Content Update 1.2

A few days had gone by since Ky trapped the Coroner in his Temporal Bubble. Thanks to his mind-wipe ability, Ky proceeded with life the same as he always did. Since Ky knew in advance that he would be wiping his own memory, he left a note to himself informing him to never break that Temporal Bubble or else the Coroner would be freed. 

As the time warper ate dinner with his father, which was once a rarity but now becoming normality, Ky noticed a smile on his father's face, which was yet another rarity. "What's got you so happy?" he asked him. "Oh, it's nothing." Ken lied. "Adult business."

"I'm an adult, remember?" Ky added. He wasn't going to let this go and his father knew that. His son was almost as persistent as he was. "I guess you're right. Well, there's this really, really cute nurse at my job. Beautiful woman, drop-dead gorgeous. At first, I was just interested in her looks but she's smart, funny, and single! She also has a kid around your age. She's into gaming and stuff like you. Anyway, we have a date planned for tomorrow and I don't know I'm just excited. I haven't been on a date in years. I just… I don't want things to be weird between you and me is all."

Ky raised a brow as he messed with the noodles on his plate. "Why would things be weird?"

"I just don't want you to think I'm trying to replace your mother. That's not what this is." Part of the reason why Ken took so long to date was because of his fear of how Ky would react. He knew how hard it was to see a parent marry someone else once Ky's grandmother married his stepfather. However, he truly had nothing to worry about when it came to Ky. "Dad, she's been gone for ten years. Everyone needs love. I don't care if you date. That lady of yours sounds nice…" Ky's voice trailed off and he sort of awkwardly fiddled with his plate. "What's her daughter look like?"

Ken laughed at his son's curiosity before pulling out his phone and showing him a picture on his love interest's social media. Calling the mother beautiful was an understatement. She looked like a goddess, straight out of a fantasy comic. As she posed in her bikini, her toned body was visible for all to see. Ky's eyes nearly bulged out of his eye sockets upon seeing her. "You weren't lying about the mom… I get it."

'I didn't know Dad had it like that what the hell?'

His eyes then shifted to the girl next to her, wearing a fluttery bikini top along with a skirt that had a floral pattern on it. Based on her pose, she seemed shy, averting her eyes as if she were afraid of the camera. 

"That's her daughter?" Ky asked, getting a nod in response. Despite her shyness, Ky thought she was very attractive; it was written all over his face. "I knew you'd like her." His dad teased. "But she could end up as your step-sister so don't be weird"

Ky sighed, his hopes and dreams shattering before his very eyes. "Yeah, yeah…" 

Suddenly, in Ky's visual field, he could see that the game was once again trying to update itself. 'Already? I wish games always updated this frequently.'

[Attention! Content Update 1.2 is now available for download]

[Would you like to update Hero x Villain Online?]

Just like last time, there wasn't any sort of prompt for Ky to press. The game simply started updating itself.

[Updating...]

[Update Complete]

[To view the patch notes, please check the Hero x Villain Online mobile app]

Ky pulled out his phone and began looking through the patch notes, only to be surprised upon seeing his own name in the middle of it.

[Event: International Tournament - A tournament will be taking place between the top ten testers in each region! Below are the representatives for your region. If you see your name, congratulations. If not, keep rising in the ranks. There's always next year!

1. Infinite 

2. Blur

3. Novacaine

4. Fixer

5. Professor Anarchy

6. Flora

7. Mania

8. Lady Luck

9. Tempo (Was ranked 11th. 9th - Black Haze - Unable to Participate)

10. Celsius (Was ranked 12th. 10th - The Coroner - Unable to Participate) ]

'I'm in the top ten!? No way.' Ky looked up from his phone and glanced at his father. 'What lie am I going to tell him when I go to the tournament though…'

Of course, the game already had plans for Ky and how he'd enter the tournament. The next day, Ky received a letter in the mail that was supposedly inviting him to an orientation for a university in California. His trip to the supposed school was already paid for, but Ky could tell that this letter was from the game rather than a college since he hadn't even applied to any schools out of state. Of course, Ky's father bought it when Ky acted as if he did apply, and Ky was sent off to a hotel where he would supposedly be staying before being transported to the airport. At the hotel's entrance, Ky was intercepted by employees who worked for the developers of Hero x Villain Online. He adjusted the medical mask over his face, wanting to keep his identity concealed as much as possible.

"Tempo?" A man in a black suit and tie asked, approaching the young beta tester. "That's me…" Ky was of course suspicious, but his curiosity compelled him to follow the man once he was prompted to. Eventually, Ky found himself inside a makeshift fitting room where a strange man was seen waiting for him.

"Ah! Mr. Tempo! How are you!?" the flamboyant person whose gender was completely ambiguous rose to their feet and immediately started measuring Ky's body, starting with his chest and the length of his limbs. To say the least, Ky was mildly uncomfortable. 

"I'm fine… What are you doing? Who are you?"

The person began measuring the circumference of Ky's arms, legs, and neck, their eyes distant as if they were under intense focus. "Mhm… I see. You're quite slim, Mr. Tempo. To answer your question, my name is Elegante and I am making your costume. Like you, I am also a beta tester, but I will not be participating in the tournament. I can manipulate fibers, allowing me to create outfits in a matter of seconds!"

'That sounds sort of lame.' Ky thought. He was thankful that the powers he received weren't so boring sounding.

"That's sick." Ky lied.

"That it is! I've made some mockups for you, which do you prefer?" Elegante pulled out about fifty or so concept art of Tempo's potential costume. Each concept was completely different, ranging from heavily armored to casual clothing one would wear to the gym. 'These are all pretty cool.' Ky glanced up at the fiber manipulator who was swaying side to side in excitement. "Did you draw all these?"

Elegante nodded. "Yes, sir! See any that you like?"

Ky looked down at the concept art once more, stuck between two or three of them. He liked the black mask with glowing white eyes from one, yet another had this fantastical suit and tie with a long coat. There was a third that wasn't as interesting, but the color scheme popped. "What if we put the black and gold color scheme of this one and use it for this suit and then bring the mask from this one over."

Elegante's eyes lit up upon seeing Ky's taste for fashion. "Excellent! Yes, yes! Let's try it on right now. Stand still with your arms like this." Elegante put their hands outward as if they were striking a t-pose. Ky did the same and as he did, fibers began wrapping around his body. It was a rather strange sensation, it tickled a little bit but at the same time, the fibers felt alive as if they were bugs crawling around his body.

After a few seconds, the fibers settled and Ky's costume was complete. Tempo looked in the mirror at himself, seeing the long, black, fantasy-esque coat with gold trimmings covering a black vest and tie of the same color scheme. Ky adjusted his black gloves as he looked closely at the mask that covered his face. It was all black, darker than the night sky, and fit tightly around his head, almost as if it were his skin. His eyes widened beneath the mask, which was seen through the glowing white eyes visible over the mask. "This is incredible!"

"I'm glad you like it. It looks good on you, Mr. Tempo." Before Tempo could ask any questions, a familiar voice was heard coming from the door behind him.

"My archnemesis! We meet yet again!" Though Ky wasn't looking toward the source of the sound, he knew exactly who it was based on the voice alone. 'Oh, god… Not him again.' Ky turned around to see Celsius wearing regular clothes, a t-shirt and jeans, as his turn to get a costume custom-made would be next. Ky tried to play it off. He thought that since he was wearing a mask, Celsius couldn't possibly be certain it was him. "Who are you?" Ky feigned ignorance.

Celsius placed his hands on his hips and chuckled whilst shaking his head. "Tempo, Tempo. Tempo… You're a funny guy, you know that. I know it's you under there, I can recognize your voice, height, and build. That costume is so you by the way. Hey, I've gotten stronger since the last time we fought! I'm not losing to you this time. Wanna see my new trick?"

Celsius was a blabbermouth, the complete opposite of Tempo. Who knows, maybe they really were archnemeses. 

"No, thanks. I'm good, man." Ky looked to Elegante. "Is there like a waiting room or something?" 

"Yes. Through that door and to your left."

With that, Ky started for the door, and as he did so, Celsius continued yapping. "You're right, I should save it for our next fight! Maybe we get to spar before the tournament! I like your costume, by the way, it's super sick. Almost as sick as mine. I already have mine planned out, ever since-" Before Celsius could finish, Tempo closed the door behind him and exhaled a sigh of relief.

As instructed, he went left and found the waiting area. Inside, there were already eight people sitting; some were in groups while others were solo. All of them wore their costumes made by Elegante.

The first one to catch Ky's eyes was a girl with beautiful, long red hair. As she looked at Ky, he noticed her irises were shaped like roses. Her costume wasn't much of a costume. It was reminiscent of the female armor that barely covered anything in Japanese fantasy RPGs. Beside her was the only other woman in the group. She had jet-black hair, wearing a skin-tight black and white costume with cards and dice symbolism all over it. Ky had memorized the names of all of the contestants and was able to narrow down who was who. 'The redhead must be Flora and the other is likely Lady Luck. All I can say is wow...'

Ky's eyes then shifted across the room to see a man wearing a skin-tight blue costume with a lightning bolt at the center of his chest. He was jogging in place, his arms and legs moving faster than the eye could see. As he did so, he was talking to a young man who sat with his arms crossed, covering part of the letter 'i' symbol on his chest. He had a black cape that matched the black symbol on his chest, the rest of his costume had a shiny, silver finish to it.

'Blur and Infinite. I've seen them on the news before.'

Just beside those two, was a young man wearing all white and gold garbs that covered his silver-plated armor. He wore a hood over his head and a silver mask that covered only half of his face, however, the upper half of his face was completely concealed in shadow. 'That guy looks like a warlock straight out of a fantasy film. I take it he's Professor Anarchy.'

Sitting in the seat directly beside him, there was a young man with glasses and strange homemade-looking contraptions all over his body talking Professor Anarchy's ears off. He looked like he was barely entering high school and his hair looked as if it hadn't been kept up in months. 'He's probably Fixer.'

In a corner all to himself, a male covered from head to toe in black spandex and military gear was seen stabbing himself in the hand repeatedly. Oddly, the stab wound would instantly heal itself, though the strange, masked mercenary-looking tester continued stabbing himself. 'Is that one Novacaine?'

Ky's eyes shifted across the room where there was a man wearing black robes and a skull mask over his face, reminiscent of the Grim Reaper. He had this aura around him that instantly made Ky feel uneasy. 'Or is that one Novacaine? I'm just gonna guess the reaper-looking guy is Mania.'

Ky stood in place with a decision to make. He wanted to form a clique of sorts. Once the tournament was over, having allies would be useful. He wanted to stay away from Fixer and Professor Anarchy, simply for the fact that Fixer seemed like Celsius 2.0 with all the yapping he was doing. Mania and Novacaine, whichever was which, scared him so those two were out of the question. That left the girls and the number one and two ranked beta testers.

Although the girls looked cute, Ky knew it would be more beneficial to become allies with the two strongest members of the group first. And so, taking a deep breath as he opened up from his metaphorical shell, Ky made his way over to the top two ranked heroes in hopes of forming an allyship with them.