First scuttling. Then etching. The sound of a barrier breaking, and one of impassable proportions. The sound of thousands of tiny bodies moving and ending themselves, hurling themselves into flame. The gasp of life ending, overthrown by those hovering over. Finally, as some reached their destination, the tedious task began. The walls of the Horizon were like stone walls. In a simpler form, like that of a Stone object in a video game that one would look towards for resources for crafting. Yet, instead of the textures of rock formations, an insidious black formed the outer layer of such an object. The tiny bodies would mine a unit of the Horizon, but a single body of the millions would die, each learning that this material is that of the game itself. There was no way to destroy it. It would seek to rejuvenate itself as quickly as the game could recognize it was being tampered with. But as the cluster of tiny bodies slowly dismantled the recovering wall, which would continue to manifest piece by piece like Tetris to fill in its newfound gaps, other bodies kept it afloat. These small ant-like bodies held off the construction, while even more replacing each other. Every millisecond a number would appear representing the damage being taken by a body being damaged by the barrier. In a bold red text, that feigned fatal damage, a body would meet its end, fading away back to the host body, which another would seep out of it like a drop of rain clinging to a ceiling, yearning the floor, due to the natural force of gravity. This would continue. The mind that contained enough skill and patience to coordinate millions of tactics at a time, could be considered that of the greatest of all players in Asper Online, or that of human feats in general, which is equal to playing a million games of chess at a time. Defeated here, in position to move forward, a subject of war, yet a rude awakening for another. As the tiny body hit the last bone, holding together the barrier, they breached glowing with an aura possible by another. The transformation of space was quick, and no normal person could discern it, yet Mad looked up in the instant. If you blinked, you wouldn’t be able to see it, but Mad didn’t. A Shark? She thought. From the bodies of the minuscule ants, they all seeped, pooling into the form of the shark that opened its mouth wide, taking over the patch of space above its enemies.
-
In their journey to the checkpoint, Law took the form of his trusty Horse. He felt the lap of a new rider and wasn’t pleased. “Law it's only for a moment!” Grande would reply. The two would not speak much until finally, Grande broke the silence. “So what’s it like being able to transform into all living things?” Law kept his face straight, with resolve, but was surprised by her inquiry. As the wind grazed his mane back towards her, he galloped forward confidently. “If I was born a squirrel, I would be a successful squirrel, best at scavenging. If I was born a bird, I would be a successful bird, best at soaring. And If I was born a horse, I would be a successful horse. Best at carrying deadweight.” He looked unimpressed, but Grande could tell there was more to the pestle to his reasoning.
“Before I played Asper I was playing real-time strategy games. I never liked being the hero of anything but I simply liked winning with my strategy.” He explained. “I spent hours on end in Starcraft.”
Grande stayed quiet listening to him. She was surprised he opened up, but couldn't tell where she was going with his sharing.
“The first faction I played was the Terrans. I quickly learned that the Terran had to be very tactical to win against those with significant advantages. I would win games with my vehicles and invisible units, but that was shortly outlived, and that quickly became boring. So I chose Protoss…”
‘And?” Grande inquired.
“I was able to do things I hadn’t imagined. They were able to enter the battlefield in ways that I just couldn't as Terrans, and were able to create shields and different air units.” The excitement in his voice rose. “Then I chose Zerg, an alien swarm colony. I liked their ability to use resources quickly and manifest tons of units.
“Did you end up just using that team?” Grande had never played the game but was at least able to form some degree of what he was talking about.
“I was bored. I didn’t wish to simply use one faction, but things from all of them. To create the perfect team. The perfect animal…Isn’t human. Or isn’t just human.” The law would look back toward Grande. “If you think about it, in our world, where would be without animals? Bees
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
Pollinate flowers and cows produce milk. Through the lives and deaths of many animals fertilize the earth with nutrients and seeds for our future.”
Grande looked surprised. She never expected such an answer from Law, but also because she didn't know how passionate he was regarding animals. “You love animals. Your PBE Skill suits you.”
He nodded, but then soon realized the detail of the quest and raised his horse brow. “We have 4 PBE: Skills to worry about down there. What’s the plan.”
“To get past Horizon I need to test your real-time strategy skills beyond what you’ve maybe ever done.” Grande then slapped Law on his rear to speed up.
-
“If you can hold her for a second, I will defeat Yanderes and Nox. Nero will be the true challenge…”
“Nero is undefeatable,” Grande said. “But If we can remove Nero from the fight. We may have a chance.”
Law would remember this conversation as Grande descended to the floor through the patch. Law's body was covered in a green aura. Grande blinked, uncovering a green glow coming from within. Grande had to act fast, as her promise to Law was not only for the success of their task but for his safety. If he were defeated in its entirety, he would need to respawn, and he would respawn outside the Horizon. He would lose levels and no longer be an effective member of Humanity. She needed to act quickly. As she peered upon the characters entering the room in a hurry, she did not see Jun, so she raised her hand in authority. “Time’s Up!” she said evanescently. Yanderes' body moved for a moment, as did Nox and Nero. Nox’s name was beginning to change to the word unaffected but the text above his head would become Noun as Grande’s ability would take place.
As she mentally hovered over the ability, she needed to make sure of something.
Time’s Up—instant Ability.
The user of this ability can reclock the game’s clock to make its game resources quicker to receive than other players.
The space became like a bubble of water. The near air became wave-like and blurry. The ambience in the room was slightly distorted, as her skill expanded. She slowly passed through it as each movement accosted a unit of time that the skill gave her. She reached up to first Nox. “Your ability is troublesome.” She waved her hand. “Begone!” In an instant, Nox was defeated. Over his head the numbers were simply red, ceasing his maximum health to zero. She then turned to Yanderes whose eyes were now slowly widening. Her mouth reacted in slow motion to the speed at which Grande was moving. Yanderes could see each frame of Grande separating for itself. She could also see the fizzling Nox, reaching towards her. She looked at his lips looking to form words but she wouldn’t be able to even make sense of it. To Grande though, Yanderes was barely changing forms as her movement was jank and shaky. Even more, something was off. She noticed her level had dropped. Was she recently defeated, she thought. Grande would snap her finger calling out a new ability. “Sunspark!” A spark of energy sprung into a form from Yanderes' chest, and slowly began spiraling into an even larger ball of furacious energy swallowing Yanderes and defeating her instantly. Grande would turn to Nero, who was her next target. As she moved towards him she raised her hand, yelling out “Heavenly Rapture!” In an instant a giant hand came through the hole that the ants had patched, seeking to grab Nero. As the hand went to clench him, her biggest fear would come true, as Nero’s eye flinched, looking straight into Grande’s eyes. A burst of dark energy waved through the wave-like space of her skill, disrupting the fabric of reality until finally, it ceased.
Grande's eyes widened, as she was back looking at Law, who would have captured Mad with many of his bodies. ‘Law!” she yelled.
“Law?” a voice said menacingly. “I don’t know a Law?” The voice was Mad’s menacingly erupting through his many bodies. It would be the last of times that Grande would hear Law as Mad's hand patched through the shark's head grabbing a single entity. “So this is Law.” In her hand was a hexagon-shaped object. A fountain-like structure, forged with stone, and a large blue crystal in the center.
“You will never defeat us Mad! You will never. You will-.”
As Law yelled his final words, Mad crushed the crystal. Seemingly Defeating the Law in an instant.
“See I have tricks too!” She said laughing hysterically. As Law's many bodies would fizzle, Grande flew back into the large room. She noticed there were tons of other objects in the rooms. Seats and tables where they had meetings. Bookshelves with books inside and even mirrors on the walls.”This is not good.”
Nero's hand with immeasurable speed parried the skill and it ripped apart into digital nothingness.
“So what now little sis?” Mad yelled. “Going to cry to daddy?”
Grande raised her hands, telepathically connecting to the objects in the room, hurling them towards Nero and Mad. As they hit them they began to walk towards Grande.
“You thought that plan would be enough to defeat us?” Mad tested.
It was then that Grande would feel something. It was like a chill running down her spine. Was it fear? Or was it the coming of defeat that she saw coming? From the corner of her ear, she heard a voice. “It isn’t over yet.
“Law?”
In Grande’s ear, was a small creature with a text above its body reading Law.
“Plan B” she whispered. “Worst case scenario. We fight Nero and Mad?”
“Plan B.” He agreed. “We fight Nero and Mad.”
Grande would let out a final cry. It wasn't towards Mad or Nero. "Jun! We're coming for you! Alex! We're coming for you!"
-
Wherever Jun was he would here the cry for his name. His body felt locked in position, tightened to something. He tried to unlock himself but he couldn't. It couldn't budge. "I'm here!" he yelled, but his voice echoed in the space he was him. It was lit in an gold ambience. "Where am I?" he questioned.