Vanessa sprinted through a town with large stone buildings of various colors. Pavement contrasted the hues. There was an offset mood created by the wacky display of shapes and visuals. Distance was interpreted differently on each step.
Running past many players, Vanessa could never make out their faces. Her focus was elsewhere. From the crowd came Jeff, racing for what appeared to be his life.
He glanced over and asked what made her late as well. Having received Vanessa's cold shoulder, he took the silence as a means of hate. Not once had she talked to him since joining Kiki's team. It made him uneasy. The feeling he had from her was as though he murdered her in a previous life.
There they were. Kiki's team sat on what appeared to be a large fountain without water. Rectangular portions of the boardwalk rose into the air and spiraled around that dry fountain. Vanessa aimed her attention at Kiki and apologized for being late.
Kiki was texting on her black isekai phone, "So both of you are late. And, we already helped the main squad take the town".
"Sorry," panted Vanessa.
"Come on!" Jeff threw up his hands.
Kiki flipped her phone away, "Which means both of you owe me 100 push-ups before getting to work".
"What?" Jeff stepped back and shook his head, "Yo, I'm not doing this"!
Kiki waved her fingers, "Bye".
Dani stared at Benji, "You better get 100 with her"!
Nana got down on her hands, "Come on Vanessa. I'll do them with you. We got clean up duty after this".
Vanessa flipped her blue hair back and began her 100 push-ups alongside Benji and Nana. While sweating out the punishment for her tardiness, there were magical events happening around her. People were walking in the air. Buildings breathed while others moved. Colors sometimes changed. Water shot up into the air to allow players to walk on it like stairs. By the time she reached 100, it was apparent that this town had essentially a mind of its own.
Afterward, Kiki sent out the teams to perform their given tasks. First out was Teddy and Dezzy. Dani waited for a driverless carriage to roll by before hopping on with Benji and Hakim.
"Alright Vanessa," Nana smiled, "Time to see your skills".
Vanessa called for a reality check to expose her entire skillset to Nana and Mimi. the two were impressed by her abilities. She had basic monk and spellblade techniques which were big bonuses for any fighter. But her skills as a samurai nearly rivaled Mimi's. Not to mention having the Astrologian class made her potential limitless. She already learned how to absorb physical and magical energy, increase her physical offense and endurance, summon both a pair of spirit fishes and blades, basic illusion casting, psionic defenses, and had basic supporting auras. As far as the two were concerned, Vanessa was jam-packed for a new player.
It all left Nana scratching her head, "So, we'll have two formations. For melee, I'll have Mimi as my one-man Vanessa as my three. For magic, you two will reverse. And yes we can use both formations in magic and non-magic themes," she held her fingers together, "Some enemies and tasks in magic themes will be more close range and upfront whereas others will be more at a distance. So keep all of that in mind".
Mimi smiled, "You think we should pull out our guns today"?
"And pay the extra fee?" Nana was confused, "Hell no. We'll be fine without them. Ain't that right Vanessa the magic absorber"?
Vanessa nodded, "Yes".
"Alright," Nana looked ahead, "We'll start with investigating the train".
Mimi danced towards the train station, "And we don't have to pay because we own this town".
Nana followed with Vanessa, "Basically there's something haunting players on the train and it's making us lose a lot of money. So we need to find and kill it. Rumors have it that it's a ghost. But ghosts are actually rare. We'll see what's going on when we get there. Missions like these give us no information. So we'll just get on the train and see what we can find".
Vanessa looked up at the train. There were no stairs. Standing on the station, the three rose from the ground up. Neither Nana nor Mimi were shocked. Vanessa was amazed to find that there was a plastic platform that was invisible rising them up.
Once up, they each saw an empty train. It was only three short cargos long. They stepped on for a ride. The doors slammed shut just before the train took off. The girls felt something there, but couldn't tell what or where it was.
Nana kept looking around, "So let's make sure we keep a good 360 on this. We don't know what's coming".
"Vanessa," a whisper echoed in her ear.
Vanessa ignored Nana to look towards the voice. Windows on the train shattered towards her. For a second, she even saw something move outside.
"Vanessa!" shouted Nana, "What's wrong"?
She gasped with a finger up, "Something called my name".
"A lot of things do that to spook you," Mimi gripped her katana.
"Exactly," Nana oriented herself, "When things like voices or glass breaking happens, don't get spooked or freak out. Relay what you are witnessing".
Before Vanessa reoriented herself, she nodded, "Ah, and I saw something out-".
A window smashed inwards at the girls. Mimi ducked low and swung her blade up. Blood swung upwards as a black claw fell down from nowhere.
"It's invisible!" shouted Mimi.
Vanessa pulled Nana by the shoulder, "Get back! Now we know when it is striking"!
Mimi joined them for a formation, "Smart. We'll try to use the windows for an advantage".
"Get low," Nana crouched with them, "This creature was killing people before without breaking windows".
Vanessa snapped her fingers, "Not if it controls glass".
"I think it's still on top," Mimi was ready for another swing.
Nana clasped her fingers together, "I got this," her eyes reddened, "Flame Revenant".
Her skin burned away. Her bottom half was cloaked in a worn-out ankle-length skirt. A bone mask covered her face. Arms and hands made of flames appeared out of her back each controlled a rock with a fire symbol on it. Having stretched all her arms out, the rocks blasted through the windows and rose to the top of the train. At Nana's command, the rocks shot through and burnt the invisible creature. Its body was left to fall. And just as quick as it took her to change form, Nana was already returned to her normal state.
"That's one down," Mimi cocked her head, "By the way, I don't think that creature controlled glass. I don't know what that was".
"Yeah," Nana nodded, "It could've killed us easily if it did. Be careful of anything that uses glass though".
"Oki," Vanessa smiled as she looked out, "Next stop is the ballroom".
Mimi smiled, "I think that one is a ghost".
Nana sat down, "Or a puppeteer. Either way, this will be heavily magic-based. So let's go in with that in mind".
Mimi looked at the claw she sliced off, "You can tell with this creature that it can open doors and such. That's probably how it was killing people".
Vanessa looked around, "So what broke the glass and said my name"?
Nana shook her head, "No clue. But nothing else is here".
Vanessa looked down at the glass, knowing something was wrong. What nobody saw was the man standing in front of her.
"I'm here... Waiting Vanessa... But you don't care".
Later in the ballroom, Vanessa walked steadily to its center. Nana and Mimi were only a few feet behind her. Matching the rumors, various statues of knights stood with different weapons against the pillars throughout the room. Pictures of people on the wall felt as though they were staring at the girls. The lights were dim but still left everything visible.
Vanessa spun back and waved her arm, "This place is so spooky".
An eerie feeling came to her shoulder. She jumped to see what it was. Nobody could see or sense anything. However, Vanessa did feel a speech, "Move"!
"Move!" Vanessa jumped away from the center of the room, causing her friends to do the same.
A giant chandelier slammed to the ground. Glass slid to the girls' feet. There was no ruckus to follow. Everyone began sensing out the threat. Though they couldn't find anything.
"It's a ghost," Mimi took a stance.
"Keep sensing it out!" Nana avoided transforming, "It will reveal itself soon".
The chandelier was lifted to a foot over the ground by the chain attached at the top. It swung in circles and flew across the room in an attempt to smash the girls. They each jumped and slid to avoid being hit.
Nana waited for it to attack Vanessa before she transformed into the flame revenant again. Whereas her girl sustained and absorbed the impact, she shot a few flames rocks up towards the base of the ceiling and tore down the chandelier.
It fell and rolled aside. Vanessa had a lot of energy stored from the impact she took. But nothing to release it.
Mimi stood straight up, "We got it," an axe came down her shoulder and through her torso.
Nana clenched her fist, causing a rock near the seemingly impaled Mimi to engulf in flames and shoot at the knight. It was thrown against a wall and nearly incinerated.
Even Vanessa could hear the metal churn in from across the room. Feeling the songs of victory coming, she released the energy stored in Magenta and sheathed her blade. Nana returned to her normal formal as Mimi shedded away the illusion she had to take the attack.
"Alright," Nana smiled, "Time to relax".
Vanessa whispered, "Summon".
A human-sized fish rose from the ground and bit into the air. A ghost wearing a rundown brown cloak was clutched in its jaws. Upon being bitten by the creature, the ghost bled out black smoke as its body disentergrated.
Nana walked towards the exit, "I'm thinking pizza".
"You always thinking pizza," Mimi looked up from texting, "We have so much to offer here aside from pizza".
Vanessa ran up to them and shook her head around, "I like all the junk food".
Nana was dancing as though she was in a rave, "So we will have pizza and chips".
Mimi smiled bright, "If you're leading us there, we'll get lost and get nothing to eat".
Nana chuckled, "Fine, then you lead the way".
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Nana's team had eaten an entire extra-large pizza. It was thicker than normal pizza and the cheese was nearly falling off on every bite. It was the Isekai way to have overly large and well-packed foods at the studio. Being a game of war, it was important that the players ate.
The girls came to agree that pineapples didn't have a place on it. Vanessa specifically made it clear that it was against the Italian way to ever perform such a horrendous act. That wasn't all they had in common. All three shared a love for the game.
Nana expressed how much she loved the skate parks and all the outfits she had. Even when she goes off to a University, she had hoped to be able to visit an amateur stadium every once in a while.
Likewise, Mimi felt a certain attachment to it. She felt it was necessary for her to pursue higher education for her future and her son. But she couldn't ignore the fact that a career here was in her grasp. It was more than possible for her to stay and live a healthy life with the main squad. In fact, it was something that she admitted to staying up at night thinking about.
Vanessa sprinkled a bag of Takis on her pizza. She admitted that without the game in her life, she feels incomplete. Almost as though she's not a person. Obviously, there was pressure from society that this was normal. If anything, it was wrong for someone of Vanessa's age to be thinking about something so childish as to pursue a career for a game.
After encouraging Vanessa to find what makes her happy, both Nana and Mimi left to live out their day elsewhere. But Vanessa was bored. There was so much to see in this weird town. The curiosity pulled her up to walk the town on her own.
Past the floating portion of the town, Vanessa ran into Benji who was hunched over and dripping in possibly sweat. She greeted him with a twirl and a smile that suited her mood. But it couldn't cheer up his.
Vanessa struck a pose with two fingers in front of her eyes, "What's wrong with you, Benji"?
"My lazy team leader," he mumbled, "I thought being in her team she would teach me cool stuff to blow people up. Instead she keeps making me do all the physical work because she's too lazy and weak to do it herself".
Vanessa hesitated to speak. Blood dripping upwards from the stairs caught her attention. She pointed it out to Benji. The sight itself startled him to stay away. But before he could reject, Vanessa sent a picture to Kiki and informed her that she and Benji would investigate.
Having received the okay from their squad leader, Vanessa showed and informed Banji that they will take out the threat. He was torn by his newfound mission. There was no energy left in his body to even walk over. Yet his feet moved knowing the nonsense that would await if Kiki found out otherwise.
He held his crossbow and informed Vanessa that he will be the leader for this. Granted, she already knew that he just didn't want to do this at all.
Approaching the bleeding stairway, it opened up to a small dungeon leading downward. The blood traveled through the crack of the walls. It was likely keeping the torches lit. At least it didn't seem to harm the two.
It was only a few yards of walking before they saw a man chained to the ground. He cried with a muzzle preventing him from talking. Blood poured from the wounds around his body and flowed into the crack of the dungeon. After a closer look, Vanessa noticed the man was Eloy. He was a gentleman she met in the past.
As she ran up to free him, Benji grabbed her shoulder and shot an arrow ahead, "Somebody is behind him".
A figure molded from thin air. His body was long and his face was pale. The dark purple get-up was the second staple of his look behind his sickly pale and smiling face. It was the man from last month.
Vanessa was shooken, "Wait..." she shouted, "Who are you? and why are you here"?
He chuckled, "I am the one known as 'The Jester'".
"He's not a part of the game," Benji shot an arrow into his chest, "He's either a ghost or a play-"
"No!" Vanessa shook her head, "There are no ghosts here".
Benji was shocked that the Jester wasn't dying. Instead, he slowly crouched to slam his palm against Eloy's back. Seconds later, there was a churning sound coming from Eloy's stomach. His stomach was rolling around. That momentum rose to his throat. Blood spewed from his mouth until his final moments before shattering.
The Jester laughed, "That's one less player I have to deal with".
Tears rode down Vanessa's cheeks, "Why! I don't want any of this! Please just go! You're not supposed to be here"!
The Jester laughed as his body molded away, "So you think".
Once gone, Benji sensed his presence completely leave, "Okay... So we have nothing to worry about".
Vanessa dropped to her knees, "No. He won't leave me alone. He's not supposed to be here".
"I mean," Benji laid a hand on her shoulders, "I was always told not to worry about players banning each other. And since he banned that guy, he's definitely a player. But look, I'll talk to Kiki so he can leave you alone. In the meantime, go out and try to relax. I really don't think he'll bother you again".
Vanessa sobbed to her feet, "Okay".
Benji gave her a hug, "And don't worry about reporting this. I will handle it," he pulled away, "Oh, try taking a carriage to look around town. We get discounts and it will make things a lot easier for you".
Vanessa wiped her face and stared at Eloy's body, "Okay. I will try to do that".
Benji stared at the body as well, "You know, by the look of it, it seems like this guy uses glass," Vanessa remembered the windows shattering earlier, "Whoever he is, he must be powerful. But when he left, he seemed to be genuine. Whatever this is about, It's possible that".
Vanessa stormed off, "I'll just go".
It was clear to Benji that he was insensitive to what she was going through.
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Hours later, Vanessa managed to clear her mind of the chaos. It was late. But she didn't care. She'd taken pictures of various places and animals included to show her friends that didn't quite believe in the marvels of the game. It was around midnight that she finally felt safe to travel on foot through a well-lit park with an artistically unique fountain.
There was a man sitting at its ledge, staring into the water with his back turned towards her, "Nice to see you happy. I wish it was real".
Vanessa noticed his shirt was green, "Leave me alone. And tell your friend to leave me alone too".
He spun himself around, "Nope. I already made a promise. And to be honest, I'm a little fed up with your nonsense".
Vanessa took a deep breath, "You're just a mean creepy person who likes to hurt people".
He mockingly laughed at her, "But you like abusive men," she became nearly as agitated as he was, "I tell you what, if you beat me, I'll leave you alone forever, and ever, and ever, and just simply leave you alone," She darted towards him with her katana, "To live in misery".
The man swung a dagger to parry Vanessa's Magenta. The force between the two was powerful to leave Vanessa in a rief state where time felt to have stopped. She snapped from it and sliced repetitively towards her harasser.
He didn't sweat. Every swing felt telegraphed. With minimal effort, he parried or dodged each of her attacks. Multiple times he stepped in range, only to pass on fatal blows.
A few times Vanessa had tried launching various elemental spells at him. But the man kept on avoiding her efforts to kill him. Rather, it felt as though he was toying with her. At no point did he let her gain more than 10 feet distance despite her ranged abilities. Neither did he seem to actually try to kill her.
He sprinted in, avoiding a swing of her sword, and caught her fist. His hand slid to grip her wrist and tossed her into what appeared to be another world.
Sound was captured in different wavelengths. Motion felt to go through a layer of air that had not existed before. This world was black and white.
The man thrusted his palm into Vanessa's sternum to send her flying back into another world that appeared to be similar to the one she was in originally. Except things were falling and tearing apart. Her skin withered to expose the marrow underneath. It would be seconds before she'd fall with the rubble to the abyss. That's if the sky didn't engulf the land before then.
"Tell me, Vanessa," the man stood on the collapsing pavement with his palm towards her, "What does your reality look like"?
Before she could utter a word, Vanessa felt her body leave and watched the world around her repair. Only there was a strange feeling of emptiness in her stomach, throat, legs, and chest. Attempting to grip her sword proved that this emptiness was in her hands as well.
She looked down and saw her hands were made of wood. Like that of a puppet, she was barely held together by strings and screws. Loose strands of her hair that fell in her face appeared to be of plastic rather than natural.
The fountain caught her attention. It seemed nicer than before. The water appeared to be cleaner. With a closer look, Vanessa could see memories of the fountain. Smiles, laughs, and amazement alike from those who had visited it in the past.
The man thrusted her spine and yanked her back to what she saw as the original world. She rolled across the pavement, scraping her knee and dropping her sword. At no point was he anxious to finish her. If anything, he was waiting for her to speak.
"Ready to give up?" he held out his arms, "Or are you waiting for your man to keep you"?
Vanessa ran at him with Magenta, "I'm single"!
The man casually formed lightning in his hands and in a flash shot it at Vanessa. A card flew in, negating the bolt from hitting her. A bold man with grey hair slid in front of her with a dagger up.
Vanessa shook upon seeing him. Her body trembled back before her feet, causing her to fall to the ground again.
"Logan!" the man was sarcastically anxious to meet this grey-haired man again, "It's nice to see that you're ruining my plans this time".
Logan snapped his fingers upwards, "You know, I actually don't know you," he smirked, taking a relaxed posture, "No, seriously, who are you"?
The man chuckled after facepalming himself, "For Vanessa's sake, just call me Watson".
"Alrighty Twatson," Logan laughed, "You need to scribble on out of here and stop messing with our new support. Okay, buddy"?
Watson laughed harder, "You know, no matter what reality I meet you in, you're always a little shit".
The smiles on both men's faces withered away to hardened mugs that wanted to beat each other. At first, Vanessa didn't know which one to be scared of more. But given that Logan appeared to be taking up for her, she felt safe to say he was on her side for now.
Not like before when he fought Vanessa, Watson closed the gap and swung into Logan with a lightning-coated dagger. Likewise, Logan threw a card and swung with his dagger alike.
Keeping his eyes on Logan, Watson dodged the card before it exploded and channeled the lightning in his body to his arm.
The two parried one another and stepped in to slice each other apart. Watson kicked through Logan's legs with his lightning enhancement to stun him for a moment.
Logan resisted the electrocution to push away from Watson's arm. It was a rare moment where he couldn't quite predict his opponent's next move. What made the fight better for him was that this Watson guy was serious and quite aggressive.
"Meow!" Watson gave a heavy swing.
Whereas Logan was backing away to wear off his stun status, Watson was running in and slicing at Logan's forearms. He checked a few kicks before hurling a chained dagger from his forearm.
The dagger grazed Logan's calf and paralyzed it a bit. Not that it bothered Logan, for he switched his stance and fought back with an unmovable leg.
With ease, Watson stopped using his daggers to hit Logan with his palms. Vanessa caught a glimpse of the gloves he was using. They were the Black and White Tiger Gloves. Though she didn't think much of its effects, watching Watson slam his palms into Logan made her see its potential.
On each hit, blood splattered from Logan's arms. A few times, Watson tried to knee him in the ribs. But Logan was quicker than that. His endurance was also nearly unmatched. No matter how deep his wounds got, or how hard this man hit, Logan was able to endure it all and keep up his guard.
Logan jumped away and spat a fireball that engulfed the ground. Watson jumped at him, only to receive a full roundhouse kick from Logan.
Slamming to the ground, Watson bounced up and charged in. Spears shot from the ground, causing him to disappear for a few seconds.
Logan struggled to detect where his opponent was. This wasn't an invisibility technique. Rather an alternate reality that Watson was shifting through at will. It was a difficult ability that even those who obtain it never used.
It was in a second that Watson sliced in with a dagger to parry Logan while fully thrusting his free hand into Logan's parrying.
Logan felt his wrist nearly shatter. He'd never seen anyone blend the use of the Black and White Tiger Gloves so well. Not even his team leader had ever done so. He jumped away and blew out a sea of flames that surrounded Watson.
Ice shot up from the ground, stabbing throughout Logan's legs and hips. The flames cleared, with Watson stood centered with large portions of his skin burnt. Yet he wasn't defeated. With a palm risen towards him, Watson commanded, "Heal"! The burn marks disappeared. His hand twitched a bit. Blood was seen dripping from it. But it didn't phase him.
"Damn Logan," Watson stared into the eyes of his punctured rival, "It looks like on equal terms, you really are the inferior one".
Vanessa's teeth chattered a bit, "What do you want"?
Watson smirked, "I want you Vanessa. In fact, I actually need you".
Her body shook, "If you don't leave me alone, I will kill you".
Watson smiled as he slowly stepped towards her. Vanessa rose her katana at him, but he wasn't phased.
He allowed its tip to stick at his heart, "Then come on Vanessa. Do it".
Without much thought, Vanessa stuck her blade straight through and watched him cough blood. It made her smile that this was ending. She waited for his brown eyes of different shades to fade to pale grey and his body to fall cold.
Knowing that Vanessa was this vicious made Watson smile as well, "Damn. That's harder than a heart attack".
Logan stretched his head back, "He's immortal"!
Vanessa gasped, pulling her sword out and stepping away. Watson commanded his body to heal again. In less than a minute, the stab wound on his heart was completely gone.
"Tell me, Vanessa," Watson cocked his head to the side, "Will you ever be able to beat me..." her heart pounded, "Go ahead. Run. Cling to the fabrication you weaved in minutes. And I'll watch you die again from afar," he looked toward Logan who was still punctured from ice, "Release," the ice shattered, allowing Logan to fall into a puddle of his own blood, "I'll see the two of you again as I already have".
Vanessa waited for Watson to sit by the fountain again before helping Logan over her shoulders. She carried him off to a bench by her carriage before she began healing his hips.
"You were pretty good back there," Logan grunted, "Vanessa, you're the new girl in Kiki's squad".
She stared at his wounds, "Mhm," her head lowered.
One of Logan's eyebrows rose, "Are you okay? You look scared".
Vanessa's hands shook, "Mhm".
He laid a hand on her shoulder, "Look, don't worry about my wounds. It's just a game. Let's call it a day. I'll talk to a few people from my squad about that guy".
Vanessa covered her face and looked away, "Oki. I will um".
With a concerned smile, Logan leaned for a hug, "Seriously..." she backed away, causing him to pull away, "You did great. Maybe I can train you sometime. As for him, we'll take care of-".
She stood up, "Is oki," and took a bow, "I will be okay," yet she stuttered, "And I will go for the weekend".
Logan watched her get in the carriage and drive off. Of course, she must've been frightened by the creep stalking her. However, he got the feeling that she was possibly more scared of him than anything else.