Day Two

[Gildarts]

Gildarts carried a hefty bundle on his back and proceeded to leave his hideout, even if it was raining Omni's fury.

The Prime had found his previous building choice both too dull and too cold, not to mention he needed to find food for the night. With a dubious glance outside, he inhaled a breath of strength from the air and his eyes braced against the rain as balls of water that hung on his eyebrows and streamed down his cheeks. Karl hadn't been kidding when he said the weather could kill. The Game Master had even read off a list of the day's casualties, and Gildarts confirmed his own suspicions. People were playing the game, and the names he had heard of the victims, all competing against the same fate. .

The warrior Prime, possibly the most prepared for battle, had yet to encounter a single condemned soul and only just now did he realize why. Karl must have known the Ace's righteous personality inside and out. Gildarts could only now see his fault, he had previously lacked conviction. Conviction to kill. As far as he knew, everyone who had signed up for this tournament had agreed when they signed the dotted line and had not been tricked as he had. When they had chosen to participate, this meant their goal was to kill anyone who got in their way. Kill him.

This epiphany suddenly made things so much simpler. This meant they all were his enemy, even before they had met on their war ground.

Thinking back to Jon Snow, his first acquaintance in this treacherous limbo, and later to his run-in with Cindy, those competitors had both seemed to know what war would come and of the battle that would rattle every man who dared to draw their blade.

Gildarts was convinced that this stormy solitude was Karl's way to provoke the mighty Gildarts, who ever-hungered for a reason to do battle, but always fought to keep it tame. Now he saw his precious justice was flawed and even considered Karl's motivational prompts, "Karl, if you can hear me, I'm coming for you. This is the last time you wrong me, but oh, I'll make it a good show, don't you worry. I'll show you who the real master is, even in this pretty necklace you gave me. A man who pulls the strings is never worth more than the puppet he makes his profit on."

The words revealed that Gildarts was growing wise to his damned fate. Death was inevitable and Gildarts had now criminalized the participants for killing their fellow Primes as an excuse to get even. The battle had warped him, and he had yet to draw blood. "Whoever I stumble across, let it be their defeat! If they have chosen to play this game of death, let them at least meet the best you have do offer."

He clutched his metal fist as the spiteful words echoed in the pouring rain, heard by no one.

Suddenly, the unexpected happened. An animal dashed out in front of him -or wait, had it been a roof panel?- he heard a low shriek but debunked it as merely the wind. He was unconvinced, that was, until he noticed something follow the panel.

Someone's there! His heart lurched with excitement, enlivened by the idea of escape, but then remembered the words he had spoken, those touched by the vengeance of a selfish man. Though, it was perhaps the philosophy of the abyss to resort to self preservation in the twisted way that convinced a man that loosing one's true nature was the same as saving it.

THWAK! A ripple of wind gusted too close to him and effected his dark cloak so he flapped like a super man before catching a current upwards and falling ungracefully over his face.

His upside down cape caused his new audience to burst with laughter despite the cold sorrows that cascaded with the pouring rain. They had been in pursuit of the roof panel, but stopped when they heard his splash in the mud.

After flipping back his cape, slowly his eyes scaled the group, jogging from the young man who sprinted away from him to the short Guu, and later falling on the mini monster. The Ambrosia goddess extended a widened smile at this unexpected predicament.

"Gildarts is that you? It's so good to see you!" Guu seem sincere, and prompted the purple one likewise.

There was a suspenseful silence, of course he was unmistakable, the question had been a formality, instilled by the island itself.

In response, he dropped his chin and his respect for his leader made his body appear rigid and small, "Sorry I'm not sure I'd be much use to you, this island has taken my magic. However, if you'll have me, I'll fight with my life on the line." His genuine eyes moved to Guu with a profound seriousness that sliced through the torrents of wind, "For Ambrosia."

"What are you talking about Gildarts?" Guu, now soaked from the rain and meeting the man on equal terms. Her tone implied she had been expecting him, perhaps. "You remember Desco?"

Yogsothath eyed the enemy and seemed protective over the purple Desco, while Guu attempted to break the ice but suddenly seemed to remember something, or rather, someone. With a gesture he followed the two girls, the purple one kept looking back at the threatening persona the caped hero carried in his gait, it seemed she couldn't decide whether he was a friend or to be considered foe. Soon they came upon a strange young man wearing an eye-popping color.

With the flicker and turn of his straw hat, the greeting Gildarts received was not the one he was expecting.

"Meat?"