~.~.~
Title: Inheritors of Flame
Last time: By activating his full powers as an Over Rank, Tsuna drew the attention of the Cervello, who offered him the option of participating in special research, for a reward. In a meeting with Reborn, his fellow Arcobaleno Verde explained that he and his colleagues had created the VR gear as a means of studying Flames. The Cervello, an ancient secret society, had chosen to lend their support in the creation of IoF as a way of finding individuals with strong Flames to inherit the other parts of the Trinisette.
Notes: Chrome arc. Prepare for questionable medical bs, questionable choreography, and questionable power levels.
~.~.~
Chapter 7: Boss Rush
Tsuna surreptitiously sighed in relief as Shigure and Ryo arrived, filing last into the guildhall's main room. It had been a week since the mist incident, and this was the first time Tsuna had seen them log on. Even if he had known they were alright, seeing it with his own eyes eased something tense in his gut.
It was also the first time he had seen Chrome since then, and surprisingly, the guild's newest member was the one to call the meeting.
"Thank you for coming," Chrome said quietly, as they all took their places. "Um, I really appreciate it, and everything you've done for me… Um, no, that comes later… Ah…"
Seeing his guildmate struggling, Tsuna said encouragingly, "You wanted to tell us something, right, Chrome? It's okay, take your time."
"Yes…" Taking a deep breath, Chrome looked up and stated, "I, I won't be able to play any longer after this. This is… my last time logging on, so I came to say goodbye to all of you. Being in this guild with all of you has made me very happy. Thank you."
He — she — bowed deeply, in the stunned silence that followed.
None of them had expected this, not in the least.
Tsuna was the first to break out of his stupor. "What? Why?" he blurted out. "What's wrong? Is it… because of last week? I know it must have been scary, but… But I promise I'll protect you next time! As the guild master, I will—"
Chrome shook her head, cutting him off. "It's not that," she said quietly. "I'm not quitting the guild. I just… can't play anymore. It's not that I don't want to, but I just… I won't be able to anymore, soon. And I didn't want to leave all of you hanging."
"W-well, I guess everyone has their circumstances," Shigure said, still blinking as if trying to recover from a blow to the head. "If it's a real life thing, it can't be helped… Good luck, with whatever it is."
"Good luck, to the extreme," Ryo agreed, seriously.
Biting her lip, Chrome nodded. "Yeah… Thank you, for everything."
He didn't want it to end like this, Tsuna thought. It wasn't that one of them was leaving — it has been a shock, but he knew it would happen one day. Someday, everyone would have to say goodbye.
But not like this. This was all wrong. If he let Chrome disappear like this, he'd regret it, without a doubt. That much, he was certain of.
"Is there anything we can do to help?" he asked, studying Chrome worriedly. "Please, tell me. You're not just part of my guild. You're my friend. If there's anything at all…"
Chrome looked back at him for a long moment, her expression painfully forlorn and… defeated.
"Please, Chrome…" Tsuna repeated, reaching out to rest his hand on her shoulder.
"Nagi," she said quietly. "My name is Nagi." She darted a quick glance at him, but Tsuna's expression of concern hadn't changed. "Boss… I… I'd like to make a selfish request… I really wanted to meet you, when you said you'd be going to Tokyo. Could you… come see me, just once?"
"Of course," Tsuna replied without hesitation. "Where?"
Chrome smiled softly. "I'll PM you the address," she said, reaching up to squeeze the hand on her shoulder.
In the silence that followed when Chrome logged out, Gokudera and Lambo exchanged a look. They would be coming too, definitely. They weren't as attached as Tsuna, mostly content with just the three of them in Namimori, but they wouldn't let him go alone.
At the same time, Shigure darted a glance toward the last member of their guild, but Ryo didn't notice, standing stone still with his arms crossed and an expression of deep concentration on his face.
Shigure frowned uncertainly for a moment before speaking up, "Hey, Ieyasu," he said slowly. "Can you… send me the address?"
"Huh? Why?" Tsuna asked reflexively, pulled out of his thoughts.
"I'm going to come too," Shigure said. He went on before anyone could comment, "I wanted to meet you too, back then. Even when I was training with the team, I kept thinking about it. And I just…" He ran a hand through his short dark hair, trying to find the words. "What if I have to stop playing too? I don't want to end up regretting not taking the chance to meet you. So I want to come too."
Tsuna nodded slowly, bemused. "Alright… I'll let you know," he said. "But it's okay, you know, even if we don't meet in person. You don't have to force yourself."
"No," Ryo declared, "he's extremely right! I'm coming too!"
Giving up, Tsuna just smiled ruefully. "Well, that's good, I guess. I'm sure Chrome will be happy to see all of us."
~.~.~
Tsuna looked up at the tall white building that was their destination, then down at his cell phone, where Chrome's PM was open. "This is the right address…" he muttered. "But…" There was a growing sense of foreboding in the pit of his stomach, cold and heavy.
"But that's a hospital," Lambo finished for him, frowning in confusion. "Why'd Chrome tell us to come to the hospital?"
"M-maybe someone in his family is sick?" Shigure — or rather, Yamamoto Takeshi, as he had introduced himself when they met at the train station — suggested, something like an uncertain, awkward smile turning up the corner of his lips. "Maybe that's why he wanted to meet up, like emotional support…?"
He didn't really believe that. Probably, he suspected the same thing as Tsuna.
"Then we'll have to give him our extreme condolences!" Ryo — Sasagawa Ryohei — declared. "So it's not good to make him wait!"
"…Yeah. Let's go," Tsuna agreed quietly.
Inside the hospital, their group moved into what seemed to Tsuna to be the most isolated, empty corner of the building. As they walked along the clean, austere hallways, they passed fewer and fewer other people — nurses, doctors, visitors, all became rarer and rarer until they were practically alone.
Finally, Tsuna came to a stop in front of the right room, everyone else crowding behind him, and raised his hand to knock. "Hello? Nagi?" he called out.
There was a long pause before a quiet voice replied. "Come in."
The room they filed into was even more plain than the hallways — all white, without a single decoration. There were several empty beds, the privacy curtains drawn only around the one in the far corner. One other bed was occupied — by a girl of about fourteen, swathed in bandages, including around her right eye. Next to her, several machines beeped steadily, trailing wires to her body.
Nagi's single eye widened as she caught sight of them — Tsuna, followed by Gokudera and Lambo, with Ryohei and Yamamoto bringing up in the rear. She hadn't expected them all to come. But a soft, grateful smile spread across her face.
"…Thank you," she said quietly. "Um, it's… nice to meet you…"
"Yeah," Tsuna agreed, swallowing back a sudden sense of nausea. "You too! I'm Tsuna! And this is Gokudera, and Lambo. He's always Lambo."
"That's because Lambo-san is awesome," Lambo declared, crossing his arms and puffing up. "Lambo-san is always Lambo-san!"
"You're always a stupid cow, is what you are," Gokudera grumbled.
The familiar back and forth made Nagi — all of them, really — relax a little. They shared a chuckle, as they moved to stand around Nagi's bed.
"So you're a girl, Chrome?" Ryohei asked. "I extremely had no idea!"
'You're the only one, Oniisan,' Tsuna thought, smiling wryly, while Nagi nodded, blushing.
"And Lambo's just a kid!" Ryohei went on. "This is all extremely surprising!"
"You're the only one that's surprised, Turftop," Gokudera said, making a face.
Ryohei turned to him, eyes narrowing in thought. "You… still look like an octopus!" he decided. "Even though the color's different!"
Tsuna was sure what part of Gokudera's silver hair — compared to his online character's magenta — looked like an octopus, but Lambo immediately added in his own agreement, probably just to annoy Gokudera. As the three of them squabbled, Nagi giggled quietly, one delicate hand coming up to cover her mouth.
"Are you… not going to be able to log on anymore because you're in the hospital?" Tsuna asked tentatively, sitting down on the edge of her bed.
Nagi's happy expression faltered. "N-no… It's the opposite, really," she said, haltingly. "I was able to play because I've been in the hospital all this time. Long term patients who can't move around much are allowed to use the hospital VR systems, for mental health and things like that. My parents wouldn't have let me get one…"
"T-then you're being released soon?" Tsuna guessed. But somehow, he already knew it wasn't such a happy situation. He didn't know why, but he felt cold. The uneasy feeling had become utter dread.
The smile Nagi gave him was sad, and knowing. "No," she said. "I'll be leaving soon… but I won't be going home. You see… I was in an accident. There was a lot of damage…" Reaching up, she placed a hand over the bandages covering her eye. "To my internal organs too. I've been kept alive this long, but the doctors said it's not going to be much longer."
The others had fallen silent, only the beeping of the monitoring machines accompanying her quiet words. They all seemed to hold their breath, on the edge of understanding, but refusing to face the painful truth Nagi was sharing with them.
"After… after what happened, I realized I don't want to just disappear one day, without explaining anything," Nagi went on. "That's why I wanted to say goodbye properly. And to thank you for everything."
She looked at each of them, smiling softly despite the shocked, horrified, uncomprehending expressions they were wearing.
"After the accident… I didn't understand why I had survived. When I was told that I would still die soon, I thought, 'I wish I had just died then.' I thought there was no point in living," Nagi said. "But it was worth it. In that little time, I was able to meet all of you. The adventures we had together… These are my most precious memories. Like this, I don't regret a single thing. That's why I wanted to say it, to Boss, to all of you…
"Thank you."
Tsuna jumped, startled, as the door was slammed open. As he glanced over quickly, he caught a glimpse of Yamamoto, hurrying out into the hallway.
He turned back to Nagi, who had laid a gentle hand over his and smiled in understanding.
Standing, Tsuna nodded and followed Yamamoto.
~.~.~
Yamamoto hadn't gone far down the hallway, and Tsuna caught up to him easily.
"Sorry," Yamamoto said quietly, without turning. "I shouldn't have run out like that. It's just… My mom, you know, she died in the hospital. It was illness… But it just reminded me of that."
"It's okay. You… don't have to stay, if it's too hard," Tsuna said. "You can head to the hotel first, or home, if you like. I think Chrome, um, Nagi will understand."
Yamamoto's shoulders slumped a little as he heaved a sigh. He shook his head. "No, I'll stay," he said. "If… If this is the last time we see her, I don't want to miss it. I'll regret that way more." He tried to smile reassuringly, finally facing Tsuna, but the expression was terribly strained.
Then again, Tsuna doubted his own face was any better.
As they made their way back to Nagi's hospital room, they could hear the sounds of another argument already underway, accompanied by Ryohei's boisterous laughter. Tsuna sighed quietly in relief, glad that the guild was doing everything they could to make their time with Nagi happy.
"Excuse me, are you with the group visiting Nagi-chan?"
Tsuna glanced up in surprise as a nurse hailed him and Yamamoto. "Um, yes… Are we being too loud?" he asked. "I'm sorry. I'll ask them to be more considerate…"
The young nurse smiled and shook her head. "No, it's alright. It's good to have some life in this ward. Most of the patients are using the VR system anyway, so they won't notice," she said. "I was just surprised. You're the first ones to visit her since she was admitted."
"Then, her parents also, in the accident…?"
The harsh, angry expression on her face made Tsuna trail off. "Those two…" The nurse pursed her lips, trying to remain professional, but the indignation bubbled up until she couldn't hold it back. "They just abandoned her here once they found out about her condition. It doesn't even have to be this way! Just because they don't want to pay—"
She shook her head, cutting herself off.
"In any case, thank you for visiting that girl," the nurse said instead. "I'm glad she's able to smile at least a little before…"
"Wait," Tsuna broke in, "what do you mean it doesn't have to be like this? Is there a way for Nagi to get better?" When the nurse hesitated, he pressed on, "Please! I — we — want to help her! She's our friend! If there's anything we can do…"
The nurse smiled sadly. "I don't think it's something you can help with. There's an operation that could fix the damage, but it's very long and difficult… and expensive."
"How much? Can it be done here?" Tsuna insisted, grasping at the narrow thread of hope.
"It can… But the cost is…" Hesitantly, the nurse gave them a number that made Yamamoto's eyebrows rise in shock. It was the kind of thing most people didn't earn in a year.
Tsuna bit his lip. His father was well off, certainly, to the point that Tsuna hadn't hesitated to use his credit card to book them a couple of rooms in a hotel nearby, but that was more than he could imagine even his lax parents allowing, for a girl they'd never even met, maybe even more than they had, honestly.
Understanding his thoughts, the nurse patted him gently on the shoulder. "It's alright," she said. "What you're doing is already more than enough."
~.~.~
But Tsuna didn't feel that way. Even as he and Yamamoto slipped back into the hospital room and all of them spent several happy hours together before being chased out at the end of visiting hours, it didn't feel like enough. Even if Nagi was smiling happily, it wasn't enough.
He was still thinking that as they gathered in their hotel rooms — two for the whole group, Yamamoto and Ryohei sharing one, Tsuna, Gokudera, and Lambo in the other.
While Gokudera and Lambo argued over sleeping arrangements and how to use the two beds in the room, Tsuna let himself fall back on one of the mattresses and stared up at the ceiling.
'There has to be something I can do,' he thought. 'I promised I'd protect everyone in the guild… But how can I get that much money, and quickly? A part time job wouldn't help here! All I'm good at is playing IoF and that's not something you can make money from—'
"Of course, you will be generously compensated."
That was what the Cervello had said. A special experiment, because he was Over Rank…
Sitting up quickly, Tsuna made his way to their bags. Just in case, they had packed up their VR gear and brought it with them. Now, he pulled out one of the systems and began to set it up.
"Boss? You're going to log on?" Gokudera asked, noticing what he was doing.
"Yeah," Tsuna said distractedly. "There's something I need to take care of, right now. Listen, no matter what happens, don't disconnect it, okay? This is something I have to do."
~.~.~
"We will now initiate Deep Dive mode," one of the Cervello operators announced, her voice ringing in Tsuna's mind through voice chat. "Are you ready? Standby for full link in three… two… one… Start."
Tsuna winced, as his connection shifted. It wasn't painful, exactly, just a very strong pins and needles sensation. His avatar wavered, run through by static, and when Tsuna could see clearly again, his hands were much smaller — his own, Tsuna's real hands. Instead of Ieyasu, there was only Tsuna, fifteen, short and scrawny, left standing there.
It wasn't a surprise. Those were the conditions of the experiment — to replicate reality as closely as possible, with his real form and the feedback modifier turned off. In other words, with all sensations as real as in the physical world — including pain, Tsuna thought, a shiver going down his spine.
"Now entering testing area," the Cervello operator continued.
Light filtered suddenly through the grating of the old fashioned elevator's sides. Beyond the cage-like elevator shaft, Tsuna could see a massive half lit chamber, filled with rectangular structures like giant boxes. The area indicator still read World Edge: Observatory [Access Restricted], but a second line had been added under it — Special Zone: Sub-level 44.
The cage elevator jerked to a stop, making Tsuna stumble. His body felt… heavy, though that wasn't quite the right word. Solid, real. There was a sense of presence that he hadn't realized was usually lacking in IoF. As the crossed bar gate slid open, chilled air blew into the elevator, making Tsuna shiver.
Nervously tugging at his armored gloves, Tsuna stepped out into the testing field. The cavernous chamber was similar to a warehouse or an airplane hanger, but much darker and more oppressive in atmosphere. Harsh lights hung down from the high ceiling, among a mess of metal beams and pipes. Stacked across the floor were towers of giant boxes, like over large shipping containers, or some kind of prefabricated housing structures.
As he cautiously began to make his way forward, Tsuna could see his breath mist in the cold air. Clouds of steam were billowing out from narrow vents and pipes in the floor as well. Light reflected off the vapor eerily. That would make it harder to notice anyone trying a sneak attack.
'That just means I won't rely on my eyes,' Tsuna thought, taking a deep breath and letting his eyes fall shut.
"Dying Will Mode" wasn't the only unique skill on Tsuna's list, not by a long shot. That was only natural — most high level players created their own skills; or maybe the ability to create skills was what it took to become a high level player. Though even the top ranks, continuous support skills were rare.
But Tsuna was the only one he had ever met who had acquired a unique sub property. Like Mist Construction, Sun Activation or even his own Sky Harmony, ever since he had used Dying Will Mode properly for the first time, listed in his profile was also "Hyper Intuition."
A sub property, always present and "on" even what it wasn't in use. Like the Flame properties, it didn't always apply. But when it did…
The best way Tsuna could explain it was a sixth sense. An awareness of everything around him that didn't require his eyes or his ears. Knowing there was an enemy behind him, behind that boulder, knowing what their next move would be as clearly as if they had telegraphed it. Knowing the best counter, the way to slip by without a scratch, as if it was a routine he had memorized.
When he opened his eyes, they seemed to glow with the hot orange of his Flames. He turned his head slowly, contemplating the thin wire traps that had previously been invisible but now stood out clearly along every path forward.
There was a way past, of course. But Tsuna wasn't interested in playing around. The Cervello's terms were that he fight the five opponents waiting for him in the training area. He doubted they were interested in watching some acrobatics. Something like that wouldn't have required him, or this kind of setup.
With a burst of Sky Flames, Tsuna boosted himself on top of the nearest structure, then, after a quick glance around, onto another, and onward, to where his first opponent awaited him.
As he jumped down into the next open area, spotlights clicked on, flooding the arena with bright light. Wincing a little, Tsuna closed his eyes and took two steps back.
It was just in time — his opponent had arrived, crashing in front of him, knee first. It was a comet blow that could easily crush a spine.
"Oh, you dodged that well!" the man crowed, as he straightened. "And good job avoiding Bel's traps! That sneak, I'm supposed to be the first one up! Tsk, tsk, trying to steal the show!"
Slitting his eyes open again the blinding light, Tsuna studied him — a multicolored mohawk, well defined muscles under practical black clothes, a single metal kneepad, sun glasses. The ID tag read "Lussuria."
"Wait," Tsuna said as Lussuria slipped into a fighting stance. "Before we start, what were your terms? What did you agree to do?"
Lussuria chuckled. "Worried? Or just cautious? Well, it's cute either way," he said. "Don't worry, cutie, it's very simple. It's a deathwatch! We all try to kill you, and you try to survive!"
"This is going to hurt, for real," Tsuna warned him.
Again, Lussuria just laughed. "Oh, hun," he said, "I'm looking forward to it."
Then, he attacked. Though he had read it easily, Tsuna only barely dodged, the kick grazing his cheek. The sudden burn was startling and unexpectedly real, enough to make Tsuna stumble momentarily. That opening was enough, and Lussuria drove his knee into Tsuna's stomach.
He was sent flying, slamming into one of the buildings with a cut off cry. Falling to the ground, Tsuna could only twitch, his body refusing to obey as pain scrambled his senses and he struggled to draw breath.
It hurt. He wished it would stop. He wanted to run…
A faint image of Chrome, smiling, sad and resigned, as she thanked them, passed through Tsuna's mind. He had promised to protect them properly from now on. This was… This was nothing compared to that promise.
The Flame that had sputtered and almost gone out on his forehead flared, as Tsuna pushed himself to his feet and took a shuddering breath.
'He's fast,' Tsuna thought, watching Lussuria with narrowed eyes. The man was still where he had been, watching Tsuna in return with a pleased smile — happy that the fight wasn't over so easily. 'No,' Tsuna decided, 'it's not just that. I'm slower.'
His stats must have been cut to match his real physical parameters more closely. After all, his IoF abilities were flat out superhuman.
But that was fine. Tsuna could see his opponent and knew, knew that he could win. He would win.
If his own base speed was not enough, Tsuna would just need to make himself move faster. He didn't give Lussuria any warning. A burst of Flames from his gloves, and Tsuna closed the distance between them. His opponent, he acknowledged, was skilled and strong, reacting quickly enough to lash out with a kick that should have nailed Tsuna squarely in the side of the head.
Instead, with another burst of thrust, Tsuna darted past and behind Lussuria's back. His strength stat had also been cut, no doubt, and while Tsuna could use his Flames to bolster his hits, he suspected an experienced martial artist like his opponent would be able to withstand quite a beating, all the while giving him more time to deal damage to Tsuna in return.
So instead of of a bunch or a strike, Tsuna held his hand over Lussuria's back almost gently. "X Burner, quick load," he murmured.
The blast that shot out from his palm was far weaker than a full X Burner, and with no time to stabilize properly, it threw Tsuna back on recoil. He and Lussuria were tossed in opposite directions of the battleground, though Tsuna caught himself quickly and landed on his feet, sliding a little.
Lussuria wasn't so lucky. His body hit the ground with an unsettling crunch and tumbled a ways before coming to a stop. There was no HP bar, Tsuna realized, which should have appeared and decreased quickly. And the modified avatars showed no damage, leaving Tsuna uncertain about how to proceed. Could his opponent still keep going? For how long?
"Deep Dive destabilization. Alignment lost. Now disconnecting," a Cervello operator announced.
"W-wait, I can still…" Lussuria tried to say, only to cut himself off with a groan. His avatar was already beginning to dissolve.
In the next moment, his body burst into light, signifying log out.
There was no "Congratulations!" message, no victory BGM.
'…It really isn't a game anymore,' Tsuna thought, his arm curling around his sore midriff. But, he still had to win. He would win, no matter what.
~.~.~
When Tsuna jumped atop the rectangular structures again, he paused and looked around. Where was his next opponent?
Most of the training area remained in shadow, and the spotlights that had illuminated Lussuria's stage had gone out as well. The traps were fewer further from the elevator, but Tsuna could identify them by what he could best describe as a faint metallic "hum" from the crisscrossing wires and hidden blades scattered across the corridors down below.
There was something else in the air, which made it hard for him to perceive. A kind of tension or energy, prickling along his skin…
Tsuna threw himself aside just as a bolt of lightning split the air. He avoided the initial strike, but unlike natural lightning, the crackling energy didn't dissipate — it followed Tsuna, giving him no time to regain his footing.
With a burst of Flames, Tsuna propelled himself away and took to the air. That was a mistake. Another bolt of lightning crackled past, Tsuna just barely managing to airdash away. Then another, and another. The angle and source kept changing, never the same twice and always coming from behind or from the side.
He could barely keep ahead. The continuous lightning strikes, the light, the noise, the smell of ozone, the static electricity in air were throwing his senses into confusion. He couldn't predict where it was going to come from next.
'It's not from the ceiling. There is an origin point in the air…' Tsuna thought, as a lightning bolt seemed to come from below him somewhere. 'No, several points. And… It's going to them too. Those bolts haven't been hitting anything. Something floating, that shoots out lightning and can catch it too…'
In the chaos, there was no way Tsuna could get a clear shot on a small, moving target that he couldn't even pin down in the first place. And if he stopped even for a moment…
'I need to find the one controlling them,' Tsuna thought. But his focus had narrowed to keep up with the strikes. He needed to get away. 'I need to get out of the air,' he decided. Dodging would be harder on the ground, with his mobility restricted among the buildings, but at least the strikes would have to come from above and he would have some cover.
Just as he came to that decision, the attacks suddenly halted. Electricity crackled at eight floating points, arrayed in a circle around Tsuna.
His eyes widened. His thoughts raced, impossibly fast as time seemed to slow. 'If I get hit with that, it's over,' he knew instinctively. 'That kind of hard lightning will cut through my normal Flames too. If I try to dodge, they'll follow me. I won't be able to get out of the circle. And the lightning will be drawn to me. It's been homing in more and more with everything bolt. This is… an inescapable one-hit kill.'
That knowledge flashed through his mind in the split seconds before the lightning gathered in the floating weapons was ready to fire.
Not even sparing a moment to turn, Tsuna thrust himself downward, back first. He spun, trying to kill his momentum, just as he passed the rooftops into the alleyway below. The massive bolt of lightning, almost resembling a dragon, was on his heels. The flash was blinding, the crack of thunder deafening. The entire passage was engulfed, electricity running off along the structures on either side.
Watching from the shadows atop another building, the next opponent — ID: Levi-A-Than — commented, "Hmph. No one can escape the Levi Volta." As his Parabolas circled back to him, Levi scowled. "What was that trash Lussuria doing, losing to some brat like that? The Varia doesn't accept—"
He didn't get a chance to finish. A blast of powerful Sky Flames shot toward Levi, engulfing him in an instance.
'Impossible. He survived…?' was his last thought, before his mental connection wavered and broke, logging him out.
As the Flames cut off, Tsuna dropped to the ground, wincing and breathing harshly. Above him, the loose ends of the broken, melted wires began to drop, no longer buoyed by the hot air of the blast. He had thrown himself toward the nearest trap among the buildings below, just barely slipping past the razor-sharp wires and letting them divert the worst of the lightning strike, while he finally managed to find the one directing the attacks.
But he hadn't made it through entirely, and even though the cuts couldn't be seen, Tsuna could feel them, along his arms and legs. In particular, his left foot… it was all in his head, but he couldn't put weight on it. Just how deep had he gotten cut?
He felt lightheaded, and his vision was wavering. Tsuna closed his eyes, trying to center himself. The numb, disconnected feeling probably meant that he was losing the connection too. If he didn't pull it together, he would end up logging out as his mind withdrew in an attempt to protect itself — a natural version of the same sort of safety buffers IoF usually offered to players.
Come to think of it, maybe those weren't a system feature so much as a natural part of the VR technology…
'I'll ask Gokudera, once I'm done here,' Tsuna resolved. 'But right now… I can't stop yet. There's still three to go.'
Swaying, he stood and began to limp onward.
~.~.~
His Flames might have been inexhaustible, within the parameters of the system, but Tsuna himself still had limits — mental ones, if nothing else. Being shoved around by some bullies hadn't been close to preparing him for the phantom gnawing ache of injuries he couldn't see, and the tension of a battle with stakes like this was completely different from any fight he'd had in the game.
It was hard to focus, his surroundings seeming dulled and distant. Tsuna wasn't sure he'd be able to fly straight, especially not while keeping an eye out for attacks from the remaining three opponents. Instead, closing his eyes, he moved slowly through the maze of structures according to only his intuition.
Tsuna had done his best to avoid the booby-trapped passages, but it wasn't long before he found himself facing a crossroads where every direction was arrayed with the same razor wires and hidden blades.
'Was it always like that earlier?' he wondered, opening his eyes and frowning. 'No, I'm sure this direction was clear…' A realization made his frown deepen. 'They must have guessed by range of perception by watching how I avoided the traps. They must be on the move but staying out of my range…'
Which was to say his next opponent was smart and not interested in a direct confrontation unless on their terms. That wasn't good. Tsuna didn't feel up to trying to chase them down, but at thus rate it was only a matter of time before they came up with some strategy to use against him.
But he didn't gave any choice except to go on.
Raising one hand, Tsuna swept it out broadly. A wall of Flame flooded ahead of him. Crashing against the buildings, it split like a wave, and each portion continued to roll down the passages between. Under the heat and pressure, the crisscrossing wires snapped and burned away, leaving the way free.
Pure instinct made Tsuna throw himself to the ground — and not a instance too late. Sharp knives whipped past, several leaving narrow trails of burning pain on Tsuna arms, legs, and cheek. A fraction lower, and they would have stabbed right into his body.
His opponent had guessed correctly that Tsuna's attention would be split while he used his Flames — probably judging by the way he had chosen not to fly — and set the traps just to distract him.
Another volley of daggers was coming, and Tsuna tried to pivot out of the way, only to find his legs not responding. Glancing down he saw that his feet were inexplicably covered in ice, frozen to the ground.
'No, it's an illusion!' he thought frantically.
There was no time left now. Tsuna slammed his hands down onto the ground, Flames bursting out from the palms. They ripped through the illusion and launched Tsuna up into the air. He was able to avoid the barrage of daggers, but the jerking thrust and the awkward position put a painful strain on his body, and Tsuna thought his vision almost blacked out for a moment.
Cutting his Flames and letting himself hang for a moment in free fall above the buildings, Tsuna focused on finding his opponent. There, on a rooftop, in prime position to launch his attacks, a blond teenager about Tsuna's age. His ID tag read "Belphegor."
He was already reacting to Tsuna's sudden escape, more knives glinting in his hands and nearly invisible wires coiling around him. But his stance was light on his feet, ready to spring away at any moment, at the slightest sign of Tsuna unleashing his Flames toward him.
He was smart. He had read Tsuna this far. If Tsuna dragged it out, kept up the game of dodging and evading… Who would win? Not to mention, Belphegor wasn't a Mist type, Tsuna could tell. There was another one out there. Well, there was no rule they had to come one at a time.
'I need to finish this quickly,' Tsuna thought. He wouldn't be able to take Belphegor by surprise from a distance, but that just meant he needed to get close, in the moment when he was most distracted.
Meeting Belphegor's gaze, Tsuna glared and burst straight toward him in a headlong charge. Belphegor's grin widened, and he let his daggers fly, artfully arranged to be unavoidable.
Tsuna didn't try. There was no health bar in this mode, and that meant there was no damage limit, he had reasoned out. The only limit was whether you could force yourself to maintain the connection, ignoring the instinctive urge to pull away. Probably, all of his opponents had not used the VR system before; unfamiliar with it, they were easy knocked out of synch.
But Tsuna had been playing for a long time. He had never been hurt like this before, true, but he had kept himself logged in for days straight, at some points, ignoring hunger and lack of sleep to push through with a raid or a quest.
He wouldn't waver — not even when the sharp knives bit into his arms, hastily thrown up to protect his face. His momentum carried him through, and Tsuna caught the look of surprise on Belphegor's face before he slammed a Flame-infused punch into his face.
Unable to catch himself, Tsuna crashed into the rooftop and rolled to a stop, as his opponent dissolved into light, logging out.
The sharp tug of his intuition told him he needed to move, now, but a swarm of tentacles burst out from the rooftop, wrapping around him and trapping him in place. Something like a massive hammer appeared above him, blocking out the lights far overhead.
This attack, there would be no dodging.
But he had to do something. He had to make it through.
'It's only an illusion,' Tsuna told himself, closing his eyes and emptying his mind of everything except that nebulous sixth sense.
All of it was an illusion. An insubstantial thing given substance and reality only by his own will and decision to obey its rules. And if he chose to stop obeying, to stop giving it credence… he could just slip through…
The giant hammer slammed down onto the mass of tentacles, seemingly squashing them and the boy they had trapped. Floating far above, the illusionist — ID: Mammon — pressed his lips together thoughtfully.
'Just then, he… Well, it's only natural. After all, this whole world is just a mass illusion,' Mammon thought. He considered acting, putting forth more of his power but, 'He pulled an interesting trick there. It should be enough for them. After all, I'm not getting paid nearly enough for more than this…'
He made no move to avoid the massive blast of Flames that exploded out from inside the building he was hovering over, engulfing him completely, and allowed himself to be disconnected from the system.
Inside the structure, half destroyed by the X Burner fired from within, Tsuna let his arm drop and took a moment to just breathe.
"I… went through the roof?" he muttered to himself, looking bemusedly up at the destroyed ceiling. He had intended to let the illusions pass through him, by denying their existence, but instead he had passed through the roof he had been standing on.
Frowning, Tsuna backed up to the nearest wall and placed his hand against it. He closed his eyes and tried to recapture the same feeling — disconnected, but still present, like watching from high above…
He stumbled a little as he unexpectedly found himself without the support he had been leaning against. Opening his eyes, Tsuna could see he was out in the street again — he had passed through the wall, the same way.
Tsuna shook his head. "I… I guess it'll be useful for looking for the last one," he muttered. At least, he thought there was just one left to go. His head was swimming, and he could barely concentrate. Even going two days without sleep hadn't left him this disoriented…
Without realizing, he had slipped out of Dying Will Mode and let his intuition waver too. He jumped, badly startled, as the very person he had been thinking off spoke up behind him.
"No need. I've got no interest in playing tag with a brat," the last of his opponents said derisively, stepping out of the shadows nearby. His ID cursor read "Squalo." "Those useless scum are going to get it. Losing to trash like you, they're a disgrace to the Varia…"
"Don't… underestimate me," Tsuna muttered. His bravado fell flat as he struggled to even stand straight. All he could see was a blur of silver and black. "I didn't… win by a fluke."
"We'll see about that," Squalo sneered, raising his sword.
~.~.~
"Whatever happens, don't log me out," Tsuna had said before pulling the VR visor over his face.
He had looked utterly serious, more so than Gokudera could remember ever before — grim even, an expression that was out of place on the face of his kind, determined boss. But Gokudera was loathe to disobey. Whatever Tsuna was doing, it had to be important.
It might even save Chrome's life. There was no doubt that's what Tsuna would try, after all.
However, it was proving increasingly difficult to follow that command.
'Erratic heart rate, dropping body temperature, trouble breathing, even involuntary muscle contractions,' Gokudera thought back on the symptoms he had observed. 'This shouldn't be happening…'
A few involuntary movements, some changes in heart rate, maybe, but this was far beyond healthy, no matter what activity you were engaging in — much less while lying prone in bed.
Tsuna's narrow chest was heaving, his mouth parted as he struggled to draw breath. To Gokudera, he sounded like he was shying away from bruised or even broken ribs, but Gokudera couldn't find anything wrong by touch, and when would Tsuna have gotten injured like that?
His skin was clammy, but he was covered in sweat. As Gokudera reached up to check his temperature, Tsuna jerked as if he had been struck. It was a miracle the headgear hadn't come off on its own.
Gokudera gritted his teeth in frustration. 'What should I do…?' he wondered.
"Ahodera, is Tsuna-nii… is Tsuna-nii going to be okay?" Lambo asked plaintively. The boy had wedged himself into a small space between the bed and the nightstand, looking up at Gokudera with wide, scared eyes.
"Of course he will," Gokudera snapped. "We're talking about the Boss! He always comes through!"
Except… Except, what if he didn't? This wasn't normal. This wasn't safe. The VR gear was supposed to have buffers and safeties so that the body couldn't be affected like this. Gokudera had always been interested in the technology of it, and he had kept up with all the experiments the users ran to see how it worked. Nothing came even close to this.
'If it gets any worse… I'm pulling him out,' Gokudera decided.
Whatever Tsuna was doing, even if it was for Chrome… They could find another way.
~.~.~
Tsuna coughed heavily, chocking as his throat closed up. He tried to force himself to move, but he couldn't even look up. All he could see were his opponents black boots, coming to stand just within his line of sight, and even that was quickly fading into the black spots overtaking his vision.
The swordsman standing over him clicked his tongue irritably. Tsuna had barely managed to graze him with his Flames, but even that offended Squalo's pride. Even if this was a game, far removed from reality and operating under different rules, the Varia shouldn't be so easily challenged by some brat, no matter how interested the Cervello were in him.
"Well?" Squalo demanded to seemingly nothing but the open air. "We faced him like you wanted. Is this enough?"
"We have gathered sufficient data for this trial," a Cervello announced, stepping out of the shadows. Squalo expertly hid his reaction — like Reborn, the fact that his trained senses could not detect a presence hidden by changing the system mechanics was deeply irritating to him.
He sneered. "Good. Now you better uphold your end," he said, full of threat.
The Cervello inclined her head. "All contracts will be upheld," she stated.
Her partner moved past her to kneel beside Tsuna, who was still stubbornly clinging to the last threads of consciousness. There was something that might have been called kindness in the way she laid a hand on his shoulder and said, "Thank you for your cooperation."
That was the last thing Tsuna heard before he passed out.
~.~.~