Free At Last

This morning, The Game Master transported the machine to the normal world. Before leaving, he informed me and Phantasm that the Devil Killer had been spotted on the Board, and he wanted us to take care of him.

We located him near the former Ace Of Spade's tower. I say former because he's apparently been fired. Anyway, we found him. He saw us, grinned, and a door to the Empty City appeared. He ran through it, leaving it open. Phantasm ran toward it.

“Wait, what are you doing?” I asked.

“Our orders are to take him out,” he replied. “Now come on.”

I followed him through. We searched the City for hours. We could find him. But I eventually felt something. The Game Master's died. I just got this feeling in my stomach when it happened.

Istopped in my tracks, and so did Phantasm.

“You felt that, right?” I asked.

“Yes,” he said. “But we need to finish the mission.” I drew my sword. “What are you doing?” he asked.

“The Game Master's dead,” I said.

“Yes, he is,” Phantasm said.

“There's no one left,” I said, “To stop me from killing you.”

“You wouldn't,” he said.

“I've seen you on the job,” I said. “You're a cold blooded, merciless killer. You don't care about putting innocents in harm's way. You deserve what's coming.”

I suddenly felt intense pain all over my body. I fell to the ground.

“What did you do?” I demanded.

“My emissary power,” he said. “I can control my aura, causing anyone around me to feel any emotional or physical sensation I want. Fear, joy, pain, itchiness, guilt. I can make you feel anythi-.”

He was cut off by the Devil Killer, who appeared out of no where and punched him in the gut.

“You're absolutely right about this guy being evil,” he said. “But you don't know the half of it.”

He removed Phantasm's hood, then vanished. I was left alone, looking into the face of Carlton Kallaway. My father was the Phantasm. But he wasn't as old as he was when I killed him the first time. He looked like he did in his old college photos.

“How is this possible?” I demanded. “How are you here?”

“The Game Master can not only restore life, but also youth,” he said. “I've been his Emissary since I was a child. After you killed me, he revived me.”

“I'm about to kill you again,” I said, raising my sword.

“Is that so?” he said. “You know, I never forgave you for the first time. And as you said; with the Game Master gone, there's no one to stop me from killing you.”

He fired a bullet from one of his guns. It hit me in the shoulder, and I was filled with negetive feelings. Guilt, sadness fear, regret, all sorts of emotions that I couldn't control.

“Another of my powers,” he said. “I can compress my aura into my bullets, causing any one hit by them to experience physical and emotional feeling so powerful that they're virtually impossible to resist.”

I heard the voice in my head again. The voice of the Brute.

“Most people can't resist your aura,” I said. “But I can!”

I allowed the Brute's power to flow. I charged at him. He dodged it and started running threw the City. I chased him. As we ran, I heard the buildings shifting. We were disturbing the Empty City. After a while, he turned around to face me. There was a burst of energy coming from his body. His cloak vanished, and was replaced by black and white armor, and his guns quadrupled in size. He fired a bullet from one of them. I dodged it, and the bullet crashed into the building behind me, causing the entire thing to come crashing down.

He smiled at me and said “This isn't even my final form.”

“Fuck you and your internet memes!” I yelled, charging at him.

The ground began crumbling, lava exploded from beneath us, the building can crashing down, and hands made of stone rose and started to attack us both. We were really pissing the City off. I fought with him. He was even more powerful. But he didn't seem to be trying to control my emotions anymore. Instead, he was just blowing shit up. I managed to get up close to him and sliced one of his guns in half. I swung my sword again, but he ducked under it and punched me in the chest. He was strong enough to send me flying. I got back up and charged at him again. Some of the City's hands tried to get in my way, but I cleaved through them. I got up close and hit him in the chest with my blade. His armor protected him, but he still went flying.

He got up and changed again. He sprouted a pair of metallic wings, his armor grew spikes and razor blades, and his skin and hair turned snow white with black markings. His gun transformed into a giant gatling gun. He flew up into the sky and began raining down explosive bullets all over the place. I did my best to avoind them. The Devil Killer appeared again, and we were surrounded by a dome of swirling flower petals. The bullets couldn't seem to penetrate the cloud.

“Listen to me,” he said. “You need to use the full extent of your power to win this.”

“I am!” I said. “I've been using all of my power against him!”

“You've only been using the Brute's power,” he replied. “In order to defeat your father, you need to combine the Brute's power and the Vision's power.”

“Is that possible?” I asked him.

“I've seen you do it before,” he replied.

I decided to take his word for it. I closed my eyes, and I tried to draw on the Vision's power. It was working. I felt a new strength flowing through me. It surrounded my body, hardening into a powerful armor. The tentacles that usually hold my sword when I'm not using it transformed into wings, and my sword expanded and became stronger. A helmet formed around my head, completeing the transformation.

“You'll haave to finish this fast,” the Devil Killer said. “You'll only be able to keep this power active for a minute.”

He vanished, and I charged at my father. His bullets couldn't damage my armor. I closed in on him and sliced through his gun. He tried fighting back, but I was stronger. I hit him with a powerful slash, and he fell to the ground. He reverted to his original form, and was grabbed by one of the City's hands. He looked up at me, with fear in his eyes. I landed on a nearby building as my powers wore off and my armor vanished.

“Please!” he cried out. “My son! Save me!”

“I glared down at him. “You don't deserve it,” I said.

He was dragged beneath the ground, consumed by the Empty City. I opened a portal into the Streams Of Destiny and returned to the normal world. The Devil Killer was waiting there.

“What happened to the Game Master?” I asked. “You know, right?”

“He was killed by Isaac O'Zalia, with the help of my younger self, the former Eight Of Clubs, and Malkator.”

“Good,” I said. “So he won't torture anyone else?”

“No,” he replied. “He's gone for good. Although, something had to be sacrificed to make sure he was gone for good.”

“What do you mean?” I asked. “What was sacrificed?”

“Malkator is dead,” he said.

“What!?” I exclaimed. “Why didn't you do anything? You could have stopped it, right?”

“He wouldn't have wanted me to,” he said. “This was Malkator's choice.”

“I see,” I said. “So what now?”

“Now you do what you want,” he said. “You're free now. You have no master.”

“I'm still a wanted man,” I said. “Wouldn't really call that free.”

“Well, I changed a few things,” he said. “Had to destroy a lot of documents and alter a lot of memories, but as far as the government knows, you're completely innocent. Go enjoy your new life.”

Then he vanished. I have no idea if he was telling the truth about making me innocent again, but I guess I can go ahead and test it out. I'll update later I guess.