Collide Gamer

John had intended to take Ehtra along for this trip. Since he had just assigned her to another front, he had to take another choice of bodyguards. As he was using his real body for this trip, he would also have the elementals with him. It was a massive amount of protection already, but more never hurt.

Aclysia was the first to volunteer. It was the first time in a while that she was willing to take more than short breaks off the task of aiding Rave in the wedding preparations. ‘One could think it’s her wedding,’ John thought. ‘Always so dedicated to making sure everything around me goes off without a hitch.’

Nahoa and Eliana then also wanted to tag along, which put them at a level of firepower that was more than enough for security. They were back in San Jose swiftly courtesy of Lee. The young Fateweaver only dropped them off, though, immediately returning to her part in the mission of finding their Kingdom-portal-maker.

‘Who really needs a better codename,’ John thought.

Moving from the drop-off point back to where the Hispanic family lived only took about an hour. John was quite spoiled when it came to travelling quickly and in style. Sure enough, he had managed to prepare a car for the drive, but that didn’t free him from traffic.

“Surprised you came along,” John pointed out.

“I’m taking my last fucking chances at outings before I get gravid and have to live in the horror of staying in the comfy fucking house all day.”

“Saaaaame!” Nahoa drawled cutely. “I’ll be, like, so round with having a baby that’s the size of that guy in a body my size!”

“It will be interesting to find out how my genetics work on that front,” John said. “What’s passed down is complicated at the best of times and me being mostly magic and all you who are entirely magic… it’ll be interesting.”

“Very well worded, Master,” Aclysia took her rare jab at his expense.

John smirked widely. Her choice to live in submission to his lifestyle was that much more appreciated for knowing she wasn’t all servant by nature. Aclysia presented herself that way, certainly. People who had seen her upset knew better.

‘Then again, one has to wonder if the definition of what a maid is in modern times won’t be changed to ‘whatever Aclysia embodies’. Would be a fitting development.’

Their drive ended when they found a parking spot. As before, John felt reassured in his safety by just how important he looked. The streets were mostly empty anyhow. For Hispanic neighbourhoods the same went as for most neighbourhoods: the vast majority of people just wanted to mind their own business.

The streets were littered with the remnants of New Year’s explosives. Plastic caps and shreds of cardboard added further dirt to an already messy sidewalk. No one was cleaning it up. ‘I really dislike big cities,’ the Gamer thought. ‘Or do I just dislike big, dirty cities… no, I have been to clean ones. It’s just too much of an anthill in general.’

John found a note taped against the house door of the family.

“Please enter the Barrier,” he read out loud. “…Not sure if safety concerns or an ambush.”

“I suspect the latter,” Nightingale said with a sigh. “Shall we dispatch them swiftly?”

“Is that dispatch as in murder their fucking souls out or dispatch as in making them paraplegics until we feel kind?” Eliana asked.

“Both feel a bit over the top,” John remarked.

Aclysia managed to sound graceful while saying, “Constant disobedience to your designs, Master, should be met with adequate punishment.”

“I think shattering a spine is a bit above adequate for minorly annoying me.” John rolled his shoulders. “In any case, I decided to leave the Double at home, so I might as well sort this out personally.”

They entered the Illusion Barrier together.

It was the least surprising that he found himself in the bottom of an arena. The ground was marked by the vortex-shapes that came from Esmeralda’s powers. Reality had been manipulated into a flat circle, surrounded by the crest upon which the family was seated.

“There he is!” Carlos shouted.

The male part of the family descended into the arena. There were more of them now, their total ranks having swelled to 12 male individuals and 11 women, who remained up in the stands. Esmeralda watched it all with her elbow on the railing. Her expression was a mixture between annoyance and deep amusement.

“I take it you have elected to try and beat me up again?” the Gamer asked.

“You kissed my daughter, you’ll have to forgive me a bit of vengefulness,” Carlos declared.

As before, John didn’t even try to make the argument that technically she had kissed him. For one, it wouldn’t land and, for two, he couldn’t make it believable when he had put her in the most suggestive pose the end of a dance allowed. He was just going to take this cross and bear it.

“Well, let’s set the rules then.” A gesture by the Gamer had his accompanying harem move up to the stands, opposite of where the family was located. Esmeralda’s mother walked over hastily, offering a selection of excess BBQ they must have prepared while waiting.

“What do you have in mind?” Carlos asked.

“I may use my summons, as they are part of my abilities. Otherwise, I fight alone. We will go for a non-lethal approach. All of that work for you?”

“Yes.” Carlos nodded harshly, then gestured for the gathered men to spread out. They weren’t all fighters. One of them specialized in weaving through Illusion Barriers, John knew that much already. Several others he could identify by their choice of weaponry not to be real fighters. Wooden baseball bats wouldn’t serve them in any way.

All of this was a test, a ritual in the same way duels used to be rituals. In the old, mundane times, both sides would deliberately miss their shots. In the Abyss, they would just pull their punches.

“Esmeralda!” Carlos shouted up. “When you are ready!”

The Latina that was at the centre of all of this pulled out a handkerchief. “Once it meets the ground, begin your battle,” she said, then released the piece of cloth. Everyone had their eyes on it, waiting for the moment it hit the swirled dirt.

John tapped the button on equipping his battle regalia in that split second. The various items manifested all over him, just as the twelve men began a disorderly charge.

Sanchez was in front of John first, his sword vibrating with kinetic energy. He swung the weapon downwards. John teleported back half a step. The blade slammed into the ground, causing a shockwave way too weak to sweep someone as seasoned as John off his feet.

A slammed heel forced the weapon to turn sideways in Sanchez’s hand. He let go of it readily, then snapped upwards. His Martial Arts Aura ignited, then consolidated at the shoulder of his swinging arm.

‘Let’s see if the reports were true,’ John thought.

The Upstart punch slammed into his chest. For a brief moment, Sanchez was treated to the feeling of victory. The growing grin faltered as soon as he realized the silver sparks surrounding where his knuckles were supposed to have hit the Gamer’s ribs.

‘Defensive magic still works just fine,’ John analysed. ‘Didn’t even take more mana off than I would have expected.’

A backhanded slap sent Sanchez flying. John was nice enough not to use the sharp scales of Purgatory for it. The flaming dragon claw instead caught three bolt spells in quick succession. Ice, earth and lightning were all crushed in the Spellbreaking Attribute of the item.

The other melee fighters had bridged the gap now. Several of them were capable of using Upstart and tried to do so. Fists and kicks were hurled in smooth but inexperienced motions.

John caught the wrist of a middle aged man centimetres away from his face. “A word of advice,” the Gamer said, “just because you think you have something that can hurt me doesn’t mean you should just keep throwing it at me. You’re already disadvantaged, stop creating holes to exploit.”

To underline the point, he whirled around his own axis and sent the man flying into two of the mages in the backline. Carlos and one of his sons thought they could exploit an opening. They were too slow to start with and every engagement only made John faster. Fuelled by the Rising Annihilation, he put his hands flat against the men’s chest, then simply pushed them down. They went flat on their backs before they could know what had happened.

Sanchez had recovered his blade. He swung in a wide arc. John just teleported to the other side, then stormed towards the backline. In a quick series of one-sided engagements, he took out the three mages, then conjured an Earth Sprite to occupy three close-up combatants on its own. The numerical advantage had suddenly crumbled to half.

The men knew that. They charged in all the same, but there was caution to it all now. “That’s much better,” John said, ducking and weaving through a series of testing attacks. “Don’t overcommit. Don’t show your cards. Keep me on my toes and I might make a mistake.”

“Stop talking!” Sanchez demanded.

John agreed, he had given enough lessons. It was time to wrap this up in the proper manner.

Suddenly turning aggressive, John charged forwards. Sanchez was overwhelmed by the instant reversal of roles. He tried to raise his guard.

Way too slow.

John’s fist buried itself concerningly deep in the man’s midriff. He folded around his knuckles like a cleaning sponge around the corner of a cast-iron pan. Then, he was launched, the kinetic energy carrying him several metres, then making him roll a couple more.

Righting himself, John arrogantly corrected his suit. The opening was exploited, just as he had hoped, by none other than Carlos himself. The father hurled his fist, once more relying on Upstart. John lowered Particle Skin and awaited the impact.

His head rang.

John had not been punched like that in years at this point. Though the Technique was objectively supernatural, the experience was 100% alike to getting clocked in the head by a quarterback bully. A high-pitched noise and blood rushed in his ears. His face turned from the impact. He stumbled away. He tasted iron in his mouth, a tooth having cut the inside of his cheek. His brain rattled around in its poorly optimized casing.

He shook off the pain. His eyes remained unaffected by the disorientation.

‘Interesting,’ John rolled his jaw and blocked another hit with a swiping gesture. His passives and Gamer’s Body kicked back in after the timer was up, putting everything back in order. His HP loss, 8% of the total, was vastly higher than it should have been, yet it also wasn’t instantly debilitating. ‘A comeback mechanic, not a flip of the script, as expected.’ “Undine.”

The uttering of a singular word had the family suddenly stop in their attacks. Perhaps it was his tone or perhaps they had done their research properly now. All the same, everyone was keeping a respectful distance from the water spirit that manifested.

Mana flowed from him to her. She did not need much of his help to do what he wanted her to. The slime lady sang a profound note, then water spread out from her form in a sudden surge. The wave swept everyone still standing up and crashed against the wall, with them inside. Conveniently, the water swerved around the Gamer.

“Alright, I think you are satisfied?” John still circled his jaw, as if the punch retained its effect.

“No… but it’ll do…” Carlos agreed, fighting himself to his feet.

It had all been a ritual, one where John needed to take a minimum of humiliation for the men to accept the ‘disrespect’ shown to Esmeralda as repaid. An emperor taking a knuckle-sandwich to the chin was as far as John was willing to degrade himself. After getting that last demonstration of his power, the family didn’t want to push it further.

John dismissed the Earth Sprite, then had Undine patch them all up. They were, understandably, initially sceptic of the slime healing them. One touch of healing goo dispersed that doubt.

Esmeralda joined them in the arena. There was a challenge in her gait, a swing to her hips that demanded his eyes moved to them. John resisted, but that only made the smirk on the Dancer’s face a little wider.

“I’ll trust you with my daughter now,” Carlos said.

The words were interesting twice over. For one, that formulation was very suggestive of a path that John wanted barred. For two, he said it in English.

“As my father says,” Esmeralda continued on, also speaking the Gamer’s native tongue. She had a subtle accent, clear enough to give her an enticing difference to her trill but small enough to not obscure any words. “We’ve decided, while you were away, that I will come along with you. A tutelage, as they say. You want people like me by your side, don’t you?”

John was now circling his jaw for different reasons. The little feeling of his teeth rubbing together helped keep the lustful voices down. “Latebloomers, yes,” he stated, surprising himself on how clear he could be. “You’re invited to stay in the Guild Hall and see what Fusion is all about. This will have nothing to do with my lifestyle.”

“Absolutely nothing,” Esmeralda agreed with batting lashes.

The Latina woman had clearly come to a conclusion over the last three days on why she had kissed him. It was equally clear that this conclusion was the opposite of what John had come to when it came to his harem. Control and greed wrestled inside him. By sheer willpower, he made the former win.

“I am not being coy. This is a purely platonic matter.”

“I am not being dense either, I believe you.” Esmeralda smirked and then sashayed past him. “I will do what I want. We’ll see where that gets us.”

John had no reason to refute that point.