Safe Mode

Both Domin and I picked up the pace into a full run and bumped into Dani, hiding behind some of the rocks a good distance away from the people. I put my hand on her shoulder and turned her body around towards me.

"Dani! What's happening?!" I asked her. She looked at the blood on my shirt, so I put my hand under her chin and lifted her head to match my eye-line.

"I know, I'm sorry I got into trouble, but what's happening here?!" I asked her. She finally snapped out of it and began to explain.

Carl had apparently 'walked into Ullr's territory' and it caused Ullr to punch him in the face and knock him to the ground. After that point, Ullr seemed to have an idea to see who was the strongest of the group by hosting a fighting ring. Anybody who wanted the role of leader could jump in and fight Ullr, but nobody was winning, and it looked like he was beating people to death.

"That's not something we can allow! Domin, let's go in." I told him. He froze up against the rock Dani hid behind. I realized I was all alone unless I could convince Drake and Isaac to go in. I walked past the rock and turned left when I saw both of them beaten and bruised up against it.

With blood seeping out of their noses and bruises all over their faces and bodies, something happened in my head. I was starting to get upset with all this. I tried to be friends with Ullr or at least make a compromise, but he began to ruin everything.

I forced my way into the ring made by the other people on the beach and stumbled to the ground. I had left my axe by Domin just in case anything happened. Once I picked my head up, my face caught a blood splatter off of Carl's face.

Carl was knocked to the ground, beaten and bloodied.

"I owe one to the Red-bitch as well!" Ullr cocked a punch back and slammed it into Red, instantly driving her to the ground. That upset feeling in my stomach began to turn into rage.

"Hey! We shouldn't be doing this!" I yelled out to Ullr, but he only laughed with his smug tone of voice.

"Look at that! It's the scrawny dumbass who keeps annoying me! I should kill him, shouldn't I?" I gulped the fear down my throat and stood my ground.

"You think killing me will do anything?" I asked him. Ullr cocked a punch back and tried to throw it at my face, but it was too slow for me to just not react. It was after the fact, when he threw his knee into my stomach, that I was sent to the ground.

"Of course it will, it'll shut that little fly that keeps buzzing in my ear up for good." Ullr kicked me in the chest while I was down on the ground, and the air left my lungs periodically.

I put some distance between Ullr and me, and he scoffed once more. The people behind me pushed me towards Ullr and he got ahold of my collar, picking me up and slamming me into the sand beneath us.

Again and again, the air left my lungs. I was surprised I was still conscious of the lack of oxygen. I decided enough was enough and threw a punch, but he simply dodged it and returned another to my face, sending me to the ground faster than Red had been.

"You can't be serious! You people are so weak, how can any of you go against me for this role as leader?! You pathetic creatures… maybe we'll start by eating these losers for food!" My initial fear was starting to come true. A scenario I didn't want to think about, not even as the worst case, he was making come true.

While his back was turned to the audience, I came up behind him and slammed my knuckles into the back of his head. I landed a hit cleanly, but he retaliated by picking me up by the undersides of my arms and slamming me head-first into the sand. I was dazed by the sheer speed and sudden shock of being hit that I forgot where I was for a brief second.

"I heard about you, scrawny boy. You're not good at anything, you're not smart enough for anything, and you can't even fight?! You can't be serious… you want me to let you leave this pit alive? At least I can use that Red-bitch for my children, and I can use that brown-haired ass as my personal servant. But what could I use a useless waste of oxygen like you for?" He told me.

That old rage that I lost upon slamming into the ground was starting to inflate my ego. "If you talk about my friends like that one more time, I'll make you regret ever being born on this beach." Everybody around me laughed, but Ullr didn't budge. He could sense how serious I was being, I could tell by the look in his eyes.

"Don't make me laugh." He charged forward and landed another punch right under my ribcage, but instead of just lying on the ground afterwards, I took the punch directly and grabbed his large hand, biting into his hand and ripping back.

Ullr cried out in pain while all sense of any reason left my head. He stumbled backwards while holding the blood in his right hand.

"I'm going to make this hurt so bad!" Ullr kicked me in the face and quickly ran over to my knocked-over body, pulling against my left arm. He ripped my shoulder out of its socket and I cried out in pain.

I guided the heel of my right foot into the back of his knee, and he fell to the ground helplessly, which I took advantage of by sneaking out of his sight and aiming a punch right for his eyeball.

Ullr fell to the ground, yelling out in pain with an aggressive tone, and the crowd around us finally grew silent.

I held my left arm so it wouldn't get any worse, but Ullr took advantage of my one weakness and held my right arm up so I couldn't attack.

He lifted me off the ground with my right arm and jammed two fingers straight into the middle of my throat. He let me drop to the floor as I desperately prayed that he hadn't just collapsed my windpipe, but I still couldn't help but notice the crowd's silence.

Ullr smiled and crouched down to my level, right above my head.

"You stay on the ground where you belong, you little bitch." He told me. I violently lifted my head from the sandy beach and slammed it into his nose, then turned around and slammed my fist into the same exact position.

[System Alert! Corruption is Imminent!]

I ignored that useless text and dug my finger into his left eyeball, forcing him to scream and wriggle out in pain, while I didn't hesitate, not even for a second. Afterwards, I felt a smile slowly erupt along my face.

I charged my fist back and slammed it into his nose once more. Again, and again, and again, and again. I repeated this process until it was completely purple, and blood was pouring out like it was flowing water.

[System Alert! Corruption at 90%]

I refused to stop until Ullr knew his mistakes, but I don't think a man like him would learn easy. It would be easier if I just killed him right here, and right now.

[System Alert! Corruption at 95%]

[Activating Safe Mode.]

On my next punch, my arm completely stopped in place and my body froze. I looked to the only thing relevant in my vision: My White Stone.

When I peered into it, I could see purple sparks start to emit from it over time, up until I was launched back into the rock Dani and Domin hid behind. I coughed up blood upon impact and turned my head up to all of the people who formed the ring. Ullr's two lackeys started to check if he was dead, while everybody else couldn't get their eyes off of me.

I rubbed the blood from underneath my nose and took time to think about what just happened. I completely lost control right there… I really had an intent to kill Ullr where he laid, but why couldn't I bring myself to kill that fox? I kept asking that question a million times a second as their muttered chatter began to deafen me.

Then, without thinking, I stood up. "Ullr… you have no place as a leader in this group, and if you don't like it, then get away from my people."