Seventy-two hours passed faster than Ethan had anticipated.
He'd spent most of that time in intense discussions with his Generals, learning the reality of the world he'd created. Some of it matched his design documents. Much of it didn't.
Apparently, while he'd been crafting Elysium Terminal in his development studio on Earth, time in this world had moved differently. Centuries had passed here. Civilizations had risen and fallen. And the NPCs he'd designed as simple quest-givers and mob enemies had evolved into something more.
They had become people.
Seraph told him of the wars she'd fought, the friends she'd lost, the creeping corruption that slowly consumed her celestial nature. Kragus spoke of his clan's destruction and his eternal search for a worthy opponent. Vex shared nothing, which Ethan suspected was sharing in its own way. And Orianna recited prophecies that made his head hurt.
None of them fully trusted him. But they were willing to watch, to wait, to see what kind of emperor this strange new soul would prove to be.
That waiting ended when the raid notification appeared.
═══════════════════════════════════════════ RAID COMMENCING ═══════════════════════════════════════════ Guild: Crimson Vanguard Players: 40 Average Level: 94 Raid Leader: "DragonSlayer_X" Stream Status: LIVE (1.2 million viewers) First checkpoint in: 00:15:00 ═══════════════════════════════════════════
"They're streaming this," Ethan realized. "Over a million people are watching."
Seraph appeared beside him, fully armored and radiating deadly intent. "I will stop them at the first gate. They will not trouble you, my Emperor."
"Wait." Ethan grabbed her arm—or tried to. His claws simply passed through her armored shoulder as she misted into motion. "Seraph, wait! I need to ask you something!"
She paused at the door. "Yes?"
"When you fight them... the players... what happens when they die?"
Seraph's expression flickered. "They dissolve into light and vanish. We've always assumed they return to wherever they came from. The respawn shrines outside the castle grounds."
"So they don't... permanently die?"
"No." Her eyes narrowed. "Why does this matter to you?"
Ethan felt relief flood through him. Players respawned. That was core game functionality. If he killed them—if his Generals killed them—they would simply wake up outside the dungeon with a death penalty debuff.
No permanent murder.
No blood on his hands.
But as Seraph left to take her position, a darker thought occurred to him. Just because players respawned didn't mean they didn't experience death. The VR technology of Elysium Terminal was designed for full sensory immersion.
They would feel every wound. Every broken bone. Every final moment before darkness claimed them.
"I designed this," he whispered to himself. "I made this experience."
There was no time for guilt. The raid had begun.
From his throne room, Ethan could observe the entire encounter through a magical viewing array that functioned like a spectator camera. He watched as forty players materialized at the castle entrance, their equipment glittering with enchantments, their determination palpable even through the magical projection.
"Alright, Vanguard!" the raid leader shouted. DragonSlayer_X was a heavily armored paladin with a flaming sword—typical main character energy. "We've practiced this a thousand times! Today's the day we make history! Tanks front, healers in the core, DPS on the flanks! MOVE OUT!"
The raid surged forward into the castle.
Ethan had designed the approach to be atmospheric rather than challenging—a long hallway lined with the petrified bodies of previous failed raiders (cosmetic only, he'd made sure of that). Ominous music swelled. Lightning crackled outside stained glass windows depicting Azrael's rise to power.
Then they reached Seraph's chamber.
She stood alone in the center of a vast cathedral, her six wings spread wide, her sword drawn and burning with pale fire. The players spread out into their practiced formation.
"The Fallen Arbiter," DragonSlayer_X announced for his stream. "First boss of the Eternal Emperor raid. Her main mechanic is the Light and Shadow phase—half the raid gets marked for light damage, half for shadow, and you have to stack with the opposite debuff to survive."
"We've got this," one of the healers said. "We cleared her last week without losing anyone."
Seraph's head tilted slightly. "You speak as though I am an obstacle to be overcome. How arrogant."
Ethan leaned forward on his throne. He'd never watched one of his bosses fight in person before. It was one thing to design abilities and animation sets—it was another entirely to see them executed with genuine combat intent.
Seraph was beautiful when she fought.
Her first attack was a wave of feathers, each one a razor that sought player flesh with supernatural accuracy. The tanks raised their shields. Healers began their rotations. DPS players scattered to avoid the AOE damage zones.
It was coordinated. Professional. Exactly the kind of high-level play that Ethan had hoped to see when he designed the encounter.
Seraph transitioned into Phase 2, her corrupted wings spreading wide as she cast "Dichotomy of Heaven"—the light and shadow marking mechanic. Players scrambled to find their pairs, stacking debuffs to nullify the damage.
Most of them succeeded.
Three didn't.
Ethan watched as a mage, a warrior, and an archer dissolved into particles of light, their death screams cut short by the respawn system.
They felt that, he thought. I made them feel that.
The raid pushed on. Seraph was a demanding fight, but Crimson Vanguard was a top-ten guild. Fifteen minutes later, the Fallen Arbiter fell to one knee, her health depleted.
"For my Emperor," she whispered, "I will endure any defeat."
She dissolved into shadows, respawning in the recovery chamber Ethan had only recently learned existed. The bosses, too, had their own respawn mechanics.
The raid cheered and proceeded to Kragus's arena.
The Bloodbound Berserker was a different kind of challenge—less mechanic-heavy, more raw survival. His damage was enormous, his attacks were fast, and every 20% of his health triggered a "Blood Frenzy" that increased his speed and power.
Ethan watched four more players die in the first two minutes.
"WEAK!" Kragus bellowed, his voice shaking the arena. "IS THIS THE BEST YOUR WORLD CAN OFFER?! I'VE FOUGHT CHILDREN WITH MORE SPIRIT!"
Despite the trash talk, the raid adapted. They cycled defensive cooldowns, kited Kragus through carefully planned paths, and burned through his health with coordinated DPS rotations.
Twenty-two minutes. Kragus fell.
"FINALLY!" the berserker laughed as he collapsed. "A fight worth REMEMBERING! Come back stronger, mortals! I'll be WAITING!"
Two bosses down. Two to go before Ethan.
Vex was next, and here the mood shifted. The Shadow Whisper's arena was dark, disorienting, and filled with psychological horror elements that Ethan had been particularly proud of during development. Now, watching players stumble through illusions of their greatest fears, he felt slightly sick.
A healer was crying. Actually crying, real tears streaming down her avatar's face.
Vex's mechanic involved dragging players into personal nightmare dimensions where they had to face corrupted versions of themselves. The team couldn't help each other—everyone faced their darkness alone.
Nine more players fell.
But twenty-seven remained when Vex finally dissipated into shadows, his defeat more of a tactical retreat than a true loss.
"We're at Orianna," DragonSlayer_X announced, his voice slightly strained. "Final gatekeeper before the Emperor himself. Everyone top off, use your consumables. This is where most raids fail."
Orianna's chamber was a crystalline cathedral where past, present, and future existed simultaneously. Her mechanic was simple to understand but brutally difficult to execute: she would announce an attack, but the damage would happen at a DIFFERENT time than she said. Players had to remember the pattern, track multiple delayed abilities, and react to threats that weren't immediately visible.
It was a memory and awareness check designed to break raids apart.
Seven minutes in, DragonSlayer_X made a mistake.
He dodged right when he should have dodged left, trusting his instincts instead of the pattern he'd memorized. Orianna's temporal beam caught him full in the chest.
He didn't just die—he was ERASED, his existence temporarily removed from the timeline. His raid frames disappeared from everyone's UI. For ten seconds, it was as if he'd never existed at all.
When he respawned outside the dungeon, the raid fell apart.
Without their leader calling mechanics, players panicked. They overlapped abilities. They stood in fire. They forgot the patterns.
Orianna didn't gloat or taunt like Kragus. She simply continued her assault with crystal-cold precision.
Fifteen minutes later, the last player fell.
═══════════════════════════════════════════ RAID FAILED ═══════════════════════════════════════════ Boss Reached: Orianna, Oracle of Endings Players Eliminated: 40/40 Emperor Phase: Not Reached Stream Status: ENDED (Peak viewers: 2.1 million) ═══════════════════════════════════════════
Ethan slumped back in his throne, exhausted despite not having moved.
He hadn't even had to fight. His Generals had handled everything.
But watching forty people die—even temporarily—to systems he'd created felt heavier than he'd expected. These weren't NPCs following scripts. These were real human beings experiencing pain and failure and death.
Because of him.
"I need to do better," he murmured to the empty throne room. "I need to find a way to—"
A notification interrupted him.
═══════════════════════════════════════════ NEW RAID SCHEDULED Guild: Azure Phoenix Players: 40 Arrival: 47:59:59 ═══════════════════════════════════════════
Another raid in two days. Then another after that. And another.
An endless stream of players would come to challenge him, dying again and again until someone finally won or everyone gave up.
This was his existence now.
Unless he found a way to change the game from the inside.
[END OF CHAPTER 3]