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Minute hoped to never see Ashswagg again. He hoped that the former leader of the Invisible Mafia, probably the greatest fraction on the entire server that ever existed, would spend the rest of his days in the Far Lands. Unfortunately, fate decided to go a different path.
The little house was surprisingly comfortable and pleasant. The smell of cocoa cookies hung in the air, making the Guardian of The End—well, he had upgraded to be a protector of the entire world—dream of making and eating his own. What a pity. It seemed that such small wishes would remain unfulfilled fantasies for a long time. There was nothing left of his main island.
The former diamond member noticed a smeared trace of soot on the countertop. It was most likely created by Ashswagg, who wanted to bake a complicated type of cake for the love of his life. Minute knew his ex-leader for a long time, yet he still couldn't get used to his two faces. One second he was the vilest person on the whole planet only to look at his girlfriend with pure love the other.
Minute knew about this duplicity like no one else. The sweet home alone was showing enough. Inside it was warm, sweet and charming. Outside there were horns and spikes made with crying obsidian, which could be visible from afar.
The same went for Ash’s hospitality. He opened the door to the house wide, welcoming the guest with a wide smile on his face. This didn’t change at all. Only close to him knew that the water he suggested serving was actually a glass of poison.
“I’m not surprised at all,” he shrugged upon hearing Spoke’s questionably moral actions. No, not questionably—they hadn't been questionably for a long time. At that point, they were straightforwardly vicious. “I predicted this a long time ago. Despite popular opinion I wasn’t the one who made him like that. It’s not Jamato’s fault either. Some people just have a wicked character from the very beginning. Some of them are able to overcome their evil nature through great effort, while some immerse in it.”
Minute grimaced. After a few seconds, he decided to respond to the posed comments. Ash no longer had any control over him. He could share his thoughts without worries that he would be punished for them. “You are wrong. No one is born evil in this world. People choose wrong things because they get lost under the influence of others.”
“And yet you came to me. The bad influence. The worst influence in his little life. Would you describe me the same way?”
At first, the protector thought of voices of terror of the gold members in the Mafia, who were cheap toys of the former leader to play with and throw away whenever he liked. The terrible screams of people falling into the void still haunted him at night. But then he thought of Squiddo, who the man before him treated with greater love and devotion than many righteous people honored their wives.
“I would,” he simply stated.
Ashswagg fell silent. For a moment, there was no sound in the house, except for a pencil moving on a piece of paper—Squiddo was sitting near a window. It seemed as if she was in her own world, but Minute knew very well that she was listening to the conversation the whole time.
“We shall see how your approach changes when you see Spoke's actions. Believe me: they will be much worse than mine,” The former leader broke the silence. “Anyway. I’m assuming that you didn’t come only for some gossip, did you?”
“I was told that his troops work similar to yours. He operates on making his subjects fear him. He also has a mechanism just like yours, where the moment his totem gets popped, his entire army goes down. And…” the protector sighed. “Your minds work similarly. Knowing what he thinks—maybe even knowing what he will think before the thought forms in his brain—will be the greatest advantage.”
A quiet laugh came from Ashswagg. “I promised that I’ll be there, didn’t I? But before I tell you my decision, you have to entertain me. Tell me more of your little gossip. What happened to that birdie boy, what was his name, Parrot?”
“Well, he created a great civilization on the spawn… It was able to survive for a long time, but recently it got destroyed by another one, Cindercrest. Apparently some mastermind was helping them, he called himself the Director. I don’t know where he is now.”
“So the little birdie got caught and is in a pretty, gold cage. It was so predictable. This guy wasn’t fit for the rule, desperately believing that the world is white—and if not, you can throw it into a washing machine with bleach in it. Especially with that guy… Well. What about the, huh, what was his name, something with fire… oh yes, Flame?”
“I think he joined Cindercrest, but quickly left, but I’m not that sure. I have no idea. He spends most of his time training and hanging out with his friends.”
“Well, I sometimes feel like he is the sanest person of us all on this unstable server.” The former leader took a sip of his cup of tea. “Isn’t that interesting? He spent most of his life covered in blood. Of his own, of his enemies… And yet. He can do so many things, but he knows that being able doesn’t mean that he should do it. I can respect that. What a pity he was so reluctant to join me.”
Squiddo lifted her pencil from the paper and held it in midair, contemplatively observing her creation. It seemed as if the whole word stopped for a while, waiting for the coming question.
Ashswagg smiled wildly, “Speaking of blood, what happened to my third favourite, my little bloodthirsty hound? How did the fate of my complete beast two maces go?”
Minute sighed. He was expecting this question. Yet the expectation didn’t make it easier to explain.
“Wemmbu… Well, he ended up in another civilization. Arachnid’s.”
“Oh?” The former leader smirked, as if the coming words were a very funny joke.
“It seems like he is… being forced to submit. Apparently Eggchan is being used against him. He dropped nukes on many towns of Parrot’s civilization.”
“And you decided not to help him?” There was amusement in the former leader’s voice.
“Well, I had other things to take care of…”
“Ha!” Ashswagg laughed loudly. The suffering of his former most devoted man brought him immense joy. Minute once again realized what kind of sadist he was dealing with. “It’s cute, it’s just cute, isn’t it? After all this time, after the Law, heck, not the Law, what was the Law compared to me? After me. After me manipulating him to fulfill my every whim, creating a show of his friend’s death, almost killing said friend, making the whole server hate him… All this trauma was for nothing, it seems. He still hasn’t realized!”
Loud laughter spread throughout the room. It sounded joyful, as if someone shared a silly joke about one’s fever dreams nonsense. Despite the clear enjoyment, the protector felt dread settling in his stomach.
“What he hasn’t realized?”
“Oh, my little champion, I’ll gladly answer your question,” The former leader beamed. “This little hound doesn’t know that being powerful doesn’t really matter much. He has his weapons, he has his physical strength, that is true. However, there are many types of power in this world. Soldiers like him are mere weapons for real powerful people. And they are going to stay being tools—unless one day they will wake up with this realization.”
“I don’t…”
“Unless,” Ashswagg continued, regardless of his conversationalist. “He knows that. And yet he decides to let it stay that way. Once a hound, always a hound. A beast like this one needs someone who will hold him strongly by the leash.”
The sense of dread spread throughout the body of the protector.
“I won’t let you get as close as a thousand blocks to Wemmbu.”
“Are you sure about that?” The former leader chuckled. “After all, you were the more traumatized one of you both. He was wallowed in blood thinking he wanted that himself till the very end. He was a beast the whole time. You however, my little champion, knew the whole time what you were doing. You despised that. I forced you to bathe in the remains of others. Are you truly sure about that?”
Minute only looked blankly at Ashswagg. He slowly sighed, without showing any emotions on his face. “Are you willing to help me defeat Spoke or not?”
Ash smiled. He let the question sit in the air for a while. “Well, ask Squiddo.”