A PRO GAMER IS BORN - My contribution for the @lvlup-levizine
'Seriously? Right now?' were the first thoughts that popped into Levi's head when he heard the interruption. It was a less than ideal moment, as he was in the middle of a boss fight that had been holding him back for hours. His nerves were on edge - and his mood was at rock bottom.
"Password?" It was almost a reflex to ask. Only those who knew it were worthy of disturbing him at that moment. He really couldn't care less about everyone else.
"Uhm, ehh... the second lord," he heard a timid voice, but he didn't recognize it immediately under the loud banter of the boss music.
“Attempted to steal the Lord of Corruption's platypus, which could lay golden eggs…”
“Which, um… led to the Lord of Corruption becoming really mad…”
“Huh?!” Completely torn from the game, he ripped his headphones from his ears and looked towards the door. “That quote was more than wrong!”
“Oh, come on, Levi. I can never remember the precise quote! Not everyone has a memory as good as yours…”
Only now did he recognize the voice behind his door. His cheeks grew hot as he realized that he wouldn’t have tested the person like that if he had known immediately who it was. “M-MC!” He immediately paused his game, jumped up, and rushed to the door. He grabbed the handle and with a swing, ripped open the piece of wood that separated them. “S-Sorry! I didn’t realize it was you-”
He must have appeared pathetic, because the person in front of him looked at him questioningly with wide eyes. Then, the confused look quickly gave way to a slight smile. "No worries. It's not the first time you've subjected me to your door quiz. Or are you trying to tell me... that you wouldn't have done it if I'd said it was me right away?" A mischievous grin snaked across MC's lips, forcing Levi's blood to his head. How had they seen through him so quickly?!
"N-Never mind! What do you want? S-Surely not to spend time with a stinky otaku like me..." That was the moment when he suddenly felt a stabbing pain on his forehead. MC had flicked it hard. "O-Ouch! What was that about?!"
"You know exactly what that was for!" MC looked almost angry, the way they looked at Levi so darkly. "I don't like it when you talk about yourself like that! I like you a lot and I really enjoy spending time with you! That's the only reason I'm here! So believe me, you... you stinky otaku!"
He finally swallowed his insecurity and nodded. "Then... then come in." When the human entered his room, Levi shut the door behind them. "S-So... do you have something specific in mind, or-"
Curiously, Levi took the game case from MC's hand and looked closely at the cover. "Hero Generation?" he read the title questioningly and turned the game over. No description. No publisher. Just the box cover, on which you could see a person with red hair and a blue coat. "Is this an indie game? Where did you get it?"
"From an antique shop." MC didn't seem as skeptical about the game as Levi himself. The human oozed excitement. "The shop owner said he had no idea where the game came from! It was just lying in one of his boxes one day, with no name of the original owner. He also couldn't find any proof of the game's release, so he just wanted to get rid of it for 100 Grimm!"
Levi didn't really like what MC told him with such passion. "You do realize that every cheap Creepy Pasta starts like that?"
"Exactly!" MC fired back at Levi's question, obviously unable to understand his skepticism. "That's exactly what fascinates me so much! What if it's a real gem, that was made especially to represent a scary Creepy Pasta? That would be so cool!"
He had no idea that they had such a passion for those horror stories. But that bad feeling he had when he saw the game case remained.
"You know that Devildom games can be a little different to games from the human world, right?" He opened the case to look at the cartridge. "I thought so. It's a GHRAR - Giga-Hyper-Realistic-Augmented-Reality - game."
“Giga-Hyper-Realistic… huh?”
“You know, the ones where you get sucked into the game console. We've played a few games on the console before. For example, Dogi✩Maji✩Memorium, with Satan, Lucifer and Mammon.”
“Ahh, right! The dating game! That was pretty fun!” MC grinned, reminiscing.
“It turned out to be a horror game in the end, where if we lost, we would have died IRL too.” The otaku continued to explain. “Sure, that's what makes these games so appealing, but... a game from an official developer is different from a random indie game! That just screams 'I'm unplayable and I'll kill anyone who even dares to play it!' And my brothers will never forgive me if something happens to you... I could never forgive myself! Y-You know?”
“Oh.” Levi could barely finish his sentence before the human's mood seemed to change. They looked glum. “I... somehow didn't recognize the danger. Sorry.” They shrugged their shoulders, then looked slightly to the side. “I thought that if anyone could play it, it would be you. Because you're a pro gamer... the best there is! That's why I somehow wasn't afraid of it...”
Levi could clearly feel his heart skip a beat. Damn. Did MC just say that to arouse pity in him?! Or was that really just what they were thinking at that moment?! That they think with Levi at their side, they don’t have to be afraid of this game…
His gaze went to the game case in his hand. GHRAR games were always a bit tricky. Of course, he was also interested in what kind of game it was, but he couldn't put MC in danger for his own curiosity, even with the best will in the world. At least, that was what he was thinking at first. But if the human really wanted to play, then he would rather play with them, who they had just described as a 'pro gamer'! And not because Levi would be terribly jealous if the human ended up going to someone else… like Mammon!
"O-Ok," he backtracked and finally gave in. "W-We can try it! I'm here to protect you if something happens!" Deep down, he doubted whether he was really strong enough for it, but MC seemed to have no doubts. The smile on their lips only made the demon's heart beat a notch faster.
"Thanks, Levi! It'll definitely be fun! Oh, but let's tell your brothers! You know, in case we get stuck or something like that.” Huh, that was actually a good idea. He let MC write the message while he put the cartridge into the console.
“Ok, ready?” His gaze went to the pink-haired person, who nodded at him with a smile. Without hesitation, he started the game and for a moment everything went black. But that was nothing unusual for the console. In just a few seconds, they were already in the mysterious game.
“D-Did you hear that?” Levi didn’t even need to ask. He could clearly see from MC’s expression that they had also heard the voice from their own headphones.
>>Ah! We can finally communicate! It took a while before we could reestablish the connection.<<
The person on the other side sounded relieved and concerningly chummy. There was no way the voice had met them before... Right? It probably had something to do with the role they automatically taken when entering the game. >>Listen, you two, we don’t have much time left! You are our last hope of stopping the Schattenfresser before they invade the capital! I know that’s a lot to ask… but you are the last of the Witches of Light! You're our only hope!<<
Witches of the Light? Sounded like the good vs. evil trope, seen more than a dozen times in fantasy media. A bit unoriginal, but that didn't bother Levi much. He was a fan of these kinds of stories. Right as he was about to start asking important questions – after all, this was probably their tutorial – the person’s voice on the other end started to falter. >>Don't forget– ey ea– negati– tions! Sta– ng!<<
“H-Hey, the connection is getting bad! Can you repeat that?” Levi asked in a panic, as he got the feeling that what they were telling them was important.
The cracking sounds failed to stop, and her words became indistinguishable until even the garbled noise abruptly ended. The connection had been disconnected.
"Hello? Hey! Can you still hear us?!" But as expected, he didn't get an answer.
"Cool... was that all we got as a tutorial?" MC couldn't believe it any more than he did. "That sounded important, the thing at the end..."
"It is what it is," Levi shook his head with a sigh. "So, we know that we're supposed to protect the capital from 'Schattenfresser'. They certainly don't sound like friendly creatures, if you ask me."
"The only question is how we fight now. After all, if we're in a game, will our abilities still work?"
Levi considered the thought. “Hmm, normally they won’t. But maybe because this is an indie game, the developer wasn’t able to program the magic lock properly?”
"The name sure is fitting," Levi noticed as he looked at the shadowy creatures rising from the ground. "But their design is a bit boring, right MC?" When he turned to the human, he only realized now that they didn't seem to be listening to him. With slightly wide eyes, they looked at the monsters, their arms protectively held in front of their body. Was... was MC afraid? Although, it probably wasn't that strange. After all, this wasn't just a video game where you held a controller in your hand and had to smash buttons. They really had to fight here. MC could use magic, but the human hadn't really had to use it to fight yet.
Wait! That meant it was finally Levi's time to shine!
"MC, don't worry!" he said, as cool as possible – but his excitement made him sound a bit overeager. “I'll kill those creatures before you can say 'Mammon is a huge idiot!' They won't harm a single hair on your head, I'll make sure of that!”
That actually seemed to soothe the human's fear a little. They gave Levi a slight grin. “Heh... I never doubted your abilities here.” For a moment, their smile softened a little before they perked up and struck a strenuous pose. “But it's boring if I just watch you. Let me at least play the support and help you!”
OMG, Levi loved it so much when MC talked like a real gamer! The grin on his lips grew wider as he held his sword firmly in his hand and held it out to the monsters. “Together we are an unbeatable team! Let's go, MC!”
“Nice hit, Levi!” MC called to the demon as he smashed the last Schattenfresser with a single swing. “Was that a new attack?” It was obvious that the human was making a little fun of Levi’s exclamation. His face turned bright red before he scratched his cheek in shame.
“T-That just slipped out of my mouth… I guess I got a little carried away with it–”
But MC stroked his back. This gesture only made the blood rush to his face even more. “Sorry, I just wanted to tease you a little,” the human apologized with a gentle smile. “I thought it was cute, hehe.”
C-Cute?! That really wasn’t what he wanted to hear… but at the same time he was somehow pleased that MC found him cute. Even though he really wanted to be more cool than anything else.
MC continued with a surprised, “But was that really all of them? That was actually much easier than I thought.”
Levi agreed with a nod. “Yeah, I think that was a bit dull too... but well, it seems to be just some unknown indie game. Maybe we shouldn't expect too much from the developer–” He couldn't even finish his sentence when the earth beneath them suddenly started to shake violently. So violently that it almost tore the ground from under their feet. “W-What's going on now?” screamed Levi, shrill and very panicked, while MC clung to him somewhat desperately.
“A-An earthquake?! T-That's not a good sign, is it?!” But Levi was silent. His gaze was far too focused on what was rising from the earth before them.
But this one was bigger than the last. Far, far bigger.
“WATCH OUT!” MC’s scream ripped through Levi’s bones. It was a bit pointless to warn him about the shots the gigantic Schattenfresser was firing. After all, he saw it with his own eyes. But the fact that the human’s voice suddenly had such a serious, panicked tone in it… it was only then that he realized that their situation had changed drastically. For the worse, to be clear.
Fortunately, he didn’t have to worry about MC. Thanks to their magic, they were able to summon a barrier to ward off the black projectiles with relative ease. Nevertheless, you could see how much force the shadowy pistol-like bullets had on the human. Their pink hair blew slightly in the draft, while the bullets to the left and right that were not stopped by their barrier blasted past them.
Levi himself struggled a little more. A magical barrier was a little harder for him to project, so he relied heavily on blocking bullets with his sword. He managed that quite well - until the moment when he was a little too slow. He missed one of the black bullets and it hit his forehead with incredible force.
For a moment, everything went completely black and he lost all sense of space and time. He couldn't say exactly how long he had been knocked out. When he opened his eyes again, he saw MC leaning over him. The fear was written clearly on their face as they held the demon in their arms and desperately shook him awake. That didn't improve his dizziness, but at least it brought him back to the here and now.
"LEVI! WAKE UP!" he heard the human calling more clearly, in a panicked, trembling voice. "WE HAVE TO GET OUT OF HERE!" Levi tried to sit up, but his head didn't stop being so terribly heavy. With a shaking hand, he wiped the sweat from his forehead - only to realize that it wasn't sweat that was sticking to his fingers, but blood. Ahh, that's where the pain in his head was coming from. Unfortunately, he couldn't see the wound, but knowing his regenerative powers, it should be slowly closing up. However, it would still take a while before he was really fit again.
Shit, they didn't have time to wait for that! He could feel the monster coming closer to them. The tremors caused by the beast's steps were getting stronger and stronger. At least it seems to have stopped shooting at them. "MC... run..." Levi said hesitantly. He found it difficult to form proper sentences. But in this state, he couldn't protect the human. And that was exactly what he had promised them he would do! “I'll... come after you... get to safety... please–”
“W-What?! Are you crazy?! How are you going to protect yourself from that thing?!” It was clear that MC was not enthusiastic about his suggestion. “Come on, just get up! I'll support you too! I-I just can't carry you on my own, so please help me!” Levi really did his best, but his body wouldn't obey. With MC's help, he managed to get to his knees, but his legs wouldn't move any further. The human tried desperately to pull him up, but Levi slipped out of their grip and he collapsed back onto his knees.
“J-Just go already,” Levi pleaded, much more seriously than before. “I'll think of something... please, go somewhere safe! I'll find you, I promise!”
That had to be a joke. An illusion! It was just pretending that the giant monster's hand had smashed MC. That- that had to be it! What was happening couldn't be real!
But it was real. Levi only really realized this when the claw-like fingers of the Schattenfresser wrapped around the weak body of his favorite human and slowly lifted them up to it. Only then could Levi see MC again. Their eyes were closed and it looked as if they were unconscious... or were they really–
'Shit... how... how could I let this happen?! I promised MC that I would protect them! How could I have let it get this far?!' Levi felt hot tears dripping down his cheek. They didn’t stop flowing. 'MC... I'm so sorry! What a damn loser I am! Lucifer would never have let it get this far... none of my brothers would have! I'm just a weak, stupid otaku who thought I was strong enough to protect you... but I can't even do that!'
Even though these thoughts didn't help him much in the situation, Levi's body was frozen solid. He could do nothing but watch as the human was lifted higher and higher. Farther and farther away from him... and closer and closer to the monster with something else planned for their body.
And Levi could do nothing but drown in his self-hatred.
“This is–!” Could it really be? The magic that Levi suddenly felt within himself... he knew this magic! Very well, in fact! It was MC's! That meant not only that the human was still alive, but also well enough to use magic.
And it wasn't just any magic spell. Even if MC hadn't used it on Levi yet, he knew immediately what spell it was. Back then, the human had used it to give Beel their power…
This spell... MC had now used it to give Levi their power! This fact alone made the demon immediately feel courage again. He clenched his hand, which he held before him, into a tight fist. Right, why hadn't he thought of that himself? They were in a video game, but he could still summon his weapon. That meant that his demon powers were also at his disposal. Now that MC had given him their magic, he could feel it more clearly than ever. This power... this power he would now use to save the person who was so incredibly important to him! The person he loved more than anything!
The wave that had formed behind Levi flooded the surroundings with an incredible force of nature. Even the monster, which was a good 20 meters tall, had trouble keeping its balance for a moment. But dragging the Schattenfresser along with the current had not been his plan. All he wanted was a way to move more freely.
It was not without reason that Levi's element was that of water. Now that he was completely submerged in it, it was easy for him to move through the water like a torpedo. The monster now seemed to have completely lost sight of him. He was able to swim behind it without any problems and collect himself for a brief moment. Levi did not want to waste his time fighting the thing for an epic period of time. MC was still in danger - and so it was his responsibility to save the human as quickly as possible.
In just a few seconds, Levi had picked up an incredible pace again. He swam upwards with purpose, shooting himself out of the water.
