3.50

What was left of the ten days we had passed by in a flash as we soon had to converge to the twenty circles.

Looking at my teammates, who were all preparing themselves in their own way, I said, "Depending on the strength of our team, we will be entering the mission world before or after the other Team. We don't know how long the weaker Team will have to prepare, but in case we are the stronger team, be prepared to fight as soon as you appear."

My six teammates were each solemn, a stark difference from our past missions.

Claire's gaze was sharp as she stood straight like an arrow, while she kept a firm grip on her Demonic Sword.

Next to her, Jordan was dressed in his battle armor he got from the Akatsuki, but had it covered in the Akatsuki's coat.

Sarah and Johnathan flanked me on both sides, both dressed in modern clothes. They did not look armed, but Sarah had her magic, and Johnathan had his wand at the ready. Erik was the furthest away from me, also dressed inconspicuously.

On the other hand, Asher and I looked the most threatening out of our entire group.

Asher had her sniper rifle holstered to her back, while she held her shotgun in her hands. She also had her sniper bullets strapped over her upper body.

As for me, I was dressed in the Akatsuki's five clouds robe, while I wore Shuten Doji's Mask, as well as the Fists of Randagulf. In other words, I was fully covered from head to toe, leaving no inch of my skin uncovered.

I was a little hesitant at first about wearing such an extravagant outfit within a modern world like The Boys, but considering the costumes of some Heroes, I shouldn't be too inconspicuous, although I certainly looked very threatening.

[Enter the beam within thirty seconds. Target locked!]

Light arose from beneath us as the final countdown started. Placing a hand over Shiroishi, my grip tightened a little as I looked at my teammates. They had grown on me, some more than others, but each of them mattered to me.

Funnily enough, our time apart hadn't drawn distance between us, but instead brought us closer. Or at least, to me they were.

And while I did not want to think about it, the other team surely was in a similar position. Actually, considering my personality and the vast gap between myself and my teammates, they might be even closer to each other.

Yet, we would be throwing everything we had at each other, to kill the members of the other team.

One might argue we caused more destruction to the worlds we visited, but it didn't feel the same. The inhabitants of those worlds surely were real, or at least they felt that way to me, but the other teams were different, because I knew we were from the same place.

Just like us, they had been taken from Earth at their lowest point, and had to go through numerous life and death situations to reach here.

Killing such people… didn't feel the same. Wrong, I guess you could say.

But no matter how I felt about it, in the end I value my own survival above the lives of strangers, no matter how harsh their lives, and if I wanted to see the end of this game, they would have to die.

My doubts erased, my body relaxed as the last few seconds ticked down.

---

[Erik's POV]

Standing within the circle of light, I circulated my Qi throughout my body, sending an additional wisp to my head to cool myself down.

There was this trepidation before any mission, this deep seated terror that made my heart beat fast. I'd heard of fear paralyzing you, but I never felt this. Instead, I always felt overexcited, not in the sense that I anticipated the mission, I hated it, but that my control over my body slowly slipped.

But as I channeled my Qi through my body, my trembling quickly got better as I felt my fear lessen. Well, not exactly lessen, but I no longer felt as helpless before it.

This was something I had kept to myself, but Qi was actually much more complex than what I thought when I first got it.

I usually said its main use was to strengthen my body, but that was only part of the truth. Qi was a mysterious energy I hadn't even come close to finish exploring, as most of its wonders were still unknown to me.

But for example, I had discovered that it could help my control my mind when I sent wisps of my Qi to my brain. Or I might be sending them to my spirit, the exact state of existence of Qi was still unknown to me.

I don't think it is simply an invisible energy, as once I infused enough Qi in a blow, the area infused could gain some luster.

So was it moving around my body through my nervous system, my blood system or some other pathway I didn't know about, I had no idea.

I normally wouldn't have cared either, to be honest, but I could feel that the better I understood Qi, the better I would be able to use it, and thus become stronger.

Qi was somewhat different from the Force Alexander had gotten, in the sense that I wasn't buying potential, but raw power instead.

All that differed between the D Rank Low Level Qi and the S Rank Legendary Qi was quantity and density, as far as I could tell. Well, then again, there might be more to it, but I didn't know what it was if it existed.

My point is, I would be able to buy raw power with the rewards, but just relying on raw power wouldn't do.

Simply because even if I had Legendary Qi, I doubted I would be able to win against Alexander, despite the fact his best enhancement was A Rank.

But in any case, whether it was through buying enhancements or buying time to train, if I wanted to train, I would need to spend Points.

After all, if there was one constant in this game, then that was it.

If you need something, you need Points.

---

[Sarah's POV]

It was hard to fathom what Alexander was thinking about with that new mask of his. Shuten Doji's Mask, I believe it was. It looked scary, and according to him, it was quite strong too.

I didn't know how strong exactly, he didn't tell me, and I knew better than to ask. We might be sleeping together, this would be pushing boundaries.

But while I couldn't see his face, I did have an idea of what Alexander was thinking, since we had talked about the mission. The rest of the team also seemed to be feeling apprehension, and they could hardly be blamed.

But I didn't feel any myself. I do understand the danger we are about to go through, and I might lose my life. Or one of my friends might lose their lives. Alexander… probably not. There might be beings capable of defeating him, but Alexander wasn't just a stupid well of power. Instead, I would say he excels in situations where he is the weaker party.

What I felt instead, was curiosity. Mostly about the other Team. Seeing the tribulations we had to go through to reach here, I couldn't help but wonder how those guys had performed.

Were they going to be stronger? Weaker? Is their leader as strong as Alexander? Are they close to each other?

Well, I guess it doesn't really matter. Either we kill them, or they kill me.

[Starting teleportation to The Boys.]