While James was busy putting the finishing touches on the final new Realm to be added to the VR's Hub, his ever-loyal AI appeared behind him and made herself known.

 

*cough*

 

"Have you finished your work here, sir?" she asked politely.

 

"Hmm," James nodded without turning around, too focused on what he was doing. "Juust about, Queen. Why, what do you need?"

 

The AI pulled up the schedule the two of them had created earlier in the week and made it appear before her creator before continuing, "It's about time for your announcement of the Halo tournament, sir. Today's the third of May and Loki should be arriving within the SHIELD facility housing the Tesseract by this evening. The invasion of New York should thus take place tomorrow and you insisted on revealing the VR Pods beforehand."

 

After glancing at the schedule once more, Queen sighed in resignation while adding, "I still don't understand why you're so adamant about making the announcement at a time where it will be buried under the news of humanity's first contact with a hostile alien species. It goes against the very directives you programmed into me when it comes to the betterment and expansion of our VR…"

 

"Heh," James let out a small chuckle at her confusion before turning around to face his cute assistant. "That's because I don't want the entire world to take part in this tournament, Queen. The VR Pods are a huge deal for the future of ASTIR and I don't want them to fall into the hands of someone who'll horde them away for themselves. While this event will certainly limit the number of individuals the tournament can reach, it'll also keep the number of undesirables down."

 

"On the bright side," he continued while ruffling her hair and receiving an annoyed look in return, "by releasing the announcement beforehand, we also give the people a bit of good news to look forward to after the invasion ends. Also, if my hypothesis is correct, a certain billionaire could use the distribution of Pods as a way to enliven the masses effected by the invasion while appeasing his guilt and trauma."

 

"I see…" Queen responded, not seeing at all. "So it's not just a way for you to watch people vent their anger on aliens after suffering under their hand? That would make more sense in my opinion, especially after seeing the changes you made in the tournament's format."

 

James coughed in embarrassment at being called out to his face and turned around to resume his work. 

 

"Definitely not!" he cried in forced outrage. "Do you think I'm someone who'd take advantage of people's suffering for my own entertainment?!"

 

"Yes," the AI responded flatly. "You do remember giving me all your memories, don't you? You seem to be forgetting that fact quite often… Can you even become senile as a soul?"

 

Annoyed by her comments, James waved her off and gave a final order to send her away, "I've decided to tack on the first teaser for the next game before the announcement." 

 

He brought up the file he'd put together and flicked it to her over his shoulder, "Now off with you, wench. I still have to finish this last realm and I haven't even started on all the services for the Hub zone yet."

 

"As you wish, my lord," Queen smirked in victory as she caught the file and faded away. Whilst doing so, she heard a faint snort of annoyance which only served to brighten her already good mood.

 

------

 

All across the globe, people were on the edge of their seats. It had been announced that ASTIR had something big to reveal to the world and the internet was wild with speculation about what it could possibly be. 

 

Halo had only been out for a few short weeks now and no one had even cleared the Campaigns on the most difficult settings yet, so few people thought that it was the reveal of a new game. While the company had only released two titles so far, everyone knew how long these things took. Most even believed that ASTIR had stockpiled the last two games in order to release them so close together, an act that drove all the major videogame companies mad with indignation. 

 

They could compete with the VR monolith if it just stuck to one genre and matched their timeframes. But, if every new release came out just three months apart and spread across a such wide range of content, then they might as well have closed up shop yesterday.

 

Alas, there were still those die-hard fans who believed that ASTIR could do the impossible and release banger after banger. They were the most vocal in their opinions, which was why Times Square was currently a madhouse of wild cheers as the most dedicated players flocked the streets to watch the reveal on the big screen.

 

Suddenly, the lights in the square turned to black as a giant red '5' appeared on them all and began counting down. Cheers rang throughout the streets, louder than any stadium on Superbowl Sunday, echoing off the walls of buildings for miles in all directions. 

 

3.

2..

1…

 

The cheers died out in an instant as all eyes were focused on the main screen that loomed over Seventh Avenue.

 

Snowflakes fluttered about as a harrowing instrumental began. 

 

ASTIR Presents…

 

A man began speaking and his gruff, Eastern European accent echoed throughout the square while on-screen, blood began to flow across a metallic surface, "By order of the Emperor of Nilfgaard. For the murder of the wounded, looting, cannibalism, you are hereby sentenced to death by hanging... Or torment."

 

A woman appeared and cried out in pain as a fist landed in her gut, causing her to bowl over and collapse. 

 

The instrumental is joined by a deep cello as two men on horses appear. The sound of a rough beating can be heard in the background, before the camera paned over the screen as the two pass by. 

 

The crowd gasps in disgust at the sight of a group of three, fully-grown men attacking a lone woman and many a mother shield their children's eyes. 

 

"Don't meddle," one of the riders warned his companion. Take the reward and let's go."

 

The woman cries out for help, but the two pass her no heed.

 

"Knew you Witcher's wouldn't scorn imperial gold," one of the assailants breaks off and calls out to the riders as they approach.

 

The two stop and the nearest drops the head of grotesque beast atop the muddy ground, at the feet of the 'man'. The rider says nothing and simply catches the pouch of gold tossed his way before the two continue on their way, the agonized cries and pleas of the woman echoing in the background.

 

"Tough hunt?" the weathered, grey haired man on the ground asks as the two riders began to depart.

 

There's a pause in the air, a small silence that lasts no more than a second, before the rider answers, "Tougher than yours, that's certain."

 

As the screen shows the two riders on their way, the beating continues in the background. The inner thoughts, the same voice of the previous rider, begins to echo through the air as the camera pans to a noose being tossed over a branch.

 

"Evil is evil. Lesser, greater, middling… makes no difference."

 

The woman struggles, dragged across the ground as the voice pauses and the yells of the assaulters can be heard.

 

"ARGH! Cunt bit me!"

 

*BAM!*

 

"You like that you bitch?"

 

"Get the hammer!"

 

One man stomps on her face as the other two laugh.

 

"Hahahaha! Kick her teeth in!"

 

The rider stops his horse, unable to stand the violence in the background any longer, and the audience is granted the first good look at the man's face.

 

"The degree is arbitrary, the definitions blurred, if I'm to choose between one evil and another… I'd rather not choose at all."

 

Piercing, slitted, yellow eyes look up and stare at the viewers as they gasp in shock. The scarred visage and white hair match well with the man, giving him a dangerously attractive charm that made the female hearts in the audience thump. 

 

*Thump*

 

The rider dismounted and grabbed for his sword, "Just make it quick, Geralt," before stowing it back and heading towards the attackers with just his dagger.

 

The music gets more intense as Geralt stalks towards the group. The same old man who'd paid him earlier, turns around to confront the Witcher on his purpose.

 

"What then…?" he asks confrontationally, but is shoved aside by the rider easily.

 

Geralt throws one of the other men away as he was raising a hammer to strike the girl, before blasting the third what looked like magic, sending him flying. The crowd sucks in a collective breath of excitement at the display, as this proves to them that ASTIR's finally getting into the fantasy genre.

 

"Close your eyes," Geralt hears the other two starting to get up, so he warns the woman while getting into a combative stance.

 

"GET HIM!" one of the men shouts, as the one the Witcher blasted away come charging back with his sword raised high.

 

Geralt takes care of him easily however, diverting his charge into the second man while taking the time to bash his face in with his dropped hammer.

 

The old man takes advantage of the Witcher's back being towards him, and attempts a clumsy rear choke. Geralt is far more experienced than these three however, and its shows when he sends a strong elbow into the old man's ribs, causing him to lose his grip and reflexively curl over in pain.

 

Geralt takes this chance to whip out his dagger, flicking it into reverse grip before punching the old man in the face, sending him stumbling back. 

 

The one with the blade had gotten back up by this point and, as if learning nothing from his prior failed attempt, charged in once again. Only this time, the Witcher didn't let him off so easily. He easily redirected his sword arm into the air before stabbing his dagger into the man's exposed armpit. 

 

The second man had recovered by this point as well and made an attempt to move against their lone attacker, but was far too slow and received a quick stab to the gut for his trouble. An injury like this, in this setting, was easily fatal.

 

Spinning around, Geralt stabbed at the, now dazed, swordsman's neck. The man put up a weak attempt to block the blow, but was simply overpowered as the blade pierced into his throat.

 

The second man, a fat, disgusting creature, was seemingly unsatisfied with dying a slow, painful death and swung wildly at his far more assailant. Alas, his swings were seen through and his neck was opened by one clean slice of the Witcher's blade, his large, rotund body collapsing to the muddy dirt with a squelch.

 

The clearing calmed into a brief silence, the Square's audience cheering at the man on screen's victory.

 

Geralt looked around briefly, satisfied with his work, before tossing the bloody dagger aside. Only one man remained and he stalked towards him to finish his grim task.

 

"Wha- wha- what are you doing?!" the old man cried while crawling back in fear. 

 

The Witcher didn't halt in his steps, knocking away the man's outstretched arm and grabbing him roughly as he replied, "Killing monsters."

 

The instrumentals kicked up as the scene faded away, revealing the blood-soaked metal figure from before in its full lupine glory whilst the camera zoomed away, two glowing red eyes enrapturing all viewers present. 

 

The music hit its crescendo, before fading away to reveal the title of ASTIR's third title, The Witcher III, Wild Hunt.

 

Cheers roared all up and down Broadway for a few seconds as the title faded away, leaving the square in darkness. 

 

It didn't last for long however, as a brief scene reappeared on the screen, showing the old man strung up by his own noose. The battered woman stood to the side in shock, watching dazedly as the two riders, atop their mounts once again, moved on without looking back.

 

The Square was silent once again, save for the scant whispers scattered throughout the area. They had learned from their first mistake of cheering too soon and were rewarded for their prudence when more text faded into the background.

 

Experience the full trilogy, only in Full Dive. 

 

Login to ASTIR in 7 days to join Halo's first official, winner-takes-all tournament…

 

The grand prize: Complete blueprints to ASTIR's Full Dive Pod technology along with full rights to market them worldwide.

 

The text faded back into darkness as the entire Square was dead silent, involuntarily this time. The news was so major that it had shook them to their very core.

 

Ever since ASTIR had mentioned their Full Dive and all the privileges it apparently entailed, people across the globe had speculated how to access it. Now they were being told that all they had to do was wait and it would be given to them?

 

The crowd didn't even notice when the regularly scheduled advertisements reappeared across the various billboard that dotted the most popular destination in New York, still dazed by the revelation. That didn't last long however, for when the first person broke out of their stupor and cheered, the city erupted.