Fate Online: Shadow

Haa! Haa! Haa! Haa! Haa!

Multiple people are lying with their arms or legs spread out on the ground while covered in bruises and breathing haggardly.

"I won! I beat all you pansies! Hahaha!"

Michael laughed happily, like he had just won some kind of a competition and took the championship while covered in bruises here and there, and he was already so exhausted that he didn’t even noticed that someone had already sneaked from behind him.

But when he saw the gloating look on their faces, Michael suddenly felt that something is off, but when he finally realized that someone is standing behind him, it was already too late.

"Sorry kid, its my win"

Robin voice sounded behind him, and when his body was halfway through in turning around, he suddenly felt a tingling pain at the back of his neck before his vision was slowly consumed by darkness and his body slowly dropped on the ground, unconscious.

’F*ck!’

Was Michael’s last thought before he went down cold.

In fact, Michael never raised his guard against Robin because the latter had never participated before during their all out brawls, that’s the reason why he never expected that he would actually sneak behind him, which is certainly a huge mistake on his side as he was even a former legendary assassin.

Well, he really can’t blame himself for always lowering his guard around them. It was because these people have too much honor and dignity in their heads that they wouldn’t easily resort to sneak attacking their enemies unless its a prey they needed to take down as fast as possible, and throughout their whole careers, they had never once taken an innocent life unrelated to their missions, unlike other assassins who would kill an innocent just to shut them up.

This is the reason why Michael trust them a lot, even during his years at the peak of his career. Dylan aside, Robin, Genesis, Monk, Tony and the others are just one of the few people that Michael knows that he could always depend on.

*****

Michael gloomily left the mansion, and the most amazing thing is that his bruises had already disappeared like it wasn’t there in the first place.

The reason behind it is that the organization, "The Continental" has some kind of an ointment that would alleviate the signs of bruises. Of course, the pain wouldn’t just disappear but coloring would instead vanish and return to the natural color of the skin.

This is the reason why his parents never noticed that Michael would actually be covered in bruises every time he’s back home from the mansion. The thing actually doesn’t have that much uses other than that, except that it’s also used by the members after every intense spar against each other or to hide it from their families.

Meanwhile.

A family of three is currently having a simple dinner in their humble abode.

"Dylan, I already met Michael in the game, and he’s bringing me around to level up later!" Tina laughed while she stuffed some pizza inside her mouth.

"Really? But you told me that you’re on the other side of the Forest of Despair in the middle of the continent?"

"Yes, and he’s gonna bring me around the monster maps tomorrow!"

"Are you seriously telling me Michael managed to cross that treacherous place all by himself? Damn, so he wasn’t lying to me when he said he was inside the forest"

"Of course, why the heck did we even see each other if he didn’t?"

"Tsk, that guy is doing all the exciting things without me!" Dylan stuffed a whole slice of pizza in his mouth in anger.

Adalind on the other hand is just watching them with interest, as she felt that her two children had become much closer since they both started playing the game which made her really happy, but of course, she also implemented a strict rule to Athena that she could only play the game for four hours everyday as she’s still attending school, and that she shouldn’t neglect it.

Other than that, she’s also happy that Dylan doesn’t look tired and haggard anymore, and seems to be really enjoying his time playing Fate Online. And in fact, he could already earn two times of what he’s earning before when he still had two jobs, and because of it, their family had now more space for spending, as Dylan had even bought a new set of TV and refrigerator for the family.

"And did you know? I even have a pet! Hahaha!" Tina laughed happily.

"Isn’t it normal that you would have a pet? You’re a Huntress after all"

"Wrong! It’s not a class pet where I would need a skill to tame monsters, but a literal pet! It even has the chance to become a divine beast! Are you jealous brother? Hahaha!"

"Hmmp! I may not have a pet, but me and my team the other day had discovered a nest of eggs! There are seven of them, and all of them are pet eggs! So we got one each and we’ve already auctioned the other one!"

"Che! It would probably just turn out as an ordinary pet when it hatches if you discovered them at the same time together, and hey, it might even turn out as a slime!"

"Does slime even lays egg!? Dumb girl!" Dylan snickered.

"Hey! Have you ever seen a rabbit that lays eggs then!? Michael’s pet is a freaking rabbit and it came from a freaking egg! Then the chances of it being a slime is not impossible!" Tina laughed, but at the same time, she felt envious if it would really turn out as a slime.

After all, those slimy monsters are really cute even when they were clearly labeled as monsters, and because of it, a lot of female players tend to avoid them because of their cuteness.

There was even an incident regarding about the monster, where a group or team of female players attacked and killed a male player for killing a slime, which caused a small scale war between genders, and that incident were later called "When cuteness can kill" or "When cuteness can move a thousand hearts".

"Sorry, but we already got a Beast Master to check up on the eggs, and they are the eggs of an...Armored Tanuki" his voice slowly became feeble and his expression went dark, as Dylan realized something.

"A Racoon? Since when did Racoons even lay eggs? Hahaha!" Tina broke in a fit of laughter, even Adalind who was just listening at them from the side as they bickered with each other, giggled.

Dylan just glared at her, and ate his food in silence, as he knew...that it was his loss this time.

*****

"I’m home!"

Michael shouted as he entered the apartment, and made his way over towards the living room.

"Welcome back, did you finish your matters with your friends?"

Alice turned her head from the sofa and asked Michael.

"Yep, where’s the old man by the way?" Michael answered as he jumped from behind the sofa and sat on it.

"He’s busy playing the game, did you have dinner? There’s still some leftovers inside the microwave"

"Yes, I already ate back at the mansion"

A few minutes later, as both of them had small conversations while watching some TV shows. Michael made his way towards his bedroom, then retired to bed after he washed himself.

The next day, Michael woke up early and went for short jog around the neighborhood, where he met a lot of neighbors that he hadn’t met before, had some short talk with them, before continuing on his way.

On the road, Michael started appreciating life more and more, realizing how lucky he truly is that he could relive his past and correct the mistakes that shouldn’t have happened before.

And because of it, his determination to train himself to reach his peak again became more solid than ever, as he promised to himself that he wouldn’t let Jin and his family bring harm to Amanda again.

At the same time, he is also curious about why Amanda never fought back that night when she clearly could.

He was truly curious...of what Jin told her that night, that made this unyielding woman turn into a meek rabbit.

After a ten kilomter jog, Michael then made his way back.

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