Chương 5: BLOODMONEY

T'balt was screaming in triumph. The boy had earned his first kill. Now he was a man. He fell to his knees.

"Finallyyyyy!" he yelled.

"The Crimson Deer King has been slain!" But nothing happened. There was a dead ten-foot deer in his living room now. T'balt almost expected there to be some level-up symbol appearing above his head. He defeated his first enemy after all. There had to be something. But he supposed he was equating the situation too much with a video game. Yet that's exactly what he felt like it was. Every time he died, he returned to a checkpoint at the beginning of the day.

Strange monsters appeared that were entirely too hostile to be natural. Hell, he just bested a deer with a flaming sword. If this wasn't a video game, he didn't know how he was going to cope.

"What are you talking about? What's going on up there?" a muffled voice yelled from the basement door. T'balt had nearly forgotten about Chosa being locked in the basement. He hadn't thought as far ahead as to what he was going to say to her or how he was going to explain the thing lying dead on the ground or the destruction happening out their front door. Also, the front door was now a massive hole in the wall.

"Are you still alive? Please don't tell me I'm gonna die locked in a basement?" She sounded near tears. T'balt gave in and opened the door. And waited out the storm. When she saw everything, she grew near catatonic with horror. Chosa apparently played the role of an NPC. Her memories didn't carry over like his did. Thus, it always took her a while to process everything. Sometimes it started with a scream. Sometimes she fell over in a panic. Once, she just ran away, and T'balt didn't see her till the next life.

But this time, she saw the end of the world and was mainly concerned about why her boyfriend was not concerned. T'balt kicked his feet up on the couch, almost posing after a job well done.

"T'balt. Explain. Now," Chosa said.

"You know, Chosa, I really wish I could. You'd think after thirty-plus times I'd have some answers by now."

"Thirty?" T'balt shrugged at the question.

"What is that thing?" she said.

"The Crimson Deer King. The first boss battle. You would've been proud of the way I took it out."

"You killed it?"

"What? I'm capable." The smoking gun on the floor proved to her exactly what happened.

"Well, I'm glad it's dead, whatever it is." Her curiosity pulled her to observe it.

"What's this?" She knelt next to the beast, noticing a small gold coin had fallen by its neck. It looked like it popped right out of it. Not thinking she picked it up, analyzing it like an ancient artifact. It was full of hexagonal lines with a small symbol that looked like fire on top of a knife. The coin suddenly jumped all on its own, popping from her hand and to the ground. Chosa sprang away from it.

"What's the matter?" T'balt asked.

"That thing is alive!"

"What thing?"

"The coin!"

"That's new."

"What do you mean, new? Kill it!"

"I'm not just gonna kill everything I see. It's not a roach." Though the coin did seem to grow roach-like legs and scurried across the floor right towards Chosa. She squealed and jumped around the house. T'balt couldn't chase it because he could hardly keep track of it. Chosa had resorted to throwing couch cushions.

"Did I get it?" she asked, catching her breath.

"I don't know." But just like a roach, it moved silently when unseen, finding the back of Chosa's leg and latching on as it scaled up her body. The tiny legs made her cringe and claw at her back at every point of her spine.

"Ah, it's on me! Kill it! Please kill it!"

"I don't see it. Where?" But then she suddenly stopped moving, clapping her hand to the back of her neck.

"I think I got it."

"Let me see." She moved her hand with the greatest caution.

"Is that a tattoo?" T'balt asked.

"Who cares about a tattoo? Is the thing still on… Ahhh." It was then that her hands burst into flames, and bright orange light materialized from a puff of black smoke. The smoke swirled around Chosa, sparking the flames of little chaos until it formed the shape of a long sword, cloaked in fire. If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it. To say she was freaking out would be the understatement of the apocalypse.

She started swinging around her hand like a maniac, but the sword was glued to it, and her squirming did nothing but add another hazard to their already hazardous lives.

"Chosa. Stop freaking out, please!" T'balt cowered in the corner.

"What is this thing? It won't get off of me."

"I don't think it's hurting you." T'balt threw up his palms in a sign of peace. She stopped flailing and took measure of the sword.

"That's the same sword the deer king had," T'balt pointed out.

"Why do I have it?"

"Yeah, why do you have it? I'm the one who killed it. That's totally not fair. You stole my loot."

"T'balt be serious."

"I am serious…" He considered a moment.

"It must've been that strange coin that gave it to you". He took a measure of her, unable to deny that Chosa looked pretty wicked. She was still in her normal gothy clothes, but black smoke swirled around her hand like it was emanating from the long sword. She was obviously no swordswoman, but it looked no different than an extension of her hand.

"Can you… put it away?"

"Put it where? In my pocket? It's on fire."

"Well, it appeared out of nowhere. Maybe you can make it disappear back into nowhere."

"No, wait. This is fine. I'm getting used to it." Then, for seemingly no reason, she swung it towards the opening in the house, and a wave of red flame flew into the ground outside. The ground burst into flame where it landed.

"Wow," was all T'balt could say. Chosa was laughing then, like all of her adrenaline was spiked with that one explosion of power.

"It's like I have superpowers." She swung it again, this time at the ground in front of them. Red flame and black smoke erupted from the point of impact. The heat sent T'balt cowering into the corner again.

"Maybe calm down a bit, Chosa. This is my grandparents' house and all," T'balt complained. Almost like she came to her senses, she looked back at him. In a few moments, the long sword had disappeared back into that black smoke like it had never existed in the first place. Normal Chosa was back.

"How'd you do that?" he asked.

"Oh... I just thought about it, I guess."

"Chosa, I think you do have superpowers."

"Yeah," she said, staring into her palm.

"So what now?" A sharp roar rumbled the house, interrupting the thought. In almost an instant, a black shadow was flying down at T'balt's head.

"After all that, I still get killed," he thought, but in the same split second, the thing was cut in half and bursting into flames. Both pieces had flown straight past him, and Chosa's hands were smoking.

"Now I get how you were able to kill that thing. What did you call it? The Crosseyed Deer King?" She was fluid, almost natural, suddenly wielding the sword like she was born with it. T'balt didn't even see her move. Was she really that fast to have killed that beast in the middle of its leap?

"The Crimson Deer King and uhh… thanks for that," he said meekly.

"Don't mention it… so what does yours do?"

"My what?"

"Your tattoo." T'balt suddenly remembered. She did mention once that he had a tattoo on his neck. And she described it as looking like a coin. He ran into his bathroom, straining his neck to try to get a look at it.

"Here, I'll take a picture of it." Chosa snapped a photo with her phone and showed it to him. It was nearly the same as Chosa's. Burned into his skin with strange hexagonal patterns. But the only difference was the symbol in the middle. It looked like an ouroboros. A snake eating its own tail. He rubbed the back of his neck, staring at the photo. The symbol didn't feel like it was moving anytime soon. It was fused with his skin somehow.

Then he realized, "That must be what's giving me the power to turn back time," he thought.

"That explains it. Well, not really, but whatever's happening to me, this mark must be responsible, right?"

"I don't think we have time to be lounging around! That thing had friends!" Chosa exclaimed. Then, almost ten more shadows jumped in from the holes in the house. They stalked them, blocking off every escape. They were hellcats with blade-thin black fur and giant, unnatural-looking front claws. Chosa summoned her flaming sword, ready for battle. He couldn't tell if it was her or the coin in her neck, but she seemed thirsty to fight. Almost like it made her giddy. T'balt stayed behind her.

Even though he did have powers from whatever those coins are, they didn't make him any more useful in a fight. He still had to kill that deer king with normal strength and intuition. And this time, he didn't have the advantage of already having seen all the opponent's moves. But ten on one was too much even for that sword. If only he had a superpower like Chosa did. There was a snap, and the hellcats leaped at Chosa, and she jumped back, standing her ground. She swiped at one, burying it in flame.

But the others swarmed. T'balt was left completely alone, Chosa clearly being seen as the only threat. She held her own for a while, but the numbers were too much. One of the hellcats bulldozed her, sending her flying through the wall. She was flung at a speed that no human could survive. T'balt was sure she was dead.

"Chosa!" he called, running. But then all the hellcats turned on him, having brought attention to himself. He froze, not knowing what to do. He didn't know why he was still so afraid. If he died, he just reset back to zero. He was fine. So why was his heart beating like mad? If Chosa was hurt, then he should die anyway, right? That was the only way to make sure she was okay. Next time, he could see this coming and prevent it from going this far. That was the power he was given: Rebirth.

He lowered his hands as the hellcats charged at him. But again, he was saved by red flame. He couldn't believe his eyes. Not only was Chosa okay, but she hardly seemed nicked at all, besides a bunch of loose hairs. She looked still ready to fight. And the hellcats came at her. T'balt was stunned. But not for long. If he kept sitting around, next time they really would kill her. He had to do something. What kind of boyfriend would he be if he just let Chosa fight this battle for him?

That's when he noticed the coin on the floor. The symbol in the middle looked like a pair of clawed fists, the same on the cat Chosa had cut in half. Without thinking, T'balt slammed it on the back of his neck. He felt a surge of power tingle his spine. He took a long, sharp breath, and out came the black smoke, his hands now covered in huge, dark gauntlets. Knives loomed from the knuckles. Now it was his turn. He leaped in headfirst, throwing fist after fist, downing one hellcat, then another.

He grabbed one by the throat and tossed it, the gauntlets being imbued with strength. Chosa was quick to react and cover the hellcat in flames. Then the rest were easy to clean up. Like picking off fish in a barrel, the hellcats fell one after another until there were none left. When it was over, T'balt wheezed, catching his breath. As did Chosa. Using these powers seemed to be pretty taxing on the lungs.

"You okay?" he heaved.

"Are you kidding? I've never felt better," she laughed. He returned the laughter.

"Same here."