New Eden: Live to Play, Play to Live

Rodney felt a shiver run down his spine as he looked at their grinning faces. He knew then that the man's fate had been sealed.

Sealed by him.

But he couldn't bring himself to feel bad for him. Not after the trouble he caused here, under his roof, and the resulting trouble when they went to Themiscus.

Phoenix glanced at Alena and Castien but already knew what they thought. Their happy smiles spoke a great deal.

"I believe he should die in the manner of his kingdom. But without the rights to his rank's mercies. What do you two think?" Phoenix asked, looking at Alena and Castien.

"I think it would repay his blood debt in full," Alena said, the smile on her face unabating.

Nodding, she glanced over at Castien.

"And you?"

"I second what Commander Alena said," Castien replied.

"Very well."

Rodney looked up at the monarchs, opening his mouth again.

"I would like to add something," he said, almost pleading.

Phoenix waved his hand at him, motioning him to speak.

"At any point during this time, the woman who was wronged is allowed to end the perpetrator's misery. This means Coral would have to witness the entire ordeal until she decides he's suffered enough. Are you sure we should do this?"

Phoenix's gaze wavered for a moment. This sounded a bit much.

Even if that pig violated Coral, would she want to watch him burn and scream out in agony for over two hours? Because that is the estimated time he would burn, by her knowledge of the events.

She could already see Coral shifting on her feet, the thought troubling her.

Hearing this statement, Alena and Castien also second-guessed their decision. It sounded a lot less attractive now that they knew she would have to watch everything go down to the end.

They glared a bit at Rodney, feeling like he should have led with this. But the man had no clue they would so readily jump on such a barbaric sentence.

"I think we should reconsider," Rodney pleaded.

But Astaroth cut in.

"No. I think it is an appropriate punishment. And if Coral decides he's suffered enough, then good for him. It'll take a weight off the scales when he gets judged in hell. But I doubt it'll save him from a terrible afterlife."

It might sound brutal of him to decide this, but he had his reasons.

Phoenix side-eyed him for a second, wondering why he was adamant about this, but didn't go against his decision. She somehow felt like it was still too weak of a punishment.

Rape was a grave crime, whatever world you were from, and she felt like no death was harsh enough to atone for the life ruined. But that was just her opinion on the matter, coming from her biased take on it.

"Then it's settled," she said, standing.

"He shall have one last day of life, in reprieve this time, to let him think about his crimes. Tomorrow, he burns."

Phoenix called in some guards, ordering them to make arrangements for the following day, and the meeting was adjourned.

She could feel a weight on her shoulders, as she had just decided the fate of another life. But she felt no guilt about it.

Only the weight of a duty to be carried out.

Astaroth felt nothing of it. Instead, he couldn't wait for the next day as ideas flashed through his mind.

Ideas that if he were to voice them out, he would be called evil or a madman by many people. He knew Aberon would frown upon these ideas if he heard of them.

But he didn't care. The man was already sentenced to death, so who cared what he did after?

'If this works, it'll be another tool at my disposition,' he thought as he and Phoenix left the throne room.

"Should we go back downstairs to get you training Aether again?" Astaroth asked her, shoving the thoughts aside.

Phoenix sighed heavily.

"I don't want to do anything that requires brain power today. This meeting has already mentally exhausted me. Let's take a day off kingdom managing and do brainless farming."

Astaroth looked at her, feeling her fatigue, and chuckled.

"You're right. A day off wouldn't hurt us. Should we do this as a party? Or just the two of us?" he asked, grasping her hand.

"I don't want to deal with clingy party members or over-curious guild mates. How about we go alone? You and me, no one else, and patrol the borderlands to the east? I hear some powerful corrupted monsters spawn there, making it a perfect grinding spot for high levels."

Astaroth wondered where she got that information since he hadn't heard about it. But he wasn't against the idea.

"How powerful are we talking? Challenging powerful? Or potentially deadly powerful?" he asked, his excitement building.

Phoenix smiled at him.

"From the information I received, a party of eight players of level forty-five tried taking a group of three monsters on and got wiped. So I'd say challenging powerful, at best. But who knows, maybe we'll get lucky and find something that can get our hearts pumping. What do you say?"

Astaroth grinned widely.

"It's like you know me better than I do. Let's do this!" he exclaimed, pulling her toward the palace entrance.

It had been a while since a monster had given him a hard time, at least outside a dungeon. That excluded the mythical grade guardians of the forest in the Ash Elf territory.

Those he hadn't expected to have to fight, ever.

But he was always up for a challenge. After all, it was in adversity that people grew stronger.

The pair had to stop at the adventurers' guild in the outer city to have them pull back any quest that led into the eastern borderlands. They didn't want other players, or worse, Natives, to get caught in the aftermath if they ever needed to go all out.

Of course, doing this caused an uproar in the player base that roamed Bastion City, whether they be in Paragons or not.

But Astaroth and Phoenix wouldn't be responsible for them, now that they had the area basically cleared out of unwanted attention. It would be on them if players still wandered into their hunting grounds and died.

"Let's get this show on the road!" Astaroth excitedly said as they launched out of the city and over the outer walls.