"Ow!" Doiza's fall ended with a hard smack to the face as she landed on yet another hard surface. She did not have time to register the pain. A couple of coughs emerged from behind her. Looking up, she was met with several pairs of eyes shooting her discourteous glances. The people gathered around her were dressed in streetwear attire. Strange considering the circumstances, yes, but their style was the least of her concerns. In their hands, worse than their demeanors, were a variety of weapons. Swords, brass knuckles, a grotesque looking baseball bat that by no means seemed fair— all adorned their harsh looks.
"Uh...you guys got a system too?", she chuckled nervously, still on the ground.
"And who are you supposed to be?" A punk-rock woman with an asymmetrical mohawk approached. The chains hanging from her waist jiggled around as she leaned down to Doiza's level. Doiza flinched— scared that the lady's platforms would crush her hands.
"I'm...Doiza. But I don't think that's really a sufficient answer. Considering I just fell from nowhere...and all..."
"Damn right it ain't! Who do you think you are, huh? You almost crushed lil' Sammy over there! He's scared straight!" A rather scrawny guy sporting a ripped midriff shirt and way too many rings for his own good pointed to a buff man, now sobbing in the corner.
"Give her a break, she looks just as confused as us. I'm Ziera. The loud mouth is Jacari. And you've seen lil' Sammy. And the rest of them...don't worry about them. They're at least tamer than Jacari." The woman from earlier offered her a hand to stand.
Finally, Doiza could take a good look at her surroundings. Her and the others were in a warehouse of sorts. Graffiti was plastered all over the structure's red walls, bright ceiling lights illuminating their presence. It was pretty much empty otherwise, apart from the occasional couch and table.
"So...what's with all of this?"
Ziera laughed. "I'm not sure you have the right to ask that, y'know, falling into our game." She then lightly placed her hand on Doiza's back, turning her around to the area in front of them.
"This is Astrodoom Online, and that over there..." she pointed to an image of the creature she'd seen earlier, "...is what we're fighting today. If we're chosen, that is. The player behind that there screen selects a character, one of us, and we fight 'em. Nothing fancy; it's just a web game after all. Speaking of which! You need to get suited." Ziera whisked the girl around before all the information fully processed in her head. They headed to a costume room.
There was only one available outfit for her. Grey cargo pants with a yellow belt, a slightly oversized white shirt with groovy purple lettering, a green beanie, white and green sneakers, and various accessories were hung up in front of her for wearing. She wasn't used to all the options; her wardrobe in Dead Alias consisted of nothing else but a dress and an apron. "Well...don't you think I'd look ridiculous? I mean look at yo-"
"Look at me? What's wrong with me?" she glared over to Doiza.
"Nothing. Nothing at all. Nope. You look great!" she practically flew into the fitting room and began changing. In the midst of her changing, her actions were interrupted by thoughts. 'This..doesn't mean I'll be fighting, does it?'
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[Time remaining: 1 hour, 24 minutes]
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"Ah, screw your time limits!!" Furiously, she continued putting on the outfit. Though she thought it to be quite embarrassing, it wouldn't matter now. She was in another game, and regardless if she knew what the system was going on about, she would most likely have no choice in the matter. Doiza left the fitting room, going on to inquire about these so-called Dot-com Devils.
"Ziera?"
"No time, just follow!" The cast of characters ran towards the area that once displayed the enemy type. Once fully there, they lined up and slipped through a barrier to another space. Doiza ran after them, not wanting to be left alone.
In the separate room, each character had a platform in which they stood on in different stances. There were a few extra stands to the side with question marks hovering above them. "Go to one!", Ziera whispered. Doiza selected the one farthest from the others.
Soon, the room lit up with a bright red color. Music began to play as the characters plastered different expressions on their faces, seemingly to match their character descriptions. Not knowing what to do, Doiza stood stiff as a board with a face no player in their right minds would willingly look at.
And then it hit her. She had no weapon.
'Oh...well it's fine! Who would select me anywa-'
"Character selected: Astasia" She looked around, wondering who the name belonged to. Rocks grew in her stomach as she realized no one else was moving. As she looked up, the spotlight now beaming down on her was clear. Was this actually happening?
"Astasia? But I'm Doiza!"
"Not here you ain't!" Jacari interjected, pointing at the 'Player One, Ready' to the left of the characters. "Get going".
She groaned, stepping off the platform. Following a few neon arrows, she was soon met with a darkened room and a loading screen. "There is just no way..."
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[Time remaining: 1 hour]
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"Can you turn yourself off? Disable or something, geez..." Soon, the game began, and the enemies were released.
"I've barely gotten used to these functional legs..." Doiza whined and sped off in the opposite direction. She could hear the Devils chasing relentlessly after her. Still moving as quickly as possible, the only thing she could feel was air rushing beneath the shirt that flowed away from her back. "Please just move faster than this!", she cried, urging her legs to pick up the pace. With a few periodic glances back from the corner of her eye, she sensed her foes getting closer by the second. "System! System, hello? Translucent- transfor- uh..." Doiza, with the last of her breath, cried at the top of her voice, "Do something!"
No answer.
The exasperated girl threw her head back as she continued sprinting for her life. She could feel her lungs and heart practically pumping against her chest as sweat trickled down every inch of her face. Doiza's legs began to ache and her speed reduced to a desperate jog. She grunted, trying her best to make use of whatever energy she had left. When her front half struck a barrier, she was no longer able to push ahead.
'You can not be serious...!'
"Player: Ready. Fight!" A manly computerized voice signaled the beginning of the battle. In an instant, the space they were in deteriorated into a simple area set behind an abandoned building.
Soon, the familiar glow of the system lit up the arena.
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[Task started]
[Targets defeated: 0/24]
[Main target assigned] -----> Bug in the System -----> [Dot-net Devil]
[Main targets defeated: 0/1]
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With this, Doiza wondered if the system could tell her something useful. Up until this point, she'd only received tasks and borderline defamation of character. Not that it was. She was just a bit offended.
"Okay! We're doing this!" She put up her hands in an offensive stance, anticipating the unfamiliar thrill of throwing the first punch. She swung; hitting nothing but air (and thus, the ground) as her opponent had already knocked her plain off her feet. "Ah...okay, fair enough..." Again she stood, this time standing somewhat defensively.
That didn't work either.
Time and time again, she found herself in pain on the cold, hard ground. Her shirt, now dirty with digital stains, wrinkled at the hem. Impatient, the Devil shot what looked like a short laser in her direction. Doiza rolled and dodged. She jumped up. With her legs, she made a long lunge towards the creature. It tried to move. Her left hand reached out, making contact with the Devil's round body. She grabbed it— using as much force as she could to slam it into the ground. A shaky breath left her lips as she shortly reveled in her accomplishment. The Devil's slain remains faded out of existence.
What was this? It felt...good, almost.
After that, the other Devils were effortless. Calmly, with nothing more than her hands, she tossed and slammed twenty-three more like nothing. While she accumulated quite a few scratches, she was unharmed for the most part. 'Did I get the main target...?'
"Final Round!"
"Guess not..." Doiza threw up her hands, prepared to triumph over this round like clockwork. That was until a much larger figure emerged from just behind the shadows in front of her. Like an accumulation of all the Devils, the being towered over her. Its limbs were much thicker than the others, and its body rounder. The scene went dark. Just three lights stuck to the wall illuminated the scene, and the music once playing got even louder than before.
Doiza's lips, once letting out breaths of victory and satisfaction, now quivered at the sight in front of her. She paced backwards slowly as to not trigger the target. Her legs shook from both exhaustion and fear as the figure approached her. Suddenly, the countdown for the round began.
"3, 2, 1!"
With little hesitation, the Dot-net Devil sprinted towards her. It spun wildly as its tentacle-like limbs crashed into the area around them. It may have been digitalized, but the damage was very real. Bricks from the building began to fall around her. A piece of debris struck just behind her knee. It bled out with real pain. As the liquid dripped down her leg, the barrage of remnants did not stop. Dust from the rowdy movement of the Devil blinded her. Her eyes swelled with irritation. With tears pouring out, limbs in pain, and not a single clue just what she was doing here exactly, it all settled in.
Doiza was pissed. She felt betrayed. By what, exactly? She did not know. But the simpleness of an explanation would've been greatly appreciated. Perhaps an explanation of the system. Maybe someone could've told her why she was dropped in the center of a video game. And anyone, anyone at all, could have explained why she wasn't just dead. She would've accepted any explanation. And yet, still, there were none. She was just an NPC. What was any of this to her?
Shakingly, she gathered her thoughts into a single sentence. "Save...save all this shit for an actual protagonist".
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[Time limit exceeded. Entering overclock: 2 minutes]
[1 minute, 59 seconds]
[1 minute, 58 seconds]
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The sound of time ticking down resonated in her mind.
"Shut the hell up and give me something to work with!!" The Devil stopped spinning. Disturbed by the loudness of her shout, it stared down at Doiza. In its eyes, fury burned. Suddenly, its body twitched as a glow began to get brighter inside of it. A ball of light formed in the center, building up enough momentum to beam out of its body with massive force.
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[Statistic calculated -----> Courage: 7]
+ [Fortitude: 10 -----> 12]
+ [Adding skill -----> Decode Cipher]
[[Activate skill?]] >>
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"Just do it, damn it!" Instantaneously, the glowing dispersed into various sections of the Devil's body. It twitched and distorted— its eyes and limbs bulging out at random intervals. The code behind the monstrous figure began to appear on its grayish-blue skin. The numbers and letters in the code flickered between each other, eventually departing.
And then, silence. The Devil only grew bigger in size. "That did nothing!" Doiza yelled, leaning off of her injured leg. She stood as firmly as she could.
"I'm...!" Before she could finish, the Devil's head sank into its abdomen. Its middle expanded. It distorted again, this time more wildly. With no cohesion, parts of its bodies combusted one by one as they faded into nothingness. Loud booms accompanied the disappearing Devil. it let out one last high-pitched scream before the last of it exploded into the air.
Doiza took time to catch her breath. She slid onto the ground as the game calculated the player's score, clutching her injured leg. "Ha...I dunno what a decode cipher is...but...", her head rested back in fatigue, "it worked..."
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[Targets defeated: 24/24]
[Main targets defeated: 1/1]
[Time remaining in overclock: 3 seconds] ----> Record set
[Congratulations, player]
[Level: 0 -----> 3]
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"Just close already..." she sighed.
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[You've received a notification]
[Returning home...]
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