Nicholas leaned forward in his chair, tucked his head towards his knees, and gently stroked his fingers through his hair to soothe himself. The audio from multiple livestream broadcasts flooding his simulation quickly became overwhelming.

“A sword that strong must’ve been overlooked by Averon, right? He just killed an entire arena filled with high-level, highly geared players in a single strike!” one broadcast exclaimed.

“I thought one of the selling points of Shattered World was discouraging this sort of behavior, despite allowing it. I’m not seeing a whole lot of discouragement going on right now. The evil player is being rewarded with so much power, the good players don’t stand a chance!” another commentator babbled.

“I can’t believe Makaroth would betray us all like this. But you can tell from his reaction, Seraxus was telling the truth. He’s just like the rest of them, fake and selfish.”

“It’s obvious what is going on here. Averon wants us to kill each other, to die and lose our characters. Islands being destroyed is great for the company because we have to spend more money to buy our items again if they get destroyed, right? Even PvP is a great business model. The more we die and have our items stolen, the more money Averon makes! It’s all about money with these gaming companies…”

Andrew watched in silence, glancing between the broadcasts and his distressed friend. He was getting several notifications through his eye implant.

“There are a few that want to interview you about what is going on in the tournament. They want to ask if you knew about how broken the sword is or if it’s just overtuned. They want to know what you’ll be doing about i-”

“Nicholas,” Mike spoke as soon as he appeared inside the office simulation beside Andrew, interrupting him.

“Oh, there you are,” Nicholas looked up and spoke in monotone. “Something wrong with the servers?”

“Forget about the servers, this is a disaster,” Mike motioned to the multiple broadcasts hovering around the simulation. “I think it’s time you did something about it. Step in and sort out the sword.”

“What, you’re on his side now?” Nicholas sighed while motioning to Andrew.

“Everything we worked towards is falling apart because of some angsty ill-tempered teenager. You’re really going to let that happen?”

“I’m not. They are.” Nicholas motioned to the streams.

“Oh, come on.” Mike groaned and rolled his head. “VGN just threw everything they had at him. They’re trying their best to stop him, but the fact is that the weapon he has is just too strong. Let’s face it, Samantha’s not able to handle this situation by herself. You’ve got to step in.” Mike motioned to the idle representation of Samantha, who stood in the corner of the office simulation.

Nicholas turned to look at her briefly, then looked back at Andrew and Mike and saw the desperate expressions on their faces.

“I remember a popular story from decades back… In it, a character was prophesied to bring balance between good and evil. The good characters sought to protect him for this reason, but in the end, the balance was not in their favor. You see, the idea of balance meant that the character turned on the good side and murdered them, and gave more power to the evil. Maybe…” Nicholas looked to Samantha for a long moment. “Maybe that’s what is happening here. Maybe the world needs to be filled with dark-aligned players to balance out back in the light’s favor.” Nicholas shrugged.

“Give me a break!” Mike groaned. “Say something to him, talk some sense into him with me, would you?” He turned to Andrew.

“Actually…” Andrew hesitated. “I agree with Nicholas.”

“Hah? Seriously?” Mike looked at him as if he were crazy.

“Yeah. I mean, I still think he should’ve done something about the sword before the tournament. But now it’s too late. Intervening now, after an island invasion has been triggered and he’s shown off the true power of the sword—It’d end the game faster than anything Seraxus is about to do.” Andrew shrugged.

“You gotta be kidding me.” Mike sighed.

“Besides… It’s not like it’s over yet. There’s still that Eirene player left. He’s got the shield, right?” Andrew asked Nicholas.

“Right.” Nicholas nodded anxiously as they pulled up Aegis’ livestream to the forefront of the others.

“That’s just an angry kid with daddy issues. If he couldn’t stop him, th-” Mike stopped as he looked at Aegis’ livestream. It showed Aegis in his waiting room, alongside his companions, looking towards the door leading out into the hallway.

In the doorway stood Feng, requesting access into Aegis’ waiting room to speak with him, and Aegis quickly accepted the request to allow Feng inside.

“I gotta get back to work,” Mike spoke hastily before leaving the office simulation. Once he was gone, Andrew and Nicholas briefly exchanged looks.

“You really think that kid stands a chance?” Andrew asked, a hint of hope filling up inside of him.

“I don’t know.”

The stadium was in an uproar. Half of the arena was shouting at the other—the residents and players native to Stormtop were enraged at the players who’d arrived from Lanusk and Savringard. The Sages of Destiny and Vindicator members were not taking it sitting down, returning the same emotions back at players they believed to be below them.

“This is absolute chaos,” Synopse said in disbelief as he looked on with wide eyes at the scene unfolding before them. “Where’d Makaroth go?” He turned to Lilya, who was standing beside him, looking equally bewildered.

“He logged out; he said he needed a minute,” Lilya answered.

“And Calikgos?”

“I dunno. I think he was doing something with Feng…” she answered hesitantly.

“Synopse!” Daehyun shouted as loud as he could, pushing his way through the jeering audience members around him. “SYNOPSE!” He got louder, getting his attention.

“What is it?” Synopse turned his attention to him after finally hearing his shouts.

“It’s the island. Tarolas! An abyssal invasion has started! Abysslings are already swarming my outer settlements. I’m getting tons of warnings in my land management interface!” Daehyun replied frantically.

“Damn…” Synopse looked to the open skies above the stadium, seeing the frantic roaring of Ysil’mareina. He was only now noticing the warnings she was trying to give from above.

“That’s not good, is it? Should we get everyone back to the airship?” Lilya suggested.

“You’re going to just leave?” Daehyun asked with a look of terror.

“We can’t exactly fight off this invasion, can we? The last one only ended when the Avatar of Jealousy that was attacking Kalmoore was defeated. Meaning, this invasion won’t stop until someone beats Seraxus, and fat chance of that happening, right?” Lilya huffed as she motioned to the arena around them.

“But this is happening because of you guys!” Daehyun shouted at her angrily.

“Look, calm down.” Synopse stepped in and waved his hands at both of them. “We’re not leaving.” He turned to Lilya.

“Who put you in charge?”

“Makaroth did, when he logged out.” Synopse replied to her hastily before turning back to Daehyun. “We need to buy time for Seraxus to be defeated. Evacuate all of your outer settlements to Stormtop, fortify the walls with everything you’ve got. I’ll talk to Feng and we’ll back you up.” Synopse explained.

“Ok, I’m on it.” Daehyun replied before running out of the stadium the way he’d come, having to push through a few more angry audience members on his way out.

“Forget that, I’m not helping that Eirene priest and Makaroth’s ex win. They’ve been insulting us from the beginning.” Lilya replied in defiance, crossing her arms.

“Fine. Stay here and do nothing.” Synopse waved her off dismissively before opening his interface and sending a message to all of his guild members.

“Leisure time is over. Every member of the Sages of Destiny on Tarolas, get out of the stadium and assist Daehyun and the guards in protecting the city. We made this mess; it’s our job to clean it up. I want our airship armed and airborne, ready to fight a dragon.” Synopse ordered.

The moment the message had been sent, the gathering of Sages of Destiny members that sat around him in the stands all stopped their shouting to read it. Most of them quickly stood up and looked towards Synopse, and he got many knowing nods. With that, they began funneling out of the stadium together in a large group, ignoring the continued jeers from the rest of the crowds as drinks and food were flung at them.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

On the raised platform, the VGN broadcasters continued to try and get control of the situation, but their voices were largely ignored. Behind them, Serenity watched the Sages of Destiny members leaving the arena, but her mind was elsewhere.

“Hae-won, what should we do?” Serenity asked, Hae-won watching everything unfold with a look of bewilderment.

At a rare loss for words, Hae-won paused to clear her head for a moment.

“My music isn’t working. If it stays like this, we won’t be able to help Aegis. I’m losing!” she cried out with tears building up in her eyes.

“I don’t know. My suggestion isn’t working anymore. I don’t know if it’s still possible to control their emotions. They’re all pissed off at VGN, and each other… I’m not sure there’s anything left we can do to help.” Hae-won sighed.

Serenity turned to her illusionist party member instead. "There has to be something. Kenji?”

He returned a look of defeat.

“What are you doing here?” Aegis asked. Rakkan, Pyri, Lina, and Darkshot stood around Aegis defensively, all of them tense and holding their sheathed weapons with one hand.

“Relax,” Feng replied calmly as he stepped into the waiting room. “You tried your best to help me win,” Feng motioned to the katana sheathed on his belt. “Even though it isn’t really in your best interest to do so, you put that aside for the good of this game world. I, too, love Shattered World Online.” Feng smiled at him. “That is why I shall return the favor.” He began fidgeting with his interface.

“How?” Aegis looked at Feng curiously.

“I have sent you a friend request. Accept it, and I will show you.” Feng said as he finished with his interface, and Aegis was hit with the request notification.

Aegis was a bit apprehensive and looked to his party members for counsel, who just stared back at him save for Darkshot, who gave a shrug. Aegis then hit accept, and Feng began fidgeting with his interface once more.

“This was given to me by VGN’s analyst team. It explains in detail how Seraxus fights and reacts to certain movements. It won’t help much with the sword, but it is very in-depth. I was told you enjoy studying, so it should be useful to you.” Feng explained as he sent the same private clips that he was given by Calikgos to Aegis.

Aegis received the messages and opened the clips. After only a few seconds of watching, his eyes went wide.

“This is… is this all accurate to how he actually moves? This is insanely detailed.”

“It is how I was able to fight against him. I would say it is accurate, yes.” Feng nodded.

“Th… thanks.” Aegis was momentarily at a loss for words. Feng replied by bowing politely.

“The enemy of my enemy…” He then turned and started heading out of the waiting room. “I’ve been informed that Tarolas is now under attack. We will be working with Synopse and Daehyun to protect the stadium as long as we can. Good luck.” His voice trailed off as he left the room, shutting the door behind him.

“Can I get a look at that footage?” Rakkan asked.

“Me too!” Lina asked.

“Yeah, of course.” Aegis quickly sent it to the rest of his party.

“An invasion really started here?” Darkshot asked in disbelief as he pondered Feng’s final words. “No pressure on us then, huh? Heh…”

“We’ll just ha— huh…” Pyri interrupted herself as her attention turned to a notification in her interface. Aegis looked at her and noticed a sudden troubled expression befall her.

“Everything okay, Mom?” Aegis asked as her face seemed to suddenly go pale.

“Huh? Yeah…” She tried to reply calmly. “Yeah, all fine.” She recomposed herself. “I just need to log out to check something really quick. I’ll be right back.” She said with a forced smile.

“Really? Right now?” Aegis asked her in disbelief.

“It’ll only be a second.” She said dismissively, and a few seconds later she disappeared from the gameworld. Jillian didn’t exit her Simbox, though. Instead, she had swapped simulations to enter her personalized office simulation, a simple white-walled bedroom with a desk, a bed with white sheets, and a window to a virtual representation of a forest on a rainy day.

The sound of rain trickling against the window filled her ears, bringing a peaceful calm to the atmosphere of the large, plain bedroom. This gave time for Jillian to pace around and calm herself, now looking like a virtual version of her real self rather than the elf Pyri.

There were only a few seconds of waiting before a second person entered the simulation. It was David, wearing a simple white t-shirt and black jeans with his shaved blonde hair and goatee.

“Thanks for responding.” David spoke timidly, tilting his head down to look at his feet.

“You’re only supposed to contact me for emergencies.” Jillian replied coldly.

“This is one…” David answered.

“I meant medical emergencies.” Jillian sighed. “It’s pretty telling that the first time you reach out to me is because someone from your own network threw you under the bus. You should’ve done so way sooner.”

“Sorry…”

“What the hell were you thinking? Making a bet like that with our son?!” Jillian suddenly shouted out at him angrily.

“He’s the one who did it. You should’ve heard how he was talking to me!” David tried defending himself.

“Of course he was going to be mad at you after what you did! It was completely selfish!” Jillian snapped.

“Oh yeah? And what about you?!”

“What about me?!”

“You said you wouldn’t sign with me and become my wife for the network contract because you didn’t want to play Shattered World. That’s the whole reason it ended up this way in the first place. Yet after all that, you’re playing anyway, having a great ol’ time with Eli!” David shouted.

These words gave pause to Jillian, forcing her to look away for a moment as she thought carefully about how she’d respond.

“I didn’t want to sign that contract for a number of reasons. For one, it was so restrictive. So incredibly forced. Playing happy husband and wife like that, for a livestream show?! Logged into the game nonstop like that?”

“Would it really have been so bad? You’re playing the game all day with Eli without any issues.”

“My problem was never with the game. I loved playing VR games. I love playing them.” She corrected herself. “The problem was playing them with you!” She had tears swelling up in her eyes now, and her words had taken David aback.

“Always so focused on ‘making content’ or ‘being the best.’ So focused on yourself and your goddamned streams, you made me feel so miserable for just trying to have fun anytime we played together. I thought it was my fault, I thought… but playing with Eli made me realize it wasn’t. It was your fault.” She explained calmly, wiping the tears from the edges of her eyes before they could roll out.

“You should be happy now, though, right? You finally got what you always wanted. You’re rich and famous. Everyone knows who you are. But instead, you’ve been using all that power to harass your son.” Jillian shook her head at him, speaking in a judgmental tone.

“I’m not anymore. The news broadcasts are tearing me apart after what Seraxus just said.”

“And whose fault is that?” Jillian replied with no sympathy.

“If Eli’d just…” He couldn’t even finish the sentence before catching a death glare from Jillian. “No, you’re right.” He said as he tilted his head back to look up at the roof of the simple bedroom simulation. “You and Synopse, you’re both right. It’s my fault.” He sighed.

“I signed the contract with VGN because they promised me everything I ever wanted. All I had to do was everything they told me to do, and I could play and be the best.” He began pacing around the room, fidgeting with things on the desk while Jillian watched him. “Even when you said you didn’t want my money from the contract because of the virtual marriage with Lilya and how Eli would take it… I still convinced myself I was doing it not just for myself, but for us. But, it wasn’t true. -I- wanted to be famous. That’s why it pissed me off when Eli refused the money for his scholarship. That’s why I took the bet, because my ego couldn’t accept that I was really just doing it all for myself.

And then, the little guy actually started getting popular. He didn’t have to sign a restrictive contract; he just played the game with you, normally, having fun and getting along with everyone. So I got madder. I got pissed off, and I… It’s like Synopse said. I took it too far. So now we’re here, and it’s my fault.” He clenched his fists.

“It’s good that you’re finally admitting this to yourself, but what do you want me to do about it? I’m already not even sure we’re going to be able to beat that Seraxus kid.” Jillian replied.

“I dunno, I just… I don’t know how to get out of this situation anymore. The network hates me, my son hates me, the whole world hates me…”

“I don’t hate you.” Jillian sighed, causing David to turn and face her with hope in his eyes.

“You don’t?”

“I don’t particularly like you right now either.” Jillian quickly clarified. “I loved you, I watched you try so hard, so I know how much all of this meant to you. I understand why you did it. I didn’t approve, but I understood.”

“So what do you think I should do now?” David asked her.

“I don’t know, it’s pretty hard to fix what you did. Your image is gonna look rough for a bit. I’m sure VGN will use their immense influence to smooth it over, though.”

“I don’t mean that, I mean with you and Eli. How can I fix things?” David asked, surprising Jillian for a moment as she looked at him with wide eyes.

“I don’t know if I can forgive you…” Jillian looked to her feet for a moment. “I’m not sure if Eli will either…” She looked and saw David’s dejected expression. “But I’d start with keeping your word to him. Apologize for your mistakes, and when he takes your number one spot—which he most definitely will do after this mess—keep your word with him. Delete your character. Maybe then you can start over and play with him without all of this contract mess.”

“If I do that, then I’ll lose everything. Breaking the contract with VGN will cost a fortune, and all my fame I’ve built up over the past year will be gone…” David replied worriedly.

“Then you have to decide what is more important to you. Fame and money, or your family.” Jillian shrugged. “I’ve got to go. The match is starting in a few seconds.” Jillian exited the office simulation before David could say another word.

Seconds later, she reappeared in the waiting area as Pyri, next to Rakkan, Lina, Darkshot, and Aegis, who were all focused on their interfaces, watching the footage provided by Feng.

“Everything alright?” Aegis asked as he watched her avatar materialize.

“Yup.” She nodded back. “All good.” She gave a forced thumbs-up.

“This footage that Feng gave us is really good. I think I can handle Seraxus’ movements with this information.” Aegis explained.

“The problem is that the giant black sword shoots out waves of magic that kill everything in one hit. Or did you not see him just kill everyone a few seconds ago?” Darkshot asked with wide eyes.

“It shouldn’t matter how strong he gets,” Aegis tapped on the front of his Star of Light shield. “This thing should negate all attacks from that sword. As long as I can make sure I block every attack he makes with it, we can still fight back.”

“Good. You block his strikes, and I’ll kill him.” Rakkan replied as he drew out his Voidspear and gripped the handle anxiously with his fists.

“No, come on, stay calm.” Aegis eyed Rakkan. “You of all people know that we have to approach this fight with extreme caution. Just from watching this footage, I can tell that Seraxus isn’t just his sword. If we don’t play this perfectly, we won’t win.” Aegis eyed the countdown timer of the intermission as it neared 0.

“Don’t lose focus. Don’t falter. We’re the only thing left standing between that Sword of Hatred and this island’s destruction.” Aegis put his hand out in the air in front of the others. Darkshot put his hand on Aegis’, followed by Lina’s, Rakkan’s, and lastly Pyri’s. “Let’s go kill a misguided youth,” Aegis chanted, then forced his hands and those of his companions into the air.

“Weird cheer, but okay.” Darkshot shook his head while Lina giggled.

The first Grand Finals match will begin in 60. Please exit the waiting area and enter the arena.

After seeing the message, Aegis took a deep breath and waved it away. He tightened the straps on his shield while all of his companions drew out their weapons, checking them to make sure they were ready for the fight that was to come. The last thing Aegis did was check his viewership count as it shot up to 25 million.

With Feng out, Makaroth offline, and the VGN network doing damage control, the top three streamers in order were now Aegis, Seraxus, and Serenity. Aegis was quick to interact with his interface and hide his viewership numbers to avoid being distracted by them.

He turned to face the hall leading into the arena as the door slowly slid open, allowing a wave of black mist to flow into their waiting room from the outside.

“Here goes nothing.” Aegis took a deep breath.