Thinking about how many situations Tess could be perfect for, the young master failed to perceive the giant green monster rising from the surface of the swamp, until it was too late.
"~Zaddy~, you've hurt my feelings and I'll only forgive you if you kiss me."
Caught in the firm grip of the latex man, the young master was forced to watch as a face came out of the seaweed, lips puckered, lipstick and makeup ruined as his eye still glowed pink.
Forced to come up with a solution, he decided to come clean and reject this lovely guy/girl.
If things went south, he always had Tess's gun with him, though the bullets would also move slowly since any non-living thing that wasn't directly in contact with him was affected by his special skill.
He had activated the skill while holding Alex's hand earlier to see if he would also move faster.
He didn't, but at least he had learned more about the limitations of the skill.
"Heyy, big guy. While you seem really nice, I'm actually into the more feminine and softer kind of females. Like Tess over there."
"Eww, creep. I'm 17 you know. Pedo."
"Didn't you say you were 19 a few seconds ago."
"Ah, hehe you're right. My bad."
'That girl's got a screw loose, and so does this guy.'
As the young master was pondering on how to escape from the feminine brute, a shrill scream tore through the odd silence.
"AAAAAA, GET OFF, GET OFF. HEEEELLP."
Everyone turned to look at the source of the scream and saw a boy around Tess's age running away from a swarm of Evolved mutated mosquitoes, the first beasts any of them had seen.
Before any of them could move to kill the mosquitoes, they glowed pink before their heads exploded, leaving their corpses to fall on the muddy ground.
Finally reaching the group of three, the boy was able to relax, panting as he tried to return his breathing speed to normal.
"Hah hah hah, thank you. I would have died if it wasn't for your help Mister."
"Mister, silly boy. Call me mama, mama Christina."
Hearing his first acquaintance introduce himself, the young master (Charles) felt his hair stand as goosebumps took over.
"I'm Tess and the mean ninja looking dude is Charles. By the way why are you wearing a motorcycle helmet, and why is the visor open."
Tess, always the inquisitive one took to questioning the new guy, not waiting for him to fully catch his breath.
"Oh, hi everyone. My name is Frederick West. As for why I'm wearing this old thing. It's to protect my head of course."
Hearing the name, the young master tried to remember where he had heard or seen it before when it eventually came to him.
Frederick West, the guy who was first on the kills list was standing right in front of him.
This guy. He looked more like a street urchin than a monster killer.
But then again no one here really looked like a killer, except maybe Christina, and everyone here was on the top 100 list.
"Say I feel like everyone here should reveal their sin and virtue special skills, I'll go first. My Sloth gave me SKIP which let's me teleport short distances, and my Temperance gave me RESISTANCE which helps me resist physical and mental attacks to a degree."
After Tess was done with her introduction, Christina continued.
"Well my Lust gives me PSYCHIC, a mind control power, and Diligence gave me PERFECTION. I haven't used it yet but it says that I could be more perfect in what I do as long as I practice while the skill is activated."
Christina's eye had stopped glowing pink but her mascara tears and messed up makeup gave her a scary look, at least in Charles's opinion.
"Cool skills everyone. Charles, you're next", Frederick said, but Charles was not about to give up his info to the guy when he hadn't given his up. His gut told him something wasn't right about the kid.
"You first, Fred. Besides Tess knows my skill already so she can tell you if I don't."
"Alright. My sin is Gluttony, and it gave me the skill SWALLOW which lets me create a black hole on any part of my body to absorb the monsters in return for a physical boost. I also have Diligence and I have tried it out. Makes me feel like I have reduced wasteful movements, mama Christina you should try it out sometime."
"Okay dear. I'll try it out for you."
Before Charles could be asked to say his skills, he spoke first.
"Prove it. Frederick."
"Excuse me."
"Use your skill so that we can see if you are saying the truth."
"Mister Charles may I ask where this is coming from. Have I done anything to make you wary of me. Or is it because I'm dressed in rags."
"Yeah Charles, what's going on." Tess asked, confused by the sudden tension.
Left with no choice, Charles stated the reason for his suspicion.
"This guy right here was the first on the kill list, Frederick West. And since everyone here was on that list we know the physical boosts that come with each kill, sort of like micro evolutions. And since he claims that he has the same name as the first on the list, he might as well be the most evolved human on the planet. So why then was he running from a couple of mosquitoes when he has killed 500 plus. Let's not forget about his special skill which boosts him physically with every body he absorbs."
Finding his reasoning logical, Tess and Christina stepped away from Frederick, suspicion written over both their faces.
"G-Guys, it's me, Fred. Christina, Tess don't listen to him. He's the one who hasn't shared the details of his skills."
Frederick pleaded, his face expressing hurt and betrayal.
"At least we've seen him use his special skill multiple times, you we haven't."
Tess came to Charles's rescue.
"So you guys really want to see me use my special skill, huh. If that's what it takes for you guys to trust me then here it goes."
The trio watched as Frederick prepared to use his skill, with Charles activating TIME DILATION, in case of any funny business.
It proved to be the best choice as the next second, Frederick's eyes turned red and he vanished from view.
Reacting instinctively, Charles jumped back with all his might, pulling Tess with him since she was the lighter option.
Squelch!!
The two watched a hole appear in Christina's back as she keeled over from the blow.
Without wasting any movement, Frederick gave an uppercut, sending Christina's head flying high before it eventually landed in the swamp water on the right, shock being her last ever expression.
For the icing on the cake, they watched Frederick's eyes change from red to dark purple as a black hole appeared in his left hand.
Upon making contact with Christina's decapitated body, the black hole expanded and the body vanished right before their eyes.
"There's only four hours left on the timer. The boss and the other monsters are in the cave where I came from. Either you kill it in the remaining time, or one of you kills the other then me, in order to escape. Ciao."
Finished with his helpful advice, he walked from where he came, which also happened to be where the boss was.
"Just remember guys, I'll be watching."
And with that, he vanished into the darkness of the caves.