Asher strode across the damaged streets, his mind whirling.
“A badly fit puzzle piece?” Asher grumbled, “Me? That Crow needs to know when to stay silent and not speak!” His shiny dress shoes crushed gravel underneath him as he walked through a house with only its frame remaining.
For the Corp Anointed, the description of a puzzle piece that never quite fit hit too close to home. His life had been spent striving to meet expectations, yet despite his remarkable intellect and incredible prowess in everything he pursued, he still found himself unable to become the person he longed to be.
His father came to his mind, looming like a deity above him, expression stern, eyes brimming with judgment. He was the man Asher aspired to emulate—a man who was respected, intelligent, unwavering, and above all, powerful.
A badly fit puzzle piece would not remain his fate. He refused to let something so demeaning and detrimental define him.
“Hey, wait up!”
Asher seethed seeing Lucian waving at him from down the street.
“Get lost, Crow,” Asher retorted, turning away to continue walking.
Lucian ran up to him. “Where are you going?” he cautioned. “The monster wave is still rampaging through the city. There’s no telling what could be out there.”
Asher didn’t bother looking at him to remain on the move. “I came to Liberty Heights to get stronger, Crow. Don’t get in my way.”
“Don’t get in your way? Remind me, which one of us needed saving so many times, hmm? I count at least five times I needed to save your fancy suit wearing ass—”
“Enough, Crow!” Asher snapped. “You know for a fact that the last week of my personal strife has been because of your doing—you, dragging me down by getting those monsters to chase me in order for you to escape. Then you force me to play hero for a bunch of undeserving dust eating barbarians.”
The Corp Anointed spun around to shove his finger onto Lucian’s chest. “My word is my bond and I have fulfilled my obligation to you. I’ve stood watch over your unconscious body for a week and have already sacrificed so much precious training time. As far as I’m concerned, our business with each other has concluded.”
He turned around to continue his trek through the destroyed city, mumbling to himself, “Call me a ‘badly fit puzzle piece’, the absolute nerve of you, Crow.”
“You’re going to leave just like that?” Lucian questioned, watching Asher continue onward.
“Leave me alone, Crow.”
Lucian grinned, then casually shrugged. “Oh, alright. I thought you might’ve wanted to know how I, just a little annoying Crow, managed to beat that [Succubus]. Oh, well. I’ll just leave it in the air for now.” He leaned against a moldy trailer without wheels. “I heard being mysterious is what’s hot right now in the Heart Rings. So, I’m not against stylishly keeping my ways secret.”
Asher stopped in his tracks. He stared up at the clear sky, the skyline of the destroyed city buildings poking upward like spikes in a pitfall trap.
The temptation was too much. The Corp Anointed needed to know how someone like Lucian had managed to beat a yellow gate monster alone. The deadly venom skill Lucian possessed could only be used once per day, so he must have defeated that demon some other way. Not to mention, Lucian had also cloned himself not too long ago. There was much to unravel.
“Tell me,” Asher relented, reluctantly turning around. An arm became draped over him as Lucian pulled him in like a close friend.
“Stick with me, kid,” Lucian said with a playful smirk, giving Asher’s chest a friendly pat with his other hand, “and I’ll show you how to get big and strong just like me.”
“Crow…!” Asher didn’t know how long he could suffer this Broken Ring miscreant. He immediately shoved Lucian off of him.
Lucian laughed and used the momentum to spin around to take another direction, waving Asher to follow along. “This way, Ash. You want to train? I’m going to show you how to.”
Asher grumbled, “Crow, I wanted to know how you beat that [Succubus]. I never spoke of needing training advice.”
“But this is all for you to get stronger, right? Just shut up already and come on.”
Asher took a moment to calm himself before he began to follow Lucian. “This better be good, Crow…”
They arrived at a statue of a historical figure, the base of which had a hole as if something had punctured it recently. Around them lay dead, rusted cars. The crumbling buildings surrounding them seemed to say that the area had once been a commercial district.
“Back where it started,” Lucian sighed, looking around at the place he had begun his mishap-filled adventure in Liberty Heights. He turned to look at the Corp Anointed. “I have to thank you, Ash. You really opened my eyes to what I did wrong. I wasn’t at all prepared coming here.” After some thinking, Lucian had realized coming here with only cheap equipment and his personal monster guide nearly got him killed. He needed to be better.
Asher shrugged, responding, “That much was obvious. But it is only because you’re incompetent and you lack intelligence, as well as a proper upbringing. You’re a Broken Ring dredge, after all.”
Lucian laughed. Asher’s bluntness was too unique to become angered over. Lucian then turned away to look at the bank that had once been a part of his escape route from danger.
“I’m back you sons of bitches!” Lucian roared.
Asher stiffened then cursed, “Crow, what the fuck are you doing? You tell me to be careful of the monster wave, then you go ahead and start screaming at the top of your lungs?”
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From the shadows of the buildings appeared red glowing eyes.
“Look what you did,” Asher grunted, warily staring at the sheer amount of eyes looking back at them, seeming as if there lurked a whole herd of monsters. “I should’ve known you were going to display your idiocy once more…!”
Plump, horned rabbits emerged from a decrepit bank like white feathers bursting from a torn pillow, their red eyes set on Lucian.
“This will show you how I managed to kill that [Succubus],” Lucian explained in a low voice, a crazed light in his eyes, an even crazier smile growing on his face. “This will show you how to train.” He threw a glance toward the Corp Anointed. “You’re like me, right? You have growth-type potential?”
“…Yes,” Asher answered, bewildered by the strange circumstances and how Lucian could guess his abysmal potential grade.
“Don’t be too shocked. I know what desperation looks like. It’s why I’m out here. Neither of us came to the ruins of Old DC because we chose to. We came here because we have no other choice—in order to get stronger!”
Asher couldn’t help but feel his respect for Lucian grow, not only because they were in the same boat, struggling against circumstances and hopelessness, but also because they both were out here trying to change their fate.
“Bring it on!” Lucian shouted to the rabbits.
One rabbit in particular, one with a horn that seemed to have been cracked after hitting something hard, chose to attack first. Its aim was true. The horn upon its furry head pierced Lucian through the gut.
“What the fuck…!” Asher gawked, unable to believe what happened. Lucian had allowed the monster rabbit to stab him without fighting back. “What the fuck are you doing, Lucian?”
Bleeding, Lucian struggled to keep his feet as he gave Asher a thumbs up.
“Don’t thumbs up me, you fucking moron. Why did you let that thing hit you?” Asher was livid, but he had to begin dodging to avoid rabbit horns torpedoing toward him.
[Acute Focus] x [Hasten]
The blue light of Mana surged around his legs as his Inner Trait and Spell activated, amplifying his speed. He darted past the rabbit attacks, countering with his Sky Metal rapier, each swing cleaving the plump monsters in two. With fluid motion, he positioned himself in front of Lucian, who had dropped to one knee, ready to defend him.
“Get up or I’ll kill you,” Asher snarled, kicking the kneeling Lucian.
Mouth dripping blood, Lucian shook his head and responded, “Don’t worry. It’s how I killed the [Succubus]. Remember, this is how you train…!”
“You fucking imbecile, get up!”
Lucian fell over dead. Asher gritted his teeth and began killing any rabbits that tried to go for him or Lucian’s body. Without being told, he understood what was happening and because of that, his fury only grew.
“Fucking Crow…!” he shouted as he continued to fight, though he knew he wouldn’t last long. There were just too many rabbits to kill. His Mana would run dry before he took care of half of them. He fought until his breath became ragged, until his Spells could no longer be concentrated with [Acute Focus], until he was forced to rely on the modicum of strength available to a Support-type Anointed like himself.
The rabbits had him surrounded. He couldn’t help but start cursing at Lucian’s prone body, but then he heard someone call out.
“Lush!”
It was a young woman’s voice, accompanied by the sound of a Gatetech engine. Roaring down the street came a hole-ridden Humvee with two doors missing and every window shattered. Two rather pretty girls in stylish clothes were driving the vehicle, batting away the rusted cars they collided with.
Gatetech vehicles were made of Monster Gate materials. Not many normal vehicles could stop it once it was on a roll.
The Humvee swerved expertly in a circle, donutting around Lucian and Asher, hitting away any horned rabbits in its path. The driver, a beautiful brunette with bright green eyes, stared horrified at Lucian’s prone body. The thin young blonde beside her observed Lucian carefully.
Amelia and Two Tap had arrived.
Two Tap spoke plainly, “Lush is dead.”
“No, he’s not!” Amelia rejected, denying the reality before her eyes. She called out to Asher. “Get in!” Asher immediately hopped into the doorless backseat. “No! Get Lucian too!”
Asher shook his head and replied, “That’s not Lucian. That’s a clone.”
The rabbits battered the Humvee as they attacked in waves, while Amelia stared at Asher as if he had just said that monsters weren’t real.
“Fine…” Asher relented with a sigh and snatched up Lucian’s body to bring it along.
The Humvee’s Gatetech engine rumbled and glowed with blue light as the vehicle was compelled to drive off at full speed. The rabbits attempted to give chase but Amelia took them down a tunnel, knowing from experience the rabbits would not follow their target through the dark.
While exiting the tunnel, Two Tap threw herbs from her clutch bag onto Lucian, herbs that immediately ignited into bright green bits of healing light. She then shook her head and reiterated, “Lush is dead.”
“Two Tap, stop saying that!” Amelia snapped, but she soon saw how Lucian’s lifeless eyes stared ahead at nothing, how his body remained unmoving. She then slammed her hands in frustration against her door, breaking it and sending it careening down the street with her Anointed strength.
“Dammit!” she shouted, wind blowing in through her missing door, tussling her hair. “All that time trying to save him just for Lush to die before we could get to him…Dammit!”
“There’s no need for that,” Asher refuted, seeing her emotional display as unseemly. “Like I said, this body is a clone, I think. This idiot was playing some sort of prank on me.”
Two Tap looked from the Corp Anointed then to Lucian whose blood stained the seats and leaked on the floor.
“Lush is dead,” the Wastelander girl said a third time.
Amelia gazed in the rear view mirror at Asher sitting in the backseat, her eyes seeming sunken in from witnessing Lucian’s “death.”
“What are you saying exactly?” she probed. Her green eyes narrowed, recognizing Asher’s suit as one Corp Anointed wore.
Asher exasperated, “Just go where I tell you. You’ll see for yourself.”
They drove on according to the Corp Anointed’s directions. Two Tap tried to turn on the radio but was denied, Amelia not in the mood to hear anything while Lucian lied slumped over dead in the backseat.
“I didn’t know Crow kept Heart Ring bimbos around,” Asher muttered to himself, observing both girls at the front. He couldn’t stand what he perceived was their type, having grown up knowing a certain kind of Heart Ring girl—vapid, hedonistic, air-headed, the playthings of the elite. They were almost as bad as Wastelanders if they hadn’t any use as playthings.
Amelia frowned, “Who are you?” Before Asher could answer, she went on, “You know, besides an empty suit—a soulless, number crunching, corporate lackey playing monster slayer. Besides that, who are you?”
“I’m one of your betters.”
“More like, one of the worst humanity has to offer, corporate stooge.”
Two Tap's eyes darted between them, struggling to comprehend the situation but still aware something was off.
The tension between the two eased slightly once they reached the house that was partially destroyed in the early wars of the first Monster Invasion. Inside, they found themselves in the kitchen, where the trap door led to the bunker.
They knocked and Asher announced himself before one of the Wastelanders finally unlocked the bunker to open it up. Laughter immediately spilled out, followed by the sound of music. An old jukebox had been fixed and was playing tunes from a bygone era.
Lucian sat at a table, laughing with the red-headed Wendy as they watched the [Immature Slime] wiggle as if it were dancing. Alcohol was in the hands of everyone as some danced to the music, while others laughed at stories being told in their own groups. The old Wastelander, Mich, was at a shorter table, challenging anyone who was willing to a drinking contest.
One of Asher's eyebrows twitched in irritation as he flung Lucian's lifeless clone off his shoulder. The clone happened to disintegrate into sand the moment it hit the ground, while Asher gestured towards the real Lucian, who was clearly enjoying himself.
“There you have it,” Asher presented with gritted teeth. “The real Lucian—dumb, peasant born, foolish Crow.”
Lucian finally noticed the bunker door open and who had come through, laughing loudly, “Well, look who it is? Ash, how was my little show—” his words abruptly shifted when he saw who Asher had arrived with. “Melly? Two Tap?”