Siel: Yay, this story.

Codex: Are you being sarcastic?

Siel: No, I seriously like this story.

Codex: Really?

Siel: What, am I not allowed to enjoy someone else's life while mine is on hiatus?

Codex: *shrugs* Fair enough.

Siel: Well, I wanna see what Francis does now.

Codex: Okay. See you guys at the end of the chapter.

Siel: Peace.

~x2x~ An Easy Battle

The City Playground, probably one of the most dangerous places that you can choose from. Now, over time, after adapting to the surroundings of this specific arena, it becomes gradually less dangerous. But, newcomers are definitely at a disadvantage. The buildings will crumble to the ground if you are walking on parts where the structural integrity is weak, which is a double red flag for the one who brings it down. First, there's a chance you end the game right there. Second, it gives away your location. But hey, at least you get a cool scenery.

I walked around the ground, not really trying to do anything at the moment. "It's been so long since I've done one of these. Hope I'm still good." I said to myself, waiting to see if James was near me and would try to shoot me out. That would be a no.

So, my strategic and tactical side taking over, I walked over to behind a building. Once behind there, I looked at every nook and cranny to make sure that James was nowhere that he could see me. Luckily, I didn't find anything, so I took out my primary item. It was… a can of spray paint.

To the naked eye, this is just a can of spray paint. But, for me, this has helped me win almost every one of my battles. See, I have this little ability that allows me to see into the future. The only drawback is that I can only see it through my drawings and paintings. That's why paint is my primary "weapon" of choice. And, since they don't have an actual name, I just call my paint supplies "The Seekers."

So, activating my little ability, I started to spray paint the wall. It's weird, I always have to close my eyes when I do this, it just makes it feel more natural. I can do it with my eyes open, but it just doesn't feel as authentic.

After a solid four minutes of spraying the wall, I opened my eyes, feeling that I had all my required information in front of me. I looked at the fairly large mural I created, ranging in an oddly large color pallet, considering I only used one bottle, and it was black. Anyways, after looking at the picture for about three minutes, the future already began to take hold on situation.

First picture in progress. Thank you future for seeing me through this. The first picture I drew was one of James at a high point on a building, shooting precisely three rounds, one in the wall corner of where I was, one that would shoot right next to my face after I look over, and the third nicking my leg as I run to a building.

Continuing my fate, I turned my head over the corner of where I was hiding, checking to see where James was. As soon as the round shot me next to my face, I pulled my head back behind my shelter.

Standing up and gathering all my items I dropped, I readied myself to run to the next building. I took a running position, putting on a face that said, "I'm ready to get shot while running." Luckily, it was just a straightaway from here to about 7 buildings down. The only problem was that there were relatively large gaps between the buildings.

Oh, for pete's sake, stop procrastinating and RUN! I shook my head and began to run.

I ran past the first gap without a hitch. Same with the second through fifth. The sixth building was where problems began to arise. As I sprinted across the open field, I failed to notice that I was being tracked. Each shot he made was simply a practice for hitting me.

However, by the time the bullet came close to me, I dropped to my knees and slid to the safe-point, reenacting a show-style slide across the floor, dodging the bullet just barely. As I came to a halt from my slide, I watched as the bullet that had just missed me now exploded in the landscape behind me, sending a gush of air past me.

"Oh, I forgot how that feels. It's nice." I said in excitement.

"Did I get you?!" I heard James yell from across the battlefield.

"Nope, good try though."

After saying that, I sporadically ran across the remaining buildings. I reached the end of them and I was finally at a tall enough building for what I needed to do. From my coat, I took out a few different spray cans. I shook them up, looking at the blank wall in front of me. Smirking, I close my eyes and begin to make my piece of "work," spraying wherever I felt it necessary with the different cans I had available.

After I felt I was finished, I opened my eyes and saw a rather large mural, depicting me and James, in what looks to be the final moments of our battle.

[Well, what's the point in spoiling the end of the chapter? That would make it boring.]

Smirking, I took my blue spray paint and sprayed over the final thing, making sure to cover every part of the thing, until you would no longer tell what the picture was supposed to be.

Putting the cans back into my jacket, I began running away from the building wall, into a section of bushes which connected to the "park" of the city. After entering it, I found myself in an open area of it, leaving myself open from all points around me.

Looking through the trees, I pushed my vulnerability past me, looking for one building in particular. Once I found it however, a bullet came flying at me, directly from the building in favor. Rather than moving to dodge it, I stood it head on, squinting my eyes to spot where it came from. Approaching me, I felt it whizz past my cheek and explode behind my back, dropping my HP from 187 to 237. After it hit me, I ran in the direction of the building, moving my head to evade the flying bullets coming for me, each making an exaggerated explosion behind me.

I reached the base of the building in no time at all, seeing as I was running and it was close in distance. Looking up, I saw that it was a many stories high, drawing my attention to the possibility of higher-story traps that would collapse the floor. Taking a closer look, I found that James was actually at the edge of the building, probably looking for me after losing his track in the trees in the park.

Smirking, I went into my jacket and pulled out a pistol with the lettering of Цветные Пули on the handle of it. I looked forward, pointing my gun directly above my head, firing it into the air, waiting to hear the sound of a health bar going down. After a few seconds, I heard it, signaling me to begin running through the building, keeping an eye out for any bombs.

It wasn't long before I reached the top, resulting in me opening the roof door, only to find no one there. I went over to the edge of the roof to see if I could spot James running out of the building, in case I missed him while running up. I was knocked from my gaze when I heard the sound of a gun being cocked.

"Well, I thought I missed something." I said, turning around to face James. "I probably should have shot you a few times."

With a serious face on, James responded, "I don't know how you did it kid, but you managed to acquire a gun that does a significant amount of damage to someone." I looked over to James' health bar while he continued talking to find that it was down to 916/1496. Smiling a bit, I looked slightly past James, finding exactly what I hopped he would have strapped to his back. "And now that you're up here-"

"Oh my god, would you shut up already." I blurted out, interrupting James' statement. "Seriously, if you're going to kill someone," I paused, pulling my gun from it's holster from behind my back. "either do it immediately," I paused again, pulling the trigger a few times, firing fast bullets at James. Out of instinct, James turned his back away, protecting his face. However, James wasn't my target, seeing as I missed most bullets.

Looking around him, James let out a hearty laugh, while I just stood there smiling. "Ha, you really a funny one kid. Now, I do believe this is the part where you die." He said, pulling his FN Five-Seven from his holster.

"Hey, you didn't let me finish." I said, getting up and standing up on the edge of the building. "You either do it immediately, or you make a show out of it." After I made this statement, I began to lean back off the building. In that instance, I pulled my hand up and fired it, aiming out of intuition at his feet, where my true target lied. "And now, the big finale."

As I began my descent down the side of the building, a massive explosion would be seen and heard from the top of the building, signaling who had won the battle. Smiling while falling, I went behind my back and grabbed my other secondary weapon, which was a custom sword I had manufactured. Right before I hit the ground, I stuck my sword into the side of the building, halting my fall.

Kicking off the wall with my sword in hand, I landed on the ground and looked up at the sky while holstering all my weapons. I smiled as I saw the "You Won" sign go up above my head. Closing my eyes, I begin to feel myself transported back to the basement of FATB.

Opening my eyes, I was met with the eyes of all my patrons and the many mouths left ajar.

"Well," I heard Lenny say, bringing everyone's attention to the center of the ring. "for those of you who couldn't tell, Francis is our big winner." I stood up, waving my hand in the air, smiling. "Sorry to everyone that lost some money, but we appreciate everyone's donations nonetheless. That concludes our shows for today. Apply at the front desk on the main floor to be notified of when our next show is, and I hope you all have a splendid day."

With that, Lenny tossed the microphone he had in the air, making it disappear mid fall. He grabbed my shoulder and we began to walk over to the exit where James was standing, still left in awe at the outcome.

"B-But how? How can someone like me be fucked over by someone like you?"

Lenny and I looked at each other, smirking at the reality of it all. Lenny was the first to speak between the two of us. "Well, since you're new, I guess you didn't know this yet, but-"

"Everything here has a facade. Whether you wipe it away yourself or have someone else do it, not everything is as it seems here. And by the way," I said, patting James on the back. "Thanks for the warm-up. I really needed it."

Lenny and I began to walk past him, chuckling to ourselves as James just sat there, motionless.

Francis: Ha, fuck you James.

Siel: You truly are a savage.

Francis: *cracks neck* That's the kind of material you gotta be made out of to survive in GGO.

Codex: *chuckles*

Siel: What's so funny?

Codex: Nothing. At least, nothing of your concern, yet. You said you liked this story?

Siel: Hell yeah.

Codex: *winks at Francis*

Francis: *gets annoyed and rolls eyes*

Codex: Wait until next chapter, it'll be interesting.

Siel: I'm scared now.

Codex: Have fun with that.

Francis: ...Well, later everyone. See you next chapter.