Catherine Waide sat in her office in Centra Holdings in London, drinking tea and staring out her window. She knew the fated battle was today but had refrained from watching it. Things like that weren’t good for the heart. She would watch the battle when a conclusion was reached. It worried her not at all that the game might truly end today. She would make another game without the interference of Kbyte’s younger and more violent sibling.

Catherine leaned back in her chair, rewarding herself for hard work by slipping her feet out of her shoes and placing them on the carpet. Marvelously rich carpet that fit between her toes. She sighed in relief, and it was quiet for a moment before her personal terminal chimed. She kept her eyes closed, ignoring it since she had given strict orders that she was not to be bothered during this time.

The wall light curtain used for conferencing turned itself on and the sounds of battle filled the room, causing Catherine to slowly open her eyes. “Kbyte? I thought I was clear in my instruction?”

Her personal terminal darkened and words formed. “Yes, you were clear.”

“Then why are you showing me this?” Catherine swung herself around in her chair.

“Priority 1, save Catherine Waide, has been activated,” was his simple and immediate response. The screen flashed white and black, indicating laughter if Catherine recalled correctly. She was fond of the AI and gave it certain freedoms, truthfully because she wasn’t sure he wouldn’t get around them, but also because he was a symbol from the past when his mother was her dearest and closest friend.

“Well that’s ridiculous,” Catherine said at last. “I suppose we must allow ourselves these little rebellions if we wish for originality and ingenuity. What am I looking at?”

“The defenders are coming to terms with their foe. It will be a lengthy battle and then Void will descend.” The simple text appeared all at once, disconcerting her with its speed and intelligence as it always did.

“Oh? Want me to watch a glorious victory then?” Catherine sighed, pushing her spoon down on the herbs there were floating to the top of her tea.

“The death of the world.” Came the reply.

“Death? I thought you told me that this was winnable?” Catherine narrowed her eyes. “I don’t condone no-win situations.”

“Yes.” Came the reply. “There are very few simulations runs where victory from the defenders is ascertained or imagined. The realization will dawn soon that they probably cannot win. Most simulations involving victory require retreat at the beginning and clever tactics regarding withdrawals.”

“You are defying me?” Catherine was surprised.

“No. They will still win. The chances that victory will occur is less than 2% with the strategy of ‘fight and see what happens’ that we expect.” A pause and the dialog disappeared. “But I have faith.”

“So why then are we watching this?” Catherine asked coldly.

“Because, Priority 1 states that we must save you, Catherine Waide, and I will not leave you alone to cover your eyes.” Kbyte flashed the screen again, indicating he was laughing. “Don’t you want to see your heroes prevail when all is lost once more? This time you will see the outcome personally. This time instead of death a way of life is at stake. This time you will be saved. This time you will see life is not a fluke.”

“Nonsense. I’m far too old and I don’t need saving.” Catherine scoffed.

“A wager then?” Kbyte asked her.

“What kind?” She asked suspiciously.

“An avatar is prepared. When the defenders are victorious you must don your mantle and greet the victors as Catherine Waide.”

“What if they lose?” Catherine asked, wondering what was a wager without some sort of loss.

“I will delete myself,” Kbyte said simply.

“Why?” Catherine whispered.

“Because even though mathematically there are no scenarios conceived that allow for victory, I believe that humans will prevail. I believe it so firmly I do not even fear self-deletion.” Kbyte said boldly.

Then a word began to blink repeatedly, excitedly, with a rapidity that might have been mistaken for enthusiasm. “Choose. Choose. Choose. Choose.”

“Well, let’s just see what happens,” Catherine whispered, feeling for the first time in decades that old familiar feeling. The one that told her just once, she should pay attention with childlike wonder.

“Would you really delete yourself?” She finally asked with suspicion.

“Maybe not.”

“You old rogue.”

The screen blinked on and off rapidly.

“What are those?” Raven asked. Her voice was flat like she couldn’t even figure out what she was supposed to do. “They aren’t coming down.”

“Those are some kind of dragon,” Forsythe answered her tonelessly. “They won’t come down.”

“There are kind of a lot of them,” Elisha whispered.

The Hiryuu(the game identified them), great snake-like dragons, began raining down fire and lightning breath attacks on the shores of Blutonsi while they were considering. They were almost out of range of even the wizards of the shore. Already this seemed like a terrible adventure and no one was sure how to counteract their rampant display of ferocity. In addition, the defender’s along the shore composed of Residents and Transients already had their hands full facing armored knights and ogres that had literally airdropped in on them. The enemies, it seemed, took no damage from their dragon air support.

“[Aura].” Amelia continued tiredly. Since it was an aura effect she was almost done casting it. Just casting it on all the Residents and Transients had neatly exhausted her supply of mana and now that she was empty she would have to wait to get the remainder of her forces.

Shouts of Aura being cast out nearby called her attention briefly. Amelia straightened slightly, perking up as she realized that the shouts were coming from all over. It seemed that Amelia was no longer the only Order of the Black on the field. In fact, from the shouts of counters and reflects and auras going out, there were kind of a lot of them!

Called shots and abilities filled the air. Shields were put between the main forces on the ground be they ally or enemy. Despite the fact that there were so many Transients not many of them were the level of Shadow Fall or even War for that matter and they helped where they could but they were just bodies in a fight of numbers and level.

Great and small stone creatures began lumbering forward from the backfield where lower-level mages used Transform stone as sculptures and craftsmen worked tirelessly to creature more troops for the mages to send forward. They had been working on their ‘stone garden’ project for some time. The result was a great lumbering stone force that moved slowly forward and added a buffer of resistance to the front lines. Some of the stone figures were now being created with wings to try and counter the forces in the air.

Speaking of the air, Amelia felt her attention being directed elsewhere since it seemed she wasn’t the only one thinking about taking the tricky fight to the air.

“Keristrazly!” A small voice cried out. “Take to the air and show our enemy the might of the Half!” Victoria had found another box to stand on and was pointing to the sky. Immediately, the red-skinned half at her side leaped into the air, suddenly a great red dragon. He climbed in ever tighter circles until he met his first wingless dragon. Snarling, he leapt on it’s back and bit its neck. A great cheer from the Transients rose and the Residents also howled encouragement as Keristrazly rode the great wingless creature all the way to the ground. Slowly, as if noticing this new threat, the other Hirryu turned toward him and without concern for their downed companion began breathing on him. Keristrazly howled in pain and rage and glanced up at them, teeth already full of Hirryu while he considered what to do.

“Heal the dragon!” Hunter suddenly called out. The call was taken up and all the guilds began allocating healers to cast [Rapid Regeneration] and [Cure Tumultuous Wound] on the great red. He continued his destruction of his enemy and once he was healed significantly, once more took to the air in search of his second enemy.

“WAR!” A cry came from the front as members of War suddenly began clashing with the first opponents they met on the beach from a portal of new and sturdier reinforcements. They were almost entirely composed of the special elite classes that they had fought twice now. Stronger, deadlier, they immediately fell into a bitter battle with the guild War. It was like watching an old army battle vid between medieval knights. Arrows and spells flashed through the air, deafening and blinding in their frequency and volume. Parts of the shoreline were actually exploding and dirt and muck were flying through the air.

Amelia watched it all, trying to gain a sense of who was winning. For now, it just looked like people were hurling themselves against monsters and vice versa, eagerly scrambling over one another with no real advantage in sight. It was slaughter on a scale she had never seen before. Unlike when they had fought the visage she could see each and every part of the field and rather than lessen her concern, it only increased it.

Time seemed to still and Amelia began to think about what Kbyte had asked her. She had been thinking about it a lot lately. He had asked her why she hadn’t fully realized the ability of the Order of the Black. As her eyes scanned the battlefield her mind churned, trying to find inspiration in all this tumultuous chaos.

“Where is Vienne?” Hunter snarled over the party channel. She was pulling her bowstring back all the way and sending arching shots into the sky at the wingless dragons. Impossibly, her shots were just reaching the creatures.

“She is waiting to reveal herself.” Amelia quietly explained. “She thinks she may only have one opportunity to aid when Void gets here. She told me she will wait until an opportune moment and strike as best she is able. She told me she’ll probably be killed shortly after that, so she wants to make it good.”

Khiafin and Tenebrim had appeared somewhere deep behind the lines. Khiafin was teleporting the both of them behind enemies and his blades sang as they punched into lizardmen and beastly wolflike creatures. As if unspoken and bidden by the appearance of the wolfmen, the Wolves of Skrilla began exploding from the sand and the snow around Blutonsi where they had quietly been waiting. Everywhere wolves the size of small trucks popped out of nowhere and began savaging the mindless enemy. Skrilla, Queen of the Wolves, made her appearance from the snow further inland where they had been waiting and charged toward the enemy on the beach from the flank.

Though the number emerging from the gates and portals and vortexes had not abated, the defenders were handling themselves well. Amelia was given a quick report while she watched the Hero Half Queen Victoria rampage nearby with her sword. Tradesman and Craftsmen especially had been working tirelessly to create stone creatures, fortifications, cook food for buffs, and there was even a ship on the water that was firing a cannon that was built from scratch in the previous days. It seemed a little bigger than the other ships and hung out proudly in the armada of alliance vessels.

The Craftsman and Tradesman who couldn’t be of any use in the time during the actual battle were busy with other things. Several members of the Tradesman and Crafter guild had volunteered to be communications. They had friended multiple guild leaders and officers and then Amelia so they could relay what was happening and report on the general mood of the battle.

“Ulala reports 5% casualties. Dynex hasn’t lost anyone. Whirlandia thinks they can flank the ones on the east side…” The reports continued an endless stream of suddenly dead casualties and excited guilds that had ideas every second. They had really wanted to make a temple dedicated to Vienne so they could spawn nearby, but that had been a bust. It required an insane amount of contribution and time and effort and it was just beyond them for now. Everyone was making due.

Raven had returned with War, contenting herself with standing near her large masked friend and protecting Amelia for now. Occasionally mindless beasts made it this far and were easily dispatched. Amelia was a little touched that everyone seemed to be worrying about her safety. She supposed it made sense considering that she was a large part of the fighting force with her buffs. Although, that wasn’t quite the case anymore. Black Mages continued making themselves known in the battle as spell reflections occurred in the distance.

“Going well,” Aidan stood beside her as well, appearing to be lost.

Amelia would have agreed but she had a nagging thought. Things were going well, but Void had not appeared. “Are you going to join in?”

“I’m refraining. I’ll save my power for an opportune moment, like Vienne.” Aidan replied. She started to smirk at him until she realized he was totally serious. He thought he could do something that was on par with the goddess. Sensing her doubt, he turned to look at her, his face solemn before a smile lit it.

“In the end. If need be, I will make sure that this world doesn’t end.” He promised.

A disturbed look and a question started to form on Amelia’s face and lips but were cut-off abruptly as a shout came nearby.

“[Skylight]!” Hermania suddenly called. The Silf hero shot her bow into the sky and thousands of piercing arrows divided and then fell, each finding marks on the shore below and killing scores and droves. Oresdin was in the middle with his axe, a rock against a sea of enemies. Mardin was with him, coolly watching his back and commanding his knights to run back and forth over the shore with their horses. Their hooved feet kicked up the sand and dirt in great clumps and their passing shook the air. Keristrazly brought down another Hirryu, and then another.

“Shadow Fall Victory!” A sudden voice called out. It was Gilduirn, appearing from practically nowhere with almost 500 people. He crushed and smashed into the lines of the enemy with such force that for a moment the tide turned.

“Shadow Fall?” Amelia asked over the party channel, amused despite herself and grateful that Gildruin had shown up.

“Yeah, well, apparently Gildiurn and a bunch of unguilded people showed up and asked me if they could join Shadow Fall. I’m kind of busy so I just accepted them all.” Hunter said breathlessly. “That’s okay, right?”

“You’re the leader,” Amelia smirked.

With the new rush of allies, the enemies on the shoreline actually started losing ground. Their sheer numbers were no longer crushing into the lines. Gilduirn and those who had left Ominous to join him were the best of the best and made short work of the mindless creatures that were before them. Even better, it was reported that people were leveling up at an astounding rate. At this point, it wouldn’t be hubris to say that they would win simply because their average level was so much higher than the encroaching enemy.

That was of course when things went sideways as they only ever could have. Great red lines appeared from everyone and slowly extended all the way up into the sky. A great dark rift appeared and finally, at long last, Void descended. He was using the ability that Vienne so often used. The one where all the gear and vital statistics of Transients appeared before her. Instead of on a minor scale, however, this ability seemed to touch everyone on the field. For a moment everyone slackened in their frantic attack and turned toward the sky. Many perished simply from losing their attention on the enemy before them.