Chapter 75: Settling the Score and Overkill
Author's Note: I messed up the scheduled post! Oh well, updating as-is.
What the hell was that? Orcelott — Pencilgon's little brother or whatever — just got beaten like a filthy rag and vanished... The Ashura-Kai remnants were pummeled to a degree that honestly left me feeling nothing but pity, and when they disappeared, an enormous pile of items scattered across the ground.
Pencilgon: "Good grief... hoarding all these items Ashura-Kai was sitting on — what, were they planning to skip town or something...?"
With a sigh, Pencilgon kicked aside a sword that radiated a sinister aura — it had dropped where Orcelott had been standing. Before we'd returned from the Wethermon battle arena to the Hidden Garden, we'd had to figure out what to do about Ashura-Kai, who were all but guaranteed to be lying in wait. Pencilgon's proposal: the "Call In a Strong Friend and Have Them Figure Something Out Operation." Through some twist of fate, I happened to be friend-registered with Psyger-0 — one of the absolute top individual players in all of Shangri-La Frontier — so it fell to me to send out the distress signal. I had nothing but gratitude for Psyger-0, who'd shown up practically instantly... though the response time was so absurdly fast it was actually a little unnerving.
Psyger-0: "U-Um..."
Sunraku: "Ah, Psyger-0-san. Thanks a lot for coming all this way."
Psyger-0: "N-No... it's... fine, really. More importantly... congratulations... on the Unique Monster takedown."
Yeah, the GM announcement had blasted that info far and wide... Thanks to that, walking the main streets just got a whole lot harder. Maybe I should just give up on that front. With Rabituza as a refuge, it's not exactly something to panic over. And the direct problem — Ashura-Kai — had been crushed by Pencilgon anyway, with Orcelott just now reduced to a dirty rag by Psyger-0.
Silence settled between Psyger-0 and me. What now? "We're done with you, so you can go home now" felt awkward to say. Should I offer some kind of thanks?
Pencilgon: "Ah, Psyger-0-chaaan? Hate to ask after you came all this way, but I've got one more favor. That okay?"
Psyger-0: "...What is it?"
Psyger-0 turned to Pencilgon, her tone curt in a way that screamed I'm forcing myself through this. Pencilgon, as casually as if she were discussing the weather, dropped her request.
Pencilgon: "While you're at it, mind killing me too? The reward: every single item I'm currently carrying, including two Tears of Rebirth, plus all the rare items Ashura-Kai was holding that are scattered right here."
Psyger-0: "...Are you sure?"
Pencilgon: "Sure I'm sure. What, I'm supposed to be the only one with zero risk? That'd make me a munchkin even worse than my idiot little brother. And anyway, I'm about sick of PK-ing. Figure it's time to clean the slate — wipe my sins out in one go."
If I recalled right, the penalty for getting PKK'd was the confiscation of all your items plus a massive fine. Just how colossal a penalty Pencilgon would face — given she'd PK'd enough to earn herself an embarrassing epithet — was beyond imagining. But according to Pencilgon, this had been the plan from the start.
Pencilgon: "That said, I am still a player-killer at heart. I'm not quite a good enough girl to just sit still and wait for the headsman's axe to fall..."
Picking up the sword Orcelott had been holding, Pencilgon leveled it at Psyger-0 and made her declaration of war — or rather, requested one. Psyger-0 seemed to hesitate for a moment, but after a brief glance my way, she gave a quiet nod.
Psyger-0: "...Understood. If my opponent is the No-Life Hunter Giant Killing herself... I'll go all-out."
Psyger-0 readied the jet-black greatsword from her back — clearly not something forged by human hands alone. A weapon into which some transcendent power beyond mortal ken had been forced into the shape of a blade. She chanted softly:
Psyger-0: "Sataniel, Demon Lord Celestial Emperor... invert. Satan, Celestial Emperor Demon Lord."
In that instant, the greatsword pulsed and thrummed as if alive. From the tip, the color, texture, and very nature of the blade shifted — white washing over it — until a radiant, pure-white greatsword emerged. Not a trace of the sinister aura from moments before remained; the divine blade glimmered quietly in the moonlight. But had the malevolent darkness been extinguished? Far from it. As the blade grew ever brighter, the blackness expelled from it seeped into Psyger-0 herself. Her platinum holy-knight form was dyed black, her very shape warping. The figure before us was now a far cry from a sacred knight — radiating the impression of a demon lord, of evil incarnate.
Pencilgon: "So this is the rumored Unique weapon of the max-damage attack holder — Antinomy, the Divine-Demonic Greatsword... showing me the inversion too — how generous."
Psyger-0: "My si— ahem. I've heard about you from the Commander. She said you're not to be underestimated, that you'll slip away the moment anyone drops their guard, and that the instant you're found, you're to be dispatched in a single decisive blow."
Pencilgon: "What am I, a cockroach?"
Sunraku & Oikatzo: "BWFFAHA!!"
It was such a perfectly accurate assessment — and an even more absurd analogy coming from the woman herself — that Oikatzo and I couldn't help bursting out.
Pencilgon: "Hang on a sec. Gonna kill these two first... All right, big sis's final PK — let's give it everything I've got."
Oikatzo: "Who the hell gave her a weapon?!"
Sunraku: "Psyger-0, was it?! Hurry up and beat that walking hazard senseless!"
Psyger-0: "U-Um..."
Psyger-0 clearly wasn't used to our particular brand of comedy, but once Pencilgon raised her sword, Psyger-0 shifted into combat stance as well.
Psyger-0: "...'Highest Strength.' 'Karmic Demon's Embrace.' 'Lightning Flash Splendor.' Enchant: Var Million... 'Catastrophe.'"
Oikatzo: "Whoa... what the hell is that..."
I completely understood why Oikatzo was at a loss for words. The layers of enhancement being applied to Psyger-0 had reached a level that was, frankly, horrifying — she no longer looked like a player at all. She was fully a demon, a demon lord, a monster of that order. So much so that I honestly wondered: if not for the forced level-cap restriction, could she have fought Wethermon the Tombguard head-on?
Pencilgon: "Phew... The activation incantation was... 'Drink deep of blood, gnaw flesh asunder, savor death and spit out life. Thou art slaughterer, sing out high atop a mountain of corpses'... right?"
As Pencilgon chanted, the sword she was holding — formerly Orcelott's — began to pulse, and not metaphorically. Something disturbingly organic, like a jumbled mass of fang-studded meat, latched onto Pencilgon's right arm, dying the blade a murky black and warping its shape.
Oikatzo: "Ugh... that's some disgusting taste..."
What emerged was... how to describe it? Like a nail-bat flattened into a blade — something far too distorted to be called a sword, with fangs jutting out all over.
Pencilgon: "Well then — let's settle this fair and square."
Psyger-0: "...Whenever you're ready."
Pencilgon: "Then don't mind if I do... 'Serial Killer.' Shadow Picture Mockery. Enchant: Vorpal. 'Massacre Bite'!"
With the sword fused to her right arm, Pencilgon launched forward. She closed in on Psyger-0 with irregular, nearly serpentine movements, then braked hard the instant Psyger-0 swung her blade down — circling behind and thrusting her sword. But the strike was blocked by something like a black haze shrouding Psyger-0's armor, never reaching the armor itself. Psyger-0 turned, sweeping her blade in an arc. Pencilgon tried to evade the white greatsword, but the black haze clung to her weapon, delaying her by a single step.
Pencilgon: "Guh—!"
Psyger-0: "Exist Requiem."
Because Pencilgon's hand was fused to the sword, the haze snagging her blade meant she'd failed to escape in time. Her right arm was cleaved off. With the sword forcibly separated from her body, Pencilgon leaped backward — but her movements were dulled, as if something were pressing down on her. Pencilgon didn't have the kind of mentality where losing an arm would tank her performance that badly. Which meant Psyger-0 was doing something — interfering somehow.
Psyger-0: "...I'll end this here."
Pencilgon: "Hahaha... I guess overturning a level gap at my level really is asking too much... Still, I can't exactly make a pathetic showing in this place!"
Pencilgon cast a single glance at the withered, lifeless tree that stood in the heart of the Hidden Garden — and then, with no right arm and no weapon, she launched a bare-handed charge at Psyger-0.
Psyger-0: "...In that case... my best. Opposing providences, repelling light and darkness — deny rejection, stitch together severed fates. My body stained with light, steeped in darkness — O chaos, devour the world... Chaos Void."
A single flash. All Psyger-0 had done was sidestep Pencilgon's left-handed strike and, in passing, swing her blade in a horizontal slash. That was it. That was all it took. Pencilgon's upper body vanished — cleanly, utterly gone. And moments later, her lower half, now bereft of everything above, burst into polygons and disappeared.
Psyger-0: "............"
???: "Uh... time out."
Oikatzo and I backed well away from Psyger-0 and began a hushed consultation.
Sunraku: ("Uh, what do we do?! Pencilgon just got deleted in a way that was way more brutal than I expected!")
Oikatzo: ("Now that our communication-monster Pencilgon is gone, how are we supposed to talk to... THAT? She's YOUR friend, Sunraku — figure something out!")
Sunraku: ("You're asking the guy she ambushed after reading my entire strategy, then suddenly sent a friend request to?! She's still in the 'dangerous individual' category in my book!!")
Oikatzo: ("Phew... Fine, got it. Allow me to demonstrate the communicative prowess of a pro gamer.")
Sunraku: ("'Communicative prowess'...")
Consultation complete. With a slightly strained smile, Oikatzo approached Psyger-0 — who had somehow already reverted to her platinum armor.
Oikatzo: "Uh... er... so. W-Wasn't expecting you to take down Pencilgon in one hit! That's the power of a high-level player, huh?"
Psyger-0: "...Well... I have... a lot of Unique skills... so... it's not like... everyone can..."
Oikatzo: "So, like, could you tell us what kind of skills—"
Psyger-0: "...That's a little..."
Oikatzo: "Ah..."
Oikatzo trudged back to me and clapped a hand on my shoulder in silence.
Oikatzo: "Sorry, my communicative prowess turned out to be garbage. Tell me what game I can play to train my social skills."
Sunraku: "Love Clock."
Oikatzo: "THAT'S THE PIZZA STUDY-ABROAD ONE!"
A game that teaches you — through brutal experience — that carelessly dropping sweet words and triggering flags leads to unbelievably aggravating consequences. Still, for a pro gamer, Oikatzo had turned out to be way more socially awkward than I'd expected, so I reluctantly stepped up.
Sunraku: "Uh, look... thanks for indulging Pencilgon's selfishness. She said it herself — all the items lying around here are yours to take."
Psyger-0: "............There's..."
Sunraku: "Yes?"
Psyger-0: "SOMETHING. I. WANT. TO. ASK."
Sunraku: "Oh— yes."
I had to fight the urge to step backward at the sudden flat, robotic voice — so stiff it sounded like someone had slapped a voice filter on her. Steeling myself, I waited for Psyger-0's question.
Psyger-0: "...So... um... what... is your relationship... with Pencilgon...?"
Sunraku: "With Pencilgon? Hmm... gaming buddies?"
Calling us friends felt like it glossed over a whole lot of betrayals and inter-party backstabbing... but at the end of the day, if any one of the three of us — me, Oikatzo, or Pencilgon — said "let's play," the other two would jump in. So yeah, gaming buddies felt about right.
Psyger-0: "I-Is that so... friends... tomodachi... FRENZZZ..............."
The "Psyger-0 is actually a bugged NPC" theory was rapidly gaining plausibility in my mind, but asking that outright would obviously be rude. Just exchanging words with her generated the same kind of pressure as the Wethermon fight, so I focused on gathering up all the scattered weapons, armor, and items and passing them over to Psyger-0.
Just as I picked up the last item — that creepy sword that had belonged to Orcelott and that Pencilgon had been using moments ago — Psyger-0's body was enveloped in a white light. It was similar to the glow of the magic circle she'd appeared from, and since it was starting to erase her from the feet up, it seemed some kind of return system had activated. Honestly, saved by the bell.
Psyger-0: "Ah... time's... up already..."
Sunraku: "Oh — well, let me say again: thanks for saving us. I'll repay you for this someday."
Psyger-0: "I-In... that case... if there's... ever a chance... please... definitely, togeth—"
Fwoosh. Psyger-0 vanished. I was left holding the creepy sword, having missed my chance to hand it over.
Sunraku: "...Oikatzo, you want this?"
Oikatzo: "It looks like it smells like raw meat, so no."
Sunraku: "Can't just leave it here, though... eh, whatever."
It was a little too heavy to one-hand anyway, and honestly, the weird slimy feeling was so gross I didn't even want it in my inventory — but data was data. I shoved it in and called it a day.
Sunraku: "Let's head home, then."
Oikatzo: "Yeah... man, I'm gonna sleep so well tonight."
Sunraku: "You mean 'pass out in a dead faint,' not 'sleep well.'"
Oikatzo: "No argument here."
Still, I had somewhere to go first. Guess we'd part ways in Thirdrema.