"Kevin! What are you doing here?" She was a little glad to see the little red blob but also massively grossed out.
Kevin let out a series of weird chirps as his body expanded a bit. He got a little bit bigger every couple of seconds, though he was still far smaller than he normally was. He was also still partially attached to the giant bird he had busted out of. It was like a scene in a horror movie or something, the animal's corpse still twitching a bit as Kevin slid out of it.
Alexander let out several gasps, catching his breath, as he rested in his daughter's arms. "I- I vomited him out." The man finally managed to say.
"What!" Hope stared down at her father as she helped ease him back onto his own feet. "Why was he in your belly? Did you try eating him?"
Kevin finally pulled his way out of the pile of dead birds and plopped onto the grass, letting out a huff. "I know what happened." The monster spat out. "I was with the other Enforcers when this guy just decided to blast me to oblivion. I thought I was done for, but then the next thing I know, I woke up in that guy's guts!" A tendril poked out of Kevin and jabbed at Alexander. "Like on the island, with that one girl, I must have left some cells in him on accident. To be honest, I'm a little ticked off that that's what saved my life."
"Why are you ticked off?" Hope asked, raising an eyebrow. It was pretty useful being able to respawn. Especially with how many strong people existed in the world that could seemingly kill a person with a wave of a hand.
"It was the same way Wish would negate death."
"Oh..." That made sense. "I can see why you'd hate it, then... Sorry."
"You're not the one to blame. The one who killed me is." Kevin grunted. "I thought that one girl was your friend? She ordered my death, and without a thought, that bastard blew me up!"
"Whisper is the one who killed you?!" Hope suddenly felt a chill go down her spine. "You're kidding, right?"
"Nope! Looked me dead in the eyes and smiled as she said it! Seriously, what's with all the psycho girls I keep running into? Am I cursed or something?"
"Hope?" Alexander looked to his daughter, who had gone silent. Her shoulders were tucked down a bit, and she had brought a thumb to her lip, biting on a nail, seemingly deep in thought.
She stayed like that for several moments, her mind racing. "I don't care what happened to Whisper; I know that killing someone innocent isn't something she would do. She kept talking about the Paths and said it was the only way when I confronted her about Dad. If she wanted you dead, she'd know that killing you there wouldn't work. I bet she did it to get you into this area. She sent you, so you could help me."
"I think you're giving her too much credit." Kevin hissed a bit. "And to be honest, I don't care what her reasons are or if she even had any. If she wanted my help, she could have just asked. Heroes don't do things like that, even for the greater good. None of them have been acting like heroes."
"They've focused entirely on beating the villains," Hope said quietly. "'There's more to being a hero than fighting bad guys. Heroes that focus only on defeating villains aren't actually heroes. They're just soldiers with silly names.'" She repeated something she had heard a while ago. Mr. Larison had said that to her at one point. In a way, so many of the current heroes really were just acting like soldiers.
They didn't get to say anything else as the pile of birds shifted slightly, and a weak groan came from it. A hand stabbed out and began to shove the dead animals away. Druid was an older woman and, at one point, might have been considered a dangerous bad guy. She had long been outclassed, though, and after a bad loss to Ocean Empress, the villain had vanished only to reappear today. Druid's costume was a mess and had been stained red, and the woman's hand was placed over her missing eye. Her other hand clutched at her staff as she glared at the three of them with pure hate and malice.
"T- This wasn't how it was supposed to go," Druid spoke in a rage-filled voice as the older woman stumbled back. "We were told you would be easy to take out now that you didn't have your powers! Cinder said you were just a weak brat playing pretend!"
"Cinder?" She didn't get to ask what that was about as Druid launched an attack at her. The old woman lifted her staff, part of it glowing as a swarm of massive piranhas suddenly appeared. Unfortunately, enhanced or not, they were still animals, and the fishes all quickly splattered and broke apart as they rammed into the durable superhero at high speeds. "Ew, gross..." Hope shook her head and spat out some of the fish guts.
Druid was still stumbling back, letting out a series of screams and roars. "I was told I could kill you! That when I did, I would be gifted! I would be transformed just as Golden God and Fairy Queen were! It's not fair! You should be weak! You don't have the powers of a Lord! You don't have your fire! 'She' has your fire! 'She' is supposed to be the strong one, not you!"
Cinder took a deep breath and stepped forward through the swarm of fish. Kevin's own body began to grow as he devoured many of the piranhas and wrapped himself around Alexander protectively. Cinder lifted her arm and balled her hand into a fist. "Fire or not, I'm still Cinder. I'm not Full Monarch, and I might not ever reach his level, but that's okay. Because I'm still a superhero, one who can beat villains like you!" She struck out, moving with her enhanced speed, and rammed her fist directly into Druid's face. Just like with Halo, she shattered Druid's nose and smashed the woman into the ground, knocking her out in one punch. "Don't ever try to attack my family again."
The swarm of fishes died down, and Kevin unwrapped himself from Alexander. He had finally returned to his normal size, taking on a large blob-like form that was compressed down to a basketball shape like he normally was. "What are you going to do with her?" Kevin questioned. "Want me to kill her?" He asked it in a blunt tone.
She thought it, she really did, but she finally shook her head. "No."
"This isn't some 'I don't want to stoop down to their level' bs, is it? 'Cause I'm pretty sure you have killed before." Kevin stated with a raised eyebrow.
She shrugged. "I know. I guess I have. I don't like it, though. I don't want to kill unless I don't have a choice. It was so easy to beat her, I'd feel a little bad about it, to be honest. Like I'd be using my power to forcefully take a life from someone who couldn't fight back."
"What kind of stupid logic is that?"
"It's my logic, and it isn't stupid. If it's someone like Lucifer or the Emperor, I don't think I'd have an issue with killing them, since they could also kill me, but someone like Druid would never in a million years be able to hurt me, much less kill me. I don't need to kill her to beat her, do I?"
"Of course you do; she'll come back; bad guys always do it. Look, I'll do it if you don't want to-"
"No."
"Why not?"
Alexander raised his hand, stopping whatever fight was about to break out between the two heroes. "So what do we do now? Are there any other bad guys in the area?"
Hope went silent and focused her enhanced senses, using them like some sort of sonar. She shook her head after a moment. "If there are, they'd have to be able to avoid my senses. That rain I talked about earlier is getting closer, though. We should make it to the mountains and find a cave, like I first talked about."
"The mountains?" Kevin turned to look at them in the distance. "Those are pretty far away, you know. I guess for you it'd only take a couple of seconds to reach them, so are you planning on carrying both me and your dad? I know you have the strength for it, but still..."
Hope gave a cheeky smirk, and slowly, a shadow began to descend upon them. Kevin looked up, and his eyes went wide when he saw a massive black wolf. "This is Wolfy. He's our ride." She reached out and placed a hand on the wolf's snout. "He's also a good boy."
Kevin stared at the wolf in silence for several moments. "Yeah, I'm not letting you name this thing Wolfy; you seriously suck with names."
"Hey!"
When they got onto the soon-to-be-named wolf, she explained the situation to Kevin the best she could, informing the red blob of the Murder Game rules and the fact that they only had a week to get ready before the Immortals showed up for the hunt. He wasn't too happy about being forced into the games and took every chance he could to curse out Lightning Empress's name, but since he didn't have much of a choice, he agreed to help.
Soon enough, they arrived at the mountain. It was a large, rocky terrain that went up high. When they reached it, the sky had just started to turn black. Luckily for the three of them, they didn't need to travel up it very far to find a cave that had been built into the side of the mountain. It was wide and open, big enough that even their large wolf could fit inside.
That was where they found themselves now. Alexander rested against the wall of the cave, messing with his phone in an attempt to get service but kept being denied, while Kevin stayed closer to the entrance, keeping an eye out for any danger that might come. The wolf they traveled on rested all the way in the back, curled up, and sort of glared at them. The animal was clearly not happy about its current arrangement. Finally, that left her. She was in the center of the cave and had gotten a bunch of rocks together, forming a circle around a pile of sticks. She used her nail and rapidly ran it across some of the stones so fast she created a spark that ignited the sticks into a small fire.
"Yes! Still got it." She pumped her fist into the air as the fire began to grow. It was just in time, too. The rain was starting, a large downpour was coming down, and the fire was providing them all some brief warmth.
"So," Kevin was the first to begin speaking again. He remained in his position, watching the rain in silence. His weird ball form kept twitching a bit, and a few large tendrils grew out of him, slapping at the ground every now and then. "Now that we're here, do you have any other plans? We only have a week to get ready for the Immortals, right? That's not a lot of time. What do we even do? What can we even do?"
"It's not just the Immortals." Alexander bit his lip and put his phone away. "So many other crazy bastards are here as well. The deck is seriously stacked against the players."
Hope hummed and held her hand out to the fire, pretending to control it. The flame ignored her and didn't follow any of her commands. Still no fire powers... "After the rain, I'd like to look around a bit more. I'll head to the top of the mountain and see if I can find the border of this realm that we're in. No matter how big it is, it has to have an edge. When I was in Sky's, she threw me into space, and while up there I saw the border of hers. It was sort of like a giant black box that covered the mini solar system we were in. Her realm was huge, and I'm a little afraid this one could be just as big, if not bigger. If it isn't as big, though, and I can find the exit, I might be able to use all my strength to punch a small hole into it and let us get out."
"If you can't?"
"If I can't break us out, either because I can't reach the border or the border is simply too strong, like the Tallest Wave's realm was, I'll move on to the next best plan." She grabbed the handle of her sword and gave a small grin. "We get ready to fight the Immortals."
"You think we can?" Kevin let out a snort.
"Of course we can." She hummed. "Five players and a bunch of bodyguards. One of the players even got an extra bodyguard, so with you here as well, that makes twelve of us in total. We can find all the players and get them to help us. Seven Supers versus the Immortals, the Organization. There are only three real members in the Organization, so while I take on the Emperor and Lucifer, the rest of you can take down Fairy Queen, Golden God, and the other Immortal members."
"You make it sound so easy." Kevin let out a soft snort. "I think there is something you're forgetting about, though."
"What's that?"
"For one, I doubt any of us, including you, are strong enough to take on any of the Immortals. Secondly, though, even if we all were, you're asking a bunch of strangers to work together." Kevin looked back at her. "That Gabby thing told you the other way to win, right? Take all the other players out. It only takes one, you know. Just one player who has a bodyguard that wants to keep them safe. One person to turn traitor and ruin it all for everyone."
"Shift is right." Alexander nodded and let out a weak sigh. "I hate to say it, Hope, but a lot of us humans are kind of cowards. We don't have the same godlike powers you guys do. I wouldn't be shocked if at least one of the players decides to go after the others."
Hope bit her lip and frowned. "Really? Would someone do that?"
"More than you'd think," Kevin said sadly. "Any other ideas?"
"We could try hiding, I guess." Alexander shrugged. "Hide it out until they give up."
Hope shook her head. "I have a feeling we're being watched. Gabby, or Gabriel, seems to have a way of knowing where we all were. That was how she teleported us all here. I don't fully understand how her powers work, but I'm sure she can help us. If this really is a game like she claims, she'd be there to moderate it and make sure it didn't get out of hand. She could even be watching us now. That might be how Druid was able to find us."
"There's one way to test it," Kevin said, letting out a hum.
"There is? How-"
"Yo, Gabriel!" Kevin's voice bounced around the cave. "I want to make a complaint about this year's Murder Games!"
The air shimmered, and Alexander and Hope both stared wide-eyed as the small doll-like form of Gabby appeared. The strange creature hovered above Kevin and stared down at the red blob with an almost angry look. "Who are you? You're not any of the villains we unleashed on the arena?" Was it Gabby's first time seeing Kevin? The doll looked shocked at the creature, so clearly it wasn't always watching them, yet it had shown up when its name was called. They'd need to learn more about the rules, but it seemed at least some stuff wasn't being seen by Gabby.
"The name's Shift," Kevin announced, growing a tendril, which pointed out at Gabby. "I got dragged into these games against my will because you didn't do your job properly!"
"W- What do you mean I didn't do my job!" Gabby asked angrily. "I'm perfect at my job!"
"If you were, then I wouldn't be here, would I!" Kevin snapped at the doll and pointed back at Alexander. "My cells were in that guy, so when you took him, you took me!"
Gabby twitched a bit and looked from Alexander back to Kevin. "Oh my... That's... Hmm... Father is going to be mad..."
"Forget your father. I'm pissed! I don't even want to be here!" Kevin grunted.
"Once you're in, you can't leave the barrier." Gabby shrugged. "Not even we can break that rule." The doll folded her arms and frowned. "What do I do with you then? You can't be a villain because you're working with one of the players, and you can't be a player since you're a Super. Should I just kill you and get it over with?" Gabby hummed.
"N- Now, hang on." Hope jumped up and raised a hand. "You said one guy got two bodyguards, right? What about if my father also gets two?"
"I can't really allow that under normal circumstances," Gabby stated with a frown. "You see, the player who got two had certain circumstances. He didn't pick any heroes and also isn't in good health or a state of being, having a handicap the other players don't have. If I allow you to have an extra bodyguard, then I'd have to make the exception with the other bodyguards as well."
"Well, then just let everyone else pick a second hero as well." Hope suggested.
Gabby let out a laugh at that suggestion. "Nice try. You're all lucky that Father allowed any of you to get bodyguards. No way he'd allow you all to get two."
"W- What about having a handicap?" Alexander jumped into the conversation. "You said the player got two because he has a handicap? What if the hero I picked happens to have one as well?"
"What do you mean?" Gabby frowned.
Hope rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly. "I don't have all of my powers. In fact, I have less than half my strength. So, in a way, my father didn't get to pick a full Super as his bodyguard when you think about it. So he should get two, right?"
Gabby rolled her eyes. "No. One of the players actually picked a Super that doesn't have any powers, believe it or not. You only being at half-strength isn't anyone's fault other than your own. I'm not going to let you get a second-" Gabby suddenly went silent. The girl's eyes filled with rage. "No! You're not Father, you can't order me around- N- No..." The doll's teeth clenched. "B- But—wait till Father hears about this..." The doll twitched a bit and then stopped. Through gritted teeth, it looked down at Kevin. "Shift, you have been assigned as the bodyguard of Alexander Lauren." Then Gabby turned to look back at Hope. "Cinder, the Emperor says you're welcome."
Hope shivered once more and took a step back. The Emperor allowed it? So he had been watching? Her enhanced senses flared back up, and she glared around but didn't spot any of Avalon's tiny drones. Why would the Emperor allow Kevin onto their team? She still didn't understand that guy, and part of her hoped she never would if she was being honest.
"Now that that's taken care of, I'm leaving-"
"Wait." She cut Gabby off.
Gabby sighed. "What now?"
"Are you guys cheating by watching us?"
Gabby giggled a bit. "Relax. I know where you guys are at all times, but I tend to tune you all out, and I won't be telling the others; it's no fun."
"Then, just now, how did the Emperor know you were talking to us?"
"Because he's in the same room as me." Gabby shrugged. "I'm not the real Gabriel, you know. I'm a construct. The real me is talking to a wall right now. He heard the conversation and, right now, is just staring at me like a freaking weirdo! Go away, gramps, not interested!" Gabby huffed and then turned back to her. "I'll only show up for game-related stuff. I'm not a fighter like my other siblings, and I respect the rules of the game, so don't worry. I won't cheat. Now if that really is everything, I'm leaving-"
"Hang on a second!" Kevin bounced up and looked at the small creature. "I think you're forgetting something."
Gabby let out another heavy sigh. "Yes, Shift?"
"I'm a bodyguard now, right?"
"Yes?"
"Cinder told me what they get. Give me my card!"
Hope cheered, throwing her arms up. "Yeah! I didn't even think about that! Quick, pick the girl with huge boobs!"
Gabby huffed and said a few choice words, but with a wave of her hand, the screen appeared in front of Kevin. The little monster eyed all the cards up before quickly making his pick. His tendril touched one of them, and the screen vanished. "Is that all?" Gabby asked plainly. "Or do you all want me to clean your shoes, bathe, and feed you all while I'm at it?"
Hope sheepishly shrugged. "Well, if you're offering, my back is kind of killing me, so a nice massage would be-" Gabby vanished in a burst of light. "Drat. Guess I'll just make Sky do it when I next see her."
"What card did you get, Shift?" Alexander asked.
Kevin held it up, showing off the card that had the image of a man in a crown on it. "Hades." He stated coolly with a smirk. "Because like him, I'm a king." Kevin's face twisted, forming a pair of sunglasses made out of his red flesh over his eyes, as well as a little red crown on top of his ball-like head.
"What does it do?" She asked. "It should be on the back."
"Good question." Kevin hummed and brought the card closer to his face. "Let's see here-" Kevin suddenly went silent. His eyes traced over the words. Slowly, he pulled the card closer to him until the entire thing actually slid into his body, where it vanished. "Uh, it's just a dud."
"Just a dud?"
"Yeah, like how you told me your card sucked, mine does too." Kevin turned away and slid to the other side of the cave. "No use talking about it."
She eyed the little guy with an uncertain look. It was pretty obvious he was lying, but she wasn't going to force him to talk if he didn't want to. Instead, she turned back to the fire and took a seat next to her father. It was still raining pretty hard, but she was glad that, for at least this moment, she was able to keep her father safe. Her thoughts briefly went to Druid. Kevin had torn off a few pieces of himself, and they created a makeshift rope, tying it around Druid and leaving her out there.
Would the woman be okay, or would she die? A bit morbidly, she found that she didn't actually care all that much. In the heat of the moment, she didn't want to kill Druid with her own hands, but she also hadn't bothered to save Druid or prop the woman up so she wouldn't drown either. The woman had hurt her father.
She had been disappointed at Mr. Larison and Whisper for acting like soldiers instead of heroes, yet in a way, she was doing the same thing. She shook her head and stood up. "I'll be right back." She called out, heading for the cave's exit.
"Where are you going?" Alexander asked.
"I'm just taking a quick step outside." She called back. "I'll be back in a moment." She wanted to at least check on Druid. That's what a hero would do, after all. She wanted to be a hero, didn't she? Even in a horrible place like this, she didn't want to turn into a soldier. "Make sure my dad is kept safe, Shift!" She yelled as she reached the exit of the cave.
"Yeah, yeah, I'll keep doing what I normally do." Kevin rolled his eyes and settled in next to the wolf, who kept eying him up. "You try eating me, and I swear I'll swallow you whole." The wolf whimpered a bit and curled up into a ball once more.
Outside of the cave, she stepped out and began to head down the mountain, ignoring the rain that was coming down hard. She still had insane speed, so it wouldn't be too hard for her to reach the spot where Druid was. She could get there in the blink of an eye and then return back before either Kevin or her father figured out what she was doing.
As it turns out, though, she didn't have to go far. She made it down the mountain and took off running at fast speeds, heading toward the battlefield, but she only got about halfway before she suddenly came to a stop, her eyes going wide. Because of the rain, her enhanced senses were turned off, so she didn't notice them until she was closer to them. Some people beat her to Druid.
Druid was still unconscious, the woman's body still tied up, but now placed into the back of an old, worn-down wagon, with several thick blankets kept over her in order to ensure she was warm. Connected to the wagon was an older-looking donkey that was getting on in years, and on either side of the old steed, two people flanked it. They had stopped dead in their tracks when they saw her and were staring at her in shock because, from their perspective, she had seemingly just teleported in since she had been moving faster than the eye could follow.
They were young. One was an older boy a bit taller than her who looked to be about nineteen. He had messy red hair, and his hands shook as he stumbled back. The other one must have been his sister, as she looked similar to him. She was only about fourteen or fifteen and had longer hair. What was most bizarre about them, though, was the clothing that they wore.
"Where did you get those clothes?" Hope asked quietly.
"W- What?" The boy asked through clattering teeth. "O- Our village gave it to us- Wait, who are you? H- How did you just appear like that? A- Are you a mage?"
Both the boy and the girl wore clothes she had seen once before. They were very similar to the clothes Myth wore. A white tunic that seemed to have been dropped over their bodies, and a few animal pelts beneath that for warmth. The boy wore his very similar to how Myth did, only covering half his chest and leaving his other arm to hang out, but the girl's was more modest, covering her chest entirely. Just by looking at them, she could tell they weren't Supers. Maybe it was part of her powers or maybe just a gut feeling, but neither of them seemed to carry themselves the way a Super would. Even Supers that lacked enhanced bodies seemed to walk differently from normal humans. These two people were humans, of that she was certain. What were they doing here, though? And what did they mean by 'village?' Just how big was Legend's realm...
The young girl stepped forward, her mind seemingly made up. "P- Please! If you are a mage, then we need your help! W- We found this woman out in a field! I- I think she's a mage as well and needs help!"
Hope stared at the two kids, her mind racing with dozens of thoughts. Finally, though, she spoke. "Okay." She nodded her head. "I'll help you."
***
Evan Ros shivered a bit and kept his arms wrapped around Phoenix as they floated above the water. "T- Talk about a bad spawn point." Evan chuckled.
"It isn't the time to be making jokes," Phoenix said flatly. "This is a serious situation, Master Ros."
"You don't have to take everything so seriously, Phoenix."
"We're in the middle of the Murder Games," Phoenix said bluntly. "It's my job to take everything seriously. I don't want you to get hurt, and we're already off to a bad start."
Evan Ros had been selected for the Murder Games, and after appearing within the city of Chrysanthemum, he had selected his bodyguard, his best friend. Phoenix was, in a way, already his bodyguard, even outside of these games. It seemed like whenever he had any sort of issue, Phoenix was there to help him, and now was no different. This was a good thing, as he would have surely drowned without the other heroes' help.
Unlike the other players, who most likely got soft landings when they appeared, Evan had found himself being teleported into the middle of a massive ocean with no land in sight. It was okay now, though, as he got to lay in Phoenix's arms as the hero flew him across the water.
Fire formed out of Phoenix's back, forming long bird-like wings crafted from a mix of blue and green embers that allowed the hero to soar at fast speeds. They had been flying for nearly an hour straight now, and only just now were they finally starting to see the traces of land. The ocean was slowly starting to thin out as a large continent stood before them.
"This doesn't make any sense," Phoenix grunted out. "Chrysanthemum didn't look like this a few years ago. No way it was big enough to fit an entire ocean within it. This place changed."
"Sometimes things change." Evan shrugged. "I mean, a few years ago, I used to be a girl. Life can just be weird like that and make some big leaps."
"Not this big." Phoenix narrowed his eyes as he spotted something in the distance. "What the hell?"
"What is it?"
"I- I see a village or something?" Phoenix picked up his speed, moving faster than a speeding bullet as the small dot in the distance grew larger and larger. Soon, even Evan could see it as they came to a stop, landing at the edge of what looked like a small seaside village. It was right at the edge of the sea and had a dock connected to it that went out at sea, which Phoenix landed on. "What the hell is going on?"
There were dozens of small, marble-looking villages scattered past the dock, and several boats were connected as well. Hundreds of people, all wearing strange white robes, stared at the two boys in shock as they came down for a landing. With his enhanced senses, Phoenix could hear various whispers as the strange people looked at them.
"Mages?"
"More of them?"
"That one has fire on him? Is he like the Queen?"
"He must be? That's the second pair of mages to arrive, isn't it?"
Phoenix felt alarm bells go off in his head as he heard the people speaking. "Mages? What? Wait, second to arrive-"
"Well, well, well. What do we have here?" A voice called out. At the end of the docks, two figures suddenly appeared. The first was a young eight-year-old girl with dark skin and bright green eyes dressed in a small suit. Next to her was the one who spoke. An older teen who had a sly smile on their face, wielding a long claymore over their shoulder, dressed in a chainmail jacket. Irene, one of the other players, and her bodyguard. "Looks like we found some other player, Irene." The bodyguard stated, pointing his sword. "What do you want me to do with them?"
And just like that, two players had come face to face in the Murder Games, standing before one another in a strange village. The first day of the Murder Games was still far from over...