[12:10, 05/05/2040, A Couple Days Later]

[Round 2nd]

Ace moves from tree to tree naturally. In such a thick and tall forest, there is always a tree for him to jump off of in every direction and land on another one. A blast of wind is shot and makes a tree nearby gp down. Another one is shot, nearly hitting Ace. Despite it being a thick and tall forest, the sun is out, allowing the prey below to have some visual sense of where his predator from above is moving. Ace then drops from the top of the trees with his blade in his hands, coming down to slay his prey in one hit. But as he comes down, just a few feet above his opponent, he's blocked by an invisible mass of wind surrounding its wielder.

Ima Dye- "You don't even have a Paradise. You should've hid and waited until I got tired."

Ace is then thrown back by the windshield, abruptly expanding outwards. He stops with his back hitting against a tree’s trunk. A hit so hard that it's easy to say he might've died or sustained some serious life-threatening injury related to his spine. But this is not the case, as a winner has yet to be declared, which is something Windy Time has noticed. He starts walking towards the unconscious Ace with his hand out, and the wind starts culminating in his hand.

Ima- 'He's still alive? Then one more should do it then.'

Sin is more than just one's ability to control and enhance their own self-body. To possess the strength, speed, and mind at their respective peaks of human capability can only go so far against those who destroy civilization at a lift of a finger. Fortunately, it is only half of what is made available to them. To rise to the level of King, the apex of power in this world, the other half comes without bargaining. Because it's not just human strength that wins the day, it's mentality.

Denarrow- "Gokai Ni Yoru Shi."

In a near instant proceeding his words, Ace from behind snaps his opponent's neck, ending the match, ending his second round fight.

[18:45]

Malala- "That match didn't make any sense."

Maximus- "What match?"

Malala- "One of the first ones. The Untitled vs Ima Dye, or Windy Time."

Her brother puts his phone on the table next to his plate of food and starts swiping his finger on it.

Maximus- "Found. Hmm… It doesn't make much sense."

Malala- "What way are you thinking about it."

Maximus- "One has the Grade-2nd Venta Fruit, the other one isn't even a Paradisian, and he won, interesting. But-"

Malala- "I thought so. I meant the ending of the fight."

Maximus- "Oh, sorry. Hol a sec."

He swipes his fingers across the phone some more.

Maximus- "He was taken out from behind. A snapping of the neck scenario, not a very good look for kids but he won. I don't know what he was lookin at before his death. He relaxed his defenses at the worst time. That is kind of weird but a rookie mistake."

Malala- 'I would honestly say the same thing, but ever since what Rare said, I can't unthink the possibility and coincidence.'

Jabari- "Oh my god dis food is bussin in my mouth right now. Xen is a fuckin good ass cook. Winning eatery."

Luke- "Can you relax? I'm not tryin ta have the whole places attention on us again."

Jabari- "So? We kick ass, we the shit, so stop beein a bitch."

Maximus- "Anyways, who's payin the bill. I gotta get goin, Trin and I have to make the city rounds again."

Jabari- “Just say ya like her. We know do not care.”

Maximus- “I do not, that would be inappropriate to think of a colleague that way.”

Luke- “This bill ain’t so appropriate either, good thing it’s in your name Max.”

The Heroes and Malala stand up, leaving behind the sole Hero to pay for the bill.

[19:46, 05/08/2040, A Couple Days Later]

[Round 3rd]

Denarrow- "It's back. I forgot this thing used to show up before every match. It must be because the matches aren't randomized anymore."

His opponent's fighting record floats in holographic form in front of him, similar to ones in the Nether.

Denarrow- "The Title looks familiar though?"

Title: The MacDon

Paradise: Grade-2nd Celeria — N/A

Netherly Arenas Record: 15 - 4

Uropean Districts Record: 25 - 10

Amerigan of Latiun Districts Record: 10 - 10

Axian Districts: N/A

Total: 50 - 24

Western Middle Axia Districts: N/A

Denarrow- "Fighting overseas. If that one guy was Frenk, I'm guessing the overseas competition isn't that much better."

The screen disappears, and so does the armory. An environment of flat plains then spawns around him. Nothing but grass, some hills, a clear blue sky, and a familiar face.

Denarrow- 'I thought his name was familiar, it’s him.'

The MacDon- 'It's him. The pajama man meditating must've been him, so. He must've really been that guy if he's made it this far. I've become a better fighter and smarter since I've last fought him. I went to Urope and found a good groove. But I want to go higher.'

He uses his super speed to make a charging surprise attack Ace to start the match. Ace stands there readily despite being off guard for a second. MacDon then feels a weird sensation go down his spine, and he begins doubting himself as he gets closer. Just a few feet away from approaching, he abruptly takes a left turn.

Denarrow- ‘He took the hint.'

He continues running and then stops at a distance.

MacDon- 'I can't touch him. I can't, I shouldn't, he's not normal so I shouldn't take him on normally. If I remember last time, he took me out in close range combat. What am I supposed to do if I can't touch him? Being just faster than him doesn't seem to work on him. I only have speed which should be enough but I'm still at a disadvantage. Unless…'

He picks up a rock from the ground and throws it at Ace as fast as he can. The rock reaches two hundred miles per hour, considerably slower than a bullet. Ace casually sways his upper body to the left to avoid its trajectory.

Macdon- 'The environment here doesn't do much for me. But I'll have to make use of it.'

Denarrow- 'The power of the Celeria Fruit, the power of speed. Most would think moving faster like running would be it's core ability but it's actually the manipulation of speed. Making objects or the user themselves go slower or faster. He already knew this but has never seriously trained for using the power. Like most Celerials, running fast is all that comes to mind and becomes the primary point of training.'

MacDon- 'I got it.'

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MacDon begins his run, running a circle around Ace, being only ten feet in radius from him. After a couple minutes go by, MacDon has been able to accelerate to two hundred miles per hour in running speed. He then speedily picks up rocks from the ground and hurls them at Ace, who keeps his standing. With the help of his speed, multiple rocks fly at Ace all at once.

Denarrow- 'A multi-dimensional frontal attack. It's too slow and weak.'

He grabs a rock mid-air and throws it another, and repeats the defensive maneuver. The fourth time he does it, MacDon stops running and charges straight at Ace while he is busy avoiding the thrown stones. With a punch straight to the head. He throws it and it lands, knocking Ace backwards. The punch is hard enough to break off the lower part of Ace's mask. Now his lower face is revealed, everything beneath the tip of his nose, there is a wide smile with teeth showing.

Denarrow- 'I can't say I didn't see it coming. I just haven't had some good fun in a decade. I just had to let it happen.'

He stands up almost immediately, and MacDon goes in for another strike.

Denarrow– 'As much as I wanted it to happen and it did, I won't allow it to happen again.'

He catches MacDon's punch with his hand. His grin momentarily gets bigger until it disappears into a closed mouth. He lets go of MacDon's hand, allowing him to hastily retreat.

Denarrow- "Again."

Without another moment to waste, MacDon feels a sudden urge to repeat the same tactic as before. He runs in a circle and throws rocks at even faster speeds than before.

Denarrow- 'Dodging them is more efficient than knocking them out of the air.'

Rocks come from all sides and different angles, hurling straight Ace. With just a look and using sound, he can project the trajectory of the flying stones, thus preemptively preparing to dodge before they come his way, all in a quarter of a second. He no longer stands on two feet but actively moves his whole body to dodge, putting on a display of his phenomenal acrobatic capability. Almost a minute later, he then grabs one of the few stones still coming at him.

MacDon- 'Now.'

He runs at Ace full sprint aiming for the throat this time. With MacDon coming from behind, Ace immediately jumps high into the air, spinning in a horizontal position. It happens fast enough that MacDon couldn’t anticipate in time. Unable to properly decelerate, he passes underneath Ace. Ace then throws the rock he caught with significant force. Enough force and precision that it knocks right into the back of MacDon's skull, immediately killing him on impact. He then lands on two feet as MacDon's simulation corpse drops down.

Denarrow- "I didn't have a line for you. But it was fun."

[20:58]

Denarrow- "Who the fuck are you guys."

People wearing street clothes matching in the color white move in and out of the Hostel on this cloudy night. They bring in boxes that are sealed tight, not allowing a single particle of light to penetrate them. Despite the situation looking like a military operation with everyone in coordination and several different leaders barking orders, the way they look and talk entails they are indeed a street gang. Two guys in the front are not even allowing anyone, but the residents of the apartment, to go through the front entrance. And the residents are still nonetheless persecuted upon entering.

Denarrow- "I live here."

The guard on the right speaks, he’s the bigger one wearing all white clothing. He looks ready to be baptized.

Player Guard- "And what floor?"

Denarrow- "None of your business."

Player Guard- "Dis a special op right now, we busy and doing some top secret stuff. We can't have oppos potentially fuckin dis up fo us."

Denarrow- "I don't understand what the hell you're saying. I live on the top floor and…."

Player Guard- "So you Brooklyn Royce's mate."

Denarrow- "As in roommate, yeah."

Player Guard- "You not that good lookin cuh, so ain't no way I'm believin dat shit."

The other Player Guard chuckles. Another Ball Player comes over. He's skinny and has a white hat.

Eli- "The fucks the problem?"

Player Guard- "Dis dude said he Brooklyn's roommate. He must be capping cause ain't no way he tapp-"

He's interrupted. Brooklyn comes from behind and opens the door. She looks to be on her way out making this a fortunate coincidence for Ace.

Player Guard- 'Oh yeah, this'll be funny as fu-'

Brooklyn- "Mister Ace, what are you doing right now?

Denarrow- “I’m trying to get inside.”

Brooklyn- “Oh, I’m just on my way out. Wanna come?"

Player- "Huh?"

Denarrow- "What are these people doing here? Why are they here?"

Eli pulls out a gun that was placed between his butt and his tight underwear and aims it right at Ace's face. Ace doesn't flinch or react in any way as the tip of the gun pushes against his right temple. Brooklyn tries to keep her sudden tears and reaction in as she sees a gun pushed against her friend.

Eli- "Is that a problem? Are we being a problem?"

He looks at Eli.

Denarrow- "That depends."

He looks back at Brooklyn.

Denarrow- "Do you feel comfortable with this? Them doing all this shit."

Brooklyn couldn't bring the words out of her mouth due to the shock. She hesitantly nods a yes, hoping a bullet won't go through his head.

Denarrow- "And…"

Eli- "We already had a deal, say somethin else and I'll put a bullet through yo fuckin skull aight."

Ace looks back at him with both of his eyes enveloping in the shade of pure darkness. Eli tries to pull the trigger, but he freezes in place. He feels sweat dripping upwards on his skin. He stares blankly at Ace's two black eyes in fear. He feels his body wanting to tremble, however, there is no movement created.

Eli- "What's happening? I can't move. Fuck. What's wrong with yo eyes homie?"

He's unable to move his body. Yet he is able to move his eyeballs around, seeing everything frozen in place. He sees his peers are also stuck. It's as if time had seemingly ground to a standstill. His heart rate goes up, and he tries to breathe, realizing he can control his mouth and tongue. He looks back at Ace's eyes, which are darker than the emptiness of space. A black liquid-like substance spills out of Ace's eyes and starts to creep onto Eli's body like a parasite.

His right arm that's holding up the gun suddenly falls off presumably sliced through by an unknown, invisible entity. Fear and pain runs rampant in him. He screams in pain, but nothing can be heard. Ace stands in the same spot looking down on Eli. He tries to figure out what just happened but turns into further panic as he can't hear the words in his own head. He can finally move, falling away from Ace, and looks at his severed arm lying on the floor. The black liquid substance continues to come over his body. In horror, he fights the darkness but begins to suffocate in it. Every part of his body is covered except for his eyes. He can only stare at Ace, who still looks down on him in disgust with those black eyes.

In the next moment, in reality, Eli stands with a gun pointed at Ace's head, and seconds start ticking by. Eli collapses down to the floor, breathing hard and loudly. The gun falls with him, and Ace steps on it, breaking it unusable. His white hat falls off, fully revealing his ginger hair. Sweat rolls down his pale and freckly body instantaneously. He looks back at Ace, whose eyes are normal, then at his right arm which is still intact. Everyone around looks at him, wondering what had happened to him as he tries to comprehend what just happened as well. What really happened, in reality, was nothing. A tenth of a second had passed from when Ace turned his head to Eli to when Eli fell over in a panic.

Eli- "What the- What the fuck?"

His thoughts and words interchange trying to balance them after just regaining them. The Player at the front door tries to touch his boss, but his hand is slapped away in rejection of his help.

Eli- 'That was worse than my sleep demon. What even happened, I don’t even remember.’

Ace glances back at Brooklyn, who has no idea what's happening anymore.

Denarrow- "As I was talking. Did he threaten you at all?"

Eli's heart beat dips at the end of Ace’s words. He knew he had threatened Brooklyn and if she says yes, then he would be killed somehow or someway. Though he isn't only intimidated by what just happened to him, he's being intimidated by Ace, who in return doesn’t even try to do so. In a short ten seconds, he has grown a sixth sense to detect fear, and that sense is buzzing off wildly because of Ace’s mere existence and the ambience encompassing him.

Brooklyn again choked on her words and had to quickly bring everything in to think about her response. In her mind, she was not nearly as threatened by Eli like how Ace just was. In her truth, it felt like nothing like a threat in comparison, so fortunately for Eli's life, she nods a no.

Denarrow- "Perfect."

He makes a closed smile, making the whole situation ever more bizarre.

Denarrow- "Why don't you go on ahead. I'll get to know our new customers a little better."

Brooklyn- 'I'm glad he's safe. I'm about to cry, that was so scary.'

Eli continues to sit on the outside concrete floor and is finally able to breathe normally.

Denarrow- "Eli, why don't you get up and let's have a little talk."

Brooklyn leaves the Hostel's secluded porch area. Meanwhile, the Players around them stay silent, watching the situation. All of those who watched did not interfere in the encounter between the two, though perplexed about what was happening. The two stand-alone after Ace orders Eli to wave the front guards to go inside and the in-and-out mobility to a pause.

Denarrow- "I live here right now, and here are my rules. Are you listening, boy?"

He slips in a smile as if he's enjoying this.

Eli- "Y-yessir."

He shakes uncontrollably, giving Ace his absolute respect and attention. Ace loses his fake smile, and an invisible force of hostility radiates from him.

Denarrow- "The only interaction I approve of between you and the rest of your friends with her is: good morning, evening, night, hi, bye, nothing much, ok, yes ma'am, no ma'am, thank you, no thank you. Understand?"

Eli- "Yessir."

Denarrow- "Do you know who I mean when I say her?"

He nods yes again.

Denarrow- "She is your lord and saviour, the only thing that is keeping me from grabbing your head off from between your skinny little shoulders. And if you ever point at me again, whether it is a finger, a gun, or a nuke, I will tie you to a bed face down and rip each of your ribs off from behind while you stay wide awake. Understood?"

Eli- "Yessir."

Denarrow- "I don't care what you and your friends do as long as it doesn't disturb her. If she's not fine, then you'll be the first one I'll come after."

Eli- "Yessir."

Denarrow- "Finally, I live here and so do other people. Keep that in mind. Don't say anything back."

His hostility dissipates, and the closed-mouth smile returns. He pats Eli on the head and goes back inside. Eli goes off the property and throws up in a bush placed on the sidewalk. Never before had Eli been made someone else's dog in servitude.