Duel with the Archiver

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"Halt! Who goes there?"

Your adventure has led you here. After all the trials and tribulations, you are so close to your journey's end when the one person you don't expect to see here confronts you. She holds a book in one hand-open only for her eyes. Her other hand tightly grips a sword, unwilling to let it go even after seeing you. Despite the helmet wrapping around her head, and despite the warm glow emanating from her eyes, she stares right at you. No, that's not quite correct. She's staring past you, as if she's unable to accept that you made it this far and now, she has to act upon her duty.

"A shame. Truly a shame. I only wish it did not have to come to this."

She closes her book and raises her sword at you. A long red bar stretches across the horizon. The words "Archiver of the Alpha and the End" display on top of the bar. A distant piano starts up with simple notes before being joined by powerful drums and a full string orchestra. It seems you have no choice but to fight.

~~~~~

You shudder as the pressure from just being in the room with the Archiver threatens to buckle your knees. This was supposed to be a game, but this feels too real.

When Shiori told you this would be a fun game, you believed her. After all, up to this point, everything *was* fun. You never felt genuinely threatened or anything, it was just like a game, with levels and everything.

But here? With the Archiver? You can tell just from looking, you won't win. You can't win. Maybe ever.

Suddenly, the Archiver is right in front of you, her sword on its way down. You push yourself to the right with all the might you can muster, and let yourself just hit the ground and roll to your feet.

Looking up, your eyes dart every which way, searching for her.

Your skin crawls and you slowly look back and meet the Archiver's gaze as they look down on you. Their eyes seem... sad? Disappointed?

The Archiver doesn't give you time to utter even a yelp, as their sword arm twitches, and your view fades to black with a large "YOU DIED" in red text appears in the center of your view.

You take off the headset and look over at Shiori next to you, watching you with a wide grin as her legs kick back and forth alternatingly.

"So? How was it?!" she asks, leaning forward.

You look down at the headset in your hands, a cold sweat still seeping down the back of your neck, and you shudder, remembering the feeling of being around the Archiver. But then, you remember everything else you went through to get there.

"It was a lot of fun. Except... the Archiver? That was... terrifying. Are they even beatable? I couldn't even see the last attack..."

Shiori tilts her head and stops kicking her legs.

"Hm? That's a really good question. You're the first one who tested my new game!" she smiles proudly, placing her hands on her hips and puffing her already ample chest.

"I'm flattered, but... did *you* test it?" you ask, slowly and gently setting the headset down. You take a moment to take a deep breath to steady your breathing.

"Why would I? I already know the whole moveset!"

"... Shiori. You should play it. Trust me," you respond, looking at her with a deadpan expression.

You swear to yourself that next time she makes something, you won't do it until she's tested it herself. That was way too hard. And scary. It was like seeing Shiori when she was orchestrating the inky shadows in the library to... "remove" an intruder. Except worse, since it was directed at you. 

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