“I’m obsessed with you,” she whispers dangerously, her eyes trembling with ecstasy at the thought of being killed by me. I tighten my fingers around the cold metal hilt of my sword, and pull it slowly back to me. It marks her neck, a small blue glow takes the place of a cut, as I lower my sword. How to make this work out in my favor…?

  “Then, we’ll let them all go,” I can barely register my words as they come out from my mouth. Immediately, the guild behind me roars in outrage, all manners of protests actively berate me. Even Phantasia doesn’t have the power to quell them. But I might.

  “SILENCE!” I demand, stomping my foot at the same time.

  [Title ‘Gilgamesh’ has been used to increase presence when addressing other players.]

  [Congratulations! Bonus point has been added to ‘Presence’ Stat!]

  “They are not being set free! They are being let go,” I announce, eyeing down this hive of killers. “I’ve come to visit you all, haven’t I? And how bland, how boring a visit it would be if all we did was murder a few defenseless bags of EXP! So no, we will not spit in the face of the game which granted us this forest. We will use it to its fullest. We’ll hunt them. Hunt them like rabbits.” The protests which were voiced against me have gone silent, and instead they look amongst each other almost excitedly. I raise my hand, and further try to sell the idea, “Furthermore, this helps you all just as much as me, no? You wanted the chance to kill them yourselves! Take their EXP, earn it if you can! And I…” I struggle to come up with a natural line, trailing off. Their hearts are captured by now, I can see admiration in their eyes, I can’t wobble at the finish line! “And I get to have some fun.”

  They cheer. The Thanatos guild is cheering for me. For my idea. I let out a small sigh of relief and turn back to Phantasia, “How long…” I trail off again, noticing her heavy breathing and blushing cheeks. Her chest heaves with every breath, and her white irises tremble with excitement as she watches me. But most alarmingly, she was only inches away from me when I turned around. I don’t know when she approached, but I have to maintain composure in front of this girl. Her obsession with me might be the luckiest thing that’s happened to me in the game. “How long until their paralysis wears off?”

  “Mmmm,” she closes the final bit of space between us, placing her chin against my chest as she stares directly up into my eyes, “Around thirty minutes? But the 12 might recover quicker, since we’ve been continually reinjecting them for the last 3 days. Maybe they’ve developed a resistance?”

  I resist the urge to gag at the thought. Being trapped in a cage, in front of a group of people waiting to kill you, forced to watch the whole time, continually drugged…How terrible. “Then we’ll have just enough time for you to explain this guild properly to me, won’t we?” I whisper, slowly brushing a strand of her pitch-black hair out of her face, playing into her delusions. She shivers, nodding slowly.

  “Of course, anything you want,” she presses her body against me in a way that I have to focus on not getting distracted by, “Anything at all…”

  “The information, Phantasia,” I despondently respond, pushing her away, as she lost her privilege to touch me.

  “Yes!! Yes yes!” She clears her throat, and gestures to the guild members, who are all parading around the fire excitedly. They’re like a cult…but what are they worshipping? “We’re worshipping you!” Ah. “I started this guild after the colosseum massacre, inspired by your performance! I loved you as soon as I saw you, and you were able to commit the first murder! Even before me!! Oh I loved it! I tried to kill somebody as soon as you left, and sure enough I immediately levelled up! It all spiraled, it was a beautiful day!” She sighs wistfully, closing her eyes and licking her lips as she savors the memories, “So many blue shards were drifts around, blades were clashing, chaos unlike anything I’ve ever felt in the real world. A high I’ve never felt before, the adrenaline in my veins, the pounding of my heart…It was sensational! I took my blade from one person to the next, intruding on battles and-”

  “What does this have to do with the guild?”

  “Ah!” She opens her eyes again, giggling, “Yes yes yes! Of course! Well, eventually, the masses left the colosseum. There were only a few dozen of us left, all anxious to try and kill each other. And I came up with the idea to form a guild, a guild of killers! To relive that high! Some of them resisted, so the rest of us killed them! At the end of it all, there were 10 of us, including myself. I made myself the vice-guild leader, and the others were my constellations. Stars shining in the night, only visible to those with the skill to see them.”

  “Vice-guild leader?”

  “Of course!” She says as if it’s only common sense, “You’re the guild leader. I’m only keeping the seat warm for you! As soon as you ask, I’ll hand over the guild to you!” No. Absolutely not. “Each of the constellations decided to specialize in something different, including myself! Though, one constellation has already been replaced. Oh! Yes, any member of the guild can challenge a constellation to take their place! If they can kill them, that is.”

  “Mmm…I see,” I murmur, “Does that include me? For the position of leader?”

  “Bzt!” Phantasia puts her arms up in an ‘X’ shape, “Absolutely not! They’d have to get through me first. And I promise you,” she leans in close, wrapping her arms against my neck and placing her forehead against mine, “I won’t let anybody touch you.”

  “Thank you,” I tear myself away from her, my heart rate increasing just being around Phantasia. Her obsession is a problem. “I’ll trust in you then.”

  A groan catches all of our attention, every person in the guild turns and looks at the 12 prisoners by the fire. A cheer erupts, jubilation spreading through every face in the guild but mine. They recovered far quicker than anticipated. Quickly, I open my settings and message Bai-ko. I include my location, the loosest summary possible of our circumstances, and that the guild members won’t be here in 30 minutes.

  “Any final questions before the hunt, Kazesoku~?” Phantasia whispers into my ear. I look over my message one more time, and my eyes narrow. What if they can’t find the guild either…?

  “How did you hide this guild base so well? The woman,” I point to Tankina, “Wasn’t able to hear or see it despite being feet away.”

  “Oh! That’s just me,” she explains casually, disappearing from in front of me. That’s not possible! I was staring right at her, but she’s gone, did she teleport? A weight crashes into me from behind, soft arms wrapped around my neck like a scarf. Phantasia makes me give her piggy back ride, giggling, “It’s a benefit of my class, and my presence stat! I escape from anybody’s detection for 3 seconds immediately after activation of ‘stealth’. And guild leaders can imbue their bases with their skills!” A shiver runs up my spine. Presence just became a far more important stat than I thought it was…How am I going to min/max this game when there are so many conditional abilities?!

  This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  Another groan, another movement from the pile, “Now!” Phantasia climbs me like I’m a tree, standing on my shoulders and addressing her guild, “The hunt is ON!!! The hunters, give your prey a 10 minute head start, and from there on…It’s a TRUE FREE FOR ALL!!! Kill each other to get ahead, kill your prey, find them and annihilate them, do anything you want! What’s the point of living otherwise!?”

  = = = = = =

  “...You don’t have to watch me the whole time,” I mumble to Phantasia, glancing over at her. Her white eyes are the only thing visible between the shadows of the trees, until a smile stretches across her face exposing her white teeth as well.

  “I would rather be nowhere else,” she calls back, disappearing from my gaze for a moment. She’s been doing this for the last 10 minutes, constantly keeping me on guard. As soon as we make eye contact, she smiles and reappears somewhere else, like it’s a game. Which, I suppose this is. But it’s one I intend to lose. My tracking skill keeps unintentionally leading me down the correct path, so I’ve been working my hardest to steer us clear of it while getting more information out of Phantasia. She’s been uncharacteristically tight-lipped about the constellations though, claiming that if I cared so much about them I could go talk to them myself.

  “Why did you start capturing people? If you’re so addicted to the adrenaline of fighting, why make them prisoners?” I ask, finding her white eyes roaming around the dark forest once more.

  With another smile, she disappears, her voice echoing around me, “That was just for the guild! I have a reputation to uphold at least, and I need to keep them all satiated. I murder a few of them every day, so to keep the rest from freaking out I distract them by letting them level up once or twice.”

  The two of us hear a twig snap in the distance, and go deadly quiet as we look over. I grow silent out of concern…There’s no way I found a member of the Northern Star guild by accident. “Boss monsters provide even more EXP than real people, why not kill them every once in a while?” I ask loudly, trying to alert whoever we found to our location.

  “Mmm…” Phantasia’s eyes don’t make their normal appearance, meaning she must still be entranced by whatever made that noise. Yet her obsession with me compels her to answer, “Maybe, but you know as well as I do that the EXP excuse is nothing but a ruse to keep everybody else calm. I just like killing people, they’re unpredictable, they’re wild, they’re desperate. Hearing their screams, hearing them cry, feeling them battle…I won’t be able to give it up when I go back to the real world. You know what I mean, don’t you, Kazesoku?”

  Upon her uttering my name, I hear a quiet yelp. Like somebody trying to keep themselves from screaming but being unable to do so. A familiar scream. I close my eyes and sigh, tightening my grip on my sword. There’s the unmistakable sound of running, and a presence attacks me from behind. I swing my blade, countering, our two swords clashing against each other and lighting up the forest with sparks. Damn it!! Why did it have to be her?! Why now! Why you?!

  “I’m Tankina, of the Northern Star! You killed our leader, now taste my-”

  She’s an idiot. She’s cut off, not even by me, but my Phantasia. Eager for the battle, Phantasia tackles Tankina and wrestles her to the ground. It’s hardly a fight. Tankina struggles for a moment, but Phantasia’s far higher level (and the dagger pressed against Tankina’s throat) determine the bout before it even began.

  “Oh wow! Look at that loyalty Kazesoku! Shame she’s an idiot!” Phantasia mercilessly impales her a dagger through Tankina’s hand, pinning her to the ground, “That’s for attacking our god, you harlot,” she whispers into Tankina’s ear.

  “Go…Die!” Tankina resists with what little energy she can muster, trying to push Phantasia off of her. But the girl just laughs at Tankina’s efforts, impaling her other hand with a second dagger. Tankina lets out a yelp, unable to hold onto her sword anymore it clangs to the ground.

  “Feisty! Kazesoku, she’s fun isn’t she? Oh! Please, please kill her!” She begs of me, grinning brightly. My heart stops for a moment. Tankina stops moving under Phantasia, and both of the girls look up at me. One’s eyes filled with fear, the other with ecstasy.

  I hesitate, unable to make the choice. I can’t kill Tankina, but if I don’t, Phantasia might just go ahead and kill both of us. Even though she’s used both her daggers impaling Tankina, I don’t know if she has any more, and I don’t think I have the skills to beat her regardless. My knuckles go white as my grip on my blade tightens, my mind racing as I wrack over every possibility to try and get out of this.

  “Unless…” Phantasia disappears from view, reappearing with her lips practically biting my ear, “You’re not Kazesoku,” she whispers knowingly. My body freezes as she slowly moves behind me, “Your stats are very low for a killer like us…And there’s no mark on your wrist, now is there?” She adds, sliding her wrist along my shoulder and showing off her own marking. The brand of a player-killer in this game. “You’ve been very hesitant to take action, to take a life…Even though your username says you’re him, maybe he isn’t who I thought he is.”

  I steel myself for the decision, staring at the pinned and helpless Tankina. She’s…She’s only lost one of her lives, right? So this won’t kill her, kill her. I’m only taking one life, and in exchange I can save many more in the future. I’m not doing this to save myself, I’m doing this for my position. I’ll be able to leak information, I’ll be able to steer Thanatos away from murder, I’ll be able to do lots of good. I just…I just need to get my hands a little dirty first.

  “Don’t question me, Phantasia,” my voice comes out as a snarl so viscous even I’m surprised. I shrug her arm off my shoulder, and approach Tankina. Her eyes are turned up at me, angrily cursing me. “What fun is there in preventing these insects from having a chance against me? No, much better to stay at their level, hide amongst them,” my blade begins to glow red. Tankina, Phantasia, and even I all stare at my blade in shock. I’ve never seen this before, but I don’t have the time to panic about it. “That way, ending their miserable lives is as enjoyable as possible,” I murmur, raising my blade, the metal emitting a low hum.

  Tankina suddenly moves. She rips her hands free of the blades, tearing them open in shards of blue. In one fluid movement she grabs her sword, and moves to bring it at me. In a moment, I take my action. It could have been charged with fear for my life, the instinct of self-preservation. Perhaps I was already committed to bringing my sword down, and she merely startled me into it. But most terrifyingly, was that it wasn’t me doing it anymore.

  [Title ‘Cain’ has been used when fighting a player! Thanks to this title, you have bypassed the respawn limit, and permanently killed Player: {Tankinanka}!]

  [Level up!]

  [Skill: ‘Acting (F)’ unlocked!]

  [Level up!]

  [Skill: ‘Mana Infusion’ unlocked!]

  [Level up!]

  [Level up!]

  [You have committed a ‘True Murder’, taking the last life of a player. You will now be marked.]

  I stare at the wall of notifications in shock and terror. I hadn’t even registered the action I took, my body simply moved. It…it must have been the Cain title, right? There’s no way I would have…And I killed her? Permanently? I overcame her respawn limit? That…can’t be. But I look at my wrist. Sure enough, the same mark on Phantasia’s wrist is on my own. In a daze, I look back over at where Tankina was. Her body is somehow still there, frozen in place, looking as shocked as I feel. The ground beneath her is cloven in two, her form seems as hazy as a mirage. She opens her mouth, trying to say something, anything. “Aoi…I’m…Scared,” she whispers, before shattering into blue shards.

  [System Alert: Message from Bai-Ko]

  I can’t even process the alert. I murdered Tankina. Not just taking one of her lives. I murdered her, she’s dead forever. She’s gone. I snuffed out a life, just like that. A life that begged me to save it earlier today. I killed her. I feel hollow, I feel far far away from the world. I can’t parse the noises Phantasia makes as words. I scarcely feel her wrapped around me, I can hardly register as she showers me with compliments and jumps up and down with me in her arms. I’m a killer. I’m a murderer.

  I murdered Tankina.