“A real-life game character?”

Miko and Momo looked at each other confused.

“I knew it.”

Only Tia looked like she understood something.

“I’ve been sensing a strange but familiar power lurking inside him since yesterday. Hearing what you said, I’m certain.”

She looked towards Ace.

“You’re a Boost Player.”

Ace nodded.

“I am.”

“What’s a Boost Player?”

Miko asked.

“Boost Player is the name of a relatively new form of magic that fits in with the current times. Basically, it’s magic that grants the user the abilities of a game character.”

“There’s such magic? It’s the first I’ve heard of it.”

Even Momo was surprised.

“As I said, it’s pretty new compared to more mainstream forms of magic. It hasn’t even existed for a century yet.”

“…Is it related to the spells used to enter games?”

Miko asked.

“Nope. That’s something completely different.”

Hina looked at Ace.

“It’s better you show them.”

“Alright. Can you make something for me to spar with?”

Momo nodded and a magic circle appeared on the ground. From it, a golem was summoned. Ace approached it while orange light engulfed his arm.

“Arm Boost X2.”

Suddenly his arm had an explosive increase in size and muscle mass.

“Ohh!”

Ace punched the golem.

*Boom!*

It exploded after coming in contact with Ace’s fist.

“I’m sure you’ve already experienced what he did before, but allow me to explain.”

Hina walked over to Ace.

“That just now was Ace boosting his arm to twice its limit. It’s similar to when you use experience points to boost the strength of a character. The only difference, he did it only to his right arm.”

She held his arm and lifted it.

“Boost Player has turned Ace into a living game character. Meaning, he can do everything a game character can do like boosting his strength.”

“Boost Cancel.”

Ace’s arm returned to normal.

“Of course, it's all temporary.”

He said.

“Amazing. I never knew that there was such an ability.”

Momo’s eyes were sparkling.

“Of course, it's very difficult to learn and it has severe risks too.”

Tia smirked.

“For example, you need to have a certain mindset even to attempt to learn it.”

“What kind of mindset?”

“You need to be able to see the world as a video game.”

Miko’s eyes widened.

“Is that even possible?”

“It is.”

Hina pointed at Ace with her thumb.

“The world looks like a game through his eyes. To him, everyone are game characters following their own narrative.”

“So that’s why it’s difficult to learn. Not everyone can see life as a video game. For you to do that, your mind must be very unique.”

Excitement stained Momo’s face.

“That’s right. Ace’s mind was wired differently from everyone else’s to fit Boost Player. He can’t bring out his full strength that easily, but can push past his limits by ignoring the possible strain that comes with it. He also needs a unique composition that allows him to control his body like a game character. All in all, it’s very hard to learn and even harder to master.”

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“Wait, you said he can’t use his full strength, but you then contradict yourself by saying that he can push past his limits. What’s with that?”

After listening to everything Hina said, Miko figured that she was withholding information that would allow someone to really grasp how Ace’s ability works.

“I’d appreciate it if you trusted me a bit more.”

Hina sighed.

“I was getting to that. You see, Ace can’t use his full strength that easily because of the way his brain is wired. It’s more of a machine now than an organ.”

She tapped her skull with a finger.

“Most of Ace’s abilities are segmented from each other into special zones inside of his brain, that he can access overtime.”

“So in other words, his abilities are restricted and can only be used under certain conditions. Why go through the trouble?”

Momo asked.

“What you said isn’t wrong. Your senses, your physical abilities, your magical abilities, and even your mental abilities; all of them are isolated from each other, and also have to be trained separately. In other words, [Boost Player] users improve at a slower rate than everyone else. This can be seen as wasting your potential.”

Ace replied.

“Then why?”

Miko was also curious.

“My growth indeed seems slower than everyone else, and I definitely have to work twice as hard as everyone else. But that's only on the surface.”

“What do you mean?”

“It's an undeniable fact I have to train everything separately; but what do you think would happen if all the abilities that I worked so hard to train separately, suddenly come together?”

Miko thought about it and suddenly came to a realization.

“It's just like what you’re thinking. I'll have an explosive power-up. Well, I can't really call it a power up, since it's just my true power that was forcibly restricted being released. But that would be enough to switch the tables on my opponents.”

Ace started grinning

“I have something I call Characters stored in my brain. Each character governs over certain abilities. If I choose one of these Characters, I can gain access to the abilities that they govern.”

“It’s like picking a character in a fighting game or RPG. Each character comes with an unique skill set.”

He nodded at Momo.

“Now, after all this information….”

Ace smirked and said-

“Would you want to fight someone like me?”

“…….”

Miko didn’t answer immediately. Ace would be an annoying opponent to fight against. After all, it would be incredibly hard to gauge his strength, and he could switch up his fighting style and tactics just by switching his character.

Yet-

“I would.”

Miko answered as such.

“Oh?”

Ace’s eyes widened a bit.

“While it would be a pain fighting you, trust me I know, it also come with its merits. For example, I can improve my reaction time and adaptability in battle. Both which are very essential to growing stronger.”

Ace silently looked at Miko for a while. A smile crawled on his face. He walked up to Miko and wrapped his arm around his shoulder.

“You’re really an interesting guy. Someone who can say something like that to me and with a determined look is definitely a Player.”

He started grinning.

“Miko, I’ve now acknowledged you as one of my limited guy friends. They can only be no more than 3 at a time, so you’re lucky.”

“Why are you deciding that on your own? I never said I wanted to be friends with you.”

Miko replied with an uncomfortable frown.

“How about I fight with you from time to time?”

“Deal.”

The two shook hands as if coming to an agreement. Ace then skipped over to Tia.

“My Goddess, now that I’m friends with Miko I’ll be at your service, night and day.”

He took her hand and kneeled.

“I think that’s servitude, not friendship.”

Momo sighed.

Later that day, Ace and Hina returned to their home in Gael.

“Man, that was pretty fun talking to a goddess like that.”

Ace was all smiles.

“Miko was very interesting as well. Although, it seems he has his guard up around us.”

“Well, it can’t be helped. He doesn’t look like the type to trust people 100% or maybe even 70%.”

Hina, on the other hand; was frowning.

“I mean, look at me. I’m his favorite author, and he still watches my every movement like a hawk.”

“Well, you can come off as suspicious.”

Ace laughed.

“Maybe that’s just how he is. I mean, wasn’t he targeted a lot as a kid? That might be the reason. Besides, I’m sure he realizes that we’re hiding our true powers from him.”

“Well, it’s not like we could tell him everything.”

Hina grumbled.

“Besides, everyone has their secrets.”

By that time, the two arrived at the front door of their apartment. They both paused a bit before entering.

“Ugh….”

When they entered they saw countless people scattered all over the lobby, groaning in pain. Hina turned to Ace.

“Friends of yours?”

“You know I don’t associate with NPCs like these.”

“Maybe they have a grudge against you? I mean, you did kill a lot of people.”

“Oh, yeah.”

Ace stepped on a man’s head.

“Do you want me to dispose of them?”

“Here? And ruin the furniture I worked so hard to create? No thank you.”

Hina kicked one of them across the room. She started kicking every one of them that obstructed her path.

“More importantly, who did—”

She was cut off by the sound of music reverberating through the building. The two looked at each other and smiled. They cleared the broken bodies out of their way and entered the elevator. The elevator took them to the living room floor. Once they arrived, they saw even more bodies scattered everywhere. From the butts sticking out the window, it was safe to say that some were thrown outside as well. Ace threw the bodies out the window while they headed towards the music.

“He could’ve at least cleaned up after himself.”

Ace grumbled as he closed the window. After a little bit of walking, they saw someone playing a guitar in a room that had a balcony outside it. This person was a little over 6ft tall, dressed in a white jacket varsity jacket with azure stripes and a white t-shirt underneath, light blue jeans, and blue and white sneakers. They had ash blonde hair, light blue eyes, an attractive yet boyish face, and was wearing a necklace with a G Clef pendant.

“Sora, you’re back.”

Hina was the first to speak. The teen boy stopped playing after seeing them.

“Yeah, the tour in Lushan was long but I’m finally back. When I arrived though, I found some idiots trying to steal our stuff. You guys should really lock up if you’re going out for a while.”

“Well, even if they stole anything Hina could make them over.”

Ace leaned on a wall.

“True, but these guys seem to be special.”

Sora put his guitar away.

“They were most likely sent by Nebulous.”

“…So he couldn’t stay quiet after what happened.”

“What do you mean, Hina?”

Hina and Ace narrated what happened with Igor Rigoni and the Black Spades.

“So something like that happened while I was gone.”

“We believe Nebulous let everything happen just to harass us.”

“It’s highly likely.”

Sora remained silent for a bit before looking at Hina and Ace.

“I’ve been thinking. I think it’s about time we take back our lives and get our revenge.”

Those words shocked Ace and Hina.

“Does that mean you’re finally up for it?!”

Ace’s eyes were gleaming.

Sora nodded.

“Let’s take down this empire’s Crime God.”

BLACK SPADES ARC ENDS!!

Underworld War Arc Begins!