Ethan walked up to the two guardsmen. “That won’t be a problem for a while. I can keep them down there until we figure out what to do, let’s take it one step at a time.” He walked out of the gate, four soldiers flanking him as he descended the steps and walked to the gate that was set into the rock formation. A few guards were holding it shut, the beam they had used to lock it was already broken. Ethan gestured for them to step away and after seeing Liam nod they retreated back a few steps. The elf tapped his staff on the ground and a sheet of ice started to form over the entire gate, growing in size until the entire door was encased in a block of it.

  “Well that should hold for, well forever actually as long as there is nobody down there with a higher level than me in terms of combat classes.” Both Liam and Harris looked skeptical but said nothing, they didn’t really know what Ethan was capable of besides the things they already saw. For now they had to trust the elf's words, same as he trusted them so far.

  “So what now? You said you aren’t sure about magic, right? We should ask their cult leader or in the worst case scenario abandon ship and leave. There aren’t that many options in our current situation it seems.” Liam looked at the ice wall, still a bit worried before focusing on Ethan.

  The elf rubbed his forehead and nodded, looking deep in thought while talking to the guardsmen. “I can’t risk letting these people go, I also don’t want to kill more people with rituals…I’m not one to do human experiments like that. So there is only one thing…gather all the people you captured here. I fetch the cult leader, even if I think it’s still a bad idea I trust myself more than his words.”

  Both Liam and Harris nodded and snapped out commands to the guard squads that were watching over the townspeople. Ethan walked back up to the mansion where the soldiers still manned the entrance. He didn’t need to actually command them using his voice, they silently moved out of the courtyard and down the stairs guided only by his thoughts. Two soldiers were holding the bald man between them, dragging him along as he was still barely moving or reacting to the entire situation. Ethan followed them after them, giving the house one last look before going back down towards the townspeople. There in front of them he created a raised platform made from ice, with a block right in the middle of it. The soldiers pushed the man to his knees right in front of it.

  Ethan watched as the guard gathered the people, herding them together like cattle as they thrashed around as much as they could. Every one of them was trying to reach the cult leader by any means necessary. Some of them even tried to crawl to the man who was still staying silent through it all. When the people were gathered, all of them growling, screaming and biting while their eyes stayed fixed on the man.

  One soldier stepped forward, holding the vicious looking halberd in his hands, another stood behind the cult leader and pushed him forward, his neck in the middle of the ice block. An icy boot pressed firmly into the bald man’s back so he couldn’t stand back up. Only then did the man finally react, looking around frantically and trying to raise his head which was pushed back down.

  Liam stepped up to Ethan and nodded towards the chopping block. “Are you sure you can do that? Even if he’s a scumbag he’s still a human being.” Ethan took a deep breath before nodding. His eyes were cold as was his mind. “I’m sure, well not really but even if you hate him you still know him. To me he’s just a tiny moment in my life that I can hopefully forget. Don’t worry about me, worry about what might happen to the people.” The man grew more agitated with each passing second, he mumbled something but there was no clear word coming from him.

  Both of them shared one grim look before Liam stepped back, the guard’s eyes wandering over the crowd of people, giving his men a nod anytime they locked eyes. Ethan stepped forward, his face as cold and indifferent as the man’s, the soldier raised its halberd, the choir of rabid people growing louder and louder. Some managed to rip the ropes apart that bond them.

  Ethan waved his hand over those people, freezing their feet in place so they wouldn’t interfere. The guards worked to keep the rest contained while the halberd reached the highest point. The cult leader who had been mumbling so far stopped, an involuntary smile appearing on his face. The same smile Ethan had seen by the townspeople. Tears streamed down his face and landed on the ice block below. He whispered so quietly that nobody besides him could hear it. “Oh my red queen…I have failed you.”

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  The halberd moved downwards, the soldier's aim was perfect as the serrated blade hit the man’s neck and sliced cleanly through it. The crowd fell silent instantly, only the soft thud of the head that landed on the ice before rolling away, falling with another soft thud on the packed dirt below. Ethan, Liam, Harris and all the guardsmen watched as the people fell over like puppets that got their strings cut.

  Liam was the first to speak while the cult leader’s blood dripped down the ice platform before sinking into the earth. “Are they dead? Men! Check their status and try to use healing magic or potions!” After a while Liam turned to Ethan. “What do you think? Will they wake up?

  The elf gently spun his staff on the ice, rolling it around its own axis while the tip on the bottom was not even making a mark on the ice below it. “If they’re alive this must be the most pain they ever felt. I can’t imagine what it would be like to be cut off from such a strong influence. Their bodies and souls won’t come out of this unscathed, but I would say the decision was right…what is a life where you aren’t in control of your own actions? Just a guest in your own body.” Ethan shook his head and had his soldiers gather the man’s head and body. They laid him flat and Ethan froze his head in place before encasing the entire body in a coffin of white opaque ice. While the man did evil things that didn’t mean Ethan had to handle his corpse like a piece of meat. He would give anyone a proper burial if he could, because he would wish other people would do the same for him. While he wasn’t religious, even if real gods now actually exist, for him it felt more like closing a book, having a proper end for a life.

  “Not many people would have done that.” Liam looked astonished at the white coffin, his eyes wandered up to Ethan. “You’re a good man, you know that?” The elf laughed and shook his head. “I’m a coward and a cheat, nothing more if you ask me. Also crazy but I think everybody that can thrive in this world has to be a little bit crazy. Well, let's see if we can do anything to bring these people back to their senses.”

  Over the next hour the men tried to wake the people up, some of them were clearly dead while others only seemed to be unconscious for now. For those that were without saving, Ethan handled it like the cult leader, giving them a coffin made from ice which was then frozen in place against the stone formation. One after another they got put in place, lining the outside in white.

  He just finished putting the grave of a young woman in place when a guard jogged towards him. “Sir, one of the people woke up! The Captain asked me to fetch you.” Ethan didn’t hesitate for a second. “Well what are we waiting for?” Both of them ran back towards Liam and the townspeople. When they arrived Liam was talking to a man who was held by two guards but not to restrain him just so the man would sit upright.

  When Ethan reached them he could see exactly why the man needed help, he looked famished, his body was thin and the bones were clearly visible under his now pale skin. The man was sweating constantly and the blood shot eyes seemed unable to focus on anything. Blood was leaking from dry lips as the man mumbled something.

  Liam looked worried at Ethan. “The cultist class is gone but it seems so are the stats. It’s like they got drained completely because of it. We tried healing potions but it didn’t work and we’re still limited on those from our tutorial days.”

  Ethan nodded slowly, he looked over his own status in the hope to find something useful, anything that might help in a situation like this but what could he do to save this man? He didn’t have the power to grant classes like a god could. Still there must be something they could do, maybe a ritual could help but what runes would he even use for a situation like this and what even should he try to achieve with that.

  He looked over all his stats, all his skills but there was noth- …there was one thing. Something he never thought he would find any use for as it seemed so out of this world. Ethan’s eyes snapped to Liam. “Lay him on the ground, make him as comfortable as possible and do the same with everybody here. I might have an idea but…I never tried it before.”

  Harris looked worried. “It…doesn’t involve rituals, right?” The guard looked towards the mansion for a second. “No rituals, something only the system can do. I just hope the system can cancel out the system in this case, but it’s still an experiment.” Ethan removed his gloves and rested one hand on the man’s forehead, he was glowing hot like an intense fever had taken hold in his body.

  “Time to make history my friend.” Ethan smiled at the man, the glow in his eyes grew brighter as he summoned a dagger made from ice into his hand.