Chapter 4: Behind a Blanket of Mist

When everyone was all setled, they began to carry on with the plan. Nathan would serve as Yotsuzuki's legs. He is to drop him on an advantageous position, as far away as possible from the man in the tower's shooting range while Gabe and the rest will serve as decoy.

Once Yotsuzuki has successfully found a spot. He would fire endlessly at the tower and try to kill the man from a long distance as Nate meets up with them and distract him as they try to get close at the same time.

Both looking at the map, the two agreed that he would be put into a dark alley at the corner of the harbor. Stacks of metal vontainers towering on both sides, casting a shadow that resembles a starless night.

Running like the wind, Nate carries him via the handle-like metal that was attached on his robot back. His gun in hand, he guards the rear even though it was kind off a bumpy ride unfit for a sniper.

"Keep it steady, ブロックヘッド (Block Head)!" he complained as few bolts fell off from him, making a few faint tingling noises as it hits the hard ground.

"Oh, sorry" Nate said in response of his demand as he slows down his pace, making his friend a bit more comftable on his travel.

Humming awefully, they continued. Yotsuzuki already wanted to walk away from him. If only he had his legs.

"Hey" Nate called out. Something in his voice felt a bit off. It was like he was a completely different person.

"Could you do me a favor?" he asked. His voice was lively, but a hint of worry betrays his cheeky front. He puts him down looking at him intently, at his eyes were nothing but pure business.

He meant what he said. Nothing stupid was up his sleeves.

It has been three years since they became friends. He was the first of the three to approach him when he transfered at their school after migrating to the states.

"What is it?" he asked, keeping his grumpy tone in order to not getting all emotional.

"Shoot the man" he said.

"What?" Yotsuzuki asked, utterly confused. 'Didn't he listened to the plan' he thought to himself as Nate held out both hands telling him he has an explaination.

"You see..." he said while running his hands back and forth in his hair. "When you shot me, it really hurt. The pain was too real that I fear with the gun that 'that' man uses, it would hurt more" he explained.

Yotsuzuki didn't entirely understood what he said. But when he thinked about it, he didnt felt a thing ever since the beggining of the match. All he could see was that his visor flashes red whenever he's hit. (Visor- technically just a fancy word for 'Vision', it's a game after all.)

Staring at his shot off legs he looks up to him, his face was painted with a hint of sadness. Very unlikely for the man that serves as the Happy-Go-Lucky dumbass in the group. He was clearly serious.

"Fine" he sighed, tilting his head to the left catching a glimpse of an ant that was crawling on the ground. "I'll try my best" he said looking away from Nathan who is now grinning from ear to ear like some kind of idiot.

Satisfied with Yotsuzuki's rather forced answer, he didn't spoke anymore and continued to bring him to the designated spot.

A couple blocks away from them was Gabe and the others. Hiding behind a concrete wall, preparing to cross a street.

Sound stupid, doesn't it? A couple of Senior Highschool students afraid of crossing a street. Well, it would have been a truly prepoterous occasion if it weren't for the man in the tower, shooting down people with an overly over-powered gun.

The sounds of multiple gunshots rattled through the air. They weren't the only ones who were going for the man.

As they crossed the street, three players could be seen five blocks away from the tower firing their guns till their ammo ran dry. Amy recognized them. They were part of the squad that camped at the edge of the harbor.

As quickly as their ammo had ran dry, they fell dead on the ground like maple leaves blown off a twig by a harsh blow brought by the autumn breeze.

Amy peeks behind of a different wall (obviously because they just crossed the street), in their heads were a pixelated red dot, glowing as pixelized blood dripped from their lifeless avatars.

'Poor guys' he thought to herself.

Turning back to the Gabe and Lucius, she runs after them as she was being left behind.

As she catches up, the two stopped in their tracks.

Their in position.

Without a second to waste, Gabe drew a loaded flare gun. Pulling the trigger, a small ball of flickering light flew across the air leaving a trail of red smoke marking it's path.

It has begun.

Rushing down the street, they make a run for the tower. Glimpses of red lines pop out every now and then.

They dodge the lines repeatedly. Running from left to right, not even a single bullet found it's mark. Yet none may last forever.

A fatal flaw caused them one.

A shot echoed through the air. Amy dropped dead. Her face scratching over the ground, bathing in her own pixelized blood.

It turns out the the man was only shooting Gabe as a distraction so that the others would loosen up their guard. A truly cunning tactic, commendable for it's efficiency.

She ceased to move, looking at her friend hot liquids flowed down to her chin.

Another fatal mistake.

Turning back from a sniper.

As the man fired another shot, Lucius leaps on her, pulling her close he drag her away from the bullet's path.

"Snap out of it, Gabe" he said as he helps her up, dragging her to continue running.

"Amy- she's-" Gabe whispered between sobs.

"Shot obviously!" he scowled at her as he drags her behind an empty container.

With shock getting the better of her she helplessly slumps into the ground, staring at her feet.

So many things ran in her mind. 'What did she felt when she was shot'.

That's right, she was hurt,she felt it.

'I don't want to feel that.'

'I don't want to die'

These thoughts ran rampant in her mind. Her hands squeezing her temples, she yelled as if she was some mad man who just lost his mind.

Her head throbbed.

'It hurts'.

Her hands were cold.

'It can't be'.

She died!

'NOOO!!!'.

"GABRIEL!!!"

The boy yelled out her name, slapping her hard in the face.

"Get a grip there, will ya? She'll be fine" he reassuered her.

"But she-" she mutters as another slap landed on her cheek.

Lucius swinged his arms once again, the back of his hand hitting the other side of her cheek. Silence reigned as none of them dared to break it.

Slapping a woman in the real world would had been quite a scandal. But being in a virtual world is no good for an excuse. Realizing what he'd done, he bent over and placed his hands on her shoulder.

She flinched, shunning him as she covers her tear soaked face with her hands.

"Hey" he called out gently, running his fingers through her hair. "I'm so sorry. Everything 's gonna be fine. It's just a game afterall" he said as he grabbed her hands, slowly and gently reavealing her soggy face.

Realizations hit her hard. She made the third crucial mistake for that day. She had mistaken this world for reality, a mistake that most people commit unknowingly most of the time.

It was the reason why she was shot at the mountains, why she didn't shot the man crawling on the ground earlier, and why she broke down when she saw her friend lying dead on the cold ground.

She cupped her face in shame and took a deep breath. She could feel it. She could feel the wind going into her body. It felt real.

The world she was currently in was a seemingly perfect but twisted copy of the real world.

A copy that has no rule. A copy where no crime would recieve divine punishment.

A false reality.

A long sigh escaped from her. Picking up her gun she stood up, facing Lucius with a strange liquid (possibly mucus) dripping from her nose. He chuckled seeing it dangling inside her nose.

"Let's go" she said as she walks pass him.

Lucius turned around, still chuckling like some child. His mind was debating over the matter. Whether he would tell her or just let the man in the tower see it as he aims for the two of them. He setteled with the latter, thinking that it would sound funny, especially for his friend Nathan.

"This is gonna be good" he whispers through his breath as Gabe takes off, running in full speed.

Seeing his prey coming out of their nest, the man placed an eye upon the scope on the gun. Aligned on the crosshairs was a girl who looked like she just finished crying.

He let out a laugh as he opened a panel and pressed it a couple times before his laughter roared through the skies.

"Wipe your nose, girl" he said holding himself from laughing to keep his current image.

Gabe halted on her tracks. She quickly swiped her nose but nothing came with it, so she snorted roughly and felt something wet clogging in her nasal track but disappeared gradually afterwards.

Embarassed, she ran even faster than before making Lucius exert more force just to keep up with her.

Shots were then fired one after another as she dodge it all with relative ease. As they were near the towers entrance, another red line appeared.

It came from inside the door. Catching them off guard, the gunner landed a hit, downing Gabe with a hit on the chest.

The pain was agonizing, yet mild. It was though someting was gnawing her chest slowly yet it doesn't hurt that much. But she felt her body was vibrating like jelly over a speaker.

With the amount of time that it required to get Nate back up on his feet, and the distance between her and Lucius, it was certainly her doom.

Not wanting to give up, she tries to grab her gun but was stopped as his hand was nearly cut off by a shot from above.

With an array of red path lines suddenly immerging from the door, she was certain that she was screwed.

Well, she was, but a sudden explosion distracted them for a brief moment.

A man in a motorcycle then popped up out of nowhere just like a mushroom in a damp forest. One of his hand was busy with an open panel while the other struggle as he drives recklessly down the road.

As the man at the top watches his new prey, he also notices the path lines that were coming inside of the building.

Opening a panel, he summons a strange ball to his hands and squeezed it. He then throws it cassually, letting it fall and explode upon impact.

Smoke filled the tower's entrance. The lines could no longers be seen coming out of the tower door. The player had been killed.

Seeing it as an opening, Lucius sped up his pace and tries to pick up Gabriel. As he does so, a path line appeared and pointed at his forehead.

"Yosuzuki!" Nate yelled as he shoots the flare gun that materialized in the air.

Three cylinders, three cylinders were then thrown to the sky, each of them a little different from the other.

Upon seeing the red smoke that was left in the flare's tracks, Yotsuzuki tightened his grip on his gun. Ten shots. That's the amount of bullets he could shoot before he eventually gets spotted. Ten bullet, so he has to make it count.

Metal cylinders could be seen flying through the air. With no time to lose he took the shot, three bullets were used to pierce through them.

Explosions of dyed smoke scattered through the air, covering Nate and the others.

With that part of the plan taken care of, Yotsuzuki shift to aiming at the man ahead of the group.

The man stood there silently. Black smokes were escaping out of it's body.

Yotsuzuki adjusted the zoom of his scope. The mist was starting to fade away. He fired three times and one of them managed to hit the man's shoulder.

He did not moved. He was wondering why therr were no reactions. 'Wasn't he supposed to feel that?' he thought to himself as the smoke that covered the man's feature bursted aggresively before gradually disappearing in thin air.

A man wearing a customized mask was looking at him through the scope, smiling.

It was unevenly designed, a venetian styled masquerade mask that was longer at the left-most part, was covering half of the man's face. Only an eye could be seen as the other didn't had a hole as if some kind of mask for those that are half blind.

He was wearing a black cassock that fit the skin of his avatar closely, white roses were embroidered on the arms and chest which was soiled with blood. The white strand of garment that was wraped around his waist with juzu beads that matches well with his get-up.

The man looked at him with confidence. A look that sent terror to Yotsuzuki's eyes.

He had only seen this gaze from live feeds of CrossFire championships. The gaze that won every year ever since the game's launch. The level of confidence of a professional. Of the one called 'Archon'.

/ / /

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

Nathan kept pulling the trigger of Gabe's gun as Lucius drives the motorcycle at full speed. Their goal was to get cover from the man by going inside the tower. There, they would help Gabe up. And then, get close enough to over-power him in a close-quarter combat.

"Four bullets left!" an unfamiliar voice of a man echoed through the air. A voice that was too good to be human, a voice that belonged to the devil which he uses to lull more sinners to the path of hell.

"Hit me with all you've got!" the voice claimed as they heard a gunshot linger to the air.

That makes it three. Holding Gabe in his hands he leans towards Lucius who was busy keeping his eyes on the road, driving.

"Drive faster"

"Wha-?!"

The boy wasn't able to finish as metal debris punctured the vehicle's tires making them go unbalanced and crash down on a marble flooring.

"Ack! That freaking hurts!" Nate groaned as he looks around for Gabriel. "Gabe?" he called out but there was no response.

Gabe could not respond, she felt like she would die if she dared to move or speak. With her bar already on the red, she tries to scan her visor (there are panels open such as a mini-map and her teammates HP gauge but sadly it doesn't pin-point one's location unless it it opened) looking for a certain icon.

After a quick scan, she swayed her arm to the air and tapped at the round floating button that resembled the 'request help' feature in the mobile version.

A circle blinked in the mini-map. It was her who's in the middle of it. As it grew bigger and covered wider ground, the remaining players that were close by were being revealed one by one.

Noticing that there were not much left. She proceeds to count the numbers of the remaining players.

1...

2...

3...

4...

Five.

There were only five people left - namely Nate, Lucius, Yotsuzuki, herself, and... THAT man.

'Had he taken out nearly all of the participants?' This ludricous thought ran on her mind. Having only three kills under her squad (since the one on the vehicle was killed by Lucy) it wouldn't be impossible since he could talk endlessly for everyone to hear.

If that was the case she knew they were already screwed.

"Gabe! There you are!" Lucius called out. Looking up, Gabe immediately regretted that move.

No wonder this guy was well acquainted with Nate.

He was dumb as hell, unable to read the atmosphere he smiled gleefully as- as he grabs the gun on his side?! "What are you- Lucy?!"

/ / /

"Hmm..."

The man atop kept on tapping his shoes, hints of impatience were undeniably obvious. He was waiting for the next shot.

He knew where his enemy is, yet for some reason, he doesn't want to shoot. Perhaps, not yet.

All he did was look at the sullied ornamentation, the once pure white roses that were now crimson red, defiled by his blood.

He smiled. Fascinated by how things worked, he now looks at the distant skies. It was a brilliant shade of purple with a bit of pink on one side.

"Too much effort, if only it wasn't meant for-"

BANG!

A shot from Yotsuzuki covered the last part of his sentence, making it inaudible. Blood then started to drip from his neck. The bullet seems to have missed him but was still close enough to graze the side his neck. 'If it was the throat I would have been dead by now' he thought to himself as he places his hands over the cut.

"Damn" he said. Chuckling as he sways, he smiles at the young man who made the shot.

"Two bullets left" he reminded as he turns around to lean back at him with a somewhat neck-breaking pose.

"Would that be enough to kill me?" he asked as he stood straight once again, openly inviting Yotsuzuki's remaining bullets.

"Kill me now or watch your friends die!"