Time to apologize

John woke up to the sound of someone knocking on his door. A quick glimpse through the room confirmed that he was alone.

The knocking repeated itself. John stood up and only now realised that he was naked. Also there was a piece of paper on his chest that now fell to the ground. John picked it up and read the letter.

"John,

Against my hypothesis, your ability to stay erect was unrelated to your direct knowledge of my intentions to fuck you. Further testing has revealed that you are not staying erect indefinitely, as you softened after the 19th orgasm. I plea for you to let me continue my research on the topic and the cause of this, as I am uncertain if that was due to your exhaustion or your abilities having a limit. Thank you for the opportunity.

Victoria"

Just as John had read it, multiple windows popped up, which he read and closed while covering himself and walking to the door.

Yeah... awesome... this was so useful!

Okay, this really was useful. The stats more than the buff, but he wasn't complaining about it either.

Wait a second... was Gaia telling him he just got Victoria pregnant? Shit. He was not ready to be a father.

Okay, this was getting serious. Sure, it explained how he got Victoria off, if she got an almost 200% boost in sensitivity, but this didn't change the fact that he did NOT want to be a father. Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit!

John sighed, feeling the promised relief while silently cursing Gaia before opening the door, fully clothed again. He looked at the person who had so rudely interrupted his sleep.

It was noone less than the psycho number 1, Naomie.

"What do you want?" he barked at her.

"Listen, John... You may not know it yet but I have never met a person more stubborn than the Hero Maker. He is insisting on going through with this mission and he wants both of us to go on it together. So he send me here so I can tell you why I did what I did earlier today. And he demands an apology. And given who he is and what he can do, he probably won't let it slide just like that. So please do both of us a favour and just come along. I want this as little as you but we don't have a choice." John was tempted to just close the door into her face, but honestly, seeing her being **** to explain whatever painful backstory or trauma she had that she ticked out like that probably was the smarter move. If she ever would stand against him, and given the situation it wasn't that unlikely, he could use it against her.

"Fine. Lead the way," he just said and walked after her. Since she stayed silent the entire way, John spend the minutes to spend his points now. His original plan of going all charisma had gotten a slight modification. He was almost killed in one hit and couldn't stand up to a girls stamina in sex. Two points he really disliked.

He put 5 points in Endurance and 10 in Charisma, hoping it may even help him right now.

He didn't feel any different, but the changes were obvious on the sheet so he didn't mind and followed Naomie further.

After leaving the castle, John was getting a bit anxious. Was she maybe just trying to kill him silently without witnesses? He was about to speak up against that as she raised her hand with a collar inside.

"Put this on. We have to cross the barrier and you wouldn't survive without it." He checked it out with observe.

Item:
Training collar
This item is part of a set
Effect: you take 90% less damage from any source that is not trying to kill you.

He put it on. This was really strong. Sure, against monsters it was useless but an accidental kill was super unlikely with this. And if he got the full set maybe he would be even less affected. He wondered if he could somehow transfer these real items to games he played online. They would be useful there as well.

Naomie pushed him out of the castle's barrier before he could ask anything else about the set. He saw why he needed the item though, since it felt like a smack on his back from an invisible giant hand, right as he touched the barrier, in addition to Naomies push, resulting in -4 HP. Without the collar surely a **** sentence.

"Okay and where to now..." he asked as he saw a new message pop up.

Shit. So he was right. She was going to kill him. Fuck. Wait, didn't the Hero Maker say barriers with rules or effects take energy? So this must weaken her. All he had to do was hide till she was out of mana and then run for it. Maybe back on the castle. If she wanted him out here, then the heroes must have been on his side in this.

John looked around. The terrain was not made for hiding. A plain open field and... A Box of Steel in the middle? What was that about?

"Welcome to our playing field, John. Let me tell you what is going to happen now. You see that box? In there are the people you brought along with you. Laura, Layklé and Ashthyn." He was still not used to Paw's real name. Then again how did Naomie know it? "And Laura is the only one who can cancel this session." Naomie was pulling out some thin black gloves that she put on. More in an instinct John used observe on them.

Item
Training gloves
This item is part of a set
The person you are attacking while wearing these gloves will receive 90% less damage.
If the target is wearing the training collar, both items effects are negated. This item gains the effect:
Your target can not die from your attacks.

Shit. So his damage reduction was gone. But at least he wouldn't die either. He had played this kind of game before. It was an endurance test. Run away until the backup comes and saves you. Usually you unlocked a secret or some bonus levels if you managed to defeat the opponent, instead of just running away in these.

"Okay so when is it over? You say she can cancel it? How? Does she has to solve some puzzle?" John asked.

"No, it's simple. All she has to do is come out and tell me. She can open the door just by pressing a button next to it. Then again, you should wipe that smile off your face, because if what I felt when I talked to her was correct, I don't see her coming out soon."

John remembered how Paw had already asked him to kill her, or himself multiple times by now. It was a good thing this wasn't going to be her choice in the end. He loved it when a strategy paid out later.

"Can she hear us?" John asked, eying the box while walking towards it.

"Of course. How else are you supposed to apologise to her." He raised an eyebrow. So this is what she meant as she said that she wanted an apology. Too bad he was going for the alternate route for this run.

"Good. Paw, come out and ..." He didn't get to finish that sentence as he felt his face being smashed into the ground.

"You take that back now. Instead you will order her to only do exactly as she wishes. If you command anything else, then this training won't end until I say you had enough. And that may take hours." She was rubbing his face in the dirt while explaining this.

"Stupid bitch. If I tell her that she will kill herself on the spot." This resulted in two things. First Naomie looked taken aback, having obviously not expected this. Then, immediately after, the pressure on his head increased. Most of the anger though was directed at the Gaia. Why would she give him the option to enslave someone to his team, and then make all following actions harder because of it? That was just bad game design. If you don't want your player to do something, you shouldn't let him do that, instead of punishing him the entire game if he did.

"And whose fault is it for making her feel that way?" Alright, obviously this girl was not willing to talk this out. John sighed and unwillingly agreed to the normal route.

"Paw, only come out if you want this fight to end," he grudgingly commanded. The door stayed shut. Of course.

With only a bit of worry, he looked at his health bar. It was slowly ticking down, already having passed the 5 hp mark. If he himself hadn't read that she couldn't kill him, he might be worried. Then again, if he reached a game over, maybe he could check a reload screen or something like that. Good question: was he immortal?

3 HP... 2 HP...1 HP...

A feeling of pain exploded in his forehead, silencing all thoughts. He screamed so suddenly that Naomie let go of him in reflex.

A window popped up before him.

This had to be some cruel joke, right? He barely had the energy to stand upright, and now Gaia took his pain resistance? This dungeon was way too hard!

"Listen, Paw, if you come out, I will give you your freedom. I will cancel the contract, you get back to your life. You never have to meet me again. That is it what you wanted, right?" Both he and Naomie were looking at the iron door for a few seconds. It didn't move.

"Try again later," Naomie said but before he could say anything else she took three fast steps towards him and connected her fist to his chin. The sadly already known feeling of flying through the air backwards was nothing John enjoyed, as he connected it to the almost immediate crash into something hard. The sensation was worse than he remembered. He wasn't sure what hurt more, the broken jaw he had gotten from the punch or the shoulder that had gotten smashed against the steel box.

He screamed again, tears filling his eyes. "Naomie, please..." he begged her but all he received was a firm grip on his neck. This was feeling way too real.

"Do you have any idea what I think of you, John Newman? You enslave an innocent girl, **** her into hell, and instead of learning from your mistake, you do it again. Three! Damn! Times!" With each of the last words she also knocked against the iron door. With his head. John felt the welcome feeling of unconciousness coming closer. Would he be **** to do this again if he passed out now?

"Oh no you don't," was the last he heard before his body felt like it was burning. He couldn't tell from where but it felt like every cell on his body was aflame. Only a few seconds later did he see the taser in Naomie's hand. Was there even a way for him to win this? Of course, what game would make an impossible dungeon? He knew this game had flaws, but it wasn't that bad. Right?

"Now, you have ten seconds to talk to her again. Make it convincing cause if she doesn't stop me, I won't be giving you another chance for one full minute." John still fell to the ground still as she let go of him. He didn't know if there was a way to win this, but if there was, he didn't see it. He had lost all hopes of escaping or anything else. This was futile.

"Paw..." He spoke only to maybe win a few more seconds in which he wouldn't have to suffer. "Paw I'm sorry. I don't care if you believe me, but I am." Only after he said it did he realize that this wasn't a lie. But why? He asked himself just now this very important question. Why was he sorry for her? He was the main character, she was a target. An NPC elevated to side character level. If anything she should be grateful for what he had done to her! If their roles were reversed, he would have come out by now and saved her, would he not? He would have understood that saving the hero was more important than a silly grudge.

A grudge. Why was she even having that? Maybe this was the key to solving this problem. Did he forget something? Was this an event that triggered, because he didn't do her sidequest?

Before he could get further in this line of thoughts however, he was interupted by the grim looking Naomie and her ever lasting fist of pain, burying itself in his stomach. John spat out. This pain overshadowed every possible thought he might have had. It felt so real.

Wait, was this... This was not what he thought. It wasn't any kind of event. This didn't need to have a solution obvious to him, because it was no game. There were no sidequest. There only was the past he had with Paw.

Another hit, this time her knee had found its way between his legs, forcing him to bend forward.

But if his life had not become a game, like he had assumed, then suddenly all of this made more sense. Taking things from the main characters view, all your actions are just, no matter whom you have to hurt, if it furthers your goal. That's what games are. 'Your goal is worth the cost.' But that doesn't apply to real life that well.

He felt his head being lifted at his hairs, followed by his whole body being thrown away from it, with a crash landing on his back.

This is why they had gotten so angry about him. It may have been a game to him, but for everyone else, this was still the real life. And he had abused real people. Not NPCs, or side characters, but humans.

John opened his eyes and saw Naomie coming towards him. He felt relief as he saw tears in her eyes. Good. She was a decent person. She didn't want to do this either. He had **** her in this position.

Sadly all those feelings made one thing abundantly clear to him. He was not the hero. Maybe the main character in his own little game, but most certainly not the hero. It was almost poetically that he had run into this group of people calling themself just that. And now it was time for the heroes to slay the villain.

"Naomie... May I have a few more seconds, please?" he asked while his eyes were closing again. She grunted, but gave a short nod. John thanked her silently.

"Paw, Layklé, Ashthyn, I am hereby canceling our contracts. You may regain your strength that I have taken. You are no longer in my service. Please accept this or else you will be sharing my fate." He instantly felt Layklé agreeing. It felt like a part of him was cut off. Then the same again as Ashthyn agreed to the cancellation of the contract. Only Paw wasn't. "Paw..." he sighed. If he was going to hell, he wouldn't take this burdened soul with him any further than he already had. The last dot on the signing of his godly sentence. "I am ordering you to cancel this contract." And there it was. The ripping of souls. He felt like he just had lost more than he knew. Something he probably would miss for all eternity.

He turned back to Naomie. "Once this is over, I want you to protect them," he stated. A girl like her would not let them come to any harm. He knew that. With his last strength, John gripped his collar and ripped it off. The pain in his body was gone instantly, confirming that he could lose health again. Good.

"Do your worst," he said and let his arms fall to his side. Just to confirm himself, he opened his eyes again, only to see pained smile and a raised fist while standing above him. Knowing what was to come, he closed his eyes, probably for the last time.