RAIDS ONLINE: RAGNAROK BEAST

It's an awkward and tiring day.

It took almost half a day for them to process all the documents just to be discharged from the hospital.

They have to travel an hour by car from the hospital in Central City back to their home.

Then, after arriving home around noon, Luel and Amy spend an hour acting as a lovey-dovey couple in front of Luel's parents through a video call so Ram and Mie won't get suspicious that they are lying about their real relationship.

After the video call, Luel and Amy spent the rest of the day until dinner time playing with the twins since Ram and Mie missed playing with Amy in three days that Luel was hospitalized.

When Rammie's family goes home after the dinner party, Luel has to call his parents again to explain to them his real relationship with Amy.

But even though it was an awkward and tiring day, Luel can't still fall asleep or, rather, he keeps on waking up every time he is about to fall asleep.

After all, every time he is about to fall asleep, his nightmare about killing Amy as a Ragnarok Beast would always appear in his dream.

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It was already past midnight, and Luel couldn't even dare to close his eyes.

He can't even turn off the lights inside his room because as soon as his vision turns black, he just remembers everything that he sees in his nightmare.

Unable to fall asleep, Luel decided to go to the kitchen and find something to eat that would go nicely paired with a glass of hot chocolate drink.

While Luel was in the kitchen waiting for the kettle to boil the water, he heard the sound of a door opening along with the light footsteps coming from the hallway separating the guest room and kitchen.

Luel thought that he probably made too much noise and woke up Amy.

He waited for Amy to come towards the kitchen while sitting in front of the dining table, ready to apologize for disturbing her sleep. But what peeks through the still-dark hallway behind the open door of the kitchen is a silhouette of a person covered in white clothes.

"GAAHHHH!!!..."

Luel screamed in surprise upon seeing what he thought was a ghost.

"GYAAAHHH!!!..."

And the suspected ghost screams as well.

"Wait... Amy?"

"Don't scare me like that, Luel!"

"But you're the one who scares me first."

Of course, it was Amy covered in a white bedsheet.

"Why are you dressed like that?"

If Amy isn't playing a prank on him, then Luel doesn't have any idea about his own question. And he really doesn't have any idea about the possibility of the reply that Amy gave to him.

"I wanted to check on you. But I'm already in my sleepwear so I'm using the bedsheet as cover."

Amy's reply hit Luel straight through the heart, not only once but three times.

First, Amy was worried and concerned about him. That made Luel feel delighted.

Second, Amy is in her sleepwear. That made Luel curious because of the obvious reason that he wanted to see what kind of sleepwear Amy was wearing.

Third, the only thing that is hiding Amy's sleepwear is the bedsheet. That made Luel rather excited for someone who is a man of culture.

Either way, putting aside all of his fantasy, Luel decided to tell the truth to Amy.

"I'm fine. It's just that I'm having a nightmare..."

"I know... And it would get more real as you keep dreaming of it."

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Luel and Amy move from the kitchen towards the living room.

In there, as the two sit beside each other on their couch, with Amy still wrapped in a bedsheet and Luel slowly drinking his hot chocolate drink and eating some Oreo cookies, Amy starts telling everything to Luel.

About why she quit and retired as an Idol to become a RAIDS ONLINE player.

About her reason for wanting to defeat and devour all the high-ranking Ragnarok Beasts.

About what she meant when she said that Luel's nightmare would get more real as he kept on dreaming of it.

Amy started playing RAIDS ONLINE three years ago.

At first, it was only a way to relieve stress from her work as an Idol. She needs a place to let out all of her frustration as she gets tired of acting and pretending to be the person her fans think and want her to be.

That's one of the reasons why Amy's avatar, BlueHeroine, has such a bad reputation.

Amy just let out all her rage without any care as to what the other RAIDS ONLINE players would think of her, even with all the collateral damage that she caused while fighting high-ranking Ragnarok Beasts.

"So not everything is unintentional?"

"Shut up. I'm telling my story so just listen, Luel."

It didn't take half a year for Amy to break through the 50 percent Link Force boundary. And just like what happened to Luel, Amy encounters Selene's Unique Dialogue Scene when she is about to log out of RAIDS ONLINE, followed by the Player's Nightmare that she sees in her dream.

"There were two children. Two little girls who look like me and my childhood friend."

"Amy, are you saying..."

"That's right, Luel. In my nightmare, I was the Ragnarok Beast that killed and ate those two children."

Even though Amy calmly says those terrifying words, Luel can hear fear in the tone of her voice.

From the day Amy experiences the Player's Nightmare, she tries to defeat and devour more Ragnarok Beasts, thinking that her nightmare will become clearer as she does. And she was right. Her nightmare became so real that she was finally convinced that the two children she saw in her nightmare were probably connected to her.

"My theory is that the one who looks like me is my child or at least grandchild in the future."

Amy became so obsessed with her theory that she quit and retired as an Idol after her defeat fighting the Rank B Ragnarok Beast Icarus on her own.

In the two years after she became a RAIDS ONLINE officer, Amy investigated other RAIDS ONLINE players who experienced Player's Nightmare along the RAIDS ONLINE itself and arrived at one conclusion.

"The RAIDS ONLINE Corp. is hiding something from us. Just think about the amount of money they are spending just to keep the millions of players from playing RAIDS ONLINE."

"And that something is?..."

"That the world within the RAIDS ONLINE is the foretold prophecy of our future."

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It was rather a fictional theory, something that can pass as a game or weabnovel backstory, and Amy can't deny that.

Yet even though she got no solid evidence to back up her theory or, rather, obsession, she still traded her Idol career for the chance to complete RAIDS ONLINE and learn the truth. After all...

"From the day I dream of my nightmare until today, every night in my dream, I keep on killing those children as a Ragnarok Beast."

It is terrifying. Not only the fact that Amy kept on dreaming the same nightmare for more than two years, but that Luel would keep on dreaming his own nightmare.

"Then how can you sleep at night, Amy? How do you endure such a nightmare?"

Luel's voice trembles as he asks his question. And Amy can hear fear in the tone of his voice.

"Every night, every nightmare... I keep on telling myself as I kill those two children... That someday, I'm definitely going to save them."

Listening to Amy's words, full of confidence and determination, Luel couldn't hold back his fear anymore.

He moves closer to Amy and embraces her, burying his face on her shoulder.

Amy was surprised by Luel's approach. She tries to push Luel away but then stops after hearing Luel say sorry.

"I'm sorry... I promise that I'm going to save you, Amy."

"Luel, are you saying..."

"You were there in my nightmare, Amy... And I was the Ragnarok Beast who killed you."