Ok, all seriousness, I got wrecked. I already know I did. I could tell the moment I started reading that I should have taken this more seriously @_@. Welp, lack of confidence and shitty introduction aside, let's get on with this:
Crank's Story(Serif vs. Omni)(Numbers removed)
Spoiler (Click to Show)
“Don’t.”
He did. In a swift dash, Serif closed the foot remaining between them, ripping the blade from its sheath and forcing Ira to swing his own. The thick hides he wore kept Winters from freezing as he rolled on the ground to dodge, slashing his knife and cutting deep into the muscular man’s side before knuckles bashed into his eye, sending him into another pair of somersaults towards the sharp decline. Sprinting after him, Ira rose his edge high, but as Serif rolled to his back, he tore a bola from beneath his layers, gripping one stone while sending arcing the other up to meet the glitch’s wrist, coiling around the armed arm. A vicious yank robbed him of his balance and sent the sword into the snow, but at the very least, Ira was able to aim his downfall, tackling the seated Serif and sending them both over the edge.
Although the fall was brief and the snow was soft, the sticks and stones it concealed threatened to break their bones with their bodies’ bash. Their grunts echoed in the mass nothing as both men struggled to regain their footing, only the inked was just a moment slower. On his hands and knees, a swift kick found the gap between them, bruising the gladiator and forcing him back to his back, soon feeling the full weight of his foe on his chest. Glare from the sun seeped into Serif’s eye as he looked up at Ira, Earth’s star casting him as a dark silhouette as he rose his fists, viciously bring them down at the black, blue and orange man under him.
The first strike felt like it rocked what remained of the world, Winters’ cheek burying deep into the snow as pain blasted into his brain, while the next shut down his entire sense of hearing, leaving him with nothing but a ringing in his ear. He could feel the sudden splatter of something wet and warm from his cheek, only to freeze him in the blistering cold, but as his eyes cracked back open, they fell upon his knife, a few feet away, half buried in the snow. Squirming beneath his enemy, Serif was able to force him off his body, but Ira still remained in the gap between his legs, pounding on his eye until it threatened to seal shut. His brain pulsed with anguish every time his heart beat, but as adrenaline flowed through his body like a drug, he focused on the next incoming strike.
Like a viper, his left hand seized the sleeve behind Ira’s incoming fist moments before the right buried its fangs in the elbow. A dark calm radiated from Serif as his lifted his hips and Ira’s confidence felt its first blow as he felt the man’s legs wrap around his waist, forcing him to crouch his chest and legs in, while his arm was torn to the gladiator’s chest. With petrifying swiftness, the hunter’s legs opened and slammed shut, locking in beside his neck and left armpit before squeezing his knees and flipping him to his back as well, initiating a tug of war over Ira’s limbs.
Although he was deaf in one ear, he still felt the bone break in his arms and the shrill shriek the anguish it exploded pierced through his other. With a quick release, Serif quickly rolled to his knife, and upon snapping his palm upon in, forced himself back to his feet. Crimson trickled down his cheek and traced his jaw as he staggered back to Ira, the man’s bright green eyes bouncing somewhere between between seething and pleading.
“You don’t have to do this.”
Serif’s light blue eyes were like a layer of ice as he looked down at him, blade already stained in his blood, “Either both of you can live, or both of you can die. It’s up to Ida if she wants to fight me, or save you.”
“Wait!”
Light glimmered off the knife as he slammed it down, impaling it down in Ira’s stomach, snapping his eyes open in horror. Agony rushed up his spine and into his mind, but as he went to howl, a gurgle of blood was all that came out. Tucking into a ball as Serif withdrew his blade, the gladiator barely took a second glance. “Don’t make that decision for her.”
An all encompassing hatred boiled Ira as gore welled from his open wound, but as Winters limped to scale the incline, he couldn’t force any of the curses he needed out. Crimson was dribbling between his fingers as he fought to keep the wound pressurised, but as they shook in the freezing temperatures, he had no idea how long he’d be able to keep it up. His breath shook as Serif climbed to the top, but upon reaching it, it held. As bad as his limp was, Winters stiffened suddenly at whatever he was looking at, but his swift lunge was met by a hail of gunfire. Squirts of his blood fell over Ira’s head like streaks of rain, and as Serif toppled forward out of sight, one thing kept a grin from creeping into Ira’s cheek.
The woman’s shocked scream that accompanied the man’s howl.
...And then the gunshot that silenced it.
:::18 Hours Earlier; 1:58 PM:::
“I apologize, didn’t order this.”
“Someone ordered it for you,” The answer was replied with a casual shrug as the barista behind the counter pushed the 20oz paper cup closer to the space-stained gladiator.
“In that case, I don’t enjoy being in another’s debt.” In kind, Serif pushed in back.
“I don’t think he cared about it’s cost.” Back to the gladiator’s side.
“I don’t want this.”
“My boss is going to be mad if I have to throw it out, it was almost twenty bucks.”
“What? How?”
“It’s expresso.”
Serif squinted. “Do you mean a latte?”
“It’s all expresso.”
The warrior needed a few moments to process, blinking slowly before looking between the coffee cup and barista. Finally heaving out an exhale, he grabbed the cup, noticing its full weight while shaking his head. “You have my thanks.”
Turning around as he was bid goodbye, his gaze scanned the cafe, looking for the apparently painfully rich man whose appearance was described entirely as ‘you’ll know it when you see him’. In a city with a handful of the gladiator population however, that didn’t mean much. Right off the bat, there was a seven foot tall man with an even bigger broadsword strapped to his back, who was sitting across from a maiden whose eyes were literally glowing, with her bright pink hair somehow waving weightlessly without any source of air. A little ways away from him was a man more bandaged than a mummy, and then in a far off corner, another was dressed in bright enough sparkling colors to give someone a stroke. He however, was the one who motioned to Serif.
“Dexter Omni?”
“Please, my friends call me Dex,” Arising from his seat to greet the gladiator, the superstar-looking man gestured to the chair across from him, “Have a seat, you must be Serif Winters.”
“My friends call me Feet.”
“Alright Feet-”
“-Serif.”
A scoff forced itself out of Dex as he processed the disrespect. “Well, now that that’s out of the way, I was told you wanted to be part of my little game?”
“‘Want’ is a strong, inaccurate word,” Serif leaned back in his chair as the game-show host crossed his arms, “But I will do what I must to obtain what I need.”
“So tell me, what is it that you need? The stick out of your ass, or did you just lose it trying to get rid of whatever crawled up it and died?”
“Access to the RHG database. All the files they have, and all the footage they have on everyone who works for them.”
“That isn’t standard?” Serif’s eyes narrowed; Dex chuckled. “Oh so it was, you just lost it! Sure, that’s fine, I can make that happen. Do you know how this works?”
“I’m transported to a land to survive in.”
“Or die in. Statistically, to die in,” The host’s grin broadened as Serif’s arms crossed, “But essentially yes. Just kill all the enemies in the biodome of your choosing, and you’ll be sent right back to where you were. The whole thing is in a digital reality type thing, so don’t worry about killing anything there, nothing but you is real!” Receiving nothing but deadpan, Dex’s smile started to fade. “So, I suppose the last question I have, is where do you want to die? I’ve got a city, desert, volcano, snow and ice or ju-” His eyes seemed to light up as a thought struck him like a thunderbolt. “Actually, how about we do that one? Snow and ice? Since typically I pick out who gets to be the guests in my show, I think it’s only fair that if you’re making my choice, I get to make yours. Whether you give me the cold shoulder or not, I don’t think I can cheat my viewers all my winter puns, now can I, Mr. Winters?”
“The sooner we start, the sooner we end.”
“Which I’m sure will be very soon. Now,” Clapping suddenly, Dex practically jumped from the seat to his feet, “Let’s get somewhere private so I can introduce you to my damn machine.”
:::::::::::::::2:15 PM:::::::::::::::
A groggy, lightheadedness spun Serif’s world as his eyes focused on the fresh, glaring light. The blinding bright forced him to a squint, but as the moments passed and it hardly diminished, he was forced to accept that the new world was as white as well, snow. Blinking into something closer to focus, he lifted a hand over his brow to cast some form of shadow over his eyes, he was able to confirm he was, indeed, in a barren, hilly wasteland of freezing white. Dead trees scattered his surroundings with only a few live pines between them, and only the mountain range miles away seemed to be of note. Black stone could be seen from its sharp drops, and it appeared to be the only place that nature thrived in the bright white deadlands.
“Ladies and Gentlemen!” Not even a minute in, the bone chilling cold was already shaking the inked man to his core, crossing his arms so tightly they could’ve been welded together as Dex’s voice boomed from all directions, “It is my pleasure to introduce our newest contestant: Serif, The ‘Hero’ of New Salem, Winters! Don’t change the channel on this guy, he won’t even last as long as you do!”
’I won’t last?’ A light scoff echoed as the gladiator trudged forward, ungodly amount of espresso in one hand as the other snaked under his vest, withdrawing a metal bola from within. Already so late in his mission, time hardly mattered anymore. Whatever was going to happen to Olivia already would have, it was just a matter of finding her alive, or just ...finding her… Shaking his head violently, he needed to take another swig of his steaming liquid, giving his body an invigorating burn as he neared the first hill on the way to the mountains.
“And now that you’ve seen the odds, let’s get started with our first wave, something a hunter should be familiar with! Well, almost anyway.”
Surrounded by the vast nothingness, any sound could’ve easily traveled from miles away, but as a trio of howls reverberated throughout the BMICS, Serif doubted they were anywhere but close. Stopping in his tracks as he heard snow crush beneath a charge of twelve legs, his eyes darted for the nearest tree, and upon sight of the dead oak within ten feet, broke into a sprint of his own. He didn’t need to look over his shoulder to know what was upon him. Vicious dash suddenly accompanied by the mad barks and growls of rabid wolves, growing ever louder, Serif could feel the bests gaining on him. Tucking his drink into elbow, he jerked out his knife with his then free hand and wedged the blade into a small crevice along its edge. Striking down on the hilt like his hand was a hammer, the halves of the sphere cracked open in a slight splash of gasoline, dripping down his jaw before he pivoted as fast as possible.
Feet away from him, the full image of what was on his heels violently ambushed him. Almost twice the size of a normal wolf, each with hellishly long, snapping teeth, three godless monsters were rushing him. Blood of a fresh kill stained their pure white coat, thickest nearest their fangs and claws, pack leader preparing to dive into the air as Serif’s back met the tree. As if he’d seen worse from the wild however, with nothing but a cool intensity, he gripped each ball of his bola, pressing down the functioning one’s button before whipping it at the mutated muts. Gasoline arched the first rotation the weapon took, soaking the monsters in its fluids, as well as the hunter and the tree behind him, but when Serif rolled up the trunk like a magnet scaling a fridge, the second orb’s thrusters ignited in a haunting flash.
Guttural growls and booming barks shifted instantly agonized screeches as their thick fur pelts burst into flames. Already airborne, the pack leader bashed into the bark, sending the base of the trunk into a blazing inferno, chasing behind the pyro as the dying animals thrashed helplessly on the ground. Outrunning it with ease however, shifting one hand back to his beverage, Serif raced to an outstretched branch thick enough to carry his weight while digging a longer, stone bola out from within his leather. Staring at the beast lucky enough to have been spared by the brunt of the oil, the warrior waited until it quelled the last of the flames before plummeting from his perch, arching his weapon halfway down.
Within instants of each other, rope coiled along the monster’s neck and the inked man landed on it’s burned back, yanking his bola like cruel leash. Snapping and bucking at him with an unrelenting fury, the gladiator clung for dear life as he tightened his grip, threatening to cut off its air supply. After a time that would’ve made any cowboy proud, the wolf finally slowed, but the moment it did, Serif jerked its neck to the side, forcing it to turn left, and then forward immediately afterwards. Within seconds, he claimed the wild animal as his mount, racing onwards towards the mountains like a sunset.
:::::::::::::::7:03 PM:::::::::::::::
“Are you sure Dex is here?” Speaking in a hushed query, the bald warrior’s digital green eyes met those of his sister, sharing nothing but iris color with him, “I h