Radical-9

CHAPTER 6: The Swing

February 21^st, 2022

8:00 am

Info displays pop up on either side of the arena, showcasing each fighter's skills. Klein's box shows that he is a Paladin, and it shows a general display of his stats in graph form. His defense and health are nearly off the charts, his other stats seem well rounded, even his speed, surprisingly. Athena's display shows that she's a Swordmaster class, Higher defenses than an Assassin, but lower overall strength stats. Klein raises his sword, it's weapon name appears in a window beside him, Mitsurugi. Its blue aura surrounds the sleek silver rapier as if they were bound. He lifts it in front of him, letting it hang in front of him.

Athena reflects his pose, bringing out her katana, pointing it at him. She charges first, closing the distance between them in a matter of a seconds, like a bullet fired from a gun. Klein stands unmoved. Athena begins her onslaught. She begins swinging the katana with both of her arms, reinforcing every single slice. The arc shines in a bright green hue. I assume she's using her sword skill. I’m amazed, she works with her katana as if it were an extension to her very body, another limb ready to go. Klein is just standing there, what is he doing? I then notice his health bar, it isn’t decreasing. I then realize his plan, he’s stalling her out. Athena doesn’t seem to realize, hatred blinding her vision to what’s truly there. It’s only a matter of time. Klein begins laughing and Athena stops swinging.

“What are you laughing at?!” She looks over at the window beside him that shows his health, her face fills with horrid realization. “What?! Why haven’t you-?”

Klein takes the opportunity to raise Mitsurugi skyward and he lets it down to create a shock wave headed straight for a confused Athena. It hits its mark and she lets out a scream. She’s sent flying against the force field, where she sustains heavy damage. Her health bar shows up and it travels from full health to less than half in less than a second. Her eyes go wide and Klein is over her, Mitsurugi pointed at the tip of her nose.

“I win,” he says with a slight grin on his face.

“H-How is that possible?” She stammers.

The force field around them dissipates and the area sinks back into the ground, Klein sheathes Mitsurugi and he offers his hand to help Athena off of the ground. I see the other players begin cheering, some walk away in a disheveled grunt, hoping for the underdog to win. Up on the arena Athena hesitates for a moment. She shakes her head and stands up by herself, “I don’t need your help,” she mutters.

“But you do owe us an explanation.” Klein reminds her. She sighs and sheathes her sword.

“Fine,” she says, so absolutely done with everything. “It’s all about my brother. The beta testers took him away from me. We used to hang out all the time until a few months ago, the day he became a beta tester for Elysium.” She says, lowering her head. “He stopped going to college, our only college in the whole goddam state, the one that was so selective about who it let in, and he dropped out just to play with his beta buddies. He stopped visiting me. I had to save him from degrading into nothing.”

Klein takes a breath, “I don't think it is fair to blame me for your brother's habits,” he says.

“You are all the same. You kept him here!” She yells.

“I don't know if it's my place to say-”

“It isn't,” Athena says coldly.

“Anyway, if your brother stayed here, then it is because he found enjoyment here, enjoyment he wasn't getting out there. If the other beta testers weren't here he'd find something else, that's how people like us are,” I say.

“People like you?” She asks.

“Us, people who actually play these, who find escape in these made up worlds. Maybe your brother was going through a rough time? That's how we all start,” I say, looking down. “Either that, or we just don't want to deal with what's outside.”

“Rightly said,” Klein agrees.

“If anything, you should focus your hate on Jack Adata and his company for creating this hot mess. That’s what we’re doing,” I say.

Athena is silent, she seems to be studying my face, “I apologize.”

“Apology accepted,” I say.

“I didn't know what kind of state he could be in, things happened so fast...and you...” she looks to Klein, “...it was your armor, was it not?”

“Hm?” Klein asks.

“Your armor that made you impenetrable,” She says, now eying the big bulky armor encasing Klein.

“I admit the armor’s secondary effect does come in handy from time to time,” Klein says, smirking.

“Secondary effect?” I ask, turning towards him.

“Yes, it blocks all physical attacks under a certain level. You were wondering about this armor when you first came here, right Dex? That’s why it is so rare. It doesn't help me against magical attacks, those are my Achilles Heel, so to speak.”

“That sounds completely overpowered,” I say.

“For this part of the game? Sure. I have to say, while I do like some of the gameplay, barring the obvious death game, it isn't balanced all too well.”

“Well, maybe the time that should've went into balancing went into turning it into this mess,” I say.

Athena looks up at me, straight faced, “Are you ready?” she asks.

“Ready?”

She turns around and stares up into the sky, “Ready to move on to floor two?”

“Wait, you're coming with us? For real?” I ask.

“Yes, I'm going to follow your advice. I'm going to focus my anger on Jack Adata. And you two are going to help me save my brother,” she says, her eyes have hardened, a fire burning inside of her.

I nod my head, “I'm happy to certainly try. Anyway I can get out of here I'm willing to try. Klein is silent, thinking to himself.

“You have quite the knack for picking friends.” Athena says, looking back to me.

“Oh, me? I-uh, just woke up with the guy, er-I mean I spawned in the same place as him. Luck of the draw, I guess,” I say, my face boiling.

“Yeah, luck of the draw, y'know, you're the first person I personally know whose picked Assassin,” Klein says.

I turn, confused, “Huh, really? Nobody else has picked this class?” I ask.

“No, of course others have picked it, I just mean anyone I know. I guess it's just the low defense that scares people away initially, you have to really know your shit to go through with it...”

“...Or be really reckless,” Athena adds in.

“Hey now, I handled myself in battle before,” I say.

“You've handled yourself in a battle. The floors ahead are going to get so much tougher than just simple Python mages,” Klein says.

“And what about you?” I ask Athena. “You seem to be as new here as I am, and you even lost a duel. How can you call me reckless?”

“I've been in here since this stupid game came out,” she says, looking off to the side.

“I'm sure you would've done some heavy damage if it weren't for my armor, you seemed to know a bit on how to control your sword in battle,” Klein says.

“Well thank you bet-uh, Klein. Thank you Klein,” Athena stumbles.

“Is this pick on Dex day? Like I said, I handled myself pretty well in that fight! I've got a pretty freakin' good track record for how long I've been in here. Plus, I have that unique sword skill!” I say.

“A skill can be nothing if the one who uses it has no control over his flow,” Klein says. “You did fight well, but only after you stumbled to get your bearings together. You have potential man, but you need experience, and I'm not even talking about the in game kind.”

“Well, excuse me, I'm sorry I had to wait for my damn copy of the game to arrive by mail, Colorado's postal system blows,” I say, crossing my arms, turning my head.

“Wait, Colorado?” Athena asks.

“Yeah, what about it? We're both from Colorado,” Klein says.

“I'm from Castle Rock, you know where that is?” Athena asks, her whole demeanor shifts.

“That's like, half an hour from where I'm from, Aurora,” I say.

“I'm from Thornton,” Klein says.

Athena looks surprised, “We're...so close. Is it coincidence?” she asks.

“I mean, I know there aren't too many states that are hosting connection for this, but still,” I say, thinking about it.

“Maybe...maybe it's run on a statewide server?” Athena suggests.

“What do you mean?” I ask.

“You mean...like if we're only seeing people in our own state, people within the server's reach?” Klein asks, stroking his chin.

Athena nods, “Yes, exactly. I mean, I was standing there in the crowd when Jack Adata came down all acting high and mighty, there certainly wasn't a thousand people standing there, if what he said was true about those four thousand people,” she says. Her face lights up as the ideas come to her, “Of course, Aaron, my brother, always used to say that sometimes games like these would have different servers based on what region you were in, although the way he talked about it it was split up by different countries.”

“Yeah, I remember those days, you always got people from America back then, anywhere around the country,” Klein says, nodding.

“That's...definitely something,” I say, looking at her.

Her walls, she's let them down, I don't know if fully, but I guess finding something in common helped her push aside her prejudice. But something still feels...wonky. I get this weird sense of discord, but I can't put my finger on it.

“So, I think we're ready to go, let's go meet up with Eldon and the other players, shall we?” I ask.

“Who now?” Athena asks.

“The guy leading the way to floor two,” Klein begins.

“The guy who was conducting the speech that you happened to be spying at me at,” I say, grinning.

“I...I was not spying! I told you I was just looking at...”

“Wait a second, you were spying on him?” Klein asks, his goofy grin returning.

“Okay, listen. I was not spying, I was walking by and saw the commotion and I happened to see you. If anything, it was Klein here that caught my attention with his armor and all,” she says, an angry look in her eyes.

“Okay, okay,” I say, holding my arms up defensively. “We can just forget it, I'm sorry I brought it up. Let's just go before the others leave us behind,” I finish. She specifically said that she saw me back there. There wasn't even any mention of Klein.

“Okay,” Athena says and nods her head once.

“Let's go then. I'm aching to kill some monsters,” Klein says, his grin grows wider. “Ah it is going to be so GOOD to finally be able to just let out on some mobs, fighting against other players the whole game can get so...samey,” he says.

We walk back to the center of the park, the venue where the rally had begun. Over the top of some of the other players' heads I can see the top of Eldon's head, his hair unmistakable.

“Hey, come on guys, let's go make sure we're allowed to go and all that, I don't know if he's taking a headcount or whatever,” I say, pointing him out.

Athena tries to stand up on her tip-toes, but can't manage to break the crowd, she's only a little shorter than I, maybe an inch or two. She looks disappointed, but nods her head, “Fuck being short.”

“You're not that short,” I say.

“I'm shorter than you,” she says.

“It doesn't have to be compared to me, there are plenty of people shorter than you,” I say.

“And there are also people taller...”

I let her response sink into the crowd, Klein leads the way through, “Excuse me! Pardon me!” He says while snaking through.

“Grass is always greener,” I lean over to say.

I follow Klein through the crowd, noticeably less smooth. Other players elbows dig into my ribcage, and several of them begin yelling, “Wait your turn! Back the fuck up! You want a fight?”

We pick up our pace to reach him, yet it’s Klein who speaks first, “Well, what an odd way to encounter an old friend, isn't it, Eldon?” he says, moreso yells to make his voice heard.

Eldon turns his head, slowly at first, and then looks right at Klein, a sort of fire flickers in his green eyes.

“Well, I can honestly say I didn’t expect to see you here, Klein. How's the-” His eyes shift to Athena.

“L-What are you doing here?” His tone becomes agitated.

Athena looked stunned, but she regains her composure, if only slightly, “I’ve come to get you out of here, that’s why! You’ve been obsessed with this game and you-”

“You don’t belong here, Just stay put here and out of the way. You don’t know what you’ve gotten yourself into,” Eldon glares at her, it's a glare I hadn't seen from anyone else.

Athena isn't having any of it, “I come in all this way to save you, to help you get back to your life and I don’t even get a thank you? Not even a care that I'm here?” Athena asks, placing her hands on her hips.

“I never asked you to come in here and never asked you to save me. I am not asking you to stay here. I am telling you. I'm not letting you interfere with my life! This is my life,” Eldon’s voice is fierce, the fire I'd seen in his eyes has been turned up twelve notches, his face looks something feral, completely different to the Eldon I'd seen earlier in the day.

Athena steps back, her determination replaced with a mixture of hurt and shock..

“Hey, you know that’s uncalled for,” I say, stepping up. Both Eldon and Athena turn towards me. “We need every person we can get on the front lines, or did you forget that we need to escape this game? The whole purpose of not dying here?” I say, stepping closer towards Eldon.

His fiery look turns on me. I feel like he's digging holes through my head, “Who the hell even are you? What the hell, Klein? Bringing some punk kid who doesn’t know his place? He'll never do any good here,” He barks out, facing Klein.

“Listen man...” Klein begins.

“Aaron, stop! He's just trying to help us all get out of here!” Athena steps back up.

“I don't want to get out of here! This is my life!” Eldon snaps, and before I know it Eldon has his sword out and points it directly at me. “Clear the crowd! I want this one to myself!” He screams. I hear a hushed gasp from Klein and Athena. That gets the crowd's attention.

“Aaron! Stop!”

“This kid wants to pick a fight? He gets a fight! It's no better than him going out there and getting his ass killed by some puny mobs,” he says, and then turns to Athena, “And you shouldn't have come!” He yells.

“She is your sister!” I yell at him.

“You shut up! You're worthless, nothing!”

I look over, I cannot equip my sword out in the town public, I see Klein trying to equip his weapon also, but it is like any other time, he cannot bring it out. So how is he...? I feel a hard blow to my face, he slammed the hilt of his blade right into me, I'm tumbling across the ground.

My vision is dazed, and I can feel something wet dripping from my nose. I wipe it with my hand, and it is a neon green stream of pixels that floats to the sky after it touches my hand.

I struggle to get up, I take a look at my health bar and I lost about a quarter of it.

“H-How did you damage me?” I ask, still a little dizzy.

Eldon walks over to me and points his sword at me. It’s weapon name pops up, Oblivion. A window opens up in front of me, it’s a duel request. I look up at Eldon, he is staring straight at me with a look of hate, one of pure malice.

“Dex, get out of there!” Athena cries.

“Dude, you have to decline his duel, let me fight him!” Klein yells.

“Shut it, both of you! I am fighting him! He opened his big stupid mouth and he gets to face what's coming to him!” Eldon says.

Athena runs over to Eldon, begging him to stop. She can’t stop the tears coming from her eyes. He turns his head slightly and shoves her to the ground. She lands hard and cries out, “I said stay back!” He yells.

You need experience, it's not like you've fought a lot, Dex.

Yeah, maybe I do. What better time like the present?

I press accept.

Just then, a force field begins forming. It separates everything except for Eldon and me. The arena I had seen during the duel between Athena and Klein reemerges. The info displays also appear, showcasing my stats and class. What shows on Eldon's however...

“Boss?” Klein reads, his mind whizzing at unimaginable speeds. “Oh...oh no. Dex! Do whatever the hell you can to get out of that fight!” He yells, his face frought with worry.

“What? What is it?” Athena asks, sitting up, her voice a little strained.

“Eldon...he was going to lead this group of players to their death. He is a boss, probably given the job by Jack Adata during beta.”

“What?!” I yell. It was my mistake, taking my focus off of Eldon, because his was directly on me. He rushes me and sends a swift kick to my abdomen, sending me falling backwards. No health was lost, so it seems it’s only when his sword connects I lose health, but that doesn't stop it from hurting. There is a strange disconnect between health and pain.

Eldon chuckles slightly. He reveals a small crystal he is wearing around his neck on a small chain. It is shaped like a comma, or maybe even the number nine, it's really strange looking. It glows with a golden fire within it.

“This'll allow me to kill you twice as fast,” He says, his monstrous face with its nasty grin.

I stand up, my legs are weak and I unsheathe Elcor. “This is the only way this is going to happen, am I right?” I ask, breathing heavily.

“I like your style, it's too bad it has to be masked by your disgusting persona. But that won't matter, I will have a deliciously amazing time crushing that spirit,” He cackles. “Then you'll leave me alone and I can stay here forever!”

Athena and Klein are pounding on the force field, slamming as hard as they possibly can, but it isn't going to do anything. There’s only one way out of this and that’s to take on the strongest beta tester in the whole game. This might not have been my smartest idea, but a little part of me doesn't care.

Time to fight.