In an instant, Freddy’s panicked, desperate look vanished, replaced by a grin of pure mockery. “Thought you had me, huh?”

  Suddenly, Keagan’s whole body lifted as Freddy slammed him into the ground, smashing stone and kicking mud up. The air was knocked out of the man’s lungs, and he struggled to take a pained breath.

  “True, your defense is impressive.” Freddy slammed him again. “But you picked the wrong opponent for a brawl.” He slammed him again. “You see, I’m strong.” To demonstrate, he squeezed Keagan’s wrist, and the man felt his bones bend. “Really fucking strong.”

  Freddy raised him up, grabbed him by the neck, and slammed him face-first into the muddy snow. “How does it feel, huh? To know you’re a complete failure as a father?”

  The man screamed into the dirt, desperately kicking but failing to even budge.

  Freddy twisted his arm behind his back, and the sound of bending metal screeched beneath the man’s skin. “I remember your son had metal bones, too.”

  Suddenly, the man’s storage ring lit up, and a sword appeared. He used Hydraulic Flex and pushed back against Freddy. “You piece of—”

  His words were cut off as a spear of green miasma pierced his head. Where the crystallized miasma touched, the man’s body rotted immediately, rapidly turning his brain into a soup of putrid pus.

  Freddy leaped back, surprised at the sudden attack. He turned to face the adjudicator, who was standing casually with a single palm stretched out.

  The adjudicator coughed. “For his violation of the agreed-upon terms of the duel, Keagan Gem has suffered the penalty of death.” It was so casual. The man acted like he’d swatted a fly out of the air.

  Freddy finally moved his gaze off the corpse and looked over at the surrounding crowd.

  Everyone was staring at him with pure shock.

  For his part, he grinned right at them. And then his eyes slid over to Gina and Tanner.

  The two of them leaped back as if physically struck by his glance.

  Without hesitation, Freddy conjured a Blood Javelin and threw it at Tanner. He didn’t even use any abilities. He relied purely on his physical strength, and it was still far too devastating for the man to defend from. The javelin pierced his heart, and a moment later, he dropped to the ground, dead.

  Gina screamed and turned to run in the other direction.

  Freddy conjured another spear and prepared to throw it. But just as he was about to throw, the head of the Faller family, the skinny non-combatant, jumped in front of her and raised a metal shield.

  While the man wasn’t a combatant, that didn’t mean that he couldn’t fight. His metal would certainly be of an extremely high quality. But it didn’t matter.

  Freddy double-starred both Hydraulic Flex and Accelerate Blood Projectile, throwing the javelin with all he had. It landed on the upper side of the shield with a deafening clank, twisting the shield out of the man’s grip as the javelin proceeded to shave off the top part of his skull, spilling his brains. All it took was a moment of hubris, and a three-star was dead.

  Gina still panicked, leaped for Lucas. She raised a dagger to his neck. “Stay back!”

  Freddy looked at the adjudicator.

  The man barely flipped his palm, and a crystal chunk of miasma appeared in the middle of it, flying at Gina’s head, ending her before she could even think to use the dagger. “For violating the agreed-upon terms, Gina Tanner has suffered the penalty of death.”

  She dropped dead to the ground. Lucas leaped back, covered in her rotting brains. He threw up on the ground, taking clumsy steps back and stumbling to his ass. The people closest to them all stepped back as far as they could.

  Freddy eyed the panicking boy. “What are you waiting for, Lucas?” he asked. “Come on over.”

  Shivering from head to toe, Lucas barely managed to tear his eyes off the woman. Slowly, he got up and walked. The people moved out of the way. Even the three-stars were staying clear. Nobody wanted to chance the adjudicator’s ire.

  Freddy patted Lucas on the shoulder, and gently nudged him in the direction of Valhalla. “We’ll talk later, okay?”

  The young man reluctantly nodded without looking at him and continued to walk, right into the mass of thoroughly shocked onlookers.

  Travis finally broke out of his stupor and ran to Freddy. “Freddy! You…! What the hell, man? How?”

  He shrugged. “I’m just that good. Anyway, we aren’t done yet.”

  “Right,” the man said, some light finally returning to his eyes. It was clear as day that Travis by no means believed the problem was resolved, but his face betrayed that he thought they had just a wee bit more leverage for the negotiation. With renewed vigor, he stared down the opposition, squaring his shoulders and keeping his head high.

  Freddy snickered and shook his head.

  The whole situation had this strange, unreal haze over it. Being absent for a whole century made him feel disconnected, like he was in a stranger’s body, living a foreign life he had more studied than experienced for himself. While slightly uncomfortable, it allowed him to keep a cool head.

  He joined Travis in staring at their enemies.

  It was a sight rich with little things to notice now that he was looking. The remaining members of Gem & Faller were already mingling with the rest of the crowd. Many of them looked dazed, as if their whole life had fallen apart before their eyes, but they understood that they would be needing a new job soon.

  So might as well get started with kissing ass early.

  Among the assailants there was a number of folks he recognized, unfortunately. Spies, they had been. Six of them. He met their gazes first, and they looked away. Then there were the remaining three-stars.

  He eyed them one by one, recollecting what he knew about their power and style.

  For a long while, neither side made a move.

  Some of the goons whispered amongst themselves, but the big bosses were busy staring him down. Their expressions revealed nothing.

  Just as Thor had said, these people were truly cowards of titanic proportions.

  Even that fucker Keagan whose corpse was busy rotting in the mud had been an absolute asswipe without an ounce of courage or honor. He used blackmail to get Freddy into an unwinnable fight. Well, what should have by all means been an unwinnable fight, if Freddy weren’t a freak.

  Freddy felt a little strange standing there. His mind was working in ways he wasn’t accustomed to. He hadn’t matured how people usually do, through interacting with others and life experience. But like wine left in a barrel for a hundred years, he had certainly changed.

  While his biological age was N/A, he had indeed lived for 120 years. He was calmer. His thoughts flowed smoother. He felt more aware and less… stupid. Gone was the rashness of youth and the hormones that made him act out.

  Now, he was asking questions. Same as his opposition, he was calculating and considering the circumstances.

  First, who were these people? Why were they here? What did they want? What did they know? Why did they not know? What did they think he knew and didn’t know?

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  His thoughts spun in his head.

  They were here to get rid of Valhalla. Preferably with minimal losses. Freddy was a freak. How much of a freak, they didn’t know, but enough that it had them on the back foot.

  Enough for them to be willing to accept a compromise.

  He tried his best to keep the smile off his face. He had discovered the perfect blind spot.

  Suddenly, he stepped forward.

  They perked up, and so did Travis. “What are you—” the man called but Freddy raised his hand to stop him.

  “I have an offer for you,” Freddy said to the remaining four three-stars.

  They raised their eyebrows.

  “You will release every member of Valhalla. They will be exiled and forced to move to other cities. If you agree to this”—he took another step forward—”I will fight you alone.”

  Travis’s eyes opened wide. “Freddy…”

  “Don’t,” he said. “I’ve made my choice.”

  The three-stars eyed each other. They understood the intent of Freddy’s offer. He was surrendering himself for what was practically an execution, and in turn, all they had to do was allow Valhalla to disband peacefully. Naturally, they would prefer to stamp Valhalla out completely. But if it came to war, while they would win, there was a risk that Freddy could take another one of them down with him.

  And they would certainly lose some of their fighters.

  But there was still some grumbling. The leader of Umbra raised a hand. “I would like to offer a few additions to the terms. First, we get to decide where all the members will move to, and they will be forced to change their names.”

  This was to make it virtually impossible for Valhalla to ever rebuild. It was a reasonable term.

  Freddy nodded. “Accepted.”

  “All right. Second, you will reveal the identities of Skull and the assassin working with you.”

  Freddy made sure not to react outwardly and took a bit to think everything through. How did these people even conclude that Freddy had a connection to “Skull” in the first place? He made sure not to reveal anything that would give them away. Which likely meant that they were guessing based on circumstantial evidence.

  He pondered his answer for a long moment, making sure all the bullshit he was about to say was believable, then sighed with a look of consternation. “Look, I genuinely do not know who this assassin you’re talking about is, but Skull… doesn’t he already do business with you guys?”

  The CEO of Strata and his son reacted to that a bit. They eyed the others around them. From their point of view, everyone else could have very well been doing business with Skull the whole time in secret. And the others, too, were clearly at least a bit suspicious of their peers.

  “And, speaking of Skull, I’d gladly tell you who he is if I knew! I do know he has a lab somewhere in the city, but I have no clue where exactly. I feel like you people think I’m close buddies with the guy, but that’s just not the case. I can’t help you here.”

  The leader of Lapis squinted at him. “Can you at least share a way to step into contact with him?”

  “I can, but I doubt it will be useful for you. Man’s a privacy freak. Usually, I wait for him at a predetermined spot, right at the bench outside the family restaurant three blocks away from the central passage. He pulls up with a van and takes me to wherever his lab is, blindfolded. You can give it a shot, but I doubt he’ll respond.” Frankly, he was having too much fun making this bullshit up.

  The CEO of Grand West Enterprises, the man decked out in gold from head to toe, snickered at him. “And how on New Earth did you even discover this man?”

  Freddy shrugged. “I didn’t. He was the one who found me.”

  The four of them eyed him for a long moment. Then, the leader of Umbra nodded with a dissatisfied grunt. But he clearly accepted the answer. He continued, “All right, then. Thank you for the information. And now, for the third, and final addition”—the man’s gaze sharpened—”surrender yourself for execution without a fight.”

  Freddy grinned at that. “Rejected.”

  The man grimaced.

  “What’s wrong?” Freddy asked. “Are you scared to fight a single two-star with literally all of your best fighters behind you? What a fucking joke!” He sneered. “I might not have been here for a long time, but I am a full-fledged member of Valhalla!” He pointed a thumb at his chest. “No fucking way am I surrendering without a fight!”

  “You’re already pushing it with these terms,” The CEO of Strata said. “Do not make things needlessly complicated.”

  Freddy cackled at that. “Pushing it with these terms? How about I make your life living hell instead?” He turned around. “All right, everyone! Gather up for an all out war!”

  Even Freddy had expected the fighters to look reluctant. But it only lasted for a moment. Seconds later, the sound of weapons unsheathing and armor rattling joined the pitter-patter of the rain and the distant rumbling of lightning. The fighters of Valhalla were used to facing death. They were used to fighting with their lives on the line.

  Their attackers weren’t. A nervous energy settled among their ranks, and suddenly, the three-stars became keenly aware that this would be a far worse outcome for them than Freddy’s offer.

  The leader of the Lapis Clan was the first to raise her hand. “I vote in favor of accepting the offered terms.”

  The other three were a bit more reluctant, but the CEO of Strata caved next, raising a hand.

  The remaining two shook their heads and also raised their hands.

  “Fuck ‘em!” someone from Valhalla shouted, raising their weapon. “You’ve lost your damn chance!”

  “Yeah, let’s fight!”

  “Cowards! Now you’re pulling out, eh!?”

  Jeers and chants echoed through the crowd, and the wave of enthusiasm even swept through the civilians, who were seemingly also willing to fight.

  Freddy smiled, waving them all down. “Stay the hell away, you pricks! You have families. Don’t kill yourselves over nothing.”

  The crowd suddenly deflated. He got so many conflicted looks. Many of them had had a bad opinion of him. Many had even openly talked shit about him. And there he was. Ready to give his life away to save them.

  It certainly made one hell of an impact on his PR.

  Smiling, he raised a fist. “You can thank me later,” he said. “After I win the fight.”

  He saw Travis tear up.

  Freddy couldn’t help but grin harder.

  The adjudicator stepped forward. “All those who will fight, step forward. Everyone else, move to a safe location.”

  Hesitantly, the crowd of Valhalla fighters retreated behind the walls, leaving Freddy by his lonesome. Travis was the last one to stay, looking lost and apologetic. “I’m sorry,” he said. “For everything.”

  “It’s fine,” Freddy said casually. “Just get behind the walls. It will be over in a second.”

  The man sniffled and walked forward, tapping Freddy on the shoulder. “Thank you. You will be remembered.”

  Freddy openly snorted at that. “Look at this dude, he’s already killing me off. Come on. Get away from me. I have a fight to win.” He turned around and walked into the clearing.

  As for the invading forces, well, literally everyone was standing ready to fight.

  “You have twenty seconds to prepare yourselves!” the adjudicator said.

  Immediately, all of the attackers got moving. Earth affinity users made small raised platforms for the rangers to give them a better view of Freddy. Men and women with shields stood before them to protect them. A few people with the holy affinity got busy blessing people.

  Strata, Grand West Enterprises, and the loose members of Gem & Faller had a number of miscellaneous participants, but for Umbra and Lapis, almost all of the people there were dark-affinity assassins and water- or ice-affinity swordsmen. They were all spread out, guards raised and their feet planted for action.

  And right in the front were the four leaders, their weapons out and pre-emptive abilities ready.

  The leader of Umbra held a shortsword in one hand and a throwing dagger in the other. Shadows coalesced around him, almost like a cloak enveloping his whole body.

  The leader of Lapis flourished her long, thin sword. Ice formed on top of her armor, reinforcing critical areas, and an elegant mask of transparent ice wrapped around her face. The rest of her head was protected by messier and thicker crystals.

  The CEO of Strata had morphed several parts of his body, adding sharp claws to his hands and deer-like bends to his legs. His skin bunched up into tough quasi-scales for defense. The man’s whole body had morphed into a killing machine.

  The CEO of Grand West Enterprises summoned a weapon—not extracted from a storage ring, but summoned. It was a weapon conjured by his talent, a rare sight. And a grotesque one at that. His weapon was a crude club, interspersed with nasty, jagged spikes and with a massive, rusty ring embedded into it. Just because the weapon was macabre, it didn’t mean that it would be impractical. Talent-manifested weapons had all sorts of supernatural properties.

  Freddy eyed his opponents, taking note of where everyone was and what they were doing.

  By all means, it looked like he would be obliterated the instant the fight began.

  Freddy put on his Warrior’s Pendant and Blood Ring. Then, he conjured his Crimson Blood Scales and Crimson Wing Shield on both arms, double-starred for maximum protection.

  His shields shone with golden, brilliant lines, and the three-stars immediately gave him a greedy look. Especially the man whose talent was a weapon.

  Just this much had already slurped up quite a bit of Freddy’s essence, leaving him at only around 130% before the fight even began.

  Time seemed to stretch on forever. Having gotten used to experiencing so much boredom, the sudden influx of stimuli was overwhelming. He felt jittery and excited. His blood was burning inside his veins. An involuntary grin crept onto his face.

  And then, when the countdown reached ten seconds, he activated his spirit ability.

  The world around him appeared to speed up from his perspective. The countdown went twice as fast, and the ambient noises appeared to pitch up. His body passed through time twice as quickly, which resulted in doubling the effect of gravity, pressing his feet into the mud.

  He could tell that they’d noticed that he did something. In turn, he grinned. His voice, which no doubt sounded slow and distorted from their perspective, sounded through the rain. “I agreed to fight you,” he said, conjuring a giant blob of blood metal, “but I never said I was going to lose!”

  When Fate itself failed to kill him, even the gods should fear.

  Go check out Defier of Fate!