Business

So, Faceless and Hella fought. It was really something. Faceless won, which means I might have to take him on myself in one of the upcoming fights.

And apparently Hella is still alive, is actually named Fien, and is some kind of immortal. So that's a thing, I guess?

Anyway, some time after that, the next fight started up. We were given 10 minutes this time. I got to the stands to notice that Sal wasn't amongst the spectators. Which meant...

"Welcome!" William announced, interrupting my train of thought. "We shall now begin the seventh battle!"

Sal entered the colosseum at one end, and from the other end, his "Business rival" entered. The two of them stood, staring each other down.

"Lind Balint!" William announced. "Vs. Valon Saltown!"

"So that's what it's short for," I said.

I spotted Anthony out of the corner of my eye, whipping out his phone and muttering a quick voicemail to someone.

"Begin!" William said.

Lind made the first move. He drew a pair of pistols and began shooting. Sal teleported out of the way. Lind adjusted his aim, but Sal just kept vanishing. Sal then appeared behind Lind, and raised his sword. Lind turned sharply, and blocked the attack with the barrel of one of this guns.

As the fight went on, Malkator spoke up.

"Why the bloody hell is he holding back?" he said.

"Huh?" I asked.

"I know Sal," Malkator said. "He's stronger than this. The fight should have ended as soon as it began."

I was confused too. Sal can keep an entire bar full of opposed servants from murdering each other, and he was having trouble here? With the kind of power I've seen Sal display, this should've been a cakewalk for him.

But I realized pretty quickly what the problem was. Sal's full power only works in places he feels at home, like in his bar. The fact that he can control the terrain here means he still identifies the Board as his home, at least on a subconscious level. And that terrifies and angers him. He was restraining himself, refusing to use his powers, because he refused to accept that this place was still home to him.

Sal kept dodging Lind's gunshots while trying to get a hit in with his blade. One of Lind's guns jammed, so he discarded it and drew a grenade from his belt. He ripped the pin out of it and fired his remaining gun at Sal, who vanished again. Lind turned and tossed it at Sal as he reappeared. Sal smacked the grenade away with his sword and teleported right up close to Lind, having drawn his shotgun. He took aim, and blasted Lind in the chest, throwing backwards. He landed hard on his back, dropping his gun as his grenade exploded a distance away.

William raised a hand in the air, observing Lind's body, before announcing "The fight isn't over."

Lind started chuckling, and Sal stepped back, alarmed. Lind sat up, opening his eyes, which were now glowing with a deep, red light.

"What have you done?" Sal muttered.

"What needed to be done," Lind said, rising to his feet, as drops of his blood began floating in the air around his hands.

"This is one intense business rivalry," I noted.

"I needed power to take you out of the picture once and for all," Lind said. "And if that means giving myself to my Vices..."

Lind's hair shifted to a vibrant red, and his face twisted into a malevolent grin.

"So be it."

He lashed out with one hand, creating a whip out of his blood, that struck the ground at Sal's feet, how managed to dodge just in time.

"And he's a Blood Vessel now," Anthony said. "That's... something..."

"He must've been harboring some of the Red Cap for a while now," Malkator said. "And now he's allowed it to consume him."

Lind continued lashing out with his blood whips. Sal teleported up close and slashed his sword, which collided with the side of Lind's head. But Lind's blood hardened beneath his skin, reducing the impact to nothing.

"Got any more in you?" Lind said mockingly.

"I've never actually fought a Blood Vessel," I said. "But they're supposed to be really hard to wound, right?"

"Yeah," Anthony said. "And the Red Cap tends to grant it's servants a strong sense of masochism, so they end up enjoying whatever damage you do to them. Sal might be in trouble here."

He's no where near as powerful as the other me is, Daniel spoke up. But he's still dangerous.

Lind disarmed Sal quickly and struck him in the chest with one of his blood whips. Sal teleported away, noticeably panting. Lind kept lashing out with his whips, landing a couple more blows on Sal, who dropped to his knees. Lind let up, taking pride in how much damage he'd done. He drew back his arm, preparing another strike.

Do something! Daniel hissed at me.

I stood up and shouted down at Sal.

"Damn it, Sal! I need you alive!" I snapped. "If you keep holding back, he is going to kill you!"

I felt something weird going on with my eyes, but I ignored it, and kept shouting. But I felt something kind of off about my voice as I did.

"Stop feeling sorry for yourself!" I said. "You're a Card! A SPADE! Fucking act like it!"

Lind was momentarily distracted by my interruption, but he brushed it aside, and turned his attention back to Sal. As he did, two slabs of the stone floor burst up on either side of him and pressed in. He quickly threw his arms out, managing to hold them off from completely sandwiching him. Sal had risen to his feet, now looking determined.

"Justin," Anthony said, handing me a mirror. "Your eyes."

I glanced at my reflection, and realized I had the same weird goat-eyes that Daniel has. As soon as I blinked, they were back to normal, but in that moment, I realized what had happened to my voice. I wasn't the only one speaking. Daniel had made himself heard as well.

Lind snarled angrily and charged toward Sal, breaking out from between the stone slabs. He swung a fist, hardening his blood for maximum damage, but Sal effortlessly caught his fist. The ground beneath Lind crumbled and began rising up his shins, holding him in place. Lind tried to swing his other fist, but Sal struck first, hitting Lind's collar bone and shattering it, immobilizing Lind's free arm.

"I'm sorry, Lind," Sal said. "I've always respected you, despite your hatred of me."

The ground beneath Sal's discarded sword shifted, and began pulling the sword back to him. He gripped it in his free hand tightly.

"But, as intent as you are on ending my life," Sal said, "I'm afraid I have no choice here."

"That sword didn't hurt me last time," Lind said. "What makes you think-"

In one shift motion, Sal cut off Lind's arm, letting it fall to the ground. Lind backed away, crying out in pain.

"How!?" Lind demanded.

A pillar of stone shot up beneath Sal's shotgun, sending it flying back into his hand, and he shoved the barrel into Lind's mouth.

"No more restraint," Sal said, before pulling the trigger.

Lind's lifeless, one-armed body fell to the ground, with a big hole in the back of his skull. William began clapping enthusiastically.

"Congratulations, Valon," he said. "You've won your fight."

Sal glared back at William, and sheathed his weapons.

"My name," he snarled, "Is Sal.

And with that, Sal turned and left the arena, as the Diamonds appeared to clean up all the damage he had done.

Another fight down

Sal and I were pouring over some more of Anthony's notes when the announcement went out that the next fight would take place in twenty minutes.

"Go on ahead," I told Sal. "I'll put all this away and catch up."

"Alright," Sal said. "See you in the stands."

After he left, V spoke up.

"Sal isn't fighting yet?" she asked.

"I figure he would've been visited by one of the cards if he was," I said. "I'm guessing this is someone else's fight."

"Sal's a card himself, isn't he?" V asked.

"Yeah," I said. "But he's different from the others. They were all human at some point before being changed by the Game Master. Sal was born a Card, which is pretty rare according to him."

"Oh," V said. "And you trust him?"

"He's one of the only people here I do trust," I said.

"What about me?" she asked.

"What?" I asked. "You mean do I trust you? Of course I do. Now hang tight. I'll be back after the fight's over."

I headed to the arena, where Anthony and Sal were waiting for me.

"And now, for the next fight!" William announced. "Javonír Horak versus Mackenzie Virtanen!"

I recognized them. Horak was the blonde dude in the heavy robes, and Virtanen was the girl who had the first aid kit.

"Begin!" William announced.

Virtanen immediately drew a pistol and fired at Horak, but he managed to dodge it and quickly close the distance between them, knocking it out of her hands. She started throwing punches at him. She seemed surprisingly competent, given how shaken up she was the first time I saw her.

"She's going after weak points," Anthony noted. "She seems to have an understanding of anatomy."

"But that robe of his is dampening her attacks," Sal said.

"And slowing him down," Anthony said. "Why would he fight in something that restrictive?"

"For the same reason I train by swinging around a lopsided barbell," I answered.

Anthony's eyes widen a bit.

"Muscle building," he said.

"That's right," I said. "He's wearing a weighted training robe."

The two of them continued trading blows, until Horak evidently got annoyed and shoved her away from him. He then quickly undid the ties of his robe and let it fall to the ground. Underneath, he was wearing a pair of black slacks, and nothing else. I let out a long whistle upon seeing his body.

"Damn," I said. "Dude's ripped."

"Really?" Anthony replied, raising an eyebrow.

"What?" I asked. "I'm allowed to be turned on."

The fight didn't last much longer. Having removed his weighted clothing, Horak was now a lot faster. He deflected all of Virtanen's attacks, got in some quick jabs that I'm pretty sure broke some of her bones, then he grabbed her by the throat and lifted her body off the ground. She struggled for a short while before losing consciousness. He dropped her to the ground, and a card appeared to examine her, before announcing that she was definitely unconscious.

"Javonír Horak is the victor!" William announced.

Horak got his robe back on and picked up Virtanen's discarded gun. But rather that keep it, he slip it over to Virtanen's body and walked away.

"Huh," I said. "He seems neat."

"Think you could take him?" Anthony said.

"Probably," I said. "But I think he'll pose a challenge."


We all got ready to leave, but Anthony pulled me aside and handed me a cellphone.

"What's this?" I asked.

"One of my old tracphones," he said. "Your sister's number is on it."

He then walked away, leaving me alone with it. I sighed, and shoved it in my pocket. It's sweet of him to try and reconnect me with my family, but it's just not happening.

The Good Doctor

I had been up all night reading Anthony's notes to V so that she could memorize when one of he Cards teleported into my room. I quickly slapped the folder closed and turn to him.

"What are doing here?" I demanded.

"You're fight will begin in 5 minutes," he said. "Prepare yourself and head to the arena. If you are not there by the time the 5 minutes has passed, you will be teleported there."

"5 minutes!?" I snapped. "Are you fucking kidding me!?"

"I suggest you hurry," he said, before vanishing.

I then heard William's voice fill the halls, informing everyone else that the fight was coming up.

"Shit!" I said, running to grab my scythe and thinking quickly of anything else I might need. I still had Sal's APple cider, but I couldn't think of how that could help, so I ignored it. I grabbed the stopwatch off the dresser and stuffed it into my pocket. I hadn't managed to figure its power out yet, but who knows, maybe it could come in handy.

"Justin, are you sure you wanna go out there?" V asked.

"No like I get a choice," I said. "They'll just warp me there if I don't comply, and I don't have time to come up with a clever surrender strategy like Anthony did."

"You're sleep deprived," V reminded me. "You won't last two minutes in that ring."

"Then I'll just have to win in one," I said, walking out the door.

On my way to the arena, I considered who my opponent might be. Malkator, Sera, and Dalia/Cerise/whatever had already progressed to the quarters, so they weren't a possibility, and Anthony was out of the tournament, so that left... a lot of people...

Sal was a possibility, I was hoping it wouldn't be him. We need each other. If I do fight him, I still have no intention of losing to him, but I'll need to beat him without killing him (and I kind of hope he's got the same thoughts about fighting me).

Then there was that Hella girl. Anthony convinced me to check out a couple blogs, and from what I've seen of hers, she seems like a serious threat that I could definitely use a nap before facing. Same with Faceless and Henry. As much as I'd love to fight them, I was in no condition to at the time. So yeah, 4 people I was not eager to fight.

And then there were the rest of the random schmucks. Fingers were crossed that I'd be facing one of them.

I made it to the arena before the time was up. My opponent was already there. IT was the Oathbreaker. Great.

The stands willed with the other fighters and the families above them. I kept my gaze held on the Oathbreaker before me.

"Our 4th fight will be between Justin Ferin...!" William announced.

I heard Anthony cheer briefly from the stands. Sal might've said something too. I'm not sure. And... I think I heard my sister calling to me. Shouting some words of encouragement.

I pushed those thoughts to the back of my head and focused on the fight.

"...And," William continued, "Luigi Helthead!"

Luigi got less cheers. He might've had a brother or something up in the stands... I dunno…

"Begin!" William said.

We circled each other, sizing each other up. I had a grip on my scythe, ready to strike the moment he made a move. He drew a scalpel in one hand and a small vial in the other.

"You know," he said. "I've heard of you. What you did to my brethren out West."

I remained silent. I wasn't about to humor this prick by responding to his casual banter.

"You caused quite some strife for use," he said. "You even got the Thorned Prince to come out of retirement."

I don't know who the fuck that is, but okay. Whatever.

Luigi dripped a few drops of whatever was in that vial onto his scalpel. Not a good sign. His eyes briefly darted up to the stands before returning to meet my gaze.

"You know," he said. "You take after your mother."

I tried not to tense up at that.

"But you have your father's nose," he said. "And... brown eyes? Interesting. They both have blue ones."

He stopped his circling, and I followed suit. He switched his grip on the scalpel and smirked at me.

"This fight is going to go one of two ways," he said. "Either I'm going to kill you, and avenge my fellow Oatthbreakers. Or..."

He relaxed his stance a bit, letting his smug grin grow a little bit smugger.

"...You'll kill me," he said. "And your parent's and sister up there will see you for the viscous murderer you really-"

Relaxing his stance was a mistake. I charged, and as panic replaced his smirk, I darted behind him, caught his throat in the arc of my scythe, and pulled hard, taking his head clean off. Then, to demonstrate how annoying his speech was, I quickly stabbed the tip of my scythe into the mouth of his still airborne head. I then raised the scythe above my head, and smashed his stupid head into the ground, smashing it into a decently sized splatter of blood, flesh, and gray matter. The rest of him hit the ground with a satisfying thud.

A deafening silence filled the stands above. I mean, I guess it's not every day you see a mans head get lopped off and then smashed like a pumpkin, but I've had my fair share of exciting Saturday nights.

I calmly walked out of the ring as William announced my victory. I made my way back to my room.

"Justin?" V asked. "You okay?"

"Yeah," I said.

"How'd it go?" she asked.

"Fought an Oathbreaker," I said. "Killed him. I need sleep..."

So I plopped down on the bed and passed out a few minutes, all while V bombarded me with questions I wasn't really paying attention to. I think some of it might've been in Japanese. I dunno...

Extermination

So, the next fight is out of the way now. We were notified 45 minutes in advance this time. The preparation time seems weirdly inconsistent in this tournament.

Anyway, it was between Faceless's friend Dahlia or Cerise or whatever, and the woman who was carrying around that big jug. Apparently her name's Mumina.

The fight started off with Mumina opening her jug and releasing a shitload of flying insects out of it.

"The Intrusion," Sal muttered.

"Is she their servant or something?" I asked.

"Seems likely," Sal said.

Intrusion is a hivemind of creepy-crawlies. I don't think I've ever seen them in person before, but it's possible that any bug you come across could be a part of them.

The insects began attacking Cerise, who panicked and dropped her flamethrower. She managed o pull herself together long enough to set off a smoke grenade to debilitate them, then went for her flamethrower and turned it on Mumina who avoided the flames while some insects distracted Cerise just long enough to get roasted by another shot of the flame thrower. Mumina got close and tried attacking with her jug, and they clashed briefly before Cerise got Mumina by the throat and pulled out a knife, ready o kill her, but the insects that had been caught in the smoke explosion came to and flew at them. Cerise drew another grenade, but the insects flew a Mumina instead.

"What are they doing?" I wondered.

I got my answer quickly. The bugs seemed to fuse with her, and she mutated into some kind of monster-bug-woman. Cerise wasted no time in throwing her grenade at the thing and then torching it with the flame thrower. It died and Cerise won.

"Did you know the Intrusion could do that?" I asked Sal.

"Yes," Sal said. "But you don't see it too often."

"At least it's dead now," I said.

"Either way," Anthony said, jotting some stuff down in a notepad. "This has been a learning experience."