The gamers decided to mingle among each other. Dylan first went to an old rival of his. A native of America called Rick Johnson. You could even call him Dylan's best friend. They hit it off immediately. Especially when Rose came over and he asked Dylan in a whisper to introduce him so he could hit on her so Dylan took the chance." Rose, meet Rick Johnson my American best friend. Rick, meet Rose Watkins, my English girlfriend."
This left Rose in a slight flush. Rick, on the other hand, was left mouth wide open. Dylan took the opportunity and took a picture. The two were still laughing when someone approached Dylan. He had red spiky hair and looked Scottish. He said while holding out his hand to Dylan," I'm Maxwell Stroganoff, I currently rank 10 in the international rankings."
" I'm Dylan Spearson, ranked first in the international rankings. Charmed," said Dylan meeting his hand.
" Seeing as the main event isn't starting for a while, I was hoping to go against you in a match. Is that okay with you Titan?" asked Maxwell.
" I don't mind, Keltic Blade," said Dylan as both burned with a passion and drive of competition.
" So you have heard of me, haven't you?" asked Maxwell.
"Isn't it a leaders job to know his teammates names and limitations. Shall we?" said Dylan pointing towards the main stage gaming platform.
Maxwell gained the grin of a madman and walked up. Dylan put his hands behind his back and followed suit. But he didn't leave before telling Samantha to not play a single game followed by telling Rose to keep an eye on her. Samantha was visibly annoyed saying that she did not need a babysitter but Dylan simply laughed. He got on the platform and faced Maxwell. Dylan gave full reign in choosing the plane of their quick match and he chose a plane called 'Eruption platforms' on a planet called inferno. Dylan smirked at the revelation. A crowd started to pick up as soon as they saw it was Dylan who was playing. Even the other gamers came to watch to see whether the current rank one is still worth his title. The players put on their headsets and the brain scanning technology kicked in. That was the verification method in official matches. All of their characters were revealed on a huge screen on the stage. Maxwell chose one that looked like he was a fire spirit. Dylan was feeling sentimental after the plane ride and decided to choose his first character ever. He called it Titan Prime. " You should have chosen the fire arena," said Dylan as he looked at the screen with eyes of longing as it started to load.
" Why, afraid that you would lose?" asked Maxwell very confident.
" Nah, because then this would be a fair fight. The fire arena is the only field that I have no info on on this planet. I designed this plane Maxwell, so good luck," said Dylan as the loading screen finished," You will need it."
The two were sent into the game. Dylan was stuck in his pose with his hands behind his back and an upright stance. All the girls were screaming that he looked cool. Maxwell was a bit rattled by Dylan's last remark that he was stuck in an odd pose.
The match started with Dylan and Maxwell on different platforms on random locations. Maxwell's character was practically an Chinese martial artist with flames at his wrists, 'creative I know'. He had a health gauge of One million. Dylan had his shirtless character with a beach body and bandages on his wrists. A classic. He had a health gauge of One point five million. As soon as the match was announced, Maxwell summoned two dragon heads that started to follow Dylan spitting fire at him. Dylan grinned and jumped straight into the fire. He used his bandages to grab the heads and smash them into each other. He then glided towards Maxwell and grabbed his platform. He pulled it towards himself and kicked him off it. Maxwell was sent flying off and took damage amounting to nearly a hundred thousand. He managed to catch himself by shooting flames from his palms. Dylan smirked and started to move upwards platform by platform. Maxwell felt ignored and decided to create dragon wings and flew after him. Dylan laughed at this. He was having fun. He grabbed multiple platforms above him sending it at Maxwell.
Maxwell kept destroying each one of them. Dylan was counting down from fifty as he looked at the ground under Maxwell. Lava was quickly rising. He smirked but to Maxwell it looked like he was being looked down on. He snapped and shot magma from the ground at Dylan shouting," Are you just going to keep running away? So called rank one."
The magma was approaching Dylan and he used his bandages to block the magma. Maxwell was stunned." Surprised Max, this character is invincible to all forms to attacks except to physical attacks," said Dylan as he pulled out a sword with ominous energy straight out of his bandages," You said that I should attack you close up. Many people usually avoid a close combat match with me. You got guts," then his glare had a hint of looking down on him," Don't regret this decision."
Dylan fell of the platform in a freefall. He fell right at Maxwell and sliced him across his chest. Then he heard Dylan counting down from ten. The game system announced that Maxwell's character was cursed and the effect was exhaustion. Maxwell was starting to understand slowly as Dylan reached five while sitting on his head. The slash cost over five hundred thousand and a constant of ten thousand. Dylan used his bandages to grab the platform he was on and pulled himself back up. This was when Maxwell had used him to destroy all the other platforms and now there was only one left. And Dylan was sitting on it. Maxwell tried to follow after him but Dylan finished his countdown loud enough for him to hear. His wings retracted and disappeared." I told you, I know all your limitations," said Dylan as Maxwell fell straight into rising magma. Maxwell wanted to do one final move but Dylan moved his sword in a weird manner calling out the aura of something terrifying enough to knock out Maxwell on sight. His health gauge slowly dropped until his character died and Dylan was named the winner. He took a cool pose as he left the game.
He removed the headset and waved to his fans who cheered for him. Then he looked at Maxwell who held out a hand at Dylan to congratulate him on his win. Dylan took the hand and the fans cheered even louder. Then the announcer of the event appeared congratulating Dylan on his win. The two left the stage to him and joined the others.
" Okay. good evening ladies and gents and welcome to the release of Universe Clash Mark 0.2. [ The crowd cheered ] I don't like wasting time so lets get to the expo. [ ladies in maid outfits brought in new headsets on rolling trays. They each stopped next to a ranked gamer, well all except Samantha. Dylan sent them away ] Now with these new edition headsets, we can send you directly into the game. Not your consciousness but rather your entire being."
He placed it on his head and his whole body started to slowly digitize with code appearing on his body. Within the minute, he was in the game. The screen then came on to show the announcer. He continued," This will give you a whole new experience. Like an isekai but you control when you reincarnate. Now, how many are joining me on this grand adventure?"
Dylan contemplated it for a minute and was about to place it on his head when Samantha stopped him. She said," I don't have a good feeling about this Brother. What if you get stuck in there. I don't want to lose you too."
Dylan smiled at her for the final time. He said," It's okay. I will always be here with you," as he pointed at a locket that Samantha had been hiding in her shirt that had a picture of the entire family," As long as you still have that with you, I'm never too far. Plus, if I get stuck in there, I know you are around to keep my headset safe to find my and Rose's way out."
This gave her courage as all the other gamers unilaterally agreed to put on their headsets together. They all slowly digitized in an oddly alluring sight. Their headsets fell into the hands of the maids and were placed on the trays. multiple screens turned on to reveal the forty nine participants. The crowd cheered but this was short lived.
The announcer started to cackle. His whole design then slowly glitched up and eventually turned to a sort of shadowy figure." Humans are truly such idiots. Now your best players are trapped in masters domain. Hahahaha, it's now only a matter of time till her wish is fulfilled."
The entire room entered a total panic. Samantha fell to her knees in complete distraught. But even this was short lived because yet another shadowy figure appeared on screen. He sounded rougher but oddly enough, Samantha knew exactly who it was." Hello, if you are hearing this. *sigh* Then the gamers of the world have already been trapped in the dimension of Universe Clash. These are the world's last days. All hope is left to the gamers. If they can defeat the strongest being here, then all of Earth is saved, but if they are all captured as she intends, then we are all doomed. And, I'm not sure if you are there or not but, Rihanna, I'm sorry I could not be there for you but I need you to keep your brother's headset safe. If any of there headsets are destroyed with them inside, Its instant death. Death in game is not permanent but outside means game over. Good luck."
Samantha fell into tears of both joy and sorrow. The maids tried to comfort her but she was not stopping easily.