Clenching the sword in his hands Ash was on his way back to the orphanage. And as this would be his last time eating there he had no intention of missing today's lunch.
Approaching the orphanage the first thing he saw was Will running towards him with an ecstatic face.
"Ash! You gotta hear what skill I got!"
Ash could guess that it was something good just by the way Will was looking at him.
"Well? What are you waiting for tell me."
"Okay listen my skill is.... [Weapon Master] of the Steel attribute. It gives me high understanding of any weapon I'm using, and also changes my physique based on it too. So while holding a sword I'd become stronger and quicker, while with a gun I'd get hightened awareness."
The skill described by Will was clearly a combat focused one. Hearing this Ash felt happy for Will as he knew he wanted something combat focused.
"That sounds cool, you got what you wan..."
Ash was interrupted mid compliment by Will as he couldn't hold in his excitement.
"You have a sword with you Ash?! Can I try using it, as I haven't had the chance to use my skill yet. Just for bit please."
"Fine, here ya go."
Ash reluctantly handed his newly received sword to Will, and upon doing so quite the sight unfolded.
Upon holding the sword Will's body started radiating in a light gray glow afterwhich he suddenly grew in size by a few centimeters and also gained some muscles around his body.
If Ash didn't know the one standing before him was Will there was no way he would have known.
Holding the sword Will instintively wanted to swing it, and with no one else around to stop him he did so without a moments thought.
Quickly he slashed downward with such force that Ash standing next to him was almost pushed back by the air.
"Are you sure your attribute isn't actually Wind or something?"
But in that moment Will was preoccupied with something else.
"Wait a moment."
Suddenly he reached up and took of his glasses.
"My eye sight, it's... perfect."
Will couldn't believe that his skill had this sort of an effect, but upon a bit of thinking he realised this was perfectly in line with it's description.
"Right, this could also qualify for the adjustment."
Will held the sword in his hand for another moment and then handed it back to Ash.
"Thanks for allowing me to try it, it's a good sword."
The moment Ash took the sword from Will's hand his body shrank back to the size it was before hand.
"If you say it's good I'll believe it "Weapon Master". Hey you okay?"
Ash looked concernedly at Will who was clenching his stomach.
"I'm okay, I'm just really hungry."
"Guess that transformation of yours took a bit out of you, those muscles had to come from somewhere."
It seemed the transformation didn't only take soul energy to do.
"Also you need your glasses back?"
"Yeah, thanks."
With Will having tried out his powers, and now starving the two were fully ready for lunch.
...
In the wasteland at one of the graveyards.
"You came for these stones. Do you know what they do?"
Floch looked at Adam with a tired expression.
"Well what do you think?"
Adam knew full well that he knew what these stones were and that he knew them much better than he and Reinhardt did.
"Really who are you?"
"I said you'd know sooner or later, don't be so impatient."
Adam looked annoyed, but knew there was nothing he could do against this stranger. For now he felt it was best if he guided the man towards what he wanted, without putting up a fight. With there being four pieces of the stone left still, he still had time to redeem things. For now he felt his best shot at saving everyone was through compliance.
"So are we going to the next graveyard?"
Adam asked, trying to quickly get done with things, he hoped "Floch" would leave as soon as possible.
"No, we still have to ask if we can borrow it. It's only right to ask, isn't it?
The town they were at right now was the one closest to Blackheart, Marino.
Adam knew that he was lying, but he had no way to stop the man from going, so instead he went along hoping to resolve things peacefully.
Arriving at the gate Floch was the first on to speak.
"Hello, is anyone there?"
Behind the barrier an old man appeared, seemingly the one in charge of the gate.
"Who the hell are yo... oh, wait Father Adam. I'm sorry I didn't see you there."
After this without much thinking the man opened the gates and the two figures walked in.
"It's so good to see you again Father Adam, to what do we owe the pleasure today?"
Adam wanted to speak, but before he could Floch spoke up.
"We noticed there were a few problems with our warding stone back in Blackheart so we were just hoping to see if yours was in order."
'What a liar you already have the stone.'
Adam still didn't understand why they needed to be here, as Floch's objective should have already been done here.
"I'll ask the mayor, but since Father Adam has the key I don't think our input is really needed."
"Oh, we were merely hoping to follow courtesy."
The man soon departed, while leaving the two alone by the towns entrance.
"What's your play here? Are you trying to kill everyone here with the stone. You know full well that normal people can't stay near it for more than an hour."
Floch gave Adam a reassuring look while shaking his head.
"Of course not, my dear Adam. That would be in bad taste I will do no such thing."
Soon the man came back with a chubby man behind him.
"You can go ahead with the inspection."
"Oh thank you very much. Actually we didn't come empty handed, we have a present that we'd like to give to the whole town."
The mayor looked pleased upon hearing this, as gifts were always a good thing. He also didn't carry an ounce of suspicion as he knew Adam was an upright man, and the man next to him also looked to be friendly.
"We always welcome gifts, as expected from someone of Father Adam's standing truly a servant of god."
Adam was suspicious as he knew that the only thing with them was the very warding stone they had said they wanted to check out.
"Sir mayor, do you happen to have any mass announcer in your town, like a large speaker that everyone could hear."
"We do, but why?"
Floch smiled at the mayor in a reassuring way and answered.
"Our present is very special so I'd be happy if everyone could come together to receive it.
"That is..."
The mayor was starting to look more and more unsure, as calling the whole town together felt like too much. But then thinking about Father Adam he changed his mind.
'If people don't like it, I could just blame it on Adam. Though he has been nice to us he's a bit too popular for my liking.'
"Actually, I suppose it's fine, after all Father Adam is a very noble person I'm sure everyone will be happy."
Before long they were all at the broadcasting station, ready to go forth with the announcement.
The one to speak in the announcement was none other than the mayor.
"People of Marino, this is your mayor Gustavo speaking, our dear friend Father Adam from Blackheart has come to visit our town. He had brought a gift of great magnitude and would like to showcase it to everyone. As such I would be happy if everyone could gather in the town square in about 15 minutes. Thank you very much."
With the speech done there was nothing more to do than wait for people to arrive at the town square.
As Adam and the others arrived at the square there were already a noticeable amount of people there.
The minutes passed and it was time for the promised time.
"It seems not everyone showed up."
Floch said in a disappointed tone, hearing this the mayor spoke up trying to cheer him up.
"Well... some people have jobs they can't step away from."
"Well that's fine it's their loss."
With all the people gathered Floch stepped forward and patted Adam on the shoulder. After he spoke up with a voice loud enough for everyone to hear.
"People of Marino, today me and my friend Adam have come here to deliver you a gift of unprecedented magnitude."
The crowd started murmuring hearing this as they had no idea what the gift could possibly be.
"Most people live with uncertainty of life, not knowing what might happen tomorrow. And because of this many worry whether they'll be fired tomorrow, be scolded in school or if the they'll ever find the love of their lives, ect."
The crowd became silent as most people couldn't even imagine where this was going.
"So with all that said, what we'd like to offer anyone is a way to say goodbye to these uncertainties."
Many in the crowd became interested, but some were starting to become sceptical. Even the mayor could feel that something was amiss.
'Wait, who is this guy? Why haven't I heard Adam speak at all since they arrived?'
"There is a simple way to escape from uncertainties, it's to know the future."
The crowd suddenly became quiet as the sky became coated in a crimson red color.
"With that I suggest you find your closest loved ones, you have a minute for your final goodbyes."
After he said this everyone fully understood what the man was trying to get at. Following this people started to run away in all directions.
Suddenly a loud sound echoes throughout the whole town one of glass breaking. The barrier was down.
By this point Adam fully understood that Floch had no intention of leaving these people alive.
He tried jumping at Floch in an attempt to resist, but found himself incapable of moving his body.
'Was it when he patted me on the shoulder?'
In that moment the crimson red sky suddenly started raining, and droplets of blood came raining down.
Looking at the clock of the town square Floch was counting the seconds till a voice came from behind him. It was the voice of the mayor who had not yet fled.
"Why are you doing this?!"
Floch knew that he didn't need to answer this question as the one minute was almost up, but still decided to humor the chubby mayor.
"Why? Simple really, because I wanted to. It gives me entertainment, I think that's reason enough."
The mayor was horrified hearing this.
"Do human lives really mean so little to you?"
Floch's ears perked up hearing the mayors statement, and in the next moment he fell to the ground laughing.
"Human lives? Hahahahaha. Seriously, no matter how many times I hear this one it always cracks me up, it's such a classic."
Looking up at the clock once again he could see that the minute has passed.
"It seems your time is up!"
In the next moment he snapped his fingers.
At that very moment all citizens of Marino exploded into confetti. If one didn't know they were looking at a massacre, they might be tempted to think they were at a festival with the amount of confettis everywhere, even the bodies disappeared.
Adam found himself able to control his body once again, but instead of attacking Floch he just stood there, unable to move.
Seeing this Floch shook his head and looked upon Adam.
"This one's a goner, no matter this was the plan from the beginning."
In the next moment he snapped his fingers once again. Afterwards an unpiercable darkness descended upon Marino swallowing the whole town whole.