For the time being Ryouta was going to continue his investigation. It’s true that he wasn’t able to get anything out of Ashley or Lord Blair, but Lord Blair’s presence itself suggested that they were hiding something. Perhaps I was expecting too much from a fictional detective who wasn’t in a world where all the clues were readily available.
Lunchtime was over and the “senators” were back. It was time for the final showdown between Arthur and Lain which would determine which faction gets the dungeon and its resources. But what was in it for Lain and Arthur who would be doing the actual fighting? Well, for one they would be able to go all out but more importantly as “Champions” assigned to player factions, they would be allowed to interact with the real world as helpers, similar to what Ryouta was doing with Alicia. Lord Blair was right, I was trying to extend my control over the real world, the fact that he could see that must mean that he was also trying to do the same in his own way, regardless it was dangerous to have an enemy who could see through my goals so easily.
The battle was to take place on Apis Island.
Lain yawned and stretched her harms backwards. Arthur was back in her armour.
“You knocked me out by surprise earlier but that won’t happen again, you little twerp!”
“Stop taunting me, you holstein cow.”
“Holst—?”
Lain looked confused for a brief moment but then she realised and looked down at her bountiful chest. She blushed but then a thorn appeared across the girl’s face.
“How dare you say that! I was designed to be this way by my father, Raphael Raynar.”
“And so was I!”
“What the hell are they even talking about?” asked Peter.
“Beats me.”
It was a good thing that Rina systematically censored what they said so that the players in the senate couldn’t hear anything related to me.
Unbeknownst to them I had made backup copies of both of them in case either of them was destroyed. I couldn’t afford to roll the dice on a new powerful AI, if I lost either one of them, and then have it backfire on me.
Arthur attacked first with his two swords but missed. Lain got a few hits in too. It might have at first seemed like they are even or even that Lain was winning, but the more damage she dealt to Arthur’s armour, the stronger he got.
Lain tried to create some distance from Arthur by creating some structures but Arthur stubbornly stuck to her knowing that she had an advantage in range combat.
“Ugh! You are so persistent! But if I do this!”
Lain launched a light from her hands but it was not an attack aimed at arthur. Rather the lights which escaped from her hands went on to form a row of buildings which sprang from the earth, first appearing as lines. In order not to be blocked Arthur had to run around them, thus creating more distance between the two. This gave Lain enough time to create some distance. However, this did not alter the situation enough in her favour to change the expected outcome of this battle.
“Why doesn’t she use that final attack she used earlier.”
“Idiot. It would only make Arthur stronger. She needs to figure out a way to kill the small knight without destroying its armour.”
“But that’s impossible.”
“This is a world of magic. It might be possible.”
“Okay, farmer. Enough RP. There is no such thing as magic.”
As this inane conversation went around me, the battle went on. Now there were all kinds of structures set in illogical ways in order to act as obstacles. But this was visibly taking a toll on Lain too, if she wanted to make an attack then it would have to be sooner rather than later.
Watching this battle from above the sky was a lone figure, Rina. She looked at the battle through binoculars, even though there was no need for her to do that.
I spoke to Rina telepathically.
“If it gets too dangerous, please stop the fight. I think this should be enough to prove to Chamberlain our abilities.”
It started to rain in the simulation. This was obviously Rina’s work in order to try and stop the fight. Given that the structures had been erected with little thought and in a hurry, most of the buildings looked like cheap prefab buildings, and Lain was just punched through vertically through such a nine storey building, causing the building to collapse on top of her. For some reason I had an unpleasant feeling in my chest. Maybe I was affected by the sight of Celestina here who was struggling to contain her tears.
