Chapter 33 - Vs Max and Oden

When Max lost his left arm he took a couple of steps away from Cj. He did not mourn or even look at his missing arm. His expression told Cj that losing an arm is nothing to fuss about. Oden also seemed calm after his teammate's arm withered away. Everyone's calm demeanor made Cj feel unease. He asked "If I take your second arm. Will you cry?"

Max nodded no in reply. He bent his knees and stared at the small remains left of his arm. Nothing but little ashes waiting to be blown away. Max touched the ashes and they started glowing instantly. "Good, some of it is left" Max sighed. The remains of Max's arm first regained its brownish color, next it began to form itself into the shape of a new arm. While the tedious process was underway Cj thought about destroying what was happening before him. He tried to intervene but the newly formed arm quickly reattached itself to Max. The arm Cj just destroyed has now been restored in a matter of seconds.

Clap! Clap! Clap! Clap!

"That's wonderful Max. You got your arm back" Oden said happily.

"Mhmm, still hurts to lose it though" Max replied.

Once again Max tried taking the hat off Oden's head but failed. Oden backed away and told Max "Pay attention to Cj, not me". The second Max turned his attention to Cj he was nowhere to be seen. In just the mere seconds' Max and Oden were talking Cj disappeared out of their sight.

"Must be Fei's doing. He came back here, grabbed Cj, and ran away before we realized" said Oden surprised.

"Then that means he violated the rule. The defender must be close to their flag at all times" Max stated. A drone flew down to correct Max's statement. "No, he can be 50 meters away from the flag but only for five minutes. No longer than that" said the drone.

"I know the kid had unimaginable speed but this is insane" Max complained. Uranus used his telepathy and apologized to Max. "I'm sorry, Fei moved so quickly out of nowhere I could not keep track of him. He saved Cj from his demise" said Uranus. "We'll catch up, hopefully," Oden replied.

While Fei and Cj chased after Xavier they encountered one of Joey's clones. Cj used this chance to ask the clone "Why can't I contact Joey? Did he lose his earpiece?"

"Sorry, I dropped it while running. The real me is close to the base I think. Sad thing is Helius is chasing me relentlessly" Joey answered. Cj stopped running and pointed at three drones. "Go see what Isaac is doing" he ordered. The drones did as told and went up on Team Even's hill where Isaac was last seen.

"Wait, I thought he was knocked out and eliminated by now. He made it to the enemy base after all. Strange that I didn't hear the drones announce it thought" Fei said curiously.

"Yeah, only one drone announced Isaac's elimination. That one was actually my doing, not the doing of the Golden Circle?" said Cj. "He is not eliminated yet but Uranus seems to think he is" he added. The drones found Isaac without much trouble. "Ah! So I am still in the game. Figured as much" Isaac grinned.

Fei stood in Xavier's way annoyed. "You Roamers have it so easy. We can't harm you unless you deal the first blow. So lucky" he said. Cj cornered Xavier from behind and told him "I will give you fifty thousand dollars if you just drop the flag right now". Xavier ran past Fei without hesitation. He knows that if he is harmed in any way his team will win by default. The two continued to chase him.

Meanwhile, Joey finally made it on Team Odd's hill. After communicating with his clones he managed to navigate his way back to his home base. When he arrived he saw no one inside the wrecked house and the black flag was nowhere to be found. "Shit, I got here too late!" Joey shouted. Helius arrived soon after covered in sweat. "You Roamers are so annoying. I can't wait to have a chance to kill you" Helius said angrily. Joey sat on the floor with the flag in hand. "Wait for that chance," said Joey.

...…

Hours passed and Joey was still sitting on the ground patiently. Fei and Cj on the other hand were tired beyond recognition. Max and Oden caught up to them and gave Xavier the opportunity to run away. "Oden why are you still here?! Surrender!" Cj shouted annoyed. Max pointed at Fei and asked, "Has there ever been a moment in your life where you feel you're inferior?"

"No… mainly because I don't compare myself with others" Fei replied.

Max covered his eyes from behind and asked "Has anyone ever surprised you like this before? Who do you think is faster?" Fei pushed him away and laughed at Max's question. "Obviously I am faster. You think you are superior because you crept up behind me. Please stop" Fei said holding his laughter.

"First Gordon's gift and now Fei's. You're just a copycat" said Cj.

"Oden, we are both close combatants so fighting Cj is not ideal unless you are serious. Heal me whenever I am injured ok" said Max, Fei did not wait for him to finish speaking. He swept Max off his feet, before his face hit the ground Fei held onto it and kneed him in the nose. Blood quickly gushed out uncontrollably with his nose bend to the right. Oden did as told and pulled out his blue marker. He wrote heal on Max's body and his nose went back to normal immediately. Max tried taking Fei by surprise from behind but it was too predictable. Fei elbowed him in his stomach then pulled him in closer for a swift punch to hisright cheek. Despite the buff in speed Max still got pummelled by Fei. Cj did not see the need to help so he focused on making Oden surrender.

"Do you want to fight for your team?" asked Cj.

"No, I don't feel like it" replied Oden.

"So, make it official then. No sense in being conscious. Would you mind if I knocked you out?" asked Cj.

"Yes, I would. I want to see the outcome of this round" said Oden.

He left Cj with no choice but to force his way onto Oden. "I want you to be eliminated. That hat is not doing its job properly" said Cj annoyed. Meanwhile, Fei was beating Max at his own game. As the fight progressed Max gradually adapted to Fei's actions. Their movement speed was the same but Fei still had an edge when I comes on to fighting. Fei double kicked Max to the floor then ran circles around him. Max stood up and was able to follow Fei's movement slightly. He charged at him full throttle. Max surprisingly caught Fei in the middle of his acceleration and slammed him to the ground. "You can't get any faster unless you accelerate. You accelerate by running in circles, that much is clear to me about this gift of yours. Right now I say you are about Mach 10 at best" he said confidently. Fei tried getting up but Max would not let him. He stomped on Fei's back repeatedly before taking out a kunai. "Sweet, I've never seen one of those before in real life. How did you get it?" Fei asked curiously. The sight of a kunai reminded Fei of a television series he used to watch. "Are you a ninja?" asked Fei.

Max was about to stab Fei in his neck but was stopped by Cj's gift. Max's right hand suddenly fell down. It felt like something inside of him disappeared next to his shoulder. He tried lifting his right hand but could barely move it. "What did he do?" Max wondered. He looked inside of Cj's hand surprised to see his arm humerus. "What the hell!? Why did you take my bone!?" shouted Max.

"You're lucky it wasn't the heart. I was totally trying to take your heart just now. Like I said earlier it is very hard to extract what I want from the body" said Cj.

"You were going to kill him. Why?" asked Oden.

"Because your teammate was about to kill Fei with his kunai. Are you blind sir?" Cj responded.

Oden's eyes flared. He took off the hat Lethal gave him and stepped on it. "You are all monsters. You all know killing is bad but yet you still do it. For a young soul like you to attempt murder is a darn shame" said Oden furiously. He healed Max then hit him in the gut. "Don't try to kill a kid ever again. It's inhumane" he said strongly. Max nodded yes in reply while glaring at his bone. Not even Oden's healing could have restored what was in Cj's hand. "Why don't you just use Gordon's gift. You could easily restore it if you do" suggested Cj. Max did exactly that and restored his bone by using a fragment of his other bone.

Fei jumped up and laughed at Cj. "Man, that's disgusting. You're holding his bones like it doesn't bother you. His bone was inside of him seconds ago" said Fei grossed out. Oden swung his fist and the space between him and Cj disappeared. Without warning, Cj was dragged in closer to Oden. Oden punched Cj four times in a row rendering him unconscious. "Their leader is down," said Oden upsettingly.

"Brilliant work Oden, took a while but you finally came back to us," said Uranus happily.

"This is a good time as any to remind you that you have twenty seconds to catch up to Xavier with your flag. You've been here for too long" said Sor. "That's fine, I only need five seconds to catch up to him," said Fei.

"You are overestimating your abilities. Five seconds is too little time to get him" said Sor. The moment Sor finished his sentence Fei was right behind Xavier running without a care in the world. After that proof of speed, Sor could not have helped but be furious. "If you're that fast why are you wasting time?" asked Sor. "When it comes on to running I have no limits but….. I developed a bad habit to have the fights drag out for as long as possible. Victor was right when he said I was suppressing myself" said Fei. If Sor had hands he would have hit him senseless. Fei ran back to Max and Oden where he heard the announcement from the drones. "CJ COLEY, THE LEADER OF TEAM ODD HAS BEEN ELIMINATED!" Every drone in the forest announced those words so it was safe to assume the golden circle was involved this time. "To leave so abruptly. How lame" Fei said.

Oden and Max surrounded Fei and attacked him from different angles. Fei managed to evade all of their blows while provoking them with a smirk. "My time has been reset to five minutes again. Let's idle some more" said Fei. Oden kept Fei busy while Max accelerated his speed. He won't stop until he surpasses Fei's current speed. Oden closed the space between them with a gravitational force that desperately needs explaining. "First Oden was shown to output wind like Victor. Next he showed us his power with the marker and now this unknown force is drawing me closer to him". As Fei got closer he lifted his legs and kicked him in the chest. As soon as Oden fell on the floor he followed Max's example and accelerated as much as he could by spinning his body. He stood one place and spin his whole body faster than a drill ever could. Little did Max know, running in a circle is the slowest method of accelerating there is. While fighting Max and Oden Fei also had to make sure to be close to the flag within five minutes.

A new day was about, to begin with Joey still waiting patiently for someone to help him. Helius did the same wondering how will he get the flag from the Roamer. Uranus saw no need for staying at the home base when everyone is out trying their hardest. "Team Odd's leader is eliminated. We are gonna win" Uranus said strongly. He left the hill with intention of helping Helius trick Joey.