Polynya

His explosive blades tear into the front of Empress Thun’s chest, her body disintegrates, and her robes drop.

Run! the serpent woman shouts in his head.

His four henchmen kick it into high gear as Kodai races through the crowd, the masses swelling around him, shouting, terror-stricken.

One of the Empress’ knights appears in front of him with a lance and goes to peg him. He stays just long enough for the knight to get a glance at him.

A sudden flash and Kodai is in a darkened galaxy, the place behind the golden door.

He takes a few slow-motion steps, control of his feet no longer his own, and as he does he steps back into the guild quarters they are secretly staying in near the Port of Porthos.

That fast, he thinks, marveling at the serpent woman’s teleportation powers.

He hears the cries in the distance, senses the chaos, and knows without a shadow of a doubt that when Ryuk does get to Porthos, he’ll be hunted down.

Tamana spawns first, badly bruised, but still at decent enough health. The two mages come second and third is Tomas, who has an utterly wicked grin on his face.

“Good,” Kodai tells the group. He takes a deep, satisfying breath, already regretting the fact that he’ll miss most of the chaos. “Now I have some things to attend to in the world up there.” His finger comes up and the logout button appears.

(0)__(x)

Kodai waits for the sine waves to settle on his NV Visor. It’s morning and he can hear Sarah rummaging about in the kitchen. A beeping sound tells him she’s made herself an espresso; the trickle that follows from the machine soothes him in some way.

He smiles, his visor still over his head.

He’s sure the Empress will recover but the shock of what he’s done, and the fact that so many people saw him do it, will be something the holy bitch will have to deal with for quite some time.

So much pageantry, he thinks, and for what? To celebrate that you’re a fucking NPC?

Kodai shakes his head bitterly. The autonomy of NPCs is something he’ll always find idiotic. They are created for our enjoyment and our usage, he thinks as he removes his visor, nothing else.

“You finished yet?” Sarah asks from the kitchen. He waves his hand over his shoulder to silence her. She laughs, and he hears her footsteps as she comes closer to him.

Tokyo, when viewed from his penthouse, is a city of towering scale and grandiosity that continues to capture the imagination, no matter what he sees in digital worlds. He doesn’t take his eyes off the rising sun over the massive city until Sarah steps in front of him.

“You’re blocking my view,” he tells the lingerie-clad Australian.

“I’m sorry.” Sarah glances across the room at Tesla, who stands near the door with her arms crossed over her chest.

That’s right, Kodai thinks, seeing the sudden flash of fear in Sarah’s eyes.

There’s something completely intoxicating about fear when viewed in others. It has become one of Kodai’s favorite fetishes, something he looks forward to every time he has to exercise his force.

Sarah gulps and steps aside.

“Go get ready for work,” he tells her. “I need to speak to Tesla alone.”

“Um.” Sarah clears her throat, and opens her mouth to say something but stops herself.

“Anything else?” Kodai asks.

She bows her head and returns to the room he’s assigned to her. Tesla approaches him once Sarah has gone. He admires her for a moment, and suddenly finds himself curious about what is under her blue MercSecure field outfit.

I wonder if …

Just the thought sends a bolt of electricity to his lower half. He pushes it down, tells himself he can explore it later, and smiles up at Tesla.

“How are you?” he asks, standing. “Did you rest well?”

She smirks. “As well as an artificial being can. I spent most of the time reviewing some of my training videos.”

“Exciting,” Kodai says as he steps towards the kitchen. “I’d offer you an espresso, but, well, you know.”

“You should drink two then, one for me.”

“I’ll be sure to. About today … ” His eyes narrow on the humandroid. “I want you to size up my brother’s humandroid, Hajime. I want you to really watch, to find out the best way.”

“The best way to what?”

Kodai locks eyes with her. “To end his existence.”

Chapter 18: Cave --> in

As soon as Ryuk logs out, he gets a prompt from Hajime asking what he’d like for a late breakfast.

Eggs or a smoothie?

He chooses the smoothie, mostly because it looks like it’ll be sweet and after being logged in for so long, he’s craving something sugary. Plus it’s the color of a Chocobo, which seems fun.