That night, tens of millions of players immersed themselves in the world of Sekiro.
By early morning, students at school and workers in their offices all looked a little tired, yet their spirits were high as they chatted excitedly:
"Have you played Sekiro yet? It's insane!"
"Of course I've played it! The wall running and rooftop jumps had me numb with excitement. My girlfriend told me to go to bed last night, but I refused!"
"Hah! Who needs a girlfriend when Sekiro is more fun?"
"The later stages are even better. I just reached Ashina Town, the shinobi prosthetic hand is amazing! Throwing shuriken, grappling, flying around… the damage output is crazy. Damn, it feels so good!"
"True, but shuriken are tricky. You need precise aim and practice to really use them well. Oh, by the way, have you seen the Taro Soldiers yet?"
"Yeah, I did. Brutal stuff. Children turned into weapons and thrown onto the battlefield. At first I couldn't bring myself to kill them."
"Same here. But later I realized… if you don't kill them, they'll kill you!"
"That's exactly how New World designs things. They force us to face the cruelty of war head on."
"Hmph, that dev is ruthless as always!"
Similar heated conversations echoed all across the world. Players everywhere were excited, dissecting every part of Sekiro as if they couldn't get enough.
Meanwhile, Natalie was still fast asleep. After all, she had stayed up until 2 a.m. struggling for over three hours just to take down the Ghost Punishment General.
"Master says it's time for you to wake up and eat," Cortana's voice echoed in her bedroom like a relentless alarm clock.
"Ugh… fine, fine…" Natalie groaned, half-asleep. "What time is it anyway? Breakfast already?"
"It's not breakfast, it's lunch. It's 12 noon," Cortana replied calmly.
"What? Noon already?!" Natalie shot up, eyes wide.
Dragging herself into the shower, she finally made her way downstairs, only to be stunned by the sight of the dining table. It was piled high with a full spread of delicious dishes.
"Seriously? This much food?!" Natalie exclaimed.
Tony, already seated with his phone in hand, looked up and complained, "Took you long enough. I had Cortana call you forever. If you waited any longer the food would be stone cold."
Natalie blinked at the feast in disbelief. "Wait… don't tell me… did Cortana cook all this?!"
Tony nearly burst out laughing. "What, you think she's a maid? She'd need an actual body first, hands, feet, the works, before she could cook. Actually… hmm, a full robot housekeeper during the day and a bed warmer at night…" His grin turned mischievous. "That doesn't sound half bad."
"Then where'd all this come from?" Natalie asked suspiciously.
"Relax. I ordered it from a restaurant. Had it delivered," Tony explained.
"They do delivery all the way up here?" Natalie blinked.
"As long as you've got money, anything's possible." Tony shrugged. Sekiro had already sold tens of millions of copies overnight, money was pouring in like a river. Spending a little extra for special delivery was nothing.
"That makes sense." Natalie nodded. Rich people could afford to be willful.
She sat down at the table and started eating with him, while also scrolling through her feed.
Her notifications were exploding. Overnight, tens of thousands of players had tagged her, obviously all with questions about Sekiro. But instead of checking messages, she went straight to the trending page.
Sure enough, Sekiro was dominating the hot search. Every tag was buzzing with heated debate.
"I can officially say it, Sekiro is the greatest action game in the world. Nothing comes close!"
"Agreed. The mobility is insane. I log out and go back to real life, and suddenly I feel like a useless piece of trash, damn it!"
"By the way, have you run into the White Serpent yet? That thing is terrifying!"
"Yeah, it scared the hell out of me! Getting swallowed alive, the suffocating feeling almost killed me IRL!"
"Same! The moment those fangs sank in, I swear I felt like my whole body was being skewered like candied fruit…"
Clearly, the White Serpent had left a psychological scar on countless players. Though in truth it was only a chase sequence and not too hard once mastered, most players had no clue how to properly evade. For first timers, death was almost guaranteed.
Natalie patted her chest in relief as she read their horror stories. Luckily, she had escaped fast enough. Otherwise, she'd be traumatized right alongside them.
As she scrolled, Natalie couldn't help sneaking a glance at Tony, who was eating happily without a care in the world.
This wicked man, she thought. After torturing millions of players, he can still sit there and eat like nothing happened!
Shaking her head, she went back to her feed. Aside from complaints about the White Serpent, the boss that players seemed to hate the most was none other than the Ghost Punisher.
"This boss is impossible! He killed me in three swings of that halberd, and don't even get me started on the horse stomps. Absolutely disgusting!"
"Same here. I've died to him dozens of times already and still can't get past!"
"This guy's way too strong. Last night I saw the word 'Death' so many times I can't even recognize the word anymore!"
Seeing these posts, Natalie nodded furiously. Finally, she had found her fellow sufferers.
But then she thought smugly, Hmph, at least I managed to get past him with just thirty firecrackers. Compared to these poor souls, I'm not doing too badly.
Just as that little swell of pride filled her chest, she came across a completely different opinion,
"Honestly, the Ghost Punisher isn't that hard. Once you learn the right approach and use firecrackers properly, he's actually pretty easy. Only took 6 minutes."
"Six minutes? Yeah right, I don't believe it."
"That's gotta be an exaggeration."
The doubters mocked him, until they dropped a video directly onto the feed.
The clip showed his fight against the Ghost Punisher. To everyone's shock, the player parried nearly every attack with perfect timing, dodged every so called 'unavoidable' strike, and skillfully countered with firecrackers at just the right moments.
He still took some hits, but in the end, with two resurrections and one healing gourd left, he managed to cut them down.
As the boss fell, he muttered his final words.
"Forgive me, Genichiro… I couldn't keep my promise. My skills were never enough…"
The video ended there. The whole fight had lasted only six minutes.
Compared to Natalie's grueling half hour struggle, it felt like night and day.
The comments exploded.
"???? Is this even the same boss I fought?!"
"Why was my Ghost Punisher a nightmare from hell?!"
"So smooth… I bow down, master!"
"Wow, so it really is possible to beat him that easily?" Natalie gasped. She shoved her phone toward Tony. "Look at this, Tony! This guy's gotta be cheating, right? He actually cleared Ghost Punisher in six minutes!"
"If it was a cheat, the game wouldn't even load," Tony replied calmly without even glancing at the video. "And honestly, it's nothing strange. Talent varies. Some people can't pass no matter how many times they try, while others clear it on their first attempt."
He leaned back and added, "Besides, Sekiro isn't like traditional video games. If you let an esports champion and a martial artist play side by side, the martial artist might actually perform better."
"…You know, that does make sense," Natalie admitted. After all, Sekiro wasn't just about button mashing. It was about physical reflexes and reaction speed.
In fact, if you turned off the 'VR Suit Assist' function, the combat system in Sekiro was almost indistinguishable from real sword fighting.
Curious, Natalie clicked onto the person's profile. Her eyes widened, he was actually a professional boxer!
"No wonder!" she muttered. "I never thought I'd see the day when actual sport pros outperformed esports pros in games."
Then she frowned. "But hey, Tony, why were the Ghost Punisher's death lines different from when I killed him? In this guy's video, he said his skills weren't as good as others. When I killed him, he called me shameless."
Tony burst out laughing. "Tell me the truth, did you spam firecrackers the whole fight?"
"…Maybe," Natalie admitted sheepishly.
"Exactly. That's an Easter egg I designed," Tony said with a smirk. "If you use firecrackers more than ten times, the Ghost Punisher calls you dishonorable. If you stay under ten, he admits his skills are inferior."
Natalie's jaw dropped. "There's even that kind of detail?! I thought I'd just glitched the boss and cheesed my way through!"
"Glitched?" Tony scoffed. "There are no major glitches. Every so called 'cheap trick' players come up with, I've probably already accounted for them. Those little shortcuts you think are bugs? They're all deliberately designed for skipping certain fights"
"A way of… skipping fights?" Natalie tilted her head.
"Exactly," Tony replied. "Some players might not have the skill to defeat a boss head on. So I intentionally designed a few absurd or tricky methods that let them clear the stage another way."
"Ohhh!" Natalie's eyes lit up. She looked at him with admiration. "Wow, Tony, you're too clever! You really thought of us noob players, you're amazing!"
"Yeah, yeah, flatter me all you want," Tony rolled his eyes.
Unbothered by his sarcasm, Natalie continued, "But seriously, that Taro Soldier design of yours is messed up. Eight year old kids going to war? What were you thinking…?"
At that, Tony shook his head. His expression turned serious. "That wasn't something I made up. From ancient times until now, children being forced into battle has always existed."
Natalie fell silent. Reality, she realized, was often more brutal than any game.
After browsing the forum for a while, Natalie checked her private messages. Dozens of players had written to her, all asking the same question about Sekiro.
"In the Reedland battle, can players actually defeat Genichiro Ashina?"
Even celebrities had sent her the same inquiry.
Last night, countless players had challenged Genichiro, some reloading the save over and over to try again. Yet every single one of them failed miserably.
So many left arms were cut off in those duels that, as the memes went, they could build a mountain, enough spare parts to keep JoJo's Yoshikage Kira entertained for years.
And still, not a single video of anyone actually defeating Genichiro had surfaced online.
It was clear, no one had managed to win.
Seeing how desperate everyone was for an answer, Natalie quickly turned to Tony. "Tony, tell me honestly, can players actually beat Genichiro when he kidnaps the Divine Heir?"
"Of course," Tony replied calmly. "Why else would I give him a health bar? Decoration? But for first time players, especially during the opening week, the odds of killing him are slim. I don't believe anyone can manage it."
"Not necessarily~" Natalie snickered. "Don't you remember the incident in Subnautica? That cabin number two girl? You kept saying it was impossible, but someone ended up doing it."
Tony narrowed his eyes. The memory clearly stung. But he had already spoken, and he wouldn't take his words back. He said firmly,
"This time is different. The difficulty is on a whole other level. Against Genichiro, the player has nothing but a sword, no martial arts, no shinobi tools. Just pure steel against steel. I don't believe anyone can do it!"
"Okay, okay, I get it!" Natalie grinned, making a little victory gesture before pulling out her phone.
A few minutes later, she posted to her social feed.
"We've felt the burning passion of all Sekiro players! So here's the answer to the biggest question: Genichiro Ashina is NOT an unwinnable plot battle, you can defeat him!
However, the 'Developer' himself declared it's impossible for anyone to pull it off within the first week. Players, the chance to get back at New World has come! Who will be the first to topple Genichiro?!"
The comment section instantly exploded.
"Natalie finally dropped the act. She's definitely in with the dev somehow!"
"But damn, if it's about getting back a New World, I'm wide awake!"
"Exactly. Anything that humiliates the dev, we must do!"
"Genichiro's insane though… I fought him dozens of times last night and couldn't last more than three moves."
"It's fine, we can't do it ourselves, but we can call in a real life Sword Master or something!"
Tony had underestimated the sheer energy of the player base.
After Natalie's post, players across the world rallied together, hyping each other up and searching for the most talented challengers to attempt the impossible.
Within just an hour, big names began to surface.
The world's bes boxing world champion poster.
"Heard from a friend that this Genichiro is brutal. Guess I'll give him a try."
Soon after, sword play actor followed:
"My nephew won't stop bugging me about this game. Says I can train martial arts inside it. Fine then, I'll play tonight!"
Not long after, worlds renowed martial arts star updated his feed as well.
"Fans are spamming my inbox. Even my buddies in real life are calling me about it. Fine, fine, I'll come for you, Genichiro!"
2215 Words.