*****

"It has started. The show of the millennium."

*****

Sakura POV:

"Run!"

"It is going to kill us!"

"Mommy!"

As I evaded the attack, I saw several others being hit, turning them into blue dust.

Damn it, this is hard.

The place the agents took us was a VR machine, capable of making us believe we were in a rainforest, fighting an army of gigas.

The environment felt so real, the wind moving around me, the texture of the ground, the smell of blood and ash.

Not to mention the 7 meters tall, metal ant before me.

It was a Digger, a weaker type of gigas, made for building tunnels and if needed, to tank in attacks.

It looked like a big silver ant, with glowing blue eyes.

"So, this is a giga. Though it would be...scarier."

I lifted my hands, concentrating my energy.

"Telekinesis!"

Using the powers given to me, I lifted several boulders and threw them at the face of that creature.

As if they were made from rubber, the boulders bounced back, not harming the damn thing a bit, instead, it angered it greatly.

With a clicking noise, the ant spat a green acid liquid at me, as if it was raining.

"Push!"

I tried to direct the liquid away, but it didn't move.

As in it stayed in midair, as if time stopped. So were my surroundings and the monster before me, still, lifeless.

"What is happening?"

Soon the sky turned dark, and something broke through it?

"What?!"

Before I noticed I was in the air. I was being lifted by a shining gold tentacle.

What is happening?!

"Found you!"

The tentacles yanked me away, bringing me back to the gym.

"Nice to see you again!"

What I saw was something indescribable. A huge ball of gold, floating in the air, turning everything under it into gold which was later incorporated into its mass. From the ball, several tentacles expanded holding screaming students in the air.

The under thing stayed the same, was the boy kneeling under it, smiling like a madman.

"It's good to see you again, Sakura."

"Wh-You?!"

"You don't REMEMBER MY NAME?!"

Furious, the tentacles started to strangle me even tighter.

"YOU REJECTED ME! YOU SHAME ME, MADE ME LOSE FACE BEFORE EVERYONE! BUT I WILL FORGIVE YOU! YES, WITH THE BLESSING OF MY NEW PATREON I SHALL CRUSH YOU, LIKE THE INSIGNIFICANT BUG YOU ARE!"

"Ugh!"

The tentacle squeezed me even stronger, breaking my ribs.

"I AM GOING TO TURN YOU INTO A GOLDEN GARDEN GNOME AND USE YOU AS A DECORATION!"

"H-Help...me..."

Boom!

"Let us go!"

One of the students managed to throw an attack onto our captive making it explode on its back in blue flames.

"...how dare you..."

A small amount of gold touched his back, washing away the flames.

"HOW DARE A FILTH LIKE YOU ATTACK SOMEBODY LIKE ME!"

The tentacle holding the one who attacked slammed into the ground, followed by the disgusting noise of flesh being beaten.

"YOU ALL SHALL DIE BEFORE MY GREATNESS!"

As the light faded away from my eyes, the ceiling got destroyed with several people jumping in, wearing sophisticated armor.

"P-Please. Hel-Help."

*****

Ash POV:

"What in the world?"

After calling my team, suiting up, and crashing here I expected a lot of things.

Gigas, ghouls, other monsters, even Dealmaker itself, but this was outside my expectations.

A huge floating ball of gold with tentacles coming out of it, holding people in the air.

"Ash. You filth acting like you are better than me. I will kill you!"

The crazed student kneeling on the ground laughed as the gold around him got absorbed into the sphere.

'Ash, be careful. This boy is deranged and controlled by Dealmaker! He is dangerous.'

"Yeah, I can see that."

"DIE."

As he shouted several gold bullets separated from the sphere, launching themselves at us.

"Shields!"

At the same time, the team and I erected a barrier made from pure energy vaporizing the bullets.

"Team A, protect the civilians! Team B with me!"

"DIE!"

The tentacles let go of the students and slammed towards us.

"Clara!"

"On it!"

A small girl jumped before us, her hands shining in a purple light.

"Shock repulsion!"

Using her unique magic, she repulsed the tentacles shattering them into pieces.

"HA! GOT YOU!"

By manipulating the shattered gold, he formed several other bullets which came flying towards us.

"Partner!"

'Wind Magic: Wind Slashes!"

Channeling the spell through my body, I swung my arms creating several wind blades cutting the projectiles into pieces.

"Golden Carpet!"

The sphere over his head busted like a balloon, pouring down on the ground like rain.

"In the air!"

We activated the boosters and flew up in the air, but some of us were slower than others.

"Help!"

The slowest one got caught by a tentacle and was dragged into the river of gold.

"Shit! Everybody doesn't let it touch you! Stay in the air and only use long-range weapons!"

'Ash! attack the kid! If you take him out, this will all stop!'

"Easier said than done."

"You are dead!"

Surprisingly, the boy jumped up from where he stood launching himself to the same height as we were.

"CLAP!"

Slapping his hands together, two huge hands formed from the gold under us, quickly approaching each other.

"Oh, no you don't! Full bust!"

Overcharging my jets, I flew right into the kid, taking him up in the air, through the hole with me.

"You son of a...LET GO!"

Grabbing my helmet, I could feel it heat up as it was turning into gold.

"Partner!"

'Thunder Magic: Electrocution!'

Frying myself, I knocked the kid out but also shut my suit off.

"SSSSSSSSSSShhhhhhhitttt!"

'I got you. Wind Magic: Levitate.'

Slowly our descent slowed down, landing on the roof without a hitch.

"This was easy."

'Yeah, now take him to the base where we can interrogate him.'

"Right, let's do that."

I reached for the unconscious boy, but my hand stopped in midair.

From his mouth and eyes, a black sludge poured out covering his entire body.

"You filth."

Slowly, the mass stood up and took form.

The normal boy grew bigger, taking on the form of a half-man, half-bull creature.

It had a muscular upper body, which now had golden-brown skin. its lower half belonged to that of a black bull, while its head was a skull, belonging to a bull.

"HOW DARE YOU?! HOW DARE YOU MAKE ME USE MY POWER! YOU FILTH! NOTHING BUT DIRT UNDER MY FEET! NOTHING BUT A FUTURE SLAVE!"

'He is still in control. Quickly calm him down before he completely loses his mind.

"How?"

'Improvise!'

Shit.

"Listen."

I took off my helmet and raised my hands.

"You are being controlled by a...a virus! If you don't stop you will die! just stop and we will help you!"

"NO! THIS ISN'T A DISEASE! THIS IS A CURE! THE NEXT STEP IN OUR EVOLUTION! YOU ARE JUST JEALOUS OF MY POWER! YOU WANT TO TAKE IT FROM ME! YOU WON'T HAVE IT! HE CHOSE ME BECAUSE I AM NOBLE! YOU ALL ARE SERVANTS BEFORE ME, MADE TO SERVE UNDER ME!"

Roaring in a deep voice, the monster pounced on me.

'Stone Magic: Rock Shield! '

Covering myself in a dense layer of rock, I blocked the attack.

"TURN TO GOLD!"

Before my eyes, the barrier turned into shiny metal, before a hole opened in it.

'Thunder Magic: Thunderbolt!'

Two thunderbolts into the eyes.

"AAAAAAAAAA!"

As it held its eyes, screaming, I pounced on him using one of the functions of the armor.

"Strength enhancement!"

'Body Magic: Muscle Enhance!'

Using technology and magic at the same time, I punched the best in its chest, creating a shockwave that shook the entire building., breaking the floor underneath our feet.

There, I saw something.

It must have been caused by the connection partner had with Dealmaker, or something else.

In this vision, I saw a white desert, under a starless dark sky. In this desert was something that looked like a city composed of various factories, puffing up smoke from their chimneys. At the very center of this desert, a white tower was erected over. And from that tower-

"Ash! What is happening up there?"

I was shocked back to reality.

Clara, one of my teammates, caught me in midair, before putting me back on the ground of the gymnasium.

It looked like most of the civilians were escorted with the giant hands broken into little pieces

"Clara, what happened?"

"What happened? You flew away and we heard explosions on the roof!"

"Explosions? Yes, the boy! He turned into something non-human! We need to get out of here now before he destroys the entire school!"

"FILTH!"

What was left of the roof got destroyed as the monster fell to the ground, with a thunderous sound,

"SHIELDS!"

We activated the barriers in time as the debris fell around us.

"HOW DARE YOU WOUND ME?! HOW DARE YOU SHED MY BLOOD! YOU ARE DEAD! FEEL THE FULL EXTENT OF MY RAGE! FORM, MY ARMOR!"

At his command, the gold around us started to move towards it forming a medieval armor around it.

Once it was done, the beast seemed to even gain height and weight, holding a huge double-edged ax in one of its hands and a broadsword in the other.

As fumes escaped its nostrils, which now had a ring pierced in them, the beast roared.

"I AM THE BULL OF MELINO! BLADE OF THE DEALMAKER! BOW BEFORE ME! BOW BEFORE THE NEW GOD OF THIS WORLD!!"

As it roared several tentacles formed on his back, combining themselves, to form several arms holding different weapons.

"This...This is going to be a tough one."

*****

??? POV:

On the top of a mountain, a woman wearing white nun robes was kneeling before an altar lit by several candles.

"Oh, messenger of God, please answer my call."

'...I'm listening.'

"As our Lord commanded, we have gathered faithful believers and blessed them with your power. We now have a hundred strong."

'What about the mountain folk?'

"They are...still uncontrollable. We are unable to control them completely."

'A pity, they could have been a useful source of power. Stop blocking the phone calls, let the authorities know about them. Naturally, do that AFTER you left your current hideout.'

"As you command, oh messenger."

*****

This is going great.

"Orange duck"

It was a good idea for me to delete all of her memories about myself from her mind, leaving her only the knowledge of using my powers. It was a big risk to let her tell the secret, a risk which I was happy to get rid of.

"Bacon duck."

I only need the final actor to enter the stage and the act shall commence.

"Want a red duck. Then a green duck. Then a rubber duck. Then a pie duck. Then a cherry duck. Then a flying duck. Then a swimming duck. Then a lying duck. Then a..."

Tuning out the annoying one, I concentrated soon possessing the body of an old man near my target.

Not even bothering on how I looked, I quickly created my mask and coat and walked to him.

Lucky for me, we were alone in the middle of the streets of the city.

"Steven, is it?"

The boy turned around; the one Sakura has fallen in love with.

Even though this was the second time meeting him, this was the first time for me to see his face properly.

short black hair, black eyes, uninteresting features, average built, this guy screamed background character. Why is Sakura in love with this punk? I can't even understand it.

"Yes, do I know you?"

My god, even his voice is average somehow.

I took a deep breath and started to lie again, something which became natural to me.

"Yes, you do. I was the one who brought you back to life after all."

To add to my creepiness level, I created a pair of bat wings on my back, which I opened before him, scaring him so much he felt on his butt.

"I am the Grim Reaper, Taker of Souls. And you boy, your time has come. Come with me to the afterlife. "