An immense surge of blue energy ignited in my hardened fist, encasing it in a fiery aura. I reeled my arm back, my hand vibrating like a plucked guitar string. The ground beneath me quaked as though the sound of thunder took shape and punched the Earth. Sunflower struggled to push herself off the ground, her movements slow but determined. Finally, she rose, stretching her arms toward me as green flames engulfed her hands. Embers of green appeared from all around her, however, my aura—towering over Sunflower—snuffed them out immediately. Her hands were shaking, seemingly aware of the contest of firepower she had just agreed to.

Unfortunately for her, it was too late to back down now. I threw my arm forward, firing a giant energy fist, and flames shot out from her palms.

“Nuclear Fist.”

“Greenhouse!”

Our attacks collided, resulting in a massive explosion that incinerated everything around us, though my body stayed firm. The shockwave sent bullets of fire and lava at me, hitting my body but burning nothing. The first thing I saw upon the collision was a flash of blue and green light, so I had no idea how the girl was affected by the explosion. What I did know was that since she was made up of energy, she was most likely fine.

My curiosity would quickly be answered. Once the light dispersed, I was met with small meteors of fire descending to the broken ground below, seemingly to scorch through me. Without a second thought, I rocketed skyward, destroying the last piece of footing left within the sea of flames. I swung my leg in a wide arc, evaporating every meteor in my vicinity.

In that instant, Sunflower appeared from beneath me and blasted a beam of flames, engulfing my body. My body remained unscorched, the energy on top of my head flapping uncontrollably.To my surprise, my entire body started to illuminate as segments of me began to shift, sliding apart like hidden panels in a stone wall. The flames quickly poured themselves into the openings, and I realized that my body was absorbing them. Not just my hands, fingers, or my mouth—my entire body.

Now that I had some time to check out my transformed body, I noticed some big differences that weren’t present when I first had this form. I caressed my chest, realizing that the ooze surrounding my skeleton had now turned into green, stone-like armor. My bones were encased with it, preventing me from seeing them anymore—unless they opened up like they just did.

Once my body had absorbed all the fire, my knees fired out energy like rockets, propelling me downwards to the sea of flames with the girl stuck to my back. She screamed for me to stop, though I didn’t listen. The hungry flames devoured us and we sunk into its crimson depths, the crackling roars sounding alive with fury. I deactivated my rocket knees and leapt off of her. That’s when I spotted Rosalina’s orb in the fiery distance, swirling erratically.

I didn’t know how I was gonna get back from this place, but I did know I couldn’t let Sunflower destroy or do whatever she was going to do to that orb. And that’s exactly what she was planning to do as she was flying towards the orb.

I zoomed through the dancing sea, dissipating the flames that dared to block my way, and grabbed the girl’s skull.

“You’re going to keep losing if you continue fighting me, Sunflower!”, I screamed, approaching the orb. “Just tell me how to get the hell out of here already.”

It looked like the sound of my voice lost the competition with the fire’s howls considering she didn’t seem to hear me. It wasn’t like she ignored my request as I couldn’t hear a thing she was shouting either.

Then, just as I was about to grab the orb, the entire world changed. In replacement of the fiery sea, I was now standing in the middle of a pre-apocalyptic city. Cars were parked on the side of an empty street. Buildings looked down on me and the sky was as dark as the one above me when I was training with my daughter. There was this ball of light way up there that reminded me of the sun, though it was too far to actually light up the new environment.

I heard Sunflower sigh in relief. “Now that we’re here, I can-”

Before she could finish, I coated my fist in energy and slammed it against her gut. She yelped in pain as I hurled her body through a hotel wall nearby. I approached her slowly, an ominous chill I didn’t know I had filling my every step. She rolled on the ground, clenching her stomach, gritting her teeth.

“Y-You… Why did that actually hurt!?” Her eyes shifted to me, imbued with shock. “I’m supposed to be… energy.”

I reached her body and flaunted my hand. “I realized when you crushed my orb that energy damages you. If you think about it, energy can hurt energy the same way humans can hurt humans.”

“Th-That doesn’t matter!”, she yelled, sitting back up. “This is still my world, and I can do whatever I want in it. And I’m the only one who knows where my mom’s orb is at all-”

“Listen, kid,” I interrupted. “I’m starting to get a little bored of this shit, so why don’t I go ahead and make it fun… for the both of us hopefully. If you manage to land even a single hit on me in the span of ten minutes, then I will allow you to take your mother’s orb and destroy me.”

Why the hell did I say that?

“The hell are you babbling about?” she questioned, confused at the game I just requested. “You sound… different.”

“If you don’t land one blow on me in ten minutes, then I’ll just find my own way out of here. And I have the perfect way to do that.”

Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

“I said… what the hell are you babbling ab-”

*****

All Sunflower wanted was to save her mother, Rosalina Ramirez, from this prison—a prison she never deserved to be in. If she could just release her mom from this rotten, disgusting prison that reeked of death and radioactive energy, then she could finally forgive her what happened at Corleone’s Estate. Once Sunflower’s mom was free… she could finally tell her how much she loved her, how much she missed her.

Unfortunately, that would be difficult to accomplish considering her head was currently dragged through the concrete like a bowling ball, debris scattering across the area. If pieces of concrete counted as hits, then Sunflower would’ve already won. Sadly, Jerome, this damn zombie, was the creator of the game and the rules were his to manipulate at any time.

Finally, the man stopped. She thought she’d be able to take a couple seconds to regain her composure, but Jerome immediately pulled her up by her hair and muttered, “C’mon, kid. I’m actually starting to feel bad seeing you in such a pathetic state. Keep trying a little harder, will ya? You still have eight minutes left until I get tired of this.”

He sounded like he was speaking to a child, as though everything she was fighting for was something he felt obligated to entertain. She looked at his face and felt a cloud of mockery shadow over her. Jerome’s bones always had that cracked smile, and yet now she finally realized how much that smile made a joke out of her resolve. And those horns on his head… It was like the devil himself was staring at her, making a joke out of the whole thing, getting drunk on her weakness.

A joke…

Sunflower threw a couple of punches at Jerome’s face, but he dodged them all, chuckling as he caught her hands and threw her into the night sky. She clasped her hands and summoned bullets of seeds from the depths of the ground, riddling random buildings with holes in an attempt to land just one hit on the undead man. None of them landed. In fact, as she was falling back to the ground, she noticed that the man was casually walking through one of the top floors in a building.

Enraged by this, Sunflower lifted her twitchy hands upwards and hundreds of vines tore from the ground. Then, they coiled around each other, forming two giant hands that squashed the building completely.

Her breathing began to slow down when she presumed that she was finally able to win the battle. That was until she felt something strike her skull, sending her back down to the ground. She only had a few seconds to understand how she got down there before she heard the sound of… a machine gun firing? Above her, bullets of energy cascaded over the city, and if she didn't move, she would become another target.

Without hesitation, she ran as fast as she could, the bullets just a couple feet away from her. She could have flown away, but something was stopping her. A feeling in her mind.

Was it fear?

Bullets riddled her body with holes and Sunflower screamed in agony. She plummeted to the floor, feelings of despair gripping her soul once she realized Jerome was about to win. No… he didn’t just win. He absolutely embarrassed her and mocked her desires. And there was nothing she could do about it.

“Didn’t I just tell you to try a little harder?” Jerome walked up to Sunflower, juggling Rosalina’s orb. “Well, it wouldn’t be ‘just’ I guess. You do only have a minute left to land a hit on me. I mean… damn kid. I thought the stakes would be enough to push you further, but it seems like you don’t have that urge in you.” He crouched down and lifted her chin up a bit. “The urge only a true survivor of the apocalypse would have. It’s unfortunate… You have potential inside of you, and yet something is holding you back. I’m sure it’s something in your past.”

“Why are you acting so different, old man?” said Sunflower, her wounds slowly healing. “This can’t be the real… Jerome Hunter.”

Jerome paused for a moment. Then, he said, “You already saw my past through that orb and all the things that I am. I assure you, this is who I am.”

She couldn’t believe those words. No matter how much she hated this man, his words about being a father earlier pierced through her defenses. She wanted it to be a lie, some kind of strategy that would’ve caught her off guard. And yet, she sensed in his aura… that those were his true feelings. “You’re-”

“Silence,” he cut off, pointing to the sun. “Since you’re on your way to lose, I wanted to ask you about that light in the sky. You summoned a flower and it turned into some kind of sun. What was that supposed to achieve?”

“Sun… Sun… Sunspot.”

The sun… Somehow, she had completely forgotten about the technique she summoned. Minutes had passed since that light was up there. Perhaps, it was finally time to use it.

“Solar Flare!”

Before anyone could even react, a humongous beam of light pierced through the air and eviscerated Jerome’s body, burning through the concrete. The light didn’t make any sound—the only thing she heard was the sizzling of the ground in front of her.

Once the light disappeared, Sunflower was elated at the sight of… nothing in front of her. She was certain her final attack had destroyed that zombie once and for all. His body was gone, and she sensed his aura dissipate. She won. She could save her m-

“I gotta be honest…”

Sunflower’s world began to shatter the second she heard that chilling voice. The voice that's been haunting her this entire fucking time. She looked behind her, still on the ground, and there Jerome was… sitting down with his legs crossed.

“If that attack had hit, you would’ve won,” he said without a care in the world. “Could’ve been a pretty impressive last minute win… but you failed. And now your time’s up.”

“How… How did you escape my Solar Flare? I’m the caster, and even I couldn't see it coming.”

Jerome laughed softly. “The answer’s simple. It’s because I’m stronger than you.”

Stronger… Is the answer really that-

“Nah, I’m just playing with you,” he chuckled. “Look to your left.”

She did as he said and was shocked to see that another Jerome was standing next to her, watching lifelessly as if it was waiting for further instructions. “You made this thing?”

“It’s called Nuclear Clones,” he replied, standing back up and picking up her mother’s orb off the ground. “This body of mine can absorb energy from all sides. Which means I can also release energy from all sides. All I did was release my energy in the shape of me and… well, you already see it. Although, I can’t really explain why it takes my outer appearance too.”

“Were you… fighting me this entire time… with a goddamn clone?”

“No, I only created this thing in the last five minutes of the fight ‘cause you bored me in the first five. The clone you hit was the third one.”

Bored!? I bored him!? He’s seen so much of my power already, and yet…

Jerome approached the girl and wrapped his hand around her neck, absorbing her mom’s orb with the other hand. “The only way for me to escape this place for the time being is to absorb you again. Use the time you’re inside of me to reflect on all the things you tried to do. Use it to see who your mother truly was.”

“I have… another question,” she murmured, eyes beginning to tear up.

“What is it, Sunflower?”

She hesitated to ask the question, debating on whether she should just keep her mouth shut or go through with it. Eventually, Sunflower spoke. “Was I… Was I strong?”

Silence filled the air for a couple moments. “You showed me all the potential you and your mother’s abilities have—potential I plan on using for myself. Pair that with your resolve throughout the entire fight… I’d say you should be proud of who you are and what you can do. ‘Cause I know your mother already was.”

Mixed emotions surged throughout her body upon hearing those words, culminating in a well of tears spilling out of her eyes. She didn’t want to feel like this, but no matter how much she tried to make it stop… they just kept coming out.

She caressed her wet face, sniffing. “Why am I crying?”

For the first time since she brought Jerome into the state between release, she saw his face… His true face. It wasn’t the face he had as a human. He was still a zombie, though he wasn’t smiling anymore.

A frown was etched across his face.

“I wouldn’t know… I’m not really able to do that anymore.”