Chapter 3

The Outlaw's Debut

Arthur's eyes widened as he passed through the blanket. He was now inside the Witch's labyrinth. All he could see were things he couldn't apprehend. It was a tall hallway that looked like it came out of a child's drawing. The columns were coloured pink and crooked. The walls were either burgundy, red or mixed into something that looked nauseating to him. The place he was in made his head feel fuzzy.

Shit…and Jack's drawing is a lot better than this one! Arthur thought as he took a step.

*Krrsshh!* Suddenly, his ears caught a strange and guttural growl. Arthur focused his eyes in front as six creatures burst out of the shadows of the columns. And to his horror, just like the corridor, the creatures were all crooked and looked very wrong. They were like rats, but they were colourful.

Colourful enough for the man to feel a burning pain in his eyes.

"Annoying!" The man didn't waste any time. The creatures looked wrong and horrifying to him, and they were most likely the Witch's lackeys or minions. And if there's something scary for the man, he usually gets rid of it immediately.

At a staggering speed, the man pulled his cattleman revolver from his gun holster that magically appeared on his waist. Six shots rang out through the hallway as six of the creatures dropped dead. I still have it. Arthur smiled in a wicked manner. Despite being resurrected, he still remembered his skill as an outlaw. He didn't know if it was his magic's effect, but he could feel a tremendous power flowing through him as he pulled the trigger.

Kyubey was right. His power was enough to kill Witches – proven right after he killed its minions.

*Krrsshh!*

"More of them?" However, the joy of the outlaw was short-lived. The columns burst, and out of it came hundreds of rat minions. Their chittering echoed through the hallway, and all of them were looking at him.

The scene should have scared Arthur, but an opposite feeling made his heart beat furiously.

It was excitement, but not the one he had felt before.

I'm more powerful than you are! "Is it possible to kill all of them, Kyubey?"

Kyubey glanced at the horde of creatures before they focused on him. "I think you can do it…After all, you're the best member of your gang of outlaws during the twilight of the era of the Wild West. Am I right, Arthur, the Ghost Gunslinger?"

The man smirked at the title he had gained from his previous world when he was in his prime and at the height of the Wild West. A warm, nostalgic feeling made his heart race more.

"You're damn right, Kyubey." Arthur before he threw his cattleman revolvers away and flicked both of his fingers. And then, out of thin air, a line of floating carbine repeaters formed behind him. Line by line, column by column, the man's back began to fill with hundreds and hundreds of the same weapon. And all of its nozzles were pointed at the incoming hoard.

The man took one and rested it on his shoulder.

"Eat this!" He grinned madly before pulling the trigger. And just as he pulled, the repeaters behind him followed suit.

Flashes of gold lit up the hallway, and together with them were the screams of the minions, dying as they met the bullet of the former outlaw. Arthur didn't know how many hours had passed since he started his attack. All he knew was that he was now standing on a mountain of the witch's minions. The repeater rifles shot endlessly earlier, hitting every creature his eyes could see. Blood redecorated the hallway walls, turning everything blue.

"Heh, it looks like I can have a career in room decor." Arthur chuckled in success before he kicked the severed head of a rat minion with his foot.

"That was fantastic, Arthur," Kyubey exclaimed as the cowboy raised his hat and took a bow. "But I bet you'll be even more awesome in the face of the witch."

Oh, right. I still have to face the main boss. Remembering the most important target for tonight, the man smiled at Kyubey, hiding his embarrassment from the creature. He turned his back to it and looked ahead of the hallway.

"I know that now…Where's the witch?"

"Onward, cowboy!" Kyubey jumped onto his shoulder and pointed in front. Arthur swung his repeater rifle in his hand and quickly ran toward the end of the hallway.

The man didn't know how many hours had passed already. However, what he knew was that he felt nothing but shit. He ran through many crooked corridors and weirdly shaped stairs. As he continued moving, he felt his guts shift inside of him as if he wanted to throw a massive amount of vomit. Arthur wished to throw up, but his body couldn't and much to his dismay, he was stuck with the disgusting feeling for a long time.

"Shit, do all witch's labyrinths look like this? Everything is shit in here." Arthur complained as he leaped out of a step and landed on the platform below. A sickening, quelched echo made the cowboy look down. Pink stuff was staining his black boots. And I just stepped on someone's pink poo. Fuck.

"Now, now, Arthur, all in good time. Besides, you have already arrived at the center of the witch's labyrinth. Just look behind you." Kyubey cheerfully said as Arthur looked behind him. True to what the creature had pointed out, the man was now standing in front of a caricature door with a drawing of a candy-shaped girl and the name of the witch below it.

'WITCH NAME: CHARLOTTE, THE SWEETS WITCH'

"Charlotte…is the witch's name?"

"Yup."

This is it…This is the room where the boss is. Arthur felt his heart beat loudly inside of him. He suddenly felt nervous, making him hover his hand over the doorknob, hesitating to open it.

"Arthur?"

"Agh, fuck it. I'll kill it!" Then, after a wild grunt, Arthur cursed loudly, erasing the nervousness in his chest. The cowboy raised his foot and violently kicked the door open. The door flew into darkness, which the cowboy walked into. The man began to scan the void, eyes adjusting into the shadows.

Arthur squinted his eyes as light flooded his vision suddenly, and together with it was music blaring from everywhere.

"What the hell…?" Arthur finally got to see the new room he was in. He was in some expansive room with black walls. The walls were spotted with brightly coloured dots that looked like candy wrappers. Furniture with odd, very tall heights and huge sizes littered the center, making it look like a small maze.

The man's eyes shifted more in front, further into the small mazes of furniture and onto the center of the room. A tall table with chairs loomed on the horizon, and sitting at the center of the room, with its back resting on what seemed to be a half-eaten cheesecake, was a small doll with a candy-shaped head.

Arthur locked his gaze on the doll, and without taking his eyes off it, he asked Kyubey. "Is that the witch?"

"Yup—"

"Good, now cover your ears." Let's finish this small son of a bitch.

Arthur grinned maddeningly again. The target – the witch – was so tiny. With all of Kyubey's earlier talk of witches, he thought they would be enormous and menacing, but they were smaller than a puppy.

It looked fragile.

The cowboy quickly took his hat off and waved it in the air. Lines and columns of cattleman revolvers burst out of thin air and hovered behind him. Hundreds of nuzzles pointed at the doll as hundreds of hammers clicked into place. Arthur took one of the weapons and raised it.

"Fire," Arthur muttered, and the hammer struck the bullet inside the revolvers.

Bullets whooshed and pierced the witch named Charlotte. The poor doll was thrown like a dirty rag, slowly torn apart by the barrage. It danced pathetically before it fell off the high table and plumped down on the ground without a sound.

Easy. Arthur smiled again before he took out a throwing knife. "Just to make sure." The blade homed into the doll's head, and the sound of fabric being ripped apart softly echoed. The witch was finally dead.

"That was easy," The man chuckled as he flicked his throwing knife away.

He eyed the tattered doll hauntingly, admiring the work that he had done.

My first witch was easy— "Huh?" Arthur blinked in confusion as he saw bits of cotton suddenly fly into the air. Did the doll just twitch? The cowboy thought so—

"KSSSH!" The doll suddenly exploded into tiny bits. Arthur gasped in shock, but before he could react, he saw a giant worm-like creature emerge from the small toy. It slithered in the air, hitting many pieces of furniture before it speedily zoomed in towards him.

The cowboy looked horrified as the witch opened its mouth inches from his face, revealing a bottomless pit beyond rows of sharp teeth.

"Fu—!" Arthur didn't finish his curse. His hand instinctively moved and waved to the air, summoning a varmint rifle just before the witch moved its mouth down.

The rifle got stuck in the witch's teeth, making the creature groan in protest. At this instant, the man quickly pivoted and ran at a speed he didn't know he could do.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck!" Arthur cursed wildly, his bravado breaking apart as fear made home inside of him. His eyes darted everywhere, looking for some exit from this enormous room. "Where's the fucking exit!? Kyubey!"

"It will only appear if you defeat the witch!"

"DOES IT LOOK LIKE IT CAN BE DEFEATED!?" Arthur thundered in anger, but his eyes caught something. He quickly snatched Kyubey, leaped down behind a large caricature drawing of pink candy, and hid there. The cowboy breathed hard. Each huff was a laboured pain as he tried to catch his breath.

Fuck, I underestimated it. Stupid Arthur! Stupid fucking me! Arthur cursed himself in frustration. He had already died and was miraculously reborn, so it was natural for him to forget some of his battle instincts. Sadly, one of those instincts was estimating the enemy.

The witch was no weakling. It had transformed into some deranged-looking worm.

"Kyubey…you should've told me that it could transform!" Arthur then snarled at Kyubey, who scratched behind his ear.

"All witches have their own forms and gimmicks, Arthur. I'm sorry that you are encountering a stronger one tonight." Kyubey locked its beady eyes on the man and added more. "However, you're an outlaw, am I right? Should you be underestimating your enemies just because they are little?"

Arthur steeled his eyes at Kyubey. His words rubbed his wound hard, but he didn't react to the creature. Instead, he closed his eyes and pushed down his gambit hat on his head more. His frustration with his fucked-up situation grew.

It's my fault. I shouldn't have underestimated that witch! The man wanted to curse himself more but could no longer do so. The situation wouldn't change no matter how much he protested. The only thing he could do, if he ever wanted to get out of this, was do something.

"No use blaming you, Kyubey. I'm sorry. This is my fault." Arthur opened his eyes once again and took a peek from behind the vast candy.

The witch was still in the middle of the room. Its rainbow-crazed eyes were darting everywhere, scanning for the familiar sight of him. Its mouth, smiling from before, was now arched downward, showing a furious frown. The cowboy could tell that it wanted him.

"How to defeat this shit–" And then, like a lightbulb that lit, Arthur got an idea. He pulled his hat out and began to fish for something. "I have an idea. I can defeat it…with this."

"Well, that's interesting," Kyubey commented with interest at the object in the cowboy's hands.

The witch named Charlotte growled as its eyes scanned the labyrinth. A prey, not just any prey, had just walked into its trap. It was its natural enemy – Magical Man. The Magical Man had attacked the witch, but it was nothing, for it possessed a second form that a simple attack could never bring down. But alas, that man was clever. He escaped like a rat.

But the witch wouldn't worry for too long.

After all, the witch had sealed all exits, so the rat had no choice but to reappear.

"Hey, worm bitch!" The witch's eyes lit up with a myriad of colours. Its grin grew wide as its stomach growled. It slowly turned its massive head, and right behind it, standing on top of a table, was the Magical Man. And boy, he looks so handsomely delicious, like a beautiful chocolate Mont-blanc cheesecake.

"Come and get my ass!" the Magical Man taunted the witch more. The creature didn't wait any longer. It snaked on the sickly-coloured floor before it raised to the man's level. Its mouth opened wide, revealing its sharp rows of teeth again, and chomped at the table.

The table collapsed, being eaten by the witch. The witch savagely destroyed the wood inside, crushing and gnawing everything into oblivion. The taste swirled through its tongue: sweet paint from the table, leathery taste from the man's leather jacket and then…nitroglycerine.

The witch opened its eyes, and before it could react, its face exploded into a fiery inferno.

"Heh, got ya," Arthur smirked victoriously before sprinting onto an oversized chair and jumping into the air. He waved his hat, spitting out many more already-lit dynamites that fell onto the witch. The dynamites exploded into flames, and the witch quickly moved upwards in panic, performing a pathetic escape from the cowboy's attack.

"There's more!" The magical cowboy quickly waved his hat again and summoned something long and huge. The object roared as its engines spewed smoke, and rifles appeared in midair, forming a makeshift railroad. Arthur's smirk grew wild as he watched his green-coloured steam train slam into the witch's face.

The engine exploded, and the force shook the labyrinth. Having been hit by a train, the witch swayed as its vision blurred. Its face was cracked, and both of its eyes were gone. The creature let out a pained groan and eventually collapsed on the floor.

Is it over? Arthur landed softly on the ground. His eyes never left the mangled witch. He observed the creature with a predatory gaze, waiting for it to show what remained of its shattered life.

The creature let out a low growl, slightly twitching its long body. The cowboy's eyes widened in alert, and waved his hat again. Endless lines and columns of double-barrel shotguns burst out of thin air above the witch.

"Fire!" Arthur commanded, and his shotguns sang a loud orchestra of short bursts of fire. Empty cartridges hit the floor, creating hollow sounds and drowning the last cry the creature let out before it dropped its head and stopped its movement.

The witch was finally dead.

"Now that's what I call a double tap." The cowboy smirked and admired the carcass that he had hunted. Suddenly, the sickly surroundings started to melt. The disgusting walls disappeared, and the familiar sky and the bright full moon above were in their place.

"What happened?"

"Witch's labyrinths collapse when its owner is killed. It no longer has a purpose, you see." Kyubey brightly explained as it walked forward. Arthur followed the creature and stopped as it stood beside a strange object. The thing was circular and stood on its needle-like end. It was encased within a black mass that seemed to shine with a weak light.

"What is that?"

"This…is your reward for defeating the witch. This is called a Grief Seed, which usually appears after you kill a witch."

Interesting. Arthur picked up the Grief Seed and observed with curiosity. The witch was monstrous, and it almost killed him. He didn't know there would be a reward for killing those creatures, yet he felt overwhelmed. The reward for such a massive creature was very 'small' and the same size as his Soul Gem. "It looks so small. What does this thing even do?"

Kyubey beamed another cheery smile. "Take out your Soul Gem."

The man raised his hand and summoned his Soul Gem. The brown light played on Arthur's eyes. Its hue swam around the egg-shaped object. The man wondered more, for he still couldn't fully comprehend that he could touch his soul – it became a physical object.

Hmm? The cowboy noticed something. His Soul Gem was very bright before, but now he saw it was dim. "My Soul Gem looks darker than before," he commented.

"Now hold your Soul Gem to the grief seed," Kyubey instructed.

Arthur did it, and as soon as he stuck the Grief Seed to his Soul Gem, a cloud of black smoke puffed out and flew toward the gloomier object. The Grief Seed became much darker while the bright and beautiful shine of his Soul Gem returned once more. Arthur chuckled in amazement, recognizing the familiar hue of his Soul Gem.

"The Grief Seeds sucks out the corruption within your Soul Gem, refreshing it. You see, your Soul Gem blackens through time or due to excessive use of your magic. Be very careful."

"Uh…yeah, I will." Don't blacken your Soul Gem, got it. Arthur noted Kyubey's words, but curiosity got the better of him, making him ask the creature another question. "What happens if my Soul Gem becomes all black?"

"You die,"

Kyubey answered his question with the same straightforward tone and unchanging cheery smile. The creature's response made the cowboy gulp down. Arthur felt a stone hit the pit of his stomach. He wasn't expecting that kind of answer from Kyubey, though he did suspect that he could be killed.

The witch he had encountered earlier almost killed him, which could only mean one thing: witches, his new enemies, were very dangerous.

"Okay. That's a straightforward answer, yet a very obvious one. Can you advise me on how to care for my Soul Gem?" Arthur transformed his Soul Gem into its ring form.

The creature looked back at him and explained more. "Other than complete blackening, if it shatters, you'll also die. And above all, always stick your Soul Gem to you because if you leave it behind, beyond one hundred meters to be precise, you'll be disconnected…and die."

Fuck, everything is death with this one. Arthur couldn't help but draw ire to his Soul Gem. Even though he understood that it was his soul and that it also granted him magical powers, taking care of it ultimately felt tedious. He must hold it tightly and protect it against the world. However, even though he wanted to complain, the cowboy knew it was too late to go back on Kyubey's deal.

"Fuck…Guess all I need to do was to move forward, huh." Arthur let out a tired sigh and glanced down at his Soul Gem. My wish has been granted. I have now a new life. An honest one. "I'll live in this world, Kyubey, despite all this." The cowboy smiled before resting his Soul Gem as a ring on his index finger. "This time, I'll have an honest life."

"And I'll support you, Arthur," Kyubey said with assurance as the Cowboy looked towards the first glint of sunlight on the horizon. The sun rose and welcomed a new day.

A couple of meters away, adjacent to the hospital roof and on the top of another building, Kyubey emerged from the shadow of a large water tank. It tiptoed with its tiny feet towards the edge of the building and sat there, its beady red eyes staring at the man not far from it with its soulless, innocent-like look.

"Pretty neat that I created another Magical Man." Kyubey began as it tilted its head to the left. "Arthur Morgan is the seventh Magical Man I contracted. And just like you…he came from the void of zero." The creature slowly turned its head and locked its eyes on someone behind it.

A man appeared on the top of the water tank. He was clothed in black pants and boots, a red vest shimmered around his upper torso. A lit cigar was in his mouth, giving a dim light to his mustache. His head was covered with a black hat that coated his face.

"…In case you don't know, the void of zero is where the souls of the humans go after they die. It's technically the afterlife, which our kind recently discovered." Kyubey stretched its body before it continued. "We thought the afterlife didn't exist but finally found it once we dived into the theory of parallel universes and dimensions. Oh boy, those poor and unfortunate souls…The potential for harvesting energy from them is tremendous!" Kyubey paused and beamed a cheerful smile at the man. "Those souls would be wasted in that place, so we started contracting them and turning them into Magical Men."

The man shifted his head slightly, bearing his sharp black eyes at Kyubey. "You once started with little girls, turning them into Magical Girls. But I know what becomes of them in the end." He paused, puffing more from his cigar and asked the creature with a grave voice. "Will Magical Men end up like those Magical Girls if we don't purify our Soul Gem?"

Kyubey blinked its tiny eyes. It recognized the rising tension in the man's voice but didn't care. Besides, no matter how much the creature was killed, it had endless spare bodies that it could use.

"Why yes," Kyubey answered simply, tilting its head before adding more. "The Soul Gem of Magical Men degrades faster than Magical Girls. So yes…your batch won't be different. You'll end up as—"

"Thank you. Now shut it." The man threw his cigar away. The cigar travelled and transformed into a small dagger with a gold handle before it planted between Kyubey's eyes. The creature fell, and silence enveloped the man.

"Welcome to the new world, Arthur." The man spoke as he flicked his finger, summoning another cigar. "This time…we will take back what is truly for us. And that is freedom." A harsh wind blew past him, creating ominous wails that sounded too eerie and foreboding.

The man continued to watch the former cowboy. His jet-black eyes looked at him with a sad and forlorn gaze.

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of PMMM and Red Dead Redemption 2. Names, Places and Events are all fictional.

Special thanks to Pure Red Crane for Beta-reading.