Chapter 51: The Last Match

"I have never been so simultaneously proud of and disappointed in one person." Alger walked forward calmly, his cane tapping against the road, his face fixed in that awful smile. "You've essentially ruined poor Horatio, after he served me well for so long. Pity."

Alger flicked a finger and Rick started to raise his fists, but the attack wasn't aimed at him. A roar of aura surrounded H's body, tearing him apart in an instant and leaving only a bloody splatter. Rick took a shuddering breath and lowered his hands.

"But all of that remarkable growth is matched by equally remarkable unwillingness to take a rational path to power. Always getting in my way, working with my rivals, being a nuisance. I'd have killed you already if you weren't so much fun."

"What do you want?" The question came out ragged, but Rick didn't care if he was facing down death. He just wanted answers.

"I told you exactly that from the beginning!" Alger spread his arms wide and his grin even wider. "I want to see a warrior's spirit in this dying age! Clashing rivals, perilous training, desperate last second gambits! I want the flames of your ambition to burn this world down to ashes!"

All Rick could do was stare as he realized that Alger's strange clothing had nothing to do with the madness seething within him.

"I'm really quite irate, you know. Not only did you kill H, you've nearly ruined Raggest. That boy was an almost perfect find... utterly naive and devoted to nothing but strength, happy to go from step to step without ever stopping to think about why. In a way, he was one of my most perfect toys, shaped exactly to my specifications."

"Using him that way is just cruel. Let him go."

"But you... you are a toy of a different sort." Alger went on as if Rick hadn't even spoken. "A toy that I discarded and assumed would break. At every turn, you try to defy me, and yet you grow stronger. It makes it so much fun to watch your growth."

"I want nothing to do with your plans." Though Rick doubted that he could get through to Alger, he refused to back down and listen to the insane manifesto. "Now that I've seen how you work, you won't be able to manipulate me any more."

"Don't you understand? Everything is part of my plan. If you turn away from the paths of power, you will become yet another disappointment in a long line of forgotten disappointments. If you continue fighting me, you will either die or become ever more interesting."

"And if I get strong enough to kill you?"

Alger's eyes lit up and he leaned forward, his voice coming in an eager whisper. "Do it."

The sight of his joy at the thought forced Rick to look away. He was fairly sure that Alger wouldn't kill him now, but he was coming to realize that there were much worse things than death. Yet he was utterly exhausted, rendering any attempt to flee useless.

"But I suppose I cannot allow this to go unanswered." Alger became slightly less manic, staring down his nose at Rick. "All those seals you've earned... yes, they would be a bit annoying. I think I'll take them away. Before you went against me and ruined the tournament, you should have thought about the fact that your entire card is vulnerable. Once you're dishonorably disqualified from the Showdown, none of those seals have any meaning at all."

"Can you disqualify someone who's already retired?" Rick asked. Alger's eyes immediately narrowed, and for a moment Rick thought he would attack, but then the madman smiled.

"Clever lad. You were still a Showdown member when the tournament was officially organized, so I can only assume..."

"Someone else has my card and all the documents needed to retire me. It's already over, unless you can go up against all the world powers alone."

"Oh, there would be no point in that." Alger tapped his cane on the street thoughtfully. "But I can't leave you to continue meddling, because if you had your way, the world would be less fun. You've done so well with torment, let me see if you won't grow to meet a new challenge..."

From the corner of his eyes, Rick saw the soft glow of several lanterns. He didn't want to turn to look, but it was already too late, Alger had noticed. There were three floating lantern vessels moving toward them from the direction of the mansion, Qing Shan at the front with her aura blazing. Rick breathed a sigh of relief.

The sky descended and crushed everyone against the ground.

Rick's face was pressed against the asphalt and he struggled just to breathe. He could feel Alger's raw power hitting him like a waterfall, but it didn't seem to pour from Alger, it struck down from the heavens themselves. When he managed to turn his head to the side, he saw that all the lanterns had been grounded, warriors and immortals just as pinned as he was, his hope extinguished.

Just what was this incredible force? It was lucrim, but lucrim that was absolutely nothing like anything he'd felt before. Rick had fought warriors from many countries, wild beasts, and demonic techniques, yet all of them felt like first cousins compared to the alien lucrim driving him to the ground.

"Oh, now this is becoming tedious." Alger sighed and tapped his fingers along the top of his cane, as if casually considering whether or not to kill everyone. "The pity of it all is, I still need other players for all these games. This does make it rather more difficult to punish you."

Though Rick couldn't possibly fight the power that was bearing down on him, he realized that his lucrim portfolio was reacting automatically. His battered defensive core struggled to let him rise against it. Deeper than that, the Dark Blood Kettle was attempting to absorb the alien lucrim. It would never master it, but he was adapting, one small step at a time.

"How vexing... but I suppose you've always been outside the plan. Yes, perhaps it's better this way. I'll let you persist in following a path I think is a mistake and perhaps it will become something interesting. After all, you'll either come to nothing and disappoint me, or you'll defy me and make me proud."

Rick took a deep breath and managed to rise to one knee. The force overhead still felt overwhelming, but his soul could recognize it as a lucrim flow. An unimaginably powerful one, yet he struggled to get his other foot under him, then strained to his feet. Standing was all he could do, but he was able to straighten and look Alger in the eye.

"Marvelous!" Alger clapped cheerfully. "At the moment, you are certainly making me proud, so perh-"

"I don't want to make you proud or excited or disappointed," Rick said, staring Alger in the eye. "I want to make you worried."

For the first time, Rick saw the strange man hesitate, a moment of uncertainty crossing his face. Then he tapped his cane on the ground and he was gone, along with all of his impossible lucrim.

The air that remained felt thin, leaving Rick gasping for breath. Within him, he could feel the Dark Blood Kettle subside, overwhelmed by its attempt to adapt to such a force. He had absolutely nothing left, but he thought it was finally over.

Behind him, he saw one of the lanterns rise into the air, though two of the others had been crushed beyond repair. Rick thought of going to help them, but they could obviously handle themselves. And truthfully, they didn't really have his best interests at heart. Rick continued limping forward to reach the bus stop.

He managed to drop down onto the bench and just sat there for a while. Eventually he caught his breath and gained the presence of mind to stare around the landscape. He saw that the lanterns were only partially repaired, someone returning for another vehicle. If the sect followed him, he'd talk to them, but for the time being he'd just sit.

The bus actually arrived first, moving to park next to the stop. The driver kept the engine running but stepped out to take a smoke break. Rick flinched at the sight of the cigarette, but a moment later he saw a much more welcome sight.

"Brother!" Melissa nearly tumbled down the bus steps before rushing to embrace him. "You're alive! ...though just barely."

"Yeah. Uh, be gentle, my defensive core is shot." Still, he was glad for the pain of her embrace and patted her on the back.

Behind her, Lisa emerged from the bus as well, relief and concern mixing in her eyes. "I did everything as soon as I got your text, Rick. They accepted your resignation just like you said. So unless something went wrong here... are we done?"

"Plenty went wrong, but... yeah, we might be." Rick let his head roll back and stared skyward.

"So what now? You're unemployed again, but I suppose that's fine?"

"No. This time it's not." Rick pried Melissa a little further from his neck and sat forward. "I need to reestablish contact with Katenka and then work on our demonic bonds. I doubt it will be much of a business, but it should make a difference. Beyond that... maybe I should open a gym. I have the credentials for it now, and I might be able to do better than the House of the Cosmic Fist did for me."

"That's... a remarkably reasonable goal." Lisa smiled more broadly than he'd expected. "Maybe we can work together. My clients probably wouldn't have a use for your bonds, but gyms always sell serum and supplements."

"Yeah, that would be a good idea. We should talk about it sometime." Rick hesitated, but from beside him, Melissa elbowed him in the ribs. It hurt, but it also reminded him that he needed to take a step forward instead of waiting for things to come to him. "And... would you like to get coffee sometime? I don't mean to talk business or as training or anything. I mean a date."

"Well, I honestly thought you'd never ask." Lisa gave him a smile that was partially happiness and partially relief. "I think we need to talk about where we're going and what we want out of life... but I'm looking forward to the conversation."

Rick sighed in relief, since that could easily have made their victory awkward. Melissa pressed a thumbs up into his side. For a while they just sat there as he struggled to explain everything that had happened.

Before he could finish, the bus driver finished his smoke break, flicked his cigarette to the ground, and called for them to get back on or get left behind. Lisa went to snuff out the cigarette while Melissa helped him get up. He still ached all over, but less than before. Once he got some serum or elixir into his system, he'd feel much better. Fortunately, he knew a good person for that.

As they started to walk forward, one of the lanterns floated overhead. It had been repaired rather quickly, and now Qing Shan leaned down from the side, regarding him somberly. "You've seen the enemy now, Rick. Actually removing some of his pieces was more than we ever expected of you. There's no need to ride in this filthy vehicle... bring your allies and join us. You're free to join our sect and we'll do everything in our power to strike back against him."

For a long moment Rick looked upward at the floating lantern with its powerful immortals, then he looked toward the bus with Melissa and Lisa. He said "No thanks" and then went to take the bus home one last time.