Dear Diary:We continue a week after what happened in the Enchanted Forest. Quite a lot happened. Somehow, people found out that we defeated the Plant King, and the rumor spread that Team Totium was back. We received a lot of calls to help people, and everything was going relatively well. My mood soared, since I got to spend every day with this beautiful girl, Mary. Well, although there was also my brother.I had had a few opportunities to talk to her, although for reasons I didn't know, she was very reserved when it came to talking about herself. I thought maybe she hated me, but anyway, the point is that I knew very little about her. I only knew her first name; she hadn't told me her last name. She was 16 years old, which is younger than me. She was beautiful, had an amazing body, was very intelligent, and surprisingly strong and fast for a human. She was also awesome when she fought with her axe. Her personality was great: she was even shyer than me, but she looked so cute when she was embarrassed.Sometimes she talked to me a lot about science. According to her, she'd loved it since she was little and had studied it almost her whole life. She was so sweet when she talked nonstop about it.All the missions we'd received up to that point had been pretty tame compared to the first one: helping old ladies cross the street, breaking up fights in bars, helping find lost pets, and catching the occasional thief. That day we received a lot of missions, so we decided to meet at our house to decide which one to go on first. After drawing lots, we decided to go on the mission in the Cyborg Kingdom.It was a really tough mission, to be honest. We were summoned by the Cyborg King himself, who urgently needed our help. We headed to the Cyborg Kingdom as fast as we could. It was quite far from our kingdom, but with our speed, it only took us about two hours to get there on foot.To our surprise, as soon as we entered, after the security check, we were taken against our will on a tour of the entire kingdom. We tried to refuse, but they were very insistent. After about three hours of wandering around the kingdom, one of the people who had dragged us on the tour said:"Greetings, Totium team. I hope you enjoyed this tour that the King prepared for you. Please follow me to the castle."We, a little confused, followed him without hesitation, since the King was supposed to have arranged all of this. That kingdom made me incredibly anxious; it was the most technologically advanced in all of Totium, even more so than the Great Kingdom. Honestly, I much prefer the Grass Kingdom.Speaking of the tour, we were speechless the whole time. That place was enormous and amazing. We saw so many things that I almost forgot why we had come.Upon arriving at the grand, technologically advanced castle—which looked more like a giant office—we met the King, who greeted us cheerfully and said to the man in charge, who was actually his son and also the prince:"Good work, son."My first thought upon seeing the King was: How does a robot have a beard?After greeting them as formally as possible, I decided to ask:"Your Majesty, what exactly is our mission?"The King replied:"Oh, I'm sorry for not explaining anything earlier. Follow me, and I'll explain in a moment."We decided to follow him and the prince to a room at the back of the castle. Descending a long staircase, we arrived at an enormous room that looked like an extremely advanced laboratory. It reminded me of my mother's lab, although much larger. In front of us was a kind of giant metal cage.Jake asked:"Your Majesty, what is this?"The King replied:"Observe carefully."He pressed a red button on a remote control in his hand, and the cage became transparent, revealing about twenty people locked inside. They were all standing, not moving a single muscle in their body.The King began to explain:"You might be wondering why these people are locked up. Although they may not look like it now, they're infected with a terrible virus that has turned them into mindless beings, who only seek to spread the virus through bites. In short, zombies."I remembered reading about zombies in comics. I thought they only existed in fiction, but apparently I was wrong. I approached the cage to get a closer look, thinking: Well, like he said, they don't look infected; they're just sleeping while standing up.The moment I lightly touched the cage, a girl about eight years old came running up and violently banged on it while growling like a bloodthirsty animal. I got a huge fright, but I didn't scream so as not to look scared in front of Mary. I just took a step back.I was surprised to see her up close: her skin had a greenish tint, her veins were prominent all over her body and shone with a distinctive green hue, just like her eyes.The King told me:"She was the first one infected. We speculate that Beifa chose her because no one would suspect an innocent child. Oh, right, I haven't told you that the virus is intelligent and its name is Beifa. You see, this isn't the first time it's appeared. It was accidentally created by our former ruler many years ago, but she managed to stop it, at least for a while, as it later returned stronger than before. She then created the Cure Tower, the most technologically advanced machine in the entire kingdom. The machine can create the antidote to the virus using royal blood, and the tower can spread it throughout the kingdom in waves, curing all those infected. Back then, Beifa was stopped again, and the queen was able to thwart its plan to infect all of Totium. But many years later, Beifa somehow returned. Fortunately, we managed to catch the few who were unfortunately infected."At that moment, I thought: Damn, poor people. I wonder what it must feel like to be infected by this virus, to be unable to control your own body. I suppose it must be awful. Well, I more or less understand what it feels like now.I decided to ask the King:"Excuse me, Your Highness, but what are we supposed to do? Can't you just inject them with the cure and be done with it? Surely you can somehow manage with your super-advanced technology."The Prince replied:"Unfortunately, it's not that easy. Spreading the antidote as a gas doesn't work, so we have to inject the cure directly into the first infected person, and it has to be done no matter what. It doesn't work by injecting the other infected people, only patient zero. But Beifa isn't going to give in so easily. If we try to use robots to inject him with the cure, he'll destroy them easily, so it's too dangerous to do it without precautions. That's why we're calling you. One of you has to go into the cage and inject patient zero. Only Team Totium is suited for this dangerous task. If anything goes wrong, just take me to the Cure Tower, and we'll cure those who become infected afterward. For now, injecting the cure into the girl is enough, and the others will be cured, but if there are many more infected, that won't work. Even so, we ask you with all our hearts: help us, heroes."I replied with a smile:"Don't worry, Your Majesty. We'll do it... well, I'll do it, since I'm the strongest of the three of us. Although I didn't know you had hearts."The King responded with a laugh:"We aren't entirely robotic. Our species is called cyborgs; we're alive, but we also have technology in our bodies. But that doesn't matter. Thank you very much for helping us, heroes."I nodded. Then the prince gave me a syringe with the cure, and with it in hand, I approached the cage as the King began a countdown from three, preparing to press the button that would open it. Truthfully, even though I'm the Thunder Knight and had already completed a ton of difficult missions up to that point, I couldn't help but be nervous. If I failed, I'd probably turn into a zombie, or worse: everyone in the room would be affected too.Despite those pessimistic thoughts, I calmed down a little when I looked behind me. Not only were there the King and the Prince, but also four guards who looked very capable, and to top it all off, Mary and Jake were ready. We'd only been working as heroes for a week, but I already trusted them as if we'd been a team for years.Finally, the King said the word:"One."The cage opened, and I quickly headed toward the girl, but at that moment, something unexpected happened. I stopped dead in my tracks, not knowing what to do. The girl began to mutate: her limbs started to lengthen morbidly. I was terrified, but I decided to stop hesitating and tried to inject her with the cure. However, the girl, controlled by Beifa, struck me before I could, and the syringe fell to the ground.As if that weren't enough, her hands began to glow a dark green. According to the King, Beifa can not only infect others with bites, but those most severely affected by the virus have the ability to fire zombie beams. And that's exactly what the girl did. Somehow, I managed to dodge it by throwing myself to the ground.Suddenly, the other infected began to run toward me, but the cyborg guards quickly entered the cage and began to contain the zombies. The King tried to close it, but Beifa prevented him by destroying the control device in his hand with a zombie beam.The King shouted:"There's no time left! Run and take my son to the Cure Tower! The guards and I will buy you some time."I climbed out of the cage as the King and the guards fired energy beams from their hands at the zombies. We, along with the prince, tried to flee the castle as quickly as possible, but Beifa managed to catch up, he shot a zombie beam at the Prince. This time I wasn't useless, and I countered with a fire bolt that sent him flying down the stairs.The four of us got out of the castle as fast as we could, but suddenly hundreds of zombie beams started raining down from all sides. Beifa was most likely responsible. We rushed to the nearest building, but it didn't help much, since the beams were piercing the roof. So we got into the first car we saw nearby, since the building was a car dealership.The Prince told us that, luckily, the car's roof was strong enough and wasn't pierced by the beams, since it was one of the most advanced vehicles in all of Totium. I was in the driver's seat, and when the barrage of zombie beams stopped, I said:"Does anyone know how to drive? Because I don't."Jake replied:"I know how. Mom taught me."We switched seats, and Jake started driving. As we left the building, we noticed the surroundings were shrouded in a terrifying silence. Suddenly, we heard the roars of a horde of zombie tourists and cyborgs, emerging from all directions and running straight toward us, ready to devour us.Jake took off at full speed. The Prince desperately told him the car could fly. Jake didn't know which button to press, since there were millions, but the Prince pointed to the right one, and Jake pressed it. We were immediately soaring through the air at top speed, finally escaping the horde.We were finally at peace, but we couldn't rest yet: we still had to reach the Cure Tower and save this kingdom. Even so, I decided to relax a little, since I knew this day would be very stressful. At that moment, I started remembering that a few years ago I used to be obsessed with zombies. I remember fantasizing about a zombie virus attacking Totium one day, because if that happened, I could play the hero and kill zombies left and right. I thought it would be so much fun. I was really stupid... well, I still am, but not as much as before.At that moment, I told myself, "When I saw all those infected people, I felt sorry for them. I don't think I could kill them; they're just innocent people who had the misfortune of being infected. But the good thing is that there's still hope."According to the King, royal blood, for some reason, is part of the antidote. He speculated that the Queen created the antidote using her own blood, and that's why the most important ingredient is royal blood. The problem is that the younger the blood, the more effective it is. That's why the King sacrificed himself to buy us time, since the Prince, being younger, has much more valuable blood.I decided to stop thinking about all this shit and started admiring the technology of this kingdom. The kinds of things they had there blew my mind, although weapons were the most abundant. Even the citizens themselves carried weapons on their bodies. That's why many people from other kingdoms came here to stroll or to buy weapons. Most of the Great Kingdom's police force weapons came from here. From the air, I could see that all those people had become zombies: not just cyborgs, but humans and other species, though mostly humans, since many came here.Jake, while driving, asked:"Your Majesty, where is the Cure Tower?"The Prince replied in a surprised tone:"But you should already know. That's why I took you on the tour."My brother and I looked embarrassed and said in unison:"Sorry, we weren't paying attention to that part."Mary spoke in a low voice:"I was paying attention. Let me guide you, Jake."Mary explained to Jake where to go. We were driving peacefully toward our destination when, suddenly, zombie cyborgs in the form of jets appeared behind us and began attacking, firing zombie energy bullets. At that moment, I thought, "Damn, even the jet soldiers tasked with eliminating any aerial threat were infected."Even so, Jake is a great driver and managed to evade them successfully. The Prince mentioned that the car had missiles and other weapons. Jake pressed the indicated button, and two missiles fired from the rear of the vehicle. One struck one of the cyborgs, blowing it to pieces. I felt bad for the soldier, but we had no other choice. The other missile was dodged by the second cyborg, who counterattacked with his own missile, causing significant damage to the car and sending it plummeting down rapidly.The four of us screamed, but Mary, Jake, and I reacted quickly, jumping out of the car along with the Prince, who was then carried by Mary. The car crashed to the ground and exploded in a very clichéd way, while we landed on our feet. Luckily, we didn't fall from very high and our legs weren't hurt.But the danger wasn't over yet. The flying cyborg landed in front of us.It took on a humanoid form. It was much more robust than normal cyborgs and different than ordinary royal guards. It attacked us again with zombie energy bullets.I summoned the power of thunder, since I had no more lightning bolts stored, and used the ability called Electric Shrink, which reduces the user to the size of a mouse, though they retain their strength and abilities. I also used Short Circuit, which allows you to discharge a large amount of energy into the opponent, potentially knocking them out or killing them depending on the intensity used. At that size, I managed to dodge the bullets and, using Short Circuit, I made the cyborg explode.Luckily, the other three weren't hit, as they took cover behind the wreckage of the car.We continued on our way to the Cure Tower. We were closer, though still a ways off, but the apparent tranquility ended when we heard the angry screams of the horde of zombies coming for the Prince. We started running as fast as we could, this time across the rooftops. Jake used his spiked mace to fire explosive spikes and slow the horde down as much as he could, though he quickly ran out.Seeing so many innocent people dying, I said,"I feel bad for those people... isn't there a way to avoid hurting them?"The Prince replied,"Don't worry. With the Cure Tower, even injured people will be completely healed."Hearing that, I thought, "Damn, the technology in this kingdom is truly magnificent. So I don't have to hold back, huh?"After passing several houses, we arrived in front of the Cure Tower, but suddenly a giant cyborg appeared, much larger than the tower itself. As expected, it was also a zombie.The Prince shouted,"Oh no! It's the royal guard. It's used in case of a major catastrophe... but it was infected too."The giant robot tried to stomp on us, but we managed to dodge it, as it was slow due to its size. Unfortunately, while we were distracted, the horde caught up with us. Jake was struck by a zombie beam when he stepped in front of the Prince to protect him. He was immediately infected and went for the Prince to bite him, but Mary pushed him out of the way to save him.Jake was about to bite Mary when, before it could happen, I decided to cut off my own brother's head. It's not something I would have done under normal circumstances. Although Jake can be annoying most of the time, deep down I love him. Even so, I didn't hesitate, as I knew that if we got the Prince to the Tower, Jake would not only be cured, but he would also come back to life... or so I hoped.I couldn't help but feel like shit. I cried and said,"I'm sorry, brother."Mary yelled for us to run, and we did, but the zombies rushed at us. Mary and I tried to stop them by throwing them through the air or slashing them with our weapons, but there were too many. Suddenly, three zombies bit Mary, and she became infected.I screamed:"No! Not you too..."I threw her with all my might so as not to hurt her, just like I did with Jake, and with great difficulty, I managed to free myself and take the Prince with me.The Prince was crying and said to me:"I'm sorry, Tommy. It's my fault. I don't know how to fight, and your friends got infected..."I shouted back:"This isn't the time for that! Your kingdom is in danger. Don't give up. You are the salvation of your kingdom. If I get infected, you have to survive at all costs."At that moment, I felt terrible. My team was practically dead, and I wanted to give up, but something inside me wouldn't let me. Maybe it was the hope that the Prince represented. Neither I nor anyone else could save this kingdom, only he could.The King had told us that his son wasn't very good at fighting, even though he was very powerful, even more so than the King himself. He always ran away in fear when he had to train with the soldiers. Even so, even if the Prince was a coward, I wasn't any better than him. I simply wanted to motivate him so he wouldn't give up.The Prince smiled at me and showed a gesture of great determination. He climbed down from my arms and started running beside me, but the giant cyborg guard was still in front of us and fired a huge zombie beam from his eyes. I managed to absorb five beams from the sphere as quickly as possible and activated the Electric Fists ability, managing to block the powerful attack.The Electric Fists ability allows the user to completely cover their hands in electricity, forming electric fists that double their power. Although they are normally used to attack thanks to the enormous brute force they provide, this time I used them as a shield. Even so, the zombie beam was too strong, and I knew I wouldn't last long. I had to reach the guard's eyes to stop him, but to do that I needed to use my other hand.I released one of my fists and concentrated all my strength into a single electric fist, while with the other hand I invoked the Electric Tornado ability. This ability is invoked by spinning the sword at high speed, as if it were a propeller creating a tornado of electrical energy. I usually use it to fly or attack multiple enemies at once, but this time I used it to propel myself toward the giant zombie's face.Although I thought it wouldn't work, surprisingly, it was. I was rapidly approaching the giant's face, but halfway there I realized that the ability's time was about to expire, since using two completely incompatible abilities significantly reduces their duration.Before I could do no more, I looked at the Prince and shouted:"Remember what I told you! Don't give up! You have to survive for your kingdom!"After saying those words, the abilities vanished and the zombie lightning struck me. Everything went dark.The Prince told me what happened next.It looked as if you had been disintegrated. I started crying as I watched the brave heroes fall. Suddenly, from a massive crater created by the zombie beam, you emerged as a zombie, but you were different from the others. Apparently, the royal guard's beam was far more powerful than the others', causing you to mutate into an immense mass of muscle, your clothes torn to shreds.You saw me and began firing powerful zombie beams from your hands, but I managed to dodge them. The entire zombie horde—including my father, Tommy, Mary, Jake, all the soldiers I'd known since childhood, all my citizens, and all the tourists—was charging toward me.I didn't know what to do. I was choked with fear, and with all my strength, I did what I always did: run. I ran to a nearby house and locked the door. Our kingdom is the most technologically advanced in all of Totium, and every house has a force field that can be activated in case of emergency, but I knew it wouldn't hold out for long against the horde.Terrified, I tried to think of what to do as the zombies tried to break in. I started to panic, thinking I was going to die. I've been like this my whole life. Despite being the Prince of this kingdom, I don't deserve that title. I'm a coward. I'm much more powerful than my father, but I've never been good at fighting.Even so, my father never doubted me. He always told me I was someone special and that the day I was crowned, he would be very proud. I knew I had to fight, but I was too afraid. I raised my head and looked at a picture hanging on the wall: it was a family photo. They looked so happy.Then I remembered your words: "Don't give up, you have to survive for your kingdom." I thought, "I know, damn it, I know... but I'm so scared. Wait... now I remember the heroes were trembling. Even with as much or even more fear than me, they never stopped fighting. How?"I decided to get up and slap myself hard. I wiped away my tears and activated all the weapons in my body, thinking, "I have to stop being a coward. I won't let Beifa destroy my kingdom or all of Totium. I have to do this. I have to get to the Tower safe and sound."I fired a powerful beam at the door, causing a huge explosion that killed many zombies. I ran at full speed, firing more beams and eliminating more and more zombies. After a few meters, I reached the Tower door and quickly closed it.I rushed up the long stairs as the zombies tried to break down the door, made of the strongest material in all of Totium. Even so, I knew it wouldn't hold for long, since you were a zombie and with your True?ioion you could cut through anything.When I reached the top, the zombies managed to break down the door, but I had already entered the main hall and locked it. It was the most secure room in the kingdom, and I had about five minutes. In front of me was the machine that controlled the Tower. I sat down facing it.My father had brought me to this place many times before. He always said you never know what might happen, but I thought he was exaggerating and didn't pay attention. Now I saw he was right. I was a fool for not taking him seriously.Since my mother died, I stopped taking my life seriously. I didn't take my training seriously, or my kingdom, or my position as prince and future king. I thought it was all a waste of time. I wanted to leave this "damn kingdom" and run away from my responsibilities. I've never liked fighting or hurting others; the idea of ??fighting someone always terrified me.But I knew that day would come. I thought I would mess it up and die, or worse, that my kingdom would be destroyed. The idea of ??the four million people who lived here dying terrified me. I wanted to protect this kingdom, but I didn't feel capable or worthy.Even so, at that moment I wanted to be a worthy prince. Thanks to my father, the royal guards, and the brave heroes, I managed to swallow my cowardice and reach that room. Without further delay, I poured in my blood, and the machine transformed it into the antidote. Then I selected the option to spread it throughout the kingdom.Then the machine asked me for the password.A colossal fear gripped me. I couldn't remember it. Desperation grew as I heard the zombies pounding on the door. I tried everything: my name, my father's name, robot, cyborg, technology, the cure... nothing worked.When the zombies finally got inside, I thought that I didn't want to die yet, that I wanted to be a worthy prince. But it was too late. Beifa, controlling the poor girl and smiling, shot me with a zombie beam and infected my body.I was still conscious, but I could no longer control my body. I felt trapped in a dark cage. I saw Beifa replace the antidote with his infected blood and select the option to spread it throughout Totium. He did know the password: Beifa.But before he finished, remembering my kingdom, my father, and the heroes who sacrificed themselves, I managed to regain control. I expelled Beifa and threw him down the stairs. I used those few seconds to replace the blood with my own, select the correct option, and enter the password.The cure spread in waves throughout the kingdom, killing Beifa and curing all the infected. Relieved, I collapsed to the ground and fainted.That's what the Prince... or rather, the King, told me. He explained in detail how he felt, since I had inspired him, and thanked me profusely for giving him courage. After spending several hours fixing many things, the entire kingdom gathered at the castle to witness the King congratulate the Prince on his great bravery and the heroes for taking care of him until the end and giving him the strength he needed. That same day, they crowned the new King Connors.In gratitude, we heroes were given medals for bravery, a large sum of money, and a car just like the one Jake had driven, but which had been destroyed. It wasn't very big, but it was blue (my favorite color) and had a design that made it look really cool.After saying goodbye to the new King and the former King, we decided to return to the Grass Kingdom, happy that everything had turned out well, even though we weren't the real heroes in the end. I was sure this kingdom was in good hands, since the new King was an amazing person. I knew it from the moment I met him, even before I knew he was the Prince. He was not only powerful, but also very kind. From what I heard, he helped his kingdom a lot, not only with the tours, but also with other businesses there.Even though he said he was useless, the truth was quite the opposite: he had a big heart, which is ironic, since they're robots... well, more than robots, they're cyborgs. I forgot to describe them earlier, but they have square heads, metal "skin," and elongated limbs. They all have a kind of screen on their torsos with a bunch of letters and numbers. Even so, it seemed that everyone was somehow alive.I was quite glad to have come to this kingdom, even though we still had other missions to complete and we were very tired. We turned into zombies and almost died, but it was worth it to help this kingdom. I was starting to remember why I enjoyed being a "hero" so much.From that moment on, it was also much easier to travel around Totium thanks to that new car they gave us. Everything was great... but we didn't know what happened immediately after we left the kingdom. I'll explain that in a future chapter, dear diary.End of Chapter 2

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