Intelligence Agent’s PoV

Kerry watched the video over and over. They had already analyzed the scene on-site and compared it to the video. It seemed to match. It would have to have been the best fake he had ever seen if it was one. This person was a threat. Mr. Chou was a very important person and it was his job to keep people safe. But what if this faceless man's claims were accurate?

Walking in to meet his boss he said “This looks like the real deal.”

His boss shook his head and said “This man needs to be taken out. We will look like a joke if some random upstart can attack our citizens so brazenly. I give you full authorization to neutralize this target.”

Kerry gulped and asked “What about his claims? That Mr. Chou had attacked that new pharmaceutical company?”

His boss shook his head and said “Doesn’t matter. This man is obviously dabbling in military grade equipment. If what he said was true he should have brought the matter to the authorities. But he tried to strong arm Mr. Chou without regard for retaliation.”

“But if he has that kind of weapons technology surely someone high up would be interested? Are you sure to kill? Not capture?”

His boss shook his head and said “We already have equipment similar to that. The problem is the price tag. It’s expensive as hell. If some vigilante millionaire thinks he can just get away with this others might start thinking the same. I want an example made. Understand?”

Kerry didn’t like it but he nodded. He wanted to research if Mr. Chou was involved in foul play, but orders were orders. He would do his job. Then he would look into Mr. Chou.

Jim’s PoV

Jim had just stepped foot on the island he had been searching for. He was a little nervous. This fight against the super boss was going to be him alone. With this bosses one shot mechanic it would not be safe for anyone but him to attack the boss.

Turning around he said to Scarlet, “Take the ship off the island. Come back in a couple hours. If you see something taller than a building moving around, don’t come back. Okay?”

Scarlet greedily said "Sounds like maybe I’ve earned some DKP. How about a more offensive set of gear? Could have really used it against the Kraken.”

Jim blinked and asked “Kraken?”

Scarlet nodded with a smile and said “Yep. You could have been on the bottom of the ocean had it not been for us! How about some upgrades? Pretty please!”

Jim thought about it for a second and then figured why not. After doing some thinking he landed on a set of gear that was a good all rounder set of rogue gear. It didn’t boost defense quite as much as what she had, but it would give her attacks some more bite. And more importantly.. He had to keep the theme going.

Doing a few hand motions he dragged and dropped the new set of gear on Scarlet. Her outfit transformed into an even brighter red set of leathers that had ruby red dragon scales sewn on to it.

Raising an eyebrow she said “I really hope you got enough red gear to keep giving me upgrades or we might have a problem. You know it wouldn’t kill you to give me another color right?”

With feigned shock Jim said “What! Totally not true! It just happened to have been the next gear in line! Great stuff by the way. You get a smaller dodge bonus, but it will infuse your attacks with fire damage.”

Scarlet got a sparkle in her eye and then started stabbing at some shrubbery. Not long later the poor bush was burning up. On second thought maybe he should have given her something else. She might burn the ship down. He already had a poor track record with structures burning down.

Turning to Forrest he said “And I got the perfect thing for you as well!”

A few hand motions later Forrest was dressed in a green leather armor with gleaming emerald dragon scales. Jim looked back and forth at the pair and it was a great match! Perfect!

Jim said "This armor is kind of similar. Smaller bonus to camouflage but infuses your attacks with wind magic. For a bow that means your arrows speed is increased by a bunch."

Taking out his phone he took a few pictures. Scarlet was a good sport and grabbed Forrest and started posing for the camera.

“Thanks guys! You know I'm getting a lot of hits from my photoshoot before. Scarlet apparently you’re really popular. Sorry Forrest, you’re dead last on the popularity rankings.”

Scarlet asked curiously “Popular? What do you mean popular?”

Jim shrugged and then he pulled out his phone. He said “Looks like the picture is at one hundred thousand views! Nice!”

Scarlet blinked and said “What? There aren't even that many people. That can’t be right.”

Jim grinned and said “Internet! And in my world there are over 7 billion people on Earth.”

Scarlet’s eyes rounded and said “Really? And then that many people have seen my picture? Wow…”

Jim turned to Forrest and said “Sorry buddy, you’re only at a couple thousand. Maybe people will like you’re new armor more.”

Forrest shrugged and said “Not really interested. Still I think I can understand other people’s attraction for Scarlet. It’s because they don’t know of her sparkling personality.”

Scarlet kicked up a rock off the ground and sent it towards Forrest’s head. Forrest then grabbed the rock out of the air with a meaty thwack sound. The man winced as he dropped the stone and started shaking his hand. Man, that looked like it hurt. Still probably better his hand than his face.

“Okay younglings, papa has some work to do. Stay safe.”

They both nodded and started boarding the little row boat. Right now the wolves were holding down the fort on the ship to make sure the captain or crew didn’t get any ideas.

Jim rolled his neck around and cracked it a few times and then started moving towards the peak at the center of the island.

Davis’ PoV

Davis had his armor on and was keeping an eye on Jim. He said he was going to be out for some time. Still he took his job seriously and he waited only a few feet away from him alert and ready.

That’s when he heard something from outside the window. Taking a look he was confused for a second. The figure seemed to blend in with the darkness. But the figures outline blocked the light and he knew he was a human. Immediately he grabbed his sword and shield and rushed to the door.

In the back of his mind he was thankful that Gwen and Maria were over at Charlotte’s place. Maria really missed the wolves, so she seemed to really get attached to this Adam kid. They spent way too much time together in Davis’ opinion.

Then the figure crashed through the window and started firing the weapons he now knew as guns at him. Without hesitation he took up his sword and stabbed the man. While the man's lifeless body hit the floor an explosion rocked the whole side of the house. The wall crumpled into nothing and the whole room was exposed to the outside. Then he saw a dozen men firing. But they weren’t firing at him.

He watched as Jim got hit by a few of the bullets. Davis rushed over and poured the red liquid down Jim’s mouth, and then he scooped his body up and started to run. He couldn't attack and defend at the same time. He had to move location.

Jim’s PoV

The fight wasn’t too bad. It was a massive ethereal entity full of sharp lines and bright blue hues. The lore for him was kind of typical. A power hungry mage who found a nexus of power. After constantly sucking up the power the mage eventually lost his mind and became a creature of instinct. Jagged crystals of condensed power jutted through the overly large frame. It’s skin was reflective like diamond

Century after century the creature sucked up all the power, but the revolutionary airship that originally brought the man was still sitting on the very peak of the plateau. Still for all that he was a boss constrained by the original game.

His one shot move was on a long cooldown timer, so it was fairly simple to heal up and then start hacking at him again. When the massive blue energy wave hit him he got behind the best shield in the game and just weathered the attack.

Slowly bit by bit he was hacking the thing to pieces. But towards the end of the fight he started feeling weird pains. Did this thing have some other kind of attack added to his arsenal? But as soon as the pain popped up it went away again.

That worried him so he started using a bit more risky strategy. Jim kept hacking at the creature while it was trying to pull off it's best impersonation of a death ray. Throughout the onslaught of the attack Jim kept hacking away while taking even more damage.

As the creature toppled over he didn’t feel too well for some reason. Without even realizing it his sword dropped from his hand. As he looked at his weapon in disbelief he fell to his knees and was engulfed in blackness.

Davis’ PoV

Davis was finally pulling away from those bastards. Constantly they kept looking for angles to shoot around him. Damn! Why did he have no ranged attack! If only he had a bow like Forrest or magic like Gwen! He was so useless!

But he had finally gotten away from the bastards. As he looked down to check on Jim his heart skipped a beat. Laying him down gently he realized something was missing. There was no rise and fall to his chest. He wasn’t breathing. Jim was.. Gone.

Then he found Jim's red soaked pant leg. Damn it all to hell! How did he not see it! No.. Not another failed promise. Not another..

Charlotte’s PoV

Charlotte heard a knock on her door so she went to open it up. When she opened the door she found Davis. Davis who was holding an unmoving Jim in his arms.

Davis shouted “Maria! Help!”

In an instant the little girl was there. She placed her hands on Jim and the white light came. But then it fizzled out.

Shocked Maria said “Oh… he is gone. Jim.. Jim is gone. I’m sorry. But something is there. I don’t understand.”

Davis asked “What do you mean?”

“When something dies the energy that is them goes away. It happens after the body stops working, or even before it sometimes. That is how I heal. I target that energy and push more into it. But his energy is still present but it's not connected to his body anymore. I don't understand”

They all gathered around but Charlotte was at a loss for words. Jim was dead. How?

Scarlet’s PoV

Scarlet cheered as she saw the giant topple over. She couldn’t see Jim, but if the thing fell over it was definitely dead. She yelled “Voss, we're going back. Make sure you keep my ship good and ready for me okay?”

Voss mumbled something quiet but she said with a hint of sharpness this time “Oh Vossy, what was that? I couldn’t hear you!”

In more of a growl than anything he said “Yes my lady.”

Scarlet smiled and said “Good boy. Lets go Forrest, maybe there is loot around! Let’s get there quick before Jim finds it all!”

Forrest and Scarlet got in the little boat and paddled back to the island. Giddy Scarlet yelled back to him “Catch me if you can!”

In a sprint she ran up the little trail that lead to the top of the plateau. She looked at the vast corpse and then started poking at it with her new dagger. Disappointed it didn’t even make a scratch. She used her sharpening spell and gave it another jab and it only made a nick. Sheesh. Thing was tough.

Scanning down its body she saw countless blows that took hunks of crystal out of the being. She wondered if it was valuable. Maybe they could try to sell it? It was definitely hard enough.

As she found a smaller piece and started trying to shape it Forrest yelled “Scarlet! Here! Now!”

Instantly alert she started scanning her surroundings while running towards the voice. She couldn't see anything. Finally she got to where Forrest was. Then she looked down. It was Jim.

She was confused. Why did Forrest care if he went back to the other side already? But then she realized he wasn’t still. It was slow but he started jerking in spasms.

Forrest said “He’s never done this before. What’s going on?”

Scarlet didn’t know but got his helmet off and then poured a healing potion down his throat. His eyes flickered and then he opened his eyes.

Jim’s PoV

He opened his eyes. Two people were around him. Who were they? Who was he? He didn’t know. He tried looking through his memory but there was nothing. Nothing at all.