The man of the darkness

The drive continued peacefully and smoothly as they ate dinner which was automatically provided by the spaceship.

"Oh my God, who the hell made this masterpiece?" Roy was in tears as he chomped down on huge chunks of meat.

"It's so good," Cheryl moaned from satisfaction.

"It's not bad," Max remarked.

"That was fantastic," said the gem and Chase wiped his lips with a napkin.

"Wow you eat so fast," Cheryl looked at the boy in admiration. He wasn't only handsome and stronger than she was but also an impressive eater.

"I was born a foodie."

Chase gave a gentlemanly bow.

.

.

.

Soon, they had all eaten to their fill and resolved to rest for a bit. It would still be a fairly long period before the sun would show up.

After a while, Max decided to break the silence that had long engulfed the room.

"Guys, I have an idea of what we can all do to keep us busy," He said.

"What?" The others chorused.

"How about we train to get stronger? There's supposed to be a training ground in here somewhere. It's big enough to accommodate one," Max proposed.

"I agree with you. Lazying around won't do us any good," Roy nodded.

Max got up and walked over to the small speaker at one end of the spacious passenger room. He placed his lip close to it and said,

"Hello?"

"Good day. How may we help you?" A masculine voice came ringing to their ears.

"Is there by any chance a training room on the ship?" Max politely asked.

"A training space is available for traveling players to use at wish," The voice replied.

"How can we access it?"

"It will be readily unlocked at your wish. Please wait patiently in the meantime."

"Thank you," Max said.

"It is our pleasure to address issues to the comfort of our passengers," The voice said before the line was disconnected.

Just then, the ground in the middle of the room opened up revealing a tube whose end could not be seen.

"I think it's the way to the training space," Max said to the others. He was the first to slide down the tube while the others followed as soon as he disappeared from their sight.

The training space was a vast green field beautified with flowers under the calm rays of the sun. It appeared that the place took on the setting of daylight despite the actual time in the world. The space was designed in such a way that enabled long-range abilities to be used with ease. Though he had expected an equally spacious room furnished with weapons and a battle-like ground instead they were provided with a field where they could use to their satisfaction.

"Cool spot," Cheryl smiled. The place was just good enough for training.

"Yeah it's not bad," Max looked around. It wasn't his expectation but it was just perfect.

*. *. *.

Since Max had gotten on his way to the Pyramid jungle, Hillary and Nicole moved from place to place, eating, sleeping, and exploring. It was as if they had suddenly become jobless in his absence and barely did anything as they patiently waited for the next game round to begin.

After exploring for a while, the duo decided to watch a street fight. It quickly grabbed the attention of other people and soon the place was teeming with an audience.

The contestants both had a great body build and it was hard to decipher who would win the fight. Most people had placed a bet on the bald guy than the guy with ear-length hair since he looked fierce and more muscular. The bald man had proved the bets placed on him right for a while as he had taken the upper hand from the start of the fight.

Suddenly, Hillary could hear whispers. The whispers came to her in a familiar voice.

"Hillary over here...Over here."

"Max?" She arched an eyebrow in confusion. A few hours ago she had watched him leave then how could he be possibly calling out to her from a nearby location?

"Nicole," She turned to the boy beside her.

"Yes?" He answered without averting his gaze toward her. He was more interested in the fight that had got him laughing at times.

"Do you hear that?" She asked.

"Hear what?" He asked still not looking in her direction.

"It seems like Max is calling out to me. I can hear it," Hillary said. Tension was slowly beginning to rise in her.

On hearing Max's name, Nicole turned to look at her.

"What do you mean? We escorted him to the port remember?" Nicole said.

"I know but I still hear it," Hillary replied.

The whispers continued.

"Hillary over here...Over here."

"Let's go have a look. It might be him. Perhaps he's trying to hide from people in case someone recognizes him," She rushed over her words.

"Hillary I don't have a good feeling about this. Why would anyone even know him here?" Nicole asked.

"It's a long story. You'll get to understand later," Hillary assured him.

"I'll go with you but we have to keep our guard up in case anything goes wrong," Nicole said.

Hillary nodded in response.

The two soon moved away from the crowd and followed in the direction Hillary had said she could hear the whispers from. They had come a long way till they were surrounded by tall trees and shrubs.

"Max! I'm here," Hillary shouted.

"It can't be him. Creepy places are never his choice," Nicole said.

"I noticed that now. We walked right into someone's trap. My poor heart was misled," Hillary sighed and unsheathed her sword, and so did Nicholas retrieve his golden spear.

Their eyes moved around in search of any suspicious movements.

Suddenly, they heard the noise of something rustling against the dead leaves on the ground.

They hurriedly turned around but their eyes couldn't see what was making such noise against the leaves despite the moonlight that shone around.

"What's happening?" Hillary rhetorically questioned.

Before Nicole could think of saying anything in reply or making a statement of his own, his eyesight was covered by darkness.

*. *. *.

"Try catching up with my speed," The gem said as Chase fought against Cheryl with his spiked hammer.

Beads of sweat broke out on Cheryl's forehead as she panted heavily. Chase was just too fast for her to catch up with. Although It was quite understandable since he was many ranks above hers. She was the first to go up against Chase and to see how well she could fare against the highest-ranked person among them. So far she had barely been able to land an attack on his body. She had been on the offensive side for most of the time while he played on the defensive yet she looked like she had been the one receiving non-stop attacks. Cheryl wasn't a bad fighter. She knew how well to handle her Rapier. Though her skills were not par on with Chase's as he was way out of her league, she was considered a well-trained swordsman. The fight lasted for about an hour till it reached Roy's turn.

From Max's observation, Cheryl was stronger than Roy who wielded a piece of substance that merged with any part of his body to form protection and also enhance attack power. Roy was a close combat fighter. He used every part of his body necessary in a fight to attack Chase but his skills too were laughable against Chase. Max pondered on how he was going to fare against the green-haired boy that used the huge hammer with ease as if it was a piece of paper.

Roy struggled harder against Chase than Cheryl had done. On the bright side, Roy possessed good reflexes. He had just a good level of speed which many persons of his age rarely had. Still, Chase was someone entirely different. If he wasn't the youngest among them, at least one or two of them should be older than he was. The boy was just too good for someone of his age.

"Nice moves, Roy but you can do better. It takes a lot of practice and so you have to learn from this fight," The gem shouted.

"I'm trying my best against a freaking monster like you. What do you expect from me?" Roy was almost out of breath but he wanted to at least get a cut on Chase. For now, it was impossible.

As the training continued, the sky suddenly turned dark blocking the ray of light from reaching them as before.

"What the hell is that?" Cheryl stood up as she gazed intently at the sky.

The fight between Roy and Chase had soon stopped and they were all gazing at the sky. The next thing they saw was a man dressed in black, from his face hidden under a black mask to his feet covered in black suede shoes, slowly moving down from the dark sky to the ground.

"Who is that?" Max sounded lost.

The man perfectly landed on the ground with a smirk on his face.

"Hello, special one."

His gaze was fixed on no one other than the famous kid with purple eyes.