A FORMER BULLY SELF-REFLECTS

The entire Scraper Guild headed straight for the Necromancer Guild's headquarters, silent and subdued, after they witnessed Noctis turn Joe Franco, their Guild Leader who liked to bully other players weaker than him, into a bullied person.

On top of that, they lost Takara Erich, as they didn't dare go against Noctis.

The fact that someone much more powerful than them, and a complete newbie at that, beat up their Guild Master and gave them a taste of their own medicine is

a hard pill they are forced to swallow.

“What the fucking hell on earth happened, eh? Did someone else beat up your Guild Master again?”

Leica Hattori, the healer of the Necromancer Guild grinned wickedly at Joe Franco, then looked at the subdued and silent faces of the other Guild members.

“Looks like your guild lost your punching bag to a total newbie, huh?"

Leica noticed that Takara didn't tag along with them.

"God damn it, Leica. We've already suffered enough. Just check our damn guild leader to see if he's still injured, and be done with it."

Sadako Minamoto, the assassin of the Scraper Guild, cut in.

She couldn't stand to hear Leica's words.

What's the matter, Sadako? Can't stand to hear me speaking?”

Sadako is about to respond again when Leica cuts her short.

“Know your place, second-rate guild member of a second-rate guild. Don't you forget, I’m also a necromancer aside from being a healer. You lot are just bugs I can

easily squish anytime.”

Sadako fumed in silence. Leica’s blatant flaunting of power annoyed her to no end, but she knew better than to anger one of the most powerful necromancers in

RPG Fantasia.

The rest of the guild dispersed to talk to people they know inside the Necromancer Guild.

Joe Franco stayed behind, so Leica can check up on Joe's health and mana.

They are in the Guild Infirmary managed by Leica.

Leica took one long look at Joe and wondered.

Why did the entire Scraper Guild take all the trouble to come see me? They wasted their time here, and they also wasted my time. Joe is in perfect condition. His mana is full. His health points are also full. But why the long and subdued faces, though? Its so totally unlike Joe to be so gloomy. He's always upbeat and gloating about some foe he defeated, or some player weaker than him that he bullied, until the player became too strong. Whom did he fight, some elite player?

Leica led Joe into a cushioned, elegant sofa, and sat down beside him.

"What happened, Joe? Whom did you fight, for you to end up losing Takara? And wipe out that concerned, long and gloomy look from your face."

Joe composed himself, took a long breath, exhaled. and proceeded to tell his tale.

“ I fought with Satsuki's brother, Lelouch, today. His class is Assassin Spellcaster. Lelouch is not his brother, Leica. He's wild, totally unrestrained, and ruthless. In short, the exact opposite of his brother. I'm lucky I got away with my life intact, and even more thankful that Lelouch had at least the simple chivalry of buying healing items for me, and making me drink it right after our fight. Not just any other potion, elixir and salve too. What he bought for me were God-Class items. Just like the stuff you make. He even told me that if he caught me bullying others again, he would end my life for good and all. "

"Is that all you're worried about? I know you bully those weaker than you to push them into growing stronger. Then play smart, become stronger, and be an Elite Badge player like me. I'd even send a recommendation email to the Guild Leader of the Necromancer Guild, so you can skip all that long and tiring nonsense of being an acolyte in some second rate guild again. You went through it a long time ago. All you need to do is undergo training in the arts of Necromancy."

"Thank you for your offer, Leica, but that's not my point. Lelouch joined VRMMORPG Fantasion for the sole purpose of avenging his brother. And I assure you that one way or another, he will eventually target Necromancer Guild and reduce it to ashes. We mustn't forget that Satsuki's ex-girlfriend was a witch-class player, and she helped to form the Necromancer Guild. We need to change sides. Look, you may be an elite player, and has a wide network of contacts and friends among other elite players, but you don't have the support of the Game Administrators. Some of those Game Administrators happen to be the Board members of Tokyo Gaming Solutions. Lelouch and Satsuki has their father as their backer, and their father has allies in the company. We need to contact Lelouch, tell him who we are, and offer to help him. We'll be safer that way."

"Are you telling me to betray my friends in the Necromancer Guild, and be a spy for Lelouch, Joe?"

" Are they really your friends, Leica? They'll turn on you the moment they spot a weakness, or the moment they see the benefit of betraying you. Nothing is certain in a life or death video game. Everyone looks out for themselves here. You would do well to remember that. "

"But I"

Leica started to protest and sputter, but Joe silenced her with one long, hard look.

Joe got up from the cushioned, elegant sofa, grabbed a mug of brewed coffee, went outside the infirmary, and shut the door.

My fight with Lelouch earlier was a close call. Now I see the mistake of bullying others weaker than me. It was a total eye opener. I thought I was strong, but there'll be someone stronger than me. Anyway, I may have been carried way by impulse when I bought this game capsule and the game attached along with it, and ended up influencing Leica too, but this is a serious mistake. I had no wish to play life or death videogames in the first place. Now both of us are paying the consequences. I will do whatever it takes to survive and beat this game, and I'll make sure Leica survives, and see the plain facts, even if it means being branded a betrayer and hunted by the Majority Faction. I'll contact Takara, and see what I can do to make amends, the moment I pause this game. I see a major fight coming between the two factions, and I need to survive it.

Joe Franco reflected after he finished drinking the coffee. He placed the mug on the table outside the infirmary, curled his armored left hand into a fist, and touched the handle of his battle-ax with his right hand.

He remembered how he had come across the game VRMMORPG Fantasion.

They worked together in the same company in New York as Project Managers.

Both he and Leica are avid gamers, as they played video games after their working hours.

One day, while they browsed the Home Page of Tokyo Gaming Solutions, an ad flashed on the website about some trendy game, cool game named VRMMORPG Fantasion.

Being the avid gamers they are, they excitedly placed an order for two gaming capsules to be delivered to their homes without even bothering to read the description of VRMMORPG Fantasion.

When the gaming capsules finally got delivered, they excitedly created an account, and logged in to play.

At first, they could still log out safely.

But as time passed by, they got concerned as they could only pause the game, but never log out again.

Then they went back to the Tokyo Gaming Solutions website and checked the game description of VRMMORPG Fantasion.

Sure enough, they read that the game was changed from a safe to log out game to a life or death game, which will end only when the player beats the game, or die trying, and the company won't even provide a refund, or change the gaming capsule for some different game.

It was too late to do anything by then.

Joe reflected on everything he went through in VRMMORPG Fantasion.

When they first joined the game, Leica got lucky and got accepted into a second rate guild.

But for Joe, it was a different story.

He got rejected outright by many second class guilds that are directly under the Gamer Guild, and the Gamer Guild's allies, and even looked down upon.

Only the Scraper Guild, a third rate Guild directly under the Necromancer Guild, took him in.

He had to grind hard and solo carry the entire Guild on difficult missions until he got fed up and asked the former Guild Leader to remove him for now.

By then, he already made a name as the Scrape Warrior.

He tried reapplying for top Guilds again, but only the Necromancer Guild gave him a chance.

He worked hard and quickly rose to the ranks as a second-rate backup Guild Member of the Necromancer Guild while leaving a trail of dead players who belonged to the subsidiary guilds of those elite guilds that bullied him, and that included subsidiary guilds under the Gamer Guild.

When Leica notified Joe that she wished to change guilds,he guided her until she eventually became the main guild member as a healer/necromancer, then he quit his position as a trainee necromancer for the main guild of the Necromancer Guild.

He went back to the Scraper Guild and pretended to be weak.

Then he gained the upper hand on his first day back in the Scraper Guild, and bullied them all, before killing them all and overpowering them in a one-sided clash with his battle-ax.

He became the Guild Leader of the Scraper Guild and bullied the new members at first to whip them into shape and give them a competitive edge until they caught on and started bullying Takara ever since because Takara is a weak, new member.

He also turned the Scraper Guild into a subsidiary guild for the Necromancer Guild.