Mixed Hatred

Meanwhile, in the city of Alkeron, inner turmoil started to ensue…

Jotaro: “Father, he made a mockery of me. In front of all those people too. I want access to the troops or even just give me Henry. He should be able to obliterate them in seconds.”

Mugen: “Don’t come in here and pester me like I’m some bug. It’s your own fault that you put yourself in that situation. Don’t come crying to me. I have too many problems of my own. You’re not getting the troops and you’re not getting anyone of high status. Forget Henry. He’s busy doing work for me.”

Mugen was the ruler of Alkeron, but also the father of Jotaro. He had long brown hair, much like an animal, that curled down to his shoulders. He wore an army outfit with various badges on it while sitting at the desk in front of him overlooking hundreds of papers.

Jotaro: “F-Father, please. I will not go unscathed from this. This man, h-he, humiliated me. Why can’t you understand that?!”

Mugen: “Jotaro! Raise your voice at me again and I’ll strip you of your funding for your little projects you do. You come complaining to me about some nobody because you were stupid enough to venture out to a prostitution city and lose a game that you designed. How stupid can you be?”

Jotaro: “He cheated. He had to of. I swear he cheated. There’s no other explanation. I need to get revenge. Please, father.”

Mugen: “No. Don’t ask again. Get out of here. I have meetings to get to.”

Jotaro: “F-Father!”

The door slammed open and in walked a tall, heavy man with long frizzy light brown hair. He wore a Hawaiian shirt, bucket hat, and sunglasses. On his shoulder was a sword with great size and width. It was shiny silver all the way through down to the handle like a large piece of metal that sat in his palm.

Henry: “I get back and all I hear is yelling. What a warm welcome I am given. What’s up boss?”

Mugen: “You’re a day late. Where the hell were you?”

Henry: “Relax. I wanted to enjoy myself for a day. I got what you wanted. Look.”

Henry pulled out 4 different chaplets from his pocket. He described them as so. A black orb with green wavy stripes called the Chrono Chaplet that could predict the future up to 3 seconds.

Another black orb with a single medium sized light floating in the middle called the Soul Chaplet that allowed you to communicate with the dead.

A blue orb wrapped in an outer layer of solid gold called the Arcanum Chaplet that allows you to control multiple weapons at once that hover in the air.

Finally, a fiery looking clear orb with a depiction of a tiger’s face on the inside. The tiger’s eyes gleamed bright white. Henry called it the Beast Chaplet that turned you into a monster with heightened abilities for a shortened time or until injured.

Mugen: “You never disappoint Henry. Thank you. You will be well taken care of. Do not worry.”

Henry: “Ah, I know boss, but when will I get a break? This is exhausting. I’ve been doing this for a year straight and I’ve only gotten 31 chaplets. I’ve stared death in the eyes multiple times. I always pull through, of course. Nobody is touching me, but I need to sit on a nice island with the sun beaming down and some hot babes next to me. ”

Mugen: “Well, with the 4 we already had from before, we are halfway to get all 70. Then you will get the break you deserve.”

Henry: “Ah, you say that boss, but when everyone in the world wants to come after you, who’s going to be here to defend you? Yep, me. There ain’t nobody else. Even guys inside your own organizations are going to want those chaplets. That’s where the real loyalty is tested.”

Mugen: “Yeah, I know. I can’t rely on the royals abilities. All they do is have a lot of mana. Sure, nobody is going to break through this city’s barrier, but most of them are poor fighters. You, Enho, and Masaru are the only 3 I can rely on. Just find me the other 35 and then we can discuss this further.”

Henry: “You make it sound like an easy task. I’m good, but I ain’t that good. Some of these chaplets are myths because nobody has ever even seen them. I even encountered some freak out in the Coolian Mountains that said a 71st chaplet exists. Give me some more time. I’ll get them eventually, but I might have to pry them off some people. Anyways, what did I interrupt here?”

Mugen: “A 71st chaplet? Nonsense. Crazy people do exist everywhere I suppose. You didn’t interrupt anything, he was just leaving.”

Jotaro: “Father, I-I…”

Henry: “Ah, ah, ah. I would listen to your father there, Jotaro. He’s a smart man. He may be a little selfish at times, but he knows what he is doing. Come on, I’ll take you to lunch. Oh, before I go, what’s this I hear about the City of Thieves getting destroyed? We did a lot of business with them, did we not? A supply of 10 new chaplets was supposed to be delivered to us.”

Mugen: “Yeah. Don’t ask. We are receiving the chaplets tomorrow, so we will be at 45. One of the Great Swordsmen up and destroyed the whole city for no reason. I pulled my troops beforehand. They tipped me off when they saw him on the outskirts. They’re working on rebuilding the teleporter to the dungeons as we speak and then I’ll send Masaru out there to get another 5.”

Henry: “What a shame. My mother took care of me as much as she could there. We would scavenge around for food and she even sold her body parts to keep me alive. Too bad I had to kill her…Alright, let’s go Jotaro. I’ll buy you a nice cup of ramen.”

Mugen sat at his desk as silence filled the air. His eyes looked empty, but confident as if he had a goal and abandoned everything to achieve it.

Mugen: “I’ll do whatever it takes. Once this is done, we will control the world. Come at me!”

________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Welpen: “I don’t like this. Why is it taking so long to get down these stairs? I feel like I’m having one of those never ending dreams I used to have at Clara’s. Although, those were good dreams now that I think about it. Sometimes I would dream of eating warm cookies and milk. It was so gooood.”

Octavious: “I could eat a horse right now. I’m with you on that Welpen. I’m starving.”

They finally reached the bottom of the stairs that opened up to a setting that they did not expect. Welpen and Astro knew exactly what it was, but for some reason, Octavious did not.

It was the same forest that appeared when they had first entered down here. Although, everybody was scattered around now and there was no other place to go. There was a visible barrier that was unbreakable behind them that surrounded the walls of the forest. Everyone was free to attack each other, but they didn’t yet because of one single object that sat in the middle.

A glowing chest slowly opened and inside of it were physical death tokens. The amount appeared above it showing 200. Immediately everyone rushed towards the chest while killing others as they went.

The three of them stood back and Octavious and Astro fired arrows at people who ran across, adding to their overall total. As someone claimed the chest and tokens, they were protected by a circular barrier that appeared out of the ground.

However, the game didn’t end.

It was as if this was just a bonus round and the real round was starting. Chains shot out from the trees and began wrapping people up much like the seaweed. Astro grabbed Welpen and bounced around as best as he could. Octavious did the same until they were in a corner away from a lot of trees.

Glaring eyes sat upon a treetop and looked down on them. A single arrow fired towards Welpen.

He couldn’t dodge.

He barely saw it coming.

‘Crap. I can’t avoid that. I’m gonna die,’ he thought.

Octavious and Astro’s hands reached out at the last moment to stop the arrow together. Welpen looked in the tree to see who had fired this at him. Ryukoko smiled that same smile when she looked at Welpen in the main room. She charged at them from the trees and tried to dagger Welpen.

Astro planted his foot, grabbed her body midair, and launched her to the other end of the map. She hit her head against the barrier and coughed up blood. It wasn’t enough to kill her, but she was wounded enough to where she couldn’t move.

Astro: “Get to the top of the trees. The chains can’t reach there.”

Octavious: “How do you know?”

Astro: “That girl was just sitting there above the chains and they did nothing to her. Not one attempt to go after her.”

And so they did.

They were the only ones at the top of the trees. Most people had no desire to come to the top because it disadvantaged them. With only 1 minute left in the last event, a familiar face appeared across from them.

Astro: “You can’t win. You know that. You’d just be feeding us death tokens. Is that what you want?”

Izumi: “Hahaha! I just want a little revenge, that’s all. I don’t care if I’m killed or not. I love this. I love the feeling. I love the blood. I’m feigning for it. I want this same feeling my whole life!”

Welpen sat back and looked at her like she was crazy. Octavious stepped in front of him and spoke for him.

Octavious: “I agree! I do love the feeling as well, but these men have promised me a spot in the tournament, so I must stick to my word. When the tournament ends, maybe we can kill each other for days upon end, Kamiko Izumi!”

Izumi licked her dagger and laughed.

Izumi: “Hehehe. I’ll take you up on that, but for right now, I want all your blood…Girls! Lend me some help.”

Two other girls older than her hopped up next to her side. A woman with long black hair and half torn clothes. Her eyes were covered with black paint and she leaned over ready to attack. The other woman had split white and black hair. She was smoking a cigarette and dressed in a suit.

Welpen remembered picking them both, but they didn’t seem that bad at the time. However, all three of them were against them now.

Astro sighed and looked at Octavious.

Astro: “More death tokens for us, right?”

Octavious: “Right. Let’s do it.”

Welpen witnessed in front of him a slaughter.

Unlimited attempts of revival to come kill him, yet stopped instantly. It wasn’t even a fight. The skill difference with Astro and Octavious was unbelievable. Their chemistry was insane even though they had never fought side by side. Izumi stood no chance, but continued her pursuit as they regenerated even quicker now. Death tokens added up for him and Octavious as the clock struck 0 and the event was coming to a close.

Everyone was pulled magically into the same door that they had entered that had appeared in the middle of the forest. The games were over. Once they went through that door, they could no longer participate.

People tried to avoid it, but ultimately couldn’t.

Astro, Welpen, and Octavious would have willingly went, but they were dragged through the air and into the door instead, finally exiting the hell that they were in.