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[YOU REACHED LEVEL 26]
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[Character Page]
[Nickname: [Shin] | Level: 26 | Specialization: Savant | Profession: Manufacturing]
[Attributes]
Strength: 35 | Agility: 35 | Intelligence: 35
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Fuyumi breathed heavily as she dropped her dagger to the ground. Syros' corpse began to twinkle and fade from existence. Fuyumi leaned against the rock wall before collapsing onto the floor.
Shin ran over to support Fuyumi.
"Sorry… sorry that you had to see that." She said between gasps of air.
"No, it's fine. I'm glad you were able to vent out your frustrations." Shin said while looking over to the last twinkle of light fade.
"I… I let my emotions take over." Fuyumi said, disappointed in herself.
"We had to kill him eventually anyway." Shin replied reassuredly.
"Sorry to ask this all of a sudden, but, your name isn't actually Fuyumi?"
"It's not. That was actually an alias I used for games cause my cousin liked to poke fun at my white hair." She responded.
"So, why didn't Syros recognize you from your white hair? I'd imagine that it stands out quite a lot." Shin asked.
Fuyumi ran her hand through her hair. Her face darkened.
"He's only seen me with black hair. I had to dye my hair frequently because of the church. They thought white hair was demonic, so my mom forced me to dye it black."
"Sorry to hear all that. I feel guilty for prying too much into your private life when you don't really know much about me." Shin said while scratching his head.
Shin thought that he didn't have much of an interesting or dramatic backstory. If he were to talk about himself in this context, his life would seem blessed in comparison to Fuyumi. Even his hardships in the war and family couldn't compare to what Fuyumi had to experience.
"My actual name is Shin Leung."
"Hahaha! What's up with your in-game name? It's the same as your real name? How boring!" Fuyumi lightened up.
Fuyumi crossed her arms and looked away from Shin.
"I'm not telling you my real name. Well, I guess you found out about Nishikawa, but I'm not telling you my first name! We're not close like that." Fuyumi pouted.
"Fair enough." Shin sighed.
Shin picked up her dagger and stood up, holding it out in front of her.
"We still have a job to finish."
Fuyumi took the dagger and sheathed it. Shin gestured with his now empty hand to help her up. Fuyumi wore a slight smile and took his hand, and pulled herself up.
Shin and Fuyumi left the cave. They walked along the road back to Freila as if nothing happened. Stormwatch guild members continued to run past them in search of their guild master. However, there was no trace of him aside from the broken carriage and corpses of the NPCs. The heavy snowfall quickly covered any tracks.
The broken carriage and scorched battlefield became a popular rumor among adventurers in Freila.
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[02:58 | April 12, 2035]
Shin spent time out of the game to refuel his body. He had been online for far longer than he anticipated. However, Shin knew that he had to login in the next hour as Syros should be respawning in the next few hours.
After making himself a meal, he called his mother.
Julie explained that there wasn't much going on in the quarantine campsites. They were still restricted to a small room and didn't have much in the way of entertainment. Shin felt a flame reignite within him. He had to get his mother out of the quarantine as soon as possible before things turned worse. Shin expected as much given Pentrafil's history. If all things went according to plan, he should have a large influx of silver soon. Enough to feed himself, pay rent, and some extra to contribute toward getting his mother home.
Shin stared out the balcony of his room. The buildings around him were all dark. With a majority of the world population playing Mythos Online, the world seemed to stop moving. The small number of cars, buses, and trains that ran during the beginning of the pandemic have now all shut down. The only people in the streets were people wearing hazmat suits with bags slung over their shoulders.
Shin sat back down in his chair. He leaned back and stared at the ceiling in disbelief.
"If I did what I've done so far and what I'm about to do in real life, I'd be put away for life. Kidnapping, torture, and assisted homicide… these were all insane crimes. However, if this was what a 'normal' person like me was willing to do to survive, what would an insane person be willing to do?" He thought.
Shin pushed his conscience aside and put on the Zero VR device.
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He woke up in Freila. Shin got up from the bed and put on his gear. The durability of his equipment was getting low at this point. He'd been through lots of monsters, the cave quest, and a fight with Syros. In spite of that, he didn't have any time to go repair it now. Shin opened the door to a candle-lit hallway.
He went one room down and knocked.
"Fuyumi?"
"Come in."
Shin opened the door to a room identical to his. Fuyumi stood by the nightstand, putting rope in her item pouch. Shin leaned against the door frame as she got ready.
"Let's go."
Shin and Fuyumi left the inn and walked through the commercial district. The streets were busy as usual. Shin and Fuyumi eavesdropped on other adventurers during their walk to the church.
The players in the central fountain were talking about the rumors surrounding Stormwatch. According to the rumors, most of their guild members have been away from the city. They left the guild headquarters after the guild master didn't return last night.
"Follow me." Fuyumi tugged on Shin's sleeve.
Fuyumi pulled Shin into the alleyway. A hooded figure stood in front of them. They took off their hood revealing a exact replica of Fuyumi's face. She gave Fuyumi a roll of paper. After handing off the report, the clone collapsed into black smoke and blended into Fuyumi's shadow.
Fuyumi unrolled the report.
"Looks like only two members are in the guild headquarters at the moment. They're splitting up into search teams on a schedule. We'll have to deal with them later if we catch them at the wrong time."
She put away the report in her item pouch.
The two of them left the alleyway and continued walking toward the church.
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The area around the church was mostly empty. Shin and Fuyumi stood underneath a nearby tree, scouting out the entrance. Approximately every minute, an adventurer appeared out of thin air. The door never opened.
Fuyumi disappeared into the snow as usual. She snuck toward the entrance of the church. The door had some text on it.
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[Freila Church of Revival | Shin's Party: 3 members]
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Fuyumi reappeared at the entrance when no one was looking. She signaled for Shin to come over. Together, the two of them put their hands on the door and their vision faded to white.
When Shin opened his eyes, he saw the pristine halls of the church. Pearly marble pillars surrounded the foyer. Ahead of them was an opening to a rotunda. Lights of every color poured into the room from the stained glass. They walked toward the center of the rotunda. In the middle was a shallow pool of liquid. The liquid was a translucent blue.
Now that Shin and Fuyumi were in the church, they couldn't be disturbed. Fuyumi took out the rope from her pouch. She cut the rope about a half-meter long and wrapped each end around her hands. Fuyumi stretched her arm apart, testing the tension of the rope.
She glanced at the top right of her vision for the time. In about five minutes, Syros should be respawning. Shin stood sat behind her.
Minutes passed as the two of them waited anxiously.
"He should appear about now." Fuyumi spoke.
She loosened the rope and stood behind the pool of liquid.
Suddenly, the liquid splashed up as a man dropped into the pool out of thin air. His limbs were intact and his long golden hair was back. He sat upright and looked to his left and right. As he was about to stand up, a rope went around his neck and pulled him back down into the liquid.
Syros gasped for air as his eyes rolled back. His arms instinctively reached for the rope around his neck. Fuyumi pulled harder, crushing his neck against the edge of the pool. Syros then reached for his head to take off his Zero VR device. Shin pinned Syros' hands down to the pool with arrows.
Shin shot three more arrows in each arm, pinning his arms into each edge of the rectangular pool. Blood flowed down into the pool, coloring the pool a dark purple.
Syros' screams for help were incomprehensible.
As Syros' face turned purple, Fuyumi pushed the rope away from Syros. He coughed and choked on his first breaths of air since he died.
"Wh-what… is… wrong with… you people?"
"We just want the money, you can go once you do." Fuyumi whispered into his ear.
His body jittered upon feeling the same cold breath he felt before dying.
"I'm not… giving you… shit." He coughed heavily between his words.
"Suit yourself." Fuyumi said.
She pulled the rope back down and pinned Syros against the edge again. Fuyumi tied the ends of the rope around her boot and took out her dagger. Seeing Fuyumi unsheathe her dagger, Syros struggled and thrashed, splashing the concoction of blood and liquid all over Shin and Fuyumi. The brilliant floors were stained.
She stabbed her dagger into Syros' chest, slowly twisting it before removing her dagger and making a new wound.
Syros' flailing slowed to a crawl before stopping altogether.
The two of them continued to torture and kill Syros every time he respawned for the next three days.