Canon Fodder

CHAPTER 482 FAMILY MEETING

The man at the end of the fist headed straight for me looked almost feral. Wearing a brown jacket with more holes in it than many plots, he had stained clothes that screamed homeless. His hair black, it was curly and down to his chest. Wild and unkempt I smacked the fist away from my face. 

To my surprise his hit was harder than assassins in the past. Forced to channel chakra into my body his fist narrowly missed my face as he threw another punch. I blocked it as Easton pulled out his Soulsword. The sword actually grew, and the homeless man had to jump back to dodge it. 

“You love me?” I asked, the Soulsword going back to it’s original length. 

“Fuck no,” Easton said, his stance moving to intercept the guy attacking us. “What the hell is going on?” 

“Happens all the time,” I said sadly as Hae-In dug through her luggage for her own sword. “Who sent you? Who did I piss off this time?”

Instead of answering, the homeless man yelled and dove at me again. This time mana shifted in the air and I cast Granite Skin on myself. Able to stop even missiles from hurting me, the man punched hard and my protection shattered. Instantly I jumped back, pissed off that I was going to have to pay damages to the room. 

My feet landing on the wall I jumped at him, cratering the wall. Punching him back, he took the hit and latched onto me. Mana in everything around him, he yelled and fire engulfed us. Casting Unbreakable, it was the best call as the entire room exploded in flame. Easton grabbed Jin-Ah and Hae-In leapt back. 

I still held onto the stranger, jumping through the window with him. Falling off the balcony he appeared surprised I was unscathed. My Unbreakable skill ended and the real fight began.

Casting Negation Strike, my fist connected with him. The ability removed all protections and the invisible armor on his skin shattered as my fist broke ribs. He coughed up bile but pulled a potion out of nowhere. Swallowing it down his health recovered and I admitted, I didn’t know what I was getting into. No one besides Players should have had access to potions that good. And for all I knew, Jinwoo and I were the last of the originals. 

The man kicked me away and we landed on the ground easily. Him on one side of the street, me on the other there were about twenty taxis between us during the busy New York rush hour. Rather than risk it, I pulled my cell phone from my Inventory. The man studying me, he gave me enough time to get some bars.

Calling 911 I said, “Hello, this is Weston Woon. I am a famous Hunter, you may have heard of me. There is a fight going on next to the Mandarin. I may or may not be involved. Either way, pretty sure this guy is a Hunter terrorist so I would evacuate the area.” I hung up before they could say anything and faced the man. 

“Who are you? What do you want?” I asked. @@novelbin@@

“You and your kind, dead,” was all he replied and he disappeared. Rather than wait for the strike I used Townsend and appeared 20 feet away. Where I had stood exploded. As if a meteor strike had hit where I stood, the ground cratered. Taxis were thrown away and people yelled. Cursing I cast a shadow clone jutsu. My clones dispersing to help people, I used Townsend straight up.

Finding the homeless man waiting for me I punched as hard as I could. Utilizing Nen and Haki it broke through his defenses again as I cast an Illusion around us. Rather than allow him to cause harm, I made the area appear to be that of a sea of lava. 

With a wave of his hand my Illusion dispersed and I was behind him. Jumping to a new ray of light I began pummeling him in the back as Easton punched him in the face. The man cried out, his teeth rattling in his mouth as Easton and I worked together for once. 

Punching, kicking, shooting lightning, and casting spells, we kicked the guy’s ass. Trying to do all this before his potion timer could let up, we didn’t bother to use Chat or anything else to try to figure out what was going on. Instead we gave a nice beat down as the stranger tried spell after spell against us. 

When his arms and legs were broken, I carried him by the hair as I brought him back to my suite. Dropping him on the coffee table like week old trash, he groaned as Easton landed next to me. 

“You have no idea,” I said. “At least it wasn’t another sniper.”

“Snipers? Seriously?” He asked, looking around.

“Don’t be a baby. After level 100 they just hurt,” I said.

“I’m only level 81!” He said.

“Oh, well I would duck if I was you,” I said. He didn’t duck but squinted his eyes at me as he flipped me off. I laughed, shaking my head as I turned to the beat up Player. “Who are you?” I asked. His Haki said he was hurting too badly to answer. I eyed Easton and he pointing his Soulsword at the guy’s neck, ready to cut it off if needed. 

Slowly I pulled out one of my weaker potions. The man eyed it but allowed me to pour it in his mouth. As he swallowed it and healed slightly, he began to weep. 

“I’ve lost,” he mumbled, shaking his head, but making sure not to touch the Soulsword’s tip. “All is lost.”

“What’s lost?” I asked, leaning forward. “Your beer money? Hey come on,” I said kicking him slightly. He continued to cry, his eyes looking up to the ceiling. As he did, Jin-ah’s Haki burst with joy. 

The young girl ran over. Pushing past Easton and I as she stared down at the man. “Dad?!” She yelled, making the man jerk as if slapped. His eyes no longer crying he stared at her. His haki going from despair to wonder to joy in an instant he grabbed her. Easton moved his sword away as they embraced. Both babbling to one another as they held onto one another tightly. 

“Uhh, oh right,” Easton whispered to me. “Doesn’t their dad show up at the end?”

“I totally forgot,” I whispered back, frowning as I stared at the two beginning to cry harder. “Doesn’t he die like super quick too?”

“Yeah, as soon as they are reunited,” Easton said. He and I eyed one another, staring out to the open balcony, worried another attack would soon follow. 

—

“Where is she?” Jinwoo asked as he appeared from the shadows. 

“Over there,” I said, pointing at the duo as they whispered to one another. Jinwoo moved smoothly to them. Stopping a few feet away from me as he too recognized the older man. 

Now that he didn’t appear so strung out, the older man looked pretty good for his age. Past me actually remembered him from about 10 years ago. He hadn’t aged a day. The only real thing that had changed was his long hair. He had the same scruffy beard, dark eyes that had bags under them. From what I remembered back when a young Jinwoo and I hung out, their dad, Il-Hwan was a firefighter. 

When the first portal opened in South Korea, he had been one of the unlucky few to venture inside. Before strong people were labeled as Hunters, before awakenings, magic gear, and anything we have today to help us, he went in to try to save someone that had fallen in. It wasn’t long until the lost person was thrown out of the dungeon, and the portal closed without spitting Il-Hwan out. 

There was a memorial service for him, and once people started figuring out what was going on, they made a monument to him and the other people that risked venturing into portals. They were called the Lost. Sometimes people would get to a new world and find signs of humans. Because humans were never on the other side of portals, these rare instances were attributed to the Lost. 

“Guess he has been found,” I mumbled as Jinwoo approached. 

The old man turned to face him. Tears in his eyes, Jin-Ah beamed joyous radiance as Jinwoo rushed to him. The father and son hugged one another. For once I felt Jinwoo’s shadows around us. The undead, crawling across the floor from shadow to shadow they were strong, but not near as strong as in the manhwa. Either this version of Jinwoo was nerfed, or he wasn’t as strong as he was supposed to be, I knew he and his shadow army weren’t enough to take on the Monarchs on their own. 

I let the two men hug it out for a little bit. But before the weeping could start once more I walked closer to them. “Alright, great family get together here,” I said, clapping my hands. “Now, you,” I pointed at the old man, not showing any of the respect I did back when I was a kid. “Why were you trying to kill me?” 

“Dad?” Jinwoo asked, confused. I had called him over here on the premise that it was only his sister that hitched a ride to America. He was more than a little lost by the appearance of his once-dead father. 

“I was given a mission,” he said, pulling back from Jinwoo as shadows began to move around us. He was starting to worry this man wasn’t his father, which was fair. There were plenty of Hunters that could change their faces. 

“By whom?” I asked, moving next to Jinwoo. The old man’s haki was all over the place. As he stepped back and turned to the open balcony he began to speak. 

“How long has it been since I went missing? Ten years?”

“Almost 11,” Jin-Ah mumbled, tears still filling her eyes. 

“Well it sure felt longer than that for me,” he said, turning to face us as his face became hard. “I was brought to an ethereal world in that portal I walked into. God, I wish I could go back,” he burst out then calmed himself. “It doesn’t matter. There were…beings there. White lights. A lot of light.” He chuckled almost lost as he reminisced. He sounded more than a little insane “They said our world was doomed. Sick and twisted renditions of reality would be coming for Earth. They were trying to warn me, so I could warn everyone else. Then they granted me this power. Calling me a Player.”

I frowned in confusion. I had assumed he was a Player since he had potions and an Inventory. But I thought Players were devised by the Architect to make people strong enough to become vessels for the Monarchs. 

“The Rulers gave you this power?” I asked. 

“You know them?” Il-Hwan asked, relief in his voice. 

“I know of them. The Monarchs used to be Rulers before they rebelled against god, or whatever,” I said. 

“Yes, after I was given this power, the Monarchs attacked us. They killed the Rulers, and I narrowly escaped with a skill they had given me. It was as if they knew it would happen,” he said with a sigh. “From there I jumped from portal to portal. Getting stronger by the day. Killing monsters. Surviving.” He frowned again, a constant expression on his face as his cheeks creased for the frown. 

“I got back to Earth…a few weeks ago?” He questioned. 

“Where have you been?” Jin-Ah asked. 

“Here, in America. I was held by a guild. They found me in one of the dungeons. They thought I was a monster pretending to speak, but they didn’t know what to do with me. I didn’t want to break out. I needed them to listen. To prepare. But they didn’t.” He let out a sigh for all the time wasted trying to talk to deaf people. “Yesterday I felt the…” He eyed me and Jinwoo. “Monarchs for the first time. I broke out. I can…feel you. Their touch on you.” He eyed his son and I, a part of him ready to kill us if need be. “But they knew of me. If you had been a Monarch you would have killed me rather than maim me.” He gave me a nod, a simple sign of respect from him. 

“Well, I try not to kill before I ask questions,” I said.

“Yeah right,” Jin-Ah mumbled. I shot her a look and she stuck her tongue out at me. If it was any other time I would have laughed. But this was serious. This man was a Player and he had been sent by the Rulers themselves. 

-Is this canon?- I sent to Easton. 

-Maybe?- he replied, being discrete with his typing. 

-Damn, we suck at remembering shit- I replied. 

-Dude, it’s been at least 8 years since we read this crap-

-You’re telling me- I said, shaking my head. 

“What were the Ruler’s plan for you?” I asked, breaking the father and son from their thoughts. 

“I don’t know,” Il-Hwan admitted. “They told me to get stronger. To prepare. Warn all of you. But I haven’t seen them since the Monarchs attacked.” 

“And the Monarchs know about you?” I asked. He nodded.

I tried to play it through my mind. If the Rulers were actually the ones that invented the Players. They too would need vessels to affect the living world. Maybe this was an ancient rite they had worked out. The Rulers had won the last war, pushing the Monarchs back. So the Rulers must have had Players among people then as well. Maybe Il-Hwan was the start and it was supposed to spread from there. 

But the Monarchs have been going back in time with the Cup of Reincarnation. They knew this would happen. They ambushed the Rulers, then took or copied how to make Players. Now that they are ready on their end, their guy on the inside, the Architect, creates a dungeon and begins testing people to become Players. 

The Players cook a little while, get fattened up, then we all walk into a trap set by the Architect. We had been following orders from our Player screens for a while, it was easy to get us all there. 

Only Jinwoo and I are able to fight the Monarchs taking us over. Il-Hwan’s Monarch sense goes off and he tries to kill me. All of it fit so far. It felt like canon at least. The only big change in the world was me. I made all the difference. I had to think. There had to be a way to finish this. I didn’t want Returner crap. I didn’t want my world destroyed. I didn’t want any of the cookie cutter Manhwa endings. I wanted an ending with Hancock and me, living up the lives we talked about. That’s all I cared about.

“What about the Rulers?” Easton asked, drawing eyes. 

“You had a twin, Weston?” Il-Hwan asked. I shrugged. “Um…I don’t know. I haven’t heard from them since.”

“What are you thinking?” I asked…myself. 

“Nothing, I mean. They obviously have a stake in this,” he said, pointing to Il-Hwan. “Maybe they are waiting for the right time to reveal themselves. Give us some guidance or whatever.”

“Yeah, well, I’m not counting on them,” I said. These Monarchs were coming whether we liked it or not. They would kill every man, woman, and child on this planet if they felt like it. They would at least kill most of us, enslaving the rest. Either for labor or food for their species as they all moved in. 

“Why is this planet special?” I mumbled. What was so great about Earth that made it the center of every galactic struggle? I shook my head, the answer obvious. All the human writers were from Earth. We liked to be the center of drama and attention.