It was a nice day. In fact, it was a beautiful day. The air was crisp and smelled of flowers, and the temperature was a perfect 71 degrees. The sun was shining, but it wasn’t overly bright. And there was just a slight wind, as if to make sure no one got too hot outside. But Alexander wasn’t focused on any of that. With his binoculars, he was only focused on the defenses of the fort a mile out.

The fort was straight in the middle of what was once a farm, and there was nothing but dirt all around them. In contrast to Chicago, southern Illinois was barren.

“Looks like we’ve got two… no three snipers that I can see.” Alexander murmured.

“I’m seeing three as well. Only one gate too, with two guards posted at the front. It’s small. Probably holds like fifty slaves at a time.” Jade responded while looking at the fort, her suit having built-in magnifying lenses.

“Haven’t seen a convoy yet. Do you think it’s worth raiding?” Alexander asked while setting his binoculars down.

“It’s worth sending a message.” Jade responded while getting up, dusting off the dirt now caked on her armor. “C’mon, let’s do a pincer movement. Of course, you’ll be at the front.”

Alexander and Jade had been making their way down Illinois. They used trains, busses, bikes, and even their own feet on their journey through cities, towns, villages, farms, and of course, the occasional slave outpost in territory outside of UNAA control.

They hadn’t hit any yet. The two they’d spotted before were even smaller, and from what they could tell, they were more than likely just resupply and communication posts. This was their first “big” hit. Of course, they were really focused on the only well known slaver fort down near the border of Illinois and Missouri, but first they agreed to practice and hopefully get some levels.

“Alright. You just try and distract at first. It’ll take some time for me to sneak up to the back and climb the walls while invisible. And there’s no guarantee they don’t have tech to see me– this armor isn’t nearly good enough for true invisibility.”

“Yeah…” Alexander stretched himself out while absorbing the heat of the sun. “I think I can do that.”

“Good. I’d say we got a good chance here. Don’t… ya know… kill yourself.”

“Whatever.” Alexander shrugged as he started walking towards the fort. Jade sighed, turned on her stealth, and started walking to the back of the fort.

The two guards were low level. They took this job because of their lack of certain moral inhibitions, and for the fact that they were broke. They barely got levels, and the pay wasn’t great. Still, they enjoyed being outside the law.

While they worked shifts at the fort, they saw many, many things. Heavily armored convoys would come through, resupply, pick up or drop off slaves, and do whatever else they needed to do. They saw wizards, barbarians, tanks, and whatever else you could think of. But they had not seen Alexander before. They had never seen a lone man, clad only in a kilt, slowly walk up to the fort.

“Hey pal, you lost?” One of the guards said in a commanding tone.

“Yeah man, I was looking for this one fort that had some slaves I could buy, but I’m just not good at using a map.” Alexander said as he got closer to the guards. He was surprised how well he could act. His heart started to race.

“No shit.” The other guard chuckled.

“Look man we don’t sell slaves here. If you wanna buy, you gotta go find a dealer.” The first guard said while holding back some laughter of her own.

“Aww c’mon. I’m just trying to do business.” Alexander pleaded.

“Last warning. Fuck off, Alexander.” The same guard said while raising her rifle.

Alexander raised his hands in the air.

“Woah woah woah. Calm down.” Alexander said in a nonchalant voice.

The other guard raised their rifle. “Like she said. Fuck. Off.”

“Why the hassle! I’m just trying to do illegal activities, fellow criminal!” Alexander said, barely taking himself seriously.

“That’s it. I’m going to give you from the count of three, and if I don’t see your ass running you’re going to be target practice.” The guard stepped forward. “Three…”

Alexander stepped forward, hands still in the air.

“Two…”

Alexander stepped forward again.

“One!” But the second she shouted, a shot rang out from the other side of the fort. The guards hesitated. Alexander grinned. His heart was racing, but it was from excitement.

In a flurry, Alexander reached into his mind and activated his demon form. He had practiced it a few times with Jade and had gotten the hang of it, sorta. His muscles bulged. Horns grew from his head. Red energy enveloped him and it was all he could see. He lunged.

The first guard, the one who counted down, didn’t stand a chance. She wasn’t even half-way to getting class yet, and Alexander was a mountain of muscle. He slammed his hand in her face, ripped off her helmet, then used it to bash her head in.

The other guard tried to aim at Alexander, but they were too late. Alexander took a massive step towards them, pivoted, and swept their legs out. They scrambled to get up. Alexander stomped on their chest. He stomped again. He slammed his foot over and over until their ribs shattered and their heart stopped. He smiled.

A shot rang out. The sniper closest to Alexander noticed this was going on, and between the other snipers mysteriously disappearing and this man killing his co-workers, he chose to fight against what he could see.

The bullet grazed Alexander’s left arm. He slowly looked over to the sniper, smiled, and licked up the blood. Before the sniper got out a second shot, he dropped to the floor. In his place was Jade brandishing a knife. She jumped down, walked over to the entrance, and opened it for Alexander.

The two of them started to walk through the grounds. The place had a few tents set up with communication relays, boxes of supplies, and a few crates of slaves. They started to walk over to the nearest crate, but then they heard a voice.

A man with a straw hat jumped down from the catwalks. He was wearing a kimono and had two swords on his left hip, one short, one long. Neither of them had noticed him before.

“Sorry to burst your bubble adventurers, but today was a poor choice to raid outpost thunder.” The man spoke in a soft, elegant tone that carried through the air.

“Why’s that?” Jade asked while pointing one of her knives at him.

“Because I’m here.” The man chuckled. “My partner is too.. But I don’t see him anywher-” He was cut off by a loud crash. A massive beast of man broke out of a wooden outhouse in the corner.

“Sorry, I was taking a shit.” The man said without a care.

“Did you wash your hands?” The samurai man asked.

“Of course! What kind of monster do you take me for?” The man spoke. He was loud and proud.

“The fuck is going on?” Alexander asked while looking around.

“What’s going on is that my partner and I are going to kill you. But before that, I should probably at least introduce myself. I’d hate to be referred to as ‘that samurai looking motherfucker’ from any video that might be captured for your bosses.”

His companion chuckled.

“I’m Benjiro.” The man was close to Alexander’s height, had tan skin, and had a face that looked bored.

“And I’m Basher!” His companion said. This man was easily a foot taller than Alexander, was twice his size, had incredibly dark skin, and had two massive metal gauntlets for each of his hands.

“Well, if we’re introducing ourselves, I’m Jade.”

“And I’m-”

“Alexander. You’re literally the only one here who has his name displayed.” Benjiro chuckled. “Look at you, all covered in blood. I bet you think you’re proud of yourselves for killing some goons.”

Jade shifted her weight back and whispered to Alexander. “We might wanna run…”

“Fuck that. I want Basher. You can take on Benjiro.” Alexander said, shrugging her off and taking a few steps forward.

“This one looks fun!” Basher said while jumping up with glee. Alexander took a few more steps forward.

“You have fun.” Benjiro said while walking away from Basher and towards Jade.

Basher and Alexander started walking towards each other. Alexander flared his demonic magic and prepared himself for the fight. Basher smiled ear to ear with perfect teeth.

Jade took up a defensive stance. Benjiro just casually walked over to her.

“Hey, listen, I’m going to be honest, watching Basher fight is kinda funny. And your boy Alexander looks like an idiot too. We could just not fight and watch them duke it out.” Jade lowered her guard slightly. “Tell you what, if Alexander wins I’ll just leave.”

“And if he loses?”

“Then I’ll kill you.” Benjiro said without skipping a beat.

“Fuck it.” Jade said while lowering her guard. As Alexander and Basher stared down at each other, Jade and Benjiro climbed up the wall and prepared to watch the fight from the catwalk.

---

Basher slammed his fists together. “How do you want to do this?”

“Uh.” Alexander stopped for a second. “What do you mean?”

“Well, instead of just an all out brawl, we could exchange punches, arm wrestle, play chess, or even play a game of wit!”

“I uh,” Alexander lost a lot of the frenzy he once had.

“C’mon. No one ever chooses to play chess with me!”

“Do you have like a board or something?” Alexander said, unsure of what was going on.

“Somewhere, I think. Again, nobody ever wants to so I almost never bring it with me.”

“You know what, how about we just fight it out man.” Alexander said, trying to get back into the mood.

“Fine, whatever you say. By the way, the whole horn thing works for you!” Basher said with so much enthusiasm it bordered on sarcasm.

“Thanks…”

“Now then, just like in every fight, you get the first punch!” Basher put his hands at his hips and puffed up his chest.

“Huh?”

“Go ahead! It might be the only hit you land!” Basher bellowed with laughter. It made Alexander shiver. He felt way out of his depth. Should’ve just ran…

“Fine. I’ll take the first hit.” Alexander got into a stance and started to focus. His magic flared and he felt rage build up inside of him. Then, with a barbaric yawp he slammed his fist as hard as he could into Basher. It did nothing. His wrist sprained and his shoulder almost dislocated.

“Not bad.” Basher said while cocking his head. “But not nearly good enough. My turn!” Basher moved at lightning speeds. He slammed his fist into Alexander’s chest. Immediately, almost all of his ribs shattered and he flew back twenty feet.

“Your guys is so fucked.” Benjiro chuckled. Jade looked on in horror.

“What level are you guys?” Jade asked between shallow breaths.

“Well Basher is around one hundred. He wasn’t a knight killer, but he got in early with a powerful crime syndicate.”

Jade gulped.

“Knight killer?”

“Yeah. You know, the people who actually got to the final round of the tutorial and even managed to kill the death knight. The first two rounds of the tutorial change every time, but in every run there is a death knight. If you kill it you get one of these.” Benjiro lifted up his kimono and showed that his right hand had been replaced with the rare biological implant obtained from killing the death knight. “Got it myself.”

Alexander slowly, yet surely, brought himself up. The world was spinning. His chest was spasming.

“Oh no, looks like that one hurt.” Basher mocked as he walked up to Alexander.

He tried to get in any stance at all, but his muscles were rioting. Basher towered above him. Alexander raised an arm for defense, but Basher slapped it away and then slammed his fist into Alexander’s head. The world went black.

Alexander awoke in a familiar place. This time, though, there was no chest. It was only black. Am I dead?

“No, but you’ll wish you were.” A voice rang out. A familiar voice rang out.

“Who’s there?” Alexander said while haphazardly looking around.

“Me.” A perfect replica of himself said, suddenly appearing right in front of him.

“Fuck.”

“Yep. Now, follow me.” The copy said while a spiral staircase appeared. The copy started walking slowly down, and Alexander followed. Eventually, they reached a bottom, and there laid a massive beating heart. How stairs worked in an empty black plane, or even how a massive heart suddenly appeared, were both things that were lost on Alexander.

“So what’s all this about?” Alexander asked, staring at the organ. It beat relentlessly.

“C’mon, you remember me, right?” The copy grinned. His eyes turned black.

“Fuck…” Alexander felt the hairs on the back of his head stand up, and he felt his stomach drop. It was him.

“You’re the one who let me out after all.” The copy smiled even wider. “But there’s more important things to address.”

“What’s that?” Alexander started to sweat. The dissociation he felt was rearing its ugly head.

“We’re not one.” The copy giggled. It set off all kinds of alarms in Alexander’s head.

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“You let me out to save you Alexander.” The copy leaned in and pointed at Alexander in a teasing way, although its movements did not seem human. “You let me out because you knew that I alone would be able to. I’m without inhibitions. But we are like oil and water.”

“You make sense at least, I think.” Alexander was following, but he couldn’t predict where this was going.

“You won’t even admit what I am. You won’t even think about where I came from.”

“And I don’t want to.”

“That’s fine… that’s fine…” The copy sighed. “Still, there’s an issue.”

“Can you get on with it?” Alexander sighed himself.

“Whatever. Basically, you were just relying on my ability to use whatever necessary to win. If you had chosen to use a weapon, or even an item, you could have just lived with PTSD like everyone else.” The copy made a grandiose gesture with their arms. “But noooo, you just had to be special.”

“Again, what’s your point?”

“My point is that since I’ve been worming around in your brain, you’ve changed. And now you’re disconnected. A house divided against itself cannot stand. But don’t worry, there’s an easy fix.”

“Yeah?” Alexander gulped.

“Oil and water do not come together, but a binding agent will achieve the desired effect. You must find your binding agent. You must find out why you fight.”

“Why I fight?” Alexander started to think, and he didn’t like what he came up with.

“Be honest with yourself. You only let me out to save your own skin. And now I’ve corrupted you. But like a cancer, I’m being rejected, and so are you. So, why do you fight?”

“Well, it’s fun?”

“No!” The copy swung his fist at Alexander, who just barely dodged. “Throughout all this time you never asked what the game was doing to you!”

“What the hel-” Alexander was cut off by the copy lunging at him. He barely dodged again.

“It, like with every damned human, has put you into a state of relaxed inhibitions. You’ve done stuff you’d never be willing to do! And so has everyone else!” The figure kept swinging. “WHY DO YOU FIGHT?!?”

“Because I have to?!?” Alexander meagerly swung back. The copy disapprovingly snarled at him.

“You’re like a rubber band! The game has stretched far from your norms! But you’re going to either break or snap back! Which is it?!?” The copy was gaining the advantage. The heart kept beating.

“Stop man!” Alexander pleaded.

“Absolutely not!” The copy finally landed a hit, and Alexander fell to the floor. The copy slowly walked over. “Everyone is in a dream right now! And you’re no fucking different!” The copy slammed his fists into Alexander again and again.

Alexander started to remember. He started to remember life before the game. He remembered who he was. Memories flashed through his mind with each hit. I was timid, shy, and quiet. The game was the only reason I let you out…

“Yeah it is!” The copy laughed horribly. “You do realize I can hear you right?”

Alexander screamed in pain. His brain felt like it was convulsing.

“This game! This stupid game is changing me!” Alexander cried out loudly.

“Oh yes it has!” The copy kicked Alexander hard. “And now you don’t know who you are! You don’t know why you fight! Your rage is a lie and your punches are weak!”

Alexander screamed out in pain with each kick. His vision went blurry. He felt like vomiting.

“You’re weak! You’re so weak!” The copy’s voice seemed to resonate throughout his whole mind. He felt his personality weaken. He was being reduced. He was being pushed out. Why do I fight…

But then, a spark lit. Alexander caught the copy’s leg and threw it back. Then, he slowly got up.

“I know why I fight. I fight for myself.” Alexander said in a confident tone. He felt more sure of himself. Pushed to the very edge of physical and mental defeat, his mind compressed down to a single vector– himself.

“Lame.” The copy laughed as it lunged towards him. Alexander grabbed at the copy, then used its momentum to throw him back.

“In the waking world, I locked you up for a reason. There has never been a need for you.” Alexander felt his chest puff and he walked over to the copy. “It was a world of comfort and conformity. I existed to be a good person and to fill the spaces I needed to.” Alexander slammed his fist into the copy’s chest. The copy heaved. “But there was a smoldering piece of me yearning to prove myself. That yearning came in the form of academics and friends…” Alexander kneed the copy in the face. “This game didn’t change me, it just let all my repressed ideas pool around my ego. I was disconnected. I just did things for no reason.” Alexander picked up the copy by the neck and slammed them to the ground. “But subconsciously I followed. And now I understand.”

“What is it that you understand?” The copy said in-between ragged breaths.

“I fight for me!” Alexander slammed his fist into the copy. He noticed that some of the flesh of the copy transposed itself onto him. “I fight to prove myself!” Alexander punched again, and more of the copy attached to him. “I fight for the same reason I lived before! I want to prove myself and risk it all! I’m betting it all on this! I will be the best!” Alexander kept punching, and soon, both the copy and him started to melt. They turned into a pool of flesh and coalesced. The heart was beating faster now. Alexander understood. He understood it all.