The man pouted in Gabriel’s direction. “Could you watch your manners a little more, Gabriel? I may not look like it, but I’m not indestructible. Getting punched hurts!”
I brought Cerberus back with Revival Magic, but it ate up a ton of my MP.
This guy is unbelievably skilled.
I could tell just from his one hit to Gabriel that I wouldn’t be able to win against him.
“You’re really making a lot of assumptions here.” I tried to stay civil.
“How so?”
“You’re saying I’m cheating or whatever, but all I’ve been doing is desperately trying to stay alive with what I’ve been given.”
“Well, it doesn’t matter whether you asked for it or if you wanted it. In this case, the problem is that you expect me to see it that way. Anyway, Shinobu, I’m thinking we should play a game now.”
“A game? Aren’t you gonna kill me?”
He chuckled at himself, catching me off guard. “I wouldn’t mind killing you in the end, but remember, I’m an Executor. I have to make sure the game progresses fairly.”
I gestured for him to keep going.
“Don’t forget—I gave you a proper reward for putting your life on the line during the Ancient Flower event. I mean, it did involve you having to use those Orbs to survive, but I wanted you to get rid of those anyway, so that was the best course of action.”
“...I didn’t get any Recovery Orbs from those level ups a minute ago either.”
“During the game, sometimes tons of them would be given out as part of welcome campaigns for newcomers. You can change that to the number of Orbs you receive through level ups too.”
“Increasing the level cap past level 99 hasn’t been implemented yet, so the number of Orbs must not have been set for the upper levels either. Is that why I didn’t receive any?”
“That’s right. I think you’d be happier if you died here, though. No, really. I know this because I’ve been observing you this whole time.”
“I’d be happier if I died? I told you to stop fucking around!” I ended up shouting at him.
He shook his head and sighed. “I’d like to tell you the reason, but that would go against the ‘game’s objective,’ and I’m trying to keep the game fair. It pains me to say so, but hey, I can at least answer most of your questions. Go on, ask.”
“Why do you know about my sister? Who is she to you? No, who is she to this game as a whole? What on earth is this world in the first place?!”
“I can’t answer any of that because of my position. Some things have already been found out, though, so all I can say is that you’re in a very special position yourself.”
“Just who are you?” I took a breath and asked. “You were supposed to have obtained a Log-Out Ticket, so how are you here?”
“I wasn’t enough. I couldn’t go there, couldn’t go here, so I ended up back at this place. I can’t say any more than that.”
“Then what happened to the others who got Log-Out Tickets?”
“They logged out. I can’t say more, but...if you’re curious, you can always get one and see for yourself. As an Observer, I highly recommend that to you specifically.”
Okay. He doesn’t intend to answer literally anything, then. He got his point across that he’s a thickheaded jackass. And when I said thick, I meant there was no breaking his iron mask.
“Then I’ll ask a different question, Mikagami. What game are you and I about to play?”
“It’s simple. You’re going to fight me with your lives on the line—or as long as your HP and MP last, that is. Just get one hit on me, and you win. And don’t forget that you die if you get a Game Over.”
Is he saying he’s confident that we can’t even get a single hit in?
I felt cold sweat running down my back as I watched him laugh fearlessly.
“What’ll happen if we win that game?”
“The point here is to punish you for taking advantage of bugs in the system, nothing else. Same as the Ancient Flower event, after you overcome the danger of death, all I’m going to do is prevent you from straying from Agartha’s set path. Ah, wait. Unfairness and rewards should be exchanged equally, right? So, if you manage to clear this one, I’ll give you something else aside from the EXP from earlier. After all, there’s a much higher risk of you failing here compared to the raid event. That’s the only way I’m going to keep things balanced.”
“Then I’m going to land a hit on you now and end this game.”
Tsukuyomi appeared out of Mikagami’s shadow and swung her grim reaper’s scythe at him.
Right before its blade sliced his neck, the whole motion came to a complete stop.
Mikagami turned to me and smiled. “Shinobu? Could it be you haven’t trained your dogs properly?”
Looking closely, he’d halted Tsukuyomi’s scythe with just his thumb and index finger.
He stopped an entire blade with just his fingers?! I can’t believe this!
“Shinobu,” Tsukuyomi grunted, “this one’s pretty strong...!”
Her hitched expression matched mine. I’d already gotten a glimpse of how powerful this guy was when he took out Cerberus in one hit, but reality was starting to set in.
This guy’s insane!
“Ha hah! I can’t believe you let your data do things like this. I won’t deny your existence or anything, but I’d appreciate it if you all wouldn’t get in the way of a conversation between two humans. So, Shinobu, are you sure you don’t mind if I defeat Tsukuyomi here?”
“W-Wait! Mikagami, don’t!”
He was already swinging his sword. Cerberus’s head got sliced off.
“You...! Mikagami!”
Tsukuyomi took a few steps back to get away from him. I left Cerberus’s revival to Gabriel.