‘Explain.’

Alex did his best to make his ire as clear as possible as he stood completely still, the bone-chilling rain that covered his skin and the toe freezing mud he stood in not even registering in his mind.

‘When a Cendreux dies, their body turns to ashes.’ Max, surprisingly enough, replied, ‘From these ashes, a new Cendreux will always be born.’

Alex only blinked a few times in annoyance before a disturbingly wide smile came to his face.

‘And neither of you thought to mention this to me, for what reason?’

‘I only learned about it while I was napping. It was through a memory of Orange explaining reproduction to Herah, and I didn’t think too hard about it.’ Max said, sounding a little sheepish at her oversight.

‘I figured that when I came back that the baby would not be here!’ Herah defended herself still sounding worried and afraid.

‘Well it didn’t!’ Alex snapped back, ‘And now we have to deal with your stupid kid!’

‘Don’t you dare call Écarlate stupid!’ Herah shouted back, now sounding furious.

‘Oh you already named it!? Well that’s great! ‘ Alex said condescendingly before becoming deathly serious, ‘Now get it out of your hands, it’s putting both you and itself in danger right now.’

‘What do you suggest then?’ Owen cut in, sounding nearly as worried as Herah.

Alex let out a sigh before asking Herah,

‘What’s your current situation?’

‘I’m standing in the center of a crater with several hundred Moon’s surrounding the edge of it.’ Herah replied.

‘Where are you Max?’ Alex asked.

‘With Owen,’ Max replied sounding a tiny bit confused, ‘Why is that important?’

“Herah has cells near Max.”

‘Where are you now Herah?’

‘Where am I now? Still in the middle of this fucking crater that’s where!’ Herah thought back in sounding even angrier than before.

Alex let out a grunt of annoyance.

‘Norwe is stopping me from using my gift to just get you out of the crater, and I can only assume he’ll do the same for Max attempting something like that as well.’

‘Dammit!’ Both Herah and Max shouted over the groups’ mental connection.

‘Shut up complaining you two and give me a few seconds to thin-‘

WOOSH!

Alex whipped around and used Nike to perfectly slice an arrow aimed at his head in half, his perception of time slowing to a crawl as he felt an electrical charge spread from the arrow, to Nike, to himself. Feeling this, Alex flipped Tara into a reverse grip and stabbed himself just as the two split halves of the arrow struck the ground behind him.

KRAAAK!

KRAAAK!

KRAAAK!

Alex let out a grunt of pain as the twin feelings of having himself both shocked and baked alive filled his mind, his body being trapped within a cycle of destruction and reconstruction that lasted for but a second.

‘That’s weird, I still feel a bit overcharged almost as if I was marked or something.’ Alex thought to himself as soon as he felt the lightning end. ‘Since I’m not being struck by lightning right now, that probably means this isn’t something that can damage me. I’ll have to see how this affects me further before I can conclude how this works.’

Stumbling only slightly, Alex walked out of his small crater and looked back towards where the arrow parts had struck. Two craters of similar size to Alex’s now remained, with the split halves of the remarkably well-looking arrow planted in the center of each one.

‘You guys are on your own,’ Alex thought as he looked towards where he knew the arrow to originate from, ‘I got to handle the remnants of the Oni army and it seems a new Keijo is leading them.’

‘Really?’ Owen asked over the link, before hurriedly following his question with, ‘Shit! I haven’t been looking at the map! One of the dots within that group of Oni has changed into a pink one’

‘Yeah, it looks like I’ll have to handle it.’ Alex said, dodging between several more arrows that came down from the sky, the subsequent bolts of red lightning being completely ignored by him. As he began to sprint forward, Alex asked, ‘Owen, what is the distance between me and this last Keijo?’

‘They’re appearing on the outer edges of the map, so you should have about 9 kilometers to go.’

‘Wait! Alex before you go,’ Max called out over their link, now sounding worried once more, ‘Do you have any idea what we should do with this kid?’

‘Hmm. Give me a second.’

Once again, Alex slowed his perception of time. With his mind now processing information so fast that the rest of his body seemed to be stuck in a freeze frame, Alex began to think.

‘Let’s see, let’s see. Simply trying to pass the kid off to Max or Owen would just endanger all three, I’m pretty sure Norwe would just spit the kid back out if Herah tried to send them back to her room through that backpack of hers, and simply leaving the kid alone while she fought would put it in more danger that it needs to be in.’ A sudden thought came to Alex’s mind, his perception of time returning to its normal speed as he hurriedly turned his head to look towards the blue flames that had managed to encroach upon his battlefield area, all the trees that he dashed past covered in fire, ‘That’s the perfect place for a child!’

“That it is, my wonderfully intelligent Soothsayer,” Alex felt dread swell up within himself as Norwe the Sloth appeared on his back, furry arms slowly wrapping around his torso as the body connected to them were jostled, “Too bad I’m not allowing you to give them anything more than a hint.”

“Why not, if I might so humbly ask?” Alex asked, jumping over an arrow and ducking under another one at the same time and not faltering in the slightest when the lightning bolts struck in their wake.

“Because if you simply hand them the answers it wouldn’t be any fun. So the only way you can communicate your findings right now, is through charades and saying, “That’s your answer.” Norwe gained a lightly threatening tone, ” Understood?”

Alex only nodded silently, causing the Maker Sloth to chuckle a quick “Bitch!” and disappear off his back.

Alex felt his fear leave him as he dodged a few more incoming arrows and said,

“I own matches.”

Alex quickly opened his mouth and bit down, catching the box of matches that had appeared between his teeth. Shifting Tara over to his right hand, Alex continued to dodge the increasing amount of arrows coming at him as he pushed the matchbox open with his tongue. Swiftly reaching up to the box and taking a match out, Alex closed and then turned the box around in his mouth and struck the match.

“This match is lit with a fire at its tip.”

Even as rain repeatedly struck the fire on the end of the matchstick and Alex ran without slowing or covering it in any way, the flame refused to go out.

Alex then looked back towards where he figured Herah to be and prepped his hand to throw the match.

“I’m throwing this to Herah.”

Alex then threw the match, the burning stick sailing high into the air and out of sight within fractions of a second.

‘That’s your answer, Herah.’ Alex thought over the link, only getting a response three seconds later.

‘You gave me a fucking lit match. What am I supposed to do with this?!’

‘Figure it out, but understand that what I say next is a direct order ashbrain.’ Alex shoved his bare feet into the muddy ground beneath him, sliding to a stop just before three arrows struck where he would’ve been if he hadn’t stopped. After tracking the bolts of lighting till the end of their rather short journeys, Alex thought, ‘I better not see you without that kid when I get back.’

There was a moment of silence, before Alex heard Herah laugh over their line and reply,

‘I’ll do that happily fuck head.’

‘You need a better nickname, Alex out.’

Now disconnected from the rest, Alex spit out the box of matches still in his mouth and dodged around four arrows much quicker than any of the earlier ones that came down from the sky and attempted to hit him.

‘With the distance between the two of us, I’m gonna need to speed up much more than I already am.’ Alex thought to himself, just before saying,

“I can control my speed.”

BOOM!

Alex felt his bones creak as the sound barrier broke around his body, his speed reaching Mach 5 before Norwe’s voice filled his head.

‘Right there Soothsayer,’ Norwe whispered in Alex’s mind, ‘Don’t go any faster, give them a chance to take you out. Though this only accounts for how your travel, dodge as you usually do.’

Alex held back a gulp of fear and found his attention caught by the darkening of the expansive shadow that hung over him. Looking up Alex let out a curse at what now filled much of the sky.

WOOSH!

WOOSH!

WOOSH!

WOOSH!

WOOSH!

Thousands of arrows were now coming down, their speed having increased to near his own.

‘Herah, you better kill Moon by the time I finish this. Or I’m melting your tits again.’

ONI

“Hey Corge, could you watch over my shop for a day? My sisters feeling sick and she needs someone to watch over her.”

“Sure thing, that’s why I’m named Corge after all.”

“Thanks! You’re a lifesaver.”

“Before you go, her sickness isn’t too bad is it?”

“Nah, it’s just a minor inconvenience. She’ll be fine in a few days.”

……

“Hey Mio, where is Haruto? I haven’t seen or heard from him in a while. And are you feeling better?”

“He’s dead.”

“Wha- What?”

“The sickness I had, Haruto came down with it himself. However, his immune system wasn’t able to combat it and no amount of praying could save his life.”

“Oh- I’m sorry for your loss.”

“Yeah, I bet you are.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means, that my brother is only the tenth of those to die after having you replace them.”

“Are you implying that I’m causing them to die!?”

“I’m implying that you’re bad luck. I’m implying that maybe you should only replace the dead or dying. Because they’re the only ones who don’t have a chance of survival.”

“Are you being serious?”

….

….

“Yes.”

“Then, I’ll just take my leave.”

‘I hate the fact that you were right Mio.’

‘I hate the fact that no one has ever come back after I’ve substituted for them.’

‘And I hate the fact, that I’m now subbing for my best friend.’

‘I hate it all.’

With her original flood of tears now puny drips in the corner of her eyes, C.C. let only a sniffle leave her as she got back to ordering the Oni soldiers under her command.

“Get me more arrows on the double! And start loading those catapults, I’ll ground them when they’re ready to fire!”

C.C. stood in the lead of her brethren, an electrically charged longbow in her hands and a nearly empty quiver of arrows strapped to her back. The Oni behind her were moving frantically, a small few bringing quivers to C.C.’s sides while the rest were busy readying their catapults that sat just behind her to fire.

Drawing out a single arrow, C.C. brought the tip of the projectile to her lips and gave it a light kiss.

PZZZT!

A jolt of electricity suddenly started where C.C.’s lips met the arrowhead, traveling up the nerves on the left side of her face to her left eye. Once done with this trip, C.C.’s eye turned from pitch black to electric pink back to pitch black. With this change in eye color now complete, C.C. strung her arrow and aimed upwards in the direction she assumed Alex to be.

“Norwe, may you allow my aim to hold true.” C.C. whispered to herself just before another jolt of energy passed through her, this time from her brain to her hands to her bow and finally into what she had nocked. Releasing her arrow into the sky, her shot disappeared from her sight before even a second could past. Then C.C. blinked, and her left eye returned to it’s pink coloring. With this change, C.C. became acutely aware of the exact location of the arrow she had just shot and everything within a certain distance of it. Within the span of two seconds, her arrow had already sailed half of the distance she had intended for it to fly. It would take two seconds more for her arrow to reach its target.

“Dammit.” C.C. cursed to herself, as she watched Alex whip around and cut straight through her arrow and stab himself with his healing knife before the split halves of her shot could strike the ground and trigger her gift, Grounded. “I didn’t think he could be anywhere close to that speed.”

C.C. then let out an exasperated huff, before allowing a small grin to come to her face.

“At least I’ll be able to keep track of him now that he’s been marked.”

C.C. felt her awareness of her first shot leave her, this attention now being given to Alex as she rapidly nocked and loosened several more arrows towards him. C.C. felt her anger at Alex rise as he continued to dodge her arrows.

‘I’ll kill you for what you did to String you bastard!’ Thoughts like these went through C.C.’s mind as she watched Alex began rushing forward, dodging past a few more of her arrows before suddenly whipping his head to the side where blue flames had managed to just spread seemingly undaunted by the ever-present rain.

‘Why did a furry monster just appear on your back?’ C.C. thought to herself as Alex seemed to falter slightly before avoiding two arrows that she thought for sure were going to hit him.

“Fully loaded Chieftain C.C.!” A lean and tall, tan skinned Oni called from behind the Keijo just as she loosened several more arrows towards Alex.

‘I wish you wouldn’t call me that.’, C.C. thought to herself as she wordlessly turned around and quickly moved past the arrows around her feet towards the first loaded catapult. With a single light tap, the bolder that was held within was grounded. C.C. did the same for the other boulder before returning her attention to Alex, who was now biting down on a box of matches. Finished with her preparations C.C. reached up to her quiver and found it empty. Dashing back to where she had originally stood, C.C. swiftly strung up, grounded, and loosened thirty arrows. Even with the dramatic increase in projectiles, Alex dodged every single one, even stopping just before the three C.C. had purposely made fall short.

‘I need to get faster,’ C.C. thought to herself wearing a grimace. ‘But how?’

“Why don’t you use your gift on yourself?”

C.C. jolted in shock and a brief flash of fear when she felt the hands of a small furry creature wrap around the area just above her chest. As the creature did this, C.C. noticed that everything around her began to slow until it was at a stop.

“Norwe is that you?” C.C. asked a bit freaked out at the apparent stopping of time.

“Yup.”

“What are you right now?”

“A sloth.”

“What’s a sloth?”

“Me.”

C.C. just blinked to herself a few times before shaking her head and asking,

“What do you mean, use my gift on myself?”

“The way in which Grounded works, great name by the way, is that it turns whatever you charge into a lightning rod that will call down a bolt of lightning whenever it stops moving and is touching the ground.” One of the furry limbs wrapped around C.C. began to slowly unwrap.

“I already know this.”

“That you do, but what you don’t know is that your gift has the side effect of making whatever you ground directly extremely resistant to being damaged by electricity and heat.” The limb by this point had begun to inch towards C.C.’s bow-filled hand.

“So how does grounding myself increase my speed?” C.C. asked, a bit unsure at what Norwe was asking of her

“Well,” C.C. heard and felt the light tapping of a claw against her bow, “I’ll just do what I did with String’s weapon all those years ago to your bow, with a bit of a change.”

“What’re yo-“

SNAP!

C.C. felt her bow break in her hand before quickly reforming itself into something new. Looking down at her weapon, C.C. found that her bow had now taken on a much more elegant design. Her weapon had changed from a longbow into a sleek recurve one, with the limbs, riser, and grip white, while the string was red.

“Now take a few steps forward and ground yourself Sub.” Norwe the Sloth said in a vaguely insulting tone.

“What did you just call me?” C.C. asked, sounding a bit peeved by the Maker Sloth’s words.

“Just do it, I don’t feel like speeding up time around you forever.”

C.C. let out a low curse before taking seven long steps forward, booping her breast, and activating her gift.

KRAAAK!

C.C.’s vision flashed red and her eardrums seemed to nearly burst as the bolt of lightning struck her. While C.C. was left blinded and deafened by the bolt, she felt only the barest hints of pain. In fact, C.C. felt only mildly irritated by the bolt striking her. After blinking away all the white dots that filled her eyes, C.C. proceeded to look around and at herself. C.C. found that she was now standing within a small crater with the barest hints of smoke rising up from her body. Looking at the surrounding Oni, C.C. saw that they were still looked as if they were frozen.

“How do you feel Sub.?” Norwe asked, with a slight giggle.

C.C. said nothing, instead, looking down at her empty hand and clenching and unclenching it. The power she now felt flowing throughout was invigorating, it made C.C. feel millions of time faster and stronger. Looking back up, C.C. felt another grin come to her face as she let out a breath and said,

“I’m feeling great.”

“Good, because Alex’s has a surprise for you.¨

C.C. barely made note of time returning to its normal speed before quickly moving to the edge of her crater where her arrows were just out of reach. Rapidly notching and loosening four arrows as a quick test, C.C. found that their speed had increased to the point that their flight only took two seconds.

Even still, Alex dodged around these arrows before shooting forward with a sonic boom. Seeing this, C.C.’s eyes narrowed as she raised a hand in accordance to fire the catapults. Before the boulders were even done being launched, C.C. had nocked and loosened over 5000 grounded arrows all aimed at Alex.

¨Try dodging all of that you bastard.” C.C. nocked, grounded, and loosened 80 more arrows, “And if you do, you better hope that my little experiment doesn’t work.

HALT

Alex inwardly groaned as he was forced to slide under a handful of arrows, before using his left hand to push off the ground with a tight frontward flip over seven more. Quickly landing on his feet, Alex was then forced to zigzag around forty before having to deflect eighteen and stab himself with Tara.

KRAAAK!

And this all happened before even the first arrow could hit the ground.

‘Is everyone in that last bit of army firing on me or something?’ Alex thought to himself as he continued his mad dash down the muddy path through the storm of arrows. It seemed almost endless, with Alex being forced to plan out every millimeter that he moved his body.

Speaking of his body, even with all of his running and sliding through mud and the constantly heavy rainfall, Alex often found his still nude body clean more often then not thanks to the plentitude of lightning that had struck him way more often then he’d prefer.

Looking up, Alex saw that two boulders were now falling towards him at a much slower pace than all the arrows that he was still dodging.

‘Those shouldn’t be too hard to dodge.’

Then two arrows struck the boulders.

KRAAAK!

KRAAAK!

The boulders fragmented as the lightning struck them, their remaining shards now going faster than the surrounding arrows while also striking them and creating a chain reaction of increasing and decreasing the speed of any they struck.

“Did you really think that with me as your maker. That’s just begging to be jinxed.” Norwe the Sloth said to Alex, reappearing on his back for but a moment before disappearing.

Alex paid no mind to this and instead slowed his perception of time once again, his focus solely on the death that was falling from above.

‘If I take drop speed, the rain, angle changes, and the wind into account, where I need to hit is right- THERE!’

Just as Alex returned his perception of time to normal, he threw Nike towards a seemingly inauspicious falling rock shard. As soon as Nike struck the rock, both the dagger and shard bounced off of each other and into several arrows and other rock shards. This continued until a very clear counter chain reaction to the previous one had begun, leading to all the falling arrows and rock shards that got anywhere close to Alex to just miss him without any real dodging on his part being required.

‘Well that won’t be a problem for a while at least, and without the need for dodging I should be there in about two seconds now- ‘

KRAAAK!

KRAAAK!

KRAAAK!

KRAAAK!

KRAAAK!

“OH COME THE FUCK ON!”

Alex hopped slightly before slamming his feet into the ground-

BOOM!

-a crater nearly twelve times his size forming at his sudden stopping.

Alex was then forced to once again begin his furious dodging as he slowly moved his way up to the edge of the crater that he had created and towards his reasoning for stopping.

“Looks like I”m gonna have to find a way around this.” Alex said to himself as he contorted his body around seventeen arrows and deflected three. Before Alex was a line of eighty arrows being struck by bolt after bolt of lighting, with the window of time between each strike being near non-existent.

Alex looked towards the side of the forest covered in flames as he continued to dodge around the ever falling arrows intent on skewering him.

‘Nope, too difficult and annoying to navigate as is and getting rid of any of that fire would endanger Herah’s kid… If she was smart enough to figure it out.’

Alex turned to the other side of the surrounding forest before shaking his head no once again.

‘I run the risk of upsetting whatever Max did over there.’

Alex turned his eyes to the sky.

‘So I only have two options to go. If I do air, I have a lot more maneuverability and detecting arrows becomes a lot easier. However, lighting becomes an even greater problem and if I do get hit I’m probably going down. I could always just control electricity to mitigate lighting entirely, but Norwe would most likely either buff the enemy or debuff me in steed of that. ‘

Alex’s eyes then went to the ground.

‘Using those tunnels Owen made makes my travel path more difficult to discern and if I’m being tracked through something in the air then I’ll probably turn invisible to them.’ Alex concentrated on the slight overcharge that still filled him, ‘That’ll definitely help me determine what this thing does. There is also the potential benefit of the chance of the arrows having a much more difficult time getting through to me and the chance that many wouldn’t actually make it to me. However, I could just end up setting myself up for a dangerous trap and might end up blind to their arrows, among other things. Though-‘

Alex focused on the feeling of his feet moving through the mud beneath him, concentrating specifically on the vibrations that the arrows landing near him created.

“I can feel the arrows striking the earth.”

Alex let out a breath as a tingle ran up his spine and the feeling of a new sensory input began to enter his mind. With every arrow that struck the ground, Alex was now able to tell how hard they struck, exactly when they would stop, and where they were going.

‘Owen,’ Alex thought, the knuckles of his left-hand lightly rapping his amulet, ‘I need your help real quick.’

‘Alex!’ Owen responded sounding both glad and a bit worried, ‘Oh man, do I have something to tell you.’

‘Is Herah or Max dead?’ Alex asked, slowly moving back into his crater as the arrows began to become too numerous near the lightning wall.

‘No, but-‘

‘Is Moon dead?’

‘Well the answer to that question is kinda funny-‘

‘Yes or no?’

‘No.’

‘Is my help an absolute must right now?’ By this point, Alex had neared the center of his crater.

‘Not yet.’

‘Then as much as I would like to make small talk with you, I need the location of the nearest tunnel you created stat.’

‘It’s directly under you, approximately a mile deep into the ground before you’d reach it.’ Owen quickly thought back, ‘Do you need me to create an entrance for you?’

‘No need, and thanks for the help Owen.’

‘No problem Alex, always happy to help.’

‘Alex out.’

Now done with his conversation, Alex slightly crouched and then leaped off the ground.

BOOM!

Alex’s newly deepened crater was left behind as he bent and contorted his body around the hail of arrows that he now flew past until high above the treetops. By that point, Alex told himself,

“My target is the ground.“

Alex turned to face the ground and reared back his fist, before snapping the appendage and subsequent limb forward faster than even his own eyes could track.

BOOM!

‘Well, that definitely dug to where I wanted.’ Alex inwardly mused to himself, the twenty-foot wide hole in the ground beneath him so deep that he couldn’t even see the bottom.

“I’m falling.” Alex said before his body sharply plummeted towards the fresh hole.

‘Hey Owen, I need a quick check of something then I’m leaving again.’

‘Oh really, what?’ Owen responded, sounding a bit curious.

‘How deep is the hole I just created?’

‘Two miles.’ Owen thought back, with little delay.

‘Holy shit.’ Alex thought to himself, a bit surprised, ‘Thanks for the help again.’

‘No problem. Good luck!’

‘Thanks and Alex out.’

WOOSH!

CLANG!

CLANG!

CLANG!

CLANG!

Sparks briefly illuminated the pitch black tunnel that Alex was falling through as he deflected several arrows that had come down from the sky.

“I’m falling towards the tunnels.”

Alex felt his body slightly shift towards one of the walls to his left as he continued to fall.

‘Let’s see how they handle this one.’

ONI

“Corge is nice to see you here.”

“Hello String, how’s your day going?”

“It’s going fine. Though I know a way it could be going better.”

“Oh, if that’s the case, how can I help you?”

“Follow me.”

……

“So you want me to take a few shots with this bow?”

“Yep, you’ve always had a good eye and your fingers are rather dexterous.”

“How exactly would me doing this make you happier?”

“Don’t sound so doubtful, just take a few shots and tell me how you feel afterward.”

“Ok then.”

…….

“Okay, okay. That was pretty fun.”

“I thought you would like it. With that said….”

“What?”

“I wanted to ask you a question Corge.”

“Yeah?”

“Since you’re not only my greatest friend-“

“I’m your only friend as you are mine.”

“Don’t make me punch you.”

“My bad. You can keep going.”

“As I was saying, your not only my greatest friend but my most trusted ally.”

“Where are you going with this?”

“Corge.“

“Apologies.”

“What I’m trying to do Corge is offer you a position by my side.”

…..

“String you know I don’t like replacing others, especially if they’re still alive.”

“Of course I do, hence why you’re replacing no one.”

“What?”

“It’s a position I had created recently that fits you perfectly.”

“What is this position?”

“My right hand.”

……

“Neither my father, nor his father ever had anyone they truly felt they could trust. Hence why, to this day, no one has ever stood at the side of the chieftains. I want to change that, because I not only need someone to help me as I lead, but I also trust you enough to give you that much power and control.”

“Are- Are you being serious?”

“Completely. So will yo-OOMMPH!”

“YES! YES! YES! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THIS MEANS SO MUCH TO ME!”

“I know, I know. Now get off of me.”

“NO! I’m gonna keep loving on you.”

“Corge don’t make me hurt you.”

“Okay, okay. I’ll let go.”

…..

…..

“Then fucking do it.”

“Yeah okay.”

“By the way, I have something else to offer to you. A gift fitting for someone in the position I’m about to give you.”

“What?”

“A last name, you know, that thing that only I or Moon could give.”

“You- You would really do that for me?”

“Of course, and I already have the name picked out.”

“What is it?”

“Combatant.”

‘Thank you String.’

‘Thank you for being such a great friend.’

‘Thank you for the name.’

‘And thank you for trusting me.’

‘I won’t disappoint.’ C.C. thought to herself as she furiously fired shot after shot through the ground, all in an attempt to impede Alex. Many arrows were fired directly towards the human, each being dodged or deflected with little issue on Alex’s part.

‘Luckily, those aren’t the arrows that I really care about.’

C.C. watched as Alex was once again forced to take a different path in the expansive tunnel system that he traveled, often due to either a collapse in the structure or a single arrow creating a wall of lightning.

‘Do you even realize that I’m routing you baka?’ C.C. thought as she saw Alex’s expression slowly become angrier and angrier. ‘Or do you know already but realize that it’s much too late for you to do anything?’

C.C. watched as Alex seemed to stumble for a moment, one of his daggers flying forward out of C.C.’s view of him while a ball of white light shot out of his back and away from him to somewhere unknown.

‘I wonder where that light is go- Wait a second! That was the one he uses to heal himself!’ C.C. quickly loaded and fired off an arrow as soon as the dagger entered her area of sight surrounding Alex. This halted his attempt to grab his weapon, which he sped past with a visible but inaudible curse. Alex had also overextended when reaching for his dagger so he stumbled once again, this time launching his other one way away. This caused for a repeat in Alex failing to grab his dagger once again.

‘You’re a dead man Alex,’ Another shot from C.C. forced him to once again change directions, ‘And soon my friend will be avenged.’

HALT

‘Okay, so whoever is tracking me is most likely aware of anything within about a meter of myself and is most definitely using that slight overcharge I feel to keep this awareness.’

Alex spun out of the way of another arrow as it exploded from the roof of the tunnel, before being forced to head down another path due to the one in front of him collapsing as a result of a sudden lightning striking behind him. Alex also made sure to exaggerate his anger, the severe irritation he felt being portrayed as genuine rage.

‘I’ve had nearly four hundred different paths blocked off at this point, with only three viable options left before I’m completely trapped. My opponent is very clearly routing me to get me down a path of their preference.’

Alex was forced into a frantic dance as more than a hundred arrows began to explode from the roof and, sometimes, the walls of the tunnel. After managing to just barely dodge every single one of them, Alex was once again forced to abandon his path for another one as many more bolts of lighting followed. Another curse left Alex’s lips.

‘So once I reach that path, I need to have figured out how to not only get rid of their sight on me but also how to get past either the collapsed passage or lighting wall they create.’

Alex then forced himself into a roll, as several arrows had come down aiming for his head, before coming out of the roll into a jump just before several arrows could strike where he would’ve rolled into. Alex was once again forced to abandon the now collapsing path, his face looking like that of a raging bull at this point.

‘Hmmm. What’s the best way to work past this? It needs to be interesting, it needs to be dramatic, it needs to be- THAT’LL WORK!’

Immediately following this last thought leaving Alex, a single arrow landed ahead of him and began to be repeatedly struck by bolt after bolt of lighting. But instead of slowing or attempting to turn around, Alex said,

“My speed won’t hurt me or the world around me. I’m aware of myself. I can speak.”

And sped up.

And sped up.

And sped up.

And sped up.

He sped up until speeding up was no longer logically possible.

And at this point, Alex felt himself completely filling an infinite number of area across only a single direction. He felt himself filling the area between a star trillions of lightyears away, he felt himself filling the area at the very edge of the universe where a random stop sign read: Jeffery Won! was just floating.

“I’m in two places at once, and I’m not the original.”

Alex saw himself looking at his own back for but a moment before an arrow struck him in the head and a bolt of lightning incinerated him.

ONI

“Got em.” C.C. whispered to herself, a small grin coming to her face.

C.C. let out a pleased huff of breath, a sense of elation filling her as she lost sight of Alex’s ashes.

“What was that chief?” A female Oni, this one magenta skinned and wearing a mossy shirt and bark pants, called out from behind one of the catapult.

C.C. lowered her bow and turned around to face those that remained with a wide smile on her face.

“I said that I got em-“

SHLUCK!

“CHIEF!”

C.C. felt a strange pain blossom right between her breast. This feeling was then followed by a thick liquid trickling down from where C.C. felt the pain. Looking down, C.C. found one of Alex’s daggers, the wavy one, portruding from her chest. This got a few confused blinks from C.C., the Keijo’s brain fogging up.

“Where did-“

“That would be mines.” Alex said from behind C.C., the sound of the ground breaking apart soon following as he merged from it behind her. Alex then walked up to C.C., and removed his blade with a single wet sounding yank. C.C. stumbled a bit, her mind fogging up even more as confusion began to be overwritten by nothingness. Even with this, C.C. was acutely aware of Alex as he walked around her and rested a hand on her shoulder.

“What?” C.C. asked, sounding incapable of much else at the moment.

“You seem to be a bit confused as to what’s happened, I see. So allow me to enlighten you.” Alex said, lifting her chin with the same blade that he had just removed from her back before saying,

“You’re dead.”

And on that day, at that very moment; Corge Combatant, the fourth and final chieftain of the Penance seeking Oni, died at the hands of Alex.

Just like her predecessor.

HALT

As C.C.’s corpse fell over, Alex turned to face the rest of the gathered Oni. Though Alex wasn’t able to read their expression, the fear that all the Oni around him felt was palpable. No one moved, they all just stared at Alex like sinful humans staring upon the wrathful God.

‘Hmm. I rather like that simile.’

Alex began to twirl Nike, his eyes rowing over all the Oni with glance before he began to speak once more.

“Hey, you guys want to see a trick?”

No one moved, even as Alex took a single arrow from one of the only not empty quivers remaining and waved it before all of them. The human felt all their eyes leave him and look towards the arrow he held. Twirling the arrow two times, Alex lightly tossed it into the air before catching it again.

“Now I’m bet you’re wondering just what exactly the trick was?” Alex asked, before allowing a mirthless chuckle to leave him, “Who am I kidding? No, you’re not, you shouldn’t even be able to understand me. And even if you did you still wouldn’t.”

“I mean you can’t do much with the living when you’re dead.”

Forty headless Oni fell to the ground.

Letting out a tired sigh, Alex fell on his ass and chuckled, a bit more joyful this time.

“And I’m done.”

KRAAAKKADOOOOOM!

The mountaintop that hung near the Oni’s home exploded into rubble, immediately causing Alex to groan. An enormous, bleach white hand shot from the top of the mountain, struggling to break through the chains that bound it.

“KUUJOOOOOOOOOOOO! ” A monstrous yell grated against Alex’s ears.

BOOM!

The side of the mountain exploded outwards, with a massive silhouette nearly as tall as the mountain becoming visible through the enormous cloud of debris and dust that filled the sky.

“Aaah Fuuuuck!” Alex shouted as a massive, bleach white-skinned creature with a sack on its head swiped through the cloud that had covered it.

A Human had just appeared.

“I don’t feel like dealing with you right now!” Alex shouted, jumping to his feet and reaching towards his amulet, “I’m gonna at least regroup with the others before-”

KRAAAKKADOOOOOM!

Alex was immediately on alert, though he found that nothing else had appeared yet.

“Please don’t tell me-” Alex’s eyes immediately snapped upwards to another massive, bleach white-skinned creature, this one without a sack on its head falling from the sky.

“Motherfuck-“

THOOOOOMMM!

Alex got low to the ground and covered his head as the ground beneath his feet was broken and shattered and a wave of dust washed over him.

“The dust is clearing.”

Almost immediately, all the surrounding dust dispersed, allowing Alex to find that the newest addition to the fight had landed only a step away from where he now stood.

A step for a Human at lest.

“Oh no, oh fucking no.” Alex told himself as he picked himself up and tried to find an easy footing.

“Well look at that,” Norwe the Sloth appeared a few feet away from Alex, lying atop some rubble, “It looks like they had one last gift for you. How do you plan on handling this one, Soothsayer?”

“After I flay this fucker’s very being, I’m not doing shit else for the rest of day.” Alex told himself, not even hearing what Norwe said to him or seeing the Maker Sloth at all. After finding a somewhat stable foothold, Alex dropped Nike to the ground and said, “You can hear and understand me.”

Cupping his hands to his mouth, Alex shouted out,

“Hey Doughboy! I want to ask you a question?!”

The Human looked down at Alex before letting a snarl leave its mouth. Saying not a word, the Human reared back its right fist and swung it down towards Alex.

KAABOOOMMMM!

“Hey, asshole.”

The Human looked to their left shoulder, finding that Alex now stood there looking back at it with an expression of complete and utter irritation, his eyes glowing green as a controlling and guiding Presence was felt coming from him.

“Allow me to show you a little something before I ask that question of mine.”

Alex held out his left hand, an orb of light floating up from within it. The Human reacted to this by opening its mouth and beginning to intake air. But before the Human could even take a slight huff. Alex cut it off.

“AXIOM!“

A flash of light engulfed the pair in both of their entireties. As this occurred, the light ripped away at both of their very beings, stripping away the layers that made them up. It stripped away their flesh, their minds, their thoughts, their souls, until only something remained. By the time the pair had reached this point, concepts no longer applied to them and reality was but an illusion. And it was only at this point, in which one of the somethings asked a question.

“What are you?”

……

……

……

“Nothing.”

And with that response, the something that responded became absorbed by the something that had questioned. Afterwards, the layers that had made up this something were once again added until the flash of light finally cleared and all that remained was Alex, standing alone with heavy breaths and smoke wafting off his naked body. Turning towards the only human to remain, Alex once again fell onto his ass and reached towards his amulet, thinking only one sentence.

‘I hope you guys are done with Moon, because that final human is all yours.’