《A guide to hero killing》


 Chapter 1: And so the demon king lay dead.

    At a large table sat a group composed of ten people dressed in all sorts of typical fantasy clothes, a paladin dressed in golden armour and red cape, a mage wearing violet robes, an archer with a green tunic and a leather vest over it as well as a green hood and all other kinds of people.


    They sat in a large wooden room, with walls as thick as a castle''s and windowswhichwere stained to be a golden hue, paintings hung from the walls displaying castles, towers and all sorts of fantastical sights.


    A massive fireplace roared in the background as the cracking and snapping of wood interrupted the lively conversation at the large table in the centre of the room.


    Upon the table lay a massive feast composed of a boar-like creature with an apple in its mouth, several bowls of stews, salads and side-dishes placed neatly in the middle of the rectangular table.


    "To the death of the demon king!" exclaimed the paladin-like person, he was a man, bright blond hair and a bright almost golden eye-colour, he looked like he was somewhere in his early twenties.


    The paladin raised his pint of ale into the air as others repeated the same action with a few exceptions.


    A troubled looking girl wearing a thick scarf and leather vest over the clothes in which they were summoned into this world, a grey, long-sleeved sweater and bike shorts under a grey skirt, as well as a man wearing what looked like a nobleman''s suit and a younger-looking girl wearing a witch''s hat.


    "Come on Gab, you''re not joining us?" the paladin laughed as the suit-wearing man waved his hand in protest, he pushed up his glasses and began to speak, "No, no, it''s a bad idea for a strategist to get drunk," he replied with a polite smile.


    The paladin looked over to the young witch-girl and didn''t press the matter of her joining them for a toast before turning to the scarf-wearing girl.


    "How bout'' you Abby? You don''t have anything important to do tomorrow, right?"


    "Isn''tshe minding Kevin tomorrow?" asked the witch-hat girl.


    "As I said, nothing important." He replied, "We''ll get Adam to do it." he added.


    In whatseemed like a millisecond her personality did a one-eighty as she smiled an innocent smile and replied: "Oh, no thanks, I think I''ll head to bed early today, I''m still sick from yesterday''s party." she let out a slight laugh.


    "Aww, don''t leave yet!" cried a slightly older woman, her "class" was difficult to tell from just the outfit, which was essentially just gloves and boots, aside from that she wore the clothes she was summoned into this world with.


    She was a monk, basically a super fast melee fighter.


    Her hair was black but it was turning white at its base, for whatever reason the hair of the people summoned often changed, sometimes the colour matches a trait of a person''s "class", like the paladin''s blond hair which was once a light brown.


    The woman was clutching a bottle of ale in one hand and a loaf of bread in another.


    The paladin turned to the semi-white-haired woman, "Don''t listen to her, if you''re feeling sick just go rest up!" he advised as the white-haired woman rolled her eyes and had another sip of her ale.


    "I''ll see you guys tomorrow." the scarf-wearing girl said before excusing herself and heading up the stairs placed at the side of one the walls of the building, they lead to a long corridor of doors labelled with numbers.


    She stepped into room number eight and sat down on the bed breaking her previous smile and shifting it into an expression disgust and anger.


    "Fucking finally, I managed to escape..." she said to herself quietly.


    ''Pretending to like those assholes is such a pain...'' she thought as she fell back onto the bed before letting out a sigh.


    A candle on the side of the bed was the only source of light in the relatively empty room, the only things inside were a bed, wardrobe and a small nightstand on which stood the candle.


    The door to her room swung open, thinking someone over-heard her a second ago she sat up making an expression akin to a weak, tired smile and a face someone makes when they''re very ill.


    "Who is it?" she asked weakly, as if she was trying to politely say "I was falling asleep, what do you want?!"


    Her face turned back to normal as she saw who entered her room, a thin, lanky man in his late twenties with scruffy blond hair and a bit of hair on his chin which he referred to as a beard, he was wearing a lab coat over a Hawaiian shirt and jeans.


    "Oh, it''s just you..." he said coldly but with a hint of relief.


    The man closed the door behind him without a moment of thought.


    "What a cold way to say hello..." he replied with a light chuckle.


    As he turned away from the door and towards her, he was met with a pillow to the face knocking him back a little.


    "I told you to fucking knock like a normal person! I could have been changing!" she scolded him pinching the middle of her nose.


    "Wouldn''t that be a shame..." he said quietly but purposefully loud enough for her to hear.


    "And that''s why nobody likes you," she replied bluntly.


    "Yep, and not because I''m an "alchemist" and also off my meds for the last few months on account of them not existing here. Not to mention I usually pretend to have the mental-level of the average crustation."


    "It''s alright, one day I''m sure you''ll find that one special body pillow you for needs," she replied with a sarcastic smile before leaning back onto the bed and crossing her hands behind her head.


    "Why did you come here anyway? it''s still early," she asked.


    "I''m just checking in how my partner is doing!" he answered faking disappointment in a theatrical way as he placed the back of his palm on his forehead.


    "But alas it would seem I''m not wanted here!" he added turning on his heel in an equally theatrical way towards the door.


    "Wow, that means it¡¯sjust like back at home for you!" she replied giving him a thumbs up.


    The room became really silent for a while.


    "You''re thinking of backing out?" she asked still not looking at him directly.Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    "Nah, you couldn''t pull it off," he replied bluntly.


    "I so could," she argued back.


    "And the bodies?" he asked with a tone that screamed: "I got you there!"


    "I''d... fucking... burry them or something," she replied uncertainly.


    "Abby, you have the collective stamina of a forty-year-old neck-beard with a god complex and a katana collection." replied the man plainly.


    The sudden sound of footsteps alerted both of them to someone coming close.


    A knock came from the door as Abby shot the man an "Oh look, they knocked." look before putting on a more innocent voice and replying "Who is it?"


    The lab-coat-wearing guy scrambled around the room for a place to hide as a reply came.


    "It''s just me." replied a voice from across the door.


    ''Thanks a fucking lot, man. You really narrowed it down to about sixty percent of the party since you sound like a guy...'' she thought but instead of saying it just replied with an "Oh, you can come in."


    In through the door entered a short guy with equally short and spiky hair and glasses.


    He was wearing a long cloak which dragged on the ground behind him and a pouch full of vials and powders in his pocket.


    "The guys downstairs said you were feeling sick, I came to check up on you."


    ''Oh god it''s him... he''s been doing this thing for the entire three months, I did everything aside from straight-up telling him "Man, I''m not going to sleep with you." but he just won''t leave me the fuck alone!''


    "Oh, thanks, but there is no need to worry!" she replied nicely.


    ''Or be here...'' she added in her thoughts.


    The short dude kneeled down on the ground and closed his eyes as his cheeks flushed red.


    "Still, I should at least cast a healing spell on you, I''d hate for you to get hurt, I really c-care about you." he stammered out as an unexpected voice replied.


    "Aw, thanks man, that''s so sweet of you." He opened his eyes to see the face of lab-coat-guy poking out from under the bed, feeling more appreciated than ever.


    He looked up to the bed seeing that Abby was nowhere to be seen.


    "Wha? - Wait, where''s Abby?!"


    "I dunno, man..." he replied.


    Flustered the short kid stood up on the verge of crying and rushed out of the room.


    After he left and closed the door behind him a moment of silence passed before Abby stepped out from the wardrobe breathing a sigh of relief.


    "Thanks fuck for the assassin abilities..."


    [Shadow Blink] allows the user to move to an otherwise accessible place as long as it is shrouded in darkness and within twenty meters of their current location, for example escaping a conversation into a wardrobe. But you couldn''t blink into a cube of magical indestructible steel.


    "Poor kid." lab-coat-guy chuckled to himself before getting out from under the bed.


    "What about me, huh? I''mactuallysick now because of his speech thing..."


    "At least he had the balls to come up here and say something, y''know."


    "Alright, when we kill him I will specifically go for the balls first," she exclaimed wryly.


    Lab-coat-guy raised his eyebrows, "Bet he''d like that."


    "I''m so fucking done with you people..." she groaned.


    "Heh, what are you gonna do kill them?" he asked resulting in a few seconds of silence before they both burst out laughing.


    "Yeah, I am!" she managed to say in between her laughing.


    More footsteps rushed towards the door and both Abby and lab-coat-guy assumed their personas.


    The door swung open, in the lead was the paladin followed by the white-haired monk and the hulking form of the berserker.


    "Are you alright?! We heard from Adam that Kevin broke into your room again!"


    They looked towards Kevin who displayed only a blank expression as he stood there with his mouth agape.


    "Oh, it''s alright, he probably got lost on his way to the bathroom," she replied smiling politely.


    The paladin looked at the lab-coat-guy, he was called Kevin. "Look at him, too bad we''re stuck dealing with this retar...-" he was cut off by the berserker from behind him who smacked him on the head lightly.


    "Right, right, sorry, what I mean is, he is mentally challenged," he said raising his hands in defeat as they both lead Kevin out of Abby''s room and down to his one.


    ''Ever since the first day we were all summoned here, Kevin was faking some sort of disability, not a bad plan, nobody expects anything of you and you can slack off all day and they''ll applaud for not snapping anyone''s neck like Lenny''


    They met a good bit before the downfall of the demon king, specifically when they were figuring out how to "care" for Kevin.


    All "heroes" summoned into this world received a propper workplace to practice their skills, for the Kevin it was a massive alchemy lab.


    As Kevin performed his carefully choreographed routine of staring into space and occasionally saying something random, Abby was left in charge of him,


    "Why do I have to deal with this guy!?" she demanded, though she made sure to speak quietly enough for nobody to hear her.


    she was bored out of her mind and was looking around when she leaned against one of the tables which much to her surprise was partially eroded by one of Kevin''s previous experiments, the top surface of the table slid off launching several vial and chemicals into the air.


    Kevin stood up and pushed her out of the way avoiding some light burns and damaged clothes.


    "For fuck''s sake, Abby, pay attention to what you toss into the air in the lab!" he scolded her.


    "Shit! Sorry!" she exclaimed.


    An awkward few seconds passed asKevin stood back up and realised his secret was out.


    "You''re not a potato?!" she asked in a whisper-shout.


    "You''re planning to kill us all," he stated in a normal whisper.


    It was a stand-off of knowledge.


    "I could just kill you off now," she warned "You''re not even a combat class..." she added.


    "True, but you are the one who''s guarding me, even if you blame my death on myself you''d still be responsible."


    "Plus, if I had hypothetically let another member of the group in on the secret you''d have a one-in-ten chance of finding the right one, but two deaths would really raise the suspicion of the people anyway, and you were present when I would have died, so y''know."


    "You really thought this through... didn''t you?" she asked gritting her teeth in a mix between confusion and defeat.


    "Well, you shouldn''t be saying you plan to kill all the heroes out-loud to be fair," he replied.


    "I didn''t expect you to be able to talk much less blackmail me!"


    "Why didn''t you tell them?" she asked turning to the door as if she expected the others to burst in any moment.


    When she turned back to Kevin he stood up and reached into his pocket for a vial of some clear liquid, he had some before handing the vial to Abby who looked at it hesitantly.


    "It''s vodka," he explained upon seeing her eye the liquid.


    "What if it''s poison?"


    "It is, for the liver, but that''s better than dealing with you people sober," he replied.


    After some further contemplation, she brought the vial to her lips and took a sip before recoiling.


    "Fuck! What is this shit?!"


    "I never said it''s good," Kevin replied.


    "As for your question, I didn''t tell anyone because I''m fine with you killing everyone, I guess," Kevin explained.


    "Seriously?! What are you some sort of psychopath?!" Abby exclaimed.


    "Says the murderer..." Kevin replied.


    A while of silence passed before Abby began laughing, Kevin joined her soon after.


    "Seriously, I''ve been leaving out bottles labelled "Poison, kills in X seconds" for you for weeks but you never took them!"


    Abby looked over to the shelf by the door and saw three colourful bottles with a label that had the previously mentioned text as well as a skull drawn on it.


    "Ohh, I thought someone in the group was leaving it out as a suggestion we poison you."


    "You people are terrible." Kevin chuckled before heading over to his chair and sitting down.


    "So why exactly are you pretending to be disabled?" Abby asked stepping away from the broken glass in a puddle of sizzling liquid.


    "It''s a cushy job, I just sit around and we get wiped out in some dungeon or something," he explained.


    "If you''re so eager to die you could to drink some of your own poison," Abby remarked.


    "The way I see it, if other worlds exist, there''s a decent chance I''ll appear in one after death, so all this is just temporary, but suicide isn''t really my style, besides why rushthrough things, for all I know we keep reincarnating in an endless cycle of worlds."


    "That''s a bit of a leap in logic, we were summoned here, remember?"


    "Yeah, alternatively I''ll die and that''s it, I don''t really buy the heaven and hell thing," he replied with a shrug.


    "So what would you do in the next world then?" Abby asked confused.


    "I''ll just keep going through worlds until I find a really cool one and I''ll live out my days chilling there, I''ll find a perfect world!"


    "A perfect world?" She asked.


    "Maybe I''ll reincarnate into a world withcat-girls... that''d be nice."


    "...gross."


    "Take that back! Do not diss my waifu!"


    Her face twisted into a look of absolute disappointment magnified by the pitiful look she was giving him.


    "So... you''re alright with me killing you?" she asked.


    "Sure, I''m not in a rush so whenever you want to kill me nowor next year is fine." He replied simply.


    "Though I''d prefer if you didn''t tell the others my secret," he added.


    "You really are a psychopath."


    "Maybe," he shrugged.


    A while of silence passed as the sizzling of the puddle of mysterious liquid stopped and the two of them looked at each other and around the room awkwardly.


    A minute later they locked eyes once more.


    "You got any more of that moonshine-tasting vodka?" Abby asked.


    "As a matter of fact, I do." He replied reaching into his coat pocket and tossing her a vial.


    "Keep it, you''re shift of potato-care is about to be over, I''ll see you around."


    He replied before pulling out a vial for himself which he chugged and put back in his pocket before putting on the same face as before, staring off into the distance blankly.


    As he did that the door swung open and Adam, the healer walked into the room.


    "Oh, Abby you''re here!" he said immediately smiling the widest smile he seemingly could without tearing his skin.


    ''Oh fuck it''s him...''


    "Oh! It''s you! A-A...Andrew?" she struggled to remember his name.


    "Adam..." he corrected her not letting his smile fade for even a second.


    "Long time no see!" he exclaimed.


    ''Not nearly long enough.''


    "I know! Anyway, I have to go now, it was nice seeing you!" she said trying her best to look apologetic though she was already speed-walking towards the door.


    "H-hey, Abby, wait up!" he called out as she shut the door behind her.


    Adam hung his head in defeat letting his glassed drop to the ground and allowing the glass to crack.


    "NO!" he called out falling to his knees before his broken glasses.


    "How am I supposed to get a replacement for these here?!" he sobbed.


    ''Smooth.'' Kevin though feeling really bad for the kid, though not denying his mere existence was that of a failure.

 Chapter 2: The duel

    In the pseudo-mansion in the woods, very early in the morning, Kevin made his way to Abby''s room, he opened the door quietly enough so as not to alert anybody outside, as expected she was asleep.


    Kevin closed the door and pinched her nose closed, as soon as she ran out of air she woke up seeing Kevin''s grin.


    "Morning'' killer," Kevin greeted her.


    "Kevin, I will break your fucking arm." she pointed at him with a death glare.


    Abby was not a morning person, so much so waking her up was the best way to reveal her true colours.


    "Yeah, yeah, drink this," he said tossing her a vial of clear liquid.


    Without questioning its purpose she put it to her lips and drank from it.


    She gulped the whole thing down before extending her hand and waiting for Kevin to take back his vial.


    "What''s in that stuff anyway."


    "That was my custom wake-up potion, you can do some really cool shit with the herbs around here, I managed to gather four different types just here on the property!" he exclaimed excitedly.


    "So what, you''re just walking around gathering flowers at night?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.


    "Women like a guy that likes flowers!" he replied pointing finger-pistols at her.


    "Yeah, eat a handful of nettles to impress me, Kevin, go on." she encouraged him.


    "Actually, nettles are edible, you can make soup or tea from them, the little crystals that sting you only appear at a certain point in their life cycle," he explained.


    "Oh shit, really? Wait, no - this isn''t the time for Kevin the herbalist teacher!" she retorted breaking free from her interest in Kevin''s plant-based knowledge.


    Once more the two fell silent before Abby spoke up.


    "So operation ''know the target'' starts now..." she sighed.


    "Yeah, we should go after a weaker target first, get used to the way things go, y''know." Kevin advised.


    "I guess you''re right for once..." she scratched her chin before snapping her fingers.


    "I know, let''s get Tony, the shaman!" she suggested.


    "Alright, let''s think about his abilities and what we know about him..."


    "Any class has ten abilities, I saw him use a few when we were fighting the demon king and his servants..." Abby stated.


    "I didn''t really get a chance to see those..." Kevin replied with a shrug and a smug smile as he remembered chilling at home and living in general comfort.


    "One of his skill was water-walking for sure! He made the water below him solid, he was able to cast it on the whole party when we were trying to cross a really fast river," she noted.


    "I also saw him shoot pointy rocks from the cave walls, though it looked like he needed to have exposed rock to use it," she added.


    Kevin thought about it for a while, "I saw him playing around with a pile of salt in my lab once, he was making it swirl around and change shape, I suppose that would mean he can control salt too,"


    "We did fight indoors before, but I never saw him control wood, so I suppose he''s limited to unprocessed elemental stuff," Kevin added.


    "Alright... that''s three abilities and one weakness... I don''t like our odds so far..." Abby sighed.


    "For as much as we were fighting outside and in the rain, I never saw him using thunder or lighting outside a thunderstorm, so I guess we should fight him in good weather," Abby added bumping their list of weaknesses to two.


    After a few more seconds of brain-storming, Kevin got a wild idea, "Why not just ask him?"


    Abby looked at him blankly before letting out a "Wha?"


    "I mean, tell him you''d like to know more about his abilities, he''s a guy and you''re at least a seven out of ten so it''ll probably work out." he shrugged.


    "I can''t just ask my target to show me his abilities before he magically dies a day or two later!" she argued back in a hushed whisper.


    "Why not, you guys are both the loner type that nobody wants to talk to." Kevin pointed out.


    "All the more suspicious!" she exclaimed.


    "It''s up to you, I guess, he''ll be on potato duty in the evening today so I''ll see him, I''ll let you know if he does anything new with his magic," Kevin told her before standing up and heading towards the door.


    "I better skedaddle before your boyfriend shows up again," he said with a somewhat sadistic grin.


    "Call Adam that again and I will stab you in the throat," she warned.


    Kevin quietly left the room, leaving his hand in the door long enough to give Abby a thumbs up before returning to his room.


    Abby sat on the bed, Kevin''s potion worked surprisingly well, she felt zero fatigue, if not for Kevin refusing to let her, she would have opted to not sleep at all and just drink ten of those a day, but Kevin kept saying her liver would dissolve into a grey paste if she did.


    ''Three abilities... there has got to be more... and I can''t attack him without being sure we can take him on...'' she thought.


    A knock came from the door.


    ''A knock?! It''s not Kevin!'' she realised as she asked: "Who is it?"


    "It''s me, Adam!"


    ''Oh Jesus fucking christ...''


    "What is it?" she asked.


    "I just came to have a chat, can I come in?" he replied, the sound of him gripping the door handle announced to Abby she was doomed already.


    ''Hell fucking no!''


    "Alright, come on in," she replied as she sat up.


    In through the door walked in Adam, glasses and cloak equipped as always.


    "Hi Adam..." she replied with just the slightest hint of disappointment.


    "Good morning, Abby!" he announced almost loudly enough to wake anyone in the adjacent rooms up.


    "STOP TRYING AND GO BACK TO YOUR ROOM, ADAM!" the voice of the paladin commanded accompanied by about five people doing an "Mhmm" in agreement.


    Hearing the yelling Adam hunched forward a bit cowering a bit before whispering an apology and closing the door to Abby''s room slowly enough so as to mask the creaking of the hinges.


    ''Oh my god, you''re such a fucking loser...'' she though doing her best to keep her polite smile.


    "I was thinking..." he looked down to the ground using one hand to keep his glasses secure.


    ''Oh no...''


    "I don''t really have anything to do tomorrow...well, today... so if you''d like to hang out..."


    Not seeing a reply he looked up to Abby who''s face was currently twitching as the facial muscles she had refused to maintain a smile.


    "No... I can''t I have... something else to do..." She replied.


    The look on Adam''s face shifted to a sadder one for a second before returning to his normal one.


    "Oh, alright, what are you planning to do?"


    ''That is none of your fucking business, Adam.''


    "Oh, I was going to... -" she cut herself off when she realised she could exploit this situation.


    "Oh, y''know, I was looking around for ways to get stronger, so I was thinking of asking Tony the shaman for a one-on-one sparring lesson," she replied.


    The look on Adam''s face turned to one of despair.


    "Tony? T-The guy who''s by the water all d-day? He''s not that s-strong, don''t bother!" he exclaimed.


    "You could spar with me, instead!" he continued.


    "Thank''s, but I don''t think I''d learn much from fighting a healer, plus I''d love to see how he fights." she put extra emphasis on the word love.


    "W-well, I could go fight him instead! You''d see how strong I am!"


    ''And I''d see his moves without being the suspect!''


    "Are you sure, Andrew? I would hate for you to get hurt." she forgot his name again.


    His cheeks got even redded.


    "It''s fine! I can take him!"


    The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    "Oh but, what about poor Kevin, aren''t you minding him today?" she asked.


    His expression shifted slightly.


    "I know! I''ll mind him, just fight somewhere I could see you guys through the window!" she offered.


    Adam''s face lit up once more, "Yeah! That''s genius!" he stood up and headed towards the door, "I''ll go get ready!" he announced before stepping outside.


    ''Nice! ...But also gross...'' she thought as she laid back on her bed, this was going to be an interesting day.


    She got out of bed and put on her boots before heading downstairs, the room was completely empty say for a red-haired man with sideburns and dark skin.


    "On you''re awake Abby!" he said putting down the last of the plates leftover from yesterday.


    "Yeah, I see you''re left to do the cleaning as always." she asked with a polite smile, the red-haired guy was called Ben, she didn''t dislike Ben unlike most of the other "heroes", he was quiet but not a loner, a bit of a neat-freak but he never made anybody else clean, he just did that himself.


    "I wouldn''t trust them to do the dishes, much less clean the place, I still have nightmares about that one time Lilly offered to "clean up and give me a day off" before just soaking the dishes in cold water and putting them away." he shuddered.


    Lilly was the young girl with the witch''s hat.


    "I see you''re in your element then." she laughed before sitting down at the table.


    "I guess you could say that!" he grinned, technically, Ben''s class was engineer, like a cross between a blacksmith and a mechanic, but he was essentially the entire group''s mother.


    "What can I getcha'' for breakfast?" he asked picking the dishes back up and heading in the direction of the kitchen.


    "I don''t mind, something with eggs I guess," she said uncertainly.


    Minutes later he returned with a wide grin and two plates as well as a mug.


    Before her was an omelette, inside were bits of fried onion and bacon bits, the other plate had a bunch of peeled and sliced fruit, the mug had some luke-warm milk.


    "Just the omelette would have been fine," she said looking at the fruit.


    "No it wouldn''t, when was the last time you had any fruit?" he asked not waiting for a reply before turning his head towards the stairs when he saw the paladin marching down, dressed in his golden armour, he was mid-yawn when he noticed Ben and gave him a polite wave.


    "Good morning, Michel," he said as he looked at him awaiting his breakfast request.


    "What''s up guys..." the paladin marched down and sat down opposite Abby, "Could you get me some toast?" he asked turning towards Ben who gave him a nod and headed inside the kitchen.


    "Good morning, Michel," Abby said, after all, she had to be liked by the group leader.


    "Hey, Abby... did Adam wake you up again?" his voice sounded weak and his head hung low, he was clearly hungover.


    "No, I was awake for a while before he came into my room," she replied.


    ''If adam woke me up we''d be having a much different conversation...''


    "Are you feeling alright?" Abby asked seeing the usually happy-go-lucky paladin looking like he''s about to fall over dead.


    "I think we should have done what you did and just go to sleep... I feel hungover to oblivion..."


    After about ten minutes of chatting between Abby and Michel, Ben returned with a plate consisting of three bits of buttered toast and a bowl of cabbage stew from yesterday.


    "I just asked for toast..." Michel said eyeing the stew, he really hated cabbage.


    "Cabbage is full of vitamin C, it''ll help you with the hangover," Ben explained making Michel plug his nose with one hand and gulp down the entire stew in one go.


    "Hey, hey, don''t choke on it!" Ben panicked as Michel placed the bowl back on the table and unleashed a mighty burp.


    ''Some fucking paladin you are...'' Abby thought as she looked at Michel trying to keep her usual smile.


    He then proceeded to eat the toast with considerably more enjoyment.


    "I can''t stand cabbage... it''s evil lettuce..." he said jokingly looking at Abby.


    "I suppose you''re right." she laughed a fake laugh.


    "Anyway, I heard from Gab about the plans to give each hero domain over a small village or two to further the development of the country," he said with a sombre note in his voice.


    ''Of course they would...'' she said starting to feel her blood boil, ''They have no idea of the shit they''re dooming everyone to...''


    "I see..." she looked up at him and saw that he didn''t exactly look happy about what he said either.


    "Aren''t you excited to be in charge of a town?" she asked.


    "Of course I am! We could introduce education, better roads and better medicine!" he exclaimed.


    ''Of course, that''s what you people would do...'' she tightened the grip on the fork she was using to eat the omelette.


    "But... I don''t think I''ve really meant for that kind of thing, y''know... I''m more of a stabby-tank guy, not like Gab..."


    Gab or Gabriel as he is actually called is the strategist of the party, he was very secretive about his abilities since the very start and encouraged others to be as well, he was the guy wearing the suit the day before.


    "I wonder what he''ll do..." Abby asked not expecting an answer.


    "He said something about "modernising their homes" - like, he was going to build apartment blocks and roads, he''s having Ben work on a car prototype, though since Kevin is... y''know... they''re struggling to get fuel, they asked him but he just made more potato noises."


    ''Good job, Kevin!'' she thought making her relax a bit, though Gabriel''s idea almost made her feel sick, a perfectly normal fantasy world made to look like a soviet-era city...


    After Abby finished her omelette she stood up from her chair and started heading up the stairs, "I''ll go pay Kevin a visit." she explained.


    "Are you sure? I''m sure you could just leave him there, there haven''t really been any big accidents with him involved before." Michel said perhaps more worried about having to deal with Kevin the next day more than being concerned with Abby.


    "Don''t worry about it, we should help those less fortunate than ourselves."


    ''Less fortunate my ass, that dumbass is just sitting there doing fuck all!''


    "Sometimes I think you should have been the paladin here, y''know." he laughed.


    "No, no, you''re a fine fit for a paladin," she replied heading up the stairs.


    Abby made her way through the tight corridor, her head was filled with thoughts of anger and hatred, ''why would Gabriel do that?!''.


    In her distracted state, she bumped into the archer-class person, Garry, that was his name.


    "Oh, sorry!" she exclaimed stepping back.


    The archer didn''t say anything, that''s a quality she appreciated, he simply nodded and kept walking.


    She headed to Kevin''s room.


    When she reached the door she knocked on it as if to once more say "Oh look, I can knock!" before stepping inside.


    "Ah, starting your potato duty early today I see," Kevin announced as soon as she closed the door, she locked it so nobody could walk in and see Kevin walking around like a normal person.


    A smug smile crept its way onto her face, "That''s because I took Adam''s shift over for him, while he''s outside your windows "duelling" with Tony the shaman to impress me!" she announced proudly.


    "Not a bad idea, though that kid is going to get every last bone in his body broken, you know that?" Kevin asked walking up to the window and seeing Adam already there doing jumping jacks in preparation for combat.


    "That''s just a bonus for me," she replied stealing Kevin''s chair and placing it against one of the windows.


    "You''re so cruel, he''s your number one-fan." he laughed.


    "Maybe, but he offered to fight Tony himself."


    Tony approached Adam, who turned to look at the windows in Kevin''s lab and waved at Abby, she cracked the window open to hear them.


    "Wish me luck, Abby!" he called out.


    She shot him a thumbs up before turning to Kevin.


    "Would it be too much to hope he dies?"


    "Alright, Tony! Don''t take this personally, but I have to go all out!" Adam warned him pushing his glasses up.


    "Go ahead, I''ll fight you at fifty percent though..." he said plainly.


    Tony was wearing his usual robes, patches of green, brown and tan leather and fur stitched together to form a robe.


    He had long, dirty-blond hair, it covered half of his face such that everybody wondered how he can see.


    ''Fifty percent... it''s a bit of a stretch but I''ll just double anything he does to be sure...'' Kevin thought watching his actions closely.


    "Hmph! We''ll see how long you can keep me at bay with only fifty percent!" he scoffed before turning towards Abby and giving her a wink which caused Abby to shudder in disgust.


    "Elements of water, earth and air, heed my call, I ask for a ten-minute contract so that I may train with my ally."


    Abby laughed a little hearing Tony only ask for a ten-minute contract.


    "Alright... so he has to specify the time, and since he''s only fighting at fifty percent he can use a maximum of six different "spirits" I guess..." Kevin explained.


    Abby looked at him for a second wide-eyes, surprised that he picked all that up already.


    "Yeah, guess you''re right," she said turning back to the scene of the massacre.


    Adam charged in towards Tony who said "Earth, create a wall." causing a dirt wall to rise up from the ground, Adam ran straight into it before falling onto his back.


    "Water, whip his torso." as he said that, a tendril of water escaped from his general area, upon further observation, they realised he had a pouch of water on his hip.


    The tendril cracked down on where Adam was smashing into the ground before going back into Tony''s pouch.


    Adam was already trying to flank Tony from the other side of the wall.


    "Earth, make a pit under Adam, one meter deep." in no more than two seconds Adam found himself falling down into the meter-deep hole, he was struggling to get out when Tony said his next command.


    "Air, crush Adam, don''t hurt him too badly." as he said that a sudden gust of wind was heard before smoke and dust rose up from the hole in which Adam was.


    The battlefield fell silent for a bit before Adam climbed out of the hole, around him a sphere of light, his [Healing Bubble] which made him invincible to attacks for thirty seconds.


    Tony was a little surprised the weakling of the group was still standing, though to be perfectly honest he was holding back a bit more than fifty percent.


    Adam charged at Tony once more with his hand outstretched towards him, before Tony could say anything a bright flash of light came from his hand blinding Tony.


    Adam moved the staff down onto his head, barely managing to bruise him bit still knocking him back.


    "Aha!" Adam cheered as he turned to look at Abby.


    "Water, needle projectile at the torso."


    "What?" Adam turned back to Tony and saw the water taking shape as a dozen or so tiny water needles appeared and shot at Adam, they disappeared after stabbing an inch or so into him, but it still hurt.


    "Water and earth, make the ground into mud and start sinking Adam to his chin," he commanded as the ground below Adam started to shift he rushed back seeing that the mud was being created behind him as he rushed, he ran over to a patch of grass and flowers hoping the roots would keep the soil intact.


    Much to his and also Kevin and Abby''s surprise the mud-creating stopped at the border where the grass began.


    "How did you know elements can affect other elements?" Tony asked.


    Abby and Kevin exchanged an "Oh shit, he did something useful!" look as they turned to Adam who stood there equally confused.


    "What?" he asked.


    "...nevermind," Tony replied.


    "Air, keep Adam away from any elements I don''t command right now."


    Once again an invisible gust of wind picked Adam up and dragged him away from the grassy area, in retaliation Adam grabbed a hold of the grass below clawing at it in an attempt to stay in the safety of the grass.


    Suddenly with a loud sound and a gust of wind, even Abby and Kevin could feel a circle of dust appeared on the ground letting Adam go and allowing him to return to the grass patch.


    "Tch, you made the air spirit damage the forest indirectly so his contract broke... you must know more than you let on..." Tony said as spoke his next command.


    "Water, create a bubble around his head, don''t damage any of the forest," he commanded.


    The water from his pouch, as well as another pouch on the other hip, rushed over to Adam forming a bubble of water over his head, instinctively he tried to claw at the grass below but nothing happened.


    "Water, let him hear." as he said that the water bubble morphed to allow both of his ears to be exposed.


    "It won''t work, you''re the one damaging the forest now, not the spirit," he explained.


    Adam was panicking as he was trying claw at his neck or cup air into his hands and bringing it inside of the bubble only for Tony to say "Water, push out all air in the bubble until he surrenders."


    "How was the water-bubble different from the air-dragging... why is the water spirit not disappearing?" Abby asked looking over to Kevin for a moment before looking back to the fight.


    "The air spirit was dragging him, it was like a human using a tool to scrape the grass, whereas the water may be making him panic, but it isn''t making him damage the grass." Kevin presented his theory.


    ''Except it''s now a spirit using a tool...'' she thought.


    "You''re pretty smart for a potato," Abby said still not looking at Kevin.


    "That''s the nicest thing you''ve ever said to me..." Kevin said wiping a nonexistent tear from his eye.


    Still refusing to surrender Adam tried smashing the bubble on a nearby tree.


    "Water, start spinning." as he said that the water began to swirl quickly, if any air was allowed inside the bubble of water would have been white from the foam by now.


    Adam fell to his knees smashing the bubble into the grass as the fast water mangled the grass the bubble popped allowing Adam to gasp for air interrupting Tony who was about to finish saying "Water, stop!"


    "You took out two of my elementals... guess I''m stuck with only one until midnight..." Tony said irritated before extending his hand.


    "Earth, form a blade."


    From the ground a sword-like shape created from compressed dirt took form.


    "Earth, needles into Adam!" he commanded as dozens of sharp spikes of compressed dirt hovered beside Tony, shooting straight at Adam, stabbing into his flesh.


    Before Adam could react with anything more than a yelp Tony continued.


    "Earth, drag him back here!"


    Before Adam had a chance to grab onto the grass or other plant life he was jerked back towards Tony who said his next command.


    "Earth, uncompress the spikes." as he said that the spikes grew in size to about thrice their original size before crumbling out leaving Adam screaming and crying in pain, bleeding from about a dozen different places.


    As Tony moved in for the final hit with the dirt-sword Adam cast the bubble breaking the dirt blade on impact before he extended his hand towards Tony, blinding him with another flash spell.


    Adam cast the greater heal spell on himself as the wounds on his body disappeared.


    He backed away from Tony who regained his vision and made one final command.


    "Earth, spear at non-vital torso spot."


    Adam''s eyes widened in horror as he heard that, he looked back to the window and back to Tony.


    From the ground, a spear with the diameter of a shot glass formed and flew at Adam.


    Adam stood there with a spear through his chest, bleeding heavily from the wound as Tony smile slightly at his victory.


    "That was to be expected..." Kevin said scratching his beard.


    "Yeah, I hate to say it but the twerp put up a good fight for a healer," Abby admitted.


    Kevin turned towards her in a millisecond "Two compliments in one day!? Who are you and what did you do to Abby?!"


    She flipped him off before they were both caught off guard by the sound of earth breaking outside.


    The spear was falling apart before Adam cast the healing spell on himself.


    "What the hell!?" Tony looked at Adam seeing him battered and bloodied.


    "Earth, make a hole under him." but no reply came.


    Adam raised his hand showing a small flower he ripped out with its roots intact from the grassy patch earlier, the flower looked like it was in perfect health, except for the single petal which was damaged, it was stabbed by the spear when Tony stabbed into Adam.


    Adam charged at Tony with his staff before being elbowed to the face and passing out.


    "Ouch..." Kevin averted his eyes, "After all that fighting..."


    "Well, at least he did something useful," Abby said satisfied.


    Abby closed the windows and returned the chair to Kevin.


    "Alright... if the weather is fine, we''ll fight Tony tomorrow." she decided.

 Chapter 3: Farewell Tony

    It was still early in the evening when Tony entered Kevin''s room, he had a bandage on his forehead from when Adam whooped him over the head with his staff.


    "I see you''re still as unresponsive as ever... this lab always small like booze..." he said sombrely before closing the door and sitting down on the ground next to it.


    ''Yeah, good to see you too, kid...'' Kevin thought eying him carefully.


    "How would Adam know about the spirit''s rules..." Tony thought out loud, "He''s up to something... for sure... I still have three spirits slots for today, though it''s best he doesn''t know that... " He was biting his nails in what looked like frustration more than fear.


    ''Three more today, eh? Good to know, I was going to get Abby to attack you tonight since you made it sound like you can''t get any more spirits today...'' Kevin felt like he dodged a bullet there.


    ''Still, fighting him with three spirits could be easier than six... but I doubt Abby plans to attack him head-on...'' Kevin pondered as his eyes wandered to outside his window where he saw massive clouds slowly making their way over towards them.


    ''Guess today is out of the question... electricity is just too overpowered...'' he decided fearing being hit with a thunderbolt in the rain.


    When Kevin looked back to Tony he saw him digging up something in one of the pouches he carried attached to his belt, he grabbed a fistful of salt and poured it on the ground.


    "Salt, I ask of you to join the elements under my com-" he was cut off by the salt splashing directly into his eyes.


    "Ah! You bastard!" he covered his eyes with one hand and used the other to spray the salt across the room.


    ''Hey! Stop making a mess!'' Kevin wanted to shout but knew he couldn''t.


    Tony grabbed the water-pouch on his belt and poured it onto his eyes to rinse them clean until the pouch was empty.


    He looked around the lab and saw a bucket of clear liquid which he poured back into the pouch.


    ''Looks like the shaman can''t get along with the salt spirits...'' Kevin noticed.


    He turned to the pile of salt and used a spell "Elemental torment." as soon as he said that the salt began to vibrate before he collected it back into his pouch.


    "You''ll obey me whether you want to or not!" he hissed, his eyes still red from the salt.


    ''Poor salt!''


    Tony reached into his pouch pulling out a small candle and two pieces of rock which he used to light the candle, he also pulled out a small seed and a pebble.


    "Spirits of fire, rock and forest, heed my call and work for me until midnight." As he said that the seed sprouted and died causing Tony to frown.


    "Look, I''m sorry about the forest, it was the healer''s fault!" he exclaimed, despite this, the seed remained dead, the fire and rock, however, showed no sign of protest, as such Tony retrieved both and placed them in his pouch before stomping on the seed and crushing it to a powder.


    "Stupid spirits..." he sighed before turning to Kevin.


    "What are you looking at?!"


    Kevin replied with a potato noise.


    "Right..."


    After a while of silence, Tony spoke up.


    "Sorry about that, I just can''t tame my spirits... as a shaman I''m supposed to be able to control them all... I managed to talk the forest into letting me use the water elemental today again, but the wind is still gone until midnight..." he let out a sigh.


    ''Oh shit, he apologised!''


    "Usually a spirit can''t understand human language or actions, so there''s no way to communicate with them, they all have personalities, emotions you know... and the salt one is a massive asshole," he said slowly getting more annoyed as he spoke.


    ''Ah, there goes my chance of talking the pile of salt into attacking him...''


    Suddenly, Kevin got a new idea.


    ''Actually... I think we should go fight him in the rain after all...''


    The rest of the day went on uneventfully, later that night Kevin was making his way towards Abby''s room, the sound of rain tapping on the roof of the building made for decent cover for his footsteps.


    He opened her door and was greeted with a pillow to the face making him almost fall to the ground but he managed to stabilise himself beforehand.


    He tossed the pillow back at Abby before closing the door.


    "For fuck''s sake Kevin, KNOCK!" she complained.


    "Yeah, I''ll totally do that," he replied sarcastically.


    "What do you want? We''re not fighting him in the rain are we?" she asked.


    "Actually, I think we should," Kevin replied simply.


    Abby looked at him for a second before speaking up "What?"


    "Think about it this way, He''s left with only three spirits, I happen to know which three he''ll be using, rock, water and fire. And since it''s raining fire is out of the question, he''ll be stuck with rock and water," he explained.


    "Yeah, water in the fucking rain!" she exclaimed.


    "But I happen to have a solution for that!" he explained.


    "Solution?" she raised an eyebrow before Kevin tossed her an item from inside of his lab coat, a small glass tub of yellow paste.


    "...we''ll defeat him with cheese?" she asked.This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.


    "No, it''s skin cream," Kevin explained.


    "...we''ll bribe him to let us kill him with the promise of tender skin?"


    "I noticed the salt element really doesn''t like Tony, so if he uses a water attack we''ll add salt to the water!" Kevin explained holding out two pouches of salt crystal, he tossed one at Abby.


    "I also added some salt to the cream, so if you''re hit bits of it will dissolve in the water," he added.


    "Wait, you''re not a shaman, how do you know the salt will do what you want it to!?"


    "Good question, in fact, Tony specifically told me only a shaman can communicate with the spirits," he replied.


    Abby waited for Kevin to continued speaking with a "But..."


    "But... Tony also said the spirits have personalities and emotions, so I''m sure revenge is a language the salt will pick up on."


    "Revenge?" Abby asked.


    "Yeah, it looked like Tony was trying to torture the elements into working for him." Kevin shrugged remembering the salt tremble when he cast "Elemental torment" earlier.


    "Plus I saw him fill his water pouch with vodka earlier, the dumbass thought it was water." Kevin laughed a bit.


    "Hold on, so we''re supposed to kill him now?!" Abby asked looking for her dagger.


    "Yeah, at midnight he''ll be able to pick new spirits, not only will he have six of them, but he''ll also be able to pick lightning!" Kevin explained.


    "True... this might be our best chance IF your salt theory will work..." Abby sighed.


    "So, are you up for it? Remember, you''re the one who wants to "keep this world pure" so you can back out if you want." Kevin replied.


    "...no... no, I''ll do it!" She looked around her room and grabbed her dagger from under her pillow.


    "It has to be done!" she added.


    "That''s the spirit! I''ll be waiting outside." He replied before heading outside and down the steps and into the rain.


    Maybe five minutes later Abby appeared behind Kevin patting him on the back and giving him a serious fright as he turned towards her wide-eyes.


    A smug smile appeared on her face and her mouth opened to say something but no words came out, her expression shifted to that of disappointment before holding on her index finger as if to say "Wait a second..."


    "There, it was my silence spell, I can only use it on myself but it''s quite useful," she replied before re-casting the spell.


    "Wait, what about me?" Kevin asked looking at the muddy ground before him and knowing he''d make a lot of noise.


    Abby looked at Kevin and at the mud then back at Kevin before letting out a sigh.


    Slowly so as not to slip Abby was walking through the mud alone before she made it to the patch of grass, the scars of where Adam clawed at the grass were still visible.


    "Thanks for the piggyback!" Kevin exclaimed as he hopped off and onto the grass.


    Abby rubbed her back as if to say "Shit man, you''re heavy before looking over into the distance."


    She used the [Night vision] skill to see, Kevin was actually able to see well enough, Abby''s eye-sight was just shit.


    Abby saw Tony sitting beside the pond of water from before, he used earth to form a roof over himself as he sat in front of the water which rose up from the pond and took an almost human shape.


    Kevin and Abby made their way closer to Tony.


    ''I can''t hear him... he''s saying something for sure though...'' she thought as she moved even closer until she was able to see what Tony was doing.


    Tony was sitting hunched over the pond under the cover of the earth roof, before him, the water took the shape of a human, specifically one of the other members of the group.


    "What''s he doing?!" Abby wanted to call out but was still under the silence spell, she looked to Kevin who quietly said: "God I hope he''s not doing what I think he''s doing..."


    The water suddenly turned to resemble Abby.


    "What? No, the other one was fine, what are you doing?" Tony asked.


    The water changed shape once more showing Abby with a knife in her hand and a visibly murderous expression.


    "What the hell are you doing, water?! You''re ruining the mood!" he complained.


    ''I''m ruining his mood!?'' Abby though clutching the dagger.


    "Besides that Abby chick is flatter than a chopping board, I don''t know what Adam sees in her..." he replied as the water-Abby face-palmed.


    "What?" He asked.


    The water-Abby pointed behind him when he was met with a towel coated in some chemical, before he could get it off he passed out.


    "Right, let''s drag him to the woods," Kevin advised as Abby picked Tony up and climbed over the fence leaving Kevin struggling to get over it.


    ''I know what part of him I''m cutting off first...'' Abby grinned.


    About twenty minutes later Tony awoke in the woods, his arms tied and a piece of his robe placed in his mouth like a gag.


    As soon as he woke up he began to wriggle around.


    "Oh look, you''re awake!" Kevin said cheerfully.


    Tony shifted to see Kevin sitting next to him with a scalpel.


    Tony''s muffled speech was hard to understand.


    "Kevin?! You''re not a potato?!" he asked wide-eyed.


    "That''s right! Though I''m sorry to say you won''t be around long enough to tell anyone." he smiled an almost pitiful smile.


    Tony''s confused eyes drifted down to Kevin''s scalpel.


    "Wha-What are you going to do?!" he demanded trying to move back like a worm in the muddy dirt of the forest floor.


    "You should be happy Abby agreed to let me kill you, she wanted to cut your junk off for that comment you made." he laughed.


    "Consider it a favour from one man to another," he added.


    "Favour!? You''re going to murder me over something like that?!" He demanded.


    "Actually, we''re going to kill all the heroes... and then ourselves, or at least me," he replied.


    As Tony moved away he was stopped when he fell into a small stream.


    "Water, shield!" he called out at the water from the stream took the form of a thin bubble around him.


    Kevin reached into his pocket and sprinkled some salt onto the water, after a moment the bubble began to shake before deforming, not quite popping but deforming.


    Kevin held out another fistful of salt over the water before releasing it and popping the bubble.


    "Water, spear at Kevin!" the water in the stream took the shape of the spear but quickly bent out of shape like a wet noodle.


    "What is this?!" he cried.


    "Looks like the gag isn''t enough to stop your magic." he shrugged, "Let''s get this over with." he sighed as he prepared to cut into his throat.


    "Rock, launch rocks at Kevin''s head!" as he commanded the rocks form the bottom of the flew out, two making contact with Kevin''s head and knocking him back as hot blood ran down his face.


    "Rock, cut my the rope holding me!" he called out and the rock did as commanded.


    "Rock, restrain Kevin until I come back with the other, don''t damage the forest!" he ordered as a massive cage of rock formed around Kevin.


    Kevin put a hand to his forehead to stop the bleeding.


    "He''s all your!" Kevin called out with a sadistic grin followed by a cathartic feeling of excitement.


    A chill ran down Tony''s spine as he started running, he didn''t know which direction their home was, but he didn''t care, he needed to get away.


    Suddenly he felt something under his feet as a rope tripped him up making him fall face-first down a pretty steep slope into a puddle of water where he was wet with the sound crunching leaves.


    "H-Help!" he called out before tearing off his gag and calling out again.


    He looked to the source of the sound, aside from the moon which peaked over the still raining clouds there was no light, though he was able to see the silhouette of what looked like a deer running away upon hearing him.


    He breathed a sigh of relief before standing up.


    Suddenly, from behind Abby grabbed him by the throat before jamming the dagger into his mouth, scraping it around until she felt the tongue would be unable to function, she let him go, his speech now a mix of random noises and cries for help.


    She drew nearer as he tried to say his command while crawling backwards away from her, a torrent of blood poured from his mouth as he spoke "Wuhur, drahn ur!" the water spirit didn''t reply.


    "Looks like you do need to talk to give commands." she said as if she just made a "neat" discovery.


    He tried to turn and run but she grabbed him by the hair, suddenly she was blinded by a fistful of salt he kept in his pouch.


    "Oh, you fucking asshole!" she cried as she cupped some water from the puddle and washed her face off, she turned back to see the kid moving towards her with a rock he found in hand.


    The assassin''s agility ability made it easy for her to side-step him, but she didn''t expect him to throw the rock at her, he felt a sharp pain in her ankle as the rock made contact and bouched off.


    She tried to run past her and up the hill but tripped in the mud and fell face-first into it, his attempt to crawl away was stopped when Abby planted her dagger into his back.


    He let out an agonised cry as she jammed the dagger further down his back.


    she flipped him around planting on hand on his pam and using the rock to break one of his arms with a sickening crunch.


    At this point, Tony was struggling to scream thanks to the blood gathering in his mouth.


    "Sthup you bichh!" he cried out.


    "I am really done listening to your talk shit!" She laughed psychotically before pressing both of her knees onto his shoulder and pummeling his face.


    she brought her fist down on his mouth, after a few punches the sound of pounding flesh was replaced with wet slaps before she pulled the mangled tongue out of his mouth.


    At this point, he seemed unconscious, a human can often pass-out from the pain, mother nature''s only act of mercy.


    Still, he grabbed the rock once more and kept battering it against Tony''s skull until she could see the brain and until she could scramble the brain.


    She tried to wipe the mix of splattered blood and rain from her face but only ended up getting more blood on her face, she put a mix of saliva and blood from her lips onto the ground and took a deep breath before taking a look at Tony''s barely recognisable corpse.


    "Too bad you died on me..." she said panting, "I was hoping to get some revenge for you blinding me with salt..." she replied.


    She took a few more deep breaths before looking back to his face and the back to her dagger, "Eh, it''s still not too late."


    After making sure to torment the corpse a bit long by removing the eyes she looked down and said: "That''s right, I forgot my promise... that one part I''m meant to remove."


    She was stopped by Kevin who put an arm on her shoulder as the blood pouring down his face slowed down a bit.


    "Don''t... he''s dead already..." he replied seeing the body and finding himself half intrigued and half disturbed.


    "You''re right... I guess... we need to leave." she relented.


    "Let''s head back, you can shadow blink us both into my lad, I''ll get the blood off us."


    "Alright..." he agreed as they both headed home leaving Tony to rot in the wild.

 Chapter 4: Youre finally awake...

    The sickening sound of bone breaking and the splattering of blood filled the unlit room.


    "DIE"


    The rock came down on Tony''s face deforming it as if his face was a metal plate before taking its original shape back.


    "DIE"


    Again, the rock came down of his face, this time several small cracks appearing in his face for only a seconds before disappearing.


    Tony''s face remained with the same empty smile, a look of pity as he stood up.


    "COME BACK!"


    As Tony started walking away from her the silhouettes of the other heroes appeared on the horizon.


    "DON''T!"


    She tried to follow him, but her arms and legs felt numb, the further she crawled towards Tony, the further she was from him.


    "Abby!"


    As Tony made it to the other heroes his silhouette joined the crowd, each one casting a look of judgement upon Abby who was now sinking in the soil.


    "Abby!"


    She opened her eyes to see June, the mage shaking her awake, ''It was just a nightmare...'' she breathed a sigh of relief.


    The sound of heavy rain filled the room.


    "What''s up?" she asked, for once she was grateful for being woken up.


    "It''s Gabriel, he wanted everyone downstairs for an emergency meeting." she explained, a look of concern on her face, though not one that screamed "Tony was murdered"


    "Did something happen?" Abby asked faking worry.


    "I don''t know, Gabriel said it was important though, so you should hurry," she replied before heading out.


    "Christ, I hope they didn''t realise I''m the killer already..." Abby stood up and put on her shoes before heading downstairs.


    As she walked downstairs she found herself being motioned towards the table by Gabriel.


    All of the twelve heroes except Kevin sat around the table.


    "Alright, we''re all here, what''s going on, Gabriel?" The paladin demanded seemingly upset about being woken up.


    "It''s about Tony," Gabriel said sombrely.


    ''FUCK.''


    "He''s gone missing," he explained.


    "Hold on, are you saying he ran off on us?" Asked the paladin.This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.


    "He was always a loner..." noted the monk.


    "He wouldn''t do that!" argued Lilly the witch.


    "No, he was murdered." Gabriel finally said.


    ''DOUBLE FUCK''


    "How can we be sure?" Abby asked, she wanted to know if they found the corpse.


    "Did you ever hear me mention my abilities as the strategist?" Gabriel asked, as expected the room was silent.


    "Every one of you should have a trump-card kind of ability, for me, that ability is [clairvoyance], essentially a text-based description of the future."


    The room turned silent once more.


    "I can only use it once a day, and I have no idea if the future is written in stone, but when we first came to this world I received the following message."


    Gabriel reached into his pocket and pulled out a folded-up piece of paper, he cleared his throat and began reading.


    "In seventy-nine days one of your party members will be murdered by another party member, their body will be in a forest."


    When he finished he placed the paper on the table and pushed it towards the others to have a look at.


    "In other words, if we exclude Kevin for obvious reasons, the killer is in this room with us," he said as his expression turned grim and he looked at everybody present.


    The heroes starting exchanging suspicious looks, Abby also looked around like "Oh no, who would do such a thing?!"


    "Now, I think that before we point any fingers, we should-" he was cut off by the berserker,


    "Hold on, Gabriel! You knew one of us would die and you didn''t even warn us!?"


    Several accusatory stares came at him while others kept looking around.


    "Think it through, if I told you the murderer could work around my ability, plus I wasn''t sure the ability would work, or if it would still apply."


    "Tony''s dead?" Lilly asked her face looking grim as the Berserker put his hand on her shoulder.


    A while of silence passed as nobody knew what to say.


    "So, as I was saying, we should go and find the body." he continued.


    "But what if the killer finds the body first and gets rid of it?" Asked the monk.


    "I''m sure they wouldn''t risk getting any blood on them, isn''t that right, Abby?" he asked looking over to Abby who felt a sudden chill go down her spine.


    "Yeah, I guess, why are you asking me?" she asked trying to keep up her innocent smile.


    "Well, your class is the assassin, I''m hoping we could use your expertise to track down the killer," he said with a smile.


    "Right, well I''d be happy to help!" she exclaimed.


    "Alright, then how about a few questions? For all of us." Gabriel stood up and walked in a circle around the table.


    "Abby the assassin and Michel the paladin... both of you were asleep the longest, what kept you up so late?" Gabriel asked looking at them both.


    "Look, man! I was hungover all day yesterday, I guess I was just sleeping it off!" the paladin replied.


    "I was feeling sick the day of the party, remember, I guess I just needed to sleep it off!" she replied.


    "I guess that makes sense... what about you Adam?"


    Gabriel turned towards Adam who was busy eying Abby this whole time.


    "Oh, what? I woke up early today," he replied.


    "True, but you had a motif," Gabriel replied.


    "A motif?!" Adam exclaimed.


    "That''s right, I saw your fight yesterday... you did pretty well, but in the end, you got beaten, even though he couldn''t use magic." Gabriel faked a disappointed sigh towards the end.


    Adam sat there silently for a while before replying.


    "I would never kill anyone, I''m a healer, remember!"


    "True, most of your ''fight'' with Tony was defensive... I guess we can''t confirm his murderer without finding his corpse."


    "What about you, June, I remember you telling me about seeing Tony making his water spirit take the form of many female party member in ''little to no clothing'' - that really seemed to get to you."


    The mage stood from her chair furious.


    "Yes, but that''s not something you''d kill someone over! A smack on the head would have been enough!"


    A few of the guys exchanged a look that Abby couldn''t quite pick up on before turning back to Gabriel.


    "Here''s the plan, we''ll split into three groups of three and one group of two, that way we can cover more ground whilst being safe, I can even bite the bullet and be on the two-man team." Gabriel offered.


    "Can we at least eat some breakfast before we head out?" Asked the berserker as Lilly and the Archer shot him a disgusted look.


    "How can you think about eating, right now? One of our friends is dead..." Asked the archer.


    The berserker looked down slightly embarrassed before being backed up by the paladin and Ben.


    "There''s no need for that, we might be searching until really late... we should eat while we can... I don''t think I''ll be hungry after the fact." sighed the paladin.


    "Yeah, I''ll make everyone something..." Ben sighed as he headed over to the kitchen.


    Everyone sat in silence, Abby sat there, pale, she could feel she was about to be discovered.


    ''Where did my guts go?! I talked a big game when Kevin was around, but now I feel like I''m about to throw up...''


    "Are you feeling alright, Abby?" Asked Lilly seeing Abby so pale.


    "Y-yeah... I''m fine... I guess I don''t deal with mortality..." she replied trying to fake a smile so badly, even Lilly could tell it was fake - though for once that worked in favour of her persona.