The Medium Place

I didn't even need to call Raphaela. I woke up to see her staring down at us, her disapproval palpable. Holding tightly to Fumi, I gently awakened her. Seeing Raphaela, she squealed and tried to run.

"It's okay, she's just here to take us to Safina," I whispered. "No one's going to hurt you."

"Apparently I cannot guide you any further," Raphaela said, sounding annoyed and disappointed. "The beast is too cowardly."

"It's not cowardly to be afraid of an Archangel!" I said. "It's smart!"

"I give my word that I won't harm you, monster," Raphaela said. "You are under the protection of the Child of Judgment."

Fumi couldn't even speak she was so terrified. She clutched me tightly, her claws digging into me.

Raphaela sighed. "If we are going to take her into civilized communities, she must be disguised. I am going to cast a spell on you, monster, so that you can walk among angels and humans without fear."

Fumi hid behind me. It didn't help. Her sharp claws changed into human nails. I turned to look at Fumi. Raphaela had done well. Not only was she now a cute, short, freckled redhead, she looked a lot healthier. Fumi let go of me and looked at her hands and arms, now devoid of fur. She felt her ears.

"This isn't a disguise!" she protested. "I'm human now!"

"It's a disguise, just a very good one," Raphaela explained. "It will fool anyone short of an archangel. I will send word to the other archangels that you are not to be harmed. Luka will still be taking you off world when his visit is completed."

"Thank you, Raphaela," I said.

"If you are ready, I will take you to Safina."

"Wait, wasn't I supposed to go compete in the tournament in Grand Noah?"

"That is tonight," the archangel replied. "There is not much to see in Safina. One thing that you may be interested in is the daily recognition ceremony, which takes place at dusk. I will take you to the tournament after you have witnessed it."

"Okay, that sounds good. Take us to Safina, then!"

And without a word, or even a dramatic gesture this time, we were there. The sight was awe inspiring. Every version of the Safina region I'd ever seen had been desert. Instead of sand, there was soil and crops, stretching as far as the eye could see. Instead of stifling heat, the weather was merely warm and pleasant.

"Wow, that's imp-" I started to say, then noticed that Raphaela was gone or invisible, presumably for Fumi's sake. Fumi was staring.

"So much food…." Fumi said, her mouth beginning to water again.

"Oh!" I said, slapping myself on the forehad. "I never cooked a meal for you! Here, I've got some cold cuts and cookies in my bag. Let's sit down and eat now."

As we sat down to eat breakfast, I looked out at the fields. I wasn't an agriculture expert, so I couldn't tell what exactly was being grown everywhere. To the north were stalks, probably corn or wheat. I'd probably be able to tell if I got a closer look. To the south was a mangrove growing citrus trees. As a Floridian, I could tell they were growing oranges and grapefruits. To the east was perhaps a sugarcane field? The western field lay fallow for the moment. The fields were full of workers toiling away. I saw no evidence of machinery being used. It was very medieval agriculture, although highly productive by the looks of it.

Fumi was scarfing down the food in ways that would have made even Alice scold her for lack of manners. As usual, I found it adorable, but also a little sad. Well, at least for Fumi, those days of deprivation were over. Watching her also filled me with determination. I wanted her to have a future.

"I don't feel so good," Fumi moaned when she had finished eating. I'd make a terrible parent, I thought. I should have known to make her go slow.

"I'm sure you have no regrets, though," I laughed.

"None at all," she chuckled weakly.

I waited a bit for her to feel well enough to start walking around. Once she felt confident enough to move without barfing, we began talking to the people working out in the fields. Everyone seemed happy, just as in the other places I'd visited. The men were working especially hard and enthusiastically. Apparently they really wanted to be part of this daily recognition ceremony. That gave me a pretty good guess as to what was involved. The women were also happy and content, but their efforts were more relaxed. They were doing the labor primarily to get "promoted", to be worthy of going to Ilias Continent to live lives of luxury. That is, if they could give up their vices, which was difficult for many, men and women alike. Some had no ambition to ever leave Safina, content to work hard and have enough. And still get to smoke, drink, and have sex outside of marriage.

Fumi was enjoying human company and seemed to grow more at ease as the day progressed. She enjoyed that many of the men looked at her with lust in their eyes, but liked how friendly everyone was even more.

"It's only because I look like a human, though," Fumi said dejectedly when we were out of earshot.

"For a lot of them, that's true," I said. "But these aren't the most fanatical Ilias followers. Most of them are just good people who aren't pure or holy enough to be rewarded by their goddess. My idea of sin and hers are not fully in alignment. She wants people to hate monsters. I'd imagine many of these people don't hate monsters at all. You just happened to live in the San Ilia area, where the most fundamentalist of her worshippers live."

"I know. It was very rare for anyone to give me semen. I had to really gain their sympathy. I hope Ilias didn't punish them for it."

I hoped so as well, but didn't want to speculate on this version of the goddess' sense of justice. While I had to admit that the world was much better than I'd expected, I also reminded myself that I hadn't seen Noah or Grangold.

As dusk fell, the workers put their tools away and began to gather in the large empty field that lay fallow. Attending were mostly males. The females had by and large gone home.

"Why are only the males gathering?" Fumi asked. "All these nice smelling men are making me hungry again."

"I'll feed you again in Noah tonight, after the tournament," I promised. "Maybe there will be a hotel. As for why it's mainly men, you're about to see that the angels aren't so pure as they say."

That piqued Fumi's interest. To her angels were probably nothing but killers of pure light, probably the most terrifying spectre a creature of the darkness could lay eyes on. When the Archangel appeared in the middle of the gathering, Fumi reacted predictably, clutching me for safety. I patted her back. The Archangel would definitely know she was a monster, but Raphaela would have told her that she was with me.

"Gabriela!" the men began whispering among themselves, those who could speak at least. The reason for their speechlessness and awe were obvious. Not only did Gabriela create massive pressure in the air by her presence, but she was beautiful even by angel standards. Tall, blonde, dressed in a pure white, but scanty dress, vines provided most of her other covering.

"Good evening, gentlemen," Gabriela said warmly. "For those of you who are new, first I like to call everyone forward who suffered injuries in their work today. Come, receive healing."

Several men approached Gabriela from the crowd, which politely opened up to allow them through. They had a variety of ailments, from small cuts on their hands to limps, and in one case a severed toe. Gabriela personally healed each of them with a touch, her loving expression and healing power bringing the men to a different kind of ecstasy, one of pure joy and devotion. She even kissed the restored toe of the man who had lost it.

"It is good to see that you have all been practicing proper safety procedures in your work," Gabriela said. "Injuries continue to decline, even as our production rises. In acknowledgment of your excellent work, I call forward these names to be recognized for their diligence."

Gabriela called out a list of over one hundred names, some female. All who were called came forward and gathered around the archangel in an ever widening circle. The crowd backed up to make room, so that everyone could join hands around Gabriela. When all the names had been called and the circle of men and women were complete, Gabriela began to speak again.

"We have guests in our midst, my beloved people," Gabriela announced. "Let our guests now witness the reward Gabriela gives to her most productive workers. Because of you, every human in the world eats well. None suffer from deprivation, thanks to your efforts."

Fumi snorted. I almost did as well. Life was good for the humans, but the monsters were being made to starve, when they weren't being killed on sight.

The men and women stood in anticipation, awaiting their reward. I wondered how Gabriela would do it. Was she just going to cast a spell, or was she personally going to pleasure each one of them? My answer came as the clothes of all one hundred vanished, leaving them standing naked, still holding hands in a circle. Countless vines streamed from Gabriela. Flowers at the end gently covered the men's penises, while the nipples of the females were sucked on by the same flowers. Gentle, soft vines crawled around the womens' groin areas, causing them to throw their heads back and cry out in ecstasy. Most of the men fell to their knees first, the flowers visibly swallowing as they ejaculated into them. The women lasted a little longer, but eventually fell as well. Within minutes, the entire circle had fallen down, still holding hands. Gabriela's flowers and vines continued to suck gently. Despite the power she had, there was little thrashing about or screaming after the initial contact, which I imagined must have been overwhelming. She was loving and careful and patient, continuing to pleasure her best workers gently until each was more than satisfied. When she was finished, light washed over the fallen workers, restoring their strength so that they could rise and return to their homes.

"Most impressive, is it not?" Raphaela said, appearing next to me as the crowd began to disperse. Fumi glared at her this time rather than cower.

"I have to admit, it's much nicer than I thought it would be," I replied. "I had visions of slave labor and angels with whips, but most of the people here really want to make something of themselves. And Gabriela seems to have genuine affection for them, even though they are sinners."

"You will find that Gabriela and Uriela were chosen because they love sinners. Gabriela, because she has a kind nature, and Uriela…. Well, you will meet her. She is…. Different. They were chosen by Ilias because they bring out the best in their type of sinner. Gabriela is rightly proud of how many people she has sent to Ilias Continent and San Ilia."

"It looks like she gets the whole world fed as well," I noted. "Is that her big power, making the desert bloom?"

"Indeed it is," Raphela confirmed. "Her power makes the land fertile, and her love makes the workers productive. Did you know that she cries every time she has to send someone to Noah or Gold?"

So she was like my Eden. Perhaps not the purest angel if one measures such things by virginity and modesty, but definitely a kind soul, filled with love for those in her charge.

"When Ilias was triumphant, she realized that she could not enjoy a world in which she simply wiped out all the sinners," Raphaela explained. "Yet Ilias cannot abide sin. So a way had to be made to bring sinners back to her light. And to give those who refused to ever follow her way a purpose. Work needed to be done. The sinners provide the labor while the faithful live in comfort."

"Almost like her version of a new testament," I thought.

"Why couldn't she work out something for the monsters?!" Fumi asked angrily.

"Monsters can only live by tempting humans," Raphaela answered. "As you tempted the Child of Judgment. You lead them into sin. You cannot help who you are. I do not hate you, Fumi. I hate no one. I merely recognize that as long as monsters exist, humans can never truly seek Ilias' light."

"Why is it sinful to eat?" Fumi asked. "It doesn't have to be sexual!"

"Perhaps not for you, but for males it excites their lust. Once a man has tasted a monster's pleasures, his mind will always lead him to want more. As it is for you, so it is for the angels. They get no pleasure from rewarding men. It is merely a job, a way to encourage their compliance with Ilias' laws. But our sexual nature leads men to goodness. Yours, to evil."

"You're full of shit, you know that?!" Fumi exploded.

Raphaela was unperturbable. "Shall we go to Noah?" she asked. "I will teleport you directly into the colosseum if you are ready. Your match is scheduled to begin… now."

"My match?" I asked. But Raphaela was gone. Instead, I was staring at an Archangel armed to the teeth.

The archangel, presumably Uriela, pointed a very scary looking device at me that shot flame. I put up my usual energy shield to block it, the flames splashing against the shield harmlessly. I decided to seize theinitiative, drawing my sword and charging, all four elements instantly summoned. I was getting pretty good at that. Uriela grunted in surprise, trying to bring up an unreasonably large sword in time to block my attack. I'd struck her five times before she could even react.

I stared at Uriela through the flow. Damage done: negligible. She was a juggernaut. I would have to hit her hundreds of times before even weakening her. She, however, would only need to hit me with one of her weapons once.

One of those weapons raised over her shoulder. I summoned my new solid shield with a thought and raised it defensively. Rounds pinged off of it as the small cannon opened up on it. I'd assumed she wasn't trying to kill her opponents, but I was beginning to have my doubts. Time to get serious.

I threw my shield at her, aiming for her large flamethrower. In my head, it would have been a spinning, accurate shot that would have disabled it, just like Captain America. In reality, the shield wobbled and fell several feet in front of Uriela, rolled around in a circle, then fell to the ground.

With a smirk, Uriela took to the air and flew at me, that giant sword that must have been the size of my body pointed downward. I struck her with a solid dose of my power, knocking her ungracefully out of the air and back to ground level.

"What the hell was that?!" Uriela asked, springing to her feet easily.

"I don't know what the rules are here!" I protested. "You've got a flamethrower! And a machine gun!"

"I'm not mad, I just want to know what that was!" she clarified helpfully.

"You can call it…. Judgment," I said, striking a heroic pose.

"Well I call this lightning," Uriela said, summoning lightning from the sky. Thanks to Gnome, I wasn't dead, but I sure looked like a Looney Tunes character after a dynamite mishap.

Uriela followed up her attack with her sword, seemingly eager to cross blades with me. I obliged her. This was a fight that I understood. There seemed to be an unspoken agreement between us when our eyes met. No more magic, no makina, just raw strength and skill.

The crowd oohed and aahed as we battled all around the colosseum. I seemed to be a little faster, and I'd like to argue that I was the more skilled, although Uriela would probably challenge me to another fight if I pressed the point. But she had a large strength and size advantage, and the only reason her sword didn't slice right through my defense was because Angel Halo was an enchanted sword fashioned with the most powerful magic a weapon had ever been forged by. Even though I was weaker, if Angel Halo was in the path of her strikes, they were stopped cold.

Her offense was relentless. I managed to get in a lot of strikes, but they seemed to have no effect. Still, the crowd began cheering for me, hoping to witness an upset. They were disappointed. After what must have been nearly a half hour of continuous swordplay, I saw her feet engage in strange movements. If I had been fighting a monster, I might have been able to identify a cursed sword technique. Since I had little experience with special angel sword techniques, I had to be ready for anything. When the dancing strikes came, I deflected many of them. But not enough. I was surgically dissected, figuratively speaking, thank goodness. All four limbs were disabled. I dropped my sword and fell to the ground. I was in considerable pain, although nothing compared to what Granberia had done to me on a couple of occasions.

Uriela stood over me, staring. I knew that look. A rape was about to commence. But I misjudged her. Perhaps she had been thinking it, but she was an angel, not a monster. I was not deserving of punishment, nor had I done well enough to earn a reward.

She dropped to her knees at my side. "Thank you, Child of Judgment," Uriela said. "That's only the best fight EVER!!!!! Let me heal you."

She gently kissed each wound, ending the pain at once. I watched as she worked. In her own way, she was beautiful like most archangels. She had the typical angel look, blonde, tall, standing over seven feet, with lovely white wings. With the battle over, all of her weapons had disappeared, leaving only a scantily clad angel in white ministering to me. Her kisses felt like… well, heaven. I was almost disappointed that she didn't rape me.

When she was finished, she helped me up and urged the crowd to cheer me. They did, with insane enthusiasm. Raphaela had told me that no one lasted more than five seconds against Uriela. I had lasted thirty minutes according to the announcer. The standing ovation seemed to go on forever. Uriela raised my hand in the air with hers, acknowledging how valiantly I'd fought. I began to wonder what I should have wished for if I had won.

"C'mon!" Uriela said when the applause finally died down. "There's this awesome sports bar right next to the colosseum! Let's go have some drinks!"

"Drinks?" I asked, surprised that I could walk normally as I took some tentative steps. An archangel's healing power was on another level!

"Yeah, you earned it! You can bring your monster friend!"

"Fumi!" I realized. "Where's Fumi!"

"She's on her way down here," Uriela answered. "She was sitting in the front row. Over there."

I looked to where Uriela was pointing, as Fumi, still in human form, made her way onto the field to rejoin me.

"That was amazing, Luka!" Fumi exulted. "I wish you would have won, but you're really tough!"

"Hey there, little fox," Uriela said jovially. "Over your fear of archangels yet?"

"You recognize me?!" Fumi screeched, clutching me in terror again.

"Easy, little fox. I got no problem with monsters. Most people here have no problem with monsters. There are even a few living in the shadows in the city, plus a few more in the villages. If the dudes want that monster lovin', it's not my place to judge. Well, actually it is, but fuck it, right? Hahahaha!!!!"

Okay, I was beginning to see why Raphaela had said she was different.

"So you don't hate me?" Fumi asked uncertainly.

"If men submit to your tits and ass, they punish themselves," Uriela shrugged. "They'll never get out of this place. If the monster population got too high I'd probably be ordered to do something about it, but as long as it's just a few, the higher ups seem cool with letting them function as a test for males. I like tests. What I don't like is slaughtering people just for how they were born. I've only ever killed monsters that went too far. Can you believe, in this day and age, that some monsters still do stupid shit like try to eat people? How do they figure they'll get away with that?"

"Eating people is so wrong!" Fumi agreed. "If you only punish those monsters, I guess you're not so bad."

"Well c'mon, you two!" Uriela said. "Let's hit the town! You wanted to see this place, didn't you?"

I of course did want to see the city, so Fumi and I followed Uriela outside. Everyone gave her a wide berth. I looked around. While Grand Noah had always had wealthy neighborhoods and poor neighborhoods, everywhere I looked seemed to be a slum. There were also a high number of gyms for training warriors. It was probably the best way to achieve a better life in Grand Noah, and was consistent with other Grand Noahs I'd been to. Uriela had evidently been well chosen for the region.

"Why is everyone so poor here?" I asked. It was reminding me of San Ilia on Monster World. Many people in the streets, publicly drinking or using drugs, although no public sex.

"This is the life they choose," Uriela shrugged. "They didn't want to be contributing members of society. They steal, they succumb to addiction, they are obsessed with sexual immorality. Some of them even directly insult the Goddess. Their crimes haven't earned them more severe punishment, but Ilias thought it would be best if they were confined to this region so that they couldn't corrupt the good people. Bad apples spoil the whole bunch, you know."

"But you do send a lot to Safina, right?"

"Quite a few, yeah," she answered. "The gyms teach a lot of these ruffians discipline. Since the colosseum is the primary entertainment in this city, gladiators make more money than anyone else. The gyms will kick anyone out who break laws, so there's incentive for people who want to better themselves to stay on the straight and narrow. But I'm sad to say I send a lot more people to Gold than to Safina. I can tolerate a lot of sin. Heck, they've corrupted me a little. There's nothing I love more than sharing some brewskis with the guys. But I hate violence."

"What?!" Fumi asked, having seen her clobber me a short time before.

"Oh, don't get me wrong, I love a good fight. But the colosseum is where the strong battle the strong. The streets are where the strong prey on the weak. Anyone who gets caught doing violence against a weaker person goes straight to Grangold prison."

"So Grangold," I wondered. "That's where the worst of the worst are kept?"

"That's right!" Uriela answered. "Ah, here we are. Bob's Grill! My favorite!"

Inside, there were small televisions showing various sporting events taking place all over the region. People were placing bets and grudgingly paying out when they lost.

"Hey!" Uriela said. "What does Ilias say about gambling?!"

Everyone froze. One man smiled and hid his winnings behind his back.

"Ah, carry on, you crazy mother fuckers," Uriela laughed. "Bob! Brewskis for me and my two friends here!"

"Coming right up!" Bob said heartily.

"Wait, I don't drink alcohol!" I said. "Fumi, do you drink?"

"I've only ever had water," she said sadly.

"Do you have any sodas by any chance?" I asked.

"Yeah, I got cola, lemon lime, and root beer," Bob said.

"How about a couple of root beers for me and my lady friend?"

"You got it," Bob said with a smile.

"What's a root beer?" Fumi asked.

"I think you'll love it," I said.

"Ah, a couple of straight arrows!" Uriela said. "Cool, cool. Except for that sex with monsters part, you seem like a pretty righteous dude."

"I try," I said. "Even I have to admit I've taken the sex with monsters thing a little too far. I won't apologize for Fumi, though. She was starving."

"I get it. Look, man, Ilias sees inside your heart, do you feel me? You still committed a sin, but it's not as bad since you did it out of mercy rather than lust. Not that she'll judge you anyway. You're beyond that. I've been told you're special, that you're the key to saving us."

"That's what I've been told," I said. "Ah, thank you."

Bob had brought Fumi and I two bottles of root beer, along with a huge stein of beer for Uriela.

"Hey, everyone, a toast!" Uriela yelled. The bar patrons went silent again. "To those of you trying to better yourselves, I salute you! To those fucking their lives up, at least have fun doing it!"

"I'll drink to that!" A fat bearded man said, emptying a shot glass down his gullet.

"Right on!" Uriela agreed, downing her own huge mug and slamming it down on the bar. "Refill me!" she ordered Bob.

"Can you even get drunk?" I asked.

"Nope! Can't even taste the beer. I just drink socially. The guys seem more comfortable around me if I'm drinking with them."

"I notice that all the Archangels genuinely seem to love their people," I said. "I'm impressed by that."

"Well, we all just want them to live their best lives, you know?" she said. "Personally, I even want that for the monsters. Ilias thought she was banishing me here, but I love Noah! There's no hypocrisy here, no fake niceness. People here say what they mean and mean what they say. At least when they aren't trying rob ya blind! Haw!"

She slapped my back hard, making me wince.

"Gee, you can fight, but you could stand to toughen up a little!" she kidded me.

"I'm only human," I replied. "I have great power, but I cut and bruise as easily as any man, unless I have my earth spirit summoned."

"You need to stop thinking that way," she said. "You're a lot more than human. Your human body shouldn't be able to contain the amount of power I see in you. Humans that have tried to learn holy magic, they can't even contain a fraction of the magic you're holding without being consumed by it. If Promestein was still here I'd have her help you figure out why you're the way you are."

"Actually, she is," I said. "She's living back on the world I just came from."

"Prom's with you!? Awesome! How's she been?"

It felt very strange having an angel actually ask after Promestein in a friendly way. Were those two actually friends? She's never mentioned Uriela. Which might have been a sign that she didn't hate the archangel. Promestein generally only talked about angels she hated.

I told Uriela as she listened raptly about how we'd found Promestein and how she was helping me understand my power. I didn't get into the fact she wasn't my first Promestein. I knew Uriela was no dummy, but she didn't seem the type to have patience for complicated subjects. She was created to fight.

"Well that's awesome, tell her I said hi," Uriela said.

"Uriela, since we seem to be connecting so well, can I ask you some questions?" I asked.

"Shoot."

"How did your side win the Great Monster Wars?"

"Oh, wow," Uriela breathed, her joviality vanishing. "I wasn't too happy with the way it ended. I wanted a glorious battle, you know what I'm saying? I wanted to be able to sit in bars and tell everyone about how I singlehandedly defeated the Dark God. But the two sides were evenly matched, even after Ilias created the archangels. The world was at risk of being destroyed in the fighting. Something had to be done to end it."

"I guess peace would be too much to ask?" Fumi asked.

"If it was up to me....." Uriela answered. "But it wasn't. My duty was to fight for Ilias and I did. I killed a lot of monsters, but never in cold blood. Only on the battlefield. If they ran, I let them go. There's no honor in killing defenseless monsters."

"Did Ilias get mad at you for that?" Fumi asked, taking a long swig from her root beer.

"She created me to be what I was, so no. I don't think it's possible to create a great warrior who is also a bully. Killing the weak is a sign of poor discipline, and lack of honor. The best any person like that could ever be is a brawler. A true warrior only fights other warriors. I did my job very well. But it never mattered in the end."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"They developed some kind of biological weapon," Uriela answered.

"Some kind of airborne bacteria that only affected monsters?"

"No, nothing like that. You see, until Promestein was created, our scientists kind of sucked. But she wasn't created until long after the war. Naw, what they came up with was a vaccine for humans. It made their semen poisonous."

"Human semen is poisonous!?" Fumi asked, a look of panic on her face.

"Don't worry, little fox, only that generation of males was affected. They couldn't pass it down, and once 99% of the monster population was wiped out, it was considered no longer worth the trouble to keep vaccinating the guys. Plus as I said, our scientists sucked back then, so there were the side effects."

"Side effects?" I asked.

"Yeah, all sorts of shit. See, monsters can live without semen if they have to, except for succubi. They just end up like Fumi here if they don't get enough. But they were willing to sacrifice to stay in the fight. But the vaccine was more insidious than just making the semen deadly to monsters. It also made the semen more delicious and increased its potency, so that it gave the monsters more energy than ever. Also, it didn't kill from just one dose. So monsters got several doses before they realized there was a problem. About half of them died within a few weeks. Nearly all the succubi were gone by then. There hasn't been a succubus sighting here in centuries. All that's left are a few little beasties like Fumi. The warrior monsters knew the danger, but since their forces were depleted, they'd strategically suck men to get an energy and power boost. Because of that, they won some battles, but in the end they lost the war. Even the Ancestors weren't immune. They died the same as everyone else. I never did get a definitive showdown with Saja, much less the Dark God. A few monsters survived, but they were easy to hunt down. I sat that part out. I had no stomach for it."

"So the side effects didn't affect the males, just the monsters?"

"Oh, see, I went off on a tangent," she laughed. "The side effects came about because of what the scientists were going for with the more addictive semen. The most common side effect was overproduction of semen. These dudes' balls would start hurting real bad and they had to release every day or suffer all kinds of pain down there. The worst cases had to ejaculate like every hour. Some guys' balls even exploded! That musta sucked. Other side effects were semen that was also toxic to human women, semen that burned on contact. One guy's semen could penetrate steel it was so acidic. Somehow his body had adjusted to it. Other guys were eaten from the inside by their own semen. It was a big mess. Promestein would have totally designed a better product."

"Wow," I said. "It's interesting that both here and on Monster World, the war didn't really end in combat, but due to an invention. The monsters developed a spell that could make angels feel pleasure like humans."

"Dang. How can you fight against something like that? That's crazy. Another beer please!"

"So since you don't hunt down the monsters, or really discourage men from having sex with them, it's pretty peaceful here, right?" I asked.

"Mostly. Come on, I need to show you something."

We walked out of the sports bar and around the colosseum.

"I was assigned Noah because I'm chill with sinners, you feel me?" Uriela explained. "But because Noah is the most sinful region where people are still allowed a measure of freedom, we get all the rebellions here. It's my job to crush them. Just before you got here we finally captured the rebel leader."

We reached the other side of the colosseum and walked down a street which led to a huge soccer field. On the field was a tall cross staked into the ground at midfield. A man had been crucified. Fumi screamed.

"That's the price of rebellion," Uriela said, all lightheartedness in her voice gone. "It's a capital offense. That man, Lazarus, was responsible for killing countless people. People he claimed he was fighting for."

"Lazarus?!" I exclaimed. "Is he just a terrorist in every world?"

"Oh, you've encountered his counterparts? I'd steer clear. He's a bad apple if there ever was one. And I'd hate to be near whichever version of Lazarus he merged with. That right there was a heartless killer."

I kept walking forward to get a closer look. The hair was longer, but it was clearly Lazarus. He was dead, the birds already having plucked out his eyes. He'd been brutally tortured before his crucifixion, and then just left hanging. I was appalled.

"Did you order this?" I asked angrily.

"Yes, but I don't like it," Uriela replied. "Ever since we learned about alternate worlds, Ilias has commanded that rebels die as horribly as possible. Since they don't actually die, but just merge with another version of themselves, her reasoning is that this will deter that other self from similar crimes. Since we can't truly take their life, we ravage their bodies. I don't feel bad for him. Many people died in even worse pain due to his actions. He'd have to die that way a hundred more times to truly atone."

We left Uriela, shocked into silence. When we found a decent hotel, at least by Noah standards, Fumi wasn't even hungry. Seeing Lazarus on the cross had ruined her appetite. It made me wonder what horrors I'd see in Grangold. I'd probably seen enough to make a decision. But after seeing Lazarus crucified, I wanted very badly to find out what was going on in region where the worst of the worst were punished.