Chapter 83

Scams and Charity

“Tonight, we have for you an exceptional story. The evolution of Heal Boy. Everyone’s favorite healer is now all grown up!” The announcer begins, hyping the crowd of onlookers up.

How is this happening? Aren’t we supposed to be on our vacation? Why yes, yes, we are.

Don’t I look like I’ve changed now that I have giant wings and more muscles rippling under my now highly modified Heal Boy costume has come out of retirement. Actually, I didn’t have mine, pretty sure that got burned in a rubbish bin. But apparently, they had plenty just hanging around.

“That’s right. Tonight, you get to see the evolution of light. How one Heal Boy has pupated and now…” The announcer begins, but I hold up a finger.

Once he has stopped, I say.

“Never say the word pupated again, when referring to me.”

Silence.

For a second there is intense silence, as everyone takes in my new instructions.

“Oh ho. Now he has bloomed into the majestic creature of death we see before us now. For those of you who are non-Endarian, do not be fooled. Those wings might look pretty, but they are as deadly as they are captivating to watch...” The announcer continues his long speech.

This time Jess is my assistant. Technically she shouldn’t be there as she doesn’t have healing abilities, but I wouldn’t join without her, so here she is. Also, this was her idea, so we might as well continue.

By now you are probably wondering how we got here? How have we gotten to this spot? Shouldn’t we be on our weeklong vacation?

Well, the answers are Yes, Jess, and Yes, in that order.

Yes, I too am wondering how I got here. Jess is the reason we are spending a perfectly good night of our weeklong stay, trying out for the MAC championships. Apparently Wango Tango has a lot of pull, as do the Endarians. Then there were the specially marked advertisements that seemed to be specifically targeting Jess, of all people.

MAC Championships, the Charity that Cares

Is coming here for one night.

Enter now to win cert prizes.

Every team gets a minimum of one cert.

Maximum prize 500 certs plus earnings.

Up to 1,000 certs in all will be given away!

That’s right, these guys were using my certs to bribe Jess, to get me to kill more Prolaxians. I would have killed the bastards for free, as killing them generates your own certs. That said, I felt the entire thing to be rather sleazy. Especially as we are still in the middle of our weeklong vacation stay here at Wango Tango.

Fortunately, with teleportation arrays being what they are, we can still be at Wango Tango, and compete in the local MAC championships.

Thus, this entire night is Jess’ idea. How are we doing? Are we bonding well? You know, ask me after I get this spandex out of my butt cheeks.

This entire thing is a farce, as it effectively blows my cover. I mean how many big winged, violin playing, Prolaxian slaughters are there? I am guessing not many.

That said, here we are. With a chance to earn back the certs that I was effectively swindled out of. Oh, don’t get me wrong, there is a long paper trail that separates these certs from mine, but that is all it is, a paper trail. I am willing to bet my wings that the certs originated from me. Why do I say this, well one, even if I lose my life in anonymity will be much easier. But there is also the fact that, only after I signed over the certs did, we start seeing the advertisements for this MAC championship being held here. While that could be a coincidence, I found the whole stream of events to be too convenient.

Still, it doesn’t matter. All that matters now is, Jess and I will get two certs total. Both of which will go to Jess. Oh yeah, that is the other reason we are here, Jess wants to quote unquote “earn her certs and not rely on me.”

So how does she do that? What is her grand scheme for earning certs by herself? That’s right, to team up with me, let me do all the heavy lifting, so she can earn her certs.

Honestly, I didn’t even have the heart to tell her how odd her justification was, especially with everything going on. Actually, the way she asked and the bright smile that filled her face when she asked. That was what was the selling point. The fact that she smiled so expectantly for me, that I couldn’t help but fall in love with her all over again. Again, not that I could ever act on these feelings. With my life the way it was, I could never act on my feelings. It would be too hard, to fall in love with her, only for the next loop to come and re-erase her memories and our time together. No, it would be better to have never loved, then to have loved and for her to have forgotten. But occasionally, I act against my rational part of my brain and choose to go with my emotions. Thus, why I am here.

There is only one problem, I was told to make this entertaining. Of course, there is only one problem, I have grown in leaps and bounds in terms of power since I last set foot in one of these places.

With Physical Attribute Boost all my physical attributes are at or close to 60. In fact, all but my Strength Attribute are over the sixty-point threshold.

The truth is, for the level of monsters we are facing, I should let someone else take the stage and try their hand. That said, this is Jess’ way of earning her certs. Also, she really wanted to do this together as a couple.

Again, I am not quite certain how or why she is so into this idea of us starting a new life together. But she is, and well, what can I say, I am a glutton for punishment. Fourth time is a charm, right?

Though back to the championship, to make this interesting, I’ve decided to mix events. I pull out my world tree wood violin and begin a few warmup notes. Checking to make sure the sounds are crisp and resonating properly. I don’t know if it is a matter of the psychic and mana resonance that this instrument has managed to soak up over the past few months, but I swear it is absolutely pulsing with power and energy. Each note is crisp and seems to resonate with my soul. I cannot speak for others, but there is a weight to each note. One that speaks of power.

With my violin set. I am ready.

I signal to the announcer that I am ready.

Once I see recognition in his eyes, I begin to play. Of course, I start with Endar Rising, which I then morph with elements of Beethoven’s ninth symphony. My hands are moving so fast that I can play two and almost three different sections all at once.

Normally loud music is blasted during these events. I could hear the first few notes, but that was quickly cut off. Instead, I hear my own music being played on somewhat of a time delayed loop. At least that is what my ears first pick up, before I tune it all out as I continue to play.

I am so lost in my song, that I almost miss the moment the first Prolaxian appears through the portal field. Fortunately, the crowd’s loud gasp alerts me enough to break me from my stupor.

With my attention back on the main task, I tap my foot, apply a quick Mind Rend-X and the monster falls.

I then make the foot stomps to be part of my rhythm. Each time I stomp my foot, I send out a burst of Mind Rend-X. I even work the foot stomps to be part of the rhythm of the song I am playing. Within moments, the crowd is eating it up, as they too are stomping and clapping their hands in unison.

Clap!

With that, a wave of Mind Rend-X is sent toward the next grouping of monsters that appears, killing them instantly. We make it a concert of death. During the lulls in monsters, I take it down a notch, letting the tension of the song relax slightly. Then once the monsters appear once more, I pick up the pace. With that, the audience rejoins in the cacophony of death.

Stomp!

Everything goes smoothly, until it stops going smoothly. Now this would be obvious, we can’t just have a good time after all. Shit does have to hit the fan eventually, though why people are so intent on throwing feces at fans is beyond me. But the imagery still stands. After about an hour of this and putting on a show for the audience, things took a turn for the worse.

And by turn for the worse, I mean the Prolaxian mind monsters appeared.

If this was the me from before the numerous loops I would have been frightened, or at least hesitated long enough to get impaled by loose parts of the world tree. You know, to name a few examples, but I have grown since that time.

I realize these guys, while able to resist a few of my attacks, are nothing compared to the Prolaxian heralds. With that realization, I am ready to begin, or rather to continue with this concert.

Though I do stop playing my violin at parts, I make sure to keep the audience involved. I clap my bow and violin together in an exaggerated way to keep the crowd stomping in rhythm.

This way, when the humanoid Prolaxians appear, we are still engaged in the art of the event, and not focusing on the level of monsters that have appeared.

The minute the monsters appear, they start casting their magic spells immediately.

Arcane Burst

Arcane Burst

Arcane Burst

Arcane Burst

Arcane Burst

Arcane Burst

That’s right, six of the bastards. All strong, all highly focused. I manage to grab their spells with my Mage Breaking ability. But I am at my limit, these spells are far more powerful than they have any right to be. That or I have just never had a chance to go up against six at once. Either way, I realize there is a limit, and six.

I am drawing up the spells, getting them to fill like little water balloons. I almost wonder if I could get them to burst right overhead, causing an explosion of sorts, but I decide against that. Especially when the next wave of monsters starts to come through the portal.

“Slow them down.” I hiss, but more and more are coming. No less than a dozen of the bastards. Worse, they aren’t all mana users. My eyes that can see the differences in energy signatures are telling me that these new monsters are psychic users. That is the last thing I need, for some of these monsters to come in and take over the support staff who oversee maintaining the invisible shield barrier that separates me, well Jess and me, from the actual audience. While it looks like they are right there, there is a large dense field of energy protecting the audience. This is something new I learned this time, particularly when I was concerned that Jess might not be able to heal anyone.

Again, live and learn.

Also, I was pretty sure that this form of entertainment, like most, was mostly smoke and mirrors.

Focus! I scream at myself mentally as I am nearly at my end.

With the eighth new monster appearing, for a total of fourteen of the humanoid killers, I change from plan A, and go with operation burst water balloon.

I crank up the feeds to the different spells I am holding, then let them run out like a garden hose. Yes, six different garden hoses, spraying arcane bursts at foes. Again, this goes to prove Dr. Murphy to be correct with his indisputable hypothesis. “That Friendly Fire is the most accurate form of fire.”

In this case, even without being an expert at aiming other people’s spells I couldn’t help but hit a target.

The more monsters came, the more I corralled them into one location with Telekinesis-X, but that just gave me a focal point.

Through my powers Arcane Burst was transformed into Arcane Lance.

I have to say, seeing the monsters get pierced and then bisected by friendly fire was amazing.

Crowd Stomp!

Arcane Lance released. Monsters crumpled over as giant holes appeared in their humanoid looking heads.

Crowd Stomp!

Arcane Lance released. Crumpled over monsters were targeted in their abdomens.

Crowd Stomp!

Arcane Lance released. Even the ashes were targeted.

Finally, the volume of monsters stopped coming. Which was good, as I was forcing every last drop of mana these Prolaxian humanoid mages had, out of their bodies.

Finally, when the last drop of mana was forced out, the pitiful creatures dropped to the ground in a state of overtaxed exhaustion.

That was when I decided to take a page out of Nero’s book and play the violin while the last few monsters burned.

Pyrokinesis-X

Pillars of flames burst to life, causing the six-remaining humanoid Prolaxians to wiggle and writhe about on the ground. Black smoke began to billow up, causing caustic fumes to begin choking the air out of the area.

Cough.

I heard Jess cough, and realized I needed to do something. It was one thing for me to breath in the acrid fumes with my momentarily increased Endurance. It was another thing entirely for Jess to be expected to do the same. With that, I once gain summoned Air-X to generate a small vortex of wind right in this mini arena. Normally such a call would require a lot of focus as I would literally have to fight with the spirit of the planet for minor dominance.

However, something else entirely happened. Once again, I felt the consciousness of the world. Though consciousness is far too large a word for what it was. This was a micro portion of the planet’s true consciousness focusing on my request, then taking in the area. I could feel the consciousness slowly gain an understanding of the situation, of what I was doing, and why I was doing everything. The emotions went from curious, to confusion, then to rage.

Planetary Synergy has increased.

That was an odd message. We were on a completely different planet than the last one, than Jess and my native home world. Yet here we were on this new planet, and I could feel my Planetary Synergy skill increasing. It wasn’t much, but it was noticeable. The planet was enraged at the monsters that had come here, monsters that it somehow knew to be vile creatures. I felt there was more here, but I was focusing.

I had three tasks going on at once. Playing music, to calm down the crowd that would otherwise panic if they no longer had the illusion of safety. The fires were being generated, and then the air currents. Fortunately for the last one, the planet was more than willing to help guide everything. In this I more or less acted as a conduit for the planet to showcase its true power.

That is how this went, until finally I felt the consciousness of the world fade out.

At that, I realized just how drained I had been. I was running on fumes. Without the planetary help, I felt my body suddenly collapsed in on itself.

I took a second to end my two different powers. Though the air current was long gone. The different bodies of the different types of Prolaxians had all been burnt to ash. That was when I, ever the showman, took where I was in the song, and gave a quick few notes to trail off, before ending on one long harmonizing note.

With that, I stopped.

Silence.

The crowd that had been stomping and playing along with the symphony of death was silence. Everyone watched as the last true flames slowly dwindled away, revealing piles of ash and scorched earth.

Panting.

“Heal BOY!” The announcer shouted, apparently being one of the first to recover.

Applause.

Deafening Applause.

Stomping, clapping, cheering.

You name it, it happened. It was amazing. I was too busy panting heavily, turning my eyes slowly to scan the crowd that had apparently all gone to their feet. I was so caught up in trying to keep my wobbly balance from the vibrations caused by the crowd that was now going wild, that I missed the muscular missile that rocketed its arms around me.

I nearly panicked, until even through the spandex suits we were wearing I swear I could smell the smell of sweat, vanilla, and honey. It was an intoxicating smell to say the least.

Then she said the seven words that would send any man’s heart racing.

“Want to head back to the room?”

Her voice was so husky that I had to turn my gaze at her. It was hard trying to make sure she meant what I thought, especially as our faces were covered, but I could see her body wiggling in the most provocative way.

With that, I didn’t need to be told twice. We made our way off stage.

We didn’t make it to our room, that was too far away. Instead, we made it as far as the shower room before Jess stopped me.

***

Karl Jenkins had what he would consider an easy job. He got a free room at the Wango Tango in, where the permanent staff stayed. Normally this was one of the easiest jobs, particularly when he got assigned to clean up duty for large events. These were his favorite, for while it meant a lot of work, he also was given a front row seat to the action. Well not a seat, he did have to stand as added security, but that was a small price to pay in his mind.

In fact, only occasionally did he truly fear for his job’s safety. This was one such time. The hero of the MAC charity event was missing, staff were out looking all around the facilities. Some even went to their room to find that the room was still empty.

Karl was sent to check one of the most obvious areas, the locker room. That’s when he first saw the signs. Clothes laying on the floor, in a virtual line right towards the showers. With that he heard the sound of the showers running. Then he heard some distinct moaning followed by what could only be described as water being splashed about wildly.

Confused Karl moved forward, until he saw an image that would forever be burnt into his mind. With that image firmly implanted in his mind, he hastily retreated, past the pile of discarded clothes and took up watch outside the locker room. Only once he was a safe distance away, did he proceed to do what he had been tasked with.

“Um boss,” Karl said, as he clicked his way into the open communications channel. “I have found them. You might need to stall a little longer.”

Static response. "What, no I will not go and ask them to hurry up." Static response. "No, you go in there and ask them, if it is that big of a deal." Static response. "I have now seen things that should not be seen." Static response. "You ever imagine a butterfly under a waterfall?" Static response. "Now imagine that with..."