Jacob's body vanished into data particles as his existence left the game.
Alice peeled open her eyelids, baffled at what she had done. She wanted to believe it was a dream or some illusion, but it was none of those. She was the one who killed her friend, with her very own hands.
It was marked in her head.
She couldn't stop replaying it.
Her mind felt like it was shutting down.
The item's effect eventually wore off, and she could gain control of her body, but she was far too gone, mentally, to attack the fraud Phantom Mutiny.
She fell to her knees, dropping both of her pistols.
"Fufufu..~ she's mentally broken, as expected of course." The ginger-haired lady walked forward, stomping her boot into Alice's back, pinning her to the ground, "Now then, it's time to take you home with us, You've been a good little doggy, I should reward you, however, that comes later. The men at our guild need pleasure to satisfy their sexual desires, so get up, and ready yourself for a new life."
"Jacob… you… idiot…" Alice laid her chin against the ground, sobbing, "You loved me this entire time… and you didn't say anything? Nnn… waaaaa-haaaaa!" She bursted out in tears, wailing for all to hear.
The fraud Phantom Mutiny scoffed at her mental pain, unable to help themselves.
"Kehahaha! Look at that, you really broke her, didn't yah boss? You didn't need to do her like that, she's innocent." The Mohawk punk was unable to help himself.
He slapped his knee and pointed at Alice's crying as if she was some laughing stock.
"This is fuckin' hilarious! Like seriously, he fell right into the trap!!"
"Yes, they fell right into our hands. You're very manipulative, it seems the rumors were true about you after all." The ginger-haired woman glanced at Henry.
"Why yes, Jacob was someone who took no precautions. He heard my backstory, letting his morality decide his fate. If he didn't bother to help me, I would've simply killed him." Henry stood up from the ground, his scared expression becoming a nonchalant smile, as if this was all some game, "You have the victims you need, I lured them to you, so do not disappoint me."
"Hmph. You know we don't disappoint anyone… but if we do, you wouldn't hesitate to kill us… Isn't that right, Belial, leader of the Swindlers guild?"
"Fuhuhuhu, you think too cruelly of me, I would never kill such loyal assistants," Belial covered his mouth as he tittered, "Perhaps the rumors about me are becoming quite exaggerated. I'm a man of my word, so If you ruin the Phantom Mutiny's reputation, you will have what I promised you."
"Oh hell yeah," The Mohawk punk slammed his fist into his hand, "The Rainbow shell! I can't wait to get my hands on that item! We're gonna become filthy fucking rich!"
Henry, or should I say "Belial", had his body flash in a bright light, changing his clothes.
He wore a black hooded cloak down to his calf, and underneath the cloak was lightweight armor, dark in its appearance, but sturdy as iron, "Now then, may I get all of your names again?" Belial asked with a smile.
"How does the one hiring us not remember our names? Oh well, who cares? Me? My name is Pocchi, Nice to meet yah." The Mohawk punk exposed himself to everyone, with pride in his voice.
"My name is Isabella, as you should know." Said the ginger-haired woman.
"I see, so, what about the other five behind you? They haven't said a word." Proclaimed Belial.
"You all may speak. Relay Belial your names." Ordered Isabella.
Upon command, a small girl wearing a witch hat would approach, holding a large wooden staff with two hands, "M-My name is… Dorothy… I-it's nice to meet you…"
Another one approached. They seemed to be quite hyperactive from their posture, not to mention their large smile spread across their face, "My name is Honora, pleasure to serve you, Lord Belial!" She gave a peace sign, winking at the Guild master.
A tall dark-skinned man walked forward, he held a massive club inside his hand, while his heavyweight armor clanked against the ground, "My name is Bertram, pleasure serving you, Lord Belial."
Some other psycho trailed forward, his tongue hung from his mouth, nearly reaching his abdomen, not to mention he was slanted over like some feline, "My name isssssss Viper Fang, niceeeeee to meet you, lord Belial." The long-tongued individual hissed like a snake, having long exaggerated wordplay.
The last one approached the others, he seemed fairly normal in comparison. Black-haired and blue-eyed, not to mention his average height and cliche fantasy armor, "My name is Archibald, it's a pleasure serving you… lord Belial."
"I see, Pocchi, Isabella, Dorothy, Honora, Bertram, Viper Fang, and Archibald, you've all done a great job. I applaud you for your efforts."
They all bowed before Belial.
"Thank you very much." (All)
"Mmm, yes. But may I ask, who was the one who created Richard? After all, he was just some undead following orders, he wasn't truly my friend."
"I-I did that…" Dorothy slowly raised her hand.
"Ah, I see. Are you the one also controlling the undead underground?" Asked Belial.
"Y-Yes sir! I was told to make an overlord, so I did! I apologize if that wasn't part of your plan, lord Belial."
"Fuhuhu, all is well, it was quite entertaining, to say the least. You managed to create Richard and give him false memories about me and his relationship, and I'm assuming he was a player before becoming an undead, right?"
"Y-Yes!" Dorothy, shy as ever, tried not to fall to her knees in his presence.
"Intriguing. You're a powerful necromancer, so keep up the good work, but for now, I need you to bring that boy back to life. Jacob was it?" Belial turned to face Alice, asking her the question, "No answer? I see, she's mentally crumbled. No matter, we still have the Elf who was following us, untie his mouth."
"On it." Bertram approached Legolas, removing the ropes around his mouth, "If you say anything disrespectful to Lord Belial, you'll be pummeled."
Legolas was panting, looking straight ahead at Alice.
"Alice, can you hear me?!" The elf shouted, trying to get her attention, "Snap out of it, I-I'll save you!"
"You have the audacity to shout such nonsense in front of lord Belial?! No no noooo, I'll have to punish you for that!" Honora, the hyperactive numbskull, would send a roundhouse kick into Legolas' skull, knocking him down, "Tsk tsk tsk, keep saying stuff like that and I'll have to crush your family jewels next."
"Tell me, his name was Jacob right?" Belial glanced at Legolas, sending shivers up the elf's spine.
"…How can you forget his name? You followed him here, didn't you?!" Cried Legolas.
"I'm sorry, but I don't remember the name of pawns. He was so insignificant that I forgot his name after his death, but now I realized… he may become very useful with that lag ability of his."
"You bastard, I'll kill you for saying that! Untie me and fight me, you fucking cunt!!"
"I see. So you wish to fight me? Alright then, Bertram, untie him."
"Yes sir." Bertram walked behind Legolas, crouching down to remove the magical binds around his wrists and hands.
"Alright, now that you're free, we can fight. That's what you wanted after all."
Legolas was quiet as he slowly stood up from the ground, frowning in anger.
He couldn't believe they actually untied him.
("Is he serious? Why did he untie me? Is he planning to kill me right now? No… that can't be it, he's up to something else, but it's hard to read him. His calm voice, and his relaxed face, it's impossible to scrutinize!")
"Unfold!" Legolas opened his personal hub, catching the attention of others.
"Holy crap, is this guy serious? He's really gonna fight lord Belial!! Can you believe that Pocchi poo?!" Said Honora.
"Call me that shit again, and I'll kill you. But yeah, he must have a death wish or something."
("I only have one chance at this… and I'm not gonna waste it!")
All of a sudden, Legolas summoned two potions inside his hands, taking everyone by surprise.
"Wait, no! He has a luck potion and teleportation potion, don't tell me, is he gonna-?!" Isabella widened her eyes in shock.
"NOW!" Legolas threw the luck potion towards the ground, boosting his luck, as he ran towards Alice's location, "Alice!!!"
"Kill him, he's trying to escape!" Shouted Isabella.
Everyone followed her orders, attempting to kill Legolas.
Bertram lunged forward with his club to attack, but an undead spawned right in front of him, taking the blow.
Isabella attempted to use her item, Catechize, but she needed to touch her victims for it to work.
She jumped towards Legolas, extending her hand forward.
Catechize was a ring located on the pinky finger of her right hand.
Stretching it forward, Legolas would become victim to this powerful item… but-
"Haaaaaa!" He moved even faster, surpassing Mach 30, completely evading Isabella's touch, "Alice!"
Luck was on his side.
"No way, to move that fast… he must've drunk a level 4 haste potion, but I didn't see that happen!" Cried Bertram.
"Level 4 haste potion? Was he hiding that from us the whole time!?" Asked Honora.
"Well, no shit Sherlock! Now he's getting away!" Proclaimed Pocchi.
"You've made a foolish decision." Appearing in front of Legolas was Belial, who stretched his hand forward, "I must say, you took me by surprise with your level 5 luck potion, no one would expect a level 30 player to have such powerful items at their disposal, but, those tricks will not go past me."
"…Move outta the way!!!" Legolas used his teleportation potion, chucking it towards Belial.
"I see, you're trying to forcibly remove me from the ruins? Interesting. But it won't work."
Quickly switching through his equipment, Legolas pulled out a bow, firing an arrow.
Fwumph!
The sound of an arrow smacked against the teleportation potion, knocking it off course.
"What? He switched through his equipment too fast… that's definitely a level 4 haste potion, no doubt about it!" Shouted Isabella.
"But still, when did he fucking take it?!" Asked Pocchi.
"It was when I lunged at him. He used me as cover to hide his personal hub, and switch through his inventory to drink the haste potion."
"What? How the hell is that possible? We would've seen some shit like that!" Shouted Pocchi.
"Yes, but with the luck potion by his side, we didn't. Everything is going his way."
"Goddamnit, nooo! And we were so close! How can someone like him have such powerful items?! Even I never received a level 5 item before and I'm level 40!" Cried Honora.
("He switched weapons so fast and knocked the potion off course. I should've seen this coming, he's going to escape with that girl… I have no other choice.")
The potion went over Belial's head as Legolas ran past him, faster than he could perceive.
"Your strategy is impressive, Elf, however…" Legolas was suddenly pinned down to the ground by a heavy force, forming a crater out of pressure.
"Gwaaaa!!" The elf spat out blood, as his life points dropped by 90%.
"I will not let you escape."
"M-My body…"
The teleportation potion was about to fall onto Alice, but Belial caught it in his hand, "That was a close one, you almost had me. If it wasn't for the mods I installed in the game, I wouldn't have caught you."
"M-Mods?" Legolas asked, painfully.
"Yes. I'm sure that you're aware that all games have mods to them, created by other players, and unfortunately for you, I possess three of them. One is called Rule-Breaker, I can destroy any system in the game and change them to benefit me. That is the one I used on you, by changing your system. I made you unable to walk, and I also changed your luck potion into a gravity potion, that's why you collided so hard with the ground."
"You… bastard…! You scummy fucking cunt! You don't know how to win without your bullshit mods…"
"Fuhuhu, perhaps that is the case. But it still doesn't change the fact that you lost, fair and square."