"If you're looking for the other lunatic, then don't bother. He already used a badge," I stated as I kept using the green aura to heal my wounds, trying to buy some time.

I could easily crush a badge and get myself out of this situation, but I didn't know where the damned thing would send me, and I didn't want to stray too far away from the city's central area.

Gamma ball heard my words and finally turned to look at me with a thoughtful look on his face, almost looking conflicted about something.

"This isn't over, boy," Gamma Ball said in a deep, muffled voice as his eyes turned to look at the extra badge in my hand, turning around and leaving without waiting for me to reply.

'I'll make sure to end it the next time we meet, fat ass.' I didn't voice my thoughts as I was more than happy about the fat-ass lunatic leaving and too wounded to try fighting him.

...

"Interesting," Demira remarked as she watched Gamma Ball turn around and leave through her bloody mirror. "But I did not expect him to leave so easily," she added as she turned to look at Flatliner with a curious expression.

"These two might be lunatics, but they're not stupid," Flatliner replied with a shrug. "Gamma Ball knows that Kaden could easily escape with the badge," she explained while pointing at the bloody mirror.

"So he didn't want to force Kaden to use it as that would heal him completely and send him to another location," she concluded with a smile.

"So Gamma ball plans to find his partner and try to ambush the boy again while he's still injured," Demira remarked with an impressed nod. "You really can't judge a book by its couverture (Cover)," she added with an amused smile.

"But it looks like there's a minor flaw in the little meatball's plan," Demira commented with the same amused smile as she gestured with her head at Kaden, who was slowly but surely healing himself.

"Indeed. But what the hell is with this guy's power," Flatliner replied with a frown. "Elemental control, energy constructs, energy shields, and now even healing. It's all over the place," she added with a confused voice, crossing her arms and taking a thinking posture.

"It probably has something to do with energy manipulation," Demira said as she turned to eye the green aura on Kaden's hand. "But we don't have enough information to confirm that," she added while shaking her head.

"No matter, we'll find out sooner or later," Flatliner said with a careless tone as she too turned to observe Kaden through the bloody mirror.

...

I stood up with a grunt, finally healed but utterly exhausted as I had to use all of my energy to heal myself, draining most of my stamina in the process as well.

"Fucking zombies," I murmured with a sigh as I began hearing the undead creatures' moans and growls draw closer and closer in the surrounding area, likely lured by the loud explosions.

'I need to find a safe place to rest before those two lunatics come back.' I was in no way under the illusion that the two infamous waste-landers would not return for some payback.

I even suspected that Gamma Ball left because he wanted to ambush me when I least expected to make sure I wouldn't have the chance to escape by crushing a badge or something.

I might be overthinking things, and the lunatic could have had a completely different reason to leave, but that's what I would have done in the same situation, so it's better to stay careful.

"Time to make like a tree and leave," I murmured with a light chuckle as soon as I saw the first undead reach within my line of sight.

...

It has been two days since my fight with Stink Bomb, and I've finally reached the city's center while staying hidden as much as possible and leaving as few traces as was possible.

I'm currently staying in what might have been a skyscraper before this city was hit with whatever it was that caused so much destruction, Peaking through a window and looking down at the ungodly amount of undead roaming the streets.

And I wasn't the only human in the area either, as I could already sense dozens of auras in the surrounding area, most probably doing the same thing I was doing right now; waiting.

Waiting for what, you might ask? Waiting for an opportunity to take out the undead king with the least amount of risk and effort possible, I would say.

The opportunity might present itself in the form of an overconfident shmuck challenging the undead king and drawing him out, or the undead king himself making a mistake.

'And if such an opportunity doesn't come, I'll just have to create one myself.'

I did not care either way as both routes would lead to the same conclusion, but I needed some information to work with first, as I didn't even get a chance to see the so-called undead king yet, nor did I get a good look at the competition, lurking everywhere either.

...

Another day had passed, and I had a pretty good idea about the layabout of the area and the many game contestants in the city's center trying to take out the undead king like me.

Most of the lurking contestants were D rated, meaning they were not a threat, individually at least, because their numbers were nothing to scoff at, even for me.

And the undead king still refused to show itself despite some people losing patience and exposing themselves, only to die or be forced to use their badges in the process without even seeing the damned thing's shadow.

There were also a couple of C rated individuals in the area, but they kept to themselves, content with watching from the sidelines as more and more fools began bashing their heads against the brick wall that was the undead king's army.

...

Two more days had passed, and the streets were swarming with undead creatures as more and more zombies made their way to the city's center.

And although even more people, including two C rated individuals, exposed themselves in an attempt to draw out the undead king, there was still no trace of it to be seen.

'If this goes any longer, then forget about killing the undead king; I doubt anyone would even survive the first stage if it invades the entire city with such an ungodly amount of zombies.'

"Time to stir the shit pot, I guess," I murmured with a frown as I created an aura clone, sending it towards the closest C rated contestants near me.

...

"What do you want, number 69?" asked a muscular, tanned man with thick, unkempt brown facial hair as Kaden's clone made its presence known before him.

"Surely you're smart enough to realize that we both have nothing to gain by fighting each other?" he added with a frown, clenching his fists and preparing for a fight.

"Calm down, 82," the clone said while raising his hands. "I'm not here to fight," the clone added, but 82 didn't respond, merely grunting and gesturing for the clone to keep talking.

"We need to do something about the increasing army down there before it's too late," the clone said as he moved to the window, staring at crowded streets crawling with undead.

"What do you mean?" number 82 asked with a frown. "I'm talking about the never-ending stream of undead creatures making their way to this area," the clone explained with a sigh.

"If we don't deal with this undead king quickly, then it will have an army strong enough to exterminate us all, sooner rather than later," the clone added in a grave tone, causing number 82 to lower his head, frowning in contemplation.

"And what do you suggest we do about it?" number 82 asked after several seconds of silence as he raised his head to look the clone in the eye. "We need to cooperate to take down the undead king before it's too late," the clone replied with a shrug, losing his serious attitude.

"We?" number 82 remarked with a frown, asking for the clone to elaborate further. "You, me, and every other contestant in the area," the clone replied with a smirk.

"And what about the prize?" number 82 asked with a raised eyebrow. "You didn't forget that's what we all came here for, did you?" number 28 asked in a suspicious tone.

"Well, it won't be too late for us to kill each other for the prize when the undead king is dead, no?" the clone asked in a careless tone, causing number 82 to grunt with an amused smile on his face.

"So, how about it? Temporary partners?" the clone asked, extending his hand towards number 82 and asking for a handshake. "Fine," number 82 replied as he got up, slapping the clone's hand away.

"Excellent. Now I only need to convince the rest of the contestants. Lucky me," the clone said as he turned around and left, causing number 82 to chuckle lightly.

Many more conversations not too different from the one the clone had with 82 happened all over the city's center in the next two days as Kaden's main body worked tirelessly to prepare himself for the upcoming shit storm.