The silence in the Onyx Hall was broken only by the crackle of the hearth and the breathing of the broken Warlord.

Red hovered over the kneeling figure of Gorak. The [ ACCEPT ] button pulsed.

“You want a purpose?” Red whispered to the screen. “I have plenty of rocks that need breaking.”

Red tapped the screen.

[ FOLLOWER ACCEPTED: WARLORD GORAK ]

[ RANK: A (ELITE BOSS) ]

[ CURRENT STATUS: IRRADIATED / BROKEN / FANATIC ]

[ ASSIGNING ROLE… ]

Red scrolled through the options.

→ Priest? No. Gorak wasn’t spiritual; he was kinetic.

→ Inquisitor? No. Iron-Scale owned that darkness.

→ General? Too much authority too soon.

Red found the perfect designation. It wasn’t about leading. It was about enduring.

[ ROLE ASSIGNED: THE VANGUARD (THE FIRST PENITENT) ]

→ Duty: First into the breach. Last to retreat. A living shield for the Tribe.

A surge of violet mana shot down from the Void, piercing the roof of the Onyx Hall and striking Gorak. It didn’t heal his radiation burns—that was his penance—but it stabilized his soul. The trembling stopped. The despair was replaced by resolve.

Gorak stood up. He grabbed the rusty spear.

“I hear,” Gorak rumbled.

He turned to the shivering guards and the few servants hiding in the shadows.

“The Onyx Hall is dead,” Gorak announced, his voice echoing off the stone walls. “The Elders were weak. They died fat. We… we will live hungry.”

He pointed the spear at the heavy iron doors leading to the slave pits.

“Open them.”

The dungeons of the Onyx Hall were emptied.

Two hundred slaves blinked in the torchlight. They were a wretched mix—mostly Deep-Rock Kobolds, a few Cave-Lizards, and even a dozen Molekin who had been captured years ago.

They expected execution. Instead, they saw the terrifying Warlord Gorak standing with his head bowed.

“You are free,” Gorak grated out. “My God does not keep chains. He keeps Oaths.”

He looked at the slaves, then at his remaining fifty Troglodyte citizens—guards, smiths, and cooks who hadn’t fled with Zek.

“We walk,” Gorak commanded. “To the Bastion. To our God’s sanctuary.”

It was a strange parade. The former masters walked alongside their former slaves, united by fear and a new, incomprehensible faith. They marched down the mountain, leaving the empty, silent halls of their ancestors behind.

When they reached Bastion, there was a celebration for winning the war.

Bonfires roared in the Plaza, casting long, dancing shadows against the Temple walls. The air was filled with the smell of roasting meat and spices. The Mud-Skippers were beating drums made of hollow logs. The Shell-Kin were resting, humming low notes of contentment.

Krug stood at the gate as the refugees arrived. He didn’t smile. He didn’t gloat. He simply counted.

“Two hundred hands,” Krug nodded as Gorak approached. “Good. The mines need workers.”

Gorak stopped in front of the High Priest. He felt the immense pressure of Krug’s aura—the aura of the Apostle. Gorak lowered his spear.

“I bring the North,” Gorak said simply. “We submit.”

“Go,” Krug pointed to the fires. “Eat. Work starts at dawn.”

The assimilation was terrifyingly fast. The slaves were embraced by their kin. The Troglodytes were eyed with suspicion, but the Law of the Red Spiral forbade infighting.

The Tribe is the Body.

Gorak tried to slip away. He wanted to find a dark corner to nurse his shame. He wasn’t ready to celebrate with the creatures who had butchered his army.

But a shadow moved beside him.

“Warlord,” a silky voice whispered.

Gorak stiffened. Iron-Scale.

The Inquisitor was clean now, wearing a robe of dark leather over his armor. He held a wooden bowl steaming with thick, dark broth.

“You look thin,” Iron-Scale smiled, his eyes glinting in the firelight. “The pit takes the fat, yes?”

“Leave me be, rat,” Gorak growled.

“Join us,” Iron-Scale insisted, shoving the bowl into Gorak’s hands. “It is the Feast of Victory. The Second Tenet: Consume to Evolve. If you do not eat, you insult the God.”

Gorak hesitated. The smell was intoxicating. He hadn’t eaten in two days. His stomach roared, overriding his pride.

He sat heavily on a stone bench. He lifted the bowl to his lips.

The broth was rich, savory, and filled with chunks of tender, slow-cooked meat. It warmed his frozen blood. It tasted like strength.

Gorak drank greedily. He chewed the meat, feeling the proteins knitting his irradiated muscles back together.

“Good?” Iron-Scale asked, sitting opposite him, watching intensely.

“It is… acceptable,” Gorak wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “Strong meat. What is it? Mountain Goat? Cave Bear?”

Iron-Scale leaned in closer. The firelight made his violet eyes look demonic.

“We waste nothing, Gorak,” Iron-Scale whispered. “The battlefield was full of meat.”

Gorak froze. The bowl stopped halfway to his mouth.

“The God says Consume,” Iron-Scale continued, his voice soft and terrible. “We stripped the armor. We smelted the iron. And the flesh… well, it was high quality. Very nutritious.”

Iron-Scale pointed a claw at the chunk of meat on Gorak’s spoon.

“That one? Tough texture. I think it was the Quartermaster. Or maybe… Korg? He was very muscular.”

The world stopped spinning for Gorak.

He looked at the spoon. He looked at the broth.

He tasted the iron tang in his mouth.

Korg?

“URK—”

Gorak dropped the bowl. It shattered on the stones.

He scrambled away, falling to his hands and knees in the dirt. His stomach convulsed.

“HUUURGH!”

He vomited violently. He emptied his stomach, heaving until his ribs cracked, trying to purge the sin from his body. He scraped his tongue with his dirty fingers, trying to get the taste out.

‘I ate them. I ate my brothers.’

Tears streamed down his face. It was a violation deeper than death.

He looked up. Iron-Scale was still sitting there, smiling. Not a happy smile. A cruel, educational smile.

“Why…” Gorak gasped, wiping bile from his chin. “Why tell me?”

“So you remember,” Iron-Scale said, standing up. “You are part of the Tribe now. You eat what we eat. You are what we are. There is no going back to the Onyx Hall. You just digested your past.”

Gorak stood up. His hands were shaking, not from weakness, but from a murderous, blinding rage.

He grabbed the front of Iron-Scale’s tunic. He lifted the small Kobold off the ground, pulling him close.

“I should kill you,” Gorak hissed, his breath smelling of sickness and fury. “I should snap your neck right here.”

Iron-Scale didn’t struggle. He just pointed to the Temple, where the Violet Fire burned.

“Do it,” Iron-Scale challenged. “Break the Third Tenet. Strike a brother. See what He does to you.”

Gorak trembled. The Faith locked his muscles. He couldn’t do it. The fear of Red wouldn’t let him.

With a roar of frustration, Gorak threw Iron-Scale to the ground.

“You are a demon,” Gorak spat.

“I am the Inquisitor,” Iron-Scale corrected, brushing the dust off his robe. “I keep the ledger.”

Gorak backed away, his chest heaving. He looked at the feasting crowd with horror. They were monsters. And now, he was one of them.

“One day,” Gorak swore, pointing a trembling finger at the Kobold. “One day, the war will end. The God will look away. And on that day, little rat… I will make you eat your own tail.”

“I look forward to it, Penitent,” Iron-Scale bowed mockingly.

Gorak turned and fled. He didn’t run to the mountain. He ran to the darkest shadow of the city wall, far away from the light of the fires, far away from the smell of the meat.

He sat in the dark, clutching his stomach, weeping silently as the city celebrated his defeat.

Red, watching from the Void, zoomed in on Gorak’s misery.

[ FAITH TRAIT GAINED: THE BURDEN OF SIN ]

[ GORAK LOYALTY: LOCKED (THROUGH TRAUMA) ]

“What… the fuck are they doing?” Red muttered, reaching for a piece of Mana-Hardtack. “They are savages. But welcome to the family, Gorak.”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep