Chapter 27

Poatan stood from the barstool abruptly, stopping all chatter from the grunts. He limply held the empty bottle of vodka by his side. He lifted the bottle, pointing toward a muscular man in a grey hoodie and sweatpants, sitting on the ground with one knee in the air; the hood pulled tight, covering his face.

"Hunter, you're next. But we will have a slight rule change."

'A rule change?' Zoe thought, 'Well, maybe if we're lucky….'

A shrill laugh came from the hooded man as he got to his feet. He leaned backward, reveling in the confused murmuring from the group across the room.

One of Fuji's group members spoke, "We didn't agree on any rule change!"

"No, you most certainly didn't, but this is for both of our benefits. After every 'fight,' there will be two new fighters for the next round. Whoever won the last round will be able to compete in the round after if they so choose."

Zoe bit her lip, 'So that means Ivy won't be able to fight until the end of this round. That may be a good thing since it gives her rest, but….' Her hand instinctively wrapped around her necklace, 'So it may be inevitable then. I always knew the risks of these missions, but I never thought it would be this soon,' a cold chill ran down her spine, 'I should get this over with, endure the pain now so I won't have to think about it if the trio comes back.' She glanced around the room, taking note of every item and all the furniture, 'Alright, I have an idea.'

"If you have an issue, feel free to complain."

Colson stepped forwards, slowly taking the bokken from its sling, "alright, I'm up next."

"Now, hold on just a minute," Fuji said, but Colson kept walking, his wooden sword fully drawn, pointing at the man Poatan called 'Hunter,' standing in the middle of the black floor pattern—flexing his muscles. The only thing visible under the hood was his bright white teeth and eyes.

Another laugh came from Hunter, "the next victim!"

"Colson, you don't even know energy yet. Are you sure you can handle this guy?"

Colson turned and nodded, "This'll be the best way to prepare for the main three, right?"

Fuji sighed, "Well, if you say so, just don't do anything crazy, okay?"

Hunter hopped from one foot to the other, "You kids have some balls, huh? You don't know who I am, do you?"

"Dude, no one cares who you are," Colson said.

His smile inverted for a split second, "You gotta lot of nerve, kid!" He cleared his throat, composing himself, "Listen up!" He pulled up the sleeves of his hoodie on both his arms, revealing tattoos of skulls with X's over their eyes. "You wanna know what these represent? Each of the twenty-three skulls represents someone I've killed! About nine of them are from the villagers here!" He started giggling.

Zoe broke out in a cold sweat, panic rising in her voice, 'he's going to have to fight a serial killer?'

"But look at this arm, though," Hunter said, holding up his left arm, "only eleven skulls on this one, but there's twelve on the other. I just need one more skull to soothe my OCD. You think you can help me with that, brat?"

Colson continued to glare at the man, not saying a word.

"So, we're gonna bet our lives on this one, you hear me, kid?" His voice barely above a whisper, "There'll be blood," he cooed, "brain matter on the walls," he gurgled, "Pain like you couldn't believe! It'll be great," he threw his head back and let out another loud laugh. "He's gonna be petrified," he thought, the grin on his face widening.

Colson sighed, "alright, so we're gonna fight. Is that all?"

Hunter cackled, "Is that all?" He mocked. 'This kid is bluffing; I can see it in him. The tough-guy act is gonna crumble the moment this starts,' he thought. "We fight until one of us dies or gives up." He smirked, thinking, 'Even though I know you're gonna give up, that doesn't mean I'm gonna stop!'

"Okay, sounds good. Let's just start this," Colson said, readying his bokken.

Hunter's jaw fell open, "What the? Did he even hear a word I said? He knows we're fighting to the death, right? Is he a deaf or a moron?" He gritted his teeth, "maybe I should make a rule banning the use of weapons."

"Well?" Colson said impatiently, "anything else?"

Hunter forced a loud laugh, "You're that eager to die, huh? Well, I guess there's nothing else I can think of."

"Okay," Colson stepped closer, stepping onto the black pattern on the floor.

"Yeah, that's it! He's just stalling it! Well, I got some things that can deal with punks like this."

Fuji turned to Zoe and Ivy and whispered, "do you guys think he's going to be alright? I don't want to make things more complicated, but we all might have to jump in if this gets too bad."

Hunter flexed his muscles, grunting as he did so. A dark purple aura slowly trembled around him but, within seconds, quickly sputtered out. He felt a bead of sweat trickle down his forehead. He let out a laugh, "You know what? I don't need to use energy on someone like you!"

Zoe noticed in the group behind Hunter that several of them rolled their eyes and whispered to each other.

Hunter quickly turned back to them, "Shut up!" He snapped, whirling back around to face Colson.

Hunter lifted his fists as he got into a boxer's stance. He walked towards Colson, who was slowly circling him. Hunter rushed forward, taking a wild swing. Colson ducked over the wide haymaker; with all his might, he slammed the bokken into the side of his ribs, causing him to grunt in pain. Colson backed up quickly as Hunter kicked out, barely missing him. Taking a few steps back, he punched the air in the direction of Colson. A piece of the purple aura surrounding him detached itself and flew at Colson, grazing his right arm, causing searing pain to shoot up it. Idris' warning playing in his head, 'you never want to take a contact hit from anyone who utilizes energy if you can't use it yourself.'

"You like how that felt?" Hunter sneered. "I've got a lot more where that came from!"

Colson, whose back was to the broken bar, backed up, using the table as a springboard to launch himself into the air, bringing his sword down on Hunter's head.

Narrowly missing, as Hunter swiftly moved to the side. He grabbed Colson by the back of his shirt, tossing him across the room.

Hunter laughed, "I thought you'd do a little bit better than that! You too scared to try and win?"

Colson grinned, "Well, that just confirms it right there," getting to his feet.

Hunter faltered, seeing Colson's confident smile, "What's up with him?"

Colson tossed his bokken to the side, strolling up to Hunter with a confident gait. Before Hunter could react, Colson reached back and punched him as hard as he could right in his stomach. He hunched over, coughing uncontrollably.

"Why, you little idiot!" He screeched, reaching for Colson. Colson grabbed his arm, twisting it behind his back, and slammed him to the ground. He set his knee on the center of his back while still having a tight grip on Hunter's arm, preventing him from moving. "Get off me, kid!" He screamed.

"How many villagers did you kill here, again?" Colson asked, grabbing onto one of the fingers on his bent hand.

"Uh, n-nine," he stammered.

"Okay, well, that's going to be nine broken fingers."

"Wait, hold on, alright."

"Why should I wait?"

"Because…because I was lying, okay!"

"Lying about what?"

"The people," Hunter muttered.

"What? I can't hear you."

"Sheesh, kid, I didn't kill anyone alright? Just let me go! You win, alright," he cried.

"Yeah, I know," Colson said, getting off Hunter's back. Poatan's group burst out in laughter, throwing things at Hunter, and jeering. "I was just kidding; I wasn't actually gonna torture you."

Colson turned and walked back across the room to pick up his bokken. He heard a growling behind him; as he turned around, he saw Hunter charging at him with a wild look in his eye. His dark purple light enveloped him.

"I'm gonna kill you!" He screeched.

Catching Colson completely off-guard, all he could do was hold his arms in front of him to try and block any incoming hits. But they never came.

He slowly opened his eyes to see Poatan standing a few feet behind Hunter, light blue energy surrounding him. His right arm had developed a thin, sharp layer of stone, and he placed it on Hunter's shoulder; the sharp fingers nearly punctured his skin.

"You said you lost. Don't go breaking your own rules," Poatan said sternly; his eyes bored into Hunter's, who looked away quickly.

Hunter took a deep breath, calming his nerves, turning to look Poatan right in the eye, "I don't care! This whole thing's bullshit! I don't wanna join your little group anymore!"

"Well, either way, you've failed," Poatan said, letting go of his shoulder. "I suggest that you leave."

"Whatever! That little kid thinks he's gonna humiliate me and get away with it? Hell no!" He turned back to glare at Colson, who stood on the other side of the room, unsure what to make of the situation. "Hey! You! Outside! Now! Let's finish this!" The angrier he got, the more his energy grew stronger. Everyone could feel it. As if the room turned into a pressurized cabin.

Colson smirked, "You wanna lose again, huh? Alright, let's go."

Behind Hunter, Poatan balled up his fist, more stone started building around his hand, "The game's over."

Poatan slammed his stone fist into the back of Hunter's head, completely obliterating it. The inside of his head splattered against the walls and floor. The impact sounded like a sledgehammer hitting a watermelon.

A silence fell over the bar as Hunter's body slumped forward, spilling blood from the hole where his head used to be.

Colson's face went pale, looking at the gaping red maw. Not being able to take his eyes away from it. The dread returned, reminding him just like when Jashin pushed his malice toward them. His legs felt like they would go ajar at any moment, shaking uncontrollably beneath him.

Zoe slammed her hands over her ears, not wanting to listen to the gurgling sound of the blood trickling from Hunter's esophagus. Her face was covered with flecks of gore. She crouched down, staring at the floor, blinking away tears.

One of the men in Fuji's group had tears in his eyes, turning to Fuji, "This is bad! We can't win against that guy! Even if we all jump him at once!"

"Yeah," another said, his voice almost too shaky to understand, "H-he just killed him! Just like that, he just freaking killed him!"

Fuji composed himself, wiping the cold sweat from his brow, "I need you all to listen and stay calm, alright. We've prepared for death." He looked down, putting a hand on Zoe's shoulder, "I need you to take a deep breath and stay calm, okay?"

She didn't respond. Her face was mute, but tears streamed down her face.

Fuji looked up towards Poatan, who stood over Hunter with his arms crossed. "This is gonna be tough, maybe nigh impossible. That guy there…His energy is too strong. The 'KTA' tattoo, and the way he's ordering them around…." A lightbulb clicked in his head. He stood up, facing Poatan. "May I ask you something?" He tried to keep his voice steady.

"Okay."

"You're a part of that group, aren't you?"

Poatan's face displayed something other than total disinterest for the first time. A slight smirk crossed his lips briefly, "Yes. Yes, I am. Is that an issue?"

Fuji gritted his teeth, 'Well, that settles it. That's why he's so strong. Is he here by himself? Why is he here at all?' Fuji shook his head, removing the thoughts, "So what now? Why are you here."

Poatan looked back towards his group, "Well, I guess we take our leave. Everyone else here has already passed. The whole reason I came here was to get rid of the trash. Burn the dead wood. Part one of an initiation ritual. I sent these guys to help those three with whatever they're doing here. But now, since they're MIA, I thought I should weed out the weak. We've got our money, and we've done what we were hired for…Alright, we're leaving," he said, gesturing at his group. "We shall leave this farm as agreed."

"Oh," Ivy said, "I forgot that's what we were fighting about," she massaged her wrist, glancing at Zoe, who stared blankly ahead at a wall, unreactive.

Within a minute, Poatan and his group packed up their things, left the bar, and walked straight out of the farm. One of them had produced a blanket out of thin air, tossing it onto Hunter's body. When he removed the cloth, the body was gone; the only thing remaining was the tiny bits of brain matter dripping from the walls and ceiling.

Once they had cleared out of the room, Fuji exhaled, "We were lucky," he muttered to himself.

"Wow, that was gnarly," Colson said as he walked up to Zoe and Ivy. He noticed Zoe's 'thousand-yard stare.' "You okay?"

She looked at him, her eyes glassy and red. Zoe tried to open her mouth and say something, but it was as if her body or brain refused to work.

Colson watched her for a while, before turning to Fuji, "Well, I guess we've done our job, so now what?"

As he looked on at the now mostly empty bar, Fuji's usual cheerful eyes were dim.

Zoe shuffled over to Ivy, grabbing onto her hand—intertwining their fingers.

The trio walked to the set of wooden doors, out the doors, down the road, took a right, then stopped. Letting go of her hand, Zoe collapsed against a nearby tree, her vision blurry and feeling as if she would be sick. Muttering to herself, wiping her eyes.

"That was the first time I've ever seen something like that," she hollowed.

Colson shook his head, forcefully attempting to remove the memory from his mind, "yeah, that was bad. But I don't think we should think about it too much," watching Ivy pace back and forth.

Ivy looked to Zoe, "I just realized you didn't get to fight anyone. Maybe if Colson went first, and then you. Shame, I think you would've won," she said disappointedly.

"Imma be real," Colson said, "like, no offense or anything, but I don't think you would've survived. Based on how those other guys were acting, they seemed to at least think they were stronger than those two."

"Yea probably," Zoe said, "but then again, maybe not. I am pretty powerful," she said dryly, holding up her arms as if she were flexing.

"I don't know what I would've done in your situation, probably just run away, honestly. Ivy, don't say anything, 'cause I know that you would too; don't play."

"I would not!"

"Would too!"

"But the werewolf didn't get as strong as he was by running away, right? He didn't leave at the slightest danger; he fought till the very end," Ivy said. "He showed no weakness at all," she trailed off, "I kind of admire him for that, you know? Taught me a lot."

Colson gave her a sideways look, "No, I don't know."