INTENSE CHILLS
Wow.. Is it just me, or does the place where I've landed give off an ultra-sinister aura?!
Gin looks around, and realizes he's just appeared in what looks like an old hospital, half-destroyed and filled with tags on the walls that seems they've been drawn with.. blood?!

Kin: Through Gin's earpiece “Gin, Did you drop off your locator beacon?”
Gin: “Oh, no, sorry, I completely forgot!”
Gin quickly rummages through his small bag, which contains only one locator beacon, authorized by the tournament organizers
He takes the beacon, and plants it on the broken tile floor of the hospital

Gin: “I planted the beacon, brother!”
Kin: Through Gin's earpiece “OK.. I see your position, don't move! I'll be right there!”

Easier said than done.. This place creeps me out!
Let's see if I can get out of this building!
Gin looks around, and sees a staircase that seems to lead down to a large open room, with a large sign hanging from the ceiling that reads: “Saint-Luc Psychiatric Hospital Reception”

Gin: “Kin, I'm moving towards what appears to be the first floor of my building, we'll meet back here!”
Kin: Through Gin's earpiece “Okay, but have you heard from Yumi? or Mu?”
Gin: Starts walking towards the stairs “No.. not since the tournament started!”
Kin: Through Gin's earpiece “What the hell are they doing!”

Gin comes down the stairs and finds himself in the great hall.. and sees bloodstains all over the floor, and a man dressed in long clothes, staring at a large monolith with strange blood-red glyphs drawn on it !

Gin is paralysed by the scene, and dares not move..
Mysterious man: “Gin Shakespeare.. poor child”
INTENSE CHILLS
WH.. HE KNOWS MY NAME..?!!

Mysterious man: “Your fate is surely sealed.. but perhaps you can still have an influence on what happens next.. The question is..”
The strange man slowly turns around, removing his hood, and looks Gin straight in the eye
INTENSE CHILLS
Mysterious man: “Are you ready to see your future, Gin?”

Gin is transfixed, terrified, paralyzed
The presence of this man before him renders him completely powerless to deal with the situation
As the strange, bloodied man draws nearer, holding out his hand

Mysterious man: “Show me your blood.. and I'll show you the future!”
Suddenly, a hospital wall explodes, and..
Kin: Exits from the exploding wall “Don't touch my little brother, you freak!!”
Moves at full speed to attack the mysterious man
Mysterious man: “What a pity.. poor Gin”
Kin reaches the mysterious man and throws a punch..
But the man instantly disappears, leaving no trace behind him

Kin: Turns to Gin, concerned “Are you okay?!”
Gin: Catch his breath with a deep inhale “I.. Who was that?!”
Kin: “I don't know.. How come he knew your name?”
Gin: “I.. he told me he could see my future..”
What did he mean by.. my fate is sealed?!

Kin: Shakes Gin off “Come on, we don't have time to think about that! We've got to find Yumi and Mu now!”
Gin: “Y.. Yes, you're right! Let's go !”

Kin and Gin run out of the hospital together, before taking one last look at the glyph displayed on the monolith..

----- Ao's side -----

Yawn..
Smells a scent
Weird.. Lead? No.. I've smelled this scent before..

Ao walks slowly through the desert, and smells something he can't quite put his finger on
Suddenly, he looks up to the sky.. and realizes something
No.. Don't tell me..

Suddenly.. rain begins to fall.. except that it's not rainwater that's falling, but..
BLOOD

The red cult! They're here!
This is no ordinary tournament.. THIS IS A MASS EXECUTION!
Cracking his teeth in anger
I knew the golden order was in trouble!
But the Red cult doesn't act on official events.. unless the organization is corrupt?!
Thomas would never have got me into such a mess without telling me..
Which means.. Take off his glasses that Lirin lied to me!!!
Breaks his glasses while powerfully closing his fist

A N G E R _ I S _ T A K I N G _ O V E R _ U S , _ A O
I didn't ring your bell.. Get out of my head!
Ao hears a heavy, increasingly noisy growl in his head..
Leave me alone!

???: ”OHII OHII OHIIIII! A blue boy?!”
A tall person appears behind Ao in the distance
Ao turns around with a face of anger and confusion, and sees the bully in the distance in front of him

Ao: “Let me guess.. You're part of the red cult, right?!”
Red Cult Berserker: “AHAH!! You seem pretty well-informed !”

A S K _ H I M !
Ao: “What kind of sick plan is that?! Have you made a deal with the Pendragons?”
Berserker of the red cult: “It's give and take!
We regulate the Kingdoms, killing the most talented warriors in this tournament!
And at the same time, we're replenishing the blood supply for our rituals!!!”
The berserker cuts off his sentence suddenly, and mumbles while trembling
Berserker: “Wh.. Why did I say that?!”

L E T ' S _ S H O W _ H I M , O U R _ T R U E _ N A T U R E
Ao: “You're probably thinking.. How come I told a stranger everything?”
Ao slowly approaches the berserker, who looks shocked
Ao: “You see...” Prepares his fist as he walks
“Your mind is so weak that I forced your thoughts out as soon as you looked into my eyes!”
Makes a terrifying smile

Berserker: Back off slowly “Who.. Who are you?!!”
Ao: “You're out of luck to run into me.. I certainly am”
A blue aura appears on the fist he was preparing
“The worst opponent of this tournament!!”
Throws his fist at full speed at the berserker and shouts
“Nova”

The berserker tries to counter the punch with his right arm, but explodes from the inside, and is left with one arm missing
Berserker: “AAARGH” Crying out in pain as he holds his wound

K I L L !
Ao: “No.. no killing !” Holds his head in pain
K I L L _ H I M !
Ao: “SHUT UP!!”
Berserker: “I'M GOING TO SLAUGHTER YOU, YOU FREAK!!!”
Prepares to send a huge punch with his remaining arm, but..
Ao, holding his head, puts his other arm forward and casts a spell
Ao: “PUSH KAI”

Push Kai is a combination of two sub-techniques, Push, which repels a target with a shockwave, and Kai, which launches a cutting pulse of wind at the target
The berserker is pushed several hundred meters away from Ao, while he drags himself to the ground, and loses his second arm from the wind projectile that was chasing him
He screams and flails on the ground, bleeding profusely from both arms

Berserker: “AAAAAAH!!!”
Ao: Appears next to the downed berserker “Silence”
The berserker can no longer scream
Ao: “I'm not a monster, I'll cauterize your two pretty wounds”
The berserker gets extremely agitated and tries to crawl away from Ao, but he holds him down by putting his foot on his chest
Ao: Points at these two wounds with his two arms “Blue Fire”

Two large blue flames appear on the berserker's two wounds, and cauterize, while the berserker suffers and flails enormously but can't scream

Good.. Removes his leg from the berserker's torso
I need to find as many participants as possible, and disqualify them before they get killed by the red cult!

S T I L L _ P L A Y I N G _ T H E _ S U P E R _ H E R O ? !
HMPF Ao holds his head in pain and tries to keep his composure
Shut up!
Y O U _ K N O W _ V E R Y _ W E L L _ T H A T
SHUT UP!
T H E Y _ D O N ' T _ E X I S T
SHUT THE FUCK UP!!!

Ao has no control, and suddenly falls to the ground, unconscious in the sand, and finds himself in one of his memories..

Ao (Child): “WHEN I GET BIG, I'LL BE A SUPER HERO!!! JUST LIKE MASTER!”
Ao is 5 years old, and his master has told him that he'll soon be starting intensive training
Excited, he runs and shouts all over the private dimension temple grounds that he'll become the superhero the world needs
A young woman dressed in black and white maid's clothes looks at Ao, who is running happily, and shouts at him

Female servant: “Come on, little Ao! If you want to be like your master, you'll have to eat your vegetables, and be super-strong in battle!”
Ao runs to the maid and clings to her
Ao (Child): “But, but, I'll be a hero who doesn't fight!”
Female servant: “Hmm?”
Ao (Child): “I don't like fighting.. I'll always find another way than fighting!!
Because fighting is not good!!”
Suddenly, a super-powerful yellow aura appears next to Ao and pushes him back hard, out of the maid's petticoats, and flies hard against a concrete wall
Female servant: “Ao!!”
???: “STOP!”

The maid stands at attention, her face emotionless
Suddenly, someone can be heard approaching little Ao, who is suffering from his back and head having hit the wall hard
He opens his eyes, to see his master's long white cape in front of him
Ao (Child): “Master..”
Ao's master: “You fool! I forbid you to think that way! If you were outside, you'd be killed!”
Ao (Child): “But...”
Ao's master: Shouts loudly and gives off a terrifying aura “THERE'S NO BUT!!!”
...
...
But..
...
...
I hate.. fighting..

Ao wakes from his dream, and quickly wakes up in the red sand where he had fainted
Another bloody.. gets up nightmare!
Yawns and stretches
Well.. Can I call this a nightmare? Hmm..

Ok.. Let's get this over with!

Ao runs at full speed through the red desert, under the rain of blood, while looking around him very carefully
The organizers said the tournament was being broadcast to all the kingdoms..
Did they lie? Looks up into the sky, and sees a chameleon camera, invisible and camouflaged

That's not the most worrying thing right now, where are the participants?!
Ao closes his eyes, concentrates his star power on his sense of hearing.. and hears cries of pain from everywhere
Shit! The Red Cult is already everywhere!
We're going into high gear!
Ao stops, bends down, places his hands on the ground and performs a “technique”

Ao: Inhales sharply and shouts “OPERATOR!!!”
Female voice: Through Ao's earpiece “MY EARS !!!”
Ao: “Music!!”
Female voice: “YOU'RE FUCKING WITH ME?!”
Ao: “MU-SIC!!!”
Female voice: Sigh of exasperation “What do you want?”
Ao: “Hmm.. since it's raining blood.. get that Raining Blood by Slayer”
Author's note: Put this music in your ears for a better experience :)

The music begins in Ao's ears, blue flames appear around him, and electric arcs form on his body, stimulating his muscles
He gets into racing form, ready to take off at extraordinary speed
Let's see if the sound goes faster than me this time!

Ao runs.. beyond the speed of sound!

Ao moves at lightning speed, leaving behind an afterimage and a trail of blue light
He runs past several participants, disabling them and disqualifying them as quickly as possible before they cross paths with members of the red cult
Ao: “Kaminari Slash 10%”

Kaminari Slash is an advanced technique that uses thunder to slash, 10% means he only sends 10% of the technique's 'lethality', since he doesn't want to kill the participants
Ao applies this technique to his right arm and swings it at anyone he come across, severely injuring and disqualifying them

Automated tournament voice: “Participants #22, #23, #24, #25, #57, #14, #52, #72.. eliminated”

Moving faster than sound, the shockwaves and blows arrive before the sound of explosions and rumbling thunder, making his appearance..
A blue light, destroying everything in its path

----- Gin's side -----

Gin: “I HAVE A SIGNAL!!!”

Kin and Gin stand on the roof of a large ruined building, under the rain of blood, and look for the signal of their 2 teammates, Yumi and Mu
Yumi: Through Gin and Kin's earpieces “We've... “ Static noise “... Red Cult are chasing us”
Kin: “Where are you?! Send us a location signal!”
Yumi: Through Gin and Kin's earpieces “What's” static noise.. then sound of thunder falling “A blue light..” static noise “MU, RUN!!! AAAH” shouts then static noise
Kin: “Yumi! Do you copy?! Mu!!!”
Gin: “A.. blue light?”
Kin: “Damn it!!!” Strikes the ground hard with his foot
Gin: “Let's move brother, we must be too far from them by now!”

Kin and Gin jump from the top of the building's roof, landing on the red sand, bloodied by the rain of blood
They decide to move out of their area to find a higher spot
Kin: Looks into the distance “There are ruins west of here, let's try to get there!”
Suddenly, thunder rumbles.. and a blue light illuminates the ruins he had indicated
Gin and Kin wonder what's going on there.. but continue on their way, unaware of what's happening

----- Ao's side -----

Finally, he arrives at some ruined buildings, and sees two people fighting red cult assassins
Ao slows down as he slides along the ground, targets the assassins with his hands and incants
Ao: “ThunderRow-..” Gets interrupted
???: “Blood Authority”

Wh.. Ao suddenly becomes motionless.. and is unable to move, standing with his arm forward, in front of a bloodied person..
Ao: “Who.. are you?!” Tries to free himself from the grip of his technique
???: “Aotahi.. A blessing | curse emanates from you!” Looks at Ao with curiosity

How does he know my name?!
Ao looks at the two participants who were fighting against him, and sees a woman with white hair tied up.. and an orc.. or at least what's left of him
The woman cries over the rest of the orc's body, and screams
???: ”MU! WAKE UP!.. DAMN YOU, YOU DAMNED PROPHET!!!”
Prophet?.. The Blood Prophet?!
The prophet begins to slowly mumble something..
Prophet: “Cursed?.. no, blessed.. no, cursed” Holds his head
Sigh I don't have time to deal with red cult freaks..

Ao shakes the ground, and a large blue aura appears around him, followed by several shockwaves
Then, forcing himself free of the prophet's grip with his aura, he looks up at him
Ao: Flicks his right fist onto the palm of his left hand, ready to fight
“You're going back to your lair, blood fraud!!”

The prophet growls, and his assassins prepare to fight Ao.. while Gin and Kin are very close to arriving at the battle scene!!
... “Such arrogance”, Says the prophet