After Image - Hero's Lies Arc

Schulz threw his arm downwards, gripping his golden blade tightly, attempting to cut straight down through Kage. Kage teleported away to get some distance, but Schulz wasn’t allowing it. His speed picked up in the air once more, slashing wildly. Kage kept teleporting in between strikes, preferring that to blocking them. The strikes were too fast to block now. Kage thought hard to himself.

“I have a guess now. It’s landed on black twice in a row. I need my guesses to count, as the other person is forced to go with black or red, depending on what the first person chooses. If red and black were sides of a coin, there would be a one in eight chance it would be black three times in a row. However, for just one red to appear from the first three spins, that probability would jump to a seven out of eight chance. I have to take it!”

“Red!” he bellowed loudly.

“Guess I have black then!” Schulz laughed, charging down Kage again. “Give up, you old fraud!”

Schulz trust his sword forward, just as the ball in the roulette table lost momentum and landed comfortably in a red zone. Kage had his first buff. He smirked, aiming his back toward the ground, and kicking upward, knocking the blade out of Schulz, who hissed violently in annoyance.

“But it’s not an exact fifty-fifty chance. There are those bastard green tiles,” Kage thought, dashing forward with his own blade. Schulz summoned a wall of pure gold to give him a chance to escape, but Kage teleported through it, and Schulz dodged a quick strike just in time. The ten percent speed boost over Kage had saved him as he grabbed his sword again, which was falling through the air at speed.

“Why is there no consequence for calling wrong on a green tile? On top of that, if it lands on green and nobody calls it, we both die.” Kage suddenly had a realization. “He forces people to keep calling green out of fear, knowing the very low chance of an instant win, and he guesses a normal color correctly, constantly buffing himself! It’s a battle of endurance!”

Kage kicked forward, landing a swift side kick to Schulz’s chest. The hero looked back at his attacker, getting angrier by the second.

“My turn to call! Red!”

“Black!”

The roulette wheel spun around once more, the ball bouncing violently. It stopped suddenly this time. Red. Three buffs for Schulz, one buff for Kage. However, Kage didn’t look afraid. In fact, he had stopped thinking. His battle IQ had not run out. It had completed its mission.

 From that moment on, Kage knew he was going to win. He smirked, watching Schulz charge at him once more. He dodged quickly, then teleported behind Schulz, then in front, then behind again.

Schulz eyes darted around his head. He needed to make the extra buffs count, but he couldn’t find the perfect spot to hit Kage. He was too fast. Schulz formed a circle of golden swords, shooting out violently, but none of the swords even came close to hitting Kage.

Schulz nodded his head in focus, forming a bow of pure gold, with arrows with paper money feathers.

“My imagination will far surpass your IQ, Kage!” Schulz yelled out. “Why don’t you let a young man like me dream?” he continued, knocking the bow back, following Kage’s teleportation.

“Red, Schulz. That's the color I call."

Schulz froze. He could feel Kage’s presence all around him. He didn’t know where he was, but he knew he was there somewhere, out in the blur of bodies. Kage was teleporting so fast, that every time he moved, an after image was left in his place. Schulz knew that if he called black, and it rolled in his favor, he would be able to shoot Kage.

“Black,” he quivered, waiting for the right moment to release the draw string.

He kept the bow drawn, waiting out the clock. The ball jumped aggressively in the roulette table, and didn’t stop until the wheel stopped dead in its tracks. Schulz released the bow, the arrow darting quickly through the air.

Until it wasn’t.

The arrow had been caught by Kage, who had just been granted another ten percent buff. The color that showed up on the roulette table was indeed red. Kage smirked, with a slight hint of cockiness, and snapped the golden arrow in two with his thumb, as if it were a flimsy stick.

“Hesitation is a terrible weakness, Schulz. You can’t afford that on a battlefield,” Kage had a smile grin on his face. “I think next time, you should choose red. Three reds in a row sounds really lucky, doesn’t it?”

Schulz gripped his fists in anger. He now had three buffs, compared to Kage’s two. He understood that he still had the upper hand, and better again, he now had the choice of choosing his color.

That was exactly what Kage was thinking.

Kage knew that statistically, going for three reds in a row wasn’t going to happen. Although, it might be very tempting to go for it, which is why he planted the seed. A manipulation tactic. Picturing the red slot as a big red button not to push. Kage knew he was going to take the bait.

Schulz jumped forward suddenly, knocking Kage’s katana out of his hand. He trusted forward, attempting to stab Kage in the chest, but Kage teleported his sword back into his hand, blocking the strike. He then swapped positions with Schulz, and went forward with his own attacks, attempting to put Schulz into a surprised panic, but Schulz was too quick and composed for that.

“Huh? I thought he had Teleportation Magic, but he just swapped with Schulz,” Wisteria said aloud, puzzled at the recent move Kage had used.

“He does. He just teleported Schulz to his position, and he teleported to Schulz’s old position. However, he did it so fast that it looked like he simply swapped places with him. Incredible...” Tomokazu replied, explaining everything to Wisteria, standing up with a pained expression on his face.

He knew that beating his father was a shallow objective, and killing the Gods was of no interest to him. He looked back at Hiroshi, who was slowly walking over to the group. Wisteria ran over and began yelling at him for moving with his injuries.

Hiroshi wanted to bring world peace. He would need be the at the top of the world to achieve that.

At that moment, Tomokazu realized what he wanted his goal to be. 

*QUESTION TIME!!!*

"Do you have any interesting hobbies you would like to share?"

Hiroshi says - "Um, I don't have much. I'm a very boring person to be honest. Although I really enjoyed drawing in my old world. I love the quill pens they have in this world. Maybe, I can draw Wisteria one day, if she'll let me." Alexander - "Your from a different world?" Hiroshi - "Don't ask and just accept."

Wisteria says - "Hunting of course! Learning how to hunt saved Hiroshi's life all that time ago! Sometimes, it doesn't feel like a hobby. It's a matter of if me and my family get to eat or not. However, when it's for fun, I love it!"

Tomokazu says - "Training, probably. I am in my element. No distractions. Just me and my sword. I never really had time to pick up a hobby, per say. My father had me ruthlessly training all day, everyday. Hmm...maybe I should take up fishing?"

Bibi says - "Blowing shit up. It's so fun! I don't have any manna, so using my power like that is awesome. I wouldn't hurt anyone! I would just aim at a rock and BAM! Hee hee..." Alexander - "Um...anyway next question."