Wanted: Dead or Alive

John drew his guns as he watched the man jump down to the road. He used Advanced Spy as the madman approached.

He looked between the ten mana he had regenerated and Abigail’s limp form. She lay halfway between John and this new foe. David, who had started flying back when the commotion with the hydra started, was recalled back into John. Cinder got the same treatment.

John shot a volley at Crow, and used the momentary distraction to slip his mask back on. Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck. He saw me without the mask on.

Master, I can help! Cinder said, ready and willing to help him stare down the envoy of **** before them. You cannot face this man alone.

I can and I will. That’s not a man, it’s a monster. There’s no reason to risk anybody else, John replied, keeping up his gunfire. Eventually, Crow tired of dodging the bullets and simply shielded himself with air.

But-

No! It’s too dangerous. Everybody, run! I’ll get Abigail, John commanded, and most of his allies fled back to the convoy. He looked back to Crow, who was playing with the bullets he fired, rotating them with a current of wind.

Not a chance, signor, Mandruzzo replied, landing next to John. Bubbles floated off his arms and hands, surrounding all of them. We’ll take him out together.

He’s level 65 and we’re both level 22. And I’m severely crippled from my attack on the hydra, John replied, making the bubble mage beside him shift his stance.

Then I’ll do the heavy lifting! Mandruzzo brought his hands together, and the bubbles around them soared toward Crow. The man waved a hand, and a powerful gust of wind blew all of the bubbles into the sky. Or not. What’s the plan?

We distract him while I get Abigail, John replied, waiting for their enemy to make a move. Crow, however, was content where he was.

“Are you two just going to stand there silently all day? You want her, right?” In the blink of an eye, Crow had picked Abigail up by her hair, holding her like a marionette. “You want to get her and get the fuck outta here. I never even said I was preventing you from doing that.”

“So can we-” Mandruzzo began, and John activated Reflex Mode and Mind over Matter as Crow dropped Abigail. He leapt in front of his ally as their enemy would have delivered a supersonic gut punch. Crow stopped short, creating a wind bullet that ripped through them, contained by John’s hands. Even still, blocking cost him three hundred health, and the two went flying back dozens of meters, rolling along the ground.

Taking the promissory note out of his inventory, he gave it to Mandruzzo. Get back to the convoy. Tell Phoebe I’m buying the motorcycle, and bring it to me. I’m going to draw him away, but I can’t do it without some help.

That’s crazy! He’ll kill you! Mandruzzo countered, grabbing John by the shoulder. John’s resolute look, however, was all it took to convince him otherwise. Silently, he took the paper and ran toward the slowly approaching cars.

“You know it’ll only take me like… five seconds to kill you, right? You’re not really buying time for your friends,” Crow said, tossing Abigail like a ragdoll into the forest.

“I’m a fateweaver. I could create barriers for you. You’d become so much stronger,” John offered, backing away as Crow approached. “My soul isn’t worth much to you.”

“Now how’d you know that one,” Crow said, plague doctor mask pressed against John’s mask in an instant. A sheet of air formed underneath John and ripped him from the ground, blasting him into the sky with a gust of wind. John used his double jump to right himself, bouncing off the pocket of air. Crow didn’t like this, and with a flick of his wrist, John was upside down again, landing head first.

Getting to his feet quickly, John felt the power welling up in him. My Turn had activated with each of Crow’s last two hits, and John was ready to dish it back out. He shot a single time with Ebony, and Crow tried to use his wind to block it.

However, this bullet was supercharged by My Turn and the damage Crow inflicted, a casual block from the Chaos champion stood no chance with his own power turned against him. “Well, aren’t you just full of surprises.”

John heard the steady hum of Mandruzzo approaching from behind with the motorcycle, and Jumped forward with what little mana he had regenerated, surprising Crow with this insane burst of speed and gripping the man’s hand, their auras crashing against each other as they touched for the first time. “More than you know.”

John saw an entire country in ruin, infighting and warring weakening them. A city, robbed of shelter by an all-consuming fire. A single house, two people so busy trying to strangle each other that the fire around them goes unnoticed. A blanket of darkness hiding the true intentions of a dozen disembodied mouths shrieking laughter. Crow’s being. A thoroughly sickening feeling ripped through him as a chorus of a thousand consumed souls cried out.

Crow’s mind was filled with the beginning of Earth. A single root sprouting from the ground. The slow buildup of humanity. The mother, Gaia, imbuing her beloved creations with the ability to harness magic. John’s being. A bottomless well that his soul slowly filled.

“You’re the champion of Gaia?” Crow marvelled at the man before him. “Man, your soul is going to be fucking delicious.”

An empty motorcycle raced by, and John clambered onto it. He revved the throttle, glad he had paid attention when Phoebe showed him the basic controls. “Say your name!” Mandruzzo called, sending another wave of bubbles at their adversary.

“The Gamer!” John yelled, causing the screen in the center to flash a green check mark, the motorcycle accelerating slowly.

“Master Control transferred to - The Gamer. How can I assist you today?” it asked, and Crow, after a moment of looking between left to John and right to his allies and the entire convoy, ran after him. John felt an invisible tidal wave wash over him, and he was thrown up several hundred meters into the air.

“Activate hover mode!” John yelled, and in less than a second the wheels had turned sideways, slowing his descent. He looked at the trees below him, and swerved his path onto them and off the road, hoping to throw off his assailant.

Crow leapt from the dense forest below and flew toward him, slowly gaining on him. Come on. I need fifty mana. Fifty mana and I can maybe get myself out of this mess.

“High-speeds detected. Activate bug shield for an additional 100 standard mana units an hour?” John tapped the check mark, revving the engine and compelling it to go faster as he slowly sank closer and closer to the trees.

“Come on, kid! Did you really think that a guy named Crow wouldn’t be able to fly?” Crow yelled, creating a strong front wind to slow John further. “I’m going to be munching on your soul in like, five minutes tops! If you slow down, I’ll just cut your head off and make it quick!”

In response, John shot a volley of bullets back, but they merely flattened against the man’s beak. John watched his mana slowly tick up as Crow inched closer and closer. Forty, forty-one. God damnit. I’m so close.

“You can’t just show me something like that and run away. Maybe you’re right. You are worth more to me alive! Slow down and we’ll talk about it!” Crow called, now about a meter behind him. A razor sharp feathers whizzed by John, and he looked back to see that Crow had pulled a sword out of thin air. It seemed to suck in all the light around it, a mass of pure darkness. John realized with a start that he had driven toward the rain clouds, and fat beads of water hit the bug shield around him.

Fifty, yes! John thought, looking at the treetops just barely below him and his mana bar. “Isabelle Ardyn!” John shouted, activating Stellar Witness. Astra, if you can hear me, I pray you will deliver me from the chaos at my heels. Anything. Anything for my life, and to further the justice you seek to establish.

”You’re being watched.”

“Aren’t I always?” Isabelle asked, blocking a mad slash from the mountainous dragon in front of her. Its claws screeched off her steel, leaving her blade unmarred. Teleporting above it, she brought her sword down in an overhead slash, severing a building-sized neck.

”This is different. The champion of Gaia, he is using a spell within my domain to watch you. He’s praying to me. I believe he wants your assistance.”

“I’m a little busy,” Isabelle replied, starlight surrounding her as the blessing of Astra coursed through her. The mother of the whelp she slayed wailed in crimson rage, spewing forth lightning. Isabelle held her sword out as a lightning rod, containing the energy within her blade and swinging it back, releasing the devastating lightning further empowered by the light of the stars above them.

”Watch.”

Isabelle’s mind was filled with a perspective of John from the sky, watching as he drew his metallic steed into his inventory, turning and blasting at Crow.

John activated Reflex Mode as he stored away his ride, forming a glove out of Mana Construct for two mana and using it to help soften the blow as he swung off a tree branch, slowing him down. In that single moment he was out of Crow’s sight, and he took the opportunity to blend into the shadows, invisible. The rain soaked him without the protection of his motorcycle, only his face protected from its chill.

“I heard you mention a pretty interesting name back there, Gamer,” Crow yelled, landing somewhere out of John’s sight. John pressed tighter against the tree he was hiding behind, slowly sinking to his knees as Discordance blared in his head. Not a moment too soon, as a slice of razor-sharp air cut in half every tree in a fifty meter radius. He felt it brush over his hair. The tree John was hiding behind would have fallen onto him, so he slowly rolled to the side of it. A little light poured into the new clearing, but most of it was blocked by the clouds above. “I heard that! Say, how do you know a goody two-shoes like that Ardyn bitch?

“Well, I didn’t want to do this, but you **** my hand,” Crow said, going silent for just a second. That’s all it took for darkness to overwhelm them.

A smaller figure stumbled toward John through the darkness, and he realized it was his mother. “John, what are you so afraid of? There’s nothing in the dark, honey.” She bent down, but before her hand could caress his cheek, she began rotting away from the hand up, turning into a featureless corpse in moments.

Her lifeless body fell forward, and disappeared before impact. John held back tears as Abigail’s face appeared in the darkness, crawling on the ground toward him. “John, John, help me, please! It hurts! It hurts so-”

He watched as Crow stabbed his sword through her stomach, and a wave of flames flickered over her body before she turned into fire entirely, scattered to the wind. A faint whisper could be heard, “Help… me…”

The darkness was pushed back, and he saw Jenny, pinned against a tree by tendrils of darkness. Crow walked up to her and cut her clothes off with his blade. Sharpened talons dug into her chest, and she screamed in pain. “John! John, please save me! Don’t you love me!? Why are you just sitting there!?”

Crow pulled out an iridescent orb from her chest, and she slumped over, eyes glassy and lifeless.

“I wonder what you’re seeing right now,” Crow’s voice cut through the insanity, and John didn’t know if it was the actual man or just an illusion as he walked by John’s stump. “You put up quite a fight, considering you don’t have any arms or legs.”

Looking down, John saw that it was true. His limbs were gone, and he couldn’t feel them. He tried to move them with all his might, his mind screaming that it had to be an illusion, but nothing happened. They had simply disappeared.

“It’s impressive that you didn’t cry out immediately. I can hear your breathing, though, muffled as it is by that mask. I know I’m getting close. Don’t you think it’s weird that you can breathe? Considering we’re underwater and you’ve been holding your breath for at least five minutes…”

Panic spiked through him as the tide rose, enveloping him in its icy depths. The world was submerged, and he felt the water rushing into him. His lungs struggled as he tried to hold his breath.

“I’ve never done it to myself, but I do wonder how it feels to be drowning in a clearing of perfectly breathable air. You really believe it’s happening. You know it’s not, but that doesn’t stop it going up your nose, down your throat...”

John finally choked out, and the Crow he had seen walk by immediately turned in his direction. “Aha!”

A million different Crows all lunged toward him at once, swords outstretched.

The storm clouds overhead swirled around them, and the eye of the storm passed over them for just a moment, revealing the serene blue sky. A beam of moonlight filled this vacuum, banishing the darkness.

Light shined from within all but one of the enemies before him, destroying them from the inside out as they screamed in otherworldly agony. A thousand feathers shot toward John as his location was revealed, and they were all dispelled with a single sword swipe.

With his limbs back, John pat them and himself gratefully, staring up at his savior, who offered him a hand up. “You made me abandon another contract, so you’re going to be making that up to me. Slaying dragons is good and all, but man,