(This is a note to say that I'm an absolute twat. I was reading through my notes (for once) and I realised I had completely forgotten about one of his skills. He had the skill Electric transfer from upgrading lightning seed, which allows him to circuit electricity from himself to another person and do damage to both of them.

I don't think I ever formally introduced it so let's act as if I had never forgotten that. Sorry )

****

Stanis took a breath in and relaxed. He dropped his shoulders and flexed his chest. He was done, it had been a long week but he was done. Today it had just been Jay assisting him so the whole day had passed by with minimum words exchanged. Stanis liked that; he also liked Bill but sometimes a bit of peace was due.

Jay tapped his foot before leaving the hall through the door. Stanis broke away from his thoughts and followed. Just as he was exiting the hall, he turned his head and took one last look at the hall.

It had been his home for 6 good days. It had given him back what he had lost while working with the other top ten. The hall looked the exact same as when he had first entered it 6 days ago. The floor still shone and the walls were still lightly coloured with no marks on them.

He let loose a chuckle as he thought about it. He had been so pleased whenever he had slightly scratched the walls or tinged the floors. And yet his marks of achievement had never lasted long as they had always disappeared the day after.

He shook his head as the last of his thoughts acted out in his head. It was time to leave; it was time to get back what was truly his.

Finally letting go of the door, he walked the usual route as he followed Jay. On the way, he saw the guards who regarded him with the same amount of respect they had shown him the first time he had passed by them: none. They still looked at him in the same manner a hungry mountain lion would look at a fat, juicy sheep.

He was certain that the guards were just shy, after all, how could they still look at him the same way after all that progress. They were probably just too stuck for words to call him out and compliment him. Yeah, that had to be it.

Eventually, Stanis and Jay entered the room which looked like a laboratory. It wasn't necessarily the equipment that made him think of a lab but instead the cleanliness and orderliness of the room that gave him that feeling. Bill was in the room eating biscuits and drinking some type of aromatic drink.

"Ahh, you're going today, aren't you?" Bill asked. "Time flies so fast when you're having fun. Well, back to ordinary life for us, eh?"

Jay ignored his comments and walked towards a few buttons and levers. "Get in the room," he said while practically punching a few buttons.

Stanis walked towards the room he had first woken up in, before being stopped by Bill.

"Oh no, you don't at all want to be in that one, believe me. It's that one," he said while pointing at a similar room on the other side.

Stanis walked into the right room and waited. He had no weapons on him, no armour and quite frankly, nothing except a woollen shirt and trousers. But he knew he was ready.

Jay looked up from his buttons. He met Stanis dead in the eye as he said:

"You are strong enough to fight an adroite Mosyte at your current. There shouldn't be any enemies on Earth, currently, that are impossible for you to kill. We haven't really done much practical fighting this week and so remember to not be careless as you fight the stronger ones,"

He cleared his throat and Stanis almost thought he was done. Almost.

"Remember, you are carrying a lot more weight on your back than you realise. Not just of the people you care about, not just of the people who are useful, but the whole of humanity. Don't fuck it up,"

"Amen." Bill said.

"Good luck," Jay ended.

And that was the last thing Stanis heard. His vision blurred and soon he became nothing.

****

It was a while later, and a very long distance away, that Stanis woke up. He heard a groan from his side and looked over, noticing Bear.

Bear looked more like a bear than before. He had grown his hair and beard out further, and he definitely looked quite a bit more sturdy than Stanis remembered. Another thing Stanis noted very quickly was the fact that Bear still had his wide bastard sword, as well as his canteen by his waist.

Next to Bear was Skint, who had somehow kept his appearance still relatively clean despite their trip to the middle of nowhere. His chin and cheeks were clean-shaved, and his matt black hair was cut short. He had a bag across his back, out of which Stanis could see his shortbow sticking out.

Next to Skint was a girl Stanis hadn't seen before. She wore tight, leather clothing that showed off her figure but at the same time provided protection. She had brown hair, and more importantly, two vicious-looking daggers in her hands. Stanis could instantly tell that she was not friends with Skint or Bear as she immediately backed away from them with her daggers drawn.

Considering the two people on his left, Stanis had a good enough idea of what had happened and thus knew who would be on his right. Pete looked much worse that Stanis had anticipated, and this was despite knowing his drinking tendencies. Perhaps it was because of that that he looked bad as Stanis quickly noticed that Pete didn't actually have a canteen on him. He was wearing similar clothes to Stanis and had no weapons or drink containers in sight.

Other than that, however, Pete still seemed the same person. He was still lean and lanky, and now also haggard. He had a great beard similar to Bear's but better groomed. Stanis would have liked to say that it was well-groomed but it was clear that Pete hadn't been privy to same tools Skint had been during the period.

"Ahh, the whole gang is here," Skint said before looking at the well-endowed woman to his left, "with an added chick."

She growled in response and kept her daggers up.

Pete ignored this and ran at Bear, before tearing off his canteen and taking a long gulp, simultaneously giving the large man a scare.

From the way Bear moved, Stanis could instantly tell that there was friction between him and Pete. He had followed Pete in the past but that had mainly been due to Pete's strength; was he still strong enough for him to follow now? Of course, there was the added feeling of comradery between the trio but that came second when you were a group of cutthroats.

As for Pete, he either didn't notice the tension or ignored it. If Pete was anything like he had shown himself to be during the group stage, then Stanis guessed that it was ignored. If he had also died in the jungle and gone through a similar thing to Stanis's, then it made sense he could now sensibly ignore most threats.

As for Stanis, he knew exactly where he was placed. All the doubts that had grown during the group stage had been gulped and washed away by what had followed.

"Were you guys also in Twisted Myre?" asked the woman.

Stanis grew confused at this but it was clear that Bear and Skint recognised the place she was talking about.

"Oh yeah, oh yeah. What rank were you babe?" Skint asked while smiling a greasy, filthy thing.

She squinted her eyes in response and backed off without answering Skint's question.

Stanis guessed that she had most likely been lowly ranked and thus didn't want to reveal weakness now. Not that he cared, though.

Pete eventually took his slimy lips from the canteen, but then didn't give it back to Bear and instead held onto it.

Knowing that allowing the trio to take charge would lead to disaster, Stanis wordlessly moved to the front of the group and walked towards the tunnel. He knew where they were from the surroundings. It had been the place where they had taken the initial test, before being transported into the Colosseum. This meant that outside the tunnel was the rest of the world.

The woman looked at Skint and the now-walking-away Stanis. After just one look, she was off after Stanis. While he seemed to be a cold and uncaring person, to her that was still better than the lecherous one Skint seemed to be.

Pete wordlessly walked past her and next to Stanis, followed by Bear and Skint who were at the back of the group. Skint had purposely positioned himself such, much to the woman's disgust, whereas Bear had just jumped on the train.

The minutes passed eventless. Skint split his time between talking to Bear and commenting on the woman. Bear spent his time engrossed in his thoughts. The woman spent her time carefully maintaining her position between Stanis and Skint. Pete and Stanis wordlessly walked next to each other, perhaps understanding each other's situations well enough to be quiet about it.

Or Stanis had thought and hoped at least. It was a few minutes into the walk that it became apparent that the alcohol had worked its charm on Pete.

"So, apparently all of yous died. Did you fuck her or did she just fuck you instead?"

…