Disclaimer!
I don't own DC Comics or any of its media and characters. I claim no money from this fanfic and the only thing I own are my OC's and original ideas.
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Issue 3: Tutorial Part 3
Date: 6th of February/2024
Location: Keystone City/USA/Keystone Memorial Park
Time: Midnight
The plan had been talked about in detail with the crew coming from Keystone High that consisted of Val, Kenny, Cassandra, Joseph, Stephanie and Santos. The strangest, however, was Joseph but not because he wasn't a traditional fighter but because his levels had dropped, and his titles had changed.
Joseph Nates, Level: 6
Former Wizard/Tranquil Homo-Magi
"Joseph." Kenny started as he looked at his friend before Joseph replied.
"We can talk about it later. I'm still good to fight." Joseph replied while the other group members were a bit curious about what the two were talking about, but they quickly forgot about it as they looked on at the impressive gathering of martial artists from various schools.
"Val, I didn't think you'd show your face here." A guy said as he walked up to the group. Everyone wore white martial arts gi's and trousers with black belts and their school insignia sewed into the upper left side of the gi chest along with a larger version on the back.
Except for Santos who wore his usual street clothes since he was acting as moral support.
Donovon Raylan, Level: 7
Surge Highschool Martial Arts Captain
"I told you I'd be here and bring the best that my school has to offer, Raylan." Val replied with a light glare while Donovon wore a smug expression on his face as he looked over Val and company.
"They look tough enough, but this tournament will see just how good they are. But don't be pissed when my team wins this thing." Donovon said before walking away.
"I get the sense that he goaded you into joining this thing." Kenny said bluntly to Val who coughed into his hand before speaking.
"Look, putting that jerk in his place is an awesome benefit but defending the school's rep is still important." Val said back before he explained the rules of this tournament to everyone before the fights started.
The highest level belts the schools could offer would act as judges and referees for the tournament and there was a bracket set up to ensure each group of students competed in timed matches since nobody wanted to stay up until six AM on a weekend. Meaning the matches were won by ring outs, saying you quit or being downed for a total of ten seconds in roughly ten-minute matches.
Granted the ten minutes was the minimum amount of time and if it lasted that long a draw would mean both fighters got eliminated. But still, the time was short for the sake of efficiency.
"These fights are something else." Santos said to Kenny while they watched Cassandra fight against her opponent in one of the designated ring areas thanks to rolls of red tape, they would clean up later.
Cassandra was lethal and precise with her skills against the guy she was fighting. She used knife hand strikes against him and aimed for his weakest parts such as his kidneys, neck, or jabbed at focused points on his torso. She moved with ease around the guy and easily parried each strike before countering with her own.
The match hardly lasted two minutes before the guy collapsed onto the ground face first and unable to even stand without help. Everyone here learned that Cassandra was more than a martial artist or a student. She was comparable to a professional Olympic martial artist or UFC fighter.
When she left her makeshift ring, she gave a sharp glare to Kenny who quickly lost confidence in his ability to handle the 'talk' he would have with Cassandra later.
Stephanie was next and she wasn't as fast as Cassandra but she was skilled in her own right as she blocked blows from the female she fought against before striking with a well-placed side kick to the opponents stomach which had the opponent stepping back a bit before Stephanie hit the girls head with a side kick which knocked her down and out of the ring before she rolled onto her feet.
The girl was pissed that she lost via ring out even though she could still fight, but she respected the rules enough to walk away.
Joseph struggled the most out of their group as the fighter he had was equally strong and fast. But Joseph used his skill to put the guy into a strong choke hold that he couldn't escape from. In a tournament it would be an illegal maneuver but here it secured him a win.
"My turn." Kenny said as he moved to one of the designated rings and stood across his opponent that was none other than Donovon himself. When the match started, Kenny attacked with a rushing series of jabs and crosses to apply pressure to Donovon who blocked the blows with his arms before sweeping Kenny's feet.
Or he attempted too anyway. Kenny jumped over the sweep but that left him open as Donovon used impressive speed to turn around and hit Kenny in the gut with a back kick that knocked the air out of Kenny's lungs, making him stagger a bit before receiving a strong uppercut to the chin which knocked him onto his back.
Kenny rolled to the side to avoid a stomp aimed at his chest and kicked at Donovon's exposed knee which made him groan out loudly in pain and go down to a knee. Kenny proceeded to do a kick flip to get back to his feet where he grabbed Donovon's head and hit him in the face with a strong knee that created a wet cracking noise as Donovon's nose was broken. Kenny didn't drag the fight out anymore and simply grabbed hold of Donovon's martial arts gi and tossed him out of the ring to win.
[You have gained 250 XP!]
After the fight ended, Kenny made his way back to his group of friends and wiped his mouth to notice that his lip had been busted open from the previous uppercut he got.
"His knuckles must have cut my lip." Kenny said casually while Stephanie handed him a tissue to hold against his mouth.
Where she hid the thing, he didn't know, but he was thankful for it since the blood was staining his martial arts gi that he now had to clean.
Blood was tough as hell to get out of clothes.
The rest of the fights went similarly for the group as Kenny racked up enough XP to level up at the end of the tournament when Keystone High was declared the winners of the tournament and that next year another one would be held.
[Quest Completed!
Name: Midnight Ironfist Tournament
Rewards: 1,500 XP, 1,000 Souls, 1,000 US Dollars, 1x Random Skill Book, Increased Reputation with Val, Cassandra, Joseph, Santos, Stephanie and Keystone High students' population.]
[You have leveled up! Level: 6-7! You have gained 5 Stat Points and 1 Perk Point for a total of 10 Stat Points and 2 Perk Points.]
[The skill [Martial Arts] has leveled up! Level: 24-25!]
[The skill [Damage Resistance] has leveled up! Level: 19-20! The skill [Damage Resistance] has reached MAX level.]
"I leveled up twice and leveled up my martial arts by five whole levels and maxed out my damage resistance." Kenny said to himself before he brought up said skill to view it.
[Skill
Name: Damage Resistance
Passive
Level: MAX
You have endured strong blows and attacks that seriously hurt and now as a result your body has been conditioned to fight through the pain and damage it causes.
You have a 15% damage reduction from all forms of physical damage.]
"I must say. Watching martial arts tournaments is rather enjoyable." Rosalia said telepathically while walking home and sneaking back into his room.
"I thought you were asleep."
"It's difficult to sleep whenever you take damage."
"Sorry. But it's over now and the only thing I want to do is sleep. Dealing with Cassandra can wait until tomorrow." Kenny whispered to himself before he stripped down and crawled into bed while putting a reminder on his phone to wash the martial arts clothes he borrowed.
Date: 7th of February/2024
Location: Keystone City/USA
The morning was abrupt and too sudden for Kenny's liking since his body still ached from the night he endured. Still, he got up and cleaned himself up before helping his mother get his sisters out of bed and ready for their playdate today with their friends.
Soon enough, after breakfast, Alice took the girls, and Kenny was left home alone to clean up the dishes as well as get the laundry done before he started stretching in the living room while watching Live PD before his phone alerted him to a new text message.
"Whose texting me?" Kenny asked himself before picking up his phone and saw a message from Cassandra.
[Message.
Cassandra: Meet me at Memorial Park. We are talking about what you know.]
"I guess she doesn't want to wait till after lunch." Kenny said to himself before getting dressed in some street clothes before making his way to the door.
"Before you go, I think it would be a good idea for you to use your stat points and perk points. Just in case something happens." Rosalia cautioned.
"I want to believe that Cassandra isn't murder happy, but I'd be stupid if I didn't take precautions." Kenny replied before summoning his stat sheets and started augmenting himself.
[Statistics
Name: Kenny Reigns, Age: 17, Race: Human/?
Title: Keystone City Protector/The Player, Alignment: Good
Level: 7 [210/2,300 XP!]
HP: 610/610, AP: 360/360, MP: 280/280
Strength: 21
Dexterity: 19
Endurance: 23
Charisma: 17
Intelligence: 14
Wisdom: 8
Arcane: 9
Faith: 14
Stat Points: 10, Perk Points: 2
Souls: 1,400
Perks: [Players Mind-Rank MAX, [Players Body-Rank MAX, [?]
End!]
"Let's keep things physical."
[Statistics
Name: Kenny Reigns, Age: 17, Race: Human/?
Title: Keystone City Protector/The Player, Alignment: Good
Level: 7 [210/2,300 XP!]
HP: 730/730, AP: 456/456, MP: 280/280
Strength: 26
Dexterity: 24
Endurance: 23
Charisma: 17
Intelligence: 14
Wisdom: 8
Arcane: 9
Faith: 14
Stat Points: 0, Perk Points: 2
Souls: 1,400
Perks: [Players Mind-Rank MAX, [Players Body-Rank MAX, [?]
End!]
[Perk Acquired!]
[Perk
Name: Stone Skin
Rank-MAX
You have the power to become as durable as a mighty fortress of stone and now you have a permanent 10% reduction on all physical damage as well as unlocking the following skill.
Stone Skin, Level: 1!]
[Perk Acquired!]
[Perk
Name: Light Bearer Initiate
Rank-1
You have a connection to light and have learned how to use light energy to perform feats of unique magic.
Unlocks the following skills.
Light Arrow, Level: 1
Light Shield, Level: 1
Lesser Healing Hands, Level: 1
[Due to unlocking the [Light Bearer Initiate] perk you have unlocked a previously hidden perk.]
[Perk
Name: Angelic Grace
Rank-MAX
Requirement: Bloodline inheritance
You have the blood of an angel flowing through your veins and this angelic magic protects you from dark or evil energies and magic, but it also enhances you and your abilities.
20% Resistance to dark, chaotic, necrotic and curse damage.
20% damage boost to all light, solar and flame damage.
10% reduced skill or spell costs for all light, solar and flame skills.
10% increased XP skill gained for all light, solar and flame skills.
Unlocks the following skills.
Angelic Vision, Level: 1
Halo, Level: 1
You gain 2 Arcane, 2 Faith and 2 Endurance points every time you level up!]
"Holy shit." Kenny said, as he felt a newfound warmth within his body or more specifically within his chest and somehow knew that this warmth was pure and good in nature.
An energy that was somehow pure and untainted light. It felt strange yet familiar and Kenny didn't know what to make of it and started to question why he bothered to select such a weird perk in the first place along with what on earth his father was exactly if Kenny was somehow a hybrid of a human and angel.
[Your race has changed! Your race is now [Nephilim] upon unlocking your bloodline related perk!]
'That was unexpected to say the least.' Rosalia said while admitting that she was also surprised at what had just happened.
"I…I need to speak with mom when she gets home." Kenny said before dismissing all the game screens before he headed out of the house and towards the memorial park.
1
Date: 7th of February/2024
Location: Keystone City/USA/Keystone Memorial Park
Cassandra was difficult to find at first, but Kenny eventually found her in one of the lesser-known areas of the park where she sat on a wooden bench dressed in a black leather trench coat with some protective undershirt along with jeans and black boots on her feet.
"Oi." Kenny said alerting the mute girl to his presence and when he got close, she stood up and walked towards him before speaking in sign language.
"Tell me how you know about me and don't lie. I'll know if you do, and you won't like what happens." Cassandra warned and Kenny could tell that she was serious.
"It's a weird story but you want the truth, so I'll tell you straight up." Kenny said before telling Cassandra about how his life suddenly transformed into a video game but before she could respond, she grabbed Kenny and dove him and herself to the ground to avoid a series of throwing knives that struck the ground.
"Not bad, Cassandra. I knew you'd dodge but I didn't think you'd spare your friend from fate. What would your parents say?" A mocking voice said causing Cassandra and Kenny to both quickly stand up and see a man in silver monk like robes with a matching silver monkey head mask.
"A friend of yours?" Kenny asked the mute girl before getting into his own fighting stance along with Cassandra while the man laughed and was the unknowing target of Kenny's Observe spell.
[Enemy Statistics
Name: Gin Shino
Level: ?
Race: Human
Nationality: Japanese
Faction: Brotherhood of the Monkey Fist
Title: Silver Monkey
HP: 22,500/22,500, AP: 19,00/19,000
Skill is not high enough to read enemy stats or perks!
End!]
Kenny couldn't help but grit his teeth at the information he received. The man's health and stamina eclipsed his own and probably Cassandra's. What's even more concerning is the fact that he had reinforcements that are literally spawning out of black pools of slime around the two teens thanks to the weird glowing gemstone around the monkey man's neck.
[Quest Alert!
Name: Spanking the Silver Money
You have ended up in the middle of a dangerous situation between Cassandra Cain and her attackers of unknown origins or at least unknown to you. So, help her out and she might not kill you.
Objective: Help Cassandra hold off the attackers until help arrives.
Rewards: 3,000 XP, Increased Reputation with Cassandra, Increased Reputation with '?' Faction and members.
Failure: Death.
Do you accept this quest? Y/N?]
Kenny mentally accepted the quest before speaking up to the mute girl.
"After this it's going to be your turn to answer some questions." Kenny said to Cassandra who seemed surprised at his words before the enemies attacked and these enemies were black suited variants of Gin himself but noticeably weaker in comparison as Kenny quickly activated his Stone Skin spell and felt his muscles and body harden while his speed dropped a bit as he blocked and absorbed a few blows from three of the black suited monkey masked monsters before retaliating with his own strikes.
Kenny also noticed that with his defensive skill active, his body took on a darker more stone like appearance and he was able to strike much harder as he delivered a strong punch to one of the constructs of dark magic and sent it tumbling backwards before hitting a back kick to another construct that tried to attack him from behind.
These constructs were magical in nature but were still copies of a human and seemed to share the skills of their creator as two managed to lock up Kenny's arms in tight holds while another punched Kenny in the stomach repeatedly with strong uppercuts. Kenny thanked God that he had been using this skill and gained the damage resistant perk before he focused and jumped backwards towards the ground and rolled free.
Kenny then took the chance to use his new skills and attacked one of the constructs with his new Light Arrow spell. It took the form of a literal arrow and was made of golden light that struck the nearest construct's head and blew it clean off due to the holy damage the attack causes along with how low its resistances are against light.
Also, the fact that the arrow moved at fast speeds certainly helped…Granted it wasn't light speed like you'd think but it was still fast and hard to dodge.
With that in mind, Kenny spammed the spell and attacked as many of the endlessly spawning constructs as possible with the Silver Monkey frowning behind his mask and Cassandra looking on in shock before she returned to her own fights with these monsters as she had taken out two steel kama blades from the inside of her trench coat and tore the enemies to ribbons with her skillful use of the weapons.
Kenny noticed that the fight was going nowhere fast, and that Silver Monkey didn't even seem bothered with waiting for things to turn his way thanks to his constructs reforming and spawning. That was when the truth hit Kenny like a sack of bricks. Silver Monkey wasn't trying to beat them at all. He was stalling for time like Kenny was. The difference was that Kenny was fulfilling his quest and doing his best to help keep Cassandra alive while Silver Monkey had unknown agendas.
'Fuck waiting! I'm not going to let Cassandra die here or myself for that matter!' Kenny thought before he spoke up.
"Cassandra, I'll take down these constructs. You get that necklace off the monkey man's head. That's what's controlling these things." Kenny said to Cassandra who gave him a quick glance before nodding her head and proceeded to charge towards Silver Monkey while effortlessly slicing the head off a few constructs that tried to block her way and only met her blades in return.
Kenny made his way behind Cassandra and stopped several constructs from reaching her as he blasted the lot of them with his Light Arrow spell. The fact wasn't nearly as one-sided as Kenny thought it would be. But that quickly changed when Kenny looked back and saw Cassandra getting manhandled by Silver Monkey who had not only disarmed her in the few moments, he hadn't been looking at Cassandra, but he was also connecting with solid blows.
Thankfully, Cassandra wasn't a glass canon and caught one of the man's punches before kicking out his knee and hit him in the throat with a knife handed jab.
Silver Monkey was barely phased though and grabbed Cassandra's hand before sweeping her legs and started raining down punches that Cassandra mostly blocked despite some getting through.
Kenny went to back her up but was stopped when one of the many constructs punched his face and made him stagger before he was quickly swarmed by more than twenty of the things as they restrained him on the ground with horrible mocking laughter as he was forced to watch Cassandra fight for her life against a real martial artist unlike the ones from the underground school tournament.
Cassandra did manage to get back on her feet and get some distance with a drop kick to Silver Monkey's abdomen. She used the momentum to flip backwards and land on her feet before quickly reaching into her trench coat and throwing four steel shuriken at Silver Monkey who blocked them all after taking out his own curved dagger.
He easily could have dodged but he chose to knock each shuriken away with a curved knife as a flex of skill and to intimidate the two teens. Cassandra, however, didn't seem phased and simply spit out some blood before cracking her neck and picking up her two kama blades before getting back in a fighting stance.
"Defiant till your last moments. I can see why Dreamslayer wanted you. But now he put a bounty on your head, and I intend to collect. Plus taking the life from your metahuman friend will be nice icing on my cake." Silver Monkey taunted before Kenny noticed one of the constructs holding him had taken out a knife and placed it against his hardened neck.
However, before he got sliced, Kenny felt a breeze of air hit him and suddenly all the weight on his disappeared as all he saw was a flash of red and yellow before the fast-moving figure stopped in place and offered him a hand up.
"Holy shit, you're Kid Flash." Kenny said with wide eyes and total shock at the red headed teen in a super suit before taking the hand and standing up.
"I know. Also, what's up with the slime based synthetic organisms?" Kid Flash asked while pointing to the artificial constructs he knocked off Kenny. The beings each got up and looked to jump Kid Flash and Kenny once again.
"Magic stuff and they reform crazy fast and keep popping up every second the fight goes on. My friend is taking on the guy making them, but she needs help." Kenny quickly said before looking back towards Cassandra and saw that she already had backup in the form of another hero known as Wonder Girl who had not only tied up Silver Monkey in her golden lasso of truth or whatever it was called, but that allowed Cassandra to rip off the necklace around the man's neck and crush it under her boot which made all the constructs freeze and scream out before literally bursting into black ooze like a self-exploding jar of jelly.
"Fucking gross." Kenny said with a mean looking glare at the scene in front of him since he got splashed by a nearby exploding construct while he heard Kid Flash laughing. "Keep laughing and you'll be eating dirt." Kenny warned before deactivating his Stone Skin skill which allowed his body to return to its normal state.
[The skill [Stone Skin] has leveled up! Level: 1-4!]
[The skill [Light Arrow] has leveled up! Level: 1-5!]
[The skill [Martial Arts] has leveled up! Level: 25-27!]
[Quest Completed!]
[Spanking the Silver Money
Objective: Help Cassandra hold off the attackers until help arrives.
Rewards: 3,000 XP, Increased Reputation with Cassandra, Increased Reputation with 'Young Justice' Faction and members, Increased Reputation with the 'Justice League' Faction!]
[You have leveled up! Level: 7-8! You have gained 5 Stat Points and 1 Perk Point! You have gained 2 ARC, 2 Faith and 2 END!]
Kenny felt his fatigue hit him hard despite the level up he gained and now had several questions he wanted to ask. Like how the hell was Cassandra connected to the fucking Justice League and some unknown team called Young Justice of all things.
Sadly, before any of them could say or do anything, the sky turned pitch black with crimson hues as black chains sprouted out of the ground and held each teen in place as Dreamslayer manifested himself out of what looked to be a physical tear itself.
"It seems like children are constantly getting in the way of my plans and sadly I can't afford to lose Silver Monkey or any of my generals quite yet. So, for now I think its time to turn you into nothing more than power cells for me and my people." Dreamslayer said in a low voice before raising both his hands and forced all the teens to sink into a massive blackhole in the ground and the last thing Kenny saw before sinking was the swirling ball of orange flame that was the demons head and Kenny swore that no matter what it took he would punch that ball of flames if he somehow survived being ripped apart by a literal black hole.
END!
Narrator: Our hero has risen to the occasion and saved Cassandra Cain, but it came at a steep price because he has now been taken hostage by the interdimensional demon known as Dreamslayer along with Wonder Girl, Kid Flash and Cassandra herself. How will Kenny overcome this trial, and will this be, game over? Wait for and read the next issue to find out.
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Moo.