Chapter 3: Sage Palace Emperor

Taiki Akio stepped into his dorm room and put his bag down on the floor. It had been a few weeks since Akira had created SilverRose and started playing “The World” R: 2. He hadn’t been playing at all for the past two weeks as he was behind in his studies and he had his exams throughout this week. Today had been the last day of exams so he finally had some free time to play the game. When he logged in to his computer he noticed he had some e-mails. The first one was from Cain; it was Yasuhiko’s new screen name in The World.

From: Cain

Subject: Yo

Hey man it’s me; how did your exams go? I’m pretty confident that I made a good score; mind you I studied my ass off last week lol. We should hang out sometime in the world, or maybe even IRL since we haven’t talked too much since Akira started playing. I understand though, you two where kind of close a while back, well send me a message whenever you can.

The next one was from Akira.

From: SilverRose

Subject: hey

Hey today was your last day of exams right? Well I know what that’s like the last year is tough, but you just keep at it. I’ve had some free time and have been playing, some people I know from work also play the game so they have been helping me level up. It’s been almost a month since I started playing and I’m already at the same level as you are now, so now that I’ve caught we can visit them same level areas. I also have some good news, you remember Maiyumi right? She was the player behind Mistral back then, and her daughter took over her PC a few years later. Well I was talking with her the other day and she told me her daughter still plays, so now I have her member address. Next time you play tell me so we can meet up I’m sure she’d be happy to see you again too.

Akio remembered when he first met Mirei; it was about three years ago when he met Shugo and Reina. He thought it was Mistral at first but she said that she was her daughter. He was shocked to find out that a four year old was playing the world, but then again even some people in their 70’s continue to play the game. He decided to reply to SilverRose’s e-mail. After he sent the mail, Akio checked out the latest news, by the time he was done he has received a new message. It was from SilverRose.

From: SilverRose

Subject: Yo

I’m about to log in as well. Mirei is going to meet me at Lumina cloth to see the final matches of the Sage Palace tournament. We’ll meet you there, come as soon as you can that place gets crowded when the finals come.

When he was done Akio logged into the world as his PC Azure, the Adept Rouge. The last time he logged in he had tried for a hunter’s license which allowed him to collect bounties from PKs. The quest was in available in the sigma sever so Azure appeared in Dual City Berg Epona. Once he was able to he turn to face the chaos gate and warped to the Omega server’s root town Lumina Cloth the home of the arena.

When he was once again able to move he looked around for SilverRose. He didn’t visit Lumina Cloth too much so he didn’t know the place too well. Eventually though, he spotted SilverRose and another girl who was a little shorter by the stairs leading to the arena. The girl next to SilverRose had what looked like a white witch’s hat, a short grayish cloak cover her shoulders which was held in the middle by a silver orb. She wore a sleeveless white dress under the cloak that reached mid thigh, long white gloves with gold wave symbols that reached her elbows, and finally she wore a pair of white stockings with the same gold wave symbols that reached her thighs past her dress and silvery boots.

“Hey, am I late?” asked Azure to the pair.

“Not really, we just got here ourselves.” replied SilverRose. “Oh Azure this is Mireille.”

“Hi Azure it’s nice to meet you.” said the girl with a cherry smile on her face. “It’s been a while since I last saw you.”

“Yeah, it has.” he said smiling. “Hey was that you name before too?”

“Yeah I really liked my old name so I kept It.” she said with a grin.

“Hey guys come on lets go before the good seats are taken.” said SilverRose who was already halfway up the stairs.

The other two nodded and followed her into the arena.

In the Serpent of Lore Pi was Yata was informing Pi of the current situation.

“It would seem that a virus is slowly infecting the world, it is very similar to AIDA.” said Yata.

“AIDA? But wasn’t all the hostile AIDA destroyed by Ovan’s rebirth?” asked Pi.

“It would seem that it some of it survived. Monsters are becoming infected, making them undefeatable to normal players.” he said. “CC Corp has been able to remove these infected monsters, but they are becoming increasingly difficult to remove. We will be called in when it becomes too much of a hassle for them.”

“So we should be ready to start up again soon.” said Pi.

“Yes more than likely GU will once again start up.” said Yata. “But for now you can continue to enjoy your time.”

“Yes, Master Yata.” she said. “What will you be doing now, if I may ask?”

“Me? I will be watching Haseo’s arena match. I’m sure something interesting will happen this time.” He said with a smirk.

Azure, SilverRose, and Mireille found their seats and waited for the match to begin.

“So what is going to happen?” asked Azure.

“This is the title match for the Sage Palace Tournament. A team calling themselves ‘The Enders’ are fighting against Haseo for the title” explained Mireille.

“So this is the only match?” asked Azure.

“Well this is the main event, after this there are various other matches between people to raise their rankings.” said Mireille.

“Oh I see, well this is my first time at one of these.” said Azure with a chuckle.

The stadium if filled with the roar of the crowd at the match finally begins

“Here we are folks the title match of the Sage Palace Tournament!” said the enthusiastic announcer. “This match will be between the very promising team THE ENDERS!!”

The Enders appeared with in the stadium waving at the crowd. The team consisted of a level 148 Edge Punisher, with white armored torso and black pants, and two Blade Brandiers with similar clothing also at the same level. Many people where excited because of The Enders incredible tournament record, never losing a single match. They had been in the past two tournaments and had slaughtered the competition. The odd thing is they always forfeited the last two tournaments.

“The Enders have never fought the title match before so this will be the first time we see them fight against one of the emperors, everyone is excited to see how they will turn out against,” the announcer paused, “TEAM HASEO!!”

The moment he yelled the name on the other platform appeared Haseo and his team, consisting of Kuhn and Antares. The crowd roared even louder than when The Enders appeared. Haseo’s popularity was still going strong.

Finally after their introduction Haseo and his team where warped into the area’s battle field and the tournament began. Immediately Haseo took out his broad sword and fought against the leader of the opposing team, Ender, while Kuhn and Antares took on the other two players together. The large broad swords clashed together, neither Haseo nor Ender using rapid attack types so it was all about brute strength. Both where caught in a dead lock many times. They were even with the broad swords, or so it seemed, but slowly each time Haseo gained more ground, until a stray shot from Kuhn hit Ender in the back stunning him momentarily, but this gave Haseo enough time to switch to his Dual Blades. Once they where out he proceeded to attack with combo after combo, easily dodging Enders attacks because they where so slow.

“Is that all you got?” asked Haseo. “People kept saying you guys where good, but maybe you not good enough to take on an Emperor.”

“You’ll see, ‘Terror of Death.’” replied Ender.

“Oh really-“ At that moment Haseo heard footsteps running and suddenly he couldn’t move, he was pretty sure he would of felt extreme pain if this was a real. He was still able to turn his head to see that one of the Blade Brandiers, Apollo, had stabbed him with a strange sword. It was a long silver blade with a bluish crystal in the center. He didn’t think it was a legitimate weapon, it could be a hack. He also notice that Antares was stunned and as unable to do anything, while Kuhn was being kept busy by the other player, Hoshi, who was using a similar weapon to the one Apollo was using.

“What did you guys do?” he Haseo asked Ender.

“It’s a little insurance, you’re not so powerful without your friends to help you are you ‘Terror of Death?’” said Ender Mockingly

“So you guys can’t win with out cheating huh?”

“I wouldn’t be preaching if I were you Haseo, didn’t you use some kind of power to win some of your fights? I remember back during the PK tournament your special ability was exposed,” said Ender, “People kept saying that it was a hack while other said it might have been given to you by CC Corp, for winning an event. Either way it was unfair for the other people, so we thought we would fight against you in a similar way.”

Haseo glared at Ender, he had no idea what to do, would he really have to use his avatar just to get out of this battle against normal players? No there had to be some other way? If only Kuhn and Antares could help him. Then the thought crossed him, why was Apollo keeping the blade jabbed into him? If he used the same thing on Antares then why not pull it out? Maybe, just maybe the weapon can only keep the opponent paralyzed as long as he was inserted into them. He also noticed that the effect couldn’t stop him from talking so…

A smirk appeared on Haseo’s face, and Ender noticed this just before hearing Haseo yell out “KUHN! QUICK TAKE OUT THE GUY YOU’RE FIGHTING AND GET THIS GUY OFF ME!” Realization hit Ender as Haseo had figured out the flaw of Apollo’s blade. He had to react quickly unfortunately it had been long enough for Antares to finally be able to move and blocked Ender’s coming attack.

“Not so fast boy. Did you think you would be able to win with cheating?” said the aged fighter.

“Grr, OUT OF THE WAY OLD MAN!!” he yelled out and brought his sword down on top of Antares. He was barely able to get away, resulting in him taking some damage.

Kuhn had been able to finish off Hoshi, and shot at Apollo. Unfortunately, he had pulled his sword out of Haseo and dodged the attack. This was not good for Kuhn as he had taken a large amount of damage from his fight with Hoshi so he had to keep his distance. Antares wasn’t fairing so well in his battle against Ender either, the Edge Punisher was in a rage from his plan failing. It was not looking good for Antares. It was becoming increasing harder to not completely be hit by the attacks, but he had to keep it up until Haseo was able to move again.

“What’s the matter old man,” taunted Ender, “still feeling the effects of the paralysis?”

“You just keep talking kid, this will all be over soon. “replied Antares.

“Heh, well we’ll just have to change that.“ said Ender. “APOLLO! Just take out Haseo, now we don’t have anymore time to waste!”

While Antares dealt with Ender’s rage Kuhn had to make sure Apollo didn’t get any closer to himself or Haseo. They just couldn’t lose to these guys, not after all the more dangerous fights they went through. Finally though Kuhn was caught off guard and was slashed one final time by Apollo who had gotten too close faster than expected.

“Now then, ‘Terror of Death’ it’s your tu-“he didn’t finish as a hail of bullets hit him, followed by multiple slashes. One slash threw him back into a wall, and the bullets started again, each time he rose higher and higher into the air while the bullets kept him up until eventually he finally fell down defeated. While in the air he noticed who it was, Haseo has recovered in time and was using dual-guns with blades on them.

“Now it’s time for pay back.” said Haseo as he reloaded the dual guns. He heard a grunt and a body fell behind him, when he turn to see who it was he saw Antares on the floor disappearing.

“Now it’s just us 'Terror of Death.'” said Ender as he charged, his blade rage had taken over. Haseo calmly stood with his guns facing Ender and a glowing started to form around him. Closer and closer Ender came, until Haseo fired the charged shot and hit ender square in the chest, the hit was strong enough to force him and a hail of gunfire followed. He flew up into the air just like Apollo until he was defeated by Haseo as well.

“AND THAT’S IT FOLK THE BATTLE IS OVER!!!” yelled the Announcer, “HASEO AS HIS TEAM HAVE KEPT THEIR POSISION AS THE SAGE PALACE EMPERORS!!!

The crowd cheered, many people stood and clapped, the fight was better than most had expected. Haseo stood in the center of the area waving at the people while Antares and Kuhn reappeared at his side.

“That was a tough fight huh.” said Kuhn while waving at his fan girls in the audience.

“Yeah I hope I don’t have to fight someone like that again.” said Haseo.

“Wow this was some match!” said an excited Azure.

“Yeah, we…Oh hey I heard that there would be a special announcement today.” said Mireille.

“Really?” asked SilverRose. “What do you think it’s about?”

“Who knows, but I bet it’s something really important if it’s during the tournament.” replied Mireille.

“Ok folks, now I’m sure some of you heard that there would be a special announcement today, so get ready for this.” said the Announcer. “The World will soon have a major upgrade so it will be down for a few days, but when you get back there will be a new max level limit, so those you who are at level 150 will soon have a new goal as well as two new root towns and new dungeon types along with new monsters. To top it all off there will be a new palace, the Celestial Palace, and with it will be special rules and fight conditions.”

A few people where excited to hear the news while others where murmuring amongst themselves, due to the fact that they wouldn’t get to play for a while.

Meanwhile the announcer continued, “As a special treat instead of going on to the normal matches we’ll have a special match using one of the rules of the Celestial Palace, which I forgot to mention will already have an emperor. Haseo himself has been selected to be the emperor of the new palace.”

Many people where surprised Haseo was automatically being made the emperor of the palace and he didn’t even have to work for it, but then again other remembered how powerful he is so it would make sense.

“Now then on to the special match, Haseo has agreed to fight against one of the members of the audience, we will now randomly select the player and we will not identify who it is unless they agree, if they don’t then someone else will be chosen.”

Once again many people began to talk amongst themselves, try to see if the chosen person will say it before going

“Someone gets to fight against him?” said SilverRose, “what kind of special condition will this new tournament have that they would let just anyone fight Haseo?”

“I don’t know but whoever is going to fight him will have their work cut out for them.” said Mireille.

“Yeah…seems like I will” said Azure as he stood up.

“Ye-WHAT!!” yelled SilverRose.

Azure didn’t answer because he was suddenly teleported away onto the field.

“It seems folks that our challenger has accepted, so I present to you the person who will be fighting Haseo in the special match…AZURE!!” yells the announcer.

A ring of lights appeared in front of Haseo in the arena, a few seconds later another player appeared. It was Azure; his basic character information appeared such as his name character class and level as he appeared.

“I wonder how this fight will turn out folks, now I will explain the rules and conditions of this battle.” said the Announcer.