A/N: I'm back. Not much to say.

Enjoy.

Quickly, Alice led me through the city, pulling me with a force that even I couldn't match. I tugged against her, trying to escape, but she didn't even notice.

Eventually, she led me to a large building. It was probably the most glamorous building in the entire town, certainly a place that I'd never hope to afford.

She stomped into the building, up the stairs, and into one of the rooms. She then threw me onto the floor, and locked the door behind her.

The room itself was beautiful, with an elegant splendor that I'd never seen before in real life. The carpet was a striking shade of red, and the walls were lined with strange and complex patterns of brown and gold.

The furniture was made of some of the finest wood, and the bed was an extravagant mass of radically expensive linens.

None of this mattered to me however, because I was too buzy getting stared down by Alice.

Her eyes bored into me with a ferocity that I'd expected, but was still wildly unprepared for.

"So... Is this about the zombie thing?" I asked warily.

She sighed, her angered expression changing into one that was more exasperated than anything else.

"Actually..." She said. "After further investigation, I've found that intelligent zombies are already possible."

YAY! Now she hopefully won't kill me.

"However, I still consider you a criminal." She said flatly.

Shit.

That was bad. That was really bad.

"...why?" I asked.

She facepalmed. Muttering under her breath, she glared at me.

"Are you really that clueless?" She asked, her voice tinted with suppressed rage.

I shrugged, unsure of what she was referring to.

"You broke Granberia's wrist!" She yelled.

What.

"W-what are you talking about?" I inquired, startled by her sudden outburst.

"Don't play dumb with me!" She roared. "You crushed her wrist! She had to be rushed to a healer!"

My mind flickered back to my escape. One of her hands had been hanging limply, pouring blood from under the armor.

I didn't remember doing that. Frantically, I searched in my mind for an answer, but I couldn't find any memory of that. There was a clear gap between getting punched into the building, and waking up to escape.

Unfortunately, it didn't seem like she would believe me. So, talking her down was my only option.

This was not going to end well.

"S-surely, a broken wrist isn't such a serious wound." I said sheepishly.

"You idiot!" She yelled. "She would've been crippled if she hadn't gotten it fixed! It never would've healed properly!"

She was getting angrier by the second, and nothing I could say would calm her down.

Okay, new plan! Tell the truth.

"I don't even remember what you're talking about!" I exclaimed. "I literally don't even know what you're speaking of!"

Alice stared at me, her face twisted into an enraged scowl.

"She attacked me! That was self defense!" I said.

"She wouldn't have fought you if you hadn't intervened!" She said.

"She was beating up the gaurds, what did you expect me to do?" I questioned.

She clenched her fists. The tempature seemed to raise by a few degrees, not that I could tell.

"Oh, now you care!" She spat. "Where was that compassion in our earlier encounter?"

"The hell are you on about?" I nearly yelled.

She sighed, composing herself.

"You said you didn't care if people got hurt." She said. "So why do you care now?" The anger was still there, but it was subdued.

My mind blanked. I didn't have a reason to give her.

I didn't really care at all, I was just trying to save my own skin.

I don't even think I was actually mad when she attacked those gaurds. I was probably just looking for an excuse to fight her.

Apathy, what a thing it was.

I wasn't gonna talk my way out of the situation. I think we both knew that. So, I did the next best thing.

I bolted.

I ran through the door, shattering it under my own weight. Clumsily, I tumbled down the stairs, not at all caring about my appearance.

I ran past Luka, who scoffed at my presence.

What the hell did I do to him?

On a normal day, I would've stopped to mock him, or something else like that. However, I did not want to be caught by Alice, so I just sprinted past him.

I caught a few strange looks as I barreled down the street, but I didn't care at the moment.

Finally, after a while, I stopped in an allyway, and hid behind some boxes.

I sat there for a while, unmoving. It was probably unnecessary, but it didn't hurt to be cautious.

While I was hiding, I realized something. She had let me escape. She could've killed me on the spot, but she hadn't. Why not?

Did she not want to blow her cover? That seemed reasonable. Maybe though, she just wanted to play a game of cat and mouse.

That thought terrified me. I couldn't fight her, not as I was.

Eventually, I figured it was safe, and so I got up, and walked away.

The sun had just about set when I left town. I had a job to do, but that wasn't for a while. I still had a day or so.

*LINEBREAK*

Ilias was an ancient being.

She'd seen heroes come and go, nations rise and fall, and the absolute worst of humanity.

But for the first time in eons, Ilias was confused.

Just who was the strange rotten man?

She'd been watching Luka when he first appeared. At the time, he seemed like just another heretical abomination, not worth her time.

The creature had illicited quite the outburst from The Monster Lord, which gained an unexpected chuckle from the goddess.

And then he died.

Oh well, he wasn't important anyways.

Soon after, the storm came. Luka and Alice had made camp somewhat close to the corpse.

Ilias did not like that woman anywhere near Luka.

She'd just been about to deactivate her scrying spell, when a bolt of lightning flashed, striking somewhere in the forest. Something was off about it.

Ilias adjusted her spell to see what it had hit. To her shock, the lightning had revived the creature!

She studied the zombie-like being, deciding he was more important than she'd first thought. So, she sent out one of her angels to spy on it.

Ilias was too busy watching Luka, after all.

*LINEBREAK*

I was sitting on a large rock in the middle of a small lake. The water was cool blue, and crystal clear. There were many fish swimming around, some of which I'd never seen before.

The forest surrounded the lake, creating a thick barrier which prevented me from seeing further.

Day had given way to night, and the stars shimmered like diamonds in the sky. The moon was full, illuminating the earth below. It was a beautiful night.

So, of course, someone just had to ruin it.

"HEY!" Yelled a voice.

I turned my head towards its origin. There, by the dock, were four dark elves. Two had swords, and the other two were archers.

They did not look happy to see me.

"WHAT?" I yelled back. "WHAT DO YOU WANT?"

"YOU!" One screamed.

What the fuck?!

"WHAT WAS THAT?!" I asked, hoping I'd misheard.

"YOU HAVE A BOUNTY ON YOUR HEAD!" Another said.

Oh. That's what they meant. Alright, that makes s-

WAIT WHAT DID SHE SAY?!

"W-WHAT?" I asked. "WHY?"

They didn't answer. Instead, they just began firing at me. The two swordswomen just stood there, pretending they were useful.

The arrows pierced my clothes, but not my skin. I sighed, and flopped into the water.

I didn't have to breathe, it seemed, so I was just fine underwater.

Unfortunately, I also couldn't float. So, I walked along the lakebed, slowly making my way over to them.

They seemed surprised when I stepped out from the lake, water pouring out of the holes in my torso.

I looked down at them. They were above average in height, but I still towered over them.

"I'll ask again." I said. "Why do I have a bounty on my head?"

One of the swordswomen handed me a sheet of paper.

It was a fucking wanted poster!

It had a picture of me both with, and without my mask, and it offered a reward for my capture of-

5,000 gold?! Holy shit!

Apparently, I was wanted for injuring an important monster.

Did Alice really put a bounty on me?! From my limited knowledge of the game, I knew she probably wouldn't care.

But this isn't the game.

That realization hit me harder than expected. This was real life! The fact that it was this similar to the game was just incredible coincidence.

"So, you gonna come quietly?" The swordswoman asked. "Or do we have to force you?"

"...Is everything you say supposed to sound rapey?" I asked, unimpressed.

She laughed. It was a rather cute sound, but was ruined by her next few words.

"Oh, I'm going to enjoy this~" The swordswoman said lewdly.

"...NOPE!" I said, punching her. She flew back into a tree, shattering it.

I pulled out my machete, and took what I thought was a defensive stance.

"Can we not fight and just say we did?" I asked sheepishly.

The other swordswoman lunged at me, intending to impale me through the chest. I blocked it with my machete, and grabbed her wrist. I then chucked her into one of the archers.

She knocked her over, and they both landed in a tangled heap.

The first swordswoman had gotten up from the ground, quickly closing the distance between me and her. She swiped at me, laying open the flesh along my torso, and chipping the exposed bone.

I grabbed her head with both hands and squeezed. She screamed, clawing at my hands. I felt her skull give way, her brain crushed into a fine pulp that splattered the ground.

Tossing the corpse away, I turned to the other three.

Looks of shock and horror adorned their faces.

"MURDERER!" Cried the other swordswoman, charging at me.

I swiped at her with my machete, swiftly cutting through the flesh and bone of her arm, severing it.

She dropped the sword, and clutched her stump, screaming as it sprayed blood.

Quickly, I brought the machete down on her skull, slicing it in two. She slumped to the ground, most assuredly dead.

"And then there were two." I muttered.

One of the archers tried to flee. I noticed this, and with a heave, I threw my machete at her. It impaled her through the chest, pinning her to the ground.

I rounded on the last archer, grabbing her by the wrist. Jerking her towards me, I pulled my other fist back and PUNCHED through her chest, destroying her ribcage and shredding her lungs. I grabbed her still-beating heart and ripped it out, before crushing it in front of her.

I tossed the corpse away, and sighed, before retrieving my machete.

That was fun.

A/N: Here's a chapter for you. I had some free time, so I wrote this. Hope you liked it.