Lucian didn’t know how long he’d been running, only that he was exhausted and his Mana headache had only strengthened with fatigue. Above the street, Lucian could be seen hopping from roof to roof, monsters on his trail as they jumped in the same fashion after him. Orange hues filled the horizon with the sun beginning to set.
Nighttime would soon fall on the destroyed city.
“Where the hell are they…?” Lucian wondered aloud, thinking of Amelia and Two Tap’s delayed return. He gritted his teeth. “What the hell was I thinking coming to the Wasteland?” According to every rumor and report, the Wasteland was deemed inhospitable for any Anointed. Even the Wastelanders living here understood the peril of venturing into monster territories—the heart of the true Wasteland, where no life, not even wildlife, dared to exist alongside the relentless presence of monsters.
The edge of a nearby roof cracked as a blue-spotted frog monster landed, its elongated tongue lashing out at Lucian, who swiftly slid underneath it. Seizing the opportunity, he gripped the outstretched pink tongue and pulled the monster towards him like a returning yo-yo, meeting it with a fist glowing white.
[Goblin Bash]
Blue chunks and green blood washed over Lucian as the monster erupted from his punch. To avoid being tied down, Lucian had been using [Goblin Bash] and [Cotton Flurry] against the chasing monsters, as both skills utilized Aura instead of Mana. What he lacked was the heft in his attacks granted by [Angry Gremlin]. Some creatures outwardly shrugged off his hits.
Lucian’s brow furrowed at what circled in the sky above him — the imps from the bowling alley, the source of his problems.
Monsters acted much like wild animals, often adapting together. Imps served as signs of potential prey nearby, and other monsters naturally gravitated towards them when they hovered above the bowling alley where Lucian had fought the [Wool Boxers]. Ironically, the sudden emergence of more monsters saved him from nearly being beaten to death by the walking sheep. However, in the end, they began to chase him, eager to gobble up a human.
Below, on the street, a series of other monsters followed Lucian like dogs chasing a cat from tree to tree. Many had joined in the hunt. What made matters worse for Lucian was how he lost his phone during the chase.
While running for his life, a young man with gray hair appeared on a rooftop nearby, watching Lucian scramble in his attempts to escape the bloodthirsty monsters as if it were a show.
“Hey!” Lucian shouted toward him, recognizing the young man as the Corp Anointed from earlier, “Hey, can you help? I’m sorry about threatening you and all that.”
The Corp Anointed scoffed and looked away as if Lucian had just farted or done something equally as embarrassing.
“Fucking asshole…!” Lucian grumbled but soon became struck by an idea. Without warning, he took a sharp turn, leaping over the sharp-toothed jaws of a fish-headed monster and sprinting as hard as he could toward the Corp Anointed’s location. The monsters closing in behind him adjusted their trajectory, attempting to intercept him before he could get away.
They would soon converge—Lucian and the monsters—given their converging trajectories, but Lucian had a plan.
Noticing his intentions, the Corp Anointed grimaced and began to back away. The gray-haired youth's attempts to leave unnoticed were in vain, as imps above spotted him. The devil-horned fliers careened downward to attack from the air. Blue light burst from the Corp Anointed's hands as he skillfully struck down every imp that approached, dispatching them effortlessly. Observing that some were still airborne, he applied Spells to chunks of debris at his feet before sending them into the air, effectively striking the remaining imps out of the sky.
“Neat trick,” Lucian complimented, sweat drenched, appearing behind the Corp Anointed in time to see him apply Spells to inanimate objects, “What kind of Spell was that? I’ve never seen it before.”
“You bastard,” the Corp Anointed seethed, ignoring the question, “Do you think you can just lead monsters to me like it’s nothing and get away with it?”
“Sorry, bud. We’re in the same boat now.”
The Corp Anointed looked around them and found that monsters were closing in.
“I’ll get you for this…!” he spat at Lucian before Mana manifested around his legs, granting him speed that he used to tear down a path with the least amount of creatures blocking it. Whatever was able to block his way was dealt with by his hands that glowed with Mana.
“Whoa,” Lucian remarked, awed by his agility, “I thought he was an attack type Anointed, but he has speed too…?” Seeing the Corp Anointed get further away, Lucian soon followed along the path he had cleared.
The Corp Anointed’s thin brows furrowed seeing Lucian coming up behind him. “Bastard…!” he spat but continued on, not wanting to be overwhelmed by monsters.
Before long, they created enough distance between them and the hostile creatures to find a place to hide. With the imps dead, there was nothing to give the monsters a clue on their whereabouts. They could disappear with a certain amount of assurance that they wouldn’t be found. What Lucian saw as odd was that the Corp Anointed had slowed down for him.
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“He’s a nice guy after all,” Lucian remarked with a grin, watching the gray haired young man drop down through a hole on a residential building’s roof. “Hmm, not a bad place to hide either.” He jumped through the same hole into an apartment from the days before the Monster Invasion, waving off the dust that sprung up on his entrance. “Thanks for saving me,” he said, coughing from the cloud of dust, “I’m Lucian by the way.”
“Asher,” the Corp Anointed answered, a vein protruding angrily in his neck as he glared at Lucian, “And I’m going to kick your ass, Crow.”
“Whoa, what’s with the hostility?”
“Shut the fuck up, Crow. I was nearly torn to shreds because of you, and you still have the nerve to ask that? Your talent for being a perpetual nuisance is truly admirable—rounding up every monster you can find and whipping them into a frenzy. Your incompetence is so overwhelming that I would prefer to see you sterilized to prevent your ineptitude from contaminating the future!”
“Hey, I don’t want any problems…” Lucian responded, submissively putting his hands up.
The Corp Anointed, Asher, pressed him, “Well, you got one whether you like it or not.”
“Why don’t we just settle this after I rest, huh? I’m out of Mana and it’ll be an unfair fight…”
“Do you think I give a fuck if you’re lacking Mana or not?”
“Well,” Lucian murmured, shrugging as if he were being reprimanded by a school principal, “I just thought a strong guy like yourself would want to fight fair…” As he was speaking, he suddenly lashed out with a glowing fist. The display of submission had only been an act to get the Corp Anointed to lower his guard. Since he was not at full strength, Lucian would take any opportunity to win, even if he had to cheat.
[Goblin Bash]
An astonishing sight unraveled before Lucian seeing the blue light of Mana gather at the point of Asher’s chin. When Lucian’s Aura shrouded punch landed against it, his fist bounced off as if hitting a rubber ball. Like a scanner, the blue light moved swiftly, traveling down Asher’s body before ending up around his fist, which was then unleashed onto Lucian’s stomach. Spittle sprayed outward from Lucian’s mouth as he was flung backward and into a wall, nearly busting through to the outside.
“Sneaky little Crow…” Asher hissed, striding slowly toward Lucian like a lion about to go in for the kill.
“Alright, now I’m really ready to apologize,” Lucian offered, coughing, holding his pained abdomen.
“Do you think I would let you—”
[Goblin Bash] x [Cotton Flurry]
Drywall scattered as Lucian burst out of the wall in another surprise attack, throwing glowing white punches in rapid succession, the blows seeming like a raver’s dancing glow sticks. Hope of winning soon drained from Lucian as he watched Mana move rapidly around Asher’s body, coalescing at each spot one of Lucian’s punches would land, blocking every hit effectively and without fail. The blue light of Mana was also gathered in Asher’s eyes as he kept track of every punch, regardless of their blurring speed.
“Well, shit…” Lucian muttered with disquiet as his combination of Skills ended, backing off in disbelief, mind whirling. [Cotton Flurry] was so fast that its speed exuded wind, yet the Corp Anointed blocked it all without a hitch.
“Yea, ‘well shit’ is right,” Asher responded, scowling, “Brace yourself, Crow. This is going to hurt.” His hands began to glow blue with the promise of an imminent beat down for Lucian. However, before they could continue their fight, the floor gave out and they began to fall.
Landing on the next floor below, they exchanged tense glances, uncertain about what had just occurred. After confirming their safety, they lunged at each other, ready for more attacks. However, as they collided, the floor gave way once again, sending them plummeting downward. On the subsequent floor, surrounded by billowing clouds of dust, they stood motionless. Neither wanted to risk triggering another collapse by moving. Despite their cautious decision, they began to fall through the floor once more. The destructive descent continued until the entire building collapsed on top of them.
Rendered unconscious, Lucian and Asher found themselves trapped beneath the rubble, completely incapacitated and out cold. Unbeknownst to them, figures clad in black biker leather, covered in tattoos and piercings, began to dig them out.
***
“You should’ve told me that Lush was in trouble earlier!” Amelia exclaimed, tension etching her expression. Her bright green eyes remained fixed on the road as they soared past the billboard advertising condoms and other debris strewn outside the walls of New DC. Having just read Lucian's texts, sent hours ago, detailing his desperate situation and plea for help, Amelia also learned that Two Tap had received a similarly urgent call from him.
“…I-I tried to!” Two Tap muttered without confidence, fiddling with the new clothes that Amelia had bought and compelled her to wear. She sported a crop top depicting a teddy bear with X’s on its eyes and skinny, acid-washed black jeans. Instead of her usual satchel, housing herbs and a glass pipe, she now carried a "clutch bag" – black with a short golden chain for carrying. Amelia assured her that everything she wore was monster-proof, crafted from materials sourced from monsters, including the fashionable espadrilles with elevated heels strapped to her feet.
“Please be alive, Lush,” Amelia muttered, frustration evident as she pounded the wheel, keeping the gas pedal floored. Leaving Lucian alone out there felt foolish, but he had exuded so much confidence, and Amelia lacked experience in the Anointed world. “Come on. Stay alive, Lush. I’m on my way!”
Under a crescent moon, the bulky Humvee careened haphazardly down the road toward the Wasteland—an ominous place where unknown dangers lurked behind obstructions and within dark shadows.
Standing on the road were furry, bulky creatures, their heads turning left and right as they sniffed the air. A looming worry of losing their quarry grew as these creatures sensed moisture in the air. Rain was approaching, possibly a storm that could erase any trace they were following. Typically, monsters like them would need to adapt and leave things as they were, but their leader was no such monster.
It sought payback for a humiliation it had suffered, though minimal to its brethren, it wasn’t easy for it to forget.
Just when things were about to turn against them, the monsters suddenly stiffened as the scent they had been following grew stronger. Down the road came a Humvee, its headlights at full beam.
“M-melly…!” Two Tap warned, clutching at the seat, expecting a crash.
Amelia saw the monsters ahead and swerved to avoid them before finally finding open road again. “What the heck is the New DC Anointed Force doing? They’re supposed to keep the roads safe. Whatever. I’ll just tell my dad about it…”
The Anointed working for the Megacity of New DC were part of a special unit known as the New DC Anointed Force. Though considered the bottom of the food chain among Anointed, even less so than mercenaries, they were still super-powered beings, just less skilled than others. Most speculated it was because of the job security and other perks of working for the megacity that made them complacent.
The monsters on the road redirected their attention from their initial path, their wide heads whipping backward. Catching the scent they were seeking, the Humvee instantly became the object of their pursuit, and without pause, they gave chase.