Chapter 16

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I tapped my claws against the old tree’s trunk while the mist swirled around me. In my other hand, I held the rules of the next event. “Well, this is an interesting one,” I grumbled before looking at everyone else.
“Well, what’s the next event?” Anga wanted to know.
I cleared my throat as I began to read out the instructions, “Collect the most souls. Whichever team collects the most souls wins.”
“That sounds just like the first event,” Vlagor pointed out.
“Yes, well it seems like Alger wanted to mess around with the rules because there is something else,” I said.
“What do you mean Kakrix?” Chiyoko asked.
“Well, there is one extra rule Alger put here. We have to do it while we’re visible to mortals.” Everyone stayed silent for a few moments as they tried to comprehend what Alger was asking of us.
“So, let me see if I’ve got this straight. You’re telling us that Alger wants us to collect as many souls as possible, of any kind, of any number, while we are visible to mortals?” Anga practically shouted.
“That’s the only condition, Anga. If we break it and go invisible, then we are disqualified,” I clarified.
“Does it say anything about mortals seeing us?” Anga wanted to know.
I reread the words carefully before looking up at Anga, “No. It just says that we must be visible to mortals. Nothing about them seeing us.”
“Well, at least that’s a bit of a relief,” Anga grumbled behind her mask.
“Either Alger is getting cocky, or he’s an imbecile,” I hissed as I crumpled up the piece of paper. “Does he have any idea of the possible consequences?”
“W… Wait. There are consequences to being seen?” Chiyoko stuttered worriedly.
“There aren’t any consequences that affect us, Chiyoko. But let’s just say that from time to time, people surviving their encounters with deaths have unintentionally shaped the evolution of their civilisations.” I then heard Anga begin to laugh as I finished my sentence.
“Says the death who caused one of the most controversial debate of the century.”
“It was one time,” I growled.
“Wait. What is she talking about?” Chiyoko asked.
“Oh, you are going to love this.”
“Anga! Don’t you start!”
“So, I’m pretty sure you’ve heard of the mysterious creature known as Mothman.” Chiyoko simply nodded her head in response.
“Anga!”
“Well, you’re looking right at him!”
“Wait. So, you’re…”
“Yes Chiyoko. I’m the Mothman. Can we please drop it now?” I quickly answered in an attempt to shut this conversation down.
“Kakrix forgot that he was still in his visible form,” Anga blurted out laughing.
“It was an accident!! How was I suppose to know that I was still visible, and that my tail would fracture one of the Silver Bridge’s eye bars. Anyway, you weren’t exactly innocent yourself.”
“Please! I didn’t have anywhere near as much an influence as you did when it comes to shaping humanity.”
“That’s because I’ve been here for millions of years. I was bound to make a few mistakes.”
Before we could continue this discussion, Alger began squawking through his megaphone, “Third event is about to start! All remaining teams, get ready!”
“Well, here we go,” I told myself, unsure of whether I preferred doing this event or continue the discussion.
We set off towards the starting area. As we waited for the signal, I could feel the negative energy emanating from Anga. To no one’s surprise, she was glaring across the field at Sheri. And of course, her nemesis returned the look. I quickly tapped Anga on the top of her head with my tail, bringing her attention back to the event that was about to start.
“And… GO, GO, GOOOOO!” Alger shouted.
Quickly, everyone took off into the mist. Thanks to my flying ability, I was the first to come out of the fog. I quickly took a look around and sighed in frustration. “Of course, Alger would choose a place like this!” Anga, Vlagor and Chiyoko soon arrived.
“Woah! What is this place?” Chiyoko asked as she looked down at the city in front of us.
“Rio de Janeiro,” I sighed. “One of the most crowded city in the world.”
“Don’t worry Kakrix. How many humans can there be?” Vlagor optimistically declared.
“Try 485 million.”
“Ah! I see. Then this might be a problem.”
“Well, at least the one good thing about this is that it’s nighttime,” I said looking at everyone. “All right, listen up. We don’t have a lot of time, so this is what we will do. Anga and Vlagor will scour the outskirts of the city and pick off anything which sees them. Chiyoko and I will take the more populated areas. Now come on, let’s do this!” Anga lifted a finger in protest, but I quickly stopped her by saying, “Do you want to see your bar again?” She put her hand down and ran off.
“Nice work,” Vlagor complimented me.
“Thank you. Now get going before Anga does something she regrets.”
“Like getting distracted by Sheri?”
“Yes, like getting distracted by Sheri.” The enormous death gave me a thumb’s up and ran off after the hotheaded bartender. “All right Chiyoko, are you ready?” I asked as I picked her up.
“I… I guess so,” she replied while wrapping her legs around my waist.
“Then hold on,” I said as I quickly unfurled my wings and flew off while at the same time releasing my friends from my back. They quickly started encircling us, hiding myself and Chiyoko as a dark cloud. As we flew overhead unnoticed by those below, I searched for a place Chiyoko and I could land. Finally, I found an alleyway and dove towards it. Meanwhile, the monster birds kept hovering above the city, waiting for any order they may receive from me.
“Chiyoko, this is a very delicate situation, so try following my lead.”
“Okay.”
I hid her under my trench coat and then walked out into the open. I made it so my wings dragged on the ground and hid my tail, doing my best to have them appear as part of my trench coat. Luckily, in this more shadowy part of the city, black on brown was harder to distinguish. I kept my head bowed as my scarlet eyes scanned my surroundings. “Not a lot of people outside,” I mumbled, “Just the way I like it.”
“So, what’s the plan?” Chiyoko enquired.
“You see that house over there? I’m going to wait outside while you go in. Kill any of the inhabitants inside and come back out with their souls.”
“But wait! Kakrix, what if…”
“Chiyoko, you took down a mortal by yourself. You didn’t need the help of anyone to do it. Now, chances are, the people will be asleep. All you have to do is cut the main artery in their neck with your talon. After that, just hide and wait a few minutes for them to bleed out.”
“Kakrix, I… I can’t do that!” she protested.
“Chiyoko, if I thought you couldn’t do it, I would not have asked you. Remember the rockslide?” She nervously nodded her head. “This will be just like that. I know you can do it.”
“I… I… okay,” she stuttered.
I lifted Chiyoko through an open window and waited. As I stood there, I heard some voices coming from the house across the street. Based on the sounds, these humans were troublemakers. I simply leaned against the wall, trying to act casual. Just then, a man carrying a bag over his shoulder climbed, or rather stumbled, out of the window of the building. His two friends followed suit. Clearly, they were robbing the place, and judging by their ragged clothing, I figured they believed they didn’t have any other choice. As they began to move away, one of the men stopped and pointed in my direction. “Guess they saw me,” I silently whispered to myself.
They began to bolt, but I didn’t let them get very far. Revealing my wings, I dashed across the street and collided into the escaping thieves, forcing them into an adjacent alleyway. Before any of them could utter a word, I ripped the throats of two of them with my claws and drove my tail into the third’s skull. “This is going to leave a mess,” I muttered as I noticed the blood splatters from my attack. Looking around, I searched for anything I could use to hide the bodies. Just then, I saw Chiyoko’s silhouette coming towards the window. Thinking quickly, I stabbed my tail a few more times in their chests to make it look like a murder or robbery gone wrong. As I picked up the souls from the bloody kills, I flew back to the other side reaching Chiyoko just as she got there.
“Did everything go well?” I asked.
She nodded before telling me, “Are you sure it was the best way? I think they were suffering. The amount of blood… it was like a river.”
I held Chiyoko in my arms as I reassured her, “Don’t worry Chiyoko. I can guarantee you that it was a quick death.”
“How… how do you know?”
“I’ve seen a lot of botched injuries in my time. Those ones are the ones that cause the most suffering.”
“What now?”
“Well, we repeat.”
We kept moving from house to house, taking the souls of the inhabitants before leaving without a trace. From time to time, I may have gotten spotted by someone, but I was able to quickly dispatch of them. Eventually, I began to notice the night’s sky was being replaced by an orangey pink hue.
“We better find the others, Chiyoko. The rising sun is never a good thing for us in these visible forms.”
“Okay. If you’re sure.”
I picked up Chiyoko and flew into the fog where we knew Vlagor and Anga would be waiting for us. With any luck, those two will have managed to collect enough souls to get us to the final round.

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