Chapter 16: Beachfront Property
I reappeared panting heavily. That was horrible! “TAMA!” I screamed.
Tama appeared over me and looked concerned. “Nya! Tama was trying to fix it! She clicked on the buttons!”
I shook my head in disbelief. “I managed to force the server into a reset. But the God of Air is still trapped in the Alissa character.”
Tama looked at me like I was crazy. “But, Saki, The God of Air is a boy!”
My eye twitched before I just smiled and shook my head. “Tama, you know that’s not how this works. Technically, I was a hero, the euro is always a male in this world. Am I a male Tama?”
Tama frowned and I deflated. “Tama, you have known me your entire existence, we were created together. Seriously?”
She looked at me sheepishly. “Tama wants her turn!” Her Nekojin tail lashed back and forth. She had kept her Tamaneko form since xanrea, that was.. How many cycles ago?
“No, let me try one more time, I need you to be patient. You are already in trouble with the admins!” I snapped at her.
Tama was quiet for a moment before asking. “Why did you sleep with Tama’s doppelg?nger a bunch?”
My cheeks flushed red and I looked away. “It was a necessary action to.. To gain her trust Tama.” My Foxkin tail betrayed me by wrapping around me, the little traitor.
Tama smirked at me. “Tama remembers you saying that Princess Ruby was stupid. You didn’t seem to think so!”
My face went redder and I glared at her weakly. She blushed and I lost it. “Okay, I’m going back in. I will save her this time.”
“Nya! Go Hero!” Tama called out as she pushed the green start button.
Saki got into her pod and I hit the green start button. She was warped out and put back into the world. “Do you think she will succeed this time?” Anna The Goddess of Water asked with amusement. A smile wide on her face as she watched Saki/Hero wake up on the beach in the starting area of The Toybox Purgatory.
“Nya! If anyone can, it’s Saki!” I said seriously. My tail, lashing back and forth. Seriously, I loved this thing so much, and my amazing ears as well. Being Queen of Xanrea was so much fun. It would have been fun if I had not been. But Saki said it was important.
Saki/Hero walked over to the ocean and looked out at it confused. It seemed her memories had mostly been compressed correctly. Good, can’t have memories entering the Toybox or risk severe glitches.
“Think we should have told her that Amanda is the Air God, not Alissa?” Anna asked as she poked me. She was shifting her form between a water spirit, and that one alien creature she loved becoming in Iteration twenty-six.
“Tama is sure Saki knows, she is just teasing us!” I said as I sat down in my chair, and leaned in to enjoy the show.
I came too on a sandy beach. The sun, shining bright on the toybox roof. I winced and sat up in pain. That had been unpleasant. But at least the harem route was over and the reset had been a success.
Now however, I needed to level up again. It wasn’t the first time I had to start over. Though in my defense, this time was absolutely necessary. “Damn harem route. How was I supposed to know that mind controlling a miniboss would start a harem?”
“I agree, a harem was never really a good idea. But.. I would like to ask something.” A familiar voice said from behind me. I whirled around to see Alissa standing naked on the beach staring out at the fake ocean. “Why..” She started as she turned to look at me with a look that would kill lesser men. “THE FUCK DID YOU KILL ME!”
I winced and tried to speak but she held up a finger. “Oh no, first, I need my weapon.” She paused for a moment then frowned. “Wait.. what? Where… where is my stuff?”
You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
She brought up her hand and zoned out. Clearly looking at a status sheet. She began to shake. Not with fear, or panic. Rage. How did I know it was rage? Because her cheeks had turned redder than a turnip and her hands were turned into fists.
“Now, Alissa, please let me explai…” I didn’t get to finish that sentence before she tackled me to the ground and started punching me. To my surprise, she was barely doing any damage.
There was a snapping sound and she froze, then fell off of me dead. I quickly jumped to my feet to avoid the murder krab. The pincer missed me by an inch. “No thank you! I am going for a low death run this time!” I said cheerily at the stupid krab.
It ignored me and continues to snap at me. I dodged a few more times. Suddenly I felt something land on me and got a face full of… breast?!
Alissa had landed on me after respawning apparently and spawned literally above me. I pushed her off and took a step back. But she was smart, she dodged to the left right as the murder krab went for her.
The krab wasn’t able to chase us both. So it went for the clearly weaker of the two. Well, the smaller of the two. Alissa was anything but weak. At least, she wasn’t when she was a miniboss. I wondered what she would do now? Naked and clearly pissed off about something. I assumed she lost her abilities or they were locked or something.
Also, how did she respawn and why did she reset… with… me… I froze as a possibility hit me hard. I watched as Alissa dodged the claws, then attempted, and failed, to jump over the krab in a flip and get bisected by its claws.
Both the top and bottom half of Alissa’s body fell to opposite sides. I idly wondered what happened to all the bodies that were not eaten by monsters? Like when I died in town? Probably mimics.
I stepped back this time, just barely in time to dodge Alissa accidentally planting her breasts in my face again. The system, horny as ever… I thought bitterly.
Alissa ignored me and ran up to the grab and tackled it. Only to be bisected again. “Keep it up! You're doing great!” I said with a smirk.
I was laughing so hard at her, I wasn’t paying attention. So naturally, the sharp pain followed by me reappearing behind Alissa as she was killed by the krab again hit me by surprise.
I turned and jumped to the side just as a second crab clamped at me. It ignored Alissa and began chasing me. Probably because Alissa had just died and it aggroed me first. “Fuck” *beep* “FUCK YOU* *BEEEP*
I said after a moment and just ran. “Where are you going?!” Alissa screamed at me.
“Where do you think? I am finding a safe spot to pick my first skill!” I shot back as I dashed down the beach, pulling four more murder crabs with me. It wouldn’t matter, I had a great spot.
I stopped and took a single step back, Alissa fell face first in front of me, having died from the first murder krab again. I held out my hand. “You can keep dying, or we can work together.” I said.
She glared up at me, but took my hand. I pulled her up and we ran together… Then I realized she was slower than me. Turns out, being a foot shorter than me made her much slower. I sighed and picked her up, tossing her over my shoulder, and running faster. Luckily, even a level one hero started with twelve whole strength… I hated this place.
She slowed me down, but not by much and we made it to a large mountain side. It wasn’t really a mountain side, just a really big tan rock painted plastic. But it would do the job perfectly. I rushed up to the two boulders in front of it, right next to each other.
panting, I pulled Alissa off me and pushed her between the rocks. I jumped after her, the Krab’s missing my foot by an inch. Alissa had stood back up and was backed up against the wall. “Are you insane! Now we are trapped! There is no way out!” She cried.
I smiled and held a finger as I caught my breath. Watching my stamina bar go slowly back up on my character sheet. Finally, it filled and I stood and answered. “Not even, See?” I pointed towards the way we came in. There were multiple claws pushing in, but none made it far. The krabs bodies were too big to fit and they couldn’t jump.
“This is all your fault!” She started at me but I stopped her.
“Actually, if you're talking about the murder Krabs, they are neutral unless you're already in combat. I’d like to remind you that you attacked me first.”
She glared at me and whispered. “You know exactly what I meant. We wouldn’t be in this mess if you hadn’t killed me. I made us a HAREM you asshole. You had like thirty wives. My only wish was to be your first wife, and you killed me for it!” She sobbed.
I deflated instantly. Not because she was crying, I had grown immune to that over time. But because I understood where she was coming from. The pain of betrayal. I winced and looked away.
She fell to her knees and punched the plastic mountain before cupping her face in her hands and cuddling into a ball. I watched silently, unsure what to say.
“Alissa… I.. I did choose you.” I said quietly after a moment. I didn’t look at her as I spoke. After a moment I continued. “You made me.. Feel.. things. I haven’t felt it in… well in a very long time… and it scared me. I never wanted a harem. I never wanted thirty wives. I wanted you…
“Then why kill me?!” She asked between sobs.
I swallowed and after a moment looked back at her. “Because I didn’t deserve you. We were never meant to be. You are this badass *beep* Woman with a military rifle and some weird ass *beep* fetishes. You had so much. You are just another doll I told myself. But you.. You are special and I didn’t want you to suffer because of me.”
The crying had stopped and she had looked at me, staring into my eyes as I spoke. I looked away at the end and opened my character sheet instead. I didn't want to deal with this.