Uluriq

I held the champion by the throat. "Did you think that you could hide forever?"

He stared back uncomprehendingly, grasping desperately at my hand, unable to form words.

"I appreciate that you were probably waiting for a good opportunity to strike, but what you failed to realize is that this game is not about waiting, it's about creating opportunities with your own two hands. In order to win, you have to force open your own doors."

The champion started to change colors.

I shook my head. "A waste."

I then squeezed his neck until his head popped off.

I opened the list of names and distances left.

The next closest one would take me no longer than a couple of minutes to get to.

I started to leave, but I heard a familiar voice in the back of my head.

For an instant, it was like back then, long before all of this began.

"Lovey, you're always working so hard, make sure you rest properly." My wife ordered, rubbing my shoulders.

"It's alright Biatheise, I barely feel tired at all, beside these reports need to be-"

She placed a finger across my lips. "Uluriq, would you rather these reports done quickly or well?"

"If I'm being honest, I'd rather it be done quickly, but you're right, all those executives can distract themselves with their money for a little longer can't they?"

She laughed. "Oh dear heavens, how do you always know what to say to make me laugh?"

I turned my head to look at her. "It's nothing special, I just think of what would make me smile to hear and tell it to you... after all, what's the point of happiness if I can't share it with you?"

I looked around the cave for a moment and found a small nook to sit in.

"Biatheise, this is one task I want to do well..." I summoned my locket to my hand. "I promise to you I'll save you..."

...Even if I have to kill the gods to do it.

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Andrew

"First of all, I'm from generation z thank you." I joked.

"What does that mean?" Rahyu asked.

"It's a pun, mostly just nerves talking." I admitted.

Sydui walked up to me, covered in gashes. "What's wrong?"

"So, apparently every other champion knows where I am now."

"How is that different to before?"

I had completely forgotten about that whole curse thing... was that still going? "The difference is that this version doesn't have a range limit... so everyone knows where I am."

Sydui fished through my satchel and pulled out some disinfectant I had ordered along with a rag. "Sit down for a minute and give me the details."

I took out a rag of my own and waited for Sydui to hand back the disinfectant; luckily, this was one of the few medicines that worked on both species. "Only if you let me clean up your wounds while we're talking."

Rahyu pointed back the encampment with his thumb. "Should I just... go?"

After some talking, and some bandaging, we went back and explained the situation to everyone else as well.

It was clear that most of the Fifskae couldn't move, let alone fight... but I couldn't just leave them here alone...

Not to mention, the top one-thousand implies a lot of things... one of them being that they're going to be the most dangerous threats I've met thus far, even despite the high number of them.

I was at a loss for what to do.

That's when Sydui took my hand.

I looked her in the eyes, and only love and determination looked back.

I took a deep breath in. "In order to protect the villagers, I'm going to have to split off and leave at least three Nemeses behind... volunteers?"

Hund raised his hand immediately. "I obviously can't leave, I'm the closest thing to medical staff we have."

Juohen nodded. "I'm more of a 'homefield advantage' kinda guy, it's hard to make good traps if you can't tell where people are coming from after all."

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Rahyu slowly stepped forward. "I'd like to be here so that I can protect my sister... as insane as it sounds to hear myself admit, I think I'd be too worried about her to fight at this point."

I looked over at Polyu. "How about you? Stay or go?"

She was taken aback. "You want my opinion?"

"More of wanting your decision, whichever you choose is what it will be."

She shrugged. "In that case, I'm definitely going with you, it's getting kinda stuffy staying here all the time anyway."

I smiled gently. "Welcome aboard I suppose." I turned to the others briefly. "The villagers are in good hands with you three."

Polyu, Sydui, and I packed our things and left.

Not long after, Polyu asked me the obvious question. "Where are we going?"

I glanced at her and explained as calm as could be, which was definitely a contrast to how I was feeling right then. "We're going to hunt down the only one who knows the location of our village... The Voracious Stalker."

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The Voracious Stalker

I should be furious right now... but I just couldn't find the will to be.

"Are you alright? You don't seem well." The Pactmaster offered.

I didn't have the energy for bravado or to lie for that matter. "I'm not alright."

Fear filled The Pactmaster's eyes. "Did he find a way to poison you after death or something?"

"No, I just feel... empty... and I don't understand why." I started working my jaw. "I have a sudden craving for meat."

The Pactmaster gulped as subtly as he could manage. "Maybe you're out of sorts because you're hungry?"

"I doubt it, but it's worth a shot I suppose..."

I bit the head off of one of my champions, as The Pactmaster obviously didn't want to die himself.

It still tasted absolutely dreadful... but I didn't even care about the flavor anymore.

I swallowed it.

I felt fuller in a literal sense, but I felt absolutely no satisfaction from any part of the action.

"Do you feel any better?" The Pactmaster asked, his façade cracking a little bit more.

"I honestly don't even know what the point of any of this was... one might say it's so that I could fulfill my needs or desires... if that's the case, I have no needs, and now no desires." I laid on the ground.

"What are you saying?" He asked, his voice beginning to tremble ever so slightly.

"If you want to run for your life, now is the time to do so... Andrew is coming and he's going to kill all of us if we stay here."

The Pactmaster tried to pull me to my feet, but he lacked the strength to do so. "If we're going, we need you as our leader, we won't be able to win otherwise."

I looked him dead in the eyes. "Face it Pactmaster, you're just afraid your golden goose isn't going to lay any more eggs. You're a coward, that's why I found you by yourself hiding away in a random ditch."

The Pactmaster tried to reply, but the words choked in his mouth.

I continued. "You are useless on your own, the only reason you're here at all is because your greed is only matched by your ego..." I laid back down. "So run if you want to, maybe by some miracle you'll survive."

The Pactmaster looked at me in utter disbelief, and then he ran like I knew he would.

I looked up at the sky. "I wonder if The Punctual would have taken a bet for how long it took Andrew to get here."

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Andrew

"How are we going to find them?" Polyu asked, clearly unconvinced.

"I know where every champion is, or at least how far away they are from me... I'm just going to look at one of them names I recognize from the last battle and go that way."

"Oh wow... that's a pretty good plan actually."

I sighed. "I'm going to ignore the implications of that."

"Hey lighten up Andrew, what happened to your upbeat attitude?" Polyu pestered.

"I'm not exactly in the mood Polyu."

"Ah come on Andrew, don't be a-"

I stopped and turned my head to look at Polyu with my periphery. "Polyu! Drop. It."

Everyone went silent.

I started walking again.

Eventually, Polyu spoke up again, far more tentatively this time. "So, um... I was going to bring it up earlier but it didn't feel like a good time..." She chuckled nervously.

I sighed quietly to myself. "What's that Polyu?"

"After you explained the situation earlier with the [Domain] thing, I decided to have a look to see if any other champions had gems or anything on them and I found out that a bunch of them did."

"Oh did you now?" I replied, trying my best not to sound sarcastic.

"Yeah, and I found one that I thought you might like... I was going to keep it to show you how cool I could be, but it seems like you might want it more than me..."

"In other words, you're worried that I'd get mad at you for holding out on me?"

A surprised noise came out of Polyu, followed by a tiny "Yes."

"Let's see it I suppose."

She put the gem in my hand, and I noticed a familiar name.

"This is another Gem Of Skill Storage..." Now I understand why she thought she should have been cool using this. "I'm going to hang onto it, but I'll make sure to give you something cool in exchange."

Polyu looked conflicted with this information, but tried to smile at least.

After a bit, the champions started to get further away from me.

I suppose it stands to reason that at least one of them would be watching my position, but for all of them to be running at once is strange.

"They're running, so we're going to chase them." I said, breaking into a sprint.

The others tried their best to keep up, but their shorter legs made life more difficult for them.

Then I stopped.

All of them were about to ask why, but then they saw what I did.

The Stalker was just laying there.

"Oh hello Andrew... you got here a couple minutes earlier than I thought you would." He greeted.

I lowered myself into a wider stance, ready for anything. "So, did your trap fail then?"

"No trap, not this time."

I squinted my eyes at him. "Excuse me if I don't believe you."

The Stalker rolled over onto his side. "Believe whatever makes you happy I suppose, it doesn't matter to me anymore."

I was so confused by all of this, so I decided to see where this went. "Everybody, stay back here, I'm going to approach."

"Why the caution? There's nothing here." Polyu asked, gesturing to the lack of dangers.

"Because he could be a bomb for all we know, he can just revive anyway."

The Stalker looked up at me. "Damn it! Why didn't I think of that?" He put his head back down. "Usually that'd be brilliant, but I can't revive right now... [Second Chance] takes two days to cool down."

"Why are you being so forthright with information Staker?" I interrogated.

"Because I've been shamed over and over, I have no needs, and I have no desires... what's the point of living?"

For some reason, that made me angrier than any insult could possibly have.

I ran over to The Stalker and kicked him in the stomach. "You don't get to be depressed you dickhead! My friends are all on the precipice of death and now you're saying the whole thing was pointless?!" I kicked him again in the chest, and then stomped on his head, to which he didn't even bother to react. "How dare you disrespect them like this?! The least you could do is take your death with some dignity!"

He looked up at my eyes with pure emptiness in his expression. "Why?"

I kicked him as hard as I could in the teeth, which hurt my own foot probably more than it hurt him, but I didn't even care at this point. "What point is there if I can't make you regret your actions?! How am I supposed to get revenge on you if you don't even care?!"

I proceeded to kick him over and over. "[Regenerate] faster damn you! You deserve to suffer more for what you've done!"

"Andrew, this is getting a little-" Polyu began.

"A little what Polyu?! Aren't you angry too?!" I pointed at The Stalker emphatically. "This is the one who caused us so much harm, the one who destroyed our home! A painless death is too good for him!"

"Andrew you're acting like a nutcase!" Polyu yelled back. "Listen to yourself! Is this really the kind of person you are?!"

I was taken aback.

I looked at my foot covered in blood and down at the pitiful state of The Stalker as he began to [Regenerate].

I remembered how the villagers looked, all crumpled up like that.

Then I had a thought.

"Stalker, I have a proposition."

The Stalker looked up at me again. "What's that?"

"Instead of dying here, why don't you redeem yourself?"

He sat up. "How?"

"I'm going to have the villagers you hurt borrow your [Regeneration] for a bit."