Chapter Five: Game, Set, Match
Jeand Grasslands
The battle in the Jeand Grasslands was approaching its end.
The army of over 55,000 monsters was already down to half of that number, and the many Masters on the scene, especially the King of Destruction, were quickly taking care of those still standing.
Franklin also didn’t have any more of his unique monsters. The RSK had been felled by Ray Starling, while DGP and KOS had been destroyed by the man’s brother.
The fights in the streets of Gideon were abating, as well.
The freed monsters and the traitors had been more or less exterminated, while the King of Orchestras, the second strongest imperium Master on the scene, had been given the death penalty.
The direction of the battle was fixed, and Franklin’s defeat was now inevitable.
Normally, the surviving Dryfean forces would have ended the battle by retreating, but they displayed no intention of stopping. After all, the overwhelming majority of those remaining were monsters of the Suicide Series, an army of biological weapons whose cells practically screamed for them to charge and kill until death. They were the reason why the kingdom’s Masters were still fighting and why the King of Destruction’s Baldr continued its infernal artillery.
Even now, the Suicide Series — and chunks of the ground, along with them — were being scattered into the wind by the battleship’s bombardment.
It was happening a short distance away from the kingdom’s Masters, and one of them was keenly observing the sight.
“Ray’s brother’s Embryo sure is something,” muttered Rook to himself, feeling much like someone watching a firework show.
He wasn’t alone in that. Just about every one of the low-rank Masters present on the battlefield was doing the exact same thing.
When the many high-rank Masters had escaped the barrier surrounding the central arena, the newbies had been told to stand back.
It wasn’t because they would get in the way, but because the high-ranks had a consensus that the newbies had worked too hard to get the death penalty here.
Rook himself was unable to keep up with their speed without using Union Jack or Liz’s protection, so he could only agree that he had no place on the front lines.
“High firepower artillery...” he muttered. “Honestly, I’m not sure if that fits him all that well...”
That sentiment aside, Rook was in absolute awe at Baldr’s power, proficiency, and precision. It fired countless shots, yet none of them hit Ray as he made his way towards Pandemonium.
Despite being a newbie just like Rook, Ray was still out there fighting. He’d broken through the enemy lines and gone after the leader, Franklin.
Rook had seen Ray and Shu talk to each other. The two hadn’t spoken aloud, and instead had used the Telepathy Cuffs Shu’d given Ray before he’d left the arena. Nevertheless, Rook had been able to correctly assume what they’d talked about.
Ray had said that he wanted to get to Franklin atop of Pandemonium. Shu had decided to help him.
By their own will, with no hesitation to speak of, they instantly set out to do what they had to do.
Rook found it nothing short of dazzling, and observed Baldr’s artillery while basking in the aftertaste of the sentiment.
Suddenly, something caught his attention.
“Hm...?”
It was somewhere in the area ravaged by Baldr’s attacks.
“That’s...”
Surrounded by explosions and dust, there was a familiar silhouette.
It quickly disappeared beyond the veil. Rook could easily tell that it went towards Pandemonium and fully understood the reason why.
Rook heaved a sigh, understanding that this had happened because of his carelessness. Absentminded as she was, he’d left her all alone without any supervision. But at the same time...
“That’s much better than merely hesitating...” he murmured to himself.
...he was a bit satisfied.
“Ray Starling has arrived at the upper part of Pandemonium,” Baldr reported to its Master.
"Right," Shu said as he swung his fist. It landed directly on a Suicide Series monster, instantly obliterating and making it vanish.
The unfortunate creatures stood no chance against fists that could instantly kill legendary monsters.
To add to that, his Right of Destruction negated most defensive skills and fatal damage negation effects, such as those provided by the Lifesaving Brooch. Some of the Suicides he’d pulverized had impressive resistances, but those meant nothing before his punches. Yet the Suicides continued attacking him, showing no fear whatsoever.
Their minds weren’t even equipped to consider their own lives, so they kept on charging towards Shu — towards certain death.
“Mh...” he muttered.
It was easy to describe it as disgusting and call it a day, but Shu felt like their way of existence was a brief glimpse into the mind of their creator, Franklin.
He clearly defines what he has to gain, what to discard, what to win, and what to spend for that purpose, Shu thought, feeling that Franklin was much like himself and a bit like Ray in that regard.
Shu looked up at Pandemonium, where Ray should be facing Franklin, and recalled what his brother had told him over the Telepathy Cuffs.
I have something I have to do and a question I have to ask him. Can you help me get to him?
Remembering Ray’s request made Shu form a faint smile.
“You just do whatever you think you have to,” he muttered as he looked up at the top of Pandemonium, towards Ray. “Whatever happens, I’ll set things straight. That’s my role as your big bro.”
Franklin, the mastermind behind the evening’s terrorist plot, was grinning.
The tables had completely turned, and the numerous monsters he had made were being exterminated by overwhelming destruction and a unified will to protect Gideon. Despite it all, Franklin stood atop his Pandemonium and faced Ray Starling with a smile on his face.
“KoD over there is doing all the needed work,” he said. “You’re damaged all over, Ray-boy. Why didn’t you just stay back and sleep?”
Ray’s appearance more or less confirmed Franklin’s suspicions that the King of Destruction’s strange actions were nothing but a distraction. His flashy performance had attracted Franklin’s attention, allowing Ray to arrive at the top of Pandemonium.
The fact that Ray had been able to ride Silver all the way here without being caught up in the bombardment was all the proof that Franklin needed. Also, the explosions had killed all the monsters he’d positioned in the Jeand Grasslands to act as sensors. The broadcast monsters around Pandemonium were dead, as well, meaning that no one else could see Franklin face Ray.
“Still... the King of Destruction himself...” Franklin mused.
Franklin had a good reason to believe that the Superior had a reason to help Ray. It was the name.
Along with the stats, Franklin’s Analyzing Eye of Wisdom allowed him to see the name of the King of Destruction — “Shu Starling.”
“Here’s a question, Ray Starling,” he said. “Do you know a Master called ‘Shu Starling’?”
“He’s my big brother,” Ray answered with no hesitation.
Upon hearing that, Franklin nodded in understanding and formed a wry grin. “Two brothers and two sisters,” he said. “The older ones are Superiors and the younger ones are Maiden’s Masters... Helluva funny little coincidence.”
“Huh...?” Ray raised an eyebrow.
“So, what’s so important that you had your brother help you get to me?” Franklin asked.
“I’m here for three reasons.”
“Well, that’s a number. I already know one of them, though.” Franklin pointed at a part of the floor they were standing on, towards a young, unconscious girl. It was Elizabeth, the second princess of the Kingdom of Altar. “You’re here to save her, aren’t you? Your brother can’t attack Pandemonium while she’s here, right?”
Elizabeth was his enemy’s Embryo’s Achilles’ heel. Without her, the King of Destruction would barrage Pandemonium with focused hellfire. Franklin was fully aware of that, so he was being careful not to let Ray take her.
“So what’s the second thing?” he asked.
“I have a question,” Ray replied.
“A question, eh?”
This was within Franklin’s expectations. If Ray had only been here to save the girl, he could’ve done it while atop Silver, not giving Franklin a chance to react. And if Ray had only come here to defeat him, he could’ve hit him with a surprise attack. The fact that he’d gone out of his way to get off his horse and stand there talking meant that he was obviously here for an exchange.
“What do you want to hear about?” asked Franklin. “My recommended hunting spots? The UBM habitats I know? Or perhaps my country’s internal affairs?”
Franklin had a hunch that it wasn’t any of those... but...
“Why did you do this?”
But the question that actually came wasn’t within his expectations.
“Why... What? Didn’t I talk about my goal? Did you forget it?” Franklin shot back.
“You wanted to give the kingdom’s Masters an embarrassing defeat and break the Altarian fighting spirit by showing them a devastated Gideon, right?”
“Hey, so you do remember.”
“That’s not what I’m asking, though.”
“What’s the question, then?” Franklin asked with a ridiculing look in his eyes and a jeering tone.
Ray looked directly back at him.
“What do you think of the tians?” he asked.
The question momentarily confused Franklin, but he quickly processed it and understood what it meant. “Oh, you want to know whether I think that Infinite Dendrogram is a world or a game?”
Ray nodded.
“I see, I see... AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!” Franklin roared with laughter.
As though broken in more ways than one, Franklin laughed out loud until he had to catch a breath.
“Anyone who thinks this is just a game is either a retard or a child who believes everything he’s told,” he said with the most serious expression imaginable. “A game? Like hell. The realism, the models, the life. Everything besides the system-related stuff is way beyond game level. Honestly, if the system weren’t there to try and convince us that we’re just playing something, none of this would look like a game.”
“Tsk...” Ray said.
“I have no idea what all of this actually is. I’d assume it’s the human experimentation phase for the creation of a national... no, worldwide virtual reality, but that’s way above our current cutting-edge tech, so I don’t think it’s likely. For all I know, those guys who say this is an actual other world or that aliens are messing with us could be right.”
“...Then what do you think of the people living here?” Ray asked slowly.
“AI with minds so sophisticated, they might as well be human. Or perhaps actual people from another world. Or maybe life that conforms to those boundaries. At the very least, I don’t think they’re just 1s and 0s.”
He paused.
“So I want to make this perfectly clear, bucko. If this were our Earth, if my situation, conditions, and powers were the same in real life, I’d still go through with this plan. I would act exactly the same way as I act in here. No matter how many thousands it would kill.” He proclaimed that with absolute certainty. “That’s what you wanted to know, isn’t it, Ray-baby? A Maiden’s Master like you just couldn’t help but wonder why I would design such an evil plot, right?”
“How could you do this?!” Ray asked with a voice wrung out from the very depths of his heart. Those were the words of someone who recognized this world’s lives as real and couldn’t tolerate the tragedy that had nearly befallen them. The words didn’t have a hint of theatrics or falsehood in them; they were all Ray’s mind made vocal.
“Hm...” Franklin silently looked at him, finding the young man somewhat dazzling. He realized that they were alike, but completely different at the same time. With respect to that fact, Franklin chose to respond with the same honesty. “Because I never want to lose again. I’ve had enough of being controlled. I’ll live free, create what I want, and enjoy the world as I please. No one will ever bind me. I’ve decided to crush anyone trying to obstruct my way of life.”
He then fell silent. He didn’t have anything more to say.
Franklin’s words were vague, and he was probably the only one who could ever understand them. Nevertheless, the mad scientist felt that he said all he had to.
“I see how it is.” Ray nodded in understanding.
To avoid defeat, Franklin wouldn’t hesitate to cause tragedies, and that was exactly why he had to be defeated.
His pursuit for his way of life would bring about the most devastating of calamities, which was all the reason needed to stop him at all costs.
“Anyway, that’s the second thing settled,” said Franklin, his tone back to normal. “So what’s the third?”
“It’s th— hgh!” Ray tried to answer, but his words were cut short by Pandemonium starting to shake wildly — not because it had started to move, but it because it was being barraged by an artillery storm.
“What the... KoD is attacking?” asked Franklin, thoroughly confused. “But I still have the princess. Did he finally snap or someth...?” He stopped mid-sentence and became even more puzzled.
He’d shifted his gaze to the princess’s position, and realized that she’d disappeared.
Ray wasn’t the one responsible for this.
The mad scientist didn’t even run... or perhaps he even forgot to do it upon seeing Hugo vanish.
“Frank...lin...!”
Ray had lost his right arm and even let go of Nemesis, yet he still dashed towards Franklin. After all, he was facing the very reason why he was here, his ultimate goal for coming to this place.
Ray wasn’t here just to save the princess or to present Franklin with his question. In fact, even defeating him was a secondary goal. He was here for something he’d decided he’d do long ago.
I’d like to punch that idiot for sending a kid to a place this dangerous. My fist is going straight into your face. Keep it clean for me, Superior.
Indeed — Ray only wanted to punch him.
“FRANKLIIIIIINN!” Ray forced his charred right fist into Franklin’s left cheek, finally settling the score.
“GHAH?!” Franklin exclaimed.
The power of the impact caused Ray’s fragile arm to begin crumbling. But the moment it hit Franklin’s face, the Miasmaflame Gauntlets released a burst of flame that spread across the mad scientist’s body, quickly turning him into a human torch.
Franklin no longer had a Lifesaving Brooch or any monsters he could use for Life Link. The purgatorial fires made short work of his mediocre HP, and he soon began to vanish.
“Kgh...” Just as he was about to be taken by this world’s rules and disappear, Franklin opened his mouth and spoke. “We’ll win next time.”
And with those words as his last, he became particles of light.
Thus, the Dryfean Superior that had designed and executed this nightmarish plan upon the people of the kingdom vanished at the hands of a single newbie.
With that, the incident was settled.
Or perhaps this outcome had been set in stone long ago, when a certain Superior had tried to use a certain little girl, and a certain newbie had tried to help her.
Twenty minutes after Franklin’s disappearance, the last of the Suicide Series were downed, ending the battle at Gideon.
Traitors working under Franklin were dead or deserted.
The Suicide Series was thoroughly exterminated.
The club, King of Orchestras, Veldorbell, was dead.
The spade, NDW, was dead.
The heart, High Pilot, Hugo Lesseps, was dead.
The diamond, Giga Professor, Mr. Franklin, was dead.
Thus marked the end of the terrorism at the city of duels.
Franklin’s Game was over.
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