MARVEL: BUYING GODHOOD

As soon as I said that, Diablo looked at the map again.

“Is that the reason you wanted three thousand people, my Lord?”

“Yeah… kind of.”

I tapped Klaue’s base with my finger.

“Think about it. If these people ambush him on the road and something goes wrong, they might kill him before we learn where the Vibranium is hidden. If that happens, we’ve gained nothing.”

Diablo listened without interrupting.

“But if we attack his base instead, it’ll be different. His guards will be too busy dealing with thousands of angry villagers. While they’re distracted, we go straight for Klaue. Once we have him, we can make him tell us where the Vibranium is.”

Diablo studied the map for another moment before giving a small nod.

“I agree, my Lord.”

With that settled, the tent fell silent.

I leaned back in my chair, absentmindedly staring at one corner of the canvas wall while my thoughts wandered.

Maybe I should have bought a few books.

Between training, studying and planning, I never really had anything to do during the quiet hours.

Reading might not be a bad way to pass the time.

Without realizing it, the hours slipped away.

“It is half past midnight, my Lord,” Diablo said.

I glanced at my watch.

It was 12:30 A.M.

Diablo placed a folded set of black clothing on the table along with a plain black mask.

“Black clothing will make us less noticeable in the dark.”

I silently changed into the gear before following him outside.

We didn’t take a vehicle, nor did we bring anyone else with us.

The fewer people involved, the lower the chance of making a mistake.

The village wasn’t what I had imagined.

For some reason, I’d expected mud houses with straw roofs.

Instead, most of the homes were built from cement.

They were old and weathered, with cracked walls and faded paint, but they were still solid buildings.

Diablo led me through the narrow streets before stopping in front of a two-storey house.

Unlike the others, this one was in much better condition.

The paint looked newer, the walls had almost no cracks, and it was obvious the owner was better off than the rest of the village.

“The village leader,” Diablo whispered.

He carefully removed the screws from one of the wooden windows before lifting it free.

We climbed inside without making a sound.

The leader was asleep beside his family.

Diablo first soaked a cloth with a clear liquid before holding it over the faces of his wife and children.

Their breathing steadied as they slipped into a deeper sleep.

Only then did I approach the village leader.

I rested my hand on his forehead and activated the curse.

The process only lasted a few seconds before it was complete.

Satisfied, I gave his shoulder a light shake.

His eyes slowly opened, still clouded with sleep.

For a brief moment, he looked around in confusion, trying to understand why he had been woken in the middle of the night.

Then his instincts kicked in.

His hand shot beneath the pillow, but before he could pull out whatever was hidden there, Diablo caught his wrist and pinned it firmly against the bed.

The man went completely still.

His gaze lingered on his sleeping wife and children before returning to us, fear replacing the confusion in his eyes.

Without a word, he understood the situation.

“Listen carefully,” I said quietly.

“Tomorrow night, you’ll gather every person in your village who can fight. You’ll bring every weapon you have and attack this location.”

I unfolded the map and pointed at Klaue’s base.

“If you refuse, I’ll return tomorrow night the same way I entered tonight. The first people I’ll kill will be your family.”

The colour drained from his face.

“And don’t even think about warning anyone.”

I activated the curse.

The man screamed as unbearable pain spread through his body.

He collapsed onto the floor, shaking violently until I released it a few seconds later.

I crouched beside him.

“That was only a warning. Betray us, and you’ll experience something far worse before you die.”

Leaving him gasping on the floor, Diablo and I quietly slipped back through the window.

That was only the beginning.

Before sunrise, we repeated the same process four more times.

Each village had its own leader, its own home, and its own family sleeping peacefully inside.

Every time, Diablo quietly put the family into a deeper sleep, I placed the curse on the leader, and they all received the same choice.

Tomorrow night, lead your people against Klaue…

or your family dies.

By the time we returned to our camp, the eastern horizon was just beginning to brighten.

I pulled off my mask and let out a long breath.

“Do you think they’ll actually do it?”

Diablo removed his gloves before answering.

“They will, my Lord. The pain from your curse isn’t something an ordinary person can endure. Malik endured it because he had years of training and discipline. These men have neither.”

He looked toward the distant villages.

“I believe there will be even more people at Klaue’s base tomorrow night than we originally expected.”

As dawn broke over the horizon, Diablo left the camp to keep tabs on the villages while I remained behind.

He returned around noon, his expression as calm as ever.

“My Lord they’ve already begun.”

I looked up.

“What happened?”

“Some of the village leaders kidnapped children from their own villages and blamed Klaue’s men. Others killed a few of their own people and spread the same story. That was enough to unite everyone.”

For a few seconds, I didn’t know what to say.

“…That’s brutal.”

“It is,” Diablo replied.

“But it achieved the result they wanted.”

I leaned back in my chair, letting out a quiet sigh.

I hadn’t expected them to go that far.

I’d only given them a target.

Everything else…

they had decided on their own.

By the afternoon, every nearby village had joined them.

Neither Diablo nor I had told them to work together, yet they did it anyway.

Rumours spread from one village to another until what had begun as five villages became something much larger.

By seven in the evening, the entire area surrounding Klaue’s base was filled with people.

Standing on a nearby hill, I looked through my binoculars and couldn’t believe what I was seeing.

“There has to be over four thousand people…”

More than half of them carried guns.

Some carried old hunting rifles, others carried battered assault rifles, while the rest held machetes, axes, and whatever weapons they could find.

I quietly looked toward the sky.

I just hope all of you find a place in hell.

Diablo and I put on the same black clothing and masks we’d worn the previous night.

Once we were ready, Diablo turned toward the men we’d brought from New York.

“Return to New York.”

Without asking a single question, they nodded and left.

There was no reason for them to remain here.

The only people who could identify me were the five village leaders I’d placed under my curse, and even they knew almost nothing.

As far as they were concerned, someone had simply given them a chance to take revenge on Klaue.

They didn’t know my identity or what my real objective was.

By then, Klaue’s guards had already noticed the thousands of villagers surrounding the compound.

Several warning shots rang through the air as they fired into the sky, hoping to scare the crowd away.

It didn’t work.

Even they knew they couldn’t stop what was coming.

There were only fifty-eight armed men inside the base.

With every guard focused on the crowd gathering outside, Diablo looked at me and gave a slight nod.

Without saying a word, we slipped around the back of the compound and headed toward Klaue’s emergency escape route.