"Hey, Crab Killer! This is my last shot... You better make this worth it," called out Pheonix_Resurrect, blood dripping from her mouth. Her flaming sword was half-broken in one hand, while the other hand wiped the blood—only for more to take its place.
"I know! Don't have to tell me twice!" Kai cried out.
This was their last chance to kill it. The Deimos Emperium, also known as the Dark Lord. The final boss. Kai had spent years preparing for this fight. The death game they had been trapped in for years could finally end here.
"KNOW YOUR PLACE, INSECTS... THIS IS FAR BEYOND THE CAPABILITIES OF YOUR APE-LIKE BRAINS TO UNDERSTAND..."
The Dark Lord's deep, raspy voice was empty—soulless.
The sound alone irritated Kai to no end. The audacity of this bastard to call them insects—them? The ten strongest players of Nyxfall 6: Dark End?
The world's most advanced full-dive VR game. Except, they weren't really in a fantasy world anymore. They were in a real world, far beyond their own planet. And the thing they were fighting wasn't just the last boss of the game—it was the Emperor of this dark domain.
Kai, known in-game as I_Make_Runny_Eggs, was ranked 7th on the entire Earth server. He stood ready, gripping his massive two-handed sword—twice his own weight and over seven feet tall.
"Come, Bastard of Darkness… let me show you what balls of steel look like."
Kai roared as his body glowed dark orange. He started with a slow run, then—in an instant—vanished from sight. The Dark Lord himself couldn't keep up with his speed.
The spell Pheonix_Resurrect had cast on him was an Epic-grade Strength Enhancer—the last thing she could do with her minuscule mana.
Kai reappeared behind the Dark Lord, his massive sword swinging in a perfect arc, aimed at the only exposed part of its body—its pitch-black neck, uncovered by adamantium armor.
Another spell landed on him. His body glowed dark green.
Moose_Hunter had cast Challenger's Might—a spell that let a teammate borrow all of their stats for a single attack.
Moose_Hunter collapsed right after casting it.
Now, only two of the top ten remained.
They had been chosen to fight. And they had lost.
The Dark Lord's castle was too treacherous—filled with traps, hidden monsters, and generals, each more powerful than the last. But they had slain them all and made it here.
The throne room—a place no other team had ever reached.
And there was no afterlife.
The bastards in charge had made sure they knew that.
This was real. All those who had died would never return. And now, Moose_Hunter had joined that long list of names.
***
It was supposed to be just a game.
A simple VR survival game that had launched that winter.
Kai, like many fans of the Nyxfall series, had bought the game with excitement.
Little did they know—their lives would never be the same again.
At first, it seemed like any other immersive game. The graphics, the realism—unbelievable.
But it wasn't just a game anymore.
The Beyonders had made a secret deal with the developers of Nyxfall—selling the entire thing. No one knew who owned it. No one knew who created or updated it.
Until two years after launch, when a major event in the game changed everything.
By then, it had already become an internet phenomenon.
It earned real money—what more could a player want?
It even slowed time, allowing players to experience longer, more immersive sessions after a tiring day at work. Who wouldn't want more time in a magical world?
Then, everything changed.
The top 10,000 players of that event received real invitations to join the battle—the battle that would decide the fate of their planet.
Unlike other civilizations, Earth had been dealt a better hand. The Beyonders had chosen their VR game as the battleground to determine which worlds would be destroyed. The so-called gods who controlled life and death, once worshipped by many, sought nothing more than entertainment. Fortunately—or unfortunately—of all the advanced species with functioning civilizations, only Earth had made unprecedented strides in entertainment. Most other intelligent beings considered it a frivolous waste of resources.
The 10,000 players weren't just humans, though they made up the majority, with over 4,000 participants. The rest were aliens, forced to adapt—learning an entirely new language, culture, and way of life to match the Nyxfall universe in a VR game. But unlike Earth's players, they knew exactly what was at stake from the very beginning. And they had prepared like hell.
Thrown into reality in the bodies of their in-game avatars, this was their new existence. They fought, conquered, killed—and now, at last, they were here. The best of Earth against their strongest adversaries—the Dark Domain Empire.
This was the end. This would determine their place in the galaxy. This would buy their people's freedom.
Kai's massive sword struck the Dark Lord's pitch-black skin, his Legendary Sword Technique amplifying his already enhanced body. Strengthened by the sacrifices of his comrades, there was nothing in existence—nothing in this game—that could surpass the raw power of this one final attack.
And as he had dreamed, as he had planned for years, Kai—the 7th-ranked player in the Earth server—severed the Dark Lord's head in a single, decisive strike.
The heinous Deimos Emperium was no more.
***
[Congratulations to player I_Make_Runny_Eggs for eliminating a civilization leader. Team Ambitious_Bastards has accumulated enough points to prevail in this stage of the game.]
[A Mythic-grade item has been acquired as a reward for defeating the top-ranked player, The Deimos Emperium.]
Goddamn it. They had done it.
They had made it.
They had won.
"You fucking bastard! You did it.. I knew only you could come up with something so dumb yet so brave.. Goddammit, Kai.. At last, we can go home.." Phoenix_Resurrect choked out, her bloody, tattered body trembling as she fought back tears.
Kai just smiled at the outburst, watching the woman known as 'The Phoenix That Could Freeze Mountains' break down before him.
But then, the smile faded. So did the color in his eyes.
He took two steps forward and collapsed, blood spilling from his mouth in thick, dark streaks.
Phoenix_Resurrect ran toward him, stumbling and gritting her teeth in pain, but she made it. She had to make it. She caught his head in her lap, his blood soaking into her trembling hands as her tears splattered onto his face.
"No… No… No… No… You piece of shit! I told you there was no such attack as Cheat Play! I told you… You wouldn't make it… I tol—"
'Cough.'
'Cough.'
Kai's lips moved, his voice barely a whisper.
"You… bett… er… stay… away… from…"
Before he could finish, she cut him off.
Goddamn this woman! He wouldn't even let himself die acting all cool.
"Come on, just hold on, Kai… Where the hell is the potion—fuck! We used it on Kormack… No, no, no…"
Kai struggled to speak again.
"Do… not…"
"Huh? Do not what?" she echoed, her voice breaking.
His cracked lips curled weakly.
"Do… not… play… stupid… games… from now on…"
For a moment, she just stared at him, lost for words. Then her face twisted—anger, grief, disbelief—all tangled into a bitter, broken laugh.
"You dumbass… At least use your last words properly…"
Her voice trembled as his eyes fluttered shut.
His breath slowed… then stopped.
****
[Congratulations to player Pheonix_resurrect for supporting in the elimination of a civilization leader and her team Ambitious_Bastards for accumulating enough points to prevail in this stage of the game.]
[A new message from Player I_Make_Runny_Eggs.]
Phoenix_Resurrect—or rather, Sora Quinn—a name she had never revealed to any of her friends before. How she wished for him to use her real name at least once…
Wiping her tears with the back of her hand, she ignored the flashing congratulatory rewards and went straight to her inbox. It was just like him to leave important text behind instead of saying it himself.
[I_Make_Runny_Eggs: I love you..]
Goddamn him. Sora didn't even try to stop the tears as they flowed down her supple cheeks, uncontrollable and relentless.
"Why wouldn't you say it earlier… you fool!!"
****
Kai opened his eyes.
For a moment, a wave of relief hit him—so the Beyonders were just messing with them, and there really was an afterlife. But something wasn't right. He felt weak. The air was too cold. Too noisy.
"Hey dude! Fuck off if you're not gonna buy the game! We've been standing in line for hours—don't waste our time!"
An ugly-looking kid with pimples was yelling at him, but Kai ignored it. His mind was racing. The smell. The lights. The atmosphere.
This place… this moment…
He knew it.
He was back.
On Earth.
Did he make it..? No. No, this wasn't right. His breath hitched as his gaze swept across the store, the people, the long queue.
He knew this shop. He knew this day.
The day he had waited hours in line to buy—
"Fuck! This can't be!! How the fuck am I back here!?"