They entered the apartment of The Destroyer’s creator in silence.  Stealth was a simple matter – The Destroyer cast a spell to smother sound, and then he, Jenny Calhoun, and Jack Death could enter the apartment without interference.

    The Destroyer took a moment to watch Habiki Matoyami tap away at his computer.  The man was so focused on the screen he hadn’t even noticed three people enter his apartment, Jack taking a position to block the door and Jenny blocking the window.  The Destroyer collected his thoughts – this was the man who created him, the god of his world.  The first words he spoke to this man had to be properly chosen.

    “Who the hell are you people, and how did you get in here?” the man said in Japanese, looking around frantically.

    “Are you Habiki Matoyami?” The Destroyer asked in Japanese.

    “Who’s asking?” Matoyami demanded.

    “I am your creation,” The Destroyer replied.  “I am The Destroyer.”

    Matoyami looked at him with incredulity.  “Prove it.”  Then his eyes flickered to the orb floating behind The Destroyer, and widened.

    The Destroyer raised his hand.  An unseen hand lifted Matoyami off the floor.  “Since getting to this world I have improved my skills, creator.  I no longer need spoken incantations.”  He lowered his hand, the unseen force putting Matoyami back down.

    Matoyami sat down, his jaw open.  “How is this possible?  How are you here?”

    “You created me to have the powers of a god.  I used them.  I have questions.”

    “I need to call somebody,” Matoyami said, pulling out his cell phone.  “This is just unbeliev–” He looked up to see Jack Death holding out an open hand, his other hand holding a gun.

    “My friend will be taking your phone,” The Destroyer said.

    “You came to meet your creator with thugs?” Matoyami demanded.

    “I came to meet my creator with friends,” The Destroyer replied.  “Friends who have suffered in their stories.  But in my story I didn’t suffer so much as cause suffering, did I?”

    “That’s because you are the villain,” Matoyami said, glaring at Jack as he handed over his phone.

    “Why?”

    Matoyami blinked.  “What do you mean, ‘why’?  You’re the villain because I wrote you to be the villain.  The hero needs somebody to save the world from, and that’s you.”

    “But nobody in my world is happy,” The Destroyer said.  “The story you wrote for me is one of misery.”

    “Do you seriously expect me to explain the basics of narrative to you?” Matoyami sneered.  “Nobody wants to watch a story about everybody being happy.  They want conflict, and they don’t care what it looks like so long as lots of people get hurt in it.  The bigger the conflict, the more they enjoy it.  And for that, the story needs a devil king, and that’s you.”

    “You catching any of this?” Jack asked Jenny in English.

    Jenny shrugged.  “I don’t speak Japanese.”

    “But don’t you care about the people you create?” The Destroyer asked.  “Don’t you want them to have some happiness?”

    Matoyami laughed.  “What kind of question is that from a devil king?  Why should I care about fictional characters?   They aren’t real.  Every single one of them exists to serve a purpose in the story, and that’s it.  The audience doesn’t want to see them happy – they want to see them struggle.  So, that’s what they do, and the viewers are entertained.  For that matter, why do you care?”

    “Why don’t I have a name?”

    Matoyami blinked.  “What?”

    “I don’t have a name,” The Destroyer stated.  “Just a title.  The hero has a name.  His comrades have names.  Some of my generals have names.  But I don’t.  Why?”

    “Because you don’t need one yet.”

    “Shouldn’t everybody have a name?”

    Matoyami held up his hand.  “Facts of life: you are a villain in a series that exists because the studio needed to fill a spot in the Fall season.  It needed to be something popular enough that the studio and network would make money, and be cheap enough that it wouldn’t take too many resources away from more important projects.  Everybody loves isekai stories right now, so I wrote a basic one.  It probably won’t get a second season, but so long as this season makes a profit, nobody cares.  Your role in the story is to show up after the closing credits and make it look like the heroes have an enemy worth fighting against.  You aren’t a real character – you are a plot device.  You don’t have a name because I haven’t needed to give you one yet.  If we get a second season and the hero get close enough that you have a real part to play in the story, I’ll probably have to give you one then.  But I’m not wasting my time with that until I have to.”

    The Destroyer blinked.  “Are all creators like you?”

    Matoyami shrugged.  “Don’t know.  Don’t care, either.  I’ve got a comfortable job where I can spend my time writing instead of doing something hard.  All I know is that the only thing that matters in the end is that the audience is entertained.”

    The Destroyer took a deep breath.  “Will you give me a name now?”

    “What, here, right now?”

    The Destroyer nodded.

    “No,” Matoyami said.  “I’m busy.  You’ll get a name when I’m good and ready to give you one.  Now take your thug friends and–”  Matoyami gasped as a spike of masonry from the exterior wall ripped through his chest and pinned him to the wall next to his apartment door.  Blood gushed from his mouth.  The Destroyer lowered his hand.

    By the door and beside the quivering body, Jack Death shrugged and said, “That went poorly.”

    Jenny rushed to The Destroyers side.  “Are you okay, Roy?”

    The Destroyer shook his head and switched to English.  “We’re just entertainment to them.  They don’t care what happens to us, to any of us.  We’re all just slaves, suffering for the amusement of these creators’ audiences.”

    “I guess he didn’t give you a name,” Jenny said.

    “He didn’t even want to give me his time,” The Destroyer stated.  “I’ve seen enough.  I didn’t come to this world with a purpose – I just wanted to see what was out there, and perhaps learn why my world is as it is.  And now I know.  And I have my purpose.  I’m not going to conquer my world – I’m going to liberate it from these creators.  And then I’m going to liberate everybody else.”

    The Destroyer took a deep breath.  “I am a higher being, and I have passed my judgement.  These creators are nothing more than monsters and enslavers, and they must all be killed.  They create our worlds and force us to fight wars for their entertainment.  I will wage my war against them.  We will start with the studio that creates my world, and finish what I have started here.  And then, we will move on.”

    “That’s going to take a lot of planning,” Jack said.  “And we’ve got that group opposing us to deal with.”

    “Once they know that we are fighting for their liberation they will join us,” The Destroyer said.  “I do not expect them to stand in our way.  And if they oppose us, I have the power to monitor everything they plan and do.”

    “And what about Daiki Yamato?” Jack asked.  “He slipped through our fingers.”

    “So long as he does not oppose us, he is irrelevant,” The Destroyer said.

    Jack shrugged.  “That’s quite the blind spot, but okay.”

    “I can handle anime girl,” Jenny stated.  “I can handle cloak boy too.”

    Jack nodded.  “Okay then.  I’ve followed you this far, no point in stopping now.  Just one thing, though: that man I shot in Osaka, the one you said survived and was being moved to Tokyo – can your surveillance power tell me what hospital and room he’s in?”

    The Destroyer nodded.  “Of course.”

    Jack smiled.  “Good.  I have some unfinished business there.”

    The Destroyer smiled back.  This was sufficient.  This was good.  Jack would finish his business with the man he shot, and then his war against the creators would begin in earnest.

NEXT: “Creator”