three - I will turn flesh to gold
The thing that Bam figured out while training with Jinsung was rather straightforward: what defeated an opponent was making a person recognize their weakness. It could be through death, through mental assault, through overwhelming might, destroying tricks. There were numerous ways. All you had to do was chip at a weak point or blow it apart and people - most humans - were too prideful to survive the aftermath.
Bam was best at it. They saw his small, fragile, almost delicate form and thought he was weak. He has been. Using that is a valuable card.
Now, he can feel power. He knows what power is, and he has no inhibitions other than how to use it and how a master wishes to use it.
The smile on his master's face now, surety and once more curiosity, like Bam could change the world just by being in it.
That is a bias, my master, he thinks as others approach. Now, if he remembers right, Khun tricks them to get himself over safely, using his bag. Right. He should play along with that for at least a little while. His body was still handling reinforcement. The forging was-
Ah.
As Khun moves, Bam follows, darting behind the looming throne. It's a waste to watch with an open jaw. He times his steps to match the other teams, sliding out of view and melting into silence, even as people gawk at Khun. Rak makes a surprised grumble. Khun doesn't turn much. He looks relaxed, like he's found his playground and intends to use it.
He likely does. No one is paying Bam any attention, yet. Lero-ro is likely observing, of course, but he is a ranker. It is a matter of course. Despite himself, the smile splits Bam's face. He bows his head.
You have grand ideas, broken boy.
Oh, he certainly does. It is after all, a product's duty to display its worth and value to be purchased.
Bam tucks Black March delicately under an arm and begins the climb up the back of the throne. He tests his grip on Shinsu and yes, it's here. He never needed the contract. He needed the knowledge.
He has it now. So it is easy to gather Shinsu, quietly, cup it in his fist until it's a gentle blue. It warms against his palm, a comfort, a shield. He holds it as he pushes himself up and up. Still, this body is weak and fragile. Viole had also been fragile, but the effort had been much physical training outside had helped. It's much easier to climb up here and wait.
By the time anyone notices him, Khun's distracted them by tossing the crown. Bam smiles and places one foot back. "Black March-ssi? Will you give me a hand?"
Depends on what you're plotting, broken boy.
Bam smiles softly. "I'm going to win."
That's very greedy of you. Show me your human side, broken one.
"As you wish." Though, a human side is a high dose of hilarity indeed. He wraps the shinsu around the blade and it darkens. There's an intake of breath. It's quiet, but all Bam is, all Viole is, was molded by the cave, the sounds of the world faraway. It's so close to him, but they think they are far, that they are safe.
They are safe … unless they press that button.
Viole lets himself smile. Then he rocks back and lunges forward.
His first victim, their name irrelevant, drops with an aborted scream of pain. Good. It hurt. Bam's body can hurt others with just a little force. Perfect. He dodges, nimble enough. There are so many of them they're in the way. It's more than a little humiliating for them, Bam assumes, but they're very easy to grab hold of and knock together. Shinsu supplements strength after all.
He grabs a hold of Rozeal's wrist and smiles. "Sorry," he says. "But that's a little dangerous you see. And you don't know how to use it properly." He twists, pulls, tugs, and she screams. How silly. He hasn't even broken anything yet. He certainly could try. Instead, he yanks the weapon from her limp hand and shoves her, hard, into the squirrel that had been creeping closer.
Khun loves to obscure useful information with other useful information. Tricks within tricks. He should save those. He may need them in the future, after all. Someone fires a gun, a gun of marbles, just shoot to kill you fool, in his direction.
Ah yes, that one. He turns, aims the shinsu device and fires it. A single pulse of water, hardly enough to hurt anything, crashes and cracks the man in the nose. Bam ducks and weaves, moving to the sound of Rak's swishing cape before going back to Khun and offering him the shinsu device.
"I think you could use this better than me."
He smiles, and he's sure that he does it wrong because Khun is staring at him like he never did the first time. "Bam … you've been holding out on me."
"I'm not very good at conserving energy," Bam admits with a nervous smile. "I was banking on the next tests being uhm, not as violent."
The look on Khun's face means he doesn't believe him. That's fine. His lies only need to be somewhat true. "Plus, this is my test," he says. "Protecting the Black March and answering your request, your wish, and defeating Anak-ssi's bet at the same time, all of these things going well, would be ideal for me." He sidesteps as Rak covers them.
"Noisy turtles, it's time for fighting," he grumbles, but the words are as warm as a rock by the fire.
"It's all right, Rak-ssi." Just by standing for a few seconds, this body has already recovered. He can continue. "I think they have been sufficiently cowed." The words spike up anger, but it is not his master's anger, nor his friend's anger. So he dismisses it. "Let them come, if they do. You want to win, right Khun-ssi?"
Wariness, interest, a curiosity bigger and brighter than his apathy, meet Bam's own gaze. What does his master see? "Of course I do, Bam."
"Then I will make it so, for you. I swear it. And for me, if it is a possibility." And he turns, sudden, and stabs forward. The shockwave isn't even a tenth of a percent of the beauty that Black March can produce from videos he watched, but it's enough to send the Da-an who had been a temporary ally soaring into its comrades.
He does not hesitate. A weapon does not have room for that sensation, that chill of fear. He simply follows the sound of the compressed weapon and jumps over it, jabbing down with his elbow. Then Bam steps back and lets Rak do the rest. As is the duty of a fisherman and spear bearer.
He doesn't relax exactly, but he breathes out, holding his body loose.
"A possibility," Khun echoes and, ah, yes, he's going to have to nix that. Khun asks too many questions, and it's wonderful, but he is still forbidden to answer many. A master must be well informed, but not so much so that his priorities distort and make a weapon useless.
"Yes, Khun-ssi!" Bam smiles and this one he knows it true. "I am in search of suitable people to climb with and a place where I can belong. Loneliness causes so much pain, after all."
Khun seems doubtful but interested, and perhaps, yes perhaps, that would be enough. A start if you will. "Is that right?"
"Yes, very much so," Bam returns beside him. "You're very strong, but you'll be able to give orders from the throne, yes?"
"But you don't have that much energy," Khun points out as someone runs for them. Bam doesn't turn, but shifts stance.
Shinsu laughs when it answers his wish.
"I'll be all right, Khun-ssi," Bam says, offering a sweet, placid smile.
This one, he knows, is more genuine, as Khun sits back and takes the crown from his bag.
Good. He's pacified, for now.
Round Three ends and round four begins. Bam sits quietly on one arm of the throne, as if completely immune to the way everyone is staring at him. Or that he doesn't care, which Khun is suspecting is what it actually is.
He looks completely relaxed, leaned on the arm and watching their opponents approach. Black March remains in his hand, his thumb stroking the hilt. Even as people approach, he doesn't move.
Which, considering Khun tied up his hair, was ideal. Still, it's a little unnerving. This guy was too relaxed on a battlefield. Clearly, he could hold his own on it, and he had a good sense of how much force was necessary.
But the way he kept looking at Khun and Rak, like they were someone else but also themselves alone, was off. He's definitely never met the Twenty-Fifth Bam before, as his eyes, strange as they were, would be memorable. Bam doesn't seem to mind that fact, but still.
Khun hates unsolved mysteries, especially an interesting one.
"Are you sure this is fine?" Bam asks suddenly. "To use your secret weapon like this?"
How did you know about that? "There's no guarantee that we'll have an opportunity to use an advantage of numbers." He keeps his voice cool. "They'll still owe me a favor."
A lot of favors, if he's honest.
Bam nods. He's got his head tilted left as he says. "The next group is going to be full of threats."
"Too late to swap spots with me." It's a joke, but also not one.
Bam hums, a bit of a high-pitched giggle in his throat. "No, it's okay, Khun-ssi. I'd rather be able to duck and dodge better. You're strong, you'd be much better for defense than me."
Also, if Bam falls, they won't lose the crown and Khun himself could definitely protect it. Interesting strategy. "Do your best, then. You too croc."
Rak snorts, steam or smoke practically flowing from his nose. "You speak as if you have done anything yourself."
Khun makes a vaguely rude hand gesture as someone lunges for them. Grey steps in the way and giggles. The orb in her hands gleams too bright. She laughs again and the world rocks for a moment.
She is so scary. The wheat field test really wasn't fair to her. She was so good at causing chaos in a way that wasn't just murder.
Still, a useful ally.
The round passes quietly, with very little fanfare.
Then everything falls still. Rak grunts and hefts his spear. There's nothing wrong. There are five teams coming after them on count. Bam hops up, balancing delicately.
"Khun-ssi," he says, rather conversationally. "Be careful of the blond in the hood."
He's paranoid about everything just on general principle, but- "Who?"
Bam smiles, and it's beautiful and dead, but without a doubt, the most genuine expression Bam has ever made to him. "She's not dangerous yet, but she could be. You know how people are with their back against the wall."
The cages open, and Khun glances at the shinsu weapon.
At first, the assault on the crown is more coordinated. It's not hard for Khun to duck, dodge, or slam someone across the room with shinsu and raw force. Rak blocks most of them and Bam ducks and weaves through the rest. Because of the distance, Khun can't quite see where he's hitting, but no one is dead. That's harder than actually killing someone in this frenzy.
Then again, he's also dodging a woman with a telekinetic grip over her staff that looks ready to break his skull, so Khun understands. He lifts the shinsu wand carefully, aims, and fires it right at the side of the masked person's head. They block it with ease, but turn towards him. Which he prepared for, but seeing the bones break of ordinary regulars is not pleasant.
When they rush through the crowd, Khun pulls up his bag, which can block, but Bam steps in the way. The latex wearing regular halts, looks down at him. Bam merely smiles.
"Move," they say. Khun gets distracted by someone else lunging for them and leaps, casually jabbing an elbow into their spine, and kicking them across the room.
Bam's voice is quiet, unnaturally calm."I will stop you. I'd rather not break you, but I will if it must." Black March - and the strength Bam claimed he did not have - held back the staff out of the corner of his eyes.
He didn't have Anak's quick reflexes or flexibility, but Khun knew, based on proximity, how to climb and dodge. He moves now, while people are intent on Rak or Bam, to get up higher.
Khun keeps one eye on Bam, who suddenly glances at him. Then Bam, inexplicably, smiles. He shoves the masked stranger's weapon to the side and lunges for their face. Their movements are much, much quicker than any just starting regular has any right to be. A princess would have trouble keeping up with their dexterity. Khun fingers the shinsu wand and eyes someone going for Rak's side. He fires once, then again, lower, tripping an opponent as opposed to killing them. It leaves Rak able to stomp and crush their weapon with a single foot.
Something hulking then looms in front of Rak. Rak starts but roars in challenge. The hooded -thing, it makes Khun's ears ring- turns on another opponent. It swings a cleaver with ease. The cleaver is almost as big as Khun himself, and that should make it easy to dodge. Based on how everyone is running away screaming, it isn't.
It doesn't make a sound.
Khun braces himself on the top of the throne and aims in another direction. "Blue turtle!" Rak barks. His beady eyes rest on Bam for a moment, who pays it no attention. Like they're small. "Who are they?"
"The ones Lero-ro mentioned!" He notices one more in a hood, moving cautiously through the crowd. Khun turns but doesn't fire immediately, watching them. They're not attacking. They're too cautious, almost limping. Not convincingly though, he's seen people actually limp. Whoever it is has done it before, but it's not a recent enough memo-
Khun tilts his head to the side, dodging a new bullet. "Come on down and play, kid," sneers the regular, only for someone to laugh. A girl kicks their nose and face open with a heeled shoe. She laughs and lands with ease even though her heels look a bit cracked from here. She still doesn't approach the throne. She seems to be watching, waiting. Then she jumps in front of Bam. Bam steps back, retreats, but doesn't turn away.
Oddly, he doesn't come back to the throne. His eyes dart to the person in the robe, then back to Khun. Khun hops back down and the robed figure barely doesn't jump. Barely. He can see them shaking, no matter how well they try to hide it.
He settles down, and says nothing.
Then he hears Bam laughing.
It's a strange sound, like crunching glass and the pealing of mourning bells. He races away from one fight to another. Not like it's a game, but like-
"Blue turtle," Rak grunts as Bam vaults himself over the suit's staff, right as the girl's heels crack and clatter against it. Too much weight, he thinks as she stumbles. Bam nudges her to the side to take the blow. He barely winces and Khun makes to call to him, to bring him back, when the figure in the robe says,
"Wait. Please. He'll be fine. I promise. Just please, hear me out first."
It's a girl's voice, which doesn't mean anything, but it does match what Bam said earlier.
"Hear you out about what?" The crown sits loose on Khun's head and not for the first time. Khun is sure it doesn't belong there. He should be more exhausted than this, have been fighting longer.
"I…" she fidgets in place. She doesn't seem worried about her life. Most of the opponents are getting easily tossed around by the big guy. The guys from the other sector then. Why were they letting them win? "I'm not interested in the crown, if you're worried about that. I just, let's make a deal: we leave the crown alone and you and I have a conversation. Just us, okay?"
She still isn't looking at him. She's watching Bam, who is still in that strange battle dance with the person in the latex suit.
"That only benefits one of you," Khun points out. He thumbs the device still. Should he bother to give this back? Probably not.
"They're getting what they want." She's working to sound composed, like they each have equal hands to play. "You just have to worry about me."
A conversation is never harmless.
But Rak is starting to slow and Bam's footing from here is uneasy. Then power flicks from his hands, from the Black March more like and it misses. Just a little.
Khun hesitates a bit longer. "Deal. When this is over, then."
He itches to fight, itches to get involved, but the timer ticks down. They're so close. Khun takes aim as the masked opponent swings and hits Bam in the stomach. He shouts as Bam rolls, curled in on his stomach. Black March hits the ground. Bam coughs, spits, and hacks. Then he laughs, hard. It's worse than shattering glass.
The room falls quiet, barring the ticking of the timer.
"I was trying not to hurt you," he rasps. The air shifts, sharpens, like the moments before a lightning strike. "But we are, we have our own missions to complete. Don't we?"
Something flares out, centered around Black March, and Bam remains in a crouch. The masked person cocks their head a little. Then, they turn toKhun. Almost too fast for him to see, they lunge. Khun raises Manbarondenna. It would definitely block one and it'd be too difficult to turn it up, so then-
Something collides with his side and back, cracking into the throne. The second, hard blow sends blood and fluid from his guts and throat. Khun grabs him, the two of them slamming into the back of the throne.
Why? He thinks, anger and confusion bubbling into a froth and wave.
Khun winces but Bam heaves, another spurt of blood hitting the ground. He coughs in Khun's grip. Khun doesn't risk shaking or moving him as he gasps for breath. Khun's heart beat rockets at each splatter of blood, but he raises his arm to block the next hit. His arms threaten to give in, but Khun braces against the throne.
They swing again, but Bam opens his eyes and lets out a soft-
"No, not like this."
The world freezes for just an instant. Then something warps and shifts, throwing the stranger across the room. Their mask clatters to the floor, red hair spilling out underneath it. She lets out ragged sounds of pain, but to Khun it's just white noise.
All he can focus on is Bam's sharp breathing and the weight of the crown on his head.
"Bam," he whispers. "Are you an idiot? Why would you do that?"
Bam coughs a laugh and doesn't answer at first. His eyes flutter. "I'm … it's going to be different this time… I won't let you, won't let anyone…"
Khun stiffens and turns towards where that robed figure is, standing right in front of him.
He doesn't move. She doesn't move. She pulls back her hood and steps towards them. Khun silently raises a knife to throw.
Then the blond girl meets his gaze. "Remember our deal."
The buzzer goes off.