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Chapter 14: Those Who Rise Up
<Southern Dark Continent, Gramfil, the City-state of Slaves and Criminals >
SHACKS dotted the barren land. It was too much of a shantytown to be called a city, much less a city-state. It was barely hospitable enough for people to survive, and those who did lacked any semblance of energy to call it a life. The city was originally established as a refuge for political prisoners, criminals, and escaped slaves from all over Idoragya. But contrary to the fierce ambition they once held, their refuge had become a place of death and finality for the many listless losers who extended their miserable lives there.
In this ending place where losers tended to wash up, one man did nothing but loudly sob and lament his lot in life.
“Uh-aah…wuaaaaah….!”
He was slightly too young to be called a man. His black hair was shortly cropped, and his clothes were too nice for this country. The design didn’t even seem to be of this world.
Е ǹu mǎ .îd̃.
Was he around middle-school age? Tormented by something, the boy had been letting out anguished wails in his shabby hotel room for the past few minutes.
“It’s over. I’m over. It’s all over.”
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
Tears spilled ceaselessly from his bleary eyes, and his cries of despair echoed painfully in the dim room.
The boy’s name was…
“There’s no way this trash could ever win. It’s always like this with me. I can’t win when it counts. No, I can’t even win when it doesn’t count, so there’s no way I could when it does!”
The young man’s name was Keiji Kuhara.
Ŵеb̈ n̂ öv е̃ĺ Е̌ ń û m̊à
“I’m soooo sorry, Soalina. I’m soooo sorry, Fenne. I knew you had high hopes for me. I know I told you to leave it all to me. I’m soooo sorry for being a pathetic loser! I wanna die! I just wanna die already!”
Keiji’s life became that of a loser’s once he had suffered defeat at the hands of Takuto Ira. He had picked a fight with another Player without ever showing himself, and ended up losing his subordinate, Witch Erakino, and almost losing all his powers as a result. Ultimately, Takuto had to withdraw so his fangs never turned toward Keiji, but Keiji had lost nevertheless.
“And…and…aaaaaah, I can’t. I’ll remember what happened again. Why am I still alive and well when you aren’t? You were the strongest woman! The ultimate woman I created! Your settings, your manner of talking, your clothing, your skills…all of it born from my imagination. The first woman I ever made and loved, even though I can’t do anything but lose at gambling!!” he wailed.
But there was an entity that would not allow him to lose. The god assigned to the TRPG faction: the Dice God. Outraged by his disappointing results, the Dice God sealed the majority of Keiji’s abilities, turned him into a boy, and hurled him down to the land of man.
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Keiji could rot here, or he could rise up and try to make a comeback. Such was the capricious decision made by the dice, and it resulted in Keiji’s survival. Although the man himself was already in a broken state of mind…
“I wanna dieeeeeeeeeeeee! Lemme die, Erakino! Just lemme die already, ERAKINOOOOOOOOO!”
Е nū mа. і d́
But even a loser like Keiji had something left to cling to.
“SHUT YOUR TRAP!”
“Ooooof!”
A powerful kick connected with Keiji’s abdomen, sending him tumbling into the rickety wall. Surprised by the sudden attack, Keiji, his face crumpled and distorted with tears, turned toward the culprit. It was a girl he knew well.
“Do you want some cheese with your whine?! Pathetic! You’re still a Player, no matter how much you suck at the game! Sure, most of your abilities were sealed and you’ve been turned into a shota as a penalty, but you’re still the Game Master, aren’t you?!”
Witch Erakino.
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She was the TRPG faction’s Witch, and the NPC Keiji had created. She was his most trusted and unrivaled subordinate. Her existence was definitively lost during the battle with Mynoghra. And now that Keiji had most of his GM Authority sealed, he couldn’t resurrect any characters.
How could Erakino be there?
“Ugh, sorry, Erakinooo…”
“Penalty Kick!”
“Guaaaah! Wh-What was that for, Erakino?!”
The girl called Erakino landed another solid kick to Keiji’s stomach. Eating a direct hit from an NPC like her would inflict serious wounds to even a Player. But since he got by with just a few tears, a cry of pain, and a word of complaint, she obviously went easy on him.
Wёb n̆о̌ v е̊_l̇ Ӗňu mă
Her purpose seemed to be to scold this pathetic man into shape. She crossed her slender arms and glared down at Keiji, displeasure written all over her pretty face.
“Injecting you with motivation! And would you stop calling this aberration Erakino already?!”
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The girl had repeatedly told Keiji to stop. Yet he made the same mistake constantly. This was a reality he couldn’t ignore.
“What you see here is just residue. A remnant of the Witch’s settings. An empty shell left by a bug the Dice God couldn’t be bothered to erase.”
The girl standing before him, as she had in the past, was no longer the girl he knew. She was lost long ago, and what he now saw was merely an afterimage. Her cache.
Erakino was…
Е̇n̆um̄a
“Erakino is…already dead,” she reaffirmed.
She had disappeared right before his eyes, after all.
“Uuaaaaaaaah…” Keiji wept and curled in on himself.
He didn’t normally possess such volatile emotions. To begin with, Erakino’s origins were unique. She was a character he had created through tireless trial and error using his GM abilities.
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The twenty-second Erakino he’d created. The twenty-second Erakino he’d poured his heart and soul into.
That’s all she was.
Eñ ū m̂ a_.ї d
But that’s where things went wrong. A man who had been unable to do anything, unable to create anything, whose self-esteem had hit rock bottom, and whose pride had rotted away, had finally created something that he could be proud of. That he could boast about. That’s why he couldn’t forget about the twenty-second Erakino—the girl who was already lost.
“Call this aberration Echo. That’s the agreement. Get it through your thick skull that she is different from Erakino. This is important.”
No matter how much this girl called Echo tried to reason with or scold him, he just continued to moan and cry, unable to forget the woman he’d lost.
The man known as Keiji Kuhara had nothing. Because it was all lost on that day, long ago.
But fate would not allow him to leave.
The time had come.
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The time to fight.
“C’mon, on your feet! Suck it up! Get moving! Unlike Erakino, this bug has zero affection for ya. ZERO! Don’t even think about being coddled! We’re heading out as soon as you’re ready!”
The remnant traces of what had once been Erakino. This girl, who should be nothing more than an empty shell, pumped her fist in the air, trying to motivate him to get the ball rolling, just as the woman he once knew used to.
Keiji blankly stared at her with dead eyes. He had about as much motivation as an inanimate object. He was merely swept up in the flow Echo created.
“Blegh. Get ready for what? Where are we going, Era— Echooo? I’ve got no direction…” he grumbled.
“Haa,” Echo sighed. “You can’t even figure out that much? You’re so pathetic, this lil’ bug will just have to tell you♪. We’re going to go find Soalina and Fenne, duh!”
E ñ u m а .іď
“…Huh? Why should we?” Keiji snipped, the first signs of life returning to his dead eyes as he voiced his objections.
Keiji didn’t know their whereabouts after the decisive fight with Mynoghra. Knowing them, they were likely still alive, but he had no way of knowing where they were or what they were doing.
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And how could he possibly go to see them now? It was painful just remembering the days when they naively spoke about their dreams of building a peaceful world together.
How could a man, who had nothing, possibly apologize to these women he was unable to do anything for? His anger at his own incompetence came out in a harsh tone without his realizing it.
Echo grinned at his reaction. “To clean up after your mess, dummy♪. Or wait, don’t tell me you were actually planning on setting down roots and living the rest of your pathetic life in this crime city? Ew.”
“Ack,” Keiji choked. She had him pegged.
E̊ n̄ u m̀а
He had long realized that things couldn’t continue as they were. He’d barely managed to survive so far off of the funds Echo had scraped together for him until now. But even he knew he couldn’t keep this life up long.
If anything, Keiji had a lifetime of experience suffering from his gambling habits. He understood the importance of money and knew painfully well just how much it was needed to survive. He was on a direct course to ruination.
Besides, if he carried on like this, it wouldn’t just be his ruin…
“That won’t work, though, will it? I mean, the Succubus Army will march right in and take over this place, too, if you do diddly♪. And if that happens, poor, poor Soalina and Fenne will go through a hell of a time! Aaaah, thanks to a certain loser not putting on his big boy pants, the two frightened Saints will get dragged out of their hiding place and end up being treated the way all nuns are in crappy, erotic doujin games♪. Oh, the inhumanity!”
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“Agh! Ugh…uwaah…”
Tears welled up in Kuhara’s swollen eyes and sobs wracked his body. He seemed to be remembering how he was too scared to do anything during the All-Faction Conference. Perhaps he also recalled how he had trembled in the corner of the room when the Succubus messenger arrived and had to be dealt with by Echo.
Е́ ṅ ũ m̂а
Whatever the source, the pathetic man was about to pathetically break down crying again. But Echo wasn’t going to let him keep it up.
“That’s why I’m telling you to stand up, already. Wipe your own ass. Clean up your own mess. Be a man. Become someone who can be glad Erakino died. Don’t waste away like some loser. Defeat fate. God is watching you.”
“Damn it all…”
Perhaps she’d provoked him just enough to reignite what meager pride he had left. Keiji threw aside the spineless and wishy-washy attitude that had become his norm. He shouted at the top of his lungs and rose from the floor where he’d been a trembling mess.
“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah! Damn it! I’ll do it! I just have to do it, right?! I’ll do it for you, you jackass! I’m the world’s greatest Game Master! You all just have to get off my back!!”
What man could stand letting things end after having all that said to him? After being made such a fool? He was more driven by desperation and self-abandonment than by pride and stubbornness. But he had undoubtedly started to look forward again, and taking that first step was critical, no matter what brought it about.
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Echo cackled when she saw Keiji shouting to pump himself up. “Now that’s what I’m talking about! Keep it up! This is what you need. A strong will is what will cut a path through fate and bring you victory.”
“Hell yeah! I’m not outta the game yet! Most of my GM Authority was sealed, but I can still roll the dice. Next round is gonna be my big wiiiiiiin!”
Echo’s lips curved in the biggest, happiest smile at his words, and she clapped her hands. It appeared she’d gotten the exact outcome she’d wanted. Her innocent joy reminded Keiji so much of Erakino that it made his heart flutter, but it was no big deal compared to the zeal he now had to get things done.
“You better watch me, Era— Echo! I’m gonna do it! I’m gonna kill them all and win this shitty game! I’ll be the last man standing!”
He could at least talk a big game. But the lack of vocabulary and refinement in his words revealed his true character.
Echo sneered and threw out a barbed remark as if to make fun of the fact that he was all talk. “Yeah! You said it! Now use that pep to slaughter the King of Ruin too♪.”
W̄ è b ṅ ov̀ е̇ l Е ňŭ m̃ а̄
“Eeek! The K-King of Ruin! Takuto Ira. Nooooooooooooooooo!!”
They were right back to square one. Apparently, the name Takuto Ira was a trigger word for him. Keiji crouched right back down in his corner and began muttering hateful things to himself.
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“Haa, he’s a lost cause,” Echo sighed and threw both hands up in defeat.
Her gesture seemed awfully full of human emotion for an empty shell left by a bug in the system.
◇◇◇
MEANWHILE, Takuto was forming a strategy hinged on Keiji’s involvement, none the wiser about the Game Master’s questionable mental state. He planned to form an alliance with Keiji Kuhara.
Еn ům̊ ȧ
When Atou learned of this insane plan, it took her a while to process it. Keiji was someone they had fought with their lives on the line. She assumed he might join their enemy’s alliance, but she never imagined allying with him. In all actuality, she even thought that he needed to be eliminated on the spot, as he posed a risk for the future.
But Takuto was of a different mind.
Atou rarely opposed Takuto’s ideas. But would this one actually work out? She posed this frank question to her master.
“Is it really possible to win over the GM and Lenea’s Saints, even though we were once such bitter enemies?”
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“Your guess is as good as mine. As for Kuhara, when I probed him during the All-Faction Conference, he seemed skittish and weak, so I think we might be able to do something about him if we go in tough.”
“…Is he actually usable in a fight?”
Еn̈ü m̀ а
Takuto knew what Atou was getting at with her question, even if she didn’t say it in so many words.
Keiji Kuhara had been stripped of his Game Master abilities.
When he was settling the score with Keiji, Takuto used the TRPG game system to initiate a disciplinary motion. Through that, he had stripped away his opponent’s greatest weapon, his GM Authority.
In other words, Keiji Kuhara had been reduced to a mere TRPG Player who could just roll the dice.
Atou wanted to know if he would still be a useful ally in the fight ahead.
Takuto had naturally already accounted for that.
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“There are plenty of ways to make him useful, just like how there was a way for me to strip Kuhara of his GM Authority then and there.”
“In which case, it all hinges on whether he will agree to join us or not.”
Takuto nodded in the affirmative. He wasn’t worried about the TRPG abilities. The problematic factor was how Keiji would react to the plan.
His idea was backed by what Yu had told him about each faction and god having their own goals. The TRPG faction was consistently trying to create a peaceful country when they infiltrated the Divine Nation of Lenea. Obviously, all the massacres and decisions they made during that process were questionable, but they had been acting with relatively good intentions.
If Keiji had a conflicting goal, he wouldn’t have allowed such actions. And yet, as the GM, he consistently cooperated and aided Erakino and the Saints in that venture.
If he, like Yu Kamimiyadera and Takuto, had even the slightest desire to live in peace with someone dear to him, then Takuto felt it was worth a shot.
Е́n̊ ümа̃. і́d
“It’ll depend on what Kuhara is after, but I don’t think an alliance is entirely out of the question. There’s room for negotiation,” Takuto said.
But unfortunately, Takuto had defeated Keiji’s Witch, Erakino. That was the linchpin concern. If Takuto were in Keiji’s position, he would never forgive anyone who took away his Atou. They would need to find common ground…or Takuto needed to bring him the ultimate peace offering…
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Guess I’ll have to think about that after I find him. And if I’m being greedy, I want the Saints too… But that might be shooting for the moon. They’re both sticklers.
Takuto would love to get the two Saints to join his alliance. But he had a feeling they would be harder to win over than Keiji. He decided he would be happy as long as they didn’t become the enemy.
“Teaming up with an old enemy is a classic move that’s bound to be entertaining. I’m not sure what the odds of it actually happening are, but if we can form an alliance with them, then our forces will definitely be on par with the enemy’s.”
The GM abilities were overpowered. With them in Mynoghra’s arsenal, they would have plenty of ways to take on the Lawful Continent Alliance. With Takuto, Yu, and Keiji, the Dark Continent Alliance would have more Players in its lineup…
W.е b̊n о v́e l̊ E ñu mа
“I see. So that’s your plan! Now that I think about it, that must be why you urged the Dark Elves to concentrate their investigation into people.”
“Yup. Of course, it’d be awesome if we dig up some interesting people to recruit as well.”
His all-or-nothing killer plan wouldn’t come into play until they actually found Keiji. He was likely somewhere on the Dark Continent, but if he had escaped to another continent through Sutharland, it’d be extremely difficult to find him within the year.
In any case, finding the TRPG faction’s location was the first step. All other plans would go from there.
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“We’ll remain in obscurity for the year. At least it looks like it will be an entertaining year.”
The King of Ruin chuckled darkly.
Ё numа
War was on the horizon. That battle would be one of epic proportions that would shake this world to its very core.
Of that, there was no doubt.
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