The Last Bastion of Humanity

The feeling of losing everything and everyone who you once held dear is one that you’ll never forget when it happens to you. The burning dread of remorse eventhough deep down you know it wasn’t under your control, the following days where you feel like you can’t push forward anymore, and the deep impression that you have nothing left to live for. I’ve tried many times over to end it, to join all of those who suffered what we went through. But that wasn’t a mercy that this place was willing to grant me.

But what made me push forward were two things….To make the two who were responsible for everything we went through suffer, and to not get any more good people involved in my crusade. But after thinking about it for quite a while, Tatsuo’s offer made much more sense. I can handle myself, but not against an army. “Act to your limits…never over it” my sister used to say…if only she knew what I’m caught up in right now

And the more people they must deal with, the greater my chances of cutting the heads of this snake. I promised myself that no one else except me will have to endure even a fraction of what I’ve been through, but this also could be fate giving me a second chance to right where I once failed.

.

.

.

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While my trauma still lingered, my mind was made up and I slowly went up the stairs to the lobby where everyone usually hangs out, but to the ideal of the situation, the only ones present at the time were Tatsuo and Hayato. While most of my encounters with them have both bickering, they sounded more serious from what I heard from where I was.

“Tatsuo listen, you know as well as me she’s bad news”

“How is that different from the usual? This is a chance that we won’t come across again”

It was safe to assume that they were talking about me considering how hesitant Hayato was, but my presence was given away by the creak of the wooden stairs.

I felt both their stares directed towards me, but Hayato’s expression of distrust was the opposite of Hayato’s. I took a seat opposite to them.

“If I take you up on your offer, what is expected from me?”

Tatsuo’s face lit up slightly, as it was like a couple of bricks was lifted off his shoulders

“What was your role and rank, Mano-san?”

I was dumbfounded by what they asked, “I have…no idea what you just asked”

They both looked at each other and back at me

“I’m sorry…. You are kidding right?” asked Tatsuo

“Do I look like someone who’s kidding?”

“She isn’t joking, Tatsuo”

“Yeah, I can see that”

Tatsuo put his hands together on the table

“Mano-san…..how much do you know about where we are right now…This world I mean?”

I answered honestly “All I know is that we are in a place called Helios and this is the Riviera District of the Upper Sector”

Clearly not satisfied with my answer, Tatsuo rests his head on both his hands.

“Look if that’s a problem, I’ll leave out the door no-”

“NO….No…that’s fine” he replied

“How is that fine you idiot, I don’t even think she has ever even played a match”

“And that’s why I am glad to have you”

Hayato paused for a second to understand what he just said

“Oh fuck off…. I’m not going to do it”

”Why the hell not?”

“Why don’t you do it then?”

“Because I didn’t used to play for the best team in the world if I might add”

“How is that even relevant here?”

“GUYS!” I exclaimed to snap them out of their bicker.

“Can you let me know what the hell is going on right now?”

Tatsuo diverted his attention to me

“Right….You see, Mano-san. Hayato here has kindly agreed to help you out in showing the ropes of what this place is and how it works”

“No, I have not” Hayato interjects but Tatsuo just talks over him

“AND…..its a good opportunity for both of you to get on the same page. We obviously started off on the wrong foot and, I would say this is a perfect chance for a do-over”

“You just want another girl in the clan don’t you?” Hayato remarks

“Isn’t that like the pot calling the kettle black?”

“Tsk, fine…Whatever”

Aaaand neither of them denied that…very reassuring

“Well, no time like the present…Come on” Hayato nods to me, signaling me to follow.

“Wait now? I don’t think it’s a good idea to go out at night”.

“Correction…It is the best time to go out at night”

I humored him and followed him out of the house against my better judgment.

“Everyone thinks that it’s the nights that are dangerous to be out in and when everyone thinks that and stays in”

“Then no one is out to cause issues” Makes sense.

“I see you are thinking at the same wavelength as me. Ever since the unrest settled, night-time is when the PvP and PvE Boss run clans come out. The usual gangs are reluctant to mess with players who know what they are doing, so they stay away”.

“Pv…what?”

Hayato stopped in his tracks and looked back at me

“Seriously…that far back. Have you ever played any kind of game?”

I nod to answer no to which he replies with a sigh. He turned back around and started walking again

“There are two game types you can do to get Rels and RP….first is called PvP, also known as Player versus Player. It’s where your opponents are other players like yourself. For PvP there are two main game modes… Artifacter Deathmatch and Battle Royale, also known as AD and BR…..AD matches are six man games playing off on two mechanics, one, each opponent you kill grants you one point, two, obtaining and depositing the spawning artifact at the enemy base grants ten points. First team to hundred points wins. The next is BR….previously you could just jump into a BR game anytime you wanted, but now, it’s the way rank ascension works. Hundred teams of up to six people enter one massive map, and only the last few surviving wins. The number of teams that make it through change depending on rank. To get into the ascension BR, you and all your clan members should hit the RP cap of the current rank. Meaning it’s thousand RP for us bronze dwellers right now.

He is….surprisingly good at explaining

“I noticed Tatsuo mentioning something about you playing for the best team? What’s that all about?”

“Me and Tatsuo used to compete in this damn thing, before it turned all…death gamey. Tatsuo never made it past qualifiers for the bigger leagues, I did and… the team I was with were back to back champions. Feels like a lifetime away though”

“What happened to them?”

“Probably dead… That bunch’s chaos was beyond comparison to Tatsuo and the gang…. Akio is certainly dead but the Kanie trio, they are a resourceful bunch so I have hope, Misha’s the Haru of the team…loveable when hanging out, scary when she is pissed so I’d say she’s out there somewhere…. Couple of others dodged the bullet, said they couldn’t make it and our sixth….” He trailed off at the end and immediately dropped the topic which I did find odd.

“Anyways, I forgot to ask you. What are the weapons you use? I remember you using an SMG”.

I unholster both my weapons “Karambit for close and MP7 for medium range, also can be converted to a lever action repeater for the longer ranges” I describe the loadout in my hands

“Slow close-range takedown power and brute force weaponry. Perfect kit for a mid-ranger”

“What the hell is a mid-ranger?” I inquire.

“There are four roles players can be assigned to. Players whose playstyle focuses on agility and fast takedown capabilities are scouts. They specialize in flanking, quick assassinations and escaping, in our team, that’s Haru. Her taser instantly drops people she gets close to, and her shotgun makes her a force to be reckoned with at close range. Her weakness? Whenever her opponent moves out of close range…most of the time, she needs some sort of support to either force her opponent back close or for her to make it out alive. Role two….Mid-rangers...That’s you and me. Those are the players who are slow at close range, but has decent escape mobility and rely on medium range brute force”

He unholsters his weapons “ SCAR-H Assault Rifle and P99 pistol secondary…my kit is built purely for mid-ranging, you on the other hand, can work between scout and mid-range depending on how proficient you are with that knife of yours.”

He puts away his guns and starts walking yet again “And then we got the tank…the player who’s role is to make space for the others to play. Tank players are heavily armored, and has some sort of weapon that can offer protection. And that’s why we have Tatsuo’s particle sword. He’s also a nasty shot with a Desert Eagle, so apart from being an immovable tin can in fights, he’s a reliable pillar for the whole team. And finally, the back-liners…the anti-flankers and tank busters. These guys have the most high powered guns, from the bulky sniper rifles to the RPGs…for now, the only ones who can fill that role are Akira and Shun, who both run snipers”.

Never though a game could get this complex

“Too much to process?”

“No, just a lot more depth than I expected for a game…also, where are we even going?”

“Almost there…but before that, do you know the world that we are in right now?”

“Can you pretend I don’t know anything and get to the point?”

“Fair enough…..but let me ask you just one thing…. Remember the first thing you were greeted with the first time you logged on?”

“Welcome to…to” I try to recall it but to no avail

“Welcome to Ark Sanctuary…..according to the lore, this is humanity’s last bastion. A biosphere built by mankind after the world ran out of fossil fuels- “

“I’m sorry…Why are you telling me this?” I interjected as I couldn’t see the point in it

“See that blue globe up there?” Hayato said while pointing at the sky

“That….is no sun. That is what makes this place self-sustaining. A forever pulsing power source, known as the Cybersphere. And what it radiates is called Cyber-Energy. It powers the shield that stops you from taking your own life…and you see the red-coloured energy flowing through the stripe of your gun and blade. That’s your weapon harnessing Cyber-Energy which resonates with you. That’s why your personal weapons disintegrate whenever someone else takes it into their hands.”

“We are here” he continued

“The market? What are we doing here?” I ask confused

“Looks to me you know the basics here already”

“Yeah, I mean even a toddler could figure that out”

“But ever wonder why you could buy almost any weapon for Rels eventhough every player comes with two of their choice?”

“Now that I think about it”

“Time for you to find out the answer” He said while approaching the shop

“Ishikawa-san….ain’t your usual day for a restock” said the slim man behind the counter

“That’s because it ain’t Manfred-san…my friend here is looking to jump into a bit of rank grinding so I am showing her the ropes”

“Ah…finally looking to oppose the hold of the Shepherd Clans. Respect for that….And when it comes to rank grind restocking, you have come to the right place. Welcome to Manfred’s Survivor’s Emporium…You want to live to see another day, I got the gear to help you with that, and not to worry….any friend of Ishikawa-san is a friend of mine.”

I bared a disgruntled smile and got close to Hayato and whispered to him.

“Friend of yours?”

“More like regular customer…You know how that goes”

And he continued on from where he left off

“Of course, where are my manners” He extends his hand to me “ Archibald Manfred, please to make your acquaintance Miss?”

I glanced at Hayato “It’s fine” he reassures me

“Yulia Mano”

“Oh?...Mano-san….so, what can I help you with?”

Hayato took over the situation suddenly

“Hey, Manfred-san….you thinking about crossing to the Silver layer once it opens up later?”

“I would love to but, unfortunately that isn’t a privilege us lowly sparks have compared to you guys….But if and when you guys do make it, I’ll help anyway I can…all you have to do is say the word”

“And spend the Rels?” Hayato remarked

“I thought that was obvious already, Ishikawa-san”

After a slight chuckle, he continued “Yeah, alright….mind we use the shop menu?...Just showing her the ropes and it makes it much easier to show her stuff”.

“Go right ahead. Just call me if I’m needed”.

Hayato opens up a menu window I’ve never used before and slides over to me.

“Go on….pick one of your weapons from that menu”

Browsing down the plethora of menus, I find myself the MP7. I selected it and hit the browse button on the bottom of the window and it materialized into my hands. And from hindsight, I could spot what was the difference

“There is no coloured stripe going across it”

“Anything offensive and defensive items bought by Rels are much less effective compared to Cyber-Gear, the more common name used for your personal weapons. But just because it’s less effective, doesn’t mean it can’t be deadly.

He drags the menu back to his side and the gun in my hand dematerialises.

“What do you know about utility in-game?”

“Just the basic military stuff…. Frags, Smokes, Flashes…that sort of thing”

“That makes it much easier for me…..however, there are a few items that are exclusive to this world”

He browses the menu and takes what looks like a square box into his hand

“Smoke Absorber. One of the go-to tactics in the game in the early days, is spamming smoke grenades and fighting with thermal scopes and goggles. This is the direct counter to that. Toss this box onto the ground and it will suck in all the smoke in the area. It doesn’t clear immediately so you do have a couple of seconds of cover if you smoke is countered.”

This time, he takes out a pentagonal charge

“This….is a Smart Field Generator. Very expensive, but can turn fights on its head in an instant. Place it on the ground and activate, and it will cast a field around where it is placed. It will detect nearby enemies and tell gun users exactly where to aim to hit them in the head. You see your enemy blinded by a haze, duck behind cover, never peak your head and count to twelve.”

And he takes out another one. This time a triangular device

“Last one to keep in mind…Mute charge. Crucial to have in BR. Set it on a floor or a wall, and it will turn the whole block it’s activated into pin drop silence. Also cut off communications of every team except yours too.”

He put away the device and the menu “ And that’s all you need to know about unique equipment for now….Walk with me”.

“What now?” I asked while following him down the stone path reflecting

“Now, we are about to do something so important, that it can decide whether we die or we live”

“Since we covered most of PvP, now it’s time for the next one. Player versus Environment….also known as PvE for short. The main way almost every player makes a living and slowly trickles in RP to some day make it to that cap.

“And the reason why the New World Order’s stance is so strong is because they leech off of those quests”

“Full points for you….PvE quests are simple and straightforward. Basic fetch quests where you gather up a given number of certain materials, extermination quests where you kill a wave or two of common monster enemies and assaults on extremely tough boss enemies…You see this place right here?” He points towards the building beside us by nodding his head at it

“These places look like your common eatery, but order off their PvE menu, and it will give you a significant buff to your stamina and healing speed after you leave the limits of the city……So, what are you in the mood for tomorrow”

“Huh” I look at him confused.

“This was where I meant we were heading to….Getting takeout for tomorrow”

“This is what you meant by a matter of life and death?”

“When it’s Haru-san on cooking duty tomorrow then that might be a severe under-exaggeration.”

“Ah”

“As a matter of fact…I’ll choose….you don’t look like a picky eater and I still owe you an apology for last night”

“Look, I ain’t looking for any apologies-”

“I know you are the untrusting type…I get that. I was skeptical about you the first time we met but….If I know one thing from experience, the deadliest enemy a team can have is discord between each other. I’m just asking you to give us the same benefit of the doubt we are giving you…But I guess that needs time, and I’m looking forward to standing alongside you”

I raised up eyebrows at that statement

“Oh…oh oh no…not like that…damn that sounded way different in my head….Well, that was awkward”

I chuckled instinctively and replied “ Yeah, that’s fine”

“Ah ha…so u can laugh”

I immediately looked away and cleared my throat. Eventhough I didn’t mean to, I didn’t want to risk dropping my guard around anyone

“ A classic Ice Queen I see…not to worry, together, we will melt that thick layer of Ice one day”

I kept observing him trying to lighten the mood and he immediately paused for a moment

“Oh god…I just pulled a Tatsuo without thinking didn’t I”

“You did” I said trying to suppress my laughter

“God that was disgusting, how does he even do that with a straight face?... Anyways back on track. I’ll be out in a few minutes. Don’t wander off too far”

“What am I kid?” and as I said that, he disappeared in the eatery.

And just like that, I had a few moments to myself…..The first and most important lesson that was drilled into my brain in my early days of training, was to suppress all emotion. The moment you see your enemy as one of your own is the moment you lose the battle….and never show weakness around anyone, even the people you know very well. But I happen to involuntarily drop my guard around these people. ‘Give them the benefit of the doubt they are giving me’ huh? If it only ever comes to that…..I still haven’t fully convinced myself that I am going to go through with this. That I am going to let others suffer because of my selfishness….I don’t want to get close to anyone anymore, I don’t want to see anyone suffering anymore. I am afraid of that more than anything else. Even right now I have the choice to run away, but yet I hold my ground, as a part of me knows that if I don’t beat my fear, it will be the end of me.

Hayato was right though. Night-time Helios is much more different than the peak times…. This morning, it was an organized rush, right now….It’s quieter and the only ones out right now look more confident and cheery. If I had to guess, night-time is the peak time for PvP. I guess it makes sense that the mornings are more miserable where people fight over the handful of PvE quests at the guild while also having to worry about Makoto’s goons squeezing them for all they’re worth.

“First time taking in the sights of the night?” Hayato asks, appearing from behind me.

“I’ve been out at night most of the time….since when did this happen?”

“Ever since the Guild started to put their foot down. I hear that Shepherd clans are a problem everywhere, not only here in Helios. But once people started to calm down, they made themselves look less like targets, I guess the sparks of the Guild felt a bit safer to operate when there isn’t too much random killing going around” he said and started walking

“What of the Guild?”

He stopped and looked at me surprised

“How the hell did you even survive for this long?”

“Sparks are what the NPCs are called in this game. And before you ask what an NPC is, it stands for Non-Player Character”. He continued his pace once again

“As in? Monsters?”

“Sort of…but Sparks are the ones that resemble humans. The ones that have the same lives as Players”

“Hold on… I still can’t wrap my head around this”

Hayato looked irate, but he managed to keep his cool

“You and me…..we are people who came from the outside. We are what are called Players….How do you know who is a player and who is not you ask? Players always wield Cyber-Gear…every single one of them has two of them…no more no less………Sparks on the other hand, are the human NPCs whose reality is this twisted place. They can’t fight because they can’t tune with Cyber-Energy, and most of them get by daily by running their own businesses”

“Wait, so you are telling me-”

“That most of the people we deal with in day-to-day dealings are not real. You are correct. If you wonder if you had ever met a spark, you did introduce yourself to one earlier”.

“Wait. WHAT?”

No, no, no, no, no…that can’t be right. That couldn’t have not been a real person-

“A bit too realistic to think otherwise huh? Yeah that was pretty much all of us the moment we found out. This wasn’t something that was in the game before”.

“Ishikawa-san-”

“Call me Hayato”

Is everyone eager to get friendly with people they just met this soon or is it just this group? But either way I indulged

“Hayato-san. You used to play this game a lot, didn't you?”

“That would be an understatement, but yes”

“Wouldn’t you be able to just breeze through PvP without any issues”.

“Right now, that’s not exactly possible. Everyone is in Bronze right now, meaning even the ones who were even more skilled than me are also in this same rank. We can only get so far by PvP until you start to hit that point where you lose as much as you win. Us diehards call that Elo Hell, as there is effectively no RP gain at that point…you just end up hard stuck”.

The flow of our conversation suddenly breaks when a man suddenly collides into Hayato and falls onto the floor, and out of him drops a weirdly shaped cube that rolls towards me.

“My bad friend, I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going” he said to the man

I picked up the cube from the ground

“You dropped this.” I extended my arm to him with the cube but his expression turned into one of desperation

“No, no…please don’t take it from me. You people took it from me just a few days ago and I can’t afford another-“

I was utterly confused but Hayato managed to defuse the situation

“WAIT, WAIT, WAIT, WAIT. Sir, we are not trying to rob you” Hayato takes the cube from my hand

“Here, it was purely accidental” he hands him the cube instead

The man snatches it from Hayato’s hand and attempts to flee

“Wait” my demand stopped him in his tracks and he was clutching the cube tightly

“You said that you were robbed a couple of days ago…by who?” I inquired

“That player clan who has been extorting every business for all they are worth. They didn’t have enough doing that to their own people and now they are extorting us as well? I told him I didn’t know anything about some damn woman but that didn’t stop him from confiscating my FMF Generator.”

“Wait, what woman?”

“It was two players, acted like they owned the city. Asked if we knew about some woman. I think he said her name was Mano..something.

I felt Hayato’s glance at me

“That paranoid son of a bitch” I muttered to myself. Looks like Makoto is not convinced that I died in that explosion, and he doesn’t care who he torments to satisfy his ego.

“I’m sorry…You can go” and he scurried away out of sight in an instant

“Ishikawa-san look, I-”

“Well, we all knew that your record couldn’t have been squeaky clean. But you don’t have to force yourself to reveal things that you don’t want to. And please, it’s Hayato”

“Thank you…Really”

Hayato stretches his arms “Now, that happened, might as well be the best time to give you your last bit of information.”

“That happened?”

“Do you know what an FMF is, Mano-san?...oh wait, sorry I forgot about that….Anyways, another tidbit of lore is that when the Cybersphere was made, it killed the sun. Meaning here, creating magnetic fields naturally is impossible, even the gravity in this place is artificial….all the more reason you can find vehicles in this place but none of them work. And that is where the cube comes in. A Forced Magnetic Field Generator…costs an arm and a leg, but every craftsman needs one if they are to manufacture even the most basic things….Ammo, potions, tools, utility you get the idea. Taking away the FMF Generator from someone who is barely managing is pretty much the equal of giving them a slow death….All the more reason that guy was desperate”

“Well, and that is the end of CyberGrounds VR 101. Lets head back before it gets too late” But turned out we didn’t have to go back to the group at all as in the next moment we run into a bunch of familiar faces

And there we were, staring each other down being surprised at running into each other.

“Hayato-san?”

“Haru-san?” said Hayato

“Tatsuo-san?” said…Tatsuo?

And in an instance, that got everyone’s unimpressed attention towards him

“What?...I was going to get left out, it’s not like Yu…Mano-san or the kids were going to join in”

“Tatsuo Nii-nii pulled an unfunny”

Hayato tried to contain his laugh but failed “That was so bad even in Shun-kun’s standards”

“Last time you tried stand-up comedy, the only thing making any noise were the crickets, Ishikawa”

“Huh? At least I had crickets in my audience.” aand they kept on going

I scooched over to where Haru was

“Are those two always like this?”

“Most of the time? Yes”

“I thought the kids should be asleep by now. Also what the hell are you guys doing here”?

“They were. They wake up around this time. Only thing the kids are allowed to play is PvP, and it’s much safer for them to be out here in the night compared to the rush hour in the mornings. We’ve been in and out of quests for the past couple of weeks, now we decided to get some off time. Also, I don’t think you had a moment to relax ever since you took that dive out of the building. You should join us Yu-chan”

Well I guess she has calmed down if she’s going back to the old nickname. Also a nice reminder to not get on this woman’s bad side….and that’s coming from me.

“What do you have in mind?”

“The bathhouse”

“Say what now?”

“Well the bronze layer doesn’t exactly have too many places we can cool down in. Also the bathhouse has an open-air onsen we could use. Away from the craziness of the guys”

I give out a nervous laugh, contemplating on what the hell I have got myself into. Oh well, either I get in line or Haru drags me by the legs. And I hope it isn’t that bathhouse

A few moments later, and I get my answer

“Aaand it’s that bathhouse” I said thinking out loud, but no one seemed to notice

“Yu-chaaan, hurry up” she shouts from the entrance

What are the chances that she will not remember? I enter the bathhouse hoping that

“Welcome to the- oh….it’s you” the lady at the reception said

And the chances are…zero.

While it was Haru who summoned me in, she was still outside waiting for the others to assemble, so I had a moment to my own inside

The lady rose up and looked outside at the ones who accompanied me

“She isn’t there, is she?”

I nodded no with my heart feeling like it has a house worth of bricks in it

“Well, I don’t mind even if she is, as long as you don’t have her attacking my customers again”

“Yeah, look…I’m sorry about that, she…we….had gone through a tough time back then…I’m also willing to pay for the damages and for back then” I said taking my inventory screen out

“Don’t be… The gentleman your friend attacked paid for everything that day.”

“He did? Do you know who he is?”

“Can’t say that I do, I always remember the faces of my customers…no exceptions. He didn’t even come back after that day. But if he does, I’ll be sure to ask him his details, so you can apologize to him…or thank him, he did pay for what your friend did after all”

“Yeah” I attempt to join Haru, but I turned right back to clear a burning curiosity

“Oh yeah, one more question. You are a Spark, right?”

The attendant leaned forward on the counter, closing the distance to me.

“What do you think, honey?”

Fair enough

“Anyway…What will it be?”

Before I said anything, Haru surprised me jumping onto my shoulders and took over instead

“Three for the ladies and five for the guys to the onsen setting please. Four of them also under 15”

“Totals up to 12 thousand Rels”

“Coming right up” Haru’s cheeriness echoing all over the wooden interior of the place

The last time I dropped my guard to relax, I lost everything I held dear…and on this do-over I was given, I decided

….Never will I let that happen again.