Chapter 106

Mount Merder, Merder Stadium, Atlanta - 4:35 PM

“That’s The Warmonger, thank you very much,” I quipped back as I started standing.

“I’m not calling you that.”

I chortled as I walked around the tree to see Manny and Tito standing over where David’s dead body would have been. “Gentlemen, congrats on having climbed the mountain. Well, congrats on Joanna having climbed the mountain.”

“Yeah, until you threw her off,” Tito said, waving his gnarled driftwood staff in my direction. “The system told us that was you.”

“Guilty as charged,” I said, walking past them and looking up at the mountain.

“Really?” Manny asked. “You’re going to show your back to us just like that? After you knocked out Joanna?”

“You’re the one who called out to me, axe man,” I chuckled. I couldn’t see anyone climbing the mountain from this side, but everything was eerily quiet. Something was bound to happen soon. “You take out everyone else?”

“A few, just culling the ranks,” Manny admitted. “Figured we didn’t need to climb if Joanna already got up there.”

I nodded. The forest was a great place for the stealthy, but I wasn’t about to let people hide. “I’m looking to be the last man standing, just so you know. I wouldn’t mind if you’re the last ones on my ticket list, but I’ve already got a date with Jamie Summers, so please make this fast.”

“Look at the balls on this guy,” Tito snorted. “We already took out Summer Breeze, kid, so you don’t have to go looking for her.”

“Hmm, shame,” I said. A hollow feeling hit my chest, and I found myself scowling. “Well, there’s always next time. So what do you want? I need to go hunt rats.”

“We’re willing to back out of the rest of this match if you’ll talk with us away from prying eyes and ears,” Manny offered.

This time, I was the one who snorted. “He proclaims where everyone and their mother can hear and see us conversing.”

“I wouldn’t ask if this wasn’t important,” he said.

I thought about it for a moment. Even if I hadn’t seen what Manny was looking for first-hand in previous runs, it was easy to tell what he was after. He wanted information on the tunnels underneath the safe zone. The tunnels that lead to Benedict Merder’s little research project that I was still looking forward to fighting against later.

Finally glancing back, I saw both Manny and Tito staring at me with an intensity I didn’t often see, and I couldn’t help but laugh. “Alright, sure, but I’m not going to tell you when and where. I’ll know how to find you, and it’ll happen tomorrow at some point. That way, we don’t get followed.”

Manny looked like he was biting the inside of his cheek before nodding. “You know how to find us, huh?”

I shrugged. “The Warmonger works in mysterious ways.”

Tito snorted. “The Warmonger’s full of bullshit, is what it-“

“Hold on to that thought,” I said as I looked back over the clearing. I saw that the last surviving member of BYOB, Ben, was making a break for the top of the mountain.

Not wanting to give him the satisfaction, I pulled out another javelin and tossed it at him. From this distance I had to Push, but the weapon flew true until it slammed into his thigh and pieced through. Ben fell to the ground, clutching at his wounded leg, and started floundering in his menus. A moment later, he disappeared as he forfeited.

“Meow,” I said, holding my hands up as I turned to face the crowd behind Manny and Tito.

They stared at me with an expression somewhere between disbelief and confusion.

“Close your mouths, you look like fools. But what was it you were saying, Tito?” I urged Tito to continue with a wave of my hand.

There was silence from the two before Manny sighed. “Fine, tomorrow. You’ll find us, and we’ll be ready for you.”

“Excellent, it’s a date,” I said. “But you better not expect me to be so lenient in the other games of the Chaos Cup. You’ve already won and I’ve got quite the kill streak going on without adding two more, which is why I’m letting you go.”

“Yeah, sure, alright Warmonger.”

“The Warmonger,” I corrected.

“Still not calling you that.”

“I suppose that’s fair,” I replied with a shrug.

I turned back to see the two of them disappear into nothing as if they had just been killed. The crowd booed, but neither of them would care and neither would I. The audience might have been here for entertainment, but that didn’t mean we had to cater to them.

Well, we would, but that was a whole other thing.

“There can’t be too many left after that,” I announced to myself as I put some of the red chili paste into the Endless Smoker.

It immediately started spewing flames. Jumping onto my Heelies wheels, I started traveling around the outskirts of the forest and lighting the whole place on fire. Thanks to Divine Messenger, I was able to make it around the entire arena in a little under two minutes, leaving a wave of flames in my wake.

Stuffing what was left of the chili paste and the Endless Smoker back into my inventory before the flames could go out, I pulled out a javelin and continued making circles around the arena. If anyone managed to get out, I would very easily be able to spot them as they tried to make it up the mountain. Skewering them before they could make it to the top would be easy in most cases.

That was if anyone managed to get out, of course; the flames were from the inside spreading outwards, which meant the longer they waited the more fire they had to make it through to get to safety. Burning to death was a horrific way to go, even if you would pop into your manager’s suite once your hit points would hit zero. All of your hit points and resources would be full from the transfer, but the feeling would linger.

The smoke was another problem and the air was getting thick with it. The people in the arena seats would be fine no matter how much destruction was caused from in here. I continued looking around for any signs that someone had made it out, and I saw the smoke curl away from the audience and head towards the Merder Stadium’s open roof.

As I found myself subconsciously rubbing my arm where I had been burnt to a crisp by Mathias Gray’s noose, the notifications started popping in as people began quitting the match. I was the last one to give them damage, or at least I assumed, so I got the credit for it. Only three notifications popped up, so I threw my arms wide into the air.

“Meow, meooow, meooooooow!” I sang again before bowing.

Ladies and Gentlemen, there you have it! After a series of thrilling matches, the first event of the Chaos Cup, Climb Mount Merder, is complete! Let’s give a hearty round of applause for our winner, the Warmonger!

I paid attention to the words of Benedict Merder long enough to know when to raise my arms and give the crowd what they were looking for. While I was congratulating myself, I was paying attention to the notification screen in front of me and seeing what achievements I had accomplished.

[[Quest Complete!]]

Congratulations, your team scored the greatest amount of points in the first round of the Chaos Cup! Here are your accolades and rewards!

First Kill of the Match: Dave Daniels [BYOB]; +100 points.

Kill: Grey O’Brien [BYOB]; +50 points.

Second Place Victory: Climb Mount Merder; +500 points.

Victor Kill: Joanna Stiles [Dunbar Runners]; +100 points.

MVP Kill: Noah Jones [Adrenaline Junkies]; +100 points.

Kill: Lucy Allen [Adrenaline Junkies]; +50 points.

Kill: Albert Dents [Atlanta’s Worst Team]; +50 points.

Kill: Louis Rodriguez [Atlanta’s Worst Team]; +50 points.

Kill: Walter Green [Atlanta’s Worst Team]; +50 points.

Team Kill: Atlanta’s Worst Team; +100 points.

MVP Kill: Lucas Cox [Most Valuable Prisoners]; +100 points.

Kill: Ben Hills [BYOB]; +50 points.

Team Kill: BYOB; +100 points.

Kill: James Tripp [Adrenaline Junkies]; +50 points.

MVP Team Kill: Adrenaline Junkies; +200 points.

Kill: Blake Myers [Summer Breeze]; +50 points.

Kill: Olivia Sanchez [Best In Show]; +50 points.

Solo Bonus: x2 points.

Wheel of Chaos Bonus: x1.5 points.

Reward: 5,250 points.

I continued to ignore Benedict Merder’s insipid monologue as I breathed out a long, slow breath before bringing my hands up to my head. “Oh, man! I completely forgot to use Heavy Crash!” I yelled.

Lowering my arms, I was about to activate it just to say I had used it when I was suddenly transferred to the manager’s suite where a very elated Howard stood waiting for me.

“Oh, man! You were incredible!” he shouted, running up to me. “How the Hell did you pull all that off?”

“Come on, we need to get out of here,” I told him, masking my disappointment at losing Heavy Crash. I grabbed his hand and began pulling him towards the door.

“Already? Don’t you need a minute, or something? You got shot and stabbed and, frankly, you did a lot of work out there,” Howard astutely pointed out. His concern was unwarranted, however. The transfer had healed me of all my wounds as well as topped up my Mental Points, so there was nothing to worry about.

“I’ll get a chance to rest soon,” I assured him. At the door, I activated Broken Boundary and set it to the Georgia World Congress Center. “I want to get you to the hotel as quickly as possible so that you’re safe from Branson’s dudes. There’s no doubt they’ll want to see you and have a quick, less than cozy chat, if you get my drift.”

I also didn’t want to get caught by Benedict Merder after he was done monologuing, but that wasn’t what would motivate Howard.

My manager’s face went pale and he nodded. “Yes, absolutely, let’s go,” he said before opening the door for me. He threw his hands up to cover his face in surprise when he was met with a glowing portal instead of the stadium. “What the Hell is this?”

“My ability, go on through and we’ll make a dash to the hotel,” I told him.

“Are you sure? It looks dangerous!”

“It’s either trusting me with this or walking through the stadium,” I huffed. “Either way, you don’t have a lot of time because I will leave you here to speak with both Merder and Branson.”

“Fine, fine, okay!” Howard said, taking a small step forward. He paused, and just as he was about to turn to me to make an excuse or ask a question I pushed him through. I followed after him immediately.

The halls of the Georgia World Congress Center were noticeably empty compared to earlier. People were still loitering, and a few even looked at Howard and I as we passed through the Broken Boundary, but the majority of the population were in Merder Stadium at the moment.

“What? How’d we get here?” Howard asked, staring at the new scene in awe.

“Magic, now get a move on,” I said as I started pushing him towards the hotel. “You want to be safe, right?”

“Oh, I can be safe,” he said as he started moving on his own. “I just got 1,732 points thanks to your victory! I can use this to pump myself up so high there’s no way Branson can stop me.”

“Or, you can keep sticking with me and betting with those points,” I countered. “That way, you can become even more powerful.”

“Right, right,” Howard said as he stroked his chin. We continued to walk through the halls towards the hotel, which was connected to a different part of the convention center. “Do you want your points back now? We made a killing!”

“Nope, we’re going to reinvest it into more betting. Just be sure to remember that I’ll get all your points and mine if you screw me over and try to keep them,” I said, putting a jovial spin on it.

Howard tried to pause, but I pushed him and I kept him moving. “Now you’re threatening me?” he asked. “Listen, I’m not going to mess with you, okay? Especially not after what I just saw! You’ve got a new number one fan in me, my friend. Anything you need, anything you want, just let me know and I’ll get it for you. The finest cuisine, the best items, the hottest girls - or guys, I won’t discriminate - you just say the word and I will get it for you.”

“Thanks, Howard, but I’m a little more self-sufficient than that,” I said with a barked laugh. I threw an arm around his shoulder. “Instead, how about we just get our floor at the hotel, you can do whatever you want, and I’ll take a nap.”

“Yeah, I can do-“ Howard stopped and gave me a confused look. “I’m sorry, our floor?”

“Yeah, man,” I said, gesturing towards the 40 story hotel that we could see from the windows. “As MVPs, we get a whole floor all to ourselves. It’s wasteful, sure, but that’s what it means to be contenders.”

“Does every team get a floor?” Howard asked. “Because there’s only 16 of them, who’s using the other?”

“The competitors for Safe Arm Arena,” I answered, waving in its direction. “The Chaos Cup might be Benedict Merder’s baby but it’s not the only competition going on right now.”

“Okay, yeah, that makes sense,” Howard said with a nod. When we finally arrived at our destination, the doors to the hotel unlocked as we approached and swung open for us. Once we entered, they closed and locked automatically. “Oh, wow!”

Whatever the lobby was supposed to look like during its original construction, those plans had been thrown out of the window. Several comfortable chairs and couches had been placed around the room in ways that would facilitate conversation from all but the most introverted of contenders. All around whether hanging from the walls or from the ceiling were televisions that showed highlights from the latest round of the Chaos Cup.

Several contenders and managers would end up down here, watching the screens and taking notes on other teams and their methods. I briefly paused to watch Manny attack Jamie with the same move Kayla, Jeff, and I had seen him use on the Wisp Mole Mother early this morning. She had been tied up by Tito’s magic and unable to fight back against it. That wasn’t going to work in the rounds after this one; Jamie was a sore loser and she was going to pick up everything she could to make sure that situation wouldn’t happen again.

Howard stopped to watch the screens, but continued walking once I did. We headed to the elevators, which opened up as soon as we were near and closed immediately once we were inside. It started moving upwards.

“So, what floor do you think we’re going to get?” Howard asked.

“Doesn’t matter,” I said with a shrug. “You enjoy yourself here, but I’ll be out and about for a lot of it. Got to keep my Patron happy, you know?”

“Oof, that sounds rough.” Howard let out a breath as we kept ascending higher. “You okay with that, though?”

“Oh yeah. I am absolutely fine with my Patron, whoever he or she may be,” I said, grinning behind my mask.

The elevator stopped at floor 36, and we stepped off. I immediately headed towards the left, which would put me in a room closest to Merder Stadium, but I jerked my thumb behind me. “Go get a room over there, and I’ll take this side. Be careful if you invite anyone up and I’ll see you in the morning. Also, don’t bother knocking, I very likely won’t answer.”

“Sure thing, Warmonger,” Howard said enthusiastically. “And thank you again. For saving me from Branson and coming to me with this incredible opportunity. I mean, I know I fit the bill for what you were looking for but I really want you to know how thankful I am.”

I stopped at the room at the far end of the hall, looked back, and gave him a thumbs up before walking inside. The bed was larger than the average king size and covered in fluffy pillows and a thick duvet. On the dresser on the far side of the room was a TV and mini fridge. In the bathroom were all the necessities I would need to clean myself and a washer and dryer combo that would mend my clothes as they were washed.

Instead of spending time here, I immediately closed the door and turned to face it. I marked it with my Broken Boundary skill and walked through it to emerge back home in the Angel Express. The evening was still young, but there was time for a much needed nap while my clothes went through a cleaning cycle. I was going to be up all night, after all, and that was going to be a true test of my Constitution.