Comments: I guess you're wondering why this one is uber long and the others kinda aren't. This is because I have changed my writing style a bit since the last chapter. And I am going mad at trying to edit, adjust, augment, subtract, and change stuff in the previous two chapters, such as descriptions and other stuffs. Anyways, here is Chapter 3 of the .hackLegend of the Twilight Angel.
P.S. This story was under construction since the first .hack game came into existence, and before the crappy .hack series came out, so when reading this, forget the crappy Shugo .hack series, cause it ruins the title.
As the rings disappeared from around Seraph, the background of Mac Anu came into view. For a while he wondered why this had happened. He then tapped his foot and sighed.
"Oh, right… I can't leave this server until someone sends me a keyword in Theta…" he cocked his head to the side and scoffed, crossing his arms. "This sucks…" After returning to a standing position, he moved his head to the sides, popping his neck, and continued on to the bridge. As he crossed, a Wavemaster and a Long Arm going to where he came, talking in raised voices.
"I heard there's a newbie Blademaster kickin' butt around here!" the Wavemaster said. Seraph stopped, turned around, and quietly followed the two players.
"Yeah, I heard he's only been playing a couple of weeks and had even given Balmung a run for his money," the Long Arm added. Seraph began to smile at hearing this. The two players stopped at the chaos gate, while Seraph hid behind one of the columns.
"I heard it was a girl," the Wavemaster replied. Seraph's smile faded and he was compelled to find this woman. "Her name is Kaiya and she's always on at night. Well, I have to go get dinner ready. See ya!" The Wave master logged out along with the Long Arm. Seraph scoffed and logged out as well.
The next day, a bit later in the afternoon, Seraph logged in, arriving again in Mac Anu. This time, however, Zanzoo was waiting close to the gate, obviously waiting for him. She walked towards him and laughed.
"So you want to meet her here," she said. Seraph's face remained in its stoic form. "I guess it's because of the rumors." She moved a bit closer to him. "Or are you just lonely?" Seraph looked at Zanzoo and smiled.
"Kaiya must be a worthy opponent if she can keep up with m… uh, Balmung." Zanzoo cocked her head to the side, puzzled.
"'M'..?" she asked.
"It's nothing… Forget about it…" He looked away from Zanzoo, his eyes filling with hatred. 'Balmung… You haunt me once again. Why do you always linger around me in my mind and in this game? Why is it I am always overshadowed by your achievements?'
"Hey, what's wrong?" Zanzoo asked. Seraph's eyes returned to their calm state and he looked at her, this time seeing not Zanzoo, but the one he lost to the white demon. He smiled and laughed. "Nothing… Just thinking…"
"Well, if you think too much, you'll go crazy. C'mon, stay cool. You shouldn't spend your life thinking. Just go out and do something fun. Take a load off. Give your brain a break!" Zanzoo began to dance away from the chaos gate, leaving a smiling Seraph to follow her. As they passed over the bridge, Seraph began to loosen up and talk to Zanzoo. He kept on talking just to keep things from getting quiet as she watched him patiently. They crossed over the bridge and passed the magic shop, going toward a secluded storage space. "Is this where you're gonna meet her?"
"Yeah, this is it. A bit of privacy from the rest of the players," he replied. He was back into his stoic mood, looking off into the water. Zanzoo walked to beside him and looked off as well.
"Why is it that you're so talkative around me and yet you isolate yourself from everyone when possible?" Seraph, startled, looked at her. He then sat down on the stone ground, staring off into the water again.
"Well… As I said before, you remind me of her… And this was how I was before she was…" His face became filled with sadness. "We'd always come back here to talk by ourselves… And we'd usually meet here before going off to a new area… This was where…" He looked deeper into the water.
"You really cared for her didn't you?" Seraph stayed motionless.
"She was the first person I'd ever met in the game… She was smart, funny, and beautiful… both in 'The World' and in real life…" A single tear rolled down his emotionless face and fell into the water. "I miss her… And I hate myself for letting her get drained by that thing… I wish I had done something at least… Then it wouldn't feel as bad… But I did nothing… Nothing to help her… Nothing to save her… I'm such an idiot…" Zanzoo put her hand on his shoulder.
"Don't blame yourself. You couldn't help it. That thing is just evil all together. It is the one to blame and whoever created it deserves some of the blame as well…" She looked at Seraph's face, which was still emotionless and still.
"It doesn't matter who's made it… I couldn't stop it from getting her… And it's all my fault... It's all my damn fault... I failed her..." Zanzoo moved closer to him and leaned against him.
"Well, I know no one can replace her, but... Just come to me if you need someone to talk to..." she responded quietly. Seraph looked to his side where she leaned. His eyes suddenly became full of grief, and then he just looked away.
"Awww, how touching!" A woman was standing in the walkway towards the shops. Zanzoo sat up straight as Seraph stood slowly and faced the woman, his eyes and face returning to their stoic look. She was clad in dark blue armor that covered her entire body, except for her arms and her calves, which were covered by a pair of dark brown boots. She had a large sword in hand and was smiling at the two. She had azure blue eyes and had brown, straight hair that went down to her shoulders. Against her pale skin, the hair gave a sense of elegance about her. She walked towards Seraph, still smiling. Zanzoo stood up and walked next to Seraph. As she looked at the woman, Zanzoo noticed that she was an inch or two taller than this woman. "Such a beautiful thing, a couple wishing to be alone." The woman giggled. Seraph stepped a bit a ways from Zanzoo in response. The woman walked up to Seraph. "You wanted to see me?" she asked exuberantly.
"Wait a second. Are you Kaiya!" Zanzoo asked in surprise.
"You guessed it! Kudos for you!" Kaiya replied. As she giggled, Seraph walked past her, heading out of the area. He stopped and turned to Kaiya.
"Delta Hidden Passionate Aqua Field. Two hours. Be there..." he declared coldly and logged out.
Seraph returned to Mac Anu an hour later, looking around. He repeated the e-mail over and over in his head. 'Please meet me at the gate at 9 o' clock. I want to talk about something important.' He scoffed and walked over to one of the pillars, then after getting the e-mail out of his mind, he leaned against it. "So, what was so important... I wonder..."
"Why? Why are you doing this?" Zanzoo's voice came from the other side of the pillar. She was leaning against the opposite side, her scythe resting next to her. "I wanted to know before anything happened..."
"I must prove it. To myself... and to my brother..." he replied.
"Prove what? Your strength!"
"Yes. I have always been in the shadow of my brother. I could never come close to being better than him in anything... until I came here... As a Wavemaster, I finally surpassed him." A strong silence ensued for a few minutes. Zanzoo broke the silence when she stood up and grabbed her scythe, standing it on the ground to her right.
"So, where is your brother?" she asked.
"Somewhere in the game, fighting for justice... That kind of garbage." He replied, standing as well. He faced the chaos gate and moved towards it. Almost halfway to it, Zanzoo ran to in front of him.
"Seraph, wait! I..." Seraph shook his head and passed her, moving to the gate.
"It wasn't anything... It was not of you..." He looked at her. "That was the old 'me'..." As he looked at her, he saw the silent tears rolling down her cheeks. He faced the chaos gate again. "Don't e-mail me anymore. Keep your distance from me." Seraph was then surrounded by the rings, hearing only an uttered cry as he logged out.
An hour later, Seraph appeared in Delta Hidden Passionate Aqua Field. He looked around at the green plains and blue sky. The sky was filled with clouds and a large airship was floating by. Seraph looked back down at his surroundings on the ground. There were many rock walls in the area, some forming arches large enough for a giant to crawl through. Beside some of the walls were tall bamboo towers topped with violet-blue flames. Suddenly a goblin ran out from behind one of the towers, Kaiya following short after. The goblin ran around in small circles, shortening the distance between it and Seraph. As it closed in on him, Seraph readied his sword. However, as soon as it got to five feet away from him, it stopped and fell over. Then the goblin dissolved into a few lines of 1s and 0s. Seraph scoffed as Kaiya slowly ran next to the spot.
"So, did you want a fight or what!" she asked playfully, a smile on her face. Seraph bent over and picked up a small rock and threw it onto the place where the goblin died. The rock dissolved into 1s and 0s as well.
"A death panel... A data sieve that will immediately sort the binary code out of data. Transfigured and coded correctly in the game, it becomes a death spot to where if anything consisting of binary data in any part is destroyed. Enemy or friend, they all are deleted." Kaiya's smile faded and her eyes gave the impression of surprise. Seraph scoffed again and walked up to her, standing a few of feet away from her face. "So you used hacking to defeat Balmung... Heh... What a cheap way to win!"
"And what makes you so smart on the subject, huh? Seraph the Forgotten – no, the 'Guardian Angel'?" As soon as she finished her sentence, Seraph had his sword up to her throat, him a foot closer.
"That is the old 'me'... before what happened to me happened. If you dare call me by that name again..." He moved the sword tip down to her heart. "You'll lose your character. And I'll lock you out of further log-ins. Of course, you never save, do you?" He sheathed his sword and walked few feet in the direction of the tower that the goblin hid behind before. His right hand was to his side, fingers fiddling around. "You have been playing inside the game for two weeks straight without saving. This is because your computer caught a virus that deletes specific files once they are created, mostly save states and quest files. You use a cloak to hide your character when you're away from the terminal. You use death panels to defeat monsters and heighten your stats in order to keep up with enemies, including Balmung – catch me if I'm wrong on anything!" Kaiya stared at him, her face filled with horror and shock.
"How... How did..." she began to ask. He walked over, his left hand resting on his sword's hilt.
"You left a lot of bread crumbs to follow. You know a few tricks, but you're not a real hacker, just a cheat."
"What about you! Wouldn't you use your hacks to defeat Balmung of the Azure Sky!"
"No. Because I must defeat him with my own strength! I must prove that I am better than my brother!" He swung his right arm to his sword and he drew it, swinging for Kaiya. She was flung into a wall behind her, caught off guard.
"Why must you defeat Balmung and not your brother!" She said as she drew her blade and rammed it into Seraph's sword. Both were face-to-face, blades crossed.
"If I defeat Balmung, then my brother will know that I am stronger than he is!" The two began to circle, swords still crossed.
"Well, then, I guess I'll disprove that!" Kaiya yelled as she ran Seraph into the same wall she was slammed into, this time shattering it. Seraph fell onto his back, panting. "See? I can use my strength very easily!" She ran ahead and lifted her sword, ready to slam down. Seraph sat up and sheathed his sword. As Kaiya's blade came down, he rolled away, unknowingly headed for the death panel. When her blade came down, it stuck into the earth, throwing Kaiya off a bit. After a minute of regaining her composure, she pulled the sword from the ground and ran for Seraph. "Where's all of your talk now!" As she ran, Seraph stood up and readied himself. As she got closer, he dodged to his right, sliding a bit. Overwhelmed by her strength, Kaiya clumsily tripped over and began to fall.
"I don't need to cheat to win. Not like you!" Seraph looked as Kaiya screamed, falling for the panel. "Dammit..." He swung his left leg behind him and, pushing hard into the ground with it, flung himself into Kaiya, knocking her away from the panel. "And I can't just neglect a person in danger. However..." He got up, and while Kaiya was on the ground, drew his sword and pointed it at her throat. "In your case, I am willing to make an exception!"
"Wait! I can... I can help you out! Besides, I can't save! Please!" she pleaded. Seraph remained still for a short while. He then scoffed which changed to a light chuckle and became a long laugh. He sheathed his sword and walked over to the death panel. As he fidgeted his right hand's fingers, the panel dissipated into 1s and 0s and completely disappeared. Surprised, Kaiya got up and brushed herself off.
"You live in Tokyo, right?" Seraph asked. Kaiya looked at him quizzically. "Shut down your computer and let it cool off. Don't worry about your character. After it cools off, send me your home address. I can take it apart and look at it for you." He turned his head and looked at Kaiya, smiling. "If I am to be my old self one last time, it may as well be now." Seraph gated out of the field, leaving behind a confused Kaiya, who gated out a few seconds after. A strange silence ensues as bits of the area's texture deteriorated into nothing.
Solo jumped out of a passing gondola and onto a small landing next to the bridge. He looked ahead at Mac Anu's Weapons' Shop.
"Now to get me a new sword!" As Solo walked towards the shop, he looked towards the bridge and saw Seraph crossing over. "Hey... Hey!" Solo yelled. Seraph didn't flinch, still moving. Solo ran up the steps and crossed the bridge, in pursuit. Finally, Seraph stopped at the chaos gate. Solo caught up to him, panting. "Just who I need to see! There's a reply to your topic on the message board." Waiting for a reply from Seraph, Solo stood still. After a few seconds of silence, he growled and continued. " 'The player called Kaiya, rumored to have beaten Balmung of the Azure Sky, has been exposed for hacking her stats and will be punished for her actions. These actions, however, have been deemed independent of all outside influences. She is to remain under surveillance in case such an incident occurs again.'... It was typed by Helba." Seraph spun around and faced Solo, shocked.
"Helba! Are you sure!"
"Yup. None other." Solo replied. After watching Seraph's shocked face, Solo yawned and stretched his arms out. "Well, I gotta go. School stuff. Laters!" Solo ran to the chaos gate and disappeared behind the rings. Seraph stood still, looking around.
"Why..? That compromises your location and IP... Are you calling to me again..?" After a minute of silence, he slowly walked towards the chaos gate and logged out.