Triumph

The 'King' saw every ounce of emotion John displayed in delight. This was, more or less, a sign that he trusted the 'King'. Or at least the 'King' thought that's what it meant. So the 'King' decided to place their trust in him.

The 'King' stood up quite urgently and stared at John momentarily. At the time, John, now looking back up to the 'King'. John could tell that his depiction of the 'King' when they first met seemed wrong. The 'King' wasn't an intimidating six-eight, or anything of the sort, more like a light five-four. And he noted that the purple mist and glow seemed to be brighter than when they first met. 

The 'King' slowly moved his hands towards John's face. Grasping it, then retreating slowly with his mask in pursuit. "Now, you do the same." He complied. And to his surprise, the same jet-black hair he saw once before was longer. And the face he thought was a man's turned into a woman's. 

"Surprised?" The 'King' gave a small laugh. "Yes. This is quite the shock." Quite the shock…I didn't expect him- no- her, to have such an appearance. And I can see her face. "I see, my appearance? That's just one of the special properties of this space. The same goes for the distortion of the faces." So you can also read my thoughts? Let me take a guess, it only works in this domain? "Spot on!" The 'King' gleefully clapped her hands together. "But, then why do you classify yourself as 'King'?" She raised an eyebrow, then wondered for a moment. "I'm not sure. I don't exactly know how, or why. All I know is that I was given my piece long ago." Another mystery… Someone who doesn't know something seems all too common to be a coincidence. "What do you mean by another?" You don't need to know. "Rude."

John stood up and put back on the mask. "Take me to the next 'level' that has been arranged. And if so, I'd like to take on all three that were prepared." This came as a great shock to the 'King'. "All three!? Are you sure? You don't even know what they are!" He slowly nodded his head. He was sure alright. "Well then..I'll take you back to the inn. Everything that you would need is in there. And don't worry about the time, it's still frozen." The inn? Oh, right, The Alexandra Arms Inn. "Oh, you know about it?" He scratched his head. "Yes, although, I thought you already knew that." She shook her head. "Well anyway, I'll teleport you there." And, with a swift snap of her fingers, he found himself back into the Alexandra Arms. 

"It's the same room as before." He slowly made his way to the door. Last time he was immediately dragged to the arena. But when John turned the doorknob, nothing happened. He was in a hallway. The same hallway he had been in the first time. And then, out of one of the rooms came Howard. 

"Hello, Howard." Howard jumped in surprise. "Why are you sneaking up on people?" John sighed. "When do I go?" Howard smiled. "You're getting used to this~ Anyway, you are going after the next three 'Blessed'." Howard started to walk off but John stopped him. "And how long will that take?" Howard gave a low smirk.

"Not long if they all die." His voice coldly responded as he walked out of sight. "Peachy. Just peachy." He went back to his room. 

Inside the room were the same clothes he was wearing, just they were not covered in blood. A new pair of shoes and gloves were next to the clothing. And his rifle was leaning on a bed that everything else was peacefully laid out on. "I didn't expect them to get all this." 

John took off his gauntlet holding his hook, and removed his revolver from the clothes he had on. He took the new cleaner clothing and replaced what he had on with them. That feels better. He put on the shoes and gloves next to the unused clothing, then put back on his gauntlet. "I wonder what the next 'levels' are." John took a cloth, that was next to the rifle, and wiped off his revolver then put it back in his jacket pocket. Out of the pocket dropped the extra book he had taken to write in. I haven't touched this thing in a minute. Forgot it was even here. John took a closer look at it: it was a rugged leather-covered diary, with a red ribbon to mark places. He looked around the room. He spotted a pen. He wrote a little entry into the diary. It would be a shame to not use it. I wonder why it was in this outfit. Maybe it was remade with the room.

He took a glance at a clock on the wall. For some reason, it had the date. February 21, 1484. It had already been thirteen days since he last had the day count. I should keep up with dates. He wrote the date onto the page he was writing on. 

Then Howard barged into the room. "Ok, now it's your turn!" He blissfully squawked, then left, closing the door behind him. John put away the diary and the pen. That was quick. He walked to the door and took a sigh. Just don't die. Can't die till…Albert is dead.

He opened the door. And, just like the first time, bright lights met his eyes. The announcer once again spoke. But this time John could barely hear him. All he could make out was the announcer saying it was the first time someone had ever done several 'levels' at once. Is it really that big of a deal? He stepped out of the way of the lights so he could see. The arena looked the same as the last time. "Today!" The announcer boomed. "This blessed is going to fight three enhanced dragons, twelve drunken orcs, and another 'blessed'!" Everyone started to chant.

John slowly made his way to the middle of the arena. He saw a gate open to the side of him and out rushed three, very large, dragons. They all varied in color, one red, one deep blue, and one black with white, ram-like horns. Each with rough-looking scales and massive wings. They all started to circle around the arena. Each dragon's nose flaring and sent out flames. "Let's all see what he'll do!" And as soon as the announcer stopped speaking the dragons all charged at John. "Shit." He narrowly dodged out of the way. John used his grappling hook and charged at one of the walls. They're fast…Damn- I probably won't be able to keep up with them. John unlatched his hook and fell back down. How to kill them- It's not like the bullets can hit the things. 

The red one charged at him. He barely dodged and escaped with a cut to his arm.

So that's the most angry one. He's gonna be a problem. John took out his revolver. He hadn't worried about how many bullets he originally had- but- this was a situation that called for whatever he had. He looked into the cylinder, it was an eight-round, and fully loaded. I guess every time I come here it gets loaded- definitely- it would be out of bullets if not. John shot at the red one and the round bounced off of its scales. Damn- 

UGH- A maroon- no crimson- maybe a mix of both- liquid flowed in front of his eyes. 

It was coming from his mouth and his stomach. 

The red dragon swung his tail after getting shot at and punctured John with the spikes lining it. He couldn't see right, couldn't hear what was going on, only feeling the air passing through him. The crowd watched in disappointment as the dragon lifted its tail to its mouth. But, unbeknownst to the ones who had already gotten up to leave. A mix of two gunshots and the painful screeching of a dragon rang out. Everyone shifted their eyes on John- un-impaling himself off the spike of the dragon's tail, and falling to the ground. 

.....

John couldn't think straight. There was a gaping hole in his stomach and two more dragons, as the red one's brain was hit by one of the rounds. Both of the other dragons flared their nostrils again, sending out fire. Both charged at John. He tried to dodge but was knocked to the ground by the black one's wing. He tried to get up, but his strength was already impaired enough. The black one opened its mouth, heating up the area around John. He was about to be roasted by the dragon's flames. 

But in one last effort- he raised his arm- 'The Golden Death' held tightly in his hand. He used the other to back up slightly and fired a shot into the mouth of the beast in front of him. The bullet pierced the inside of its mouth and made it back off. The blue one fired out a blazing fire from its mouth toward John. He was able to dodge and fired his hook to get onto one of the walls of the arena. He fired a shot into its eyes too, yet it wasn't dead yet. 

The black one seemed to be coughing. Spewing fire all around. The blue dragon seemed to be lost- now being blind in one eye. The crowd was cheering, but he couldn't tell if it was good or bad. He aimed himself directly at the blue dragon. John kicked his feet off the walls of the arena, unlinking his hook from the wall, and landing on top of the blue dragon. 

Now on top of its head, he got over to its remaining eye, sending a little wave before placing his revolver onto the dragon's pupil and firing a round. Two. 

Now covered in whatever liquid came out of the dragon's eye, he jumped down landing before the black dragon. It was showing its teeth, now covered in its own blood, before inhaling John as a hole. Everyone in the crowd gasped as they watched the scene.

The dragon gave a hardy, terrible sounding, laugh. Before stopping, its eyes widened, turned bloodshot, and rolled. The dragon fell on its sizable stomach. The crowd, watching intently, waited to see if anything would happen. Their wait did not go unseen as John soon opened the mouth of the beast that had swallowed him. 

Zero.