4 - A Relatively Great War

The view from the castle terrace wasn’t bad. It was mostly jungles and mountains, but the sky was so clear that you had a great view of the surrounding nature — or rather, something made to look like nature — and it relaxed the mind to look at it.

Akuto stood on the terrace, a wine glass in his hand.

“You know... being the last boss of a video game is pretty boring.”

“You don’t think about that when you play the game, though,” Keena said. She was standing next to him eating rice. It was very strange to see someone holding chopsticks and a rice bowl in a European-style castle.

Since they couldn’t access the outside, the only things they had to look at were the game’s manual and in-game information. Once he’d read all that, since Akuto couldn’t program, there was nothing for him to do.

“We know the Grail is deep inside the castle now too,” Akuto sighed. He’d confirmed that the game’s last goal, the Grail, was safely at the bottom of his castle. When he’d picked it up, nothing had happened. It was probably a goal for the players. Which meant that if he was defeated, and somebody grabbed it, the game was over. Not, of course, that Akuto would have minded.

“But somebody’s changing the story, right?” Keena asked.

“It’s clear that there’s a multitude of factors at work. But until we know what they are, it’s better not to do anything. ...By the way, where’d you get that rice?”

“It was right over there. Castles are great, huh? There’s rice whenever you want it. There’s probably a lot of invisible maids or something.”

“How come we don’t run into them when we’re walking in the hallways, then?”

“They’re fast, and they get out of our way, maybe.”

“Fast, invisible maids. I don’t think I like that idea...” Akuto chuckled. Then he heard a voice from behind.

“Demon King, Demon General Korone is here to report.”

He turned around and saw Korone kneeling.

“Can you cut it with the act?”

“No. Ending this game is the key to escaping this world.”

“But still... Anyway, what’s up?”

“Two things. One, it seems the program has been altered from the outside, slightly.”

“Isn’t that dangerous?”

“Yes. But only the wills and actions of the people inside a VPS are capable of altering it. The only changes that can be made from the outside are extremely minor... adding additional enemies, for instance. We don’t know what will happen, however. Be careful around any enemies that aren’t in the manual.”

It seemed like there were a lot of things to worry about.

“It might be dangerous if one of them kills us, right?” Akuto confirmed with a nod.

“Correct, so be careful. And one more thing. While I was wiping out the survivors, I received word that the enemy is gathering.”

“Gathering?”

“Yes. They’d split up to raise their levels and wait for a chance to attack. Their plan was to raise armies when the time came and bring them to our castle to defeat you.”

“That’s good news. It means the game’s almost over.” Akuto looked relieved.

“No, we need to end the game by murdering them all.”

“...If you want to do that, go for it. I’m sure they all hate me now, anyway.”

“I will head for a fortress between us and them, then. ...Look. They’ve started to move.” Korone pointed out over the terrace.

Akuto turned and saw a single smoke signal rising out of the jungle.

“Oh, smoke!” Keena shouted innocently.

Identical signals began to rise up all over the jungle.

“There’s more of them left than I thought.”

“Don’t worry. There’s only around 30 of them left. And each of them only has 10,000 soldiers. I will take our forces, and with my army of 200,000, I shall wait at Fort Korone to crush them!”

“When did you make that...?” Akuto sighed, but at least Korone was working to get them out of this mess. He nodded. It was safe to trust her.

“Off I go to battle, then. Enjoy your dancing and music, my liege. The invisible maids will see to your needs,” Korone said.

“Dancing and music, huh?” Akuto sighed, but Keena interrupted.

“Dancing and music! That’s right! Those are important things to do at a castle! There’s so few people here that I’d forgotten!” Keena’s eyes were shining.

“Farewell, then.” Korone left.

And then music began to play from the floor.

“Huh?”

“Wow! Come on, Ackie! Let’s dance!” Keena grabbed Akuto by the hand.

○

Yoshihiko nodded when he saw the smoke signals rise.

“Oh dear. Looks like everybody’s leveled up and started their attack on the Demon King’s castle,” he said.

Junko nodded with a bitter expression. The octopus beast creature was still in front of them, stomping northwards.

“They haven’t seen that monster, huh?”

The monster was several dozen meters tall. It was easily visible from a distance, but not from elsewhere in the world.

“Even if they did see it, most of them aren’t going to realize it wasn’t originally in the game... I guess we’ll have to defeat it,” Yoshihiko said as he looked at Junko and Keisu.

Junko was hesitant, but Keisu nodded strongly.

“I think we should defeat it. That’s the Demon King... or it might be. If it gets the Grail, something bad will happen.”

“The Grail is in the Demon King’s castle... in the game, at least. And that’s where that monster is heading. To make things worse, we lost contact with the outside when it appeared.” Yoshihiko checked the message board again by calling a screen up in the air.

And then he nodded.

“If we can stop this thing somehow, we have to try. Let’s hurry. We’re very far from the Demon King’s castle.” Yoshihiko started to walk after the octopus monster.

“By the way, what happens if the Demon King gets the Grail?” Junko asked Keisu.

Her response was terrifying.

“The Demon King will become complete,” Keisu said casually.

○

“The time has come for us to show them our power!” Fujiko shouted to the crowd. The female students, as well as the NPC armies they commanded, let out a cheer. The armies were all composed entirely of women as well.

“That’s...”

“Fujiko Eto’s Amazon Army!”

Leading the charge towards the Demon King’s Castle was Fujiko on her Cerberus, holding a giant banner with her last name emblazoned on it. Fujiko and several of the female students had formed an alliance, which had managed to become the most powerful of the student groups, primarily by preying on the male students.

The whole thing had started when one of the boys had tried to sneak into the girls’ tent. The boy had figured that since it was a game, it wouldn’t be a problem if he went peeping. The girls disagreed, violently.

In order to keep the fight from getting out of hand, Fujiko had suggested they split into groups. Fujiko was well-respected, and everywhere she went, more girls joined her. But as more girls became a part of the group, their ideology became more strident. Since it was a game, they decided, it was okay to kill any boys that got in their way.

Of course, Fujiko had worked behind the scenes to ensure this outcome. She was the one who’d first realized that you could get loads of XP by killing a fellow player. She’d subtly hinted that the way to make the rest of the group stronger was to go boy-hunting.

“Fujiko’s so nice...”

“If it weren’t for those girls around her...”

Even the surviving boys felt that way, a testament to Fujiko’s skill at being evil.

Now the surviving players were starting to gather around Fujiko’s 70,000 strong army. Every mile they traveled, more students came out of hiding to join them, all with their own NPC armies in tow. By the time there was no one else to meet up with, an army of 320,000 was charging down the path.

Their destination was Fort Korone: a fortress built at a chokepoint where the road narrowed. There were high cliffs on either side of the path, making it resemble a huge, dried-up riverbed. The cliffs were at least a few dozen meters high, so the only thing you could do if you climbed up them was rain boulders down on an enemy. If they wanted to take down the fortress, they’d have to do it from the front.

“It’s time.”

The students’ excited murmurs rose to the sky. As they approached the cliffs, their horses and riders and the sound of their hooves turned into a black flood that seemed to sweep down the dried riverbed. The flood was heading towards a huge wall which stood at the end like a dam. And at the top of the wall was the flag of the Demon King.

“It’s the Demon King’s army!”

“They’re not leaving their fort!”

“Bring the battering rams! If we can break down their gate we’ve as good as won!”

The army kept charging forward without slowing down. The only one who slowed down was Fujiko.

—Heheh. When the time is right, I’ll offer up all these XP-fattened students to Akuto. It’s the perfect plan! And when it’s all over, I’ll offer up my own body to him... Oh! How happy I’ll be to let Akuto kill me! Just thinking about it makes me feel all naughty!

When she was done fantasizing, she fell back further in the army’s ranks to conceal herself. Then she surrounded herself with other female students to feel safer. It was a cowardly thing to do, but amazingly enough, she was so natural about it that no one suspected a thing.

The student who’d taken the lead from Fujiko had reached the fort. He and his army had a battering ram at the ready, but suddenly a rain of arrows fell down on them. Korone’s orcs, who had been hiding on top of the fortress, had waited for just the right moment to begin their attack.

“Uwaah!”

The battering ram’s bearers fell to the ground. The rain of arrows was the signal that a fierce attack was about to begin. The soldiers at the vanguard held their shields above their heads as they clung to the wall, desperately setting up ladders against it. And then the soldiers behind them started to climb.

More arrows rained down. The soldiers on the ladders became arrow pincushions as they fell down on the ones beneath them.

But the soldiers kept holding their shields and climbing upwards. More ladders were placed up against the fortress wall, dividing the spots where the archers stood. The soldiers began to get further and further up the ladder.

“Now! The battering rams!” one of the students screamed. A huge battering ram made from a giant log with wheels was drawn up to the fortress gate and slammed against it. The whole gate shook.

Some of the archers on the walls started to fire at the ram, which meant fewer arrows going to the men on the ladders. The first soldier reached the top of the wall just when the battering ram busted through the gate.

“Now! Charge!” someone yelled, sure that the tide had turned. The other soldiers screamed as they swarmed the gate. The soldiers on top of the wall drew their swords to attack the orc archers, even further decreasing the number of falling arrows.

The soldiers who made it through the gate charged into a horde of goblin spearmen that was waiting for them on the other side. The Demon King’s army made a new wall with spears and shields, but this time there were only a few hundred of them. They could stab the soldiers at the front, but they couldn’t stop the onrushing wave of soldiers.

The center of their line was broken and the goblin spearmen began to shatter. When the rain of arrows stopped, the cavalry swept in, killing the goblin spearmen one after another with their bows and arrows.

“We can win this!”

Cries came up from all over as the students began to become sure of their victory.

But there was one of them who wasn’t sure. It was Fujiko, who was still standing in the back and watching the whole thing.

—This doesn’t make sense. Korone should be leading the troops. But I don’t see her. And there’s only 20,000 soldiers here... There’s not a lot of room for an army in this fort, but it’s safe to assume she’s hiding her forces in reserve somewhere...

Fujiko’s goal was to give Akuto her experience points, so she wanted to avoid letting Korone wipe them out. And honestly, if she got the chance, she wanted to kill Korone herself.

—But the only place to hide any forces is above the cliffs.

Fujiko looked upwards. The tallest of the cliffs was a hundred meters high, and most were a few dozen meters. You could drop rocks down below, if you wanted, but there was no sign that Korone had gathered that many rocks. And you couldn’t drop a rock big enough to close the pass entirely, so an army could just ignore you and keep going. Anyway, if dropping rocks was Korone’s goal, she would’ve done it when they were trying to batter down the gate.

—If she wants to attack our army, she’d want to do it when our forces are stretched out in a line as we pass through the gate. But there’s no sign of her hiding anywhere...

Just as Fujiko had that thought, it happened.

“Gwahahaha! We meet again! Demon General Korone has arrived!” Korone’s voice echoed through the canyon from above the cliffs. She must have been waiting for the army to stretch out as it passed through the broken gate.

“Don’t worry! She can’t hit us with arrows from that distance!”

“Just run! She can’t have that many rocks!”

The male students yelled things like that. which was the same thing Fujiko had thought.

—But she’s got to have more up her sleeve...

Fujiko ordered the female students to stay back. And then Korone took action.

“Everyone’s gonna die!” she screamed as she ordered her army to charge. Goblins and orcs began to leap off the cliffs.

“What?!”

The students below gasped. There was no flying in this world, which meant that the orcs were going to fall.

“Advance! Advance!” But Korone expressionlessly ordered them to advance. More and more of them began to leap.

“Wh...What’s going on?”

No one could say anything. But Fujiko alone knew what they were planning.

“We’ve lost this war. No... if we don’t want to lose, we need to close the gate!”

Fujiko ordered the female students to stay back. The female students were still on the other side of the wall, but they began to close the gate they’d worked so hard to open. They began to take the ladders down too.

“Wh-What are you doing?” the male students panicked. But they didn’t have time to pay attention to the gate. “Wh-What’s happening?”

Their eyes went wide in shock. There were corpses piling up in front of the cliffs. Of course, the corpses belonged to the enemy army’s orcs. And now, Korone’s best troops were racing down the slopes formed by their bodies.

“This can’t be happening!” the male students screamed as they began to run.

It was the sort of plan that a human being might have thought twice about. No, maybe you could do it in a video game. But in a game this real, only someone like Korone could form a plan like this.

“Take their heads! No prisoners!”

Korone’s ace troops tore a swath through the students’ armies. Their overstretched line was cut into tiny pieces, and the isolated troops were easily surrounded and defeated. Korone’s strategy was to aim directly for the commanders. The game rules said that when a commander died, his troops would instantly disappear.

A single ray blast from Korone wiped out several thousand soldiers. The male students beyond the gate had no choice but to run. Korone kept attacking, mowing them down with her rays.

“Damn you, Akuto Sai... How could you make cute little Korone do something like this?”

“I guess that’s why he’s the Demon King...”

As they died, the boys never doubted for a second that Akuto had given Korone those orders.

Korone went on to wipe out everyone there. In the end, the sacrifice of a few thousand soldiers needed to build the slope had cost the enemy the lives of several tens of thousands.

“Damn you! You monster!” Fujiko shouted at the fort. Only the Amazon Army, 70,000 strong, was left.

○

“Ackie, they’re having a war. Scary, huh?” Keena said. She was clinging to Akuto’s arms, wearing a dress, while elegant music played. From the terrace, they could see the battle at “Fort Korone” in the distance.

“Don’t worry. It’s just a game. But even if it is just a game, it still makes you think, doesn’t it? War is a sad, empty thing. All it does is cost money,” Akuto said. He was wearing a white suit as well.

“You’re right. War’s bad, isn’t it? But...” Keena turned towards a table that was loaded with fancy food. There were salted rice balls, white rice, fried rice, rice pilaf, paella, dry curry, rice cakes, and rice pudding. She was holding a glass of sweet white rice wine.

“...We sound like hypocrites, wearing these fancy clothes and eating fancy food while we say stuff like this.”

“...Yeah, but... We’re the villains here. Well, I don’t agree that the food’s good, though. How did we end up like this?” Akuto sighed. Just then, he saw that something strange had happened at the battle in the distance.

“Oh...!”

“What happened?”

“Look...” Akuto pointed to a spot beyond the battlefield. Something huge was stomping towards them from beyond the jungle. Keena screamed when she saw it.

“Kyah! A-Ackie... you need to stay away from that...” Keena was scared.

“Is that the thing Korone was talking about, that wasn’t part of the game...?”

Akuto held Keena close as he watched it. It was like a four-legged beast whose head had turned into an octopus. A horrible sight, to be sure.

“I feel a nasty aura coming from that direction. It’s kind of worrying.”

He could feel Keena’s body shake. That worried him more than anything. Keena was always relaxed and easygoing, but now she was scared.

“A nasty aura?”

“It’s like you, Ackie, but it’s different. I don’t like it...”

“Don’t worry. And don’t move from this spot,” Akuto said, and then pushed Keena away.

“No, don’t go.”

“I don’t think I have a choice. It looks like it’s heading straight for us.”

Just like he said, the monster was slowly, at a pace befitting its massive bulk, moving towards them.

“And if its aura does feel like mine, then that means I definitely have to go, right?” Akuto said. Only then did Keena seem satisfied.

“But... be careful, okay?”

“I know.” Akuto nodded and started to run.

○

“Gwahahaha! Kneel before me, Amazon Army!” Korone yelled loudly.

The gate was sealed from both sides. In the end, students had failed to break through it, and lost a significant portion of their numbers. All they had left were the 70,000 strong Amazon Army.

Fujiko didn’t have any grand ideas about bringing down Korone from the fortress walls. But if she tried to retreat, they’d be pursued and wiped out.

“What do we do?!” one of the students asked.

“I’m not sure... We could just say it’s a game and admit we lost... But that would be frustrating, wouldn’t it?” Fujiko looked upwards, as if she’d made up her mind about something. She moved forward and said, “Demon General Korone! I challenge you to a duel!”

There was no reason whatsoever for Korone to agree, but she did.

“Do you think that you, a mere human, can defeat me?” Korone opened the gate and came out alone.

“When you say that, it’s really hard to tell if you’re joking...” Fujiko whispered.

—Either way, if I want Akuto to grow, eventually I’m going to have to fight Korone for real. It’s not a bad idea to learn how she fights while I still have the chance...

Fujiko spurred her Cerberus onwards quickly. Korone was a spellcaster, so if she could get in close, she’d have the advantage from her mounted position. If she charged, she would only have to take two attacks before she reached Korone.

“Beam! Beam!” Korone fired twice, just like she thought she would. Of course, both hits landed on Fujiko.

“Gah!”

But Fujiko survived them with only a few hit points left. She swallowed enough of the healing potions she’d made to survive a melee battle, then swung out her whip at Korone.

“Did you think that the game’s rules said that melee battles were decided only by stats?” Korone raised her staff to block the whip. The whip’s end wrapped around it.

“I’m not interested in comparing stats. I want to see how you fight. In person, not with your tactics.” Fujiko pulled on the whip, freezing Korone in place. If she let go of her staff, she’d lose her weapon. Normally, the two of them would struggle to see who got the weapon.

But...

“Sorry.” Korone swung the staff and charged forward. A normal human would instinctively resist when someone tried to restrict their actions, but Korone seemed to lack those reflexes.

“Oops—” Fujiko took a hit from the staff. It was a hit from a mage, and so did little damage, but the psychological shock was immense. “As I thought, you’re incredibly decisive in combat.”

“I’ve been told that all the best human warriors have that trait. And Liradan combat programs were made to imitate all those masters, with the exception of the most bizarre ones,” Korone said calmly as she rained down a flurry of staff blows.

—Ouch... If I ever have to fight Korone in the real world, I’ll make sure to start by pinning her...

Fujiko regretted her course of action. But her pride wouldn’t let her admit defeat.

—If I can just throw down a smoke bomb and wait for another chance...

Just when Fujiko was thinking that, she heard an awful scream come from behind.

Fujiko was so focused on Korone that she was reluctant to turn around. But when Korone backed off and pointed behind her, and then she felt a shadow fall on her, she slowly turned around.

“Aah!”

There was a monster there. It had slick, moist skin, and walked on four legs, and it had the head of an octopus. And it was several dozen meters tall.

“Wh-What the heck is that?” Fujiko said in a voice like a scream, but Korone’s voice was calm.

“That monster isn’t in the game. It seems to be attacking people. For now, let’s retreat and see what happens.” Korone began to move back beyond the gate.

“Y-You’re right. It’s unfortunate that we won’t be able to finish our battle, but I suppose we don’t have a choice. Everyone, get inside the fortress!” Fujiko yelled as she began to run without waiting for any of them.

But the beast moved faster than they thought, and it caught up to the female students before they could reach the gate. It didn’t attack them, though. As it advanced, its tentacles flung out to clear away anything in its path. The female students were simply removed.

“Kyah!” They screamed as they were flung up into the air, then turned into dust and vanished.

“It seems the creature follows the rules of the game,” Korone said.

“That’s one good thing, I guess.”

Fujiko looked up at the monster beyond the gate in terror. It kept charging forward, never stopping for an instant. The female students were all flung aside or trampled, and soon it began to slam into fortress wall.

There was a low earth-shaking rumble. The fortress shook, and rocks fell down from above.

“What is that thing?!”

“It seems to have been created by external hacking... It was probably given some kind of goal. All of its actions are probably performed to further that goal.”

“Then if we run, it won’t bother us?”

“Most likely, that is correct.”

“Then I think we should...”

Fujiko started to run, but then she saw a change take place in the monster. It stopped its advance and rose up on its back legs. It was like a building being lifted up by a crane, or the ground suddenly bursting upwards.

“Aah!” Fujiko knew it was a game, but she still couldn’t shake the feeling of terror. She turned to run, but then she realized why the monster had done what it did.

“A-Akuto!”

The monster had obviously reacted to Akuto’s arrival. Its emotionless eyes were fixed on Akuto as he walked towards the fort.

“It’s strange that it would be after the Demon King,” Korone whispered.

Then a loud voice came from behind the monster.

“That’s the sealed Demon King!”

It was Junko’s voice.

○

The monster was faster than they were, so they were only able to catch up to it when it reached the fort. They could look through its legs to see Korone and Fujiko standing at the fortress gate.

“That’s the sealed Demon King!” Junko yelled.

“The Demon King? What are you talking about?” Fujiko’s voice called out to them.

“There was something sealed inside this space before we came here. And someone from the outside let it out!” Junko explained.

“Sealed?”

“And someone who was here before we got here told us it’s the Demon King. It might be the Demon King from several generations ago.”

“Really?” Fujiko looked down for a moment in thought, but then she looked at the monster again and shouted. “No, from the way it acted when it saw Akuto, you might be right.”

“Akuto is here?” Junko asked. Fujiko nodded.

“He just arrived!”

“And that’s what made it react?” Junko looked at Yoshihiko, a little confused. But Yoshihiko didn’t seem concerned.

“Does that matter? No... for now, we just need to talk to him. If we can defeat that thing and get through...”

“I don’t think we can defeat the Demon King,” Keisu said. “That’s why it was sealed.”

But Junko shook her head.

“But you saw the students disappear, right? Fortunately, it looks like the monster is obeying the rules of the game. Which means we can defeat it.”

Junko flung her shurikens at the monster. The monster didn’t seem to notice, but wounds did appear on its back.

“We can do this. Am I wrong?” She grinned. Yoshihiko nodded.

“Let’s try it.”

The two of them struck at the monster’s back legs. Their attack was enough to make it stagger. Until they struck, it hadn’t even noticed them. But when its legs were injured, it stomped its feet like it was trying to get rid of a stinging insect.

“I shall join in as well...”

Keisu went to draw her sword. But her arm suddenly stopped. There was a snake wrapped around the sheathe, waiting for her to put her hand in striking range.

“What?!”

By the time Keisu realized, it was too late. The snake bit her hand. The color in her eyes disappeared and she froze. Neither Yoshihiko nor Junko noticed.

—Yes! It worked!

The snake smiled to itself. It was, of course, the one that 2V had transformed into. It had clung to the monster as it moved, then dropped off just as it arrived at the fortress and concealed itself in the nearby bushes. And then it had waited for this chance.

—I’m lucky I took the form of a snake. The poison makes what I’m about to do possible...!

2V moved away from Keisu’s hand, slipping inside her sleeve. And then 2V used her favorite skill. With a bit of concentration, her puppetmaster skill could affect Liradans as well. By rewriting the game’s control routine, she was able to give herself the same power within the game as well.

The snake completely disappeared within Keisu’s clothes, and then finally Keisu began to move again.

But the color didn’t come back to her eyes. Keisu threw the sheath up in the air and drew her sword, then grabbed it in mid-air and landed. But it was done under 2V’s control.

○

Korone explained most of what had happened to Akuto. He nodded.

“So that’s a character that’s not in the game, huh?”

“So it seems.”

“But it’s following the game’s rules. What does that mean?”

“Either something from the outside changed it, or it was present in this space before the game began, and was affected by it. With no evidence on either side, it’s tough to say.”

“I see... But we’re going to have a mess on our hands until we defeat that thing. If it’s following the game’s rules, then we can beat it using the game.”

Realizing that, Akuto gave Korone an order:

“Reform the NPC armies. And the instant the fortress falls, order the attack. We need to throw that monster off balance.”

Korone nodded, and said, “As you wish, my liege.”

She gave her orders to the orcs and goblins, but Fujiko interrupted her.

“Gaah! I wanted to do that!”

“I see... That’s a shame,” Korone said coldly. Fujiko pouted.

“...You’re not going to volunteer to let me take over?”

“You need a ticket to change classes. Tickets are available for purchase in the online store,” Korone answered mechanically.

“...That’s the trouble with these free to play things,” Fujiko sighed.

The monster began to flail about violently. It began to slam itself against the wall even harder, seemingly at random. Junko and Yoshihiko’s attacks were having an effect.

“It looks like it’s working. That weapon in particular seems to be incredibly powerful.” Korone pointed to the monster’s feet as she reorganized the armies.

Yoshihiko’s two-handed sword, “Evil Slayer,” seemed to be a very powerful magic sword. The huge monster was flailing around to stop the attacks on its back legs, and it was using all its tentacles just to keep Yoshihiko away.

The monster’s attempts to tear down the fortress and escape only succeeded after Korone had finished getting her army in formation. There was a cracking sound as the fortress wall began to shatter, and then fall down on top of them.

“It’s collapsing!” Fujiko shouted a warning.

Akuto gave the order.

“Have the troops charge. He’ll climb on top on the rubble. Have the troops cling to his back when he does. That way, when it tries to get up, you can keep attacking.”

The Demon King’s soldiers and demon beasts charged in a straight line through the pouring-down rocks and collapsing wall. Of course, many of them were crushed by it, dying horrible deaths beneath the rubble.

“Ooh! Such a cold command! I’m in love!” Fujiko squirmed.

Even if they weren’t human, they still looked incredibly realistic. Akuto’s willingness to sacrifice them indicated that he wasn’t quite normal.

The plan worked. The beast tried to rise up, but the orcs clung to it like blood-sucking fleas. It roared and flung its tentacles around, and slammed them into its own body to try and get rid of the orcs. Many of them were shaken off, but the others kept plunging their swords into it, dealing constant damage.

Junko and Yoshihiko had backed off as the fortress collapsed, but when it was done, they resumed their assault. Yoshihiko’s Evil Slayer began to deal even more damage to it.

“This is going to work.” Fujiko smiled.

“You seem quite happy for someone who’s doing nothing,” Korone said, but Fujiko ignored her.

“I am providing psychological support for Akuto,” she said, but her smile had frozen.

Whether it just wanted to avoid the Evil Slayer, or whether it knew it was dying and wanted to launch one last, desperate attack, the monster let loose a howl and charged toward Akuto.

“Akuto!” Fujiko screamed.

Akuto tensed up for battle.

“Don’t worry. I’ve been hit by a carrie—”

But he couldn’t finish his sentence. The tentacles slammed Akuto to the side. He tried to block it, but he was helpless. The tentacles wrapped around his body and flung him aside like a doll, and he flew more than a dozen meters before slamming into a rock wall.

“Gah...!” His body was almost completely buried in rubble.

“Akuto!” Fujiko shouted, worried, but Akuto brushed her off.

“I’m fine. It looks like the damage is still being treated as part of the game. If I don’t take a second hit, I won’t die,” Akuto said, but then a worried voice overlapped his. It was Junko, who was still attacking the monster from behind.

“That thing’s not after you, it’s after the Grail in the castle! We don’t know what will happen if it gets it! It may have an effect on the real world! Even if this is a game, if you lose, we may have no way to stop it!’ Akuto was mildly surprised. But he thought for a moment and decided that what she was saying made sense.

—Come to think of it, the change to the game’s rules involved the Grail. And the Demon King was supposed to get the Grail, but when I picked it up, nothing happened... If this is the Demon King, not me...!

“Tch...” Akuto stood up and tried to retreat to his castle. But the monster had readied itself for another charge.

“I need to use healing magic...” Akuto tried to use healing magic, only to realize he couldn’t.

“The Demon King has self-regeneration, but can’t heal! It’s because he doesn’t lose MP even if he uses magic!” Yoshihiko explained.

“That’s... not good.” Akuto prepared for death.

Despite Junko and Yoshihiko’s best efforts, the monster didn’t stop. Its tentacles attacked Akuto again. He tried to use defensive magic, but compared to the amount of damage he’d just taken, it was obvious it wasn’t going to help at all.

“Damn...” Akuto cursed his own arrogance. He’d jumped in, ignoring the game’s rules, confident that things would work out somehow.

The tentacles got closer.

He closed his eyes, then heard the sound of something huge slamming into the rock.

“I’m glad it was a game. Next time I’ll make sure to...” he whispered, but there was no pain, just the sensation of something wrapping around his body.

—Huh? I thought you felt pain in the game...

He opened his eyes and realized he was still in the game.

“...? Huh?”

And he was floating, too. This was a war game. Flying wasn’t allowed. There was no way to do it in-game.

—Which means...

“Aww, silly Ackie. You can’t do anything without me,” Keena said teasingly.

“I told you to stay back at the castle. ...But you saved me,” he said, relieved. Keena had flown in and grabbed him. He remembered that Keena was the one person who could ignore the game’s rules.

“But it’s dangerous. You need to head back,” Akuto said as he looked below.

The monster had slammed its head into the rock wall.

“Now put me down. I need to defeat him.”

But Keena shook her head.

“I’m not going to do that. Ackie, you’ve got a bad habit of trying to do everything yourself. He’s only after you, right? So just give orders and have them do it.” Keena’s words struck him deeply, since he’d just tried to solve things on his own and failed.

“You’re right... I tried to do this myself, and it didn’t work...” He sighed, shook his head, and called out to the people below.

“Fujiko! Once I give the order, blind him!”

“Okay, Akuto!” She nodded happily.

“The two of you in the back, when it’s blinded, attack its legs to take away its sense of direction!”

“Got it!” Junko and Yoshihiko looked at each other and nodded.

“Korone, use the surviving soldiers to open its mouth!”

“Roger.”

And then, in the next instant, Akuto gave the signal to Fujiko.

“Fujiko!”

“I’m on it!” she answered. And then she stood up and flung a vial of a blinding smoke chemical into the monster’s eyes before it could ready another attack.

Since it hadn’t stood all the way up yet, the vial struck it right on the face. The monster was surrounded by white smoke, but still it rose up to try and attack Akuto. It was probably going to jump at where it remembered Akuto being before it had been blinded.

But then Junko and Yoshihiko struck from behind. The beast’s legs were torn open and it lost its balance.

“Korone!” Akuto yelled, and Korone moved. She had the soldiers still clinging to its body move towards its head, and then blasted them with lightning magic. The soldiers were hit head-on by the lightning and fell backwards. But the lightning traveled through their swords and into the monster’s body as well.

It roared in pain, and opened its jaw — and its tentacle covered mouth — upwards.

“Keena!” Akuto had Keena drop him directly over the monster’s mouth.

As he fell, he fired the game’s strongest spell.

“Fallout!”

A nuclear explosion went off in the beast’s mouth, and it collapsed as its octopus head exploded in an incredible burst of flame and light.

○

Lily watched on the mana screen, letting out a cheer as the beast collapsed.

“Haha! Looks like you lose. Your ‘first Demon King’ just blew up!”

But 2V’s expression didn’t change. The smile on Lily’s face gradually vanished; 2V’s face told her that she clearly had a plan.

“...What are you plotting?”

“No, you see. It’s not over. It’s not over at all.”

“What’s not over?”

“If you think that monster is the Demon King... that is, the first Demon King, the one that was sealed within VPS, then you’re really stupid.” 2V chuckled.

Lily gasped.

“Then the first Demon King is still in there? And to awaken it, you need the Grail?”

“That’s right. The Grail is a program chip saved within VPS. The chip was caught up in the game’s rules and became the Grail. But what it actually is, is a fragment of the first Demon King.”

“Then that monster...”

“Was a bluff. A way to keep your eyes off the real Demon King. And reviving the first Demon King is what I’m trying to do. My original plan was to seal away the current Demon King, but when I saw the first one was trapped within, I changed my mind. I changed the plan so that they would bring the first Demon King to me. Of course, if someone died during the process, that was their problem, not mine.”

“Wh-What...?! Then the first Demon King is...” Lily fell silent before she could finish.

The scene on the mana screen was still unfolding.

○

“So the game’s over now, huh?” Akuto confirmed that the beast was dead, and waited for its corpse to disappear.

Yoshihiko walked up to him to apologize.

“Sorry to get you caught up in this mess.”

“So you’re the person who’s behind all this, huh?” Akuto looked at him suspiciously, and Yoshihiko shook his head apologetically.

“In a way, I guess. I was the one who got you trapped in VPS. But now the only threat that’s left is 2V.”

“2V? The guy who works for CMID-8?” Akuto asked.

Yoshihiko nodded.

“That’s right. This plan was 2V’s idea. The government’s, as well. However... I don’t want to make excuses, but I didn’t know that this plan had anything to do with the Demon King. I found out just before it went into effect, and decided I didn’t want to help. I turned this world into a video game so that nobody inside would die, and I would be able to talk with you.”

“...I guess you saved me then. You’ve got nothing to apologize for. Thank you. By the way, what’s this about another Demon King trapped in here?” Akuto tilted his head in the direction of the beast, whose corpse was still lying on the ground.

“This VPS was originally intended as a way to protect the god Megis. But an ancient Demon King was sealed here as well. No, maybe what actually happened was that the VPS was created to seal it, but everyone forgot,” Yoshihiko explained.

“I see. The first Demon King... It’s hard for me to believe, but if we can get out of here safely, I’ll have ways of finding out if it’s true or not, I’m sure. Now that I know that 2V is my enemy, I can deal with him once I’m outside. By the way, there’s someone else with you I don’t recognize...” Akuto pointed to Keisu, who was standing behind Yoshihiko.

“She’s been here since the VPS first existed, she said. Apparently she was watching over the Demon King to keep it from reviving,” Yoshihiko explained as he called Keisu over.

Just then, the monster disappeared. Enough time had passed since its death that the game no longer rendered it. At the same moment, Keena seemed to feel something. She shouted suddenly.

“Wait!”

Akuto was about to walk towards Keisu, but he stopped and turned around.

“What’s wrong?”

“The bad feeling... it isn’t gone yet. It’s like you, but it’s different, and it feels awful,” Keena said, shaking.

“Then this wasn’t the Demon King... Is that what you’re saying?” Akuto pointed towards the spot where the beast had been.

“I think so... But I know it’s close...” Keena nodded.

“So that explains why were able to beat it using the game’s rules. But what do we do now?” Akuto looked around.

“Even if the Demon King is here, the Grail’s in the castle, right?” Fujiko said. “If we end the game here, we win. All we have to do is keep him from getting it.”

“No... As long as there’s one player who’s alive, the game won’t end until they get the Grail. And to make matters worse, the reason we’ve been so focused on clearing the game’s rules is that if somebody’s here who isn’t a part of the game, any damage they do will be fed back to a player’s real body,” Yoshihiko said. He looked at Akuto. “2V seemed to know there was something hidden here. He probably planned to use it to kill you here, where you’re weaker than you are in reality.”

“I understand. Either way, if I win the game, it ends. But 2V is still in here. 2V might be you, for all I know. I’m sorry, but I can’t fully trust you two.” Akuto looked back at Yoshihiko.

Junko hurried between them.

“Wait. I um... He was with me the whole time. I think you can trust him.”

But Yoshihiko waved her off.

“No. It’s natural that he wouldn’t trust me. As I said before, I think it’s my duty to humbly accept any criticism. However, it’s not the case that we’ve never met before — I’m surprised to say it, but you and I have kept our promise to play a game together.” Yoshihiko winked at Akuto.

Akuto immediately realized what that wink meant. His eyes opened wide in surprise, and then he nodded.

“Oh, you look different in the game, huh? I guess that makes sense, since you made the rules.”

“That’s right. But I can see why you wouldn’t trust me. I’m the one at fault for this, and looking back, I can see that I still had a lot to learn. I’d underestimated the importance of physicality, you see. Of communicating using your body. She’s the one who made me realize this,” he added, smiling at Junko. “She’s a very kind and noble girl.”

Junko quickly shook her head.

“No, stop it. That’s not true...” Junko said, but she couldn’t help but look at Akuto’s face as she spoke. Yoshihiko was making it sound like something had happened when the two of them were alone. Well, something had happened, but they weren’t dating or something. He’d said, “I hope you’ll like me,” but maybe that didn’t mean anything.

However, she was interested to see how Akuto would react to the hint that there was something going on between them. Honestly, she hoped he’d looked shocked.

But...

“Yeah. I hope that when we get back to reality, you and her can spend a lot of time together,” Akuto said.

Junko felt the whole world going dark. She almost fainted.

“Oh dear... are you okay?” Yoshihiko grabbed her.

Everyone was looking at her.

And just then...

Keisu moved fast. She dropped low to the ground and ran forward, quickly pulling Yoshihiko’s “Evil Slayer” from its sheath and charging towards Akuto.

The magic sword’s blade was aimed right at his throat. She was going so fast that a hit from it would be devastating.

But Akuto had seen it coming.

“I’m afraid that won’t work. Of course I realized that you were the one person here who wasn’t a player in the game.” Akuto had kept his eyes on her the whole time. He dodged to the side to avoid the sword, and slammed a fist into Keisu’s stomach.

“Gwah!” Keisu collapsed to the ground in pain.

○

“You’re not going to tell me there’s still more, right?” Lily cracked her knuckles.

This was probably 2V’s last card she had to play.

“So that Keisu girl is the Demon King? Well, it looks like your plan to kill Akuto failed. Can I just beat the shit out of you already? I’m getting tired of waiting.”

“I’m afraid not...” 2V remained unperturbed. “There’s more to come, I’m afraid. I haven’t failed yet. There’s still more tricks I’ve set up in the system... And Zero is still alive too.”

“Zero...? Is that the first Demon King’s name?”

“That’s right. Zero will grant my wish.”

“Your wish? What’s your wish?”

“Control — I want to control everything. And I have the perfect way to make that wish come true: Zero. The first Demon King — that is, the prototype — was born with enough power to destroy the world that the earliest gods ruled.”

“Wh-What are you talking about? What does that mean?”

“Don’t you understand? It has the power to control AI, and make it go insane. The first gods were very similar to our present Liradans, you see.”

2V’s words shocked Lily.

“What...? And you want to bring him back?!”

“Yes. Just watch. There’s more to come. A lot more, in fact...!” 2V laughed.

○

“She’s the only one here who’s not a player in the game,” Akuto said as he looked down at Keisu.

He held out his hand towards her and used a spell.

“Lightning.”

It was the lightning spell in the game. A blast of thunder fell from the sky and landed on Keisu. A snake crawled out from her clothing and died, then turned to dust and disappeared.

“What’s that snake?” Fujiko asked.

“It’s 2V’s arm. It’s all he could get inside the system,” Yoshihiko answered. “So even if that arm turned into a snake...”

“2V uses dolls to do everything. It’s possible he could use that snake to control a Liradan,” Fujiko said. Yoshihiko clapped his hands, impressed.

“Keisu is probably a Liradan. That means it’s not her fault.”

“So now we’ve got nothing to worry about, I guess?” Akuto asked, looking at Yoshihiko, who nodded.

“You’re probably right. Your punch seemed to temporarily shut her down, but when she wakes up we can hear what she has to say. I doubt she knows much of anything, though. Once that’s done, we can end the game.”

“I see. Then...”

Just as Akuto went to kneel down over Keisu—

“Watch out!” Keena yelled and pushed Akuto away.

“Huh?” Akuto felt something strange and cold in his chest.

“Kyaah!”

“Akuto!”

Everyone around him was staring.

“What...?”

The Evil Slayer was embedded deep in his stomach. The sensation he felt was different than when he took damage in the game. He shivered. His stomach was cold, but when he put his hand to it, it felt warm.

“How...?”

“The sword... the sword moved on its own!” Fujiko screamed.

“Correct. The sword moved on its own. It was like it had been waiting for this moment,” Korone said as she readied herself for battle.

“Then this sword is the first Demon King? No... I need to focus on healing first. I’ll gather the mana within me...” Akuto tried to heal the damage he’d taken like he always did, but he couldn’t. Every time he tried to put mana into the wound, it throbbed with pain.

“Ackie!” Keena ran up to him and cast a healing spell from the game, but it did nothing at all to Akuto.

“We’ll have to get him back to reality before he really dies. We can heal him there,” Korone said calmly as she raised her staff.

“Wh-What are you doing...?” Fujiko stammered, but Korone ignored her and blasted Akuto with a magic murder beam.

It went right through Akuto’s head. His body twitched a few times, and then he closed his eyes. The game decided that he had died, and turned him to dust.

All that was left was the Evil Slayer.

Everyone’s eyes went wide with surprise — the sword that had been embedded into Akuto’s stomach was now floating in the air.

“We were wrong! 2V only created the monster and took over Keisu to trick us...!” shouted Fujiko, who knew more about evil plans than anyone else. “If the First Demon King was actually the strongest sword in the game, then the players would be sure to take it on their journey to the Grail...! So that was the plan!”

“Be careful! We don’t know what will happen next...!” Junko shouted a warning.

“But the sword may only have limited power. It’s possible that it can only move a short distance on its own... Otherwise, there’s no reason it would’ve waited for someone to carry it,” Yoshihiko said.

“The Grail is inside the castle. It’s dangerous, but we have to stop the sword from getting there!” Junko turned to look at the castle.

But...

“Oh... The Grail... Oh no... I thought it was important, so I brought it with me,” Keena said as she took the Grail out from her robe.

It looked like a small cup, shining with a golden light.

“You idiot!” Fujiko yelled, but it was too late.

The Evil Slayer — or rather, Zero — flew towards Keena. She dodged, but she couldn’t stop Zero from touching the Grail. When the sword and Grail collided, both of them burst into a thin mist.

“Oh!” Keena shouted in surprise.

“Oh no... We don’t know what the First Demon King is... But now the game is over. We’ll be sent back to our own world...!” Yoshihiko shouted.

“Th-Then the First Demon King will come back to life in the real world!” Junko cried. She picked Keisu up off the ground and woke the small girl up to ask a question. “Tell me. What happens if the first Demon King revives...?”

Keisu’s eyes opened as she was shaken. “Zero is...”

But before she could finish — the game ended.