[F07/SP] Cutting the Cord

[Oscar 0]

Spoiler

Oscar - Level 31 [P.45]
HP: 860
EN: 118
DMG: 23
ACC: 4
EVA: 1
MIT: 104
BH: 47
LD: 5
16 FLN
FRZ
A.A.

Battle Ready Inventory
Teleport Crystal
[EMPTY]
[EMPTY]
[EMPTY]
[EMPTY]

Equipment
Dark Fortunes [T4 Demonic Katana] A.A., FRZ, FLN, ACC
Tactical Under Armor [T4 Perfect Heavy Armor] +72 MIT
Ivory Gold Leaf Ring [T1 Demonic Trinket]  2 ACC, 2 EVA

Skills
Katana Mastery Rank 5 
Heavy Armor Mastery Rank 5
Battle Healing Rank 5
Searching Rank 5
Energist
Combat Mastery: Damage Rank 3

Extra Skills
Survival
Meditation
First Aid Rank 5

Mods/Addons
Katana: Ferocity
Katana: Stamina
HA: Impetus
HA: Iron Skin
FA: Field Medic
SRCH: Night Vision
Shift: AoE Specialist

Housing Buffs
Well-Rested: -1 energy cost for the first three expenditures of each combat
Squeaky Clean: The first time you would suffer DoT damage in a thread, reduce damage taken from DoT each turn by 25% (rounded down)
Relaxed: Increases out of combat HP regen by (5 * Tier HP) and decreases full energy regen to 2 Out of Combat Posts.
Tasty: Turn 2 identical food items (same quality, tier, & enhancements) into a Lesser Feast. A Lesser Feast contains 4 portions of the food items sacrificed. Lesser Feasts created this way cannot be used outside of the thread they are created. Limit 1 item created per thread.
Skylight (Searching): +1 Expertise to declared utility skill.
Advanced Training: +10% EXP to a thread. Limit one use per month. Must be used on a player's first post in a thread. Cooldown begins counting down when used in a post.
Greenhouse: +2 EXP to Gathering, +1 CD & LD
 

Oscar had not wanted this day to come. He’d been putting it off for quite some time, in fact. Perhaps he clung to some hope that everything would eventually go back to normal once the Player-Killer threat was dealt with. His old circles would welcome him back with open arms and forget the list of names he’d personally carved into the Monument. It was a foolish thought. It wasn’t that he thought himself unworthy. He just knew how people were. There were those that would attempt to forgive him. They would try their damnedest to look past it all. But, invariably, their perception of him would be stained red as the blood on his hands. It wasn’t worth the hassle for him or for them. There were also those who would use his friends against him. He’d lost his shadow and now that he was cognizant of the tactics employed by Tyson, it wouldn’t happen again. But so long as there were people who could easily find out where he was, it wouldn’t matter. And so, Oscar needed to take measures against that. Tyson had an axe to grind against Oscar and his friends. While this wouldn’t work on him, the considerable losses his old ward’s organization had taken at the hands of Firm Anima probably meant that they no longer had the manpower to wage a full-on assault against Oscar’s heart. 

But Oscar’s war went beyond Tyson. It was every Player Killer. As far as they would know, Oscar was always a one-man show. 

The man leaned back in his chair. Dark eyes scanned the walls of his office. Before him were strewn several Recording Crystals, each containing a message that Oscar had spent all night recording and re-recording. He let out a heavy sigh. The house felt dark. Empty. He now knew what Cordelia had meant when she said that she didn’t like large houses. The room he’d built for them to avoid those exact issues had gone unused for a long time. It was good that Cordelia hadn’t come home in so long. It made all of this easier.

[Oscar 0]

I suppose there’s no time like the present, Oscar thought. He gathered up his Crystals and rose from his seat. His face bore a somber expression. Letting go was never easy. But Oscar was fully committed to his path and his friends couldn’t follow him. He knew that. But he didn’t want their last memories of him to be stained. It was inherently selfish, but he wasn’t going to apologize for it.

One Crystal remained clenched in his hand as he made his way downstairs from his office. The house was usually well-lit and welcoming. Not so today. Not a single light in the entire manor was on. The darkness was oppressive and stretched on for miles. If not for his recent choice to pick up Night Vision, Oscar would have tripped over his own decor several times over. He descended the stairs and made his way to the room he’d once shared with Cordelia.

It was here and only here that he’d finally turned on the lights. The sudden illumination overloaded his vision, causing the man to recoil and blink away the myriad dots that flashed across his line of sight. But, moments later, it passed. He scanned the interior of the room. It was just as they had left it. The small dining table still held the remnants of the last meal they shared. The bed in the corner went unmade. Oscar closed his eyes. He could still hear the roar of the sandstorm and how her voice stood out against the chaos surrounding them. They had gone on many adventures together. Grown together. Perhaps if things had gone differently, they would not now need to part.

But life was seldom so kind.

Oscar strode forward and placed the Recording Crystal upon her pillow. If and when she ever came home, it would be impossible to miss. Then, he turned on his heels and left, killing the lights and closing the door behind him. 

@Cordelia,
I’ve never been the type to do this sort of thing over a message. You’re worth more than that. And you’re also worth more than any empty platitudes I give you. So I will simply say this: If I close my eyes, I can still hear the day we met as vividly as ever. I remember every conversation. Every expression you made. You were and still are important to me. But paths diverge and even if you were willing to follow me, I won’t allow it. Never let anything extinguish your light. Not even me. Goodbye, Cordelia. I will miss you.
 

[Oscar 0]

With Oscar’s goodbye delivered to possibly the most important person in his life, the rest of them would be comparatively easier. That’s not to say any of them would be easy. The ties that bound his current self to the old needed to be cut if he had any hope of doing what needed to be done. All of his other comrades were unwilling or unable to properly deal with the murderers that stalked the fringes of Aincrad unless they were directly threatened by them. Oscar couldn’t fault them for it. A fight for survival was much more palatable than a war of extermination. He didn’t have to worry over them anyway. The Frontliners were plenty strong enough to handle a Player-Killer.

Everything Oscar had done had been in aid of the weak and afraid. His time at the Orphanage and his pastime of helping the lower levels was a testament to that. But the Orphanage was a vulnerability. And it was vulnerabilities that he needed to attempt to do away with. If Oscar could cast aside his friends and allies so freely, Tyson would have no reason to go after them. And the Player-Killers not involved with Tyson would have never known they existed. And so, Oscar traveled down to Floor One. The mountainous landscape of Floor Seven disappeared as he stepped onto the Teleportation Platform. Like swirls of paint upon a canvas, his surroundings danced across his vision against a backdrop of deep purple. Light broke the darkness and the swirls slowed and began to turn back on themselves as if time itself reversed. The familiar sights and sounds of the Town of Beginnings assaulted his senses. From the square, the town splayed out before him. 

Oscar paused for a moment. He gazed out over the streets and buildings, drinking it all in. Then, he closed his eyes and exhaled forcefully through his nose. Without another glance, Oscar turned on his heels and began to move through the streets with a trained efficiency. While the Orphanage was his main goal, Oscar had another stop to make along the way.