Episode 17: The Dark Invasion

Present Day – The Real World

"FIGHT FIRE WITH FIRE AND MASTER ALL OF THE FOUR ELEMENTS! JOIN THE BATTLE NOW!"

An advertisement was playing on the television nearby as I leaned back on the soft chair I sat on. Glancing over to Hiro and Genji, it was clear they were also watching. Turning back to the screen, I gulped down a large amount of melon soda from my glass that had a cute straw sticking out of it.

"NOW AVAILABLE ON THE AURASPHERE!"

"The new games are out…" Genji turned around and quietly took a sip from his hot espresso. He never put any sugar or cream in his coffee, I always wondered how he was able to withstand the bitter taste.

"Which means AKO's on its final legs. With Jayce hogging all the keys to himself, our work just gets easier and easier." Ruffling my hair in frustration, I groaned. My days as the group's Archer would come to an end if players were going to jump ship. "Is this event really going to fix everything? It seems more and more like RECT has no idea what they're doing."

"I'm sure they have a plan. It would be a shame to see the game go to waste." Genji replied with an optimistic look on his face. I was glad that he felt this way but I couldn't help but feel like a game like AKO could be salvaged after all the reviews had been mixed to say the least. My eyes moved towards Hiro who was just mixing his icy frap with his straw, staring into it like he was in some sort of trance.

"Hiro, do you think you could contact that lawyer lady again? Maybe she has something for us." I decided to ask him, however, I received no response. Glancing at the other guy, I watched as he shrugged his arms.

"Hey, Hiro!" Leaning forward, I tapped the thick rimmed glasses of the person who was seemingly lost in thought. He startlingly jumped back in his seat, almost spilling his coffee.

"What did you do that for, idiot?!" His immediate reaction was a bit harsh.

"Jeez, you've been out of it since we got here." After talking to the others online, we decided to meet at the local coffee shop. I never liked coffee but they did have comfy chairs. "Something on your mind, dude?"

"N-no… it's nothing." Hiro was definitely hiding something.

"Really?" I attempted to press on.

"Really. Now stop bothering me." He pouted as he took a sip from his drink. Sighing, I knew it would be pointless to pester him if he didn't want to tell us what was wrong.

"Why are you on edge? You can be yourself again. It's just the three of us here, anyway." Placing my drink on the table in between us, I leaned all the way back into my chair to relax.

"It's a shame Aki and Michi couldn't come though." Genji seemed to change the topic before Hiro could reply. "Even more of a shame Megumi wasn't comfortable with meeting up in real life."

"You were excited to meet her, weren't you?" I chuckled as Genji's face turned red. The guy had obviously been infatuated with her ever since we learned that she was a girl in the real world

"N-no! I mean it would be nice to know what she looks like in real life but…" He started twiddling his thumbs like an anxious child. Still the romantic, as ever.

"Alright, alright. You don't need to explain your adolescent fantasies." I wondered if he was in love with her or the concept of a romance stemming from an online relationship.

He gave me an angry glare which made me chuckle. "You need to stop teasing people, Shimpei!"

"Huh?" Hiro had his orange AuraSphere on as he swiped at an invisible menu. Since the display was projected directly into our minds, only those using the actual device could see it. It worked kind of like the Augma from back then.

"What is it?" I asked as his eyes scanned something.

"Message from M. He's calling a guild meeting." Hiro had decided early on that even if he was the official leader of the [Name Redacted] Guild, everyone was on equal footing. We were all moderators of the guild so we could call for meetings or do stuff regular members couldn't.

"Hey, where'd you get an orange one, by the way?" Genji curiously examined his AuraSphere as I had just noticed that his device was a different shade of color too.

"Oh, it's just a gift from my uncle. I didn't really get to choose the color." He took out the piece on his right ear and examined it.

"Lucky..." I sheepishly took out my own monochromatic AuraSphere and placed it on my ears. "We should log in then."

"Ahem." The shop-owner, a man who looked like he was in his forties with a considerably receding hairline, stood over us with a green apron on him. He then pointed to a sign nearby that read 'No diving allowed'. With the popularity of VR devices nowadays, it would make sense some shop-owners wouldn't want dozens of people passed out on their chairs with electronic gadgets on their heads.

"Right… sorry." Standing up, I did away with the straw and chugged what was left of my melon soda before slamming it down. "Okay, whose house this time?"

"Wait what?" Genji asked, confused at my question.

"Yes, what?" Hiro narrowed his eyes like he already knew what I was about to say next.

"Well, we're going to need to dive somewhere." I explained to them as they both glanced at each other and realized that I might be right. I was right, of course. What were we supposed to do? Grab the nearest park bench and pass out? As we all scratched our heads, our valiant Hiro sighed as we all knew who we were thinking of.

"Fine but you're not getting any free food."

Opening: Courage by Tomatsu Haruka

"Auntie?" After scouring the house for a few minutes, I finally found her sitting at the dining table dressed in her usual pink kimono with my phone right beside her. I had been looking for the damn thing just to find it in her totally trustworthy hands. "There it is."

"Oh, Mari! I'm sorry, were you looking for your phone?" She glanced at me in surprise. I noticed the long artificial eyelashes she stuck into her eyes as they widened.

"Yeah. I was going to listen to some music. Wait, why do you have it in the first place?" I suspiciously asked as I picked it up and checked if she did anything I would end up regretting.

"Oh, I hope you don't mind but I used it to invite your friends to your farewell party. I already finalized everything so don't you worry." I never understood why she felt the need to do such a thing in the first place. I was perfectly capable of sending the invites myself… I just had to get myself in the right mood.

"Auntie, you know I don't like you going through my stuff without my permission." I should have locked this thing with a password.

"Don't worry, I didn't read through any of your messages. I can respect a woman's privacy." Just to make sure, I scrolled through my contact list and read each message.

It was just the regular 'Come to my farewell party' kind of stuff with the details attached followed by a little cringe-worthy 'Ill definitely cherish the times we've had' added to it. So far, no problem. My regular friends were invited and anyone I had ever had a problem with was already gone from my contacts anyway. At least that was what I thought.

"Oh, and I invited that nice boy you used to bring around all the time last year."

I froze in my tracks as I heard that sentence. "W-wait… you did what?!"

"It's a shame he doesn't come around anymore so I invited him." No. Please tell me you didn't!

"Auntie!" Holding my phone to my chest, I felt angry for the first time in forever.

"What? You two aren't broken up, are you?" Her smiling face shifted into look of concern. Of course, she wouldn't know what happened.

"We were never together in the first place!" Storming away, I made my way to my room and shut the door. I couldn't believe she did something so stupid. Landing on my bed, I kicked my legs back and forth in frustration. Scrolling through our messages, I remembered everything and immediately shut my phone off. All of a sudden, I found myself calmed down from a single thought. "Hiro... how are you now, I wonder?"

All of a sudden, a message came up which jolted me a bit. I hurriedly unlocked my phone and was slightly disappointed to find a notification from my VR app. It was a guild meeting sanctioned by the Reaper I knew as M. Sitting over my bed, I gently kicked the box my NerveGear was in with the back of my feet.

'If it wasn't for Hiro, I wouldn't have bought AKO. I wouldn't have met all these kind people…' Maybe inviting him wasn't such a bad idea. Even if he ignored me for months, I admitted it would still be nice to see him again for one last time...

"Pardon me…" Genji softly whispered as he entered my house. Honestly, if it wasn't for the fact that my place was near the coffee shop, I wouldn't have agreed with them but since it was just Shimpei and Genji coming over I thought it would be okay.

"Home alone?" Shimpei asked as he skipped over to the dining area and spun around, admiring the surroundings like some sort of carefree schoolgirl.

"My parents should be at the office by now so that just leaves-" Oh no.

"Big brother?" My little sister stood in the middle of the staircase, staring at us. A big smile formed on her face as she glanced at the other two. "Shimpei-san! Genji-san!"

"Nice to see you again, kid! Have you been growing taller?" Shimpei asked as she skipped over to him to receive a head rub.

"Yup! Soon, I'll be as tall as big brother!" She was always happy when my friends came over. Her main reason apparently was because they acted like better big brothers than me. Well, in my defense, I couldn't please everyone.

"Wait a minute... You weren't supposed to leave the house! Mom said you had to watch over me!" She turned to me with her finger as sharp as a nail.

"You were doing just fine in your room. I was only going to be gone for an hour." My parents had put me in charge of babysitting this brat whenever they would leave for work.

"I'm still telling mom you abandoned me!" She crossed her arms with a puffed up face. How I wish that were the case.

"Look, Rin, we don't have time for this. We'll be in my room so don't go in, alright?" I warned her with my eyes glaring at her.

"What if I get hungry?" She complained once more.

"Starve then." We walked past her as she stuck her tongue out in retaliation.

"Don't you think you're being too harsh on her, Hiro?" Genji asked as we climbed the stairs.

"Trust me, that monster deserves no mercy." I led them to my room which was still a mess since I wasn't really expecting guests. My school bag sat right next to the door with papers and books spilling out of it just as I had left it when summer started. After closing the door, I turned around to Shimpei crossing his arms and surveying the room.

"What?" I asked him with an annoyed tone.

"You could use more decorations, you know. A room is supposed to be the representation of one's self!" He closed his eyes and held his fist tightly to his chest as if he was supposed to be saying something inspirational.

"Shut up, Shimpei." Putting my AuraSphere back on, I sat on the chair in front of my desk and rested my head on my arms. "You guys can take the bed, I'll just pass out here."

"Y-you want us to share a bed?" Genji stuttered with a slight blush.

"Please don't say it like that, dude. If only you were a girl…" Shimpei sighed as he took his place horizontal to the foot of the bed. Genji reluctantly laid down right beside him. Both of them put their AuraSpheres on and got ready to dive.

Clearing my throat, I decided to start with a countdown. "Right, on three…"

"Link start!" Shimpei blurted out loud.

"Damn it, Shimpei! Link start!" I followed.

"Wait for me guys!" Genji pleaded.

I didn't know what M wanted to discuss with us but from the message he sent, it sounded serious.

Present Day – Aura Kingdom Online

"Alright!" I slammed my hands on the table for a great effect as I took a headcount of the participants. You see, our guild had gathered in the Golden Coast Inn for the meeting I had called. It was definitely going to be earthshattering for the lot of them.

"You don't have to be so loud, M." Orha scolded as he stood next to me holding the relic in his hands.

"Hey, where's Megumi?" Soran asked, noticing that our cute Sorcerer was not in attendance.

"She said something came up so she couldn't come today which is unfortunate indeed but…" I cleared my throat to get our attention back on the topic at hand. "The show must go on! I now call forth [Name Redacted]'s first official meeting! We really need to change that name…"

"And the point is?" Wairuzu crossed his arms. He was never the most patient one among us. I decided to let that pass for now.

"Orha?" Our Wizard placed the circular relic onto the table in front of the others who gazed at it with keen eyes.

"We got this from the Dagon dungeon yesterday. It's a relic that tells us how many Gaia keys are left." Currently, the only ones lit were the orange, blue, and green ones.

"This particular artifact is called the Dial of Reinhardt." Orha started throwing up lore after my explanation was finished. "From my understanding, it was forged by the Dark Lord to locate Gaia keys as long as it is imbued with his power."

"Yeah, some goat guy waved his magic hand over it and now we can do this." I touched the white section of the dial as a monochromatic hologram popped up showing a small body of water surrounded by beautiful cherry blossoms and all different kinds of flowers.

"Wait… is that the location of the white Gaia key?" Soran jumped from his seat to examine the place depicted in the dial.

"Yeah but the dial only shows the location of a landmark and the landmarks themselves are pretty vague." I was a bit frustrated once I had tried to access one of the locations only to get a small glimpse of the area the key was located in. I was pretty certain the goat scammed us. "Which is why we need your help."

"Sure, we could use a scavenger hunt." Daize grinned, obviously proud of his hunter skills which he had started levelling up.

"We should start with something easy then." Our Guardian said as he started clicking on each of the unlit parts of the dial.

"That's what I thought and after examining each of these locations, we've found one that we recognized."

"I recognized." The Wizard corrected me as he selected the black part of the dial, revealing a hellish looking altar that had bones and spikes strewn around a pentagram looking circle. "According to the surroundings, this one should be located in the Dark Realm, Pandemonium which is one of the most dangerous maps in the game."

"Well, it is the final area, isn't it?" Daize asked with an uneasy face. He was right; this was where you would challenge the Dark Lord himself, the supposed final boss of Aura Kingdom Online.

"Is there anything a little less… intimidating?" Soran nervously laughed.

"Unless you want to go after vague images, be my guest." I said as the rest of them tapped on the other parts of the dial. After looking over each one, most of them were pretty generic looking like a random cliff-side mountain or a bunch of hanging vines on a tree.

"We need to think this over more." Wairuzu said with a frustrated sigh. "We can't just rush over to the final boss."

"He's right but on the other hand, we don't know if we're the only ones who have something like this. For all we know, there might be more relics in the world for players to use." Orha explained as the rest of them realized how tense the race to find a Gaia key had gotten. If everyone got their hands on something like this, the hunt itself would be over in a flash thanks to forum discussions.

"Well for now, we should-" The Ronin was interrupted by a sudden crackling coming from outside. The windows and glasses around us shuddered as they recoiled from the loud bang.

"What was that?" Soran rushed outside the door as we followed. We stood there gazing at the sky which had turned dark. Red lighting emanated from the dark clouds as a bolt struck down onto the ground before us. As the smoke cleared, a man with long white hair and black armor that glowed a crimson red stepped forward. He held in his hand a dark long-sword that was embedded with red lightning.

"I have come for Azuria…"

Earlier That Day – Aura Kingdom Online

The plains of Pandemonium were cloaked in darkness with a forever cold wind blowing through it. Crimson dust flew past us as we made our way to the Dark Lord's chambers. I had a blue metallic mask covering my mouth and nose as I kept trudging forward with Kage and Arryn by my side.

"Jayce, are you sure there's a key here?" The dark Ravager asked me as he was skeptical of my decision to come here.

"After much research, yes." I had gone through the information that the guild had amassed. It seemed like the only area that wasn't fully explored by players yet was the final realm of the game that was gated by a really high level cap. "It makes sense too. This is the final dungeon in the game, the boss of which is beyond level 100."

"Can we really take on something like that?" The Duelist wavered as she shrugged her shoulders. She was understandably hesitant about taking on such a powerful foe.

"Don't worry, you guys have me. If anything goes wrong, you stay back and I'll unleash hell." I stared at the fist I made with my right hand. "Whatever it takes, I will save this game."

After grabbing the orange and blue Gaia keys, I had faith that we would be able to collect the rest before anyone else could. Arriving at what looked like an enormous mausoleum, the dark gates slowly creaked open as a black beacon shot up into the sky. We were at the right place, after all. Entering the premises, we found it to be a hellish courtyard with an altar at the center of it. The altar was surrounded with bones and effigies which had a pentagram in the middle of everything.

"I see I have guests." A man with long white hair stared at us with his red eyes from a balcony above. "Are you here to kill me?"

Arryn and Kage instinctively pulled out their weapons and prepared for a fight, however, I stopped them from moving forward. A notification had appeared on my screen, after all. "Stand down, guys."

However, Kage was already willing to pick a fight. "Jayce? What the hell are yo-"

"Just trust me." I glanced at them as they both nodded. After reading the text on the screen, I started moving towards the Dark Lord.

'Join the Dark Lord by bowing or fight him and restore peace to Azuria.' These words were displayed in front of me in a bright blue text. This was a ghost quest. The latter sounded like too much work for us so I bowed my head to see what would happen. To my surprise he smirked.

"A follower?" His deep voice boomed from above as I held my head down.

Jackpot! In the end, this was nothing but a story quest. "Yes. I have come seeking the power of the Gaia key!"

He instantly jumped down onto the courtyard with a loud thud, cracking the ground beneath him. "The Gaia are my enemies. Their very light is what took away everything dear to me. Why would you seek the power to destroy me if you truly are a follower?"

I started breathing heavily as I gulped. Pulling down my mask, I spoke to him directly. "I seek to control Azuria."

"Control? Control of Azuria should belong to me!" He hit his chest armor with his fist which gave out a loud clang, startling Arryn a bit. "Belenus and the church took everything from me! I shall be the one to take everything from them!"

"Then let me help you." I put on a mischievous smile. If we were going to get out of this in one piece, I had to convince the Dark Lord that he needed me.

"Jayce…" Arryn shivered behind me as Kage stepped forward.

"Jayce, what are you doing?" He asked with a reluctant look on his face. I glanced at him for a second before he stepped back and remembered what I told them before.

"Help me how?" The Dark Lord asked with a tilt of his head.

"You need a gateway to Azuria, don't you? You need a way out of this hell?" Stepping back, my blue aura surrounded me as my eyes glowed the same color. "I am a Creator. With my power, I have collected two Gaia keys and I'm planning on collecting the rest. I can make you a teleport crystal that can send you to Azuria where you are free to do as you please."

He stared at my glowing hands with a look of surprise in his red eyes before nodding. "Very well. And what might you want in return, Creator?"

"Nothing but the Gaia key you hold." I glanced over at the pentagram at the center of the courtyard.

"Take it. It only brings me harm anyway." The two of us waved our hands as a blue crystal started forming behind me while, simultaneously, a black diamond rose out of the pentagram. We each went our separate ways and retrieved our treasures.

"As a bonus, my dark follower…" The Dark Lord turned around to face me. He waved his hand once more as a dial looking relic fell into my other hand. It had five glowing sections. "This is my dial empowered by my blessing. I have sought to destroy the Gaia keys once before to prevent Belenus from creating another high council. But if what you say about yourself is true, Creator, then I believe the keys are in good hands."

With a flash, he was gone. Letting out a sigh of relief, Arryn and Kage ran up to me as I put the black Gaia key into my inventory. My eyes widened as I stared at the dial in my hand.

Arryn was the first to speak as my eyes wavered. "Jayce, why did you-"

"They already have the green one!" I shouted in frustration.

"The green?" She asked as her eyes fell on the spot I was pointing at.

"There." My finger landed on the piece of the dial that lit up a bright green color. It was one of the keys that the guild hadn't reported on yet. "Damn it!"

"Wait. Does that thing really show us where the Gaia keys are?" Kage proceeded to tap one of the other sections which revealed the location of another key. Unlike the other parts, it was monochromatic which meant that it wasn't discovered yet.

"It would seem so." Packing up the dial, I started moving out of the courtyard in a hurry. "Arryn, Kage, let's get moving we're running out of time."

"But what about the Dark Lord?" Arryn stopped me by grabbing my arm. "You just gave him a path to Azuria! Why would you do that?!"

Turning around, I rubbed my nose. "Look, once I'm admin, I'll just delete him okay?! This was the easiest way to get the black Gaia key! Plus, this might cause some commotion among the players, giving us a chance to snag up the rest of the keys! And then we're going to have to think about how we'll grab the green key from the players that have it! Maybe we'll have to-"

I stopped as soon as she wrapped her arms around me out of concern. "I think it's time for a break, Jayce."

My arms slowly rose to hug her back but instead, I pushed her away. With the clock ticking, I didn't feel like taking a break. "We don't have time for that, Arryn."

I decided to walk ahead of them since they were so reluctant to move. With my feet stomping on the ground, I pulled my mask back up and headed towards the teleport crystal. With my mind focused on the Gaia keys, I didn't hear Arryn whispering to herself.

"Dante-kun…"

Present Day – Aura Kingdom Online

"Reinhardt…" This was the first time I had seen Orhaxum afraid, I mean we all were from the aura that guy was emitting. However, I knew that standing around in fear wasn't going to get us anywhere. Pulling out my tachi, I walked up to the big bad and pointed the tip at his face.

"Sorry, Azuria's not for sale." I firmly stated as the dude just clicked his tongue.

"Pitiful Envoy." He swung his sword horizontally in a quick flash, knocking all of us back. A couple of NPCs also got caught within the area of effect and were pushed down as well. Getting back up, I watched as a sinister aura surrounded the area around him, spawning monsters of darkness that looked like they were reptilian skeletons with scimitars made out of obsidian.

"This event is getting crazier and crazier by the minute!" Daize took out his bow and fired a shot at Reinhardt who reacted quickly and deflected it with his long-sword. As he did, his health bars appeared above him as well as his level.

"Unknown?!" I gasped as I saw the level indicator above him display nothing more than three question marks. Our levels were high but compared to him, we were probably ants but this wasn't the first time we faced something impossible like this. Unfortunately, the same could not be said about the rest of the players.

"Is that a boss?"

"His level is even unknown!"

"Why would they send a strong boss to here of all places?!"

"There's no way we can beat him!"

I heard whispers from the players nearby who were hesitant to engage since most of them were of a lower level. Helonia Coast was one of the first areas in the game, after all.

"Hey! We could use a little help here!" M shouted at the crowd who flinched in return. Besides us in the middle, there was no one else standing in between Reinhardt and the town of Helonia. We didn't know if this was a planned event but one thing was clear, this boss was able to deal actual damage to the town and its residence. Our hang out spot was at risk.

I knew there was only one thing that would give us a chance to defend it. "Daize, Soran, you should take the others and run away. If I use Enhance Mode then maybe I can…"

Our Guardian suddenly rushed to the front and slammed his shield down onto the ground. "Don't worry! I'll be your shield, Wairuzu!"

"Hey, don't take the glory from us now, great Ronin! We're not leaving!" Daize grinned even if we might have been facing a fight we couldn't possibly win. I always found that annoying but I also wanted to smile like those two did. Nodding, I swung my tachi to the side as a confident grin formed on my face.

"Alright then! Listen up, if the rest of you want to sit and watch then do so!" I shouted to the players around us who flinched as I raised my voice. "You guys just see what we can do!"

As Reinhardt approached with his army, all five of us huddled together and prepared to face his wrath. All of a sudden, a stray arrow hit him on his shoulder as he angrily glared at an Archer on the roof of the Inn.

"Get out of this town!" He yelled as the rest of the crowd cheered. They got more and more riled up with each cheer until a mob had surrounded the Dark Lord himself. It seemed as though the players around us had decided to join the fight after all.

"If you Envoys will be so uncooperative, then I shall crush you all!" Waving his hand forward, he sent the dark skeletons towards us. We yelled back as we charged forward with all out might. Swords clashed and spells were cast as the battle for Helonia Coast started. Weaving in between the skeletons, I spun around and managed to cut one of their heads off before proceeding to disarm another and stab it in the chest. Reinhardt himself was only a couple of feet away from me, effortlessly parrying players' swords and sending red bolts of lightning down onto them with every hit which sent them back to the spawn point. All of a sudden, I received a notification. In these circumstances, I would have ignored it and kept fighting but my eyes caught the particular orange text that read:

'Save Azuria.'

Ending: Shirushi by LiSA

Next Episode: The Dark Lord