Evening Game

A writing appeared in both of their visions, congratulating them on their victory. Ethan could feel his body regaining form once more. He stood beside Chione, the virtual world they were standing in replaced by an endless field of dark blue. Above the horizon, countless stars twinkled high above, while below them a large endless body of water reflected the beautiful night sky.

It wasn’t the first time he saw the night sky inside this game, but the sight never failed to capture his admiration. He looked up, a shooting star traveling across his field of vision. He followed it as it descended past the horizon, going to a world unknown.

“It’s beautiful, don’t you think?”

Chione commented, bringing Ethan’s eyes toward her.

“Yeah, it is.”

She answered, tears rolling down her cheeks.

“Huh, Chione?”

Ethan panicked. They had just won an event, and he himself was overcome with joy, so why was she, the one that took them here, crying? He approached him and without thinking much brought her into his arms.

“Chione, thank you.”

He had embraced her, Chione’s wet cheeks resting on his shoulders.

“Ethan…”

She muttered, her rugged breath blowing on his neck. He suddenly remembered that he had hugged her without her consent and tried to pull himself away while berating himself for letting his guard down, but she threw her arms around his back and stopped him. She pulled him closer and rested her face on his chest.

“Thank you.”

“... No problem.”

He brought his right arm and gently patted her smooth, curly dark brown hair. He then heard the sound of footsteps above the waters and looked that way, finding a figure clad in a charming evening gown making their way toward them. The dark blue gown glittered beautifully in front of the dazzling landscape.

“Congratulations on-”

She said, but her words stopped when she saw Chione. Chione turned her face toward her.

“Sister!”

She ran up toward her and hugged her.

“Chione…”

Tears started welling up on the girl’s face.

“Congratulations.”

They cried in each other’s arms, Ethan watching from a distance. He let out a satisfied smile, his mission completed.

“Sister…”

“I’m sorry Chione.”

Eventually, they let each other go.

“Will you ever come home?”

Chione asked while wiping her tears off.

“I want to, but… There’s just so much work. Ah, but I’ll try to make time in the new year.”

Try.

For Ethan, it wasn’t enough. Ethan stepped forward, bringing himself closer to the two girls, the waters splashed below him as he moved his feet.

“Mione Ayadi, isn’t it?”

“Correct, and you are?”

“FireRock, Chione’s friend.”

He stared her straight in the eyes, looking deep behind her clear red eyes, all too similar to Chione’s.

“I have a question and a request.”

“What is it?”

Both Chione and her sister brought their attention toward him.

“How many levels does Adastra tower actually have?”

“I couldn’t tell-”

“Please answer honestly.”

Ethan said, determined to get an answer. Seeing that, Mione relented.

“Ten, for now. The last boss is purposely harder than the others, but we haven’t had the time to add any more levels.”

“If that’s the case, if Chione and I, if we could defeat that level together.”

The undefeatable tower, with its ten levels and an extremely hard final boss. The white tower placed in the center of Adastra.

“Will you come home, no matter what happens?”

It was a challenge Mione could easily refuse, one that shocked both her and her sister.

“Ethan…”

Chione accidentally blurted his name and quickly clamped her hand over her mouth. Mione meanwhile gave him a soft, genuine smile.

“Deal. I’ll be waiting for you, then.”

She said, tilting her head slightly, her wide grin on her face, still wet from the virtual tears. Ethan extended his hand and shook hands with her.

“We’ll be coming from you. Right, Chione?”

Chione smiled.

“Right!”

It all went so fast. After striking the deal, Mione presented them with golden weapons for each of them and sent them back into the world. The second they returned, a string of congratulations appeared on both of their messages, Calista going as far as trying to call her. Ethan replied to Kennard and Calista, and even Fiona who all had sent them messages. He asked Fiona what exactly she meant with her last parting sentence, but she didn’t reply.

Chione, meanwhile, explained to Calista that she couldn’t call her right now and shut off the screen. Calista sent her a teasing comment, to which she didn’t reply. The two brought the box containing their new golden weapon from their inventory and placed them on their lap.

“On the count of three. Three, two, one.”

They both opened it.

“Huh?”

Chione picked hers up. It was a simple golden short sword. She checked its properties and shared the screen with Ethan.

“What does this mean?”

Ethan examined every number.

“Basically, it had the power of an energy sword, but you can use it anywhere, including Aevimedii which banned the use of technology.”

“Neat.”

“Its weakness is that it was so short you needed to be right in front of the enemy to use it, or you could throw it.”

“Fit perfectly into my play style.”

“Yeah. Still, I didn’t expect you to actually use weapon switch.”

“It’s all in or nothing.”

She said while giggling.

“And if you failed?”

“That’s a problem for another day.”

Ethan let out a sigh and smiled before looking at his own box.

“Oh…”

He brought the weapon out of its box and showed it to Chione.

“Huh, what is that?”

Similar to all golden weapons, the thing he held had its entire body covered by gold plating from top to bottom. It was so reflective and shining that the two of them could see their own reflections perfectly. The weapon had a long, thin shaft similar to the ones found in spears. It lacked any decorative ornaments and consisted of only smooth lines extending from top to bottom. On the top end of the weapon was a sharp gemstone of sorts, similar in shape to a spearhead, the golden plating there seemed thinner and could allow light to go through, like a prism of sorts.

Ethan opened up the weapon’s information screen and shared it with Chione.

“Isn’t this just a spear?”

She asked curiously, leaning her body closer to him despite being able to see through her own screen. Ethan stood up and twirled the weapon around.

“It’s a battle staff.”

“Battle… staff? As in magic staff?”

“Correct… if you can even call it that.”

The name was listed in the top section of its information screen.

‘Golden Battle Staff’

It said, but the point of a magic staff was to deal damage through magic. Looking through the number for this weapon, the magic stats were so insignificant it almost didn’t matter. It could probably still spew out flames, but they wouldn’t be anything more than a nuisance. Its physical stats placed it on the lower side of high-end spears, with numbers less than his own. He couldn’t see a situation where he would use this instead of his double edge spear or a normal magic staff.

And he couldn’t prove that, either. Technologia banned the use of magic, similar to how the western country of Magia banned the use of technology. He could use this spear as a normal physical weapon, but against mobs and enemies in Technologia, it would be a challenge. There would be no reason for him to prefer this over his energy longsword.

“I can’t see myself using this in Magia, either. Oh well.”

Ethan handed his weapon to Chione.

“So, we’re going to Magia next?”

Chione asked as she accepted Ethan’s spear and took a good look at it herself. Ethan nodded.

“Yeah, you know how to play with physical weapons and long-range guns, magic is the last.”

“Alright. If there is a southern, western, and eastern country, then what’s up north?”

She returned the weapon to Ethan’s hand, and he stored it in his inventory.

“Libertas, everything goes.”

“I see…”

Chione chuckled.

“I thought you’re only supposed to go one genre at a time?”

“Well, ask your sister.”

Chione and Ethan had added Mione to their friend list, so they could talk to her in-game, and it wasn’t like she never talked with Chione in real life either, although she said she would refuse to give any more information regarding the game. Ethan checked the clock, realizing that it was getting late.

“So, see you tomorrow?”

“Ah, see you… in real life.”

“Yeah… Oh, by the way…”

Ethan awkwardly called Chione as she stood up. She stopped in front of her door and turned toward him.

“Yeah?”

“About that thing…”

“The promise?”

Ethan nodded to her question. She gave him a devilish smile and opened her bedroom door.

“I’ll think about it. Good night.”

Ethan let out a thin smile and waved his hand.

“Good night.”