‘DAMN IT.’

Thoughts raced through Claire’s mind as she returned to the waiting area. There were plans and movements compiling themselves into small books of tactics as she thought about how she could have played the fight differently. But it didn’t matter. That had been her final placement match for the competition.

She had lost.

It hadn’t even been to Jein. If she had lost to the Korean, she wouldn’t have minded. It would have upset her, that was a given, but she could still understand it. But no. She had lost to some unknown player that she had never even seen before.

‘God.’ She fell to her knees in exhaustion.

There had been so many people watching her; She just knew it. Even before the match had ended and she’d been able to converse again she knew that there were thousands of eyes scrutinising and judging her every move. Every time she ran into Jein it was the same cycle. Netizens would flock to watch them and she would feel the need to win as though it was an unstoppable force.

So she had gone all out. From the beginning, she’d had no intention of holding back against any of her opponents. Jein? Jein was a horrible obstacle, a constant thorn in her life. But she was still manageable.

Claire froze as she recalled the skills she’d used. Her manager and team leader had told her to keep them hidden for a later date. They had asked her to win with minimal effort. But all of that had gone to shit the moment she laid eyes on Jein. She’d used her titan, she’d revealed her orbs and she’d even revealed the aura step she’d learned during the fight.

She had given away everything.

‘I played it perfectly.’ Claire felt her skin crawl as she imagined the ridicule she would face for this. ‘I did everything I could.’

The last moment of her fall onto the ground as she stared up at Jein was etching itself into her mind.

‘Who the hell was that?’ Claire thought to the girl she’d seen rising through the sky.

[Seven]

That single girl had ruined all of her plans. At first, she thought the magi was a blessing in disguise. From the moment Jein had summoned her wave Claire had realised she couldn’t win against the wizard. But then she had seen Seven climbing over the wall of ice. Each control sphere being manipulated by the actions of a single magi to make a climbable surface.

It was so simple that she had learned how to do it just by watching the girl for a few seconds.

So she had manipulated the situation to her advantage. She allowed the titan to fall and as it held on for its last few seconds, she stealthily climbed the wall of ice as it collapsed around her. Then she watched as Jein took to the air and rained magic down onto the two people that had tried to kill her.

[Aura Step]

Claire had felt like she was unstoppable once she’d gained that power. Simple manipulation of her control spheres to become solid platforms under her feet. It was such an elegant solution to so many issues yet she hadn’t thought of it before. To her, it had felt like she would finally get the jump on Jein.

Then that girl had interfered.

Claire’s eyes lit up with anger. The moment she’d gained an advantage over Jein, the exact moment she’d had the wizard on the run, that magi had interfered and it had all gone down the gutter.

Then the worse had happened. That girl hadn’t even died to her barrage; She had gotten back up. And unlike a normal, rational person who would wait on the sidelines until either she or Jein had killed each other off the magi had the gall to strike at them both despite being clearly outmatched.

‘She tricked me.’ Claire’s eyes glowed with anger as she remembered the attacks that should have missed her.

They had somehow come back and killed her.

106.

She had even praised the player's damage beforehand. But she hadn’t taken it seriously enough to avoid it in a crucial moment.

‘How many people are laughing at me now?’ Claire’s knuckles whitened as she gripped her robes tightly.

She felt so hopeless that it brought tears to her eyes.

A shadow passed over Claire as she lay stewing in shame, “Are you done?”

“What?” Claire brought her head up in anger only to come face to face with a pair of bright blue eyes.

“I asked if you’re done sulking.” Pascal stood above her with a frown on his face.

“I-I.” Claire found her words muting in her mouth as she gazed at her teammate, “I’m done.”

“No. You’re not.” Pascal looked down on her and his gaze softened. “Why are you sitting here like this Claire? You’re an amazing player. Not a single person watching the match doubts that. We both know that if you were in the same situation again it would be anyone’s match. You could win against Jein, not even she would tell you otherwise.”

“BUT I DIDN’T.” Claire didn’t care if their other teammates in the waiting room heard her, “I could have won. It’s that damn magi’s fault. If she hadn’t been so strong. If she hadn’t tricked me at the last momen-”

“Claire.” Pascal’s voice deepened as he saw her growing frantic.

“Don’t you get it? If I’d been fighting her alone, I could have-”

“Stop.” Pascal looked at her and she saw the intensity in his eyes, and something else.

Deep inside she could tell he was looking down on her. Not because she had lost, not because she hadn’t done the best she could. It was because she was trying to shift the blame onto someone else. She could read him like nobody else could, and so she could see the words he was thinking as clear as day.

For the first time since she had known him, she had disappointed him.

“Claire.” Pascal squatted next to her and ran his hand over her hair comfortingly. “You’re one of the most skilled players I have ever met. And a damn good person. I know you’re under a lot of pressure, but there is one thing you must always remember.” He turned her head gently until she was looking at him eye to eye. “We are fighting in a competition. This is an arena where others do not know our skills, and we do not know theirs. You fought a difficult match against two excellent opponents, there is no shame in coming third in those circumstances.”

“Bu-”

“No buts.” Pascal shook his head. “You underestimate your enemy and you paid for it. It's true...” he brought his hands back towards him as he saw she was paying full attention to him, “...it's true that you would win if you fought that other magi again. It's true that you would not make the same mistakes as before, and that you would win easily if you were fighting her in a one-on-one duel. But you made your mistakes. You were not in a one-on-one duel and this was the result you earned.” his eyes were soft but she could tell from his tone that he meant every word he was saying, not as a critique but as a heartfelt lesson, “We are professionals. I know that you’re under pressure. We both are. But we can’t afford to place blame on others. Instead, we must always work towards improving. And now is your time to improve.”

He was right. She knew it deep inside her mind, and even her heart was accepting the inevitable. She had underestimated her opponent, a conscious decision she’d made while she focused on Jein. She didn't even consider the fact that anyone else could be a threat. But she was a professional. She had faced losses before and she would face them again. So she would do what she had always done and surpass every one of them.

It was the only way she would improve.

“God.” Claire stared at Pascal with a teary smile, “Why do you always have to be right.”

At her words, Pascal lifted himself up and offered her his hand.

“You will have your chance to fight her again.” Pascal looked up as he saw that magic had transported them out of the waiting room. “Sooner than you might think if my sources are correct.”

“Yeah?” Claire lifted herself up and by the time she’d reached her full height she had regained her composure.

“I look forward to it.”

For better or worse this battle had branded the name Seven into her heart.

****

‘Fear?’

Jein’s emotions churned as she was teleported into the original waiting room their city had put their team in before the beginning of the matches. The wall next to them displayed the scores that her team had obtained throughout the event. But she couldn’t care less about that.

‘I have to improve.’

That was the only thought in her mind as she replayed the last seconds of her fight repeatedly in her mind. The single moment in which she’d had no idea where her opponent had come from and how they would attack. It had terrified her that for all her knowledge and skill she had relied on mere luck to win against her opponent. But it hit home a single fact that she knew from the moment she had seen her opponent in action.

She was going to have a hell of a lot of fun playing this game.

Jein knew what she had to do first. ‘I need to see the tape of the battle.’

She would improve and defeat that girl when she knew her every move. But that wasn’t the only reason she wanted to watch the tape. She was never the kind of person to do things by halves. She would go through that battle in her mind until she was sure that if she ran into Seven again she would win against the girl one hundred percent of the time.

“I thought you would be fuming.” A familiar voice whispered lightly into her ear from behind her.

“Heh~” Jein turned around with her hands held tightly behind her back as she came face to face with Ji-Woo. “I actually got to fight with my opponent. I don’t have blue balls like you.”

“Ha.” Ji-Woo laughed dryly as he saw his teammate being perfectly perky and cheeky as always, “Well, that’s one way to put it.”

“So.” Jein pinched Ji-Woo on the cheek as he laid there calm and poised as always, “This must be how you felt when you were watching those two fighting each other. God damn, I’m jealous of you.”

He had two perfectly equal opponents to fight that were his match. But soon she would overcome this one like she had all the others.

‘Then again, so will he.’ Jein mused as she studied Ji-Woo’s face carefully.

Her childhood friend wasn’t one to show emotions, but he had gone all out for both of his other matches after seeing Violet and TidalWave fighting each other. Even when holding back his truly deadly abilities his raw skill and passive lightning ability had meant that not a single opponent in both matches had withstood even a single hit.

‘No,’ she mentally shook her head. ‘There was that one guy.’

But she couldn’t remember his name.

*Bang*

Jein’s head flew back as Ji-Woo’s finger knocked against her forehead playfully. “Hey, stop staring at me like that. It’s creepy.”

“God. That’s not how you treat a girl.” Jein laughed as his actions brought her back into the present. “I won. I won.”

She celebrated and danced around the waiting room as her teammates watched. She didn't even know what they were all waiting for; The final placement match was over. Their team had come first out of all the other teams pitted against them.

“Well now, it’s good to have some real pep around here.” A new voice, silken and honeyed, floated towards Jein. “I was thinking the wonder twins and cool and handsome were total downers. They’re not acting like winners at all.”

“Hoo.” Jein’s grin widened as she saw the person talking to her.

[Yanti: level 45.]

“Not a single match lost?” Jein knew that Yanti was a priest, but apparently that hadn’t mattered at all for fighting.

“After I kicked Pascal’s ass, there wasn’t anyone else to stop me.” Yanti’s arms were wide open as she smiled. “I don’t like fighting team members but once we’re in a competition, I figure it’s fair game.”

“Heh~” Jein sat back and plopped herself next to Ji-Woo. “Is that your way of telling me you don’t mind that Claire died?”

Yanti nodded her head and Jein smiled.

This woman was probably the only player she had never gotten a handle on. It was just a pity that she was a priest.

Next to Jein, Ji-Woo was sitting down one eye closed, and the other was peeking open slightly and looking closely at Jein and Yanti as they talked. He knew that Jein seemed happy but he couldn’t be one hundred percent sure of it. She had fought a hard-won battle against an unknown opponent who normally shouldn’t have been able to pressure her so hard. It was enough to make anyone mad.

However, the world didn't know him as a master strategist amongst the virtual reality professionals for nothing. In his mind, he had already thought of a hundred different ways to calm her down, but there was one way he knew would stop any issues that might come up. If Jein went on a rampage, then he had already enacted his foolproof plan.

He was going to pretend to be asleep.

It was a tactic that worked in real life, so he hoped that against all logic it would work in the game as well. Then he felt something poking at his cheek and he closed the eye he’d been using to watch Jein.

“Mm?” Ji-Woo shook his head in annoyance as Jein poked him even harder.

“Oh look. A reaction.” Jein’s voice echoed into his ear as she turned her attention from Yanti to him. “I thought you were pretending to be asleep like you usually do.” Jein’s lips tugged into a grin as she saw Ji-Woo shudder. “You know that doesn’t work if you were talking to me only a second ago. But it’s fine. I won silly.”

“Hmm,” Ji-Woo could feel the suspicion oozing out of his pores despite his calm demeanour. “You sure did. I’m extremely jealous.”

He wasn’t lying; He had desperately wanted to fight against either Violet or TidalWave after he’d seen them fighting in the first placement match. But unfortunately, he'd been put with a group of people that exploded the moment his lightning or sword touched them.

At least one of them had played with him for a bit.

‘Cheshire.’ Ji-Woo hummed as he thought of the player.

He had seen in a video while waiting that Cheshire had put up a good fight against TidalWave too. He thought about the player but he couldn’t recall seeing them in any other competitions. Whoever he was, he definitely wasn’t usually in the top rankings. But then again, if he met anyone ranked outside of the top fifty in a game he always found it harder to remember them.

*Snap*

‘Ah.’ Ji-Woo watched as she snapped one of the spare weapons she carried around into two pieces with her bare hands. ‘So she is mad.’

He regretted not continuing his sleep charade.

“No, I’m not mad.” Jein’s cheeks puffed as she saw Ji-Woo tighten his eyes shut. “I’m extremely happy. So happy.”

She just couldn’t help but feel frustration as she realised that the matches were over.

She wanted to fight Claire and Seven again immediately.

“It’s fine, we all get scared sometimes. You should know that. You go rock climbing for fun and abseiling for kicks.”

Ji-Woo instantly gulped as he could physically hear Jein growing still and then he felt the air almost vibrating with excitement as she realised what he’d said.

“Correction.”

Ji-Woo groaned and as heard mischief in her voice. ‘Every. Single. Time.’

He always fell into this trap. He’d just had to remind her of the rock climbing.

“We’re both people that go rock climbing and abseiling for fun. On the same day. Tomorrow. I know you’re free Ji-Woo you can’t lie to me.”

‘Damn it.’ Ji-Woo twitched his forehead as he felt it tightening in fear at the thought of tomorrow’s activities. ‘She planned for this.’ But he didn't oppose it.

At least she was genuinely happy.

He didn't need much more than that.

****

Attracting: points; 0.

Belfast; points; 0.

Cracklebush; points; 0.

Vengeance; points; 0.

Violet; 8

‘Not bad.’

Violet looked at the leaderboard with a content expression. They had perfectly obtained their goal of getting into the last five places in the competition. In fact, they had come dead last despite Violet’s two mishaps. It was extremely hard for other players to beat them in this area.

She still had no idea why they wanted to come last. Inside the waiting room, all of them had been more than a little curious about why Attracting wanted them to tank the entire competition. But he had told them to wait and trust him.

So they did.

The NPC in charge of their city, Taehra, was waiting alongside them. Well, waiting was a bit of a loose term.

“So you spent the entire competition doing absolutely nothing? And you expect us to be happy about this?”

Violet could hear the anger in the NPCs voice as he approached Attracting with a snarl.

“Arcturius.”

Attracting turned towards Arcturius, the mayor of the city of Taehra, with a calm expression, “It was quite unfortunate. We could not overcome our valiant enemies.”

“Unfortunate? UNFORTUNATE?” Violet could swear that the NPC was going to have steam coming out of his head if Attracting continued to talk, “Out city has come dead last out of all the continents. We will be a laughingstock for years!” Arcturius’ knuckles were turning white as he held onto his robe with a death grip.

He was afraid he would accidentally use them to crush the area around them if he let go.

“Tell me, adventurer,” he didn’t hide the snark and naked anger in his tone, “What kind of saviour will you be if you could not even defeat a single one of your peers? How can our citizens believe in you to keep us safe from the horrors that lurk deep in the Underground if we cannot even show them proper warriors to defend them? Tell me-”

“Arcturius.” Attracting kept his voice level as he tried to calm the NPC.

But then the mayor lifted his hands and with a swift grasp too quick to avoid he gripped Attracting’s shoulders and held on tightly, “-How did you know.”

“Excuse me?” Attracting’s eyes immediately narrowed as he realised he couldn’t wiggle free from the NPCs grasp, “How did I know what?”

“Every battle I’ve watched you sit back. You are not weak Attracting, you and your allies could have gone far.” Arcturius gazed deep into Attracting’s eyes, trying to see what lay beyond them. “But now you have held back at every turn. You have sat down and convinced your allies to do the same. All so that you could come last.” He took in a deep breath to calm himself, “So I will ask you again…”

He forced Attracting to meet his eyes as he spoke.

“How did you know?”

“I guessed.” Attracting gripped the mayor’s wrists with his hands and gently lifted them off of him. “You do not have to worry. I guess you already know this, but we will soon bring honour to Taehra and its citizens. We have only lost this battle so that we can win the war.”

“Hmm.” Arcturius fell quiet as he scrutinized Attracting from top to bottom. “If you fail, I will not be forgiving.”

“Then I will not fail.” Attracting assured the man.

“Very well priest.” Arcturius turned from the waiting room and with a wave of his hands a portal opened in front of him. “I will watch your progress closely.”

‘What was that? Do the NPCs know more about the events of this world than I thought?’

Attracting sat down next to Violet as he thought over the strange conversation.

One thing was bothering more than anything else he had heard or seen.

‘Did his eyes flash red?’

****

Nastin: 14 points.

TidalWave: 14 points.

Archy: 15 points.

Gyro: 15 points.

Seven: 14 points.

“Hot damn we did well.”

Seven looked up at her team proudly as she read the impressive scores displayed on the wall beside her. She was already receiving messages from Roxxy and Third congratulating her on the intense fight she’d just fought. But for some reason she didn’t feel as fulfilled as she had hoped she would.

‘Jein. Claire.’

These were both players that would kick her ass the next time they met each other. She just knew it. The only reason she had gotten so far into the fight was because Claire had underestimated her, and Jein couldn’t kill her while she was defending against the other magi.

‘But that doesn’t mean I can’t catch up to them.’ Seven smiled as she thought of the library and Muriel.

This time she was confident that she could surpass whatever challenge the witch threw at her.

“That’s a good expression you have there.” Seven turned around as she spotted a familiar archer grinning at her.

“Archy!”

“Woah.” Archy did a double-take at her sudden shout, he hadn’t expected Seven to be this enthusiastic, “Hey there, it’s only been a few minutes.”

The entire team had been in the same waiting room between matches. They had all come second or first in their arena battles and so they’d spent the resting time watching each other or chatting.

“Really? It seemed like a week.” Seven shrugged and turned to Nastin and TidalWave, “Did you guys see that?” She pointed at herself. “I hope you realise we’ll need to duel at least a hundred more times before I get used to using those flying platforms.”

“A hundred?” TidalWave laughed. “Why not a thousand?”

“Ha.” Nastin nodded alongside TidalWave at the warrior’s suggestion, “Maybe for amateurs. Perhaps we’ll take a break after ten thousand. But for now...”

He looked up at a series of numbers hovering nearby. It was a timer that had almost reached the end of its countdown.

“I believe we are about to find out why we have been fighting this entire time.”

“What?” Archy felt mystified at his statement, “Weren’t we fighting for glory, honour and all that bullcrap? Something about the cities and their champions?”

“Yes.” Nastin took Archy’s confusion in stride, “But that is for the NPCs. I would guess that there is a deeper game being played here. And we will find out what it is once that timer reaches zero.”

“You assume, or you know?” Another voice called out from beside them. “Or am I to believe that the famous Dark Horse’s Nastin has not heard the rumors.”

“Oh.” Seven and the others turned towards the player that had been sitting quietly in the corner, “What do you mean?”

[Gyro.]

“You’re right.” Nastin looked sheepish for a second. “I have heard the rumors.” But before he went on he smiled mischievously, “Although I must ask, are you not angry that Seven forced your teammate into such a frantic position? After all, you’ve been fighting alongside Jein for so many years.”

“What?” Seven looked at Gyro with wide eyes.

This guy was in the same team as Jein? That monster?

“What my teammates do outside of our official matches is none of my business.” Gyro stated simply, “I would not have joined Colt’s Crew if I wished to care about them. But I’m afraid that will change soon, wouldn’t you say?”

His stare bore holes into Nastin’s chest. “After all, this competition is simply the prequel to the official launch of a professional scene.”

Nastin shook his head. “We don’t know that.”

“Professional scene?” Seven looked at Nastin and Gyro, “What do you guys mean?”

She hadn’t heard a single thing about this. But now Nastin and Gyro were talking about things beyond her experience. She hadn’t even known which players were professionals until her team had pointed them out to her.

She still forgot Nastin was one sometimes.

“There is a… rumor.” Nastin turned to Seven with a smile, “That the company behind Zodiac Online is forming a professional scene. After all, every virtual reality game has one if they wish to remain popular.”

“Oh?” Seven’s eyes lit up.

Being able to watch more professionals play sounded like a dream come true. If there really was a professional scene coming to the game she would see a lot of good fights. She might even see a skill or two that she wanted in the videos that would pop up.

“And this is the time they’re choosing to announce it?” Archy interrupted with a frown, “Oh my god, is that why there are so many professionals in the stadium seats? Someone leaked that this was going to be the place where the pro scene is going to be established?”

He hadn’t been able to stop Roxxy from sending him a live-streamed video of all the famous people in the seating area.

“Indeed.” Gyro nodded at Archy’s questions then pointed his gaze at the timer. “And we are about to find out for sure.”

Seven followed his eyes but she didn’t need to see the timer to know that it had already hit zero. She could see her body sparkling with light as she began to teleport out of the arena.

“Ohh.” Seven’s eyesight grew blurry as her surroundings changed and she found herself surrounded by her team and other players.

In front of her on top of a large balcony was a grey-bearded man with a kind smile on his face looking down at them.

“Greetings champions of Zodiac Online. My name is Hein Haster.”

The man cleared his throat.

“And I am the creator of Zodiac Online.”

****

‘The legend himself.’

Attracting’s stare was intense as he zoomed in on Hein Haster. This was the man that had created the world he would be conquering. The ultimate being even in his old life.

And this was the moment that changed everything.

“As you know, I developed this game intending to make a world that was completely your own to play in. If you wished to fight, you could fight. If you wished to play and have fun in other ways, you could also do this. However,” Hein coughed again and stared down at the people below him, “You are all gathered here because you wish to be the best of the best when it comes to battling. To simply be standing here is a testament to your skill and dedication. You have risen above the hundreds and thousands of players in your own cities and come to represent them as you fought against each other.”

The players murmured and nodded in response to his words. They could have done anything else if they had wanted to. But they hadn’t. They were here to be the best of the best and to fight against their equals.

“But the game is still young. It is still being explored, with this world having so much more to offer.” Hein’s eyes were kind as he looked down at each and every player, making contact their gazes as he spoke, “There are abilities and monsters you could not possibly imagine lying in wait for someone to encounter them. Players will rise and others will fall, and each will want their chance to reach the very apex of the summit that is Zodiac Online. And so we held this competition, not as a finale, but as a new beginning.”

Hein lifted his hands and gestured widely to all the players. “Each of you has fought valiantly. And so I would not punish a single one of you for your efforts, no matter how you have fared. So I will tell you now, even if you have ranked as the lowest in this competition, you will still have a chance to participate in the future.”

Attracting could see the players looking at each other in confusion.

To them, the competition was over. There was no reason for them to even think about their cities anymore, let alone think about fighting each other. They couldn’t understand what was going on. But Attracting knew that they couldn’t be further from the truth. And he could see that several other people in the audience didn't show any surprise either.

“You have fought valiantly in these placement matches. In four months.” Hein smiled as he took in the atmosphere. “These matches will continue to all that wish to take part and win glory for themselves and their cities. Each team has been ranked in these placement matches, and each team may still be challenged for the right to be replaced in the upcoming competition.”

He lifted his hand and above him and the picture of a trophy gilded with gold and encrusted with gems filled the sky.

“In four more months.”

Hein Haster took in a deep breath.

“Zodiac Online will hold its first official world championships.”