“What do you know, Altenius. The strategy was a success.” A chainmail-wearing muscled man holding a large axe blade affixed to the end of long steel pole stood surveying the battle before him. Fur hung out from the scruffs of his armour, giving the man a wild unruly look. He swung the weapon that seemed more like a halberd than an axe around and pointed it towards the South Gates of Loyderidge. “Look, it will fall soon.”

Sure enough, the towering wooden gates of the city were barely holding onto their metal hinges. Every time the battering ram impacted upon the structure, a loud splintering sound echoed the gates’ eventual destruction.

Besides the barbarian, a Royal Knight bearing the emblem of Honduria on his tabard snapped, his eyes glaring at the former with disdain. “Silence. I did not do this according to your whims, you chaotic miscreant. To think you would move without regards to the king’s wishes. Preposterous.”

“Meh… You tolerate us all the same.” Scrublord flippantly scoffed at Altenius’ displeasure, much to the latter’s annoyance. This man had totally no regards for authority.

Even if Altenius desired to kill the PKer there and then, as per his normal programming, he would not. To do so would cost him the men and time he needed to accomplish his mission. Therefore, he only returned the show of disregard with barely concealed hatred. “I only tolerate your kind because our goals coincide.”

“Yet our king wishes that Loyderidge falls, does he not? So it is in your benefit that we are here with you.”

The enemy of thy enemy is thy friend, at least, until they stop being friends.

“I do not proclaim to know what benefits you will get by doing this, nor your intentions. But I will let you know this. I do not trust you.”

“Fair enough,” Scrublord uttered the last word with mock respect. “General.”

Altenius harrumphed and turned back to his troops.

The Hondurian army that attacked the South Gates were a smaller part of the main vanguard, but it also consisted of the better soldiers picked among them. This move was utilized after realization that the smaller width of the Eastern walls due to Loyderidge’s rectangular shape would mean an easier choke point for the enemy to take advantage of. So he left the artillery back there to occupy the defenders, while taking the battering rams to the south. So far, it was working nicely.

The southern gates have lesser defenders than the eastern gates had.

Of course, the general would never realise that such a strategy was conceived only because of the subtle influences the Qqer guild leader was inputting during their numerous banters.

“Togepee.” Scrublord motioned. Nothing responded. “Togepee?”

He whirled around, only to see a couple in their own world oblivious to those around them under the shade of a particularly large leaf. Scrublord rolled his eyes at the scene.

“Ahem” He cleared his throat to get their attention. “Stop flirting already.”

Startled by the sudden attention that was on them, the couple immediately broke apart to reveal a tall lanky elven woman wearing flowing black robes and a shorter pudgy dwarf in scale armour holding a mace. The contrast was as though heaven and earth.

“Hyaahh… sorry Scrubby.” Togepee said, putting her hands on her cheeks in a typical cutesy fashion. The look on the necromancer’s face was not apologetic at all. Chanciel, the dwarven cleric of Aluyyse, God of Water and Fortune, stood quietly by her side like a silent butler.

Short and tall, energetic and mute, dwarf and elf, powers of life and death. Scrublord briefly wondered just how many extreme opposites this real life couple was trying to cross by coming up with these sort of characters. It was like trying to rebel against social norms of all kinds and weird people out while at it. He had long been used to their shenanigans though.

“Oh? Fyrzzy ate the bullet, Scrubby.” Togepee checked a window with a pout.

“What?” Scrublord could not believe what he was hearing. “Party status – Fyrzen.”

Displaying Party Information -

Fyrzen, Fusion Mage L 115

Dead

It was true.

It was probably why there seemed to be nothing else coming from the West Gate after that Nova Conflagration. Given Fyrzen’s flair for dramatic and flashy effects, there was no reason he would not be casting large scale spells at every opportunity.

Scrublord was concerned, but even so he carried on without breaking stride. “The plan does not change, but be more careful. Fyrzen was complacent and died for it. I don’t want anyone else to end up the same.”

“Awww, Scrubby. Nice to know that you care. Okay then~”

“The gates are down. We are going in.”

“Ehhh? In this rain?”

“Yes.”

Right as he finished, the South gates of Loyderidge collapsed with a mighty groan and the horde of flickering lights amassed outside the city flooded through.

………….

Lortan slashed with his silver claymore, crushing the bone of the undead skeleton before him with a satisfying crack. Behind him, several more skeletons swung their weapons at his back, hitting and damaging him before he swung around in a sweeping blow to make his former comrades stay dead.

After the last time he died to the unknown intruder during what was supposed to be a grief run, he had lost his silver chest piece that constituted his silver set, forcing him to use an inferior iron chest piece as a substitute. The lower quality as well as the forgone set bonus had caused his defense to drop considerably which was why he had some difficulty dealing with too many skeletons at once.

Curse that necromancer. Creating undead from the corpses of friends and foes alike is unfair.

After his death at Lanos, he had heard about the war and decided to participate in the Joint Operation thinking that it would be a piece of cake. After all, no game developers in their right mind would allow kingdom borders to collapse just like that. The status quo should and would always be maintained like many other games in the past, so he had spent quite a bit of effort ridding himself of the chaotic status after attacking the merchant named Beast and journeying over to Loyderidge with his guild for a share of the operation rewards.

Chaotic status in Ages Online runs on a counter that slowly depreciates over time, thus it can usually be removed by waiting it out. A donation made to a town’s temple or place of worship in one’s name also help decrease the counter by a flat amount, as well as being killed when in chaotic status.

It was also why Lortan had always been poor. He would either convert his money into usable assets, or he had to ask a guild mate to help him with a donation. It was just so that he needed some fast money which was why he was here in the first place.

However, nobody had expected players from the central continent to enter the war as well, bringing a dangerous human element to the Hondurian side - a human element that was currently causing Loyderidge’s defense to fall apart.

Boom!

The south gates fell inwards with a thud, crushing several slower people under their heavy weight while scores of Hondurian soldiers and undead skeletons came pouring through the now-open passage. Almost immediately, the skeleton Lortan was fighting turned their attention away from him and made to join the mad rush across the South District of Loyderidge.

“Hey! Where do you think you are going!” Lortan yelled after the skeleton, slighted at being seen this lightly. “I am still her-“

A hand grabbed his mouth from behind, muffling whatever words he had yet to say and the subsequent screams of pain as a gleaming dagger appeared from under the cover of the night to stab into his back again and again and again.

“Myucrel.” The person dressed in ninja garbs released the skeleton in his arms, nodding in acknowledgement towards Scrublord as he pocketed the silver boots his prey had dropped. “Do whatever you want, but leave Lifey to me.”

The only affirmation the barbarian got was a slight shimmer as the assassin melded into the shadows.

“Here they come.” Scrublord swung his axe while licking his lips with anticipation.

Right on time, the sounds of hooves came over the sound of rain, a female holding her sword up high at the front of the reinforcements.

“Bluelove!”

“On it. Aluyyse’s Call!”

Multiple flashes of light responded to the cleric’s spell dotting themselves among the encroaching invaders. A second later they were instantly replaced by Caerheim defenders who quickly leapt into action while the cavalry reinforcements slammed into the enemy frontlines.

“God of Fortune and water, heed my prayer, Aluyyse’s Tidings! Mass Heal!”

“Arrow Shower!”

“Axe Tornado!”

“The voltage storm rumbled above the sky. Thunder Crash!”

A mini tornado caused by the spinning of a certain axemaster blasted through the enemy ranks, accompanied by a rain of iron swords and the deadly combination of lightning bolts and the abundance of rainwater. At the same time, a blue glow of light enveloped all the defenders present, renewing their energy and giving them further strength, With that one moment of surprise and distraction, hundreds of Hondurian soldiers were slain. Many more were disorientated.

“He who blesses mortals with life and luck, hear me. Aluyyse’s Gift!” Another shade of lighter blue added itself onto the blue, giving those who had them extra health regeneration for the battle. Unbeknownst to the Bluelove however, he had become the target of someone else.

A gleaming dagger swooped in from behind the buff-spamming cleric for the kill, only to meet another dagger in its path. Assassin’s eyes met a pair of rogue’s, before the two of them broke into a dance of death.

Although an assassin is a special job, its specialty lies in its ability to enter stealth and deal damage from it. Once the initial strike is warded off, they become no different from a normal rogue with their signature speed attacks. Even so, Myucrel was at least thirty levels higher than XT and the latter quickly found herself being overwhelmed. She was only saved from certain defeat when Bluelove noticed the commotion behind him and turned around to support her while trying to heal the rest of the defenders to the best of his abilities.

Meanwhile, Lifey found herself facing off against Scrublord once again.

The barbarian gave a sly wink. “I told you before, Lifey. Star-crossed lovers.”

“Che.” The Guardian spat. “I invoke the power of Antorine, grant me strength to propel the cycle of change! Steadfast Guard!”

A silver light enveloped the female warrior and she lapsed into battle stance.

“Battling already?” An expression of hurt flitted across Scrublord’s face.“I thought we could talk a little bit more.”

A throbbing vein was visible on Lifey’s forehead. Dealing with Scrublord had always been difficult. If there is aging in-game, her head of cyan blue hair would have turned white already. “Stop the pretense. We both know what you are really here for.”

“You?”

“No.” All around them, the battle for Loyderidge raged on.

“Then?”

“The sword.”

“Ah… the sword.” At this point, Lifey had to fight the urge to put her palm to her forehead lest the opponent took the chance with her lack of vision to strike. “Well, I have to admit that when you snatched the sword from me I was crushed. I trained all day and night to be the chosen hero, and yet that was taken from me by a girl who thought it would be fun to try the trial on a whim!”

Scrublord’s mouth widened to form an almost zen-like smile. “But it does not matter anymore. I have found something better to chase after. Watch your front, Lifey. Battle Roar!”

Even as the barbarian’s cry rang out, boosting the attack power of his allies, Lifey had already begun charging with her sword raised for a strike.

“Cyclic Suppression!”

With a kick of her foot, the guardian leapt and spun from the generated torque, flying towards Scrublord like a top of death. The barbarian coolly watched the oncoming attack before lashing out with a lightning quick swing of his axe, stopping the spin via a cancellation of force right before it severed him into two. As the weapons grind against each other momentarily, Scrublord spoke.

“You have used this skill so many times I am getting sick of it.” With strength beyond an ordinary human, he then flung the guardian sideways by exerting more power on his axe. Lifey tumbled to regain her footing, none worse for wear, but anyone could tell that the girl was visibly shaken.

“Why don’t you use the sword?”

She had no time however, as Scrublord brought his axe down on where she was for a follow-up attack. It took a last minute leap to the side to avoid the scar that was now deeply carved onto the dirt ground, which the guardian then used to spring herself back towards her enemy.

“Shield Bash!” This time, she rammed the entirety of her steel shield into the barbarian’s side, causing an ‘ooh’ to escape from Scrublord’s lips. A fist punched down upon her back in retaliation, knocking the wind out of her and slamming her onto the ground. It was then followed by the vicious blade of the axe cutting through the air with the intention of splitting her head open. Lifey immediately rolled to side to avoid the attack and scrambled back on her feet, her shield up high to block any opportunity strikes.

Clang!

The axe rebounded off her shield, generating an opening which Lifey did not hesitate to take.

“Armour Break!”

A deep gash drew itself across Scrublord’s abdomen, spilling first blood. He was also inflicted with a 15% armour decrease, an effect of the attack that belonged to the basic warrior skill tree. Instead of being furious however, he was grinning.

“This is why I love fighting you, Lifey.”

“Stop it with the creepy stuff. Cyclic Suppression!”

“I told you I am sick of-“

Instead of the normal attack that the Guardian had used in the past, this time Lifey kicked off with enough force and twist that she arched her body 90 degrees, causing her to spin parallel to the ground more like a revolving chainsaw than a spinning top. Scrublord was so surprised by the sudden variation that he was forced to stop his sentence midway to drop prone, allowing Lifey to bypass him overhead harmlessly.

He kicked out just as the girl landed, catching her square in the stomach before planting another foot into her chest. Her balance broken, Lifey stumbled and crashed painfully onto the ground. Within the next second, the barbarian was towering over the now-vulnerable guardian with his axe raised.

“That was a good move. I did not expect that.”

“Then you won’t expect this!”

Clenching her teeth, Lifey summoned all her strength into her one kick, which slammed right into the barbarian’s groin. A howl of pain reverberated over the din of the war as Scrublord dropped his axe and clutched his family jewels in agony. It was all the time Lifey needed to scramble to safety and regain equal footing.

“You… bitch.”

“You… bastard?” There was a sadistic grin on the guardian as she mimicked the wounded babarian’s words in jest.

For that moment in time, the battle halted, bringing a brief reprieve to both combatants. The rain had stopped a while ago. Both leaders warily surveyed each other as droplets of rain and sweat trickled down their eyebrows. To them, the war no longer mattered. All they wanted was make their opponent scream and beg for mercy.

Scrublord broke the reprieve first. Holding his axe in front of him, he started gathering his killing intent into the axe blade. Lifey realized what he was trying to do and moved to intercept but she was one step too late.

“Howling Axe!” Scrublord slashed, despite Lifey not being in range. However, from the blade of the axe rushed a killing intent so strong and quick that it cut through the air while breaking the sound barrier. For that instance, the reach of the weapon was multiplied two fold.

Bang!

Lifey barely side-stepped the phantom blade that sliced past with an emergency twist of her body but she did not emerge unscathed. Two pieces of a cleanly cut ribbon floated down onto the ground, unbridling her ponytail into a head of cyan blue hair that reached down to her shoulders.

“That looks much better on you, Lifey.”

“….” The girl was trembling slightly. Anyone could tell that she was incredibly pissed.

“Use your sword, Lifey. Or you will not win.”

“Howling Axe!” Another blade of killing intent was unleashed, but Lifey coolly stepped out of the attack range, making it cleave only stone and mud. This time however, she had prepared a retaliatory move. As severed strands of cyan hair drifted through the air, Lifey’s blade was already out and pointing towards Scrublord.

“Bless me, Sword of Antorine! BLADE BURST!”

A sharp blast of high intensity blue energy gushed from the sword like a lance of death, impaling through Scrublord who could not react in time. As quickly as it had appeared, the residual energy dissipated, leaving a bloodied barbarian in its wake. Not one to rest on her laurels, Lifey immediately struck out with a series of slashes that her opponent attemptted to block, but could not due to his injuries.

Several more wounds opened on Scrublord’s body, bringing the man to a laughing fit.

“Yes! Yes! That is the power of the sword I could not get. Yes!”

Scrublord’s face was suddenly an expression of seriousness. “Now we fight for real.”

Time passed as the both of them stared into each other, each daring one another to make the first move. None of them did, for they were watching for any mistakes in their opponent’s stance, ready to capitalize upon the slightest blunder made.

Both guardian and barbarian were poised to strike for what would be their fourth round of combat when the sound of footsteps clattered from the darkness of the south districts. As they drew closer, burning torches came into view, illuminating the rugged faces of the newcomers determined to make a difference. From that direction, a group of poorly equipped soldiers mowed down undead skeletons and Hondurian soldiers alike as they charged towards the fallen south gates.

Reinforcements.

“The Militia?”

“The Militia had come!” Shouts of surprise and relief came from the weary defenders who by then had noticed the advent of help.

At the front, Knight Gordo paved the way for the city militia while he slashed with his sword, followed closely behind by Beast and Naomi. Both practitioners of the Penguin Dojo were lashing out with punches and kicks, destroying skeleton after skeleton with a combination of mana infused blows and healing magic. Behind them laid shattered fragments of skeleton bone destroyed by precise strikes and martial blows. As the militia joined the fray, the Caerheim’s defenders fought with renewed morale and vigour turning the tide of the battle towards their favour once more.

One survey at the new development was all Scrublord needed to drop his serious demeanor. Another private message received at that same time told him all he needed to know to react.

The East failed. Something unknown is causing them to retreat. Oneshot.

“Seems that we will have to postpone this, Lifey.” Scrublord flashed a winning grin at the confused girl before he turned tail and ran, leaving blood splatters where he stepped.

“What? Wait!”

While Lifey was left bewildered, the rest of the Hondurian army was in the same state of confusion.

“We are running already Scrubby?” The cutesy voice of Togepee sounded as she joined the barbarian in absconding with Chanciel in tow. The cleric wasted no time in repairing the damage his guild leader had suffered, stitching the gaping wound on the barbarian’s shoulder with his healing powers.

“Yes. The west gate defenders are here.” Scrublord huffed, his wounds making it painful for him to speak. “Normally I wouldn’t give a damn, but they had someone who managed to kill Fyrzen.”

Fyrzen might have been an arrogant fool, but his mana shield was known to be impregnable within the span of battle due to the amount of mana reserves and firepower the man was boasting. Therefore, Scrublord was understandably concerned about this unknown power that not only killed the mage, but also managed to preserve a substantial size of the militia in the face of his destructive spells. Besides, the element of surprise they had no longer exists, and the Hondurian troops were in disarray on both fronts.

“Altenius!”

He caught the attention of the general who was trying to maintain order and direction atop the southern walls. “What, miscreant?”

“Retreat!”

“Not when we are this close!”

“Then die for all I care!” The barbarian roared as he ran past the broken gates of Loyderidge. With the exit of Scrublord and his guild, the skeleton army that had supplemented the Hondurian Vanguard fell lifeless to the ground. With a substantial decrease in enemy numbers and no elite PKers suppressing them, the Caerheim players fought back with even more force. Even Altenius was soon forced to recognize that it would be better to retreat and regroup.

“Retreat! Retreat!”

At his command, the Hondurian army began to file out of the city until not a single one of them were left within, leaving behind them a battlefield full of dead bodies and dropped items.

Dawn broke, the rays of the virtual sun shining down on the death and destruction that had transpired under the cover of its absence. The first siege of Loyderidge was officially over.