Gangster’s Paradise.

Tia, Miko, and Momo all returned to the game the first chance they could. They then immediately made their way to Tia’s city.

“…….”

Once they reached it, they all stopped at the entrance. That was because the entrance looked completely different. In fact, the entire city looked nothing like it did a few hours ago. The city was no longer black and looked run down, it looks vibrant and overflowing with life.

“The city changed owners as I thought it would.”

Tia said.

“You mean you can change how the city looks as you pleased?”

Momo asked.

“Yeah. An area leader has full control over the area they rule. They obviously can customize it to their taste.”

Tia responded with a frown.

“So that’s your taste?”

Momo was referring to the gloomy look the city had before.

“The sign says Mock City.”

Miko pointed out.

“Mock…”

Tia, as her Jack Matters avatar, started to scrawl.

“So the one who owns this city is the Mock Posse. They were the previous owners before I took over. They’re most likely the ones who killed us, or they payed a skill player to do it.”

Jack (Tia) cracked his fingers as the veins in his head started bulging.

“Either way, they’re dead.”

“Hmm….”

Miko looked at his giant sword.

“Tia, we started with one weapon but do we have to pay if we want another? I mean, you lose all your money after dying right? So all three of us are broke.”

“No, it’s like the real world. If you want something you can either buy it or take it.”

Jack replied.

“I see.”

Miko threw away his broadsword.

“Then let’s go shopping.”

Jack smiled.

“Then let’s pick up a city on the side.”

“Oh, I want some new weapons too. I can use this chance to improve my weapon skills.”

Like that, the three entered the city. They were immediately greeted by several dozen people with weapons all pointed at them.

“Jack Matters, you are banned from this city. Please leave.”

One of the men said.

“Ban?”

Jack showed an amused smiled.

“Who can ban me from my city?”

All of the men stepped back when they saw the draconic look in his eyes. Jack then stretched his hands to the side and two Gatling guns appeared in them.

“!”

The men all readied their weapons when they saw that.

“Here’s what I think of your ban!”

“Guah?!”

Before jack or the men could fire their weapons, an agonizing scream came from within the men’s ranks. They all looked and saw one of their comrades dead with Miko standing over him.

“This is a nice gun.”

Miko said while looking at the weapon he stole. The men were so focused on jack, that they didn’t pay attention to the unarmed Miko and Momo.

“Ahh!”

Another scream rang out and Momo was seen looking at a revolver.

“Not bad.”

She said while standing on the dead body.

“You bastards!”

The men all turned their weapons on Miko and Momo.

“Don’t look away.”

“Shit!”

*Bam!* *Bam!* *Bam!* *Bam!* *Bam!*

Jack started to spray them with bullets from his Gatlings, which instantly tore them to shreds.

“Idiots, no one can ban me from anything.”

Jack put his guns away and said.

“……..”

Miko looked at the dead bodies on the ground and the weapons they left behind.

‘A gun can do this much…..Should I use a gun as well?’

He thought to himself.

‘But even if I use one, a normal gun can’t do the trick. If I’m going to fight against some of the world strongest, then a need a special gun and the skills to match or it doesn’t make any sense.’

He took up a katana.

‘However, I don’t want to throw away swords. Swords just have a romantic value to them, and I would prefer to wield them.’

He stood up and looked at the sword in his hand.

‘I aim for freedom and dominance above all. I want to cut away the chains of this world that has been restraining me with my own hands.’

He then looked at the guns on the ground.

‘However, I also want to pierce through the enemies who block my path and step over their bodies.’

He stood in silence for a while. The thought of wielding both weapons had long occurred to Miko. What he was pondering about was which weapon to make his main one.

“……….”

A dull yet focus look appeared in his eyes. To Momo and Tia who were keeping an eye on him, he gave off a strange vibe. They couldn’t understand it, but they felt like Miko was maturing in some way or the other.

After a while, he showed a smiled.

“I guess I’m a man of romance after all.”

He took up another katana.

“Kirika uses two swords, if I remembered correctly. I guess I’ll try that.”

He equipped the swords on his back and then picked up two handguns in hoisters and placed them on his waist.

“I appreciate romance, but I can’t ignore efficiency.”

He said after equipping the guns.

“For the time being, I’ll work with both and pick the one I’m most comfortable with as my main weapon. Christian did also show me how to use a staff, I try that when I’m free.”

He then turned to Tia and Momo.

“Sorry for the wait.”

“No problem. You working to improve yourself comes first.”

Tia said.

“Now that everyone’s ready….Lets go!”

The three then walked deeper into the city.

*Bam!* *Bam!* *Bam!*

Gunshots immediately echoed through the city.

“Jack Matters is back!”

A player shouted before getting torn to shreds by Tia’s guns.

“I don’t need an announcer.”

Tia said while walking with her guns in front of her.

“What’s the plan?”

Momo asked while firing at some players who were trying to stop them from going deeper into the city.

“I originally wanted to kill the Mock Posse and take back the city, but since our goal is to make Miko grow, we’ll switch objectives to finding who killed us and killing them.”

Tia replied.

“Why?”

Momo asked.

“Because they must be skilled if they can ambush me, so they should serve as good experience for Miko if he can kill them.”

Tia said.

“We’ll give up this city and go around searching for them, since they’re probably a pro player, someone who makes a living off games like these. I doubt they’re here anymore.”

“So we find their names and then go hunt them down.”

Tia nodded.

“Until then, just go wild!”

Tia started to fire her guns in every directions, tearing people to shreds.

Momo charged forward using her small body to avoid attacks, while firing and killing players around her. She then pulled a belt of bombs from a body and threw it into the air, before firing at it.

*Bam!*

The bombs exploded and created a smokescreen while killing more people. Bullets than flew through the flames of the explosion and mowed down more people.

“Shit! They’re outta control!”

The players in the city started firing back at the three, while NPCs started panicking while getting mowed down as well. The flames of the explosion Momo caused were soon put out, leaving clouds of smoke. Miko suddenly rushed out the smoke, while firing his guns. The other players started firing at him as well, yet they couldn’t catch him.

“Shit! He’s fast!”

Miko quickly alternate between cars and other stuff he could use as shield as he approach the players. He hid behind a mail box and threw something in the air. That drew the nervous players’s attention, and caused them to look away from the mail box by reflex.

Miko shot from behind the mail box with both katana in hand. He quickly reached a player,and cut him in half. He then swung his other sword and beheaded another. He then charged forward and kicked a player to the ground, chop off the hand of a player next to him.

The last thing the player saw was Miko’s devilish eyes before having a blade rammed through his skull.

“Ekk!”

The player Miko kicked to the ground pointed a gun at Miko and screech in fear. He fired but he was too nervous to hit him. Miko didn’t hesitated to lodge his sword in his head.

“Damn, he’s really a naturally at killing.”

Momo said while hiding behind burning car.

“Unfortunately, close combat is not my forte.”

She sprung from behind the car and fired at her enemies, hitting them in the chest and head.

“Die!”

Meanwhile Tia was using her Gatling guns to mow everyone down she could see. At the same time, there was some movements in the buildings around her. Some armed players were racing to the roofs to snipe her. When they reached the roofs, they were shocked. They saw Tia pointing two giant cannons at them.

“You think I don’t learn from my mistakes?”

Tia smiled coldly and started firing the cannons at the roofs and windows of every building near her.

*Bam!* *Bam!* *Bam!*

All hell broke in the city. Smoke covered the sky and screams echoed through the area.

“What the hell?!”

Players started running while screaming.

“Shit! This is just like when Jack just came to town! But he’s seriously trying to take everybody on this time!”

*Bam!*

Explosions echoed through the city as the three walked deeper into the city.

“Ahhhh?!”

Miko continued to slaughter everyone he came across without mercy.

“………”

He would sometimes stop and remain motionless with dull yet focus eyes until he was attacked. He once cut a bullet down the middle and then threw his cracked sword into the head of his attacker, before taking another one off a corpse.

“What’s with that guy?! It’s like he gets sharper every time he stops and is attacked!”

“It’s like he’s getting stronger with every person he kills!”

The players all saw an abnormality within Miko and the way he fights.

“I see. So that was how you did it? I completely forgot.”

He mumbled to himself while kicking in the door of a building and charging inside. The moment he entered he was attacked by dozens of people. He had to leap back out, and then cut down those who followed him. He then pulled his gun and blew out the brains of those he could front outside.

‘I’m starting to get a hand at this.’

He thought while clenching his guns. He then dived inside the building, but made sure that he stayed low while diving in. As he expected, blades swung above him in an attempt ambush him. He rolled to his feet and fired at his ambushers.

*Bam!*

“Ugh?!”

He suddenly felt a blow to the back of his head, and fell to his knees.

“Get him!”

He heard someone shout behind him. He saw some players approaching him with cocky smiles.

*Bam!*

Suddenly the doorway exploded and those approaching him was blown away. Momo then ran in with guns blazing, causing the players to retreat.

“Miko, lets go!”

She said before running out. Miko quickly followed behind her.

“Miko, you went too deep!”

Momo said while dragging him to hide in an alley.

“If I hadn’t saved you, you would’ve-”

Momo turned around to scold him but stopped when she saw a frustrated expression on his face. Frustrated was probably an understatement. His expression was twisted and his body was trembling.

“…..Well, at least you know.”

That was all Momo could say after seeing him like that.

‘Miko is maturing but he’s rushing his development at the same time….this isn’t good.’

She thought.

“I’m going ahead.”

She said before firing running out of the alley to fight again.

“……..”

Miko was left by himself.

“If this was real life, my life would’ve been in danger just now….”

He said.

‘Again…..I was caught off guard again.’

He thought to himself.

‘I can tell that I can’t detect danger in this game like I can in real life, but that’s why this is the perfect chance. If I can sharpen my instincts to the point that I can detect danger in the game, then my instincts in the real world will be incredibly sharp.’

At that moment, someone was seen trying to sneaking up behind him. They lifted their sword and smiled.

“I can hear you smirking.”

“Huh?”

*Bam!*

Miko quickly span around and grabbed the person trying to attack him by the face and slammed his head so hard into the ground, their character died instantly.

“I really have a long way to go.”

Meanwhile, Momo still fought with Miko on her mind.

‘Miko is clearly rushing to get stronger, and I need to stop it. However….”

She remembered Miko’s expression earlier and how excited he was when he could use Dragon’s Rage.

‘He’s starting to look like his old self.’

She immediately shook her head.

‘No, he’s surpassing that. His level of obsession has gone up a notch. Why’s that?’

She killed a player on a higher floor and made them fall out the window they were peeking through.

‘What is causing Miko to be so obsessed?’

She asked herself.

Meanwhile, Tia was causing the most havoc in the city. She had a cannon in one hand and a Gatling in the other. She was blowing up buildings and cars, while mowing down people.

“Looks like Momo has noticed that Miko’s obsession with victory has now reached a terrifying level.”

She said while massacring everyone she came across.

“She wants to stop him, but can’t bring herself to do it because she herself wants to see how much stronger Miko can get, and how fast he can grow. She’s afraid that he’ll react negatively to being restrained, and once again give up on everything.”

Tia laughed.

“Well, she’s right to worry about that. Miko is pretty whimsical and has a chaotic personality.”

She blew up a helicopter that was coming from a far.

“But Miko needs to be restrained while he still can. Otherwise, he’ll become someone no one can handle.”

She suddenly looked happy.

“Just like my husband Augustus.”

*Boom!*

The helicopter crashed behind her and killing more people.

“I just love Irregulars. They’re always fun to be around.”

Later that evening, the three of them left the game and walked out of Arcade.

“Man, that was fun!”

Tia said.

“I feel like I got rid of all of my frustrations.”

“And we got to find out who killed us.”

Momo said with stretch.

“That Mock Posse really surrendered…”

Miko said.

“Well, we were literally about to burn the city to the ground. They had no choice.”

Tia said with a victorious laugh.

“The one who killed us is called Ace. He’s a legendary gamer who can complete any task and clear any game if you pay him enough. Sounds like a big wig.”

Said Momo.

“Yeah, I’ve heard of him. How about it, Miko? Want to find him and fight him?”

Tia asked.

Miko opened his mouth to answer when-

“Miko?”

Someone called out to him and walked up to him

“What a coincidence? I wanted to meet you again to hear your opinion on the character I based off you.”

“Hinami?”