The Red Hand

Chapter 352 – It Was Closer than Expected.

"Alright everyone, we're back! Thanks for waiting, awooo!" A female commentator with dog ears shouted at the audience. "As we've seen all day the first round of this year's Global Frontline Royal Rumble concluded with a destructive finish as Gilmore and Hemrz's final attacks detonated the city, killing them both and giving us an explosion that rocked the internet!" She said as chat messages floated across the screen, showing everyone's excitement. "But a little birdy told me that the second elimination round will be even better, as the young up-and-comer Akagi is going to be facing off Frontline's number one ranked player, Narabusa!” She said as more messages flooded across the screen discussing either how hype the match was going to be or how cute the caster was. “Now I'm sure you've all seen both of them during some of the regional matches this past season, but let's go over their skills, builds, and what this will mean for the other hopefuls unfortunate enough to have been placed in the middle of these two titan's sure to be epic battle!" She giggled as the screen flooded with even more chat messages, with many excited to see what was largely anticipated to be the most spectacular battle of the entire event.

"It still baffles me... to see...just how many people were excited to watch her..." Shima sat in awe as she read the fast-flying comments. She'd been practically addicted to watching any kind of stream or recording of Akagi's gaming time pre-FWO, and it had come as a complete shock when she discovered not just how good Akagi was but how excited people were to see her play.

{To think that I belittled her for playing these games. I saw this all as just foolishness and a waste of time, but she... Rishia was... is truly talented, wasn't she? How could I have insulted her ability for all those years when it's clear as day that was good at something? Something that brought happiness to others? It... It even made her happy and yet I'd...I'd never actually seen her smile without Kana at her side, but here... she looks alive, truly alive. She really... Rishia... She was happy... And I did everything possible to take that away from her...} (Shima)

"Oh hey! It's Frontline 2057!" Hishya's words broke Shima out of her thoughts, startling her as the Dragon appeared behind her. "Man, that takes me back! That whole event was hype!"

{The biggest names in competitive were all there! Narabusa fucking came out of pseudo-retirement because that game was flawless! I was so pissed that I couldn't take part! Ugh! Stupid medical treatment schedule!} (Hishya)

"That name sounds familiar." Kana said as she followed her girlfriend into the room. “I swear I've heard Onee-chan mention it before.” She hummed in thought as she searched her memory but was only drawing blanks on that specific game.

"It'd better! Frontline was an absolutely revolutionary game, Kana, and the competitive scene was one of the largest in gaming for a while there!" Hishya started to ramble a bit, her gaming knowledge flooding out like a waterfall. "The combat, abilities, and movement were the best that V.R. could offer, and the overall battle loop was addicting as all hell! You have no idea how much time your sister and I put into that game when it came out!" Her eyes shone brightly as she remembered playing.

{It's too bad the servers are offline! I really want to dive in and see it all again! Zipping around those massive cities in a battle royal fight to the death was some of the most fun I'd ever had in a game! Having a 10 player FFA with earth shaking powers was so fucking GOOD!} (Hishya)

"You... You used to play with Rishia all the time, didn't you?" Shima asked, finally composing herself enough to speak. "I... I really should thank you for being her friend. I imagine that having someone to just talk to for all those years was a lifesaver for her, thank you." She bowed slightly, which made Hishya uncomfortable.

"W-We helped each other on that front." Hishya replied, scratching her cheek in embarrassment. "I was trapped in a hospital bed, liable to die at a moment's notice, so I found it nearly impossible to make friends with people. Not to mention that my social skills were horrible."

{And we all know where that led me...} (Hishya)

"I'd imagine that with you and Onee-chan both being absolutely terrible at talking with people, finding someone else equally socially inept was a great relief." Kana snickered as she imagined the two awkward idiots talking to each other in V.R.

"Me aside, was she really that bad, though?" Hishya asked in an attempt to not relive her dark past. "I'll admit that I only knew her online until everything went down, but she was always pretty comfortable around people in V.R. She got along pretty well with other players, at least when she wasn't tearing them down and yelling at them for making her lose a match." She sighed.

{So many poor people logged out crying when she screamed at them. I remember that one guy even went to a mental hospital after some really fucked up things she said to him. I suppose some things about Akagi never really change... Just recently we played a 2v2 team match of Galactic Wars and she cursed me out for messing up her FTL ambush... ITS WASN'T EVEN MY FAULT! THE STUPID PATHFINDING ON THE AI FUCKED UP MY JUMP TIMING!} (Hishya)

"Rishia always had terrible social anxiety, and her other mental health issues meant that she struggled to connect with children her age." Shima answered, noting that Akagi could be moody and violent with other children at times. "I... I don't think she had a single in-person friend for her entire life, at least not until she woke up from that death game."

"That would be correct, Onee-chan had no friends... Um..." Kana immediately regretted saying that sentence the moment it left her lips. "D-Did she ever say anything about that stuff to you?" She turned to Hishya, wanting to not linger on her comment. "You really were the only person she talked to, outside of me of course, so I figured you knew a bit more about her."

"I mean, she'd sometimes get sentimental, but I don't think the two of us ever really had a heart-to-heart sappy discussion like you're thinking." Hishya shook her head as she recalled their many chat sessions. "I was aware of her... let's say less than ideal home life, at least vaguely, and I could tell she was more comfortable online than off, but anything deeper, like about her inner turmoil or issues? No, she never talked about it, and I never asked." She noted that proper netiquette didn't allow for prying into IRL stuff unless the other person wanted to, and Akagi had every reason not to want to discuss the offline world. "We played games together, laughed with and at each other, fought, and had fun. That was really the extent of our relationship. It wasn't until we got trapped in FWO that I saw that Akagi was... Well... we know now how she is." She gave a nervous laugh.

{I don't think DEMON KITTY was expected though.} (Hishya)

"We really did drive her to hate her life, didn't we?" Shima said with a sad expression. "It makes sense. Our home was no home to her, and the only place she could feel freedom was in a virtual world. It makes perfect sense that she'd rather stay there than come home to two parents that hatred her very existence."

{I wouldn't be shocked if she would've preferred death to coming back after being trapped in that game. No, she almost certainly did...} (Shima)

"The whole Demon Lord thing probably played a part in it, too." Hishya commented, relaying a bit of what Akagi had told her in the past. "She always said that she preferred the power and abilities in game and that logging out made her feel like she was missing something."

{I'd imagine that she subconsciously desired the power that slept within her, and maybe being in V.R. satiated some of those cravings that drove her mad. I won't deny that I didn't understand her distaste for the real world. After all, I would've killed for a body that wasn't on the verge of death.} (Hishya)

"And now we've got our first look at the eight competitors as the next round begins!" The dog-eared woman's voice interrupted their conversation as she cut to an overhead view of a partially destroyed city.

"Oh right, that round was on Ruined Ikebukuro, a classic and pretty well balanced map." Hishya said as she watched the stream. "Akagi really went all out in perfecting her build for this match. I think she stayed up for basically a week to get it right."

"What, was Onee-chan an assassin there too?" Kana laughed at her own words.

"Nope, she was a frontline fighter actually." Hishya replied. "I'd say that she was probably closer to me in terms of the game abilities she picked, but leaned more into DPS and was basically a glass cannon that blended a bit of sword play with magic."

{Though now that I think about it, isn't that basically what she did in FWO? She was a high-damage-dealing assassin who couldn't take a ton of damage in FWO which is kinda sorta what she was in Frontline.} (Hishya)

"Your sister seems to have tried and excelled at all kinds of games." Shima said as the match started as a buzzer went off. "I watched her play several different fighting games, board games like Shogi and Chess, and even a couple... What were they called, Real Time Strategy Games?" She wasn't particularly knowledgeable about gaming, beyond what she could recall from her youth. “All of them seemed to light a spark in her eye, and she won far more times than she lost.”

{She only really lost when dealing with unknowns. I don't think I ever saw her lose to the same strategy twice.} (Hishya)

"Have you seen any gameplay of Frontline?" Hishya asked if she'd watched any footage of this game specifically.

"A little, but none of Rishia." Shima shook her head. "I don't even know what she looks like in this one, just that she's here and apparently everyone was looking forward to her match. They didn't have recordings for other games that she'd been part of since it wasn't some kind of big event like this one."

"On the appearance side Akagi tended to mix things up a whole bunch with her Avatars in games, and there were a few times she even used a male Avatar." Hishya said. “And funny enough she was the second most watched player at the time, only losing out to Narabusa in hype due to his legendary status.”

"Too bad that nowadays she just does the cursed thing she showed us at the house..." Kana sighed as she recalled that unholy sight.

{Its simultaneously disturbing, funny and eyebleachingly horrible. I never want to see again as long as I live.} (Kana)

"Oi! I thought we agreed not to talk about that." Hishya pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration, Shima not knowing or wanting to know what they were talking about.

{I really wish I could unsee that... Fuck you, Akagi...} (Hishya)

"But let's see." Hishya said as she got herself together and scanned her eyes across the television screen for a moment. "Ah, here." She connected her A.R. device to the screen with the flick of a hand, bringing up a menu in front of her. "Now, let's just go into stream settings, find one specific POV..." She played around with the settings until she shifted the view from that of the commentator discussing the match to a camera that was following around a purple and red-haired girl who was wearing what looked like a cross between a Kimono and a hoodie. "There you are!" She snickered. "I almost forgot that's what her Avatar looked like!"

{Its so adorable! Unlike what she is NOW.} (Hishya)

"Wait, is that Onee-chan?!?" Kana's eyes widened as she looked at her sister's virtual form. "She looks so different!" She'd gotten used to seeing either her original body or what she looked like now as Akagi, and while she'd seen her plenty of times in different Avatars, the girl on screen was a far cry from the much darker sister that she'd come to know. "Please tell me you're joking?!?There's no way this can be Onee-chan! She's cute, wearing bright colors, AND has a big smile on her face?!?"

{She wouldn't be caught dead with an Avatar that screamed anime girl that bad! Its like some kind of Idol persona!} (Kana)

"???" Hishya turned to her girlfriend, looking confused by Kana's comments. "What do you mean? Your sister always made Avatars that looked like this." She'd usually seen Akagi use forms more akin to what she looked like now, though the Demon tended to enjoy more fluffy and happy-looking characters in the past. "You saw her before the eye change, and her appearance there was much more in line with this. Just change a few things up and tone down the colors and its actually pretty on point with her usual avatar choice, she really liked stuff like this."

{SHE GOES CAT AND GETS PETS, SO WHY ARE YOU SHOCKED BY HER WANTING TO LOOK LIKE SOME KIND OF ANIME GIRL?!? Hell, 99% of returnees look like this and basically all the former NPCs do too!} (Hishya)

"I... I think it's just hard for either of us to imagine Rishia... Walking around like that with a big smile on a nice rounded face..." Shima said with a wry smile, unable to imagine the daughter she knew with such an expression. "She was always a very mopey, depressed, and downright bitter girl at home... So seeing that... It's a bit of whiplash for us..."

{If they think this is bad, then she's probably going to freak when I show her Fantasy Park. That was a pretty cool rhythm based game where she played an Idol Bard that killed zombies with Songs.} (Hishya)

*KABOOM!*

While Shima and Kana recovered from the discovery that Akagi did indeed like to create V.R. personas that were more than simple dark edge lords, the stream continued, and Akagi was stopped as she walked down the ruined street by a massive blast of fire in front of her.

"Oh, are we doing this already?" Akagi's much younger and sweet voice filled the air as she looked at the top of a nearby building. "I figured that you'd want to wait until the others were gone, Narabusa." Her lips curving into a wicked smile that ended all doubt as to who was behind that cute mask. "But I'm fine with killing you now if you'd like to speed things up." She flicked her hand, summoning dozens of electrically charged katanas that floated around her. "Though I'll ask that you at least keep me entertained for a little bit." She laughed in a manner that was more akin to the psychotic laugh that the girls had come to know her to lose as of late. "After all, I need a warm-up before the [real] massacre starts!" She leaped forward, clashing with the lanky young man across the rooftops, but neither Hishya nor Kana cared about the epic battle after what they just heard.

"Did... No way..." Hishya's entire body tensed briefly as Akagi's single word shook her to her core. "Did she... Did she just speak Demon?!?"

{WHAT?!?} (Hishya)

"She... She did..." Kana's entire body froze. She fully understood what was just said, but couldn't believe that Akagi'd spoken it. "But... This... This was almost a year before FWO. So... How is that..."

Pausing briefly Hishya and Kana turned at the same time to at each other, nodding as they'd come to the same conclusion.

"She... Akagi was close, wasn't she?" Hishya said, sweat forming on her brow.

"If she unconsciously spoke Demon... Then I can't imagine that was a good sign..." Kana said as she let out a deep sigh as he throat went dry.

She would question Akagi about this seemly impossible event later and was told that the Demon did recall doing so, but only after her memory was expanded post-awakening as a Demon Lord. Before that, Akagi claimed to have had no memory of speaking Demon after the night she nearly killed Kana, and she went on to all but confirm Hishya and Kana's hypothesis, stating that the seal on her soul was likely weakened severely by the time this footage was recorded.

Akagi postulated that her underlying nature was probably poking to the surface more and more due to V.R. feeding her instinctual desire for destruction and battle and that her time in full dive may have drew out part of her out from time to time. However, contrary to what Hishya and Kana expected, Akagi went on to explain that it served to delay not hasten her awakening, as it gave her a place to release stress, which in turn reduced pressure on the seal and pushed off its eventually breaking by years as a result.