MULTIVERSE FIGHTERS — Episode 4: "Orphans of Violence"
The undercity didn't sleep. It just shifted. When the blood dried, when the drugs wore off, when the moans behind curtains turned into silence, the city simply reset. By dawn, fresh bodies stumbled out of the alleys, blinking into the cracked sky like nothing had happened.
But everything stayed. The stains on the pavement. The taste of iron in the air. The memories behind their eyes.
Asia sat on the edge of the bed in a rented room, cigarette smoke curling around her tattoos. She hadn't slept. Cody lay passed out in the corner, bottle tipped over, blood still dried on his cheek from the last Hunt.
X leaned against the wall, hood low, eyes half-shut. He hadn't touched the bed. He hadn't touched the bottle.
"Do you ever think about it?" Asia asked suddenly. Her voice was hoarse from screaming and smoke.
X didn't answer right away.
"About what?"
"The orphanage."
⸻
Flashback: The Orphanage
The smell of rot. The cracked floors. The nights filled with whimpers and fists against walls. They were small, hungry, and already learning the rules: you eat what you steal, you sleep with one eye open, and you never let anyone take from you twice.
Asia had been the first to fight back. She was twelve when she broke a boy's nose for trying to corner her in the laundry room. Blood everywhere, his cries echoing. The adults didn't stop her—they laughed. That's when she learned that violence was survival.
Cody had been the loud one. Fourteen when he swung a brick into a guard's jaw after catching him beating another kid. The guard went down screaming, teeth scattered. Cody laughed even as he was dragged out and whipped bloody. He came back grinning. "Worth it," he said.
And X? He had been the quiet shadow. Watching. Waiting. Always there when Asia stumbled back bruised. Always there when Cody limped in bleeding. He never picked fights, but when he did, they ended faster, cleaner.
They survived together. No parents. No hope. Just fists, blood, and each other.
⸻
Back to Now
Asia blew out smoke, staring at her shaking hand. "I can't sleep without dreaming about those walls. Even now. Even after all this."
"You're still here," X said.
"Yeah," she smirked bitterly. "But sometimes I wonder if that's a good thing."
Cody groaned from the floor, lifting his head. "Shut the fuck up with the sad talk. We're alive. That's all that matters. You want a therapy session, wait till after the next Hunt." He spat red into the corner and laughed. "Hell, maybe we'll die and finally stop remembering."
The phones beeped. The system never gave them time to breathe.
NEXT TRIAL AVAILABLE
Options:
1. 50-PLAYER HUNT
2. 100-PLAYER HUNT
X's finger tapped before the others decided. The world folded.
⸻
The Arena
This time, it was a skeletal city square—collapsed buildings, half-burnt cars, streets cracked open like wounds. Fighters dropped in all around, fists already clenching, eyes feral.
The voice thundered:
HUNT COMMENCE. BARE HANDS ONLY. NO MERCY.
⸻
The Fight
The first clash was instant. Cody tackled a man into a broken fountain, smashing his head against the stone until it cracked. Blood sprayed. Cody laughed, wild and broken.
Asia flowed into her own storm. She took a hit to the jaw, spat blood, and grinned. She dragged her attacker's head into her knee, once, twice, until he stopped moving. She licked the blood from her lip and kept going.
X moved like shadow. His fists blurred, precise and devastating. A throat punch here, a rib-crushing body shot there. He broke jaws without hesitation, slammed heads into pavement without mercy. His system hummed under his skin.
X — L210 → L223 → L238
Energy cost: 6% → 5%
Asia — L8 → L9
Cody — L8 → L9
⸻
Trauma Resurfaces
A young fighter charged Asia, face twisted, fists wild. He couldn't have been more than twenty-five, barely a man. Asia froze for a fraction of a second—he looked like the boy from the orphanage, the one she'd broken all those years ago.
He swung. She caught the punch, heart hammering. For a split second she hesitated. Then she screamed and slammed her forehead into his nose, breaking it flat. She kept swinging until his body twitched and stilled. Her chest heaved, eyes wet, but her smile stayed sharp.
Cody saw her freeze and laughed bitterly. "Orphanage flashbacks? Fuck 'em, Asia. They'd have killed you first chance they got." He snapped a man's arm at the elbow and shoved the jagged bone into another's throat. Blood sprayed across his face. He grinned. "See? Easy."
X stayed silent, fists working, system climbing.
⸻
The Predator
A shadow loomed. From the wreckage of a fallen tower, a figure emerged—broad, scarred, fists like boulders. His badge flickered: Prestige 20. The crowd hushed.
Asia muttered, "Fuck…"
The man pointed straight at them. "You three. Orphans. I've heard the whispers. Let's see if you're worth the trouble."
He rushed. Cody met him first, screaming, fists flying. He got swatted aside like a ragdoll, crashing through a burned-out car.
Asia darted in, aiming for his ribs. He caught her wrist mid-swing, twisted, and threw her into a wall. She coughed blood.
X stepped forward. His hood was low, his eyes calm.
The Prestige fighter grinned. "You've been hiding. I can smell it."
X didn't answer. He lunged.
The fight was brutal. Bare fists colliding, each hit shaking the ground. The man swung like thunder, X moved like a scalpel. Each blow X landed cracked bone, tore muscle, dropped energy. But the man didn't fall. He laughed, blood dripping from his mouth.
"You're different," he rasped. "You're—"
X cut him off with a flurry of strikes. Body, jaw, temple. He finished with a hammer fist that left the man sprawled, twitching.
Asia and Cody stared.
X pulled his hood lower.
X — L238 → L261
Energy cost: 5% → 4%
Asia — L9 → L10
Cody — L9 → L10
After-Dark Again
When the Hunt ended, they were dragged back to the undercity. The bars were louder, dirtier. Fighters clawed at each other for drinks, kisses, and fights. Blood and lust mixed in every corner.
Asia sat with her head in her hands, shaking, cigarette burning between her fingers. Cody drowned himself in liquor, arm around two strangers, laughing but eyes hollow.
X sat apart, fists clenched, watching his screen glow faint.
X — L261 → L275 (After-Dark EXP gain)
Energy cost: 4% → 3%
A message blinked again.
UNKNOWN: Secrets never stay buried.
X raised his eyes. The Prestige 100,000 man was still there, smiling.