The inhabitants of this realm call their home the Cyberspace.

This world is like a white expanse with no walls in sight. The floor is covered with white tiles that repeat for as far as the eye can see. The sky remains blinding as white light impales the eyes of the inhabitants when they look up. Scattered around this world are silver thrones which are the rewards of the inhabitants of this realm, if they are so lucky to win what the synchronizers call the World’s Tournament.

One such throne sits in a desolate area of this world where none usually visits. It had a shiny blue coat that flashes from time to time. Despite the glimmer, the throne looks like a dark spot in the middle of this white desolate area. On this throne sits Diablo the demon. His legs are stretched in a relaxed position. One of his hands rests on the arms of the throne while the other lay on his lap. His head is propped up against the throne and his eyes are closed.

It seems that he had settled there for so long that he failed to notice two figures approaching the throne. One was a little girl carrying a black frilled parasol. To match her parasol, her outfit was a black gothic Victorian dress embossed with a white cross on the front. Her dress is frilled at the bottom covering all the way to the bottom of her knees. She wore long black and white striped socks and leather boots.

Following the girl is a man almost twice as tall as her. He wore a full set of dark blue leather armor and the head of a wolf embossed on his chest. His face was covered with a black hood and mask that revealed only his glowing blue eyes.

The two stopped walking once they were about ten meters from the throne. They observed the sleeping demon before looking at each other then back at the demon. The little girl closed her parasol and pointed it at the throne.

[DANCE OF SHADOWS]

A misty black ball formed at the tip of the parasol getting larger and larger before shooting at the throne. Midair, the ball of shadow formed into the head of a wolf opening its mouth to receive its target.

Sensing the danger, Diablo opened his eyes and lept upward just in time to dodge the shadow wolf’s bite. While Diablo is still floating in the air, the shadow wolf jumps upwards with its mouth open to try and bite its target again. This time it found its target and Diablo screamed as the wolf buried its teeth into Diablo’s arms. The shadow dispersed and Diablo fell down to the ground making an appalling thud as he hit the ground.

Diablo felt his whole body in pain as he crawled on the floor until he noticed the two figures walking towards him.

“Annoying brat and your dumb overloaded kits.” Diablo snarled at the little girl.

Without saying a single word the little girl approached the demon who was now kneeling on the floor struggling to stand up. The hooded man behind her stood silently not wanting to interfere with the two.

“That throne is for world champions only and that one is specifically mine. Touch it again and I would make sure my pets would aim for your head instead of just your arm.” The little girl threatened as her eyes met the kneeling demon’s stare who is now at the same height as her. They glared at each other until Diablo was forced to look away.

“I thought so!” The little girl walked past the demon and sat comfortably on the throne. Diablo growled as he punched the floor.

The other person approached Diablo and offered him a hand.

“Take it easy now, friend. She is right, you know. The thrones rightfully belong to world champions. It is their right to get angry if you try to use it without permission.” The man’s voice echoed as he spoke but something about his tone had a soothing effect on Diablo.

Diablo recognized this man. His name is Lars. He was an Ethereal Fighter just like him but is from a younger generation. He was one of the few friends he had in this world that respected him. Most inhabitants of this world had long stopped being polite to Diablo despite being a first generation fighter. Skill and Glory is all that matters here and that is proven by having your own throne.

Diablo took Lars’ hand to stand up and then turned his attention towards the throne.

“Don’t you think it is a bit unfair, Lars? Every year they release new champions with overloaded kits so most of the time it is them who earns a new throne while us old-timers just get pushed to the side.” Diablo stared at the little girl swinging her legs on the throne while humming a tune.

“It's just how things are. Azrael once told me that as time passes these beings he called developers are forced to create better fighters because synchronizers get tired of using the same ones over and over again. If they get bored they would eventually abandon our world and if that happens our world would disappear. The developers have no choice but to keep the synchronizers interested in our realm with the help of better and stronger choices.” Lars spoke with a calm voice that made Diablo not want to argue anymore.

“Easy for you to say, you were born two years ago and immediately got a trophy. I was here in the beginning, ten years and I never had the opportunity to claim myself a throne. Year after year Synchronizers always go for the newer fighters that I never had a single synchronization myself. It can get lonely too, you know.” Diablo said while looking at the clawed tips of his gauntlets. “I used to be a world champion too.”

“Ah yes, you’ve told me before. But that was before Ethereal Fighters. You should count yourself lucky that you were able to survive getting transitioned from one realm to another. The idea of our realm being abandoned and all of us disappearing frightens me whenever I think of it.”

Diablo looked solemnly at the young girl and thought the throne was too big for her. It always annoyed him that the new fighters always looked more cutesy than the previous ones.

“I bet those developers have a fetish for small cutesy girls.”

Lars laughed which the little girl noticed. She pulled out her tongue and pulled the lower lid of her right eye down.

Diablo turned towards Lars with a curious look.

“By the way, what are you two doing here? A few more hours and I would have had a full rest on the throne without being noticed.”

“We just wanted to invite you to watch a duel together. It seems like someone is using your image to fight mine.” Lars pointed his hands on the sky and a large screen appeared showing a grassy park.

On the screen were two beings that looked exactly like them. The inhabitants of this world simply referred to them as their doppelgangers. The two watched as Lars' doppelganger teleported above Diablo’s and landed a downward kick which planted the other’s face onto the ground. They both oohed at the sight.

“Looks like it’s just about to end. Sorry, I thought you would be interested in seeing it but it seems like it was just a waste of time.” Lars sounded apologetic while turning to Diablo.

Diablo looked up at the screen. It always amazes him that there is a world outside of Cyberspace. Whenever he watches one of these fights he longs to be able to touch the world beyond them. The trees, the grass, even the blue sky made him curious. Other fighters had touched the world outside but every inhabitant of this realm knows that the only way to do this is through synchronization.

Lars’ doppelganger stood frozen while waiting for Diablo’s to stand up. This made Diablo curious as normally if an opponent is down most synchronizers follow this up with attacks that the prior couldn’t dodge.

“Your doppelganger didn’t go for the kill. His opponent must be a beginner so he is toying with him.” Diablo stated, his eyes glowed as he stared at his own image bowing on the ground in prostration. The sight of it was angering him but he didn’t want to let his emotions show on the surface so he kept a serious face.

“Azrael told me that a lot of old synchronizers like to do that to newbies. It was probably just a coincidence that the newbie selected your avatar. How about we watch a more experienced player use your avatar?” Lars noticed that the sight had a negative impact on his friend so he thought he should compliment him hoping to lighten his mood. “The newbie must have really liked your character design, even I would admit that I am a bit envious of it. Should I look for another match now?”

“No, there is something different about this fight. We should keep watching.” Diablo answered.

Lars nodded in agreement and together they continued to watch. The little girl at the back continued to hum a tune uninterested with what the men were doing.

The two doppelgangers continued fighting, Lars’ kept on teleporting away and Diablo’s pursued by dashing where the previous would reappear and even landing a punch on the face of the former. Both of them were impressed by their doppelgangers but even more on how Diablo’s was able to predict his opponent’s movements.

“Would you be able to follow my movement if I used [BLINK] randomly?” Lars turned to his friend and asked.

“I’ve seen what you are able to do with your teleports. I don’t feel confident I can keep up with you when it comes to mobility.” Diablo answered not even turning to look at his friend.

The two continued to watch when Diablo’s doppelganger surprised them again. He picked up a stone and used the ability [STRONG PUNCH] to launch it at his opponent like a bullet. The two gasped at what they saw but immediately calmed down when they saw that it didn’t hit it’s target.

Diablo placed a hand on his chin as if analyzing what they just saw.

“It is a nice move but the projectile is too slow and it takes too long to perform. Any good fighter would be able to react immediately, since abilities have a cooldown that needs to be managed wisely, performing such an attack is just a waste.” Diablo stated which Lars nodded in agreement.

Diablo turned his attention to the little girl then had an idea.

“Lars, can you summon a dagger for me?”

“What for?”

“Just summon one for me. I need to slice something really fast.”

Lars looked at his friend with suspicious eyes but complied with his request. He raised his hands then made a gripping pose summoning a dagger that fitted perfectly in his grasp. He then handed the dagger to Diablo who was smiling suspiciously.

“You better be quick, summoned weapons don’t usually last long.” Lars said with a nervous voice. His friend gave out a little laugh as he juggled the dagger up and down in the air. He knew that it was never a good sign if his friend was giggling.

[STRONG PUNCH]

Diablo’s fist glowed as he punched the butt of the dagger he just threw in the air. It flew in a straight trajectory towards the little girl hitting her directly on the forehead. The knife stuck there for a second before dispersing into nothing. Lars gasped at what happened, blood almost running out of his face. The next thing he knew was that he should start to run. When he looked at his friend, Diablo lay on the floor laughing and rolling at the same time. Suddenly a large shadow loomed over the demon and as soon as he noticed his face was filled with dread.

Lars started to run away in a straight direction, not looking back until he heard the scream of his friend. He turned around to see Diablo running in his direction and behind him was a giant wolf panting and drooling while pursuing the both of them.

“WHY ARE YOU RUNNING TOWARDS ME!? YOU SHOULD TURN THE OTHER WAY!”

“I NEED YOU TO SPEAK TO HER! SHE'S GOING BERSERK.”

“THAT'S YOUR FAULT! TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOUR OWN ACTIONS!”

The two continued to shout at each other as the little girl watched them from above the giant’s head. She rubbed her bruised head before closing her parasol and pointing it at the two preys running below her.

“Who should I kill first? Hmm. I really hate having to make decisions like this.” The little girl said while pointing his parasol from one target to another.

“DON’T TALK OF KILLING AS IF IT IS A NORMAL THING YOU DUMB KID!” Diablo shouted while running as fast as he could, overtaking Lars in the process.

The little girl pointed her parasol at Diablo and activated a skill. A black ball formed at the tip of her parasol. She steadied herself carefully aiming his parasol until she felt that she had a lock on her target.

“Don’t be so scared now old man, after a few days the Cyberspace would revive you and THEN I AM GOING TO HUNT YOU DOWN AND KILL YOU AGAIN!”

Feeling assured that her skill is not going to miss, the little girl released the black ball from her parasol launching into Diablo’s direction and forming into a wolf midair. Since Diablo was in front of Lars the wolf smashed into the latter launching him into the air screaming.

“DAMN YOU TWO!” Lars’s voice became softer as he continued to fly away. A few seconds of flying he fell down to the ground with a large thud. His body disappeared meaning that his life essence is gone.

The little girl laughed while still sitting on top of the Giant wolf’s head. She placed her hand over her eyebrows trying to see how far she was able to launch Lars. After estimating that it was probably around two hundred white tiles she then turned towards Diablo who was still running from her shadow wolf.

“Keep running old man! If my shadow wolf is not going to get you then my Alpha is definitely going to get you.” The little girl laughed as she pointed her parasol at Diablo preparing to shoot another one.

Diablo didn’t dare look back as he gave his full attention to getting away. As he ran, he felt a surge of electricity run through his body. At first he didn’t care but a sudden word entered his mind. Synchronization.

The little girl noticed it even before diablo did. Electricity flickered across Diablo’s body as he was running. It started from his feet then made its way up Diablo’s legs, chest then finally on his arms. There was only one explanation for what was happening. Somehow, somewhere a player is trying to call out to him. The inhabitants of this world called this phenomenon synchronization.

“I am not letting you get away you damn bastard!” The little girl fired from his parasol another shadow wolf.

[STRONG KICK]

Having activated a skill Diablo dashed forward and garnered a short distance from his pursuers. Diablo halted his escape to turn around and face his would-be hunters. He moved his eyes to the two shadow wolves then the giant wolf behind them and then finally the little girl riding on its head.

Suddenly, his black wings spread wide. He smirked.

”See you later, kid.”

With those words Diablo disappeared.