Clack…clack clack…clack…clack clack clack…
The once fast rhythm of keystrokes had long since lost its energy, turning into dragged clicks that echoed in the darkness enveloping the cramped room.
As I stared at the screen, I found myself wondering what the wall of letters and symbols it displayed meant. Of course, I did know what it meant. I knew it was the purpose, at least. I was the one who wrote the whole thing, after all.
After a while, I noticed that the letters had stopped appearing. I looked down and saw that my fingers had stopped moving. Shifting my gaze back to the screen, I stared at the long script until a spark scattered the cloud in my mind, giving me a moment of much-needed clarity.
I hurriedly pressed the save option, then pressed again just to be sure. I then went about uploading the saved file into three different cloud storage accounts. Only once I was done with that did I upload it to the company's cloud, and once I saw the green check mark that confirmed that the file had been uploaded successfully, I collapsed back in my chair and let out a long, long sigh.
"Fiiiiiiiiiiiiiinallyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!"
After forty-seven hours, I was finally done. I was truly done. Maybe done for good. Crunch time was a staple for the gaming industry these days, especially when it came to the bigger studios working on AAA games. We company grunts are forced to grind for days with barely any rest, the sharp blade of a deadline hanging at our necks, threatening to cut us if we don't finish the product in time.
Of course, no matter how much we strain ourselves, the product is never finished on time, so one could only wonder what the point of all the rush is. The product I have been working on for the last six years was no different, of course.
A multiplayer battle royal based on a famous comic book series. I could already see the train wreck of a launch it will have. Putting aside the buggy mess it will be, the trend it was trying to follow had already died a couple of years back, and the games that still follow its formula were ones who have established themselves at the very start. Trying to compete with them was a fool's errand, and that's if the product could compete in the first place.
The one we were making simply sucks. The gameplay wasn't anything to brag about, but it was the butchered story and characters that would undoubtedly ruin it for even the diehard fans of the original IP.
"I give it two weeks…"
Six years or not, I couldn't care less about that trash of a game. I already got paid, and since I was likely getting laid off soon, why should I give a damn what happens to it?
Well, there was one more reason why I'm not too worried, even if I might end up jobless soon.
"... I couldn't make any progress today, but…"
I could hear my pillow calling, asking when I would come to embrace it. Plugging my ears, I turned my focus back to the monitor. There was one thing I had to do before getting the rest I deserved.
Closing all my work-related files, I switched the user account on my PC and navigated to a different file. I always made sure to separate my work and personal accounts to ensure none of the files would get mixed up, especially since I started working on my personal project two years ago.
Rose of Valor was the name I gave it. It was the kind of project big studios wouldn't touch with a ten-meter pole—a turn-based RPG with simple graphics, a daring story, but more importantly, a lot of cute girls to romance.
Opening the character status screen, I went over the designs of each of the heroines: Liliana, the blonde noble woman; Maple, the timid healer; and Daphne, the strict prude. If there was one thing they had in common, it would be that all three of them had erotic bodies.
Massive tits, thin waists, and wide hips. Thick thighs and slender legs, too. There were some differences here and there, but all three had such proportions that would make most feminists fume with rage.
The game they're a part of had a very simple premise: the protagonist, a new student at the Vanguard Knight Academy, ends up joining the faction led by Liliana due to story reasons. Said faction had been in decline for a while, so it was up to the MC to rebuild it and reclaim its former glory. As a reward for his efforts, he gets to enjoy sexy harem life with a bunch of voluptuous cuties.
I know what it sounds like, and I know how society sees such games. Do I care? Nope. Why should I feel ashamed of making such games when there are people selling books about milking minotaurs?
"Let's see…" I turned my attention to the progress sheet I had pinned to the wall behind my monitor. "Next is the maid…"
I was mostly done with the complicated parts, so I only had some polishing to do. I went to open the folder with the character designs, but as I looked at the screen, I didn't hear the familiar click of my mouse.
Confused, I shifted my gaze to the right, wondering if the button was stuck or something. What met me was the sight of my hand shaking and twitching as it hovered over the mouse.
'Huh? What's… happening?'
Just as the question crossed my mind, I felt my heart give a particularly powerful beat, then-
"... ah…"
It came to a silent halt.
I guess it makes sense. I barely slept ten hours this last week and survived on just coffee and an energy drink. All of that came after two very stressful months. It isn't that surprising for me to die after putting myself through all of that.
'God…damn it…' My hand fell, and my body went limp. 'I didn't close the app…'
The thought made me want to laugh, even when I didn't have the strength. To think that I would go like this, sitting in front of a computer with an erotic game still open.
'Well, not that it matters…'
Soon, I will be gone from this world. What happens after that doesn't matter. As the light from my screen continued to fade, I let my eyelids fall and closed my eyes. Just like that, I was gone.
~[ ]~
A bright orange flame danced, blown by a faint gust of wind. The candle was one of many, all forming a large circle. The lights they provided were cold and eerie, illuminating only the magic circle at their center, and the three cloaked figures standing around it, the shadows they cast blending in the darkness.
"Are we… are we really doing this?" A soft, feminine voice asked, the hesitation it carried more than obvious.
"We have no other choice." The reply was firm and unyielding, but one could still notice the hint of doubt that came with it.
"Milady has already made her decision." The third one spoke in a reprimanding tone. "Our duty is to follow, not doubt."
"Calm down, you two." The second one spoke again. "If this ritual succeeds, we will finally have the power. The power to rise again. The power to reclaim what's ours." As the word left her lips, the air in the room stirred again. "The power to make them pay."
The conviction in her voice seemed to reach the other, and the nods they exchanged confirmed their readiness.
"Let us start, then."
The three knelt at the same time and placed their hands on the floor. A second later, the magic circle at their center began to glow. Light spread through from the edge, following the lines and forming a series of complex symbols and shapes.
Once the light reached the center, a powerful gale blasted the room, putting out the candles as it spread out. The three surrounding the circles had their hoods blown back, and the wind carelessly played with their hair. Their focus never faltered, however. Their eyes remained on the circle, and their hand stuck to the floor, their mana continuing to flow.
Just as their reserves seemed to reach their end, specs of light began to gather at the center of the magic circle. They quickly coalesced into a single sphere, and its size kept on increasing until it filled the entire circle.
The wind suddenly halted, and the sphere contracted into a single point. Just when it looked like it would disappear, the sphere suddenly exploded, and light filled the entire room.