Chapter 15

—Spahn's streets light up in the early morning sunlight. Axel could feel sweat drip down his left side as he continued to run with all of his remaining strength.

The sidewalks and roads were close to empty, and the air refreshed his mind. These early morning jogs of his felt so much better in the Nexus than in the real world. It was probably because he had more stamina in the game than his real body could ever dream of, but he still was having a hard time hitting his PR.

His gauntlets seemed to strangle his fingertips and the palm of his hand. They are heavier than ever when Axel gets tired like this, making it uncomfortable to keep up the pace. Even so, Axel knew he couldn't take them off.

If he did, his entire body would be covered up in flames.

The gauntlets help contain his Aspect when he uses it, which he was at this moment to boost his speed a tiny bit, swinging his blazing gauntlets back and forth like two loose jet engines.

Axel reaches his quota, being ten kilometers, and he catches himself before he collapses onto the ground. His arms were locked as he gripped his calves and panted in exhaustion.

'I can go faster!!' He thinks, 'I have to improve my endurance somehow...'

Axel only had a week at this point before the official start of the Slayer's Pack tryouts, and he had to train every part of his body for it. Ivy and Jay were already preparing at this point, giving him the motivation to break his barriers as well. If Jay could be staking up everything for this opportunity—even though he doesn't have an Aspect—then surely Axel can do better.

"Hey! You with the flames!" A voice says in the distance.

Axel looked in every direction to see who was calling out in the area. Unless someone else was playing at this hour using a flame Aspect, someone was trying to get his attention. Axel's determination cleared its way out for an ensuing confusion.

"Over here!" The voice says.

Axel turns to his right at the voice and spots a large group of players surrounding a small area on the side of the road. People in the buildings above were on their balconies, looking in the same direction as everyone.

'What could be so interesting at this time of day?' Axel thinks

Axel walks closer, and a player steps up to him, waving beforehand. Axel returns the wave of kindness but is still very lost.

"Hey, man! You gotta check this out!" The player says.

"Uh, ok, but what is happening?!" Axel demands.

"Just come watch!" The player insists.

Agreeing, Axel trails the strange figure to the group of onlookers up ahead. Everyone seemed to have a positive attitude, and the environment seemed almost like a party or rave. The hype surrounding the air was being stirred into the crowd from some group in the distance, and Axel kept his eyes on the player who was escorting him through the crowd.

As he made it to the front of the large pack of players, the player leading Axel pointed up ahead. Axel's eyes shine in enthusiasm at the sight.

"These guys are doing a «King of the Hill» game!" The player explains, "And it's just like basketball!"

The Nexus has plenty for players to do, going on hunts for rare monsters or fighting other players. The scenery is also something to marvel at. The fact that players had come up with their rendition of basketball, not to mention a pickup game like King of the Hill, was impressive.

Axel watches the two players on the court duke it out to see who was staying and leaving.

One of the players looked like a generic enjoyer of the game, wearing a long-sleeve jacket and long pants with athletic boots. Nothing to write home about. But the other person who had possession at this point was unlike anything Axel had seen before.

"It's the Guildmaster of «The Sharks»!"

"I never thought I'd see him in person!"

"Crush that guy!"

Axel studied the patterns this player was moving in as he heard the crowd chant phrases amongst themselves. A Guildmaster? The player's sheer size was impeccable, but his entire build and structure were the most significant difference in his appearance.

'He looks like a great white shark!!' Axel thinks.

The supposed Guildmaster had the head of a shark, and dorsal fin was sticking out of his torn-up overcoat, and cargo pants covering his grey and white body. Axel didn't even consider the possibility of ever meeting someone like this.

Usually, when creating your Avatar, the game has boundaries in the creation engine. This is why male players can't choose to be female since their brains don't know how it would feel. In testing, this caused many people to experience unbearable pain, which was solved when the developers of the Nexus put into place these creation rules.

The fact this player has a face of a shark meant he had something that anyone here, either access to more creation options or an item in the game that can convert your appearance like this, not giving you the feeling of what or who you look like.

Either way, Axel knew he had to challenge this guy on the court. If this brawn really were a Guildmaster, then this would be a real challenge.

The minor player on the court goes for the winning shot, which would secure him into becoming the King of the hill. As he seems to lay the shot in, the rumored Guildmaster blocks the shot in a second's window, grabbing the ball for himself. The other player falls onto the floor and punches it in frustration in the process.

"That's his twenty-seventh win in a row!" The player who Axel had followed exclaims.

Axel looks on as the supposed Guildmaster revels in his win streak. Many of the female players call out to him, asking him to friend them and similar requests.

"Haha! Does anyone else want to step up to the plate?" The Guildmaster asks loudly.

Everyone near the court cheers, but no one singles themselves out for the task. It seemed impossible to beat this guy. He was just too strong.

"Yeah!! I'll take you on!!" Axel yells from the crowd.

Suddenly, everyone present focused their attention on Axel as he confidently approached the court and the Guildmaster. He could hear the people around him whispering, probably either making fun of him or asking others who he was.

As Axel stepped onto the court itself, he realized just how big this shark-guy was. He easily stood over seven feet tall, and his shoulders were so vast that you could probably use them as a table. Axel grips his hands through his gauntlets.

"*A new challenger*!" The King of the hill announces, "*Will he be victorious*?!"

The crowd boos, being against Axel. He thinks the people here want to see his opponent reach some sort of record. Axel was going to make sure that didn't happen. He was going to win.

"I'm gonna win easy!!" Axel shouts, pointing at his opponent's neck in a funny way, "Make sure you don't choke on the air through those gills fish-face!!"

The crowd laughs and gets furious at the same time. Expecting his opponent to get mad, Axel was surprised when the Guildmaster just laughed at him.

"Sure thing, kid, just make sure you take those *toasters* off first!" The Guildmaster says, pointing at Axel's gauntlets in a funny way.

The crowd laughs, except Axel. He was hoping to get in this guy's head, but it doesn't look like that will happen.

"Yea, whatever..." Axel says with a slight grin, loosening the straps on his gauntlets.

They fall onto the floor, making a loud thud. The audience around the court starts to whisper again. Hopefully, they were complimenting Axel on how he could lift his heavy gauntlets up so naturally.

Axel's face goes from relaxed to tense in a matter of seconds after taking his gauntlets off. He would be more agile for sure, but one wrong move and his hands would ignite in flames, which would quickly spread up to the rest of his body.

He can't use Aspect, or he'll basically forfeit the match.

Axel stretches and studies his opponent's moves or lack thereof. The Guildmaster just stood there watching Axel's pre-game routine. Axel had no idea whether it was a smart move or just to get a reaction from him, but he continued with his stretches. Once he was ready, he stepped ahead, face to face with his enemy.

"What's your name, kid?" The Guildmaster asks.

"Axel!! And you?!" Axel states.

"Name's Crash, Guildmaster for The Slayer's Pack." The player introduces himself, "I oversee the Sharks as their leader."

'So he really *is* a Guildmaster!!' Axel thinks, tensing up in the process.

"Is that a big deal to you? You seemed to jump when I introduced myself." Crash asks.

"If you're a Guildmaster, then do you by chance know a guy named 'Helmet?!'" Axel asks.

Crash's pitch dark eyes dull as Axel asks the question. It almost looked like he was entirely out of words. Axel wondered why that question bugged him so much.

"YOU KNOW HELMET?! *HOW*?!" Crash breaks down.

"U-uh, he gave me a referral for the tryouts next week!!" Axel explains, shaking his head nervously as Crash yells at him.

"H-he gave you one of his referrals?" Crash asks more calmly.

"Yea, me and my friends all secured one for ourselves!!" Axel gloats.

Crash looks at the crowd mid-conversation, making sure no one is listening in to their conversation on the court. They were far enough away, but Crash didn't want information like this being leaked from someone like Axel.

'So Helmet gave you and your friends the referrals, huh? I guess he wasn't trying too hard selecting who to trust with them...' Crash thinks.

"Ahem!!" Crash clears his throat, "*Let the game begin*!!"

—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-

Neither player scored for three conversions, and Axel had possession of the ball. His fast reflexes have allowed him to block a shot on Crash, but Crash's body let him have a strong defense. Both players were tired, but neither wanted to lose. Crash was almost out of fuel, beating nearly thirty players in a row by now. His exhaustion started to show more and more as the game continued.

Axel noticed something odd—however—In his first drive when he attempted to go for a quick layup. Before he had performed the shot, Crash seemed to point in the direction he would go. Axel ended up running down the right side and got blocked almost immediately.

This bugged Axel a lot, and this time was no different. Axel's eyes darted across the court for an opening, and right when one appeared, Crash was pointing in its direction, almost to challenge him. Axel grunts heavily and stares Crash down.

'Hey, why aren't you using your Aspect?' A voice says near Axel.

Axel's head rocks back as he hears the voice, which sounded like it came from his head. Axel keeps staring Crash down but was still taken back from whoever that was.

'What the hell was that?' Axel thinks.

'Language.' The voice says in response.

Axel's eyes widen as he starts to recognize the voice. He looks at Crash once again and realizes he was right. Crash nodded his head as Axel looked at him in complete shock.

'How are you in my head?!' Axel thinks.

'You didn't answer my question. Why aren't you using your Aspect?' Crash says in Axel's mind.

'No!! How are you in my head?!' Axel thinks in fear.

'Hey, I asked you a question first,' Crash says in Axel's mind, 'But alright, I guess it's fair to tell you what I'm doing.'

'It's one of my Aspect moves, called «Echolocation».'

'Echo...location?' Axel thinks back.

'Yes,' Crash echoes to Axel, 'It allows me to not only sense where my prey is but send and receive information in their heads through a frequency I can read and produce. Think of it as communication through a sonar in your mind!'

'...You're crazy.' Axel thinks in response.

The crowd of players at this point were growing angsty and impatient at what was taking Axel so long to attempt a shot, not knowing the conversation he and Crash were having.

"Hey! Just shoot already!"

"What's the hold-up?!"

"Go left!!"

"No!! Go right!!"

Trying to concentrate on Crash rather than the onslaught of call-outs from the players around him, Axel's grip on the basketball loosens slightly.

'What do I do?!' Axel thinks.

'Well, you could—' Crash echoes but is cut off.

'Shut up!! I forgot you were here!!' Axel thinks back.

'Well, why don't you use your Aspect to help you out?' Crash echoes.

'Because I don't have my gauntlets on!!'

Crash's gaze eases up as he sees a single drop of sweat fall from Axel's face. He already knew the answer Axel was going to give him before he said it.

'So they help stabilize your power?' Crash asks.

'Yes. If I try to use Aspect without them on, fire will spread from my hands to the rest of my body.' Axel thinks.

'You have a fire Aspect? Can you use it anywhere else on your body?' Crash asks in Axel's head.

'What?' Axel thinks.

'Instead of using it on your hands, why not use it on your feet?' Crash echoes.

'It'll just burn me!!' Axel thinks aggressively.

'But then you can extinguish it right after!' Crash echoes.

Axel's mind races. Was Crash giving him advice? In a competitive setting? He was a Guildmaster who knew Helmet, but Axel's trust was wavering.

'Here's what I would do if I were you,' Crash echoes, 'Use fire on your feet to jump over me, almost like a rocket launch.'

'...Well, I mean, I can try, but there's no telling if it'll work!!' Axel explains.

'That's your call to make. Other than that, I'm gonna move to steal the ball from you soon, so make a decision,' Crash thinks.

After not hearing a response or anything on Crash's end for a second, Axel figures that Crash had left his head at last. He closes his eyes for a split second and then opens them up again with a passive glow emitting from them. Axel starts to conjure his Aspect, thinking the phrase 'Aspect On!' as he advances towards Crash. All the while, he made sure to keep concentration on his shoes while he pushed forward.

Crash sees Axel's concentrated face and decides to go all-in as well, planting his feet down solidly and forming a wall of defense for Axel to overcome. If he went left, right, or even under, Axel would fail. Crash had all of those directions covered. The only option Axel had left was to go up using his fire Aspect under his feet.

Axel gets closer and closer to Crash, with a glow in his eyes and a brilliant smile. Crash was also smiling, seemingly inviting the challenge. The crowd raised their voices as the players continued the game.

Axel jumps into the air, with flame and ash shooting out of his lower body.

Who would be the King of the Hill?