The Red Hand

Interlude 2 – The Hero’s Regrets, Life and Fears.

Nina Hoshinomi, or as she is better known as, Hishya, had led the assault team for almost four years. Today would be the 6^th and final time they challenged the World Boss Serval for their freedom. Many people had died leading up to this moment; it all came down to this. The boss was down to a minimal amount of health and was moments from death. Seeing this, Hishya put all her remaining power into one final attack run. She sped towards the Dragon Emperor deflecting his claw attacks as he tried to stop her.

*Clang* *Clink* *Bang*

Before driving her flaming blade straight into its heart.

*ROAAAAAAARRRRRRRR*

The Dragon Emperor roared in agony as he died, his body shattering into glass.

He was dead, Serval had been defeated, and the last world boss had been cleared.

*DING*

Congratulations players!

The World Boss Serval has been defeated.

With his defeat, all ten World Bosses in Free World Online have been defeated!

As the surviving players lay on the ground, exhausted and depleted, the familiar voice of the game's system spoke to them. It celebrated the defeat of the final boss and said it would log everyone out as promised.

"Finally." Hishya staggered. "Everyone, we're going home!" Hishya used what little energy she had left to let out a roar in triumph. An action swiftly joined by the surviving members of the raid team.

{Even though we won, this victory still feels hollow.} Looking around the room, the bodies of the eight players lost in this final battle could still be seen. Hishya had gotten to know every member of the assault team quite well over the last four years, and those four were no exception.

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"I'm sorry." She whispered to herself. "You all died because of me, because I wasn't strong enough." it was rare for Hishya to show such emotions; as the Hero, she had a duty to be strong in the face of anything. But with the game over, the proverbial dam broke, and four years of emotions flooded out. She stood in place and cried; harder than at any point in her life. No one seemed to notice her plight, as her teammates were too busy celebrating their victory, much to Hishya's relief. However, the joyous mood was ruined by the mention of a certain name.

"Hey, wait." Ishigami interjected. "Doesn't that mean that bitch Akagi got to live through this?" his voice was filled with irritation. "How the hell does that work? She kills all those people for her sick kicks, and she gets to go home?" Some of the other players joined in and began to harangue against Akagi.

"Alright!" Ishigami yelled “When we get back, the first thing we do is bring that bitch to justice."

"Hoorah!" the other players cheered.

However, Hishya didn't join in. Instead, she just stood in the center of the boss room, her back towards her teammates, her face filled with dread and tears. She could not bring herself to face them, for she was too afraid. She feared what they would do if they found out she had regular contact with Akagi; or that she had even used her to wipe out the Black Gauntlet. Would they be angry? Would they want to kill her too? These questions and more began to swirl in her head, only interrupted when the system made a second announcement.

*PING*

Beginning logout! See you later!

{It's time to go back.} Hishya closed her eyes and embraced the strange sensation of logging out.

*Beep Boop* *Beep Boop* *Beep Boop* *Beep Boop*

Upon logging out, Hishya found herself in a hospital bed, something she was all too familiar with. Unlike Akagi, or indeed most players, Hishya spent most of her life bedridden in this very hospital. Since she was young, she suffered from an extreme case of muscular dystrophy. Movement was difficult, and doctors told her she likely wouldn't live past the age of thirty, even with modern treatment. Her parents had tried everything to save her, but there was nothing further that could be done. This small hospital room in Tokyo had been her entire world since she turned nine years old. Unable to leave, Hishya turned to the virtual world and she volunteered for many experimental VR medical programs designed for the treatment of disabled patients. Hishya figured that if she was going to die anyway, she might as well use her time to help others.

And so, for the next six years, she spent most of her days diving into various VR worlds. Some were used for medical testing, while most were games purchased by her parents to allow her to experience some level of normalcy. In VR, Hishya could run, jump, fly and play just like any other person. To someone who could barely lift their own hand; this was truly liberating. Eventually, she met another young girl in one of the VR games she played named Akagi. Hishya had always been quite good at games since she had little else to do but play, but this girl was on a whole other level. The two hit it off and became rivals, always attempting to one-up each other wherever they met. Matches between the two were always intense, and no matter what genre the game was, they would both swiftly master it.

When the upcoming game Free World Online was announced; and applications for Alpha testers were opened, the two girls agreed to meet each other in-game and duke it out. It wouldn't be the first VRMMO they played together, but FWO was touted as a revolutionary experience. However, when the Alpha opened and it was revealed that death in-game meant death in real life, Hishya, unlike most players, didn't panic. After all, she could die at any moment in the real world, so adding that possibility in-game didn't bother her. One could even say it excited her.

Over the years, Hishya came to understand that the Akagi she knew was little more than a facade used to hide her true personality. Hishya had always figured there was more to her rival than she knew, but this was not what she expected. She tried on multiple occasions to talk Akagi away from the dark path she was taking; to no avail. Though deep down, Hishya secretly enjoyed this new Akagi seeing as her rivalry pushed her to even greater heights in the game. Eventually though, tensions between Akagi and the other players came to a head during the night before the Great Battle of Hassan in the game's second year. With so much pressure, Hishya could no longer avoid fighting her erstwhile friend and agreed to defeat her.

Hishya steeled herself. She was going to take Akagi down and free the other players from the terror she wrought, or so she thought. The two veteran gamers engaged in an all-out duel to the death, with Hishya bringing her full power to bear. Hishya prepared extensively for this battle; she knew Akagi's tricks and crafted a strategy to beat her. Akagi relied heavily on speed and zones of control as a major part of her build, so she moved their fight into the bowels of Hassan fortress; a place with little room to maneuver and tight corridors. For a time, this seemed to work as she slowly but surely backed her into a corner.

"It looks like you're all out of tricks Akagi." Hishya pointed her sword at the assassin. "If you surrender now, I just might be able to convince the others to spare your life." It seemed that Akagi was defeated, her body was banged and bruised and she had taken a few direct hits from Hishya's blade. By limiting Akagi's maneuverability and preventing her from using some of her most potent moves she was able to wear her down and exploit her low defenses.

"Surrender?" Akagi laughed. "Why on earth would I do that? After all, the real fight is just beginning." Her eyes began to glow.

{What the hell is she talking about? Is she trying to bluff me? I know all her abilities, so how can she even think to try that against me?} Hishya was equally parts confused and annoyed.

"If you won't surrender, then I have no choice but to end you myself." she raised her flaming blade.

"Go ahead. Give me your best shot!" She exclaimed as she threw her arms open as if asking to be struck.

Hishya didn't know what her plan was, and she wasn't interested in finding out. She poured maximum power into her blade and charged Akagi. Moments later, her blade pierced right through the assassin's heart. Hishya was instantly hit with a combination of joy and regret, no matter how bad she was, Hishya had always considered her a sort of friend. However, these thoughts were quickly interrupted when Akagi's form began to dissolve into an inky black shadow.

"Wha?" Hishya cried out. "What's going on!"

Before she could react, the black shadow lept at her, covering her body in an instant. She struggled to get free but found herself unable to move as the shadow gripped her tighter, and tighter.

{What's going on? What is this thing? Did Akagi obtain a familiar?} Hishya began to frantically search her memory in an attempt to figure out what this shadow was. However, her mental search was brought to an abrupt end when she heard a voice.

"Hishyaaaaa." a twisted voice called out to her. "What do you think? Do you like my new form?" the almost demonic voice asked her. It sounded like Akagi's voice, but was twisted to an almost unrecognizable degree.

"A-Ka-Gi?!?" the girl barely squeaked out her name as the shadow constricted her further.

"Yes, that's right my little hero; it's me." Akagi's twisted voice responded. "Didn't I tell you; the real fight has only just begun." she let out a twisted laugh.

Hishya tried to escape her grasp, to no avail. Her spells seemed to just bounce off and she couldn't move her arms to use her sword. This cause her to momentarily panic as she thought that she was about to die. However, rather than crush her Akagi opted to launch Hishya through a nearby wall and into a large empty room. After collecting herself, she found that she had trouble standing, and her entire body felt weak.

{What's going on? What happened to Akagi?} Hishya had no idea what just happened; Akagi shouldn't have such an ability, she was sure of it. After taking a moment to regain her strength she stood intending to face Akagi once again, but what she saw caused her entire body to freeze.

Across from her, staring back, was a shadow; one so dark and deep that it made the night itself look bright by comparison. Hishya had seen many horrifying things in FWO, but this shadow struck true terror into her heart. Moments later, her body began to feel heavy and it felt like her mind was on the verge of breaking, it was as if Akagi's very existence was causing her damage.

{A-Akagi? What h-have you b-become?} Her thoughts became scrambled at the sight of Akagi's form.

"Is that any way to look at your best friend?" Akagi asked sarcastically. "I'm hurt Hishya; why are you looking at me like I'm some sort of monster?" her twisted voice feigned hurt.

Hishya couldn't respond. Every instinct she had was screaming at her to run, but she couldn't. Her body wouldn't listen; it was as if she were lying in the hospital bed with her degenerated body.

"How interesting, I wasn't aware that players could wet themselves in-game." Akagi mused as she looked at her. "But I guess that goes to show just how scared you are, huh?" The sight of the Hero soiling herself was quite amusing.

After she said this, the shadow began to coalesce in on itself until it took on Akagi's usual form.

"Is that better?" Akagi said as she dusted herself off. "Perhaps now we can-" When she looked up, Hishya had already passed out and was lying on a pile of rubble.

"Well, I guess I might have gone a little overboard in trying to scare her." she shrugged and walked over to the unconscious girl. "I wonder what the others would say if they saw their Hero in such a state." Akagi chuckled as she took a picture with the in-game app. “I'll have to show her this later.”

_____________________________________________________________________________

"Ms. Hoshinomi? Ms. Hoshinomi are you alright?" the voice of her doctor snapped Hishya out of her stupor. She was currently in the hospital as her doctor went over her test results. For whatever reason, she had slipped into her mind and relived the events of Hassan all over again.

"You looked like a soldier with a thousand-yard stare. Is everything all right?" he asked concerned.

Letting out a big sigh, she said. "Yes, I was just recalling a pretty scary experience in the game."

"I see; well as I was saying, whatever caused your body to change has also cured your disease. Your M.D. has disappeared and you should be able to begin rebuilding muscle mass." he continued. "It will take some time, but everything points to a full recovery." This was great news and something Hishya never imagined to be possible.

Upon waking up, Hishya, like many other players, noticed that their appearance had changed to match their game avatar. When she saw her new appearance, she didn't even dare to dream that it meant that her condition was cured. But, when the doctor told her that she was going to make a full recovery and be free of the M.D. that had cursed her, she broke into tears. Hishya spent the next few weeks in physical therapy, ate a special diet, and was told she would be discharged from the hospital and could return to her home for the first time in over ten years. For both her and her parents, this was a wish come true. In her mind, she even thanked whoever caused this whole incident for giving her a second chance at life.

However, this joy didn't last for long. Upon arriving home, she soon discovered that not only did she keep her appearance, but she also kept her powers and items from the game. At first, she treated it like a bonus or a novelty and didn't really think about it. That was until she read one of the documents the police showed her during an interview at her house. Apparently, one hundred of the players trapped in the game had retained their abilities, not just her. Hishya scanned through the list, hoping that one person in particular wasn't on it. As she read it, her stomach dropped and her blood ran cold when she reached the name Rishia Tomogawa. This was Akagi's real name, the two had known each other for so long that'd even revealed their real names to one another; Hishya had even told Akagi about her disease.

The thought that such a monster had been unleashed on the real world sent Hishya into a panic and gave her flashbacks to that night in Hassan. She couldn't be sure how Akagi would act in the real world, but if her time in FWO was anything to go off of; Hishya decided that she couldn't take any chances. In a flash, she messaged Akagi and asked to meet, figuring that it would be best to get out ahead of any potential issues. She would throw away her persona, give up her pride and beg for her safety if need be. Why would the great Hero of FWO do this? Why would she choose to lay down her arms rather than fight? Its simple, because Hishya knew what Akagi really was, and she wasn't about to risk her second chance at life being stolen from her. If she had to play nice with the devil to ensure her and her families safety; then she would.