Two years ago, a mysterious game was suddenly published online. 'Conquer the Skies' was a MMORPG that tried to minimize the grinding nature of other games in its genre by making weapons and armors easier to obtain, though the difficulty of the game mostly came in its 'Challenges'. Players were allowed to challenge each other and NPCs to obtain more experience points (EXP) as well as weapons and armors.
The game got very popular very quickly, most finding the gameplay loop to be addicting enough to keep playing for hours even on their first day. So despite not being able to find much information about who had published the game, everyone still praised the game developer for the quality of the game.
The most intriguing part were the NPCs that acted as Bosses that players are required to fight if they wanted to progress further. They proved incredibly challenging to most players even if they had the best armor and weapon they could get their hands on at the time, since the bosses were more of a test of skill than pure stats.
This trend continued even as the game suddenly integrated into reality two weeks after its publication.
.
.
.
To Asura, this was supposed to be a heart pounding, adrenaline pumping situation for him to be in.
"HOW THE FUCK ARE THEY LATE 10 MINUTES?!"
His deep yet somehow high pitched voice echoed through the area he was designated to stay in in order for the player to challenge him. The area was a completely red throne room, with a large pile of various different gemstones propping up the dark red throne chair at the back of the room.
He ruffled his white short hair, staring at the floating system window in front of him. The system time counted down the amount of time the player had not entered into the room, which was currently 10:10:36.
"This goddamn game has a guide for fuckers like them and yet they STILL GET LOST?! HOW THE FUCK DID THAT HAPPEN? It's not like they could pause and be on AFK like they actually could in a game."
He grasped at the system window, starting to shake it vigorously. "Do you know where that fucker is? Don't tell me they just decided to be a smartass and not follow the guide. Like, I've never heard of an instance where the guide led a player to their death."
Right after he said those words, his ruby-like pupils looked up at the ceiling.
"Actually... That did happen like, once. I think it was Paladin that told me about it during one of our outings."
"But that isn't the guide's fault, they were not keeping their eyes on the path they were walking and somehow managed to slip and fell off the side of the cliff. Hah, idiots."
He lets go of it, scratching his long fingers through his hair, making it become even more of a mess. But even if he tried to demand the system for answers, they typically would not answer trivial questions. The only thing he could do was just sit on the ground, crossing his arms and hope the player comes faster than his depleting patience.
They would be in a very, very hard time once the challenge actually starts.
His fingers tapped on his biceps, letting out a groan while he grumbled under his breath. Luckily enough for him, the player actually entered the room after another minute.
He had to stop himself from impulsively unsheathing his sword and immediately slashing at the player. Even if the penalty from attacking before signing an agreement would not affect the fight much, he would like to fight at his full strength in the case that the player is really strong.
He stood up, dressed in such a casual outfit of a white collared shirt and slacks that it made the player take another glance.
"What? Got a question about my fashion sense?"
The player pressed their lips into a thin line, then shaking their head, clearly not wanting to anger Asura any further. They could feel it, that overwhelming pressure of annoyance and bloodlust all mixed together. It was suffocating, even for a player as experienced as the one standing in front of Asura.
The aura somehow triggered the most basic of an animal's instinct, to fight or flight. Although the players did not have an opinion in that regard.
"I think you know how this goes. I don't feel enough like explaining to you about it." He shrugged, seeing the system window in front of him show information about the player.
He had not bothered to remember much about players that challenged him, the only thing he bothered remembering was what kind of class they were enrolled in, but even that only lasted through the fight, unless if the person was strong.
The moment the player actually accepted the challenge, what was once a bright room suddenly dimmed down, illuminated only by candles lined on the walls in the room. A grin appeared on his lips, showing them the sharp teeth that most canines had.
"Let's have fun."
Asura had no intention of actually letting the player move, moving so fast that the player barely registered the slash aimed at their torso. Even if the armor prevented his blade from actually fully going through their body, the force still knocked them to the wall. He clicked his tongue, shaking his head.
"All of you never seem to learn to prepare beforehand or not let your guard down."
The player quickly got back on their feet, but they were also met with a barrage of rapid slashes aimed right at their vital points. Since they were a tanker, their primary weapon was a shield, meaning that they could block all of his strikes as long as they reacted in time. Their reaction time was good enough for Asura, even if they did not seem to anticipate having their shield kicked, pushing them away slightly.
There was barely any time for them to react considering another round of slashes being thrown their way. Just as Asura was starting to wonder why they had not yet used any of their skills, he felt a force pushing him away from them. He went along with it, distancing himself away from them.
Then, the shield came straight towards his face.
He blocked it easily, knocking the shield up. Just before the player could react, he kicked them in the stomach, hard enough to shatter that area of their armor, launching them straight towards the wall once more.
"I've seen enough, we could end this quickly." He mumbled under his breath.
Just as the player readied their defense skill, all they saw was a bloodied blade coming straight towards their head. The blade went through their helmet, slicing their head in clean half.
"You made me wait for far too fucking long." He rolled his eyes, spinning his blade to get rid of the blood attached to it.
The player's corpse along with the blood was cleaned up by the system, teleported to the morgue altogether.
The only thing Asura felt was boredom, that immense boredom that surged through his veins. He sheathed his blade, adjusting the sheath slightly before making it disappear. He ran his fingers through his hair, walking up the pile of gems and sat down on the throne.
"God, sometimes I swear they are either so naive that they get killed so easily or they think they are the best shit in the world."
The candle lights flickered out, making the room bright once more. His black flesh illuminated by the brightness, though none of the light could fully drown out the that overwhelming air around him.
"Hah, makes me wish I could visit that damned woman for another fight."
As he leaned back on the throne, he noticed that the system window seemed to be acting odd. Usually, it would just display the challenge info for a little while before going away. But that little while generally did not mean over 5 minutes.
He reached to grab it, holding it more down towards him before shaking it again. "Aww, are you going crazy too, you bastard?"
[ERROR]
He raised an eyebrow, deciding to sit up straight as he stared at the message.
"What the —"
[ER-R----]
"You've just gone through maintenance last week!"
[HE--LLO?]
"When did this shit become sentient?"
[--H--ELLO?]
"No... It wouldn't greet me if it was sentient. I mean, the thing has been following me for however long I've become a boss so..."
[I--C--CAN---HEAR]
He rolled his eyes. "Great... Now it could comment on my voice too."
[ARE YOU ASURA?]
"Yes. What?"
He knew something was wrong, horribly wrong about all of this. Aside from the fact it was impossible for the system to gain any form of sentience without being shut down within seconds by the moderators, it was also clearly trying to speak to him.
[GREAT WE —]
He dragged his other hand through down his face, "Could you STOP using all caps? It's starting to get annoying."
[Apologies. We are rather new to this.]
"I could tell that much."
[We would like to formally request your assistance in —]
He looked down at his wrist, pretending that he was wearing a watch. "Keep it short, my time is precious."
[Apologies. What we wanted to say is that we wished for you to help us in discovering more about this 'game'.]
Without even a second of hesitation, he replied, "Not interested."
He let go of the system window, letting it adjust and float back to its usual distance. He closed his eyes, putting his hands on his head while he leaned more against the throne.
"Count me out of your little games on saving the world, or that kind of shit."
He could still hear faint pings from the system window, whoever was controlling his system window clearly wanted to get his attention. He only relented when the pings got more and more consistent, like a bird that would not stop chirping in his ears.
He groaned, opening his eyes once more.
[We promise to provide you with good foes.]
There was a slight change in the way he looked at the system window, having to suppress that grin trying to form on his lips.
"Now now, how can I be so sure that what you are saying isn't a lie?"
[You will meet said foe soon enough. And by then, we would ask you the same question again.]
[Would you like to join NEW GAIA?]
Right after the system window showed that, it glitched out. The static sound making him close one ear while looking away, a scowl formed on his lips. The glitched text reading the same words over and over,
[TO A NEW WORLD]
It eventually disappeared from his sights which made him let out a relieved sigh. He rubbed his temples, starting to feel an impending headache as well as his annoyance flaring up.
That was not the biggest problem waiting for him, of course. Whoever that foe turned out to be, he doubted that they would prove to be too much of a threat. Now, he was much more worried about the person that was going to enter into his zone.
"Asura." A cold, almost monotone voice called out.
"Speaking of the devil." He groaned under his breath.