Trapped in a Game Pt. 05

"No. We should have never invested that much in a stupid little girl!" Tsun countered, and I glanced over at Serra helplessly, as hot tears streamed down her face.

MOBA was an acronym for Mobile Online Battle Arena.

It was a genre of gaming that played out quite similarly to a game of chess.

Two teams would come up against each other with heroes whose skill sets matched particular roles.

Tanks were the front line fighters, whose jobs were primarily to take absorb a lot of damage.

Supports were tasked with job of either disabling or restricting the enemy players, or assisting allies either through heal spells or providing other beneficial effects.

But the carry was often seen as the centre of the team.

If a MOBA team was compared to chess pieces, then the carry would be the queen, easily the strongest piece on the board.

But just as the Queen is most effective later in a game of chess when more space is available on the board and it can move about freely wreaking havoc on the enemy ranks, if the carry tries to act too early in the game, its effectiveness can be limited. And just like the queen in a game of chess, if the carry is lost then most likely so will be the game.

But Serra was never the kind of person to play that role.

If anything, she was more like the knight; a piece that while limited in usefulness in the hands of an amateur player, could be devastating in the early and middle parts of the game in the hands of a grandmaster.

Now I understood why her team fell apart.

After all, having all the right pieces won't make any difference if they weren't in the right places.

"What do you want from me?" Serra cried, "I told you I was sorry! I would have given you all of the money if I could!"

"And what would that have changed? You destroyed my career, my life! And I'm going to make sure you know what that feels like."

Tsun turned on me, then lifted his sword and brought it down onto my shoulder, and I gritted my teeth as the pain ripped through me.

Bear it, I thought to myself, bear it for her!

"He didn't do anything to you, Tsun. I did. Please stop hurting him," Serra pleaded, and Tsun stared into her eyes as he twisted the sword painfully into my shoulder.

I cried out a little despite myself, and Serra fell to her knees.

"Please, Tsun. I'm begging you. Leave him alone! You can do whatever you want to me. Anything!"

Tsun licked his lips, considering her plea momentarily.

"Anything?" He whispered, and I shuddered a little at the thought, but Serra merely nodded, evidently quite serious about the promise.

"Anything," she offered emphatically, and Tsun laughed in response.

"Ahahaha! Now this is interesting," Tsun called, "You really care about this guy, don't you? Unrequited love? Is that what this is?"

He laughed some more, then without warning, withdrew the sword from my shoulder and stabbed me in the gut-

"Ugh!" I cried, groaning in agony as the pain tore through me.

"W-why?" Serra asked, tears now streaming down her face.

"Because your tears are worth so much more to me than your virtual body," came Tsun's smug reply, and I breathed out through clenched teeth as he twisted the sword again.

"Tsun, this is enough!" someone called, and I gazed over to the speaker, through blurry eyes.

It appeared to be one of the fighters that we'd taken down in combat, but he removed his hood as he spoke and his face came into focus I recognized the man as Trevor, the player who had betrayed Kelly's party.

"We've beaten them, we can claim the invite. That's all I paid for," Trevor called as he stepped forward, and Tsun brushed his hair back arrogantly as turned towards him.

"About that... we made a deal that you would buy the other five invites if you came up with the sixth-"

"-which we can now get," the man continued, but Tsun smirked as he continued:

"Which I can now get. I have all six invites, and that it going to cost more."

"How much more?" the man asked, worriedly.

"More than you can afford. I'm no businessman, but I do know how to play games. We had you checked out and we know exactly how much you were good for, and you've already been outbid," Tsun replied, and as he raised a hand, one of the s-rank players, the monk, walked over to him and punched him in the gut.

He fell to his knees, seemingly stunned by the strike and trying painfully to catch his breath, but as he got back onto one knee, the monk stood over him to make sure he'd stay down.

"Now as fun as this has been, I really should be moving on from here. Who has the invite? Do step forward before I start killing everyone," Tsun muttered, and David stepped forward without hesitation.

He withdrew the invite from his inventory and handed it over to the other s-rank player, the one who looked like a rogue, and after the man confirmed that it was legit, Tsun nodded.

He turned back to Serra, who had stopped sobbing, but was still shaking terribly.

"Oh... how I would have loved to have seen your pretty crying face in real life," he added, giving a whimsical sigh, before hefting his sword up.

"Now as much as I would love to stay here and continue torturing you, little dove, this is the part where I leave you to suffer with lifelong trauma. So long!" he called, and I swallowed painfully as he lifted up his sword and the great metal blade began to shimmer with some enchantment.

He was serious, I thought, this is the end this time...

This was what I wanted right?

A good reason to die.

Kelly would be able to live a normal life, and she wouldn't have to waste time worrying about her worthless brother anymore...

And Serra would be better off without me too.

She'd never say it, but I know I've been holding her back.

This was best for everyone.

Besides... I'd suffered and lived through life in complete misery for so long.

Maybe I needed this end... for myself too.

I looked up at Tsun.

He was wielding his sword, poised and ready to strike, but he was drawing this out on purpose, trying to torture Serra as much as he could.

Would this really grant me the peace I always wanted?

I suddenly wasn't quite sure.

I thought back to Kelly's letter... about loving myself.

If I wasn't so panicked about her safety back then I might have laughed.

Love... myself?

Have you ever met me?

What is there in here to love?

I could barely make it through an ordinary work day, and none of the skills I possessed seemed useful to anyone or anything.

I didn't fit in the real world anywhere...

Well... anywhere except by Kelly's side, maybe.

A sudden feeling of tightness suddenly gripped my chest, and I opened my eyes wildly, searching for Kelly.

Kelly.

Kelly!

Oh how I loved my little angel.

I'd always watched her from afar, afraid of how much I really wanted her...

So much so that even when she began to reciprocate my affection, I kept a distance between us.

For her own good.

Wasn't that what I always said?

I was worthless and I didn't deserve her.

I still don't, but she wants me anyway, doesn't she?

I never understood why she cared about me so much.

It seemed to start so suddenly.

We were strangers one day, then inseparable the next.

But... it always made me want to be worthy of her, didn't it?

To do something incredible, to make her think I was her amazing older brother.

Even now.

The blow was about to land, but Tsun pulled away mid-strike, and I glanced up in time to see Serra lunging desperately at him, but Tsun easily evaded her, a gleeful smile on his face as he grabbed Serra by the nape of her robe, and slammed her to the floor before kicking at her head wickedly.

My mind felt heavy, and everyone seemed to be moving in slow motion.

Serra rolled, her hammer still ready to strike, and then I saw the look in her eyes.

Desperate but determined.

I hadn't seen her take a direct hit for the entire fight, but she didn't seem to care right now.

Did she really love me?

I honestly couldn't see how she genuinely could, but that look right now...

The same way Tracey used to look at me.

The same look I'd seen in Kelly's eyes so many times...

Kelly!

I suddenly felt a curious desire awaken within me.

There was really nothing I could do to change this situation, but I could still make her proud, couldn't I?

Even if this was the final moment before my death

Even if I was worthless.

Maybe I could at least die standing, with a sword in my hand, instead of lying face down.

Summoning all of my strength, I pulled the dagger from my hand, and ignoring the pain I screamed out my conviction as I plunged the dagger into Tsun's foot, and he glared at me angrily as the dagger pierced the hard armour of his steel boot and sank to the ground.

"Shade!" I chanted, knowing that the effects of his daylight spell would have worn off by now, and he cursed as I threw him into complete darkness.

Serra didn't miss a step, leaping straight into Tsun and slamming her hammer into him, hard!

The blow knocked Tsun completely off of his feet, and I prepared to move in when-

"Arrrrggghhhhh!"

The scream drew my attention to the left, and a gasp escaped my lips as Kelly suddenly shattered the magical bindings that held her, and a fiery aura emanated from her as wings of flame spouted from her back, and as they flapped, she began to ascend off of the ground, summoning a fiery whirlwind about her.

She chanted something, her hands raised, and a great fiery wall of flame suddenly erupted around us, cutting Tsun off from the rest of his party.

Her wings were magnificent, and I stared breathlessly as she flew across the cavern before landing at my side, the light from the flames even piercing the thick blanket of my shade spell's magical darkness.

"How the fuck did you do that?" Serra asked.

"I literally have no idea," she muttered, rubbing the back of her head as she smiled sheepishly.

Tsun's laughter brought our attention back to him.

He wore that same calm, arrogant smile, and I felt a pang of annoyance welling up inside of me.

How I would love to wipe that smug grin off of your stupid face! I thought, as he stood up, pulling the dagger, with some effort, from his foot.

Serra was tense and ready to strike, but she hadn't moved yet so I opted to remain put.

"So the crimson wings do exist," he noted, giving a little appreciative whistle, and I studied him as he continued:

"When I first heard about them and the other ascension abilities, I thought it was nothing more than a myth, but that was before I unlocked my own vengeance oath."

"Ascension abilities?" I asked, confused, and Tsun shot Serra a knowing smirk.

"You unlocked yours in the first week, didn't you Serra? Divine domain, is it?" Tsun asked, and I pondered the information with interest.

"Prestige classes," Serra muttered, glancing at me, her eyes shimmering just a bit. "They don't exist anymore in the modern versions of D&D, but they were a core part of the older versions of the game. They were advanced versions of character classes that granted the player access to higher tier abilities and skills. In this game, however, they represent special subclasses that can only be unlocked under special circumstances.

It suddenly made sense.

None of the priests I'd came across seemed to have the suspended animation ability that Serra did, but I'd never given it a second thought since she was one of the only priest I knew of who'd built their skills entirely around close range combat. That and the divine domain was even listed in the priest's section of the in-game guide as a subclass of the priest.

But what I seemed to have missed was that this class was not readily available to just anyone who choose the priest class.

Instead it was... unlocked?

What were the conditions required to make them available?

Tsun said Serra had unlocked hers in the first week, and the only thing I could recall about her first week was her close brush with death.

But if that was the case... why hadn't I unlocked my own special sub-class?

I'd almost died numerous times, including just now... right?

But Kelly wasn't even close to death, just bound and immobilized... and almost forced to watch me die.

That was a pretty traumatic experience to go through, wasn't it?

Maybe that was it.

Maybe it was a traumatic experience rather than a near death one.

But then...

I could hardly imagine Serra's brush with death as traumatic...

Was the experience maybe more traumatic than she had let on?

She sure put up a tough image, but she was alone at the start of the game, wasn't she?

Alone, scared, and having come so close to death.

I studied her curiously, but as she shot me a sharp questioning glance, two cloaked figures suddenly emerged from the ground next to Tsun, quickly snapping me back to the matter at hand.

One of them whispered to him, and he gritted his teeth in response.

"Alright, move out," he muttered, and one of the men gave a nod before disappearing back into the ground as Tsun turned his attention back to us.

"Well as much as I'd love to enjoy this chat a little longer, we're going to have to cut this short."

Tsun withdrew a scroll as he spoke, but before he could recite the magic words to activate it, Serra dashed at him, her war hammer ready and poised to strike.

"Oh no you don't!" she yelled, and he quickly began to take evasive manoeuvers, as the other cloaked player tried to fend her off.

I suddenly noted that a fresh wave of battle cries had erupted from beyond Kelly's wall of flame, and I readied my rapier and got ready to dive into the fray when Kelly suddenly grabbed me by the nape of my neck, and I gasped as we suddenly took off.

"Don't even think about it, mister," she chided me, and I pouted as we soared across the room.

As we flew, I surveyed the scene below and noted that the exits were still being blocked off by astral prisons, but as I looked on expecting to see allied players coming in, I saw to my shock that our reinforcements appeared to be no more than a single man in black leather gear accompanied by what appeared from this distance to be two of the 'little village girl' NPCs.

What the hell was going on? I wondered.

Were these our reinforcements?

Mackenzie had re-joined the fight, but at this point it hardly seemed as if she was needed as the two little girls were quickly overwhelming their many opponents with a spectacular show of spellcasting.

Come to think of it, Lina was able to instantly grow a forest worth of trees, and Rina had been able to cast high tier healing magic to save my life.

Were all of those little girl NPCs high level characters?

Constant explosions were rocking the cavern and even Blitz seemed to be taking some serious damage.

As Kelly set me down on one of the balconies that jutted out from the upper floor rooms the S-rank players from Tsun's party seemed to be closing in on the little girls, and a new wave of mysterious black figures began to pop out from the floor, surrounding them.

"Shit," Kelly muttered, glancing over at me, but even as I gave her a little nod, she paused, hesitating.

"Josh... I, uh-"

"Go on. I'll be fine," I reassured her, "we can talk when this is done."

She hesitated for a moment more, but the battle below was quickly heating up.

"Go," I reassured her again, and she nodded, taking a deep breath before flying off.

She swooped in, her hands ablaze, and she poured the deep flames down from above onto the group of enemies.

A series of ranged attacks quickly fired at her, but with barely any of them being used to aiming at flying targets, she easily dodged the onslaught before she continuing her attack.

The crowd that had begun to surround the two little girls quickly began to disperse, and as they did one of the little girls suddenly transformed into a Tyrannosaurus Rex, and she let out a thunderous roar as she immediately began wreaking havoc on the scattering wave of mysterious black figures.

Sheesh!

For such seemingly cute, harmless characters, they sure could be terrifying!

Many quickly disappeared into the floor and walls, and I turned back to Tsun who was being pressed back by Serra, who was now being helped by the mysterious man in the black leather armour.

Serra was brilliant as always, but I quickly noted that the man in black was also doing pretty well, launching consistent attacks at Tsun to support Serra while handling several masked players on his own.

We're winning, I thought to myself as the battle immediately swung in our favour, and the thought had scarcely registered when the astral prisons began to fade, and more and more of the masked men began to disappear from the field.

As my eyes returned to Serra, I noted again that she seemed to be pursuing Tsun almost desperately.

She swung her hammer at him hard, and as he deflected the blow with his great sword, he pounded his fist into the ground at her feet and a thunderous crack sounded across the room as a wave of force burst from the impact, pushing Serra some distance from him.

Why was Serra attacking him so desperately?

We were winning, weren't we?

I was still considering the question when I suddenly noticed Tsun's eyes directly on me, and I shuddered as a little chill ran up my spine.

My gaze quickly fluttered back to Serra whose panicked eyes met my own for one more second before she charged recklessly at him, and-

"You know... I really hoped this would have gone more smoothly."

-I gasped as Tsun suddenly vanished from the battle field, and his cold, familiar voice spoke wickedly from just behind me, and realization dawned on me.

Relentless pursuit.

It was one of the special abilities unique to the vengeance paladin; the ability to immediately teleport to a target marked by his 'Hunter's Bane.'

That's why she was fighting like that.

She was trying to break Tsun's concentration on the spell.

Serra stared in my direction, a desperate look in her eyes, and as she tore away towards one of the cavern exits I turned slowly to face him.

"If you think this will break her, then you know nothing about her," I muttered, and he smirked.

"Oh? But that tormented look on her face while I tortured you was so beautiful. My only regret is that I won't be able to see the tears stream down her face as she holds your cold lifeless body in her arms."

"Dissonant whispers!" I chanted just as Tsun lunged into me, and I planted my rapier into the nook of the doorway and secured it in place across the threshold with my foot as I let myself fall backwards to the floor.

The spell put his aim off just a little, and as Tsun tumbled over the improvised obstacle, I kicked out at him as he went past me, and to my delight, he went flailing over the rails of the towering balcony from where I'd been perched.

Holy shit, I thought. I can't believe that worked!

A relieved smile crossed my lips, but the smile quickly faded as a grunt came from over the rails, and I suddenly noted a hand grasping firmly to it just as Tsun began to pull himself up from over the edge.

"Well. Now I can kind of see why she chose you," he noted with a grunt, as he swung himself over the ledge and back onto the balcony.

Having lost his great sword, he drew a short sword from his inventory as he advanced on me.

I quickly reached for my rapier, desperate and now completely out of ideas, but as he raised the sword to strike a pair of crimson wings came into view over the balcony, and Kelly's scream echoed towards me just as a burning wave of heat engulfed us.