BET YOU DIDN'T EXPECT A NEW CHAPTER THIS FAST! HAHA THANK YOU SO MUCH TO ALL MY READERS, FOLLOWS, AND FAVORITES!!!
"SHIT! GOD DAMN IT!!!" Davy yelled in pain as he occasionally returned fire from behind a tree.
Bullets continued to fly by wildly, deafening gunfire filling the forest.
"Higgins and Lowe were killed by Davy Jones! Kill that bastard!!!" A marine screamed.
"Who is that man with Davy and Tore? Kill him too!!!" Another Marine yelled, referring to Joy Boy.
"You gonna end up just like your friend there in a second!!!" Another marine yelled.
Joy Boy continued to stare down at Kotatsu's body.
"Heh..." Joy Boy chuckled, "You bastards.."
Tore had finally gotten behind a tree and balled up.
"St-Stop this! Please!" Tore yelled, holding his head.
Dubois's church, Tore's home, continued to burn in the night as Marines continued to fire at the group relentlessly.
Davy reloaded quickly and peeked out from behind the tree, almost being shot.
"DAMN IT!! YOU! GET DOWN! THEY'RE NOT TRYING TO ARREST US! THEY WANT US DEAD!" Davy yelled to Joy Boy.
Joy Boy slowly looked up at Davy.
"Nah." Joy Boy said, "These guys gotta pay."
Joy Boy looked back at the Marines, all that could be seen was the whites of their uniforms and flashes of gunfire.
"THIS ISN'T THE TIME TO BE A GOD DAMN HERO!!! THEY'RE KILLERS!" Davy yelled.
Tore looked at Davy then at Joy Boy.
"DIE! BASTARD!!" A marine yelled, firing and hitting Joy Boy in the head.
"GOT HIM! UGH?!" The marine worried.
Joy Boy's head was shockingly beginning to cave in from the bullet. To Davy, The marines, and Tore's surprise.
BOINGGGGGGG!!!!!!! SPLAT!!!!!
The bullet flung back at the marine and shot him through his chest.
Davy was at a complete loss of words.
"Wha-Wh-What... I-I-What?!?!" Davy stammered.
Tore stared at Joy Boy with shock and awe.
"H-Huh?" Tore asked.
Joy Boy smiled.
"Wh-What?! His head deflected the bullet?!" A marine asked.
"Impossible!!! Cooperforth!!!" Another marine yelled, mourning the loss of his friend.
"KILL THOSE GOD DAMN BASTARDS RIGHT THIS INSTANT!!!!!!!" A marine yelled at the top of his lungs as backup arrived and fired at the group.
Tore flinched and his body shook from the bullets ripping past him.
"M-MAKE IT STOP!!!" Tore screamed.
Davy dropped one of his guns after getting hit in the arm from the backup fire.
"FUCK... FUCK!!!!" Davy yelled, "I'm gonna die... right here in this forest... killed by my old friends and crewmates... DAMN IT!!!"
"Hey, Tore, right?" Joy Boy asked.
Tore slowly looked at Joy Boy.
"I've had enough of these bastards." Joy Boy smiled, "I'm gonna get rid of em for ya! Right now!"
Tore was confused.. until something began to happen..
Joy Boy continued to smile as his clothes and hair slowly turned white. A cloud came out of Joy Boy's hair and floated around his neck all while Joy Boy laughed seemingly uncontrollably.
"Wh-What is this?... What's happening?" Tore asked.
The gunfire had stopped once Joy Boy began changing, Davy used this opportunity to peek from behind the tree and witnessed Joy Boy's transformation.
"Wh-What the hell?! Is-Is that... the same fool?!" Davy yelled.
The marines were shocked and confused.
"What the hell?! Is he transforming?"
"Who even is he?! We have nothing on him!"
Finally, Joy Boy's heart began to beat in an all too familiar rhythm.. Tore's eyes widened to the point Tore's eyes could have popped out of his head, his sharingan slowly going back to normal.
"This-This beat..." Tore said.
Flashback ( 7 years ago, 16yr old Tore)
"Can't you hear it?! Papa Ubois?! The beating of the drums!" Tore yelled, dancing around in a tree.
"G-Get down Tore please! You'll hurt yourself!" Dubois stressed.
"But I can't help but dance! The rhythm... it's amazing!" Tore said happily, "It's coming from there! Just past the horizon!... Just what kind of parties are they having over there I wonder?"
End of Flashback
The "party noises" Tore has been hearing since he was a teenager... were revealed to be this man's very own heartbeat. Tore couldn't move or say anything.
"WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!" Joy Boy yelled, blasting black and red lightning all over the place. Creating fissures, destroying trees and making craters, some stray bolts hit and killed marines.
"WH-WHAT THE HELL IS THAT BLACK LIGHTNING?!"
"IT'S-IT'S GOTTA BE LIFE FORCE!!!"
"RETREAT! WE WERE NOT TOLD ABOUT THIS MAN AND HIS ABILITIES!"
The marines turned to retreat as Joy Boy looked back at them with glowing red eyes.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMM!!!
Joy Boy jumped in the air and landed on the ground, which was now rubber and used the force to blitz past all the marines faster than the eyes could see!
"Wh-What the hell?! Huh?..." A marine asked, noticing a hand stretched around a tree and a long, tan arm, stretching into the distance.
"O-Oh no!!! He's going to-"
Time slowed as Joy Boy was directly in front of the marine, in his eyes, Joy Boy looked like a smiling demon.
CRACK!!!!!!!!!
Joy Boy cracked the Marine, sending him flying and bouncing on the ground like a trampoline before crashing into Dubois's flaming church.
"OOP! Sorry Tore!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!" Joy Boy laughed, "Get out of here! I'll hold these guys off!"
Tore was too stunned with disbelief to react to what he had just seen, neither could Davy.
"What the hell is he?..." Davy asked, looking down at Kotatsu once more, "T-Tore! While he's holding off the marines... we-we need to go!"
Davy lifted Kotatsu's corpse over his shoulder.
"Come on!!" Davy yelled as Tore slowly got to his feet.
Tore slowly looked back and forth between Davy and Joy Boy as Joy Boy jumped in the air and pumped up his arms and hardening them. Joy Boy blasted them at the marines in a flurry of giant, hardened balls of fists, laying waste to their entire cover of trees!
Joy Boy just laughed the entire time.
"This is-THIS IS THE MOST FUN I'VE HAD IN FOREVER!!! SHAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!" Joy Boy yelled, bouncing around.
"Hm?" Joy Boy noticed someone flying towards him.
"What? Is-Is that the king?... What is he doing here?!" Cleopheonix said.
"OIIIIIIIIIIII! CLEO!" Joy Boy yelled, retracting his arms and back flipping to land on Cleo's back.
"K-King Joy Boy! What are you-I!" Cleo was interrupted.
"GOOOOOOO CLEO! Follow my friends!" Joy Boy said, pointing to the retreating Davy and Tore. Cleo's hawk vision spotted the two immediately.
"Your majesty what's going on at home? Why are you here? On this island?" Cleo asked.
"I ain't a king anymore! I'm a pirate!" Joy Boy laughed.
"A-A pirate?" Cleo asked, confused.
Davy and Tore heard the flapping of wings and looked back to see Cleopheonix and Joy Boy flying towards them. Joy Boy was waving happily, back in his normal state.
"TORE! MEET CLEO!" Joy Boy yelled happily as he jumped off Cleo's back and landed in front of the men. Tore was happy to see Joy Boy.
"It's-It's nice to meet you Ms. Cleo! I'm Torebion, but people call me Tore. Mister... that was-that was amazing!" Tore said.
Cleo smiled.
"It's nice to meet you too Tore. Any friend of the king's is a friend of mine." Cleo said with a smile.
Davy limped up with Kotatsu in his arms.
Cleo noticed Davy's attire and Kotatsu's body and immediately jumped in front of Joy Boy.
"KOTATSU!!!!" Cleo yelled, "BACK AWAY FROM THE KING MARINE!" Cleo yelled, pointing her spear at Davy, "AND DROP KOTATSU'S BODY NOW!"
Davy made an "Oh shit" face and quickly put his hands up.
"I-I'M NOT A MARINE!! T-THEY KILLED THIS POOR MAN AND THEN TRIED TO KILL ALL OF US!" Davy yelled, "Ugh!!" Davy groaned from his wounds, "I-I swear it!"
"Shaaaaaa hahahahaha! He's a good guy Cleo! He helped Tore! He's my friend!" Joy Boy laughed.
Tore immediately looked at Joy Boy with awe.
"W-We're friends? Like... real friends?" Tore asked.
Joy Boy looked at Tore and continued to smile.
"Yeah! You're cool. I like you!" Joy Boy said.
Tore's lip quivered as he smiled softly, a tear slowly falling.
Cleo hurried and took Kotatsu's body away from Davy.
"Kotatsu... what the hell did they do to him?" Cleo asked Joy Boy, who was now serious, as well as everyone else.
Before anyone could speak, alarms around the island began to go off loudly.
Davy looked around with fear.
"Th-There's no time!... We-We can't afford anymore shootouts or fights... Tore... is there anywhere we can go for the night at least?" Davy asked.
Tore looked at Davy, then Cleo, then Joy Boy, then Kotatsu.
"Over there!" A voice could be heard a sizeable distance away.
Tore shook his head.
"Y-Yeah! I know somewhere we'll be safe for sure!" Tore said, "Start running that way! I'll catch up.."
"Tore-" Davy said.
"Go! I'll catch up! I promise!" Tore said, tears in his eyes.
Davy stared at Tore, then the still burning church and understood. Davy nodded.
"Come on you two!" Davy said.
Cleo ran after Davy with Kotatsu in her arms and Joy Boy followed Cleo.
"You'd better catch up Tore! Or we'll fight! Hahahahahahaha!" Joy Boy laughed.
Once everyone was out of sight, Tore walked up to the church and gave it one last look.
"I-I..." Tore's tears fell freely now.
"I guess this is goodbye...!" Tore said, broken.
Tore removed the bandana under his hood, the D clan symbol over it, and stared at it with sadness before leaving it in front of the burning church.
Tore, wiped his tears then ran into the trees after the others. Dubois' church, continuing to burn in the night, refusing to fall.
Catacombs of Broken Wills, Tunnels
Val and Nusjuro continued to walk.
"That man or creature, whatever he is, the nutcracker. What's his story?" St. Ethan asked, "That can't be a life force ability.."
"You mean Gervais?" Val turned his head and chuckled.
"Anything special about the inhabitants of this island can be attributed to life force." Val said.
"Anything?" St. Ethan asked.
"Anything. This island was full of knights and peasants before Life Force, now you've got all the factions you know of roaming around. Gervais.. however.. is what other Life Force users refer to as, a "Reject." Val said.
"A reject? What the hell does that mean?" St. Ethan asked.
"Well, Gervais was a lizard person first, when life force initially transformed him. He even holds the title as the last lizard man to work for Joy Boys's army before Raizin's uprising ended that." Val explained.
"Gervais was an oddity.. like most rejects, he didn't have any noticeable life force abilities.. until.. he travled to the sewers of Nroc, to slay a highly wanted criminal, in hopes to put the lizard people back in the Kingdom's good graces.. only, he never returned.." Val continued.
"Those sewers are filled with this islands worst, so you can count on there being plenty of bodies that could report to me what truly happened to Gervais." Val said.
St. Ethan continued to listen to Val's story closely.
"Gervais was killed.. but his body underwent metamorphosis.. his life force had revived him as some sort of demonic nutcracker.. don't ask me why because I don't know." Val went on,.
"When the people of the great Kingdom were sure he wouldn't return they began to honor his memory by calling him "the devoted" but the damage Raizin had done was already irreversible once he killed that king and queen... that's too bad." Val chuckled.
"Gervais's situation was truly a conundrum.. but it proved the existence of what I call, "post mortem life force" all rejects are victims of this form of life force. Brought back to life so transformed or disfigured it's almost impossible to tell who they used to be." Val said.
"So how did you find out the Nutcracker was this, "Gervais" character?" St. Ethan asked.
"Well, that's actually simple. He told me. And his body was discovered not far from his target. So.. one plus one equals two basically." Val said.
"So he can talk?" St. Ethan asked.
"Of course. Only to those he trusts." Val said.
"And why would this man work for you? You're not exactly good company." St. Ethan said.
Val smiled.
"Well, he doesn't have a choice. Gervais tried to go home already, but they wouldn't accept him in his new state. Nroc definitely wasn't going to take him because he used to work for the royal army, so.. we took him in." Val said.
"Don't you find that worrisome? He holds no real loyalty to you." St. Ethan said.
Val locked eyes with St. Ethan.
"Like I said, he doesn't have a choice." Val said seriously.
After walking a little while further Val spoke.
"We shouldn't be too far now.. this is the point where you watch everything and stay on your pivot. Watch me closely for any weird behaviors and I will do the same. The illusions will start soon.. and once we arrive in Lord Bakotsu's territory... well... pray we make it out in one piece." Val said.
"What do you have to fear? You're already dead. I'm the one who's life is at stake." St. Ethan said.
"I can die again. I just can't die from any natural causes or old age." Val said, "I've seen countless undead men die again over these last two decades."
"Hmph." St. Ethan sounded.
Rumble...
Soft thunder could be heard, as well as heavy winds. Val looked up.
"He's right on top of us.. huh?" Val looked around, St. Ethan was gone.
"Oh no...!" Val stressed, sprinting down the long tunnel.
Val ran until he knew for certain he should've emerged from the tunnel exit.
"No... no no no!!!" Val yelled, "The illusions have already seperated us?! When-"
Val stopped when he noticed a mysterious figure further down the tunnel. The exit to the tunnel could be seen; the pouring rain and lightning crashing just outside.
"You.." Val said, "Impossible.."
Flashback (Underground Dwarf civilization, 23 years prior)
"What happened at the Blood Soaked Mountain range, Humberger?" Val asked.
Humberger, bandaged up, sat on a cot in a medical tent.
"That fat bastard Nolrog ambushed us with his gang..." Humberger said, "The pig bastard wanted to extort us.."
Val squinted.
"I scared them off when I destroyed one of the mountains during the fight.. but that got the attention of the Watchers... they took that woman's body off of us and kidnapped Gut, Karl, and at least ten others..." Humberger explained.
Val hid his rage behind a calm demeanor.
"This is unacceptable Humberger... that woman's body has to be important.. my new undead Shadowkin soldiers already told me she was supposedly married to the Lecnian." Val said.
"Well then kill me... put me out of my misery." Humberger said.
"Sorry, you don't get to get off that easy. We will have to go retreive the body ourselves then." Val said.
End of Flashback
Minaki was now revealed to be staring at Val with a neutral expression, blocking his only way out. Minaki wore the last outfit she was alive in.
"The illusions and mind games we experienced was unlike anything before..." Val said.
Minaki remained motionless, staring at Val through her sharingan.
"Those eyes... they told me, you know." Val said, smirking, drawing his sword.
Minaki didn't budge.
"I know those eyes can cast illusions... but on this scale? It's preposterous..." Val said.
Once more, Minaki remained stoic.
"I don't know what those Watchers did to you.. but tonight, it ends." Val said, rushing Minaki.