Pay to win: Story of Surviving fiction

The further Rio and Surtr walked from the city center, the more signs of life they saw buildings untouched, people scavenging supplies or standing guard, and...bodies. Goblin corpses littered the streets in mangled piles, green blood staining the cracked pavement.

"Looks like most of the city's still standing," Rio murmured, relief mixing uneasily with the sight of the dead goblins.

"Standing, sure," Surtr replied, her sword casually slung over her shoulder. "But far from safe."

Ahead, a crowd had gathered in the middle of the street, murmurs and quiet sobs rippling through them. Curious, Rio and Surtr approached.

At the center of the crowd lay a creature larger than any goblin Rio had ever seen. Its sickly green skin stretched over a muscular frame, its almost human-like face twisted in death.

"A hobgoblin," Surtr said, her tone laced with disdain. She crouched to examine the corpse, tilting her head.

"An adult goblin?" Rio asked, stepping closer.

Surtr snorted. "No. Worse. It's what happens when a goblin eats over fifty people this is what they evolve into. More human in shape, and far deadlier."

Rio's stomach churned. He glanced at the crowd and saw people with grim faces. Some were crying, their tears silent, but their grief was palpable.

"So...these people lost someone to this thing," Rio whispered.

A man from the crowd, his face lined with exhaustion, turned to Rio. "You new here, son?"

Rio nodded. "Yeah. What happened?"

The man sighed heavily. "This bastard terrorized us for a month. We tried hunting it, but it was clever. Hid underground, near the outskirts. By the time we found it..." His voice cracked. "Over a hundred people gone."

Rio's chest tightened. "How'd you kill it?"

"We didn't," the man admitted bitterly. "Someone else must've found it. When we got there, it was already dead burned to a crisp in its own cave, surrounded by its victims' bones."

Rio's gaze shifted to the body. "But...people here have powers, right? Couldn't anyone take it down?"

"Some of us do," the man said, holding up his hand. His fingers turned to sand, then reformed. "We call it the Awakening. A gift, a curse, depends on who you ask."

Rio's eyes widened. "So...you don't have a system?"

The man frowned. "System? Kid, I don't know what that is. This is just what I've got."

Confused, Rio quickly checked the crowd.

>Target's system error

>Target's system error

>Target's system error

>Target's system error

>Target's system error

The same message appeared over and over. He froze. Am I...the only one with a system here?

"You okay, kid?" the man asked, noticing Rio's frantic expression.

"Yeah. Fine. Thanks for telling me," Rio said hurriedly, backing away. He turned to find Surtr happily munching on donuts at a nearby stall, ignoring the cashier's nervous glances.

"Do you even have money for that?" Rio hissed.

"What? Money?" Surtr said, licking powdered sugar off her fingers. "Relax, little mage, I'm sure you can pay."

"Don't call me little! And I don't have the right currency either those are omni-dollars!"

Surtr pouted as Rio handed over some cash. The cashier barely muttered thanks, trembling under Surtr's glare.

"Come on," Rio said, tugging Surtr's arm. "We're leaving."

After a three-hour walk, Rio and Surtr arrived at his grandmother's house on the edge of the forest. As they stepped into the trees, the air turned colder.

The forest was eerily silent as Rio and Surtr approached its heart. Towering trees loomed above them, their gnarled branches weaving together to block out the sun. The air was damp, and the faint smell of earth and moss lingered.

Surtr stopped suddenly, her crimson eyes narrowing. "We're not alone," she said, her voice low and tense.

Rio froze, his hand instinctively reaching for the hilt of his katana. He felt it too a faint, chilling presence that sent a shiver down his spine.

From the shadows, six wolves emerged. Their fur shimmered an unnatural blue, and their eyes glowed like frozen flames. Water dripped from their massive paws, creating ripples on the ground with every step.

"Blue wolves," Surtr muttered. "These things are bad news."

"Why are their paws wet?" Rio asked, his grip tightening on his sword.

"They're not wet. That's magic," Surtr replied, unsheathing her sword. The blade ignited in flames. "And they're fast."

Without warning, one of the wolves lunged at her. Surtr swung her blade in a fiery arc, sending a wave of flames toward the beast. It leapt into the air, stepping on nothing but leaving shimmering ripples of water in its wake.

"Are they walking on air?!" Rio shouted, disbelief written across his face.

"No time to be impressed!" Surtr barked, slashing at another wolf that darted too close.

The fight erupted into chaos.

Surtr roared, her body glowing with fiery energy as she unleashed a surge of flames in every direction. The ground around her scorched black, and the wolves hesitated, circling her warily.

"Rio, take the opening!" she yelled.

One of the wolves lunged at Rio. He sidestepped and slashed at its side, fire bursting from his katana's blade. The wolf yelped, its body igniting as Rio drove his sword deep into its neck.

"One down!" Rio shouted, yanking his blade free.

Thinking quickly, he grabbed the wolf's burning corpse and hurled it toward two others. "Surtr, now!"

Surtr grinned wickedly and swung her sword. A fireball erupted from the blade, striking the wolf's body midair. The explosion sent fiery shards of bone and flesh hurtling into the nearby wolves. One fell instantly, its fur scorched black, while another barely survived and so Surtr threw her buster sword and killed it.

"Three left!" Surtr yelled.

The remaining wolves split up. Two charged at Rio while the third went after Surtr.

Rio dropped into an iaido stance, his katana sheathed. He closed his eyes for a split second, focusing his fire magic. The air around his sheath shimmered with heat.

The first wolf leapt at him, its fangs bared.

"Now!"

Rio drew his sword in a flash, he made the sword's sheathe as a canon and he manipulated fire magic to burst forth a powerful trigger to make the sword draw faster and more powerful and sliced the wolf cleanly in half.

Before Rio could react, the second wolf tackled him. He hit the ground hard, the wind knocked out of him.

The wolf growled, its jaws snapping inches from his face. Rio shoved his katana horizontally into its mouth, struggling to keep the beast's teeth from clamping down. The wolf's strength was overwhelming, and it flung the sword from Rio's hands.

"Surtr!" Rio shouted, panic creeping into his voice.

Surtr was preoccupied with her own fight, her fiery blade clashing against a wolf's water-coated claws.

Rio braced himself as the wolf's jaws closed in on his neck.

Just as the wolf was about to strike, its body suddenly convulsed. A sickening pop echoed through the forest, and the beast erupted in a spray of blood and organs.

Rio lay stunned, drenched in gore. He wiped his face and sat up, his heart pounding.

A figure stood over him, shrouded in smoke. She wore a long trench coat, her white hair tied back. A cigarette dangled from her lips, and her face was obscured by a mask. In her right hand, she casually held Surtr by the hair like a misbehaving child.

"Grandma Seiko?" Rio sputtered, his voice filled with disbelief.

Seiko tossed Surtr aside like a sack of potatoes. The fire giantess scrambled to her feet, her eyes burning with rage.

"Let me go, you old hag!" Surtr shouted, hurling a fireball at Seiko.

The flames hit an invisible barrier and fizzled out.

"Try that again," Seiko said coolly, exhaling a puff of smoke, "and I'll bury you in this forest."

Surtr clenched her fists but stayed silent, the fight draining out of her.

Seiko turned her attention to Rio, her gaze sharp. "You've gotten yourself into a mess, haven't you? Why can't you be more like your cousin?"

Rio groaned, his head falling back. "Grandma, I was coming to visit you anyway. Can we save the lecture for later?"

Seiko glanced at Surtr, then back at Rio. "Fine. But first, we're going inside. You've got a lot to learn."

Seiko's house was nestled deep within the forest, surrounded by towering trees whose shadows seemed to stretch endlessly. The air inside was heavy with the scent of herbs, old wood, and smoke from her ever-present cigarettes.

The moment they entered, Seiko moved with purpose, locking the door and pulling out paper talismans covered in strange symbols. She placed them around the room, muttering under her breath. A translucent barrier shimmered into place, surrounding the house.

"Is all this really necessary?" Rio asked, his voice strained.

"You'll thank me when it keeps the things hunting you out of my house," Seiko replied curtly. She turned to Surtr. "You. Sit."

The fire giantess hesitated but eventually sat cross-legged on the floor, her arms crossed in defiance.

"Now," Seiko said, lighting another cigarette. "What do you know about this 'contingency' your father mentioned?"

Rio hesitated, glancing at Surtr before speaking. "He left me a note. Said I needed to find you and mentioned something about contacting the Winchesters. That's all I've got."

Seiko's expression darkened. She walked to the fireplace and pulled a hidden drawer open, retrieving a worn leather-bound book. "I hoped your father would've kept you out of this, but clearly, he's as reckless as ever."

Rio frowned. "Grandma, what's going on? Why did he disappear, and what's this about a contingency?"

Seiko sighed and sat down, opening the book to a page filled with intricate drawings and faded text. "You deserve the truth. Your father...isn't entirely human."

Rio blinked. "What do you mean, not human?"

"Your father is the vessel of Michael, the Archangel," Seiko said, her tone even. "And your mother—"

"Let me guess," Rio interrupted. "A demon?"

Seiko fixed him with a sharp glare. "No. She's Hestia, Goddess of the Hearth and Home."

The silence that followed was deafening.

"My mother is Hestia? The virgin goddess?!" Rio exclaimed, his voice cracking. "How does that even—?"

"Michael fell in love with her," Seiko explained, cutting him off. "He needed a mortal vessel to reach her, and your father's bloodline the Demiurgos was uniquely suited for angels. The Demiurgos family was massacred by an unknown entity decades ago, but your father survived. I took him in, raised him as my own after his parents were killed."

Rio's head was spinning. "Wait...Michael and Hestia? They had me?"

"Yes. But your birth came at a cost," Seiko said grimly. "When you were born, the veil between worlds weakened. Creatures from across the multiverse tried to pour into this reality. Your parents fought them back and sealed the rift, but the seal is temporary. They bought us time, nothing more."

"And now it's running out," Rio murmured, the weight of her words sinking in.

Seiko nodded. "Your Awakening the powers you've gained are a sign. The seal is failing, and the creatures are returning."

Surtr, who had been quietly listening, finally spoke. "So he's some kind of chosen one?"

"Chosen, cursed, whatever you want to call it," Seiko replied. "And he's not alone. Hestia prophesied that Rio would gather allies beings like you to fight the coming storm."

Surtr's expression softened, though she quickly hid it.

Rio ran a hand through his hair, overwhelmed. "This is too much. My dad, Michael, whoever he is he told me to contact Sam and Dean Winchester. Do you know them?"

Seiko smirked. "Oh, I know them. Dumbasses, the both of them. But they're good at what they do. I'll contact them."

She rose, walking to another hidden compartment and pulling out a battered flip phone. Its screen flickered to life as she dialed a number labeled Dumbasses.

Rio left and climbed the stairs to the room he always stayed in during his visits. It looked the same as it always had small, with a simple bed, a desk, and a window overlooking the forest. But it felt different now, as though the weight of everything he'd learned was pressing down on the walls.

He sank onto the bed, his head in his hands.

"My dad's not even my dad, my mom's a goddess, and now I'm supposed to stop some apocalypse," he muttered. "Just another day, I guess."

As exhaustion overtook him, Rio lay back and stared at the ceiling, trying to make sense of it all.

Back downstairs, Seiko turned her attention to Surtr.

"Now, fire giant, let's talk," Seiko said, sitting across from her. "You've been with Rio for a month, yes? What happened?"

Surtr hesitated but eventually spoke, recounting the events of the past month the attack in the city, the troll, the hobgoblin, and Rio's growing powers. Seiko listened intently, her expression unreadable.

"He's grown," Seiko said finally. "Too fast. He's still a child in many ways, but the world won't let him stay one."

Surtr frowned. "He's stronger than you think."

"I hope you're right," Seiko said, leaning back in her chair. "Because he'll need to be."

The phone in her hand buzzed, and a familiar gruff voice came through the speaker.

"This is Dean Winchester."

"Dean," Seiko said, a wry smile on her lips. "I need a favor."