Chapter 64: Virtual Date

"I will make you wish you were never born!"

With that, thousands of Marinas charged at Shido, who was surrounded and helpless, from every direction like thousands of xenomorphs,

"Michael!"

However, he opened a portal and fled into it before the angry clones could get their hands on him.

"Sneaky little brat…"

Marina grunted, looking at the empty field where Shido was a second ago, and shouts into the sky: "You can run, but you can't hide!" Her voice echoed down, reaching every last coroner of this virtual world with a loudspeaker-like sound effect: "Better pray for I will have mercy on you, but I won't!" She only created this dimension to be 10 km in diameter, and it merely served as the background, so no NPCs; Shido and herself were the only characters presented, and she would definitely flush him out from wherever he's taking shelter and abuse him in whatever ways she preferred.

"System Call: Generate MegaQuakes"

Suddenly, the ground of the virtual world started crumbling, ripping through the Earth's crust with ferocity that defied comprehension. The ground convulsed violently, swallowing the Olympic Stadium and landmarks into chasms that seemed to reach the very core of the planet.

"Holy Jesus, Mary and Joseph!"

Shido screamed as he witnessed the strongest disaster occurring before his eyes.

Currently, he was at the edge of this virtual world, unable to get out due to his very limited authorization. And his location wasn't the best in defense of natural catastrophes.

"System Call: Stop the Megaquakes"

Shido cried out as a desperate attempt to save himself, but it was useless. It's just like Ren's arena, Marina is the one capable of bending the surroundings at will.

So, he quickly flew upwards in order to escape the shaking ground. But, in the next second—

"System Call: Generate Typhoons and Tsunamis"

Marina's voice entered his ears, much to his horror.

Then, Shido felt a strong wind blowing his body, sweeping him in the wrong direction, right into a colossal wall of water that came out from nowhere.

"Argh!"

Shido struggled to reach for the surface, but the currents were too chaotic for him to find patterns. He had to swim harder in order to get out.

After some time and effort, he managed to get his head out and breathe in fresh air, but when he opened his eyes, he regretted instantly—

—Thousands of Marinas summoned thunder bolts and threw them into the ocean waves!

Having a quick wit, Shido took a deep breath and dived into the depth, the next second, the entire body of water frozen into solid ice, resulting in all thunderbolts dissipating on its surface harmlessly.

"Cunning bastard." The main body of Marina cursed, and ordered all her clones to attack the ice in unison, pulverizing it into mist and vapor in seconds.

But Shido was nowhere to be found after the scene cleared. Alerted by the possibility of her prey having transformed into a clone of hers, Marina checked for changes in her clones' number, the result was negative.

Where could he be? She had sufficient minions to cover this entire dimension, so Michael wasn't an option; even if he could turn invisible, she could detect his presence by the micro change of air density.

"Not bad, you're a worthy opponent after all." She was not angry for losing the target, though, instead had an appreciating smile on her face.

Then, she raised her hand and shouted:

"System Call: Retract all disasters"

With that, the virtual world was restored to its normal state, every dirt of the earth returned to its soil, as if nothing had ever occurred.

As soon as things settled down, a gunshot was heard.

"Zafkiel: Zayin!"

Before Marina could react, she was frozen, her entire body turned black, as if the time around her had stopped.

Next, Shido, out of nowhere, appeared behind her and pressed a pistol against her head.

"Checkmate, Marina!"

His confident smirk was colored by the sense of victory.

"You got me. Mind telling me what you did earlier?"

Marina raised both of her hands.

"Simple: I turned myself into particles the same size of air molecules and distributed them evenly throughout this airspace!"

Shido continued beaming, not keeping his guard up.

"Clever boy, but what makes you think I am the main body?"

Marina turned her head and smirked.

"That's easy: You were the only one talking, not to mention you were yelling commands."

Shido replied.

"Hehehe…who says I must issue orders via my main body?"

Marina, to his surprise, showed a smug expression.

Suddenly, she dissolved into particles too!

Instincts flared, and he trusted it unquestionably, jerking his head back in time to avoid multiple coils wrapping around him. However, several Marinas already flew behind him, and each grabbed one limb with a strong grip, restraining his body movements.

"How?"

Shido asked with a dumbfounded face.

"Simple: I tricked you to think that was the main body!"

The real Marina appeared with a proud smile.

She flew toward Shido, and gave his stomach a punch!

"Argh!"

Shido grunted in pain, but soon, he flashed a smile.

Poof!

He disappeared!

"Huh?"

Marina was faxed for one second, which was enough for her downfall, because in the next second, she was hugged tightly in strong arms!

The real Shido appeared behind her and restrained her limbs. He used her tactics against her!

Marina felt the strong muscles around her slender body, and she blushed immensely!

"B-baka! Let go of me!"

She struggled, but Shido wouldn't budge.

"I won't let go until you tell me what's going on."

Shido whispered in her ears, hot breath brushing her sensitive skin, much to her shyness.

"Aw… you pervert…"

She whimpered and tried to struggle more, but Shido held her tighter.

"Now you figure who you're dealing with. Yield and I'll set you free." He continued whispering gentle words in her ears, and she almost squealed. Then, he added: "Or rather, you should be sorry for what you did to me in my sleep."

"!?"

Marina stared at Shido with a horrified look.

"EEEEK!"

Her squeal echoed throughout the world!

…

"I'm sorry for…what I said in my sleep."

"No, I'm sorry…for what I did in your sleep."

Right now, Shido and Marina were sitting down at the dining table of their home, confessing to each other about their feelings.

Earlier, when Shido was hiding from Marina, he shot himself with the 10th bullet of Zafkiel, hoping to learn what happened before he woke up. As his experience improved, he knew that something must be responsible for her change of mental state.

As it turned out, she was blowing him off while he was asleep!

He was genuinely surprised by her lewdness, after all, he only thought Origami was capable of such a precocious act.

Next, he found out that he was murmuring the name "Nia" during his sleep.

For some reason, he just couldn't remember why he was saying her name, nor what he was dreaming about.

But for the moment, he needed to settle the matter with Marina.

"Marina."

"..yes?"

Shido looked at her with gentle eyes, much to her shyness.

"If you want to … do that, all you have to do is ask."

"Ba—Baka, who wants to suck you off or anything?"

"I didn't say that…"

"…..ahhhhh! I will never be able to marry anyone!" She held her head with both hands, and curled up.

Shido tried to talk some sense into her, but it backfired due to the girl's overreaction.

But, he realized what he had to do.

"Marina."

"…yes?"

"Let's go on a date today."

"What?"

Now that Shido thought about it, he never went on a proper date with Marina. You know, she was busy taking care of Rio, and even when she wasn't doing that, she was busy tracking Ren down with her devices.

This girl seriously needed a break!

"You can control everything in this world, right?" Shido asked, forming a date plan instantly. "So create some places that you love, and we will go together!"

"Wait… you just want to slack off…"

Marina mewled weakly.

"Don't think so." Shido grabbed Marina's hand, kissing it on the back: "I outsmarted you in training, I earned my day off; and you trained me to best you, you earned yours too."

"…eeeek…"

Marina blushed deeply, barely holding back a squeal of happiness.

…

On a sunny day, a young couple was holding hands on the streets.

The guy had a pair of eyebrows that were refined, emitting a sense of gentle expression with his neutral facial features. Overall , his upright and handsome appearance was enough to tempt most women.

The girl had black long hair that seemed like black charcoal, her facial expression emitting a sense of belligerence. Her fair skin contrasted all that, however, for she gave off the impression that she was a maiden in love.

Of course, she wouldn't admit it aloud.

As for the streets, there were no pedestrians, for she did not create them. In this scenario, it was as if these two were the only two living creatures in the world.

"It feels so quiet here."

Shido commented.

"What, it feels unreal?"

Marina pouted.

Shido shook his head. He didn't mind dating in tranquility, after all, it would prevent all the unnecessary attention.

"Here!"

Marina snapped her fingers, and in the next second, hundreds of people magically appeared on the streets. It seemed that she didn't need to shout "system control" after all.

But the important thing was, a few guys noticed the two of them.

"Hey cutie, wanna hang out with us?"

"Yeah, ditch that pansy and come with us."

"We will make you in heaven for sure haha!"

Three loser guys approached Marina, ignoring Shido on the side like he was invisible.

Shido looked at Marina with doubt, questioning her what the hell did she just do.

Marina turned her head and stuck out her pink tongue cutely.

"She's my girlfriend, so scram."

Shido spoke coldly, staring at the three with a fierce gaze.

"HAHAHA!"

The three guys simply laughed it off, not listening to reasons at all. Then, one of them took a step forward, and attempted to grab Marina by the wrist!

But, when he was one inch away, Shido grabbed his wrist tightly.

"Since these guys are NPCs in a virtual world, it should be no problem if I hit them a little harder, right?"

Shido asked Marina while clenching his hand, to which she nodded.

After getting the okay, he took a step forward, and before the guy reacted, he punched him right in the face!

It broke his nose, causing him to bleed profusely.

"You…monster!"

The other two stuttered.

"That's what you get for messing with my girl."

Shido smiled harmlessly, and with a swoosh, he punched the remaining guys 10 feet away!

Both guys groaned in pain while rolling, before passing out in the streets! Then, the three guys disappeared like defeated monsters in a game.

"Hoo….that felt good."

Shido blew a breath with his fist proudly.

"Didn't know you had it in you."

Marina teased.

"Even a nice guy like me needs to vent anger from time to time, mostly on a punching bag, but punks serve equally well." Shido smiled, rubbing his hands that were free of stain. "Plus, this is what you wanted to see, right?"

"Fufufu…for an idiot, you picked up quickly."

The two laughed as they continued walking.

…

Game center.

"Eat this! And that!"

Marina was playing all sorts of arcade games, including Pac-man, Fix-it-Felix, and Sugar Rush!

Of course, Shido was playing too, but he got his ass handed to himself easily.

"Didn't know you were a gamer girl."

Shido teased.

"Less talking, more hitting!"

Marina replied while controlling her character to smash Shido's character, dealing him a massive amount of damage!

He tried to make a comeback, but due to the gap of their skill levels, it was no use.

Game over!

"Too easy, let's try something else."

Marina didn't have enough fun, flicking Shido's forehead as a punishment.

Before Shido could protest, he saw her walking toward a Dance Arcade Machine.

"Go ahead, show me what you got."

Marina prompted him to show off, to which he did.

With the music of the machine sounding off, Shido started moving his steps. To be honest, he was a decent dancer, since he did practice doing it from time to time. In the end, he was able to get 80 points.

Clap. Clap. Clap.

Marina gave him a round of applause, before taking his place.

"Watch this!"

Suddenly, she started doing the moves that were beyond the speed for naked eyes, forming blurring kicks in the process and making Shido drop his jaws, along with every NPC passing by. It was truly out of this world, much to their amazement.

Music ended.

"BRAVO!"

Shido applauded gleefully, but his clapping sounds were soon overwhelmed by a bunch of NPCs that were watching in a circle.

"Excuse me, miss. Would you like to join the professional dancing league?"

"Not interested."

Someone that looked like a talent scout tried to recruit Marina, but she rejected him dismissively.

"How did I do?"

Marina looked at Shido while averting her gaze. It was something that she had interest in, though she felt embarrassed to show it to others. Nevertheless, it was not like she had many people to show off to other than Rio and Rinne.

"Fantastic! You are one hot dancer!"

Shido praised her genuinely.

"Hmph!"

Marina looked away, but her lips were curling up in a nice angle.

After they were done dancing, they felt a little hungry, so they went to the food court.

"Check out this taiyaki!"

A store owner shouted, gaining Marina's attention.

"Want one?"

Shido asked.

"It…it's not like I have to eat it, but if you insist…"

She was blushing a bit.

Shido told her to sit down at a table, and he went to buy the snack.

"Here you go."

Shido bought two, and handed one to her right away.

"Fu…."

She accepted it with gleaming eyes, but soon looked away shyly. This was a simple taiyaki that could be found anywhere in Japanese food courts, not to mention that it was in her virtual world. If she wanted, she could create a hundred of them with her GM control right away. Yet, the heat of this freshly baked food was warming up her delicate palms nicely.

She opened her cherry-like mouth, took a bite tentatively, and the taste of sweetness delivered a sense of happiness all over her heart.

"Is it good?"

Shido asked.

"Hm."

She nodded. This time, she didn't look away.

But, Shido put a hand on her head, combing her silky hair gently. This intimate gesture made her blush even further and look away again. Yet, she did not stop him.

The couple enjoyed the taiyaki peacefully.

…

Afternoon.

"This feels familiar."

Shido was holding a bottle of sunscreen, and Marina was lying on a blanket that was placed on the sand ground.

As it turned out, she switched the location to a beach area, where they would be swimming and playing beach volleyball. But first, she asked him to apply sunscreen on her, despite the fact that this artificial sunlight was just for show, it won't really damage her skin in any way.

"Baka, just do as I say already!"

She laid on her face, unzipped her black bikini, and exposed her fair back to him. She buried her face into the blanket, for she did not want him to notice that her crimson cheeks. However, the c her already-reddened ears had betrayed her shyness.

Drip.

"Ya~"

Shido pressed his hand on her back, the smooth skin making his heart skipped a beat. As for Marina, the cold feeling of the sunscreen made her jump, but she maintained a steady position as to not overreact, though the feeling of his warm hand almost gave her skin goose bumps. She wanted this to end quickly, yet she cherished every second.

While rubbing more sunscreen on her body, Shido noticed her breasts pressing against the blanket, its erotic state of being squished flatly made him gulp. But soon, he shook off the lewd thoughts and continued his job. He wanted to get this over with like she asked, yet he didn't want to end this rare circumstance too soon.

After god knows how long, the process was finally done.

Nevertheless, another scene of clichés you can see in every dating story was tip-toeing nearer.

"Damn, this girl's hot!"

"Wanna swim to that rock with me?"

"Do yourself a favor and dump this loser boyfriend of yours!"

"You are so fuckable in that bikini, so let's go down to the needy-greedy, shall we?"

Some guys made a circle around them, sneaking a peek at Marina's exposed back and hopefully her uncovered breasts. Of course, they got under Shido's skin right away.

"Hey Marina…."

Shido sighed.

"...yes?"

Marina answered weakly.

"You set them on 'auto hunt', didn't you?"

"Yeah."

Indeed, those random guys that constantly came up to Marina with the lousy pick up lines were programmed to do so. Otherwise, who in their right mind would come up to a girl that obviously had a guy next to her?

"After I beat them up, make sure to cancel that, okay?"

"Ok."

With that, Shido walked toward them, prompting them to circle him. With himself in the center, it seemed like a dire situation for any normal person.

But, it was the opposite in his case.

He suddenly jumped up, giving the guy in the front an elbow thump, while punching the guy in the back. At the same time, he kicked the guy on the left and right with both of his legs, finishing this useless fight in the quickest way possible!

With those guys hitting the sand playground and disappearing, he went back to Marina, who had her bikini zipped up again.

She snapped her fingers, and no more guys tried to approach her. Then, she quickly jumped into the sea. If Shido noticed her face, he would see that it was completely red.

…

Evening.

The two sat down at a five-star restaurant, enjoying rare delicacies such as steak and lobsters on a candlelight dinner.

In order to attend such a formal facility, they put on their formal attire. Shido was wearing a $1000 tuxedo, emphasizing his neutral but gentle aura; Marina was wearing a pure black backless dress, showing off her delicate skin in an elegant way.

"Let's call it a day."

Marina suddenly declared.

"Why?" Shido asked. "Did you not have fun?"

This was a date just between the two of them, and she seemed to enjoy herself during the time with him. It was surprising to learn that she wanted it to end right now.

"It's fun and all, but…" Marina hesitated, her voice trailing off, "this is a virtual world created by me. I set up people and places with my preferences, and everything happened exactly like I wanted…"

"When we went to the arcade or the beach, I felt nothing new despite them being interesting and beautiful because…I created them."

"I had some guys picking on me so that you could beat them up, since it would definitely make us feel good. But….something is missing."

"Now I finally realize…I want a date with you in the real world."

Marina confessed her thoughts completely to Shido, much to his surprise.

At this moment, Shido finally confirmed the feeling of missing something in his heart as well.

"You are right. Something is missing." He said. "Once we are done with training, let's go on a real date in the real world."

"Promise?"

Marina held out her pinky, the smile on her face was barely containable.

"Rule No. 1 of mine: Never making a hollow promise."

Shido hooked up his pinky with hers, before separating them properly.

"Just a pinky promise isn't enough, you know?"

Marina batted her eyes, as if hinting something.

Shido smiled with his expression softened, knowing exactly what she wanted.

He took a step forward, resting a palm on her soft cheek.

She closed her eyes, a flush appeared on her cheeks, adding more colors to her beautiful face.

Without further ado, he pressed his lips against hers, sealing their promise off with a kiss. This date might not be the one that they wanted, but it was certainly the one that they needed.

…

…

A/N:

Thank you for your patience, this thing took longer than expected. The next chapter shall conclude Shido's training in the virtual world and have a reality check :)