20 Death Thirteen and Talking Heads Part 1

Valentine pov:

What should I wish for with this extra token? Logically it should be something grand to benefit me, like wishing for "infinite spin". It's a very formidable technique that could even get past my Love Train.

The main problem with wishing it is the qi required to actually achieve this wish. Would it use less qi if I only learned the basic form of spin, or would it also count infinite spin into that wish? My first wish costs way too much qi, and now I have to wait until I give it qi until I can make another wish.

I simply don't have the resources or time to wait until these huge wishes come true. Eventually the Fungus Clan will decide to permanently get rid of me. It feels like I've just been their test subject with each battle.

What I should wish for is to give one of my allies a stand. This will give me more protection, while allowing me to calculate how much qi each stand will take. It also proposes the question, could I wish for more than one stand?

I can test all of these theories later, but first, I need to decide who I'll give a stand to. While Fun could be a good test subject, I don't think it's worth giving up so much qi or a liability like him. On the other hand, Tengu is starting to show that his craziness is becoming more problematic.

Snake is probably a good alternative to those two. She's level headed, and she would probably provide me with all the qi she can, if she saw an opportunity to gain the same power she saw used against us. She would also be even more indebted to me.

The main thing she lacks is ambition. What's the point of surviving if you have nothing to survive for? Her main desire is to survive in this world, but without a goal, she will never evolve. This however, can prove to be beneficial to me.

I already established myself as a god-like existence in her eyes. Giving her a stand will only further push this idea in her mind. She's already losing the rationality that kept her alive, after fighting against something so irrational. When people are irrational, they tend to either distrust everyone, or rely on someone powerful to guide them.

Well I better set up a meeting with her soon. I still need to finish paperwork for the weapons I'm going to produce. We finally managed to mass produce 150 revolvers. I could've made more, but if I give the illusion that they're difficult to create, people will pay more for them.

"Uhh, mister Valentine? There seems to be a problem with your son", said a worker entering my office.

What?

"They angered a noble, destroyed multiple bars, and burned down an orphanage."

Please stop.

"Apparently the noble is the fiance of the third princess."

How could this possibly get worse?

"He wants you to be publicly uhhh, 'Forced' by multiple men in front of all your family and peers"

…

"And we were trying to get you a lighter sentence. We offered you to be his sister's sex slave for life instead, and he accepted in accordance to his sister!"

"You moronic buffoon! Why didn't you just call me instead!", I yelled in frustration.

"W-we tried to find you, but you went missing"

...

"Tell them to come up to my office so we can discuss this matter further"

"Yes sir!", the worker said, running away.

Tengu and Fun burst into the room right after the worker left with another girl following right behind them.

"Valentine! We got urgent news!", yelled Tengu.

"We were attacked by 2 people from the Fungus clan, and they had powers similar to yours!"

"Really? Tell me what happened immediately!", Valentine said eagerly.

"Ok-Ok. I'll explain from the beginning!", Tengu said.

Tengu pov:

I was slamming drinks left and right like an absolute god. Fun was being a little coward and drinking lame water like a loser. I was already in a deep talk with this random woman trying to get laid. Fortunately, she already had a few drinks and was easily impressed.

"Yeah I just got this amazing qi weapon! It almost looks as beautiful as you sweetheart", Tengu tried flirting.

She giggled like a...a drunk woman? Anyways, she was laughing at my piss poor flirting, so I was planning to ditch Fun in this bar and go with her tonight.

Then I started having hallucinations! It looked like a wannabe shinigami who got fired from the circus! Imagine my shock when it started talking to the whole bar!

"Hello participants! You're all going to be players in my new game! Be grateful as you're my first players! You may call me Death 13!", that thing said.

It sounded like a distorted child's voice, but it was full of sadism. Everyone in the bar thought this was also some illusion of some kind.

"I'll explain the rules! You'll be given 2 choices, and all you have to do is pick one of those choices in 30 seconds. Sounds fair right? Oh before I forget! Not answering will lead to serious punishment!"

The moment that thing finished talking, 2 yellow boxes appeared before me. It said, "Eat the glass drink, or stab someone in the eye". Unlike everyone else, I knew better than to think this was a joke. Apparently, Fun was way ahead of me as he jammed a fork into another guy's eye.

Little bastard caused a whole frenzy! Everyone in the bar started trying to stab each other in the eyes. They went into full hysteria, and absolutely crazy. Thankfully, I wasn't an idiot and ate the glass drink in my hand. Idiots probably were too drunk to realize they could just protect their mouth and throat with qi.

"30 seconds is up my dear players! Time for punishment you losers!", said Death 13 appearing again.

It took out a giant scythe and started to spread its arm to ridiculous lengths!

"Lali-ho!"

After saying that stupidly annoying catchphrase, it started to go full speed at the bar members who didn't stab an eye yet. Like a whip, it used its arm to completely kill off half of the bar. Some of the cultivators there tried to fight back, but their attacks went through it!

Logically, we all started running like hell for the exit! I managed to get out with Fun. The damm freak showed up again right in front of us!

"Ho-ho! You can't leave this game until I say so! I will give you a harder choice for trying to leave me!"

[Kill the first kid you see or rip off one of your teeth]

"What!? I thought you said this was gonna be a harder choice? Come one Fun! I know an orphanage near here!", I said dragging Fun with me.

"Euhop!", I could hear Fun yell.

I looked back at him, and to my absolute shock, he was bleeding a fountain of blood from his mouth!

"You moron! Why would you pick that choice! You must be more special than the orphan I'm about to kill!", I screamed at him.

"It's not my fault!", he tried to say.

Instead of wasting my precious time on him, I started heading towards the orphanage. Wait how many seconds do I have left? Ahh, it doesn't matter! I see my first victim right now! Using qi I boost myself into the kid, completely ripping his head from his body.

"Annnnd, done! Cmon! Come up with something better you clown freak!", I taunted.

Valentine pov:

"Fun tell me the story yourself. I want a serious retelling. Not some bastardized version of the fight from Tengu's perspective", I told Fun.

"Hey! I was making the story wayyyy more interesting!", Tengu protested.

"You're just an idiot", responded Fun for me.

"Hey!"

Fun pov:

After Tengu insulted Death 13, it became very agitated. It started to hit the walls furiously. I realized that it was better if we split up. I couldn't hear anyone's screams, so I assumed that Death 13 didn't affect any of the previous bar members.

This also meant that we were being targeted. Even more suspiciously, it reminds me of D4C. Perhaps the Fungus clan also has that weird power too?

Anyways, I started to run away while it was still throwing a tantrum. The safest place right now is with Valentine. I entered a busy street, filled with people shopping or just talking to each other.

"Fun!"

Normally I wouldn't respond to this, but I recognized that voice. It was Bingchi, the girl I talk to at school.

"What happened to you!? Why did that insane cultivator kidnap you? Or perhaps you know him? It doesn't matter! Come back to the academy with me!", she said.

Surprisingly, she sounded extremely worried. I still had my hand on my sword in case she was actually an enemy. She already turned towards the academy, expecting me to follow her.

I was about to just walk away, but I couldn't. It felt like something was pulling me towards her involuntary to my thoughts. I didn't force myself to stop though. It felt too...weird.

I was getting more paranoid as we started to go into a more isolated area. Bingchi was still talking to me harshly after getting kidnapped by Tengu. I explained how I knew Tengu with a bunch of lies.

We were only about 10 minutes from the school. Apparently Bingchi knew a "shortcut", and now we were in a very secluded area. This whole time we were actually moving away from the school. The houses were getting smaller and poorer. She must be an enemy who's trying to lead me away. All of a sudden she stopped. She turned around with a weird look in her eyes.

"I think we're possibly lost…", she said embarrassed.

"Well at least it's quite right and devoid of any unnecessary human interaction?", she smiled awkwardly.

Maybe I was thinking too hard about this. Maybe she was actually just lost, and all of these things just happened to be a coincidence.

"I know the way back. Follow me", I told her.

Just as I turned around I felt something holding my hand. Quickly looking at my hand I saw it was Bingchi's hand. When I faced her she had a slight blush. I realize now that I was a fool for falling for such a simple distraction.

I heard an explosion come from above us. The only thing that met my eyes was a green gas slowly descending towards us. More explosions go off around us, also letting out that green gas. Without thinking, I threw Bingchi out of the green gas's way.

Just to make sure, I threw a coin at the gas. The coin still looked the exact same. Perhaps this gas was poison? I was completely surrounded with the gas, and with no means of escaping it. I could've made it out if I just jumped at first, but throwing Bingchi took too much of my time.

The gas around me had already taken my chances of escaping away, and the gas above me was going to land on me eventually. Why did I save her first? There was no logical reason to do that!

"Fun! I can conjure blocks of ice for you to walk on!", yelled Bingchi.

She lifted her hands and quickly made blocks of ice float in a path to me. Taking this chance, I ran as fast as I could on the ice. For a second, I believed Bingchi could be an enemy, but she's clearly not the one who made this attack.

The enemy was hiding like a dirty rat, and I still didn't know what she could be planning. Was this the same enemy who sent out Death 13? Valentine never fully explained what his weird power actually was.

The gas was still sticking onto the ground. It completely blocked the way we came from. I held on to Bingchi and quickly jumped towards a roof of one of the houses using qi. She yelped as I picked her up.

"The gas came from above us, so the enemy is probably on the roofs", I told Bingchi.

"There's also the possibility that they could've just launched the gas from inside one of these houses. Well, even if they are on the ground, we still have the tactical advantage. Wait! Do you perhaps know who attacked us?!", she blurted out.

"I know who sent them maybe, but I don't actually know who they are."

"What a reasonable response", she said sarcastically.

"Ughghgh! This is getting boring!", said someone behind the chimney of a house.

A young woman came out from behind the chimney. She had a simple black robe, with it being white from the waist down. She had a weird smile you would only see in sadistic guys who were about to torture their victim. Strangely, she reminded me of those women who got paid and taken by men in the slums.

"You were going to find me eventually, so why don't we speed things up?", she smiled.

With a burst of speed, she was already near us. She threw a quick fist at Bingchi. In a state of panic, I stepped in her way to block the attack. Before her fist touched me, it started to quickly grow mushrooms on it!

Like armor, it completely surrounded her arm. I knew my arms were going to break the moment her fist landed, even if I used qi to protect them. Luckily, Bingchi used her ice to make the floor ice!

The woman tripped and completely missed her attack. Before she could fall off the roof, she grabbed onto a roof tile and swung herself up. While in the air she started to launch mushrooms at us. Those were probably the gas bombs she threw earlier.

Bingchi completely matched her by throwing icicles at all the mushrooms. Actually, she was completely overbearing! To my shock, Bingchi was throwing a torrent of icicles towards the enemy.

Realizing she was outmatched, the woman grew mushrooms on both of her arms. She started to charge at me with her arms protecting her whole body. I was about to dodge last second to attack her at her sides, when I felt something push me out of the way. It was Bingchi!

Why would she push me out of the way?! Almost like she was expecting this, the woman changed her direction and bashed into Bingchi! Bingchi wouldn't be dumb enough to do that though! The woman must have some sort of power like Death 13!

Maybe that's why I haven't felt like I was in complete control. This whole time I've been reacting more on instinct than logic at random times. Was she the cause of this?

"Hey boyyy. You better start focusing on meee", she said with glee.

The woman went into a weird position. She had her tongue stuck out in between her fingers. Her back was bent down, but her chest was still up. She definitely looked like those barely clothed women in the red light district.

Suddenly, I felt a sudden panic in my chest. It was almost like my heart was getting squeezed. It was starting to get difficult to focus, and my concentration was all on one thing. I knew it was because of that woman's power, but it felt like I needed to check up on Bingchi!

I couldn't resist this strong feeling. I circulated my qi as fast as I could, and dashed to where she landed. Of course, the moment I reached Bingchi, the woman started to rain down more of her mushrooms on us!

Thankfully, Bingchi wasn't unconscious so she managed to freeze the mushrooms heading towards us. One of her arms was broken, and it looked like her ankle was twisted. How did she survive that hit though? I would've been killed immediately.

"Bingchi I have a plan. Hold onto my back and freeze every mushroom the enemy throws at us. I'll focus on fighting her dead on, ok!", I explained to her.

She simply nodded. Without wasting any time, I picked her up and started running towards the enemy. The woman was completely surrounded by the green gas! And she completely surrounded us with the gas! The mushrooms she threw directly at us must've been a distraction!

"Fun! Run into the gas I have a plan! Trust me!", I heard Bingchi whisper.

Obviously, I wasn't going to do that. The best step here would be for her to create ice blocks and get us out of here!

"We need to escape! This woman is too powerful for us!"

"What? Just trust me! The only opportunity we have lies in that green gas. You have to go in it!", she yelled back.

"Oh? You found a way to beat me? Well I would love to see that!", said the enemy.

She definitely heard us when Bingchi started yelling. The woman got into another weird pose with her tongue out! This time I could see something on her tongue. It was like a squid with a face stuck itself on her tongue. This was probably her power!

I felt the same feeling as before! Without resisting, my body and mind both decided to jump into the gas! The gas started to tear into my face. It felt like a bunch of ants were digging into me at once, but I couldn't stop at all.

The woman stood back to admire my pain. I heard Bingchi hiss at the pain.

"Just endure it a bit more!", she said.

By the time I got onto the same roof as the woman, I could barely stand up. It felt like all the ants in the world invaded my body and did a biting competition. The only thing that kept me going was the weird feeling in my chest.

"Wow you almost made it! Wouldn't it be an absolute tragedy if I kicked you all the way back to where you started?", she said mockingly.

She walked towards us giggling with her stand out. She slowly raised her leg up, and started circulating the qi in her leg. Fortunately, Bingchi's plan finally came into success.

"Vicious barbarians like you should freeze in the deepest parts of Diyu!!!", Bingchi exclaimed as she released her final attack.

"Hell Mountain of Ice!"

Suddenly the pain stopped. Everything around us was purely frozen. The gas completely disappeared, and the woman was in a block of ice. Bingchi held out her arm and made the top of the ice melt away. The woman could only use her head now.

"Well now. You're going to answer some of our questions you callous beast"

To be continued...