"Oh? Would you look at the time? We're just 5 minutes away from the release!" Kousuke suddenly said when he looks at the hanging clock on the wall, and saw it was nearing the due time. "Well then, I need to head back! I have to greet the players once they're in the game after all, as a true Game Master~"
"Wait, hold on a second! You can't just tell me that and dipped! Explain properly what you meant by players can get stronger in real life from leveling up in the game?!"
But just as he stood up and heads toward the door, her hand caught onto his collar from the back with a firm grip, stopping him in place before he could leave the CEO room. He could simply teleport to his room and she wouldn't even touch him, but where was the fun in that? He knew leaving her hanging would drives anyone crazy, so if he had teleported away, he wouldn't be able to see her reaction.
"Hm? It was as I said, what other explanation do you need?" He turned around and said innocently, it might have fooled anyone but Mei wasn't having any of it. Her piering glares explained everything—she won't let him go until he fully spell out every single thing she needs to know, in short, it will take him an annoying amount of time to do. Fortunately, someone came for his rescue as a hologram of maid appeared in front of them. It was Belfast, she started by bowing respectfully at him before doing the same to Mei.
"It is pleasure to meet you, Amano Mei, the CEO and face of Mythos Entertainment."
"What... where did you came from?!"
"I have always been around, watching over you for my Master." She said curtly.
"Your Master? You again!" Seeing the sheepish grin on Kousuke's face, Mei immediately understands that the maid must be someone employed by him. He must have called her over by magic or something, she doesn't believe the hologram effect to be an actual hologram. Now she have even more questions, what did the maid means by watching over her? Literally, or words?
"Please let go of Master, and I shall explain everything you wanted to know to the minute details."
"...Fine."
Once she let go of her grip, Kousuke rearrange his collar to its original form before bidding farewell at them. There was no need to exchange words with Belfast because she understood him more than anyone in this world. In Mei's watchful eyes, he twisted the door knob and pulled open the door. However, what greeted him wasn't the hallway, it was a white endless space. Her eyes widened and she swore she saw him smiling before entering the space as the door shut behind him.
"That..." Her jaw dropped with her finger pointed at the door. "What was that?!"
"The door temporarily connected to the Imaginary Space he created, it was the shortest way to the virtual world." Belfast explained calmly. Then she proceed to tell her about Sacred Gear, and the rest took more than a few hours. By the time the explanation comes to an end, it was already night outside and everywhere on social medias, everyone and their mothers hyping about the games and the capsule. If someone ever mentioned one of the two, someone else will brings the other.
More importantly, there was a news article that stood out to her. Apparently, the Game Master had set an event across all servers. In this game, there are 99 Floors and each floor is a small world by itself. Upon defeating the Boss of each floor, the player unlock the next floor. In short, they needs to defeat 99 Bosses to beat the game. But that's not the shocking part, it was what the Game Master said that truly motivated the players.
[Whoever beat the game, Mythos Entertainment promises WE will fulfill one wish no matter what it is.]
Now that she knows that supernatural world exists, and Kousuke is far from ordinary, Mei wasn't overly upset by his abrupt and whimsical decision. From her point of view, it was a good PR marketing to drives more attention towards them, and in turns, adding more sales for the game and the capsule. Whoever, she was more curious on how he is going to fulfill someone's wish. What if someone asked him to revive a dead person? He shouldn't be able to realize that wish right? If he could, that makes him even more frightening in her mind. That should be the domain of God.
"Why is he doing this?" Mei muttered with a sigh. She had already devised plan for the longevity of the game, she truly believes that the game and the capsule are the keys that will bring about new era, and it will take some time to fully cemented it into human's history. Only when things become part of the ordinary life does it means something to them. As someone who studies business, her thought are logically sounds.
"You're missing one key point to what led his decision," Belfast answered with a knowing smile.
"I'm missing something? What is it then?"
"That's not my place to answer, you will have to ask my Master yourself."
...
The next day, at a strange shrine.
Valerie never expected the one time she finally accepted to hang out with her friends, and somehow caught herself in a strange circumstance. It seems a friend of Miko from another class had invited her to an abandoned shrine, and to pray there for the incoming exam. She was initially skeptical about it, especially the part about the shrine being abandoned. Despite having the power over souls to a certain extent, Valerie however weren't good with scary stuff like ghosts.
"This place looks scary," Miko muttered, she could feels chill down her spine as if there was something wrong with the shrine. But Miko's friend, Hana only laugh, explaining that she had went through her a couple of times before and nothing strange happens. So the two let down their guards for a bit.
And things went well for a while. Hana was the first to pray since there was an old custom she heard that only one person at a time. Then followed by Miko, she was still strangely unsettled but managed to go through it in the end. Then when it was finally her turn, Valerie thought nothing would happen until the sky turned cloudy all of sudden.
"Wow! It looks like the rain is coming down!" Hana said innocently. But unlike her, Miko and Valerie immediately tensed up. The moment the sky changed, they felt something pressing on them. Something that lurks in the darkness had seemingly been stirred awake by Valerie. Sensing the incoming danger, Valerie tried to call Kousuke with the smartphone he had bought for her yet couldn't get any signal.
She didn't want to use her power in front of her friends, the last thing she need is for them to developed some kind of fear towards her after learning that she's a dhampir. Valerie still hadn't completely disregards her trauma from the past. However, she also didn't want her friends to get hurt, thus she was left with only one choice. That is to stall for time until Kousuke realized something must have happened to her and rescue them.
[WHO...HAD AWAKETH... GOD OF THE MOUNTAIN?]
A huge shadow casted over her and her friends. Slowly, Valerie looks up and her body went cold. It was a bizarre looking monster. The creature's body was squat and hunched, its bulk crouched low to the ground like a predator waiting to spring. Where a face should have been, its head split open into two enormous, vertical jaws, upper and lower mandibles peeling apart to reveal row upon row of jagged teeth layered deep within its maw. The jaws opened far wider than should have been possible, stretching unnaturally as if the skull itself had been torn in half.
Thick, sinewy flesh framed the gaping mouth, and strands of saliva dripped between the overlapping fangs, pooling beneath it as it breathed. Its forelimbs were short but powerful, ending in clawed hands that dug into the ground for balance, while the rest of its body seemed to coil beneath it like compressed muscle. Tendril-like growths or warped folds of flesh spilled from its sides, writhing faintly as though alive.
[IS IT... THOU?]
It did not need eyes to see. As if feeling her gaze on it, the bizarre creature angled its open jaws toward her felt deliberate, almost hungry. As if the creature's entire existence revolved around that impossible mouth, built not to kill swiftly, but to consume, grind, and devour whatever was unfortunate enough to be caught within its reach.
[THOU..CAN SEE THEE?]
Suddenly, it let out maniacal laugh that came deep inside itself that shook the ground like an earthquake. Valerie had heard of Gods, but never anything like this. It feels more like a powerful malignant spirit from the way it looks and the black ominous energy surrounded it. Suddenly, it stabbed its splitted jaws into the ground. Her eyes widened as she hugs Hana and Miko before pushing them out of the way, and tendrils shoot forth to the sky from their previous spot.
"Woah!"
"You... you can see it?" Miko muttered with pale face. For the first time, she no longer feels alone surrounded by scary monsters. She had seen the creature and pretended to not notice it like she normally would, but it appears to have senses her friend's gaze rather than herself. However, that wasn't good news at all. In fact, they were still very much in danger.
[Author Note: I honestly don't want to do this but I ran into a bit of money problem IRL. So if you have any spare cash, please consider supporting me on Patreon. It doesn't matter if it's just a couple of bucks, anything is appreciated. Truly, I can't thank enough how much I enjoyed writing this and reading some of paragraph comments reacting to my lame humor in this fanfic. I will continue writing this so long as my motivation persist, again, thank you for accompanying up until now.]