It was a beautiful sunny day, the perfect weather for Aito’s eighth birthday party. Even better, his older brother promised to show up this time. 

Aito ran around the house, looking for Haruto, who should be almost ready. Where is he? It’s almost time for my party. Aito happily ran back inside, nearly crashing into his parents.

His dad grabbed him, throwing him up in the air, “Where are you off to, champ?”

Aito laughed in the air, but quickly freed himself from his father’s arms, “I’m going to see if Neesama is ready.”

Both the mother and father looked at each other shaking their heads. The mother walked up and patted Aito on the head. Holding in her emotions, she assured, “I’m sure your brother is almost ready. How about you help me carry the cake.”

Aito puffed out his cheeks but still carried the cake for his mother.

Back inside, Haruto booted up the new “Heroes of Darkness,” which just so happened to have dropped today. After being chosen as one of the lucky few to partake in the closed beta for a month, he finally gets to play the finished product. Haruto excitedly threw his helmet on and was sucked into the virtual world. Where he finally got to see the new intro for the game. Haruto was in pure exhilaration with no thoughts on reality, just the pure focus on savoring the glorious story ahead of him. 

Launching the game. All became silent. It was only darkness like a primordial universe waiting for the first light to appear. Haruto could feel his heart beating in anticipation. Then a boom shook the void.

 

“Our people are dying. Our kingdom is falling. Our continent is fractured. Our world is withering away. All hope is gone. All that is left is darkness. Hear our prayers, oh righteous gods. Strike down the devil scourge...” An aged king watched on as his kingdom burned, tears rolled down his face like streams from an unending river blurring the destruction and chaos.

A loud screech rang as a draconic hell beast barreled towards the once-grand castle that was now merely a shell of its former glory. The gloomy sky glowed red as the beast descended, bringing the final judgment for humanity. The final beacon of human civilization was wiped away from the planet as darkness devoured the world. 

The Bold Words: Heroes Of Darkness III. Appeared on the screen, then turned into dust as they disappeared until only the word Darkness remained.

 

On a shore far from this destruction, a young man washed up. The man was dressed in studded leather armor, with a glowing blue katana strapped on his hip. 

Though it was the middle of the day, clouds above hid all sunlight. Only an ominous red moon illuminated the land. Around the shore, a hazy miasmic air fluctuated about. Screams regularly penetrated through the air, but their origin was impossible to find. In the sky, creatures flew about, some small, others so big they blotted out the moon. 

The man crawled further inland. Surprisingly he appeared unperturbed by the surrounding scenes. Standing up and seemingly without reason, he began walking away from the now red-blue sea towards the fog. 

After walking for miles, a deep resonating howl shook the fog. The man stopped walking and stared intensely into the fog as if his eyes could penetrate through. No fear could be found in the man’s eyes. He didn’t even reach for his katana. When nothing came, he merely resumed walking forward. 

The further the man traveled, the thicker the fog became until even his own body was unseeable. Still, the man continued as if his path was already pre-ordained. The man traveled without rest as if the limits of mortality did not constrain him. After a day’s walk, he arrived at the ruins of a village.

Upon stepping foot into the village, a child-like screech sounded as misshapen humanoids appeared from burned houses. Over ten creatures shakily appeared from the houses. The man finally grabbed hold of his katana. Waiting as the creatures all slinked towards him. Pulling out his katana, he dashed towards a row of creatures. Within a split second, the katana flashed, killing all of them. 

As if sensing the deaths, more screeches sounded. Larger humanoids appeared seemingly out of nowhere. Not paying any attention to this development, the man sent a swift strike that sliced through 4 humanoids, instantly killing them and causing their bodies to evaporate. Then with a sudden turn, ki energy blasted from his palm, crushing into the large humanoids. 

The man didn’t even break a sweat. He remained emotionless throughout the battle until the screeches finally dissipated. What sounded like drums thudded all around the man. The thudding became louder and louder. At their crescendo, a woman’s voice sailed through triumphantly. Light for a moment shined down from the heavens onto the man.

 As if reminiscing, the man muttered, “AH, I always love going through this part,” he spoke, but his mouth did not open.

 A booming godlike voice resounded throughout the world, solemnly proclaiming, “Another hero has arrived. The gates of hell boil over. But the hope of man remains.”

 

Back in the real world, Haruto’s parents attempted to keep Aito busy, hoping that Haruto would remember his promise. Aito unsurprisingly completed the tasks as fast as possible. Continuously asking if Haruto was almost ready. His father was beginning to think he should tell him Haruto was most likely not going to come. But the mother gave him a stern look each time he opened his mouth. The father could only sigh as he watched his son cheerfully move watermelons, sodas, balloons, and birthday hats to the car. 

After watching Aito move all the items to the car by himself, his mother checked her watch. Seeing it was almost time for the others to meet them at the park for the party. She suggested, “Aito, how about we leave early to the park so that you can play with your friends. Then your father and I will come back to get Haruto.”

Aito, who was quite tired from moving everything, shook his head profusely. “No, I want to go with Oniichan. He promised he would come this time. And as he always says, a real man keeps his promises. He is prolly just sleeping, I’ll go wake him.” Aito tried to break into a dash past his parents. 

Surprisingly it was his mother who made the first move. Grabbing Aito mid-sprint, she gave him a tight hug. The moment she embraced Aito, all the vigor left his body as he broke down into a sob. The boy sobbed for a long 5 minutes, continuously rubbing his snot covered nose into his mother’s neck. She continued to tightly hold him completely disregarding this fact, as her heart ached for Aito. She knew that the two would never be the same after this moment. You can only disappoint a person so many times before they give up on you. Still, she was hopeful that her two sons could come to an understanding one day. His father began patting him on the head in consolation, and the three made their way to the car. 

 

Inside, Haruto continued with his game run, completely unaware he had broken his little brother’s heart.

After the proclamation, the man was then teleported to a small village.

Welcome To Jerusalem. Starting Area. Population 1500/1500. Japanese Server 52.

The village was abundant with numerous individuals. Some tall, almost like giants, others similarly dressed like him. Majestic archers compared their accuracy and bet gold pieces. At first, the man’s facial expressions remained frozen. But suddenly and a bit mechanically, a face of disdain was shown. He groaned in displeasure, “I didn’t expect so many P2Ws on this server, yuck.”

The man headed towards the center of the village, where a giant monolith sat. On the monolith were names carved in like runic symbols and their achievements next to them.

He read some of the names and their accomplishments: 

Sir BallsMcgee defeated “The Archdevil Of Greed” Mammon solo without using any potions.

BussyCrusher49 has traversed the entire continent by foot in under a week.

Guku420 killed the fallen queen of ice with a boulder. 

OnePunchGuy69 beat a great demonic knight with only his fists. 

The list continued with many accomplishments, some grand and others bordering nonsensical. Ahh, this server has been up for two weeks, and no one has defeated Beelzebub yet. What the fuck are these nerf herders doing? Rejoice, you fools, the great solo-player Haruto has arrived! While complaining about the lackluster heroes in this world, another announcement arrived. 

The stern godlike voice announced, “A band of heroes are attempting to battle “The Lord Of Gluttony” himself. May our blessings be with them, may the hope of man give them strength. Victory or defeat their names shall live on for all eternity.” The man looked towards the sky, though he lacked emotion, one could feel his giddiness. 

 

He headed towards a shanty hut. Upon entering, a bar too large to fit in such a small hut came into being. Here numerous groups of heroes sat together and talked trash about each other. Many depraved and socially questionable comments bounced around, but here these comments were as common as water. Compared to the heroes in this bar, the man’s attire was far superior. His blue katana caught the eye of many. All these scrubs are here staring me down. Yes. I know I am glorious, but please, my social anxiety is acting up.

A beautiful human archer noticing the kitted out man, quickly hopped towards him, dragging her other companions in tow. A high pitch voice danced across the air “Hiiiii. My name is Kai, and these are my fwends. What’s your name?” The girl moved too close towards the man, causing him to back up a few steps. 

The man was shocked, but unlike the expressive girl, his face remained mechanical. Ew, she paid for the real-life expressions dlc, that’s like 7,000 yen more than enough to buy 500 exp boosts. Swallowing his disgust, the man pointed out, “Uhm, as you can see, it is SS3Vegetes…”

The girl pouted, puffing out her cheeks, “I mean your real name, not whoever that is…” After a few seconds, her eyes went wide, “OOOO, who is that though my chat is spamming facepalms.”

In a mechanical voice, the man questioned, “You don’t know who Vegeta is?” Internally the man was baffled. Who could not know who the great Vegeta was? Who was most definitely, without a doubt, as an absolute fact and not opinion, the greatest character in DB. 

On the other hand, the girl was totally oblivious to these thoughts, and even more oblivious to who this person was. Prodding the man, she repeated, “WHO???”

In defeat or perhaps denial, the man stuttered out, “The prince, the prince of all,” He let out a long sigh of disappointment. “Nevermind, my name is Haruto. What do you want?”

The girl’s cheerfulness was not affected at all by the sigh. She continued as if nothing happened, “Oh, uhm, me and my friends want to fight the main bad guy thingy for our stream.”

Hearing this, Haruto was both baffled and enraged. Maybe I should buy the real-life expressions dlc, just so I can show the facial expression I have from being forced to hear such stupidity. I want nothing more than for my disgust to be displayed right now. Taking a deep breath, Haruto corrected, “You mean Beelzebub.”

“Yeah, so uhm, can you help us, UWU?” The girl’s face transformed into a perfect UWU. 

Yep if I had the real-life expressions dlc, my mouth would indeed be hanging open. If not for the requirement of beating Beelzebub in a multiplayer session, I would never come to this place. Haruto swallowed his growing anger and agreed, “I will help you, but if you ever UWU me again, I will tk you.”

The girl put a hand on her hip and winked at Haruto. Little sparkles floated around her body. She giggled, “Ok, sowwy.”

Haruto didn’t say a word in reply, merely joining their group and running towards the teleporter lest his anger got out of control. The other three quickly followed behind him, with the girl archer incessantly talking out loud to her viewers. Haruto was quite happy he chose to take the teleporter as he usually would walk for the added immersion. But he knew for a fact that he would not make it if he had to listen to that voice his entire trek. 

Haruto and the group were teleported to the steps of a giant mountain that pierced the sky. A miasmic whirlpool hid the peak, rotating swiftly as if being devoured by something. Unfortunately for Haruto, there was no teleporter for this part. He was forced to hear offbeat kpop all the way up the mountainside. Finally, after 10 mins of walking, they reached the top. Right as Beelzebub laughed, signaling the beginning of battle, the server crashed, disconnecting everyone instantly.

 

“Motherfucker” Enraged Haruto threw his helmet away. Upon looking around, he noticed it was extra dark in his room. Walking to the window, he opened it to find that not only was it not daytime any longer, but it was also deep into the night. Wait, I was only on for a little bit. What happened to Aito’s birthday? 

He quickly creeped out of his room, closing the door so that the smell did not give him away. He made his way to Aito’s room, only to find it completely empty. Puzzled, Haruto crept to the living room, but that too was empty except for some extra birthday supplies. Next, he went to the kitchen, which was also empty. Upon opening the fridge, he found a barely touched birthday cake. Finally, he headed towards the one place he never wanted to go, his parents’ room. Inside the room, Aito was sleeping between his two parents. Though it was dark, Haruto could feel the eyes of someone burning into him. 

Staring at the wastrel of a son, anger boiled in the heart of his mother. Still, she did her best to whisper in a neutral tone, “Where were you?”

Sensing her anger, Haruto awkwardly scratched his head, “You know the new HOD dropped, and I couldn’t miss out.”

His mother’s voice began to rise after hearing this excuse “No, I don’t know. What I know is your brother cried the entire ride to his party. Are your little games more important than your family?”

Haruto shook his head, “No, of course not. However, games are important in my life, just not more important, yet to say it has no importance would be a lie. I didn’t mean to miss the party. I just lost track of time. I won’t miss it next time, ok?”

A second pair of eyes locked onto Haruto. These eyes were filled with sorrow and disappointment, which hurt Haruto more than any glare his mother could ever produce.

Haruto couldn’t bring himself to meet the eyes. Stuttering as his brain offered numerous excuses, Haruto promised, “Sorry I missed your birthday, but I swear I won’t miss next year’s.”

Aito didn’t say a word, but muffled sniffles can be heard.

The mother began to lose her patience and almost snarled at Haruto, “leave our room now, go play those games you love so much.”

A pain began to rise in Haruto’s heart. He was hesitant to leave before he properly explained to them what happened. “Aito, you know I would never break a promise. That goes against the ideals of a real man. I really just lost track of time. I believe we can all remember losing track of time at least once in our lives, right? Do not despise the man who admits to sinning, despise the man who claims to have not. A great character in Heroes of Darkness once said that, and I think we can all learn a thing or two from that quote.”

A feeble voice appeared in the darkness, “It’s not your fault, onee-chan...”

A smile began to rise on Haruto’s face as the pain in his chest started to ease. Haruto nodded in gratification, “I knew you would understand Aito.”

The feeble voice continued, “It’s my fault for believing in you. But, I’ve learned now. I promise to never trust you again, and a real man always keeps their promises, right?”

These words sliced through Haruto’s heart like blades at this point, he was close to breaking down. Holding back the tears, he croaked, “please, Aito, give me another chance. I bet you didn’t even notice I wasn’t there, due to how much fun you were having. I swear I won’t miss next year’s. I’ll be sure to set a timer in the game and log off on time. Helk I’ll be sure to set two timers.”

Haruto’s mother finally broke into a yell, “Did you learn nothing? Do you even care your little brother will grow up hating you? Why is it that game comes before him? I didn’t raise you like this. Where did it come from?”

Aito hugged his mom. The sorrow in his eyes began to grow and cement. As his breathing became erratic, he whispered, “It’s ok oniichan. You don’t have to set any alarms. Enjoy your games, ok. So many people came that there wouldn’t have been enough cake for you anyways. We ate it all up so fast, I’ll be sure to save you some cake next time.”

Hearing this, the pain in Haruto’s heart rampaged about as he knew the cake from this year was still mostly uneaten in the fridge. He rasped, “You... Where were your friends?”

His mother hissed, “They left! We waited so long for you that the other parents ended up going home before we got there.”

Haruto could feel the blood leaving his face. He didn’t know what to say. Not only did he not keep his promise and missed the birthday, but he caused Aito to be alone on his own fucking birthday. Fuck, this isn’t right. I didn’t mean for any of this to happen.

Finally, his father spoke up, “That’s enough. Everyone get some sleep, we won’t figure anything out when we are tired.”

Haruto’s mom embraced Aito and turned her back to Haruto. At the same time, his father looked at him in resignation, showing he didn’t have the energy to argue.

Reluctantly Haruto returned to his room. For the first time in a long time, he cried himself to sleep, repeatedly ridiculing himself for missing his little brother’s birthday. Questioning how he could ever think of himself as a real man when he couldn’t even keep his promises. He was disgusted, not just by his actions, but by his inability to even notice its consequences. He needed to change, no he wanted to change.

Skill Activated “Barings Of A True Man”