Masteria Online: Shattering the Dark God's Grand Scheme-Chapter 62 - Revelations

Gabriel gave yet another sigh. He didn’t even know where to start with Renan.

Was he supposed to just... nod his head and move on with his day?

He couldn’t!

Masteria was real!?

Could he accept such a fact? How would he continue playing now? What was he supposed to do? Should he quit on the spot? But... that didn’t seem right. He already had a role in Masteria, and if a new world was discovered, it only made sense to carve out a claim now.

Yet...

"Wow." He finally replied, with a small bit of mirth. "No wonder you needed to show me so badly. I bet you freaked out when you saw your own strength."

"Hah." Renan let out a short laugh at the irony of Gabriel’s statement. "Bro, I’ve got to ask you something."

Gabriel blinked. That wasn’t an answer to his question. But he went along with the topic change naturally. "What is it?"

Renan put his hands together, and looked more serious. "Now that you’ve seen one impossible thing occur, could I get you to believe other impossible things, without me providing evidence of them?"

"...huh?" Gabriel took a moment to process the statement.

Renan explained. "I have more information about supernatural events to tell you about. But unlike my strength, I have no direct evidence of it. Therefore, I can only hope to use the reality of my supernatural power to get you to believe the rest."

Gabriel looked over at the indentation of a fist in the wall. His heart raced as he stared at it. He kept silent for a while, taking deep breaths to calm down. He finally responded. "Look, I’ve known you for like ten years. You already showed me that... so unless you got replaced by an alternate, you wouldn’t lie to me about the rest. Hit me."

Renan hesitated only briefly.

"The world ends in four years."

Gabriel immediately barked out a laugh. It wasn’t funny at all. However, a statement like that would trigger a natural rejection response. "Come on..."

Gabriel studied Renan’s face again. The problem was that Renan didn’t look unstable. He didn’t look like someone joking either. Not to mention, Gabriel already gave his word to believe.

Gabriel crossed his arms. "Explain."

Renan nodded. "Soon enough," he said, "the boundary between Earth and Masteria begins to collapse."

Gabriel didn’t interrupt this time.

"Or rather, it already is. That’s the entire reason Masteria Online exists. As the two worlds drew closer to each other, it reached the point where it was possible to open up this gateway, marketed as a game."

Gabriel had been following along, but he felt something strange. He raised a hand and asked. "In that case, who would do such a thing and why? Why make it a game?"

Renan nodded. "That’s the thing. It wasn’t opened from our side."

"It wasn’t?" Gabriel didn’t understand. "But the Game Pods?"

Renan explained. "It was due to an evil god known as the Dark One. He used his immense power to implant agents within Earth, creating these Game Pods. His purpose is to use us to train up countless bodies for him. When he awakens, he plans to take control over our characters, and use them to bolster his army."

"W-wh-what!?" Gabriel stuttered, then panicked. "What the fuck!? What do you mean!? T-that!? That!? How could that be? How could you know that!?"

"Calm, calm down!" Renan put a hand out. "Let me keep going."

"Please."

Renan continued. "I died. I died after all this happened, then woke up in the past before Masteria came out. I’ve been trying to change events to save the world."

Gabriel stared at him. For a full five seconds, he didn’t blink.

"...You died," Gabriel repeated slowly.

"Yes."

"And then," he continued, voice calm, "you came back in time."

"Yes."

One second," Gabriel said, and walked to the same tree. He readied his arm, and gave it a punch.

It landed-

"Aw fuck!" Gabriel held his hand with a firm grip, easing the pain. "That hurt, damn!"

"..." Renan watched, almost astonished, but he understood. "The pain."

Gabriel nodded through the pain. "Proves I’m not dreaming." He considered the information for a bit, then asked. "If we’re just avatars for him, how can we even fight back?"

Renan raised a finger. "By breaking free of the system. That, however, will come later. For now..." He shifted his finger to point at Gabriel. "We discuss what you do."

Then Gabriel asked the most important question. "...What do you need me to do?"

"For now," Renan said, "keep playing. Get stronger. Don’t tell anyone what I told you today."

Gabriel nodded immediately.

"Yeah. Obviously."

Renan continued. "You were one of the most talented players in the world."

Gabriel blinked. "I am?"

"Yes."

"...Nice," Gabriel said automatically, then paused. "Wait, is that good, bad, what."

Renan chuckled. "Good, of course." He continued. "You know, I’m lucky I have you as a friend. Makes saving the world a lot easier when I have such talent on my side."

Gabriel looked a bit embarrassed. "Aww, I mean, am I really that good...?"

"Absolutely."

"You know," Gabriel starred, reminded of earlier events. "This explains how weird you were acting before. You suddenly came over and wanted to practice dodging? Then had me train with a sword? I found it weird, but I went along with it. I see why you did that now..."

"Wait-" Before Renan even gave a response, Gabriel suddenly interrupted the silence with himself. "How did I die? Oh, come on, pleaaaaase tell me it was a cool death."

"Um." That question took Renan aback. Looking at Gabriel’s strangely anticipative face, he sighed and indulged his curiosity. "For most people, discovering that Masteria was real didn’t happen through an announcement, nor a personal experience. It came on the very same day they died."

"The same day...?" Gabriel echoed.

Renan nodded. "It came when one of the Dark One’s Commanders, the evil scientist known as Beryllium, opened a giant rift between our two worlds, surging a giant warship onto Earth and bringing an army of death."

For yet another time today, Gabriel was left stupified. "...oh."