Alex stared warily at the glowing pool before him. Sitting in the cavern that held his Soul, the once pathetic looking puddle had grown into a pond, spanning four feet across and three feet deep. The hand sized golden sphere that represented his condensed Soul sat at the bottom of the pool, emanating a calm golden glow intermixed with the light blue glow of the pond.

He was excited to condense is Soul for the third time, but it had grown far larger and faster than he expected and he still remembered the pain of the last time he had done this. While he knew that the damage of his Soul bullets would increase, he was acutely aware that the process of condensing this amount of Soul Points was going to suck balls.

Steeling himself as best as he could, he tried to calm himself by taking a few exaggerated breaths. After several minutes had passed, he was no closer to calming himself. Quietly cursing himself for what he knew was coming, he gritted his teeth and started condensing his Soul.

“Condense.”

For all that he had worried, it still didn’t prepare him for the pain that followed. His chest twisted inside itself. His heart, lungs and various other organs were squeezed tight by an unseen force. With his breath cut off and the sudden pressure threatening to cave in his skull, his jaw clamped down, severing his tongue and filling his mouth with blood.

As time seemed to slow down, dragging out the torment, Alex was held still by his own body clamping down in a state of paralysis. He had no choice but to wait, staring at the blue pond’s surface. As his Soul condensed, the level of the pond dipped down as his Soul was pulled into the golden sphere. Once the pond’s surface stopped dropping, he finally regained control of his own body.

He fell over immediately, laying on his side as he curled himself up, quietly shuddering as the last vestiges of pain passed. It was a long while before he was finally able to sit back up. Staring at the pond, his heart sank as he noticed the level of the pond had only dropped a few inches.

“FUCK!”

Alex had been blown up twice and even those moments of pain were nothing compared to what he had just experienced. He fell back to the ground and quietly cried at the thought of having to condence his Soul several more times before he was finished.

In a moment of weakness, Alex considered giving up. Everything in him wanted to refuse to continue moving forward. As his mind fought to convince him that there was nothing he could do, the small part of his consciousness knew that there was no going back. If he stopped now, he would never continue forward again.

He could see it as clear as day. Staying in the City Zone, guiding new players forward along their path while he stayed safely inside the Bellevue. There was no doubt in his mind that he could offer genuine assistance to those who were brought here. He could become a mentor, leading the new arrivals and shaping them into the Heroes that Humanity would need. Even as he thought this, even as he tried to convince himself that he would be helping others, he also knew that he would retreat to the confines of his room each night in shame.

His friends would eventually move on. Even Danny would leave him, sickened by the coward he had become. Humanity would cycle through every month and while the new players would smile and thank him for his guidance, they would know in their hearts that he was a broken man, unable to move on.

Alex’s eyes opened and he gritted his teeth in frustration as his own mind tried to break him. He struggled, but after a few moments, he pulled himself together as best as he could manage. He spit out the blood that lined his mouth and stared defiantly at his own Soul.

Fuck the System! I’m not going out without a fight! Bring it, Bitch!

Alex screamed, his voice filled with anger and desperation as the echoes bounced off the walls of the cavern and into the dark unknown that lay beyond.

“CONDENSE!”

Congratulations! You have condensed your Soul! Your Soul Bullets will now deal more damage. Note: Each Soul Bullet now cost 500 Soul Points! WARNING! The cost for Onomatopoeia has increased as well! Good Luck! Don’t Die!

Alex nearly screamed after he woke up the following morning and read the notification awaiting him.

Five Hundred fucking Soul Points per bullet! That’s a 250% increase!

Name: Alex Donner

Age: 24

Race: Human

Level: 9

EXP: 8,784/15,000

Class: Soul Survivor: Enforcer

Soul Tier 3: 42,002

HP: 480

MP: 300

Vitality: 33

Strength: 30

Agility: 32(64)

Dexterity: 29(58)

Wisdom: 22

Intelligence: 19

Modifiers

Upgrades

Regeneration

Blood Transfusion

Armor Tier 2

HP: 5.8 per Min

Crane’s Grace Tier 1

Weapon Tier 2

MP: 4.1 per Min

Loot Goblin

SP: 11.2(x3) per Min

Onomatopoeia

Sextant Nauticalier

Soul Adapt

Soul Sight

Pulling up his stats, Alex groaned as he realized he could only shoot 84 Soul bullets with his current amount of Soul Points and with his new and improved regeneration rate, it would still take over 20 hours just to regain his current Soul Points!

Now that Alex had condensed his Soul to Tier 3, the Soul Journeyman Modifier was available to him but he would need 30,000xp before he could afford it. The upgrade would raise the multiplier on the amount of Soul Points he received per kill which would help him significantly. Alex could try to level his Crane’s Grace again, which would hopefully raise his Agility and Dexterity multiplier, thus raising his Soul Point Regeneration, but there was no way to tell when the evolution would happen.

Alex sat in his bed, visibly frustrated at this development. He would have to wait until leveling up in order to afford Soul Journeyman and he might not survive that long. He went through far more than 84 Soul bullets in each fight. As he finally started getting dressed, he wracked his brain, trying to come up with some way to deal with his current problem. Several thoughts crossed his mind but there was only one sure fire way that he knew of to get ahold of enough xp to afford what he needed.

Alex’s mood had turned sour and his teammates noticed, but left him to stew over his thoughts while they ate. He would tell them when he was ready. They had suspected that condensing his Soul had come with its own bad news. The System seemed to like punching people in the crotch when something seemingly good happened. When they finished their meal, Alex finally spoke.

“What do you guys think about taking out the Tahloh?” He asked.

He knew that the day might come when they had to eliminate the threat that the Tahloh represented, but it was hard for him to face that fact. While he had no love for the golden skinned giants, he respected their leader, Rahzoh. The man had stayed behind to help guide his people through the ‘first testing grounds’ as they called it. Alex might have had thoughts of staying behind while he was condensing his Soul, but that thought was born out of cowardice. Rahzoh didn’t seem like a coward. He was a man that understood sacrifice for the good of his people.

In all honesty, Alex had wanted to leave the Tahloh alone. Sure, they had kidnapped him and would have killed him and his friends, but he had held out a naïve hope that they could somehow cope with each other’s presence. There might be a few casualties but the fact of the matter was that the Tahloh were fighting for their very lives, just like Humanity was.

“It’s about time!” Danny nearly shouted. “What happened with your Soul condensing?”

Alex was taken aback. “What do you mean, about time?”

Toby patted Alex’s shoulder. “It’s a simple fact that the Tahloh are a threat. If we want the people who follow us to be better prepared, we need to do everything we can to remove that threat.”

“These people understand what is at risk.” Silvia added, looking over the rest of the players at their own tables. “Honestly, there are a few that have been ready to go for a while. No one likes feeling threatened and the Tahloh are a threat.”

Alex nodded his head. They were all correct and he had no right to hold back their safety because of his own concerns. Once he laid out the numbers from his Tier 3 Soul, Danny flipped off the ceiling, causing more than a few startled looks.

“This fucking place is getting on my goddamn nerves.” She spoke. “Every time we think we are getting ahead; it throws another wrench into everything. Five hundred Soul Points! That’s ridiculous! I doubt you could even use your Onomatopoeia Modifier now.”

Alex had had the same thoughts. That Modifier was his greatest leverage in every fight they had found themselves in. It was literally the most versatile ability he had and now, he couldn’t chance using it because it might drain his Soul Points dry, effectively destroying his own Soul in the process.

The one glimmer of hope was how strong his Soul bullets would now be. They became stronger with each Soul Tier he reached. Unfortunately, the last time the bullets were upgraded, it added so much recoil, that Alex had to level his Strength attribute just to control it. If it happened again, he wasn’t sure how he would survive.

“The Player’s Market is about to begin.” Toby said. “We will announce what we are planning with everyone then. After the 50,000xp gift we received for taking out the Gnomes, I don’t think we will have a shortage of volunteers.”

“We will need to go soon.” Silvia interjected. “The new players arrive tomorrow.”

“Can’t we just bring them with us?” Ty asked. “Power level them a bit with that xp?”

“It’s too risky.” Alex said. “Taking them with us when they have zero levels and zero Modifiers isn’t worth the experience points. What happens if shit goes sideways, or the Monster Stampede shows up?”

“The likelihood of them surviving would be close to nothing.” Rishi said quietly. “On the other hand, with the Tahloh and Gnomes gone, they will have access to far stronger doors and Events which will level them quickly.”

“And we also will be in the next zone for a solid month before they arrive, giving us time to gather intel for them and future players who will be arriving.” Danny added. “We need to discuss everything with the other team leaders before the Player’s Market begins.”

They all agreed and went to hunt down the other team leaders. Almost all of them were nearby as no one wanted to miss the Player’s Market. Alex had saved a few Exquisite and Legendary orbs in hopes of trading. He even still had his Epic Snail Shell orb though he wasn’t sure if he would trade that just yet.

Rishi had guessed that the Epic Orb would give a bonus to Vitality and possibly Strength, though he was unsure of that. Toby, who was the Tank and therefore, wanted to increase his Vitality as much as possible, used the orb on his Shield. He received a whopping +7 to Vitality and Strength, along with an added ability called Bulwark. The ability made him immovable and dropped any damage he received by 25% for 10 Seconds. The cooldown was an hour long, however, so it was an ‘emergency only’ ability.

Alex liked the stat increase but he was hoping for more Agility and Dexterity. Now that he was severely limited by his Soul Points, he needed those stats now more than ever.

The team had talked to several team leaders and all of them seemed anxious to join the would be raid on the Tahloh. Just as everyone was gathering into dining room to begin their trading, Channy and her team burst through the doors.

“Did we miss it?” She yelled, drawing several laughs from the gathered crowd.

“We are just starting.” Danny answered her.

“Good!” Channy said, walking forward. “Because we just cleared a Jade door!”

Several people started cheering while others gaped. Even Alex was surprised they had attempted the door. With that being said, the Player’s Market began. Alex had planned to seek out Channy and her teammates right away to see what orb they had received. If they hadn’t used it already that is. He ended up not having to search at all as Channy and her teammates came looking for him and his team.

“So, a little birdy told me last night that you guys have an Epic grade orb with stats towards Vitality and Strength.” Channy said happily.

Alex laughed. “That would be correct. Would this little birdie have blonde, brunette or red hair?”

“Try no hair.” Channy said, pointing to Ty who smiled wide. “Ty mentioned that some of you were looking for something besides Strength and Vitality and we think some of us might have a decent trade for you.”

She held out the orb and Alex inspected it.

Epic Yokai’s Fang: Apply to a single piece of Armor or Weapon and that gear will be given an ability or attribute coinciding with the deceased Monster’s Talents! WARNING! Can only be applied to one piece of Armor e.g., chest, one boot, one shin guard, one vambrace, ect.

Of course, it didn’t give any description on what the orb would do. A person would have to piece together what attributes or skills they thought the Boss had to gain any insight before using the orb. Thankfully, one of Channy’s teammates had used the Epic grade loot.

“I applied it to my cuirass.” Said a tall and very thin Russian man by the name of Ivan. “The Yokai threw magically imbued knives at us that would fly through the air and chase us down like a damn heat seeking missile. The wounds would bleed a lot as well, ticking down our health. Channy had to stop fighting just to help out with healing.

“Since I am a Fencer and the Yokai seemed to have high Dexterity, I didn’t mind using the orb. It gave me +7 to Dexterity and Intelligence and an ability to stop any bleeding wounds every hour.”

Bleeding wasn’t considered a debuff like in the games from Earth, though it worked the same. Taking damage would cause your HP to fall, but any wounds that bled heavily would continue to tick down your health. Bleeding wounds also took longer to heal so it was a valuable ability to have. Since it wasn’t counted as a debuff, however, it couldn’t be cleansed with specific spells like poisons and curses could. It was just another ‘Fuck You’ from the System.

“It seems like that would do well for you Channy.” Alex said. “While you are technically more like a Paladin now, increasing your Mana Points should be a priority stat.”

Channy smiled sheepishly. “I have plenty of Intelligence and I even use my spells more with my new Battle Angel Class than I did as a Cleric, but I still can’t fly. My wings are more of a hinderance while I am grounded, so I could use the Strength boost more and well, Vitality is always a good thing.”

Alex nodded at her reasoning. He definitely wanted the orb but he didn’t want to screw someone over to get it. Now that he knew he wasn’t, he accepted the trade. Rishi, Danny and Ty accepted the trade as well, all of them wanting either Intelligence, Dexterity or both. Alex touched the orb to his vambrace that didn’t have an enchantment yet.

Vambrace of the Demon (Upgraded to Epic): This vambrace now allows its wearer to stop all bleeding from wounds once every hour! +7 to Dexterity and Intelligence!

Both teams followed Alex’s example and started enchanting their gear. With everyone now set, Alex started making his way through the crowd. Danny happily joined him and they started making their way through the room, asking people what they had to trade.

There weren’t many people with extra Legendary orbs and Alex almost gave up his search until he found Hosmunt arguing with a rather buff looking woman by the name of Hilda.

“I don’t need two Exquisite orbs, Hilda!” Hosmunt said angrily. “And even then, I would consider the trade but neither orb has Dexterity, Intelligence or Wisdom.”

“I’m just trying to look after you!” Hilda growled, blowing several strands of blonde hair that had escaped her ponytail out of her face. “You need more Vitality, but whatever! If you want to go get yourself killed, that is fine by me!”

The large Nordic woman stalked off, leaving Hosmunt rubbing his temples.

“Problem, Hosmunt?” Danny asked, giving the man a knowing smile.

Everyone knew that Hilda had the hots for Turkish Enchanter.

Hosmunt sighed. “Hilda is a caring woman but is far too demanding. She wants me to stack Vitality although I am never fighting up front. I have plenty of Vitality for a caster and I need more attributes that will help with my Class.”

“What do you have for trade?” Alex asked. “Because I have a few orbs with Intelligence and Wisdom.”

Hosmunt brightened. “Really? Please tell me it is Legendary, but to be honest, at this point, I will settle for Exquisite.”

Alex snorted and pulled out the Legendary brown orb he had been saving.

“Danny here used the same orb on her Staff.” Alex said. “It’s +5 to Intelligence and Wisdom and helps her cast slightly faster than normal. It’s perfect for any caster.”

“I’ll take it!” Hosmunt yelled.

“Hold on now, Hosmunt.” Alex laughed. “What do you have and do you know what it does.”

Chuckling to himself, Hosmunt pulled out a Legendary blue orb.

“+5 to Dexterity and Agility.” He said happily, knowing that Alex used those very stats for his Class. “I only know what it does for armor however, since my teammate used his.”

Alex nodded. While the attribute buffs stayed mostly the same no matter what type of armor or weapon you used the orbs on, the ability would could change depending on which piece you chose to enchant. Enchanting weapons were always slightly different as well.

“I need it to replace the enchantment on my main handgun.” Alex stated. “Do you remember what the Boss’ abilities were like?”

Hosmunt nodded. “It was a nasty little sprite that peppered us with little arrows. The damn thing was fast and annoying. If I recall correctly, the fight had a mechanic where a bell would sound, causing all the toothpick size arrows to vibrate and cause a lot of pain. It nearly crippled our Tank during the fight.”

The orb already had the stats that Alex wanted and the possible ability could be worth it as well. After the shock of finding out that his Soul Points would be limited much more than he had ever thought, he needed to replace his Baby Maker enchantment. He just couldn’t risk the weapon proccing an extra bullet, even though the crappy enchantment rarely ever procced.

Alex agreed to the trade and placed his new orb to his handgun.

Tinkly Winky (Upgraded to Legendary): This gun doesn’t shoot your typical bullets. Instead, each bullet is created with a piece of your Soul. You won’t need to reload but you definitely don’t want to run out! Upgrades available in the System Shop!

This gun will now cause your Soul Bullets to fragment upon impact! Any ringing noise will send vibrations through the fragments, causing extreme pain! +5 to Agility and Dexterity!

Alex shared the information with Danny who smiled mischievously.

“I think we found a use for the word Ding!”

Alex laughed. “You mean when I can safely use the Modifier, that is.”

The Player’s Market was a huge success. Alex traded many of his own orbs when people were looking for specific stat increases. He didn’t mind what they were trading with. He planned to hand out the extra orbs to the new players that would arrive the next day.

Soon after the trading had ended, teams gathered up quickly for the impending raid. Alex felt a chill run down his spine as he watched everyone excitedly talk about what they would do with the xp they were soon to receive.

It was easy to forget how serious the danger was. After the easy defeat of the Gnomes, they seemed to think that they were indestructible. Alex might need the xp more than most, but not at the cost of their lives and if these teams believed they were indestructible, they were going to die.

Alex moved through the crowd towards the small raised stage at the front of the room. As he climbed the stage, several players started cheering, thinking he was about to make a rousing speech.

“Do you want to die?!” Alex shouted.

The room went silent as everyone looked on in confusion. Alex wasn’t smiling. He was angry. Angry at their casual disregard for their enemy and the threat they represented. Angry at himself for not noticing it sooner. They had been just moments from heading into a fight that they would lose due to an overwhelming amount of self-assuredness.

“Did you forget that this isn’t a game?” Alex continued. “You all seem excited to face the Tahloh. The giant people that have natural magical abilities. The giant people that are naturally stronger and faster than any of us were when we arrived.

“You act as if we already won! If you believe that, then we have already lost. We won against the Gnomes because they were acting as you all are now. They had superior fire power and if they had been just the least bit cautious, many of us wouldn’t be here today. We used their arrogance against them.”

The crowd shuffled about, most people looking down at their own feet. Alex at least felt a small measure of hope at that. He had been worried they would argue and if they had, he didn’t know if he could stop them. Seeing that they understood enough to feel ashamed felt like a step in the right direction.

“Don’t let arrogance be our downfall.” Alex said. “We have a chance to end the threat of the Tahloh. From everything we know, they are extremely short on numbers right now. We have a chance to end their connection into the System. If we act do this as smart as possible, we have a chance at winning, but it is only a chance. There’s also a chance that we could all fail. If we do everything right, we could still fail.

“Team leaders, meet me in the lobby. Everyone else, start preparing.”

Alex jumped off the stage and was soon discussing strategy with the other team leaders. They had all agreed that they should leave behind a few teams, just in case and it came to drawing straws to see who would stay behind. After that, they were left with thirteen teams for the assault. To ensure their survival, Alex had twelve of the teams pair up and they would take the seven parallel streets that led south with Alex and his team in the middle.

They had known where the Tahloh base was for some time now and had even scouted it out at safe distances. The one fire escape that led to the top of the tall buildings would be heavily guarded and would be a death trap if they couldn’t secure it quickly enough. That led to another discussion that lasted the rest of the morning but after lunch, they were finally ready.

The teams were sorted and each teams’ scout would act as a messenger since there was still no way to communicate via Interface or Modifier. Alex and his team took the most direct route to the Tahloh base. The other teams spread out far enough so that any ambush attempt would be seen well in advance.

The streets were quiet as normal for the first forty blocks. At fifty blocks, sounds of fighting could be heard through the echoing streets and by fifty-five blocks, the scouts were sent out to check on all the teams.

It took two hours before all the teams had checked in. The nerve-racking wait had been torturous for Alex and his team. Standing out in the open did wonders for Alex and his paranoia.

Three teams had come into contact with the Tahloh patrols. Since all the teams were doubled up except for Alex’s team, it was easy for them to defeat the gold skinned giants as long as the teams didn’t get ambushed. The Tahloh’s ability to create weapons, including magical explosives from their own magical energy, was dangerous, especially when they had enough time to set up a proper ambush, but when they were the ones being ambushed, they generally only created swords and bows.

Rishi had a theory that the more mundane the weapon, the faster the Tahloh could create it. Since they had never seen them summon anything but typical melee and ranged weapons when they caught them unawares, it seemed likely.

The Tahloh in the City Zone were all under the human equivalent of ten but that didn’t mean they were the same in regards to power. The Tahloh had natural speed and strength. Their magical abilities made them even more dangerous. The fact that new Tahloh were brought to this world every two months instead of every month like humanities just went to show how much more dangerous they were.

Comparatively, Humans didn’t stand a chance against the golden skinned giants. Only their ability to buy Modifiers and spells from the System Shop gave them any chance at defeating the Tahloh, but Alex and the others knew that humanities strengths were not their physical or magical prowess. It was their ability to adapt and their will to fight against overwhelming odds.

They were two blocks from the Tahloh base when all hell finally broke loose. A shout of warning came just in time for Alex to turn and watch as the rest of his teammates were diving away from something in the middle of the street. The magical grenade was a clear sign that they had been ambushed.

The sounds of explosions started echoing across the city. Alex and Ty had been half a block ahead scouting, so they were well out of the blast radius. They were also too far away to offer quick assistance as they watched several Tahloh start climbing down the sides of the buildings far more quickly than should have been possible.

Ty and Alex ran back towards their teammates, who were thankfully getting to their feet. Even at their distance, Alex could see some of the damage that the magical explosion had caused. Their friends were scratched up, but not too badly. They all popped a Health Pill and Danny started healing while the others circled around her, facing out.

Alex saw four Tahloh dropping to the street and each of them started pulsing with golden light. Biting down on his fear, he pushed himself as fast as he could before aiming at the nearest Tahloh and unloading a glowing blue barrage of bullets into him.

At 500 Soul Points per bullet, Alex immediately felt his Soul draining away. His gun didn’t recoil as he feared and the bullets flew true. They hit with solid impacts, not killing the Tahloh, but knocking him back and interrupting whatever he was planning on creating with his magic.

Two arrows flew past Alex and he looked back to see Ty and his clone firing away. The two arrows hit the next nearest Tahloh in the neck, causing the giant to scream as he fell to his knees.

That didn’t kill him but it sure as hell must have hurt.

The rest of the team had gained their bearings and were fighting back. Toby and Silvia charged one of the two Tahloh that descended the building from the opposite side of the street and Rishi’s two stone golems were rushing the other. Danny kept up her healing, still trying to remove the damage that the group had suffered from. Getting closer, Alex saw that their wounds were far worse than he had realized.

There was a small crater where the explosive went off and the rock must have shredded into the team. Their armor had holes and tears and their lesser armored legs and arms were still bleeding. Reaching Danny, he started using his Blood Transfusion, pouring his HP into her. She gasped at the sudden influx but kept her chanting going. Popping his own Health Pill, Alex moved to Rishi, giving the man a boost in health as well. Since they wore less armor than the others, they had taken the brunt of the damage.

Alex spun about as a shout came from behind. The first Tahloh he had hit was starting to glow again and blood was pouring out of his right side where the bullets had hit. The giant kept shouting at him as the glowing pulses increased, but Alex wasn’t having it. He didn’t even pay attention to the words the giant screamed as aimed his guns at put two bullets into his forehead. The giant flew backwards, slamming into the building behind him.

Then Alex was hit in the chest with bone breaking force. The hit lifted him off the ground and sent him flying. He had just enough time to see a giant riddled with black arrows, holding a large two-handed mace before he crashed down into the street.

The hit had broken at least two ribs and he was sure there was internal damage as well as it became almost impossible to breathe.

Maybe a punctured lung. That’s going to slow me down significantly.

More arrows flew into the Tahloh and the giant finally succumbed to the damage as it fell over lifelessly, its body soon vanishing, replaced by a golden orb. Alex looked over to the giant he had shot in the forehead and groaned as he saw the giant trying to get back to its feet. An arrow hit the still prone giant and he finally disappeared, an orb signaling its death.

Getting to his feet, Alex felt the warm wash of healing magic start working on his injuries. He started moving towards Toby and Silvia, their fight still going strong as the Tahloh had summoned a ridiculously large shield and a sword almost as tall as Toby. The gold skinned giant was doing well in its defense but it was being backed up towards the wall by the duo. It was only a matter of time before he would have to push forward and sacrifice defense in hope of taking out his attackers.

Just as Alex had suspected, once the Tahloh’s back hit the wall of the building, he launched forward, smashing his shield into Toby and angling his large sword to cut Silvia in half. Alex was prepared to fire but didn’t have to as Silvia suddenly blurred past the Tahloh, ending up behind the Tahloh, her spear thrusting forward and skewering the giant. He let out a scream of pain as Toby cut deep into the back of the enemy’s knee, causing him to fall forward. Then Alex was there, firing point blank into the back of their enemy’s head.

Once the body vanished, they turned to see the last Tahloh being finished off by Ty, Rishi and his golems. The golems were holding the giant’s legs, while Ty struck at the back of the immobile target. Rishi finished him off with an overhead swing of his stone staff, crushing the Tahloh’s skull.

Danny kept healing, trying to get the team to one hundred percent, but the sounds of fighting on the streets running parallel had them worried. Once Danny had finally finished, they split up into their original teams. Alex, Danny and Ty heading right, while Toby, Silvia and Rishi headed left.

The fight playing out didn’t look good. The two teams on this street were still alive, but they had taken a beating. All but one was either unconscious or trying to stem the bleeding from their various wounds. A lone Human that Alex didn’t recognize right away still stood, facing off against the lone Tahloh.

Alex immediately recognized the Tahloh however. The eight-foot tall, golden skinned giant still wore a look of unadulterated hate on his face. Alex almost flinched at seeing him standing there with an enormous two-handed axe in hand. He needed to do something quick, or the man facing him would be cut down.

“Deborah!” Alex shouted. “Fancy meeting you here.”

Dohbrah looked up to see Alex and his team approaching. A look of shock came across the giant’s face, quickly turning into an open sneer. Just as Alex had been hoping, he had distracted the lone Tahloh, buying the man who faced him an opening to strike.

Unfortunately, the man also turned around to see who was speaking. Alex felt his heart drop when Dohbrah smiled evilly, taking advantage of Alex’s distraction. The giant shifted his already raised two handed axe and slammed it into the man’s unprotected side, almost splitting him in half. Alex was already roaring in protest, as he ran towards Dohbrah, the sound of his own heart starting to thunder in his ears.

He couldn’t offer his team any direction as his thoughts started spiraling. The scene of the player being killed because of his distraction was being played over and over in his mind as he ran towards Dohbrah. Alex was consumed with rage and shame. Rage at Dohbrah for ending the man’s life and shame that he couldn’t even remember the man’s name.

Just like when Alex had executed the Somali’s team, the world seemed to blur away, but Dohbrah came more and more into focus. The giant was like a shining beacon to which Dante was drawn to and he rushed forward, sprinting as fast as he possibly could.

Dohbrah lifted his axe again, fresh blood running down its length and a maniacal grin plastered on the giant’s face. It made Alex sick and the overwhelming anger seemed to drive him faster towards his target.

As Dohbrah swung out, Alex pushed off against the pavement, activating his boots of hopping. The sudden thrust forward drew a look of panic from the giant as he tried to adjust his axe to meet Alex. He couldn’t.

Alex flew by the giant, low and fast, his handguns firing as he safely passed under the swinging axe. The glowing bullets tore open golden skin along the giant’s side and Alex deftly turned around in midair, still firing into Dohbrah’s exposed back.

Even with all his Soul bullets slamming into him, Dohbrah still stood though he was bleeding heavily. The giant turned around, ready to chase down Alex, a look born of rage on his face. Alex looked towards the Tahloh with nothing but sheer determination written across his face. He let out one more shot, his gun pointing toward Dohbrah’s face.

“Ding.”

The bullet struck Dohbrah under the right eye, snapping the giant’s head back. The Onomatopoeia Modifier went off, the ding sound causing the giant to shake uncontrollably as the sound waves seemed to reverberate through his entire body. What followed however, was what Alex had been intending. The bullet fragments from his right-hand gun were still lodged into the giant’s body and as the ding sound went off, those bullet fragments started shaking as well, causing unimaginable pain.

Alex had felt his Soul Points plummet as he fired into the giant and the sudden drain from the Modifier almost caused Alex to lose consciousness. 5,000 Soul Points was suddenly ripped from him and Alex knew that he was close to empty.

The teams they had saved were on their feet and started attacking Dohbrah with abandon. It was a gruesome sight and Alex felt a pang of guilt. Not for Dohbrah specifically but for taking out another Race. His morals warred with his logic and he didn’t have the heart, or the Soul Points, to join in on the slaughter.

Dohbrah died screaming in outrage at his defenselessness. It was a sight Alex would never forget.

Looking over, Alex watched as Danny and several others stared at the red orb that was once a player. They man had given his life to protect his friends and the look of pain and sadness on his former teammates faces struck Dante hard.

What have I done? I suggested taking out the Tahloh. I caused the distraction that got that man killed. Fucking God Dammit!