The Scumbags Guide to Enslaving Demon's

The chain gavel cracked down.

Austin Veyron caught it with both hands.

It knocked him to one knee as glass shattered around him. Towering above him the judge construct dominated the arena. Its face had been replaced with Vharra’s and a crown of chain links molded around its shoulders. Its hammer wasn’t forged metal. It was every court command the Queen ever issued about turning responsibility into possession.

’PROTECTOR’, the judge boomed. ’PROVE YOUR RIGHT TO PROTECT’.

A chain whipped around Elena’s wrist.

Austin dove for her, but she straightened herself up and shook her head.

"No," Elena said. "Not by taking my choice."

The judge smiled with Vharra’s lips. ’THEN LET HER PAY FOR FREEDOM’.

Rin slashed at the chain with her sword. Steel cut through its links like paper. Veyra slammed her fist into the anchor point in the floor, but another chain whipped around her ankle and tossed her clear across the arena.

Nahlia read from the court text crawling across every wall.

"It’s turning our declared responsibilities into ownership claims!" she shouted. "The judge thinks everyone we protect has to become something we own!"

"We prove it don’." Austin Veyron straightened himself up.

The judge lifted its hammer once more.

Instead of smashing down on top of them, the chain shot for Maelis. Hooked around her waist and dragged her ember flame into the judge’s grip.

Austin felt the seed pulse against his skin.

[AUTHORITY CLAIM AVAILABLE.]

[ASSIGN MAELIS AS PROTECTED ASSET.]

Claiming her would keep her alive.

Instantly.

But it would also give her words back to Vharra.

"No."

The judge swung.

Maelis grabbed it with both hands.

Fire roared down the chain’s length. She didn’t pull it free, but slowed it enough for Sarielle to dive underneath the hook and slice through the command line tethering it into place.

The chain vanished.

Maelis staggered out from underneath the archway. Alone. For the moment.

The judge’s mirror face flickered out.

’YOU REFUSE EFFICIENCY’.

"I refuse your sense of efficiency." Not just Austin shouted at the construct.

Its gavel cracked into six smaller hammers. Each accelerating towards a target standing in a white circle.

Austin couldn’t protect them all.

Neither could Rin.

Neither could Elena.

So they refused to try together.

"Seven." Austin called up to the data bot. "Open the witness question."

Seven’s white eye brightened. The blank circle beneath the group pulsed outward, rewriting the court’s original question back into the floor of the arena.

’DO YOU STAND HERE BY CHOICE?’

The hammers froze in place.

Above them, Vharra laughed down from her balcony. A question cannot overcome an answer.

But they built this arena around witness law. They asked everyone that question once before.

Now they wouldn’t be silenced.

"I do." Elena yelled first.

The hammer above her exploded.

Veyra straightened herself from the ground. Blood painted stripes across her mouth. "I do."

Her hammer exploded.

Rin. Tessa. Nahlia. Sarielle. Seven. Maelis. Everyone freed from cages in this arena called out after them.

One by one the chains around them fizzled away. Rin’s sword cracked in half. Pieces of the judge construct crumbled away dozens of individual commands that had been hardcoded into its arsenal unwrote themselves with every shouted syllable.

Soon even the wardens watching from the balconies began to answer the question.

A former price enforcer climbed out onto her platform. "I do."

An older court scribe ripped off her collar. "I do."

The judge rocked backwards as the white circle expanded beyond the walls of the arena.

’WITNESS ROUND IS COMPLETE’, it read. ’AUTHORITY ROUND REMAINS’.

Austin Veyron stepped forwards.

"You want authority?" he yelled over his shoulder. "Ask them."

The judge’s hammer rattled in mid-air.

"I will." He pointed at Elena. "Ask them if I have authority over her."

The construct’s face twisted in something resembling rage. DOES Austin Veyron POSSESS AUTHORITY OVER ELENA?

Elena stared him down.

"No."

The judge dropped one of its arms to the ground.

Austin pointed at Veyra. Rin. Maelis. Elena. Seven. The question repeated seven times over. As did their answer.

"No."

"No," Maelis added, gently holding the stump where another judge sword had once been at her side. "None of us give you authority over anyone."

The construct folded into itself like origami.

Finally Vharra stepped back from the edge of the arena balcony, twisting herself into her own nest of chains until she landed.

"You think this makes you better?" she spat out. "You make decisions for them. You tell them what to do. When things go wrong they blame you."

Austin looked out across the dozens of faces who had risked everything to stand beside him in rebellion.

"No."

"A leader shouldn’t own the people they lead." Austin stared her down. "They’re responsible if you trust them enough to follow."

The construct shattered apart like glass.

The authority round ended with a soft puff of white sparks.

Vharra hesitated one last moment before stomping her foot. The ground beneath her cracked.

The black glass replaced itself with a map of Grand Meridian.

Roots exploded from the ground in thick red- gold lines.

The territory round had begun.

’CHALLENGE LOCATION: GRAND MERIDIAN.’

Austin’s house in Meridian powered on behind him.

Everywhere he could see in Grand Meridian lit up on the map. The lobby. The old ballroom. The engine room three stories beneath the hotel. Everywhere Austin had ever tried to build something with these people even

roots erupted from its foundation

programmed with Vharra’s command links.

His jaw unhinged.

Elena’s radio crackled at her hip.

"Austin Veyron." Someone yelled out at him from halfway across the city. "She’s checking the doors right now. Not attacking anyone, at least. Not yet. She’s asking questions."

"What questions?" Elena shouted back.

Pause.

"A who owns this? Who has authority? Who decides?"

Vharra walked around the projected map of her hotel, swinging her arms behind her.

"A place is easier than people." Vharra’s voice was small now. "You can’—t say no to a building."

Nahlia shook her head. "Does she like territory rounds because she can?" Nahlia started. "Can turn someone’s home into something then turn everyone inside it into property."

The map flashed bright white.

A red line slashed across the floor stretching all the way to the Freehold throne at the center of the engine room.

Austin knew what would happen when it hit that room. If this root armor could let Vharra claim the throne piece every defense system in that hotel would belong to her. Everything they built to protect people would become chains.

Everything Austin ever built with them would be washed away.

The seed displayed its obvious choice on his wrist.

[CLAIM GRAND MERIDIAN AS INDIVIDUAL PROPERTY.]

He could do it.

Force the challenge to recognize Austin Veyron as its only authority. Cut Queen’s access to the game forever.

But Grand Meridian wasn’t his like that.

Austin Veyron didn’t own people. Not like that.

Grand Meridian was his home because of every person who had chosen to stay after it burned down to rebuild it. To stay and take care of refugees. The scouts. The guards.

Austin looked over at Elena’s radio.

"Who’s at the throne?" he asked.

"The three of us." Maelis called out from behind him. "Marcus. Orena. Mostly we’re just waiting."

"Tell them this is their choice." Austin held up his arm for everyone to see. "You can claim Grand Meridian too if you want to."

"We can’t." Vharra stepped out onto the platform behind Austin Veyron. "Only someone who was chosen can name a territory."

Everyone crowded onto the arena balconies leaned forward.

Every freed warden.

Even the rebuilt construct who used to only ever respond to WEAPON raised itself up to the edge of its platform.

"What if someone at home?" it started.

Seven’s eye swiveled up towards the map projected across Grand Meridian.

"Grand Meridian has voluntary network consent." Seven finished for it. "Everyone who helped rebuild this place has given their trust to its protections."

Everyone in the arena began yelling.

Elena held up the radio for everyone to see.

"If you guys are listening," she said. "At home. If Grand Meridian is your home then say so. Tell the game you’ll protect your family, protect your friends. But you won’t force this decision on anyone else."

They waited.

Marcus’ voice crackled quietly over Elena’s speaker grill. "I’m home. I will protect those who stand beside me, and I do not own them."

Orena. Night shift. Cooks. Refugees. Prisoners. Scouts. Everyone Austin barely remembered from before Grand Meridian burned.

Each shouted their claim, root by root.

The territory round had finished.

For them. At least. Everyone who had managed to gather into the arena.

The game had never anticipated so many people answering its question.

Here we were though.

Choosing.

Together.

Red lines shredded apart across the map of Grand Meridian.

The challenge had branched across worlds.

But home was fighting back.

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