When the "girl" called Audree walked out the door, the man breathed a sigh of relief.
*It still seems to be under control... What a freak it is.*
The man couldn't bring himself to call Audree a real girl. She - no, it - was an experiment. Did it go wrong? Could being too successful be regarded as a failure? Perhaps.
But the man didn't know anything about the scientific jargon. Though he was quite gifted in all elements, he was primarily a fighter. And he had been careful not to reveal that fact to Audree. During the training sessions, he made sure to primarily use magic and dark energy. The girl, who knew the capabilities of all elements, must presume he's a mage or djinn.
*It shouldn't know...*
It was too uncertain. This experiment, the "creation" of a being proficient in all five elements, was too great of a success. Even with the restraints on it, the man had to keep a close eye on it at all times. However, today was a bit different.
*Nobody should notice, but it doesn't hurt to be too safe.*
As an expert essence user, he should have covered all of his tracks. He was even getting rid of the other man, the real Louis, today.
Under Louis' name, the false Louis hunted for information about the truth of the project and committed several atrocities in the process.
He wasn't worried. As long as Audree retrieved the component in a timely fashion, they could leave without a trace. This component was one of the final parts to the machine. It, along with the crystal deposit, would lead to another step towards discovering the truth about the project.
*Louis Allard... What did you know?*
Allard was the one who likely knew the truth. Yet no matter how much this Louis pestered him, he would never reveal anything. Allard was also a skilled Revenant, so Louis couldn't force him to spill any information. Louis had to do the investigation on his own, but Allard caught onto him recently.
It was why he needed to be eliminated.
Louis traveled to the rendezvous point he told Audree about while keeping a close eye on it. Nothing looked to be out of the ordinary.
*It's doing fine. This is a more pressing matter.*
It was just one instance of looking away. With Audree's track record thus far, Louis was almost certain that it wouldn't - no, *couldn't* - try anything funny in this one instance.
He had to confirm Allard's death.
He'd enforced and enchanted the guillotine and "buffed" the judge and executioner so that nothing could go wrong.
"What are your final words?"
"I'm innocent."
When Allard spoke those words, Louis grimaced. In the throes of death, how could Allard maintain such composure? It was as if he knew more than he let on.
When his head was rolling on the floor, it seemed like, for a few seconds, that Allard was staring directly at him.
Louis, for a brief moment, felt chills down his spine. And when he did, his face contorted in anger.
"How can I be scared of a dead man? Allard, even in death, are you laughing at me? Tell me. Did you never take me seriously?! Was I not good enough for you! TELL ME!"
Yelling at the air wouldn't do anything, but Louis had to vent his frustrations somehow. It took him a couple of minutes to regain composure.
*Well... that's one order of business taken care of...*
Louis massaged his forehead to help him calm down some more.
Allard was confirmed dead. As he had some abilities of a medium as well, he knew this for a fact.
All that was left was to flee town with the "girl".
*... Where did it go?*
But when Louis tried searching for it, Audree was gone.
---
*Hi, yes it's me. Jisha Slyker. The most prim and proper princess of the Slyker dynasty. Or am I Audree the "commoner"? Haha... Perhaps only The Goddess knows.*
Jisha was currently struggling to determine the difference between fiction and reality. This skill, also known as maintaining lucidity, was paramount while playing Synergy... especially in alternate life dungeons. Falling back into non-lucidity meant that your character would play out the pre-determined script, and it was the number one way to fail the dungeon.
Yet even in this moment of questionable lucidity, Jisha's... no, Audree's world was as vivid as ever.
*Unfortunately, there's no time to consider this.*
There was a final boss ahead. It was time to focus.
She was currently in stealth mode. How, you ask? Simple. All she had to do was wrap the mystery material around herself. It was a free invisibility cloak.
And the railgun?
It was already complete. Gathering the final component and assembling the railgun was by far the easiest part of the mission. To Jisha, even getting out of bed was harder.
Right now, she was making sure all of her tracks were covered. She didn't know what caused the man to lose focus, but it was a massive opportunity. With the "invisibility cloak" around her, she approached the man slowly.
Even though she was 200 metron away from the man... or "metres", as this world called it... *while* wearing this cloak, Jisha couldn't help but be a bit nervous. This was one of the most terrifying foes she's ever faced.
A quick glance at his face was all it took to know he was trying his hardest to locate her. She had a decent amount of trust in the cloak. He hadn't been able to discover the material for years, so it was highly unlikely he could discover it now.
As she approached the 100 metre mark, Jisha pondered what to do. Unfortunately for the man, Audree knew he was primarily a fighter. It took her a while, but she recognized his scheme.
Jisha discovered that there were 5 combat types in this world - Fighter, Mage, Djinn, Conduit, and Medium. It was called the 5-point system, 5-star system, pentagram system, etc... Each combat type countered two others and was countered by two. For example, fighters were strong against djinns and conduits but were weak against mages and mediums.
Usually, Revenants were only able to be proficient in one "element", as they were called. There were special cases... like this final boss. Though he was primarily a fighter, he was able to use abilities of other elements. But unfortunately for him... Audree was proficient in all of them. The man was right to be fearful of the beast he was raising.
Jisha continued to close in. She approached the 50 metre mark. But why was she getting in so close? With her skills, she should be able to snipe the man from afar.
There were two reasons for this.
First, shooting from close range was exponentially easier than shooting from afar. This applied no matter who you were. From a newbie who had never picked up a gun to the Gun Swap Goddess herself, this rule remained steadfast.
Second, Audree did not know the scope of the man's range. Jisha couldn't find any memories relating to this piece of information, either. Any attempts to investigate were always punished. The only thing she knew for sure was that she was always being observed no matter which errand she was tasked to run... which meant that his range was at least 10 kilometres... and this was a conservative estimate.
In other words, any unusual moves in this range would immediately be detected. Firing from a long distance would give the man too much time to react.
Jisha grimaced when she thought about how "broken" and "overpowered" this guy was. Even though Tier 9 players could have a detection range of 10 kilometron, their clarity paled in comparison. On top of that, this guy wasn't even a "conduit" that specialized in information...
*If this guy were to be placed on Etmos... He could likely wreak havoc on the entire world himself. Unfortunately, he's against me.*
This pseudo confidence was something present in every competitive spirit, and it was something that had gotten her through many tough situations. Some may call it arrogant, but many didn't realize it was something most top-level competitors possessed - utmost belief in oneself!
50 metres...
40...
30...
20...
10 metres. No more than a stone's throw away. Even an average person could land a shot from this distance. To Jisha, it may as well be pointblank. And this was the point at where Jisha stopped trusting the cloak.
It was time.
She took aim.
The man's head was in her sights.
She couldn't fire from behind the cloak since it seemed to hinder the passage of... everything. So, slowly... ever so carefully... the barrel of the railgun poked out from behind the cloak.
---
Louis was completely focused on his surroundings.
*Did she escape? No, that can't be.*
Louis doubted his abilities. Though he could likely find anything in the entire country of France if he looked hard enough, the existence of one entity made him doubt himself.
He gritted his teeth in anger. Why did it make him waver like this? He was supposed to be strong. One of the strongest in the country. Yet he was being outdone by a child.
*I've been paying attention to it for its entire life. Where did I go wrong?*
Suddenly, he sensed movement from precisely 10 metres behind him. Alarm bells went off in his mind.
*What... is that?*
It was obvious *who* was attacking him. But he didn't know *what*.
He didn't even need to turn around to see it clearly in his mind's eye; essence could do anything you put your mind to, after all.
He'd never seen this weapon before.
It was obviously some sort of ranged weapon. It kind of looked like some sort of... gun? Despite knowing that much, he was unsure of the weapon's capabilities.
But as long as the weapon was truly a gun, it needed to fire a bullet. Louis wasn't afraid of bullets. He could easily dodge them. He could even take multiple hits if necessary.
But it was obvious this weapon was no ordinary gun. And though the gun may have been a threat, it needed to be fired by a person.
*All I have to do is kill you before you can fire.*
Louis had no idea what material allowed Audree this "invisibility". But the location of the body could be deduced from the location of the gun.
Before Audree could pull the trigger, Louis cast a spell where the body should be.
---
Before Jisha could even pull the trigger, her instincts screamed at her to move.
*What? I haven't even pulled the trigger and he's already discovered my intentions?*
This opponent was more terrifying than she could have imagined.
Jisha forced Audree to dodge to the side. Since a 10-year-old girl's body couldn't physically move this quickly, essence had to be used.
A split second later... no, a split of a split second later, the air where Audree had been standing rippled. Jisha had no idea exactly what that spell was, but she could tell it would have likely killed her instantly.
*Damn...*
Now, there was a problem. Audree's essence levels were critical. Jisha had unfortunately poured most of Audree's essence into the power source of the railgun. She'd naively assumed that it would simply take a shot from the railgun to complete the mission. Of course, she wasn't underestimating her opponent. It was why she used the invisibility cloak and positioned herself so close to him.
In addition, railguns were something that didn't exist in this era. Jisha didn't know how, but Audree managed to invent a railgun. Since it was a weapon the man had never seen before, it should catch him off guard.
However, she didn't realized that the man could force so much essence out of her before she could even pull the trigger!
In this brief moment, the man was already closing in on Audree. The invisibility cloak was already damaged, so she was out in the open.
She could clearly feel his intention to kill.
*Looks like preserving your precious doll is off the table, then. Yeah, I'm in a bit of trouble.*
Audree had just gained momentum from dodging the earlier spell, but the man had closed in on her before she could regain her footing.
The man punched.
It was a simple punch. It was the fighter's way.
Yet the power it carried was in no way ordinary.
It was Jisha could see the word "death" written on this fist. (a/n: xd funny reference)
She had to dodge. Trying anything else would result in a real game over.
Using a bit more of her essence, she boosted her momentum.
The punch which would have pulverized her struck nothing but air.
The man seemed to be taken slightly aback.
*He really must have expected that to at least graze me, huh? Hahaha...*
Even though the punch missed, the shockwave hit her side at pointblank range.
Audree's essence reserves were nearly gone. She only had enough to dodge once more. Since she couldn't use any essence on defense, Audree's body was that of an ordinary 10-year-old girl. Even this shockwave was greatly damaging to her body.
Jisha could feel as if an eardrum was being ruptured.
There was likely even more damage caused, but she had no time to figure it out.
The man was in somewhat of a stunned state due to his surprise. This was likely the only opportunity Jisha would get to counterattack.
But there was a problem.
*After seeing what this guy's capable of... I don't even think the amount of essence in this battery is enough to kill him.*
In this moment, she had three options.
1. Fire a bullet. Unfortunately, this was unlikely to kill him. If the man wasn't dead, she was.
2. Dodge again. The consequences of this don't even need to be discussed.
3. Use the remaining essence to cast a spell.
Since the first two options were clearly a no-go, only the third remained.
But what spell could she cast with a small amount of essence that would be useful in this moment?
*... I figured I'd need to do this at some point...*
Inwardly, Jisha grimly smiled.
Using the last of her essence, she formed a small but sharp air blade and sliced.
---
Louis was already fed up with the situation. He was the stronger one. He was the one that dominated the underclass. Whether it was social standing or the ability to use essence, there weren't many that were superior.
Yet this girl... this *thing* was eluding his grasp.
Obviously, he didn't feel like he was in any danger. He wasn't even using his full strength, and he'd already placed countermeasures to weaken this thing. On top of that, Audree was basically out of essence. How easy would it be for a grown man to kill a 10-year-old child? And what if this grown man had a power that was able to boost his strength exponentially?
His victory was decided, but it felt Pyrrhic in nature.
Not only was it punching a child to death, which was already pathetic to say, it was over 10 years of hard work down the drain. Louis didn't know if he would ever get to witness such a beautiful experiment again.
As he was regaining his footing from the punch, he relaxed a bit. He could throw out thousands of these punches while Audree was using everything in her power to dodge.
He noticed Audree use the last of her essence.
*Tch... This pains me, but farewell.*
Louis wound up the most powerful punch he could muster. The target was now an ordinary 10-year-old child, but because of the troubles it had given him, he felt like he needed to go all out to end the battle.
But when he noticed what spell Audree had cast and where it was used, his stomach dropped.
Audree's ankle had been sliced clean off.
What was on that ankle?
It was the restrictive bracelets Louis had put on her as a countermeasure.
The instant the ankle separated from her body, Audree's power level shot up.
Louis panicked. He had never considered this option. After all, he knew those anklets couldn't be removed. But a child of this stature nonchalantly slicing off its own ankle...
*This thing is definitely not a human.*
As he inwardly laughed at his naivety, Louis worked as hard as he could in that moment to swing his fist towards his target.
As his fist traveled towards it, he noticed the gun seemed to be sucking up all of the extra essence Audree had just gained. All he had to do was land the punch before it could fire.
And... the punch hit.
---
*Gh-! What a monster...*
It wasn't a direct hit. In fact, it wasn't even close. But the punch still tore off Audree's left arm. Blood would have spurted from the wound, but things were moving too fast for that to happen just yet. If she hadn't saved just enough essence to dodge once more, she truly would've been gone.
Since she was unable to pull the trigger the first time, she made sure to have a countermeasure in place this time.
And it was a success.
The man had put everything into that punch. He would need some time to recover.
*Checkmate.*
The battery, overfilled with essence, shone a bright blue.
Audree's finger pulled the trigger.
Small crackles of electricity and essence ran through the air as the projectile was launched from the barrel.
*Spirit bullet.*
The projectile, an aura-infused bullet, rushed towards the man's head at a faster speed than any man-made projectile the world had seen thus far. There was no way for the man to react.
The bullet lodged itself into the man's skull and he collapsed instantly.
*He's hardly even bleeding... Truly a monster.*
The bullet, which was infused with a medium's skill of aura, perfectly countered a fighter. The bullet that was traveling many times the speed of sound wasn't the true weapon but only a vessel for a payload.
Blood finally started flowing from Audree's arm and leg. The adrenaline rush was over and she collapsed to the ground.
The duration of the battle was only three seconds, but the adrenaline made it feel... much longer.
"Hahahaha..."
The man laughed.
*He's not dead?*
Jisha was immediately on alert again, but at this point, there was literally nothing she could do. Audree's body was heavily damaged and she was also out of essence. But the man's next words quelled her fears.
"If they call us devil's children, you are the devil itself..."
"..."
Those were the man's last words, and the last thing Jisha heard in this world.
Her consciousness returned to a blank room.
Jisha inspected her body. She was Fae Sol once again.
*>System message: Quest complete: Genesis*
*Ah... Back to Synergy's main world, it seems.*
Jisha sighed a huge sigh of relief. This was likely the most difficult battle she'd ever faced, and it was over.
*>System message: Dispensing quest rewards:*
*>Quest reward items: Reminiscia: 1*
"..."
Jisha waited for her rewards. In Synergy, difficulty was appropriately rewarded. This was an ironclad rule. So naturally, she waited.
"..."
...
"... That's it?"
*>System message: Level up!*
*>Level: 9 -> 10 (+1)*
*>...*
*... Really? Only one level? That doesn't even count as a participation medal.*
A myriad of system notifications popped up after her level-up to 10 as this was an important level threshold in the game... but Jisha ignored them. This item was more important.
Jisha looked at the single item that was placed in her inventory.
*>Name: Reminiscia*
The item only had a name. It did not carry any other data that items usually possessed. Usually when items only revealed their name, their descriptions and abilities were normally sealed with question mark texts. However, this item only displayed its name.
*What is this?*
It was a tiny item she'd never heard of.
It appeared to be a dark... something. Absolutely no light reflected off the mysterious object. In fact, it was so dark that it seemed to be sucking in the light around it.
It was very thin and had an opening on one side.
*Is this a container for something...???!!!*
Jisha had a premonition. She wanted this premonition to be incorrect.
Oh how she wished she was wrong.
But in Synergy, difficulty was appropriately rewarded. If this was the only item she received after all that effort, it was unlikely she was wrong.
*Something's going on.*
She gritted her teeth in anger as her thoughts spiraled out of control.
"It's not funny."
She didn't even know who she was directing her words at. She received no response.
"Whoever's messing with me, it's not funny!"
Obviously, she still received no response.
Despite her head flaring with rage, there was nowhere to vent it. Jisha slowly and unwillingly calmed down.
A portal appeared in front of her. A doorway to Synergy's main world.
With a multitude of thoughts in her head, she stepped through. And when she did...
"Rejoice, Castle. Everyone, engage!"
*Ah. I almost forgot about this circus. Well, time to blow off some steam. It's been a hellish 10 years.*
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