MMORPG: Rise of the Peerless Pumpkinmancer

The entire Dream Realm Trembled, the Curse Awakening. That's when the dreamers started waking up, Jack included. 

"Oh, guess I didn't conquer the multiverse after all ~ sucks." He pouted, stating the obvious. 

For a while, he had believed this to be Reality. But, now that he thought about it, accomplishing all this in a week was a bit of an exaggeration. 

He glanced at the City he had built. 

It had all the comfort of a modern city, docked spaceships used as flying buildings, various alien species they had grabbed from whatever corner of the multiverse, and more. 

He would certainly be missing the living chocolate elephants, his aquarium mermaids, and that one orange-peeling chaos dragon. 

Nords ran all around in panic as they pointed to the bleeding sky. 

"Where the hell are we?!" 

"There's something wrong with this place!!!" 

"What's happening right now?! I'm so confused!!!" 

Jack hollered at them all, grabbing their attention before reassuring them. "Don't worry. It's just the Apocalypse. You're all going to die! Oh, and hi, I'm Jack!"

"AHHHHHH!!!!" As they screamed, many disappeared from the dream realm, the shock too big for their spirit. 

"Perfect log out! Hehe, just in time to take care of this whole mess." The bleeding sky slowly took a shape he knew very well: the assassin who had killed him. 

The man's shadowy hood emitted an evil aura as he locked unto him. But a second later, its body started morphing, soon turning into…. A tiny goldfish?! 

"Oh no! My nemesis, a goldfish!" Jack exaggeratedly exclaimed. 

The Curse finally realized that using fears against this crazy man wouldn't work. His genuine fears were too hard to read! It started morphing once again. 

[The Curse Is Taking Physical Shape!] 

Jack grinned. This was still his domain, his City. As he pressed a button, deafening music erupted from countless speakers: Boss Music. 

"You better take a shape worthy of my hype, you bastard." At this moment, there was no hint of fear in his voice, only eagerness. 

The Curse kept morphing, a ball of blood and darkness. But then it finally settled on a shape. "Damn, so handsome!" Jack couldn't help but praise. 

[Eternal Slumber Curse!] 

This new enemy looked exactly like Jack, but a shadow version! Wasn't he praising himself by extension!! The bystanders didn't know how to react to this. 

The creature overflowed with so much power, its mana corrupting the very fabric of the world around it. Yet Jack was still smiling brightly. 

"Hahahaha, shall we get started!" He screamed as he tapped a button. What happened next was so over-the-top that seeing it made many NPCs DC. 

- Spaceships dropping bombs 

- Android-piloted mechas flying in

- Magical arrays lighting the entire world

- Planet-sized aliens gulping the enemy down 

Jack was taking advantage of the dream realm. Magic and technology created an impossibly powerful combination. But, no matter what he used on the Curse, it didn't budge. 

"Wasting your time, you are." The Curse scoffed at Jack's efforts. 

"Damn, you're talking like that?! You should have taken a small green appearance!" Jack kept cackling as the fight raged on. 

Then the Curse counterattacked. It teleported behind Jack and started smacking him around. He flew into building after building, wrecking them. 

"Dammit! This was a replica of the Babel Tower!" He extirpated himself from the rubble as he complained, peeved. 

— Smack! CRASH! Smack! CRASH! — 

It was an unending cycle of slapping, crashing, and suffering. Every time, Jack would emerge while complaining about how X building had been his favorite for Y or Z reasons. 

But, the more it happened, and the fainter his body became, his spirit slowly eroding. There was only so much that he could do against the Curse. It was a god in this place. 

"Giving up, you should. Kill you, I will." The Curse issued an ultimatum. 

It would extinguish the mortal's spirit forever. It would take a lot of energy, but it would succeed eventually. It didn't matter if it took a day or a year. 

"Hehe, try your best!" Even while losing, Jack didn't lose courage. 

"As you willl…." The Curse shrugged. 

— Smack! CRASH! Smack! CRASH! — 

The Nord bystanders saw it all happen, clenching their fists as they cursed their weakness. But all they could do was watch— and disappear when Jack's body collided with them. 

He was becoming fainter and fainter until he finally couldn't endure anymore. There was no winning against a god. It was impossible…. 

━━━━━━ POV ━━━━━━━

Back in the real world, more and more Nords were awakening. 

They would all wake up the same way: coughing blood from intense shock as they bit their tongues. 

"Father, you're back! You're finally back! Thank God!" A villager rejoiced at their relative regaining consciousness. 

"No!!!" (X13!) The mighty shouts made the Igloo tremble, scaring the bystanders. What was happening?! 

"God had nothing to do with it. Thank Jack!" The recently awakened Nords all glanced toward the youngster who had saved them. 

He seemed to be peacefully sleeping, yet they knew the suffering he was enduring inside the dream realm. Even now, his spirit was at risk as he fought the Curse. 

"From now on, he will be an Eternal Friend of our clan! In life, in death, and all over the multiverse!" they powerfully exclaimed, many glancing at them confused. 

They established a defensive perimeter around the sleeping man and his wolf. At this moment, if a god came to disturb him, they would freaking fight it! 

"Guard our savior!" They shouted, tears in their eyes. 

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

"Is that all you can do?!" A youngster taunted an unbelievably strong evil, all the while getting smacked around relentlessly. 

— Smack! CRASH! Smack! CRASH! — 

His body was getting fainter and fainter. By now, he looked like a ghost, utterly translucent. As for the remaining dreamers, they had long been ejected out. 

But just as he was enduring the beating, a string of notifications suddenly appeared. 

[Affinity ++++++++!] 

[Eternal Friend of the Nord!] 

[Babies will be named after you!] 

[Men and women alike will idolize you!] 

Wow! They sure had been impressed. Wasn't there one too many + after the affinity line?! Also, what was up with the baby names? Would they be named Jack or Jack'O? 

Those were his last thoughts as he was smacked into oblivion. 

The Curse stood alone in the dream realm. Even now, it felt rage: that living error had screwed everything up for it! Still, at least he was gone forever…. 

— Woosh! — 

But a second later, a man reappeared in the dream realm. Not only was Jack back, but his spirit was intact again! 

"How?!"

"Oh, I have an array for that. Anyway, let's keep playing, shall we? Let's do this a few thousand times, alright? Don't go limp on me, now!" Jack winked. 

At that moment, the Curse turned pale. Its palm already hurt from slapping! As for Jack, he was already practicing his glorious return speech. 

The smacking sound returned, but this time with a slight variation… 

— Smack! CRASH! Smack! CRASH! —

— Sob, Sob, Sob! — 

It was the Curse crying...