RETURN OF THE SHADOW

"Yes! Merlin is not being entirely truthful. I am sure that Shadow had went closer to the monsters. There is no way, he was behind me to take the video," said Boris angrily. He was a bit depressed and ashamed of this incident. He also never expected this to happen and Merlin's words as well as his fame suggested that he was trying to blackmail them which completely pissed him off.

"Like that matters. Who would verify it? You?" said Rex. "We need to do damage control. First, I will talk with Merlin about it. It is best that we exchange something with him for not leaking the video. It is best if we get that in writing.

"That is quite possible. Merlin is a greedy fellow. I know him personally and the fact that he left the Magus Shrine doesn't imply he is going to stop being a professional player. I will talk to him about this," said Tristar looking at Rex. "We probably need to let Sultan go peacefully and not attack him. He will ask for that in writing."

"Of course, he would. Let him go. It is not such a bad thing to lose him. I just let him be because his elder brother was one of our sponsors. It is fine if he got out on his own. My concern is that Merlin wouldn't just stop with that and he probably knows that we wouldn't bully him anyway," said Rex.

"Why not," said Boris and Blaster together.

"Are you stupid? You don't mess with him. He has a strong background in real-life. Both his brother and grandfather dote on him. That would be of no good to the guild."

"Yes, the guild wouldn't support any attempts by you guys to do such things. It would only be a waste of money and time. You both never liked each other and have separated let us leave it at that. If you are that bored, I would rather you challenge that Shadow," said Tristar.

"Why did you think that I had always told you to get on good terms with him," said Rex. "That man has good influence."

"Second, as Tristar had just told, it is best that you complete that challenge with Shadow Tyrant. You will also inform in the Fight Club chat that you wanted to see if he was worthy and that you went to test him," said Rex.

"But we can't just let Merlin go very easily. It is best if we put some fear of our guild into him," said Boris. The events that happened made him feel that Merlin had targeted him for some reason. The only reason he could think was that they were in the same city and with Merlin out of Magus Shrine, he was trying to use him as a steppingstone for his fame in the new game.

"Yes, it is a simple thing. There is a mass quest in the Blackrock Town, right now. We can use this to send a number of players into the town. They can toy with him," said Rex. He was also a bit angry due to the same reason as Merlin. Such a thing at the start of a game would make it hard for them to establish a reputation in the game.

"Boris quickly tell the Fight Club the reason that you were tailing him," said Rex as he was observing the discussion going on in the chat. They continued making fun of Boris. All the members in the group had mean streaks and had a habit of making a big issue of the smallest things.

(Fight Club Chat)

Nix Maester: "Boris brother. Please respond. This gets boring if you don't respond."

Nix Maester: "It isn't that bad. Everybody does stupid things occasionally. Nothing to be ashamed of."

Clear Sky: "Did he log out?"

Clear Sky: "Did we go a bit overboard."

Misty Day: "Oh Please! You guys talk worse crap about us ladies. If Boris really feels down about this, I would be looking down on him."

Nix Maester: "Ooh! Brother Boris. The feminist is dissing you."

Boris Blade: "I swear that I didn't have any unsavory or evil intentions in following the player Shadow or Crimson Realm guild members. My intentions were pure and only wanted to test the player Shadow Tyrant to see if he is worth enough to join the Fight Club as Merlin had suggested. I only went to the lake as he didn't respond to my invite. Any unexpected harm that I may have caused either to the player Shadow Tyrant or his guild are completely unintentional or accidental. I have never intentionally sabotaged the quest of any guild in the game vita-nova.

Clear Sky: "!!!!????"

Clear Sky: "Did someone hack into his account?"

Nix Maester: "Oye! Boris, do you a member of the HR team dictate this to you?"

Nix Maester: "Or is it Tristar's work. Tristar bro. This isn't an official comment. You could have at least made it sound like something that Boris would say."

Misty Day: "Why is Merlin so quiet. He always talked as much as Nix."

Nix Maester: "You bastard!!????"

Clear Sky: "!!!"

Oceanis (Administrator): "!!!!"

Red Dagger: "!!!!"

Red Path: "!!!!"

Misty Day: "What happened?!! Why are you swearing at me?"

Merlin: "Ah! Misty. I knew that you would miss me. Thanks for the support, my Honey Bunny.????????"

Misty Day: "DREAM ON!"

Nix Maester: "Merlin! You bastrad! Where is the video?! You were making a deal with Tristar?"

Merlin: "Stop swearing and don't talk nonsense."

Nix Maester: "Answer me! Where is the video?!"

Clear Sky: "+1"

"+1"

"+1"

Merlin: "What I do with the videos, I have is my own business."

Nix Maester: "I knew it. You were talking it out with them. You cunning bastard! You were using us."

Azreal: "He is known to be cunning one. Administrator, he shameless lied in the chat and used us. Deserves a reprimand."

Oceanis (Administrator): "He just said that he was thinking of making the video public. Not an issue."

Clear Sky: "It isn't like we expected him to actually put it online. Except Nix who is burdened by an overly curious nature, I doubt anyone actually expected him to do it."

Misty Day: "Of course! He loves to show off. If he really wanted to, he would have done it immediately after the first video."

Merlin: "Hey, I am just looking out for Brother Boris and didn't want to upset him too much. Is it wrong to be helpful."

Nix Maester: "Tchhh! I need to puke."

Misty Day: "It does sound wrong when you tell that you want to be helpful."

Red Dagger: "That sounds downright creepy and frightening."

Boris Blade: "Helpful!! If you were actually a helpful guy, you wouldn't have put the video in the chat."

Merlin: "Of course. I am helpful. I am helping my friends and myself. I never told that I would help without being asked. I am not a saint.????????????"

Boris Blade: "If you wanted to help, why didn't you have him accept the challenge. It is a disgrace to both me and Shadow."

Merlin: "Hah?!! ????Why didn't you just contact Shadow on chat."

Boris: Blade: "You an idiot. How could I contact him without him accepting a friend request. He seems to have shut off the notifications or just ignored."

Merlin: "You are the idiot! If you couldn't contact him, you should have asked me or do you have difficulties in that too.????"

Clear Sky: "????????"

Dead Sea: "????????"

Red Dagger: "????????"

Nix Maester: "You expected the hot head to actually contact you. ????Don't joke Merlin bro!"

Tristar: "Putting the talk of the video aside. Merlin can you inform Shadow of the challenge."

King Rex: "Yes, as Merlin had suggested Shadow for the Fight Club. It is good that Boris is willing to test him."

Oceanis (Administrator): I agree. Let Boris test him out and invite us for the fight.

Nix Maester: "Oh! Oh! The big guys are having a serious talk. It is no fun now. Bye."

Nix Maester: "Hi Tristar. What did you have to give Merlin?"

Oceanis (Administrator): "Nix. Bye."

Nix Maester: "Aw! Guild Leader, a few more moments please."

Star Lord (Administrator): "Please, let this nonsense about video end with this. It has gotten tiring. Go play the game."

On the other side, Shadow, Slaine and the others were running hard to try and get away from the bandit camp. The bandits started to attack them in large numbers. As soon as they got a chance, all of them started to channel their hearthstones to escape from the bandit camp.

"That was completely unexpected," said Shadow looking at Slaine. "Why did the idiot go deep into the monster horde?"

Though Merlin told everyone in the Fight Club that Shadow had been tailing him and took the video, Shadow hadn't even had a good look at the assassin who caused the issue. He only knew that it was Boris from the team chat.

"You don't know? He came for you," said Slaine looking at him. "That was the secret that you didn't hear from me. Boris challenged you to a fight, but Rudra didn't want you to participate. He is a professional player."

"Why? What if he is a professional? I doubt he is any better than me," said Shadow indignantly.

"No good will come out of it, if you win or lose. We will lose the momentum that we gained if you lose and if you win, we can't be sure that he won't be a sore loser. The Foedus Rex guild members are already getting into fights with us," explained Slaine.

"Ya, that is true. I heard that they were being quite aggressive," agreed Shadow. "But I doubt he would let me go. I don't like him trailing me."

"Frankly speaking, even I feel the same. He did go a bit overboard. It is best if you accept the challenge and put an end to it. Else, he might continue with this and it is hard to get good stuff with a pair of eyes following you," said Slaine.

The recent stunt pulled by Boris changed his opinion about the way that they should be handling the challenge. Seeing a player do something as stupid as going into a horde just to follow Shadow had changed his view on how far a star player might go for a bit of fame.

"I just didn't tell you till now as Rudra suggested that we avoid the challenge and probably wouldn't have told you, if not for Boris' interference at the camp. He didn't want me to tell you, but now I will let you talk it out with him," said Slaine.

As they were talking about this, Mob and other came to them. "You know I just sent Merlin the video of Boris getting killed. He asked me not to let go public. He is negotiating with Rex," said Mob.

"Apart from that, Merlin had nominated you to join the Fight Club," added Bitter Beast.

"Fight Club?" asked both Shadow and Slaine. Though Shadow had lived seven years in his previous life, he didn't know of the existence of fight club. It was only known to its members or close to the members and these didn't want to irritate them by making it public.

"It is a dream group for all PvP enthusiasts in the virtual games. I would love to be accepted into it and asked Merlin to nominate me, but he always told that I was not ready for their test," said Mob.

"You mean the rumors of the PvP club where the players try to improve harmoniously is true?" asked Slaine with an expression of extreme shock.

"Yes. Merlin is a part of it, and he thinks you are good fit," said Mob looking at Shadow. "I won't deny that I am not jealous of you, but you are quite capable and a bit crazy like him. Maybe that is required for the Fight Club too."

"So, do you know if the rumors about the founders of the fight club were also true?" asked Slaine.

"Which ones?" asked Bitter Beast.

"You know. They say it was started by real-life mercenaries who joined various guilds and that is the reason they are so good," said Slaine. He had been hearing quite a few rumors for the past couple of years from various friends. These were the kind that most whispered that didn't say out loud for the fear of being considered an idiot.

"And they continued to have maintain their camaraderie through the group?" asked Mob sarcastically.

"Yes," said Slaine not realizing that Mob was being sarcastic.

"No, dude! I was being disingenuous. They are not mercenaries," said Mob.

"How do you know?" asked Bitter Beast.

"Cause I asked Merlin similar questions," said Mob looking at him angrily. He once had a similar conversation with Merlin where he felt like a fool and he felt annoyed that he had to accept that in front of Slaine and Shadow.

"Might be. Actually, if they were mercenaries that were old comrades, they could have started a guild on their own," said Slaine agreeing with it.

"They could be in different guilds. There is a good chance that they didn't have prior experience with games and just joined the guilds and ended up being crucial parts of the guilds," said Shadow. He felt these rumors to be quite close his own situation in his previous life.