Dungeon Raider System

It was the second day of the tournament and Uriel was running late, like usual. This time, though, it wasn't due to staying up late, but because he spent almost all of his time investigating. He did not know the location of his friends, though he knew at least Nika and Luna had to be safe. The former because he could feel it by just holding the statue that depicted the sunkissed huntress in his hand, even if he was unable to summon Nika the stone still allowed him to feel their bond. Luna's case was a bit more complicated as she shared a bond with the island of Atlantis who held power over the dreamscape and Uriel assumed that if something were to happen to Luna, the cryptid island would get in touch with him in his dreams. This was not a baseless assumption, but an agreement they had with the island and so far the island had acted as a reliable ally and even put its own safety at risk for them in Gibraltar.

But no mater how much effort Uriel put into searching for his friends or any clues, it was as though they vanished from the face of the earth. He even asked Sam if he could see the Pegasus in the distance, receiving a negative answer every time. This could have been taken as a bad sigh, especially considering how Sam's trait allowed him to see as far and wide as he wanted, but Medusa knowing how to evade this by using the curvature of the earth somewhat reassured Uriel that there was still hope.

Not that it made him any less anxious or worried, but he had bigger concerns quite in the literal sense as his next opponent turned out to be from a construction firm. Most construction firms had little care for security and some didn't even have a security division, but that didn't mean they were not powerful in the slightest.

Office workers who became hunters were usually on the weak side as they were mostly hired because they could stay up late and take extra shifts without getting tired, but blue collar workers were different. Their bodies had been forged in heavy duty work and were not just strong but also sturdy enough to withstand the not so rare accidents on the field. And that was without even taking into account that some of the most powerful earth manipulators were usually hired by construction firms.

Uriel now faced a team of just three members of a small company, even smaller than his, but each the three hunters were big enough to not fit through a normal door.

"So you're the one who likes beating girls, huh." One of them said as he cracked his knuckles and the fight begun before Uriel had the time to make a move or the referee to even get in place. As a small company they had little chances of winning the tournament, but they had a lot to gain by defeating one of the least popular competitors even if they had to break the rules.

Uriel attempted to dodge their tackles, but they were not coordinated and did not follow any pattern. They just punched and kicked wildly even if it meant hitting each other on occasion, and this was extremely effective against Uriel whom fighting styled looked way more chaotic that it actually was.

Each of his movements was calculated, but it served no purpose against the dissonant onslaught that rained upon him. Bruises all over his face started appearing and the few hits he managed to block still hurt due to the sheer strength of his enemies.

Needless to say, Uriel could have activated Dash and ended the fight in all of five seconds, but he decided against it since it would reveal his skill for his future enemies. Unfortunately, his decision came along with a lot of pain and by the time the fight ended, his appearance was so pitiful some of his haters turned around and actually clapped when he won.

Uriel lifted his hands in victory, his face almost unrecognizable and he received a loud cheer that felt good and bad in equal measure. Sure, being praised was always a good thing, but it showed how the public opinion was so quick to flip around.

"What a bunch of worthless hypocrites." Uriel fumbled to himself as he went to the medical bay of the stadium to have his wounds cleaned.

"You have a little something in your face, or what's left of it anyways." Charlie laughed.

"What do you want?" Said Uriel after wiping the blood streak that trickled down his forehead.

"Why didn't you take the Serum they're offering? You refusing something free is worrying," Charlie insisted, but this time Uriel refrained himself to stare at her until the silence became too awkward for her and she continued. "I saw your fight and it was awful. I know you can do better."

"And your point is?" Uriel lifted a bloodied eyebrow.

"My point is, you should. Things are going to get a lot more interesting now that only a quarter of the initial contestants remain. Your opponents are bound to be more powerful from here on and the fights will be longer. You've been lucky so far, but..."

"I'm thinking on quitting this stupid event. It sounded great while I had the backing of my company, but if I'm going to be the only one fighting then it's not worth it." Uriel let out a sigh.

"Not a great idea, especially now that your friends contacted us." Charlie said and proceeded to explain how their friends went from villains looking for redemption to actual heroes who saved the city from disaster.

"Even their fancy magical shield would have been useless if all our outposts fell. Without outposts hunters can't venture outside which would mean the city would not get enough flux orbs and without flux orbs to fuel the shield, it's completely useless."

"So, when are they arriving?"

"They still have a little more work to do out there, which is why I came to tell you in person. Make sure you win your next fight and then you can have your friends take over," Charlie said, then she lingered for a few seconds until she couldn't hold it anymore. "do you mind if I take a sip?"

She licked her lips seductively as she drew near giving Uriel a privileged view of her ample cleavage, vampire or not, it didn't make Charlie any less desirable and many would have killed to be on Uriel's shoes.

"Just one.... sip...," Her red eyes glimmered for a brief second, then fizzled out when she received a pucnh to the face. "geez! you could have just said no." She pouted, then realized a drop of his blood remained on her face as his fists too were wounded.

She passed her thumb across her cheek and licked it, though instead of the lust inducing sensation and the thrill of drinking blood, she spat it on the ground as though she found a worm in an apple she was eating.

"Your blood... are you a cryptid? No, if you were, then you would still be tasty... what is this?" She asked out loud, though her words were cut short by a knife to her neck and a faint cover of shadows that emerged from all over Uriel.

"You can't kill me..." Charlie muttered.

"Is that a challenge?" Uriel asked in a whisper.

"Come on, I'm your friend." She stuttered and it was then that Uriel decided to check his system app and confirmed she really counted as a friend.

"Just keep quiet." Uriel said as he lost all interest in killing Charlie despite knowing she would probably not keep quiet.

"What happened to you? You are not the same Magnum I knew."

"A lot, maybe too much," Although Charlie did somehow count as a friend, there was little trust between them and their relationship was purely transactional. Uriel concluded that the only reason Charlie appeared as a friend was because of their relationship as teacher/apprentice they had back in college, but they had changed so much after that it didn't make much sense. "have you ever heard about the ship of Theseus?"

"I do not know that guy, but if he's rich you could maybe introduce him to me." Charlie half joked half blushed.

"It's not a guy, it's a thought experiment. A ship's planks will decay in time and need to be replaced. After the years, the ship will not have a single of its original planks or components which raises a question. Is it still the same ship? That is how I feel."

"I get it... so you're saying that your taste changed because you changed." Charlie nodded knowingly.

"Not that, you dumbwit," Uriel passed a hand throughout his face in frustration. "I'm saying that I've been through so much, I don't know what's left of my old self anymore and I thought maybe you were going through the same since... well..."

"Not at all," Charlie shrugged. "I'm the same person you knew, only more awesome and with a more restrictive diet."

Silly as it was, his conversation with Charlie turned out to be more productive than Uriel could have ever expected. Not only did she reassure him that his friends were fine, that she was a friend, it also gave him some hindsight about himself.