"What are you doing here?" Silent asked her grandfather.

"Are you surprised that I would play this game? Why wouldn't I come into a world that could extend the time I have left?"

"Hmpf. I will never marry Jason. I love Brax and will only be with him."

*Whap*

Silent fell backwards after she was slapped across the face. She was unable to resist the strength of the level 180 monk before her.

"You will do what you are told and be of value for once. I won't hear any more about this. Don't think that because I am old that I am powerless. I will destroy everything that warlock has. Just wait until you see him for what he truly is. Once you see how pathetic he is while crawling towards me begging for mercy you won't care for him any longer."

"You are wrong." Silent said, getting back to her feet. "He will never bow down to you. He will end everything you have built here. If you love the Winged Tiger Corporation so much, why don't you go and marry Jason."

*Whap*

"How dare you speak to me in such an insolent tone."

***

"Boss! What did you do?!" Oar screamed as Lucan's arm fell to the ground.

Surprisingly, no blood came from his arm or his wound. The cursed cleaver had permanently altered his body. Lucan received no notification because it was now normal for him to have only one arm.

"Good, you will be properly compensated." Said Raze. With a wave of his hand, the arm on the ground disappeared into the shadows. "You must not let others think that they can walk all over the Hand's of Raze. Make sure I don't lose face. I will also open a new type of magic for you. Originally, I thought you might think 'soul' magic was too evil, but I think you might make an exception today. And do not be fooled, not every bit of soul magic is evil, in fact, it is where your soul stone came from."

[You have gained 100,000,000 banked experience.]

[You have gained access to Soul spells and abilities]

"This is for you." Raze said, handing Lucan a small black marble.

"What is this?" Lucan asked while taking it with his remaining hand.

[Essence of Shadows]

[???????????]

[???????????]

[Your level is too low to identify this object]

Lucan tried to investigate the marble but didn't find anything out.

"When you eat this pill, you will be able to command the shadows for an hour. Your shadow magic will be strengthened, and your shadow mana should be near limitless."

"Good." Lucan said, turning to leave.

"Here, take this too." Raze tossed Lucan a small token that radiated pure mana. "It will reset the cooldown of any spell. It is a one time use item, use it well."

Oar followed Lucan as he left Vertshadow. The steward was still in shock at how his lord didn't bat an eye and cut off his own arm.

"What is the plan Boss?"

Lucan stopped and looked at the young man who was no more than 16.

"Carnage. Death and carnage, is my plan."

Lucan headed to the fortress and blew past the people who were looking for him. He made his way directly to the vault. He filled his bag with everything he may need. On his way back towards the teleporter he bumped into Super.

"Lucan, what happened? Where is your arm?"

The warlock ignored him and disappeared through the teleporter.

Lucan appeared in the headquarters of the guild ran by Terracrop. He stepped on his broom and took to the air. He flew south towards the guild that Bone Crusher led. He figured it was the most likely place for Silent to be held.

He constantly tried to make contact with her, but nothing ever connected. He browsed through what he could purchase for Raze and planned his next move before disappearing through a green portal.

***

Super looked around the command room and saw Oar fidgeting nervously.

"Oar what happened?"

The steward filled Super in on everything that had happened.

"Where is he heading?"

"He was mumbling about destroying Bone Crusher's guild."

"Okay, great, thanks for the heads up." Super said to Oar.

"Hey wait, are you going to go stop him? I really don't think you should get in his way right now."

"No, I am not going to stop him… I am going to get my cameras."

***

Silent's grandfather the old monk walked into a private room.

"Have you managed to start the operation?"

"Yes Elder Beneil, I have contacted Marama and made the final payment. She is sending a squad to repeatedly kill that warlock."

"And how long will they be able to keep him busy for?"

"My earliest estimate is that he will arrive in twenty-four hours."

"Then you have a day to convince my granddaughter to marry you. Don't waste this time Jason. Are the two other guilds prepared to move?"

"Yes, I have activated every guild under the Winged Tigers Corporations control."

"Good. Have them wait to attack Shadowsweep until the warlock arrives. Make sure that if that low brow weed somehow manages to take her away, he will have nowhere to return. Take his castle."

"Yes Elder Beneil. You don't have to worry, I want this 'merger' just as much as you."

***

A one-armed man stood at the top of the valley of stone in the earthen quadrant of the elemental plane. Beneath him were close to thirty players under level fifty. There were mining different ores and gems with the help of seventy NPC miners and workers.

Lucan had changed his face and drawn his hood on his cloak as he watched the players scurry about. They were all professional players who had just started. They received a paycheck in real life for unearthing minerals during half of their play time. The other half they leveled and worked with the guild who employed them. It wasn't a bad job, but today would be a bad day.

No one noticed when a new figure walked into the camp. They were aware of his presence but when they set eyes on him, their attention would be drawn elsewhere.

The head dwarven miner, the NPC who led the area, had high enough perception to keep his attention on Lucan.

"Hey you! What are you doing here?"

Lucan didn't answer. A scepter appeared in his hand, he begun to swing it. By the time he connected with the head dwarven miner, the scepter had become a sword.

"AHH! ATTACK!!!" He screamed out as a large section of his stomach had been sliced open.

The players and other dwarves quickly noticed the scene.

They rushed towards their leader as the man stretched out half an arm. Deep purple streams of magic coursed out of his limb and into the dwarven leader.

The head miner's skin began to wrinkle and grow old, black circles began to form around his eyes. His posture hunched over as shrieked. The hair fell from his head and beard.

A player was the first to reach Lucan. The warrior swung a large hammer at the warlock.

Lucan turned his head slightly and locked eyes with the man.

The warrior became so intimidated that he stopped in fear, his hammer freezing in mid swing.

Lucan looked away while to the horror of the player, a foot-long centipede jumped from his shoulder and bit and tore his way into his stomach before activating possession.

*Clink*

The miner's body turned to dust and a small crystal fell to the ground.

"AHHHHH! WHAT THE HELL?!?!?!"

The warrior's body had split into several flesh colored tentacles then grabbed half a dozen people and were dragging them to the player's mouth which had deformed and grown several times larger.

The first five players and NPCs that ran towards Lucan were cut down and turned into crystals in under two seconds each.

"CaCAW!"

Lucan looked up towards the brown bird circling overhead. He connected his vision with it.

Twenty people were running up the path that led out of the valley.

Two phantom casters, one phantom rogue and two phantom fighters blocked their path and forced their retreat.

Five minutes after his first attack there was only Lucan and a single other person alive. The man knelt on the ground after a centipede had crawled out of his stomach.

"Why… Why are you doing this?"

Lucan stretched out his hand as dark purple energy destroyed the remainder of his life force, causing his body to disintegrate and leave nothing behind but a crystalized soul.

He added the newest one to the collection growing in his bag.