You Already Won

Caroline took a slow breath, smoothing the static hum of her six tails as the ship's hull trembled beneath her boots. Confidence. That's what people expected from her character. That's what her avatar had always been built for.

Back on Earth, she had never thought of herself as… alluring. She'd been, as she always joked, "a flesh boulder." But when she made her character for the game, she'd based it on the version of herself she thought she'd have been if she'd been born healthy. And here, in Requiem, that design lived and breathed.

It still embarrassed her sometimes. Her voice was her only naturally "nice" feature, soft and melodic, and she'd modeled most of her in-game personality off the anime heroines she'd grown up on… and Crisper's charisma, because she'd always known how to make people listen. That combination, apparently, made her popular. Even now. Even here.

And if Jack was going to be her weapon, she might as well lean into that popularity.

She turned to him, letting her shoulders roll slightly, one hand brushing the edge of his forearm as she stepped closer. Her expression softened.

"Hey, Jack," she said, eyes locking on his. She tilted her head, letting a faint smile curl at the edges of her lips. "You're strong… right? Think you can give me a hand so I can hack into their central command?"

Jack froze for a second. A guy who had just melted twenty people into mist suddenly looked like someone unplugged his brain. His face went pink—not from exertion.

"Uh—y-yeah. Yeah, sure. Absolutely. I can do that." He rubbed the back of his neck with one hand, laughing nervously. "Easy. Ship. Command room. Whatever you need."

She smirked inwardly but kept her tone casual, almost playful. "Good. Thought so. Knew I could count on you."

Jack straightened his shoulders immediately, trying—and failing—not to puff out his chest. "Right. You can count on me."

"Perfect," she said, stepping back toward the hull, tails sparking faintly as her fingers danced across her UI. "Then get me in there… and try not to blow this one up, yeah?"

Jack grinned, aura flaring as he crouched, "Oh," he said, voice sharp with renewed energy, "I'll deliver you."

Jack snapped his fingers, and an X-shaped fracture spread beneath them, the metal floor hissing before collapsing inward. Caroline followed as they dropped through the jagged opening and into the ship's interior. She sighed internally. This guy really was powerful—reckless, but powerful.

So far, she'd seen Calmbrand's overwhelming phantom strikes, Tinsurnae's wyrm-wielding avatar style, North's crimson storms, whoever North was fighting with… and now Jack. One monster after another.

Inside, alarms screamed and the ship's automated defenses flared to life. Turrets descended, energy cannons charged, and several Black Hawks shouted commands as they opened fire.

None of it mattered.

Jack walked casually, hands behind his head, as bullets, beams, and condensed Ryun slammed against invisible barriers or veered away entirely. Caroline followed close, her tails crackling faintly as she buffed her aura just in case. When enemies pushed too close, Jack would simply absorb their attacks, redirect them back, or casually wave his hand, reducing them to dust, blood, or—bizarrely—shredded confetti.

Jack cleared his throat. "So, what's your name? I already said mine."

"Magjesti," she replied without looking at him, fingers tapping against her interface.

Jack blinked. "What? That's a—uh… interesting—"

BOOM.

"One second," he muttered, casually pointing at an advancing soldier. A compressed blast sent the poor guy crashing through three walls and four teammates. "TRYING TO HAVE A CONVERSATION."

"Hey," Caroline snapped, "don't destroy the ship!"

"Sorry!" He scratched his cheek, sheepish. "Anyway… Magjesti's a cool name. Unique."

"You can just call me Mag if it's too odd for you." She brushed against his shoulder as they passed another junction, and he stiffened instantly, a shiver crawling down his spine.

Jack coughed into his fist, trying to play it off.

"So uh… are you, like… a video game character or something?"

"What? No," he said, a bit shocked, eyes locked on her while raising a shield to block a stray laser. "I'm just me. Got here after a plane crash."

"Oh. I came from a video game."

He glanced at her sideways. "…Arc Sigil Unite 4, right?"

Caroline's head whipped toward him, surprised. "Yeah! How did you—"

"I love that game," he interrupted. "Oh man, I ran a full Overlord hybrid build. Maxed out the attack weave combo… i know— i know— it's broken but I made a custom combo by stacking Omega Cavern set with—"

"Jack." She cut him off sharply, gesturing toward his head. "Why the hell do you have '???' over your name? Is this like… some secret event thing?"

Jack frowned, genuinely confused. "What are you talking about? I don't see anything over my head."

She narrowed her eyes. "Then explain how you're doing this without a system."

He sighed, finally slowing his pace as another turret auto-locked onto them. Without even looking, he flicked his finger and the turret crumpled into itself. "My ability's… pretty simple, honestly. Any attack, skill, or spell I survive gets stored in what I call an Echo Buffer. Within a couple seconds, I can reflect it with about… eh, fifteen percent better efficiency and ten percent more power. I can also tweak it a little—like, if someone shoots fire, I can send it back as ice, gravity, whatever. And every ability I've reflected stays with me. Permanently. Like… a personal arsenal I can summon anytime."

Caroline stopped mid-step, blinking at him. "…What?!"

He shrugged. "What? It's not that crazy."

"You're telling me you've been stockpiling powers since you got here, and you don't even have a system?"

Jack nodded slowly, then his expression shifted, almost distant. "After the crash… before I woke up here, I met this man. Long white locs, blue eyes—no pupils, just pure blue. Wore a grey robe, almost Roman-looking. He told me to call him 'V.'"

Caroline opened her mouth to ask more, but the entire ship lurched violently, rocking side to side as explosions rattled the hull. Her UI spiked with a proximity warning.

Jack looked toward the ceiling, lips twitching into a grin. "Looks like the big guns are here."

Caroline shook her head, stepping forward. "Go. I can handle the ship."

"You sure? It's dangerous here, Mag… I know I made it look easy, but—"

"But nothing," she cut in, smirking faintly. "I've survived here for years now—way before you came along. Now go kick whoever's ass that is out there, and while you're at it, help North."

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

"…The top of a compass?"

"No! Dummy! The red guy!"

"Oh. Right. Got it." Jack cracked his knuckles, his grin widening. "Alright then. Let's make a mess."

Caroline's tails flared, sparks trailing down their lengths as she slid into Sigil Brawler Mode. She already knew what she needed to do. Jack was the key in—now he could take his overpowered ass outside and turn the battlefield upside down.

She had a ship to hijack.

——

Romana sighed, her feathers ruffling with tension.

"Looks like the shorts Outlander left."

"Is that so?" Lucas muttered, peering around the jagged corner of twisted metal.

"Yeah." Romana flexed her hand, the long fingers shifting into the beginnings of sharpened edges. She was a humanoid bird-like creature, her wings layered with pale silver feathers that shimmered faintly under the ship's emergency lights. At a thought, those wings could harden, turning into blades sharp enough to shear steel. Lucas, by contrast, was human—but a native, and one of the last commanders still holding Pigeon-3's central line.

Most of their forces had been deployed outside to intercept the event. The rest… dead, vaporized by whatever had carved a crater into the eastern hangar. Neither of them had expected this. The event briefing hadn't mentioned a group, let alone an organization with this kind of reach. The gamer-types hadn't flagged it either. That made it worse.

Lucas tightened his grip on his Ryun-forged halberd, voice low. "…We fall back to Daddy Long Legs formation."

Romana gave a curt nod. "We end her quickly."

——

Caroline slammed open the next bulkhead, sprinting through the dim corridors as the ship rocked violently under constant cannon fire outside. Sparks cascaded from ruptured wiring overhead, alarms screamed, and the chaotic red glow of hazard lights lit the bridge in pulses. She felt the map overlay painting every hallway in her vision—clairvoyance unfurling in real-time, each enemy outlined, each path traced with precision.

But Romana and Lucas moved like wolves.

Lucas vaulted over railing debris, sweeping his halberd in an arcing motion. A crescent of condensed Ryun blasted toward Caroline, shattering bulkhead plating into fragments. Romana dove through the burst cloud, her wing-blades flashing silver before she twisted midair, striking from above.

Caroline's tails flared. "Tailflame Bloom!"

One tail whipped forward, releasing a fan of searing fire petals. The crimson motes expanded into a heart-shaped spread, detonating all at once. Romana crossed her wings to block, feathers turning metallic in an instant, but the explosion still forced her back against a crumpled console.

Lucas came next, shouting, "Now!" as he plunged through the smoke, halberd spinning like a turbine. Caroline pivoted, planting her right heel hard against the floor as her sigils lit across her tails.

"Ember Spiral Glyph!"

A spiraling disk of fire burst from her palms, carving through the air with a screaming hiss. It slammed into Lucas's halberd mid-swing, exploding into a vortex of heat and raw Ryun that ripped open the starboard wall, scattering burning debris into the area.

They ducked in and out of broken ship bridges, clashing across destroyed terminals and shredded conduits. Caroline's HUD flickered warnings about structural integrity as she weaved between Lucas's heavy strikes and Romana's razor-wing feints.

Romana hissed, darting around one of Caroline's burning glyphs. "Damn Outlander—how are you moving like this?"

Caroline slid low and launched a counter burst of sigil sparks to blind her for half a second.

Lucas snarled as he vaulted over the main walkway railing, halberd smashing through the reinforced deck. "Romana, pressure her left flank!"

"I'm already on it!"

But Caroline wasn't moving blindly. She already knew where they'd step next—her clairvoyance feeding her streams of data layered perfectly over the crumbling ship. Even without seeing them, she could feel Romana's shifting morale spike, Lucas's rhythm break when he overcommitted, and the exact distance to the main control hub just two decks down.

They didn't realize it yet, but she was using them to close in on her target.

Every push from them, every dodge from her—it all led her closer to the core.

She darted forward, tails snapping like burning whips, her breath ragged as more Black Hawks poured into the narrow bridge hallway. Sparks rained from ruptured ceiling panels, the floor slick with coolant and blood. They thought she was cornered.

"Foxsigil Clawrush!"

Each of her six tails erupted with a unique, violent hue—crimson, cobalt, jade, violet, gold, and black—twisting together into a swirling claw of rotating fire sigils. The construct lashed forward, grabbing three Hawks at once before slamming them into the reinforced floor hard enough to crater the deck. The walls trembled, monitors cracked, and smoke filled the air.

Another squad blinked into existence behind her, short-range teleporters leaving afterimages of flame and static.

Caroline smirked, tapping the glowing sigil at her hip. "Trickfire Teleport!"

Her body dissolved into a flash of embers—reappearing behind them as her tail swapped places with her marked sigil. The instant she vanished, a flame trap erupted where she stood, consuming the ambushers in a spiraling detonation. The hall stank of scorched metal and ozone.

Romana skidded into view midair, metallic feathers glinting like knives. Her voice cracked as she screamed, "Why fight to destroy the world?!"

Caroline blinked, her UI struggling for a second before instantly bridging the translation gap. She frowned, answering between ragged breaths, "Destroy—what are you talking about?!"

Romana's blades scraped the walls as she dove, her wings cutting sparks from steel as she screamed, "You villains want nothing but bloodshed!"

Caroline's tails flared, forming a makeshift barrier as system turrets and security drones locked on to her heat signature. The sensors clicked alive all at once, red beams lining up for a kill shot. Her tails pulsed brighter, layers of sigils stacking on instinct to block the barrage.

"It's not that we want bloodshed!" Caroline yelled back over the blaring alarms. "You guys won't listen to us! You nuked us first!"

Lucas roared from the side, his halberd brimming with violet Ryun as he lunged forward. "We had no choice!" he bellowed, driving the weapon straight through her tail-barrier, the shockwave knocking her back through a bulkhead wall with bone-crunching force.

She staggered upright, spitting blood—health bar still looking good—then smirked when she realized where she'd landed.

"Oh… how convenient."

The main control room.

"Seize her!"

Half a dozen Hawks charged, their aura flaring like torchlight in the confined space. Caroline let them get close—close enough to feel their breath, to hear the hum of their auras.

"Good."

She tapped her hands together. "System Override!"

A soft pulse reverberated from her body, invisible but absolute. Every Hawk froze mid-step. Their auras blinked out like candles snuffed by the wind. Turrets powered down. Drones dropped to the floor. Even the ship itself groaned as core controls hiccuped, the override scrambling its systems.

One by one, the Black Hawks collapsed to their knees, gasping and twitching. Caroline exhaled hard, feeling the drain hit her bones. Her entire body ached, blood trickling from her cheek, but a smile crept across her face anyway.

Lucas wheezed, slamming a fist against the floor. "Why?! What do you get from this! Why would you side with a destroyer?!"

Caroline sighed, brushing blood from her lip, exhaustion bleeding into her voice.

"That 'destroyer'? He's a guy going through a lot right now. Plus, we aren't trying to destroy the world. Just win a gem hunt….."

Romana hissed, struggling against her locked aura. "You're all… heartless, ruthless, insane. That's what you are. You know damn well what his survival means!"

Lucas's glare sharpened, his thoughts spiraling as his hand crept toward the console. He didn't need to move much—just enough to activate the self-destruct failsafe and drag her with him.

Caroline's UI pinged. She glanced at him, smirking faintly. "…Suicide, huh? Now that's just dramatic."

From her storage, she pulled out the Prison Orb—a gleaming sphere that thrummed faintly in her palm. If Rekjet meant for this to hold Tinny and North, it should be very capable of holding ten to fifteen people comfortably.

Romana's pupils contracted. "No… how do you—"

"Well," Caroline said softly, tossing it once into the air before activating it, "have fun in the big house."

The orb expanded in an instant, chains of light unspooling outward and ensnaring Romana, Lucas, and the remaining Hawks. They were ripped from the control room in a flash of refracted light before the orb shrunk back into her hand with a quiet click.

Silence fell.

The few Hawks outside the doorway stared in wide-eyed shock, unwilling to enter now, unsure how powerful she really was. Caroline smirked. Her System Override wouldn't be back for another ten minutes—but they didn't need to know that.

She slid into the command chair, her tails folding around her like a cloak. Her UI bloomed across the central console, lines of code spilling downward as she began overriding every lockout protocol aboard Pigeon-3.

"Alright," she whispered, voice steady now. "Let's see what kind of toys you're hiding."

Her UI chimed.

Central Command: Breached.

Fleet Integration Protocol: Ready.

Caroline grinned faintly, licking dry lips.

"Okay, guys… now I can actually help."