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Chapter 75: Heart Rent Echoes

  Haru stared at the parchment, unsure of how to explain to Momo how she needed to leave. A glance over her shoulder revealed a sleeping princess, having suddenly passed out on the sofa. With a sigh, Haru stepped out into the hallway of the player housing building. She carefully closed the door and the latch subtly clicked into place. Then she departed for the council.

  Upon arriving to the admin backlot, a strand of light orbs appeared in front of her and snaked toward the school, indicating the path Haru needed to take to get to the council hall. She mounted her staff and flew down the double-wide avenue, dismounting after arriving at the building. Haru entered hesitantly.

  Inside, the string of lights ascended the main stairwell. She followed and the guide snaked up the stairs as fast as she moved, always staying just out of arm’s reach. Finally, she reached the exit to the roof, and the orbs passed into the closed door, igniting it with a green glow. She gripped the handle and took a deep breath.

  With a firm push, the door slid away from the frame.

  On the other side wasn’t the rooftop of the school, but a vast atrium, lit by two rounded sconces on either side of vast double doors. The ceiling was so high that darkness loomed overhead. The walls surrounding the exit which led back to the school stairwell was roughhewn sandstone. The lone wall in which the massive double door was embedded was fine-polished brick of the same material.

  Haru approached the great gateway, where a lone guard in a metal helmet and breastplate stood with a spear rested upon the ground.

  “I’m here to—” Haru started.

  “Proceed.” The guard spoke, monotone while motioning with his free hand toward the double doors.

  As his shoulder pivoted, the right side of the gateway parted, and a dim purple glow emanated from the gap, shrouding the guard in its violet luminance. As he stood in the illumination, his shadow flickered and glitched for a short moment. Thick, chunky square artefacts swept across the flat form on the ground. Then, once the door stopped moving, the glitching ceased and the guard returned to his statue-like stance.

  Haru hesitated, sizing him up. “Are you alright?”

  The guard turned and motioned toward the door in the exact same way as before. “Proceed.” Then he returned to standing, motionless.

  Haru sighed and after taking one last look around the antechamber and finding nothing else out of place, passed through the open doorway. After crossing the threshold and stepping into the grand hall, the door sealed behind her with a groan and a hiss.

  A single path lined with candles on each side led to a lone pulpit in the middle of a semi-circular area at the far end of the room. The ceiling, with a grid of embossed squares, arched high but not enough to escape the dull glow of the room’s golden lighting.

  The path was flanked by two viewing galleries, each with five rows of seating and private balconies at the highest point, all empty.

  Haru pressed forward, toward the pulpit. She expected to see Professor Min waiting for her there, as he stood with her last time. But arriving at the end of the pathway, amid the three thrones of the Magi, Haru found she was alone this time.

  The thrones were raised on platforms above the pulpit, roughly at the same level as the viewing gallery balconies.

  “Twenty-seven cycles late.” The voice of the Magi Balthazaar echoed out from the central throne. “What is the cause of this tardiness?”

  Ever since being crown-broken, she had the ability to switch between system time and real, player time at will. Normally she needed to traverse between admin areas and play areas to do so, and the system would handle the transition automatically. But now that she was free of the system’s bounds, talking to players was like that of having a daydream.

  Time shifted and changed in place. Perhaps Haru was still getting used to controlling that herself.

  “No excuse.” Haru spoke clearly and flatly.

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  “Insufficient response.” Balthazar blurted out. “There must—”

  “Tardiness is not the purpose of this meeting.” Melchior, the Magi to Balthazaar’s right called out. “Let us proceed. The upcoming patch has need of our attention enough as it is, without us wasting it on harmless infractions.”

  Balthazaar looked to his right and then groaned. “Fine.” His long white beard and purple robe swayed as he turned his attention back to Haru. “Adam Min has submitted multiple requests for audience on your behalf regarding your reinstatement as encounter boss. That is the reason why we have summoned you here.”

  Gaspar, the Magi to Balthazaar’s left continued. “We will make a ruling today on the fate of your status as encounter lead. And such a decision shall be final.”

  Haru swallowed hard, placing her folded hands on the pulpit.

  “This council has seen fit to remove you temporarily for the sake of game rule integrity.” Balthazaar started. “On the grounds of your encounter with a hacker, and the… inexplicable glitch you possess. Seeing as only one of those problems has been rectified, I see no reason to alter the current state of the game. Revoke.”

  Haru opened her mouth to speak but was interrupted by Melchior.

  “On the contrary, it is the disposition of this council to not make any game alterations without significant testing and balancing. The removal was temporary, as it was a concession to ensure game integrity. Our agreed upon time frame for analysis has long-since passed and there’s no reason to continue to keep the game altered simply for the sake of caution. We must take player confidence into consideration when deciding to make permanent such drastic measures. Reinstate.”

  Haru, Balthazaar, and Melchior all turned to look at Gaspar, who sat in silence for a long while.

  The remaining Magus sighed. “Haru.”

  The witch straightened her posture. “Yes?”

  “Is it true that you entered this hacker’s rift not once, but twice?” Gaspar spoke softly.

  Haru clenched her teeth as she nodded. “Yes.”

  “Twice?” Balthazaar pulled up a menu and started flipping through logs. “I see nothing about two entries by a player.”

  Haru stared at the surface of the pulpit.

  Melchior shook his head and leaned toward Balthazaar. “It was once as a player, once on her own.”

  The Magi flipped through log tabs and furiously swiped as text scrolled at blinding speed. Then, it stopped in the blink of an eye. Balthazaar gasped. “Why was I not informed of this?”

  Melchior shrugged. “It’s right there in the chat logs, always has been.”

  Balthazaar turned to Gaspar. “To entertain a reinstatement is insane. How could you know about this and still willingly consider a return? This puts everything at risk. Two entries? And one without a surrogate.” The Magus shook his head and scoffed.

  “Still,” Gaspar spoke with a solemn tone, “the data says one thing, but I don’t believe the creator would allow her to become—”

  “She’s clearly corrupted, you old fool.” Balthazaar snapped. “It doesn’t matter what the design document says, her current implementation has strayed so far from its original intent, she may as well be considered malicious code.”

  Haru winced.

  A long silence descended upon the chamber. Gaspar stared at Haru. He pursed his lips.

  Balthazaar’s brow dipped. Melchior rested his chin in his hand, propped up on the throne’s arm rest.

  “No.” Gaspar shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. Two data points don’t make a pattern. Haru must return. Reinstate.”

  Haru opened her eyes wide.

  “What!” Balthazaar jumped from his throne. “Are you two mad? Have you no concern for the integrity of our system?”

  A subtle smile formed on Melchior’s scrunched face.

  Gaspar looked away from Balthazaar. “It matters to me greatly. I was there during the first deployment. The creator picked me to be the test NPC, the proof of concept that the system worked.” He turned to Balthazaar. “Everything in this system formed around me across many versions. Each patch, each new change, each additional implementation has been taken into consideration when making my decision. I assure you; I care deeply about what happens to this game.”

  Balthazaar, still standing, gnashed his teeth and scowled at Gaspar. Then he turned to Melchior with a similar foul sentiment. “This council is corrupt in the same fashion as her. There’s no way either of you are in working order.”

  Haru gasped.

  “I invoke the Rite of Sanity Check.” Balthazaar boomed. “Let the System decide if this is a sound council or not.”

  Gaspar sighed and rolled his eyes. Melchior shook his head and stared at his own feet.

  “Here are the facts.” Balthazaar raised his hand. The menu he had open tracked along with the raising of his palm. Text once again began to scroll, and tabs switched furiously. For a moment, Haru thought she saw additional data, which wasn’t in the initial report, pass through the log.

  Above the Magus’s head, a gap opened in the dome and a beam of white light shined down on him. With the thrust of his shoulder, the menu was hurled into the light. “Tell us, System. Whose decision is sound?” Balthazaar called out overhead. “What should be our answer?”

  The oculus shuttered and the light extinguished.

  “Processing.” A voice filled the room, the effervescent tone of the general system.

  It fell quiet again, for a long while.

  “Analysis complete.” The voice returned. “Sanity Check result…”

  Haru gasped.

  “Error detected.” The voice spoke plainly. “Magi Council decision 14e8a9d6c-0ffe-993a rendered null by sanity check. An administrative log has been created as a response, for further investigation. By decree, the following decision will be considered final:”

  Haru latched onto the pulpit, and her arms trembled.

  The voice continued. “The status of Blight Witch Haru as entity of concern ZONE_ENCOUNTER_BOSS_FINAL, has been permanently revoked.”

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  What's going to happen to Haru now?

  


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