[09:22 | April 15, 2035]
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[YOU REACHED LEVEL 27]
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[Character Page]
[Nickname: [Shin] | Level: 27 | Specialization: Savant | Profession: Manufacturing]
[Attributes]
Strength: 41 | Agility: 41 | Intelligence: 41
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Every time Shin and Fuyumi killed Syros, they gained a lot of experience. However, it began to decrease after the fourth kill.
Syros was losing his sanity. Each time that he died, he became more desperate for it to end. They continued to restrict him so he couldn't leave the game. The entire ordeal was probably taking a huge toll on his body in real life.
He should be respawning again soon. Shin and Fuyumi sat waiting in the same church hall that they had grown accustomed to. In between kills, they occasionally left the church to check on the other guild members and tend to their own bodies. However, one person was always in the church. They stood watch in shifts to make sure Syros didn't unexpectedly respawn.
The outside world continued to deteriorate. The world population continued to decrease with the pandemic. People quit their jobs as traditional currency crumbled. The only jobs now were subsidized by the new Pentrafil government. Most of these were only the most essential workers. To Shin, these people were lucky since they could avoid playing the game and mostly continued their normal lives.
Shin grew tired of the situation. It had to end soon. Syros' body could be failing due to a lack of hydration. He didn't want to actually kill anyone in real life. He certainly killed Syros plenty of times. He had to convince himself that it was different from real life. But at this point, Mythos Online had become part of everyone's lives. The pain from dying wasn't any different from reality.
Fuyumi, however, saw it differently. She didn't mind if Syros died. To Fuyumi, he robbed her of her life and forced her into this situation.
"Any minute now…" Fuyumi stood next to the pool, tapping her foot.
Syros' body appeared in the pool of water. This situation became all too familiar to the two of them. Fuyumi looped the rope around his neck. The rope's wear and tear was obvious. Strands were loose and its mid-point was stained blood-red.
"I'll give you the money! I'll do whatever you want! Just stop killing me!" Syros pleaded.
"Great! Thanks for your cooperation!" Fuyumi pulled the rope away from Syros. She clapped her hands together in excitement.
"If I see you make one move to remove your device or run away, I'm killing you again." Fuyumi's tone turned sinister.
Fuyumi snapped her fingers, creating a clone from her shadow.
She nodded at the clone, as if she communicated with it through telepathy.
The clone began to escort Syros out of the pool. He jittered and stumbled as he walked through the halls of the church. Shin and Fuyumi followed behind them. Before the left the church, Shin gave Syros a minor healing potion. His movements became less rugged but he still jittered and occasionally slurred his words.
The clone and Syros manifested outside of the church door. Fuyumi's clone looked around for any watchful eyes before quickly slipping into Syros' shadow. After the two left, Shin waited inside the church for a minute to avoid looking suspicious.
He walked out first, Fuyumi followed shortly behind him. In the distance, they saw Syros. He was across the street from the church. A small crowd of adventurers immediately approached him. Shin blended in with the crowd. Shin examined Syros' shadow, and found the clone's reflection. However, if he didn't already know about it, he wouldn't have noticed. He hoped that the crowd wouldn't notice.
"Syros! Where have you been?"
"Syros! Syros!"
The adventurers surrounded Syros.
"S-sorry, I don't have time right now. I… I have somewhere to be." Syros put on a fake smile and gestured for them to scatter.
The streets of Freila were filled with murmurs as Syros walked toward the guild headquarters. Adventurers whispered and gossiped amongst themselves.
"Do you think they'll notice?" Fuyumi said while tapping on Shin's shoulder.
"I don't think so. I had to stare into the shadow to find anything. It's a little concerning that your face was reflected in the shadow though." Shin replied.
The two of them followed about ten meters behind Syros. The guild headquarters was around the next corner. Shin sat down at the cafe across the street. Meanwhile, Fuyumi snuck into the alleyway and disappeared into the shadows. The soldiers at the front entrance stomped their feet before satluting to Syros as he approached the entrance.
Fuyumi hopped from shadow to shadow, following behind Syros before the door closed behind him.
She recalled her shadow and took its place within Syros' shadow.
Syros was approached and welcomed by the NPC maids. They didn't seem suspicious or concerned about his sudden return. Fuyumi figured that they probably weren't programmed to have this kind of interaction. It seemed that three days was not long enough to trigger some kind of special dialogue. Fuyumi walked beside Syros as if she was escorting him. She maintained her cordial and formal mannerisms to the other guild members and NPCs as they greeted Syros' return.
Syros opened the door to his room. Fuyumi looked across the room to find snow accumulating on the window sill. The window she opened that night was still open.
"Let's get this over with." Fuyumi said while taking out her dagger.
She held it behind Syros as he walked to his desk. He stuck his hand underneath the table and tugged on a lever. The bookshelf behind him moved aside, revealing a massive vault. It was almost the same size as the bookshelf. The front of the vault had a six digit combination lock.
"Open it." Fuyumi demanded.
"Yes. Of course."
Syros put in the combination and swung the vault door open. The vault was at least a meter deep. Inside was stacks of silver coins. Each stack of coins extended from the vault's floor to its ceiling. Next to the silver were bars of gold. The amount of money in there could last a normal person a lifetime.
"Now that you're here, how do you think you're going to get away with smuggling this amount of silver?" Syros asked.
"Easy."
Fuyumi reached inside her bag and pulled out a sack. The sack was nowhere near big enough to even fit a single stack of silver into it. She snapped her fingers once more to summon her clone. Fuyumi tossed the bag into the clone's hands. She stood behind Syros with her dagger to his throat.
The clone began to stuff the sack full of coins. However, the sack never actually filled up. Each stack that went inside the sack disappeared like it was a magician's hat.
Ten minutes passed. The vault was mostly empty. Only a few stacks of coins and bars of gold were left inside. Syros muttered obscenities under his breath.
"Shut it."
Fuyumi made a shallow cut into Syros' throat.
Her clone tossed the sack back at Fuyumi. She caught it with her empty hand. It was only slightly heavier compared to when it was completely empty. She snapped and the shadow dissipated into black smoke.
Fuyumi looked at the sack before putting it back in her bag. She took her dagger back and pushed Syros into the vault. He stumbled and fell forward on his knees. Fuyumi sheathed her blade and took out a slip of paper from her bag. Syros turned around to find Fuyumi with the paper between two of her fingers.
"Nice working with you. Take care of yourself. May the goddess guide you and give you strength." Fuyumi smiled at Syros while putting her hands together in prayer.
"I'll be resigning from Stormwatch. Thanks for taking care of me."
She put the note on his desk and paced toward the window. Fuyumi turned to look at Syros one last time. His face was filled to the brim with rage. He slammed his fist onto the vault floor. To Fuyumi, the sight of Syros groveling and seething was pure bliss to her. Although it didn't bring her mother back, she was glad to finally get her revenge.
Fuyumi bent over in a deep bow at Syros. She leapt from the window and disappeared into the falling snow.
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[10:45 | April 15, 2035]
Shin leaned over the bridge's rail. A light layer of snow accumulated on his hood.
He reminisced about his time in Freila. The sounds of horse carriages on stone paths he never rode. The light and enjoyable conversations between NPCs and adventurers that he never had. The everlasting snow and dreary skies of Freila.
These were experiences that he could never have. To Shin, Freila will always be the place where he committed unspeakable crimes. Torturing a person was something that Shin never thought he would do. He wasn't the same person anymore.
As soon as Fuyumi left the guild headquarters, Syros made an announcement to Freila. He put a bounty on Shin and Fuyumi's heads.
The sound of approaching soldiers' footsteps interrupted Shin's thoughts. He felt a cold touch on his shoulder. He turned his head to find Fuyumi. She tilted her head with a heartwarming smile.
"Let's go."