"Gasp!" She shot up from her bed, VR Helmet still on. She sat there for a moment before slowly removing it with Shaky breath.
"I- It's just a game... Just a game." She took deep breaths as she lay back down on her bed. Wiping the tears from her eyes she grabbed her smartphone from the bedside table. Unlocking it, she looked at the timer that had been synced to the mobile app she had downloaded earlier while researching the game. She could log back in after 7 hours had passed... Speaking of which, she had less than a day remaining on her quest!
Her efforts of attempting to calm down were for naught as she flew into a panic once again. When she would be able to log in, she would already have less than half a day remaining. For the average person, it took weeks- if not years to gain their first 100 followers!
"M-maybe I can bot them?" She pleaded, but the Idea faded quickly. With the population nearly tripling over the past few centuries, each person was allowed access to one email address their entire life. So things like botting accounts were insanely expensive. Just for the 150 she needed it would cost well into the tens of thousands.
"It's not fair!" She whined into a pillow as tears ran down her face.
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Meanwhile, in Postal Port. Alkaline walked towards the jester as he spun his blades. Having gotten Marie to the main streets where she could get proper help, he was able to focus all his efforts on defeating Tweehee.
"Oh, Al! Look at your face! So menacing! If you keep looking at me like that I may just go wild, you hear?" He chuckled while feigning embarrassment.
"All you nut jobs are the same. You put up some big act thinking you're all high and mighty... But when it comes down to it, you're all just some loser who can't amass anything IRL, so you hinge everything on some absurd idea that has no substance." He stops a few feet away from the jesters' range.
"... Faith is a funny thing, isn't it? You put all your being into an ideology that has no proof, hoping that something will come from it... But you see, that hope is what makes these ideologies real! I was blown away when I first discovered it! But it's true! My own faith makes itself real!" He extended his arms in a wide arc, giggling with uncontainable glee
"What..? So you're saying that believing in something all of a sudden makes it exist? Bullshit! If I truly believed I was some sort of god, would I be one?" Alkaline questioned while loading bullets into the cylinders of his revolvers.
"To walk forward, do you perform an analysis of how your brain will send signals to your muscles to move before calculating to see if it will happen again? Or do you lean forward with blind faith, hoping that your brain will do the same as it always has?" As he finishes his sentence, a bullet flies towards his head. With a simple motion, one of his chain blades intercepts it splitting it in two.
"There's no point in trying to understand the ramblings of a madman. Come, Carcosa dog. I've had enough chitchat." The smoking barrel of his gun pointed towards his adversary.
"Eheh~ You would know these ramblings better than anyone, former oracle of Carcosa. Alkaline 'The Deadbeat.' " With this final remark, the battle began.
Three bullets tore through the air as Alkaline rushed forward. Ricocheting off the air, the bullet's trajectory changed as it flew. Dancing around the chains that were being swung to block them, they slammed into their target with a twing of clashing metal.
Underneath the torn fabric of his jester uniform, plates of light blue metal were exposed.
"I forgot just how much of a hassle it is to deal with your archetype." He chuckled as he made his move. Rushing forward, the chains connecting his daggers spun wildly, tearing at everything in his path as he ran. A red energy spread along the chains as he twirled them. Alkaline smirked as a similar light, this time yellow, gathered on the barrels of his guns.
He placed the barrels of the guns sideways and parallel to each other. The yellow energy gathering at the tip of each gun slowly glowed brighter and brighter as the air around them seemed to vibrate.
With a powerful step forward, Tweehee launched one of the chain-blades with all of his strength. It whistled through the air like a missile as it quickly made its way to its target. Dodging the flying blade within a hair's breadth, the ground behind Alkaline is torn to shreds as a crater appears in the ground where he stood mere seconds ago.
"..! Don't tell me? You're gonna-" As he prepared another attack, he suddenly stopped. His eyes widened
"Oh I'm gonna" The yellow energy at the tip of each of his guns started to condense, forming the shape of a pentagram inside a circle
"I- In a place like this??? Are you crazy?" He fwipped his head around, trying to make sense of what was happening.
"Shouldn't I be the one saying that?"
"But your whole thing was hiding!? That's what made you cool!" He shouted before pausing yet again. "Fine then, I'll just have to kill you before you can cast it!"
"Burn in hell, dickwad." With those parting words, Alkaline pulled the trigger. With a defeating roar, a beam of energy exploded from the barrels of his guns. Maybe 50 meters in diameter it seemed to stretch on forever, piercing the clouds themselves before it even seemed to begin lowering in intensity.
"Y-you!" Was all that he could manage to scream as his body was vaporized...
"Phew! Looks like it's time to hit the road again." He stared at his twin revolvers that slowly turned into ash. His hands shook from pain as they were blackened from the burns.
"Seriously though, going out of their way for little ole me. I would feel flattered but..." He sighed, using his forearms to retrieve a health potion from his inventory. Not having a solid grip on said potion caused the bottle to slip out of his hands, thankfully not shattering as it fell to the ground.
"Ah shit." Just as he bent to pick it up, he heard a voice calling from behind.
"Alkaline! Al! Where are you!" A woman's voice could be heard, Alkaline turned his head to see a familiar figure being outlined in the nearby smoke.
"Oh, there you are! Y- You're hurt!" Marie rushed to Alkaline who was kneeling on the ground trying to pick up the potion he had dropped.
"Ah- I'm sorry I was just-" Before he could finish his sentence, Marie lunged towards him. Embracing him with a tight squeeze while sobbing.
"Ah, geeze- Don't cry! Uh- Um... Here help me with this" He gestured to the potion lying on the ground.
"Listen, Marie... I haven't been truthful with ya- You see I'm actually an otherworlder-" With a sombre glare he stared at his own feet.
"So?" The cork of the bottle came off with a pop. As she poured it over his burnt arms the charred skin began to peel away, being replaced with new fully healed skin.
"Well- I've made some enemies and now they know I'm here so I'm gonna have to go-"
"Then I'll start packing!" She quickly retrieved a bandage from her purse before wrapping it around some of the more minor wounds inflicted during the battle.
"Huh?"
"I'm coming with dummy!"