The knight barely managed to raise his sword, and the mana-covered blade took the impact of a bare hand, causing the collision to release a wave of energy that destroyed part of the ground beneath their feet.
The knight slid back several meters, his boots leaving two deep marks in the earth.
In front of him, the man who had stopped his sword continued smiling.
His body was covered in wounds, some of which looked recent while others were already closing.
His dark hair was plastered to his forehead with blood and sweat, but none of it seemed to matter to him.
His eyes were not human, as a red glow completely covered his pupils.
"Is that all?"
The knight kept both hands around the hilt.
"No, this is only the beginning."
The man smiled wider.
"Good."
An enormous pressure began spreading from his body, and the ground cracked, causing the nearby stones to rise several centimeters into the air.
The knight reinforced his legs with mana, because the one standing before him was not simply another human.
The body belonged to one, but whoever controlled it did not.
"I’m glad you can still fight."
Said the being.
"I’m going to enjoy your death."
The knight disappeared from his position and, an instant later, appeared in front of the enemy.
His sword descended toward his neck, but the being tilted his head and the blade passed beside his face.
The knight changed the motion and unleashed a horizontal slash.
The enemy raised his arm and the sword struck his mana-covered skin, causing the knight’s eyes to widen.
"Impossible!"
"For you."
The being struck him in the abdomen and sent the knight flying.
He crashed through the remains of a column and fell among the rubble, causing a red bar to appear above his head.
His health dropped by almost half and, beneath it, another blue bar indicated his mana reserves.
"Come on."
The enemy extended one hand and a black sphere began forming in front of his palm.
"Show me why you made it this far."
The knight stood up and activated a skill.
Three symbols appeared around his sword, representing fire, wind, and light.
His mana reserves immediately dropped, and then he charged forward as the being launched the sphere at him, which the knight narrowly dodged.
The explosion erased a considerable portion of the stage, causing the camera to shake.
Several skills with different cooldowns appeared at the bottom of the screen, and one of them became available again, so the knight activated it.
"Now."
The sword pierced the enemy’s chest and, for a second, nothing happened, but then an enormous damage number appeared above his head.
The boss’s health bar dropped until it was almost empty, causing the being to look at the sword embedded in his body before he began to laugh.
"Finally."
The knight tried to pull the weapon out, but he couldn’t, because the boss grabbed the blade with one hand.
"Now we’re talking."
His health bar began filling again.
"What?"
The enemy raised his gaze.
"Second phase."
The camera began pulling back as the battlefield became smaller.
The health bars, skill icons, and minimap returned to their normal positions on the monitor.
In front of it, a man held a controller with both hands.
"I knew there was a second phase."
Sam moved his fingers rapidly.
On the screen, the knight rolled to the side before the boss destroyed the spot where he had been.
"Come on, I’ve already done this four times."
An empty can sat beside the keyboard.
Sam barely looked away from the monitor.
He was twenty-seven years old, had been wearing the same hoodie for several days, and his apartment was small.
It wasn’t dirty, but he wasn’t particularly interested in keeping it tidy either, since most of his attention was focused on the videogame in front of him.
[Valkaen and a New Rebirth.]
An open-world RPG that had been released a few years earlier, which hadn’t been a complete failure, but hadn’t been particularly successful either.
Most people who tried it quit before reaching the halfway point, but Sam had played for more than a thousand hours.
He knew the main routes, the side routes, the hidden items, the special weapons, the rare monsters, the optional bosses, and the choices required to unlock certain events.
He even knew several bugs in the game that could be used to skip entire sections of certain quests.
"Come on, go down, you damn god."
On the screen, the knight blocked another attack, so Sam pressed two buttons and the character’s sword began emitting a golden light.
Valkaen’s combat system was relatively simple to understand, since everything revolved around mana.
Some people used it to cast magic directly, while others used it to reinforce their bodies and weapons.
Mages could cast elemental attacks, barriers, curses, and support abilities.
Swordsmen primarily used mana to increase their speed, strength, and endurance.
The amount available depended on the character, and spending it without thinking was one of the fastest ways to lose.
Sam knew that perfectly well.
That was why he had spent the last several minutes carefully managing every skill.
He saw the boss begin another animation.
"Now."
Sam activated the ultimate skill, causing the knight’s sword to pierce through his enemy’s body and the health bar to reach zero.
The god of destruction fell to his knees as his body slowly began to break apart.
"You’re so annoying."
Sam rested the controller on his legs.
"Yeah, I get that a lot."
He had seen that scene several times.
The character he had faced was named Greydarn Malikor and was one of the most important characters in the entire story.
Depending on the player’s choices, he could become an ally, an enemy, a vessel for the god of destruction, or even die long before reaching that point.
That was precisely one of the reasons Sam had continued playing for so long.
The routes changed so much, and some endings even contradicted each other, so it had taken Sam a long time to discover which choices triggered each outcome.
Even then, there were still small variations, and that was precisely what he was trying to finish.
The screen changed and the results menu appeared, at which point Sam noticed a notification in the corner.
[Achievement Unlocked.]
He sat up straighter.
"Finally."
He immediately opened the list and all the icons were complete, with none remaining hidden.
Sam smiled.
"Platinum."
He placed the controller on the table and spent a few seconds staring at the screen.
Then he looked toward a letter beside the monitor, which he didn’t need to read again.
It was his severance pay, which was what had been paying for his rent, his food, and the electricity he needed to spend practically the entire day gaming.
Sam knew that money wouldn’t last.
He had done the math and could support himself for a while longer, but after that he would have to find a job or lose his apartment.
Probably both if he took too long.
’I should be looking for a job.’
He looked at the screen again.
’Better tomorrow.’
He had been saying the same thing for several days, but at least now he had finished something. He had completed Valkaen.
Sam picked up his phone.
He thought about looking up information to compare how long it had taken other people to get all the achievements, but then he heard a sound.
He turned his gaze back to the monitor and a new window had appeared.
Sam frowned.
"What?"
He didn’t remember that interface.
The background was completely black and there was a single sentence in the center.
[Special Condition Completed.]
Sam picked up the controller again, pressed a button, and another line appeared.
[All Endings Registered.]
He remained still.
"That wasn’t on the achievement list."
Another sentence appeared.
[Secret Ending Available.]
Sam moved his chair slightly closer.
"Secret ending?"
He had read forums, checked guides, looked through files extracted from the game, and had never heard anything about a secret ending unlocked by getting all the others.
His exhaustion vanished.
"So they were hiding something."
He smiled.
"Good."
He pressed accept and the screen turned completely black, with no cutscene or music.
Sam waited a few seconds.
"Did it freeze?"
Then he heard a female voice that didn’t seem to belong to any of the characters he knew.
"Finally."
Sam stopped moving, and the screen remained black.
"Who’s talking?"
He knew it was ridiculous to ask a videogame a question, but he did it, and the voice answered.
"I’ve been waiting for you."
Sam frowned.
"What?"
The screen flickered and, for an instant, the figure of a woman appeared, but Sam couldn’t make out her face.
The image immediately disappeared and then a sentence appeared.
[Do you wish to begin a new rebirth?]
Sam stared at the question, and beneath it there was only one answer.
[Yes.]
"They didn’t give me much of a choice."
He pressed the button and the screen shut off.
Sam waited, but nothing happened.
"Seriously?"
He moved the controller, but it didn’t respond, so he pressed the monitor’s power button and nothing happened.
"Great."
Then the lights in the apartment went out as well, and Sam raised his head.
"Did the power go out?"
He tried to stand up, but he couldn’t, and his hands stopped responding.
"What...?"
His vision began to darken, so he tried to grab onto the desk, but missed and fell forward.
The last thing he heard was that same female voice.
"We’ll see each other soon, dear."
Then Sam lost consciousness.