Battle

Recently woke up from a several-hour-long nap. I tried to recall everything that happened this morning and it all came back to me extremely vividly. I'm posting all the events hre, because I'm sure the Dying Man is very curious.

I met up with O'Zalia at the top of the building he had instructed me to go to. He and two of his minions were already there when I showed up. He was standing between the other two, carrying a war-glave. I was aware people still used those. But then again, my old mentor used to use midevil flails for interrogation.

The other two had on Masks made of nickel, so I couldn't see their faces. It was annoying, but I have to admit that one of them was hilarious. Seriously? A sparkly butterfly? That's not gonna intimidate anyone. The other one's mask just looked like a metal Totheark mask. Nothing special about it. They were both carrying sniper rifles, and the guy had what looked like a metal pipe with a sword hilt strapped across his back.

"I thought you had four minions," I said.
"Gamer and Lotus couldn't make it," O'Zalia said. "By the way, I knew of your weaknesses before you posted them online, so don't beat yourself up too much over it."
"Figures," I muttered. "So, you said you can track down Ren, right?"
"Way ahead of you," He said. "He's gone back to where it started for him." He open a Path Gate. "Follow me."

We followed the Path for a while before O'Zalia stopped us. I heard his voice in my head again.
Sound and Butterfly will hide in the trees to provide us with covering fire in case things go wrong, he said.
You mean he's here in the path? I thought back at him.
Just around this next turn. Remember, if things start going south, we fight.
I hope it doesn't come to that.


O'Zalia and I rounded the corner and I was pretty damn shocked by what I saw. It was clearing, with a Bleeding Tree in the center of it. To be more specific, it was the same Bleeding Tree that Ren had been stabbed with. There was a small stream of blood trickling from one of the branches. Ren sat beneath it, head up and mouth opened. I almost vomited when I realized he was drinking it.

He must have realized we were here, because he should up, wiped his mouth on the back of his hand, and turned to look at us.

"What's this, Ben?" He asked. "You couldn't take me on your own, so you get the Proxy's help?"
"I didn't come to fight," I told him. "I'm just here to reason with you."
"You can't reason with me," He chuckled. "You betrayed me when you hid my destiny from me."
"You're letting yourself become a monster just to satisfy some stupid vendetta," I shout at him.
"'You're black,' said the pot to the kettle," he replied.
I was about to reply to that, but I stopped myself. He was right. I was trying to become a Fear so that I could destroy the other Fears. Or more specifically, the Blind Man. He was absolutely right. I was also becoming a monster to satisfy my own vendetta.
The I heard O'Zalia's voice in my head. There's still a difference between the two of you. Think for a moment longer.
"You're the one who's helping a fiendish deity who tried to kill your best friend," I said to Ren.
"Hiroshi is hardly a friend," Ren replied."The two of you were conspiring against me. And what about you're allegiance with the Proxies?"
"This is only a temporary partnership," I said. "After I've changed your mind, he and I are enemies again."
"This is getting annoying," Ren said, transforming his arm into wood and allowing it to double in size.

That's when the fight began. It lasted a few minutes before someone else decided to join the fray. I certainly was expecting him to show up. I don't know how he got there, but Hiroshi interrupted our battle. He was wearing samurai armor and carrying a five-foot-long daito.

"What are you doing here!?" demanded Ren.
"To put it simply, I have orders to eliminate all of you," He replied.
Ren and are were both shock, and O'Zalia just burst into laughter.
"You want to kill me?" Ren asked. "That's actually quite laughable. How many times have I beat you in practice? The answer is nearly every time! And now I have the power of a Demi-God! You can't beat me!"
"I've actually been holding back for all these years," Hiroshi replied, sounding a lot more sinister then I'd ever seen him before. "Even as a Demi-God, you're no where near my level."
"What are you going on about," I demanded. "Have you been hiding something?"
"I've actually been lying to you this whole time, Malkator," He said. It really bothered me that he was calling me by my last name. He had always used my first name before. "I had already known about the Fears before meeting you. It was hard playing oblivious this whole time, but I somehow pulled it off. And while we'r discussing shocking revelations, I didn't actually descend from samurai's. I am one."

That bit was just too unbelievable. I was about to question him, but then the Fears appeared. Four of them, one behind each of us. The Slender Man showed up by O'Zalia, the Plague Doctor appeared behind Ren, and the Wooden Girl accompanied Hiroshi. The most worrying one was the one who decided to appear behind me. I felt a chill when he showed up. His presence was so familiar to me. I didn't even have to look to know that the Blind Man was only a few feet away from me.

Then O'Zalia started talking. But it wasn't really him. Slender Man had decided to speak through him.
"This is quite a sight," He said. "A Bleeding Tree hybrid created by the doctor, and Ex-Archive Demi-God, a 300-year-old Willing Doll, and one of my most powerful Enhanced. This will truly be a fight to behold."
"You're a Willing Doll?" I said to Hiroshi, surprised.
"Yes," O'Zalia/Slender Man confirmed for me. "He is one of her deadliest servants."
Slender Man released his hold over O'Zalia, who stood up and said "As you wish, Master."

Suddenly, the sky was on fire. Dragons of fire and lightning were flying all over the place. O'Zalia's spear split into thousands and rained down on us. I fell to my knees as three or four of them pierced my body. It was the second greatest pain I had ever felt, topped only by my second trip through the God's Way (We'll get to that in a minute). O'Zalia was then standing over me, ready to stab his glave through my skull. His eyes were flaming, and his smile revealed countless fangs. As I looked at his crazed expression, my only thought was that this couldn't be real. Then I realized that it wasn't. I focused as hard as I could, and it all melted away. The spears, the dragons, the flaming clouds, they were all gone. All there was left was O'Zalia standing over with his spear raised and a shocked expression on his face.

"You can see through my illusions?" He asked me.
"My vision's sharper than you think!" I yelled, roundhouse kicking him in the face. I think I broke his nose.

I turned to see that Ren had also come to his senses and was charging at me. Before I could respond, a bullet hit him in the chest, and he collapsed in pain. I don't know why, but one of O'Zalia's servants saved me. Hiroshi then charged at me with his sword. I drew my Wakizashi and fought him for a while. He wasn't lying when he said he was a samurai. His swordsmanship was amazing. I tried using the sheath of my sword to defend while attacking with the sword, but he simply sliced the sheath in half and kicked me right in my second mouth. I went down, and he prepared to deal the finishing blow, but he was thrown back by an invisible force. I turned to see that the Blind Man had his hand raised.

"Why!?" I demanded of him. "Why did you save me!?" No answer. I heard movement behind me, and I saw Ren had risen to his feet. I didn't have time to react properly before he started crushing me with that giant arm of his. I was afraid He would kill me, so I resorted to my last line of defense and vanished into the God's Way.

I stayed there for a couple moments longer then I should have. When I reappeared in the human world, I was in so much pain that I passed out.

I woke up several hours later on a beach somewhere. I started walking 'til I came to a town. Went straight to the first Starbucks I saw, order an iced tea and a muffin, and started typing this. I'm not completely sure where I am, but I'll figure it out as soon as I can.

There's a lot of things worrying me. First off, Hiroshi is a Willing Doll. didn't see that one coming. Another thing, the Blind Man helped me out back there. I don't know why. He's my enemy. He has been since the beginning. Why did he save me? Something else that bothers me, but not quite as much as those first two, is the fact that I left my wakizashi in the Path of Black Leaves. Now I'll have to rely on my arm blade. I'm definitely not going back for it. It's not worth the trip.

I don't know what happened to Ren, Hiroshi, and O'Zalia. Frankly, I don't care. As far as I'm concerned, they're all my enemies now.

I have to go figure out where I am, then I'll figure out how to get to Daniel's location. 'Til then, goodbye.