The day was long for Ky Tempus. By its end, he found himself lying on the bed inside the dorm he shared with Celsius, still thinking about Claire, the woman beneath Lady Luck's mask. During the moment, revealing his face to her seemed like the natural thing to do in the situation, but he couldn't help but feel as if he'd made a mistake. 'What if she's playing me? Even if she was, what would her goal be?' In his own mind, Claire and Lady Luck were a dichotomy, two different people in the same body. 'How can taking off a mask make someone's entire personality change like that?' This fact was the part that Ky was stuck on. It was as if a flip had switched and she's become a new woman. It felt almost synthetic.
'I'm an idiot…' With this as his last thought for the night, Ky drifted into a deep slumber. As he began entering the rapid eye movement phase, Ky opened his eyes to find himself inside a pitch-black void, the only light came from the familiar woman who was crouched down in front of him.
It was the same woman who'd appeared to him when he used his Second Chance ability. Just as she was before, her body was in a state of nature, completely undressed. Her long, brown hair fell down over her shoulders and covered her chest and her skin gleamed with an ethereal glow.
She was smiling softly at the time warper, watching as he awoke from his slumber with kind eyes. When their eyes met, he could see hers beaming with relief before her lips parted and she spoke once more. "It seems our connection has finally grown powerful enough to converse, Ky Tempus." The mysterious woman spoke with a maternal whisper, which was somewhat comforting, yet chilling at the same time. Of course, Tempo was also completely dumbfounded seeing as a beautiful, nude woman was smiling down at him while speaking about some sort of connection. Not to mention, her skin was glowing as if it were made of light.
"Connection?" Ky parroted back at the woman.
The woman giggled gently, "Yes, you and I have been so ever since you became one with the game. To put things simply, in human terms, I am a developer of the game." she explained with that comforting grin still on her face.
Ky sat up and looked her up and down. She clearly wasn't human, she even mentioned 'human terms', but if she wasn't human, then what the hell was she?
"I don't understand. What are you?" Ky asked. "And why are you trying to kill us?" Ky started to tremble due to a mixture of fear and anger. The woman in front of him was responsible for the deaths of thousands, yet she was sitting there smiling dumbly at him as if none of that mattered. However, that smile of hers faded and her expression turned solemn after hearing Ky speak.
"You will understand what I am soon enough, Ky Tempus. To answer your other question, I am not trying to kill humans. I want to help them. I am not THE developer, I am A developer. In other words, the director is responsible for their deaths. I am but a pawn, much like you. You and I are not even supposed to be able to speak to each other like this. I can explain further once our connection grows stronger. It was nice to finally speak face to face, Ky Tempus. This is goodbye. For now."
The image of the woman began to fade. "Wait–" Ky reached out to her, still having hundreds of other questions. However, as his hand extended forward, Ky found himself inside his dorm room and on his bed reaching for the ceiling. Meanwhile, there was an announcement being made through the dorm room's speakers.
"Would the contestants for Team New York and Team Shibuya please make their way to the main stage." This voice woke Celsius from his slumber, compelling him to lean up and stretch his arms with a yawn. "Morning already…" Though he slept for ten hours, it really only felt like half of that due to their exhausting training session. Celsius looked over at Tempo, whose mask was still on even though he'd gone to sleep. "You look like you've seen a ghost." Ky's expressive, gleaming eyes were wide, looking around the room as if he were lost. Eventually, they settled on Celsius and he calmed himself. "I think I might have."
As the two dressed themselves in their costumes, Tempo tried asking Celsius about the nude woman, but Celsius wasn't taking the conversation very seriously. "Oh, yeah. I dream about naked girls all the time!" he said in jest, but Tempo continued without even cracking a smile beneath his mask. "It's not like that. She said I was some sort of hope for humanity or something. And that we have a connection." Ky told him.
Celsius looked at Tempo for a second, reading his body language. He could tell it wasn't one of those dreams; he knew it was something serious. He then remembered what he and Ky talked about– those moments when the game seemed to have been trying to influence them. "I mean, it could just be dreams, right? But now that I think about it, the game has spoken to us both. You mentioned that the game urged you to kill before. The same has happened to me. Do you think…" Celsius paused for a moment. The implications of his theory could completely change the way they viewed the game. "Could that be the Director talking to us?"
Tempo sat down on his bed with his hand on his chin. "That would make sense. I believe this woman can also talk to us through the game. I remember the game itself said I was humanity's last hope. The first time I saw her and heard her voice, she said the exact same thing, so that checks out. When the game addresses us directly, it must be the game devs."
Celsius placed a foot inside his white dress shoe, looking at Ky as he did so. "So then, the question is, who exactly is she? Why is her goal seemingly different than the other devs and the Director?"
"That's what I intend to find out. It seems whenever I lose consciousness, there is a chance I get to see her. Each time, our time with each other is longer."
Before the two could continue, that voice from the ceiling interrupted them. "Would the contestants for Team New York and Team Shibuya please make their way to the main stage." Tempo stood up and started for the door. "I guess we'll talk more about it later. I'll see you out there." Tempo exited his dorm room and began walking down the halls lost in thought with his hands in his pockets.
'Who is that woman? How are we connected? Who are the other devs? Who's the Director?'
Lost in his own mind, he failed to notice Lady Luck step out of her dorm room and the two nearly bumped into each other. As if time had frozen around them, the two of them just stared at each other without saying a word. Immediately, they both found themselves reliving what had happened last night, trapping them in an embarrassed exchange of glances.
"Oh, hey." Tempo muttered awkwardly.
"Good morning." Lady Luck reverted back from her confident persona to her shyer true self. Flora looked at Claire, then at Tempo. It wasn't hard to put the pieces together as an outsider. Flora noticed Claire had disappeared the night before and seeing the two of them acting like the main characters from a will-they-won't-they shoujo anime only made it all the more obvious. "Alright, let's keep walking." Flora grabbed Claire by the shoulders and pushed her out of the door, leading her down the hallway and out of the awkward situation.
Tempo watched the two walk away for a moment, only to be startled by Infinite as he placed his hands on the time warper's shoulders in a rather aggressive manner. "Smooth." Infinite teased before walking side by side with Ky.
"How much of that did you hear?" Ky asked, only to get the worst possible answer from the caped hero. "I have super hearing. I even heard your little conversation last night. Your mask makes you feel cool, huh? Maybe I should get one."
If Ky wasn't wearing a mask and if his skin wasn't brown, he would have turned redder than an apple. The whole situation was already embarrassing, but knowing Infinite was listening in on the whole conversation made it a million times worse.
It made him think about what else Infinite may have heard.
"Alright… Anyway. Did you find the Blur and Fixer?" Tempo asked.
Infinite's grin faded and he shook his head. "Couldn't find a trace of them. Mania should've taken it easy on the kid."
"Well, we won with three people sitting out last time. We can win again."
"I guess you're right. I'm more worried about them than losing the tournament. I hope they haven't gotten themselves into trouble."
The two of them eventually found themselves walking on the grass toward the stage, once again being met by the roaring crowd of spectators. Tempo wondered where all of these people were staying whenever a phase ended, but that thought soon passed once they joined up with their team, which consisted of everyone besides Celsius, Blur, and Fixer. However, Celsius, being a showoff, created a slide of ice from the top of the arena and slid down to his comrades. The crowd went wild for him, but his teammates all rolled their eyes and shook their heads. "What?" he asked, but not a single person responded.
"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to day two of the Hero x Villain Online Tournament!" the host flourished his arms, and pyrotechnics began firing from the corners of the main stage. "Today, we have Team New York versus Team Shibuya! America versus Japan!" The crowd erupted again, stomping their feet whilst yelling as loud as they could for both teams. "This should be a good match-up as both teams completely blew out their last opponents! Team New York defeated Team Los Angeles five to one, their last match ending in a tie! On the other hand, Team Shibuya destroyed Team Gangnam-gu, beating them six to zero! Who's excited to see these two powerhouses go at it!?" Again the crowd exploded in excitement as they were just itching to see bloodshed once again.
"That's what I want to hear! Now, Phase two will be a little bit different. Rather than having one-on-one bouts, two representatives from each team will fight at once in a two versus two battle! I will give both teams a moment to choose the order in which they will fight and the members of each duo! Remember, each member can only fight once per phase!"
"This is bad…" Infinite's hand was on his chin as he spoke. Missing two members wouldn't have been so bad if it were a one-on-one phase like before. However, since there would only be five rounds this time, the team could only afford to lose one match since one of these rounds would be an automatic forfeit. Technically, the score was already zero to one.
The anxiety building within Team New York was palpable, such that even Team Shibuya could sense it, smiling like devils at the understaffed Team New York.
Professor Anarchy, keeping a cool head, stood in front of his team and once again played the role of their team captain. "I say we have three incredible teams as our opening and closing acts. Tempo and Celisus have worked together, yes? Therefore, they should make for a good pairing, one worthy of opening the first round for us." Tempo and Celsius looked at each other, nodding in agreement. They'd trained so much together, that they knew the ins and outs of each other's abilities for the most part.
The Professor continued, looking at the caped hero next. "Infinite and I share similarities in our abilities, which could help us work in tandem. Though my strength isn't near his, I believe we would make a formidable team worthy of being our anchors." Infinite nodded to his partner, agreeing that they would make a great duo. In fact, this was something Infinite had brought up they day before when the two of them agreed to form the unnamed league of heroes for New York City.
"Mania and Novacaine." Professor Anarchy looked to the two beta testers in black. "I believe you two are our hidden powerhouses. The enemy has no idea what Mania's ability is since his first match ended so abruptly and Novacaine has yet to fight. With Mania's extraordinary ability to control the mind, Novacaine's ability to regenerate, and the element of surprise, they will be a difficult team to beat. You two will be our second act. "Mania's arms remained folded in front of his chest, showing no reaction to the team leader's instructions, but he agreed silently. Novacaine nodded quickly, staying completely silent.
Professor Anarchy then finally directed his gaze toward the two girls of the group. "Flora and Lady Luck, you two are friends outside of the game, correct? You two should already be familiar with each other then. I mean no offense, but in comparison to the others, you will be our weakest team. However, that does not mean that I view you as weak. In fact, Lady Luck is quite impressive. As for Flora, I am excited to see what it is that you have to offer for the team. That is why I ask for you two to be our third team. You can prove yourselves to be stronger than the boys."
It seemed that most people were in agreeance. "I think that sounds like a good plan." Tempo added. "Celsius and I will win no problem. I believe the same is true for Mania's team and Infinite's team. I haven't seen Flora in action yet, but I think she and Lady Luck could kick some ass out there.
"Will both teams now send their representatives for round one!" said the announcer, chiming in just in time.
Together, Celsius and Tempo stepped onto the stage, as did the other two members of Team Shibuya. Team Shibuya's members were two teens wearing school uniforms from the same Japanese school. One of them was a girl, wearing a plaid skirt beneath her black school jacket. Her hands were in her jacket pockets as she eyed down Tempo. Beside her was a boy in plaid pants, his eyes locked onto Celsius. Despite being different genders, they looked identical, not just because they were from the same country, but as if they were siblings. It's because they were siblings– twins in fact– having years of experience working together as a team in comparison to Tempo and Ky's single day.
"Twins, huh?" Tempo said to his partner, looking over at the ice user as he began transforming his body into its ice form.
"Seems so. Looks like the girl's all yours." Celsius told his partner, his jaw crackling with each syllable he spoke.
"And you get the smug bastard." Tempo reached under his mask and touched his teeth, covering his skeletal system in his Temporal Cloak. His body tensed and he grunted upon feeling that agonizing pain, but he was somewhat used to it by then. In fact, it felt much less tortuous without gravity being doubled.
The two New Yorkers' respective energies began emanating and circling around their hands before creating their weapons of choice. For Celsius, he once again chose to craft that exquisite, beautiful greatsword of ice. Tempo, on the other hand, chose his efficient, ninja-inspired claws.
On the opposite side of the stage, the male twin's body turned into a silverish sludge, though he maintained the shape of a human. His sister, who was still right beside him, pulled her hands from her jacket pockets, flexing her fingers as purple energy began gleaming from one hand while yellow energy emanated from the other.
The crowd was on their feet upon seeing four of the most powerful members of the competition thus far standing on the same stage. The announcer, with his hand raised above his head, swiped his arm downward and spoke into the microphone with bloodshed fueled excitement.
"Begin!"