15 The Battle that Looms Ahead

I spent almost a week off of MFO. I needed a break after the events of the magicrumb situation. I was mentally unstable. I almost hurt Walter. Everything that I experienced in MFO contradicts what my parents taught me. I have to keep playing to find out what true love is. I have to keep playing to confirm that my parents loved me.

After I fully felt mentally prepared to dive back in, I grabbed my headset and was about to put it on. Walter entered the room and wore a concerning expression.

"Young Master, I don't think you should be playing this game. It seems to be doing a toll on your mental health-"

"Walter, do you love me?"

"I...take care of you to the best of my ability."

"Walter, if I rushed into a forest to take my own life, would you do everything in your power to stop me?"

"If that was your wish, then I would allow you to do so."

Of course. None of this is adding up. I certain my parents would've gone after me, but the way they would handle it is worlds different than Faye or Max Gornwell. I'm certain of what I have to do now.

"By your logic, you shouldn't care about what this game does to my mental health. So why is there a contradiction? Maybe there's something that you don't want me finding out that the game might help with. What is it, Walter? What big secret could possibly be revealed when playing this game?" I towered over Walter and stared him down.

"..." Walter had no response to my interrogation.

"I'm going to keep playing." I said as I turned around, put my headset on and hopped into bed. "You know the drill. Don't come in my room or try to take the headset off.

"Yes, young master." Walter bowed as he left the room. Once he was gone, I said the game's activation phrase:

"Take me to the place I could escape for all of time."

"Take me to My Fantasy Online."

As my eyes drifted off to sleep, I woke up to find that I was once again in the guild hall of the kingdom of Jericho. The first thing I did was see a notification on my right that had a message from Aegis.

"WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN? I ASKED AROUND THE GUILD AND THEY SAID YOU WEREN'T ON FOR ALMOST A WEEK! WE GOT A DEMON GENERAL TO TAKE DOWN! DM ME WHEN YOU'RE BACK! I GOT PEOPLE AND WE'RE WAITING FOR YOU!"

After that message, he sent another one.

"Sorry. caps. I was very angry at you, but I didn't want to express my anger via text. I would much rather do it in person."

I sighed as I sent a reply to him. I pretty much told him to meet me in the guild hall. Once I sent it, I left my room and waited at a table. Not long after, Aegis walked in the building. I could tell it was him because he had that stupid suit that made him stand out. As he walked into the building, I saw him talking to one of the four people to the side of him. It was a guy dressed like a jester that was very attractive. He had two girls that stood close to him that I could only assume are his groupies. They wore the same purple and black color scheme that he sported and wore smiles as they clung onto each of his arms. They looked completely identical. They must be twins. The other person that was a bit off from the rest of the group was a small dark-skinned girl with dark purple short hair. She wore white robes with purple accents- Wait, THAT'S VIOLET! I walked over to give a quick greeting to her.

"Yo, Violet! Funny enough seeing you here! So I guess your on the team to-"

Before I could finish my sentence, I was punched in the stomach by none other than Aegis. I grabbed the collar of his shirt and violently shook him back and forth.

"What the hell was that about, you dunce?!"

"Can't you see that I was having a conversation?! Don't you know it's rude to interrupt conversations?!"

"You weren't even talking to Violet, you jackass!"

Neither of us were willing to back down. We were ready to go for another day-long brawl in the guild hall, but I was immediately held back by Violet. I could obviously break away from Violet with ease and start wailing on Aegis, but she's trying her best, ya know? Why not let her feel like she's doing something?

The man that Aegis was talking to snapped his fingers and the two women held Aegis back. After everyone calmed down, Aegis introduced me to the other three people he brought for the fight.

"This is Gabe Hans and his stans-"

"We have names! I'm Jessica! I'm a Repeller! and this is my bestie Samantha! She's a rouge." Jessica put her hands on her friend's shoulders as if to present her to me.

"Gabe Hans. Nice to meet you. I'm sure you heard of my music?"

I DID hear of this guy's music. Back in the military, he was very popular among the soldiers. Especially the few female ones. He's a soulful artist that sings about love and all the weird feelings that come along with it.

"Yes. I specifically find your music to be very tacky."

"Who do you think you're talking to like that?"

"Yeah, who do you think your talking to like that?"

I didn't bother registering in my mind who said what, they're basically the same person to me at this point.

"And guys, this is Matthew. He's a Bloodfallen that'll act as our second DPS-wait are you only level nine?! I thought I told you to get to level ten for the fight!" Aegis yelled at me.

"M-Matthew has Potenshia, so I think he'll be fine in terms of the Anya fight." Violet explained.

"You do have a point..." Aegis paused to think about the situation and came to a resolution. "We'll just continue as planned. Not much should change. Let's roll out, team!"

"Who does this guy think he is, Optimus Prime? Leader of the teen titans? Haha..." Violet tried some banter as we started filing out of the guild hall.

"You successfully holding me back was the only freebie, Violet. You only get one a day."

"Wait, me holding you back was a freebie?!" Violet followed me out.

We traversed the forest of beginnings, killing low level monsters to get to the demon general's domain. On our way, Aegis explained how demon general domains work.

"Once any party steps into a domain, they are forced to stay in it until either the party or the demon general itself dies. The demon generals each have their own domain that is somewhat visually different from the rest. The domain for the demon general of the forest of beginnings is..."

We walked a bit in silence as everyone waited for Aegis to finish his sentence. To no one's surprise, Jessica was the first to get impatient and asked.

"I don't get it. What's the domain for this frontier?"

"I'm going to be completely honest: I timed my whole spiel incorrectly. I thought we were going to make it to domain as I said that and I apologize-OH WAIT THERE IT IS!"

In the distance, I could see a circular open field that stretched almost as far as the eye could see. The field had low cut grass and at the opposite end of it, a lone woman sat there cross-legged at the base of the tree. Her skin seemed wooden and she had two black horns at her temples reminiscent of a ram's. From what I could tell she was none other than the demon general.

Gabe Hans was about to step in, but Aegis immediately put his hand on his chest to stop him.

"One last thing: each demon general has three phases. Because this is Anya of Solitude, she only has two. The first phase is called her titan phase. She'll grow to a colossal size and we'll fight her until she's half health. She'll then transition to her weakened phase where her titan form will collapse and she'll be our size again. We'll then dispatch of her quick and easy. If we all do our jobs right, it'll be smooth sailing. Once we step in, we're locked in. You guys ready for this?"

I began to smile at the prospect of defeating my first demon general. "Always have been!"

Everyone else showed their preparedness by readying their weapons. Aegis called the charge and began to ran, but I could barely contain my excitement. I pushed him out the way and went speeding towards my enemy.

"LET'S SEE WHAT YOU GOT, DEMON GENERAL!"