Chapter 12: God Complex

 Earlier *

Adept was chasing Pixel off after grabbing a bow and three arrows that were hanging from a quiver on an oak tree. Before Adept could even turn around and reach for his arrows, Pixel pleaded for him to spare his life. 

"Wait no, Adept, stop!" yelled Pixel. Adept then followed him, though he still didn't let his guard down. "I can't fight you fairly, one shot then I'll be dead." 

"Alright, but what's the point? The real games are exactly like this. Everyone knows what happened to Blueveria and MJ." Adept gripped the arrow between his hands, pulled the tight bowstrings, and aimed at Pixel's head, ready to fire his weapon. 

"Wait wait wait, that's not the point!" Pixel insisted. "You see, a lot of other people are teaming up together and-" 

"Cool, I'll just wipe them off the simulation so they can meet their maker." 

Twang! 

Adept let go of the bowstrings. Pixel merely dodged the arrow as it whooshed right next to his head. "Really?! We have no match against the others. There's Stick with his stick magic, Omega wiping out everyone he comes across, and then…" 

"That hacker kid who went through that one door, right? Like what everyone told me." Adept fired his bow again, this time the arrow cut through a part of Pixel's sweater. 

"Dammit, Adept we're friends!" 

"It's just a game, Pixel. Nothing personal." 

"Oh, right. But it's quite unfair that the others cheat, though. Besides, me and my teammate kinda planned to be with you and Sterloin when things go south." 

In the middle of the conversation, the two heard a blade cutting through the thicket surrounding them. "You called?" The one cutting was Sterloin, who then emerged from a bush. A few leaves were stuck on his hair and sweater, he noticed them and then brushed them off with his hands.

"Oh, hi. So, he wants to team with us. Is it okay for you?" hesitated, Adept asked his teammate about Pixel. 

"Sure. Let's find Ari next." 

"Welcome to the team." Adept, Pixel, and Sterloin shook hands and did a fistbump.

*

It has been hours since Arianna parted with her teammate, Pixel. She hid in a bush for nearly half an hour and then got bored to death so she decided to scavenge some resources around the simulation's roofed dark oak forest. 

During her travels, she found four sleeping bags and a box of gardening materials. It contained a few knives and an iron hoe; barely anything in it could be used for the games in the long run, but it could surely help her out. She also found one of her most prized possessions: raw chicken sealed in an airtight container, and a pair of flint and steel. 

Arianna was hungry, but only drank water from a nearby freshwater stream because she hesitated to light up a campfire. She wasn't quite far from the cornucopia, and it would only give out her location if she lit up a fire for warmth and her food. 

Any second now… She tucked herself in one of the sleeping bags, anticipating the return of her teammate. Before she could close her eyes, she could hear some leaves behind her rustling. She tugged her iron hoe closer and jumped out of her sleeping bag, paranoid. 

Focus, focus, focus, focus… 

Her lungs tightened and her breathing gradually sped up. Cold sweat followed and trickled down her face. She heard more rustles around her, unable to locate the source of the noise.

Eventually, she heard the rustles coming closer to her camp. Not only that, but she swore she heard voices; voices of people she knew. 

Pixel? Wait, is that really him, though– I give up at this point. 

"You're making too much noise! I can't sleep because of you, now c'mere!" She was unsure if that was her friend, so she began to charge, and hack and slash through the bushes using her gardening tool, only to stumble and land on Pixel. "Whoa-" 

Thud! 

They both fall onto the grassy forest floor, struggling to get up.

"That must be his teammate, right?" Adept asked. 

"Yep." Sterloin said as he assisted them to get back up. 

"Oh, Pixel, I was worried! How've you been?" Arianna squinted, trying to make up the faces of Pixel's new allies under the shadows of the moonlit thicket. "Wait, are we teaming? Or do I get to betray them?" 

"We're teaming for now." Pixel explained what happened to him and Adept to Arianna. She then nodded as he did. 

"Ohh, alright. Anyways, let's settle somewhere for the night. I could start a fire and cook some food." 

"That's great news!" Exclaimed Adept. His tummy then rumbled from hunger. "I uh, just ate a bunch of apples I picked along the way. Let's get cooking now, pronto!" 

*

The four settled on the part of the forest near the mountain's base. Before hitting the hay, they chatted beside Arianna's campfire while enjoying grilled chicken skewers. 

"Hey, munch- we should definitely check out that mountain tomorrow when we wake up. Before someone else does." Adept told his teammates. 

"Alright. Let's wake up five hours from now. I'll be on the lookout." Sterloin unsheathed his ominous, enchanted Netherite sword and grasped it with his right hand. 

"Okay, then. You sure you're good?" Arianna asked, concerned. 

Sterloin gave her a reassuring nod. 

"Okie dokie. Good night, Sterloin!" She gave out her three sleeping bags to her teammates and then tucked herself comfortably in hers. 

"Rest well, everyone." Sterloin decided to scan the camp’s perimeter to hunt some animals for some meat in the morning. All he found was a plump chicken that was being chased by a fox. Two not-so-really birds with one sword. 

Swish! 

The two animals were sliced ruthlessly with only a single, dark flash from the swing of his Netherite sword. He carried his game back to the camp, triumphantly. 

Before putting out their campfire, he cooked the whole chicken and made a pelt out of the fox's hide. The camp was filled with the aroma of cooked meat, Sterloin got hungry and couldn’t wait for sunrise. 

Fsss. The campfire crackled and hissed at Sterloin as he put it out by stomping at it. As he did, the sky started to become lighter and lighter each minute— the sun was rising. 

His eyes were getting heavy but fought his sleepiness as he ate some sweet berries that will surely keep him awake from their sweetness. 

Eugh, too sweet. Never felt more awake like today.

It has been five hours since then. He basked in the early morning sunlight and did some stretches. He breathed in and out, then got back to his sleeping teammates. 

"Rise and shine, everybody." Sterloin gently woke them up. Adept was the first to rise, followed by Pixel, then Arianna. 

“Yawn, Good morning, Sterloin. Is everyone ready to go?” 

“Come on, Pixel, maybe eating breakfast first would be a better option.” Arianna insisted, as she wanted everyone to eat first. Before everyone fully got up, she gave them the spare tools that she found yesterday. 

Sterloin divided the cooked chicken into four parts and shared it with his teammates. After drinking berry juice and leftover water from their bottles, everyone decided to head up the mountain. 

*

The way up the mountain was very steep and rocky, Arianna tripped several times by now compared to her friends, who are all seasoned adventurers. 

The air got colder and colder as they ascended the lofty peak. Their clothing protected them quite well while navigating through the mountain so no one ever bothered by the cold. 

An hour passed, and they were already a few blocks near the peak, and suddenly… 

Whoosh!... Whoosh!... Whoosh! 

Sudden harsh gusts of cold wind are blowing toward the group. Adept felt something off with it. It wasn’t just some wind. It felt like something, or someone rather was trying to get them off. 

“I have a baaad feeling about this!” Adept warned the others, his hands are suddenly losing grip from a stony overhang he happened to clutch onto. He took out a diamond pickaxe and a rope, to act as a harness as he struggled to climb to the top. 

"We need to go faster! There's no way we'll fall to some wind!" Sterloin commanded, and everyone else hastily went up. 

"I know there's something up there, Cyclo!" Pixel looked behind and told Cyclosword as he knew that hidden cameras were pointed toward him. 

~Cyclosword~ 

He sat on his chair, in front of the many screens which broadcasted each individual in the simulation. A few of them were already blacked out, an indication that a candidate was eliminated. 

He continued munching his popcorn while watching Pixel struggle to get up.

"Hah, there sure is. The wind wasn't me, though!" Cyclosword then poured more of his coffee

into a small, ornate cup of his. "You'd just uh, have to deal with him for now… He got it first."

*

Whoooo…

The wind got stronger each time they advanced on the mountain. They were only an inch

below the mountain's peak, but suddenly, Adept succumbed to the harsh gusts, losing his grip

as he fell to his doom. It felt like everything stopped as everyone watched him fall, but time

was running out as well, they couldn't just simply stare at him ending up tragically. So close,

yet so far; Adept was eliminated.

"Look oooooooooout!!!" Adept yelled as he fell. "Don't worry! I'll be watchingggggg-"

Instinctively, the three friends looked above them. A menacing figure loomed from the sky, with

a pair of elytra flapping like a bird's wings. A command block hovering around could also be

seen circling at the figure.

"Take it!" Sterloin grabbed his eliminated teammate's pickaxe and passed it on to Arianna to

have her use a better weapon.

She caught it with her right hand and used it as a grip to climb the mountain. Pixel and

Sterloin followed her up before another strong gust of wind was sent onto them.

Whoosh!

The wind was so strong that the three couldn't open their eyes; they couldn't see who the

menacing figure was. They were pushed a few inches back, almost falling.

Sterloin followed his gut and held both Arianna and Pixel's hands. He ran with them towards

the middle, flatter ground of the peak so their chances of falling would be slim.

The figure slowly descended in front of them. It was none other than HackThoop, the kid who went through the door behind the throne five years ago. He has somehow found a way to bend the laws of the simulation to his will.

His teammate, Derp, emerged from a huge stony boulder, armed with a shiny enchanted fish

that seemed like a weapon.

"I am… unbound," remarked HackThoop, as he hovers once more above the group. "From the

shackles of this simulation, I shalt ascend; I AM the way to freedom, and victory for the Hive

district."

"You know you probably can't do it when they kinda check for things before you enter"

commented Arianna. "Also, you're filling up this arc's dialogue with nonsense wannabe villain

speech."

"Ugh, Whatever. The fight between us will now commence." HackThoop rolled his eyes and

called out to his teammate.

"Let's get 'em, boss!" followed Derp, as he readied his fish. "We'll win this one. Am I right, Nemo?"

"So be it!" Sterloin unsheathed his netherite sword, its ominous aura shone brightly amidst the mountain's fog. Pixel reeled and unreeled his fishing rod, and readied his trusty blade on his other hand. Arianna, who held her pickaxe in front of her like a sword, went in closer between her two teammates. They all engaged in a defensive fighting stance, ready to face HackThoop and Derp. "Let's see if cheating gets you somewhere before we do."