“Which one of you is responsible?!” Vi cried out, her eyes blazing with a rage unbecoming of her, her line of sight darting between everyone in the banquet hall. “One of us is the Game Master, and I’d never slaughter my own party, so it’s one of you!”
“Vi… Tyrael and Gox were with me.” Liza tried to calm her friend, but her words fell on deaf ears. Vi wanted to be angry, and nothing would calm her down. “The only one who doesn’t have an alibi is half dead… you have to wait for Akira to recover enough to talk, so calm down!”
“I won’t calm down, not again! I’ll find out who did this and drag them to hell!” Vi seethed with rage, her eyes coming to rest on the goblin girl.
“You’re not about to accuse me again, are you?” Fiffil complained, crossing her stubby arms over her chest. “I was with you the entire time, besides, I think you’re assuming too much about this game board.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Vi asked, still noticeably angry, but she allowed the goblin to speak.
“Well, you’re the one who said it had to be one of us, but since when has this ever been a mystery story?” Fiffil replied, taking a deep breath before sighing loudly. “You just assumed that, but how do you know it’s not an unknown attacker?”
“Be-Because… What else would that message be about?! Of course it’s one of us, how else would we find the Game Master?!”
“I don’t like how much more you three seem to understand compared to the rest of us.” Gox the lizardman looked over at the argument that was going on from his position guarding the far door into the room. “My companion was hurt, so if you understand this situation, I demand answers.”
“Learn your place, pawn!” Vi slammed her hand against the table, the room shuddering. “It would be easier for me to slaughter all of you than to debate this any longer! If it isn’t me or Beelzebub, then one of you is responsible, and this game will end if you all die!”
A black flame burst from her outstretched palm. A mere fraction of her power, but the board was constraining her abilities. It would be enough for what she needed anyways, she figured. The purple orbs in her skull flared with killing intent, befitting her status as the cursed witch.
“If violence is what you wish, I’ll answer in kind.” the lizardman stepped forward, drawing his greataxe from his back. “Though I find it regrettable things have turned out this way.”
“Wait wait wait, don’t do anything foolish! You’re just playing into the Game Master’s Board!” Fiffil leapt between the two, holding out her hands to make them stop.
“Again with talk of this Board, this Game Master… what do you know, little goblin?” Gox asked, still pointing his aggression towards Vi, who stood ready to launch a devastating curse.
“Where do I even start?” she pondered, scratching one of her large green ears. “It’s like… a really messed up version of chess played by Gods… with mortals like us as the pieces.”
“That’s hard to believe, little girl.” Gox replied, his axe lowering ever so slightly as he began to focus on the goblin’s words. “Why would you know about such a thing?”
“I was used as a piece in one of these games, the mark on the back of my left hand marks me… as a... Piece?” She stopped, looking at the unblemished skin on her hand. There was no mark there at all, nothing that branded her as Beelzebub’s pawn.
I am the real Fiffil!
Doubts flooded her mind, was she actually a fake, a copy of who she thought she was, like Beelzebub said? She began to panic, but she quickly calmed down. That made no sense, she had all of her memories, she was the real Fiffil!
“Well, I-I don’t really know what’s going on, but the mark is gone…” the goblin sighed, realizing she lost her chance to convince them to stay on her side.
“Ty, do what you want, but I can’t stay here where I’m distrusted.” Gox said suddenly, hoisting his axe over his massive shoulder. “This witch is ready to burn me to ash, and I’d rather take my chances with our attacker than her, at least they use a blade.”
“Gox… I can’t come with you… Akira is still unconscious…” the elf replied, concern showing on her face and in her shaking voice. “Please, don’t do this.”
“I won’t go down without a fight.” the lizardman replied, pushing the door open and disappearing into the castle without another word.
“Hmmp, typical NPC behavior, worthless to the end.” Vi complained, showing a bit of the haughty attitude she had displayed in her battle against Beelzebub. “Beelzy, I’m hungry~ summon some of your insects and go bring me something to eat.”
“Master’s energy is dangerously low, creating any more servants would be detrimental to his health.” Akki the spider interjected before the demon could respond, bowing in apology to Vi. “If it pleases you, I will prepare something.”
“Whatever, go out there and die too, at least it’ll make this stupid game end faster.” Vi yawned, propping her feet up on a table and leaning back in her chair. She pulled her hat low over her face, obscuring her eyes.
“Why is everyone splitting up again?!” Fiffil shouted, running her hands down her face in a show of frustration. “We’re in a situation where we’re being picked off one by one, we should stay together!”
“I do not mind throwing down my life in service of the Master.” Akki said, bowing to Beelzebub as she spoke. “It is he who gave me life, and returning that life is the only way for me to repay that debt.”
It was just like Vi and Beelzebub said, NPCs moved in foolish and unskilled ways within the Board, and it didn’t look like she had any way of convincing them otherwise. Too dead set on their courses of action, the pieces moved into range of being captured.
“Well then, if that’s all, I shall return with lunch.” Akki began to leave, but it just didn’t sit well with one goblin, the only one arguing against this action.
“I’m going with you, it’ll be safer with two of us, and maybe we’ll run into Gox and talk some sense into him.” Fiffil said, running up to the spider-woman, who seemed to be confused.
“That will not be necessary, you should remain here where it is safest.” she replied.
“I’m going.”
-
Gox had lied. He didn’t leave because of Vi’s additude, he wanted to find the attacker. Hurting Akira was the final straw in the lizardman’s patience. In reality, his warrior’s blood wanted to fight this mysterious murder, who was strong enough to take out so many of them alone.
Perhaps it was foolish, but he was an adventurer, a hero. With nothing left to do after the Demon Lord recalled his forces, and the monsters that threatened the lands subsided, he had come to this banquet. Not to eat and drink with the Demon King, not to protect his friends.
No, he knew that if this event went wrong, the world would be thrown back into chaos. The fragile peace would be shattered if the banquet failed. And it had failed, by the hands of an unknown entity. Did they want the same thing as he did, a new conflict to throw themselves back into the heat of battle.
He pushed open a door to an inner courtyard, a large mountain of snow blocking his way. He pushed past the snow into the serene open space. A frozen over fountain in the center depicted a demon at a table, a chessboard in front of him. And across from Gox, on the other side of the courtyard, sat a cloaked figure.
“How… Did you find me so easily?” the man asked Gox, staggering to his feet. He propped himself up with the cursed sword Incindra, his breathing was ragged and uneven. Around his waist, scraps torn from his cloak tied over his wounded stomach, the blood soaking clean through.
“I could smell the scent of iron; It looks like you took a nasty blow from Akira or Griffin.” Gox slowly brought forward his axe, walking carefully through the heavy snow. The groundfall of snowflakes impaired his movement, but it likely slowed the cloaked man even more, as he was merely human. Gox’s powerful, beastial legs could trudge through this snow much easier than his opponent’s could. “Why did you write that message in blood? What is the Game Master? Tell me!”
“Message?” the man asked, sounding confused. “I have no idea what you’re talking about, lizardman.”
“Then we have nothing else to discuss.” Gox lunged forward, his mighty greataxe tearing through the air. The snow scattered from the force of his blow, kicking up a flurry of loose flakes.
From within the cloud of snow, a bright orange flame shot out, the swordsman striking with a thrust of the twisted blade. It sliced through Gox’s left shoulder, but his thick, scaled skin absorbed much of the damage. Gox twisted his upper body, bringing his axe swinging towards the man, but he ducked below the heavy weapon.
The swordsman leapt into the air, avoiding the thick snow at his feet. He landed with a roll behind Gox, slicing quickly at the lizardman’s back. Gox flicked his mighty tail, slamming the swordsman away before his sword could reach.
The swordsman rolled through the snow, stopping himself by digging Incindra into the ground below the snow. The flame spirit popped her upper body out from the sword, erecting a wall of fire before the lizardman could strike the downed swordsman.
“Master, are you alright?!” the djinn asked, wrapping her flamelike arms around the man, who groaned and managed to make it back to his feet.
“Why must you all interfere?” the swordsman complained, returning to his full height. “I lived all my life hunting monsters, even killed lizardmen like you before they betrayed the Demon Lord. And now they expect me to just up and quit?!”
“You could retire a legend, live comfortably in the capital with an endless supply of booze and women… yet you chose to die on your feet, unless you thought you could kill every one of us alone?” Gox leapt through the wall of flames, not perturbed by the heat at all. His axe slammed into the ground, digging deep into the stone where the swordsman once stood.
But he slipped to the side, slashing out as he dashed past the beastman. The sword of flame left a deep gash on the lizardman’s chest, but he didn’t react to the pain. The lizard lunged at the swordsman, slamming his shoulder into the smaller body and knocking him aside, the twisted sword spinning through the air and sticking blade first into the fountain statue.
“The first murder was unintentional, did he catch you planning to murder Beelzebub and throw this continant into darkness again, perhaps? The only way to silence him was death… and then you removed yourself from the list of suspects, clever.” Gox held his axe above his head, ready to strike down the unarmed man., but he hesitated, wishing to understand his motives.
This was a fatal miscalculation, as the swordsman held up his hand, calling the name of his blade. Incindra flew magically back towards him, spinning midair. The blade stabbed Gox in the back, tore through his chest, and came out the other side after slicing through his heart. The bloodied blade gently landed in the man’s outstretched palm.
“That’s right, you figured it all out… shame you were alone.” The swordsman flicked the blood off his blade, then sheathed it on his belt. He began to cough, a small drop of blood splattering on the back of his hand. “I’m running out of time…”
He started to walk away, but the heavy fist of a lizardman crashed into his unarmored head, slamming the man hard into a wall. Gox, with his last breath, chose not to speak, not to beg mercy from his gods, but to land one final hit on his opponent.
But it wasn’t strong enough to kill the swordsman. Gox’s body fell over, dead. The swordsman coughed again, landing on his hands and knees. Blood dripped from his cloaked forehead only his left hand one drop at a time.
But he would finish his mission, the words inside his mind ate away at him, and he couldn’t disobey. He unsteadily rose back to his feet, panting heavily. Bracing himself against the wall, he shambled along. He rested his left hand on the hilt of his sword, his spilled blood dripping off the back of his hand.
His left hand, which bore the mark of a one eyed jack.
