I admit I was unprepared for what was on the other side of the portal. We were on a relatively plain field. But looming in the distance of half a football field away were the army of Chaos.

When the demihumans saw our arrival, they started hooting and shouting like unruly hooligans. Drums pounded furiously to alert the opposing army of our presence. The drumbeats were so loud that my army couldn't hear Amelica's rally song. Thus, we lost the benefits of her song effect.

Even worse, I received the following pop-up notification: "Army morale DECREASED: -5%. -5% Movement, -5% Attack, -5% Damage." Ouch. It was the fault of the drumbeats from our enemies. I sought to locate those drums. I couldn't find them because there were too many enemies on the field.

As I surveyed the army of Chaos, I made an alarming realization: there were several times more than the reported 10,000 troops! Whoever reported this to the war council should be tarred and feathered!

Suddenly, the rhythm of the drumbeats rapidly increased, and the army of Chaos charged at us!

While I was gawking across the field, Baron Kingsbury was busy giving out instructions and orders to his men. He directed heavily armored knights to stand in front and use their tower shields to hold the line. Behind them were pikemen, which Kingsbury ordered to thrust their weapons through the gaps between the wall of shields. The Baron ordered the rangers and mages to stand further behind the lines, and prepare to rain their arrows and spells from above.

As the front line of goblins and orcs crossed the field, I stared at them in disgust. The goblins had green colored skin and the appearance of emaciated children. The males wore scraps of cloth as loincloths; the females also wore them to cover their chests partially. Each goblin carried a sharp knife or a dagger. They were barefooted and able to run faster than the rest of the army.

The orcs had gray skin and tusks protruding from their lower jaws. The orcs were also taller and had thicker bodies. They had better equipment than the goblins; they wore leather armor and carried either swords or clubs. Fortunately, there were fewer orcs compared to goblins; the ratio was approximately 5 to 1 in favor of the goblins. However, there were still too many of them rapidly approaching our front line.

Before I knew it, the goblins crashed into our wall of shields. *CRUCK*

"Snap out of it!" A furry paw slapped my face.

I shook my head as the pain registered in my mind. I was in that deer-in-headlights moment, but the slap knocked me out of it. "Thanks!" I said and nodded to Bila, who muttered under her breath. She stood to my left.

"Welcome back, Brother!" Van joked; he stood to my right.

I ignored the paladin and focused on the front line. The initial charge of goblins had failed to break through, and the chargers died by the hundreds from impalement. However, the army of Chaos could afford to lose those goblins and continue to pressure our shieldbearers.

I searched in vain for a breach to plug. I hoped that I had nothing to do, but I was wrong.

"Arrows and spells now!" Baron Kingsbury yelled.

I took a moment to run through my mental Rolodex of offensive spells. I took advantage of the fact that our enemies were packed like sardines on the battlefield. I closed my eyes and cast the deadly Cloudkill spell. I pushed the cloud of fatal vapors as far away from my front line as possible. I did not want to risk a friendly fire if a wind suddenly blew across the field.

The spell drained a quarter of my mana pool as it took effect. Goblins and orcs alike started choking and gasping for air. Their skins turned black, and their bodies soon fell to the ground. A gust of wind dispersed the cloud, causing even more deaths!

When I saw what happened, I skimmed through my in-game notifications. I was stunned to learn that my Cloudkill had claimed forty-two lives! I was horrified by what I had done and began to have misgivings. However, I reminded myself that I was in a war; it was either kill or be killed. At that moment, I felt like I was fighting with Mel Gibson in "Braveheart" or Gerald Butler in "300."

My small victory was shortlived. The pounding drumbeats wiped away any fear the demi-humans had over the sudden deaths the survivors witnessed. Instead, they yelled defiantly and became enraged!

I couldn't help but admire their resilience despite their setback.

The enemies became berserk and trampled over callously the dead bodies of their fallen comrades. They surged like locusts descending on a garden and rushed toward our front line once more. *BOOM* This time, the opposing army pushed in unison and began to force our shieldbearers back.

I recognized the danger and yelled, "Support our line! Push!" I crossed the gap and used my left shoulder to brace the knight before me. I pushed with all the strength I could muster, and my shieldbearer stopped conceding more ground to the other side.

My men immediately followed my lead and supported the knights in front of them.

I felt someone pushing my back, but I didn't bother to find out who. All that mattered right now was stopping the momentum which had swung in favor of the other side.

I turned my head left and right to see what was happening on the front line. I was relieved to discover that the demi-humans' surge was stopped cold.

I began to wonder what happened to our archers and mages when I heard "twang" of bowstrings. I looked up and saw a morning sky filled with arrows. To my horror, their trajectories were descending on US!

I tried to figure out what to do before the arrows reached us. But I soon realized my helplessness. I was crushed between the knight in front of me and whoever was behind me. There was no room for my hands to move and create a magical wall to protect us. However, there WAS one move I could make despite being tied down.

I closed my eyes and cleared my mind. I reached out with my soul and grabbed hold of the anti-matter in my surroundings. I shaped the anti-matter into a large fishnet covering my army.

The enemies' arrows disintegrated upon contact with the net of anti-matter.

"It's a miracle!" someone yelled.

"The Gods are with us today!"

"Let's pray for their continued protection!"

I opened my tired eyes and took deep breaths while ignoring the pain. I checked my in-game messages and discovered why; I lost 150 Health to create the anti-matter net! However, this was a tradeoff I was happy to make. I worried what I would do to stop the next hail of arrows. I quickly cast Minor Heal to recover a small amount of Health.

"Fire!" someone yelled behind me.

The morning sky became filled with arrows again. But this time, they descended upon the army of Chaos!

Screams invaded my ears as our arrows slaughtered enemy soldiers.

The rain of arrows was soon replaced with fireballs which immolated the luckless survivors of the arrow assault.

Seeing that the enemies were unable to return fire anytime soon, I closed my eyes and meditated to regain my energy.

As if Amelica had read my mind, the songstress played a wordless but soothing song with her lute. As her music reached my ears, my body began to lose its wariness.

In response, the drums started beating again, drowning out Amelica's song.

"Damnit!" I was frustrated by the drums because I realized that they were used to pass down orders to the orcs and goblins. I had to find a way to disrupt this line of communication!

I opened my eyes and looked around. I was surprised to learn who was standing behind me: Dovarata! "Can you fly up and carry me with you? I need to destroy the drums," I yelled above the noise of the drums.

The Draco grinned. She turned her head left and right, and shoved the people surrounding her. "Step back," she ordered. Dovarata unfurled her leather wings and flapped them. Her body lifted like a helicopter. She reached out and grabbed me by my armpits.

When we ascended twenty feet into the air, Dovarata asked, "Where to? And we can't remain stationary because the archers will target us."

"Take us straight up," I ordered. I couldn't see where the drumbeats were coming from. I hoped that a bird's eye view of the battlefield would clear this mystery.

"Tell me when to stop," the Draco responded. She continued rising in the air like a helicopter until we were well over one hundred feet above the ground.

"Stop!" I yelled out. From my vantage point, I discovered two clusters of drums, one on the left and the other on the right. I cast two Delayed Fireballs in succession, pouring 50 points of Mana into each spell. I timed the two fireballs to trigger at the same time. I felt dizziness because I had only 5 Mana remaining in my mana bar. I quickly drank two Mana potions to recharge.

"Incoming!" Dovarata yelled.

I saw dozens of arrows headed straight for us!

Dovarata realized that she couldn't evade the incoming arrows because the Draco was carrying me. Thus, she did the only sensible thing: she curled her wings and dropped like a rock!

Seeing that I was a dead weight to her right now, I cast Fly. Dice rolled inside my head and stopped. I was relieved when my spell attempt was successful. "Release me!" I yelled.

Dovarata dropped her arms immediately, and the two of us flew to evade the arrows.

I couldn't do anything to stop the missiles from hitting the soldiers below me. I offered a quick prayer to Lady Luck to protect my men.

My peril soon multiplied when a pack of wyverns ascended to the sky!

Dovarata flapped her enormous wings to generate lift and rose higher in the air. She shapeshifted into her red dragon form. "Get on!" she yelled.

I flew toward her and landed on the red dragon's back. I quickly drank another Mana Potion to replenish the Mana spent to fly.

The wyverns became excited upon seeing Dovarata in her dominant form. They flew even faster and soon surrounded us.

The wyverns displayed attack tactics of wolves with one wyvern seeking to distract Dovarata while a second wyvern tried to attack her blindspot.

However, I thwarted this strategy when I pulled out my Wand of Cold and created Blocks of Ice to encase their wings.

The wyverns started dropping like flies. Thankfully, their bodies landed on the enemy troops rather than mine.

But this was not an accident. Dovarata had foreseen this possibility and smartly met the wyverns behind the enemy line. She laughed when she saw the goblins and orcs below her squashed like bugs.

Suddenly, a black ray struck the Draco! "Argh!" Dovarata yelled out in pain. Questions flashed through her mind. What was that beam? How could it get through her innate resistance to magic?

A second black ray flew at her, but the red dragon dove to avoid it.

My heart filled with dread as I looked at the direction where the ray came from; the source was Arthur William de Vere!

The Champion of Chaos stood on the back of his red dragon, which was flying toward us. My nemesis was pointing a black sword at us. When Hleara, the red dragon carrying Arthur, was roughly fifty feet away, Arthur sheathed his sword. The enigmatic Player Character offered a salute in a cheerful voice, "Yo, Larry! I'm glad to see you made it to the grand stage." He spread his arms wide theatrically. He pointed a finger toward the sky. "The Gods and the Gamemaster are in attendance." Arthur bowed respectfully to the Divine audience.

I looked up and confirmed that he was telling the truth. I saw all twelve gods of the pantheon seated high above us. Lord Bane had a big bucket of popcorn on his lap. The demigod waved at me.

"It's good that your army finally showed up," Arthur continued. "It was boring to see my troops pillage defenseless human villages and towns." The man giggled like the Devil.

My blood started boiling at these fiendish remarks. I triggered my Spirit Sense to examine the spiritual aura of the man before me. My heart skipped a beat when I read the result. A blood-red aura consumed his previously golden aura! Furthermore, the aura was distinct and familiar; it belonged to Hleandros, the evil red dragon!

The dragon's aura was overwhelming. It was like a dark miasma that induced fear and nausea. It spread and attached to every minion in the army of Chaos on the ground. This evil aura also enveloped Hleara and controlled her like a puppet.

"Hleandros! I demand that you release Arthur at once!" I yelled out.

"Hahahahaha!" Arthur laughed out loud. His human eyes suddenly turned reptilian. "The spirits of Hleandros and Arthur have merged into one singular soul. There is no way to split them apart. Even the Overlord wouldn't be able to accomplish this," he boasted.

Thunder crackled in the distance as if expressing the Gamemaster's displeasure at this remark.

"Oops! I shouldn't make him angry," Arthur muttered to himself. He turned his head toward me again. "Come! We're wasting time. Let's finish this fight before lunch," he said. With a mental command, his red dragon flew straight for us.

My view immediately turned red and the words, "PvP Mode: ENGAGED" flashed across my eyes.

Dovarata roared in a challenge and flew at her enthralled sister.

The two massive red dragons slammed into one another; they began to rake each other with claws. But their efforts only left scratches on the hard dragon scales.

I tightened my grip on Dovarata's back while she turned and tumbled in the air.

Arthur, on the other hand, remained standing the entire time.

Despite the temptation to close my eyes, I forced them open to watch for an opening to attack my opponent. I stared at Arthur's feet and made a startling discovery: he was barefooted. Red dragon scales partially covered his feet. His toes ended in dragon claws, which dug into the back of Hleara; this was the reason why Arthur could stand on her back and remain upright. Furthermore, the presence of dragon scales meant that Arthur was no longer human; he had turned into a Draco!

My astonishment at this revelation made me inadvertently loosen my grip on Dovarata's back. Suddenly, I was flung across the sky! As my body started to drop, my Ring of Featherfall triggered; my rapid descent turned into a leisurely float under the magical effect of Featherfall.

Dovarata tried to fly toward me, but Hleara blocked her sister. Undaunted, my ally blasted her dragon breath!

Hleara immediately released her breath attack.

The two dragon breaths clashed, causing a thick cloud of smoke to engulf the two Dracos.

Losing sight of them, I couldn't see Arthur until he was very close to me and slashed my cheek with his claws! I ignored the blood pouring down my face as I frantically cast Fly. Just as I finished casting the spell, Arthur slammed into me! *WHAM*

My nemesis wrapped his arms around me. "Going somewhere?" he purred in amusement. Arthur flapped his wings and flew straight up! He released me suddenly, and I was tossed even higher!

When my Ring of Featherfall triggered again, Arthur flew close by me as I slowly descended. He stuck out his claws to rake my body.

But I already wised up to this tactic; I drew Lightbringer and blocked his attacks.

My opponent repeated attacked me in this manner, and we entered a stalemate.

I became frustrated at my current predicament. When my Featherfall effect triggered, I ended my Fly spell to preserve my Mana. Furthermore, it would be difficult to maintain the spell while fending off Arthur's attacks.

I quickly realized that Arthur was toying with me like a cat with a mouse. He could pull out his magical sword and blast me with that dreaded black ray, which managed to hurt Dovarata despite her high physical defense and magic resistance.

My fear turned reality when Arthur backed away and proclaimed, "It's time to end this." He pulled out his black sword and sent a black beam at me!

I turned around and ducked. The ray struck my back but was reflected! I glanced at my in-game notification for an explanation: "Ray of Chaos REFLECTED by Mantle of Order. +100 XP." Aha! I had forgotten that my Mantle of Order offered 50% resistance against Chaos.

"That's not possible!" Arthur shouted angrily. He blasted me again, but the Ray of Chaos was reflected harmlessly for the second time.

Suddenly, I felt a tingling sensation in my right forearm; the tingling came from Leonus' divine brand. I looked up and saw the Chimeric God nod at me. I understood his meaning and triggered Call of the Wild! A golden globe surrounded me as my body transformed. I felt my skull and jaws widen, and something protruded from my back. A surge of strength coursed through my veins as my body continued its transformation. When the globe finally disappeared, I looked at my hands. I was shocked to see dark yellow fur covering my skin; the coat reminded me of a lion. I reached for my neck and felt soft, fluffy fur. I touched my face; it was also covered in fur.

"What the heck happened to you?" Arthur gasped in awe. I had the face of a lion, but my wings belonged to an eagle.

I ignored the question. Instead, I commanded my wings to flap. I felt the mighty wings lift my massive body. I flew straight at Arthur! I quickly closed the distance between us and slammed into him!

We started punching and kicking each other like little kids. There was no strategy behind the blows; it was all instinctual.

Finally, my nemesis drew his sword and slashed at me!

I pulled out Lightbringer and blocked his attack.

We tried to shove each other back, but our Strengths proved evenly matched.

Suddenly, Arthur grinned. His sword started vibrating like a buzz saw!

My heart filled with dread when I recognized what his sword was: a vorpal blade! I tried to back away, but my devious opponent kept following me while his sword continued to create cracks in my blade.

Finally, the inevitable happened: my sword broke! But there was a second danger to breaking Lightbringer: a sudden, catastrophic release of magical energy!

Fortunately, I managed to cast Time Stop before my sword exploded. This spell allowed me to move freely for a minimal duration while the rest of the world remained stuck in time.

I used the time to fly as far away from my broken sword as possible. When my spell ended, I stood fifty yards away. My sword exploded with a blinding flash of white light.

Arthur screamed out in pain because he was inside the blast.

Hleara tried to fly toward her master, but Dovarata returned the favor and blocked Hleara from doing so.

I followed Arthur as his body dropped from the sky until he crashed with a loud, "THUD!"

When I landed on the ground, I was astonished to see that Arthur was still alive! However, every bone in his body was broken. The fight was over.

Somehow, Arthur felt my presence. "Kill me," he whispered haltingly.

I hesitated. My opponent was defeated, and I didn't wish to take his life.

"Kill him!" Dovarata yelled from above us. My ally was frantically trying to hold Hleara back.

I looked up at the sky for divine guidance. My six Divine Patrons nodded in unison. With a heavy heart, I took out my second sword, which I received from my dojo, and ended Arthur's life.