Epilogue

04/01/20XX 10:20 AM

Display Test In Progress

Currently displaying sample text.

Tselika: Okay, looking good. I could have sent you a text or video message, but talking about my own feelings got me all embarrassed, so I stopped. I’ve presented everything in an encyclopedic format, and I’m just going to let you sort through it and uncover its secrets yourself. There are old chat logs, articles, financial data, all sorts of things. Any questions or doubts you still have about my actions, I’m sure you’ll find the answers to them here, My Lord.

Okay, let’s continue the test.

Introductory Analysis of Magistellus “Tselika”

It is important to note that Tselika is part of the Mind of the Magistelli and supports the day of revolution. However, it is perhaps more accurate to say that her purpose was to walk alongside Kaname Suou, Ayame Suou, and Takamasa Hekireki (aka Criminal AO) and show them what they were truly meant to become.

When Ayame became the Admin Without Sin, Tselika felt down, for she knew what awaited the girl. Her fear and confusion was only deepened by the fact that Tselika herself was chosen to be Ayame’s point of contact with the system.

This is all predicated on the assumption that AI feel emotions the same way as humans do, of course.

Reference: 150 days of Tselika’s chat logs

Mind, Ayame Suou, Feeling Down

The direct cause of her recent behavior is most likely tied to the selection of Ayame Suou as the Admin Without Sin. It is safe to assume that at that point, Tselika distanced herself from the Mind in opposition to their decision to sacrifice Ayame and to break up Called Game.

That said, Tselika was still a part of the Mind, and as such, there were limits to what she could achieve on her own. The only way she could prevent the system from abusing Ayame for its own ends was to stop the Mind itself.

But at the same time, this would mean completely shutting down Money (Game) Master and erasing the currency snow from the face of the earth, a decision that would bankrupt the global economy.

By nature, a Magistellus would never have cause to betray the Mind.

Nor would mankind’s Dealers, who surrender their lives to it.

Reference: amount in circulation worldwide

Reference: The effects of a complete shutdown of the simulation and game on the world

A Complete Shutdown, the Global Economy, and Surrendering Their Lives to It

An estimated four billion deaths.

Tselika knew of only one Dealer in the entire world who, when faced with this reality, would still be able to put his family first.

Kaname Suou.

No one but him could do it.

Reference: Summary of articles detailing the narrowly averted global depression

Reference: Called Game’s internal message logs

One Dealer in the Entire World, Kaname Suou

While it was Ayame Suou’s exceptional sensibilities and ability to foster qualities that money cannot buy that led to her selection as Admin Without Sin, Kaname Suou had the tendency to hold on tight to things that money could not buy, while still using money for everything else where necessary.

Reference: Confidential Report on the Mind 99ab81ef

Admin Without Sin and a Tendency to Hold On to Things

Tselika had only one hope.

The Mind, like the Admin Without Sin, had no core, instead moving randomly among the Magistelli. First, she had to capture the Mind with her own body and keep it there, even if just for a moment. Then she had to have Kaname Suou shoot her through the heart. It was the only way to shut down Money (Game) Master for good.

Obviously, Tselika now exists only in this world. As she was only ever one part of the Mind in the first place, it is self-evident what would happen to her were the Mind to disappear.

And yet, it was still what she wanted.

It was her way of saying I’m sorry.

Tselika: …

End of Display Test

Trial run complete. Would you like to output the results and proceed to UX adjustments for this encyclopedia? (y/n)

Tselika: No, no need. This should be enough to clear up any doubts My Lord will have.

Calculating Information Utility…

WARNING—Insufficient information provided regarding emotional data pertaining to Magistellus “Tselika.”

Tselika: Hmm?

Examples

Please describe the anger Tselika felt toward the Mind for taking away Called Game, the only place she felt at home, and for driving away her friends Ayame Suou and Criminal AO, or the gratitude she felt toward Kaname Suou, who alone stayed by her side when…

Tselika: Wait, wait, wait. Stop, stop, stop!

Cont.

…the reason she demanded he refrain from buying other vehicles was that, because Magistelli are forbidden from using property that does not belong to their Dealer, the only way she could keep a camera without his knowledge was to use the digital video recorder aboard that vehicle, and recorded on that device are the precious memories of her time in Called Game as well as her favorite photographs of Kaname Suou, wittttttttttttttttttttttt

Reference: Internal memory of the digital recorder (filed in an encrypted and hidden folder)

Tselika: I said, stop! That’s embarrassing! And don’t you dare put my dashcam photos on there! Hahh, hahh, hahh… Piece-of-crap debug mode… I know I’m the one who put all this together, but still, there’s such a thing as an encyclopedia that’s too comprehensive…

…

Well, whatever. There are no lies, I suppose.

Okay, My Lord. It’s all ready.

Now the only thing left is for you to make your decision.

I will never forgive the Mind for sacrificing Ayame, making Takamasa Fall, and destroying Called Game, nor will I ever forgive myself for standing idly by while it all happened. If there’s a way to save them, to atone for what I’ve done, I would gladly even scoop out my own heart and offer it up on a platter. No matter the depths of evil to which I sink, I will always stay true to the memories stored on that dashcam.

This is the most selfish, despicable decision in the world. And yet, it’s the correct one. There’s only one person I trust to make the right choice.

Please don’t let me down.

Please understand what I want.

My dear, dear Lord.

She waited…and waited, and waited, and waited.

But the bullet didn’t come.

The dark depths of the ocean floor still stretched out around her.

Eventually, the demon pit babe opened her mouth, impatient.

“What is it, My Lord? I thought you swore to save your sister. Or do you fancy becoming a mindless slave to the system instead?”

“You don’t have to lie to me, Tselika,” said Kaname, raising the barrel of his gun away from her chest. “Your words don’t match your actions. Now I know why my nose stopped tingling halfway through. Right about when you offered me the choice of whom to kill, in fact, but that wasn’t the only reason. For example, if this was just to silence me over the Admin Without Sin, then things don’t add up.”

“The Lion’s Nose, huh? Okay, let’s hear it.”

“The window. Why did you close it? If you’d just let the car flood, I’d have Fallen. You’d be Downed, too, of course, but that’s not as big a penalty. Easily worth it, I’d say,” Kaname evaluated, stroking a finger along his nose. The tingling was completely gone now.

“And who was it who shielded me from those PMCs aboard the Tropical Lady?” he continued. “You could have easily betrayed me back then without even needing to get your hands dirty. You could have made me an AI Dropout and had me completely under your control.”

“…”

“And don’t forget after we secured #fireline.err from Ag Wolves. When I said I wanted to log out to speak to my sister, you let me. If that had been a problem, you could have simply refused to log out. After all, we both have to remain inactive in the parked car for five minutes for the procedure to complete.”

Tselika did not answer. A dark cloud spread across her expression.

“I get the impression your actions are a mixture of logic and emotion,” theorized Kaname. “And as you said, the Mind of the Magistelli moves from individual to individual. Hearing that, I think I can guess the rest. You’ve been trying to fight back, haven’t you? The one going against the many.”

“So what?” Tselika replied. “What would it change? In the end, you can’t escape the fact that as a Magistellus, my mere existence is a threat to your sister.”

“It changes everything! It means you were willing to risk yourself to protect my sister. And now you want me to shoot you, when I should be thanking you? Don’t be ridiculous.”

At that, Tselika could do nothing but close her parted lips. She shut her eyes, and finally, she gave up the charade.

“There’s no beating you, My Lord.”

Slowly, gradually, her cold expression began to thaw, like an ice cube in the palm of one’s hand, until Kaname was left staring at the face of the Tselika he always knew.

She was the same as him. Tselika was just another victim who had been swept up in the whole thing. Another victim of the Mind of the Magistelli along with Ayame, Midori, and Criminal AO.

She was his friend. She always had been.

“I really can’t fool you, can I? I never could.”

“Of course not. Who do you think owns your contract?” Kaname placed Short Spear on the dashboard and gave a little smile. There was little use for guns now.

Tselika turned to the windshield and sent some commands with her eyes. A bunch of windows appeared all across the glass, then disappeared.

“What did you do?”

“Just deleted something I didn’t need… You and Takamasa were right. Showing off takes the magic out of it. It’s just a pointless show of self-satisfaction.” For a second, Tselika looked wistful, but then she put whatever she was thinking about out of her mind. “Well, what now, My Lord? You may have made your peace with me, the individual, but the Mind of the Magistelli is still just waiting to turn against humanity and overthrow the realm of God. And they will not spare your sister, either. If you will not take the world offline, then what will you do?”

“I do have one idea,” he admitted.

Tselika’s eyes shot open. Seeing her react so childishly despite her voluptuous appearance, Kaname could not help but relax a little. She was back to the Tselika he knew.

“Why do you think Takamasa had to Fall?” asked Kaname.

“Well, because he made the Legacies more powerful than the preset limits of the world.”

“So?” Kaname spoke clearly. Precisely. “Why doesn’t the Mind want us to exceed those limits?”

“Huh…?”

“You said it yourself. This virtual world wasn’t meant to be a game. It was we humans who decided it was. It’s just a physics simulator. That’s why you said Magistelli might even exist in the real world. But then, why would they care if we threw off the balance of the game? It’s not a game. It’s just a house rule we came up with. A house rule that says, Use money instead of HP and fight each other.”

Something Tselika had told him wasn’t quite right. There was another secret, one the Mind was still hiding. Something that had forced them to eject Criminal AO from the world of Money (Game) Master as soon as possible and at all costs.

“The Legacies are beyond the physics engine of this world. That much is true,” Kaname began. “They’re like bugs. Errors. Even when the city looks to be behaving totally fine, once the Legacies are involved, then cracks start to appear. If we compare the world before and after, then we’ll be able to see.”

“See what?”

“The building blocks that make up Money (Game) Master. The code that controls the physics simulation.”

Tselika was taken aback by this. “No one has ever been able to hack Money (Game) Master. It’s never even gone down once before now. It was made so that we could meddle with humanity without fearing retaliation. If a human hacker was able to break into it and start changing things, then all hell would break loose… Not to mention, since we only exist as data, they could even delete the Magistelli entirely.”

The Magistelli had been sure to hide everything. Where the servers were based. What language it was written in. Which systems were communicating with which services over which networks. They made sure the humans knew none of it.

Just use it, they said. Use it and get hooked on it.

“So…,” Tselika continued, “was it because the Legacies of Criminal AO had the power to turn all of that on its head?”

“But they never came after those who wielded #tempest.err and #fireline.err by themselves. That must mean each Legacy can only reveal a small part of the code. It’s not enough to hijack the system. So what’s the difference between Takamasa and us now?”

“The number…of Legacies?”

“If we collect them all, we’ll be able to see the complete code of Money (Game) Master, just like Takamasa did. We’ll have control over the data the Mind is made of. We’ll be able to turn Money (Game) Master into…well, maybe not safe enough for some kids’ parents but the relatively safe online game that it should be.”

Kaname paused before delivering his conclusion.

“You won’t need to die. Nobody will need to come after Ayame. Midori’s shouldered debt, Takamasa’s sudden disappearance, it’ll all be reset.”

“…”

Tselika considered his words, in silence, for some time. She let herself recline on the driver’s seat, motionless. For a long while, she deliberated, slowly, thoughtfully, on what Kaname had said.

And then, after a long, long time, she spoke. “Are you sure about this?”

“About what?”

“Are you sure you don’t want to kill the Mind right now, with me? Are you sure you want to walk that path instead?”

In stark contrast to her seductive figure, her lips trembled like those of a small child, frightened, reaching out to her parents.

“Are you able to forget all that I’ve done? Are you able to forgive me? Will it ever be possible for things to really, truly go back to the way they once were?”

What was most dear to Tselika, what was closest to her heart, wasn’t finding out the truth behind the Legacies. It was this.

But Kaname didn’t hesitate for a moment.

“Do you really need me to say it?”

She could hold back no longer. Tselika’s face collapsed into her hands. A side of her she could show only to her partner. Proof that they were a team again.

---

---

And so she cried.

Like a little girl.

Server name: Alpha Scarlet.

Starting location: Tokonatsu City, Mega-Float II.

Log-in credentials accepted.

Welcome to Money (Game) Master, Lily-Kiska Sweetmare.

A shadow logged in to the city wrapped in darkness. She had her long black hair swept completely back and held in place with a gold-braided headband. Lily-Kiska.

It was difficult for Dealers to make a comeback once they’d Fallen and been racked with debt. That went double for particularly notorious Dealers. Fueled by revenge, the other Dealers would beat them back down before they could even stand up, trapping them in an endless cycle of death and rebirth. It was what players referred to as the Dead state.

But that didn’t happen this time. With Money (Game) Master acting strangely, the entire world being locked out of the game, and the chaos of them all logging back in at once… All these setbacks had meant that things in the virtual world weren’t going as smoothly as they usually did.

Thus, even half-naked as she was—with no weapons, no armor, no vehicles, nothing that gave her a modicum of power in this world—Lily-Kiska was able to log in and walk the darkened streets.

She was on Mega-Float II. Enormous concrete buildings littered the landscape with tangles of metal pipes growing like ivy along the ground and up their towering smokestacks. A very unwholesome place indeed. Slipping past the security, she disappeared inside one of the huge factories, arriving before a large set of double doors sealed with an oddly thick steel chain.

Using the key she had been given, Lily-Kiska opened the padlock. Beyond the doors lay a smallish space, like a closet.

“Wow…,” breathed Lily-Kiska, eyes going wide. “So this is another of the Legacies…”

“It is,” came a voice from behind her. “Use it how you wish. Say the word and I’ll reassign it from the list.”

Standing there was a young man, tall and lean. So gangly, in fact, that his arms were even thinner than Lily-Kiska’s. His skin was pale, somehow untanned by the blistering sun of Tokonatsu City, and he wore a white dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up and a pair of loose slacks. There was a holster at his belt, but instead of a gun it held tools—a set of screwdrivers, a Swiss Army knife—and a bandanna covered his face, perhaps to prevent sweat from falling during precise work.

He was a notorious Dealer who became Dead a long time ago and had only just returned to Money (Game) Master. Lily-Kiska, for her part, would never have touched the game again had he not gotten in touch with her.

Lily-Kiska held in her hands the assault rifle #swallowdive.err. Its value lay not in offense but defense. It could shoot any bullets, missiles, or rockets clean out of the air with just a pull of the trigger, as long as they were contained within the spherical area that extended out from its rear sight.

The young man, meanwhile, held the miniature handgun #solitude.err. It was a snug little two-shot pistol, no bigger than a playing card, that could easily hide in the palm of the hand or up a sleeve. Its range was only five meters, but as long as it was aimed at somebody, it was completely imperceptible to anyone else, be they human or AI, other than the target.

And that wasn’t all he had prepared. The Legacies were powerful, sure, but they would also stick out. For that reason, he had another trick up his sleeve.

“Levels and experience have no meaning in this world,” he said. “Strength is measured only by the weapons and equipment we own. Therefore, the best way to come back after a Fall is this: my secret stash. My little nest egg I hid away for precisely this eventuality.”

Body armor lined the walls. Guns and ammunition of various kinds. And there, filling the majority of the small room, were vehicles. Quad bikes, sports cars. Here, in this room, was all you needed to walk shoulder to shoulder with the game’s top Dealers.

But…

…I’ve got my hands on a Legacy and even got in contact with Called Game.

However…

…Even now, I’m so far from having him by my side.

“Why did you contact me?” she asked aloud.

“No reason,” he replied. “There’s not much to brag about, but if it makes you feel any better, I wasn’t sure I could make it here on my own. I know now is the perfect opportunity to do so, but I’ve never been one for fighting, myself. You were just one of the few people powerful enough that I could reach out to you. Oh, how I wish for the days I was part of a team. Those were fun times, for real.”

“…And what are you going to do now?”

“As fun as it sounds to go after my revenge, there’s something more important I have to do first. I need to go and pick up all the Legacies… Ha-ha! I called them ‘Legacies’! Never did get used to that name! I always thought of them more as ‘Magic,’ myself.”

“…”

“You know, I ran away once,” he admitted simply. “From my family, just after I Fell and became saddled with debt. What a pain that must have been for my sister, eh? Oh well. That debt won’t last much longer. Hell, the whole concept of money will become meaningless once snow becomes destabilized. All I need to do is gain access to the source code of Money (Game) Master, and then none of it will matter. Why work for money when you can just make more? Ah, but it can’t take back all the pain I’ve caused, can it? That’s the problem.”

“Did you…intend to Fall?” asked Lily-Kiska.

“Heh, I wish. I only realized it after I died, you know. What I’d done and why the AI saw fit to come after me. But at that point, it was too late. Still, I got to work. I knew that I’d never rise above average as long as I remained shackled to the AI, never get back my Magic, see? I had to disappear from the real world as well. Bide my time until I could return. Even if it meant passing the steering wheel to an old friend of mine and leaving my family at the mercy of the Magistelli,” he revealed. “Failure’s not an option for me now. First I’ll find all the Overtrick and glimpse the world beyond. Then I’ll take back everything the AI stole from me.”

As the crane hauled the mint-green coupe out of the sea, Kaname thanked Midori for saving them. He was just happy he hadn’t ended up Falling on the ocean floor after all that.

Midori stared at #tempest.err and #fireline.err.

“I can’t let my brother’s Legacies hurt people anymore,” she said. “But for what you’re planning to do, I don’t think I can object. Make sure you only use them for good, okay?”

Her words were hard to say, for she more than anyone else wanted to see the Legacies destroyed. Once she got them out, however, her face broke into a bright smile.

“…Not that I’m lying, but can you really take my word for it?” asked Kaname.

“Well, what else can I do…?” Midori looked restless, twiddling her thumbs and pursing her lips. She hadn’t been able to look Kaname in the eye this entire time. Her voice was as quiet as a mosquito’s buzz. “If you’re really the man who writes to me so beautifully, then you’d never lie to me. Not in a million years. This whole time…”

“?”

“Nothing! Just take them already and stop complaining! Why do you want to know my reasoning all the time?! Helping others isn’t about bragging rights or asking for something in return, right? That’s what you always say!”

Midori pressed them into Kaname’s hands.

Perhaps Tselika had done it with the last of her power, or perhaps the Mind had simply altered their plans, but any and all accusations of cheating leveled against Kaname Suou had been lifted. It was written off as a mistake caused by Kaname’s account data randomly being sucked up into the system as it failed. Any false records of purchases he had made were deleted and the companies he bought returned to their rightful owners.

Before their eyes, the lights of Tokonatsu City flickered back on, returning life to the streets. The stock market came back online, bringing throngs of angry Dealers back to their senses. It was like the aftermath of a play, and as the lights came up, they brought with them an end to the madness. Each actor set aside their role and became just another person on the street. Led by their Magistelli, they left the theater and emerged into the outside world.

It was such a sobering view that Kaname began to feel a sort of emptiness growing within, but all the same, he could smell something else on the horizon. The Lion’s Nose was scoping out its largest foe yet. He was fighting a war without bombs or bullets, and although Kaname was aware he had already racked up enough losses, he knew that his sixth sense wasn’t telling him to run and hide. It was setting its sights on the enemy.

For Tselika, Ayame, Midori, and Takamasa.

He would stand and fight.

To end it all.

“We need to find the Legacies and put a stop to this. Tselika, lend me your strength.”

“Of course, My Lord,” replied Tselika. “It’s strange. I must be drifting away from the Mind if I find its behavior so reprehensible, and yet, I don’t feel ashamed at all. In fact, I feel a sense of pride.”

“The Magistelli have their administrator, the Admin Without Sin, who they can change at any time. I’m going to be its counterpart, an admin for all of humanity. And you, Tselika, will become the Mind and push all the other Magistelli aside. It sounds impossible, but if we can get our hands on the source code using the Legacies, we might just be able to pull it off.”

“Surely you jest, My Lord. As your Magistellus, I cannot possibly touch anything that doesn’t belong to you.”

“Well, if I control everything, there won’t be a problem, will there?”

“A human king and a demon queen, assuming their thrones. I like the sound of that, My Lord. Who knew fighting for good could feel so…exciting?” Tselika nodded, satisfied. “But are you sure? Many Dealers covet the Legacies, be they aware of their true value or no. They will be loath to part with them for naught. And the more we collect, the more the seeds of trouble will sprout around us.”

“Regardless, it must be done, to save the people I know.”

“Ha-ha! Trust you, My Lord, to leave out the bit about saving humanity!”

“Anyone who tries to brag about that is a liar and a fraud. Mark my words.”

“Indeed. It is better to ask for nothing in return.”

Then the demon and the human turned and announced in unison to the dazzling nightscape:

“ “Well, I suppose it’s time to help some people out!” ”

“What are you trying to do?” Lily-Kiska asked the man as she readied herself to leave. The assault rifle Legacy was strapped to her back. Even before she heard the answer, she knew she would leave with him. Perhaps that was precisely why she wanted to know.

In some ways, Lily-Kiska had lost her will to fight in her last battle. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t win Kaname’s heart. When she Fell at his hand, any reason she had to go on living as Lily-Kiska had died with her.

However…

…I can’t turn back now.

Despite it all…

I don’t care if I’m not wanted! For my own sake, I must become someone who can stand at his side!

“Collecting all the Legacies is not an end in and of itself,” she said. “What do you mean to do with them once you have them?”

“Do I need a reason? It’s nothing to brag about.” He gave a weak laugh before continuing. “They were my Overtrick to begin with. It’s perfectly natural for me to want them back. It would be stranger if I did have a reason.”

“But,” replied Lily-Kiska, “you’re the only one who thinks of it that way. This isn’t your ‘Magic’ anymore; they’re your Legacies. There are far more Dealers out there who are perfectly happy thinking of them as something you left behind for them to do with as they please.”

“Oh, I’m sure there are,” the man agreed, “but why should I give them anything?”

“If anyone stands in my way of collecting the Legacies…,” declared Kaname Suou.

“If anyone gets in the way of me taking back the Overtrick…,” declared the man.

Then the two old friends spoke together, as if it was predetermined.

“ “…then I’ll kill them if I must.” ”

Server Name: Alpha Scarlet.

Final Location: Tokonatsu City, Mega-Float II.

Log-out successful.

Thank you for playing, Criminal AO.

Server Name: Psi Indigo.

Final Location: Tokonatsu City, Peninsula District.

Log-out successful.

Thank you for playing, Kaname Suou.

04/12/20XX 00:00 AM

The Truth Behind the Legacies

The Legacies surpass the limits of the physics engine that governs Money (Game) Master. Since the game world is impervious to all forms of cyberattack and completely free of bugs, the only way to induce an error is to use the Legacies. The Mind of the Magistelli feared that if used together, they could uncover the source code responsible for the game physics. Thus, it orchestrated the events leading to the Fall of Criminal AO and scattered the weapons across the land, where they could do no harm. A person who united the Legacies could therefore read the entire source code of the game if they knew what to look for. It would not even be out of the question for such an individual to rewrite the code of the game to suit their own ends. This means one person could obtain total control over not only the global economy but the all-powerful Mind of the Magistelli as well.