The Grand Battle [Game Over!]

Originally posted on MSPA by Aryogaton.

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Aeon climbed down from the ladder. After several minutes of incredibly-fast movement, it seemed to have taken him to some of the most remote parts of the library. He began to walk, mildly satisfied at his isolation. At this point, he thought, it seemed that being so far from the other contestants would guarantee that he was safe from harm.

Ari appeared in front of him with a smug look on his face. Aeon ignored him, and kept on walking.

“You wonder where you left that shapeshifting thing, don't you.” Aeon made no indication of hearing Ari.

“Well, you should know that I have returned it to its rightful owner, just like I promised.”

“And I am supposed to believe that you are self-righteous enough to be so proud of a small act of honesty?” Aeon turned to Ari, looking stern. “What are you really planning?”

“Okay, you seemed to have backed me into a hole. I will tell you that I wished to start another game like this, but I was too late. The last one had started already.” There was a pause. “Er… you don't have to worry that I entered her in another competition. I give you my word that I didn't.”

Aeon continued to walk. Does he even know he's revealing so much? With that statement alone, he just proved that there were more games involved, and a limited number of them as well, and more.

“One would think that a man so accustomed with the workings of this universe would know how a simple device would work.”

Ari raised an eyebrow. “And what is this device you speak of?”

Aeon stopped walking and looked at Ari. “Your strategy of excuseless honesty is flawed. From everything that you have told me, I've deduced that all you want to do is find out how my adaptive tool works. You've also revealed to me that there are other games like this, and that there is a limit to how many games can exist. Eight, maybe? Perhaps… the winners of each game participate in another, one final test of skill that just might be the Director's final goal.”

Ari attempted to avoid a look of realization. He failed. “Your powers of deduction are impressive, to say the least.” He began to walk, this time placing more thought into what he says. Aeon followed, and saw Ari turn a right. As soon as Aeon passed the corner himself, he saw that it was another dead end, with Ari nowhere in sight. Aeon sighed, not deciding whether it was best to have Ari far away or watched carefully.

Aeon began to shuffle through the shelves on the dead end, and came across a strange glass plate. It seemed entirely out of place in the sea of books, yet also seemed very well hidden. He looked through the plate, and saw the image behind it heavily distorted, to the point that any image that could be seen through it was reduced into coarse noise. Deciding that it must be somewhat important, Aeon held on to it, and began walking again.

***

Ari followed the vacuum cleaner, which was cleansing as it proceeded with its excruciatingly slow pursuit of Aeon. At this rate, it will never catch up with him. I need to get this thing closer.

“Hey, vacuum.”

“Sensors indicate that Lifeform Ari is trailing this unit. Current data indicates that Lifeform Ari is not aggressive. Proceeding with pursuit.”

“How would you like if I showed you a shortcut to Aeon?”

Eximo paused, and continued to cleanse. “Although Lifeform Ari has been deemed nonaggressive, trust has not been fully established. This unit refuses offer of aid.”

Ari grimaced. Well then, too bad, machine. He walked up to the vacuum cleaner and pressed his hand on top of it. Eximo stopped cleansing, as the world around it disappeared.

“Sensors are indicating a large amount of conflicting information. Cannot process data at this time.”

***

Aeon stopped in the middle of an intersection. Taking an arbitrary book from an arbitrary shelf, he placed it open on the table, and laid out the glass plate on it to test a theory. Surely enough, the text shifted, and some words were magnified, others shrunken to the point of near-invisibility. Aeon examined the book, and saw that it was a science fiction novel. Reading only the magnified letters, Aeon saw that the glass plate highlighted the workings of a particular device in the fiction. A hidden message, relevant to the content of the book.

He was interrupted by the sudden sound of a vacuum. Panicking at the fact that he should have heard its gradual advance—not to mention the surprise of being found so quickly—he immediately stood and confronted the machine.

“Sensors indicate that Lifeform Aeon has unexpectedly appeared in extremely close proximity to this unit. Proceeding with orders to eliminate all contestants.”

***

Drake sat on the bookshelf, clearly annoyed by the entire ordeal. The book he was carrying around began to vibrate, and he opened it with a look of frustration.

“What is it now?”

Ari has started another fight between Eximo and Aeon. Deal with them, I'm still busy on my end.

Drake disappeared without a word, taking note of his annoyance in Ari's antics.

***

Eximo flung a single knife at Aeon, almost as a warning attack. He caught it in midair, and placed it in his pocket. He was soon treated to a flurry of knives, and Eximo began to approach more aggressively. Aeon ducked again under the table.

As Eximo began to move around the table, as before, Aeon began to think. He leapt from his position, occupying the opposite side of the intersection.

“Lifeform Aeon is not attempting to escape. This is unexpected.”

Well maybe I can talk you into something. “Eximo, tell me again why you're doing this.”

“This unit is proceeding with orders from Konka Rar to exterminate all contestants based on threat priority.” Aeon dodged more knives, which lodges themselves in the books behind him.

He began to think. “How loyal are you to this Konka Rar character, anyway?” Another flurry of knives, this time giving Aeon a deep cut to the leg.

“This unit is programmed to act completely loyal and obediently to Konka Rar.”

“Back in the first few rounds, you would say ‘Hail Konka Rar!' after everything you said. I haven't heard you say that in quite a long time.”

Eximo charged at Aeon with four knives in-hand. Aeon leaped out of the way, and it hit the bookshelf.

“Besides, you found that the Konka Rar that gave you these orders was a fake didn't you?”

“Orders were given when such knowledge was not known at the time, and are still valid.”

“By your choice? There is no reason you should be following them, especially if you know that it was a fake. He… dismantled that vacuum army you worked on, remember? You showed remorse when the fake was bossing you around. Maybe you should rethink your loyalty to him.”

“False Konka Rar was making orders based on his status as a duplicate, and such aversion is not shared with the actual Konka Rar.”

“If that's true, then why are you still following his orders? You either dislike your master or you are disloyal to him. This logic cannot be disputed.”

Before Eximo could try to refute it, an unfamiliar figure appeared between the two, wearing the mask of tragedy. “I'm tired of this! Stop fighting!”

Almost instantly, Ari appeared in a hallway.

“Ari.” Drake said with contempt.

“Drake.” Ari said with content.

The title was Drake Eon. Again, Aeon saw that it was a biography of a person he did not know, and replaced it.

“You're really starting to get on my nerves, you know?.”

If these books are biographies of the Gentlemen, then the Director could be in there.

“I am simply doing what the Director told us to do, and that was to create conflict.”

Then again, the Director wouldn't leave his own book out in the open like that.

“To be honest, it's you guys who are actually disobeying direct orders from the Director,” Ari said.

Reading only the magnified letters, Aeon saw that the glass plate highlighted the workings of a particular device in the fiction.

“Hah! He made the mistake of allowing us to interfere in the first place.”

A hidden message, relevant to the content of the book.

Aeon broke into a run, grabbing the glass plate and a ladder, escaping before anyone could react.

SpoilerShow

Haha, best page-topper ever.