Jade
"I get it now: you took the Empress hostage so he couldn't call for reinforcements, and went back to your roots to finish him off," I analyzed, glancing at the girl tied to a chair in the corner of the room, her eyes red and tear-streaked cheeks.
"I couldn't let him stand in my way."
"Riiight. And that has nothing to do with the fact that a kill like that must have netted you, what, ten [Levels] all at once, right?"
"Vinea... No, Jade. Be honest. What do you plan to do now?"
I didn't answer right away, but it wasn't silent; footsteps echoed in the distance, and the engines of aircraft flying over the palace hummed outside. I was surrounded, and my pursuers would soon burst into the room.
"...Guhuhu. Sure, I'll tell you, but only because I love you so much, okay?" I smiled, clasping my hands behind my back. "First, I'm going to kill this avatar of yours, and the Empress, throwing this whole empire into chaos. Then, I'm going to sell off this one-of-a-kind avatar of mine and rub all the cash I make right in your face!" I concluded, flopping onto the Empress's bed and relaxing. "And in the end, I'll live out the rest of my life bumming around and slowly rotting away in my room... The perfect plan!"
"You kissed me."
My body went rigid; suddenly, the goose-down mattress felt as hard as concrete.
"Oh, that? That was just a joke, I was just messing with you," I explained, sitting up on the edge of the bed and waving my hand dismissively.
"...I see."
"W-What is it, huh? Did you fall for your twin sister? Guhuhu! Hilarious!"
Legiano looked at me with a half-smile and the eyes of a pitiful puppy.
"Yeah. Hilarious."
"...What?"
Leaning against the wall while an aircraft's spotlight illuminated the room, Legiano explained himself, crossing his arms:
"Maybe I really have fallen in love with you."
"You mean, like, metaphorically?"
"Like, romantically," he continued, to the empress's apparent dismay.
Huh? Huh? Was he serious? Him, my twin brother, in love with me? I wondered, clutching the bedding of the mattress I was sitting on.
"No, that can't be it."
Of course, I thought, suddenly letting go of the bedding and feeling... the way I'd felt ever since I moved into his house. Damn good!
"I was in love with you from the start, but I only realized it recently."
"Peri...dot?" I slowly lifted my face.
"I really... had fun playing this with you, Jade. It was the first time in two years I'd felt this way" Legiano ruffled his avatar's white hair, blushing in embarrassment as he concluded: "the first time since you were arrested. The first time since... Damn it, since I screwed everything up."
"Screwed everything up? What are you talking about?"
"You broke orders to save me, didn't you?" Legiano looked away, clenching his fists. "You lost the Green Hell, almost died, and then got arrested, all because I was irresponsible! Because I ignored my duties for the sake of a shitty video game!"
"For the sake of a video game...?"
"...Yeah, it's my greatest shame. Remember how you said you wanted to see how the story of 'Lovebombing: Romance at World War 3' ended? That you needed to play the second game to find out? I- I had bought it for you, but the rebels had seized the post office. I thought I could easily break in and steal the game, but I never expected Elvis himself to be there backing them up."
So, it was because of me...?
"After you saved me and got arrested for it, I..." Legiano said, covering his face. "I just couldn't forgive myself. I got rid of everything I considered a distraction. You lost everything because of me! And that's why I..." His shoulders slumped, and suddenly his avatar looked so weary. "I think I went a bit too far, didn't I?"
"Peridot..." I clutched my heart with both hands.
"Jade. None of this makes sense if you aren't with me. "He stepped closer and dropped to his knees at my feet, holding my hand and pressing it against his face. "Please forgive this pathetic brother of yours, for he cannot live without you. And I was wrong to try and hide that fact, from you, and from myself."
Peridot...
All the times we held each other's lives in our hands.
Peridot.
All the times we smiled together despite being surrounded by death.
Peridot!
All the times he made my heart race and my body burn, all the memories, old and new, of brotherly love and something more, it all came flooding back and hit me with full force.
"If you really want my forgiveness..." I gripped his hair tightly, feeling tears born of fear and emotion welling up in my eyes. "Prove to me that you choose me! That you care more about me than any duty! That you'll never abandon me again! Kill the Emp-!
"Tuck!" Before I could even finish my request, the sound of Legiano's knife burying itself right in the center of the young, terrified empress's forehead rang out.
"You are my only duty, Jade."
He was serious. He was truly serious.
And I...
My attention was caught by a sudden movement:
"Guihi...! The corruption of one's own brother...!" Armadeiro emerged from my bag, clutching his own head with a strange grin on his face and drooling. "The murder of the empress, the captain of the royal guard, and an [Apostle]...!"
"Armadeiro, are you okay?"
"Is he... glitching?" My brother pointed at the imp's sprite, which was degenerating into multicolored blocks that emitted an unpleasant sound.
"Gui-Gui! Such cruelty! Guihihiiiiiiiii!"
The imp's eyes bulged, and I was flooded with a barrage of notifications:
["Congratulations! Your relationship level with Armadeiro has increased!"]
["Congratulations! Your relationship level with Armadeiro has increased!"]
["Congratulations! Your relationship level with Armadeiro has increased!"]
[...]
"What the...?" I wondered. The very next instant, the NPC simply vanished, dissolving into a cloud resembling static from an old TV. It was just like the little nun's weapon. What did it mean?
"They're here," Legiano said, drawing my attention. "The Imperial Guard, the police, players and NPCs, thousands of them."
"Yeah, well, I'd planned to kill you faster than this," I replied, getting out of bed and pulling a remote-controlled car from my bag. "Looks like there's no escape now."
"Sorry. You wanted to sell this avatar of yours, didn't you?" He gave a sad smile.
"Eh, a character like this? It's no big deal; I can make another, even more impressive one anytime," I answered with a smile.
Outside the window, aircraft aimed their machine guns into the room while countless soldiers rappelled down, firing grappling hooks toward the balcony.
"So, what's the plan? A mad dash to see who can deal the most damage before the end?"
"Sorry, but you've already lost that race, because I saved a little surprise just for you. You know? I managed to get a [Legendary] [Class], and its main [Skill] is transforming a part of any vehicle I'm driving into any other part from any other vehicle I've ever driven."
Outside the door, I heard a chorus of voices: mages were casting a powerful spell around the entire room.
"Sounds like a pretty broken [Skill]."
"Well, it has its weaknesses; I'm nothing without a vehicle, and I can only use it once per vehicle. So, if I give a car the wings from a plane, I can never give anything else from that plane to another vehicle."
"I see. But how is this supposed to be your grand finale?"
"Well... [Chaos Boiler: Rearguard]." In a split second, the tiny engine of the steam-powered toy car I was holding ballooned to dozens of times its size, and kept growing, smashing through the ceiling, floor, and walls, taking on a form capable of generating enough energy to power an aircraft the size of a small city. Except that all those tons of immensely pressurized steam inside could only escape through a remote-controlled car... an explosive one.
Man, I wish I could have seen the kaboom.
[You died.]
Game Over ☠
Peridot
With my avatar dead, I quickly disconnected from Vanguard and ran to my bedroom door. When I opened it, she was already waiting for me on the other side, staring at her own feet, blushing, and with restless hands.
"S-So... About all that stuff we talked about before...?"