“Choked to Death.”

  Unexpectedly, my neck began to tighten immensely the moment I finished absorbing Sunflower’s body. It’s not like I could breathe in the first place, but it felt like two hands made of knives were clenching my neck. No, not two—even more than that. I dropped to my knees, pulling at the air around my neck to see what the hell was the problem. I didn’t find anything there. It wasn’t physical.

  I turned my head and, as I expected, Jason had used his ability once again. However, what I didn’t expect was for him to bounce back from my attack so easily. Although, it clearly did do some damage as he was a bloody mess. Wait… the blood staining his jacket wasn’t his. It was green! Does that mean he tanked my beam like it was nothing!?

  Suddenly, a pack of radioactive dogs came flying through the air and into the arena, greed blood squirting from their bodies. Before they collided with the brittle grass below, Jason raised his machete and moved it slightly—only a few inches.

  And yet, all of their bodies exploded in a burst of crimson, blood raining down on us. The masked man then took his chin and bent his head backwards unnaturally, a sickening crack from his neck echoing across the area.

  Ignoring the pain, I pushed myself off the floor and landed a kick right into Jason’s crotch. He remained standing. Punch after punch, kick after kick, and it was like he didn’t feel a thing. The man lifted the bottom of his mask and the radioactive blood dropped into his mouth. He… swallowed it…

  Is this guy stupid!? The idiot just made my job way easi-

  “Radiation Poisoning.”

  An immediate burst of aura erupted from his body, surrounding him like emerald flames as his skin turned green and his height increased. I jumped back a couple meters and slammed my hands together, whispering “Grassyland”.

  Blades of grass shot out from each direction like a coordinated spear attack, however they shattered the moment they touched Jason’s body. Damn it! Blasting the ground with my Fatherly Beam was a good idea initially, but now that all the plants in the ground are dying, I had to find some other way to do damage.

  While the plants had gotten weaker, Jason’s skin had gotten harder. That wasn’t the only problem. Since I absorbed Sunflower’s body, I couldn’t release any kind of energy blast or construct for the time being—not until she fully reformed. That also meant I couldn’t absorb any extra energy as that would just taint the regeneration process. Which meant I would have to fight Jason… using only my body.

  Although, there was something else I would have to avoid in this battle…

  I pierced through the ground with my hands and pulled out a large slab of the floor. I leaped into the air and was about to bring down the slab when Jason spoke again.

  “Steroid Overuse: Roided Out.”

  The wood shattered instantly, sending sharp fragments flying everywhere as a force slammed into me, throwing me backward.

  That piece of shit was using his own power on himself! But if his power works the way I think it does, then how the hell is he still ali-

  “Where is the kid?”

  For the second time since I met him, Jason spoke like a normal person. I’m starting to think the other nonsense he spouts is just an act.

  “You talking about the kid you just decapitated?” I asked, readying a battle stance. “You’re not gonna see her anymore today. I can promise that.”

  “I have no idea what you’re talking about, Type Two,” he responded. His voice made the ooze over my bones vibrate uncomfortably, like jello on a moving plate. “Sunshine. I came for her.”

  I picked up one of the wood fragments from the floor. “You’re gonna have a lot of trouble with that task ‘cause she’s not with me.”

  “That’s unfortunate,” he said, scratching his neck with his blade. “Has death finally met her on your path towards survival?”

  “I got a question that I hope a prick like you can answer. The first time we met, the second I said my daughter’s name you slammed my head against the ground and said something about how I was gonna cause the death of you all. So tell me why you’ve been itching to kill her ever since I left that skyscraper!?”

  “I think you have the wrong idea about what I am, so let me exlp-” His sentence was interrupted by a shard of wood slicing through his sleeve. He looked at it momentarily and said, “As I was saying before, you have the wrong idea about who I am. When I first heard about Sunshine’s disease, I was under the assumption that it would kill me as well. It was until I heard that someone like me was actually immune to that fatal disease that I decided to choose another option.”

  “And what option is that?” I asked.

  “Those higher ups forced me to have limited options in the matter, and I despised that. So, I decided instead of capturing that girl, I will kill her.”

  ”Huh!?”

  “You sound confused. But the reasoning is very obvious to me.” He extended his arms, his radioactive aura radiating across the arena. “I am a man who believes that any competition should be snuffed out immediately, and that child is the most threatening competition I’ve had in the fifty years I’ve been alive. I want to live a life where I’m free to kill any random person walking on the sidewalk, and I will not lose to some girl who’ll kill the entire population using some cheat code disease. If that happens, who’ll be left for me? I need to kill your Sunshine so I can keep doing what I’ve always been doing.”

  Not even a second passed once I heard that speech before I charged towards Jason and punched him in his face. Once again, he treated my attack like a stuffed animal just struck him. He grabbed my skull and planted it into the ground.

  “You think I’d let a freak like you kill my daughter… after everything you’ve done!” I shouted, hitting his arms but to no avail. The guy’s hand was massive and his arms were too.

  “You will let me kill your daughter, and I’ll give you three reasons why,” said Jason. “You asked me a question earlier, about how I can live the rest of my life knowing I’ve done the things that I've done. The answer is simple. I can still live because I like killing and there isn’t enough room in my brain to remember all of the irrelevants I’ve killed.”

  The beating in my chest returned, and the pounding was almost painful. Of course it was… I was so confident I could destroy this guy once I absorbed a Type Two, and yet I pretty much erased any winning technique I could’ve used. However, I couldn’t just get manhandled like this while he talked all this bullshit!

  I decked him in the face again, but he simply grabbed my arm and…

  A scream forced itself out of my mouth. A crack had echoed through the air as a searing sensation filled my broken arm.

  “Reason number one…” He lifted me up with one arm. “You’re too emotional. No one should be this angry over a child dying. Especially in a world like this. If it makes you feel any better, a child is more likely to die from a zombie like you than me.”

  “Multiple…” I muttered, gripping his face with my other arm.“You killed multiple children in front of me! You tried to kill my own daught-”

  “Reason number two…” He grabbed my uninjured arm and crushed it. Another shriek escaped from me. “You love your daughter too much. That girl will be the death of you. Not yet though. I only intend to capture you.”

  “I’ll… kill-”

  “And finally, reason number three…” He flung me upwards.

  “Slammed into a Wall!”

  The world spun unexpectedly, and before I could register what was happening, my back slammed into the wall with bone-rattling force. The unseen power didn’t relent—it pressed harder, driving me through the wall. The ability only stopped once I plummeted to the ground.

  “You’re weak,” asserted Jason, approaching me. “And it’s through your weaknesses that allowed me to see how I could cause you the most pain imaginable. You didn’t feel any pain when I used my ability on you, but every time I landed a couple normal hits…” He shadowed over my body. “You felt it all, didn’t you?”

  I hated being forced to hear that final reason… ‘cause it was true. It’s not like I didn’t think up a few last minute plans during the battle, but at the same time… I did way too many things that screwed it all up! I bet if Sunshine was here, she’d probably find a better counter to Jason’s ability than just keeping his mouth shut.

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  Although, maybe there wasn’t anything wrong with that. There’s been plenty of times I’ve survived just fine by just doing the first thing that popped up in my head.

  Jason pointed his machete at me. “It’s time you come back with me. I’ll make sure to cut you up into pieces before I do though so enjoy it while it las…” His eyes widened even more than they already were. “You’re insane, Type Two!”

  The masked maniac had broken both of my bones, and yet there was a fire in my imaginary heart that commanded me to use them anyway. And so, I did. It hurt like hell, but I slammed my hands together and yelled…

  “Grassyland!”

  The grass that my pants were made out sprang to life, hardening into sharp, spear-like points. Then with a sudden lunge, the blades shot forward and struck him square in the chest, driving him backward as he grunted surprisingly. His boots skidded across the ground until he was sent through a small building.

  I dropped my arms to my side, and the grass returned to my legs. There was no way in hell I was gonna let Jason cut me up. The energy I absorb technically becomes mine, which would mean that Sunflower’s body was also my body. If I got sliced or stabbed in any fatal area, she'll come out with the same wound.

  I picked myself back up, my legs doing the heavy lifting while my arms remained limp. I then ran as fast as I could in the opposite direction, hoping my earlier attack at least dazed Jason enough for me to find someplace to recuperate.

  “You don’t look too good, mister zombie? You should really get those arms checked out!”

  I jumped in shock, turning my head to see… a dragon!? It looked like Rosalina’s dragon, though it was way smaller and a little chubby.

  “How the hell can you speak!?” I questioned, hopping over a fallen street light. “You’re a dragon!”

  It flew around me, examining my body. “How can you speak!? You’re a zombie, aren’t you?”

  “You answer my question first! And while you’re at it, turn back into that big form and start helping me!”

  “No can do,” said the dragon, resting its body on my head. “This is the first time I’ve looked like this, but I guess it’s because that big guy destroyed my body completely. I would’ve gone back to my normal form after a while…until you decided to bring out my seed and summon me again!”

  Bring out his seed? I don’t remember doing that! And I would remember pulling out something that looked like the thing Rosalima had in her dress.

  “Why would you keep my seed in your pants!? You’re supposed to keep me in the ground, you do know that, right?”

  If that’s the case… then the seed must’ve flew out once I used my grass technique!

  “Listen, the original user of these powers just gave them to me, so I don’t really know the specifics of her techniques!” I ran to a car on the sidewalk and sat next to it. “I only know how to use them. Not the best ways to use them.”

  The dragon flew next to me and lowered a bit. “That kid you absorbed, she’s not gonna come out in the middle of this fight. I give it a couple days.”

  “A couple days? I don’t have time for that,” I whispered, gesturing for it to quit flying. “That guy’s gonna destroy me before that happens. I thought this new form was supposed to make me stronger…”

  “You are stronger,” he replied, sitting down. “You’re just not using your new abilities to its fullest potential. Not even the other woman was doing that.”

  “Oh yeah? Tell me something I didn’t already know.”

  “You can spawn a lot more than just leaves and weeds. You realize there are a lot more parts of nature than just that, right? It's too bad I’m sensing a whole bunch of radioactive energy in the ground. If you planned on absorbing the previous user, then why would you destroy the one thing that boosted your power?”

  “I literally told you to tell me something I didn't know. And I wasn't expecting that psychopath to come here and fight me. He came out of nowhere.”

  “Does he have a tendency to come out of nowhere?”

  “Yeah, he d-”

  “Sliced to Bits!”

  Without warning, the dragon erupted in an explosion of tiny splinters. I attempted a dash out of the scene. I didn't get far as Jason caught me by my skull once again and turned my body towards him.

  Damn it! There is no way I'm gonna lose to this piece of shit! I am not gonna-

  “Just like we practiced, little lady!”

  Little… lady? That laid back voice sounded familiar…

  In that instant, an emerald explosion appeared on Jason’s back, causing him to stumble on his feet. His grip loosened, and I was able to shake my head enough to fall back to the ground.

  There was a kid in front of me…a girl. She held a metal bat in one hand and a status board in the other. Her clothes were… similar to what my daughter always wore.

  “Jerome, it hasn't been long but… I missed you.”

  Her voice, her hair…

  “Sunshine!?”

  A wave of confusion, relief, and happiness washed over my body at the sight of my daughter, Sunshine, standing in front of me. It had only been a week since we last saw each other, and yet it felt like an eternity.

  However, there was something different about her presence this time around. Her small body emitted an aura of newfound strength and confidence that, in my eyes, dwarfed Jason’s radiated bloodlust. And I wasn’t just thinking that because of that metal baseball bat she had in her grip.

  She literally had a green aura around her. My daughter was named Sunshine because she was the light of my life, lighting up any dark day I was going through. Now, she really was glowing.

  “S…Sunshine!” I exclaimed. The smile on my face might’ve cracked even more with how loud I said that. “You’re here! But what happened to our plan to meet back up in a month?”

  To my surprise, she readied a battle stance with the baseball bat, stuffing the status board in her jean pocket. “Apparently, a month’s already passed. Individually for us and possibly worldwide.”

  “Huh!? That can't be true!” I denied.

  “We can explain the specifics later…probably,” Sunshine responded. Her voice sounded different…as if she had actually grown older. But whose voice changes that much in a hypothetical month? “Anyways Jerome, we got someone else we need to worry ab-”

  Jason swung his machete at Sunshine, aiming for her chest, but my daughter was surprisingly able to jump out of the way. The blade sliced the concrete near my feet, creating a crevice. The realization that I was a bit too close to getting my feet chopped off made me back up a couple meters.

  Unlike me though, my daughter didn’t back down. Somehow, she was able to land hits on both his feet and elbows, the metal reverberating with each strike. Jason fell to his knees, and Sunshine hopped back, pointing at me with her weapon. “Jerome, the chin! Aim for his chin!”

  Taking her words seriously, I gave Jason’s chin a nice, hard kick. He spun through the air until he crashed into a red truck in the distance. I was confused on how I could suddenly send the guy flying when I couldn’t even make the guy bleed a couple minutes ago. What baffled me even more was that Sunshine was able to damage him. How much stronger did this kid get!?

  “Why didn’t you vaporize that freak! Your body’s glowing brighter than a flashlight right now!”

  “I absorbed something-well, someone, and I can’t release that energy or else something bad will happen to that person.”

  “Huh?”

  “I know it sounds confusing, but we don’t have time for long stories right now. How were you able to do all that!? It’s only been a we-”

  “Quick, put these one,” interrupted Sunshine, handing me two small, green orbs. They looked oddly familiar. “Like your ears… oh, shoot! I forgot you don’t have any ears. How can you even hear sounds in the first place? This makes everything so much harder.”

  I noticed that she had the same kind of balls in her ears and asked, “Why are you muffling your hearing with those? You know, hearing is very essential in a fight. You shouldn’t be so careless.” I thought that horse-head weirdo would’ve at least told her something that simple. I mean, she’s gonna get herself hurt!

  “Tell me all the phrases Jason used today!” She jumped up to my shoulders and held on. “Try to remember each one he used or we might be screwed!”

  “Phrases? You mean that power he has!? How do you know abou-”

  “We don’t have time for long explanations right now, Jerome! C’mon, phrases. Give ‘em to me!”

  I thought back to the fight I had for a couple seconds. “Um… he said decapitation… slicing things… he used his ability on himself and that caused me some trouble.”

  “Some trouble? Your arms are broken!” she said, scanning my arms. “Why didn’t you heal with your absorption thing already?”

  “Can’t absorb energy either,” I replied. “The person inside me wouldn’t be able to handle it all.”

  Sunshine raised an eyebrow. “What kind of person did you absorb?”

  “We can explain the specifics of that later… hopefully! I told you most of the phrases I remember, so now what?”

  “Now, you die!”

  Our attention shifted to the sky, and we realized that Jason had not only recovered from my kick, but he was also carrying the truck he collided with, twirling it in his hands like a basketball. I rushed towards my daughter, aiming to push her out the way, however she already moved out the way, leaving me alone to fend off the psycho.

  That was until I felt a lackadaisical grip on my viney hair that pulled me backwards before the vehicle was slammed into the ground.

  “Neeeeigh! Nice transformation, hombre muerto.”

  Oh no… I know that obnoxious sound from anywhere!

  “Jesus!?” I shouted, pulling my vines from his hand. “What the hell are you and my daughter doing here? And what's all this nonsense about a month already passing?”

  “We can talk about the specifics later… eventually.” He pointed his katana behind me. “For now, let's focus on the more serious task at the moment.”

  I looked back at the two and noticed Sunshine was in the middle of dodging Jason’s blade swings. “The hell are we doing standing around for while my daughter’s out there all alone!” I attempted to sprint back into the battle, but a flash of pain filled my arm. That bastard Jesus stopped me in my tracks…

  “Don’t get so desperate,” he said. The guy wasn’t even trying to keep a good hold on me, and yet it still hurt like hell. “You’re the one who put your trust in the little lady to get stronger, right? Just keep watching and you’ll find that she’s gotten pretty interesting.”

  “We can’t just do that! Jason’s ability could kill her instantly!”

  “Remember that thing about the phrases? The thing about Jason’s ability is that he can only say that phrase once before he has to kill something in the exact same way. If he’s already said the words you’re confident he did say, then your kid is safe from any insta-kill move.”

  “That’s useful to know. What about variations? I’ve heard him talking about gunshots in different fatal areas before.”

  “From my time with the man, I’m pretty sure his ability doesn’t allow him to do that. So, if he decided to use that tricky power again, he only has slow death options.”

  Did Jason really use up all of his instant killing phrases? How many of those phrases could possibly exist…

  “Explosion!” I screamed out, causing Jesus to jump in shock.

  “Aaaah… forgot about that one,” Jesus responded casually.

  Upon this realization, I tried to run to my daughter’s side, but the horse head weirdo wouldn’t let go of me. “Damn it, Jesus! Let go of me or I’ll make you!”

  “Explosion!”

  My imaginary heart dropped when I heard those words. My daughter was about to… Huh!?

  “Nothing happened!” I yelled shockingly.

  “Aaaah, so that’s why she was talking to him about earplugs,” he said, letting out an annoying neigh right after.

  My focus returned to the fight, and I noticed something was off about Jason. The guy was usually quick on his feet, catching me off guard many times. But his movements were gradually becoming pretty sluggish, allowing my nine year old to effortlessly whack Jason’s body with her bat. He panted like a dog in the summer sun while Sunshine hadn’t even broken a sweat yet. There were two phrases that the man had used on himself. Radiation poisoning and, the thing that must’ve been causing him the most trouble, steroid overdose. A combination of those two was a pretty stupid idea. He was just killing himself by the second.

  “Jesus, I have a plan to kill that sunnava bitch, but we’ll have to play the waiting game,” I said, taking a few steps to the right.

  “I’m aware of it,” he replied back, following me. “The guy’s heart is beating like crazy. And his skin has a weird zombie-ish tone to it.” He then pointed towards my daughter and added, “It seems like the little lady’s already figured it out though.”

  Sunshine dropped her weapon and clasped her hands together, extending her index fingers and thumbs to form a finger gun. There was a green mark etched on her forehead, illuminating Jason’s kneeling body. It looked familiar… like when that piece of aura showed up on her head when Johnny was being controlled by her Radius ability. Don’t tell me she’s about to-

  “Mind Trick: Dog.”

  Jason was paralyzed for a couple seconds, and my fatherly instincts were shouting at me to jump in there. Then, Jason placed his hands on the ground, shook his… ass, and began to bark incessantly.

  “Sunshine!” I approached her, confused about what she just did. “This is your Radius ability, right? How’d you learn how to do that?”

  My daughter, to my disgust, petted Jason’s head affectionately. “Like I said before, a month’s passed so I had time to learn a few moves. And I’ve been… wanting a dog so I guess learning how to do this was easy.”

  First a bed, now a dog… the world’s really changing my daughter’s look on things.

  “Jesus, how far are the other two from our location?” she asked as Jason rubbed his face on hers.

  I pushed the big guy off of my kid with my foot. “You two came with other people!? Who are-”

  “My energy sense tells me they’re a few hundred feet away from us,” he answered, walking over to us. “I’ll finish the job before they get here.”

  “And who is ‘they’? I thought you two were alone?”

  “Don’t worry about it right now,” said Sunshine, preparing to bash Jason’s skull, however Jesus stopped her.

  “I'll do it,” he said, raising his katana above his horse head. “You might waste your time limit using that slow method.”

  The man brought his sword down onto the barking man’s neck. I expected blood to be gushing out of a decapitated head, however Jesus’ arm was blasted back by an imaginary force while Jason panted heavily, oblivious to the fact his life could have ended there.

  “Geez, he directed all of his aura into his neck and made the ultimate shield with it,” said Sunshine. “But how can he do that when he’s still my dog!?”

  “Through sheer willpower, that’s how,” Jesus answered, caressing his shoulder. “Serial killers are the most stubborn pieces of shit in the world..”

  “I don’t see what the problem is,” I said, readying my foot. ”I’ll just aim for something else!” I aimed for his chest, but Jason was able to stop me, clenching onto my ankle.

  “Woof… Woof… Woo, Woo, Wo…”

  “Wolf’s Bite!”

  My daughter yelped in pain, and I immediately turned back to see what was wrong. She was clenching her arm, drops of blood seeping through the curved holes in her hoodie sleeve. A cloud of crimson filled my head as a surge of animosity filled every inch of my soul. My body twisted towards Jason on its own, and my foot was this close to connecting with his smiling face before an orb of green energy spawned out of nowhere, protecting Jason.

  This ball of protection looked very similar to… his.

  “You assholes! Taking the chance to deal with Jason while you knew we were busy with something!”

  My gaze shifted to the sky, and… there he was. Dante Williams descending towards us in a forcefield. I couldn’t hold myself back.

  I couldn’t contain the fury of seeing the man who started this entire thing the moment I saw his face.

  “Dante!”