God Rising: The Cult of Ainz

by atheistbasementdragon

Neia Baraja is out to change the world, war and conflict follow where she walks as she spreads the worship of the Sorcerer King. But the adherents of the Old Gods will not go quietly into the night. Armies will rise, nations will die, and even if it destroys her, she will see her God Rise. No matter what the cost.

10. The Third Fall of Prart

'I never thought I'd see those walls again.' Neia said softly as the high walls of Prart loomed before her in the distance, growing steadily larger as she grew steadily closer. The last time she'd seen that city it was a ruin, first as a result of the demihuman alliance taking it, then as a result of taking it back, then as a result of defending it against a massive onslaught of demihuman forces.

The capitol was now...well...mostly rebuilt, noble estates, fountains, a few public buildings, a few temples, and a small percentage of the overall residential areas were all that remained to be restored. She wondered how she'd find Prart when she got within its walls. When they arrived near the main gate, they stopped, and Neia approached the guard house with Tinamoc, and waited while he presented his letter of legitimacy from the King, and the guard responded to this by saying, 'Very good there m'lord, but we'll have to inspect the caravan for contraband and all that.'

Tinamoc rolled his eyes and replied, 'No you don't, the letter I just showed you expressly authorizes immediate entry for the establishment of trading purposes. If you try to inspect this whole caravan of goods, it'll take all day, not to mention I'll have to do inventory all over again to make sure nobody got sticky fingers. I can't do any trading until that's done because a precise inventory is required for entry...' He trailed off as the guard coughed opened his palm. 'Well I could do a 'quick inspection' for a few coins you know.'

'How quick?' Tinamoc asked, his eyes narrowing in suspicion.

'Could be over right now you know, fast as the coin goes in me pocket.' The guard said with a sly look.

Neia couldn't take it. She removed her visor and looked the guard dead in the eyes. 'I am Neia Baraja, squire of the Sorcerer King, who provides all of the building materials for reconstruction, and you WILL let this man pass with his letter alone or I will have your heart on a plate.' The sudden smell of ammonia filled the air.

'Get out of my sight, and go change your pants you corrupt disgrace, and I WILL be reporting your actions to your superior.' Neia said in a tone of voice that told the guard he was speaking to the angel of death. He stumbled out of the way and let them move the caravan forward.

Neia's voice carried more than she had intended, and heads were poking out to look at her. She didn't bother about that, but what she did notice that the city didn't look that much different from when she left. Prart was a wreck. True there were people seemingly everywhere, far more than it was meant to hold, but even considering that, the city stank, there was little work being done, she saw laborers who were supposed to be building things, standing around talking and drinking rather than working, not that they could have anyway, because though they had tools that helped her identify their profession, there were no building supplies to work with, she saw children scrabbling through garbage, and as they moved deeper into the city, the only people she noticed actually working, were the prostitutes.

'What the hell happened here? Or rather...why didn't anything happen here?' Neia asked Tinamoc, aghast at the poor condition of the city. 'Have we passed a single intact house that wasn't used for prostitution or alcohol storage?

'Well, do you count that?' Tinamoc said, and pointed to a looming home that clearly belonged to a nobleman. 'At a guess,' he said, 'the nobles have been using the supplies you've sent here to rebuild the noble estates and the few public buildings they need, but have been embezzling and selling the rest of the supplies, which the black market and criminal gangs have been buying up to use for their establishments, and probably their own homes. Just a working guess though.' He said in a voice that suggested he didn't think he was guessing at all.

A stray slime crossed their path, clearly the sewage system was not being maintained.

'To whom were the supplies going?' Tinamoc asked.

'I'm not exactly sure.' Neia said, the crown put me in charge of the capitol and appointed other figures for the other cities, once I pulled our portion, the others would requisition what they needed and send it to their respective contacts here. The one sending materials here was...shit.' She said.

'The one who was sending materials here was shit? Well I can clearly see that, but what was his name?' Tinamoc asked.

Neia shook here head, 'No, I mean I just remembered, it was Count Handor, it was his man that was caught pilfering supplies in the capitol. He also had one of my men killed, we took down all those who were directly involved in the killing...but before he could publicly implicate Count Handor, he was killed in prison while under guard. I don't know who his contact was here, but if I had to guess, he's dealing directly with one other noble, or he's dealing with the temples, I'll know which it is, soon enough.' She said.

'How will you know?' Tinamoc asked. 'They'll tell me.' She said, pointing to the buildings. Understanding dawned on Tinamoc's face.

'Ahhhh,' he said, 'so basically anyone with an intact house or business, must be in some way connected with the trafficking in stolen goods, so if the temples have been restored...'

He paused as Neia interrupted. '...then the temples are in on it.' She said with a snarl. Go ahead and get yourself established in the market district, but I suggest not setting up more wares than we can effectively guard. Rent a warehouse we can easily protect, and only take out what you think will sell that day, it may extend our time here for several days, but frankly, I think that will work out for the best.' Neia said.

Tinamoc stroked his chin thoughtfully, 'Yes, I think that will work out. Plus it will be nice to be in one place for a few days, now where will you be while I finish going on my way?' He asked.

'First I'm going to check out the nearest temple, then if it is in bad shape, I'm going to talk to the priest, if it is in good shape, then I'm going to the local governor to introduce myself.' She said.

'Introduce yourself gently?' He asked.

'That depends on them. But I'd prefer that if possible. If its not though, well then sobeit.' She shrugged off the implied concern and gave him a wolfish grin.

It wasn't hard to find a temple, and it didn't take long to get there on horseback, and she was somehow unsurprised by the intact building that she found there. It was surrounded by hovels that hadn't been repaired since it had first been captured by the demihumans, and the people around the temple looked shabby and unkempt. She didn't bother to go in, she had somewhere else to be. The regional governor's manor/office was big, and that made it easy to find, and the fact that he'd taken care of his own residence and work area first, made it easy to identify. When she arrived, there were two guards at the gate. Neia dismounted and approached, her having ridden a warhorse and been well dressed and clearly well armed, made an immediate impression on them, as did her confident walk up to them.

'I'm Neia Baraja, and I am here with the royally commissioned merchant Tinamoc, and I wish to see the regional governor. Is he here?' She asked.

'Yes lady Neia,' a guard said, I will send word of your arrival, could you wait here?' He asked with some timidity.

'No,' Neia said, 'I can announce myself, and I don't need company.' She said with steel in her voice, she walked past the guard without another word, before he could sputter a protest, she sniffed in contempt, the guard there was in somewhat better shape, but the ones she'd glanced at on the road carried more beer in their bellies than muscle on them. Her impression of Prart was growing worse by the minute, and walking into the manor made things no better, it was opulent, filled with rich goods, clean carpet, art upon the walls...Neia felt disgusted.

'Bah, its one thing for the Sorcerer King to have better than this, he gives to his people, this man...he is clearly only stealing from them. I wonder how many homes these were taken out of.' She pondered as she walked down the hall, she knew exactly where to go from here time here before, and it did not take her long to get there, she pushed the doors open, their groaning as she did so, echoed down the empty hall, and inside the office, was the regional governor sitting at his desk with a glass of wine. A noise was coming from under his desk, and it took a moment for Neia to identify what it was.

The governor looked at her in surprise, then anger, and it transformed to fear when Neia's foice snaped out, 'Get her out of here!' There was the sound of a thud, like a head striking wood, and from under the desk came a frail looking woman with a black eye, she snatched something off the floor near his desk and through it over herself as she darted out the room with her eyes downcast. The regional governor blushed cherry red as he hastily pulled up his pants.

'Who are you to...' he began, but Neia did not let him finish.

'I am Neia Baraja, the one who is providing the supplies you're using which I receive from the Sorcerer King, and I am here with the royal merchant Tinamoc as his personal escort.'

Fear stayed on his face as he looked her over, he saw her eyes moving up and down, taking him in. He was rather...large, but not in the strong way, his jowels flapped as he spoke, his skin was pale, not much for the outdoors, his clothes were very fine, as were his jewels, Neia's immediate impression: He was worthless.

'I'd like you to explain the state of Prart.' Neia said.

'The capitol is much larger, even with your population increase, I know what supplies have gone out, and we haven't been shorting you, but somehow only the noble houses, temples, and government buildings seem to be intact, well that and the brothels I passed by. Speaking of which, why are there so many brothels, I passed THREE just on the way here from the city gate?' Neia asked.

The governor wrung his hands fretfully, 'Well...its an easy way to make coin, and, well, what else is there for them to do? And as to the city, well it was heavily damaged, we have been working, but its just...taking a little while.' He said.

'And...why haven't you FOUND other work for them to do? I saw that woman had a black eye, exactly how did she, or any of these others, end up in the flesh trade?' Neia asked. Her face turned dark and she removed her visor, staring daggers at him said further, 'I also saw workers with no materials to work with, I know a shipment of materials we sent to you just recently. Where are they? Show me your records.' She snapped.

'Lady Neia,' he began nervously, 'I can give you our distribution records, but I don't have them myself, they're at the warehouse in the main office, why don't you settle in first, you're a hero to the people of this city, I'm sure they'd be ecstatic to know you're here, and you'll have a chance to speak before the crowds again...I can gather the relevant officials and we can have a meeting tomorrow to go over all the details of the reconstruction.' He said ingratiatingly.

Neia would have refused on the spot and pressed the matter...but he hit upon her weakness, her desire to promote the Sorcerer King and his ideals of strength as justice. She put her visor back on and nodded silently.

'Very well, tomorrow at noon I will return here and I expect to see the relevant officials and the paperwork for distribution and your reconstruction plan for the next few months. I had better be satisfied.' She said.

'All will be as it should be.' The nobleman said.

And Neia walked out, leaving the nobleman grinding his teeth behind her, she decided to walk the city streets for awhile, and found herself in the main square, people were coming and going, and she found she could not resist the opportunity this presented. She walked to the great fountain...it was dry. It was dirty. It was filled with refuse. It was a microcosim of the city itself. It would do. She hopped up from the ground, to the circle, to the top of the statue at the center, and announced herself.

'I am Neia Baraja, here on a trade mission from the capitol! People of Prart, I would know how you live!' She shouted.

The buzzing of the crowd began to still, the weight of her name drew eyes and ears, and one man close by shouted simply, 'Poorly!'

'My home is still destroyed, our shops are ruins, the palaces and temples are rebuilt, but what of us? I show up every day at the same construction site, and have only enough materials to work for a few hours or less and then nothing. I've only rebuilt three homes in two months, and those were homes nobody owned, which the governor then began to rent out as it was 'city property'!

'The price of grain is outrageous, and it is worse with any other foodstuffs, I'm eating barely more than when the Sorcerer King freed me from a prison camp!' Another person shouted.

Neia listened as the complaints rang out, the crowd was getting agitated as they vented their frustrations, Neia began to get a clear picture of just what was happening in Prart.

The 'disturbance' Neia caused had apparently gotten someone's attention, because a group of guards began to push their way through the crowd to the front, Neia counted eight of them, two archers two men with swords, and four more with speers, no equipment better than half plate iron armor covering their torsos, shin guards, and leather boots...and of course iron weapons...unless they had concealed items, which she doubted. Still, it was good enough for people to get out of the way as they made their way to the front.

'Ay you lot, go back to your lives, and you up there, get down, no public gatherings without official permission!' One of the men, apparently the leader, said. He was a grizzled looking man missing a few teeth, but otherwise unremarkable to look at.

'I have permission.' Neia said. 'I'm on a trade mission escorting the official royal merchant, so the security and wellbeing of this town IS my business, and I'm speaking to the people who live here, now unless you wish to take an issue with that, BEGONE!' she snapped.

It sent a spark through the crowd, which was clearly not used to seeing the guards dismissed by anyone, and it agitated the guards, who were used to getting their way.

'Prart is ours missy' the guard said, 'we'll say how secure and well it does, not this rabble!'

He opened his mouth to say more, but Neia seized on it. 'You DARE!' She let her voice carry far and wide, 'You DARE to call THEM RABBLE?! They are the PEOPLE of this city, the citizens of the Holy Kingdom, they survived Jaldabaoth even at their weakest, they endured, they carry the seed of strength in all of them, the King of another country, the very GOD of Justice, Ains Ooal Gown, personally saw worth enough in them to see to the preservation of their lives! How DARE you refer to them as rabble! How DARE you dismiss their concerns! I will have satisfaction from you for insulting them!' Neia shouted, ensuring every word of what she said hit every ear.

'My people, I ask that you make room, I will have to teach these men a lesson about their place in this city!' She shouted, and the crowd began to push itself back to the edges, opening up room in the square. The guards were caught...off guard, this was not how things were supposed to work, this was not how things were supposed to go.

'Who you want'n to fight eh?' The grizzled leader asked with a nasty grin.

'Do you all share his opinion?' Neia asked of the other guards. Coarse laughter greeted her, which was answer enough.

'Then all of you. Here. Now. Or are you just cowards in armor?' She said with a contemptible smile on her face as she jumped down from the fountain and walked to the center of the square with her hands folded behind her head and turned to face them.

They were almost to shocked to move, except they moved their faces to expressions of anger and fanned out.

Neia looked at them with a bored expression on her face to meet their gazes.

'Apologize to the people of this town now, or do it from the ground when I'm done beating respect for them into you.' She said.

That was to much for one of them, he broke from his friends with a spear lowered, charging full tilt at Neia. She reflected briefly that he must not have had much training if this was his method, and she simply stepped aside, grabbed the spear behind the point, broke it with her free hand, and then beat him about the head with the wood she'd taken, until he collapsed.

'You two, bind that one!' She said, pointing to two people in the crowd. They hesitated, but that was enough to drive the remaining seven to act, the archers went for their bows, but Neia had hers out and fired two shots before they could even load, her arrows went into their bows where their hands held the grip, severing fingers and causing them to drop the remains of their primary weapon, and drop to their knees in pain. She then stored her bow and drew her sword, her sudden action had given the remaining five pause, but she gestured with her free hand for them to come at her, turning her palm up and drawing her fingers toward her repeatedly.

The guards glanced at each other for reassurance and fanned out around her, closing the distance gradually, something Neia wasn't going to allow to happen, contrary to what they expected, she rushed the spearman on her left, grabbed his spear with her free hand, pulled him forward as she twisted her body, and gave him an elbow to the face with such force that he crumpled then and there. 'That's four.' She said, and turned to the next nearest man, she took up the spear of the fallen, and threw it left handed, butt first, into his throat. As he spasmed she closed the distance, pulled him off balance, then hit him in the back of the head with the hilt of her sword. 'That's five.' She said again, and by this time the now desperate remaining three responded by simply charging her.

She leaped to one side, rolled, and activated a martial art that sped her up considerably, by the time they had turned, half way around, she had grabbed one man by the throat and was pushing him in to the others, the power in her legs propelling him forward, the remaining three were tangled up, and they crumpled in a heap. Neia responded to this by kicking them in their faces as they struggled to get up. 'That's six', she said as one fell unconscious, 'that's seven' she said as the next one went out like a candle being blown out, 'and you make eight.' She said as the leader managed to free himself from the tangle of now limp limbs and tried to rise, only to rise directly into Neia's fist, she grabbed his helmet, yanked it off, and beat him about the jaw with it, before throwing it aside to grab his hair, and throw him towards the fountain, and as he was bent over it, Neia considered the best lesson she could offer. Fear and intimidation was the way of authority here, that much was clear, and Neia knew quite well that there were only two ways to deal with that, and while killing was easy, there was a better option.

As he tried to push himself up, Neia walked behind him, grabbed him by the back of the neck and held him in place, and then before the entire public, she took out her sword, turned it vertical to the ground, and she began to spank the fellow on his ass with the flat of her blade. 'Don't...ever...insult...the people...you...are supposed...to protect!' She shouted, 'Now APOLOGIZE TO THEM THIS INSTANT!' The man flailed and struggled, but all for nothing, 'Apologize NOW! To ALL of them!' Her voice carried, and laughter began to ring out, at first small, but the more he cried out in frustration against her, the worse it got, until laughter had so filled the square the others showing up, without even knowing what happened, were laughing at the grizzled guard being spanked like a child, until he could bear no more and he shouted, 'I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!'

'What are you sorry for?' Neia snapped.

'I'm sorry I insulted the people of Prart!' He shouted.

'Again.' She said.

'I'm sorry I insulted the people of Prart!' He shouted.

'Again.' She said.

'I'm sorry I insulted the people of Prart!' He shouted loud his voice cracked.

'Good enough.' She said and yanked him up and threw him back, causing him to stumble and land on the ass she'd just beaten red.

'Do not move an inch.' Neia said as she sat down and crossed her legs in front of her, she looked to the side, and there hadn't been any more hesitation, the remaining guards had all been bound.

'Now. You are going to stay where you are, and not move even an inch, and you are going to listen as the people tell me their grievances, and when your men wake up, they'll get the same treatment you did, THEN and only then do you have my permission to go.' Neia said in a voice of steel, and the guard could only stay sprawled out and red faced and nod numbly, hardly able to believe how badly his day was going.

One by one the people spoke up, and the crowd grew larger as word spread, the roads in to the square began to back up, and Neia heard dozens of complaints before the first man woke up, his arrogant demands to be untied went quiet when he saw the person who had beaten him was still there, and when she dragged him bodily behind her by his hair, he cried out in pain, but that was better as far as he was concerned, than what she did next, just like his boss, he was thrown over the fountain and had his ass spanked like a wayward child, though with the flat of a sword instead of a belt, until he apologized the same way his boss had, and just like that one, he was flung backwards onto his ass and told to sit and not move.

The cycle repeated itself for the better part of an hour until the last guard had apologized to the sound of laughter raining down on them. Neia got back atop the fountain, and she began her sermon.

'People of Prart, I have heard what you have said, and I am distressed at how low this city has fallen. Many of you were saved by the Sorcerer King, the god of justice, and yet, is this what you were saved for? To live like this? To live lives of weakness and fear and poverty, exploited by people who insult you and degrade you and take advantage of you? Is THIS how you want to live?!' She shouted, a chorus of 'NO!' answered her.

'The god of justice has said that strength is justice, not because might makes right, but because only might can enforce justice, the sin of weakness has infected this place, these guards are weak, the morals of the authorities are weak, the economy is weak, and when weakness pervades, INJUSTICE REIGNS!'

'I am but a shadow compared to the might of my god, yet I had the power to impose justice on these who degrade you, you ALSO have that power, if you claim your dignity and demand that right be done, you in a mass cannot be crushed by something so weak and petty as a bully in a tin suit! Demand justice, support one another in the pursuit of justice, support one another in the pursuit of strength, follow me to the justice of the one who saved our nation, follow me in the ways of the Sorcerer King, the god of Black Justice, and you WILL NEVER BE BEATEN AGAIN!'

Her speech sent a wave of excitement through the crowd, it electrified them, they cheered, up and down the streets as far as her powerful voice could carry. 'Return to your lives for now, I will see to these tin covered cowards, find me in the marketplace if you have need!' She said, and she jumped down and approached the prone men.

'Get the fuck out of that armor.' She said with contempt. They looked up at her, stunned. 'You cannot hold the people in contempt, and remain fit to wear it. Your armor is not for you, your armor is so you can protect them, and you used it to abuse them. So you can't have it any more. Get...the fuck...out of it. Here, now.' She said with the voice of death itself.

Their spirits were broken. They did not resist.

They slowly stood and began taking it off, eyes downcast.

'You are the product of the corruption here, you are not the cause of it. You will tell me now, everything you know. Then you will go back to your residences, gather your things, and get out of Prart and never come back, consider yourselves banished from here.' The leader managed to find his voice and said, 'I-I don't rightly know everything, I'm an enforcer, nothing more, but I know that some of the ones running things came from Re-Estize, got here after the liberation, they set up shop, maybe bribed the regional governor, maybe blackmailed, wouldn't know that, but he's in their pocket too one way or the other. They got the brothels, the pubs, the gambling houses, they decide what gets built and what doesn't.' He said in a cracked and broken voice.

'The warehouses too?' She asked.

'I done guarded some of those, the renters pay protection money or we...' He trailed off.

'What?' Her voice commanded answer.

'Look the other way while its robbed or burned.' He finished.

'Or do the robbing or burning yourselves?' She guessed.

He gave several small rapid nods.

'How do the temples play in to this?' She asked.

His eyes jumped to hers in surprise.

'Don't be surprised, I saw a temple, it was completely rebuilt, and I'm not about to believe it is because of some devotion to the gods.' She said contemptuously.

'I don't know everything, but...well the priests help keep the people in line, they are the mouthpieces of the governor, and when people get uppity, charges of heresy or blasphemy are hard to fight and you don't even have to plant fake evidence, just have someone make the accusation and a few people back it up.' He said, he began to tremble under her gaze.

'Where do they end up?' She asked.

'Prison mostly, a few of the more talented get 'work release' where they work for free on what the bosses want.' He said.

'Anything else?' Neia asked. 'What about the brothels?'

'Who cares about them'ores?' He said, and found a sword at his throat.

'Oh...eh...' He stammered.

'Anything less than the truth, and I'll cut you in ways that'll let you enter their line of work.' Neia said between clenched teeth.

The lot of them paled at her words, but the pathetic and humiliated guard didn't have the fight left to argue, 'They borrow money for things, can't pay it off, so they work the brothels to pay it off.' He spilled out the words almost to fast for her to understand, but it all clicked into place for Neia, and she stepped back and sheathed her sword.

'OK, now you get get the fuck out of my sight, and get the fuck out of this city. If my eyes ever catch you again so much as taking a sweetroll from a child, my face will be the last one you ever see.' She said, and stepped aside. 'Now RUN!' she barked, and they ran like rabbits.

She mentally ticked off what she'd gathered from the little bird she'd just made sing for her, all was going well, but she had to inform Tinamoc of what she'd learned, as well as the rest of her company of fighters. The next move in her mind was fairly predictable, when you humiliate evil authority that way, it has to respond, and there are only two ways to do that. Against the public to remind people they're still in charge...or against the singular party in opposition...which even if they did the first thing, they'd still have to do the second, and because she'd acted in public, they'd want to act against her in public, by any means necessary.

A wolfish grin appeared on her face, the regional governor would have to act quickly, she was going to look over what were no doubt phony books tomorrow, he wouldn't want that. Quick decisions are seldom safe decisions, he was cowardly, he was weak, and he thought he held all the cards. Within a few hours if not sooner, the humiliation of several guards and their dismissal from the city would reach his ears. If she wanted this to work, she had to act quickly.

She cast a silent thought of gratitude to her divine god of justice, and after a brief stop to inform some of her people that she needed them to shadow her, she went to the next public place, and again began to speak on the subject of the god of justice, the war for liberation, she began to praise the crowd as survivors who carried within them the seed of strength, that all they needed to do was nurture it by following Black Justice and the way of the Sorcerer King. Prart was full of camp survivors and liberators, which meant it was packed with people who favored the Sorcerer King, which meant there was a ready audience for her message, and more than that, her message of hope and her praise for their potential was a welcome relief from the grind to which they had been subjected.

'When thugs come to demand coin so that your shop does not burn, stand against them, when you see your neighbors harassed by thugs, join with your neighbors, when you see the neighbors of your neighbors threatened and extorted, join with those neighbors, they cannot still from even ONE of you, if ALL of you refuse to tolerate being stolen FROM!'

Her speeches ignited the crowds, and she went from one square to another, with some of those from one, inevitably following her to the next speaking point, and after hours of this where she praised the Sorcerer King as the god of justice and the only one worth following, she got the expected result. From her position atop another ruined public fountain, she saw them coming, a priest, who looked...rather lumpy to put it plainly, backed by several men in shining armor, they could only be paladins, and about two dozen or so soldiers. The governor was clearly not taking chances after her having humiliated the unprepared guards, these were more fit and more professional looking. Her bottom lip curled as she nodded, 'Not bad.' She thought to herself. 'Not good enough...but not bad.' She resumed her speech after the thought, having pretended not to notice them as they forced their way through.

When they made it to the front, some of the guards turned about and turned their spears on the crowd, forcing people back.

The remainder stood at either side of the priest.

'Neia Baraja, you are under arrest on the charges of heresy and blasphemy, and are hereby ordered in the name of Alah Alaf, all the gods, and regional governor baron Nigrand en Tusia, to surrender yourself immediately!' The priest said in a voice that suggested he expected to be obeyed.

The crowd went quiet and waited for her to be taken away.

'I say I am NOT under arrest.' Neia responded flatly and looked down at the priest with contempt. 'I am indeed Neia Baraja, servant of the Sorcerer King, bearer of the armor of the Grand King Busar, rescuer of the Zern Prince BeeBeeZee, guardian of royal merchant Tinamoc, bane of bandits, savior of Ilyatown, protector of villages, bearer of the Ultimate Shooting Star, founder of Black Justice, arbiter of Capitol Reconstruction and liaison of the Sorcerer King, and I tell you I am NOT under arrest.' What she said was a mouthful, but she knew how titles played on the minds of people steeped in them, so she laid it on thick.

'I am not under arrest because I have committed no crime, blasphemy? I can only blaspheme against the true god of Justice, Ainz Ooal Gown! Heresy? How can I be a heretic, I praise the true god of justice, the only god left in this world, before the people here!' Her voice carried, to the crowd, and she said, 'If your life was saved by the true god of Justice, Ainz Ooal Gown, then raise your voice in praise to him!'

'Long live Ainz Ooal Gown!' Sounded with earth shattering force, echoing off the walls in the square, it rang out again, and again, drowning out the priest. Still he didn't act, she needed more to provoke him.

She held out her hands to still the crowd, 'Do you see?!' She said to the priest, 'There is no blasphemy here, we praise the god who cares for his people, not the gods that ignore the people as they die and cry out for aid!'

His face turned purple with rage, and Neia's company began to move from out of their positions of observation, what alone would simply look like a well outfitted soldier, gathered together in a group, became an intimidating military display. The priest however, with his eyes up on Neia, did not notice.

'I will have you dragged down from there!' He shrieked.

'You will?' Neia said laughing, 'Because your gods cannot do it for you? The gods of old might have been powerful in their time, but they did not protect us! They did not instill strength in us, they did not save even a single infant from being devoured on their very alters, even as their worshipers who had lived their lives devoted to those gods, pleaded for mercy! It is not blasphemy to praise the god who acts for his people, it is not heresy to serve that god, it is heresy and blasphemy to DENY that god! YOU are the blasphemer, YOU are the heretic! You corrupt reprobate, you who steal the hope from the people in exchange for power and peddle your notions of righteousness before dead gods who care nothing for your oaths and nothing for their people, I serve the one true god in this world! Praise to him, the savior of the people of the Roble Holy Kingdom, Ainz Ooal Gown! Long may he reign!' She shouted, 'Long may he reign!' the crowd echoed,

The priest could bear no more, 'Get her down NOW!' He shouted, 'And arrest all those who you saw speak with her!' The paladins were distraught, some of them had served with the Sorcerer King in the time of liberation, they had seen him sacrifice himself against Jaldabaoth, and they saw him risk himself and save the Kingdom at the final battle, bringing down Jaldabaoth forever. That was when the priest saw the other members of Black Justice, and the Paladins saw the same, one of the common soldiers stabbed one of the peasants, prompting another peasant to throw a rock, prompting another guard to stab another peasant, 'Take them if you can, kill them if you can't!' Shrieked the priest, and Neia's powerful evangelical voice carried above it all, 'Black Justice! Protect the people! Protect them all!'

The actions of Black Justice were honed by endless hours of training against foes of all types, from skeletons to homunculi giants, individually and in teams, and as a team, they were a single organism.

Neia's voice echoed far enough that even in the market where Tinamoc was setting up, he heard her voice and so did her warriors. 'Go, he said, leave ten for here, take the rest.' He said, and hundreds of Black Justice fighters moved like the wind.

The Paladins were beyond stunned at the direction that events had taken, they...THEY were supposed to protect the people...THEY were the guardians of justice, THEY were the servants of the true gods, THEY were the ones who were supposed to protect the Holy Kingdom. Yet their side was killing citizens and the 'heretics' were acting to save them. The priest drew and blew a horn, it echoed far, and guards abandoned their post and headed for the sound, the garrison commander ordered the men out of their guard houses and towers, and the governor looked out the window over the city, the sound of fighting began to ring out.

Neia drew her bow, and fired, finding her mark in the bodies of spear wielding guards, she fired until she ran out of arrows, darting down only to bludgeon the priest and silence him, the Paladins hesitation was treated as complicity, and they found each of themselves engaged by a member of Black Justice, and they found their own arts being turned against them, the transition from hand to hand and sword work and their martial arts brought one paladin down after another, but guards began to pour in and the members of Black Justice who had accompanied Neia were badly outnumbered.

'People of Prart, get behind us, we will not let them hurt you again!' Neia shouted, and the crowd began to move backwards, Neia's sword was out and she stood in front of the ten who had accompanied her.

Some among the crowd had flashbacks, remembering the Sorcerer King standing before the army, in the way of Jaldabaoth as he sought to burn them all.

There was no time for words, the guards saw the downed priest and other guards, crumpled in front of the fountain, and lowered their weapons preparing to charge. They did not get the chance. Neia was not one to let the enemy seize initiative. 'Protect the people!' She shouted, and charged full tilt, the other black justice members had drawn their bows and fired their quivers empty before the shock had even worn off among the city guard, who had definitely not expected a single woman and ten men to go on the attack.

As their numbers dropped by the sudden impact of arrows, and the shock wore off as the eleven charged full speed against them, they found it in themselves to respond, despite the greater skills of Black Justice, it might have gone in favor of the guards...except for the REST of Black Justice, which had divided its numbers, some had gone high over the roof tops and dropped in the front, leaping down to join Neia and her comrads, while others had gone leap down into the middle of the enemy, while the rest had charged from the rear, and swords in the back are hard to protect against. The Black Justice front began to fall back, drawing the guards into the open, while unbeknownst to the front, in the rear of their ranks their own people were being slaughtered, the illusion of victory made for boldness.

And from the crowd a voice carried from one figure, 'If we won't fight for justice, how do we ever GET justice! Attack!' And one man charged out of the crowd that Neia had been protecting, and that one became two, and two became five, and five became a hoard, the first to rush forward grabbed the weapons of fallen guards, others carried their own personal knives for protection and drew those, and still others fought with just bare hands.

For the guards and the few paladins who had answered the call, it had become a nightmare, the guards who were used to oppressing cowed people through fear, and now they felt the fear they inflicted, some of them not for long, as a spear in the brain tends to still thought more or less permanently, while others panicked at the raw fury they were experiencing directed at them and tried to flee, tangling themselves with others and making the killing easier. The paladins who had responded to the call, found themselves killing the very people they were supposed to protect, and found that they weren't doing any better at that, than they had been doing when they were protecting them, and one by one they went down, one of them managed to grasp his horn and desperately blow it several times before the noise was silenced by a rock to his face.

The fight was over in a few minutes, well, most of it, those had been the bulk of guards who had been close by, but others were still coming, bodies littered the ground, and as other guards came closer, they found themselves trickling in to a nightmare, Black Justice members took most of them down with bows, but a few had to be brought down with blades.

Neia quickly seized control, 'Citizens, take up swords and armor, quickly, there is no time to lose!'

When the first man had finished putting on equipment, she said, 'You are in charge of the next ten to be ready, stand over there!' And she pointed to a spot a few feet away, soon ten more were with him. 'Go and spread the word in the place where you live, its time to bring it all down, then go and seize control of an intersection, let no one under arms pass who is not dressed like us, or who is not an unarmed citizen!' She said, and he quickly departed, one by one she gave like instructions to groups of ten, and the bodies of other guards were dragged into the square and stripped of their equipment, only to repeat the process with more citizens. 'The rest of you, follow us!' She said, 'We're going to get you more equipment!' Her grin was wolfish, and met by equally wolfish grins from the crowd who understood what that meant.

If there had been any doubt in Neia's mind about whether or not she was doing the right thing, it vanished when she saw how easily the guards were turning on the people and how happy the people were that the guards of Prart were dead or dying. Black Justice, a hundred strong, swept over the streets, followed behind by a growing mob, some guards died without ever knowing they were being attacked, others died with just enough time to realize they'd made a very bad decision about which side to be on.

Either way, the mob was getting better and better armed, they didn't have a pitched fight again until they came to a baricade where a dozen or so guards had stationed themselves, they wore the faces of men who considered themselves to be already dead, and they fired arrows wildly and without discipline, they did not know to fire in unison, so the members of Black Justice easily avoided the arrows, or just let the flimsy things bounce off the vastly superior armor the Sorcerer King had given them, but they did find a mark somewhere, injuring or killing some of the crowd, adding fuel to the fire and fury when the distance was closed, and the baricade was overrun and a dozen or so more members of the mob were given equipment and dispatched with like instructions.

Block by block they moved and secured gear, as the city's authorities tried to get a handle on what was happening, Neia however, was one step ahead, and sent some of her scouts to the main entry to the governor's residence, and laying in secret after killing the guards in the immediate area, they took down every messenger sent asking for instructions, Neia had effectively disrupted the chain of command. The head did not know what was happening to the rest of the body, and the body could not coordinate without the head.

Neia having dispatched armed citizens to secure intersections, provided effective barriers to the small patrols of guards that were normally out and about within the city, some attempted to just bull past as if their authority mattered, they just died, having failed to understand the mentality of citizens who believe they have a chance to end their suffering, others recognized the danger, and surrendered on the spot, removing arms and armor and withdrawing, either way, the intersection occupiers had more gear to hand out to more citizens who were learning what was happening.

The strength of the city guard was decreasing, the strength of the rioters was increasing, by taking on the equipment provided to the city guard. It was a delightful irony from Neia's perspective, within a few hours most of the slums were in her hands and several of the noble establishments were occupied, with the nobles still inside them and now held by the mob, other riots began to break out independently as the pent up fury of the people turned on their oppressors, over in the wealthier quarter, this did not go as well, the personal guards of the well to do were more effective than jumped up thugs one step removed from being outright bandits, but as Neia's forces grew and took more and more control over intersections and guard posts, it became more and more obvious to the rest of the guards what was happening, and to conserve their strength, they began to draw back to defensible positions.

It made the mob ecstatic, but Neia knew better, she sent out other men as scouts to determine the locations where the guards had chosen to make a stand, and when they found one, Neia reacted by taking the people down a different route. However for one unfortunate group of guards fifty guards, they had chosen to make a stand with one side of the building being joined by a tavern, with all that flammable alcohol available, it seemed a shame to let it go to waste, so she had her people simply throw flammable debris over the side of the building, she lit a few bottles, and flung them over the side where the very confused guards promptly understood what that had been all about, as they roasted alive.

The few survivors were quick to surrender and be told to get out of town after being stripped of their equipment, that move gave her several blocks in quick succession.

That was when she came to the wealthy district, where they encountered what would have counted as serious opposition, if they had not been prepared by constant training, which included urban combat, and as Neia lead the charge from the fore, the others used unconventional entry into side residences, and then unconventional egress out windows, and hit the private militias in the flanks and in the rear, crumpling them without a hitch. As all the others, they were stripped of equipment and the mob moved on, the circle of the authorities control simply kept contracting.

Block after block fell with ease, but the temples were defended by paladins who saw their obligation to the gods as being greater than their obligation to people, and after the impulsive charges of several groups of commoners were thrown back, Neia and her squads went on the attack and took the paladin order down, dragging bodies out and then leaving naked, dishonored corpses behind, and handing their equipment to Neia's followers.

A few after that had holdouts who preferred to die in the temples of their gods, however most were largely abandoned, and Neia sent word for her scouts watching the governor's manor to pull back, 'Get all the rats in a nest' she had said, and though they picked off a few, the temple guards, few remaining paladins, and the city guard had begun to pull back to the single manor.

When the city was hers, she stood before the gates, and shouted for all to hear, 'I am Neia Baraja, avatar of the Sorcerer King's true justice! You are guilty of blasphemy! You are guilty of heresy! You are guilty of embezzlement! You are guilty of oppression! You are guilty of conspiring against the interests of the crown! You are guilty of the murder of the people! You are guilty of the rape of desperate women of this city, for giving them a choice between hunger in their bellies and the bellies of their children, or bouncing in your beds for your cruel amusement! All of this are you guilty of, and much, much more! But that no more blood be shed, I give you choice of sentence, you may be exiled from this city forever, with nothing but clothes on your backs and what food and water you can carry, or we can fucking KILL YOU ALL!'

'All those who wish to take the former sentence, come out now!' She shouted.

A long minute of silence passed, and a few figures began to trickle out, a few fat priests, and behind them some paladins who, if Neia could read their faces properly, seemed to have simply given up the pretense that they were still agents of justice when they were confronted by the obvious corruption of the people in the manor with them. Neia was moved to pity to see their illusions shattered in the worst way possible.

'Those who are dressed as priests, give them common garb, they are no priests NOW!' She snapped.

'You, paladins, you have seen inside there what I saw, you now know there is no justice flowing from there. The Sorcerer King is justice, that is not. You will lose your arms and armor now, and walk out of this city as peasants would, but that does not mean you cannot carry the lesson with you, you have your lives, and with life comes the chance to live differently than you have before. Seek true justice, and maybe you can make amends for your support of...THAT!' Neia said, and spat in the direction of the manor.

A few more trickled out, wealthy men who had profited from their crimes or the crimes of others, but didn't have the backbone to defend themselves personally. They were personally identified, so that it would be known whose property to seize, and they were similarly ejected. Then, no more came out.

'The rest of you choose a sentence of death?!' Neia asked of the silent house, and an arrow sped towards her in reply. She caught it, and threw it down contemptuously.

'Have it your way!' She said, and they attacked the manor, it was not well built for defense, it was just a government building and a residence, there were many ground floor windows, and the guards, though more numerous, were stretched thin, after the first successful attempt at repelling them, Neia called her forces back, and then changed strategies. She had her archers fire at one broken window, taking down forces there and forcing the guards to stretch themselves thinner to make up for the losses.

As that was going on, she had her forces divided and attacking multiple windows at once, chiefly with rocks and stones, while a group of her elites went to the side where cover had to be laid, and had them use ladders to climb to the roof, they secured ropes there, and then lowered themselves to the second story window, and crept in. Not expecting an attack like that, the few in that room were quickly and quietly dispatched, and then more of her team took the same route. Neia made sure she herself was visible and to focus her eyes on only the lower floors, so that nobody would notice her checking the upstairs. When almost the entire hundred was inside that space, Neia couldn't see what they were up to, but nonetheless she knew.

They went out the door, checking each room one by one, and eliminating anyone they encountered, when they got to the stairs going down to the main hall where the defense was taking place, the pulled out their bows and announced their presence with a volley of arrows into the enemy's backs. When they were attacked from the rear, many of the survivors turned and charged up the stairs to deal with the sneak attack, but it was uncoordinated, and it left the downstairs vulnerable, and Neia ordered a second charge, and this time first one window, then another, then another, and then the rest of them, were all breached, and the people poured out like water bursting from a dam, stabbing and cursing and grunting and brawling was everywhere, but the main entryway was otherwise quickly secured.

That left room clearance, and though a few losses were taken in isolated places, there was little doubt about the end, and Neia went straight for the governor's room, it was appointed with the wealth of a king, and he wasn't there, or at least wasn't visible, so she went silent and listened, until she found the sound of breathing, and detected him under the bed.

'Come out from under there worm, or I'll set the damn bed on fire, I don't need to drag you out to finish you.' She said.

He crawled out after a moment, and was about to stand, when Neia put her foot on his neck. 'Stay down worm. That is where you belong.' She snapped.

'I'll have your head for this!' He said sharply, in what may have been the bravest moment of his life.

'No you won't...baron...' she said, loading the title with contempt, 'because you have violated the justice of a god, you have stolen from the largess of the Sorcerer King, nobody will protect you now, even if Count Handor was willing to look the other way as you saw women forced to prostitute themselves, as your guards extorted coin from those with only a coin to their name, even if the King himself did not care about his people at all...NOBODY crosses the Sorcerer King, NOBODY escapes the Justice of my god.' Her visor was off and she looked down at him in contempt, 'I was going to kill you myself, but as I think of it now, I should leave you to the King's justice.' She said.

'Caspond will never prosecute me!' He shrieked, 'I'm a nobleman!'

'There's nothing NOBLE about you WORM.' Neia said, she leaned over, bending a knee and stabbing her sword into the floor, she leaned on it and looked at him with her eyes of fury, 'But that doesn't matter, because I'm going to offer you to the Sorcerer King, it was HIM you stole from, and when the nobles in the capitol learn that you tried to steal from the one who is literally rebuilding our nation, that you caused a riot trying to arrest the guardian of the greatest merchant in the city, just to protect your little extortion rackets and whatever thugs wormed their way here from Re-Estize...nobody is going to stick up for you.'

The baron paled.

'You tried to steal from the king of a country who could wipe out an army of almost 200,000 people, who personally killed a demon that was able to slaughter whole armies, who by himself conquered the homelands of the demihuman invaders. Exactly HOW did you see this ending for you?' Neia asked, and started laughing.

As the Barron began to wet himself, Neia sent a message to Demiurge about everything that had just happened, and she could hear his outrage when he learned that a mere human Barron had tried to steal from the Sorcerer King and undermine his work. 'A gate will open immediately.' Demiurge said. 'Throw him through, I will ask Lord Ainz if he wishes to handle the notification to the Holy Kingdom royal court personally.'

'As you say Lord Demiurge.' Neia responded, and as a gate opened, she grabbed the baron by the hair, dragged him forward, and tossed him through.

When that was done, she went to the governor's primary office, and said, 'Someone ask Tinamoc to come see me, there is a lot to get done, and I don't have a lot of time to do it. Also, someone free the people imprisoned for blasphemy and heresy, and bring them here also, I expect I'll know some of them, if my instincts are correct.' There was a sea of determined faces in front of her as two people went to carry out her instructions and the rest waited for more, and she found that she was looking forward to tomorrow.

Baron Nigrand en Tusia, regional governor of the city of Prart, landed his face on the other side of the hole in reality, it was an undignified landing, and it hurt quite a bit in his pride as much as in his body, he was already distressed enough, but that was nothing compared to when he saw the frogman standing in front of him, that only got worse, he tried to scramble away, but the frogman simply grabbed him by the foot and started dragging him along, he clawed at the floor screaming to be let go, but no matter his words or screams or struggles, he was dragged on, until he passed through a door that opened by itself, and was bodily thrown forward, where he crumpled like a puppet whose strings had been cut.

He tried to get up, but there was a dark elf child standing there that grabbed his shoulder and held him down in the kneeling position he had tried to rise from. As he looked around, he saw it, death itself, a skeleton wearing a magnificent robe, holding a very impressive scepter, and sitting on a throne that only a god could own. There was only one figure it could be.

'I am the Sorcerer King, Ainz Ooal Gown. And you have chosen to steal from me. Worse, you have chosen to steal from my charity, and lined your own pockets at the expense of my name. What do you have to say for yourself?' He asked.

The baron thought furiously, his mind moved like the wind running through every excuse he had ever told himself for why it was OK to do the things he had done. Only one seemed apt.

'They were only peasants, they exist to serve the will of their betters, why shouldn't I take from them?' He said, attempting to appeal to what he expected was another noble's greed.

Suzuki Satori however...saw only white hot rage, he thought of his precious friends, like HeroHero, slaving away under cruel bosses who cared nothing for their wellbeing, who took it as their right to abuse and exploit workers, he thought of his own mother, desperately working several jobs and still subjected to the humiliation of a lecherous boss that sent her home with more tears and more poverty than before, until Suzuki was old enough to drop out of school and work so she could at least quit that job.

His emotional damper forced him to calm down, but he did not forget his rage.

'Send him to Neuronist Painkill. And keep it going until he dies of old age, and make sure that is the only thing he dies of.' Ainz said.

A few minutes later the former regional governor and former baron found himself strapped naked to an upright rack and an unspeakable slimy monster was practically dancing before him, it held up a small metal device with some nasty looking spines on it, and it was explaining something to him that he didn't really understand about his creator suffering from kidney stones. Soon it didn't matter whether he understood or not, only the pain mattered, only the screaming mattered, and those would continue to matter until his sixty-seventh year of life.

AN: I had a lot of fun with this chapter, I kind of took it in a different direction than I originally intended, but elements of it may remain in a future chapter or a standalone one or two chapter branch, whichever happens with that, our story is now well on course, a lot has changed and new dangers are ready to emerge, poor Remedios is going to have a heart attack when she hears about Prart, suffice it to say there is a lot to look forward to, and I hope you stay with me to the end, and more importantly that it is WORTH staying with me to the end of it. In the meantime however, I LOVE reviews. Its profoundly encouraging and tells me not just where I can tweak things, but what you like. Authors LOVE feedback, that is the best way to get more writing. :)

Oh, and if you want a recommendation for stories worth reading (I'm going to start doing that now, I highly recommend 'Godsfall' its a very unusual take on the New World, and worth every sentence of reading, doesn't update often, but its awesome when it is)