This is a Beta Test?! - A Literally Broken System

GUIDANCE

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Guidance didn't even manage to scream out to Moriya as she watched him fall to the ground in an unceremonious thud. His [Manifest] clattering to the ground, it was clear that he was in the middle of a [Move] just as Lewis did his own attack.

Unfortunately, whatever it was that Moriya had planned, it didn't go through in time.

"What a shame..." the man sighed, his eyes staring passively at Moriya's unmoving body. "If only he would've listened."

The dev felt her knees shake as her fingers trembled above her keyboard. The sight of his body falling to the ground like his strings had been cut somehow didn't sit well with her. Sure, they had all died together at least once or twice during instances such as these, but she had never really survived past Moriya's own usual death.

And somehow, it both irked and horrified her to no end.

"What now, Guidance?" Lewis asked, his tone still taking on a patronizing tone. "Your lover is dead, and there's nothing that will bring him back."

Her eyes narrowed. "That just means you haven't met me yet."

Yes... She still had a move that could get Moriya's ass back up and running. Granted, doing so would make her a sitting duck for a whopping thirty seconds, but what else did she have to lose? Besides, at the end of the day, they'll just respawn right in front of this guy and try again.

"[Raise]"

Aiming his keyboard at Moriya's unmoving body, Guidance felt her adrenaline spiking as she watched Lewis slowly approach her. Without Moriya taking aggro, all of this man's attacks would rightfully go to her as the last remaining person alive. Granted, she was pretty sure that all of the enemies she coded should prioritize her in a party without a tank, but she didn't want to question the glitch any further than that.

"A [Move]?" Lewis wondered aloud. "Why is it taking so long?"

Guidance kept her silence as she stood still, her energy still gathering and solidifying itself in preparation for her [Move]. [Raise] not only was a costly thing to cast in terms of time, but it also ate up around half of her [MP] bar. It was the one thing that she wanted to be balanced, otherwise, players would just constantly resurrect their allies without so much as a penalty to their name.

"No matter. As unfortunate as it is, you must also pay for your crimes," Lewis regretfully sighed as he raised his dagger above her head. "Alset will be upset, you know. She wouldn't shut up about your group for being one of the first to actually take a risk with her innovations."

The dev gritted her teeth in impatience, her focus still trained solely on the [Move] being cast by her [Keystroke]. Each second went by so agonizingly slowly. She didn't even know if she'd make it, only that the enemy was now upon her and was about to kill her with a single strike or so.

"Not going to say anything?"

Guidance let out a small breath, her eyes widening as she saw the cast bar finally fill up. Without wasting any time, she raised her keyboard high, a flash of green erupting from her [Manifest] flowing straight at Moriya's body.

"No matter then," Lewis sighed. "Farewell, Guidance."

She couldn't help but let out a self-deprecating chuckle. At the very least, she'll know from Moriya if her [Raise] was actually effective.

But for now, she had to spend a bit of time in the comforting void of nothingness.

[*STAB!*]

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Huh... Why the hell did I die?

I was pretty sure I did the [Shroud] and made myself impervious for around five seconds tops, but apparently, I still took damage? Did it not go through or something? Did the damage go through invulnerability?

"Wait... is lag a thing here?"

I shuddered at the mere thought of lag being a concept in this world. I knew that I had done the [Move]. Only the fact that it didn't protect me was making my mind spin with all these possibilities. If the world lagged on me, preventing my [Move] from registering, I would probably nag at Guidance again just for the hell of it.

"Still, if lag's a thing... I could see a few uses for it..."

I couldn't help but nervously laugh at the concept of weaponizing lag somehow, assuming that was what happened, of course. Still, lag switches were a thing back then for FPS games, and if it operated in the same way it did back then, it would mean that I'd be able to take hits that I had no business in taking without sustaining any damage.

"Well, some other time perhaps..."

I let out a sigh as I let myself float in wait for the next thing that would happen. The void of nothingness that was death was something that I was wholly familiar with. Having died more times than I could count by now, there was something comforting with the feeling of just floating around a black sea filled with nothing but your thoughts and feelings. Sure, there was still some kind of sensation while I was stuck here, but it was more of a flavor that I really couldn't explain using words. It was more like I was floating around a very thick syrup of air, and yes, those are the exact words that I would use to describe the sensation.

"Still, when is Guidance going to die?"

I couldn't help but voice that thought out in a bored tone. I didn't think that she'd try and continue on with the fight with me having died already, but maybe she was just trying to gather more information so that our next run would be a bit more successful.

[CHIME]

What...

[Guidance HAS OFFERED RESSURECTION]

[YES/NO]

I blinked at the prompt that suddenly appeared in front of me. This was new... On top of it being glaringly bright, it also had Guidance's name on it, which meant that this was a [Move] somehow.

Shrugging, I pressed 'yes.'

[CHIME]

I blinked as I waited, the telltale sound of the world changing echoing against the backdrop of nothingness keeping me company as Guidance's supposed offer did its job. Still, I would've expected this to go faster as opposed to us just-

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[LOADING...]

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My eyes opened wide as I suddenly found myself floating in mid-air. The green glow surrounding my body was a marked difference from the usual fare of plain old nothing, but the fact that my feet were currently off the ground was the more pressing concern for me as the world blinked right back into existence.

"Woah..." I breathed out as my feet finally touched the ground. "That was an experience and a half..."

"What the..."

As the world itself seemingly returned me back to where I died, Lewis's flabbergasted voice echoed from the other side of the arena. Turning around, the treat of seeing the old man look at me like I was some kind of ghost was quickly overshadowed by the fact that Guidance's bleeding body was lying right next to his feet in a pool of her own blood.

"Impossible..." he gasped aloud in disbelief. "You're dead... I killed you..."

"Yeah, but I got better," I promptly quipped back, my hands quickly drawing [Blanc and Noir] as I aimed them at him with narrowed eyes. "And to think that I'll get back to see Guidance dead on your feet."

"You don't sound distressed," he quickly noted. "You two were lovers, right?"

"Yes, but I know she'll get better as well," I scoffed, chuckling in delight at seeing the utter confusion blooming on his face. "Well, assuming she does, at least."

"That [Raise] of hers... Such a powerful ability..." he wondered aloud, having seemingly forgotten that they were still in the middle of live combat. "And she'll come back to life even after this?"

"[Blood Screen]"

I didn't bother answering his question as I cast my [Move], reducing all of my attacks and [Move]'s costs by around fifteen percent. Sure, it wasn't going to last me as long, but it'll at least help me offset the cost of my next salvo of attacks.

"[Blood Shot] [Iron Spread] [Hemolysis]"

[*BANG! BANG! BANG!*]

[ENEMY HP: 150%]

Three [Moves] shot forth from my barrels as they all landed their mark, Lewis visibly shocked by the sudden attack as he took a step back.

"To shoot someone while they're talking... Such a smart move," the old man praised, albeit with a bit of annoyance in his tone. "I found that most people would often try and explain themselves to their enemies."

"Well, I don't have that much ego," I chuckled. "I don't care what I have to do. So long as my or my friends; lives are on the line, I'll do my damn best not to die."

"Hah! A commendable way of seeing things! However..."

[STAMP: 24%]

"I don't think it will matter, Moriya."

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