently stalking him." R.W. said.

"Man in black? Oh...I know who he is, thanks for the info." Hero said as she stood up and grabbed her sword.

"What? You're going yourself?" H.W. asked.

"Believe me, we're the only ones qualified. This guy is not only a revenant, but the strongest of them." Hero said.

"Wait...this is that guy who helped us with the spider nest isn't he?" A.C. asked.

"Apparently." R.W. said.

"Don't worry. We're old friends him and us, and keep your jokes to yourselves." Sword Saint said and Hero snickered.

"What?" Female Knight asked.

"Don't ask." Sword Saint groaned.

"Well, let's go see to our undead friend." Sage said as she followed her two teammates to the boneyard. The team the left behind went to do their own thing, as GS, Cow Girl, Priestess, Rhea Fighter and Wizard's brother approached.

"I heard you found the goblins." GS said, and a skirmisher nodded.

---

Next thing they knew, GS lead his team, and the skirmishers through a series of small ravines, hills, and tunnels, and GS' training with the skirmishers showed; they all did things he would do, and a few things Ranger and his team did, such as drawing goblins out with smoke bombs, or even the infamous clapping trick and slaughtering the goblins they baited out of their hiding spots with axes, javelins, or other light weapons. They also had moments where they rushed into a place to take care of some goblins as quickly as possible, before going dead silent, and Wizard's brother used Life Sight to see another group coming to investigate the noise...before Priestess engaged them herself by slicing them apart with her usual sword dance.

The skirmishers stuck with the group the entire time, and sometimes held off goblins that managed to attack them from behind as GS' team engaged the front. One case was as simple as Wizard's brother using Firestream to incinerate dozens of goblins pouring down a tunnel...and melting the sides of the caves thanks to his now-blue and orange flames being stronger than before. The skirmishers also threw bombs into the smallest goblin nests and took cover as the goblins were blown to pieces, or frozen solid. Cow Girl had a moment where she used her quad-cannon to shred a pack of goblins as they charged out of a cave, and then GS went after the survivors and hacked them down.

---

They then heard rapid gunfire, and rushed through the field, with the skirmishers going to every other direction to hunt down the other goblins. When GS' team reached the noise, they found Dwarf Rifleman inside a dug-out hill, holding off goblins with his quad-cannon. He then used the axehead of his rifle to chop down goblins until a goblin slung a rock at him, and he was knocked off-balance and fell down. Just as the goblins were about to close in for the kill, GS threw in a flash bomb, and Cow Girl sniped a pair from afar, and GS rushed in to sever the heads of the survivors.

"Glad you could make it. My shooting muscles were starting to cramp." D.R. said.

"Yeah right. We saved your ass." Wizard's brother said.

"Right...where's my dear princess?" D.R. asked.

"Doing her own thing, while we do ours." Wizard's brother said.

"Let's get killing!" Rhea Fighter exclaimed before drawing her sword and following GS down a ravine as Cow Girl grabbed her rifle, used the shotgun mod, and unloaded into the goblins that jumped them from overhead.

"Empower!" Priestess yelled and everyone in the area that wasn't a goblin, including the skirmishers, all received a strength boost. Lizard Priest, H.E. Druid came out of nowhere and ambushed a group of goblins from behind as they charged at them from down a trench with Lizard Priest crushing them up-close, and H.E. Druid picked them off from above-ground.

"There she is..." D.R. said with a smirk.

"I am pleased to have reunited with all of you so quickly." Lizard Priest said.

"As am I. This place is enormous; I thought the first couple of mountain ranges we visited were huge, but this place must be a thousand miles wide, and ten thousand miles long." H.E. Druid said.

"9,999 shitloads, just like Ranger said to Spearman that one time." D.R. said.

"There's certainly enough room for it. Thank the Supreme we brought an army." Cow Girl said.

"Speaking of whom, when are they getting off their asses and helping us?" D.R. asked.

"They should be on their way any moment. They do have quite a few preparations to make, especially in light of the goblins' new arsenal." H.E. Druid said.

"Indeed. Goblins are devious by nature, but with the kind of weaponry they have at their disposal as of late, there is nothing we should not prepare for." Lizard Priest said.

"All the more reason for us to kill as many as we can before they get here." GS said as he walked off.

"Right." H.E. Druid said as they followed GS down a ravine, blasting, burning, and shooting the goblins out of their homes as they went, and eventually, ran into the skirmishers who were throwing spears at the goblins who weren't being bashed with maces or hammers, chopped down with axes, or sliced and stabbed with shortswords. GS' team left them to do their own brand of ass-kicking, and traveled down another ravine, encountered no goblins, and then ran into another group of skirmishers who were looking around at the goblins they took out...and then disaster struck.

Without any warning, dozens of armored goblins de-cloaked and the skirmishers barely had time to widen their eyes before they were pinned down, and thrashed about as the goblins ruthlessly stabbed and bashed them, sometimes even holding one limb so another could slice the flesh off that limb. The skirmishers spending their last moments thrashing and screaming in agony stunned the entire team...except for GS.

He pulled his shotguns and unloaded all four barreled into them, and their armor protected them only somewhat; some died, but most of the goblins hit were only injured or angry. The rest of the team had more luck with their weapons; Cow Girl and D.R. unloaded on them with their quad-cannons, and the goblins were staggered until their armor finally gave way, and their bodies were torn apart just like the skirmishers were. Priestess then checked on the skirmishers as some were still alive...but just barely.

"Heal..." Priestess said softly before her staff glowed and all the still-alive skirmishers had their bones mended, their wounds closed, and any lost limbs reattached.

"All of you should clear out. Let the others know-" Priestess cuts GS off.

"Goblin Slayer! You saw what they just went through! Show some sympathy." She exclaimed.

"Sorry." GS said.

"Thank the Supreme they were somewhat prepared for this..." Wizard's brother whispered.

"No kidding." Rhea Fighter said.

"Your Grace...please tell me this won't be for nothing..." A skirmisher said and Priestess put her hand on his shoulder.

"Of course not. Let's get you back to the others." She said and opened a portal to the vanguard camp.

"We will tell them about what happened. These goblins just doomed themselves...!" A skirmisher said as he and his comrades limped through the portal.

"If we had been here a second or two earlier..." Cow Girl trailed off as she looked over the butchered carcasses...and recalled Ranger doing the same thing to the goblins.

"But we weren't, but like that troop said, these goblins just cut their own throats. We already had a mission in mind, but now it's personal- well, more personal." Wizard's brother said.

"Right." Cow Girl said, and GS finished loading his shotguns.

"Let's go." He said.

---

The team then came across a network of trenches dug into the earth itself...which was a clear sigh of how much effort was put into the defenses. It made no difference for the goblins though; dozens of armored goblins rushed through the trenches only for Wizard's brother to incinerate them with his fire magic, or just mowed down by the team's guns. Lizard Priest had a small army of Dragontooth Warrior charge through the trenches and butcher every goblin he himself missed, and H.E. Druid ambushed the goblins from above...if she wasn't using her superhuman ears to hear goblins sneak up on her and jam a knife into their faces.

For her part, she ran across the tops of the trenches themselves so enough speed to keep the goblins that managed to spot her without being shot dead couldn't keep track of where she was. The empowered elf princess even jumped over the gaps in-between trenches and unleashed a group of arrows in mid-air, each each hitting a goblin in the head...or exploding behind a group of them. Wizard's brother stayed behind Rhea Fighter who opened her chakras and threw her sword at the goblins at distance, and her enhanced strength and speed made the goblins she punches, kicked, or threw away implode on contact before her sword came back and she resumed slicing the goblins in half up-close even without hitting them physically.

Wizard's brother of course unleashed streams and orbs of fire that traveled through the trenches, torching and blasting every goblins in the area, and even collapsing the trench with the raw force. Logically, every goblin that got close had it's head smashed in by his mace, if Rhea Fighter beat him to it. Wizard's brother also launched a Mana Bolt at a group of hobs after getting out of the trenches, and every hob and lesser goblin was vaporized...except for a paladin with an enchanted shield that was behind them.

Rhea Fighter then shared a look with him, and then charged at the paladin, only to be repulsed by a bolt of lightning from it's mace hitting her holy sword as she put it in front of her. Wizard's brother then unleashed a Paralyze spell at the paladin, who blocked it as well, and Rhea Fighter rushed to it's blind spot. The paladin, as it turned out, was partially effected by the spell and it's speed suffered just enough for it's smaller opponent to close in. When she did, she had to dodge a few mace swings, and eventually jumped over it, and severed it's head before landing.

GS and Cow Girl took turns moving forward as they weaved through a crowd of armored goblins, with him rushing forward and beheading several, then she rushed ahead of him and bisected several more, and then he took his turn with a shotgun blast. Rinse and repeat with the alternate partner throwing a bomb to cutting down a goblin with the balls to attack them from the side or back. Cow Girl wrapped things up by jumping off of GS' back and using her space sword to split a hob right down the middle as she jumped over it.

The entire team then reunited with Priestess who was surrounding herself with Protection as she stabbed every goblin that tried to pierce her barrier. She then impaled the last goblin in the face before unleashing a Holy Smite against another wave of armored goblins in all directions. She then spotted her teammates approach, and then they reunited with Lizard Priest who was with his Dragontooth warriors, crushing and craving their way through a wave of goblins; so much for backing him up.

They then heard gunfire, and rushed through and over the trenches until hey found D.R. in the middle of a three-way intersection in the trenches, gunning down goblins by the dozen from all three sides with his quad-cannon. GS and company watched the entire thing from other the side of an elevated trench, and when their dwarf friend was done, all three pathways were littered with shredded goblin corpses. He then watched the smoke stream out of his barrels, and smirked before looking back at his teammate.

"Nice of you to join me...about 30 seconds after I need you." D.R. said dryly.

"Not our fault you're such a beast with that gun." Cow Girl said.

"Says the lovely lady who has a gun like this herself." D.R. said.

"It pleases me to see you still live Sir Dwarf." Lizard Priest said.

"Likewise my good Lizard Priest." D.R. said.

"Um, I hate to break up the pleasantries, but there's likely alot more goblins further ahead." Rhea Fighter said.

"We don't have to deal with them all at once you know." Cow Girl said.

"No, but I doubt they won't have more surprises like that ambush earlier." Rhea Fighter said, and then H.E. Druid's ears perked, and she turned behind them.

"The siege forces got started without us." She said.

"But...if they're fighting over there, then...where are we...?" Priestess trailed off, then closed her eyes. "We're going the wrong way!"

"But this place is full of trenches. How could we be going the wrong way?" Wizard's brother asked.

"Technically we're not; we're going down a path that leads to another set of ruins. It's like the places we raided the first few times all over again." Priestess said.

"Great, how are we going to destroy them without Ranger here to drop a meteor on them?" Wizard's brother asked.

"What about another gate scroll trap, or we just go in and wipe out as many as we can?" D.R. asked.

"Wait...I've got an idea. Priestess, how many goblins are still out there?" Cow Girl asked.

"Thousands of goblins, hundreds of hobs and shamans, and dozens of champions and paladins, plus a few lords." Priestess said.

"Ouch, that's an awful lot to take on." D.R. said.

"Which is why we're not going to take them on, we're going to bait them out into the open...and make them regret it." Cow Girl said.

"That spells trap to me." Wizard's brother said.

"Can you do it?" Cow Girl asked.

"Yep. Me and my sister made dozens of gateways scrolls and linked them to various places, including some volcanoes we found here in the Deadlands." Wizard's brother said.

"That is most fortunate Sir Mage." Lizard Priest said.

"Well, we saw the size of the Hell Ripper, and the citadel for that matter, and being the genius that I am, I brought up the notion of not taking any chances with a siege like this." Wizard's brother said.

"Well, while we're going on about how to do this, the rest of the army is back there taking a beating." H.E. Druid said seriously.

"O.k. o.k., so we have the traps, but how are we going to bait thousands of goblins...and company?" Cow Girl asked.

"We'll need something loud, very loud." GS said and the group started thinking.

"Like what?" Cow Girl asked.

"My familiars! A whole flock of crows could fly around and do nothing but squawk around." Wizard's brother said.

"That could work." GS said, and Wizard's brother summoned one flock after another flew around, as GS' team themselves took care of the goblins closest to the center, where they were, and held the line as Wizard's brother prepared the traps. After no less than half an hour of intense, and relentless fighting, several champions appeared, and they actually combined their efforts to create a swirling ball of ice shards to throw at them.

Unsurprisingly, GS' entire team retreated, and Priestess drank some holy water and put up Protection as the rest of the goblins charged them...and triggered one trap after another which blew up the ground under them, launched several champions into the air, crushing more goblins along with the rubble flung up with them, and even shooting bolts of lightning that traveled from one goblin to another. The familiars then came back, pecked through the heads of the goblins that weren't sparked to death by them, and the team opened fire with their respective guns until the ones closest to them were all mowed down.

Wizard's brother then unleashed a Mana Bolt to finish off the last of the goblins, and the familiars flew around to mop up the survivors, with Life Sight helping him direct their attacks. When they were down, they used a portal to get back to the siege force...and it wasn't going well at all. The team watched as hordes of goblins ambushed the ground troops from all sides, and picked them off slaughtered them one by one. Some female troops were even captured by the goblins, some even got a limb or two broken to make their capture easier. The goblins then dragged their captives into a hole for...later use, then rejoined their brothers in the battle.

The siege towers evened the odds with gunfire and ballistas, but some goblin champions unleashed fireballs at the tower's bases, which must have ignited the towers' supply of gunpowder because the towers blew up from the inside multiple times. Some towers were lucky enough to have mage support which stopped the fireballs launched at them, but it was still a losing battle. The goblins covered the entire battlefield for miles, and the united army were losing ground slowly but steadily, not unlike a fire burns up a leaf. The team themselves were the toughest people in the army, but they weren't strong enough to handle that many goblins, especially not without hurting their allies. The first wave's attack on the citadel was a complete failure, and the team could do nothing but watch in horror and sorrow, with Priestess putting her hands together.

---

When they got to the Frontier, Abbot followed Ranger, Fighter, Warrior, and Wizard to their old apartment, and Wizard cobbled together a special chair which had a mind-focusing enchantment on the entire apparatus. Fighter then sat down on it, and opened her chakras...she then discovered Cambion in the Pope's palace. She then explained the situation to her team, and Ranger gave his portal gem to Abbot who knew where it was specifically.

"He's already been here..." Abbot whispered as he eyeballed the doors that were blown out and smoldering.

"This happened recently; the doors look like they were blasted from the inside-out, and the flames didn't have enough time to burn through the wood for too long." Ranger said as he examined the doors.

"Boss! Look!" Wizard exclaimed as she pointed inside and they saw several people on the ground shaking in awe. Abbot then rushed in and looked them all over.

"Are you hurt?" He asked.

"No but...His Holiness locked himself in the main chamber, and he hasn't come out." A priest said.

"Father...we were-" Abbot cuts another priest off.

"Yes, we already know." He said seriously, before banging on the door. "Holy Father! We've come to help you! Holy Father, can you hear me?!"

"Leave me..." The Pope said quietly, and Abbot looked back to the others with concern, then Ranger approached.

"Holy Father, we're coming in." He said seriously as he morphed a sword.

"Please don't. I am not worthy-" Ranger cuts the Pope off, by cutting through the lock...and they saw the Pope in a corner with his face in his knees. Fighter then rushed to see to him.

"Holy Father, what happened here?" She asked.

"It's the skull...he came here for the skull." The Pope said and Abbot rushed to the alter.

"Cambion..." Ranger whispered.

"I failed the Supreme. It was my sworn duty to protect it, and I turned my back on Heaven itself..." The Pope said.

"What do you mean?" Ranger asked.

"I used Holy Smite on the half-blood, and it did nothing. I once used Holy Smite to vanish a small army of demons myself, and it failed me. I believed the Supreme God failed me." The Pope said.

"That's not true Father." Fighter said seriously.

"But it is..." The Pope whispered.

"No! He took the husk of the Demon Lord's pet!" Abbot exclaimed.

"What?!" Ranger exclaimed.

"What do we do now?" Wizard asked.

---

Meanwhile, Cambion was at the same pit he had the slaves dig up, chanting in the Demon Lord's tongue as purple fire engulfed the skull he took from the Pope. Occasionally, orange lightning struck the skull from various directions as a large Hell Rift opened overhead. The wind even swirled around the area and kicked up dust as a weak tornado formed around the area that pulsed between being weak and strong as the skull gathered more power. Eventually...a surge of Hell energy lashed out in all directions, pushing down several trees in the area.

---

Back at the palace, Fighter violently shuddered.

"Everyone...I have a bad feeling about this." She said.

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but you sounded like Rhea Fighter used to." Warrior said.

"No...really...that skull is being worked on as we speak." Fighter said seriously.

"Supreme above." Abbot whispered.

"He's done it. He's waking the pet as we speak. I've doomed us all..." The Pope said.

"Stop it Father! This is the Cambion's doing, not yours." Abbot said.

"And he's right in doing so!" The Pope snapped.

"How could you say that?!" Abbot asked.

"Because when he came here he blamed me for having the church abandon the people! And he's correct...the people cried out for salvation and peace as hordes of goblins and demons poured down upon them, and we have done nothing but ignore them. No, worse than ignore them; we have claimed to have prepared for the threats the people faced, and covered the damage instead of fixing it. We! The church the Supreme God, the one people have looked to for justice for centuries if no millennia! Now a single person, half-blood demon or not, approaches me in the heart of the church...and the powers I was granted fail me, miserably. There could not be a clearer sign: the Supreme God...is not the Supreme God afterall." The Pope said.

"No...the Cambion is simply abusing the power of the human spirit to vent his wrath upon those he blames for the country's problems. The church would never forsake the people, and I'll prove it myself!" Abbot said seriously.

"How Father?" Wizard asked.

"By joining the siege of the Goblin Overlord's citadel myself. Priestess is there now, and she alone can make a difference, but two major servants of the Supreme God will make the victory a certainty. Ranger, send me there now, the rest of you stop the Cambion...at all costs." Abbot said, and the team looked at each other, steeled themselves, then Ranger handed him the portal gem, Abbot used Vision to see his destination, then opened a portal to the army that the team could see getting pummeled by the goblins. Abbot then tossed the portal gem back to Ranger and rushed through the portal.

"Where's the Cambion now?" Ranger asked.

"I can feel him; he's on the other side of the forest to the east of here." Fighter said.

"Lead the way." Ranger said and Fighter rushed out of the room toward the woods, and the pressure coming from the Cambion's ritual became more and more stifling as they got closer...and there he was, the Cambion. Once the team got close enough, the ritual stopped cold, and he lowered his arms.

"This is interesting. I would have thought your new archbishop to have been more tactful than to abandon you in your hour of greatest need." Cambion said before turning to face the team...and singled out Fighter. "How is your arm?"

"How's your spine!?" Warrior snapped, and Cambion smirked and lowered his head.

"From the look of things, you've all healed from your wounds as well as I had hoped...and you brought your fearless leader. I do hope you have improved your skills as much as you could with the Champion." He said.

"How do you know that?!" Wizard asked.

"There is little that escapes my notice, such as whether or not you are more agreeable now." Cambion said.

"You mean you still want us to join you after everything you did? All the damage you caused?!" Fighter asked.

"Yes." Cambion said simply, which astonished the team. "I am more than alittle amazed you put all of this time and effort into opposing the forces crippling this world, but paid none to why they were allowed to flourish in the first place."

"If you're going to tell us that the Sword Maiden was making this country weak or whatever bullshit you have to throw at her, forget it. There's more to life than power." Warrior said.

"You're right, and the most important one is balance. Why do you think the guild exists in the first place? To address the lack of balance between the righteous and the corrupt. Ironic since the guild is filled to the brim with both. The goblins that were allowed to thrive for ages being so looked down upon, only for those who do to suffer and die in unspeakably unjust ways, is merely an inkling of the lack of justice no one bothered to address. And why were the goblins left unchecked? Because no one knew? No, it's because no one cared, not even the church- no...especially not the church. Otherwise, this country would have been infested with Goblin Slayers who would have wiped out the goblins a long time ago!" Cambion said.

"Well, in case you missed the memo, they're being dealt with as we speak." Wizard said.

"Yes they are...after far too long!" Cambion snapped.

"And those adventurers you tempted?" Ranger asked.

"Tempted? Interesting term for a chance to make something of themselves when you take all the glory yourself, along with that little girl who happened to have gotten her hands on one of the strongest weapons in the world." Cambion said.

"I cannot speak for her, but I got my Platinum Rank because I chose to go down the path I went down, despite the risk." Ranger said.

"And if there was another way? One that had no risks and had the same results?" Cambion asked.

"That's bullshit; everyone knows risks and rewards have to balance each other out." Warrior said.

"But is that an actual law, or something everyone is told?" Cambion asked, and the team looked at each other. "Exactly. I don't know how it all started, nor do I care to find out, but there is a reason I continue to press you all for your aid. You condemned me earlier for supposedly making false promises; what I can and will do is give them and everyone else the same level of power you possess, and when I am done...everyone will be Platinum Ranked!"

"They will have the power required, but how can you trust them with using it properly?" Fighter asked.

"They will have no choice. They will have to use the power I grant them to shape the world as it was meant to be shaped, or they will have to answer to me. Now...I ask you yet again, join my cause. I know the people revere all of you; with you working with me, we can end the forces twisting this world in no more than half the time." Cambion said.

"Cambion...you have spoken more sense than anyone I have ever met, but you have gone too far in the wrong direction, and even if your cause has merit...it will not come to fruition like this, especially with the price being far too high. One way or another, everything ends here." Ranger said seriously as Warrior pulled his sword, Wizard readied her glaive, Fighter popped her blades, and Ranger morphed a greatsword. Cambion then sighed deeply.

"Ranger...I regret your choice, but I understand. If anything it's rather poetic, a group of people, vs a single half-blood demon, no one is a hero, or villain...but both sides are still foes." He said before morphing his arms into blades. Fighter made the first move by charging right at Cambion who barely had enough time to put a blade in her way to block her armblades, she then jumped over him to dodge a slash at her gut. Warrior and Ranger rapidly slashed at Cambion as Wizard charged up a drain spell..although watching the two men clash blades with Cambion from every angle, and with both the men attacking Cambion from opposite sides never getting old distracted her from focusing on her magic.

Ranger then wrapped things up by blocking a stab to his chest, and Warrior deflected a slash into the ground, and Fighter took advantage of the distraction to jump up and kick Cambion in the back of the head, and then jump off him into the air. Cambion then morphed his blades back into his arms, and pushed off the ground hard enough to launch himself backwards. Ranger then morphed his guns and opened fire on the Cambion, who blocked the bullets with his arms...then started trembling.

"Silver bullets. Didn't expect that did you?" Warrior asked as Cambion dug the bullets out of his body, and looked over the shiny piece of metal that were making his body ache. Although, when he removed the last one, his wounds healed normally, and he got back up.

"Clever...although, you will need more than poison if you want to win this." Cambion said as he grabbed the skull, tossed it into a Hell Rift, then went into it himself...and then came out from overhead, with his fists morphed to be significantly larger, with organic armor coating them. Ranger then jumped up with his own gauntlets morphed, and the clash between his superheated gauntlets, and Cambion's overgrown fists created a shockwave strong enough to send Cambion into the sky and launch Ranger back into the ground hard enough to shatter it, and send Fighter and Warrior flying into trees.

"Oh no..." Wizard whispered as she rushed to checked on her teammates...all of whom stood up thanks to their necklaces healing them.

"Thank the Supreme I married a genius." Warrior said softly, and Wizard gave him a brief but sweet kiss as the three stood up. Cambion then exited a Hell Rift further away from them.

"Ranger, when last we met, I was able to snap your giant blade in half with my fingers alone. I must compliment how much more you have improved; if you had remained stagnant like your friends have, you would all be dead by now." Cambion said.

"Stagnant? Hardly." Wizard said.

"Prove me wrong." Cambion said before unleashing a fireball from his fingertip that turned into five fireballs, each one bigger than he was. He then pointed at the team which sent the fireballs flying right at them.

"Firestream!" Wizard yelled as she unleashed a torrent of fire from her glaive which held off the fireballs, but that was it. Ranger then drank some holy water when he saw Wizard struggling.

"Immolation!" Ranger yelled as a burst of fire exited his hand and the two overpowered Cambion's fireballs, and pushed them back at him. The team then watched Cambion get engulfed in the flames, and take all five fireballs as they exploded in his face. When the dust cleared, Cambion was on his knees, breathing deeply and covered in dust and gravel, but otherwise unharmed.

"Congratulations...you have indeed proved me wrong, but I guarantee you this will not be an easy fight." Cambion said seriously.

"Not for you maybe." Wizard said, and Cambion stretched out his arm to grab her, then Fighter opened her chakras and swatted Cambion's arm away before it got halfway to her pseudo-sister. She then rushed at Cambion, kneed him in the gut, and threw punches at him, which were either blocked, dodged, or countered, but she matched him step by step, despite his inhuman speed. She then caught a punch to her face, twisted his wrist hard enough to make him growl in pain, and then gripped his throat, and shoved him into the wall of the pit despite his feet digging into the solid rock ground.

"Impressive..." Cambion whispered before pushing off the wall with one foot, which pushed Fighter back just far enough that he could get an angle to pick her up and slam her into the wall hard enough to bring part of it down on top of her as he jumped out of the way.

"Fighter!" Warrior yelled as Fighter got buried under the rubble, and Ranger shot Cambion with his guns, and Cambion had to open a Hell Rift to retreat from the gunfire. Cambion then reappeared behind Ranger, who barely had enough time to morph a greatsword before Cambion tackled him into the pit...and Ranger flipped them over so Cambion landed on the ground instead of Ranger. Cambion then laid there as Ranger got some space, then glanced to see Warrior working to uncover Fighter, Cambion then rolled back to morph his blades again as he clashed with Ranger's greatsword over and over.

"Fighter..." Wizard whispered as she watched her husband frantically try to get Fighter out of the pile of rocks she was buried under, until she was finally uncovered...and unconscious.

"Fighter? Fighter?! Fighter, answer me!" Warrior said as he continuous shook her.

"I hear you...!" Fighter groaned.

"Oh thank the Supreme..." Warrior said as he looked back to see Ranger and Cambion were still clashing blades, or pushing against each other at this point.

"I heard you the whole time..." Fighter said as she held her head.

"Then why didn't you answer?" Warrior asked.

"I just got buried under a ton of rocks, some of which are bigger than I am, and they hit me harder and faster than I could handle! Healing from that is no joke, even with my chakras opened." Fighter said.

"Right." Warrior said before the ground shook, and they turned to see Cambion slammed Ranger into the ground with his hand on his throat. Warrior then pulled his hammer, made it spark, and Cambion jumped away before Warrior unleashed a bolt of lightning that Cambion narrowly dodged by jumping into a Hell Rift. "Yeah, you better run away!"

"Ranger?" Fighter asked as she checked on Ranger who was catching his breath.

"I'm fine..." He whispered, before Fighter smiled at him. Cambion then reappeared behind Wizard, who was saved by a rock elemental she pulled from Limbo. She then tag-teamed Cambion with her glaive as the elemental kept punching him. Cambion was actually able to keep pace with both Wizard and the elemental at the same time...until Cambion grew his fist and punched the elemental to the ground, and Wizard quickly absorbed power from it, then grabbed Cambion with her spare hand and threw him behind her hard enough to tear up the ground as he landed. She then used the power she absorbed to have the rocks Fighter was buried under be merged together into a large spike, and Cambion got up in time to get the spike smashed into him. Amazingly, he wasn't even scratched, but merely staggered, and of course angry at her.

He then charged at her, but he was still staggered enough to have too little equilibrium to go at full speed...and that was all it took for Warrior to use the whip function of his sword to tie up Cambion's feet, and Ranger jumped up to hurl a harpoon right through Cambion's collarbone from above. Warrior then wrapped it up by charging up his hammer and throwing it at him, making it smash into the harpoon hard enough to cause an explosion violent enough to shatter the ground even more than it already was. They then retreated to wait for the dust to clear...and Cambion was still alive and well.

"You've got to be kidding me! How is he able to take a hit like that?" Warrior asked, as Cambion tore the still-intact harpoon out of his torso, slammed it on the ground, and glared at everyone one by one.

"You learned significantly more tricks over the course of these last several weeks, and your leader is clearly worth his salt..although, I sincerely doubt you can do more than throw tricks at me." He said.

"Tricks?! We've been beating your ass for almost an hour!" Wizard exclaimed.

"And look how far you've come. If you're intentionally trying to kill me, you're going to have to do better than this." Cambion said seriously.

"This guy is brutal...!" Wizard whispered harshly...then Warrior made a dozen clones of himself, much to Cambion's surprise, and half of them charged at Cambion with swords in hand, and the other half morphed their crossbows, and as the first half clashed blades with Cambion as the crossbow-users took pot shots at Cambion when they got a chance. The frenzy Cambion made with the clones slashing at him was so intense that even Fighter couldn't tell what was going on clearly, even though her chakras were closed. Eventually, it became apparent that the clones gained the upper hand by slicing into Cambion is various places. The real Warrior then whistled, the clones backed off, and rushed back to him as he reabsorbed them.

He then charged up his sword and unleashed several waves of holy energy that Cambion easily blocked...but then Warrior ducked under Cambion's defenses and jammed his sword into Cambion's gut, then unfolded his shield and used the edge to bash Cambion in the face hard enough to send him flying into the wall of the pit they were in. The crossbow-using clones then pelted Cambion with a storm of silver-headed bolts while he was down, and Cambion unleashed a surge of Hell energy that not only deflected the bolts flying at him, but also paralyzed the entire team. Cambion then took a moment to compose himself, and the tore the bolts out of his body and stood up as his wounds closed.

"You are starting to anger me..." Cambion said seriously, and Ranger smirked, which made Cambion raise an eyebrow.

"I've been waiting to try this out..." Ranger said before opening his eyes...which were now cyan; his chakras were open.

"You as well-" Cambion couldn't finish his thought before Ranger went from being several meters from Cambion, to having his gauntlet colliding with his face in a split second. The Hell energy Cambion unleashed empowered him enough to withstand the punch, and then he took yet another punch to the face, and then the next minute became a barrage of punches and other strikes between the two, as they engaged each other with every unarmed trick in the book. From Ranger throwing fake strikes to one place, and changing it to throwing a real strike to an unprotected place, to Cambion dancing and flipping over Ranger as he pushed him into the ground, to Ranger flipping himself over and tripping Cambion, to Cambion trying to use his armblades o cut Ranger in half, only for Ranger to put his greatsword in the way.

After that, it became a clash of their blades violent enough to create massive yet brief gusts of wind, and the ground shakes from the force of each individual blow...of which there are several ever split-second. Ranger then locks blades with Cambion yet again, and then a pair of clones of his appear out of his back, which surprises everyone in the area, Cambion and his team. The clones both impale Cambion in the sides with their greatswords, and then the original morphs a gauntlet and punches Cambion in the torso hard enough to stagger him, only to see the gaping wounds in Cambion's sides close up, and then Cambion puts a bolt of Hell energy into Ranger and both clones, as they fall down spasming out.

"How much abuse can this bastard take?" Wizard asked, and Fighter then morphed her bow and loosed an explosive arrow that blows up in Cambion's face, but he doesn't stop shocking Ranger. Wizard then summons a pair of ice elementals that flew around and shot ice beams at Cambion, which encase him in ice, just not for long, even though Ranger did get himself together and throw another punch at Cambion, only for it to be caught. Cambion then morphed his right arm into a blade bigger than he was, and Ranger had to retreat before he could take a lethal blow. Ranger than clashed blades with Cambion yet again before Cambion pushed Ranger back.

"I think you should know that this is the weapon I used to kill the Sword Maiden; based on how much damage I did with one blow, it's easy to see why she didn't last long, she and her guardian." Cambion said.

"You rotten son of a bitch!" Ranger growled as his greatsword superheated, and he pressed the attack as his two clones retreated, morphed their quad-cannons and opened fire on the Cambion...and he put up a Hell energy barrier to stop the storm of bullets, and then the clones stopped shooting, before Cambion blasted both clones before kneeing Ranger in the chest hard enough to send him rollnig across the ground.

"Alright...that's enough. I think it's time we put an end to this before it ceases to be entertaining." Cambion said.

"Drain." Wizard said as a spark of energy flew at Cambion...who unleashed another barrage of fireballs her way, which snuffed out the spark, and made Wizard retreat into the woods as the fireballs blew up the trees and cliffside she was on.

"I'm not falling for that again." Cambion said seriously.

"Wizard!" Fighter yelled.

"You son of a bitch!" Warriorr yelled, then he attacked Cambion from the side as Fighter attacked from the other side, and Cambion jumped over them, stretched out his arms to grab them and threw them both back to where they were hard enough to knock them unconscious. He then stretched his arm out to grab the harpoon from earlier and used it to impale Ranger in the gut, out through his back. As Ranger screamed in pain, Cambion raised him up, and slammed him into the ground before sparking Ranger's entire body with Hell energy, and his pained screams lasted until his body started smoking and he stopped struggling.

"Remarkable. You all beat me hard enough to kill most of the most powerful entities in existence into submission several times over, and it takes me hitting you as hard as I can a few times, and you're all out of commission." Cambion said simply.

"Why...? Why are you doing all of this...? The Sword Maiden...the church...us...everything. Why do you even care?!" Ranger asked.

"Why do I care? Ironic question coming from one who meddles in every affair he sees, or hears about. Your team is no different last I checked...although I cannot fault them too much considering how much pain they prevented. As for myself...well..." Cambion trailed off.

---

Back at the Deadlands, Hero and company went through the Boneyard, keeping an eye out for anything suspicious. In the meantime, the three ladies were greeted with nothing but the sight of the gigantic skeletons of various creatures.

"I'd hate to meet up with whatever these bones belonged to." Sword Saint said.

"Or whtever killed them." Sage said.

"Hey, we took down the Demon Lord didn't we?" Hero asked.

"And as Ranger said, we got ur asses kicked by the vampire queen." Sage said as dryly as ever.

"Killjoy..." Hero said before they kept going. Eventually, they got through the seemingly endless field of bones, and spotted a temple in the distance.

"Why does this situation look familiar...?" Sage asked.

---

Next thing they knew, they were inside the temple, looking over the murals of goblins, raising their hands to a symbol in the sky.

"That's the symbol of the God of Wisdom..." Sage trailed off.

"Figures..." Hero deadpanned before they kept going.

"Leave it to the goblins to make a temple to the God of Wisdom in the middle of an oversized graveyard." Sword Saint said.

"I don't think they built this; it's too refined. Maybe the Evil Sect made it for them." Sage said.

"You mean what's left of them." Sword Saint said.

"They could've made this before we and Ranger tore them apart." Sage said.

"Even if they did, it's not going to be long before we tear this-" Hero shuts up when they enter a room that had evidence of a massive fire.

"Whoa, what happened here?" Sword Saint asked.

"A fire happened." Sage said.

"I meant how, and why?" Sword Saint asked as Hero looked around.

"This room was a library." She said.

"What? How do you know that?" Sword Saint asked and Hero held up a burnt book.

"And this place is full of them." Hero said as she casually dropped the book, and they all looked around.

"Why would someone do this?" Sword Saint asked.

"A better question is who did this in the first place?" Sage asked.

"Maybe to spite the goblins, or at least the God of Wisdom." Hero said.

"When did you become the detective here?" Sword Saint asked.

"Oh shut up." Hero said.

"Maybe Ranger is rubbing off on her." Sage whispered.

"I heard that!" Hero snapped and her two teammates snickered. They then moved onto the next room...and saw the glow of a flame coming out of it. When they peeked into it, they saw none other than Elder Revenant walking around holding a book and reading it via a large multi-headed candle.

"Him again? Talk about copy and paste events..." Sage said.

"Huh?" Hero asked.

"Nevermind." Sage said, and then Elder Revenant lit the book he was reading on fire and tossed it across the room into another batch of books.

"What the...?" Hero asked, and Elder Revenant turned his head to her.

"I didn't think I would see all of you again so soon." He said before lighting a case of books on fire.

"What are you doing?" Sword Saint asked.

"I've read every book in this place...and they're all full of lies." Elder Revenant said.

"What?" Hero asked.

"The one I just read tells about how souls are nothing than the energy of a body, and that the body is just an object to be used. That's only somewhat true; it goes deeper than that, although the way that book was written makes you think otherwise." Elder Revenant said.

"What's the truth then?" Sage asked.

"Sage...one single soul has more worth than a castle. I may have questioned my place in this world as a person, but the worth of a soul that so many spit on is one I will never toss aside." Elder Revenant said seriously.

"O...k...sorry I asked." Sage said as the undead man before her sat down.

"There's also things that justify the goblins' unsatible lust for suffering, or at least attempts to, like how pain and pleasure should go hand-in-hand; one suffers, another benefits, that's the law of nature, and torture is the pinnicle of that law." Elde Revenant said.

"Sheesh, no wonder you're burning this place..." Hero said.

"Precisely." Elder Revenant said as he got up and walked off, with the ladies following him at a distance.

"So...what have you been doing over the past few weeks?" Sword Saint asked.

"Aside from reaping the millions of souls litered throughout the Deadlands, I was reflecting more on why I was doing what I was doing since I died." Elder Revenant.

"You reflected on several millenia in a few weeks?" Sage asked.

"I'm a revenant; time means almost nothing to me, physically or mentally; I remember harvesting the souls of a single elf that was used by goblins to breed 3,000 years ago, as if it just happened a minute ago." Elder Revenant said.

"Thanks for the information..." Sage said.

"Now, why are you here?" Elder Revenant asked.

"We're bringing an end to the goblins once and for all." Hero said.

"I already know that, I meant why are you here specifically." Elder Revenant said.

"Well, we heard you were here, and didn't want anyone panicking." Hero said.

"Typical..." Elder Revenant whispered.

"And we wanted to see if there were any major threats that only we could deal with." Sword Saint said.

"Well, I am not interested in stopping your siege, although I highly doubt you would be able to get rid of me without at least one of you losing your soul." Elder Revenant said.

"Oh really? Can you handle the Demon Lord? Or the vampire queen?" Hero asked.

"If I couldn't before, I can now." Elder Revenant said simply.

"What?" Hero asked.

"Millions of souls being given to the Death God entitles me to more power than every revenant combined, and that is including the power I already used against the Cambion." Elder Revenant said.

"O...k...then why not get rid of the Goblin Overlord yourself?" Sage asked.

"Because it's not that simple. The Death God doesn't just increase my power, but also restores them, especially when I use them to save souls in either Hell, or te Abyss itself." Elder Revenant said.

"The Abyss?" Sage asked.

"Yes. Not long before Ranger and Goblin Slayer's led the assaults on the Deadlands, I was sent to deal with the Fear Demon, one of the cruelest, and cageist demons in existence, and because of me, not only are the souls free, but the Fear Demon isn't leaving the Abyss anytime soon." Elder Revenant said.

"Unless someone releases him." Sage said simply.

"I wish them luck; few have ever entered the Abyss and left." Elder Revenant said.

"Well, congrats are in order for saving those people." Hero said.

"Even though they're dead souls that needed my attention?" Elder Revenant said.

"Point taken." Hero said.

"Do you intend to do anything about the invasion?" Sword Saint asked and Elder Revenant stopped walking.

"I suppose so...there will be a bounty of souls that need to be collected afterwards." He said thoughtfully.

"You would save alot of lives, and work, if you got involved during the siege." Sage said.

"Unless the living still don't concern you that is." Sword Saint said and Elder Revenant sighed.

"I suppose...it wouldn't hurt." He said and the ladies shared a smile with each other.

"Alright, so what else do you need to do in here?" Hero asked.

"I have scoured this entire temple except for one place; the place we're going to now." Elder Revenant said as he led them to a larger chamber with murals everywhere.

"Well, this place looks important." Sage said and Elder Revenant looked round at the murals of Evil Sect priests and priestesses raising their hands to the Demon Lord himself, some being turned into demonic soldiers, and even one involving the Champion of the Supreme with hundreds of people behind him going against the Demon Lord alone, and despite the legend saying that the Champion was alone, and the Demon Lord had a legion with him, the mural portrayed the opposite. Elder Revenant then reached a mural that was the Death God's mark, that turned into the God of Wisdom's mark much to his surprise.

"What's wrong?" Sword Saint asked.

"Did you see that?" Elder Revenant asked.

"See what?" Sword Saint asked as Elder Revenant looked back to see the mark was that of the God of Wisdom.

"Nevermind..." He said before moving on.

"Vision of beauty isn't it?" A goblin high priest said, and everyone snapped their heads to see the goblin in question.

"Beauty isn't the word someone worth anything would use for deception." Elder Revenant said simply.

"Well that wasn't friendly." The high priest said.

"What does a goblin know about friendly?" Hero asked.

"Oh...I can show all three of you friendly...like I did with the others" The high priest said with a sneer...before Elder Revenant appeared in front of him with a scythe brandished to the side, and the high priest recoiled in awe, before blood sprayed out of his gut and he feel to his knees. The three ladies were all as stunned as the high priest was; their undead companion was several meters from the high priest before, and not only was he right in front of the high priest, but also has a scythe out that he didn't have before, and now the high priest was on the ground holding in his intestines. So Elder Revenant ran over to him, morphed his scythe, and slashed the goblin's torso in less than a split-second. How fast is this man?

Next thing, they knew, the high priest completely healed his torso, then tried jamming his bone claws into his opponent...then his arm flew off as the scythe tore through it. Elder Revenant then grabbed the high priest's face and ripped out his soul before looking at it swirl around in the palm of his hand.

"I must ask...how many times do you need to be ripped out of your flesh before you stay dead?" Elder Revenant asked.

"You know this one?" Sword Saint asked before Elder Revenant absorbed the soul.

"It's the same one who lead the assault on that farm while you were fighting the Demon Lord, the same one who fought the last revenant in a fight that cost them both their lives." He said before moving on.

"Well, let's see him do that again." Hero said.

"Wait...even if this siege does work, what's going to stop the goblins from returning later on?" Sage asked.

"If they do, they'll just get sent back to Hell where they belong." Hero said simply.

"O.k...now you're really starting to sound like Ranger." Sword Saint said.

"Well it's true." Hero said, and then they reached a chamber lined with pillars...as well as an alter in the center with a woman on it, and surrounded by goblins.

"This can't be good..." Sword Saint said seriously, and several goblins perked their ears and turned to the group and several prepared to charge at them. Elder Revenant then tore open a portal with a scythe as one of the goblins was about to get on top of the woman and rape her, reached through the portal, tore the goblin's soul out, and reanimated it to attack the goblins from behind with it's claws and even it's teeth. Elder Revenant him then jumped through another portal and severed the heads of every goblin in the back in one stroke. He then threw two scythes at a pair of goblins, recalled the scythes before reanimating the two dead goblins, and as the first undead goblin was overwhelmed, the two new ones jumped on the still-living ones and sank their teeth into their throats as they tried to scream but wound up spitting out blood.

"Well...that wasn't disturbing at all." Sword Saint said, as Elder Revenant taking the goblins' souls, and reanimated their bodies as Hero approached the woman, who was staring at the ceiling.

"Are you alright?" She asked, and the woman didn't even budge. Hero then checked her pulse and breathe.

"She's still alive, and pure for that matter." Elder Revenant said.

"She must've been a planned sacrifice..." Sage said.

"Yes, and chances are the fist goblin I killed was going to remove her virginity just to spite us." Elder Revenant said, and then tore open a portal to Water Town, much to the ladies' surprise as they looked at each other. Hero then picked the woman up and carried her through the portal, and Sword Mage received the captive.

"Well, looks like the living are starting to concern you afterall." Sword Saint said, and Elder Revenant actually smirked before Hero came back.

"Yes...yes you are..." He said.

"Well score another one for the good guys..." Hero said proudly, before Elder Revenant turned to leave along with the undead goblins after him. "O.k...would you mind killing those-" Elder Revenant severed the undead goblins' heads before Hero could finish. "-things...off."

"How can you move so fast?" Sage asked.

"I get more power as I give souls to the Death God, and that includes increased physical and magical power, as well as my ability to heal, my longevity, my immunity to pain-" Sword Saint cuts Elder Revenant off.

"Yeah...we read the book." She said.

"It's awfully nice to have the powers of death on our side...somehow." Sage said.

"The truly embarrassing thing about how little power I used to get rid of that high priest." Elder Revenant said.

"What?" Hero asked.

"You didn't notice? I didn't empower myself..." Elder Revenant said seriously.

"How strong are you?!" Sword Saint asked in awe.

"The Death God grants me as much power as I'm entitled to, no less." Elder Revenant said before they reached the exit, and he looked up at the clouding-up sky...before several Hell Rifts opened around him, which surprised him greatly as he gets impaled with multiple harpoons on chains.

"What the hell?!" Hero exclaimed.

"Ambush!" Sword Saint yelled as she pulled her sword as more Hell Rifts opened, to let out dozens of demonic soldiers that blocked her from reaching Elder Revenant who was completely pinned down to the point of helplessness. Hero then jumped over Sword Saint and unleashed a burst of energy that blew the demonic troops away and closed several rifts, but the ones that didn't close were opened again. Hero then swung her sword again, and the rifts were all closed. She and Sword Saint then sliced through the chains and harpoons coming Elder Revenant pinned down, and removed them one by one and watched their undead companion's wounds close one by one, even though he was impaled through several vital organs like his heart and lungs.

"Are you alright?" Hero asked as Elder Revenant slowly stood up.

"Of course I am." He said.

"That attack was not an accident." Sage said seriously.

"No. The Demon Lord is probably angry that we interrupted a sacrifice; there's probably going to be more on the way." Sword Saint said, and the next thing they knew, a barrage of purple fireballs was flying at the temple. Hero then jumped up and unleashed a wave of energy from her sword that snuffed them out...and then a swarm of imps and Prides rushed out of a series of Hell Rifts in the distance, all of whom were charging at the temple. The three ladies then braced for combat...before Elder Revenant unleashed a surge of black energy that targeted the massive skeletons around the boneyard.

"What are you doing?" Hero asked.

"Saving you some trouble..." Elder Revenent said seriously as the demons stopped their charge and eyeballed the hulking undead creatures staring down at them as they rose from the earth one by one. The demons then turned their attention to taking down the monsters, but even the fireballs, which as t turned out were thrown by archdemons, had no effect on the monsters.

The monsters in turn were able to crush and swat away imps by the dozens with casual swipes of their limbs, or those without arms sank their jaws into the earth itself, chewed up every demon they caught, and spat out the dirt onto other demons who were crushed under the dirt. Some monsters had wings and took to the sky, then they circled around and sprayed blackish-green bile on the demons in the back. Most of the monsters were multi-legged spider-like creatures the size of Wrathers, and they trampled every imps they could get close to...although they were by far the easiest to get rid of; several Wrathers actually succeeded in crushing them, only for the larger monsters to crush them in turn.

"O.k...now it's really nice to have the powers of death on our side..." Sword Saint said.

"Let's leave the demons to them; we have a siege force to save!" Hero said.

"You go...I'll catch up with you." Elder Revenant said, and the ladies rushed off to save the siege force...who were getting torn apart by goblins by the hundreds.

"We're too late..." Sword Saint whispered as they watched the men get butchered alive, and the female troops get crippled and captured...and they had a disgustingly good guess why they were being captured in the first place. Hero then tensed herself, charged up her sword, and jumped into the air.

"The Hero had arrived!" She yelled before unleashing a burst of holy energy strong enough to blast half the goblin horde off the face of the earth, send another quarter flying, and stunning the survivors. Sword Saint and Sage rushed off to get to the captives before the goblins could violate them, and after slicing and blasting through dozens of goblins, including a few armored hobs Sword Saint crippled by slicing their legs and finished off by either stabbing their hearts, or slicing through the back of their necks, they reached a cave where panicked screams were heard.

The two ladies rushed in, and when they got to where the screams were coming from...they were just in time to see several troops get their clothes ripped off entirely. Luckily, their training drove them to kick and beat the goblins off of each other as well as themselves, which only made the goblins angrier. But before the goblins could do anything too vile...Sword Saint rushed in and left no head attacked to the goblins' respective bodies. They then gave the women a chance to get themselves together since they were logically in a frenzied state thanks to the infamous fight-or-flight response. When the women got ahold of themselves and saw the goblins were dead...they recognized Sword Saint and Sage, and their terror and rage, was immediately replaced, with self-consciousness and grief if their watering eyes were anything to go by.

"You're alright now." Sword Saint said.

"Alright?! Alright!? Those damned things just tried to use us as toys! We won't be alright until they citadel gets brought down around the goblins' ears!" A soldier yelled.

"And it will, but as it stands, we have to get you out of here." Sword Saint said.

"Repair..." Sage whispered as the soldier's clothes, armor, and even some weapons the goblins broke out of spite were fixed. When the women got their stuff back on...they charged out of the cave screaming in rage as Sword Saint and Sage watched them get their revenge on the goblins by plowing through them in droves. In combination, they were probably as effective as GS himself is at killing goblins...although they lacked his fluidity for various reasons.

Sword Saint and Sage then saw Hero cover the skirmishers' retreat as she wove through a mass of goblin champions, by either running up one, flipping off of it and slicing through another, bisecting several in one swing, and even stabbing the ground to unleash an explosion underground which sent dozens of goblins flying, and the debris was launched everywhere, which of course crushed more goblins.

"It's official...Ranger is rubbing off on her..." Sage deadpanned. Sword Saint then shoved Sage to the ground as a champion hurled a spear at them, and Sword Saint barely had enough time to deflect the spear herself, but the force knocked her to the ground herself. Sage then unleashed a Mana Bolt at the champion...but it used a Reflect spell to send it flying off to where the rescued skirmishers were fighting, and they never stood a chance.

"You bastard!" Sword Saint yelled as she stood up and charged at the champion...only for it to smash the ground in front of her, staggering her and leaving her open to the champion's mace. But before it could finish her off, a thrown scythe tore through it's throat, and came back to Elder Revenant. He then charged at an approaching swarm of goblins, jumped into the air, morphed a two-handed scythe and when he brought it down, he tore through the ground itself as the goblins who couldn't retreat were ripped in half. He then charged through the goblins with his twin one-handed scythes and craved through them like he was a scythe himself.

He threw his scythes around which not only tore through goblins as they flew, but also as they returned to him, he jumped over a hob, and severed it's head as he hooked the two-handed scythe's blade around it's neck, he then spun the scythe around, shredding dozens of goblins as they tried to dogpile him, and then threw a one-handed scythe at another wave of goblins, and morphed a two-handed scythe to whirl around and tear through another group of goblins. He then stood there with his two-handed scythe's blade over his shoulder as the one-handed scythe returned. He then spotted the biggest wave of goblins yet approach, and the harvester of souls was clearly not afraid of them.

Once the goblins worked themselves up enough to charge at him...a flying undead monster from before appeared and spewed it's bile on them, which dissolved their bodies and horrified the survivors. Elder Revenant then reanimated the dead goblins he killed, and had them charge at the living goblins, who were too scared to fight anymore and retreated.

"Nice of you to join us." Sword Saint said as Hero showed up to watch the army of undead titans tear through the goblins' frontlines in various ways, from the flying ones spitting bile from above, to the land-based ones smashing up the trenches and the smaller ones rushing through and around the goblins' troops.

"We should get back to the others." Hero said as she approached.

"You should come with us." Sword Saint said.

"I'm not sure that's wise considering what I am." Elder Revenant said.

"Man's got a point there." Sage said.

"However..." Elder Revenant trailed off before unleashing a burst of black energy that reanimated the entire field of dead bodies, goblins, and non-goblins alike.

"What are you doing?! Those are our troops!" Hero asked.

"Even in death, they will still aid us." Elder Revenant said and Hero sighed.

"I guess you have a point." She said.

"I can feel no souls in them either; I assume the Death God took them in my absence. Ironic since it's usually the other way around." Elder Revenant said.

"Let's just go." Hero said and the group left their undead companion behind to rejoin the group.

---

"...and after we looked into the temple's origins, he brought those monsters back from the dead, and now here they are." Sword Saint said.

"Well...nice on have the powers of death on our side." Female Knight said.

"That's what we've been saying." Sword Saint said.

"Shame about those skirmishers though." Cow Girl said.

"They can be avenged, and they will be." GS said.

"Right." Cow Girl said, and then a portal opened...and Abbot came through.

"Father? What are you doing here?" Priestess asked.

"I came to aid the siege." Abbot said.

"Well, we just lost-" Abbot cuts Priestess off.

"I already know...a great many soldiers lost their lives here, but there is still a great deal that can be done without them. That citadel must fall before we are done, and with not one, but two servants of the Supreme God on this army's side, we cannot fail." Abbot said seriously.

"Father...you don't sound right." Priestess said and Abbot sighed.

"This is not the only front on which things have gone awry; Ranger and his team are dealing with the Cambion as we speak, and he raised the stakes higher than they have ever been raised." He said.

"What? How?" Cow Girl asked.

"I'll explain later, but now...I have an army to address." Abbot said as he went to the back of the siege camp to see the rest of the thousands-strong army.

"Armies of the human, dwarf, elf, and lizard kingdoms! I come to deliver a message from the frontlines. The goblins have made their power and presence known, with deadly consequences. Now, none of you need to be told why you are here; all of you know what the goblins are like. They are a race of rabid monsters who will fight tooth and nail...but they do not know what we are like. Heaven...is balance. Heaven...is stability...Heaven...is...power! And out here...we...are...Heaven!" Abbot exclaimed, and the rest of the army let out a rallying cry the echoed throughout the mountain range.

---

As the undead monsters continued rampaging through the heart of the goblins' defenses, the humans in the army sent a brigand of heavy cavalry to soften their offensive forces sent to stop the rest of the army from launching their attacks. Abbot even threw in an Empower miracle to turn the cavalry into a force that the goblins had no chance to defeat.

The lizardmen then had a century of their warriors spring out of one of the goblins' own trenches to ambush a brigade of goblin wolf-cavalry and skirmishers. They were also supported by a platoon of dwarven riflemen and elf archers and battlemages who shot down a group of goblins archers, and deflected their arrows respectively. Some dwarven heavy infantry held the line against some hobs with their gigantic shields while some human crossbowmen shot them down. A pair of elf battlemages then charged up a lightning spell to unleash on a goblin champion that tried and failed to protect itself with a Reflect spell. The dwarves then grabbed their spears and closed in to stab it to death.

Summoner and Female Summoner each unleashed a World Spawn to charge at the goblins' back defenses to support the undead monsters who were getting no where with the goblin shamans and high priestess who were barraging them with magic. Inspector even threw in an Empower miracle...and Summoner was right; he and his sister getting empowered made the World Spawns stronger as well, but all that did was keep them from getting overwhelmed.

"Thank you baby." Summoner said softly before giving Inspector a brief but sweet kiss.

"You're welcome...baby." She said.

"Must you two do that in the middle of a battlefield?" Female Summoner teased.

"Hey, grimdark much?" Summoner said.

"Good point..." Female Summoner said, and they looked out to see the chaotic battle take place in the middle of the entire valley in front of the citadel in the background...miles from where they were.

"I wish Ranger and company were here." Summoner said.

"If they were, there probably wouldn't be any need for an army now would there?" Female Summoner said.

"Good point." Summoner said.

"Well, they had as much influence on these people as Goblin Slayer did, which is quite a feat. Besides, we have the new Sword Maiden with us, aka, the woman who was with Ranger and Goblin Slayer's teams for no less than a year and a half now. If she believed it wasn't enough, she wouldn't allow anyone to fight." Inspector said.

"You really like Priestess don't you?" Female Summoner asked.

"Why wouldn't I? The Sword Maiden was legendary at worst, and still is to this day. If she choose Priestess to be her successor, there's no was she didn't know what she was doing." Inspector said.

"Here's hoping it's enough." Summoner said.

---

Back in the pit, Ranger was staring at Cambion while twitching in pain with the harpoon still impaling him into the ground.

"You asked me why I'm doing what I'm doing, although truth-be-told, I have no faith my answer will do any good. But on the off-chance I'm wrong, what would you propose?" Cambion asked.

"I have nothing to say to you..." Ranger growled.

"Then listen. My goal is one even you yourself supported; I told you before, I believe in fairness, and I meant every word." Cambion said.

"Fairness...? Fairness!? Are you out of your mind! You killed the Sword Maiden, a woman who loved the country as much as she loved it. You brainwashed countless people, hurt their families and friends, destroyed the church itself! Who are you to talk to anyone about fairness!?" Ranger snapped and Cambion simply stared as Ranger glared at him.

"Then what is your definition of fairness?" Cambion asked.

"You getting your head severed, then the rest of the ones who follow in your footsteps to get the retribution they deserve!" Ranger said.

"That would be fairness...but what about those who have already fallen...fell from grace...were denied salvation?! They are so far beyond your definition of fairness that you have no chance of reaching them! What fairness is there in flaunting a Platinum Rank while those less fortunate than you are left to their own devices?" Cambion asked seriously.

"We don't acquire power for the sake of it, nor do we welcome the suffering of others for our benefit!" Ranger snapped.

"Yet you follow the War God's path that demands you do just that. Sure you fight the Evil Sect and you cannot be condemned for that...but what of their victims? What if they are brutalized in the same way the Sword Maiden herself was?" Cambion asked.

"We save them like we always have!" Ranger said and Cambion huffed and circled Ranger.

"That would be a death sentence for the entire country. What you speak of only involves the guilty being punished instead of the crimes being prevented in the first place, and what's worse...you cannot be on this Earth forever; you will eventually die, and abandon this country to it's fate." He said.

"What are you talking about?" Ranger asked and Cambion stopped circling.

"What else? The people who rely on others for salvation. Other who are either too weak, too ignorant, or too slow to be there before the damage has been done, and the victims broken, behind any kind of repair. You have seen this yourself too often haven't you? When you free women, beautiful, kind, innocent women defiled and desperate at the hands of goblins, the most pathetic of all creatures. The most disheartening part is that this is only a fraction of the pointless tragedies that plague this world. The disgust I feel towards the imperfections the people suffer for, is no different from the disgust you feel towards the goblins; it's the same thing every time. Those adventurers I offered power to is only the first step towards making the people strong enough, and when I am done...no one will suffer for their weakness, ever again. So I ask you, as a servant and friend of the Sword Maiden...what would you do to enforce your idea of justice, and why is it superior to my own?" Cambion asked...and Ranger stared at him the entire time in thought.

He then recalled the Sword Maiden talking about how she was ironically happy the goblins tore into her, and how much sweeter it made her love for Storm Mage when she compared the two. He also recalled how Priestess summoned him for a personal meeting to discuss what the Champion told her about how the Cambion didn't even understand his own goal...and how the Demon Lord was returning sooner than they thought. But...strong as it all was, none of it changed a thing.

"I don't know..." Ranger whispered as his eyes watered and his hands clenched. Cambion then knelt next to him.

"Now you know why I do what I do. This insanity has infested our world for far too long, and I can put an end to it, but I cannot do that peacefully; I needed to obtain the Sword Maiden's power not for my own sake, but for everyone else's. You said yourself she loved this country, and even in death she serves it through me, in a way she never believed in but is confirmed to be real. I am sorry for the pain I caused you, and everyone else. I don't expect any forgiveness, but I am not a goblin; I take no pleasure in the strife I sowed; were there a more peaceful option, I would take it no questions asked, but I cannot. You and I are the same in this matter; we each seek to aid the world in our own way. This is why I wanted you to join me, you and your family. Let us save this world together...like true Platinum Ranks." He said and Ranger thought for several seconds before sighing.

"I can't. You yourself acknowledged how much the people look up to us. How can we do this without making it look like a betrayal?" He asked.

"Well...for what's it's worth, before I killed the Sword Maiden, I told her that Heaven has enough riches to make up for her pain...but I only said that to ease her passage. The moment I heard of her story, and how she became the archbishop...the contrast between her past and future cut me deeper than I could ever cut her. A person goes from Hell into Heaven, but Hell still haunts them at every turn. So long have I seen this over the centuries, powerless to do anything about it...until now. And you, great Platinum Rank, have tried to stifled my efforts at every turn. I may be a monster, but I have never been dishonest. In this regard, what difference is there between an avenger and a monster, if being a monster is what is needed to give the world what it truly deserves? Those that look to the one who dares to be called the Supreme God are even more guilty; what justice is there in letting all of this senseless misery last centuries- no...millennia? What I did to the church could not have happened to anyone more wretched." Cambion said.

"But...you were right. We've been to Heaven and the Sword Maiden is perfectly fine. She overcame her trauma, she found love...she's happy! Others went through the same thing as well; their past trauma was made up for." Ranger said.

"Not good enough. The damage done to them is a stain on this world that cannot be wiped away. History saw to that. The power I obtained from Heaven and Hell is only the beginning. When I am done...Heaven, Hell, and Earth...will be one." Cambion said and Ranger gasped.

"You can't do that!" He exclaimed.

"I have no choice. The conflict between these worlds are the cause of this madness, and I will be the one who puts an end to it. When I do, there will be no more conflict, no more weakness, no more suffering. From the look of it...this doesn't appeal to you. Am I wrong?" Cambion asked.

"No...I agree with you. The people do need to be made stronger, but not like this." Ranger said.

"And what would you have me do? Go around training and inspiring people? Believe it or not, I already tried that, but the effects never lasted. The God of Wisdom made a weapon out of the goblins, uniting Heaven, Hell, and Earth should be possible as well." Cambion said.

"Shut up!" Fighter exclaimed, and the next thing Cambion knew, he got her foot to the side of his head with enough force to launch him into the side of the crater they were in, and shatter the wall.

"Fighter..." Ranger whispered.

"Every time you open your mouth, all I hear is despair, doubt, and false love, and I'm sick of it!" Fighter snapped.

"What? There never was any love in the first place, which is precisely why not a single tear should nor will be shed for this world." Cambion said.

"Not when there's no one to shed them right? You claim to have witnessed people's cases over the course of who-knows-how-many centuries. Do you think we're dumb enough to think you saw cases like ours and their merit wasn't there? It's much more likely that you're just blind!" Fighter said.

"No you're the ones who are blind! This crusade, as noble as it may be, is just using love as a painkiller when the disease itself was still there waiting to cause the symptoms all over again." Cambion said.

"You mean the goblins? They're being mopped up as we speak in case you forgot." Fighter said.

"The Demon Lord is still out there! He comes back every decade, and that's not even mentioning how twisted the people you eagerly defend are. How many go straight to their deaths or worse at the hands of the goblins? How sharp of a contrast is the difference between them and yourselves? A band of adventurers who were simply lucky!" Cambion said.

"Luck had little to nothing to do with it. We obtained the power we have because we went out and got our hands on it; the rest simply didn't look at all, or not in the right places. We gave ourselves a life worth living, and we're going to let others know how to do the same...after we kill the monster who only claims to support them." Fighter said as she popped her armblades.

"Monster...? If you truly want a monster, who am I to deny you...?" Cambion said, and the next thing the team knew, Cambion gave off an increasing amount of Hell energy, and molten metal appeared to bleed out of his skin, and form a suit of organic-looking armor, complete with four wings, two pairs of horns, one pointing backward, and the other pointing forward, and the rest of his body was covered in spikes, plates, and blades, especially his hands and feet.

"Dear Supreme almighty..." Wizard whispered as Cambion spreads his wings and flexed in his new armor.

"You...had a chance, to aid me in bringing true salvation, but you cling to a failed philosophy and champion a worthless cause instead...just like the late Sword Maiden. Your ignorance has decayed your vision to the point of no return. Consider your lives forfeit!" Cambion growled.

---

Dun dun duuuuuh...Cambion has his own Devil Trigger like Dante and Vergil in DMC, guess it comes with the territory of being a cambion. Also we get a taste of Cambion's motives and goals, although it would be quite a feat for him to pull any of that off, even though alot of crazy bullshit has taken place over the course of this adventure. I said it before, and I'll say it again: Cambion is supposed to be an anti-villain; yes he does not-very-nice things, but it's the end that justifies the means supposedly. Is he right, is he wrong? You decide. Anyway, can you say Battle of the Five Armies with the siege of the goblin citadel? Although there's technically six if you count the undead horde Elder Revenant's overpowered ass summoned. So...I hope you found this chapter worth the wait, and be such to Rate, Review, and Share and stay tuned for the rest of this fight, because I'm not even close to finished.