Joint Operation

Not long after, a woman screamed from a distance. It attracted everyone's attention, including Airi.

"What is that?"

"Something happened?"

"A corpse! A corpse suddenly appeared!" The woman screamed.

Hearing that, I pushed everyone away to see the scene. It wasn't far from where I stood. Airi followed along.

We reached the spot. A corpse with a clean cut across his body. Pool of blood below the detached corpse. Smell of burnt meat is still present.

"Hanazaki? Why did he appear all of a sudden and die?" Airi looked surprised.

The train slowed and came to a halt. The doors were open and passengers were told to leave the train as police and men in a business suit took over the scene and cleaned up the body.

We watched from a distance.

"Are you alright?" Airi asked worriedly. "What happened back then?" It was easy for her to connect the dots on what happened. Hanazaki's death had something to do with me, that was certain. That said, she still needs some explanation.

"Yeah, I'm alright. He created an isolated space separating me from reality. We fight to the death there."

Airi remembered the clean cut and knew I shouldn't have swordsmanship. The Ryuta she knew was different.

"Darling, am I not trustworthy?"

I looked at her eyes for a few seconds. Zero wanted his identity to be hidden. I shifted my head to the shadow, the latter's head moved on its own, nodding. I got his approval.

"An unknown entity possessed my body and taught me swordsmanship. He's not an evil god or an evil beast, he's just a swordsmanship master."

"What did he want from you?"

"He's looking for someone."

"Do you want me to help? I know a lot of people that can help."

"He said he doesn't want to get you involved."

"Okay, tell me if he changes his mind."

"He's thankful for the offer and will take it."

"No worries. I'm curious, why did he choose your body? How did he descend into you? Dark magic? Favor of the god?"

"He doesn't remember much and when he realized, he's already inside me."

She let out a grunted acknowledgement.

[Sorry for the inconveniences, the train will start operating in five minutes.]

It seemed the police and the men in suit completed the clean up and investigation. They took the people who saw the body first for interrogation.

"About the familiar..."

"Ah, yes. Your ability is still weak right now. That entity might be able to protect you, but the enemy is unpredictable, we don't know what kind of power he would use next time." She paused as she asked, "Can I have a piece of paper and a pen?"

"Yeah."

I opened my backpack and gave her what she needed. She drew me a magic circle with complicated patterns and scribbles. She gave it to me.

"Say 'Reveal' out loud while holding the paper. The magic circle will react to your voice and be activated. It will summon a powerful being to protect you."

I received it, "Thank you."

"No worries. Come on, let's go, the train is going to be late." She walked ahead of me, I followed suit.

Once we were on the train, she opened her mouth, "Divinity requires players to complete quests the system gives to the player. Players must complete Main Quest at least once a month.

"Should they fail to complete it, something worse than death awaits." She explained.

"The Divinity I knew is different. In the original game, there are different classes and builds for each character. Why is there no such a thing for this Divinity?

"Instead, we get the privilege to get the power we want. I'm not complaining though. It bothers me that they don't have many similarities.

"It is to make the game fair. If some players knew something in advance, it'd be a disadvantage to those who started late." She explained.

Similar to novels about players of five years experience who went back to the past and knew everything in advance. Divinity wishes none of that.

Soon, the train reached my stop. I left the train while she remained. The door was still open. She waved her hand while I looked at her with love and affection while smiling. I slowly waved my hand towards her.

The door slowly closed as I heard beeping noises coming from the door. The train soon moved after the doors shut tight.

She kept waving her hands towards me until her figure disappeared from my line of sight.

I turned around and someone was already behind me.

"Woah! You scared me." I exclaimed, "When did you get here, Ms. Shino? No, why are you here?"

"I've been behind you all the time." She replied as she stared at me emotionlessly. "As for the last question, I forgot."

"You forgot?" I raised my eyebrows, but decided to put the thought later. "Wait, you've been behind me? You heard everything we said?"

"I'm sorry for eavesdropping." She bowed slightly.

"Oh, no, don't worry! In fact, I need to talk with you. Last night, you seem to know what's in the box, does that mean you're also a player?"

"So you drink it?"

"Yes... I'm sorry."

"Why are you apologizing? It's my fault. Humans tend to be more curious if someone said no towards the unknown. Well, either way, whether I say a word or not, you will open that box. So, what kind of question do you want to ask?" She turned around and went to the other platform, I followed behind her.

I could reach my college after fifteen minutes of walking from home. I simply wish to accompany Airi.

Before I could raise a word, however, she added, "It seems to me your girlfriend has already told you all things necessary. What else do you want to know?"

"Yes, about that, is it possible to quit being a player?"

She looked at me like a fool. "Answer me this, can you quit being a human?"

"That's, well..." I had trouble responding.

"Why? Do you regret it now and want to quit?" She looked at the time on her phone.

"No, it's about someone else."

She heard my conversation on the train so she easily connected the dots.

"Is it that Hanazaki fellow? Aren't you two enemies?"

"Yes."

I proceed to tell her about him. How I became his biggest threat and why he wanted me dead. I also told her we killed him twice now without explaining the details.

"If he quit being a player, he won't be a nuisance to me and I don't have to kill him." The thought of killing someone bother me. It must be the last method.

"Kill him, that's the only answer. You've already killed him twice, one more time shouldn't be a problem."

"They're all clones."

"There is no method to quit being a player. You should give up."

"Then, how about we work together? Of course, I don't expect you to work for free, I will pay you in the future."

"Forget it, we just met and I don't trust you. You might disappear after the deal is completed."

"My ability is to craft anything and everything, given that I have the materials."

Hearing that, she turned her doubtful eyes to me. "Can you bring dead people to life?"

"Yes, there is such a thing I can craft, but it takes more than working together to beat one guy to make me do it. The materials aren't cheap either."

She looked at me suspiciously, "Truly?"

"Yes." I nodded

"Prove it. It can be sweet words you make to deceive me."

"I would never." I let out a troubled expression.

If I were in her position though, I might react the same way. However, just like Airi said, my ability made me similar to a god.

How should I prove it to Shino that such a thing existed? The hologram is only visible to me. I'll try to explain it to her.

"It is called the Circle of Rebirth. The background here says, 'Under the Divinity's influence, all shall bow. To those bravely defy, shall they perish under the scornful sky. Doubt may linger, but the truth is ever so brighter.' It continues with, 'You can revive death, Jesus must be so proud.' it ends there."

"Wow, so amazing." She was sarcastic.

"No, I am telling the truth! There must be something I can do, like taking a picture!" I grabbed my phone before realization hit. "I cannot do that."

"Send a screenshot to me." She suggested.

"Screenshot? How?"

"You didn't know?" She raised her eyebrows. I nodded.

She patiently explained that Divinity required a simple will for doing tasks.

Chat messages, friends, accessing quests (locked for five days), accessing shops (locked), going to the forum, screenshot and many other features.

I opened the interface of my ability and willed the system to take a screenshot. The photo is stored somewhere and strangely, I can remember it perfectly.

I opened the chat, added Ms. Shino as a friend, she accepted it and I sent the screenshot. All require but will. So convenient and fast!

I watched Ms. Shino's expression for a few seconds straight .

"You told me the truth. Fine, I will work with you to get rid of him."

"Truly?!" I exclaimed.

"Yeah, so do you mind skip your classes today? I can't wait to get my hands on the reward."

"Just to be clear, it will take more than this to get that item and the materials are not from this world."

"I know, I'll ask for something else." She walked away.