Talking to Erebus had felt like a balm for his soul. He felt refreshed. Instead of doing what he normally did and heading up to talk to Mr. Pigeon that time, he just sat there and talked to Erebus. They even took their break together with Gia.

  When it was time to go, he just told the two of them to head out.

  "No, I'm telling you… You really need to go. There really are going to be demons showing up, and I really don't want you to be here."

  Gia cracked a smile and put a hand on his shoulder. "If you're about to go destroy an elite demon on your own? I want to be there to watch it. Then I'll head out."

  "I bet Gia on this, so you had better win."

  "Both of you are terrible, but thanks, I guess. You had better run if I don't succeed."

  Gia turned to Erebus and wove her arm through his. "That's the spirit. Then maybe we can learn magic from him. I heard it's great this time of year."

  The last match before the gate opened began and Ludere flew into action.

  Conserving his strength, he ran down to the inner wall. The barest bit of Willpower imbued into his body had him floating down as light as a leaf. The same amount a few loops ago would have drained his Willpower entirely.

  This time, the amount of Will felt like a drop from the amphora of Will he had taken from his stores.

  Each time he reset, his stores grew. His soul still was cracked and trying to contain him, but he hadn't hit the limit.

  Yet.

  "Ten." He walked forward as the crowd realized that someone was walking through the center.

  "Nine." The fact that someone was in the arena uninvited began to be noticed as more boos came his way.

  "Eight." As many cheers as boos joined them.

  "Seven." The voices started to blend.

  "Six." They knew.

  "Five." Ludere could no longer hear his voice. He started counting to himself. As the gate opened, he found himself seeing it as a construct of some kind.

  That or the shade of a construct. For the first time, he could glimpse the magic behind it, and see the quality of it. This had to be master-level Spirit Magic. His Spirit Magic had been stuck at two since he swapped it in. Whatever this was, only his Will and Soul let him examine it.

  He was so caught up in it that he almost missed the elite.

  "Sorry, old man, but I think that this is your last stand," he said. He tipped his amphora of Will over, forcing the elite to attempt to match him.

  It wasn't enough, and with the demon partially through the gate, Ludere could feel the other elite trying to exit on the opposite side stop moving as well.

  He could feel their argument. They wanted to pass through and begin sending their troops through.

  They wanted to open the gate, and briefly he considered if that was his wish as well. Just as quickly, he countered their argument with a wall of Willpower. He emptied his amphora and knew that he had more. He tapped into his well. He could feel all the enemies he killed and all the Willpower that he had done his best to stash away. It hadn't even been that long since he imbued so much. He took all that stored Willpower, that potential Magic, and pushed it out into one argument. He would win this.

  They had no place here.

  Ludere was surprised to feel his Soul beginning to work together with his Will.

  He radiated power, steam rising off his body.

  His argument was in no uncertain terms that these demons had no claim upon his land. He would give the last breath to protect it. He didn't want to have to protect it, but he would, and this was very inconvenient.

  As someone who worked customer service, Ludere hated when things were inconvenient for him, as much as he hated to do paperwork. He would do just about anything to get out of doing unnecessary paperwork just to file a report about this kind of thing.

  He wasn't surprised when his argument for the first time really won out.

  He was surprised when the gate began to collapse it on itself. He sat there watching as the construct that built up the inside of the gate decided to take that moment to fold.

  This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.

  He knew this argument had purchase. If they weren't going to have a claim to this land then there was no need for them to come here.

  He knew how many demons were waiting in the wing. He'd never seen an end to that line, and if all he had to do was close them out from actually showing up, he would do that all day and night. He didn't know how much energy it took to open such a portal but he would be damned if he could sit there and stop it from opening again.

  He poured his Will out and knelt.

  The familiar feeling of being empty, of having spent everything he had and ever followed him, through so many visions, through so many loops, he’d pushed forward and gotten so far. But this? This felt like he was going back to square one. He felt empty.

  He opened his eyes. The gate was no more. The only thing remaining on the ground was the arm of an elite. Everything else was gone.

  The arena was, for the first time that day, silent.

  Ludere stood up, slowly regaining his composure. In his hand he held the demon's arm. He lifted it up, over his head.

  There was no mistaking that purple- and red-hued body part.

  It was inhuman.

  He held it out, turning around to look at the entire arena. Every single person in the arena had borne witness.

  He had closed it.

  He thrust the arm over his head. The crowd, still silent, began to stand.

  He could see a few men placing a hand over their chest.

  They formed the salute that the legion used to honor a soldier.

  Instantly, hundreds of his countrymen did the same. And over the course of a minute, almost every single person in the arena was standing and saluting him with their fist.

  Ludere basked in it.

  None of these people had experienced the actual invasion of the demons. But he had stopped it here.

  He didn't know what they were taking. All he knew was that he was done. He could see the entrance by the Medica, and he began to walk over there under the deafening silence of the thousands of men who are now saluting him. Every man, and he could tell every woman was doing the same, even if they hated everything else. He'd gone and disrupted the fights; it was undeniable that he had dropped down there and killed a demon, or pushed it through a gate, hand still on its arm.

  He wasn't surprised to see Jay in the Medica.

  It was just a bit concerning that Jay was waiting for him to come inside.

  "Pardon me, sir, but it seems like you've gotten a bit mistaken. Gladiators don't intervene in the fights. And I don't know what you thought you were doing, but you're in the wrong spot. Also, I'd know to say this, but your soul damage looks pretty awful."

  Ludere nodded. "I think at this point I can start healing it. Gia should be here soon, if she has…"

  The sounds of her walking through the outer door of the Medica accompanied by Erebus were humorous to his ears. He wasn't even trying to stop her this time.

  "I'm just telling you that he might be naked, or Jay might be talking to him confidentially or something, and we have nowhere to go walking in. Oh, hi!"

  She walked right past a privacy sheet that Jay had put up.

  Jay glared. "Hello. I assume you're only here to see my newest patient? I say 'assume' because I don’t want you to think I haven’t noticed you sneaking in. There's going to be some of the people here with some very important questions about why he just did what he did, and why especially during a festival. He thinks he's going to get away with it."

  True to form, Jay gave him a very quick perfunctory checkup. He spent a little bit longer than either of them wanted discussing the problems with his soul. There were enough physical problems that he couldn't fix.

  He made a mental note to track down Xerxei.

  If he was truly out of the loop and this was it, he would have to start talking to other people and getting their advice. He would talk to the oracle, he talked to the Senator, he would talk to Gia, and most of all, he would talk to Erebus.

  They'd all taught him so much. He needed to talk to them about how he got information from them.

  He needed to disclose some things.

  "Gia, I think it’s time that we had a talk about your skills."

  "Oh?"

  "They’re trash. When this is over, let’s do some changes."

  Gia crossed her arms. "Okay, hero. Whatever you say. I’m not going to stop you from making a terrible mistake. But based on what we talked about, I think that we need to not let the specifics of your abilities get out. If someone wants to talk to you, they can come through me."

  Erebus threw up his hands. "I guess I’m a part of this as well. I hope you know what you’re doing. I sense that at least one Senator is making their way down here."

  The sounds of several sandals slapping the ground gave the distinct impression of a marching unit. Gia stepped out towards the front of the Medica, leaving his sight.

  "Pardon me, but the Senator has business in here," a gruff voice said.

  "You’re going to have to save it. The hero of the republic needs a moment to be checked out."

  "I’m afraid we insist." The same voice again made him think that it was one of Senator Celisar's guards.

  "Please tell the Senator that we’re almost done here," Jay said, making a lot of noise as he put away several tools. "You cannot rush someone's recovery."

  A low cold voice cut through everything. "I can see his cracked soul from here. He is alive and awake. This is a matter for the republic. You will let me in—"

  Ludere shoved the privacy sheet away. His chest was still bare, the tunic stripped off. All he wore was a toga around his waist, leaving very little to the imagination. Gia was standing there, her arms out, as if that would stop the man with Willpower roiling off of him. On the other side, two guards flanked the Senator.

  "Senator Celisar. A pleasure. Perhaps we could speak about this someplace secure?"

  The Senator gulped. "Yes, that would be appropriate. Please dress yourself and we can conduct a meeting in a secured chamber."

  "Excellent. I should hope that you’re not trying to rush me after I stopped a demonic invasion. Even you should understand the value of downtime, correct?"

  The Senator was clearly trying his best not to look. Ludere closed the privacy screen and redressed himself.

  Erebus mouthed the words 'rental boy' to Ludere, and he did his best to not spear him through his chest.