MMORPG : Rise of the Interstellar God

[System: the conditional duel with the player "Azazel" has begun]

Azazel drew his epic two-handed sword, Quel'Delar, Might of the Faithful, and ran at full speed towards Ceasar! Because of the huge difference in item level between the two of them, he hoped to catch Ceasar off guard and inflict as much damage as possible before his foe counterattacked.

The sword blow came within only a few centimeters of Ceasar's face… but he dodged it, nonetheless.

Ceasar used the dodge to build momentum, spinning in place and slamming his hammer into his opponent's abdomen!

Azazel collapsed in a heap, breathless. At that moment, he remembered the moment when he'd offered Ceasar the weapon he now wielded: Val'anyr, Hammer of Ancient Kings, the best mace in the game for Ceasar's build.

They'd just spent twelve hours beating the Ulduar raid, the toughest raid in the game at that time, when this legendary item had dropped for Azazel.

He could have sold it. He could have given it to his guild in exchange for a large bonus and some favor within the organization. He could have done a half dozen things with one of the most valuable drops imaginable.

Instead, he'd turned to Ceasar, his friend who was like a brother, and gave him this prize without a second thought. After all, if their positions were reversed, Azazel knew without a sliver of doubt that Ceasar would have done the same.

Azazel remembered this moment and thought that he was the biggest fool who'd ever lived. He stared up at Ceasar from the floor where he'd fallen, a look of utter defiance and contempt on his face.

"I hope you're happy," he said.

Ceasar's only reply was to smash his skull with Val'anyr, reducing Azazel's HP to zero.

[System: you won the conditional duel with the player "Azazel"]

[System: by the terms of the conditional duel, the character "Azazel" has been deleted]

Thus ended four years of friendship, four years during which Enzo had been able to forget his past and forge a new life for himself, both in Renovatio Imperii and in World of Warcraft II.

The only four years of happiness Enzo had ever known.

A heavy silence fell over the room. Everyone had, of course, stopped fighting to watch the duel. It seemed as though the duel, and its outcome, had added a strange sense of reality to the situation. Azazel and Ceasar were the figureheads of their guilds, after all, and their relationship had symbolized the unity of the two guilds for years.

The duel was a condensed symbol of the relationship between the guilds shattering, something that could never be mended. The way Ceasar had coldly and mercilessly killed Azazel in two hits sent a chill down the spine of even many of the Renovatio Imperii players.

Ceasar then turned to Optimus and pointed at him with his mace. "Lay down your arms and I promise you that we'll ransom you fairly. Refuse, and the full fury of Rome will be upon you!"

Optimus knew he had no choice, so he ordered his remaining players to submit to capture by the fortress NPCs. In WoW II, the penalty for dying in most circumstances was quite severe, and a captured player was unable to use most teleportation abilities to escape. It was common for PvP prisoners to be freed in exchange for a ransom which was less painful than the penalties for dying, and this case would be no different.

The NPC guards led the captive SoulCalibure players down below to the fortress's holding cells, where they'd remain for probably only a few hours at most before the ransom money was paid by the guild.

Meanwhile, Augustus approached Ceasar and gave him a satisfied nod. "Good work. Our great guild has finally won the glory it truly deserves. Let's cut right to the heart of the matter: tomorrow, I'll ask Brutus to start negotiations with the world government for the release of your brothers and sisters."

Ceasar stared back into his superior's eyes. His voice was even more emotionless than Augustus's usually was. "Well, Edward, I also want a credit increase of 250,000 a month. Plus, permission to leave Earth and move to Mars."

Augustus was surprised, but he only had to think about it for a few moments. "Hm, alright. I suppose that you deserve it, considering what you'd made for the guild today. You know, I'd have agreed to that in a heartbeat if you'd asked for it as a condition for your work beforehand. You're our indispensable champion, Ceasar. I'm happier than you can imagine that you chose the logical path after all."

Ceasar didn't say a word, but only disappeared as he removed his helmet in the real world.

***

Renovatio Imperii's betrayal didn't end with the dissolution of their former agreement with SoulCalibure. Despite their promise to release SoulCalibure's captured players upon delivery of ransom, they simply took the payment and kept their prisoners locked away.

This was a bold and dangerous move, because it sent a message to every other guild in the game that they could never trust Renovatio Imperii on any level. All future battles would surely be to the death, and Renovatio Imperii members would likely never be given the opportunity of ransom themselves.

But Augustus and the other policy-makers for the guild were confident that they no longer needed to rely on others trusting them. They were wrapping up their careers in WoW II, after all, and they could spend good money to subdue media coverage about their betrayals. In a few years, not many people would remember their crimes.

And in the short term, Renovatio Imperii had the resources and manpower to do whatever they wanted. Nobody could stand in their way.

As for SoulCalibure, they quickly imploded as all their best characters had either been permanently deleted, in Azazel's case, or imprisoned with no hope of release. They no longer had access to gear that was good enough to beat endgame content and soon imploded. In the world of VRMMORPGs, Renovatio Imperii had always been seen as a rising star. That is, not a guild which was actually a threat to any other, but one which should be observed carefully in case it did reach that level one day.

Within one year of their betrayal in the Dreadmaul Hold, however, Renovatio Imperii had finally gained enough resources and renown to achieve that title which they'd craved for so long.

SuperGuild.

At long last, they were indeed the sort of threat which no other guild could ignore. They achieved dominance in both PvE and PvP—all with their own staff, no longer borrowing world-class tanks from a guild which had long since fallen out of relevancy.

Along with his guild, Ceasar changed. He withdrew within himself, no longer caring about honor but only about performance. When other players challenged his spot as top-ranked Warrior in the game, Ceasar brutally humiliated them for their arrogance.

Ceasar became known as the "Warrior without remorse," and as "the Undefeated." Victory upon victory piled up until Ceasar truly became a legendary Warrior, one no longer held back by the ties of honor and friendship.

***

December 2100

Galaxy of Horus—Terra—Warehouse "Souley"

On the Renovatio Imperii guild officers' channel, Augustus gave a simple command: "Eliminate Eclipse."

At Ceasar's feet lay almost the entire roster of Eclipse, paralyzed by multiple overlaid stun effects. Across from Ceasar, Joker wore a huge, savage smile.

After his humiliation on Cronos I, Ceasar had been teleported to this hellish situation on Terra. He'd then survived for weeks with his subordinates to escape the trap Azerof had set for the Eternals. Ceasar had barely taken a break from playing during this time, neglecting even to see his family, get out of this trap set by Azerof, who had almost not made a break and renounced to see his family, all for the sake of working hard alongside the other players, even those from rival guilds, so that they could all defeat Azerof's empire together.

Over the past months, Ceasar had begun to understand again what it meant to trust and respect other human beings. He'd felt again the sense of pride that comes from fighting against and alongside a rival. He'd remembered what it felt like to have honor, to have others believe him when he swore to fight alongside them.

At Ceasar's feet lay almost the entire roster of Eclipse, paralyzed by multiple overlaid stun effects. Across from Ceasar, Joker wore a huge, savage smile.

After his humiliation on Cronos I, Ceasar had been teleported to this hellish situation on Terra. He'd then survived for weeks with his subordinates to escape the trap Azerof had set for the Eternals. Ceasar had barely taken a break from playing during this time, neglecting even to see his family, get out of this trap set by Azerof, who had almost not made a break and renounced to see his family, all for the sake of working hard alongside the other players, even those from rival guilds, so that they could all defeat Azerof's empire together.

Over the past months, Ceasar had begun to understand again what it meant to trust and respect other human beings. He'd felt again the sense of pride that comes from fighting against and alongside a rival. He'd remembered what it felt like to have honor, to have others believe him when he swore to fight alongside them.

At Ceasar's feet lay almost the entire roster of Eclipse, paralyzed by multiple overlaid stun effects. Across from Ceasar, Joker wore a huge, savage smile.

After his humiliation on Cronos I, Ceasar had been teleported to this hellish situation on Terra. He'd then survived for weeks with his subordinates to escape the trap Azerof had set for the Eternals. Ceasar had barely taken a break from playing during this time, neglecting even to see his family, get out of this trap set by Azerof, who had almost not made a break and renounced to see his family, all for the sake of working hard alongside the other players, even those from rival guilds, so that they could all defeat Azerof's empire together.

Over the past months, Ceasar had begun to understand again what it meant to trust and respect other human beings. He'd felt again the sense of pride that comes from fighting against and alongside a rival. He'd remembered what it felt like to have honor, to have others believe him when he swore to fight alongside them.

It was a feeling he'd never expected to have again. Yes, it was true that he'd hoped that Horus would provide him with a fresh start, an opportunity to pretend he was the honorable man he'd once been… but he hadn't expected it to be anything other than a farce, an opportunity to build up his reputation again.

He hadn't expected to meet someone like Apophis.

And now Ceasar was seeing the past replayed again before his eyes. Augustus was demanding that he throw away the small pieces of honor which he'd built up again in this new game world, that he betray those who had fought bravely alongside him for the sake of freeing others from tyranny.

Azerof truly threatened the existence of all players in Horus. He threatened the livelihoods of millions upon millions of people in the real world. For this reason—and other more selfish reasons, certainly—players had put aside their differences to attack a strategic warehouse with the hope of finding a weapon to destroy the tyrant.

And it had all been a farce.

The whole Coalition of the Eternals had been designed for no other purpose than to give a few guild leaders more power and money, no matter the cost.

Fury and humiliation rose within Ceasar as he realized things could never be better—not while the SuperGuilds held all the power in the game. Whenever they had the chance, they would happily trade every scrap of their honor for wealth and control.

Ceasar turned and left the room, then disconnected from the game, even though he was in the middle of a combat zone.

He could be part of this no longer.