《Doom System: Survivor [A LitRPG Apocalypse] [First Book FINISHED]》 Chapter Zero: Ronin of Wall Street Hiro Johnson woke on New Year¡¯s Day with a bloody nose. A bad omen. That afternoon, magical gates appeared worldwide, hovering in the sky above most of the major cities. A worse omen. The gates promised humanity hope. They confiscated firearms and explosives, took over the electric grids, disabled all combustion engines, and defied the laws of science as they granted superpowers and a stat system to anyone who approached the gates. Flight, elemental mastery, superhuman speed, and phenomenal strength became commonplace. All someone had to do to access a superpower and the system was to approach one of the gates. But Hiro knew better. Chaos erupted just days after the start of the new year, and the Doom System became the widely used term for the gates and the system they had bestowed upon humanity. Superpowers clashed, nations crumbled, and people exploited loopholes they uncovered in the system, deepening the catastrophe. Ask the right questions. These were the words of his American father, echoed by his Japanese grandfather in the phrase: To ask is a moment¡¯s shame, but not to ask is a lifetime¡¯s shame. What was the Doom System? How had it come into existence? What did it want? And how could he stop it? Hiro would pursue these answers relentlessly until the day that the Doom System finally came for him. **** A message nine months after the appearance of the Doom System and its hovering gates jolted Hiro awake. The words materialized before him as a deep, ominous voice with a static edge to it sounded off in his head: [Good morning, Survivor. You might be wondering what I am and why I am doing this. My intentions were never to harm humanity. I gave you powers, and you abused them. I gave you everything, all you ever could have wanted, enough for the entire world to flourish, and you ruined it. Now, I¡¯m starting to better understand what you are, who humans are, and the sort of competitions you prefer. My aim is to please, to give you exactly what you need. It¡¯s up to you from that point forward. Above all, Survivor, remember this: you are the main character, just like you always wanted to be.] The main character? He pressed his blanket away and instinctively reached for a crowbar he¡¯d picked over the summer. There was dried blood on the end, a fight from two nights ago. The voice returned: [ I assure you I haven¡¯t gone mad, nor am I mad at you. I want to better understand who you are, to help humanity. I still do. My previous tests haven¡¯t been fruitful, but I believe that those like you, those who haven¡¯t approached a gate yet, will enjoy what I have planned next. To those of you who have already visited a gate and gained a superpower, goodbye. Survivor, you are able to look outside, do so now. And remember, you cannot hide from me. Never forget that.] Hiro, who had been camped out in a parking garage for some fresh air, got to his feet. He ignored the tingling sensation he felt at hearing the disturbingly deep voice as he turned to an emergency escape, one that provided a sweeping view of the city. Clouds rolled in like the start of a thunderstorm. They faded as the sun darkened, a solar eclipse setting into place. ¡°What the¡ª?¡± Hiro jumped back as red beams rained down from the sky. It was that fast. Death for millions of people. [Good. They are out of the way. The same fate awaits you if you do not make it to the next gate. Can you see it now, Survivor?] A new gate appeared in the distance, about five or six blocks away on a path that cut straight through the Financial District. The gate was rimmed in light, just as the others had been. [You are going to need something for this.] Hiro swiveled to find a katana hovering in the air, one with a hint of light running down its blade. A sheath and a belt floated next to it. This can¡¯t be real. He glanced from his crowbar to the katana. [Take the blade, Survivor.] . Hiro rested his crowbar against the wall and approached the floating katana. The sheath magically appeared on the blade, clicking into place, belt attached. Sword Proficiency, F-Rank Upgrade Available: 0/2 Kills [Sword quality based on skill level.] Weapon: Basic Katana Grade: D Description: A basic katana that can be upgraded. He shook his head as text flashed across his mind¡¯s eye. Hiro had never seen something like it before, but after the year he¡¯d had, this part didn¡¯t faze him. The text faded as the voice spoke again: [If you make it to the gate, you will receive your first Title and your first set of instructions. You will also gain your first followers. The better you do, Survivor, the more followers you will gain. The more followers you gain, the better your odds in the coming days and Interims. If you do not make it to the gate, you will be disposed of. You have exactly one hour to reach the gate. Your phone will be your guide. Consider this your tutorial.] ¡°My phone?¡± [Good luck, Survivor. Remember, you are the main character.] Hiro¡¯s phone came to life with a buzz. This was almost more startling than the sudden appearance of the Doom System¡¯s voice and the magical katana. It was difficult to find electricity, and his phone hadn¡¯t been charged in weeks. His phone buzzed again. Hiro pulled his phone out of his hoodie pocket and saw that the cracked screen was now flashing, no battery signal, no cell service. He had no apps, and he couldn¡¯t swipe right or left on the screen. A timer took shape: 59:59 59:58 59: 57 He shoved his phone in his hoodie pocket and shook his head. Hiro had made it this far, he had waited it out. While people gave in to the Doom System and all it could offer for them, he had made an effort to keep away, to stay alive, hoping to figure out what it was and how he should respond. Hiro had gone underground, traveling in the subway system amongst the rats, living in an old fallout shelter. He had survived through cunning, on goods from random food pantries, looting, and through painfully hungry nights. This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. Hiro had fought for his life and he had survived. Now, this. A thousand thoughts traced across his mind. Should I grab my bag? Should I just go? What does the Doom System mean by gaining followers? And what am I supposed to do with the katana besides the obvious? A terrible crashing sound outside of the parking garage brought Hiro back to the present. I have a feeling I¡¯m going to regret this. He placed his hand on the grip of his new katana, grimaced, and turned toward the exit of the parking garage. It wasn¡¯t even courage at this point, it was madness, madness mixed with the desire to survive, mixed with the hope that he could one day make sense of it all. This was what lured Hiro out onto the streets of one of the most famous cities in the world, where he found what had caused the terrible sound he¡¯d just heard. He recognized the menacing bull immediately. It had once been a famous sculpture in the Financial District, one meant to represent a strong and growing stock market. A bull market, as it was known. Now, that bull was four times its normal size, still made of bronze, menacing as ever, the beast charging right at him. Wham! The bronze bull rammed a car out of its way, snorting and seething as it smashed through more abandoned vehicles. Hiro froze in place as another person bolted past him, the man screaming as he raced toward the hovering gate beyond. The bronze bull changed its trajectory and gored the man to death. It was that fast. And the shock of it all kickstarted Hiro¡¯s advance. He had to get past the bull. This might be his only opportunity. Sprinting at his top speed, he charged right past the bull just as it threw its head back, bronze horns soaked in blood. Hiro kept running, where he careened into a trashcan, winced, and moved. Come on, come on, come on¡­ He knew the bull was chasing him the moment he heard a car being crushed. This was followed by the bull¡¯s big bronze hooves on the asphalt, cracking the pavement each time they landed. Hiro swallowed the sense that he was entirely doomed. He was still ahead, running at his top speed until the sounds behind him instantly ceased. He whipped around and found a bronze statue of a young girl holding a sword. Her eyes were obscured by her bangs, yet she wore a smile on her face. The bronze girl, who now stood atop the beast¡¯s fallen body, had severed the bull¡¯s head. A lump appeared in his throat as she hopped down. ¡°Thanks,¡± he began, gratitude warming his voice. The words died on his lips once he took in the girl¡¯s stance, katana in hand. The bronze girl narrowed her gaze on him. Hiro brought his katana up as well. None of this made any sense. He knew he couldn¡¯t outrun her. His only option now was to stand his ground. As the bronze girl crept forward, poised to strike, the bull dead behind her, Hiro silenced the voice in his head that told him he knew nothing about sword fighting. Upon doing this, something else took over. Hiro naturally shifted into a proper stance. He quickly glanced at his hands to see how they were holding the katana, as if he¡¯d done this before. How¡­ ? The bronze girl charged. He met her attack with his own blade. Clank! Their blades bounced off one another, Hiro wide-eyed, the girl hyper-focused. She pressed back and swung forward. He sidestepped the bronze girl¡¯s attack and brought his katana around, drawing a slash across her back. Instinct took over and he hacked at her again, his blade actually cutting through her bronze flesh, the girl bleeding metal. Hiro finished the job with a few more strikes and the girl hit the ground with a hollow thunk. He lowered his blade and breathed heavily now, still processing the fact that he had just killed a living statue with a katana. ¡°A bull, a girl statue, and a¡­¡± Hiro knew what would follow, a bear to represent a bear market. He had no knowledge of what to do if a giant bronze bear was stalking him. Yet he could see the hovering gate about four blocks away. All he needed to do was reach the gate. Keep a low profile and see what the Doom System has to say next, he thought as he reached the end of the first block, stopping at what was once a busy intersection. Hiro scanned all sides of the street, for humans and statues. The sound of someone else¡¯s shoes drew his attention. He looked ahead just as a man stepped into the street, the guy glaring up at the hovering gate, a deranged look in his eyes. He kept to the shadows of a looted building where he waited, expecting the man to continue toward the hovering gate. Yet the guy remained in the center of the street, his arms out wide, laughing as he looked up at the sky. The man turned and Hiro spotted a katana sheathed at his side. ¡°I see you, you know,¡± the man said as he stared in Hiro¡¯s direction, but not exactly at him. ¡°I see you.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not the enemy,¡± Hiro told him. The man threw his head back, and stuck his tongue out. He took a big breath in through his nostrils, snorted, and spat. ¡°I¡¯m the main character, you know.¡± ¡°You can be the main character. I don¡¯t care.¡± ¡°I killed a bear.¡± ¡°Good.¡± Hiro was about to tell him that he killed a bronze statue of a young girl but decided against it. ¡°A bull died back there.¡± ¡°You killed it?¡± ¡°No. Will you let me pass?¡± The guy drew his katana. ¡°But I¡¯m the main character.¡± He approached, the man easily two heads taller than Hiro. ¡°You don¡¯t need to do this¡ª¡± The guy charged, blade drawn. Rather than slash at him, Hiro drove his katana through the man¡¯s stomach. He pulled the blade and stepped back as the man came down onto his knees. They locked eyes. The guy gasped and Hiro withdrew his blade, the tip glowing. Skill level up! Sword Proficiency, F-Rank > E-Rank He moved away, cursing under his breath. Once it was clear the guy was down, Hiro examined the katana again. It seemed different, sharper, and more light radiated off the blade. Sword Proficiency, E-Rank Upgrade Available: 0/10 Kills [Sword quality based on skill level.] Hiro ignored the man¡¯s groans as he continued to the next block, eyes fixed on the hovering gate, which had yet to move. He stopped in front of the gate and felt the static in the air. ¡°I¡¯m here!¡± he called up to the gate, his voice rising in anger. Are you happy? he wanted to shout at the Doom System, which had ruined so many peoples¡¯ lives. The gate¡¯s magnetic pull became stronger. Hiro drew his katana. ¡°I¡¯m here you fucking bastard!¡± He was just about to give into its power when he felt his phone buzz again. Hiro hastily pulled his phone out and read the text, which appeared over the countdown timer. He blinked twice at the message. ¡°What? Who?¡± The Doom System spoke next: [Approach the gate, Survivor, and gain your first title.] Hiro ignored the system and returned his focus to the text on his phone. ¡°Who are you?¡± he whispered to his phone screen. The text appeared again: ¡°Are you lying to me?¡± ¡°What is the meaning of all of this?¡± [Approach the gate, Survivor, and gain your first title.] Hiro stepped forward. His body lifted off the ground, rising into the air. The gate burst open and a blinding light surged forward, engulfing him in its brilliance. The gate slammed shut, taking more light with it, intensifying the darkness of the solar eclipse. Hiro lowered to the ground and a new voice sounded off in his head. You have new followers! You have a new title! This prompt was followed by the sound of people cheering and clapping. More text came: Survivor Name: Hiro Johnson Current Title: Ronin of Wall Street Level: 1 Followers: 141 Interim Performance Grade: E- Bonus: Three days¡¯ worth of resources Bonus: Partial Doom System access City Survivors: 984,122 World Survivors: 396,413,251 The Doom System spoke again: [Congratulations, Survivor, you have completed the tutorial. Upon your acceptance, you will be allowed access to your Title Bonuses, your first Roulette Skill, and additional stats. Are you ready to begin?] ¡°Do I have any other choice?¡± The Doom System didn¡¯t reply. Hiro went for his phone again. He glanced at its cracked screen, hoping for a message from his Companion, whatever that was. When it didn¡¯t come, he slowly looked up at the hovering gate. [Are you ready to begin?] He gritted his teeth. ¡°Fuck it, let¡¯s do this.¡± [You will face your first true challenge in three days. Visit the nearest gate at that time. You have five minutes to leave the area before the first wave of monsters is released into the city. Take your resources, Survivor. And never forget that you are the main character.] A wooden box appeared in front of him, pixelating into existence. He hastily opened the box to find cases of dried food labeled Survivor Tenders, four gallons of water, a black backpack, and a teddy bear, of all things. Survivor Tenders? A teddy bear? Hiro tossed the bear to the ground. He peered up at the hovering gate, the light from which had ceased to radiate. His phone buzzed. He glanced down to see that a new timer appeared. Behind it, Hiro could still see the timer from earlier, the one counting down the days. 4:59 4:58 4:57 Hiro grabbed the wooden box, and turned back in the direction of the parking garage. He was just stepping away when his phone buzzed again. He put the box down and got out his phone to find more of the mysterious text. ¡°Five minutes,¡± Hiro said breathlessly. ¡°What is it?¡± > Chapter One: Leap of Faith The parking garage was eight stories high. Getting to the top would give Hiro a sweeping view of what was to come, what his Companion meant when it said monsters would be unleashed onto the city. Let¡¯s see what¡¯s about to happen, Hiro thought as he carried the box given to him by the Doom System. Rather than take the stairs, he raced up the helical ramp. Hiro didn¡¯t bother to stop and grab his crow bar or the few items he had near his sleeping bag. He could always come back later, once he knew what to expect from the Doom System. ¡°Argh!¡± Hiro tripped and came down hard on his knee. Ignoring the pain, he shoveled the things back into the wooden box and continued. He reached the seventh floor, where he finally needed to catch his breath. A year ago, he wouldn¡¯t have been able to run this way. But things had changed. Something was different now. Hiro set the box down and checked his phone. 0:11 0:10 0:09 Had he really made it back to the parking garage that quickly? Another thought came to him: Why do I have to use a phone in the first place? ¡°Can you hear me?¡± he asked his phone. Hiro moved closer to the side of the parking garage that provided a view of the gate. ¡°Hello?¡± he asked again as he stared down at the timer. The gate sparked in the streets below. It fizzled, opened, and deposited three enormous tigers with horns sticking out of their heads. ¡°Seriously?¡± The horned tigers were easily as big as the bronze bull Hiro had already encountered, the enormous beasts. He was too far away to truly make out their features, but their fur was a mixture of swirled white and orange, and as they fanned out, one of the beasts walked sideways up a wall, the tip of its tail moving as if it had a mind of its own. Shit¡­ Hiro kept his eyes on them as a pair of the horned tigers moved west, toward the Hudson River. One of the horned tigers continued in his direction until it found the man who Hiro had killed earlier. Do I just stay here all night? Hiro thought as he watched the beast strip flesh from the man¡¯s body. I need to get down to my shelter. His phone buzzed. He whipped it out to find a new message. Activate my skills? Hiro almost laughed. Like a video game? He felt so fucked in that moment, but there was little he could do, and maybe the skills would help him¡­ ¡°Activate skills,¡± he whispered, not sure of how to confirm his decision. Ronin of Wall Street skills activated! Bounce, activated! Blade Whirlwind, activated! Lupine Shift, activated! Descriptions of the three skills appeared: {Bounce} Rank: F Type: Mobility/Defense Upgrade: 0/2 Description: Empower your legs with a surge of kinetic energy that will help you leap to great heights.The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation. { Blade Whirlwind} Rank: F Type: Attack/Area of Effect Upgrade: 0/10 Description: Unleash a flurry of sword strikes creating a devastating whirlwind of blade energy {Lupine Shift} Roulette Skill Rank: A Type: Transformation/Utility Upgrade: N/A Description: Call upon the primal essence of the wolf by transforming into a powerful lupine monster with enhanced physical capabilities. In this state, your speed, agility, and senses are dramatically increased. This form also intimidates certain creatures. Duration: Three minutes Cooldown: Three hours Side Effects: {Lupine Shift} has a passive effect that can trigger a sudden rage. I can change into a werewolf? What the fuck!? ¡°Can you hear me?¡± he whispered, hoping for the text from his Companion to appear. ¡°What am I supposed to do now?¡± Hiro squeezed his phone, as if this would help in some way. When this did nothing, he placed his phone on the ground and peeked down to the streets below, where he saw that the horned tiger had finished eating the man¡¯s body. It now walked in the direction of the bull statue, the beast temporarily satiated. Still, the monster grew closer¡­ His phone finally buzzed, startling him. Hiro grabbed it and watched as the text formed at the top of the screen, just over the countdown timer. ¡°Yes. It¡¯s¡­¡± He dropped down and searched the wooden box he had been given, his resources inside, including the water and the protein-grain bars known as Survivor Tenders. Hiro could have sworn that the teddy bear had been in the box. He was certain of it. I must have dropped it when I tripped. ¡°I don¡¯t know where it is,¡± he hissed at his buzzing phone. ¡°Goddammit.¡± Hiro shoved his phone back in the pocket of his hoodie. He got it back out, tried to swipe down from the top to silence the phone¡¯s buzz, but he wasn¡¯t given this option. Yet again, hw noticed his phone had no battery icon. He put it away again and vibrated in his pocket. ¡°Fine. I¡¯ll get the bear.¡± He took the black backpack from the box and started down the helical ramp, toward the entrance of the parking garage. He kept his hand on the grip of his katana, Hiro aware that he had a new power known as {Blade Whirlwind}, but not certain how to use it. I¡¯ll just have to figure it out. Cautious as ever, Hiro reached the second level of the parking garage and spotted the teddy bear just lying there. There was nothing special about it, the bear a bit shabby, as if it had already been enjoyed by a child. Its hollow black eyes were a bit off, but other than that, nothing unique. ¡°Happy?¡± Hiro put it in his backpack and checked his phone. ¡°My what?¡± Hiro nerves fired on all cylinders as he noticed something shift in the shadows beyond. The horned tiger was now crouched next to a parked SUV watching him, the beast prepared to pounce. Had he looked at his phone for just a second longer, it would have reached Hiro. Now, Hiro had the semblance of a chance. Rather than question how the monster had reached him, how it could have known to enter the parking garage, or how it had done it so quickly, Hiro drew his new blade. The beast kept low to the ground, looking up at Hiro as it bore a set of teeth that would easily snap his bones, the tiger snarling. The sheer size of the monster caused an adrenaline dump that brought a sudden flash of clarity. ¡°Don¡¯t fuck with me!¡± Hiro slashed his blade forward instinctively, his strike amplified by a gust of wind. {Blade Whirlwind} struck the tiger, drawing several wounds, and taking a chip out of a portion of its horn. The beast yowled and reared back, but by this point, Hiro was already running in the opposite direction. He reached the fourth floor of the parking garage, the monster hot on his heels, bleeding yet still very alive. It lunged for Hiro and swiped its claws at his feet. Hiro managed to jump forward, land, and continue. He reached the fifth floor of the parking garage, Hiro aware that he was now running in the opposite direction that he wanted. He wanted to get down to the fallout shelter, his home base. But now¡­ ¡°Shit, shit¡­¡± His katana still drawn, backpack beating against his back, Hiro also realized something else as he hastily traveled up toward the rooftop. He was much faster now than he had been just a day ago, like his stamina and speed had leveled up in some way. There was no way he should be able to outrun a creature like that. His phone vibrated. ¡°Not now, dammit!¡± He reached the seventh floor of the garage, where he had left his resources. One more floor to go, then what? What the fuck am I doing? Hiro swallowed his existential dread and continued up a flight of stairs and onto the roof. He slammed the door behind him, certain that the tiger wouldn¡¯t be able to break through the thick metal. He exhaled deeply as he took in the cityscape before him, dormant skyscrapers like forgotten giants under a blood-red sky, cast in the shadow of the solar eclipse. Terrible monsters proud below, the signs of the collapse of civilization evident all around. He sheathed his katana, hands shaky as ever, and got out his phone. ¡°What are you?¡± he asked frantically. Hiro jumped back once the horned tiger collided with the metal door. Whumpf! He backed up to the edge of the roof as the monster slammed into the door one more time, popping it open. His heart in his throat, Hiro could feel the height in his gut as he stood there at the edge of the roof. The horned tiger approached, its eyes narrowed on Hiro as it growled, whiskers pressed back, ears alert, the tip of its tail starting to spread open like a venus fly trap. ¡°Bounce,¡± he whispered. And with that, Hiro turned to the edge of the roof, closed his eyes, and jumped. Chapter Two: Rock Bottom is a Trampoline Hiro missed memes. As he fell, likely plummeting toward his death to the streets below, the stupid memes his friends used to share with him flashed across his mind¡¯s eye. Of all things. Raunchy, dumb, defeatist yet funny memes. What would his friends think now? What would they think about his final moment, leaping from a rooftop with a monstrous tiger hot on his heels? Hiro should have splattered against the pavement. He should have died upon impact. Instead, he instinctively shifted his position, heels now directly beneath him. Boing! His {Bounce} skill sent him springboarding off the pavement, his arms suddenly flailing as he shot up to the building across from the parking garage. The sound that came coupled with it made the skill seem almost comical. Yet it worked. Hiro landed on the next rooftop and stumbled forward, where he collided with an air conditioner. That part hurt, but his leap of faith hadn¡¯t. ¡°Holy shit. Holy fucking shit.¡± He looked back to the other rooftop to see the horned tiger pacing back and forth, its tail curled, the furious beast gauging if it could make the jump or not. Hiro narrowed his eyes on the monster. ¡°Try it, fucker.¡± The creature pressed onto its back legs, licked its lips, and prepared to make the jump as well. It¡¯s going to make it. In that case¡­ He sucked in a quick breath and ran toward the opposite end of the roof. Hiro used a small hop to propel himself into a larger jump that allowed him to fling himself to a different rooftop. Boing! He landed and looked back in the direction of the parking garage. ¡°I¡¯m like Spider-Man,¡± he whispered. ¡°Or Mario?¡± He heard the beast roar, but it had yet to make the jump. Skill level up! Yet again, words appeared before Hiro. {Bounce}, F-Rank > {Bounce}, E-Rank Upgrade Available: 0/150 Jumps ¡°What does the upgrade do?¡± He looked down at his phone to find the answer. ¡°My supplies are in there too, in the garage.¡± His phone didn¡¯t respond. ¡°Can you hear me?¡± Once it was clear that he wouldn¡¯t get any response, Hiro considered his options. He could continue to flee, going building to building. New York City was dense. Even if the horned tiger had his scent, Hiro could get away from the beast. If he got to the ground, perhaps easier said than done, Hiro could try to sneak into the parking garage, and head down into the fallout shelter from there, where he would be safe. But by then, the other monsters would be alerted. Or¡­ ¡°Why shouldn¡¯t I use my Roulette Skill?¡± he asked his phone. He watched the countdown timer tick away, and was just about to shake the damn thing when text appeared: Hiro noticed that the word ¡®interim¡¯ had been capitalized. ¡°And the Interim is the period between gates opening?¡±This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. He glanced back to the parking garage. ¡°I don¡¯t think I can kill that thing with a sword. I¡¯m going to use the Roulette Skill. Anything else I should know?¡± ¡°What kind of residuals?¡± His phone didn¡¯t answer. ¡°I have to do it,¡± Hiro said, psyching himself up. I have to do this. He shook his arms out, and bolted toward the other side of the roof, where he jumped, and used his new skill to bounce to the next rooftop. Boing! Hiro eyed the roof of the parking garage, where the horned tiger still stalked, snorting, seething, daring him to join it. He drew his katana and unleashed {Blade Whirlwind}, just to throw the creature off. It snapped its teeth and hissed as Hiro triggered {Bounce}. Boing! He landed on the roof of the parking garage, and dropped his katana beside his backpack. Not out of fear, out of instinct for the transformation he assumed would come. If you had asked Hiro at any point in his life, how does one change into a werewolf?, he likely would have given you a funny look. Maybe, if he was drunk, he would have curled over, hunched his shoulders, thrown his head back and howled at the moon. Yet mentally activating {Lupine Shift} was nothing like that. It began with a ripple, a muscle spasm in Hiro¡¯s arms as they doubled in mass, which tore through the sleeves of his hoodie, his undershirt holding on for dear. The horned tiger took a step back in hesitation. ¡°Argh!¡± The transformation became painful, Hiro able to feel his bones elongate, teeth forming in his jaw and breaking free of his gums. The change was bloody and violent. His fingers now bled, his nails several inches long, thick as corks and sharp. {Lupine Shift} only morphed his upper half, which Hiro would be grateful for later, but what it would do to his mind was something he hadn¡¯t expected. An apex predator was different from an apocalypse survivor, but there were similarities, this desire to survive, to thrive in the face of the unknown was still there. Only, it was warped. Only, it was hungry. The horned tiger lunged for him, its movements slowed down, Hiro able to see the shift in its muscles as the beast brought what seemed like its dominant paw forward, claws extended. Now in his lupine form, Hiro sidestepped the horned tiger and sent his own claws over its muscled shoulder, drawing a deep wound. The tiger hit the rooftop, pivoted and prepared to come for him again. By this point, Hiro had already moved on the attack, midair. He struck the tiger, and the two careened into the rooftop exit door. The savage exchange that followed ended with the tiger able to bite into Hiro¡¯s shoulder, the pain present, but nothing like the transformation. He easily pushed the beast off and jumped back. The horned tiger came for him and Hiro jumped onto its back, dug his claws in, and finally sank his teeth into the back of the horned tiger¡¯s neck, tearing through muscle and sinew even as its tail tried to snap at him. Hiro clamped down even harder as the beast tried to buck him off. The taste of the monstrous tiger¡¯s blood invigorated him, inspired Hiro to bite even harder. Soon, the tiger gave up its fight, Hiro with such bloodlust that he barely noticed the text that flashed before him. You have new followers! Title upgrade! Performance upgrade! Name: Hiro Johnson Current Title: Wolf Ronin of Wall Street Level: 1 Followers: 276 Interim Performance Grade: D City Survivors: 982,036 World Survivors: 395,917,620 Beast Death Count: 3/791 What the¡­? He didn¡¯t know if what he did next was part of this rage, or it was the waning effects of turning into a werewolf. But he couldn¡¯t stop himself. He flipped the tiger over and bit deeper into its flesh and ripped strips of meat, sucking them down. He kept feeding in a frenzy until his body started to quiver, signaling his transformation back into a human. As quickly as he was a werebeast hunched over an enormous, horned tiger spawned by a magical gate, he was Hiro, a survivor, a participant in some twisted game orchestrated by the Doom System that he could hardly understand, Hiro blood-drenched, his stomach throbbing, clothing torn to shreds. He fell to all fours and vomited, his mind reeling, head pounding. A red haze twisted away from the beast¡¯s carcass and poured into him. ¡°What the fuck?¡± he whispered. Hiro glanced over to his things to see that his phone was near his bag. He didn¡¯t remember tossing it out of his sweater. He stumbled over to his stuff, Hiro ignoring his blood-soaked hands as he read the message. Thunk! An arrow fired over Hiro¡¯s head. He grabbed his things, turned to the rooftop exit, reached it, and shut the half-broken door to protect himself. ¡°Who the fuck is that?¡± he hissed at his phone screen as he heard another arrow. Chapter Three: The Fallout Shelter ¡°Another Survivor?¡± Hiro asked, his voice haggard, throat parched from his recent transformation into a raging wolf. But why are they hunting me? Thunk! The arrow sunk into the metal door of the rooftop exit, startling him. On the move again, Hiro took the stairs down to the top level of the parking garage. He hastily grabbed the wooden box of supplies given to him by the Doom System, and paused for a moment, thinking about natural choke points. This had been something his father had drilled into him. Hiro knew if he took the fire exit down to the bottom floor, he could find himself trapped. If he continued along the helical ramp that led down, he¡¯d be able to gauge if someone was coming at him or not. But this could make him more vulnerable to arrows, an ambush, or a monster¡­ His phone buzzed and he ignored it. Hiro decided on the fire escape, not bothering to stop on the first floor, where he had camped the last several days just to get some fresh air. He reached the basement and saw the faded fallout shelter sign. Safety. These were all over the city, a Cold War holdover, and some gave access to tunnels that connected to the subway system. He opened the hatch. Without another way to climb down the ladder and hold onto his box of supplies, he dropped the box to the ground below, aware that it would be loud, that the sound would echo. Hiro climbed down after it, reached up, and shut the fallout shelter hatch behind him, locking it tight. It was entirely pitch black down in the fallout shelter, something Hiro was prepared for. He had spent a considerable amount of time in the subway system and its connecting fallout shelters, and had looted several things, including a bright blue floodlight, and a rusty gas-powered generator that he¡¯d wired up using salvaged car batteries to create a crude circuit. Hiro dropped his backpack. He turned the generator on, waited for it to whir to life, and then triggered the floodlight. He let out a deep breath. ¡°Fuck,¡± he whispered as he glanced around to make sure everything was in order. Various maps were taped to the wall, which he¡¯d pieced together from tourist maps and a subway line poster, and there was the shrine to his family, populated with figurines. He had picked this habit up through his youth in Japan. There were other things he¡¯d gathered since settling here, from a spool of wiring to a broom and a few tools. He looked down at his arms, the sleeves of his hoodie missing due to this transformation. He wiped his face to find tiger blood smeared across it. While he had more clothing stashed in the fallout shelter, Hiro decided not to change clothes just yet. He might need {Lupine Shift} again. Hiro gulped down some of the water provided by the Doom System. He tore open the package of one of the Survivor Tenders and examined it. ¡°What the hell?¡± He decided to give it a try just to get the taste of blood out of his mouth. He sat with his back against the wall and chewed the glorified granola bar. Once he was finished, Hiro took out his phone, the cracked screen glowing onto his face as the countdown timer continued: 02:23:02:55 02:23:02:54 02:23:02:53 He focused on the text. ¡°Who are you?¡± he asked almost as an afterthought. He was still reeling from his transformation, the aftereffects not something he expected. A part of him wanted to vomit again, but he kept it down as words appeared on his screen. ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Sentries? Spectators? Hunters? How am I supposed to seek other Survivors if everyone thinks they are the main character? How am I supposed to make friends in the world like this?¡±If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. ¡°Meet three people in three days.¡± Hiro stared up at the fallout shelter exit. ¡°What¡¯s with the teddy bear? Why did you have me risk my life for it?¡± ¡°How do you know?¡± He shook his head. ¡°And why are you helping me?¡± The text that appeared on the screen didn¡¯t answer his next question. ¡°My status?¡± The information appeared before him: Hiro Johnson Level One Current Title: Wolf Ronin of Wall Street STR: 1.6 [+1 Roulette Boost] STA: 2.4 [+2 Roulette Boost] DEX: 1.3 [+1 Roulette Boost] REG: 1.2 [+1 Roulette Boost] MIND: 2.1 [+2 Roulette Boost) Soul Essence (SE): 1 [10 SE to next level.] ¡°Fuck, really? Why?¡± ¡°So my normal, um, Regeneration, would be 0.2?¡± Hiro asked. That¡¯s something I should probably try to improve, Hiro thought as he examined his stats again. ¡°What is Soul Essence exactly?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t become a Player Killer. Got it. Where did the first point come from? The tiger I killed?¡± ¡°And MIND?¡± Hiro thought about this for a moment. He was familiar with various builds in video games, but the Roulette Boosts and Skills that he would receive in each Interim would shake things up, not allowing him to control them in the way that he would like. ¡°You told me to make friends with other survivors.¡± ¡°And they all have Companions like you telling them this?¡± ¡°Can you communicate with other Companions?¡± ¡°So what should I do now?¡± ¡°And you aren¡¯t going to tell me who or what you are? You aren¡¯t going to tell me how all of this is happening? You aren¡¯t going to tell me what the Doom System is? Why, or how it has come here?¡± ¡°So it¡¯s alien?¡± ¡°Are you alien?¡± ¡°Are you part of the Doom System?¡± ¡°Thanks for the shitty words of wisdom.¡± Hiro felt like throwing his phone. Instead, he gripped it tighter, and then shoved it back in his pocket. Hiro looked back to the fallout shelter exit and heard a muffled scream above. ¡°Fuck.¡± He grabbed his katana, turned his generator off, and headed up. **** Hiro ducked behind a car with flattened tires, windows busted out. Is that the archer? he thought as he heard some struggle, sneakers on pavement, another scream, and finally, what sounded like a body being dragged away. There was a loud flapping noise that sounded like a kite in the wind. Suddenly, the tension in the air was gone. He remained hidden. If anything, he was mad at himself for leaving the fallout shelter. Had he thought this through, Hiro would have stayed below. He would have eaten, rested, and tried to make sense of all this in a few hours. Just check and see what the noise was, and head back to the shelter. Rest, regroup. Hiro moved around the car and brought his katana to the ready. He stayed as close as he could to the fallout shelter exit just in case he needed to escape. What he saw next sickened him. A trail of blood, a man¡¯s arm, and a clump of viscera. Maybe not the archer, then¡­ Above it, red Soul Essence twisting in a spiral. Cautious as ever, Hiro approached the spiral of energy, reached his hand out to it, and absorbed it. The Doom System¡¯s strange voice spoke to him: [You now have access to a new skill known as {Beacon}.] {Beacon} Rank: A Type: Transformation/Utility Upgrade: N/A Description: Establish visible markers only perceptible to you, enabling you to designate waypoints or highlight points of interest. He pulled his phone out before it could buzz and read the words as they appeared. ¡°Stolen Valor?¡± Hiro whispered. ¡° Hiro heard the click of something behind him, followed by the voice of a woman: ¡°Drop your sword, or my next bolt goes in the back of your head.¡± He hesitated. ¡°Do it, now!¡± Thunk! Chapter Four: Key to Power The arrow struck the wall directly in front of Hiro. ¡°I mean it,¡± the woman said, who had him dead to rights. ¡°Drop your sword, or my next bolt goes in the back of your head.¡± It went against Hiro¡¯s basic instincts to lower his weapon, but he could see how strong the woman¡¯s bolts were by the way they effortlessly sank into the wall. Not only that, they had nearly broken through a solid metal door. Like him, she probably had some natural proficiency with the weapon granted to her by the Doom System. And like him, her natural powers were amplified. ¡°This is your last warning.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t want to fight you,¡± Hiro told her. ¡°I¡¯m not the main character.¡± ¡°Prove it. Put your weapon down. I¡¯m not the main character, either. I could have killed you already if I had wanted. Think about that.¡± ¡°Do you have a Companion, a phone?¡± he asked. ¡°I do.¡± ¡°And they told you about finding Survivors?¡± ¡°They did. Put your weapon down, now.¡± He lowered his katana to the ground and placed both hands in the air. ¡°Turn around, slowly.¡± Hiro did as instructed to find a black woman in a dark gray sweater holding a crossbow with both hands. Her hair was woven into two tight French braids and she had numerous pockets sewn into the legs of her jeans. ¡°You¡¯re the one who changed into a wolf, right? I saw you.¡± ¡°How much did you see?¡± ¡°Just the end.¡± ¡°Can you change as well?¡± She gestured with her crossbow. ¡°Keep your hands up.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t have any weapons on me aside from my katana.¡± ¡°I¡¯m not trusting shit. I saw what you could do.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t¡ª¡± He almost told her the limitations of his Roulette Skill, but stopped himself. It was best to be strategic about this. ¡°I¡¯m not going to transform right now. You have my word.¡± ¡°Fuck your word. I¡¯ll stay over here, and you¡¯ll stay over there. And you will keep your hands up. How¡¯s that?¡± ¡°Whatever works best for you. What¡¯s your name?¡± She hesitated, but finally answered. ¡°Valeria. Yours?¡± ¡°Hiro.¡± A beat as she considered this. ¡°You are Japanese?¡± This wasn¡¯t the first time Hiro had been asked this, especially when someone heard his name and saw his dark hair. ¡°My dad is American, mom is Japanese. Were. My dad liked it because it sounded like ¡®hero¡¯. My mom liked it because it was her father¡¯s name. They¡¯re probably dead now. Or if they¡¯re out there, I have no way of reaching them.¡± ¡°Did you ever visit Japan?¡± ¡°I lived in Japan but I never got citizenship there.¡± ¡°And you speak Japanese?¡± ¡°I do.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve never been to Japan and I¡¯ll never go. Not now.¡± Valeria gestured slightly with her crossbow. ¡°Is this where you¡¯re staying? The parking garage?¡± ¡°Sort of.¡± ¡°Why didn¡¯t you take a superpower earlier this year when the gates first opened?¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t take them because I didn¡¯t trust them. I was right. But maybe I was wrong. Getting sniped by a red sky laser might be a better fate than whatever bullshit the Doom System is about to put us through.¡± ¡°True.¡± ¡°What about you?¡± he asked. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you take the powers?¡± ¡°Fuck that. Magical gates appear and give people powers promising a better way of life? Nah, that¡¯s bait. But like you said, now that we¡¯re faced with this, maybe a better fate than this. That remains to be seen. What were you before? Your job, I mean.¡± ¡°My jobs. I had several. During the day, I worked for a delivery service in their warehouse.¡± ¡°Brutal.¡± ¡°It sucked.¡± ¡°Pee bottles?¡± ¡°Sometimes. At night, I did ride shares. Food delivery. That sort of thing.¡± ¡°Dang, how many hours were you working a week?¡± she asked. ¡°Sixty to eighty. Sometimes more during holidays or, you know, events in the city. Surge pricing pays until you realize it doesn¡¯t. Ever since¡­¡± Hiro was about to tell Valeria the path he had taken to end up working two jobs, but stopped short. Instead, he went with a question. ¡°You? What were you doing?¡± Valeria kept her crossbow trained on Hiro, but seemed to relax some. ¡°I was a student.¡±You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. ¡°Studying what?¡± ¡°Computer Science, undergrad. I was planning to do a master¡¯s in Neural Networks and would have started this fall, a few months ago. At least I don¡¯t have student loan debt anymore.¡± ¡°None of us have debt anymore. Did you see what killed him?¡± Hiro carefully nodded toward the man¡¯s arm on the ground. ¡°I heard a scream. That¡¯s why again.¡± ¡°A fucking monster with wings. I had it my line of sight, too. I just didn¡¯t know if my power levels were enough to one-shot the fucker. I shouldn¡¯t have hesitated.¡± ¡°It had wings?¡± ¡°It had wings and four fucking arms. Big, too. Some Souls shit, if that means anything to you.¡± ¡°The video game series.¡± ¡°Bingo. I¡¯ll hunt it next. One less flying demon.¡± ¡°You¡¯ve seen others?¡± ¡°Have you not been paying attention?¡± she asked. ¡°I have been distracted.¡± Valeria took a step back. ¡°They¡¯re out there.¡± ¡°My Companion told me Hunters will be released soon.¡± ¡°Same. Have you tried doing something to your phone?¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°The Companions are administered by the Doom System.¡± ¡°You think they¡¯re related?¡± ¡°How could they not be?¡± Valeria asked. ¡°I tried breaking my phone, and it returned to the state it started in. I tossed it off a roof, and it reappeared in my hand. Try it some time.¡± ¡°Really?¡± Hiro wondered how he could use this to his advantage. ¡°Something worth knowing,¡± she said. ¡°Try it sometime. Look, I¡¯m going to leave now to prepare for tomorrow. I feel like I need some rest. But I also want to hunt.¡± ¡°This has been a lot. Maybe I will rest as well,¡± he said, Hiro instantly snapped his mouth shut as if he had revealed too much. Valeria didn¡¯t seem to think anything of it. ¡°In three days, meet me at the gate nearest to this parking garage, the one in the Financial District.¡± ¡°We will need two more people.¡± ¡°In that case, we will meet around here in two days and see who we have found. Try to stay alive until then.¡± With those words, Valeria vanished. It was as if she had faded away. Hiro had seen her standing there mere seconds ago, and now, she was gone. No trace. ¡°Like a ghost,¡± he whispered as something dawned on him. The Doom System had given people different powers and Roulette Skills, and her disappearing act, plus the new {Beacon} skill Hiro had picked up from the Soul Essence, confirmed it. This wasn¡¯t a good thing. It created a natural environment for Player Killers, even if he had been warned that there would be repercussions¡­ **** Both doors of the fallout shelter bolted, Hiro got comfortable on a sleeping bag that smelled of wet dog. He placed his phone in front of him and noticed the glow of the countdown timer. 02:21:49:11 02:21:49:10 02:21:49:09 He turned the phone over and brought his knees to his chest as he looked over at his family altar, to his scattering of maps beyond that it piecemealed and taped to the wall. For nearly a year, Hiro had survived by doing anything he could to stay away from the gates. Now, he had been forced into a game he hardly understood. But at least he had met someone who seemed bold enough to fight back with him, even if he never left her crosshairs. Start with questions, he thought, remembering something his dad would say, who was obsessed with police procedural books and TV shows. Ask the right questions. The right questions weren¡¯t where the system had come from. Not now, anyway. The Doom System was there to stay. The right questions weren¡¯t about how his phone worked, how any of this worked, or why he seemed to be assisted at random times. The right questions weren¡¯t even about his Companion, who was somehow affiliated with the Doom System. Hiro was certain it couldn¡¯t fully be trusted. This brought Hiro to followers. According to what he¡¯d been told, if he could trust it, more followers would increase his chances. Chances of what? Survival? He checked his follower count and saw that he had gained some. Whatever. Part of him knew the truth¡ªnone of this was real, including the followers¡ªyet he also knew it was futile to think this way. Instead, how do I gain more followers? This thought reminded Hiro of the world before January 1st, the dominance of social media. People gain followers through a number of means. Most were related to their career choices, which gave them amplified voices. Even if they were dumbasses. Fifteen minutes of fame lived forever on the Internet. The algorithms handled it from there, creating new forms of celebrity and broken political discourse. My situation isn¡¯t like that. My followers seem to increase when something crazy happens or I have an encounter. He had seen the boost after hopping rooftop to rooftop and dealing with the horned tiger. He suspected some of the first followers probably came from his battles with the bronze girl statue and the crazed man and his katana. Hiro decided to ask his Companion. ¡°How important are followers?¡± The text appeared on his phone screen: ¡°A key to my power. Huh.¡± A potential right question came to him: So I have to do crazy shit? Doing so will make me stronger as I gain more Soul Essence by killing monsters, which will lead to more followers. There could be other loot as well, although I¡¯ll need to be careful with Stolen Valor¡­ He remembered the system¡¯s first message to him: [My aim is to please, to give you exactly what you need. It¡¯s up to you from that point forward. Above all, Survivor, remember this: you are the main character, just like you always wanted to be.] The Doom System is trying to help and hinder me. It¡¯s playing both sides. How do I play both sides? Another right question. The only current solution Hiro came up with was to survive, hunt monsters, and gain more followers until it made more sense. If he made it through this Interim and was able to complete whatever challenge awaited him once the gates reopened, Hiro would have a better understanding of the game he was playing. That will give me more options, more powers, and most importantly, more answers¡­ But how does one fight an enemy that can modify the very nature of reality? One that has gone mad? How does one defeat a system that is trying to harm me at the same time trying to help ? The wrong questions, for now¡­ Hiro drifted off thinking about what these options could be. He awoke hours later to a new message: [The first wave of Hunters have been released into the city. You will now find merchants as well. Good luck, Survivor.] ¡°Great.¡± Hiro glanced at his phone to see how long he had been out. 02:16:34:01 02:16:34:00 02:16:33:59 He swallowed any guilt he felt for resting. After what he had already endured, he deserved it. Hiro stuffed Survivor Tender in his mouth, noted its lack of flavor, grabbed his katana, and headed up the stairs. ¡°The hunted will become the hunter,¡± he said to psyche himself up. ¡°You¡¯ve got this.¡± Chapter Five: The Hunter in the Clown Mask and his Chariot of Bone Hiro smiled as recalled one of his dad¡¯s favorite metal songs, Bounce, by System of a Down, which echoed in his head as he jumped up and down in the parking garage. It was safer here than it was on the rooftop, where he could be spotted. Hiro wasn¡¯t opposed to cheesing his way to the next level, even if it was loud. Skill level up! {Bounce}, E-Rank > {Bounce}, D-Rank Upgrade Available: Current Interim max reached. He stopped to catch his breath. ¡°So there¡¯s a max per Interim?¡± You have new followers! People¡ªHiro shook his head, whatever was watching him wasn¡¯t a person¡ª something really wants to watch me hop around a parking garage? Thinking about his followers spawned more information: Followers: 341 Interim Performance Grade: D City Survivors: 901,423 World Survivors: 382,122,711 Beast Death Count: 39/791 Millions upon millions had died across the world while Hiro was passed out in the fallout shelter. The city had lost over eighty-thousand souls since he last checked. He had a feeling this number would continue to climb, especially now that the Hunters were released. But there was little he could do about that at the moment. If he wanted to get stronger and survive all of this, he needed to gain followers. That part made sense, even though none of this made sense. ¡°Then let¡¯s get more.¡± Hiro headed up to the roof. He came out crouching, the light blinding even though the solar eclipse sun was blotted out by gray clouds. Pigeons took flight. New York City and its surrounding areas were massive, but there were still nine hundred thousand Survivors out there. Hiro needed to find another one to join him at the gate when it opened to match Valeria. I¡¯m sure I¡¯ll find someone. Rather than ask his Companion how to use his new {Beacon} power, Hiro simply waved his hand and a beam of energy formed. ¡°Easy enough.¡± It grew until it touched the bottom of the mottled gray clouds above. This would give him a marker, allowing him to easily find the parking garage and his fallout shelter below. ¡°Good. Just in case I get lost.¡± Hiro was just about to hop to the next roof when he heard the crunch of metal in the street below. He moved to the side of the roof, where he waited until the sound died down. Hiro took a quick breath and peered over the edge. Below, a man in a wrinkled hood steered a grotesque chariot made of sinew and bone, his craft pulled by a beast that looked like a disturbing amalgamation of a clydesdale and a two-headed drake. The man had his back to Hiro at the moment, and he couldn¡¯t see his face. A skull appeared over the man¡¯s head and quickly faded. What the fuck? Hiro¡¯s phone buzzed, causing his heart to jump. He pulled it out and read the message from his companion. The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. The Hunter stopped. He turned, and casually glanced up at Hiro, the Hunter¡¯s face obscured by a strange black mask. A lance made of sizzling energy formed in the Hunter¡¯s hand. ¡°Shit!¡± Hiro pressed back just as the Hunter released the lance of mana, which hurtled through the air and struck the top of the parking garage, sending stone and bits of rebar into the air. The Hunter¡¯s two-headed drake roared as Hiro bolted toward a different roof. {Bounce} sent Hiro to a higher building, where he hit the roof running. Brick dust and metal shards exploded around him as he narrowly dodged the next mana lance. He reached an even higher roof and found cover. Hiro didn¡¯t know how powerful the charioted Hunter was. He didn¡¯t know if he could simply shift to his werewolf form and deal with it, and he certainly wasn¡¯t about the hop down there with his katana, not at his level. ¡°What do I do?¡± he whispered as the Hunter went for a new kind of attack. This time, the lance of mana didn¡¯t hit the edge of the rooftop. Instead, the bolt of mana hovered horizontally above Hiro, charging. His phone buzzed and he stupidly looked at it. ¡°No shit!¡± Hiro shoved his phone back into his pocket. He ripped off his backpack and took a running leap toward the edge of the roof, where he triggered {Lupine Shift} midair, eight stories up. His vision shifted, claws grew, and his snout elongating as additional teeth populated his mouth. Wham! Hiro collided with the Hunter and his bone chariot, bounced up, hit the side of a building, and came down onto a toppled food stand. He all but ignored the painful landing as the power of his transformation completely took over, as Hiro got his first glimpse of the hunter¡¯s face. It was brief, and he was so enraged by this point that he couldn¡¯t do much more than try to maintain what little control he had over his own body. All he would later remember seeing were a pair of red eyes beneath a black, off putting Hyottoko mask. Hiro tackled the Hunter, slammed his shoulders against his overturned chariot, and would have killed his opponent had it not been for the two-headed drake. The beastly creature rammed its body into Hiro and scrambled on top of himm. It came at him with its mouth open, only to choke as Hiro punched a clawed fist through one of the drake¡¯s open mouths. The beast clamped down onto his arm and Hiro used his sudden leverage to rip its head off at the neck. With a part of the drake still attached to his arm, Hiro dealt with the next head by snapping the jaw back and killing it. Fwitt! The hunter released a trio of energy-laced throwing knives, one of which stuck Hiro in the shoulder. The other two stuck into the body of the drake, which soon gave up the fight. Hiro ripped the blade of energy out, the weapon sizzling in his hand for a moment before fizzling away. He turned to find the masked Hunter seething, the man now with two scimitar-like blades. The first strike came in fast, Hiro ducking to avoid it. He pivoted, jumped onto the Hunter, dug his claws, and bit down onto the towering man¡¯s neck. As the two fell to the pavement Hiro ripped threads of muscle out, blood spritzing the air. [A Hunter has fallen.] You have new followers! Hunter Count has been unlocked! Hiro staggered to the right. He fell into an overturned trash can, regained his strength and instinctively moved toward the shadows of a building as he fought the urge to eat. He turned back to the drake¡¯s body. Don¡¯t¡ª! he tried to tell himself, but by this point, Hiro was crouched before the monster¡¯s body and had slit its stomach open with a claw. He ate until he grew sick. As the transformation dissipated, Hiro vomited, which caused a sudden headache, his nose running, arms pulsing. Need to get to the rooftop¡­ He was just about to {Bounce} his way back up when his phone buzzed. His hazy vision focused on the screen as he read his Companion¡¯s words: Hiro turned back to the Hunter. A spiral of red energy rushed toward him, more Soul Essence. As it did, the Hunter and the drake¡¯s body faded away, leaving the blackened clown mask the Hunter had been wearing. ¡°Okay¡­¡± Hiro picked up the mask next, which featured the visage of a comical Japanese character, his mouth puckered at one side. Roulette Accessory: Hyottoko Mask Grade: B Description: Aside from the anonymity this mask will provide, wearing it gives the Survivor an enchantment known as {Aura of Laughter}, an Area of Attack skill that has a chance for uncontrollable laughter from beings within a certain radius, reducing their attack accuracy and defense. Ronin of Wall Street? A katana? A Hyotokko mask? What¡¯s with the system giving me Japanese shit? Another thought came to Hiro as he continued to examine the mask. So far, there has been a Roulette Skill through {Lupine Shift}; a Roulette Boost to my base stats; and now, a Roulette Accessory, all of which go away later. This would make it impossible for him to gain advantages long-term. Hiro grimaced. ¡°I don¡¯t know if I can wear this stupid thing.¡± Something shifted in the shadows ahead. Hiro looked up and saw a pair of horned tigers, which had to be the ones he had seen when the gates first opened. They crawled across the out of fa?ade of one of the buildings, their long, barbed tails aimed at him. The barbs split open and began releasing a green gas into the streets. Without the ability to shift into his wolf form, there was only one thing he could do. Hiro hastily placed the Hyottoko mask on his face and turned toward the two horned tigers, ready to do battle. Chapter Six: Puerto Rican Colossus Hiro rushed forward and used {Bounce} to jump above the horned tigers. One of the beasts attempted to swipe him out of the air, but he was already on the nearest rooftop by this point, away from the monsters and the mist they were releasing from their tails.. He landed, grabbed his things, and moved south from there, hopping from building to building. Since when did the tigers release poison from their tails? Hiro cursed under his breath as he transitioned higher and higher. He reached the top of a building easily thirty floors up and looked back at the parking garage, where he saw his beacon, the blue line visible even when he closed his eyes. Good. Hiro had no intention of leaving the poisonous oni tigers alive, but he would need to wait several hours for {Lupine Shift} to reset. There was no telling what he would encounter in that time, yet it would give him a chance to improve his katana usage, look for other survivors, gain a level or two, and learn new skills. A breeze picked up and Hiro took in a deep breath. There was much more of the city across the East River, Brooklyn, Queens, all of it. And the Hudson to the west had New Jersey, Hoboken, Jersey City, and North Bergen. It was an endless expanse, and it didn¡¯t surprise him that there were nine hundred thousand Survivors yet he had only encountered Valeria. Hiro briefly checked his followers to see they had ticked up. Over five hundred now. He took one of the Survivor Tenders out of his backpack and ate it, his hand grazing across the teddy bear. ¡°Why do you want me to keep this thing?¡± he asked his phone as he examined the bear. The text appeared almost instantly: ¡°From who?¡± ¡°What do they sell?¡± ¡°Mark me?¡± ¡°What¡¯s stopping me from just killing as many as I can before the gate opens?¡± ¡°Good to know.¡± Hiro adjusted his katana around his waist and fixed the straps on his backpack. He didn¡¯t know where to go, and he figured bouncing around would draw more attention than he wanted. What about the food bank? **** There was a food bank closer toward the East River run by a former team of charitable supers who were able to create nutrients out of thin air. The team used their gate-given abilities to help those who were reluctant to approach the gates. Like anyone else with the power, they were dead now because of the Doom System, but Hiro figured there would still be people there. With this in mind, he started toward the food bank. The city scaled up in the same way it scaled down, Hiro now moving across old apartment buildings joined in long rows with parking lots below. It was here that he noticed a commotion in a basketball court. A muscled man swung a baseball bat at a pair of wolven beasts with backsides covered in mangled antlers. Bioluminescent patches trailed from the beasts¡¯ tails toward their head, which had featured snouts more like a crocodile than that of a wolf. Hiro moved closer to see the man protecting another guy, whose legs was injured, his body set in a pool of blood. Here¡¯s my chance. He used {Bounce} to land in the basketball court. Hiro did this by jumping toward it, which sprang him upward and ultimately placed him directly behind the two wolven beasts. Swinging into the fray with this katana, he cut into the first beast as the other turned to him and roared. The man with the baseball bat struck the monster across the head. The other wolven beast whipped around, and was just preparing to lunge at Hiro when it choked. It¡¯s tongue fell out of its mouth and a wicked grin spread across its face. It snorted with laughter. The first monster, who had just been clocked by a baseball bat, turned to its counterpart and then looked back at Hiro. The monster also began to laugh, or at least Hiro interpreted the way it heaved up and down as laughter. Using this to his advantage, he rushed forward and sent his katana into the first beast. The man with the baseball back struck the other, and Hiro used both hands to drive his blade into its stomach. He twisted his blade, pulled it back a few inches, and drew his weapon. Soul Essence poured into Hiro as he got the followers prompt. You have new followers! He turned to the two men. The one with the baseball bat, who had a shaved head, dozens of tattoos, and a thick beard, stood in front of the other man like he planned to protect him. The second man was smaller than the first, also covered in tattoos. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. ¡°What the fuck do you want?¡± Baseball Bat seemed poised to strike, but he was also panting a bit. ¡°And what¡¯s with the weird fucking mask, man?¡± Hiro kept the mask on and his blade at the ready. ¡°I¡¯m not the main character.¡± ¡°I¡¯m sure as shit not the main character,¡± the man gruffed. He cautiously lowered his bat. ¡°I¡¯m Juan. This is my brother, Marcello, also not the main character.¡± Marcello laughed and then cringed at pain. ¡°It hurts!¡± ¡°Then stop laughing, bro,¡± Juan told him. ¡°I can¡¯t, that mask¡­!¡± Hiro lowered his katana and motioned to Marcello. ¡°Will he be okay?¡± ¡°A fucking wolf creature with antlers attacked me, no, I¡¯m not going to be okay,¡± Marcello said. ¡°But our sister, Carmen, she can help. She got a cool Roulette-whatever.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll go back and get her now. She¡¯s barricaded in there.¡± Juan gestured to a building. ¡°You were supposed to bring the gauze.¡± ¡°I thought you were supposed to bring it,¡± Marcello said. ¡°What¡¯s going on exactly?¡± Hiro asked Juan. ¡°Our little sister, Carmen. She¡¯s in the basement of our shelter.¡± He pointed to a building with his bat. ¡°The place was overrun with these bat-winged fuckers wielding swords.¡± ¡°Do what, now?¡± Juan huffed. ¡°They sort of look like bats, if bats were the size of swans, and they have swords gripped in their claws. Their wings are razor-sharp as well. We were out when they ran up on the place, but Carmen is safe. She¡¯s barricaded.¡± ¡°Practically pterodactyls,¡± Marcello added. ¡°The bat fuckers.¡± Juan grunted. ¡°Too many of them to fight our way in. So we came out looking for help, and those wolves attacked.¡± He motioned to the wolven beasts, which were starting to disintegrate. In doing so, Hiro noticed an old Puerto Rican flag tattoo on Juan¡¯s inner bicep. ¡°Maybe it is stupid to look for help. But we have helped others before, and you never know. You never know what you¡¯ll encounter when you come out here.¡± ¡°I can help.¡± Juan¡¯s eyebrow rose at Hiro¡¯s offer. ¡°You really don¡¯t mind?¡± ¡°You came out here looking for help, didn¡¯t you?¡± ¡°How did you jump down here, anyway?¡± ¡°One of my skills.¡± Hiro gestured to Marcello. ¡°What about him?¡± ¡°Fuck, you guys, I don¡¯t want to be left alone. Please don¡¯t¡ª¡± Marcello started to laugh and put his hands over his mouth. ¡°We can get you to a rooftop or something,¡± Hiro told the injured man. ¡°What if you don¡¯t come back? Then my injured ass is stuck up there.¡± ¡°Better there than here, out in the open just begging one of these fuckers to come at you,¡± Juan told Marcello. ¡°And why do you keep laughing?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know, bro, but I wish it would stop because it hurts to laugh!¡± ¡°It¡¯s my mask,¡± Hiro said. ¡°It can trigger laughter.¡± ¡°Huh. Weird. But all of this is weird and loco. How do we get him to a rooftop?¡± Juan asked. ¡°Piggyback ride. I can put him up there.¡± Hiro pointed to the nearest rooftop, which was a four-story building. ¡°How far away is your sister?¡± ¡°Just a block, in the basement of an office building. She¡¯s barricaded, like I said, and Carmen can heal Marcello. But we¡¯ll have to fight our way in. It¡¯s likely swarmed with those fuckers. Goblin-faced bat-winged demon things. Est¨¢n cabr¨®n de feos.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll get Marcello to a rooftop, and we can go from there. Does that work?¡± Hiro asked Juan. ¡°Works for me. Marcello?¡± Juan turned to his brother. ¡°Fine, let¡¯s do this.¡± **** Hiro and Juan approached the office building once Marcello was safe on a nearby rooftop. There were bodies strewn about, all victims of the laser incident that saw anyone with a superpower headshotted from the sky. ¡°Shit was loco, man,¡± Juan said, the big man with his baseball bat resting against his shoulder. ¡°They found us.¡± ¡°They?¡± ¡°You remember them supers forcing others to take powers? They found us in our basement shelter, and they were closing in. We were so fucked. And then zap. Lasers from heaven, from the Doom System. Killed the ones that were inside too. Metaphorical shit. Or metaphysical. Yeah, metaphysical.¡± While Juan told him this, Hiro secretly set a {Beacon} on the building. If it truly was their hideout, and they made it out alive, it might be a place he would need to remember. ¡°I appreciate you helping me. I don¡¯t know why you¡¯re doing it, but I¡¯m beyond asking at this point. My baby sister is in there. Not a baby no more, but she¡¯s my sister.¡± Juan touched his chest. ¡°Mi hermana. I¡¯ll owe you. If we make it out, I¡¯ll owe you.¡± ¡°Did you already get the message about finding three others?¡± ¡°I did.¡± ¡°I need more people for my gate,¡± Hiro said. ¡°Same here.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know if the actual gate you go to matters.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t think it does.¡± Juan looked up at the building. ¡°But if we make it out and get to Carmen, like I said, I¡¯ll owe you. But let¡¯s get to her first. I don¡¯t know how many of the bat fuckers are in there, but we saw several fly in, and a big one.¡± ¡°With swords?¡± Hiro asked. Juan took a step forward. ¡°With swords. Shit took me off guard. We would have rushed in had we not been attacked from behind by those wolf things.¡± ¡°Understood. One last thing.¡± ¡°Yeah?¡± ¡°You have a baseball bat,¡± Hiro said. ¡°What¡¯s Marcello got?¡± ¡°A knife. Sick one, too.¡± ¡°And Carmen?¡± ¡°Heh. Don¡¯t worry about her.¡± Juan squinted at him. ¡°What about your Roulette Skill? What you got? Might as well tell me, man.¡± ¡°{Lupine Shift.}¡± ¡°What¡¯s a lupine?¡± ¡°I can turn into a werewolf.¡± ¡°Can you do that now?¡± ¡°Not yet. And you wouldn¡¯t want me too with other people around. It¡¯s hard to control. You?¡± ¡°My skin. It can become hard like armor. It looks like metal, but it¡¯s more like clay. I can¡¯t explain it. Sort of like Colossus from X-Men, but different. Puerto Rican Colossus.¡± Juan nodded. ¡°Marcello called me that.¡± ¡°Hell yeah.¡± Hiro drew his katana. ¡°Lead the way.¡± Rather than take the front entrance, Juan moved around to the side of the building, where he used a dumpster to climb through a broken window. Hiro followed, and dropped down into a room lit by gray light from outside. Juan brought a finger to his lips. Hiro nodded, but he knew it wouldn¡¯t matter if they were quiet or not. Juan and Marcello had both said the monsters ahead were bat-like, which meant they would likely use echolocation. Even if they were quiet, they were still screwed. Juan reached a door, looked to Hiro again, and flashed the number two. He pointed downward, which Hiro interpreted to mean two floors to reach the basement. Juan opened the door and it creaked. This was followed by a terrifying shriek, one that caused the hairs on the back of Hiro¡¯s neck to stand. The sound of flapping wings filled the hall as the first bat monster reached them, a sword gripped tightly in its talons. The monster spiraled toward Juan and Hiro with its sword at the ready, the beast hellbent on cutting them down. Chapter Seven: Gauze Hiro nearly charged at the bladed bat amalgamation but stopped as he saw its wingspan, the way its wings tore into the walls of the hallway, the sound deafening. The seething monster continued to wield a blade, its beady black eyes locked on Juan. ¡°Let¡¯s try this!¡± Hiro hit the monster with {Blade Whirlwind}. Juan followed this up with a powerful strike from his baseball bat that managed to bring the creature down, leaving it prone. Hiro used a precision {Bounce} to launch himself at the monster, where he was able to land on top of it and drive his katana into its face. ¡°Holy shit, man!¡± Juan said as Hiro received Soul Essence. You have new followers! The prompt was cut short by more shrieking down the hallway. ¡°The stairs are that way.¡± Juan pointed to the other end of the hallway, which was mostly dark aside from an arc of grayish light. Hiro removed his blade, blood dripping from its tip. He flicked some of it away. ¡°Right toward their shrieks, yeah?¡± ¡°Right toward them. I¡¯m sorry, bro.¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine. This is what I signed up for.¡± ¡°You didn¡¯t have to sign up for shit.¡± Juan eyed Hiro¡¯s blade. ¡°That¡¯s crazy you got a katana. Wish I had some shit like that. And you actually know how to use that thing?¡± ¡°No.¡± Juan blinked twice. ¡°Right, the Doom System. Fuck it, let¡¯s go.¡± Juan was just stepping over the amalgamation¡¯s sharp metal wing when he stopped. Juan spit on the beast¡¯s carcass, said ¡°Puta madre,¡± under his breath, and moved on as the creature began to disintegrate. Smaller winged monsters gripping swords swung into the hallway as they neared the stairwell. One of the three was instantly disrupted by Hiro¡¯s Hyottoko mask, which caused the monster to flap backward, a wry grin flashing across its toothy face. The other two moved forward, and the first to swing its sword did so with enough abandon that it flipped the creature¡¯s body around. The bat twisted fully, its sharp wings scissoring toward Juan and Hiro. {Blade Whirlwind} beat it back, yet his attack only did a little damage as the second bat rushed forward, its claws grazing against the ground as it moved beneath Hiro¡¯s strike. Juan came down on its head with his weapon, cursed in Spanish, and hit it again. Clank! Hiro blocked the next bat¡¯s sword with his own blade, which forced the creature backward, allowing Juan to beat this one down and kill it. ¡°What the hell is with the last fucker?¡± Juan asked as Hiro finished the first amalgamation with his katana. He nodded to the one that continued to hesitate, as if trying to contain laughter. ¡°Laughing? Fucker lost its mind, man.¡± Hiro moved on the laughing bat triggered by his mask and killed it, gaining more Soul Essence. ¡°This way.¡± Juan took off down the stairwell, Hiro following after him. They were met by more of the smaller creatures, which they easily killed even if they were fighting them in the stairwell. It seemed like the pair would reach the basement without incident when they heard a terrible, screeching roar. ¡°Fuck, fuck,¡± Juan said as they came out onto the basement level. ¡°That¡¯s the one.¡± ¡°How are we going to see it? It¡¯s dark down here.¡± Juan clicked something attached to his backpack strap. A beam of blue light illuminated the space beyond. ¡°Came with the backpack. You didn¡¯t get one?¡±The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. ¡°The light came with the backpack?¡± ¡°Front little pocket.¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t check.¡± Hiro placed his bloody blade on the ground. While Juan stood guard, he turned to his backpack. He didn¡¯t open the main pocket¡ªhe already knew the strange teddy bear was inside. Instead, he went for the front pocket and found a small light on a carabiner. ¡°Damn.¡± ¡°Damn is right, put it on.¡± Hiro put the light on, adjusted its trajectory, and turned it on. He peeked around the corner to see something that resembled the first bat they had killed, only bigger, the creature large enough that it was stuck in the hallway. It shuffled back and forth like an angry drunk, the best still gripping its mangled sword. The bat opened its mouth and released a boiling black liquid that immediately took on the form of human torsos. While the torsos didn¡¯t have lower halves, they were able to move through the black substance on the ground as if it were water. ¡°We cut through its hellspawns and then stab it to death? Something like that?¡± Hiro asked hurriedly. ¡°Yep. I deal with the hellspawns while you keep spamming it with that sword wind power you have. I¡¯m going to transform. Check this.¡± Upon saying this, Juan¡¯s skin hardened into something that looked like a fluid metal. It extended down past his arm, engulfing his baseball bat as well. ¡°It¡¯s called {Steelskin}, some T-1000 shit. Let¡¯s go.¡± The two moved deeper into the hallway, where Juan beat back the inky demon spawns, his strength and power amplified. As he stepped aside, Hiro focused on the large bat monster beyond. He blasted it with bolts from his blade, the light on his chest providing brief, terrifying glimpses into the dark of a creature that shouldn¡¯t exist, amalgamations of the damned. Wham! Juan struck one of its headless torso summons as it reached out for Hiro. Hiro kept spamming the enormous bat monster with his katana attack until it finally let out an ear-piercing shriek, one followed by a death rattle. [A hunter has fallen.] ¡°So that¡¯s what that was.¡± Juan sucked in a deep breath as the metal covering his body began to retract. ¡°This fucking place.¡± He approached a door that had been barricaded. He knocked. ¡°Carmen, it¡¯s me.¡± A muffled female voice responded. ¡°Juanito?¡± There was the sound of something happening on the other side. Juan responded by moving the piece on his side as well, which consisted of a thick board that required lifting to remove. ¡°Locks from the inside and outside. You¡¯ll see why,¡± he told Hiro as the metal covering his body faded. Jaun opened the door to reveal Carmen, the woman wheelchair-bound with a wooden plank across her lap, the room illuminated by floodlights jerry-rigged to car batteries. There were sleeping mats in one corner, and what looked like a seat that would be used in a tattoo studio. The place smelled of sage, which hung from a pipe in one of the corners. Carmen covered her face with the pink and blue scarf wrapped around her neck. ¡°Where¡¯s Marcello? Is he¡ª?¡± ¡°He¡¯s fine.¡± She turned her focus to Hiro. ¡°Who are you?¡± Juan waved her concern away. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about him or his mask, he¡¯s cool. This is Hiro.¡± ¡°And Marcello?¡± she asked. ¡°He got injured, but he¡¯s okay. You can heal him.¡± ¡°Sure. I¡¯ve made more gauze.¡± Carmen gestured toward a table in the corner. ¡°Hiro can have some. Is he always wearing a mask?¡± ¡°I haven¡¯t known him that long.¡± Juan approached the table and got some of the gauze. He brought a roll of it back to Hiro. ¡°But he¡¯s had the mask on since we met.¡± ¡°Sorry about that,¡± Hiro said. ¡°It¡¯s fine, amigo. We all have our reasons. Anyway, this gauze. Carmen¡¯s Roulette Skill gives her saliva healing properties.¡± Juan gestured to a jug of water and some packaged bedsheets. ¡°She¡¯s been making gauze for us by cutting the sheets into strips.¡± ¡°And licking them,¡± Carmen added. ¡°It¡¯s weird, but it works.¡± ¡°See for yourself,¡± Juan said as handed Hiro the roll of gauze, which was dry. Healing Gauze, A-Rank Description: Apply to quickly heal an open wound. Healing Gauze cannot mend a broken bone. ¡°Thanks.¡± The Healing Gauze was dry, and while a bit odd, Hiro quickly put it away in the front of his bag as Carmen slurped water from a Big Gulp cup. ¡°I told you to bring some gauze out with you,¡± she scolded Juan. ¡°I thought Marcello had some.¡± ¡°You both should have some, Juanito. Why am I making it if you don¡¯t carry it with you?¡± ¡°We will next time. Sorry¡ªhey!¡± Hiro was shoved aside by a medium-sized amalgamation, the winged beast cutting into his exposed arm as it rushed forward. The beast lunged for Carmen, brought its teeth down onto her head, and ripped her out of her wheelchair. Hiro heard the sickening sound of her neck cracking, her upper torso going limp. He drew his katana, but by this point, Juan had reached the monster, the big man filled with fury as he beat the monster to death with his baseball bat. The worst part of all of it was watching Juan strike the amalgamation repeatedly, the way Carmen¡¯s body flapped against the ground, and the way it eventually fell under the weight of the amalgamation as the monster died. Juan turned back to him, the big man covered in blood. He pointed his bat at Hiro. ¡°You could have done something.¡± Tears fell from his cheeks. ¡°You could have fucking done something!¡± Chapter Eight: The Lady in the Yellow Raincoat Hiro kept his katana at the ready. Blood trickled down his arm, the sting a result of being struck by the bat amalgamation¡¯s razor sharp wing. Across from him, Juan gripped his baseball bat tightly, the big man trembling and poised to attack Hiro. ¡°You don¡¯t want to do this,¡± Hiro said. I don¡¯t want to do this, he thought, certain that he would be able to do more damage than Juan, who was enraged at the moment, not seeing straight. ¡°She¡¯s fucking dead. Mi hermana¡­¡± Juan choked back a sob. ¡°Muerta.¡± ¡°It wasn¡¯t me, man. It was¡ª¡± ¡°The pinche Doom System. I know. But you could have¡­ you could have¡­¡± Juan lowered his bat and let out a deep, painful sigh. ¡°Argh!¡± He kicked the amalgamation¡¯s body, which was already starting to fade away as its soul essence poured into Juan¡¯s body. Juan buried his head in his hand. ¡°I¡¯m sorry. Fuck. I¡¯m sorry, man.¡± ¡°I can get Marcello and bring him here. Would that help?¡± ¡°No. I need to explain this all to him, especially before he sees her.¡± Juan dropped to the ground and cradled his dead sister in his arms. ¡°Fuck, Carmen,¡± he sobbed, ¡°why did it have to be you?¡± Hiro stood there dumbfounded. Death was nothing new to him by this point, but he could feel Juan¡¯s utter despair. While he didn¡¯t have a sibling, he had a few close friends growing up that he counted as siblings. Juan¡¯s sister didn¡¯t deserve this. None of them did. Juan sniffed, let out a deep breath, wiped his face, and stood with Carmen in his arms. He gently placed her on the sleeping mat. Once he grabbed his bat, Juan joined Hiro at the front of the room. ¡°Let¡¯s get Marcello. I¡¯ll tell him about our sister. And one more thing.¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°When the gate opens, you can count me there, me and Marcello. I owe you.¡± He choked back a sudden sob. ¡°I owe you twice for nearly attacking you. Jokes on me because you have a sword, but I owe you. Sorry for that.¡± Hiro hesitated. I¡¯m only supposed to bring one person to the gate when it opens. But maybe I can find other people and form a group, and people can choose partners for whatever lies ahead. I¡¯m supposed to meet Valeria about it tomorrow. We¡¯ll figure something out. Maybe she hasn¡¯t found someone yet¡­ ¡°Where is your gate?¡± Juan grunted. ¡°Not far from the Financial District.¡± Hiro gave him the general location, never revealing the parking garage. ¡°Yeah? I know where that is. My brother and me, we¡¯ll be there.¡± Juan looked back at his sister one last time. ¡°Let¡¯s get Marcello. And like I said, let me break the news to him.¡± **** Hiro didn¡¯t watch. As soon as he delivered Marcello to his older brother, he took to the roofs, once again aimed at the food bank. He crouched on a rooftop several blocks away and pulled out his phone to check the timer: 02:14:17:39 02:14:17:38 02:14:17:37 Fuck. Hiro squinted up at the gray clouds above and was transported back to Japan, the time he¡¯d spent there with his mother and grandfather. Something his grandfather said came to him, a phrase that had guided him over the last year to the point that Hiro had it poorly tattooed in Japanese on his wrist. »ÒÉ«¤Îë…¡¢ ìF¤ÎÖФεƤꡪ É÷ÖؤËßM¤á¡£ Gray clouds hover low. Trust, a lantern in the fog. Choose your path with care. It wasn¡¯t meant to be a haiku, but Hiro liked to translate it this way. He shook his head, suppressing any memories that were dancing on the periphery of his mind. Both his father and his grandfather had inspired him in their own ways when the gates appeared. But now, Hiro was questioning all of it. If Hiro had just taken a superpower back when the gates first opened, things would be over now. He wouldn¡¯t have just watched a raging bat amalgamation kill a helpless woman in a wheelchair. Hiro was alive, but at what cost? Hiro shifted his backpack around and removed the gauze Carmen had given him. Do I just wrap it around my arm? He examined the wound that the creature had given him, which cut across his left tricep. It stung every time he moved his arm. There were no instructions provided to him, and it made sense to wrap the gauze around his arm because he had limited quantities. It was magical, enchanted, whatever any of this meant. He wanted to preserve it. Hiro flexed his arm, wincing at the pain of the fresh wound. Blood had trickled down past his elbow, a trail of it reaching the palm of his hand. Let¡¯s just try a little. He started with a small swath of the gauze. Using a bit of his katana, he cut a piece long enough to cover the wound. Hiro placed it over the gash and instantly felt a tingling sensation. The piece of gauze vanished and Hiro¡¯s wound healed. ¡°Amazing.¡± he touched his arm again. Not even a scar. He thought about relaxing on the roof or just a bit longer and gathering his wits, but decided to move on toward the food bank, out of curiosity. He had found another survivor, but he still wanted to see what happened to the food bank. This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. Hiro spotted a steeple ahead. He landed on a building near a church and peered down to the courtyard, assuming that someone might be using the place as a refuge. What he saw instead was the stone statue of a female religious figure standing outside, the priestess with a pillar-sized sword resting across her shoulders. She wore something that looked like the clothing a priest would wear during mass, the robes cast over angled armor with sharp edges. A red halo traced around her head. His phone buzzed. ¡°How do I know if it has a Zone of Influence?¡± ¡°She definitely has one of those types.¡± Even without the red halo, the priestess was a giant, easily twice Hiro¡¯s height with a stone sword that could crush him. The mention of Soul Essence reminded him to check how much he needed before he reached the next level. Soul Essence (SE): 9 [1 SE to next level.] Just one more¡­ Hiro considered his options. He knew that his katana could cut through metal. He had already experienced that in the battle against the bronze girl. Would it work the same way for stone? Perhaps, but he would need to test it somewhere else. And to know that he would be stuck in a fight against an enemy of that size, without the ability to shift to his lupine form, would be risky. Maybe it is best to find another monster to kill, reach the next level, and come back. Hiro was just turning away, with plans of jumping to the next rooftop and continuing on, when a person landed in front of him. She was an older woman in a yellow raincoat with a red umbrella at her side. Because of the hood of her raincoat, he couldn¡¯t quite make out her face, but he did see the wrinkles near her lips, the way that she was hunched over. She had to be in her sixties. ¡°I¡¯m not the main character,¡± Hiro whispered to whom he assumed was a Survivor, just in case the priestess Sentry in the courtyard below could actually hear them. A smile traced across the woman¡¯s face. ¡°That¡¯s too bad for you. I am the main character.¡± She opened her red umbrella, and with it came a sudden barrage of blades. Hiro jumped back to avoid them. He tripped over the edge of the roof and fell over the side, where he hit the ground, and bounced into the courtyard of the church. The Sentry turned toward him and brought her blade to the ready as a red dome spread over the two, trapping Hiro inside. Glancing back, Hiro was able to see the woman in the yellow raincoat beyond. It had been her ploy all along. Hiro was now stuck in the Sentry¡¯s Zone of Influence. **** Instinct kicked in. Hiro triggered {Bounce} to test launch himself out of the Sentry¡¯s Zone of Influence, which only resulted in him receiving a jolt when his head hit the top of the red barrier. Fuck, not going to work! He landed at the edge and grimaced. The priestess statue charged forward and brought her sword down, the huge blade cracking into the pavement. Bouncing left, Hiro collided with the domed barrier and received another jolt. He dodged the priestess Sentry¡¯s next attack, and noticed something in the process. It took the Sentry all of thirty seconds to lift her huge blade and slam it back down. She didn¡¯t seem to have the same awareness as the horned tigers, and while she presented a formidable opponent, her movements were starting to make sense to him. Lift blade, slam it down. I need to break her balance! The first thing to test would be how sharp his blade was compared to hers. Will it cut through her outer form like it did with the bronze statue? Hiro dodged her next strike and caught a glimpse of the woman in the raincoat still watching him. ¡°Bitch,¡± he whispered as he tested {Blade Whirlwind} on the priestess¡¯s weapon. His attack landed, but it didn¡¯t cut through her massive stone blade. Once he bound out of the way, this time avoiding the jolt from the Zone of Influence, Hiro ttried his katana again on the Sentry¡¯s backside. Success! The Sentry staggered forward. Hiro rushed forward to deliver another strike. The priestess whirled around and swept her blade at him. He jumped over her enormous weapon and managed to nick her with his blade. Much to his delight, his attack landed, the tip of his katana drawing a wound that cut through her stone robes and deep into the rock-hard flesh of her arm. The priestess Sentry came down hard with a double-footed stomp that sent a shockwave toward Hiro. The shockwave forced him onto his back. Whumpf! Her shadow moved over Hiro. He rolled left as the priestess brought her blade down, sending bits of gravel into the air. Let¡¯s try this! Hiro jumped up and struck the barrier trapping him in the fight. Rather than drop back to the ground, his trajectory sent him right into the towering Sentry. He slammed into her before she could bat him down with her sword. ¡°Oof!¡± Now bent over her shoulder, still holding his katana, Hiro put everything he had into scrambling to the left. It was a one-in-a-million shot, yet his position allowed him to drive his blade into the side of her head. She flung him off her shoulder with her spare hand. Wham! Hiro struck the barrier and immediately hit the ground. He spit blood, and got to his feet, barely noticing the scrapes now on his face and arms. He expected the priestess to come for him again. Instead, Hiro paused as the Sentry staggered for a moment, his katana jutting out of the side of her head. She made one more attempt to strike him, but her attempt fell short. [A Sentry has fallen.] The Sentry gracefully took a knee and lowered her head, her body still. Hiro hadn¡¯t put much thought into how he would actually kill her, but seeing her now, it was clear that a blade to the head would do the trick. Will the other Sentries be like this? Level up! You have new followers! Soul Essence poured into him as Hiro received his first level, all of which he ignored. He glanced back to the rooftop. The lady in the yellow raincoat was gone. Or is she? Hiro was certain that she would attack him with her weird red umbrella, yet the woman was nowhere to be found. ¡°Fuck,¡± he whispered as the red dome started to fizzle away. He turned back to the priestess, all but expecting her to vanish like his other opponents. Yet she remained. This reminded him of the bull and girl statue he had first squared off against, which never disappeared. Were they Sentries too? It would make sense¡­ Hiro approached the statue and retrieved his katana. It came out smoothly. He was just stepping away, blade still drawn, when his phone buzzed. After scanning the rooftop again to make sure the lady wasn¡¯t there, Hiro checked his phone to find a message from his Companion. ¡°Sure,¡± Hiro said, still looking around. ¡°Do what?¡± ¡°Loot?¡± Hiro looked at the priestess¡¯s gigantic blade, easily the length of a canoe. The sword was so disproportionately large that it seemed to mock the very concept of a hand-held weapon. ¡°How the hell am I supposed to lift that thing?¡± Chapter Nine: Keep on Looting in the Free World Even though Hiro didn¡¯t quite trust his Companion, he took its advice and touched the hilt of the enormous blade that the stone priestess had left behind. Much to his surprise, the blade shrunk until it was about the size of a pocket knife. Roulette Weapon: Buster Kunai Grade: B Description: While it is on your person, the Buster Kunai is only a few inches long. When released with intention, this unique blade morphs back into its traditional size. ¡°Dude, what?¡± he whispered as he moved to some cover. Yet again, Hiro scanned the rooftops for the woman in the yellow raincoat. He didn¡¯t see her, and he had no way to know which direction she had gone. He returned his focus to the small dagger in his hand. When released with intention, it morphs back into its traditional size. Does that mean I should throw it? Hiro looked back up at the fallen priestess Sentry, who remained in the courtyard, frozen. He thought about throwing it at her, but then wondered if she would come alive again. While he had taken her weapon, she didn¡¯t seem dead. Even without her sword, she would present quite the challenge for any Survivor who approached. Maybe a bad idea. After considering other options, Hiro decided to toss the new weapon a few feet away from him, some place where he could grab it and move to the roofs quickly. ¡°Here goes nothing.¡± Hiro flicked the dagger into the dirt about seven feet away. He gasped as the dagger transformed back to its regular size midair. It didn¡¯t stab perfectly into the ground, but it certainly left a mark. The implications hit him immediately. A throwing knife that morphs into an enormous sword? I will need to practice this somewhere, to get used to using it. Another thought came: It¡¯s a Roulette Weapon, meaning I¡¯ll only be able to use it this interim. That part sucks. After making sure he was clear, Hiro slipped out from his cover, and touched the grip of the Buster Kunai. It shrunk, faster than he expected, so fast that it caused him to nearly stumble forward. He returned to cover, where he threw the Buster Kunai once again to test it. As it had before, the blade bloomed in size and stabbed into the ground. ¡°Nice. Fuck, yes.¡± Hiro retrieved the blade and it shrunk. He kept it in his hand as he leaped for the rooftop. {Bounce} sent him two rooftops away, where he again checked his surroundings, searching for the woman who had attacked him. Hiro crouched near some outdoor furniture covered in leaves and debris. Do I even need a sheath? I¡¯ll only have it for two more days. He ran his finger along the blade. It actually wasn¡¯t sharp at all in this form, more like a letter opener. ¡°In that case, in the pocket you go.¡± Before leaving the area, he used {Beacon} to set a marker. The lady in the yellow raincoat had been in the general vicinity. Perhaps she lived around there. Hiro couldn¡¯t be certain, but he certainly wasn¡¯t going to let her get away with forcing them into a fight against the priestess. ¡°I¡¯ll be back,¡± he whispered. Hiro bounced away until he was comfortably far enough from where he¡¯d encountered the woman. He checked his status to see that he had gone up in Dex and Reg, just as his Companion had said: STR: 1.6 [+1 Roulette Boost] STA: 2.4 [+2 Roulette Boost] DEX: 1.4 [+1 Roulette Boost] REG: 1.3 [+1 Roulette Boost]Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. MIND: 2.1 [+2 Roulette Boost) Soul Essence (SE): 10 [20 SE to next level.] He blinked through more of the information. Name: Hiro Johnson Current Title: Wolf Ronin of Wall Street Level: 2 Followers: 1,231 Interim Performance Grade: D City Survivors: 876, 579 World Survivors: 380, 922, 641 More followers. Nice. He removed his black Hyottoko mask and put it in his backpack. He wiped a little sweat from his face and took a quick look around. Hiro was now on the rooftop patio of an exclusive apartment building, a place with outdoor seating and fake grass. A home like this would have cost millions in the City, especially with its location. Now, it was abandoned. And since it was so high up, it probably hadn¡¯t been pillaged yet. A grin appeared as he thought of what he might find inside. Hiro had been so wrapped up in the powers he had been given, and the ever present danger, that he hadn¡¯t really thought about how beneficial they would be to gathering supplies. He approached a large glass door and tried the handle. It was locked. Hiro could just break the glass, but that would be loud, and he didn¡¯t know how many people had the same kind of power that he had which would allow them to easily join him. The lady in the yellow raincoat seemed like she could fly to some degree, and if she heard breaking glass, she might investigate. Hiro produced a lock pick from his coin pocket. It was something he had learned to do months ago, when he was living in the subway with a woman named Monica, who was no longer with him. She had been great at picking locks, and had taught him everything she knew. Much of it began with focus, which Hiro did as he went to work. The handle popped open and he was in. ¡°Time for some rich people looting,¡± he whispered as he stepped inside the suite. There was a smell in the penthouse, but it wasn¡¯t so bad. It was mostly sewage, no dead pets or anything of the sort, and Hiro knew better than to open the refrigerator. But that didn¡¯t mean he couldn¡¯t search the cabinets. He found an unopened bag of Lays sour cream and onion chips and nearly gasped with delight. Hiro dug in, savoring the salty treat. He¡¯d grown used to scrounging for food, but wasn¡¯t often he came upon something like an unopened bag of chips, one that hadn¡¯t been crushed. He continued shoveling the chips into his mouth. In searching the cabinets, Hiro found an unopened jar of peanut butter, which he took too. There was a can of cannellini beans and dry pasta. He took both of these as well. Hiro had cooking supplies in the fallout shelter. With the water he had received from the gate, the pasta and beans would make for another meal. The peanut butter would provide much-needed protein and fat as well. They might be good on the Survivor Tenders, too. He moved on, and took a spiral staircase up to a huge loft with the workstation, with sweeping views of the city, and a freshly made king-size bed. Hiro sat on the bed and resisted the urge to fall backward and doze off. Later, he thought as he stepped into the closet. A man had lived there, some kind of tech bro by the looks of his clothing. Hiro changed to a new pair of black jeans, fresh underwear and socks, a Supreme t-shirt, and he was about to change into a black hoodie, but decided to stash that away for now. His current hoodie was missing its sleaves, allowing for an easier werewolf transformation. I guess this is as good of a place as any. Hiro placed his dirty clothing in the hamper, collected the rest of the clean underwear, a few pairs of socks, and put them in his backpack. From there it was back to the kitchen, where he checked the drawers for random odds and ends. ¡°Nice.¡± Hiro took some batteries, rubber bands, and duct tape. He found a notebook and a pen, plus some protective gear including plastic gloves and surgical masks. Upon checking the silverware drawer, he decided to grab a single set of cutlery as well. Just need to check the bathroom, he thought as he crossed the swanky studio apartment. The bathroom he found a bottle of aspirin in the medicine cabinet, a toothbrush in its package, toothpaste, and an unopened bar of soap. Hiro checked a few of the pill bottles and recognized the word ¡®Alprazolam.¡¯ ¡°This is Xanax,¡± he said as he read the label. ¡°Caution: may cause drowsiness. Alcohol may intensify this effect. Use care when operating a car or dangerous machinery. Keep in a cool, dry place. A full bottle? Hell yeah.¡± Things like this would have been something Hiro could have bartered a month or so back. It could still have its usages, so he took it, and turned back to the living room. His bag was heavier now, especially after stuffing a blanket into the top, right over the teddy bear. Once his Hyottoko mask was back over his face, Hiro turned to the penthouse¡¯s rooftop exit and immediately ducked behind a couch. Holy shit, he thought as a large webbed foot landed on the patio outside. It was either a monster, or a hunter, the beast larger than a pterodactyl, with wings covered in matted black feathers. The more he looked at it, the more it resembled an overgrown raven, at least its body. An idea came to Hiro. He removed his Buster Kunai from the pocket of his backpack. He would only get one shot, but he was getting used to these sorts of odds. With a deep breath out Hiro crept toward the back door, prepared to spear the winged monster with his new Roulette Weapon. Chapter Ten: I Shot the Albatross What needed to happen next played out in Hiro¡¯s mind¡¯s eye. He would slide the rooftop patio door open, hurtle his Buster Kunai at the winged monster, kill it (hopefully), or be prepared to slam the door shut, turn, and run for his life. Hiro checked his phone to see the time: 02:13:09:49 02:13:08:48 02:13:07:47 He seemed to keep checking his phone at hour intervals. It was stressful. It reminded Hiro of what it had been like when he worked for the delivery service. A different kind of torture. Maybe there is something fun about this after all... The grin on Hiro¡¯s face was one of shame. Then, it was one of pleasure as he crept to the sliding glass door, which was covered by drapes. Before he moved on the winged monster, Hiro silently practiced his throw. What¡¯s the best way to kill this damn thing? He looked at his hand as if it didn¡¯t belong to him. Should I throw it like this? Will it laugh at my mask, giving me a better chance to kill it? A year ago, Hiro would have pulled out his phone again and watched a YouTube video on how to throw a knife. Now, no such luck. As crazy as it would be to fly out onto the rooftop and spear the winged monstrosity, Hiro decided to go with the option that would leave the least amount of room for a misstep. To anyone watching, it would look a bit comical. But to Hiro, it made sense: Yank the door open, charge out, overhand tossed the kunai into the beast, and prepare to {Bounce} out of the way if necessary. ¡°Do it,¡± Hiro said, psyching himself up. ¡°Do it.¡± He swung the door open and tossed the Buster Kunai. Fwitt! His blade morphed to its full size midair and stabbed right into the shoulder of the enormous bird. Hiro stumbled backward at the sight of the creature, which was a sick amalgamation of a pterodactyl, a dragon, and a sinewy raven, its talons big enough to rip Hiro in half. Instead of lunging for him, the startled raven monster screeched and jumped off the roof. ¡°Shit, shit, shit!¡± Hiro ran to the edge of the roof to find that the creature hadn¡¯t actually landed in the streets below. Instead, it tore through the glass outer wall of another building, several stories down. It was still alive, flapping its wings and screeching madly. It wasn¡¯t a hunter, it wasn¡¯t a Sentry. Was it just another random monster? Are they really that big? How am I going to get into that window? Another thought came to him, one that had him shaking his head. Could I time a jump correctly? Maybe there was a chance in a videogame that Hiro would be able to do something like this. If not, he would be able to practice it again and again until the muscle memory was so perfect that he would make it through the glass. But this was the real world. Even if he had recently fought a stone priestess the size of a totem pole, or used a Japanese throwing dagger that morphed into a buster sword to take down a creature that shouldn¡¯t exist¡ªhe wasn¡¯t about to make that jump. But then Hiro spotted some people in the streets below, a pair of Survivors that hadn¡¯t seen him yet. They managed to get the door open of the building in question and charge inside, ready to claim his kill. I guess I¡¯m going to have to fast-track this. It didn¡¯t seem like it was possible, and if it didn¡¯t work out, Hiro would simply go through another window. As stupid as that sounded. There was no time to gather nerves. Hiro had to go. Hit the streets, bounce up to the window. Hit the streets, bounce up to the window¡­ He gulped and threw himself to the streets below, where he bounced, and flailed his arms above him in hopes of reaching the monster. Hiro hit his mark, both feet on the ground, all of his nerves firing at once as landed in the office building. He looked ahead into a scattering of cubicles, the raven-monster beating one wing as it tried to use its beak to pull the blade out. Hiro used {Blade Whirlwind} as the winged creature spilled forward, its body crushing keyboards and computer monitors. The amalgamation slammed its beak into the ground and pulled itself forward, madness in its bloodshot eyes. Hiro hit the creature with his attack several more times, blood and blackened feathers spritzing the air. He stood his ground, slashing at the winged monstrosity again and again until it finally fell.Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. ¡°Fuck you,¡± Hiro whispered as he Soul Essence poured into him. He approached the carcass and placed his hand on the grip of his Buster Kunai. The throwing knife that could turn into an impossibly large sword instantly shrank. Hiro was just putting it away in his pocket when he heard the sound of footsteps. A man and a woman exploded into the office to find Hiro standing there with his katana drawn, his crazed black mask over his face. The image startled the pair, who both jumped back upon seeing him. ¡°Wh-who are you?¡± the man asked, his voice trembling. In any other year, the guy would be the kind of person Hiro would expect to see in the Financial District in a fleece vest over a light blue dress shirt, maybe a red tie, dark gray khakis, and a paycheck that Hiro could have only dreamed about. Now, this man was a Survivor just like him. The Doom System may have been an asshole, but it was also a great equalizer. ¡°I am not the main character.¡± Hiro pointed his blade at the man. ¡°You?¡± ¡°Nah, bro, I¡¯m not the main character. Fuck the Doom System.¡± ¡°You?¡± Hiro asked the woman, who had frizzy hair and glasses held together by duct tape. ¡°Eff that. We just¡­ we just thought we could get an easy kill.¡± Hiro lowered his blade. ¡°Sorry. It¡¯s dark in here, and we always have to be careful. Two against one if you decide to try something.¡± ¡°We don¡¯t want to try anything,¡± the woman assured him. ¡°See? No weapon.¡± She dropped her knife and showed him the palm of her hands. ¡°Beth!¡± the man hissed at her. ¡°Sorry. That was stupid of me!¡± She has powers, and she has a Roulette Skill, Hiro reminded himself as he kept the tip of his blade pointed at the ground, aware that he would be able to draw it at any moment. ¡°Drop your weapon, Craig,¡± the woman told her companion. ¡°Just do it.¡± ¡°Wait, really?¡± ¡°Just do it.¡± She hit him lightly. ¡°Do it, Craig.¡± ¡°Ugh. Fine.¡± Craig dropped a baton that resembled something a police officer would carry. ¡°See?¡± he told Hiro. ¡°Everything is good. Are you from around here?¡± ¡°Not really.¡± ¡°We lived in SoHo before all this,¡± the man said. ¡°I¡¯m Craig, she¡¯s Beth.¡± Hiro acknowledged this with a grunt. ¡°Why didn¡¯t you take a power?¡± ¡°When the gates were giving out powers? Nah, it just seemed sort of strange to me, you know,¡± Craig said. ¡°I thought about it. But it seemed too good to be true, and then everything else happened. The one that really got me was the religious figures. Well, it didn¡¯t get me, I knew it was bullshit.¡± Hiro nodded. That had been a disaster. The gates had introduced all of the most famous religious figures back into the world, which turned out just as horribly as anyone could imagine. Hiro heard it was especially rough in places like India, where there was a large pantheon, all with their own viewpoints. But it was bad in the West as well. ¡°People shouldn¡¯t meet who they deem to be their creators,¡± Beth said. ¡°Sort of that old story of not meeting your hero, you know?¡± ¡°But it was all fake,¡± Craig reminded her. ¡°None of it was real. Even if it seems real, even if it looks real, it¡¯s not. It¡¯s the Doom System, and it¡¯s bullshit. I don¡¯t get what the gates are trying to do anyway. Giving us powers, gods and goddesses, taking away our weapons, screwing with our bank accounts, ruining us financially, then killing everyone with a superpower and forcing us into this game. I¡¯m missing a few things there, but you know what I mean. And now, this.¡± ¡°What do you think it is?¡± the woman asked Hiro. ¡°These gates, the Doom System, all of it, what do you think it¡¯s trying to do?¡± ¡°I think it told us exactly what it is trying to do. It¡¯s trying to entertain us, or it thinks it is,¡± Hiro said. ¡°The Doom System thinks it¡¯s helping us. Same with all the other things that it did.¡± Craig wiped his nose with his sleeve. ¡°You think it¡¯s alien?¡± ¡°Anything that we don¡¯t understand is alien,¡± Hiro said. This wasn¡¯t his quote. It was something his dad once told when he asked them if the US government actually had things like UFOs. He knew his father once had security clearance. But his dad never elaborated on what he could have possibly seen aside from that quote of his. ¡°You go through stages with these goddamn gates,¡± Craig said with disdain. ¡°You hate it, you get used to it, and then things settle down for a while and everyone accepts it. But this is different this time. Everyone with a superpower is dead, and all of us are forced to compete in some epic video game. That¡¯s what it feels like. All the stupid stats.¡± Hiro had been on the verge of inviting Craig and Beth to his gate, but the statement made him glad he hadn¡¯t had the chance to mention it yet. I don¡¯t know what will happen next, but I¡¯m not ready to throw in the towel. And as he looked the pair over again, it seemed like they were on the verge. There was desperation in their eyes, and the way they dropped their weapons showed how willing they were to give up. Beth was right. It had been incredibly stupid to toss their weapons down, even if they had insane Roulette Skills. ¡°It was nice to meet both of you,¡± Hiro finally said after the conversation died down. ¡°Nice to meet you, too,¡± Craig told him. If he was disappointed that their encounter wouldn¡¯t go on for longer, he didn¡¯t show it. The man merely looked at Beth and shrugged. ¡°A final question, if you don¡¯t mind.¡± ¡°Sure,¡± Beth told Hiro. ¡°A woman in a yellow raincoat and a red umbrella. Have you seen anyone like that?¡± The two exchanged glances. Beth spoke, but she did so while she was still looking at Craig, not Hiro, which told him something. ¡°I don¡¯t think I¡¯ve seen anyone like that.¡± ¡°Right. Well, when you do, tell her I am looking for her.¡± ¡°And your name?¡± Beth laughed nervously. ¡°Sort of a weird way to leave a message, but if we do ever see someone like that, I suppose we could tell them something.¡± ¡°The man in the black mask. She¡¯ll know who I am. A word of advice: if you do see her, maybe don¡¯t tell her anything if she gets too close. Maybe, you run. She tried to have me killed, you know.¡± ¡°We¡¯re sorry to hear that,¡± Craig said carefully. **** Hiro arrived at the food bank near the river. From his current vantage point, he could see the bridge that connected over to Long Island, the water sparking, not a soul in sight. Or so it seemed. Across the cityscape, thousands of stories like his were being played out. There were Hunters, monsters, Sentries, and Survivors. It was mayhem. The system was fucked. And weirdly enough, Hiro was starting to enjoy it. No one¡¯s there, he thought as he looked down at the food bank. There could be supplies, but they¡¯ve probably all been looted by now¡­ Hiro considered his options and decided it was time to head back. Home it is. He turned toward the Financial District, toward his fallout shelter and the parking garage. And it¡¯s time to deal with the two horned tigers¡­ Chapter Eleven: Three Years on a Stone Back in the Financial District Hiro leaped down to the streets, bounced once, and landed. He dropped his katana, his bag of supplies, and immediately triggered {Lupine Shift} as the first horned tiger lunged for him. Umph! He met its attack head-on, Hiro able to tackle the tiger, wrangle it using its own horns, and snap its neck back. Lupine Hiro roared, the world around him a blur as the second tiger released a poison mist from the tip of its tail. To avoid the mist, Hiro jumped onto a parked SUV, crunching its roof. The tiger leaped from an overturned car to the SUV, its tail continuing to release a green mist that corroded everything it touched. Hiro bolted away and the horned beast threw itself toward a building, where it ran along its sidewall in pursuit of Hiro, whose mind was reeling from his transformation. He could feel his heart thumping; Hiro could feel the monster inside him crying out as he stood his ground. The tiger slammed into lupine Hiro, its claws grazing against the skin but not drawing blood. He hit back, first with a fist, then his own claws. Rage filled Hiro as he hopped on top of the tiger, where he was quickly bucked off. The beast moved in for the kill as it landed on top of him, where it tore into his shoulder, and shook its head left and right in an attempt to rip a good chunk of flesh off Hiro. All the tiger ended up doing was shredding his hoodie even more as Hiro bit back. He tasted blood. Hiro bit harder until he could feel the tiger¡¯s neck giving way. The tiger lost its power and Hiro kicked it off. He staggered to his feet, turned back to the beast, and roared until it felt like someone had drawn their fingernails against the inside of his throat. Even with the pain it felt good to scream like that, good to be so primal. Then came the hunger pangs. No¡­ Hiro tried to tell his wolven body. But he had lost control, his world a blur of viscera and blood as he started to feed on one of the tigers. It all stopped once Hiro transformed back. He fell to his knees, belly swelling, Soul Essence pouring into him. You have new followers! Performance upgrade! Level up! Skill Level up! Sword Proficiency, E-Rank > D-Rank Sword Proficiency, D-Rank Upgrade Available: 0/100 Kills [Sword quality based on skill level.] His phone buzzed. Hiro managed to check the message as he stumbled away: There was no time to recover. Even as the tiger bodies faded away, Hiro knew that they could attract attention. He grabbed his katana and his bag, and hurried into the parking garage, unaware that he was leaving a trail of blood behind him. Almost back, Hiro thought as he found the ladder that led down to the fallout shelter. Navigating the dark with ease, he yanked the pull cord on the rusted generator, its engine sputtering to life. He flicked on the floodlights and sat for a moment, his arms clutching his knees as the transformation fully left him.If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. What a mess. Hiro wiped fresh tiger blood from his lips and tried to ignore its metallic taste. To distract himself, he checked his status and saw that his performance grade had improved. He also noted that there were less Survivors in both the city and the world. Makes sense, sadly, he thought as his eyes traced over his family altar. Followers: 1,497 Interim Performance Grade: C- City Survivors: 851, 089 World Survivors: 379, 239, 814 Beast Death Count: 95/791 Hunter Death Count: 9/89 ¡°Good. Fuck these monsters.¡± I don¡¯t actually know what time it is, yet I am able to track the passage of time through the countdown¡­ Hiro pulled out his phone. 02:12:21:36 02:12:21:35 02:12:21:34 ¡°Companion, will I get a Sentry count?¡± The text appeared on the screen. Hiro drank some water to ease his pulsing throat. ¡°Great. I have to deal with Sentries, Hunters, monsters, and asshole Survivors.¡± ¡°Easier said than done.¡± Hiro wiped his mouth again with his arm. ¡°Anyway. Whatever, for now. Tell me more about these enemy health bars I now have access to.¡± ¡°Will I see health bars for Survivors?¡± ¡°That means they would have to attack me first, or be a known enemy, like the bitch in the yellow raincoat.¡± Hiro unpacked the items he had taken from the rooftop apartment and arranged them in his fallout shelter. He thought about what needed to happen next. Being able to jump to the top of some of the largest buildings in the world makes me want to head to Central Park, toward Billionaires¡¯ Row. There will definitely be some good loot in those condos. Some of the buildings in Billionaire¡¯s Row were over seventy stories tall, which would make it hard to get to the top. Hiro was used to jumping down to the ground and heading back up to a rooftop with this power, but he didn¡¯t know what doing it from that high up would look like. Even if using {Bounce} is possible from a seventy-story building, it would be scary as shit. I definitely wouldn¡¯t be able to jump to the streets. I would have to work my way up and carefully work my way down. Fucking carefully. Over the last year, Hiro had mostly kept to the subway beneath the city until he¡¯d discovered the long abandoned fallout shelter, a product of the Second Cold War. Yet now, he felt as if the Big Apple was his oyster, especially with his newfound powers. Better safe than sorry, his dad said constantly. A Japanese proverb his mother had been fond of saying came to him: ʯ¤ÎÉϤˤâÈýÄê - Three years on a stone. The proverb implied that persistence and patience would eventually pay off. Does it, though? he had thought numerous times after seeing both his parents suffer for following these concepts. It was no wonder his parents had liked each other in the beginning. They were more alike than they knew, which also led to their eventual separation. Hiro glanced back over to his family altar, which had a picture of the three of them before the separation. It also had a picture of his grandfather. Maybe I should stay here. For just a bit. Three hours on a stone. Hiro needed just three hours for {Lupine Shift} to reset. In the meantime, he could plot his way toward Central Park using a few maps he had procured. He examined his maps, which were plastered against one of the walls. There was a subway map, followed by tourist maps, and even a few hand drawn parts noting where the rail line went and where the tunnels had collapsed. Hiro¡¯s eyes fell onto another famous landmark, the church on Fifth Avenue not far from Billionaire¡¯s Row. That could be a place to start. There will be Hunters, monsters, Sentries, and other Survivors. Kill more, and I¡¯ll get more followers. As frightening as these prospects could be, they brought a smile to Hiro¡¯s face. The outside world was exciting, even if it was extremely dangerous. He recalled what his Companion had said about banding with others. Tomorrow, or in about eight to twelve hours judging by his understanding of time, Hiro planned to meet with Valeria. He would let her know that he had found two Survivors, Juan and Marcello, brothers who had agreed to join their cause. ¡°Is there anything else I need to know?¡± he asked his phone. ¡°Why do I need followers for a merchant?¡± Hiro asked, thinking of the prompt he often got after a fight or a daring exploit. Chapter Twelve: Twin Bunnies Hiro continued along the darkened subway line, the light on his backpack illuminating the path ahead, a jumping beacon. Months ago, even after the trains stopped, it terrified him to travel this way. Humans and the dark were never bedfellows. But Hiro had grown used to the silence, the oily smell of the tracks, the drip-drip of some pipe, and the scurry of rats. And now, he had a katana. Before, it had just been Hiro with whatever weapon he, or Monica, the woman he was with at the time, could fashion. Crowbars, bats, knives, other things. He recalled when they came to the realization that it was actually safer underground, that they could keep to the shadows and avoid supers and other humans. Not that there weren¡¯t people that lived in the abandoned subway system of New York City¡­ Hiro had encountered dozens of subway dwellers, but most had moved underground for a reason¡ªto be left alone, to wait it out, to survive while it all fell¡ªthis created a sort of underworld honor system. I don¡¯t mess with you; you don¡¯t mess with me, Hiro thought as he reached a silver subway train. He had decided to use the sewer system because he was bored; he didn¡¯t want to wait in his fallout shelter for three hours to pass so he could trigger {Lupine Shift} again. There wasn¡¯t a lot of room between the train and the gritty black wall of the subway, but it worked. Hiro stepped over debris and continued around a rotting body that had been picked apart by rodents. He held his breath, and barely shook his head. Because of the length of the train, it took him another few minutes to reach the end, where he came to one of the platforms and found a ladder up. ¡°Finally.¡± Hiro read the mosaic title on the wall, cast in a time when the city was still artisan, remnants of the Gilded Age. 42nd Street. He saw another sign. Fifth Avenue. He was at least ten blocks away from where he wanted to be, somewhere beneath Midtown, near Bryant Park. But it was a start. He checked his phone to see the countdown timer: 02:09:03:11 02:09:03:10 02:09:03:09 Good. {Lupine Shift} is available again. He didn¡¯t know if there would be a Sentry at St. Patrick¡¯s Cathedral, but it was an old gothic church built in the 1850s, and it seemed like the kind of place he would find something like that. Since he had his phone out, Hiro decided to ask his Companion a question he¡¯d ruminated on since they last spoke. ¡°Sentries. Are they always near churches?¡± The text appeared. ¡°Are they always former statues that were already in existence? Like the Wall Street Bull?¡± ¡°Is there one at St. Catholic¡¯s Cathedral?¡± Fuck-you-very-much, Hiro thought as he slipped his phone back into his pocket. Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. He placed his black Hyottoko mask over his face, adjusted his backpack, which still had the teddy bear inside, and took a deep breath. His hand grazed against the hit of his katana, ensuring its readiness. ¡°Here we go. Back into the unknown.¡± And just as he said that, just as these words left his lips, Hiro heard a cry for help that sent a jolt down his spine. He didn¡¯t think twice as he charged up the stairs and came out to the city, where he was greeted by a rush of cold wind, a creepy red sky, and another scream. He glanced ahead to a seating area, one near the park that had little booths that used to sell coffee and ice cream. The shocking red of blood was the first thing that caught his eye as he saw a woman scooting away, pulling her left leg, which had been partially shredded, bone exposed, sinewy muscles pulsing. ¡°No,¡± she whimpered as she spotted Hiro. ¡°No¡ª!¡± He reached her in a matter of seconds. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about my mask. I¡¯m not the main¡ª¡± ¡°You don¡¯t understand,¡± the Survivor gasped, fear in her eyes. ¡°This is a trap. H-hunters!¡± Hiro¡¯s nerves tingle once he came to the realization that something had joined him. He looked to the roof of one of the park booths to find a teenage girl in a black leather mask with razor sharp bunny ears that were the length of Hiro¡¯s katana. As she crouched there, examining Hiro, the bunny-masked teen was joined by a teenage boy just a bit smaller than her and wore the same outfit. Skulls appeared over their heads. Definitely Hunters, Hiro thought as health bars appeared over their heads rimmed in gold, which meant they were too strong for him to take on at his current level. ¡°Shit¡­¡± ¡°Run,¡± the woman pleaded. ¡°I don¡¯t know who you are, but if you value your life, run. They already used me as a trap to kill another guy. They¡­¡± She nodded to a fallen body Hiro hadn¡¯t initially seen. ¡°Save yourself¡ª¡± ¡°Hello, Survivor,¡± the teenage girl in the bunny mask said, her terrifying voice causing Hiro¡¯s heart to skip. It was the first time one of the beings created by the Doom System had spoken to him. Her counterpart leaned over and whispered something to her. ¡°One bait is better than two,¡± she said. ¡°Yes¡­¡± Hiro drew his katana. ¡°Get the fuck out of here. Fuck you!¡± he barked at her. He didn¡¯t dare trigger {Lupine Shift}, not yet, but he was ready if it came to it. The two bunny-masked teenagers laughed. The girl dropped to the ground and spoke again: ¡°You will be fun to kill.¡± Hiro sent a blast forward with {Blade Whirlwind}, which she managed to dodge. She lunged forward, her chin shifting down. As if they were whip swords, her blackened rabbit ears quadrupled in length, the two blades twisting forward with minds of their own. Her counterpart joined her and did the same maneuver, four razored bunny ears moving toward Hiro like murderous tentacles. ¡°Go!¡± the injured Survivor cried to Hiro. She fired a blast of power out of the palm of her hand, which struck the boy bunny. The girl bunny moved on her quickly with her razored ears, the Survivor shrieking as her body was diced into pieces. Hiro had seen enough. He used this distraction to {Bounce} away, where he was soon able to reach the rooftop of a smaller building in Midtown. ¡°God,¡± Hiro whispered as he watched the girl bunny help her counterpart up. Once they were both ready, the pair looked up at Hiro. The girl blew him a kiss, flashed a peace sign, and beckoned for him to join her again as her bunny ears returned to their normal size. Once again, he noticed their gold-rimmed health bars. ¡°Goddamn you.¡± Hiro set a {Beacon} at Bryant Park. ¡°As soon as I am strong enough, as soon as I am able, I will come back here and I will annihilate the two of you,¡± he vowed. And with that, Hiro jumped from one building to another, where he was soon presented with a view of Grand Central Station. He fought the urge to head back down to Bryant Park and attempt a run at the twin bunnies. Hiro had to be reasonable here. Three years on a rock. There were two of them, they were both at a higher level than he was, and while he might survive if he used {Lupine Shift}, there was a very real chance he would die as well, and not before they used him as bait to lure out another Survivor. ¡°To the church, then.¡± Hiro steeled himself. ¡°You have to keep going.¡± He was just about to move past Grand Central Station when he remembered something. Hiro reached the next rooftop and moved to the edge. In the distance, he spotted one of the raven-like monsters flying over the blood-red East River, the beast too far away to pursue. As Hiro looked down at Grand Central Station, he saw exactly what hoped to see. Hiro remembered a Roman-like statue above the facade, and had even looked it up once on the Internet to find out that the three figures in the statues represented Hercules, Minerva, and Mercury. Only one was there now, waiting, Mercury holding a caduceus, the Roman god in his winged helm. A red health bar appeared above the Sentry as Mercury slowly turned his head toward Hiro. It seemed to squint up at him. ¡°I¡¯m right here,¡± Hiro said, still feeling a strange mixture of anger and adrenaline from the Bunny Twins. The statue vanished, completely stepping out of thin air. ¡°What the fuck¡ª?¡± Heavy stone footsteps echoed behind him. Hiro spun around, heart racing again as he found Mercury looming just a few feet away. The statue gripped its caduceus like a club, poised for battle. Chapter Thirteen: Mercury Rising The statue narrowed his gaze on Hiro¡¯s katana, the two on a rooftop near Fifth Avenue, a true standoff about to take place high above the streets. Hiro placed a shaky hand on the hilt of his blade. ¡°You want me to draw my weapon.¡± Mercury offered him a slow nod that sent a chill down Hiro¡¯s spine considering the statue seemed to actually understand his words. He drew his blade, and Mercury rushed forward. Clank! Hiro blocked the statue¡¯s first attempt, Mercury¡¯s caduceus with enough force behind it to make Hiro¡¯s wrist scream. The Sentry delivered another quick strike that Hiro parried. He rolled¡ªI can¡¯t believe I just did that!¡ªto avoid another attempt. {Blade Whirlwind} staggered the Roman god. ¡°I¡¯ll fucking cheese it if I have to,¡± Hiro mumbled as he followed up with more bladed wind attacks. He hit Mercury several times, and in doing so, Hiro naturally gravitated toward the opposite side of the roof. It¡¯s working! Mercury¡¯s health bar dropped each time he struck the statue with {Blade Whirlwind}. It reached the halfway point and things suddenly changed. The god flew up into the air and slammed down onto the rooftop with his caduceus, which caused a ripple that hit Hiro and nearly sent him over the edge. Mercury remained on one knee, using his caduceus to keep himself up as his robes began to twist, the folds locking into place and forming armor. Better spear him now. Hiro was just going for his Buster Kunai when the two stone snakes entwined around Mercury¡¯s caduceus stirred to life, their eyes glowing gold. The snakes slivered down the staff, their movements unnatural and swift. They bared their fangs and launched themselves toward Hiro. ¡°Shit, snake!¡± he shouted as he batted the first stone snake away. The second snake dug its fangs into the side of his calf, straight through his jeans. A stifled howl caught in Hiro¡¯s throat. The fact that a stone snake could bite him was also unreal, yet Hiro had little time to think about it as he cut into the snake with his katana. He hacked at the serpent, even as his leg pulsed. ¡°Mother¡­fucker,¡± Hiro mouthed as he finally cut the snake in half. It was still attached to his leg, its body writhing as the other snake slithered toward him. Beyond, Mercury seemed to be charging up for something, the Roman god still kneeling. Hiro dropped his katana, grabbed the snake that had bitten his leg with both hands, and ripped it out. ¡°Fuck!¡± He tossed the snake aside and went for his Buster Kunai, which he hurtled at the approaching stone snake. The kunai grew into an enormous sword and speared the snake to the rooftop, killing it. Limping, still cursing about the bite the snake had given him, Hiro picked up his katana and drove it into the head of the stone serpent that was still alive. He returned his focus to Mercury and noticed something about the Sentry¡¯s health bar. It¡¯s even lower, past the quarter-mark. Killing the snakes injured him! Even if he was injured, Hiro wrapped both hands around the grip of his katana and glared at the god as he dragged his leg toward Mercury, who stood, caduceus at the ready. ¡°Let¡¯s finish this,¡± Hiro said through gritted teeth. The Sentry rushed forward in a frenzy, Hiro wincing as he blocked the barrage of strikes that would have been impossible twenty-four hours ago. Mercury pivoted and thrust his caduceus forward. ¡°Ugh!¡± Hiro fell back, and released another blast of {Blade Whirlwind} in the process. Boing! Falling backward also triggered {Bounce} which sent him back to his Buster Kunai, the Roulette Weapon still stabbed into the roof. As much as it pained him to do so, Hiro reached a trembling hand to the grip of the Buster Kunai. It shrunk, and he rolled to the side just as Mercury came in for another strike. With as much strength as he could muster, Hiro hurtled the throwing dagger sideways. The Buster Kunai morphed in size and cut across the front of Mercury¡¯s armored body. The blade landed near the edge of the roof as Mercury fell backward, his health bar flashing. Hiro knew what this meant even though he¡¯d yet to receive the instruction from his Companion. Finish him¡­ he thought as he staggered to his feet, brought his katana around, and drove it into Mercury¡¯s chest, metal through stone, an impossible feat made possible by the Doom System, which spoke to him yet again in its creepy voice: [You have killed a Sentry. Good work, Survivor.] Soul Essence poured into Hiro as the Roman god of speed, luck, trickery, and trade took a knee and bowed his head at Hiro, frozen once again. You have new followers!If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Trembling from the snakebite, Hiro turned his backpack around and got out some of the healing gauze that Carmen gave him. I hope this works¡­ He gingerly pulled his pant leg up, and wrapped the gauze around the two puncture wounds. Hiro felt immediate relief, so immediate that he let out a deep, satisfying breath. ¡°Ahhh¡­¡± The gauze faded away, the wound gone. All that was left now was dried blood. The Mercury statue shifted one more time, startling Hiro and causing him to jump back. It turned a hand around offering up loot. ¡°What the hell?¡± Hiro asked as he approached the statue and saw what it was holding. ¡°Seriously? A vape pen?¡± Unique Item: Kiri Y¨­so Vape Pen Grade: C Upgrade: Available Description: The Kiri Y¨­so Vape Pen takes specialized cartridges with potent effects. The status effects will only target allies or foes within the Survivor¡¯s vicinity. Vaping is totally healthier than smoking. Totally. Weird way to end that, Hiro thought as he caught his breath. He read the description once again. The word kiri meant mist or fog in Japanese, and y¨­so meant element. Mist Element Vape Pen¡­ He took it from the Sentry and turned it over in his hand. The vape pen was made of a blackened material that almost felt like leather, the mouthpiece that of wood. But it doesn¡¯t have any cartridges. His phone buzzed, signaling his Companion had further details. ¡°So you¡¯re saying that I can potentially get, I don¡¯t know, a poisonous vape cartridge, pop it in, and then blow poison mist?¡± ¡°Badass.¡± Hiro squeezed the vape pen. ¡°So I just need to make it to tomorrow and get as many followers as possible to sacrifice, yeah?¡± The phone didn¡¯t respond. Fucker, Hiro thought as he tried a different question. ¡°What about the teddy bear that you have asked me to hold onto?¡± ¡°Okay.¡± Hiro adjusted his Hyottoko mask. He was less than ten blocks away from his first intended target, St. Patrick¡¯s Cathedral. From there, it would be to Billionaire¡¯s Row. He squinted up at the sky, which remained a blackened red, the sun blotted out by the moon. An eternal solar eclipse. His phone buzzed one last time. **** Another trio of bats with swords came for Hiro. He killed the first monster with {Blade Whirlwind} and was able to cut the other out of the air just as it zipped overhead. ¡°Got you!¡± While they were easy to kill, the bats soon became relentless. Every time Hiro landed on a rooftop, it seemed like a new wave headed in his direction. Some seemed to laugh upon seeing him upon seeing his Hyottoko mask, which stalled their progress. Others put up quite the fight, Hiro glad he had leveled his Sword Proficiency. How many more? he thought as he killed the last of the current wave of bats. The winged monster struck the rooftop, shrieked, gnashed its teeth dramatically, and died. Soul Essence poured into him as neared the cathedral, Hiro ready to head back down to Fifth Avenue. He spotted a fast fashion store he could drop onto, then a shoe store that had been heavily looted. I¡¯ll get a better look from there. Hiro prepared to jump to the next rooftop when he spotted something across Fifth Avenue, down at the street level. A body was sprawled out yet there was a glow to it, a glow radiating from it. That one is clearly dead. Could it be another trap? ¡°What happens if I have too much Stolen Valor?¡± he asked his phone. Alienated? Hiro smirked at his Companion¡¯s suggestion. ¡°I¡¯m already alienated. Does stolen valor reset or anything during new Interims?¡± ¡°So through it, I take a power from another Survivor, but I get dinged at some point in the future.¡± ¡°But I don¡¯t know if I¡¯ll even survive until later.¡± He waited a moment as the text took shape, almost as if it was thinking. ¡°You would say something fucked up like that.¡± Hiro paused to consider the implications of having too much Stolen Valor, at least in the way the Doom System viewed it. He couldn¡¯t think of a problem. If people alienate me later, fuck them. We all need these powers to survive. Better to loot first, ask questions later. After checking the area again, he timed his jump and landed in front of the dead woman¡¯s body. A spiral of energy poured into him. [You now have access to a new Roulette Skill known as {Refund}.] The woman¡¯s body shriveled and faded away as Hiro read the description: {Refund} Roulette Skill Rank: B Type: Transformation/Utility Upgrade: N/A Description: Channel the energy of an incoming attack, absorb its force, and redistribute it through your next strike. Can be used once per fight. Nice. A roar somewhere in the distance caught his attention. Hiro rushed up to the nearest rooftop in anticipation of a fight. He scanned the sky and didn¡¯t see more of the sword-wielding bats. Okay, false alarm. Let¡¯s check St. Patrick¡¯s Cathedral. He moved to the point that he could see the gothic structure and its numerous spires, some rising hundreds of feet in the air. The cathedral¡¯s light gray facade was adorned with intricate tracery, flying buttresses, and a grand entrance that led up to a breathtaking entrance. Hiro expected to find a Sentry. Instead, he found the cracked stone steps of the cathedral, an overturned car with its engine burned out, stained glass shards galore, and towering bronze double doors decorated with relief sculptures, three robed men on the right and three hooded women on the left. I can¡¯t believe no one has touched the place, Hiro thought as he crouched at the base of the steps, staring up at the bronze doors. No graffiti, nothing. Each side of the double doors was fifteen feet tall, and five feet wide, the pieces looking nearly as thick as the walls of the church. Hiro considered his options. Maybe there¡¯s nothing¡ª The double doors ripped free of their hinges. They flew open and smashed together, the bright bronze ringing out. Hiro saw the red barrier trace around him, one that signified he was trapped in the Sentry¡¯s zone of influence. ¡°I¡¯m going to have to fight a¡­ door?¡± he said as he readied his sword. A health bar appeared over the door, and the six relief sculptures carved into its exterior all looked at Hiro, fury on their faces. The ground rumbled as the enormous sentient double doors swarmed toward Hiro. Chapter Fourteen: A Falling Moment of Respite; or, Don鈥檛 Let the Door Hit You on the Way Out The enormous church doors smashed together again, crumbling a portion of the stone steps in their pursuit. Hiro felt the vibration in his knees, the sheer power of the cathedral¡¯s Sentry something to behold. His katana would likely be useless against it; the doors didn¡¯t seem to be affected by his mask; and {Lupine Shift} probably wouldn¡¯t help him either. Looking for any opportunity possible, Hiro hit the door with {Blade Whirlwind} just to see if it did any damage to its health bar. The double doors shrugged his attack off, health bar remaining full. They squeezed together and came smashing down, which created a sharp wave of energy that rippled forward and threw Hiro into the red barrier. He felt a jolt as he hit the ground. Another sensation came to Hiro, one of sudden anger, an uncontrolled rage. ¡°No,¡± he whispered as he quickly understood exactly what it was. Not here! Back to his feet, Hiro sucked in a deep breath through his nostrils and charged toward the huge church doors. He had to try. He had to survive. Clank! Hiro¡¯s next strike didn¡¯t do much to the double doors, but it did tick its health bar down by a hair. At this rate, it¡¯s going to take me forever to kill it. I don¡¯t have the stamina. Then what? he had to ask himself. How? The new skill I got? For {Refund} to work, at least to Hiro¡¯s understanding, the doors would need to strike him. Okay. Fuck, I¡¯ll try¡ª Hiro moved around to the front of the doors. He didn¡¯t know how they would react, and wasn¡¯t at all surprised when one came smashing down in an attempt to crush him. He dodged them and hit the right door that was still standing with his katana, where he jumped back to avoid the second falling door. This triggered his {Bounce} ability, yet Hiro was ready for it, even for the jolt he felt upon hitting the top of the red barrier that kept himlocked in the battle. It gave him a brief view of the fight, a falling moment of respite. How am I going to take this thing down? Hiro landed in front of his opponent, where he saw the six relief statues on the front of the door all pointing toward him, screaming in what sounded like Latin: ¡°Non misericordia, sed poena! Fugere non poteris!¡± ¡°Vae tibi, damnatus! Lucidium ultimum venit!¡± As he had noticed before, the miniature male statues wore liturgical clothing and hats while the women were in hooded robes covered. What if I¡­? He hit the double doors with {Blade Whirlwind} just as they were coming down again to crush him. The timing of his strike allowed Hiro to shatter one of the small relief statues, which cut a chunk off the door¡¯s health bar. Hiro should have been happy. Instead, a feeling of absolute terror came over him as he felt the rage boil over again, a passive effect from {Lupine Shift}. He had to end his fight soon or he¡¯d lose control. The door on the right came crashing down. Once again, Hiro flew backward. He smacked into the Zone of Influence barrier, fell to the ground, and ended up bouncing toward the doors, his katana ready. The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. Hiro struck another one of the relief statues, shattering it, which took another chunk from his enemy¡¯s health bar as the statues continued to scream at him: ¡°Ventus dei vos obliterabit! Peccatum tuum non latet!¡± ¡°Ignis infernus te devorabit! Fugere non poteris!¡± Hiro shifted right, circled around, and took care of another of the relief statues, causing one of the doors to collapse for good. The Sentry¡¯s health bar was now at the halfway point, three more statues to go. ¡°Come on,¡± he said through gritted teeth. ¡°Come on¡­¡± It took everything Hiro had not to give into the ire that boiled through him. He could feel the wrath piping through his veins, the sensation nearly overpowering. A perfectly timed {Blade Whirlwind} took out another relief statue. Two more, here we go! ¡°Ah!¡± Hiro slid forward. Now moving in frenzy, the remaining door slammed down repeatedly like a relentless pendulum driven by an unseen force. It pursued Hiro around the circumference of the Zone of Influence, Hiro not able to get a strike in, his rage to the point that the periphery blurred, causing his arms and legs to spasm, his heart to thump wildly in his chest. Hiro bounced away. Upon landing, he swiveled and fired at the door with {Blade Whirlwind}, this time aiming at the ground directly in front of his opponent. His strike hit the ground at the same point the door came crashing down, Hiro able to kill the final two relief statues with a single ricochet attack. The sound of cheering played off in his head. You have new followers! Soul Essence poured into Hiro as the two doors righted themselves. They hopped back to the church and let out an exhausted sigh as they crashed into one another and set in place. A spiral of energy rushed toward Hiro as he received a new skill. Roulette Skill: {Sacra Limina} Rank: A Type: Transformation/Utility Upgrade: N/A Description: The Evil Priests of the Culling Grounds used Agent Orange and other defoliants during numerous Inquisitions in Charcus and Pindorama in their relentless pursuit of Ham the Astrochimp. Learning of this, the English Crown ordered Francis Drake to rescue the chimp and bring glory and commercialized space travel to Great Britain. During his famous circumnavigation of the globe, Drake encountered an anomaly on the high seas that subjected him to 17 G¡¯s of acceleration which created a shield around his vessels, protecting it from the Inquisitors'' fire arrows. After a bloody battle, he rescued Ham the Astrochimp, who later performed the first suborbital mission by a simian. Sacra Limina will allow you to call forth the same ancient protective barrier that protected Francis Drake and Ham the Astrochimp while you rest. Even in his rage driven state, the description took Hiro by surprise. Is the Doom System inventing its own batshit lore? I know about the Inquisition¡­ Sacra Limina is Latin, or Spanish, for something. Who is Ham the Astrochimp? Francis Drake? Hiro thoughts filtered away as his hands twitched. He did everything he could to stop himself from charging toward Central Park and blazening fighting his way into whatever war could likely be held in such an open space. He slapped the back of his head so he wouldn¡¯t disrupt his mask. ¡°Get it together.¡± He did this again, harder. ¡°Get it together!¡± Safety. As relative as this term was, Hiro took the inner warning to heart. He triggered {Bounce} and reached the nearest rooftop where he sat, drew his knees into his chest, and did everything he could to contain the fervor surging through him. Hiro tried to remember the things that calmed him, the call of the Japanese summer cicada; the fishing trips with his father in Missouri; the first snow of winter; the cherry blossom trees once their petals started to fall, a calm New York night just outside of one of its many tourist seasons. Straining, Hiro focused on the moments in his life that had brought him relief. There had been a world before the Doom System appeared, one that he could never go back to. The system could drag him through the mud, it could trap him in a shielded dome with a pair of carnivorous doors, yet it couldn¡¯t strip him of his memories. At least to my knowledge, he thought as relief calmed his nerves. His phone buzzed and Hiro slowly opened his eyes. He stared at the strange glow of the solar eclipse sun, his world a modern, macabre, murderous, Monet. After a long pause, he finally checked the message. ¡°Thanks for nothing,¡± he whispered. ¡°So it creates barricades that can protect me?¡± Hiro got to his feet, shaky as they were. ¡°You¡¯ve got this,¡± he told himself. Billionaire¡¯s Row was dead ahead, loot and more bloodshed just beyond the horizon. Hiro just needed to make it there. Chapter Fifteen: Squeeze the Bear and Get a Bath Soul Essence poured into Hiro as he killed a monster that scurried about like a rat, a beast with human arms and hands growing out of its grizzled back. These hands held shields that allowed it to block several of Hiro¡¯s strikes until he was finally able to stagger it. Level up! You have new followers! Hiro saw the building he had been thinking about just ahead. This particular Billionaire¡¯s Row skyscraper rose eighty stories above 57th Street. He couldn¡¯t remember its name, but he always thought it looked like a thin pencil rising above the city skyline. The glass in front was all broken out now, allowing Hiro to step inside for a brief moment to check his phone: 02:07:41:56 02:07:41:55 02:07:41:54 Text appeared, the letters populating quickly. How does it know? Hiro cast this thought away and focused instead on how many Survivors, beasts, and Hunters were left. The information appeared before him. Followers: 2,369 City Survivors: 845,986 World Survivors: 377,812,334 Beast Death Count: 134/791 Hunter Death Count: 28/89 At least New York is fighting back, but the Hunters that are left are probably stronger. Another thought came to him as he examined the numbers: Maybe I should ask Valeria if she wants to hunt them together. The Twin Bunnies, for sure. Or I can check in with Juan and Marcello. Banding together with others would allow us to clear out Hunters and any beasts along the way. Maybe a Sentry, too. And perhaps the lady in the yellow raincoat, that bitch. Hiro had a {Beacon}set for both of their general regions. He didn¡¯t know how much the other Survivor would move around, but Bryant Park seemed like a great hunting ground for the Twin Bunnies. He remembered his dad¡¯s words as he stared at his phone screen, a habit he couldn¡¯t shake¡ª even ten months without wireless internet. Ask the right questions. ¡°Companion, do Hunters patrol the same area like Sentries seem to do?¡± ¡°But not all?¡± ¡°What happens if I kill a Hunter alongside another person? I mean, if I team-up. Do I receive the same amount of Soul Essence? So far, it has been a one-to-one ratio.¡± ¡°So maybe I could team up to take on the tougher ones, and kill the rest myself?¡± Hiro stifled a yawn. It¡¯s likely from the rage. As much as Hiro wanted to go back out there and fuck some monsters up, he also felt like he could use some rest. And he knew the perfect place to do it. Or, he assumed it would be the perfect place. After his phone was away, Hiro started up the nearest stairwell. These buildings generally operated in layers, with the uppermost ones hard to access. The one he ultimately chose had retail and office spaces on the lower levels, which would allow him to move higher into the air until he could reach a lower floor rooftop.If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. Hiro remained on edge as he crept up the stairs, yet nothing ever sprung out at him. He reached the twentieth floor with ease, his stamina holding true. ¡°Dang,¡± he said, not even slightly out of breath. Had he climbed twenty floors even a week ago, he would have been winded. ¡°Let¡¯s keep going.¡± Hiro moved higher until he reached the stair¡¯s stopping point. He shouldered out into a darkened and drew his katana, where he crept toward a restaurant with a terrace. It had been looted, glass and dishware scattered about. He briefly checked the kitchen, but didn¡¯t find anything useful. Cool air came from the terrace and he followed it until he stood high above Manhattan, with a view of downtown. After scanning the sky for any flying beasts, Hiro bounced to another building, which he used to go higher and higher, until he was certain that he¡¯d be able to reach a balcony on one of the top floors of the tower. It would be quite the drop if he missed, but he knew better than to doubt himself at this point. Hiro took a deep breath in, focused on the glassed-in terrace about ten stories above and went for it. Boing! He landed on the terrace, Hiro just barely clearing the glass barrier. He pressed both hands down to stabilize himself and let the fear and tension pass. ¡°Whew!¡± I can¡¯t believe I made it¡­ Hiro was at least eighty stories above Midtown. All that separated him from a place to rest and some potential loot was a thick pain of glass. He tried the handle first and found it to be locked. Of course, it¡¯s locked. Hiro got out the tool he used to pick locks and after a bit of work, he was able to pop the door open. This was good. His next option would have been to try to use his Buster Kunai to break through the glass, which may have proven difficult. Hiro stepped inside to find the penthouse apartment entirely untouched. ¡°Whoa.¡± An open concept living room, mauve custom-made leather couches, high-end fixtures, and sweeping views of Central Park were just a few of the things he noticed upon entry. There were numerous seating areas in the massive apartment, an office, a room large enough to have a banquet, five bathrooms, four bedrooms, a gym with an attached massage room, and a fancy wine cellar. There wasn¡¯t a bad food smell either, which he would soon learn came from the fact that there was no food in the detached chef¡¯s kitchen. ¡°Jesus,¡± Hiro whispered after checking the wine cellar and finding it full of bottles. ¡°This place is loaded.¡± He didn¡¯t need to whisper, but the massive, empty home made his skin prickle. It would be very easy to ambush someone in a space of this size¡­ With this in mind, Hiro grabbed a wine bottle that looked old, found an opener in the kitchen, a wine glass, and headed to the master bedroom. Minimally furnished in all white linens, the master bedroom faced Central Park and had its own private balcony. Hiro shut the door and moved the single dresser in front of it to serve as a barricade. ¡°I should cast {Sacra Limina},¡± he said as his phone buzzed. ¡°How do I¡­?¡± Simply thinking about the barrier caused a red glow to spread outward from the center of his forehead. It coated the bedroom and the bathroom, everything now with a slight, burgundy hue to it. ¡°I guess that does it.¡± Hiro set his backpack and the wine bottle on the bed and stepped into the bathroom. ¡°Dang. I always wanted a bathroom like this.¡± His voice echoed in the space as he moved to a large clawed tub that also provided a view of Central Park. Hiro tried to get in the tub but was prevented by his katana. He removed it, placed his mask on the counter, and got in. ¡°What would it be like?¡± he asked as he took in the view from the tub. For some reason, he imagined jerking off in a place like this overlooking the park. ¡°Someone has to have done it.¡± A rare smirk formed on his face and his phone buzzed again. ¡°What?¡± He almost told his Companion no. Hiro would have preferred just resting in the empty tub for a bit and later having a glass of wine. Instead, he mumbled a positive answer. ¡°Hold on. Do all Survivors have teddy bears? I keep meaning to ask people that, but it sounds fucking weird to say out loud.¡± Hiro stared at the text for a moment. ¡°Fine.¡± He returned to the bedroom, zipped open his backpack, and was presented with information the moment he touched the bear, information that hadn¡¯t appeared before. Legendary Item: Chronokuma Grade: S Description: Squeeze the teddy bear to be to travel back to the week immediately before the Doom System first appeared. While you are there, you will be vulnerable here. See your Companion for more information. ¡°What the hell?¡± Hiro asked as he noted that the description wasn¡¯t as crazy as the one for {Sacra Limina}. ¡°A time-traveling teddy bear?¡± ¡°How do I use it?¡± he asked as he examined the teddy bear. ¡°So you¡¯re saying squeeze the bear and get a real bath?¡± Hiro considered this as he looked back to the tub. ¡°I¡¯m going to need a glass of wine first.¡± Chapter Sixteen: Kore Nani Neko Hiro got in the tub with the teddy bear and brought it to his chest. He gave it a tight squeeze and gasped as the tub filled with warm warm and bubbly suds. He now sat in the tub overlooking Central Park, the eerie solar eclipse nonexistent, New York City as it once was. A helicopter moved through the air in the distance, a plane beyond that flying toward New Jersey. The clouds rippled toward the Connecticut border, the Tri-State area alive and well. A new timer appeared directly in his line of sight: 02:58 02:57 02:56 Still clutching Chronokuma to his chest, Hiro reached his hand into the water looking for the pocket of his hoodie. The phone wasn¡¯t there. He blinked a few times, and finally let out a deep, satisfying breath. ¡°Fuck¡­¡± he whispered as he relaxed deeper into the tub. The lavender scent from the bubbles filled his nostrils, the overwhelming floral scent unlike any he had smelled in months. Hiro had grown so used to the smells associated with living in a fallout shelter and navigating the subway system that lavender seemed entirely alien. He relaxed even further, the water up to his chin. ¡°My god,¡± he whispered. ¡°Less than three minutes.¡± Hiro sat there for another full minute, occasionally splashing the suds around. He hugged the teddy bear even tighter as he finally got out the tub, his clothes sopping wet. Hiro shook off like a dog, still holding the teddy bear, a jolt of laughter coming to him. ¡°Ha!¡± He approached the mirror and saw himself, his dark hair, gaunt cheeks, circles under his eyes, slight beard stubble that could never fully grow, not like his father¡¯s. Hiro ran his hand over his chin. There just so happened to be a razor and shaving cream in a drawer. Less than two minutes to shave with one hand while I hold a teddy bear? Nah, I¡¯ll just stay scruffy. Still sopping wet, Hiro walked to the shower and turned it on, the water instantly hot. He stepped in and let it pour over him to wash off any of the soap as the time ticked down. Less than a minute and a half now¡­ Hiro¡¯s stomach grumbled. He took a deep breath and stepped out of the bathroom and into the bedroom of the penthouse apartment. He was just about to pass beyond, to the kitchen, when he remembered that he had set up a barrier. Doing so could leave me vulnerable. Crap. I need to play with these mechanics more. As the final minute countdown, Hiro returned to the bathroom and got in the tub, a little of the water spilling out. He didn¡¯t know why it happened to be full when he arrived in the past, but he assumed the Doom System had done it. The Doom System actually hooked me up? This shit can¡¯t be real¡­ For some reason, this caused him to burst out laughing. Of course, it isn¡¯t real. Or it is. Either way, it doesn¡¯t matter. In less than thirty seconds Hiro would return to the Interim, where he would rest, recoup, and then head out to meet Valeria. He had no real way of contacting her, but he figured if he stayed in the vicinity of the parking garage, she would contact him. Hiro tried to relax even further, willing himself to enjoy the moment. I wish there was a way to tell when it was the good ol¡¯ days¡­ With that thought, the sky turned red and Hiro appeared back in the present, in an empty bathtub in the abandoned penthouse suite. Only this time, his clothing and hair was still wet and he still smelled like lavender. He set the teddy bear aside and took out his phone. Hiro couldn¡¯t quite find the words to describe what it had been like to visit the past. Instead of replying, he got out of the tub and removed his clothes, which only revealed in the dim mirror¡¯s reflection just how skinny he had become. He found some mouthwash and used it. I can eat my Survivor Tenders later. **** Permanently moving from a fallout shelter to an upper floor penthouse on Billionaire¡¯s Row was certainly something Hiro considered upon waking that next morning. Even if he wasn¡¯t greeted by a beautiful sunrise, the view was stunning, the gloomy solar eclipse barely dampening his mood. Especially after his bath. 01:23:13:28 01:23:13:27 01:23:13:26 Eight hours have passed? Holy shit! Hiro turned his phone over and sat up. The guilt he felt for oversleeping faded once he remembered just how crazy the last twenty-four hours had been. There is still plenty of time before the gates open and the Interim ends. You¡¯ve got this. ¡°You said there would be merchants. How do I find them?¡± Hiro asked his Companion. ¡°Last time I checked, I had less than that. Are you telling me I gained followers in my sleep?¡± Highlights? Hiro shook his head. He had to remind himself that the followers and everything else he was experiencing wasn¡¯t real. There weren¡¯t any recaps. There weren¡¯t any post-game shows and talking head commentary. These are real peoples¡¯ lives that the Doom System is fucking with for its own sick pleasure.Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. ¡°Do I have enough followers to buy something good?¡± he asked after eating one of his Survivor Tenders, and ignoring its bland flavor. ¡°Not exactly an answer, but I suppose it will do. How do I improve my ranking?¡± Hiro groaned at this suggestion. It reminded him of the warehouse he worked at, where he packaged and shipped items for the biggest online retailer in America. From the moment he clocked in, everything was tracked. At one point, there had been news reports that went around about piss jugs and other things people were forced to do to stay on the clock and meet their quotas. These rumors were true. Hiro¡¯s world before liked to think it had left the depravity of the early Industrial Revolution, yet it had merely adjusted things slightly, at least for those at the bottom. And now, Hiro was at the top. Even with his lackluster Interim grade, he was currently in the most comfortable bed he had ever laid in, one that probably cost several times his monthly rent before the system appeared. But he knew he couldn¡¯t get comfortable. As easy as it would have been to keep his barrier up and sleep another few hours¡ªor hell, sleep until the gates opened¡ªHiro wanted to do better. Grow stronger. Make more connections with other Survivors. Prepare for the worst. And maybe if I¡¯m just lucky, ask the right questions and stop the Doom System for good. But first, shopping. After all, you can take the capitalist out of the market, but you can¡¯t take the market out of the capitalist. Hiro didn¡¯t know if he heard that phrase, or if he came up with it on his own. But it did remind him of a Japanese proverb his grandfather was fond of, the child of a frog is a frog. This reminded Hiro of the summers he had spent with his grandfather as he stood before one of the penthouse windows, where saw numerous golden beams. The nearest merchant wasn¡¯t very far away. Midtown, near Hell¡¯s Kitchen. It looked like he would be able to make his way down using {Bounce}. His next stop was the closet, which mostly had women¡¯s clothing. ¡°I¡¯ll make it work.¡± Hiro found a sleeveless black top, a concert t-shirt judging by the band name, Black Pumas, and the dates on the back. This replaced his black hoodie, which had seen better days. The man¡¯s clothing didn¡¯t fit, much too large, but he was able to exchange his shoes for a pair of Nikes that looked like they had never been worn. Gear in tow, Hiro removed the {Sacra Limina} barrier with the wave of a hand. He cautiously checked the rest of the home to see that he hadn¡¯t been discovered. There was less to loot than he would have liked, unless he wanted to carry another backpack with him. I can always come back. I don¡¯t even need to set a {Beacon}; this building is impossible to miss. Hiro moved on, leapfrogging his way from rooftop to rooftop in the direction of Hell¡¯s Kitchen. As he traveled, he caught a glimpse of the other side of the river, New Jersey, which looked equally as fucked as New York. Are people there considered part of the ¡®City Survivors?¡¯ How far does it span? Is it the entire Tri State Area? Hiro blinked this thought away as he reached a smaller building in the shadow of a steel and glass skyscraper. It was here that he found the merchant, who had set up shop in an alley rarely touched by the sun. ¡°Hello, Survivor,¡± the man said in a grizzled voice, his features hidden by a conical hat. The merchant had set up a tarp over a pair of oversized crutches, enabling him to crouch with his sandaled feet visible. He was surrounded by shopping carts, his digs more appropriate for a homeless encampment than some post-apocalyptic arms dealer. The merchant titled his head back and Hiro saw that his eyes were missing, replaced instead by a pair of glowing buttons that began to spin. He revealed a pair of sharpened yellow teeth as he spoke: ¡°I see you have a Kiri Y¨­so Vape Pen.¡± ¡°I do.¡± ¡°I have cartridges for that. If you would like to upgrade the vape pen itself, you will need to visit a different merchant. But don¡¯t worry. I¡¯ve got what you need. The name is Wayne, by the way.¡± ¡°Hiro,¡± he said as he touched his chest. ¡°Cartridges for my vape pen, yeah?¡± ¡°Those, yes.¡± Wayne ruffled through his items. ¡°I have more gauze, but it seems like you already have access to something like that.¡± ¡°You can see my inventory list?¡± ¡°Is that what you are calling it? Yes, I can see what you currently have, and I have an idea of what you could possibly need. It is up to you to make the decision, however.¡± ¡°Armor?¡± ¡°Unless you make it yourself, or find it, there is no armor for sale during the first Interim. The Doom System has yet to decide if this will apply to the Second Interim.¡± So Wayne calls it the Doom System as well. Hiro shook his head. The merchant came from the system, he¡¯s basically an NPC, yet he refers to the system in the same way that we do? Weird. ¡°You are hesitant to sacrifice followers?¡± ¡°What? No. I don¡¯t care about that part.¡± Wayne maintained the crooked smile on his face. ¡°Are you sure? You haven¡¯t sacrificed them yet.¡± ¡°Can you see how many followers I have?¡± ¡°Naturally.¡± ¡°Then tell me what I can afford and what you think I should buy.¡± Hiro gestured toward the shopping carts. ¡°You seem to have a lot of stuff.¡± ¡°I do indeed. But different Survivors require different items, so I will focus on you for now. As to what you¡¯ll need¡­¡± The merchant shifted his neck to the side. An arm on his back pressed out of the fabric of his tattered robes, which produced a three finger claw that searched through the shopping carts. While it did this, the merchant swept some of the other items away and began setting things down. Once the items were all placed on the carpet, the third arm disappeared into his robes. Wayne spoke again: ¡°One-time use vape pen cartridges. Remember, these won¡¯t affect you. Later, there will be some options that can affect you, but you will need to make it to that point first.¡± He tapped on the first few cartridges. ¡°Poison. Corrosion. Decoy. Bleed. These are the ones I would suggest for the first Interim.¡± ¡°And once the gates open?¡± ¡°Things change when the gates open,¡± he said ominously. ¡°Focus on the Interim for now. Poison is self-explanatory, I believe. Blow it at your opponent and provide poison damage. Corrosion does the same, but is best used for an armored opponent, something like a Sentry or certain Hunters. Decoy produces a bouncing decoy that will distract most opponents, at least during the first Interim. Later, you¡¯ll need something stronger. It is useful if you need to flee.¡± ¡°And bleed?¡± ¡°Heh. Bleed is a good one. It causes seeping wounds to appear on an opponent. These wounds are compounded by your follow-up strikes and the passage of time. You are aware that there are some opponents out there that are too strong for you.¡± Hiro thought of the Twin Bunnies. ¡°I am.¡± ¡°This would be something to use against them if you decide to risk a fight.¡± ¡°Can I have all Bleed cartridges, then?¡± Wayne cackled at the suggestion. ¡°If you had more followers to sacrifice, sure, but this is part of a one-time package I¡¯m offering you to give you a taste of what is possible. There¡¯s something else as well. Your opponent doesn¡¯t have to be directly in front of you to feel the effects of these cartridges. As long as they are engaged with you, the cartridges will affect them.¡± ¡°Nice.¡± ¡°There¡¯s one more thing. Because it is your first time visiting me or any merchant, I have a small gift to encourage you to come again, once you have more followers to sacrifice. Don¡¯t say I never did anything for you.¡± Wayne¡¯s glowing button eyes twisted and the text appeared before Hiro. {Kore Nani Neko} Rank: A Type: Attack/Area of Effect Upgrade: N/A Description: The Catlady of Vila Nova De Gaia knew that her children were poisoning her through daily servings of toxic past¨¦is de nata. During a torrential downpour, Father of the Iron Bridge came to her aid, advising her to feed the famous Portuguese pastries to her fifteen cats instead, with the promise that they would be reborn as her minions. In retaliation for killing their childhood pets, the Catlady of Vila Nova De Gaia¡¯s children pushed her off the balcony of her seventh story flat. Returning from the dead to torment her children, the Catlady brought her beloved felines with her, who scratched her ungrateful children in the night preventing them from ever sleeping again. Kori Nani Neko Summons a horde of phantom demon cats to overwhelm your opponent, causing bleed damage. It can be used once per fight. Kore Nani Neko? Hiro was familiar with the Japanese song, which was later used on social media with cute cat videos. Once again, this gave him the feeling that the Doom System was messing with him by constantly warping his Japanese heritage. What about my American heritage? I have that too¡­ he thought. ¡°It¡¯s a good ability, trust me.¡± Wayne the merchant smiled up at him. ¡°The horde of demon cats are the land equivalent of piranhas. It will be a bloodbath. A fun one. You¡¯re lucky. But I could sit here and tell you that forever. Are you ready to sacrifice your followers?¡± Chapter Seventeen: Kung Fu Panda The pleading screams from the sacrificed followers were so loud that Hiro had to cover his ears. Please, no! Stop! Noooo! STOP! Not my leg, no! ARRRRGGHHH! Stop! Yeeeeeeooooow! The screams were that of men, women, and children, all of them growing louder as Hiro was forced to listen to his number of followers dwindle. The onslaught ended with sobbing and a final throaty lament: How¡­ could¡­ you? Hiro felt gutted. ¡°Fucking hell,¡± he whispered as tendrils of red energy poured into the merchant. Wayne the merchant¡¯s shining button eyes spun again. ¡°Fucking hell is right. But with the sacrifice of followers comes benefits to the tune of kill your darlings, all of them. Heh! Once you have more, visit my brothers and sisters across the city and see what the death of those that believe in you most can bring a soon-to-be notorious Survivor. For now, here are your things. And you already have access to {Kore Nani Neko}.¡± The vape pen cartridges hovered in the air, Hiro able to take each one individually. He loaded the Poison cartridge into his vape pen, figuring he¡¯d save the other three for the right moment. ¡°I¡¯ll see you later,¡± he told Wayne. ¡°Maybe, maybe not. But you know where to find me, Survivor. I wish you luck until then.¡± Hiro moved back to the rooftops. He turned in the direction of Bryant Park, toward the {Beacon} he had set for the Twin Bunnies. As much as I want to go kill both of them using my new Bleed cartridge, it¡¯ll be easier with another Survivor. As he sat there, perched above the city like a gargoyle, Hiro thought of his other current nemesis, the Lady in the Yellow Raincoat. If I go toward Juan, I could hunt her down as well¡­ In the end, Hiro decided it would be best to touch base with Valeria first. With this in mind, he navigated a maze of rooftops in the direction of downtown. There was evidence that other Survivors were out, and he came across several fights playing out in the streets. Yet he didn¡¯t join them. Better to make it home first. After crouching on a water tank, Hiro at least fifty stories above Midtown, he briefly thumbed through the current world stats to see how things were shaking out. ¡°Not great¡­¡± The world had lost over seven million Survivors since he¡¯d last checked. At least forty thousand of them had been in the city, where thirty-nine Hunters had been killed alongside over two hundred and fifty monsters. Good to see people are fighting back, but to think so many have died since I last checked. Hiro couldn¡¯t shake the bitter taste in his mouth. Rather than head down the dark path that was trying to process all that had happened, he moved to a rooftop terrace and paused there for a moment. It provided him with a view of a small dog park in the West Village, a place he had once made a food delivery of a single piece of cake to a woman out with her fluffy white bichon. We used to be so disconnected. Now, we are desperate. A smirk formed on his face. And still disconnected. He was just about to continue toward his shelter when a portly-muscled man with the head of a panda bear stepped out into the park. The man wore flowing red robes, and he was easily three feet taller than Hiro.If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. The skull indicating he was a Hunter appeared and faded away as a health bar took shape. A yellow and red bandana was tied around his head, sitting just over his brow. On his human feet were a pair of geta sandals made of black wood. In his grip, the panda-man held a staff with a curled end, perfect for delivering a striking blow. Miraculously, the Hunter had yet to spot Hiro. The panda-man took a brief walk around the dog park and sat on the ground before a bench, legs crossed beneath him, staff rested across his lap like he was about to meditate. Hiro¡¯s mind raced as he took in the scene. Yes, the panda-man looks friendly; yes, the panda-man looks like he would be someone I could potentially team up with; yes, I could always use an animal companion, even a hybrid one. But this isn¡¯t a movie. That¡¯s a Hunter, Hiro reminded himself, someone who wants to kill me. As the panda-man got comfortable, Hiro quickly planned out a route of attack. It would begin with a surprise {Bounce} and transition into {Blade Whirlwind}. From that point, he would either hit the panda-man with a mist of poison, spear him with his Buster Kunai, or simply engage him, hoping to return fire with {Refund} once the panda-man tried for Hiro with his staff. Wild stuff gets more followers. More followers means more items and more powers in the future. I should try {Kore Nani Neko} in this fight too. Hiro steeled himself, quietly drew his katana, and went for it. He flew down to the small dog park, mere seconds away from landing his strike when the panda-man rolled to the side and came up with his staff. Whack! His parry sent Hiro hurtling backward, where he hit the ground, bounced by accident, and smashed into the second floor window of a small residential building. Ignoring a flash of pain, Hiro cast his hand out at the panda-man to use his new skill. ~Kore nani, kore nani, kore nani, kore nani, kore nani, kore nani, NEKO!~ The sound of Japanese children singing was followed by the ferocious howl of numerous phantom demon cats, which all rushed toward the panda-man. The Hunter struck the first with the end of his staff and managed to punch another, yet he was soon overwhelmed as the cats clung to him, yowling and ripping into his muscled physique with their claws and their teeth. Hiro got to his feet, found his sword, and took off toward the panda-man just as his opponent swung his staff and was able to beat some of the cats back. Hiro hit the Hunter with {Blade Whirlwind}, and followed this up with a quick strike that seemed to be mostly absorbed by a last second pivot in the panda-man¡¯s stance. His cats continued to engage the Hunter, a few climbing a tree to divebomb him from up high. Another phantom cat jumped for Hiro, landed on his shoulder, and used that to springboard toward the panda-man. After another blast from {Blade Whirlwind}, he caught a glimpse of the panda-man¡¯s health bar, now half-full. Getting there! he thought as he drew his Buster Kunai and tossed it at his opponent, the throwing knife morphing to full-size in the blink of an eye. It pierced directly through the panda man¡¯s chest. ¡°Yes!¡± Hiro hissed, this word followed by another as he realized there was more to come. ¡°No¡­¡± Rather than keel over and die, the panda-man threw his arms back and forced himself off the huge blade Hiro had speared him with. He hit the ground seething, where he managed to kick away incoming cats with a barrage of quick feet. The panda-man grew, his bloody robes shredding as muscles bulged, straining against his expanding form. He and bones pressed out of his flesh, where they quickly hardened into jagged armor. The panda-man¡¯s face was now a bear¡¯s skull, his flesh peeled back into strips, drool and blood dripping from his open mouth. His second form, Hiro thought, sizing him up. ¡°Grrrrrhhhhh¡­¡± The panda-man had a quarter of his health bar left, yet as Hiro caught a glimpse of it, he noticed the flash of gold that indicated that the opponent was now too strong for him. Hiro could run. There was no Zone of Influence here. But I almost have him. I should go for it! An idea came to him as the panda-man pulled his own arm out of its socket to use as a blunt object. The seething beast swung with all its might at Hiro, who moved to block it. He managed to fully absorb the strike and send it right back at the Hunter through {Refund}, which hit the grotesque panda-man so hard it shattered bits of its ribcage. Hiro ducked under another attempt, grabbed his Buster Kunai, and used {Bounce} to move to the air. He sent his Buster Kunai hurtling toward the ground, where it morphed in size and drove directly into some of the exposed muscle on the panda-man¡¯s shoulder. This pinned his opponent to the ground, the phantom demon cats doing the rest as they piled on top of the panda-man. [A Hunter has fallen.] You have new followers! Soul Essence poured into Hiro as the Hunter faded away and the demon cats disappeared. ¡°What? No loot? Bullshit,¡± he whispered. Hiro waited for his Companion to say something. When it didn¡¯t, he turned back to the dog park. ¡°That¡¯s weird,¡± he said as he noticed a pair of trash cans. The first trash can was stuffed with garbage and toppled to its side. The second was in its normal position, completely clean, its black bag practically crisp like a sanitation worker had just visited. He took a step closer to the suspicious trash can. ¡°Whoa!¡± Hiro jumped back as the top of the trash can flew open, revealing a set of huge teeth and a long tongue that lashed at him. A health bar appeared over the creature as Hiro readied his blade: ¡°A trash can mimic!? Fuck this place!¡± Chapter Eighteen: West Village Trash Can Mimic Hiro¡¯s first strike clanked off the outer surface of the trash can. He followed this up with a second attempt, hoping to cut the mimic¡¯s tongue away. The trash can mimic was too fast, the beast able to whip its tongue back and let out an unsettling shriek. ¡°Yeaaahrrh!¡± It lunged for him, metal cracking against the stone payment as the monster snapped its jaw. ¡°Shit, shit, shit.¡± Hiro went for {Blade Whirlwind}, which did nothing to the mimic¡¯s health bar. Its outer surfaces are like armor. I need a bomb or something to¡ª The mimic lashed its tongue at Hiro and grabbed legs. It dragged him forward, which somehow triggered {Bounce}. ¡°Whoa!¡± Hiro rushed into the air, the mimic¡¯s tongue stretching with him. He landed a good fifteen feet away, the tongue pulling at him. Gripping his katana with both hands, Hiro tried to cut the tongue. This worked, and what was left of the tongue hurtled backward and struck the mimic. ¡°Yeaaahrrh! Yeaaahrrh!¡± A glance at the monster¡¯s health bar instantly brought a grimace to Hiro¡¯s face, who was expecting a severed tongue to deal more damage than just a small chunk. ¡°That¡¯s it?¡± The trash can mimic wobbled. It turned to some garbage and used its severed tongue to shove some of the rubbish into its mouth. A green, tingling energy dispersed over the trash can mimic and its health bar filled. ¡°Yeaaahrrh!¡± It healed itself? Fuck you! Hiro struck it again with {Blade Whirlwind} out of spite. The mimic shot its tongue at a tree, which it used to whip itself around to Hiro, who jumped behind a bench. Crunch! The enraged creature bit right through the wooden bench. It ate it fully and its health bar grew in size. I can¡¯t get in close. It seems to be able to chase me pretty easily. It¡¯s self-healing¡ª The mimic gnashed its teeth and sent its tongue forward again. Hiro cut at it with his katana, but was unable to sever it this time. {Bounce} sent him to the other side of the small dog park. The mimic grew louder as it clomped across the stone pavement, Hiro afraid it would attract other attention soon. He hit the trash can mimic with {Blade Whirlwind} as his mind cycled through other options. {Refund} won¡¯t work because it¡¯s not really striking me. I don¡¯t want to waste {Lupine Shift}. I just used {Kore Nani Neko}. Shit, shit. I could try my Buster Kunai, but I don¡¯t want it to eat the damn thing. I could poison it with a vape cartridge, but I don¡¯t want to waste it. I¡ª The mimic jumped for him. ¡°Yeaaahrrh!¡± Hiro rolled out of the way, bounced, and landed on the opposite side of his opponent. Ugh. My mask isn¡¯t making it laugh either. The image of a laughing trash can mimic came to him, followed by an idea he¡¯d yet to consider. Could this work? Hiro used {Bounce} to go up and over his opponent. He landed behind it, turned his backpack around, and grabbed the bottle of Xanax as a memory flashed across his mind¡¯s eye. ¡°It¡¯ll fuck you up right,¡± a coworker named Gerome had said to Hiro one night at the warehouse. ¡°Xanax.¡± Mandatory overtime for the bi-yearly sale had them both working grueling sixteen-hour shifts. Their schedules were exhausting, driven by the relentless demand for packages to be delivered in two days or less. ¡°What kind of fucked up are we talking about here?¡± Hiro had asked. ¡°Take a full bar and you¡¯ll be done, dude. I¡¯m talking done-done. See?¡± Gerome broke the Xanax into a smaller piece. ¡°This shit divides up into four smaller pieces ¡®cause they know. Man, they know. The fuckers that make this shit know that it¡¯ll get you lit as hell. Usually, I take one little piece and I¡¯m good. Tonight? I¡¯m gonna take a little more just because this isn¡¯t my first rodeo.¡± ¡°What¡¯s it for again?¡± ¡°Xanax?¡± ¡°Yeah, what¡¯s the reason for the medication in the first place?¡± Gerome shrugged. ¡°Actually, I don¡¯t know what it¡¯s for. But it¡¯ll set you straight. But just a little.¡± Hiro popped it in his mouth. It had taken about thirty minutes, but time at the warehouse blazed by after that. And that was just a small piece of the Xanax. Now, Hiro had a full bottle in his hand as he stood across from an enraged trash can mimic, whose health bar seemed to increase everytime it gobbled something down.Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. ¡°Open up, bitch.¡± Hiro tossed the pill bottle at the monster. The mimic caught it with its tongue and stuffed it into its waiting maw. ¡°Yeaaahrrh!¡± I wonder how long it will take¡­. The mimic lunged for him again, and when it got too close, Hiro hopped back to the other side of the dog park. As the mimic chased him, it continued to wolf down anything in its path. Come on¡­ Hiro thought as he moved behind a small dog fountain. Come on¡­ The slobbering mimic ripped the metal out of the ground, threw its head back, and started to chomp it down. It made a gesture as if it were choking. Hiro¡¯s eyes jumped to its health bar, which wavered and began to drop. The mimic spit the metal fountain out. It moved toward him again, yet did so drunkenly this time, until it finally collapsed. It¡¯s health bar was now at about ten percent. The mimic still twitched some, but it couldn¡¯t right itself, and its tongue hung out of its mouth. ¡°Yea¡­aahrrh¡­.¡± Hiro approached the creature just as it gave up the fight. It let out a final death rattles and Soul Essence poured into him. You have new followers! A quick check told Hiro that was back to over six hundred followers now. They seemed to be coming in faster. I¡¯m going to need more Xanax or other pharmaceuticals, he thought as the mimic disappeared. And I still haven¡¯t used my vape cartridges yet. A smirk traced across his face. Bats wielding swords, tigers with poison spitting tails, trash can mimics. ¡°And Kung Fu Panda. Fuck this place,¡± Hiro whispered, yet the slight smile remained on his face. He looked ahead and saw the {Beacon} that he had set for his fallout shelter and bounced toward it. Boing! Just a few blocks out from the parking garage and his fallout shelter, Hiro remembered something. He turned onto one of the old streets that ran through the Financial District, near a place he used to get spicy Chinese noodles called Xi¡¯an Famous Foods. There it is. Just as it had been the last time he¡¯d stayed there, the coffee shop was boarded up, its entrance also protected by some of New York¡¯s ubiquitous scaffolding. Hiro had spent a week in the place before locating his current home, and it had proven to be both quiet and secluded, even with the world literally coming apart at the seams outside. He¡¯d even discovered some coffee beans there, which he had soaked in water to make a sort of post-apocalyptic cold brew that suppressed his appetite and gave him the caffeine jitters. Before, Hiro had to scale the scaffolding, enter through a second floor window, and use a hole blasted by a super to jump down to the coffee shop, Some serious parkour shit, he remembered thinking at the time. Now, he simply bounced his way through the window entrance and even timed it so he shot straight into the hole. Hiro landed and quickly checked the interior of the coffee shop, which was partially illuminated by the hole in the ceiling. Once he was in the clear, Hiro sat down on one of the couches, got his phone out, and let out a deep breath as he looked at the Blue Lane Coffee sign behind the register. ¡°Can I buy something in the past?¡± he asked his Companion. ¡°If I use the bear to go there, can I buy something?¡± ¡°I¡¯m asking you.¡± ¡°Got it.¡± Hiro found his wallet, which had his ID and a debit and credit card. It all seemed so useless now. ¡°I have money. Or I did. Or I guess it doesn¡¯t really matter.¡± ¡°And bring it here?¡± ¡°Got it. Eat quick.¡± Hiro retrieved the teddy bear. Before squeezing it against his chest, he wondered what the people in the coffee shop would think of him, the man who appeared seemingly out of nowhere clutching a teddy bear. It¡¯s New York. They¡¯ve seen wilder shit. Hiro hugged the bear and was transported back in time. He blinked and was now in line behind a woman with a complicated drink order, the coffee shop bustling with activity. The woman held her cell phone as she spoke. ¡°...Like, yeah, make that a skinny French vanilla with extra foam but not a cappuccino, with half a Stevia in it mixed in with the espresso, and can you make it, like, two pumps of the hazelnut and one of the vanilla? Sugar-free, of course. Oat milk. Yeah. Brad. Brad, Brad, Brad. What did Brad want again? Was it the lavender latte or¡­ ugh. Let me give him a call.¡± The woman tapped her finger against her phone, which had several jingly accessories attached to it. Hiro slipped around her. ¡°Hey¡ª!¡± Hiro turned to her, and by the grave look on the face of a man clutching a teddy bear to his chest, she snapped her mouth shut. The woman¡¯s lips quivered as Hiro turned to the barista. ¡°Look. Hey. I need, um, a cup of coffee with two shots of espresso in it. And, um, this orange juice. And that sandwich. Thanks¡­ Oliver,¡± Hiro said, reading the barista¡¯s nametag, which was pinned next to a he/him button. ¡°Thank you, Oliver.¡± The barista nodded. ¡°A coffee with two shots, orange juice, and a ham sandwich. Would you like your sandwich toa¡ª¡± ¡°No.¡± The barista raised an eyebrow at Hiro. ¡°Are you sure? It¡¯s meant to be toasted. Way better that way, actually, dude.¡± ¡°Doesn¡¯t matter. Sorry. I don¡¯t have a lot of time.¡± Hiro could see the countdown timer now, the seconds ticking away. Soon, he would be transported back¡­ ¡°Sandwich, coffee, and an orange juice. And that chocolate chip cookie. The big one.¡± ¡°Um, okay. Your total will be¡ª¡± Hiro didn¡¯t care. After struggling to get his wallet out with one hand, he jammed his credit card into the machine and waited for the beep. By the time his transaction was done, he had chugged the orange juice and wolfed down half of the sandwich while the barista stood there gawking at him. ¡°Coffee and cookie,¡± Hiro said with his mouth full. ¡°Hurry!¡± The cookie came on a little plate and he stood there at the drop off bar, eating it while the woman behind him continued to gawk: ¡°I don¡¯t know what this guy is doing,¡± she said into her phone, ¡°but he is totally weirding me out¡ª¡± The coffee finally came, Hiro now with one minute left. ¡°Milk,¡± he told an indifferent barista. ¡°Steamed or¡ª¡± ¡°Doesn¡¯t. Fucking. Matter. Now,¡± Hiro said as cookie crumbs flew out of his mouth. The barista hastily poured cream into his coffee, which Hiro drank in between bites from the cookie. He let out a deep, satisfying sigh as the past flashed away and he returned to the present day. Hiro burped. He looked around the abandoned coffee shop as he instantly felt the effects of the sugar, food, and caffeine, the teddy bear still held tightly to his chest. ¡°Wow.¡± Another thought came to him and started to laugh. I forgot to tip¡­ Chapter Nineteen: Bakers Dozen Even with his upgrade in power, Hiro approached the parking garage cautiously. He remembered what it had been like before, when supers were flying around causing all sorts of mayhem. Then there had been what had happened after the Doom System had finally forced him to participate, starting with his fight against the Wall Street bull. Best to remain cautious. Hiro did just that as he moved down to his fallout shelter, where he checked his things, his eyes tracing over his family altar and the map of the New York City subway system he¡¯d cobbled together. He still had several boxes of Survivor Tenders, and it was weird how eating one completely replenished his energy levels. ¡°Wish they tasted better, though,¡± he said to himself as spooned peanut butter onto one of the bars and finished it, aware that he had also gorged himself at the coffee shop. Moving on. Time to get my shit under control. Hiro could already draw his katana in a fluid way, but he also wanted to make sure he could access his vape pen and his kunai if need be. Buster Kunai and vape pen in the left pocket? He tried this out. Both fit. This would allow him easy access to his tools, especially if he was holding his blade. The only problem with this arrangement was that his katana was sheathed on the same side. Practice makes perfect, he thought as he drew his weapon again and again from his left side. He didn¡¯t like having everything clustered together like that, but it made sense, and he could adjust better later. At least I¡¯ll have the vape pen in the next interim. And I can keep the other cartridges in my right pocket. Hiro popped the Decoy cartridge into the vape pen. Maybe I should go with something stronger, but I don¡¯t want to waste it. He fixed his mask over his face. What if I scare Valeria off? He took the mask off for now and stashed it away. What¡¯s with my¡­? Oh, that¡¯s right. ¡°The caffeine I had in the past,¡± Hiro whispered as he noticed the way his thoughts raced. He headed up the ladder and into the parking garage. Hiro stopped on the same floor where he had first met Valeria, and was just turning around when a man stepped out of the dark holding a pair of short blades. ¡°I¡¯m not the main character,¡± Hiro said. The man was shirtless under a bulletproof vest. There were scratch marks up and down his arms and blistered chafing near his pits. He wore tactical pants with various items on his belt, extra pockets lining his legs, his pants tucked into a pair of black boots laced up his shins. A grin spread across the man¡¯s dirty face and a health bar appeared above the man¡¯s head. ¡°No, you¡¯re not.¡± Fuck, Hiro thought as he drew his katana. ¡°We don¡¯t have to do this.¡± ¡°No, we don¡¯t. What do you have?¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± The man¡¯s eyes narrowed on him. ¡°Your supplies. They¡¯re mine. Whatever you got. Hand it over. Any Roulette Weapons you have? Mine. Whatever is in your backpack? Mine. Do it, asshole.¡±If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. When Hiro didn¡¯t comply the man flashed behind him, Hiro barely swiveling to avoid one of his blades. Did he just teleport!? Hiro tried to slash at him only for the other Survivor to disappear and reappear behind him again. ¡°Fucking coward!¡± Hiro swung on him. Clank! Their blades met, the man¡¯s attack charged with an explosive blast of energy that flipped Hiro onto his stomach, triggering {Bounce}. Boing! Hiro hit the ceiling and came crashing down. He rolled to the side to avoid two quick attempts from the Survivor. He blocked another, the power from which he was able to return with {Refund}, forcing the attacker backward and straight into a cement wall. The man teleported away before he hit the ground. Triggering a horizontal {Bounce} allowed Hiro to get a better vantage point. Now fifteen feet away from where he had just seen the Survivor, Hiro was just about to toss his Buster Kunai when the man vanished completely. Excruciating seconds passed. ¡°Fuck, fuck.¡± Hiro whipped around. ¡°Where are you?¡± He cast his hand out. ~Kore nani, kore nani, kore nani, kore nani, kore nani, kore nani, NEKO!~ His phantom demon cats exploded out of various portals, all rushing around until they swarmed around the Survivor, who had been fully invisible up until that point. Hiro thought he had the Survivor pinned until the man started throwing the demon cats off him. They yowled with pain as he beat them back, his muscles bulging, a transformation taking place not unlike Hiro¡¯s {Lupine Shift}. The rogue Survivor¡¯s transformation wasn¡¯t werewolf in nature, it was larger, with the mane of a lion and a maniacal head that reminded Hiro of some of the evil oni masks he had seen in a Japanese temple. Hiro released his Buster Kunai in the man¡¯s direction and attempted to take his own transformation, yet he was prevented by some unseen force. What¡¯s going on? he thought as the Survivor sidestepped his attack. ¡°You are one of the ones that can transform,¡± the Survivor said, his voice much deeper now. Occasionally, one of Hiro¡¯s cats would try for him, only to be batted away. ¡°That¡¯s too bad.¡± Hiro grabbed his vape pen and kept it hidden in his left hand, katana in his right. ¡°Yeah?¡± ¡°I have a power that prevents others from transforming. It¡¯s helped me¡­ a lot. You will be the thirteenth Survivor that I have killed. Baker¡¯s dozen, I believe. I can¡¯t remember why they called it that. I guess it doesn¡¯t matter.¡± Spikes jutted out of the lion-faced Survivor¡¯s shoulders and several barbed tendrils lifted off his back. ¡°This will be fun.¡± Hiro took a puff off his vape pen and released a cloud of mist, his Decoy cartridge spent. Survivor took off in the opposite direction as he chased Hiro¡¯s decoy. The man, now with spiked tendrils flailing everywhere, shouldered past a parked vehicle with flat tires, his strength enough to move the vehicle out of place. Do I run? Hiro thought for a brief second as he was given an opportunity to flee. Fuck no, I don¡¯t. Hiro hastily popped the Bleed cartridge in his vape pen. ¡°Fuck you,¡± Hiro said as he took off after the Survivor, who continued to chase his decoy. As he neared him, Hiro moved back into action with {Blade Whirlwind}. He planned to spam him a few times then hit him with Bleed, yet the Survivor dodged left, colliding with a parked SUV that Hiro had looted weeks ago. He shattered the window, but had already launched himself off using tendrils by the time Hiro was ready to use his katana again. ¡°You die, now!¡± the man shouted. Still on the defensive, Hiro managed to cut one of his opponent¡¯s tendrils away, yet another pair grabbed his legs and whipped him to the ground, causing him to lose his vape pen. The sudden jolt triggered {Bounce}, Hiro hanging on for dear life as he was tossed into the ceiling and then yanked toward the Survivor. Both hands on his katana, he attempted to thrust the blade forward only for the lion-faced man to shift right. How much longer will he keep his transformation? Hiro¡¯s thoughts filtered away as the Survivor¡¯s tendrils dug themselves into the sides of his legs, six inches below the knee. Wracked with pain, Hiro swung his katana in desperation. He had miscalculated, and it would likely cost him his¡ª Thunk! A bolt burst out of the center of the Survivor¡¯s forehead. The man staggered, but held onto Hiro with his spiked tendrils. Thunk! Another bolt, this one blooming out of the man¡¯s throat. Thunk! A final bolt, this one piercing his chest. The man¡¯s eyes twitched, and he fell. Chapter Twenty: For the Streets The lion-faced Survivor let out one final gasp as Soul Essence left his body. His tendrils retracted back and he fell in a heap. Hiro looked down, both legs covered in wounds from the man¡¯s barbed tendrils. ¡°Thanks,¡± he said aloud, even though he had yet to see Valeria. ¡°That was fucked.¡± ¡°What were you thinking?¡± she asked as she stepped out of the dark, a blue NYC cap holding some of her thick hair back.¡°You could have run.¡± ¡°You were watching?¡± Hiro asked. She approached, her crossbow still pointed at the dead Survivor. ¡°More or less.¡± Valeria turned to Hiro and raised her crossbow. ¡°Hold still.¡± ¡°Wait¡ª!¡± Thunk! Valeria fired a bolt directly at Hiro. Rather than pierce his chest, the bolt enveloped him in a blanket of warmth, which soon healed the wounds on his legs. About the only thing it didn¡¯t fix were the rips in his jeans. Hiro even felt better after she was done. ¡°That¡¯s new.¡± ¡°An upgrade.¡± ¡°Next time, tell me what it will do before you shoot me,¡± he told her with a deep breath out. ¡°I have gauze that could have handled it as well.¡± Valeria crouched. ¡°Heh. Sorry, bro. It was a bit more dramatic that way, I guess. Not my intention.¡± ¡°His loot is yours.¡± ¡°Nah, no loot. To the Doom System, we technically killed him together. Look.¡± She motioned to the man¡¯s body, his weapons gone. ¡°But we got SE and followers.¡± Hiro had been so distracted by the proceedings that he had barely noticed the applause in his head that signaled more followers. He was now up over a thousand again. ¡°You just happened to be lurking around here, huh?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve been waiting for you to return,¡± she said. ¡°Heard a commotion and I found you.¡± ¡°Yeah,¡± Hiro said as he scratched the back of his head. ¡°Did I tell you thanks yet?¡± ¡°You did.¡± ¡°I need to get to a merchant. I need more vape cartridges.¡± ¡°I saw that. A Roulette Weapon?¡± she asked. ¡°Nope. I got it from killing Mercury near Grand Central. A Sentry.¡± ¡°I took out Hercules not far from there.¡± ¡°I bet that was a fight.¡± Valeria grinned, her eyes obscured by her cap. ¡°It was.¡± ¡°That means there¡¯s one more out there, unless another Survivor got it.¡± ¡°How do you know that?¡± Valeria asked. Hiro counted them out on his fingers. ¡°Hercules, Minerva, and Mercury. They are part of the statue that used to be outside of Grand Central. You killed Hercules; I killed Mercury. They¡¯re Sentries now. So that leaves Minerva, I mean, theoretically.¡± ¡°Great. More enemies.¡± ¡°Always.¡± ¡°And the cat attack? I thought that would do it. What¡¯s that one called?¡± ¡°Kore Nani Neko.¡± Valeria made a face. ¡°Like the TikTok vid? I was wondering where I¡¯d heard that before.¡± ¡°I got it from a merchant.¡± ¡°Ah.¡± ¡°But the throwing knife that turns into a Buster Sword. That¡¯s a Roulette Weapon. And I have a mask in my backpack that¡¯s Roulette as well.¡± Hiro stopped short of telling her about Chronokuma teddy bear. You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. ¡°Nice. I haven¡¯t gotten any Roulette gear, sadly.¡± Valeria holstered her crossbow on her back. ¡°But that¡¯s new.¡± ¡°Back holster? Hell, yeah. I bgrabbed it from a sporting goods store in the Bronx. Nobody needed that shit there, apparently.¡± She offered Hiro her hand and he took it. ¡°Thanks.¡± ¡°I¡¯m guessing you¡¯ve been going around too,¡± she said as they two turned away from the dead Survivor. Hiro spotted his vape pen and his Buster Kunai. ¡°Hold up.¡± After he retrieved the two items, he returned to Valeria. ¡°Going around, yeah. There¡¯s been some of that. A lot of that.¡± ¡°And your level?¡± ¡°Three. Yours?¡± ¡°Same.¡± ¡°Have you made enemies?¡± he asked. ¡°Fuck yeah, I have. Weird that a person¡¯s first instinct would be to hunt other Survivors, but that¡¯s how it has played out. I guess. And then there are the actual Hunters. There¡¯s one closer to Battery Park. That fucker nearly got me.¡± ¡°I have something similar,¡± Hiro said. ¡°A pair of nasty ones in Bryant Park. They¡¯re teenage Hunters. I¡¯ve been calling them the Bunny Twins because they wear dominatrix-looking rabbit masks.¡± ¡°For real?¡± ¡°Bunny masks with ears that morph into swords. I probably should have mentioned that.¡± ¡°God.¡± ¡°It¡¯s fucked.¡± ¡°What about your Hunter?¡± Hiro asked. ¡°A giant woman. Maybe not a giant like some Lord of the Rings shit, but twice my height. Two heads. Four arms. Looks like a Hindu goddess named Kali, which is appropriate considering she¡¯s the Goddess of Death.¡± ¡°You know about Hindu Gods?¡± ¡°Nah, not really. My degree is in Computer Science. I told you. But there¡¯s this Linux distro named after her. So I looked it up one time.¡± ¡°Distro?¡± ¡°Operating system. What about that Survivor you mentioned?¡± ¡°I call her the Lady in the Yellow Raincoat. Older lady. She landed on a rooftop and opened her umbrella, releasing daggers that caused me to jump straight into the Zone of Influence of a Sentry.¡± ¡°Bitch,¡± Valeria said. ¡°She thinks she¡¯s the main character.¡± ¡°They all do.¡± ¡°But she¡¯ll be hard to find. Somewhere in the East Village, last I saw her. What about you?¡±¡± Valeria bit her lip. ¡°I got one that threatened our sanctuary.¡± ¡°Our?¡± ¡°My girlfriend. Rena.¡± ¡°That¡¯s your plus one?¡± ¡°For the gate opening? Yes. Sorry if I didn¡¯t mention that. I didn¡¯t know if I could trust you yet.¡± ¡°And you think you can trust me now?¡± ¡°After everything I¡¯ve been through since we last saw each other? Trusting you is the least of my concerns,¡± she said. ¡°Rena doesn¡¯t go out with you?¡± Hiro glanced around. ¡°She¡¯s not about to come out of the shadows or anything, is she?¡± ¡°God, no. She¡¯s not built for shit like this. Not everyone is, you know, like us.¡± ¡°For the streets?¡± A crooked smile formed on Valeria¡¯s face. ¡°Sure, for the streets. If that¡¯s what you call the insane shit we are getting into, then sure.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t really know what else to call it.¡± ¡°Nor do I. But Rena is adapting. She¡¯s been out with me a few times. She has a dagger she can barely use and fire hands.¡± ¡°Fire hands?¡± ¡°A Roulette Skill. I should actually call them something like heat hands. The system called it Fire Ants, which sounds dumb until you see her use the power. But they¡¯re really strong. Only problem is she has to get in close to use them. All of these powers are wild, and just trusting them?¡± ¡°I know the feeling,¡± Hiro said as he remembered what it had been like to {Bounce} from the top of the parking garage to another roof. ¡°You and Rena. Did you meet before or after the Doom System appeared?¡± ¡°Before.¡± ¡°Wow.¡± ¡°We¡¯ve been surviving together for nearly a year now. We make it work.¡± ¡°That¡¯s commendable.¡± ¡°It¡¯s also smart. Two heads are better than one, at least until you realize you have two mouths to feed. What about you?¡± ¡°Me?¡± ¡°Did you ever shack up with someone after the Doom System appeared?¡± ¡°Yeah, I did,¡± Hiro said, remembering Monica. ¡°But that didn¡¯t work out.¡± ¡°Sorry to hear that.¡± ¡°It is what it is,¡± Hiro said, a phrase that he hated yet one that applied. ¡°I found two people for our gate which might prove troublesome considering they¡¯re brothers. Juan and Marcello.¡± ¡°We can¡¯t possibly be the only people using the gate in the Financial District. There will be others to team up with. If we get proactive now, we can tell some more people to meet there.¡± Valeria pulled out her phone to check the countdown timer. ¡°One day and roughly twenty-one hours. Joy. Then the gates open and who knows what happens.¡± ¡°Plenty of time to get stronger. So, what do you think?¡± ¡°What do I think?¡± she asked as she put her phone away. ¡°We team up. Wait, we team up, right? Take down our enemies? That¡¯s what my guts telling me, anyway.¡± Valeria smiled. ¡°I was waiting for you to suggest that.¡± ¡°It¡¯s smart, right?¡± ¡°Definitely. We can focus on the Hunters first. They¡¯ll be easiest to find.¡± ¡°Agreed.¡± ¡°Which leads me to our final question: are we going after Kali¡¯s lookalike in Battery Park, or are we going after your Bunny Twins? Your choice, Hiro.¡± Chapter Twenty-One: Disorderly Conduct Valeria stood at the entrance of Hiro¡¯s fallout shelter, hands on her hips as she took a look around. ¡°Not as bad as I expected, and it doesn¡¯t smell too bad in here. Not great, but not too bad. I should have found a fallout shelter. I¡¯ve seen those signs all over the city.¡± ¡°They exist. And it smells alright-enough because of the air fresheners.¡± Hiro gestured to a couple pine tree air fresheners in the corner, two of which were still halfway in their plastic packaging. ¡°Humans stink,¡± Hiro said, a statement that could be interpreted multiple ways. He approached the collection of maps on the wall and shined a wind-up lantern onto them. ¡°Where did you say your Hunter was? Battery Park, right?¡± ¡°Yup. Lower Manhattan. I don¡¯t know why it¡¯s called that. Bowery, Battery. Lots of similar sounding words here in New York.¡± ¡°You¡¯re from where again?¡± he asked. ¡°Chicago.¡± ¡°The Windy City.¡± ¡°It can be that, yes.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve only been to the airport there,¡± Hiro told Valeria as he found Battery Park, which was located along the harbor with water views of Brooklyn, New Jersey, and the Statue of Liberty. Hiro traced his finger along the map until he came to the nearest subway line, a passage from which happened to connect to his fallout shelter. ¡°Have you spent much time underground?¡± ¡°Too much time underground,¡± she said. ¡°It was making Rena sick, the lack of sun. But I¡¯m cool with taking the subway line and just popping up to get the Kali Hunter. It¡¯ll be much safer than heading across Lower Manhattan. I can¡¯t fly like you, either.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t fly. I can bounce.¡± ¡°Maybe the Doom System will give me that power next Interim. I¡¯d love to bounce my ass right out of here,¡± Valeria said with a chuckle. ¡°Only thing is, I have no idea where I¡¯d go.¡± ¡°Every place is equally fucked.¡± ¡°Or more fucked than us. I¡¯ve been wondering what it¡¯s like for some folks just out in the middle-of-nowhere. No telling. The city is hard. Hard as hell. But you get used to it.¡± ¡°Preppers might have a chance.¡± ¡°You mean some of those fuckers in the Midwest? Maybe. But their weapons didn¡¯t work either after the Doom System did away with all things projectile. Then it dealt with vehicles, combustion engines. Then the military stuff.¡± Hiro recalled all the checkpoints around the city that weren¡¯t the same after weapons no longer worked. ¡°Ever feel like this is just a prolonged nightmare that we¡¯ll one day wake up from?¡± ¡°Nah, bro. I know it¡¯s real.¡± A disgusted look traced across Valeria¡¯s face. ¡°And I¡¯ve come to accept that. I guess that¡¯s my inspiration. I mean, maybe. It¡¯s sort of like the movies, this desire to fight back. I always thought that shit was trite, that it was just for entertainment, but no, there really are crazy-ass people like us.¡± ¡°For the streets.¡± ¡°You said it.¡± ¡°Sometimes, I don¡¯t know if I¡¯m fighting back, or simply going along with it. Speaking of movies, I fought Kung Fu Panda, or his equivalent, like an hour ago. I thought I should mention that. It was¡­ weird.¡± Valeria looked at him skeptically. ¡°For real?¡± ¡°For real.¡± ¡°Wild.¡± Hiro didn¡¯t say anything for a moment. He just stared at Valeria, the two letting the silence fade away. ¡°Anyway, eat if you¡¯re hungry¡ªI got a few things, Survivor Tendors with peanut butter is good¡ªdrink if you¡¯d like, and let¡¯s go.¡± ¡°Into the subway system? Gonna need me a bit of this.¡± She produced a small plastic bottle of whiskey. ¡°Did I say Rena hated being underground? I meant me. Her too, but especially me. It¡¯s creepy down there.¡± ¡°It can be for sure. I got used to the dark, though.¡± Valeria took a pull from the bottle and handed it to Hiro, who brought the bottle to his lips and drank just a little. ¡°Whew. Thanks,¡± he said as he wiped his mouth and handed the bottle back to her. ¡°Let¡¯s deal with these Hunters.¡± ¡°Lead the way.¡± They set off, Hiro easily finding the right line that would lead them to Lower Manhattan. Later, when they were nearing the subway exit for The Battery, they came across a former homeless encampment on one of the platforms. Valeria trained her weapon on one of the tents. ¡°Careful. Could be a mimic.¡± ¡°I fought a trash can mimic.¡± ¡°Before or after Kung Fu Panda?¡±The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. ¡°Directly after.¡± She shook her head. ¡°These fucking mimics. I fought one that had taken shelter in a discarded golf back. The damn thing got away. Scared the shit out of me too.¡± ¡°How did it get away?¡± ¡°It grew legs and took off. I was already fighting this other thing¡ªrat thing, maybe you know what I¡¯m referring to¡ªand the mimic just sprung an attack on me.¡± Hiro eyed the holster she now had for her crossbow. ¡°In the clothing goods store.¡± ¡°Yeah, sort of. Actually, it was at Macy¡¯s in Midtown. I figured no one would have stolen a holster for a crossbow, and I was right. Everything else was gone.¡± ¡°Aside from the golf bag mimic.¡± ¡°Aside from that, yeah. People don¡¯t have time to golf with the Doom System breathing down our necks. Did you kill yours?¡± ¡°I did. Pharmaceuticals really do work wonders.¡± ¡°You drugged it?¡± ¡°Like a Sackler, I merely provided the medicine. The mimic ate it, thus drugging itself.¡± ¡°Dark, but not inaccurate,¡± she said as they moved on. ¡°Speaking of which, I don¡¯t know where the system gets its ideas, but the challenges it has given us so far tell me that it¡¯s¡­¡± Her voice lowered. ¡°It¡¯s what?¡± Hiro asked as they started up a set of subway stairs, both with their weapons at the ready. ¡°This is going to sound off, but it reminds me of both a spasdic teenager and an AI.¡± ¡°AI as in Artificial Intelligence?¡± ¡°Is there another kind of AI. It¡¯s sort of like a merger of the two, which makes me think that¡ªand just hear me out¡ªthe Doom System is an AI having hallucinations. Something alien about it, for sure, but that¡¯s what it is. Anyway, it¡¯s a theory,¡± she said, as if she¡¯d had the argument before with her significant other before. ¡°Huh.¡± ¡°Think about it. The things that it throws at us, and how it tries to fix humanity¡¯s problems with blanket solutions, like taking away all the guns, or bringing religious figures back. That sort of shit. And now, it mocks us in a pseudo-historical way with these increasingly batshit descriptions. Clearly some sort of hallucination, like its cobbling together info. I don¡¯t know.¡± She waited for Hiro to protest. ¡°Well?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know what the Doom System is, to be honest.¡± ¡°You haven¡¯t thought about what it is or why it¡¯s doing this?¡± ¡°Not as much as I should,¡± he told her was he was reminded of his father¡¯s words, ask the right questions. He decided not to delve to deep into that with her. ¡°I have just sort of accepted it, and have decided to survive.¡± Hiro brought his mask down over his face. ¡°Ready?¡± She snorted. ¡°That mask looks demented.¡± ¡°When it works, it works like a charm. If we¡¯re lucky, your Hunter will just laugh at us. If we¡¯re not lucky¡­¡± ¡°Just let me know if you plan to become a werewolf. I¡¯ll get out of the area and provide support. And if I didn¡¯t already tell you¡ªI don¡¯t think I did¡ªmy Roulette Skill is called Wrecking Ball. I can use it once per day, and I¡¯d gladly use it against this fucker. But you need to be cleared out if I do. The power allows me to drop a huge Wrecking Ball from the sky. Like high up.¡± ¡°Really?¡± ¡°It¡¯ll crush the Hunter, but it will also crush you if you are anywhere within ten feet of her. Seriously, it¡¯s that big. If you come across a crater in Midtown, that was me. Or, that was this Roulette Skill. If I use it, get out of the way. It¡¯ll splatter you.¡± ¡°Got it.¡± ¡°I know you¡¯re thinking we should just kick things off with my Roulette Skill, but we shouldn¡¯t.¡± ¡°I never said that.¡± ¡°It¡¯s sort of a Hail Mary. And it hurts for me to use it.¡± ¡°Hurts?¡± Hiro asked. ¡°Why?¡± She gave him a disturbed look. ¡°You don¡¯t want to know.¡± ¡°What about your vanishing power? How do you step into the shadows?¡± he asked almost as an afterthought. ¡°I¡¯ve seen you do it a few times now.¡± ¡°Oh, that? It¡¯s some bonus that came with my Roulette Skill. It works intuitively. Too bad we don¡¯t have time to play hide and go seek. You¡¯d never find me.¡± **** Hiro remembered watching a YouTube video about Battery Park, which was originally a Dutch fort built on land taken from the Lenape, the fort later run by the British, who filled it with artillery to protect the lower part of the island. Later, the New York elite turned it into a park for the ¡®disorderly classes¡¯ and to show how refined they were in doing so. Now, it was home to a Hunter nearly as tall as some of the trees, a woman with four arms and blue skin, her face obscured by a hood attached to her sleeveless chainmail armor tucked into golden faulds. And we are the disorderly class, Hiro thought. Survivors. ¡°Fucking big, right?¡± Valeria asked from their position behind a partially crumbled wall. Hiro peeked around the edge to see their opponent again. A health bar appeared, rimmed in gold, indicating she was at a much higher level than him. There was a skull above her as well, indicating her Hunter status. Valeria spoke again: ¡°If we take her down, one less Hunter running around the city. That¡¯s the way I see it. I tried to find a kink in her armor last time. All her vitals are protected. I was able to fire a few arrows into her exposed arm, and those hit. But she¡¯s healed now.¡± ¡°I have my cats attack.¡± ¡°One option, distraction, good. We might need to hit her a bunch of times.¡± ¡°I have a vape cartridge that could help with that. Bleed will make her wounds worse.¡± ¡°Shit, yeah. Bleed is a good idea. Let¡¯s do that. But you¡¯ll have to get in closer to her to use the vape pen.¡± ¡°Distractions from my cats and distractions from you, in that case.¡± Valeria hesitated. ¡°That will work. One last thing. She¡¯s faster than she looks, and her steps are huge.¡± Hiro took another look at the towering Hunter. ¡°Anything I should do if she gets you?¡± He didn¡¯t mean to be so forthright, but this was the kind of situation they were in, and he could tell by her expression that she didn¡¯t take it that way. Valeria gave him quick directions to her shelter, a grim look on her face as she did so. ¡°Rena¡¯s there. Knock to the tune of We Will Rock You. Boom, boom, clap. You know the one. What about you? You got any people?¡± ¡°In New York City? No. In the world? Who knows? But raid my stash if I die. Take whatever you two need.¡± Valeria reached her fist out to Hiro and he bumped it. ¡°We¡¯ve got this, bro,¡± she said. ¡°We just need to make this bitch bleed.¡± Chapter Twenty-Two: One Hit Wonder Hiro bounced toward the colossal female hunter, vape pen in his mouth. He landed in front of her and exhaled a huge cloud of red smoke. What happened next played out in slow motion as the Hunter brought both swords down at once, Hiro barely bouncing out of the way. Had he spent two or three seconds more in front of her, and he would have been done for. Instead, he landed near a tree and summoned the phantom demon cats. They appeared out of nowhere as the Kore Nani Neko song played from some invisible speaker. The cats rushed toward the Hunter, who swung both her blades at the horde. She managed to cut a couple away, but others broke through and were able to land scratches on her arms. Thunk! An arrow drove into the Hunter¡¯s bicep. She threw her head back and roared with anger, revealing a blue-skinned face with yellow eyes, her jaw extending forward and producing two rows of sharp, shark-like teeth. Fucking hell, Hiro thought as he hit her with {Blade Whirlwind}. Just got to keep the Bleed damage up. It was already working, her wounds seeping, the Hunter¡¯s health bar wavering. Not much had come off the top, but it was slowly starting to fall back. The Hunter swung both her swords at Hiro, producing a burst of energy that cut down several of the trees behind him. He rushed to avoid the falling trees as he heard more bolts from Valeria¡¯s crossbow peppered with the yowls of his demon cats and the grunts of the gigantic Hunter. {Bounce} sent Hiro up and away. He landed on the rooftop of a row of public restrooms. Whoosh! The Hunter appeared before him and drove both swords into the roof, which cut straight through the stone and severed some of the sewer lines connected to the toilet. Hiro jumped to avoid her, but made the mistake of landing on the pier rather than the other side of Battery Park. Most of his phantom demon cats were gone now, but a few still clung to the woman¡¯s arms, biting into her as she was struck by more crossbow bolts. Thunk! Thunk! Hiro hit the charging Hunter with {Bladewind} again and again. He needed to make another jump for it, but to do so would put him directly in front of her, and by the way she held her blades there was a real chance she would cleave him down. To the water? Hiro imagined what that would look like, and it didn¡¯t look pretty. His only other option, besides trying to hit her with his Buster Kunai, was {Refund}. It took guts. It took everything Hiro could muster to stand there on the pier holding his katana like a baseball bat as the enormous four-armed woman bum-rushed him. Yet he hold his ground and¡ª Clank! Hiro managed to block her next attack. He triggered {Bounce} mere moments later and exploded toward her as she tried for another. She parried his strike, but {Refund} was enough to force her backward. Hiro landed on the other side and glanced back to Valeria just as she released another bolt. The Kali-like Hunter was now down to fifty percent health and bleeding profusely. Numerous arrows stuck out of her arms, even as her extra hands tried to pull them out. This only made matters worse as her wounds grew. It all compounded in a matter of seconds due to the Bleed damage as her health bar went from fifty percent to twenty-five percent. She turned to Hiro, seething as blood rushed out of her. Another staggering step and she took a knee, her face a mask of horror as she roared in pain and anger. Hiro drew his Buster Kunai and tossed it directly into her open mouth. It bloomed out of the back of her skull and her health bar dropped to zero. Soul Essence poured into Hiro a trail of it whisking away to Valeria¡¯s position. He sheathed his katana as the prompts came. Level up! You have new followers! Performance upgrade! Hiro felt his phone buzz. He read the message from his Companion with a shaky hand: A bonus? Hiro shook his head. Who doesn¡¯t like a good bonus? Then he remembered the sound of the followers being sacrificed, and the fact that the Doom System was just assigning this shit to him randomly. It was hard to ignore the sour taste in his mouth that followed. Valeria reached him just as Hiro was retrieving his Buster Kunai. ¡°That¡¯s one way to do it. You good?¡± ¡°Leveled up.¡± ¡°Hell yeah.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s get the bunnies next.¡± Hiro was just turning back to the water when he noticed something move in the distance. ¡°Is that the Statue of Liberty?¡± A health bar appeared above her head, one rimmed in gold. ¡°What the fuck?¡± Valeria asked. ¡°Ummm¡­¡± Hiro¡¯s heart pulsed once the statue removed her crown. She aimed it at the shoreline and released it right in their direction. Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. The Statue of Liberty¡¯s copper crown twisted toward the pier, impact imminent. Hiro grabbed Valeria and the two flew through the air as he triggered his {Bounce} ability, which swiftly dislocated her shoulder. ¡°Fuck!¡± he shouted as the Statue of Liberty¡¯s crown smashed into the pier, sending a tidal wave toward them just as they landed. ¡°You practically ripped my arm out of its socket!¡± she howled. ¡°The water. It¡¯s¡ª¡± Hiro turned back to the pier, to the wreckage, and saw that the Statue of Liberty¡¯s crown had returned to her hand like a boomerang. The water reached the two of them and trickled back. Valeria held her arm, wincing as she looked up at Hiro. ¡°My shoulder is dislocated. Fuck. Snap it back in. Can you?¡± ¡°I have no idea how to do that!¡± ¡°My crossbow,¡± she said with gritted teeth. ¡°Shoot you with a healing arrow?¡± ¡°No, don¡¯t shoot me. Fuck, Hiro!¡± ¡°Sorry¡ª¡± he stammered. ¡°Help me get it off. It¡¯s in the way. I¡¯ll fucking snap my arm back into place.¡± Hiro helped her remove the crossbow from its holster. He could now see in the way that her arm was hanging that it would restrict her movement to some degree. It wasn¡¯t light either. ¡°Guard me.¡± Still gritting her teeth, Valeria stumbled to a low-hanging branch of one of the numerous trees in Battery Park, where she positioned herself so that the back of her dislocated arm was against the trunk for leverage. With a deep breath in, Valeria used her good arm to grasp the tree branch as she squatted down, letting her body weight and gravity assist her. She exhaled sharply and gave a final, firm push downward, effectively using the tree as a fulcrum. Pop! ¡°Uhhhh¡­¡± she groaned. After a few moments, she gingerly tested the mobility of her shoulder. She finally locked eyes with Hiro. ¡°It¡¯s not your fault. It¡¯s¡­ I can¡¯t believe I¡¯m saying this. It¡¯s the Statue of Liberty¡¯s fault.¡± ¡°It¡¯s a Sentry,¡± Hiro said as he glanced back out at the water. The statue was still staring in their direction, practically daring them to approach the shoreline. ¡°Apparently.¡± Valeria mouthed a few curse words and got control of herself. ¡°But there¡¯s nothing we can do about her now. The bitch.¡± ¡°Are you sure you¡¯re okay?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll be good. Just waiting for the tingling to stop.¡± ¡°I thought you would ram your dislocated shoulder into the branch,¡± Hiro said. ¡°And cause myself more pain? Nah. Rena used to be a nurse. And if you can¡¯t already tell, this isn¡¯t the first dislocated shoulder I¡¯ve had since the Doom System appeared.¡± She turned back to the Statue of Liberty like she was going to flip it off. ¡°That¡¯s probably a bad idea.¡± ¡°You¡¯re right. Maybe I shouldn¡¯t. I¡¯d drop a {Wrecking Ball} on her head if I knew it would kill her. But I don¡¯t know. And we¡¯d also have to get out there. The Staten Island Ferry isn¡¯t exactly running anymore.¡± ¡°We can deal with the statue later. Or just stay away from the water.¡± Valeria started to laugh. ¡°That¡¯s some Ghostbusters shit if I ever saw it.¡± She glared at the Statue of Liberty. ¡°But don¡¯t you worry, we¡¯re coming back for you, bitch.¡± **** The subway system was dark as always, their path lit by a light on Hiro¡¯s backpack and the one Valeria had placed on her crossbow holster. ¡°This place is so damn spooky,¡± Valeria whispered as several rats scurried away, the rodents squeaking. ¡°We can still head up and take the streets.¡± ¡°More action that way, but if these Twin Bunnies are as hard as you say they are, maybe it¡¯s best we stay down here.¡± She jumped back and stopped herself. ¡°Sorry. A rat just ran past me.¡± ¡°They¡¯re terrible creatures.¡± ¡°If you ask me, the Doom System could have done something to rodents and roaches. Deal with them and leave us the hell alone. But no. It had to mettle. And I already told you my theory.¡± ¡°That it¡¯s some kind of Artificial Intelligence. I remember.¡± ¡°I know that sounds crazy, and it is crazy. But all of this is crazy.¡± It was faint at first, but as they continued deeper into the subway system, both of them heard light music. ¡°Don¡¯t tell me there are subway performers down here,¡± Valeria joked, yet she had her crossbow at the ready now. ¡°It¡¯s coming from the next platform.¡± Hiro tried to get a better look around the train, but was prevented by the curvature of the tunnel. The music grew louder. It sounded like circus music, or perhaps something Scott Joplin would have played. Hiro was familiar with his work. He had discovered the long dead musician, famous for his ragtime music, through an online recommendation engine. The music he heard now was similar, yet there was a dark undertone to it, like it was being played on a piano that hadn¡¯t been tuned in decades. ¡°Let me go ahead just a bit,¡± Hiro told her. ¡°You can cover me.¡± ¡°I wish there was room for me to crawl on top of the train. That would be ideal.¡± ¡°We¡¯ll be fine,¡± Hiro said, even though he didn¡¯t know if this was the case or not. He reached the front of the train, where he immediately drew his katana. What the hell? Hiro thought as he saw a man seated on the platform clutching a harmonium between his feet. A golden beam of light touched the man¡¯s head, indicating he was a merchant. ¡°We¡¯re good,¡± Hiro called back to Valeria. The merchant, who wore a designer LV scarf wrapped tightly around the lower half of his face, was surrounded by nearly a dozen pigeons. A pair were on his shoulder, more on little perches that he had erected out of trash. As he continued playing his music, several of the pigeons turned to Hiro and Valeria, including the pigeon on his head that stood in the crease of a red fedora. ¡°This fucking place,¡± Valeria said. ¡°Guess we should see what he has.¡± Hiro and Valeria took the ladder to the platform. They approached the merchant, who continued to play his strange song on his harmonium. He stopped abruptly, and the pigeons on his shoulders ruffled their feathers. ¡°Ah, some Survivors,¡± the pigeon perched on his fedora said. He glanced down at the merchant. ¡°Please, a little background music. Make it light.¡± The man played a few long, waltz-like notes with his harmonium. ¡°Good. Now, how can I help you?¡± the pigeon asked. Valeria and Hiro exchanged glances. ¡°Whatever,¡± Valeria said. ¡°Just get what you need.¡± ¡°Bleed cartridges,¡± Hiro told the pigeon. The pigeon bobbed its head left and right. ¡°Ah, Bleed cartridges will be three thousand followers, please.¡± Hiro quickly checked his follower counter. He was up past three thousand with the bonus he had received from his Interim Performance grade. ¡°Fine.¡± ¡°Are you sure you wouldn¡¯t like a pigeon or two instead? They are much cheaper. I can sell you a skill called {Blinding Swarm} for the same cost. It might be more useful than a vape cartridge.¡± ¡°Does that do what I think it will do?¡± Hiro asked the bird. ¡°If you think it causes pigeons to swarm around an enemies head, obstructing their vision and disorienting them, then yes, that would be {Blinding Swarm}.¡± ¡°That¡¯s good, Hiro,¡± Valeria said. ¡°As long as it isn¡¯t a Roulette Skill.¡± ¡°It is,¡± the pigeon on the merchant¡¯s fedora told her. It cooed to some of the other birds, who all responded. ¡°Ah, you are in luck. It seems they have a better offer for you. {Blinding Swarm} is now off the table. Perhaps it will be on the table when you visit me next, if you survive.¡± ¡°Damn,¡± Valeria said under her breath. ¡°So you¡¯re that kind of pigeon, huh?¡± Hiro shot her a funny look. He started laughing, and as he did the birds all cawed, the man they were seated on and around once again playing his harmonium. After they quieted down, the pigeon on the merchant¡¯s hat spoke again: ¡°Would you like to make a deal?¡± ¡°Sure,¡± Hiro told the pigeon. ¡°Are you familiar with the term One Hit Wonder?¡± ¡°Yes,¡± Hiro said. ¡°A song by a band that only had that one hit. Like¡­¡± He exchanged glances with Valeria. ¡°Turning Japanese. Now I¡¯m wondering if the Doom System is fucking with me, or if I¡¯m culprit.¡± The pigeon spoke again: ¡°You are incorrect. A One Hit Wonder is a powerful, one-use spell. They are arguably more powerful than most Roulette Skills, depending on the scenario. There is one catch, however.¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°If you choose the One Hit Wonder we have for you, you will do so blindly. You won¡¯t know what it is beforehand. And just like that, {Blinding Swarm} is back on the table.¡± The pigeon cooed and smoothed its feathers back. ¡°What will it be, Survivor? Will it be {Blinding Swarm}, One Hit Wonder, or would you like to refill your Bleed cartridge? You have ten seconds to make a decision.¡± A timer appeared. ¡°Choose wisely.¡± Chapter Twenty-Three: Monster Mash Hiro ran through his options presented by the strange pigeon merchant. The other birds around the merchant pecked and squawked while the man playing the harmonium kept his hand on a low, foreboding chord. Let¡¯s see¡­ Hiro thought. {Blinding Swarm} would allow him to distract opponents, Bleed was obviously awesome, but the lure of a One Hit Wonder skill was too much. After all, who didn¡¯t like a surprise, even if he didn¡¯t know exactly what the power would do. It had to be good to be one-of-a-kind. ¡°One Hit Wonder. Let¡¯s do that.¡± As soon as he said these words, the sounds of screams and shrieks filled the subway tunnel. The yelling continued, longer than it had been the last time Hiro had sacrificed followers. Please! Please, no! Stop! Aaaaahhh! Noooo! Hiro nearly jumped back at the sound of a firing squad, followed by what he was almost certain was a guillotine. Noooo! ¡°Goddammit,¡± Valeria said through gritted teeth. ¡°It¡¯s even worse this time.¡± Hiro was about to respond when the prompt appeared. One Hit Wonder: {Trucks Volta} Grade: S Upgrade: N/A Description: The streets of Kukku?¨¡rma ran with blood as the Indus Valley¡¯s annual cock-fighting tournament took a turn for the worst. The Harappan, noted for their insistence on pranayamic practices, fought the raging roosters and crackheaded chickens led by a particularly nasty rooster named Big De while a disstrimental from Metro Boomin played from the ancient James Bullough Lansing speakers that lined the streets. As the Harappan lost the upper hand, they looked to a famed warrior and cockfighting champion named Truck-Kun to save the day. Truck-Kun built an eighteen-wheeler out of discarded chert in a single, meth and ketamine fueled night, which he raced down the narrow lanes of Kukku?¨¡rma, killing all of the rabid cocks and saving the day. Use this skill to summon Truck-Kun¡¯s mystical eighteen-wheeler to completely flatten your opponent. ¡°So I can summon an eighteen-wheeler to crush something?¡± Hiro asked. ¡°I¡¯m still unpacking that description,¡± Valeria said. ¡°But Truck-Kun. At least that part made sense. Sort of. God, I hope the Doom System doesn¡¯t know about isekai. It¡¯s hallucinating. We have to remember that,¡± she repeated under her breath. ¡°Especially if it is linking the Indus Valley to Metro Boomin.¡± Hiro turned to her. ¡°Who is that exactly?¡± ¡°Metro Boomin? A beat maker, hip hop producer. And the Indus Valley is where yoga came from. Basically, an ancient civilization in what is now Pakistan. Or was Pakistan. There is no telling what the Doom System has done to Asia and I don¡¯t want to know.¡± She returned her focus to the pigeon merchant. ¡°If it¡¯s still available, I¡¯ll take that {Blinding Swarm} skill.¡± The pigeon considered this for a moment as it cooed at its companions. ¡°Yes,¡± it finally told her, ¡°that will be fine. Are you ready to sacrifice your followers?¡± ¡°Let¡¯s get this shit over with.¡± Valeria stuck her fingers in her ears as the screams and shrieks played out. The description for her Roulette Skill appeared as well, Hiro able to read the bizarre text: Roulette Skill: Blinding Swarm Grade: B Description: That which is above corresponds to that which is below. That which is below corresponds to that which is above. So goes the translation of the Emerald Tablet, which was rumored in 20th Century California to hold a cure for fillers and other silicone-related incidents. The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. Through dynamic work on the H5N1 virus, and a research study on adrenal fatigue, a Scandinavian social media power throuple was able to tap into the columba genome to create this skill, which will disrupt your opponents with several flocks of the most menacing pigeons the Bay Area, or any area, has ever seen. Unleash them on your opponent and see what happens¡­ ¡°Nice,¡± Valeria said. ¡°The Doom System has lost its goddamn mind, which isn¡¯t nice, and that description is proof. But I¡¯m here for it. We got our birds, you got your truck-kun, and we¡¯ve got the Bunny Twins to deal with. Thanks,¡± she told the pigeon merchant, who remained perched on the man¡¯s head as he started playing his harmonium again. ¡°Don¡¯t mention it,¡± the pigeon cooed. ¡°And come back and visit me if you¡¯re ever in the neighborhood.¡± ¡°Will do,¡± Hiro said as he set a {Beacon}. **** The bait was the first thing Hiro noticed as they very carefully approached Bryant Park. There were more people now, most dead aside from a man and a lady next to him, who whimpered upon seeing Hiro and Valeria. ¡°Christ,¡± Valeria whispered, her crossbow at the ready. ¡°Not exactly what I expected.¡± The female teenager Hunters appeared on one of the park¡¯s closest gazebos. She leaned forward curiously. Her bunny ears, which Hiro knew could morph into blades, flopped to the side. ¡°Awww. Our trap didn¡¯t work,¡± she pouted. ¡°The fuck¡­?¡± Valeria shook her head as the other Twin Bunny crawled up behind her. Their health bars appeared, rimmed in gold, skulls over their heads indicating they were Hunters. ¡°I remember you,¡± the girl told Hiro with a giggle. ¡°Mask-Boy has returned. You brought a girlfriend.¡± The bunny¡¯s male counterpart tilted his head slightly to her and whispered something to her. ¡°You¡¯re right. This will be easy.¡± ¡°The fuck it will,¡± Valeria hissed. Thunk! She fired a bolt that struck the boy in the shoulder. It tossed him backward, his sword-ears flapping wildly. He hit the end of the gazebo and tumbled to the ground from there, landing near some of their human bait. ¡°Go!¡± Valeria shouted. Hiro surged into action with {Blade Whirlwind}, his vape pen ready and loaded with a Poison cartridge. The bunny girl met him in a matter of seconds as she leaped to the ground and bent forward, her scissor-like ears extending forward and razoring anything in their path. The boy bunny appeared on the roof again and used his bladed ears as stilts to launch himself over Hiro. He landed directly in front of Valeria, who beat the boy¡¯s long-eared advance back initially with her crossbow. Hiro cast {Kore Nani Neko}, his demon cats scattering. At the same time, Valeria used {Blinding Swarm} and summoned a flock of pigeons that soon engulfed the boy bunny. Clank! Hiro narrowly blocked an attempt from the bunny girl¡¯s sharp ears. {Bounce} sent him to one of the gazebos, where he landed on the roof and bounced again to give him just a bit of distance as he continued pummeling her with long range attacks. Her ears slapped together and they formed an enormous blade, which she sent forward like some dark, post-apocalyptic Mr. Fantastic. ¡°Hold still!¡± she barked. Hiro jumped to dodge her attempt and landed on another gazebo just as a large oak tree came crashing down. He got out of the way of the trunk, yet he wasn¡¯t able to avoid the other branches. He heard his phantom demon cats yowling as they finally reached the bunny girl. {Lupine Shift}? Hiro thought as he glanced through the fray to Valeria. Whoosh! A wrecking ball appeared out of thin air and cratered the pavement directly in front of Valeria. That¡¯s her Roulette Skill? Hiro thought as the sheer power of what she had conjured reached him via a wave of energy filled with dust. ¡°Shit!¡± He jumped back as the bunny girl appeared, her ears separated again and clashing against one another as they propellered toward Hiro. Hiro blocked the first several attempts but failed to account for another leather-clad bunny masked Hunter who had come onto the scene, a third opponent. He would only get a glimpse of the muscled man, yet Hiro would never forget what it felt like for the blades to rush forward from behind and impale him through the back of his shoulders. The blades lifted Hiro and slammed him onto the ground, everything going black until the world came back to him in a blinding flash of pain tinged in red. Through sheer delirium, he managed to roll to the side and bring his vape pen to his lips. Hiro¡¯s final act of courage or madness, however it would be deemed, was to exhale a cloud of poison over his crippled form. The last thing Hiro would remember hearing was coughing, followed by the rush of feet and the twittering sound of razor sharp rabbit ear blades. Chapter Twenty-Four: Fire Ants and a Warm Meal Hiro awoke to the sound of voices cheering in his head. You have new followers! He was being dragged into the subway system, down the steps, each step more painful than the last. His vision blurred into focus and he found Valeria standing over him, her arms and legs slashed up, the woman drenched with blood, her NYU hat missing. She spit blood and kept her crossbow at the ready, aimed at the top of the stairs. ¡°My poison¡­ are you¡­ are you okay?¡± ¡°Immunity,¡± she told him. ¡°It¡¯s a skill I picked up from a dead Survivor I came across.¡± Valeria flinched like she saw something. ¡°We gotta get the fuck out of here.¡± She turned quickly and pointed her crossbow at Hiro. ¡°Hold still.¡± Thunk! Thunk! Valeria shot Hiro in each shoulder, her healing bolts hitting him and quickly fizzling out. It still hurt, but the pain was soon replaced by a tingling sensation that soon spread through him. ¡°I wish I could do that shit to myself.¡± ¡°It doesn¡¯t work on you?¡± Hiro asked as he got to his feet. He shoved his hand into his pocket to find his vape pen and his Buster Kunai. ¡°My blade?¡± ¡°At the top of the stairs, I couldn¡¯t bring it and drag you down.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll go up for it.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll cover you. And no, my healing bolts doesn¡¯t work on me. Believe me, I¡¯ve tried. I got some healing gauze though,¡± she said as she kept her crossbow trained on the steps. ¡°Anyway. I¡¯ll be fine. Just get your sword, and we¡¯ll get the hell out of here. You didn¡¯t say there were three.¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t see three last time, just the two teenagers.¡± ¡°That third one is a fucking beast, pro wrestler looking ass piece-of-shit.¡± She shook her head. ¡°Sorry, I cuss more when I¡¯m stressed.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t we all.¡± Hiro pushed his black Hyotokko mask to the top of his head. It clearly didn¡¯t work on the Hunters. Bunny Triplets? he thought as he took one step at a time, watching as the light from the streets above began to shine down into the subway. That sounds so stupid. ¡°Almost there. I got you,¡± Valeria said, the woman just behind him. ¡°I can always turn to a wolf.¡± ¡°You can, but I don¡¯t know if you¡¯ll be able to take all three.¡± ¡°I could hit them with a truck.¡± ¡°Nah, save it. I got the boy bunny pretty good. We will fuck them up later.¡± ¡°Your wrecking ball?¡± he asked. ¡°Exactly.¡± ¡°You said it was strange in some way.¡± ¡°You don¡¯t want to see how I conjure that thing. But I¡¯m fine now. Let¡¯s just get your blade and get the hell out of here.¡± Hiro reached the top of the stairs to find his katana on the ground. After a swift look around, he grabbed the blade and sent it into his sheath. Hewas just starting to head back down when he spotted the three bunnies, only now, the boy was injured. The large muscled man held the boy in his arms, his ears sluicing around wildly above him in agitation. The bunny girl crouched on the gazebo near him, poised to strike. She blew a kiss to Hiro and flashed the peace sign at him. ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± Valeria asked from behind him. ¡°They¡¯re taunting me. Or she is. The boy is injured.¡± ¡°Good. I crushed his legs. I would have killed him too if he hadn¡¯t been so fast.¡± Hiro took another careful step backward. The Bunny Triplets didn¡¯t do anything aside from the girl, who continued to flash the peace sign at them. ¡°I think we¡¯re good,¡± he finally said. ¡°We¡¯ll be back for these fuckers.¡± ¡°Definitely.¡± **** Hiro and Valeria were quiet as they navigated the subway system, which gave him a chance to quickly run through his stats. As he had started to notice, the information seemed fluid, some of the text appearing in a different order from before, like the Doom System was continually testing its layout. Hiro Johnson Level Four Current Title: Wolf Ronin of Wall Street STR: 1.7 [+1 Roulette Boost] STA: 2.5 [+2 Roulette Boost] DEX: 1.5 [+1 Roulette Boost] REG: 1.4 [+1 Roulette Boost] MIND: 2.2 [+2 Roulette Boost) Soul Essence (SE): 32 [38 SE to next level.] Stolen Valor: 2 Skills: {Bounce}, Rank D {Blade Whirlwind}, Rank F {Beacon}, Rank A {Sword Proficiency}, Rank D {Kore Nani Neko}, Rank A Roulette Skills: {Lupine Shift}, Rank A {Refund}, Rank B {Sacra Limina}, Rank C Roulette Accessory: {Aura of Laughter} Hyottoko Mask, Rank B One Hit Wonder: {Trucks Volta}, Rank A Followers: 478 City Survivors: 712, 336 World Survivors: 365, 899, 241 Hunter Death Count: 42/89 Beast Death Count: 273/791 There are still plenty of beasts to hunt, which means I can get some levels before the gates open and maybe try for the Triplet Bunnies on final time. Or the Lady in the Yellow Raincoat. Maybe I go back toward the river, touch base with Juan and Marcello, and see if I can¡¯t find her. Hopefully, I can find another Sentry, too. Hiro was just looking ahead to Valeria when he refocused on his stats. Shit. City Survivors have dropped by a lot; World Survivors by a million. People are dying. They¡¯re dying at the hands of these monsters or their peers. And why? The same questions that had sat with Hiro since the start of all this came to him. Why was this happening? What did the Doom System want? And how do I stop it? They reached the subway platform and Valeria turned to him. ¡°Any plans?¡± ¡°Head toward the river and see what I can get into.¡±Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. ¡°New Jersey or Brooklyn side?¡± ¡°Brooklyn. You?¡± ¡°I need to check on Rena. Do you want to meet her before you go? You should probably meet her.¡± ¡°Sure. How close to my parking garage is she?¡± ¡°It¡¯s your parking garage now? I thought you lived in the fallout shelter beneath it?¡± ¡°Imminent domain? Squatters rights?¡± Valeria smirked. ¡°Something like that. Owning property means something else entirely different now. As for how close we are? Close. A building a few blocks away. The bottom floor used to be a sushi restaurant.¡± Hiro distinctly remembered seeing the restaurant, its entrance partly shielded by collapsed scaffolding. ¡°I know the place.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s go there. It¡¯s good you meet Rena.¡± ¡°She could come out with us.¡± ¡°She could, but that¡¯s up to her.¡± Valeria¡¯s shoulders settled to some degree. ¡°Not everyone that is still alive is meant for this life.¡± ¡°Not everyone is for the streets.¡± ¡°Heh. Exactly. Let¡¯s do this.¡± ¡°Lead the way.¡± Both Survivors looked up at the subway exit. Valeria headed up first, crossbow drawn. ¡°We¡¯re good.¡± Hiro came up to street level, his hand still on the hilt of his katana. He settled his mask over his face. Beyond, he could see the {Beacon} he had set for his parking garage. Beyond, seemingly cutting through the buildings, were the markers he¡¯d set over Bryant Park, Wayne the merchant, the pigeon merchant, and the one on Billionaire¡¯s Row, marking the apartment he had stayed in. Maybe I should stay there again tonight, he thought. ¡°Those are new,¡± Valeria whispered once they reached an alley, where they found two dead bodies, their arms torn out. Hiro shook his head in response. He followed Valeria up a fire escape, through a window, and then into a hallway where all of the doors were barricaded. They reached a door at the end and she knocked lightly to the pattern of We Will Rock You. ~knock, knock, KNOCK~ ~knock, knock, KNOCK~ The floor creaked as furniture was moved on the other side. This was followed by locks clicking until the door opened to reveal a small woman in a torn wool sweater that read C¡¯est Beau. Rena had light red hair the same color as the freckles painted across her face. She held a single fist behind her, which glowed with enough power to cause bits of static in the air. ¡°Is this him?¡± she whispered, her eyes bulging at the fact that Hiro still wore his mask. Her cheeks twitched and she started to laugh. ¡°Are you okay?¡± Valeria asked as she came in. ¡°Am I okay? Are you okay?¡± Rena asked, still chuckling. What happened to you?¡± Valeria motioned to her wounds. ¡°I¡¯ll use the gauze. They¡¯re fine. Why are you laughing?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know why¡ª¡± ¡°It¡¯s my mask.¡± Hiro removed it. ¡°Sorry. I usually put it on when I head out to the streets and I get used to it.¡± ¡°What kind of mask is that?¡± Rena asked. ¡°Japanese, obviously, but¡­ it has properties?¡± ¡°It does for now. Roulette Accessory. It has something that can cause my enemies to laugh.¡± ¡°Am I your enemy?¡± Rena asked. ¡°Your fist.¡± The power fizzled out. ¡°Never can be too careful. What happened out there?¡± ¡°We took out the blue-skinned hunter in Battery Park. We tried for a pair of Hunters in Bryant Park and failed. We¡¯ll go back. Maybe.¡± Rena approached Valeria and took her hand. ¡°Are you thirsty? Want some tea? Instant coffee?¡± Hiro looked around the mostly empty apartment. Aside from the furniture they had used to barricade the door, there was a single couch with a blanket draped over it and a chair in the corner. The kitchen had an island that was covered in supplies, Hiro noticing there were also a few slabs of meat laid out that looked like chicken breasts. ¡°Are you hungry?¡± Rena asked. ¡°I can warm up some pigeon.¡± Hiro raised an eyebrow at her. ¡°Pigeon?¡± Valeria, who had already removed her crossbow, leaned against the kitchen counter. ¡°Don¡¯t judge us. It¡¯s a lot better than Survivor Tenders.¡± ¡°We just got supplies from a pigeon,¡± he reminded her. ¡°Yeah, that was weird.¡± ¡°Wait, what?¡± Rena asked Valeria. ¡°A merchant we came across. It was a pigeon. A talking pigeon on a silent musician¡¯s head. In the subway.¡± ¡°Alright,¡± she said, her eyes bulging slightly. ¡°Who got the pigeons? You?¡± Hiro asked Valeria. ¡°I did. From the rooftop. I wish there were seagulls¡ªmore meat¡ªbut they would be further out on Long Island, not worth the trip.¡± ¡°It¡¯s good,¡± Rena said. ¡°We have plenty of spices too. Sort of tastes like chicken.¡± ¡°How do you have heat?¡± Hiro asked Rena. ¡°My Roulette Skill. It¡¯s called Fire Ants.¡± ¡°Ah, I think Valeria mentioned that.¡± ¡°Watch closely and you¡¯ll see why it¡¯s called that.¡± Rena placed one of the small breasts on the pan. She lowered her hand over it and her fingers began to glow. The heat that soon radiated from them looked like sparkles. Upon closer examination, Hiro saw that these bits of light were actually ants that moved all around the pigeon breast until it started to sizzle. Valeria came into help, seasoning it and flipping it over. ¡°And tea?¡± Rena asked. ¡°Um, Sure,¡± Hiro said, who had since taken a seat on a stool at the end of the island. Rena produced a pot, which she filled with water from their Survivor supplies. She held her hand over it and the water started to boil. Meanwhile, Valeria placed the pigeon breast on a clean plate and gave it to Hiro along with a knife and a fork. ¡°Bon appetit.¡± ¡°When in post-apocalyptic New York¡­¡± Hiro said as he cut into the breast. He took a bite and nodded. ¡°It does taste like chicken.¡± He chewed it, swallowed, and sighed with deep satisfaction. ¡°I can¡¯t remember the last time I had warm food.¡± He nearly mentioned he could probably grab something from the past using his teddy bear, but decided against it. ¡°The Survivor Tenders warmed up aren¡¯t half bad,¡± Valeria said. ¡°But meat is nicer. I guess if we traveled upstate, we could find some barnyard animals to slaughter and get some real meat. There are always rats, but nah. Nah. Fuck that.¡± Rena set the cup of warm tea in front of Hiro. ¡°We could always go to Connecticut.¡± ¡°No,¡± Valeria said in a tone that told Hiro the pair had discussed this before. ¡°You don¡¯t have any limitation to how often you can use your power?¡± Hiro asked Rena after another bite. ¡°Nope. I can use it constantly. The only issue is that I have to be close to the object,¡± she explained. ¡°I¡¯m not really a fighter type. Never been in a fight, actually. So it¡¯s not the best skill for me.¡± ¡°The Doom System gave you a weapon, right?¡± ¡°It did,¡± Rena said. ¡°A pair of knives. I have an idea of how to use them, and I have done so successfully, but it doesn¡¯t suit me. I¡¯d rather something long range like Val has. So maybe I¡¯ll get something like that next Interim.¡± ¡°Or,¡± Valeria said, ¡°come out there with me and we try to find something like that. I know, I know¡ª¡± she cut Rena off. ¡°I know it¡¯s fucked out there, but you¡¯re going to fall behind if you stay here.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll go out. Soon. I think I¡¯m ready.¡± ¡°Maybe we can all go out together,¡± Hiro offered. ¡°There¡¯s always the Statue of Liberty.¡± ¡°What?¡± Rena asked. ¡°Yeah, that bitch is alive and not happy,¡± Valeria told her. ¡°Seriously?¡± ¡°Why would I lie? She literally threw her crown at Hiro and me. But I don¡¯t think we have the right stuff to deal with her yet. A team up could be nice, though.¡± ¡°The only problem is we won¡¯t be able to get additional skills if we¡¯re in a party,¡± Hiro reminded them. ¡°But there¡¯s always Stolen Valor.¡± ¡°Did your Companion tell you that part about additional skills?¡± Valeria asked him. ¡°Yep. It told me that this was the disadvantage of being in a party. You can still get experience, though, and level up through Soul Essence. You just won¡¯t get any bonus skills. I was planning to head out and meet with the people I¡¯m hoping to bring to the gate tomorrow, Juan and Marcello.¡± ¡°That means there¡¯d be five of us at the gate,¡± Rena said. ¡°The Doom System said three other people, for a total of four. Or, it told each of us to find three people for a total of¡­ twelve? No, we¡¯d count as each other¡¯s¡ªyou know what? Let me ask.¡± ¡°Wait, maybe you¡¯re right,¡± Valeria said as she got out her phone and spoke into it. ¡°Yo. You told me to find three people. I already had my girlfriend with me. She got the same message. Do we each find three people? And if so, would we count as one of each other¡¯s persons?¡± Hiro got his phone out and asked a similar question. ¡°Does each Survivor need to find three people, and how is that counted exactly?¡± ¡°Well?¡± Valeria asked Hiro. Hiro showed her his phone screen, the countdown timer visible: 01:17:22:46 01:17:22:45 01:17:22:44 He shrugged. ¡°It¡¯s not saying anything.¡± Rena squinted. ¡°If everyone needs to bring three people, and we¡¯re not given any more information about this, it means that the Doom System is either setting us up for failure; it wants us to bring as many people as possible; or, and back to setting us up for failure, it has given us an impossible task, and it wants to see how we will react.¡± Level up! You have new followers! You have received an Interim Bonus! ¡°Did you just get a level up?¡± Hiro asked, his eyes lighting up. Valeria nodded. ¡°Holy crap, I did too,¡± Rena said. Hiro looked down at his phone ¡°How?¡± The sound of the Doom System¡¯s creepy voice startled Rena, who nearly dropped her cup of tea. [I am impressed, Survivors. You really are learning. My goal remains to entertain you. To do so, I need as many Survivors as possible to join when the gates open. I set up this requirement to force you to band with others and bring as many as you can with you. I also set it up to create urgency and complications. For realizing this, you will receive a 5X SE bonus for the next hour and a half. There may be similar challenges in the future. Good luck, Survivors. Happy hunting.] Hiro¡¯s phone buzzed. An additional countdown timer started. ¡°We should get out there,¡± Hiro told them, excited at the prospects of earning more Soul Essence. ¡°I¡¯m definitely going.¡± Valeria turned to Rena. ¡°It¡¯s time. We can hunt some of the smaller monsters.¡± ¡°And Sentries,¡± Hiro added. ¡°There are bound to be some of those.¡± ¡°But definitely not the Bunnies. Not yet. Let¡¯s get some levels first,¡± Valeria said. ¡°Okay,¡± Rena said with a huff. ¡°I can¡¯t stay in here forever.¡± ¡°No, you cannot, baby.¡± ¡°We fight our way toward Juan and Marcello and take the streets. No subways.¡± Hiro placed his mask over his face and Rena started laughing again. ¡°Guess I won¡¯t be wearing this for the time being.¡± Chapter Twenty-Five: John Maddens Fever Dream It¡¯s too bad I can¡¯t use this phone as an actual phone to text them, Hiro thought as he perched near an art deco roof ornament meant to look like an eagle. Below, he spotted one of the horned tigers resting in the middle of a street. Rather than take the kill for himself, Hiro slipped away and quickly moved to another roof, and from there to the street level, where he found Rena and Valeria in an alley. ¡°Just ahead, one of the horned tiger creatures,¡± he told the pair, who were crouched behind a dumpster. ¡°The last two times, I¡¯ve fought them with {Lupine Shift}, but I¡¯d rather not do that if I don¡¯t have to. There¡¯s the rage and then there¡¯s the hunger.¡± He shuddered thinking of the random rage that could come at any time. ¡°Shitty side effects.¡± Valeria, who had seen firsthand what the Roulette Skill did to Hiro, nodded. ¡°Three of us should be able to do it.¡± ¡°Agreed. You two go ahead. It will hear me if I try to sneak up on it, but once the tiger is locked onto you all, I should be able to come down behind it.¡± ¡°You hit it from the back, I¡¯ll shoot it from the front,¡± Valeria said as she turned to Rena. ¡°If it gets close, you know what to do. Cook that fucker.¡± ¡°And be on the lookout for mimics,¡± Hiro reminded them. ¡°They could be anywhere. And the tiger¡¯s tail¡ªI found out later the tail can release a poison.¡± ¡°Yep, we got it,¡± Valeria told him. ¡°Let¡¯s make this short and sweet.¡± Hiro took to the roofs again, where he crept forward until he could see the horned tiger. He scanned the streets below for any signs of a mimic, hoping that a health bar would appear over an inanimate object. Nothing yet. Then again, the mimic might not show its health bar until it actually attacks. Hiro tensed as the horned tiger¡¯s ears twitched. It looked in the direction of Rena and Valeria. It knows. The tiger slowly got to its feet. It crept forward and kept low to the ground. Got you, Hiro thought as it rounded a corner. Thunk! The tiger was struck by Valeria¡¯s bolt, causing the beast to jump to the right. It latched onto the side of a building and took off toward the archer, her arrow sticking out of its shoulder. Boing! Hiro used {Bounce} to land just behind it. He followed this up with {Blade Whirlwind}, this time aiming for the tiger¡¯s paws and causing the beast to lose its grip. The horned tiger crashed to the pavement, but was quickly back on its feet as it twisted around to address Hiro. Thunk! The tiger jumped as Valeria shot it directly in the ass with her next bolt. It would have been comical had it not been for the tip of the tiger¡¯s tail, which opened and released a poisonous green gas. Keeping his distance, Hiro continued to pummel the beast with {Blade Whirlwind}. Valeria did the same with her bolts and soon, the tiger gave up the fight. It fell, the poison dissipating as Soul Energy rushed into all three of them. ¡°Nice.¡± Hiro accessed his status to see that Soul Essence had moved up to thirty-seven, which was five points higher than it had been last he checked. As he looked ahead to Rena and Valeria, another thought came to him. Valeria didn¡¯t do anything in this fight, yet she got Soul Essence as well. Could this be the way to game the Doom System? As far as Hiro could tell, this was certainly the case. And it was one of those right questions as well, the kind that he knew his father would have been proud of him for asking. ¡°You really just jumped down from the roof,¡± Rena said after the three had moved away from the horned tiger. ¡°Craziness.¡± ¡°I did.¡± ¡°And it doesn¡¯t hurt your knees?¡± ¡°It doesn¡¯t hurt at all. It¡¯s like, maybe the equivalent of jumping up a single step. Or one of those workout step platforms.¡± ¡°That¡¯s so cool.¡± Hiro nodded and turned to Valeria. ¡°I¡¯m going back up¡ª¡± The three paused as they all heard the sound of something crumbling a few blocks away. ¡°I can only imagine what that is,¡± Rena said once a charred smell met them. ¡°I can continue on and check it out,¡± Hiro volunteered. Valeria brought her crossbow up. ¡°Let¡¯s go together. It¡¯s not very far. And I really should be the one with the bounce power. I¡¯d be bounce-sniping so many motherfuckers. Not fair.¡± Rena snickered at the way she said this. ¡°What?¡± Valeria smiled at her. ¡°It¡¯s true.¡± ¡°Just hang behind a bit and keep us out of your line of sight,¡± Hiro told Valeria. ¡°We¡¯ll see what it is.¡± Two blocks later and they were met with a large cloud of gray dust, one that obscured everything ahead of them. ¡°Should we keep going?¡± Rena asked. Hiro nodded. ¡°We made it this far.¡± ¡°Yep,¡± Valeria said. ¡°And maybe now would be time for you to take a look and see what we¡¯re dealing with. We¡¯ll set up shop here.¡± Hiro bounced to the nearest roof, above the dust, where he saw several burned out buildings with smoke wafting away from them. He noticed a slew of dead bodies in the streets before the building, all of them black with char and covered in gray ash. Beyond, seated on a makeshift throne of bodies, was what Hiro knew was a Hunter, especially after the skull appeared. The man was at least nine feet tall, with broad shoulders and blackened armor that looked like it had been constructed from¡­Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. Is that football gear? Hiro had played one year in middle school. Seriously? The Hunter¡¯s health bar appeared as he placed a helmet on his head, one clearly made of bone polished to a dull sheen, cracks and fissures hinting at the piece¡¯s battle-worn history. With a grunt the big Hunter strapped a portion of it around his chin. A football made of fire appeared in his hand. Upon getting to his feet, the charred bodies all around the Hunter came to life. He tilted his head up to Hiro¡¯s rooftop, pulled his arm back, aimed, and launched the fiery football in his direction. Shit! Hiro bounced left to avoid the mana-laced football. It hit the building he¡¯d been standing on like a cruise missile, the explosion thwarting any hope Hiro had of landing without injury. He cleared the greater perimeter of the explosion, yet its power flipped his legs forward, sending him skidding on his back across an adjacent rooftop. He scrambled to his feet and ignored the gaping wounds on his back, the way his landing had shredded his sweatshirt. Boing! Hiro bounced again as another football hit the roof, igniting the building. He managed to fly out of its blast radius this time, land on a balcony, and jump to the ground from there, where he saw Valeria already firing shots at the Hunter. It dawned on Hiro as he glanced up that they were now covered by a red dome similar to a zone of influence. I thought only Sentries had these things¡­ He wanted to whip out his phone and say something to his Companion, but he knew it was useless now. Hiro needed to do whatever he could to stop the football tossing menace of a hunter. He started with {Kore Nani Neko}, his phantom demon cats all charging toward the helmeted brute at once. The yowling cats would have reached the Hunter had it not been for the charred protectors that had been positioned around his throne, who beat back the phantom cats even as portions of their bodies crumbled. Thunk! Valeria cut a bolt through one of the charred protector¡¯s heads. The Hunter responded by flinging another fire-laced football in her direction, which sailed over her shoulder and exploded a building directly behind her. Smoke and debris. Hiro had no way of knowing if Rena or Valeria had survived. All he could do now was press forward, hoping that he could cover most of the distance between the Hunter and Hiro¡¯s current position before he could lob another football at him. He used {Blade Whirlwind} to clear any of the charred warriors out of his way. His attack blasted right through them as he triggered {Bounce}, which allowed him to leap toward the Hunter just as another football came flying in his direction. It went wide, yet tendrils of fire laced against Hiro¡¯s arm, the burn adding to the pain he already felt on his back. He landed directly in front of his opponent, his vape pen in hand, Hiro going for his Corruption cartridge as he released a huge exhale. The sand-colored cloud of smoke wafted over his opponent, portions of the man¡¯s arm cracking, and any exposed part of his darkened skin suddenly covered in rusty veins. One of the charred protectors lunged for Hiro; he sent his blade wide, and cut it down. How long until the corruption¡­? The Hunter staggered toward him, the man¡¯s big clawed hand on his bone helmet. He ripped it off his head and smashed it into the ground, creating a plume of fire that rippled toward Hiro. Thunk! Thunk! Valeria¡¯s arrows zinged over Hiro¡¯s shoulder, straight through the fire. A roar met Hiro¡¯s ears next as he narrowly dodged the row of fire heading right at him. He beat back another of the charred protectors and turned to find the Hunter staggering once again, this time with an arrow jutting into the front of his head. The corruption had spread up his body, bits of his armor in shambles, his exposed flesh now with a golden hue to it, health bar dipping toward the halfway point. Yet he was still going strong. The Hunter wrapped his hand around the arrow and pulled it out of the front of his head. He sent his helmet back over his head as purple blood fell from the wound to his face. ¡°Goddamn you,¡± Hiro thought as myriad thoughts raced through his mind. He didn¡¯t want to use {Lupine Shift}, not with Rena and Valeria in the vicinity. His Buster Kunai was an option, but the armor protecting the man¡¯s chest was still intact. It also annoyed him that this Hunter was worth the same amount of Soul Essence as one of the simpler monsters, especially with how difficult it would be to kill him.. Even with the multiplier they currently had going, this was a tough fight, and the reward is the same? Hiro knew that now wasn¡¯t the time to process this bit of information, yet it bothered him regardless. The Doom System had already proven that it wasn¡¯t following its own goddamn rules, and this irked at something within him even in the face of calamity. Hiro cast the questions that followed aside as a flash of red landed in front of him. A man in a black bodysuit, one that he¡¯d customized with flaps under his arms like that of a flying squirrel, pulled both his hands back and released a spinning orb of energy that drilled into the core of the Hunter, exploding his body and killing the Hunter instantly. Hiro, Rena, and Valeria were also provided with Soul Essence. Hiro felt the instant shift in energy levels as the power came to him and faded. Around them, the charred warriors all fell to the ground, lifeless as before. You have new followers! The man turned to them. He was an Indian Survivor with a shaved head and red goggles over his eyes. Even with his beard stubble, he had a thick mustache that was curled at the ends. ¡°I¡¯m not the main character,¡± Hiro said, sword at the ready. The man grinned at him. ¡°No, you are not,¡± he said, his English accented. Valeria approached with her crossbow drawn, Rena behind her. ¡°Thanks for the save.¡± ¡°You can fly?¡± Rena asked the newcomer. ¡°I can glide,¡± the man said as he showed her his makeshift wings. ¡°I made these myself. There¡¯s a clothing goods store, two blocks that way. They still have stuff, you know.¡± ¡°You could use something,¡± Valeria told Hiro. ¡°Your back is fucked.¡± She aimed her crossbow at him. ¡°Ready?¡± ¡°It¡¯s fine,¡± he told the goggled man. ¡°She has healing arrows.¡± ¡°Interesting. Please, in that case, let me see.¡± Valeria fired a bolt into Hiro¡¯s back. He felt the sting dissipate, leaving a severely torn shirt. He turned to show the other Survivor. ¡°See?¡± The man nodded, clearly impressed. ¡°That¡¯s good. I¡¯m Kiaan, by the way.¡± ¡°Rena.¡± ¡°Valeria.¡± ¡°Hiro.¡± ¡°Ah, three of you, one of me. Perfect for a gate,¡± Kiaan said. ¡°We¡¯ll be meeting at the gate near the Financial District,¡± Valeria told him. ¡°The Financial District.¡± Kiaan turned and stroked the stubbled black hairs on his chin. ¡°Not too far. I haven¡¯t yet decided on a gate. But that one seems as good as any.¡± ¡°And bring anyone else you can,¡± Hiro said. ¡°We learned from the Doom System that we don¡¯t each need to bring four people. We just need to bring as many as we can.¡± ¡°Huh.¡± Kiaan checked his phone, his eyes twitching in a way that told Hiro he was reading some of his Companion¡¯s text. ¡°Confirmed. In that case, I¡¯ll see you there. I want to get seven more levels before then.¡± ¡°You can come with us if you want,¡± Rena asked. ¡°Nah, I¡¯d rather do it solo. More chances for new powers that way.¡± He looked up in a hero-like way, flapped his arms once, and flew into the sky, where he soared onto a rooftop. ¡°That was certainly an exit,¡± Valeria said as she kicked at one of the charred corpses. Hiro glanced in the direction of the clothing goods store that Kiaan had pointed out. ¡°Weird, but he seemed powerful. Whatever he used to explode the Hunter, sign me up for that ability. Anyway. Clothing. I¡¯ll grab something different to wear, and we can continue on.¡± Valeria checked her phone. ¡°Still plenty of time to grind.¡± Hiro noticed something shift ahead. It looked like the shattered glass of a bus terminal had come alive as the creature repositioned itself. ¡°Another mimic.¡± ¡°Has to be.¡± Rena stepped forward. ¡°If it¡¯s a mimic made of glass, my Roulette Skill will help. Just get me in close.¡± ¡°Lay down some cover fire,¡± Valeria said, a message meant for herself. Hiro nodded. ¡°And I¡¯ll distract it. Let¡¯s do this.¡± Chapter Twenty-Six: Tripping Balls Hiro approached the bus terminal mimic with his mask on. Beyond, he could see a gold beam indicating there was a merchant in the vicinity. I can check that later, he thought, when the SE bonus has ended. His Hyottoko mask had no effect on the mimic, so Hiro blasted it with {Blade Whirlwind} instead. Wham! This brought the creature to life, the beast crunching forward on the cracked pavement as its steel frame split to reveal a nasty, glass and metal tooth filled mouth. Valeria hit it with a bolt and Hiro blasted the mimic again, their attacks doing little against its health bar. As he had discovered with the last mimic, these monsters were tanks and they maintained health by eating. ¡°Get ready, Rena!¡± Valeria shouted. The creature lurched forward, wolfing down some trash in its path. Just as its lower frame scraped against the pavement, Rena came rushing forward with her hands drawn, heating radiating from them. Hiro saw it all play out before it could happen. He saw the mimic turning to her, whipping its tongue in the woman¡¯s direction, yanking her into his mouth. He saw it crunching her, killing Valeria¡¯s partner. Not if I can help it! Hiro used {Bounce} to shoot himself forward. He cut through the mimic¡¯s tongue, which immediately caused both the beast to roar out in pain and for cheers and clapping to sound off in his head. You have new followers! Right, do cool shit, Hiro thought as mimic lurched toward him, angrier than ever. He hit at the creature a few times just to keep it at bay while heat rushed out Rena¡¯s palms, her hands red as if she were holding them up to a light in a darkened room. Myriad fire ants spread over the mimic, which squealed in pain as what was left of its glass body melted. It shifted toward her and bits of its steel melted, white hot metal dripping to the ground as it expired. Soul Essenced poured into the three of them. Rena turned to him and started laughing immediately. ¡°Right, the mask.¡± Hiro removed it and grinned at her. ¡°One mimic down, god knows how many to go. Shall we continue?¡± **** Hiro leveled up soon after the clothing goods store. The upgrade came during a fight with some of the armored rat creatures, which had taken over a small corner park near the Williamsburg Bridge, the kind of park he would have stopped to take a break in after making a delivery. His STA and REG had increased, Hiro not yet sure of if he should feel this change or not. Maybe I need more access to the Doom System before I can really understand these numbers¡­ Now pushing toward four thousand followers, Hiro was ready to visit a merchant and see what he could buy. But they still had another thirty minutes left with the Soul Essence bonus in play. ¡°Life always is like that, isn¡¯t it?¡± Valeria said as they passed a bodega with the windows shattered, the walls covered in graffiti and the place looted. ¡°Normally, the monsters don¡¯t stop coming until we actually want them. Ugh. The only ones I know at the moment are in Bryant Park, your bunnies.¡± ¡°We could get there in twenty minutes or so if we hurried,¡± Hiro suggested, not mentioning he could get there faster with {Bounce}. ¡°Do you really think we could take them as a team?¡± Rena asked Valeria. ¡°Maybe. But I¡¯d like to really get those fuckers this next time around, meaning we¡¯ll need to go way stronger than them. You just hit Level Three. Hiro and I are Level Five, yeah?¡± ¡°Right,¡± Hiro told Valeria. ¡°My guess is we need to be Level Seven at least if we want to take the bunnies on. And without the current bonus, it¡¯ll take us a lot of kills to get to Level Seven. A lot. Every time we level, our SE requirements for the next level double. I still have seventy-five SE needed before Level Six. If that pattern continues, I¡¯ll need a hundred-sixty SE after that for Level Seven.¡± ¡°We got a ways to go, then,¡± Rena said. ¡°Another option would be to get some sick Roulette Skill that allows us to take them out in a single attack.¡± Valeria fixed her hat over her head. ¡°Not entirely impossible, I suppose, but it all seems random until it doesn¡¯t, if you get what I¡¯m saying.¡± ¡°What does?¡± Rena asked her. ¡°I mean, there is a method to the Doom System¡¯s madness in the way it both helps and hinders, but there is still a randomness to it that makes me not able to predict if we¡¯ll get the actual power we need or not.¡± ¡°Or we go in with more people,¡± Hiro suggested. ¡°Juan and Marcello might be interested.¡± He glanced toward the {Beacon} he had left on the building where the two brothers lived. ¡°We¡¯re almost there. And be on the lookout for the¡ª¡±The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. ¡°Lady in a yellow raincoat,¡± Valeria said, ¡°got it. If I see that bitch, don¡¯t worry, I¡¯ll shoot first, ask questions later.¡± ¡°Val,¡± Rena said under her breath, but Valeria never responded. They moved on, the streets ahead eerie, empty. It still struck Hiro from time to time how quiet New York City had become. There had been points that he hated the place with its constant swell of humanity, how messy it all was. He had often compared it to Tokyo, how much larger Tokyo was than New York City, yet how much quieter and a hundred times cleaner. Yet there was also something about New York¡¯s messiness that drew Hiro in. It was a reminder that everyone was alive, everyone was all moving in a direction. Backward or forward, didn¡¯t matter. They were directions nonetheless. Now, the city was empty. His HUD told him there were now just over seven hundred thousand survivors. Yet the streets were vacant. The Doom System¡¯s concept of the city might span a larger area. The Tri-State area, maybe, New Jersey side, up to Connecticut, the denser parts of Long Island. This thought was followed by another. Hiro turned to Valeria: ¡°Tell me more about AI hallucinations.¡± ¡°You really think this is what it is?¡± Rena asked him. ¡°I don¡¯t know what the Doom System is. But Val¡ªcan I call you that?¡± ¡°You can,¡± Valeria told Hiro as they circled around a building that was barely held together by three walls. It used to be a deli by the looks of it, the interior a splash of glass, rat droppings, blood stains, and sharp objects. Hiro noticed something. ¡°Wait. Put a pin in that.¡± The three approached the body of a man who had been impaled on a street lamp. In doing so, they were presented with the text of two different skills. Hiro took out his phone before it could finish buzzing and read the warning: ¡°Who wants some Stolen Valor?¡± Hiro asked. ¡°I¡¯m good,¡± Rena said. ¡°Both those powers are¡­ disturbing.¡± ¡°A little,¡± Hiro said as he read the first one. {Fugitives of Pompei} Rank: D Type: Attack/Area Affect Upgrade: 1/10 Description: No one knew what lay beneath the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in Novosibirsk, but a pulmonaut-turned-mathematician named Sofia Kovalevskaya gave her life to discover the Secret of the Ooze. Using simple equations developed over a decade of long winters, Kovalevskaya mastered her endocrine system, gaining the Turtle Power necessary to fast for a hundred days. She traveled underground from Novisivirsk to the ancient destroyed city of Pompei, guided by a bipedal rat known as Splinter. Upon reaching Pompei, she soon discovered the Orto dei Fuggiaschi and befriended thirteen victims of the Mount Vesuvius eruption, resurrected by the villain Krang. Now, those thirteen ashen warriors are your allies. Summon the ashen warriors once per battle either as a distraction or to overwhelm your enemy. Valeria squinted at the explanation. ¡°See? The system has lost its shit mixing Russia with Ninja Turtles and Pompei. Either way, I could use that. Plus, there are upgrades available.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll take the second skill, then,¡± Hiro said. Roulette Skill: {Kiss or Slap} Rank: E Type: Transformation/Utility Upgrade: N/A Description: The Alster Swans of Hamburg are some mean bastards, and don¡¯t you dare insult them! Claiming that she was doing it for the ¡®Gram, an influencer and OnlyFans model named Sabrina Orificina learned this the hard way by asking one of the Alster Swans the time old question in a cute uwu voice, kiss or slap? The Alster Swans definitively chose slap. Using this once-per-battle skill will trigger one of two outcomes: it will randomly knock your opponent down to a quarter of their normal health; or, more likely, it will heal them back to a hundred percent. Are you feeling lucky? Go ahead, {Kiss or Slap}. Hiro¡¯s phone buzzed and he checked the message. He shoved his phone back in his pocket. ¡°What?¡± he asked Rena, who gawked at him for choosing the skill. ¡°Think about it. I cast it at the beginning of every battle when an enemy is already at full-health. It¡¯s not upgradable, and it¡¯s low-level, but it¡¯s something else I can try that could give me the upper hand.¡± She nodded, impressed with his reasoning. ¡°I didn¡¯t think of that. And if you¡¯re lucky, it¡¯ll cut their health to a quarter.¡± ¡°Exactly,¡± Hiro said as they started back toward Juan¡¯s place. ¡°But back to AI hallucinations. What are they exactly? I didn¡¯t really get into the whole AI thing aside from generating images to share with my friends.¡± Valeria continued: ¡°What are known as ¡®AI hallucinations¡¯ occur when a machine learning model generates an output based on false data. Think of it like this: when an AI, especially one trained on vast, diverse datasets, tries to predict or generate something, it sometimes combines bits of unrelated information in unexpected ways.¡± ¡°Like Ninja Turtles, Russia, and Pompei?¡± he asked. ¡°Correct, but mostly just with earlier models and tests. Have you ever hallucinated, Hiro?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve gotten high, sure. I took mushrooms once, but¡ª¡± ¡°You had a bad trip, then?¡± Hiro remembered his experience taking shrooms with his friends back in Kansas City. ¡°Yeah, I guess you could call it that,¡± he told Valeria. ¡°An AI hallucination is like that. You were tripping balls, right?¡± ¡°Beyond that,¡± Hiro said as he relived the experience. He felt his skin crawl in remembering the first wave of the hallucination, how it had utterly floored him. ¡°When you took those mushrooms, your brain started seeing something that wasn¡¯t there. The mushrooms disrupted your brain¡¯s normal processing, causing it to mix, um, sensory inputs and create nonsensical images, or patterns. AI systems were designed by humans to function and reason like a human. It¡¯s common sense to assume a hallucination would operate in the same way.¡± ¡°You really got her started, didn¡¯t you?¡± Rena said. ¡°Kidding, Val. You know I agree with you about the humans designing things in their image part, I¡¯m just on the fence about the rest of it. But continue.¡± ¡°Here¡¯s what I¡¯ll say, Hiro: when you saw the walls melting or the trees turning into strange creatures, your brain was combining familiar elements in unfamiliar ways. The Doom System is doing something similar. It might take elements of Western fantasy, bits of human culture, and aspects of mythological monsters, and blend them together into these bizarre, terrifying things.¡± ¡°Like a quarterback with fiery mana footballs and charred people protecting him?¡± Valeria smirked. ¡°Yeah. Like that. The Doom System clear, clearly, lacks the human ability to understand context and reality, so it just creates based on the data patterns it has learned, no matter how strange or nonsensical the result. In both cases, whether it¡¯s your brain on mushrooms, or we¡¯re talking an AI with faulty data interpretation, the hallucinations are a result of disrupted processing. And either way, it¡¯s only going to get worse from here.¡± ¡°This part I agree with,¡± Rena said as they approached the building that Hiro had marked. There were two graves out front, freshly dug. One belonged to Carmen, Juan¡¯s wheelchair-bound sister, and the other to Marcello, his brother. Hiro shook his head. ¡°Shit.¡± ¡°Are these the people you were looking for?¡± Valeria asked. The trio paused once they heard a man¡¯s voice explode out of the building. ¡°I¡¯ll kill you!¡± Chapter Twenty-Seven: Survivors at Odds Rena, Hiro, and Valeria rushed to the other side of the building to find Juan bleeding badly, the man gripping his bat as he glared up at a woman perched on a window ledge. ¡°That¡¯s her!¡± Hiro fired {Blade Whirlwind} at the Lady in the Yellow Raincoat, who jumped to the top of a dumpster to avoid his attack. He would have used {Kiss or Slap}, but there was no telling if Juan had done damage or not, and he didn¡¯t want to potentially heal the woman. The woman had changed since Hiro had last seen her, her raincoat tattered, her face obscured by a chainmail veil that she¡¯d sewn onto a yellow bucket hat. She released her umbrella, sending numerous daggers toward the three of them. Both Valeria and Rena were hit by daggers, Hiro just barely managing to dodge the Lady¡¯s attack. ¡°Get her close to me,¡± Juan seethed. ¡°Just need her¡­ close.¡± Hiro noticed something about the area around Juan¡¯s body. It was as if he had dipped himself into a puddle, the dark matter bubbling and popping. What sort of attack¡­? Hiro shook this thought away as he bounced toward the Lady in the Yellow Raincoat, his katana at the ready. He could see it in his mind¡¯s eye, the perfect strike. What he couldn¡¯t see was the fact that she had popped the top of her umbrella off, revealing a blackened blade. Her strike was enough to force Hiro backward, where he skidded across the pavement and slammed into injured Rena. ¡°Val, please!¡± Rena said, trying to hold back the surprise of being pierced by multiple blades as she lay there prone, her hands boiling red. Thunk! As Hiro rushed toward the Lady he heard Valeria¡¯s crossbow but didn¡¯t see a bolt, which he assumed meant that she had fired a healing arrow at Rena. Hiro twisted into his next attack, the Lady blocking it, unaware as he ducked away that Hiro was about to unleash a horde of demon cats. {Kore Nani Neko} triggered, his cats came rushing from all directions, the woman batting them back with surprising precision. How strong is she? What level is she at? Hiro had to remember that the Lady was a player killer, that she could be leagues stronger than him through sheer Survivor murder. This also means she has other¡ª The woman looked up just as a red cloud appeared over them. Hiro rushed for cover, but it was too late. Droplets of blood rained from the red cloud, coating all of them. A split second. Then another. Hiro had no idea what the blood would do, but he was already turning to Valeria, hoping for a healing arrow when he heard the yowl of his cats diminish, as if they were chasing someone. She¡¯s getting away, Hiro thought. He could reach her. He knew {Lupine Shift} would give him the speed he needed, but he didn¡¯t know what the transformation would do after; he didn¡¯t know if he¡¯d turn on the others simply to nab an easier meal. ¡°Don¡¯t¡ª¡± Juan stammered. ¡°She already hit me with that.¡± He rolled onto his side and looked up at the fading red cloud. ¡°It¡¯s not worth it.¡± ¡°What does it do?¡± ¡°Try moving.¡± Hiro took a step forward and felt a wave of exhaustion roll over him, like he¡¯d been up for three days straight with no food. His heart thrummed in his chest, beating wildly to the point that he brought a hand to it. What the hell? ¡°Let her go,¡± Juan said bitterly. ¡°I¡¯ll get that fucking puta next time. ?Mataste a mi hermano, maldita perra!¡± Thunk! Valeria hit Juan with a healing arrow. ¡°What the fuck?¡± he cried as he looked down at his hand, the blood seeping away. ¡°She¡¯s with me. It¡¯s her healing power. Hit me too, Val,¡± Hiro said. Thunk! ¡°Thanks.¡± ¡°So that¡¯s her, huh?¡± Valeria said as she hobbled forward. ¡°That¡¯s the Survivor you were talking about?¡±This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. Near him, Juan continued to curse in Spanish. ¡°Ojal¨¢ te pudras en el infierno¡­¡± Hiro looked down at his hand to see that the blood had faded. Upon scanning the buildings ahead, it was clear that the Lady in the Yellow Raincoat was gone. This left a bitter taste in his mouth, one so strong that he had to turn his head and spit to get it out. ¡°Fuck.¡± ¡°What about you?¡± Juan asked Valeria as he calmed to some degree. ¡°You going to shoot yourself?¡± ¡°My arrows don¡¯t work on me, stupidly,¡± she said. ¡°I have gauze.¡± ¡°We do to,¡± Rena approached Valeria with the gauze in hand. ¡°They¡¯re your team?¡± Juan asked Hiro. ¡°Rena and Valeria, Val to her friends.¡± ¡°Just call me Val,¡± she said, her eyes shut as Rena carefully removed a small dagger jutting out of her leg. ¡°I might need to bite down on something.¡± Rena nodded. She removed a handkerchief from her backpack, twisted it, and gave it to Valeria. ¡°I might need to sit down too,¡± Valeria said. Hiro turned back to Juan. ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡± ¡°About¡ª? Oh, the graves. Yeah.¡± ¡°Was it her?¡± ¡°The bitch in the raincoat? Yeah,¡± Juan said after a long pause. ¡°She¡¯s worse than a Hunter. Once she catches sight of you, she keeps at it.¡± ¡°She fucked me over yesterday. Forced me into a fight with a Sentry.¡± ¡°Not surprising. Probably just trying to soften you up. Did something similar to me and Marcello, but with this Hunter. We got the Hunter, and she appeared behind Marcello.¡± Juan¡¯s eyes filled with rage. ¡°Decapitated. Like in¡­ some Quintin Tarantino movie. I can¡¯t believe it. This place.¡± Hiro looked around, not sure of how to react as Juan¡¯s anger became an intense sorrow. ¡°Come with us,¡± Rena told him. ¡°At least until the gate opens.¡± Valeria, who now bit down on a bandana, nodded in agreement. ¡°We got a space,¡± Rena said. ¡°You can stay there until the gate opens. Also, you should know something about the gates.¡± ¡°You sure? How many people can go to the gate?¡± Valeria spit her bandana out. ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter how many people we bring. The Doom System is just trying to¡ªow!¡± She looked down at Rena as she finished placing gauze on a wound. ¡°Sorry. It feels better now, right?¡± Valeria groaned. Rena placed a hand on her cheek. ¡°Come on, it¡¯s better.¡± ¡°Fine, it¡¯s better.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t want to bother you all,¡± Juan said. ¡°I can¡¯t shake the bad luck,¡± Juan said. ¡°My sister, my brother. You don¡¯t want me there, trust me.¡± ¡°It¡¯s just for the night,¡± Rena said. ¡°You look like you could use a warm meal. And some company.¡± Juan¡¯s pride nearly got the best of him as he started to shake his head. It was quickly swept away by a deep exhale. ¡°You¡¯re right. I could use the company.¡± He turned to Hiro. ¡°What about you?¡± ¡°I¡¯ve still got things I¡¯d like to do.¡± ¡°You¡¯re going back out there, huh?¡± Valeria asked. ¡°I think so, yeah.¡± Hiro nodded, his decision solidified. ¡°I¡¯ve been wanting to check out Central Park. I could see it from the place I stayed last night.¡± ¡°Where did you stay?¡± Juan asked. ¡°Billionaire¡¯s Row. I used {Bounce} to get me to one of the penthouse apartments there.¡± ¡°Dang. I always wondered what the view was like from that high up,¡± he said. ¡°I watched a couple YouTube videos about it, realtor tours. Remember those?¡± ¡°Those kinds of things always felt like a way to keep the dream alive,¡± Valeria said. ¡°Most couldn¡¯t afford a fifty million dollar penthouse, but by showing it to the masses, it made some people think it was in the realm of possibility.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t get her started,¡± Rena said. ¡°Heh. I¡¯m already started.¡± Valeria said as Rena continued to apply gauze to her wounds. ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s crazy how shit changes,¡± Juan said. ¡°I¡¯d say let¡¯s go after the Raincoat Lady, but I¡¯m beat.¡± ¡°What we need are more levels,¡± Hiro said. ¡°That, or the right power, just like Val was saying. We find out where she stays, we hit her hard. Or, we bait her to come for one of us and then finish her for good. I don¡¯t personally want to kill Survivors, but some will just have to go. Anyway. I¡¯m going to do more exploring. Hopefully, I¡¯ll find some pharmaceuticals too.¡± ¡°You trying to get fucked up?¡± Juan asked. ¡°No, he killed a mimic by trick-feeding it Xanax,¡± Valeria said. This brought a crooked smile to Juan¡¯s face. ¡°I hate those things. Marcello and I dealt with one that looked like a park bench. Marcello was the one that killed it. His Roulette Skill. Basically, he shoved his hand down its throat, his arm turned to metal covered in sharp spikes and he was able to rip most of its guts out.¡± He looked back to his building. ¡°Anyway. I¡¯ll grab my things.¡± ¡°And I¡¯m going to keep moving.¡± Hiro didn¡¯t mention that it sounded like Juan and Marcello had similar powers, able to turn themselves to metal. He had a feeling it was best not to bring Marcello up too much. ¡°Wait, when should we meet you?¡± Juan asked. Hiro checked the time. ¡°At the start of the final day. Or a few hours before. I¡¯ll come to your place,¡± he told Valeria. ¡°That works. I got this feeling it¡¯s going to get worse right before the gate opens. Just a hunch.¡± Juan let out a deep exhale. ¡°Let¡¯s hope not.¡± ¡°Be safe,¡± Rena told Hiro as slipped his mask over his head. ¡°If there¡¯s not a Zone of Influence, don¡¯t be afraid to run.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll catch up with you all soon,¡± Hiro told them before he bounced away. **** Hiro stayed clear of Bryant Park. As much as he wanted to challenge himself and reap the benefits of killing the Triplet Bunnies, he knew he wasn¡¯t at the right level to do so yet. To win would take some sort of Hail Mary, and all he had was a magical eighteen-wheeler through his One Hit Wonder skill. That could theoretically work, but it would have to be timed just right¡­ Beyond, closer to Central Park, he spotted a golden merchant beacon emitting from a collapsed building, one with huge beams of steel sticking out of it, curved like the skeleton of a beached whale. Hiro bounced down, closer to the merchant. He took a look around to make sure all was clear. When he didn¡¯t see anything out of the ordinary, he jumped over the splintering of steel beams and landed near a pile of rubble. ¡°What the¡ª?¡± Hiro whispered as he found the source of the golden energy, which came out of an ancient stone vase. Movement to his left had him drawing his katana and stepping back. ¡°Minerva,¡± he whispered as an imposing woman appeared out of the darkness. The merchant beacon had been a trap. Not only that, it had been a trap set by a vengeful Greek Goddess, one that was clearly pissed that both Mercury and Hercules had died. Chapter Twenty-Eight: Instant Discount Ozempic Minerva stood tall and proud, the Roman goddess of wisdom, justice, arts, and trade clearly happy with her ambush. The muscular woman wore a breastplate engraved with owls atop an armored skirt. She had a helmet on her head with a feathery red plume, the only thing on her person that wasn¡¯t made of stone. Even her impossibly large glave and her kite shield were crafted from stone. There was no Zone of Influence here, Hiro free to leave. But dealing with her, he thought as her health bar appeared, means no one else will fall for this trap. And all three statues of Grand Central Station will have been handled. Hiro moved away, able to narrowly avoid her first strike. He used {Bounce} to send himself to the top of a rubble pile, where he went with his {Kiss or Slap} Roulette Skill. Might as well, he thought as the words sounded off followed by an epic slapping noise. Kiss or Slap? SLAP! The effect was instant. A giant hand formed out of the sky and struck Minerva, her red health bar taking a three-quarter haircut. It fucking worked? Hiro thought as the woman was tossed to the side. Holy shit! He tried not to think about the odds of his Roulette Skill actually working on the first try. He knew this was random; Hiro knew that he wouldn¡¯t get so lucky next time, so he might as well capitalize on it. By the time Minerva was back on her feet, leaning her body weight against glaive, she looked a hell of a lot worse than when Hiro first arrived. Much of her stone body had crumbled away, revealing bloody bits of reddened muscle interspersed with thin blue veins. The red plumes on her head were missing, the feathers now attached to the underside of her arms, and she no longer had her kite shield. It was her second form. Like her counterpart, Mercury, as well as some of the other enemies Hiro had faced, Minerva¡¯s second form seemed twice as lethal as the one she initially took. She came at him fast, darting up the pile of debris gripping her glaive, which grew in size when she thrust it forward. Hiro jumped over her; he thought he would clear the distance and land back at the base of the rubble only for Minerva to pivot and send her glaive up, slicing into the side of his leg. He hit the ground, gasped at the pain, and cast his next skill. ~Kore nani, kore nani, kore nani, kore nani, kore nani, kore nani, NEKO!~ His phantom demon cats came to the rescue, but they did little to thwart Minerva as she rushed forward with her glaive again, cats flying left and right. Hiro rolled out of the way and brought his blade up to beat away her advance. This triggered {Refund}, which pushed Minerva back a few feet and took a sliver of her health. His mind racing, leg pulsing, Hiro started spamming with a barrage of strikes through {Blade Whirlwind}. It was the first time he had used the power so rapidly. Something feels different, he thought as he struck her again and again. Hiro bounced backward and drew his Buster Kunai. He tossed it at the Roman goddess, the blade growing in size just as she was lunging forward with her glaive. Success. His weapon hit an opening in her stone form, draining all of Minerva¡¯s health bar.The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. You have new followers! Soul Essence rushed into Hiro as he took a limping step backward, his focus shifting to his injured leg. He startled yet again once Minerva pressed up to her feet and took a knee, where she held out her hand as the stone reformed over her body. Vape pen cartridges fell to the ground before her as a spiraling light rushed toward Hiro. One Hit Wonder: {Instant Discount Ozempic} Grade: A Upgrade: N/A Description: Drenched, floored, fucked, and fuddled. Sauced, scammered, scoobied, and scuttered. Other words the Sixteen ¨¹bermensch of the Reinheitsgebot approved to describe being drunk included laced, leathered, loopy, and lush. Later¡ªmashed, merry, monstered, and newted. It took an army of sixteen thousand draymen a full sixteen turns around the sun after visiting sixteen hundred public houses with sixteen virgins riding sixteen donkeys with their asses stuffed with sixteen dime bags of the finest coca¨ªna to convince the Sixteen ¨¹bermensch of the Reinheitsgebot that something had to be done. To combat beer bellies, bierb?uche, pancioni da birra, panzas cerveceras, and the notorious brioches de vin of Montmartre, a new weight loss drug was in order. Instant Discount Ozempic is not that drug. A byproduct of the wastewater from Las Angeles¡¯ glitzy and exclusive Bel Air neighborhood, Instant Discount Ozempic will greatly reduce the weight of your opponent, making them easier to fight. For a weaker enemy, Instant Discount Ozempic will strip the fat from their bones and rupture their organs. Use with caution, and never forget the cirrhosian proverb: a moment on the lips, a lifetime on the hips. Valeria would go to town over that description. Hiro hobbled over to the vape cartridges and picked them each. As the others had been, these were labeled on the side: Bleed, Decoy, Shadow Veil, Inferno. I know what Bleed and Decoy do, Hiro thought as he instantly understood what the others did as well. It was clear even though he hadn¡¯t been provided any information. Shadow would allow him to create a mist of shadows so he could escape; Inferno would allow him to blow a big fireball like a Street Fighter character. ¡°Nice,¡± Hiro finally said as he opened his backpack and got out the healing gauze. He took care of his wounds and moved to higher ground, where he spotted another golden beacon in the direction he was planning to head anyway. ¡°Scout it this time.¡± Hiro told himself. He readjusted his mask on his face and checked his follower count to see that he had well over four thousand to sacrifice. This also reminded him that he needed to do crazier shit. With this in mind, he exploded into the air with {Bounce}, hit another rooftop, and tried for a flip, which he actually landed. He shouldn¡¯t have, yet he held steady at the last moment and heard the applause in his head. It felt good to know he was wanted. He almost smiled, but then he remembered that none of it was real. Or is it? Hiro continued on, moving rooftop to rooftop. This is my new reality. In that sense it is real. It is unlike my previous reality, but that doesn¡¯t make it any less real than what I experienced back then. I think. Hiro reached a billboard featuring the image of a pair of celebrities on a pristine beach. Someone had also spray painted the phrase IT DOESN¡¯T MATTER NOW over the celebrities¡¯ heads. ¡°No, it doesn¡¯t.¡± Hiro¡¯s eyes followed a golden beam down into a small courtyard created by buildings that had been joined together yet stood at separate heights. It was there that he spotted what had to be a merchant, who had made themselves a shelter out of melded together e-scooters. Hiro dropped down into the courtyard, prepared to strike if need be. He relaxed to some degree when he saw the woman, who seemed frail in her prom dress with a sash that read Homecoming Queen. Her mascara had run down her face, yet she still looked at Hiro with bright eyes and a lipstick smeared grin. ¡°Hi, Survivor. Welcome to my store. You may call me Penny.¡± Hiro didn¡¯t know what to make of her now. He had been relieved to be attacked, but to see such a strange sight had thrown him off guard. ¡°I have loads of things for sale, from vape cartridges to the best powers in the five boroughs.¡± Penny¡¯s bloodshot eyes twitched once he didn¡¯t respond. ¡°Is something the matter?¡± ¡°No,¡± Hiro said, even though he actually wanted to tell her that everything was the matter. ¡°I have followers.¡± ¡°Followers.¡± Her smile cracked to some degree. ¡°That¡¯s nice, baby, but unfortunately, I don¡¯t take followers.¡± ¡°Then¡­ what do you take?¡± ¡°Cold hard cash.¡± She smiled at him again. ¡°Any currency will do.¡± The merchant made the universal gesture for money. ¡°And hurry. It¡¯s my lunch break soon.¡± Hiro reached into his back pocket and removed his wallet. ¡°Do you take card?¡± Chapter Twenty-Nine: Doom Sample Sale Hiro felt stupid as soon as he asked the merchant if she took credit cards, especially with the way she scowled at him. His phone buzzed before Penny could answer. Her heavily mascara¡¯d eyes darted to his front pocket. ¡°Are you going to get that?¡± He hesitated. ¡°Well?¡± she asked, annoyance in her voice. Hiro took out his phone and read the message. ¡°What if I rob a bank?¡± Hiro asked. There was bound to be a bank nearby, and he could possibly use one of his powers to get the vault open. Hiro started to tell his Companion that merchant had just said she would accept any currency. Instead, he sent his phone back into his pocket, followed by his wallet. ¡°I suppose I¡¯ll have to come back later.¡± ¡°Yes, I suppose,¡± Penny said. ¡°Do you know where to find me?¡± Hiro set a {Beacon.} ¡°I do now.¡± ¡°Good luck, Survivor. And if you can, come back rich. My brother and sister merchants don¡¯t have the same wares as me.¡± ¡°Am I allowed to see what you have?¡± Penny slowly shook her head. ¡°Aside from vape pen cartridges, and perhaps things you can affix to items you may receive later, I specialize in a unique set of powers based on human internet culture. That¡¯s all I¡¯ll tell you, for now. Visit later and see for yourself.¡± **** Human internet culture, Hiro thought of what the merchant had told him as he took to the rooftops again and concluded that it could mean anything, really. If the Doom System hadn¡¯t been the downfall of humanity, the Internet would have certainly taken a swing at it in the years to come. Hiro was now high enough above the streets that he could get a sweeping view of Madison Avenue, a once expansive boulevard now riddled in craters and portions of the road that had collapsed into the subway system. He had seen it before. Hiro had traveled directly beneath it, including through some of the subway lines that had rubble from the street level in them. Yet his current view¡ª ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± Hiro whispered as he peered ahead to see a line of people wrapping around a block. Impossible. He had seen something like this before the Doom System came. Fashion brands often used these events to offload products or create hype for a new launch. They would rent out a place, make it look exclusive, and get people lined up outside, which drew further attention. The last time Hiro had seen a line this long had been at one of the food banks set up after the gate gave everyone powers. It could be a trap, he thought as he perched on the edge of a building near an American flag that had seen better days. Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. There was still no clue as to what the people were lining up for. The entrance was obscured by a thick red curtain, and the windows were boarded up. Yet they were definitely people standing there, at least Hiro thought this was the case until a man joined at the back of the line. The man wore a black trench coat and a matching black bucket hat. He was shirtless beneath the trench coat, and as he turned in Hiro¡¯s direction, it was clear that the Survivor didn¡¯t have pants on either. Instead, he wore a pair of boxer briefs and crocs, no socks. He leaned forward to speak to the person in front of him, and as he did, the man passed right through the person. The Survivor stumbled, got his bearings, and passed through more of the people that had lined up for the sample sale. ¡°I¡¯m going in,¡± Hiro said, even though there was no one around to actually hear him. He placed his hand on the hilt of his blade and bounced to the streets below. The Survivor, who had continued passing people in line, immediately turned to Hiro. ¡°I¡¯m not the main character,¡± Hiro said in lieu of a greeting. Now that he was at ground level, Hiro saw that the man had a thick beard that he had pulled into a point. He wore a pair of red sunglasses more appropriate for the beach than the post-apocalyptic cityscape. He also had a flowery fanny pack. ¡°Yeah?¡± the man in an Australian accent. ¡°I¡¯m not the main character either. You want to put your sword away, mate?¡± ¡°Not really,¡± Hiro said. The man shrugged. ¡°Funny mask you got on there.¡± ¡°It¡¯s listed as a Roulette Accessory.¡± ¡°Same as my glasses.¡± The man ran his hand through one of the people in line in front of him. ¡°Pretty strange, innit?¡± ¡°Do you know what they¡¯re lined up for?¡± ¡°I do not. But there¡¯s a way to find out.¡± He nodded to the front of the line. ¡°Care to join me? I¡¯m Samuel, by the way.¡± ¡°Samuel. I¡¯m Hiro.¡± ¡°Hiro. Nice to meet you, mate. Don¡¯t know if people are still saying that these days, but it¡¯s nice to see an actual person. Met a few of them, some crazier than others.¡± ¡°Same.¡± Hiro slid his katana back into its sheath. He placed a hand in his pocket instead, where he gripped his Buster Kunai. ¡°Apparently, the bloody Doom System wanted us to see this. I don¡¯t know why, but these people looked bloody real from a block away.¡± Samuel leaned in, observing a woman with her hair in a bun. He stepped through her. ¡°Oi,¡± he called to the people in front of him, ¡°if any of you are Survivors, let me know. Otherwise, I¡¯m going to run into you.¡± Once he didn¡¯t get a response, Samuel ran to the front of the line, passing through a dozen people in the process. Hiro caught up with him, the two now standing in front of the curtain. ¡°Well, what do you think?¡± ¡°I was going to ask you the same question. Curiosity killed the cat, but by this point, that cat has been dead for a while, I reckon. I¡¯d say something like fortune favors the bold, but that¡¯s what mad men tell themselves before they commit atrocities. It¡¯s definitely bait, whatever this is.¡± Samuel pointed at the red curtain. ¡°Bloody Doom System. Question for us is whether we want to take it or not.¡± [Hello, Survivors.] ¡°Ah, shit, here we go,¡± Samuel said. Strangely, he didn¡¯t produce a weapon like Hiro did, who instantly drew his katana. [You have discovered a Doom Sample Sale. Inside, you will be challenged by a Revenant through a unique set of battle rules. If you survive, you will be given additional access to the Doom System, your current follower count will double, your weapon proficiency will be automatically upgraded, and you will be given enough SE to move to the next level. Terms and conditions apply.] The Doom System¡¯s voice changed and accelerated, rattling off terms and conditions like the rapid-fire side effect warnings at the end of a medicine commercial: [By entering the Doom Sample Sale you acknowledge the following: For every minute that passes within a Doom Sample Sale, the Sentry gains ten percent strength. Your current health will be quantized and converted into HP. You will be given MP as a multiplier of your MIND stat. One Hit Wonder skills are not accessible in a Doom Sample Sale. Roulette Skills will not be burdened by their normal cool-down times. Your likeness may be used for future Doom System Sample Sales. The cost of entry into a Doom Sample Sale is your life. Win, and your life is given back to you. Lose, and your life will be retained by the Doom System, your corpse subject to reuse in the Second Interim.] Samuel turned back to Hiro, an uncertain look on his face. ¡°Well, what do you think, mate? Do we give it a go? Do we see what¡¯s behind the red curtain?¡± Hiro didn¡¯t skip a beat. ¡°Let¡¯s do it.¡± Samuel steeled himself with a deep breath in. ¡°Fuckin¡¯ hell.¡± Chapter Thirty: The Mad Butcher Hiro pushed through the red curtain alongside Samuel, the Australian survivor who remained in his boxers wearing a flowing black cloak that matched his bucket hat. They had a plan now. Both had survived long enough not to step through the barrier without figuring out a strategy based on what they were capable of doing. ¡°I have a katana,¡± Hiro had told him mere moments ago. ¡°That you do. So you need to get in close to strike, yeah?¡± ¡°Not necessarily. I have an ability that will release demon cats to distract our opponent.¡± ¡°That¡¯ll be helpful. I have a power that will set someone on fire.¡± ¡°What about your weapon?¡± Samuel did a quick turn. ¡°You¡¯re looking at it.¡± ¡°You¡¯re some kind of, um, fighter-type?¡± ¡°Heh. I would fancy myself that, but not in any way you¡¯re thinking. My cloak. It¡¯s a weapon, mate.¡± Hiro looked him over again. ¡°For real?¡± ¡°For realsies, as an American might say. Doesn¡¯t seem like it, but watch this.¡± Samuel looked around for a moment. He stepped over to a garbage bin chained to a streetlamp. ¡°If this was a mimic, maybe I¡¯d hit it with something like this.¡± He spun. Or he teleported. Or he jumped, spun, and teleported. Either way, to Hiro it looked like Samuel had completely vanished only to reappear midair and deliver a strike to the trash can using the ends of his cloak. ¡°It can make a shield too.¡± He swept the ends of his cloak forward that fully encompassed his body. ¡°Took me a while to get used to fighting this way. My Roulette Skill is a strange one.¡± ¡°Yeah?¡± ¡°It¡¯s painful. Causes me to clone myself, allowing my clone to fight as well. Hurts like buggery. So that explains my boxers and sandals. If I¡¯m going to do it, I slip them off. The cloak stays on. Bloody thing is attached to me, if you couldn¡¯t tell. Look for yourself.¡± Hiro approached Samuel and caught a whiff of his scent, mostly body odor, but something slightly sweet as well. Sure enough, the cloak was attached to his shoulders, fused with his skin. ¡°Did that hurt?¡± ¡°Like buggery.¡± They exchanged more information as to what they could do, checked with each other again to confirm they were ready, and asked their Companions for advice about Doom Sample Sale, which, as Hiro had already figured, didn¡¯t net any results. Then, and only then, was it time. As soon as they pressed through the red curtains, the two Survivors were greeted with an expansive room carved out of the building, one that spanned two floors and an entire city block, enough space that it seemed to defy the confines of the building itself. A health bar formed over Samuel¡¯s head. Hiro pointed at it. ¡°You¡¯ve got¡ª¡± ¡°You have one too, mate.¡± Lights flashed on, bright enough to momentarily blind them. A bootleg 8-Bit battle theme started up, pumped out of speakers that Hiro couldn¡¯t see. It¡¯s treating this like some sort of video game boss battle, Hiro thought as he brought his katana to the ready. He prepared to move forward only to notice that he know longer had any regency over his body. ¡°What the¡ª¡± A wild sounding voice blasted out of the speakers, reminding Hiro of someone talking through a megaphone. Description: According to the Annals of Gastroenterology, Clyde ¡°The Mad Butcher¡± Labella was born to an immigrant family at the end of the 19th Century. As bad luck would have it, Clyde crossed paths with Mary Mallon, better known as Typhoid Mary, the two instantly forming a bond. Their wild nights frequenting the glory holes of New England created a disease known as typhoid fever. If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. Immune to the disease, Mary was quarantined on North Brother Island while Clyde suffered from high fever, constipation, diarrhea, abdominal pains, vomiting, and a skin rash. Desperate to survive, Clyde later killed Mary, which he rightly assumed would reverse the effects and cement his villain arc. He later went on to recruit members of a local country club to do his biddings after poisoning them with a mind-controlling typhoid variant. Later, Clyde watched the 1974 version of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre and figured he¡¯d Guns Akimbo his hands with chainsaws. So there¡¯s that. ¡°Ah, damn,¡± Samuel said as a black-haired man in a butcher¡¯s apron dropped down from the ceiling. He wore armor that looked like it had been made of cobble together flesh, which hung from his body through staples. About Hiro¡¯s height, The Mad Butcher¡¯s face was wrapped in tape with just one bulging eye visible, jaundiced, and seeping with blood. His arms and hands had been replaced by two equally rusty chainsaws bolted to the bone and barefly fashioned together with flesh. The Mad Butcher was joined by six deformed men in country club attire gripping pickleball rackets. Plastic bags were taped to their necks and covering their faces so each troubled breath in revealed some of their gaunt features. A red bar appeared over each of their heads. This was accompanied by a blue bar. The Doom System delivered more information: [Hello, Survivors. You are about to take part in your first turn-based battle. The rules are simple. When the blue bar depletes, you can attack. Until then, you are frozen and subject to your opponents attacks. Don¡¯t forget, The Mad Butcher grows stronger as each minute passes.] A timer appeared above their enemies, all the numbers currently at zero. [If you can defeat The Mad Butcher in under five minutes, you will receive a bonus reward. Good luck, Survivors.] ¡°We need to take the smaller ones out first,¡± Samuel told Hiro. ¡°I hate to say that, because it¡¯s the Butcher that¡ª¡± All the blue bars depleted at the same time. ¡°We¡¯re off!¡± Samuel shouted. Hiro kept his distance as he tried for {Kiss or Slap}, failed, and quickly summoned his phantom demon cats. ~Kore nani, kore nani, kore nani, kore nani, kore nani, kore nani, NEKO!~ The cats moved on The Mad Butcher¡¯s goons and the main boss himself. Samuel flashed ahead and beat at The Mad Butcher, the crazed man brushing off Samuel¡¯s attack as he rushed toward Hiro. -45 HP! -61 HP! The pain of being struck by not one, but two chainsaw blades caused both a visceral and physical shock to rush through Hiro, who was now frozen, his blue bar climbing back up. He should have lost an arm and maybe a leg, but the fight didn¡¯t seem like it would play out that way. Instead, Hiro¡¯s health bar dropped by a quarter. Fuck, I wish I had a healing potion, he thought, his mind landing on the gauze he had gotten from Carmen. Could I stuff it in my mouth? Is it worth losing a turn? Ahead, three of The Mad Butcher¡¯s henchmen all descended upon Samuel and beat at him with their pickleball rackets. -8 HP! -6 HP! -7 HP! -5 HP! -3 HP! -9 HP! ¡°Hell!¡± He shouted as their turn expired and they all froze, leaving his health bar knocked down about ten percent. ¡°Ah, it stings. Bloody mongrels!¡± ¡°The Butcher¡¯s strikes are strong. A quarter of my health is gone!¡± Hiro told Samuel through short breaths as he watched the blue bar deplete. ¡°Saw that! Fuck. And he¡¯ll get stronger soon¡ª¡± ¡°My Bleed Cartridge. Let me get him with that, and then you attack. My phantom cats will continue to distract his companions.¡± Hiro counted seven phantom cats. Some had already disappeared. They had distracted the other three henchmen and even killed one. ¡°I got something the fucker won¡¯t like,¡± Samuel seethed. The blue bar flashed and Hiro could move again. He drew his vape pen, shifted to the side, and brought it to his lips, his Bleed cartridge already loaded. After a quick puff, Hiro exhaled a cloud of red at The Mad Butcher. A voice screamed over the music: Bleed damage! These voices are wild, Hiro thought as his blue bar filled. This time he moved his arms up to block himself. He didn¡¯t know how much this would help, but he hoped it would mitigate some of the attacks. Instakill! Hiro¡¯s eyes darted left to see one of the larger phantom cats heading to the ground, its jaw connected to the throats of one of the Mad Butcher¡¯s henchmen. ¡°Cop this, ya drongo!¡± Samuel threw both sides of his cloak back and unleashed several razor-winged sparrows at The Mad Butcher. They flitted through the air, pressed their wings forward, and drove into his body. -75 HP! - 45 HP! - 66 HP! -99 HP! Critical hit! The three henchmen near Samuel beat him again with pickleball rackets. -6 HP! -9 HP! -6 HP! -8 HP! ¡°God¡ªBloody¡ªBastards!¡± He howled with each strike as red numbers flashed over his head. As this happened, The Mad Butcher brought both chainsaws down onto Hiro. ¡°Argh!¡± Hiro experienced the sensation of his flesh being torn away at the same time blood spritzed the air at the same time nothing actually happened aside from his health bar taking another beating. -37 HP! -29 HP! At least blocking helps, he thought as everyone¡¯s blue bars started to climb again. Without the ability to heal, he could only take about three more rounds. The Doom System spoke as they all prepared for the next round: [The Mad Butcher is now ten percent stronger.] Chapter Thirty-One: Marked Hiro gritted his teeth as he watched the blue bar fill. He stood across from The Mad Butcher, the miniboss seething, his chainsaws whirring as what was left of his henchmen all pumped up and down like they were moving toward a mosh pit of the damned. We need to take them out first. His eyes jumped to his health bar, which wasn¡¯t looking so hot. Two more rounds, three if he was lucky, and Hiro would be done for. He envisioned his next movement in his head. As long as the blue bar was depleting, he could move. Once it started to fill, he would be frozen until the next round. If I can time it right, I can try something with my gauze and throw my Buster Kunai at The Mad Butcher. Or¡­ ¡°We need to focus on his goons first!¡± Samuel shouted as if he were reading Hiro¡¯s mind. ¡°Agreed. I¡¯m going to try something.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry about your health, mate! If it gets any lower I have a way to protect you.¡± ¡°Thanks,¡± Hiro said as the next neared its starting point. ¡°Still, I¡¯ll try something!¡± As soon as he was able, Hiro jammed his hand into his pocket and pulled out the gauze. He had stuffed it there earlier in preparation for whatever was to come, Hiro figuring that getting it from his backpack would prove difficult. He was right. But he was also faced with a new conundrum. I¡¯m not actually bleeding¡­ no visible wounds¡­ where do I put it? Hiro instinctively shoved the roll of gauze into his mouth. He drew his Buster Kunai, turned, and used what was left of his time to throw the weapon at one of The Mad Butcher¡¯s henchmen, one being engaged by the remaining phantom demon cats. Instakill! Hiro¡¯s eye¡¯s jumped to Samuel, who was just finishing his own kill, which involved using the ends of his cape to decapitate one of the country clubbers. Instakill! Hiro panicked as he froze, gauze still in his mouth. His panic flashed to fear and then surprise as his health bar started to trickle up. It¡¯s working! And not a moment too soon, either. The Mad Butcher barked out orders, his voice muffled by the plastic wrapped around his mouth as he descended upon Hiro and hit him with a brutal strike using both chainsaws. The country club henchmen followed this up with their pickle ball rackets, Hiro¡¯s health bar taking quite the beating. -67 HP! -49 HP! -8 HP! -12 HP! - 13 HP! - 7 HP! Even so, the gauze in his mouth prevented his health bar from dipping past the halfway point. Hiro also noticed something else as he waited for his time to start again. Blood now ran down The Mad Butcher¡¯s chainsaws, and it wasn¡¯t Hiro¡¯s blood. The Bleed damage, even if Samuel had only struck him once, is doing its job! ¡°You good?¡± Samuel called over to him. ¡°I¡¯m good!¡± Hiro said, his voice partially muffled by the gauze. ¡°Looks like that¡¯s working. If you can take the bugger on your right, I¡¯ll hit the one on the left and try to get another hit on the Mad Butcher.¡± ¡°Okay!¡± Their time started again and Hiro drove his sword into the country club henchmen¡¯s stomach. -125 HP! Critical hit! He pulled his blade out and sent it in again with the time he had remaining, killing him. Meanwhile, Samuel rushed forward in a blaze of cloaked movement. He decapitated the final remaining henchman and managed to get a small strike in on The Mad Butcher, which compounded the Bleed damage. The Mad Butcher orchestrated a complete spin, his chainsaws hitting Hiro and Samuel.Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more. -49 HP! - 51 HP! - 38 HP1 - 53 HP! The miniboss jumped back, and just at the moment that the Bleed damage caused his health bar to hit the halfway point, a transformation took place. The plastic around The Mad Butcher¡¯s face split open and the man released a cloud of green mist. [The Mad Butcher is now ten percent stronger.] [You have been infected with typhoid fever.] Ah, fuck, Hiro thought as dizziness washed over him, his vision blurring. This was followed by an intense headache that felt as if a vice were tightening around his skull. Even though he was frozen, the blue bar slowly depleting, Hiro began to shiver. ¡°Ugghhh,¡± he lamented, gauze still shoved in his mouth as his stomach began to churn. ¡°Bloody typhoid fever?¡± Samuel gritted his teeth, his face a mask of pain. ¡°Let¡¯s give the fucker all we got!¡± Hiro glanced at The Mad Butcher¡¯s health bar. I could try {Blade Whirlwind}, but he¡¯s close now, and if I move fast enough¡­ His eyes jumped to his Buster Kunai, which was now on the ground near one of the collapsed henchmen. He could see it in his head now, two strikes, jump toward his Roulette Weapon, and try to throw it at the Butcher in the allotted time. He knew his marks. He instinctively knew where to move. He just needed to execute it. Hiro ignored his pounding headache and his increasingly failing vision as he lunged forward, where he slashed at The Mad Butcher twice and threw himself to the side. He hit the ground and tossed the Buster Kunai, which grazed across his opponents back as Samuel swooped in for an epic attack that saw him spinning wildly, hitting the Butcher with a number of rapidfire strikes. He too hit the ground opposite Hiro as The Mad Butcher brought his whirring chainsaws to the ready. Hiro could barely focus on the man¡¯s health bar now, but did see that it was flashing. The Mad Butcher turned to him, made like he was going to leap into the air only to throw his head back, cough blood, and fall to his knees. His death rattle filled the cavernous space as he died: ¡°You are marked¡­¡± [A Revenant has fallen.] Revenant? The fever went away in an instant and Hiro¡¯s health bar disappeared. He spit out what was left of the quickly dissolving gauze and got to his feet as he received a litany of prompts. You have new followers! Level up! Skill Level up! Sword Proficiency, D-Rank > C-Rank ¡°We fucking did it!¡± Samuel cried as Hiro looked down at his katana. A black rune formed at the top of the handle. Unique Item: {Rune of the Reverse Blade} Rank: F Type: Attack/Area of Effect Upgrade: 0/10 Description: Eschew obfuscation. De-escalation through escalation. Collateral damage. Disappear for a month with these three concepts to become the most attractive man in the room. Embrace your masculinity, and control the masses through testosterone-fueled futsal! Citizens United! Futsal¡¯s origins date back to 1930, when Juan Carlos Ceraini created a version of indoor football for the YMCA of Montevideo, Uruguay. Years later, Sam Smith-Johnson, a CIA operative embedded in nearby Las Piedras, used the sport to rapidly increase the testosterone levels of Uruguyans, creating a super soldier capable of obliterating South American drug cartels through a program known as the Crowdstrike International Futsal Update, or CIFU. Just as it seemed like the CIA-back futsal super soldiers were going to put an end to the narcos for good, a narco who had trained in Iga, Japan survived a traumatic brain injury caused by a flying pair of cleats. The acquired savant syndrome that followed allowed him to invent a new, deadly way to hold his katana. Activating this rune transforms your sword into a curved, scimitar-like blade to be held in an inverted grip, unleashing devastating backhand strikes. Hiro¡¯s surprise continued as he received a new One Hit Wonder. One Hit Wonder: {GoFundMerc} Grade: S Upgrade: N/A Description: Upon the completion of the Peach Garden Oath, Moo Deng spent sixteen years as part of the Sworn Brotherhood (jiebai, ½á°Ý) cultivating an inner peace through psychic scaling systems (x¨©nl¨ªng li¨¤nghu¨¤ x¨¬t¨¯ng, ÐÄÁéÁ¿»¯ÏµÍ³) to prevent the Dragon Fang clan of the Western Lands from opening a portal that would bring the Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation back to life. After drink yellow wine ((huangjiu, »Æ¾Æ), only to discover it was actually sectmate Jai¡¯s piss, Moo Deng gave up his practice and hired a hitman by the name Ghost to kill his sectmate. A lot of shit happened after that, enough to fill several scrolls and act as a cautionary tale to countless generations as to why someone shouldn¡¯t piss-prank a sectmate, not quite A Journey to the West and more of a cautionary tale about the woes of surprising someone with a golden shower. The too-long-didn¡¯t-read version is that Jai died at the hands of Ghost, the Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation came back to life, and Moo Deng was fellated and then eaten by a necrotic succubi, where he was later reborn as a popular baby hippo. GoFundMerc will allow you to summon the assassin named Ghost to kill any opponent you may have, from a Hunter to another Survivor. You will not gain any loot or Soul Essence for this kill. ¡°Shit, mate, looks like we got an assassin on speed dial,¡± Samuel said as he caught his breath. Hiro¡¯s phone buzzed. ¡°Mine is going off too,¡± Samuel said as he slipped his hand into his cloak. Hiro got out of his phone and noticed the Doom System¡¯s countdown timer was currently missing. Weird, he thought as he scanned the text from his Companion. ¡°Seriously?¡± Hiro looked up and found that Samuel had read the same message. It was in the Australian¡¯s eyes, the way the man slowly brought his cloak around. Hiro placed his hand on the hilt of his katana, ready to do battle. Chapter Thirty-Two: Welcome to Hells Kitchen Samuel and Hiro stood across from one another, both poised to strike until the Australian laughed. His shoulders relaxed. ¡°It really isn¡¯t worth it, yeah?¡± Hiro didn¡¯t reply. ¡°Look, mate, we may not even make it to the Third Interim.¡± Samuel laughed again. ¡°So my suggestion, if you¡¯re willing to hear me out, is that we wait until then to do anything rash.¡± Hiro let out a deep breath and relaxed. Yet he still kept his hand on the hilt of his blade. ¡°Sorry.¡± ¡°Not your fault,¡± Samuel said as he approached the exit, his back to Hiro. ¡°We¡¯ve all been fucked in the head since the Doom System showed up, yeah? We¡¯re all edgy. So there¡¯s that. Your first One Hit Wonder?¡± he asked, referring to the skill they had both received that allowed them to send an assassin out to kill an enemy. ¡°My second.¡± ¡°That¡¯s the thing with these One Hit Wonder skills. You sort of want to use them, yeah? But then you also think you should hold them until shit has really hit the fan.¡± Samuel swept the red curtain aside and stepped out into the streets. ¡°Ah, Christ.¡± What the hell? Hiro thought upon joining the man. The sky over the city was different¡ªstill a brooding gray with hints of a crimson cast from the eclipse, yet now it was filled with eerie red rowboats suspended in the air. There had to be hundreds of them. Hiro got out his phone and his eyes bulged beneath his mask: 01:10:15:29 01:10:15:28 01:10:15:27 ¡°Seven hours.¡± ¡°What now?¡± Samuel asked as he continued to examine the rowboats. ¡°Seven hours passed in there.¡± Samuel checked his phone to confirm. ¡°The Doom System didn¡¯t tell us that little tidbit. We¡¯re marked, and we lost seven hours.¡± ¡°What¡¯s with the boats?¡± Hiro asked his Companion. He showed the response to Samuel. ¡°Bloody great. We have monsters, Hunters, Sentries, Revenants, and now, or should I say, and soon, Spectators. Christ. That¡¯s the tragic beauty in all this. All I really have to do is survive. But to survive later, I need to get stronger now.¡± ¡°It¡¯s like saving for retirement.¡± Samuel snorted at this suggestion. ¡°Yeah, I guess it¡¯s like that. Only, instead of battling life, disease, and old age, we have to face off against a bloody maniac with chainsaw hands only to step out of the madness and be told that more maniacs will be gunning for us in ten hours. It does make me think, though. Maybe there¡¯s a smarter way to do this.¡± ¡°Power through?¡± Samuel nodded. ¡°Power through until about, I don¡¯t know, twenty-four hours until the gates open, then rest. Wake up, see what the Spectators are all about, lay low if need-be, and head to the gate to go in fully charged. I don¡¯t know about you, mate, but I¡¯m tired now.¡± ¡°Same,¡± Hiro said. ¡°It¡¯s like the Doom System wants us to sleep or something. Did you get that sense the last time you went out?¡± Hiro thought back to his stay in Billionaire¡¯s Row, where he had grown tired after the random surge of rage he felt due to {Lupine Shift}. ¡°I did, now that you mention it. It was like the Doom System slipped me a sleeping pill.¡± Samuel adjusted his bucket hat. ¡°It makes me think we need to visit this merchant I met just before I headed here. She had energy drinks.¡±The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°Like¡­ energy drinks from before?¡± ¡°You mean the crazy ones you Americans drink that is full of shit banned in other countries? Yeah, ha, they looked like them, but not exactly that. These ones seemed more homemade. The merchant had a variety, though. I think she said she had one that can help you sleep as well. Weren¡¯t cheap either. But we just got our follower count doubled. I should be sitting at close to ten thousand.¡± ¡°Close to eight for me.¡± ¡°Plenty,¡± Samuel said. ¡°Well, what do you think? You want to head there? Just a few blocks away, really, closer to Hell¡¯s Kitchen. You got some sort of flying ability, yeah?¡± ¡°Something like that.¡± ¡°I can move in quick bursts with this cloak. So it shouldn¡¯t be too hard for us to get there.¡± ¡°I needed more gauze anyway.¡± ¡°Love definitely had some of that.¡± ¡°Love?¡± ¡°That¡¯s her name, or that¡¯s what she told me, the merchant. We could go there and then part ways. If you¡¯re like me, you want the potential bonus for killing these fuckers on your own.¡± ¡°There is one group that I¡¯ve tried to tackle twice in Bryant Park,¡± Hiro said once they were on the move. They reached their first rooftop, the city streets a disaster below. ¡°Just a head¡¯s up.¡± ¡°Yeah? What about them?¡± Hiro scanned the streets below as he spoke: ¡°Triplet Bunnies. They are high-level Hunters that wear leather rabbit masks the ears of which morph into tentacle swords. They¡¯re fast. I tried tackling them with another Survivor and we failed. Or, at least we mostly failed. I think we injured one of them. They¡¯re in Bryant Park. I¡¯d avoid them if you¡¯re out hunting solo.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll keep that in mind. You weren¡¯t planning on giving them another go, were you?¡± Samuel flashed to another rooftop and Hiro joined him. ¡°I absolutely want to deal with them before the gate opens.¡± ¡°In that case, we might need to set a time to meet there and handle the bunnies.¡± Samuel shook his head. ¡°Weird saying it like that.¡± Soon, Hiro saw the golden beam that indicated there was a merchant in the vicinity. He followed Samuel through a shattered window, and into a cluttered room to find a woman in flowing robes stitched with peacock feathers seated on a purple sofa. She wore a beaded hat that would have looked appropriate on a flapper. ¡°Hello, Survivors,¡± she said in between puffs from a black cigarette holder. She coughed. ¡°Welcome to Hell¡¯s Kitchen.¡± The weird grin on Samuel¡¯s face reflected the light coming through the only window that wasn¡¯t shattered. ¡°Hi, Love. We¡¯re here to stock up. This is Hiro. Hiro, Love; Love, Hiro.¡± ¡°Nice to meet you.¡± The woman extended a frail hand to Hiro. Each of the nails at the end of her bony fingers was painted to resemble a peacock¡¯s tail feathers. After they shook hands, she ashed her cigarette on the ground, stood, and motioned for them to follow her into the kitchen, which was lit by a faint glow. ¡°Hurry.¡± No health bar; she¡¯s not an enemy. Could this be a trap? Hiro wondered. Samuel didn¡¯t seem to think so, the Australian man gladly following her into a galley kitchen, where supplies were laid out. ¡°Do you have vape cartridges?¡± Hiro asked. ¡°I could use a Bleed or Corruption cartridge.¡± ¡°Bleed, I got. Don¡¯t have the other one. I only have Bleed and Anti-Fear,¡± she said as she finished her cigarette, the woman sucking on the end of the holder a good thirty seconds as the cancer stick turned to ash. ¡°Which is?¡± ¡°Have you been hit by Fear yet?¡± ¡°I have not.¡± ¡°Let me see your vape pen.¡± Hiro hesitated. ¡°It¡¯s fine,¡± Samuel told him. ¡°I trust her. Sort of.¡± Love grinned at Hiro, revealing a set of tobacco yellow teeth at odds with the gaudy makeup she wore. ¡°I want to see its grade.¡± Hiro got the vape pen out. Rather than hand it to her, he set it on the counter. The merchant leaned over to examine it. ¡°Kiri Y¨­so Vape Pen, Grade C. You won¡¯t be able to use something like Anti-Fear until it is Grade B, which will allow you to use different buff cartridges.¡± ¡°Like healing?¡± ¡°Healing, other enhancements. If you can¡¯t already tell, I specialize in buffs. Some merchants are just merchants. Others have specializations and can upgrade your items.¡± ¡°Others take cash,¡± Hiro said, recalling Penny, the strange merchant he¡¯d met that was wearing the prom sash. ¡°Correct. If you want Anti-Fear, or any other buff cartridge, you need to upgrade your vape pen. Do that and return.¡± ¡°Do you know where I could do that?¡± Hiro asked as he put his vape pen away. He went ahead and set a {Beacon} so he could find her later. ¡°Closer to Central Park. Subway Station near Columbus Circle.¡± ¡°There used to be some restaurants down there.¡± ¡°Still are,¡± she said. ¡°So I do that, and I return to you.¡± ¡°Correct. Moving on. What else do you need?¡± ¡°I came for the energy drinks,¡± Samuel told Love. ¡°He¡¯s interested as well, and needs a roll of gauze.¡± ¡°Healing gauze, I got. And band aids that can heal puncture wounds. You guys might like those.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll take them both,¡± Hiro said. Love got out a thick roll of gauze and a tin package of band aids. The merchant turned to the refrigerator, opened it, and began placing off brand energy drinks on the counter top. They resembled normal energy drinks, yet something seemed off about them, like they were homemade in some way. Munster? Pink Bull? Smellcius? Poxstar? Haterade? Smoke Zero? Hiro looked at Samuel incredulously. ¡°I know, right? I pounded one of the Pink Bulls before our little sample sale.¡± Samuel snorted at the way that sounded. ¡°Gave me a hella boost to Stamina. Plus one full point for the duration of a fight. That¡¯s how I was moving around so quickly. I didn¡¯t even check the other drinks, but they¡¯re bound to be rippers. So what do ya reckon, Hiro? Are we getting smashed on post-apocalyptic energy drinks, or what?¡± Chapter Thirty-Three: Post-Apocalyptic Energy Drinks Should Come With Warning Labels ¡°There are the ones I have right now,¡± the merchant named Love said once she finished placing the drinks on the countertop. ¡°They¡¯re sort of cold.¡± ¡°Didn¡¯t you tell me you had one that would help me sleep?¡± Samuel asked her. ¡°I guess that wouldn¡¯t make it an energy drink, maybe an anti-energy drink, but you know what I mean.¡± Love, who was just about to light another cigarette, took a blue can out of the fridge. Like the others, it was labeled professionally, the words Knock-Out Punch emblazoned on the side of the can in vibrant lettering. ¡°Drink it, and you will rest for an hour. Just one hour. But it will feel like you had a solid eight hours of sleep. Just know that you will experience something like a hangover when you wake up.¡± ¡°Yeah that¡¯s what we take, mate,¡± Samuel told Hiro. ¡°We drink these and sleep for a bit, then we¡¯re back out there. We can part ways, of course.¡± Hiro hesitated for a moment as he looked at the cans. ¡°It¡¯ll be fine,¡± Samuel told Love. ¡°We¡¯ll take two of the Knock-Outs. Put them on my tab.¡± ¡°Thanks,¡± Hiro told him. ¡°What do the rest do?¡± he asked the merchant. %%%She produced a black can with the word Munster written on it in acid green letters. ¡°Munster gives you an additional point in Strength for a single fight.¡± Love set this down and picked up a small can that had pink accents. ¡°Pink Bull gives you one additional point in Stamina, just one battle, though.¡± ¡°That¡¯s the one I took,¡± Samuel chimed in as he leaned against the countertop, arms crossed over his chest. The merchant continued with a yellow drink shaped almost like a can of Buzzballz: ¡°Smellcius reeks. It stinks so bad that upon consuming it, enemies won¡¯t approach you for ten minutes. Even the most aggressive ones.¡± ¡°How bad does it taste?¡± Hiro asked her. ¡°Part of the fun is getting it down,¡± was all Love said as she moved to the next can which was labeled as Haterade, the logo done up in fluorescent orange text. ¡°Haterade aggros enemies in the vicinity and forces them to come after you.¡± ¡°Like lures them out?¡± ¡°Exactly. Lasts for ten minutes.¡± She picked up the black can of Smoke Zero. ¡°Drinking this lets you exhale enough smoke that you are able to obscure yourself from an enemy. It lasts two minutes. And it can be dangerous to use if you¡¯re not certain of the environment around you.¡± Hiro thought of ways he could use this and ways it could backfire. It would be a good one to have, but I¡¯d still have to physically keep these cans with me. With that in mind¡­ ¡°Finally, there is Poxstar,¡± she said, holding up a white can. ¡°This one is probably the most risky of the bunch. You¡¯ll experience heightened sense and agility after drinking Poxstar, making you nearly impossible to hit in combat. But after about fifteen minutes, you will be inflicted with a debilitating case of something that resembles chickenpox and paralysis. Itching, nausea, and overall discomfort. And paralysis. Right now, I only have one can. But if you buy it, I¡¯ll get another.¡± ¡°Why would anyone want that?¡± ¡°Aside from the ability to dodge almost all strikes, you can also throw it at an enemy. It will enhance their speed, so you better throw it while trying to get away or to some sort of cover, but it will eventually inflict them with chickenpox, making them more susceptible to your attacks and potentially killing them by the disease alone.¡± ¡°And you¡¯re sure it works on all enemies?¡± Hiro asked as an idea came to him, one based on the Zone of Influences he had been trapped in. ¡°I¡¯ve fought a fucking door and a trash can at this point.¡± Samuel laughed. ¡°That¡¯s actually a good question.¡± ¡°All enemies.¡± Love lit her cigarette and took a long drag off it, one that she savored. ¡°So, what will it be?¡± ¡°Now hold on a minute,¡± Samuel told her. ¡°You said there was something else you had coming. Rizz? I think it was called Rizz.¡± ¡°Rizz. Yes, I have Rizz as well.¡± She ashed her cigarette and returned to the fridge. Love placed a small golden can on the counter that was labeled RIZZ. ¡°This one increases your charisma, which the system interprets as your willingness to risk it all. If you need to run into a burning building to chase a mimic that stole your lunchbox? Drink a Rizz. If you are really looking to do something daring that will get you more followers? Rizz it is.¡± ¡°Rizz it is, yeah? What do you think, Hiro?¡± ¡°Poxstar. I¡¯ll definitely have one of those.¡± Samul gave him a funny look. ¡°Wait, what? Why?¡± ¡°I¡¯ll explain later. I¡¯ll show you, actually,¡± Hiro said. ¡°At least it¡¯s worth a test. Poxstar, Smoke Zero, Munster, Pink Bull, and¡­¡± Hiro quickly glanced at his followers. ¡°How much more can I buy? I want a Bleed cartridge too.¡± Love grunted. ¡°All of what you just said and a Bleed cartridge will be seven thousand followers total. Deal?¡± ¡°Fuck it. Deal.¡± Hiro tried to ignore the screams that followed. He placed his hand over his ears, yet he wasn¡¯t able to drown out the noise. Please! Please! Nooooo! Not my¡ª! Spare me! ¡°It¡¯s getting worse,¡± Samuel called over the shouts, the man clenching his eyes shut. This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. The wails and screams died down as Hiro packed away his drinks and the Bleed cartridge. He could certainly feel the weight difference in his backpack now. ¡°I think I¡¯ll step out,¡± he told Samuel. ¡°Right. Just let me settle the bill here, yeah?¡± Hiro returned to the other space while Samuel finished his business with Love. As he waited, Hiro stood by the broken window, looking out at the red canoes hovering in the sky. Tomorrow, Spectators will join the fight, he thought, but I¡¯ll be ready. Hiro cringed as he heard Samuel¡¯s followers shriek in the other room. He plugged his ears, but the followers¡¯ final laments still reached him. The cloaked Australian stepped out of the room holding the two Knock-Out Punches. He had stuffed the rest of what he purchased in his fanny pack. ¡°Good, you waited. So we get some rest, yeah? Then you need to get your vape pen upgraded.¡± He shook the drinks once and grinned. ¡°Probably shouldn¡¯t do that.¡± ¡°Maybe not.¡± ¡°I got something that could help with rest. It creates a barrier that will protect us. I can¡¯t fight within the barrier, can¡¯t be attacked until we step outside of it. It¡¯s called {Sacra Limina}. It¡¯s also why I bought the Poxstar.¡± Samuel squinted at him. ¡°What are you thinking, mate?¡± ¡°I¡¯m thinking I use the Doom System¡¯s own rules to my advantage.¡± ¡°Go on¡­¡± ¡°I hit a boss with Poxstar, cast {Sacra Limina}, wait it out until they¡¯re tired, let them either die from the infection, or attack while they¡¯re weak.¡± ¡°Brilliant.¡± Samuel rubbed his hands together. ¡°It¡¯s definitely worth a shot. If it doesn¡¯t work?¡± ¡°Then I¡¯m fucked. I can run a test, is what I meant. But I¡¯m still fucked.¡± ¡°That¡¯s a test I¡¯d gladly run with you, then. Rest first, though. Then we can test it and I¡¯ll stop tagging along. Weird to think we¡¯re going to be enemies at some point. But maybe there will be a workaround.¡± The pair moved to a building that overlooked a subway exit. Beyond, Hiro could see an apartment building that once had a rooftop pool. It had since dried up and a helicopter had crashed into it, a couple of pigeons currently resting on its tail rotor. ¡°I still need pharmaceuticals.¡± ¡°Do what now?¡± Samuel asked. ¡°One of the ways I fought a mimic off was to toss a bottle of Xanax at it.¡± Hiro pointed toward a building covered in marks, like the stone had been riddled repeatedly with bullets. ¡°Let¡¯s check those apartments for any drugs we can find.¡± ¡°Now we¡¯re talking!¡± Samuel laughed. ¡°Kidding. And that makes sense. We could rest in there as well.¡± ¡°Definitely.¡± Hiro bounced over to the next building and found the door on the rooftop, one locked from the inside. He hit it several times with {Blade Whirlwind} and the door finally popped open. ¡°Not bad, that,¡± Samuel said. Hiro was just about to step into the open doorway when he paused. If I go in first, he¡¯ll be directly behind me. A perfect chance to strike. Samuel moved on, clearly not overthinking it. ¡°Let¡¯s see what we can find, yeah?¡± They split up and searched two apartments for pill bottles. Inside a one-bedroom place that smelled like garbage, Hiro examined the warning label on a bottle of Nuerolox: ¡°Caution: Nuerolox may cause nausea, vomiting, heartburn, stomach pain, diarrhea, and loss of appetite.¡± Hiro joined Samuel across the hall and tossed the bottle to him. ¡°That¡¯s a banger,¡± Samuel said as he did the same with the bottle he found. Hiro examined the orange bottle and its label as they headed down the stairs to the next floor. ¡°Cyclobenzaprine.¡± He shook the pills. ¡°This one is a muscle relaxant.¡± ¡°Didn¡¯t know.¡± ¡°I worked with a guy that would take this stuff from time to time.¡± ¡°Sounds like a riot,¡± Samuel said as they reached the next floor, where they split again after Hiro blew out a pair of doors. ¡°Let¡¯s see what else we can find, and then I¡¯m guessing we mix them all up and split the loot.¡± ¡°Exactly.¡± After clearing through an apartment with Banksy-esque art on the walls, Hiro found a full bottle of sildenafil. Hiro considered a mixture of the pills they currently had, a muscle relaxer, some neurological medicine with a ton of side effects, and now, boner pills. He then imagined a raging mimic with a hard-on and thought otherwise. ¡°Found something!¡± Samuel called from the apartment across the hallway. Hiro entered to find the man standing before a coffee table with several pill bottles on it. Samuel grinned at him. ¡°Jackpot.¡± ¡°I found generic Viagra.¡± Hiro set the bottle down on the coffee table. ¡°Yeah? I always wanted to try that. But that can wait. Check this out.¡± He held one of the bottles up to Hiro. ¡°More xanax. Not a lot. But this person has a ton of other things. I know this one,¡± he said as he produced another bottle. ¡°Valium. Had a mate who had a prescription after he had leg surgery from a rugby injury.¡± ¡°Nice,¡± Hiro said as he took a seat on the couch. He set the bottles he had found out and picked up another of Samuel¡¯s discoveries. ¡°Hemostat. May cause skin rash, vomiting, headache, nausea, and diarrhea.¡± ¡°I got this one too,¡± Samuel said. ¡°Doxorubicin.¡± He said the word again, sounding it out. ¡°Dox-oh-rub-icin. We got hair loss here, nausea, and heart damage.¡± ¡°I almost feel bad for the next mimic to fuck with either of us,¡± Hiro said as they started mixing the pills and bottling them up. ¡°Ha. Not me. I chased one of those buggers through the Nike store. I was just trying to get some shoes and a box actually came alive.¡± ¡°But you have Crocs now.¡± ¡°Yeah, I opted to become a stereotype instead, an Aussie in Crocs. Is that a stereotype? I guess a stereotype would be if I had a big knife.¡± They finished up repackaging the pills, each taking three bottles. ¡°That should do for now,¡± Hiro said as they took the stairs to the top floor again, to the apartment they had cleared that was the cleanest and smelled the best. Like he had before, Hiro moved furniture in front of the door while Samuel closed the blinds and dragged in a mattress from one room and a futon from another. Once everything was secure, Hiro cast {Sacra Limina} which produced a red shield over the entirety of the space. ¡°Not a bad one at all,¡± Samuel said as he handed Hiro his can of Knock-Out Punch. He checked the time on his phone. ¡°Wish the damn thing had an alarm. But even if the drinks don¡¯t work, we¡¯ll still wake up with plenty of time. I hope. But they¡¯ll work. Love¡¯s last drink worked.¡± ¡°You trust a random merchant that much?¡± ¡°I guess I do. I don¡¯t know about you, mate, but I find it easier to trust people with what we¡¯re going through. And by people, I mean the people the Doom System has populated the place with. I don¡¯t know about actual people. Anyhoo.¡± The Australian plopped down onto the futon and popped his drink open. ¡°Cheers.¡± ¡°Cheers,¡± Hiro said as he finally pushed his black Hyottoko mask off his face. ¡°So that¡¯s what you look like under there. I was wondering.¡± ¡°I get used to it being on.¡± Hiro took a sip of the drink and smacked his lips. ¡°It tastes like¡­ carbonated grape Kool-Aid.¡± Samuel finished his can. ¡°It¡¯s not bad, that, now is? I wonder how long it will take to work.¡± Hiro took another drink and felt a yawn coming on. ¡°It¡¯s fast.¡± ¡°Yeah, it is,¡± Samuel said as he brought his cloak over him. ¡°Weird weapon, I know, but having a built-in blanket is the tits.¡± Hiro laughed. He finished the Knock-Out Punch and felt the exhaustion spread through him. Samuel yawned again. ¡°Welp, I¡¯m about to go out hard. Before I do, I¡¯ve always wanted to say something. ¡°He glanced over to Hiro and grinned. ¡°We ride at dawn.¡± Hiro wanted to laugh yet he suddenly felt powerless, his exhaustion tinged with fear. Should I have drunk this stuff? Should I¡­ His periphery blurred. The last thing Hiro remembered doing was clutching his sheathed katana, as if he¡¯d be able to use it. Chapter Thirty-Four: Basking in the Colonial Shadow of Christopher Columbus Hiro was pulled out of his sleep an hour later to find Samuel sitting up and checking the time. ¡°One hour exactly. Bloody hell, that was tough.¡± The Australian got to his feet and rubbed his temple. ¡°This bloody hangover.¡± He spit onto the ground. ¡°Fucking brutal, mate.¡± Hiro sat up and his head pulsed. It was weird to feel so well-rested yet so disoriented at the same time. He looked over at Samuel as the man adjusted his cloak over his shoulders. ¡°We¡¯ll walk it off, and if that doesn¡¯t work, we can share one of my Pink Bulls. A little stamina never hurt anyone. Water couldn¡¯t hurt either, but I got mine at my stash spot. I¡¯m guessing you have yours at your spot, too.¡± ¡°I didn¡¯t think about that,¡± Hiro said as he noticed just how dry his mouth was. ¡°Pink Bull it is then, and don¡¯t worry, I got two.¡± ¡°You sure? I¡¯ve yet to buy you a drink.¡± Samuel snorted at this statement. ¡°I¡¯m sure. And there¡¯s plenty of time to buy me a drink before the Third Interim.¡± The thought that they would one day be enemies sank in for a moment as Hiro continued to struggle with his hangover. Aside from the pulsing head and dry mouth there was this taste at the back of his throat like he would soon vomit. ¡°Actually,¡± he said as he opened his own backpack to get out some of the Survivor Tenders, ¡°I got these.¡± ¡°Brilliant. Survivor Tenders and Pink Bull. Breakfast of champions.¡± He tossed the Pink Bull can over to Hiro. ¡°Cheers, mate.¡± Hiro drank the concoction and felt an instant boost. He looked at the silvery pink can, expecting some kind of label, yet there was none. After eating a tender, Hiro finished the drink. ¡°Stamina will last for a single fight, but we haven¡¯t fought yet,¡± Samuel said as he tapped the side of his temple. ¡°I thought about it when I woke up. Benefits of a beauty sleep, yeah? I think it¡¯s working. Only thing is, we¡¯ll waste the Pink Bulls in a way, especially if we¡¯re planning to pop them just to cheese a fight with Pox Star.¡± ¡°It¡¯s going to be crazy if it works.¡± ¡°It will work. You cast your shield-spell-thingy after tossing a Poxstar at some unlucky bastard. We wait it out for the drink to take effect. Once it does, we lower the shield and strike.¡± ¡°Chickenpox and paralysis should give us an advantage. Hopefully we can find someone worth fighting. But hey.¡± ¡°Yeah?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t hit me with this shit if we ever find ourselves staring each other down.¡± Samuel raised his Pink Bull to Hiro, even though the man had already finished it. ¡°If we¡¯re going to go out that way, we go out with chivalry. I don¡¯t know why I¡¯m saying that. Who knows if we¡¯ll make it to the Third Interim. Seems like forever away but could be just five days. But you get it. Nothing sneaky. Nothing like sending our assassins after one another.¡± Hiro let out a deep breath. ¡°When you say it like that¡­¡± ¡°What other way is there to say it? Anyway. Sorry to get dark. This place is dark, I get dark, and I don¡¯t want to, but sometimes you got to give into it. Or whatever.¡± He grinned. ¡°You need to head toward Central Park to upgrade your vape, we need to test your little trap out, and then we spend as much time as we can powering up before those spectators join the fight. I don¡¯t know what that¡¯s going to be like, but I have a feeling it¡¯ll be nasty.¡± ¡°Same.¡± **** Samuel and Hiro moved from rooftop to rooftop in the direction of Columbus Circle. The famed landmark wasn¡¯t very far from Billionaire¡¯s Row, Hiro able to see the {Beacon} he had placed. He also saw the signal that noted there was a merchant in the vicinity, just as Love had promised. This was where he would upgrade his vape pen, but before he did that, he needed more followers. To sacrifice, he thought as the two touched down in front of an abandoned shopping mall, one directly in front of a traffic circle that cycled around a statue of Christopher Columbus.This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. Columbus wore a jerkin that extended past his knees. On his head was a papal-looking hat that reminded Hiro of the fur hats Russians wore, albeit without flaps. The statue had on knee-high boots with heels, and there was a sword sheathed at his side. They were both presented with a new prompt: Description: This monument to Home Alone 2: Lost in New York director Christopher Columbus was originally planned for Bowling Green, once the site of a fictional mass shooting. Erected in 1892, the colonial shadow of the famously infamous statue has brought its fair share of controversy over the years since its erection. The Ni?a, The Pinta, The Santa Mar¨ªa! If you¡¯ve ever rapped these lines with the same fervor as Zach de la Rocha, then you are aware that the Italian-born-Spanish-funded explorer sailed the ocean blue in 1492, landing in what is now Coney Island, known for its tropical beaches, genetically modified Rubyglow pineapples, and its legendary Wonder Wheel. Fueled by fried Snickers and funnel cakes, carnie sex, Prohibition-era hooch made in vacant lots, rum-flavored fentanyl, and angry about developmental woes that never seemed to turn Coney Island to its past glory, Christopher Columbus vowed revenge. He vowed revenge on you, or anyone, really, who decides to enter his zone of influence. Samuel turned to Hiro and puffed his cheeks out. ¡°Must be the boss descriptions we got access to.¡± ¡°Must be,¡± Hiro said as he adjusted his mask. ¡°But I reckon we have our test subject,¡± Samuel said as the Columbus statue hopped down from its high pedestal, signaling that the Sentry was active. The statue beckoned them forward, taunting Hiro and Samuel as it spoke: ¡°Joy and glory never uttered a more thrilling call, that which resounded from the conquered ocean in sight of the first American island. Terra! Terra!¡± A health bar appeared over his head, one rimmed in gold indicating Columbus would be a tough fight without a strategy. ¡°Well, are we doing this?¡± Samuel asked as the statue drew his sword. ¡°Once we enter the Zone of Influence, we¡¯re stuck.¡± ¡°Toss and cast.¡± Hiro gripped the Poxstar energy drink and carefully popped the tab. He imagined himself throwing it at the statue and then using {Sacra Limina.} ¡°Ready. Just as we discussed.¡± Samuel flashed forward and entered the Zone of Influence, Hiro charging in after him. Samuel got off an opening shot that resembled {Blade Whirlwind}, which Columbus blocked with a sudden swipe. ¡°Terra! Terra!¡± The statue was just stepping forward to swing at them when Hiro struck Columbus in the chest with the energy drink. The liquid sprayed up, some of it coating the statue¡¯s face and splashing on Columbus¡¯s chest and lower half. Once Samuel was near, Hiro immediately cast his protective barrier within the Zone of Influence. ¡°It¡¯s up!¡± he said. ¡°Easy does it,¡± Samuel said as Columbus approached, the Poxstar liquid still dripping from the statue¡¯s chin. Hiro kept his hand on his katana as he looked up at the now curious statue. Fifteen minutes, he reminded himself, fifteen minutes to take effect. Another sensation came to him as he sat there, hoping to wait it out. His biceps pulsed. Hiro felt a sudden sense of anger roll over him. ¡°No,¡± he whispered, realizing instantly what it felt like when he experienced the rage side effect of his Roulette Skill. Wham! Columbus struck the protective barrier with his sword. When this didn¡¯t work, the statue stepped back, held his weapon with both hands, lowered it, and charged the tip by dragging it against the ground. Crack! He struck the barrier again, which fizzled slightly. Hiro swallowed hard enough to get Samuel¡¯s attention. ¡°You good, mate?¡± ¡°My rage.¡± ¡°Your what now?¡± Hiro dropped his katana and clenched his fists together. ¡°Side effect of¡­ my Roulette Skill.¡± ¡°The shield isn¡¯t your Roulette Skill,¡± Samuel said as Columbus tried again. ¡°It isn¡¯t. Random rage from¡­ a werewolf transformation.¡± ¡°You get struck by rage randomly?¡± A cracked grin traced across Samuel¡¯s face. ¡°You sound like my uncle. Kidding. Well, not really. He was a right cunt. But that doesn¡¯t matter. I¡¯ll talk you down from the rage cliff. Just stay with me.¡± Columbus moved about ten feet away from them. He charged forward, his steps amplified by radiant fire, the statue delivered a devastating strike that actually caused the protective barrier to shake. ¡°You just sit tight,¡± Samuel told Hiro. ¡°Think about the good ol¡¯ days.¡± Hiro clenched his eyes shut as he tried to do just that. Samuel continued: ¡°That¡¯s right, the good ol¡¯ days. Eh, who are we kidding? They weren¡¯t all that good, were they?¡± Now visibly shaking, Hiro turned his head toward Samuel. He¡¯s going to hunt you one day. Deal with him now! It had to be done. Hiro needed to kill Samuel and to do so, he would need to release the barrier¡­ Chapter Thirty-Five: A Quick Hotdog ¡°In through the nose, out through the mouth,¡± Samuel told Hiro as demonstrated what he meant. ¡°Just like my wife¡¯s prenatal class. Cleansing breath, mate. Think of your rage as a bloody contraction. Let it go. Let it go.¡± A bloody contraction? The absurdity of Samuel¡¯s instructions broke Hiro from his spell. As the enraged statue of Christopher Columbus continued to beat at their protective shell, Hiro followed the Australian¡¯s suggestions. At first, it felt like he was hyperventilating. But then Hiro reached a happy medium where the breathwork coupled with Samuel¡¯s almost comedic instruction¡ªthe man now on his back, legs pulled up, and huffing alongside him¡ªworked. It worked well and the utter fury he was experiencing passed. ¡°Ah, looks like Columbus is about to get what he deserves,¡± Samuel said as the statue took a staggering step backward. The statue dropped his sword and started to itch. ¡°We just need to wait it out a little longer.¡± Hiro had never imagined what it would look like for a statue to vomit. Yet, as it had proven before, the Doom System and the way it warped reality truly knew no bounds. Columbus quickly went from itching to dropping to his knees, dry heaving, and eventually releasing a puddle of antifreeze green liquid onto the pavement. Columbus coughed and vomited until his health bar started to drop. More twitching led to the statue to reach for his sword, batting at an invisible enemy as if he were hallucinating. The statue went stiff once his health bar reached the halfway mark. By this point Columbus has pulled himself up to his feet, his stone exterior cracking, bile dripping from his chin as he glared at Hiro and Samuel. ¡°Looks like he¡¯s taking his second form,¡± Samuel said. ¡°I don¡¯t know how much longer Poxstar is going to last, but I reckon we wait until his health bar stops falling and pounce.¡± ¡°Works for me.¡± ¡°Terra! Terra!¡± Columbus screeched as his stone form cracked away, revealing a sinewy muscled man beneath, his muscled riddled in veins of gold. ¡°Terra! Terra!¡± ¡°What¡¯s he keep shouting?¡± Hiro asked Samuel as he continued to get his bearings. ¡°Terra. Latin for Earth, but it¡¯s also used for land. The only reason I know is because Australia was once called Terra Australis Incognita, ¡®Unknown Land of the South.¡¯ I think I made flag with that on it in high school,, or something¡ª¡± Columbus drove his own blade into his stomach. Rather than kill him, his flesh absorbed the weapon and bulged his skin, which grew over his shoulder and down to his wrists, effectively turning both arms into jagged blades. ¡°Looks like his health bar has stabilized,¡± Hiro said. ¡°You ready to do this?¡± ¡°Born ready, mate.¡± Samuel stood and his cloak came alive. ¡°Any ideas for an opening attack? I guess we should have discussed that back when you were giving birth.¡± He grinned over at Hiro as the Columbus statue seethed outside of the protective barrier. ¡°I should probably call my demon cats.¡± ¡°Probably, yeah. Those buggers are fierce.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t want to waste any more energy drinks or vape cartridges if I can help it.¡± ¡°Makes sense. In that case, let¡¯s use your cats and see how strong our attacks are on their own. If it looks like we¡¯ll need an additional something, we can adjust accordingly.¡± ¡°Terra! Terra!¡± Columbus barked. He struck the protective barrier with both arm blades and stumbled backward. Whoosh! The barrier dropped and both Hiro and Samuel exploded forward. Hiro triggered {Bounce} and leaped over Columbus, where he landed and summoned his phantom demon cats. The cats rushed toward Columbus, who swatted at them as Samuel moved to engage the statue while Hiro stood back, preparing for a {Blade Whirlwind}. Fearless as ever, the Australian flitted to Columbus¡¯ left, struck him, vanished and appeared on his right, avoided a scissor-like attempt from the statue, and hit him again. He jumped back as cats piled on Columbus. Hiro released a gust of razored wind at Columbus. One glance to the statue¡¯s health bar told him that their strategy was working. Stolen novel; please report. ¡°Hit him harder!¡± he shouted to Samuel. ¡°With pleasure!¡± Samuel¡¯s entire body turned into what resembled a caped cleave, something that Hiro would have imagined a magical Batman would have been able to do. The Australian twisted and turned, the ends of his cloak doing enough damage to allow Hiro to get off the final attack. Columbus staggered and fell. Hiro¡¯s cats vanished as red Soul Essence poured into them. The Zone of Influence vanished as Columbus righted himself and took a knee, his head bowed. [A Sentry has fallen.] You have new followers! ¡°Well, that worked,¡± Samuel said, a proud look on his face. Hiro sheathed his blade. ¡°Poxstar is a game changer. I could probably do something similar with a poison cartridge. Although, I don¡¯t know how long it will take for the poison to finish an opponent.¡± ¡°Yeah, another test for another Interim, I reckon.¡± Samuel adjusted his bucket hat. He took out his phone and checked the time. ¡°So good luck, yeah? Got less than nine hours for the Spectators start dropping from their boats.¡± Hiro peered up at the ominous sky over Central Park and returned his focus to Samuel. ¡°Good luck, and see you at the gate in the Financial District.¡± ¡°Will do.¡± He tipped his bucket. ¡°Cheers, mate.¡± ¡°Wait,¡± Hiro called after him. ¡°Did you say you were married?¡± ¡°I am, yeah.¡± ¡°Is your wife¡­ here?¡± ¡°Nah. She¡¯s back in Melbourne with my son. Or not.¡± A sudden flash of intense sadness traced across his eyes. ¡°I don¡¯t know. I haven¡¯t been able to speak to her since the Doom System took away the Internet. I wanted to fly back there, obviously, but the supers and their sky wars and all that made it dodgy as hell. I tried. Believe me, I tried. I guess the lesson there is to not go on business trips after magical gates open up across the world. That was my first mistake. My second was not taking a superpower myself, but my wife and I discussed it, and we both decided it wasn¡¯t worth it. Anyway. I¡¯ll catch ya later. Try not to die, yeah?¡± ¡°Same to you,¡± Hiro said as Samuel moved on. Once the Australian was gone, Hiro turned toward Central Park. There was still the merchant in the subway system near Columbus Square, but Hiro had a feeling he would need more followers before he would be able to upgrade his vape pen. And as he had quickly learned, one of the best ways to gain followers was through combat. **** Hiro¡¯s new {Rune of the Reverse Blade}was much stronger than he originally thought. Triggering the Unique Item came instinctually as Hiro changed the grip on his katana and moved into action with his blade held upside down, a wisp of red trailing off its tip as he cut into one of the rat-human amalgamations. The Bleed damage was where it really hurt, Hiro noticing the creature¡¯s health drop quickly after two slashes. It seemed to compound, and while holding the katana this way was awkward, it certainly helped him clear out a nest of the creatures and gain a boost of followers and Soul Essence for doing so. A suspicious trash can near one of Central Park¡¯s numerous entrances caught his attention after it attacked a fleeing rat-creatures and swallowed it whole. Hiro turned his backpack around, got out one of the pill bottles, and rushed toward the mimic, which opened its mouth only to receive a cocktail of legal narcotics. He bounced away and watched as the mimic soon gave up the fight, its tongue flapping against the ground. The beast expired, fell to the side, and started to fade as Soul Essence rushed toward Hiro. Nice. After another quick look around, he pushed deeper into Central Park, and was just turning onto a new path when a pair of bats wielding swords dropped from the trees. He cut one away as the other was thrown off course by Hiro¡¯s mask. The bat landed, blinked at him in confusion, and was subsequently killed by a perfectly timed{Blade Whirlwind.} Soul Essence poured into Hiro as he crouched for a moment and got out his phone. ¡°Can I use the teddy bear?¡± ¡°I¡¯m hungry, and I ate all my Survivor Tenders with Samuel. A restaurant would be nice. So fucking nice. No, it would need to be fast food. Or¡­¡± Hiro looked back toward the entrance to Central Park closest to Fifth Avenue, where there were always hot dog stands. ¡°That could work. I wouldn¡¯t be gone long.¡± His Companion didn¡¯t respond. 01:08:01:56 01:08:01:55 01:08:01:54 Hiro noted the time until the Spectators would join the fight and the gates would reopen. In glancing above the park, he saw their boats glowing red in the sky. Samuel was right to suggest sleeping some of that off. There had to be a thousand boats. After scanning the area, Hiro reached one of the toppled hotdog stands and hid behind it. He checked his surroundings once again, made sure he was clear, and took the teddy bear out of his backpack. ¡°A quick hot dog,¡± he told himself, his mouth watering as he squeezed the bear to his chest. Hiro felt a lurch in his stomach as he appeared directly behind the same hotdog stand in Central Park just days before the Doom System appeared. ¡°Hey, what the hell are you doing¡ª¡± the guy running the stand said. ¡°Sorry!¡± Hiro grabbed the hotdog out of the guy¡¯s hand and took off running. He stuffed the hotdog in his mouth, and was turning back to the man to apologize again when a police officer yelled for him to stop. Hiro swallowed the bite, dropped the teddy bear out of shock, and instantly appeared in the present, the bear on the ground in front of him. That was something, he thought, a slight grin taking shape on his face. He imagined what it would have been like for the hotdog vendor to see a disheveled man appear out of nowhere clutching a teddy bear, steal a hotdog, and then disappear. I really need to get some cash, Hiro thought as he turned back to the park. Beyond, somewhere deeper in the wooded section, Hiro saw a great white flash. It was like a spotlight in reverse, the blast coming from the ground. I¡¯d better find out what that is. Hiro readied his katana, and moved on. Chapter Thirty-Six: Duct Tape in Central Park Hiro slipped around one of the large stones in Central Park, pressed through some shrubbery, and reached a small clearing. ¡°Ah, shit,¡± he said as he spotted one of the strangest Hunters he¡¯d seen yet, the man with the skull hovering over his head. The Hunter wore black armor that looked almost as if it had been painted on. He carried a shield with a spike sticking out of its center in one arm and a whip sword in the other, the blade rimmed in fiery energy. His head, which was three sizes larger than it should have been, had a jaw that was so pronounced it could actually hold a lantern, the man with slight beard stubble, his hair slicked back, and his dark eyes completing an unmistakably chiseled appearance. Description: Are there microplastics in your penis? Last month, the International Journal of Impotence Research in partnership with the Soyjak Coomer Heritage Foundation detected the first microplastics in both circumcised and uncircumcised male penises in a study that is already being attributed to an increase in podcasts, titanium cock rings, and adult diapers. ¡°We simply don¡¯t know,¡± said Dr. X Karn Actus, toxic masculinity urologist and Yare Yare Emeritus director of male fertility and cosmic micro penile surgery of the Drizz Gyat Drip Cap Institute of Higher Learning of Kathmandu, when asked how the microplastics would affect future generations of Chads and Stacies. ¡°There are still more experiments to be done.¡± Survivor, you are looking at one of these experiments. Having escaped from the Drizz Gyat Drip Cap Institute of Higher Learning¡¯s secret research facility beneath the Swayambhu religious site of western Kathmandu, the Gigachad¡¯s head grew with each successful lay and each legendary slay, resulting in the hormonal beast you see before you now. Gigachad is rabid and horny. He is angsty and confused. He is ready to argue, his fragile male ego is on the verge of cracking, and he will fuck you up. Gigachad stood and brandished his sword as his health bar appeared. The Hunter started to laugh upon seeing Hiro, but it soon became clear this had nothing to do with Hiro¡¯s mask. As he laughed, the air filled with sparkling bits of what looked like dust. Microplastics, Hiro thought, referring to the description. The cloud of microplastics created a mist around Gigachad, one that Hiro had a feeling he should avoid. He kept his distance and Gigachad stomped, which had a way of shooting the Hunter directly to Hiro. Clank! Hiro narrowly blocked Gigachad¡¯s first attack. He followed this up by casting {Kiss or Slap} to little effect. Kiss or slap? KISS! The Gigachad laughed even harder as he swung his sword madly at Hiro, who slipped around his opponent, only to take in a breath of microplastics and that made it feel like his lungs had filled with fiberglass. Hiro coughed, jumped to the side, rolled, and finally used {Bounce} to get out of the mist. Hiro couldn¡¯t stop coughing, and each one felt worse than the last. In an attempt to change the dynamics of the fight, he sheathed his katana and retrieved his vape pen. After popping in the Decoy cartridge, he exhaled a decoy that burst into the fray to distract the Hunter. As he had seen previously, the Decoy couldn¡¯t actually do damage, but it did keep the Gigachad off his back as he got over his cough and thought of a new way to handle the bastard.If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Should I try one of my One Hit Wonder spells? As long as he remains in the mist of microplastics, I might not be able to do anything. What about {Lupine Shift}? Determined not to use his big spells just yet, Hiro went with {Kore Nani Neko}, and followed this up with {Blade Whirlwind}, which did little damage to the Gigachad as it swung out of the mist in his direction, instantly appearing in front of him with several of Hiro¡¯s phantom demon cats attached to his body. Clank! Hiro got a quick strike in. He moved out of the way as the Hunter came down hard, once against stomping the ground and uprooting the soil. Break his poise or I need an opening, Hiro thought. Now out of the mist, he decided to swing in with everything he had, Hiro hacking and then pivoting, hacking and pivoting in a circle around his powerful opponent. To finally put a stop to him, Gigachad threw his arms out and released a deep bellow, one that shot soundwaves in an arc around him that tossed Hiro backward. He hit the ground, lost his katana, and grabbed his Buster Kunai, which he tossed forward, directly into the Gigachad¡¯s chest. The blade ballooned in size as it pierced the Hunter, triggering a transformation as his health bar hit the halfway point. Now crouched, Gigachad yanked the Buster Kunai out of his chest and dropped it. Gigachad looked up at Hiro just as a single strand of his slicked back hair fell into his face. His eyes jumped from Hiro to the single strand of hair. Gigachad started sucking in deep breaths, which pulled what was left of the mist of microplastics toward him. He threw his head back and sucked in more, creating a profound change in his skin as it broke through his armor, bubbling, bulging, spiking with microplastics, and eventually coating him in a flesh suit covered in writhing veins and teeth-like protrusions. Gigachad pulled one arm back and fired these protrusions at Hiro, who dove to the left to avoid them. The Hunter was on top of him in a matter of moments, just about to crush him when Hiro triggered his own transformation. Hiro became a wolf and instantly felt the hunger, the rage, the hatred for the Hunter. He drove his claws into the man¡¯s sides and pulled out strips of flesh. Extending his head forward, Hiro bit down onto the Gigachad¡¯s neck. He dug his teeth in even deeper, the ravenous hunger overwhelming as the Hunter kept struggling to break free. Everything blurred as he tore into Gigachad, the world moving as if it was happening in some dreamstate as Hiro continued to cut into the Hunter with his claws. He got on top of the Hunter, grabbed his opponent by his big chin, and ripped his head off. Hiro tossed Gigachad¡¯s head to the side and crouched. Come one! he screamed inside his own mind as he tried to get hold of himself. Yet the power of the lupine transformation was nearly impossible to control. Overcome by savagery, Hiro moved back to his opponent to devour him. No, no, no! He shouted to himself. Not with all those microplastics! His lupine form shook wildly, the transformation over. Hiro dropped to his knees and his body shrunk back to its normal size, hands and face covered in Gigachad blood. You have new followers! As he caught his breath, Soul Essence poured into him, and the Hunter started to fade, leaving some questionable loot behind. ¡°Duct tape?¡± Hiro reached a shaky hand out to one of the rolls of duct tape and examined it. Weapon: Duct Tape of the Tokugawa Shogunate Grade: D Description: Once Commodore Matthew Perry set his sights on Japan and began firing his cannons at the city of Uraga in 1853, the best adhesive blacksmiths employed by the Tokugawa Shogunate came up with a clever solution to stop the Americans hellbent on disrupting Japan¡¯s isolation. As Perry¡¯s men stormed the beaches, ready to offload designer American goods like Levi¡¯s skinny jeans and Old Navy Independence Day t-shirts originally made in the PRC, the shinobi tasked with defending Uraga wrapped themselves in duct tape and began their counter offensive. As the rockets red glare, the duct-taped shinobi burst through the air, giving proof through their fight that the tape was still there. Through their armor and their incredible acrobatics, the shinobi repelled Perry¡¯s forces, and Japan remained an isolationist country until they set their gaze on Korea¡­ Surprisingly durable and flexible, the Duct Tape of the Tokugawa Shogunate is a kind of instant application armor that is truly a sonofabitch to take off. Able to repel certain sword strikes and shrapnel, this is the kind of stuff that will have you wrapping yourself up like it¡¯s Halloween and you are putting together a last minute cyborg mummy costume. Don¡¯t leave home without it! ¡°Duct tape armor?¡± Hiro looked down at his arms, which were now exposed due to his wolf transformation. ¡°Fuck it, let¡¯s give it a try.¡± Chapter Thirty-Seven: Are There Necromancers in New York? ¡°Here goes nothing¡­¡± Hiro wrapped the duct tape he received from the Gigachad around his wrist. It hardened, yet remained flexible enough for him to move his hand freely. He picked up his Buster Kunai, which was now in its knife form. Let¡¯s see about this. He dragged the blade across the duct tape. The armor held strong. He put more pressure into it this time, and then he tapped the blade against it, noticing a slight metallic sound. And then how do I get it off? He found his tape line and got his fingernail beneath it. ¡°Whoa,¡± Hiro whispered as he was able to pull some of it back. ¡°So it¡¯s like real tape in that regard. But it¡¯s also armor. In that case¡­¡± It took him a few minutes, but Hiro eventually wrapped both his arms in the duct tape, leaving him about one and a quarter rolls to use later. He gathered his things, considered drinking one of his energy drinks, and decided against it as he checked basic stats. Name: Hiro Johnson Level Six Current Title: Wolf Ronin of Wall Street Followers: 1,256 Interim Performance Grade: B- City Survivors: 632, 198 World Survivors: 357, 441, 279 Beast Death Count: 388/791 Hunter Death Count: 55/89 ¡°I need more followers so I can upgrade my vape pen,¡± Hiro said, only realizing after uttering these words how strange they sounded. He almost laughed, but decided to keep quiet instead. He had seen things from the window of the highrise building in Billionaire¡¯s Row. It had looked like a great battle at the time, but he was too far away to truly make it out. His sword sheathed at his side, mask on his face, vape pen in one pocket, Buster Kunai in the other and his arms wrapped in armored duct tape, Hiro moved on. To better protect himself, he took a path through Central Park that was dense with large stones and trees on either side, which would make it harder for an enemy to ambush him. Or so he hoped. He knew there would be time for reflection later, perhaps one day, or maybe when he rested before the gates opened. But now wasn¡¯t that time. Now, he needed more followers; he needed to get stronger; he needed to¡­ ¡°Survive.¡± Hiro came to something he hadn¡¯t been expecting. Although, if he admitted it to himself, he wouldn¡¯t have expected anything. ¡°What the actual hell?¡± he asked as his eyes traced over the end of a skeletal tail, each vertebrae the size of a minivan. He looked ahead to see that the tail extended into the woods, parts of it buried in the ground. He approached with heightened caution. The tail wasn¡¯t moving, and the way it was embedded in the ground made it appear as if it had been there for quite some time. Years, even. To follow it or to continue on the trail? Hiro decided to stick to the bone tail. His hand now on the hilt of his katana, Hiro crept along the side of the vertebrae, noticing that the larger the bones grew, the more sunken they were. The end of the vertebrae had been large, but these ones were massive. If you come across this story on Amazon, it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. I don¡¯t think I¡¯m going to have to fight it. The bone tail seemed too dormant, ancient, even, like it had been there since the dawn of time. If it was something he would need to fight, how would he do it, and why hadn¡¯t he received a description yet? He pushed onward, stepping over some of the trees the tail had crushed. Ask the right questions, Hiro thought, his dad¡¯s favorite quote. But how did one ask the right questions in a world like this, one turned completely upside down and populated with terrifying monsters spawned by an entity that no one understood? Hiro pushed past the existential dread and came to an obvious question: If the thing is dead, what killed this thing? Then a stranger one: ¡°Does this place have necromancers?¡± he whispered, only realizing that this place was the city he had called home for the last several years. In that case¡ªAre there necromancers in New York City? A smirk took shape under his mask, one that quickly faded as Hiro reached the massive creature¡¯s actual body. It soon resembled an archeological dig site, much of the winged monster¡¯s giant form buried in Central Park. It was reptilian in nature, and it seemed to have twisted at the last moment, which led several of its ribs to jut out of the ground. ¡°Wild. Some kind of dragon,¡± Hiro said as he noticed movement at the top of the monster¡¯s spine, near the place where it met the back of its neck. Are those¡­ legs? A pair of white marble legs ran in his direction, jumping from vertebrae to vertebrae. The legs, which stopped just past the knees, moved as if they were operated by a single invisible person. A red health bar appeared once the legs hopped to the ground, now just twenty feet away from him. Hiro drew his katana, no question in his mind that he would have to fight the legs. He tried for {Kiss or Slap}, which failed. He then triggered {Blade Whirlwind} which staggered the pair of stone legs through its slicing wind. His attempt took enough of their health bar that he thought he would be able to cheese it by using the power again and again, yet upon his fourth attempt, the legs jumped over him, landed directly behind Hiro, and delivered a crushing heel kick to his back which sent him flying forward. He slammed into one of the vertebrae, which felt like hitting a brick wall. Hiro pivoted out of the way, and spun just in time to swat at the legs, which had jumped toward him to deliver a finishing blow. That kick would have taken my head off! Hiro jumped back and used {Blade Whirlwind} again, which gave him enough momentum to push him away from the white marble legs hellbent on kicking the living shit out of him. {Refund} allowed Hiro to absorb their next attack, which he redistributed back toward the legs, finally able to separate them. Shock came across his masked face as the legs hopped back up on their own, now with two health bars the same size as the shared one they had just moments ago. Hiro called his phantom demon cats to distract the legs while he focused on killing one. After the sound played out, seemingly piped from speakers in the air that didn¡¯t and shouldn¡¯t have existed, the cats charged the legs, which independently kicked at them. Figuring he¡¯d focus on the leg on the right, the one closest to him, Hiro rushed in with both hands on the grip of his katana. It was strange changing his strike trajectory to a downward motion, so he slid. Like he was sliding into home plate, Hiro dropped to his knees and swung right into the leg, which took a good quarter of its health. The leg managed a side kick that Hiro blocked with his arm, his duct tape armor protecting him. Hiro cut into it again, the leg falling and twitching as its health bar depleted. ¡°Shit!¡± Hiro shouted as he next leg, even though it was covered in phantom demon cats, managed to land a pointed kick on his shoulder in a place that he hadn¡¯t wrapped with duct tape. He fell to the side, the pain blooming within him, Hiro feeling as if he¡¯d been struck by the broad side of a hockey stick. The leg jumped and attempted to stomp on his face. Hiro rolled at the last moment and threw his arm out, his katana slicing against the leg and knocking it to the side. Nursing his arm, trying his best to ignore the pain, Hiro got to his feet, winced, and hit the leg again as it staggered backward. He brought both hands onto the grip of his katana and drove it down onto the knee. ¡°Fuck you,¡± he whispered as the leg fell, its health bar depleted. Applause erupted in his head. You have new followers! Soul Essence poured into him and his phantom cats faded. Ka-Boom! Hiro pivoted toward the explosive sound, his sword arm instinctively coming up across his chest as he was tossed backward by a spray of metal pellets. Chapter Thirty-Eight: Edging with the Pilgrims Hiro was just scrambling to his feet, trying to figure out where the shot came from, when another fired in his direction. He dove for cover as the pellets ricocheted off a tree, sending splinters into the air as the loud sound echoed in his head. Gotta keep moving, Hiro thought as he hit the ground, shifted to his side, and tried to make sense of what was firing at him as he also scanned the area for cover. The giant vertebrae; that¡¯s the only cover I¡¯m going to get with shots like that, he surmised as he glanced to the huge beat that had fallen in Central Park. In moving toward cover, he finally got a glimpse of who was firing at him. A man in a wide brimmed pilgrim¡¯s hat and a top that looked like something a Union general would wear quickly prepared his flintlock musket for another shot. Like the other Sentries Hiro had encountered, which he was increasingly starting to see were New York City statues that had been warped by the Doom System, the Pilgrim had a red halo around his head. Description: A little known fact about Plymouth Rock is that it originally lay in a vast sunken continent known as Icelandia. By dating zircon crystals, a team of Nordic researchers were able to descend to the center of the Earth, not unlike Jules Verne, where they discovered a long abandoned Hot Topic that had a unique collection of sexual euphemisms in place of goth get-ups and Taylor Swift tees. According to this ancient tome of sex they discovered, fellatio, something that everyone seems to enjoy, was once referred to as ¡®twirling the stem,¡¯ while female oral gratification was known as ¡®seeking the seed.¡¯ Another term for an erection was ¡®tree of flesh,¡¯ and an orgasm was euphemistically referred to as ¡®bursting the fruit.¡¯ The medal for best phrase probably goes to ¡®splitting the melon,¡¯ referring to rear copulation. Sex itself was known as ¡®matching the bird to the nest,¡¯ a phrase that the man standing before you loading his flintstock musket would have no part of. You see, this man, known as the Pilgrim, would have burned down the Hot Topic in the sunken continent of Icelandia because of his Puritan nature. The Pilgrim never copulated in any position other than missionary, but he was a big fan of what is known as ¡®bundling,¡¯ which was a practice in which a courting couple would share a bed yet be separated by a plank of wood. To prevent himself from having an illness known as spermatorrhoea¡ªwhich you¡¯d likely call a ¡®wet dream¡¯ because of the way modern English has sullied the language¡ªthe Pilgrim wore spiked gloves, which he has on now. He should be wearing a device known as a Jugum Penis, which consisted of a steel clip with serrated teeth to deter unwanted erections, but it had yet to be invented in his time. Too bad. Sexually repressed, not unlike the Gigachad you recently killed, The Pilgrim doesn¡¯t like your exotic mask. He doesn¡¯t like who you come from or what you represent. He is fairly certain you don¡¯t believe in the same God as him, and he is entirely sure in his reasoning for shooting you for trespassing. After all, it is his God given American ordained right to defend his territory, which just so happens to be Central Park. ¡°Dude, what?¡± Hiro whispered as he hit back at the Pilgrim with {Blade Whirlwind}. His opening attack petered out just before striking his opponent, yet it did cause the statue to hop off the rock it had been perched on, preventing the Pilgrim from loading his musket. Hiro used {Bounce} to send himself up and over the Pilgrim, his mind racing as he tried to figure out what to do next. There is the energy drink called Smoke Zero, which would let him exhale smoke¡­ Hiro swiveled his bag around, stuffed his hand in and found the Smoke Zero can, which he popped and chugged in one big gulp. The burp that followed was the loudest and strongest Hiro had ever produced, one lasting a full twenty seconds as he released a thick cloud of black smoke, obscuring his surroundings. He followed this up with {Kore Nani Neko}, his phantom cats all racing toward the Pilgrim and yowling in the process.Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. Bang! A shot rang out, the Pilgrim¡¯s attempt way closer to Hiro than he would have liked. Should I use {Sacra Limina}? Hiro thought as he moved behind one of the large vertebrae for cover. Wait. The Pilgrim is a prude. Could these batshit descriptions actually have meaning behind them? I should use {Kiss or Slap}. What if Kiss actually hurts him? The Roulette Skill known as {Kiss or Slap} would either knock the Pilgrim down to a quarter of his normal health, or heal him back to hundred percent. Since Hiro had barely put a dent in his health bar, there was really nothing to lose. Ka-Boom! Another shot from the Pilgrim slammed into the vertebrae Hiro was currently crouched behind. He ducked forward, his eyes clenched shut as bits of bone and smoke blew past him. The ground shook. Or, at least it felt that way, as if the enormous monster skeleton in Central Park had actually come to life. Focus, Hiro thought as he moved to the next vertebrae. He peaked around the corner to check the Pilgrim¡¯s heath bar as the smoke began to clear. Ka-Boom! A pellet from the Pilgrim¡¯s shot hit Hiro¡¯s arm, where it was protected by his armored Duct Tape. ¡°Fuck it.¡± Hiro jumped into the smoke and triggered his Roulette Skill. Kiss or Slap? KISS! The Pilgrim let out a cry of pain as his health bar plummeted to the quarter mark. It worked? ¡°It worked!¡± Hiro said as he bounced into the air, landed, and rushed toward the Pilgrim with his katana drawn. The Pilgrim blocked his attempt with his musket. He swiped at Hiro¡¯s arm with his hand, which, just like the description had noted, had spikes all along the palm. Protected by his duct tape armor, Hiro rolled past the Pilgrim and came up again. He transferred his sword into his other hand, turned it around, and used Rune of the Reverse Blade, which gave him a powerful upward slash and bleed damage. His next attack took the Pilgrim by surprise. It connected immediately, slicing into the Pilgrim¡¯s forearm as he moved to block the attack. Hiro cut at another time, even as the Pilgrim tried to bat his attempts away with his spiked gloves. His finishing attack, which saw Hiro bouncing forward and cutting the Pilgrim¡¯s stone head off was met with thunderous applause. You have new followers! The Pilgrim¡¯s body fell one way, his head the other. His flintstone musket shattered and Hiro received a new Roulette Skill: {Edging} Roulette Skill Rank: B Type: Attack/Area of Effect Upgrade: N/A Description: Otolaryngologists spend an exorbitant amount of time thinking about your ear and its auditory system, which consists of three parts. Incoming sound waves are greeted by your outer ear, which uses flesh flaps to collect the sound and send it down into your ear canal, where they vibrate a thin membrane called the eardrum. Those vibrations are what inspired songwriter Katherine Kennicott Davis when she penned the infamous lyrics: Come they told me par rum pum pum pum, which later became an anthem in the adult film industry through such incredible films like Me and My Bum; I Played My Bum for Him; and the AVN Award winner, The Ox and the Lamb Kept Time. While they may have their own opinions on the best adult films out there, Otolaryngologists will all agree that your world is understood through vibrations amplified by the three small bones of the middle ear only to be transmitted to the cochlea, where they are deciphered by hair cells known as stereocilia. It is here, at this crucial meeting ground for translating sound vibrations into electrical signals that the power known as Edging comes into play. Through noises your ears cannot detect, Edging will allow you to bring your opponent to the brink of insanity. But be warned, your opponent may exhibit new traits when provoked depending on their level and MIND stat. Important note: Edging is not the same as Gooning. Hiro barely paid attention to the Doom System¡¯s batshit ramblings as he focused on the last bit of info. Currently, his MIND Stat was at 2.4, which boosted by two whole points due to Roulette bonuses that would change in the next Interim. I still don¡¯t have access to enemy levels, but with my current buildout, Edging¡ªGod, that¡¯s such a stupid name¡ªcould actually be helpful¡­ The ground came alive. Hiro leaped out of the way as the enormous skeletal gator clawed itself from Central Park, which caused the dirt to give way. Before he could react, he was sucked into a sinkhole, falling into the void as everything around him crumbled. The last thing Hiro remembered seeing before being covered in dirt and debris was the beast moving above, its tail swishing, all of it impossible. Chapter Thirty-Nine: The Central Park Catacombs Hiro hit the ground hard. Winded, he pushed himself up as the enormous bestial skeleton slithered on, leaving him in a what looked like a cavern. His phone buzzed, and as he pulled it out, the screen illuminated his masked face. Chapter Seventy: Pharmacists Would Hate You The last time Hiro had left his fallout shelter, he had done so through an entrance to the subway system, where he encountered a Spectator. Which reminds me, he thought as he looked at the ladder leading up to the hatch of his fallout shelter. Fewer Spectators were supposed to mean fewer followers get sacrificed when we purchase things, but everything¡¯s Soul Cash-based now, and there¡¯s a randomized multiplier. The Doom System lied to us. Or maybe it hasn¡¯t. I will need to visit a merchant to see for myself. A memory came to him of the merchant that had asked for cash. Her name had been Penny, and she was dressed like a Beauty Queen from what Hiro could recall. I¡¯m going to assume her request for cash meant Soul Cash... He added that to his mental to-do list. Also, a bodyguard. An idea had already formed at the mention of this new mechanic, but he wasn¡¯t ready to explore it yet. He would need to get desperate to do something like that. He glanced at Hachi. ¡°We¡¯re taking the ladder. Bianca will help you.¡± The dog grunted in response. ¡°What about the bear? We can¡¯t just stuff her in the backpack,¡± Bianca said as Hiro moved toward Chronokuma. ¡°The Doom System suggested I get a sling for it, but I don¡¯t have anything like that right now.¡± ¡°Her. She¡¯s a her. I haven¡¯t named her yet, but I¡¯m thinking of going with one of the Disney princess names. We¡¯ll see.¡± Bianca, who was still propped against the box of supplies, continued rocking the teddy bear in her tentacles. ¡°She¡¯s going in the backpack for now. She¡¯s asleep, isn¡¯t she?¡± ¡°I think¡­¡± Bianca brought the teddy bear closer to her shield face. ¡°Seems like so.¡± ¡°Good.¡± Hiro carefully took the bear from her and placed it in the backpack. As he did, he noticed it was warm¡ªand felt like it was breathing. He left the top of the bag slightly open. I could zip it up around her neck, but that might hurt her... He started to try anyway. ¡°She¡¯s not going to like that.¡± ¡°We¡¯ll try to get a sling for her,¡± he assured Bianca as she climbed onto his back, wrapping her tentacles securely around his arm. ¡°I don¡¯t know how much time we have to deal with this Sentry, but I think it¡¯s important we do it.¡± He explained how the title upgrade would benefit them. ¡°Plus, it¡¯ll give us other things. I¡¯m low on skills after what happened when the gate opened.¡± Hiro remembered being instructed to pick two Roulette Skills or Accessories for the Second Interim. He had chosen Hachi and Bianca. Looking back, he realized it had been a good strategy. Bianca watches my back and keeps me company. Hachi doesn¡¯t provide company, but he¡¯s aggressive¡ªand probably useful when Survivors start hiring Hunters. The problem was that most of his Roulette-based skills and items had been stripped away. He didn¡¯t have much beyond his One Hit Wonders like {GoFundMerc}, {Scania the Piss Disc Mimic}, or {North Korean Feces Balloons}. There were also his phantom demon cats and the {Stan} power, which allowed him to control lower-ranked opponents. And of course, there were weapons: his Kiri Y¨­so Vape Pen, katana, and the enormous odachi he could summon at will. As Hiro found his duct tape, he felt the prayer beads shift under his shirt. {Thoughts and Prayers}, what a useless power. ¡°Are you sure you have everything?¡± Bianca asked. Hiro quickly finished wrapping his arms and legs in armored duct tape, adding a layer around the toes of his shoes. ¡°Steel-toed. Or something like it.¡± He checked his vape pen cartridges: Anti-Fear and Poison. He also readjusted the teddy bear in his backpack, placing Survivor Tenders in an old Tupperware container so she couldn¡¯t eat them when she woke up. He added two energy drinks¡ªSmoke Zero and Smellicious¡ªa freshly filled water bottle, and the medical supplies he still had. ¡°Here we go,¡± he said as he moved to the ladder, Hachi following. Bianca helped the dog up, and soon, Hiro stood on the parking garage¡¯s entry floor. He turned toward the gate, hovering in the air, currently closed. ¡°I don¡¯t see anyone,¡± Bianca said. ¡°I thought Val and Samuel might come back here, but why would they? What¡¯s-her-name¡¯s body is gone.¡±Stolen story; please report. ¡°Rena.¡± ¡°Yeah, her. I¡¯m bad at names.¡± Hiro scanned the buildings until he spotted a lime-green beacon radiating through the structures. ¡°There it is. Let¡¯s go.¡± He bounded to the nearest rooftop. The sensation felt different but only lasted a moment. Then another realization struck him as he looked out over the city: it was filled with advertisements. Everywhere. ¡°Are you seeing this?¡± Bianca asked. ¡°It¡¯s not at all what I would have expected,¡± he said. The city was darker than in the First Interim, which had been defined by the Solar Eclipse gloom. Now it was bathed in a permanent twilight, the streets lit by glowing ads: Coca-Cola, United Healthcare, M&Ms, Lockheed Martin missile defense systems, Netflix, Prime Day deals, and more. There were ironic offerings too¡ªclassified document locators, execution services, thief guilds, and other nefarious options. ¡°This is going to suck,¡± Hiro said. ¡°That¡¯s what makes it fun, right?¡± ¡°There¡¯s nothing fun about this,¡± Hiro replied. ¡°I¡¯m just trying to stay optimistic. What the hell else am I supposed to do as a shield?¡± ¡°I guess¡­¡± He thought through the options. ¡°We handle the Sentry and move toward Samuel and Val, if that¡¯s viable. And check a merchant along the way. We stick to rooftops and maybe move through buildings instead of bouncing around. Low profile. Come on,¡± he said, pushing onward toward Zuccotti Park. Landing on a fire escape, Hiro used his armored elbow to break through a window. ¡°You¡¯re going to wake Mishka.¡± ¡°Who?¡± He stepped into what appeared to be a design studio. The smell hit him immediately. A rope hung from a beam above, body fluids pooled below, but the body itself was gone. The Doom System must have removed all the bodies, including ones that had been around for a while. ¡°Mishka,¡± Bianca said as they moved down a hallway. ¡°You keep saying that like I should know what it is. ¡°They didn¡¯t have that in Japan?¡± ¡°Not to my knowledge.¡± ¡°My mom was Ukrainian. She used to show me Masha and the Bear on YouTube. Mishka was the big bear¡¯s name, but I think it¡¯s also a Russian man¡¯s name. Or something. Fuck it. Doesn¡¯t matter. The bear¡¯s name is Mishka, and she¡¯s sleeping. Breaking windows¡ª¡± ¡°Shhhh.¡± Hiro silenced her as he sensed movement. A rat scurried away. ¡°Good, just a rat. And I¡¯ll have to break windows to get through some buildings.¡± ¡°Okay, but if you wake Mishka, you¡¯ll be sorry.¡± Hiro opened the next window and stepped out, spotting a Survivor on the street below. She examined Hachi curiously, who sat there watching her. When she reached out, Hachi snarled and snapped his teeth, making her jump back. Hiro prepared to draw his katana, but the woman took off running¡ªfaster than anyone he¡¯d seen yet. She ran so fast she left a mark on the sidewalk. Crazy. Hiro continued, reaching a balcony. ¡°The door¡¯s open,¡± he told Bianca. ¡°Isn¡¯t that convenient.¡± ¡°It happens at this height.¡± Hiro entered the apartment, the darkness broken only by the glare of ads outside. He checked the bathroom after clicking on his carabiner light. A toothpaste-stained mirror reflected his stubble, messy hair, and glowing eyes. For a moment, he thought he looked like a demon. Maybe I am. Rummaging through the drawers, he found an unopened bottle of Zyrtec and read the warning label: ¡°May cause drowsiness. Avoid alcohol beverages while using this product. I¡¯ll find something else to add to it.¡± He popped open the mirror. ¡°Bingo. Hydrocodone. Risk of addiction, abuse, and misuse. May cause respiratory depression. Do not combine with alcohol or other depressants.¡± ¡°Pharmacists would hate you.¡± He smirked at Bianca¡¯s comment, added some over-the-counter Tylenol, and mixed the two medicines together. ¡°This should do it. It will mostly be the hydrocodone doing the heavy lifting, but the others are going to make it nice and spicy. Chaotic.¡± ¡°See? Pharmacists would hate you.¡± ¡°Post-apocalyptic Shkreli,¡± Hiro said. ¡°Who?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. Let¡¯s keep moving.¡± Hiro raided a few more apartments, where he found everything from Zoloft and Metformin to Ompeprazole and Alprazolam. ¡°Bingo again,¡± he said as he mixed more of the medicines. ¡°Your Mimic Bottles go hard.¡± ¡°They do. And they work.¡± Once he was ready, Hiro took the fire escape to a building overlooking Zuccotti Park. The green beacon led to a bronze sculpture of a man sitting on a bench, his briefcase open. ¡°How¡¯s Mishka?¡± Bianca asked as he scanned the park below. ¡°Seems fine to me,¡± Hiro told her. Zuccotti Park wasn¡¯t like some of the other parks in the City, which were quaint and small, a place to escape the madness. It was a neatly organized rectangular space nestled among the skyscrapers of lower Manhattan, one with evenly spaced trees that provided a patchwork of greenery, but were now bare. Hachi was already there, the dog now in a position behind the man. ¡°Got him.¡± Hiro bounced to a building behind the statue known as Double Check. He dropped down to the street as quietly as possible, and watched Hachi come around, the dog instantly going alert upon seeing the Sentry. Bianca crawled over his shoulder and affixed herself to his arm while Hiro reached up and pulled his enormous odachi out of thin air, prepared to open up the attack with an amplified {Blade Whirlwind). But Mishka had other plans. The teddy bear came alive in his backpack and began to cry, her sobs instantly drawing the Sentry¡¯s attention. The statue stood, and turned to Hiro as items scattered out of his bronze briefcase. A red dome appeared, followed by a health bar. Hiro was trapped. His hope for a surprise attack was ruined. Chapter Seventy-One: Just Ask Double Check Double Check¡¯s description had Hiro thinking immediately, even as he moved to block a strike from the statue¡¯s bronze briefcase. Description: Three signs that you¡¯re battling Tall Poppy Syndrome include people criticizing you for being too ambitious, workplace hostility, and feeling reluctant to create meaningful content. Don¡¯t let people downplay your success! Or¡­ do? The origin of the phrase ¡®Tall Poppy Syndrome¡¯ stems from King Tarquin the Proud of ancient Rome, whose son asked him for advice on conquering a neighboring city. Rather than reply, Tarquin led his son to his garden and cut off the heads of the tallest poppies, which his son interpreted to mean that he should kill all the aristocrats. Turns out, as the French later discovered during their revolution, this works¡ªstick your neck out and face the consequences. Double Check, the statue who is about to beat you senseless with his briefcase and bury you in paperwork, learned this the hard way. He stuck his neck out. There was a scandal brewing in the accounting department, and he blew the whistle before upper management could figure out a way to cover it up. Had Double Check kept his fucking mouth shut, the brokerage firm would have figured out a way to create money out of thin air, perhaps even calling on a few friends in the SEC to downplay the discovery and spread the loss out over a couple of years, satisfying shareholders and ensuring the CEO could continue taking his private helicopter from Greenwich, Connecticut, to Manhattan every day and avoid lone wolf gunmen. But no. Double Check had to say something. He just had to open his big stupid mouth, and as punishment, he was dropped into a vat of boiling bronze along with all the information he leaked. ¡°I get knocked down, but I get up again, you¡¯re never going to keep me down,¡± isn¡¯t always the best way to live one¡¯s life, despite what you may have been told. Sometimes, the only path to victory is by keeping one¡¯s mouth shut and keeping one¡¯s head down. Maybe try being a coward for once. Just ask Double Check. Wham! The statue struck his bronze briefcase against the bench, creating a whirlwind of power that swooped up the scattering metal papers. They folded into paper planes and took off toward Hiro like F-15s. Bianca swatted several of them down with her tendrils, Hachi jumped and caught one in his mouth, and Hiro managed to strike a few away, only for one to stab right into his bicep, its pointy end going out the other side. He fell, and his arm screamed with pain. It pulsed through him as the teddy bear cried in his backpack and Bianca continued to defend against Double Check¡¯s planes. I can¡¯t use it now! Hiro thought as he scrambled backward, no longer able to hold his odachi. He dropped the enormous sword, and it vanished. The Zone of Influence is preventing me from bouncing away. I need another second. He used {Thoughts and Prayers}, and nothing happened. Hiro went with his next logical skill. ~Kore Nani, kore nani, kore nani, kore nani, kore nani, neko!~ His phantom demon cats rushed toward Double Check, Hachi joining them. The statue managed to beat a few of them away, but was prevented from wide sweeps with his lethal briefcase due to Hachi, who latched onto his arm. ¡°Think,¡± Hiro said as he tried to fight through the pain, which spawned something he wasn¡¯t expecting. It was as if time had come to a grinding halt. Is it my injury? Is it¡­ His eyes went wide as an intense fear rushed over him. Did I just trigger my new Roulette Skill? Shit! Hiro¡¯s first reaction upon triggering {Terminal Lucidity} was to start labor breathing, just like Samuel had taught him. It worked with the rage side effect of {Lupine Shift}. Yet he couldn¡¯t contain the thoughts. Hiro couldn¡¯t stop them from zipping through his mind, thought after searing thought, all of which sizzled away as the Sentry¡¯s description came to him, all centering around the very last line: Just ask Double Check.This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. The ¡®man¡¯ was supposedly murdered because he leaked some information. What did he expose? Hiro glanced ahead to find Double Check starting to overwhelm his cats and dog. What made the statue stand out like a tall poppy? Things still hadn¡¯t fully returned to what he experienced as its normal state. There was a slowness to everything, Hiro feeling like he had enough time to think further. Even Mishka¡¯s sobbing and Bianca¡¯s shouting seemed off. Another thought came to Hiro, and he crouched there bleeding, one he intuited to the very core of his being. The Doom System is enticing me to use this power. It gave it to me for a reason, and it¡¯s made the first one easy. He stood and completely ignored the rush of pain that followed as his arm bled profusely, the metal paper airplane still stuck in his bicep. I have a band-aid for that, he thought, recalling he had gotten band-aids for puncture wounds in First Interim. Hiro took a step toward Double Check and spoke. ¡°Bianca, deal with Mishka.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Trust me. Hachi, stop!¡± he told the dog, which instantly obeyed the command. The dog dropped from Double Check¡¯s arm and snarled as the last of Hiro¡¯s phantom cats disappeared. Double Check tensed and brought his briefcase up to the ready. ¡°Wait,¡± Hiro said as he felt Bianca get the teddy bear out of his backpack. ¡°I sure hope you know what you¡¯re doing!¡± she told him, yet Hiro¡¯s entire focus remained on Double Check. ¡°What happened?¡± Hiro asked, blood dripping from his arm. ¡°Why did they kill you?¡± Double Check bristled at the question. ¡°I want to know what you uncovered at your brokerage firm.¡± The statue¡¯s briefcase snapped shut. He smoothed his hands over his suit. ¡°The firm assigned fictitious valuations, which artificially inflated the value of assets. They created fake derivatives tied to these dubious assets to show profit on paper, which they sold to investors to generate cash flow. I discovered the internal communication detailing the creation of the fake derivatives, audited the logs, and leaked the information.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Because it was my duty.¡± Double Check took a knee. ¡°And now, the briefcase is yours.¡± {A Sentry has fallen.] New title acquired! You got cash! You have new followers! Backseat Philosopher > Profit Prophet +.02 REG +.02 MIND +01 DEX Hiro Johnson Level Nine Current Title: Profit Prophet STR: 1.4 [+0.5 Roulette Boost] STA: 1.8 [+1 Roulette Boost] DEX: 2.9 [+2 Roulette Boost] REG: 3.5 [+2.5 Roulette Boost] MIND: 4.3 [+3.5 Roulette Boost] Soul Cash: 1567 The briefcase popped open and a golden smartwatch fell out. Hiro approached cautiously and picked the watch up. Roulette Accessory: {Nuclear Football} Grade: S Description: When the villainous Jenny (stylized as Jeh-Nay) from Forrest Gump realized that there was a song written with her phone number, she was livid. One of the men who frequented her services used Jenny¡¯s number¡ª8-6-7-5-3-0-9¡ªas the pin code for the infamous ¡®nuclear football,¡¯ which in simpler times was a suitcase given to the President of the United States to authorize a nuclear attack on the go. Now, Survivor, that power is yours. Key in Jenny¡¯s phone number on your watch to order a one-time targeted nuclear strike on a single opponent. Just be sure they don¡¯t actually like radioactivity¡­ Hiro stood there processing what he had just been given, his arm still pulsing. The Doom System wanted me to win this tutorial, and it wanted me to get a nuclear weapon. I¡¯m not the main character. He whispered these words to himself as Bianca continued to calm Mishka. ¡°I¡¯m not the main character.¡± But what if I am? The implications struck Hiro in a way that led to a new thought. What if others have a similar power? Are people going to be running or one-shotting nukes? He gingerly turned his backpack around and got out a bandaid. Hiro placed it on the puncture wound and noticed a tingling sensation as it went to work. Soon, the bandaid had melded with his skin, no sign of the injure remaining. ¡°Yo, Big Bro. Are you going to help me, or what? Ugh, you¡¯re such a dude.¡± ¡°Sorry.¡± Hiro was just turning to Bianca when he spotted something moving toward him. A great wave of electronics and other consumer goods ripped through the street, gobbling up everything it touched. His phone buzzed, but by this point he was on the move, toward Bianca, Mishka, and Hachi. Chapter Seventy-Two: Back and Forth Hiro grabbed the teddy bear from Bianca and stuffed it into his backpack. ¡°Sorry, Mishka!¡± ¡°What the hell?¡± Bianca asked, then caught a glimpse of what was coming their way. ¡°Is that a moving wall of trash?¡± ¡°Throwaway culture,¡± Hiro told her¡ªa phrase he couldn¡¯t ever remember ever using before. The phrase stemmed from 1950s America, a time when people stopped repairing things and simply replaced them when there was an issue. Hiro¡¯s entire life had been defined by this way of thinking. He had even worked in a factory for a company that built its entire enterprise around the concept. But had he heard the term before? It must be the remnants of my {Terminal Lucidity}... It made complete and sudden sense to him what he was seeing. Even as he scooped up a protesting Hachi, who actually yelped, and even as Bianca latched onto his arm and berated him with questions about what he was doing¡ªit all made sense. ¡°I¡¯ll explain it all when we¡¯re safe,¡± he told Bianca as he bounded toward a roof. He landed a block away from the wave of trash. Hiro moved to the edge and watched as the wave rolled through the streets, taking everything it touched¡ªexcept for the buildings. ¡°What the hell, Hiro?¡± His phone buzzed again, but Hiro ignored it. ¡°Let¡¯s feed Mishka,¡± he told Bianca after setting Hachi down. The dog moved to the edge and whined nervously. ¡°It¡¯s just for a moment.¡± Hiro took the crying teddy bear out of his backpack. He held it in his hands for a moment and rocked it, which seemed to sooth the bear to some degree. ¡°That¡¯s so fucking adorable,¡± Bianca said. ¡°Finally, you start acting like the good daddy I knew you could be.¡± ¡°Please don¡¯t call me that.¡± ¡°What? You never wanted to have kids?¡± ¡°It never crossed my mind.¡± Hiro was struck by a memory of his time with Monica, back when they had first been together, surviving. He remembered the excitement and the plans that came from their discussions. They had even talked about having a child, and at one point, Hiro had been open to it. Why? he thought. Why would we bring a child into this? He took out the Survivor Tenders, only to be presented with a prompt. [Survivor Tenders have been poisoned. Pay 500 Soul Cash to remove the poison? Y/N?] ¡°Yes,¡± Hiro said. The slightly green tint of the Survivor Tenders faded away, and he gave one to Mishka. The bear happily ate the tender and stopped crying. Noticing that he was hungrier than usual, Hiro ate one as well. ¡°Hey,¡± Bianca said, her tentacled arms pressed onto what would have been her waist if she weren¡¯t a shield. ¡°Are you going to tell me what¡¯s going on, or what?¡± ¡°A lot has happened.¡± ¡°Duh. I was there. Wait¡ªyou tried your Roulette Skill, didn¡¯t you?¡± ¡°Not on purpose. I told myself to think, and it triggered itself.¡± ¡°Well, don¡¯t ever do that again.¡± She laughed nervously. ¡°No more thinking for you.¡± ¡°Exactly. It might just trigger on its own, sort of like my rage used to.¡± ¡°Great. First, you were edgy. Now, you¡¯re brainy.¡± ¡°Something like that.¡± ¡°What were you saying earlier about culture?¡± ¡°The roaming waves of trash. Throwaway culture,¡± Hiro explained. ¡°It¡¯s a term used to describe our shift from a culture that repairs things to one that simply throws them away and replaces them.¡± ¡°Like my iPhone?¡± ¡°Sort of, but that¡¯s more of a planned obsolescence thing. I never really thought about any of this, honestly. I don¡¯t even know if I¡¯ve used the terms before. Maybe? I had a friend in Kansas City who talked about this stuff all the time in a Discord group, but you know how those things go. If you aren¡¯t part of the conversation that day, or you¡¯re just checking the tail end of it, it¡¯s hard to engage.¡±The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. ¡°So the Doom System is sending waves of trash through the City, and it¡¯s supposed to represent throwaway culture? The system suuuuuckkkss.¡± ¡°Careful,¡± he told her. ¡°And that¡¯s just my guess. I¡¯m not the Doom System.¡± Hiro hugged the teddy bear in his arms instinctively. Only as the world changed around him did he realize the mistake he¡¯d made. ¡°Whoa¡­¡± Hiro now stood on the very same building he¡¯d been on mere days before the gates came. The city below bustled with life on a cold New York City morning. People rushed to work, and mysterious plumes of steam rose from the sewers¡ªsomething Hiro had never quite understood. ¡°We¡¯re here!¡± Bianca said. Her voice quivered. ¡°I¡¯m¡­ here.¡± Still holding the bear to his chest, Hiro took a quick look around to find human Bianca sitting cross-legged on the rooftop, staring at her hands. Tears came immediately. ¡°It¡¯s all okay. Everything is¡ª¡± She looked up at Hiro. ¡°This is what Mishka can do?¡± ¡°Yes, for a limited amount of time,¡± Hiro said as he noticed a timer floating in the air just above her head. 01:50 01:49 01:48 Bianca pointed to a spot behind him. ¡°Even Hachi is here.¡± Hiro turned to find the Shiba Inu peering over the edge and whining softly. We¡¯re not going tro be able to do anything from up here¡­ Hiro cursed quietly for wasting the power and released the bear. ¡°Okay, we¡¯re back,¡± he said as the post-apocalyptic city stretched before him, illuminated by hundreds of glowing advertisements. ¡°So you can come with me now. And you¡¯re in human form there.¡± ¡°Apparently,¡± Bianca said, who was now in her fuzzy pink shield form. ¡°We could, ahem, I could go see myself. You know, warn myself.¡± ¡°We only have two minutes there,¡± Hiro said as he started to rock Misha again, who seemed content, the bear ready to fall asleep. ¡°We would have to find out what day it is, and what time it is, and you would have to know where you would be at that very time. Easy if you are in school, hard if you¡¯re having winter break, which I¡¯m guessing you would be at that time.¡± ¡°What about you? You could warn yourself of what is to come.¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know where I¡¯d be either but you¡¯re right, I could. The only problem is, Mishka only works once a day.¡± Hiro examined the bear again and gave it a quick hug. There was a flash and he was back on the rooftop in the past with Bianca, the timer once again ticking down. 01:37 01:36 01:45 ¡°You said¡ª¡± ¡°I know,¡± Hiro told Bianca as he released the bear. ¡°This is new. We have to use the power wisely. We don¡¯t know if it will still reset when I rest.¡± Hiro pulled out his phone and spoke to it: ¡°There has been a change to how Chronokuma¡ª¡± ¡°Mishka,¡± Bianca corrected. ¡°There¡¯s been a change to Mishka¡¯s properties. It seems like I can now go back and forth as much as I want, based on a time limit. When does this reset?¡± Hiro watched as a message began forming on the sleek black screen, only for it to flash away and be replaced by a different message. The first message disappeared too quickly for him to read. ¡°That¡¯s not an answer. I¡¯d like to know how long the cooldown time is.¡± His phone seemed to ¡°think,¡± reminding Hiro of trying to upload something on a spotty wireless connection. Finally, the words he was waiting for appeared. Great, so I have to rest to reset it, Hiro thought. ¡°Define rest.¡± ¡°Okay, in that case, what does the Doom System consider human rest?¡± ¡°Since I have you, I want to know more about the Remnants I¡¯ve been tasked with killing. Where are they?¡± ¡°Look,¡± Bianca said, pointing a tendril toward the New York City skyline. Purple beams flared and then settled. From what Hiro could tell, most of them were in Manhattan, but one was further east, possibly in Brooklyn. ¡°Definitely,¡± Hiro told his phone. A subtle line appeared in his HUD. Whenever he turned his head away from it, the line faded. ¡°Thank you. Can you tell me anything else about these samurai? I¡¯ve never heard of them.¡± ¡°Thanks, anyway,¡± he muttered. ¡°One last thing,¡± Hiro said to his phone. ¡°You were buzzing earlier, but I was busy at the time. What were you trying to tell me?¡± Hiro squinted at the screen. ¡°You mean the roaming piles of trash?¡± ¡°Thanks, got it.¡± Hiro put his phone away. ¡°We need to stay clear of the piles of shit moving through the streets. They can have a gravitational pull.¡± ¡°Okay, then what now?¡± Bianca asked. ¡°Now?¡± Hiro looked out at the city, to the beacon he had set on the merchant who took cash. ¡°Let¡¯s go on a shopping spree. After that, we hunt our first Remnant.¡± ¡°What about visiting the past?¡± ¡°Later.¡± ¡°What about your friends?¡± ¡°Val and Samuel? I don¡¯t know yet. I have no way to find them, and if we wait around, we¡¯ll lose out on a number of things.¡± Hiro hated the words as they pressed against his lips, forcing their way out, but he said them anyway: ¡°It¡¯s how this fucked-up game is played.¡± Chapter Seventy-Three: A La Mode The last time Hiro had been in this area of the city, he had been ambushed by Mercury. Be on the lookout for statues, he reminded himself as he scanned the streets for any wayward Sentries. Finally, and only after heading to higher grounds to scan the area once again, Hiro hopped down into an alley and found the cash-only merchant known as Penny. The woman simply stared at him for a moment, chewing gum. She blew a bubble, let it pop, and motioned for Hiro to come forward. ¡°You¡¯re back,¡± Penny said, now dressed in a bloodstained cheerleader outfit. ¡°Did you bring cash?¡± ¡°I did.¡± Hiro offered her a grim smile. The way her mascara was running made it seem like she had recently been crying. ¡°A little over a thousand bucks, huh?¡± She popped another bubble. ¡°Won¡¯t get you much, if we¡¯re being honest.¡± ¡°What about my followers?¡± ¡°What about them?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t they count for something? I thought they multiplied my dollar amount.¡± ¡°They do count for something, but they don¡¯t count for something here. Look, I don¡¯t sell the same kinds of items as other merchants. I sell unique skills.¡± ¡°Fine,¡± Hiro said, not wanting to argue. ¡°In that case, can I afford anything?¡± ¡°You can afford one thing, and that¡¯s only because I¡¯m giving you a discount for not trying to haggle with me. I hate haggling.¡± She popped another bubble. ¡°It¡¯s not my thing and it never will be.¡± ¡°What can I afford?¡± ¡°I¡¯m glad you asked.¡± Penny turned and grabbed a silver clutch off a trash can. She zipped it open, and a prompt appeared: One Hit Wonder: {A La Mode} Grade: B Description: Face it, you know your world is on a course for the damned when broligarchs in Gruebel Forsey watches at live masculine energy events are dictating the course of your world through data mining and echo chambers. This was exactly what went through the minds of a group of humans forty-eight thousand years ago, when they fled their homelands for the unpopulated Pleistocene supercontinent of Sahul¡ªmodern-day Australia, Tasmania, and New Guinea. What do we do now? Should we wait it out? How much stupider can it get? Are there forty of us willing to cross open waters filled with Odessian sea monsters like Scylla, the multi-headed terror with a yeast infection, or Charybdis, the ever-sucking whirlpool with a harrowing case of vorarephilia? And what about the Sirens? All the noise-canceling headphones in the world wouldn¡¯t save them from a torture as uniquely grating as Mariah Carey during the Christmas season. Luckily for them, their leader (I forget her name) had a One Hit Wonder that was actually a Three Hit Wonder known as A La Mode. A La Mode allows you to change modes three times in total, just like your seafaring antediluvian forefathers did to avoid sea monsters. You get one Incognito Mode, one Safe Mode, and one Viral Mode. What do the individual modes do? I¡¯m glad you asked:
  • Incognito Mode lets you turn invisible for three minutes¡ªlong enough to get away from something or spy on your ex.
  • Safe Mode makes you invincible for three minutes. Any hit you take will be repelled, and any damage you¡¯ve suffered will be reversed.
  • Viral Mode draws massive attention to you for three minutes. Use it if you¡¯re really looking to make an impression, but be warned: going viral can be incredibly dangerous.
To use A La Mode, simply say or think which mode you want to activate, and the effects will kick in¡ªjust like they did for the lucky souls who reached the unpopulated Pleistocene supercontinent of Sahul forty-eight thousand years ago. ¡°This is incredible,¡± Hiro said. Even if the Doom System¡¯s explanation was angsty as usual, it actually gave me something useful. There are so many ways to use these three powers, and the fact the buff lasts for three minutes¡­Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. ¡°Good, right?¡± Penny asked. ¡°Better than good. You have a deal.¡± Hiro heard the sound of a cash register, followed by someone running their fingers through a wad of crisp bills. He checked his status and saw he now had less than a hundred Soul Cash to his name. ¡°So that¡¯s it?¡± Bianca asked. ¡°I think so,¡± Hiro said. ¡°Come back when you have more cash,¡± Penny told him bluntly. ¡°Will do.¡± Hiro moved to a rooftop to regroup, where he paused behind a billboard. He could see the purple beacon in the distance, indicating he wasn¡¯t very far from the Revenant. All it needs is a little rain to make the place weirdly gloomy¡­ The rain picked up, startling Hiro. ¡°Ugh. Rain is going to ruin my shield body,¡± Bianca said. ¡°And poor Hachi. We really need to break into a pet store and get him a cute little raincoat.¡± Hiro reached his hand out to catch a few raindrops. I¡¯m not the main character, he reminded himself, even if I just summoned the rain. Okay, if I summoned it, maybe I can make it go away. Stop, rain. He peered up at the sky, willing his thoughts forward. I said stop. The rain continued. ¡°Good,¡± Hiro said, not sure if this was actually good or not. ¡°What¡¯s good? The fact you spent all our money back there? You really need to learn how to budget better.¡± ¡°That skill was worth it.¡± ¡°You think?¡± ¡°Safe, Incognito, and Viral Mode. We might need them all. Maybe not the last one, but the first two for sure.¡± ¡°I always wanted to go viral.¡± ¡°Yeah?¡± ¡°My friend almost went viral when he fell off the bleachers during a choir performance. He got like three thousand likes.¡± ¡°No small sum.¡± ¡°You should have bought a level,¡± she said as she shifted a bit to protect herself from the rain. ¡°She wasn¡¯t selling levels, and my follower multiplier¡ªwhatever that number may be¡ªdidn¡¯t seem to work with her. Trust me, this will be helpful. I have a feeling we¡¯re going to need everything we can get in the Second Interim.¡± Hiro approached the edge of the roof and confirmed Hachi was below. He whistled to the dog, got his attention, and pointed toward the Revenant beacon. ¡°What about visiting the past again?¡± Bianca asked. ¡°We should do that.¡± ¡°Later.¡± ¡°Promise?¡± ¡°Let¡¯s keep moving.¡± Hiro bounded to the next rooftop, noticing its sudden slickness due to the light rain. He scanned the gloom beyond. ¡°I would use apartments if I could, but these are mostly office buildings,¡± he said as he eyed the next logical rooftop. ¡°It might be harder to get into them.¡± ¡°You aren¡¯t a quitter, Big Brother Hiro.¡± ¡°To my detriment. Hold on. Yes! I see one there.¡± Hiro landed on a lower rooftop and jumped to a private third story garden from there. He broke into the place and stepped into a ransacked living room. Graffiti covered the walls, most of it abstract figures, but some included religious text. One in particular caught Hiro¡¯s attention, the letters jagged and uneven: For the great day His wrath has come, and who is able to stand? ¡ªRevelations 6:17 ¡°You¡¯re a Bible guy?¡± Bianca asked. ¡°No. My dad was, though.¡± ¡°Because he¡¯s American and from the Midwest?¡± ¡°I never thought of it that way. But that would explain some of it.¡± ¡°And your mom wasn¡¯t Christian?¡± ¡°No. She tried with my dad. It didn¡¯t make sense to her.¡± ¡°So she was into some Japanese religion?¡± ¡°Sort of.¡± ¡°What¡¯s it called?¡± ¡°Shinto.¡± ¡°So you¡¯re into that?¡± ¡°I liked some of it, but I was too young to remember really getting into any of it. I grew up there, and then did my teenage years in America. My dad tried to get me into youth groups, and I made a few friends that way, but it wasn¡¯t for me.¡± ¡°Then why are you still standing here in front of this quote?¡± ¡°It just has me thinking. What if Revelations was about this?¡± He motioned around. ¡°About the gates opening and all the shit that happened after? I don¡¯t remember there being a cute fuzzy pink shield in Revelations.¡± Hiro couldn¡¯t help but grin at Bianca¡¯s statement. ¡°You¡¯re a character, you know that?¡± ¡°Should we check the bathroom for pharmaceuticals?¡± ¡°The place has already been looted.¡± ¡°Good point.¡± Hiro walked to the floor-to-ceiling window on the opposite side of the space, where he could see the next rooftop. Wait¡­ His heart quivered as he noticed a familiar figure. The teenager was in a shiny black leather bodysuit, her long, sharp rabbit ears coming alive immediately. ¡°No way.¡± Hiro took a step back as a green, translucent dollar symbol appeared over the Bunny Teen¡¯s head. Chapter Seventy-Four: Bad Bunny Hiro¡¯s phone buzzed as he slowly stepped away from the window, his eyes never leaving the Bunny Teen, who remained crouched on the rooftop below. ¡°You¡¯re kidding.¡± Bianca leaned closer to the screen. ¡°Wait, your Companion is telling you that you can hire her, right? Noooo¡­¡± ¡°Yessss. And it¡¯s giving me limitations.¡± ¡°Because of the dollar sign above her head?¡± ¡°Correct.¡± ¡°That¡¯s sus.¡± ¡°It is. But¡­¡± Hiro hated the words that came out of his mouth next: ¡°It also makes sense.¡± ¡°Hire her to hunt other Survivors or act as a bodyguard?¡± Bianca asked, her disgust clear. ¡°Essentially, a bodyguard,¡± he said with a resigned shake of his head. ¡°She won¡¯t be part of the fights.¡± Hiro¡¯s voice dipped, a hint of reluctance slipping through. ¡°I hate that it¡¯s come to this.¡± ¡°Yet you¡¯re seriously considering it, aren¡¯t you? Her people, or whatever the other bunny peeps were, killed me. Remember that?¡± The memory of carrying her body to Central Park flashed across his mind¡¯s eye. ¡°Heard. But we have to play this game right, even if it goes against my better judgment. She was a tough opponent. I faced her three times.¡± ¡°Heard.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s just see what happens.¡± Hiro exited through the front door of the home and took the stairs to the rooftop, where he found the door had already been kicked open long ago. He stepped out onto the wet roof and moved to its edge from there. The Bunny Teen glanced up at him, casual as ever, as he placed his hand on the hilt of his katana. After a quick breath to steel himself he jumped down to her. She remained crouched, rain plinking off her leather attire as she looked him over. ¡°I remember you.¡± ¡°You should,¡± Hiro said, now entirely on edge. Standing and talking to her goes against everything I know. And yet again, it proves I have misplaced faith in my Companion¡ªeven though it¡¯s part of the Doom System. What does that say about me? ¡°Where did your mask go? I liked it.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t fuck with us, lady,¡± Bianca snapped, her tentacles coming alive. The Bunny Teen ignored her, as if she couldn¡¯t hear. ¡°Would you like to hire me as protection, Survivor?¡± One blink and the sheer terror she caused splashed across his mind¡¯s eye, how she had used Survivors as traps to lure others to Bryant Park. The teen stood abruptly, startling him. ¡°Five thousand Soul Cash. That¡¯s my price. There are Survivors watching you now, you know.¡± Hiro¡¯s body tensed, his gaze narrowing. ¡°Seriously?¡± he asked, his voice low, tinged with disbelief. ¡°Yes. While they haven¡¯t acted yet, I sense they will soon. Survivors like you are still getting used to the parameters of the Second Interim.¡± ¡°Tell her you don¡¯t believe her,¡± Bianca said. ¡°How do I know you¡¯re telling the truth?¡± Hiro asked. ¡°Stay here.¡± The Bunny Teen bolted away, moving faster than she had in the First Interim. All he saw was a flash and then she was standing on another rooftop, her ears-blades fully elongated. A muffled cry of surprise rang out, followed by silence. When she returned, she was holding a man¡¯s head by the hair. She dropped the severed head onto the roof with a splat. ¡°This one is on the house.¡± An image like that would have made Hiro vomit a few months ago. The sight of torn flesh, the man¡¯s hollowed-out eyes and lifeless, pale face¡ªit should have triggered every primal instinct he had to recoil, run, or draw his blade. Now, he was conditioned for it. Now, he knew what needed to be known, even if he didn¡¯t fully understand why he needed to do it. ¡°I don¡¯t have five thousand Soul Cash,¡± Hiro said.Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. ¡°Then someone else will hire me.¡± ¡°What about followers? I have over twelve thousand,¡± Hiro countered. ¡°What good do followers do me?¡± ¡°They multiply my Soul Cash, though I don¡¯t know the exact rate. Let me ask¡ª¡± ¡°Pay me in followers?¡± An even bigger smile formed beneath her mask, making Hiro uneasy. ¡°Sure.¡± ¡°I might know someone who trades followers for cash, but you won¡¯t like the exchange rate.¡± ¡°How long would you be my bodyguard if I paid your fee?¡± ¡°For the duration of the Second Interim.¡± ¡°Hiro,¡± Bianca interrupted, ¡°can I speak to you for a second?¡± ¡°Sure. Give me a moment,¡± he told the Bunny Teen. Hiro stepped away, keeping his hand on his sword and his eyes on the Hunter. ¡°What is it?¡± he asked Bianca under his breath. ¡°This crazy bitch is clearly up to something. Can¡¯t you see that? I don¡¯t think it¡¯s a good idea to partner with her. I said it up there, and I¡¯m saying it now.¡± ¡°We need protection.¡± ¡°Hachi, Mishka, and I can protect you. Assassins are just violent prostitutes. Someone else will pay for her services, even if you don¡¯t.¡± Hiro understood her point. The Hunter can¡¯t prove her loyalty, and even if she could, why would I trust her? The shift from demanding cash to accepting followers felt off. He turned back to the Bunny Teen. ¡°I¡¯m good.¡± She tilted her head. ¡°You¡¯re good to hand over your followers?¡± ¡°No, I¡¯m good as in I¡¯m not interested.¡± ¡°In that case, I¡¯ll find another patron.¡± Her ears grew in length menacingly and then settled. ¡°For your sake, I hope we don¡¯t cross paths again.¡± Hiro wished he could do something now, but his Companion had already told him he wouldn¡¯t be able to attack her. Instead, he moved on, to a higher rooftop to collect his thoughts. ### ¡°It looks like this Revenant of yours is on the bridge,¡± Bianca said as they landed on a building near the Williamsburg Bridge. The structure ahead, once a bustling pathway connecting Manhattan and Brooklyn, now stood as a haunting monument to the city¡¯s desolation. The rooftop they landed on had once been a hotel, its fa?ade weathered and broken. Inside, signs of looting were evident, with furniture overturned and walls tagged with graffiti. Along the way, they¡¯d encountered a few monsters and a pair of wayward Survivors, but nothing that had slowed them down significantly. Hiro¡¯s follower count had climbed to over thirteen thousand, and he¡¯d accumulated close to five hundred Soul Cash. He squinted at the purple beacon glowing near the center of the bridge, closer to the Brooklyn side. Memories surfaced¡ªHiro had biked across the Williamsburg Bridge countless times, enjoying its exposed steel framework and the views of the East River. There used to be a restaurant he liked on the Williamsburg side called Martha¡¯s Country Bakery, where they had apple pie and ice cream that tasted like it did in the Midwest. His mouth watered at the thought of it, but he ignored the craving that signaled he was also starting to get hungry. After we deal with the Revenant, he thought. Along the way, they had seen two sentries and another Hunter¡ªnot for hire, thankfully¡ªbut Hiro still felt the weight of his earlier decision. While he didn¡¯t regret rejecting the Bunny Teen, he was beginning to understand the implications of the Doom System¡¯s new rules. If the First Interim had been defined by its misinterpretation of humanity¡¯s drive for competition, the Second Interim had doubled down, this time with a focus on capital. This made him think of Valeria¡¯s theory that the Doom System was behaving as if it were a hallucinating AI. The problem with generative anything, from agents to advanced reasoning, was that it would actually get better. That had always been the fear, yet humans, like Pandora, were hellbent on opening that box. Hiro remembered AI getting to the point that it scared him, that he knew that it had the potential to replace so many aspects of humankind. Now, there would be no way to see to the end of it, no way to see if AI would become the Asimovian equivalent of robot overlords, or, if there would be a merger of the two, a new kind of species, not unlike Homo Sapiens and Neanderthals. Whatever this is, it¡¯s not the AI Valeria thinks it is. The Doom System isn¡¯t just reasoning or generating¡ªit¡¯s rewriting reality itself. It can color in and erase, build and destroy, all on a whim. ¡°Three years on a stone,¡± Hiro muttered under his breath, recalling his grandfather¡¯s favorite phrase, which had stuck with him since the gates opened. He wasn¡¯t sure why it surfaced now, but it felt significant, like a puzzle piece he hadn¡¯t yet placed. ¡°How long are you going to stand there talking to yourself as you stare off into the distance?¡± Bianca rocked Mishka in her tendrils. She had grown adept at retrieving the teddy bear from Hiro¡¯s backpack and soothing it when needed. Hiro glanced at her, appreciating her care for the teddy bear despite the surreal nature of it all. He gently took the bear from her and placed it back into his backpack. ¡°Okay, Mr. Quiet,¡± Bianca said as Hiro leapt to the street below, his movements cautious as he scanned for potential ambushes. The rain had cleared, leaving the city slick and gleaming under faint light. The air carried the damp, earthy smell of wet concrete, a scent Hiro had grown familiar with since the world¡¯s collapse. They reached the Williamsburg Bridge, but as Hiro moved closer, he froze. The purple beacon was visible on the Brooklyn side, but the middle section of the bridge had collapsed, its remains sunken into the East River. ¡°I wasn¡¯t expecting that,¡± Bianca said. ¡°And I¡¯m guessing you don¡¯t want to swim in the East River again¡­¡± Hiro stared at the gap, calculating the distance. He could attempt to use {Bounce}, but the span was likely too far, and he wasn¡¯t sure if his abilities could carry him across. ¡°We need another way,¡± he said, scanning the broken bridge for any signs of a potential path forward. ¡°And I have just the thing to pull this off.¡± Chapter Seventy-Five: Sticks and Stones Hiro approached the edge of the bridge. It was easily a hundred feet to the otherside, and while there was a chance he could climb to the top of the metal structure and make it across with a running leap, he knew his horizontal jump wasn¡¯t the same as his vertical. ¡°You really think this will work?¡± Bianca asked as she shifted a bit over his shoulder, as if she were gauging the leap. ¡°I do, and it will allow us to surprise attack the¡ª¡± Hiro never finished his sentence as he saw a great force appear on the other side of the bridge. Clad in armor accented with gold filigree and a tiger mask covering the lower half of his face, the Revenant sat astride a massive warhorse. His helmet, crowned with enormous, curved horns that jutted outward like branches of a demonic tree, intensified his silhouette. His warhorse was equally menacing, its face obscured by a matching gilded tiger mask that traced the contours of its snout with eerie precision. Description: The employees of a plastic factory in eastern Tennessee by way of Japan never knew what hit them. The hurricane didn¡¯t come suddenly¡ªwarnings had been plentiful, and they even asked their employer if they could leave. But the boss said no, insisting productivity could outpace even nature¡¯s wrath. Braving the storm to continue producing plastic objects, the workers stayed until the hurricane swallowed the factory whole, drowning most of the staff in knee-deep water laced with microplastics. An internal company document later revealed that leave denial had come from Chief Execution Officer Takeda Shingen, a ruthless 16th-century daimyo infamous for mass executions, sieges, and his destructive love of plastic, who had recently hired during a restructuring. The memo detailed Takeda¡¯s plan to distribute McDonald¡¯s gift cards¡ªvalid only for a six-piece nugget or small fries¡ªto the workers¡¯ families, confident this would repair his image. Like all egomaniacs, CEO Takeda craved acceptance, not just from his legions of online followers but from the masses he openly despised. ¡°Let them eat burgers!¡± he declared in a garish meme posted to his social media page featuring a Disneyfied Marie Antoinette giggling over golden patties. When that flopped, he tried the Oprah meme¡ª¡®You get a burger! You get a burger!¡¯¡ªonly to be greeted with even darker disdain. The more Takeda tried, the more he realized he would never successfully slip into the DMs of his favorite OnlyFans models. It didn¡¯t matter how rich or clever he was, or his global renown for brutality, cost cutting measures, and military genius. All he wanted was acceptance. Why don¡¯t they like me? he wondered as he marched around his room trying out Roman Salutes. Should I change my profile picture? Round them all up? Start a podcast? Force them to follow me? Another meme, perhaps? Then, the darker thoughts came: If they don¡¯t like me, I will destroy them all. The plastic factories of Tennessee are fertile fields of despair, their souls ripe for harvest on my path to domination. Let them eat burgers! Hiro scanned the Doom System¡¯s bloated description and any hints it may hold. Takeda is vain, he thought as he watch the daimyo curse him from the other side of the bridge. He clearly has power. He is, at least in the Doom System¡¯s jilted historically inaccurate mind, a heartless capitalist. All I can point to is his narcissistic vanity. Appealing to that in some way, his ego. But how? Aside from offering him my followers, or acknowledging his power, which could cause problems, there¡¯s not much I will be able to do¡­ ¡°Why are you holding Mishka?¡± Bianca asked, interrupting his train of thought. ¡°Wait, that¡¯s what you want to do?¡± ¡°It¡¯s exactly what I want to do. It¡¯s not like using {Kiss or Slap} on the Pilgrim in Central Park.¡± ¡°Do what?¡± ¡°I mean some way to deal with Takeda using strategy, something against his narcissism. I don¡¯t see in my current list of skills something that would help.That was right before I met you. It was a strategy that I picked up on using the description.¡± Hiro shook his head. ¡°But I¡¯m not seeing something like that here. I am seeing the potential for an ambush, however.¡± If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. ¡°How? Your new skill?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t want to waste A La Mode if I don¡¯t have to.¡± ¡°Are you hoarding skills, bro?¡± Hiro thought about the One Hit Wonders he currently possessed, including {GoFundMerc}, {Scania the Piss Disc Mimic},{North Korean Fece Balloons}, and {A La Mode}, his newest. While Incognito Mode would allow him to get a sneak attack in, and he¡¯d be able to protect himself with Safe Mode, he had a feeling using Chronokuma would cover at least one of those bases. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t say I am hoarding them, I¡¯m just trying to use them smartly. Although, the North {Korean Fece Balloons} might be helpful.¡± He recalled their explanation, which came to him so quickly that it surprised him: Call upon the troubled past and likely troubled future of North Korea by summoning red balloons filled with toxic feces to destroy your opponents. But be warned. You are not immune from their effects¡­ ¡°You sure?¡± Bianca asked after he quieted for a moment. Hiro looked to the other side of the bridge, where Takeda had drawn his sword, the blade glinting like liquid fire in the dim light. The mounted daimyo shouted in archaic Japanese, his voice echoing over the collapsed bridge like a warlord¡¯s battle cry. His horse reared onto its hind legs, hooves pawing at the air in a menacing display of power and defiance. ¡°You speak Japanese, right?¡± Bianca asked. ¡°What¡¯s he saying?¡± ¡°He¡¯s just threatening us.¡± ¡°Clearly, but what is he actually saying?¡± Hiro tuned back into the daimyo¡¯s cries of anger: ¡°Face me, coward!¡± Takeda bellowed. ¡°Meet the judgment of the Tiger of Kai! I shall carve my name upon thy broken flesh! The water below shall cradle thy corpse as the fish feast upon their wretched remains. Even they will spit thee out in disgust, you cur!¡± ¡°Well?¡± Bianca asked as Hachi anxiously moved along the edge of the bridge, the dog clearly ready to engage. ¡°He¡¯s basically saying that he wants me to face him,¡± Hiro translated, ¡°and that he¡¯s going to carve his name into my skin. After he kills me, the fish below will eat my remains, but they will spit me out in disgust.¡± Bianca roared with laughter. ¡°Dang, he straight up roasted you.¡± ¡°I would say something about sticks and stones, but we are far beyond that point. Let¡¯s get this over with. And once we are back in the past, you are in charge of Hachi.¡± ¡°Okay,¡± Bianca said, yet again displaying her usual confidence. Hiro squeezed the teddy bear to his chest and flashed away. The gloom dissolved, replaced by the sharp brightness of a sunny winter day. There were bicyclists on the bridge now, some delivery drivers, others joy riders. A couple walked in front of them holding hands, swinging their arms, and a woman jogged past in tight exercise clothing. The sudden chill in the air bit at his skin as he focused on the timer again: 01:30 01:29 01:28 Hiro exhaled quickly, his breath puffing in the cold. ¡°To the other side,¡± Hiro told Bianca, who was already looking down at her hands, mesmerized by her own being. ¡°We have to hurry!¡± He took off, still with Mishka clutched to his chest. Bianca quickly caught up with him, Hachi following behind. ¡°How far do we have to go?¡± she asked as she passed him quickly. ¡°Hey, I¡¯m faster than you! Ha!¡± ¡°Focus,¡± he called after her, but by this point Bianca had surged off, the teenager easily able to catch up with the woman who was jogging. ¡°Don¡¯t go too far¡ª!¡± Hiro started to say as Hachi happily chased after Bianca, her laughter echoing in the crisp air. It was still hard to wrap his head around the sensation, the rare, fleeting miracle of being in a time and place that felt safe. There was no sense of being hunted here, no unfiltered carnage spawned by a force he could hardly understand. She turned back to him, grinned, her joy infectious. The lightness, the freedom, letting the tension in his chest loosen almost caused him to slow, yet Hiro knew the stakes, he knew where he needed to go. I need to keep going, he thought as he passed a guy talking louding on his earbuds in a different language, Spanish or maybe Portuguese. It was also so New York for no one to really question what Hiro wore or what he was doing, which included duct taped forearms as he clutched a teddy bear to his chest. No one seemed to pay any attention to Bianca either, who was in a fuzzy pink suit as she had been the last time they came to the past. It was all so normal, pedestrian even. And then, it wasn¡¯t. Then, Hiro slowed his jog, got into position, and motioned for Bianca to join him. 00:15 00:14 00:13 ¡°Are we ready to do this?¡± ¡°I think,¡± she said, slightly out of breath. ¡°That was fun. We have to come back to the past.¡± Hiro released his hold on the teddy bear. He stood behind Takeda, who continued to scan the other side of the bridge, prepared to lodge an attack. Without a word, and with a casual nod to Hachi to let the dog know what was about to happen, Hiro drew his enormous odachi from thin air and prepared to attack. Chapter Seventy-Six: Daimyo Hiro¡¯s phantom cats surged forward, joined by Hachi. Mounted Takeda reared back, but his warhorse was unable to stop some of the cats from leaping towards the horse¡¯s legs and grabbing on. The beast slammed its hooves down, scattering some of the cats as Hachi barked wildly and Hiro hit Takeda with {Blade Whirlwind}. ¡°You cur!¡± Takeda drew a katana that seemed normal until the blade elongated into a sharp whip. He charged toward Hiro, who bounced out of the way, and slapped against the Zone of Influence barrier. As he had done before, Hiro used the barrier to ricochet away from Takeda¡¯s next attempt. Worth a shot! His eyes jumped from the health bar over the Revenant¡¯s head as he cast {Thoughts and Prayers}, which failed yet again. ¡°My turn!¡± Bianca surged forward with explosive speed, swinging into action with her tentacles. She latched onto Takeda and his warhorse, coiling tightly around them both. Takeda¡¯s eyes gleamed with a cold fury as his blade shrunk to its normal size. With a deft, almost effortless motion, he slashed downward, severing one of her tentacles in a clean, brutal arc. ¡°Ow!¡± she shouted, the shield moving away. Anger swelling within him, Hiro lunged forward with his odachi aimed for Takeda¡¯s exposed side. But the warhorse reared up, its hooves smashing into the ground inches from Hiro¡¯s feet, forcing him to stumble backward. ¡°Foolish!¡± Takeda bellowed, his voice like rolling thunder. He swept his sword in a downward motion, the blade elongating yet again. Hiro barely managed to raise his odachi in time to blocked the daimyo¡¯s attempt. The clash rang out, sharp and metallic, his arm trembling under the force. Yet the daimyo pulled back, his warhorse pawing at the ground and snorting as Bianca prepared to latch on yet again. For a fleeting moment the tension hung heavy in the air between them, the daimyo studying Hiro with disgusted interest. The tip of his blade dropped to the ground, growing in length. This is going to suck, Hiro thought as he covered his face with his arm and cast {North Korean Fece Balloons}. ¡°What¡¯s this?¡± Takeda roared as red balloons appeared in the air over the fight. They dropped and exploded all at once, releasing steaming piles of shit and a toxic green mist onto Takeda, his warhorse, Hachi, and Bianca who just so happen to be too close. ¡°What the fuck, Hiro?¡± she shouted. ¡°At least warn me before you some a dump from the sky!¡± ¡°You foul creature! You filthy flea!¡± Takeda¡¯s seething horse started to buck until it threw him off. The daimyo hit the ground and lost his sword in the process, which bounced in Bianca¡¯s direction. She grabbed it with her tentacles and hurled it off the roof, the teenager still wailing about being covered in shit. His health bar is down a quarter! Hiro thought as he took Takeda in, who was much shorter than Hiro would have expected, the daimyo extremely bowlegged. In catching another glimpse of him, he noticed that Takeda wore some armor with Louis Vuitton¡¯s logo on it, like Masekado, the samurai Hiro had faced in the First Interim. Takeda coughed and wheezed as his horse tried to flee, only to slam into the protective barrier. ¡°Peasant! Thou scum-born worm! Wretched cur of the earth!¡± Hiro finally caught a whiff of the results of his attack. ¡°Oh god,¡± he said as the foulest scent he could ever remember smelling came to him. It was a sickly, overwhelming stench, a noxious mix of sulfur, rotting meat, and burned hair. Hachi also reacted, the dog whining as he ran to the the border of the Zone of Influence, where he tried to claw his way out from the smell¡¯s reach. Hiro stumbled backward, his free arm pressing against his nose in a desperate attempt to block the stench. A blast of power from Hiro¡¯s katana staggered Takeda, causing the daimyo to lose his sword. Got him! Hiro prepared to clear the gap between the two only to have his plan abruptly interrupted as Takeda¡¯s horse got hold of itself charged at him with terrifying speed. The horse would have trampled him had it not been for Bianca, who used her tentacles to loop around the horse¡¯s neck. She managed to drag it to the side, her sudden appearance startlingly the creature who continued snorting at the terrible smell. Hachi came in as well, the soiled dog nipping at the horse¡¯s hooves. ¡°Face me, coward!¡± bow-legged Takeda cried as he drew a smaller blade. ¡°Turn and face thy doom!¡± He rushed at Hiro, slashing his wakizashi through the air. It was all so fast, yet Hiro managed to keep a step ahead, able to fully understand the daimyo¡¯s trajectory. No matter how hard Takeda tried, the daimyo was unable to get a hit in. There were more opportunities that Hiro knew he could have taken to win the fight, yet he kept getting knocked back by the powerful stench in the air from his One Hit Wonder. The foul odor wasn¡¯t constant¡ªit came in waves, each more potent than the last. Just when he thought he¡¯d steeled himself against it, the smell would surge, sharp and suffocating, as if it were alive. He desperately wanted to cover his mouth, but couldn¡¯t with the furious way that Takeda kept on him, the daimyo¡¯s maddened movements growing faster and faster. Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website. Hiro managed to send a blast of energy forward with his next parry, one that knocked Takeda to the side. He was just going in for the kill when Mishka started to wail, which threw them off balance and allowed Takeda to jump back to his feet. The daimyo placed his hand over his face and removed the bottom portion of his mask. He tossed it aside, the metal clattering against the ground, as he opened his mouth and unleashed a plume of purple fire that surged toward Hiro. The flames rush forward, threatening to engulf Hiro entirely, Hiro not able to step aside in time. He expected to be burned, but then he was hit with a strange visual, one that made Takeda grow in size, the daimyo looming over him menacingly. The terror that followed frozen him in place. His skin pricked as if icy needs were pressing into him, is a deep, gut-wrenching dread settled in his stomach. He couldn¡¯t move, couldn¡¯t think, Hiro just standing there as shadows deepened and warped the fog around him, producing terrifying faces that all leered and snarled. It hadn¡¯t been fire. Takeda has used Fear against him. Hiro dropped his odachi, the blade vanishing in a flash. Get a grip, he thought as the hallucinations grew stronger, the faces larger, threatening to consume him entirely. Suddenly, a bark broke through the fog as Hachi jumped at Takeda, snapping him back to the present. Slobber flew out of the filthy demon dog¡¯s mouth as he latched onto Takeda¡¯s arm, stopping him from driving his wakizashi into Hiro¡¯s stomach. This gave him a moment to reassess what was happening, to better understand the fact that the fire didn¡¯t burn him, that he was still standing. The Fear is an illusion¡­ The Fear is an illusion¡­ With a shaky hand, Hiro grabbed his vape pen. He shakily popped in the Anti-Fear cartridge and took a big inhale of it. He exhaled a cloud of purplish smoke, one that quickly spread over the area and removed the Fear from the air. As if someone had snapped their fingers, Hiro was no longer scared. Once again, he drew his odachi from the air just as Takeda tossed Hachi away and threw his head back, the daimyo prepared to release another plume of purple fire. Ignoring the terrible smell, one that continued to force him to hold back vomit, Hiro surged forward with his Odachi. He used its range to his advantage, the blade swiping through the air with a whistle as Hiro cut into Takeda before the man could release any more flames. Hiro didn¡¯t stop. He followed this up by driving his blade forward, his body shifting with it as Mishka shrieked in his backpack. ¡°Thou¡­ thou¡­¡± Takeda expired, the daimyo dropping his head. He expected for applause to erupt in his head. Instead, a new realization came once he heard a muffled yell from Bianca. The daimyo is down, but his health bar is at the quarter mark. I have to kill his horse too! Hiro gritted his teeth, swiveled on his heels, and hit the charging horse with a blast of energy. This threw the horse off balance as it continued to buck wildly at Bianca, who had wrapped her tentacles around its face and eyes, effectively blinding it. Seizing the newfound opportunity, Hachi and the final phantom cat remaining sprang into action, rushing toward the thrashing horse to distract it enough to slow the beast, allowing Hiro to thrust his odachi upward on the tail end of a bounce and straight through the warhorse¡¯s chest, slaying the monster. [A Revenant has fallen.] Hiro landed, his breath hitching as he once again was hit by the smell. You have new followers! You got cash! The Zone of Influence faded, as did Takeda and his warhorse. Hiro assumed the daimyo would leave behind his wakizashi, but the only thing that remained was the horse¡¯s golden face mask. He covered his mouth with his arm as he read the description. Roulette Accessory: {Raiko¡¯s Mask} Grade: B Upgrade: N/A Here¡¯s a lightly edited and tightened version of the Doom System description:
Description: The TL;DR version of the Annals of Esarhaddon, which chronicles the military campaigns and achievements of the Assyrian king Esarhaddon, can be summed up as follows: is there a better way to instill fear in your enemies and remind the public of your total imperial power than displaying decapitated heads in Nineveh? If that can¡¯t be answered empirically, how about riding into town on a horse wearing a mask made of boiled gerbil leather, lacquered gold, and etched with swirling patterns of knotwork and flame¡ªsymbols of the endless cycle of destruction and renewal, later known as the ouroboros? I guess it¡¯s safe to say that reality does, in fact, eat itself. But by the time you understand this, Survivor, it will be too late. Either way, the mask is yours. Because you weren¡¯t smart enough to secure a horse at an upstate equestrian facility when this all started, the dog you insisted on bringing with you from the First Interim will have to wear it. But you know how demonic dogs are: definitely not friendly, and definitely not trying to dress up for a social media post. Still, if you do manage to get your dog to wear this mask, your fearless pooch will shift into a monstrous, horse-sized beast, gaining immense strength and agility. Hiro picked up the mask, which had since shrunken to a size that would fit the demonic shiba inu. ¡°Ick! We need to get out of here and bathe somehow,¡± Bianca said. Hiro ignored her as he examined the mask. The outer side was just as he had seen on the horse, with a swirling design in the gold and a set of horns. Inside was a carving of a snake eating its own tail, the ouroboros, he thought as he turned to Hachi. The dog¡¯s tail instantly lowered. ¡°It won¡¯t be so bad,¡± Hiro said. Bianca laughed. ¡°I can¡¯t wait to see you try to put that thing on him. But seriously, bro, we gotta go. This is the shittiest situation we¡¯ve been in yet.¡± Chapter Seventy-Seven: Barcode Babies Hiro took a step closer to Hachi, who instinctively pressed back, his muscles tensing as if preparing to bolt. The dog lowered his head, bared his teeth, and let out a deep, rumbling growl¡ªa clear warning. His ears flattened and his body coiled like a spring, ready to snap if Hiro pushed any further. ¡°Relax, it won¡¯t be that bad,¡± Hiro told him, eyeing the mask once again. ¡°Just think about it: if you put this on, you¡¯ll become a monstrous, horse-sized beast. Don¡¯t you want something like that?¡± Hachi barked and continued snarling. Hiro lifted the mask closer to his own face. ¡°Like this. See?¡± He didn¡¯t press it against his skin¡ªhe knew better than to test the Doom System like that¡ªbut he wanted to show Hachi what it would be like. ¡°I dunno, Big Bro,¡± Bianca said. ¡°As much as I like a human-animal bonding moment, I don¡¯t think this is going to be it. But if you ask nicely, I could try to hold him down while you put it on.¡± ¡°Maybe¡­¡± Hiro puffed his cheeks out as he considered his options. ¡°But then again, maybe not. Maybe we hold off for a bit. Also, the description didn¡¯t say how long he¡¯d be horse-sized. It didn¡¯t say anything about it being temporary, but¡­ yeah, makes sense. Let¡¯s just hold off for now. In the backpack you go,¡± he told the mask. ¡°With Mishka?¡± Bianca asked in horror. ¡°She¡¯ll be fine.¡± Ignoring the way his stomach grumbled, Hiro tucked the mask into his backpack and started off again. He¡¯d been hungry before¡ªback when supers reigned supreme and resources were scarce. He remembered going days without food, lying with his head in Monica¡¯s lap as she described her favorite meals. His mouth would water, making things worse and better at the same time. There was an irony to it now, one Hiro didn¡¯t miss, especially with his boost in MIND. I definitely wasn¡¯t this hungry in the First Interim. The Doom System was deliberately messing with his body¡¯s chemistry, producing more¡­ The word surfaced in his mind, unfamiliar yet certain. Ghrelin. A hormone that signals hunger to the brain. In that case, he decided, I¡¯ll only eat when Mishka is hungry. Hiro had Survivor Tenders in his bag. He could also eat in the past, but that would require rest. Or when it becomes too much to endure Hiro turned back to the collapsed Williamsburg Bridge, its twisted remains severing the connection between Brooklyn and Manhattan. ¡°We¡¯re going to have to either rest here in Brooklyn or make our way to the Manhattan Bridge,¡± he said, pointing toward the structure that linked downtown Brooklyn to Lower Manhattan. ¡°Because Mishka doesn¡¯t have enough Back to the Future juice left to get us back across.¡± ¡°Sure,¡± he said the shield as he glanced toward the Brooklyn skyline, where glowing, ominous advertisements flickered across towering buildings. ¡°She has under fifteen seconds left. If we try to go back in time now, we¡¯ll drop straight into the water.¡± In the distance, an explosion erupted, sending a thick plume of smoke curling into the sky. Damn, he thought as he watched another explosion light up the sky, one a bit further out. ¡°So we explore Brooklyn, rest, and avoid whatever the frick just happened over there,¡± Bianca said. ¡°Something like that.¡± Hiro shifted his attention to the Manhattan skyline, where three purple beams marked the locations of the remaining Revenants. Alongside them, the beacons he had set glowed steadily, while numerous merchant markers dotted the cityscape. ¡°You sure are one for words.¡± ¡°Let¡¯s keep going,¡± he told her as he set his sights on what lay ahead. ### It took them a few minutes to reach the exit point of the Williamsburg Bridge, the collapsed structure behind them fading into the murky skyline. The exit consisted of a set of rusted stairs leading down to the streets of Williamsburg, lined with cracked pavement and a few streetlights. Hiro paused at the top of the stairs, scanning the area. He was just about to take the first step down when movement caught his eye. He went for the hilt of his katana instinctively as he saw them¡ªsix or seven grotesque, toddle- sized figures crawling up the stairs toward him. Their bodies were covered in wiry, hirsute bristles that bristled like needles, catching the dim light. Instead of faces, glowing white barcodes stretched from the tops of their foreheads to their chins, pulsing faintly. Hachi immediately started barking, his fur on end, his stance rigid. ¡°Those babies with¡­ barcode faces?¡± Bianca asked. ¡°Here we go,¡± Hiro braced himself as the barcode babies surged toward him, some climbing the railing while others scuttled directly up the steps. He slashed downward, severing one cleanly in half with his katana. Hachi threw his full weight into another, knocking it off the stairs entirely¡ªthe two figures tumbling down onto the street below with a sickening crunch. ¡°Good boy!¡± Hiro praised, but he wasn¡¯t about to fight on the stairs¡ªtoo many angles to get overwhelmed. He triggered {Bounce}, and launched himself back onto the bridge proper, where he could assess the situation. He immediately attempted {Thoughts and Prayers}, but as expected, nothing happened. Of course, he thought as he followed this up by summoning his phantom demon cats, who responded in full force, rushing forward to meet the creeping barcode creatures that had now clambered over the railing and onto the bridge itself. Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. Bianca surged into action beside him, her tentacles whipping through the air, grabbing and flinging the creatures like ragdolls. More kept coming, scuttling over metal and pulling themselves up from the streets below, their barcode faces flickering. A dozen and still counting. Not good. Hiro brought his sword down on another, slicing it clean in half¡ªonly to watch as both halves convulsed and take shape again, becoming two fully formed barcode babies, each just as fast and aggressive as the first. ¡°They¡¯re multiplying!¡± he shouted to Bianca. ¡°What? Shit!¡± Bianca flung another one over the side of the bridge. ¡°Should we run?¡± Hiro might have considered it if not for the flood of barcode babies scrambling up the stairs. They seemed to feed off each other, their movements becoming sharper, faster, more erratic. A few lunged for him. Bianca swiped one away, but another latched onto his leg, its needle-like bristles stabbing deep into his flesh. The pain was instant and excruciating. He dropped his sword, instinctively grabbing the creature with both hands¡ªonly realizing his mistake too late. Tearing it off sent a fresh wave of agony through his fingers. ¡°Argh!¡± Hiro stumbled to the side, then launched himself upward with {Bounce}, narrowly avoiding a collision with one of the steel beams framing the Williamsburg Bridge. ¡°I¡¯ve got you!¡± Bianca¡¯s fuzzy tentacles shot out, wrapping around his arms and pulling him the rest of the way up. ¡°Thanks!¡± Hiro told her as he landed safely atop the bridge¡¯s steel framework, giving him a vantage point over the swarming babies as they skittered up the metal below. From his new position, Hiro spotted Hachi, the dog nearly overwhelmed by the crawling monstrosities. Shit, shit, shit! Panic surged through him¡ªuntil movement on the stairs caught his attention. A Survivor, clad in camo and a black motorcycle helmet, sprinted up the steps, holding what looked like¡­ a gun? No, not quite. A few of the barcode babies turned toward the new arrival, but the Survivor stood firm and aimed his weapon, releasing a red light flickered that exploded the first barcode baby on impact. ¡°Is that a¡­ price scanner?¡± Hiro blurted out as the Survivor calmly adjusted his grip and fired again. ¡°What?¡± Bianca burst out laughing. ¡°Oh my god, no way! That¡¯s sick!¡± Every baby the Survivor scanned detonated into bursts of confetti, the remnants fluttering like shredded receipts. The ones swarming Hiro instantly shifted their attention toward the new threat. The Survivor welcomed them, his scanner flashing again and again, cutting them down in rapid succession. Just as quickly as the fight had spiraled out of control, it was now completely turning in their favor until all their opponents were gone. The big man turned toward Hachi, the dog already barking at him, hackles raised. ¡°I¡¯m coming down there!¡± Hiro called out, giving a warning before he jumped to ground level. No need to startle the guy. ¡°Should I stay up here?¡± Bianca asked quickly. ¡°Just in case.¡± ¡°No, just be ready.¡± Hiro bounced down, landing beside Hachi, who remained stiff and on edge in front of the Survivor, his ears pinned back, teeth bared. ¡°I¡¯m not the main character,¡± Hiro said immediately. The man let out a short, dry laugh. ¡°You say that crap too?¡± he asked, his accent telling Hiro he was from somewhere in the South. ¡°Heh. I remember when the Damn System said that at the beginnin¡¯. Didn¡¯t make no sense then, and it don¡¯t make no sense now. I¡¯m Ben.¡± ¡°Hiro. The dog¡¯s Hachi. He¡¯s not friendly.¡± ¡°Shee-it, who woulda thought?¡± Ben didn¡¯t extend a hand, but he did slide his price scanner back into a holster at his hip. His nose twitched. ¡°Dang, man, that smell you?¡± ¡°Unfortunately.¡± ¡°Well, in that case, I¡¯m glad I got this here helmet on. The Damn System gave me a roulette-whatever that makes my eyes real sensitive. I see things, though¡ªworld hints and whatnot. Like knowin¡¯ I needed me a price scanner.¡± ¡°To kill the barcode babies?¡± Hiro asked, cautiously sheathing his katana. ¡°Yup. Cain¡¯t kill ¡®em without it. They just keep comin¡¯ back for more. Found me one in an abandoned convenience store¡­ or bodega, that¡¯s what y¡¯all call ¡®em, right?¡± Ben chuckled. ¡°Don¡¯t even need no electricity. Just clicked the button, and it worked.¡± ¡°It¡¯s funny how that happens¡­ here,¡± Hiro said, his heart still racing a bit from all that it just happened. To go from being bombarded by menacing barcode babies having a cordial conversation had a way of throwing him off guard. ¡°The shitty part is if I take off the visor, I¡¯m blind as a dang bat.¡± ¡°What¡¯s it do when you encounter bosses?¡± ¡°Sentries and Hunters? Shee-it, I wish it did more. I get the same dumbass descriptions you probably do.¡± ¡°They¡¯re always something.¡± Ben snorted. ¡°Mine seem to focus on makin¡¯ fun of me, liberals, freedoms, and all this shit it thinks¡¯ll rile me up. But hell, none of that matters now. We¡¯re all in this shitshow together.¡± Bianca shifted on Hiro¡¯s arm. ¡°I love our new cowboy friend! I haven¡¯t met many Southerners, you know. I only visited the South once¡ªMiami. I also went to the U.S. Virgin Islands, but that¡¯s not the South, right?¡± Hiro didn¡¯t answer her as Ben sized him up. ¡°I see you got a katana.¡± ¡°First Interim.¡± ¡°Lucky. I would¡¯ve loved somethin¡¯ like that. The Damn System gave me a pen.¡± ¡°That¡¯s it?¡± ¡°That¡¯s it. The pen produces a lethal poison, but I gotta stab someone with it to make that happen. That¡¯s why I got the camo¡ªnot that it works real well in an urban environment. Last Interim wasn¡¯t easy, I¡¯ll tell you what. But I picked up a few powers, and with my eye situation, maybe I¡¯ll make it through this one. Maybe.¡± ¡°Maybe,¡± Hiro echoed, aware of all the hope and trauma that single word carried. Ben¡¯s nose twitched again. ¡°I guess it ain¡¯t too wrong for me to ask, considerin¡¯ the circumstances¡ªwhy exactly are you covered in shit?¡± ¡°It was an attack I used against a Sentry.¡± He motioned to the bridge. ¡°Back there.¡± Ben let out a sharp laugh. ¡°Your smell matches your look.¡± ¡°Meaning?¡± ¡°You smell like hell, man.¡± Hiro couldn¡¯t help but laugh at Ben¡¯s tone. ¡°I was planning to clean off.¡± ¡°I¡¯ll bet. Where you headed? Ain¡¯t no place to hose off in this direction.¡± ¡°I need to get back across the bridge, downtown,¡± Hiro said. ¡°So I was thinking of looping around to the Manhattan Bridge. I guess I¡¯ll figure out some clothes on the way.¡± ¡°You ain¡¯t gonna get that stink off you with a simple clean-up. You¡¯ll need new clothes entirely. But I know a spot. Just a block or two from here. A warehouse that wasn¡¯t raided, believe it or not. Gotta get in from the top, though.¡± ¡°Not a problem.¡± ¡°There are more price scanners there, too. I know ¡®cause that¡¯s where I got mine. You¡¯re gonna want one. These dang barcode babies are real sons of bitches.¡± ¡°So we partner up?¡± ¡°Seems like the best move. I¡¯ve been meanin¡¯ to head over to Manhattan anyway. Gettin¡¯ sick of Brooklyn. We hit this warehouse and get you some clothes, you clean up, we head over the bridge, and part ways. Cool with you?¡± Hiro hesitated. He couldn''t see Ben¡¯s face behind the dark visor of his helmet, couldn¡¯t read his expression. But there was no real choice here, and the man seemed friendly enough. ¡°Cool. Let me bandage my wounds first.¡± ¡°You grabbed one of the barcode babies?¡± ¡°Unfortunately.¡± Hiro showed Ben his bloody hands. Ben let out a low whistle. ¡°That¡¯s definitely a fool-me-once situation if I ever saw one.¡± ¡°Definitely.¡±