Novels2Search
Win or Lose
Chapter 19: The Price of Victory

Chapter 19: The Price of Victory

Stephanie felt the initial intense stinging and burning sensation within her arm fade and began relaxing in Herobrine's hold as a more pleasant feeling took over, it felt like a warm presence deep in her muscle; radiating heat and making her tremble as it pulsates. Her face went from grimacing to relaxing, eyes fluttering shut and lips slightly parting as her posture loosened, the skin underneath his hand on her tingled like a feather gently tracing over it. It took almost everything she had, all of her self-restraint to keep her mouth shut and not hum in euphoria from this foreign yet amazing feeling inside. Steph could only focus on this strange warmth and the stimulation within, she was feeling very tempted to lean against the man before she fell over but resisted. Now was not the time to relax.

It was like a game to Herobrine, sensing every fragment of coding currently shared between them and sorting them out with ease. Putting the human's code back together was only a little challenging since a woman's structure was a little different from his own, but not too difficult; especially not after taking several nice long glances at her multiple times and without fail; remembering everything his eyes took sight of. She wasn't short of that of an easy puzzle in a sense, not that he now had a more in-depth look at the mortal's coding configuration; going off by the same number patterns of her other arm. Restoring his own code came naturally and without hardly any thought, healing injuries of all kinds for hundreds of years already gave him an unconscious design of his own to work with so there would be no issue in restoring his thumb.

He started slow but sorted more quickly as he began to understand the human female layout, finding patterns in the woman's numbers and mimicking that pattern specifically for the surface layers of her skin; almost like working from a blueprint. On the outside he was only staring at the woman's arm with unblinking glowing eyes, but in his mind, in his sight was a world of data with numerous stacks to filter through; an amount that would overwhelm the minds of any creature but him.

There were so many layers, and numbers, from each tiny cell of the body to the very building block of life itself; billions of numbers all aligned in a specific order in small packets, all brought together to make each organism alive and functioning. He worked like a complex redstone automaton, a machine sorter; scanning every individual fragment at near-light speed and moving it into its place by thought alone. It astounded him that he was getting the hang of such a daunting task so quickly, steadily zipping through every line of code and shifting many missing numbers back into their respective positions with hardly any effort.

Hero smirked arrogantly at his own newfound ability. And here he thought he could write out long and intricate commands at such a swift pace or traverse the great expansive graveyard and human database that was The Archive at an incredible speed, he was doing way more and in record time while getting an intense feeling of pleasure and gratification out of it with pride. Being a superior mod with many additions had so many benefits he gladly reaped. As much as he hated Notch, he still quietly appreciated the guy for all the adjustments to his body and mod kit. What Hero was doing in this world right now truly made him a god in comparison to all other creatures; being able to manipulate code, the very fabric of the physical realm to his will; even reconstructing part of a human. It was greatly satisfying to be the only one in all of the creation of his world to be able to do this, data manipulation was as good as it gets when it comes to power and here he just made a breakthrough in manipulating properties of a living being. It was even more fascinating that he could integrate himself with one to a degree, even take their data and not harm or kill them in the process. He wondered more he could do, how much further he could go.

It's interesting how he found such a power through a woman of all things, he's manipulated data of inanimate objects many times before but never a living creature to this degree. Humans were far more complex than anything he'd ever seen, aside from the near-infinite intricacies of the command block, himself, and the world itself.

Herobrine's grin widened when he looked up from the woman's restoring arm to see the restful expression on her face, he could tell she was enjoying the experience; it was obvious she was trying to mask it. Stephanie writhed ever so slightly, her cheeks were tinted a deeper shade; quiet exhales left her lips.

"Enjoying yourself, woman?"

"What are you... doing?" She whispered, now feeling almost dizzy from overstimulation.

"Sorting out data, returning what is yours." He smiled mischievously. "Just as you asked, don't worry about it."

"Then why... mmhhhh... does it feel this way?" She craned over and put a lot of weight on his arm that was holding her in place, feeling hot and tired. "You have to be doing more than that, I feel a strange sensation all over, not... just my arm. So what exactly?"

"Nothing bad, just took a second and found the code that controls your central nervous system. hijacked it, and rewired most of your nerves and muscles to relax so that the process would be more comfortable. I had to do it because you wouldn't stand still; besides, I'd rather have the face you're giving me now than have you try to pull away with that pitiful look constantly showing." He chuckled and leaned in a little closer to her. "The process feels good for me too Stephanie, I feel exactly what you're experiencing right now since we are linked in such a way. Truthfully, I've never done anything like this before, but I must admit; I like it a lot."

"What else?" She gasped, feeling a wave of heat surging through her body.

"Mapping out your physical form, nothing to be worried about; just in case I accidentally steal a piece from you again so I'll know how to restore it more easily. So just enjoy the moment and stop resisting, relax." He said quietly.

The woman gently swayed her head back and forth. "I will probably die tonight..." She breathed, now feeling her strength steadily return to her; the heat was fading out. "What's the point?" She asked. "What are you really doing?"

The man frowned a little. "I already told you, it's nothing to worry about." He then pulled his thumb out of her tricep and watched as her skin returned and looked as if nothing had ever happened to her in the first place. "I'm done now, you should be regaining your strength and have it within a minute or so; we have a challenge to do after all."

The woman pulled herself out of his grasp and stroked her hand over the place where the inside of her was once exposed, her arm felt back to normal and looked as good as it usually did.

Stephanie though feeling her strength return, still chose to lower herself to the ground and sit on the grass, she relaxed with her knees up and her chin resting on them with arms draped over her legs. Her gaze moved to the man standing in front of her, his eyes though softly glowing and seeming as cold as usual; had a slight look of concern, or that is what Steph hoped she saw.

It was terrifying to know that he had so much control over her now, not just through intimidating demands, enforced commands, or force by his own brute strength, but could now apparently affect her from the inside out through touch. It made her wonder what else he could do, if commands could force her to do things, then what about her bodily functions while in his control? Steph felt as if it was way too intimate to know how and be able to control her on such a level, she felt like he did more than what he said and the thought made her feel flustered. Herobrine had a bunch of strings attached to control her in nearly every way imaginable, all except for her mind and her heart.

She would not so easily hand them over or let him take them, though it would seem like he's already in the process of trying to take them; treating her with some level of respect, even some care to make himself appear almost human on the inside. Though he wasn't exactly the most sane, he liked touch and affection; treating it as if he'd just discovered what it was and wanted more. There could be some merit to that, but this is an ancient enemy of humanity; prideful and vile. Manipulating her emotions by pricking at her heart to make her like him despite who he was, could be a last-minute thing to do just so that he can say to himself that he had all of her before she died. Sounds like something he'd do.

Stephanie sighed heavily. She was making assumptions, Hero could have truly just been doing her a favor and prying out of curiosity and attraction. It was difficult to not think about him in such a way, he's a man who gets what he wants and takes it by force if necessary.

A true monster, she reminded herself. One that she had to somehow tame, play mind games with, and manipulate her way through him to keep humanity alive at the cost of her dignity and body. Maybe her life.

She couldn't keep her focus on this particular subject though, there was a challenge to partake in and she wasn't too excited to get to it. She hoped that a little time of rest would give her the chance to get some answers or at the very least, a chance to convince him not to go through with his plans, she needed more time to get closer and know him better, to 'hijack' his 'heart' like he just did to her body and gain some control over it to hopefully convince him to stop his genocidal goal. If successful, she didn't know what to expect afterward but it couldn't be that bad all things considered.

The lady put on a hopeful smile, she needed to remain confident and focused or her plan for the challenge would collapse. She only gets one shot with the box she bought, a small lump in her pocket is the final trigger and key to her victory and or her demise.

"You know, there's just something very wrong about you invading my code, numbers, or whatever it is just to get inside of my body and look around, as well as control some of it without my permission." She remarked with a smirk, continuing with her challenging demeanor and current pose to charm him and hopefully increase her odds of surviving the night.

"I did you no harm woman, I returned your code and in the process, made you feel good about it." He lowly griped.

"I get that. But that doesn't mean that you should go and do whatever you please in here." She said, lifting her chin from her kneecaps and patting them with a hand, her eyes narrowed a little.

Herobrine huffed, arms folding. "I am your god, you are mine to do with whatever I please. Have you gone and forgotten that fact?" He tilted his head to the side a bit, furrowing a brow as she began laughing at him.

"No, I haven't. I just didn't take you for a type of cruel man to scope out a human woman about to be dead is all. Seems a bit pointless, don't you think? That is... unless you had more of a reason that you'd like to share?" She gave him a suspicious look as she furrowed a brow. "Seems like a waste to do such an in-depth check on something that you're only going to use once. You don't seem like the type who is interested in keeping cold corpses for further use unless I'm wrong by any chance?"

The Mob King scowled, he knew what the woman was implying and trying to do; make him reveal his not-so-innocent innermost thoughts about her. Which could potentially gradually ease him into falling for her manipulating attempt to seduce him if it was on her adgenda for today's challenge. He would have given her credit if she didn't suggest something so disgusting, even someone like him had standards above that. She had better be glad that she was so delicate and favored, otherwise, he would have greatly punished her as he did for one of her brother's snarky responses.

"I checked you over to see the best way to enjoy you, I have no interest in a dead body."

That wasn't a surprise, but his voice tones and expression reflected honesty. "See how easy it is to be honest?" She started softly. "We both know that my time is severely limited unless I win, there's no point in making an excuse to keep me smiling and in a good mood despite the circumstances. But you tried anyway, you like my smile, maybe even my upbeat disposition when I first arrived." Her expression fell a bit and her eyes moved from his stone face to the grass at her heels. "It was oddly nice of you to mask the truth with a friendly gesture like such an accident that could happen again in the near future, making me hopeful for a win so that the good feeling doesn't end too quickly." She paused, almost feeling like she wanted to cry. "I just wished I had enough time to get to know you a little more, to see more of these attempts at kindness and reveal more of who you truly are behind the mask of hatred and violence.

Mod or not, you are a man with strong feelings that buries your true self. I once dated a guy who had a father much like you." She noticed Herobrine's face darkening on the topic but proceeded to talk, there was not much left to fear given her circumstances. "So uptight and closed off, his son turned out to be a completely selfish jerk, but that man clung to bitterness and would never talk to me no matter how hard I tried to reach him back then. He didn't want to let go of resentment, no matter who it was for; would never tell me why he was so against accepting kindness or anything for that matter from others. I assume it was a trust issue, you seem to follow a similar pattern. I don't want to give up on you as I did for that man, not only for the sake of my life and all others, but because no one should have to live like that; especially not for hundreds of years." She gestured. "A small part of you truly shows from time to time, the kind that isn't cruel or aggressive, one so close to normalcy. I want to get to know that man."

Herobrine remained silent, eyes filled with anger as they glowed slightly, a deep frown was etched on his face. He didn't look interested in opening up or anything, his posture with folded arms was like a barrier to guard himself.

'Stubborn man.' Stephanie thought with a sigh, rubbing the back of her neck.

"I didn't get to finish a written song for you like I wanted, I have no dance planned either." She frowned, knowing what it meant for Steve and everyone if her plan failed or took a different route than what she was aiming for. She could almost feel Herobrine's disappointment as she sat in place, a soft disgruntled huff from the man in front of her only confirms it.

"I suppose I'll have to win tonight for my brother's sake, but also because I need a little more time with you so I can know you more and finish that song," Stephanie says as she forces herself back up onto her feet, her violet gaze meets his glowing eyes, he's strangely calmer now, his anger from moments ago was gone.

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"How unfortunate, I was hoping that by seeing the ribbon in your hair that it meant some worship tonight."

"Nope, it's just a decoration." She says as she brushes the thin magenta cloth from her shoulder and back behind her. "But ... if you were to show a little more mercy..." She pinched two fingers together as she looked back at him with a small smile.

"No." His voice tones came out colder than the woman anticipated and lost her smile for a moment.

"Then could you at least tell me why you really hate humans? Or what is Notch's involvement with you that has you so angry with him? As a last request?" She was surprised that the white-eyed man didn't strike her though he looked like he wanted to with his posture tensing just like he did last night. He was restraining himself again, which meant she had to be getting closer to him by some degree; not yet enough to get him to open up, but enough to not get violent with her.

"Not going to budge are you huh?" The Stonewall sibling asked, asking or charming him into giving answers or mercy didn't seem like it was going to work on him, not yet anyway. The man didn't say anything, he just stood there with a deep frown and an almost blank stare now. She walks over to the black box a few feet away in the tall grass and stands next to it while facing the challenge giver. "Alright then, I won't waste any more of your time. I'm ready to move you, Herobrine." Stephanie says with a serious expression. "I'm going to win, no matter the cost."

The woman had that stubborn Stonewall look on her face, eyes wide open and filled with determination and indomitable spirit. Despite hating the look on the miner, on her, it was amusing and added to her attractive appeal. "Very well then." Herobrine unfolded his arms and vanished from before her and reappeared several feet away, his arms were now held up and out at his sides, and a grin was now plastered on his face. "Let's see if you have what it takes to move me, Stephanie." He said with an echoing twisted affectionate tone of voice, he raised his arms a little and a ring of fire around his feet sprung up from the grass; burning the plants and scorching the dirt.

The woman stared and watched as the man then lowered his arms after a minute, the flames of the fire choked out; leaving a charred ring of burnt grass about two feet around him. He then chuckled and placed his hands on his hips, tilting his head a little with a manic grin. "Come and move me Stephanie, get one of my feet out of this circle and you win. It's as simple as it seems, but no easy feat. I'm curious what lengths you'll go to try and do so." His voice tones lowered. "Let's see if you are as clever as you were the first time, I'm not a man that likes to lose by any means." Herobrine chuckled again, darkly.

"Oh. And one more thing, I'm not the kind to fall for the same trick twice so you better have a better plan than snagging me with deception and seduction. Don't bore me, Stephanie, I want this to last."

The woman nonchalantly shrugged. "I'm guessing that means stripping out my clothes in the woods to coax you over won't cut it then?" Herobrine looks at her quizzically with amusement. "Thanks for informing me so that I don't waste my time and dignity." To her surprise, the man smirked.

"I've already seen all of you that there is to be seen, but I wouldn't mind a look with my actual eyes if you still wish to try."

Stephanie's face reddened a bit in embarrassment and she folded her arms around her chest defensively, realizing that when he 'mapped her out' he truly did see her; just without physical visuals. "Without my consent." She huffed, so much for using feminine charms now, that cut out two of her other ideas to try. She's not goading him into another kiss, not after that.

"You look a little upset, my anomaly." He chuckled as she looked even more flustered with the pet name which was quite fun to get a rise out of her. "Now, about that box you have..." Hero stares at it with curiosity, trying to guess what it could contain with its dimensions and potential weight. It wasn't too heavy for the woman to carry if she was able to pack it all the way out here. Its size could be masked by the dark paper, but judging by the crinkled edges of the box; it wasn't in an actual box but just something wrapped in paper in the shape of a box. The strong perfume blocked him from smelling any contents it could contain, making it difficult to guess. But what could it be? He thought with a calculating gaze. Herobrine used his vast knowledge of the world's item collection lists and began skimming through each and every item in memory; going through hundreds and thousands of things to try and match the size that the woman could use.

While not paying attention, Stephanie neared him as he remained stationary with eyes glowing in and out; focused. He was tempted to look up the size proportions in the world's database and find the item but chose not to secretly cheat, that would be no fun. This was quite the challenge without the aid of a command to access the inventory database, there was surprisingly a long list of things that it could be, or things combined to get that shape and size.

The white-eyed man didn't even realize it until he felt her grab onto his arm and try to pull him out of his spot in the burnt grass ring. Stephanie struggled, of course, her face twisting in distress as she tried to yank him from his place but he didn't move at all. The man removed his attention from the black box and grinned at her worthless efforts, she should know that it was a waste of time and strength. "Did you not learn from the first challenge? I am not so easily harmed or moved, so why try?"

Stephanie attempted to tug at his limb one last time before letting go and panting as she stumbled a step back, he was like an anchor; not able to budge with her lack of strength. She glared up at him as he took amusement from her attempt. "Well, if I'm being honest, I 'really' do not want to have to resort to using that item I brought."

He raised a brow in curiosity.

"I have a few things I want to try first."

"Hmph, then by all means." He gestured with his hand. "Let's see you move me."

The woman then moved closer and dropped to her knees to his surprise, her hands began tearing at the grass in the circle before pulling up roots and then digging her fingers into the dirt.

"Now what are you doing?" He asked, frowning a little.

"If I dig out your spot then you will have nowhere to stand. " Steph said as she started scoping handfuls of moist soil and throwing them back behind her out of the ring, thankfully last night's storm made the dirt soft and easy to shovel out with her fingers and palms. "I'll dig away the dirt and make you fall or stumble out of this spot if I must," She grunted as she started going for the roots of grass beneath his feet, causing him to shift forward a bit. She did not care that she was muddying her fingers or getting her clothes dirty, her focus was on winning at any cost.

She then came to a stop and let the clumps of dirt in her palms fall as a large hand tightly grabbed onto the back of her hair and yanked her up to stand, she raised onto her feet wincing from the pull of her hair by the roots; she looks up to see an annoyed god. He scowled a bit and then forcefully slung her away from him at his side, she cried out as she was thrown face-first to the ground a few feet away.

"Clever idea, I'll admit. But I will not lose so easily and to such a cheap tactic." He said sternly. "Do not think that I won't bring you harm if you choose to come into my circle, woman. I made the promise of no harm in the last challenge, but not in this one; to make up for the lack of use of my powers. If you step into the ring, then be prepared to face the possibility of getting hurt."

The woman grimaced as she pushed herself body up from the ground and sat up on her knees, the side of her face and her hair roots hurting from his relentless retaliation. 'Okay, so maybe he's fine with getting violent with me still. Great.' She thought with a pained hiss as she wiped her hands on the grass to get the dirt off the best she could, ignoring the mud underneath her fingernails or the dirt and grass stains on her pants and top. She then tightened her hair tie to somewhat fix the disheveled mess, thankful that he didn't rip a handful out of her scalp. Steph then noticed her ribbon in his hand as she looked back over at him over her shoulder, he appeared to be gazing at it thoughtfully, his thumb sliding gently across the silky fabric with interest and a hint of care.

He almost looked innocent and endearing while he softly stared at it. Almost.

Stephanie groaned a little as she pushed herself up off the ground and turned to face him, though he did not move; he gave her a side glance and then clenched the ribbon in his grasp before pocketing it. If she had cared for the thing then she would have protested and called him a thief, but tonight is do or die; the ribbon doesn't matter or mean anything anymore. She expected him to grin at her and ask what she was planning next, but he remained oddly silent and calculating as he gazed at her silently. There was no telling what was going on in his head.

The woman sighed and approached him, he turned on his heels to face her and almost immediately he was back to grinning at her like a nefarious bastard; it was so quick, like the flip of a lever. 'Why?' She ignored the sudden mood change and put her hands on her hips with a disappointed look on her face. "So I can't get in your circle safely, I can't dig up the ground from beneath you, I can't woo you over with my charms or touch."

"Then think up something else," He replied coldly with his eyes focused on hers. "Or, you can show me what you plan to do with that box over there." He nodded to it nearby before returning his gaze to her.

"I have no choice." She said, shifting most of her weight from one foot to the other. She sighed heavily and put a hand on her head as she contemplated her options, she didn't have many ideas left. Herobrine was as solid and heavy as a pillar of stone, mind sharper than obsidion, and as tough or tougher than a wall of bedrock. Her frown deepened, this was it; she had her card up her sleeve and that's all. With a low exhale and despondent expression, Stephanie made her way over to the black cube.

"I know you wanted to draw this challenge out probably for as long as possible Hero, but I hate to inform you; that it ends here. I'll have you know, that it cost quite a lot of emeralds to get; thankfully one of the diamonds you gave me funded this little surprise. Not to mention that the vendor was shocked that I wanted one and would have refused me the sale, but having an older brother as a miner has some perks you see."

The man lost his amused look and watched as the woman moved over and stood next to the box, it was about the height from her ankle up to her knee and as wide as her forearm is long. He watched with curiosity as she kneeled over and grabbed one of the corners, then with one clean tear; pulled off nearly one side of the paper from the box; revealing stripes of red and white beneath. Herobrine gaped in surprise at what the woman brought for the challenge, it was no box, but a large cluster of dynamite all fashioned into one large explosive.

"TNT?" He shook his head and smirked. "You honestly think that something like that could move me?" He snorted arrogantly and folded his arms. "I'm surprised I didn't guess sooner, but someone like you with something like that? It's hardly believable." He chuckled and gestured with a tipping of his head and with his fingers over his forearm. "But drenching it in perfume now makes sense, I would have smelled the gunpowder immediately, so I'll give you props for coming up with hiding it like that."

Stephanie wasn't laughing or smiling along, she stood there and let him have his moment of amusement; because there was a decent chance that it wasn't going to last. Her fingers slip into her right pocket and slip something out with barely any notice.

Herobrine gave a smug toothy grin. "I can't fault you for choosing such a thing to 'move' me, explosives are powerful after all, but it's not going to work. Maybe if you had more than that, at least four or five, then it might be enough to push me out of this circle or even destroy it. Nice try woman." His expression darkened and he gave her a daring gaze. "But feel free to try." He said more quietly.

"No thanks."

Her nonchalant response threw him off and he frowned, looking at her with a puzzled look and furrowed brow. "Then you're just giving up? What happened to the woman who'd do whatever it took to save her brother, her people, and humanity?"

"She hasn't gone anywhere," Steph replied and she started to sweat a bit, nervousness eating her from the inside out as she squeezed the little object in her palm.

The woman was growing increasingly anxious, he didn't even need to do a quick scan to notice her sinking posture, the smell of perspiration, and the fake look of calm slowly leaving her face. "What? Too afraid to draw close and drop it at my feet? You can." He said, unfolding his arms and holding them out at his sides as if inviting her to come over and do so. "I won't stop you, I'll let you see what happens."

"That was one of my plans, but I chose not to risk it because I only had this one bundle of explosives. Instead of digging through the dirt to remove you off your feet, putting the TNT next to you was one of the things that I wanted to do from the start. But I knew that there would be a chance that either you wouldn't let it go off or it wouldn't knock you out of the ring." She shook her head. "It's pointless to use it against you and that is why I didn't even if it was tempting to try it over my original plan."

"Original plan?" He repeated quietly, his expression becoming serious.

Stephanie lifted her arm and held it out before uncoiling her fingers to reveal a tiny shard of crimson before moving the object over the TNT and holding the stone with a few of her fingers so that the man could clearly see what she had and what she was planning to do.

"Redstone." Herobrine gaped a little while staring at the redstone shard, she was loosely holding the rock over very flammable and reactive material. Stephanie was going to attempt to coerce him with suicide? His surprised expression soon fell to an amused grin, he laughed at the notion; he wasn't going to be convinced like this. She might be desperate, but he knows that she'll not go that far; the shock factor of the idea did catch him off guard at the very least.

Again he was laughing, Stephanie held her breath.

"You can't be serious Miss Stonewall, self-termination? And in that way?" He chuckled and gestured. "I was expecting something a little more convincing than that, something... more realistic for one such as yourself ideally."

The woman pursed her lips, eyes narrowed softly. "You think that I'm joking?"

"Teh. Well obviously, it's not in you to do so. You're mentally stable, afraid of death naturally, and have too much self-respect to put yourself through such an ordeal. I just scanned you over several minutes ago, normal numbers. Besides, why would a soft and small little human woman like you commit to something so destructive and reckless? It's all a ploy that isn't going to work on me, nice try woman. You managed to surprise me alright, but that is it."

"Ploy? Well, that's where you're wrong." Stephanie spoke up, her demeanor now more calm and serious; her anxiousness fading. "I win either one of two ways here tonight Herobrine. It took much consideration and coming to terms with my own life, but I found a way to beat you in this little challenge no matter what you say or do; and because you agreed that your powers and commands are off limits, you have no choice but to lose."

"Eh?" Hero wasn't following. "What nonsense- lose?"

"One, you step out of that circle and stop me from blowing up into a million pieces, which will cause you to forfeit. Or two, I go ahead and die and you don't get your prize; me. I don't have to watch my village burn or my brother die, I don't have to face abuse or death on 'your' terms. In fact, death will likely be quick for me this way, I'm much more squishy and fragile compared to the likes of you. So here's the ultimatum, let me die and win 'officially' while losing me, or lose and save me from a horrific death and allow me and my people another week. No matter if you win or lose here, I'm benefitting either way as I see it. In a sense, I win either way too."

"You wouldn't." He whispered, eyes narrowed and teeth clenching; not liking the fact that he no longer had full control of the situation or the woman in the palm of his hand. "You're a coward."

"Try me." She said as her fingers coiled around the redstone more tightly in his taunt.

Herobrine then put on an uneasy smirk. "I've scanned you already and know your personality traits, your type with explicit detail, for a woman like you who values life, suicide is highly unlikely. You don't have the guts nor the reason to do so on your own, your instincts will make you flee the moment that you drop that rock. I guarantee it."

Steph sighed, giving him a sad look. "Still looking at numbers and not the meaning of them huh?" She asked, her frown deepening, gaze trailing away from him and to the ground. "Of course, I am against the idea in every way imaginable, I don't like death and I'm scared by it even if I thought I had long accepted it earlier this week. But you're overlooking a serious point here; my options are so limited because of you, so much so that I cannot afford to be a coward like I had been when we met." Stephanie looks back at the man, staring intently into his eyes; struggling to keep the tears back as they roll down her face.

"You won't!" The man snarled out loudly, moving a foot to the edge of the ring with his posture tense and ready to go.

'Intimidation tactics won't work here, not now.' "I will. I intend to win no matter which route I have to take, that route that I take will depend entirely upon you Herobrine." Her voice softened. "Here and now." She finished with a whisper and then released the redstone shard from her hand.