January 4, 2026 — 11:15 AM | Rest Period — Time Remaining: 15 Hr 45 Min
Gilbert rose awake, unsure of when and how he had fallen asleep again, this time, on the wooden floor under the office light. With a re-newly rested and fresh body, Gilbert stood upward before drudging his way to the nearest restroom.
Thankfully, Gilbert didn't have to walk far as the VIP room he woke up in came with a restroom. Opening and entering, Gilbert instinctively undressed as he threw his cat-girl t-shirt around without care, but just before he unequipped his pants, he turned to his phone that was now laying on top of the sink alongside his glasses.
"Did I carry that in here?" Gilbert grumbled before reading the chat's messages.
[LIVE FEED: UTAH SECTOR CHAT]
GamerGod88: OH GOD HE'S STRIPPING 🤢 MY EYES!! ABORT!!
xX_LoneWolf_Xx: Wait, hold up... is it just the lighting or did the fat ass actually lose some weight? 🧐 I swear his HP bar looks thicker too.
WaifuEnjoyer: DON'T CARE! PRIVACY MODE NOW! I DON'T WANNA SEE HIS MICRO-PEEN! 🛑💀
SaltyTears: I swear to god, if the camera pans down I'm dropping this stream. 🤮
TrollKing: Lmaooo he threw the cat-girl shirt! 🐈🔥 Man is shedding his mortal coil to become a Gigachad!
SimpLord44: Show us Malenia-chan instead you neckbeard!! 😡🗡️
"Fuck off chat," Gilbert angrily mumbled as he turned on the Privacy Mode.
Kicking off his shorts and ahegao-designed underwear, Gilbert heaved his way into the shower.
For the next two hours, Gilbert showered his body to the best of his ability before eventually he just stopped and looked down. Gilbert felt strange. Despite having his wounds and exhaustion recovered, Gilbert still felt a sense of hurdle weighing down on his fat shoulders.
"I'm tired but I'm not exhausted," Gilbert talked to himself in the shower as he examined his body and took note of the scars that were healed and his arms that were once badly injured and even broken.
"Have I gotten skinnier?" Gilbert whispered in amusement since he, for the first time, could finally see his feet without his stomach blocking the view.
"I think it's time to change. I gotta lose this weight before it becomes the death of me. Besides, I heard your dick gets bigger the more fat you lose," Gilbert announced with a look of smugness.
Walking back outside, Gilbert started his search for Malenia and Courage. Entering the hallways, Gilbert could not help but notice the small stacks of bodies near one end of the hallway where the window was broken.
"So that's where they were disposing the bodies. Wish there was a way to deal with the bl00d-soaked floor too." Gilbert continued searching while also noticing the cut marks on the walls that were very unique to the surrounding environment due to how deep and precise the cuts were. "That's definitely Malenia's doing."
Gilbert was ready to call it quits and return back to the VIP room to wait for them, but when he turned a corner, he managed to catch sight of them both fishing—with his rods that he looted from the Home Depot.
"Y'all caught anything good?" Gilbert shouted out to them while making his way over. Courage turned his head to wave at Gilbert with a smile, while Malenia paid him no attention as she continued focusing on her line for a bite.
"A bit cold don'tcha think Malenia?" Gilbert questioned.
Malenia didn't even turn her golden helmet to acknowledge him, her grip remaining perfectly still on the flimsy fiberglass rod. "The chill of this fractured realm is but a gentle breeze compared to the biting frosts of the Mountaintops," she stated evenly, her voice sharp and pristine.
Slowly, she adjusted her posture, the internal mechanisms of her golden arm whirring softly. "If you are referring to my demeanor, foul creature, it is because you slumbered like a gluttonous swine while our resources dwindled. Your 'dust-covered cheese triangles' are an absolute insult to a warrior's physique. I am procuring us real meat from whatever wretched abyssal creatures roam the flooded streets below."
Suddenly, her prosthetic arm snapped back with blinding speed. She gave the rod a violent yank, effortlessly reeling in a violently thrashing, mutated fish-hound up through the broken window. She pinned it beneath her golden boot before turning her featureless helmet toward Gilbert.
"Now," she commanded, the air around her dropping a few degrees. "Make yourself useful and prepare the hearth, or return to your degenerate slumber so I need not look at your flabby, unarmored vessel."
Gilbert tried his best to dissect the fish. His first attempt was disastrous; he failed to remove the guts, which resulted in the entire fish being ruined due to some strange liquid contaminating the meat. His second attempt wasn't better, as this octopus-looking creature was too slimy, tough, and durable to cut through, but he continued, resulting in uneven bits and pieces.
[LIVE FEED: UTAH SECTOR CHAT]
ChefBoyardee: BRUH. Did he just pop the venom sac on the first fish?! 🤢 RUINED.
xX_LoneWolf_Xx: -100 Cooking Skill. Man treats a survival knife like a Nintendo controller. 🎮💀
SaltyTears: Stick to microwaving pizza rolls and chugging Mountain Dew, fat ass. You're going to p0ison everyone! 🤮
WaifuEnjoyer: IF YOU MAKE MALENIA-CHAN SICK WITH THAT SLOP I SWEAR TO GOD I WILL VOTE TO SPAWN A BOSS 🤬
TrollKing: Lmaoooo blud is losing a 1v1 against a dead octopus. 🐙🔪 Absolute zero dexterity stat!
"Give me some slack chat," Gilbert sighed quietly as he wiped the sweat from his forehead. A sudden tap on Gilbert's shoulder spooked him, but turning his attention he was greeted by Courage.
Courage offered a gentle, reassuring pat on Gilbert's sweat-drenched back, his bright demeanor a stark contrast to the gruesome, fish-gut-covered floor. "I'm going to scout the rest of the building!" Courage chimed in with an upbeat smile. "If we're going to eat this stuff, we definitely need a pan, some utensils, and maybe some spices if we're lucky. Hang in there, Gilbert! You're doing a great job!"
Giving a cheerful, energetic wave, Courage turned and trotted off down the dimly lit hallway, leaving Gilbert alone with the daunting task.
"Hurry back Courage!" Gilbert announced to Courage as he waved goodbye.
Now, in this moment, it was just Gilbert and Malenia. The silence between them was loud, only to be broken by the sound of Gilbert's butchering and Malenia's handling of the reel.
"So. Um. Malenia, how'd I do against those Fish-men?" Gilbert tried to break the silence. Ignoring the cold sweat on his neck, Gilbert attempted to start a relation—real relation.
Malenia didn't even turn her head, her golden prosthetic arm smoothly and rhythmically turning the reel of the Home Depot rod.
"You were clumsy, uncoordinated, and relied entirely on your excessive mass to absorb blows that would have cleaved a normal man in twain," she stated, her voice as cold and unforgiving as a winter storm. "Your footwork is practically non-existent, and your stamina depletes faster than a wounded foot soldier. You survived through sheer, foolish stubbornness and my intervention. Do not mistake survival for martial competence."
Gilbert swallowed hard, his knife hovering over the mangled fish meat. The silence returned, heavy and suffocating, punctuated only by the wet schlick of Gilbert trying to peel away a slimy scale and the continuous, quiet clicking of Malenia's fishing reel.
After a few agonizing minutes, the clicking stopped. Malenia secured the line and slowly turned her featureless golden helm to fully face him. The sudden weight of her gaze made Gilbert's healing spine tingle.
"I have observed many tarnished and wretched souls in my time," she began, her tone shifting from harsh critique to a cold, clinical curiosity. "But your... disposition baffles me. Why do you present yourself as a creature of such vile lethargy? What compels a man to abandon all dignity, physical pride, and martial honor in favor of perverse, slobbering requests in the face of death?"
Gilbert turned his head to face Malenia's golden helm looking back at him with no hostility, but curiosity.
"I don't know. Like, genuinely, I don't know. It's something I can't help myself. My best guess would be my high sex-drive. Does that sound sufficient enough to you?" Gilbert responded in a genuine tone without a look of smugness, but rather with a blank stare.
Malenia slowly turned her featureless golden helm back toward the shattered window, her gaze returning to the murky, flooded streets below. The steady, rhythmic clicking of the reel resumed, breaking the heavy silence. She shifted her weight, sitting perfectly upright, her posture radiating the poised discipline of a seasoned general.
"A slave to your own base instincts," she concluded, her voice devoid of pity, carrying only the absolute weight of a warrior's judgment. "To possess a mortal vessel and allow it to be commanded by the whims of a feral beast, rather than the iron will of a lord... it is a truly pitiful existence."
She paused, reeling in the line a few more inches before continuing.
"You claim you cannot help yourself, that this 'drive' is your master. Yet, when the tide of rotting flesh descended upon you, you did not yield to the instinct of cowardice. You withstood the abyss to shield your comrade. The strength to conquer your own nature exists within that grotesque frame of yours, Gilbert. You simply choose to squander it on the filth of your own mind."
[LIVE FEED: UTAH SECTOR CHAT]
GamerGod88: HOLY SHIT SHE COOKED HIM 💀🔥
xX_LoneWolf_Xx: "Squander it on the filth of your own mind" DAMN. Write that quote down! ✍️🔥🔥
WaifuEnjoyer: My Queen dropping straight up philosophy! Step on him Malenia-chan!! 🥾👑
TrollKing: Bro tried to use "high sex-drive" as an excuse and got hit with the EX-Rank therapy session LMAOOO 😭
SaltyTears: Wait... did she just complement him again? Chat, is the fat ass actually getting character development?! 🧐
SimpLord44: L Rizz. Absolute zero charisma stat. Bro is permanently locked in the degenerate zone.
Gilbert opened his mouth ready to respond, but nothing worth stating came out, as he knew she was right. What made it worse was that right now Gilbert was doing exactly what she accused him of; he could not help but take glances at Malenia's ass when she turned her head, believing she would not notice. 'Fuck, that ass is fat. I just want to make that shit bounce!'
Malenia did not reply immediately. Though the Scarlet Rot had long since claimed her eyes beneath the unyielding golden helm, her warrior's intuition painted a flawless, agonizingly clear picture of the room. She felt the sudden, violent jerk of his massive frame. She heard the pathetic hitch in his breath, the frantic acceleration of his pulse, and the sickeningly heavy shift in the air that betrayed exactly where his attention had been fixated just a fraction of a second prior. The silence stretched, thick and suffocating, as the sheer, undeniable reality of his depravity settled over her like a foul stench.
"No reason, just, respecting your observation of me," Gilbert explained with a cracked voice.
The realization hit her not with shock, but with an overwhelming, glacial wave of pure, unadulterated disgust. The temperature in the room seemingly plummeted. The faint, terrifying hum of her golden prosthetic arm echoed as her hand slowly drifted toward the hilt of her blade. A suffocating aura of murderous intent leaked into the air, causing Gilbert's HP bar to practically shiver in his peripheral vision. She was going to cleave him in two.
"You utterly vile, depraved little—"
"I found them!"
The hallway door suddenly swung wide open. Courage trotted in, his face beaming triumphantly, completely and utterly oblivious to the overwhelming killing intent that had just saturated the room. His arms were loaded to the brim with a dented cast-iron skillet, a rusted spatula, and a miraculously intact bottle of lemon pepper seasoning.
"I managed to find a working portable camp stove in the manager's office too! Who's ready to cook?" Courage cheered, his wholesome smile shining like a literal beacon of salvation.
Gilbert let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding, his soul slowly returning to his physical vessel.