Immersion World

by Max Jager

  Once Sasumi was frozen, Estellese dropped to her knees and started panting for air. "That asshole damn near killed me. Everyone alright?" She asked. She was covered in blood. It seemed like she had healed herself, but as always the blood remained to tell the tale of the near fatal injuries she received.

  "Estell!" Pex shouted out as the small green speck zipped over to land on her shoulder and hug her as best as the little fairy could. "I was so worried! You scared me! I am so glad you are okay!"

  Estellese smiled a little. "I'm alright, you don't need to worry about me."

  "We thought you died when you didn't respond on the comms." Fate said.

  "No, the impact broke my earpiece." Estellese answered. However before they could celebrate their victory they could hear the clanking of metal behind them. They turned around to see all the remaining bars from the opened prison cells breaking away from the cells and all merging together. Slowly building a new metal suit of armor.

  Estellese glanced back at Sasumi, who was still frozen in the ice, then looked back at the new Sasumi being built on the other side of the prison block. "What the hell is with this guy?!"

  "He says he's human, I don't get how." Fate replied. "I mean he does post on the message boards, which should prove he's human. But there's no way this thing can be a human. It's just a hunk of metal. It's not even the same hunk of metal as before."

  Estellese shakily stood up, although she was running low on stamina. Those had been several high-tier spells she had thrown at him the first time to take him out. She quickly switched one of her elements to metal, and was trying to pull the metal pieces away from Sasumi to prevent him from putting himself back together. "This isn't any special metal, I can control it with normal metal magic."

  "I told you. I can't be killed." Sasumi growled, then looked at Estellese. "I misjudged you, you're more interesting than I thought. You're out of steam now though" He laughed.

  Then, out of nowhere, a portal opened behind Sasumi and Kaden sprang out of it. The portal immediately closed behind Kaden, and a new one opened in front of Sasumi. Kaden immediately shoved Sasumi through the portal, then shut the portal so he couldn't come back through it. "Back into the volcano with you, asshole!" Kaden shouted.

  "You're alive too?" Fate questioned as she turned to Kaden.

  "Duh?" Kaden gave her a questioning look. "Of course I am. I'm Kaden."

  "George was saying you took a heavy hit and disappeared. Then you never responded. Did your earpiece break?" Fate asked.

  "No, I heard the whole conversation between you and George." Kaden replied.

  "Why didn't you say something!" Fate shouted at him.

  "The Royals thought I was dead. They have that hacker girl listening in on our conversations so I didn't want to speak and disappoint them." Kaden shrugged.

  "Can you make a portal to help the prisoners escape?" Estellese asked.

  "Yep." Kaden replied. "But we are staying. And if what Sasumi just did tells us anything we should expect him to come barging in any second now. There might not be any more metal in here, but there's plenty more in the rest of the castle."

  "Why aren't we leaving?" Kathryn questioned.

  "We got stuff to do here." Kaden stated. "They sent their entire military after the elven military, literally. Only a few elite soldiers remain in here, so it's the perfect time for us to kick 'em where it hurts." He opened a portal beside himself and let the prisoners run through it to escape.

  "Our mission was to save the prisoners and escape!" Kathryn argued. "We can't stay here any longer then we already have, it's too dangerous."

  "Then try to leave, just don't expect a portal out." Kaden smirked as he then walked through the portal after the last of the prisoners.

  "Why are you friends with this guy?" Fate questioned as she turned to Estellese.

  "It's a long story." Estellese sighed. "Give me a second to rest and regain some energy, then I'll clear the door for us to move out."

  "Alright, once we escape I need to go back for my friends though." Fate replied. "They went to the other prison block."

  "Yeah, figured someone was covering that since Kaden didn't send us there." Estellese nodded. "Just give me a minute, we can all go assist."

  Next Chapter: Behind the Scenes.

  Chapter 32: Behind the scenes

  - Chapter 32: Behind the Scenes -

  "Alright is everyone rested and recovered?" Estellese asked as she looked over everyone in the cell block. "Sasumi will be back and ontop of us any second now, we need to move. He doesn't move much faster than the average person, so if I enhance our speed and we rush across to the other prison block we should leave him behind. We just need to clear the block before he catches up."

  "Got it." Fate replied.

  A portal opened beside Estellese and Kaden's arm reached through it. "New earpiece for you Estell. From Zanath."

  "Thanks." Estellese replied. "Any chance of us getting a portal to the other prison block?" She asked as she put her earpiece on.

  "You're not leaving?" Kaden questioned

  "Nope, we have others in the other cell we need to assist. Fate contacted them, they are struggling. Several of them are badly hurt." Estellese answered.

  "Of course, I just don't want you guys to leave until we're done here." Kaden replied. The portal closed and a new one opened a moment later in its place. Everyone quickly rushed through the portal.

  When they arrived on the other side they found Elliott and his group fighting against eight androids, and a small woman who seemed to be controlling them.

  In the front were three androids that carried long swords and one carried a massive metal axe. A short distance behind them was two more taller, skinny androids. These two were both armed with an arsenal of guns, each one had a minigun, a shotgun, and a magnum.

  Behind them were two more androids. These two each had four legs, a small body, and large rectangular shields for arms. And between the two shieldbots was the woman. She was quite short and wore a white sweater with khaki pants. She had short, chin-length black hair and wore glasses. In front of her was a holographic keyboard that was very similar to the one all the humans had, only hers was much more advanced.

  On the ground, several of the standard swordsmen bots laid broken and destroyed by Elliott's group.

  Elliott and his friends were in very bad shape. Almost everyone was badly hurt, a couple of them were critically injured, and they were struggling to hold their ground. The small boy was making a magic barrier to keep the gunfire off everyone, but it wasn't going to last much longer.

  "We are taking it from here!" Estellese called out to them as she stepped in and reinforced Snipes's barrier with her own. "Kaden, get them a portal out of here."

  "We can still fight." Elliott insisted.

  "You guys aren't suited for this battle. You don't have anyone who can do much against these things." Fate insisted. "Get everyone out, we'll handle it."

  Elliott hesitated, but relented and nodded. "Alright. Please be safe Fate, see you back in town." Once Kaden opened an escape portal his group retreated, but he stayed behind for a moment to speak with Eladienne.

  "Ella, I heard Lynn in there. She sounds like she's okay, but we couldn't push far back enough to see her. She's in the back of the cell block somewhere." Elliott said as he passed by the elven woman. "But take it easy, these things are no joke." He warned before he limped out through the portal after his friends.

  "Thanks Elliott." Eladienne replied.

  "Alright!" Estellese called out to Kaden once everyone had escaped. "Your name is Ella right?" She questioned the elven woman.

  "Eladienne." She corrected.

  "Alright Eladienne, you and Emmei are going to back me up, we're punching straight through the bots to hit the woman." Estellese instructed.

  "My kind of strategy." Eladienne grinned a little.

  "Fate what cards do you have?" Estellese asked "while she's checking that, Katy and Kathryn, you two are playing
support. Your guns won't do much to them, so do your best to suppress the woman in the back and stop her from focusing on the bots.

  "We're on it." Kathryn nodded, then the twins both grabbed their rifles.

  "I have a three and ace of diamonds. Seven of hearts, queen of clubs, and a wild card." Fate responded.

  "Is the seven a healing card?" Estellese asked.

  "No, seven of hearts is a barrier." Fate answered.

  "Use the wildcard for another queen of clubs, I want you to run support but finish off the bots any chance you get." Estellese stated. "We need to end this quickly, before Sasumi returns."

  The bots in the room behind the battier continued blasting away at the barrier, but Estellese was reinforcing it and ensuring that it didn't break while she talked with her team. However, the axe-bot was approaching the barrier and as soon as it was within reach it smashed the barrier apart.

  "Go!" Estellese called out before she created another barrier. This time the barrier she made was a big shield attached to her arm. With her new barrier-shield she charged at the robots, Eladienne and Emmei charged in right behind her.

  Kathryn and Katy both began taking shots at the woman in the back, but the two shield-bots in front of her were blocking every bullet. Kathryn separated from her sister and started moving around the edge of the room to flank the woman, keeping herself behind the cover of Estellese's shield.

  Estellese, Fate, Eladienne, and Emmei all rushed forwards through the bots towards the woman. As the first two sword-bots approached Fate activated her queen of clubs, which summoned two odd-looking grenades into her hands. She immediately threw one at each of the approaching sword-bots, and the grenades stuck to the chest of the bot before exploding and destroying them. Right before the explosion went off Estellese widened her barrier to protect her allies from the blast, then returned it to the size of a large shield that was wide enough to cover herself and two other people.

  The two gunner-bots were still in the back firing as many rounds at Estellese's barrier as they could in an attempt to pierce it. But Estellese kept reinforcing the barrier and repairing the damage it took, however this was taking a massive toll on her stamina.

  The next one to approach was the axe-bot, and it immediately moved to smash the barrier.

  "Emmei, hold that one back!" Estellese called out.

  "On it." Emmei grunted before turning and blocking the axe with his own sword. He attempted to use his superhuman strength to push the bot backwards, but the bot's own strength outmatched his and he was knocked to the ground. Emmei quickly rolled back onto his feet to evade a cleave from the axe and slashed his sword back at the bot. The bot blocked his attack, however, as soon as it was blocked both Emmei and his sword started to faintly glow again as both his strength and speed increased.

  While Emmei was holding the larger axe-bot at bay the rest of the group rushed forwards at the bots with guns. "We need to make this quick, the barrier won't hold up against the shotguns at this range! Fate take them out. Eladienne stand behind me."

  Estellese's barrier held for one last shot from both bots before it shattered. Eladienne, following orders, moved behind Fate and Estellese while Fate used her wild card to summon another queen of clubs, then immediately used the card.

  The minigun on the bots didn't stop firing, but the kinetic shields on Fate and Estellese's Spartan armor absorbed the attacks. Fate threw one grenade at each bot again, and neither could move fast enough to evade them. However the bots were not killed fast enough. Both Fate and Estellese's spartan shields broke, and they were both shot. Fate took two bullets to the chest and one to the shoulder, while Estellese took one to the chest and one to the leg.

  Fate dropped to the ground right as the two gunner-bots exploded and were destroyed. She was critically wounded, but was alive for now. Estellese pushed through her injuries and continued rushing forwards for the woman in the back with Eladienne right behind her. With Emmei keeping the axe-bot at bay that only left the woman and her two shield-bots. Nothing that could attack either of them.

  "Pex, help Fate! Eladienne, you're up! Take the right one!" Estellese called out. Pex flew off Estellese's shoulder and over to Fate, then started quickly trying to heal her wounds

  Eladienne activated her signet, causing her to gain a red aura as she moved in on the shield-bot. Then her gauntlets flashed as the kinetic enchantment activated. She punched it with such force the bot was smashed to pieces and was slammed through the wall behind it. Estellese made her move by creating a wall-barrier between the the bot and the woman controlling them all. Preventing it from moving to protect her.

  "Now girls! Shoot her!" Estellese called out to the twins. While the woman was vulnerable both Katy and Kathryn shot the woman multiple times, and for good measure Eladienne slashed her claws through the woman's throat.

  But the woman remained unharmed, and with a sigh of irritation that came through everyone's earpieces, the hologram of the woman turned off. "Well, that didn't stall you for long." The woman's voice spoke up. It was the same one who had hacked into their earpieces before. "Not that it matters."

  As soon as she finished speaking there was a loud crashing sound behind the spartan team. Estellese turned around to see what it was and spotted both Sasumi and Arachnia. "Shit! They are already here!" She quickly summoned another wall-barrier to block Sasumi and Arachnia off. However Sasumi shattered the barrier with one swing of his massive mace. That wasn't going to work on a heavy-hitter like him.

  "Kaden! Open a portal for us, get Zanath and I in there!" Mendelen ordered.

  "I can't open a portal anywhere near Estellese's location." Kaden spoke through the earpiece to everyone in the group.

  "What do you mean?" Mendelen spoke over the comms.

  The woman's hologram turned back on, and she signaled for Sasumi and Arachnia to stop.

  "Every time I try to open a portal in there nothing happens, and I get a weird message." Kaden replied.

  "What does the message say?" Zanath asked.

  "It says, 'Error, you do not have permission to create portals here.' I know what it means, but that shouldn't be showing up here." Kaden unsurely replied.

  "Is that popping up in an error message?" Zanath asked.

  "You mean like the popups on a PC? No. It's being sent to me as if it were a private message." Kaden answered.

  "The messages are also being sent in the world chat, forum, thing." Mendelen stepped in. "Says the sender is the system."

  "Yeah. It is the system." The woman spoke over the comms again. "Still think this isn't a game? Admin commands only work in a game, so if you're so sure it isn't then just portal your way in here. Zane isn't stupid, he sent his whole army after the elves and left just us to defend because he knows you can't beat us. You will never be able to find me, I can just keep sending in my bots. Plus both Sasumi and Arachnia are immortal. Then on top of all that, we have this trap, we know how to shut off your use of portals through the admin console."

  "Exactly, thank you Ashley." Zane spoke over the comms. As he spoke Sasumi sealed all the exits shut with metal that he detached from his armor, trapping everyone within the room. "It's over. Sasumi hasn't been trying to kill you, but from this point on he will. I will accept your surrender, if you do not wish to die. However to accept your surrender, you will need to declare in both public speeches and over the world chat that this IS, in fact, just a game. You must admit that you lied about that, and admit that the other races here are not really alive. You must re-capture the escaped elves or capture new ones for me to replace them, and you must disband both the Spartans and Moderators to instead work for me."

  As he spoke four more swordsmen bots, another axeman bot, and two more gunner bots walked in through the last door near Sasumi before he sealed that one shut as well.

  "NO! Screw you!" Estellese shouted back.

  "Estell. I don't think we can win this." Mendelen uneasily replied.

  Eladienne started cautiously backing away from
Estellese and the Spartans, not knowing if they were still allies or not. She had been standing close to Estellese, and could hear most of what was said through Estellese's earpiece. Elves were known for their good hearing.

  "Backing down already? Comeon Mendelen!" Kaden countered. "I second Estell, screw them. We can win this."

  "Kaden, this is serious. She could die, she's in a really bad position. I'm watching through the camera." Mendelen argued.

  "She can handle it." Kaden countered. "And if she can't, I can bring her back from the dead. You know this already."