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Link to part 1 here Link to part 2 here Link to part 3 here "I better hit some more poses for you then hadn't I mate?", I said to my aroused admirer, who was now suddenly beaming at the prospect of watching me flex more. With both hands resting on my hips, I looked at my lucky spectator head on and slowly cranked down into a explosive must muscular. As I hit the peak of the pose and squeezed with effort, I released a loud, arrogant, "ARRRGGHHHHH". "Fuck YES!", The Transformer exclaimed. In response, I released one hand, curled it into a fist and squeezed out yet another most muscular with a shamelessly cock, "YEEEAAAAHHH"! I then made my boldest move yet. I walked, no, strutted towards The Transformer until I was merely a few feet away from the couch he was sitting on, and releasing my loudest and most aggressive growl yet, I bought both my arms up and then cranked down hard into a brutal and intense crab most muscular. "GAAARRRGGGHHHH"! I squeezed and squeezed as hard as I could. Every single body part was tensed and strained to the absolute max. My whole body just a mass of huge, tight, flexed muscle, squeezed into the ultimate bodybuilding pose. "OH FUUUUCK"! The Transformer's eyes were wider than ever before. He looked as if he was struggling to breathe and a look of sheer panic suddenly swept across his face. Was watching a huge, inhumanly conditioned bodybuilder flexing and squeezing out an explosive crab most muscular just a few feet away from him, while releasing the most outrageous and arrogant growl about to cause The Transformer to cum? His whole body suddenly began to tremble. "Oh God no!", he exclaimed. Oh God YES!! Fucking blow that load mate. Watch me flex my huge, freak-like muscles and just fucking CREAM IT!! Still squeezed in my crab most muscular to the absolute max, I released one last grizzly growl in The Transformer’s face, guaranteed to push him over the edge, and cause a major mess in his undies. "GGGRRRAAAARRR"! And that's when it happened. Completely snapping me out of my pose, an intensely bright, white light suddenly started to radiate from The Transformer’s body, which was now jolting with force underneath. It was so bright I had no option but to cover up my eyes with my huge, bronzed forearm. Confused at what was happening and scared for my new found admirers well being, when the brightness seemed to vanish, I anxiously pulled my arm away to ensure that he was OK. What I saw startled me so much that I released a yell and instinctively backed away. A stranger had somehow gotten into The Transformer's house. That was my initial thought. And then I realised, the man sitting on the same coach, in the exact same spot as The Transformer had, was not a stranger at all. The absurdly gorgeous man who'd been dubbed "THE REAL LIFE G.I JOE", and had appeared as a model on the cover of a men's fitness magazine, the man with impressively pumped arms, a fantastic chest and an absolutely jaw droppingly perfect physique, the man who had the power to transform others into any living person for twenty-four hours, was in fact, a slightly nerdy looking, still rather cute, but mostly unremarkable looking man of slim build, with very little evidence of muscle mass under the t-shirt which was now about two sizes too big for me. Completely lost for words, The Transformer looked at me with a deeply embarrassed and sorry look on his face. A face I then suddenly realised I'd seen before. "It's you", was all I could pathetically say. "The guy in the picture in the Star Trek costume". He sheepishly offered me a deflated smile. "Minus the ears", he replied. With the comment, and the reality of the situation which had suddenly dawned on me, I felt my mouth curling into a huge, amused grin. "So I guess you can also transform yourself into anyone you like"? Still looking extremely embarrassed, he picked up the fitness magazine from the coffee table and holding it up to reveal the man who not five minutes ago was sitting talking to me, sheepishly replied, "Anyone I like". I couldn't stop smiling. I'd been so nervous in the presence of this guy, and all the time he was just an just an average built, slightly geeky looking but admittedly still pretty cute bloke who, on occasion, liked to dress up in Star Trek costumes. And there I was. A shredded fucking muscle God in shiny pink posers. Towering over him. Almost on the verge of making him cum in his pants. Most people wouldn't even look twice at the guy who was sat sheepishly in front of me. Whilst the body I was then inhibiting caused people from all corners of the globe to cum just from looking a photo of it on the Internet. And yet, something was abundantly clear to me. Me and this guy; we were exactly the same. The incident had clearly knocked his confidence. "I never transform people as my regular self mate", he began to explain. I carried my 200 lbs body of ripped muscle and sat next to The Transformer on the couch. He looked slightly terrified as I sat down next to him, and couldn't seem to stop staring at my huge pecs, but he continued to explain regardless. "It's just to protect my identity really. I must have gotten my timings wrong. I saw that guy in the magazine yesterday and thought - yeah, it might be kinda fun to be that hot for a day". "I think I can relate to that", I said. With this, The Transformer seemed to relax a little, and he flashed me the first hint of his real, rather adorable smile. Sitting next to him on his couch, the size difference between us was ridiculous. My thick bronzed legs alone looked about three times as big as his. I felt a heady mix of power, superiority and overwhelming arousal. I also suddenly had a strange urge to dive towards The Transformer, kiss him and just embrace him with my sheer mass. "But I'll be honest mate”, he continued. ”I do this a fair bit. Transform myself. Not that I don't like the real me. I mean, I'm no G.I Joe but, I'm fine with the way I look. I more do it...for fun". And with this, his mouth curled into the most mischievous smirk. "I think I can relate to that too", I said. We were sat smiling at each other, when it suddenly dawned on me just how much I actually liked him. Not just the gorgeous fitness model, G.I Joe version either. I mean, granted, he was one beautiful fucking man. But the real version too. "Soooo", I began. “Before you transformed, you seemed to be enjoying watch me flex.” "Too fucking right I was mate!", he exclaimed. "So I could do a bit more posing for you, or...I could show you my superpower"? His eyes widened and he suddenly looked excited. "The second one mate"! He then looked a bit confused and flustered and quickly said, "No, the posing. No wait. Oh shit - do I have to chose just one?" I chuckled and felt my heart flutter just a tiny bit as I struggled to comprehend just how endearing and utterly adorable he was - whether in this body or his previous one. "Why don't we start with the superpower", I said. "OK", he grinned excitedly. "You ready"? I asked. The Transformer nodded and I took his hand in mine. The difference between them was almost comical. His pale, average sized and perfectly normal in appearance, mine big, bronzed, veiny and anything but normal. He smirked giddily and I felt an instant surge of electricity as we touched. That smile almost tripled and his eyes widened to a brilliant degree as I bought my left arm up into a one armed bicep flex, and firmly planted The Transformer’s hand around the gloriously bronzed ball of muscle exploding before his eyes. As his fingers wrapped around the rock hard and indecently sized peak of my freakish left bicep, I squeezed hard, looked The Transformer in the eye and released an outrageously cocky, "YEEEEAAHHH!", in his face. "OH FUCK"! The Transformers mouth was hung open and his look was part way between shock and sheer pleasure. With my palm still firmly covering the back of The Transformer’s hand, his fingers continued to dig into the freakishly sized bicep muscle. As I squeezed as hard as I possibly could, I gritted my teeth and released a deep, loud growling noise. "GRRRRRRRRR"! And that's when it happened. "OH FUUUUUUCK!", The Transformer exclaimed. His mouth and eyes grew wider, and his legs began to shake. "Oh Gaaawwwwwwd", he cried. With his mouth stretched open as wide as it possibly could be, he threw his head back, and, still firmly gripping my bicep, his whole body started making quick, sharp jolting movements, and he unleashed a chorus of the loudest, orgasmic groans of pleasure. "GRRR-YEEEEEAHHH", I growled over the top of The Transformer’s moans of ecstasy, which then turned into pants, groans of, "Oh God", "Oh fuck" and then, finally, into giddy laughs of post-orgasmic joy. Half an hour into my day of being a huge, shredded muscle freak and I'd already made someone cum in their pants. "Fucking HELL", The Transformer cried, as he tried to catch his breath, unable to wipe the huge smile off his flustered face. With my bicep then un-flexed, I unwrapped my palm from around The Transformer’s hand, which proceeded to slide off my mound of muscle mass. "Wait!", he said, his mind ticking over as he studied his now free hand. "Was that your superpower"? I looked at him and smirked. "I touched you...and I came", he said, trying to figure out what my mysterious power was. "No. You touched me and I came". He'd cracked it, and then he spoke my infamous superpower name. "You're...you're The Human Orgasm"! I blushed slightly, continued to grin and playfully raised my eyebrows. "Imagine that"! "So...you make people cum just by touching them? WOW!", he said. "Yep! Well...only if I want to obviously", I assured him. "Phew. Well that's good", he said. "That would make shaking a strangers hand very awkward". I laughed and thought it best not to mention the fact that before I really learned how to control my power, that very extremely awkward scenario actually did occur on one occasion. Instead, without really thinking I blurted out, "I only do it with guys I like". I hadn't meant for the comment to be flirtatious or suggestive at all, but as soon as it slipped out, I realised that it qualified as being both. The Transformer blushed furiously, and his mouth uncontrollably grew into his giddiest grin yet. "I have a confession", he said. "OK", I curiously replied. He adorably took a deep breath. I had no idea what The Transformer was about to say, but he was clearly very nervous about it. "I think you're cute". I was completely baffled. It was such an odd comment to give to a 200 lbs muscle freak known for his insane conditioning, alien-like quads and thick, shredded glutes. A muscle freak who'd just made him cum in his pants while he digged his fingers into one of his rock hard, freakishly huge, fully flexed bicep. "Oh-kay", I replied. "Thanks"! "No! Not this guy. I mean - yes, you're cute. He's cute. Kind of". He didn't sound too convincing of the last part. "I meant - you're cute. The real you." His shoulders relaxed and my heart started fluttering once more. "I thought it from the moment you turned up at the door. And I knew you fancied me. Well - him. Who wouldn't? And I know you were probably checking out my arse when you followed me into the flat". I couldn't help but smirk at this particular statement, as he continued. "He does have a nice arse. I mean - it's nothing like THAT arse. Fuck! But yeah - I just wanted to say. I think you're cute. Really, really cute". I could barely wipe the smile off my face. I had no idea what to say to those completely adorable words, so I thought for a moment, and calmly spoke the first words which came into my head. "I'm gonna kiss you." His mouth grew into the most uncontrollable smirk. "But", I continued. "Not like this. I'm gonna come back here in twenty-four hours, when the transformation has worn off, and I'm no longer in Stephen Dresner’s body, and then I'm gonna kiss you. If you'll let me". The Transformer couldn't stop grinning. "I guess I'll see you in twenty-four hours then". "But you have to be the real you too", I explained. "You wouldn't prefer me to be "The Real Life G.I Joe"? I shook my head. "No. Although", I began, my mind drifting to the inexplicably gorgeous man who'd answered the door to me earlier that afternoon, "You can always turn into him afterwards. If you want". He laughed, and as we sat there smiling at each other, the chemistry between us felt stronger and more evident than ever. A knot suddenly arose in my stomach and the giddiness and excitement I had been experiencing up until that moment unexpectedly and momentarily turned into fear as I realised that I could really see myself falling for the guy sitting next to me. Here I go again. "So Tobey", The Transformer began. "How are you planning to spend the next twenty-four hours, like, well...THAT?", he asked, pointing at my outrageously muscular, gloriously chiselled, muscle popping physique. The question suddenly pulled my thoughts away from any potential love affair with The Transformer and back to the sole reason why I’d met him in the first place; to inhibit the inexplicably muscular and freak show worthy body of a genuine, competition conditioned bodybuilder. I suddenly felt an incredible surge of excitement at the possibilities which lay ahead. I had planned to spend a good portion of the day flexing, touching, worshipping and cumming over my own freaky muscle mass in the mirror, but the incredible rush and power I’d felt from The Transformer’s reaction to my body was suddenly giving me a few other ideas. I also couldn't deny the huge ego trip I was experiencing just from being so much bigger than The Transformer. Being that huge, being so different in appearance, not just to him, but the majority of the people outside of his flat. Knowing I was a freak that people would queue up just to merely touch. Knowing I could make certain people cum just on appearance alone. It was incredibly intoxicating. "I think I kind of wanna...freak people out", I mischievously said. "Just strut through a city centre in shorts and a tight revealing vest. My enormous, freaky, bronzed beef just spilling out for everyone to see. Watch the looks of fear and confusion. Hear the shocked gasps and see the awe-stricken glares. If they stare hard enough I might stop and hit a cheeky double bicep just for the hell of it. YEAH! Or maybe squeeze a quick, hard crab most muscular in their faces. BOOM!" Clearly liking what he was hearing, The Transformer was listening intently and grinning like mad. "Watch you don't get arrested for giving some poor old dear a heart attack". I laughed and continued. "Or maybe I could waddle into my local Tesco’s. Take off my shirt and drop my shorts to reveal my pink trunks and just start hitting some poses in the middle of the meat aisle. OOOOOF"! The Transformer laughed and shook his head. "Has anyone ever told you you're a little bit of a nutter mate"? I grinned. "Only the people who know me best". He suddenly looked a little deflated as he spoke his next words. "Well Tobey, I should probably let you go. Muscles to flex, people to freak out and all that. You might have to turn sideways to fit through my front door mind". I laughed and, bringing my fists either side of my waist, I spontaneously hit a front lat spread for The Transformer to show off my impressively thick lats, with a cheeky, short, dog-like bark; "RUFF"! I couldn't deny it. I was really enjoying The Transformer's company. Just sitting there with him felt new and exciting and I suddenly felt a twinge of sadness that our encounter was coming to an end. "I guess I'll see you in twenty-four hours then". I didn't even know his name, and, given the kind of service he provided, and much like anyone who "sold" their superpower, I wasn't expecting him to provide it just yet. So, taking his hand and intertwining his fingers with mine, while affectionately looking him in the eyes, I christened him with a new nickname. "Mr McSpunky-Pants". He squeezed my hand and giddily and affectionately gazed back at me and gave me my own adorable name. "Yep. See you in twenty-four hours. Tobey McCutie-Bum". "Unless", I began. His eyes widened and his face suddenly lit up in anticipation of my next words. "You want to come with me"? "You mean it?", he endearingly and excitedly asked. "Of course", I replied, shaking our hands which were we still locked together. "Tesco’s here we come!", he brilliantly said. "Wait", he continued. "You mean...come as me you mean?", he asked. "Like this"? "Sure", I replied. I hadn't really thought of an alternative. "Hmmmm", he said thinking. "We could do that. Or, I could transform into someone else". "You could", I said. "Though I am rather partial to this version". He blushed and replied, "I'm just thinking, on this occasion, we might have more fun if I transformed into…a different person". "Ok", I curiously said. "Do you have anyone specific in mind"? It was at this point that The Transformer reached for, and picked up my muscle magazine lying on his coffee table. He flipped the pages so the magazine was closed, and once again looked at the picture of the huge, hardcore, fully flexed bodybuilder on the front cover. The very bodybuilder who'd freaked him out and caused such an extreme reaction the first time he’d seen it. His mouth curled into a devilish grin as he looked from the bodybuilder on the magazine to me and answered my question. “Oh…I may have a certain someone”. The End

All comments and critiques are welcomed here and on my Google Docs(https://drive.google.com/open?id=1cK8OXhmhId7vR6__T1V-oUhFEAllGz0aY9m4Q2op-fE) For other chapters, I will post them on here later. But you can find the archives on my FA and Tumblr with pics included. FA: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/ecchimultiverse/ Tumblr: http://ecchimultiverse.tumblr.com/ For first looks and more illustrations, check out my Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ecchimultiverse First Chapter | Previous Chapter | Next Chapter SPECIAL THANKS TO MY PATRONS: SPECTRI, NO NAME, & ENGLISCE NAMAN All comments and critiques are welcomed here and on my Google Docs(https://drive.google.com/open?id=1Z51Gh7qvdbt2g0xxPepOhEizpaHRkVtVWEauhe_3hS4) For other chapters, I will post them on here later. But you can find the archives on my FA and Tumblr with pics included. FA: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/ecchimultiverse/ Tumblr: http://ecchimultiverse.tumblr.com/ For first looks and more illustrations, check out my Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ecchimultiverse First Chapter | Previous Chapter | Next Chapter SPECIAL THANKS TO MY PATRONS: SPECTRI, NO NAME, & ENGLISCE NAMAN Chapter 25: The Royal Burning Dim sunlight cascaded through the glass windows; illuminating the structure Marvelous Man stood in. It seemed to be a hallway within a castle, and from the muscle demigod’s deduction, styled from England’s medieval era. The walls were completely comprised of stone, and the floors were made out of old wooden planks. As the hulking bodybuilder shifted about to survey the new area, the floor beneath did not groan under his massive weight. He then continued further down the hall and noticed on his right a painting. The size of the canvas was bigger than the musclebound superhero; its height nearly touching the ground and ceiling, and the width stretching slightly beyond Marvelous Man’s immense shoulders. It was the painting of a family clothed in royal attire. The family size consisted of a king, queen, an elder princess, and a young prince. The entire family carried the same neutral facial expression with cheeks flushed in a rosy color and eyes an emerald green. The tapping of gentle steps echoed behind the hulking bodybuilder. Turning around, he spotted a man walking towards him. The man appeared exactly same as the king in the painting; complete with royal gowns and a golden crown atop the head. But the most distinguishing features to Marvelous Man was the cape and skin. The cape was the exact same shade of red and lining of white fur as the Skeleton Lord’s. The skin was a deathly pale white; the same as the ancient villain before Sugar Skull’s poison. But instead of having the physique of just skin and bones, this king still seemed healthy and slightly plump. Marvelous Man then noted that despite this king having a more meaty figure, this ruler seemed much older and with sunken cheeks than the royal highness in the painting. It was obvious to the muscle demigod who this king is...Or rather, who this king used to be. Marvelous Man bowed at the king, “Uh, hello!...Your highness!” The king said nothing, as he continued moving forward. With the gap between this royal majesty and the muscle demigod coming to a close, Marvelous Man looked up from the bow and immediately stood up straight. Making way for the king, the hulking bodybuilder shifted his weight and braced his back against the hallway wall. The king passed by without flicking an eye towards the musclebound superhero. Marvelous Man then mentally questioned as to why this person was not staring at him. Especially since he appeared to have broken into a castle and is a muscled giant nearly scraping his head against the ceiling. Marvelous Man flung his arms out with urgency, as he felt his sense of balance being temporarily misplaced. He knew there was a wall behind him, but his senses perceived the muscle demigod to be pinning against thin air. Leaning forward, he regained stability over his massive body. Marvelous Man turned around to discover, the cause. The wall he turned to face appeared to lose shape; slightly dissipating into the same whisping blackness as Digz’s essence. A second later, the affected parts of the wall his body had touched morphed back to its original shape. Marvelous Man’s mind then flashed back to minutes ago when he asked Digz a question and was instantly swallowed by the black fog. He remembered what Digz had said about Gene being spirited away to a memory. The musclebound superhero connected the dots and deducted he was in an illusion similar Puzzles’ smoke illusions; though appearing much less stable than the smoke imp’s when confronted with physical contact. He realized he could walk out of this memory at any time...But that would waste the golden opportunity he was given to understand the Skeleton Lord. Marvelous Man chased after the king, who was now reaching the end of the hall and entering another room. The hulking bodybuilder entered in after the Skeleton Lord’s past version; ducking his head underneath the doorway out of instinct. He then gazed about at the new room he stood in; the furnishing giving the area an identity to be some sort of war room. Weapons of different shapes and sizes hung against the walls. On the other side of the room was a fireplace still lit with some logs. The soft glow from the fireplace illuminated a wooden table in the center of the room. Atop the furniture was a map; sprawled out and completely covering the tabletop with miniature figures on the map. The king shuffled over to the fireplace. His eyes watched the wood inside of it almost completely digested into ash by the fire. The past Skeleton Lord spoke up, “The healers should have finished painting the runes on our volunteers by now. It should be fine to begin our ritual now.” Marvelous Man heard a familiar voice reply; sounding as if it were held underwater. The musclebound superhero tried to locate the emanation but could not seem to place the echo’s origin. “We do this every week, yet I see no reason as to why we take these precautions. They’ll eventually die, so let me just drink in all their mana. It’s not like the people will leave,” said Digz. The voice echoed as if it were in Marvelous Man’s own head, rather than bouncing around somewhere in the room. The muscle demigod gave up trying to find Digz and decided to focus his attention on the dialogue. The king chuckled, “But they can. Or worse, turn traitor. We have many enemies that would love to see me killed and seize my kingdom...Though I suppose many, many, many have tried already. Hm, I’ve lost count of all the times I have been stabbed and poisoned for you to put me back together.” “The point is, one that has grand responsibility over the lives of their people must project themselves as salvation. Many would follow or go as far as die for their ruler, if the ruler appears to be the ultimate answer to all their woes. And if all they have to do to guarantee their safety is for one day out of the week to allow a selected hundreds for their mana to be drained, then it would seem like a fair trade,” he continued. Marvelous Man walked over to the past Skeleton Lord, while the conversation continued. Digz hissed, “They will turn on you one day because they want my power. You’ll see! You should never have told the people about how you obtained the power over bones.” The king sighed, as he continued to stare into the fire. “Such the optimist, you are. I know you want to avoid reliving the same event that had befallen to Kenelm, but it does not mean that it will happen to us, my old friend. Our subjects are loyal to us, lest they have some radical ideal of heroism that somehow makes us the evil ones,” he remarked. Digz harrumphed, “Then I shall observe your so-called subjects before we begin.” The scenery around Marvelous Man exploded into whisping blackness. A second later, the detonated darkness reversed itself. Digz’s essence sucked back into place, but it seemed to reformat itself into something new. Grass and mud materialized on the ground, and small huts made of sticks and straw appeared near the muscle demigod. A fog, similar to Digz’s fog in Marvelous Man’s current era, had taken over the scenery and clouded any other structures in the distance. Digz then materialized his incomplete form in front of the hulking bodybuilder. Marvelous Man did not know how, but it seemed as if the corrupted imp faced his nonexistent head towards one of the huts closest to the Skeleton Lord familiar. Digz’s voice rumbled from the blackness rising out of his neck. “I know you’re there! You cannot stop the ritual my dark master is about to commence,” he boomed. Silence drifted in the fog for a second before the stirring of footsteps echoed. The sounds of multiple people drew closer to Marvelous Man. From out of the fog revealed what appeared to be a small troupe of adventurers; led by a woman in silver armor. The leader brandished her sword at the imp, “Still thy words, evil creature! I will not tolerate your tauntings any longer. For we heroes shall triumph against your Skeleton Lord.” “Now tell us where your king resides in the castle, so we may slay him. Lest all your jeer has been naught for distraction, and your dark master is not as powerful as you say he is,” continued the leader. Digz voice became catty, “Oh, I have no intention of telling you that. Lest I make things too easy and assure my lord’s defeat. That would make me a traitor. But I suggest you make your choice immediately. For we begin now.” The incomplete imp cackled, as the scenery exploded once again into whisping darkness. As before, the blackness sucked itself back into place and reformed the area into something new. The brick walls of the Skeleton Lord’s castle appeared around Marvelous Man, while Digz emerged in front of the muscle demigod once again. The area seemed to be in another part of the castle but more well-illuminated due to the oil lanterns lining the walls. With a flick of his feathery wrist, a wand made of bone emerged out of thin air. The corrupted familiar took grasp of the wand before making his way down the lit corridor. He playfully tapped the white wand against the walls, while his bird-like feet softly echoed against the wooden floor. Marvelous Man made sure to follow the creature; not wanting to be left behind and accidentally leave the memory. With nothing else happening but the incomplete imp wandering around corners of the castle, he had a moment to think. He had assumed he was going to be viewing the Skeleton Lord’s memory, but what he had seen led to a different conclusion. His train of thoughts soon came to an end, as Digz slowed his pattering footsteps. Digz came to a stop upon turning into another branch of the castle. Marvelous Man spotted a room in front of them that seemed to be a room for solitary activities. A small fireplace on the side of the room was lit with a strong fire; crackling loudly. At a table in the center, there sat three humans draped in royal clothing: one of them appearing to be a queen, an elder princess, and a prince. Marvelous Man noticed the three individuals looked exactly like the family painting he had seen earlier, but their skin had the same ghostly paleness as the Skeleton Lord’s. Marvelous Man’s eyes then took notice and drifted to the figures huddled around the royal family. It was a small squad of armored skeletons that looked similar to the skeletons the muscle demigod fought in the first encounter with the Skeleton Lord. They were equipped with the same kind of foreboding, black armor but appeared to look more durable and had a dark shine to it. As Digz waddled into the room, the bone soldiers, standing between Digz and the royals, faced their heads down towards the corrupted familiar. The minions stepped aside; creating a pathway before resuming their sentry position. The royal family looked over to where the incomplete imp stood, as the skeletons’ armor clanged from movement. Immediately standing up, the queen extended her hand outward in an attempt to shield her children. “Have you come to torment us some more with your vile words, imp? I hope you come with new material, as talks of our worthlessness and your ‘gift’ of immortality to us have become stale,” said her majesty. Digz chuckled, “My, is that wit I detect? You sure have acquired quite the gumption, since our previous encounter.” The queen’s face showed no emotion; frozen like a plain doll. Marvelous Man wondered how long she and her children endured Digz’s harassment. “Only because I realized that you will take no further action beyond the threat of bringing harm to my children were I to speak to my husband about what you have said to me. Beyond that, you cannot truly hurt us,” she said. The incomplete imp replied, “And I’m sure you would like to keep it that way. But I’m here to give you what your family has always wanted.” “Which is?” questioned the queen. “Freedom,” answered Digz, “To be broken of the shackles of this accursed life. That is what you and your children want, yes? I know of how you three are miserable with existing the same way for centuries.” The royal highness’s face broke into confusion. Her feet slightly shifted backwards. She inquired, “And what sort of trickery do you play now?...I see...But know that inflicting pain on others will only relieve your own for a brief moment. I suppose Kenelm would be most disappointed in how pitiful you have made use of the gift he had bestowed to you.” Digz pointed his bone wand at the queen. The white item extended itself; immediately reaching the Skeleton Lord’s wife. The pointed end stopped just before it could puncture her throat. “Mother!” shouted the children. The incomplete imp shouted, “DO NOT SAY HIS NAME! How does a wench like you even know of him?! Alden has never talked to you without my presence! I’ve made sure of that!” The queen’s face morphed back into her frozen, neutral expression, and her eyes becoming cold once more. “It is true that I cannot speak to my husband without your supervision, but I have my ways. Perhaps you have forgotten already of my own power that lent to our victory over this kingdom,” she stated. Digz retracted his wand, “Hmph. Reading the castle’s past might have given you excellent gossip, but it does not help you control the future I have prepared. Now come. Let me direct you all to your freedom.” The corrupted familiar turned away and proceeded out of the room. The skeleton soldiers from behind the royal children and queen nudged the family forward. Marvelous Man followed the group exiting from the room and down the twisting corridors of the castle’s hallways. The musclebound superhero had a clear idea of what Digz’s relationship was like with the Skeleton Lord and the rest of the family. He then wondered what the incomplete imp’s talk of freedom was but became fearful that it was nothing more than an insidious conclusion. In his heart, Marvelous Man continued to hope it was not the outcome he supposed it could be. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> The travel through the stone architecture continued for minutes before stopping at a set of doors. Marvelous Man noticed that the doors stood taller than himself and had a set of large, metal rings as the knobs. Two of the skeleton soldiers stepped forward and pushed open the doors. As the doors groaned to a stop, a spacious library revealed itself to the group. The row of armored skeletons behind the noble family pushed the relatives inside. The three royals stumbled forward before regaining their steps. Turning around, the family faced the incomplete imp and the small troupe of skeleton warriors. As the mother began to mouth words, Digz’s soldiers retrieved the oil lanterns hanging on the walls. The skeletal minions then threw the lanterns; shattering glass and oil against the rows of books, furniture, and the entrance. Flames of red and orange were born instantly from the spilled lantern oil and began to feast on wood and paper. The family stood paralyzed with their eyes gazing at the growing fire about them, while the skeleton soldiers closed the library doors shut. Muffled screams echoed from behind the wooden doors; pleading for help. One of the armored minions stepped forward and placed their skeleton arm through the door’s large, metal handle loops. Digz swished his bone wand at the soldier; causing the arm in the door’s handle to break off from the skeleton. The detached arm then gripped its other end to form a loop and chain the library doors from opening. Marvelous Man’s eyes bulged at the inhuman treatment. He reached out to grab the skeletal chain...but his hand phased through smoke instead. The hulking bodybuilder’s eyes began to well up with tears. He knew that this was an illusion showing a past memory...but he could not help himself. Marvelous Man wished he could have been there to save that family; regardless of how impossible time magic was. The skeleton soldiers departed from the scenery in different directions. Some of the boney minions stopped at the wall-mounted lanterns; only to pick it up and smash it on the wooden flooring. The bushes of flames grew throughout the hallways and seemed to be extending throughout the castle with the armored skeletons’ assistance. The scenery then exploded into smoke before reforming into the war room the Skeleton Lord resided in. Marvelous Man looked about, but could not find the incomplete imp. He then heard the room echo with Digz’s voice. “ALDEN! COME QUICK! WE’RE UNDER ATTACK!” shouted the familiar. The Skeleton Lord looked up from the fireplace he stared at. He called out, “What?! Where?!” “The castle! They’ve set it ablaze to smoke you out!” replied Digz. The Skeleton Lord scurried over to a window from the other side of the war room. As he did so, eight spider-like legs made of bone extended beneath the king’s robes. Two of the boney limbs lunged at the window; shattering through the glass and anchoring onto the outer brick wall of the castle. Alden commanded, “Get the skeletons to escort my family to safety.” The skeletal spider legs hoisted the Skeleton Lord through the window. Marvelous Man gave a slight gasp, as the scenery yanked him outside the castle and floating high up in the air. Had this been real and the hulking bodybuilder not transformed, the fall of five stories would most certainly have crushed and killed Justice Starr. Upon dangling the king outside by the boney limbs, the white spider-like legs scampered across the wall. Black smoke could be seen pouring out of the other windows alongside the brick siding. Marvelous Man had difficulty spotting the difference from the fire’s smoke and Digz’s whisping essence blanketing the kingdom. Even high above, the muscle demigod could not see the sky nor sun. “I can’t feel them anymore! I fear they may have been attacked by the invaders already!” lied Digz. As the Skeleton Lord darted around a corner and reached the front of the smoking castle, the wall he crawled on exploded with a deafening boom. Five of the boney limbs broke from the king’s body; splintering off with chunks of bricks that were big or had been immediately blasted into dust. Marvelous Man could almost feel the sudden burst of wind and heat buffeting against his own smooth skin. Seconds of falling towards the ground quickly drifted by, while the three intact spider leg bones struggled to grasp at the air. Out of instinct, Marvelous Man raised his arms in front of his face in an effort to brace against impact. Alden slammed into ground. His body immediately sprayed the area with bits of his blood, while a wet crunch echoed from him. With barely a second passing, his body began to put itself back together. Bones snapped back into place and sinew reverting to where it previously was, while the Skeleton King slowly stood up on his knees. Chains made of shining light streamed from the fog. The animated links circled around the reforming Skeleton Lord before instantly squeezing in a tight ensnare. The three remaining spider limbs made of bone had no room to struggle, as they were pinned against Alden’s body by the chains of light. When the king gasped from the tight restraints, a small projectile ejected from the fog. The object was a grey slime that slapped against Alden’s mouth; sealing it shut in what Marvelous Man supposed was to prevent verbal spells. The muscle demigod then heard the Skeleton Lord speak again, but it carried the same echo as Digz’s voice when the incomplete imp was not visible. The voice of the Skeleton Lord screamed, “Digz! Release me from the binds!” “I can’t!” shouted Digz, “The magic in the binds prevents me!” Marvelous Man then realized the two were speaking to each other telepathically. It was now obvious that Digz could not be seen, because the incomplete imp had fused back into Alden. The musclebound superhero briefly wondered if Digz was lying about the magic binds due to the wicked betrayal that had happened earlier. A small group of humanoid figures exited the fog; revealing themselves to be the wandering heroes the corrupted familiar provoked. Marvelous Man saw that the group was still being led by the woman equipped in silver armor. He then noticed that behind the female leader were two men adorned in robes that covered their faces. The muscle demigod could see only the mouths were not covered and were constantly whispering towards the Skeleton Lord. It became apparent to Marvelous Man that the two were most likely wizards uttering incantations to maintain the magical chains. The leader spoke up, “Skeleton Lord! Your vile ways ends tonight! No longer shall you prey on this town!” The king tried to scream urgency, but it was muffled from the slime covering his mouth. The female knight looked down at Alden and gave a look of disgust. She then trudged towards the binded Skeleton Lord, while reaching for a sword tied to her waist. The leader drew the weapon from her scabbard; the blade gleaming like moonlight. “Digz!” mentally shouted the king. The incomplete imp replied, “I’m trying, but the spell is too strong!” The knight raised her blade. “Stealing the mana of this kingdom just to feed your own self-preservation. Such a sin is unforgiving, and such a sin you have sown. I take no pleasure in ending you. Only justice,” she said. The armored leader continued, “Your people put their trust in you, and you repay them with a devil’s deal. A deal to gift you the power to raise the dead. Tis not a wonder that the people frantically sing praise of you. Lest they be found disagreeing with you, killed by your hand, and raised for your appalling undead puppetry.” The Skeleton Lord conversed with his thoughts, as his eyes widened at the knight’s words. “What is she talking about Digz?! She knows only fragments of our ways! She misunderstands our people!” he exclaimed. Digz replied, “...Does she? I fear we have been betrayed.” The tone of the knight’s voice rose. Her body shifted to execute a swing with her sword. “And as for that demon every person here refers to as an imp,” she said, “They shall-” A white spike made of bone torpedoed out of the Skeleton Lord’s cloak. The spike collided into the leader’s face; echoing the collapse of her face with bone crunched and flesh shredded. With the force of the projectile lodged into the knight’s destroyed face, she flew backwards. She then landed limply, as her body tumbled to a stop upon reaching the feet of her wizards. Blood slowly oozed from around the bone spike. The group of heroes froze, as the wizards’ incantation became choked from shock. The chains of light that incapacitated the king shattered; pieces of the chain glittered in the air before fading. One of the boney spider legs attached to the Skeleton Lord extended itself towards its master. The limb then wiped away the slime sticking to Alden’s mouth with only a stroke. At the same time, the other skeletal extensions wedged themselves into the ground. The two spider legs pushed; assisting the Skeleton Lord into the air before placing him onto his feet. A second ticked by, while nobody made an attempt to move. Spikes made of bone erupted from the chests of the adventurers. Marvelous Man gripped his hands. Even if he could go back in time, he could not have prevented their deaths. The source of their deaths came from columns of bones erupting from the fog behind the heroes; immediate and unseen. Digz voice quickly echoed, “...I managed to overpower their binds in time!...What luck!” The Skeleton Lord stood in silence. His head then cocked in acknowledgement, as his eyes became horrified. “My family!” he exclaimed. He turned to the castle now heavily engulfed in flames. Black smoke escaped from every opening in the stone home. Marvelous Man’s heart sank at the scene before him. He wondered how long Digz had planned this deception for everything Alden loved to come crashing down in one fell swoop. The king shouted, “I...I don’t see them anywhere! We must go back inside to-” “No, we can’t!” replied Digz, “The fire has grown too big, and we’d surely perish if we tried to go in there! I can’t bring you back if there’s nothing left of you. Especially if my totem has been destroyed!” Alden fired back, “The cloak can protect it! Now come on!” The Skeleton Lord charged towards the burning architecture. “The Pilgrim Cloak only shields us from enchanted sight and cannot be taken off by others. That doesn’t mean the cloth is indestructible!” reasoned the corrupted familiar. The king said nothing, as he arrived at the castle entrance doors. A row of bone columns fell from above with a sharp whistle and landed in front of the Skeleton Lord; barricading the doors from him. Alden slammed his hands on the barricade. He screamed, “What are you doing, Digz?! Open the way!” “Alden, please! Listen to me! When I said I couldn’t feel them anymore, I wasn’t just talking about the skeletons...I can’t detect your family anywhere…” said Digz. Tears began to stream down the Skeleton Lord’s cheeks, while his lips quivered. The king continued to slam against the bone blockade. He exclaimed, “No, no, no, NO...It can’t be...Have to get in there!” Digz voice rose in an authoritative tone. “Look at this castle! It is completely engulfed in flames! They couldn’t have survived this, and neither will we if we sprint in there!” stated the incomplete imp. Alden sunk to his knees, “Then...then...you can bring them back! Right here, you can make them rise from the ground! Right? You said a long time ago about being able to resurrect, and, and…” The corrupted familiar sighed. His voice became softer. “Only when they’ve binded their soul to me, remember? None of your family members wanted their existence linked to my totem. Not even you. We never even gave time to testing it on your steeds,” corrected Digz. He continued, “I’m sorry, Alden. They’re gone. If they were in my presence as they perished, I could have saved them. But I didn’t see their disappearance until it was too late.” “No…”whimpered Alden, “What did I do wrong?” Marvelous Man now realized that this was the Skeleton Lord’s turning point. When the king had hit his lowest point and had nothing else to live for, he would believe anything just to feel better as any other person would. And for the Skeleton Lord, what Digz would say next would become the lifelong goal. The obsession that has killed so many people. Digz replied, “...You have done nothing wrong, Alden. It was everybody else that is.” “We were so happy having everything stay the same. You’re like a god! Your family had immortality, and you protected this kingdom from all invaders. This was our own corner of the world,” he continued. The muscle demigod felt as if the corrupted familiar had been practicing these very lines. Down to even the volume he used on certain pronunciations, Digz made his words seem they were of the gospel...And Alden drank it all up; his face dawning with the newly tainted enlightenment. The incomplete imp spat with disgust, “But then those ‘heroes’ came and ruined everything! All for what?! For glory?! For wealth?! Just because of what we can do, that makes us evil? What pathetic ignorance.” The Skeleton Lord nodded, as he wiped streaks of tears going down his face. The flow of his tears came to a halt, and his eyes seemed to become emotionally withdrawn. “Then...why didn’t our people stop them? If there was any doubt about our evil...surely the citizens would have corrected them, right?” he questioned. Digz did not reply, as seconds awkwardly ticked by. Alden gritted his teeth, “Why would they let them set fire to my home?! Why would they let those...heroes just walk right up to my home and destroy my family?! Do they still hate me deep down? WHY?!” The unseen familiar spoke up. “...I-I’m not sure anymore...Even though I said many negative things in the past, I just wanted to keep you aware of possibilities. I came to thinking the same as you because I believed you knew your people…” he answered. The king gripped the ground, “...You were right...You always are.” “Feared our power, jealous of it...It doesn’t matter. They have betrayed us. They’re not my people anymore. They have burned away all the benevolence that I had,” he continued. The Skeleton Lord commanded, “Digz! Begin the ritual! Take everybody’s mana until there’s nothing left! Those protected by the blood runes will eventually die, since there will be no one to care for them in their time of recovery.” The incomplete imp replied back in a tone that poorly attempted to hide a twisted glee. “Of course. I’ll make sure to exact our revenge on those bastards!” he suggested, “And then we start our coming.” “Our coming?” said the king. Digz replied, “Yes, our coming. We’re not going to sit here till we turn to dust. We will make ourselves known and make the world burn! And when the whelps wonder why death will be arriving to their doorsteps, all they will know was that the Royal Burning was the cause of humanity’s fall! No one deserves to be happy! Only death!” The scenery in front of Marvelous Man began to fade. The whisping darkness that had swirled around his muscled mass began to bulge about, as light started to flood the muscle demigod from above. Looking up, Marvelous Man noticed the black fog Digz had cocooned him in was becoming shorter. It was definite that Digz had answered Marvelous Man’s question about the Royal Burning...but the response seemed to lead to more questions. The musclebound hero’s heart sank, as he realized he had gained no new insight to help win the battle without violence. What he had learned was only the surface of deeper things that led to this tragic event. The Skeleton Lord had depended on Digz so much, that simply speaking of the corrupted familiar’s deception would not be enough to change the ancient king’s mind. Marvelous Man wished he had more time to think of what he could say, but the curtain of darkness descended faster than he could put together a new plan. Upon the fog dropping beneath his face and no longer limited his eyesight, his eyes stretched wide at what he saw. A chill ran down his back with flashbacks of his abduction playing in his mind. The red cloak Marvelous Man had seen too many times screamed into his retinas. The present-day Skeleton Lord, in all his skinny, withered glory, stood a small distance away. Next Chapter

All comments and critiques are welcomed here and on my Google Docs(https://drive.google.com/open?id=1Z51Gh7qvdbt2g0xxPepOhEizpaHRkVtVWEauhe_3hS4) For other chapters, I will post them on here later. But you can find the archives on my FA and Tumblr with pics included. FA: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/ecchimultiverse/ Tumblr: http://ecchimultiverse.tumblr.com/ For first looks and more illustrations, check out my Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ecchimultiverse First Chapter | Previous Chapter | Next Chapter SPECIAL THANKS TO MY PATRONS: SPECTRI, LORD TUTORIALS, THATCHINESEPERSON, & JAINA All comments and critiques are welcomed here and on my Google Docs(https://drive.google.com/open?id=1Z51Gh7qvdbt2g0xxPepOhEizpaHRkVtVWEauhe_3hS4) For other chapters, I will post them on here later. But you can find the archives on my FA and Tumblr with pics included. FA: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/ecchimultiverse/ Tumblr: http://ecchimultiverse.tumblr.com/ For first looks and more illustrations, check out my Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ecchimultiverse First Chapter | Previous Chapter | Next Chapter SPECIAL THANKS TO MY PATRONS: SPECTRI, LORD TUTORIALS, THATCHINESEPERSON, & JAINA Chapter 24: Dancing With the Fiend Marvelous Man stood in front of the fog; staring at the whisping darkness curl about. Every few seconds, a pair of hands would lash from out of the fog. The hands would then slam into a magical barrier that caged the creatures from within. Runes, magical circles, sticky note talismans, and even enchanted items were plastered all over the barrier. The musclebound superhero drifted his eyes downwards to the rows of cubic-shaped machines placed around the outside of the affected ghetto area. Every cube had a large Arkos Division logo engraved on the side with a cable branching out from each machine to a gadget-decorated cable. The new cable projected a film of light; covering over the magical layer. The scenery in front of him caused his mind to drift back to his jacket’s pocket. His large hand fidgeted with a silver key in the pocket. He could feel every groove and the keychain attached to it, an ice cream sundae with a cherry on top. The itching temptation to use the key came back harder than the night of his first encounter with the Skeleton Lord. He wondered if it was the right thing to turn down his parents’ invitation to stay in Sunnysville...where it was safe and nothing changed. “Ugh, I do not envy what you’re about to do,” said a female voice from behind. Marvelous Man turned around to face the voice. Standing with all eight cybernetic arms crossed was Octomentist. The hulking bodybuilder immediately noticed that the prosthetic superhero now held a slouched posture compared to her usual power pose with the back straightened. He nodded, “Oh...yeah.” Octomentist lightly bit her lip, as an awkward second ticked by. “I never did thank you, did I? For helping out at the Arkos Division headquarters. I was out on patrol when it happened. And then you showed up a few minutes after I got there…” she said. The multi-armed heroine continued, “I helped try to clear the rubble, but you were the real hero. You actually got to save lives...and that was the first time I actually felt powerless. And that’s never happened to me, ya know...Is it fucked up that I kinda wish I was back in that tunnel fighting the Skeleton Lord, and our only way to save those people was to euthanize them?” The muscle demigod’s mind flashed back to the tunnels during the second battle against the Skeleton Lord. His stomach twisted at the blood, the terrible things the ancient villain said, killing the Teratoma...and first experiencing the power of his Soul Venom. To reflect on those memories for a second more might cause him to vomit. “I don’t think so. But it’s not exactly something I want to go through again,” replied Marvelous Man. Octomentist nodded, “Right..yeah, sorry. That was a dick thing for me to say. But I do mean it when I say thanks for what you did. You’re the greatest hero in my book.” Marvelous Man smiled. His heart gave a soft flutter of joy before wondering how long this nice attitude would last. “Thanks,” he said. The prosthetic hero smiled back, “So go get ‘em, Marvelous Man. I’ll just be manning the front over here. But just so you know, after this, it’s back to you being called Naked Justice.” “Yeah...I figured,” Marvelous Man giggled, “Wouldn’t have it any other way.” Octomentist pointed with her golden thumb over to a tent painted with runic symbols; housing the musclebound superhero’s other team members. The flaps of the tent parted ways, as Gemini exited the temporary structure. The bulky Soulem appeared to be heading over to Marvelous Man’s position. “I’ll be over there if you need anything,” she said. The muscle demigod nodded, “Sure.” The multi-armed woman departed from Marvelous Man, as she passed by Gemini. The Soulem arrived in front of the musclebound superhero in a few steps; mood rings glowing in the color yellow. Gemini stood still, while gently pounding the rubbery, robotic fists together. The mechanical being seemed at a loss for words before finally speaking up. “Um...hey,” said Gemini. Marvelous Man replied, “Hey.” The Soulem gave an artificial cough to clear his throat. “So I thought that we should go over one more time about the spell you got from the Bruja,” he said. Marvelous Man responded, “Sure. But don’t I just have to touch the imp when I cast the spell?” “Yeah, but you need to touch a solid part of the imp,” corrected Gemini, “You can’t just use its own foggy essence, since the spell would basically be grabbing air. That essence could easily escape the spell, and then you’d give away your own element of surprise. So make sure you’re grabbing the imp’s physical body when you cast that spell.” Marvelous Man frowned, “Well, can’t you modify the spell to suck in some of the essence to hold it in one place?” Gemini lurched his head back, while his face displayed a mix of horror and disgust. “Whoah, no! That spell is already complicated enough as is. I literally can’t tamper with a thing on that spell. It’s airtight and any mods on that thing will cause an entirely different reaction!” exclaimed the Soulem. His voice grew soft, “Besides, I only understand bits of it...the spell itself is...impossible. And while that should scare me, what scares me more is who you got it from…” “...I didn’t have much of a choice, Gem...I needed to end all of this. Doin what we usually do didn’t stop the Skeleton Lord. He always got away every time. And the only way I feel like we can actually win this time is if I upped my game and did something crazy,” explained Marvelous Man. Gemini sighed, “Let’s just...get this over and done with. I just hope the Bruja doesn’t come back to bite us in the ass. If she has access to that kind of magical knowledge, I don’t even know what she’s capable of if she ever tries to hurt you…” “She’d probably just send Sugar Skull instead,” remarked the muscle demigod. The Soulem smirked, “Right. Why bother wasting magic when you can just send an immortal lackey to do the dirty work for ya.” His cybernetic eyes flicked down at the ground before returning to look back at Marvelous Man. Gemini’s mood ring then transitioned to a rose red color. “Look, I gotta head back, but I just wanted to say...good luck out there. And please...come back safely. Alright?” he said. Marvelous Man smiled, “Thanks. I will. And it’ll be fine. I got Gene and Sugar Skull to watch my back.” “Would’ve been nicer if we had an A-lister like the Director,” frowned Gemini. Marvelous Man shrugged, “He has to help with keeping the barrier up...But I do think it’s kinda weird we couldn’t get help from anybody else. Everybody seems busy with their own crisis. Even the Nemesis Branch isn’t helping out cause we’re somehow not dealing with a A-rank villain or above.” “What a bunch of assholes,” huffed Gemini. The accent of a Southern gentleman emanated from behind the Soulem, “Mr. Yin and Mr. Marvelous Man. So glad both of you are here. This makes things easier for our final talk before we begin.” As Gemini turned around, Marvelous Man spotted the Director walking towards them. Accompanying a few steps behind Director Doug was the master witch’s familiar and the musclebound superhero’s teammates, Gene Lightfoot and Sugar Skull. Marvelous Man could feel a sense of nervousness wash over himself with every closing distance between himself and Gene. His eyebrow then perked up in confusion. “Hey, wait. Where’s Fairuza?” he asked. The Director answered, “She’s been reassigned to keep an eye on our wards, since it is a guarantee that she cannot gaze into the fog nor keep a connection with you three. I’m afraid the moment you and Gene and Sugar Skull pass through, you’re all on your own. We won’t be able to pull you out either, so you better not hold back. Do what you have to do to make this stop.” Director Skye’s eyes seemed to intensify their gaze into Marvelous Man’s, as he said his next words. “Marvelous Man, are you sure you want to go in there? Your healing abilities would be invaluable in assisting the troops out here should the barriers fail. You don’t have to do this,” he said. Marvelous Man’s mind lingered back to his meaty hand still in his jacket’s pocket. The jagged teeth of the silver key poked at his thumb. There was still time to run away from all this, and every part of him screamed it...But what if he could win? The muscle demigod hesitated, “Honestly...I kinda don’t want to go. I’ve never done anything as...intense as this before. But you said a while back that I was one of the people capable of handling the Skeleton Lord. And I need to be there for my partners to patch them up.” “Oh-ho ho! Thank goodness!” exclaimed Sugar Skull, “Because Gene would have really died out there if you didn’t come along. But I’d be okay. I can regenerate.” Silence weighed heavily in the air, as Sugar Skull’s spinning, yellow flower eyes flicked back and forth. None of the company appeared amused at the comment. The ghoul quickly thrust a hand into his sleeve before pulling it out immediately. “...And look! I have the new devices the Bruja made. Whaaaaat. Presenting the Bruja’s magical gadget, the Benighted Badge. Now we match each other!” said the Limbo being. He held out his hand; uncurling his fingers to reveal what rested in his palm. Everybody leaned forward to see two objects glittering on the ghoul’s palm. They looked exactly like the brooch Sugar Skull had always worn; a weeping closed eye. Puzzles called out from below, “What is it?” The Director frowned, while Marvelous Man realized the smoke imp was too small to see what the ghoul was holding. The Totochton prince and the muscle demigod picked up the pin jewelry; holding it up for a closer look. Director Doug then scratched his beard. “It looks to me like they are copies of Sugar Skull’s brooch,” reported the master witch. Sugar Skull replied, “Exactly. They do the same thing my brooch does. We’ll be able to pass through without any of the other ghouls seeing us.” The half-alive ghoul looked over at Marvelous Man. “Oh...but, you can’t do any supercharges or getting bright,” he said, “It’s easy to cover up sound, but your light can’t be, uh, suppressed when it’s bigger and brighter than a flashlight. Bending that much light without blinding you would have taken longer to make.” It was a huge handicap to what Marvelous Man could do. Supercharging his allies was something the muscle demigod felt made him indispensable to the team and helped turn the tide of a battle. But he knew that as long as the brooches worked and cloaked his team from immediate danger, he would be fine with limiting his abilities. The musclebound superhero nodded, “That’s fine. Could I still do normal healing? I still have to use some light, so I can heal.” “It’s not a problem. The gadget should be able to hide it,” answered Sugar Skull. A slight weight lifted from the hulking bodybuilder’s shoulders. It felt good to know that he could help support his teammates in some way. Marvelous Man was already aware of how much his combat ability paled in comparison to his companion’s and even the Skeleton Lord’s. The ghoul chimed, “I think we need a speech. This is the part where we’re about to do something dangerous and need some, ummm...encouragement!” “Here’s one,” said Puzzles. The entire cast turned to look down at the smoke imp. He stood with a silver zip lighter in one hand, and a glass bong, sized appropriately for his single paw, in the other. Flicking open the lighter to spark a flame, the familiar then lowered the flame onto the bong’s herbal-stuffed bowl. Puzzles snapped the lighter shut, “Don’t die.” Director Skye smiled at the smoke imp while flexing a single eyebrow up. “The Reefer Ballroom?” he questioned. Puzzles replied, “You’re combining your defense magic with the lesser spellcasters and some force field projectors from the Arkos Division. Even with all that, those ghouls are still getting through. You honestly think my Cuban Room can stop them, Boss?” “Containment isn’t working, so I shall impede,” concluded the smoke imp. The master witch looked over at Gemini, “Duly noted. Now, Mr. Yin, I heavily implore you to vacate this area. Seeing as how I am now lowering a part of the barrier. Monsters will most definitely be scurrying from out of my artificial opening, and I would hate for you to be caught in the midst of combat.” Mood rings on the cybernetic cheeks flared yellow, as Gemini’s eyes dilated. The Soulem instantly turned towards the tent and began power-walking. “Nope! Don’t have to tell me twice,” he exclaimed, “GoodLuckMarvelousManOkayLoveYouBye.” Director Skye watched the Soulem dart passed Octomentist and into the tent before reaching into his pocket. Pulling out a cell phone, the master witch dialed a number. He then placed it next to his ear, while it rang once before being answers. He announced, “This is Director Douglas Skye. I am authorizing the deactivation of your force field generators for ninety seconds...Yes. Begin now.” As the Director ended his call, the small humming noise from the force field projector cubes started to die down. The thin layer on top of the magical barrier eroded; starting from the top and making its way down. Within seconds, the projected force field from the Arkos Division had completely deteriorated. Director Skye placed the phone back into his pocket and held up his hands. The master witch’s hands then began to glow blue with magical energy. Gesturing with his hands, a magical circle appeared. “When I’ve created an opening, all of you must charge through. Do not worry about the monsters that get through, Puzzles and I, as well as the other heroes and police officers, will dispose of them. It is highly likely we will lose communication with y’all, so please be aware that you are all on your own once you three enter. Gene, you will be the field leader for this mission,” stated the Director. Gene pinned the brooch to his shoulder’s strap, “Understood.” A hole the size of a baseball appeared on the magical barrier above the magic circle. The hole then moved; splitting into both horizontal directions. While the incision on the barrier continued, Puzzle pressed the top of the glass bong to his lips and took a long inhale. When the gap reached a certain wideness on both ends, the ends of the gap made its way down. The very end of the whisping fog seemed to drool from the artificial outline that appeared wide enough for three men to charge in at the same time. Puzzles disengaged from the glass bong and exhaled a big puff of marijuana smoke; cascading to the concrete ground. The white smoke flooded in every direction, as it grew higher. Marvelous Man quickly fumbled about to pin the brooch onto his black leather jacket. In seconds, the bong smoke swallowed everyone. The last thing Marvelous Man saw, after successfully pinning the Bruja’s brooch, was the dissection of the magical barrier coming to a stop upon contacting with the terrain. Marvelous Man’s eyes blinked. He turned about; trying to absorb his new surroundings. The hulking bodybuilder was transported in what appeared to be a grand ballroom. The walls and furniture were adorned with the colors of gold white, and the paintings and decorations had a pastel color to them. Memories of art and architecture taught by Apollo allowed the musclebound superhero to surmise the ballroom was an eighteenth century Russian palace in the rococo style. He stood with his teammates amidst a crowd that were watching people court and dance. The citizens within the lavish ballroom were dressed of higher class Russian fashion from the eighteenth century; possibly even royalty. Marvelous Man could hear an orchestra composed of string and woodwind instruments. The muscle demigod was aware Puzzles could concoct illusions through smoke, but even the sound of violins and flutes playing nearly convinced himself of traveling through time. The hulking bodybuilder also spotted the Director amidst the dancers and had continued to channel the spell. The dancers twirled about Director Skye, yet never seemed to make any accidental physical contact to the master witch. Before questioning the scenery, his attention snapped to a commotion on his left. Ghouls and monsters from the fog had charged through a wide, opened doorway; screaming and snarling. The citizens and the scenery slightly warped, as smoke was channeled from them. Puzzles’ smoke reached out in the form of gentle vapors, as it funneled into the nostrils and mouths of the enemies. The Limbo creatures slowed to a stop; their eyes fogging in confusion. The residents within the ballroom that were closest to the stupefied foes sauntered over to them. The dancers guided the ghouls onto the main floor and danced with them, while the viewers petted the monsters like they were adorable dogs. More Limbo beings clamored into the ballroom and were quickly pacified. “Go now! Go!” commanded a deep Russian-accented voice from above Marvelous Man. A figure, blurred in grey and blue, fell from up high. It then collided onto the head of one of the dancing ghouls. The object that had landed came into focus as Puzzles with his dagger sunken onto the top of the inhibited ghoul’s head. The ghoul immediately disintegrated into dust, as Puzzled fell towards the ground. Gene spoke up, “My teammates, we must make the haste, while we still have the time.” The rabbit superhero ran towards the opened doorway with the purple ghoul following behind. The muscle demigod stared at his compatriots for a second before snapping out of his surprised daze and gave chase. As the three made their way closer to the doorway, the dancers and bystanders immediately stepped out of the pathway like water being parted. “Turn on the brooch with magic now!” shouted Sugar Skull, “The ghouls will attack us the moment we pass through!” Placing their hands on the Bruja’s magical item, Gene and Marvelous Man’s hands glowed blue with magic. The glowing immediately died, as the magic channeled into the weeping eye brooches upon passing through the doorway. Ghouls from the fog continued to pour in, but they weaved around all three allies without even passing a glance. The whisping fog crashed into the team’s faces; blackness obscuring their visions. The trio came to an immediate stop; their eyes slowly adjusting to the sudden darkness. Regaining enough sight, Marvelous Man noticed the countless, monstrous Limbo beings had continued to charge passed the hulking bodybuilder and his friends. His muscles, flexing into cords as hard as rocks, relaxed back into its natural round, firm state. With the danger temporarily alleviated, Marvelous Man’s body realized it had stopped breathing for over a minute. He gave a loud, sharp gasp before immediately coughing; the bleach scent of Limbo’s air hung heavily in the fog. The musclebound superhero bent down, as his throat continued to hack. The rest of the team flinched at the sudden noises given off by the hulking bodybuilder. The spinning, yellow flower eyes in Sugar Skull’s sockets transformed into red exclamation points. The purple ghoul stared up at Marvelous Man. “Wow, that actually gave me a fright!” commented Sugar Skull. Gene spoke up, “Marvelous Man, are you well?” The muscle demigod held up his index finger to indicate towards his teammates. Seconds later, Marvelous Man stood up straight. He looked down at the rabbit superhero. “Yeah, I’m fine. Didn’t realize I was holding in my breath until just now,” he answered. Gene’s white rabbit ears twitched about, “I must do the commending, Sugar Skull. The Bruja’s magical jewelry works as you have said.” The purple ghoul turned to look at the bunny demigod. The red exclamation points in his eye sockets returned to its spinning flower form. “The Bruja is the real deal. After all, she struck a deal with your, uh. What’s the word I’m looking for? It’s predecesor in Spanish...Oh, haha. Predecessors. It’s why all the Toto’s restaurants act as the entrance to the land of the living when I leave Limbo,” replied Sugar Skull. Gene frowned, “I do wish to continue the talk regarding your master’s connection to my people, but we all must make the haste to defeat the Skeleton Lord.” The Totochin prince proceeded forward with the two party members immediately following behind. The howls and groans of the Limbo monsters echoed unseen throughout the streets. The line of sight for Marvelous Man could only extend as far as ten steps ahead before being swallowed by whisping fog enveloping the crew. With the unsettling feelings being forgotten the ghetto usually radiated and enhanced by the Skeleton Lord’s creepy fog, it became a tempting thought for Marvelous Man to fly his teammates over to the Skeleton Lord’s dwelling. It would have been faster, but the plans set days before the three went into the fog said otherwise. It was agreed that the trio would have to traverse the fogged area by foot at walking speed. Sugar Skull had pointed out that even with the Bruja’s magical items, the Skeleton Lord could still detect them. The safest strategy would be taking slow movements to avoid drawing sudden attention on themselves should the ancient villain return on the estimated date. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> As the team drew closer to the Skeleton Lord’s hideout, the streets became more spacious. There were still ghouls roaming about, but the majority of the Limbo creatures were loitering at the barriers surrounding the ghetto. The ones that Marvelous Man were now passing by were the naked ghouls he had seen before in Limbo; lying on the ground with the same surrender to despair. “Hello, Totochtin,” said a voice from behind the group. The group instantly turned around to face the person addressing Gene. A figure stood in the middle of the road; its height as tall as an imp. The being wore a dress covered in tatters, and the ribbon bow encircling the neckline had eroded with its color faded. It’s head and right arm no longer existed; replaced with whisping essence bleeding out and blending into the fog. It’s other arm seemed to be avian, as the limb was shaped like an arm but was compiled of tattered feathers. The creature turned to Marvelous Man. A voice then emanated from it; sounding as if it were under water. “You must be Marvelous Man,” it said, “Your shape is much like Gilgamesh. A giant man of muscles. So it’s not hard to figure out.” The smoky figure turned to Sugar Skull, “And you must be the Bruja’s ghoul. My master has been wanting to see you again to pay back all the torment you have given him.” As the demigods opened their mouths to reply, Sugar Skull interrupted them. “Don’t acknowledge him! If you do, he’ll be able to see you!” exclaimed the purple ghoul. Gene pointed out, “I believe there is none of the point to doing that. He identified us by the shapes of our bodies.” The creature spoke up; pulling the team’s attention back to itself. “I can’t hear you, but I know you’re talking about me. Do you really think I wouldn’t notice something I couldn’t see but was still taking up space in my own essence? Reveal yourselves to me, or I’ll get nasty,” it said. The trio remained frozen at the threat. Marvelous Man gulped; trying to build some courage within himself. The musclebound superhero needed confirmation first before he did anything else. He then took a step forward. He announced, “Yeah, I’m Marvelous Man. Are you the Skeleton Lord’s familiar?” “That I am. And will the others come forward as well? Or shall I have them skewered?” said the imp. Marvelous Man finally had his suspicions confirmed. To see an incomplete imp firsthand was...more disturbing than Puzzles could have described. He could only feel sadness for the imp; imagining how it existed for thousands of years in a constant state of pain and rage. The muscle demigod wanted to activate the spell immediately to put the imp out of its misery. But he knew what Gemini had said to him earlier. Now was not the time; not when the element of surprise had been lost. Marvelous Man would have to wait until another chance arose. Gene acknowledged, “What is your name?” “I am Digz,” replied the incomplete imp, “And what is your business here?” “We wish to defeat the Skeleton Lord,” answered Gene. Digz cackled, “He’s not here...yet. The Skeleton Lord will return soon.” The smoky familiar crooked his shoulder; seemingly staring at Sugar Skull. A sharp object shot out from behind the familiar. It screeched through the air in less than a second before making the sound of flesh being impaled. Marvelous Man turned to his half-alive friend. He could see an arrow sticking out of Sugar Skull’s left shoulder. The purple ghoul staggered back a few steps, as Marvelous Man noticed Sugar Skull wielding the signature black glock. The Limbo being’s eye sockets were completely covered in television static noise. “...You sneaky fatherfucker,” said Sugar Skull. Digz remarked, “I just said that I could see Marvelous Man’s shape. You honestly thought I couldn’t see you about to use your gun superpower?” “Well, yeah,” giggled Sugar Skull. Marvelous Man hurried over to Sugar Skull, while feeling the emotions of fear ebb from Gene. Placing his hand next to the wound, he fed the light within himself memories of his mother cooking his favorite breakfast. The muscle demigod then grabbed the arrow with his other hand, as his light began to heal the traumatized area. He spoke, “I got you, Sugar Skull...This is gonna hurt.” “...Hey, Marvelous Man. Remember that dickhead ghoul in the diner who told you that he was embracing life now that he could feel pain? Could you take my gun, go back in time, and shoot him in the fucking hea-AAAAGH, FATHERFUCKER!” exclaimed Sugar Skull. The musclebound superhero held the arrow in his hand; detached from the purple ghoul’s shoulder and dripping with crimson blood. Marvelous Man could not help but feel a small amount of cynicism despite seeing his friend in pain. His eyebrow flexed upward, “I’m sorry, but...I’ve seen your abdomen being disemboweled before. How was that arrow much worse than this?” “You ever had a paper cut before?” fired back the half-alive friend. Digz spoke up, “And now I wonder what I should do to the lot of you.” Marvelous Man thought quickly. He knew that Digz would not harm Gene, since the Skeleton Lord has use for the Totochtin prince. As for the hulking bodybuilder and the purple ghoul, Digz would have found them disposable. The musclebound superhero still needed more time to stop the ancient evil, and he needed to know more about the Skeleton Lord to find the weakness for defeating the supervillain. “Tell us about the Skeleton Lord!” he blurted out, “I mean, we hardly know the guy. We’ve come this far. Could you please answer our questions about him?” Sugar Skull chimed in, “I’m with him on that! Besides, I’m sure the Skeleton Lord would like to see us one more time.” The incomplete imp said nothing. Seconds ticked by, while whisping, black smoke continued to flow out of its neck and shoulder. Digz then shrugged. “I don’t see why not,” it answered. A small sigh of relief escaped from Marvelous Man’s lips. He could feel Gene’s emitted emotions become calmer, as he spotted Sugar Skull’s sockets returned back to displaying the spinning, flower eyes. Digz held up a feathery finger, “BUT! You each get one question. And before I can answer them, you have to defeat the guardians.” The imp snapped his fingers. The blackness behind Digz stirred, as three figures stepped through. They walked past the whispy familiar; revealing their identities upon drawing closer to the heroes. Leading from the center was Zareb and wielding his pair of short-handed axes. He clanged his axes together; causing the runes etched on the weapons to glow and spark electricity. Appearing on the electric tribesman’s left was Itzcóatl. The vengeful hunter pulled an arrow from the quiver on his back and nocked it onto his equipped bow. On the other side of Zareb was a knight geared in a suit of polished silver armor. The knight shifted into its fighting stance; armed with an ornamentally-decorated glaive polearm that had appeared in the second confrontation with the Skeleton Lord. Sugar Skull yanked up his gun and aimed it at the knight. Pulling the trigger, an explosive bang went off. The knight’s helmet became slightly dented, while the sound of ricochet echoed from it. “GAH!” screamed Marvelous Man. A sudden, sharp sting rippled in Marvelous Man’s sculpted abdomen. The hulking bodybuilder grabbed at his stomach; crouching nearly at the ground from the pain. Sugar Skull’s yellow flower eyes transformed into a yellow-and-black-striped caution sign displaying an exclamation point. The half-alive ally looked at Marvelous Man, “Sorry! I didn’t think he was bulletproof!” Sugar Skull’s body gave an abrupt shake, while the sound of pierced flesh resounded from beneath him. His eyes fizzled from the caution sign back into the television static interference screen. Turning back to his armored opponent, the knight had appeared at a closer distance to the purple ghoul. He then looked down; spotting the knight’s glaive protruding through his abdomen. Blood started dripping from his mouth. The half-alive being coughed, “You know...when a guy stabs my guts...it’s usually from behind. Gahahaha...What? It’s funny.” The knight shifted his legs; hoisting the purple ghoul into the air. Sugar Skull screamed in midair. “MM! Tag in! Tag in!” exclaimed the half-alive teammate. Marvelous Man looked up at his skull-headed friend. He spotted Sugar Skull being lifted up before an arc of blue and white light crashed into him. The hulking bodybuilder’s muscles seized; painfully cramping everywhere while feeling a tingling sensation. In his scattered thoughts, he knew this had to be Zareb’s electrical attack. Gene watched Marvelous Man become too paralyzed to save Sugar Skull, while the knight proceeded to slam the purple ghoul over his head and into the ground. Crouching down, the rabbit superhero immediately pushed off with his legs. The Totochtin prince flung himself into the air with his back bending backward. As he performed his backflip, Gene quickly dug his hands into his ball pouch. His body then completed the twirl while still in the whisping air; now faced again towards the fight. The bunny demigod yanked his hands out and unleashed a fistful barrage of silver balls. The shiny projectiles rained down on Zareb; piercing into the electric tribesman and the ground around him. Blood splattered from the impacted damage Gene had caused, but the spheres were not thrown hard enough to completely pass through the enemy. The lightning guardian discontinued the electrical attack and recoiled from the silver ball affliction, as Gene landed. The Totochtin prince brought his hands close to his face and clenched them into tight fists. A yellow runic symbol appeared; glowing on top of his fingerless gloves. The silver balls lodged into electric tribesman exploded out of the enemy and the concrete ground; blood and debris blasting into the air with a misty and dusty consistency. The shiny spheres shot towards Gene. Before the magical projectiles pulverized into the bunny demigod, they stopped at only an arm’s length from Gene. Free from the electrifying shock, Marvelous Man ignored the pain and reacted. The musclebound superhero pushed himself up. With the arrow’s obsidian head covered in Sugar Skull’s blood still gripped in his hands, he threw it like a dart. The arrow flew towards Zareb and punctured into the lightning guardian’s abdomen. Zareb froze. At the area of the arrow’s impact, a wave of deterioration spread. As Sugar Skull’s poison expanded, the affected parts flaked off into a whisping, black dust. Marvelous Man quickly turned to the knight and activated his flight power. Pushing off with his massive legs, the hulking bodybuilder flew. The polished knight took no notice of him, as the armored guardian was only focused on the pinned Sugar Skull with back turned. The musclebound superhero wrapped his arms around the knight’s torso and flew up. With the silver knight unaware of the muscle demigod’s attack, the ornamental glaive slipped from the guardian’s grasp. Marvelous Man immediately spun his body, as he gained altitude. By the second rotation, the muscle demigod released his hold over the armored guardian. He shouted, “NGYAH!” The silver knight flung helplessly in the air like a ragdoll, while Marvelous Man took off his golden wreath. The laurel weaponry appeared sharper; reflecting the muscle demigod’s intent. Spinning his body, Marvelous Man threw his boomerang wreath with an underhanded throw. “SLICE AND DICE!!!” he battle cried. The golden headgear shimmered as it whirred through the air like a buzzsaw. A second later, the spinning projectile caught up to the airborne enemy. The boomerang laurel sliced through the knight’s midsection without hesitation. Gravity then took hold of the armored guardian, as the golden wreath returned to Marvelous Man. The knight broke apart into two separate pieces; bisected horizontally at the wreath’s passing impact. Before the silver knight reached halfway down, both parts of himself exploded into the same texture as the whisping fog. At the same time, the glaive pinned into Sugar Skull had dispersed into the same blackness as the fog. There was now only one more guardian for the team to combat against. “Gah!” he exclaimed, “...What the-?!” Marvelous Man felt a sudden, sharp poke in his massive glutes. Rubbing his left bubble butt cheek, he could feel a small hole in his American flag bikini. He then looked down and spotted an arrow clattering onto the ground. It was the same kind of arrow that had struck Sugar Skull earlier; the head of arrow shaped out of sharp, black obsidian glass. The muscle demigod gaze about the area but could not find the most likely assailant, Itzcóatl. Gene gestured with his hands again by creating a swirling motion with his index and middle finger at the floating spheres. This caused his gloves to glow with a different runic symbol. The silver balls in front of the Totochtin prince morphed; each of them extending a stem of itselves to two other spheres to create a silver bolas. With the magical command complete, a set of three bolas floated in front of Gene. The bunny demigod grabbed two bolas; one in each hand. Gene began twirling them, while he turned around until his back was facing his allies. The rabbit superhero’s eyes scanned the area, and his white rabbit ears twitched. He then released both bolas; flying off towards his right. The bolas spun, as they continued their flight. The grouped projectiles then stopped in mid-flight; wrapping around an unseen object. Upon binding, the object immediately revealed itself as Itzcóatl falling onto the ground. With one of the bolas tied around the legs and the other around the torso, the Aztec guardian was unable to move. Sugar Skull slowly leaned up. With the black gun still in his grasp, he hurriedly dipped the front end of the weapon deep into his opened abdomen. The purple ghoul grunted at the self-intrusion but did not hesitate to immediately pull out. He then aimed the blood-soaked glock at the bounded vengeful hunter. Pulling the trigger, the bullet’s impact against Itzcóatl’s shoulder was instant. His mocha-shaded skin as well as his clothing began to blacken and spread rapidly from the point of injury. The dispersal of Sugar Skull’s poison overtook the sneaky guardian in seconds before sharing the same fate of disintegration as his other villainous compatriots. Marvelous Man gently landed onto the ground upon spotting the battle had ended. He then rushed over to Sugar Skull’s side. Kneeling down, he placed his hands on a part of the purple ghoul’s clothing that had not yet been drenched by the toxic blood. The muscle demigod’s mind drifted to a memory about Apollo indulging a young Justice with baking and decorating a wedding cake. The light within Marvelous Man fed on the positive memory and feelings; illuminating the hulking bodybuilder’s large hands and beginning the healing process on Sugar Skull. A watery voice called out, “Well done, well done. I didn’t think the fight would end this fast. Hmmm, too bad we couldn’t include Gilgamesh in the fight. He would have really fucked you guys up...What did you do to him anyways? I can’t summon him back to me.” The Totochtin prince faced towards his allies. Standing steps away from the aiding teammates was the incomplete imp, Digz. The whisping darkness continued to pour out from the stumps of the missing head and right arm. “Gilgamesh has been detained. We have taken the precautions to prevent any of the attempts to do the escape,” replied Gene. Digz giggled, “Spoilsport. So how did you find Itzcóatl? His steps are too quiet for your hare ears to hear.” “He allowed himself to be filled with the anger after failing to attack Marvelous Man,” stated Gene, “Now, enough of the stalling. We have fulfilled the terms of your conditions. Answer our questions!” The incomplete imp sighed, “Fair enough. Ask away.” The Totochtin prince paused for a moment, as Marvelous Man finished healing the half-alive teammate. The hulking bodybuilder then helped Sugar Skull to stand up before the two faced the Skeleton Lord’s familiar. The eye sockets on the purple ghoul defaulted back to the spinning flower eyes. “...Did the Skeleton Lord speak the truth about himself being the cause as to why the Totochtin are split into the multiple tribes? I wish to know the horrors he had wrought upon my ancestors,” demanded Gene. The fog surrounding everyone reached out; encircling around the bunny demigod. The vortex of blackness covering Gene remained thick; rendering the Totochtin prince unseeable to those outside. Marvelous Man screamed, “Gene!” The rabbit superhero did not reply. Marvelous Man’s heartbeat beated rapidly in panic, as he heard Digz speak up. “Oh, he’s fine. Just spirited away to a memory. So go on. Ask your question,” said the incomplete imp. Sugar Skull stepped forward, “Alright. What is your backstory? I want to know how you came to be right up to when you met the Skeleton Lord.” The whisping fog stretch and embraced the purple ghoul in its swirling mass. Marvelous Man stared at the familiar. He was now alone again with nobody to call out to for help...and it terrified him. “I...I want to know...H-how did…” hesitated the hulking bodybuilder. Marvelous Man stopped and took a breath. Now was not the time to show fear and urinate on himself all over again. Marvelous Man was on a mission. He needed to get answers and cause the incomplete imp to lower their guard. The musclebound superhero started, “What is the Royal Burning? I want to know.” The black essence slithered over to Marvelous Man. It slowly rose up; covering from the feet and working its way up. As the whisping darkness reached his head, Marvelous Man held his breath. For a brief moment, there was only blackness. Next Chapter

All comments and critiques are welcomed here and on my Google Docs(https://drive.google.com/open?id=1JX5N5YR3mCkmGdXVfn0mOuc9jtpLuAp9solb8ZxW3yc) For other chapters, I will post them on here later. But you can find the archives on my FA and Tumblr with pics included. FA: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/ecchimultiverse/ Tumblr: http://ecchimultiverse.tumblr.com/ For first looks and more illustrations, check out my Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ecchimultiverse First Chapter | Previous Chapter | Next Chapter SPECIAL THANKS TO MY PATRONS: DONALD MORGAN, ANDREW L, & SPECTRI All comments and critiques are welcomed here and on my Google Docs(https://drive.google.com/open?id=1JX5N5YR3mCkmGdXVfn0mOuc9jtpLuAp9solb8ZxW3yc) For other chapters, I will post them on here later. But you can find the archives on my FA and Tumblr with pics included. FA: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/ecchimultiverse/ Tumblr: http://ecchimultiverse.tumblr.com/ For first looks and more illustrations, check out my Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ecchimultiverse First Chapter | Previous Chapter | Next Chapter SPECIAL THANKS TO MY PATRONS: DONALD MORGAN, ANDREW L, & SPECTRI Chapter 23: The Skipable, Nonsexy, But Informative Chapter The soft tick of a clock seemed to echo heavily in the Director’s office. A week had passed since the explosion at the Arkos Division headquarters, and Marvelous Man had managed to finally reserve some private time with Director Skye’s familiar, Puzzles. The hulking bodybuilder sat across from the smoke imp in one of the luxurious chairs that were comfortable but could barely contain the musclebound superhero’s size. Puzzles stood in a similar chair, but his attention was catered elsewhere. The smoke imp leaned over the arm of the chair; reaching out. Marvelous Man’s eyes drifted to the end table next to Puzzles’ chair. It was a cherrywood furniture that housed a silver drinking tray. On top of the tray was a glass set of scotch drinking glasses that bore a resemblance to a tulip flower. Seated at the end of the tray was a crystal scotch decanter with a stopper shaped to look like the head of a wild unicorn. The decanter held within a foggy, honey-colored liquid; giving the muscle demigod a slight salivation in the mouth. Pulling off the crystal stopper and laying it on the tray, the smoke imp lifted the decanter with both of his tiny paws. He gently angled the luxurious container to control the amber content into a slow flow; careful to not spill a drop. Puzzles remarked, “Now, I’m not sure why you wanted to have a private meeting with only me and not the Director, but it’s not like he can come anyways. Bossman is busy securing the barriers that’s quarantining the slums filled with the Skeleton Lord’s fog. Every day, it keeps deteriorating at a faster rate cause more of those Purgatory bastards keep coming through. Trying to knock down the walls Bossman is constantly repairing...Eventually, we’ll have to rely on the shield generators the Arkos Division lent us as our second line of defense.” As he filled the glass halfway, he halted the pour and placed the decanter back onto the tray before corking it closed. The smoke imp picked up the cup with both paws that began to glow blue. The magical energy seeped into the glass; resulting in a tiny magical circle to appear onto the front of the cup. From within the cup, a small sphere of ice began to form in the amber liquid. The magical circle then faded into nonexistence seconds after, while the ice ball completely materialized. “And all the available hands that can cast a ward have been sent to take care of the persistent fatherfuckers that have been trying get through the subways, sewers...and now newly dug tunnels to seal up. At this point, we’re just playing whack-a-ghoul with band aids,” he commented. Puzzles offered the drink, “Ambrosia?” Marvelous Man racked his brain for a nanosecond. Outside of Greek mythology, was ambrosia another word for an alcoholic beverage? It was probably a city lingo he had not heard yet. The hulking bodybuilder was not completely aware of all the customs the real world had compared to Sunnysville. He considered that he needed to make more friends who were more cultured with the sophistications of Skyway City. “Um, no thank you. I shouldn’t drink while on the job,” he said. Puzzles scoffed, “This isn’t bourbon. It’s apple cider...Non-alcoholic apple cider.” “It’s known as the Bardsey Island Cider. The most luxurious and rarest of its kind. It is the only original of its apple kind, and only one naturally grown tree is left somehow intact in the Whales country. That’s why I like to call it ambrosia...And that’s probably why I should have led with that before offering,” he informed. Marvelous Man spoke, “Oh...Well, sure then. I’ll give it a try.” Leaning forward, the musclebound superhero extended his bulky arm. While accepting the glass of iced cider with just one meaty hand, the glass the seemed huge in Puzzles’ hands now dwarfed in Marvelous Man’s. The muscle demigod then brought the cup to his face; detecting the scent of lemons from the foggy liquid. Marvelous Man sipped on the cider, as the smoke imp poured another glass from the crystal decanter. “Wow, it’s pretty sweet!” bulged his eyes, “...But why does it smell like lemons?” Puzzles fed mana from his hands into the newly-poured cup of apple cider; ice manifesting within to swirl into a spherical shape. “That’s just how it naturally is. Part of what makes it so special,” he answered. The smoke imp sat back down onto the chair’s cushion; sipping on his cider. Given the furniture’s size compared to Puzzles’, his small stature made himself look as if he were about to fall in between the seat’s crevice. Marvelous Man felt that what should be an adorable scene was offset by the smoke imp’s naturally judgy expression due to the cat-like features that could not be hidden behind his tiny glasses. Combined with the Russian accent Puzzles seemed to voice on purpose and his usual cold, direct attitude, the familiar gave off the aura of one associated with the mafia. He spoke, “You should know that the Bossman extends his thanks. You helped a great deal this past week. Saved a lot of lives. That supercharge of yours is really something. Bossman has just started helping out with the warding, so there’s no need to supercharge him yet.” Marvelous Man thought back to what had transpired right after the explosion at the Arkos Division headquarters. As ordered by the Director, he left to assist in finding survivors at the wreckage. The muscle demigod used his supercharge ability to flood into the rubble; resulting in people found either buried alive or perfectly preserved. Civilians, scientists, emergency services, and even the heroes extended their tearful thanks for being the main reason as to why the victims and loved ones were able to survive. But for the ones that would have a dignified opened casket before the burial...the people receiving those bodies flared grieving anger at the musclebound superhero. It was all too much for Marvelous Man, that he eventually became numb to those emotions. After the fact, he had to go and report back to the D.A.B. headquarters before being sent out again to assist the magic users. Marvelous Man used his supercharge to empower the witches and other spellcasters weaving defense spells of different elements and properties to quarantine the monsters within the fog. Through the many hours of supercharging his allies, he had began to notice odd characteristics of those recently exiting the power-up cycle. The magic users exhibited depression, irritability, and a desperate need to be supercharged. Pangs of guilt echoed in the muscle demigod’s mind, as he exited his personal flashback. “Umm, thank you, sir,” he nodded. Puzzles started, “So...why did you want to speak with only me?” “...I wanted to ask you about imps...or familiars...What’s the right word for that?” hesitated Marvelous Man. Puzzles answered, “Both. We are technically called familiars. But due to our size and cuteness, the common man and today’s mainstream refers to us as imps. I’m fine with being referred to as either.” The smoke imp sipped his luxury cider. “And let me guess, you thought because I’m an imp, I know everything there is to know about imps, yes?” he accused. Marvelous Man could feel a slight shiver run down his back, as it seemed as if Puzzles’ crystal blue stare went right into his soul. There was an awkward tension filling the air, and the musclebound superhero wondered if he had touched a nerve. He then gave a dry swallow; knowing he needed the information to help himself figure out how to proceed in the coming week. He meekly fidgeted, “N-not really. Gemini said you didn’t like kids nowadays summoning their own familiars. He thought you would’ve like more imps showing up, and...I wanted to know too...And I thought if you had a reason why you didn’t like it, that you knew something Gemini didn’t know.” “Well, of course he wouldn’t. He’s studying the scientific properties of magic and the frequency that creates magical energy. Or mana, if you want to get technical,” replied the smoke imp, “Imps are more of a magical creature or just a creature in general.” Marvelous Man looked down, “Oh. So, ummm, would it be okay if you told me why?” Puzzles stared at his glass cup; the cider already half gone. “...Do you promise not to laugh? And to not pity me?” asked the smoke imp. Marvelous Man stared up at the familiar, “Uh, yeah. I promise.” The familiar licked his lips at the droplets of cider residue. “Alright. You know what a familiar’s purpose is, yes?” he quizzed. The hulking bodybuilder tilted his head, “...Kinda? Isn’t it to serve the witch that summons them until they’re dismissed? And like, they help power up the witch or something, right?” “What?! No! That is completely wrong! You raised in a fucking cave or something?! Next you’ll tell me that witches eat children,” exclaimed Puzzles. The smoke imp gave a soft sigh. He then reached into the inside of his suit’s jacket; searching for something. “Sorry...I will start...from the beginning,” he mentioned, “But you were right about one thing. Us imps are summoned to serve our masters. But I prefer the word, assist.” In Puzzles’ tiny, cat-like paws, he held a long cylindrical device. The device seemed to be a thin vaporizer pen; the mouthpiece and battery end casted in silver and a glass chamber connecting in the center of the two. It seemed to be an artisanal piece, as it took on the shape of traditional Japanese smoking pipe with a bronze Eastern dragon looping up and down the shaft. The smoke imp took a long drag on his vape before exhaling the vapored smoke into the air. Rather than immediately dissipating, the smoke continued existing. It then began to collect itself together into a round shape; forming into a cloud. The familiar held out the pipe towards Marvelous Man, “Would you like to try it? It’s pink lemonade.” “Oh, uh, no thanks. But thank you,” he replied. Puzzles shrugged, “More for me.” The smoke imp puffed on his vape pipe a few more times, as Marvelous Man sipped on the cider the hulking bodybuilder was given. Like the previous vapored smoke, Puzzles’ exhales were absorbed into the pink lemonade-scented cloud. The familiar then placed his vape pipe on his lap and took another sip from his glass before starting the lecture. “So as you know, every living organism has the potential to cast magic. Those who follow the path of mastering magic, or at least a type of magic, are known as wizards. But that sort of category changes the moment a person, wizard or not, summons a familiar. Those who do are permanently labeled as witches,” he explained. The smoke imp continued, “And in the past, familiars were summoned to compensate a witch’s weakness in battle. You do great with attack spells but never bothered to learn defense spells? You summon an earth imp. And if it were the other way around, you summoned a fire imp. The familiar you summoned to assist you should only be one of the four main elements to make sure your fights don’t go fuck-up sideways: earth, fire, wind, and water.” Marvelous Man frowned, as his eyebrows scrunched in confusion. “Wait,” he said, “Aren’t you a-” “Yes, I know. I’ll be getting to that soon,” interrupted Puzzles. He clarified, “I know I made it sound easy when summoning your own familiar, and it actually is. The hard part is getting the imp to become the element you need. After you print out your magic circle and put together the ingredients and recite the incantation, you have to make a wish to complete the ritual. That wish will shape the imp into becoming whatever element it has to, so it can fulfill your desires. The easiest workaround for that is just to wish the type of familiar you need. So all that sort of knowledge had been secretly guarded by magical academies and families specializing in only magic for generations...And then some fatherfucker posted that info all over the internet for any twit with half a mind to use.” “And when new information is put out on the internet that any person could perform with just the junk they have lying around the house, it’s a definite that kids will do it. First, it’s the high schoolers who just want to show off their magical abilities and look cool with an underling to carry their books or do their homework. Then, it’s the middle school kids who want to imitate the high school kids to feel cool. And after that, it catches onto the elementary school kids who’ll do it for the same reasons and also have someone to play with,” droned the familiar. Puzzles took a hard sip of his nearly empty cider glass, while the pink lemonade-scented cloud began to darken. The sweet-smelling cloud then echoed a small clap of thunder. He gritted his teeth, “And then...AND THEN, A TRADING CARD GAME POPS UP OUT OF NOWHERE FOR KIDS TO USE WITH THEIR FAMILIAR! So, so, not only do a bunch of minors summon familiars with wishes that twist them into elements outside of the four main or turns them into objects, but now there’s this magical card game that projects harmless hard-light holograms to enable the idea of having a familiar be fun rather than a responsibility. We are weapons, dammit! We were created to fight! Not become a cute pet that teaches lessons of friendship and shit! If we’re not even one of the main four elements, WE’RE JUST USELESS GARBAGE THAT CAN’T PROTECT OUR OWN MASTER!” A bolt of lightning escaped from Puzzles’ cloud; striking the crystal decanter. In an instant before being struck, a runic symbolic flashed on the decanter’s surface. As the lightning bolt crashed into the enchanted decanter, the crystal container remained intact but could not handle the bolt’s force. The decanter was knocked over by the lightning’s booming power; causing it to tumble onto the ground. Upon landing on its side, the glowing runic symbol finally faded. Cider poured onto floor; its puddle growing larger by the second.. The smoke imp rolled his eyes at the liquid contents dripping onto the floor. “...Shit,” he sighed. The smoke imp tucked his glass cup between his legs before waving his paw at the mess. The stormy cloud responded by gliding down towards the crystal wreckage and completely enveloping the affected area on the floor. Rotating his wrist, Puzzles then clenched his fingers into an underhanded fist. The familiar followed up this motion by waving away at the cloud; causing the sweet-scented vapor cloud to float back to its original position. As the cloud drifted above Puzzles, Marvelous Man noticed the spilled cider no longer existed. The only evidence of such a mess was the lonely decanter laying on its side. The muscle demigod inquired, “If it’s okay for me to ask...ummm, what did the Director wish for?” Puzzles said nothing, as he retrieved his vape pipe from his lap. The smoke imp took a quick puff before exhaling the flavored vapor at his cloud. He then stared at the Director’s cherrywood desk that was seated at the front of the wall-sized window. “...He wished to escape,” he said. Puzzles explained, “Doug came from a very privileged life. He was born into a family whose only legacy was being powerful witches. And the moment he was able to speak full sentences and have enough coordination to draw a rune, his parents forced him into learning magic. By his tenth birthday, they figured out his talent for defense spells and prepared the ritual for my birth.” The smoke imp took another puff on his vaping device. “And since by family tradition you have to say your wish with an honest heart, his parents drilled into him on how important it was for him to have a familiar that can do the attacking for him. He didn’t even need to say anything fancy...just…‘I wish I had a fire imp’,” he spoke. Puzzles looked at Marvelous Man with sad eyes, “He was only a kid and spent a lonely, early life only practicing magic. He just wanted to play with the other kids he saw from his window from time to time…And then I was born...His wish was the first words I ever heard.” The familiar sighed, as he used the end of his vape pipe to play with the ice sphere in his glass cup. The ball of ice rolled around; lightly hitting the sides and emitting a soft tinkling noise. “From then on, I worked my ass off. Trying to master my element and use it in ways nobody expected. Learning to use deadly weapons to slaughter anybody that refused to die by my smoke. I did whatever I could to compensate my natural ability and be a useful attacker. And by some miracle, we’d managed to become a Rank A superhero...Heh, imagine that…” he disclosed. Puzzles paused, “...But you know, back then, I deeply wished that by killing myself, his soul would be restored and could wish for a proper fire imp.” Marvelous Man’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion before relaxing a second after. In a weird sense, the muscle demigod understood the smoke imp’s perspective. Born with a purpose but without the complete qualifications to pull it off; thereby making it difficult to fully contribute to the people they care about. It’s an excruciating existence that Marvelous Man could empathize. His mind then noticed another part of what Puzzles had just said. It was an odd mention that drove him into confusion once again. “What do you mean by restoring the Director’s soul if you died?” he questioned. The smoke imp ceased his use of the vape device with toying the melting ball of ice. Puzzles nodded, “Right. I forgot to mention that. And that’s another thing I have to correct you on. It’s not so much a summon, because you’re creating a familiar. Other than the wish, the main ingredient to creating an imp is to offer a piece of your own soul. The amount required won’t affect your health. Instead, it’ll just reduce your magical ability, since your own soul is the well of mana you draw upon.” “The amount of time it’d take to fully recover and have your magical ability at a hundred percent is about ten years, give or take. And since ten years is a lot of waiting, some people in the magical profession would rather stay as a wizard,” he continued. Marvelous Man frowned. It started to make sense as to why Puzzles found distaste in children creating familiars outside of the purpose of combat. An interesting thought then came to the musclebound superhero. He asked, “Do you think I should get a familiar? I think that’d really help me out in the fight against the Skeleton Lord.” The smoke imp puffed on his vape pipe, as his eyes wandered up. He then hummed in a thoughtful tone. “You’re a demigod, yes?” he questioned. Marvelous Man nodded, “Yeah.” “Then no. Outside of trying to teach it to master its own element in less than a week, and I can’t believe we couldn’t think of a better plan that didn’t hitch on that purple ghoul’s, it would really affect your performance. Your powers are supernaturally-based, since your parents are gods. That means that your healing ability is linked to your own soul. You get a familiar, and you could cut down on healing time or even how much you can heal. Your team relies heavily on your healing and supercharging them. And who knows if that would take away your bulletproofness. So don’t do it,” Puzzles answered back. Marvelous Man replied, “Oh, okay.” The hulking bodybuilder sipped on the rest of his cider. One of the avenues for finding an easier way to defeat the Skeleton Lord might have been closed off, but there was still one more route to pursue. While Marvelous Man wanted to feel disappointed, the luxurious apple cider’s delicious flavor seemed to override any negative emotions he tried to have. “So then...what about incomplete familiars?” he inquired. The familiar slowly cocked his head, “Is this about what you said in the report? You detecting an incomplete familiar within the Skeleton Lord?” “Uh, yeah. That’s right,” answered Marvelous Man. Puzzles paused for a moment, “Bossman did take into consideration what you said...but...what you described is an impossibility. Familiars don’t come out incomplete...at least when you use the spell to create one...” The hulking bodybuilder’s eyebrows furrowed at Puzzles’ remark. “So wait,” said Marvelous Man, “You’re saying you can use the imp summon-...the imp creation spell to do something else?” Puzzles nodded, “Since the moment that spell was made, everybody who used it figured out they could use it again to extend the life of their familiar.” “You see, we might be shaped by their wish. But we are created from the soul and bounded to it for as long as it lives. So you can kill us, but we would just reconstitute hours later next to our master. But if our master dies, we die. And for some witches close to death, that is a hard fact to accept,” he stated. The gears in Marvelous Man’s mind began to turn. It was becoming obvious at how grim being an incomplete imp was. He concluded, “...Do you think Director Doug would do that for you?” Puzzles’ eyes went wide; as if the muscle demigod said the most hurtful thing ever. “He would never! He knows what happens to those who try! And I’d never let him if he wanted to...Even if I somehow came out complete, living without him...It defeats the very purpose I was created for...It’s scary to even think about it. It’s possible for him to actually do it, since he’s not like those in the retirement homes,” he said. Marvelous Man’s eyebrow raised in confusion, “Retirement homes?” The smoke imp paused for a moment, as his eyes shifted away from visual contact with Marvelous Man’s. “Remember how I said it’s kids that are the first to create imps for the sake of fun rather than actual combat? Suppose your grandchild comes in one day, and they brought their imp to show off,” he proposed. “And then you’re hit with a thought,” Puzzles said in an excited tone, “‘a being I can create that will love me unconditionally and properly take care of me until I expire? Where can I find that spell?!’. And for the next couple of years, everything is great.” His voice then sounded ominous, “But then one day you’re too old to get out of bed. Too tired to even put a puzzle together with your familiar. And when it finally hits you that your imp will die when you do, it terrifies you. You still want a part of yourself to live on and be happy long after you die. So with the slight modification to put the rest of your soul into the familiar, rather than the other ingredients to make one, it seems like a fool-proof plan to have your imp continue living...Except for the part to make sure there’s still continuous energy to shove the rest of your soul into the imp which helps acts as a seal...And when that happens, you die before the spell is finished...And the imp…” Puzzles body trembled for a moment. He then took a short breathe; a successful attempt to cause his nerves to calm down. The smoke imp swallowed before continuing. “The imp turns into an middle school volcano project. So the imp is permanently incomplete. Their essence spilling out all over the place...Their form unraveling...And the only thing left in their damaged minds is only pain and rage. Their pitiful existence doesn’t last long...A few minutes at most. But the destruction they cause is immense...and sad,” he finished. Marvelous Man’s eyes went wide, “...Holy shit…” The familiar paused. His eyebrows furrowed together, as his lips pursed outward. “Yes…” he said, “It might be impossible for an incomplete imp to survive, but if it somehow contained itself by bonding with someone...I’m not sure, but...maybe?” “Huh?” spoke Marvelous Man. Puzzles concluded, “Other than killing the Skeleton Lord with force, we could also try to cast some sort of separation spell. That imp you detected could be the source of his power. If we cleaved them apart long enough, the incomplete imp would die off...I’ll have to notify the magical researchers about this.” The familiar placed the empty glass cup onto the chair’s cushion before placing his vaping device back into his coat. His body then shifted into his smoky form; drifting off the chair. Marvelous Man’s eyes followed the smoke flowing towards the door. As the grey smoke arrived at the room’s exit, it reconstituted back into Puzzle’s normal body. Fully formed to his cat-like body, he reached out his paw to the room’s exit. His hand glowed with magical energy for a moment before the energy flowed into the door. Reacting to being fed with mana, a runic symbol briefly appeared on the door. As it faded, the door handle turned. The office door swung wide open by itself; fanning the smoke imp’s fur with a small breeze. With the way opened, Puzzles stepped through into the hallway. He then turned to face Marvelous Man. “You can go ahead and let yourself out. I trust you won’t take anything. Dismissed,” he said. Marvelous Man called out, “W-Wait! Um, why did he name you Puzzles?” The smoke imp stared at the hulking bodybuilder for a second before shrugging. “He was ten.” he answered. With no other questions, Puzzles waddled off towards the elevators. Marvelous Man turned his attention up at the cloud the familiar had left behind; noticing a change out of the corner of his eye. With Puzzles no longer in range of the sweet-scented cloud, the pink lemonade-flavored cumulus dissipated. The muscle demigod knew he was not needed to supercharge anybody else for at least an hour; leaving him to sit there with his thoughts. It was a lot of information to take in, but it was becoming apparent on what his next move should be for defeating the Skeleton Lord. Incomplete imps were tragic beings that needed to be put out of their misery, and the imp existing in the Skeleton Lord’s body had only prolonged that agony. If Marvelous Man killed the now-mortal Skeleton Lord, the incomplete imp would die. If the imp were separated from the Skeleton Lord’s being with a separation spell provided by the magical researchers, then the imp, and probably the ancient supervillain, would die off from its essence bleeding out. Both options were viable and needed to be done to ensure victory...but the musclebound superhero felt there should be a third way. The choices now were too grim for him to stomach at the moment. Marvelous Man dove both of his hands into his black jacket’s pockets. He rummaged about for a second before finding what he wanted. Pulling out with his right hand revealed a smartphone, while his left retrieved a business card made of papyrus paper. His eyes then shifted back and forth; typing a phone number seen from the business card. With the number typed out, the musclebound superhero pressed the send button. He held the phone up to his ear; hearing the receiving end ring. After three rings, he heard the click of someone picking up his call. He spoke, “Hello? Is this the Bruja?...This is Marvelous Man, and...Sugar Skull told me about your deal...Yes, ma'am. I’m ready to tell you my story.” Next Chapter

This is a one shot continuation. I hope you like it. Comments welcome. And yes, this one was rushed too. If anyone would like to re-write it, they are welcome to. ==== Someone had just pointed out that I had forgotten to cite the original story. I apologize to Omiganda. I have commited a literary sin. Please forgive me. ==== The original story is Basically a God - by Omiganda <<< PREVIOUSLY >>> “That” I said over to the doctor, fully aware that he was on his knees, his hand rapidly going up and down. He was another victim to Johnny, another worshipper wiping away tears who just wanted to be acknowledged by the ultimate power above him. Johnny’s influence was too much for those who’d never seen him when he was smaller. I was used to people meeting him and wetting themselves, bursting into tears as they looked up at his mighty pecs. That smug face of total domination was usually too much by itself, the same one looking down from above the clouds and over those enormous, stadium sized pecs. I looked up and wondered if he could instantly tell which measly human was me, looking up and up and up, craning my neck to glimpse his power. I was a single speck, probably nearly indiscernible to him even with his super vision. One fist tightened as the other fist wiped away tears. I needed to escape. << THE CONTINUATION - ALTERNATE >> The Void - The World's First Megavillain I only knew of one way to do it. Johnny could hear my thoughts now, so I just thought it. "Kill me." I thought. The voice inside my head weak and feeble. Drained of any power left. "Kill me." I thought it again... and again... and again. Those two words. Over and over. My body curled up into a fetal position as the mere knowledge that Johnny existed overwhelmed my mind. My mind went blank. Those were the only two words that echoed, from then on. Nothing was left. Just those two words. Maybe I thought for a brief moment, Johnny would be merciful and grant me this final wish. Instead I felt my body skyrocket up into the sky. It was so fast I could feel the air friction heat the top of my head. With in a minute I was face to eye with Johnny Poundstone the Muscle God. His eyes flickered multiple colors as he scanned me over. I could feel the heat from those eyes begin to bake my body. Baked or not, Johnny seemed to be granting my wish without knowing it. That was until his will held me in the sky away from his eyes. I had to be miles away and yet my vision was filled with Johnny's godlike form. He must have known what affect his eye was having on me. I only escaped with a sunburn. I cursed him and my luck. "I am not going to let you die." Johnny said in my mind. He was now in my mind. He could read my thoughts and speak to me there. I knew now there was no where to hide. He was probably powerful enough to read everyone's mind all at once. "You are going to continue to live. You are going to continue to suffer at my will." Johnny added. It was his punishment to me. For no reason why it seemed other than for telling him "no." I began to cry. I couldn't live like this. But Johnny's will be done. Soon my body was rocketed back to the tower that once housed Johnny. Now it housed his growing disciples. I felt myself slow down before I crashed through a window and was hurled into a wall opposite it. I thought I heard something crack as I crashed to the ground. I couldn't move. Almost in an instant I felt a presence hovering over me. "Welcome back runt." It was Benton's voice but much deeper and richer than before. It made my cock hard in an instant. All of a sudden, I felt myself shoot off of the ground and hit the ceiling before floating back down towards an even bigger Benton. Now at 9 feet tall and very close to the ceiling, he looked like a mini version of Johnny proportionwise. His eyes flashed very much like Johnny's as he scanned me up and down. "Huh, still small and puny pipsqueak. What a disappointment. I bet I could break you without even lifting a finger." With that I felt my whole body jerk out of alignment. My bones snapped and a sharp needle of pain shot up my back before my whole body felt numb. In the next instant my body was snapped again in another odd position but I felt every pain receptor in my body flare up. It was torture. Again and again, Benton with the power of his mind cracked and realigned my body in various positions snapping and popping bones out and back into their positions. My whole body was broken, repaired and broken again. All the while a sadistic smile crept up on Benton's face. He was clearly enjoying it. "I didn't know he was that flexible, let me try." It was Penny and now her turn to see what kind of shape she could form my body into. Penny did it with less gusto but was having fun with me too. Then Benton started again, only this time tearing limbs from my body, watching them squirt blood only to reattach them again completely like new. Then ripped apart again and over and over. Tear, fix, break, fix, crack, fix... It went on for over an hour before they finally let my body drop to the floor left broken but healed enough to live and move around a little. I couldn't speak though. They left my jaw broken. I wasn't sure but I think I was able to get my body into a fetal position... I know I felt tears stream down my face at least for a little while. Knowing now that Johnny and his disciples could heal, especially themselves, they would live forever. I was doomed to an eternity of being their plaything. I think I muttered something before all my feelings went dead. "Forgive me Johnny for I have sinned." The last of my tears dripped to the floor as I stared blankly at some wall. I wasn't sure which wall, it was just a wall. It didn't matter. Everything went black. ------- I woke up later in a dark room. I wasn't exactly sure where I was. It was all pitch black. I could hear voices. I felt some things poking at me like some kind of metal creatures were attacking my limbs. Their bites stung a bit at first but then I was washed over with an overwheming sense of peace. I was able to pick out a voice very specifically. It was the voice of Trent. What was he doing? I thought to myself before I was washed over with another wave of peaceful bliss. The darkened void that I was in seemed to calm me instead of scare me. More voices, they seemed panicked now. I was curious as to what was going on out there but I just loved this peaceful place I was in. Another wave of peace, much more intense washed over me with a loud buzz. The buzz should have scared me, but I was too much into the calmness that I barely registered it. Another buzz added another intense wave of pleasure. But what surprised me was the buzz after that. It was so loud it echoed everywhere and seemed to keep intensifying. When that happened the entire void lit up into brilliant colors. Deep beautiful blues, dazzling yellows, brilliant reds... so many colors lit up in front of and danced before me. My mind tingled as I witnessed this beautiful display much like an aurora. As I thought that, all the colors organized themselves and I found myself in a pristine winter setting at nighttime. Beautiful evergreens and soft white snow. And looking up were the intense colors of the aurora. ------- I woke up in a hospital. It was very strange to me that I would actually wake up at all. I didn't want to wake up. Why would someone do that to me? I was disturbed from my peace. Lights were shined in my eyes and voices entered my head but I refused to acknowledge them. They were very rude to wake me up from my peace. I was moved. I was pushed. I was prodded. I heard beeping and other stuff I didn't care about. All I wanted was to get back to my peaceful spot. I wanted to be away from all of the lights and the noise and most of all... Johnny. Johnny created everything... right? Damn that Johnny. I laid there for several days. I had no visitors except for the pesky nurses and doctors that would come by and tend to my body. I couldn't get to my peaceful spot. It was always within reach but I would be taken away with another disturbance. However, one day about a week in, my attention was peaked when I heard sounds of approval coming from the group. "He's doing better than we thought... He might be released soon if we could get him to talk... I wish we knew who to contact to get John Doe back home." I heard. I didn't want to go home. I wanted to go to my peaceful spot. At this point I would do anything to get out of this place where I got constantly disturbed. I tried to move my limbs. They moved easily. I turned to the group and spoke. "I'd like to leave now." I said. They all looked at me in astonishment. "You can't leave now. We have to determine that you are fit to go home." A nurse said. I didn't care for her tone. I simply got up out of the bed and tried to walk. I took two steps and I discovered some beeping machines tied to my body and poking into my skin. I simply pulled them off and continued to walk. "Sir! You can't leave yet." A doctor tried to say. I suddenly felt a rage build up in me. It was a warm feeling that filled me up in a way. I liked it, but I know I couldn't handle it for too much longer as I really wanted my peaceful spot. I just wanted them to go away. I wanted them to leave me alone. I slowly turned my body to them. When I was face to face with them their faces grew white with fear. "Fear?" I thought as I saw them start to tremble, the nurse turned and ran from me screaming. "I am leaving now." I said to them... I noticed my voice had changed. It was a low gravelly booming voice that reflected off the walls. I turned back around and walked out of the building. No one moved or chased after me. As a matter of fact, people were moving as if they had no recollection of me. That made me happy. I didn't want any attention. I just wanted to be at peace again. But I had to find a place to do that. As I did, I heard noise around me. It was so loud. The sound was deafening and painful, my head was pounding I saw lights and flashes in my eyes. Through all of it I saw things move. Metal was bent and ripped apart, glass and concrete flying and then the sight that I dread seeing. Oddly, some of those things flying around me just vanished. It was like I had a cone around me that would absorb anything that was thrown at it. Making all this mess was Johnny Poundstone doing anything he could to make my day miserable. Everyday making sure that my life was filled with pain and suffering. He made sure that I would never be at peace. I hated him. But something was off, he seemed to be looking for something using his gigantic form to dig through the remains of the hospital I was once in. How could Johnny be so careless? Didn't he know people worked in that building. They were all just doing their jobs peacefully until Johnny had to go and turn everything into chaos. How many people were killed in what he did? Did anyone care? Was everyone just so much in awe of Johnny that nothing he could do would be a crime. Is Johnny getting away with murder? All the questions floating through my head faster and faster. I had finally figured out my goal. I knew what my duty was. I would have to be Johnny's nemesis. It would only be when Johnny was destroyed would I find my peace and so would everyone else. And since Johnny was a "so called" hero, then I would be his worst villain. I looked up and stared at a bloated muscular Johnny Poundstone. His muscles bulged and exploded exponentially with the smallest movement. All of the memories I had of Johnny and his acolytes, all of the ordeals I had to deal with... I hated him. I wanted him to know it. It was time I introduced myself to him so he could see what he created. I felt a wave of energy build in me... It felt cold and hot at the same time. I felt myself lift off the ground as the air beneath me darkened and warped under me. I knew what I was doing already. I was manipulating the space under me to levitate me closer to Johnny. I slowly rose to his height, dodging his efforts with the highest agility. It took Johnny a long time to master his powers... I seem to have mastered mine already. I was at the height of his eyesight. I floated there and waited for him to turn toward me. Something was really bothering him, I could feel his frustration. "SAM! I know you're here somewhere!" Johnny boomed his voice causing cars and people to go flying backwards and away from the shockwave he produced. I could only ask myself at this point why he was so concerned about me? Why was he looking for me? Didn't he know where I was at all times? "Here I am." I said plainly. It took a few moments but Johnny finally saw me floating off the ground. He jumped back a bit. "Sam?" Johnny asked not really believing what he was seeing. I paused a moment contemplating how I would fuck with Johnny's brain. He was a superhero with a super intelligent mind, but he was still that awkward nobody emotionally. I flashed some of the most goriest images of what he and his acolytes did to me, I could feel the power of what I could only describe as "the void" radiate these things to him. I also amplified the feelings I felt. I could tell immediately that he felt them. I knew that Johnny hadn't felt pain like this in a long time. It was time for him to revisit what it's like to be human again. Johnny's body spasmed as he was wracked with the pain of the recent break fix proceedure that his acolytes put me through. It only took a few seconds, but when I was finished it seemed Johnny got the impression he was now dealing with something more. "Sam?" Johnny tried to confirm. I paused again... for effect. I tilted my head oddly. I wanted it to look like something out of one of those japanese horror movies. I waited a beat more and then I spoke. The voice that came out of me even scared me. "SAM IS DEAD." I couldn't explain the range of emotions I felt from the both of us. The primary vibe I got from Johnny was fear. I on the other hand was feeling that plus joy, plus envy, plus liberation and vindication. I loved all of those feelings and I was going to milk them for all they were worth. I felt alive, I had a purpose again. I also had a goal, and it was the same goal for everyone, to be left alone in peace. The power that I now suddenly gained was much much more powerful than Johnny could ever imagine. But I wasn't going to let on how much, at least to him. I decided to call that power "The Void." It was an odd thing. The void usually means an absence of anything, but this felt like a bag. It was like endless bag I can put goodies in and can get what I need back in whatever form I wanted it. It was a bag of energy and non-energy at the same time. I had a storage bin the size of eternity at my fingertips and all I had to do was put stuff in it. Right now, I was powering my flight on the energy of the debris I had subconsciously packed away during the chaos. I was now going to show Johnny the new me. I changed my body into what I thought the void would look like in human form. I made myself all black and my body radiated an aura that looked like it was warping the air around me. I had no real descernable facial features except a very strong jaw line. I made myself look like a very muscular human shaped hole in space time but I made sure that my muscularity showed just enough to intimidate. I was no where near Johnny's bulk, but I could put Mr. Olympia to shame. Johnny wasted no time and sent a laser beam from his eyes right at me. I flinched at first but my body took it. I just absorbed the vast amount of energy that Johnny posessed within that one laser blast. It was hot and powerful enough to drill holes through planets, yet I absorbed it with no injuries. It was then that I realized where my power came from. Johnny let out another more powerful blast from his eyes. The energy setting nearby buildings a blaze, melting steel and incinerating wood. I watched as my surroundings went from a bright blue and green to a sudden white then a dark red, orange and black. Johnny was destroying the place. Johnny was outright killing people without even the hint of remorse. All he wanted to do was to "save the day" by beating me, his new nemesis. I knew this. I could read him. He thought that the people who died were collateral damage. When he defeated me he would not only get a free pass on outright murder, but would probably be congratulated, given a key to the city, money, women and men, fame... I watched with horror as a woman ran frantically fully engulfed in flames. It was horror to watch. It was even more horrible to see the fact that Johnny didn't even really notice. I knew what I needed to do. I knew that Johnny was most likely invincible as I knew I was as well. "Try and catch me douchebag!" I mocked him. And before he could react, I bolted skyward. I was in space within 10 seconds. Past the solar system in another 10 seconds. Johnny was hot on my heels as I looked back. I slowed down a bit, but as I did, I began to realize that Johnny wasn't following me. He was growing to catch up to me. He had to have been light years away but his body looked like it was only 100 feet away. His body grew and bulged, his muscles leaped and pulsed. Veins the size of galaxies throbbed with who knows how much volume of blood that went through them. Johnny was becoming a universe sized behemoth of muscle man. I had a stroke of genius right then. The moment I thought of it Johnny got close enough to grab me with a titanic intergalactic sized finger. There was a flash and everything was the same. I bolted outward again, I was headded toward the edge of the universe. The end of time. Jonny kept blowing up like a muscle balloon. Pushing countless galaxies aside to accomodate his massiveness. Within a minute, I reached the end. I looked behind me and saw nothing but Johnny. His whole body had just filled the entire universe. For all I knew, life in this universe had been completely snuffed out in Johnny's quest to catch me. Upon reaching the end of the universe, I tucked myself right behind the boundary. Johnny's hand hit the edge and suddenly it disappeared into darkness. Johnny screamed in pain and retracted his hand. I couldn't tell what really happened but it looked like his hand was smaller. I knew right then, I had already defeated him. The moment he touched me, I knew I would win. It didn't take much effort, Johnny did most of the work. I just played a little "catch me if you can." "COME BACK HERE AND FIGHT LIKE A MAN!" Johnny shouted loud enough the sound of his voice warped it. Johnny tried to blow himself up even more, but pain was beginning to show itself on his face. "Johnny, you know it's a losing battle." I said calmly, in my regular voice. "YOU ARE MY ENEMY! I DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU DID WITH SAM BUT I WILL GET HIM BACK AND..." "And what? Treat him like a toy? Throw him to your acolytes so they have something to play with? You've seen what they've done. I made sure you felt it too. But that is nothing compared to all of the death and destruction your power madness has just done." I said matter of factly. "WHAT?" Johnny pondered. "What do you mean 'what?' Look at you! You are big enough to fill the universe. You have pushed and squashed billions upon billions of planets and galaxies into the edge of the universe to their destruction. The same amount of countless life forms snuffed out in an instant. The same thing that happened in your quest to defeat me at that hospital. You caused destruction and DEATH! YES DEATH! If anyone is the evil villain here, it's you! And I have yet to see a single shred of remorse." I replied. "I..." Johnny seemed to be at a loss for words as he spoke. "I was going to give you a second chance... But I'm not sure now." I thought out loud. "What can you do to me? I am Johnny Poundstone, the most powerful being in the universe!" Johnny touted. "Not in the real universe." I muttered. "WHAT?" Johnny questioned with a growing rage. "Johnny, you should realize what one of my powers is. You do know what it is, don't you?" Johnny looked at me quizzically. I could only roll my eyes. All that power has made him stupid apparently. "Entropy." I answered plainly. "Oh that, and I can also create little pocket universes to put whatever I want in them and keep them there for as long as I like." I smirked at that last answer. It took a moment but Johnny finally got it when I saw the color in his face drain. "Yes Johnny! You are in one of my pocket universes!" I said with uncontrollable glee. "It's a good thing too. I mean, whooo! All that death and destruction that you just did? Thank goodness this was all fake." Johnny flew into an all out raging attack. I had never really seen so much energy, but Johnny's body exploded in a bright ball of light. The heat had to have been hotter than the billions of billions of snuffed out stars all together. All of that energy was blasted at me. I took it all with no effort. When the light faded Johnny looked for me. I was still right in front of him. "Oh yes! Big man with big power!" I mocked. "I'll show you some real power." I snapped my fingers and the edge of the universe wobbled. Johnny screamed in pain. "Time to put the genie in the bottle." I growled and I made the edge of the universe contract more. The void beyond taking energy away from Johnny. I waved my hand and the universe I made contracted at a break neck pace. If Johnny knew what was good for him he would contract faster. Light years of distance faded in seconds as the space kept shrinking more and more. Finally I was beginning to see the entire shape of Johnny. He was smart after all. In a matter of minutes we were back to the coordinates of where Earth used to be. In all of Johnny's rage. It had been completely snuffed out of existence. It was just him and I, all alone in my pocket universe. Johnny looked in horror at... nothing. It was then when he finally realized what he had done. There was no home for him to go back to. Everything was gone. Johnny began to cry. And believe it or not. I felt sorry for him. At that moment I decided to throw him a bone. In an instant I made a new earth from the near infinite amount of energy Johnny gave me. Instead of a sun, I made a ball of energy that burned much like the sun. It gave off enough heat an light to give the planet a natural feel. The planet was green and blue and full of vegetation. I made the pocket universe like a blue sky. There were no other stars or planets. And later Johnny would find out... no other life forms. Just him, all alone. On a planet that looked like it once had millions of people. This would be his prison for as long as I sentenced him. When my work was done, I turned to him. "I am not completely evil like you are Johnny. This is your prison. Enjoy it." I told him and quickly warped myself back into the real universe. I could already hear Johnny screaming "YOU CAN'T KEEP ME HERE! WHEN I GET OUT I WILL KILL YOU!" It was music to my ears. In the days that followed, I realized that I could replicate the powers that Johnny had on Earth plus manipulate the Void. I took all of Johnny's acolytes and placed them in prison pocket universes on their own. Maybe one day I will be kind enough to put them together, but for now, they had to pay for their crimes. I didn't outright fix everything like Johnny would have. I simply helped things right themselves. I made destroyed vegetation regrow faster. I made workers have more energy, stamina and strength to clear away any destruction that Johnny had made. I gave some people just enough power to be a force of good in the world. I chose those people, and I was very picky. I didn't want another Johnny being born. When all was finished and things felt more normal, I went into hiding. I manipulated enough finances and resources to make a modest home and a modest life. I looked out from my porch at a beautiful sunset. This would be my peaceful spot. END

Waiting backstage, I was getting my pump on for the Mature Muscle Bear Competition for Non- Empowereds along with everyone else who were entered. My turn was in an hour and I wanted to make sure the pump lasted. Taking a break, I walked over to mirror and did some poses. I smiled as my salt-n-pepper chest hair made my seventy-inch chest look good. I continued to pose, checking how the pump influenced my body’s symmetry. But then the building started to collapse. Those backstage with me got locked into the area when the stage fell apart, blocking the front exit. They ran to the back but that was blocked by debris. For a bunch of muscle goons, they just panicked except me and one other. He looked at me and we nodded at the same time. He and I jogged to the debris and started to move it but then a large beam fell and ended our progress. "Fuck," I said as I tried to get rest of the meat heads to calm down. Once I got them calmed down in the center of the room and the building had stopped collapsing, a hole appeared and a surge of ten superheroes rushed to get us out quickly. In the blink of an eye, the heroes took a quarter of the competitors out of the building. They did this two more times, leaving me in the last group. The one that grabbed me – new hero Behemoth – took off and I could feel him restrain his power to keep from doing any harm. He was so fast that he landed on a building that was only a block away from my apartment (which was about 5 miles from where the competition was being held). Behemoth notice that he had gone too far with me. Putting me down, with my head reaching his pecs, I noticed he had another problem. I chuckled. "Does that happen often, Behemoth?" I asked the seven-foot tall, young muscled hero playfully. He blushed and said, "No, it does not." Behemoth started to get ready to leave when I grabbed him. Shocking him with my strength, I pulled him into a kiss and started massaging his groin. He moaned and whimpered as I pulled my hand away only to shove it down his tights, earning another moan. "Sir," Behemoth moaned, breaking the kiss, "please stop." "No," I said, "a hero should not be seen with a boner, right?" He whimpered again and nodded his head. "Let take this to my place," I ordered, pointing to my apartment from the roof. The hero grabbed me and we took off and got there in a few seconds. Getting in, Behemoth grabbed me and kissed me some more. I took advantage and grabbed his dick, squeezing it. He gasped and I made my claim on his mouth. After a few minutes, I broke the kiss and ordered, "Strip." With lust driving him, the hero did what I told him to do, stripping his lycra body suit, revealing his hairless body. His body was ripped and for his height, well developed. Getting down on my knees, I looked at his piece of meat. It was about eight inches long and two inches thick. "Looks yummy," I said before sucking it in. He moaned as I sucked on his cock and took his balls in my hand, massaging them. I kept sucking Behemoth's cock and massing his balls for a few minutes, when I noticed the hero was getting close. Removing my hand, I started to tease him by massaging his taint right up to his asshole. He jerked and moaned louder as my fingers danced around his anus. I pushed my fingers in dry and the reaction was immediate as he started to cum in my mouth. I drank most of the cum but a bit did dribble out of my mouth. "Delicious," I said, getting up and wiping the dribble of cum off my chin as the hero panted. Using my finger to wipe up the cum and pushing it into his mouth, I let him taste his cum and he moan as his cock stayed hard. “Hmmm,” I hummed as Behemoth whimpered. “Turn around and spread your ass cheeks, boy,” I order the hero and I smiled as he did. Licking my lips, I returned to my knees to rim his tight ass. Behemoth moaned and started to grind his ass into my face. I spanked his ass and he gasped. “Let daddy here eat your hole, boy,” I ordered before going back rimming the firm arse. I took out my monster cock and started to stroke it, getting it lubed up with pre. Once Behemoth’s ass was soaked with my saliva and relaxed , I stopped and stood up. I aligned my cockhead with the wet hole and slowly pushed in. “Just breathe, boy,” I said to Behemoth as my cock slowly went into the hole with ease. Behemoth whined with pleasure as my cock took his virginity. The walls of his ass spasmed around my dick making me moan and wanting to claim him as mine but he was a hero so this might be the only time I would get a fine hero’s ass. I was so into the feeling of his ass on my cock, I was shocked when my balls met his cheeks. He took my eleven inch cock fully into him. “Good boy,” I said leaning down and licking Behemoth’s ear. I slowly pulled out and pushed in again, watching him lose himself to the pleasure of being filled. The Behemoth’s eyes glazed over as my cock rub against his sensitive anal walls. Once I felt his ass open up, the hero moaned, “Daddy, please fuck me.” Behemoth calling me daddy and begging to be fucked made my dick throb in him. The hero moaned as he felt I did what he asked. My dick started slide out and slam back in. “Yes, daddy,” the hero moaned, “Fuck me.” I fucked Behemoth for an hour, making him cum multiple times. Each time I would lick the cum off Behemoth’s body and give him a kiss, sharing the cum with a kiss. Picking him up and leaning back, I started to use my strength to keep him up in the air, making him pound himself on my dick. Planting my cock deep in him, I cummed into his ass. Behemoth groaned as his ass filled with my seed. I carried him to the bed and we cuddled as he slept the post sex bliss away. Morning came and I found myself alone but a note, under my open wallet, on the dresser. I smile as I read. “Daddy Boris, the other heroes were looking for me so I had to leave. PS I looked into your wallet for your name. “ He called me daddy outside of sex and aroused me, but I had to get to the gym and do a light workout. I ate two breakfast protein bars as I left. Getting there and starting my workout routines, I notice how light everything was. “Strange,” I said as went to go into my workout starting at the squat press. “What the fuck,” I said as the weights I used, a full 340 pounds felt like a feather. I put on all the weight plates I could on the bar, (making the grand total 945 pounds) and still felt light. My gym had 50 lbs chains that people used to add weight to their loaded bar. Grabbing all ten of them, I placed five one each side, totaling 1445 pounds. This started to make the bar bend but I didn’t care. Getting into position, I started the set. The weight felt like what I would call thirty percent of my max weight but it was still easy to lift. Finishing the set, I noticed that the gym goers were standing around the squat area, watching me as I removed the chains and plates from the bar. Not wanting to deal with them, I went to the locker room and grabbed my stuff to rush out of the gym and catch the next bus home. Walking to the stop that as five blocks away, I noticed the bus dropping off riders at the stop. “Bastard,” I said as I started to run to the bus as it started to pull away. Running as fast I can, I passed the bus and tried to stop. “What the hell,” I yelled as I dashed back and missed the bus again. Growling at my luck, I started running back to up to the bus but as I crossed a non-lighted intersection, a car screeched to a halt and I moved quickly to leap out of the way. Dazed from the near miss, I continued to rush towards the bus. I became aware slowly that I was no longer on the ground. “Holy fucking SHIT,” I exclaimed as I looked down and saw I was about five stories up from the ground and flying. Trying to stop, I instead went higher. “FUCK,” I yelled as I zoomed upward but suddenly stopped. “Woah there, sir,” said a person that was holding me. It was Morvran, the hero of storms and seas. “Did you forget your flight training, sir?” he asked. A bit pissed off, I exclaimed loudly, “NO, I DID NOT, YOU FUCKING RAVEN. I JUST STARTED FLYING TODAY AMONG OTHER POWERS JUST DEVELOPING” This shocked him. This helped me calm down and I said, “Sorry, Morvran. These powers just appeared to me and I’m trying to get home.” He look around and cursed under his breath, “Fuck me sideways. I was just giving orders find Boris McJules and this idiot appears.” Morvran sighed and looked at me. “Sir, I need to take you to command for your empowerment training. I do have a mission to finish first.” Bursting out in laughter, I smiled at him. “Mission done,” I said as I tried to get my wallet to prove it but I fumbled it. “Damn it,” I said as the leather fell out my fingers, but Morvran zoomed down and grab it. He came back smiling, looking at my ID. “Alright,” he said as he handed my wallet to me. Allowing me to put my wallet back, the hero grabbed my wrist and lead me to the Command. On the way, Morvran gave me some basic lessons on flying. By the time we reach Command, I was in control of my own movement. I was no where agile as Morvran but he did not have to keep holding my wrist. The hero guided us into the hanger and landed. My landing was not graceful but I did not land on my ass. “Getting there, old man,” he said as watch me steady myself. “Welcome to The Command,” Morvran said as we walk out of the hanger into the main common room. There were a few heroes waiting for missions. The hero guided me through the Main Section of The Command. “The Main Section of The Command is for ministration and public relations,” he said as we walked to Section Two, “And is the only place where any non-Empowereds are allowed.” After entering the Section Two of The Command, Morvran continued his guide speech. “This section is for housing Empowereds and the schooling of the Empowereds that just gained the abilities.” We pass a classroom and the teacher had two of the students by their ears. The teacher was disciplining the two for acting out. I chuckled and we walked away. “You will be only asking the ‘Hero Prep’ classes due to you being an adult,” said Morvran as we got into the hallway leading to the Section Three. “Section Three is for training, research and treatment,” the hero said while we entered the reception. “Basically it is the hospital for Empowereds.” We got into the elevator and headed to the weight room. I smiled when I saw that Behemoth was working out when we entered. He noticed me and stop his workout to rush at me. “Daddy,” he said cheerfully, hugging me tightly. Then he pulled away and blushed. “Sorry, Boris,” Behemoth said as he held out his hand to be shaken but knocked it out they way and hugged him back. He laughed and hugged back. I felt his member awaken against my abs and I pushed him way. “Calm down, boy,” I ordered and he nodded. Then he went back to his workout. Morvran whistled. “That is the fastest I seem him shut up.” Morvran stated as he glaced at me then back to Behemoth. “When we are in public he’s all storic but once we’re here in private he just can’t shut the fuck up.” I chuckled at that, but I could see Behemoth being like that. Being called to the treatment lab, Morvran and I left Behemoth to his workout. “Boris McJules,” said the doctor on duty. “I heard that your powers have just awaken.” She walk up to me with a smile and a clipboard. “I had your medical transcripts sent here and I see that you had a genetic test for the empowerment gene when you were younger and found out you did not have it.” I nod and the doctor continued, “So now we’re going to run some test to see what has changed.” Morvran left as the doctor and I went to the changing room. I stripped down and put on the gown. The first thing done was the doctor took three vials of blood from me and started the other test. After a few hours, I was back in my civies and waiting in the doctor’s office for my results. The doctor came in followed by Behemoth. Behemoth sat in my lap as I smiled. Chuckling as I wrap my arms around Behemoth’s waist, the doctor sat in her chair and put the results on her desk. “It seems we have discovered a new ability for Behemoth,” the doctor said reading the results. “We found Behemoth’s DNA in your bloodstream,” the doctor said as she look up. “Behemoth said to us that you two had unprotected sex and you injested his semen.” I nod as squeezed the hero’s groin. “I am clean and I remember that Empowereds are immune to STDs,” I said The doctor nodded and smiled. “It seems you have a lot of knowledge about Empowereds, Mr. McJules.” I grin and reply, “I was born in the generation where Empowereds started to appear.” This shocked both Behemoth and the doctor. “What?” I asked, “Both of you have seen when I was born right?” The doctor look through my medical records and sighed. ‘You are right, Mr. McJules,” she said, “Being born in 2058 would make you very knowledgeable about the Empowereds because they just released information about them back then.” Then the doctor look up and smiled. “So back to Behemoth’s new ability,” she said, “it seems he has the physical ability to give his abilities to anyone whom injests his semen.” Behemoth blushed as she spoke. Giving him a squeeze, I chuckle and nodded to the doctor. “This is the first time we’ve seen an ability like this.” “So is it permanent or not?” I asked. Going through her notes, the doctor said, “I believe so because it seem the empowerment gene is attaching itself to your DNA and copying itself into it.” She looked up and said, “Of course we will keep an eye on it, Mr. McJules.” She stood and grinned. “I will let you two go and get back to work while I get the paperwork done.” Behemoth and I walk out of the office and went to his room. There, I had him strip once more and get on the weight scale. “217 pounds,” I read out loud and made him blush. “No worries, boy,” I said, rubbing his ass, “Daddy will make you larger with our workouts.” I pulled him off and got on the scale. I smiled as I read, “378 pounds.” Then I flexed and he whimpered with desire as he got to his knees and nuzzled into my groin. “Take it out boy,” I ordered, grabbing Behemoth’s head and pulling it away from my groin. He did what he was ordered and licked the tip. I nodded and he took it into his mouth. Behemoth was able to take all of my soft cock as he sucked, getting it hard. As my cock got hard, the hero was starting have trouble taking it all. I smiled as Behemoth started to jerk off the part of the shaft he could not get into his mouth. Then he did something I did not think he would do. Behemoth started to finger his own ass. “Fuck,” I groan as he looked at me and smiled. Behemoth pulled off my cock and said, “Daddy, I want you to fuck me.” He got up and got on his back and spread his ass cheeks. “Take your cock and fill your boy’s cunt.” I bit my lip hearing him talk dirty to me. Walking up and shoving my dick into his hole, both of us moaned. “Yes Daddy, take my hole and claim it again.” Behemoth said, working his ass muscle around my cock. I rubbed his chest and then twisted his nipple. “Daddy is going to that and do it every night,” I said after he yelped. I slowly fucked his ass to see his reactions to each of thrust I did. Once I had him moaning and babbling, I speed up and leaned down to kiss him. He kept on flexing his ass muscles around my cock as I pounded his ass. I lifted him up and pushed my cock deeper into him. I pulled away from the kiss to see Behemoth and watch his eyes roll back. Smiling, I started to go faster but shallower with my thrusts. Behemoth groaned and squirted some pre from his cock. I took his cock into my hands and started to jerk him off. His ass spasmed as he shot his load across our chests. Riding out his orgasm, I started to speed to my full thrusting speed. My cock thickened up a bit before unloading deep in Behemoth’s ass. The hero then went limp in my arms and I chuckled. Carrying him to his bed, I lay him down and cuddled with Behemoth. “You are the best thing that happen to me, boy,” I said before drifting off. – – – Six months later, the news outlets were told a new hero would be presented to them a month later. They sent the word out and got their top reporters in time to report the story. Arriving to The Command, the reporters waited until Behemoth floated down. “Ladies and Gentlemen,” he spoke, “Welcome to The Command and the reveal of a new hero. He much older than the new heroes.” This got the reporters into a frenzy and Behemoth quieted them down. “Yes, highly irregular but not unheard of. His powers came from an private event in his life and he wants to keep it that way.” The reporters muttered for a bit and waited. Behemoth continued, “Now without any more wait here is the new hero, Leather Beast.” At that moment the hero flew down and landed on the stage with a thud. Leather Beast looked like he was in his late forties but the glint in his eyes showed he was older. His outfit was tight leather pants, a studded leather belt, a leather ‘x’ harness, a leather vest and a leather hood that covered all but his mouth and eyes. He walked up to Behemoth and groped him then took the mic. “I am Leather Beast. I am 62 years old and my powers are the same as Behemoth’s here,” he said as he pulled the other hero into a one arm hug, “We have been training together since I got my powers and he and I are a couple.” This got a gasp from that announcement. “Don’t worry, we plan to keep the bulk of the relationship behind closed doors but gropes and kisses are going to be expected in public.” The Leather Beast pulled his lover’s head down and kissed him. Then the two heros flew off as they groped each other. – – – Landing on the balcony to their room, we broke their kiss and smiled. “That should give them a few things to write about,” I said, taking off my hood and pushing Behemoth to the bed. “Now boy,” I said taking my cock out and removing the pants on Behemoth to only reveal his ass. “Lets celebrate.”

Tagline: A small guy finds an ancient shrine and he uses it to gain immortal powers and muscle. This is a sequel to a very old story I wrote. It's pretty typical for the kind of story I write. Any thoughts or criticisms? Please let me know. My mom told me not to go on the camping trip with Chip and the other seniors. She said they would pick on me, use me for their own amusement. She was right. I was the small, short guy that they liked to josh around with. Happened the last time I went camping with them. But we were about to go away to college and I wouldn't see them again. And I wanted another opportunity to hang out just us guys before we split up for good. You see, they were all the popular guys. And they had me hanging around them to be their wingman type. But more often they just poked fun at me. They were the great jocks and I was the skinny dweeb, the student manager of the basketball team. I didn't care. It wasn't that harmful. And anyway I got to live out some of my deepest fantasies with them. Getting naked in the locker room, streaking with them, beating off. They were ripped. Chip especially, a tall, masculine 6'4” type with huge glutes and a fat cock. Greg was maybe only 6' but he had a full chest of hair and a flaccid dick that was bigger than mine at full mast. Way bigger. We were hiking through the Pukaskwa when Greg decided to grab me by the collar. “Hey Brett ol guy, why don't you work your way down the trail to the left while we smoke a joint. You don't do that stuff, do you? You're too goody good for the reefer.” “No, I'll smoke up,” I said. “Nah we need you to find the way to the next trailhead and that closed trail to the left should be a shortcut, be a good boy for us and find it.” “Umm,” I said, looking over. The hill was steep and the rangers obviously closed it for a reason. I looked back to Chip and the other 4 guys staring at me, wanting me to go on, leave them alone. I must have been getting too clingy, they wanted me to shut up about my new comics that they thought were for nerds anyway. “Save me some grass for when I get back, then?” I asked. “Sure thing, buddy,” Chip said with a wink. I blushed and quickly turned around, I didn't want him to see me. I started heading down the hill carefully, “I think he's a fag,” Greg said as they lit up a match, pushing my shoulders down and causing me to trip. “Shut up, man,” Chip said back. “He's a nice dude.” I stumbled a few feet and lost my balance, tumbling once, twice, then three times off the trail and in a direction I couldn't determine. I then fell off a small cliff side and landed surprisingly on my feet. But my ankle twisted over itself. “Aww, fuck!” I shouted. The guy's murmuring voices were long gone, now, and I had no idea where I was. The trees looked very old, and the ivy and moss covering was dense. I walked 50 feet back to where I thought they guys were when I felt a strange, harsh draft lift up from below my feet. “Dang,” I said. I brushed aside the leaves and noticed a cracked rock. There were a line of rocks underneath the leaves moving away to my right for at least 80 feet. I walked along it, feeling pockets of cool hair lift from the rock whenever there was a split. At the end of the crevice was a small stack of rocks buried under the leaves, bristling from the wind pushing up from the cave below. I could hear rushing water below it. Curious, I wanted to see what was hiding under the rocks. With effort, I was able to push some of the rocks to the side, and as soon as I did the small pile remaining caved inward, falling down into a darkness. The wind wooshed up to me, it smelled fresh, like a spring creek. I lit up my cell phone light and peered below. It was dark but some light shone in through another alcove at the end of the cavern. I crawled into the opening and squeezed my way through, my skinny frame fitting pretty easily through the hole. I carefully worked my way down some of the boulders and landed on the cool cave floor. The light was better at the end of the room, and I worked my way forward, using my phone for light. A creek emerged to my right and the cavern made a sharp turn left, sloping downward another 100 feet or so. The cave made one more right turn, and at the end the cave opened wide. I must have walked a good distance because the sun, now shining brightly above me, was easily 100 feet high as the cave was deep under the ground. “Wow” I said, my voice echoing in the cavern. My eyes followed the creek as it split and ran down the middle of the cavern wrapping around to two intricately carved platforms. One was smaller and lower to the ground, and another was up a sloping set of stairs, a large alter looking piece with four strange, different colored stones sitting at each corner of the altar. “Weird,”I said. The creek widened in front of the alter. I put my hand in it and felt its cool, refreshing stream. To keep my shoes from getting soaked I knocked them off and pulled off my socks, and carefully walked the creek to the large altar ahead of me. I turned and saw a series of etchings on the stone wall to the right of the altar. Different depictions of this man fighting nude with his sword, defeating these evil-looking demon creatures. Having hordes of people praise him for his strength and power. Closer to the smaller altar was another set of drawings, ones that quickly drew my attention. I walked over to them and dusted off the rock to see the pictures clearer. They looked like drawings of the cave I was in. They featured a much smaller guy, someone about my size, with a large tribal group around him. The man walked to the smaller altar, removed all of his clothing, walked to the bigger altar, and set his hand on the back wall. The etchings started to fade, but it looked like the altar started electrocuting him, and he gained massive muscle as he floated above the altar. “Cool,” I said. It looked just like a comic. Suddenly, a strange thought occurred to me. What if I tried to repeat the drawings? They looked like a ceremony of some sort, like the cavern was used to create warriors of ancient times, perhaps for soldiers. I didn't know how it worked, but I was alone, and I figured it wouldn't hurt to try it, if nothing happened, well, nothing happened. I recrossed the stream and grabbed my socks and shoes, dropping them onto the lower altar. I threw off my shirt and pushed down my shorts, leaving me only in my boxer briefs. I looked over the etchings again. The man got naked at the smaller altar, turned, walked up to the bigger altar, and touched something on the back wall. I turned to the back wall behind the bigger altar but didn't see anything, it was blank. Far above I could hear some bird chirps and the wind scrape the trees and brush, but I didn't hear the basketball team above me. I was alone. I pushed down my briefs and stepped out of them, getting fully naked. As soon as the underwear hit the floor a loud WOOSH came from the back wall and a huge, magnificent picture of a muscle-clad warrior formed against the rock wall. “Holy shit,” I said. I was entranced. I walked off the lower alter, trying to repeat the ceremony as closely to the drawings as I could. I held my head high and my arms at my side. If I was to be a warrior, I couldn't be ashamed of my naked body. The rock of the larger alter was warm on my feet, and the crystals surrounding me also emenated a certain level of heat that felt warm and comforting. I looked at the warrior ahead of me and turned back to the etchings. The naked man would touch the back wall, and then the transformation would happen. I slowly lifted my right hand and, after a moment of hesitation, quickly touched the painting, putting my entire palm confidently on the warrior's chest. I could sense the crystals heating up around me, I turned to see them but continued determined to keep my hand where it was. They were growing brighter and brighter, electricity starting to form around them, arcing, and sparking out. Two of them hit me with a fierce force. “AWW” I screamed as they dug into my flesh and burned with a searing pain. My muscles started spasming in pain. The other two quickly followed, forcing me to release my hand and turn around to the open cave. The bolts circled around and into my body, spasming my muscles and causing me to twitch and turn uncontrollably. The painting behind me melted into the rock and the warrior painting literally swam through the cavern and toward the smaller altar, where it dissolved my clothes into the smaller altar. They literally evaporated as they sank into the rock. I could see it inside the rock and they worked their way back to the crystals where they were somehow powered with even more energy, arcing outward and onto my body, digging into my muscles and forcing them to balloon with incredible force! The pain quickly moved to pleasure. I started examining myself, my worried look turned to a smile, the energy charging through me was unlike anything else I had felt before. I was loving it. My arms and chest started growing outward as I went from my 5'6” frame to something more. I could feel the bone and muscle realgning themselves as the sinew started pushing hard against my arms, new crevices and muscle mass growing outward down to my hands and back to my shoulders. I repositioned myself, throwing my arms outward to take in as much of the power as it could. My shoulders snapped back as the muscle dug over my shoulder blades and outward, wrapping over the tops and down toward my pecs where they flattened and pushed outward, hard muscle shaping my pecs into the strongest of warriors. I couldn't believe what was happening, but I loved every minute, loved every second my abs aligned themselves, digging my skinny frame into a chiseled 8-pack, watching my naked Adonis belt form a deep cut v, latching my ever-exploding quads onto the top of my body as they started growing upward, football-sized quads sculpting themselves into the largest and most fit of any athlete. A masculine stench, one of sweat and semen started to radiate from me as I moved into a full warrior. “YES” I finally said, feeling the power surge through me as my shins exploded and feet grew outward, my ass locking into a large bubble to support the size of my quads, growing outward into a smooth, hard round shape, flexing to reveal the sculpted sinew of my body. My back and legs stretched as I continued gaining height, muscle and stamina. I could feel my body phasing from a normal human to something much more, something immortal. My dick started rustling between the increasing muscle of my legs and I smiled as I looked down to see it growing downward, a thick piece of meat fattening and growing downward as I felt my balls churn with the power, expanding into hyperdrive as my seed replicated itself, causing my balls to fill and drop, growing with fierce intensity as they lobbed between my legs. I wanted to touch it as I felt an intense level of horniness erupt from my package, but hair soon started sprouting upward from my tiny tuft of pubes down toward my legs, over my ass, and up a treasure trail to my abs and pecs. “YES God this feeels good!” I shouted, growing more and more confident, assured, and proud of the transformation happening to me. My mind started to fill with history and knowledge of the warriors who gained these powers, these bodies. I started cackling in pleasure. The bolts lifted me off the altar and I started levitating as I could feel an even more intense power surge erupt from the crystals. I was becoming a true god, and I couldn't be happier. That was when I realized, this was not an altar to create warriors, it was to create gods. The gods of ancient history were gracing me with their powers, and I quickly realized I was moving beyond being a mortal, the powers surged into my body and transformed my now muscle-clad body into an immortal container for pure power. I was phasing out of humanity and into immortality, and I loved it, I relished in it. I flexed my abs and arms and welcomed the powers and they dug into me, turning my flesh into an immortal power-ridden, phaseable and transformable being. “Yes! YEEEEESSSSSSSSS!” I shouted, my voice becoming deeper with each second. “AH HAHAHA!” As the transformation continued, all the crystals illuminated and bestowed me with powers of transformation and immorality. I couldn't believe that I was truly becoming a god as my human flesh became just an illusion, just a container so mortals could understand me. I could turn into anything, become anyone, be anywhere. My eyes lit with a red glow of power, “OH YEAH” I said as a supernova of power pushed one last time from the crystals and integrated into my body, exploding it into a huge mass of steam and electricity. My true, god-form erupted as I soaked in my powers, a dark cloud of a god cracking with energy and electricity. “YESS!” I said again, relishing in my pure-power form. I quickly pulled myself together and went back to a human form, forming back to the muscle-clad warrior that I was. Dropping myself to the floor, in human form once more, I examined myself, looking at the thin line of brown hair over my densely-muscled and tanned body. “What the fuck!” I said in pride and happiness. This was who I was meant to me, and I loved every minute of it. I touched my dick and felt a surge of orgasmic pleasure wrap over me, I wanted nothing more than to beat off, but I had other plans. I could sense the guys, they were thinking about jumping into the lake. I floated my body up and toward the high ceiling of the cave, phasing my body through the rock and dirt and emerging on the surface once more. I was buck naked, what would the guys think if they saw me? Would they run? “Wait,” I told myself, “I can control them, I can make them do anything. But do I really want to do that?” I decided it better not to completely freak them out, I ordered my old shirt and shorts to appear over my body, and I turned invisible, quickly moving back to the campgrounds. The guys were stripping down to their boxers, getting ready to jump into the lake. I looked onto them with contempt, these guys showered naked together but they didn't have the balls to skinny dip? I could do something about that. I turned myself visible again but reduced my body back to the dweeb I once was, save for a little muscle, just enough to get their attention. Greg turned around to me. “Hey Brett,” he said, “ how did that trailhead work out for you?” Chip walked behind him, pulling off his shirt. “Shut the fuck up, Greg!” Chip said. He turned back to me and more politely asked, “hey dude, we're gonna go for a swim. Come on, join us, Greg promised he won't be a prick any more.” Filled with confidence, I couldn't help but appeal to the jocks by acting like one. They would soon know my true form anyway. “Yeah guys, let's go for a swim, but you all are fuckin jocks, why are you wading into the water like pansies.” I pulled my shirt off, revealing a slightly more cut body. Chip paused and looked more closely at me. Greg, frowned, they had seen their manager get naked, but had never seen this kind of body on him. “Yeah, you know what I'm talking about, real men get naked, are you going to show who you truly are or just swim like pansies in your boxers,” I said. I walked toward them as I threw my shirt on the ground, the other guys turning their attention toward me, never before seen a dweeb like Brett act with such confidence or with any kind of muscle mass. “Well, what are you waiting for?” I asked, pulling off my shoes and socks. It was then I told my form to slowly morph into the true muscle-clad god that I was, to give my body the full stamina that I transformed to. My skin started darkening as hair started to reemerge across my body, my muscles slowly twiching and growing out of every crevice it could. “WHAT?” I asked with a smile. Chip said it first: “uhh, dude, you are gaining some serious muscle, here. What's happening to you?” I looked down at myself. “So?” I said. “This is who I am now, do you like it?” I told the muscle to go into overdrive as I twisted my back, “Mmm...feel so good!” I shouted as I lost myself in my transformation. I didn't care to casually strip any longer, their eyes were completely on me as they saw my body explode with muscle. I tugged at my shortline and ripped off my shorts and underwear, revealing myself in my true naked form as I transformed once more from human to god-like. “OH YEAH!” I shouted as I grew upward and outward, my dick and balls once more growing to fit the god that I truly was. The guys now had their completely attention on me, completely in awe of the growing warrior before them. I turned back to the guys, staring at my form. “What?” I asked with a chuckle. “Are you jealous or something?” I could tell that the guys were almost in love with me. They were infatuated with my body, and they could sense my immortal powers. Greg was the first to ask, “dude, what are you? How we can become...you?” I smirked, strutting myself toward the lake, I could feel their eyes following me. “If you're real man, then you'll get naked, then I can help you to become like me.” The guys looked to each other before quickly stripping themselves of their shorts and underwear, following me out to the dock by the lake. I turned around to see the team following, completely naked, and completely careless about their nudity. Greg was growing a boner he was so excited. I channeled a ball of energy out of my hands, a dark nova of power, encircling around my hands, growing outward. “Greg,” I said, looking up at him. “Come here.” Greg walked toward me, trying to cover his erection but knowing it was futile. If he was to become a fellow immortal, what difference would it make, anyway? I tipped the dark ball of power and slowly balanced it on my finger, carrying it toward him, brushing away his hands from covering his package. Greg was no doubt a jock, and his cock and balls were huge, but this was different, he was going to phase into a new being. I pushed the ball of energy into his package, and it racked his body with power. “OH FUCK!” Great shouted in pleasure as he immediately exploded with muscle, filling his body with new powers he had never dreamed of ever having. He levitated as his muscles realigned themselves, nearly equaling their size and power to my own. “FUCK YES MOOOORERREEE!” he shouted again as he let the powers of the gods take over his form, transforming him any way it wished. He landed, a completely transformed god, one of power. He understood now what he had, and his respect for me immediately changed. “Oh yeah this feels good. Dude! You did this to me! This is fuckin awesome! YEAH!!! Who wants some!!” He shouted, and the rest of the team surrounded us in eager anticipation, waiting to receive the powers of the gods.

All comments and critiques are welcomed here and on my Google Docs(https://drive.google.com/open?id=1PejxLG1r2y7HI0n1i62CksC6gC2HVhceyfvBkAkGnSY) For other chapters, I will post them on here later. But you can find the archives on my FA and Tumblr with pics included. FA: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/ecchimultiverse/ Tumblr: http://ecchimultiverse.tumblr.com/ For first looks and more illustrations, check out my Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ecchimultiverse First Chapter | Previous Chapter | Next Chapter SPECIAL THANKS TO MY PATRONS: CHRISTOPHER FLOYD, DONALD MORGAN, ANDREW L, CHARLIE LORD, JAMIE CHAPMAN, JOHN LARSON, PETRA, & CREEP All comments and critiques are welcomed here and on my Google Docs(https://drive.google.com/open?id=1PejxLG1r2y7HI0n1i62CksC6gC2HVhceyfvBkAkGnSY) For other chapters, I will post them on here later. But you can find the archives on my FA and Tumblr with pics included. FA: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/ecchimultiverse/ Tumblr: http://ecchimultiverse.tumblr.com/ For first looks and more illustrations, check out my Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ecchimultiverse First Chapter | Previous Chapter | Next Chapter SPECIAL THANKS TO MY PATRONS: CHRISTOPHER FLOYD, DONALD MORGAN, ANDREW L, CHARLIE LORD, JAMIE CHAPMAN, JOHN LARSON, PETRA, & CREEP Chapter 20: Soul Venom Seconds ticked by, as Marvelous Man’s heart rate began to accelerate. His mind swirled with confusion. Gazing about his childhood room, the muscle demigod remembered going to bed back at his apartment with Gene laying next to him. Marvelous Man looked over at the other side of his wide race car bed. The Totochtin Prince was nowhere to be found. Everything he had experienced could not have been a dream...right? Gazing over to the bedroom door, the hulking bodybuilder spotted a set clothes fitted onto a plastic hanger that hung over the doorknob. Marvelous Man instantly recognized it as the clothes he tore off under emotional duress on the day of his birthday. The day he was told he was a demigod created to be a superhero to fight evil in the real world for the glory of his parents. Marvelous Man slowly inhaled air through his nose and began to plan. Feeling shocked was not getting him anywhere. The thing he needed to do was get dressed and head downstairs. He can figure the rest from there. Rolling himself off of the sloshing waterbed, the musclebound superhero slowly thumped his heavy body towards the door. Marvelous Man picked up the hanger of clothes and detached the clothing from the plastic tool. While pulling the clothes off, he then noticed that the articles of clothing appeared to be brand new instead of stretched to its max with tiny holes. Marvelous Man mentally confirmed to himself that the clothes were most definitely new, as he struggled to equip each garment. The golden thong was very snug in the front compartment and did not droop down like it had done so during his years of wearing it. He only had one golden thong and was one of his prized possessions that made him feel special. The white tank top clung too tightly to his meaty pectorals and took several attempts before successfully pulling it over his pecshelf. The white straps seemed to almost be pressing into his blimpy pecs. Due to it being used for the first time, the tank top was not able to stretch far enough to cover his navel. As for the jean shorts, the shorts’ sleeves seemed...shorter than he remembered. It almost appeared to be a pair of daisy dukes on his body after his thunderous thighs stretched the sleeves’ fabric to a near paper-thinness. The back part of it had not been worn enough to be loose and mold around the bodybuilder’s massive, round posterior. It instead clung over the top of the enormous globes and collapsed in between his meaty buttocks; causing the bottom half of his beefy derriere to spill out of the jean shorts’ sleeves. It was also unable to cover the golden thong’s waistband sprouting out of the crevice of his buttocks and gliding over his waist. While Marvelous Man squirmed about to put on the last familiar but new clothing, he noticed his golden bracelets. He tugged at the jewelry and remembered how they seemed permanently attached to his wrists. It was the one element that the musclebound superhero felt grounded him in his own questioning sanity. The proof of him unlocking his powers and being released to the real world. The muscle demigod turned to his left and faced a wall-mounted mirror that was scaled to his size. Concentrating, he activated his flight power. Marvelous Man slowly rose up until the tips of his toes were touching the ground. Then there was no touching. Marvelous Man hovered with only a tiny gap between him and the floor. The musclebound superhero smiled with a big grin while continuing to levitate further up. He really had left Sunnysville and become a superhero! Seconds later, his head collided with the ceiling with a low thud. Marvelous Man grunted, as he grabbed his head at the slight pain. Lowering himself down to the flooring, the hulking bodybuilder considered whether he should transform or not. Marvelous Man then came to the conclusion that it could be bad if he was discovered with his superhero outfit on. He had a sneaking suspicion as to who kidnapped him back to Sunnysville. But if he was wrong, they would probably attack him immediately without a chance for him to talk. Marvelous Man guessed that if Gene were here at this moment, the rabbit superhero would treat this as an investigation before jumping to the conclusion of fighting. The musclebound superhero derailed his train of thought by wondering if he was more of a detective rather than a superhero. He was after all put on an investigation squad to scout and gain info about the Skeleton Lord. Superheroes in the comic books he read usually punch stuff to solve the problem. The only thing to understand about the enemy was to figure out where to punch and with what element. Only the powerless folks or brooding superheroes did investigations...which led right back to where to punch and with what element. Taking another breath and staring into the eyes of his reflection, Marvelous Man psyched himself up enough to start going downstairs. He just needed to play along as the powerless Justice Starr in order to figure out what was going on. >>>>>>>>>>> Everything in the house looked as he remembered. From the creaking of the wooden stairs to the smell of the house...before it was subjugated by the flood of rotting muffins. Though gone for only a few months, it felt like years had passed. Nostalgia flooded Marvelous Man’s brain, as he stared at the family photos hanged on the stairway walls. Each photo had its own gimmick: ugly Christmas sweaters, ancient warriors, wild west, and etc. The scent of frying bacon grew stronger, as the hulking bodybuilder reached the bottom of the steps. It reminded him of his mother’s cooking: greasy, delicious, and full of love. Papa Ares did make bacon sometimes, but they usually ended up nearly burnt. Apollo would faint at the suggestion of bacon and just offer up some sort of avocado wheat toast with a grapefruit. Marvelous Man could hear the tinkling of silverware and plates echo across the hall. Passing through the foyer and into the dining hall, the muscle demigod experienced a sense of deja vu. Seated at the dining table were his fathers, Ares and Apollo; eating breakfast instead of sitting underneath a Happy Birthday banner with serious faces. As he stepped through, Ares was the first to look up and notice Marvelous Man. Ares smiled, “Morning, son! Didja sleep well last night?” Marvelous Man eyed his Papa with suspicion. There was no need to act ignorant. He could already tell his parents were the real deal. Unlike normal people or the robot citizens of Sunnysville, his parents gave off an atmosphere that one could tell the Starr parents were different. Though that has now been realized with the fact that Marvelous Man’s parents were Greek gods. “Yeah, I guess I did...Ummm, why...what am I doing back here in Sunnysville?” questioned Marvelous Man. Apollo turned his attention from the breakfast plate towards Marvelous Man upon hearing his son speak. His fashion this time consisted of a yellow polo shirt with a blue sweater tied around the collar and light khaki pants. The only other thing to perfect this ensemble would be a croquet mallet in his hands. Ares scratched his scars, “Uh, what do you mean, son? You’ve always been in Sunnysville.” “...Are you seriously trying to gaslight me?! I know I’ve lived out in the real world, and it wasn’t a dream! I’m still wearing the bracelets you guys gave me,” pointed Marvelous Man. Apollo retorted, “I think the bigger question is when did you get so perceptive.” “Since you guys told me the world I lived in was fake. And also finding out how different the real world is for a couple of months does that to you. Especially when you find out public bathrooms come with bidets,” said Marvelous Man. The door from across the dining room opened. Carrying a tray full of pancakes through the entry was Marvelous Man’s mother, Aphrodite. The Goddess of Love seemed radiant even with her apparel of sweatpants and a simple, white t-shirt. Upon spotting Marvelous Man, Aphrodite smiled. She spoke, “Justice! Good morning, sugarplum. Did you have a good night sleep? I made pancakes.” “Mom, why did you all drag me back here?” inquired Marvelous Man. Aphrodite moseyed towards the dining table before setting the tray onto it. She looked up at Marvelous Man with a smiling but puzzled look. She replied, “Whatever do you mean, sweetie. You mean back home?” Apollo rolled his eyes. “Forget it, Aphrodite. Two seconds in, and he already figured it out,” he sighed. Marvelous Man exclaimed, “Am I going to have to break something or will you people just answer me already?!” “Justice, please. Use your inside voice,” spoke Aphrodite Marvelous Man glared at his mother. Fingers clenched into fists, his patience had evaporated. He did not want to play games anymore and allow his parents to manipulate him any further. Ares spoke up, “We did it to protect you, son. After you disappeared for two days from our sight, we thought the worst had happened...we thought...the Skeleton Lord killed you.” “And when you came back, we were relieved that you were still alive...But then we became more afraid than ever,” continued Aphrodite. Marvelous Man frowned, “Why? This is what you all created me for. You wanted me to be a hero, and I did that. I even came to enjoy that.” Nobody replied. Silence hung in the air for seconds. Apollo cleared his throat. “The fact is, Justice, we didn’t realize how much you dying affected us. Or would,” said Apollo. Marvelous Man shook his head, “But isn’t that what’s going to happen to me? If I go off to fight, I have a big chance of dying. I mean, Papa, you’re the God of War. Isn’t this something you’re used to? I’m pretty sure you all had kids before me. What makes this different with me?” “Because you’re different. Everything about you is different. Your birth. This place. Everything,” replied Ares, “In Sunnysville, we were cut off from the world just so that we could keep a close eye on you. We didn’t have any duties to uphold. We just had to be...human. He continued, “And you became our world, Justice...We are beings that will last forever, and knowing that you are only temporary...how can we move on when you’re gone?” Aphrodite moved closer to her son; edging by with careful steps that could stand on eggshells. Tears had begun to form in her eyes. “And when I heard your cry with my mother’s love...Calling out to me. I wished with all my heart that I could come to you, but I could not find you. The last of when I saw you was after your heart had been broken,” she said. Apollo bit his lip, “We didn’t realize it until now, that you had become the source of our happiness. So we brought you here in the hopes that if we could just have everything stay the same, you would be safe and happy until you were an old man and not slain in your youth by some nightmare monster. And if you somehow gain immortality, then good news! We can stay in this paradise forever!” The need to smash something began to rise. Marvelous Man almost felt himself getting ready to run back towards his room and rip off his clothes. He clenched his fists even harder to suppress the old habit. “You’re kidding, right? Do you have any idea how much this place fucked me over?!” he ranted, “I wasn’t allowed to talk differently with other people, cause the other people aren’t real! No compromise at all. I could only act a certain way or I wouldn’t be able to get anything done. And it is so hard to just be myself with real people. I still think sometimes that if I don’t say something predictable, nobody will talk to me,” Seconds ticked by in the piercing silence before Apollo turned to Aphrodite. “Guess we shoulda waited those three days for the social programming, huh?” mentioned Apollo. Marvelous Man’s jaw dropped, “...YOU COULDN’T WAIT THREE DAYS FOR THE ROBOTS TO START ACTING LIKE PEOPLE BEFORE LOCKING ME IN HERE?!” All three gods shrugged at him. “Eh…” they said in unison. Apollo answered, “I mean, we thought you’d be fine.” “WHAT?! You shoulda just left me with a human family!” exclaimed Marvelous Man. Ares replied, “We did with the others. But you’re a special case cause of...you know.” Marvelous Man stared at the God of War; his eyelids drooped with an aloof demeanor. “I don’t have time for this. I’m leaving,” he huffed. As the hulking bodybuilder turned towards the door, his mother clutched her chest. She followed her son through the entrance with the other gods steps behind her. “YOU CAN’T!” shouted Aphrodite, “If you go, the Skeleton Lord will kill you!” Marvelous Man stopped, “...You don’t know that. Me and my friends will probably beat him. And if you really feel that way, you can stop him yourselves.” Ares slammed his fist against the house; causing the structure to momentarily tremble. “It’s not like we don’t want to! But even if we could find him, we’re not allowed to harm him,” he said. Marvelous Man sighed, “Fine. Why?” “Us old gods swore an oath that our divinity could only be used to assist heroes against those we contend against. And since we’re incapable of breaking oaths, that means we can do diddly-squat about the Skeleton Lord. And if someone were able to break it, that would free the rest from the oath and cause all out celestial wars. Mass destruction and even the world being destroyed in the process,” clarified Apollo. The muscle demigod turned to his parents. Marvelous Man frowned, “Then...assist me! Give me a power up or an upgrade or something!” “You’re safer here. That is your assist,” stated Ares. Marvelous Man exclaimed, “The fffuck it is! I’m going to stop the Skeleton Lord with or without your help. I’ll learn magic or get a familiar to do magic for me or just buy a gun if I have to. Cause apparently, I’m rich as hell and can buy a death ray gun for all I care.” Aphrodite watched her child trail in the direction of the loan office where the exit to the real world hid. She leaned forward to initiate chase, as Ares placed a hand on her shoulder. “Leave him be, my sweet. He will cool off once he realizes he does not have the key,” reasoned Ares. Marvelous Man then leapt into the air and proceeded to fly over the neighboring houses. The three Greek gods stared on, while their eyes grew wide. “Well, shit. He’s still transformed...which means that he could transform back into his superhero outfit and retrieve the key. Did we really just forget that?!,” said Apollo. The God of Art held out his hand. Light began to concentrate in his palm before extending itself. Upon reaching an appropriate length, the light shattered to reveal a golden bow beneath. Apollo held the bow in front of himself and began to pull the string. A bolt of light materialized; nocking behind the golden string. He sighed, “Whatever, I’ve got it covered. Hindsight, you are a bitch.” “Apollo! He’s our son!” shouted Aphrodite. Apollo clicked his tongue, “Girl, it’s fine. It’s just a stun arrow. Nasty, but he’ll live.” Releasing his grip on the string, Apollo’s arrow launched. The arrow of light sailed through the air with a slight curve. Marvelous Man continued to fly straight with no awareness of the projectile, while the arrow homed in. The light-based weapon collided into Marvelous Man’s back; causing the musclebound superhero to seize in the air. The hulking bodybuilder appeared frozen in a twisted pose, as Marvelous Man fell. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> The rattle in Marvelous Man’s head came to a slow. The last thing he remembered was taking flight and heading to the pocket dimension’s exit. Then he felt a shooting pain pierce into his back and immediately dispersed throughout the rest of his massive body. The hulking bodybuilder’s muscles clenched in paralysis and felt his senses going haywire. For a brief moment, he could not tell what was up or down until he collided into the ground with a brief thud. Marvelous Man pushed himself up. He knew that now was not a time to rest. His parents most likely did something to him to cause his fall, and they will catch up soon. Giving his surroundings a quick scan, it appeared he fell into the backyard of one of his neighbors. The spacious, fenced property had only grass and a tire swing tied to a fully-grown oak tree. Marvelous man released a sigh upon noticing his parents were not in sight. With only seconds to act, he ran behind the oak tree. While taller than the muscle demigod, the tree was not wider than his massive shoulders protruding from behind. Marvelous Man was aware that if he were to stand a sliver of a chance to get to the loan office, he needed to be fully armed. The musclebound superhero placed his golden-jeweled wrists on top of one another and held them above his head. “MarvelousMuscleMagic,Metamorph!” fast-talked Marvelous Man. The muscle demigod floated in the familiar vacuum, void of all existence, where all his transformations took place. His clothes shattered off of him with the appearance of stained glass; refracting its colors into the void. Silver paint from an unseen assailant began whipping at his gargantuan body. The paint slapped between the meaty globes of his buttocks and over the ridges of his waist. When the silver paint slapped the bodybuilder’s sexual meat in all directions, his sack and penis bounced about. A silver thong fully materialized on Justice, as the last stroke of silver paint brushed against his waist. White paint then appeared only to give a simple dab onto his forehead and belly button; materializing a diamond-like rhinestone as a bindi on his forehead and a larger rhinestone that covered his navel. As the transformation dimension dispersed, Justice landed back behind the oak tree. The hulking bodybuilder took no time to for a break and repeated his transformation stance. He chanted again, “MarvelousMuscleMagic,Metamorph!” Transported back to his transportation dimension, Justice floated in the vacuous void. The thong and jewelry he had just been equipped with had immediately taken on the consistency of dried paint. The paint cracked and fractured throughout; encompassing both thong and jewelry. Flakes of the cracked equipment broke off and floated up into the void. When the muscle demigod had become nude again, the familiar, multi-colored ribbons of bondage reached out from the beyond. The ribbons bound around his limbs; squeezing his large pectorals and bubbly glutes. Completing their enrapture, the ribbons became Marvelous Man’s signature outfit: black leather jacket, black leather boots, American flag bikini, and a golden laurel wreath. Marvelous Man landed on the ground, as he was released from the empty space he transformed in. With time to spare, the musclebound superhero considered his options. Flying was definitely not something he wanted to try again with his sniper dad. Fighting should only be a last resort when one’s papa is the God of War. Rather than staying in the backyard to stand his ground, the hulking bodybuilder vaulted over the fence. Stealth was going to have to be the winning mechanic against beings that easily overpowered him. As he touched over on the other side of the fence, Marvelous Man’s heart sank. He had landed in another backyard with plenty of wide space, and in the center of it stood his parents. All of the gods’ faces were devoid of emotion. Apollo was armed with his glowing bow, Ares had his arms crossed, and Aphrodite had her hands clasped over the other against her chest. “Well, you sure shrugged that off faster than I thought. Let me guess, healing factor?” said Apollo. Marvelous Man frowned, “Yeah.” The God of Art’s eyes drifted; scanning Marvelous Man from top to bottom. “Convenient and chique,” commented Apollo, “Though, I don’t know about your current fashion sense. Not judging, just thought you should know.” Confused at his dad’s criticism, Marvelous Man looked down at himself. The clothes he wore before his double transformation had reappeared. Only this time, he sported the daisy duke shorts underneath his battle bikini and the white tank top underneath his black jacket. The waistband of his golden thong peeked out of the jean shorts; complementing the ridiculousness of his outfit even further. He really wanted to question the logistics of how he ended up looking like so, but there was no time for it. Marvelous Man held up his index finger, “Hold on. Give me a sec.” The musclebound superhero planted his foot into the ground and delivered a kick with his other as high as he could. Marvelous Man gave a kick that was almost perfectly pointing up; only off by a few degrees. He could feel the jean shorts tighten around his pelvis when kicking. The muscle demigod realized at that moment how much of a hindrance any pants-like variety was in combat. He was shocked at how his bikini actually served a purpose at allowing more flexibility and less drag to leg movements. Without hesitation, he grabbed hold of his shorts and began tearing at it. The hulking bodybuilder ripped the shorts from different angles until the clothing fell to the grass in shreds. All there was left underneath the American flag bikini was the golden thong showing off its waistbands above the bikini’s. It might have seemed like such a hasty decision to do, but Marvelous Man was in no mood to take the time to peel off his lower garments. He wanted out. “Okay, now I’m ready,” he said. Aphrodite pleaded, “Please, sweetie. Don’t do this. You can’t beat the Skeleton Lord. Don’t think that you have any chance of defeating us.” Marvelous Man did not want to openly admit he could not overcome his parents with force. But maybe with logic… “You can’t fight me, anyways. Papa said you all swore an oath that you can’t contend against others by your own power,” he reasoned. Ares cracked his knuckled, “Not if you’re under our divinity. We can do whatever we want with those that worship us or are our blood.” The muscle demigod gritted his teeth; frustrated out how his luck was turning out. With no choice but to fight, Marvelous Man took off his golden wreath. He tried to calculate in his mind of how to attack. With Apollo focused on the rules of combat due to the god’s divinity with athletics, it would be best to engage the God of Art with dirty tactics. Ares was a god that used violent bursts to quickly overpower opponents and should be countered with unorthodoxed methods and use defensive martial arts like Aikido to redirect the powerful strikes. No active approach was needed for Aphrodite. The Goddess of Love would most likely just watch the whole skirmish. “Do you really intend to fight us, Justice?” said Aphrodite. Ares frowned, “Back away, my sweet. The boy has made up his mind.” The God of War and Apollo parted away from each other; moving closer to Marvelous Man in a diagonal angle until the two gods were standing at the bodybuilder’s left and right side. With a flick of his wrist, a wooden spear materialized in Ares’ grasp. Ares and the God of Art readied themselves in their fighting stances. “Just so you know, the kiddie gloves may be on, but it’s still got thorns to hurt like hell,” mentioned Apollo. Marvelous Man set the trap, “How could you guys do this to me and say that you love me? Am I just a disappointment to you all that you’re trying to hide?” Both gods preparing to fight Marvelous Man hesitated; lowering their stances and weapons. Their faces softened with hurtful looks in their eyes. “No, that’s not it,” broke Ares, “We’re doing this to-” Marvelous Man threw his golden wreath at Ares before twisting his body towards Apollo. Activating his flight powers, the musclebound superhero dove as close to the ground as he could without touching. He dipped his right hand down and clawed into the earth while closing the distance between himself and the God of Art. Marvelous Man could see Apollo’s eyes widened at the surprise attack; unable to properly react. At the very same moment, the golden wreath Marvelous Man threw had sailed over to the off-guarded Ares. The projectile concussed against Papa’s head with a loud ting. His eyes fogged with daze, as his head reeled back from the attack. Upon reaching close range with the God of Art, Marvelous Man flew up and swiped with his dug hand to unleash a volley of dirt. The earthen spray flew against Apollo’s body and flung into the god’s eyes. The God of Art recoiled in pain at the literal dirty attack with a brief shriek. Marvelous Man twirled in a counterclockwise motion, as he rose above his dad. Completing his rotation, the musclebound superhero brought his left leg down in a diagonal axe kick. The back of his boot’s heel connected against the side of Apollo’s neck; crumbling the God of Art into the ground. Marvelous Man lunged his body forward and followed the velocity of his kick into another spin. Finishing the revolution of his spin, the muscle demigod dove to grab Apollo by the yellow collar. With Apollo in his grasp, Marvelous Man flew towards the dazed Ares. The muscle demigod spun in the air to his increase his attack before throwing his dad; shooting Apollo through the air like a human-sized missile dressed for a day at the country club. Ares was still staggered from the projectile attack but was beginning to edge towards recovery before the God of Art slammed into the bulky war god’s chest. The two gods careened into the wooden fence; splintering it into pieces. Marvelous Man turned to flee, as Ares was toppled over with Apollo on top. “You were never a disappointment!” shouted Aphrodite. Marvelous Man paused; switching his attention to where his mother stood. Aphrodite continued, “We are so proud of what you accomplished even though you were so limited. But now it’s time to come home and live a safe life. You’ve earned it, Justice. We can even bring both of your lovers here if you’d like. I’m sure Gene would like it here, and you said you’d be fine if Gemini was with you.” His heart rate kept racing, and nearly every fiber of his being was telling Marvelous Man to run. But a big part of him still wanted to talk this all out; hoping that words can settle the battle without violence. His shoulders slouched, as he thought about the compromise. “...I’m sorry, mom. I can’t do that to them. I’d love to...but you’re forcing them to live somewhere they don’t actually want to be at. You of all people know what happens when you force someone to love a person. It’d be like that,” said Marvelous Man. Aphrodite fired back, “How’s that any different from what you’re doing in the real world, sugarplum?” Marvelous Man opened his mouth to ask what she meant, as three wooden broadswords fell from the sky. The swords pierced into the ground in front of the muscle demigod; severing the path between himself and Aphrodite. Marvelous Man jumped back from the sudden obstruction, as he heard Ares manly voice echo. “It’s an insult to your enemy when you turn your attention away from them, son. Either keep fighting or run away!” shouted Ares. Marvelous Man quickly inhaled air through his nose before following it with a sharp exhale. Stepping towards the wooden weapon stabbed into the ground, the musclebound superhero grabbed the sword in the center by the hilt. Marvelous Man lifted the weapon from the dirt with ease. He then turned to face his fathers, while pointing an open palm towards them. A golden glint shimmered for a moment behind the gods. Apollo looked up at Ares, “So is he trying to signal a timeout or-ACK!” The boomerang weapon that had hit Ares earlier had come whirling back. It struck the back of Apollo’s head; ringing out a blunt tung. The force of the blow knocked out the art god’s balance, as he fell to the ground once more. Marvelous Man leapt forward while thrusting the wooden broadsword in a piercing strike. As he soared towards Ares, he activated his flight powers. The hulking bodybuilder straightened himself like a plank with both hands gripping the sword’s hilt. He then began to rotate; spinning with such ferocity that he looked like a blurred, black drill. The God of War frowned and immediately dropped his spear. Flicking his hands into a grasping motion, a wooden sledgehammer appeared in his grip. The head of the weapon had a size that was often seen in comical shows, yet it held a menacing flair when wielded by a war god. Ares swung the hammer over his head in a slow, methodical fashion; as if timing his swing. Once the drill form of Marvelous Man was only a second away from boring into Ares, the God of War slammed his sledgehammer down. Ares had correctly evaluated his time to strike; connecting the weapon against his son. The wooden sledgehammer’s blow struck Marvelous Man’s back and sent the muscle demigod slamming into the ground. The earth beneath cracked from the intense power, while spraying a gust of dirt and air in all directions and jostling his braided hair. The breath in Marvelous Man’s lungs escaped him, as he gasped and groaned for it to come back. His spine was racked with pain, and he swore he heard a small pop when being smashed with Papa’s sledgehammer. He wanted to get up and keep fighting, but his body would not listen to his semi-conscious mind. Marvelous Man summoned all the willpower he could to keep awake; hoping that his healing factor would activate soon. “It was a good try, son, but you’re fighting against me in my own element. I always win when it comes to senseless violence. But I suppose if you had been honorable, you would have just loss to your other father,” commented Ares. Apollo slowly stood up, “Or maybe...just not fall for Ares’ provoke with the wooden sword he gave you. The man might be dense in everything else, but he definitely has a hands-on experience with being tricked into doing something careless.” Silence held in the air for a few seconds. Marvelous Man could not see it, but he guessed that Apollo realized Ares was glaring at the art god. Apollo would then realize that Ares was still holding a large, wooden sledgehammer. “Well, I still stand by what I said,” said Apollo. Ares grunted, “Hmmm, so what do we do now?” “Drag him back home, I guess. After that, well...we’ll just get a hold of Hephaestus and see if he can break off those bracelets since they’re enchanted to stay on Justice. And once that’s over, this world should smother his powers back into being base talents,” suggested Apollo. The quiet had settled in once again in the passing seconds. None of the gods moved, as Marvelous Man slowly motioned his shaky hand into the depths of his jacket’s pockets. His mind filed through every possible thing to think of that could turn the tables in his situation: a weapon, a potion, or even a magical device that assists with fleeing. Nothing materialized against the tips of his fingers. The feeling of betrayal swelled in his heart, as he realized his parents never bothered to give him the things he truly needed in the battle against evil. They talked about keeping him safe, but it seemed that his heroism was still a game or entertaining story to them. Just like those superhero comic books where the hero was never truly in any danger thanks to the status quo. Was he nothing more than some kind of pet? Like he was a teacup-sized dog meant only to fit in and accessorize a purse? Apollo spoke up, “Well? This is the part where you pick him up. Chop-chop.” “It’s just that…” paused Ares, “Are we really doing the right thing? We’re stealing away his chance to a fight he wishes to take part in. He could still win.” Apollo sniped, “Last time I checked, he was no longer your little soldier after you caused his precious knee to dislocate. And did you forget the part where you told us Gilgamesh crushed his hands? Nuh-uh, I am not putting my baby through that.” “No, no. You’re right. But...then what would change your mind?” asked Ares. Apollo bit his lip, “Mmmm...Maybe if he found out what his divine element was, I’d be more at ease. It’d definitely give him the edge in battle. Having us three as his parents really muddied it up into becoming something else entirely. I scanned him when he was unconscious but can’t figure out for the eternity of me of what it is. All I know is that there’s a...dark side to his power that…-” The two gods continued to babble about Marvelous Man, as the muscle demigod himself slowly regained his strength. Anger began coursing through his mind. How dare they...How dare they look down on him! They do not take him seriously enough that he is not disclosed about divine elements?! He fought with everything he had, and they still dared to withhold information that could have helped him?! The bundle of emotions that flooded through him was like the day he found out the truth about Sunnysville and his bloodline and destiny...He had enough. Inching forward with every painful nudge, he managed to move his recovering body towards his fathers. Marvelous Man reached his hand out and grabbed Ares’ exposed ankle. The muscle demigod could feel the floodgates of his heart open. The toxic he held back surged into his gripping hand; emanating a whisping darkness whispering its dark secrets. Another kind of poison had also seeped into his tongue, but it was a toxin that lacked any supernatural power. Marvelous Man could feel his mouth moving on its own, yet he did not care. “You’re all...a bunch of Dickasaures Rexes,” he gritted. The dark aura flared, as its whispers grew louder. The poison scanned the war god’s leg; detecting the lengthy list of injuries the limb had encountered. Marvelous Man became aware of the leg’s history, while his heart grew number. He wanted to push all the pain he was feeling onto his own family. Marvelous Man continued, “You all knew I had some power in me that could help me against the Skeleton Lord but didn’t say anything?! I’m risking my life out there when all you want to do is keep playing house?! FUCK THAT!” Ares looked down at Marvelous Man with a stupefied expression. The dark aura seemed to feed on Marvelous Man’s words; growing big enough to encompass the muscle demigod. The grass underneath Marvelous Man wilted into black, as it released a foul stench of rot. Its own lifetime of being trimmed had caused it to crumble into tiny black bits. “Wha?” said Ares, “Son, we-” “SHUT UP!!!” shouted Marvelous Man. The whispering poison seeped into Ares’ ankle. Traveling into the cells of the God of War, the darkness whispered its final secret before vanishing. The limb of Ares instantly reacted with extreme hemorrhage, while the muscle and skin tissues collapsed. The war god’s leg exploded; spraying Marvelous Man with bits of celestial blood. With a sudden imbalance to Ares’ body, the God of War immediately fell. As Ares fell backwards, Marvelous Man stood up. He looked down at his father with a cold stare, while Ares looked up with confusion. The musclebound superhero knew he should have felt bad for destroying his father, but all he felt was justified payback. He then felt his poisoned tongue move on its own again. Marvelous Man spoke, “Before you actually became a good dad, I wished you would just die. Especially on the day you caused my leg to dislocate.” The muscle demigod felt an electrical sting coursing through his left shoulder. Turning towards the source of the damage dealer, he spotted Apollo standing a small distance away. The God of Art was wielding his bow of light, as his trembling hands held another arrow nocked at the ready. Marvelous Man instantly put together that the God of Art jumped back and attempted to shoot another stun arrow. “That’s no way to treat your son, dad. But I guess to you I was just another art piece just to stroke your own dick of how great you are. No different than being treated as a weapon by the cripple over there,” he commented. Even though Marvelous Man was numbed from feeling any empathy towards his parents, he could feel a rush of euphoria flowing through himself. It felt so good to let his mouth run and tell all the hurtful secrets he had suppressed for so many years. The muscle demigod felt satisfied at knowing he could hurt his parents with more than just physical wounds. Apollo stated, “That’s enough Justice. Stop this right now, or-” “Or what?! You’ll kill me?! You can try! I just wonder if you’ll cry for me at my funeral. Hmph, probably not. You’ll break your face, since you can only express bitchiness,” spat Marvelous Man. The poisonous aura fed on the remarks and expanded itself towards Apollo. As it snaked towards the art god, the grass caught in its path wilted and crumbled. Apollo’s eyes took no notice of the whispering toxin; focused only on the bitter son. Marvelous Man continued, “You know what pisses me off the most? You two never said you’re sorry. For any of this! ‘I’m sorry, kiddo. We didn’t realize how much we were fucking you up by not letting you talk to anybody. We’re sorry that your whole life was a lie just so that we could feel relevant again. I’m sorry that we’re just selfish assholes who don’t give two shits about anybody other than the person in the mirror!’” Within range of the art god, the darkness pounced on his feet. The whispering poison traveled up beneath the khaki cuffs of Apollo’s legs; sinking into the cellulars. The whisping, black aura scanned the legs to only find a brief medical history of battle and athletic damage done to the limbs. The toxin whispered its final secret before vanishing and activating the past wounds. Underneath the pants, Apollo’s legs blackened with bruising, while the achilles tendon muscles in his ankles snapped into pieces. The God of Art fell onto his knees; whimpering in pain. “And just so you know, I would rather die out there than live in here for the rest of my life. If you even call it living. I’ve only realized after a couple of months how sad my life was. The highlight of my life around here is bodybuilding and assisting firefighters,” said Marvelous Man. He paused, “I’m terrified of going back out there with all that confusion and death...but I can’t stay here. Not after finally feeling freedom and talking to people.” Apollo held up his bow of light and immediately drew back an arrow. Knocked against the string, the arrow grew bright with the intensity of a spotlight that it looked nearly like a football made of light. “Go ahead, dad. Do it. Put me down like some rabid dog,” hissed Marvelous Man. The whisping aura still extended towards Apollo launched itself further up the God of Art. Traveling up Apollo’s body at swift speeds, the poison reached the art god’s face and dug into his eyes. Apollo immediately recoiled at the intrusion; dropping his bow in the process. Marvelous Man could instantly detect the many mental traumas suppressed within his father. Some of them were recently unvalved from the hurtful things the hulking bodybuilder said. Marvelous Man knew he would usually be curious about what the traumas were, but he was more interested in breaking Apollo. He activated all of the suppressed traumas. The darkness piercing into Apollo’s eyes looked like streams of tears to Marvelous Man. The art god’s eyes seemed be staring past the muscle demigod; his eyes clouded in black. The fear in Apollo’s face had now transformed into anguish and pity. He admitted, “You really are a monster. I tried to set you on a path of good. Having you focus on bodybuilding for discipline. The boy scouts for instilling morals. But...I guess...you really can’t fix something that was destined to be born broken.” “And what scares me so much is that even if you destroy the world. Destroy me. I’ll still love you, Justice. Somehow, out of all the children we’ve had, you’ve had the most profound effect on me. And it’ll never go away,” continued Apollo. A voice shouted behind Marvelous Man, “IT’S ME YOU WANT! I AM THE REASON WHY YOU WERE STUCK HERE FOR OVER TWENTY YEARS!” Turning around, the muscle demigod spotted his mother closer towards him. She had her hands clasped together against her chest; trembling with increased vigorousness with every step she took. Marvelous Man looked down at her, as Aphrodite was within an arm’s length of her son. “What?” said Marvelous Man. “Yes. I did it, sweetie,” she said, “We all were supposed to move back to the real world right after you graduated school and transport you when you fell asleep in our moving van and let you slowly discover that you’re a superhero. And then we would have had to let you go...But I was selfish. I loved you so much that I wanted you all to myself and keep playing in this illusion. Those two didn’t put up a fight when I requested it.” The hulking bodybuilder stared in disbelief, “...That’s it? Then why the sudden change of heart?” “You were dying, sugarplum. I could sense the love in you was withering. And my love...just wasn’t enough for you anymore. You might not have noticed, but I did. It’s why we had to let you go...Why I had to let you go,” said Aphrodite. She gave a short laugh, “But now, I’m doing it all over again. Trying to make you into what I want. Hoping that we can go back to how everything was, cause I was so happy and couldn’t face a reality where you died...But that’s wrong. What I want and what you want are two different things. And I...we need to realize that we must be willing to let you go if we truly love you. Let you find actual happiness and fulfillment rather than forcing ours onto you.” Marvelous Man extended his hand to place it against the side of his mother’s face. The dark aura radiating from his whole arm danced about Aphrodite’s cheeks. It almost looked as if the muscle demigod was caressing her with love, but his eyes betrayed the action from the gleam of his cold, hazel green eyes. “You’re a terrible mom, and you’ll never escape that,” he said. The poisonous darkness lashed out; diving into Aphrodite’s eyes. The Goddess of Love shuddered, as Marvelous Man detected his mother’s suppressed mental traumas. Activating them all, the toxin took on the similar appearance of whisping, black tears streaming from Aphrodite’s eyes. Immediately after, the dark poison flowing from the love goddess’ eyes had faded into nothingness. Aphrodite continued staring into the bitter son with unwavering yet wounded love, but the goddess had none of the side effects Apollo was experiencing. Marvelous Man could no longer sense any of the suppressed mental trauma. He then realized it was not because there was no suppressed traumas to activate, but because his cursed assault against his mother was extinguished. Aphrodite was untouchable to his poison. The goddess’ eyes twinkled with enlightenment. “I understand now,” she said. Marvelous Man shouted, “Wha-?! How?! I poisoned you! WHY AREN’T YOU BROKEN?!” Aphrodite lightly grasped the hand Marvelous Man held against her face. Gently bringing the enormous hand down, she place it against her bosom where her heartbeat pulsed. The Goddess of Love then placed her hands over his and cradled the hand with tenderness. “The same as how you were able to resist Gene’s influence,” she replied, “Apollo isn’t like me. He can’t resist soul poisoning.” Lifting her wrist with slow grace, she brought her hand close to Marvelous Man’s chest. The Goddess of Love lightly prodded her index and pinky finger against the musclebound hero’s meaty pecs; aiming it where her son’s heart beats. “But your soul has been poisoned too, sugarplum. And it’s my fault you ended up like this. I’ll fix you right up, sweetie,” stated Aphrodite. The love goddess flexed her wrist like a martial artist’s lightning-fast jab. Her middle and ring finger curled against her palm while pressing into her son’s immense pectoral. The rest of her fingers were splayed out on top, as a ring of golden light radiated from her hand. As the ring continued its disperse, it blasted away the whisping, dark aura encompassing Marvelous Man’s body. Marvelous Man’s massive body seized, while his head flexed upwards. The hulking bodybuilder took in a giant, desperate breath as if he were breathing for the first time. The numbness within his heart subsided; gone was the sadist need to inflict any sort of pain on his family. He could feel warmth flooding into his soul, and a lingering sense of pain that was beginning to grow. Looking down, the muscle demigod spotted his mother with a hopeful look in her eyes. “M-mom?” he said. She smiled, “Yes, sugarplum.” “Did I just…?” said Marvelous Man. Slowly turning around, he spotted the result of his poisonous power. The memories of his handiwork done only seconds ago bubbled up into his head. Marvelous Man wanted to stop it, but it became clear in his mind. It felt so distant, because the Marvelous Man he himself knows should not be capable of such terrible actions. Ares was sitting up and staring at Marvelous Man. The war god had only one leg; courtesy of the muscle demigod lashing out to hurt Papa. Apollo still knelt with the poison streaming from the eyes and coursing into the art god’s mind. He remembered that it felt so good to break them; especially with Apollo’s mental trauma. Marvelous Man gasped with his hands over his mouth, “Oh my gosh! I...did this…” “Yes, but don’t worry. I’ll take care of Apollo,” said Aphrodite, “And Ares will eventually grow his leg back. It’ll be alrigh-.” He teared up, “It’s not alright! Dad was right...I am a monster…” Aphrodite immediately grabbed her son’s thick wrist and pulled it back to her. Marvelous Man was unable to resist her sudden boundless strength and was caught in a bending position where the mother’s eyes were gazing into his. She spoke sternly, “Listen to me! You are not a monster. We were the ones who pushed you into acting like this. You did what you had to, because you just wanted to live your life. And it made you as detached as we once were to the preciousness of a mortal’s life.” Marvelous Man was unable to process what his mother was saying. He hurt his own family. The ones he loved. He began trying to look back at his fathers. “I-I-I gotta go and help them. I can heal them,” he said. Aphrodite replied, “No. Go. Leave this place. I’ll help them. Those people and your friends need you more.” “Bu-But...I don’t think I can anymore. I couldn’t even beat my dads without having to use that dark power of mine. And you saw what it does to me...And, and you’re not going to be around the next time I get out of control with it. I can’t touch it ever again...not even for the Skeleton Lord,” hesitated Marvelous Man. Aphrodite spoke, “Sweetie, there’s no one more afraid of you losing than me. But I know that deep down, you will beat the Skeleton Lord. And the answer finally came to me as to why. You need to understand your own self-worth and love it. Love being you. Not just Marvelous Man, but also as Justice. Both have equal value for existing.” Marvelous Man’s brow furrowed in confusion. “I...I don’t get it. Is that supposed to be a hint or something? For my divine element?” he questioned. She nodded, “Yes. I don’t know what it is, but it is something marvelous, sugarplum. I know that it is a seed. One that is overlooked but important and is connected to your fathers and I.” Tears formed in her eyes, as the Goddess of Love kissed her child’s forehead. “But just know that even after all this, we all still love you. Now go. I love you so much, sweetie...be careful,” she sobbed. Marvelous Man wept, “I love you too, mom.” Jumping up into the air, the musclebound superhero activated his flight power. He took off towards the loan office. Next Chapter

I thought this might help motivate me to finish the story properly __________________________________________________ Part 1: https://muscle-growth.org/topic/9354-basically-a-god/ Part 2 Johnny was an anomaly to the human race. There was very little he couldn’t accomplish and anything that he couldn’t do, there’d always be a willing fan who’d be willing to do it for him. Not that there was a lot to begin with, of course. After the first year of superhero status, Johnny could already solve a good deal of the mathematical and scientific world’s problems. Being multilingual in many languages too, he was a worldwide commodity. That was an ability I think I was most dumbfounded by. He could generally read a truly thick book in about 30 minutes to an hour. After that, he pushed the envelope and started memorizing articles and web pages. When he learned how to hack, which took only about a flat 2 hours to memorize and 1 hour after to understand, he’d gone and hacked the dark net, which also took only 30 seconds on his part. That was the thing about Johnny, his sense of justice was pretty strong and after he became a “superhero” almost undeniable. He’d cracked down on every hacker, every drug dealer, and even every government official who’d dared to step foot in the secret compartment of the internet. Now, even the underworld knew to fear Johnny, an invincible creation unlike anything they’d seen before. Johnny’s heroics made him a god and an idol to everyone who passed him, He couldn’t walk the street anymore after he’d really gotten into the heroics of saving citizens from burning buildings and catching cranes falling from high buildings during construction. One day, he’d be in Hawaii saving the islands from a typhoon with his powerful breath. Another day, he’d be in India blowing clouds into their state to many from heat stroke. It was a terrifyingly wonderful thing for a Johnny to be so powerful and so fast that he could rapidly solve world problems with just a nod and a flight to another part of the world. When you’re flying around the world at twice the speed of the world’s fastest jet, Mach 13.9, you can’t expect people to not want to marvel at how your body pushes the limits of physics. Marveling was a key point of Johnny’s new career. Everyone wanted a piece of him and, as the days went by, there was more and more of him to go around. You’d see him on television shows, podcasts (some of which I listened to frequently), and magazines. Companies paid him billions to walk into their office and give a testimonial. Underarmour was a big one as Johnny’s clothes continued to shrink and he typically needed bigger equipment to hold the..... equipment. You could see the enjoyment on his face as they had him posing in their clothes on every social media. They’d tried their best to make stuff that could contain his godly gifts but, alas, none could do much to keep it below PG-13. His massive bulge was all over the internet, against his better judgement. Johnny openly admitted to me how he wanted to have some level of privacy and reservation as much as he loved showing off so he’d spent a lot of time analyzing the Poundstone Tower (built only several years ago) before we’d moved in to confirm there were any bugs or hidden cameras. He’d cleaned the 40 foot building from head to toe and it only made the public want to try harder to see him. Many were jealous that I got so much time with him but, to me, it was only a constant grim reminder. Living with a god was completely different from anything anyone else had ever experienced. Johnny was a very open person behind closed doors but the thing about closed doors is that he wasn’t fazed by them, after his last height measure of 7’6, it was a lot harder for him to get into the rooms that had been built for me so, to compensate the difficulty of door phrase, he’d just use his X-ray vision. I could hear his deep, powerful voice even when I was taking a dump. “Hey, when you’re done, you want to watch the new Civil War movie? I got it from the director as a gift!” “Dude I’m taking a shit!” Of course, being Johnny, he’d just laugh it off. I was slowly coming to understand that, as much as feared this guy’d eventually want pay back, he wasn’t like me. The way he used his powers and the way he was growing stronger by the day and becoming more enlightened as time passed, the more I realized he was slowly growing above what us humans experienced. I began to debate with myself if shame was in his vocabulary. The way he flew around the world in nothing but his tight underarmour or his even tighter superhero suit. The way he spoke down to government officials and rich business owners. Even the way he scoffed at the leaders in psychology for some of their conclusions on mental health. He didn’t meet them eye to eye in any way, especially literally. The way he fucked women all over the country and no one dared to criticize him for it. The world was slowly raising him above everything and everyone. The level of masculinity and dominance he could exert while still seeming like a big kid was dumbfounding. I couldn’t take too much of him all at once so I’d visit some of my old friends to pass the time. The ones who used to bully him. I pushed and twisted as I was under one of my buddies cars. Matt and I had decided that the weekend was a good time to fix his big truck. Matt had gotten a pretty good job and was making good money as a financial consultant for a large firm. With a 6 figure salary, his house was pretty well made and was in a gated community. His fiancé was a popular super model who he’d spent thousands of dollars keeping happy. Still, he had the same look that all my other old friends had. It was a mix of both fear and adoration. Expressions I’d gotten used to when anything was involved with Johnny. Many who had declared themselves straight had instantly gone gay for Johnny and it only got worse when the prospect of meeting him arose. My friends, however, were in a very particular situation. Each one was a jock who, in some shape or form, had the same fear of receiving payback from a figurative god. He was too strong to defy, too powerful to ignore, and worse, he was a walking tank now that got an upgrade everyday making everything about him all the more strong and powerful and intimidating. Still, they weren’t afraid to ask me the usual questions. “Hey, Sam, is true Johnny’s still growing even now or is it just a power play?” Matt said as he stuck his thick hand into his car’s hood. I groaned a little at the question but kept things moving. “Yeah, he’s actually growing. I don’t have to tell you how small he was before, shorter than me. I’m about as tall as the bottom of his chest now.” “Wow, man, that’s fucking crazy. Remember when we used to mess with that kid? His hand could probably palm my head like a basketball! His bicep looks bigger than my torso! He could lift you and me in this truck and probably throw it to the fucking moon!” I groaned silently as this kept going. People gushed about him all the time no matter how many times they listed his stats on the internet. It was easy to get bored of talk about his 67 inch thighs and his 40+ inch biceps if it’s all anyone ever wants to talk about. If they’d broadcasted his cock size, they’d probably have it as porn and make millions on the profits. Thankfully, I knew how to stamp out conversations like this. “Yeah, dude, he’s pretty much broke 900 pounds a few weeks ago. Whenever he takes me anywhere, we’ve got to make sure the ceilings are high enough and the doors will let him fit into buildings. Girls love it when he has to bend forward and show off his butt. By the way, you’re still straight, right?” Matt shut up at that point. I grinned. “Fuck you man” he said as he wiped his hands of dried oil as he came around the end of his truck. Nothing easier to bruise than a jock’s ego. Just as I came from under the car, the front door of his house opened, a large breast woman appearing. She came up to Matt and kissed him on his sweaty, beard covered cheek. “Hey babe, just came to check on the car maintenance” she said as Matt wrapped an arm around her waist. I couldn’t lie about how jealous I was of the guy. Henrietta was an astounding mix of beauty and brains as she’d graduated early from her university with a Masters in biomedical statistics. That, coupled with her amazing body and her popularity with the US made her an easy contender when it came to many if not any beauty pageants. I actually couldn’t describe her clothes if I tried as she truly was stunningly beautiful. “Yeah, us men do good work. You should know that better than anyone.” At that, he leaned into her neck and kissed it, producing a coo from her as she straightened her blouse. Mid kiss, a sound in the distance stopped everything. I recognized it and my shoulders tensed as I braced myself. A sonic boom shook the ground as something seemed to stop above us. The clouds had scattered in all directions above us as if they’d run away from something. As a small dot grew above us, I frowned as Johnny came into view. “Hey, buddy, you still fixing that car?” he asked as he slowly landed onto the ground with a soft thud. His large body filled a cardinal direction for me as he came near me and grinned down. Every time he walked up to me, I swear he’d gotten bigger than before. I turned to see Matt and Henrietta were open mouthed and speechless as Johnny had come from above. I imagined he looked even better to them up close than he did on a television screen. Muscles bulged all over in his super suit and bounced and shifted every time he moved or breathed. The sunlight added a holy effect to his shiny uniform and added to his presence, one that seemed to distort everything around him to make it appear ugly in comparison to him. “I see you and one of the shorties are having a blast” he said as he looked down at Matt’s truck. With it being around 6 feet and 5 inches tall with its large wheels attached, Johnny was still head and shoulders over it, making his glance appear almost condescending. Matt was still struggling to form words and sentences behind me. This was why I came alone to visit him. Once Johnny was in the room, I couldn’t get a coherent conversation from anyone I knew. Johnny walked over to the front of the truck, his girthy thighs swinging around each other, and he peeked into the hood. “Hey, Sam, could you turn the car on?” he asked calmly. I wanted to say no but I didn’t want anything unexpected to happen with one of my buddies watching. When I twisted the key in the car’s front seat, the truck chucked and groaned and wheezed before it just gave out. “Yep, thought so” he said. Suddenly, his eyes flashed red for a moment before they returned their blue hue. “This doesn’t look anything like it’s supposed to. What’s up with that spot underneath?” Johnny gestured for Matt and his wife to move out of the way as he brought his wide around to the side of the car. “Don’t move yet, Sam. Seatbelt’s on.” Before I could ask why, Johnny dug a hand underneath the car and everything around me moved to a 45 degree angle. Johnny peeked into the machinery underneath the car with his big hand holding the truck up and almost on its side. I had to hang onto my seat at this angle. I was struggling to maintain balance as everything was either leaning or falling to the opposite side of the truck. “Nah, still too deep in there at this angle.” I braced myself as I watched Johnny grab the lower half of the truck, digging his hand into the ground slightly, before lifting the entire thing, into his hands and over his head. Johnny was military pressing the car above his head. It wasn’t even being held at a good angle as he was holding up the car solely on its front, the truck’s bed in the back hanging with nothing underneath. I looked out from the open door of the truck to see Matt and Henrietta with still dumbfounded face. Neither of them could get a word out. I was shocked Matt wasn’t saying anything since he was a car fanatic. He was too busy with his hand in his pocket. Henrietta’s legs were crossed as if she was holding something in. “Here we go” Johnny called from below as he stuck a big finger into the machine and began to skillfully rearrange the workings. I could see below me well enough to understand that this wasn’t a challenge for Johnny at all. His thick biceps were hulking but they weren’t flexed in anyway. There wasn’t any sign of strain on them as he held the truck in his hands as if he were holding a large paper thin piñata. I couldn’t fathom how much power was hidden beneath those thick limbs as he must have been holding the truck on one side with one hand. The metal was bending as it wasn’t crafted for someone to hold it the way Johnny did. It was clearly bending to his will like wet clay. “Sam, turn the car again” he commanded. I spun in my seat and turned the key again, producing a loud neigh from the car. Johnny carefully moved to the side and slowly lowered the car before letting it bounce on its wheels. My jaw clenched as I heard his next words. I knew he was joking but it still stabbed me in the chest. “Seriously guys, is this your first time working a car?” At that moment I realized my cock was hard and had grown to its full 8 inches, something very hard to hide. Matt was bent over so I couldn’t tell what his expression was but a spot in his jeans was wet. Do gods even have limits?

Lemme know if you guys like this story. I like the feedback Part 1: https://muscle-growth.org/topic/9354-basically-a-god/ Part 2: https://muscle-growth.org/topic/12786-basically-a-god-part-2/ Part 3 I groaned as I tried to lift the heavy weight over my body. The darkness didn’t help me find my grip but the form of Johnny’s arm alone gave me a mental map of where each massive, hyper lean muscle was. Johnny had fallen asleep over me as we were watching another cartoon superhero movie in the building’s massive cinema inspired theater between the upper and lower floors. Somewhere in the middle, I guess, the massive arm Johnny had put at the head of my seat had become dead weight and fallen on top of me, placing what felt like bricks made of steel on my lap. I wish I had more lighting to tell if Johnny was just fucking with me or not but Johnny was so insistent on a theater room identical to a movie theater that we had to sit at the very back of the theater to avoid Johnny’s big head and traps blocking the light directed at the large screen, now rolling credits. As I heard snoring several feet above me, it became clear that Johnny really had fallen asleep and this was not one of his usual pranks on me. I actually wondered if he really was sleep, though. Johnny’s enhanced brain functions probably made his sleeping much lighter and, therefore, he could very well be both in a state where he was both asleep and awake, watching over his own body and also having a dream about creating a nuclear reactor capable of fueling all of the world’s energy for the next century. At the realm Johnny’s powers had recently reached, nobody could really know. Johnny’s ability to bend the world around him with or without his will was daunting. Yes, he loved to appear the hero to people but I doubt that he’d be able to control the desire in people to want to watch him do his daily “chores”. Chores for him were the basics: blow out a few fires in the city, help with a bit of construction in a few spots around the block. “It’s all to keep my powers in check” he’d say as he would be lifting something like his magnetic weight set, set to a weight that he could keep an eye on and talk to me at the same time as we’d be watching TV on the leather couch on the top floor. “My powers are growing so fast, I’m coming too close to putting people in danger at this speed.” I was pretty much incapable of denying that logic (as usual). The last few years of Johnny’s ascent into an mighty superhero had led to many accidents along the way. I couldn’t count the number of doorknobs that needed replacements or the number of doorways that needed to be rebuilt. When he’d first reached at least some form of reasonable superhuman power, he’d lifted a fire truck over his head and had quickly gotten the hang of curling them on his daily workouts. He’d once almost broken a woman in half after catching her during a skydiving fiasco, a move he’d seen from one of the earliest Superman movies. The woman, now paralyzed from the waist down due to the impact of her body hitting two hyper dense arms, still sent postcards of her trips around the world, paid by Johnny’s financial advisor. These were only incidents from almost half a decade ago. Now it was more serious of an issue as we moved from our small town in the Midwest to New York. When we’d first arrived, Johnny wasn’t his “small” 6’4 height anymore. He was nearly 7 feet tall at that point, and almost 3 feet wide. People on the sidewalk jumped out of the way of him as he’d still not quite gotten used to having to maneuver not to knock people into walls and such. Cars weren’t like that though. Thankfully, Johnny’s brand of unnatural attraction made it very easy to convince the man that he liked his car better in the shape of a U. That’s the area where I realized Johnny liked to live, in the grayest area between hero and not. The reason I guessed he was sleeping now and using his arm like a paper weight on my comparatively feeble body, now exceeding my waist in width by 10 inches at 38 cold, was due to the fact that he’d taken me on his usual chores. I was beside myself as I’d watched him save a woman from getting mugged in the deeper parts of New York, saved a bank from a man attached to a bomb by throwing him into the sky upon detonation, and then mowed the lawns of a few old women in New Jersey. The last one’s key because he’d done it using nothing but heat vision, a power he’d said before had the heat intensity to burn several buildings and had leveled an old mountain pass owned by the doctors leading the “Johnny Project”. It had happened in a red flash, my momentary blindness only secondarily important as I started at Johnny’s work. Each leaf of grass had been trimmed perfectly, each one perfectly matched to its friends without a single trace of the expected burn marks. Johnny just rewarded me with a toothy smug grin as he’d proved how much control he had over his powers. He’d gone on to do this for most of the day, only stopping after his phone, tailored to his significant size and made extra durable, buzzed against his iron hard butt cheek, clad in only his everyday, spandex uniform. It was at that point that it was clear to me that he wasn’t at all like your text book superhero. It was a call leading to a PR event made to another one of the charities he supported with his deep, deep pockets. He fit right in with the mother millionaires and billionaires at the party naturally. After all, he was the richest man in the country, funded with more money than was given to half of your average state. I won’t call him corrupt like some of the others I met at that PR event. He spent an extremely large portion of his funds on charities inside and outside the country, a move coming from the justice loving side of him as he truly believed, as he said to me before, “rich people in this country need to worry about helping their own country as much as any other”. However, the other side of him was a lot greedier. I saw as Johnny’s eyes were quickly fixed on the tight dresses of many of the women at the event. I groaned as I quickly realized I’d be taking a taxi home when I saw him eye Sandra Daxon, the richest woman on the eastern border of north America. I groaned again when I realized he’d wrangled her and a group of women I saw quickly dislodge their engagement and wedding rings from their fingers before coming up to him to try and flirt. These realizations were the perfect backdrop for when I realized he wasn’t even going to stay for the whole event as he’d finished his speech, his deep voice making the women he’d flirted with coo and want him more. Meeting back at the present, he’d left the girl’s lying in his bedroom, tiring them all out after 3 hours of non-stop sex. I’d learned early, back when we’d still lived in the Midwest, that Johnny’s sex drive was a really unfathomable thing. He’d had sex with many of the young women in our town (maybe more than the amount he’d told me about) and practically had fucked them through the floor in the mansion he used to own before coming to New York and having his hulking tower built. I remember each night he’d brought a bushel of women with him, their eyes fixated on him and their faces almost zombie like as they’d come to be taken and conquered by the behemoth he was. Then, he’d gone for 6 straight hours of fucking, my bed room below his having been shaken by the movements and sounds above. I doubted he was ever really sated the way he vanished 50% of the day and just returned with a grin on his face, the normal hop in his step. I dared to look down at his muscles in the light of the movie’s projector reaching the end of its contents and flashing a white screen on the theater. Johnny’s white tee shirt and white shorts did nothing to hide the power his nearly 8 foot body coveted. Each ab was in bold and blocky relief as he lay on his lower back, the seats in the theater recently becoming too small to hold his big butt unless he sat straight up. His knees were bending the seats set in front of him like they were made of rubber and his legs were spread wide, making it difficult for me to find a way out from under his arm. I could feel his big lat pressing down on me as he stretched out. Defeated, I let the weight push me down, fastening me to my seat. I couldn’t see Johnny’s face past his massive shoulders and shelf like chest but what I could see made my cock bounce feebly against the weight Johnny’s massive forearm. With his bulging thighs spread, Johnny’s massive cock sat on his shorts, the space inside looking cramped as his cock stretched down between his legs. Was it always that big? My eyebrows raised when I saw a jump in his struggling crotch. The mound was like an anaconda, stretching bigger in search of an opening from its cloth prison. I was impressed the pants were able to contain so much of Johnny as his pants started to pop and tear. His cock straightened over time and pitched a tent in his pants that was getting taller and taller as he slept. I dared reach for my cock and try and cover it but it was useless, his arm was immovable and wouldn’t budge an inch for me. I was indefinitely pressed against the wall as Johnny began to move in his sleep. I watched he reached his opposite hand down to the bulge in his pants and began to massage it with his big hands, the comparison between the hand and the hidden beast becoming phenomenal as it stretched longer and longer. A foot and a half....... Two feet........... two feet and a half..............more! Johnny’s cock was a leviathan roaring out of its prison. The stretching shorts completely tore and the whole only widened as the godly endowment grew. I dared to wonder if it would grow bigger than me as it reached up to Johnny’s far reaching pectorals and continued to stretch and stretch. I quivered as I felt Johnny’s body becoming hotter as his cock reached higher and his balls hung lower. His lap was beginning to overfill with ball sack. I could see the veins on his balls as they looked overstretched yet they still pumped more and more inhuman cum to remain full and bloated. How big could this monster get, I wondered as my own cock continued to pointlessly move against Johnny’s might. When it finally reached its max size, it probably reached higher than his head. The massive cock was probably so thick that it was potentially impossible to fit through some doors. Johnny, rubbing against the 8 foot mark with his heat, probably could have poked the usual 9 foot ceiling easily with the monster hovering above the ground like a leaning tower of penis. It’s perfect form was graced with several veins that made its reddened surface appear vascular and intimidating. I couldn’t see Johnny’s face but the moaning vibrating through his body into me couldn’t be anything less than the power of his deep, baritone voice, shaking everything around him with its strength. I’d stopped moving as I realized that my fate was sealed the moment his cock began to drop what appeared to be the thickest pre-cum, dripping it down into the seat in front of us. I only had moments to admire the testament to manhood before I felt the limbs around me move. I kept trying to use the movement to get out from under Johnny but it took three attempts to realize three things. One, he wasn’t moving, Johnny was perfectly still. Two, there definitely wasn’t any chance of me escaping. Three, Johnny’s muscles were growing. I looked around my head and realized Johnny’s muscles were bloating and swelling, their hardness and weight the only thing to remain. I was pressed more roughly into the seat I was in and felt like I was having trouble breathing as his body swelled without getting taller. Muscles bulged and grew more veined, my strength becoming more pathetic as Johnny seemed to be revealing his true form. I raised my head in a direction that would give a chance to see as I continued to watch this godly event, the pain in my chest and legs seeming unimportant as Johnny’s hand moved. It moved slowly at first, moving up the terrifying large length of his cock. Muscles collided powerfully as his now bigger bicep collided with his now larger and more dominant chest. His perfect superhero like form had swollen to a beautifully grotesque form where, regardless of his impressive grace, he couldn’t avoid colliding muscles to muscles. His cock appeared angry and extremely volatile as, after each stroke, it oozed a little more of its clear honey like liquid, dripping down and soaking the seats further down as the closest one. I felt sorry for the cleaning ladies who’d have to wipe this up. Or was I? A mix of emotions were hitting me that I seemed to have no time to register as I felt suffocated by Johnny’s ill controlled muscles. I felt like he would crush me under his size and power at this rate as he continued to rub his monster cock undisturbed and unaffected by my struggling. I tried to scream or shout his name but it was useless. I had a feeling I’d die like this as I felt my mind ebb and my eye sight fade to darker colors. I gasped and breathed for air, thinking I’d die to him. Die to this god. Johnny had warned me that he had to train his powers daily to be able to contain all of this power and avoid hurting anyone. It had just taken his unconscious body moments away from crushing me to the wall for me to realize it. I was ready to die and sacrifice myself when the massive arm, how wider than my chest, finally moved and I took a deep breath. Johnny had switched to wielding his big meat with two hands, still not even coming close to wrapping around the godly weapon. Johnny’s arm muscles were colliding with his chest as his body was moving to please him, what I assume, unconsciously. My cock was now sticking from my jeans roughly and bouncing up and down trying not to react to the heat Johnny was emitting. I heard him grunt and each burst of deep vibration made me quiver in my seat. I rubbed the snake in my pants, ignoring the fact that I’d almost died to this supreme being, and watched as his rubbing became more rapid. It was then I noticed that the ground was shaking little by little. I worried if the building could handle this much power as the rumbling shook the room and the lighting that was coming from the lights in the wall began to flicker after only just coming on. “You’ve got control to level a fucking lawn but you can’t keep from destroying your own building in your sleep??” I tried to call to him but he clearly couldn’t hear me over the vibrating building. At the literal moment before the eruption, I thought I heard a ringing sound as though a bomb had gone off. Then, like a military tank’s cannon, a white burst of cum shot from his cock and hit the walls. The ground shook and Johnny’s groaning was now supernatural as I could still hear his unnaturally deep voice rumbling through my chest. His cock fired volley upon volley for what seemed like an eternity. Cum was dripping from the ceiling and dripping down the aisles as cum fired from Johnny. The thin fabric of the movie screen had torn and left gaping holes. Plaster was falling from the ceiling with the cum rain. Glass cracked, seats bent out of shape. Johnny was large but he was massive but his cock was destroying things from meters away. I could guess that his power was strong enough to shred a car to pieces as holes and craters littered the walls, dripping cum as well. It had taken a full 10 minutes before Johnny’s massive cock and balls had finally halted their assault and left the room silent except for my heavy panting, the dripping of cum from every surface, and his deep breathing before he returned to his snoring. Being behind him had rescued me from the onslaught of his cock as he lay there in his destroyed pants, his cock still massive and throbbing like a normal cock at 20 times the size. There was no doubt in my mind his cock was almost if not as big as I was. My fixation, however, was on the fact that I’d survived this disaster. With a popping snore, Johnny jumped awake and lazy looked down at me over his chest and raised his arm. “Hey, buddy, what’s up?” he asked before looking around. When he saw his cock and the destruction it had caused. “Oh.”

All comments and critiques are welcomed here and on my Google Docs(https://drive.google.com/open?id=1FT9X9Wx4bW29svnPKChd_XCwbpN8dSgMDeSzhPd-KHw) For other chapters, I will post them on here later. But you can find the archives on my FA and Tumblr with pics included. FA: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/ecchimultiverse/ Tumblr: http://ecchimultiverse.tumblr.com/ For first looks and more illustrations, check out my Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ecchimultiverse First Chapter | Previous Chapter | Next Chapter SPECIAL THANKS TO MY PATRONS: CHRISTOPHER FLOYD, DONALD MORGAN, ANDREW L, & JOHN LARSON All comments and critiques are welcomed here and on my Google Docs(https://drive.google.com/open?id=1FT9X9Wx4bW29svnPKChd_XCwbpN8dSgMDeSzhPd-KHw) For other chapters, I will post them on here later. But you can find the archives on my FA and Tumblr with pics included. FA: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/ecchimultiverse/ Tumblr: http://ecchimultiverse.tumblr.com/ For first looks and more illustrations, check out my Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ecchimultiverse First Chapter | Previous Chapter | Next Chapter SPECIAL THANKS TO MY PATRONS: CHRISTOPHER FLOYD, DONALD MORGAN, ANDREW L, & JOHN LARSON Chapter 19: Orpheus Time had become irrelevant. The moment Marvelous Man’s eyes creaked open, he could feel his giant body encased in the sensation of pins and needles. He would then black out seconds later. The musclebound superhero had no idea how long he would remain unconscious and lost count of how many times he drifted back into the black slumber. In his current drifting back to consciousness but eyes still sealed shut, Marvelous Man could hear a door creaking open. Panicked steps then followed after the opening; stamping its way closer to Marvelous Man. The stepping noise stopped upon arriving next to the muscle demigod’s head. Marvelous Man heard a fumble of cloth before the sound of a camera shutter going off. “What the hell did he do to you, Justice?” said a smooth, Latino voice. Marvelous Man felt a warm hand lightly jostling his bulky shoulders. The man whispered, “Marvelous Man! You’ve got to wake up! I’m here to get you out of here!” The musclebound superhero recognized the Hispanic voice and felt a small surge of energy; a spark of hope. Marvelous Man concentrated to force his eyes open with all his might. The eyelids slowly creaked open, as it quickly adjusted to the residual candle light in the black room. Staring up at the speaker, it was someone Marvelous Man did not expect but felt renewed invigoration of joy. It was a ghoul dressed in a purple suit with giant flower petals formed along the suit’s neckline. The Hispanic ghoul had a skull for a face with decorations painted all over the bone surface. Adorned in front of his spinning, yellow flower eyes was a pair of childish 3D glasses; a thin cardboard frame with plastic sheet-like lenses separately colored red and blue. “Sugar...Skull?” croaked Marvelous Man. The ghoul nodded, “That’s right. I’ll free you in a second. I just have to hope these bones are alive.” Sugar Skull reached a hand into his other sleeve for a brief moment before pulling it back out. In the ghoul’s grasp was revealed to be his butterfly knife. Flicking it open, the unsheathed silver blade glimmered in the dim candlelight. The Limbo being immediately stabbed his side without breaking eye contact. “I bet you’re wondering how-NGH, I got here. I’ve been, uh, staking out this place for a while. That’s the word for when you’re professionally stalking somebody, right? It’s stake but not the cow kind,” he rambled. Sugar Skull withdrew his knife; the blade now coated and dripping in his poisonous ghoul blood. Turning to the bone bounded to Marvelous Man’s left wrist, the purple ghoul slashed at the middle section of the wall-mounted bone. It was a swift strike that left only a small nick on the bone with a droplet of blood on the slice. He continued, “So I figured that Skeleton Lord bastard would come back to this part of town. It’s been searched through by the cops, and I don’t think they’ll come check again. Turns out, I was right. I spotted the PB&J Gang bring the Skeleton Lord here. Had to use an insect drone to spy on him, since he’s invisible to any magical sight.” The binding slightly vibrated, while the dark blood began to seep into the cut. Starting at the incision, the bone immediately disintegrated into dust. Marvelous Man’s left arm flopped onto the ground with a soft thud upon release and causing his head to lean towards the left. A smoky darkness rose from the pile and stirred about it; as if it were trying to reassemble the bone dust. “And when I saw you being dragged in here, I wanted to save you. I really did. But I couldn’t stop the PB&J Gang without causing a, uh...ruckus. It would not be good if the Skeleton Lord caught me too,” sighed Sugar Skull, “Plus, the Skeleton Lord has an invisible scout keeping an eye out, and both of them didn’t leave this room for two whole days. ” The ghoul proceeded to the bone bounded to Marvelous Man’s left ankle and slashed it. Immediately after the blood from the butterfly knife soaked itself inside the marrow, the binding decayed into dust. The hulking bodybuilder’s left side fell onto the ground with a loud thud, as there was nothing else to keep that side propped up. As Sugar Skull looked back at Marvelous Man’s glazed eyes, he pointed at his flimsy 3D glasses. “Oh, yeah. That’s why I’m wearing these. They’re the Bruja’s X-Ray glasses. Not going to let the invisible fucker get the drop on me. Well...that and the fog,” he said. Sugar Skull rushed to the Marvelous Man’s bone-secured right ankle and sliced at it without looking. The bone reacted in the same way and crumbled into tiny debris. With only one binding left on the muscle demigod’s right arm, his naked, meaty buttocks was now completely touching the floor. Marvelous Man hoarsely spoke, “...Where are they?” “Skeleton Lord’s phone died. So they left to get it recharged. Hold on. Almost forgot,” replied Sugar Skull. Reaching his unarmed hand into his other sleeve, Sugar Skull pulled out his smartphone. Seconds passed, as his thumb flicked about the phone’s screen. The small sound of an insect’s buzz emanated from underneath the hulking bodybuilder. A large horsefly appeared from behind the lifted part of Marvelous Man’s heavy torso; buzzing around the musclebound superhero’s head in an annoying fashion. After a few more laps around the cranium, the fly flew over to Sugar Skull’s phone-holding hand and landed on top. It crawled its way into the flower petal-shaped sleeve’s opening, as its wings slightly fluttered and hummed. The ghoul then placed his phone back into his magical sleeve. He stated, “Just to be clear, I do not use my fly drone to spy on people in the bathroom, okay? I am a gentleman, and I will respect a person’s privacy. But outside of that...it’s free game, ahahaha!” Marvelous Man wished he had the energy to roll his eyes. But he was still thankful that Sugar Skull showed up and was still rambling and cracking perverted jokes as usual. The muscle demigod would have been more afraid if the ghoul was not being humorous at all. As Sugar Skull walked towards the final bondage on Marvelous Man’s right wrist, the ghoul paused. The musclebound superhero felt his heart skip a beat. He was not sure how, but he knew his purple-suited friend was frowning. Despite the ghoul not having any facial muscles or skin on the skull head. “Fatherfuck!” hissed Sugar Skull. Rushing towards the last bone binding, he slashed with an uppercut stroke. The bone dissipated into dust, as the rest of Marvelous Man’s naked torso landed on the floor with a quick thud. Sugar Skull flicked his butterfly knife; sheathing the blade. Placing the weapon back inside his sleeve, he immediately pulled his hand out with a new item in his grasp. A box of band aids. The ghoul stated, “I can’t carry you, Marvelous Man. But this should give you the boost! Magical adrenaline shots.” Sugar Skull ripped open the box and pulled out a pair of pink, heart-shaped band aids. Pulling the paper tabs off the bandages’ adhesives, the ghoul slapped the big band aid hearts over Marvelous Man’s large nipples. The band aids covered the wide areolas; making it seem like the bodybuilder’s soft, brown nipples were replaced with pink hearts. Marvelous Man’s eyes shot wide open, while his heart rate spiked into rapid rhythms. The muscle demigod felt like he could do backflips for miles. He immediately sat straight up. “Ohmygosh! Thankyousomuchforsavingme,SugarSkull!” he yammered. Rolling backward for momentum with his legs tucked in, the hulking bodybuilder then thrusted his legs up into the air. Marvelous Man used the sudden force to lift his heavy body into the air while using his hands to push off the floor. He leapt into the air, as his feet slammed back onto the ground. He executed the kick up perfectly and landed standing straight up. The muscle demigod lunged at his rescuer with a bear hug. Sugar Skull could only grunt, as the air was squeezed out of him. Marvelous Man leaned down and planted a wet smooch on the ghoul’s purple teeth. Upon kissing, the musclebound superhero could feel his lips touching up against...lips that were not visible to the naked eye. It was not something Marvelous Man felt questioning, because he felt like an invincible god at the moment. The hulking bodybuilder’s sexual muscle strained with renewed vigor; nestled between Sugar Skull’s thighs and nearly lifting the ghoul. Sugar Skull gasped, “While I am extremely turned on by this...we don’t have time for sex. We need to go...now.” Marvelous Man immediately released his half-alive friend from the crushing hug. He tried to think, but it felt like the thoughts were moving at light speed. His mouth could barely process the words he wanted to say. “Right. Rightrightrightright. Rrrrrright!...What’s happening?” he said. Sugar Skull coughed, “I spotted the invisible scout! The Skeleton Lord is coming back!” “Shit fatherfucker! We gotta get outta here!” Marvelous Man shouted, “I know! I’ll punch the wall and fly us out!” The ghoul picked up the box of band aids and placed it back into his magical sleeve. Pulling his hand out, he had another item in his grip. A small, silver handgun with tiny, silver lyre harp decorations soldered onto the sides shimmered in the candle’s light. Sugar Skull aimed the gun against the side of his head. “We can’t. It’s a death sentence for you, if we try to escape that way,” he replied. Pulling the trigger, the gun went off with a loud bang. Sugar Skull’s head jerked away from the gun in reaction to the shot. On the other side of the skeletal temple where the supposed bullet was supposed to exit, a flurry of shiny butterflies erupted from the ghoul’s skull. The rims of their wings were outlined with a dark color, but their wings were completely transparent. The cloud of butterflies flew around Sugar Skull for a moment before fluttering towards the wall behind the ghoul. Landing on top of the whisping dark wall, they created a thick layer that almost seemed to smother the darkness they were standing on. They all continued wiggling about the wall until they were on top of one another to form the shape of a doorway. Once completed, they appeared to look like a door-sized glass window filled with countless hairline fractures. Their transparent wings no longer showed the darkness they were settled on top of, but it instead shared the image of another world filled with grey. Sugar Skull waved, “Follow me! It won’t be open for long!” The ghoul ran into the portal made of butterflies. Upon contact with the insects, his body phased through the butterfly gathering. The insects made no motion to move out of Sugar Skull’s path; only giving their wings a slight flutter at the ghoul’s touching proximity. The Limbo being appeared on the other side of the portal wings without any signs of alteration on his body. Turning around, Sugar Skull motioned his friend to follow. Marvelous Man charged without hesitation and leapt at the butterfly portal. He braced himself for any resistance but met none upon impact. It felt more like he walked from a musty room into a world that seemed to have combined that room’s scent with the smell of bleach. The muscle demigod gave the gray world a quick scan, as Sugar Skull ran off. It looked no different than the ghetto Marvelous Man had repeatedly visited. Abandoned, rotting architecture with cracked, black road pavement filled with potholes; unlike the ghetto’s aesthetic of being forgotten, this world carried a sense of hopelessness and despair. Vehicles had occupied parts of the road, but they had rusted over and fallen apart. The sky had been blanketed in dark, grey clouds, and specs of dust and ash danced forever in the air. With nothing alive in the vicinity to provide noise, Marvelous Man could only hear the piercing noise of absolute silence or one afflicted with tinnitus. “Come on!” shouted Sugar Skull. The musclebound superhero complied and followed after his friend. The two ran; turning onto roads and into alleys. Sugar Skull slowed down only for a moment to place his silver dimension portal gun and his X-Ray 3D glasses back into the magical space of the ghoul’s flower-shaped sleeves. Every so often, Marvelous Man would catch glimpses of other resident beings they sprinted past. The inhabitants of this world had human-like qualities, but they still appeared off-colored...like a dead person. Only the fully clothed ones were meandering about with firearms and close-combat weaponry strapped to them. Whereas the naked beings were lying around and refused to look up at Marvelous Man and his ghoulish friend. Marvelous Man could hear a horse’s high-pitched whinny echoing from behind him. As a cold shiver ran down his bulky back, the thundering sound of an equine’s gallop began to draw closer to the hulking bodybuilder. The surge of fear coursed through him; energizing himself to run faster. He called out, “Sugar Skull!” “It’s not too far! Almost there!” encouraged the ghoul. Even with all the distance the two had managed to cross, it felt as if Marvelous Man was barely moving. He could hear the horse’s gallop closing in. It felt as if the unseen animal was only a block away from them. Marvelous Man then heard a raspy voice from behind him; projecting with loud authority. “Abandon this idle flight, Marvelous Man,” said the man, “You do not have the strength to flee from me!” Marvelous Man dared to glance behind himself. Galloping around a building corner, the Skeleton Lord rode upon a fully-fleshed horse. The steed was black and carried a heavy, round muscular physique to inspire an intimidating and regal aura of its rider. The red cloak billowed in the wind, while the distance between the musclebound superhero and the Skeleton Lord came to a close. Activating his flight powers, Marvelous Man vaulted himself towards Sugar Skull. He reached out with his bulging arms and swept the ghoul off the ground. Cradling his friend in his strapping arms, the muscle demigod took flight into the cloudy sky. As the musclebound superhero gained the altitude to surpass the buildings’ heights, he felt something tug around his ankle. Unseen to Marvelous Man, a chain made of interlocking bones had constricted about his meaty leg. The bone chain yanked; abruptly pulling down the muscle demigod with a force greater than his levitation ability could resist. The buildings seemed to grow from his perspective, while he fell. Sugar Skull slipped from Marvelous Man’s grasp during the capture; the ghoul seemed to be almost floating in the air. The hulking bodybuilder crashed into the cement with a large smash. Air was pressed out of his lungs, while his mind felt like it was bouncing around like a pinball. Marvelous Man was too dizzy to move, and he could feel the adrenaline rush from the heart-shaped band aids on his nipples beginning to fade. Seconds after, he could hear his skull-faced friend landing on the ground with the mix of a wet splat and a bone-breaking crunch. The Skeleton Lord slowly trotted on his horse, “You see? A fruitless endeavor.” Marvelous Man could hear the horse’s clops coming closer to him. The brain ricocheting around in his head came to a slow, as he realized his recapture was nearly imminent. Taking a deep breath to gather his strength, he slowly sat up. The musclebound superhero looked at his leg to see a chain created by bones wrapped around his ankle. His eyes trailed the lengthy whip back to a bone club; clutched in the skinny fingers of the Skeleton Lord. “Now come. I have further use for you as my battery,” spoke the Skeleton Lord. He gazed at the grey world about him, “Let us leave...whatever this place is.” “It’s...Limbo. But you’d know it as Purgatory,” said Sugar Skull. Marvelous Man looked behind and saw Sugar Skull slowly standing up. His body appeared jagged; joints and bones broken multiple areas. Small snapping noises emanated from his mangled frame, as the broken and disjointed parts of himself slowly pieced itself back together. The ghoul flexed his jaw in multiple directions; eliciting small popping sounds. The Skeleton Lord replied, “Ah, I was wondering who the snake in my garden was. The peculiar ghoul named Deathshade. Trying to relieve me of my prize, hm?” The spinning, yellow flower eyes in Sugar Skull’s sockets wilted into nothingness; blackness resumed full custody of the ghoul’s eye holes. He stood up straight, while the last of his broken body parts had finally mended. The ghoul shrugged. “Actually, I was trying to kill you. But I guess in the end, yeah, I wanted to take back my friend. So I’m guessing you leaving the house was just a trap,” said Deathshade. Marvelous Man felt terrified and confused. Was that the name his half-alive friend refused to disclose him? “It was...of sorts,” answered the Skeleton Lord, “You shrouded yourself well from my sight, that I could not see who was trespassing on my grounds. But I noticed a pocket of empty space when I released my fog. I did not see the point of pursuing you until I left to fix my glass tablet. And when I felt you stir, well...I could not resist finding out who dared to storm my castle.” Deathshade clicked his tongue, “So...where’s your scout hiding? I know he is, as you say, shrouded. So am I going to have to wait for him to attack me, who will very much die. Or will he show his face, so we can continue this, ehhhh...diplomacy?” The Skeleton Lord paused for a few seconds before uttering a high-pitched shriek. Marvelous Man felt like his blood had turned to ice upon hearing the ancient evil’s wicked laughter. “Rest assured, I did not bring my guardian here with me. Though I must say, I did not at all expect your birthplace to appear so dejected. And yet, I am not surprised,” said the Skeleton Lord. The supervillain questioned, “So tell me, ghoul. What have you to barter for the star child’s freedom? Have you come to offer your life for his? Because while he would appreciate the gesture, you have even less worth than a pig’s piles of excrement.” “I can offer you power. I know the location of two Mana Stones. And those are worth so much more than the life energy you have been sucking from Marvelous Man,” haggled Deathshade. The Skeleton Lord inquired, “And where are the stones?” “Here in Purgatory, and the other is at the D.A.B. headquarters. I even have a magical compass for you to find it,” responded the ghoul. The Skeleton Lord paused, “...Present it to me.” Slowly reaching into the purple sleeve, Deathshade pulled out a small, black compass. The dial within the device spun; its North indicator adjusting to new surroundings. The ghoul tossed the compass at the ancient evil without hesitation. Reaching out with a free hand, the Skeleton Lord snatched it from the air. “Do we have a deal? Or are we going to fight? It might take me a while, but I will kill you. And that is a promise I can keep,” warned Deathshade. The supervillain held the magical device with an open palm, as the device’s dial slowed to a stop. With a flick of his wrist that had the bone whip in his grasp, the white chain uncoiled from Marvelous Man’s ankle. The Skeleton Lord closed his hand over the compass, “Hmph. I would be a fool to test my...reimposed mortality that you have so graciously gifted me. Take Marvelous Man. I will not commit harm to either of you. But know that you have only delayed my inevitable wrath.” Marvelous Man pushed himself up; not wanting to be any closer to the Skeleton Lord than he had to. The hulking bodybuilder ran over to Deathshade’s side with a slight hobble. His body still ached from the slam, but he needed only a few more seconds for a full recovery over the superficial bruises. Behind the horse-riding Skeleton Lord, animalistic noises screeched. It was a holler of beings that lost their humanity; yellings of blind fury that scared Marvelous Man. “Alas, I cannot say the same for my undead compatriots,” remarked the supervillain. A mob of rotting, animated corpses spilled from around the corner the Skeleton Lord came from. The dead husks stampeded over each other; almost appearing to mimic rushing water coursing through a canal. Marvelous Man instantly recognized the moving carcasses. Rugged. Bloated. Oozing. Marked with bloody runes. The unfortunate corpses that had the fate of meeting the Skeleton Lord; left to decompose on the floors of a tucked-away townhouse. Deathshade reached into his purple sleeve, “Well, I only have one thing to say…” Pulling his hand out, the ghoul held in his grasp a golden grenade. The explosive had tiny mirrors glued on to imitate a disco ball. Looping his finger through the grenade’s pin, Deathshade squatted with his purple rear end nearly touching the ashed concrete. “Uhn!” he grunted. The Limbo being yanked the pin from the explosive. Immediately after, the ghoul jumped up. As he landed on the sole of his maroon boot with his other foot held up like a flamingo, Deathshade spun in a festive fashion. He stopped himself after completing the first revolution; striking a dynamic pose. When assuming his flamboyant stance, he flung out his arm towards the Skeleton Lord. The special grenade was in that arm’s grasp, and it launch into the air upon Deathshade instantly opening his hand. The ghoul exclaimed, “Boogie!” The shiny grenade bounced on the ground near the Skeleton Lord, while Deathshade turned towards Marvelous Man. Grabbing the musclebound superhero’s hand, the ghoul fled with his colossal friend in tow. The golden explosive finished its bounces and rolled against up to the hoof of the Skeleton Lord’s horse. The supervillain did nothing but stared down at the mirrored bomb. In the seconds the friends had escaped and the raging zombies pursuing them were close to passing by the ancient evil on his steed, the grenade exploded. Blinding lights of multiple colors blasted from the explosive, while the deafening music of disco thundered. The zombies flinched from the concussion to their sight and ears. The muscular, black steed whinnied and stood on its hind legs in fright; causing the Skeleton Lord to fall onto the dusty ground. While outside of the disco grenade’s blast radius, Marvelous Man could still hear the funky beats of the music vibrating his massive body. The song sounded like it could be fun to dance to...were it not for it for the situation he was currently in, and the disco music being weaponized to disorienting levels. The hulking bodybuilder held onto the ghoul’s hand, as he was led down another winding path of the concrete jungle. “There’s our exit!” shouted Deathshade. Marvelous Man looked ahead to where his friend was directing his attention towards. A small distance away against a wall was an art decor resting on top of a brown end table. It was a clay sculpture shaped like a leafless tree. The tree art piece was blended with so many colors it did not have a major color to set the tone. On top of each of the branches were tiny cups that housed a little glass marble on top of it. The sculpt itself was so full of vibrant life, that Marvelous Man could find few words to describe it other than immaculate. The muscle demigod then noticed a yellow table runner cloth underneath the sculpture that held the same symbol as Deathshade’s brooch: a weeping closed eye. As the two arrived in front of the sculpture, Deathshade relinquished his hand from Marvelous Man’s. He dove his hand into his magical sleeve for a moment before retrieving a glass marble with multiple colors streaming inside of it. Grabbing Marvelous Man’s large hand again, Deathshade held out the glass marble he had in his hand. On the side of the sculpture sat a cup on a branch that was empty. The ghoul then placed the glass marble on top of the empty cup. Marvelous Man stared down at a steaming cup of coffee that sat on top of a restaurant table. It had a roasted aroma to it that had a hint of sweetness to it. The hulking bodybuilder then wondered why he was looking at a cup of coffee. Moreover...what just happened? A man’s voice spoke up, “Marvelous Man?” The muscle demigod looked up from the coffee and saw Deathshade sitting across from him on the other side of the table. Feeling an ominous and awkward chill from looking into the ghoul’s empty sockets, Marvelous Man looked around. They appeared to be in the booth of a diner with absolutely no customers other than themselves. There was a window next to the two, but Marvelous Man could only see blackness upon peering through it. “...Where? Wait, what just happened? Weren’t we just at that sculpture?” he said. Deathshade nodded, “We were. And now, we’re here. We’re in a pocket dimension that’s between Earth and Limbo. And when we leave this place, we’ll be back on Earth.” The ghoul paused, as he looked down at his steaming cup of coffee set in front of him. “You know how when divers get the bends, they’re put in those...uhhhh, decompression chambers? It’s like that for me. I can be gone a long time in Limbo trying to find lost artifacts for the Bruja, and I just sit here to process everything that happened and...balance myself. Thinking about my family helps. Well, that and I jack off in the corner, hehe,” he said. Marvelous Man hesitated, “...And we got here...because of that sculpture? I think they’re called, the Tree of Life? From Mexican art.” “That’s right. The Bruja has at least one in every time zone in Limbo. But I’m the only one with all the marbles, haha...sorry, to get out. And even if someone did managed to get one from me, they wouldn’t be able to find a Tree of Life,” replied Deathshade. Marvelous Man flexed an eyebrow, “How?” Deathshade tapped the brooch pinned to his purple suit. Marvelous Man remembered the cloth underneath the Tree of Life sculpture had the exact same symbol as Deathshade’s brooch. With time spent between the two so short in the past, the musclebound superhero never had a chance to ask about the brooch’s symbol: a weeping closed eye. “This symbol isn’t just the Bruja’s calling card. It’s enchanted by her to cause, uhhhh...how do you say ignorancia? Oh...right, hehe. This brooch and the symbol at the sculpture broadcasts ignorance. The harder someone tries to find me or the sculptures, the more invisible it is to them. It also affects cameras too. So don’t worry. Nobody from Limbo or the Skeleton Lord is getting out through there,” he explained. Marvelous Man frowned, “Yeah...what were those things back there? They didn’t really seem to care…” “They’re ghouls,” sighed Deathshade, “And believe it or not, those are the nice ones. Most of them only care about themselves and will probably try to murder me to steal what little soul I have left to prevent...well, a spiritual rotting. It’s what happens when you lose the will to live. Cause if you rot enough, then you become a monster. And it won’t be long before the ones lying on the ground we passed by will change into monsters. The ghoul scratched his chin, “Hm, it’s a good thing the Bruja chose me to be her servant...because I’m not sure what would’ve happened to me if she didn’t…” Marvelous Man watched his friend sip coffee. The muscle demigod felt at a loss for what to say next. There was so much to process between the span of being rescued from the Skeleton Lord’s clutches to escaping Limbo. Marvelous Man then remembered something. “Hey, wait. How come we didn’t just use that silver gun you had to get out of Limbo?” he inquired. Deathshade sat his cup down, “The Orpheus is just a one-way ticket into Limbo. It’s kind of a security thing like with the Tree of Life. If somebody was dumb enough to get that gun and use it, then they’ll be trapped if they don’t know another way out of Limbo.” The hulking bodybuilder looked at Deathshade’s empty eye sockets again. Even though this was a person he could trust, it still felt scary to see nothing in those bony slots. Marvelous Man changed the subject. “So...Deathshade, huh? I’m guessing that’s what the bad guys call you?” he said. Deathshade nodded, “Yep. Guess I might as well tell you that I know your secret identity is Justice. Oh, wait. Is there nothing in my eyes? Hold on.” Marvelous Man wanted to feel shocked from his secret being known, but he was still overcome by the shock and numbness from the sudden chain of events. The muscle demigod then changed his attention to watching his friend. Placing his hand in front of his forehead, the ghoul brought his hand down. As his hand passed his eye sockets, the emptiness was gone. The spinning, yellow flower eyes had been restored; easing comfort back into Marvelous Man. “There. Just keep calling me Sugar Skull. It’s what I want my friends to know me as,” said Sugar Skull. He continued, “So now that we both know each other’s secrets and won’t tell anybody else, I think we really need to talk about the real issue with the Skeleton Lord. Also, FYI, don’t worry about your secret identity thing. Most people won’t figure it out that you and Justice are the same.” “The thing is...I was supposed to tell you what I know about the Skeleton Lord a while back. But I got distracted and was sent to try to kill the Skeleton Lord again. I messed up the first time, but at least I took away his immortality. Sooooo, I guess you call that a silver lining...if it wasn’t the main reason why the Skeleton Lord is careful now and more, ummm, cloak and dagger,” recalled Sugar Skull. Marvelous Man looked away to remember, “Was that why you were at Toto’s? To talk to me? I saw you when I was on a date with Gene Lightfoot.” Sugar Skull’s flower eyes shifted to the left and right before focusing back towards the muscle demigod. “...Yyyes? Anyways, the Bruja wanted me to help you guys out and tell you everything she knows about the Skeleton Lord...since I didn’t kill him when he woke up,” bobbled the ghoul’s head. Marvelous Man flexed his eyebrows, “Wait, shouldn’t you be telling the D.A.B. about this? Why me? I mean, you could’ve told Gene this info to him instead.” Sugar Skull stared down at his coffee. “I know I act like a fool, and that’s just how I am now. Embrace life for what it is and have fun. Especially when a witch brings you back to life halfway just so that you can taste and fuck and feel pain again. Nobody at the D.A.B. trusts me or would pay attention to me. They’d just kick me out before I say anything, cause they think I’ll steal something from them. But you...you’re the first person that trusted me and even apologized for profiling me. When I look into your eyes, Justice, I see an honest and trustworthy man,” stated the ghoul. His purple teeth chattered, “As for Gene, well, we’d just end up fucking our brains out, and I’d totally forget what I was supposed to tell him, GAHAHAHA!!!” “That does sound like you,” giggled Marvelous Man, “So what can you tell me about the Skeleton Lord? How come there’s no history about him?” The ghoul replied, “That’s because of the Bruja when she was a young witch, uhhh, millenias ago. The Skeleton Lord killed a lot of people back then and tried to commit genocide to the Totochtin. Traveling all the way from Europe, to Africa, then to South America. After he was finally captured when crossing over into Central America, the leaders of the past realized the damage he had done. The Skeleton Lord’s tale would be passed down through every generation like other tragedies in our world histories. And if that big bad ever got out, he would be able to feed on that fear. And humanity would enter dark days again.” “So the young Bruja created her first spell. She turned her familiar into a sort of black hole that sucked up all written records and memories from the weak-minded people that had heard of the Skeleton Lord. This helped erased the Skeleton Lord’s history. So that if he ever woke up, he did not have any power over anybody. If nobody could fear him, then he could be kept weak...well, until he found another power source. We didn’t know that he had the ability to drain energy...or could turn flesh into energy,” continued Sugar Skull. Marvelous Man muttered, “So that’s why the D.A.B. had no records of him. Then do you know why he’s trying to destroy the world. Like, what caused him to become bad?” The ghoul held up his index finger and opened his mouth. As he was about to form words, Sugar Skull paused. His spinning, yellow flower eyes transformed into pixilated hourglasses before shifting back to flowers as he talked. “I...don’t know. The Bruja only got involved after the Skeleton Lord started his rampage. Because it was after that she became an info broker. When she casted that spell of hers, anybody that knew the Skeleton Lord before he turned bad was already dead. So all she knows from bits of records is that he was a peaceful king back around the twenty-eighth century BC...maybe more. But then something called the “Royal Burning” happened, and he became batshit angry,” shrugged the ghoul. The musclebound superhero chewed at the inside of his cheek. It was useful to know why they know nothing, but it still felt like no useful knowledge to combat the Skeleton Lord had been gained. There was one thing Marvelous Man needed to ask. He questioned, “Then do you at least know how he’s able to avoid us?” “Oh, yeah. That’s simple. It’s his cloak. The thing has been enchanted to hide from any magical detection or magical sight. I never had a chance to pull it off. It would make finding him so much easier. But it would be even better if he just went in places that had cameras, cause that cape only affects magic,” said Sugar Skull. The bodybuilder’s mind flashed back to his second encounter to the Skeleton Lord. Gene had flung the supervillain across the underground room by grabbing onto the red cloak. The cloak never came off and instead pulled the Skeleton Lord with it. After that, the ancient evil became a pulping mess after splattering against the concrete wall. Marvelous Man mentioned, “Gene sorta tried to pull it off of him. But it was stuck to him like it was part of him...or something.” “Eh, if I had to guess, it’s also enchanted to be bonded to the skeleton douchebag. I wonder who could have done that. Multi-layered spells aren’t easy to pull off, you know,” suggested Sugar Skull. Marvelous Man sighed, “Okay...ummm, what about his bone powers? You know how he’s doing that?” “No idea. The Bruja just figured that was part of his ability or some magic artifact he’s got hidden underneath his robe,” shrugged Sugar Skull. The muscle demigod rustled his hair in slight frustration. He felt like he was running in a circle of paradoxes; answers that led to more questions with no real resolution. Marvelous Man did not ever see underneath the Skeleton Lord’s red cloak no matter how close he was...but he did scan the supervillain. Marvelous Man inquired, “What about a familiar? If he had a...bone imp, could he do it?” Sugar Skull froze. Cupping his chin, the spinning flower eyes changed into pixilated hourglasses. The few, black pixels of sand poured into the bottom before the hourglasses flipped onto its opposite end. As the hourglasses flipped again, they changed back into their cartoon flowery form. “...Maybe? It’s possible, that he could be a witch. He did paint those runes on your body, after all,” he speculated, “But magic and familiars aren’t my, ummm, forte. I’ll ask the Bruja when we get out of here...And after she pelts me with a thousand sandals, she’ll definitely want to see the pic I took of you. May I ask why he painted that stuff on you?” Marvelous Man thought back to his capture. Even though it was recent, it felt like it happened a long time ago now that he was in a literal safe space. Yet the memory still sent a chill through the hulking bodybuilder. “It...was some sort of...He called it a safeguard. To make sure that the last drop of energy was still in me,” he shuddered. Sugar Skull placed his hand over Marvelous Man’s. The muscle demigod could sense the ghoul giving a gentle smile; despite having no facial muscles. The ghoul spoke softly, “It’s alright, Justice. You’re safe here. He can’t get to you. And he’s too busy finding the Mana Stones, so he won’t be looking for you anytime soon. I want you to know that you’re a hero by surviving that shit you went through. Okay? It doesn’t matter how you got in. All you should care about is that you got out.” The hulking bodybuilder nodded his head, while he swallowed his dry throat. He could feel tears welling up in his eyes after feeling his friend’s tenderness, but willed it to stay down. His memory flashed to the moments ago of Sugar Skull bartering for his liberation. “Can I ask you something? I don’t want to sound ungrateful, but why did you save me? You should’ve fought the Skeleton Lord. I mean, you said it yourself. You would have won. Or you could have just left me in that house until you found the perfect moment to get the jump on him. Gene and the others would have found me...eventually,” said Marvelous Man. Sugar Skull placed his other hand over his friend’s, “Maybe when I was human...But all you need to know is you may not be my family, but you’re still my friend.” Hearing his half-alive friend give an immediate reply, the walls sealing up the deep feelings in Marvelous Man’s heart crashed. Tears silently streamed down his cheeks. The hulking bodybuilder closed his eyes to stop the flow, but more came flooding out. The ghoul pulled napkins from the dispenser sitting on the table. Sugar Skull placed the bundle of napkins into the musclebound superhero’s hands. The cartoon flowers spinning in his eye sockets transformed into a shallow pool of water; looking ready to spill out of the skeletal holes. “It’s okay, pal. Let it all out. But, uh, you might want to hurry, because I’m going to start crying too. And then we won’t be able to get out of here,” he said. The muscle demigod quickly dabbed his eyes with the napkins before moving it down his face. They felt scratchy and cheap against his cheeks, but they were absorbent enough for his tears. Marvelous Man sniffed, “Sorry.” “It’s fine. And your friends from the D.A.B. wouldn’t have been able to save you anyways,” mentioned Sugar Skull. The musclebound superhero frowned, “...Why?” Seeming newly distracted with the change of subject, the pool of water in the ghoul’s eye sockets changed back into spinning flower eyes. Sugar Skull pulled a smartphone out of his flower-shaped sleeve. He flicked through its contents as he spoke. “You remember what I said about the fog? Hours after he drained you, he did this,” he said. The ghoul held the phone’s screen in front of Marvelous Man to watch. It was a news clip video from an anchorwoman reporting a mysterious fog that had appeared in the ghetto area and filled its entire streets. Robotic and magical drones were sent inside of the fog, but none made it back. Footage from outside the fog was shown. It looked like the Skeleton Lord’s whisping darkness, yet it was extremely concentrated that not even sunlight could break it. After the video ended, Sugar Skull placed it back into his magical sleeve. Marvelous Man looked down at his coffee, “So it’s my fault that he did that.” “Don’t say that. He would have eventually gotten to that point without your energy by sending one of his victims to trick more drug addicts back to his house,” Sugar Skull immediately replied. Sugar Skull resumed his explanation, “But back to what I was saying about the fog, I think that fog is just a...ummm...oh! Defense mechanism! That’s the word! I think it’s just a defense mechanism to keep heroes out before he does something big. So since the Skeleton Lord is stuck in Limbo, the fog should be gone too. So even if your superhero friends knew where you were, they couldn’t get inside without risking their own lives. But hey, we can plant a trap, while he’s gone!” “Yeah, I guess,” sighed Marvelous Man. The ghoul reached into his purple sleeve, “One more thing. The Bruja is interested in learning about you. If you tell her all about yourself and how you came to be, you could use it to trade for any info that isn’t...publicly available.” Sugar Skull pulled out a business card and slid it across the table. Marvelous Man picked it up for a closer look. The card itself looked like papyrus paper and had aged ink printed onto it: “La Bruja: The Witch of Pages”. Printed underneath the name was an email address. “So are you ready to head out?” said the ghoul. Marvelous Man slowly inhaled air before releasing it in a sigh. Seconds ticked by, as he stared into space. He looked at his friend, “Yeah, I’m ready.” The Limbo being shifted from the diner booth and stood up. He then offered his hand to Marvelous Man, while he stared at his friend. Without hesitation, the hulking bodybuilder accepted the hand and stood up as well. As Sugar Skull led Marvelous Man to the diner door behind the booth, he spoke up. “By the way, you should really get your stomach checked at. Unless you’re into having a jelly baby bun in the oven. Not judging, just thought you should know, since I saw it with my X-Ray glasses,” mentioned the ghoul. Upon reaching the exit within a few steps, Sugar Skull gripped the door. The sound of a bell jingled, as he opened the door. Marvelous Man stood in a large room that rivaled his penthouse. Strewn about the area was many potted plants that seemed to be of varieties not native to United States soil. All the ones that appeared to tropical or jungle floral had unique shades of colors; causing the room itself to become muted to the lively plants. Across the room was a set of windows outlooking Skyway City. The outside was dark with the night sky, but the streetlights from below battled against the night with its own illumination. A familiar voice spoke up, “Marvelous Man?” Turning to his right, the muscle demigod spotted a naked Gene Lightfoot peering over a black leather couch. The rabbit superhero seemed to be squatting over a man that was seated on the couch and underneath Gene. It appeared that Marvelous Man had interrupted the Totochtin prince’s intercourse session. “H-hi, Gene. Um, where are we?” said Marvelous Man. Gene jumped up; leaping off of his affair’s dick while propelling over the couch in a front flip style. Upon landing, he dashed towards Marvelous Man. The Totochtin prince spread his arms open, as he was within hitting distance of his missing teammate. He then clasped them around the hulking bodybuilder’s waist; squeezing in a hugging embrace. The rabbit superhero exclaimed, “Oh, how I have missed you, my friend! I was terrified of your well-being! There was the recordings on the security footage of you being dragged off by the PB&J Gang. The D.A.B. and I tried to rescue you, but the dangerous fog arose once we discovered you had been the kidnapped.” Marvelous Man hugged back his naked teammate. He could feel the bunny demigod emitting feelings of genuine relief, happiness, and a hint of sadness mixed with guilt. The musclebound superhero felt his own twinge of guilt; thinking that it was his fault Gene felt this way. Gene backed away, as the Totochtin prince’s white rabbit ears twitched. “Please do not feel the guilt. It is not your fault such things happened, and it is right that I feel the terror if my good friend has become the missing. But what I am feeling right now is the relief of you appearing here in the Toto’s,” consoled Gene. After hearing what the Totochtin prince just said, Marvelous Man came to the conclusion that they were on the top floor of Toto’s. He remembered how Toto’s was a resting place for the chosen Totochtin, and the top floor was reserved for their sleeping space. The bunny demigod gazed at his friend’s humongous body from top to bottom. His face flexed a confused expression. He questioned, “Why is your body marked with the red? Is this the Skeleton Lord’s doing?!” “It...Yeah, it is,” nodded Marvelous Man, “And I really want to explain it all, but I’m just so tired right now. These magic band aids on my nipples are losing their magic stuff, and I’m feeling ready to crash after having my energy drained a lot and being chased through Limbo.” Gene grabbed his forearm, “I understand. Would you care to take rest here or at the D.A.B.?” “Actually, I’d really like to just go home,” sighed Marvelous Man. The Totochtin prince replied, “Then if it is alright with you, I would like to accompany you to keep watch over your health. And when the tomorrow comes, we will go to the D.A.B. and report the events that befell you.” “Umm, uh, yeah, sure. I’d really like that, actually,” smiled the hulking bodybuilder. Gene spoke, “Then before we depart, I will call the Director to tell of your escape.” The rabbit superhero turned to where Sugar Skull stood at. As Gene talked, his face morphed into a confused expression. “Sugar Skull, I assume it was you who-...?” he said. Marvelous Man looked down at his side to where Sugar Skull should have been standing. It was only empty space. The musclebound superhero began to theorize that the ghoul had some magical device to teleport somewhere or become invisible...until he spotted the Limbo being by the couch where the stranger having sexual intercourse with Gene was still seated. Sugar Skull looked down at the naked man, “Hola. You know what’s better than one penis?” >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> A flight back to his penthouse apartment with Gene in his arms and a shower later, Marvelous Man felt ready to collapse on his bed. He began to approach his humongous bed with slumping grace, as he noticed Gene lying naked on top of the sheets. If he had the energy, the muscle demigod would have become fully aroused. But instead, Marvelous Man accepted the current scene in front of him as intimate and romantic. It was like looking at a breathing statue made of cocoa marble in his perspective. He then wondered if he would always see Gene like this every time they went to bed together once the Totochtin prince became his boyfriend. The hulking bodybuilder fell face first onto the other side of his bed with a loud pomf. He then sighed before rolling onto his back. It felt nice to have the silk sheets rubbing against his naked skin, and it was another sign that he was too tired to get sexually aroused. Willpower to stay awake fading, Marvelous Man closed his eyes and sighed. He spoke up, “Thanks for staying over, Gene. But you don’t have to sleep in my bed, you know. I have another bed you can sleep in...or a couch.” “I will sleep nowhere else but by your side, Marvelous Man. As I had said back at the Toto’s, I wish to keep watch over your health and to do the comforting for you. However, it is also custom in my country to do the sleep in the same bed with those that provide us shelter or invitation. It is considered the rude if we do not, because it shows we do trust our host and neither do we like the host,” replied Gene. Marvelous Man giggled, “Is this your way of saying you like me? Heh.” “I do. And I always have,” smiled the bunny demigod. The musclebound superhero yawned, “Well, I always wanted to say that...I love you.” The consciousness in Marvelous Man’s head blackened. His head tilted to the side, while he gave a slight snore. His massive chest heaved with every breath he took, as his body finally relaxed after two days of capture and torment. Gene Lightfoot looked down at the sleeping behemoth. His eyebrows flexed in confusion, as his mouth pursed at the process of forming words. The Totochtin prince then took in a sharp to speak. He immediately stopped. “Mm…” frowned Gene. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Sunlight cascaded through the windows, while the scent of frying bacon wafted in the air. Marvelous Man stirred in his bed sheets upon noticing the enticing smell. The mattress underneath him wobbled like water and nudged the hulking bodybuilder like he was a gigantic piece of driftwood bobbing on top of an ocean. It then occurred to Marvelous Man that the mattress in his apartment never wobbled. The only kind of bed that did was the waterbed in his old bed. Opening his eyes, the muscle demigod sat up. He looked about; taking note of the familiar room he was in. Marvelous Man had awoken in a large, red race car bed that had been fitted with a waterbed mattress. Strewn about the room was a collection of things the musclebound superhero recognized: an entertainment center with a retro gaming console, martial art belts of every color framed on the walls, bodybuilding trophies cluttered all over the dresser. It was his old room. The one he grew up in as a child until being released into the real world. The last place he wanted to be in. The gilded cage. Sunnysville. Next Chapter

This chapter's a little light but it's to make the next chapter more impressive Get ready for rapid narrator change Belly Down Part 6 “Go, Ken, Go!” “Go,Ken,Go!” I was watching intently with as much motivation as I could for Kenny but it was tough to focus on the match. It had taken him two months to grow into quite a celebrity. Kenny would see me every blue moon but I cant say I didn’t evade him intentionally. I could feel something about him change and, in tandum, change me. I used to love his shyness and his extra consideration and even his tight little frame. Then something changed before the break and nothing remained the same. For example— Suddenly, Kenny slammed his beefy opponent on the blue mat and there was a loud smack as the poor guy’s body collided with the soft material. The referee gave the count and an explosion set off in the audience. People who knew Kenny cheered loudly for him. Kenny jumped up and flexed confidently for the crowd and two thick biceps appeared on his arms. My cock shot down my leg as I saw his butt flex in the ridiculously tight spandex. The team ran up to him and group hugged him clumsily almost knocking the entire group down. Kenny was lifted on his team’s broad shoulders in victory. He’d been the last match and he’d devastated his opponent. The guy got up defeated and returned to his group but I saw him for what he was actually doing. Though not entirely, the man’s cock was hardened and poking forward in his hidden jockstrap and was a darker color towards the end. I felt pretty bad for him but it was overshadowed by my happiness for Kenny. I saw him coming towards be for my praise, a big grin on his face, and I almost pulled back. That feeling again. “How’d I do, Casey?” he asked excitedly, waiting for my personal view. I couldn’t take him down after all his work. “Great, buddy, you definitely sweeped him off his feet!” I said. He grinned and flexed a bicep. “He was pretty light for a guy at 189! I think he forgot to eat a few more protein bars!” I tried to keep my eyes to Kenny’s face and he was kind enough to aid. His face had gotten sharper and more masculine in the last two months. His eyes sparked more than before and flashed occasionally with a kind of inner light, making his eyes bluer. His freckles had reduced greatly and were fading two by two everyday. His cheekbones were stronger and higher. His brows were bigger and shapely, framed by his stronger brow. All of this was framed in a jaw line that flexed when he flexed anything. I dared not test him too much in fear his powerful jaw would flare at me. Wait, what? I suddenly thought. Why am I ‘afraid’ of that? Kenny was still pretty gentle although he was more social and more confident. Besides his growth from 5’9 to 5’11 and up to almost 200 pounds of striated meat, he was a teddy bear. “I just felt so much sudden power near the end! I felt so strong!” Kenny exclaimed excitedly, his face a ray of red-headed sunshine to me. I couldn’t be in a more equal form of excitement and hesitation. --- Casey and I were coming back from an early dinner when people started noticing me and I received a shower of cat calls. “Tearing ‘em apart, huh, Ken?!” one of the jocks from the swim team called. “Ken! Ken! Ken!” chanted some quirky looking computer club fans. I didn’t realize I was puffing out my chest as I walked down the street with Casey beside me. Seeming to grow with my own impressiveness as each individual fan passed by and gave me more praise. I looked over at Casey and couldn’t help getting kind of upset. He was still plenty big compared to be at 220 and 6’2 although he’d begun to lose a teeny bit definition, the veins becoming a little less visible, trying to gain a little weight for the upper weight classes. I on the other hand was starting to gain some real weight. My body pushed against my clothes tightly and I felt my butt press against the seat of my jeans, a new feeling but also kind of exciting. My back pushed my hoodie further than before, making the size pointless as my girth started to become noticeable. Why did I wear clothes anyway? I was practically naked at the last competition, after all. Coach was proud of me but he was starting to struggle upping the sizes for my uniforms and tea hoodie. Already the last replacement was pressing against my shoulders, chest, and back more than they did when he’d purchased them for a slightly smaller Kenny at 185 pounds two weeks ago. Plus, it didn’t help I was unsure how to respond to the looks I was getting. Left and right, people were starting to look at me in what I registered as ‘unnecessary’ glances. Sure, my clothes were kind of tight but not super noticeable, right? We turned the corner and I saw it again. A female math teacher whose class I went to last semester was eyeing me like I was a math problem she just HAD to solve. It was a little... uncomfortable for me. I tried to look back kindly and sincerely but it was hard. Everyone always gave me that look as if I wasn’t wearing any clothes at all. I saw Casey look at me too but that was different. I was a little embarrassed watching him look at me that way, making me almost wish my pants weren’t so tight and my legs weren’t so wide and my back didn’t show so much and my waist weren’t so tight and firm. The other side of me was different though. I wanted him to look. I wanted him to see how good I was starting to look and be proud of my accomplishments and show some sign he was interested. I just wish he’d do it where I could see him and not slightly behind me as we walked down the street. “Hey” Casey called. I immediately ignored every other person ogling my tight jeans and turned my neck and raised my eyes to show my attention. “Yeah?” I asked intently. I was clinging to his words and I didn’t know it. “Why does everyone call you that now? Ken?” he asked, looking away from me for some reason. Why wasn’t he making eye contact. The sunset was making his face look redder than usual so I couldn’t tell. Or… maybe it wasn’t the sun? “Uh… long story” I said, trying to brush off what had happened. “You wouldn’t want to hear the details to it.” He looked at me eye to eye now, though his eyes darted down to the ground occasionally. Was he always this shy or was this a new thing? “I liked it when you were still Kenny…” he said, trailing off near the end. I looked at him intently, trying to read his face. “What do you mean, I’m still Kenny” I tried to reassure him. He didn’t look at me when I said that. He passed me and sped up with his longer legs and didn’t say anything but I saw his lips move. Being the youngest and smallest of many brothers who were all much much taller than you, you became adept at reading lips from a distance without getting noticed. Did he say ‘Are you’? I asked inwardly. Nick didn’t say anything snappy this time. Almost as if he thought it would be more fun to let me squirm. --- “Done” said Nick from in my head as though he'd been cooking an egg inside, his voice decipherable but still like multiple of him speaking. I was in the shower again, wiping down my body from the day’s sweat out in the sunset in a hoodie. Spring wasn’t made for thick hoodies. I was rubbing my soap covered hand down my stomach, my abdominals flexing and bunching, the skin glistening as if it were tight to the skin. I’d only just started getting used to looking down and seeing my body, my meek personality giving birth to someone with more physical confidence. “Done?” I said with uncertainty. Nick sounding excited never led to anything good. “Oh, hush, This one’ll be fun” Nick said as he appeared in the reflection of the shower porcelain, his red eyes looking back at Nick. “Your body is barely passable now” he said as he also mimicked my rubbing my legs down but in a more seductive way. God, I wish he could act like my reflection for once. “That’s boring. Anyway, shush up. I have things to say” he said as he put his hands on my now muscular hips and grinned. “We’re going out tomorrow tonight.” “What? What does that mean?” “What does it sound like? Your body is durable enough to do the hero thing.” “Jumping off buildings??” “No, dumbass, I said BARELY passable. We need to let you do smaller things before we head up to that. Tonight’s my last night solo.” I still couldn’t fathom how Nick had tricked me into accepting the fact he was using me like a doll in my sleep. It wasn’t the fact that I was parading around as a super hero all night, my face was covered so no one saw. It was the fact that I was jumping off buildings and crushing cars and running into walls without any permission given. Somehow, we’d come to the agreement that, as long as I don’t get revealed, he could SAFELY have his fun. I wasn’t looking forward to giving him permission to do it. Or was I? "Uh oh, looks like your friend is awake again" Nick chimed. I looked down and frowned a little. My cock was getting harder to keep in check lately and it didnt help it had gotten another inch longer, the 9 inch length wagging with every movement of my hips. With no hesitation, I started rubbing up and down the length, my toes curling as I felt my body parts tingle with the mixed impacts of dropping water and pleasure. I didn't know what I would do if I didn't have two showers a day. --- “We’re here in the central plaza speaking to an individual citizens recognize as ‘The Red Menace’. Thanks to our chance encounter, we’re allowed an exclusive from none other than the super hero himself. Red Menace, what makes you want to come out here and save these people? How do you know when these things are going to happen? Government officials who call this their home town ask ‘aren’t your consistent appearances at these crime scenes a little too coincidental’?” The 5’7 reporting, red lipped, dark haired woman holding her microphone in a tight yellow skirt with her camera close behind her and focused on ‘The Red Menace’ held the silence and waited for the hero to speak. She looked at his lips and felt compelled to come close and touch them with her own. She was trying to hide it but she was already moist between the legs trying to talk to him. He grinned a handsome grin at the question and his eyes flashed a little. “Well Ms. Dare, I’m just an average man walking around like the rest of you. Well on roofs” he started, fueling the nearby crowd with laughter. “I just pass by these incidents, car chases, bank robbers, and crooks by accident. I don’t know what your sources say but I have nothing to do with these crimes. I just come and save people. If these ‘government officials’ really are that suspicious of me and this city, they might want to do a favor to the public and fix it themselves. Until then, I’m going to give you all a little hand. Cool?” With that, the Red Menace jumped up into the night sky towards a nearby 10 foot building and was gone in the blink of an eye. The reporter, Ms. Dare, looked off into the night, looking as though she wanted to chase after him but she pulled herself back. She looked back at the camera flustered but forced herself into one piece after her encounter with the hero. “Bb-Back to you Jeff” --- A single man in red suit leaned back in his comfy chair, his eyes on the television. His broad shoulders competed with the wide chair and his hair slicked back in a simple fashion. His angular and fierce features were more imposing in the dim lighting. The entire room’s theme of red made him fit right in with his sinisterly dark hair and his reddened, flashing eyes. He remained straightforward and didn’t react to the flashing of the large flat screen tv over his fireplace as he glared into it. “Bb-back to you Jeff” the screen said before he roared and made the tv crack and shatter with the overpowering sound. It was like a terrifying reach of death’s hand coming and yanking your mind out. “There’s no need for any further investigation, Musisin, your peer has gone astray” the man said as he turned around and faced a man on the opposite side of his desk. Unlike the rest of the room, the man on the opposite side seemed younger and didn’t match their surroundings with his blue tie, blue skin, and white hair. He looked petrified in his stance on the opposing side after watching his duke destroy the nearby television with merely a shout. He was too afraid of having his head sliced off by the man’s large and imposing frame. His red glare seemed to cut through him almost. “You have one job. Find him, kill his vessel, and collect him. I don’t know what type of experimental mess he’s creating now but I won’t have it without any kind of consensual request. Is that clear?” he boomed to the blue-ish man. “Sir, yes, sir” To Be Continued…….

The next day at school it was gym class and Sammy and the rest of the class were changing into their speedos for swim class. Sammy and his nerd friends having small, skinny bodies whereas the jocks were tall, had six packs and pecs without looking like bodybuilders, flexing and showing off their muscles to each other. Dan hadnt shown up yet, probably too busy enjoying his new life as a Supergod, Sammy thought to himself. The rest of the class hasn't a clue, Sammy just couldn't wait for their reactions when Dan finally showed up to show off his new strength, powers and most of all, his body. As the class had made their way out to the pool the coach took attendance and noticed that Dan was missing. "Where's Dan? He ill or something?" "No I'm right here coach!" and with that the whole class turned around to see Dan walking out the walkway from the changing room, clad in nothing but a pair of tight crimson red posing trunks, his Herculean muscular quads bouncing as he strutted through to join the rest of the class, flexing his basketball size pecs and then his bowling ball size biceps as the rest of the class stared in awe, most trying to hide their erections. "What is the meaning of this, Dan?! That's not appropriate swimwear! Have you been taking steroids?!" The coach barked at Dan. Dan just turned and smirked back at the coach, striding toward him, imposing his mammoth figure over him as he looked down on the athletic swim coach who used to boss him around. "Hey you know what coach, I think it's about time you...cooled off" and then Dan took a deep breathe and blew out ice cold air all over the coach, essentially freezing him solid. "Whoa dude! You just froze the coach! What are you?" Said Chad, one of Dans jock buddies. "You are now looking at the new superman boys! Your new god!" Dan said, raising his arms with emphasis on the word god, then raising himself up in the air, showing off his ability of flight. "And now that I've given you a demonstration of what i can do boys, you can all spread the word throughout school. I'm bringing in a whole new world!! HA HA HA!" Dan boomed before he raised one arm up and kept his body straight in classic superman pose before he flew out the building making a giant hole in the ceiling. The class couldn't believe what they just saw, neither could Sammy. They quickly took the coach to the school nurse who hadn't a clue what to do with him and returned to the showers. Sammy however, was still too in awe of Dan and trying to contain his erection in his trunks, decided to wait behind to shower by himself, he could also feel something churning in his stomach and wondered if it could be from Dans cum he swallowed the night before. Haha imagine if I gained superpowers too, thought Sammy. As Sammy went into the showers after the rest of the class left, he stripped off his speedo letting his throbbing cock fall free and started lathering himself up under the shower, and started gently whacking himself off when one of the jocks, Brett walked in. "Hey little Sammy, guess you got all boned up over the new and improved Dan too, huh " Brett said as he walked in, pointing his pretty impressive cock straight at the startled Sammy who tried to cover himself up. "Brett what do you want? " "What do you think Sammy? I'm a testosterone fueled man and I need release, and your ass looks good enough for it" Brett said as he grabbed Sammy and forcibly kissed him, he then dragged Sammy across the room and sat on a bench, motioning for Sammy to hop on his cock. Sammy couldn't resist, he was so horny from the sight of Superdan he slid himself on Bretts cock beginning to moan as he continued to imagine Dan, but also imagining becoming a supergod himself as he began to moan some more. Brett was enjoying bouncing the nerd on his hard cock too, even though Brett considered himself straight he was still so hard from Dan and his display of strength and superpowers that even this nerds ass will do to satisfy as he started pumping harder and faster. Sammy was loving it and really getting into it, when suddenly he felt the churning in his stomach again as Brett pumped more and more before releasing a hot load into Sammy "ohhhh man!" They both said in unison as Sammy then released his own load on Brett too. But Sammys stomach still churned, and then began to hurt as Sammy quickly hopped off and collapsed on the floor as the pain worsened. "What the fuck? What's wrong? I wasn't that big was I? Haha" Brett said. The pain then suddenly stopped and Sammy stood up, but something was different. Like he had a realization, a newfound knowledge. The cum the nerd had swallowed from Dan the night before had a whole ton of potency krypton power in it and all it needed was a trigger, and the sexual energy and Bretts cum was just the trigger it needed to give Sammy the knowledge of this and what he suddenly was capable of! "HAHA no don't worry Brett! You weren't too big! Not at all! But don't worry...I soon will be....what did you call me before, Brett? Little Sammy? Well get ready to meet MASSIVE SAMMY!!! HAHAHA" And with that Sammy spread his legs a little and squatted a little, clenched his fists so hard and concentrated "GRRRRRR!!" , and concentrated "ARGGGGHHHHH" , and sure enough the potent Krypton energy inside him was released! And Sammy began to grow with extreme pleasure as he felt his back widen, his chest balloon out, his body gain mass all over! "HAHAHA! YESSSS! THINK I'M A NERD NOW BRETT? GET A LOAD OF THIS!" and Sammy concentrated more, and more and began to inch up and up and up, reaching 8 feet tall! His arms became the size bigger than any bodybuilders and his shoulders made him look like a tank! Sammy concentrated even more and a 6 pack ballooned out "hmmm a little more" and Sammy concentrated again forming a nice irresistible 8 pack! And finally concentrating some more, his limp cock became thicker and longer, and his cock hardened once again as Sammys eyes changed colour to a reddish hue and he grinned. A massive cocky grin as he looked down, and down at Brett before flexing a double bi. "WHAT DO YOU THINK OF LITTLE SAMMY NOW BRETT? " Brett was in shock again. First Dan, now Sammy as two massive super muscular freaks, he became instantly hard again as Sammy continued flexing before fishing out an XXL size bright red speedo from the lost and found and slipped it on before going back out to the pool and looking at the hole Dan made before "SUPERGOD HUH? HAHA! I'M COMING FOR YOU DAN!" Boomed Sammy as he squatted down flexing his legs, arm extended and jumped high then flew after Dan! "HAHA YOU'RE NOT THE ONLY ONE WHO CAN FLY NOW DAN! I'LL SHOW YOU WHO THE TRUE SUPERGOD IS!" Sent from my Samsung device

Remmy stared into the night sky, wondering what the giant ball of colors looming over the mountain was. He reached out to hold it in his palm, strangely craving to taste the hues that mingled and danced within the lustrous orb. At first it’d been very small and glimmered only softly, but in time it became a giant amalgam of vibrant tones in both green and blue. It glistened, beckoning him to seek it. His fingers could not reach far enough across the horizon and he quickly gave up. Before he could sigh in despair, the star burst, crashing into the ground and spreading out in a dangerous wave of fire. Remmy stepped backward in panic, unable to find shelter quickly enough to avoid the crushing flames. He gasped awake. Remmy’s skin dripped again as he slowly got up from his dorm room cot and sat in front of his computer. His roommate was a ghost- they’d only spoken a few times (those of which were short and sweet) and he barely ever stayed to sleep. Some said Remmy’s roommate was a lecherous frat boy but Remmy didn’t give him much credit in that respect. He simply enjoyed the solitude available. His hand clicked a few tabs open as he began searching for pornography. Remmy searched his favorite keywords recently: ‘muscle pec play’. He quickly began sifting through videos he’d already found. Good ones were hard to come by and Remmy wasn’t particularly proud of his fetish. He began jacking off as a young, hot, white college boy began tugging on his nipples and verbally directing his arousal to the camera. Remmy held onto his cock and went to town, imagining being such a sexy muscle boy on cam somewhere. Something about that aesthetic excited him… The visibility in a physique defining virility, power, and health turned him on. Remmy was nowhere near describable as such but he wished often for a defined abdomen and arms that would widen his silhouette. His cock wasn’t that bad (a lengthy seven inches) and yet he always found himself alone in bed. The hot boys in class worked out, and he simply didn’t. He desired the sculpting of a trained man’s body and he craved certain aspects much more than others. He found himself drifting off porn after he’d cleaned off his stomach of cum. He meandered around the internet looking at pictures of sensually posed fitness models and stopped whenever he found a good set of pectorals on his screen. Remmy was a sucker for pecs (figuratively, guys never spoke to him) above all other muscles on a man and he sometimes stumbled upon photo-manipulations (dubbed ‘morphs’ by fans of such media) of muscular men with inflated chests. These made Remmy shamefully aroused. He knew it wasn’t very natural and tip-toed around the delicate intricacies of sex and gender. Regardless he found himself often sifting the web for the biggest pecs around. If Remmy were to have a beautiful physique, he’d want his chest to be extra beefy to show off. The college boy began preparing himself to climb back in bed when a blip on his computer’s chat application resounded. Sparrow had messaged him. They had known each other through a multiplayer-online game that had long been shut down years ago; they kept in touch and often shared tidbits of their very gay interests with themselves. Sparrow was into some pretty strange shit but knew where to find the best morphs as soon as they were posted. Sparrow also never judged Remmy. Remmy opened the chat wondering how anyone except him could be up at such an hour. Remmy’s own screen name, Crabby, flickered on as an ad for ice cream attacked him. He squinted at the bright colors and shut it down, reading his new correspondence. SPARROW: dude, you know how you study at Walcott, right? CRABBY: I mean, yeah, I’ve been going to class for a few weeks now. SPARROW: Fuck SPARROW: That’s where people have sighted the Cavalier SPARROW: That’s fucking hot, bro Remmy stared at the screen for a bit, yawning. CRABBY: What’s the Cavalier? Sparrow responded by forwarding Remmy an image of what looked like a sketch for a comic book. The sketch was from a ‘strange urban stories’ forum and apparently, the character depicted was some sort of vigilante with superpowers. Remmy didn’t recognize the character (he knew the common canon but didn’t read comics often) but felt interested by the very specific anatomy and costume of this ‘Cavalier’. He bore horns (for some reason?), a skin-tight wrestling singlet covered in convenient holes, and a few plates of armor. Remmy wasn’t quite sure what to think of the art but liked how big-chested the artist had depicted him. CRABBY: Is this a new comic? Is it gay? Sparrow then sent Remmy a link to the original post where the author claimed being saved somewhere in the city. Not much checked out; the original poster didn’t give out information of their identity. The original poster claimed that not only a gang of thugs had physically assaulted them- monsters did too. The scantily clad hunk in a mask appeared just in time to save them, however. CRABBY: Well that’s weird. SPARROW: Dude read some of the details! A dangerous gang had lived in the city for years, known as the bulldogs. The original poster claimed being inebriated, stumbling home when he walked into a pack. They attempted to harm the original poster, when one of them completely wigged out. This bulldog looked sickly and went so far as wanting to murder the poster. The way the original poster described it, this bulldog looked ‘beyond’ sickly. The vigilante in copper garb appeared and kicked their asses, only to have the sickly one vomit up a Lovecraftian nightmare. Remmy yawned again, reading up on this ‘cavalier’s’ wit and charm. It seems that the original poster shivered in the cold, only to be given a memento by the cavalier to keep him warm: a scarf embroidered in Remmy’s class year and school logo! The cavalier had mentioned having two and disappeared into the night, letting the original poster find his way home safely. Walcott University always gave each incoming freshman a scarf designed by someone within the previous graduating class- it was tradition. Remmy owned one of the same scarves photographed in the forum, hanging on the dorm room’s closet hook. He glanced back to the screen as Sparrow impatiently inquired of his opinion. SPARROW: Did you see?! CRABBY: So, what, there’s a superhero in my freshman class? How does he have two scarves? CRABBY: Wait, no, this is dumb, I’m not humoring your gay superhero fantasies. You know I’m not into that. SPARROW: Damn, I was hoping you were the superhero but that would be too easy lmao CRABBY: We both know I don’t have that kind of body. SPARROW: Yeah, but you could! I think you’re pretty hot! CRABBY: Shut up. I’m not discussing this. It’s just some weird tale someone came up with. SPARROW: bro wait look what I found though CRABBY: It’s 3:36 am, Keith. Like an idiot, Remmy waited for a response to argue with. After the third minute of silence, Remmy grabbed a blanket and wrapped it around himself, ready to turn off the computer. A newspaper link appeared on Remmy’s screen. Remmy imagined Sparrow’s smug face as he read the headline. SPARROW: “12 GANG MEMBERS ARRESTED: CLAIMING VIGILANTE HERO AND MONSTERS TO BLAME” Clicking on the article link led to the newspaper that would be coming out later this morning. CRABBY: That’s a long headline. SPARROW: DUDE IT’S A GAY MUSCLE SUPERHERO CRABBY: I’m going to sleep. You’re an idiot. SPARROW: It’s just a theory! You should be excited, Remmy! CRABBY: And why should I be? SPARROW: The OP mentioned something REALLY important. Didn’t you see? CRABBY: He was super strong or whatever. SPARROW: Remmy no, he wasn’t just super strong! He could Sparrow owned a smut blog somewhere in the recesses of the muscle-fetish web. He was a mediocre artist, at best. A sketch of what the Cavalier might look like appeared on Remmy’s screen, depicting the hero in many different outfits and silhouettes based on the description in the strange-story article. Sparrow left Remmy one more message, explaining that these weren’t necessarily different interpretations… SPARROW: Fighting those monster things made him grow bigger, especially his pecs. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Four picturesque desserts sat on the old wooden table. Two of them were simple cups of ‘spicy’ nougat-stuffed ice cream- decorated neatly inside a small container like a fancy street-snack, seeming more like a pretty trinket than food. The third item was a frozen mousse made of pistachios and mint, drizzled in Italian liqueur-based chocolate syrup. The fourth was a new confection the college cafe had recently developed for the fitness crowd on campus; a protein stuffed brownie partially melted and topped with fat-free whip. The locale was rather expensive but it seemed that the people (mostly students) around Whitcomb University had an incessant sweet tooth ready to pay a premium on luxury snacks. Remmy slowly pressed his spoon into the parfait, his group sitting with him at their weekly class ‘meeting’. The four freshmen had been performing this ritual for a few weeks now and although they worked hard on whatever project their honor’s program gave, they’d recently accustomed to meandering around for entertainment rather than marketing research. Remmy found himself interacting with these people often now, albeit still as awkwardly as he was with strangers. The group made him a bit less nervous, sometimes. Emilio was a sharp-tongued city boy in dark hair sitting to Remmy’s left. He was very blunt and hanged with Lynn for the most part. She (Lynn) was a distant acquaintance of Remmy’s from his hometown; although they’d not known each other very well before they had a similar demeanor that harmonized well at orientation. ‘Reconnecting’ helped them survive the first few weeks of college. She sat to Remmy’s right. The outlier of the group was Chet, a young bodybuilding SmileTube star that so happened to end up in their group by assignment only. You either loved or hated him, especially when you noticed how easy life always seemed for him. He paid bills with the funds of his many online fitness, fashion, and celebrity videos AND got a stipend from his wealthy parents for any sideline expenses. The blond bombshell never apologized for his vanity and seemingly enjoyed the attention a set of massive pectorals brought him whenever wearing risque clothing. Emilio had grown up with Chet and watched him develop from a privileged pretty boy in middle school to a privileged beefcake in college. As annoying as these details were, Chet never hurt anyone and actively hung out with the group. As time went on the young men of the group gritted teeth knowing they might have made some bad assumptions (or Chet was simply that charming in person). “It’s settled, then. We’ll develop a new product for a fast-casual dining food chain,” Lynn said, typing up notes and tasting a spoonful of nougat ice cream. She smiled softly as she savored the garnish almonds of the dessert. Her laptop made a kitten-noise as it sent a weekly report to the professor. “Well, we could probably pick the restaurant now, then,” Chet said, tilting his head as he tried finding the best angle for his brownie’s photo. He’d gotten multi-colored almonds to make the dessert look more vibrant. This photo alone, along with Chet’s many followers, would change the menu. The owner would bump up the price gleefully and run with the publicity. Remmy hadn’t caught himself observing Chet, again. The tiny neon-blue tank barely fit the muscle-boy’s thick chest as it jutted outward for what seemed like miles. You could almost hear Remmy’s breath shorten whenever one of the meaty pecs flexed naturally during the mini-photoshoot. “We could do someone without a breakfast menu? Make an introductory menu, instead of just an item.” Emilio commented before scowling at Lynn for following Chet’s behavior. She certainly had a smaller following on social media but she loved taking pictures of cute things- herself included! He attempted to backstroke towards Remmy, a sea of phones clicking as per usual in the cafe. Remmy was too busy fumbling a spoon as Chet jumped over to Lynn to flex his massive biceps in her phone’s sight. Lynn was beautiful enough that the two practically belonged in a fashion catalog. Moving away from Remmy’s drool, Emilio drowned with an audible sigh of disbelief. “You guys are absolutely the worst.” He clamored. Whitcomb was a Midwestern college town, tugged at the sides so it’d stretch itself over a flat landscape for miles. Points of interest were always a bit far away but it seemed that tax cuts were helping it develop as a strong city these last few decades. Still, it was underdeveloped in many locations and the four scholars had to hike over great breaks in the sidewalk as they headed to their next goals for the day. Still, Remmy did not complain as Lynn asked him about the snack he’d gotten. He explained his affinity for mint, and how he’d heard about sorbet before but lacked the experience of tasting it. The other two college boys had been arguing about the quality of campus-created television without paying Remmy attention. Lynn listened with interest. Remmy didn’t often talk unless Lynn pulled him into the conversation. “What about Whitcomb Strange Tales? The T-Com students on that show have some creepy stories to tell! Although, they used a sketch for their most recent post,” Chet joked as Emilio complained about the lack of horror fiction on campus. Chet pulled up an image of an exotic dancer punching robbers in the face. Remmy swallowed his heart in surprise, recognizing the distinct features he’d heard about. Chet smiled wide, “I think this story will be a big one even if it’s not scary. They’re calling it ‘Power Paladin: Whitcomb’s own super hero?” “Chet, that’s a terrible show! I’m disgusted!” Emilio yelled. Chet flipped through social-media forecasting software and continue to bombard Emilio with mediocre entertainment. Emilio glowered and whispered, “You’ve got to share that pic with Remmy and me, though…” “I like the costume! I think they changed it a bit for the blog, though. He looks more like an armored wrestler now, when I hear he was more like a sexy knight or something.” Chet chuckled as the group walked through frat row. Remmy shivered with anxiety as Lynn giggled. They got a little quieter as they passed Theta Heorot Theta. “Everyone’s a little spooked by that mansion more than anything Strange Tales has…” Lynn said, her golden bangs blowing in the summer wind. It felt chillier here. “You think they’ll cut that huge dead tree sometime soon? I think it doesn’t help their image.” Emilio commented, Chet pulling out a shaker bottle to head to the gym soon. Remmy looked back the at the incredibly thick curtains of the fraternity house. “They’re too busy rushing, still. They used to have guys begging to get in.” Lynn responded, turning to Remmy. “Your older brother was in that fraternity, right?” “W-Well. Yeah. Usually you must be a certain type of guy to get in. He… fit the look.” Remmy responded, quietly. “Ah, but you need an affluent lineage too, most of the time.” Emilio rasped, looking at Chet and nudging his arm as he drank something sweet. “Oh, do you think you’ll be joining a fraternity, Chet? You seem like the type.” Emilio added. “THT invited me over for a few events along with the other fraternities, but I just don’t want them using my name much or pretending like they are progressive for inviting in a gay guy.” Chet responded, finishing his preworkout. “What was it THT was caught for most recently?” “I heard it was a drug bust… but that was the most reasonable of the rumors…” Remmy managed to say, almost in question as he stopped at the bus station. He needed to get supplies for his art class and it was already late for the store to be on the other side of town. “Do you need a ride, Remus? My car’s close by, I left it at a friend’s and I’m heading to the gym.” Chet asked, knowing the other two were simply heading back to campus. Remmy was very quiet with him. “N-no. I’m fine. Thank you.” He managed to say. Remmy fumbled a few phrases in his mind but it only came out as an awkward pair of thumbs pointing upward, clumsily gestured to Chet. Chet simply laughed and returned a thumbs-up. Lynn observed and Emilio simply moved forward. “Text me when you want, Remmy. If it gets too late you shouldn’t be out alone, I can come get you.” Lynn added as the group distanced from the bus stop. “Yeah, we’d hate to hear you walked into a pack of bulldogs!” Emilio yelled, speaking out of turn. Lynn nudged him but by then they were out of earshot. “Fuck off,” Remmy said to himself, wishing Emilio was there to hear it. Not genuinely -of course- but Emilio had teased him hard when a spider crawled onto the study table a few weeks back. Like a coward, Remmy had jumped out of the chair and ever since Emilio had used his cowardice as the butt of jokes all the time. Getting on the bus, Remmy wondered if masculine guys like Chet were bothered by those kind of traits (cowardice). His steps felt slow as he found his seat, not noticing the multicolored glimmer at the end of the bus. His eyes came up for a second to see everything was fine and so he stared out to the streets of the small city. The feed on his phone moved quickly. With nobody around, Remmy started flipping through blogs to see muscular men flexing, posing, and fondling themselves sensually on the screen. Each man exuded sensuality and power no matter what features and silhouette they had. They all seemed to have one thing in common: a monstrous cock and a monstrous body. Remmy lost his breath, suddenly, when he saw a picture of a buck-naked Chet on his phone. Remmy’s own cock jumped up, pushing through his pants as he stared, bewildered. Chet looked positively monstrous here- unreal! Sure, he was huge in real life, but here… holy shit. His back looked wider than a regular house’s door and his lats spanned so far, his tiny waist looked like it shouldn’t have the ability to keep him from tipping over. Chet’s abdomen looked mesmerizing, decorated in veins reaching down to his monstrous, swollen cock head. It was dripping a giant glob of precum within the capture, Chet teasing the viewer with a bite of his lip and his massive cannons popped upward in a perfect double bi. Still, thick thighs twisted into a perfect crossing pose, emphasizing their sheer length. Remmy finally calmed down as he recognized the photo-manipulation’s watermark from an artist he followed- Chet’s big, juicy pecs pumped with incredibly thick nipples as a definitive give away. In the photo, they were even pierced and ready to be toyed with unlike Chet’s real chest (Remmy had stolen glances prior). Remmy audibly huffed, saving the picture for later when in private. Remmy then flipped to the real Chet- where he’d posted a (still very sexy) picture of him flexing for shoulder day. Remmy himself matched Chet’s height but was much thinner- lankier. A dog with technicolor fur flicked his tail next to Remmy as he continued to self-loathe, turning its head to see the seen setting on the city. Remmy had completely lost track of time. For now, all he could ponder was life without debility and diffidence… The young man’s hands sifted through veils, watching men much like him battle weakness like his own. He watched their bodies change with perseverance. Some of them did it slowly; others stepped right into this new power. All of them, however, reveled as they became powerful. All of them also found themselves enveloped by swarms of demons threatening to punish them for breaking the status quo of disparity. Remus continued to walk, the veils becoming leaden as he watched many drown. He stopped to watch a glowing light pierce an amoeba of wretchedness, a thick hand blasting through to escape. A beast of a man tore his way through the swarm with his bare arms, roaring as his body swelled thicker and THICKER with vigor. It was hard to define more than a silhouette but eyes full of fire drew a halo atop the man’s thick neck, letting him banish the fiends and gasp in a prostrate victory. Remmy fell backwards the moment the beastly man caught eyes with him; he sunk through the darkness drowning in his own contempt. “You are just as powerful, Remus! I believe you can- and so do many others!” said the technicolor dog. Its tail flicked as the creature tried reaching the drowning Remus. “Just reach out and take it!” rang Remmy’s ears. His eyes opened, burning inside the ooze. A glowing orb flickered, changing composition as it bounced through possibilities. Remmy reached out, then hesitated. He felt his weakness crushing him like an enveloping serpent. It was going to kill him. His mouth opened and began swallowing the poisons enveloping him, sealing his doom. Then Remmy jolted awake, gasping with an awful taste in his mouth. “Last stop!” yelled the driver as he got out, not even looking towards the college boy at the end of the bus. The door left ajar, Remmy slowly stepped out. A clock’s hand pointed at twelve-before-midnight, smacking Remmy for being so irresponsible. An ominous chill passed the area, telling Remmy he should get home quickly. He had no time for strange dreams and wiped the sweat from his forehead. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ (So, this is a new story I've been working on, and I posted part III on my blog because I know how lengthy posts can get here in the forum. If you liked what you see so far, here's the link to the next part. Ah, also, thank you very much for reading what you've read thus far!) Here's Part III

YOU & I: At the Bar I don’t always wish to cause a commotion. Sometimes it’s more fun - more…satisfying - to make my changes without anyone even noticing my presence. Toning myself down, reducing my attractiveness, my size, my perfection, isn’t easy. Creating the man I am now, using terms like “most beautiful,” and “most powerful,” and so on, that’s easy, isn’t it? It’s describing the far-end of the scale, and I can add in things that amplify and correct any mistakes I might make along the way. Saying “the longest penis in the world” takes into account every penis on every creature. Limiting it to “the longest penis of any human male in the world” makes my cock lengthen, but it doesn’t improve its girth, does it? Because my words create a new reality, but only as far as my actual words are concerned. Saying “I have the largest human male penis in the world, both by length and girth,” finally creates the monster that normally hangs so proudly from my loins, a fat shank of sex longer and thicker than any other man possesses. Then I can finesse myself and create the gorgeous, perfect, mouth-watering beauty that makes men crave to set their mouths to it, an enormous and brain-sizzling length of cock that makes men and women spontaneously orgasm at the sight of it. A cock that can rise and lengthen to twice its size and pump out endless thick streams of hot, sticky cum that I can make do the most amazing things if it simply touches your skin, feeling like the deepest sexual bliss you’ve ever experienced, or causing your own muscles to begin to swell and bloat with strength - or anything else I wish to happen. So you can see that altering myself to be the most beautiful man on the planet is easier than trying to create, well, the most average man on the planet. I stand before a mirror and reduce my super-human dimensions and mind-bending muscular development into someone you might not even notice standing in the corner, watching the crowd amuse themselves, perhaps unaware that I am among them. Just another guy. The thrill of watching my changes manifest surprises even me. Being the focus of so much worshipful attention and making it impossible for anyone else to compare to my magnificence can throw such a damper on things. Watching someone else become the center of attention, and watch them understand and accept their own glorious perfection and begin to wallow in it - it’s positively addictive. And if I hand the reins to someone else and watch the results, it’s often much better than anything I could have created with my own imagination. That’s not to say that I don’t return to my usual physical perfection and incredible muscular size and power afterwards, of course. It is who I am now, and the other appearances I project are the artifice. I exist as the most beautiful man on the planet. The most powerful, the most sexual, the most muscular and capable, and being anything less is now impossible. I’m not sure what drew me to you. You were with some others, probably friends, you were smiling, laughing, flirting, having a good time. But I wanted to watch you fulfill your fantasies, because the man you dream about, your perfect lover. So I approach you and have to smile when you don’t even notice me at all. My masquerade is perfect, like everything else about me. “Hi,” I said. My voice is thin and high and lost in the noise of the crowd and the loud, pumping rhythms of the music. The bar is wet with beer and gin and the bartender, a shirtless, hairy-chested man with a ready smile to get more tips thrust into his tight jeans, answers me first. “What can I get you?” he asks. He doesn’t even look at me as he wipes off the surface of the stainless steel bar. “Just water,” I say. He looks up, disappointed. But he nods as he loses his smile and gets my glass of not-a-cocktail to me. “Thanks,“ I say, smiling back. Normally my smile would have the man pumping cum inside his shorts, but not this time - at least, not yet. He nods and turns his attention to other patrons, more handsome and more drunken than I am. I look at you again and you still ignore me. “You want to kiss the man to your right,” I tell you, and I watch you shift your eyes to your friend, whose muscular arm is hung across your shoulder. You lean towards him and close your eyes, but he isn’t aware of your desire and he’s got his eye on the hottest dude in the room, a guy who could have walked off a fashion runway with carved abs and defined pecs and piercing blue eyes. A dude who works hard to look that good and is unwilling to waste that work on any of you. He is the fantasy. The man everyone else wants. Until I change that. I move close so you can hear me, hear the words I speak that will change everything in an instant, even though you hearing them will make no difference in their power. I merely need to speak, anywhere, at any time, to change reality to my whims. But I want you to hear me speak them, I want to watch their effect on your head as I start to change your body. “You’re measuring every other man in this room. That’s okay, we all do it, even me. You’re weighing your opportunities and options, gauging which ones might say yes to a night with you, or even ten minutes in the alley while you suck their dick. By the way, you are an expert cocksucker. You’re adept and talented and very, very accomplished at sucking dick. Any dick. Every dick. You know exactly what your partner wants, often before they do, and you’re equipped to fulfill their desires in unlimited capacity. With your lips, and your tongue, and your hands, and your spit, all these things combine in some seemingly magical manner and you can bring a man to erection with a slight touch, and then keep him there as long as you need him there, even delaying his eventual explosion until you want him to come, and when he comes he comes hard and thick and full and you swallow it all.” I paused to look at your face as my words took effect, watching an expression of both need and confidence appear. Your lips seemed slightly to pillow, and when you licked your lips as you gazed now at every crotch in the bar, it was long and slick and wet. You smiled and you looked at the man you want to kiss and you move your fingers towards the crotch of his jeans and brush your fingers across the bulge of his potent manhood and he gasps and his eyes roll up and he staggers as you cause his cock to inflate in record time. “Good,” I say. “And you enjoy that. It raises your own libido, pumping sexual bliss into your head as you experience the sensation of growing erotic need in measure equal to dealing it out.” Instantly you suck in a shuddering breath as your own cock pulses and swells in concert with your companion’s. Now you rest your palm against your friend’s loins and you slowly knead his tumescence to full bloom. “Yes,” I add to my instructions, “your touch on a man’s prick is nearly the same as your mouth, a warm, slick embrace that pumps him to fullness and makes his balls sizzle and his skin heat. “Now,” I say, “look at the man you had focused so much desire on earlier. The tall, beautiful, muscular, confident man who is the focus of every man’s desire, except mine.” Your head turns but you continue to pet and rub your friend’s crotch, and a new idea enters my brain. “If you want to, but only if you want to, you can make his cock grow larger with your hands or mouth. You can make it longer, or thicker, or harder, or any combination of those instructions.” You smile and I know that you have instantly decided to push inches of new growth into your companion’s dick. I lean out and look down and I can see it swelling thicker and longer, pushing itself up his body until the head emerges from behind his belt, nudging its way up his body, and he swoons and gasps as he feels himself growing bigger and bigger. “But let’s look back at that man you want so badly. Tell me why you want him.” “He’s gorgeous,” you explain. “There are several gorgeous men here. If you wanted to, with your special talents, you could have any of them. Why him?” “I have always wanted him. I see him in here and he never pays any attention to me. He’s…perfect.” “I understand,” I say, though only I am truly perfect. But beauty is in the eye of the beholder. “Is it only the way he looks?” “No, it’s…everything. His smile. His eyes. His confidence.” “But you,” I say aloud, “are far more beautiful than he is. Taller, broader, more muscular, more powerful. You inspire lust and desire in every man you see.” Each words alters reality and I watch you change before me, your body swelling with muscular beauty, your chest pushing forward with two distinct globes of powerful meat, your shoulders growing broad and thick, your biceps inflating like balloons. Your body becomes the source of wet dreams, an impossibly gorgeous collection of marvelously carved muscle, now a full head taller than I am in my altered state of ordinariness, and your clothes can barely hold your newly swollen body inside. I look at your face and it has already altered as well. Men will come just to look at you. You will glance their way and smile and their cocks will grow swollen with desire and their balls will inflate with cum and they will shudder and swoon and erupt gouts of thick, warm cream your mouth craves like water. “You can have him easily,” I say. “So what more do you desire?” “Only him,” you state, because I have not erased that from your reality. “I want him to want me.” “He does,” I state. The man turns towards you but does not move. He and you have now switched places. His desire for you overwhelms him. "He comes in here just in the slight chance that he might see you, but he is scared of your rejection, because you are the focus of the attention of so many others in here, and who is he? He is also aware of your prowess, he has heard from others how your hands and your mouth can do things to his cock that would seem impossible. He wants to experience that, to know if it is true, and he hopes you will grow his cock in the same way you have grown so many others. “You have grown the cocks of many of the men in here,” I state, smiling. “If you look around, you can see which ones you have been with, because their cocks are huge, monuments to your powers, and they wear them with pride and honor, like steeds in your stable. Your eyes, like jewels, dance around the room and on the handsome men you find with your discerning gaze, you alter our reality and gift them with monster cocks, thick with swollen inches that tingle and sizzle as you spot them. They experience your sensation of growth, your special gift to them, and each now remembers the night when they were with you, and how good you feel down there as if your mouth is still applied to every cock in the room, sucking and licking and stroking them, your tongue dragging along their hard inches and pulling them longer and thicker with your mouth. Now the room is filled with men whose pants are overflowing with cock. Zippers are strained to the breaking point and button flies burst from the cargo they have been forced to try to contain, but your talents have no bounds and their cocks swell and lengthen. 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 inches long and some as thick and wide as your palm where you stroked them and coaxed them bigger and bigger. They ache with need, these owners of prize-winning meat, and the heat of your gaze upon them reignites those memories and they each swell and lengthen towards hardness, growing to 18, 20, 24 inches long and thick as a forearm. “But you have never been with him,” I state. You shake your head and look again at that handsome man, who steals glances of your overwhelming beauty and muscular power. You swallow and lick your lips and take your hand from your friend’s prick, now grown to be one of the largest in the room, its massive mushroom pulsing at his chest, thick pumps of glistening honey pouring from it’s gaping mouth and he grasps his newly emerged monster in both his hands and slowly stroked himself, shuddering with intense sexual bliss. “That was kind of you,” I say. “He’s my friend,” you answer. “So you gifted him with the biggest cock of all.” You nod and smile and look over at your handiwork, a massive, beautiful, superhuman cock that shakes and throbs with constant need. I have another idea. “I like your bar,” I say, instantly transferring ownership to you. “What do you call it?” You smile. “The Coxswain.” I nearly laugh. I had not taken you for such an erudite gentleman. “Also known as…” “The cocksman. The man who sits at the bow of the rowers and urges them on, controlling where they will go, and how fast, controlling the speed, timing, and fluidity of their movement.” “Fluidity,” I repeat, looking over at his friend’s drooling prick, veiny and red and throbbing as he concentrated his attentions on his new toy, undoubtedly sending thick cascades of pure bliss through his body. He leans his head forward, sticks out his tongue, and licks himself before sucking the plum of the helmet inside his own mouth. You smile, enjoying the play on words. “Welcome,” you tell me, and you start to move your hand to my own cock. I allow it, curious as to how this will feel, and how far you will push me, and how big I will become. I can feel the heat of your hand even before you reach me, like the furnace of some forge. My cock throbs as if it knows you, recognizes your touch, understands what you can do. You look down and over towards me, pivoting slightly to focus your talents on me. Your shirt tears along its seams as your new muscles swell and flex. Your nipples are distinct and mouthwatering along the lower edge of two massive globes of pectoral might banded with hard cables of power. Your face is almost too beautiful, if such a thing could be said to be true - and I could make it true with a whisper. You place your hand on my groin and instantly I can feel your power manifest as you merely wish for me to grow bigger and I do! My cock twists and swells and pushes angrily against its confines as you unleash yourself on me, stroking me and rubbing me over my jeans and you look like an artist, a painter or, no, a sculptor! A master sculptor with just one object of your talent and unlimited resources at your beck and call. You keep one hand on me and use your other to undo my belt and pants, wanting more direct access to the source of your talented attentions. I swell fatter as you alter your skills and make me grow thick and hard and suddenly you pull my pants open forcefully and I spill forward, already inches larger than I designed and not slowing for an instant, gaining inches with your magic and stretching towards you. You gaze upon my cock with excitement, and you slowly fall to your knees before me and look up at my face and smile. In your grip I swell and lengthen with voracious size, and I can feel my prick sizzle and pulse with power and hunger. Then you open your mouth and suck me inside. It is…miraculous…inside your mouth. Better than any sexual sensation even I have ever encountered. And as you begin to exercise your complete hold over me, I feel myself swelling massive with inches of prick. You swallow me down and bathe me in bliss and I am overcome with some insane, perfect, powerfully sexual pleasure that radiates out from your mouth on my cock until my entire body feels like it wants to come. You growl as you urge my growth on, and I swell larger and larger, the end of my monster pushing deeply inside you and your hand grabs my ass and you pull my groin at your mouth, making me fuck your face as I grow bigger and bigger. I must be absurdly huge by now. The weight and heft of my prick is pulling from my groin like an iron barbell, and I can feel the mother of all loads shimmering along the fat inches of my dick lodged down your throat. You live for this, this is all you want or need, now. Cock in your mouth, swelling and lengthening and blooming with size and power because you will it to happen. I need to come, now. I need to, with a need stronger than anything else. I squeeze my eyes shut and ball my hands into fists and curl my toes with that need but you aren’t done with me, yet. How big am I now, inside you? How far does my prick reach, surrounded by the wet warmth of your mouth and throat? My balls bulge and ache with a load so heavy and thick that it feels like they’re being inflated with hot lead. I need to come. I must come. You close your eyes and I feel your deep growl along every inch of my augmented monster and you do something, release something, and I am coming so hard, now, pushing a fat gushing flood of cum along the fat inches of cock you’ve given me and I nearly pass out from the intensity of the sensation. You take it all and want more, so I give it to you, every drop I have. You milk me with your mouth, squeeze me with your throat, massage every bit of warm, salty cream I have to give you and then you pull away and I begin to extract my newly grown monster prick from you and am amazed and thrilled and staggered by what you’ve done. Your jaw nearly unhinges to allow me from you and I watch in awe and disbelief as inch after inch after inch of the glistening swollen beauty of my enormous cock emerges like a butterfly from its cocoon. Twelve inches. Fourteen. Sixteen. Eighteen. Still it comes, its glistening surface lines with fat veins. It’s like a sex muscle, fat as my wrist and long as my arm. You are reticent to allow me to escape your mouth and you watch my face as my eager bliss and anxious surprise shows. I reach down to grasp myself and I am thick and firm and warm and slick with spit and at last the bulbous head pops free from your lips and my new dick, a two-foot long beast that feels like it weighs fifty pounds, slaps against my leg, the fat helmet dangling past my knees, still drooling a stream of honey from its gaping mouth. The whole thing throbs and tingles and vibrates with sex. Do I even have enough blood in my body to erect this monument to male power? Can it arch its mighty head upwards, or is its sheer size and weight too much to allow it to swell to its zenith and proclaim its power to the world? You stand up and lick your lips then lean down and press your mouth against mine, and the kiss reignites my passion and I feel my monster pulse hard and sudden and I feel the familiar sensation of my unquenchable sexual appetite rushing into it and it heats up and swells and begins to rise. Impossible, I think, but I can feel it. I can feel what you’ve given me, this marvelous and unbelievable sexual tool and I know that it will grow bigger still on its way to its fully erect state. You release me from my kiss and stroke my cock and then turn your attention to the rest of the bar, smiling your gorgeous smile, hungry for more cum. You zero in on that one guy, the beautiful man, the man of your desires. I am nearly overcome with the sensation of my new prick continually swelling and lengthening towards erection but I need you to hear my words, now, I need to alter just a few more things. “You are the cock worshiper. The god of cock. Every man’s prick throbs with need and swells with desire and pulses with sex when you’re near. Your power radiates from you like heat, wrapping its hand around every man’s hungry prick and squeezing and massaging and milking it for its delivery of cum. Because cum is your food, your fuel, the source of your power, and your strength, and your beauty. You stride this world in naked perfection, your own prick the most beautiful of all.” I watch your clothing disappear and now you stand before me, muscles swollen, skin smooth and flawless, like a god among men. You turn to look at me, breathing hard, and show me your cock. It is…beyond beautiful. Truly, you are the god of cock. I swell in sudden and uncontrolled tumescence, my own monster rising in salute to your beauty and perfection, and you lean towards me and kiss the throbbing tip and I swoon and shake and push forth a thick, hot fountain of cream to worship you, and you surround the purple, gleaming head of my yard-long cock and swallow my offering to your beauty and power. We are all coming, now, in the presence of the god of cock, worshipping you with cum, our pricks swollen and hard and pumping load of cream to honor you, to exalt and to praise and to idolize you, our new god. You walk to the center of the bar and we are all your flock, in the church of the god of cock, huge and perfect, and you raise your thickly muscled arms overhead and open your mouth and we come and we come and we come. ... Is it a skill or a talent? I like to think it’s both. My talent is that I can make cocks grow. My skill is that when I do it, I create massive beautiful works of art that are a dedication to the power and passion of men. The god of cock, I’m called. You called me that when I was done with you, when I had given you the most magnificent example of my skills so far, that towering and gorgeous edifice branching from your loins, raising its plump and handsome head higher and higher, pumped thick and firm with hot blood and drooling a stream of warm, slick, delicious honey draining down its gleaming neck. I’ve met men who told me they love cock, but that’s before I show them what loving cock truly means. Some men, I give them a few extra inches and they’re satisfied. I can do that so easily, you see, barely a brush against them with my fingers and they’re lengthening in their shorts and swelling thick and fat. I know that sensation intimately because I feel it too. Did you realize that when I was growing you? That experience of your prick swelling, that delicious sensual sensation of a hard-on that just keeps growing, throbbing and pulsing and stretching longer and longer and longer, the feeling of masculine power the erupts from your dick when you’re getting hard and rising to show off your beauty and prowess, I feel it, too. The god of cock. But am I? A god, I mean? I love being me. I mean I fucking love it. I revel in it. The men I gift worship me and I drink down their delicious offering and grow stronger and stronger. Soon I’ll be able to simply look at a man - just glance at him, and offer a smile - and his cock will leap forward and swell heavy and thick and burst from its cage for the world to see. I gave you something special. You were standing there, next to me, and something about you was different. I can’t say what it was or why I felt it, but I knew you were different. And you deserved something extra special. Something I knew you would appreciate and welcome and worship. A monument to masculine power and strength. The cock of all cocks. Mine, I must admit, is something special, too. I stay constantly hard because that’s how I constantly feel. I am in love with my cock, more than any other cock. Maybe that’s where my talent originates. I have always been blessed with physical beauty, and I am glad for it. But it is my cock that is the true miracle, and all I want is to share my miracle with other men. I cannot remember a time before I could do what I do. It seems that I have always been able to do this. Was I doing it in high school? Did I approach friends in the showers after gym, my own monster already hard and throbbing, leaking a stream of warm honey down its thick neck, reaching forward towards my friend’s dick and placing my hand upon him, willing him to swell bigger and bigger while I watched him? Did I kiss him as I grew him, feeling his cock filling my hands and stretching longer and longer until he came a fountain of cream that I welcomed inside my mouth? Did I have a job, once? Did I go to work with my hard-on pulsing and weeping, sending out hot waves of power and resting my hand on my co-worker’s crotch under the table, meeting his gaze as he understood what I was doing to him - for him - feeling his prick tingle and swell to erection, and then keep going, bigger, fatter, longer, shoving down his thigh under his suit and edging towards his knee? My hands can do so much, but it is only when I invite a man inside that I can do some truly spectacular work. I suck your dick inside my mouth and your growth instantly accelerates, and I swallow you and urge your growth and feel you enter me and quiver and swell. I look up to watch your face, watch your expression as I continually push more and more and more power, more size, more strength into your dick and feel you inching down my throat, swelling and shaking with need. Then you come, and your push load after load after load inside me and I swallow it all and it feeds my power, the pure essence of masculine energy, and I take it inside me and it makes me grow stronger, more powerful, more capable, and then I stand up before you, my own cock practically exploding, the whole thing red and gleaming and hard as steel, the mouth of my beast gaping wide and drooling a stream of my delicious, masculine-scented honey. And you come again, and I grasp you and aim your cock at my mouth and take you inside me. It has happened so many times, yet I have trouble remembering them. Only this one is burned into my brain, as if you were the first man I had given my gift, and the biggest one I had ever created. I watched you swelling thicker and higher as I held you. Your face registered shock, at first, and then acceptance, and then desire. More, you told me, I want more. Give me more. And I could. And I did. So much more. A towering monument to me, and to cock. And then there they all were, my flock, th emen I had grown, now urgently displaying the fruits of my power, opening their trousers and reaching inside and pulling out inch after inch after fat, thick, firm, ripening inch of dick. Cut and uncut. Dark and light skinned. Each one built to its perfect form and swelling longer and thicker before me in worship of me and my own amazing and beautiful cock. I wish I could make you feel the way that I feel all the time. That pure, perfect, brain-sizzling sensation of pumping an endless fountain of cum up the massive meat that rises in ever-present wonder from my loins. I am coming even when I am not coming, the god of cock experiencing that quicksilver moment of orgasmic explosion forever, and wanting - no, needing to share that with everyone I see, every man I meet. I stride into the center of my followers, the worshipers of the god of cock, and they stroke themselves and lick themselves and suck themselves, moaning and whimpering and growling in perfect bliss as the colossal cocks I have given them swell and shake and tingle with sexual ecstasy. I can feel it, too. It magnifies my own power, my own bliss, my own energy, and I close my eyes and raise my mighty, muscular arms and flex them into full bloom and my cock climbs higher and higher, swelling as big as a leg, as hard as steel, the most beautiful and gigantic prick the world will ever know and my balls swell and throb and my load begins its long, long climb to escape my massive monster. Then I am coming, and you are coming, and they are coming, and we are coming. Pumping thick, hot loads of cum over and over and over, shoving it up the heavy, hard inches I have given you and you point your cock at my naked perfection and I open my mouth and feel your sticky, sweet loads splattering against me and my power swells and my prick grows suddenly massive and shiny and I am blasting my unstoppable load of super cum everywhere. I am the god of cock. I am coming for you.

I know its been a while, and this one is rather short too, but i hope you guys enjoy it. .... Travelling faster than a locomotive, soaring above skyscrapers, mountains and dressed in nothing but the right blue and red suit that not so long ago belonged to Daily Planet reporter Clark Kent, Dan relished the feeling of his newly acquired powers, abilities and Godlike status and stature. After Dan was done with flying he soared down and landed with a "superhero landing" as he punched the ground, sending shockwaves across the fields and trees and suburbs nearby. He then stood up to his full height of 7 feet and started to flex, feel and admire his new physique, he was in a word - massive, and harder than titanium. As he continues to feel his muscles through his spandex superhero outfit his supercock began to spring to life underneath his red trunks, lengthening and hardening. "Mmm I think it's time a god like should be finally worshipped" and Dan knew just the dweeb for the job. ... Sammy was quietly studying in his room when suddenly he heard a tapping at the bedroom window, he goes to look and check what's outside couldn't believe his eyes and sees the most massive, muscular behemoth of a specimen just...floating...FLOATING?! outside the window "Holy shit! Dan?! Is that you?! How the hell did you get so massive? Why are you floating?! And why are you wearing a superman costume!" "That's too many questions that I care for Sammy!" Dan replied with a cocky grin on his face as his huge powerful arms were folded over his ginormous pecs. "Come with me shrimp! We're going for a ride!" Dan then grabbed Sammy, pulling him through the window with ease and then took him under one arm and flew up, and up as Sammy started screaming "what the fuck? ! How is this possible? Where are you taking me?!" Dan took Sammy to the top of the citys tallest building and landed down sitting Sammy on the ground "now take a good look dweeb! Take a look at what I have become!" Demanded Dan as he struck a double bicep pose before his eyes went red and his heat vision struck part of the building opposite causing a doorway sized hole! "Oh my god!" Sammy said in part astonishment, part excitement, and part fear, "you have superpowers, and look at all that muscle!" As Sammy approached the mighty new Superman and felt his pecs, legs, chest and back through the skintight suit. "HAHA YES! WORSHIP ME! YOU THINK I LOOK GOOD NOW!" Dan shouted before taking a step back, "WELL HOW ABOUT THIS!" and with that Dan used his superspeed to spin superfast, disrobing his outfit in the process leaving him stark naked in the moonlight, proudly showing off his new mass, size definition and supercock as it jutted out as thick as a beer can and a length of 12 inches. Sammy just knelt down in shock and admiration as Dan flexed his arms, then his legs, then back and finally his chest. "I am the most massive, most powerful man in the world now Sammy! And lucky you gets to be the first one to service me" as Dan grabbed the back of Sammys head and slowly entered his mouth, then throat. And Sammy was all too eager to please. And please he did as he continued to suck this new god while squeezing supergods rock hard big bubble butt and then soon after making him empty his load down Sammys throat! "Ahhhhh thanks dweeb that was real sweet!" Said Dan before pulling his supergod costume back on, "I'll fly you home don't worry shrimpy " And as Sammy was flown back home in the arms of this former jock, now godlike entity, he gazed upon him with lust, admiration, worship....but also, deep inside Sammy there was a little envy too.... That night Sammy jacked off to the thoughts of Supergod and the chance of getting to see him again...hopefully at school tomorrow. And then Sammy slept, but little did he know, something inside Sammys lithe little body was changing. ...

All comments and critiques are welcomed here and on my Google Docs(https://drive.google.com/open?id=1zNSigi8v1eclG3AQv803GITT-d8kviEnOkwfLV47aXQ) For other chapters, I will post them on here later. But you can find the archives on my FA and Tumblr with pics included. FA: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/ecchimultiverse/ Tumblr: http://ecchimultiverse.tumblr.com/ For first looks and more illustrations, check out my Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ecchimultiverse First Chapter | Previous Chapter | Next Chapter SPECIAL THANKS TO MY PATRONS: CHRISTOPHER FLOYD & DONALD MORGAN All comments and critiques are welcomed here and on my Google Docs(https://drive.google.com/open?id=1O52F8UJS70fDmrK2gYawUXBtklu8IEUwpOdaOZrPuoM) For other chapters, I will post them on here later. But you can find the archives on my FA and Tumblr with pics included. FA: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/ecchimultiverse/ Tumblr: http://ecchimultiverse.tumblr.com/ For first looks and more illustrations, check out my Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/ecchimultiverse First Chapter | Previous Chapter | Next Chapter SPECIAL THANKS TO MY PATRONS: CHRISTOPHER FLOYD & DONALD MORGAN Chapter 15: Spells and Muscles Days past since the date, and Marvelous Man was feeling optimistic about his relationship with Gene. Whenever there was free time after investigating supernatural occurrences or daily patrol, the two would hang out. The choice of activities were aggressively engaging with little time to talk: usually dancing at clubs or sparring in the D.A.B. basement floor’s training room. It was patrol time during the afternoon hour, and the musclebound superhero was chatting away at his cell phone. His bunny partner, Gene, walked next to him during the conversation. Although the Totochtin prince was looking away, there was a good chance Gene could hear the entire conversation with his white-furred rabbit ears. Marvelous Man grinned, “Yeah, we gotta watch the season finale together! I can’t wait for you to get back. When is that, by the way?” A familiar electronic voice echoed from the superhero’s phone. “Some time today. They’re doing last minute checkups to make sure my tuneup is alright. But I really don’t think they need to record it all. Buncha perverts,” answered Gemini. The Soulem paused for a moment. Gemini spoke up, “So whatcha doin?” “Just...walking around,” hesitated Marvelous Man. While it was not a lie, the answer left a bitter taste in Marvelous Man’s mouth. He never explained to Gemini that Justice Starr lived a double life as Marvelous Man. Every opportunity that seemed like the right time to admit such an important detail, he would reason himself as to why he should not. After all, he signed that agreement with the Department of Metahuman Registration that they did not have permission to publicly disclose his real identity. He signed it to protect his loved ones...who are gods… Gemini replied, “Cool. Maybe you could pick me up some ice cream for when we meet up again. Dunno what flavor, I’m not really picky at the moment.” Marvelous Man flexed his eyebrow in confusion. “Can you even eat ice cream? I don’t remember you having a mouth,” he questioned. Gemini hesitated, “Uhh...I’m just feeling a craving. You know how I’ve got my dad’s personality and subconscious crammed into me. It’ll be fine...I’ll just watch you eat it, and, wow, that sounded so creepy when I said that out loud…” “It’s okay. Lots of people have that voyeur fetish, but it’s usually with watching a cute Asian girl eating stuff,” smiled Marvelous Man. Gemini exclaimed, “HEY! I’m the one that’s supposed to be witty, not you!” “I guess you’re rubbing off on me then,” shrugged Marvelous Man. Gemini huffed, “Yeah, whatever. I’ll text you later when I’m out. See ya later, dude.” “Okay. Bye,” nodded Marvelous Man. Ending the call, the muscle demigod placed his smartphone back into his pocket. Marvelous Man continued to smile and sighed with content, while his partner looked up to him. Gene spoke up, “A close friend of yours?” “Yeah. He was one of the first friends I made when I moved here. Uh, right after I met you, I mean,” nodded Marvelous Man. Gene smiled, “There is no need to be the nervous, Marvelous Man. I am not one to easily incite jealousy. It is good to have the other friends. Especially the ones that can put the gleam in your eye.” Marvelous Man looked down at his work partner and opened his mouth with intention to complement. The ground rumbled with low vibrations, while the sound of explosions can screaming can be heard in the distance. A recognizable tingle at the back of his mind could be felt; the blue D.A.B. patch on his black jacket’s shoulder had been activated. With the patch now acting as a magical psychic communicator, he could hear his field operator, Fairuza, speak directly into his head. “Lightfoot, Marvelous Man, please respond! This is a high alert command from the D.A.B. Headquarters!” called Fairuza. Gene crossed his arms and projected his thoughts. The rabbit superhero responded, “I can hear you, Fairuza. What is the situation?” “An unknown supervillain has appeared in Trevorstone Park a few blocks away from your position. He appears to be armed with a shield and an oddly-shaped sword. Subject seems to be at least a C-Rank due to signs of super strength. He’s been seen attacking and wounding civilians, but no confirmed casualties,” reported Fairuza. Gene nodded, “Understood. Does your magic book know the name of the supervillain?” The bunny demigod immediately looked up at Marvelous Man. “Let us make haste, Marvelous Man,” he said. Without saying a word, Marvelous Man nodded and took off running with his partner. The Totochtin prince led the charge, as they dashed towards the source of the panic and destruction. With the commotion in earshot, it would take the team minutes to arrive. Fairuza spoke up, “I've just about finished analyzing them, and...wha-that just doesn’t make sense! I’m checking a few more times to make sure, but...the identity and story of our supervillain is the ancient Sumerian royal hero, Gilgamesh. He’s a demigod king from thousands of years ago...” >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Arriving at the Trevorstone Park entrance, Gene continued his sprint. The rabbit superhero zigzagged through the trees; leading to what Marvelous Man guessed was the causation of emotional distress. The running came to its final end when Gene led his partner towards a clearing. Marvelous Man gasped at his surroundings. The grassy plains with concrete sidewalk was littered with civilians and law enforcers lying on the ground. They were splayed about; bleeding, broken, and some barely conscious. In the center of the disaster stood a man almost as big and muscular as Marvelous Man himself. His long, black hair was kept braided; as well as the beard that surrounded his square face. The man known as Gilgamesh had dark bronze skin with a carpet of black hair matting all over his muscular body. His muscles had an impressiveness much different from Marvelous Man. They were lean and hard that exuded a lifetime of hard labor and purpose. Whereas Marvelous Man’s appeared inflated from a lifetime of dedication to exercise as a means of showing off power and sex appeal. Gilgamesh’s stomach was the only part of him that appeared inflated; stuffed with so much muscle that he had a permanent bloated appearance. Adorned on his hard body was golden jewelry, and on his head was a golden circlet. Every part of him sparkled with golden light that commanded one to awe at his muscles and nobility. The golden jewelry never covered but curved around his angular muscles, and his large golden necklace strewn over his wide shoulders lightly bounced from his flexing pectorals. The Sumerian king appeared to be nearly naked if one were to not notice the jewelry serving as his only means of clothing. As for the covering of his manhood, he wore a lewdly-designed codpiece shaped like a bull’s head and forged with gold plating. It was only big enough to hold what appeared to be his immense package, and barely covered his trimmed pubic bush. And the only thing tying the codpiece to his body was a golden chain; bedecked with glittering gems. It seemed as if he used a glamorous necklace to serve as the codpiece’s chain and thong. Gilgamesh appeared to have done everything he possibly could to show off his regality, godhood, and sexual allure. Gilgamesh turned to the superheroes and smiled. “Ah, the Totochtin and the star child. It has been a while, since we last fought,” he greeted. Gene and Marvelous Man glanced at each other for a second before looking back at Gilgamesh. The only person to ever call them that was the Skeleton Lord. Marvelous Man did not dare move to assist the injured; not unless he wanted the dangerous foe to attack with his back turned. Gene spoke, “My apologies, but I do not believe we have met.” “Uh, yeah...And are you Gilgamesh, the royal hero?” inquired Marvelous Man. Gilgamesh frowned, as he became silent. In that moment, his eyes flooded with pride, sadness, and then regret. The light in his eyes died immediately after flashing through his emotions. He replied, “...I have not been called either in a long time. Neither a king, nor a hero anymore...Aye, I am Gilgamesh. And I fight for the Skeleton Lord.” Marvelous Man’s stomach felt it had been stabbed after hearing those words. The Skeleton Lord has resurfaced but has sent a powerful demigod lackey in his stead. Thankfully, he had Gene to outnumber their foe. “Now come, heroes. Allow me to instill fear into you, so the Skeleton Lord may feast on it,” bellowed Gilgamesh. Brandishing his weapons for the superheroes to see, Marvelous Man recognized the familiar armaments. The Sumerian held a circular war shield welded with bumps and intricate designs, and a scythe sword now glittering with blood on it. It was the weapons the Skeleton Lord used when the villain called... Gilgamesh was not just any lackey. He was one of the Skeleton Lord’s guardians. Gene ordered, “Marvelous Man, you must heal the injured. I will fight the guardian.” It seemed that Gene had also understood how dangerous their enemy truly was upon seeing Gilgamesh’s weapons. “R-roger!” nodded Marvelous Man. As Gene charged towards the opponent at full speed, Marvelous Man evaluated the wounded lot. There were too many to heal one at a time before any of them became deceased, and they were scattered all over the place. The most obvious choice would have to be supercharging his light and channeling it through the ground in order to do one massive heal. The musclebound superhero reached into his pocket and pulled out his golden harmonica, Duskbringer. Applying it to his lips, he began to play an energetic song filled with many bouncy notes. Marvelous Man could feel his light feeding on the music; slowly growing to the point of supercharge. Squatting down like a sumo wrestler, Gilgamesh placed the knuckles of his sword-wielding hand on top of the grass. He immediately raised his tight, muscular buttocks high into the air; the jeweled chain thong pressing into his skin even deeper. His leg muscles tightened for a moment before launching Gilgamesh’s fuzzy body forward. The ground beneath him crumbled upon his liftoff; leaving behind a small crater with dirt and grass being flung into the air. He flew at a speed that was beyond faster than Gene's. Gilgamesh then stretched out the arm that held his scythe sword. Gene’s eyes widened at Gilgamesh’s explosive agility, and the acknowledgement of what he is incapable of reacting in time for. Gilgamesh’s outstretched arm slammed into Gene’s chest; knocking the air out of Gene’s lungs. Upon being hit by Gilgamesh’s clothesline attack, Gene’s legs lost their footing to stabilize against the charge. The Totochtin prince spun into the air, while Gilgamesh continued his uninterrupted velocity towards Marvelous Man. As Gene landed back first onto the ground, the Skeleton Lord guardian slammed his arm into Marvelous Man for another clothesline attack. As a result of the bodybuilder superhero’s tall stature, the flying attack impacted against Marvelous Man’s abdomen. Gilgamesh’s arm had Marvelous Man hooked onto him; carrying the muscle demigod until the golden guardian crashed into a tree. The tree cracked from the massive muscle collision. Splintering into two, the broken top half landed in between the fallen enemies. Gilgamesh lost grip over his weapons, causing them to clatter onto Marvelous Man’s side during the fall. Activating his flight power, Marvelous Man immediately lifted himself off the ground to face his enemy. The golden guardian slowly stood up as he laughed. It greatly annoyed the muscle demigod that his foe would be laughing from causing great harm and destruction. Gilgamesh grinned, “I learned that trick from you, star child. I had never considered the strength in my legs to push myself at speeds my foes cannot even predict. But I suppose I need to practice my landing first before I challenge beings greater than you.” Marvelous Man flew forward, as he thrusted an overhead punch with all his might. Still smiling, Gilgamesh caught the fist with quick ease. The air shook with immense vibration as the impact of a sonic boom burst between the clashing hands. Marvelous Man watched the vibrating air tussle Gilgamesh’s hairs. Even with all his strength, it was not enough to cause this Sumerian demigod of strength to flinch. He was fighting a force that was leagues beyond his own strength. Momentarily lifting up Marvelous Man into the air, Gilgamesh turned away and slammed the bodybuilder superhero into the ground in front of him. Marvelous Man’s breath choked out of him, from the front of his body smashed against the dirt. The Sumerian demigod still had Marvelous Man’s fist in his grasp. “I was ordered to do no harm to the Totochtin. Well, nothing too damaging that wouldn’t allow him to perform,” spoke Gilgamesh, “But you? I can crush.” Immense pain exploded in Marvelous Man’s hand, as he could hear the crushing of bones vibrate into his eardrums. He screamed in high-pitched anguish and nearly blacked out from the ghastly pain. Gilgamesh released his broken hand; mangled into disfiguration. Turning away from the broken hero, Gilgamesh walked towards his fallen weapons. The golden guardian bragged, “You might be wondering why the Totochtin is so special. Why he gets the special treatment from the Skeleton Lord and not you. It’s cause he can produce countless amounts of lust energy. Something the Skeleton Lord overlooked until now. And being a man of sexual prowess, it will be up to me to milk it, so the Skeleton Lord can focus on other things. Now while I usually prefer the company of women, a hole is still a hole.” Marvelous Man could hear every word Gilgamesh said; despite being in blinding pain. He needed to stop this monster before he harmed more people. Before he hurted Gene… He had no choice. Marvelous Man needed to use the poison. It did not matter if using that dark power would hurt himself. He was already in enough pain, and the bigger regret would be not using it to save someone he loves. Marvelous Man commanded the blackness within him to rise and feed on his agony and the pain of being useless to help others. He wanted to inflict this misery onto his foe. Marvelous Man’s other unbroken hand began to glow with a whisping, dark aura. All he had to do now was touch Gilgamesh, and reactivate every damage the Sumerian ever took in his life all at once. “Stand down, Marvelous Man. Bossman and I have this,” a familiar voice whispered. There was only one person who addressed the Director with such vocabulary and spoke in a deep, Russian accent. The musclebound superhero truly wished he was not hallucinating from the extreme pain. Marvelous Man wheezed, “Puzzles?” A furry imp in a cobalt business suit walked past the fallen hero. He turned to look down at Marvelous Man with his crystal blue eyes and gave a gleaming smile. Marvelous Man shivered at the sight; to see something so unusual as seeing Puzzles smile and one that looked like a cheshire cat grin. “Da,” said Puzzles. As Gilgamesh finished retrieving his close-combat arms, Puzzles began to disintegrate into smoke. Puzzles’ smoke form floated away right, as the golden guardian turned to face Marvelous Man. Gilgamesh’s face gave no evidence of ever spotting Puzzles, while walking back to the beaten hero. Putting his trust into the smoke imp, Marvelous Man commanded his whisping poison to deactivate. Gilgamesh smirked, “I will say that I respect you. You are so much weaker than the Totochtin, but you’re very resourceful. You’ve managed to find ways to compensate for what you lack. And that light you cast when you play your metal ocarina really irks the Skeleton Lord. It really forces him to use his more powerful attacks, since your light is bright enough to destroy his dark spells. So I commend you for being able to corner the Skeleton Lord so much.” A southern, gentlemanly-like voice called out to the Sumerian demigod. “Pardon me, evildoer. But you wouldn’t happen to be Gilgamesh, would ya?” he drawled. Gilgamesh looked towards his left. Standing next to the broken tree stump was Director Skye and Puzzles. The golden guardian replied, “Aye. That is me. And who are you?" “He is Director Douglas Skye. Head of the North American Demon Authority Bureau. Master Witch of the Defense Arts," spoke up Puzzles, "And I am his familiar, Puzzles. But I will not be attacking you today.” Director Skye looked down at the smoke imp. “Why’s that?” he asked. Puzzles stared back up at his master. The smoke imp shrugged, “Fighting an ancient hero is part of your imposs-I mean, improbable bucket list, Boss. I’m sure you’d want to try to fight him with your own strength to see who’s stronger. But I’ll still help support you, boss. Just no sneaky attacks from me. Besides, you’ve been cooped up in your office for so long. You need to blow off some steam.” “I really do...Are you sure you want me to take him on my own?” said the Director. Puzzles scoffed, “Unless you want me to join in, Boss. But all that hairy musclehead can do is hit really hard, so there’s nothing to worry about. And if I had to fight him as well, then it would be overkill.” Gilgamesh bursted out laughing upon hearing Puzzles’ boasts. “You make such amusing insults, creature. But your master is no match for me. What good is his magic if his spells focus only on defense?” he said. The Director smirked, “Would you like for me to educate you?” The golden guardian switched into his battle stance. He held his sword out; pointed at Director Skye. “By all means, witch. Enlighten me,” laughed Gilgamesh. The Director slowly pulled off his cobalt business suit’s jacket. Grabbing it by the collar, Director Skye tossed his jacket into the air with a light amount of effort. The jacket climbed in the air for a second before reaching its peak altitude. As the cobalt suit jacket hit its point of incline, the Director raised his hands into the air and began to gesture in a circular motion. His hands glowed with the movements, while a magical circle filled with sigils and runic symbols appeared below the jacket. Upon the jacket’s descent and passing through Director Skye’s magical seal, its motion came nearly to a halt. It was still falling, but it looked like someone played its action on slow motion. The Director stopped his gesturing and hand glowing once he saw his completed spell. Looking back at his opponent, he pointed up at the jacket falling in slow motion. He declared, “Before my jacket hits the ground, I shall defeat you. I will be very embarrassed if I don’t, because I just had that dry cleaned.” Director Doug then held out his hand; as if he were grabbing something. A runic symbol, glowing with a bluish florescence, appeared on his palm. Immediately after it emerged, the rune stretched itself. It reformed itself into a long, tube shape that continued to glow blue. Upon reaching a certain length, Director Skye grabbed the tube. The magical light instantaneously shattered like glass and left behind a silver baton in the master witch's grasp. “I think you’ll need something sharper than that thin club to beat me, witch” laughed Gilgamesh. The Director smirked, “Oh, this isn’t a club. It’s my broom.” “I see,” smiled Gilgamesh, “And do you plan to defeat me by dusting the dirt off my codpiece? Director Skye fired back, “Actually, I was planning to stick it up your ass and sweep the floor with it.” “Decapitating you will be most gayful,” said the golden guardian. Leaping forward, Gilgamesh raised his scythe sword for downward slash attack. The Director calmly stood still; smiling without a care. The Director exclaimed, “Bring it, fatherfucker. HECATE!!!” Gilgamesh brought down his sword at the master witch, as he landed. At the moment where Gilgamesh’s blade cleaved through the Director, it instead split in half. The blade looked as if it were caught in a illusionary prism that caused one side of the blade to stick out to the left and the other blade pointing right. It continued its downward swing without even grazing the Director’s fabric. Flabbergasted, the golden guardian held his weapon up to his face and stared at his weapon. The blades were no longer two and had returned to its original form of being a single, straightforward blade. “What madness?!” said the Sumerian demigod. Director Doug explained, “That’s a space fracture spell. Causes a small rift for objects to be split in two. Great for dodging vertical attacks and projectiles. But I suggest you never do it with horizontal or diagonal attacks. Oh, and try not to use it on people. Big objects tend to get permanently cleaved in half. And it's as messy as it sounds.” >>>>>>>>> As Marvelous Man watched Director Skye in amazement at the master witch’s magical performance, he could feel Fairuza communicating to his mind. “Marvelous Man, are you there? Do you read me, Marvelous Man?” called Fairuza. Marvelous Man thought back, “I’m here, Fairuza.” “What happened? You were screaming before the Director showed up,” questioned Fairuza. Marvelous Man answered, “...Gilgamesh broke my hand. I can’t move it at all, and I’m in a lot of pain.” “We’ll have it looked at when the Director finishes up. In the meantime, you need to get up. The paramedics can’t get close until the supervillain is subdued. And those innocent people are dying, Marvelous Man, and you’re the only one that can save them,” Fairuza reminded. Marvelous Man acknowledged, “...okay. I’ll try to...supercharge the area to heal them all at once.” Using his other unbroken hand to steady himself, Marvelous Man attempted to push himself up. The ache in his body from being smashed into ground was slowly dissipating, but it still felt unbearable to the musclebound superhero. He groaned from the pain, but he needed to get up. Lives were depending on him, and superheroes must answer the call of duty above their own needs. Marvelous Man continued to remind himself about his sense of duty as a superhero as motivation. Slowly lurching up, the muscle demigod managed to upright himself and sit on top of his legs in a seiza position. Marvelous Man quickly scanned the area around himself before spotting his harmonica. Duskbringer laid next to the broken top-half of the tree, but was out of the muscle demigod's reach. “Can you still play your harmonica with just one working hand?” asked Fairuza. Marvelous Man sighed, “I can, but I don’t have to play it to supercharge my healing. I just need to make art. Will Director Skye be alright?” “He’ll be fine. He’s a Rank-A superhero, so don’t worry about him. Just focus on helping the injured,” replied Fairuza. Marvelous Man nodded, “Right. Sorry.” Taking a breath, Marvelous Man cleared his throat. He began to softly hum before vocalizing into a gregorian-like chant. The light within him began to feed on his music. >>>>>>>> Gilgamesh swung his scythe sword in a horizontal strike in an attempt to hit the Director. The Director made no attempt to cast a spell, while Gilgamesh’s blade sliced through the air. Upon contact with Director Skye’s body, the scythe sword cleaved through. The Director’s body severed in half from the slash, but not a drop of blood escaped from the master witch’s bisected anatomy. The Director continued to smile even after experiencing such devastating damage. Director Douglas’ detached top half floated for a second before his whole body exploded into smoke. The smokescreen dispersed into a wide spread in an effort to stunt Gilgamesh’s perception. Unbeknownst to the golden guardian, the smoke had masked his eyes from seeing a magical seal glowing beneath himself. Sliding across the ground as if it were an ice rink, the Director silently glided from behind Gilgamesh. He then tossed his baton-like broom into the air, causing it to twirl. Director Skye caught the other end of his silver broom and held it like a baseball bat. The Director leaned forward and swung at the back of Gilgamesh’s right knee. When the precisioned blow connected to the joint, it made a pinging noise one would hear when struck with a metal baseball bat. The Sumerian demigod’s powerful stature immediately crumbled, as he fell onto his left knee. Upon this happening, his right leg bent but kept anchored in place to keep Gilgamesh’s back straight. Like a figure skater continuing their flow of motion, Director Skye used the momentum of his strike to twirl. He spun in a counterclockwise motion to a complete revolution and struck with his broom again. The blunt weapon reverberated with another ping, as it battered the left side of Gilgamesh’s jaw. With the gold guardian’s balance upset once again, his right foot lost its grip on the ground as if it were standing on ice. As Gilgamesh slipped and landed with his back onto the dirt, the Director disappeared into the smokescreen upon finishing his blitzkrieg. “Kinetic friction nullifier spell. Makes any surface slippery. Although now that I am saying it all out loud, magic sure has gotten more sciency,” lectured the Director. Puzzles called out, “And what you just hit was my Shado-I mean, Smoke Clones. I can conjure semi-solid illusions with my smoke.” The Sumerian demigod attempted to stand back up; gritting his teeth in the process. As the magical circle beneath Gilgamesh’s feet and the smokescreen disappeared, he spotted something else. The ground was being enchanted with light, and it was spreading. Looking for the source, Gilgamesh pinpointed it to Marvelous Man; sitting in seiza position with eyes closed and singing in a gregorian-like chant. Copying Marvelous Man’s signature move, Gilgamesh squatted down in a sumo stance with his glutes hefted in the air. He flexed his leg muscles to quickly charge power for another launch. “POSEI MAGUM!” shouted the Director. Gilgamesh looked to his left and saw a shimmering spectacle shooting straight at him. With the shiny object in such close distance, the golden guardian had no time to react. The casted spell instantly enveloped him upon contact; forming a giant bubble around the crouching Sumerian demigod. Running toward the bubble-encased Gilgamesh, Director Skye held his broom up to his face. He then placed an open palm next to his other hand gripping the silver broom. As his hands glowed with magical energy, he glided his open palm across the baton-like broom’s length. He then slid his palm beyond the broom’s shaft; resulting in another enchanted display. The short-lengthed broom briefly flared with magical light, as it immediately extended itself. The broom’s glowing ended abruptly upon reaching a vast pole length that is suitable for one to use as a bo staff or a supposed broom. The Director jumped; quickly maneuvering his newly-formed broom beneath his groin at an upward angle. The back end of his broom bursted with a pinkish fire; accelerating Director Doug beyond his running speed and gaining a small amount of altitude. Twisting his body into a counterclockwise spin, the Director changed his grip and pulled the broom from under himself. As the boosting flame on his broom extinguished, Director Skye came to a full rotation. The Director gripped his broom like it was a baseball bat, while descending back towards the ground. Upon landing steps away from Gilgamesh, Director Doug skidded towards the crouched man. Dirt flew into the air, as the crouching man was now within the master witch’s swinging distance. The Director then swung with an underhanded strike; hitting the bubble Gilgamesh was trapped in. The bubble instantly bounced high into the air from the blunt attack; regardless of Gilgamesh’s weight in muscle mass and golden jewelry. As the bubble-encased Gilgamesh flew into the sky, the Director placed his broom underneath himself. A mass of smoke followed behind Director Doug’s back; reforming into Puzzles upon landing on top of the broom. The silver broom blasted off with its pink fire blazing at full power. Jetting off into the upper atmosphere, Director Skye directed his magical broom to follow the bubbled Gilgamesh flinging through the air. The Director and his familiar caught up to the bubble within seconds. Raising his hand up, it began to glow while gesturing a spell. A translucent veil with a purple hue appeared in front of the broom. It umbrellaed outward; shielding the Director from incoming winds. And although the barrier was made of magic, its entirety was structured with a blockade of hexagons that interlocked together like a honeycomb. Charging into the enchanted bubble, the flimsy structure popped rather than bouncing again. Director Doug continued his flight; ramming into Gilgamesh’s abdomen. The silver broom did not expectedly penetrate the golden guardian's skin, as the honeycomb-shaped magic positioned itself in front of the pole. With the broom pushing speeds in the hundreds and the enchanted veil too wide to grip or reach around to grab the master witch, Gilgamesh remained pinned onto the magical barrier in a spread eagle position. The Sumerian demigod’s weapons were nowhere to be seen on the pinned man; knocked out of his hold by the sudden blow. The Director continued to calmly smile, as he changed his broom’s direction to accelerate upwards. The master witch flew higher into the troposphere; breaking through the clouds and entering the stratosphere. All the while, Gilgamesh could only scowl at Director Skye with his eyes. His face unable to express as it remained smooshed against the veil. While ice crystals began forming onto the beehive-like barrier, Gilgamesh’s body smoked from the evaporating crystals melting from his body heat. The broom’s pink flame extinguished itself; preventing the three from climbing any higher heights. Loosening his grip, Director Doug slid down his silver broom just as Puzzles dissipated into his smoke form. The Director then reestablished his hold once again before completely falling off his enchanted flying device; clasping onto the broom’s end. Director Skye held out his left hand and gestured a spell. He soon ended his motioning incantation by waving upwards in a clockwise motion. A small hexagonal barrier appeared on the Director’s right side. Unlike the one he used to pin Gilgamesh beneath with, it was an individual hexagon rather than a combination. More magical hexagons emerged into existence on Director Doug’s left side. They materialized above each other; creating a pathway in a clockwise motion until reaching high above Gilgamesh. The Director planted his feet against the vertically-angled hexagon on his right side. Briefly squatting against the magical shape, he pushed off. The broom swung with his motion, as Director Skye landed his foot against the floating pathway he conjured. Continuing his movement without hesitation, he began to run upwards against the panes of hexagonal pieces. The end of the Director’s broom pinning Gilgamesh with the magical shield rotated until he was positioned underneath the silver broomstick. Reaching the end of his improvised path, Director Skye had situated himself into a handstand position while pushed himself on top of his own broom. The small cloud of smoke, surrounding the middle of the staff during the Director’s acrobat, shot up towards the master witch. As the smoke being darted upwards, it reformed back into Puzzles. Both the smoke imp and Director Doug held out their hands to each other in one synchronized action; grasping each other upon contact. With the help of his own projected velocity, Puzzles pulled his master up with little effort. The Director bent his legs down, as his upper body was lifted by his familiar. No longer upside down in that moment, Director Skye released his grip from Puzzles' tiny hand. The Director landed feet first on the top of his broom with cat-like grace. As he peered out to the sky in front of him, Puzzles gently landed on his shoulder. With nothing to keep them afloat, the three began to descend back down towards the clouds. Puzzles spoke, “And what floor would you like to get off on, Boss?” “Ground floor,” replied Director Skye. As Puzzles pretended to push an imaginary elevator button, Director Doug gestured another spell. His hands glowed, while smashing his fist against his open palm. An explosion of ice erupted from all over the Director’s body. Large obelisks made of ice extended outwards, with Director Skye, Puzzles, and the broom encased in the freeze flash. Gilgamesh’s eyes bulged. The golden guardian raised his fists and slammed it back down onto the honeycomb-patterned barrier in an attempt to shatter it. The veil glowed from the hits, but it did not break. He continued the vain attempt, as their descending speed rapidly accelerated with each passing second. Upon reaching terminal velocity within seconds, the glowing ground drew close at speeds too fast to see any details. The three crashed into the light-enchanted earth; resulting in an explosion akin to a bomb and vibrating the entire park that even shook Marvelous Man’s posture. Smoke from the impact plumed into the air, and the only thing that could be seen of the crash site to an outside eye was a crater spanning a wide circumference. The smoke debris briefly parted; revealing Puzzles leading his master out of the crater’s wreckage. The two watched their step, so none of them could accidentally walk on the shards of ice littered within the crater. As the two exited the newly-made hole, the smoke closed into the gap they were denied of occupying. Director Doug held onto his broom, as both of them looked down at the smoking crater. Puzzles sighed, “He’s still alive, Boss.” “I suppose he still would. Marvelous Man is still healing the injured folks, so I must apply a gentle touch to this matter,” huffed Director Skye, “Irregardless, I am having fun.” Puzzles frowned, “That’s not a real word, Boss.” “And you’re not Russian, yet you still talk with that accent,” mused the Director. Noises began to stir within the hole. The sound of Gilgamesh’s footsteps crunched amongst the rubble, as the cloud of dust dissipated to reveal the Sumerian demigod standing up straight. Director Skye shouted, “I gotta say, you got a hell of a chin there! I’m gonna have to mark you as a Rank B then.” “Hmph, that star child used the same tactic against the Skeleton Lord. It’s not impressive to use your weight to crush your enemies. But I will admit something, witch, that really frightened me. To fall out of the sky like that. And it really hurt,” remarked Gilgamesh. Walking out of the rubble, the golden guardian no longer appeared amused. His hairy body was covered in dirt and bruises, but did not appear to have any serious damage on his muscular frame. Director Doug smiled, “Good. Now to continue with your education, I used a bubble spell that allows one to be bounced away upon any blunt contact; regardless of one’s weight inside the bubble.” “After that, I pinned you on a beehive barrier spell. And fun fact about that spell, you can summon the pieces individually rather than a whole set. So you could use it as a platform or flip it onto its side and use it as a projectile. But I think I made a good choice, since your body seems to have a high level of...imperviency,” he continued. The Director dragged on, “And finally, I used a basic ice encasement spell. We were so high up, I could draw in so much more moisture than is needed to make that spell. I made it a hella big, so it would be really heavy in the hopes of crushing you. Sadly, that did not work. But, my, was it spectacular.” Gilgamesh’s face became neutral upon hearing Director Skye’s lecture. There was a small pause after the Director finished, that he smirked for a second before giggling. The giggle then transformed to a bellowing laugh. “You most certainly enlightened me on the usefulness of defense magic, witch!” guffawed the Sumerian demigod, “Have you anything left to say before I pound you to death with my bare hands? I would decapitate you, but I seem to have lost my weapons while being adrift in the sky.” Director Skye held up his index finger. “Just one,” he replied. The Director looked down at his smoke imp. He requested, “Puzzles, would you please prepare the Cuban Room for our guest? We need to wrap this up, and I am parching for some sweet tea.” Puzzles looked up at his master, as he reached inside of his business suit’s jacket. “Certainly, Boss,” he smiled. The smoke imp then retrieved a large cigar and a silver lighter from his cobalt jacket. Flipping the lid off of the lighter, it ignited a small, red flame. Puzzles quickly lit the dark brown cigar, before putting the tobacco product in his mouth. He then proceeded to take a deep inhale, as he snuffed the lighter's flame and placed it back into his pocket. Director Doug curtly bowed, “Now you may try pulverizing me.” Gilgamesh’s eyes glinted with acknowledgement of what the battle’s outcome will be. He nodded before charging forward. The golden guardian sprinted as fast as he could while screaming out his battle cry. Every step he took vibrated a heavy thud, as he drew closer. Within a few steps of Gilgamesh reaching the master witch, Puzzles blew out the cigar exhaust he had been dragging. The dark gray smoke stretched itself outward like a wall; bordering between the golden guardian and the heroes. Without a sign of hesitation, Gilgamesh charged into the smoke. The cigar fog enveloped the Sumerian demigod and immediately transformed. The smoke reshaped itself into an interior location. Gilgamesh now stood inside a wooden hallway with an antique Victorian design. The walls were bare of any windows and were instead draped with red curtains. The golden guardian’s mouth was agape in surprise, as he looked at both sides of the hallway. On his left was a dead end with a tall, wooden grandfather clock stationed where a doorway should be. The clock’s ticks and tocks echoed throughout the hallway; mixing with another noise that sounded like wood crackling in a fire. On the right side of the hallway was the source of the fire crackling sound. A lit hearth, at the end of the hallway’s right side, radiated the Victorian hallway with warmth and yellowish light. With his face changing from shock to curiousity, Gilgamesh thumped towards the grandfather clock. He stood in front of it and studied it closely. The wooden clock had a simple design with grooves and an etching of a pine cone on its top frame. Inside of it, its golden pendulum swung in syncro with the clock’s ticks. “Welcome to the Cuban Room,” drawled the Director. Gilgamesh instantly reacted to the Southern gentlemanly voice; turning around to face the master witch. At the end other end of the wooden hallway, a red armchair now existed in front of the fireplace. The armchair faced the hearth and had a man sitting in it. The man seen only from behind had auburn hair like Director Skye. His pale, white hand rested on the chair’s arms and held the lit cigar Puzzles had just smoked. The Sumerian demigod muttered, “Is this pathetic illusion supposed to stop me?” Gilgamesh slammed his fist against the wall. Rather than exploding into smoke, the wall resisted the golden guardian’s strike. “That it is. I did tell you that I’m a Master Witch of the Defense Arts, didn’t I?” said the Director. Gilgamesh frowned, “That was the familiar who said it. And you are not the witch either.” The supposed Director Doug said nothing, as he brought the cigar to his face. Seconds pass by until a loud exhale resounded from his location. A long plume of cigar smoke blew into the air above the alleged master witch, as he rested his cigar hand back onto the red chair’s arm. “Does it matter?” he replied, “You still have to beat me to get out of here. So go on. Pulverize me.” The golden guardian slowly stepped forward; as if expecting more tricks. He kept walking towards the other end of the red-curtained hallway, when his face then contorted in confusion. As he reach the middle of the wooden hallway, his progress seemed to have come to a halt. He was walking, but he was not moving any closer to his destination. Gilgamesh changed his motion into a sprint, but the result was the same. Looking down, the Sumerian demigod could see the floor beneath himself moving like a treadmill. The floor shifted in the opposite direction Gilgamesh was trying to go and increased its speed when Gilgamesh did so. “I’m waiting,” teased the auburn-haired man. Gilgamesh gritted his teeth, as he kept trying to push forward with no foreseeable result. The supposed Director Skye laughed; echoing throughout the wooden hallway that drowned out the grandfather clock’s ticking sound. Sections of the hallways in front of the golden guardian began to rotate like an inverse rubix cube. Walls had been rotated into floors and ceilings and vice versa. At the end of the hallway where the assumed Director and the fireplace sat had now been rotated up to the ceiling. Gravity had no effect on them, and even the smoke drifted down to the ceiling floor. The grandfather clock’s noise began to override the laughing, as it chimed its hourly clock strike noise. Soft bells rang in the air, as it caught Gilgamesh’s attention. Turning around, his eyes widened upon gazing the hallway behind him. As the clock bellowed its haunting lower-toned bells, the architecture started to become undone. Segments of floor, ceiling, and wall broke off and flew into a black void that became more visible with every breakage. Eventually, even the wooden grandfather clock was sucked into the nothing. Face filled with panic, Gilgamesh pushed himself to run faster, jump, and even lunge forward like Marvelous Man’s signature move. Every effort he did caused either himself to not move forward or the fireplace-end of the hallway to extend farther out of his reach. He dared to look back and could see the Cuban Room’s dismantle growing closer to him. He shouted, “It’s not real! IT’S NOT REAL!!!” The ceiling right above Gilgamesh splintered into many pieces. The Sumerian demigod dared to glance up. Within the black void above him stood a giant Puzzles glaring down at Gilgamesh. The smoke imp was the size of skyscrapers, and his eyes glowed with pure white. The familiar's horns had a devious point and seemed to be the size of a small house. When Puzzles spoke, it was as if a giant with a Russian accent talked. “DOES. IT. MATTER.” said the giant Puzzles. Gilgamesh froze, as a burst of light flashed around him. When the flash immediately died down, a rectangular prism of light encased his hairy body. None of the golden guardian’s muscles twitched, and neither did his eyes stir. Puzzles blinked at the frozen Sumerian demigod. The Cuban Room instantly vanished into smoke; fizzling out of reality. What was a smoky existence now returned back to the glowing park before the Sumerian demigod was transported. The petrified Gilgamesh floated above the park’s grass that had become enchanted with a sunlight quality. Puzzles waddled up to the prism of light. He glanced his eyes up and down the muscular man before turning to his right. The smoke imp looked towards his master, who stood with his silver broom in hand. He questioned, “The time capsule spell? I thought you would have done the sex cocoon spell. Much easier to cast.” “There’s no damn way I’m casting that spell. Unless you want to open him up from the cocoon and get hit with sex stink,” retorted the Director. Puzzles frowned, “Fair enough. At least you casted the spell to capture him off the ground. Would have been a real pain to move him if the dirt got caught in the time capsule. So how much time do we have before he thaws out?” Director Skye squatted down to analyze his handiwork. Surrounding the time-frozen Gilgamesh was a magical seal carved into the ground. Its sequences of runes and shapes within the circle was more complex than the light-conjured magic circles the Director created. “Well, it was a rush job, but I managed to get it all right. Should buy us at least three hours at most,” stated Director Doug. Puzzles nodded while reaching into his business suit’s pocket to pull out a smartphone. The smoke imp spoke, “I’ll call somebody to pick this up and get everybody here treated. Oh, and don’t forget your coat, Boss.” “Shoot!” spat the Director. Director Skye took off running. His face held panic that most likely was due to the possibility of his cobalt jacket becoming dirty. A voice called out, “Puzzles?” Facing to the voice behind himself, Puzzles spotted Gene limping towards him. The bunny demigod had his hand placed over his chest, and his white rabbit ears were drooped down. “Bossman and I came over to deal with Gilgamesh. You’re welcome,” said Puzzles. The rabbit superhero glanced at the time-frozen Sumerian demigod before looking back at the cold-eyed smoke imp. Gene asked, “And what of Marvelous Man?” “He’s fine for the most part. His hand is broken, but he managed supercharge the area to heal everybody. Let’s just hope you don’t let him get killed next time. Healers of his caliber are rare. Don’t fuck it up again,” answered Puzzles. The bunny demigod became silent. His head bent down in shame, and his eyes became incapable of visually connecting with Puzzles’. Director Doug shouted, “It got halfway to the ground! Goshdang, I sure am getting rusty!” >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> An hour after the incident, the team assembled back at the D.A.B. building. Marvelous Man and Gene were exiting the elevator on the fifth floor. As they walked towards the Director’s office, Marvelous Man kept staring at his hand. It was the hand that was broken by Gilgamesh’s crushing grip, yet it now looked as if it was never harmed. Marvelous Man flexed his newly-healed hand. “Are you in pain?” asked Gene. Marvelous Man looked at Gene, “Huh? Oh, no. It’s fine...just amazed that it's fixed already. There’s not even a scar or anything.” “Yes. It is most fortunate to discover that you have the healing factor. Given enough time, you can recover from any wound,” noted Gene. Marvelous Man sighed, “Yeah...just wish I could’ve regenerated faster.” Gene said nothing, as the two continued down the hallway. Marvelous Man then spotted their field analyst, Fairuza, standing in front of Director Skye’s office door. As if on cue, Fairuza turned to her team and waved. “Hey, you two. Ready to head in?” smiled Fairuza. Marvelous Man shrugged, “Yeah, I guess. I’m just glad it’s not gonna be as awkward as the last time we all got called up here.” “I feel the same,” nodded Fairuza. The sorceress knocked on the Director’s door. Seconds ticked by, until it was opened by Puzzles to usher them in. Fairuza was the first to cross into the office with Marvelous Man following in behind her and ducking underneath the doorway. As Gene finally entered, the smoke imp closed the door behind the three. Inside the cobalt-carpeted office, Director Doug sat behind his cherrywood desk. He calmly smiled while sipping on a cold glass of sweet team. Marvelous Man immediately noticed there was another person in the office, as Puzzles’ smoky form glided back to the desk. An android was sitting was sitting in the black lounge chair propped against the wall. Despite his mechanical design, his stocky body almost looked soft. A great majority of the android’s torso consisted of black synthetic muscle that appeared to have a rubber-like quality than a metallic kind. These black muscle cords also appeared on his biceps and along the inner and outer thighs. His abdomen had a white, gelatin-like layering that seemed similar to soft, fatty tissue; giving the android an athletic gut. The white layer had as well traced over his fingers, toes, groinal region, and even on the underside of his pecs. It was peculiar to Marvelous Man that the android also had rubbery nipples, the size of pencil erasers, that were colored with a blackish hue. Any place on the android that did not require the sense of touch or was not an erogenous zone was plated over with a silver cover. The silver plates had golden outlines for what seemed to be an aesthetic purpose. Curiously, there was also a silver plating on the android’s hips that had handles welded onto them. As for any clothing, the android was sorely lacking any. The only garment he wore was a drawstring mokko fundoshi that covered a generously large package bulging against the fabric. Keychained to the mokko fundoshi was a pink Japanese amulet, that had the astrological symbol, Gemini, printed onto it. Marvelous Man could not help but think that this Soulem felt familiar; especially since the android had his fundoshi and nails colored zaffre. The android glanced up at Marvelous Man. The Soulem’s silver, metallic face had a neutral expression, but the mood rings on his cheeks immediately flashed from white to red. The android’s large, silver nose sharply inhaled before letting out a huff, while his white, digital eyes looked away. The Soulem had sections of golden blocks plated to his head in an attempt to appear as his beard, mohawk, and even eyebrows. He also had a zaffre-colored Phillips screw studded onto his chin. “So,” started the Director, “Capturing Gilgamesh was a success. But he’s still on ice for a few more hours before we can start interrogating him. Hopefully, we’ll be able to find out his connections to the Skeleton Lord and how we can use that to our advantage.” Director Skye looked at Marvelous Man. “As for you, Marvelous Man, great job on healing the civilians. They and their loved ones extend their thanks to you and request that you meet them in person. Now, I told them that you’re a bit busy at the moment trying to help other people and assisting our heroes to fight the bad guys. So it’s up to you if you want to visit them on your off-time. But I suggest you keep your head low if you don’t want to, cause you’re most likely gonna be newsworthy for the next week or so,” he said. Marvelous Man nodded, “Uh, yes, sir.” The Director sipped his sweet tea. “Now, onto the elephant in the room. You three make a great team, but y’all need to up your game a bit. I don’t know why, but fate keeps tossing you right at the Skeleton Lord. And each time, we are in the dark about who he is or what he can do,” he drawled. Director Doug continued, “That’s why I’m sorry to say this, Fairuza, but your magic isn’t cutting it. For some reason, he’s invisible to magic detection and even your analyzing abilities. And that is why I am including a field technician in your group to help study our foe and science his ass. He’s a noncombatant, so make sure he doesn’t get in the midst of y’all’s crossfires.” The Director pointed an open palm to the sitting android. “So until this Skeleton Lord issue has been resolved, meet your new teammate for future missions: Gemini Yin,” introduced Director Skye. Marvelous Man’s eyes widened in surprise, as the Soulem stood up. Maybe it’s a complete coincidence that another Soulem’s name is Gemini? Gemini held out his hand at Marvelous Man, as his voice spoke in an electronic yet masculine tone. He gritted his teeth into a smile, “Hey, bro. You must be Marvelous Man. Ya know, you kinda look like my friend, Justice.” Next Chapter

Flint McLargewood - The Muscleman Since the moment I first laid my eyes on him, I knew Muscleman would be the one – the one who would fuel the hottest and wettest of my dreams for years to come. A newcomer to the superhero scene, the alter ego of Flint McLargewood had left people swooning long before he even got his hero licence. Towering over the rest of his colleagues at staggering six feet five, the young hero boasted a physique so stacked and so statuesque I had once passed out from staring at him too long. Now before you give me any weird looks, yes I do in fact have his stats memorised. Just try and picture this – a big man, a big strong man, a six feet five bodybuilder-cum-supermodel who tipped the scales at two hundred and twenty frigging pounds of solid, heaving muscle. Now wrap all of that in a too-tight spandex wrestling singlet, and feast your eyes upon the scandalously hefty bulge that swelled from his crotch. Literally everyone could see the overgrown, nay, gargantuan tool coiled within the soft fabric, propped out by a pair of equally massive orbs that no doubt pumped him full of testosterone on a regular basis. It wasn't even remotely fair to be honest, and true to his name, Muscleman's unique power was just that – man and muscle. And lots of it. I still recall that fateful day, all those years ago at the Fourth National Super Bank of Super City. I had just finished duct taping a hero-cadet's (that guy became Firebrand in the end, good for him) hands to his face, anything to prevent him flinging any more of those pesky fireballs at me. Unfortunately (or fortunately) for me, his hands were also where he kept his communicator, and sure enough when Cadet McLargewood interrupted me my entire world came grinding to a halt. Obviously my first guess was some kind of temporal manipulation power, which would have sucked on a magnitude I cannot describe. But no, Flint was simply as beautiful as he was muscular – windswept yet perpetually styled red hair, angular features so strong and so hard, lips that were soft and kissable and just begging for me to... And then my entire world became Flint, for he had stomped forth with his huge feet until his huge pecs were hanging right there before my gaping face. My eyes would not stay still, darting between those incredible masses and the thick, juicy nipples that poked through the fabric of his uniform. Flint had given me what would become his signature chest slam, and when those brawny slabs made contact with my face I thought I had died and gone to heaven. In reality of course, he had simply knocked me onto the pile of money bags I had dragged from the vault and grabbed the one I had been lugging at the time. I knew I had turned bright red, the sizable tent in my pants giving everything away as I laid there gawking. It was then did Flint press his fists to his hips and push out his chest a little more, almost as if was showing off for me, although his posing was a little off and he began grunting as if lifting a heavy weight. That was when I first bore witness to Muscleman's true power. His already tight vestments, which once comfortably contained his huge bulk, suddenly lost the ability to do so. First to go were his buttons, going off like bullets as his torso exploding with unbridled muscle and power. I could naught but gasp as his prodigious pectorals hulked out before my very eyes, swelling and roiling with herculean mass and pulling apart his clothes like a curtain! As his growth accelerated, Flint's abdominal muscles – the six-pack I would do anything to place my face on – began tightening and hardening as more and more brawn boiled within his gut, pushing out his lower abs and burning off what little fat he carried around his waist. By this point his shirt was wide open, his Adonis belt so chiselled and so delicious I had actually begun to drool. Upstairs, Muscleman's shoulders had bulged upward and outward and sideways, sending huge cords of cable-like fibres surging down his arms and up to his neck. As more and more power filled his ponderous pectorals, Flint's biceps began feasting on their new power, growing heavier and harder with every pulse, splitting into multiple peaks even as his triceps doubled their efforts. When the power reached his forearms, he had clenched his fists, causing every muscle in his arms to erupt with size, decimating his sleeves and causing me to realise I had stopped breathing. The air that filled my lungs right after was hot, moist, and likely dripping with sex pheromones. Somehow, I remained conscious, my eyes raking over the scene before just as Flint's trousers exploded, the reinforced fabric ripped apart by grotesquely muscular monstrosities hulking out like volcanoes where his quads should have been. Fuck, even his feet had grown larger, his toes crushing into the bank's marble floor as he shifted his skyrocketing weight and widened his stance. His grunting had gone deep, oh so deep, his muscles heaving and flexing with every violent breath. The hero had not grown much taller, that much was certain, but his bulging muscles had reached colossal proportions and I hadn't even gotten to the best part! As I would eventually come to know (according to his official trading card), Muscleman's powers boosted not just his muscles, but what made him a man as well! He had been reduced to a pair of black posers by this point, and it was all I could do gawk as Flint's hefty balls began throbbing with renewed vigour, pumping his magnum dong with copious amounts of liquid testosterone. I simply laid there as I watched him test the limits of his flimsy trunks, watched his cock growing bigger, stronger, harder! A gap had already formed where his massive cock pulled the fabric away from his waist, teasing me with glimpses of the throbbing jawbreaker swelling therein. Muscleman had moaned again, this time loudly and lewdly, his eyes rolling to the back of his head as he arched his back and flexed his glorious muscles for all to see. His cock, already in a state of semi-turgidity, had rocketed to maximum power and burst free of his underwear. I would know, for the force of his growth spurt had ripped the garment apart and propelled the shredded remnants right into my face. The smell, oh sweet mother of pie the smell was utterly, indisputably glorious! He had been oozing precum into those trunks, disguised by the colour, which also explained why the material clung to my face upon impact and sent me spiralling into a dizzying frenzy. When Muscleman, or Cadet McLargewood, dug his huge fingers into my shirt and hefted me off the ground to deliver the usual monologue about justice prevailing, well... let's stay I didn't stay conscious for very long. He didn't even have to hit me. Thankfully I had woken up and escaped before the police could pull off my mask or haul me to super-jail. Landing there would have sucked, given my lack of baseline powers. Still, that didn't stop me from heading straight home for what was to become the first of many, many sessions of me futilely flogging my manhood in a bid to rid my mind of Flint and all his muscular glory. I was growing obsessed, and though we never crossed paths again I knew I was falling in love with every hulking, herculean inch of him! He was always there, in my mind's eye, the sole object of my libido-fuelled desires, his huge-ass muscles flexing and straining and bulging whenever my mind wandered from the task at hand. I would imagine him whacking his gigantic cock like it owed him money, and then growing that cock to monstrous proportions when the quantity of payment emissions displeased him. Good fuck I wanted him, and I wanted him bad! I wanted him there, tree-trunk legs spread apart and his hulking dong swinging like a pendulum before my hungering, drooling body. I wanted him in my bed, I wanted him in chains in my future lair, and I wanted him to slam his monster cock down my throat and grow his entire fucking muscle body until I all but drowned in the ensuing euphoria. I had even gotten my raging erections checked once, convinced he had put me under some kind of spell or biological attack, but nay, I was simply, utterly, indisputably captivated and nothing would change that. So, after plastering posters of him all over my dorm, it was all I could do to slog my way through the remainder of school, only to return to bed every night with my head filling with the wildest of my fantasies – of Flint one day revealing his monstrous, naked body to me and then hulking out beyond rhyme and reason. But it wasn't until a year had passed since that fateful encounter did I finally start on the path which had led me here. Flint might have been but a year older than I was, but by this point he was already a full blown super and turning heads all over Super City's hero scene. You could possibly imagine my envy when about a dozen or so supervillains, established supervillains, began dropping their arch nemeses and replacing them with the outrageously endowed object of my desires. More than once I had even watched televised battles where normally secretive supervillains would reveal themselves and engage Muscleman in these epic 'battles' that were little more than lewd wrestling matches that coincidentally also destroyed buildings downtown. It stung of course. It should be me down there, inappropriately groping that stupidly smug, stupidly sexy bastard as he pressed me down with his erection and lectured me about how evil would never prevail in the musclebound arms of the law. The nerve of those people! And so I had made up my mind. When I graduated with my Bachelor's Degree of Super Villainous Technology and Design (with Honours, of course) I immediately helped myself to a 'loan' from the Sixth National Super Bank of Super City and set up my evil lair just beneath Super Avenue in the historic Superman District. Now why would a supervillain, and an inexperienced one at that, set up shop smack in the middle of a superhero controlled part of Super City instead of the much more affordable Villainy Avenue? Because no one would even think to look for me here of course! And besides, this put me ten minutes away from Super City's legendary Muscle Beach and five minutes away from the historic Super Mall, where prices were super every day of the year! But most importantly, this was where Flint McLargewood lived his glorious, heroic life. Come hell or high water, I was going to sate my attraction to him and stay true to my villainous routes. If I could not be with him, then I was going to BE him. It was as simple as that. ******* Pics of Flint here (Click to Enlarge):

BTW, sorry for the wait!!! All comments and critiques are welcomed here and on my Google Docs(https://drive.google.com/open?id=1WCUVSwMSYy9c23IDW3ayIhGadFWCfIkHqDuIhrFTU0w) For other chapters, I will post them on here later. But you can find the archives on my FA and Tumblr with pics included. FA: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/ecchimultiverse/ Tumblr: http://ecchimultiverse.tumblr.com/ First Chapter | Previous Chapter | Next Chapter BTW, sorry for the wait!!! All comments and critiques are welcomed here and on my Google Docs(https://drive.google.com/open?id=1WCUVSwMSYy9c23IDW3ayIhGadFWCfIkHqDuIhrFTU0w) For other chapters, I will post them on here later. But you can find the archives on my FA and Tumblr with pics included. FA: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/ecchimultiverse/ Tumblr: http://ecchimultiverse.tumblr.com/ First Chapter | Previous Chapter | Next Chapter Chapter 14: Bunny Date Part 2 The heavy thuds of Marvelous Man’s loafers and light steps of Gene Lightfoot’s running shoes echoed in a white hallway. After an interesting lunch at Toto’s, Marvelous Man had one last area for the date that he was sure would work: a viewing of the many paintings and installations at the Skyway City art museum. Like the Skyway City mall, the art museum was much bigger than Sunnysville. There was also the perk of most of the paintings and other artworks not being Apollo self-portraits from the very god himself. The rabbit demigod stopped in his tracks and turned towards a painting that caught his eye. Posing with a thoughtful gesture, the action was immediately betrayed by his radiating of confused emotions. “Such intricacy,” commented Gene. Marvelous Man tilted his head, while his brows furrowed. The two were staring at a blank canvas. The musclebound hero then took a closer look at it and corrected himself. It was painted in white; technically a “painting”. Looking down at the placard next to the “painting”, the canvas descripted, “White Oblivion of the Fractured Mind: A contemporary piece that reflects the artist’s perception of how people are crushed by the ever-ensuing modern stresses caused by technology and new social standards.”. Marvelous Man could feel anger stir within himself. He criticized, “It’s pretentious garbage. It’s literally a canvas painted white. It’s so pointless. And the description about how all this white reflects modern stresses is such bullshit.” “Thank goodness,” sighed Gene, “I feared that I did not ‘get it’.” Marvelous Man frowned, “Let’s just...go to another section that’s not so contemporary.” As the dating duo continued their walk, the Totochtin prince smiled. “I did not expect you to be so passionate about art,” giggled Gene. Marvelous Man blushed, “My dad taught me about all kinds of art: Graphical, musical, acting, etcetera. It helps that I’ve got a talent in those things too. But...yeah. I just think that art needs to elicit emotions other than confusion, disgust, or buyer's remorse. And the thoughts that run through your head shouldn’t be, ‘This is art?’. Sure, it could make it memorable, but the feeling is always temporary. Not like true art.” “I can agree to that,” nodded Gene. While wandering further into the museum, the daters’ eyes scanned the paintings and sculptures they passed by. They appeared well made but unremarkable; nothing worth talking about or staring at for more than two seconds. A good portion of them were simple shapes or realistic fruits. Marvelous Man halted his touring upon spotting something peculiar. He turned towards the art piece that caught his attention and began to give it a better inspection. It was a painting depicting a sort of ceremony between two men standing next to each other. One of the men had an olive skin tone and was dressed in a white toga with traditional Greco-Roman accessories. The other man was of Asian descent and was garbed in what appeared to be a traditional, red Chinese wedding outfit for grooms. In between the men was a large two-handed sword wielded by both men simultaneously. Both of them held the sword with one hand, while their free hands brandished a shield styled by their cultural backgrounds. Rabbit ears twitching, Gene stopped in his tracks. He appeared to have realized his date was no longer following him and turned around. Following back to where Marvelous Man was standing, he stood next to the musclebound superhero and examined the painting. The Totochtin prince remarked, “Ah, this is the marriage ceremony the outside world obsesses over correct?” “I guess. But I’ve never seen a style like this before,” shrugged Marvelous Man. Gene pointed, “What does the plaque say?” Looking down at where the bunny demigod pointed his finger at, Marvelous Man spotted the exhibit description label next to the painting. He then read the passage out loud for Gene to hear. “Union: An oil painting depicting a new marriage style gaining popularity in the U.S. known as a mixed culture wedding. The betrothed wear clothing and shield that reflects their cultural or ethnical background as a way to honor where they come from. By lifting a two-handed sword together with one hand, it symbolizes their unity and love to combat any harm or misfortune,” he read. Marvelous Man looked back at the painting, “That’s actually really beautiful. I wonder what a wedding is like in your homeland.” Gene looked up at Marvelous Man. “Oh. I am sorry to tell you this, but we Totochtins do not have the marriage rituals. Such marital unions do not exist in our country,” stated Gene. Marvelous Man stares down at Gene, “Why not?” The Totochtin prince was silent for a few seconds. His eyes gleamed the struggle of trying to put together words to exposit something that can only be felt. “Our tribes believe in a more...mutual love that is shared with every person. It is in a way like the polyamorous love. We all support each other and never feel alone or unloved. It is why we are so open with the sexual intercourse. It is both affection and an enjoyable activity to take part in,” explained Gene. He continued, “But we do have what we consider ‘favorites’. A person we would be deeply saddened by their absence and feel great joy by existing in the same room with them. Though such things are not long term. Eventually, they will lose interest and go their separate ways without any of the heartbreak. It is somewhat like your culture’s monogamy, but we Totochtin can have more than one favorite. Though having more than one can be uncommon.” Marvelous Man said nothing as he was stunned by Gene’s “traditional values”. The rabbit superhero turned his attention back to the marital painting and said nothing for a few seconds. Gene smiled, “I do find it fascinating. To choose a person with the intent to stay with them until the very end. As they say in your culture, ‘Til death do us part’.” “What’s wrong with that?” frowned Marvelous Man. From all the explanations and how Gene found marriage to be “fascinating”, Marvelous Man felt that Gene might be subtly mocking the sanctity of matrimony. As if his people’s way was superior. Marvelous Man could see Gene’s face becoming neutral. The bunny demigod replied, “I apologize if my remark sounded like the slander. Sometimes, what I say does not translate well enough to provide the context. But I do find marriage to be...interesting. It seems to only serve the purpose of insuring one is not lonely during their existence. Even when amongst their own kind, you people can still feel rejected.” Marvelous Man paused for a moment; trying to find the right words to say. “The world is a big place. Your...Totochtin race might feel whole because it's small and everybody can easily fit in somewhere like a...thirty piece puzzle box,” sighed Marvelous Man, “But outside of your small country, the world...it’s more like an infinity puzzle where almost nothing fits, cause all the pieces are from different puzzles. Not everybody is like you where they can have everything and just easily fit in together with everybody else. Sometimes...just being able to fit with at least one piece. To be part of that one thing can be enough against the infinity we can’t fit into.” “...That is very chaotic,” murmured Gene. Marvelous Man shrugged, “I guess so.” The two continued onward with the tour in silence. Every few seconds, the two would stop at an art piece and absorb the scenery for a moment before moving on. As the dating duo passed a sculpture of a nude Totochtin demigod posed sensually, a thought occurred to Marvelous Man. “Can I ask you something personal? You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to. Umm...you said you weren’t originally stationed to this region. What’d you mean by that?” requested Marvelous Man. Gene hummed, “Hmmm, well. My pilgrimage took place in Africa a few years ago. During that time, Doug was visiting Africa’s D.A.B. when the village I was visiting was plagued by a demon. I was careless and was captured by the demon and his possessed villagers. My gratitude came when Doug and his teammates freed me, and we vanquished the demon together.” “After the event, I finished my pilgrimage and returned home. Doug followed me and had the misfortune of being captured by my tribe. He convinced me to join the D.A.B., and I convinced the other tribe’s new prince to come with. We explored the world together and learned many things. But after a year, the other Totochtin princes wished to return home. I still desired to learn more of the world and the unique qualities one cannot find in my country. So I decided to stay with Doug, here, in Skyway City,” continued the rabbit superhero. Marvelous Man nodded his head as the two continued to walk. He spotted a canvas ahead that confused him. From his current perspective, the far away oil painting was full of black and white scribbles with no coherent design to it. The muscular superhero spoke up, “That reminds me. Did you hear anything back yet from the D.A.B. about the Skeleton Lord?” Gene shook his head. “I have not. They cannot find any answers on who or what the Skeleton Lord is. They cannot even find his whereabouts. All I know so far is a partial motive,” replied the Totochtin prince. Marvelous Man questioned, “And what’s that?” “You asked the Skeleton Lord what the point of doing all those terrible things was. He said to you, ‘When one has the power of a god and their purpose has turned to ash, the only thing one can do is burn the world itself.’. From there, I can ascertain he truly was powerful. Or he himself perceived himself as powerful as a god. But something happened to him. Something destroyed his purpose, and he is now vexed enough to destroy the world,” stated Gene. As the two passed in front of the scribble painting, Marvelous Man finally saw its true form. It was scribbles of not just black and white against a grey canvas, but also other colors included. The erratic strokes amalgamated into stick-like and skeletal figures being chained down to unseen depths. Thin, yellow halos encircled the figures’ heads while emanating a pink aura with pink flowers. Though such bright colors and details could be easily overlooked when the chaotic strokes that form absolutely nothing embraces the whole canvas. Marvelous Man frowned, “So you think he used to be a good guy?” “Or perhaps he was neutral,” answered Gene. The pair soon stopped to look at a pastel painting of the mountains. The rabbit superhero’s white bunny ears twitched, as he turned around. Looking across from himself, Gene spotted a bulky security guard staring at him. The man had hungry eyes and lewdly grabbed his crotch. The Totochtin prince licked his lips while nodding. As the security guard walked towards to the restroom next to himself, Gene smirked. He spoke up, “I am feeling sexually famished. I will regroup with you shortly after I have sated it with the security man.” Marvelous Man turned to watch Gene make his way to the museum’s bathroom. He could feel the bunny demigod emanating lustful emotions. “Oh...okay,” he replied. After watching Gene disappear into the men’s restroom, Marvelous Man then heard a camera shutter click. His eyes instantly stung as his vision saw only white for a few seconds. He blinked several times while looking down towards where he felt the source of the flash came from. Eyes adjusting back to normal, he saw the two people he least expected to show up. These two were the ones he most certainly did not want to see at the moment. Marvelous Man frowned, “Mom, Dad, what are you two doing here?! And where have you been?” Standing steps away from Marvelous Man was his mother holding a digital camera. As a goddess of love, Aphrodite was beautiful no matter what she wore. Even if all she wore was unsexy mom clothes. She always made the clothes beautiful; never the other way around. As for Marvelous Man’s dad, Apollo would be the god of vogue if not for his other deity powers and responsibilities. He struck a pose one would find in a glamorous fighting manga: arms twisting at angles around his torso, his toned leg muscles extended like he were about to do warm-up leg stretches. To embellish himself even further in his flamboyant style, he sported a golden viking helmet with a white tuxedo and golden-rimmed, non-prescription glasses. “I could sense your love, sugarplum. I just had to see my baby boy on his first date!” smiled Aphrodite. Apollo chimed in, “Yes, we were so curious about this Gene boy, that we just had to watch. You got great tastes. He’s a prince, beautiful, and hypersexual. Almost as if you’re dating me.” Marvelous Man’s eyes went wide, as he felt his stomach lurch. Bits of bile ejected into his mouth. Was he really having a Freudian moment where he was dating someone that had an overabundance of characteristics like his father? “Ohmygosh. Please stop talking…” he gasped. Aphrodite grinned, “Well, he’s still a great catch, honey. And don’t worry, Gene only has similar features to your father. He’s got none of Apollo’s jawbreaker center.” “Bitch, please. It is a glittery, gooey center of bitchiness at the very least,” sassed Apollo. What his mother said did not make Marvelous Man feel any better. But the first part of what she said stirred his curiosity. Marvelous Man asked, “Hey, mom. Since you’re the goddess of love and all...Are you...Are you able to see if Gene and I are meant to be? Is he my one true love?” Aphrodite gently grasped his son’s hands and looked up into his eyes. She smiled with sincerity. “I can’t tell you that, sugarplum. It will only ruin the moment whether I say yes or no. Just enjoy your time with him and never regret it,” she answered. Marvelous Man sighed, “Okay...Uh, hey. Do you know anything about the Skeleton Lord? I figured you might’ve heard of him, since both of you are gods and kinda immortal. He’s able to raise the dead and has these skeleton powers.” The goddess of love looked at Apollo. “Skeleton Lord?” she said. Apollo pursed his lips; thinking as seconds ticked by. He snapped his fingers, “Oh, right! Yeah, we know nothing about him. Just word of mouth that he was some guy wreaking havoc on the other side of the world, yadda-yadda. But he never stepped a foot in Greece. Sooo, wasn’t in our jurisdiction and wasn’t our problem.” Marvelous Man’s heart dropped. He was hoping that they knew more, but it was a dead end as well. At the very least, they were able to confirm his existence from ancient times...Which brought up another question. “By the way, where’s Papa?” he asked. Aphrodite smiled and rolled her eyes, “Oh, he decided to stay behind. You know how passionate he can get about you, honey. Doesn’t want to end up intimidating your date and causing the love of your life to flee in fear of a war god. Besides, he says that he’s satisfied just watching your battles. Marvelous Man’s mother paused. “It’s funny though. The only time he’s bragged about your encounters was with the PB&J gang. He’s been quiet since,” she frowned. The musclebound superhero felt thankful Ares did not tell his other parents about the Skeleton Lord encounters. Aphrodite could be a bit too coddling and overprotective. Whereas, Apollo would run his mouth; overembellishing the truth and causing Marvelous Man’s mother to freak out even more. It was surprising to know that Ares did not try to talk to Marvelous Man at all. Papa is the worst of the three when reacting to any misfortunate events that crosses their son. He must have been scratching his scars like a mad man; creating newer scar tissue over the old ones. Apollo tapped Aphrodite’s shoulder, “Oh, we have to bounce. Our little hero’s date just finished getting railed.” “Okay,” sighed Aphrodite, “Good luck on the rest of your date, sugarplum.” The two gods waved at Marvelous Man before walking off and disappearing around the corner of another gallery. Though the meeting was very brief, Marvelous Man enjoyed it. It was nostalgic, and he wished he had more time to talk to them. But that would have to be for another time. Turning towards the bathroom, Marvelous Man spotted Gene exiting. He saw Gene smile as the bunny demigod walked towards him. “I am sated for now. Let us resume the tour,” said Gene. Marvelous Man watched Gene take the lead. He enjoyed watching the bunny demigod’s naked, ample bottom bounce. The musclebound hero then smirked upon seeing semen leak from Gene’s buttocks and trail down the rabbit superhero’s sinew legs. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> After the museum viewing, the date began to come to a close. There was one last thing the two had to do before Gene was escorted back to the D.A.B. Marvelous Man cradled Gene in his arms as they flew to their destination and landed in front of an abandoned subway station that resided in a run-down neighborhood. It was the Ridgemont subway station of where they had the second encounter with the Skeleton Lord. Marvelous Man felt guilt twinge within him; remembering how he failed to save the homeless community that dwelled within the subway. Released from Marvelous Man’s grasp, Gene landed on his feet. He then surveyed the area before speaking. Gene stated, “We can perform the send-off here. We do not have to do it at the exact spot. The ritual only has to be close enough for the spirits to notice it.” “Oh, okay,” nodded Marvelous Man. Gene asked, “Did you bring the toys?” “Yeah! I hand-carved them like you asked. But how come you wanted thirty?” questioned Marvelous Man. The musclebound superhero reached into his pockets and pulled out a wooden, hand-carved rabbit in each hand. Any craft that involves art was no problem for Marvelous Man to handle. Placing the wooden rabbit toys on the ground, he then repeated the process. This went on for several minutes until he had a pile of thirty rabbits. During which, Gene replied back. The Totochtin prince explained, “Because I wanted to make sure there was enough for each victim that died here at the hands of the Skeleton Lord. Did you remember the lighter you were supposed to bring as well?” Diving into his pocket, the musclebound superhero took out a kitchen blowtorch used to caramelize creme brulee. Marvelous Man sheepishly smiled, as he handed the device to Gene. “Are you okay with a caramelizer? It’s the only thing I could find around my apartment,” said Marvelous Man. Gene analyzed the device before pulling its trigger. A small, blue flame erupted from the lighter’s tip. Gene nodded, “It will do. Before we begin, could you please provide music with your harmonica? I request something somber.” Marvelous Man delved into his pocket again to reveal a his golden harmonica, Duskbringer. Pressing the instrument against his lips, he gently blew into it. The musically-gifted hero picked up speed while blowing different notes and began to play the sad tune Gene asked for. Squatting down with his lengthy meatus and red tie loincloth drooping against the ground, Gene positioned himself in front of the wooden bunny pile. The Totochtin prince pressed the caramelizer’s trigger; causing its blue flame to emit. Aiming the lighter, Gene contacted the flame against the hand-carved toy sitting at the edge of the pile. The toy lightly hissed, as the flame took effect and began its devour over the wooden rabbit. The bunny demigod repeated the process on the other toys at the edge of the pile. Once completed, Gene stood up and stared down at the inflamed toys. The red fire continued its spread from the edge of the toys to the ones residing in the inner pile and on top. The crackles of the fire’s light sparkled against Gene’s red-tinted aviator sunglasses. Once the pile was completely covered in flames and converted into a small bonfire, Gene clasped his hands together. “Oh lost souls. The unfortunate hand of death has claimed you,” chanted Gene, “But it does not mean your existence ends here. Come to the fire of my burnt offerings. For each of you, I give you a toy.” The Totochtin prince continued, “Let it remind you that you were all once children. Let the memories of childhood come back and transform you back into your nerelongful ways. Become the child you once were and let the burdens of your previous life fall away from you. Go now. Fly back to your gods and let your flesh be the soil for new life. You will not be forgotten. And the strong shall fight on for you and our god’s honor.” Seconds past after Gene’s speech ended, while Marvelous Man continued to play. A strong gust of wind blew out of the subway station’s empty entrance; bits of leaves and garbage flew with the current. The wind then breezed into the small fire of toy offerings. Rather than gusting past the tiny bonfire, it changed its flow straight upwards. The smoke and flames became ensnared by the swirling, narrow vortex; spiraling up like a tornado inferno. The flaming vortex continued for a few moments before the wind eventually died down to a whisper flowing out of the abandoned subway. When the last wisp of air escaped into the spiraling vortex, the thin tornado dispersed as well as its flames. Ceasing his harmonica play, Marvelous Man watched the wondrous miracle before he looked down at the burned offerings. He spotted cold charcoal instead of burning cinders left over from the spiritual event. He then saw Gene squat down again at the pile. The Totochtin prince scooped up bits of the cool charcoal. He rolled it in his hand before crushing it between his fingertips. Standing back up, Gene turned towards Marvelous Man. The bunny demigod then extended his arm out to reach up to Marvelous Man’s face. Using his charcoal-covered fingers, he then marked the muscular hero’s forehead. “While it might have been luck or our extraordinary strength that ensured our survival, we must do our part to spread our greatness and assist the greatness of others to flourish,” said Gene. After marking his partner, Gene proceeded to mark his own forehead. He smiled, “The ritual is now complete. We may head home whenever you are ready.” Marvelous Man silently nodded and scooped up the rabbit superhero. With Gene cradled securely in his bulging, muscular arms, the bulky superhero flew up into the air. Gene remarked, “You know...I had taken part of the funeral ritual so many times for my tribe’s elderly, but had not given it a passing thought. But now that I have performed the send-off for the souls who died the unjust death...I see it from a new perspective. Those words actually have meaning.” >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Nightfall began its approach, as the two said not a word during the flight. Marvelous Man was entranced by the event and was silently processing on what Gene had said to the fallen souls. Approaching the Demon Affairs Bureau building, the musclebound superhero began his descent. Marvelous Man touched the ground in front of the building seconds later and relinquished his grip of Gene. The Totochtin prince stood without help and turned to look up at Marvelous Man. “Much gratitude for the transport and assisting me with the send-off ritual. I cannot thank you enough for your kindness,” bowed Gene, “I believe this is where we part the ways for the night.” Marvelous Man looked a way for a moment and bit his lip. He clenched his hands with all his might for a berserker’s rage of courage. “C-can I...kiss you? If that’s okay with you,” he requested. Gene hummed, “...Yes, I do believe this is part of the dating custom wherein both people kiss each other. And your outside world media also dictates that this would sometimes lead to the intense sexual intercourse…” The bunny demigod paused for a few more seconds; his eyes reflecting intense thinking. “Would it be alright if we did not? It is not part of my people’s custom to kiss, and it seems like such an unsanitary thing to do,” he proposed. Marvelous Man’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion. It sounded like insanity. A sexual carnivore demigod believes kissing is an unsanitary idea?! His thoughts became verbal, “Aren’t you the type that sucks on the dick that just fucked you?! That’s even more unsanitary!” Marvelous Man instantly covered his mouth. He stared back at Gene with a shocked expression. Gene became surprised as well and looked away; his face showing a musing over what his date had just said. Seconds after, Gene looked back up at Marvelous Man. “I believe the expression I am meant to say here is ‘Touche’,” smirked Gene. Taking a slow breath, Marvelous Man gently placed his hands on Gene’s shoulders. He pulled his date forward with featherweight force and leaned down. Lips pursed and carefully aligned with each other, the muscular hero closed his eyes before contact. It was a soft peck. Embraced against each other for seconds, but it never went further. Gene’s lips felt like soft pillows, and his scent was a mix of honeysuckle and earth. This was enough for Marvelous Man to feel connected. To feel like a real person, and not some character stuck in a kid-friendly sitcom or comic book. His blood was rushing; pounding in both his head and his manhood. After everything he had been through, this brief moment made it all felt worth it. Releasing his delicate grasp and romantic embrace from Gene, Marvelous Man then realized he had stopped breathing during that kiss. He took a deep breath through his nostrils, and stood up straight. With adrenaline and high emotions wreaking havoc his body, it took all of the muscle hero’s will to not tremble and fall apart right after. The romantic giant then looked down at his date; beaming with love-struck excitement. His first kiss was everything he thought it would be. He grinned, “So...how was that?” Gene looked up in thought and bobbed his head left and right a few times. “Mmmm...It was cute,” he hummed. Next Chapter

All comments and critiques are welcomed here and on my Google Docs(https://drive.google.com/open?id=1Xp3Efz4F7g0cC_7KjwckI1X-FG-NtstAQEEniShWM8k) For other chapters, I will post them on here later. But you can find the archives on my FA and Tumblr with pics included. FA: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/ecchimultiverse/ Tumblr: http://ecchimultiverse.tumblr.com/ First Chapter | Previous Chapter | Next Chapter Chapter 10: The Teratoma A soft patter echoed in the chamber of the empty subway tunnel. It was a slow sound that beaten to the rhythm of a person taking small steps in the black space. What was not swallowed by the darkness was ebbed away by the dim light bulbs embedded in the tunnel walls. In the passing glow, a form began to reconstitute into visibility. Pale feet with barely a sinew underneath the chapped skin appeared; moving in tandem with the pattering sound. Underneath the next dim light, a section of a red cloak materialized and draped over the feet. The cloak fully reformed underneath the next light with the hood bulging from the equine skull underneath. The Skeleton Lord’s movement slowed down. His body wobbled for a moment before the villain braced himself against the wall. His breath raspy as if he were in need of an oxygen tank for a man of his antiquity. “Not yet,” he muttered, “That invisibility should have held out longer.” The Skeleton Lord hissed, “Silence! I should have had more than enough energy to do anything. I slaughtered all those gypsies! It should not have taken much to reform me. Silence, the lot of you!” He paused for a moment before continuing. “You are right. You always are. We will get more. We must educate these sows and hedge-borns on who we truly are. Poxes on adventurers and their crusades,” rasped the Skeleton Lord. Seconds ticked by as he said nothing. A wail escaped his lips as his body became limp against the wall. The Skeleton Lord cried. A suave Latino voice echoed in the darkness, “Wow, and I thought I was fucked up after getting stuck in limbo for a little while.” Turning around, the Skeleton Lord spotted Sugar Skull in the yellow-tinted glow. The purple-suited ghoul was leaned against the wall next to the Skeleton Lord. The spinning cartoon flowers stared out towards the vast darkness of the subway tunnel. “You are...the peculiar ghoul I met not too long ago,” he recalled, “Tell me, do you remember your name?” Sugar Skull nodded, “I do. But I’ve decided to go by a new name. And for bad guys like you…” The ghoul took a step towards the Skeleton Lord and squatted down. His yellow flower eyes gazed into the villain’s shadow-veiled face. The spinning flowers in his sockets began to wilt into a blackened shrivel. Its husk crumbled into bits that dissolved in the emptiness of the ghoul’s eye sockets. “You can call me, Deathshade,” said the skulled man. Deathshade’s face twisted like an owl’s; trying to look upside down without moving its body. The bones in his neck clicked, as his chin swung up in a clockwise motion. Upon reaching the axis of his neck snapping, the ghoul relaxed his neck and unleashed the kinetic energy stored in those muscles. His skull rattled with a multitude of bone clicking sounds; reverberating in the air and through his own body. Yellowish green spores exploded from Deathshade’s fleshy neck and decorated skull. The spores spread themselves a small distance before completely dissipating. With Deathshade’s face peering close to the Skeleton Lord’s, it was an expected outcome for the Skeleton Lord’s exposed exterior to be coated in the deathly spores. The Skeleton Lord coughed and lurched over. His skinny pale hands braced against the ground as the supervillain heaved. Black sludge erupted from the Skeleton Lord’s mouth. It splattered against the pavement as he continued to vomit. The volume he emitted was enough to fill a medium-sized can of tomato soup. During his regurgitation, the pigments of the supervillain’s pure white skin began to change. Speckles of a peach color appeared in scattered areas before collecting in a mass and spreading up his arms upon every upheaval. Deathshade stood up, “I was not expecting this to happen. But whatever.” The Skeleton Lord’s black emissions came to a slow; dribbling out the sides of his mouth. He wiped his lips with his arms and paused. The supervillain stared at his arm; turning it to observe the living pigments in his limbs. “Wh-what have you done to me, ghoul?!” he gasped. Deathshade shrugged, “Eh, guess I have time to do some, uh, exposition. You see, I’m a very special ghoul. I have three powers. The first is that I can regenerate. So all those mortal wounds won’t cause me to, umm...atomize. I can keep on fighting instead of respawning at a later time.” The ghoul leaned forward and pulled his leg back into the air to build up power for a second. Immediately after, he swung it with full force. The tip of Deathshade’s long boot toe rammed into the Skeleton Lord’s torso. The impact caused the supervillain to be flung away a small distance and landing on their back. Bit of red liquid sprayed from the cloaked man’s mouth. He moaned in pain. “My second power is my poisonous spores. They usually spray out like that, but it’s also contained in my blood. Now, as for what they can do, well,” Deathshade giggled, “I honestly don’t know. The effects are always random. But I do know they even the playing field for me. One time, I saw a man cough up his own lung. Like he got hit with that, uh, what’s that thing called again? Oh right!” He delivered another swift kick into the Skeleton Lord’s side. More red liquid escaped from the supervillain’s painful gasp. “Mustard gas. But as for what happened to you, I’d say...welcome back to the living. Hahaha! That’s actually a first. To make an immortal mortal. Bet you’re allergic to lead now, huh?,” said the ghoul. Deathshade reached into his sleeve, “Which brings up my third power…” The ghoul pulls out his black pistol from the purple sleeve. Planting his foot on the dazed Skeleton Lord’s chest, he bent down and aimed his weapon into the supervillain’s face. “GUN,” he chattered. A pillar of bone arose from the darkness beyond the dull light’s rim and speared into illuminated area. Its pointed end thrusted into Deathshade’s chest; puncturing through. The pale bone pillar continued to extend with abundant speed and began lifting Deathshade into the air. Upon piercing into the concrete wall with its sharp tip, the pillar of bone ceased its growth. The ghoul’s torso was held in place against the wall by the bony spike. His eye sockets’ vast emptiness transformed into pixilated television static. Deathshade held onto his firearm during the brief attack and held it up; undeterred by the attack. He took aim at the Skeleton Lord. A bone spike the size of an arrow shot from the darkness. It briefly whistled as it penetrated the ghoul’s gun-holding wrist. Steadfast with the same force it used to lodge into ghoul flesh, the bony spike continued its propulsion. The impaling barb flew overhead and penetrated the wall; leaving Deathshade’s arm to hang limply with his wrist pinned. In the process, the ghoul became unable to have a steady grip on his black gun. The glock fell onto the ground with a metal clang. Deathshade stared down at the supervillain, while dark blood dripped through his purple teeth. An insect-like limb made of bone extended itself from the bottom of the Skeleton Lord’s robe. Angling itself, it pushed against the concrete floor as a means of propping up its master. The Skeleton Lord accepted the assistance and stood up. As if ignoring the ghoul’s existence, the Skeleton Lord faced the original direction he was taking before the ghoulish interference. The supervillain hobbled forward as the bony limb repositioned itself to act as a stabilizer and maintain its master’s balance. The remaining rows of wall-embedded subway lights in the Skeleton Lord’s path flickered off. Starting with the furthest, it slowly dominoed its way until reaching the villain. Deathshade saw the Skeleton Lord wading further into the darkness until completely enveloped. The soft pattering noise the supervillain’s footsteps made slowly echoed until mute emptiness filled the tunnel. The ghoul sighed, “That’s what I get for talking too long…” Pulling out his smartphone, Deathshade opened the messenger app and selected “Bruja”. The ghoul coughed without warning; spurting blood onto the screen. Deathshade wiped his phone’s screen against his purple suit in an attempt to clean off his blood. He began texting in Spanish: Deathshade frowned. Using his thumb to swipe, he opened a puzzle game app. It seemed that much time was going to pass before help arrived for him. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> The sloshing of raw flesh grew louder as Marvelous Man spotted a bulky object making its way into the clearing the three heroes stood in. Sliding through the entrance the Skeleton Lord came through, the mysterious being’s true form became revealed by the ground’s imbued illumination. It was a mass of exposed sinew tissue with patches of skin and hair strewn about itself; sloshing like liquid mercury. Scattered around the monstrosity were human limbs struggling to grasp and kick itself forward, while the exposed sinew lurched and rolled. It seemed as if hordes of every part of the human body were stuck together with no purposeful intent; leaving the organism’s anatomical structure to be a pure mess. Eyes of different colors attached to the abomination’s body and even at the end of some fingertips. Mouth orifices dispersed all over the monster that moaned and gurgled with a mixture of saliva and bile. The teeth were missing from the gums and were instead scattered in rows on the monster’s limbs and mass. Brain matter and internal organs surfaced in some areas; pulsating with undead determination to keep on living. Marvelous Man gagged at the sight of it as the abomination slowed to a stop upon its hideous reveal. It reminded Marvelous Man of a cancerous tumor he discovered on a medical mystery show he watched with his father, Apollo. “What the hell is that?!” exclaimed Octomentist. Marvelous Man answered, “Some sort of...human-sized teratoma…” “Marvelous Man…” called out Gene. Marvelous Man turned to his partner. He could see a saddened expression on Gene’s face. Gene Lightfoot spoke, “I can feel the agony of that creature. They are in an immeasurable amount of pain. Marvelous Man, can you heal them?” Marvelous Man stared back at the Teratoma monster. He could see parts of itself pulsating and small green smog emitting from its many mouths. “I...I don’t know. Maybe if I supercharge it, it could work,” he guessed. “You want to what?” said Octomentist, “Well, as long as they’re not lashing out, I guess we should try something.” Gene nodded, “I request that you please hurry. They are already quite agitated. If you tarry any longer, it is likely they will become volatile.” Taking a step forward, Marvelous Man then stopped for a moment upon spotting the Teratoma’s green exhales. He remembered the Skeleton Lord’s warning and briefly reached into his pocket. Upon pulling it out again, he revealed in his grasp the jewel-encrusted golden athletic cup. Marvelous Man resumed forward motion, as he applied the athletic cup to his face. The athletic cup suctioned itself over the shining superhero’s mouth and nose. It’s black rubber lining and silky insides felt like the gold-plated cup was softly kissing his face. Other than the soft suctions around his face, Marvelous Man felt like he was breathing without a cup on it; due to no warm backdraft of his own breath. His shaky nerves became calm, as he could smell a light fragrance of sugar cookies within his magical breathing apparatus. Within a few steps of the Teratoma, its eyes turned to Marvelous Man. One of its arms reached out to grasp him. The arm gestured at the muscular superhero with the body language of curiosity rather than maliciousness. Marvelous Man reciprocated and clasped the monster’s hand with both of his own. It chilled him to see all those eyes staring out at him. But he could not help but sense a sort of sadness, confusion, and pleading with each one he briefly looked into. Marvelous Man closed his eyes and hummed; calling out the light within him with his full concentration. His light within obeyed and expanded outward. The light made contact with the Teratoma’s hand and imbued itself onto its surface. Marvelous Man was hit with an immediate medical feedback as the light spread itself further down the arm. The light analyzed the Teratoma’s tissue to be made of many different human beings that were forced together. The monster should have immediately fallen apart and necrotized. What seemed to be holding the Teratoma together appeared to be the bone ingredients, collagen and calcium, acting as a bonding agent. Marvelous Man knew such a thing is an impossibility and figured this could only occur due to magic or whatever the Skeleton Lord’s weird bone ability was. Instinctually, Marvelous Man realized that supercharging the Teratoma with his light would most likely do nothing. The monster was a new being that was created from dead parts. There was nothing to heal. But...he was not sure if it was the light or maybe sudden insight, but he could feel that it was possible for him to undo what has made the creature into what it currently is. The light would need something else from him to do it. Something that was not a positive expression or memory. “I’m sorry, Gene. There’s nothing I can do,” said Marvelous Man. Gene protested, “But what about-?!” “Supercharging it won’t work. It’s not wounded. Just...mutated. I know I can’t do any of that gene therapy stuff with my powers. But...I think I can unmake it,” explained Marvelous Man. Gene frowned, “But would that not kill it?” Marvelous Man looked at the creature’s eyes. “It’s better than what it is right now,” remarked Marvelous Man. Gene shook his head, “No. We cannot kill them! They...they can still be saved! If we bring them to the D.A.B. then the magical researchers can try to find the cure to restore them.” “Back to what? Corpses? Those people were already dead before they got turned into a Frankenstein’s monster. You think your company can help that thing? If anything, your magical researchers would just poke at it until there isn’t enough IV and shock paddles to keep it alive. No different than any other scientist,” spoke Octomentist. She turned her attention to Marvelous Man, “I think you should go for it, Naked Justice. Put them out of their misery. They shouldn’t exist like this.” “No!” exclaimed Gene. Marvelous Man did not have to see Gene’s eyes tearing up. He could feel himself being whirlpooled in Gene’s sadness of anguish and disapproval. It was crushing, and Marvelous Man could feel his tear ducts beginning to activate. He did not want to hurt Gene. But what else could he do? Gene pleaded, “Fairuza, I beg of you to tell me that they are wrong!” Silence held in the air before Fairuza replied. Her voice echoed softly in Gene and Marvelous Man’s head. “I wish I could, Gene. I’ve been doing magical scans on that creature, but...nothing in the archives can assist with that level of transmogrification. Not even our best medical practitioners can help. I’m sorry, Gene. The people that were made into that monster were already dead. Nothing legal can remove death’s hand on them,” clarified Fairuza. Gene’s lips trembled, “Marvelous Man?” “I can...I can try to bring them back. But I’d have to unmake it first,” swallowed Marvelous Man. Gene turned away, “Do what you must.” Marvelous Man sighed, as he opened his eyes. He gazed at the Teratoma before he closed his eyes again. “I’m sorry,” he thought. He spoke softly, "It's alright. Everything will be okay." Marvelous Man mentally surrendered himself to his light; letting it feed on any part of him to fuel its other ability. From the depths of his memories, thoughts about seeing Sugar Skull getting impaled from the first encounter with the Skeleton Lord bubbled into his mind. He could feel the terror he tried to bury within himself become freshly undug. This memory then connected to a similar one he had when he became Marvelous Man on his first transformation. Seeing that chicken being broken and poisoned by his own fathers. It felt as if it had just happened a moment ago. The light that fed on these memories began to darken into a shining blackness. It no longer seemed warm and friendly as it illuminated the Teratoma and extended itself to completely blanket the abomination. It appeared to be cold and whisping about like a dark aura. It almost seemed to whisper dark secrets in a hushed voice. Spitefulness awakened within Marvelous Man. The betrayal and hurt he felt about his parents secrets felt as if it were maximized by a magnifying lens. Negative emotions swirled like a tornado within him. All those years of lies. All those years of loneliness without a real person to talk to outside of his parents. The times he felt the impulse to commit violent acts throughout his entire life began to stack up in one place. It was all too much. It hurt so much. He wanted somebody to feel that pain. To know the same level of emotional pain he endured and even more. To cast this burden of negativity on another person. Anybody. Marvelous Man commanded his dark light to attack the Teratoma. His dark light analyzed the pitiful monster and gave the superhero new insight. He could see into the mutant’s brief medical history. Though the Teratoma had not recovered from any wounds nor endured any, its undying cells experienced a sort of acidic breakdown before being magically reconstituted as the newly-born abomination. Other than trauma to the tissues that could no longer divide, the medical history of the victims themselves could not be found. The spiteful Marvelous Man did not care about the last fact and focused his attention on the acidic breakdown. Without having to command, the dark light proceeded on Marvelous Man’s intentions. The whisping aura of darkness seeped into the Teratoma; traveling into every cell. It whispered to every tissue one final secret before it became silent. Vanishing like smoke, the dark light disappeared with its task done. The collagen and calcium bonds that once held the Teratoma’s cells together began to erode. Acid bled through every part of the monster; slowly dissolving it. What anatomy that had existed for those few minutes fell apart into a mix of acid and biotic goop. Amidst his attack, Marvelous Man felt good. His mind was covered in a numbness of euphoria as he used his own negativity to melt a being. It felt good to lash out. To hurt someone else in order to ease his own pain. He had never tried to maliciously hurt somebody until this moment. It did not matter if this new ability was losing its intention of helping someone. And it was intoxicating. Feeling death’s approach, the agonized creature reached out to Marvelous Man with its limbs. It pulled the muscle-bound hero in a disorganized embrace with arms and legs wrapping around him. Its many mouths hyperventilated; trying to last as long as its melting body could. “Marvelous Man!” shouted Octomentist. Marvelous Man was shaken out of his mindset upon being grappled by the slimy limbs and the overwhelming feeling of extreme distress. He realized this was not the emotion he was actually emitting. Rather, it was Gene’s. Within the Teratoma’s embrace, he could feel the monster’s heartbeat as he sunk deeper within the melting horror. Marvelous Man had his body curled in a fetal position. He could hear it beat erratically before it began to slow down. His skin became irritated from the acid as if he were covered in aftershave lotion. Unknown to him, the acid destroying the Teratoma was eating away his clothing; leaving him naked with only the golden wreath on his head and the jewel-encrusted athletic cup on his face. Marvelous Man tried to command his light to begin the healing process; mustering what goodness he had left in him. The light within him weakly reached out and analyzed what it could. There was nothing to heal except the Teratoma itself, because it was the only thing the cells took shape of. It was not able to reverse the hands of time to go back to how things were. It could only mend things together that existed in the present to keep the wounded living on in the future. No amount of singing, melancholy, or happy memories could bring back those dead people. The last heartbeat thumped through the Teratoma’s body, as its mouths exhaled their last poisonous breaths. The monster lost complete physical structure and began to flatten. The now mixed acidic biotic goop that bled onto the ground immediately evaporated. As it deflated, it uncovered the naked superhero; laying on the ground like a giant, muscular newborn. With the last bits of the monster finally vaporized, Gene and Octomentist ran to their teammate’s side. Marvelous Man slowly turned his head up to Gene. Gene kneeled down and placed his hand on his partner’s bulging shoulder. Marvelous Man was overwhelmed by the concerning emotions Gene emitted and felt the motivation to move. With carefulness, he slowly stood up; his body no longer emitting smoke from the evaporating acid. He stared down at the bunny demigod, as he took off the gold-plated athletic cup off his face. Marvelous Man could still see a sliver of hope in Gene’s eyes. He hesitated, “...I’m sorry, Gene. I couldn’t...I couldn’t bring them back. Their cells were so corrupted, I...couldn’t find the...shape to restore them to…” Marvelous Man saw the sliver of hope dissolve in Gene’s eyes like the Teratoma. He wish he could say more. Something to bring back that hope. But the memories of what he had just done came rushing back. He unmade a monster that needed help, and he liked it. No, it was not “unmade”. It was more like he poisoned the creature to have its past eat away at him. That euphoric feeling he felt during that poisoning now came with an aftertaste. One that was fouler than bile and ate away at him. The person that enjoyed hurting someone was not who Marvelous Man was. Not who Justice was. But it was him. Marvelous Man threw up. Next Chapter

All comments and critiques are welcomed here and on my Google Docs(https://drive.google.com/open?id=1fWR-rfdhN_UycbGeWAlGpvy-jsMu8pgkb8-dx5GR7XM) For other chapters, I will post them on here later. But you can find the archives on my FA and Tumblr with pics included. FA: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/ecchimultiverse/ Tumblr: http://ecchimultiverse.tumblr.com/ First Chapter | Previous Chapter | Next Chapter Chapter 9: Celestial Meteor It was half an hour later that the two gathered their supplies, and Marvelous Man flew to the location. Gene Lightfoot was in his rabbit form; cradled in Marvelous Man’s brawny arms and nestled against the bulging pectorals. During the flight over, Marvelous Man could feel Gene emitting the emotions of frustration. As Marvelous Man began his descent to a street corner across the abandoned Ridgemont subway station, he observed his surroundings. The Ridgemont subway station appeared to be located in a desolate ghetto with decaying structures and broken windows. The area itself was tucked far away at the edge of Skyway City by the decrepit factories that shut down a long time ago and no longer billowed smoke from its tall chimney stacks that could blanket the sky. As for the subway station’s entrance, it was partially bordered up on its top half. The lower half showed marks of being plied off; definitely evidence that somebody was still residing in the abandoned subway. Nearing the ground, Gene leapt from Marvelous Man’s embrace and shifted back into his humanoid form. He stood up straight and closed his eyes. His white bunny ears twitched in different directions as if he were trying to detect any sound like a sonar. Marvelous Man placed a hand on a patch that was freshly ironed onto the shoulder of his black jacket. The decorative patch was the D.A.B. logo; fonted in white and outlined in cobalt blue. While it advertised Marvelous Man’s association, it was enchanted to act as a telepathic communicator with his own teammates and anybody else able to receive the psychic signal. He projected his thoughts, “Faraiza, we got to subway station. We’re in front of it right now.” It felt weird for Marvelous Man to use his thoughts to call out to someone. Like screaming into a void, but the screamer cannot hear the sounds they emit. It was best to not think about how thoughts sound in one’s own head. Regardless of how he felt, Faraiza explained that it was the only way to use his new communicator. “Yes, I have visual of it now. Gene, do you detect anybody?” replied Faraiza. Gene paused, “...No. I do not sense the presence of anyone at all. This is most suspicious.” Marvelous Man could hear the voices of his teammates echo in his head. There was no direction of where the noise originated from. It was all around him and inside himself. He shivered at this first experience of telepathy. “Should we head inside?” he asked. Faraiza answered, “Not yet. I’m not detecting any traps, but I think you should stay put and survey the entrance. I’ll do some quick research to see if there’s another way in. If Gene’s not sensing anybody, you two could be walking in a trap. Either that or the homeless community moved before the Skeleton Lord arrived.” “Roger,” nodded Gene. Gene turned to a dilapidated building on his right and appeared to be analyzing its structure. Its door removed some time ago, and any of its windows that were not already shattered had a layers of grime filmed over it. The bunny demigod pointed, “Let us take shelter in there for now. Their windows on the second floor have a vantage point for observing the subway entrance.” “Alright,” complied Marvelous Man. The two heroes went inside the building without saying a word. From what was left of the interior, Marvelous Man surmised the structure used to be a bakery or cafe on the first floor. The second floor seemed to be an office and an apartment. As the duo wordlessly settled in front of grimy windows, Marvelous Man felt it was the best time to break the ice. There was a certain tension about Gene, but he was not sure if it was due to the mission they were currently handling. He took a cloth he found on the floor and wiped the dirty layer off of a window pane, as he carefully chose his next words. Marvelous Man hesitated, “Hey, Gene...are you okay?” “Yes, I am well. I have no physical condition that will hinder our progress,” replied Gene. Marvelous Man swallowed, “Yeah, I know. But...That’s not what I meant. Are you emotionally okay? You seem tense. Is it because of the seriousness of our mission or what the Skeleton Lord did…” The emotions in Gene’s eyes seem to withdraw for a moment before coming back. The rabbit demigod began broadcasting the emotions of uneasiness. “It...It is not what he did to me that leaves you to perceive that I am having the shaken...It is what he said,” hesitated Gene. He continued, “That...thing said that it was responsible for the death of my people. That he is the reason why my race is a multitude of tribes scattered and hidden across the earth. I had never conceived that my tribe was once united with all the other tribes, but I have also never heard of it happening before. If what he said is true, should not there be history records of this Skeleton Lord?” Marvelous Man looked out the window to keep watch over the subway entrance. He did not know that Gene was part of an actual race. But it did make sense when the Skeleton Lord kept calling Gene Lightfoot that name. It just did not occur to him until the bunny demigod brought it up. There was also something he remembered in the debriefing. “There should’ve. I mean, your people should’ve known if there was a maniac like that. But not even the magical researchers know about him. Like he never existed,” agreed Marvelous Man. Gene’s rabbit ears twitched, “Or maybe nobody wanted to remember he existed. The Skeleton Lord seemed surprised that we did not fear him or even know of his name.” The white rabbit ears on Gene’s head began to droop. Marvelous Man then felt an all too familiar emotion wash over him. Loneliness. “But my people were not just united,” said Gene, “He said we were many. We populated everywhere with the humans. And all of my ancestors had the rabbit ears. All of them. To not only be able to explore the world but also be chosen...I cannot help but envy that such a thing might have happened at one point.” “But..aren’t you doing that right now?” questioned Marvelous Man. Gene shook his head, “It is not the same. Not many know of the ways of my people, and not many have the curiosity for discovering it. You see, all of our Totochtin tribes have only one person in every generation to be blessed by our rabbit god. The choosing happens after a tournament is held to find one who is victorious over their other brothers with their own strength and skill.” “When one is chosen to receive the rabbit ears and have their potential to be unlocked, they must go on a sacred pilgrimage. They must scour a region and find other male warriors to challenge them to combat. If one is able to best our chosen, he gifts the warrior with the best sexual experience he will never find anywhere else. This is an exchange to reap the victor’s seed, so it can be used to birth a new generation for our tribe. The chosen one will continue the process until he has completed exploring the region. And thus, our tribe becomes stronger with every descendant, and the cycle begins anew,” explained Gene. Marvelous Man willed his face with all his might to not express bewilderment. With no mirror around, he was not sure if his body betrayed him or not. He wondered if being baffled was also an emotion and hoped Gene could not detect. He saw Gene give a small smile as if he knew or was aware of how his culture was perceived by outsiders. Marvelous Man cleared his throat, “So...I guess your time here in North America is limited, huh?” “Yes, but also no. I was not assigned to this region,” twitched Gene, “I am sorry, but my story will have to be shared for another time. Someone has arrived, and they are curious.” Staring out the window, Marvelous Man spotted a woman in a red female kung fu uniform with visor sunglasses over her eyes. He immediately recognized her. “Octomentist?” he said to himself. Gene glanced, “You know of her?” “I met her yesterday. We teamed up to fight the PB&J Gang,” answered Marvelous Man. Octomentist looked about as if she were searching for someone. She looked up where Marvelous Man and Gene were stationed at for a few seconds before resuming her exploration. Gene inquired, “Is she from the Arkos Division?” “Yeah, how’d you know?” said Marvelous Man. Gene replied, “Most members from a superhero company dress themselves according to the colors their companies favor. It is much like how I dress with the blue to proclaim my association with the D.A.B. Though some people do the compromise by carrying a colored accessory in relation to their employer yet wearing whatever colors they please. Just like you.” “Oh,” spoke Marvelous Man, “So should we go down there to talk to her?” Gene crossed his arms, “There is no need. I believe she has found us, because she is now amused.” His rabbit ears twitched. “She is now within the building,” said the bunny demigod. Hearing the stairs creak, Marvelous Man turned his attention to the doorway. The echo of footsteps slowly drew closer. Seconds later, Octomentist appeared in the hallway right outside of the room’s entrance. Octomentist smiled, “Hey there, Naked Justice. Didn’t think I’d see you so soon. How’s my sidekick doin?” “Umm, doin alright. What’re you doing here?” asked Marvelous Man. Octomentist answered, “Saw you passing by. Thought I’d track you down, since I didn’t have anything better to do. Saw you upstairs with my visor’s thermal vision. Though I didn’t think you’d end up here in the ghetto. Congratulations on getting picked up by the D.A.B., by the way.” Marvelous Man was confused by Octomentist’s remark. He was not sure how she already knew. A second went by until his mind finally comprehended that his communicator patch gave away a context clue. “Oh. Thanks. Uh, this is Gene. And we were trying to find a guy that’s hiding out in that abandoned subway down there,” pointed Marvelous Man. Gene cutted in, “I believe this is one of the situations that we must exercise discretion, Marvelous Man. It would not be wise to divulge any more information regarding the mission.” “It’s cool. I think I’ll just tag along anyways. Or I could just charge right down there while screaming my head off. I’m sure he won’t notice me,” grinned Octomentist. Faraiza’s voice ringed in Gene Lightfoot and Marvelous Man’s head before they could say anything. She stated, “I’m sorry. I couldn’t find any other alternate entrances inside. You’re going to have to proceed through the front. But before you go, there’s something else I need to ask of you two. I’m sending a picture to your scrolls.” “Marvelous Man could you open your scroll?” asked Gene. Marvelous Man nodded, “Sure.” Reaching into his pocket, Marvelous Man retrieved his electronic scroll and silver-rimmed visor glasses that looked exactly like the Director’s. However, the electronic scroll Faraiza gave him was completely different from Director Skye’s scroll. Instead of resembling an extravagant Torah, its features were more like an oval-shaped object. “You don’t need the glasses. This information isn’t private. Besides, it’d be good to let your third party know about this. Don’t worry, I won’t tell anybody about her involvement,” echoed Faraiza. After nodding and placing the glasses back into his bottomless pockets, Marvelous Man proceeded with opening his scroll. He pressed the button on the top side of his oval scroll to unlock its features with a small click. Gently pulling at its sides, the scroll’s outer shell broke apart to reveal a transparent plastic sheet. It glowed with a hushed light of blue and white. Octomentist grinned, “Oh, hey! Those are the mobile alpha prototypes the Arkos Division sent out to the other hero organizations to try out before it’s released for retail. Glad to see it being put to use.” Marvelous Man ignored Octomentist’s statement and continued. Flipping open the panels on the scroll’s sides, he pressed the buttons hidden underneath to move the scroll’s digital cursor. He then selected the messages icon and found his first new message. Opening it, he found a headshot picture of a caucasian man with messy brown hair. Marvelous Man then heard Faraiza’s voice echo in his head. “That’s Martin Whalsh. He’s supposedly the leader of that community. Try to save him first. If you do, he can really help us out for future investigations or make it easier to move the homeless somewhere else,” said Faraiza. Gene replied back telepathically, “We will do our best, Faraiza.” “Why are you guys just staring at the screen? And who’s that?” spoke Octomentist. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> The three heroes stood steps away from the subway entrance. A gust of wind blew from within; moaning to forbode them from entering. The sunlight that was able to poke through the opening revealed stairs that paved downward into unknown darkness. Gene stated, “I will go forth and do the ‘inside sweep’. Faraiza and I will alert you on whether it is safe to proceed or if something is amiss.” His form began to shrink, as he shapeshifted into a snow-white rabbit. The bunny demigod’s animal shape twitched its nose for a moment before bounding into the entrance and hopping down the stairs' descend into the black abyss. “Huh, the files weren’t kidding. He really can shapeshift into a bunny,” remarked Octomentist, “By the way, it sucks that you got a Rank D. A little bit of downtime with this company, and you’ll get C Rank in no time.” “Thanks,” nodded Marvelous Man. A bloodcurdling scream ringed in Marvelous Man’s head. It sounded similar to Gene Lightfoot’s but as if he were in unimaginable pain. Faraiza’s voice interrupted the telepathic transmission. She spoke urgently, “Marvelous Man, you need to get down there! Something has traumatized Gene, but I’m not sure what!” Marvelous Man turned to Octomentist with wide eyes. “Something went wrong,” he said. Placing his hand on Octomentist’s shoulders, Marvelous Man commanded the light within him to illuminate himself and his friend. The two charged forth with Marvelous Man in the lead. As they entered, Marvelous Man punched the boarded planks on the top half of the subway’s entrance; splintering it in half and leaving enough room for the shining hero to dash through without ducking. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Faraizah guided the pair as to where Gene was located. After treading down the steps and crossing over the train tracks in the pitch blackness, they found a large clearing with blanket tents and houses made of cardboard and tin sheets built against the walls. They spotted Gene in his humanoid form; laying in the center in a fetal position. Marvelous Man shouted, “Gene!” He ran towards the fallen hero and placed a hand on his back. Marvelous Man’s light analyzed Lightfoot’s body but found no physical wounds to heal. Marvelous Man crouched down to get a better look at Gene and noticed a small puddle of vomit next to the bunny demigod. “There is so much pain here. So much horror. Fear. Despair. All of those people...gone,” murmured Gene. The bunny demigod looked up at Marvelous Man. His face was wet with tears, and his eyes were nearly clouded with catatonia. Marvelous Man could feel Gene emitting his own feelings of sorrow. He then realized if the broadcasting of Gene’s emotions were to continue, it could affect the team’s ability to fight. They were in no place to take their time to talk about their feelings. Marvelous Man needed to temporarily override the bunny demigod’s feelings and quickly asked himself what he could do. He could hit Gene with a slap or light punch. That always seemed to work in movies and anime. But that did not feel like the right approach for Marvelous Man to do, and Gene could react with even more negativity. If he were an empath like Gene, he could have injected positivity into Gene to balance him out...but he actually could do that in theory. As Marvelous Man closed his eyes and reached into his black jacket’s pocket, Octomentist walked past the two kneeling heroes. An object sparkling from Marvelous Man’s light sat on the ground by its lonesome. She scooped it up, while Marvelous Man pulled out his golden harmonica, Duskbell, and started playing it. Octomentist turned to music playing with her mouth pursed to exclaim. Her shouting came to an abrupt halt, as she saw Marvelous Man. Marvelous Man blew his golden harmonica with minstrel skill and jammed to an upbeat tempo. His light fed on the music and became supercharged. It obeyed Marvelous Man’s commands and began to extend itself. Bursting from the floor Marvelous Man was kneeling on, it enveloped Gene Lightfoot and dispersed to the rest of the ground. Upon sensing Gene’s sorrow to quell, Marvelous Man ceased the playing of Duskbell. He opened his eyes and spotted Octomentist; holding one of Gene’s silver spheres. He asked, “Where did you find that?” “Right here,” said Octomentist. She paused for a moment, as she looked about her surroundings. Octomentist hesitated, “Is that...blood?” It was Marvelous Man’s turn to observe the area. Before illuminating the area, the light shining off of him and Octomentist lit their line of sight only steps ahead in the vast darkness. This caused tunnel vision upon spotting the emotionally disturbed Gene. Now that everything around them was revealed and nothing to distract Marvelous Man, he could see everything. Blood. The dark red liquid splattered everywhere; from the walls to the makeshift homes and even the ground. It were as if a giant blood-filled balloon exploded everywhere or some sort of horror film setting. The scent of iron flooded Marvelous Man’s senses, and despair filled his stomach. With no visual contact of the homeless community, the blood, and the silver ball, a connection was made. Marvelous Man immediately placed his hand on the D.A.B. jacket patch. “Faraiza, I think we’ve been set up!” he telepathically exclaimed. Faraiza choked, “I see it. Oh my gosh...there’s so much blood. If Gene’s ball is here, then where’s the Skeleton Lord? Did he know we were tracking him?” Gene slowly began to stand up. His posture no longer exhibited that of a deterred person. The bunny demigod joined the telepathic conversation. “I am sorry, Faraiza. I sense that they are all dead,” he said. Octomentist muttered, “This is all kinds of fucked up.” A soft patter echoed in the opening behind Octomentist. However, everyone was too engrossed in the gore decor to notice. “So this is how you all survived my onslaught of the undead. The star child’s odd ocarina can enchant the field with daylight, as well as yourselves,” noted the Skeleton Lord’s voice. Octomentist turned around to face the Skeleton Lord, as she took a step away from him. The Skeleton Lord, garbed in his red cloak and the equine skull resting on his head, continued to proceed forward. Gene Lightfoot slid his hand into his utility belt’s pouch of silver spheres. The Skeleton Lord calmly spoke, “I had a feeling that silver marble had a tracking spell on it. It appears I was correct. If I were wrong, well, then I would have enough time to absorb the fleshes of this gypsy caravan. Sadly, I was only able to absorb their fear and blood. But I must admit, it became a bit messy on that last part.” The Skeleton Lord’s red cloak billowed as the insides rustled. His arms extended from the curtain with an object in its grasp. It was the decapitated head of Martin Whalsh; the leader of the subway homeless community. “And killing this fellow first made the fear flow right out of them. I assume it was because he is their chief and also because I killed him,” he said on a tangent. Octomentist leapt forward. Pivoting her waist to pronounce a stronger strike, she whips her golden arm towards the Skeleton Lord. Her golden left arm changed its shape; transforming into a golden machete. Four skeleton arms bursted from within his red cloak. Their white, bony hands caught the golden blade above the Skeleton Lord’s shoulder; right before the weapon could reach the neck. The golden machete shook from Octomentist trying to muscle through the gentle, skeletal grasps. Without even flinching from the murderous attempt, the Skeleton Lord slowly turned his attention to the blade for a moment. The Skeleton Lord changed his gaze to Octomentist, “Hm, a monk with killing intent. Or perhaps you are one of those mystic knights?” Octomentist did not answer but immediately reacted. Two of her right chrome arms placed their inner sides on top of one another. Palms flexing out, the chrome arms were tucked close to her side and aimed at the Skeleton Lord. A stream of water as powerful as a fireman’s hose jetted out of the palms. It sparkled with a layer of electricity coursing through. The electrified aqua punctured through the Skeleton Lord’s abdomen; soaking and billowing the back of his red cloak. The Skeleton Lord convulsed from the electrical currents spreading throughout his entire body. His hands lost their grip on the decapitated head and causing it to land with a soft plop. As the Skeleton Lord began to teeter towards the ground, Gene withdrew a silver ball from his pouch and threw it faster than a professional baseball pitcher. It whistled through the air, as it was aimed towards the stunned Skeleton Lord. The adrenaline pumping throughout Marvelous Man allowed time to slow down for just a moment to see the sphere about to bore into the Skeleton Lord’s hooded forehead with only a pen’s length between the two. A tendril of bone shot out from beneath the Skeleton Lord’s cloak. As it stabbed into the ground, it caused the Skeleton Lord to rocket into the air. Gene’s silver sphere completely missed piercing the Skeleton Lord’s head before the sudden velocity. The Skeleton Lord’s body hung limply high above the other heroes with the bone tendril continuing to extend and thicken from under the red cloak. Three more bone tendrils stretched out from behind the red clothing; rooting into the ceiling to stabilize the first tendril’s balance. The Skeleton Lord looked as if it were a daddy-long-leg spider that was short of four bony legs. “Lightning enchanted water? Well, that is a first,” remarked the Skeleton Lord. Grabbing his golden wreath, Marvelous Man threw his projectile. It whizzed like a buzzsaw; flying up towards the Skeleton Lord. The spider-like bone legs pulled the Skeleton Lord higher up towards the ceiling, as the golden wreath was about to reach the Skeleton Lord and saw through. Missing its target, the wreath returned to Marvelous Man, while the bone legs began to shift. The spider bone legs crawled across the ceiling with the Skeleton Lord gently swaying beneath. His bony appendages made its way to the other side of the room behind Marvelous Man and Gene. As he was lowered to the ground in front of entrance, the Skeleton Lord clapped. The Skeleton Lord cackled, “Well, go on then. Entertain me! Show me things the warriors of the past have not already done!” Surging forward, Marvelous Man bounded towards the Skeleton Lord with Gene following behind him in rabbit form. The shining hero activated his flight power and twisted himself in a counterclockwise motion. He completed two rotations before aiming a slamming right elbow at the Skeleton Lord’s face. A skeletal arm extended from underneath the Skeleton Lord’s cloak. It caught the powerful elbow without even wincing. The sudden stop of the muscular man’s deadly gymnastics cause the wind trailing with his huge body to billow the Skeleton Lord’s red cloak. As Marvelous Man was held in place, the white rabbit bounded underneath his musclebound frame. Gene arrived at the feet of the Skeleton Lord and transformed. As he shapeshifted back into his humanoid form, Gene Lightfoot rose up into the air while executing a spinning uppercut. His fist connected with the underside of the Skeleton Lord’s pale, white jaw. The brittle sound of bone popping and cracking emanated from the blow to the Skeleton Lord. As Gene continued ascending above, the Skeleton Lord’s head flung back from the blow. His body nearly recoiled, but his spider bone legs dug into the floor and walls to stabilize himself. The skeleton arm released its grasp on Marvelous Man’s elbow before immediately clasping onto the bunny demigod’s left shoulder. Three more skeletal arms lashed out from beneath the red cloak. Clamping underneath Gene’s right shoulder and legs, they held the bunny demigod steadfast in midair with the limbs pulled into a spread eagle position. The Skeleton Lord reached out with his own pale-skinned hand and groped Gene’s crotch that dangled like plump blue fruit. His jaw shifted itself back into place with the sound of bone snapping itself together. “I have to say, lust energy has far more power in it than absorbing one’s fear. Still, it is quite difficult to...milk lust energy if one is not a Totochtin. But I have learned many ways to milk fear,” smiled the Skeleton Lord. Upon his elbow being released, Marvelous Man swiveled his brawny body in midair towards the Skeleton Lord’s left side in a clockwise motion. He launched his right fist in an overhand punch upon arriving next to the villain. Another skeleton arm rose from behind the Skeleton Lord’s red cloak. It appeared to be a right appendage that began to wave in a counterclockwise motion. As the top of its wrist briefly touched the golden encased underside of Marvelous Man’s, it reflexed immediately. The skeletal hand grabbed Marvelous Man’s jewelry-covered wrist and yanked it forward. At that moment, the trajectory of Marvelous Man’s punch was now under the control of the bony hand. Marvelous Man’s fist was guided downwards in front of the Skeleton Lord’s neck. The shining hero could see his fist completely missing the molesting villain that did not bother to even look in his direction. He had no time to move away in the instance he was pulled closer to the Skeleton Lord. Two more skeleton arms thrusted out from the cloak. Both had their bony hands curled into hard fists as they aimed at different areas of Marvelous Man’s body. The first struck the right side of the hero’s face. With the skeletal hand holding onto his wrist, he could not be flung back. He had no choice but to take the brunt of the punch as it twisted into his cheek. Marvelous Man felt his vision and hearing blur at the powerful blow. Though Marvelous Man had bulletproof skin, blunt and hard attacks could still hurt him without ever having to break the epidermis. The hero himself had discovered firsthand that the fist was both of those things. At the same time, the second bony fist pounded into Marvelous Man’s right side of his torso. The aim of this strike targeted below his ribs and impacted with a twist against Marvelous Man’s kidney. Pain instantly seared throughout his body at the same moment his face got pummeled. The skeletal fist that punched the hero’s face then snaked over Marvelous Man’s muscular punching arm. It cupped Marvelous Man’s armpit and lifted with a small amount of force, while the hand holding the bracelet-covered wrist pulled it in towards the Skeleton Lord. This action locked the extended arm in place, as it caused hyperextension to counter any resistance from Marvelous Man. Were it not for the pulverizing strikes to his face and kidney, he would have screamed at feeling his arm reaching the point of breaking in his elbow. Seeing her teammates already subdued by the Skeleton Lord as Octomentist sprinted towards them, she pressed one of her right chrome hands on her chest. It began to emit a dark aura and manipulate her gravity to weightlessness. Octomentist dove forward before the antigravity took complete effect over her body. Upon complete hovering with no force to ground her, Octomentist aimed another cybernetic right arm behind her. The arm’s ability activated a burst of air pressure steaming out of her palm and increasing her flight speed. The multi-armed heroine positioned her arm to keep herself low enough to be close to the ground without any accidental contact. Octomentist maneuvered herself to zip past the Skeleton Lord on his right side while shapeshifting her golden arm into a pickaxe. The Skeleton Lord took no action to what appeared to be some sort of confused retreat, as she flew through the entrance the heroes came through. Once past, she immediately swung her golden pickaxe arm into the cemented ground; piercing into it with ease. The stem of the pickaxe began to extend itself, as it thinned from increasing length like a rubber band. The torrent of air coming from her other chrome hand ceased, and Octomentist’s flight came to a slow with her golden arm acting as an anchor. She then lifted her gravity-manipulating arm from her chest; releasing her from weightless and gently rolling onto the ground. After a few tumbles and her golden arm shifting back into its original form, Octomentist stood up with urgency. The right chrome limbs that emitted water and electricity combined once again. Octomentist quickly took aim at the Skeleton Lord’s back and fired a streaming torrent of electrified water. The charged current splashed into the cloak’s wet spot where Octomentist’s first shot could not pierce through. The stream failed to break open the Skeleton Lord’s red cloak but managed to split into smaller electrified drops when penetrating the fabric. The villain convulsed, and his body became limp. The skeletal arms that held the other heroes in undignified poses released their grasps, as the spider-like bone legs started to crawl up the ceiling with the Skeleton Lord in tow. Octomentist ceased her attack the moment she saw the Skeleton Lord move upwards. The eight-armed hero ran to Gene Lightfoot and Marvelous Man in an attempt to assist them. “How annoying,” mused the Skeleton Lord, “Would you like to know how I wringed every last drop of fear out of those gypsies?” He continued, “You never torture the old in front of the others. They already know death is coming for them. No, you start with the young. Their terror increases the others’ maternal fears by tenfold. And a whole lot of children to torture creates so much fear for me to absorb. Unfortunately, this caravan only had a baby. Well...one makes do with what they have.” As the Skeleton Lord continued to chat and cackle, Marvelous Man gave his stretched arm a few shakes before squatting down like a sumo wrestler. He placed his fists on the ground and raised his hard, round glutes high into the air. Marvelous Man slowly inhaled through his nose as he concentrated his leg muscles to soak up as much kinetic force as it could provide before liftoff. He relaxed his arms and focused the direction he would be flying towards. With his legs to provide the lift, he would straighten his arms at the last second to adjust his angle. Marvelous Man felt his chest and stomach expand to its fullest with all the air it could take and knew it was time to unleash the collected potential within his powerful calves and thunderous thighs. His thighs and biceps flexed; veins and muscular cords bulged and outlined against his skin. The cement underneath his feet cracked. With the force within his arms and legs unleashed, Marvelous Man rocketed forward; leaving behind a shallow crater indented with his own footprints and fistprints. The glowing, musclebound body shot up like a shimmering firework before its timed explosion. Marvelous Man’s aim held true, as he soared towards the Skeleton Lord. Activating his flight power, the shining hero tucked himself into a ball as tight as he could and began to vertically rotate. Marvelous Man stuck his right leg straight out, while his spinning gained more speed. Becoming a buzzsaw-like blur like his own golden wreath, Marvelous Man continued to whirl closer to the Skeleton Lord. The villain saw the spinning hero for only a second before he zipped above the Skeleton Lord between rotations. Marvelous Man’s aim and timing held true; he was right where he wanted to be . The muscular hero completed his cycle and slammed his heel into the Skeleton Lord’s back. The force of the heel drop kick jerked the Skeleton Lord downward. His spider-like bone legs could not handle the sudden direction his body went and immediately snapped off. As the Skeleton Lord fell with great velocity, Marvelous Man’s homing attack propelled himself further up. Right when Marvelous Man successfully attacked the Skeleton Lord’s back, he straightened his body and twirled himself upside down. His black boots were to the first to land on the ceiling and absorb the powerful impact resulting from his super jump and kick. The concrete top chipped and rippled with cracks that traveled to the edge of the ceiling. From the ground perspective of where Gene and Octomentist stood, it looked as if Marvelous Man had sprouted stone angel wings. Marvelous Man’s muscular body crouched against the fissured ceiling, as he spotted the Skeleton Lord plummeting into the blood-stained floor. The ground shattered underneath the villain with a plume of dust and debris flying up from the hole. With the smoke now obfuscating the Skeleton Lord’s body, Marvelous Man decided to not take any chances. His thighs flexed with visible veins on the skin; fighting against the sudden kinetic force that would have pinned him there for a few seconds. He activated his flight powers again and pushed off the concrete dome. In midair, Marvelous Man performed a forward flip to readjust himself. He clasped his knees together as tight as he possibly could and directed them down at the hole the Skeleton Lord resided in. Through the crashing descend in the smoke, Marvelous Man looked like a bright meteor entering the Earth’s atmosphere. The brawny superhero blasted into Skeleton Lord’s crater; resulting in a thunderous boom. A small gust of wind and dust brushed against the other two superhero spectators as more smoke rose into the air. Seconds past after pebble-sized cement pieces finished scattering into the air and clattered back onto the floor. There was no sign of movement from the man-made hole. “Marvelous Man?” called Gene. Faraiza’s voice echoed in Lightfoot’s head, “He’s alright, Gene. I can see him slowly getting up, but he’s a bit too shaky to keep himself steady.” “Much gratitude, Faraiza,” said Gene. The bunny demigod ran to the deep crater that was beginning to clear of smoky debris. He spotted Marvelous Man struggling to stand as his legs were wobbling like a newborn deer. Gene held his hand out, “Here, let me aid you.” “Thanks. I landed really hard on my legs. I’m kinda surprised they’re not broken” coughed Marvelous Man. Accepting the assistance, the white-eared hero pulled Marvelous Man out of the hole. Gene could see Marvelous Man was still having trouble standing up, as Marvelous Man’s bulging legs were still shaking. The bunny demigod scooped up his D.A.B. partner with gentle ease and held him in a bridal carry fashion. He carried his partner back to Octomentist without any trouble. Marvelous Man’s body weight was no match for Gene’s super strength. “Gotta say, that was a sick move you pulled there, Naked Justice,” remarked Octomentist Hey, wait! Can’t you fly?” Marvelous Man’s eyes widened, “Oh...right. Sorry, brain is a bit mushy from all that G-force.” Faraiza’s voice interrupted Gene and Marvelous Man’s thoughts. “I’m sorry for breaking up the good feelings and all, but just what were you all fighting? I couldn’t see the voice that was talking to you, and I have a visual of everything in this room. Something was damaging this room, but it was completely invisible to me,” she said. Gene projected his thoughts his D.A.B. teammates, “The emotions and aura of the Skeleton Lord are invisible to me as well. I fear this person has the ability or magic to mask his presence. Only the naked eye can perceive the Skeleton Lord.” The white rabbit ears on Gene’s head twitched. He turned his attention back to the Skeleton Lord’s hole while carrying Marvelous Man. “What’s wrong?” Marvelous Man asked aloud. Gene frowned, “If I were to give the guess, I would surmise that the Skeleton Lord is putting himself back together again.” “Oh my fucking gosh, when will this Humpty Dumpty son of a bitch stay broken?!” exclaimed Octomentist. The sound of bones shifting and cracking into place emanated from the small pit. It was a soft echo that began to increase in volume, as a shambling silhouette rose from the hole. Though dusty, it was undoubtedly the red robe of the Skeleton Lord with the hood being distended by the equine skull headgear. “Cursed wretch,” spoke the Skeleton Lord, “To arms, my guardians!” With his bone structure reformed, the villain stood straight up. Eight skeleton arms stretched from the red cloak; brandished with a weapon in each hand. The top two hands held a bow and arrow. The pair underneath the long-range weapon was a circular war shield welded with bumps and intricate designs, and a sword with a hook-shaped blade that Marvelous Man recognized as a scythe sword. Below the sword and shield wielders were short-handed axes, etched with runes, held in each hand. The last set of hands held a glaive polearm; its black blade decorated with silver white bell-shaped heather flowers that formed into a hook on the blade’s back. Marvelous Man activated his flight power and floated from Gene’s arms. He positioned himself standing straight and gave his legs a shake while hovering. While his legs felt like useless limbs filled with pins and needles, the rest of body felt twitchy and unstable. He would need a few minutes to recover and be at full strength after pushing his body to the limit twice with no intervals between those wall-cracking bursts. But Marvelous Man knew he had no time for breaks before round two with the Skeleton Lord began. “My body is too noodley to hit him hard like that again,” he frowned. Gene nodded, “That is fine. I request that you stay in the air. I will need your assistance with the air support. Please catch me and throw me back at the Skeleton Lord. The use of your wreath will also be appreciated. I will lead the attack. Octomentist, if you please, try to counter his attacks, to create the opportunity for me.” The bunny demigod pulled his right arm over his chest to stretch his shoulder muscle before switching to the other arm. He continued stretching his muscles as the other hero spoke to him. “Alright. But I’m out of water, so I can’t do the electrified water attack that’s been stunning him. And I’m running low on electricity with my Lightning Arm,” nodded Octomentist. Gene gently smiled, “We will manage with what we have. Marvelous Man, please begin the first attack.” Obeying Gene’s command, Marvelous Man threw his golden wreath at the Skeleton Lord. The bunny demigod dashed forward upon seeing the projectile with Octomentist and Marvelous Man following his lead. Gene placed a hand in the silver ball pouch on his utility belt. A rune glowed on his blue fingerless glove, as he swirled his index and middle finger within the pouch. The silver balls within the blue pouch reacted to Gene’s finger motions and the glowing rune. Right when a sphere was plucked by Gene’s fingers, another ball shapeshifted into a long, silver cord and linked itself to the chosen weapon. The cord then connected to two other orbs to form a bolas projectile. Gene pulled out the silver bolas from his pouch and began rotating the other two weights over his head. The bunny demigod kept his eyes targeted at the skeleton arms equipped with the bow and arrow. The archer arms had the arrow nocked on the white bowstring and its obsidian arrowhead aimed at Gene. As the arrow was being drawn back, Gene released his silver bolas. The projectile spun through the air and shimmered from Marvelous Man imbuing the ground with light. Accompanying in front of the silver bolas was Marvelous Man’s golden wreath; flying at a much lower angle that could decapitate the Skeleton Lord. The shield-wielding skeleton hand lowered its equipment in front of the Skeleton Lord’s face to block the incoming attacks. The golden wreath that aimed for the villain’s neck bounced off the shield and changed its course; boomeranging back to Marvelous Man. The shield ignored the silver bolas, as its trajectory would miss any harming intent towards the Skeleton Lord. Slinging over the shield, the bolas’ silver cords caught itself on the skeletal forearms of the archer arms. The spherical weights of the bolas wrapped around the forearms; tightening and tangling the cords to prevent any easy escape. The gap between the arm holding the bow and the other drawing the arrow was slammed shut. Smoke started to emanate from the binded bones as the arms exposed to the silver bubbled and sizzled. Gene dug his hand back into his silver sphere pouch and grasped a handful. With an underhand throw, the balls spread in different directions within a cone arc at the Skeleton Lord. The shield wielder held its ground; propped in front of the Skeleton Lord’s face. As for the other skeleton limbs that were not bound, they seemed to understand the poisonous touch of Gene’s silver and withdrew inside the villain’s red cloak. The silver balls pelted against the shield and cloak with the force of a shotgun blast. While the ones that pummeled against the cloak and rolled away after dealing internal damage, the rest that bombarded the shield lodged into it with large impact dents. As the distance between the charging Gene and the defending Skeleton Lord thinned for close combat, the bunny demigod lept. He planted his hands atop the dented shield’s rim and pulled himself up. Using it as gymnastic beam to leapfrog over, he split his legs open. Gene hoisted himself into the air with his spandex-covered crotch dangling in the wind. With quick reaction, the bunny demigod threw his arms up while sailing over the Skeleton Lord. Marvelous Man flew to Gene’s aid. Catching his partner’s hands, Marvelous Man carried him over to the other side of the room. The musclebound hero twirled upon approaching the wall. Halfway into his rotation, Marvelous Man’s bulky body graced his direction and tossed Gene in an underhanded motion. Gene’s nimble body gained brief altitude before gravity began pulling him down towards the Skeleton Lord. The villain turned to face Gene, as the rabbit hero notice movement billowing underneath the Skeleton Lord’s red cloak. A tip of a black blade peaked out from the robe. Seeing the ornamental glaive being speared towards him, Gene Lightfoot grinned. He shapeshifted into a snow-white rabbit right when the glaive was only a second away from impaling him. The black blade of the polearm completely missed Gene, as he gracefully landed on top of the blade’s flower bell-shaped hook. Continuing his motion, rabbit Gene hopped down to the pole part of the weapon. The white rabbit transformed back into Gene’s humanoid form. As his body landed on the pole, he hooked an arm and leg of his around it. The bunny demigod contorted his body; twisting down the glaive’s staff with the grace of a professional pole dancer. While completing his first revolution around the pole, Gene kicked underneath the shield. The defense-wielding arm flung back from the powerful attack; leaving the Skeleton Lord’s head unguarded. Upon Gene’s second revolution, he gripped the staff with both his hands and flung his legs open in a wide barrage. Both of his blue boots concussed the side of the Skeleton Lord’s head; causing the villain to become momentarily dizzy. As for the third revolution, Gene turned his body inwards towards the pole. He tucked in his legs before immediately ejecting them out and thrusting it into the Skeleton Lord’s solar plexus. The sudden propulsion inflicted upon the villain cause the skeletal hands to lose their grip on the glaive. A soft crack emanated from the binded skeleton archer hands. The shaking from the Skeleton Lord caused the weakened archer hands to snap at the point where the silver bolas tied and dissolved them. The Skeleton Lord stumbled back, while Gene landed on his feet with the decorative glaive in his hands. Four skeleton legs stretched beneath the villain’s robe; lifting their master to prevent his fall. Balance restored, the Skeleton Lord cursed. “Cursed wretch,” he muttered. Gene spear-chucked the glaive at the Skeleton Lord. As it sailed through the air, its staff end began to dissipate into black smoke. The shield wielder intervened and swatted at the glaive with its dented shield. The polearm weapon spun into the air, as it completely evaporated into black soot. The Skeleton Lord’s red cloak fluttered, as the pair of skeletal hands armed with short-handed axes presented themselves again. The two skeleton hands clanged their axes together as if signaling their own war cry. As the blades reverberated against each other, the runes etched on the handles began to glow a soft blue light. Electricity emanated from the runes and wildly coursed through the axes; zapping multiple, short bursts in every direction like a plasma lamp with lightning. The quadruped skeleton legs charged; pairing with each other to form their own synchronized left and right legs. As the Skeleton Lord stampeded towards the heroes, the axe-wielding hands twirled their weapons. With Gene in chopping distance, the left bony hand swung its axe in an overhand motion. The electricity from the axe crackled the air as it drew closer to Gene’s neck. Octomentist stepped in front of her teammate. She lifted one of her right chrome arms; her wrist limped and relaxed. The top of her chrome wrist made contact with the underside of the attacking skeletal arm’s wrist. All of the wild lightning that raged from the axe now harmlessly coursed into her Lightning Arm. At the same time, one of Octomentists left chrome arms vibrated with ferocity as she swung it upward in a karate chopping motion. The attacking arm sawed through the skeletal forearm without any resistance. Octomentist twisted her body; her back facing the Skeleton Lord. She reached out with her Lightning Arm in a preemptive attempt to intercept the other axe-wielding arm. As predicted, the other skeleton arm swung its electrified axe at her. Octomentist’s Lightning Arm caught the attacker by the wrist and absorbed the electricity sprouting from the axe. Her feet slid about to reposition herself to face her attacker, while the hand of her Lightning Arm briefly relinquished their grip to snake underneath the bony wrist. After completing its slide underneath the skeletal wrist, the chrome hand reestablished their grip on the other side of the wrist. Octomentist yanked the axe-wielding arm, as her vibrating, left chrome arm thrusted forward in a palm strike. The skeleton arm shattered into bits from the vibrating attack. “Kyaa!” exclaimed Octomentist, “Thanks for the recharge!” The shield-wielding hand’s partner, the scythe sword, thrusted up from the red cloak as though it was proclaiming its reappearance. In the same moment of striking itself in the air, the bony hand brought down its scythe sword with slicing intent. Sliding her left leg back, Octomentist brought her gravity-negating arm up to block the the scythe sword’s blade. Her hand limply hanged, as the arm itself instantly generated its dark aura. The scythe sword descended upon the chrome arm. At the point of contact with the arm’s dark aura, the blade silently bounced. The sword never got past the anti-gravity field to clang with the arm. Instead, it reacted like magnets with identical charges. The skeletal arm of the scythe sword flung back with its weapon as if it were hit with a whiplashing force. With her defense successful, Octomentist twirled away from the Skeleton Lord. At the same time, a whirring noise echoed. While the scythe sword wielder struggled to regain control of itself, Marvelous Man’s golden wreath approached from behind the skeleton arm. It sliced through with no effort; the action similar to a saw blade cutting through cheap wood. The scythe sword and the skeletal hand wielding it clattered onto the concrete floor. The wreath curved around the shield wielder, as it made its return back to Marvelous Man floating unnoticingly in the background. Among the confrontation with Gene Lightfoot and Octomentist, the Skeleton Lord and his guardians took no notice of Marvelous Man’s whereabouts. The Skeleton Lord literally disarmed of offensive weaponry, Gene lunged forward and grabbed the villain’s red cloak. The bunny demigod lifted the cloaked man and pivoted his waist. The cloak itself seemed to be bonded to the Skeleton Lord, as the evil man was yanked into Gene’s twisting vortex. Gene’s body rotated with the red robe billowing. Upon completing his three-sixty spin, the rabbit hero threw the Skeleton Lord across the room with all his might. The super strength from Gene caused the Skeleton Lord to fly too fast for him to be able to process a counter maneuver. In the one second of flight before colliding into the wall, the Skeleton Lord looked like a badminton birdie. The Skeleton Lord impacted against the wall with a thunderous slam. Though the concrete wall cracked with bits flying off, its layers were deep enough to handle the shock rather than be instantaneously obliterated. The Skeleton Lord was in a huddled mass devoid of humanoid shapes within the wall’s newly created shallow crater. All four of the skeleton legs and the shield wielder that were attached to the Skeleton Lord now crumbled from all the force. Gene’s bunny ears twitched, “Impossible...” Bones cracking and snapping together and flesh squelching resounded from the Skeleton Lord’s prolapsed body within the red cloak. The cloak undulated with its contents poking and prodding the fabric, before the cloak fell from its crater from all the movement. It landed on the ground with a stifled splat. Black ooze leaked onto the glowing floor until it sizzled and immediately evaporated seconds after contact with the light. “What the hell is keeping him alive?” said Octomentist. The sound of cracking and squelching continued, as the robe slowly rose up. Shape within was rapidly taking form of something more humanoid. The heroes could only gape in horror at how undead this monster truly was. Marvelous Man knew he had to move, but he felt paralyzed at watching the abhorrent display. The nauseating sounds finally ceased as the Skeleton Lord’s form was now restored. Marvelous Man flew back to Gene’s position; hovering next to his partner. “Totochtin. Star child. Heroes. At first, I thought of you as a fun distraction,” spoke the Skeleton Lord, “But I now see that much has changed since I have been sealed.” A wail of an unknown beast emanated from the Skeleton Lord’s entrance next to the villain. Heavy thumpings can be heard; increasing in volume as it drew closer to the entry way the Skeleton Lord used. The Skeleton Lord resumed, “Ah, it appears my creation is nearly complete. I made this amalgam when I realized my absorption of the gypsy caravan’s flesh was to be interrupted. The process of formation would be slow, so my whole intention was to distract you. But allow me to dispose some wisdom for you three. You should mind the gas it belches. It is quite toxic.” The Skeleton Lord turned to his entrance. He paused for a moment. “When we meet again, Totochtin, I will ask you a very important question. One that can save your race should your reply be yes or doom their fate to be with the rest of the lower beings I will extinguish,” he said. Marvelous Man shouted, “Wait! Why are you doing all this? What’s the point of doing all these terrible things?!” The Skeleton Lord stood there silently. His form ebbed away to invisibility in seconds. The Skeleton’s voice echoed the clearing with an emotionless tone: “When one has the power of a god and their purpose has turned to ash, the only thing one can do is burn the world itself.” Next Chapter

Hey guy, just a short snippet of something I considered doing. If this goes well, I'm considering doing a story where I draw a picture for each chapter (including this one if it goes well). Dont worry though, most likely I'll put a finish to Bear's Cub before I start this. Feedback appreciated.~ --- Basically a God (Part 1?) We hid under our desks in terror as the shaking settled for the moment, cracks forming in odd places as if the room were coming apart. The TV flickered but our eyes were focused on the spot as we saw the live news of the whirlwind outside the building. The image was fuzzy but it was impossible to not recognize the research center after we’d been such an extensive tour. The helicopter streaming the footage was shaking at the speed of the winds impacting its flight, the light flickering as storm clouds hovered over the city as a harbinger of doom. Suddenly a rapidly moving shadow sped by the screen. It happened as quickly as it had started as the cameras paned and the shaky camera man gave us a brief glimpse of something speeding into the clouds, parting them for a moment before being absorbed. “He couldn’t possibly- “said the strained and croaking voice of James Hansen. It seemed almost too ironic for the predicted flooding patterns of New York’s climate to occur so soon as we’d appeared on the scene. For years I’d been wanting to brainstorm and wag chins with James Hansen, famous for his paper that clearly defined the dangerous to global warming. It was only another side effect to being friends with Johnny, though, as he’d been invited to come after putting himself on the map for collecting his master's degree at the ripe age of 20 for writing his thesis on his perfected method for sustainable food across the globe. That had been only a year ago when he’d only been “kind-of” a genius. In comparison, he was something otherworldly now, which the research center on global warming in New York had desperately wanted to use to help cure some of the world’s environmental problems with his rapidly growing brain power. Saving the world was natural for him, after all. Suddenly, there was a loud sound coming from the sky that deafened even the thundering, raining clouds above us. As if someone had used a vacuum to wipe the large, roaring dust bunnies in the sky. The shrinking clouds were gone quickly and quietly as though they’d never been there, a grey sky and some stray, pitiful clouds remained as survivors. A boom from the sky could be heard through the TV and above in quick succession as something in the sky flew down and hit the flooding water quickly. We were all silent as the water continued to surround and sink our building, probably a pastime we were sharing with many others watching the news. The water began to very slowly recede as something could be seen occurring in the water. A whirlpool that had grown quickly in the water was pulling in the tide and forcing it up. “Holy god, he’s actually reversing the tide” came James’ voice. I clenched my jaw, something I’d been doing often for the past few years. Johnny had done it again, he’d saved the day and was probably doing victory laps in a whirlpool of his own creation. As the water receded and the tide pulled back into the ocean with the whirlpool, it became quieter for an instant before a loud clap caused the whirlpool to explode, water shooting up and probably making the largest rainbow as we all watched it shimmer. Johnny calmly walked in a minute later, his tight leotard stretched over his body, dry as a sheet of paper but the tight fabric glistening against his body. “Sorry, boys, took a detour and went for—“ he was cut off by a sudden rumble in his chest before a burp that flashed and blinded us for a moment. For a moment, I thought I saw lightning. “Yeah, lunch was an experience” he said. He rubbed his rippling chest as he grinned that stupid yet handsome grin he normally saved for the moments that irritated me the most. This was natural, everyday news for me and anyone else who’d heard of Johnny Poundstone. He’d made a name for himself as the prodigy creation of the US government, something you’d think had been made in an actual Area 51. Johnny was the poster boy of every newspaper in every city he visited. If you went into dark enough places, you might have actually heard hisses of fear. A real superhero for many who’d dreamed of someone so impressive to be their savior in their time of need. That rippling chest I mentioned before was mounted on top of a massive being. At 7’2, he was a tower of intimidating brawn that seemed to be in a constantly flexed state in the way his muscles were always bulging and pushing against whatever fabric he wore. A giant of his caliber didn’t need superpowers to dumbfound people but he had those too. Johnny had come a long way from that thin, flimsy straw of a human lying in his bed, dying of cancer. It was thanks to the government’s recommendation of giving him the treatment of a lifetime that led to the hulking man of today. It was terrifying to watch the nerd I used to bully in high school grow to such size and popularity in the world. He wouldn’t tell me the details but it was pretty obvious he had control in many realms of government and politics though he let on for me to believe he was just a “consultant”. Johnny had the world under his thumb and everyone might as well have known. I couldn’t compare the enlarging man of today with the 5 foot nothing kid me and my football player buddies used to stuff into the toilet seats of bathrooms and use as a dummy to tackle……. after practice. It was depressing looking back on how the years changed us both. I was the best running back in our state before college. After that, everything I’d pushed off cut up with. I stopped training cause I was too busy enjoying college parties, I lost my scholarship after getting caught with steroids in my system, and before you know it, I was running on student loans to cover my college tuition in fees. Me and my family just didn’t have the money as a lower middle class household. It was a miracle I’d had the credit in my name to push me through to my current years of grad school, my weary body looking closer to 30 than my actual age of 25. I was almost 100k in debt before I got a call from the twerp I picked on in school. I could look back now and see what I’d become as I looked out on the patio of the tower built to house Johnny and anyone else he wished in his multi-story building. 10s upon 10s of floor space for him and him alone that he was willing to share with me of all people. “Don’t stand out here too long or you might lose your sense of balance and fall” I heard Johnny’s deep voice say behind me as he also came out on the patio. I didn’t look back as I knew what feelings would stir but my heart still raced. I feared he’d gain the power to read minds the way his powers grew by the day. Just last week he’d learned to produce lightning from any part of his body. Long story short, the movie theater was still a mess after he’d raged at the last Captain America movie. “Why the fuck are they even here?!” he roared before he’d accidently spat lightning from his mouth that flew out and burned a large hole through the screen. I should have known to remember how emotional he got when he watched superhero movies. They always seemed to let him down in the worst ways. Not being a geek for that crap myself, I had to pretend to enjoy it as he talked on and on about fictional powers, and wars, and even wolverines. It was hard not to force myself to enjoy it when he’d consumed my life so quickly. I didn’t really stop him or struggle, really. He’d snapped his fingers and gotten me a full ride without batting an eye. “Sam?” I looked back but didn’t respond before he placed his large hand on my back. I was still a decent size at 190 and 5’8 but having a giant come up behind me and consume my back with one hand made me shiver. I tried to play it cool. “Your heartbeat’s moving rapidly, bro. Are you catching a fever?” he said as he began to ruffle my shoulders gently. I was afraid what could happen if he touched me without any control. He clearly had to remaster his body as it wasn’t very long ago when he’d tried to hand me a cup of coffee he’d made for breakfast only to nearly burn my hand off when he passed it to me. He laughed heartily with his deep voice then, his golden and hairy face flashing white with his sparkling teeth and his model-esque face seemed to contort in new beautiful ways. “Sorry, little guy, I think I forgot how hot it should be for normal skin when I set my heat power” he said as he went to go make another cup. I looked back and saw him suddenly stand straighter behind me, his hands still firmly holding my shoulders. “Hey, um, I’ll be back in a little while, you can tell Stell to come back another time.” No one could have stopped him as he suddenly hovered over the ground, looking even taller than before until he lifted off and went in a direction. I couldn’t see as far as him but I could only assume he was off somewhere to milk his powers like the show off he was. I went back inside once I couldn’t see his large and tight butt in his shining leotard and closed the patio door behind me. His latest victim was on the couch unconscious, her clothes on the floor and her naked form spread out as though she had basked in the sun and didn’t want to move. The look on her face looked pleasant but I neglected to notice. “Hey, you, get up. He’s out. Leave.” I said plainly. Another random chick he’d had sex with who still hadn’t figured out she was just a tool for him. At the beginning, Johnny had told me how his body had become more “masculine” or something corny like that but after the first warning, he’d taken it to the next level. At this point, I assumed any time he wasn’t saving the world, he was fucking some unsuspecting girl in the city who had a craving for his godly body. I didn’t wait the girl to get up as I went and took the elevator to my floor. As the door’s closed, I lifted my shirt, pulled my zipper down and stuffed my hand into my pants. A moan escaped as I rubbed my hard and leaking cock through my underwear. I couldn’t believe I was attracted to Johnny and his body. But it was more than that. I was attracted to his powers. I was attracted to his cockiness. I was attracted to his strength. I was attracted to him in a way nothing before had. He was more than anything I’d ever asked for and anything I could have dreamed of. You know, basically a god.

All comments and critiques are welcomed here and on my Google Docs(https://drive.google.com/open?id=17l528VwpFEInuBuZ1Al9vFvQXxVFwa_BbZBLVxbRQ1k) For other chapters, I will post them on here later. But you can find the archives on my FA and Tumblr with pics included. FA: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/ecchimultiverse/ Tumblr: http://ecchimultiverse.tumblr.com/ First Chapter | Previous Chapter | Next Chapter Chapter 6: IT COMES Sugar Skull turned around as he heard the popping sound, and his eyes grew wide. Immediately, he then swiveled his body back to Gene Lightfoot and grabbed the rabbit demigod’s wrist. “RUN!” he shouted. Pulling Gene with him, the ghoul dashed as fast as he could to the exit. Marvelous Man realized something dangerous was about to happen and backed out mausoleum while bumping the back of his head on the marble doorframe by accident. Marvelous Man stifled his yelp of pain and ran into the darkness. He remembered a tree not too far from the marble structure and made his way towards it. Not sure if he was about to run into the tree at any second, he commanded his light to flick on at a glow dim enough to see where he was going. Upon spotting the wide tree, Marvelous Man ducked behind it. He peered out and spotted his new acquaintances chasing after him. Reaching the glowing hero, the two huddled up behind Marvelous Man and stared at the mausoleum. Seconds passed by as nothing happened, except for the glowing hero’s wood softening. Marvelous Man remarked, “Isn’t it supposed to explode?” “Maybe? I didn’t want to take any chances,” shrugged Sugar Skull. The marble building exploded as bone, smoke, and blood ejected from within. The organic shrapnel and smoke that escaped began to withdraw back to the site of explosion and form a dome slightly bigger than the mausoleum that was just there. Seconds crept by as the dome’s area began to shrink. Shrinking and shrinking until it reached the average height adult human height. The dome then dispersed like wind blowing away sand to reveal what was underneath. Amidst the dissipation stood a figure wearing a hooded cloak that encased his entire body. The cloaked person did not move, while the three metahumans stared on from behind the tree. Marvelous Man whispered, “He’s not moving. Should we...see if he’s alright?” “I am not sensing any emotions from that person. He may not even yet be awake,” spoke Gene. Sugar Skull whispered back, “No choice. Let’s check it.” Walking around Marvelous Man, Sugar Slow slowly approached the hooded figure. The other two followed suit after the ghoul; nearly tiptoeing as a means of not accidentally causing the hooded figure to violently lash out. Sugar Skull held out his arm to signal to the superheroes behind him to go no further. He then pointed down; revealing with Marvelous Man’s dim light that there appeared to be a wide ring surrounding the hooded figure with a whisping black smoke fallout. The liquid-like smoke curdled with solid chunks of darkness strewn amidst the smoky pool. Marvelous Man and Gene Lightfoot walked up next to Sugar Skull and stood at the edge of the fallout ring; with the light at close range, the bits of darkness at the edge dissolved from the dim illumination. “...Excuse me,” weakly called out Marvelous Man. Marvelous Man coughed and thumped his muscular chest a few times. His compatriots stared at him. Marvelous Man projected his voice, “Excuse me, sir...or madam. Are you alright?” The hooded figure said nothing and kept standing there. Seconds later, it slowly turned to the three investigators and casually baby stepped towards them. “Ah…” he said in a deep, old raspy voice, “I have visitors. How rude of me. Come, come.” The hooded man raised his arm. A bony, wrinkled white hand motioned the trio with the gesture of welcoming one into their own home. The pool of smoky darkness in front of the three parted to form an aisle leading to the mysterious being. Marvelous Man began to take a step forward when Sugar Skull grabbed his arm with a tight grip. Marvelous Man looked at Sugar Skull; about to question why he was stopped. Sugar Skull’s flower eyes transformed into a set bear trap before immediately snapping shut. The trap shifted back into the cartoon flower eyes as Sugar Skull turned his attention to the hooded man. “We’re fine here,” said Sugar Skull. The man chuckled, “You ghouls. Always so cautious. Oh, how things never change. I wonder how many centuries have passed since I was sealed? Perhaps even a millennium?” “Just who is it that you are?” questioned Gene. As the hooded man approached closer, Marvelous Man’s dim light revealed the cloak to have the color of dried blood. There was something bulky underneath the hood, but the three could not identify as to what it was. “Who? Who am I, that you ask? Oh...I’ve been gone so long that I’ve been forgotten. Not even the limbo-ling is terrified of me. Have you not been told, little Totochtin,” pitied the man. He proclaimed, “I. AM. THE SKELETON LORD.” “And you want to take over the world?” said Sugar Skull. The Skeleton Lord hummed, “Something like that-.” A booming clap like thunder ringed in the air next to Marvelous Man. The hooded man crumbled to the ground as Marvelous Man and Gene reeled in pain from the ringing in their ears. Sugar Skull held a smoking pistol; aimed at where the Skeleton Lord was standing a second ago. Marvelous Man moaned, “What the fuck!” Standing back up, he could feel the earsplitting noise dissipate in his ears. “Sorry, I didn’t warn you. But I had to kill him when he said he wanted to do world domination. Bad guys sealed away for centuries are put away for a good reason,” apologized Sugar Skull. Marvelous Man looked down at the groaning bunny boy. Crouching down, he placed his hands over Gene’s that was covering their human ears. He spoke calmly to Gene, “Here, let me help you.” Commanding the light from within, Marvelous Man’s hands glowed with light as bright as a soft candlelight. The light stretched onto Lightfoot’s human ears and then extended its envelopment on the white rabbit ears. Marvelous Man fed the light with the happy memory in his teens of painting a portrait of his dad, Apollo, who was very proud of it. The light diagnosed temporary noise-induced hearing loss; painful, but no permanent damage. Gene’s ears shimmered brighter as the tiny ruptures and active nerve endings were soothed and healed. Marvelous Man released his gentle grasp, causing Gene to look up at him as the major discomfort in Gene’s ears evaporated. “Feel better?” smiled Marvelous Man. Gene grinned, “Very much so. Thank you.” The heart rate beating within Marvelous Man’s chest began to accelerate as did the organ in his bikini. His mind began drawing a blank on what to do next. “Your thunder arrow managed to pierce my steed’s skull. Bravo,” said the fallen Skeleton Lord. Marvelous Man and Gene stood up to face of the shot villain. As if being pulled by strings, the Skeleton Lord’s body calmly levitated off the ground. The body rotated in the air until it was held in a bipedal pose. The Skeleton Lord continued, “That would have killed me. It really would. However, I traded my flesh for immortality. What you struck was...well, let’s just say it was a dried-up puppet” As Sugar Skull aimed his black glock to fire again, the Skeleton Lord flicked his bony hand like he was commanding one to rise. A sharpened bone the size of a pillar torpedoed out of the whispy smoke close to Sugar Skull; shooting towards the ghoul. The bone pillar punctured into Sugar Skull’s chest; staking all the way through and lifting his body into the air. Crimson blood spurted from the impact and splattered on the side of Marvelous Man’s face and jacket. Marvelous Man slowly wiped the liquid off his skin and brought it in front of his eyes. Time seemed to come to a crawl as it dawned on him as to what red dampness was. He slowly turned his head to see his ghoulish fellow speared off the ground by the pointed end of a cracked, yellowish spike. The black void in Sugar Skull’s sockets were no longer animated with flower petals, but was filled with the snow of TV static. Sugar Skull looked down at Marvelous Man and shakily rose his arm to give a bloodied thumbs up. “...I’mma k…” he coughed. Marvelous Man could feel a lump in his throat forming; making it hard to swallow. His mind could only focus on the gored ghoul, that he could barely register a liquid trailing down his muscular thighs. There was nothing heroic about this situation. Marvelous Man was caught in the very battle his parents feared. The Skeleton Lord chuckled, “Well, now. A ghoul that does not vanish after being killed. How very interesting.” Dashing through the smoke, Gene moved at such a blurring speed that the smoke parted in his wake. The bunny demigod leapt; twisting his waist to the left as his right leg whirled upwards into the air. Lightfoot’s swinging kick connected with the bulky, hooded head and sent the Skeleton briefly launched into the air. Something underneath the hood loosened and detached; flying into the air and leaving the hood to be bulky no more. The Skeleton Lord crumbled to the ground once again with the bulky object falling down next to him as a horse skull with a bullet hole in the forehead. Gene twirled in midair, changing his direction to face the Skeleton Lord with a second strike. He hit the smoky ground with such velocity, that the rabbit man landed huddled close to the ground with his hands and feet clawing into the ground. As his body slowed down, Gene arched his back to charge right back at the Skeleton Lord; his blue spandex pants strained against his tight, muscled buttocks. The black smoke on the ground reacted by twisting its matter around the bunny demigod’s limbs to prevent any further movements. Lightfoot struggled at the ensnaring darkness as it anchored his body with his posterior wiggling in the air. The Skeleton Lord’s figure repeated the levitation and rotation process until he was presented with himself standing upright. “My...what a kick. When did Totochtin become this powerful? It would definitely have made it more of a fun challenge to slay your kind back then,” mused the Skeleton Lord. Gene’s eyes widened, “...What?!” The Skeleton Lord bent down to pick up the horse skull and softly dusted it with the side of his pale hand. With his back turned to Marvelous Man’s light and unhooded, the Skeleton Lord’s face remained obscured by the night and shadows as he walked to Gene Lightfoot. He then placed the equine skull back on his head while continuing his approach. “Yes, they were but a lecherous bunch, they were. Most of them did not even know how to fight. Your gods wasted their gifts and gave every one of your kind those ears you sport. But I was well aware of the dangerous potential your race had. A pity though. It seems I failed at snuffing out your elders, and now your gods finally understood how fearsome you could become,” he sighed. Gene gritted his teeth, “You are a mon-” Solid blackness launched out of smoky ground; taking the shape of a phallic form, it shot into Gene’s mouth and gagged any other words the bunny demigod was about to say. Within touching distance, the Skeleton Lord petted Gene’s head as the phallic dark matter slowly thrusted back and forth in the rabbit man’s orifice. “Now, now. I can’t have you mad. I still have use for you before I absorb your body and soul. It’s the lowest form of spiritual energy, but I feel like having fun after feeling my loins burn with your arrival,” he said. The smoking darkness pinning down Gene began to erect upwards like a pole. As it rose, Gene’s crouched form slowly splayed in a spread eagle pose. The black tube in Gene’s mouth separated from the shadowy ground and split the severed ends into straps. The dark straps wrapped around Lightfoot’s head and connected with each other upon reaching the back of the cranium. Even amidst all the action, the humping black cylinder never lost pace sliding up and down Gene’s throat. The Skeleton Lord’s bony hand reached out to touch. His pale fingertips graced against underneath Gene’s naval. Eyes closed, Gene shuddered as if he were lightly touched with something cold. The Skeleton Lord traced his fingers upward; over the naval, across the muscled abdomen, and then reached Lightfoot’s chiseled chest. A soft moan escaped the bunny demigod’s gagged lips, as his body meekly wiggled from sexual stimulation. The Skeleton Lord glided his hand over Gene’s left nipple and playfully tweaked it. The robed being licked his lips, “Mmm, before I sip on your lust energy, I just have one more thing to give my attention to.” The Skeleton Lord turned his direction to face the shocked Marvelous Man and the impaled Sugar Skull. “Marvelous...Man...break...it,” gurgled Sugar Skull. Hearing Sugar Skull call out to him, Marvelous Man broke out of his stupor. He looked at the goring bone that speared the ghoul into the air. The shining demigod knew he needed to get Sugar Skull down without sending the impaled being flying and being injured even more. An idea came to Marvelous Man. Floating up to the penetrating bone, Marvelous Man angled himself and wrapped his wide, powerful thighs around the yellow spearing column. His thunderous legs flexed; tightening its muscular cords like a boa constrictor squeezing its prey to death. The bone pillar cracked for a moment before immediately splintering in half from the deadly crushing force of Marvelous Man’s quadriceps. Sugar Skull fell to the ground with a thud; the impaled half of the bone still lodged into his torso. Marvelous Man instantly knew that he did not think things completely through. Marvelous Man apologized, “Ohmygosh, I’m so sorry!” As Marvelous Man descended back to the ground as Sugar Skull struggled to pull out the yellow splintered bone out of his chest. “It’s fine. I’ll be ok in a few minutes. I just need to get this out of me,” said the ghoul. Marvelous Man spoke, “Oh. Sure.” Lightly applying his foot on Sugar Skull’s ribs, Marvelous Man yanked the broken bone pillar out of the ghoul’s torso as it made a squelchy plop sound. “Thanks,” grunted Sugar Skull. As he lied on the ground, he noticed the ring of smoky darkness extending whisps of itself in an attempted to ensnare Marvelous Man. Marvelous Man was ignorant of the blackness due to his back being turned for attending his fallen comrade. There was not enough time for Sugar Skull to gather the energy to shout a warning to the illuminated hero. The shadowy ropes shot through the air, but then dissolved the moment it became fully illuminated by the light encasing Marvelous Man’s hulking body. More tangling darkness ejected out, yet the result was the same. The Skeleton Lord observed from afar of the effect and quickly flicked his pale hand to command another bone spear pillar to appear. As Marvelous Man was about to assist in healing, a yellowish bone column sprung from the ring of darkness. The impaling bone rammed Marvelous Man in the back and thrusted him into the air. With Marvelous Man knocked away, only pale moonlight lit the graveyard. The Skeleton Lord frowned, “Hmmm, not what I intended, but it will do.” He turned his attention back to the erected Gene Lightfoot; binded and molested by solid shadows. Darkness encased the bunny demigod’s spandex-layered godhood and began to vibrate. Black tendrils extended from the dark binds and playfully pulled at Gene’s cocoa nipples. Lightfoot could only helplessly wiggle and moan as his mouth was being raped by the shadow phallus. The Skeleton Lord grazed his hands against Gene’s smooth body; gradually sliding all over the place and even dipping underneath the waistband. As he did so, a purple smoke seeped from Gene’s body that trailed behind the Skeleton Lord’s hands. The purple smoke that appeared from all the touching started to flow towards the Skeleton Lord’s face as if he were drinking it in. Meanwhile, Marvelous Man tried to regain his senses after being flung high into the air. Marvelous Man activated his flight power; steadying himself as he inhaled oxygen to recoup the breath that was knocked out of him. His thoughts were snapping back together and then he realized how high up he was. Everybody looked like large ants beneath him. Perhaps this time, he should try a stealthier approach. He commanded the light to retreat back inside of him, as Marvelous Man quietly descended to the ground. Marvelous Man levitated as low as he could without touching the earth beneath him. Clenching his arms and legs as close as his bulky muscles could allow him to, he flew as fast as possible towards Sugar Skull. Upon reaching the ghoul, Marvelous Man came to a halt above Sugar Skull and quickly analyzed the wound. The hole in Sugar Skull’s torso was beginning to close a third of the way. And while the speed of the healing factor was amazing, it wasn’t fast enough. Sugar Skull wheezed, “Don’t worry about me. Help Gene.” “We’ll get him, but I need to heal you first. I hope this doesn’t feel too weird for you,” said Marvelous Man. Placing his hands on Sugar Skull’s shoulders, Marvelous Man commanded the light within himself to flow into Sugar Skull and heal the hole to a close. Marvelous Man knew he needed to hurry, so they can save Gene. The floating hero then began to hum a tune in order to supercharge the light. The light greedily fed on the humming song and illuminated Sugar Skull’s whole body. Tissues of bone and flesh grew at an explosive rate and sealed the gaping hole in Sugar Skull’s chest within seconds. Sugar Skull trembled with renewed energy and lightly patted around his freshly healed torso. The TV static in his eyes transformed into the usual cartoon flower shape. However, each of the individual petals were shifting into different rainbow colors and the flowers themselves were spinning at an alarming rate. His purple teeth chattered, “Oh my God! I feel like I got a caffeinated happiness injection! Why do I feel like practicing my guitar and the need to work out?! Why am I glowing like a rave stick?!” “Probably a side effect of supercharging my healing powers. It should wear off, I think,” said Marvelous Man. Levitating higher up, Marvelous Man held out his hand for Sugar Skull. The glowing ghoul accepted the hand and was helped up. During the handholding, Marvelous Man tried to command the light to dissipate from Sugar Skull, but it was no use. Whatever stealth plan Marvelous Man was developing was now rendered null. Sugar Skull was illuminated too brightly and could be instantly spotted by the Skeleton Lord. Sugar Skull looked at Marvelous Man’s face and noticed his blood splattered on the hero’s face. He quickly pulled a handkerchief out of his sleeve and wiped the blood off in one stroke. Marvelous Man gave him a quizzical look as the ghoul said nothing. Sugar Skull pointed at the Skeleton Lord’s pool of shadows, “The Skeleton Lord’s darkness can’t handle light. And I think all his bone attacks come from that darkness. If we can shine bright enough, his attacks won’t touch us.” “...What’s he doing to Gene?” squinted Marvelous Man. Sugar Skull chattered, “Something. And we need to stop it right now.” Marvelous Man commanded the light within himself to envelop his body and glow as bright as it could. Sugar Skull dashed forward, as he bent forward to sweep up his gun. The ghoul then stuffed his black glock inside his sleeve; disappearing without any stretches or outlines it. The whisping blackness dissolved in Sugar Skull’s path, as he made his way to the Skeleton Lord. The circumference of the light he expelled was expanded even further with Marvelous Man hovering above him; shining like daylight. As they drew closer, Marvelous Man could see the Skeleton Lord draining some sort of purple smoke from Gene Lightfoot. He then grabbed his golden wreath from his head and commanded his light to imbue it with the shining element. Once he could feel it glow, Marvelous Man threw his wreath forward. The golden athletic wreath obeyed Marvelous Man’s intentions and sailed through the air. Right when it reached close to the oblivious Skeleton Lord, it curved around the supervillain. The wreath then turned sideways and attacked the Skeleton Lord’s wrists; buzzsawing through them with a quick whiz. The Skeleton Lord could only hold up and stare at his amputated forearms as his hands fell into the smoky darkness. “CURSED WRETCH!!!” screamed the Skeleton Lord. Turning around, the disarmed villain spotted the two shining metahumans charging towards him as the golden wreath returned to Marvelous Man. The Skeleton Lord shouted again, “Cursed wretch!” Arrows of bones launched from the surrounding blackness that was not disintegrated by the light. The bone arrows bounced off of Marvelous Man’s overly muscular body without leaving a mark. Sugar Skull was pierced with shallow wounds, but the effect was reversed almost immediately with the wounds already closing and pushing out the arrows. “Throw me!” shouted Sugar Skull, “Throw me at him!” Without question, Marvelous Man picked up the ghoul as he spun in a counter clockwise motion to increase the velocity of his throw. Upon completing his twirl, the muscled hero flung Sugar Skull at the Skeleton Lord. Sugar Skull cackled with his flower eyes furiously spinning with its petals warping into different spectrums of the rainbow. The Skeleton Lord stood there for a moment in fury before a thrown Sugar Skull collided into his chest and abdomen. The robed being was swept off his feet by the attack and fell to the ground with a hollow thud and tumble. Sugar Skull immediately rolled back onto his feet and stood up. Reaching into his sleeve, he pulls out a folded butterfly knife. The ghoul playfully pivoted the twirling handles as he casually walked to the fallen Skeleton Lord. When he was within striking distance, Sugar Skull completely unsheathed the blade. During this event, Marvelous Man flew to Gene; bounded by dark binds and stretched into spread eagle. The black tentacles still played with the bunny demigod’s body, but there was no purple smoke emanating from him at the moment. Marvelous Man took notice that even though his body fully illuminated the shadowy binds, it would not dissipate. Marvelous Man floated up to Gene’s face, “I’ll get you out in a second!” Gene could only glance with his eyes barely opened as the phallic darkness kept thrusting itself into his mouth. Marvelous Man had to admit that the display in front of him was very erotic. He could feel his heroic meatus fill with his justice essence as the familiar oppressive erogenous emotion weigh down on him. Marvelous Man shook his head and focused on his need to be a hero at that moment. With his mind clearing, Marvelous Man figured that perhaps he needed more light. He placed his hands underneath Lightfoot’s armpits and commanded his light to spread onto Gene. The light obeyed, and it spread from his hands to encasing the entire body with shining brightness. The vibrating black binds slowly disintegrated like paper devoured by fire. With Gene in his grasp, Marvelous Man slowly descended as he could feel the rabbit man’s lucky third limb poke with hard aggression at his diamond-cut abdomen. Marvelous Man drew close to the ground and allowed Gene to gently land on their feet. “You okay?” asked Marvelous Man. Gene cracked both sides of his neck, “I am alright. Though I would have liked to have been left to cum before the rescue, I still have gratitude for what you did. I have, as your country puts it, the blue balls and need to work out my frustration.” Other than the oppressive sexual energy putting pressure on him, Marvelous Man could also feel some anger pressing on his emotional state. But he resisted. Marvelous Man searched about for a few seconds before spotting Sugar Skull approaching the fallen Skeleton Lord. “There they are!” he pointed. An animated horse skeleton emerged from underneath the Skeleton Lord; spraying a light layer of dirt as it rose. The skeleton equine neighed as it stood on its hind legs for a moment. Sugar Skull, caught in the small dirt explosion, stumbled back as he tried to clear earth from his eye sockets and mouth. The Skeleton Lord sat up straight on his steed; his hood no longer bulked by the skull that was now attached to the horse. Black smoke connected to his severed arms and seemed to be channeling something. The Skeleton Lord jeered, “It appears that in my most weakest, even a Totochtin, a ghoul, and a star child can best me.” The twirling darkness attached to the Skeleton Lord’s stumps began to narrow as it revealed to be connected to something it was pulling. It pulled from the shadowy pool the Skeleton Lord’s hands that Marvelous Man severed. Like a fishing rod, the connected blackness reeled in the dismembered extremities with haste until the limbs were connected. The dark reel then oozed outside the wound like pus before being absorbed into the skin and sealing up the cleaved area. As it did so, the wound Marvelous Man inflicted appeared to have vanish; showing off bony, pale wrists with no scars. “But I must thank you, Totochtin. When I was unsealed, my strength was that of a morning dewdrop on a leaf. And with what I was able to drink from you, before I was oh so interrupted, is now able to fill a small tin cup,” boasted the Skeleton Lord. Raising his white hand into the air, he snapped his fingers. The pool of smoky blackness expanded far across the graveyard’s expanse; beyond what the three fighters could see with their illuminated bodies and the light of the full moon. The ground beneath began to vibrate. The Skeleton Lord proclaimed, “A gift to you. For the generosity and entertainment.” The skeleton horse neighed and took off; galloping away with the Skeleton Lord’s blood red cloak fluttering in the wind. Gene reached into a pouch on his belt and pulled out a silver sphere the size of a large marble ball. The shining, bunny demigod threw the silver ball at the Skeleton Lord. It whistled through the air for a brief second before piercing into the Skeleton Lord’s side. The Skeleton Lord lurched forward but showed no other sign of being in lots of pain. With the dirt finally dusted out of himself, Sugar Skull ran back to the two superheroes. Gene’s ears twitched as Sugar Skull rejoined them; lining their backs to each other. “There is too many of them. I cannot keep the count,” said Gene, “All of them are underneath us.” Marvelous Man exclaimed, “What, zombies?!” “They have arrived!” shouted Gene. Bones of skeleton corpses breached through the smoky pool of darkness. Skeletal beings clawed and clamored their way through, as the whisping blackness began to intertwine with the skeletals’ structures. The smoke on the animated skeletons solidified itself into swords, axes, and even black medieval armor that covered parts of the skeleton. Sugar Skull pulled out his handgun from his sleeve. With the two heroes having their backs turned on the ghoul, Sugar Skull took the butterfly knife in his hand and briefly stabbed himself on his side before quickly pulling out. He winced a bit, as he took up a fighting stance with his black glock resting on the wrist with the bloodied blade. One hand aimed at the boney creatures, while having the other ready to stab. Already, his self-inflicted wound began to heal. He spoke, “I really hope this army of the damned is the slow moving kind.” “Hush those words unless you wish to inflict the jinx upon us,” said Gene. Marvelous Man held up his fists; ready to fight as his sexual tool finally went limp. The armored skeletons charged forward with their weapons raised. Sugar Skull fired his handgun; piercing the craniums of the raised dead in front of him. Marvelous Man threw his golden wreath and decapitate a few before returning. Gene reached into his pouch and hurled a silver ball; boring through helmets and pulverizing skulls into boney bits. The skeletons who weren’t caught in the retaliation stopped to gaze upon their fallen brethren. The armor-mimicking darkness on the damaged skeletons dispersed into smoke before being immediately absorbed into the bones. It restructured and mended together all of the broken pieces as the inking blackness pulled the recovering boney creature to stand up straight. The pool of whisping darkness beneath them intertwined once again to form weapons and armor. Sugar Skull shouted, “Switch to close combat! Our light should stop them from recovering if we stick close to them!” The three stood their ground; ready to embrace the onslaught. Sugar Skull fired at the skeletons’ kneecaps to cripple those that drew in close to him. He then stabbed and slashed at the exposed bone parts with his bloodied butterfly knife. The boned creatures painted with only a dab of Sugar Skull’s blood shivered for a second before disintegrating into a pile of dust. After each attack, the ghoul would have to duck and twirl about to avoid the swings and stabs of the skeletal beings. Gene Lightfoot ducked and weaved through the skeletons’ strikes; getting as close as he can before corkscrew punching through their craniums. He would follow up his punches with a roundhouse kick and swing his toned legs at any armored skeleton that would try to ambush his turned back. At any moment Lightfoot was about to be over encumbered by the attacking numbers, he shapeshifted into a small white rabbit and hopped away to a better offensive position. This would leave his opponents slashing at the air and befuddled with confusion. Marvelous Man parried away the skeletons’ weapons with his golden bracelets before lunging forward to grapple the black armor. Quickly whirling about, he would slam the armored skeleton he grabbed into the attacking fray; smashing the other bony creatures into pieces. After creating a small clearing, Marvelous Man would then toss the skeletal being high into the air and let gravity take care of the rest. The trio kept repeating their actions, but the numbers never seemed to diminish. Every time they moved away to dodge or fight more armored skeletons, their light drifted away from shining upon the remains. And every time it happened, the pool of darkness would seep into the bones; restoring them back to fighting condition and gifting them with armor and weapons. “There does not seem to be any end to these skeletons,” noted Gene. Sugar Skull stabbed another armored skeleton; causing it to atomize into dust. He shouted, “We need more light! Marvelous Man!” “I’ll see what I can do, but you guys need to cover me,” said Marvelous Man. He brought his right leg up high into the air before slamming it down; axe kicking an attacking skeleton into many splinters. Sugar Skull answered back, “That’s fine. But you need to get us somewhere else. Too many to fight!” Activating his flight powers, Marvelous Man flew above the reach of the skeletal creatures before diving towards his temporary teammates. He scooped up each one with an arm wrapped around their torso. Marvelous Man then increased his altitude in the hopes of finding a fitting spot to defend and unleash a mass illumination. “Go over there!” pointed Sugar Skull. Marvelous looked to where Sugar Skull indicated. It was another mausoleum located a distance away; appearing newer than the one that housed the Skeleton Lord’s coffin. None of the bony creatures were there, and it would take some time for the damned to reach them. If things did not go as planned, the three could climb up to the top of the mausoleum to defend their point or escape. He complied and landed in front of the marbled structure as he released his grasp on the two beings he carried. Emptying the magazine from the black glock, Sugar Skull pulled a pistol ammo magazine from out of his sleeves and reloaded it into his handgun. He cocked his gun, “We will try to buy you some time. Try to clear away all this darkness. It’s empowering them with armors and weapons and restoring them. If you can do that, me and the bunny boy can clean out this bony mess with ease...Wow, I feel very articulated speaking English now. All the words just come to me so easily. Like juxtaposition and-” “Please focus,” interrupted Gene, “We must let him concentrate, and we must defend him from the dark spawns.” Sugar Skull sheepishly grinned, “Sorry.” As Gene fished in his belt pouch for more silver balls, Marvelous Man tried to think. He could try to make himself brighter, but he needed to completely dissipate the dark pool of whisping shadows that covered the whole graveyard. So if increasing the intensity of the glow from his hulking body would not be enough to get rid of all the Skeleton Lord’s darkness, he needed to administer his light a different way. Marvelous Man looked at the grass and dirt beneath his feet that his bodily illumination exposed from dispelling the blackness around him. An idea came to him. He commanded his light to extend from his feet and irradiate the ground with brightness. Sunlight shined from the earth and shot into the sky like a piercing spotlight. Marvelous Man frowned as the light could only expand far enough to create a pillar of daylight that encircled only Marvelous Man. The light needed more energy. Gunshots rang from Sugar Skull’s gun as the horde of armored skeletons charged towards the three fighters. Gene barraged the unit with his silver balls; breaking down lines of skeletons into little bits. Scores of skeletal beings would fall from the cover fire, but they would keep getting back up with the help of shadowy pool to piece them back together in only seconds. The army was slowly gaining territory. Marvelous Man knew he had to supercharge his light, but he felt he would have to do more than humming in order to imbue the graveyard grounds with light. He would have to sing. Putting his hand in his pockets, Marvelous Man cleared his throat. “When the night has come, And the land is dark, And the moon is the only light we’ll see,” sang Marvelous Man. His light fed on his song and began to grow; expanding at a quickening rate and encircling his compatriots. Marvelous Man wished he had an instrument to go with his solo act. “No, I won’t be afraid, Just as long as you stand, stand by me,” continued Marvelous Man. He could feel a cold, metal rectangle dance at his fingertips. Marvelous Man quickly pulled it out to reveal a golden harmonica. There was a name etched on the plate: Duskbell. Most likely, a gift from his dad, Apollo. It was better than nothing. Marvelous Man shrugged and began to play the chorus. The muscle memory from practicing this pocket instrument back in his artificial world came flooding back into his fingers. He cupped the golden harmonica and blew into the holes. His body swayed with the somber notes that cried for his darlings to stand by him. The light engorging on his songs and his emotions became supercharged even further; expanding at an explosive pace. Plants and insects began to burst out of the ground and thrived on the healing brightness. The spread of the imbued daylight had completed its encompass of the graveyard within seconds. Any residue of the Skeleton Lord’s smoky pool of darkness had completely vanished as well as the skeleton army’s weapons and armor. The whole graveyard property looked as if it were plucked from a sunny day and thrown into a setting that was in the middle of the night. Everybody but Marvelous Man stopped what they were doing to stare at the new scenery. Sugar Skull muttered, “Holy shit...” The ghoul and the bunny demigod looked at the musical hero before turning their attention back to the mass of naked skeletons. “Victory is within our reach!” cried Gene. The two charged into the shocked fray as Sugar Skull stabbed himself in his side to give his blade a new layer of blood. Gene motioned his right hand as if he were picking up something. A yellow rune symbol glowed on the back of his fingerless black gloves. The silver balls Gene previously threw, with exception to the one lodged into the Skeleton Lord’s back, rose from the ground and floated at Lightfoot’s waist height. Gene shapeshifted into a white rabbit and bounded towards the floating spheres. Upon reaching a sphere, Lightfoot would transform back into his human form and uppercut the nearby skeleton into pieces during the process. He would then whip his legs and arms about; roundhouse kicking and hook punching at the bony beings close to him in order to create a small clearing riddled with skeleton parts. After that, the bunny demigod would grab his sphere and hurl it at the crowd of skeletal creatures. The skeletons reacted to the punctures by exploding into trails of bony fragments immediately after the ball exited them. Shapeshifting back into a white rabbit, Gene would move on to the next floating silver ball. As that went on, Sugar Skull shot any skeletons a small distance away from him and slashed indiscriminately with his bloodied butterfly knife at close proximity. The bony beings he attacked would shatter from gunshots or disintegrate into piles of dust from the slashing. He cackled maniacally as his purple teeth chattered. The attacks from the two carried on without ever stopping. The skeleton army shrunk with bone fragments littering the graveyard as Marvelous Man continued his song. Upon reaching the end of his song, Marvelous Man looked up to see the two fighters lightly panting and walking back to him. Gene stretched his arms as Sugar Skull pulled out a handkerchief from his sleeve to wipe the blood off his blade. Marvelous Man cheered, “Great work, you guys! That was a close one!” “Actually, I should say that to you. Without you, we’d have to retreat. And that would have been pretty bad if that army of damned got out,” remarked Sugar Skull. Gene nodded, “Agreed. But I was wondering, your musical device increases your power, yes?” “Well, kinda. My light power feeds on positive things like emotions, memories. And when I do something artsy like singing or playing an instrument, it kinda supercharges it to heal or light more stuff up more. I don’t really know all the side effects, to be honest.” explained Marvelous Man. Sugar Skull snapped his fingers, “Aha! So that’s why you were singing when you healed me.” “Pretty much. We were in a pinch, and I knew I wouldn’t be able to heal fast enough,” remembered Marvelous Man, “Oh, right! Here, let me take care of that.” Placing his hand on Gene’s shoulder, Marvelous Man commanded the light embracing Lightfoot’s body to fade away. Gene eyed Marvelous Man’s hand and saw his bodily illumination beginning to dim and then vanishing altogether. Gene smiled, “Much gratitude for that action. Will you be taking away the light surrounding him as well?” Marvelous Man looked from Gene’s gesture to the shining Sugar Skull with rainbow flower eyes. Sugar Skull’s purple teeth chattered uncontrollably. “Uhhh, I can’t really control any light I supercharge. It’s one of the side effects. It should go away soon...I think,” he said. Sugar Skull gave a thumbs up, “It’s fine. But this supercharge is giving me a weird high. Like, a high where I feel really good and confident about myself and that I should do something productive. Yes! Loving this fluent articulation with big English words!” Gene cocked his head at Sugar Skull in fascination. After being amazed, he turned his attention back to Marvelous Man and started fishing his hand into his pants’ pocket. The bunny demigod pulled out a business card, “I see. I will have to collect my projectiles and report this event to my superiors. I would find it most appreciative if you were to visit the D.A.B. headquarters and give the supporting statement to my superiors as well. The address is on the back of the card I am about to give you.” Taking the business card, Marvelous Man observed it. It was a cobalt blue card with the organization’s name spelt vertically in order to create a horizontal acronym. The first and last words were colored in white, the middle word’s color was in navy blue. Reading it vertically, it spelled: Demon Authority Bureau. Marvelous Man briefly wondered who had the idea to name their organization after the word “dab”. “Oh, sure! I’ll drop by to help out,” grinned Marvelous Man. Gene smiled back, “Wonderful news. Before I return to what is abbreviated as the HQ, perhaps you would like to join me in a victory threesome?” Marvelous Man’s eyes went wide. He would love to engage in intercourse with this handsome man. But he felt too emotionally exhausted to feel excited, and yet he felt another emotion rising within him. Shyness. “Wh-what?!...I mean...Here? I mean, uh, I-I have some things to take care of. Important things! Maybe later, or something,” stammered Marvelous Man, “OKAYBYE!” Taking off, Marvelous Man flew to his home. It only took minutes from the graveyard to reach the roof of his penthouse apartment. Staring at the installed pool and Jacuzzi while landing, he questioned for a short moment about who is responsible for maintaining the water’s hygiene. He entered the rooftop door and made his way down the steps to his apartment interior. It was dark inside. “Hello?” called Marvelous Man. Nobody answered. Commanding his light within to shine, his body radiated with enough illumination to light up the room and part of the hallway it was connected to. He looked around for a few seconds before spotting the light switch and went to flick it on. Marvelous Man stood there for a moment before his nose detected a rancid stench. It smelled like a poorly-maintained bathroom. Realizing something, he cupped his bikini-clad crotch. He sighed as his shoulders hung in embarrassment. Next Chapter

All comments and critiques are welcomed here and on my Google Docs(https://drive.google.com/open?id=1eM-QYOab19bheMRu-kyTHwi1COJztr7GpwvYsnXH6rQ) For other chapters, I will post them on here later. But you can find the archives on my FA and Tumblr with pics included. FA: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/ecchimultiverse/ Tumblr: http://ecchimultiverse.tumblr.com/ First Chapter | Next Chapter Chapter 2: Stars & Stripes What started as an angry stomp out of the house escalated into a full on sprint. Justice ran down the sidewalk with the wind grazing over his swole, naked body, and his heavy pecs bouncing in the air. He kept sprinting without slowing down for even a moment as he passed over crossings and bridges. Justice's anger-fueled charge finally came to a stop when the sidewalk ended at a forked road in front of the artificial town's mall. Even though sweat collected on his chocolate skin with liquid trails glistening down his diamond cut six-pack, Justice breathed as if he had taken a brisk walk. Taking a moment to observe the choices in front of him, he decided to enter the mall. It was a habit of his to go to the arcade's rhythm platform game and dance his frustrations away. Inside, Justice felt the cool tiles absorbing the heat on his soles, and the other mall citizens staring at him. It didn't matter to Justice, because the people weren't real. They were androids built without any social interaction programming. He knew all they could do was stare and follow whatever their programming purposed them to do. So instead of doing his enraged naked walk to his room or some other part of the house as usual, he would go dance at the mall's arcade to vent his frustration and anger even faster. Justice strided into the arcade; blinking lights and players scattered all over with the scent of pizza grease wafting in the air for some reason. As he approached the back of the arcade, he spotted Doki Doki Beat; the dancing rhythm machine that never moved during his whole life in this fake world. Picking up a few game tokens from a stack sitting next to the selection buttons, he inserted the tokens in the slot and pressed the Player One start button. It was always weird how after Justice told his parents what his favorite arcade machine was, there was always a stack of tokens on that machine that he alone used whenever he visited. Now he knew why. Justice stepped onto the game's platform and tapped the selection buttons a few times before choosing a hyperactive J-pop song on Cardiac Arrest difficulty. The screen faded for a moment before appearing back with empty outlined directional arrows and a background filled with nauseating bright colors and smiley-faced hearts. Right when the song started, the screen was immediately assaulted with rainbow color changing directional arrows rising from the bottom at blinding speeds. Justice instantly reacted by stepping on directional arrow buttons built into the platforms. He danced and stepped in sync with all the arrows on the screen; never missing one. His body was so attuned to the game's music and rhythm, even his rhythm pole and sac bobbed and swerved with the beat. >>>>>>>>>>>>> After exhausting all the available game tokens, Justice exited the arcade. He noticed his mother, Goddess Aphrodite, sitting at a food court table across from him; sipping through a straw on a milkshake. It seemed no matter what she did, it always made Aphrodite's curvy body look beautiful. Even if all she wore right now was just simple jeans, plain black sandals, and a yellow shirt with the radioactive logo. Justice sighed and decided to go visit her. Aphrodite smiled as Justice sat across from her, "Hey there, sugarplum. Feeling a bit better?" "A bit..." nodded Justice, "...I don't hate you or my dads, mom...but I am angry at what you all did." Justice's mom stopped drinking her milkshake, "...I know. I'm sorry what we did, honey. But you have to know that we didn't put you in here just to make you into a superhero. It was to make sure you didn't hurt anybody while we were raising you." "Because I wouldn't be able to control my superpowers? Wait, do I have any?" questioned Justice. His mother gestured her empty hand with a maybe. Aphrodite spoke, "You should. We all gave you a sliver of our essence. At the very least, you have very superior genetics. Normal people don't get big like that from doing a hundred pushups every day without a needle's assistance." Justice's mother pulled out her phone and texted for a few seconds before standing up. "Can you come with me, sweetie? I want to explain more about why we did what we did in a more comfortable area for me. My limo is outside." requested Aphrodite. Justice's frown slowly creased into a small smile, "Okay, mom." Justice was more than happy to leave the mall. The seats were styled with a grid of holes along the back and bottom. And when he stood up, his bubble butt and the back of his tree-trunk thighs were indented with polka dots all over. As the two walked back to the entrance, Aphrodite remarked, "You know I really do love you, right?" "Well of course you have to say that. You're the goddess of love. You have to love everybody," giggled Justice. His mother hugged his muscular arm that was wider than her head. She smiled, "Yes, but I love you on a greater level than everybody else. A mother's love is powerful, and you will always be my baby." When the two exited the mall, they were greeted by a white limo and its chauffeur parked in front of the mall's entrance. The chauffeur simply bowed without a word and opened the door for Justice and his mother. After letting his mother enter first, he struggled to get in; angling his body in order to allow his bulky to get inside the limo. "You know, I think I already know what my weakness is," joked Justice, "It's doorways. Ever since I hit fifteen, I've had to keep ducking whenever I went into another room, and now I also have to enter in sideways as well. I'm too tall and too thick." His mother smiled, "You are perfect as you are, honey." After chauffeur closed the door behind them and drove the limo back onto the streets, Justice's mother opened a cooler and pulled out a milkshake cup. "I got you a blueberry pie milkshake," said Aphrodite as she handed the cup to Justice. Justice grinned, "Awesome! Thanks, mom!" Justice's mother smiled. Even though he towered over her and looked like he could bench-press a truck, he still looked like a child; hunched over while sipping through the straw of his milkshake with both hands. "You're welcome," said Aphrodite, "So back to what I was saying earlier about protecting you from harming others...The thing is...Even though we gave you a sliver of our essence, getting it from one god is the limit for any being to handle. If a mortal were to receive from two gods, there's a good chance they could become violently insane, die at an early age, or both. And from three...well...your chances did not look good, but we took those chances anyways." Justice connected the dots, "And that's why you put me here. To make sure I didn't hurt anybody if I went crazy...Why did you take such a risk then?" "...Your fathers and I wanted to relive the glory days so badly. Having our demigod children going on adventures, fighting bad people, and winning in our honor. But the bad people had evolved. Some of them had grown powerful enough to make us flinch. We did not want to send our child out to that world to simply die before drawing their sword. So we did something very drastic and made you." answered his mother. She continued, "We were lucky to spend all these years raising you into a fine man. And now, you can unlock the rest of your powers and become a fine superhero...But if this isn't what you want, I understand. It was very selfish what we did, and I love you more than my glory days." Justice looked down at his milkshake and continued to sip. "I guess...I could give it a try. It'd be cool to have some superpowers. Besides, you all kept me so busy, I didn't have enough time to try out college," said Justice. His mother smiled as the limo slowed down to a stop and parked. After the chauffeur opened the door, Aphrodite exited the limo first before Justice struggled to follow suit. Right when Justice finally got out, he noticed the limo transported them to the town's beach. His mother spoke up, "I agreed to meet your fathers here. They have a gift for you that will turn you into a real superhero. We were supposed to give it to you after the cake, but your fathers' loose lips sent you into your nude rage." "Sorry," blushed Justice. Aphrodite sighed, "It's not your fault, honey. Your whole world got turned upside down before you could even have cake. It's understandable. Come on, let's go meet up with your fathers." >>>>>>>>> "I'm glad you're not angry anymore. I kinda expected you to go on a murder spree across the whole town. We honestly thought you finally cracked, cause of all the power in you," admitted Papa Ares. Justice looked down, "Yeah. But I just couldn't bring myself to do it. The robots aren't bad and didn't really do anything bad to me...that wouldn't be right." Apollo stepped in next to Justice; holding a present-wrapped box. "Good to hear then! Water under the bridge! Love prevails and family is important. Yada yada yada. Time to open your birthday present!" interrupted Apollo. As usual, his dad, Apollo, likes to act like a diva and does not like being unincluded from a conversation or event. Even his clothes screamed for attention of how fashion-forward he was; a sky blue buttoned shirt with a red ribbon tie, light khaki pants and shiny brown loafers. His papa, Ares, on the on the other hand unintentionally calls attention to himself by wearing what he feels is "casual". This entails him mainly wearing a wifebeater with a necklace made out of construction chain links, a black utilikilt, and black army boots. Justice turned to his dad, "Oh, right. Thanks, Dad." Apollo held out the gift; a velvet black box wrapped with a white ribbon bow. Justice gently picked up the gift from Apollo's hands and undid the ribbon. He then opened the box, which opened like a jewelry box. Inside, two large wrist-sized golden bracelets shimmered on top of black pillows. "So this is the gift that'll turn me into a real superhero?" asked Justice. Apollo nodded, "That it is. They're magical bracelets that we got your Uncle Hephaestus to make. It will activate your powers and transform you into the outfit we designed for you." Justice looked up for a moment. The last time they made something together, they created Justice from a multitude of earthy materials they each liked rather than agreeing on one kind of earthy substance. "What? Don't you want to try it on?" said his dad. Justice stared back down at the shiny gold bracelets and exhaled a small sigh. It couldn't be that bad. After all, he turned out fine, and maybe this outfit will look great. "Sure, I'll try it on," answered Justice as he set down the box. Squatting down he picked up one of bracelets; grazing his fingertips against the cool, smooth gold as his other meaty tip grazed against the sand. The bracelet was very thin and felt very light like cheap plastic jewelry. Justice noticed that this bracelet was not the type one sticks their hand through, but the kind that clamps around one's wrist. Justice opened the large bracelet and closed it around his wrist as it made a light clink. He then picked up the other gold bracelet and repeated the process. Hearing the other bracelet clink together securely, Justice took a moment to stare at his bracelets. Oddly enough, the golden bracelets clung to his wrists like a second skin. His body could barely even feel the shiny jewelry. Justice then looked at the rest of his body. Nope. Still naked. Maybe the outfit was only showing under his pecs? After all, his pectoral muscles stuck out long enough to form a shelf and block a small portion of his vision. Justice groped underneath his pecs. Still nothing. Justice stood up, "I don't think it's working. I'm still naked." "Oh, right!" Papa remembered, "We forgot to mention that it activates after saying the catchphrase. Each of us chose a word for the catchphrase and you have to finish it by saying a word that you feel would unlock your outfit and powers." "And you have to say it all while having your bracelets touching each other," chimed Apollo. Justice sighed, "So what's the catchphrase then?" In order, Aphrodite, Ares, and Apollo smiled and exclaimed their chosen word for the catchphrase: "Marvelous!" "Muscle!" "Magic!" Justice stared at his parents with an apathetic glare, "...Okay." Raising his arms above his head, Justice placed one wrist on top of another. "Marvelous Muscle Magic..." Justice paused, "Metamorph." The space around Justice vanished into vacuum of blending bright lights and stars as he felt his body fall and fly at the same time. Justice realized that his whole body became paralyzed and could not even move his pinkie. He could then feel ribbon-like tentacles reach out and wrap around his torso, feet, ass, and groin. The ribbons squeezed as it began to spread up his body. The ribbons that binded to his feet and torso were black. The ones binding to his feet began to take the form of black buckled boots. The other one wrapping around his torso enveloped over his arms and began to divide over his abs and bulbous pecs into an unzipped black jacket. The ribbons that cupped his male package and only able to squeeze a portion of his large round ass were blue and started to form a swimming bikini. However, the hugging ribbon's color began to change and mimic the pattern of the United States of America's flag. The portion that groped his package turned into white and red stripes, and the rest remained blue with white stars scattered about. Justice then felt something warm wrap around his head. A bright, tube-shaped light encircled his head for a few seconds before it exploded and took the form of something more narrow; a golden wreath that Greek champion athletes used to wear. The empty space that held Justice in zero gravity collapsed, and he landed on his feet back into reality. He stood there for a few minutes, shocked by what transpired in reality as a second but felt like forever in that spaceless pocket. His body, garbed with his new heroic uniform, glowed with a soft aura. Justice stammered, "WH-WHAT?! WHAT THE FUCK?!" "Language, sweetie," said his mother. Justice spoke back, "Wha-what was that?! I-I-I was floating in an aurora and attacked by tentacles! I feel so violated!" "You'll get used to that...eventually. Besides, that was your outfit being fitted on you. There's no monster in your transformation void, so you're perfectly safe," said his dad. Papa tried to change the subject, "Um, hey, why don't I just zip this up for you. I bet you'd like your new look when you find a mirror, son." "Oh, that reminds me. MIRROR GIRLS!!!" screamed Apollo. Two girls in unremarkable clothing ran up to Apollo; carrying a mirror. They were Apollo's personal androids that followed him around while carrying a body-length mirror for Apollo to gaze into at any moment. In the past, Justice figured they were miserable assistants that were paid well enough to serve his dad's vanity. Now it is clearly obvious they are soulless androids. Apollo commanded, "My son needs mirror time." The girls turned to Justice and set the mirror in front of him. At that time, Justice was paying attention to his Papa approaching him and grabbing his jacket's zippers. Ares paired the zippers together and began to zip up. The jacket slowly closed over Justice's diamond-cut abs until it reached up to Justice's mammoth pecs. Ares pulled up at the zipper, but it wouldn't budge. "Ummm, I guess you should've skipped chest day a few times, son. Hehe..." joked Papa. Apollo commented, "Don't worry about it. I figured this would happen. The last time I measured you was when you were eighteen. On the bright side, I made sure to leave enough space for your arms, and you'll look more appealing if you show your abs. Bitches love abs. But if you want to work with a boob window, then I salute you." "I'll just keep it unzipped. Papa, can you take a step back? I want to look," said Justice. Papa stepped back while Justice unzipped his jacket. Justice looked up and saw his reflection. He was in awe as he twisted his body about and posed to see all the visible angles of his new outfit. Justice smiled, "Wow, I look really good in this. Thanks, you guys. So what are my powers?" "Oh, riiight. The powers. So here's the thing...we don't know. I can diagnose you, but I want to be surprised by what you can do," answered Apollo. Justice nodded, "Okay. I think I want to try..." He looked up at the sky and smiled. "Flying," said Justice. His mother tried to speak up, "Sweetie, I don't-" Apollo placed his hand on Aphrodite's shoulder. "Let's just see what happens. I highly doubt he'll be able to fly. And if he doesn't, at least I'll get a good laugh out of this," hushed Apollo. Justice took off sprinting at a speed faster than any modern drug-enhanced olympian; causing giant boot-print dents in the sand while kicking up a flurry of sand into the air. After feeling that he picked up enough speed, Justice jumped forward with his right arm fisting straight up. Gravity did not take hold, and his body kept climbing in heights. Justice cackled, "OH MY GOSH!!! I'm seriously flying!" He stopped flying and turned around to look down on his parents. The jaws of the three gods dropped. "Stars above...He really is flying! Can any of you fly?!," said Apollo. Aphrodite shook her head, "Sorry, no." "Neither can I. But I thought you could fly, Apollo," spoke Ares. Apollo sighed, "Not really. I have to use my chariot if I ever want to get off ground. As far as I know, only Hermes can fly." "Gold star for you, Justice. Now come on down, so we can test your other powers," shouted Apollo. Justice shouted back down, "Okay." Justice's body gently floated back down to where his parents were. As he arrived towards the ground, the tips of his feet lightly nestled against the sand before the rest of the appendage rolled onto the ground; barely shifting the sand itself. "So what's next?" asked Justice. Papa coughed, "You're not gonna like this, but I need you to hold out your hand." "Ummm, okay?" said Justice. As Ares walked up to Justice, his son held out his hand. Ares instantly grabbed Justice's wrist and pulled out a switchblade from his pocket. Activating the knife's spring to eject the blade, he slashed at his son's exposed palm before Justice had time to react. Justice flinched back right when Papa released his hand. He screamed, "What the heck, Papa?!" His father looked at him with sad eyes. "I'm sorry, but you would've said no if I told you what I really was gonna do," apologized Papa, "Are you bleeding?" Justice shouted back, "Of course I'm-!" He looked at his hand and saw no blood. Not even a scratch shown on his black palms. "I knew it! Invulnerable skin! Lots of superheroes have to have it nowadays. Looks like your survival rate just skyrocketed. No need to test your strength, by the way. We figured you're already plenty strong," smiled Apollo. Justice kept staring at his hand, "Huh..." "Oh, what wonderful news! My baby will be just fine. That just leaves one final test," said his mother. Aphrodite waved at her limo, "Daisington, be a dear and bring out the chicken." Justice looked up. "Chicken?" said Justice. The chauffeur exited the limo with a cage in his hands. He carried it over to where Aphrodite stood and froze in place in front of her. Aphrodite gestured to the cage, "If you please, Apollo." "Of course," said Apollo. Opening the latch, Apollo pulled out a black chicken. His hands gave a dark glow for only a second, but it was obscured underneath the feathers for Justice to see. His dad then handed it over to Papa Ares while the chicken calmly balked. "We want to see if you can heal this chicken," explained Apollo. Before Justice could say anything, Ares grabbed the chicken's wing and applied pressure with his fingertips. The bone in the chicken's wing snapped with a piece poking out of the skin. The chicken wailed in pain and struggled in the war god's grasp. "Friggety hell, papa!" screamed Justice. Ares handed the chicken to Justice, "Try to heal it, my son. Whether it dies in pain or not is up to you." Tears started to form in Justice's eyes as he cradled the chicken. "...But...how?!" said Justice. "If there is light within you, you need to let it shine," explained Apollo, "Let that light envelop those you care about and give it the intention to heal. Close all wounds; undo mistakes. Just like with flying, you'll know if you can do it." Justice looked down at the crazed chicken and sympathized its pain. He spoke softly, "It's alright. Everything will be okay." As Justice place his hand on the broken wing, he hummed a tune. He wished with all his might that the wing would feel. And then he felt it. His dad was right. He could feel a light inside of him. It felt small, but it also felt like it was feeding on his happy thoughts and memories. The light he felt within himself grew like a hungry flame. Justice compelled the light to shine out of his hand and heal the chicken. The light within him obeyed, and his hand began to glow with a golden hue. It exposed the poultry’s problems to Justice's mind, and he realized it suffered more than just a broken wing. Poison was seeping through the chicken's body, and Justice knew it would not have mattered if the wing was actually fixed. The light he was giving off is able to fix the wing, but would not be able to stop the dark poison in time from reaching the egg-layer's heart. He called on the light within him to shine brighter, but it was already at its limit. The chicken's wing glowed with golden light that spread to the rest of its body, but the light did not have enough power to go within the poultry to target the poison. To focus on more than one issue, it needed more positive energy to feed on. Justice realized this and allowed the light to envelop him and take anything else it needed to grow more powerful. And when the light fed on his humming, it became supercharged. Justice began to glow and then pulsed a ray of blinding ray of light. As the light from Justice faded, the glowing chicken in his arms calmly cooed. It vomited a black ink, which steamed and fizzled upon hitting the ground. "Marvelous. Simply marvelous," said his dad. Apollo approached Justice and placed his hand on the flightless bird. His hand glowed with the same golden shine Justice gave off. Apollo guffawed, "Not only did you heal the wing, but you cured the poison in it too! And...you can give objects a light attribute." Justice's eyebrow rose. "What do you mean by that?" asked Justice. His dad answered back, "Basically, you can imbue anything with the element of light for a certain amount of time. So you can make anything glow in the dark, including yourself, and even make it bright enough to light up a whole room. It can also be used to fight against anything with a weakness to light. So if you want to make some vampires sparkle, get ready for fireworks." Justice stood there shocked with the glowing poultry in his arms. "Wait, vampires are real too?!" exclaimed Justice. His dad nodded, "You bet your quarter-bouncing hiney they are. And put down the chicken, we don't need it anymore." Justice released the chicken, and it flapped its wings as it hit the ground. It pecked at the sand a few times before wandering off. "That wasn't a nice thing you two did," said Justice. Apollo shrugged, "It was either that or a real person. And you can't heal something that's already dead or not alive. Odds are, you would've been less scarred if you healed an animal." Justice said nothing and pawed at the sand with his foot. "Nevermind him, sweetie," spoke his mother, "We only did it with the best intentions. And now you know what your powers are. Aren't they cool?" Justice mumbled, "I guess so..." They really were cool. "So before we send you out there to be a hero, I think it's time for you to choose your hero name," said Aphrodite. Justice's eyes lit up, "Really?!" Papa picked at his scars. "Well...sure. You are the superhero after all. It's not like we wanted to pick a name for you. That would be selfish," spoke Ares. Justice thought for a moment. There was so many things about his new powers that was amazing. But like his dad, Apollo, there was not really a specific word that could encompass everything about Justice's skills. Rather, it was the ones with broader strokes of definitions like: super, awesome, or fantastic. But there was one word his parents said that stuck out and ringed with his feelings. Justice smiled, "I want to be called, Marvelous Man" His dad clicked his teeth. "Eh, let's just put a pin on that for now," said Apollo. Aphrodite leaned towards Ares and whispered, "So what did you want to call him?" Papa had stars in his eyes when he whispered back. "The Shining Fist!" he said. Next Chapter

All comments and critiques are welcomed here and on my Google Docs(https://drive.google.com/open?id=1S2X7W_eTFgdphMIZ3b8ca52rGaEJR70-r4tyufYy5lA) For other chapters, I will post them on here later. But you can find the archives on my FA and Tumblr with pics included. FA: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/ecchimultiverse/ Tumblr: http://ecchimultiverse.tumblr.com/ First Chapter | Previous Chapter | Next Chapter Chapter 5: Digging into Trouble Taking his phone out of his black jacket’s pocket, he felt hunger pangs in his stomach. Marvelous Man floated into the air while setting his phone’s guidance coordinates to his new address he saw on his driver’s license. He hoped his parents stocked food in the fridge. As he sailed through the sky, he noticed how slow he actually was compared to the people that passed by him earlier in the day and during the DMR examination. His smart phone chimed every now and then on how close he was to reaching his destination. It now told him that he was within 15 minutes of arriving to his new home right after the sun had set and night had taken its hold over the skies. Below Marvelous Man, Skyway City was bright with shining lights of its lampposts, store and restaurant signs, and bustling traffic of cars. Even the windmills were lit with its own lightbulbs; though most were just illuminating the propeller’s center with a cautionary yellow, others had the windmill blades lined with colored lights that created images, like the face of a flower, when spun. When crossing over an old graveyard, he spotted a wandering ray of light originating from a trespasser’s flashlight. Marvelous Man remembered what Tim said about getting more field experience and decided to check it out. It was most likely nothing, probably some young adult that was dared into venturing the graveyard at night or an amateur ghost hunter. Either way, it would be easy experience for trying to talk like a hero and boost his bruised ego a bit. Marvelous Man softly landed behind a tree, tucked a small distance away from the trespasser, and took a peek at their back. The person was of medium adult height and carried a flashlight and shovel. The clothes were obscured by the night’s darkness, but it had the shape of a formal suit with odd modifications at the neckline and coat tail. Their shoes also had a weird boot shape, and their head appeared to be completely bald. The D-Rank hero guessed they were some kind of graverobbing crook and began to hover above the ground. Silently gliding forward, he made his way to the supposed grave robber. Upon being a couple of steps close to arm length, Marvelous Man commanded the light within him to encase himself and shine brightly. The moment he began to glow as bright as a car’s high beam, Marvelous Man spoke in his heroic tone. He spoke, “Great night for gravero-!” The crook spun around to face Marvelous Man while emitting a high pitched scream that mimicked a scared little girl. For a moment, Marvelous Man saw the crook’s face before seeing the shovel being flung at him. He raised his arms with his golden bracelet-encased crossed over each other to block the shovel’s blade. Marvelous Man felt his wrists briefly vibrate as the shovel bounced off of the golden bracelets. He then began to question himself if he hallucinated seeing a human skull before the shovel was thrown at him. “Don’t do that! You shouldn’t sneak up on a person! It’s not cool!” exclaimed the scared person. Lowering his arms, Marvelous Man confirmed his suspicions. He really did see a human skull. A skull decorated in bright colors and markings like a Mexican sugar skull: neon green outlining his eye sockets and chin with a flowery shape, pink painted around the nose socket and accenting parts of the head, light purple coated on the teeth and top sides of the skull, and black lines etched onto the forehead that looked like a simplified of a peacock. A skull that sat where the head is; attached to neck’s skin and muscles. Within each eye socket glowed a cartoonish yellow flower that spun. Marvelous Man hesitated, “Wh-what are you?!” The man with the skeleton head shielded his eyes from Marvelous Man’s shining, bulky body. He spoke back with a Mexican accent. “I’m a ghoul from limbo,” answered the ghoul, “Now is there a dimmer switch to you? Because you’re blinding me, and not just cause you have a big dick...probably. But just so you know, if that switch happens to be your nipples, I’m a professional at getting them to tune into Tokyo. If you know what I mean, hehe.” Marvelous Man knew nothing about ghouls from limbo. All he mostly learned back in his fake world about mythical creatures were either from Greek mythology or video games. Perhaps this pervert has a weakness to light. “No way! My light is going to send you back to limbo where you belong, evildoer!” he said. The ghoul sighed, “Oh, my gosh. That is racial profiling, pal! You are profiling me for being a ghoul in a graveyard. Okay, first of all, I’m not a creature of darkness. I’m from limbo. Not from hell or created from dark thoughts. But I was reborn by dark magic. Anyways, not the point. Not the point. Now look, look at me. Not bursting into flames or whatever. See?” Lowering himself to the ground, Marvelous Man observed the skull man and confirmed that he did not seem to have a lethal allergy to light. “And second, just because I’m a ghoul, doesn’t mean I’m evil. Okay? For all you know, you would be beating up an innocent person who is trying to dig their grave and go to bed in it. That’s why Congress passed that law, so you superheroes could learn to be more sensitive to people that are different from you,” continued the limbo being. The ghoul was right about everything. Marvelous Man automatically assumed they were up to no good just because they had a skull for a face and a shovel. If he hurt an innocent person without actually investigating the situation, he could never forgive himself. In his own words, Marvelous Man felt like a dickasaurus rex. The bright light encasing Marvelous Man dimmed to the illumination equivalent of a campfire; enough to illuminate the immediate surrounding but nothing beyond. Marvelous Man apologized, “...I’m sorry. You’re right. It’s not cool of me to think right then and there that you’re a bad guy cause you’re a ghoul.” “It’s fine. Nobody got hurt. And wow, you are big! Someone has been taking their daily dose of vitamin S,” said the skull man. Marvelous Man’s face contorted in confusion before turning into insulted realization. “What’re you...,” his eyes furrowed, “Hey, wait a second! I don’t take steroids, I just work out a lot!” The pervert guffawed, “Ha! Right. I bet all you did was just a hundred pushups, situps, and squats. Oh! And a six mile run! Haha!” “Not exactly...But I would admit that I took steroids if I actually did it,” said Marvelous Man. The ghoul walked over to his thrown shovel and picked it up. Scratching his neck with the shovel’s blade, he looked at the waning moon. Even though the limbo being had no facial muscles, Marvelous Man could understand the facial expression they were making for some reason. The skull man smiled, “Yeah, I feel like you actually would admit something like that...So what’s your name? You new around here?” “I’m Marvelous Man. And yeah, I’m new around here. What about you?” he asked. The ghoul answered, “Good guys and innocents know me as Sugar Skull.” Sugar Skull turned around and began heading towards where he was originally heading. Marvelous Man followed him. “So what do bad guys know you as?” asked Marvelous Man. Sugar Skull stopped and looked at Marvelous Man. His tone became serious. He fired back, “Are you a bad guy?” “...No” answered Marvelous Man. Sugar Skull smiled, “Then you don’t have to know. Hey, maybe later, you could come back to my place, so we could ‘get to know’ each other better, amigo. I bet you want to know if I got a ghost jelly cock or a fully fleshed one. Either way, I can still get an erection and give you some latin passion until the sun comes up, chico.” “Ummm...Not really. But thanks for the offer,” declined Marvelous Man. Sugar Skull chuckled, “It’s okay. You’d be surprised how often that line works with guys and girls. Besides, big guys like you aren’t really my thing, but you’re pretty cute.” He tilted his head and emoted winking with his eyes that involved his right flower eye becoming blank and his left flower eye turning into a red heart. After his brief wink emoting, his eyes turned back into the spinning yellow, cartoon flowers. Carrying the shovel over his shoulder, Sugar Skull resumed his pace. Marvelous Man activated his flight powers and levitated in front of Sugar Skull; observing him. He wore a suit shaded in violet with golden buttons on his jacket and trousers. The odd modifications Marvelous Man vaguely saw appeared to be large flower petals blooming from the suit itself at the neckline, sleeves, and even the coat tail. The blooming petal neckline peeled far back enough to fully expose Sugar Skull’s neckline and the cleft of his slim, chiseled chest. There was also a broach pinned on his suit’s left breast depicting a symbol of a weeping closed eye. The footwear Sugar Skull wore consisted of maroon boots with the pointy tip extending upwards at a curled angle long enough to be noticeable but would not incapacitate his ability to run. “So...Are you here to dig your grave and sleep in it?” questioned Marvelous Man. Sugar Skull cackled, “HA! In this suit?!” “...Then what are you here for?” asked Marvelous Man. Sugar Skull answered back, “I’m here to grave rob.” Marvelous Man stopped and planted his feet on the ground. He posed heroically with his fists resting on his hips. “You know I can’t let you do that,” he said. Sugar Skull stopped in front of Marvelous Man. He sighed, “Do we have to fight? Because that would be such a hassle. And not to mention, we’d probably destroy these graves on accident during our little, uh...skirmish. I’d rather not disrespect the dead. Well, the completely dead, heh.” Marvelous Man looked about himself and realized that the graverobber was correct. Use of his powers in previous battles did cause plenty of property damage. He wondered how much of a hindrance all that destruction was to the civilians for a supervillain that couldn’t get caught by him. Marvelous Man gauged Sugar Skull to be a nimble ghoul with no discernible weaknesses as of yet. And utilizing those powers to defeat Sugar Skull would definitely cause harm to the gravestones and possibly the graves itself. So how does one defeat a bad guy without going overboard with their ability for a situation that could be taken care of by normal people? Marvelous Man pulled out his phone from his black jacket’s pocket and begins tapping a phone number. Sugar Skull tilts his head in confusion as Marvelous Man puts the dialing smartphone up to his ear. “What are you doing?” asked Sugar Skull. He answered back, “Calling the police.” The cartoon flower eyes in Sugar Skull’s sockets morphed into a pair of hourglasses for a few seconds before returning back into the spinning, yellow flowers. “Ha! That is very funny, Marvelous Man!...Wait, are you serious?” he said. The dialing tone ended as a female dispatcher’s voice echoed. She spoke, “911, what’s your emergency?” “You really are serious!” exclaimed Sugar Skull. Sugar Skull giggled before Marvelous Man held up his index finger to signal Sugar Skull to be quiet. He spoke into the phone, “Yes, I’d like to report a graverobbing that’s happening in…” Placing his hand over the phone’s microphone, Marvelous Man looked to Sugar Skull. “Hey, which graveyard is this?” he asked. Sugar Skull answered, “New Forest Cemetery.” Marvelous Man spoke back into his phone, “New Forest Cemetery. Yeah. He said his name is Sugar Skull. He’s got a skull for a face, and it looks like it’s decorated for Day of the Dead-.” “We call it, Dia de los Muertos. Just so you know,” interjected Sugar Skull. Marvelous Man nodded, “Yeah, Dia de los Muertos. Yeah, he’s wearing a purple suit and is about...medium height, I guess? Yeah, okay. Thank you.” He clicked his phone off and placed it back into his jacket’s pocket. Marvelous Man looked at the ghoul. “They’re sending some cops over here to arrest you,” he stated. Sugar Skull shrugged, “Okay. Thirty minutes is still enough time for me to get what I need.” He walked around Marvelous Man and continued on his way to the grave he was looking for. Stopping for a moment, Sugar Skull looked back and wiggled his behind at Marvelous Man. “But, hey, if the police don’t catch me by the time I get out of here, you can chase me down. Maybe tie me up and make me confess my sins,” he flirted. Marvelous Man rolled his eyes and smiled. He changed the topic, “So why are you stealing from a grave?” “It’s a magical artifact the Bruja wanted me to find for her. She said it’s got a lot of dark magic in it and didn’t want other magical evils to find it. Oh, you probably don’t know she is. The Bruja is a powerful witch I work for.” answered Sugar Skull. His treading slowed to a halt, as he pointed his flashlight to a mausoleum. The building housing the grave within was decored with statues and engravings of demons, imps, and even some rune symbols. Sugar Skull remarked, “Ah, here it is.” As the two drew close, it became apparent of how old the mausoleum really was. Time had weathered down the marble architecture’s decorations; morphed and deteriorated to a faceless and declawed form. All the whiteness of the building had dulled to a gray with layers of grime and bird droppings. The entrance to the structure had been blocked off by wall of cement. “She did say it would look obnoxiously old and foreboding,” spoke Sugar Skull. He approached the entrance and knocked. The blockage hummed with a thickness that no normal human can penetrate without the use of powerful tools or explosives. The ghoul turned to Marvelous Man and pointed at the cordoned off doorway. He requested, “You’ve got super strength, right? Can you knock this down for me?” “Yes, I do have super strength. And no, I’m not going to help you graverob,” frowned Marvelous Man. Sugar Skull shrugged, “Alright. But you might want to leave then. Cause if the cops find you here, you’ll probably get, uhh...implicated.” Marvelous Man looked at the sealed entrance. “That’s true. But I don’t think that’s going to happen, if you can’t get in,” he replied. Sugar Skull grinned. Digging into one of his sleeve openings, he pulled out a crystal doorknob that was shaped like a skull. He proclaimed, “Ta-da! Presenting the Bruja’s magical gadget, the Skeleton Knob. It lets me make a door out of anything.” Facing the cemented blockage, Sugar Skull gently planted the knob’s stem into the wall without resistance. A sound of a heavy stone being slightly shifted echoed from the sealed entrance. The crystal skull’s eye sockets then glowed a neon green. Sugar Skull gave the knob a twist and proceeded to push against the newly-made door. The door grinded against the marble floors, as it was slowly pushed open by the ghoul. Once the door had been opened all the way, Sugar Skull took a step back. “Phew...I really...did not expect it to be that heavy…” he panted. Marvelous Man awed, “Wow, that was pretty cool.” “Yeah...I’m really glad when she goes through her anime phase. She invents all these weird magical gadgets, but they’re pretty useful in my line of work,” said Sugar Skull. Marvelous Man’s eyebrow flexed, “And what is your line of work?” “Mostly this. But sometimes I have to teach an asshole a lesson if they try to, uh, get smart with her,” answered Sugar Skull. Marvelous Man walked up to the doorway and covered his nose with his sleeve upon sniffing air of dust and decay escaping from the mausoleum. He then noticed the light his body was giving off only illuminated part of the room and the edge of what appeared to be some sort of stone alter. Knowing that he did not want to commit trespassing, Marvelous Man looked down for something to use and found a stick next to his boot. He picked up a stick and attributed it with his illumination ability. The stick began glowing with pure white and the intensity of a spotlight. He then tossed the stick into the partially lit interior; flooding it with light to reveal everything for the two acquaintances to observe. Sugar Skull complemented, “That’s a really useful power.” “Thanks,” grinned Marvelous Man. The stick landed with a soft thud against the dusty, marble floor and exposed the interior to be a room with not a stone alter, but a stone sarcophagus. More runes and symbols from different languages and cultures were etched about the room and even on the sarcophagi. Marvelous Man could feel something pulse from the room, but it felt as faint as a weak ripple across a lake. Sugar Skull frowned, “No wonder the Bruja wants me to get it. The magic here has almost faded.” “What does that mean?” asked Marvelous Man. Sugar Skull explained, “It means that whatever magic has been here to keep something big and bad sealed here is almost gone. If I can extract the artifact from here, it should make whatever’s in here, ummm, what’s the word for it? Inactive?...uh..Ah! Inert!” The ghoul pointed at the etched symbol on the stone sarcophagus’ lid. It glowed a barely visible blue light. “You see that seal on top of that grave thingy?” he said. Marvelous Man nodded, “Yeah. Is that the last bit of magic stuff you were talking about?” “It is. I’ve seen magic stuff like this before. It’s basically magical plastic wrap right now. If it gets damaged in any way, we’re big trouble,” answered Sugar Skull. Taking a few steps inside, Sugar Skull then faced Marvelous Man. He spoke, “You can fly, yes? Can you keep watch from afar? This’ll be easy for me. Buuuut, just in case, if I’m not out in ten minutes, you should probably head to the D.A.B. and report this. I’m really sure that the cops can’t handle whatever gets out.” “Sure,” nodded Marvelous Man. As the light encasing Marvelous Man’s body dimmed to nonexistence, he began to float up into the air and saw Sugar Skull pull out a child’s fishing rod toy from their sleeve. It was the type of fishing rod targeted for little girls due to the obnoxious hues of pink splashed all over the toy. He flew high enough to be above the trees and hovered a small distance away. Marvelous Man kept his eye on the mausoleum but started to feel the pangs of hunger. He reached into his jacket’s pocket and searched for a snack. His fingers felt a candy plastic wrapper and pulled out the object to reveal a protein bar. Marvelous Man decided he needed to make a mental note for later and store more snacks into his magical pockets. Minutes passed after the bar was eaten, when Marvelous Man noticed something approaching the magical architecture. A white rabbit scurried up next to the grimy, marbled doorway and sat there for a second. The little animal crept to the entrance and peered in. A moment after, it charged in. Marvelous Man found that odd. Why would a creature want to wander into a lit building with a ghoul inside? If anything, it would run the other direction the moment it would see Sugar Skull. Aren’t animals spooked by supernatural things? Marvelous Man descended back down and landed in front of the mausoleum’s opening. He then heard a scuffle breaking out from within and saw the cause of the commotion. A half-naked man with bunny ears attempted to jump kick Sugar Skull in the face. Sugar Skull simply ducked by lowering his head down at an acute angle and spun around the bunny man. Upon completing his spin and ending up a small distance behind his assailant, Sugar Skull casted the line from his toy fishing rod. The pink plastic hook sailed through the air, and its destination was the rabbit person’s behind. Upon reaching the perky buttocks, the hook fazed through the blue pants that bunny man wore. The pink hook disappeared for a second before exiting out of hindquarters without leaving a mark. As the plastic hook hit the ground, Sugar Skull’s cartoon flower eyes spun faster. “¿Estás en plan comando? Que rico. Quizás te gustaría ir a mi casa donde puedo meterme en tu agujero y ver si podemos llegar al País de las Maravillas.” he flirted. The half-naked man turned to face Sugar Skull. He was of African descent with skin lighter than Marvelous Man’s. The rabbit ears on his head appeared to be real due to it appearing to be fused to the skin and not to a band. The fur on the ears matched the man’s hair in a shade of snow white. Though what seemed most odd was that this person not only had rabbit ears, but also human ears. His face looked sleek and proportional to that of a magazine fashion model. For some reason, Marvelous Man felt overcome with the desire to ravage the man rabbit. It was not hard to figure out why, the bunny-eared person had an athletic torso cut like a jewel with no shirt to cover the toned ebony. The only thing he wore on his upper body was black, fingerless combat gloves, and straps that wrapped over his shoulders and pits and connected to each other over the muscular back. As for the lower end, spandex-like pants stretch and hugged every part of those legs to the point that it looked like ocean blue skin; showing off the athletic cords that housed much power. The pants made no effort to pack in his luscious package and hung like how hanging fruit; bulging and ready to be suckled on. It reminded Marvelous Man of a thick banana and soft plums. The heroic pole snugged in the patriotic battle bikini twitched and began to embiggen as Marvelous Man’s primal power began to flow into it. The need to mate felt so heavy on his mind. It felt like it was the only emotion he could feel, as it began to flatten the others. But in his heart, he knew that there was still an important task to do first; he needed to be a hero at this moment. Even though he had a rough start at being a hero, he began to love it. A sense of calmness washed over Marvelous Man. The thought of that seemed to break a hold on whatever force was causing him to feel overbearing lust. Focusing on that ember of love, his mind began to clear and he felt like himself. He shook his head and tried to listen in on what they were saying. The assailant smirked, “Quizás luego. Pero primeramente debo llevarte adentro. No puedo permitir que andes de pesca por demonios o lo que sea que estabas intentando hacer.” The ghoul paused for a moment; surprised by the unexpected Spanish fluency. “Ha! Hellspawns!” guffawed Sugar Skull, “I was doing no such thing! I was simply...retrieving an, uh, unclaimed item!” The rabbit person crossed his arms, while Sugar Skull’s yellow flower eyes transformed into hourglasses. The hourglasses flipped onto their other side once the few black pixels of sand reached the bottom. Before the hourglasses flipped again, they changed back into their cartoon flowery form. Sugar Skull pointed at the rabbit man, “Hey, wait a moment! You’re that superhero sex fiend! Uhhh, Gene Lightfoot from the D.A.B.! What are you doing here?” “The local law enforcement received a call about a skeleton man trying to rob the graves. They requested that the D.A.B. do the looking into, and I was chosen for the investigating. And so you are aware, I am not a fiend. I am a demigod,” answered Gene Lightfoot. Gene’s rabbit ears twitched as if it detected something, causing Gene to look up at Marvelous Man. Gene called out to him, “Who is it that goes there?” Ducking his head underneath the doorway to enter, Marvelous Man revealed himself to Gene and Sugar Skull. The ghoul turned around and grinned with his purple teeth. Gene’s eyes widened with marvel. Though Marvelous Man was still engorged with primal power, he was oblivious to the strain of his battle bikini from focusing so intently on the situation in front of him and not under him. “Damn, Marvelous Man! I mean, uh...we don’t have to worry about the police coming. They just sent this bunny boy, Lightfoot,” said Sugar Skull. Gene’s eyes switched to and fro between Marvelous Man’s tented American flag bikini and Sugar Skull. He questioned, “So you are with the ghoul on robbing the dead?” Seeing Gene switch to a fighting stance, Marvelous Man raised his arms with open palms to show nonaggression. “Oh, no! I just called the police on him, because I didn’t want to accidentally destroy any graves while trying to catch him,” he explained. One of the rabbit ears on Gene’s head bent down as a sign of skepticism showed on his face. Gene pointed at the sarcophagus, “And this?” “That’s a coffin with a magical seal on it,” said Sugar Skull, “It’s keeping in som-” The blue magic symbol on the stone lid turned black as the sound of a sizzle and pop, like an exploding battery, emanated from it. Marvelous Man could see smoke begin to rise from the dead seal, and the smell of burnt popcorn danced in the air. Next Chapter