Doom System Survivor: A LitRPG Apocalypse, page 30
But let’s not let this description fall to the gutter.
Think of it like this.
In a way, your sweet, sweet Monica is like a missing painting. There really is no difference between her and Gogh’s Portrait of Dr. Gachet, Renoir’s Ball of the Moulin de la Galette, Ruben’s Massacre of the Innocent, or Picasso’s Boy with a Pipe. She belongs to something else entirely now, hidden away, yet she is still your sweet, sweet Monica.
And now, Survivor, you have a choice: Marry, Fuck, Kill.
Which will it be?
“Fuck you,” Hiro said, not to Monica, but to the Doom System. “Fuck you for doing this.”
The Doom System’s actual voice spoke this time.
[Marry, Fuck, Kill? Which will it be, Survivor? Would you prefer I chose?]
“Kill.” Hiro drew his huge odachi out of thin air as red balloons fell from the ceiling.
There had to be hundreds of them, the red balloons suddenly obscuring Monica’s movements as she charged toward him. As the balloons fell, it was clear that the bear Monica was attached to was controlling her in some way. At least he assumed this was the case until she swung at him with one of her sharpened steel beams.
He dove to avoid her attack and swiped at her with his enormous blade, only to cut through balloons, popping them and releasing pungent smells and a yellow mist—an aroma that could only be described as the aftermath of a terror attack on Coachella’s porta potty zone.
Hiro started to gag beneath his mask. He brought his arm up to his mouth as he tried to track her movement through the field of red balloons. More fell, an impossible number, which gave the entire scene an almost whimsical appeal.
But it was anything but that, especially as Monica came in again and slammed both steel beams onto the ground just as Hiro’s phantom cats took off.
Now in control again, or at least as in control as he was going to be, Hiro cast Kiss or Slap.
Kiss or Slap? Kiss!
He thought about hitting Monica with Edging, but it was clear as he caught sight of her red, now demonic eyes, that pushing her over the top wasn’t going to be an option here.
He swallowed a newfound hatred for the Doom System as he used his massive odachi to cut away more of the red balloons, which deepened the foul stench in the air.
Her eyes, maybe?
Pew! Pew!
Hiro hit Monica with his finger guns as he slipped the odachi back into its pocket of reality and grabbed the fuzzy pink shield and his katana. Now feeling more mobile, Hiro followed the last of his demon cats through the balloons, which had so completely covered Monica by this point that all he could hear now was her wailing as the cats scratched and bit at her.
That part made it hard.
Yet there was something almost metallic about it, non-human, like it had been recorded and was being played out of shitty speakers. Even with the red balloons, the foul stench; the fact, Monica kept beating her steel beams against the ground—Hiro knew that it wasn’t her.
The Doom System is fucking with me yet again, he reminded himself as he finally reached Monica. Hiro redistributed the power from her incoming attack with {Refund}. This took a surprisingly large cut from her health bar, the attack staggering the woman.
He followed this up with several rounds of {Blade Whirlwind}, clenching his teeth as he did so, hating every minute of it. What about {Lupine Shift}? he thought. Yet he couldn’t shake this itching feeling that she would have a second form, and he didn’t want to do something like tear into Monica or her bear form and eat her, which would happen if he became a werewolf.
That would be too much.
Truth be told, all of this was too much.
Hiro got behind his fuzzy pink shield as it released tentacles forward, cutting away some of the red balloons. Monica bounded toward him, and he dove to avoid her, Hiro shifting his shield just in time to protect himself from the steel beam.
He returned his shield to his back and went for his vape pen, which he had loaded with a Corruption cartridge.
With a deep breath out, Hiro spewed a cloud of brass-colored smoke that engulfed Monica. He slipped away as she started to cough.
“What did you do to me?” she asked, looking down at her arms. “Hiro, how could you?”
Yet by this point, Hiro’s eyes were now on her health bar, which had started to fall, his hands busy loading the Bleed cartridge in. He hated to use two cartridges on one boss battle, but this was exactly that, a boss battle, one meant to break him, a special challenge, and he needed to finish it before Monica got the upper hand.
With this in mind, Hiro took a big puff from his vape and released a cloud of red smoke in her direction. He sent his sword away and drew his odachi out of thin air, figuring he’d try something.
The swell of power that {Blade Whirlwind} created cut through more of the balloons, releasing their foul stench. Yet it also took Monica’s health bar down below fifty percent.
Hiro was prepared for a second form.
He’d dealt with enough of the Doom System’s shit now to know that something like this would happen.
But he wasn’t prepared for the balloons to all pop at once and for the yellow mist they released to rush into Monica’s open mouth, filling her lungs to the point that her body swelled and her armor popped off, creating projectiles.
His duct-taped armor offered some protection, but the sharp projectiles easily shredded his clothing, covering his body with lashes.
Lashes that stung.
The mist she released wasn’t only foul-smelling, but it also was infectious, Hiro instantly noticing this as the wounds pulsed and turned yellow, his energy levels waning.
Now, he thought as he mentally triggered {Lupine Shift}. Now!
50
DEMON HACHIKO
Lupine Hiro charged through the mist on all fours, saliva flying from his mouth as he leapt toward Monica. She swatted at him with her steel beams, the impact strong enough to send him whipping to the side.
The rage that fueled Hiro next made it feel like his heart would explode, like it would come crashing down in a matter of moments as his periphery blurred and the bloodstained world rushed around him.
He lunged for Monica and took her to the ground. Now on top, Hiro slammed both fists down and tried to bring his claws into play only to be tossed aside again.
She managed to twist with one of her steel beams and strike him across the torso.
The pain swelled within him as he tumbled to the side. Even with his powerful form, he could feel the impact of her strike.
Klank!
Monica jumped for Hiro again and drove both steel beams into the ground, cracking the stone foundation as he skittered off to the side.
A new thought, one that barely broke through the madness, caused him to pause and stand upright. Still in his lupine form, he reached his hand into the air, his clawed fingers tingling as he drew his massive odachi from the air.
His next strike was strong enough to cut a quarter off Monica’s already depleted health bar. With both hands on the blade, he hacked at her again and again until she finally fell.
Hiro drew back, intent on stopping himself from biting into her.
But then her health bar shifted up again as Monica sucked in a deep breath, inhaling more of the yellow mist, his opponent seconds away from recharging.
Hiro didn’t hesitate. He took off toward her and jumped again with his huge blade overhead.
Klank!
She managed to block the first strike, yet he landed, pivoted, and thrust the odachi forward just as she jumped for him. His blade pressed through the chest of the bear and out the small of her back. Hiro held her there for a moment, seething, salivating, hungry, sad, angry, and broken as Soul Essence poured into him and the prompt came.
[A Revenant has fallen.]
You have new followers!
Monica’s human body turned to ash at the same time Hiro’s transformation faded. His phone buzzed, and he took a shaky look as the smoke settled, the light illuminating his fate.
Hiro didn’t even think about the fact that the Doom System had rewarded him an attribute increase but not a level. He was too disoriented, his mind shattered by both his transformation and what had just gone down. He stepped away, and a set of prayer beads formed in his hand, the kind he had seen for sale outside temples in Japan.
Legendary Item: {Thoughts and Prayers}
Rank: S
Description: The Franco-Prussian War is often considered a precursor to modern warfare through its widespread usage of breech-loading rifles, mass conscription, nationalist sentiment that unified the German states, trench warfare, and siege tactics that previewed the horrors of the First World War.
Subsisting on rats, dogs, and cats, the trapped Parisians were only able to communicate with the outside world through carrier pigeons. Thoughts and prayers came pouring in from world leaders, who knew the power of these hollow magic words if whispered during sex, war, professional sports, the days leading up to and after a climate disaster, or following a mass shooting.
But this time, the thoughts and prayers didn’t help.
The complete and total defeat of France, which culminated with the abdication of Napoleon III and the fall of Paris, revealed a new type of war, one in which an entire nation’s fate could be at stake.
But, who knows? Maybe this time will be different. Maybe you’ll get lucky.
Wearing the prayer beads around your neck will allow you to cast {Thoughts and Prayers} at the start of each battle with the possibility of calling upon celestial forces to smite your opponent before the fight can even start.
“{Thoughts and Prayers}?” Hiro asked as he placed the beaded necklace over his head.
The next prompt came.
One-Hit Wonder: {North Korean Fece Balloons}
Rank: B
Upgrade: N/A
Description: The parade kicks off when the hypothalamus releases oxytocin created in the pituitary gland during sex. As an orgasm progresses, dopamine fires from the ventral tegmental area of the brain, acting on the reward system in the nucleus accumbens, responsible for drug addiction and Pavlovian responses.
To the casual weekend cuck or the thickly forearmed incel-adjacent adult content aficionado, even to the oversexed high school sweethearts who will be the first to have that baby, the first to have the cops called out for domestic violence, and the first to make it clear as hell they’re never leaving your hometown—sex is fucking great.
But to the people living near the DMZ all the way to South Gyeongsang, sex isn’t as great as it used to be.
On an early spring day along the Imjin River, red balloons appeared in the sky.
This should have been cause for celebration. Anyone fornicating at the time should have taken this as a sign from Samshin Halmoni, the Korean Goddess of Fertility, to procreate with the first thing they stumbled upon.
But then one of the balloons popped, releasing several kilos of human feces onto the head of a grandmother seated at an outdoor cafe just about to enjoy a plate of kimchi fried rice.
More balloons popped, and the stench overwhelmed the city to the point that many were forced to use the gas masks stored in the subway stations.
The rest, as they say, is history. A very stinky, very shitty history.
Call upon the troubled past and likely troubled future of North Korea by summoning red balloons filled with toxic feces to destroy your opponents.
But be warned.
You are not immune from their effects…
This was followed by a final prompt.
Roulette Accessory: {Demon Hachiko}
Rank: C
Type: Summon
Upgrade: N/A
Description: Men will look at this badass little guard dog and say hell yeah.
Famous for waiting for his owner at the Shibuya Train station and later memorialized in a statue outside the station that became a famed Tokyo meeting spot, Hachiko, the best little Shiba Inu the Land of the Rising Sun has ever produced, the most loyal pup this side of the East China Sea, and certainly cuter than your average backyard mutt that won’t shut the fuck up, is not so sweet anymore.
In fact, he’s terrifying.
Forged from the flesh of defrosted mastodons and bathed in the blood of rabid Orwellian rottweilers fed a steady diet of Marlboro Reds and Flamin’ Hot Cheetos, Demon Hachiko is the kind of animal companion a Survivor could only have nightmares about.
Demon Hachiko won’t talk. He probably won’t cuddle. He might not come when called.
But he will attack.
Demon Hachiko will attack until he is defeated. Then, in the spirit of the phrase what goes around, comes around he will be reborn from a single strip of his own flesh, ready to fight by your side again.
Whatever you do, do not attempt to pet Demon Hachiko if you value your hand.
“So I get a dog for the rest of the Interim, and it’s listed as an… accessory?”
A strip of flesh appeared in the air and floated to the ground like a leaf, the strip no larger than a piece of beef jerky. It bubbled and began expanding until a bone structure took shape, one that was canine in nature. Patchy sand-colored fur coated the sinewy muscles and bones, the hair thickening as a tail and ears sprouted.
“Seriously?” Hiro asked as the transformation finished, presenting a cute Shiba Inu about mid-sized, with a less-than-friendly demeanor. Hachiko stretched his front paws forward and barked at Hiro as his fluffy tail thumped left and right.
Just to test his new companion, Hiro raised a hand like he was going to pet it.
Hachiko’s eyes pressed back, a snarl curling his lips. His barks became hyper-violent until Hiro lowered his hand. “Easy,” he told the dog, who instantly started wagging his tail again. “People are going to love you.”
51
HIRO AND HACHI
Hiro stepped out of the red curtains and noted the time on his phone.
01:02:11:56
01:02:11:55
01:02:11:54
“Yo, what’s in there?” came a voice. “Holy shit! Is that your fuggin’ dog?”
Hiro peered past the phantom people standing in line to see two Survivors, both in big puffy jackets that had been modified with armored duct tape. Demon Hachiko took off, the dog tracking something.
“I’m not the main character,” Hiro said, his hand instantly going to the hilt of his katana.
“Us neither,” the same voice told him. He was a larger Black man, his head shaved, tattoos scrawled under his eyes and across his cheeks. Definitely a New York native judging by his accent. He was joined by another much smaller guy, who wore a mask with small devil horns on it.
“You got a mask too?” the second guy asked Hiro.
“Yeah,” Hiro said, still distracted with where Demon Hachiko had run off to. Does the dog just do what he wants? Will he follow me? he wondered as the two men sized him up.
“What’s your mask do?” the second man asked. “Mine can scare an enemy. Shit doesn’t always work, but when it does, it gets them good.”
“Mine makes people laugh.” Hiro motioned to the curtains. “As to what’s in there, I don’t know if the Doom System will repeat what it just did to me, but it was fucked.”
“Yeah?” the bigger of the two asked. He started to laugh. “All this shit is fucked.”
“The Doom System had me fight my ex-girlfriend,” Hiro told them, instantly noticing how the word felt strange to him. They had never really gone with titles, Monica and him. They had just stayed together until it became too difficult for both of them.
She gave in and got a superpower; at least that was what he’d heard. That meant that now, she was dead.
“Shit, you fought your ex?” the second man asked. “My ex would have whooped my ass.”
The larger man laughed. “Hell yeah, she would have. Tiff had weight on you, dog.”
“Fuck yeah, she was thick.” The second man’s smile faded. “Anyway, so that’s what’s in there? Fight our exes?”
“As far as I know,” Hiro told them. “It could change, but that’s what happened to me.”
Barking rang out somewhere in the distance.
“Your dog done lost his shit,” the second man said.
“I just got him.”
“From the Doom System?”
“You couldn’t tell?”
“Heh. He did seem a little batshit. Wish the Doom System would give me a dog.”
“Which gate will you all go to?” Hiro asked as he heard more barking.
“The one in Harlem,” the first man said. “We got people around there. You?”
“Downtown. In the Financial District.”
“Fuck yeah.” The second man looked Hiro over. “In that case, good luck.”
“Same to you all. I’m Hiro, by the way.”
“Michael,” the larger man said. “Big Mike.”
“Derrick.” The second man pushed his mask off his face so Hiro could get a good look at him. “As for this challenge, shit, I don’t know. Spectators are coming.”
Hiro glanced up at the red boats hovering in the sky above. “I have no idea what to expect.”
Big Mike shrugged, which was clearly a coping mechanism. “For real, man. But that’s just what we got to deal with. Good luck, though. Maybe we’ll see you. If you see us getting into some wild shit, feel free to join.”
“Same.”
“And good luck finding your dog,” Derrick said.
“If he runs off, he runs off. I’m not about to be chasing him.” After a bit more conversation, Hiro bounced to the nearest rooftop. He looked down at the two, both of whom started laughing at his sudden jump. Big Mike threw him the peace sign and turned back to the Doom Sample Sale.
Hiro shifted in the direction of the Financial District when he heard barking, louder this time. Technically, I still have two hours left, Hiro thought as he considered his next move. I told Valeria and them I’d meet around this time, but…
