Chapter 163: The Tower of the Electronic Realm That Defies the Judgment of Genesis
Requiem for Armies. A title released in the early days of full-dive VR that is still hailed as a masterpiece in the history of FPS games. In its campaign scenario—the so-called story mode played offline—there was a faceless mercenary named "Jack" who time and again stood in the protagonist's way, at times fought shoulder to shoulder, and ultimately vanished into the deep sea alongside a nuclear bomb. This mercenary always wore a helmet fitted with a mask modeled after a Jack-o'-lantern, and no one knew his face. Even player-led data mining revealed that "the face graphics were never created in the first place"—a thorough concealment of his features. A renowned supporting character in Requiem for Armies. And that, apparently, is the origin of the pumpkin-helmeted soldier I'm now cosplaying.
Towa: "Perfect for a faceless guy like you, right?"
Rakuro: "Still feels way too early for Halloween."
That aside, for a cosplay prop, this helmet is seriously elaborate—voice changer, light-up function, and even a transforming feature where the jaw section slides open to reveal just the mouth and bare face. Setting aside the character stuff, it's got a certain romantic appeal that makes me kinda want one.
Towa: "And I'm cosplaying the female knight who guards the castle of a fallen kingdom even in death—'Nameless.' A costume choice that true connoisseurs will recognize, my dear fellow."
Rakuro: "Yeah, yeah, sure."
Megumi: "How do I put this... you two are seriously thick-skinned."
We got a deeply suspicious look from the event staff, but we've been shown to the waiting room as members of "Nitro Squad"—one half of the upcoming exhibition match. Natsume-san, making no effort to hide her nerves, speaks up to the two of us chattering away beside her. I mean, yeah—you could say it'd be weirder not to be nervous about facing one of America's top pro gaming teams in front of a huge crowd.
Towa: "For me, y'know... the more eyes on me, the better my performance? Something like that?"
Megumi: "...And you?"
Rakuro: "Me? Well, I'm nervous in my own way, but... once I full-dive, it probably won't bother me much?"
The audience isn't actually entering the game itself. Sure, standing in front of a massive crowd without a shred of nerves is a tall order, but between the face-covering getup and some good old-fashioned self-hypnosis roleplay—telling myself this much is nothing—I figure I'll manage.
Rakuro: "Also, isn't there that trick? You write 'God' on your palm to get rid of nerves."
Megumi: "...Wasn't it 'person'?"
Towa: "Pfft, I love it—adopted. When it's my turn, I'm writing 'God' on my palm."
Devouring God to grow stronger... that's one hell of a diet. Still, suits us just fine, doesn't it? We're not exactly the type to care about appearances.
Towa: "Alrighty, final strategy check. Natsume-chan, stop shivering like a Chihuahua and get over here."
Megumi: "Chihuah—!?"
Natsume-san's objection to being compared to a small dog, and our response to said objection, shall be omitted. Pencilgon operates a borrowed tablet and opens a certain page on the official GGC website, placing it on the desk so both of us can see.
Towa: "The format is knockout-style—win and you stay on to fight the next player on the opposing team. Which means the most efficient path to victory for achieving our ulterior motive... was to go one-win-one-loss while using up the full time."
One hour of stalling per person, three hours for the three of us combined... As a way to buy time until Katzo gets back, it was the "optimal plan"—with change to spare. But that plan relied on a certain premise, and that premise has already collapsed.
Towa: "Never expected Sylvia-chan to come out as the third fighter... I was sure she'd absolutely be fourth if she was up against Katzo-kun."
Right. Even setting aside the question of whether we could conveniently manipulate our win rates against the muscleheads, this plan fundamentally hinged on the condition that Sylvia Goldberg would be the anchor in the fourth slot. But reality says otherwise: Sylvia Goldberg's name is listed third among Star Rain's four players.
Towa: "Which means we have to compress the plan significantly. Even if Natsume-chan and I manage one win and one loss each... Sunraku-kun, you're definitely going to face her."
Exactly. Natsume-san, our vanguard, goes one-and-one, then Pencilgon clashes with Star Rain's second fighter. Then Pencilgon beats them, loses to Sylvia the vice-captain... and time runs out. And unless Natsume-san and Pencilgon both get swept, I am absolutely guaranteed to collide with Sylvia Goldberg. If the two before me somehow manage to stall ideally, that's two hours—Katzo might barely make it. But no one here seriously thinks things will go that smoothly. Our opponents are pro gamers, after all. People who do this for a living. Not just any pros, either—top-rankers among the best in the business. How far can two small fry and one pro gamer really push this?
Towa: "I'm the one who came up with this, but the difficulty is laughably hard... Still, we decided we're doing it, and we prepped for it. Let's just give it everything and get our idiot latecomer there in time!"
Megumi: "...Yeah!!"
Rakuro: "Hell yeah!"
The staff must have arrived—there's a knock at the door. Alright then, let's go put on one hell of a time-wasting show.
???: "──And with that, that concludes our introduction of the latest title, 'Galaxia Heroes Chaos'... but I'm sure you'd all love to see it actually being played, wouldn't you?"
I don't know his name, but the male director of Galaxia Heroes tosses out a question designed to hype up the crowd. As arranged beforehand, the members of Star Rain and Nitro Squad are about to take the stage right after this.
Megumi: "Hey, Sunraku... you?"
Rakuro: "What's up, Natsume-san?"
Megumi: "I'm gonna write 'God' on my palm too."
Rakuro: "Is that so."
The lights illuminate us. Tens, hundreds of times more stares than your average high schooler would ever receive in their school life—directed at the Star Rain members, at Natsume-san, at Pencilgon, and at me. It's an illusion, as if those gazes carry physical pressure; my forward step nearly falters.
Towa: "By the way, a quick pointer: the mercenary 'Jack' is the type of character who always slouches and wears a fearless grin."
Rakuro: "Thanks for the character-building assist... aight."
I don't know what kind of character he is, or what he accomplished in what kind of story. I'm just conveniently borrowing the surface-level appearance. But lend me your strength to keep from getting overwhelmed, Pumpkin Mercenary.
I hunch my back and take a step forward without hesitation. That's right. Yes, indeed. They're just looks—mere glances. Compared to that orca bastard that shot lasers at me alongside its stares, this is nothing but a gentle breeze. What's there to be afraid of?
???: "Well then, we will now commence the special exhibition match—nominally a live gameplay demonstration of Galaxia Heroes Chaos—pitting Star Rain against Nitro Squad! I, Sasahara Eight, will be your host and live commentator!"
Rakuro: "...Sasahara Eight?"
Towa: "A 'game-play idol'—she's been making a big push lately. Seems like she tried to do idol activities in SLF, but..."
Rakuro: "But?"
Towa: "Well, y'know, SLF already has Saint-chan... But anyway, she's a decent kid, really?"
I have no idea what "well, y'know" is supposed to mean, but I gather that this Saint-chan person is something else. A real-life idol losing out to an NPC... I feel a tiny bit of sympathy. The woman's outfit gives off a cyber vibe, but her personality is all peppy and sparkly, creating a weirdly mismatched impression as she hypes up the crowd with a mic in one hand.
Eight: "Huh? It seems Nitro Squad is one member short...?"
Megumi: "Um, well, Kei is..."
Rakuro: "He's off waging a little war in the bathroom."
Towa: "He's the anchor anyway, so don't you worry~"
Eight: "R-right... Well then, let's go over the rules! Though it's a simple knockout format, Galaxia Heroes Chaos is a new-sensation fighting game with rules completely different from its predecessor! This time, we're using City Mode 'Lively Hustle and Bustle'! Additionally, the Cube Get rule is set to ON!"
A bunch of technical jargon, but in short: NPCs are present, and victory via cube capture is enabled. Normally I'd consider more win conditions to be undesirable, but just this once, I'll welcome them. More paths to victory—and defeat—for both sides means more room for hesitation.
Eight: "For commentary, we're joined by Asama Kento of the pro gaming team 'Colt Bison'!!"
Kento: "I'm not really a fighting game main, so I'm not sure I can provide much commentary... but yes, pleased to be here."
Towa: "Hmm, you've got this 'Is that guy gonna be okay?' vibe going, so I'll explain—he's really good at commentary, gets invited to a lot of tournaments."
Rakuro: "Huh."
To be honest, I've had almost zero interest in pro gamers, so everything feels fresh. Though whether I'll continue to be interested after this is honestly a coin toss.
Eight: "And everyone, today—in addition to the live gameplay of Galaxia Heroes Chaos—we have one more thing! We'll also be explaining 'Babel,' a new feature that Utopia Computer Entertainment will be releasing worldwide this autumn!"
Babel?
Eight: "Some of you may already be aware, but Babel is a 'Real-Time Translate System' scheduled for release at the end of September this autumn for the full-dive system provided by UCE. For this exhibition match, 'Babel' has been pre-implemented, allowing the players of Japan's pro gaming team 'Nitro Squad' and America's pro gaming team 'Star Rain' to communicate within the game without worrying about language barriers... th-they can!!"
Rakuro: "Right, come to think of it, that fundamental premise—language barriers were a thing even before any of that. You factored this in too when you made the plan... right?"
Towa: "Das rite, I'm so amazin', praise me praise me~"
Rakuro: "Don't tell me you didn't even consider the language issue..."
Towa: "Hey, people can manage just fine with 'OH YEAH!' and 'C'MON!'—my granny said so..."
Rakuro: "Your grandma is terrifyingly funky, y'know that...?"
As the carefully constructed plan is revealed to have been an illegal build on a crumbling foundation from the very start, and sweat starts pouring from Natsume-san's forehead... the first match—Megumi Natsume vs. Lucas Garcia—finally begins.
[To be honest, I came up with the commentator character in about three seconds, so there's really no need to remember her. Her real name is "Sasahara Eight"—it'd be a bit of a waste to use her as a disposable character, so I plan to recycle her.]
[The muscleheads, who were once just nameless mobs, have finally even acquired last names... something's not right here (feigning ignorance).]
[Real-Time Translate System "Babel"