The City of Colors, 18th floor
The Primordial Tower
Deep within a Castle made of purple stones, Contestant Shadow Origin yawned, lying on a bed of feathers, and with two naked girls in his arms on either side; both of different species.
He squeezed their breasts, played with their nipples, and skimmed through the video projection hovering in front of him, in his eyes.
"Around 4 hours… it should be enough," he thought aloud. "Chaos, show me the list of top 10 Chaos' Candidates on the points tally and filter the list to those who have swords-related Abilities."
After paying an unimaginable hefty sum, the System showed Shadow Origin the list he so desired with an empty heart.
…
[
Top 10 Chaos' Candidates with swords-related Ability on the Points Tally of ?#?!?###? Tournament of Worth:
1. Thunderclap - 150 Points
2. Master of Harem - 90 Points
3. Bastard of Zoro - 87 Points
…
…
…
10. Red - 30 Points
]
…
Only 150?! Shadow Origin frowned, the shadow of disappointment apparent on his face. The quality of swordsmen is degrading with each Tournament. Fuckers are all running towards Magic. Heh! How naive!
Yet, he had a job to do.
Then, one by one, Shadow Origin started to playback each Contestant's last 4 hours from the beginning, when they had left the pods.
"Oh!" He raised his eyebrows and chuckled. "Chaos, you nasty bitch! You suppressed their memories of Aliens and Predators, didn't you? Interesting…"
Feeling quite impressed by the Candidate Thunderclap, Shadow Origin half-heartedly moved on to the Master of Harem. "Now, now," he remarked. "That's quite an odd way to use swords. Haha!"
After playing the videos at many times their original speed, he reached the last Candidate in some 10 minutes.
Shadow Origin tsked. He hated such generic Code Names. Quite bored, feeling the content of this Candidate pointless already, he tapped on Red.
As expected, nothing happened for an hour in the video.
Then Red met a Pokemon Trainer and tagged along with her. He watched it expressionlessly as two more hours passed in the video. At last, Shadow Origin couldn't help but wonder how large a colony of Ovomorphs this Candidate must have found for him to get 30 points at the end of the 4 hours.
He carried on with the unimpressive trekking of the duo through the jungle, waiting for them to stumble upon at least 30 eggs worth 1 point each.
Shadow Origin recalled only Thunderclap had managed to kill 2 Warrior Xenomorphs guarding the colony of 200 Ovomorphs for him to reach 150 points. Taking on 2 aliens by himself, while fighting off the Facehuggers, was quite impressive, he thought, nodding to himself.
And such thoughts brought down his mood even more. Now he was losing the tiniest interest in this video. But time went on, and both man and woman kept going on at a steady, cautious pace.
Shadow Origin had already sat up, both women lying on the bed on either side, naked, sprawled, and now, forgotten.
…
45 minutes to 4 hours…
30 minutes to 4 hours…
10 minutes to 4 hours…
…
What the?! Shadow Origin's eyes widened as he saw them approaching a single Ovomorph.
Then, the Facehugger burst out, lunging at the Pokemon, catching the two Candidates off guard.
But something even weirder happened after that. Shadow Origin saw an invisible entity attacking the woman, piercing her heart, and killing her almost instantaneously.
It didn't take even a second for him to conclude. No, the conclusion wasn't related to the invisible Predator. But that this Red had been using the woman to gauge the skills and abilities of this unseen threat.
Didn't that mean he knew the Predator had marked him as prey?
All boredom vanished suddenly, and a hideous focus welled up in Shadow Origin's eyes.
What he saw next made him throw himself off the bed and ran out of his chambers.
Shadow Origin didn't know when he reached the King's chamber, but only then did he realize he was naked. He took a deep breath, and his shadow rippled, becoming a tight-fitted suit and pants. He ran his hands through his hair and knocked.
The doors opened up, and Shadow Origin stepped in and fell to his knee.
"Long Live HIS Majesty," he declared, "King Purple Mist!"
A man was standing near the open windows of this chamber, shrouded in a mass of purple mist. He turned around and nodded. "What news have you brought me, Viceroy Shadow Origin?" the King asked, his voice ethereal like gusts of air. "It must be something important for you to leave those girls alone so early in the morning."
Shadow Origin gulped. He stood up and neared the king. "Your majesty," he said, his head down. "You must look at this."
Shadow Origin shared the scenes of Red's brief fight.
"How impressive!" the king muttered, shocking the living breath out of the Shadow Origin.
In his entire life, he had yet to hear these words out of the king's mouth for anybody other than a few selective monsters.
"Is that an Ability, your grace?" Shadow Origin asked. "Because that is not a Skill. With those conditions, it is impossible to maintain a Skill that can let someone sense and predict invisible attacks."
"Your arrogance has blinded you, Viceroy," the king commented. "You are seeing it with your eyes, and yet you dare not believe it for the sheer rarity of it. That is not a Skill, yes. But that is not an Ability, either."
"Then…" Shadow Origin mumbled. A sudden thought passed by his mind, and his eyes shot open, his head snapping towards the being engulfed in a cloak of purple mist. "No, that is impossible…"
The King scoffed at the word, his eyes planted on the video screen.
"Kenbunshoku Haki!" King Purple Mist proclaimed. "And at what a magnificent scale!"
Color of Observation?! Shadow Origin recalled the name, an icy shiver running down his spine. Am I seeing the rise of another King? After so long…
The video then proceeded, showing this Candidate's untraditional way of fighting, and then shockingly killing the Predator with only one cut.
"Is that Murasame?!" Shadow Origin exclaimed, once more getting shocked. "But, wasn't there a report, stating that a royal member had bought this Named Sword on the 4th floor just recently? Yes! That is One-Half of the Power Sword on his waist to his right. Who is this Red?!"
The king hadn't lost his composure like the viceroy. "Who is sponsoring this kid?" he asked calmly, his voice now low, like a calm stream flowing over smooth rocks.
Shadow Origin checked, and for the third time, he was shocked by the Red.
No one?! He thought. "No one…" he repeated aloud. "A lone Contestant?"
"It might not necessarily be the case," the king mumbled to himself.
Then they observed the video more, now at the normal speed. They saw him taking out a Pokedex and then pointing it at the dead Yautja, Ovomorph, and the Facehugger over the Pokemon, who had yet to return despite its trainer's death.
If this was odd, then what he did next was even nonsensical. He took out his Tablet, and then took many photos of his surroundings, including the dead woman and all the alien species.
Then Red controlled the sword, Murasame, and nicked the Pokemon, killing it almost instantly, using the poisonous curse as well. He observed the changes and then saw the Facehugger bursting apart in a mass of acidic blood.
The Red then hurled the 7 ft tall Yautja over his shoulders and marched on, only stopping after an hour quite a few miles away from the spot of ambush.
He then took off the armor on Predator's body and then used his other sword to cut the body, weighing over 200 kg, limb by limb, before cutting the torso into many pieces.
"What in Chaos' name is he doing?!" Shadow Origin asked, incapable of comprehending such a thing.
Beside him, the King saw everything non-pulsed, but the color of the surrounding mist had darkened, gaining a color of deep excitement.
"He will eat it," the king declared. "A Predator's body has many healing capabilities and hidden powers if devoured along with a ritual or by other magical creatures."
"Eh?!" Shadow Origin gasped. "But he doesn't know this, your majesty. The Systems have suppressed the Candidates' memories related to these things."
No reply came out of the king's mouth for a long time. When it did come, it came with obvious admiration. "It's his nature," the king said. "Truly extraordinary."
Shadow Origin lacked the words in reply to the king's statement.
The Red, whose face was blurred, kept one hand of the Predator to himself, throwing every other limb and pieces of flesh in random directions.
This?! Shadow Origin gawked at it. "He is doing this because of us…" he uttered.
The king looked at his viceroy and said, "Not bad." His head turned back to the video. "Yes, he knows that we, or other Contestants, are watching him like everyone else," the king reasoned. "That's why he is spreading the food in all directions far away from him. He must have some companion with him or a magical creature whose existence he doesn't want to reveal."
"To think this ahead," Shadow Origin added. "What kind of life must he have lived?"
The king didn't reply to this question. The presence of Haki was an answer in itself to him.
"The Sith must have him," the king commanded, at last, going back to the window. "Do whatever it must take."
Shadow Origin kneeled his one eye on the purple mass, and one on the Red, who was eating the preparing a fire to cook the arm.
"Yes, your majesty," he said, accepting the command. "It shall be done."
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Facehugger - It comes out of the Ovomorph (Xenomorph's egg), and latches itself to the nearest organic being's mouth. More will be covered on it later.
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