Back at the bunker the cats and the girls sat across from Stu as he listened, the girls had an important question to ask him. They hesitated before asking, Finally Chaos said, “We saw the battle and it was something else. That said, we all wanted to know, since it’s so big, can we ride it?”

  Stu turned red trying to figure out what she was asking exactly. “You want to ride it? Because it’s so big? Um, what exactly are we talking about?” He was praying it would be something dirty.

  Chaos was confused, “The beast you turned into. What else would we be talking about?”

  Prosperity snickered saying, “Only a virgin would ask that..” Miracle spped her on the shoulder.

  Miracle was the voice of reason saying, “What we need to do is figure out what we will do with Jasmin AKA big titty girl.”

  Stu smirked, “Don’t be jealous..” They all looked at him angrily. “Sorry..” He hung his head.

  Prosperity cut to the point, “We could just kill her and be done with it.”

  Chaos modestly responded, “I second that.”

  Miracle scoffed saying, “I think we should talk to her.”

  Everyone looked at Stu. He sat up saying, “Yeah, I think we might learn something helpful.”

  Prosperity chimed in yelling “I’m switching my vote!”

  Chaos asked, “Wait, this was your idea.. Why?”

  Prosperity looked at her confused saying, “But Stu didn’t like it, and whatever he likes, I like.. It’s simple, duh..”

  Stu coughed hard out of nowhere and a now blue piece of broken gss nded on the table between them. He said, “Sorry, I think that’s part of my gsses from earlier. Must have gotten lodged in a lung..” He scooped it off the table awkwardly.

  Chaos asked, “So, what’s the pn if we aren’t going to kill Jasmin?”

  The cats looked at one another before Marrow said, “Whatever we do, we should decide before…” The sound of a rge explosion rippled through the bunker and things fell off the shelves on the walls.

  Tom sighed saying, “Before she escapes..”

  Stu looked at everyone who sat there all hanging their heads in shame before he jumped up and ran into the area they’d been keeping Jasmin. There was a hole in the wall the size of a truck. He yelled, “God damn it!” She was gone. He kicked a piece of concrete across the room. Tom and Marrow walked in with the girls behind them.

  Marrow sounded unsurprised, “Well, this is something.”

  Tom replied, “Anyone notice this is a rescue and not an attack?”

  They looked around and Stu said, “Yeah, the concrete is on the inside of the room not outside. Red came for her worshiper, go figure.. I really didn’t expect that after she ran away.” He seemed perplexed for once as he looked out the hole in the wall. “Alright, game on bitch..”

  Prosperity made a sound, “errmmm…”

  Everyone looked at her leaning in the doorway red faced as usual. Chaos asked, “Really Prosperity? Every time? Don’t you ever feel ashamed?”

  Prosperity looked at Stu and slyly asked, “Should I feel ashamed master?”

  Stu blushed trying to ignore her, “Come on girls, let’s take this seriously.” He kept looking out of the hole in the wall and wondering why they didn’t take the opportunity to attack them when they didn’t expect it. He looked at Tom asking, “Why is it that a Steward keeps beating Gods?”

  Marrow and Tom looked at each other for a long moment. Tom said, “Congratutions participant, you have earned a further un-redaction of Rule 18.”

  The tournament was designed with input from all parties involved. After the flood the humans, gods, [REDACTED], and judges agreed to wait over a period of 11,000 years. After 11,000 years the gods would take 500 years waking up. Upon the st god awaking the tournament would officially begin. As agreed upon the tournament will end when only a single God remains.(A) The decisions were hard to arrive at, so all parties have a guarantee of participation by the judges.

  (B) Section 18A amended to not include any uncontained Stewards, for the sake of humanity. As decided by the Gods.

  (C) [REDACTED]

  (D) Stewardship Blue Bloods with Servants and/or Gods in their collective will gain increasing power, that said, the power may destroy them in their entirety. Judge’s Discretion [REDACTED]

  Stu looked over the new unlock, realizing that it was specifically about his situation. Shocked he asked, “What does it mean by the power can destroy me?!?”

  Marrow spoke sternly saying, “It means you must be very careful as your powers increase. Otherwise…” He stopped mid-sentence looking away.

  Tom continued for Marrow saying, “This isn’t a work-harder situation, just don’t let it go down that way. Understand?” He gave Stu a serious look in an attempt to convey its importance.

  Stu nodded saying, “Alright, I think I get it. So, am I stronger because of Prosperity? Is that what we’re saying here?”

  Marrow smiled saying, “Your collective Steward, that is the true source of your power, along with your retionship with your God. These things combine to increase the rate at which your blood cells reproduce, the blue blood is the key to all of this. Sorry, to say that’s all we can disclose at this time.”

  Tom looked at Stu asking, “How was that? Did we come across as trustworthy and helpful this time? We actually practiced this speech.”

  Stu looked at him and in a rare moment for Stu he asked, “What am I actually becoming?” He winced at the answer he expected.

  Tom and Marrow looked at each other, then at Stu, and Tom said, “All I can say is, great. I’m sorry we can’t disclose anything else.”

  Marrow cut in saying, “We can say that we have faith in your abilities, and you should too.” He gave a reassuring look to Stu as he said that.

  Kicking another piece of concrete out of the hole in the wall Stu said, “I can’t help but be worried about Red and Jasmin, they seem dangerous to me. That says something when I’ve won twice, but it’s that they haven’t been taken out of the tournament. That explosive ability is beyond anything I’ve been hit with yet. Honestly, if it wasn’t for Evil Chaos I’d have probably died today.”

  Frantically Chaos yelled, “Stu! You never mentioned her before! Why didn’t you say something before now?”

  Shaking his head while still looking out the hole in the wall, he said, “I don’t know, I think she saved my life out there, everything happened so fast though. You girls didn’t even have time to get there before it all went south.”

  Prosperity interjected with, “We saw the explosions though, they were huge..”

  Stu turned to face everyone and leaned against the wall saying, “When everything went down, she appeared to me, I think she tried to warn me about the trap I walked into. Then when it sprang, she kept me alive somehow. When Red hit me repeatedly with those explosions I felt my body fail, my flesh peeling off, my bones shattering... Then I heard her screaming in my ear, she lent me the power I needed to survive, she is even the one that initiated the counterattack. It wasn’t me.. It felt like a monster cwing its way out of my body, it hurt but at the same time it felt powerful. Like holding a fusion reaction inside of flesh.. Like a chaotic beast ripping from my body and taking my soul with it…” He looked up at everyone who just stared in reverence at his words. He shook his head saying, “I’m sorry, this probably doesn’t make any sense to you guys. It just threw me for a loop today. I’m questioning a lot of things tely. That’s all. The point is yes, Evil Chaos visited me outside of my dreams today. She appeared in the beginning of the battle, and I heard her voice as well..” Deep in thought, he stared off.

  Miracle spoke up saying, “The thing is you maintained control, once you won the fight you stopped. You did it all by yourself today.”

  Chaos jumped in as well, “That’s true! That means that I should be able to ride it!”

  St looked at her like she was insane, “What is your deal dy? First off you have to either be naked when you yell something like that, or you need to altogether stop saying it like that… Second, what is your fascination with riding me when I go insane..” He thought about his wording. Growling he said, “We really need to quit talking about this..”

  Prosperity slid further back in the room saying, “Oh, trouble in paradise..” Stu gred at her. She gave a weird look as she almost went cross-eyed, “errmmm…” Everyone shook their heads, trying to not acknowledge it directly.

  Confused but incredibly sincere, Chaos asked, “So, does this mean I can’t ride you?” Miracle burst out ughing at his point, followed by Prosperity and the cats. Stu couldn’t help but chuckle as well, but Chaos remained confused trying to figure out what was happening. Her innocence in this stuff was just hirious sometimes.

  Prosperity quickly yelled, “If she gets to ride you, I call dibs next!”

  Chaos still confused said, “I’m the only one that can stand the heat though..”

  Shrugging Prosperity smiled saying, “I didn’t say he had to be a beast when I ride him.” A piece of concrete exploded next to prosperity making her jump as Chaos gred at her. She said, “Alright Chaos, you can be there too. I know you want that bun in the oven and all..”

  Nothing but Chaos’s wide-eyed, “eep” Followed.

  Tom looked at Stu asking, “So, what is your next move? At this point, I know you are thinking about how to move forward.”

  Stu said, “I think it’s time to get my house in order.”

  Marrow spoke up, “I think that’s a wise decision. It will be a rge undertaking though, if what we are watching is any indicator.”

  Stu asked, “At what point did I become in charge, instead of my God?”

  Tom grinned asking, “Who said any blue blood wasn’t in charge of their god or vice versa? Really Stu, if you could just focus on the big picture.. Oh well, I suppose your autism or neurodivergent mind will have to suffice for now.”

  Scowling at the cats he said, “I hate judge speak sometimes..” As he said this he watched Evil Chaos step out of the shadows and pointed at Marrow, then she put her finger over her lips and winked at him. Stu stared at her as she did this, no one else was aware of her. He squinted looking at Marrow.

  Marrow looked uncomfortable as Stu stared him down, with him finally asking, “What is it?”

  Stu spoke slowly asking, “Are you hiding something from us?”

  Tom looked at Marrow questioningly as everyone else did. Marrow responded confidently, “No, why would you ask such a thing?”

  Stu still looking like he didn’t believe him said, “That’s what Evil Chaos just told me.” The room grew deafeningly silent.

  Marrow looked concerned as he said, “I’m worried about you Stu, are you sure you’re alright?”

  Stu squinted at Marrow trying to figure this out. He couldn’t see anything out of the ordinary though, but Evil Chaos did save his life today. Should he believe her or should he believe the cats that he never was sure he could trust anyway? He found himself between a rock and a hard pce now. Was Marrow hiding something from him, and how would Evil Chaos know that anyway? He sighed still staring at Marrow. “Alright, for now. I might have questions ter..”

  Tom looked at Stu asking, “Really, are you sure you’re feeling okay? You don’t feel feverish or anything?” The girls looked concerned now as well.

  Stu shook his head, “No, I’m as clear headed as possible. Just a bit of curiosity, that’s all.” He didn’t buy Marrow’s concern, and they didn’t but Stu’s answer. The room was awkwardly silent.