Just as Daemon was about to attack, he heard a familiar voice:

"TAKASHI!"

When Daemon turned around, he saw a man slumped to the ground, his HP Bar turning increasingly dark red and dying.

Daemon took a closer look at this man. The man had blue eyes and long blond hair. He was wearing a school uniform. Daemon suddenly realized who this man was:

"MITSURI!"

Mitsuri, while breathing heavily, continued to speak:

"Takashi, that's you, isn't it? Help me! I don't think I can survive any longer!"

Minotaur Boss slammed its ax into the ground once more as Daemon sprinted towards Mitsuri. The shard above Mitsuri began to sway. Daemon cried out in despair:

"MITSURI! MOVE! YOU WILL DIE!"

The ice shard fell on Mitsuri and broke, and Mitsuri screamed in pain. Suddenly, the ice shared disappeared and re-formed above Mitsuri.

"MOVE! MOVE!"

Mitsuri couldn't even hear Daemon from his fatigue. He just looked at Daemon one last time for help, then his eyes slowly closed. A few seconds later, the shard began to sway and fell again. This time, the ice shard quickly pierced Mitsuri. Mitsuri's body suddenly disappeared from the game. And his body broke up into lots of little turquoise particles as the Death SFX echoed in the cave...

Daemon began to tremble with fear. All this time, he didn't take permanent death in the game seriously, but things changed when someone he knew in the real world died. Although Daemon was not closely connected to Mitsuri, he knew him. If Daemon hadn't been so focused on destroying the Boss, maybe he could have saved him. Daemon sank to the ground and shouted, angrily punching the ice on the ground. Crying, he tried to recall his memory with Mitsuri:

——————————————————————————————

Daemon was sitting in the back of the classroom. He was listening to other people talking, while other people started looking at the Daemon. They sneered at him and laughed. Daemon took his headphones out of his bag and buried his head in the desk.

Since high school started he had always been this alone. He couldn't talk to people, so he was isolating himself from them. He wanted to be with them, to talk, to talk, to be a part of the society...

But the Daemon's tastes, behavior, and reasoning with them were so different. He just couldn't be one of them...

Meanwhile, Daemon took off his headphones and looked up from the desk:

Their conversation was over. Everyone but Mitsuri had left the classroom, Mitsuri looked at Daemon curiously, then sat down on the desk in front of Daemon.

"Hey, it was Takashi, wasn't it?"

Daemon shook his head nervously.

After a few seconds of silence, Mitsuri continued:

"I'll ask something, why don't you ever talk to the others? Like, is there something bothering you? Just wondering..."

Daemon just shrugged. He couldn't speak, even he didn't know exactly why, he just couldn't. He couldn't adapt. Whenever he talked to the others, his throat would get tight and his voice would go blank. Just as right now...

When Mitsuri didn't get an answer, he waved insincerely at Daemon and left the classroom...

After that, Mitsuri tried to talk to the Daemon a few more times when they were alone in the class, but each time he got no response, Mitsuri ignored Daemon more and more like everyone else...

——————————————————————————————

And on the last day before they got trapped in this game, Mitsuri had invited everyone but Daemon to a party. Although Daemon was upset about this, he did not blame Mitsuri. It was his fault that he was excluded, it was his fault that he didn't take the opportunity while he had the chance, and now, Mitsuri's failure to survive was also his fault...

Daemon muttered to himself:

"Maybe, if I wasn't afraid. If I could talk to you.."

Daemon couldn't say another word. He just squatted on the ground and began to tremble. He saw his reflection on the ice on the ground. He wanted to punch this reflection, but his body couldn't move...

Meanwhile, people were continuing to fight the Boss. As Minotaur'S HP slowly decreases, Daemon heard other people's screams and Death SFX's constantly:

"This is just a game of survival, not just a fun MMORPG." he thought to himself. Meanwhile, Daemon heard the Minotaur's scream and a message appeared:

[Congratulations to Xxx_N./y./a./r./u_xxX for killing the Ice Minotaur!]

[Daemon obtained Navy Tier Ice Boots X1]

[Daemon obtained Lvl 6 Amethyst X1]

[Daemon obtained Kud x7,500]

[Daemon obtained EXP x7,938]

When he lifted his head, the Boss was dead and people were teleporting.

Daemon sighed and equipped the better armor and gems and his defense and agility increased...

Daemon remained in the cave for a few more hours until he calmed down and recovered from this traumatic experience.

It was already evening when he teleported to near Lockheart. Lockheart was still angry with him, Lockheart clenched her fist and walked toward Daemon:

"Hey, you left me here! Again! You want me to leave the party again, don't you-"

Daemon began to cry, shouting with all his might:

"PLEASE DO NOT!"

Lockheart was stunned by the sudden movement of the Daemon, while Daemon lowered his head and walked slowly like a zombie, arriving next to a large tree, then put his back to the branch of the tree and sat down.

Curiosity replaced Lockheart's anger. Lockheart sat down next to Daemon. He took a deep breath and asked in the softest voice he could::

"Hey, something happened on Floor 3?"

Daemon didn't answer...

"H-hey. Are you there, buddy?"

Lockheart shook Daemon, still not responding...

"HEY!"

Lockheart shook Daemon a little harder while trying to not hurt him:

"Is something bothering you?"

Daemon, when Lockheart uttered that last sentence, Mitsuri came to his mind...

Daemon took a deep breath as Mitsuri's sentence echoed deep in his head...

Daemon wiped away his tears, waiting for the knot in his throat to clear. And he started to tell what happened on the last day before he was imprisoned in the game. His voice trembled as he recounted the events, Lockheart completely locked into Daemon's narrative and not showing any emotional response.

When Daemon realized this, his voice trembled a little more as he spoke. When Daemon finished speaking, Lockheart replied:

"Look Daemon, or Takashi... How would you like me to call you?"

"D-daemon..."

"Ok. Daemon, you didn't do anything wrong there. You were focused on killing the boss, as you should..."

"B-BUT I LET MITSURI-"

"You just noticed Mitsuri too late. It wasn't you who killed him. His death was entirely his fault. You even chose to help him, which you might not even have chosen to do."

A light breeze began to blow in the air. As Lockheart's purple hair fluttered in the air, Lockheart gazed at the distance and continued:

"Look, I'm not going to lie. If what happened to you had happened to me, I would be crying on your shoulder right now. And you'd be the one to calm me down."

Daemon shuddered at Lockheart, waiting for her sentence to continue:

"But from a third-person perspective, I only see a good-hearted person trying to save his friend instead of a bloodthirsty killer."

Lockheart thought back to what he had said about Daemon. She was surprised that an incel like Daemon had such a "humane" reaction to his friend's death... Daemon's character was somehow contradicting himself. Sometimes he acted like a gentleman, sometimes he was just "humane" and sometimes he was turning himself into a Reddit Edgelord. The characters inside Daemon's head must have been at war with each other. Right now, this was another character of the Daemon that Lockheart was witnessing... it was the version he was trying to hide inside. Or maybe it was the real thing that other people needed to see...

While Lockheart was thinking these, Daemon had already fallen asleep.