Viewers could see black particles come from the dissolving spell book, permeating Lord of Darkness’ body, before suddenly, a black wave came out from Lord of Darkness’ hand. Players were shocked. The boss’s HP suddenly dropped to nil, and the teleportation gate opened. Keen-eyed players were even more shocked, noticing Lord of Darkness’ mana supply did not change, even after one-shotting the boss. Or was it bosses? The players realised, as the teleportation gate would only open after all three were destroyed.

Lord of Darkness casually went around picking up the boss’ loot, and many players envious eyes flashed. The items there could have sold for a 100 gold, or more. It must have been a rare jackpot. But when Lord of Darkness exited the boss room, the enemies were nowhere to be seen, just lots of piles of loot. Lord of Darkness made his way to the second boss, picking up some of the loot as he went. Much to other players surprise, he deliberately missed most of them. He arrived at the second boss, and the players couldn’t believe what they saw. An absolute mountain of loot, weapons and other goodies. Now this was a jackpot.

Watchful players noticed another icon in Lord of Darkness’ effects, and his gradually decreasing mana supply. Lord of Darkness spoke “Yes, I know about my health”, as he reached into his inventory and brought out a large instant health potion, and drank it. No effect. Players were frozen in fear, as the slither of health reached 0.

“This is Goodbye!” Lord of Darkness said, as his screen went black, and his character faded away – faded into Oblivion.

Game Over.

Due to the side-effects of learning ≪Oblivion≫, your account has been suspended for seven days, and your access to this profile permanently removed. Farewell! Looking forward to your new adventures! – System😁

Seventeen-year-old James Boone, former player of Lord of Darkness removed his headset, returning to the real world.

He left his bedroom, and went into the lounge room, where the TV was streaming the official TV channel of PLAYGROUND, the appropriate, but boring named PLAYGROUND TV, or PGTV for short. System’s alter ego, Presenter, was sitting behind one of those long desks, pile of notes in his hand. “Here we have a System announcement: Due to side effects of learning the new spell that Lord of Darkness created, it will be announced that Lord of Darkness’ account has been suspended for seven days, and his access to this profile permanently removed”

A cry of sadness and shock came from his sister Rachel, who although quitting PLAYGROUND due to its difficulty curve, she was still an avid fan, and well, the loss of her idol was just a bit too much for her, and she went towards her bedroom, tears streaming down her face.

“Sis, what’s wrong?” James asked his emotional sister

“Lord of Darkness is deeeeaaad” Rachel spoke between sobs, and went to push past James, but James stopped her, “I think you should be here for the next part”, and guided Rachel back to the couch, fetching a box of tissues.

System would have to have something to stop this sort of outcry, and it did.

“Wow, wow, everyone, calm down” Presenter spoke, “The System wants to reiterate that this side effect was chosen by Lord of Darkness, partly by what I’m about to say next”

A trailer for PLAYGROUND came up, and Rachel looked up, tears dried up by the shocking the fact that Lord of Darkness chose to end his reign.

The trailer started with the PLAYGROUND logo, alongside some epic beats, before panning to an overhead of forest and a town, before zooming out. “New Continent”. It switched to a scene of a dungeon “New Dungeons”, then showing the blue flamed entrance from before, “HARDER than HELL mode”. It switched to a stark contrast – fields of growing grain “Pacifists!”, then descended through the ground to a scene of a massive army fighting a dragon “Thousand men dungeons!”, as the music reached its finale, a clip from The Labyrinth was played, when Oblivion was learnt. “Level alongside the reincarnation of Lord of Darkness”. The trailer then ended with the PLAYGROUND logo, and the text “Releasing in 5 days; PLAYGear 50% Off now!”. The entire trailer could have been just that last clip, and still millions would have bought the game, if they hadn't already. Lord of Darkness had quite the following.

Rachel was absolutely shocked, filled with joy. The chance to play with her idol was a dream come true, James even seeing her pinch her arm to double check. He knew what the dinner conversation was going to be like.

When their father Arthur got home from work, a desk job programming in the city at the Adrenalin Corporation , trying desperately to compete with the likes of PLAYGROUND, he was feeling a bit blue, though he was hit by the whirlwind that was Rachel’s enthusiasm. Rachel had previously tried PLAYGROUND, she had used her only trial week of the hardware, and if she wanted to continue playing, she would need to buy one for 1’000 credits, the equivalent $8000 American dollars. A bit too steep of a price tag at the time for a game she wasn’t very good at. But now, with an influx of newbies, the price halved, not to mention the chance to play with Lord of Darkness, she thought it was well worth the money.

Arthur, who felt that the price tag for them both was still sharp, decided that it would make them a good present from “mother”, a very wealthy woman who left them when they were young for a life aboard a private cruise ship. One thing she still had going for her though was that she occasionally sent child support, averaging 1000 credits every one or two months. He told them that he’d pick them up him from school tomorrow for something.