Four guards broke from the circle, rushing toward Lily with determined expressions. She had time for one shot—her arrow taking the lead guard in the leg—before they closed the distance.
The first guard swung an axe at her head. Lily ducked under the blow, but the second guard was already swinging from her blind side.
His wooden club would have connected, but Walter appeared between them, his sword deflecting the strike.
"Behind you!" Walter called, his blade work keeping two guards at bay while Lily regained her footing.
Lily drew an arrow and fired at point-blank range, dropping one of her attackers. Walter's sword work accounted for the second, a thrust to the shoulder that sent the man running.
Meanwhile, Sam found himself facing three opponents. They attacked from different angles, forcing him to use his spear's reach to keep them at bay.
He was able to parry two strikes simultaneously, but the third guard's club caught his side, causing him to let out a grunt of pain.
"A little help here," Sam called out, backing up to maintain distance. The guards pressed forward, sensing an advantage.
AJ flowed to Sam's aid, his form stretching across the plaza stones to trip one of the attacking guards. The man went down hard, and AJ them delivered a blow that left him unconscious.
"Regroup!" one of the guards shouted. "Tight formation! They can't take us all at once!"
The remaining guards—about eight still on their feet—pulled back into a defensive cluster near the plaza's centre. They stood, weapons raised, trying to not show any openings for them to attack.
"Clever," Victor admitted, circling the formation with his dagger ready.
Richard's voice came from the plaza's edge, higher pitched now with growing panic: "Hold them! Just hold them until—"
"Until what?" Ethan interrupted, his attention fixed on Richard. "Until more guards show up? They're not coming, Richard. This is all you've got."
The guards' formation was solid, but it was also static. They couldn't attack without breaking their defensive posture, and they couldn't retreat without exposing their backs.
Victor made the first move, darting in to test their reactions. His dagger work was precise—not trying to break through their defence, but forcing them to adjust their positioning. Each feint and probe made their formation a little less stable.
As Victor pressed his attack, one of the guards managed a desperate thrust with a crude spear. The stone point grazed Victor's shoulder, tearing through his shirt and drawing a line of blood.
He cursed, backing away momentarily as the wound began to sting.
Sam and AJ attacked from opposite sides simultaneously. Sam's spear point forced two guards to block high while AJ flowed low, striking out, sweeping the legs of a guard out from under him.
Walter's experience showed as he identified the weakest point in their defence—where a wounded guard was struggling to maintain position. His sword work was precise, a thrust incapacitated the injured man and created a gap in their line.
"Break! Run!" someone screamed as their formation collapsed.
The remaining guards scattered in every direction, abandoning their weapons as they fled. Some headed for the settlement's edge, others disappeared between buildings.
None of them looked back.
Richard was already moving toward the plaza's northern exit when the formation broke. Ethan's attention snapped to him like a predator spotting prey.
"Not getting away that easily!" Ethan roared, his voice carrying months of suppressed fury.
"After him!" Victor called, pressing a hand to his bleeding shoulder.
Ethan was already running, his legs carrying him across the plaza in powerful strides. Richard had perhaps a thirty-metre head start, but against a mana and rage fuelled Ethan, that distance meant nothing.
The others followed, their pace urgent but not desperate. They could see what was happening.
Ethan's control was slipping, the Judicator's Ring's calming influence failing against the tide of rage that had been building for months.
"We need to catch up," Sam said grimly, picking up speed despite his bruised ribs. "Before he does something stupid."
---
Richard stumbled along the northern path, his hastily packed supplies weighing him down. He could hear Ethan gaining on him with terrifying speed, the sound of heavy footfalls closing the distance with each passing second.
"Ethan!" Richard called over his shoulder, his voice cracking. "We can talk about this! I can give you what you want!"
The response was the sound of footsteps growing closer.
"Maria!" Richard shouted desperately. "She chose to stay with me! She made her decision!"
That was a mistake.
Ethan's fury erupted like a dam bursting. The memory of that day crashed over him—Maria's eyes as she chose her children's safety over their cause, the helplessness of watching Richard tear their group apart, the rage that had burned in his chest as they were forced to walk away.
The Judicator's Ring on his finger flared brilliantly, then went completely dark as his emotions overwhelmed its calming influence entirely.
Within seconds, Ethan was on him.
Richard spun around, drawing a crude wooden club from his belt. "Stay back!" he swung wildly, desperation giving strength to his movements.
Ethan caught the weapon with his bare hand, crushing the wood. With his other hand, he grabbed Richard by the throat and slammed him to the ground with devastating force.
"You want to talk about Maria?" Ethan snarled, his face inches from Richard's. "Let's talk about how you used her children against her. How you made her choose between her family and her principles."
Richard tried to scramble away, but Ethan's iron grip held strong. "Please, I can make it right—"
Ethan's fist crashed into Richard's jaw, snapping his head to the side. "You can't make anything right!"
Richard raised his hands defensively, blood streaming from his mouth. "I'll leave! I'll never come back! Just let me—"
"No." Ethan's voice was deadly calm. "You don't get to run away from what you've done."
He grabbed Richard's right arm, positioning his hands just above the wrist. Richard's eyes went wide with terror as he realised what was coming.
"This is for every person you terrorised," Ethan said, applying pressure until he heard the sharp crack of breaking bone.
Richard's scream echoed across the landscape. He tried to pull away.
"This is for Maria," Ethan continued, moving to Richard's left arm. Another sickening snap, another scream.
Richard was sobbing now, tears and blood mixing on his face. "Please, stop, I'm sorry—"
Ethan shifted position, gripping Richard's right leg. "This is for every child you used as leverage."
The sound of the bone breaking was audible even over Richard's screams.
Hiss voice had gone hoarse from screaming. His body convulsed, but Ethan felt no satisfaction—only the need to make Richard understand what he had done to others.
"Ethan, stop!"
Strong hands grabbed his shoulders, hauling him back. Victor and Sam wrestled him away from Richard's broken form, attempting to suppress his rage-fuelled assault.
"Enough!" Victor shouted, using all his strength to keep Ethan from returning to his victim. "He's done, Ethan. It's over."
Sam helped restrain him, both struggling against Ethan's fury.
AJ flowed between them and Richard, his form creating a barrier that blocked Ethan's view of his victim. The green wall rippled as AJ hoped that removing the visual trigger might help Ethan regain control.
Ethan struggled against their grip for several more seconds, his breathing ragged. Gradually, the red haze of rage began to clear from his vision. The Judicator's Ring on his finger flickered weakly, its calming influence slowly reasserting itself.
"I..." Ethan's voice was hoarse. "He made her choose. He used her children."
"We know," Lily said softly, having arrived with Walter. "But if you'd gone further, you'd have become like him."
Walter studied Richard's broken form. "He's finished as a threat. The injuries look severe but not fatal."
Ethan stopped struggling against his friends' grip, his shoulders sagging as exhaustion replaced fury. "He needed to understand. Needed to feel what he put others through."
"And he has," Sam said firmly.
---
It took considerable effort to transport Richard back to the settlement. AJ created a makeshift stretcher, and even then the journey was agonising for the broken man. Richard drifted in and out of consciousness, his occasional pained moans the only sound during the slow return.
Word of their return had already spread throughout the settlement. People emerged from their homes and workplaces to line the paths as the procession made its way toward the medical district.
The reactions were varied and intense. Some faces showed grim satisfaction at seeing their former oppressor reduced to a broken, helpless state. Others looked away in discomfort at the severity of his injuries.
"Good," called out a voice from the crowd. "Let him see what it's like to be helpless."
A woman near the front spat on the ground as they passed. "Should have finished the job," she muttered with disgust.
But not everyone approved. An elderly man shook his head sadly. "Nobody deserves that," he said quietly. "Not even him."
"Look what he's been reduced to," a younger woman whispered to her companion. "It's almost... pitiful."
"Pitiful?" her friend shot back. "After what he put us through? He had it coming."
"Finish him off!" someone shouted from the back of the crowd. "End his misery!"
"No!" another voice countered. "Let him live with what he's done!"
Doctor Hayes, freed from her earlier captivity, met them at the medical district. Her face was pale but determined as she assessed Richard's injuries.
"Multiple fractures in both arms and legs," she said after a careful examination. "Severe but not life-threatening."
"Can you treat him?" Maria asked, having pushed through the crowd to join them.
"I can set the bones and splint what needs splinting," Doctor Hayes replied. "With proper care and time, he should regain most of his mobility. He won't be the same, but he won't be permanently crippled either."
"Good," Maria said firmly. "He needs to live with the consequences of his actions, not escape them through death."
Victor stepped forward, addressing the growing crowd. "Richard will be treated. But his life in this settlement will be very different from what it was before."
"What happens to him?" called out Janet, her voice carrying across the gathered people.
Sam answered. "He becomes what he made others become. He'll live in the worst conditions available and work whatever jobs his healing body can manage."
"He'll be our errand boy," Ethan added, his voice still rough but controlled. "Cleaning, fetching, doing whatever tasks need doing. He'll learn what it means to serve instead of rule."
Walter nodded. "He'll experience the system he created from the bottom."
"And if he refuses to work?" someone asked.
"Then he doesn't eat," Victor replied simply. "The same rules he imposed on others will apply to him."
Doctor Hayes looked around the group, then at the crowd. "I'll treat his injuries because that's what a doctor does. But I want it understood—this is medical care, not mercy or forgiveness."
"Do what you need to do." Maria said.
As Doctor Hayes began her work, setting bones and applying splints, the crowd gradually dispersed.
Some left satisfied with the justice that'd been served. Others departed shaking their heads at the brutality.
Richard remained unconscious throughout most of the treatment, his body having retreated into shock. When he briefly surfaced to consciousness, his eyes were filled with pain and confusion.
"Where..." he whispered hoarsely.
"You're receiving medical treatment," Doctor Hayes said without looking up from her work. "Stay still."
Richard's gaze found Maria among the faces surrounding him. "Maria... I kept my promise. Your children..."
"My children are safe because the people who defeated you are protecting them," Maria replied coldly. "Not because of anything you did."
Richard's eyes closed again, whether from pain or the weight of his new reality.
"He'll need constant supervision for the first few weeks," Doctor Hayes reported when she was finished. "Someone will have to help him with basic functions, monitor his recovery, ensure he doesn't injure himself further."
"I'll arrange it," Maria said. "People can take shifts. Make sure he understands his new position in this community."
Walter looked down at the splinted and bandaged figure. "When he's recovered enough to work, we'll start him on the simplest tasks. Cleaning, carrying messages, whatever doesn't require too much physical ability."
Ethan stood silently, watching Richard's unconscious form. The rage had left him, replaced by a hollow feeling. Justice had been served, but the satisfaction he'd expected wasn't there.
"It's done," Victor said quietly, placing a hand on Ethan's shoulder. "The settlement is free."
Ethan nodded slowly.
As they left the medical district, the sun was setting over the settlement. Tomorrow would bring new challenges and new decisions to make.