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The other men in this group understood. They were all going through the same thing. His brothers of destruction.

They had to hold these meetings in secret, though. It would be too embarrassing if any other members of Abolish discovered what they were doing here. Hell, even most of their own reapers didn't know--or they thought it was for some purpose other than encouragement and support. Whenever one of the boys expected an outsider to show up, that was usually when they broke out the playing cards and alcohol.

They couldn't show weakness. They all knew that entirely too well by now. If nothing else, destruction users had to have the appearance of strength, of self-certainty.

Because oftentimes, that was simply how destruction users were.

Or at least, that was Caster's view of it. Whether or not servant abilities were in some way linked to the psychology of the servant--that was a matter of debate for the more academic among them. Caster believed so, but he most certainly had to acknowledge that there were outliers.

Which was what these men were. Outliers.

Destruction users were supposed to be more simple-minded. Not "dumb," necessarily, but easier to please, at least. Not so ambitious or self-reflective. They were supposed to revel in their destruction, in their power.

But this group wanted more. They always had. When it came down to it, one might call that the source of all human unhappiness. The desire for that which they could not have.

Even now, there were those among them who did not believe it was hopeless. Guys like Paulie over there, still so blissfully young and inexperienced.

"I'm just saying, there has to be more to this power than we know. We just need someone who's, like, super ultra smart to help us analyze it and discover its hidden depths."