“If you let him go, he's free to his own devices.  He can wander around the city, kill if he wants to, whatever.  I don't think the College really made plans for nonwinning survivors.  Maybe they'll be returned to their own worlds after the whole thing's over with?”

So they didn't have any fallbacks, no contingencies for survivors? Weren't these college folk supposed to be well educated? Either way, that didn't bode well for a number of these people. Runch closed shut the book after seeing the third entry on the drone, and turned his attention to the unconscious assassin currently stuck in his honeytrap. The man said so himself, he'd be coming after Runch and anybody else with lethal intent. The good captain couldn't let that happen, at least not until the contest was over. There was only one thing to do. Runch outstretched his hands and expelled pellets, orbs, squares, all manner of shapes of cereal. The nutritious goodness cascaded like a waterfall, burying the man until all that remained exposed was his head. An entire ton of cereal would keep Serhan pinned down. This super dense, heavy cereal wasn't good for eating, though, so Runch made sure to leave a nice big pile of his extra-healthy recipe in mouth's reach. Leaving the hitman to starve would have been a horrific method of killing, after all.

That chore done, it was time to find a new place to rest. Bartholomew would have loved to stay in the cathedral, but making his would-be killer a temporary roommate, coupled with the weight of blowing up half the place had on his conscience, guaranteed a very uncomfortable stay. The pirate strolled out the front door, whistling as he had not a care in the world. Then the horizon lit up like a great big fireball. Runch stopped right in his tracks, both the jaunt and the tune. His head cocked to the side and he commented, [color=turquoise]"Wow. Whatever caused that, I'll have to fight... Or something powerful enough to [i]beat[/i] that."[/color] He paused, staring into the red-orange glow off in the distance. His slack-jaw tightened up into a grin. [color=turquoise]"Omnomnomnom! That's really exciting! I hope I don't get burned! Only thing worse than an undercooked meal is an overcooked one! Omnomnom!"[/color]

After another twenty minutes of journeying, Runch stopped. The environment had changed. No longer was he surrounded on all sides by churches, mosques, cathedrals, and holy buildings. Now the structures appeared to be ancient. Well, not that some of those holy buildings weren't, but all of these landmarks looked positively archaic. Columns, bathhouses, grand monoliths, and the like. He approached a large coliseum, then turned it away. No, such a thing was not his preferred place of rest. There was no telling what kinds of battle-mad creatures may jump him in his sleep. Something else, something more fitting. Blast, it would have been so much nicer to have his crew accompanying him. Sometimes it felt like Smith never slept at all. Must be a ninja thing.

Ah, here was something beautiful! Runch came across an old vineyard, small in size but otherwise perfect! The old berry bushes still produced a small number of their little fruits, and the ancient technologies used to press the juice into wine shined with the light of a star. Or that was just how Runch saw them, as they were old and dilapidated, but not everything needs to shine on the outside to burn bright on the inside! The pirate rushed to the bushes and picked a few berries, opening up the journal to see what information it recorded on them. Beautiful, he didn't even have to experiment, he knew their chemical makeup and nutritional content! Well after sampling their taste, Runch produced some of his special "bloodberry" recipe, designed to give extra energy, stamina, and nutrition for healing wounds, ate his fill of dinner, and decided it was time to turn in for the night. He would find his next opponent, whomever that was, come the morning light.