Apocalypse: Fairy System by Macronomicon (fox in socks read aloud txt) 📕

The ceiling in front of the throne gave way, and a dismembered body fell through the ceiling in a rain of blood, splattering the audience in gore as it hit the ground.

A fraction of a second later, Jebediah Trapper fell through the ceiling, naked and coated from head to toe in blood, a thick iron collar around his neck. The one-legged human had a death grip on the chain and when it jerked to a halt halfway to the floor, it tore itself out of his hand, applying the rest of Jeb’s momentum to his neck.

“Hurk!”

Jeb went still for a moment, looking like one of those Japanese weather dolls as he hung by the neck in front of the emperor.

Is he…dead? Brett thought, his heart sinking. Did Pikaku just kill him with his Summon? It’s a damn good thing Amanda isn’t here. If Amanda thought they’d gotten Jeb killed by telling the emperor about him, she’d be inconsolable for weeks.

After a moment of ominous silence, Jeb gave a choked gasp and reached behind his head, grabbing the chain to take the weight off his neck.

“How’s it hanging?” he groaned, eyeing the audience as he spun in place, suspended above them like a bloody, naked human chandelier.

***Jebediah Trapper***

Jeb didn’t know how long he was out; being unconscious was like that. But when he woke up, he was hanging from the ceiling, his entire body was tingling from a bruised spine, and—I can’t breathe!

Jeb desperately reached up behind his neck and grabbed the chain, pulling up as hard as he could with the awkward angle.

With Jeb’s supernatural strength and resilience…it was enough to let him catch his breath and take a moment to get his bearings.

Beneath him, rather than an endless abyss like he had feared, there was a ballroom filled with ostentatiously dressed folk of every species, including the Big Bird-looking dude up on the throne, casually setting aside Jeb’s buckler.

Must…be…sarcastic….

“How’s it hanging?” Jeb asked the crowd as he spun like a DIY disco ball, his voice hoarse from the damage to his neck.

The emperor honked. He sounded like a goose, except a two hundred pound one.

“Jebediah Trapper,” the creature nesting on the throne said, head wobbling slightly from side to side in what Jeb could only assume was mirth. “I believe you have a list of names for me?”

“Ummm…”

Above Jeb, the table with all his shit slipped a bit deeper into the hole, tilting sideways. Jeb’s faux foot rolled off and tumbled down into the gaping hole between the two floors. The fancy prosthetic spun and whirled down into the waiting palm of the emperor.

In the beaked creature’s claws, the hidden compartment simply popped open on its own, the unfaithful slattern.

“Oh, here it is,” the emperor said, pinching the tightly-folded list out of the tiny compartment and idly tossing Jeb’s foot aside.

“Set up the transmitter.”

Jeb got a bird’s-eye view as a dark knight swept out from behind the emperor’s throne, seemingly invisible until a second ago. They held one of the strange orbs that passed for a magical camera, and with a swift motion, set it up behind the emperor’s throne.

The bird-man deliberately unfolded the list of names taken from the Book of Honor, his eyes scanning the page.

“No!” Mr. Sophistication shouted, lunging forward.

“Kratz Velos.”

The charging melas was tackled by a nearby human with short-cropped brown hair….

Is that Brett? Jeb wondered, frowning as his fingers searched for a weak spot on the chain.

“Adensus Parvey.”

One of the keegan near the front of the room went stock-still for an instant before he turned to run away, aiming for the oversized double doors.

The imperial guard, so seemingly lax in the hours leading up to this moment, had formed a wall of flesh and steel between the nobles and freedom.

The emperor kept reading names off the list, causing all the remaining thirty-some nobles to show reactions that ranged from outrage to sheer unbridled terror.

Are… Are these people all the ones on the list, and only the ones on the list? Jeb thought, frowning.

The emperor had just easily rounded up all the people Jeb had basically thrown up his hands and given up on. The question was… How the hell did he do it without spooking them?

“You might be wondering why I called you here,” the emperor said, setting the list aside. “The perceptive amongst you might have noticed that there is a common thread connecting the nobles of Solmnath that I have assembled before me.

“And that is—”

“Pip three—Hurk!”

Jeb jerked in place as the cone of force speared up through the chain link, widening it just enough to release the collar. The spear of force shot up above his head and broke the damaged ceiling a little more while Jeb fell the last ten feet to the hard marble floor, slamming down on top of the legless corpse.

From the perspective of millions of people living throughout the empire, a bloody, naked man fell flailing into frame, interrupting the emperor mid-reveal. The man covered his genitals, gave a sheepish wave, and hopped out of frame.

Cool as a cucumber, the emperor kept going.

“Each and every one of you has killed a human child under the age of twelve for no purpose other than to gain levels. In the common parlance, we call this ‘reaping’.”

One of the keegan nobles stepped forward, shaking his fist. “Those were Honor Duels! We were merely defending ourselves from upstart humans. Accusing us of reaping is an overreach of power, even for you!”

“Yeah,” another said. “The victors of Honor Duels are protected by law! You have no grounds to accuse us of anything!”

The emperor tapped a claw against the side of his beak, head waggling slightly. “Indeed, I can’t punish you for slaughtering human children under the guise of Honor