After I exited the car I tried to see the city of Ravenna but I’m not able to. There’s a wooden wall surrounding the city preventing me. The wall isn’t nearly as tall as the walls surrounding Colonus. It’s about 20 feet tall in contrast to the walls of Colonus which are much larger. The wall isn’t well constructed either, there’s a bunch of splinters sticking out at points and some pieces of wood look like they’re drilled together. It looks like they had to construct the wall very quickly making it look pretty shoddy. But that’s not the most surprising site. No that would be a giant hole in the wall. It’s where the gate leading into the city should be but instead it looks as if someone shot artillery right at this specific spot and ceased. Was this place attacked? If so, why would you only shoot artillery once at the main gate?

“Ugh guys I have a bad feeling about this” Adam warns.

“Oh really Adam? I thought the ominous looking hole in the wall was going to give you a good feeling.” I sarcastically say.

“No not at all. But it’s not just that. This whole atmosphere….kind of reeks of death” he continues, ignoring my sarcasm.

“Yeah cause I’m about to kill a motherfucker.” Nerva says, still full of hype as she heads towards the town.

As for me my hype is waning a bit. Unfortunately, I kind of understand Adam, this place has this strange feeling about it that’s making me want to run away. He still stupid though because the huge hole in the wall made it obvious that something’s wrong with this place.

“Nerva slow down! Adam’s right, there’s something off about this place, we have to do this carefully. Everyone stay together and be on your toes.” Warren orders.

“Oh Warren come the fuck on! Let me do my shit!” Nerva complains, turning back towards us.

“I will, just when I tell you to. We have to do this smart. Now let’s go, everyone stick together” Warren commands as he unsheathes his machete, walking through the hole. Everyone else follows suit with Ice Cube and I trailing in the back.

“Hey Ice Cube what do you think about all this?” I whisper to her.

She takes out her notebook, scribbles her reply and briefly shows it to me.

My body is filled with dread. I take the atmosphere to be an omen. Our opponent is here. Prepare yourself for a strenuous fight.

“Ok so everyone besides your sister knows things are about to go down. Don’t worry, I’m sure you can just freeze the dude and that’ll be the end of it” I reply, trying to put us at ease.

It doesn’t work because now a horrible smell overcomes the air around us. We all stop in our tracks. I took a look at my surroundings which I probably should have done as soon as I entered the town but I was too busy reading Ice Cube’s notebook. The buildings look quite similar to the ones in Artry. However, instead of looking like they are bombed out like a war zone, they seem to be sliced. It’s as if someone took a giant knife and cut these buildings like they were butter. It also doesn’t help that there’s an overcast above us making it appear like it could rain any minute. Down the street we see the cause of the awful smell. It’s a bunch of dead bodies strewn about the street. As we get closer I see that it’s a mixture of civilians and guardsmen. Every single one of them is missing a limb of some sort. One guy is missing his leg, one his arm, and there’s an unfortunate sap who got cut clean in half. The bodies also seem to be somewhat decomposed. If I had to make a guess I’d say they’ve been dead for about a week, sure smells like it. Everyone besides Adam is unphased, he looks like he wants to barf but holds it in.

“W-who could have done this?” Adam ponders aloud.

“Someone who’s about to get his ass kicked” Nerva answers.

Even Nerva seems to be taking things more seriously now. Warren is looking ahead, perhaps trying to see where the trail of dead bodies lead. I look at Ice Cube and see that she’s on her knees in front of some dead bodies. She uses her right hand to do some hand motion that reminds me of things Catholics do when they pray so I’m guessing she’s saying a prayer for the people who died. We continue to make our way down the street following the bodies and sliced buildings for a few minutes until we see a building with some lights on. It’s one of the few buildings not damaged. The building seems to be made out of limestone with four white columns in front of the entrance. The roof is light green and there are about a dozen windows on the front lined up in a row on the upper floor. It appears to be about two stories and the building is quite wide. This is a government building for sure. Nerva was about to enter nonchalantly when Warren grabs her by the shoulder.

“Keep your cool Nerva. Don’t attack until I tell you to.” He cautions.

“Yeah yeah I got it.” she dismisses, waving her hand.

We all get behind Warren as he opens the door of the building. We all rush in not knowing what to expect. We’re inside now and we’re all surprised at what we find. The building looks fancy, like the entrance to a decadent hotel but the people we see do not match the scenery. The people look like they live in dire poverty or look like war refugees, both aren’t good comparisons. There are people on the ground moaning in pain, others look like they’re about to starve to death, and children huddling up in corners. An old man notices us and approaches.

“You...you all aren’t from here are you? Did they finally send some knights to save us all?” the man asks.

We all look at each other in confusion. Then everyone in my party looks at me. Oh no why? Great now they want to treat me like I’m the leader.

“Ugh even better...they sent the second hero to save you all” I answer.

“The black one?” the old man asks.

“Ok that’s it y’all can die I’m leaving” I say annoyed.

I turn around to leave but Warren pulls me back.

“Yes, we’re the second hero’s party. What happened here?” Warren interrogates.

“...It’s been awful. We got a message that our town was about to be attacked by a rebel army so we quickly had to make defenses. But it wasn’t an army that attacked. It was something much much worse. It was a single man. He came in, blasted through our defenses and started killing us like cattle. He fought his way towards city hall and took over the whole town. He’s killed our friends, our family, he took everything and threatens to kill the rest of us if we don’t do as he says. H-he turned the young women into sex slaves. . . including my innocent granddaughter.” the man explains.

Upon hearing this Warren and I look at each other and without a word being exchanged it’s been settled, this Lancer guy is not going to die peacefully.

“Where’s he at?” Warren asks.

“H-he’s in my--I mean his office. It’s upstairs, take a right and it’s the final door at the end of the hallway. The one closest to the window.” the old man answers.

“You were the mayor here?” I question.

“Yes I was.” he affirms matter of factly.

“Don’t worry. You’ll get your town back.” I tell him.

Nerv goes up to him and I think tries to cheer him up

“I’mma fuck him up. Also don’t worry about your granddaughter. I’m sure this asshole got a micro dick.” She comforts.

“Yeah Nerva you right. He’s obviously compensating. I bet you that’s why he turned evil. He angry at society over his micro dick” I theorize.

“That makes perfect fucking sense Quincy. Sounds like hitting him in the nuts is gonna be hard now though. You think I can still land a nut shot?”

“Girl you always need to go for a nut shot no matter how small the target is.”

“Alright guys no more dick talk let’s go” Warren orders us.

The man doesn’t know how to respond so he just nods in agreement. I turned around to see what Ice Cube and Adam have been doing and they’ve been giving some of the people food and water. Wait, those are our supplies. Great, I want to be mad but can’t because I know they need it more than us. Eh I’m sure this place will give us supplies when we leave. I motioned for them to follow me and we all started to head upstairs with Warren in the lead. Warren is essentially speed walking given how fast he’s going. I can tell he’s pissed, and I am too.

“W-wait Warren. Aren’t we going to wait for Akane?” Adam inquires, trying to keep up with us as we head down the long hallway.

“Adam I told you, we were going to attack if she wasn’t here by the time we found him. She’s not here so we’re attacking. Alright Nerva get the door.” Warren commands stopping in front of the door the old man directed us to.

Nerva stretches her arms, getting ready to blast it open.

“Alright bad bitches here we go.” she says as fireballs form in her hands.

She brings her arms together which makes the two fireballs form into a giant one the size of a huge bowling ball. The ball shoots from her hands towards the door causing a bunch of dust to appear. After a few seconds the dust settles and we rush into the room. We stand side by side to see a man in a fancy leather chair behind a huge brown desk. He’s reclining back in it with two women in lingerie on his lap. But the girls don’t look fancy, they look quite rugged since they have some dirt on them. They also have thick metal collars on their necks with chains which I trace, seeing that they lead to the man’s left hand. Jesus christ he’s treating them like dogs on leashes. The man himself has a huge build. I can clearly see his muscles despite him wearing a black cloak that I think the grim reaper himself would wear. He has snow white hair in the style of a fade with the top being spiked up. He has clear green emerald eyes that stick out like a sore thumb by how it contrasts with the rest of his appearance. Speaking of his eyes, he has a scar that goes over his left one that stops in the middle of his cheek. Finally, he has a skull earing on his left ear which dangles slightly. This guy reminds me of a guy in a boy band who wants to be seen as the “tough one”.

“That was really fucking rude! I thought I told that old fuck downstairs I didn’t want to be distrubed!” the man yells, looking pissed off.

“Let the girls go,” Warren orders, getting straight to the point.

“Who the fuck is this homeless man telling me what to do? How come I didn’t kill you yet? Fucking annoying. Wait wait hold on a damn minute.” he says shifting his gaze towards me.

“You, the black one. I think I know your punk ass. Ah yeah monk was supposed to kill your ugly ass. So he dead, huh? You interrogate him or some shit? He tell you where I am?” he questions.

I could tell him that it was Akane who told me where he was but since I can tell this guy is a total asshole, I’m going to just go along with what he said. Besides, it makes us sound tougher and gives Akane the element of surprise when she arrives. Wait I don’t know if she’ll be here, she better.

“Yep that’s totally what happened. We all definitely interrogated him and beat him like it was nothing. So you’re in for a world of hurt” I threaten.

“Damn. Out of all of them, I hated him the least. Well shit, guess we doing this. Hey bitch, get me my scythe..” he commands as he yanks one of the chains, making the girl on his left lap fall to the ground.

“Y-yes king Ajax” she complies as she gets up, heading to the upper right corner of the room. She grabs the scythe that had been laying there this whole time. The thing is huge, I swear that thing is like 8 feet long because it almost touches the ceiling. It’s way too big for her to carry because she accidentally trips and drops it. She stops in her tracks, looking at him with fear in her eyes.

“Bitch...did you really just drop my fucking sychte?” he comments, eyeing her.

“K-king Ajax i-it was an accident, it won’t happen again!” she pleads.

“Yeah, I know it.” He replies as he makes a finger gun with his right hand.

Before any of us could move a huge gust of wind comes out of his finger and goes straight to the girl. The force is so strong that her head explodes as if a cannonball hit her head at full force.

Second Hero's Party vs. Ajax

“NERVA NOW!” Warren yells.

“ABOUT FUCKING TIME” she replies, quickly shooting a fireball at his face while he was distracted.

Without exerting any effort, he swipes the fireball away with his arm. He then eyes us and quickly stands up making the other girl in his lap fall to the ground. Before any of us can move in to attack, he blows wind out of his mouth which creates a gust of wind so strong that it makes all of us fly back. Everyone besides Warren is sent flying through the walls into the hallway we were just in. In the hallway I tried to find where Warren went and I think he was thrown into the room adjacent of the mayor’s office. He was the only one standing in front of the entrance Nerva made, so I’m guessing that made him fly back further than the rest of us.

“Ok so which one of you motherfuckers is dying first? Eeenie meenie miney moe. Smack a bitch cause she a hoe, if she holler fuck her harder, now I’m bout to slaugther. Whelp bitch guess you dying first” Ajax says pointing at Adam, emerging from the mayor’s office holding that huge scythe in his right arm as most of it leans on his shoulder.

“Ah!” Adam screams, quickly putting up a blue dome around him while he remains on the ground.

Ajax doesn’t care though as he dashed forward way too quickly for a man his size and stomps on the dome so hard that it breaks immediately, stomping him through the floor. In response, Ice Cube and Nerva get up and bounce back to create distance while I do the opposite. I get up and give Ajax a right hook to the stomach and then an uppercut to what I hope is his liver, can’t tell given how tall he is. After that I just unleash a flurry of punches to his body hoping to do as much damage as I can. I look up to see if any of that worked. It didn’t. He’s just looking down at me with this huge wicked smile.

“What the fuck was that? Was that you actually trying to do something? Looks like I’m gonna have to show you how a real man punches” he tells me.

“Shit.” I say as I quickly put up my arms to defend myself.

Good thing I did because I feel a huge punch hit me which sends me flying down the long hallway. I thought I was going to hit either Ice Cube or Nerva but they both moved out of the way. I fly past them and start to roll on the ground. I only stop rolling once I hit the end of the hallway. As I get up and start to run back to my party my forearms sting. Even with aura defending me it hurts like a mother. The guy hits like a wrecking ball. When I make it back to Ice Cube and Nerva I get the pleasure of hearing some smack talk.

“Alright bitch! You gotta fucking deal with me! So you dead now” Nerva calls out to him.

“Hah that’s rich coming from a fucking midget.” Ajax retorts.

“Bitch the fuck you just call me! I know you didn’t call me little with that micro dick you got going on!”

This must have struck a nerve or something because Ajax’s demeanor quickly changed after hearing that.

“You got a lot of nerve to say that to me bitch! I can prove it to you right now that I got the exact opposite” he shoots back.

“But I don’t got a microscope on me so what’s the point? Sis you got one?” Nerva asks, glancing at Ice Cube.

Ice Cube shakes her head.

“Ohhhhhhh!” I add getting alongside the two sisters.

Now that was a roast, I wish we could win this battle and all our future battles with the power of roasts.

“Fuck you! That’s it you dying now you ugly bitch!” Ajax curses as he looks like he’s about to swing his scythe.

“Bitch I’m fucking beautiful” Nerva replies with a smirk.

She bends her knees a bit and spreads her hands out making her look like a soccer goalie.

Ajax swings his scythe causing this slice of air to come towards us. It’s so strong the human eye can see it so I know not to touch it. The three of us duck to avoid it and I thought we were safe until I looked up. Ajax is now right in front of us. He closed the distance that quickly, using the attack as a distraction. Oh no, he can use strategy this is bad.

“Ha y’all need watch your fucking surroundings!” he says, launching a side kick.

The kick hits me which makes me crash into Nerva who in turn crashes into Ice Cube. This asshole’s leg is so strong that he was able to kick the three of us at the same time. What’s worse, it made all of us go through a door making the three of us land in what I guess is a conference room given the long rectangular table in the center of the room and the white board on the wall.

No time to focus on that though, I have to focus on the guy who’s trying to kill me. Ajax enters the room and immediately tries to stomp on Nerva while all of us haven’t recovered from the kick yet. Nerva has quick reflexes though as before she gets hit, shoots a bunch of fire out of her hands launching her away. It would have hurt given that it leaves behind a hole in the ground. Fortunately Ajax’s foot is now stuck in the hole it made. Taking advantage of the situation, Nerva launches herself across the room using her fire propulsion. She kicks him in the head with the sole of her shoe and then unleashes more fire from her hands driving her foot further into his face. There is so much force that it makes him bend his back quite a bit.

“Hah! You ain’t that bad bitch! I can have some fun with you!” he compliments.

He grabs Nerva’s waist like she was a doll.

“Oh fuck” she mutters.

She tries to grab his hand but before she could do so, he slams her through the conference table. Nerva quickly bounces up though and unleashes a wave of fire right at him. It’s so hot I had to get up and take a few steps back. In the midst of the flames, I see Ajax’s hand come out, grabbing Nerva’s face. That’s it I have to do something. I run towards them and give Ajax a haymaker to the face which makes him let go of Nerva. Ok so I can do damage, it’s just that a haymaker is the hardest punch I have and takes a lot of stamina out of me. It looks like it barely did anything. I attempt to give him another blow to the face but he leans back making me miss. He tries to throw another punch but Nerva quickly shoots a bunch of fire out of her hand, propelling herself into me which sends the two of us to the end of the room where the white board and Ice Cube are. We both slam into the white board but get up as soon as we hit the ground.

“You know Ice Cube you can help out any time now!” I yell at her.

“...” she responds.

“Bitch don’t blame me for shit! I was not in the fucking way!” Nerva exclaims.

“...” Ice Cube retorts.

“Bitch I do not have time for your sassy ass attitude.”

“...”

“Yeah well fuck you too”

“Ugh Ice Cube I don’t know what you’re saying but she’s out of the way now so please do something.” I cut in.

“...”

We all turn to Ajax and he’s just sitting in a chair with a huge smile on his face.

“Oh y’all done? I didn’t want to interrupt shit. Go ahead bug eyes try something. It ain’t gonna work though” Ajax invites motioning his hand for Ice Cube to approach him.

“Hey only I can say my sister has weird looking eyes fuck face! You ain’t one to judge looks with your bargain bin ass hairstyle” Nerva insults.

“Hah!” I laugh.

Now Ice Cube and Ajax look pissed off. When Nerva defends you she insults you at the same time. Ice Cube is annoyed but is probably used to it, Ajax is definitely not. He starts to slowly approach us while swinging his scythe around like it’s a bow staff. Ice Cube raises her hand and from it a thin icicle is shot out, zooming right towards him. It moved fast but not fast enough to kill as Ajax was able to dodge by tilting his head to the right. While the thing didn’t go through his head, it did some damage. After he stopped tilting, some blood started to drip down his left cheek.

“Ok Ice bitch, you seem to be a real threat” he says pissed off, wiping the blood from his cheek.

“Hey only I can give her nicknames!” I yell out.

Wait why am I offended? Whatever I don’t have time to think about it. Ajax charges us and shoulder bashes the three of us through the wall into another room. I thought he would stop but he continues to run, crashing us through two more walls. After we entered the third room he abruptly stopped while we continued to fly back because of inertia. We all collide to the wall and plop to the ground. Before I could get up I heard a slash and I looked up to see him trying to slice me with his scythe via a vertical strike. Instinctually, I roll to the side and get up, giving him an uppercut to the jaw. A fireball hits him, making him stumble back. Then after that a hard ice ball hits him in the face. I dash in to get closer. I unleash powerful blows to the body by twisting my hips. If normal punches won’t work, I’ll have to get technical. It seems to be working as with each punch it makes him stumble back more and more until I have his back against the wall.

“Ok this shit isn’t fun anymore.” he says as I try to throw in another punch.

Before I could make contact I lost all of my breath. I have no idea what’s happening. I know I’m not the most fit but I never lost all the air in my lungs at once. I fall to the ground. I quickly turned around to see if Ice Cube or Nerva was going to help but they’ve collapsed to their knees as well.

“Now don’t get me wrong. I had a hell of a time fighting three bitches. But you know, it’s kinda like jacking off to the same porn everyday, you just get bored and don’t get hard anymore” he sighs.

While he talks more and more air is being taken out of my lungs. It’s like being manually forced to exhale. I look up and see that he’s about to swing his scythe so he can cut my head off in a swingle swoop. There’s nothing any of us can do, we’re all like a fish out of water. He is just about to swing when suddenly a machete comes out of Ajax’s chest where I think his heart should be.

“T-THE FUCK?!” he curses as the machete recedes back.

Ajax quickly turns around and jams his arm through the wall, yanking Warren through, holding onto his face.

“I totally forgot about you homeless asshole! Tried to attack my heart huh? Too bad bitch, I was born with a medical condition, heart’s on the right side! Wait your fucking turn, I’ll kill you soon enough” He promises, throwing Warren through the roof of the building to who knows where.

Warren didn’t kill him but it gave the three of us enough time to recover so I have to thank Warren after this. I get up and give him a haymaker to the gut which makes him bend forward.

“Ack!” Ajax coughs.

I follow up with an uppercut to the throat. Instead of attacking I jump back because I feel a bunch of heat behind me. I look to my left to see Nerva creating a bunch of fire in her right hand making a fire fist. She starts to run at Ajax who hasn’t recovered yet and with her free hand shoots a bunch of fire at the ground making her jump up so high in the air that she almost touches the ceiling. As she falls down she performs an overhand punch on the back of Ajax’s head with enough force to slam him to the ground. Ice Cube adds insult to injury by freezing the ground around him in order to make the ground extremely brittle. Nerva and I team up by both jumping up to perform a body slam on Ajax. With our combined body weight and the fragility of the ground, we fall through with so much force we go through two floors. We finally hit the ground with a thud causing a bunch of dust to come up. After thirty seconds, the dust goes away so I can take a look at my surroundings. We are definitely in a basement as there’s like no light here besides the light coming from the hole we fell through. Most of the stuff around me is broken furniture and boxes with a bunch of dust on them. I look down and Ajax isn’t moving so I think he’s knocked out. I think we just won.

“WOOOO! TAKE THAT BITCH YOU JUST GOT FUCKING OWNED!” Nerva cheers, full of excitement as she gets up. Her hype spreads to me. I jump up too full of hype.

“YEAH THAT’S HOW YOU DO IT BABY! YEAH!” I yell.

I bend down so that Nerva and I can high five like we’re teammates who just scored in a sport. With all this hype from owning this dude we high five like six times screaming “yeah” each time. It’s kind of weird to high five when one of your hands has a hole in it but whatever.

“YEAAHHH” I scream after giving the sixth high five.

“YEAHHHHHH!” Nerva screams as well.

As we screamed, Ice Cube joined us by jumping down through the hole we made. She looks at the two of us being all hyped and I’m sure she’s confused.

“Ice Cube, come celebrate with us. High five let’s go!” I tell her with my right hand raised.

“Yeah come on sis we so fucking hyped right now! We just fucked this dude up!” Nerva encourages.

Ice Cube hesitantly raises her right hand. I go over to her and give her a high five.

“YEAH!” I yell

“FUCK YEAH WOOO!” Nerva cheers in the back.

“...” Ice Cube adds.

“We’re gonna have to teach you how to celebrate. We’ll work on it” I assure her.

We were all having a good time but then I heard a voice that ruined all of it. No it’s not Ajax.

“Oh gods and goddesses I finally found you guys!” Adam says relieved, emerging from the shadows.

“Adam? Where the hell have you been?” I question.

“I’ve been stuck down here this whole time! When I got attacked I fell through two floors and landed in here! It was so dark that I didn’t know where I was. I couldn’t find my way out. I was so scared! Also my body hurts” Adam explains.

“Ice Cube this is why I don’t like Adam. He does nothing in every fight you see this bs?” I tell her, ignoring Adam.

“H-hey I didn’t do this on purpose! I really did try to find my way out so I could help everyone” Adam argues.

I give Adam this deadpan face which tells him I don’t believe him in the slightest. Adam droops his head in shame.

“So ugh where’s Warren? Is he ok?” Adam asks us.

“Warren got thrown out of the building. Who knows where he landed. I think he’s fine though” I answer.

“What!? We have to go find him right away! He could be lying out there with broken bones!” Adam mentions.

Oh shoot he’s right. I wish I could have gone after Warren as soon as he got yeeted out the building but I was busy trying to not die. Warren is the most competent person I know though so I’m not too worried.

“Ok I think I’m done celebrating so let’s all-”I attempt to say but suddenly feel very sharp pain on my right thigh.

It starts to hurt a whole lot, making me collapse to the ground. I touch my thigh and I feel this huge gash. Adam tries to come for me but blood splurts out from his back making him fall in pain. I look at Nerva who tries to react but gets slashed in the stomach, making her fall down clutching her stomach. Finally Ice Cube tries to move but she’s sliced in her left thigh making her fall like the rest of us.

“What the fuck is this bullshit!” Nerva curses.

“YOU MOTHERFUCKERS ARE SO DAMN LOUD!” We hear Ajax curse who’s standing in the middle of all of us with a bloody scythe.

“Here I was trying to recover my strength after that bullshit wrestling attack you bitches fucking did on me but then noooo I had to listen to all that fucking yelling! Like god damn! Now my fucking anxiety is all the way up fucking here and I don’t even know where the fuck my pills are. So you know what? Fuck it, I’m killing y’all now.” He says, approaching Nerva.

He attempts to strike her but an extremely dense bubble shield pops up over her.

“The fuck?” Ajax says in confusion.

“I-I won’t let you hurt her! I won’t let you hurt any of my friends” Adam calls out trying to get up.

“Bitch I do not have time for this shit. You were supposed to die first anyway so I’m gonna get you out the way real quick” he complains, suddenly appearing in front of Adam.

All of us tried to move to help but the pain makes us all fall back to the ground. We’re helpless as Ajax gives Adam an uppercut to the gut which slams him into the ceiling falling right back to the ground. He coughs up blood, writhing on the ground.

“This is a sturdy ass part of the ceiling huh? Welp let’s try again” Ajax says picking Adam back up.

Ajax goes in for another uppercut to the gut.

“Adam!” Nerva calls out genuinely sounding concerned.

There was nothing we could do. Adam is uppercutted again and slams into the same part of the ceiling, this time going through it. Adam doesn’t come back down so I have no idea where he is now.

“You fucking grim reaper cosplaying bitch!” Nerva yells at him, shooting a fireball.

Ice Cube shoots an ice ball at the same time to help out. Both were easily deflected by Ajax’s scythe.

“Now what you just fucking saw was how you do an uppercut. That felt good, now my anxiety is going down quite a bit. But anyway did y’all bitches know why we’re called the reapers? I proposed the title and Archer took a liking to it. Said it invoked fear. So y’all motherfuckers are looking at the true reaper. Ok so who’s dying now? I hate all of you mothefuckers equally” Ajax asks as Ice Cube and Nerva keep attacking him with fire and ice balls.

This means nothing to him though as he effortlessly blocks each attack while he strokes his chin. Ice Cube and Nerva’s injuries must be preventing them from using their more powerful attacks. I’m not a magician but I guess you can’t use more powerful spells when you’re in a lot of pain, maybe you need to focus to use spells? I don’t know, maybe I can ask them later, assuming we survive this.

“Oh I fucking got it! I’ll beat a motherfucker with another mothefucker! That’s how my daddy taught me.” Ajax announces as if he’s had an epiphany.

He walks over to Nerva blocking her attacks and grabs her by the leg. He picks her up so now she’s upside down. Nerva hasn’t given up yet as she unleashes a huge burst of fire out of her right hand while holding her stomach with her left. As she did that Ajax slams her onto the ground and I just realized that the flooring is ceramic tile. Jesus that’s gotta hurt.

“THAT WAS FUCKING RUDE!” Ajax curses, slamming her again.

I can clearly see Nerva this time hit the ground head first. I look at Ice Cube and I can tell she’s seeming with anger, trying her hardest to get up. I try my hardest to get up too. Ice Cube shoots another one of those icicles like before and this time it goes through his back and out his ribs. I think she was trying to aim for his spinal cord. However, I can tell it didn’t work as he recoils in pain but doesn’t fall to the ground. I’m hoping she at least hit an important organ. Still holding onto Nerva he stares angrily at Ice Cube.

“YOU FUCKING BITCH! THAT’S IT, MY ANXIETY IS BACK UP AGAIN” He curses as he runs towards Ice Cube, slamming her with Nerva. After hitting Ice Cube to the ground, he continues to smash her with Nerva as if Nerva’s a hammer and Ice Cube is a nail. He does this about three times before I’m able to gather enough strength to stop him. I use my aura to stop the bleeding from my thigh and rush him. I give him a sock to the face which makes him drop Nerva right next to Ice Cube. I’m pissed off now so I unload a barrage of punches. He tries to punch me but using my boxing stance I’m easily able to dodge and keep hammering away at his stomach. I don’t care how tough this guy is, one of the rules of boxing is that if you kill the body, the head will die. We’re in extremely close quarters which is perfect for me because he can’t use his scythe. I keep attacking with my punches, putting more and more aura into them as I shift my body. After I gave him a jab to the stomach he kneels to the ground so now he’s face is right in front of me. Now I can do some real damage. I give him multiple hooks looking like I’m using the poor man’s version of the dempsey roll. I was about to land my 15th hit when suddenly I started to slowly float in the air. I whirled around to see that everything in the room was floating up higher and higher. Feeling the wind brushing my face I realize it’s Ajax’s doing. Now everything is being slowly rotated around the room like a washing machine is starting up.

Ajax looks up at me with this wicked smile while missing a few teeth.

“Ok asshole, I know when I’m at a disadvantage. So how about we take this shit outside. That’s where I thrive!” he yells as the wind increases in intensity. The next thing I knew I’m spinning so fast it’s like I’m on a roller coaster. I fly around and I think I accidentally collided into Ice Cube but I can’t tell, everything is a blur. Once I’m able to see clearly again I see that I’m about a few hundred feet in the air. I see the whole city below me and the nearby countryside. I’m not gonna lie, it looks so nice despite it looking like it’s about to rain. But then I look down and realize that I’m about to crash into the earth so I fortify my body with aura to brace for impact. I hit the ground creating a small crater. Despite using my aura I feel pain go throughout my body. I feel like I got hit by a semi truck. I sit up and see that I’m right in front of the government building. It looks torn up as it’s missing a bunch of pieces like a tornado hit it. Wait I think that’s exactly what happened. Ajax must have made a huge tornado to get us all out of there. There are a bunch of pieces of the building strewn throughout the streets such as furniture and parts of the wall. I scan the nearby buildings and stuff definitely fell into them as there are a bunch of holes on the roofs. Great now in addition to buildings being sliced in half the people here have to deal with holes in their roofs. Actually what happened to the people inside the building? If they were smart they should have left as soon as the fighting started but who knows? People are stupid. As much as the pain tells me to stay down, I successfully get back on my feet.

“Quincy!” I hear a voice call out to me.

I see Adam heading towards me with Warren. He’s helping Warren walk as he appears to be slightly limping. I glance at Warren’s left leg. I’m pretty sure it must be sprained.

“Are you ok? Wait nevermind don’t answer that I already know” Adam says as a green beam comes out of his hand to heal me.

“Quincy what happened?” Warren questions me matter of factly.

“The asshole caused a tornado inside the building man. Made all this wreckage you see around you. That’s why 1/3rd of the building is missing.” I explain feeling slightly better because of the healing.

Adam then hands me a healing potion and I gulp it down like it’s water after traveling through the desert.

“That explains the wreckage. Where’s Nerva and her sister?”.

“I have no freaking idea. I just landed creating this small crater we’re standing in. Then you guys came over. So what happened to you guys?” I respond.

“After I was thrown out of the building I landed in a nearby household. I lost consciousness for a few minutes. I eventually woke up and started the trek back here. He threw me to the end of town so it took me a while especially since my left leg got sprained. I must have landed on it. I encountered Adam along the way. He was unconscious but I was able to wake him up and administer him one of his healing potions. Then he started to heal me and here we are. Now I need to ask you one more question. Where’s the lancer?”

“Oh I can fucking answer that!” a voice bellows coming from the remains of the government building.

Ajax emerges looking all bruised up. The fact that all of this fighting has taken a toll on him is slightly comforting. He has scratches all over, has two holes in his body and you can’t forget the marks on his face courtesy of me punching him.

“I’m right fucking here!” he finishes.

“Ah!” Adam screams in fear.

“Adam, go find Nerva and her sister. Quincy and I got this.” Warren commands

“W-wait what? No Warren I can’t leave you two to fight this monster alone. I have to stay and help” Adam argues.

“Adam we don’t know what condition they’re in. They are most likely in way worse conditions than we are. So get going, find them among the wreckage.” Warren insists.

“Yeah Adam we got this. Plus I just don’t want you to be around me” I add.

“O-oh ok. You guys be careful! I’ll be right back!” Adam says, letting Warren stand by himself and starts to run off.

Before Adam could go far Ajax’s scythe comes out of nowhere landing right in front of Adam, stopping him. The scythe’s blade is in the ground with the rest of it sticking out into the air.

“And where the fuck you think you’re going? Oh you’re not gonna get out of this ass whooping! Wait..didn’t I kill your ass? Why the fuck you still alive? Wait you must be a healer huh? That explains it. No wonder you’re not dead yet.” Ajax remarks to himself.

“Eep!” Adam yelps.

“Don’t worry about him Adam! We’ll keep him distracted. Just wait for the right moment to get out of here!” Warren exclaims trying to calm him down.

“Are you sure we can do that?” I whisper to Warren.

“No idea but we have to try,” Warren whispers back.

“I think it’s a waste of fucking energy. Those bitches are definitely dead. Now it’s time for me to take the rest of you out, then head back to my bed to take a fucking nap.” Ajax tells us.

His right hand turns into a finger gun, shooting three air bullets at us. I leap to the side to avoid mine, Warren ducks under his, Adam puts up a blue wall in front of himself but that shatters upon getting hit by the air bullet. There was enough force to make Adam fall back and hit the ground.

Warren and I charge at Ajax. Warren gets to him first, swinging his machete but Ajax dodges all of his attacks easily. It’s not fair, big guys shouldn’t be able to move fast like that. With a huge smile on his face Ajax punches Warren in the gut sending him flying towards me. He’s going too fast to catch him so I just duck underneath him. Sorry Warren. As I look up a boot hits me in the face causing me to tumble back a few feet. God damn it he just used Warren as a distraction to kick me in the face. I think my nose is broken now. I look up and see Ajax try to kick me in the face again but a blue shield is put up between us stopping his foot. Ajax turns around to see that it was Adam’s doing. This freaking idiot had his chance to escape but stayed behind to save me. Ew.

“Bitch you really are annoying!” Ajax yells at Adam.

He’s distracted now. I jump to my feet and give Ajax a right hook to the gut. Warren then appears next to me and gives Ajax a horizontal slash across the stomach. I punch where the slash is hoping that’ll make my punch more painful.

“Ah fuck!” Ajax curses.

Warren tries to impale his machete into Ajax’s face but Ajax was able to recover quickly enough to dodge it by moving his head to the right. Ajax counter attacks by giving a powerful right hook to Warren’s left side. I hear something break as Warren is slammed into me. We are both sent flying to a nearby building but a blue wall materializes preventing us from hitting the building. Slamming the blue wall hurts but it’s a lot softer than a building that’s for sure.

“Ugh Warren you good?” I ask getting up all dazed.

“My left arm is broken” Warren reveals getting up.

Warren is holding his machete in his right hand and he’s right, his left arm is broken. It looks like a noodle.

“Jesus, Warren!” I say in shock.

“I’m fine. Pain receptors are off.” He tells me.

Looking back towards Ajax I see him trying to attack Adam. He has his scythe back and is trying to slash Adam but everytime he does so a blue wall appears to block the attack. Ajax would destroy it in a single strike only for another one to come up. Adam is screaming terror after each strike. To him this must be like trying to survive a horror movie. I look back to Warren to see if he was going to tell me a plan or something but nope he’s just running forward with his broken arm. If Warren can fight with a broken arm I have no excuse not to charge as well. I get right behind Ajax and attempt to punch his back while Warren tries to slice with his machete from the side while Ajax continues to attack Adam. I thought we were going to connect but suddenly all the air is taken out of my body. Jesus not this attack again. Warren is on the ground choking. Between Ajax’s legs I see the same fate has befallen Adam.

“I was waiting for the right fucking moment when you bitches were all in range. I went through a lot of fucking emotions today. I felt happiness, then anger, then a lot more anger, but now I feel calm. I did good fucking work today. Sure you assholes ruined the whole king thing I had going on here but at the same time the people I had to kill came to me so you know it’s a blessing in disguise or some shit” Ajax monologues as he stomps Adam’s head into the ground.

“Archer is going to be fucking ecstatic at hearing the shit I did today. Oh I can also rub it in to the others. That thief fucker is going to be so mad he didn’t get to kill you all. Swordsman would probably say something fucking odd. ” he continues.

“I think you mean cool” a voice in the distance calls out.

“Yeah she would say something like that wait wha-”

A heel smashes into his face.

The kick was strong enough to send him flying back into some debris. All three of us look up to see Akane is in the spot Ajax was just in.

“There is no need to fear… I’m here yes I nailed it” she greets trying to sound cool.

Oh the god the cringe is back. I wish Ajax just killed us. The three of us start to inhale deeply in order to get our oxygen back. After doing so we stand up.

“About time you showed up! What took you so long!?” I interrogate, angry that it took her so long to appear.

“Your question implies I was late. I’m not, the coolest character always shows up in the nick of time to save everyone” she replies.

I look at Warren because I have no idea how to reply to that. He shrugs.

“Ugh thanks for saving us.” Adam tells her.

“Don’t thank me yet. We still have to deal with Lancer” she tells us, pointing at a pile of debris.

“WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT SHIT!?” Ajax screams as he emerges.

“I kicked you in the face.” Akane states deadpanly.

“YEAH I GOT THAT FUCKING PART. I WANNA KNOW WHY! YOU TURNED TRAITOR OR SOME SHIT!?”

“I used to follow the path of darkness but now I see the light and follow the path of righteousness”

I look at Adam hoping he would explain to me what she just said.

“Ugh it’s a reference from a comic called ‘Strongest Samurai Slayer from Another Dimension part 2. Most of the fans call it SSSAD2’” Adam whispers to Warren and I.

“I prefer to call it (S^3)ADII,” Akane adds.

Warren and I glance at each other in confusion. Yeah neither of us know how to respond to that either.

“WHAT THE FUCK! DOES THAT MEAN YOU A TRAITOR NOW YOU DUMB BITCH!” Ajax cusses.

“Yes.” Akane affirms

“BITCH YOU ARE FUCKING DEAD! NOT ONLY ARE YOU DYING TODAY, BUT YOUR PARENTS ARE FUCKED! I’LL KILL THEM MYSELF!”

“Not happening. I’m already 1,417,666 steps ahead of you. I already saved them, you’ll never find them.”

“Bitch it don’t fucking matter where they’re hiding at! They’re fucking dead. But first I’m putting this scythe through your fucking skull!”

“Hmmm you can try. But we can’t fight yet”

“What the fuck are you talking about? Why do you act so fucking weird?”

“Waaaaiiitt foooor iiiit”

I feel a raindrop hit my head. It has started to rain.

“Ok perfect. Now we can begin our fight” Akane says satisfied.

“Bitch did you just make me wait until it started raining? Why?” Ajax questions

“Because it looks cool to fight in the rain.” she points out

“...I never fucking liked you”

“Likewise”

They begin to slowly approach each other. Akane slowly unsheathes her sword, I presume for dramatic affect.

“Oh gods and goddesses Warren are you ok!?” Adam asks, shifting my attention away from Akane.

“Yeah I’m fine Adam. My arm is just broken”

“What!? Just broken? Warren that’s awful we need to snap it back into place!”

“No time. I gotta go help Akane” Warren says as he takes out one of his knives and puts it in his teeth.

“What Warren no!” Adam hollers, trying to bring him back but it’s too late, Warren is already after Akane.

Adam looks at me expecting me to stop Warren but I shrug. Warren’s a grown man, he can make his own decisions.

“Adam go find Nerva and Ice Cube. We’ll be fine.” I assure him.

I follow Warren to see that Akane and Ajax have begun fighting. They are clashing weapons as Akane circles around Ajax trying to find an opening. She tried to roll between his legs but Ajax saw it coming. He kicks her in the body before she could do so.

“Ack!” I hear her say as she is sent flying off a few dozen feet.

Ajax may have gotten Akane out of his hair for a bit but now he has to deal with Warren and I. Warren is able to slash Ajax on the right forearm and give him a kick to the gut. I circle around and give him a haymaker to the back which makes him stumble forward to Warren. Warren tried to slice him again but was hit in the head by the blunt end of Ajax’s scythe. Then without turning around, I get kicked in the face again. I quickly reorient myself to see Ajax grab Warren by the throat, lifting him into the air. Warren drops the knife from his mouth catching it with his working arm. He violently thrusts it into Ajax’s left eye.

“HOLY FUCK YOU HOMELESS ASSHOLE!” Ajax curses, brutally slamming Warren’s head onto the ground. I try to help by jumping onto Ajax’s back to choke him out. I have no idea how to do a chokehold. Not knowing what to do specifically I start squeezing his neck.

“OK NOW I’M REALLY ACK PISSED OFF” Ajax swears.

Akane is back in the fray and dashes so that she’s right in front of Ajax. She slices him diagonally the chest twice making an X on his chest. She was about to attack again when Ajax grabs my back and flips me over right onto Akane. He stomps down on me and by extension her. He kicks the two of us, making us roll down the street.

“Ugh this isn’t going well” I mutter after we both stop rolling.

“I agree. Second hero, there is only one way to defeat Lancer. I’m going to need to use my ultimate move. However, I can only attempt it once because of how much energy it takes out of me. If I miss, we’re dead” she tells me.

“Whelp I don’t have an alternative so what do I have to do?”

“Keep him still. I’ll only attack once I know it’ll land”

“That’s easier said than done.”

“You can do it. Especially if you use the power of friendship”

“W-what?”

“You know, the power of friendship. The hero always uses the power of friendship to overcome any obstacle. If you think about your friends you’ll get a power boost. Happens in all the comics”

“Girl I am not going to be thinking bout no damn friendship while I’m fighting. You think about friendship.”

“Can’t. Don’t have any friends”

“...Oh ok. How about we just go?”

“Ok”

Awkwardly Akane and I run back to the action. For me it’s getting difficult to keep going. Every few seconds blackness envelops my vision. I think I may have a concussion on top of the pain I feel throughout my body. Warren’s not faring much better, he’s been keeping Ajax busy this whole time. I’m surprised he’s still conscious. Warren is trying to attack with his machete but Ajax easily deflects, counter attacking with the blunt end of his scythe. Then Warren’s worst injury comes. Ajax jumps back and swings his scythe right into Warren’s stomach. I thought Warren was going to get cut in half but Warren summons enough aura to stop the scythe from going too deep into his body and uses his good arm to try to push it out of him. As bad as it looks, it gives Akane an opening. She jumps in the air then lands cutting the scythe in half with a vertical strike.

“BITCH YOU BROKE MY FUCKING-” he tries to say but is interrupted by my punch to the face.

Because I had a running start it was more powerful than usual making him fall to the ground.

“Warren you good!?” I question.

Warren pushes the blade out of his stomach and puts his arm over his wound.

“It’s a lot of blood but I’m making my aura cover up most of the wound” Warren answers.

Jesus we’re going to have to end this fight quickly, none of us are in good shape.

I turn my gaze back to Ajax who’s back on his feet.

“I CANNOT BELIEVE THIS SHIT! I WAS ALREADY HAVING A BAD FUCKING DAY. NOW YOU BROKE MY FUCKING SCYTHE! MY SCYTHE! THAT’S IT YOU’RE ALL FUCKING DEAD. I’M GONNA KILL YOU, BRING YOU BACK TO LIFE, THEN KILL YOU AGAIN! YOU SONS OF BITCHES HEAR ME! YOU’RE ALL” he rambles but my attention turns away from him.

I look up at the sky and see what appears to be a flaming ball heading toward us. Is that an asteroid? No that’s not it. Wait, oh I see what it is.

“WHAT THE FUCK Y’ALL LOOKING AT!” Ajax angrily questions.

“SURPRISE MOTHERFUCKER!” the falling ball of fire says as Ajax turns around in confusion.

His face is hit with a flaming fire fist right in the nose with so much force that his head is slammed into the earth.

“You didn’t forget about me huh bitch!” Nerva chides, standing over him.

Behind her I can see Ice Cube shooting the ground ahead of her allowing her to quickly glide her way to us. Adam is running alongside.

Nerva on top shoots a bunch of fire from her hands into Ajax’s face. Ajax attempts to punch her off him but she sees it coming. She propels herself away by putting her arms in front of her and shoots fire so that she rolls back.

“I don’t have time to deal with this shit” Ajax grumbles, sitting up but is hit in the head by an ice ball making him lay back down.

“Nerva, Ice Cube! We need to keep him still! Akane’s gonna do a move!” I call out.

“Alright let’s do this shit!” Nerva says.

Nerva and Ice Cube look torn up. The both have a bunch of blood rolling down their heads not to mention the countless bruises. Everyone in my party looks like shit.

“GOD DAMMIT! I’M NOT DYING TO YOU FUCKS!” Ajax declares, slamming the ground in frustration as he gets up.

Suddenly a weird sphere out of air starts to circle him. It’s like he has a protective dome made out of swirling wind. I would be concerned but Akane assuages my fears.

“Don’t worry I got this. I’ve seen him use this move before. It has a glaring weakness.” Akane says, cutting her forearm to make blood drip from it.

Ajax is circled by all of us so he has no chance to escape. I look at the ground and see blood crawl its way towards him and it easily goes past the air shield. Right underneath him now it forms into a blood spike shooting right into his crotch.

“FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK!” he yells in pain holding onto his crotch.

“Everyone gang up on him!” I order.

I rush in and give him a punching barrage to the body then jump back. Warren in the back throws one of his knives which lands right into Ajax’s shoulder. That attack is followed up by Ajax getting hit by a wave of fire in the back. He quickly whirls around and shoots air bullets at Nerva but a blue wall comes up blocking them. Ice starts to freeze Ajax’s legs which stops him from being able to move, well on top of being unable to move because of the whole bloody crotch thing.

“FUCKING DAMMIT! FUCK YOU ALL!” Ajax curses.

“NO FUCK YOU!” Nerva curses back.

“It’s over Lancer! You are finished. You shall now face my penultimate move!” Akane yells to him.

“YOU FUCKING BITCH! YOU HAD TO RUIN IT ALL!”

“No lancer. You ruined yourself as soon as you had chosen the path of evil..always wanted to use that line”

“BITCH WHY CAN’T YOU TALK LIKE A NORMAL FUCKING PERSON! FUCK ALL OF Y’ALL, I’M GONNA SEE YOUR ASSES IN HELL!”

Ignoring that insult, Akane thrusts her sword into her body. All of us were surprised at seeing it, Adam screamed.

“Behold. Dance of the Blood Lily” she says as she yanked the sword out of her.

The sword has a bunch of her blood on it as she disappears from view. I lost track of her for a bit but saw her reappear behind Ajax. I’m assuming she went so fast, she dashed past him. Something right out of a cringy samurai anime.

“You’re already dead. . . yess, finally got to say it!” she says as Ajax’s torso erupts. Like this dude just freaking explodes from the waist up showering blood everywhere.

“Holy shit that was awesome!” Nerva says in awe.

After Ajax explodes Akane gets on one knee, raises her sword above her head and slowly sheates her sword. Ok that was not necessary, she’s trying to look cool again.

“Oh my god, sis. She’s fucking awesome!” I hear Nerva say.

With a smirk on her face Akane stands up. Oh god, she knows Nerva thinks she’s cool.

“Lancer has been defeated. We are victorious” Akane states as we all regroup.

“Yeah good thing. I can tell we all took a beating during that. I know we just finished but we should all get out of here.. By the way, we never introduced ourselves did we? I’m Warren, that’s Quincy, Nerva, Adam, and that’s AnastasiaAHHHHHH” Warren yells, falling to the ground in severe pain.

“Oh I see. The Benetant just wore off.” Akane comments.

“Wait Warren had turned his pain receptors off. He shouldn’t be like this” I point out.

“When you crash it bypasses all attempts to prevent pain. Your body overwhelms you. It has to happen this way because of how Benetant works. Your body can’t put off the pain forever, it’ll have to experience it at some point. Same thing is about to happen to you right now” Akane tells me .

Oh jesus christ I forgot I took the drug too. “Adam do some AHHHHHHH!” I scream as I too fall over in pain.

This is the worst pain I’ve ever experienced. The pain from the fight against blood girl is being added on top of the pain I just received from Ajax. Everyone besides Akane and Warren has passed out due to the pain from fighting Ajax. I think their adrenaline wore off so their bodies shut down.

“Hmmm maybe I should have arrived sooner” Akane says to herself while Warren and I scream.

We won the fight but I feel like we lost. I want to die.