As soon as Bella touched the egg again, it was up to me to bring my team home. For a bunch of hunters with tournament wins, they were sure cocky as shit. They should have beaten us down, instead of gloating while we watched those seconds tick away. But honestly, I shouldn’t be complaining. One team’s ego was another team’s win.
Even the crowd started to count down, until I served them a steaming hot plate of flame rangoon surprise.
In one hot flash, I went up in flames, incinerating everything on the floor. Like I said, I didn’t have to worry about the egg breaking, nor did I have to worry about the nest, either. They were both invulnerable, but Elissa’s team wasn’t.
Neither of them had physical invulnerability like I did, or the egg and its nest. So as soon as I went into full-fledged heat mode, they panicked and dispersed, and I was free again.
Bringing Reina and Naomi down with them was a literal definition of friendly fire. Though deep down, I knew they were hoping that I’d do everything it took to keep that point on our side of the park.
“You idiot!” Elissa said, her voice smothered in flames. By the time the buzzer went off, the big score board in the sky said that we won it!
Magpie: Holy cow, Flamingo! What a power play from Team Owl! They scored the egg!
Flamingo: Who knew a little bit of friendly fire would turn around and save the day? That was certainly an unsuspected move, Magpie! And it sounds like the crowd loves it! Go Team Owl!
“Hot, hot, hot!” Bella cried, dashing up and down the steps to kill the fire on her suit. Even though she couldn’t feel the high volume of heat I was putting out, our armor had receptors to translate sensations, enough to where it wouldn’t hurt us—to an extent. The idea behind total immersion was to make these battles as real and safe as possible so both sponsors and hunters, and even the parents of hunters, wouldn’t complain.
After all, the Hunter Games was supposed to be a fun event. And I was having the time of my life right now.
I killed my flames. Unfortunately, Reina and Naomi took too much damage from their fight up top and down below, and my heat melted the rest of their HP. Elissa and her team got no HP bump for what I did, but the bad side was that now I was open for punishment, Elissa and Mirkov now inching closer to me.
“So desperate, so foolish!” she growled.
I stepped back again, curling my hands into fists to defend myself. I felt a sweat drop slide down my forehead as they closed in, my immediate thought to run away squashed by the idea of a snow bunny behind me catching me quickly. Not only that, the alternative option wasn’t favorable either. If I fought, I’d be burning precious stamina away.
“Well played,” Mirkov muttered under his breath. “I do hope you know that you’re not leaving here alive.”
I smirked. “No, not at all. But it doesn’t matter, does it? My team scored. That’s all we care about.”
“Not the type to plan for the future, I see….”
My smile faded. “What the hell are you mouthing on about?”
He grinned. “I have to admit, you are definitely a different breed. Melody didn’t mention it, and I have a feeling I know why. Your metas are pretty impressive…” he said, a little too excitedly. He was making me uncomfortable, and just when I thought he’d strike me down, Bella came from behind and tackled me.
She hit me hard, her strength driven by her speed. As soon as I fell, I tried to pick myself back up again, but Mirkov’s golem had already scooped me up.
I punched it clean against its face, knocking its head right off its shoulders. Mirkov tented his fingers, and just like that, the golem sprouted a new noggin, and head-butted me with it.
“Please, go right ahead and make things easier for us,” he taunted. “You break, I remake. However, the difference between you and me is that my stamina is much higher than yours. So my meta will last much longer.”
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
Dammit… they weren’t trying to fight me, they were going to keep me hostage….
Reina and Naomi were screwed without a third. As much as it sucked to admit it, that dickbag was right. Stamina was something that built up slowly. Unlike my HP, it wouldn’t come back during the rounds. So if I sat around and fought this entire team, I was the only one who would lose.
I didn’t think that part through, and I bet Reina and Naomi didn’t expect this either.
Either way, the show had to go on. Mirkov doubled the size of his giant golem, making sure that most of my moving parts were locked in its fist. Resistance is futile, as Elissa said, her and her team heading to the next egg pick up point on the map.
Bella walked to the right of me, with her arms crossed behind her head and a big smile on her face. She was humming a tune to herself as they closed the distance between them and the egg, and I just had to turn over to her when she looked at me.
“Bet you’re mighty proud of yourselves,” I muttered coldly.
“There’s a little over 5 minutes left, no sign of your friends, and no sign of the other teams, either….” She giggled. “Looks like we are scoring an easy win this time!” She winked. “I told you that we’d be seeing each other real soon.”
“You’re right, but I didn’t think we’d be getting this intimate,” I hissed, turning over to Mirkov and shooting him a quick request. “Any chance that you can loosen rockhead just a tad? My butt crack is starting to feel a bit like the Grand Canyon.”
Mirkov grunted, and then a sound echoed through his golem. After he rolled his eyes, Bella responded with a boisterous laugh. “Oh, you’re quite the joker, aren’t you? If we weren’t being pinned against each other right now, I’d say we may even be friends!”
I smirked. “Really? So how about we pretend that there isn’t a money bag on the line here and chuck it up, huh?!”
She giggled. “You’re not that funny, though!” she said with sparkling eyes.
I felt the golem’s grip suddenly tighten on me, and my instant reaction was to turn over to Mirkov. He was being pissy, the guy looking at me from the corner of his eye. Was that jealousy I saw just now?
Oh hell… material man had the hots for bunny girl….
“I wouldn’t be so smug if I were you,” I said, turning back to Bella who seemed to be thoroughly enjoying my predicament. “There’s still plenty of time left.”
“Oh?” Bella replied, her eyebrow arched as she turned to me. “Do you have a plan up your enslaved sleeves?”
“Reina and Naomi are going to—”
“Pfft,” Elissa butted in. “Depending on them will bring you no good. Right now, I bet they are pissing their pants, trying to scrape up a plan that will only feed our health bars all the more!”
“You don’t know them like I know them. They—”
“Have a history of getting on each other’s bad sides,” Mirkov finished. “You’ve done homework on us, and we’ve done some on you as well, Nero.”
“Smartass…” I muttered under my breath. But this situation I was in wasn’t the end, not by a long shot….
Not once did I ever reconsider joining early. Not once did I regret signing up for this season of the Hunter Games. I believed in my team, and I knew they’d figure something out and push through. Reina and Naomi were smart. I was not going to doubt them, not even for a fucking second….
The second egg was an easy steal. Team Lynx had no problem claiming it. There was no sign of Reina and Naomi. My chest was getting tighter at the thought of them going for the other egg and losing. I couldn’t check my H-Tec to confirm anything being confined like this, and the big screens in the sky were limited, depending how exposed to the outside we were. This stupid golem was making sure to bring me everywhere it went, no matter how dark or tight the fit was. I was getting more and more irritated by being held hostage.
“Here we are,” Bella said as we entered a warehouse for the third egg. So far, her team had a point, and ours had a point, too.
I watched as she dashed to the egg and claimed it, the golden ticket wedged between two old crates.
The room was dimly lit, dust particles dancing in the long shafts of sunlight that filtered from the high, narrow windows. So there was no telling if we had company. I was crossing my fingers that we did, because I’d have a chance of getting the hell out of here.
For whatever reason, Elissa took the egg from Bella and then lifted the egg and held it up to the light. She squinted at the faint writing on its gleaming gold surface, my heart suddenly racing as the room got quiet. It then dawned on me that Elissa was inspecting it for a good reason. There was an item out there that could mimic the actual egg, an item called Imposter Egg: pose as any golden egg currently in play. Effects last for 30 seconds.
“What’s the verdict, Elissa?” Mirkov asked.
“Is it real or what?” Bella followed.
“An imposter egg usually has one tell of imperfection,” she said, continuing to study it. “It is very small, and if not careful, can be easily missed. However this one does not have it. I’d say it is solid. The real deal.”
“Damn, I was really hoping you’d get bamboozled,” I sighed. “The other two teams must really be going at it to miss this spawn, too.”
“There will be no free passes over here. That’s what you so-called brave year one metas get for swinging me around like a Pinata,” Mirkov hissed.
“Okay then, let’s head to a nest before anyone snuffs us out,” Bella insisted, and she was the first to dash out of the warehouse. However, she didn’t get very far, the poor girl running right into a giant ball of wind.
Immediately I knew right then and there that it was Felix’s team!
“What the?”
“Sorry to barge in like this, but—”
“Reina and Naomi third partied us and stole a point!” Ash cried, cutting off Gun. She was hysterical as she came in swinging, Ash leaping into Bella on the ground with her powerful slash attack.
My eyes went wide as Bella dodged her and her powerful claws, Ash creating a gigantic slash in the cement where Bella had been just a second before.
That was the first time I’d seen her use that ability, Ash stronger than she led everyone to believe. But what was more shocking than Ash’s meta was what came out of Ash’s mouth….
Reina and Naomi secured another point for our team….