Gacha God: Sacrifices (ch. 43) (Patreon)

Everyone has a dream. A silent hope in their heart. The size varied, as did the scope -- some people had a thousand dreams across their lifetime, smaller and more realistic, and they managed to achieve them through diligence and hard work. Other dreams were beyond that. Some were outright impossibly by all the known laws of man. They were a pie in the sky, so big that it wasn't a matter of hard work but more pure luck. A miracle of impossible circumstances lining up perfectly for you to even have a chance of achieving.

My dream, ever since I was a little boy, was to have a giant robot.

My power gave me a laundry list of incredible items. Some more useful than others, some bound by the laws of reality and others breaking them. But all were incredible when used the right way at the right time. However, in my many years of pulling from the gacha that was my power… it had never given me one thing. The one thing that I truly wanted. The one thing that was forever out of my grasp. The one thing that my heart held so dearly because, with every failed roll, we seemed destined to never be united.

I have never gotten a giant robot. I've come close. So tantalizingly close that I'm pretty sure that it counted as psychological torture. Giant robots appeared on the list of possibilities on occasion, rarely, and it was then a one in twenty chance that I could roll it. Maybe one in ten if I sacrificed an item to increase my odds. I wanted one. I wanted one so badly that I could feel an ache on my bones, like it was a physical need that I was being deprived of, and a need no less important than hunger or thirst.

Giant robots were cool. There was just something about them that scratched an itch in my monkey brain. I didn't even really want to blow stuff up with one -- though it would be a massive plus -- but there was something special about the idea of having a giant robot. That it was mine. Like an oversized action figure.

“You,” I breathed, looking up at the giant robot, feeling my body go numb. Right before murderous rage flooded my veins like liquid fire and I just about started crying tears of blood at the burning fury that set my heart ablaze. The next words that spilled forth from my lips came of their own volition. Words that rang out with a truth so powerful that it made every word I had ever uttered prior to this moment feel like a lie. “You filthy fucking cheater. You stole my robot!” I howled, and in that moment, I just about completely forgot about Kilgrave and the pitched battle between the Avengers and other mes.

I was killing Evil Me as a matter of principle for being a loser that got mind whammied. Now it was something deeply personal. Oxford Dictionary was going to have to invent new words to describe the level of dead Evil Me was about to be. My father himself would jump out of his seat in horror at the things I was about to inflict upon him. Myself. Whatever.

“Cry about it, loser! You should have been there when we won it! It has a cockpit and everything!” Evil Me roared right back, laughing uproariously. God, I am such a fucking asshole. I tensed every muscle as the giant robot came flying down, parts shifting to reveal that it was outfitted with rockets. They streamed out, one after another, and I knew what I had to do after the briefest of moments of hesitation.

He was going to make me destroy the giant robot. Was he being mind controlled to be this evil? Or somewhere, deep in my heart, had I always been a vicious evil bastard with absolutely not a single redeeming feature?

Gitting my teeth, I launched myself upwards, the Grand Chariot infused Vile Armor letting me launch into the sky at blistering speeds, easily clearing the skyscrapers of downtown Manhattan, to meet the giant robot in the middle. It was awesome. And I had to destroy it. It wasn't something that I could easily steal like I did the Grand Chariot and Gibson EB-0. I didn't have a choice.

The missiles exploded as Iron Man sent out flares that detonated them in the air, still shattering glass from the explosive force, but leaving the building unharmed. The robot hefted a spear-like mace that was the size of a small building, and took a swing at me-

Gundam: Barbatos

A bipedal mobile frame outfitted with two Ahab reactors -- one of seventy two that existed during the Calamity War.

The mace slammed into Gibson EB-0 as I met it with a swing of my own, the Vile Armor humming with effort as black shadows reinforced the arms. I fought back a scream of rage -- it was a collector item too?! That rage fueled the swing and with a grunt of effort, the mace was repelled, knocking it wide and opening the cockpit up for a counter attack. I darted forward, Gundam Barbatos shifted its free arm between me and the cockpit. With another swing, I slammed the Gibson EB-0 onto the arm, adding the force of my ATs gravity field.

Barbatos shot down like a bullet, slamming into the ground with enough force that every building on the block trembled. Tony swooped in as the dust cloud was kicked up, and I took the opportunity to call out to him. “Hell Rider. It'd be a good time to release him, preferably pointed at Evil Me.”

“Not too sure about that kid-”

“His ability to hijack stuff and make it hellish? The circus? I brought him here because he can counter the reality stone,” I interjected, seeing the Evil Mes wielding the reality stones. They were perfectly at ease, completely unbothered by the tide slowly turning against them. I was only that confident when I knew that I won. When there was no doubt. And even then, I only looked it when all there was left was for the guy I was fighting to figure out that they lost.

Not to mention, I could use the gold for AOE attacks.

Tony hesitated while Barbatos started to get up. His gaze lingered for a moment, taking stock of the situation… “I don't suppose things can't get any worse,” he decided before he seemed to do something. Space rippled above the Evil Mes before a golden ball was ejected from whatever containment that Tony had put around Zarathos. Instantly, the golden ball began to melt off of the spirit of vengeance and he landed heavily before them.

I saw a brief flicker of ‘oh, holy fucking shit’ flash over Evil Me's face before Zarathos roared a hellish war cry and he sprung forward. I didn't have time to analyze the fight, as Barbatos rose up with a mechanized whine. I pivoted in the air, swinging wide as the dull hum of its thrusters echoed out, rattling the few intact panes on the city block. What I did see, however, was the whacky inflatable tube man becoming a hellish monstrosity with a flash of heat. So, that was reassuring, oddly enough.

Barbatos launched itself into the air, the mace clashing against my Gibson EB-0, I managed to stop the attack cold while the Vile Armor began to flow over my arms. Black shadows working to support them, letting me hit that much harder and gritting my teeth, I knocked the oversized hammer away despite its considerable weight. What I didn't expect was for a totem pole to rip up from the ground underneath me, or for Barbatos to grab hold of it as I flipped away.

I knew what was about to happen as Barbatos spun the totem pole once before he took a broad stance. The totem pole lashed out at me, but it was war too long. Before the totem pole even came close to me, it struck the skyscrapers that lined the block, tearing through them as if they were made of sand. New York became a chaotic symphony of noise -- falling rubble as the buildings began to fold on themselves, the shattering of glass and the screech of metal as hundreds of tons came crashing down. All the same, I blocked the attack, only for the segment of the totem pole to become dislodged before Barbatos followed it up with a thrust that slammed into me and sent me through the one building I managed to protect.

I felt the blow as a house sized pole knocked me flying, like I was a pool cue, but the armor seemed to take the brunt of it as my ATs hummed with life, righting me in the air before I went low. A great cloud of dust was falling on the block, obscuring- I saw the Time Stone flash green before the incoming cloud of dust began receding and the building that Barbatos knocked over like dominoes began to right themselves. As if someone had pushed rewind on a tape.

We couldn't win so long as Evil Me could simply rewind the clock. I twisted midair, taking in the situation for just a moment -- there was a war going on between toys brought to life by the reality stone, and the hellish monstrosities that they were turned into by Zarathos. It was too early to tell, but it seemed that there was something of a stalemate between Zarathos and the Evil Me that wielded the reality stone. But the balances were tipping against Zarathos.

The weakness of the Ring of Nine Dragons -- it divided up not only skills, but brainpower as well. Meaning the more Evil Mes we killed, the better the Evil Mes would be able to wield their powers. The more creativity they would have. A mistake, I realized in hindsight as I shot to the ground, paying no mind to how Captain America fought against the Evil Mes who wielded the Eye of Cthulhu and the 13 totem pole, or how lightning cackled in the distance and was met with a roar from the hulk.

I had to take out the infinity stones. Everything else could be undone by winding back the clock. It didn't matter who died or who lived or what was destroyed so long as we won.

Shooting g forward in a blur of speed, I swept over the melted gold that Zarathos escaped from and slimmed a couple hundred tons of it to condense itself into a small ball in the palm of my hand. The Evil Me wielding the time stone suspected that I would take the opportunity because the stone flashed green again. Only, this time, it affected me.

The Grand Chariot was ripped from the Vile Armor, the clock ticking back before they were merged and I only realized how much strength it gave me when it was suddenly gone. I had no idea where it went -- it was probably back in the sewer, or something. But, that didn't matter at the moment.

Switching tracks, the gold erupted from the compressed ball in my hand, forming a tidal wave that swept forward. I dove into the gold, feeling it meld around me, and I felt the exact moment that infinity stone was used to push back the tidal wave of gold, leaving me exposed. My gaze met the Evil Me and in that moment I felt a sharp pain in my eye.

Amaterasu.

Black flames erupted around the Evil Me as I closed the distance between us. If he had all of his brain power, he probably would have realized what I was trying to do. He would have taken the pain to destroy me. But, he didn't and that worked in my favor. The infinity stone flashed again, erasing the black flames that had consumed him for just a moment. That moment was all I needed, letting me reach him and with a swing of Gibson EB-0, the edge of my bass guitar struck his arm at the elbow and tore it right off.

The infinity stone flew free, still in the grasp of his missing arm, and allowing me to reach out to grab them both. With a flip, I landed on the other side of the conflict just in time for Barbatos to erupt from the building that was next to me as if it was the kool-aid man. The Vile Armor snaked out, plucking the time stone from the severed arm of the Evil Me and I knew the Vile Armor was going to become a problem when the time stone flashed and I felt the Grand Chariot re-merge with the Vile Armor. It was just going to be a problem for another time.

The time stone became embedded in one of my knuckles, which seemed like a decent enough place for it considering that the stones were apparently indestructible. Might as well use them as knuckle dusters in that case. Barbatos took a swing at Iron Man, who was blasting away as he darted around or teleported around, the drones he had flying around doing some work on the Gundam.

My gaze met the gaze of the Evil Me who wielded the Reality stone, paying me the briefest attention as he turned one of the hellish monstrosities into silly string, only for the silly string to become snakes. Zarathos had him on lock. Tony had Barbatos handled. And another clap of thunder told me that Thor and the Hulk were still going at it. Which made them my priority, zi decided -- whichever one was mind controlled, he was locking down one of the heavy hitters, and with both on the right side, we could make a big swing in the balance of power.

That fact didn't escape the Evil Mes.

[Initiating self-destruct]

The booming microphone coming from Barbatos caught me off guard for the briefest of moment, just as I was about to rush off to unbrainwash one of the heavy hitters, making me look up at Barbatos. “That's a little premature, right?” I muttered, seeing that the giant robot was still completely functional. However, when I gazed into the demented gaze of Evil Me… I understood what this was.

This wasn't an attempt to do any physical damage. This was an attempt to hurt me.

And it worked.

The gold that I had gathered leaped forward, splashing over the Gundam as I grit my teeth. More gold flowed forward, coating it, muffling the countdown. My mind raced with possibilities, knowing what this was deep down in my heart. I could save Barbatos with the Time Stone -- just wind back the clock a little bit, and while I wouldn’t have the satisfaction of rolling it myself, I could console myself with the fact that I had a giant robot.

But that was a risk. I could lose the Time Stone. It could be used against me. At the moment, so many variables were up in the air… The smartest thing that I could do was eliminate some of them. Maybe, just maybe, I could accept the cost of a couple of buildings and a city block were the worst of the damages. They weren’t. Peter was forced to murder his family and Evil Me was being mind-controlled.

This wasn’t the time to indulge in selfish whims.

“I’m sorry,” I told Barbatos, smothering the giant robot with gold. I strengthened it, solidifying it, and forced Tony to intercede on my behalf when the Evil Mes’ began to mobilize to attack while I was locked down. I truly was a cruel bastard. It wasn’t enough to make me destroy what I loved, but the Evil Mes were making me stand by while it was destroyed, knowing that I had the power to save it.

I felt the moment when the self destruct went off. A powerful explosion erupted from within the gold casing -- powerful enough that I don’t think there would have been much left of the city block we were fighting on. However, the gold held. It shouldn’t have, and it wouldn’t have, without my iron will keeping it together as it ballooned out, the explosion within looking for a weak point.

There wasn’t any time to mourn, I knew, but all the same, I bowed my head. I didn’t get to see what the cockpit looked like.

“Holy shit, you actually went through with it. Since when have we been that selfless?” One of the Evil Mes blurted, seemingly genuinely stunned that I allowed Barbatos to die and I wasn’t bringing it back. His lapse in attention nearly let Captain America take his head, forcing him on the defensive. My gaze flickered to the Mind Stone wielder, who hung back with the Reality Stone user, watching carefully for an opportunity.

The Reality Stone user, however, was starting to feel the pressure and the tide turning against them. The Reality Stone flashed as space began to twist, pinching together as New York was a piece of paper. It made my brain feel a little fuzzy looking at it, but the intent was clear enough when the distance between Thor and Hulk shrunk down into nothing. They were practically on top of us with Hulk slamming Thor into the ground with a thunderous roar.

I knew what the Evil Me were planning. Even as Zarathos exerted his control over the twisting roads that lifted into the air, the two were on the move. As was I. Pain blossomed in my eyes, hot blood seeping from them to run down my cheeks as the Time Stone flashed in my grip. I had no idea which would win out between the Time and Reality stone, but I didn’t need to win. I just needed their attention.

The bridge that they started to cross, heading to Thor, who I’m guessing they were trying to brainwash, vanished as I ran back the clock. Localising it to their bridge, which left the two of them hovering midair with the ground suddenly nowhere to be found. Their gazes flickered to me and even as blood dripped down my cheeks, I smiled.

I wonder how pissed off Zarathos would be about this.

“Look into my eyes and repent.”

...

Sorry for the lateness of this chapter. I have a small confession to make -- Gacha God has been fighting me for a good long while now. It's probably the worst case of writer's block that I've ever had, which really sucks, because I do enjoy the story and I haven't reached the points that inspired me to write it in the first place. Just for some reason, the words are fighting me to put them on paper. 

This isn't a notice that the story is on hiatus or anything. I'm working through the writer's block. I figured that you all deserve an explanation on why the chapter was late.