[VRMMO] Dead One

"Let's start from the start…" – said Yosuke.

"This had happened when the tournament was going on."

"Around the beginning."

"I and Chiyo used this opportunity to take a break and go to the amusement park."

"We pretty much wasted the entire time playing around and then… Well, after the entire day of playing around, we went home."

"I dropped her at her home, before then going back to my own apartment… But there was something… Off."

"The capsule console was working on its own."

"It was turned on."

"Not only that… It had already game selected."

"And the status 'READY TO PLAY'…."

"Selected game…. Avriones."

"And mind you this was during the time when the sewers were completely frozen."

"And it the matches that day had already finished, so even the event serwer was closed."

"So… This did not made any freaking sense."

"The capsule straight up turned on its own and it had game already ready, even though it should had been locked away because of frozen sewers."

"…"

"I've waited few minutes… And the capsule just turned off by itself."

"It went completely off… And when I turned it back on… The serwer were once again unaccusable."

"I didn't called any tech support or anything."

"When they unfrozen serwer for moment, I logged int and there was nothing wrong whatsoever with the capsule…. So, I thought that everything was OKAY."

"…"

"But then… I and Chiyo were watching match between Alamin and Long."

"Chiyo screwed up and forgotten that she needed to go, so I've game her ride back home before then going back to my apartment…. And then it was again."

"The capsule."

"Full activated all on its own while the serwer were supposed to be yet again completely frozen."

"…"

"That time… I just decided to screw it."

"I entered the capsule pod and…. It worked."

"I was not able to log into the game, but I was able to log into the main serwer."

"…"

"However, I wasn't in my office where I last logged off."

"No."

"I was in the True Sloth Domain."

"We only met for short amount of time… But she said that she wanted me to do something for her."

"3 requests."

"Develop power of the sin or virtue.'

"Destroy the 'benefactor'."

"And finally continue collecting the items from the Forgotten World… A.K.A Forgotten Time."

"She then kicked me out of the game, forcefully logging me out."

"Now… Before I continue speaking…. I think it is fair if you start asking questions."

"…"

"Then me first." – said Shota Ito.

"You are saying, that the console turned on its own, twice."

"And not only that, you were able to log into the game, but interact with one of most important NPCs in the world, the True Sloth?"

"Did… Did anybody else had the same thing? Like this is question to everybody?" – said Shota Ito as Miteki translated his world to English so for those who couldn't speak Japanese would understand what he was speaking.

"Anybody? Like anybody at all?"

"…"

"…"

But nobody answered.

"So… You were the only one who got this weird thing?" – asked Shota Ito.

"…"

"By the looks of things… Yes." – said Yosuke.

"Then my question next." – said Luis.

"You said that you were kicked out of the game…"

"So does that mean that the Sloth wasn't NPC?"

"Or more exactly, are you sure that this person was Sloth? What if it was some company worker using her model or some shit?"

"Turning on the capsule on its own and giving you access to the serwer…. I've never heard anything about capsule turning on its own…. But based on what you told me, only somebody from the company which made Avriones"

"Yeah…. And that is the thing." – said Yosuke.

"The capsule turned on WHEN I came back."

"In both instances."

"Whoever did that must had knew that I was going home in that exact moment."

"And that is why I've told you all to turn off your devices."

"There was good chance that somebody had hacked them or some shit…. Somebody was fucking spying on me and they may had did the same thing to all of you already as well."

"…"

"Shit." – said scared Mika as she stared at her phone as she and other realized that the man wasn't kidding and that they may had really been spied on by somebody without their knowledge.

"…"

"Okay…. Now it fucking makes sense why you were panicking so much." – said Jarzyna Kowal.

"Yeah… If we were really being spied on… Still…. There is one thing I don't get." – said Kamil Kowal.

"Why the hell the Sloth request you 3 in game things?"

"What was it?"

"I've written it down." – said Yosuke and he shown paper which had both Japanese and English written words on it.

[1 – Continue gathering items from the Forgotten World / Forgotten Time.]

[2 – Hunt down and eliminate the 'Benefactor'.]

[3 – Continue developing the power of the sin or virtue of choosing, just make them grow.]

"Those are the 3 things she requested me to do." – said Yosuke.

"…"

"So… The Sloth maybe really just a person, a real person, controlling her?" – said Kamil Kowal.

"But this doesn't make sense."

"Why would she ask you to do it when we are already dealing with all 3 of those things."

"All of us are developing our sins power."

"We are actively hunting for the Forgotten Fragments and watching out for their appearance in our kingdom."

"Especially after how you told us how to restore the Forgotten Item."

"And the third thing, hunting down the 'Benefactor'."

"He is OUR enemy and we are hunting him."

"This doesn't make lick of sense."

"Why request for us to do something we are already doing?" – said Kamil as everybody started wondering and raising the same question, realizing that the whole request was straight up pointless.

"…"

"Well… I guess all of you came to the same conclusion as me." – said Yosuke.

"Yes… I did thought that Sloth was a person from a real world who was just messing with me."

"It would make perfect logical sense."

"But their request?"

"It was beyond stupid."

"…"

"That is…. Okay…"

"…"

"From now on… There will be a weird part of the story."

"?"

"What do you mean by weird?" – asked Junko Ono.

"…"

"Okay… Hear me out." – said Yosuke with bit nervous expression as he cracked a small laugh.

"You know how in game you can 'sense' stuff?"

"Like, hunger, pain and what not."

"Yeah?"

"The game can also make you feel bloodlust, a very realistic one."

"And you can also feel your extra limbs, which you usually don't have in real life, right?"

"…"

"Okay… This is… Going to sound crazy."

"But do you know why I didn't called the technician to check up on the capsule when it started acting for the first time?"

"!"

"Oh right! Why the fuck you didn't!?" – asked Mika.

"Well…. I…. Felt something?" – said Yosuke.

"When I came back and when I turned my back to the capsule…. I've heard something coming from its direction…. And before I even turned around…. I also felt something coming from the capsule."

"A freaking presence."

"It wasn't fucking normal."

"I KNOW! CRAZY! RIGHT?!"

"…"

"But please…. Don't… Raise eyebrows just yet… Hear me out."

"…"

"What I felt back then… It wasn't something normal… A freaking presence…. I wasn't in the game nor I was hallucinating."

"I'VE FELT SOMETHING COMING FROM THE DEVICE!"

"The fucking capsule was on and I was feeling something when I freaking didn't even entered the game!"

"You hear me?"

"I would fucking get it and think it is normal if I was in the game back then, but I fucking wasn't!"

"I was in real world!"

"…"

"I checked the capsule and it was working normally…. And after few minutes has passed, the capsule turned its self-off without me doing anything."

"This… Presence was gone completely and when I turned the capsule back on, I didn't felt that thing again nor I had any access to the game main serwer anymore."

"…When the serwer got unfrozen for the moment so the tournament participants could recover and prepare for the next phase, I checked the fucking thing."

"There was nothing."

"No presence or anything. I felt shit."

"It was completely normal."

"Nothing wrong… Nor I've felt anything."

"After the serwer was frozen again, there was nothing once again."

"Everything was normal."

"I've even once tried turning on the capsule… Just out of curiosity, but there was nothing…."

"But then… It turned back on once again."

"This was when I've helped out Chiyo return home on time."

"When I came back, the thing was already on…. And I was feeling that again from that stupid thing."

"That presence."

"I've felt it AGAIN!"

"The exact same fucking thing."

"Whatever the fuck it was, it confirmed that I wasn't imagining it."

"It was really freaking there."

"…"

"I decided… To fuck it."

"I went into the pod and it activated."

"I was able to log into the game…. And as I've said before, I went to the domain of the True Sloth."

"…And then I felt again."

"The same presence I felt emitting from the capsule."

"It was Sloth."

"She was freaking emitting this shit."

"That thing felt familiar, but at the same time completely alien, but after I met Sloth face to face, I realized why it felt familiar."

"Still, it also felt completely different."

"I don't know how… But I knew that the Sloth in front of me was the same Sloth I knew…."

"And at the same time a completely different being."

"I've decided to listen to her… Since that was obviously not normal…. But then she said that time ran out."

"…"

"I've felt something… New."

"This wasn't Sloth… This was something… Creepy."

"Unknown."

"But definitely dangerous."

"I knew that something was coming to us… And before it did, Sloth just kicked me out of the entire game itself…."

"I was forcefully logged off AND the serwer was once again frozen."

"…."

"3 minutes passed in that world and in the real world."

"It wasn't acerated time, it was just 3 minutes, the same as in real world."

"…"

"But it wasn't the main thing that bothered me."

"What bothered me was that thing….. That thing that almost caught me."

"I could still FEEL it after returning to the real world."

"I could still the freaking dread."

"I fucking felt fear in real world."

"All of my instincts were straight up screaming danger."

"I've straight up made double sure that the device was turned off and I even freaking turned the power off!"

"But I was still fucking scared!"

"My BODY was scared! It was panicking!"

"Are you hearing me?"

"This was not fucking normal."

"Some fucked up shit is going on with that game."