When the next day arrived, all the last remaining competitors were getting ready for the biggest and toughest fights for their lives. Including one no being was expecting to make it this far without loosing a single shed of blood. How much longer can he last against these weirdly powerful competitors?
"Remember what we discussed" Michael said giving Nova a quick kiss before the two parted way allowing her to meet Keith near the front, having best views, but also the most dangerous ones as if anything that has stronger magic is used flies out at them, the barrier won't be able to protect them as it was made by Diablo himself, and he was the current champion in this tournament. The strongest out of everyone in this hidden safe place.
"Took you long enough, the damn thing's about to start" Keith said not sounding very amused about this whole thing his big brother had to be apart of, not seeing Muriel sitting down next to Nova.
"What a lovely afternoon we're having. I give you my wishes that your beloved comes out bruised, scratched and alive" Muriel said not wanting to stress the soon to be mother who was glad to know that the witch would like to see Michael come out alive than dead whenever he goes against Raphael, but things weren't going to go as easily as they hoped. The announcer came out to the middle of the arena's main ring where all action took place, bringing out the last four remaining competitors. Raphael, Diablo, Michael and a familiar strange looking elf called Leaf. But he was a strange referral that didn't play in the previous rounds until today. Who brought him here?
"I have some interesting news from our chief and main director of our favourite tournament. He has notified me that for our last epic battles are going to be merge together for a FREE FOR ALL!" the announcer yelled hearing the people cheer from excitement, knowing that this change will bring endless twists and action amongst four competitors instead of two.
"Oh, now that's a game change" Muriel sounded intrigued loving the thought of seeing the favourite boys fighting together, and turned to look at Nova who was not feeling the same excited vibes knowing full well that Michael was out matched by both Raphael and Diablo.
"The last one standing will win the entire tournament and will become our next champion. So let the last round begin!" the announcer last said allowing all protective barriers activate preventing any jump ins or any watchers get hurt by any off course blasts and broken off dabre. people cheered when the fight began between several fighters including Michael, who surprisingly managed to defend himself without needing the use of a weapon.
Leaf was having the time of his life fighting Raphael without any need of holding back, while Diablo was holding himself back allowing Michael to deal some heavily damaging blows and wait until his angel is done doing his own thing.
"Together we can take anything they throw at us, and right now I have an order I cannot fail to follow through with or my baby's life will be on the line.. My sweet little Demonica" Diablo thought making it clear that he was only doing this for the sake of his daughter, no one else of they'll too will get in the way of his mission. Just like Michael and Raphael.
"GO Diablo!" the crowd cheered as Nova lowly growled hating the sound of their voices echoing through her mind, until Muriel placed a hand on top of hers that were clenched on her black joggers, as Nova were Michael's hoodie since hers was unfixable due to a mistake involving a kitchen fire.
"Come on bro! Nova's becoming overwhelmingly cranky!" Keith yelled calling out to his brother as she embarrassingly elbowed him in the waist, making Michael get distracted for a moment seeing the two argue before being punched in the face by Diablo, sending him flying as his body hit and rolled against the ground until coming to a halt. He looked up seeing his opponent start walking over to him until Raphael was thrown into him by Leaf who chuckled, loving the thought of overpowering those they considered as weak and possibly easy targets.
"Sorry to burst your bubble boys, but it's going to take more than an angel to take little old me down. After all I did kill the big boy Talon all by myself" Leaf bragged looking at his nicely filed nails he had pained in shiny polish as the two competitors he managed to take down using an angel to instantly stand back up, ignoring Michael in the process who was highly offended.
"Now they're going to ignore me. Oh come on!" he complained to himself pushing himself up and dust off, while standing on the far sides of the arena as the three fought intensely with the elf that mocked them before taking out Raphael using some strange magic, allowing vines to shoot out from the ground and wrap the angel up tight in its grasp.
"Raph! Who the heck are you?" Diablo demanded as the arena was slowly being covered up in the veins forcing everyone to start evacuating their sears as some views were squeezed to death, having their guts either burst out of them or pour out from the entrance or exit of the body.
"The name's Leaf, but thanks for letting me follow you here. I do love some fresh prey, especially when one of them here is the second born of Talon.. She's the main reason why I'm here, hehe. His offspring are like super stronger!?" Leaf replied chuckling like a maniac in response turning his attention to Nova who stumbled back in the stands alone with Muriel who was unfazed by this sudden change, as Keith jumped in to join his brother.
"This guy is crazy! What should we do now? This place is clearly not safe anymore if he's going to be sticking around killing people with his weird vine things" Keith asked hoping that his brother had some sort of plan while this lunatic was busy distracted by Diablo, but they were the ones Leaf wanted to see nor fight.
"Well I have some bad news pal, but you aren't going anywhere near Nova as she is in no condition to fight someone like you. So quit wasting my time and fight already!" Diablo yelled using all his brute power and dashed towards Leaf with his markings glowing in a bright colour scarlet red along with his eyes, as Leaf's turned green laughing to himself and dashed towards the champion.
"I'm going to have fun tearing you apart!" Leaf said excitedly insane as the two began to fight head to head allowing their magic to explode pushing all those around them back, turning their brawl into a warzone, as Diablo turned his attention to Keith and Michael.
"Hurry and get Nova and get out of here! I'll keep this freak busy" Diablo yelled putting himself in a vulnerable situation allowing Leaf to grab and knee him in the gut, as the impact alone proved how powerful this elf's attack alone can do to an elite fighter.
Michael instantly glanced up seeing Nova slowly being pushed back by these huge vines, and began to climb up them along with Keith who followed right behind him until getting into the stands to retrieve Nova and make a run for it, but something got Nova's attention from one of the nearby stands. A little girl with long black hair, blue eyes and light olive skin looking no older than two being held by the vines. Nova pulled back allowing these weird mommy like instincts to take over confusing Michael, making him look back not seeing her there before Keith noticing her running off to their left towards a trapped little girl.
"What are you doing?! He told us to leave!" Keith called out until Michael chased after her causing the teen to groan and followed the two he chose to stick with. "I could be living my own life, but no I had to stick with these idiots" he complained until seeing Nova climb up the vein that held onto the poor kid with such determination reminded him of something he lacked when watching the one he loved being taken by the demon walkers, he slowed down and stopped watching the true heroes at work. ".. Let me rephrase that.. They're heroes and I'm the idiot" he muttered as Nova managed to get to the girl while Leaf had the upper hand on Diablo, but struggled to free her until Michael came along and helped the innocent soul, grabbed the girl just to see Diablo being beheaded by the lunatic and have Leaf staring up at them.
"Found you~" Leaf said and began heading towards them as Michael grabbed her and pulled them with him, sliding down the vines like they were some sort of slide. When reaching the bottom Michael wasted no chance on dragging Nova who held the girl who began to cry out for her dad, but that's impossible as he was dead die to the vines attack all that dared to move.
"Move, move move!" Michael yelled rushing past Keith who snapped out of his daze and instantly ran after them once seeing the lunatic follow not far behind them. Vines began to chase after them through the corridors of the arena, being too close to comfort, but they managed to escape without one of them being caught or killed.
"Who is that freak?" Keith asked not knowing who the elf was, and due to confrontation Michael was able to get a waft of the elf's name thanks to Diablo before he sadly met his end, but what about Raphael?
"Hey! Over here!" Muriel called out waving over luring them to her house where she locked and barricared her front door, and walked towards her living room rug as Nova was in the middle of catching her breath when Muriel lifted up the carpet revealing a sneaky big secret trap door in the floor, she pulled it open. "You go, I'll keep him distracted. Just promise to take care of Demonica for me. It's what Diablo would've wanted" she said giving Michael a lit lamp as the four went down the mysterious stairway that appeared to have no end after she closed it after them and covered it with the carpet. A set of three distinctive knocks could be heard on her front door knowing full well it was Leaf.
"Knock, knoooock~ Why don't you let little ol' me in? I promise to be quick" Leaf said knowing that Muriel was in and hiding his objective somewhere inside, but when nothing could be heard he let out a disappointed sigh allowing his veins to bust through for him. "That's better.. Now tell me exactly where you're hiding them" he was growing impatient pinning the old lady up against the living room wall about to kill her until spotting a crease on the carpet, he inspected with curiosity and flipped it over revealing a big trap door and chuckled. "I always love chasing scared little insects in deep dark caves.. However, Muriel. Our time here is done, see you in the after life, but before I kill you, just a quick heads up. No matter how many we kill, there is now a way to bring back the dead, not the walking kind no! These ones have living consiouses and they're out for blood, killing all that dares to move. So thank you for freeing them for me, it'll make things even more fun. Hahaha!" Leaf lastly said before crushing Muriel's fragile bones hearing them crack as she screamed, but it wasn't enough to kill her so Leaf allowed her to die slowly laying the poor woman's body on her sofa as she watched as he opened the trap door and descended into the cave system below. "Bon voyage! I'm about to rip some bitches in half!" Leaf said to himself before bursting out in laughter as it echoed through the cave system knowing he had found the way in, but even if they were far ahead Leaf could read their vibrations and stalked them from far far away. Waiting for the right moment to turn their hope into disaster.
"How come we have to walk through these scary ass caves? And care for someone else's baby, are they trying to get us killed?" Keith asked now being the one holding the lamp while Michael held the child that was falling asleep from all the crying, than letting his own pregnant girl carry her. The big brother was about to speak until Nova's grumpy hormonal side stepped in for him.
"Shut up, Keith. We have no time hearing you complain right now, as we're finding a way through these caves before that monster catches up to us" She said spitting nothing other than true honesty through her anger. Michael remained silent not wanting to be yelled at too no matter how Keith looked at him, the girl has won this battle.
"I can smell you~" Leaf's voice echoed through again smelling mainly the little girl Michael was carrying as she was half of what Diablo was since her mother was a human. Keith got a shiver speeding up his steps seeing a light in the distance, after spending what felt like hours of walking until coming towards the end of the cave, but it led them to the other side of the mountain seeing another city to rummage through going back to square one. "Oh no you don't" Leaf called out as Nova glanced back seeing the elf walking towards them, until vines came dashing towards them making her push them out saving the three from a tight squeeze. "Now isn't that unfortunate.. I have appeared to have trapped myself in here. Oh well, I can just get Ace to come get me" Leaf said as the gap was too tight for any of his vines to retreat and let him through, leaving the elf to come back the way he had originally came from. He went back to pay Muriel another visit and see if she was dead by the time he got there, but the old lady was nowhere to be seen.
The city in the distance was small compared to their home, but they didn't plan of making it theirs as it won't be long until Leaf or the others come after them. Demon walkers were everywhere leaving them to take steady footing through the forest they had to get through in order to get there, unarmed and incredibly vulnerable to any attack. When arriving they kept an eye out for a shop or house they could use for shelter, as the sky was beginning to darken making the area freezing meaning more walkers will be around. A store beside a fairly stable set of houses was found making it perfect for a part time stay, until a proper plan was to be made in order for them to safely get out and find a place where nothing or anyone will find them as one was already being destroyed, along with its people.
"Keith and I are going to quickly sweep the shop for any food, while you stay safe in here with the girl until we get back" Michael said as she nodded guiding the tired girl with her hand into the house upstairs to a bedroom window that allowed her to keep an eye on the two, since the girl was nap heading to bed as it was already late.
"I really miss my skull breaking baseball bat.." Nova said to herself quietly minding her own business missing her trusty baseball bat she had modified and used since day one.
In the store Michael and Keith were quietly rummaging through the shelves and fridge of it, but something was bothering the teen he appeared angry, as if he had something to say. Michael turned around noticing this stopped what he was doing and walked over to him.
"Are you still mad that I didn't stand up for you? We were in a dangerous situation and we both know it's better to never argue with a pregnant lady. I kinda like it, but you don't" Michael said owning that he kinda had thing for Nova when she was grumpy, as something about it riled him up. This caused Keith to cringe knowing his own brother was into that stuff, but Michael just shrugged it off not caring about what he thought as long as he himself found it hot.
"You're disgusting, man. What other weird kinks do you have? On second thought don't tell me" Keith replied taking back his question not wanting Michael to answer it as both of them got back to rummaging for stuff. "Imma check the back for anything" he said notifying him of where he was going the boy went in leaving Michael out in the open, constantly watching over his back for that Leaf guy if he were to appear out of nowhere. Keith was taking longer than expected making him suspicious and slowly walked to the staff only door that led to the back storage areas, which are constantly off limits to customers.
The back are was dark and dusty from not being cleaned in so long, but there was no sound to be heard as Michael grabbed a hold onto a sharp looking metal pipe that was sitting on the side of a shelf. It appeared to be used stained in what appeared to be blood and rust.
"Pst, Keith!" Michael quietly called out for him as a rustle of metal could be heard coming from the left side of the long corridor that crossed the one he was currently on. He froze in place unsure if Leaf was here or it was something or someone else, and he pray it was neither other than his own brother. Michael grew the courage and peaked around the left corner to see into the corridor, seeing Keith stumble out hearing a loud crash come from the room he almost feel out of. He was unsure to be relieved or scared knowing that any walker in the perimeter could know where they are. "You fucking idiot. Are you trying to kill us?" Michael quietly scolded him hearing their groans from outside the brick walls, they were far different than what it used to be. A shiver traveled down their spines uncomfortable by how scary these things sounded being far eerie than expected, making this more of a Nova's job if she was three months pregnant.
"How was I supposed to know they were going to fall on me?!" Keith quietly yelled back using his hands to show more panicked he was, hearing the walkers starting to more aggressively bang against the door until the shop windows could be heard smashing behind Michael, forcing him to rush over to Keith ragging him to the room he feel out from and trapped the door with a brush and his sharp metal pipe. "Is this how I'm going to die?" Keith was being over dramatic as Michael began to look around the room until spotting a window big enough to squeeze through.
"There, we can get out there and run back to Nova and wait this all out. I've already got my stuff so leaving yours won't make any changes anyway" Michael said pointing to the window as he used the shelves Keith somehow managed to knocked over and climbed up and check if they both can fit, but of course like always one of them had to stay behind. "My ass is too big for this thing so I need you to get out this window, and I'll stay behind" he said making Keith look at him funny not sure what he was saying, but from where he stood the two of them could fit if he stuck in his gut.
"Nah, if you staying I'm staying. Because I ain't caring for your baby or your girl if one of those things bite you" Keith replied giving it to him straight as Michael let out an agitated sigh as he push the window wide open, and peaked out leaving the bag full of stuff outside as he checked around the area making sure it was clear for them to get out before the walkers get them.
"Fine.. But If I get stuck and die I ain't saving your ass when she beats it" Michael said gesturing Keith to come up and the boy did as he was forcefully pushed through, and just as he was about to get down he was randomly grabbed and tanked towards the window.
"You ain't planning of leaving her do you? It'll be sad if I had to tell her you refused to climb out of a window you could clearly squeeze out of" Keith said leaving Michael's mouth wide open in disbelief that his own brother would do him like that. This was definitely up for discussion as Michael took in a deep breath before exhaling, and began to get through while being pulled by Keith who refused to let him stay behind.
"We are talking about this as soon as I get out" he replied in a serious tone as Keith managed to fully pulled him out, allowing Michael to grab his bag and silently walk back to the house where he thought Nova would be waiting for him, but once he found the room she was in an adorable sight was given to him. She was on the bed cuddling to Demonica who was curled up into her new adopted mother, who was chosen to watch over the girl as her dad to them was no longer living amongst them. "Let's take this talk in a different room, but quietly as I don't want to ruin whatever 'this' is" he whispered covering the two with a blanket that was clean and untouched from the closet, before looking directly at Keith who nervously gulped as they left the room quietly closing the door behind them, and went into a different to have a serious talk with the boy and how he is beginning to hate how he's starting to treat them. Why is he acting so cold? Could be the memories? Or is it the hormones?