Solo Cultivation in The Apocalypse

"For three hours, sure." The counter lady nodded her head and checked out her customer's Game card. "That will be a thousand yen." She handed the man his card back.

The man bowed to her as he left for his allotted gaming alley. The lady glanced to her left side, a magically enchanted glass door and the little fairy stood.

A mob of five teenage friends approached the door. The glass door did not use the sensor technology, so it slide open due to the enchantment.

The lady pulled a smile as the group of teenagers reached the counter and handed their gaming cards.

"For four hours," said the lackey, "please," he added.

She accepted the five cards. "Oi, order us some drinks, will ya?"

The lackey glanced at the boss who had blonde hair and was wearing a robe, an emerald color robe-- the robes the fourth-years wear.

"B-but I have no money on me---"

"I said. Order us some drinks. Did ya hear me?" The lackey was terrified to death but the lady did her work of checking out their cards.

"S-sir, p-please... I have..."

'Hitori-san would not have let this happen in front of him.' She closed her eyes and visualized the fight between him and Gigi that happened at the end of the fourth alley. The counter lady still remembered how Hitori stood for a guy who was cornered.

"Now you will order us some snacks too. Snacks and drinks, I want them," the gang leader demanded.

"For god's sake," the lady groaned, she clicked her tongue and looked at the blonde boy with a frown. "Leave him alone, people do not fight in my Vr-cade."

"Eh?" the blondie glared. "Yo, lady, do your job. We are paying you, are not we?" his men laughed.

'So what if you are paying me?' she thought. 'I am not a slave or a servant.'

"Or what?" the blondie stepped towards the counter and leaned forward. "Or what will you do, call your manager or your owner?"

'No one owns me.'

"Say..." he stepped closer, reached the counter, "what will you do?!" and banged the counter.

The lady tensed her muscles, gritted her teeth, and was about to lean forward to grab the blondie by his neck when:

"Oh shit! This is hot shit!" one of the men shrieked. "A new announcement was made at dawn," he said, "six hours ago."

"What? Show me!" They acted like creatures, pushing each other for a piece of news.

'Calm down, girl. Calm down.' The lady took heavy breaths.

"There is a world announcement and an announcement on the game's official site, for the first fucking time!"

'Oh, must be that Unbeatable Duo or... god's sake, no... that wicked Onogi.' The lady shook her head, she got back to her work then-- checking out cards.

While the guy read the announcement: "Emerging stars. This trio defeated an army of more than a hundred players and monsters, resulting in the defeat of the unstoppable big-shot: Emperor Onogi's guild."

The lady sighed. 'Onogi again---' her eyes widened. 'D-defeat?'

"A battle between the trio of Ryu, God's Hell, and Leonine and Emperor Onogi's army, that lasted from Twelve o'clock midnight till Two in the morning, became the biggest battle ever in the history of Mokushiroku no Tennou."

'Ryu?' the lady froze. 'It can not be...' she dropped the cards and jumped off the stand she was standing on. Now that she landed down, her chest stood barely above the counter.

"H-hey! Where are you going? What about our cards?!"

"They are right there." She pointed behind her as she walked towards the staff's door.

"You bitch! Wait right there or you will pay!" The lady came to a sudden stop. "Hah. Ha, ha! Come back."

The lady sighed. 'Little creeps.' She sighed and rolled her eyes. The lady turned her petite body.

"Fuck you and fuck your gaming cards." She moved her hands to the counter, and a beam of fire erupted from her hands and set the teenagers' gaming cards on fire.

The blonde guy jumped back in surprise. "H-how?" He glanced at her, then at her hands. He was sure-- she was not wielding a wand.

Without saying anything, the lady strode out from the counter to the blondie who was still pointing his wand at her-- trembling in fear though. The rest of his mates had already forsaken him.

The lackey was too scared to even move that he stumbled and fell to the floor. The lady pointed her hand at the timid guy and waved upwards.

It did not look as if she had muttered a spell but inside. 'Levitation.' she had cast a spell.

"Never let these shitty people bully you. The youth is too precious to be wasted serving anyone." The lackey nodded and ran out of the Vr-cade, leaving the blondie only.

"And you, handsome boy." She leaned closer to him. The boss's whole body was trembling, he could not even talk. "Do I work for you? Am I your servant? Or am I in debt to your father?"

Hesitantly and scaredly, the blondie shook his head.

"Then show some fucking respect." She moved her finger through his forehead and stopped in the middle of his brows. "Give respect, take respect or..." she got up and straightened her mini skirt. "Get petrified." She shrugged.

The blondie's scared mumbling vanished as grey color started to spread from his forehead to his mouth, eyes, and head.

"Oh... shit..." she clicked her tongue. Then the lady turned around and reached for her wand tugging in the side of her skirt.

It was an eight inches long, dark pin color wand, that she pointed at the blondie. "And now petrify."

The speed decreased but increased again as casting the same spell twice was... foolishness. She curled her lip to bite. "Fuck..." and she turned around to leave.

"Oi Himbo, come on-line." She raised her wand's tip to her ear. "Are you sleeping? I am punching out of my shift. I am done."

The lady walked behind the counter and went to the game's site. There it was, the legendary battle between the two superpowers-- The trio and Onogi Guild.

"I am in the library, busy. And I do not have any time for your bullshit, get back to your shift."

"Library? What are you doing there?" she frowned.

"Trying to find spell breaker for Hiro-san's fucking House Guardian spell, hopefully, I will find it."

"Oh, I... uh... my spell went wrong-- I mean, I cast the same spell twice."

"Spell? On whom?!" he raised his voice but then bit his lip to lower it.

The lady played the battle's climax where Hitori teleported from the Duergar's floor and sliced Kuzu's neck, Reon shot him, and Hitori finally smashed his head.

"Oh my god..." she was left speechless, her mouth open, and eyes wide.

"I asked on whom?!" The counterman raised his voice again-- without caring about the stares from an old woman.

"Uh? I do not know, some fourth-year piece of shit. I petrified him, used my wand though-- after casting it bare-handedly, but I am sure the effect would not last long since I used my wand later but-- ugh, will it last long?"

"Fuck. What were you thinking? Twice? It would not wear off for a day! Are you stupid?"

"You are the stupid one, Himbo."

"Do not. Call. Me. That."

"And besides, I did what Hitori-san would have done..."

She closed the site, changed the Vr-cade's sign to 'Closed' with the fairy waving them goodbye, she ran inside the staff room.

The Himbo man stayed silent. "I want to confess my mistake though," she said, "I should have paid more attention to Hitori-san."

"Wait." His voice turned deep. "What happened to him?"

"Nothing, uh..." she took her coat off the hanging. "Recently... he was, he fought a battle... yeah."

"A battle? In the game? With whom?"

"Actually, forget it." She pulled both of her hands through and grabbed her levitating wand. "Do you know that Hitori-san entered the Earth Cultivation Domain though---"

"Do not do that, sister, tell me what is actually going on."

The lady sighed and paused in front of the door. "Hitori-san, inside the game, sliced Kuzu Erabu's neck and then smashed Kuzu's head to pieces."

The counterman's chair screeched and fell, and everyone turned to him, glaring at the tall Himbo man. His coffee spilled on the floor. At that moment, he did not care about his voice.

"Are you fucking serious? Why the fuck is he messing with Onogi?!"

"I-I am not sure why but, you know Hitori-san saved this Kamiya guy once... that maybe the reason why."

"No, no, no, we can not have the Onogis involving themselves right now." He shook his head as he started to run towards the exit.

The counterman casually lifted his hand behind him, the coffee rose from the ground, the chair leaned forward, and the table was set perfect again. He pulled the 'Protection Enchantment Breakers' books close to his chest as he took the stairs.

"We can not have THAT scientist getting himself involved with Saibai Hitori."

"Kamino?"

"Kamino. He will cross any limits for his son, and his hate for mages... will just fuel his emotions."

"We need to talk, brother."

"Yeah." He swiveled his wand. "Meet me at our spot, Eya-nee." And he disappeared as soon as he exited the library.

Eya banged open the staff room's door, crossed the petrified blondie's body, and stopped in the middle of the Vr-cade.

"Listen to me for a second, gentlemen and ladies." She brought her wand to her mouth. "Today, as a special event, you can play for as long as you want, you would not be charged for your extra time."

Loud cheers filled the alleys. "And, you would not be charged for any of the services, enjoy to your fullest!"

And she bolted out of the Vr-cade, pulled a dark mist in front of the shop, leaving only the Vr-cade's name, and 'Closed' tag, and the fairy.

Eya turned around to find an angry man with broad shoulders and a puffed-out chest, striding towards her with a wand in his hand, and a dark black cloak over his shoulders.

"Eya-nee," he said, as he shook his head. His tensed eyes gave a sense of urgency and the fear of the unknown.

Eya strode to him. She stared into her little brother's reddish-black eyes-- full of anger, it seemed, but he was just uncertain about the future, hence, insecure about the upcoming events.

"Oh, Kakashi," Eya said, as she stretched her arms to hug Kakashi.

Kakashi did not hug her back– he knew it was one of her jokes– yet Eya was almost buried in his arms. "Please, keep a closer eye on that boy from now on," Kakashi said. "I will find a way to enter his house as soon as possible."

Eya released her brother. "Uh-hm, we need to find out about the wand's whereabouts. We need to make sure it is safe there."

"I doubt it is. When someone killed Kiku, I am sure they did it for the legendary wand. And I know... they wanted to kill Hitori too. But that boy spends more time in the Vr-cade than his house. Is he in, by the way?"

"uh, no. Hitori-san did not check-in today. I think Hitori-san must be tired from yesterday's battle and is sleeping."

"I think so too." He took uneven breaths. "And I think—"

"Oh..." Eya stared blankly at Kakashi. "My dear himbo brother." She petted Kakashi's head. "You do not need to use your brains, your sister will do it for you, just lend me your strengths and skills though."

"Fuck you." Kakashi pushed her, and she giggled, leaving her brother flushed.