Everyone stood in a circle, with a large drawn map in the middle of the floor.
Moxxen said to everyone, "The raid location is known to us, but not to Bain and his group, so we will explain the foundations of it. The place is a giant abandoned grey empty mansion with a bunch of pillars. There are 3 ways to get inside of the house, in which we will split up in 3 groups. I will lead one group, Bain will lead a group, and Caleb will lead a group.
Caleb raised his hand with an arrogant smile, "If you fuck up, you get left behind, simple. I don't have time for strays."
Caleb had ash blonde hair, greenish blue eyes, he was wearing a backwards white hat, he was shirtless, wearing skinny jeans, wearing red and white shoes, and wore red gloves.
Caleb looked at Sho, and said, "Don't tell me this class Z is going with us? Haha, this is a joke right?"
Sho replied, "I'm gonna kill you when I get the chance, bastard."
"Communications threats!!! Ohhhhh! He CANNOT be trusted! Haha, let's kick him from our party!"
"I fucking dare you!"
Sho tried to attack Caleb, but Bebop, Bain, and Gideon held Sho back.
Bebop exclaimed to Sho, "No, big brother!"
Bain said, "It isn't worth it, not now. Right now..we are working with them."
Sho shook everyone off of him, saying, "To hell with them!"
Caleb mocked, "Aww, are you gonna cry? Are you gonna cry to mommy and daddy-?"
Sho dashed over to Caleb and punched him in the face.
Caleb went flying, and he fell through a table.
Caleb spit to the side, saying, "You wanna fight, class Z?!"
Moxxen cleared his throat, "Anyway, like I was saying earlier-."
"YOU'RE JUST GONNA IGNORE WHAT HAPPENED, MOXXEN?!"
"You deserved it, honestly."
Other people around whispered:
"Caleb got knocked back by a class Z Fighter…"
"Serves him right."
"That Sho kid must have had a couple of fights on earth."
"He went to my school. He was always like this."
"Are we actually going to do a raid with a class Z?"
"He has anger problems."
"We can't really trust him, can we?"
Moxxen continued to talk to everyone again, and Bain whispered to Sho, "I know how things can get with you, but you need to learn self control."
Sho answered, "You're tellin' me what to do?"
"Haha, no. Just saying, so please keep it in mind. Especially in the tower. Reckless actions could lead to certain death."
"Whatever."
"Also.."
"Ah?"
"I can give you spare clothes. Yours are covered in blood. I could've gave you clothes earlier, but I had forgotten up until now, I had many things on my mind."
"I don't need your charity."
"With an outfit like that, it'll stink up, and you'll get cold. And die."
"Things that I'm used to."
"But do you want to keep experiencing it..?"
Sho looked at Bain, and started to think about all the times he had slept outside with dirty clothes sometimes covered with dirt and blood, or even both on some days. His lips would be chapped, and his body would be shivering, with his stomach growling.
Sho said to Bain, "Give it here. Hurry up."
Bain lifted his wrist halfway upwards, and he tapped it, showing the projection.
He said, "I can store any items I buy or receive and place them in the 'Inventory' section on your watch. All the belongings I came to the tower with are in your inventory."
Sho lifted up his wrist halfway, and tapped the watch. It showed his stats and menu options on the projection, and Sho tapped where it said, "Inventory". He looked through the inventory, and it showed nothing.
"What the.."
Bain said, "The clothing you arrived in and your phone must be back at the hospital you came from, since the nurses tended to you. Or maybe you could've been robbed while you were knocked out. Who knows."
"You say that shit so calmly, like it's not a problem at all."
"I get that a lot. I don't like worrying, it depletes my mood to attend battle, and lowers my confidence. I don't need that for myself."
Sho thought, 'This fool is annoying, but level headed. That's the only thing I can give him. Everyone else I've met so far..isn't like him.'
Bain made an outfit appear in his right hand, and it was a black, red, and white hoodie, with black jeans, with red, black, and white shoes.
Bain handed them to Sho, saying, "Here you go. I bought these items from a merchant, you can use very small points to buy clothing, food, and other things."
"Don't say items, they're clothing."
"Anything solid besides humans that is an object or can be held is an item."
"I get it!"
Sho started to strip, and he began to change into the clothes Bain gave him, right in front of everyone.
Gideon covered Bebop's eyes, saying, "Braaaaave."
Everyone looked at Sho, and said to each other:
"Doesn't he have manners?"
"He's not bothered one bit."
"What's up with this guy?"
Caleb exclaimed,"Red flags! Red flags everywhere! ONE, Bain didn't hear a word you said, he was too busy giving exposition to that weakling! And second, this class Z rat is changing in front of us! How can we work with peasants like this?"
Moxxen said, "Caleb, calm down."
Bain smirked, "You think I wasn't listening in on everything? I'm good at multitasking, I wasn't the head of a school club for no reason. The plan that was explained by Moxxen is to split up in three groups going in different sections of the mansion. We'll clear out the small threats in the hallways, and we'll all meet up in the middle where the ball room is, which is where the Minotaur and the magic crystals will be. Happy?"
The people around gasped, saying:
"That's Bain for you."
"He was listening to the plan and giving exposition to Sho at the same time? Amazing!"
Bain said, "All of these compliments, I shall remain humble."
Gideon slid up behind Bain, saying, "Ooooooh? Seems like you really really really are enjoying ittttt. Aren't you, Baiiiiiiin?"
Bain replied, "Hmph. I remain humble."
"Hohhh? But you're blushing! I totally see it!"
"You see nothing!"
"Hm? But my eyes are fine. Is there something you see that I don't? Is something wrong with me?"
Sho finished getting dressed, saying, "The hell are you guys looking at?"
Bright and Yanlin were standing behind Sho, just watching.
Bright said, "Odd behavior."
Yanlin added, "This has gotten interesting..haha..I hope no one looks over at me..how's my looks?"
"Terrible."
"Thank you..Bright."
"Welcome'."
Bain thought, 'Sho did all of that like he was used to being exposed. Even though his privates didn't show, it was still odd.'
Moxxen finally said, "Now then, I'd like to say good luck to everyone. We've trained to get stronger, and even invited some strong help. We got this. Right?"
Everyone besides Sho said, "Right!"
Bain then said to everyone, "We should let our confidence merge with our mentality. If we go in with the right one, then our chances of winning are incredible."
Fighters said:
"Such wisdom!"
"Amazing quote!"
"I'm about to cry! Someone hold me!"
Moxxen exclaimed, "Let's go! We will go on the horses!"
Sho asked, "Horses?"
Yanlin answered Sho, "You…can buy any kind of transport here from the merchants with Fighter points. Horses are the cheapest..and best solution for starting off.."
"…"
Bebop was tugging at Sho's leg, saying, "Big brother..can you stick with me?"
Sho looked at her, then looked at Moxxen, "Oi, old man. We're not taking this brat along, are we?"
Moxxen answered, "We are taking her with us. Maybe it will motivate her to use her powers. She's scared of them. And it's too dangerous to leave her alone."
"Tch…"
Gideon bunny hopped to Sho, smiling, "Don't worry, Sho! She'll be fine! She's got ussssss protecting her!"
Sho responded, "…"
At that moment, as everyone was about to leave, Caleb stood in the middle of the room, saying, "Sho!"
Sho looked at Caleb.
Caleb continued, "I challenge you to a duel! Fight me! Now!"
"Murder is allowed," Sho said as he was about to jump at Caleb.
But as soon as Caleb was about to jump forward, Gideon flew in above Caleb, grabbed his face, and smashed it into the floor, making the room rumble.
Sho exclaimed, "Oi, psycho! Why are you interrupting my fight?!"
Gideon lifted Caleb's head up, smiling menacingly, "Hiii…if you try and fight my friend again..I'll shred youuuu..hehehe.."
That scared Caleb, and he apologized, "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"
Moxxen sighed, "Can the fighting and discord and please come to an end?"
Caleb put a thumbs up, "I think my character development starts here..my bad."
Minutes later, everyone was riding on horses, passing by cars, riding on the sidewalks and avoiding other Fighters.
Sho was riding on the same horse as Bain, with Bebop holding onto Sho's back.
Sho thought, 'This little girl is annoyingly clingy. Why is she doing this? So far..this tower has been rough as hell. Too much has happened within the day already, and now we're about to do a raid. I have a butter knife, so I'll do what I can to raise my level.'
Bain said to Sho, "In some raids, there will be weaker monsters of humanoid beings you'll encounter before facing off against the real target. This raid isn't too difficult for us, so you should be able to get some free kills and points here. But you won't be able to access the points until the entire raid is finished."
Sho responded, "…"
'It's making more damn sense. Also..I'm getting that feeling..like we're being followed.'
[Target location]
(12 minutes later)
[Abandoned mansion]
Different groups of Fighters were walking into different sections of the house, which was in the middle of nowhere.
Sho was in a group with Bain, Bebop, Yanlin, and three other Fighters who were in Moxxen's guild.
They all walked into the house, and they were in a gigantic hallway with large pillars all over the place. It was pretty empty inside, and really dusty.
They walked through, and Sho thought, 'Silent. Like the nights I dreamed I've dreamed of spending on earth. Where the fuck are the enemies?'
Bain pulled out his electric blue sword, "Stay vigilant. Anything could appear at a moment's notice."
Yanlin was holding a giant hammer, and it had a pink aura coming off the top of it. She was looking left to the right nervously.
Bebop was walking beside Sho closely.
Sho thought again, 'This brat is still sticking to me. She'll hinder me from fighting if this keeps the hell up.'
Bebop said, "Big brother..I'm scared.."
Sho looked at Bebop, and didn't say a word.
Suddenly, the roof started to crumble, and figures were leaping down from it.
A Fighter exclaimed, "Above us!"
Bain responded, "Attack while they are falling! Don't let them set their feet down!"
"Understood!"
There were green orcs with bones for clothing, they had black eyes, and long sharp teeth.
Yanlin jumped with her hammer, spun it around while looking nervous, and she swung her hammer once really hard, and bashed a few orcs far away with it, smacking them against the walls, killing them.
Yanlin ezclaimed, "E-Eight..down!"
Bain was dashing off multiple orcs in the air, as he allowed his sword to cut them all in half, making blue lights flash from his sword from each attack.
Bain twisted in the air with his sword, cutting more orcs down with his sword extended outward.
Bain said, "Ten down!"
Bain landed on the floor, and he watched the other Fighters fight the orcs with their weapons and powers.
The others yeller:
"Two down!"
"Three down!"
"One down! No, two down! No, three down! FOUR DOWN! I'm going crazy! I'm the best!"
Bain saw orcs coming from underground, and he thought, 'Below us?!'
He rolled to the right, stuck his sword out to some rubble, and the rubble started to form into a giant glowing blue bullet.
Bain jumped up, pointed his fingers like a gun at the orcs, saying, "Gun gun."
He shot it out, and it decimated a bunch of orcs into smithereens.
BTOOM!
Smoke rushed everywhere, and Bain landed on the floor to take care of some more orcs, then, he used his sword to make some rubble cover Bebop to keep her safe.
Sho was fighting three orcs at once. Sho was holding the arms of two of them, while one orc had Sho's foot in his mouth, and Sho had his butterknife in his mouth.
'I won't die here to these demons. Fuck that..'
Sho used all of his strength to twist, and he broke free.
The orcs had weapons made of sharp bones, like sharp bone swords. All three orcs smashed the bones near Sho, and Sho jumped out of the way, dodging the destruction.
Sho thought, 'They pack a punch..gotta kill them.'
Sho started to spin his butterknife around, and went to fight. The orbs grumbled, and attacked as well.
They all swung at Sho, and Sho dodged the attacks, ducking and leaning left and right, the swings from the orcs were fast, but Sho could handle it.
'I've fought many assholes who used weapons, this is on the same level as those guys. I can't hold back, I gotta really fight.'
Sho ducked one last time, and dashed forward, stabbing an orb through the head with his knife. The other arc charged at Sho, and swung at him.
Sho ducked again, and the orc accidentally took the other orc's head clean off.
'Dumbasses!' Sho thinks as he gets down low to pick up the orc head.
The other orcs came to attack, but Sho held up the orc head and lifted it in front of the other orcs.
The orcs saw the head, and stopped attacking, grumbling.
Sho thought again, 'That's it!'
As the orcs were distracted, Sho would lower the orc head, and swung his butter knife around, dash around, and used his blade to slit the throats of the orcs, killing them one by one with blood all over the place.
He would grin constantly as he kept putting the orc head up, jumped, moved the head away, and stabbed his butterknife down the heads of the orcs.
'Foolish demons. Fuck you.'
Bain watched, thinking, 'He may be reckless, but he's smart..'
Bain exclaimed, "Good thinking, Sho!"
Sho was too busy jumping around slitting necks, surrounded by orc bodies.
Immediately, taller orcs would come from the darkness, and they would rip the giant 60 foot long pillars away from its standing, and swing them around at Sho and the others.
Bain exclaimed, "Get down!"
The 60 foot thick pillars were being swung back and forth fast; Sho, Bain, Yanlin, and the others jumped over the pillars, and even ducked when it swung their way, jumping at the same time.
Sho thought, 'How the hell..'
Bain thought, 'I could destroy the pillars with my sword, but it would risk Bebop getting in my line of fire due to her position, also the others would get in my line of fire. The orcs have placed themselves in different locations, if I attack one, I'll be hit by another orc with the pillars.'
One Fighter exclaimed, "How are we gonna stop them?!"
Bain replied, "Sho knows!"
Sho looked at Bain, replying, "What?"
"You know what to do!"
Sho thought, 'This guy..putting his trust in someone like me. What's wrong with him? Fuck it. Also..I think I know what he means. What I was doing earlier..'
Bebop was watching everything from a little hole in her rubble wall, and smiled, "Big brother is really strong.."
Sho ran forward with the head of an orc, and he was constantly jumping over the swinging pillars, and he ducked under them too.
The other Fighters said:
"He's fighting like he's a class A Fighter!"
"His movements are incredible!"
Sho jumped, and he started running on one of the pillars, and once it was moved by the orc, Sho jumped up and threw the orc head at one of the orcs, and it hit the floor in front of them.
Bain, Yanlin, and the other Fighter were holding orc heads as well, and threw it at the orcs.
That made the orcs stop to mourn over the head, then they were killed easily.
Yanlin smashed an orc flat with her hammer, cracking the ground. Bain sliced a orc into a hundred pieces, Sho stabbed his butterknife through the head of the orc, splattering blood to the right.
All the orcs were dead, and it was silent.
Bain destroyed the rubble that was protecting Bebop, and she came out running, headed straight towards Sho.
"You're so cool!"
Bebop locked onto Sho's leg, and Sho said, "Let go of me, brat! It's not a damn toy!"
Bain chuckled, "You did good, Sho. Good thinking."
Sho looked away, "Tch. It was nothing. Don't compliment me, nerd."
"Good work."
"DID YOU HEAR WHAT THE HELL I SAID, DUMBASS!"
"Embrace it, you deserved it."
"…"
Sho thought, 'Deserved it..huh?'
Sho could hear fighting in the other sections of the house.
Then Bain said, "Let's keep going, we're almost there."
Yanlin said to Sho, "Good job..Sho."
"Pfft. It was nothing, as I said."
"But it was something.."
"…"
In another hallway, Moxxen, Gideon, and some other Fighters were fighting against some orcs as well, but Gideon was stealing kills from everyone.
Gideon was laughing tremendously as he dashed around the area with his dragon hand, slicing up all the ocrs into pieces, punching them, ripping their limbs off, and smashing them into the ground.
Gideon laughed, "HAHAHAHAHAHA! Look at all this blooooood! This is fun!"
The Fighters said:
"Oi! Save some for us, crazy bastard!"
"Yeah!"
"Stop laughing too! It's creeping me out!"
Gideon responded, "Hmm? But it's not creeping ME out? Is there something wrong with me? Huuuuuh??"
Moxxen chuckled, "Well, I have no objections against this at all. Good work, I guess, Gideon."
Gideon smiled, "Thanks! Thanks! Thanks! Thank you! Thank you!"
In another hallway, Caleb, Bright, and some other Fighters fought some tall orcs.
Bright was assisting the other Fighters, using his flash ability to blind some orcs temporarily, and the other Fighters would jump in and use their glowing weapons to kill the orcs.
The Fighters exclaimed:
"Thanks for the assist, Bright!"
"I owe you one, Bright!"
"Good looking out, Bright!"
Bright replied, "Welcome'."
Bright tried to help Caleb, who was using a glowing orange and yellow shield with spikes on it to ram orcs all over the place, but Caleb shoved Bright away, saying, "Character development reversed, I don't need your help! Back off!"
Bright put his hand towards Caleb, pretending like he was going to flash him.
Caleb cowered down, "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Character development reversed again, I'm sorry! I'll be nice!"
Bright replied, "Good."
10 minutes passed, and everyone was mowing over orcs, including Sho.
Then, they all met up at a large set of doors.
Moxxen said, "This is where the Minotaur is. Good work to all of you for making it up here.
Bain added, "Good work to you too. The Minotaur is right behind this door."
Bebop held onto Sho, saying to him, "I'm scared…"
Sho didn't say anything.
Gideon exclaimed, "I can't wait! Let's go in! Let's go in!"
Caleb added, "Yeah, let's hurry up and go the hell in!"
Sho thought, 'A Minotaur is behind these doors..something I have to watch.'
Gideon couldn't wait any longer, so he immediately barged inside, busting the doors open.
Bain and Moxxen said, "Gideon!"
Sho said, "That fool!"
They all stormed into the room, and they all gasped, stopping in motion.
Sho said, "What..?"
Moxxen added, "Impossible.."
Caleb exclaimed, "What kind of sick joke is this?! Huh?!"
Bain implied, "This is surely surprising."
Yanlin and Bright stood side by side, shocked as well.
Gideon frowned, "Ahhh man! No fair!"
There was a 50 foot tall Minotaur, and he had a large bloody hole in his chest. The Minotaur was coughing out blood, falling to his knees, spilling red liquid all over the floors, sounding like he was pouring out a bucket of water on concrete.
The Minotaur died, and he hit the floor. There were magic crystals around the large empty grey room as well.
The Fighters said:
"Someone already beat the Minotaur?!"
"Impossible! They would have to take down the orcs first, and we already did that!"
"Did they manage to find an undiscovered entrance or secret passageway?"
"That means no one went ahead of us!"
"Maybe someone followed us!"
Bain thinks, 'Someone following us?'
Sho thought, 'I'm about to help myself to these fucking magic crystals. I need to get stronger.'
Sho was walking to some magic crystals, and grabbed some.
He asked Bain, "Oi, nerd. How do I store things in my inventory?"
Bain answered, "Look at your items, and say 'store'. But it has to be in your hands in order for it to work."
Sho looked at the magic crystals he was holding, saying, "Store."
The magic crystals vanished, going into Sho's inventory.
A Fighter scoffed at Sho, "EVEN WITH EVERYTHING THAT'S GOING ON, YOU'RE WORRIED ABOUT MAGIC CRYSTALS?!"
"Fuck off or I'll kill you."
"Yes sir."
Bebop walked up to Sho, tugging his arm slightly, "I'm scared..big brother.."
Sho asked her, "Why do you keep saying that to me like I care?"
"Please.."
"Please what?"
"I'm really..scared.."
Sho thought, 'What's up with this brat?'
Out of nowhere, a black spiraling portal opened in the middle of the room, and Bebop was being pulled into it.
Bebop screamed, "Help! Big brother!!!"
She was taken into the portal, and Sho immediately ran after her, and so did everyone else.
Bain exclaimed, "Go! Go!"
Moxxen added, "After her!"
Every single Fighter ran inside of the portal.
All of a sudden, all of them were standing in a dark forest. The forest was surrounded by dead trees, and the sky was black and very dark green. The grass was burnt, and the soil under it was rotten.
Caleb said, "Where are we?!"
Bain said, "Not good..not good.."
Bright look concerned, looking around, saying, "This doesn't feel right at all.."
Yanlin whined, "Oh no.."
Moxxen implied, "Everyone stay calm!"
The Fighters exclaimed in a panicking tone:
"What's going on?!"
"Where are we?!"
"I wanna go back!"
"Someone fucking explain something!"
"This doesn't feel right at all!"
"Stay together! Don't drift away!"
"Keep your eyes open!"
"Fuck man, fuck!"
"Everyone please calm down!"
"Stop shoving!"
Sho looked around, thinking, 'Everyone's panicking..everyone's going berserk..I don't blame these fools. This place doesn't feel right, it's filled with a terrible stench and rotten surroundings. Where's that brat?'
From a distance, Bebop yelled, "Big brother!"
She was running through the woods, headed back to the others.
She saw Sho, and hid behind him, crying, "She's coming!"
Gideon was laughing, "Whoooo's coming?"
Bain exclaimed, "Everyone get ready!"
Sho gasped slightly, and he tackled Bebop to the ground. A strong wind zoomed past them. And there were a lot of thuds.
Sho looked up and around him slowly, and he saw that everyone was dead. Except Gideon, and Bebop.
But Bain, Caleb, Moxxen, Yanlin, Bright, and the others were lying in blood, with their eyes open.
Sho gasped, and his eyes shook.
"No way..no fucking way.."
Gideon was standing up slowly, smiling with tears in his eyes, "They're dead..no..I don't want them to be dead.."
Sho, Gideon, and Bebop had small cuts on them, and those cuts had rose flowers growing out of them.
Sho thought, 'What is this?! Roses coming out of our skin..and the roses are stuck to us..I feel like my energy is being drained..'
Gideon had roses stretching out of his cuts, and he laughed, "I w-will avenge my best friends!"
Bebop was hiding behind Sho, and Sho was on one knee.
Sho thought, 'This has something to do with this brat..all day..she kept saying she was scared. I thought it was the damn raid at first, but it was this..all along..'
Suddenly, dark yellow gas started to form a circle Sho, Bebop, and Gideon.
Sho asked, "Gas?!"
Gideon replied, "It is!"
Coming from the forest, was a 10 foot woman creature. Her name was Acna. She had grey skin, large antler horns on her head, she was wearing a long black dress made out of crow feathers. Her face looked like a mask, it was pale white, had two black circle eyes, and no mouth. Class A Fighter, power level, 100,003. Species: Scoundell. From another world.
Acna said to Bebop in a loving but menacing way, "Come, Bebop..come to mommy…"
Bebop screamed, "No! I don't wanna!"
"Hoh?"
Sho looked down at Bain's body, and started to remember all the good things Bain had done and said to him.
Sho said, "Tch..fuck."
Sho looked at Acna, standing all the way up with blood slowly racing from his head, "Who..are you? And how the fuck did you-?"
Acna replied, "No one will take my daughter away from me. I..love her. I shall kill you and the other boy..for taking care of her."
"Go to hell..."
Gideon laughed to Acna with tears in his eyes, "Hehe..you killed my best friends..my bestest bestest friends..I'm gonna shredddd youuuu.."
Acna answered, "Foolish child."
Sho said, "This brat obviously doesn't want to go with you..buzz off."
"Low class scum. Please do not speak any further. I came into the tower with my daughter, and she ran off on me in the midst of battle. I couldn't make portals before, since I needed the hearts of mythical beasts to fuel it temporarilyyyy….that's the only way I gained accessss inside the mansion…I do not like that my daughter is behind a weakling like you for protection. I must kill you."
When Acna was a weaker fighter, she had done the same raid before, and lost to the Minotaur. She got stronger after, and gained an ability to use mythical beast hearts to open portals to places she's been before. She just waited until the perfect time to strike, following them, getting stronger in the process, aiming to kill those who watched over Bebop, wanting to take them all out at once and get her daughter back.
Sho and Gideon stood together with Bebop behind them, all of them had roses hanging out of their cuts, and blood dripped from them.
Sho and Gideon thought at the same time, 'Let's go..'