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If I don’t choose to use it, I’ll get soft with it.

Zarian sighed while moving between tall rows of ancient bookcases. Large spider librarians stalked and danced in the background. As he returned to the coffee bar with his fellow Floridians, they glanced at him but didn’t pry directly.

“I gotta stop being a wimp,” he muttered. “I have to train myself on free evil +3 to get used to it.”

“Maybe you shouldn’t have to,” Bianca piped up quietly. Her voice was still shaky. Her eyes were red and puffy. “Maybe it should just stay buried.”

That was another reason he needed to have free evil +3 turned on most of the time. He needed to set an example for Bianca.

Zarian went all in, activating free evil +3 fully, which felt like diving into the deep end. He felt colder. He felt a sharp rise in narcissism, cruelty, paranoia, mistrust, ambition, pride, and many things that could be detrimental when pushed to the extreme.

He also felt like free evil +3 was more internal compared to plain evil. There wasn’t much of a palpable force radiating out. There was still a force, but half as much compared to before.

However, he felt like his intellect was more expansive, more capable of thinking laterally as well as vertically. Free evil was more unbound than plain evil, but free evil was less tangible as a force than plain evil.

Zarian stood still as his Fractured Mind dealt with the power of his sub-alignment, including the obvious negatives and positives. His void-like eyes fluttered. Then he turned his free-evil gaze on the others, who watched him with different reactions.

Bianca shrank into herself. Hannah remained expressionless. Gilbert looked like he was itching to throw some holy water at Zarian. And Naomi had her arms crossed.

“Got something evil for us?” she asked.

“Evil? Not exactly. I just need you to kick the children into gear. We also need two shrines established. One for Shadowfell and one for Lovewar pronto. I’ll try to contact them with the crystal ball,” Zarian said smoothly.

“You have a bit of your little sister in you when you’re leaning into evil,” Gilbert drawled. “That darkness must run deep in the family.”

Zarian arched an eyebrow at the pun. “Tell me, dear Gilbert, which part of you burned the most when you slept with a witch out of wedlock? Your pride or your soul?”

Gilbert’s mouth flapped open and closed like a gasping fish.

Zarian smiled sharply, like a wolf following the scent of blood. “I hope you know the witch lived because I spared her when I had a chat with the evil gods at their altars. In a sense, you finally found relief because of me.”

“Chief, do you have a thing for beating on dead horses?” Gilbert complained.

“Zarian, stop, you’re being too evil,” Bianca whined.

Zarian chuckled darkly. “I apologize. I just had to get that out. I’m honestly bothered that my little sister got to it before me. Truly, she’s the evilest little sister a big brother can have.”

“Do we need the shrines because of our new freedom alignment?” Hannah asked, getting back on topic.

“I think so. We might be disconnected. I didn’t think about it until now, but I bet we don’t even have a barrier up. In fact, if we take things to the logical extreme…” Zarian trailed off and waited for Hannah.

She didn’t disappoint him. “We don’t get their boons anymore, do we?”

“As freedom leaders, do we have boons we can give out?” Naomi asked. “Are we gods and goddesses now?”

“No and no,” Zarian said. “We’re just able to invite others into the freedom alignment. I already know who I want for the sixth seat. The seventh seat will stay open for a while until we find someone interesting enough for it.”

Zarian led them back to the coffee bar. The children still looked sullen from the weight of existential dread and having their magical reality shattered.

Before delving all the way into free evil +3, Zarian would’ve let them have some time off and deal with their feelings.

Now he realized that would be a mistake. Their feelings mattered somewhat less compared to progress. They could work out their feelings later.

“Naomi,” Zarian said, unleashing her.

The dynamic black woman strode to the front of the coffee bar. She looked like she had drunk nothing and was perfectly balanced, standing straight.

“Alright, you boys and girls. You’ve cried enough ‘boo hoo’s’ and ‘oh woe is me.’ It’s time to get your butts up and roll out. We’ve got corpses to pull into the fort for our dungeon to eat. There are a lot of weapons and gear out there, too. Most of that could go into the dungeon. Let’s get to it.”

Zarian smirked when the children didn’t respond right away to Naomi’s orders.

One acolyte let out a grouchy huff of air. Some soldiers looked at her like she was annoying them. One soldier even went as far as scoffing at her while knocking back another mug of beer.

“Reiki?” Naomi called.

The dungeon boss twirled into the scene from seemingly out of nowhere. She stopped to give Naomi an appraising look. Then she waved her hand daintily, as if saying ‘Go ahead.’

Naomi’s psionic power blasted out in a force wave and knocked over the nearest tables and chairs. She sent a dozen soldiers and acolytes falling to the floor.

Hands on her hips, her power continued to crackle and pop like a living storm had appeared in the coffee bar area.

Then that invisible and raging storm found its targets and latched onto them, Head Acolyte Lora and Garden Officer Roland. Without even looking at them, Naomi used her Psychokinesis +1 to lift them into the air, their arms stuck to the sides, as if the invisible hands of a giant held them.

“I could yell,” Naomi said. “Or I can show you I mean business. And I don’t feel like stressing my vocal chords right now, so I guess I’ll get to practice my abilities on you all.”

The acolytes and soldiers watched in horror. They looked at Lora and Roland, who stayed on the far opposite sides according to the gender divide, the two floating up, body stiff and locked up in the air. Then, as the cherry on top, Naomi used her High Intimidation trait to dial up the fear factor even further.

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The children stopped being sullen over their existential fate. They remembered Lady Instructor Washington was a more immediate and painful threat.

“Get out there and feed this dungeon,” Naomi demanded.

She let Roland and Lora go.

The children ran for it and exited the dungeon.

“I’ll go fix the gatehouse. Since we have time, I can make more complex cube designs,” Hannah said. “With the right enchantments, I can make a gate door that moves up and down and other things. Let me know when you want to dive into the library and conduct our research on seals, Zarian.”

“Will do,” he said as his party exited the dungeon.

Gilbert looked up at the night sky. “Ain’t it dangerous to make the kids work in the dark?”

Bianca sighed morosely. She raised her hand and narrowed her eyes as she focused.

Her eyes and body flashed once with inner light before she created a shining globe that expanded until it was as tall as her. She sent it straight into the air, hundreds of feet above the fort. She made the shining globe brighter and brighter, chasing away the shadows inside and outside of the fortress like a miniature sun.

“Do you want a new spider?” Zarian asked gently. “I can help feed you aura directly before you run low.”

Bianca hesitated. “I’m sorry for killing your spider.”

“It’s okay, Bianca. You weren’t yourself. All is forgiven.”

She nodded. “I’ll take a new spider. But I want to maintain it on my own. It’ll be good practice for me.”

Zarian nodded. He liked that attitude. He turned to the others. “I need your permission, since we’re all about freedom.”

Once he received their permission, he gave them all new mind spiders. The women took theirs in the mouth. Gilbert chose the direct approach, his spider burrowed into his head.

They split off to work where they were needed. Gilbert summoned his steed, Slip the Sleipnir, and rode off with Naomi.

The two of them would keep a lookout for dangerous creatures scavenging off the battlefield and ensure the safety of the children.

Hannah went to the busted gatehouse to fix it and experiment with her cubes and enchantments.

Bianca walked up floating steps made of hard light projections. She chose the tallest tower in the fort and sat on its rooftop with her legs crossed, as if to meditate.

Zarian used the spectral spider in Bianca’s head to feel what she was feeling.

Bianca lacked his aura finesse because she didn’t have aura manipulation. She relied mainly on the Wonder stat to perceive the supernatural, which included her aura and the miniature sun she created in the sky. She also had the Level 0 Summon Wizard Hat, which appeared as a white and gold feathery fedora on her head.

Still, keeping the miniature sun going while trying to be efficient with the aura expense was difficult for her. Bianca tried anyway.

I’m glad, Zarian thought.

He hadn’t realized until now that Bianca could’ve ended up broken and lost all her adventurer determination. She was still a surprisingly bold young woman even without the direct force of goodness pushing her.

This supported a theory Zarian had toyed with a while ago.

Bianca’s the most talented mortal in the party, Zarian thought.

That would explain why Bianca became so powerful so quickly. She had a talent for goodness. She had a talent for her use of magic and her own abilities. She was extremely talented in many areas.

Despite being a person of darkness, literally, Zarian looked up at Bianca’s work with admiration. She was maintaining a miniature sun of her own creation. That was straight up magical.

She would’ve been a true isekai hero if it wasn’t for me, Zarian figured. Then again, it’s because of me she grew so fast and so powerful.

Now if only she could lean into her free good +5 and squeeze it for all it was worth. As of now, she wasn’t using it.

Zarian could tell Bianca needed time and reassurance before she leaned on the power of her sub-alignment. Hopefully, she could keep most of its ridiculous power without going crusader crazy.

If it wasn’t for Bianca, I wouldn’t have gotten to test my best abilities, Zarian thought as he cast Void Step. He walked through the emptiness of the void and came out of wrinkled air on top of the northern wall.

He looked over the battlefield. The death and destruction remained apparent.

The fires had died down to smolders and some smoke. Carrion insects and avians were abuzz in the air. The smell was awful.

Zarian imagined enough airborne diseases could circle around on the wind. Stuff like that would affect anyone in the weaker levels who lacked enough vitality to survive a magical sickness.

Evil Goddess Sickspread would be a heinous problem during times like these.

Zarian wondered if she would try something. Killing her as a nearly unstoppable force of darkness didn’t cross her off the naughty list just yet, since it didn’t feel personal enough. But he might reconsider if she reconsidered her approach to him.

There was no free pass for Evil God Sinfeast, however. Zarian remained Sinfeast’s number one hater.

Despite the grotesque mess left behind by war and the drama with the gods, everything worked out how Zarian wanted. He just had to sacrifice everything and get lucky with his lineage, at least up to a point.

The full ramifications weren’t apparent just yet.

Frowning, he looked down at himself. He felt around with his aura using manipulation. He traced the System runes for Overwhelming Darkness.

It was completely different compared to the old straight darkness. The runes were too fuzzy for him to understand without multiple attempts to trace over them.

There were many runes to examine for Overwhelming Darkness. In fact, the number of runes involved with the troublesome skill was far greater than the sum of everything else combined in his profile.

It was like he already had the biggest seal possible in containing his burdensome skill, the doom of all life and systems in this universe and beyond. And yet, he needed even more seals for him to use it in a controlled manner.

Zarian sighed.

He continued to maintain free evil +3, putting aside the malicious thoughts for the intellect boost. That helped him with his next spell cast. While under the light of Bianca’s sun, Zarian snapped his finger and spoke the magic words.

“Raise Advancing Skeletons.”

He didn’t bother with pulling out the grimoire from his soul. He could use its power directly.

A hint of nefarious green light entered the air around him and his targets. Hundreds of skeletons rose from the battlefield with the soldiers and acolytes, who were all scrambling between ditches and over dead kobold bodies.

Zarian used the skeletons he’d already raised once. He also raised up the runic ones who had the Self Sufficient trait.

Loner, Darko, Flamer, Windy, Icicle, Mighty, Warper, and Blender picked themselves up among the bodies.

To further the clean up and transport of bodies and gear, Zarian raised new skeletons as well.

Dead kobolds stood to their feet, halfway out of their fleshy garments. They peeled off skin, muscle, and tendons. They scooped out organs from their rib cages, ripping free the useless things still clinging to their frames.

Once the skeletons were mainly all bones except for some trickles of blood, Zarian gave out his orders with a booming voice.

“If there are any surviving kobolds, kill them. Ensure the safety of our young human friends. Pull out the kobold bodies in the spike ditches and pass them to the spider librarians at the gate. Do what you can to help feed the dungeon. Now get to work. Please and thank you.”

All the skeletons saluted. They turned to their grim work.

Fortunately, they would get further help from Zarian’s Spectral Spider Network +1. He’d already sent out hundreds of stealthy spiders to scurry around and help with the scavenging effort.

The aura drain was incredible. But it wasn’t too bad for him as long as he stayed focused.

A majority of his Fractured Mind kept the Raise Advancing Skeletons going. Because of his unusual mentality, he could duplicate and increase the volume of a spell by splintering his mind.

With each partitioned piece of his mind, he maxed out how many magical texts and symbols he needed to raise hundreds of skeletons. It would’ve brutally crushed the mind of most wizards.

Despite the workload, Zarian separated another portion of his Fractured Mind for what could be an uncomfortable call. He took his time before committing all the way, though.

He saw Naomi and Gilbert circle around the giant corpse of the wolf dragon. The Rumble Psion and Knighted Healer were trying to figure out how to deal with it.

Zarian left them to it as he reached into his Parasite Cloak, feeling his hand pass partially into Para’s pocket dimension and immediately touch the thing he wanted. He pulled out an opaque glass orb the size of a baseball.

<Supreme Crystal Ball (Divine): You can reach out to gods with this ball without an altar, as long as you have positive relations with them. You can also speak to distant friends as long as they have a reflective surface nearby. You might need godly help to patch you through.>