Shattered Illusions END

“NO, PLEASE…. I’M SORRY…I’LL BEHAVE…I’LL BE GOOD JUST PLEASE, DON’T USE THE NEEDLE ON ME AGAIN…”

All that screaming, begging to spare them from the agony…… All of it was burned into my mind…..all those people….. he saw them all as nothing but disposable.

I looked up to him, no matter what anyone said about him…. I believed him. So….. does that make me as evil as he was.

Evil? There I am again, acting like a saint…. How am I any better? I’ve taken lives by choice and I wouldn’t hesitate in putting a pause to my morality if it meant the people I care about get to live better.

I was rattled back and forth by the L-Train moving across the track, but with the ringing in my ears it didn’t even feel like we were moving. And for once, I saw the world for what it really was with my very eyes…. Gray and heartless, with the bright red of my bloodied hands only falling upon the blind eyes of the passersby

Bloodied hands? Right, my nails haven't grown back yet, have they?...... My hands were slowly healing, as new nail bases started forming on my hands.

Did I use a heal? Oh yeah, I didn’t want the pain to go away, so I didn’t……

<Guilty, Guilty, Guilty> the words that echoed in my head were saying the opposite from before….. The question was, who is really guilty.

After that day where my way let me down, I told myself if I shadowed someone else, I wouldn’t have to feel like that ever again if anything goes wrong again.

“To hell with that”

.

.

.

(4 hours ago)

.

.

Unlike the remote from the previous log, he turned on the camera himself. Behind him, Akio was hung up by his arms looking injured and completely out of it.

“Alright, time for another one-” he then started moving back towards the unconscious Akio “Detective Yamori Nishigaki, Badge Number 6447, Time of day…. Exactly two hours before sunrise, July 8th 2038. Starting a new record for subject Akio Nakamura”

He moves away and grabs a file “Subject will be first considered as valuable for extraction of information about Izanami Sato. Unfortunately at the time of recording, suspect is under the influence of Sedative compound X6 and remains unresponsive to standard revitalization techniques.”

He then started to observe Akio “Subject appears injured, multiple stab wounds to left palm…..suspect stated beforehand injuries being a result of a brawl between him and suspect Tadashi Chifuyu. Proceed to administer control HP compound to heal injuries until subject regains consciousness

Akio was here this whole time…. No, he has to have some sort of reason…. Senpai would never lie to me if he didn’t have a-

But even before I had a chance to process my thoughts, the next log auto-played

“Log 1… Profile Nakamura A. Two days have elapsed since the record creation. Subject is out cold…. Observation about subject’s injuries. Even during the time of recording, X-rays show slight punctures in the subject’s left arm….Make note to study subject’s healing rate as initial observations alone has proven that it is substantially slower compared to all the other subjects-”

Other subjects?

“Gauntlet durability is still prominent however it is starting to show signs of Cyber-energy starvation. Subject is mentally strong….. and speaking freely, kind of a headache…. However, I am confident that I will be able to get something out of him with enhanced interrogation, maybe even with some psychological warfare”

The logs that followed left me in even further disbelief. The more I saw of the torture he put Akio through, the more I felt like I had lost my ability to breathe. I wanted to look away, but I couldn’t…My eyes were glued to the screen, and I kept backing away in shock, only for me to fall onto the empty chair with a broken restraint behind me.

For the next dozen agonizing minutes, I was forced to look upon what he had done…. The logs played in a set order, and I was held in place, forced to endure all of it from behind the screen. Every one of them screamed in pain…. Some begged for their lives afterwards, some cursed Senpai’s existence, and some tried to escape, only for him to put them down in plain view of the camera while not even flinching or hesitating.

I managed to force my eyes away with the greatest effort, but eventhough I kept looking at the cold stone floor under me, there was no saving me from the sound of the horrors that unfurled. Senpai was in every one of those logs, his voice, his actions…everything was recorded and documented with pinpoint detail…… I couldn’t deny it anymore.

Why? Why would you even do this? What could possibly be worth enough to sacrifice this many people?

But the log that played after it forced my eyes back into it

“That voice….no!” The familiar voice of a struggling little girl, and I instantly feared the worst.

“Let me go!”

“Oh she’s a feisty one isn’t she?” said Senpai on the recording

“Log 1 Profile Huntley. A. Subject still appears to fight back-”

“You are a scumbag, you know that Nishigaki? She’s just a kid-” an unfamiliar voice said from out of the frame

“SHE HAS BROUGHT THIS ON HERSELF…..” he screamed at the mystery person “she wanted to know, where her daddy dearest was…. I told her, I didn’t know but she still didn’t listen. So all I could do, is let her trace her deadbeat father’s footsteps”

“Dad was right, you were one of the bad ones. Where did you take him?”

“Where? He was right there, little one. As a matter of fact, he was in that same chair you are in right now. As for what happened to him, well…. You’ll find out soon enough”

“Nishigaki! You monster”

“How does any of this make me a monster, Tsuneo-san?…… I’m doing all this for the good of everyone. Give them a god to believe in, a god to fear, someone above them that will etch into their souls that crime will never go unpunished”

He then takes out a syringe from his inventory loaded with a blue liquid

“This…. This is that god. The final iteration of my sole masterpiece….The Enhanced Abyss Venom” He turned towards Ann-chan “And you…..are going to be my first test subject for it”

“You are mad, you and that friend of yours” she said

Senpai stopped in his tracks “Friend? Oh, you mean Junichi? He doesn’t know about any of this…..That fool only sees the good in people and it's so easy to have him eat right out of my hand with him being so dependent on others.”

……Wha?

He crouched in front of her “Did you know little one, eventhough he has no idea, his hands are as bloody as mine….. That unresponsive brick of flesh in your cell, that’s a good friend of his…”

He started inspecting the blue liquid on the syringe while facing the camera “Besides, it’s only because of him, I was able to create this…… meaning whatever you feel afterwards…..wouldn’t be possible if it wasn’t for him”

My forced myself upto my feet and inches my way towards the PC terminal with a heavy heart and eyes full of tears “Senpai….no”

“NO!” But no matter how loudly I objected, it had already been done. Senpai plunged the needle into her thin neck against her struggles, and what followed was her blood curdling scream.

I collapsed in front of the terminal and I couldn’t bear to look, but in my hysteria my fist managed to crack the touch screen glass on the terminal and cut my hand with it.

I was a nobody to him….. After all we went through.

I was washed away by a wave of indescribable sorrow. Was this really a betrayal, or was our friendship always one-sided?

<Guilty, Guilty, Guilty>

Now you are changing your tone huh? Don’t you think I know already. SHUT UP!

All I could do is scream at my psyche to stop the voices from taking me….. But the torment didn’t stop as the next log played… but this was unlike the ones so far.

The camera this time was on the table with Senpai in front of it, sitting at the terminal

“Special log, Enhanced Abyss Venom…… Set reminder for all files concerning the subject to be moved to a separate record after all tests have concluded…..Abyss Venom observation summary….. subjects start showing signs almost immediately after injection. Symptoms include general weakness, coughing blood and blackening of blood vessels around the injection point. Subject’s max HP is proven to reduce alongside HP loss due to symptoms as days pass. Tests were conducted with HP potions and other concoctions, and while the loss of HP is treatable, the condition where their maximum health diminishes proves to be incurable at the time of recording. I had assumed that there was no improving the formula, until today”

Senpai got up and there was someone behind him

“Akio ... .no?” he was hung up by his arms and looked pale and exhausted. And his face looked….dead.

“Putting it shortly, subject prime is currently experiencing some sort of mental shutdown. Trauma from the Brazen Bull experiment has been deemed too much for him to handle. Subject remains unresponsive to all internal and external stimuli…. However upon previous testing, the current subject was designated as Subject Prime due to his unique stature. Subject has….you know what, screw the log structure bullshit. Akio Nakamura’s structure is one of the most unique things I’ve seen in this place. Lack of pain inhibition, and even lacks fast healing, even with both oral and injected use of HP potions. But all this time, he was holding the key ingredient in making my creation even more potent…”

What?

“Somehow, his Cyber Energy has the ability to overpower the energy resonances of other players. One drop of his blood into the Abyss Venom mixture, and it turns it even scarier.” He puts a drop of blood into the purple vial and it turned blue

That purple vial….. the ones outside

“The base mixture kills very slowly, but this new enhanced one also has the capability of shutting down a player’s innate shield and in turn, their Cyber-Gear permanently. Imagine the possibilities with this….The fear, the control, the profit…… There are players who want to end themselves painlessly. I can provide it to them. The people who think they are above the law, I can keep them in line with this, even the Immortal Tyrant…Make them as feeble as Sparks….. I will be the sole hero who brought order to this lawless place…… The plague doctor that will save everyone.

“What are you saying, Senpai? What happened to you?” I asked the being in the other side of the screen, but what can a recording say

I was shuddering with tears falling onto the cracked terminal, mixing with the blood I have left on it. And again, the next log played

Again he was in front of the camera “This probably will be my final log in this place (clears throat). Log No… oh for fuck sake, I’m already tired of doing this every day…… Everything is coming according to plan. The Tyrant and the Hellspawn are moving against the NWO leadership at their meeting tomorrow, and I’ll be there to put an end to two of the biggest threats to my penultimate goal….. I'm going to miss this place, but I guess I’ll have to move light.”

He leaned back on the chair “With Ann Huntley succumbing, I’ll have to move both Jayden Riley and Tsuneo Fujisaki to the new place…. Akio Nakamura on the other hand, might be a different story-“ Senpai paused for a second and readjusted his posture “His blood is too valuable, and he happens to still be an unknown variable even after weeks of study. I can’t risk him getting away….However, I still have to worry about acquiring my last batch of test subjects before the move-”

I had finally reached my level of tolerance, I reached out to the display to stop the log before I lost it.

“….Guess I caught a break on finding twin subjects though” and the second I heard that, my hand stopped

“Huh?”

“Had no luck finding the Russian pair, my guess is that they have hightailed it out of Helios ever since the Sakuragi incident. Guess I have to settle for my favorites then. The Kanie siblings”

I felt like the world around me just grinded to a halt all of a sudden

“Junichi had been a thorn in my side for these past few weeks, might as well get him out of my way permanently as well. While he has grown suspicious of me of late, he still considers himself to be an inferiority ... .But it won’t take long before he sees through all the lies. Guess he’ll be doing me one last favor in his worthless life, offering me his precious little sisters to further my work. Besides, he did want to see his dear friend now did he, might as well grant him that-“

“YOU BASTARD!!” My rage took over me, making me send my broken fist right through the screen he was showing himself on, which also caused the log to pause.

“I trusted you…. I trusted you with my life, and I WAS NOTHING BUT DISPOSABLE TO YOU.”

I felt no strength in my body, only blind rage….My mind was cycling through all the ways I wanted to make him suffer.

I fell to my knees and started clawing the ground in anger “You used me to torture innocent people, and now, you come after me and my family?”

“To hell with that, you sick son of bitch. You think you can get away with using me, just because you are lying dead on the floor upstairs?” I slowly force myself upto my feet “No, It’s not going to be that easy.”

I got up and took two steps back “I wanted to be like you once…..headstrong, always sticking to what you believed no matter how bad it got. To hell with that, and you can take my naivety with you. After this, I’m done… I’m done trying to be someone I’m not”

When I looked around the room after I saw everything, I started to see everything he had done on all these contraptions. How he used the tool desks to torture his victims, how he used the vials next to his lab equipment to poison others…. And once I saw the blue vial there, I remembered Ann-chan’s screams.

Even after I inched out of the main room into the largest one of the three, I kept hearing the voice of everyone who cursed him as he was tormenting them. As my sight met with his torture equipment, I heard Akio’s screams. As I passed the chair setup in the middle, my mind made me imagine what would’ve happened if he did capture us……Me begging for mercy and trying to reason with him, being the same gullible fool I was when he was still breathing….and how he would torture my sisters while I look upon helplessly.

My anger didn’t settle down, instead it only rose even past what I thought was possible. I just kept imagining how I would pummel him over and over and over, for every single day he spent deceiving me, deceiving everyone who even had a speck of trust in him.

One small step at a time, I made it past the room of horrors to the one of captivity. And all I envisioned was the number of people he put in those cells…. How confused they might’ve been at first, and how scared they might have been when they were thrown in there again. Inching further, I come face to face with the restrained Jayden

“A face really does say more than a mouth. And looks like you got tossed off the creek and into the deep end.”

“ He’s been lying to me for years. I’m not going to let him get away with this.….. And I am certainly not going to let anyone get in my way”

“Kanie… look mate, I understand that you are angry, and you have all right to be ... .but blind rage is not going to get you anywhere. As much as I love to spit on his corpse, just bringing this place down is not going to be enough. There are others…. Others he has been working with”

“Others?” I inquired

“Those barrels and crates in there, he had someone supplying all that shit to him. And I’m willing to bet my life that those assholes knew exactly what that hack of a Sheriff was doing.”

“Who are they?”

“I’m not sure exactly, but all of them had the same insignia….. I overheard them calling themselves the New World Order or… something.”

“The Shepherd Clan? The guys who are taxing PvE?” I recalled our run in with them last week

“Sorry for not being able to confirm that, since as you know, I’ve been imprisoned for most of my time in this shithole of a game.”

Of course power hungry low lives like them would be involved in this.

“I understand you want to get back at him…. And that’s something you and I have in common right now…. Let me help….. From everyone he brought in here…. I was there for most of it. He tortured so many good people and for what?.......Even if you didn’t change you mind and forgave him somehow, I wouldn’t….and just like you, I won’t stop until this place and everything he has made is buried and forgotten”

“And why should I trust you, Riley? After what you did to us-”

“I had my reasons for framing Akio, but if I can go back and save Sakuragi from Nat, I would… But right now, just as much pain Nishigaki has dealt to you, he has done way worse to me. You prefer to only see the good in people and there is nothing wrong with that….. Nishigaki abused that and that because he himself was a twisted fuck.”

Jayden leaned forward “We both want to make amends for everything he has done. And maybe this might be the second chance for me to redeem myself….to you, to Akio…. And to me”

As much as I abhor asking CGL’s biggest sleazeball for help, as long as it helps me clear my conscience.

“All right” I approached him to take off his restraints, but I had one more thing to say “But from this point on, even if you look at any of us the wrong way…. We are done”

“That’s a bit vague on your end but, whatever you say Boss”

I freed his hands and attempted to release him from what bound him to the table.

“Also been meaning to tell ya-” but just before Jayden had a chance, a loud siren blared which made me jolt

“What the?”

“OH NO!”

“What’s going on, Riley?!”

He looked at me looking dreaded “I’m sorry” And catching me by surprise, he shoved me out of the cell as the cell door automatically slammed shut before I even hit the ground.

Suddenly, a claw-like contraption descended from the roof above the cell and skewered him from the stomach. Jayden screamed from the impact but held his screams in.

“RILEY!” I got back on my feet and tried to open the cell door, but I was thrown back from the pain as the bars were almost red hot and burned right through my gloves and deep into my hands.

The pain started to dampen little by little and then suddenly, there was a click followed by the screams Jayden held in coming out in full force.

It didn’t take me long to realized why, as his lower half started to dampen and then melt as his entrails fell

“Oh shit, no”

Jayden struggled, but there was no use. His lower body melted leaving nothing behind and he was hanging there, completely motionless as the ear shattering screams came to an end

I felt as if my mind just froze in time as it was desperately trying to find a way to perceive what I just witnessed. But I wasn’t given the luxury of time to figure that out.

“Nii-chan!... Are you alright?” Mai turned up at the worst time imaginable

I forced my head to turn towards her

“…..Mai” I could barely speak, and even the little I did, it wasn’t loud enough for her to hear me

“What’s going on?” She came through the large entrance door and towards me

“...D…don’t come in here” I tried to force my frozen body to warn her off ... .But by the time I could act again, it was already too late.

She turned the corner and faced the horror that lied within, and her face said it all.

Mai covered her mouth to keep herself from shrieking right before I jumped in between to shield her from the sight of Jayden’s remains.

“Hey, hey, hey, hey….eyes here” I told her, gripping her shoulders and looking straight at her

“It’s going to be fine, I’m here”

“Nii…. His…His-”

“I know…. I know, so what happened out there? Where are the others?” I changed the subject in the hopes of getting her attention off what was behind me

Mai stood silent for a second, but she was smart enough to go along with it, knowing fully well what I was thinking at the time “They are looking after Akio-nii. Meguru’s helping Lawren-chi and-”

I could feel it coming but I mustered all my remaining strength to hold back “That’s great….could you do me a favor and go back to them”

“What about you?”

“I’ll be fine-” I slowly moved around her, gripping her strongly to not let her see it again, even by accident “I’ll definitely make it back home but it’ll be a while…Look after Akio till then yeah?” I tried my hardest to force a smile to stop her from worrying

“Nii-chan, you-”

“Oh and one more thing…. After he feels better, bring out the bag of tricks will you? Can you go back and tell your sister that as well?”

Mai didn’t utter another word, as she knew I was just going to shut her down, instead…..she nodded

“Attagirl….. now go”

Not now, just a few more seconds

I let go of my grip on Mai, slightly nudging her back in the direction of the large vault door. She stepped back and moved towards the door. She stopped at the foot of the door and looked at me, but didn’t say anything, knowing all her effort will just be in vain. And finally, I was all alone in this chamber of death and agony.

It was on time as well as it all came up. The grueling sight beside me made me sick, and I threw up on the floor. I was on my knees…. My breaths were heavy, and my throat was burning.

As my protective brother persona waded, I was left alone with the memories of all the tragedy I witnessed in the past hour. Eventhough I didn’t want to, I looked at Jayden’s cell once again, and to see familiar looking tubes wrapping the claw that pierced him.

“No”

I weakly followed the tubes along the roof to confirm my suspicion….from the room full of cells, it lead me to the torture room on the other side of the code locked door. And my rage returned to me as my suspicions were confirmed

The tubes lead to the barrel that I was looking at when I came in. And I could’ve prevented this from happening….. I fell back down to my knees once I realized that

A wave of hysteria washed over me once again. I wanted to scream, but for some reason, I couldn’t raise my voice. My sense of pain had dulled even further at the moment, as I kept punching the hard rock floor out of sheer frustration.

Small bits of rock lodged itself in my knuckles, causing my hands to bleed. But I kept striking the wall, over….and over and over, while trying to scream my lungs out.

“Even being a carcass on the floor, you still manage to take people’s lives. You monster”

<Guilty, guilty, guilty> The voice returned, but I didn’t want it to drown out this time

“I hate you…..I hate you, I hate you, I HATE YOU!…. I RESENT YOU WITH EVERY FIBER OF MY BEING!”

<Guilty>

“I HATE YOU FOR MANIPULATING ME!”

<Guilty>

“I HATE YOU FOR USING ME TO HURT MY FRIENDS!”

<Guilty>

“I hate you for pretending to care”

I got back upto my feet “Senpai….. If you’re watching me from an afterlife or whatever…… Watch me tear down everything you ever stood for. Watch me erase your existence from this already twisted world….. Watch me as I take my own path, and destroy yours”

One step at a time, I got to work.

I made my rounds around both the other rooms, taking note of what I had to work with. But that wasn’t any easier compared to what I have been through ever since I stepped foot in here today.

He had been synthesizing his poison infused with Akio’s blood on a major scale, as I found out from the metal crates that were inside his lab. As I opened the crate that was labeled ‘Batch #1’ There were countless vials of that stuff, apart from two vials from the crate being missing.

Batch #1…… This means that the enhanced poison has not left this building yet. And I had to make sure that it never will.

I went around the lab, looking for all the metal crates and collected them all together, and did the same to the crates of the standard toxin in the torture room. Back in the lab, I realized that it was well-stocked, but it was not enough to take this whole place down.

I then started prying open all the wooden crates in this place, loosening them by striking it with the back of my rifle and then prying the side open with my hands even while the nails on it digs deep into my fingertips.

I searched every crate, every shelf….. Senpai had a stockpile of acetone ready and raw material to make more. I filled up every neutral container I found with it and dragged all the materials I needed to the lab to synthesize more of it, putting all the chemistry that the University drilled into our heads to use for once.

It took quite some time but Mai or the others didn’t come back. I didn’t rest…. I dragged all the metal crates into the lab room where I stockpiled all of them together, and I made sure I didn’t miss a single one of them. 88 crates of Abyss Venom stacked next to the 22 crates of Enhanced ones in the lab….. I threw in all the hard copy records he had of people into the barrels of accelerant I had collected…. I had to make sure none of this leaves this place.

Before I destroyed his PC, I had to make sure there were no more copies of his work remaining off-site…. After I made sure and tampered with data, I grabbed the blooded sledgehammer off his tool table and swung it at his PC with all my strength

<Guilty>

After I was sure that his workstation had been destroyed, I moved onto the wooden crates. And fueled by rage, I demolished every single one of them.

<Guilty>

I added the pieces of wood to another barrel of accelerant, I had to make sure nothing remained.

<Guilty>

I then started smashing the shelves. Glass from the flasks and containers, and its liquid contents started flying all around, some were corrosive as I found as it splashed onto my hands. But even the bit of irritation I felt through my pain reduction… I didn’t care.

<Guilty>

I was cut, burned, and hurt….but I didn’t care.

<Guilty>

I neutralized every compound or substance that would burn, and after who knows how long, I was ready to act.

.

.

.

“Is he the only one who is guilty here?”

I tipped over two barrels full of acetone onto the metal crates, and added some of the accelerant soaked wood onto it. If anything has to burn down in this place, it's this crime against humanity.

I smashed his lab desk with the sledgehammer, ensuring none of his equipment is usable….. And then threw away the hammer.

Looking through and setting up every nook and cranny in this place to burn to the ground showed me more of the horrors that awaited me. Like the fact that the tall stage was a recreation of what happened to Misuzu-san and Yuito…. How every single one of his torture contraptions had blood on them some way or another….. How very little he cared about the lives of others shown by how every prison cell was fitted with different kinds of sick traps.

When I got to Jayden’s body, I stopped in my tracks for a moment. I wanted to reach out to him and apologize ... .but what good will that do right now.

But as the small courtesy I could do, I only doused his cell in accelerant, and not his body….. He had suffered enough.

After almost flooding the whole place, I slowly started moving out of the dungeon of death and up the stairs into his precinct of deceit. I doused every step up the stairs. I then started to drench the wooden floors of the precinct, and once again… I came face to face with his remains.

I had no words for him…. Nothing but pure hatred. I wanted to unload all the ammo I had in my inventory at him, I wanted to beat him into a bloody pulp with my bare hands….. But what use would that be?

As a token of my hatred, I doused his whole body with more acetone than I did his prison room downstairs. But I still had a lot left over. After the whole place was covered, I drew a line of accelerant to the outside…but I wasn’t done yet.

I walked inside, and placed all the leftover accelerant cans and the empty ones around his body. To be definite that he gets destroyed with his precious work. I urged to stomp his face in, but I held back as the murderous liar wouldn’t feel any of it.

As I walked outside for the last time, it was then that I noticed that there was no one in the street. I looked up at the sky and the light was still blue, meaning there was still a bit more time before dawn. I took out my pistol and checked to see if it was still loaded, after I saw that it was, I took aim at the start of the trail, about to head into my new beginning.

“Farewell……Yamori-senpai” and I pulled the trigger.

The fuse of the accelerant was lit, and I took a few steps back to see it go down. The trail burned inside, and an explosion followed a few moments later. I was far enough to not take damage from the flying debris, but a few moments later, the building was engulfed by a crimson flower.

While there was a lack of screaming and panic….it was made up for by their voices playing in my head. The voices of his victims pleading for their life…. To make the pain stop. And all I could do is this….in the hopes those voices will finally get some sort of closure.

And hopefully…. That I do too.