A Fearsome Choice

8 hours passed like nothing.

They waited with Octavious until the time was right before standing outside the guild. Naoki and Souta appeared holding each a pistol with a silencer on the ends that glowed light blue.

Astro: “That’s the weapon? That little gun?”

Naoki: “Yep. Straight from Chaplice Hill from a guy we met. It packs a punch. We were able to get two. Shoot this at someone and it sticks them with a small red mark that explodes after 3 seconds. They can’t rip it off their body either.”

Astro: “How was this allowed in the tournament?”

Naoki: “Well, if you’re really skilled, then you can avoid it, but that’s why it costs so many death tokens. We wracked up a ton in the last game. More than he expected, so he gave us the only two that existed. Let’s go. The sun is starting to go down. Now is the time.”

As they headed out, Astro slightly looked into the guild and saw the woman standing at the front desk from before. She smiled and waved at him like she was expecting him to be passing by.

They darted off to the outskirts of the city.

Everybody ran as fast as they could before night could fall. They reached the border where the ground slowly began to change color, getting dark and darker. They stopped just before the ground turned black and looked back to make sure nobody was trailing them.

Nobody was in sight, but the air felt thinner for everyone, especially Welpen.

Astro gave Octavious the sniper that he got as Naoki and Souta kept their pistols. Welpen took up his own weapon, but didn’t really plan on using it. Souta and Naoki reached down and tapped their shoes. The bottoms lit up yellow and became an icy texture. It allowed them to have more speed and maneuver faster in case they got into trouble. Nobody could activate mana like they wanted to, so this was their only option.

Naoki: “Everyone ready to go? I’m not sure how far it is, but once we get there, these guns can be amped up to blow a hole in the exit if we can’t open it already.”

Astro: “Welpen, you are to stay by my side the whole time. Sprint as hard as you can. If you can’t keep up, then I’ll carry you.”

They stepped across the border where the ground turned pitch dark and the air got extremely thin. Welpen had to breathe hard already to not pass out, but the rest of them did not struggle as much. It did have an effect on how fast everyone could go, but for Octavious, it didn’t do much to him. Despite his physique and attitude, he was capable of protecting himself, but Welpen already started to fall behind.

Astro: “Welpen. Get on my scythe for now. They are coming.”

Behind them were 25 members of the guild all with an intention of killing. Even without mana, Astro could sense the ferocious intent of death.

Lasers and arrows flew at them from a distance. Swords and axes were thrown at their heads. Souta and Naoki took care of some with their own guns, but most of them were good enough to evade. They needed to get closer to hit them.

Octavious: “Astro. I’m pretty sure we can take care of most of those guys. Say the word and I’m with you. Naoki and Souta made it seem like it was going to be impossible. This isn’t impossible. This is wondrous!”

As he said this, the members started to combine together and formed 1 large creature that was unhuman like. It looked nothing like any of the people that had been rushing at them. It was faster and bigger. One stride for it was 10 strides for all of them. It was gaining speed on them rapidly. They had no choice.

Naoki: “Astro! We’re gonna have to fight this thing! Throw the kid up front and let him run.”

Astro: “No. That’s not the deal. You guys can take care of it yourselves. That’s what those fancy guns are for.”

Octavious made the choice to help Souta and Naoki. Not for their sake, but for Astro and Welpen’s sake.

Souta and Naoki vigorously skated around the creature as it swung at them with a giant wood club with spikes. They circled it and aimed at its legs, blowing it up in portions, but its body was so big that they needed to hit it multiple times to get through its skin.

Octavious spun in the air over the top of it with his amazing agility and shot down with the sniper at its hideous face. It barely had any effect though.

The creature, made up of 17 different people, was not even recognizable. It screamed out in anger and swung more rapidly. Souta laughed and avoided the club striking him. He skated through its legs to the backside and shot multiple marks up the spine. They exploded holes throughout the backside.

Souta: “Hahaha! I don’t even need to use mana against you. This is fun!”

Naoki: “Stop messing around Souta. Octavious, take the gun. Shoot at its legs. I’m gonna slice the top half. Coordinate with Souta.”

Souta: “I ain’t teaming with nobody. I got this.”

Naoki: “Stupid idiot! You’re going to get us killed!”

Souta: “Not my problem.”

Octavious did as he was told. His agility helped him evade the big swings of the monster, but he couldn’t put much damage into it. Even the gun wasn’t doing much combined with Souta’s. The legs barely had half the damage.

Naoki’s body lit up in pink mana lines. They were thinner than Astros, but had a solid color to them. Astro looked behind to see this, not knowing how he was activating mana lines and he couldn’t.

Naoki took up another weapon that he had, but it was more like a cleaver with spikes extending down it. A chain and ball was attached at the end that he swung as he attacked the large body.

Naoki thought, ‘It’s soft, but it’s hard to cut. This isn’t going to work. I’d run out of mana before I could cut through all this and Souta only has about 30 seconds when he activates his. I can only tap into my mana down here for so long. Stupid Astro. He could kill this thing with one slice, but he doesn’t want to leave the kid alone for 1 second.’

Souta: “Naoki, this is awesome. It’s slowing down. Keep shooting the legs Octavious. It’s limping a little.”

Octavious: “I am! I am!”

Souta activated his mana lines that were similar in color. His were a little thicker than Naoki’s, showing his strength above him. He took his sword and cracked it in half to use two blades instead of one. He couldn’t care less about weapons whether they were common or legendary. He just loved the thrill of the fight.

He targeted the right leg, which was cut deeper than the left and hacked away. The creature fell to the ground on his left knee and screamed.

Naoki: “Souta! Run! Get away!”

Souta: “H-Huh?”

The creature suddenly exploded in front of them back into the 17 guild members. The explosion shocked the three of them backwards and the waves of people came at them. Souta’s right side of his face bled profusely as he tumbled further and further away. 6 of the members attacked Naoki, targeting him endlessly.

He retreated towards Astro who was way in the distance while Octavious sprinted alongside him. Souta fought his own battle against 4 of them with his cocky nature. A smile still stained his face as he showed no signs of struggle. The gun was especially a huge aid up close.

Octavious: “My clothes are filthy! You are buying me a new set of beautiful clothes when we are done with this!”

Naoki shot the gun as he skated backwards and killed off another 7 of them. Like before though, the remaining 6 combined and made a smaller creature. It was quicker and more agile. He wasn’t able to hit it with the gun. Souta tried from behind too, but kept missing. Octavious didn’t want to get close. They continued straight as quickly as they could.

‘Sorry Astro, but I’m gonna have to put that kid in danger in order for you to do something,’ Naoki thought.

Octavious: “No. I know what you’re thinking. He’s going to kill me if we go near him.”

Naoki: “Yeah well we don’t have another choice. Let’s go. As fast as you can or you’re going to get pierced by weapons.”

Souta came up alongside them and they went as fast as possible to catch up to Astro and Welpen. Astro still had not found the door, but saw them coming up from behind. He was slower than them because of the environment and the boots that they possessed. When they caught up, Astro asked how he activated his mana lines while still running from the creatures.

Naoki explained, but ultimately, it was because of the boots that they were wearing. Naoki quickly took them off as they ran, but Astro only had about 15 seconds with them. He told Naoki to head back towards the monster, which he hesitated with, but then trusted Astro and blindly went back. In Astro’s mind, 15 seconds was more than enough time.

He stopped and chanted out loud.

Astro: “Children of Thanatos, Spirits of Shadows, Disperse.”

Out of nowhere, Astro jumped out of Naoki’s shadow and sliced the monster in multiple pieces and quickly went back to Welpen. Naoki was shocked by his strength. ‘81? Souta, please tell me you were joking.’ he thought.

Naoki: “Ast–”

Astro wrapped his scythe around Naoki’s neck and threatened him.

Astro: “Do that again and I won’t think twice. Three of you can’t handle one monster? Pathetic. Now, you’re gonna find and open that stupid door before I get mad. I said don’t put this kid in danger.”

Naoki: “Y-Yes.”

Souta: “Huh? You’re gonna threaten u–”

Naoki: “Souta! Find the door! Shut your mouth!”

He held back what he wanted to say for the first time ver and everyone walked for another half mile before eventually finding the barrier. Like they thought, a door similar to the one they entered was there, however there were 2 doors. One was on the left and one was on the right.

Octavious: “Which one do we pick?”

Astro: “I’m done at this point. We’re going left.”

The door didn’t open. He tried the right and that didn’t open either. They took the guns and charged them up as much as possible to blast the doors away, but yet again, nothing happened.

A loud laugh came out of nowhere. Nobody knew where it was coming from and it turned to a sigh swiftly. They all looked around preparing for an attack from somewhere. Suddenly, the left door opened. They questioned it, but decided to enter inside the black particles that lined the door into the unknown that could prove troublesome for them.