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[ In a deep and loud voice] “ Congratulations to the everyone who cleared the previous rounds and are present here. So the reason why the details of this last round were kept private is that this final round isn’t a physical round but instead this round is the simulation of what the actual game would be like “ said Marvin, addressing the participants gathered in the room.
[ Marvin continuing with a pause] “ On the request of the US government, the gaming company has designed a special demo which is similar to that of the game. You people will be land in the game and everyone will have a sword as a weapon. To back up with the sword, you guys will also have special powers.
These powers will be in form of spells and each spell will be different from other. There are 20 spells in our server and each spell will take some time to set up or spawn and every spell has its own specialty. Although, these spells can’t be used to eliminate people, so don’t waste your time on using spells to shoot each other . “.
[ The officer on Marvin’s right continuing] “ There are nearly 20 people in this round and each one of you will play to eliminate each other. A single clean strike of the blade is good enough to eliminate you.
So keep that in mind while playing and the one who remains standing till the end, will be selected for the competition which is going to take place, here in San Diego. “
“Each one of you will be provided with a VR and a pair of Porti. The “Porti” is an essential device for this setup as it connects your physical body to your character in the game. “
[ Marvin continuing] “ Your character in the game is solely controlled by you. The movement of the characters is controlled by your own consciousness. So, think before you do anything. Another thing is that any inhuman behavior or any atrocities will automatically result in disqualification.
{pointing to a big white screen} The screen here will be showing us your movements. So refrain from any activity which could lead you to disqualification. Always remember that what you think is what you do, and that’s what makes a man out of you.
So now [ pointing towards the seats] settle anywhere you like and prepare yourself for what is to come. Good luck everyone, may the best prevail. “
As participants settled on their seats, a metallic VR with black rear and grey front was provided to them with white round rubber pads which had silicone chips inside them. They were instructed to place porti on either side of their head and carefully wear the VR.
Unable to find a seat, Ken rested his rear on the wall in front of the screen and with his arms crossed above his waist, he made a comfortable place for himself as he wore the VR and waited for the instructions.
[ with the sound of a buzzer] Marvin shouted “ Here we go!”
Ken opened his eyes to find himself in the midst of high, tall trees.
It was still dawn and the sun wasn’t fully up for the surroundings to be clearly visible. But as far as his eyes could see, there were tall green trees everywhere with old worn out leaves under the feet. From the appearance, it was very clear that it was a forest which seems to have nothing except trees. Ken looked around further and to his surprises, he found a small green and red icon on his right corner.
First, he thought that it was something on the ground but eventually he realized that it was just on his screen. It was pretty clear from the beginning that it was just a virtually generated button, but Ken wasn’t familiar with such games and so he couldn’t get it.
As Ken clicked on the green icon, a menu popped up at the center of the screen along with a white hollow bar above his head. The menu had a list of spells and each spell was accompanied by the time written in brackets. He read through the entire list and clicked the spell with <<5sec>> written in the brackets.
With the click, the hollow bar above his head started filling with the blue color and in no time a buzzer rang and the bar started to glow. Ken waved his hand at a tree and …………nothing happens. He tried several times at different trees but the result was the same.
[wavinghis hand in a pissed off manner, he said to himself ] what the hell are these spells, how am I supposed to use them <<tremble of Reramoko>> with this, the land close to the tree suddenly started shaking and in no time the big grown tree was uprooted. “Nice name for a spell”, he said with least appreciation for the spell.
“Now let’s try this “ the white bar again started to fill.
“By the time, it’s filling, let me check this”. He swiped the spell list right and pressed the red icon. The spell list automatically stacked right and a weapons directory opened up on the screen, with a small circular map on the left corner.
The directory was in black with a black bordered mini sword beside it. Ken clicked the icon and suddenly a scabbard came, hanging upon Ken’s waist and the directory disappeared.
In a very majestic way, Ken reached out for the sword from the shinning metal sword came out from the scabbard. The sword had a golden metal handle with valerian steel blade which was very well crafted and furnished.
Suddenly, a red dot appears on the small map below and the dot appeared to be moving to location <<X>>. As the dot inched closer to <<X>>, sounds of steps through crumbling leaves started to break the silence of the place.
The rising sun dazzled. The limp ray of sunlight pierced through the dense leaves and illuminated the surroundings. There were trees all around with the sound of crushing leaves getting louder and louder. Tightening his grip upon the golden handle and stretching his legs apart, Ken faced the dark corner from where the sound was coming.
The dazzling ray of light, through the leaves, revealed the figure. It was Harry who emerged from the dark corner. Without a word, he stretched his legs apart, took out his sword from his scabbard and it gushed like a cannonball towards Ken. In no time he ate up the distance between them and “clang” defended a blow head on.
Falling back a step or two, Ken eased off Harry’s sword and restored with a solid hit of his own which Harry easily perished. “clang! clang! clang !” with three simultaneous shots shared between them both Harry and Ken moved two or three steps apart and sweat dripped off Harry’s face while Ken wasn’t as worked as him.
Harry very cautiously, calculating his enemies footsteps moved to his right and placed his right foot on a pile of fallen leaves. [with a cramped smile] “you are better than I expect brat……. But I am not done yet”.
He flung his foot past the pile of leaves and the leaves [ being kicked into the air ] covered the area between Ken and Harry blocking Ken’s vision. But the ‘leaf cover’ was immediately broken by a furious. Harry who gushed through the leaves and in no time reached Ken and shared some hits.
The cry of metal hitting each other, distorted the silence of forest as the battle between the two remains evenly poised. [ Forcing his sword against Harry’s] “Hey! Mister, I couldn’t accept you to last this long.”
“Don’t judge me brat, I am 25 only.”
Suddenly, a fireball came from the side, as Harry and Ken both moved apart and jumped away from each other.
“Who’s there, come out!!” Harry shouted with rage as players, one by one emerged from the shadows. With a smile on his face “We are screwed Harry, all of them are here” Ken said as he swiped map to his left.
“I hate to say but let’s team up brat!”
“Yes, I guess it’s the only way out you handle the ones on left and I will take care of the right.” The other players completely surrounded the two as Ken and Harry stood against each other [with their back to each other ] with their eyes firmly fixed at their targets.
“Ken, I have a spell which might come in handy!”
“Is it an attacking spell?”
“Yes!”
“Cool, I also have something ! Wait for my signal, I have a plan.”
By this time, the sun was already up in the sky and forest was completely visible. There was exactly 18 of them who surrounded both Harry and Ken in a haphazard manner leaving them only the sides to run.
But Ken and Harry were too much of a man to flock from difficulties. “Why are you all attacking us?” shouted Harry. “We are not fools to fight among ourselves and let you ramp us over. And he <pointing towards Ken> isn’t he the one who defeated you earlier? ” shouted one among the crowd.
“So you both have teamed up together? Then get ready to die together.” Another voice came from the swamp of players.
“You bastards!”
“It’s time to kick their asses, Harry. Let’s go.”
As Ken raised his hand to cast the spell, fireballs, water cannons and lightning blazes, come from every direction.
“Gift of Void.”
Ken finished his chant before the hit and a green colored dome showed up out of nowhere and covered both Harry and Ken. The spells hit the dome but to the bad luck of other players, the dome was too strong to be broken.
“Medusa’s whim”, wasting no time Harry chanted his spell and suddenly everyone (except Ken, due to his gift of void) turned to stone. Wasting no time, they both rushed and easily eliminated the stone turned players.
“Hey! Is there a limit for this spell?” asked Ken.
“I don’t know, need to check “. Harry opened his directory and long pressed icon of the spell. A pop up showed up on the screen with a picture of Medusa and a brief description.
“It’s mentioned here that the spell’s effectiveness depends upon one’s affinity towards the spell and time duration is mentioned as 2 minutes.”
“Two minutes, it was close there ……..besides what does affinity means?”
“I don’t know. Maybe it wasn’t properly described.”
“Yes, it can be possible.” Keeping his sword back, Ken sat down under a tree.
“Don’t ease off brat, we have some unfinished business,” Harry commented currently pissed off by Ken’s seriousness towards him.
[Brushing off his tracksuit with his hands] “Yes! Yes! I know.” Suddenly a voice comes from the sky. “Gentleman, 18 out of 20 players have been eliminated and only two are left.” It was Marwin’s who was making an announcement on the server.
“Let’s finish this up Harry, I have to go somewhere later.”
Ken unleashed a fireball which was easily washed by Harry’s water cannon. Ken again fired a lightning bolt which was canceled out by Harry’s “Gift of Void”.
“It’s too boring to fight a sorcerer’s battle. Let’s fight with just one spell and our swords” Ken proposed.
“Goes fine with me” both Harry and Kane selected a spell from the directory and waited for the other to move.
Wind gushed through the fallen leaves and the sizzling leaves echoed in the once again, dead silent forest. Taking a step back, Harry rushed towards Ken. Ken out of nowhere threw his sword with full might toward the right as the weapon vanished from the sight.
Seeing Ken’s move, Harry felt something wrong <<which was clearly seen on the face>> but it was too late to turn back. The weaponless Ken stood helplessly in front of charging Harry as he chanted “Medusa’s whim” and in no time, Ken turned into a stone and his head was knocked off by Harry’s sword. But, at the same time, Harry felt something in his stomach and looked down to find a sword coming out of his gut.
With this, the test came to an end and both of them returned to the real world. Ken took off his VR and found Harry standing in front of him.
But before he could say anything Marvin shouted <<to make sure everyone could here>> “As we were unable to find a winner both Harry Kovic and Ken Koshi are selected for the competition.”
With claps all around the room, Ken returned the VR to Marvin and walked out of the room.
“Hey! Ken, Ken” it was AK who came shouting from behind as Ken was walking down the flair of stairs.
“where were you AK?”
“I was knocked out in the first round itself” but I watched how marvelously you fought.. <taking a slight pause>Now let’s go and get me what you promised.
“Ya! Ya! I got to say that you have earned your reward. Now come, Let’s go to grab a bite !”
Chit chatting, both of them left the building premises. Meanwhile, the ‘near winner’ Harry wasn’t ready to believe that a mere brat had outwitted the best of his brains. And so, he asked Marvin for the test footage.
Uploading, the footage on the screen, Marvin and Harry, closely monitored as the footage played, minute by minute. Towards the end, it was seen that Ken enchanted something right before the fight between Ken and Harry and when Harry charged towards Ken, Ken intentionally let his guard down and allowed Harry to hit first.
“He cheated, Marvin. For sure!”
“No, I don’t think so.” Talking out his Cellphone and checking a list on his phone.
“See! here”.
Marvin showed Harry a list of spells, on which a spell was particularly highlighted. “Gift of Raoumoko………” in decreasing phonetics, Harry read out the name of the spell.
“Fuck! How didn’t this came to my mind”.
Gift of Raoumoko, as the name suggests was a spell of trickery which redirected a weapon of an object towards a particular person even if the initial attack or throw wasn’t directed at the enemies. The effect of the spell was such that the weapon will never miss the enemy and will hit at any cost.
“ Shit! I missed my calculations! I underestimated him, yet once again.” Harry said angrily to himself.
“I’ll sure take revenge of you. You wait, Ken!. Just you wait!”.