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Chapter 288: Peekaboo!!
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“Tell me, what did he tell you?”
Siva faced her and he did not dare to remove his mask for fear that she would be disgusted.
Scion, a beauty that could make people go crazy for possession, a beauty that gives off the sense of fragileness and holiness, so pure and untainted by the mundane that she provokes the very purest of desires amongst men and men-at-hearts to aggressively grab her and taint her themselves; this beauty that could destroy any country with a request, this beauty with a pinkish red lips and eyes that spoke of her purest of care and love towards Siva, was biting her trembling lips and is trying to stop herself from crying, as she couldn’t put the right words to tell him about what she had heard and what she had seen from Janus.
What she could do was to hold his hand and kiss him. In her eyes, the black smoke skin curse that plagues his being does not exist and only that battered image of a Rex Kingsley crying in front of that glass window outside Baron’s hospital room is the one she was seeing right now.
She couldn’t find the words to say so in impulse, she had kissed him.
With her cheeks blushing in brightly pinkish glow, she buried herself on his shoulder. Siva wasn’t crying or anything, but he was silent…. frozen.
That kiss……………
It’s his first kiss…. albeit mentally.
“Amanda…”
“Sssshh…. just let me do this.” She pulled his sleeve and whispered in her sweet and overly gentle trademark voice, “What Janus showed me is how this world came to be, and he also told me about the mission Terra gave you upon the end of that war.”
“That war….”
Siva murmured and paused for a moment while looking at her buried face on his upper arm.
A few moments after, he faced upfront as if he was looking at something far away as he spoke as if he was telling a story. “I have little memory of what happened in that war, 56 years ago. But I have a feeling that it did not end with the Terrans winning or the Demon Horde losing. Something happened that made this world survive.”
Scion shook her head, “I don’t know as well. The old man showed me that this world was born with you, Siva, being one of the center people but since your purpose was not needed during that time, you were told to sleep and only wake up at the right moment that you are needed.”
“….”
“But majority of the things I saw and heard from the old man is about your hatred of the world and about the things that happened after that war. He also told me to never leave your side a-and…”
“And?”
Scion paused in silence.
“Ah! Awawawawa…. hey!”
But not even a moment later, she bit Siva’s arm as if she was tearing it off that it not only startled him but actually felt fearful by the sudden ‘violence’ of this docile and gentle girl.
She raised her head, her face blushing pink. Siva felt his heart pounding as he stared at her pouting and seemingly seductive glare.
“I just kissed you right now and you don’t even have anything to tell me and just kept asking me things about this and that? That was my first kiss!”
“That was… ermm….. kiss…!!”
“…..what?”
Of course Siva couldn’t tell her that it wasn’t his first kiss but it doesn’t matter right now. He could clearly tell that she doesn’t care.
“That, well, your kiss almost fried my brain cells.”
He looked in another direction in embarrassment as he spoke his excuse and this made Scion giggle with a seductive charm.
“Please don’t laugh. I am not a player.”
“But you have Cassiopeia and Agatha though.”
Siva choked and Scion giggled again.
Having warmed the awkwardly serious moments, Siva put his hand over her shoulder as they both leaned back on the sofa.
“I’m sorry if I have to push you away like this but please understand that until I get Baron back, I can’t risk your safety. Like I said earlier, I feel that the World Government is connected to all of the mess I am in right now. I was once even taken to Fort Magsaysay. Baron is being held there. I don’t know where it is in the country but I feel that it’s not far away in Metro Manila.”
Siva’s words made Scion shudder.
World Government… UNICORN…
Just who would stand against them?
She just couldn’t imagine that the first love of her life would face such problem in this grand a scale.
And what more… she was also part of it.
Scion remained silent.
Rex, against the UNICORN….?
It was just too hard to imagine and too absurd of an idea. Even if it was just an imagination, that an ordinary teenager like him was suddenly thrust into a battlefield with enemies scaling in the size of the World Government, anyone with a properly working set of brain cells would know that it was an impossible task to win against them.
She did not dare to ask how it was so since she herself saw that black limousine parked outside the hospital the night before Rex went missing.
Furthermore, Thorn and Volt had already told her before during her time in The Archangel, along with the warnings and hints that Kathleen Brew’s father gave them, and the many mysterious and baffling things that Janus told her and made her see……
All of it…..
Everything……
……..told her that whoever was inside that black limousine and was pulling the strings that makes Siva —no— Rex Kingsley, move in the stage box called RPG: Terroa, is by no means just ordinary hoodlums and criminals that does smalltime criminal businesses an activities…
No.
Whether they are even doing criminal activities or legal businesses, whatever it was, the people gripping Rex Kingsley’s neck behind the curtains of scenes and events in and outside of Terroa, all have the capability and size that could rival, and perhaps even threaten, the World Government.
“The UNICORN…” only now did Scion took these words seriously and embedded it in her heart.
And yet, no matter how much she thought on how she could be of help to Rex, she couldn’t think of anything…………. aside from the task that Janus had given her.
“Rex… the old man told me about this…”
Siva, hearing this, looks at his side and stared at her beautifully sparking pair of eyes.
“….he said that right now, you might not have the ability to fight them all and that you will have to tread on this alone… and… and he also told me that my role in all of this is to… is to be there for you as the place you could call home…”
While she said this, her eyes were getting wet but she didn’t cry and instead became embarrassed until the end of her speech because the underlying meaning behind her words was clearly apparent without needing for much deliberation.
She didn’t say anything else after that as she just buried her face on his armpit, her hands trying to cover her red-flushed face. If Siva’s flank had a hole, she would have dived there for protection.
—did she just confess to me?
“Amanda…”
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“Shut up!”
Siva was heartily touched and he tried to call on her to look at him.
For some reason, he felt his heart skipping beats trying to think about and dearly recall her blushing expression he managed to glance earlier.
If he wasn’t cursed right now, he might even be blushing as brightly red as her as well.
“Mandyaaa —atatatata… aw aw aw aw —WHY?!!”
Siva tried to endearingly use her nickname but he was met with a vicious bite on his chest instead.
“Meanie! Bully!”
For some reason, this ‘sweet and cuddlesome’ child-like blushing and frowning Scion —an away and very rare variety of her usual docile and fragile image, invited a sexy impression on Siva’s mind that made him joyful in his heart.
It was a wonder that Scion really doesn’t see this frightening physical smile of him that could even summon a few awkward laughs from Thorn and Volt, even though they were the ones who had spent more time with Siva.
Having thrown enough tantrums at him, Scion worriedly spoke while burying her face on his armpit again. “Can you win against Cramer? I heard he’s really strong…”
Siva was silent and after a few moments that he had been so, Scion raised her head to look at his white mask’s eyes that were looking at the Billiard Table —or a place beyond the wall behind it…
He then said, “I honestly am not strong without the set of equipments in my arsenal. I’ve also long since been aware that my greatest strength relies on my weapons shifting-style. The reason why I agreed to this duel is because I also wanted to test the limits of my new found strength.”
“New found strength?” Scion was puzzled and raised her head to look at him with an adorable curious expression.
Siva didn’t look at her this time. No. He couldn’t.
“Yeah……”
At this moment, his mind began to run simulations on the things on what might happen——
“….I needed to test this something.”
—that in a span of a few minutes, he had already finished at least 100 simulation rounds……………
*****
Sword-God Island
To the world outside of Terroa, this newly rising landmark, or rather, a trademark of the notorious “The Company” that is now being dubbed a sensation by the players who managed to see it during the ‘plot’ of that channel before the camera was trashed…… is now being filled by members of The Company.
Organized rows were lined as an audience rack and a stadium (taken from Alexandria, ahem) with no roof, just like the ones in Warjillis, was now being filled with these oncoming members.
All in all, the total number of the members of The Company can be numbered to a total of more than 50,000 active members.
Combining the active numbers that made up The Legion that defected, as well as the members of the guilds from Warjillis and the members of the former Turquoise Unit —now known as Black Mustache Unit— 40% of that number were NPCs.
With Coralline’s paranoia-bordering absurdly tight security details, and Akhenaton’s newly improved [Defense Zone] that measured 55km from the mobile prison (35km-large* [Fortress] included), it may not actively defend against everything but the [zone] was enough to enable The Company to actively detect and deploy their forces against the ones who wanted to sneak-in to the newly-ascended large island. (*please note that I have not forgotten that it’s only 34km, but the 35km here is adding up Akhenaton’s size in the math)
Right now, the world may have already been made aware of the changes with the islands that surrounded Akhenaton but the members of The Company couldn’t care less because for them, the secrecy of their organization means the end of their online careers if they do so as much as reveal anything that’s happening inside The Fortress.
Besides, even if these members were tempted to take sneak shots of the interior of the Fortress, Siva would immediately know who it was because Akhenaton’s incredible memory processing ability have been taken into account as every activity that is happening in the Fortress is being recorded by Akhenaton himself.
It was one of his advantages as an active living AI.
With specific instruction from Siva, anyone who is going to violate the rules of The Company shall be ejected from The Fortress on the spot.
Not only wouldn’t they be able to record anything, they would have totally burnt their player avatars and will be blacklisted by Akhenaton.
Tyrannical?
No one forced* them to join The Company. It was their choice whether they wanted to quit or not and besides, they were already informed in the first place when they signed the contract. (*ahem)
The Company had been laid bare for them with all its rules and regulations when they decided to join it at the time.
Whether they wanted to quit or not was theirs to decide upon but Akhenaton will still not tolerate the slightest of mishaps to befall the Fortress.
The Company’s [secrecy] was its highest asset!!
And at this time, as the rows and audience seats were being filled to the brim, this company-only-wide event was going to happen in about a few minutes…………a fight between the two only owners of the most powerful Hammer-type weapon in the game is about to begin!
The Sword-God Island is one of the few places strictly guarded primarily because of two ‘large’ reasons: the [BBB] and the [Giant Sword]!
In actual terms, the [Giant Sword] is an item and if one has sufficient space in their inventory, they can actually take it away. And right now, it’s an owner-less item so that’s why it was being strictly guarded by The Company.
*****
Siva was standing on the northern quadrant of the 100m-large arena while Cramer wore a confident smile with his own Mjolnir, its head down on the ground and the 1.25m long handle’s tip acting like a sword’s hilt that supports his hands, stood there 40m away on the southern side.
The two of them wore a farmer’s garb —the basic [beginner equipment] of when a player just starts the game…. providing no protection whatsoever and with its only purpose to cover the sensitive features of a player avatar.
Everyone wears this type of [clothes] on the start of their careers so they understand completely that aside from these two’s weapons, they doesn’t have any kind of protection on blunt impacts at all.
Well, considering that they are in a Neutral Zone, there are bound to be special rules that will allow one to be decided as a victor.
In this regard, Thorn, as a trustworthy personage, was chosen to be the umpire for this match.
“This duel only has fur rules for victory: (1) You get knocked out of the ring; (2) You admit defeat; (3) You are down for the 10 counts; or (4) You’re forcefully logged out by the console. There is no need to take in consideration of damage or injury to your avatar since we are in a Neutral Zone, but the impact is still real and although it doesn’t deal any damage to your avatar, it will still hurt just a bit and the experience of being knocked over your senses will give you a [Forced Logout]. It is still a legal KO win. Are we clear with these rules?”
When Thorn spoke, his voice echoed in the arena because of the Auricle’s [Megaphone] function.
As his voice rung as well on the speakers installed all around the arena, cheers exploded from the crowd and the members of The Company began to bet on who’s going to win this particular event.
Moreover, there were camera drones of different types and sizes flying around the entire arena itself —the only ones allowed— controlled by yours truly…………. the sniffing cat.
Would this cat miss this scoop? Of course the answer is a shining and magnificent NO. After the commercial proceeds and monetary compensation agreements have been done with Kathleen being the mediator, a secret transaction happened between Siva and the TDT Channel….
How the money will be transferred over to Siva, is a matter of a different chapter.
“Nya?”
In an active video call on Siva’s panel, he was looking at the [LIVE] pay-per-view promotion of the event being done, alone, by Brad Goldini in Terroa Day Today.
“I will leave the rest to you.” Siva said and the cat made a satisfied salute on the video call before cutting the line.
Siva then faced Thorn and gave him a nod.
Thorn then looked at Cramer, “Are you ready?”
“I’m burning.” Cramer replied and his wide smile and burning passion for a fight reminded Thorn of Hagrid back in Dragona.
After that, Thorn raised a hand and the entire audience rack became silent.
The cheers, the wind, the chirping birds, and the sound of whispers…. all vanished as they gulped down their excitement and anticipation regarding this duel.
Scion, Agatha, Cassiopeia, FlowerLord, Samara, and Hawkeye were bundled closer to each other while Volt and the rest of the TOS Guild members were not too far away on a 3rd level windowed veranda.
Everyone of them was looking forward to this sudden event that was announced only in TDT as an [exclusive] scoop and a pay-per-view at that with the tagline of [Cramer against Siva].
Just the sensational name alone was enough to put ad companies to hurry up and bid excessive prices for the limited spots on commercials during the supposed “live” PPV.
Of course, when it was spoken of as a [Live PPV], it wouldn’t actually be LIVE since it will still have a slight bit of delay from the actual coverage.
Since the members of The Company have been given sufficient warning and briefing, no one will dare to spread the news of what will happen here to the outside world within the next twelve hours.
—TWELVE HOURS.
Period.
That was the time agreement since TDT had to “insert” the commercials and make it look like it was actually happening [LIVE].
As such, only after four hours had passed in the real world will they see the [Live PPV].
Right at this moment, Brad Goldini was doing his best to promote the event and while it is so, the world is going crazy trying to buy the tickets and there are even some who’s buying bulk tickets and was planning to auction them underground.
Such was the craze ignited by this ‘unpredictable’ element named Siva.
And Cramer?
There was no need to speak of his fame. He was one of the aces of the TOS Guild.
The TOS Guild was, after all, not an ordinary guild since its members are made up of elites that are personally invited by Thorn that could rival the abilities of the open secret organization, Circle of Elites “Illuminati”. (A/N: Bogart: Illuminati…!!)
With Thorn’s raised hand bidding the silence of the crowd, everyone waited for him to bring down the signal and witness a fight that might never be repeated ever again.
“Begin!”
Thorn’s resounding voice rung and along with that is an explosion of cheers as the bated breaths of the crowd were released, along with the sounds of two clashing blunt objects….. crashing at each other like thunderclaps in the stage.
Two shining, shimmering Godhammers drew an arch as the 40 meters distance between the two was shortened in but less than ten seconds.
Siva was smaller and thus his arch was upwards while Cramer had the advantage of height and the domineering body frame, so his arch was a falling motion; the two Godhammer forming two eye-catchingly beautiful golden resplendent trails!!
In their wake was a path of dust clouds, their two bodies of different sizes headed for a direct clash of might!
BOOM!!
The two silhouettes of the Godhammers made the blunt strike on their bodies; north meets south, and two’s bodies flew towards east and west!
“Ahahahahaha! Wonderful! WONDERFUL!!!”
The first to recover his bearing was Cramer as his two feet made tapping sounds before he stopped his momentum and countered the weight, took his first defiant step, and charged straight towards Siva.
His laughter was the same battle-hungry laughter as Hagrid and if Hubert —no— Kira was here to hear Cramer right now, then she’d only shake her head and say, “these two are like brothers”.[1]
Siva recovered late and thus he was met with the battering ram-like charge of Cramer.
Before he could take his fifth step to counter the weight of being blown away, Cramer’s shadow was already looming at him.
“Peekaboo!” Cramer’s face and body was darkened by a shadowy veil akin to an elephant casting its large shadow over a tiger.
Only his eyes and wide smile could be seen in that one moment and when Siva raised his head, Cramer’s Godhammer was already falling down.
.
.
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Cramer’s violence erupts!!!
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