Vale
Sidious
Due to the nature of gacha tokens, every single Gamer, even if they had similar classes, had vastly different items and skills within their arsenal. Thanks to this, nobody had any actual clue about the strength of other Gamers until they fought them in person or they straight up told you what they had.
Which is why, despite knowing full well that the other side had the metaphorical dagger aimed at their throat, Sidious had no issue splitting off from the main base. There would not be war today, that is what his fortune has foreseen.
Tyrannus, his friend, came along with him too.
Although, he seemed puzzled as he asked, "Sidious, why are we walking to the outskirts of Vale? It seems like we're just allowing ourselves to be ambushed easily…"
Turning the corner, Sidious answered, "Patience, my friend. We will not fight today, however… The same cannot be said for them."
Knowing he wasn't going to get a straight answer, Tyrannus stayed quiet, simply following him.
Very soon, Sidious had found it.
The body of one of the Hero Gamers. This one was… Aeiou, reading the stats of the corpse.
His fortune was correct. Ultimately, Fuse was a free agent that would do what he wanted to do, untied by the constraints of parties or bonds.
That will be the key to their victory.
Starting to smile, Sidious told his friend, "See? Even the most trained lions are still lions. The heroes believed they had Fuse on their side. They failed to recognize an apex predator for what it was."
Still in shock at seeing one of them dead, Tyrannus only had the ability to ask, "Then why do we dare declare war on Fuse…?"
"It is very simple, Tyrannus," Sidious knelt down to inspect the corpse with his own eyes. It was soulless. There would be no revival for him.
Turning to him, Sidious smiled, "It is time for a great purge… This stalemate in Vale can only end with one victor. And we will be Destiny's Favorite."
Picking up the body using the force, Sidious then said, "We will place this body down in a more visible location. Then, we will leave before anyone sees us. Paranoia will do the rest."
Skeptically, Tyrannus asked, "Sidious… How are you proposing we avoid becoming the victims of this purge to come?"
Clicking his tongue, Sidious simply told him, "You have little faith in me, don't you? Follow me, and your future will be assured…"
Seeing no way to get a straight answer out of the replica Sith Lord, Tyrannus simply sighed and decided to do as he said and followed.
Undisclosed Underground Base
Pyrite
It was genuinely incredible how the mood from one day to another could start at an all-time high where everyone was upbeat and celebratory, and the next day everyone looks like someone just died.
Of course, in this scenario, someone did just die.
"His soul is gone," One of the healers, Yise, looked uncomfortable as he made his verdict, "So, er, we can't revive him…"
Aeiou's dead body was healed, and his body looked at peace. But that did not change the fact that life will never enter his body again.
"So, we're fucked?" Pyrite experimentally threw it out there, just to see how people reacted.
The silence was deafening.
Eventually, someone tried to argue. Levolent voiced out, "Eh… We… Still have Fuse on our side, right? Like, this was a Villain ambush, 100%, right?"
"Did you see the body?" Hoplite shot back, "There were bullet dents and holes all over him. Only a few people I know have gun classes. Only one I can think of who can casually beat Aeiou without any of us noticing."
That was what Pyrite wanted to know, "How the hell did someone kill one of us without anyone noticing? This city barely fits a hundred thousand people or more, and I'm being kind of generous, a shit ton of people left. That fight should've been loud and clear, and we should've seen at least some debris. Aeiou could throw people through buildings."
Keele slammed her face onto the wall as she threw out a theory, "It could've been a fight that took like 5 seconds where 4 seconds was Fuse charging up a one-shot ability! He might have something that lies about his stat page!"
That was a nightmare scenario. But that scenario is unlikely, since if it was true, Fuse would've probably just killed them all already.
Also reaching this conclusion, Tharvos pointed it out, "If that was true, we'd all be dead. What's more likely is that… Perhaps the VIllains and Fuse reached a deal? Or maybe Fuse was never planning on working with us from the start."
"But then why kill one of us first?" Juvin asked after finishing his cup of coke, "I mean, the Villains straight up told him they were going to kill him, right? Why go after us first?"
"Maybe Fuse is stupid?" Pyrite said.
"No, let's not assume that," Hoplite annoyedly elbowed him, "We have to treat everyone like they're smart, otherwise they could pull a fast one on us."
Well that's fair. But Pyrite still doesn't see why Fuse went for a Hero Gamer instead of a Villain Gamer.
Levolent sighed, "So, I suppose our next course of action is to find Azure Dragon and work with him against Fuse?"
"That… Might not work," Hoplite seemed annoyed as he listed the most possible outcomes, "Either Azure is working with the villains already, he's against all of us, or he might be too weak to actually do anything."
So what he was saying is…
They were fucked.
The mood in the room was dead silent as everyone came to terms about their fate.
Yet, they simply couldn't let it end like this.
They needed one opportunity, one last hurrah.
One last fight to make things right.
Undisclosed Underground Base
Keto
Basically as soon as Sidious told them the news of Fuse killing Aeiou, a Hero Gamer, everyone was celebrating like the next 1,000 years were guaranteed.
"FUCK YES! FUCK YES! FUCK YES!" Popping the champagne, Vak immediately began drinking himself to death.
Already taking off her top, Valstra immediately announced to the room, "I am taking it in every hole today! Anyone wanna have a go?!"
Dancing with his friends, arms over each other's shoulders, Columbus and Shorticus were singing a song that Keto had no idea of the lyrics to.
But it was all ultimately short lived, as Sidious loudly said, "BUT."
Hearing it, the party died down as they heard what Sidious had to say next, "It's extremely likely that the Heroes will be attempting a last ditch effort to 'win' our stalemate tomorrow. We cannot afford this celebration just yet, or else we will be caught like fools tomorrow."
Raising an eyebrow, Keto asked him, "What do you mean the Heroes are going to try winning tomorrow? Are they trying to fight a 45 versus 44?"
"Yes," Sidious nodded, freezing them all in place, "It is extremely likely… After all, if Fuse already went after them, it's unlikely he cares about our balance. They must strike before the imbalance tips too far out of their favor."
That makes sense, but nobody wanted to acknowledge it.
"And you know this… How?" Keto said instead, sidestepping acceptance.
Sidious shrugged, "I believe I have mentioned to you before I have the ability to see into the future. But… This outcome is quite obvious, isn't it?"
Taking a deep breath, Keto nodded, "I suppose. Does anyone want to weigh in their thoughts?"
There was a brief moment of silence.
Then, Yellowstone asked, "So… Is Fuse on our side or not?"
"He isn't," Tyrannus clarified, creating a hologram of the curent situation, "It's accurate to say that the current situation is a four way battle between the Villains, Heroes, Fuse, and Azure Dragon. Each of them are trying independently to win. What we believe happened is that Fuse managed to convince the Heroes into attacking us tomorrow by killing one of them and making it seem like waiting would be detrimental to their overall situation. Of course, our two groups fighting each other will also harm our ability to win… But, depending on the strength of the two individuals, it seems likely as long as we win with enough people alive at the end of our fight, we can still fight off two extra strong Gamers."
"So if we fight, we win?" Keto sounded skeptical about it, but the math vaguely added up.
Tyrannus nodded, "In fact, if Fuse tries to interfere with our fight, I'm sure we can strike a temporary alliance to beat his ass first."
That… Sounded good.
Surely, Fuse can't be that strong, right?
"Alright…" Nodding, Keto convinced himself that war was the right move, "So, quick vote, who wants to go to war?"
It was unanimous.
They would fight.
AN:
Help I don't wanna write the fight scene next chapter.
Also, of these outline chapters, this chapter went from "Both sides reluctantly coming to the conclusion that they needed to fight each other to maintain the balance for peace" to "FUCK IT WE BALL WE GONNA WIN."
It's also 1.5k words long but next chapter is a long ass fight scene so it'll probably make up for it.
Written March 20th
[I think this was one of those chapters I said I was going to rewrite a lot– and then I didn't.]
[I woke up at 12:40 AM realizing I forgot to upload this 40 minutes ago.]
