Return of the Woodcutter

TWENTY MINUTES BEFORE THE START OF THE THIRD MONTH

To the blue corner, secluded inside a blue dome, Filona and Zalon were having a serious discussion.

"How many white challengers survived?" Filona asked.

Zalon's leaned back in his armchair. "Five thousand. This is unprecedented. It appeared Kai Tsubame did a better job than I judged him capable of."

"Kai Tsubame? Who's that mortal?"

"A shrewd human that just might have an important role in future interspecies diplomacy. If he lives through the second trial, that is." Zalon said, lifting his glasses. "As for blue challengers, only five hundred survived."

"Disappointing. That's even less than the past years." She said, watching images projected on the dome of blue challengers chased by green tusked monsters. She was soon interrupted.

"No matter, the unusual number of white challengers should compensate this year's blues lack of abilities. More importantly, did you do as I asked?"

Filona's eyebrow twitched. She really disliked being treated like a pawn by others. If Zalon wasn't her "brother," the goddess would have already perforated his body using a thousand arrows.

"Yes," she said, barely managing a smile. "The staff has been summoned as per your 'REQUEST'. However…"

"What?" Zalon said, noticing her emphasis on the word "request."

"There was a slight distortion in the Veil during the summoning process. It may have been my imagination but… I think that something got through."

The god of wisdom's eyes shone blue. His glare pierced the room and traveled to the outside; to the Void. There, a thin transparent membrane cut off all sorts of communications between the material and immaterial planes of Iris.

Zalon rapidly scoured the surface but found no traces of a breach, crack, or even a weakened area.

Surprised, he retracted his glare and wrestled with the problem.

'Filona is not the brightest.' He thought, an image of Brutalina appearing in his mind. 'Neither is she the… simplest. Chances are, she might be right. According to what I saw, the problem didn't come from Phobos's territory. Therefore…'

Zalon's eyes widened. With a twist of his wrist, the blue dome disappeared. He glared towards the red side to see a chuckling Belmand, then shifted his attention to the black side. His eyes squint with suspicion at seeing an entertained Brutalina, her weird giggles betraying a tinge of madness.

He used "blink" and appeared next to her. Zalon looked over her shoulder to see a man fighting a huge creature.

"You…" He said, his calm expression shifting to fury. "You fool! What did you do?"

"Just added a little fun. Nothing wrong with that," Brutalina said, pushing him away.

"Are you mad?" He exclaimed. "Why did you temper with the Balance?"

"I've hurt nobody, I'm sure he'll do fine. Just take a loo…" She said, her eyes betraying a hint of worry when Ogoro was thrown to the ground like mere trash.

Zalon scanned the hulking monster, only to find…

"That's… a level 2 creature. Did you send a level two creature to deal with a level 0 human? Are you trying to kill a promising pawn?"

"I… I..." Brutalina said.

"This is what happens when you break the Balance!"

"Balance this, Balance that! That's all you ever say!"

"YES! Because even Phobos fears the Balance! Even HE can't deny its power! So how can YOU…" He said, pausing after he realized how futile it was to explain it to this blockhead. "Fuck…, just give me the monitoring rights."

"I… I'm sorry." She said, sending a blue ball in his direction.

Brutalina had never been able to stand an argument against Zalon. Somehow, the mortal turned god impressed her in a way she couldn't explain. He had always been brilliant and powerful, even as a human.

"Hum, it's rare for you to voice out such crude words, brother," Belmand said, appearing next to Zalon. His sleepy expression shifted to surprise when he understood the issue.

"Tchh. Who wouldn't with such a fool as a sister?" He said, grabbing the monitoring rights. "How are we even supposed to restore the Balance? We cannot act ourselves, nor send someone powerful enough to save him."

"Do you really want to save that human, brother?" Belmand asked, hinting at a personal matter.

"I might hate humans and their petty, selfish, disgusting attitudes," Zalon said, gritting his teeth. "But I hate unfairness even more."

Belmand smiled. "Then, I have a proposal. Although, I cannot ensure its success. And in the eventuality it succeeds, it will cost us something."

Zalon sent him an interested gaze, "I'm listening."

***

ON THE ROOFTOP OF THE POLICE STATION.

[Remaining time: 10 minutes 15 seconds]

A huge fan from a ventilation system propelled toward Ogoro. He stepped aside. Sparks lit up as the projectile brushed past his katana blade.

'I can't close in.' He thought, dodging yet another blow. 'Normal projectiles can't pierce this thing's muscles either.'

He brought down his weapon, killing a zombie.

BAM!

'To top it off, other zombies keep coming.' He sighed, 'and I want a cigarette.'

Heads dropped in his wake as Ogoro rushed through the crowd of enemies. Almost out of stamina, his strength dwindled and, without enough momentum, the katana got stuck in a zombie's skull.

"Ah… tits…."

The special-type charged in, sending him flying away like a dirty, water-filled rag. He passed through multiple ventilation systems, his breastplate absorbing and deflecting metal shards.

BOOM!

Ogoro ended his course embedded in a concrete wall. Next to him, zombies poured out from the sole door leading to the rooftops.

'Can't… go… on.'

Blood running down his face blurred his vision. The fast-approaching zombies turned red under his bloody gaze. Biting into his bare shoulder muscles, they seemed to feed on his flesh, but also his fear.

"Goro!"

'No…' He thought.

[Remaining time: 5 minutes 20 seconds]

A blurry feminine figure armed with a saber chased away the man-eating monsters from him, only to become their targets, or rather, diner.

Seeing the familiar figure, he forced air into his lungs and, despite his sore throat, voiced a single ragged sentence.

"Sheyla… you fool."

"Let him go!" She yelled, the voice losing itself in between her flurry of desperate blows and zombies' unnatural noises.

"Aaah!" Sheyla screamed in pain when two zombies bit through her shredded leather armor.

Then…

ROAR!

The crowd of zombies stood still as if paralyzed by the hulking creature's roar. It slowly walked to his delicious-looking preys, its kin opening its path out of fear and respect.

Tremors of its steps shook the rooftop, crumbling the resolves of its own kin to defy its order. But Sheyla stood firm.

"Don't you remember our last job?"

Aromas of blood, human flesh, and sweat rushed through its huge, round, dilated nostrils to stimulate its gustative gland. Dribbles poured down its deformed chin, mouth widening with each tremor, eager to taste tender meat. But Sheyla stood firm.

"The promise we've made and held to the end."

It halted in front of her. Towering the measly, feeble female human. Its food. Its diner. Its prey. In her fierce blue eyes, it only saw defiance instead of fear. Pissed, it roared, planning on collapsing her mental defenses to add flavor to its already delicious-looking meal. But Sheyla stood firm.

ROAR!

"If we are to die, we die together, onii-chan."

Although he couldn't hear her, he sensed her words through vibrations and stumbled to his feet at the tone of one word. One particular word he thought would be lost to the flow of time and death. Aching, shredding, tearing apart. Even in pain, his muscles dared not defy his order.

The hulking creature watched the three humans, puzzled. Why didn't they fear it? Why, despite his broken body, could the male human stand. Why… were they three humans?

[Remaining time: 3 minutes 00 seconds.]

"Hey, you dribbling piece of shit," Aito said, standing on top of the wall Ogoro had been embedded in. "Have a taste of my iron."

BAM!