At half the length of her body, Tamana’s buster sword is meant to be held with both hands, to be used as both a shield and a weapon, but she’s never been one to do things in a conventional way. She takes to the air, and following a perfect arc, she comes down hard on the enemy troll.

-15 HP!

She botches the landing, still not used to her buster sword’s weight, and cartwheels to the right. The Klin Mountain troll leaps to attack just as an explosion flings him backwards.

-5 HP!

Glancing over her shoulder, Tamana watches Ryuk load another black marble into his magic slingshot. He pulls back; a blast at the troll’s hairy feet produces a cloud of dust and a scattering of debris.

“Both hands on the sword!” Ryuk pops off another black marble at the feet of the troll, causing more dust to obscure the air. Range isn’t an issue with his magic slingshot; it propels the marbles with magic, not elastic and it self-adjusts for range. This is a good thing, as Ryuk is utterly terrible with his new avatar.

Tamana is by his side moments later, the strands of her long white hair beating in the wind. “My attack looked cool though, right?” she asks.

He has to smile at this.

A smaller troll, likely the bigger troll’s wench, flanks the two. Dreadlocks cover her face and yellow man-bone jewelry dangles from her neck. She pauses, grunts, and charges.

Ryuk loses his footing and muffs his next shot. The marble explodes and a nearby bush bursts into flame.

Still holding her weapon incorrectly, Tamana swipes her ironing board of a sword at the she-troll and manages to cut her left arm off at the elbow. The she-troll shrieks as her blood jets into the air.

-39 HP! Critical hit!

The dust clears. Maddened with rage, the beefy male troll charges at the two with his arms over his head.

“I’ve got this!” Ryuk procures a clear marble from the pocket on his belt, pulls back, and looses it.

The clear marble connects and the troll freezes in place.

What the … ?

Ryuk glances back to Tamana, who is also frozen, her awkwardly held sword in the ‘ready enough’ position at her side. Turning to the female troll, he sees that the blood spraying from her arm is now frozen mid-air. Time stands still, from the grass that was moments ago blowing in the wind, to a bead of sweat on the side of Tamana’s face – everything around him is stationary.

Not knowing how long he has until time returns to its normal pace, Ryuk moves to the side of the alpha troll, takes a few steps back just to give himself some distance, reaches for a black marble and …

Time warp speeds ahead and the troll turns to him.

Taken off guard, Ryuk is seconds from being clobbered when the tip of Tamana’s buster sword pierces the creature’s chest, splashing oily black blood onto Ryuk’s face.

Instakill!

The troll slumps forward and Tamana kicks his corpse off her buster sword. She keeps the troll’s blood on the blade as she turns to his smaller counterpart. One clean swipe and she finishes off the she-troll too.

­-17 HP!

They are each awarded experience points and the guild coffers increase by about a hundred rupees. With a flick of his wrist, Ryuk checks their stats and swipes them away.

Ryuk Matsuzaki Level 2 Ballistics Mage

HP: 87/115 Def: 5

ATK: 40 MDF: 18

MATK: 51 LUCK: 3

Tamana Nakamura Level 2 White Warrior

HP: 85/138 Def: 19

ATK: 52 MDF: 38

MATK: 12 LUCK: 3

“That was crazy ... ” Tamana wipes the digital sweat from her forehead. She stabs her bloodied sword into the soil, something she’s grown fond of doing since taking her new avatar. Glittery magic spirals around her hands and a halo forms over her crown as she lifts her arms into the air. A cloud forms over the two; iridescent snowflakes gently settle onto their heads.

+45 HP!

“What did you do back there?” She asks, after they’ve healed up. “How did you freeze time? That’s, like, a level 30 spell or something!”

Ryuk shows her one of his clear marbles. “It’s these clear marbles. Like I told you, they’re wild cards.”

“You should have used more of those when we were leveling up earlier.” She shoots him one of her knowing smiles that he’s grown fond of over the years.

He shrugs her off. “I wanted to play it safe. I knew the black marbles were explosive, and they seemed the way to go.” He returns the clear marble to the pocket on his belt. “That was definitely cooler than I thought it would be. Next time, I’ll, um, do something a bit more productive when time freezes.”

“I’m sure you will.” Her smile fades as the thought of real world responsibilities spreads across her face. “I really need to logout now and take care of some homework. I keep pushing it off.”

He kicks a piece of rubble away. “Same here, but not homework – family.”

“You’re meeting your brother today?”

“Yeah, real soon, actually.”

Her eyes fill with concern. “Be careful, Ryuk.”

“You do the same.”

“My homework isn’t that dangerous!” With a laugh, she lifts her hand and the logout button appears. “See you soon.”

Tamana smiles faintly at Ryuk as her avatar dematerializes.