章節 50: The Game Master
"Claude should live with us!" they said in unison.
And Ru shot them a sharp "No." "If possible, make him forget all this because I want him to stay my doctor. Not go insane."
"We'll think about it," they said.
"You two are weird. Yeah, your eyes are completely purple. You met and dealt without telling me. Without telling me," Ru yelled.
"But Liru..." Clockmaker began.
Ru pointed his index finger at her and demanded, "Weren't you supposed to be my child? Why do you keep calling me Liru?"
"Just because you're a clone of her father doesn't make you her father," Vaelan said, interlocking his index finger with Ru's.
Finding himself in a finger war, Ru suggested, "Let's sign up for a fencing course."
"Make up your mind, are we making music or fighting?" they asked.
"We can do both, after all, you've got the money," Ru said, lowering his finger in defeat.
They all sat in silence for a while and then found themselves playing a video game.
"Really... We're only two years away from the apocalypse, and we're here having fun playing games," Ru said.
"It's an MMORPG, so it'll prepare you mentally," Vaelan said. Then, his character—a female elf—hit with a magic arrow Ru's paladin, a male orc.
The sexy paladin orc that Ru worked for about one hour to create was slayed with a single stroke.
"Holy shit!" was Clockmaker's response.
Ru got angry, "VAELAN!"
"I didn't know your level was that low," Vaelan said, grinning.
Ru took the pepper spray out of his pocket. Thus, time slowed down in the cube he was in. Vaelan stood up and grabbed the pepper spray.
"You're very very bad boy," Vaelan said.
After spell time was up Ru sat down and cried. So it would be more accurate to say that he pretended to cry. But he couldn't fool them.
"Level is really that important?" Clockmaker asked, seriously.
"In most systems, yes," Vaelan said as he killed another player character on the path.
"Is there a system in the game I'm about to enter?" Ru asked.
"There will be, but it's unknown at the moment," Clockmaker said.
"What about this world we're in? Sometimes I become a wandering consciousness or something," Ru said, roaming his sexy orc paladin ghost around.
"Research Daoism, man," Vaelan said.
Ru asked questions like: "What is that? How do you know? Why don't I know?"
The Clockmaker was thinking things over. "Perhaps Daoism can help us gain insight into the situation. It's about the flow of energy and how everything is connected."
Ru was as usual a skeptic, "Energy? Flow? What do you mean by that? This sounds like New Age nonsense."
Vaelan shared his insights, "It's been around for thousands of years. It's just that you didn't think to ask, Rui."
<Oh, for the first time a newbie Ru is asking metaphysical questions,> said a little girl's voice that didn't come out of Vaelan's mouth.
Ru whispered, "Did you hear that?"
"The Princess is here," Clockmaker said, hiding behind Vaelan's consciousness again.
"The Princess?" Ru asked, expecting an answer from Clockmaker or Vaelan. "Come on, answer me!"
Vaelan, likely aiming to become a player-killer champion, didn't respond. Ru stepped in front of the screen and stared into his eyes. Blue eyes and furrowed brows...
"Oh, sorry," Ru said, stepping aside.
"Dude! I died because of you!" Vaelan complained.
"When you mentioned a princess... I..." Ru began, but realizing no one was paying attention to him, he got up.
"Since you're up, could you grab me some chips?" Vaelan asked.
This time, Ru didn't respond. He took his phone and went to his room, leaping onto his bed.
"I'm listening to you, newbie girls," he said as he adjusted his pillows.
<We heard that you're the most successful Ru,> the same voice said in an annoying tone.
"What, didn't you like me, honey? Also, how many of you are there, watching me?" Ru asked while scrolling through his phone.
<There are a thousand of us, little Ru,> said a much higher-pitched voice.
"Your father, Big Ru, sure has a knack for making babies. Is he a one-man amoeba?" Ru said, browsing social media.
<You better watch your mouth, we're not like the previous girls.> said a girl with a deep voice.
"Oh, I'm so scared," Ru said sarcastically, checking the latest hashtags. "It's weird - fifteen people died from electrocution in different places today."
<What nonsense are you talking about?> the Princess asked.
"Could it have been done by a Djinn Sultan?"
<Did he say 'djinn'?>
<Did he say 'sultan'?>
<No way!>
<Our father's going to kill us for sure!>
"Could you please disconnect me while you're talking amongst yourselves?" Ru said, furrowing his brows and glancing around randomly.
His reaction must have worked because the voices fell silent.
"Oh, finally, I can relax," Ru sighed, stretching out on the bed. Just as he was beginning to drift off, his phone buzzed, interrupting the tranquil moment.
A glance at the screen revealed a familiar name: 'Auntie.' A groan escaped his lips. "What could have happened this time?" he muttered under his breath.
"Yes, I'm listening," he answered, bracing himself for whatever chaos awaited.
"Demons, Ru, there are hordes of them, and they're pouring in non-stop!" Anaxarete's voice crackled with urgency.
Ru's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "What? Why now? The apocalypse is still two years away," he protested.
"These demons have taken human form, and I've managed to sway a few to my side. But they're outnumbered," Anaxarete explained, her voice rising in panic. A series of blood-curdling screams echoed in the background.
"Let the genie burn them to ashes," Ru commanded, his voice steady despite the chaos.
"He's on it," Anaxarete replied, but the sound of a massive explosion cut her off. "Oh no!" she cried out, her voice filled with terror.
"What happened?" Ru demanded, sitting upright. His sleepiness vanished.
"I'm sending you a potion to cloak your aura," Anaxarete managed to say before the line went dead.
"Damn it!" Ru jumped out of bed, cursing. He turned on his phone's flashlight and the window. Panic gripped him as he scanned the moonlit backyard. He looked for an animal or any being that would bring the potion. He found nothing. Just as he was about to give up, the insistent sound of the doorbell brought him back to reality.
Heart pounding, he strode downstairs and flung open the door. A pizza delivery guy stood there, or so it seemed. But as he opened his mouth to say "Vaelan," the man's hand transformed into a monstrous, clawed appendage.
The fiend lunged, its razor-sharp claws aimed at Ru's throat. Instinctively, he ducked, the creature's fingers grazing his shoulder. Pain exploded through his arm as he tumbled backward, his head colliding painfully with the hard floor.
The fiend hovered above him, its malevolent eyes fixed on its prey. A sickening grin twisted its inhuman features as it readied for the killing blow.
Just as the creature was about to strike, a shadowy figure emerged from the living room. It was Vaelan, but his eyes glowed with an eerie purple light.
Beside him, Clockmaker's voice echoed, "Let the wheels of time stop, let the rhythm of life slow down."
A prismatic bubble of light erupted around Ru and the fiend. Thousands of beams, refracted from the surrounding crystals, converged at their location, distorting the space within. Time, as if caught in the prism's embrace, slowed.
The world around them slowed to a crawl as time warped and bent. Vaelan, a blur of focused intensity, swung the baseball bat with deadly precision. The bat connected with the fiend's skull in a sickening crunch, sending the creature crashing to the floor.
THUD!
The baseball bat's impact shattered the fiend's skull; ashes, bones, blood, and brain matter splattered everywhere. The fiend collapsed to the ground, but this wasn't the end. As Clockmaker's time magic took effect, the fiend's remains evaporated and disappeared. All that was left was the body of a human. A human with a shattered skull.
Vaelan stood over the bizarre scene, his bat shaking in his hand. "This can't be real," he muttered, his voice barely audible.
"Was it a human? Had it hidden in a human body?" Clockmaker asked, unusually alarmed.
Vaelan, in shock, shouted, "I've become a murderer!"
Before they could process the horror, the wail of approaching sirens pierced the night. Blue and red lights flashed, casting eerie shadows over the scene.
Ru was still dazed from the attack when he was jolted awake by a sharp vibration in his pocket. A message from an unknown VIP number flashed across his screen:
"Enjoy the show, Lulu?"
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