Dao Divinity 2 Chapter 24 (Patreon)

Standing in the room were Mark and Margret. She was holding a knife to the prince’s throat while Mark stood boldly in front.

Both of them were deeply imprinted in his mind from his time in Bellhaven. Margret, the flirty woman with a crippled husband and Mark drooling in his wheelchair. Dar had felt so stupid when he’d trusted Margret enough to the point that she’d managed to drug him. Her husband then revealed to not be crippled at all.

Mark still had the haughty look Dar remembered when the man had stood out of his wheelchair those weeks ago in the jail cell, confident that he would rule and take down the duke.

He’d been right about taking down the duke, but Dar planned to stop whatever he thought he was going to do next. Although the smirk made Dar wonder what made Mark so confident. He should be cowering.

“Hello, Black Knight. I think we can talk this out, don’t you? Or you can bring your master here, and we can talk it out with her.”

Tilting his head, Dar debated what to do next. If he stayed quiet, he might be able to use Lilith’s prestige. But he wasn’t sure he truly needed it. He could kill both of them easily, but at the moment he couldn’t do that without risking the prince’s death.

Thinking quickly, Dar came up with a plan. He’d use their own desperate need for self preservation against them.

Dar stepped forward, raising his ax over his head, and intoned. “Death to the prince.”

Margret grinned like an idiot, moving out of the way immediately as Dar brought his ax down. But Dar’s swing moved to the side, avoiding the prince entirely and catching Margret. It cleaved her arm from her body in a spray of blood.

She slumped to the floor, the blood loss sparing her cognition as she wheezed on the floor.

“Wha-What?!” Mark screamed and jumped on Dar’s back, biting at the base of Dar’s helmet.

Peeling the idiot off of him, Dar threw Mark across the room as Marget’s eyes turned glassy with her death.

“What are you doing? You said death to the prince!” Mark sputtered, backing up away from Dar. His eyes were darting around the room, searching for something, anything, he could use.

“I lied.” Dar stepped forward, the squish of blood catching his attention. His legs were coated in it. Flicking some of it off, Dar strode towards Mark.

Mark backed into a corner, grabbing a nearby candlestick. Like that was going to be able to take on the Black Night. His face turned panicked; he knew he was about to join his wife.

Keeping his back to the growing but silent crowd behind them, Dar lifted his helmet for just a moment to meet the man’s eyes before he killed him. He wanted Mark to know that he was the one that was winning in the end.

“No! No Way!” Mark screamed and tried to scramble away, but Dar dropped his helmet back into place and lunged forward, grabbing Mark by the arms and twisting his shoulder back.

“Unhand him. He deserves the King’s justice!” The prince shouted, having come to his senses.

“Yes! Unhand me! This is an issue for the King. Prince, this man, his name is D—” Dar twisted Mark’s arm, ending his communication in a guttural scream as he bent over.

Dar knew there was no way he could let Mark live. The man was corrupt, but he was smart. He’d find a way to shift himself back into a position of power, and Dar couldn’t allow that.

Lifting his head, Dar looked at the prince through his helmet. “I apologize, but for what this man has done he and the Tints will be removed from this world.”

Dar was secretly grateful that Mark and Margret had no kids. He needed to remove the problem, but he wasn’t sure if he could go quite that far.

“Prince — Agh.” Mark started again, but was cut off as Dar twisted his arm again, this time with a snap that sent the pitiful noble into agonizing screams.

Lifting Mark up to look eye to eye with him, Dar spoke slowly for him to understand. “Who else was involved in killing all the ancient races in the city. I saw the spirit you had hung outside the manor.”

The prince gasped in what seemed like genuine shock. “What?”

“It’s embarrassing that a prince wouldn’t even know that his home had a corpse of a spirit hanging from its doors like decoration. I’m going to assume you would not have placed it there were it your choice?” Dar spoke harsher than he meant to. His anger was rising, and he didn’t feel like holding it back at that moment. He needed his anger for what was to come.

His ax hovered like a guillotine for the prince.

“I— No. I had nothing to do with that.” The young prince stammered and backed away.

“The commander’s second is also dead. Any ancients you brought with you to Bellhaven are dead.” Dar could see the dread in the prince’s face. “And now those who caused this will be too.”

Mark tried to get another word out, but Dar broke his other arm. “Who. Else?” But the man’s mind must have snapped as he cackled through the pain, red foam at the corner of his lips.

Deciding he wouldn’t get anything more of value, Dar ended him and dropped Mark’s corpse to the ground.

There was no satisfaction in the kill. Dar was starting to feel the weight of the lives he had taken. The only thing that kept it all from crashing down on Dar was the anger, the anger and what they’d done.

“You killed him.” The prince said, his eyes wide.

“Of course. He deserved far worse. Now, I have some other lesions to remove from the city.” Dar spoke as he started to take his first strides, but the prince jumped in his way.

Dar had to give the man credit. He stood tall, considering what he’d witnessed from the Black Knight. “You cannot. This is for the country’s justice system to handle; they will pay for their crimes. If every citizen were to take justice into their own hands, it would be chaos. It wouldn’t be justice unless the Kingdom sees it as such.”

The young man had an ideal, and Dar could respect that. But Dar also knew those in powerful positions with strong political ties often slipped by, only to slither back out and become a danger to more.

Snorting, Dar pushed past the Prince. “Yes, your system has done an impressive job so far. Really. An incredible job.”

“This is savagery! There is a civilized way to handle this!” The prince was red in the face as he tried to argue, but Dar was done.

Continuing to walk, he called over his shoulder, “Make sure this doesn’t happen again. And fix this damn city.”

“You’ll be marked for this. If anyone sees that armor again, you’ll be hunted.” The prince spat.

Dar didn’t really care, since he didn’t plan to use the armor too regularly. 

“I would recommend reconsidering going to war with me. I can be a powerful ally or a fearsome opponent. I could hunt you down, and all of Kindrake couldn’t stop me.” Dar lied.

The prince swallowed and stayed quiet.

“Good. Now, I don’t care what you do when I’m gone. But pick this mess of a city up and squash whatever anti-ancient rhetoric has been going around. If it remains, I will be back and clean up myself.”

Dar turned around more fully, finding himself in a room full of stunned wizards, looking over his shoulder at Mark’s corpse.

Stepping forward once more, the wizard kept their distance, their hands holding enchanted charms ready to fight. Dar felt a smug satisfaction in their fear.

Once he passed them, they collapsed back between Dar and the prince, several of them going to whisper to the young man and look back up at Dar.

Already found a new master? Dar snorted.

Fight burned in their eyes, but he could tell they were holding back. And he needed to reserve his strength and keep moving.

Leaving the manor quickly, Dar saw the commander sitting outside with a line of men, ready for a fight. “Is the prince alive?” The commander asked.

Dar nodded his head, and the commander waved at the men, who moved in formation past Dar and rushed into the manor.

“I couldn’t give two shits about these petty nobles. I’ll have the prince secured in a few minutes, but my guess is he may have to give some orders to do with you. It would be best for you to get out of Bellhaven.” The commander eyed Dar. “That’s the best I can do. If you go around slaughtering nobles and we don’t fight, the city will think we failed them.”

Dar nodded. “Fine with me. This is your mess to clean up from here. But I have a couple more things I need to take care of. Where are prisoners to be executed being kept?”

The commander paused, clearly curious, before he seemed to decide it was better if he didn’t know. “They’re kept in a prison near the hanging racks. Down that way.” He pointed.

Nodding, Dar headed off for his last stop before grabbing Lou’s friend. Luckily, Mayor Tint’s home was located near the duke’s residence. As he approached, Dar recognized the men wearing Mayor Tint’s colors in formation along the front.

The Tint family had been in league with Mark, operating where he couldn’t. After all, a drooling idiot in a wheelchair couldn’t whip up the city to a frothing hate towards the ancients. No, the Tints had been responsible for that. They were the ones that executed Mark’s orders, such as setting Cherry up and burning her tree.

Dar’s steps turned into strides as he charged the gates, cutting through the bar and wrestling his way in. The men all took a step back, jostling against each other as the ones in back shoved the ones in front, back into their spots.

Seeming to get it together, swords were pulled and pointed at him as he came through the gate. Ignoring them as they bounced off his dark armor, Dar went to move forward. But the combined mass was enough to make it a challenge in the smaller gate.

Not wasting more time, Dar swung his axe, taking out all those near him enough that he could start to make progress forward. He left others behind him, focusing on any in his path as he made his way to the door. He noticed a few that he didn’t touch seem to pretend to be hit and go down with their peers. Cowards.

Dar stepped up to the manor and hacked the door down. He’d expected more soldiers inside, but all he found were servants armed with what looked like the largest kitchen implements they could find. Dar paused. Fighting soldiers was one thing, but cutting down regular servants felt different.

A pan struck his armor, and Dar turned, taking in an older woman who froze there, like a deer in headlights. Like she couldn’t believe what she’d done. Reaching out, Dar plucked the pan from her hands and tossed it to the side. He motioned for her to step away from him, and she snapped out of her stupor, moving quickly, still shocked that she’d actually attacked him.

Looking over at the rest of the group, they all stood with arms trembling, clutching dearly to what they held. Dar worked to make eye contact with each before he started walking forward. They smartly moved out of the way, not bothering to attack him any further, just standing ready to defend themselves if he attacked.

At the top of the stairs, Dar found that most of the doors were ajar except for one oversized wooden door with just enough ornate detailing to set it apart from the rest.

The door didn’t stay standing for long. The splintered wood crumbled, leaving him a view of three of the Tint family. Dar immediately recognized Mayor Tint and his brother, but he wasn’t sure about the other young man.

“Please. We’ll pay you.” The elder Tint pleaded.

“Fuck that. How dare you come attack us!” Mayor Tint threw up an enchanted branch, and a blast of sharp wind cut across Dar’s armor, barely touching his armor or slowing down his stride. It was certainly nothing compared to The White’s Staff. “H-how?”

Dar remained silent, just stalking forward towards the corrupted family.

Mayor Tint gave it one more try, launching another blade of wind after blade at Dar. Each of the attacks were as ineffective as the last. As Mayor Tint continued, his brother and the young man were taking slow steps back, seeming happy to leave him as a sacrifice and try to sneak out of the room.

Dar shifted himself, positioning himself in front of the door. It was then that Mayor Tint noticed that the others had been preparing to flee and leave him to his death.

“You bastards!” Mayor Tint shouted, sending the blades of wind flying at his brother. The other two attacked in response, and Dar stood there stunned, watching the family immediately turn on each other. Apparently, there wasn’t a lot of love between them.

Blood sprayed from the other two Tint men with each blade of wind, but they pushed forward, trying to get their hands around Mayor Tint’s throat.

Unfortunately for them, Mayor Tint was victorious. His enchantment tore through both of them before they could reach him.

Looking up from his brother’s dead body to once again prepare to attack Dar. Feeling sick to his stomach at what he’d just watched, Dar decided not to drag it out any further. Moving forward, he removed Mayor Tint’s head from his body with a single stroke.

Turning, Dar strode out of the room before he lingered too long and was forced to process everything. For now, he was done. It was up to Prince Gregor to build Bellhaven back up, like it should have always been.

Walking out the door of the Tint’s home, he watched as people ran away from him, seeming to not understand that he wasn’t out to kill them all, only those that were corrupt. He’d somehow become the villain in the story, his armor now tainted by the moment. But at least their avoidance made it easy as he moved towards his final stop.

Dar knew his hour was up. Mika would be making her way back towards home in the boat, likely livid with him and planning to grab as many people as she could to return. But he’d made a promise to Lou, and he intended to keep it.

Approaching the hanging platform, Dar looked around, working to spot the prison the commander had described. It took him a moment because the structure was partially underground, only the barred windows like gutters hinted to what it was..

Dar walked along them, wishing that he had asked Lou for what her name was so that he could more easily identify her. All he knew was that she was a childhood friend and stubborn. But he decided to take a gamble on her being loyal.

“Who here knows Lou the minotaur? Anybody willing to testify against him will be released from their sentencing.”

A clamour of voices came from the barred windows along the street, most more than happy to sell out the minotaur. But there was one voice he’d been hoping to hear that stood out from the rest. “How dare you! He is ten times the person you will ever be, you racist prick!” Her tirade continued.

Walking over to the window where the woman was yelling, Dar was met by fiery green eyes, framed by wild, bright yellow, curly hair. She was petite for a woman that could project so easily.

As he smiled down at her, her eyes turned even more irate, and Dar realized he should probably clear the air quickly.

“I don’t mean Lou any harm. I’m a friend. I just needed a way to identify who really was his friend. Seemed like the easy way to weed out the desperate liers.”

The woman stopped screaming at him, but her eyes still held distrust.

Grabbing his axe, Dar began slashing through the bars, holding her within her cell. Her eyes became large as she backed up, looking around for a weapon.

“I’m not going to hurt you. Come with me, and I’ll get out of here and to a place where you’ll be safe.” Holding out his hand, Dar waited. But she didn’t take it.

However, she did seem to find her voice. “Look, I’m no brainiac, but when a man covered in armor and blood comes and asks for you to go with them, you gotta question your sanity if you go with them.”

Dar laughed, realizing just how intense he must look at the moment. “I get that. But they may also be a really great person to have on your side, especially when the town you’re in already wants you dead. I need to keep moving, make your choice. Stay here or take a chance that I’ll take you to Lou.”

Staring at him a moment longer before she made up her mind and charged forward. He helped hoist her through the small window, her petite frame just fitting. As he set her on the street, she held out a hand. “I’m Mer.”

“Hi Mer. Most here know me as Black Knight. We’ll get into the details once we’re out of here. Lou is safe and should be headed up the river with my dao companion. We’ll find a safe space to hide out outside the village.”

Starting to move towards a nearby gate, Dar made sure to keep Mer near him as he charged forward, the crowd parting for them.

Seeing soldiers starting to line up in front of the gate, Dar sighed. The unnecessary bloodshed was bothering him and Mer wasn’t quite as durable as he was.

Sensing a place in the wall that was all granite, Dar turned, changing that direction. As they approached, Dar created space big enough for both of them to fit through. Pulling Mer in front of him as they passed through, Dar protected her from a stream of arrows that fired, shielding her petite frame with his armor.

Picking her up against his chest, Dar charged forward, running out into the western forest and away from the bloody mess he’d just left behind.

***

Dar was surprised to see the boat still sitting exactly where he had left it. Grumbling to himself, he guided Mer towards the boat.

Mika was standing nearby, scanning the nearby area and spotted him immediately. She ran over, throwing her arms around him. When she finally let him go, he introduced the women.

“Mer, this is my dao companion Mika. Mika, this is Mer, Lou’s friend. Speaking of which, where is Lou?” Dar looked around for the minotaur, but stopped when Mika’s face turned bashful.

“He wanted to leave when it got dark. But, I just couldn’t repair the enchantment.” The small smirk on Mika’s face made it clear she hadn’t tried very hard. “But now that you’re back, we can get going. Why don’t you get out of that bloody armor? I feel like you have a story to tell.”

Dar removed the helmet, handing it over to Mika. She didn’t ask any questions, just walked to the water to wash off the worst of the blood.

They moved to the boat, and Mer ran over to check on Lou. While she was distracted, Dar pulled his armor back into his inner world. He’d deal with it all later. 

Dar moved inside the boat. Staying out of Mer and Lou’s tearful reunion and fixed the enchantment.

When he’d finished, he let out a sigh of relief as he started the boat so they could head back to their village. As he stood at the wheel guiding them home, there was nothing stopping him from thinking. Dar couldn’t hold off processing the day any longer.

“I’ve seen that look before.” Mika said, grabbing Dar’s face and holding his gaze. “Back when men would come back from a battle between clans.”

“I slaughtered so many of them.” He looked down, the weight of his guilt firmly on his head.

“For a reason, an important one. I know you Dar, you wouldn’t just kill a bunch of people if it didn’t free many more. Now move aside; I’m driving. It seems I need to get you back to Sasha and Cherry as quickly as possible. Having your dao companions around you will help.”