Deadly Decadence

Sweet Victory

I forgot to bring my training clothes to school, so I needed to go to our house first before going to Uncle's shop. I told Alisa and Lance to go ahead to the shop even without me.

After grabbing my training clothes, I bid my goodbyes to mom and walked to the Hunters' Lair. I'm in a hurry since I have wasted a few good minutes since I have to come back home. I accidentally bumped a man. When I looked at him, he is actually in a group of men, wearing business-like attire. As I observe them, I noticed they were familiar. Then I remembered they were the same group of men Uncle Vadim once had as customers, that time where he seems to be unhappy having them in his shop.

"I'm sorry."

I bowed to them in an apology for bumping one of them.

"Don't be. It's okay."

One of the guys tapped me on the shoulders and smiled at me. Although I can't smile back, he was doing this creepy kind of smile. That kind that gives you the chills? Like he is planning something that can't be good for me.

"Thank you. I'll go ahead."

I bow again and start to walk away from them and to Uncle's shop.

"You look familiar."

I stopped when the guy that smiled at me grabbed me by the arm. I look at him and to his hand that is holding me.

"I think I saw you once inside that shop." The guy continued.

I yank my arm from his grip,

"Yeah, I saw you once in the Hunters' Lair. Why?"

He grinned, now I'm creeped out by him.

"That's interesting. We're Aevum, well just a part of it, but we are in charge of the external affairs of a game organization."

"Aevum? Wait that sounds familiar..."

I start to think of why Aevum sounds familiar. My eyes widened when I remember they're the developers of Deadly Decadence.

"You are the creators of Deadly Decadence?!"

I start to back away. What if they remember me? What if they are thinking that I'll be sabotaging their plans of dooming humanity?

"Yes. Are you interested in playing the game?"

I gulp. But I have to play along, right? If I tell them that their game will be the cause of the zombie apocalypse, will they care? What if they are behind that apocalypse? What if they wanted that to happen?

"Yeah! I've been waiting for it since your first announcement. Actually, my friends and I have been looking forward to it."

I smile as enthusiastically as I can.

The guy's smile softened a bit as he looks at me,

"Here, it's a gift code. Once we release the game, you can redeem it. It is such an honor that you were interested in our game, and were very patient about it."

I smile as I receive a card with a series of letters and numbers on the back of it. On the front of the card are their name - Aevum, and a picture of the game, Deadly Decadence.

"Thank you. My friends and I can share this, right?" I asked.

"Yes." They bowed and started to walk away.

"Wait!" I stopped them.

"What is it?" The guy asked.

"Why did you advance the date of release of the game?"

I ask them. There must have been something with the way I asked them as his reaction slightly shifted from someone bored to pure interest.

"Why, I'm sure we've announced the reason for that."

He smiled at me. If he was creepy a while ago, he is even creepier now.

"Y-yes. But, I feel like you're rushing things."

"If you're afraid that there would be a lot of bugs because we'll be launching the game far ahead of the date we first set, don't be. We had everything ready already. Just as we said, a few debugging is all we need."

"Oh, I see. Thank you for your hard work." I bowed to them and walked away.

When I entered the Hunters' Lair, Uncle was already waiting for me.

"What took you so long?" Uncle asked.

"Did they come here?" I asked.

"Who do you mean?"

"The group from Aevum?" I replied.

"Why?" He asked.

"I met them on the way here."

"You met them?!" He asked, looking quite surprised.

"Yeah. Did they not come from here?"

"Yeah, they did. Did you talk to them?" Uncle asked. He looks worried?

"Yeah. They were thankful that we liked their game, Deadly Decadence. They even gave me this gift code."

I showed him the card that the guy from Aevum gave me.

"Is that all?”

I looked at him curiously,

"Should there be something more to talk about?" I ask Uncle.

"No, nothing. Prepare yourself already."

He handed me Kronos, the retractable ones. His mood seemed to have changed after talking about my encounter with those men from Aevum. I decided to not press the topic further and prepared myself for the fight instead.

I entered the training grounds and saw Lance and Alisa warming up on the dummies. I called out to them as I proceeded to jog around the field. They waved back and went back to fighting the training dummies. After running and drinking water, I joined them in fighting the training figures.

Later, Uncle called all of us. He briefed us with what we should do in the fight. All of them will be wielding one dagger only. My eyes widened when I realized that they will fight me at once. They are not going to take turns.

"What?!"

I heard Uncle chuckle,

"You know how to fight one on one. Let's see how you can fight more than one person."

"Shouldn't it increase one level first? I mean, now that I can fight one on one, maybe now I can fight two people?"

I suggest, smiling sheepishly.

"No, I don't like even numbers."

Uncle smirked at me. It somehow annoys me.

"Geesh. Why??"

"Position yourselves."

Uncle positioned himself first in the fighting arena. Alisa and Lance followed, so that leaves me no choice.

I sigh as I go to my position and brace myself for their attack. Alisa attacked first. I swerve out of her way, but then Lance attacked as well, and I barely dodged his attack. I shifted on the other side, but then Uncle was there, and he captured me. I look in horror as Lance and Alisa charged in our direction, aiming to attack me.

I held Uncle's arm that was holding me captive. With all my strength, I threw his lithe body towards Alisa and Lance. I'm not sure how, but I just don't want to lose in this fight. I heard them grunt as they all fall to the ground.

Uncle was the first to recover. I get ready for the next attack, my daggers prepared on both sides. Lance was the first to attack this time. He was aiming at my exposed neck, so I ducked and sliced his stomach, got out of his way, and when he toppled over, I finished him with a stab on the back of his neck. I looked at Alisa in the eyes as she charged. But I can't see in her eyes where she is aiming for. Her eyes shift from one position to another. I was taken aback when she tried to stab me in the face, it's a good thing that I blocked her, barely. Her dagger is just a few centimeters away from my face, and I manage to push her away by kicking her on the stomach. I heard her grunt as she was thrown a few steps back.

I wasn't able to notice when Uncle attacked me on the side. Stupid of me to forget that sides should never be forgotten; I face him and fell on the floor, blocking his weapon with mine. I grunt as I try to push his dagger away from my neck. I kicked him on the shin and pushed him away with my other hand. I feel Alisa coming on our way, so I finished Uncle with a clean stab on the neck and turned to face her. I was kneeling when I stabbed Uncle, which made it difficult as she attacks me from above. My hand starts to tremble as I defend myself from her dagger. I feel her put more of her strength into her attack, making the blade going closer to my neck. I gulped, and then I remember that I am only defending myself with one hand, my other hand free. I sliced her hand that was holding her weapon and turned her around. I stood up, kicked her on the back of the knees, and swiped my dagger on her throat as she falls down.

I gave in to exhaustion as I sat on the ground and sighed. I heard Lance and Uncle clap a few seconds later. I smiled and walked to Alisa and helped her stand up.

"That was impressive, Albie!"

Alisa giggled as she hugs me.

"You were impressive too, Alisa." I replied.

"Thanks. Close-combat is really not my kind of thing, though."

"Yeah, and yet you gave me the hardest time." I cheekily smiled at her.

"You must be underestimating yourself." I added.

"Oh, you." Alisa giggled again as she slightly hits me.

"First of all, how were you able to throw me?" Uncle chimed in.

"I don't know either! Must be adrenaline rush?" I replied.

"Or you just wanted to win, I know how you badly wanted to train with the long-range weapons, Albie."

Lance stated, chuckling.

"Yeah, maybe. Yeah, that’s it." I chuckle.

"Well, I guess you're ready to train with those weapons." Uncle agreed.

"Yes!" I exclaimed and jumped in happiness.

They all laughed.

"Congratulations, Albie." Alisa hugged me.

'Ahh, what a sweet victory.'

I thought.