The following night was unlike any other these young adults had experienced this far. Everyone was having a good time, even those of a more serious disposition such as Agni and Zoe.

Those who preferred to be in the quieter side slowly dropped off the merry making at their first available opportunities; Kuna, Camellia, and Sofia.

Jack had been hailed as a hero. Lifted atop his friend’s shoulders he was paraded around town. Bar to bar he was stopped and recognised. Sure the group had been noticed on the previous night out but now it was like he was a celebrity. Jude did get some residuals of that, the pair even had fan girls. Though an unintended side effect of Jude’s marketing ploy, it wasn’t an unwelcome one. Though the level of reverence did transfer to all the combatants which was as factor in Rin talking to two best friends from Leeds University.

Though, Jude and Jack didn’t pull anyone they certainly had fun. With their friends they completed their bar crawl, drunk merely off the vibes of fame and enjoyment rather than any form of alcohol though Jude had his fair share. They arrived at the club as a four; Jude, Jack, Damian, and AJ. Jonathan had thrown up and gone home, Rin had snuck out at the previous bar assumedly with at least one of the two girls he had been talking to. The club was a massive warehouse looking building with the name of it emblazoned with neon lights along the side: “XCESS”.

The side the boys approached from was the one that went alongside the smoking area and they needed to reach the other side.

From their side they could see some people from their Uni there; Nerissa was speaking with a guy. Well he was speaking to her and she was very obviously not interested in listening. She tried walking away but he grabbed her arm. He very quickly met with the concrete floor below, thankfully he was unharmed other than his ego. He scrambled to his feet and with anger in his face chased after Nerissa.

Everyone was watching now, but Amelia handled the situation before it got out of hand. She placed her hand on his face, his muscles stiffened and he stopped in his tracks. She said something to him, he relaxed, the anger left his face, he turned round and left.

The boys just watched in astonishment before turning to see the line ahead of them. It was quite long. Ten minutes. But ten minutes is a long time when you’re full of liquid. Somehow the three drunk men could hold it but not Jack. “Sorry guys, I’m just gonna go up there and I’ll be right back.” He said pointing up the road. He did a little jog as he tried to keep everything in.

Jack was aiming to find a darkened corner, hidden from the eyes of anyone who may call him out for it. It was just before midnight in December so the sky was sufficiently shrouding the town in darkness. The lights of miscellaneous buildings that littered the streets kept every corner from being dark enough for prying eyes to not see. There was a small alleyway that was perfect. He was quick.

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Unfortunately, it was not an alleyway he should have gone down. Jack’s trip to this place lead to the death of two young men.

Unbeknownst to him, Jack had been followed all night. Two people who wished him harm. He had no qualms or quarrels with them, nor had he encountered them before. Yet, here they were trying to hurt him. They were friends of the person he would face in the final. His opponent was plenty strong enough on their own but these two did not believe so and wanted to get Jack out of commission for the fight.

However, not only had they allowed themselves to be recorded talking about it in one of the bars, they were also unaware of their own follower.

Jack left the alley and headed back to his friends. Leaving just three in the dark corridor. The reason they did not seize their opportunity to strike down Jack was that they were being held back by a shadow that slithered out of the walls and wound itself round their mouths and bound their legs.

The tentacle of umbra released itself from their mouths. “Now, why are you idiots here?” the figure asked. The voice was distorted and ethereal, yet it was clearly of human origin.

“We just wanted to talk to him!” the taller of the two said.

“Talk? So that knife that’s sticking out of your pocket is merely a coincidence?” The two stayed quiet and let the sweat that had begun running rampant down their faces speak for itself.

“See, what I think has happened here is you’re worried Jack would beat Katarina in the final and then you’d be ranked lower than his University. However, Katarina is an excellent fighter and you need not worry about her fighting Jack.”

“Wait why, how’d you know that?”

“I’m a time traveller. We’ve done this before and it ends the same way each time. But god do I love the look of fear in your eyes with what comes next.” A small ball of fire appeared in the stranger’s hand. It illuminated their face to the two men. One recognised them.

“Hey you’re from-“ he gagged once more by the tentacle.

“Unfortunately I can make my voice sound different and I can make it so CCTV cannot see me but it can still hear you so be quite for a minute.” They said. “Now I saw that Jude guy do this in round one and he was close to perfecting it but unfortunately his version causes too much damage to the user.” They began to crush the fireball down. The light’s range got lower and lower but the intensity at the centre.

Eventually all that was left was a small white ball, like a milky marble that emitted a pure white light. The stranger smiled and then almost as if performing a magic trick revealed a second marble.

The stranger slowly walked toward the gagged man, heat spewing out of the marbles he held. The tentacle released it’s gag and instead pried the mouth open. Pure terror filled his eyes, sweat was pouring like his back was a rainforest.

There was no taste but he knew the ball was in his mouth. He could feel go down his throat and into his system. After a couple seconds of pure terror as he accepted his fate he was erased. There was no one there anymore. No clothes, no bones, just ash. He had become a stain on the wall.

His friend panicked as he saw the murderer walk towards him, knowing the same fate he had witnessed would befall him.

Yet fear had gone. Like a hill that seems endless once you get to the top you go down. Fear was gone and like a dear in headlights calmness overtook his body. He relaxed and opened his mouth on instinct to take the marble.

The stalker walked away, satisfied with their murder. Even knowing the cameras that watched them had heard everything.