We finally lost the Hero of Light after Rina dropped a banana peel mid-chase.
Yes. A banana peel.
Leo slipped with a dramatic scream, crashed into a cabbage stand, and got covered in soup.
"JUSTICE IS STICKY!" he shouted.
We didn't stop running until we reached an abandoned ramen shop on the edge of town.
---
Inside, cobwebs hung like sad party decorations.
"This place looks cursed," Liria muttered.
"It smells like garlic and shame," Myra added.
But Mimi's nose twitched. "There's ramen here. Legendary ramen. I can feel it."
"…You can sense ramen?" I asked.
"I come from a long line of ramen warriors," she said, totally serious.
Rina pointed her spoon at a dusty scroll on the wall.
"This is it! The Recipe of Destiny!"
We all crowded around.
The scroll read:
> "Whoever cooks this ramen shall gain the power to bend the world to their hunger."
My stomach growled. Loudly.
Liria deadpanned. "Please don't become a god because of noodles."
"No promises."
---
As we prepared the ramen using ancient ingredients (including a fire crystal, ghost garlic, and noodles that screamed when boiled), something shimmered behind us.
A group of cloaked figures appeared.
"Oh no," I whispered. "It's them."
My cult.
---
They knelt before me.
"O great Chaos King! You have returned!"
"I literally never asked you to start a cult," I said.
The leader held out a golden pancake on a velvet cushion.
"Bless us once more with breakfast wisdom!"
Before I could respond, Rina stepped forward.
"Only the spoon may decide the true path!"
One cultist hissed. "A Spoon Heretic!"
The others gasped.
Then, of course, someone shouted, "SPOON DUEL!"
---
Two cultists pulled out enchanted ladles.
Rina drew her spoon like a sword.
They clashed in the center of the shop in a whirling blur of culinary combat.
Mimi sobbed, "It's... beautiful."
Meanwhile, Myra finished the ramen and took the first bite.
Her eyes glowed. Her hair floated. She levitated three inches off the ground.
"I can see… the taste of time."
Liria grabbed a bowl. "We're all going to regret this."
I smiled.
"Probably."
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[Next Chapter: Hero vs. Villain (Ramen Rematch Edition), A Musical Battle, and the Power of Meme Magic]
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