Fear must have a due date. It should not keep one at night. Peace of mind should be accomplished, for everything would be alright. Charlie tried to embed these thoughts deeply into his unconscious. He had his doubts, his hunches, the tiny pieces that did not belong in the overall picture. But he tried to keep himself calm and prevent himself from ruminating too much.
New challenges were on the horizon, and who knew what shit these would bring. Charlie had to keep alert and be as soft as he could be.
"All of us are going to meet up tomorrow at the Library," Amp told Charlie after his fight with the Rebooter. "Be there, and bring the Great Idiot with you."
"Sure," replied Charlie. "So we're gonna plan everythin', right? How we're goin' to beat the Nihilion?"
"Don't worry about that. I know just the way to get us out."
Amp didn't give Charlie a chance to ask what he meant, as he quickly left to tell the others. Charlie then went to Haru's clubroom to inform her of this. Haru could not have been happier.
"Congratulations on your victory on the boss!" she said. "Was he tough?"
"Not really, but like all them, he was fuckin' weird," replied Charlie.
"So we've finally done it! I don't know if I should be scared or be excited!"
"I don't know what to either. Now Amp wants us all to gather in the Library to plan what to do next."
Haru's excitement dissipated once she heard that. Did Amp really want her to be there? The big screw-up who got other people killed? Charlie noticed the silence of Haru, and he knew the girl was being bogged down again.
"Don't worry," Charlie reassured her. "Amp was in a friendly mood when he said it. It's goin' to be okay, Haru. You deserve to be there after savin' us from DudeAssassin."
Haru smiled and blushed. No one could comfort her more than the American geek.
The moment the geeks arrived at the Library, they could think of no other place to converge than on the same street where they fought the Professor. The bodies of the fallen still laid untouched, and the geeks did the right thing to move them all inside the houses. They didn't care back then when everything was hopeless and such things happened frequently. But today was the time to be decent – the time to be human beings.
Charlie himself was hurt after seeing another beloved district of the Escapist Dream rot. But whatever happened to the Library and all the others areas, would hopefully be the last.
Haru anxiously hid behind Charlie. Although no one batted her an eye, shame still scratched the walls of her heart. The only person who noticed her was Cal, the literary geek, and he approached the two with similar uneasiness.
"Have you seen Amp?" Cal asked them.
"Nope," Charlie said in disappointment.
"Well, it's been a while. Where could he be?"
"Who knows? Besides Amp, we should also keep an eye out for the Nihilion. Didn't you guys make a deal with him?"
Suddenly, something unexpected happened. Rain fell from the sky and doused everyone in the Library. Instead of hurrying into the shades, the geeks stood where they were, surprised and dumbfounded. It had been a while since the Escapist Dream generated weather. For the first time, the skies welcomed them with something other than crimson clouds.
"Thank you all for being here today!" a voice greeted the wet geeks. The voice came from above, specifically from the roof of a wooden rotting parish. As they all looked up, Amp was there, his tricorn hat overflowing with rainwater, his coat being rocked by droplets.
"What are you doing there, Amp?!" Cal called out.
"I just want to see to it that everyone is present," Amp said back.
"So? What are we goin' to do?" Charlie added.
"Going to do?" repeated Amp. "We're not going to do anything. We've already lost."
Amp's answer perplexed the geeks. There was surety in Amp's tone, but did they hear him right? Haru's anxiety multiplied upon hearing this. These were not the words the FBI agent commonly used.
"You guys are probably scratching your heads right now. But I'll explain so listen carefully," Amp continued. "I haven't told anyone about this. But I've already given up fighting the Nihilion. I know there was no way of beating it, it's just too impossible, so I struck a deal with it instead. I made a deal to play its game a long time ago."
Charlie's jaws shook as he continued to listen. When he couldn't take it anymore, he shouted, "Amp! What the hell are you talkin' about?! What deal?!"
"Oh, shut up!" Amp said back. "Don't you fucking say you didn't know! I know the Nihilion has been talking to you too!"
Amp then jumped from the parish and landed on the street. The geeks backed away as he glared at them. "I only became your leader because the Nihilion wanted me to. Every one of our mission was only successful because the Nihilion wanted it to. All of our accomplishments? It was all a lie. It wanted you to get this close so it could fucking troll you."
"B-But… Why?" Haru finally asked.
Amp stopped for a while, preparing to pour everything into the meek otaku girl. "I tried GI. But there's no way we can win this. We cannot defeat the Nihilion. I learned that ever since being stuck here for over half a year. I'm sorry but I'm tired. I just want to go home."
Charlie's suspicions were right. It was not possible to defeat all of those bosses this quickly. The young geek knew something was up. It was the Nihilion all along. It gave them victory and false hope just so it could pull them away.
"Amp," Charlie said. "You don't have to do this. We can beat the Nihilion. I know we can."
"And how do you plan to do that, Charlie?" another voice surprised everyone as they all looked around to see who said it.
The dark pouring sky twisted into a spiral – the sign of rapture and the end of everything. Charlie and Haru recognized the low suave voice that seemed to bounce off the interior of their skulls. It was the Devil, the adversary, the embodiment of pain, sadism, and suffering. The Nihilion had finally made an appearance.
"I kept my word when I said I would appear after you kill all the bosses," the Nihilion said, "So here I am! The final boss! You lot ready?!"
Lightning and thunder then crackled, flaring the whole Library for a brief second. When darkness returned, four silhouettes floating in the air surrounded the geeks. Upon closer inspection, the geeks were instantly beset by fear.
Waving at them were the former bosses they'd worked so hard to kill. There was the Professor in his horrible fisherman's cap, glasses, and tweed suit; the naked Harem King wearing his devious smile while clutching disgusting body pillows on each hand; Dude Assassin on a screen sitting in his room drinking Pepsi.
The Rebooter also appeared in his child form. With another roar of thunder, his form changed into his more dangerous 200-meter-tall version. He then knelt to the ground to get a better view of the endangered geeks, keeping his creepy grin, hungry for another round of torture.
There was an abundance of violence; a whirlwind of blood. The geeks were too late to defend themselves as a torrent of death swept forth. No mercy was given; none gave no quarters. The boss wreaked havoc on the geeks tightly packed together.
The Professor rode his dragon, belching fire on the street, burning many into ashes. The Harem King summoned sticky tentacles from his body, which grabbed and maimed, tearing many limb from limb. The Rebooter played with reality, warping their existence, turning many inside and out. Some almost reached the exits, but DudeAssassin was not going to let them get away. He highlighted the city with his mouse and typed something. An army of muscular green orcs with tusks and axes then appeared, covering all the alleyways, lanes, and other escape routes. The geeks were easy prey as the orcs lopped heads and chewed off limbs.
Sprays of blood and red mist were everywhere. Calling it a massacre would have failed to describe it. The Library was now a slaughterhouse and the geeks were the pigs in the pens. They were trapped, pressured, and could not think of ways to fight back. Gone were their unity, teamwork, and compassion. They scrambled in every direction – howling, crying, and praying for a miracle.
"Ch-Charlie-kun..." Haru said. "What are we going to do?!"
"I-I..." muttered Charlie. "I don't know."
"Guys!" Cal yelled, trying to snap them out of it. "We have to do something!"
But Charlie had lost his will to fight. There was no way to get out or even stand their ground. With no choices left, he grabbed Haru's hand and ran towards the houses. "Cal, come on!" Charlie yelled to the literary geek.
"Go!" yelled Cal back. "You get out of here! I'll cover you!"
"What?! Dude! We have to get out or we're goin' to die!"
"Go, Charlie! I'm tired of running!"
Cal then turned to the bosses and began writing something in his notebook. The literary geek had always been the one to be cautious. But they were now terribly outgunned and there was nowhere to run. Better to fight than to fly or to freeze. Better to die like a Spartan with his weapons and boots on. Better for him to die so Charlie and Haru – the people who had managed to kill bosses – could survive.
Charlie took Haru inside one of the wooden houses. The place finally offered Charlie some peace, giving him the opportunity to think.
"This is it," Charlie said as he opened his inventory. As Haru watched, Charlie clicked on a mysterious blurry item. That item was the file that Charlie had brought into the Escapist Dream. Although both wanted to get out of there, they couldn't leave a comrade behind.
A notification appeared in Charlie's menu panel, stating it was currently installing the item. Charlie screamed and cursed, as it stated the installation would take five minutes to complete.
"A long shear of light and then a series of low concussions..." Cal chanted. "He was little more than halfway down the aisle toward the pharmacy when the car outside exploded into flame..."
Hundreds of pick-up trucks, SUVs, and road trains, materialized out of nowhere and dotted the sky, with wicks attached to their gas tanks. After Cal closed his notebook, the vehicles fell towards the bosses and the orcs. Wherever the vehicles landed was engulfed in a mighty explosion. Many parts of the city were now in flames. Booms louder than a howitzer deafened Charlie and Haru as they huddled inside their house.
Amp saw what Cal had done. While both had been through tough times, none of it mattered anymore for the former. He grabbed his staff and fired a fiery blue orb, hitting Cal in the leg, blowing it away. The bosses, unscathed by the attack, heard the screaming of the literary geek, and they all reacted with a laugh.
"So..." the Professor said. "You're the wordsmith who summoned these vehicles? You're the one who has the power to warp reality by reading out quotes from classic literature? The one whom they call Calamum Nomen, right? Nice reading. But tell me if you've heard this one!"
The Professor cleared his throat and began chanting, "One morning, as Calamum Nomen was waking up from anxious dreams, he discovered that in bed he had been changed into a monstrous verminous bug."
To Cal's horror, cockroach legs sprouted from his sides, while antennas emerged from his head. His mouth dislocated itself and turned into a bug's jaw. It didn't take long before he had transformed into a giant yellow cockroach. The Professor and Harem King then landed on top of him, crushing his body with their feet.
"Cal..." Charlie softly cried. His friend, the literary geek, died in a wet bloody crunch.
"Charlie-kun," Haru whispered. The item Charlie had been installing was finally ready. Nothing was left of it in the inventory, but Charlie's level had changed from level 4 to level ∞.
"Haru, stay here," Charlie instructed. The girl nodded as the American geek left the house to confront those monsters. As they were still busy laughing at how they massacred Cal and so many people, Charlie finally unleashed his hidden item. It allowed him to choose any power that he wanted and he knew just the thing to use.
Charlie's skin color changed into blue and his eyes became pure white. His eyelids became black and every hair on his body was burned off, leaving only a spotless, hairless, epidermis. Charlie started to float, his mind becoming light, now able to pick up every detail and speck in his surroundings. Size and shape meant nothing to him, and the laws of physics bent to his bidding. Every second became limitless, slow, and observable. Millions of information entered the highways of his brain – every data instantly calculated and turned into possibilities.
Charlie had turned himself into Dr. Manhattan from Watchmen – one of the most powerful characters in comic book history. As an artist, the world was now his canvas, and he was free to shape it with impunity. The first thing he did was to summon speakers all throughout the Library, and make them sing Pruit Igoe and Prophecies by Philip Glass.
The music surprised the bosses and Amp finally noticed the floating blue geek. Though he correctly assumed it was Charlie, based on that costume and beta physique, anxiety gripped him at what he was seeing. The bosses saw Charlie too, but instead of apprehension, a confused smirk was their only reply.
"What are you–"
Before DudeAssassin could finish, the boss suddenly disappeared. All of his minions vanished from the Library as well. The other bosses then looked at each other, hoping one of them knew what happened to the gamer.
But Charlie knew for the Escapist Dream was now his weapon. The durability and power these bosses possessed were useless. He was a god now and it was their turn to suffer next. These bastards should consider themselves post-mortem.
With a thought, Charlie ordered the Professor's dragon to eat him in the bloodiest and most painful way possible. With a smile, Harem King lost control of his tentacles and he became the new victim of their deviant nature. The Rebooter reverted to his child form and made a run for it, but Charlie stopped the time, paralyzing the unfortunate boss. He then whisked his hand and erased the Rebooter from his sight.
After all of the bosses were taken care of, Charlie then turned his focus to Amp. The once physically skilled geek now froze there terrified, not knowing what to do.
"Why did you do it, Amp?" Charlie said in a deep and monotone voice.
Amp stared Charlie in the eye before making a deep breath. "I had no choice," Amp said regretfully. "I had to do it. There was no way we were going to win this. I tried many times, you know? I tried to think that maybe there was still a way. I thought you could have saved us. But after seeing what happened to Catherine? I know there was just no way. No way."
"Well," Charlie said. "Fuck you, then."
And with a thought, Amp ceased to exist. His body disappeared, leaving no trace, seemingly deleted from this world by Charlie. The American geek then landed back to the ground.
No one was left in the Library. No geeks, no bosses, and no traitors who'd play with their hearts. The Library was finally at peace but at what cost? Wanting to finish this, Charlie then turned his attention to the sky. "You still there?!" the young geek asked the Nihilion.
"So that's what you've been hiding?" the Nihilion laughed. "Gotta say, mate. That's impressive. But care to tell why you've only unleashed it now? You could have saved these people, you bloody twit!"
Charlie closed his eyes and gritted his teeth. The monster was playing with his mind again. "I couldn't risk usin' it durin' my time in Otaku Academy, Gamer's Den, Stan City, and here. I could not afford unleashin' it without seein' you first and losin' the element of surprise. But now… I don't know. This is not how I thought it will end. But it doesn't matter, because you're not goin' anywhere. This place belongs to me now. Like your lackeys, I'm goin' to make you disappear too."
"Ah yes," the disembodied voice said. "I was excited to finally see the mcguffin you were holding and it did not disappoint. Granted, all of my father's creations are awesome. Me included."
Charlie paused before he could finish the Nihilion; his face shocked and puzzled. What did it mean by that?
"I like your new look," the Nihilion remarked. "Want to know what I look like?"
The rain finally stopped and the sky became quiet. Charlie should have finished the Nihilion by now. But he delayed it to learn more about this enigmatic monster that had been giving them so much hell. It once spoke about being a psychopathic alien of some sort, from some distant world it had destroyed. Charlie had watched his fair share of science fiction to make guesses on what the Nihilion would be. Mammalian features, tentacles, gills, or feathers? Something semi-human, semi-monstrous, or preternatural?
However, contrary to his expectations, a humanoid figure descended from the sky, like an all-powerful celestial being from old mythology. What came before him was a black-haired fair-skinned man, wearing a grungy shirt, tie, and slacks, under a rugged tan trench coat. Strangely, he had no white cross on his head, signifying he was something else.
He gave the smuggest of all smiles, unfazed by Charlie's powers, and uncaring of all the bloodshed around him.
Charlie could not believe his eyes; the incredulous sight racked him with horror and panic.
"Oh my God, Jim…" Charlie said. It was a peculiar reunion of two long-lost friends. Charlie's reaction, however, was of someone seeing a ghost or a corpse rising from the dead.
"Jim Broughton?!" Haru asked as she came out of her hiding spot towards Charlie. She'd been watching everything unfold and her time being a spectator was over. "The one you spoke about? The guy who created the Escapist Dream? But you said–"
"Oh, I'm not Jim Broughton," replied the Nihilion. "But I was one of his creations, or better known as, one of the viruses he created."
"That's impossible! All of Jim's viruses were destroyed three years ago!" Charlie said back.
"Well, I wished you did," the Nihilion continued. "But I'm alive and well, now, am I?"
The Nihilion walked closer to the two, making Haru back away slowly. But Charlie continued to stand there, his mind formulating questions he eagerly wanted the Nihilion to answer.
"What the fuck was that about you bein' some… alien from another universe?!"
"I was just trolling you, you bloody half-wit, and you fucking fell for it. You anoraks... you always dream of things to be absurd. If you were in a book, lad, anyone who'd been reading your story would have figured it out by now. You really are a bloody loser, Charlie," the Nihilion answered. "Although… I didn't lie about wanting to make you all miserable."
"But why?!"
"I want you to listen to me very carefully, Charlie," the Nihilion said the moment he finally got nose-to-nose with the American geek. "I hate you so much, you know. All Jim Broughton wanted was to live in a world of his creation. Filled with actual thinking and feeling people he cared about. But you ruined that. You killed my father and destroyed all of his creations. But you failed to kill me though…"
"It can't be…"
"Oh, it is. Stupidity is a bitch, innit? You may call me a virus but I'm as real as Jim Broughton made me to be. So imagine that. For three years, I stayed in this limbo. For three years, I languished alone in this virtual reality world. Not only have you taken my father away from me, but you also left me here with bloody no one else."
Charlie gave no response. The revelation was happening too quickly, making his heart leap out of his chest, making him closer to losing his mind.
"You're not going to say anything, lad? Good! Because the moment the Escapist Dream reopened, seeing all of you privileged nerds coming here enjoying your lives, sickened me. The same type of people who killed my father. I just want to bloody hurt you all!"
The Nihilion then turned around, walked a few steps ahead, and glimpsed at the heavens. "But the person whom I wanted to suffer was you, Charlie Anderson. Of course, the question was how would I get you back here. But the answer lied with you. I accessed what my father had left about you. Your whole character and personality. I made a gamble of hacking this world and tormenting all the people in here to entice you. And wouldn't you know? It took a while but eventually, you took the bait!"
Charlie continued to say nothing even as the Nihilion jested. The cruelty of existence had no bounds. This global dilemma which had affected so many families; Haru had nothing to do with it; Amp as well. The culprit was Charlie, it had always been Charlie. Everything started to make sense now. This walking snarky psychopath dressed as Jim Broughton symbolized Charlie's greatest failure – his new recent mistake.
"I want you to put into your mind, Mr. Superhero. That all of this is on you. These people here died because of you. I want you to remember that. I won't even kill you yet. I'll give you time to absorb it in your fucking head.. I hope it destroys you so you'll be running to me, begging me, to kill you!"