This was not the first time Claire had seen the antiheroes take such a villainous approach to a task, however it still didn't sit well with her.

They scared the shit out of these birdmen... even if they were present when Helen was attacked, surely a grudge was not good reason for such harsh treatment. These birdmen in particular weren't even the ones to harm Helen, so Claire doubted that the antiheroes would be punishing them for that incident.

After hearing Trevor and Ashley vent their opinions beforehand, she could see their reason for acting as they did, but that didn't mean she liked it. It left a bad taste in her mouth, but she stayed quiet.

They knew what they were doing better than she did.

Claire had come to accept this after seeing the progress and leadership exerted by the antiheroes over her time here, and she did not question their strange and roundabout ways of doing things, because they usually ended up being more effective than anything she could have come up with. She knew this based off her own experiences after traveling around trying to influence others. She had failed to impress others with her kindness, and instead had invoked fear into many. Even the ones she didn't terrify, did not exactly look at her as a reliable figure to fall back on.

This was why she ensured to contact the antiheroes for this matter- she simply was not experienced enough as a ruler to make such a decision for her people, and she understood that they would want to do things their way. So she let them.

-----

Yirald was filled with a sense of relief like that of which he had never experienced.

Was this a dream?

Did he and his comrades actually pass this impassable test?

He vowed to never take any of the children from his country here- or even to invite anyone else to this skin chilling place, however...

He and his comrades were allowed to live.

Forget about trying to convince the antiheroes to spare the village. If he were to speak up for them now, the antiheroes might soon change their minds about sparing Yirald... or perhaps they wanted him to suggest such a thing, and this was another test?

No, wait...

Perhaps they were merely deceiving him to bring his hopes up? Perhaps he hadn't been saved at all, and they were merely waiting for the second he slipped up...

Yirald couldn't even imagine how sadistic one would have to be to perform such an act, but he wouldn't put it past the antiheroes.

For now, survive.

Grab onto this lifeline like it was his last opportunity, and never let go.

Should he say something? Should he be quiet? He merely kept his head low and waited.

"Welcome to the Dictatorship. A toast to your new lives as slaves. Ah. We don't have any drinks. Why don't you guys go fetch some for us? We'll make that your first task as our loyal subjects.", Ashley giggled.

The four stood up slowly at first, trembling and barely able to keep control of their bodies, however when the elf began tapping his foot and gave them a 'hurry the hell up' look, their bodies reacted on their own and they rushed out to where they were pointed to.

In a small room on the side of the throne room, with a wooden door covered in skulls around the boundary that looked like the entrance to a morbid jail cell of sorts. The three quickly and in a comedic manner stumbled down the stairs which followed the door, entering into the room to see a storehouse of drinks, food, meats, vegetables, and an entire kitchen. It was gloomy with black marble as the base for all the materials, and with candles that glowed green as lighting. The tools that looked to be used for the kitchen wares looked more like something that would be used by a torturer than that of a chef.

They quickly grabbed a bottle of wine and a few glasses, all of which had a glass hand carved as the stem connected to the actual glass- and they filled them up immediately.

They found a shining gold platter, and lined up with Yirald standing in the front holding out the platter- which was flat aside from the fact that there seemed to be golden spider legs curling upwards and inwards to form more of a bowl like platter.

They rushed it out to the antiheroes, all shivering at the appearance of the wares.

Was everything in this realm meant to scare or disgust people?

Upon kneeling before the antiheroes and the determined Yirald held out the plate of five glasses before them.

One by one, the glasses were taken from the platter, and the five exchanged toasts with each other. The Determined seemed a bit reluctant, but she played her part.

The five then all took a sip from their glasses.

"To the submission of three pitiful and selfish birdmen, and to the opening of their eyes to our greater cause, and thus becoming members of our family. And how perfect that the drink you selected for this was the preserved blood of your own friend..."

Of course, the antiheroes were not drinking blood, but Trevor was merely... messing with them.

Claire spit out the gulp of wine she had taken when she heard this, and looked at Trevor in horror.

"Calm down. That was a joke just now. Of course we wouldn't serve such tainted blood as a drink."

Claire seemed to have a stunned reaction as if she was freaking out inside her head.

Trevor merely smiled as he looked down at the trembling birdmen.

'Well... not that the blood of a birdman sounds too bad these days... I wonder...'

----

During Trevor's childhood, things were not easy.

Two thirds of marriages in America end in divorce.

Two thirds. This is greater than mere statistical significance. This is the majority. More often than not, this will happen.

Not only this, but second and third marriages are much more likely to end in divorce than first marriages, and first marriages are likely to last longer than the others.

Of course, there is a reason for this.

There exist people in this world who are out to satisfy their own greed and lust.

They marry for one reason or another, and when the first one goes rotten- when they cease to gain the financial benefit or the romantic appeal that they originally found in the relationship, instead of sticking around and trying to make it work, instead of thinking of the other person and sacrificing for them, and instead of caring for the potential children which they have raised, they instead decide to give up and find another.

'The next one will be better'

'It wasn't me. It was them. I will find a good one the next time'

'They weren't actually my soul mate. They weren't actually 'The one'. I only thought that. This new one... this one is the one.'

'Finances are tight... there are no saving things at this point. I need to take what I can before they ruin me'

'We fight every day because of that person's greed... they only think about themselves... I need to finish this quickly...'

If a person is on their second or third marriage, it is for a reason. Coincidences don't happen multiple times in a row.

YOU are the problem.

YOU need to change.

Trevor learned this the hard way when he was only four years old, and his parents divorced after years of fighting over finances and other issues.

His father found another woman while they were still married and proceeded to divorce his mother, leaving her to get a job on her own.

The court battle was long fought. Furniture, assets, cars, money, child support, alimony, custody.

Every detail was fought to the last dollar, and his father- with his new woman at his side, stood on the opposing side of the courtroom as his lawyer posed a case about Trevor's mother being unfit to take care of him.

In the end, the custody was split 50 50, and Trevor ended up living with his mother for half the year and his father for half the year.

At first, things were alright living with his mother.

They were poor, but she got a job and worked hard, and managed to secure a living while residing in a project.

She eventually met the man who would become his stepfather.

That was when the beating started.

His stepfather was a drunkard, and a bum who liked to take out his anger on Trevor. His mother at first didn't tolerate this, but eventually grew cold for Trevor and clung onto the man because he had an inheritance come in.

As soon as the inheritance money came, she switched gears quicker than the speed at which Trevor could currently achieve using his light speed.

The stepfather began veraciously beating Trevor all while blowing the money on booze, throwing some at his mother to keep her satisfied.

This was what happened during the times when Trevor was living with his mother. What of his father and his new wife? Would they bring salvation to Trevor?

Sadly, the answer was no.

When Trevor first met his stepmother, she seemed like a lovely woman. She was nice, kind, caring, and seemed very happy to be with his father.

His father too seemed very happy.

This was of course only on the surface.

Trevor came to meet his new step siblings, two brothers and a sister. They got along well when they first met.

However, while they seemed to care for and love Trevor at first, things slowly changed.

First it was simply nitpicking.

'Make sure to take out the trash whenever it's full'

'Make sure to clean your dishes when you finish'

'Make sure to take your shoes off in the house'

Simple things that were not issues. Trevor simply obeyed and said nothing, however this nagging was constant, and she never told her own children to do these things. She always seemed to find something to be correcting him on, and he was never right no matter what he did.

These things then became more aggressive and unreasonable.

'Why is it that we have to pay so much to buy you health insurance?'

'This little leech is taking all of your money! We had to pay 5000 dollars for his braces!'

'Why don't you have a job yet? Whats that?! Did I ask if you are 12 or not? No, I don't remember asking. How dare you talk back to me like that?' Slap*

'We should just cut this kid off and let him go live with his lazy mother and her shitbag husband. He costs too much. More importantly, you should be spending that money on ME and MY kids.'

'Why did you get him a phone?!?! You had bettered get MY kids an upgrade if you're going to waste the money that you worked hard for on him. I don't care if you were the one who did the work. I'm your wife, and so everything you own is also mine. As my husband, you are obligated to care for ME and MY kids first.'

Many fights were caused between Trevor's father and his stepmother over financial issues.

A particular issue of interest was that his stepmother always wanted to redirect funds that were supposed to go towards him to her own children. It became a situation of us and them.

Us, the ones related to the father, and them, the ones related to the stepmother.

His father initially rejected such advances, however after many fights, many seductive nights, many apologies, and many issues, he gave in.

"Don't come back here. Go live with your mother."

This was the last thing Trevor's father said to him when he was 13.

He lived with his mother for the next two years, until he was 15. He endured the beating, the black eyes, the drunk fits, the hardhearted mother, and everything else. He spent his time focusing on school, trying his best to stay away from home.

Trevor was not exactly popular at school, but he wasn't antisocial either.

He simply blended in.

Until of course, his stepfather kicked him out.

"WE DON'T NEED TO BE SPENDING A SINGLE DIME OF MY MONEY ON THIS BRAT!!!"

His mother said nothing and simply gave him a cold stare as he left the house. She was blinded by the allure of money which this bum temporarily provided for her.

Trevor was thrown onto the streets, penniless and homeless. He was too young to get a job at most places, but old enough to work because he was desperate enough.

He first got a job at a grocery store, and ran around public restrooms grooming himself and keeping himself good enough looking to maintain a job. He used the money he earned to ensure that he didn't appear to be a homeless kid.

However, during a background check, it was found out that he was homeless and he was fired. This repeated itself many times over the course of Trevor's life on the streets, and as a result of his living he became extremely resourceful.

He learned how to use people, and get what he wanted,

Trevor continued working odds and ends jobs being hired and fired until he was 20 where he was offered a position in a corporation.

He had managed to save enough money to pay for a few months of rent, along with all the fees and deposits that were associated with renting an apartment. After obtaining his own address, he was able to enter the corporate world, and that was where he began to shine.

Because he had lived in the dirt- because he had seen the grime of poverty, because he had gone through so much pain and understood how corrupted and filthy the hearts of people were- this was exactly the reason he thrived in the business atmosphere. He knew human greed like the back of his hand.

People used to say that he could read peoples minds and souls he was so good at negotiating.

It was because through the hardships he went through, he was able to look up at the world and truly and utterly say 'I need to make things right myself.'

'Nobody is going to do anything for me. Everyone is out to get me. I will take advantage of that. I will take their twisted selfishness.. their obsession with money, sex, and glamour... and I will turn it around to stab them in the back. I will become... the number one businessman in the world... I will make so much money that my deadbeat parents and those garbage stepparents look at me and beg for a loan, at which point I will look them in the eyes and say: 'I don't need to be spending a single dime on you. Go ask YOUR kids. HAHAHA! What a day that will be!'

After making this decision, it was nothing but success for Trevor.

He always assumed the worst case scenario. He always assumed people were out to get him. He always took any and all precautions. He always took problems into his own hands.

Every time he succeeded, his ego grew, and every time someone else failed, it grew even more.

The only thing he could see was success, and he was surrounded by others who only saw failure.

However, on his death- and through meeting his new comrades- he realized something.

'I... am not perfect. I... am flawed.'

'But these three... awkward, hateful, selfish, jealous, deranged, addicted, delusional, irritating, sadistic, obstinate... they are exactly what I need to be completed.'

'With these three by my side... I... no, WE. Hahaha... so odd to use such a word without an irony behind it. WE can do anything.'