The Road to 10,000 Part 2

The door to the matchmaking room opened and stepped into what looked like an extremely massive stadium. What followed was the door closing behind us, and us suddenly teleporting into the spawn room…. I walked ahead, turning around to look at everything… It really was a one of a kind experience to witness the maps I used to study, in person.

“Not gonna lie, this is really fucking cool” I was suddenly taken away by the flood on nostalgia, so much so it completely drowned out the voice of Jun calling out to me

“AKIO!” Jun’s scream snapped me back to my senses.

“What?” I asked in annoyance

“How are you out there?” Jun inquired looking surprised, so did the other two

“What are you talking about?” I asked in confusion

“You are outside spawn…noone can leave spawn till the match starts.” Jun iterated and he demonstrated by trying to leave himself, only to be stopped by what looks like an invisible wall

“What?” I ran back to where they were and placed my hand on the so called ‘wall’, but it was completely permeable to me….as if it was not even there

Suddenly a wave just passed right under my feet, to which I turned around and witnessed the whole map devolving. The finely built structures and walls suddenly became shorter, absent and full of gaps.

“Welcome to Psyphon Foundation '' said the P.A voice straight into our heads.

“Foundation type Psyphon Labs… well, this is going to be annoying” I thought out loud

“Hope you are not getting cold feet, Nii-chan” said Mai with a smug face.

“Heh… I don’t do cold feet, I give them….. God, that sounded a lot cooler in my head”

Jun had his hand on his head and sighed “ Even put through the boiling pot of Hell, and he still is the usual doofus”

“Countdown…begin. Match starts in sixty seconds” The voice of the announcer said

“Can you move out there?” I was asked by Jun

“I think so” I replied

“We are down two people, but we have an advantage. You can scout out their positions before they set up and we can set up for a dive ambush. The earpiece that materialized…” I touched my ear and it was the first time I noticed it “ It’s set automatically to team only, push the button on it switch from team-chat to all-chat. If you don’t switch it back to team-chat after that, it will do it on it’s own after thirty seconds”

And that is exactly how much time we had left till the match started, as announced

“One last thing, don’t be afraid of death, you can respawn in here. A button should pop up on your interface when you are below 25% HP….use it to conserve HP potions. Twenty seconds….go” Jun immediately sent me off to make our advantage count.

I give him a quick nod of approval and break away to make use of this head start. I had two options….One, do what I am supposed to do and take any high ground away from the enemy, forcing them to play low and giving them less cover and space to work with overall. Two, I sneak onto their side and go for a surprise attack. While I was tempted to opt for the latter, I still didn’t know how different PvP was in here compared to the old days, and the one thing I don’t want to do right now is overextend and start my first match in this new game with a death. So trusting my instinct, I made my way to the lab building and climbed all the way up with my innate mobility and scanned the whole area around the enemy spawn, to give myself a quick refresher about the points of interest of the map.

Normally, Psyphon Labs is a technical map with a lot of low and high ground cover and not many open sightlines. These are the kinds of maps I excel at, as I can close the distance to enemy players without being seen and pounce on the weaker members when they least expect it….That is, if this was the normal map at least. Unfortunately, what we ended up with is the foundation variant, which has a lot of exposed gaps in walls and many pieces of cover which are there in the base map are either missing or only half present. Foundation type maps are the playground for players who use precision weapons, so this is more up Meguru’s alley but is disadvantageous for me, Mai and Jun. From my observations so far, the odds are heavily weighted against us.

No, no,no… Snap out of it, Akio. The moment you think the game is lost is when you truly lose….you’ve won games short of players before, this time is no different. Alright, focus…identify their weapons, predict their positions, find their anchor, find their weakest link….Distract or assassinate.

Usually a razor focus is enough to get me into the zone back in the day, but the unpredictability and the unknowns in this new strain of PvP is preventing me from getting there. And right now, all I can do is to focus on the basics and play the team game. And it was about to begin

“5...4…3…2…1…Engage” the voice announced.

Spawns were open and everyone was made haste to take up power positions. In a game where information is key and it being my job to get that initial bit, I run into the risk of either being outpaced and beaten to the best position by the enemy scout, or the enemy sniper sets up early and takes my head off before I can get any early game value. With the spawn advantage I had, I didn’t have to worry about either of them as I was already set up before they even came out of spawn. A few seconds later, my eyes caught movement…. A group of six appearing around a corner one by one into the main path and four of them, in groups of two, split into the two different directions taking the high ground on either sides. Each spawn had a path leading to a building in the middle, a.k.a, the building I am currently on top of…. But the map wasn’t symmetrical… if they were to push towards us, we would be in a pinch as the cover on their side is much better compared to ours. However, that would be the case in any other situation, as I noticed one detail that had me dumbfounded.

“You are our eyes and ears right now, Nii-chan ....what do we got?” Mai inquired over the comms

“Uh….2-2-2 split, one group on each of the three map lanes.” I replied

“They are playing standard tactic…. what are they running?” Jun finally asked it

“They… are running assault rifles” I answered

The comms were silent for a second as they were expecting me to answer with more

“Well, go on. How many ARs and what else?” Jun reiterated

“Uhhhh….” I took a couple of seconds to reassess my answer, and I came to the same conclusion, further cemented by the fact they started to all focus fire on me up high, with none have a chance of hitting me. “Six ARs” I answered

Another moment of silence came over the comms, and Jun came back on “I’m sorry….run that by us again?”

“Six ARs...that's it. All mid rangers who can’t even hit the broad side of a barn right now” I scream through the comms as the suppression from the barrage of gunfire coming my way from below is almost deafening. Doesn’t help the fact the roof also has a fair amount of soft floors and gaps that I could potentially get shot from.

“Artifact isn’t spawning for another sixty seconds, logic out of the window maybe, but what’s the plan, Leader?” asked Meguru over comms

I really didn’t have to strain my brain over this, as they were playing like real amateurs. Everyone was mirroring the other, no one was flanking or attempting to sneak up on me. Best course of action was to end this while they were acting predictably.

I started to relay my plan on the comms “We play Dual Disaster Defense and Clean-up. They are all going to start reloading in a few more seconds, I divert their attention away from here and towards their spawn…use that time to approach and set up. Mai, Meguru…you guys are our anchor. Meguru, you set up on my position and provide overwatch…Mai, you might want to polish off your aim with that bow of yours. You are our mid to long range pressure.”

“Sir…Yes, Sir” said the duo in unison like this was a boot camp. Brings back memories of the good old times

“Jun, you put pressure on mid-range and keep them busy until I set up. Once I go in or get seen before I strike, you cover me and make sure I don’t get jumped?” I let Jun know about his part in the fight “We good?” And I make sure that everyone is on the same page.”

“With you all the way” Jun replied

And as we finished, the moment to strike had arrived, every gun except one stopped firing as everyone emptied their clips onto my position in the hopes of possibly weakening the little bit of cover I had. But it was safe to assume they clearly didn’t know how to abuse high ground advantages if that was really their game plan. Once the shooting settled and everyone was reloading, Jun was quick to fire a few controlled bursts from his AR dealing the first damage in the game. They were in a tight spot….Most of them with empty guns scrambling to get fresh mags out of their inventories, and while they didn’t have a solution to Jun’s pressure, they were sent further down the pit once Mai’s bow came into play. So much so that a moment later, one of her arrows found the head of one of the enemy players which turned into dust and back to spawn. Unlike outside of PvP, the one’s taking damage were not bleeding, rather, it was as if their skin was rupturing like glass, exposing what looked like a hollow vessel of white inside. The flying bits of shards once someone takes damage was what gave away when shots connected onto opponents and vice versa.

I used this moment to jump off height and snuck behind the whole enemy team. Three of them headed back and were trying to use potions to heal up, which was my chance to strike. Catching them off guard, I started my attack by jumping out of my hiding spot and buried my blade deep in the neck of one of the enemy players. I recalled that none of them had reloaded after their exchange with our mid-range pressure meaning they only had a few bullets worth left to shoot. To avoid getting massacred, I turned the body of my first victim around and used him as a human shield, to which the remaining two predictably emptied their guns into, sending their friend right back to spawn. I loaded a trio of kunai onto my hand and threw it at the closest assailant that was trying to reload, which lodged itself into his shoulder and chest. He tried to quickdraw his pistol to fend me off but he was already in my effective range. I knocked his gun away and floored him with a quick leg sweep. These guys were completely defenseless against my aggression and the three at the front were torn between helping their backline or keeping the barrage of arrows and bullets coming their way at bay. They were in full panic mode and I couldn’t have hoped for a better outcome.

The third was more resilient against my offense since he had a blade himself which he took from his inventory. While he had no advantage whatsoever with his bought blade against my Cyber-Gear, a one second stall is all you need to turn fights around. But just as he was parrying my attacks, he fell down to one knee as one of his legs shattered upon a deafening sound of a large gun. Meguru had setup and now we had the advantage of overwhelming pressure against them. I used this advantage to get a strong left punch in, which depleted the rest of the remaining HP he had, sending him back to the spawn room.

“Akio-Nii….Artifact incoming to your right” Meguru gave me a heads up from her bird’s eye position

“Artifact spawns now active, obtain and deposit the Artifact” said the P.A all of a sudden

The Artifact was in my sight, and the one I floored earlier also had his eyes on it. However, with me being on my feet I don’t think twice about running for it. But as I was going for it, the floored enemy took a couple of shots with his handgun and happened to put two in my back. I turned around and blocked three consecutive shots thrown my way with my blade, until Meguru put a bullet in his brain. Unfortunately, his stall proved effective as now the three that were opposing Jun and Mai were coming my way, and they had a lot more than handguns equipped. I leaped at the Artifact and got possession of it, and immediately got up and ran around a couple of corners crouched down in an enclosed area. While I was running however, I managed to get hit, all that with the two handgun shots I took had put my health bar into the red. But it didn’t help the fact that I had left a blood trail behin-…..Wait, what?

I managed to touch my wounds and they weren’t cracks, they were actual gunshot wounds. It even felt real. The lack of pain at first slowly builds up to a burning sensation.

“You are in a pinch, Akio….Best if you force respawn” Jun recommended

And that was a fair recommendation, to which I planned to follow through, bringing up my interface.

“Nii-chan, you might want to respawn. One guy got away from my line of sight and they are closing in on you” Mai warns me, not aware of the more imminent problem here

I deduced that they were converging on me from the sound of the footsteps getting louder, I guess they are also being aware of Meguru’s line of sight as I wasn’t hearing any sniper shots going out

Jun started becoming impatient as he noticed the same “Akio, what’s taking you so long. Hit the damn respawn button already so we can-”

“I CAN’T” I screamed over the comms “The button is grayed out for me. It’s not letting me respawn…. And I’m bleeding Jun… If I am bleeding and can’t respawn, it could mean-”

“It could mean game over for you if you die” Jun suddenly came to the realization “Oh god fucking damn it…. Akio, listen to me…..find a way to buy me a few seconds, I can get an angle on these guys but I just need time. I am not about to let you die…..I am not about to let anyone die under my watch ever again” He clearly sensed my panic over the comms “ Listen, take a deep breath…and calm down. Remember that panicking is the bane of our craft. I will get you out of this” He said clearly trying to not panic himself.

I tried to calm down my heavy breaths. The burning sensation of the gunshots I took was rising to the point where it started to become excruciating, but I had to grit my teeth through it, as using an HP vial is not the best course of action right now, especially if I am to stall for time. I took a quick look through my inventory to see if I had anything that could get me out of this situation. And that is when I saw it….the smoke grenade I was given by Jun back at the market. These guys never used grenades this entire match, so it’s fair to assume they don’t know how to play around smokes.

I pulled the pin on the smoke and held it in my hand. The room started to fill up with smoke, obscuring my vision as well as everyone who peaked inside to kill me. I could only hope that they wont high tail it through the smoke and run me down. I could see silhouettes of the enemy trying to dissipate the smoke with their hands but to no avail. I might not be able to hear their comms, but I was certain that they were screaming out of their lungs trying to find either me or each other. And this happened to be the opening the Kanie’s were hoping for. Jun and Mai were quick to throw fire the way of anyone who was trying to escape the smoke, and they were being pressured either into making exploitable mistakes or right into the sight of Meguru’s sniper scope. And quickly, the area around me was cleared of enemy players, which allowed me to breathe for a second.

Jun approached me being on guard….usually this isn’t a luxury we would have but since the enemy is more bravado than skill, we had a lot more time to recuperate than usual. And after learning about my critical weakness, I definitely could use a couple of minutes right now.

“You are bleeding” said Jun in a concerned tone.

“Really? I hadn’t noticed” I fired back with some light sarcasm “Are you telling me that I have to play PvP all the way to Immortal, without dying a single time? Even my ass knows that is borderline impossible”

“Since when have you been afraid of the impossible?” commented Jun “ Look, you can feel overwhelmed after we finish this game, right now? We need you….I…need you” he extended his hand to me.

I took his hand and got back up on my feet, but the problem I had was my health bar. I popped a health potion to subside the pain, which led me to my next observation….I was healing as fast as a normal player would

“Head in the game?” asked Jun

“Hell yeah” while I wanted to be a bit more enthusiastic about it, but the doubt and my new found fear slightly showed itself in my tone, which I felt cracking.

I quickly glanced at my interface to check the scoreboard, which accurately gauged how this match was going. Out of the required 100 points to win, the score was 37-0….not a single death on our side and while Jun and I had a half a dozen kills between us, it’s the Dual Disasters that had been doing all the heavy lifting.

“Meguru…how is it looking from up there?” I inquired over the comms

“I know I shouldn’t be undermining opponents, but the training dummies in the barracks put up more of a fight than these guys” Mai answered instead…being blunt as usual

“They are running split defense. I’m guessing that they are expecting us to push inwards with the Artifact, and then rack up kills playing the backfoot. Their leader seems to be screaming a lot though from what I see on the scope right about now” Meguru lets us in on her observations

“Just as I thought. Noone is driving the ship on that team….they are all doing their own thing and are falling apart.” And I let everyone in on my pre-game deduction

“Just like a bronze game…where everyone just keeps playing the blame game without owning up to what they are doing wrong” Jun contributes.

“Looks like we caught a break…. Let their infighting do the work for us, force them to make mistakes and wipe them out…. Jun, you are my backup….keep them off me while I go for the bank” I laid out the plan and just like the Zero days, they put the trust in my instincts….Well, it’s not like we needed to pull out anything but the most basic of strategies at this moment anyways.

The game was so one-sided that spawn protection kicked in a few times…. And it worked the same as it used to…..vacate enemy spawn area for 15s to let them take back positions for a fighting chance. But no matter how much times they were given chances to reset, they just kept getting overwhelmingly outplayed.

These guys had no strategy in mind. They trickle in one by one and get picked off before the rest of their team can help them, and while they do take high ground, they have no idea how to use it as an advantage. The match went on but it was nothing but bullying at one point.

42-0, 58-0 and 74-0 and the end was finally nearing with a kill and an artifact bank away at 84-0. Throughout the game, the duo on overwatch remained unchallenged, accumulating more than half of our team’s total kills. While I had the threat of permadeath looming over me, the long-cultivated synergy between me and Jun in covering each other’s weaknesses was another question the enemy didn’t have an answer to.

With them getting thoroughly steamrolled, the morale of the 6-man team was barely existent, they were all huddled up near the wall of their spawn; it was the only area that was out of sight from the glint of a sniper scope. But it’s only in that moment of pressure that they remembered to use a crucial mechanic in the game…utility.

Catching our sniper’s nest off guard, smokes started flying all over the place. They weren’t strategically used to allow the enemy some breathing room, rather thrown out at random places in the hopes of an unlikely comeback. Usually, this would not be something I would be alarmed by, but the run-of-the-mill strategy we were using is one that is used to steamroll through lower ranks at ease…Ranks where utility usage is near non-existent.

We had no time to reset and replan as if I decided to do so, it would just shift the momentum of the game in their favor, we had to improvise… Deep down I know there is no way that they could win this, but I have learned it the hard way many times over that one of the biggest mistakes you can do in competition, is underestimating a desperate opponent whose back is against the wall.

“Smoke is cutting off our line of sight…. It’s a 2v6 till it clears out” Mai let us know over the team comms.

“New plan?” Jun inquired from right next to me as we were positioned on the right lane high ground.

“No…we adapt” I passed the glowing matchbook sized artifact to Jun, who caught it with his off-hand without dropping his stance with his Assault Rifle. “Jun, you are on smoke defense. I’m moving left flank….The moment you count 5 kills, you run through to bank the artifact.”

“What?” Jun inquired, with a sense of doubt in his face

But there wasn’t time to explain what I had in mind. “Trust me on this” those were the only words I let him in on before jumping off and circling around to the leftmost lane where I suspect a flank is coming from.

I gained the height advantage by climbing to the window on the left lane and assessed the situation first before dropping down into the flank route. But just like most of the time, my intuition was spot on this time as well. From the flank under me, I spot one of them trying to get a sneak attack on Jun from a distance, readying his underbarrel grenade launcher. I reacted quickly and jumped on him from above to get a pre-emptive strike in, blade in hand and heart in mouth….but his reactions were quick. He faced me while I was mid-air and fired at me…. Unfortunately the trigger he pulled was of his grenade launcher and not of his rifle.

The grenade barely missed me and it made contact with the window I jumped through. I had to abandon my attack as both of us had to jump away from the collapsing rubble. My unconscious groan from the pain of the shrapnel that pierced my back from that explosion leaked through my communicator to the rest of my team.

Mai, Meguru and Jun attempted to all check up on me simultaneously, creating a chaotic mix-up of voices over the comms. But however I instinctively knew what they were trying to ask

“I’m fine….Stick to the plan” I said to them from the floor.

The explosion had floored both me and the enemy, who I looked up and recognized as their leader. It was a race for who got back up on their feet first and it became difficult to decide who the winner was…Not that it mattered anyway as both of us were equally whiplashed to the point we barely could stand straight.

I suddenly found myself in a little bit of a sticky situation…. While my only escape route was cut off by debris, he didn’t have any issues as such, as a few dozen steps back and he could turn the corner and back to his team… And my only hope right now was for them to not be wise enough to come help their leader which would turn my odds from bad to crushingly worse.

“How is this happening… This isn’t a game anymore….HOW AM I GETTING ROLLED BY A GROUP OF NERDS?” It appears that the explosion had damaged the leader’s comms, and now everything discussed between them was now audible to anyone nearby….Well, not that they were discussing anything I could use against them anyways

“Victor, we are getting our asses handed to us here…We won’t be able to-”

“SHUT UP…ALL OF YOU, JUST SHUT UP. YOU’VE BEEN DOING NOTHING BUT DRAGGING ME DOWN THIS WHOLE MATCH. AT LEAST TRY TO MAKE YOURSELVES USEFUL AND GET AT LEAST A KILL” this ‘Victor’ guy screamed, and I heard it all. He was more frustrated than focused and that showed through his voice

I matched the field by switching my comms to all chat as well “Uhhh…just so you know, I can hear everything”

“Yeah…why does it even matter, unless we pull off an impossible comeback, my life is over anyways. To think that I took in with me a team that was all bark and no bite” he said while stabilizing himself and readying his weapon, “Tell me something, Nishimura…. How did you do it? How did a group of good for nothing brats, who only knew to press buttons on a keyboard, overwhelm ones who had actually been in fights?...On second thought, it doesn’t even matter does it. That bastard Roland is going to kill me once he finds out I used their clan’s name and lost a day’s worth of RP.” He pointed his rifle at me, holding it on one hand “But for my luck, I happen to find myself face to face with the weakest member of the group….I’ve played this thing long enough to know how weak melee/projectile builds are, and as my last act. I will go down knowing that I at least won against the man that our spineless boss is so afraid of” And once again, he readied his gun and was looking for a chance.

“Since it doesn’t matter anyways….I don’t mind letting you in on your deep doubts. I mean, it’s not like you would care either way, if you are that convinced that you won’t live to see another day. Number 1…. I don’t spend this much time talking in the middle of a fight” I said, meeting his eyes with a challenging gaze of my own.

This didn’t sit well with him as he immediately did as I anticipated and started firing at me. I used my blade to block the short bursts he fired at me. It’s a tactic that I usually won’t rely on, but considering how bad his recoil control is, I only had to block a few bullets at a time, which I was able to manage.

“Number 2….” I tossed a trio of kunai at his head height to blindsight him, the moment he ducked down to avoid them was the opening I needed. “I don’t let my opponent figure out my next move” I said, being only inches away from his head after I rushed him while he tried to get back up. Two quick blade swipes, one vertical found his torso and his skin had cracked along with his body armor, and one horizontal, which had cut the bottom of his loaded ammo clip, leaving his rifle with only one bullet in the chamber without a reload. He dived backwards to avoid getting hit by any more follow-up strikes and found himself on the ground, trying to crawl away from me and reaching for his handgun.

“Number 3… I might be the weakest, but I always blame myself and learn to do better” He tried to buy himself some time by using an impact smoke, but just as we predicted earlier, they have no idea how to utilize them. He gets back up and fires his handgun in my general direction, but I was long gone by then. He had no line of sight on me, and was looking around to spot me in a clear panic.

“Number 4… I never blame my teammates, I play off them”

“Scarlet Knights….Match Point” said the P.A right on queue…..Time to end this

“One last thing” I stayed low and rushed him from his blind spot, going for the finishing blow “The name is Nakamura” and the finale found my blade buried deep in his chest, turning the flashing red health bar on top of his head into fully empty, and right in front of me, his body shatters into dust.

“Match Concluded. Score 100-0. Winner…Team Scarlet Knights” said the P.A, and moments later a prompt appeared in front of my view, notifying me about all the RP I just gained.

The adrenaline washed over me and all the exhaustion and the damage I took from earlier started to catch up to me.

“So no dying for me in PvP even in high rank….What next does this place have in store in the hopes to screw me over” I thought out loud, hunched down trying to catch my breath. The thought of it was immense pressure for me, as dying and resetting fights is a crucial tactic in PvP. I just got lucky this time that the enemy team had no idea what they were doing

Suddenly, the whole map suddenly reverted back to its blinding white colosseum-like state, where all the building and rubble sunk into the floor, leaving nothing but a clear circular arena behind. And just like a proper arena, there are elevated seats where people were watching our game from. It’s quite impressive since I didn’t not even notice the spectators even once during the match…. Guess I found what I’ll be doing once I get some spare time.

While I chugged down my last remaining HP vial in my inventory, Jun who was at the closest proximity to me during the match, approached me moments later

“What the hell was that all about?” he inquired

“Saved your ass from eating a noob tube to the face……you’re welcome by the way” I replied

“It really ain’t that much of a threat to me unlike it is to you, either way, thanks for the save….but did you really have to crush the poor man’s morale that way?” Jun questioned me, clearly sensing my ulterior motive.

“As a matter of fact, I had another plan in mind….We are still here, what happened to the losing team?” I inquired from the more experienced PvP player among the two of us

“They exit first through the spawn room? Why does that matter?” Jun asked me back

“No time to lose, I’ll fill you in later” I started to pick up speed and hightailed it towards the exit, as my window of opportunity was closing fast but I managed to spare a few seconds as I turned back towards Jun “Hey….once we get back, drinks are on me” and I went back onto my mad dash out of here

“Oi, Akio….What’s all that about?” I could hear Jun’s fading voice behind me as I get further and further away from him, and a moment later, I barely avoid crashing into the Dual Disasters as well

I ran through the spawn gate into the main lobby, and I had found myself a minute too late to catch him. A group of people had been floored and they were still mad about it, chances are that he is still not too far ahead.

“What happened here?” I asked one of the floored gentlemen, hoping to get a faster answer on which direction Victor went.

“That damn group of collector scum, just ran through the crowd knocking everyone down. He was flailing around like a cornered rabid dog.” Said the man I helped up

“You saw where he went?” I inquired

“Yeah, him and the rest of that group just turned left and hightailed it just a few minutes ago”

That’s all I needed to hear, and hence I left with haste. I knew that this was going to happen. Eventhough he very well knew he made a fatal mistake; no man would willingly offer up his life on a silver platter. Chances were, he would’ve tried to escape. I had to be quick as if he is given time, he could very well disappear out of everyone’s sight.

This guy could act as a crucial source of information. From what I saw, he was a higher ranked officer of the clan, hence he wouldn’t have been given the chance to lead anyone…this might be the break I needed to relax the grip of Isaac’s hold on Helios, if I was to point him towards someone interested in taking Isaac in…some like a self-proclaimed Sheriff.

The crowds were dense but there were a lot of telltale signs that hinted the direction of which they had gone. Distraught groups of people and the chaos that this chase had caused along the way served to guide me to right where they were. After following the main road and into a more secluded part of town, the sounds of a fight around the next corner leading to the alleyway signified the fact that I had caught up to them. But what caught me by surprise was the fact that one of them was backing out of the alley, as he was afraid for his life

“Wait, wait, wait” the man said, backing out of the alley but was suddenly met with a bullet to the head followed by a loud bang.

Acting as a warning sign for me, I quickly took cover behind the wall at the entrance but due to the low visibility in there, all I could catch glimpses of was of two silhouettes in battle. One of them completely overpowering the other. I couldn’t make a move since I had no information on what was going on in there and I didn’t want to risk climbing the roof and him slipping out of my proximity again.

“Stop…You want to know where the boss is, I don’t know but I know who does”” said Victor from the alley, sounding hurt and defeated, and after taking a moment to catch his breath he continued “The person I report to is Roland, one of his lieutenants. But I’m fresh off a bad gamble, if I go back, he’ll gut me alive…. Here, all I know is we are supposed to meet his middle man at this bar after collections, he’ll know where Roland is, and he’ll know where the boss is” he spilled the beans extremely fast.

“That wasn’t so hard now was it?” That voice…. “Now as a favor, unlike your buddies, I’ll make sure your end is quick and painless”

“Wait, I remember you…It’s you isn’t it? The man who started it all. The Immortal Tyrant”

Why? Why now out of all times?