Hi everyone! How are you? Have you missed me?
Heng Shi: LET ME GO! DAMN YOU, SEADEVIL! YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE TOLD HER ANYTHING! I'LL KILL YOU!
-Hits Heng Shi on the head with my awesome giant hammer- Shut up! It's your own fault for taking a vacation without my permission! If it weren't for your fear, we would have never caught you! I was thinking about giving you some vacation to get away from being tied to a chair, but now you've missed your chance!
SeaDevil: That's what you get from threatening me! We also have the awesome power of the computer on our side!
Heng Shi: BUT THIS IS TOO MUCH! I'VE BEEN TIED TO THIS THING FOR ALMOST HALF A YEAR! –tries to wriggle out of the chains that are binding him this time, encirclinghis feet, hands and torso- LET ME GO!
Like I said, you missed your chance to temporary freedom! You'll only be free when I say so or after a loooooooong time when this story's over!
Heng Shi: Then I hope it ends really soon! I hate being your character!
-sits down in a corner to grow mushrooms, acting like I haven't heard what Heng Shi said- I don't want this story to eeeeeeeend! I want to torture Heng Shi foreveeeeeer! (Heng Shi: HEY!) I hope it takes a few years until I end this story… I really enjoy writing it… T-T
Heng Shi: Shut up, you're annoying!
SeaDevil: Well, now that the mission of capturing Heng Shi has been successful, it's time for me to go. (Heng Shi: Stop ignoring me!) I hope you readers like Bun-bun's chapter and continue to support her with your reviews. Bye~!
Heng Shi: Why didn't you go immediately then?! And it's either mine or the idiot's role to tell the readers to start reading!
-becomes revived at the mention of reviews- Yeah, Fishy-chan's right! Have fun reading! ^^
Heng Shi: Stop ignoring me, damn it! I'll kill you all! Readers, don't start with the story until I manage to get these idiots' attention! Oh, no you don't! I said not to read the chapter! Stop it-!
If I were to describe the tournament final in one word, it would be either 'exciting' or 'beautiful'. I can't really decide between the two. The players are killing each other, light pillars disappearing into the sky one after another, blood is splattered on the ground and the players' clothes, and just before the players die they get amost enjoyable look of fear on their faces.
It's thrilling to watch, but it would feel even better to be down there myself, killing everyone in sight. Too bad that you have to be a part of a team to participate, or else I would have beaten the crap out of every person I encountered.
But I can create my own massacre whenever I want, so I won't complain... for now.
And I must say that Prince's team is doing a very good job at surviving. At first, they only avoided every fight that they could possibly avoid, but then Prince decided to help the human alliance so that it will be a little more even between them and the holyman alliance when they eventually clash.
As I observed this, the announcer said that there only were 100 players left and that the human alliance was at a disadvantage. He also decided to point out Prince's location on the arena, making all the players turn towards him and his small team. I sniggered at Prince's panicked face and gripped the hilt of my sword tighter. I could sense a big battle approaching, and from the concentrated looks on Prince's two allied mages' faces as they chanted, two powerful spells seemed to be coming up as well.
As the spells are released, Prince suddenly runs into the magic attack and comes out again with a person over his shoulder. What is he doing? Did he seriously just run into a deadly battlefield just to bring out one single person?
Is he asking his priest to heal the person? Why help his enemy? And now he helps another one? What the hell is he doing?!
I sigh tiredly and shake my head; I'll never be able to understand a compassionate guy… I might as well stop asking myself such questions in the first place, it'll just give me a headache…
"Oh, oh, oh! It's started! 12 healthy ones now go against 20+ injured! Both sides are not backing down! Slaughter! It's a one-sided killing spree! Everyone keep your eyes open! Just who will win?"
When I hear the announcer's voice, I once again direct my focus towards the arena. The two alliance leaders are having an impressive battle, but all the others have been wiped out; except for Odd Squad and Dark Phantom, that is. We'll now see who'll win this tournament in a final battle between allies.
A grin slowlyappears on my face as Prince holds out his sword towards Dark Phantom's warrior; now I'll be able to see how much my training has helped Prince improve. But why is his opponent hesitating?
"Woah! Even the holy knight Fan has died!"
As I look to the two leaders' battle, I can see the ponytailed guy stand there alone while a ray of light flies up into the sky towards the rebirth point. I raise my eyebrow in interest as the surviving leader slowly walks over to where Prince is standing with a serious look on his face. Is the ponytailed guy about to challenge Prince?
But instead of attacking Prince like I thought he would, the man stops a few feet away from him and begins to talk. No one can hear what he's saying, but I can see even from this distance that Dark Phantom's warrior is growing angry.
I smirk in satisfaction as I see the ponytailed leader's blood splatter out from his stab wound in the middle of his stomach. The Dark Phantom warrior had apparently decided to kill him; well, try anyway, asthe stab didn't kill the man completely – but an arrow in the head from an equally furious purple-haired bard sure did.
Without any further ado, Prince once again points his sword towards the white-hairedwarrior and challenges him to a fight. The warrior once again hesitates to hold up his sword, but once he does, it seems to become the signal for the fightbetween the two teams to begin.
Thief against thief, warrior against warrior, necromancer against another warrior while the mages, sharpshooters and priests are protected by a barrier the mages are creating.
But it's the warriors' fight I'm interested in; I ignore the crowd's cheers and the announcer's voice to be able to concentrate on how the two warriors move.
It's a tie between the two of them; they block each other's blows and neither of them have succeeded in touching the other. But I can notice that Prince is becoming too engrossed in the fight to focus on anything elseother than the opponent in front of him. If he doesn't snap out of it soon, anyone will easily be able to land a sneak attack on him and kill him.
And it seems as if I wasn't the only one to see that, asI notice the archer from team Phantom point an arrow at Prince and fire. Now, let's see if Prince manages to notice it before it hits him…
I watch in satisfaction as Prince quickly moves his leg backwards to make the arrow miss his knee. He has actually learned something… but the bad thing about dodging that arrow was that he now has lost his balance, causing him to fall to the ground and land on his side.
The archer shoots more arrows and Prince does a flip to dodge them, but one arrow hits his shoulder. This should have giventhe white-haired warrior a perfect opportunityto attack Prince, but he just stands completely still, looking down at Prince in what seems to be worry.
Prince becomes angry – probably because the white-haired man is going easy on him – and quickly swings his black dao at the frozen man. The dark elf gets a small cut, but nothing serious. Prince getsup to his feet again, withhis blade covered in flames, ready to unleash what looked like a powerful attack.
The dark elf also seemed to be preparing for a powerful attack and as the two clash with each other, I lean forward in my seat, wanting tosee who the winner is. The sight makes me frown in disappointment.
Both of them have stab wounds, one more serious than the other; the white-haired man is stabbed in his shoulder while Prince is stabbed very close to, or in, his kidney. Judging from that, it seems like the dark elf is the winner of this battle.
Gui, noticing that 'his Prince' is in danger, shoots two arrows at the dark elf warrior; one in his head, the other in his stomach. The white-haired warrior disappears in a flashing light by the two fatal shots. As a shadow appears behind Prince, Gui shouts out to him in warning.
Prince – most likely due to the fact that his pain tolerance has been getting better through our training – quickly manages to bring his weapon to his back just in time to block the sword that was about to kill him. But since the casual clothed man attacking him is in the air, he can put more power behind his swing, as he is being aided by his weight. The force behind the sword is too strong for Prince to be able to hold it back, and he's sent to the ground with his blade flying away from his grip. Prince gets a thin cut along his back, but he's still alive.
The man is about to finish his job when an arrow from Gui stops him and he's forced to jump backwards. Prince slowly staggers to his feet, having gripped his sword on his way up, and looks around to see how the battle's going. Just when he's about to go after the black-haired swordsman who tried to kill him recently, a bright light shines over the arena.
It's two powerful magic spells that have clashed and are preparing to descend upon the arena.
I'm not able to see anything more after the spells hit the ground, but when the dust finally clears up, I can see one person standing in the middle of the arena. It's the casual-clothed swordsman, burned and barely standing.
I sigh in disappointment, partly due to the fight being over and partly because Odd Squad didn't win. But as I'm about to stand up with my sword and walk away, Garel nudges me with the tip of his spiked tail and points towards the arena.
I pause to look at the arena just as the thief from Odd Squad crawls out from the ground behind the man who is currently crying tears of joy. I chuckle slightly as the thief stomps down the barely alive man, thereby giving the victory to Odd Squad.
Now that the tournament is over, for real this time, I stand up from my seat, pull out my sword from the ground and jump over the few players that separate me from the stairs. I then place my sword in its rightful place on my back, and with Garel by my side I begin to walk out from the arena.
Now that I don't have to be in Star City anymore, I think that I'll go to another big city to see what's there…
I sigh happily as I'm standing in the large area of blood that I've just created by killing a huge mob of monsters. I'm on my way towards Sun City and as I walked through the mountains, a huge mob of monsters blocked my way. So I decided to have some fun.
I stab my sword into the ground next to a puddle of blood and bend down to take some of the blood on my fingers before walkingover to thenearby cliff side with the blood dripping off my fingers. Garel, already knowing that this will take a while, makes himself comfortable next to my sword, facing the opposite direction of me, justin case some more monsters – or players – try to attack.
I become lost in my own world the moment my bloodied fingers touch the uneven surface of the mountain, my fingers moving swiftly and expertly – just like they have always done throughout all of these years. I bend down from time to time to get more blood from the puddle and a small smile starts gracing my lips as I'm painting.
It takes about one and a half hours before I'm finally done and can step back to admire my work.
On the cliff wall is now a broken skull. The skull is lying on its side,crying tears of blood, with a knife embedded in its temple, cracks spreading from it across the half of the skull's 'face'. The eyehole with the cracks around it is a little narrowed by the outside,as if it's sad, while the side without cracks looks like it's angry, the inside drawn downwards in a frown. A puddle of blood lies underneath the skull and in front of its forehead is a withered flower.
Garel looks up at the me, andcliff I've painted on, when he hears my motions stop and cocks his head in confusion.
"What is it?" He asks me as he gets up to his feet to walk over to my side.
Still looking at my bloody work with a smile on my face, I answer him:
"It's a skull. You have to look at it in the right angle to be able to see the picture."
I and Garel look at the painting a little longer, but when I'm satisfied with watching, I walk over to my sword and pull it out from the ground. When I've once again placed it in its holster, we begin our walk towards Sun City.
At that moment in time, I didn't know that my painting would lead my enemies even closer towards me than they already were…
At the moment, I'm sitting by a dango shop I recently discovered in Sun City, drinking some tea and eating like I usually do when I'm relaxing. I've already attracted a huge number of female fans; they started gathering the moment I stepped inside the city. It's really annoying, as usual, but there's nothing I can do about it, seeing that you can't change your character, and mine happens to be a bishie… If only females didn't like the killing type… Then my life in Second Life would be so much easier…
It took me about two days to walk to Sun City, but it's better than paying the traveling fee. Yes, I have a shit load of money, but I do not want to spend iton something as pathetic as traveling fees… Going by carriage or teleporting are only for the ones who don't have the power – or are too lazy – to walk there themselves.
I sigh tiredly as Garel scare away a few females that had gotten too close for comfort. girls are even more persistent that the ones in Star City…
I have to get away from them… I can't take all this attention while I'm eating. I stand up from my chair and look around me; the girls who are slowly getting closer to me. I eat up the last dango on my stick, put it down on the plate and look over to Garel. I wonder if he's big enough for me to fly on him… Nah, I doubt it. He still needs to grow a bit more for that to be possible.
I look around me once again, and seeing no other escape, I jump backwards and onto the rooftop of the dango shop. I quickly jump to another roof when I hear the girls whining at me to come back down. Garel flies up next to me and side by side we cross over the city with a horde of girls racing after us. A tick mark appears on Garel's forehead when he looks back and sees a few pets following as well. I chuckle silently at the bitter irony of even him gaining enough fame for it to be troublesome.
I furrow my brows in thought. If I could make Garel bigger somehow, it would solve our problem with having to stay near the ground. That way, we'd have much fewer, if any, girls following us in hope of getting a hug… or whatever they want to do with us… Maybe I can make him bigger with my mana? I can give it a try at least.
I look into Garel's eye, silently telling him to get closer with a small twitch of my head. He understands and swervesa bit closer to me while still beating his wings to keep from falling behind. I reach out with my hand and touch his head, making my mana travel over to him in small sparkles as I'm trying to make him bigger. Surprisingly, it works and he grows slowly as I'm pouring my mana inside of him.
When his body is slightly bigger than a car, I stop the flow of mana and motion for him to glide down a little so that I can jump on. He does just thatwhile I transform my heavy blade into its pistol form.
I jump away from the roof and onto Garel's back with my pistol in hand. I land by the base of his neck, between two green spikes, holding onto the spike in front of me to keep my balance as Garel wobbles slightly due to the sudden weight. But he keeps himself in the air, albeit with a slightly lower altitude than before. I clutch the spike harder as he flaps his large wings strongly to keep us aloft.
Once he gets used to my weight, he manages to get us high up into the air; so high up that the people on the streets look like small ants. I give Garel's necka small pet as praise, silently telling him that he did a really good job. I'm proud that he managed to carry my weight this high into the air. Maybe he won't grow anymore, maybe I have to pour mana into him for Garel to become big enough for me to fly on him? At least I don't have to use my time energy to make him bigger, that's a big relief.
But I wonder... Doesn't a pet need a skill to be able to grow like this? I don't think he has that type of skill... But how could he grow like he just did if he didn't? Maybe I should check it out, I mean, I've gained a lot of weird skills during the time I've played second life, so it is entirely possible that Garel would have done the same. But I've never bothered to look at them all, just skimmed over the ones that can serve me in battle.
I call out 'system' and my stat window appears in front of me. I'm not interested in my own stats at the moment, so I call out 'Garel's stats' to make my pet's window open up. Huh, he's at level 59, that's good. Although... I thought that he was at a much higher level, but it does seem understandable in a way, since it gets much harder to level up the higher the level you have, with pets having it even harder as they need much more experience to do so than players to start with.
I take a look at Garel's skills, listing them quietly inside my head. Flame explosion... Flamethrower... Poison claw... Wait, what's this? Steed Growth? What's that?
I press on the unfamiliar skill and read out loud what my dragon can use it for.
"'When the player adds it's mana to a pet who has gained this skill, the pet can grow in size, but only if the player is touching said pet and actively contributing with their mana; the pet cannot grow on its own accord.' Huh, so that's what it does... I had no idea... Well, now that I know of it, I'll make sure to use it more often."
Garel snorts and spout two small flames from his nostrils in agreement but keeps his focus on holding us airborne and away from the hordes of fangirls below.
I wonder if those fangirls will ever see sense and stop liking me… I am probably the most evil guy there is in Second Life, yet they follow me and squeal when I scare others…. And my classmates, they are also a problem. If they see me here (and realize who I am), I willhave to come up with an explanation as towhy I am like I am here, or else they will think that I'm crazy. I'll need some kind of excuse for my behaviour, so that they won't suspect me of being a real killer and call the police or something like that. They won't be able to find out that I'm an assassin, of that much I can be sure, but they could start questioning me, and maybe search through my home. That would be really bothersome…
Something else that's bothersome is 'Jing' trying to figure out who, and what, I am.
I still wonder how she got all those photos of me, especially the original one. I'm glad that the security system that my father created activelyworks to hide my more sensitive information, but there is only so much that it can do, and I'm upset that those pictures can now be shown to the whole council if she deems it necessary. And there's also the problem that if I'm not allowed to kill during some of the missions, my attacks will start happening during school, which would raise a lot of worry, and inquisitive nosiness, from the students…
I growl angrily as I lean back slightly, letting the wind blow through my hair freely as we continue to sail through the sky. Why must my life be so complicated? I have to hide everything, not that I mind that, but I have to put up with socialising with people while doing it! That is what is getting on my nerves. But the worst thing is that I can't get rid of the ones who irritate me! It's annoying as hell!
All I want to do is fulfil my final purpose, but can I do that in peace? Nooooo, I have to put up with all of this, not to mention that I'm also being hunted down to be killed! I just want to do one last thing but all of this shit is making it so much harder! Why can't Jing just leave me alone?!
I sigh tiredly while shaking my head, trying to get rid of all the thoughts plaguing my mind. I've never liked thinking about things too much, but it has started happening more recently; ever since I ran away from my life as anassassin. It gives me one hell of a headache sometimes…
I better eat some dango to calm down; it has always helped me through my stress…
With that thought in mind, I pat Garel's side and point down at a small nearby city. There must be a dango shop there, or else I will be disappointed. I'm beginning to suspect that I have a too much of a sweet tooth sometimes…
The loud beeping of my alarm clock wakes me up and I quickly push the 'snooze' button to stop the annoying sound. I remove my game console tiredly and place it on my bedside table while staring up at the white ceiling. There was something special happening today… What was it again?
I look at my black wall, trailing the green stalks on it with my gaze in hope of remembering what was so special about today. Is it some special assignment that's supposed to be done today? Or is it just a feeling I have?
I decide to ignore the feeling for now and begin to rise up from my bed while yawning loudly. I slowly walk out from my room and towards the kitchen to cook some breakfast. As I'm passing by the calendar that's hanging on the wall in the kitchen, I decide to look at the date to see if there really is something special happening today.
I stare at the calendar for a while, not completely processing what it says with my mind still half-asleep. Sunday… Fuck, I woke up early on a holiday… Oh, well. Might as well stay up then; I was thinking of doing some housecleaning anyway. It was about two weeks since I last cleaned the house, and it was starting to show.
I open the fridge to see if there's still some breakfast left, but to my disappointment, there's barely anything there. Just a package of milk, some eggs, a few ham slices and a little cheese left; just enough to make an omelette…
-Sigh- I guess shopping is the priority for today… I'll go out after breakfast.
I pick out the few items I have left in my fridge, close the door with my foot and place the ingredients on the counter to begin cooking. The feeling of this day being something special is still there even after I've finished my cooking and have begun eating… I wonder what it means… Oh, well. I might find out later, when I go shopping.
It feels like someone is following me… Have they caught up to me already? I thought that the town the organization is in would be the last place they'd look. Everyone knows that when you're a traitor to an organization of assassins, you shouldn't stay in the same town; that's justcommon sense.
So by going completely against this common sense, I had hoped to throw them off of my track for a while. I certainly hadn't thought that they would pick up on my thinking so quickly… I hope it's just a fangirl, but I really doubt it…
Just a few steps ahead of me, I can see a teenage girl with her brown hair tied up in a ponytail struggle with carrying the weight of theshopping bags she's holding in both hands. I smirk inwardly; that girl would be perfect in driving awaymy pursuer – for now, at least.
I look down at the ground, pretending to be deep in thought, and bump into the girl's shoulder, sending a few droplets of time energy into her arm and down to her fingers to make her lose her grip on the shopping bags by momentarily freezing the nerves in said body part. It works and the girl stumbles to the ground while dropping her bags, making their contents scatter on the concrete ground.
I turn around, as if surprised, and immediately put on my face-mask, making a worried face as I look down at the girl.
"Oh, no. I'm sorry, are you alright?"
I ask her in a worried tone while sitting down on my knees to help the girl. The girl winceswhen she hears my voice and slowly turns her head around, her whole body language almost screaming that she was afraid of me. When she looks into my eyes, her brownones widen a little in shock and fear. She's become paralyzed… I wonder why…
I look at the different goods that are scattered across the pavement; thankfully for her, all of them are still intact. I take her shopping bag and begin to put the items back where they belong while speaking to the girl beside me.
"I'm sorry I bumped into you, I was so caught up in my thoughts that I didn't notice where I was going…"
The girl slowly sits up while still staring at me in shock as I continue to pick up all the items. Slowly recovering, she comes to her senses and begin to pick up some of the items as well, putting them in the second bag.
"N-no, i-it's alright! I wasn't looking either!"
She sounds panicked; I wonder why she's afraid of me... Have we met in Second Life, whereI've done something to terrify her? She does look familiar… Maybe I'll just check.
Almost all of the goods are picked up except for one package of rice; I use this opportunity to reach out for it at the same time the girl does and the moment she touches my hand, I quickly go through some of hermemories which seem to belong to Second Life. I can see some quick flashes of me attacking the girl with my blade in katana form before arriving at the latest memory concerning me; I slow down, seeing myself very close to her face while smirking in amusement.
Coming back to reality, only a split second had passed and I drew my hand back from hers, looking at the girl with a nervous smile.
"Sorry." I say in fake embarrassment while picking up the rice package and placing it in the bag that I'm holding. The girl is holding her hand close to her chest while looking at me with a slight blush on her face. Since there aren't a lot of people whom I've spared in Second Life, and only one, really, that would behave in the same way that the girl had done so far, I quickly come tothe conclusion that this girl must be Prince. It seems really weird, since Second Life shouldn't be allowing anyone to play as the opposite sex, but it would give me a more logical reason asto why Prince blushed when we came so close at the end of the spar. Also, memories don't lie. And besides, Bolin has changed sex as well, so it is completely believable that another person would get the same exception.
I stand up with the shopping bag in hand, pretending to be surprised by the weight as I look down at it.
"Woah, this is one heavy shopping bag. If the other one is this heavy, it'sno wonder you lost your balance so easily."
'Prince' still hasn't moved from her position on the ground, nor has she taken her eyes off me. She went through a flashback when I looked through her memories, so maybe she's thinking back to that moment where I got so close to her? I raise an eyebrow in pretended confusion at her expression, which makes her embarrassed for being caught staring and she turns even redder than before.
I shake my head with a smile and stretch out my hand towards her to help her up on her feet. She looks at my hand and then back up at my face, as if doubting whether she should take my help or not. My smile grows into a grin and I say jokingly:
"Come on, you can't stay on the ground all day, right? People might walk on you since they can't see you down there."
'Prince' finally takes my hand and I easily pull her up to her feet, taking a step back so that I won't be crowding her personal space – nor she mine, for that matter. 'Prince' forgot to take the second shopping bag up from the ground with her, so I bend down and take it in my unoccupied hand. I grin cheekily at her, a little annoyed that here, outside Second Life, I'm at the eye height of a girl. Again...
"Well, go ahead and lead the way miss."
"H-huh?" 'Prince' asks me dumbly while taking a cautious step back.
I wink at her with my cheeky grin still on, making my image right now seem laid back.
"Come on, I can't let you carry these bags. It isn't healthy for a young lady to carry heavy things, you know. You might get back problems in the future."
'Prince' seems to get my hidden message and becomesoffended at beingcalled 'weak', crossing her arms while glaring at me.
"I'm sure I'll be just fine. Thank you for the offer but I'll do this by myself."
I smirk in amusement, like I've done so many times before in Second Life -but without any malice behind it this time - and hand over her bags. When she takes them, I purposefully let go of them too fast, causing her to struggle to keep them above the ground. I place my hands inside the pockets of my jeans while staring at her with a smug grin.
"Hmm~? And you were saying you were going to be fine? It sure doesn't look like it; you'll probably wobble your way home."
'Prince' grunts in effort and determinedly stomps past me, not answering me. I sigh in annoyance; my pursuer is still watching me, so I have to go with this girl. But how can I convince her to let me carry her bags if she knows me as the brutal killer Sabre?
...Do I really have to be all sentimental? ...Yep, that's my only choice right now… I really hate acting like this…
"Hey, wait up!"
'Prince' winces when she hears my voice and stops, as if she's worried about something. It's probably because she thinks that I'm going to try to kill her or something like that, but even if that may usually bethe case, it isn't this time. This time… I have to be nice…
I stop just a few feet behind her and sigh tiredly to begin this sentimental... thing, for lack of a better word.
"I'm sorry if I've ever scared you in Second Life…"
'Prince' stiffens up even more but she still doesn't turn around, soI decide to continue talking.
"I know that everyone fears me as 'Pure Lightning' there,but you don't have to worry about that here in real life."
I walk over to stand next to the girl and flash a bright grin towards her.
"Here, I'm just a regular guy who likes to help people. So, since I knocked you down, let me at least repay you with carrying those heavy bags."
A bright blush once again covers her face as she finally gives in andhand over the bags to me.
"O-ok, then. You can help me… You aren't one of those creepy types who harass the girls you help, right?"
I look at her dumbly while taking the bags from her shaking hands.
"Seriously? What would I gain in doing that? I can get any girl I want with this face."
I look off to the side with a twitching eyebrow, as if I'm imagining something very irritating. Which I am.
"Though it gets really irritating in Second Life… Females are totally crazy there… Why do so many love a cold hearted bastard that's killing everyone in sight? I thought it would save me the trouble of getting fangirls, but nooo. There are even more of them now…"
'Prince' giggles a little while beginning to walk towards her house with me following beside her.
"Yeah, I know the feeling. I'm constantly afraid of getting trampled when I'm without my teammates. It's really scary to have a whole horde of girls wanting to rape or harass me."
I blink at her in surprise, as if just realizing something and lean closer to her to get a better look on her face while I'm narrowing my eyes. She notices my sudden closeness and when she realizes what she just said, she decides to play dumb with me while sweating furiously.
"W-what's wrong?"
I snap my eyes open and a big grin stretches over my face while I'm leaning away from her.
"Oh, no. It's nothing student, I just realized who you are in the game, no big deal."
'Prince' freezes in place as if she's suddenlymade of stone, but I continue walking forward with the big grin becoming evenlarger.
"Now I also understand the real reason behind why you blushed during our spar. It isn't because you're gay, but because you're a girl. That makes a lot more sense. No wonder you looked so afraid of me; you've experienced my wrath many times."
'Prince' finally seems to get a hold of herself as she suddenly runs up next to me, panicking.
"Wait, don't tell anyone, ok? It would be really bad if everyone found out that I was him, especially my teammates! So please, Lao Shi, keep this a secret."
I stop in my tracks and let a little bit of my real personality show as I glare at the girl from the corner of my eyes. She begins to sweat a little in fright at seeing my glare, even if it's just at half of its usual power.
"Don't tell me what to do…"
She nods mutely and at that confirmation, I continue walking with a smirk on my face and my real personality hidden underneath my face mask.
"But really, what would I gain by keeping your identity a secret? It has to be something good if I'm going to haveto resist the temptation of telling people just to see their reactions."
She begins to sweat nervously and looks down on the ground as she's thinking hard with one finger covering her mouth. I wonder what she'll come up with… A deal that can make me more comfortable inside the game would be good.
I smirk in contentment as I think over the different things that she can give me now that she has a city. Maybe she'll give me my own private dango shop, in a dark back alley where I'll be all alone. Or maybe I can have slaves… that would be awesome since I'dbe able to have them do all the boring stuff, and thenkill them whenever I want.
I snap out from my thoughts as 'Prince' begins to talk to me with a hushed voice, as if she's afraid that someone she knows listens to our conversation.
"W-well, how about some money?"
I look to the side with an eye-roll.
"I already have enough as it is. I have so much that I don't know what to spend it all on."
"Ehm… Alright, how about some teammates?"
I glare at her, once again showing a glimpse of my real side. She shudders in fear but still keeps up with my calm strides as we walk.
"I'm a solo player, having teammates would be a nuisance. Besides, because of my reputation and actions, I doubt that anyone would want to be my teammate other than Garel."
"How about… Living in the castle…?"
I look at her in slight shock before a big grin stretches over my features. I thought she would agree to a simple house, but to live in the castle? No one would ever expect me to live there, and even if they did, it'd be very hard for them to get inside. That would be the perfect resting place.
I put both shopping bags in my left hand, leaving the right one free tohold out to 'Prince' with my grin stretching even further.
"You've got yourself a deal."
Hesitantly, 'Prince' takes my hand in hers and gives it a shake with a depressed aura hanging around her. She's mumbling something about 'Lolidragon killing her' but I pretend that I don't hear and switch one shopping bags back to my right hand. I tap her forehead with one of my fingers while still holding onto the bag, startling her out of her deep thoughts. I look at her with a bored expression.
"How much longeris it until we get to your house?"
'Prince' blinks in confusion, since she obviously forgot the whole 'walking home with Sabre helping out with carrying the shopping bags' thing after having had her identity as Prince discovered. She looks around and seems to remember the place quickly asshe points over to the next house.
"I live over there."
I look up at the extremely normal-looking multistorey building, immediately figuring out that she must live in an apartment like I do. I nod my head and begin to walk towards the door with 'Prince' following silently behind me, probably remembering our deal and the possible consequences of it as she seems to become depressed again.
For some reason, it makes me annoyed that she seems so depressed over such a small thing; I mean, I won't even come to the castle very often.
"Hey, why are you so depressed about me living in your castle? Shouldn't you be happy to see a hottie like me from time to time?"
She blushes slightly at my comment, but it doesn't seem affect her aura at all.
"No, it's not that. It's just, now that you'll live there, you'll try to terrify the city'sinhabitants. And that would give it a bad reputation. Also, you'll try to kill me every chance you get and my teammates won't like that I let a psychopath live inside the castle."
I furrow my eyebrows in irritation and look at her over my shoulder as I open the door to the apartment building.
"Hey, I might have a personality problem, but I'm sure as hell not dumb, if that's what you're saying. I won't come there often, just sometimes to get away from all the girls chasing after me. Also, I don't have to terrify people; it's just a way to keep myself entertained. If I'm in your city, I'll take that time to relax and be alone before I go to other cities to scare players, kill monsters etc. I would only go out from my room if I wereabout to leave or go to a dango shop - which I hope there will be in your city. Nothing else. As long as people leave me alone, I won't cause any trouble."
I let 'Prince' lead the wayup the stairs and we once again become silent. Everything I said was actually true; as long as no one bothers me, I won't cause any trouble in the city. I just hope that my fangirls won't find out about me living there…
'Prince' stops in front of a door with the number xxx on itand cautiously opens the door while peering inside. I become so annoyed at her forbeing so careful about being seen with me that I forcefully open the door with my foot and step inside without her approval. I place the shopping bags on the floor of their small hall and turn towards her shocked face with a grin.
"Well, that's that. You really should be careful about buying too much food for you to handle alone, it isn't good for you to carry bags that are heavy enough to make you wobble all the way home."
'Prince' tenses up when a male voice says in a snappy tone from behind me:
"Who are you?"
I turn around slowlyand settle my yellow eyes upon the boy behind me. When the brown eyed boy sees my face, he tenses up and I can see a flicker of fear run over his face before it quickly turns into anger and worry. I think this boy must be 'Prince's' brother, possibly twin,since they look incredibly muchalike and seem to be of the same age.
I do not think that he is aware of it, but he gets into a fighting stance, as if he's in the game. It takes a moment, but as I saw it so recently, I can recognize the posture as that of Dark Phantom's brown haired swordsman. I decide to pretend that I didn't see itand stay relaxed as I point at myself with a surprised face.
"Me? Well, I'm Heng Ru Shi. I just helped your sister out with carrying her shopping bags. You shouldn't let her shop so much when she can't carry it by herself. I just bumped into her a little and she dropped everything. If I hadn't helped her, she would have probably hurt her back while coming here."
The 'swordsman' looks shocked that I'm showing an emotion other than malice, bloodlust or... well, any of the emotions I show in Second Life, really. His gaze shifts over to his sister who's standing next to me, as if wanting to make sure that she's really there and not dead. She waves towards him nervously and I take that as a sign to leave.
I walk towards the opened door with my hands resting lazily in my pockets.
"Well, now that that's over, I better leave, since I hadn't exactly planned on staying. Bye."
As I'm about to step out of the apartment, the boy calls out to me.
"Hey, you. Wait."
I look over my shoulder with an eyebrow raised in interest as to the reason behind why he's stopping me from leaving.
"What is it?" I ask him while meeting his determined gaze. He gulps one time before he begins to speak.
"You're Sabre, right? From the game."
I turn around so that I'm facing him and cross my arms over my chest while my eyebrow rises further.
"Yes… What of it?"
"How come you helped my sister? That doesn't seem like you at all. Your killing intent is so real that I was sure that you're a killer in real life. How can you seem so normal?"
I sigh tiredly at his question and scratch my head in frustration. It's easier to act like this than being polite, like I am at school... I should have chosen this act instead from the beginning.
"Why is it that everyone becomes so surprised…? Alright, here's how it is. I have a two personalities; one is a normal guy who likes to help people, while the other is a complete bastard and a killer. Before, I had problems in controlling my temper and stuff so I've killed people while enjoying it, yes. But now that I'm using the killer personality in Second Life, I have an easier time of sticking to my other personality – the nice one – in real life. That's why I'm so different right now compared to how I am in the game. I also thought that if I used my killer personality in Second Life, the fangirls would leave me alone. So the reasons behind me using it there is to 1: not lose my control in real life and 2: try and get rid of the fangirls, which obviously didn't work. Does that answer your question?"
When I look at the two of them, they nod nervously while the boy stutters out a surprised "Y-yeah" I nod happily and back out into the stairwell while smiling at them.
"Good. Now then; goodbye to you two. And please bear in mind that the me here and the me in the game are totally different persons, so don't mix us up, alright?"
They nod to confirm that they understand and I close the door behind me with a wave. The moment I turn away from said door, my expression turns blank. It's a good thing that I came up with that lie; it makes much more sense than it being justan 'image' that I like killing people. I could also use it if I everhave to explain my behaviour to my classmates, even the former captain, whom I still haven't explained myself to.
Well, time to go shopping. I hope that my pursuer has given up...
Well, how do you like my change in the tournament? Acceptable? And I bet you're wondering what his goal is, but I won't tell anyone anytime soon! And you got to 'see' some more paintings from Sabre as well as his evil old self. And what did you think about the meeting between Heng Shi and Feng Lan? Was it good? :)
Heng shi: So, now I'll interact with Prince in real life as well?
You'll have to find that out in a future chapter.
Heng Shi: -eyebrow twitching- Why do you make me have so many fan-girls?
You'll have to find that out in a non-existent chapter.
Heng Shi: -gives me an angry glare- Why am I even talking to you…
You'll have to find that out in the very last chapter.
Heng Shi: Damn it woman! Stop talking about those damn chapters!"
-gives Heng Shi a dark smile- Stop talking.
Heng Shi: … -Sweating a little-
I'll see you readers next chapter! Bye~! ^^
Heng Shi: -mumbling- (I thought I told you to not talk about chapters…)