14
When he left, I was able to check my feeds. The score board was the first thing I went to look at. It hadn't changed. Daito's name was no longer there, and Sorrento was part of the High Five. I sighed as I went back to the coverage of newsfeeds. The Sixers were losing. Even with all their armor, and equipment, they couldn't protect all five hundred twelve copies of the neglected house. So for that remainder of the day, only seven more avatars reached the Jade Key.
Soon, after the Sixers realized they were losing too many, they came up with a new plan. They stuck to only guarding ten copies of the neglected house. They protected ten of the copies, and lined up their forces to get the key one after another. Soon, the rest of the board filled up with Sixer employee numbers that had obtained the Jade Key. It was despicable. The score board now contained over five thousand seven hundred numbers. Thing is, over two thirds of them were IOI employees. More names were added for the next twenty-four hours as Gunters figured out where the Copper Key was, and came to claim the Jade Key after that. This was easy, as the message boards and newsfeeds all said where the key had been. So it was pretty much common knowledge.
Several message boards had rumors floating about as to how Daito had gotten killed. I couldn't believe it. I was still numb. Sooner or later, that would wear off, and I would be so hurt. I just knew it.
There was a small article in one of the Japanese newsfeeds. It basically showed my cousin with his real identity, and claimed it was a suicide. It said that he had jumped from his apartment balcony located on the forty third floor. Toshiro Yoshiaki lived alone in a converted hotel in Shinjuku Tokyo. They also included a school photo of the youth. This was why he didn't want to meet Shoto in real life. He looked painfully shy, and had terrible acne. The OASIS was the only place he could act and feel like a hero.
I also went to my IOI issued computer, and got to snoop around in the data base. There was what I had been looking for. It didn't take me long to find it. The videos of Wade and Toshiro's deaths. I played Toshiro's video, and watched in horror as they ambushed him.
There were three large men in black ski masks waiting in the hallway to his apartment. I noticed that they had ear pieces on. It looked like they were getting a signal. They used a key card to open his door. It was a tiny one roomed apartment just like the one I lived in. I felt tears streaming down my face as I watched the men do their dirty work.
They rushed in, and yanked the youth out of his haptic chair. They were too strong for him to struggle against. I watched in complete horror as they threw him right off his balcony. There was even a view of him falling. I stared in gross shock as I watched. I wondered if Sorrento had requested this to be filmed as well, or if someone higher than him had requested it.
I don't know how long I'd been up, but when I finished the video, I knew I needed to go to sleep, or eat, or go to the bathroom, or all three. My back hurt from slouching, my legs were stiff, and I'd been sitting at my rigs for who knew how long. I hated it, but I couldn't keep awake or alert any longer.
I took care of business, and ate some food. Then finally, at about four forty five in the evening, I was able to go to sleep. It was sleep I desperately needed.
The sleep didn't last for long. The loud speakers of my rigged visor awoke me. The scoreboard had changed again. I gasped. I jumped out of bed, and ran to my immersion rig. In record time I was in the chair, with my visor and gloves on.
I had expected Parzival, Art3mis or Shoto to have cleared the second gate and found the Crystal Key. But no. At seven 12 Japan Standard time, Nolan Sorrento had cleared the second gate. I couldn't believe my eyes. It was true. He had found it. He was now at the top of the score board.
"Just when I thought it couldn't get any worse." I said to no one in particular.
For the next twenty-four hours the high five was destroyed as more and more Sixers cleared the second gate. And two days after that, Sorrento had found the third key.
This was the most stunning horrifying thing I had ever seen. The end of the contest was near. We could no longer fool ourselves. Poor Shoto. I had pumped him full of hope. He had no chance. The fat lady had just started to sing, and it was not for our side. We were indeed…, doomed. I once again took to cursing James Halliday for putting us all through this.
Shoto informed me that day that he had given Wade the capsule, as instructed by Daito. The next time I checked my scoreboard after I took a twelve hour nap, Parzival had cleared the second gate. That wasn't really much of a victory, because it didn't put him at the high five again. He still needed to find the damned Crystal Key.
I went to eat a meal, and take a long shower. I needed to just step away from IOI and the OASIS for a little while. I was going completely crazy over something I didn't even approve of.
I never played on the OASIS. I didn't work there for a living. I didn't conduct any business there. So why did I care if IOI got control of it? My world would not collapse if I couldn't freely access the system. Then I remembered my cousin. I knew exactly why I should care. They had taken his life, and I needed to make sure they didn't win. I don't know how the hell I could help from now on, because I was not able to enter the contest. I also didn't know about any of the riddles, or the quests. I had to have some hope though. There would be some way I could help the actual high five. I just didn't know what it was yet.
When I returned back to the visor, I checked the score boards. Parzival had gotten the Crystal Key. But I couldn't celebrate for long. The top story caught my eye when I was looking at the newsfeed.
Apparently, the third gate was located in Castle Anorak. The sixers had arrived on the castle grounds and surrounded it with force fields. This was so fucked up. Shoto emailed me with a video of the situation. The castle was surrounded by two different domed shields. Inside there, surrounding the whole castle, was the entire Sixer army. By reading the message boards, I also got the same information.
For the next few hours, Gunter clans and high level wizards started to once again try and take it down. Some even tried to dig underneath it. That's when we found out that the shield was spherical. This meant that it surrounded every single part of the castle grounds. Above, and below ground. There was nothing the Gunters and their powerful artifacts could do. The Sixers had more powerful artifacts.
"This fat lady is singing." Shoto said when we were on the phone together. "She is not singing for us, Taisei-san." He muttered hanging his head.
"I know, Shoto-san." I agreed sadly.
I hated to see the boy in this state. He felt and looked truly defeated. The prospect of revenge was no longer in his mind. He just didn't want to play the game anymore.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Remember! They took my cousin!" I shouted bitterly. "They took what could've been your older brother!" I said as I stood up off the haptic chair. My avatar rose to his feet as well.
"But Taisei, there is no thing we can do." Shoto said bitterly. "No thing! Why should we not give up?" he asked.
"Because…, revenge!" I shouted.
"Revenge!" Shoto repeated as he too stood up. "I have to go. I have a lot of work to do, Taisei-san."
For the next few days, Gunters became hopeless. No one really believed they could defeat the Sixers. At the end of the day, we all knew they had won. Shoto had vanished, and I hadn't talked to Og either. We all knew the end was near. Sooner or later, they would figure out how to do what they needed to do to clear the damned gate, and the egg was theirs.
For the next week or so, Parzival vanished. Shoto, Aech, and Art3mis got the Crystal Key. But the castle still stayed shielded. My worry was for Parzival. He had completely vanished. The last time anyone had heard from him, was when he had emailed everyone telling them how to find the key. By everyone I mean the former High Three.