The king walked towards me, a crown loosely fitted over his head, he clapped slowly, a patronizing smile over his face.
"You destroyed my arena, but I'll let it slide. Our nation is prosperous enough to cut loose a little. You Assassin, you will be this countries' new national hero, if you lose to anyone they will gain that position so don't lose, K?"
"Ok…"
"I have your first assignment soon, so please come and collect it as soon as you can."
"Will do."
The king walked away, rejoining his family and waving at the crowd. I'm still in shock. I won? Against that weapon. And now I can erase magic? No I can but it takes a toll. Just how powerful is copy? I stood up and looked around the destroyed arena. Dust climbing up the walls and scattered in the stands, there were cracks on the floor and the walls were shattered. The roof and floor were cut by my wind. It was truly a mess.
"Hey kid, what the hell was that? Did you erase my god form? That's not possible."
If my theory is correct, I didn't erase it… so far every skill has followed computer commands like copy, paste and cut. Cut doesn't erase something, it deletes it whilst keeping a copy. I was seeing the weapon as a skill, but if I erased the power he was using then I should be able to use it for myself, right?
I held out my hand, staring at the possible power.
'Unique skill 'copy' activated subskill archive - 'Golden Presence of God' now saved.'
'Error skill level too high, usable at level 200'
Heh damn should a known it wouldn't be that easy.
Anyway, I made it to level 75 in such little time. It's amazing.
"Sorry, Ha Rok, I guess I'm more powerful than a god." I walked away, stepping through the destroyed remains of the building.
"How did he know my name? What is he?"
I stepped out of the arena, my body aching.
Outside was a crowd of people. They were all swarming around me asking for tips or a fight.
"What is your US? Is it canceling magic?"
"Are you going to take part in the upcoming event?"
"Will you form a guild?"
"What's your relationship with S.I Rene?"
"How old are you?"
I stepped back from the crowds, making me nervous and flustered. What's going on??? Am I famous? I knew people respected me, but this is insane! What did I do to be praised so much??
"Will you start streaming?"
"What games did you play before this?"
I walked backwards, my body hitting something as I retreated. Behind me was a man, he had a white hoodie on and a trident slung across his back.
"Assassin, we need to have a chat."
"Admin login Yukimaru: teleport self and ItsAssassin to white palace."
I teleported. The feeling was terrifying. It felt like I was being disintegrated. Like I was being flung across light years for eternity, my body always flying and soaring, like I was falling from a building. Everything was fading away, there was only me and the strange man.
"Howdy, I'm Yukimaru, one of the admins, I believe you met Kyn, he's an odd one, but I am more reasonable."
"Howdy?"
"Problem?"
"No."
"Now you became a national hero?" He let out a long sigh and sat down on a throne. We were on an island floating in the air. The floor beneath me was a white marble. He had a grand chair that sat on this solitary platform. "You've become quite the threat assassin. If people find out about your ability, they'll call this game unfair, and we'll be completely abandoned. But if you're not here, the difficulty of the game will make people bored. We had planned to help the famous streamers and professionals become the national heroes by decreasing the god class power they normally have, and use these figureheads to promote the game and create guilds to stand at the top and push people to play more. But now we have this kid who won't do that for us, of course Kyn is overjoyed,, but he was always brash, designing dragons and skills to be terrifying and difficult. I expect he doesn't care about the business side, but at this rate our game will fail."
"Why tell me all this?"
"We have a fix, we will open the demon realm in three weeks and create a raid event. But sadly, if we did that the game would be impossible. I think instead of focusing on monster battles we should make this game more PvP based using the open world dynamic for leveling up, there are five admins with the head being impartial, I already have a vote from Kyn and mine of course, but I need the rest if I want to save this game."
"So, what do you want from me?"
"I want you to lose, but it's unlikely that would happen, so I'd like you to create a guild, I'll fund it of course, but I'd like you to make it small, maybe ten people at the max. And then I want all of you to start streaming the PvP event. Build a fan base of the game and make people interested in the PvP element, once I have proof of concept I can get the votes and change the game we originally intended."
"I was planning on starting a guild anyway, but If I am to do it I want you to introduce me to the top five players."
"Done, anything else?"
"What was the original plan for the game?"
"We were going to give people a month of free roam playing the release demons in an event and after that have every country go to war in a massive fight, then after that crown one country the winner make more quests and slowly release DLCs and extra content."
"That doesn't seem so bad…"
"If the secret to our technology got out, we'd be dead in the water. But all of us disagreed on what to do, so we decided to mix everyone's ideas."
"Why did you choose me for this? Couldn't you just decrease the level specifications for a streamer and let them become number one?"
"Because that would be unfair, we want our game to succeed, but we also want it to be a good game, and games where people are given special treatment isn't my idea of good. Now I'll message you with times to meet the other players.
Admin login Yukimaru: teleport ItsAssasin to maruine"
I was thrust from the platform, my body falling down to the town. When I returned, the streets were empty, the crowds were gone and the players were back to walking around shops or rushing through town.
I don't feel like playing anymore, I think I'll log off.
"Assassin!!!"
The voice shouted behind me, I couldn't bear to hear it. I can't bear to have these feelings. How can I feel this way about anyone but Ella? Why am I allowed to talk to her? Why hasn't she left me yet? I smiled, the fake facade she used to have. And I turned around.
"Hey, how's it going?"
She didn't stop running, Psye jumped onto me, grabbing me and tackling me top the ground,
"Wha… what are you doing?"
"Such a great fight, I couldn't resist hugging the winner."
"I have that effect on people."
"Oh shut up jerk. I'm trying to be nice,"
"By tackling me when I barely have enough strength to move?"
"Yes, silly."
"Meet me IRL?"
"Why? I can speak to you just fine here!"
"Just please do, meet me at founder's park."
I logged off, my body sitting up and lurching back to life, so much has happened. So much information today, I just want to sleep. And forget about everything. But this has to be done. I walked out of my room and slid the hoodie over my head.
"Where are you going?"
"Out,"
"He's coming over again"
"Ok"
"Get back in time, or I'll lock you out. I won't have you in the way."
"Fine"
"Good boy."
I sat down on a bench staring into the pond, the water reflecting the sky like an abyss, a never-ending hole that could swallow me at any time, the crimson sun shining in the deep water.
"Hey Assas… Charlie!"
"Hey…"
"What was so important, it couldn't be said in game."
"I need to tell you to stay away from me."
"What? Why?"
"Because I will kill you."
"Hah, hah you're joking, right?"
"I won't physically do it, but my presence and existence will kill you, you don't want to be involved with someone like me. When school starts, its better if you just pretended you've never seen me like everyone else."
I stood up, gritting my teeth.
"Stop joking lee."
"Don't call me that!" I can't take it! She sounds too much like her. This can't continue.
"What's wrong? Why are you acting like this?"
"Just leave me alone, alright?!?! I breed nothing but sadness, so just fuck off! You'll leave me anyway! You'll leave just like she did, so just go!!"
She grabbed my back, gripping my body and pulling me backwards. Her head buried into my back as she wrapped her arms around me.
"I won't leave, I'll keep holding you like this if I have to."'
"Please let go. I don't want to go through that again."
"Never."
"Let go!"
"NO!!!"
I sat back down with her arms wrapped around my body. She was crying, and the tears soaked into my clothes, I didn't care. I need her to leave me, I can't stand to see it happen again, I can't let her die too, and yet. I can't bring myself to leave.
"Will you stay?"
"Yeah, you can let go, I won't go anywhere."
"Don't wanna"
"Ok."
I wrapped my hands around her and brought her body closer.
I'm sorry Ella, I couldn't protect you, I shouldn't have found her. I can't stop myself. I know I need to leave, but I can't.
I'm sorry.
We sat there for about fifteen minutes with our arms entangled together. Her body is so warm even in the cold night.
"Who the hell is this?"
I looked up, my mind was wrapped up in the moment, time had passed by like a bullet. I looked up to see Kate standing over me.
"What do you want?"
"Who is she?"
"Why?"
"I'm Psye"
"Charlie, what are you doing?"
"Just leave."
"No, tell me!"
"What are you doing? Why are you by my house?"
"Because I wanted to talk to you, I want to make sure you don't end up like Ella."
"Who's Ella?"
"You mean he didn't tell you? About the poor girl who killed herself, and now Lee blames himself. He tried to drive us all away, but we won't give up on him, he's ours."
"Shut up Kate…"
"I wonder how you'll end up? Will he drive you away or will you di…"
"SHUT UP!!!!"
"No, you need me, charlie! You need us! Just stay with me forever, love me. And you will be ok."
she grabbed my hands, smiling and staring into my eyes. She was speaking so fast and so rushed, the words so twisted. She brought her face close to mine her breath spreading over my face, her body pulling closer.
Who was I fooling? She's right, I don't deserve anything more than this, than loneliness. My punishment for failing now and forever will be living in this town, alone and sad. There's nothing left. I stared at the ground, my hair covering my eyes. She's right, I need to leave Psye alone so she doesn't die. I can't corrupt her like I did Ella.
"Shut up!! Charlie isn't yours!"
Psye grabbed my wrist, dragging me off the bench and running through the park, her delicate fingers wrapped around my hand and pulling me with her. I can't believe it. I can't believe the feeling that creeps up inside my heart when I see her.
I'm sorry Ella…. I'm sorry Psye, I failed you both. I won't fail her!
I'm pathetic.
Kate stood up, staring at the couple charging through the park.
"You won't escape me, Charlie, you're mine, and I will take you from her."