MARVEL: GAMER PATH - CHAPTER 235 (Patreon)

Ritual started, I pushed Ego into a battle of the minds, where he struggled in utter dread for his life, for his individuality, for everything he ever held dear, himself.

Tragically for him, all this did was delay the inevitable by a few seconds or so.

Little by little, his power, his memories, everything that made Ego, Ego, was making mine.

“PLEASE!” Ego pleaded, trying to run away from what was a mental battleground without escape, without an exit, not until one of us ceased to be.

“The more you fight it, the more pain you will bring upon you,” I replied, staring at him with a coldblooded indifference, the more his essence became mine, the less pity I felt for the monster in front of me, his crimes were unforgivable.

Everything he did in his life was heinous, one atrocious act after the other. Never regretting a single thing, there wasn’t a grain of remorse in him, a grain of pity for his victims, for the toys as he called them that he used for his amusement.

“PLEASE! I CAN’T CEASE TO EXIST, I NEED TO CHANGE THE COSMOS!” 

A monster, devoid of all emotions, yet capable of feeling fear. How pathetic.

“No one, will ever remember you,” I spat, finally overpowering his will as I opened my eyes into the real world, the echoes of his last scream, resonating in my head, one last time, “Stats.”

[STATS

Name = Alex Walker

Race = Unknown/Celestial.

Title = The Gamer

Occupation = Prince of Asgard.

Ranking = 97th

Level = 1995

EXP = 0%/100%

HP = 314,645,000/314,645,000

MP = 407,740,000/407,740,000

STR = 560070 (+224028) = 784098

VIT = 629290

DEF = 321447

DEX= 479325

INT = 815480

CHA = 256625

WIS = 615478

WILL = 198215

PER = 176456

LUK = 10000

STAT POINTS = 23400

MONEY: 43,065,132,212.30$

]

Only 195 levels? Not bad, but I expected more. It also seemed like absorbing him had only increased certain stats by a lot, like INT, WIS, CHA and LUK, but left the rest without much modification.

Beggars can’t be choosers.

“Time to go back,” I had a playdate to attend to, I was already late as it was.

—--------------------------

I teleported back to Asgard, changing into a moral casual attire before going over Emily’s room.

“Are you ready baby girl?” I asked, knocking on her door.

“Yes!” Without waiting another second, Emily replied, practically kicking the door open in excitement.

I chuckled, patting her on the head, “Well, lead the way then, I have no idea where we are going.” 

“To the park!” Emily replied, grabbing a hold of my hand before tugging me to follow her, which I did.

“So, tell me more about Vest and Mr. Ara,” I asked. Something about all of this had me intrigued, maybe it was the prank of Bucky’s arm, but I just felt there was something more to this than meets the eye. 

Yet, I didn’t feel like I should be on alert, which I suppose was the weirdest thing about the situation.

“Well, Vest is my best friend, she likes cooking, as you already know,” Emily giggled, before continuing, “Her dad is… a weird man, not a bad weird… more like a cartoonish weird, if that makes any sense.”

Cartoonish weird?

“What do you mean by that?” I asked with a small chuckle, wondering what she meant.

“Well,” Emily mused at the question, trying to find the right words to word it out, “You know Bugs Bunny, right?”

Did I know about Bugs Bunny?! I grew up with him, and indoctrinated my kids to love him!

“Of course, childhood idol,” I nodded.

“He’s like him,” Emily replied.

Oh… cartoonish weird, I see, that explains the prank with Bucky.

“Oh,”

“Yep,” Emily giggled, as she continued to lead me towards the park.

—--------------

We arrived at the park before Mr. Ara, and his daughter, Vest arrived, so with nothing to do, I took the time and played with Emily as we waited for them to arrive.

For a bit, we played hide and seek, where Emily made me promise I would not use my map to find her, I understood her concern about me cheating that way, my ability makes hide and seek pointless, if I so desire to use it.

After being thoroughly defeated by Emily and her superior hiding skills.

We both sat on the swings and started using them, while talking about nothing in particular, silly stuff for the most part, we stayed like this for a good while, until two green dots appeared on my map.

“So sorry! We didn’t mean to be late!” The voice of a girl around Emily’s age said as I turned around to face her, beside her, there was a man, smiling as he walked towards us, carrying a box of sweets with a delectable aroma that basically floated out of the box.

[Vest Focis] [Ara Focis]

“I took the wrong turn, my deepest apologies,” Mr. Ara chuckled, scratching the back of his head.

I frowned, their names floating above their heads, they had no levels, nothing but their names.

“I understand,” I replied, deciding that at least for now, I would play it safe, at least until I confirmed where their power level was placed. Before that, I had to prevent unnecessary confrontations.

“Vest!” Emily smiled, jumping out of the swing, rushing to hug her friend, who smiled at the sight in a loving manner.

“Em! How have you been?” Vest, who was currently being hugged blue by Emily asked.

“Good, nothing new really,” Emily replied, breaking off the hug while doing so.

“Oh, I see,” Vest nodded, before turning her gaze towards me, and immediately I realized that something about her burning-looking eyes, about the way she looked at me, made me feel warm. It was strange, mystifying even.

“Hi, Mr. Walker,” Vest smiled, coming towards me, her right hand extended expecting a handshake.

“Hi,” I smiled in kind, taking her hand.

“Well girls, go and play, Mr. Walker and I, we’ll be here in case any of you need us, probably eating what I brought in the box,” Mr. Ara chuckled, as Vest gave him a look I couldn’t quite read.

“Ok, have fun daddy!” Emily nodded, grabbing Vest’s hand before running into the park.

“Hi,” Mr. Ara waved.

“Hi,” I replied, wondering how this would go.