MMORPG: Surviving a Death Game with a Glitched System

It wasn’t a secret that Ash’s victory had been born of preexisting circumstances.

Cross had entered the fight at no more than ten percent of his total strength. Although the wound on his leg had mostly healed, the strain remained. He was also exhausted and missing an arm.

Even with those advantages, Ash had been forced to rely on a crude and unsightly method — one that would only work once.

If Cross were fully healed, rested, and prepared for Ash’s trick, Ash wouldn’t stand a chance against him.

Ash pressed his foot down on Cross’s chest and rasped:

"The ending you seek... I will not allow it."

Cross, fear still plastered on his face, took a few long breaths, then said:

"A-Ash..."

That was all he managed to say. Coherent words seemed beyond the broken and crushed man at that moment.

Cross’s façade of bravery had once again been torn to shreds. This time, it had splintered into too many pieces to ever be put back together.

From atop the dais, Idolan called out to Ash:

"Visitor... I must thank you. That lesson... that realization... I’ve longed for Cross to understand."

’Huh?’

Ash stepped off Cross’s chest and moved a few paces away before turning toward the chained king.

"Are you suggesting what I think you are?"

Idolan gave a wistful smile.

"That I am in agreement with your words? That Cross should kill Vera? I know it’s harsh. But, yes, I am..."

Ash’s eyes narrowed as he studied the burned man.

"I see... So, you’re worse than Cross."

Idolan blinked awkwardly.

"Oh? How so...?"

"It is not your place to choose who lives and dies."

The king drew his head back, visibly stunned.

"Were you not goading Cross to kill Vera just moments ago?"

Ash scowled.

"Not in the slightest... I wanted him to confront the contradiction in his reasoning. If he truly believed that preserving one life justified overriding the wishes of another, even if it be his own, then what made sacrificing himself morally superior to sacrificing Vera? He had arbitrarily decided that his life was the one he possessed the right to discard. But that lesson would be wasted on you, Idolan. Cross has chosen to sacrifice himself. You’ve gone further and presumed the authority to decide which of your children ought to be sacrificed."

Idolan laughed.

"You have quite the moxie speaking like that to someone who can kill you with a glance... Especially when you know so little."

"I know enough. I already detest those who try to make choices for others, but choosing between your own children? Even my parents never crossed that line."

A flicker of anger crossed Idolan’s face.

"Hmm... Out of amusement and practicality, I’ll let you live. Know, however, that I am merely delaying your death. Continue acting up, and perhaps my annoyance will overcome my rationality."

"What a lukewarm threat."

’You know so little about me...’

Ash wasn’t entirely certain, but he suspected Idolan could easily incinerate his equipment — not Ash himself. Once the flames stripped that equipment away, he would simply fall through the temple floor and back into the tundra below.

It would be tedious, but it was better than dying outright.

Still sprawled on the floor, Cross dragged in another labored breath before looking up at Ash with wide eyes.

"Ash..."

’...?’

"Is there something you wish to say to me?"

Cross planted his hand against the floor and pushed himself upright. He stared at the blood strewn across his body.

"W-What... what am I supposed to do?"

A moment later, tears began to fall from his eyes.

Cross screamed:

"What the hell am I supposed to do?! Of course I don’t want to die! Of course I’m scared! But I will not let Vera die! I’d finally resolved myself, but you dare try and take taht from me?! It’s all I have! There’s nothing—"

Ash scowled and spat onto the stone between them, cutting Cross off.

"I don’t know. That’s up for you to decide. That is precisely why I won’t decide it for you. But what I do know is that screaming and crying accomplish absolutely nothing."

A low rumble rolled through the temple from somewhere far away. The relentless crash of stone against stone.

The sound rapidly drew closer. When it reached a deafening crescendo, the entire temple shuddered beneath them.

’Another chain has fallen...’

Only one remained. Once Vera and Demitra destroyed it, they would advance on the temple, and the barrier would collapse, giving the thousands of Seal Scrawlers free rein over the surrounding islands.

Looking out the grand exit, Ash muttered:

"Though I can tell you this... Whatever your answer is, Cross, reach it soon."

***

An hour after the fight, Ash sat on the temple’s highest step, staring down at the sea of monsters and magma below.

The situation was awkward, to say the least, not that Ash had ever allowed awkwardness to overwhelm him.

’That was unlike me...’

None of that arguing had been necessary to complete the instance. If anything, it might have worked against him. Idolan and Cross were still his enemies; they had only left him alone because fighting him would further disadvantage them against Demitra.

Cross had simply pissed him off, having torn through Ash’s indifference and forced a reaction. It wasn’t simply Cross’s goal of self-sacrifice, but the apparent reason behind it.

’Clear... that bastard reminded me too much of Clear.’

Ash clenched his fist as he thought of his brother.

Clear had believed that sacrificing his freedom for Ash’s sake made the choice righteous. But a sacrifice imposed upon the person it was meant to save was merely another way of controlling them.

He was still alive, merely incarcerated, but the distinction hardly mattered when the heart of the issue remained the same.

Beyond stealing Ash’s vengeance from him...

’I never asked to be saved.’

Ash had wanted revenge on his parents for what they’d done to him. He had wanted to unleash upon them the condemnation they so rightly deserved.

Clear had wanted freedom. When he realized that was impossible, he sought to experience it vicariously through Ash. In doing so, he had reduced Ash’s life to the meaning he wanted it to possess, never caring whether Ash wanted to bear that meaning.

"Tch."

Ash clicked his tongue as he looked over at the third chain, which was slack and lying on the floor, running across the magma expanse.

’If I were Cross...’

Ash knew what his solution would be.

He would kill Demitra, even if doing so meant allowing the kingdom to be swallowed by magma and the collapsing terrain.

Though...

’I don’t think I’d kill Vera.’

Unless there was no other option.

His reasoning was hardly noble or born of kinship: Demitra was the one who’d initiated everything, while Vera was a victim of circumstance. If someone had to die, Ash would choose the one who had created the conflict before the one trapped within it. Even if the result be calamitous to countless others entirely unrealated to the issue.

Twisted logic, perhaps, but logic all the same.

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