Artemis drew the string of her bow and aimed an arrow at Lukas.

This is really bad. Think! Think! Stall them somehow.

“I take it that you four are the reason for the missing players in the area?” asked Lukas.

Only laughter met his question.

“You catch on quick, kid” giggled Lenny.

What the hell do they want from me?

“Look, if you want gold, I have very little. If you want my items, they are useless to all of you, trust me.”

“Ow, don’t worry about that,” said Lenny. “I’m sure that fancy sword of yours will fetch a nice price at the auction house.”

“Then I’ll give it to you.” offered Lukas. “I’ll unequip it and drop it on the ground. Just let me leave.”

Giving up the only item that validates his build would be devastating, but if it meant he lives, it was a no brainer.

“Thanks for the offer but I think we’ll just take it,” replied Lenny. “After you’re dead of course.”

“Cut the talking, Lenny,” said Merrick. “He’s just buying time. I don’t know what for though… you weren’t followed here, were you?”

“No. Of course not,” replied Lenny. “I’m not careless. We’ve done this plenty already.”

Fuck! Lukas screamed in his head.

How could he have been so careless? He just walked to an unknown location on his own with a person he just met. What was he thinking? Merrick instantly saw through his stalling and Lukas didn’t even know why he was doing it in the first place. No one knew where he was. He told Boris and Kaya he would be gone for a few days and nothing more. Now here he was surrounded by stronger players with no help coming.

“Then get it over with,” said Merrick to Artemis. “I wanna go back to the pub.”

Lukas activated Parry Stance. It looks like he was going to be forced to defend himself.

Juni the Sword Master whistled.

“Looking to fight, are you?... Bad idea. Just close your eyes, kid. It’ll only take a moment. If you struggled, you’ll only die tired.”

“Shut it, Juni,” said Artemis. “I’m trying to concentrate here.”

“Yes ma’am,” said Juni in a mocking tone.

“You don’t have to do this.” Lukas reasoned. “We can-”

The Hunter let loose the first arrow and Lukas’ sword blocked it with inhuman reactions. The next arrow was deflected as well and so was the one after. Lukas backed away after each shot and saw that none of the others moved to attack him.

Why aren’t they going after me?

The barrage of arrows continued and each shaft exploded into splinters in contact with Witchblade until all the deflect charges of Parry Stance were consumed.

Seeing this, Artemis smiled and notched a green-shafted arrow on her bow, drew back the string, and fired. The arrow shaft split midflight and a glowing string joined two weighted balls spun rapidly toward Lukas.

Shackle Shot[Active]

[Fires an arrow that will split into a bolas and root any target struck on the spot for a duration. Rooted targets take extra projectile damage. CD: 30s]

She waited for Parry Stance to ware off!

Even though Parry Stance couldn’t have blocked the skill, Lukas could have at least deflected the attacks that came after. Artemis probably knew that and she waited for the right time to strike. Lukas activated Mana Shield as soon as he could but he knew it would do very little. The bolas would hit him, he won’t be able to move and death by arrows soon followed. He braced for impact.

The bolas missed completely a meter to his left.

Lukas blinked in disbelief.

She missed?! She missed!

Another arrow whizzed at his direction and he rolled to one side, narrowly avoiding it. Two more shafts planted themselves near his feet as he continued to dodge each attack. There was no lock-on feature in GFO - all basic attacks and attack abilities were skill-shots. It didn’t matter how strong you were if you couldn’t hit your target.

Wow, she’s really bad. Lukas thought after evading another attack. How did she even reach level 50?

GFO becomes a very skilled based game starting at around level 30 especially when it comes to PvP. If you can’t hit your skill and attack rotations properly, your progression will hit an invisible wall. It seems like the use of Parry Stance against Artemis was a waste of MP. The arrows were only deflected because the skill made Witchblade sought them out automatically when they wouldn’t have hit at all.

“Stop squirming you little brat!” shrieked Artemis.

Her comrades guffawed at her frustration and jeered after each missed attack.

“Jeez! If you want help, Artie, just say so.” teased Juni. “I’ll keep him in place for you,” he added as he drew a wide curved sword from his back.

“Don’t you dare butt in!” screeched Artemis. “Not one of you dip in any damage, you hear?! His mine! Let me solo him!”

“Then hit him already!” squealed Lenny in glee.

So that’s why no one else was attacking.

For some unknown reason, the Hunter insisted that this contest be one on one. Lukas realized he could use this to his advantage. It didn’t matter he was surrounded if only one opponent was fighting him. All he needed to do was find an opening to use a teleportation scroll without it being canceled by and attack and he’ll be back safely in Altura. Even if the four followed him there, no fighting was allowed within the safe zones. He just needed to provoke Artemis to make a mistake.

The Hunter fired the next shot and Lukas knew it was going to miss again. He barely needed to get out of the way for the arrow to pass harmlessly by his left shoulder. Lukas flashed the cockiest smirk he could manage.

“Ow, were you aiming for me?”

Artemis hissed and recklessly fired one arrow after the other.

“Come on. You’re not even trying!”

More arrows whizzed by off-target.

“You should probably add points to your Dex,” said Lukas tauntingly as he dodged every shot. “I heard that helps.”

It did. But Dex only mattered if you were actually on target. It didn’t help much if you were naturally bad at aiming.

Lukas’ last insult must’ve stung the Hunter’s pride because it finally produced the result he was looking for. Artemis drew another green-shafted arrow and notched it.

There it is!

Skill animations took a little longer than basic attacks. It was only a small difference but it would give Lukas enough time to use a teleportation scroll.

He quickly brought out his inventory before Artemis could even draw back the string. With a couple of swift motions of his hand, Lukas found what he was looking for.

Got it!

He snatched the teleportation scroll from his inventory and started to break the blue wax seal with his thumb but all of a sudden he was holding nothing. The scroll was there one second and gone the next but he had gone nowhere.

“What the-”

“Looking for this?” said a voice to his right.

Lukas turned and saw Merrick waving the scroll tauntingly in front of him.

Steal[Active]

[Snatch items a target is currently holding. Success depends on skill level, Agi. & Dex. CD: 20 s]

Skill Note:

Consumables are permanently stolen. Equipment will only be stolen for a duration then return to the owner’s inventory.

Lukas lept back immediately to gain distance from the Bandit which actually helped him dodge the Shackle Shot Artemis aimed at him. The spinning bolas passed harmlessly in the space between him and Merrick. Lukas’ face drain of color as Merrick pocketed the only teleportation scroll he had. His window had closed - there was no escape.

I didn’t even hear him coming.

“Damn it, Merrick! Don’t butt in!” shrieked Artemis.

“Relax. I didn’t do any damage. I just made sure he wasn’t getting away.” explained the Bandit. “Remember the last time that happened? They nearly reported us to the guilds. Good thing master was there to clean up our mess. We don’t want that to happen again, do we?”

“No… but a warning would have been nice,” said Artemis defensively.

“Hitting your target would be even nicer, Arte-miss,” said Merrick as he retreated back to his position.

Juni and Lenny cackled with glee at the Bandit’s retort.

This is bad. Lukas thought as cold sweat beaded on his forehead. Aside from the Hunter, it seems that the others were well versed at using their skills. He didn’t even notice the Bandit move and somehow he was already close enough to use Steal. The only option was to fight now - or beg for his life.

‘After the questions usually comes the begging’ Lenny had said.

Is this it? Is this where I die?

For some reason, Kaya’s face flashed in his mind’s eye… then the sound of Boris’ barking laughter… the look of his mother’s face in that vivid dream.

Will I ever see them again?

“Why are you doing this?” Lukas found himself asking aloud in a trembling voice. “We are all stuck here together. Aren’t there enough of us dying in this place? This isn’t just a game anymore! Why do you want to kill anyone?”

The laughter stopped.

“My oh my,” said Lenny shaking his head. “You still don’t get it, do you?”

“What’s there to get?” spat back Lukas. “That you kill people for fun? For loot?”

“No.” replied Merrick. “You say we are all stuck here together… Well sorry to inform you, but we don’t see it that way.”

“This is our world,” said Juni. “This where the strong live -” the Sword Master gestured to his companions.”- and the weak die.” he pointed to Lukas.

“It didn’t take us long to realize that,” said Lenny. “You see not all of what I said in the pub were lies, Lukas. I’ve seen friends die before… some even passed right in arms and I have no intention of following them into the void. Not for a long time. You know this game, this place - how dangerous it is. It was so much fun when it was just a game but when it all becomes real and you dawns on you how many times you died to a random monster just because you weren’t strong enough - then you realize how fucked you really are. It doesn’t matter how much game knowledge you know, how much mechanics you’ve mastered… You won’t get stronger if you’re too scared shitless to even walk out of town because some random asshole decides to agro a level 50 Cave Drake into a level 30 field!” Lenny’s voice shook with anger.

“But we got back at that asshole, didn’t we, Len?” said Juni with a comforting smile.

“It started out with revenge, you see.” continued the Sword Master as he slowly circled Lukas. “Justice for Erica, Jamie, and Lex. We knew them from the old world. We were good friends back then - colleagues. Until a bus crash brought us all here and that asshole dragged that Cave Drake right into our party… It took us weeks to track the bastard down but find him we did… We finally caught him with his pants down alone in a remote forest, just like this one right here. He was five levels higher than us but two against one evened the odds. We took our time dealing with him and when it was done, we found out a nasty little secret. That bastard gave me and Len two whole levels when we killed him and boom! Presto! We discovered the safest and fastest way to level! Hashtag; no-click-bait.” Juni chuckled at his own joke. “Soon, Merrick here found us and introduced us to our master. Then one kill turned to two, then to four… ten, and now-” Juni pointed directly at Lukas’ face. “-eleven.”

They kill people for Exp. Thought Lukas in disgust. But he had to admit, after facing the Blue Demon he often wondered if killing other players also provided Exp. But Lukas had not discussed it with Boris and Kaya because the very idea sickened him - to end someone’s life for such a petty personal gain. He didn’t think it was even possible that someone would do such a horrible thing. PKing someone in this version of GFO was equivalent to murder and yet here he was, surrounded by a group that treated it as if it was an ordinary act - just another way to gain levels.

“So you commit murder just for levels?” Lukas asked in a hollow voice.

Merrick scoffed.

“Save your judging tone. We know what we’re doing and frankly, we don’t care what you think. Enough talk already. It’s time we end this. Lenny, help out Artemis.”

“But-” Artemis started to protest.

“You have wasted enough time!” lashed out Merrick with impatience. “The longer we stay here, the more chances of someone seeing us. Lenny, do it!”

The Wizard’s face split in a nasty smirk as he drew a black wand from his sleeve.

“I do hope you don’t take this personally, kid,” said Lenny in mock apology. “In god’s honest truth, we would have done this to anyone.”

A purple light emanated from the wand and in an instant, Lukas’ limbs were lashed to the ground by ethereal chains. He didn’t bother trying to dodge the spell. He had witnessed how fast Lenny could cast it and even if he did move out of the way, Dark Binding had a large AoE.

This is it, I suppose. All those months fighting dangerous monsters and doing perilous quests and he was going to die in the hands of other players.

Lukas gathered all the courage he could muster to put on a brave face. Even though his impending death terrified him, he would not allow his would-be killers to see him afraid. “Make it quick.”

“Ow, dear. Looks like he’s accepted his fate,” said Lenny. “Go on, Artie. You can’t possibly miss him now.”

Artemis looked unsure for a moment but still notched two arrows at once. Lukas must be imagining things because he could sware he sees hesitance on her face.

Maybe you were missing for a reason...

The wooden shafts glowed for a moment before Artemis loosed them and the arrows became two parallel streaks of white light as they sped straight for Lukas’s chest.

Twin Shot [Active]

[Allows two arrows to be fired at once. Bonus damage is done if both arrows hit the same target. CD: 5s]

Finally, after so many missed shots, the Hunter hits her mark. The two arrows tore easily through Lukas’ cloth armor and buried themselves deep into flesh. One skewered his left shoulder and the other impaled him straight in the heart. Lukas doubled over and coughed out droplets of blood. The pain was intense and spiked every time he took in a breath. One of the arrows must’ve punctured a lung. He saw his HP bar drop to half.

“Finally!” hooted Juni.

“Fuck you, Juni,” retorted Artemis.

They whooped and cheered as the Hunter loaded another arrow. Lukas felt the effect of Dark Binding end and he drooped to his knees in agony. He no longer had the energy or the will to get out of the way.

“I’m sorry, mom,” Lukas whispered but it came out like a wheeze. “I’m sorry, Boris… I’m sorry, Kaya…”

Artemis loosed the arrow but then it shattered into a thousand splinters mid-flight as a shadow flashed for the briefest of moments.

What was that?

Small black balls bounced into the grass in front of Lukas and they exploded into a cloud of thick grey smoke.

“What are you doing, Merrick?!” screeched Artemis through the smoke. “I have him!”

“This isn’t me!” Merrick shouted back.

“Who else of us would cast Smoke Bomb then?” came Juni’s voice through the thick smoke.

Smoke Bomb [Active]

[Enables smoke bomb crafting. When smoke bombs are used, they will release thick smoke that covers a large area for a duration. All enemies affected by the smoke will have reduced accuracy. AoE increases with level. CD: 60s]

“You just want a cut of the Exp, don’t you? You fucking thief!” accused Artemis. “You just wanted to kill steal this one from me!”

“Shut your mouth, Artemis!” snapped back Merrick. “I think we’re not alone.”

What’s going on?

“On your feet, Dealmaker.” Lukas heard a hushed voice say over his injured shoulder. It made him jump then wince at the shooting pain his sudden movement caused. He turned his head to see a slim hooded figure looming over him like an angel of death.

Name: Ravi Luis

Class: Reaper Subclass: Swordsman

Level: 81

A Reaper! Where did she come from?

“Who are you?” asked Lukas.

“A friend,” answered Ravi. “Now get up and use a potion. Let me handle the rest.”

Lukas did as he was told and grabbed a red potion. He drank the restorative contents of the bottle and the arrows clattered to the ground as his wounds mended with unnatural speed. As soon as his HP bar was full, however, a hand shoved his chest causing him to topple to one side.

“Get down!” warned Ravi as a blinding flash electrified the spot he was just standing on.

“Show yourself, you slippery little fuck!” Lukas heard Lenny’s voice through the now thinning smoke. “I’ll nuke this entire hollow if I have to! If you make me use more MP than necessary, I’ll make your dying a lot-”

Lenny cut-off mid-sentence when he noticed Ravi standing protectively in front of Lukas.

“And who the fuck are you?” the Wizard asked with a malicious grin.

“My name is Ravi.” Her voice was no more than a whisper but it carried throughout the hollow.

“Why don’t you mind your own business, miss,” said Juni as he drew his massive curved sword from his back. “We were kind of in the middle of something here and you so rudely interrupted.”

“I cannot allow you to kill this boy,” said Ravi as she drew her own weapons. Two long thin and delicate blades a meter long appeared from either side of her cloak, giving her the appearance of a bird with metal-tipped wings.

“What do you mean ‘cannot allow’?” laughed Lenny. “We can do whatever we want! There are no rules here! No laws! Who the hell do you think you are? The police?”

“No.” replied Ravi in the same hushed voice. “I’m more of a judge, actually.”

Lenny looked confused and turned to his companions.

“Who does this bitch thinks she-”

“Shut your mouth, Lenny.” cut-off Merrick. “Use those pig-eyes of yours and look at her status and that pin she’s wearing.”

The Wizard glanced at Ravi and did an almost comical double-take. Lenny’s pudgy face drained of color when he realized who he was talking to and he didn’t say another word.

What’s he talking about? What pin? Thought Lukas. All he could see from his position was Ravi’s back.

“And what business do the Nightingales have with this boy?” Merrick addressed Ravi in a respectful tone.

The Nightingales? Did Argenti send her? Did I have a magic coin I didn’t know about?

“He is under my protection.” answered the Reaper.

Protection?! I don’t even know you!

Merrick’s expression grew concerned at Ravi’s response. He clearly did not want the situation to turn into a fight. There may be four of them but they wouldn’t be able to do much against a fully geared level 81 character.

“Put away your weapons, now.” the Bandit hissed to his companions before turning to address Ravi once again. “My deepest apologies. We didn’t know... We want no trouble from the Nightingales. So far, there has been little to no harm done here tonight and we promise to leave the boy be from now on.”

Ravi tilted her head to one side and remained silent.

“Little to no harm done?!” Lukas burst out in exasperation. He couldn’t help but be outraged. “You were going to kill me!”

“But we didn’t,” replied Merrick through gritted teeth. His brow was now starting to sweat. “Just count yourself lucky, Swordsman. We can all walk away tonight and never cross paths again.”

The Bandit raised his hand and signaled for their group to leave. They all started backing away slowly as if afraid to provoke a dangerous animal from attacking, with all eyes fixed at the Reaper. Before they could take more than five steps, however, Ravi’s voice made them stop dead on their tracks like participants in a game of musical statues when the music dies.

“But you will cross someone else’s path, won’t you?” Ravi said with a voice cold as ice. “As the fat one said; You’ll do this to anyone. Right? - That, I also cannot allow.”

The tension in the air became more palpable at this pronouncement. The four looked at each other sharing the same frightened expression Lukas wore when they cornered him. Suddenly, as if a signal was given, they all simultaneously made the same hand gestures through the air. A second later, all four had a scroll sealed with blue wax in hand.

“Nightfall...” whispered Ravi in almost a sigh as she stabbed one of her blades to the ground in front of her.

Nightfall[Active]

[Brings the darkness of night in a large area for a duration. Enemy units caught inside the area will have their P.Atk reduced and will be silenced for a few seconds every time they suffer critical damage. Enemies cannot cast any mobility skills and will not be able to leave the affected area for the duration. Other units may enter the area of effect within the duration and will suffer the same effects. CD: 300s]

That’s a tier I specialty skill! Thought Lukas in awe.

Unlike enate class skills that are available from the start of every class change, specialty skills, or S-skills as it is commonly known can only be learned via quests. The difficulty of the quest to obtain an S-skill depends entirely on its tier which ranges from V being the lowest and I the highest. The quest for an S-skill like Nightfall can take hundreds of hours of gameplay and a mountain of in-game resources to accomplish. Only a dedicated few obtain an S-skill of such caliber for their character. For Ravi to have learned Nightfall tells Lukas one thing; GFO was her life - she was just like him.

The moon was eclipsed by a veil and the surroundings got a shade darker. It was as if a gigantic tinted glass dome had been placed over the entire hollow. Lenny, Merrick, Juni, and Artemis cursed as they shook, waved, and even tore the scrolls they held but it was useless. The teleportation scrolls did not work. Now they were the ones who were trapped.

“What are you doing?” snarled Merrick as he threw away the useless piece of paper and placed both hands on the pommel of the two daggers that hung from his waist. He didn’t draw the blades, however. The Bandit still didn’t want to instigate a fight. “We let the kid go and we were leaving. What more do you want from us?”

“Justice,” replied Ravi.

“What does that suppose to mean?” asked Artemis shakily as she unslung her bow.

“As I said earlier,” said Ravi. “I am like a judge. My guild has taken an interest in the killings around Altura for quite some time. We’ve looked in on the matter and suspected a party of players were responsible but could never confirm it. It was pure coincidence that tailing Mr. Corvo led me right to the four of you and your Sword Master friend was kind enough to offer a full confession earlier.”

A deafening silence followed. Beads of sweat were visibly trickling down Lenny’s large moon of a face. Artemis nervously fingered the feathers of an arrow in her quiver. Juni’s right hand gripped the handle of his sword still in its sheath. Merrick only kept his eyes locked on the Reaper. Even Lukas became nervous and held Witchblade at the ready. With each passing second, the possibility of a fight became more imminent.

“So what now?” asked Merrick grimly.

Ravi slowly advanced at the four.

“Juni Abot, Merrick Night, Lenny Judas and Artemis Longshot.” she pronounced. “You are hereby accused of ten counts of player-killing, one count of attempted player-killing and being members of the criminal organization known as the Magister Mortis... How do you plea?”

The four exchanged looks and Lenny broke out into nervous laughter.

“Plea? How do we plea?” said the Wizard. “You are way too into this judge crap. Even if we say we’re guilty, then what? Are you going to lock us up? There aren’t any prisons in Patriam.” He smirked.

“Yes,” replied Ravi. “But there are many graveyards.”

That wiped the smile of Lenny’s face. In an instant, the Wizard had his wand out and directed at Ravi. A bolt of lightning shot out and splintered into several electric tendrils.

The Reaper’s form darkened and became a black blur as she dashed out of the way making the Forked Lightning hit nothing but the ground she was standing on a split second ago.

Shadow Step[Active]

[Become one with your shadow and dash to a location unencumbered by your physical form. You become invincible for the duration of the movement and any enemy you pass through will be more susceptible to critical strikes. Can hold up to (5) charges based on skill level. CD:10s/charge]

“Guilty it is then.” echoed Ravi’s hushed voice throughout the hollow. The speaker was nowhere to be seen.

“What the hell are you doing, Lenny?!” Merrick growled as he drew his daggers. “Now we have to fight her!”

“Wake the fuck up, Merrick!” snapped back Lenny. “She was never going to let us leave!”

“He’s right!” agreed Juni as he brandished his two-handed curved sword at the surrounding darkness. “Let’s give the bitch what she wants and show her who she’s messing with.”

“Where did she go?!” asked Artemis as frantically turned her head in different directions, unsure where to aim her arrow. “It’s too dark. I can’t see anything.”

“Form a circle! Now!” commanded Merrick and the four of them stood back to back to keep an eye on all directions.

“Juni Abot, Merrick Night, Lenny Judas and Artemis Longshot -” again came Ravi’s disembodied voice. “- for the crimes you have been accused and found guilty of, I, Ravi Luis, with the power vested in me by the Nightingale guild and by extension Damocles himself and for the good of all citizens of Partriam, hereby sentence you to die.”

The four drew a step closer to each other after hearing their sentence.

“P…pl... please,” begged Artemis. “Pl… please let me go. I promise ne - never to do it again… I’ll leave the Magister Mortis… I was just scared… I had no choice. Just let me live. Please.” She held her bow uselessly at her side and her cheeks were wet with tears.

“Shut up, Artemis!” snapped Merrick. “Or I’ll kill you myself.”

“Show yourself, you coward!” demanded Lenny.

From where he stood Lukas saw a dark shadow go completely through Artemis and a petite figure appear next to her.

“NO!” Lukas cried out. He did not know why he did. Perhaps it was a natural impulse to cry out a protest when you were about to witness someone die a sudden death - even if that someone had intentions of killing you earlier.

Artemis turned to him, reacting from his outcry and the face Lukas saw was not of a murderer but of a confused and even innocent looking girl who was terrified of death - terrified of what is to come.

“So cold…” Artemis said in a shaking voice.

The dim moonlight failed to catch the flash of steel but a spurt of blood gave evidence of the blow struck and the Hunter’s HP bar dropped to zero. Artemis’ lifeless form fell limp to the ground before her companions even noticed what had happened.

“Artie! No!” cried out Juni.

“You fucking bitch!” shrieked Lenny as he started firing spells in every direction. “Show yourself!”

Lukas retreated several paces and activated Mana Shield for good measure in case an errant spell hits him.

“No…” whispered Lukas in disbelief. He just saw a person die in front of him struck down by another player. He just witnessed a murder and by the looks of it, it was about to turn into a massacre. “She’s gonna kill them all. This can’t be happening.” He didn’t move to intervene, however. What could he do to stop it anyway?

The shadow dashed across the hollow again and the dark figure appeared behind the Sword Master. This time, a spark lit up the darkness as sword met sword when Ravi struck. Juni must’ve activated Parry Stance ahead of time, saving him from instant death. Unfortunately, it only bought him a few seconds before blades too quick to see sliced through armor and flesh. Ravi must’ve built her Reaper with high Agi to consume the deflect charges of Parry Stance that fast. Lukas saw the initial clash of swords followed by a barrage of sparks as steel found steel and moment later Juni was on his knees with his HP bar down to half and then zero.

Merrick tried to rescue his comrade but he was too late to react. Ravi blocked the Bandit’s swift attacks with ease. It took Lukas a moment to realize that Ravi had activated Parry Stance herself but she might as well have not used the skill. Those of Merrick’s strikes that weren’t blocked were evaded with ease by the Reaper.

“Hold her, Lenny!” shouted Merrick as he kept his futile offensive.

A flash of purple lit the hollow and ethereal chains wrapped around the darting shadow that was Ravi before tethering themselves to the ground.

“Got you, you bitch!” spat out the Wizard with glee.

Without hesitation, Merrick lunged at his trapped opponent with his daggers glowing like burning coles. The Bandit slashed, his blades leaving a glowing red arc in the air where they sliced through leading straight for Ravi’s throat.

Dispatch[Active]

[Attack a target brutally and inflict Bleed status. Damage is increased by 50% when using dual-wield weapons. CD: 20s]

Blood spurt from Ravi’s neck and all of a sudden, it was as if a vale had been lifted and the moonlight illuminated the hollow once more. The Nightfall effect had ended.

“Fuck yeah!” cheered Lenny.

Merrick even flashed a triumphant smirk only to be replaced by a grimace a second later.

“Was that all?” whispered Ravi in a hoarse voice. The gruesome laceration across her throat must’ve made it hard to talk but by looking at her smiling face, it didn’t seem to bother her in the slightest. In fact, the wound was already mending itself and was getting smaller by the second. Merrick’s attack might’ve damaged her body but it barely made a dent in her HP bar which was now going back to full. Her regen was outhealing the Bleed status.

Is this what a high leveled player is in this world? Thought Lukas disconcerted. To think you could suffer a massive physical injury and still live just because you still had points in your HP bar. It made him shudder.

Merrick roared and attacked, again and again, viscously hacking at every part of Ravi’s body he could reach. But every wound he dealt healed over before his next blow landed.

“You must’ve forgotten that this world is based on a game,” said Ravi, unconcerned. “You’re nearly half my level. It doesn’t matter what you do to me. I might as well be immortal.”

“Die! Die! Die!... JUST!... FUCKING!... DIE!” Merrick screamed as he slashed away. “Lenny! Help me!”

But the Wizard only stood still, wide-eyed and shaking. Lenny waved his wand and in a flash of white light, he disappeared and then reappeared a few meters to Lukas’ right.

Displace [Active]

[Teleport to a location within sight. Range increases with level. CD: 7.5s]

After placing distance between him and the fighting - if you could call it a fight - Lenny frantically swiped the air with his fingers and a second later he had a teleportation scroll in hand. With Nightfall no longer in effect, there was no stopping Lenny from escaping to safety.

Lukas didn’t think. He was already moving toward Lenny before he realized what he was doing. Before the blue wax of the scroll could be broken, Witchblade sliced through the Wizard’s back.

“Wild Strike!”

The second Witchblade made contact with flesh, Lukas felt sick. He had fought in countless PvPs before in GFO and had cut down thousands of opponents without feeling anything but the thrill and pride of victory. But this was different. It was too real and it felt very wrong.

Lenny let out a horrible scream as he fell to the ground and his HP bar was reduced by a third. The attack did more damage than Lukas expected but it had accomplished what he intended; stop Lenny from leaving.

“Don’t move!” Lukas warned as he pointed Witchblade at the fallen Wizard. His sword hand was shaking violently. Seeing dark blood seep out through the green robe at an alarming rate made him feel faint and almost vomit.

“You… you going to kill me?” asked Lenny in a trembling voice.

“No…”

“Then why the hell did you stop me?!”

“I… I don’t know…”

“Finish it.” came Ravi’s voice.

Lukas turned and saw the Reaper was already standing behind him. Merrick remained where he was and lay still on the ground in a pool of blood. The Bandit’s status bar was no longer visible.

“What do you mean?”

“Kill him,” answered Ravi.

“Why would I do that?” Lukas asked incredulously.

“If you can’t do it, then step aside so I can.”

“Look, you… you don’t have to kill him. There must be another way.”

“There is no other way, Dealmaker. That’s why you stopped him escaping.”

“I… I don’t know why I stopped him,” confessed Lukas.

Ravi stepped closer and Lukas pointed Witchblade at her instead which made her pause a moment.

“You stopped him because you knew if he got away he will do it again. You knew that more people will die if you didn’t act so you did. He and his friends already killed ten people. You know he deserves punishment - you would have let him go otherwise. There is no other way this could go, Dealmaker. Unless you think of one, of course... I’m more than happy to hear it.” There was no anger in Ravi’s voice. No condescending tone. Just her logic spoken in a calm manner.

Lukas’s mind was blank. Did he just condemn Lenny to die by stopping his escape? The thought made him feel worse than the actual act of wounding the man. But as much as he was against killing someone, what Ravi said made sense. There was no place for people like Lenny in this world. So many die as it is. Lukas would never forgive himself if he let the man go free and they end up killing someone else. That blood would be on his hands.

What if this happened to Kaya? Or Boris?

With his sense of morality dulled with the fear of what might be, Lukas reluctantly lowered Witchblade to let the Reaper pass.

“Just make it quick,” he said to gritted teeth. “Painless…” The words felt alien to him - and he wanted to take them back as soon as he said them - but step aside he did.

Ravi gave a shallow smile that was not reflected in her hazel eyes and nodded before she advanced on the cowering Wizard.

“Any last words?” Ravi asked Lenny.

To Lukas’ surprise, Lenny flashed a smile - a bitter one at least.

“I’ve always wished to die in the hands of a pretty woman but I never thought it would be like this.” Lenny scoffed. “You’re a joke. You condemn me to death for player killing but look around you! Look at what you’ve done to my friends! You butchered them! Is that what the great Nightingales are up to these days? Hunting down other players? You fucking hypo-”

Lenny’s words became chocked with blood as Ravi’s swords pierced clean through his neck. The Wizard’s eyes remained open, filled with shock and fear, then became empty as his HP bar dropped to zero.

“No,” Ravi whispered with ice in her voice. “We hunt monsters.”

Lukas could not help but take a step back upon seeing Ravi’s expression. Her face was the definition of cold fury.