The Catalytic Mistake

Death's presence swept past the city's street. Gluttony, Lust, and Sloth looked down at their deconstructed comrade.

"Vidia…" Veronica was seated by her corpse. The blood she dipped her hands into had nearly dried out by now. "Take it back… don't let out anymore…" She tried to pour it back into the corpse.

"Stop it. She's dead."

Ian's harsh words broke reality for Veronica. She began to sob. "She was the only other female with us… Now she's gone!"

"It happened so quickly…" Gian-Luca gripped his fist. "If only Venus were conscious, maybe he could have been able to stop whatever blew her head… open…"

Ian looked back at him with regret. "I'm sorry, Luca… Your sister hated my guts, but I'm still sorry about your loss…"

"It's okay…" Underneath it all, Gian-Luca found himself surprisingly relieved. He tried to search for the proper amount of sorrow, but he could only feel his internal shackles being released from his heart. Even so, he put on the display of a grieving sibling.

"Hey," Ian turned his back on the other two Sins for a moment. "Do you guys feel like someone's watching us…?"

Veronica didn't reply. She continued to grieve over Vidia's remains. Gian-Luca shook his head. "No, why?"

"I don't know… I just had a feeling."

The three stared at the pile of corpses that surrounded them. One was a Sin, two were Virtues, and the rest were white-suited bodies, which they only knew as Angels.

"Now what the hell are Angels and Cherubim doing here…?" Ian asked. "They can't be contenders, right?"

"Surely not," Gian-Luca replied. "There's too many of them for it to be a coincidence. Plus, they're all roaming in South City only, I haven't seen any trace of them anywhere else. Each group is also in the exact same squadron formation: 8-10 Angels surrounding a Cherubim in the centre."

"Yeah, it's weird… They can't be contenders." Veronica sniffled. "All the Angels look the same and act the same. There's no way they could have joined the tournament as different people."

"Do you think…?"

"What, Gian-Luca?"

"Do you think they're the 'defenders' for Specialized Phase E that the announcer was talking about?"

The three pondered on the idea. "It would mean that they were associated with the tournament if they were…"

"But this tournament was run by Initiate Co., right? Why would Angels from A.X.A. be included?" Ian pestered the question. "Is A.X.A. involved with this tournament?!"

The three became paranoid. They looked around as if someone was watching.

"Now that you mention it… Why was Phase 3 directed towards Reed Regardius specifically…?" Ian made the connection. "That shouldn't have been a coincidence either…"

"The Phase happened so soon after I lost control of my ability too…"

Ian felt guilty towards Gian-Luca. "Sorry about that again. I didn't mean to affect you with my ability at the time…"

The three were brought back to think of the earlier encounter.

~

Beep!

"Phase 2 complete. Current contender count: 52 remaining. Incoming Specialized Phase D: For 30 minutes, a zone control will be activated at the indicated region sent to your maps. The last remaining contender holding the zone will receive a special ability. Use any means necessary."

The announcement had rung an hour prior, reaching two separate groups of Sins: Gian-Luca and Vidia, and Ian and Veronica. Both parties saw that the Specialized Phase occurred in the North City.

"Let's go." Both groups took off after the Specialized Phase with interest in mention of an ability.

Within a shady forest, Ian and Veronica followed a distance behind two male contenders; one was scrawny, while the other was swole.

"Participate in Specialized Phase D for me. Head to North City," Ian told the two. They both acknowledged the request, and continued to sprint towards the edge of the forest.

"That ability of yours seems pretty useful Ian."

He nodded with Veronica. "I know. Taking control of other contenders like this is a lot less straining than doing all the work ourselves. We've basically got minions under my control."

"I see that," Veronica looked up ahead. The two men Ian had controlled were unknowingly running to their deaths, unaware that they had absolutely zero control over their own bodies or thoughts. "Your ability seems like it can be useful for a number of things…"

Ian heard Veronica giggle. "Hm?"

"Nothing."

The two continued to run, going as quickly as possible considering their far distance from North City. Suddenly a noise interrupted their tracks.

Beep!

"Specialized Phase D has been completed. The last contender holding the zone has received a special ability."

"Ah, shit…" Ian sighed.

"We were too far anyways…" Veronica told him. "It's okay."

"I still want to check out the North City though. We haven't been there yet, and there might be some good loot over there."

Although the Specialized Phase was over, the two continued on their path to the northern region. Eventually running out into the open sunlight of a field, Ian took notice into another group of contenders heading towards the North City.

"Hey, more potential minions," Veronica said.

Ian agreed. "Hey! Scrawny, swole, go incapacitate those two contenders over there! Leave them alive."

The two men turned and began thrashing their way while Ian and Veronica continued to follow from behind. This was to ensure that they were a safe distance away in the case of combat. As scrawny and swole got close enough to attack, Veronica screamed with realization.

"Stop!!!"

Ian turned her way, alarmed. "What—?!"

"It's them! Stop your minions!"

"Them…?" Ian looked forwards. In front of scrawny and swole, Ian saw that the two contenders he'd had targeted were Gian-Luca and Vidia. He panicked.

"S-Stop!!!" Ian yelled. Scrawny and swole immediately came to a halt upon hearing this command. "Sleep!"

The two contenders fell to the floor, dormant. Unexpected to him though, Ian noticed that both Gian-Luca and Vidia had fallen to the floor too.

"Oh shit!" Him and Veronica ran over.

"What did you do? Are they dead?!"

"No! No!" Ian assured her. "I just put them to sleep. I only meant to get the minions though… Not Luca and Vidia…" He gritted his teeth. The panic in the moment took hold of Ian for a moment, and his ability faltered.

"At least you prevented them from getting attacked…" Veronica held Vidia's face. "Wake them back up."

Ian cleared his throat. "Wake up."

Gian-Luca and Vidia immediately sat up, catching their breaths.

"What just happened?!" Gian-Luca looked around.

"Gula? Are you okay?" The two regathered their thoughts before realizing that their fellow Sins sat by them.

"Ian? Veronica?"

"Hey Luca," Ian helped him up onto his feet. "You good?"

"Yeah… I just remember two contenders running at us with weapons, then all of a sudden I'd blacked out."

"That's my fault… They were contenders I was controlling. I thought you two were another random set of contenders so I'd sent these guys after you. Sorry…"

Vidia fumed hearing this. "You tried to kill us?!? I'm going to fucking kill you for that—!"

"Hey, hey! It was unintentional Vidia!" Veronica tried to tell her.

"Urgh! I don't care! You violated the Pact, and you've just messed up the whole plan, Ian!"

Ian was confused. "Messed up the plan? What do you mean?"

"You put Gula to sleep while he was in control of his amnesia-hold on Reed! Now that he's been knocked unconscious, he probably doesn't have that hold anymore! Reed might have regained his memories by now!"

Ian realized the predicament. "Oh, fuck…"

"Hey," Gian-Luca put a hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry about it, it was an accident. We can always find him again and re-wipe his memories. This tournament is still ongoing."

This somewhat reassured Ian. "Right, sorry about that…"

A loud beep interrupted their conversation.

"25 contenders remaining, Phase 3 initiated. Eliminate the indicated contender sent to your devices. Failing to do so by the given time will result in immediate elimination."

The announcement took everyone by surprise. "Immediate elimination!? They're telling us that it's absolutely necessary that we kill this person?!"

Everyone opened their devices to check the objective board. There, accompanying Phase 3's objective and a timer of 24 hours, was a picture of Reed Regardius.

"Reed?!!" Everyone was shocked.

"Wait, what? Why is he being targeted?"

Ian's face fell to the floor. "I'm just as clueless as you are Luca… This isn't the best case scenario…"

"Yeah, especially when all his memories have probably returned! He might cause another Jenzaya Extinction!" Vidia screamed.

"It's okay," Veronica tried to calm them down. "Let's just reassess the situation, and try to go along with what's happening right now. Four of us are already regrouped, so we might as well go find Midas and Venus, right? Maybe all together, we can come up with a solution!"

Unintentionally harsh, Ian shut her down. "I like your optimism, but the situation at hand is going to require a lot more than just regrouping and coming up with a solution. Don't any of you understand? Reed can't die! He's immortal with those abilities of his! No matter how many people come at him at once, we can't kill him if he can just regenerate all of his injuries. By selecting the worst possible candidate for a Phase objective like this, the tournament has basically guaranteed all of our eliminations, and that might even mean death!"

The other three Sins were suddenly brought into a panic. "Oh my god… You're right…"

They fumbled their ideas but nothing settled. The next ten minutes were nothing but a jumble of desperate words and compliances. Interrupting their clustering morale, the familiar sound resonated again.

Beep!

"Phase 3 has been completed. The indicated contender has been eliminated."

Everyone's jaws dropped.

"What!???"

They were all too dumfounded to speak. Ten minutes had barely passed by, and Reed Regardius was already apparently eliminated.

Vidia turned to Ian. "Looks like Reed can be killed after all…"

"B-But—! You saw how he was at Jenzaya District! Even Venus couldn't make a permanent dent on him! H-How has he already been eliminated?!"

"Beats me…" Gian-Luca felt his head pinch. "If my ability still had hold of him, I probably would have been able to tell if he's dead or not. But not now…"

The Sins fell silent. Sighs of relief fell under the shock knowing that they wouldn't be eliminated anymore.

"Well then…" Veronica stepped forward. "Now that the target to our operation is supposedly gone, we should probably find Midas and ask him what to do now, right?"

The rest nodded. "Yeah… let's go."

"Wait, before we do, does anyone have a spare weapon by any chance?" Gian-Luca asked.

"You don't need one, Gula… I already have one and I can protect you with it…"

"But Vidia, if I ever get attacked on my own…"

Ian looked at the ground behind him. One of the two contenders he'd put to sleep—Scrawny—had a unique-looking blade in hand. He grabbed it, and as he did, the blade was immediately set aflame. Ian's device buzzed, and he checked to see that the weapon's name was the Lacerator of Judgement, a weapon retrieved from completing Specialized Phase B.

"Right," Ian remembered. He'd gotten the scrawny contender to complete Specialized Phase B for him.

"Here, Gian-Luca," Ian passed him the blade. He caught it, instantly captivated by its flaming brightness.

"Really? You don't want this?"

Ian shook his head. "My ability is enough to keep me guarded, don't worry."

The four set forwards, continuing on their already headed direction towards the North City.

"With Specialized Phase D done, there's probably a lot of casualties over there with leftover loot, and maybe even food." Ian felt his throat coarsen. "Hopefully water too."

"They probably have some. It won't hurt to check, let's go." Gian-Luca stepped forth, leading the group with his flaming blade in hand.

"Hope we find you soon, Midas."