Masteria Online: Shattering the Dark God's Grand Scheme-Chapter 63 - She likes it

The sky split open.

That was how Renan remembered it.

Not metaphorically, it actually split. Like glass cracking from a single point, black fractures spread across the blue sky until reality itself peeled apart.

Gabriel swallowed. "...That sounds bad."

"It was." Renan’s voice was quiet. "At first, people thought it was some kind of weather anomaly. Then the ship came through."

He gestured upward, as if the memory were still hanging there.

"A floating warship the size of a city block. It was smooth black architecture, filled with countless weapons along the sides, defences, and full of soldiers.."

Gabriel tried to imagine it, making a picture in his head.

"And then?" he asked.

"And then people died." Renan said simply. "The ship rained down death from above, destroying cities. Large numbers of superpowered soldiers came rushing out, slaughtering en masse."

"Ah..." Gabriel was starting to understand the situation more.

Renan continued. "When I say people died, I mean it. Hundreds of thousands of mechanical soldiers descended upon us. A nation wasn’t ravaged, the world was. In the weeks that followed, over half of humanity perished. My family and I were lucky to make it out safely. We had good luck. Very shortly after, I had broken free from the system, leaving me able to act on Earth with the full power of my created character. However, you died."

He sighed. "I don’t know the details of how exactly it happened. That said, it’s easy enough to imagine. Either the bombardment got you, or one of the soldiers gunned you down."

"Over half!?" Gabriel took in the number with a grave expression. "And so quickly? That’s... damn. Damn it! Are we all fucked!? How come, how come he stopped? I mean, you said you got out, so..."

Renan explained it. "Our extermination massively slowed down once we put up a stronger resistance, formed primarily from the players who were starting to break free of the system. In addition, Beryllium had already achieved his major goal, and Earth was already considered property of the Dark One. His efforts were focused elsewhere, giving us room to live."

Gabiel had nothing else he could ask about it. He didn’t even want to. The mood was gone. He sighed. "Alright, alright, I get it. The world is basically doomed."

He frowned, then looked to Renan with an almost pleading look. "Alright, let’s talk about how we’re saving this world."

...

After proving the reality of Masteria to Gabriel, he discussed various more details with him. By the time he had made it home, it was dark.

When he checked Nitro, he saw that he had multiple notifications. Many of his party members had clearly been messaging him. They even went ahead and formed a group chat with all of them in it.

When he checked his DMs with Lena, he paused and blinked at the first thing she sent him.

[Lena: wtf]

Huh?

A wave of confusion came over him. It was only intensified when he read the second message.

[Lena: so i’m human?]

???

Renan had absolutely no idea what she was on about. Further still, those two messages had seemingly nothing to do with the rest, because after that, she had written this.

[Lena: OKAY SO MY FULL NAME IS LENA ROSE WINTERS. Yeah, I used my real first name as my username. Probably not the smartest idea, but whatever. Anyways, no one calls me uses my full name except doctors and my mom when she’s mad]

[Lena: I’m 22! Birthday December 15th! Sagittarius but I don’t believe in astrology except when it’s convenient! I live at 4782 Maple Street, Cincitia Ohio! Come visit! Bring snacks!]

[Lena: My phone number is XXX-XXX-XXXX! Call anytime except between 3-4 AM because that’s when I pretend to sleep! Just kidding! You are allowed to call whenever you want! Or rather, you are allowed to do anything you want! :3]

[Lena: Blood type O negative! Allergic to pecans! Diagnosed with several unfun things. Height 5’4"! Weight is 101 pounds! Probably less than I should be! Hehe~ Oh, also! Hair naturally blonde!]

[Lena: Oh! Social security is [XXX-XX-XXXX]

Renan’s eyes went wide. He quickly typed up a response. "Please do not send your social security number! Why would you ever do that!?"

Lena saw the message quickly, because she began typing already. "Aww, but what if you need it for marriage purposes?]

Renan exasperatedly replied. "We’re not getting married through NITRO!"

Lena’s reply was just as insistent as the rest. "YET! We’re not getting married YET! What if it comes in handy some day, eh~?"

Renan couldn’t help but laugh. He saved her information, except the social security number she sent. Since they were already talking, he figured it might be for the best if he did this...

He sent a message. "Wanna call?"

Almost instantaneously, he started getting called. He accepted.

"Hai!" Lena immediately called out. She sounded remarkably similar to how she did in the game. "Oh my gosh! I’m calling you in real life!"

"Hey," Renan responded with a smile. "I got your info. My turn.

Full name: Renan Stone.

Age: 18

Location: Mentes, Florida. Phone: XXX-XXX-XXXX

And now for the important part. Masteria. You experienced that power boost too, didn’t you?"

"Mn." Lena made a sound of acceptance. "Yes. I thought I was just under psychosis, but if you experienced it too, now I know it’s real. Masteria must be real..."

Renan nodded even though he wasn’t actually in front of her. He was about to start explaining things, but then Lena caught him off guard.

Lena spoke. "Remember Pocket? That was a human assassin that came after HazyNova. We killed him. Or rather, I killed him, I burst open his head with a spell. Then, I laughed about it. I thought it was a game, I didn’t think he was real. That means I killed someone for real... I seriously took a life..."

Renan’s blood suddenly ran cold. That was a thing that happened! He could already anticipate how horrible Lena was about to feel. He had no idea what to say to her, he was considering even telling her that-

His thoughts were interrupted by Lena. "Is it bad if that thought makes me happy...?"

Renan hung his mouth open in shock. "What?"