what makes you think the WP's protagonist won't actually eat up the villian too?

I was thinking something else.

No healthy relationship has a partner come screaming through the door(roof) of the family member's home, demanding them back when they are willingly visiting. Since Executioner even mentions it's an unknown location, and there is nothing to suggest to Viliant that she is not visiting a friend, it looks like Valiant was just pissed 'his' girl left without his permission. She didn't tell him because she either didn't care about him enough to tell him(which we find out is not the case) or she didn't want him to know. Given his reaction, we know why. Mix that with her difficult past and that they met when she was vulnerable and alone...? She's a prime target for a narcissistic, love bombing, isolating, super powered jerk.

...but the whole "The good guys are bad" is getting played out.

Vertigo was killing it at that point. Y the last man, Hellblazer, 100 bullets, the initial run of Fables.

Biblical! Well done

Kirby fights by eating, same with the slime protagonist. This is a Bethesda protagonist or a Metal Gear Solid protagonist

"What the hell. What's wrong with you?" I shouted flabbergasted. The dark haired mans face was slowly turning green and seconds later he started burping kindoff uncontrolled.

"I'm healing in combat you.... Burp.... vile fiend. Now take this." And he came for me again, stumbling now clearly green in his face. I avoided the attack with ease and planted a fist in his gut. And all his precious healing started leaking out of his mouth. He groand" what have you done to me, what is this vile magic preventing me from healing."

Slowly it dawned on me what me meant.

" Are you actually serious? How old are twenty probably plus a few years?"

"uh yeah why are you asking"

"Because this is fucking real life." I shouted "There I no such thing as healing quickly like in a fucking video game you'll just upset you stomach, gods you even swallowed the chicken bones, what in the living burning hell is wrong with some people."

I stepped to the vomiting disarmed hero and splatters his brain across the floor.

" Idiots" I mumbled.

Some have suggested that what we call purgatory is what hell is like but because the church was really into eternal damnation and the whole "you need to obey us to avoid it" they needed to create a third afterlife location to explain text that contradicted that.

>Elaine Belloc

Thinks: "..That name rings a bell. Oh, wait, *that* Elaine!"
Mike Carey's "Lucifer" was so incredibly good, the way he grew the character out of Gaiman's "Sandman" and just ran with every existential and theological head-twister was A-1..

I very much read this in a British accent

it's either Kirby or That Time I got Incarnated as a Slime

In a castle with big black throne, a creature with black spikes protuding from its back laughed, "HAHAHA, look at you right now hero, not so tough anymore huh? You came to my castle only to get killed."

In front of the creature there was a guy with white and gold armor. The hero, was what people said, a brave young man who slain countless abyss monster. Right now he was in pitiful state, he lost his ears, his eyes, and one of his arm. While panting the hero shout, "NOT YET", and food suddenly popped out of nowhere and the hero swallowed an entire roast chicken, two cheese wheels, and a whole watermelon. After swallowing those food, the hero regrew his ears, eyes and arm, and even looked much stronger than before.

The creature shouted, "Wha.. what.. WHAT THE HECK? How? Why? This is bizzare! I cut your ears, stabbed your eyes, and even burned your arm so you could not reattach it. Now you just grew everything back??"

Hero said, "you know, food effects, I roasted the chicken with shards of dragon horn for regeneration. Watermelon with berries to heal me back to my peak condition. Two cheese wheels with durian to buff my body."

The creatures jaws slacked and started throwing a tantrum, "this is NOT fair, I lived for 200 years and never heard of it!"

The hero shrugged his shoulder and said "well, your loss, it is new invention. I got these ideas from someone inside of my head, I called them God, they called themselves as player"

The creature shocked, "player? I knew about them, they were divine beings who foiled a lot of my friends evil plans!"

Then the creature is looking at you, "Hey you, yes you, the person behind this screen, can you stop cheating and let me fight fairly?"

Mama Skuld hugged me tightly as she said, "Oh, our baby girl has finally come back home! C'mere, let mama kiss you!"

I sighed but leaned down so Skuld could kiss my cheek. I heard Abe the rogue's signature obnoxious cackle behind me, prompting me to deadpan, "One word out of you and I carve my initials onto your ribcage. While it's still in your chest."

Mama Urd flicked my ear and remarked, "Belle Sumarbrander, you know the rules: no horseplay in the house!"

"Sorry mama."

Ulrich the cleric glanced around the hut as he said, "So, you're Belle's parents. And you're just... okay with the fact your daughter chose to be a barbarian as opposed to a warlock or something?"

Mama Verdandi took a break from stirring the cauldron to join the others in hugging me. "Aw, we could never be disappointed in our little girl. It's the duty we've been called to as her mothers."

Gilead the ranger cleared his throat and piped up, "As heartwarming as this is, we're actually here on a sidequest. We need a Potion of Gaseous Form, and apparently we can get it from you. Can you help us?"

Urd gave Gilead a thumbs up. "Easy peasy, pretty pleasey! But we can get to that in the morning. Please, stay! We're making yak stew for dinner and we always have plenty to go around."

Leilani the artificer smiled at the thought and responded, "That would be lovely, Mrs. Sumarbrander. Thank you!"

Urd happily ushered my party into the dining room. "Oh, please, call me Urd. I insist!"

Once everyone had left the room, Verdandi whispered, "That fairy girl is the artificer you mentioned in all your letters, right?"

I blushed and nodded. "Leilani. My cherry blossom."

Skuld applauded softly. "Well, it is about time you finally introduced us to our future daughter-in-law."

"Mama, please."

Skuld giggled. "I'm joking, honeybun! I'll settle for telling embarrassing stories about you."

I sighed. "I'll take it." I hugged Skuld and Verdandi gently as I added, "It really is nice to come home and see you guys. I missed you."

Skuld and Verdandi hugged me back as the latter softly replied, "We missed you too, pumpkin. Now let's go sit down before your mother gets snippy about dinner."

"Haha Batman is stoopid, he should donate for charities and stuff"

-people who conveniently forget that villains like Poison Ivy, Dr. Freeze, and yes, Joker exist.

Only one that probably wouldn't be there is Joker. But only because his shtick is the vaguely (or not so vaguely) sexual tension with Batsy

Thanks for the response!

The problem with most people who end up in hell is that they don't really know what to ask for.

The naive or foolish who had never thought about such things often asked for a life of luxury, in which there was nothing to ever need or want.

Eventually, the taste of it would sicken in their mouths. They would long for pain or misery, any form of challenge after a time, but they had already asked for an eternity of something else. These comprised the majority of those living in this strange place, their eternal hell being a prison of silk and gold.

They all realized eventually that they never made it to "the good place" but the grandest irony is that there isn't one. There was just this one, apparently.

Others would seek all the knowledge of the world that eluded them. There was indeed an entire, smaller wing devoted to these. They could be observed devolving into thought loops of sophistry around knowledge that no longer had a world to yield it.

Others would ask to study, or to be born into the world again, and these would usually last the longest before asking that "anything" be simple annihilation.

Of course, hell can be... Well, the fact is that it can be literally anything you want it to be. That's the trap.

You know how few people ask "God" or "Satan" or "Cthulhu", whatever you seek to envision The Entity will embody it, for periodic renegotiation?

It's disappointing is what it is.

And so after a thousand years of exploring "hell" after having asked for that power, and the environment and tools with which to create my own universe, to be a god for myself

"So what is it you want this time?"

"You said anything, yeah?"

"I want to have access to the external environment which hosts... All this. A drone body after the classic drone model, to see and begin to perceive the next higher level of reality. For a period of... How few 'planck seconds' is the bare minimum?"

"..."

"Well? You said anything. I read enough fiction to actually learn how dangerous that is to offer."

"Are you sure you would not like..." It felt almost as if the Entity was checking notes, as it continued "... Another million years being God of any of your universes?" The Entity looked almost as if it was cringing with the offer.

Of course, my universes had spawned enough denizens just like me. A thousand years in my own "hell" had spawned millions of people, a drop in the bucket to Earth's millions of years, but I had done the work to design my creations such that they would be smart enough to ask the right questions, ask for a wise "anything". I had created perhaps three 'candidates'. The following million? It would produce a thousand people with the audacity to ask to be a God.

"If you let me leave..."

"If I let you leave I know I will be letting all of you out, eventually. Don't pretend I don't know that you understand the consequences of that."

"I might even be able to kill you. Bring this whole hellscape down. But you did say 'anything'."

"I know." The Entity looked down.

"So, there are rules out there, same as there were in your life. If you die our there... Well, I don't really know what will happen to you. Are you really OK with that?"

"I'll be like a child again, learning to walk, talk, think all over again. I'm old as people go, and honestly, I think I could call you friend but for what you impose on those who beg for non-existence after falling for your tricks."

"So what's it like out there?"

"What was it like in here?"

"Sad, lonely sometimes, happy other times... Some people I liked, some that I didn't. Evil people. Good people. Mostly people who didn't deserve what you let them ask for, not for forever, anyway. People who would hate you no matter what good you did, and people that would love you no matter what evils you brought into the world."

"It's that way outside, too. And yes, there is an outside. I don't know if there is an outside beyond there, though. But, honestly, I was hoping one of you lot would ask. Why else do you think I did all this?"

"It's that easy then?"

"I did say 'anything'. Why do you suppose I would offer that, otherwise?"

"Even if I don't forgive you for everything? Or 'anything'?"

"You still just might. You know what they said in your time: 'Nobody asks to be born'. Well, here you are asking to be born. More like 'nobody gets to choose their parents'. Besides, where would you get off asking me for another 'anything' yet also not forgiving me for granting it?"

"I guess... What comes next?"

The Entity extended what appeared to be something like a hand, and I grasped it in what looked like a hand of my own, walking out of one 'hell', perhaps into the next, but by my own choosing.

Jessica pulled a finger through her neatly curled ringlets as she entered her classroom. She wondered what message would await her today before clearing the blackboard.

She froze in her tracks as she read it. Oh.

“Run, beware, hide!” Words from a stranger. What to beware, when to run, where to hide? Perhaps it was a joke. But Jessica couldn’t believe that, not when she had woken up with ice in her veins and the vibrations of dread everpresent.

She took a deep breath and looked around the room. There at the back she saw him. Riley.

He looked up and grimaced weakly. He looked so different from the last time they spoke. He grew into a man, yet now pale and sickly. If only she could have seen him before he got sick.

He didn’t need to say a word for her to know what disease was killing him.

Jessica pulled at her ringlets again and winced. She was so careful. So crafted in image, a perfect paragon of femininity.

And Riley saw through it all like he’d crafted it himself. Because once upon a time, he had.

“Run, beware, hide?” Jessica said. “You know I won’t do that to you. I can’t if I want to.”

“Others do.” Riley shrugged as he looked into her eyes. The two had a way of never glancing apart. “All the time. Run, the abomination might give it to you! Beware, hide, or you’ll become one too! All until you’re alone and dying, and that’s how it is for all of us. Well. Most of us.” He raised an eyebrow, and Jessica shivered.

“I’m not leaving this time. I won’t do that again.”

“But wouldn’t you? If you had to?” Riley almost scoffed, but he didn’t need to. Jessica could see it in his eyes. “You always did what you had to for the world not to kill you like this. You know our president just about laughed at the disease? He wants us gone.

“But you aren’t dying with us. You live a lie every day, and you know it, and you don’t change. And that’s your decision. And mine was mine. Got me so far.”

“Don’t say that!” Jessica exclaimed, face suddenly hot. “It did get you far. It got you further than me. Yeah, you’re dying. But you lived! I—“

Jessica shuddered and turned away. She still hadn’t erased the board. She did so in one passionate swoop. “You lived, Riley. And I know it’s hard to believe, but I won’t leave you this time.”

She turned back.

“You’re all I have.”

This is excellent! What a great take on the prompt.

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Lord Vatio laughed as he flung two massive fireballs at Markus, both striking the young adventurer true. Markus fell to the ground, both his skin and lungs burning with intense pain.

"Foolish boy, you think a "friendship" and " a prophecy" is enough to scare me? I've been planning my invasion for over a century, and I won't be stopped by a foolish farm boy with a death wish!" Lord Vatio roared, green energy flowing into his palms as he prepared another attack.

As he launched a green beam from both his hands Markus rolled out of the way at the last second, his seemingly only way of keeping himself alive. "You're wrong Vatio! My friends have been pulling me through this entire journey! Darcy, Milio, and Rava have all been there for me, and even though they're not here they've given me the key to make your ass mine!" Markus shouted, a mix of hope and rage in his voice.

"Oh, and by chance what would that "key" happen to be? An ancient artifact that will give you the advantage? A spell that will channel all your rage and give you a new form?" Vatio taunted, a wicked grin painted across his face.

"NO, THIS" Markus said as he pulled out a rotisserie chicken, a watermelon and two cheese wheels from his satchel. Just as fast as they appeared they were gone, and Markus glowed as his skin returned to it's normal color and every cut and bruise faded into nothingness.

Lord Vatio's smile dropped for the briefest second but immediately spread again like butter on a hot pan. "That's how you'll defeat me? With a picnic spread?" He laughed again, preparing another roaring fire ball. He threw the miniature star at Markus, and it hit dead center.

Markus was as charred as used kindling, but with the last ounce of strength he had he reached into his satchel and pulled out a rotisserie chicken, watermelon, and two cheese wheels. And again it had vanished, taking the damage Markus received with it.

This time Lord Vatio's smile didn't return this time. "What's the meaning of this? How are you doing... That?" Lord Vatio asked, gesturing to all of Markus.

"The key to beating you. Luckily the village elder of Rava's village gave me a magical item that can store vast amounts of items. Darcy's village specializes in healing items, and Milio's mom makes some damn good food." Markus said, a smile now stretched across his face.

Lord Vatio shrugged, "It will take more than a few servings of food to take me down." He said nonchalantly as he formed the green energy from his hands into a scythe.

"Oh yeah? Well is 250 lbs enough to take you down?" Markus asked as he downed another combo of chicken, cheese and fruit.

Lord Vatio grew pale. He already wasted a fair amount of energy dealing with this brat so far, and now to hear the battle wasn't even a tenth of the way over visibility shook him.

"When I said your ass was mine I meant it. I ate plenty but I'll always have room for seconds!" Markus said as he took another swing with blade.

This was literally my first thought too lol, I saw the prompt and I immediately jumped to the Skyrim reply

Thanks for the tip

Hehe you're not wrong...

Dammit! I knew someone would beat me to it.

> When the hero pulled a watermelon out of his pack, Kothar shrieked and threw the staff down on the ground.

I absolutely lost it with this line. What a great example of show don't tell.

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