“So let me get this straight,” Clark says as he jumps back to his feet. "You're level five million and you haven’t even advanced a single job?"

"What's it to you, rogue?" Hero asks with an incriminating glare as he readies for the next bout of blink fast movements.

Clark's superior smirk twists into a grin. "It's quite a lot to me Hero," Clark says as he readies his skills, "considering all classes get their first anti-stun halfway through their first job."

In a Wintery blink Clark pops his just-finished cooldown of ambush and uses flash grenade, promptly stunning Hero, as he's entirely within the grenade's instant-activate radius. Hero is helpless, as he hasn't advanced to any job at all yet, wheras Clark spent a quick minute to get his official training to assassin.

Clark only has five seconds, but it's all he'll need. Without the dramatic ceremony of Hero Clark dives in for the kill, slamming the Dragon scythe’s blade into Hero’s backside with a deep gushing tear of human flesh and enchanted steel. Hero cries out in pain as the damage numbers upwards and million’s worth of damage numbers jump over his head with each twist of the scythe. It's time for the coup de grace – the sacred words of the dragon's demise:

"Ay, gurl, ain't cha' gon’ park dat ass over-" before Clark can finish the sacred incantation, his trained battlefield awareness, sharpened through years of intense VR games, does him credit by alerting him to the eerie absence of Scribe Ein's gunfire. Without even enough time to tear out the scythe, Clark leaps to the side dodging a stellar, utterly fatal bolt from Kell's companion, Bright-Solemn. If Clark were a second late, his station of Midnighter would come to an abrupt, fiery end. He pops combat stealth the second he's able, disappearing from sight.

As Kell descends upon Hero, Clark rounds the cover to find Scribe Ein, ready with his light knife- a powerful melee weapon that can split through armor, flesh, and rock with comparable ease.

"What's going on?" Clark asks, searching Ein for any wounds or status effects.

Ein scoffs as he plays with his rifle in his inner grip and holds the light knife with his free hand. "Bastard somehow caused my weapon to jam. It must've been his assistant."

Clark shakes his head lightly. "But what the hell is that supposed to mean? What are we supposed to do?"

Ein finally gets his weapon open to find his steel-sheet ammunition all melded together in a molten mess. "We have to fall back."

Clark squints an eye intensely. "Will we get another chance?"

Ein growls in thought as he peeks over cover and notes Kell taking up Hero in the folds of his sentient cloak. "If you can get that scythe back right now, then we'll have a chance."

Clark hisses in thought. "Can't you do anything? You can stealth too, can't you?"

Ein sighs. "It's not quite that simple. I'm not fully integrated with the server."

Clark chuckles. "Damn," he starts with a bemused smirk, "it's like everyone who plays this is a role player."

Ein chuckles back awkwardly. "Sure thing. Anyway, only you can get the scythe back. If we miss this chance they’ll no-doubt open up the second echelon, meaning we’ll have twice as much ground to cover."

Clark nods in agreement. "Yeah, I don't get why these guys are trying to rush through everything. I always liked online games because of the immersion." Clark watches carefully as Kell disappears through the passage leading out of the dungeon. Clark gulps in anticipation. “Alright then.”

“Good luck, I’ll be waiting at the regroup point.”

“Alright,” Clark says, just as he hears the sound of a stealth field activating. Clark looks to his left, and sees Ein, completely gone from sight. “Hey, what the hell, dude?! I thought you said you didn’t have stealth.”

Ein, invisible to the naked eye, laughs as he steps off. “The analyst can still track me, as he too is unintegrated. Skills work best on people from the same… same developer level. You can stealth on Kell and it’ll take him a moment before he sees you, Hero on the other hand will tag you almost instantly.”

“Whoa,” Clark says with an awe-struck glare. “So that Hero bitch’s buddy really is a dev. Typical. He must’ve worked on the combat system — exploiting bitch.”

“See you soon,” Ein says. “Get the scythe, leave before they do, or else the analyst’ll progress the server narrative.”

“Got it,” Clark says with a killer spark in his eye. “Any recommendations for approach?”

“Yeah,” Ein says, his voice fading out due to distance. “Don’t get spotted. Either of them would fuck you sideways now that you’re unarmed, and the tunnels back don’t have much room for maneuver. If the analyst spots you’re going to have a hard time getting out of that one. See ya.”

Clark nods. “Bye,” he says, now left to himself and his task. He takes a moment to weigh out his skills against his enemy before moving into action. He’s going to get that scythe back if it’s the last thing he does in this game. After all, when you’re the very first Midnighter of all, you need to set a good example for the future generations.