Chapter Eight: Death game
(19:45hrs, Gun Gale Online administration center, Tokyo)
The office building was busy like a ice cream shop on a really hot summer day. The video game programmers were typing away on they computers, readying for the Battle of Bullets tournament.
The director stood still, observing the work of his employees and making sure everything was smooth as butter. A huge monitor was in front of him before his eyes, showing the game footage of the incoming tournament.
An employee called him from behind, the director turned and faced a man with dark rimmed glasses.
"What is it?" The director asked. "Anything wrong?"
"No sir! Everything's ready to go!" The young man in his 20s said calmly.
"Good, get ready to launch the tournament in fifteen minutes." The director commanded immediately.
"Right away!" He disappeared back to his computer.
The director turned back to the giant screen before him. He placed both hands behind his back and smiled. "Perfect."
"Good luck Asada! You're gonna need it!" Silica said bubbly as she and the rest were going to watch the live stream of the event in a private room at the second floor.
It has a large TV screen on the wall and a huge window to view the governor's building ground floor from above.
"Oi oi, make sure you bring back a win tonight." Lisbeth demanded with her hands on her hips.
"And have fun out there." Asuna added as I nodded.
"Alright thanks guys." She then waved at the group. "I'll be off now."
"Good luck!" The group said before she left into the hallways of the building.
The brown haired host clutched her microphone tightly. She was dressed in her usual sexy cat outfit, a sports bra and short skirt with cat ears attached on her hair. The audience cheered wildly for her on television.
"Alright you Gunsmoking Lovin' Battle Junkies!!!" She pointed her finger at the camera. "Are you ready for the fourth annual BoB tournament?!!!"
The players of GGO screamed in delight, their roars were heard all around SBC Glocken.
However, in the shadows a player with black hair covering his left eye and wearing a dark trench coat walked down the streets. Hands in his pockets and head looking down on the floor. He had asniper rifle strapped behind his back, a long SVD Dragonov, a Russian made rifle. The crowd roars faded around him as he walked towards the path to the governors office, where the tournament players were and wield a US made silver Colt M1911 handgun.
"The MMO stream will broadcast the big battle tonight!!!"
The host on the TV screen jumped excitedly, raising her left arm in the air. "Now let's start the countdown!!!"
"Ten!!! Nine!!!" The crowd yelled in unison after her.
"Eight!!! Seven!!!"
"Sinon's gonna win for sure!!" Silica claimed, having a large faith in her friend.
"Yeah, Sinon's got this one in the bag!!" Lisbeth agreed almost immediately.
"We just gotta cheer her on guys!" Asuna told them before looking back at the TV screen showing the live footage of the tournament.
"Six!! Five!!
Taroyuki took another sipped of his beer without worrying about the world. Shika noticed when she glanced to her right and didn't understand how the blonde could keep in such calmness.
"Four!!! Three!!"
A group of men armed with AK-47 assault rifles and MP5 sub-machine waited outside the governor office. They cocked their weapons. The man with the dark trench coat walked towards the main door and turned back to his men.
"Shoot to kill!!!" He commanded in Korean, raising his M1911 high on the air.
"Two!!! One!!!"
"Start!!!!"
The crowd of spectators in the governors roared with screams and yells. The tournament has started.
When suddenly the door busted opened and a few dozen armed men stormed the room firing their weapons at the crowd.
Yelling and screaming filled the space but many players didn't knew what was going on. The players dropped dead like files while being mowed down by machine guns.
"Hey, no one told me the tournament is taking place here!" A player yelled to friend.
"Well then let's join the fight too!!!" His friend yelled, firing his M16 assault rifle at some of the armed men.
The man in the dark trench coat soon appeared behind them. He fired two shots at his unarmed friend. The player felt the stinging pain of the bullets, shocked that the pain absorber didn't work on him. He tasted death, blood oozing from his mouth.
"What the --?!" The M16 wielder turned and found a knife stabbed into his stomach. He felt pain almost immediately, like electricity flowing through his body. The dark trench coat man smiled grimly, he lusted for blood.
"P-Please I don't want to die." The player pleaded him. The man ignored him, he felt nothing when he pulled the knife up. Cutting the man in half before he's body exploded into a bright red.
"WHAT THE HELL GOING ON HERE?!!"
The girls in their private room looked at the window in shock. Players were getting slaughtered everywhere by armed men welding machine guns from below.
"What's happening??" Silica asked, eyes glued at the scene of slaughter.
"Guys, the tournament isn't gonna happen anymore." Asuna felt something wrong. "We're in big trouble."
"What do you mean where in big trouble?" Lisbeth asked dumbfoundedly.
"They're coming to kill us." Asuna moaned.
Suddenly, the door to the private room busted open, shocking the three girls who raised their weapons. Asuna immediately lowered her proton sword upon seeing the intruder.
"Sinon!!"
The blue haired girl held her Glock 18C with both hands. She let out a sigh of relief on seeing her friends still in the room.
"Something bad happened, we need to leave now!!" The blue hair demanded instantly.
(Gun Gale Online administration center, Tokyo)
The programmers and editors were in panic. They were seen rushing to and fro from a computer to another trying to fix the problem.
The director had an anxious look. "Can somebody tell me what the f* is going!! How come the tournament didn't commence?!!" He roared at his staff.
"Sir, the servers corrupted! We can't control it!" An employee stated, typing rapidly on her computer.
The director looked onto the huge screen in front of him in horror as commands were being typed by an invisible programmer.
Pain absorber -- Disabled
Safe zones -- Disabled
Spawning points -- Disabled
"We're being hacked!"
The screams and cries from the huge crowd in the governors office began to die down being replaced by the shouting and commands of the armed terrorist.
"Stay down!!!!" A MP5 wielder yelled.
"Nobody moves!!!"
"Don't try to be a hero!!" A terrorist yelled as he forced the players to get down on the floor.
The crowd of players were confused and afraid. They didn't know who the armed terrorist were. However, they knew that the situation wasn't a game anymore.
It was real.
"Sit down!!!" A terrorist yelled, pointing his gun at the head of a player. "Or we will shoot!!"
"What if I say no punk?!!" He challenged. The terrorist grinned as he fired a shot at the rebel's leg.
bang!!!*
The player yelled in pain. His HP dropped rapidly to 60% with the [Bleeding] effect taking over. The crowd widen their eyes in shock and fear. The pain absorber was taking no effect.
"Argh!!!! My leg!! It hurts!!!!" He yelled in agony. The terrorist fired another shot to his head and killed him. The body exploded into a million red polygons.
The players began screaming in fear, not knowing what happened to the rebel player.
"You've all seen what happened to the man!!" The terrorist warned them. "If don't want the same faith to happen to you, then I suggest you to do as you'retold!"
"Now move!!!"
Sinon, Asuna, Lisbeth and Silica were at the top floors of the building. They leaned on the railing and eyed at the crowd below them, wanting to know what will happen.
Then, a huge screen appeared in front of the panicking and confused crowd. It showed a man in his late 40s who wore a military officer's uniform. The mustache he had would have resembled to Adolf Hitler's if he kept it shorter. He had Asian eyes that instantly meant he was from the far East. His uniform was what gave away the nation he was from. It showed a flag that was no other country than...
North Korea.
Not only that, but he was shown all over the world in social media networks. Appearing on everyone's smartphone, tablets, PCs and flat screen televisions.
(The Emperor's palace, Tokyo Japan)
The servant ran with all his might towards the emperor's office. Upon reaching it he brust into the office, frightening Emperor Kobushi.
"My apologizes your highness! But there's been an emergency!" The servant claimed, bowing at the emperor.
"What is it?!" Emperor Kobushi asked almost immediately as he got up from his seat.
"Your son is in trouble!"
The emperor widen his eyes. "Lead the way!!" He commanded.
The servant ran out immediately as the emperor went after him. He opened the door to his son's bedroom. The Prince laid unconscious on his bed peaceful with the nerve gear goggles on his head. The emperor looked to his left and saw a TV screen that showed a vicious uniformed man.
"Greetings, people from around the world." He began. "I am General Kang from the country of North Korea."
"Currently right know in the game as you know as Gun Gale Online has been hacked. Thanks to our secret intel in the VRMMO industry we've been able to duplicate and engineer a nerve gear system similar to the original one and been successful on constructing a virus that hacks into the main software of the Gun Gale Online server."
"So now basically everyone in the game has their pain absorber disabled, giving the player a feel of real life damage and...
Death."
(Gifu Countryside)
Kazuto and his cousin Suguha, watched the scenario on their tablet in shock and disbelief.
"Wait, the rest are in the game!!!" Kirigaya's black haired cousin exclaimed in worry.
Kazuto stayed silent. "Another death game???" He thought.
"Just to let you know, if any player who's health point reaches zero will die in game and real life. We've made sure that the nerve gear would overheat and electrocute the player upon death in game."
The crowd of players gasped in shock and fear. Asuna, Sinon, Lisbeth and Silica widen their eyes, remembering the same scenario from a different game.
Sword Art Online.
"In 78 hours we will hunt down every single player in the server and kill them. We have placed around 200 highly trained soldiers in the game and will shoot on sight. That means over a thousand players will die in this few days."
(Dicey cafe)
Andrew had his eyes glued to the screen, he even dare not look away when the door to his bar burst open. It was Tsuboi.
"Mills! It's Asuna and them are in trouble!!"
The American bartender only raised his hand to stop the 20 year old from speaking. His gaze never left the TV screen. Tsuboi soon came to him and saw General Kang on the screen.
The general in the screen soon reach for his smartphone to call someone. The man couldn't stop grinding, knowing his plan is working in progress.
Suddenly, a vibration was heard in the pockets of the emperor's naval blue leather pants. He took it out and glanced at the screen. It read 'unknown number'.
"Moshi-moshi?" The emperor answered the phone knowing who the caller was.
"Hello, Emperor Satoru Kobushi." GeneralKang on the other end of the line greeted."It's a pleasure." He said in English with a heavy accent.
"There's no pleasure speaking with a terrorist." The emperor sneered.
The general chuckled evilly on the phone. "I have a few thousand hostages in the game server. About a dozen at the sights of my men and let's not forget the most important player in the game server right now."
The emperor sighed, his heart felt heavy.
"That's right, we got the Prince." The general smiled grimly, clearly seen in the TV screen.
"What do you want?" The emperor asked.
"I was waiting for you to say that." The general began. "I want all South Korean and UN forces to pull awayfrom the border, the United States navy to stand down and my troops at the border to advance without any resistance."
"Do I make myself clear?"
The emperor shock his head. Knowing the chaos that will create if South Korea was to get invaded.
"No." The emperor demanded instantly, eyes glaring at the general on the screen.
"Very well then." The general ended the call. "KILL THEM!!"
Back at the governors office, the commander in his dark trench coat immediately snatched a AK-47 rifle from his comrade and cocked it.
"FIRE!!!" He yelled in Korean as he fired at the group of unarmed players.
The terrorists acknowledged and emptied their machine guns at the crowd of players. The trench coat figure kept his finger in the trigger, firing endlessly as his AK-47 rattled loudly in harmony.
The entire building was filled with screams from the players and loud gunfire of the terrorists rifles. The girls stood shocked at the scene of a few dozen players getting annihilated by machine guns. Innocent players.
The players dropped dead like files as the trench coat figure dropped his comrade's rifle on the floor when it clicked empty.
Emperor Kobushi widen his eyes in shock, he had cause the lives of a few dozen of his people. His smartphone ringed again.
The emperor answered almost immediately. "You monster..." He told the general.
"In the next 78 hours, we will hunt down all the players including Prince Masaru and kill him. Their is no stopping us unless you do as you're told. Remove the forces at the border and tell the US navy to stand down." GeneralKang said sternly. "I will speak to you shorty." And he ended the call leaving the emperor to sank into a chair with a heavy heart.
