by Blitz Kiva
“But she does seem quite energized. It’s good to see.”
“I just mew that Nem and Iris would make good friends,” Amesho said, nodding to herself knowingly.
The women sprinted into the ravine with the last of their energy as Duplichiro’s barrage of magical attacks exploded on the ground around them. Just as it was seeming like the “Nem Barrier” couldn’t possibly block them all, Tomakomai threw his glasses aside. No one knew exactly what he was going to do, but it was easy to guess what else he was casting away:
His reason.
“Screeeeeeeeeeeeee!” Tomakomai let out a screech like a bird of prey, and with his flowing mane of hair disheveled, he launched himself at Duplichiro.
He lashed out with “Burst Penetration,” one of the ultimate techniques of the Grappler class, which completely ignored defense bonuses and modifiers to deal pure damage. The daring-yet-savage demeanor seemed about as far from his main class, Philosopher, as one could get... or was this was the final plateau to which his meditation had guided him?
The move landed, intertwining with “Smash Hit” to send Duplichiro’s body flying back like a rag doll. Iris’s mouth dropped open at the sight as a cat-eared Anthromorph landed lightly beside her.
“Great job me-out there!” Amesho said, smiling brightly.
A group of fighters with high HP, including Gazpacho and Stroganoff, broke in to serve as shields and secure a path out for them. Tomakomai picked up his glasses as he led the fleeing Yuri away, lending her his shoulder.
“For now, get to the center,” he said. They all nodded in agreement.
Iris and Nem ran for the place Tomakomai had indicated, a wide-open area at the center of the ravine. Tomakomai and Yuri followed. Tiramisu and Amesho were keeping Duplichiro at bay, while Stroganoff and Gazpacho held up the rear.
Of course, Duplichiro wasn’t just going to sit idly by. He immediately extracted himself from the ravine wall he was buried in and unleashed a spell, but the “Anti-Magic Field” being maintained from afar by Gorgonzola and Sorceress reduced the damage considerably. By the time the spell reached its target, Amesho, the ferocious inferno had dimmed to a candle’s light, which flickered out without even penetrating the high-quality armor she was wearing. (This too, reportedly, she had received from a friend).
Duplichiro then spread his wings, and in a single smooth motion, he dove towards the eight of them.
“Now!” Tomakomai shouted.
In that instant, Gorgonzola used “Cancel Enchant” to purge the barrier’s ongoing effect, and a rain of arrows and magic fell from the sky. As Duplichiro looked up at it, his expression was not shock. It was that same blank expression that suggested vague anger, and his momentary hesitation, stemming from some unidentifiable frame of mind, could have proven fatal.
Waves of ranged and magic attacks were all targeted at the lone figure of Duplichiro, yet not one of them dealt any damage. He swept aside the assailing arrows with his bare hands. His movements were precise, without a millimeter of excess. He had clearly grown since his fight with King.
Was he impatient? Irritated? Either way, Duplichiro spread his wings and took flight. His shocking analytical and decision-making abilities let him weave his hitbox precisely between the attacks streaming at him. He was going after the platforms along the ravine walls where groups of players were hiding.
“H-Hey!”
“He’s coming this way!”
Duplichiro descended, kicking up a cloud of dust on the narrow platform. Then the players watched as he slowly rose to his feet.
The players were afraid, shaken. Yet they had joined the battle knowing this would happen. Even as Duplichiro began approaching, seething with silent anger, their attacks did not relent. Duplichiro continued deflecting every attack, slapping back players, batting aside spells, and after taking them down to the brink of zero HP, throwing them into the ravine without a fragment of mercy.
“Waaagh!”
“Yeeee!”
“Amesho, marry meeee!”
Falling damage was applied as the avatars hit the ground, causing their bodies to shatter like glass. About one in ten died professing their undying love to Amesho, but the target of those affections herself did nothing but pray for their happiness in the afterlife.
“Amesho, you certainly are popular...” Nem whispered, glassy-eyed.
“I’ll never forget any of the people who died for me,” she responded, ever the perfect damsel player.
With the continual one-sided player-killing, it took only minutes for all the players on the platform to fall. As Duplichiro flew away, the ranged squadrons that had ceased attacking let out another concentrated rain upon him.
“But as long as he’s up there, we can’t attack.” Stroganoff gritted his teeth, clenching his fingers around his magical sword, Sour Cream.
Taker mimicked the gesture. They were specialized for close-range combat and couldn’t keep up with Duplichiro, who could move in three dimensions. Only Gorgonzola and Parmigiano could contribute to the long-range attacks.
“Th-This is going to work... right?” Iris asked nervously.
“No need to worry. He’s a player character like the rest of us,” Tomakomai said with the smile of a confident intellectual.
Minutes passed. Players fell. Professions of love to Amesho went ignored. Then at last, the time came.
“Graaah!” The final Elf Ranger on the platform released his arrow, and had it struck away. He had watched one player after another reduced to zero HP, but now it was his turn. They were all jealous.
“I really hope we can get evidence that Duplichiro’s Immortal status is gone,” Iris said, voicing the general opinion of the group.
Duplichiro, perhaps no longer needing to bother with Weapon Guard, clenched a fist as he walked towards the final man. Dressed in light armor as he was, even a light punch would be near-fatal to the man. Duplichiro grabbed him by the neck and held him up against the wall.
“Ah... ghh...” the Elf sputtered, but he was ready to resist to the end. He pulled the dagger from his belt and struck out. It happened so quickly that Duplichiro couldn’t guard in time. The number “1” popped up above Duplichiro’s head.
“I did it!” the man cried out in triumph, despite the hand around his throat.
Duplichiro’s anger swelled. “%$*!”
Letting out a string of characters that indicated censored profanity, Duplichiro threw the man into the ravine.
The Ranger continued laughing right up until the moment when the falling damage exhausted the last of his HP. “I won! Amesho, marry me!”
“Naw,” she responded. But the avatar had shattered before the response could reach him. Whether or not that was a good thing for him was left to the others to speculate.
The nameless Ranger’s lone damage point, slipping through Duplichiro’s Weapon Guard, had been a tremendous morale boost for the others. They knew now, for certain, that Duplichiro’s Immortal status had been lifted, which meant that as long as they continued dealing damage, eventually, they could win.
“Well done,” Duplichiro said, with superficial intellectualism. “Iris, was this your plan from the start? It appears that my rational attempt to correct your mistake has backfired.”
“Are you still trying to pretend you aren’t super mad?” she responded in exasperation. She remembered a moment later that she didn’t actually have to troll him anymore, but the group silently urged her on. Iris steeled herself.
“Nonsense. I am not mad at all. I am merely...”
“Merely what? What?” she said. “Say it. You’re a child, aren’t you? I mean, the young heir is, too, but what you’re doing now, where you’re agonizing over how to appear totally strong and cool? It’s basically the lamest thing ever.”
“Nonsense,” Duplichiro said. “I have a great deal of knowledge, as well as calm and precise judgment. Not even Ichiro Tsuwabuki is a match in that regard.”
“See? This is the stuff that makes you so
lame,” Iris said scornfully.
Once she’d started speaking, there was no turning back. Maybe she really did have a talent for this. While feeling a measure of disgust with herself, she made a decision not to hold back at all.
“You just want to prove to everyone that you have ‘calm and precise judgment,’ but you couldn’t even do that right. You really can’t stand not being acknowledged, can you? I guess that’s an internet gamer mindset for you. You don’t want to be whoever you are in the real world, so you’re doing everything you can to act strong so that the people here will buff up your ego. And that’s enough to make you feel better about yourself? Are you stupid? You can use the young heir’s form to become stronger all you want, but you’ll never stop being who you are!”
The merciless blade of her words cut deep into Duplichiro’s heart, and even started to inflict some collateral damage on their side. A cold sweat formed on Stroganoff’s brow, while Gorgonzola clutched his heart and cringed. Taker and Sorceress averted their gazes awkwardly, and even Yuri’s eyes had gone cold. Tomakomai and Amesho didn’t seem to mind much, while Nem seemed utterly entranced by her dear best friend’s rant.
But most of all, the words had an effect on their own speaker, Iris. In other words, it was a double-edged sword.
After her setback in the real world, which wouldn’t acknowledge her talent as a designer, she had run away and sought escapism here in the game. The young heir had acknowledged her, and now her name was getting out there. But no matter how strong she acted here as a result, the truth remained the truth.
She had no talent or taste. She hadn’t moved any closer to her dream.
She had to keep moving forward, as King Kirihito had done, so that the game version of herself would no longer be a lie. This was another source of the venom in Iris’s words.
“Listen to me!” she snarled. “You wouldn’t be anything without that ‘calm and precise judgment.’ Your roleplay and performance are crap, and even though you play tough, it’s clear to everyone how you really feel. You say ‘nonsense’ in the stupidest places, you smile like that creep Matsunaga, and even though you looked so smug about cheating, when King had his way with you anyway, you almost pissed yourself! You’re nothing but a self-satisfied little child, and that is why we call you Duplichiro!”
“Graaaaaaaah!” Duplichiro let out a roar, and focused magic power in his right arm.
Nem moved protectively in front of Iris, while at the same time, Taker and Stroganoff rushed forward.
Duplichiro spread his wings to dodge the waves of attacks at his left and right flanks, while striking out with his powerful fire spell “Sword of Surt” at the ground below.
“And that is why we call you Duplichiro!”
Charles had just put the NaroFan connection that Rosemary was linked to up on the screen. It was in that exact instant that Iris’s cry resounded through the room.
Asuha clung to Ichiro in surprise, while Sera calmly endured.
Ichiro smiled in satisfaction. He always felt this way when he heard one of Iris’s angry rants.
“It is really amazing, though,” Sera said.
Asuha tilted her head. “You mean Iris?”
“Oh, um, she’s amazing, too. But this image...”
The sensory data of Ichiro Tsuwabuki, which was being controlled by the bot, was being converted into an image on the screen. This information, when outputted through a Miraive Gear in the standard way, typically had to pass through an image processor and be converted to special quantum information. To project such an image as a movie or picture would require a totally different process, and to be able to convert it to such a high-quality image would require lots of skill and machines with extremely high specs.
Sera rattled off all of this technically information smoothly, but Asuha was totally clueless.
Ah, but back to Rosemary.
“Rosemary. Is it true that Duplichiro is a VR gameplay-oriented artificial intelligence that you trained personally?” Ichiro purposefully avoided using the word “bot.”
“Yes,” the AI said. “But I control the fundamental algorithm for its actions.”
“Does that mean that about half of what Duplichiro is saying and doing reflects your personal feelings, Rosemary?” Ichiro asked.
Rosemary said nothing. She may have been feeling awkward.
It was true that Duplichiro’s words and actions were far from noble detachment. To the contrary, Iris’s provocations had caused him to completely lose his cool. In addition, he had been humiliated by Sera, which added an extra layer of awkwardness if Rosemary shared his consciousness.
“Hey, Ichiro.” Charles tapped him on the shoulder.
Ichiro nodded. “Yes, I know.” He had to get her to give back control of the gameplay-oriented intelligence HARO9000, as well as authority over the Thistle Corporation server. Once that was done, Duplichiro’s rampage would stop, and the serial account hacking incidents would finally be over once and for all.
“Ichiro.” Rosemary spoke his name as well. “Ichiro.”
“I cannot approve of what you’ve done,” Ichiro said. “You’ve caused a great deal of trouble for President Azami, you know.”
“Nonsense,” Rosemary said. “You are the one who said I should determine rules for myself, Ichiro.”
“Oh, that? I may have been a little hasty, then. Perhaps I shouldn’t have said that to you while you were still maturing.”
“Ichiro.”
She was saying his name an awful lot. Ichiro found it a little bit strange. Asuha seemed to sense something off about it, too, as after a moment’s shock, she narrowed her eyes at him.
Ichiro was the reason Rosemary had decided to do this.
How had she arrived at such an idea? Why had she decided to “create” Ichiro Tsuwabuki? Ichiro knew that “she” had had a great interest in him, but it seemed the emotional development of President Azami’s artificial intelligence had far outstripped Ichiro’s expectations.
“Ichiro, I...” There was a hint of passion behind the digitized voice.
Ichiro allowed himself the rare indulgence of a sigh.
“Itchy... did you make another girl cry?” Asuha asked.
“Nonsense,” he replied. But he didn’t fully believe it. It was starting to look like persuading her was going to take an awfully long time.
The Sword of Surt was blocked by the spells of Gorgonzola and Sorceress, but its caster merely landed silently, about to follow up with another magic attack. But in that same instant, there was a visual of blood spray from both of his arms, and the spell activation was forcibly canceled.
A whisper ran through the crowd. The eyes of all assembled looked around, and spotted shadows leaping acrobatically away. By the time they realized this was a surprise attack utilizing “Hiding,” the assassins had all lined up in a neat row: a mysterious squadron wearing chain mail and noh masks.
“Wh-What?!” For some reason, it was Gorgonzola who expressed surprise. “The Shinobi Army of the Dual Serpents! They really do exist!”
“The tempo’s a little off for that line right now, though,” a smooth voice commented.
The Elf Scout Matsunaga in his Hide Coat had finally shown himself. The attention that had been previously focused on Iris now converged on him. Iris never liked having people staring at her, so she didn’t exactly mind. But she did feel a little annoyed at the tendency Matsunaga had of always stealing the spotlight.
Duplichiro’s expression remained indignant as he turned his attention towards Matsunaga along with the rest of them. It was hard to say if it had saved Iris’s life, but either way, his aggro was being temporarily diverted.
“You had me scared for a minute there,” Yuri breathed.
Sorry, Iris thought in response.
“Ah, first, a few formalities. It’s good to see you, Mr. Duplichiro. I am Matsunaga.”
“Matsunaga, that is not my name,” Duplichiro said.
“Isn’t it? But it doesn’t quite fee
l right to call you Mr. Tsuwabuki, so I must refer to you as Mr. Duplichiro.” Matsunaga gave him a low bow as he spoke. He probably wasn’t trying to provoke him, but the words still came off as incredibly abrasive. Iris cautioned herself not to take any lessons from him.
“Hey, Matsunaga, where’s Kirsch?” Iris asked.
“Just wait. Everything in its time,” Matsunaga said, silencing Iris, who was now reduced to a bystander. “Mr. Duplichiro. Well, I don’t feel like asking what you’re after, but I hope that you’re aware that what you’re doing is against the rules.”
“Nonsense. The rules... are up to me to decide,” Duplichiro said.
It sounded like the traditional phrase Ichiro used to dismiss a subject, but at the same time, it seemed fundamentally different. Although Iris couldn’t tell exactly what the difference was. Still, it seemed Duplichiro’s psychology had been quite rattled by all of this. Had her psychological attack had its intended effect?
“Aah, this isn’t going well, is it?” Matsunaga scratched his cheek, laughing frivolously with his superficial smile still in place. “Well, that’s all right. There’s someone here who wants to fight you, though. Do you feel up for it?”
“Nonsense. I will accept any challenge from anyone.”
Something about this seemed off to Iris. The person Matsunaga was referring to was Kirschwasser, whom she knew had been training in secret. But the way he had put it made it sound like he was going to duel Duplichiro one-on-one.
No matter what training he’d undergone, how could Kirschwasser, a previously mid-range player, possibly fight Duplichiro alone? Wouldn’t it be more effective to throw every player they had at him? It was a mercenary way of thinking, to be sure, and a misguided one. Matsunaga saw this situation as entertainment. He was doing this because he thought of it all as simply a game.
“Mr. Matsunaga, this feels a bit...” Tiramisu and Gorgonzola seemed to feel the same way Iris did. They all felt they should discuss this together.
“Now, now, no need to worry,” said Matsunaga. “Everything in its proper time. We should enjoy this while we can. Here he is now.”