Fantasy Justice: Incarceration

Friday, May 28th, 2060 — Same Day

Northwest of Angela’s Redoubt, Unholy Alliance Territory

Sara materialized onto the bridge with her party. Across the ravine, the traitor and the knight stood waiting.

Everyone immediately summoned their weapons. Sara’s HUD informed her that the Killers had initiated combat. They were already armed. However, they continued to stand passively in the distance, barring the group’s way. The healer considered the enemy nameplates—they were both in the next higher experience tier, and likely to be in all rare gems.

Sara touched the gate to the quest behind her, but nothing happened—the instance was completed, and since it was not a dungeon it could not be entered again.

“How do we handle this?” Clare asked Sara.

“There’s only enough room for two to fight side-by-side,” she lamented. “Clare, you face the knight. ...May, you’ll be up against the traitor.” Sara absolutely hated the idea of hanging back, but May was much better than her when there was limited room to maneuver. “I’ll heal and attack from the back with my spear. Pari...I’m afraid there’s nothing you can do but cast your spells. Sorry.”

“I understand,” the mage said regretfully. “I’ll do my best.”

Sara spoke again. “If we can drive them back onto land, then we’ll gain the advantage of our superior numbers.

“Be careful of any attempts to force you off the bridge—those railings won’t hold. And that knight’s vulture is out there somewhere. We should expect the same tactic Lissa used.

“Assuming they give us the opportunity, let me try to talk them down one last time. Let’s go.”

Clare and May took the lead, and they all walked across the bridge. Near the party, the continual cascade of the waterfall dropped into the river far below.

The Killers also finally moved forward, until both groups stopped a few meters apart from each other at the center of the bridge.

“Tehrani,” Cantor began. As before, the Red Knight watched the proceedings silently. “Surrender yourself. We’d be willing to escort you to your Queen after we kill your friends.”

“To hell with that!” Pari said angrily.

The traitor laughed. “Given that you already rejected that blue girl’s more generous offer, I didn’t expect you to accept. But I did promise to ask.”

“Why are you here now?” Sara asked the men bitterly. “Did the company send you?”

“Not as such,” Cantor said with a grin. “But my ally cultivated a source inside the company who let us know about your special quest—and this convenient bridge.” Sara regretted not anticipating this possibility. The knight was obviously wealthy enough to bribe an informant within FJI.

“So you refuse to face us out in the open?”

“We’re willing to pay you ladies the compliment of not discarding our advantage. You’re very skilled fighters to have survived your encounter with Cassandra’s minions. ...It’s a pity for the fans that the entertainment you provide them will end here.”

“And you insist on putting yourself in danger just to kill us? You still haven’t had your fill of revenge, even with over a hundred slayings between you?”

“You give us too much credit—a dozen or so kills were only against hunters. But I won’t be satisfied to rest on my accomplishments so long as there are still criminals to eliminate.” Cantor chuckled. “You know, I think I actually like this better than being cop.” He then narrowed his eyes at Sara and gave a predatory grin. “...Why shouldn’t I be judge, jury, and executioner as well?”

Sara saw that there was no hope of avoiding the confrontation. “Attack us if you wish. ...We’ll put an end to your madness.”

The Killers ran forward to engage. May’s fiery khopesh swords crashed against the traitor’s shield and electrified axe. With vicious speed and precision, Clare and the knight also exchanged attacks with their blades—void lightning sparked against more fire. Clare’s monstrous opponent had the hunter strength enhancement, making his attacks difficult to block. She was forced to put more emphasis on evasion to protect herself.

From the back, Sara cast her heals and thrust at the enemies with her spear. It soon became apparent that it would be difficult for her to produce any meaningful offense—she could not hope to land a crit with Clare and May in the way. There was at least some chance to temporarily incapacitate a limb, so that was what she repeatedly tried for.

Pari fired her single target void bursts over and over. She had decided to concentrate on Cantor. Purple lightning sparked over his body when she hit, but unfortunately spells did reduced damage against other players. Also, her void and damage gems were out of date. Even when she frenzied, his health only dropped temporarily. Both the knight and the traitor had an instant cast self-heal, so their health continually regenerated from the minor hits Clare and May landed.

The goblin player had a frustrated look on her face, and Sara understood why—Pari had been rendered ineffectual while her friends were in danger. The healer felt exactly the same way.

Had both sides in this battle been in the same experience tier, maybe it would have gone differently...but it was the Magical Girls who were slowly driven back as the fighting continued. And they could only give up so much ground before they were pushed into the gate.

All four of the major combatants made attempts to force each other off the edge of the bridge, but none were successful. The sections of the railings splintered or broke when hit by weapons, confirming Sara’s assumption that they were destructible.

The healer saw the knight’s vulture swoop in toward Clare out of the corner of her eye. A quick thrust with her spear dispatched it. The corpse of the combat pet crashed into the tank, but she was not distracted for a moment. The slain vulture then dropped to the river below.

Eventually Sara landed a hit on Cantor deep enough to cause his arm to temporarily stop responding. His ax dropped onto the bridge and soon disappeared into his inventory. Clare and May managed to briefly reverse the momentum of the fight and force the Killers to back up. But when the traitor summoned his ax once more, the Magical Girls slowly lost that ground.

The knight suddenly found an opening and landed two brutal wounds against Clare in a single swing of his sword. The weapon passed through her sword arm and on to her leg below. With the two limbs rendered useless, she fell to one knee. Her sword clattered onto the bridge as well. Sara was in sheer terror at that moment. The knight made an extremely quick followup, looking to land a crit. It was May who managed to barely knock aside the strike with one of her swords.

Sara cast her lasting heal on Clare, followed by her barrier. She also thrust repeatedly at the knight with her spear, forcing him to block her.

Clare recovered before the Killers could fatally capitalize on their advantage, but the fight was still going poorly overall. May soon tripped Cantor with one of her swords, but he did not fall off the bridge as intended—in the end, she had only bought the party a little more time. There seemed little chance that either Clare or May would land a crit, and the women had already given up half the distance to the gate.

Sara had a reckless idea, and saw little choice but to implement it. She would just have to hope her superhuman speed and reflexes within the game would allow her to succeed. The healer began backing away from the fighting, gradually putting a small amount of distance between her and the rest of her party.

When one of Pari’s spells caught Cantor in the face, the healer figured that would be as good a distraction as any. She took several large and quick steps back, and then ran forward. She planted the tip of spear into the bridge and vaulted right over her enemies.

The knight saw what she was doing and attempted to strike her as she passed overhead. The healer managed to block the attack with her own weapon.

As Sara landed behind the Killers, the knight had already shifted his position so that he was facing toward the side of the bridge. His sword arm was still toward Clare, his shield coming around to defend himself from a rear attack. But of course, the knight had never been Sara’s target.

Cantor turned his head slightly, trying to get a look at the unexpected threat from behind. As he did so, the tip of healer’s spear burst through his chest at his heart. Sara immediately understood that she would never forget the look of disbelief and terror on the man’s face. His body then went limp and started to fall.

Too late, Sara realized that the knight was not trying to defend against her with his shield—he was trying to use his superior strength to smash her right off the bridge with it. Unable to get out of the way, she could only lean into the attack and block it with her spear to blunt its effectiveness.

Sara was sent sliding backwards, toward the edge of the bridge. The wooden railing behind her buckled against her body and held for a split second, reducing her momentum...but then it broke.

The healer let go of her spear and grabbed onto an adjacent piece of the railing that was still unbroken. That further slowed her—but this section of the railing began to bend downward and would soon snap right off the bridge. Sara was slowly lowering, but she would not be in a free fall until the railing gave way. She was not close enough to the bridge to grab onto it.

Despite the near certainty that she would be killed, Clare dropped her sword and shield and dove towards Sara. May narrowly blocked what would have been fatal strike to the tank’s head from the knight.

As Clare landed on her belly at the edge of the bridge, her hand reached out toward Sara’s. The railing gave way...and simultaneously the healer grabbed onto Clare’s hand. Now the tank was all that stood between her and a fatal plunge. Water fell with frightful speed behind Sara. Clare was pressed against one of the wooden beams that had once held up the now absent sections of the railing.

The entirety of Sara’s jump, lethal attack, and subsequent near fall had only taken a few seconds, though it had felt longer. Now Sara was left hanging for several more seconds, as Clare tried to position herself so that she could pull the healer up. Though she could not see the fighting on the bridge, Sara could hear that it was moving away from the gate. May and Pari were now fighting the knight together, and with the traitor dead the powerful hunter was being driven back.

Thankfully, Clare was much stronger in the game than she would have been in the real world. She managed to pull Sara up so that the healer could get her free hand onto the bridge. Sara then helped bring herself to safety. She and Clare quickly rose to their feet and summoned their armaments, intending to join the others.

Before they could do so, the knight landed a hit on May—a similar strike to the one that had nearly cost Clare her life earlier. With the demon player completely vulnerable, Pari aggressively attacked the knight.

The combatants struck each other in the same instant. Pari landed a blow with her morning star against the knight’s head, while the knight’s sword arm smashed into her head during his failed attempt to block the mage’s strike.

Unlike Sara earlier, Pari had no time to brace herself against the knight’s blow. She crashed immediately through the railing. Sara desperately cast a barrier on her, and a moment later the mage had passed beyond her sight. Pari screamed as she fell toward the river below.

The knight slumped to the ground, while May still knelt, staring right where Pari had been. All three of the remaining women on the bridge froze in horror. Sara’s HUD pointlessly informed her that the battle was over. After a handful of seconds that felt like an eternity, Pari’s health dropped to zero in spite of the barrier. Next to her status bar appeared the word Pending...

Sara dropped her weapon and buried her face against Clare’s shoulder. Hitching sobs she could not control wracked her body. Clare disappeared her armaments to hold the healer. Sara kept hoping against all common sense that Pari would not be executed. Maybe a bug in the game had contributed to her fall, maybe the knight had used a hack, maybe the GM who was evaluating the death would decide to have mercy...

Pari’s status changed on Sara’s HUD to Deceased. May made a sound that was halfway between a sob and scream. Then Pari’s name disappeared entirely.

“May needs you,” Clare whispered. Sara realized she was right—as much the healer hurt right now, May had lost someone she felt even more than friendship for.

Sara walked hesitantly over to May, who was kneeling at the edge of the bridge where Pari had fallen. Tears streamed down swords-woman’s face. Unhelpfully, Sara’s HUD supplied May’s nameplate. The party entry, Magical Girls (3), drove Sara’s sense of loss home. The healer realized she had absolutely no idea what to do.

She settled for kneeling beside May and gently touching her arm. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry,” she whispered tearfully.

May did not meet Sara’s gaze, and she was a long time in responding. “We have to find the body. We have to find the body for the funeral.” Her quiet, strangled tone was one of utter despair.

Sara reluctantly answered. “That—that river goes out to ocean... I don’t think—”

“WE HAVE TO FIND THE BODY!” May screamed as she looked to Sara.

The healer was so caught off guard she reared back slightly. “We’ll find her,” Sara promised. “There has to be a way down to the river.”

The healer aided May in getting to her feet, and the last member of the party joined them. “We’ll find her,” Clare echoed helplessly. She was also crying.

May managed a nod. Clare walked ahead, while Sara took May by the arm to help her move forward. The healer glanced back at the two bodies on the bridge. The traitor was dead...but the knight would be able to return to the game in an hour.

Once they were on solid land once more, Sara and Clare materialized their horses. After a short delay, May did as well. Sara could only guess at her turmoil, but somehow May was able to go through the motions of maneuvering her mount.

The trio searched for over three hours, eventually following the river into a forest. They at last found the body. It was floating face down, tangled up in the roots of a tree. May stepped into the shallow water. She then leaned down to turn the body over.

Pari had a dark green mark on her forehead. That must have been where she had struck the rocks at the base of the waterfall, Sara realized miserably. May gently closed Pari’s eyes, and then her body glowed white before dissolving into wind.

Motion across the river bank caught Sara’s attention. Standing directly across the quickly moving water was the Red Knight, silently watching.

May noticed him. She stood up and screamed. “YOU MISERABLE FUCK! WHY DID YOU DO IT?! She was kind, and innocent, and you killed her for fun!” The demon player then fell to her knees and cried.

Sara tensed. The knight was alone for now, and had lost ten percent XP. But he could still attack again. He could also use social media or the messaging system to alert other hunters about the party’s location. And May was in no condition to fight.

With no visible reaction, the knight logged out and vanished. Sara was not sure what to make of this. She hoped that he had decided to respect their victory and let them go for today. “We’re still in danger,” Sara told the others. “We need to reach the nearest settlement as soon as possible.”

The surviving magical girls then rode for Angela’s Redoubt, the same inmate outpost they had passed on their way to the quest. Clare took the lead, while Sara at the rear of the party repeatedly glanced back for signs of pursuit. Maybe she was just being paranoid—with Pari dead, the Dread Queen’s bounty was invalid. There was no longer any incentive beyond notoriety for any hunters to travel hours from the border just to kill the three women. Of course, if Cassandra blamed the party for Pari’s death then she might seek revenge.

The sun was setting by the time they reached the inmate fort. After paying a modest sum of gold through the HUD, Sara and her party were given permission to enter.

May was withdrawn all evening, and avoided everyone. Sara saw nothing to do but to give her space. That night, the healer drifted tearfully off to sleep in a strange bed while Clare held her.