With a loud fwush, Effryns ears rang as the only thing he could see was a bright light emitting from both Evvryn and his body.

“Holy shit…was that supposed to be teleportation?”

Barely able to hear the muffled voice of Evvryn, along with what sounded like a piano being played in the background, Effryn tried supporting himself on anything near him.

But something was wrong. Very wrong.

He could feel his body heating up, burning like everything inside was writhing against each other. His legs were wobbling, causing him to collapse to the ground.

W-what is...Argck-

Feeling a strong current overcoming inside his body, Effryn vomited profusely, getting a taste of his insides. Letting it all loose, he tasted a metalish flavor mixed in as everything rushed out. Managing to look down without fainting, Effryn saw nice and clear what was the taste was. It was iron all right, but not the type he was too happy to see.

What Effryn was looking at, was his own vomit filled with his intestines and blood.

Seeing this, Effryn tried his near best to hold everything in his throat down, and swallow it up. If this kept up, he would be sick, or worse-dead.

“E-ack-vvr...n-ack” Reaching out his hand, Effryn called out to Evvryn...only to see her going through something similar, or possibly worse.

She was hardly moving, with streams of blood flowing down her eyes. Like Effryn, she was too, reaching out her hand for anyone-anything, to help.

Her lips moved, but Effryn couldn’t hear her. He couldn’t hear anything. Only the echoes of the flashing light, and his ever pounding head beat like a never ending drum, going faster and faster as if there was no end in sight.

H...help, please, help…

Fwush!

Huh..?

Feeling as if his body went entirely numb, Effryn found himself standing up instead of lying in his pool of vomit filled blood.

“...Okay, what the actually shit was that?!?!”

Hearing the voice of Evvryn, he turned to see her wiping away the dried crimson tears on her face.

“...Evvryn?”

Staring at Evvryn wiping her eyes, a loud static voice boomed through the city as giddy as giddy can get.

Ahah, sorry folks! Looks like we still haven’t gotten a clear grip on the teleportation spell yet. Don’t worry about the pain, it should be gone by now. Oh and to the fellow that died cause of that, we revived you, and that doesn’t count as a permanent death. So yeah, good game folks, and let's hope for better look this time!

“Piss off, so what they’re telling us is ‘uhhhh yeah, opsie, but we just nearly killed everyone, and even one unlucky bastard died!!”

“E-evvryn..?”

With a shaky, raspy cry, Effryn was bumfuzzled. One second earlier, he was experiencing hell compacted into a ball, repeatedly tossed at Effryn until either the ball broke, or he did.

But now...it’s like all the pain from before was gone in a single snap.

No, all the pain from early is gone. So then that must mean…

“...it was a heal all players command. It had to have been.” Effryn mutters, coughing from the past feeling of what used to be in his throat.

“Damnit all to hell, we almost died to some bug?!?!” Yelling, Evvryn let her rage loose on some nearby tables. “Who can go through something like that and just pick their heads up right after?!”

Watching Evvryn and her table rampage, he wondered how and why a teleportation spell could cause presumably everybody to go through hell itself; with even one dying. And why the pain felt so horrifyingly real together.

“W-well, the only thing we can do is just keep on walking.”

Trying to calm her down, Effryn finally realizes something he had been missing out, or rather, something in plain sight all around them-their setting.

Although all sixteen players met up at the spawn courtyard, they were all nearly sent to their deaths somewhere else, probably to make the game more fair to avoid spawn killing.

And for Effryn, keeping himself awake at most was his top priority than checking if they spawned nearby.

Looking around now, he saw normal civilians, waitresses with a round of beverages, and someone standing behind a table filled with rows of people. And every single one stared at the two of them, with both a disgusted and pissy face.

“D-d-did they...watch that entire thing??” Scared by the fact people just watched him nearly die, and maybe because of the amount of eyes on him, he felt his face burning. “Evvry-”

“This! Dumb! Ass! Game!” Repeatedly

kicking a chair against the wall, she finally manages to break it to pieces, causing a grin to slowly form. “Now then, what’s next! Or maybe who…”

“Evvryn! Look around us, there’s people staring at you, and if you keep going on like this you might get a wanted level or however this games police system works.”

Looking around, Evvryn seems to finally calm herself down and puts down the table she was currently abusing.

After that, the music continues, and the people go back to their daily lives of drinking their lives away.

“So, we got bar spawn now did we? Let’s check if they have inn rooms and lets go rob the sleepy drunk people!”

“E-evvryn!! We can’t steal from these people, or rather in general! That’s wrong…”

“Woah keep it down. And it won’t be wrong when we can buy some better weapons or get information, which could lower our odds of dying.”

“I-uhh…” She’s not wrong, but it still...feels wrong. “Fine...but I don’t want anything to do with the actually stealing.”

“Sweet! Let me go find the rooms, you stay here.”

“Yesir…”

With Evvryn leaving to do horrible crimes no one should ever do, Effryn put his head down feeling guilty about the theft. We need it to better our chances to survive, but that doesn't make it an excuse to steal in the first place.

“Gahhh!” Effryn groaned at the thought of them now becoming thieves just to survive. This would be better if we had some mone-

Huh, do we have any money here?

Checking the pockets in his rags, they came up ended handed.

What even is the currency here? Like gold coins or something typical for these types of games?

While pondering this question which could even stump scientist today, Effryn just groaned and tilted his head back, while rocking the chair on it hind legs. Effryn thought maybe this is how life should be if you want to survive, so he should get used to it. That was until…

...woah, that is one nice looking stained glass. Is the dragon supposed to be their god or something?

Intrigued by the glass, Effryn took a closer look, observing the details on the art and color of the glasses, and how well they compliment each other. It was like the stained glass he’d see outside of churched, except this one had a dragon instead of the father.

“Amazing, it’s like they have their own renaissance going on here. But what has me the most touched is how a shadow appears the harder I focus on it. Funny, almost like something's outsi-”

“-Arrow Volley!”

After hearing those words echoing from outside, the only thing Effryn saw next was the glass shattering.

With his, or maybe some other instinctive feeling, he slipped under the table he was waiting at. From under the table, he heard maybe hundreds-no thousands or metallic sticks hitting everywhere around him, with some hitting the table above him. Peeking outside, the only things Effryn could see were the layers of arrows pierced into the wooden floor.

crapcrapcrapcrapcrapcrapcrapcrapcrapcrap, Where’s Evvryn!?!?

Practically pissing his pants, Effryn thought of every way possible to escape this situation with his life intact.

Magic! I can no doubt explode my way out of here bef-

Feeling a warm stream of liquid surround him, he checked his now soaked robe to find the source. It was drenched in red, with a strong smell of metal mixed in.

-It was fresh blood.

T-this is...from the people who drank here. The bartender. The patrons. The waitresses… All of them, dead from one, or actually, quite a few attacks.

Feeling the same rushing urge to vomit from teleporting, Effryn covered his mouth in act to do everything to stop himself from vomiting.

“Come on out mage, or should I say, Effryn!!”

He heard the archer yell out, with a voice he was familiar with-the loi Nei.

“What’s your next play kid, I’m curious.”

Come on Effy, get a grip! How could I show my face to Evvryn if I get killed off in the first five minutes…

Doing everything he could to not mentally freak out from seeing this much blood or dead people at once, he kept quiet, making sure not so much as a peep left his mouth.

If he did, he would surely be targeted precisely, as where before it seemed to be a scatter shot.

No, Effryn rebutted, I won’t allow that to happen. This is just a game, get over it kid.

Giving himself self motivation, Effryn slapped his cheeks softly as a wake up call, and quickly skimmed through his abilities for a second, before getting into position to sprint.

“Ok you cold blooded murderer, let’s play some exploding tag!” Kicking the table from underneath into the air, Effryn shot an explosive into the air, causing a fiery explosion, followed by a mist of smoke.

Breaking out into an olympic sprinter, Effryn ran towards where the bartender was, and escaped from the back door into some sort of room filled with wine cases.

Holy explodey, I’m amazed I was even able to pull something off like that! Ok, next I should meet up with Evvryn, then w-”

Before having the pleasures of finishing his thoughts, the wall next to him burst down from a giant man.

“OWWWIE” That giant monstrosity, or Towu, broke down the wall with merely his bare body. A true sight to be scared of. Luckily, he looked stunned from the sudden burst with small pebbles falling off his head.

“OK, not sticking here…” Searching the room for a possible exit, the only thing coming up was where he came from before, but unless he thought life was pointless and wanted to end it all with one sniper shot, he had to come up with another plan.

And then, an idea popped in his head, although it might have not been the most legal one.

“Sorry officers, but I need to a anywhere but here! Thermite!” Directing a snap at the further most wall, Effryn used the second ability he had, which created a high burning point explosive, hot enough to melt the walls down opening the outside.

Oh praise the sun! Now it’s time to jet or I’m actually gonna be grinded to oblivion!

Using all his running capabilities, Effryn ran in the sun's embrace, escaping into the city streets. As he ran, many eyes stared at him with a confused and annoyed look. Well, it was either him, or the giant who was slowly gaining on him.

“Sorry everybody, but I’d rather not be pounded today!” He yelled, trying to find a safe place to hide, while hearing the enclosing footsteps of a humongous madman.

Whip! An arrow stretched through the air, grazing the hair of Effryn nearly tingling his scalp.

“AAAAAAAAAA!!!!”

Effryn cried out, knowing that now he was getting double teamed.

“G-getting double teamed isn’t fair guys! Can’t there be a system of honor or something?!”

Hoping there was even a piece of hope in these two, Effryn to everything for a chance at an even fight.

“WELL...MA-”

“-Don’t be stupid Towu, this is just how the game is supposed to be. Honor can be turned against at any moment, so it’s better to not let your enemy even have a chance to get that opportunity.”

With his now old hope crushed, Effryn cursed at every god for abandoning him.

As the two were arguing amongst themselves, Effryn had to outrun a monster who would crush him instantly, while also dodging arrows that get a trim of a hair closer after each shot. Seems fair enough.

The screams of civilians filled the streets, as they were running for their lives, with some even being hit by stray arrows.

Dude! Did the entire police force have an off day today or something?!

While dodging arrows along the oncoming carts and stores on the sidewalks, Effryn saw an intersection coming up, with his prayers answered. It was filled with lizard men and giants, covered in armour, and geared with swords and bows.

They had a stance of battle, pointing their weapons in Effryn’s direction.

“Oh thank the nine, I’m saved!!” Effryn exclaimed, heavily panting with a joyous voice of a saved victim.

“All men, ready yourselves to take down those crazy bastards!” The biggest giant of them all ordered, pointing at the chaos ensuing in the streets.

Finally, some help…

“Take out the rogue elf, giant, and wizard, NOW!!!”

...Huh?

With those finishing words, the giant archers grabbed their giant bows, and started picking up MASSIVE arrows from a stockpile behind them, readying to shot down Towu and Nei, and sadly, himself.

“Towu! You should run. Those arrows’ll pierce right through you. I’ll finish this.”

“OKAY!!”

No longer hearing the footsteps pursuing him, he felt a tiny bit of resolution in his gut. But looking ahead, he saw the bigger problem-massive arrows the size of cars coming directly at his head.

“Explode!”

Snapping his fingers at the carrow, an explosive ignited inside it, causing it to complete erupt.

“Yeah, how about no!” Stopping in his tracks, Effryn quickly turned around to escape the police, but…

“Blistering shower!”

Crap!

Gazing up, he saw Nei, who shot one arrow, which then turned into two arrows, then four, and so on…

Sliding behind a vegetable cart to give himself even the smallest amount of time, Effryn focused his mind, and began to cast another explosive spell. “Explo-”

But instead of casting the same bomb from before, he felt his stomach tighten up, letting no words escape his throat.

Which meant-he can’t make a counter for the arrows incoming.

Am I low on MP or something?! Oh god, I’m dead I’m dead I’m dead Ran through his mind as he prepared for the immeasurable amount of pain of god-knows how many arrows.

“Dumbass! Keep running until the nearest alleyway, and don’t stop!!”

It was the voice of his second savior, Evvryn. She was on top of some plant cart, pointing her bow at the rapidly increasing arrows.

“Folgen schuss!”

Yelling out what had to been one of her abilities, Effryn watched as not just an ordinary arrow flew, but some bluish crystally shot left her now glowing bow. Each moment the passed for the arrow, it multiplied itself, as if it was changing in accordance to each second.

Wow...she’s beautiful…

The magic arrow was changing as it flew, creating multiple, smaller versions of itself, then hitting each of the splitting arrows Nei had shot, with all direct hits.

“Archer magic...how annoying. I guess I’ve missed my chance then. Goodluck you two.” Grinning with pure enthusiasm, she jumped away from her rooftop, while evading a carrow from crushing her.

“Hurry Effryn, this way!”

Jumping from cart to cart, Effryn envied the thought of having such athletic skills instead of using his plain feet for travel. He ran as fast as his little body would allow, hearing the oncoming arrows of destruction fly from behind.

“Make a left!”

Hearing that, his body instinctively jumped to his left into some alley way. Looking behind him in the streets, he saw no less than ten or so carrows being chucked at random, with some that definitely would’ve hit him if he didn’t jump when he did.

“Down here!” Catching his breath, he looked to see Evvryn lifting up some metal cap and motioning him there. “We can use the sewers to make a pitstop.”

You don’t have to tell me twice!

“R-right!”

Without giving a second thought, Effryn reluctantly grabbed hold of her hand, descending into the sewers.

***

Oh come on Effryn, first ya leave me with some kid, and now you nearly get wiped among the first five. What a douche.

Resting back into his seat, Eizer was finally able to calm himself after the dumbass moves Effryn had pulled off nearly getting himself killed. He saw how close the elves shots were at him, and the amount of lucky gambles he was able to pull off, each making him sit on the edge of his seat.

There was that, and having to cover the young girls, or Fraels, eyes whenever a player or AI’s gets killed. Especially with the shit they pulled off in the beginning.

Everyone including Eizer was shocked to all hell seeing the players going through such a tantamount of pain. It was even harder for the people who knew the players, having to watch the people they know simulate a painful death right in their eyes.

I wonder if the people running this shitshow had any clue this game has this much amount of gore. But if Effryn was able to bring this short stuff inside no problem, then my guess is-hell no. Damn, with me having to cover her eyes every twenty seconds or so, then there’s no way they could of known.

Pondering the questions of human stupidity, Eizer wondered how unorganized can an event get to allow a child into something like this?

Thinking about it, Eizer looked at the scoreboard, which were posted above the sixteen screens correlating on each of the players, each split in rows of two in accordance to their teams.

Fifteen remaining alive, with Beth on top holding four kills, and Nei in second with one.

“C’mon guys, kick some ass and don’t get gassed” Eizer wished, hoping the best for the two.

“Can Frael open her eyes yet?”

“Sorry girly, just a little longa.” Eizer assured the little as he covered her eyes, hiding the scene of the elf who attacked Effryn robbing a store, as well as maybe killing everyone in the process. “Just a bit more…”

***

“It really, really stinks Evvryn…”

Covering his nose, Effryn dragged his feet through the murky sewage water behind Evvryn closely following her.

“Yeah, no shit…”

Checking his UI, the game says it’s only been a good twenty minutes since they first entered the sewers. But to Evvryn and him, it felt like a few lifetimes.

“H-how much longer do we have to endure this?”

“Just until we get a good distance away from the law. We need to be out of their view, and start planning from there.”

After escaping from Nei and the massive police force, Effryn followed Evvryn into the sewers to escape and get out of sight. Although it smelled like literal shit, it still worked.

And once they got a safe enough distance away to wait out the cops, like hiding with a wanted level, they could climb out and make a plan from there.

“Here should be good enough. Let’s get out and see what’s up.” Evvryn said while shooting the cap of the sewer off, opening the gates to the outside.

“W-wait, won’t the people think we stink?”

“Yeah. Probably cause we smell like shit.”

“What if that attracts another player?”

No matter how much Effryn sunk his brain into it, he couldn’t see how smelling like fecal matter could be to their advantage. Maybe if they wanted to hide their scent from a beast, that could work, masking the smell they would normally produce.

But in this case, it was completely different. Them leaving the sewers into a city booming with people, not to mention sixteen or so killers out for blood out and about.

While messing around in the menus, Effryn realized something. His hud and menus only displayed things for his character, not Evvryn, or anyone else's. Which meant that he and Evvryn had no idea how many other players were still in the game, and he also didn’t know if they got a notification when one another died. They were yet to get one if anyone had died yet, so it could very well keep that information hidden too.

This doesn’t make sense...why would Evvryn want us to go out without at least hiding our smell. It’s like she wants us to get caught or something…

Pulling himself up from the sewers, Effryn finally got an idea as for what Evvryn wants, making him nervous at the thought of it.

“E-evvryn!? You don’t for us to act as…”

“A lure? I do, so get ready!”

“Wait, I only just regenerated my mana!”

Checking his mana levels, Effryn made sure to be extra careful the next time he used any of his explosive spells. He didn’t know if other mages had a similar problem or not, but his spells used a ton of energy, with his thermite spell using nearly a third of it all.

I can’t rely on my spells, even though I’m a mage. And I thought magic was supposed to make life easier…

Dusting himself off, Effryn saw they were in a much worse part of the city from before, with run down buildings, and people living off with tents and sheets. He realized they must have ended up in the slums.

But something more started troubling him...

“P-please stop staring…” Effryn muttered quietly, feeling his anxiety skyrocket.

“Stop being a pussy, I feel some heavy eyes watching us closely.”

“T-that was a bit fast. Are you sure?”

Questioning Evvryn on her noticing skills, Effryn just thought it was her feeling paranoid from everyone staring at her. Taking deep breaths, Effryn jammed the idea that the people were only computers, not humans, and began to look around at the citizens glancing from there small homes.

“Maybe it’s just the people that live here giving off a watchful gaze? I mean, I see a kid watching behind broken glass, an old man staring from a tent, and a girl who started tapping the ground with a stick.”

“You saw what?!”

Watching a girl with purple hair beat her stick on the ground repeatedly, Evvryn watched as if in a trance, and even thought he saw her shouting. What...is she...doing..?

Her body shined as if it were glowing, illuminating her to be more unnatural with her surroundings even more with a red aura. An amethyst in the midst of rubble.

As each second passed, Effryn felt like he wanted to watch her more and more; never letting her go from his sight. It was as everything around her had stopped moving, with her being the one exception to time ceasing. He couldn’t speak, move, or even hear anything. All of his attention went into watching the purple haired girl.

“Dumbass, look out!!”

Effryn felt a moment pass, and came to notice he was on the ground beside Evvryn.

“If she’s that enthralling, then grow the balls to ask her out sometime!!!”

What just happened...one moment I was checking out the people, but the second I saw her, I was stuck-like I couldn’t move or something...

Then from behind, Effryn could hear the sound of some vicious growling, but with some weird demented snarling mixed in.

“W-w-who’s a good boy…” Effryn said, scared out of his mind while slowly turning around.

What he saw was technically a dog, or wolf if one would be so bold. But there was one slight off detail Effryn noticed that separated this dog from every other animal in the same species-it was an abomination.

The dog had one eye hanging out from its socket, with the other one missing. It’s skin was ripped and worn, with visible flesh and even some organs loosely hanging from it’s belly. He was sure it smelled pretty bad too, but at that moment, he might have stunk more than the doggo itself.

“Shit! Get behind me!”

Being grabbed by Evvryn, Effryn stumbled while following her. She pulled out her bow, and reluctantly put the thing down with one clear shot to the head.

“Ahhh, so you’re not scared of these things like the last pair was. This should be a pleasant challenge.” The woman sneered, forming a small smile from her lips, cheek to cheek. “Let’s play, shall we?”

She unveiled her robe, to unveil a similar mage style get-up as Effryn, though much nicer.

“Show off…” Effryn muttered, who was pathetically clinging onto Evvryn for his life.

She began beating her stick on the ground again, but this time, it seemed more proper. The stick beating had a more serious energy to it than before. Poor ground.

“Bet.” Evvryn said in a calm voice, and aimed her bow directly at the girls skull, before releasing the tightly gripped arrow.

It flew cleanly through the air, with its endpoint looking like a headshot. That was until…

Sing

...the arrow flew off course, by the shield of a full armoured knight who suddenly jumped from a nearby roof.

“Sorry, but I can’t let you end up dying before even getting a single hit in.”

“I didn’t need your help.” The girl remarked. “Just follow the attack like we planned.”

“Roger.”

With their short conversation being ended, she began banging her stick while shouting out her spells name. “Rise hounds, and bring me their corpses!”

More dogs rose from the ground, but this time, they looked more rotten and tough than before.

Effryn stared at the dogs, watching the horror of undead beast rise from the ground.

But soon, he noticed she had the same bloodish glow from before, and felt himself being lost in her gaze once more...

Why can’t I...look away from her..?

From his peripheral sight, Effryn saw the dogs lump back, beginning to charge at him and Evvryn. But his whole world was focused on the movements of this one girl, who he didn’t recognize from the lobby waiting room. Everything was just like before, he lost all senses except for his gaze on this on girl.

He knew the dogs were coming, but there was nothing he could do. That was, until the next moment, he was staring off to the side, with his cheek burning.

“Focus dumbass!! Why are you staring all of a sudden?!” She practically yelled at this point, shooting each dog one by one.

“I-I don’t know? Every time I see her glowing red, I just lose myself.”

“Glowing what? I’ve never seen that…” Firing her last arrow, she came to a sudden stop.

“E-evvryn?”

“Damn, that’s a nice passive. Whatever you do, don’t look at her!”

“...passive?”

Lost on the word passive, Effryn looked at his character menu, checking his abilities to see this so called passive. I don’t see one...do I not have one!? Frantically checking, he noticed small letters at the bottom of his character. Passive: You do not take any explosive damage from any source.

Really!? Why do passives always have to be such a hard thing to find for me…

Troubled by the fact he always overlooked these things, he watched the dogs twitching, as blood seethed from their arrow wounds.

“They sure aren’t durable at least.”

“I-It’s probably cause she needs to say fetch me their souls in order for it to be more effective.”

Effryn half jokingly said, still creeped out by the undead dogs looking so real.

“Do you two really think a few sticks are enough to keep them down?” Laughing with a bit of insanity, the girl raised her stick and shouted “After them!”

At her command, the dogs rose back from the dead, with blood pushing the arrows out of their bodies. Getting into pouncing positions, the doggos began to growl dementedly.

“Knight, we shall move to phase two.”

“Roger.”

Giving a slight nod, the knight unsheathed his sword, and pointed it directly at Effryn. “I challenge you, young sorcerer.”

“N-no thank you! I think I’m good just chilling here-”

“Quiet kid. Consider yourself dead in the next minute.”

Never thought I’d hear a knight in full blown armour call me kid.

Announcing his plan to attack, the knight began his charge towards Effryn, with a glowing light starting to beam from his sword.

“New plan. You dance with knight, and I’ll mingle with the bitch.”

“W-wait, you can’t-”

Feeling a vibration of wind from Evvryn jumping, he was faced with his biggest problem yet-surviving an advancing knight.

“Charger!”

As soon as the knight announced his attack, Effryn had somewhat of a picture on what this move meant, although it was just a guess.

Effryn did what only thing came into his mind, which was jump into one of the rundown houses. Hearing a loud crash from behind, he turned around to see a fully armour knight with a white glowing sword impaling the house with its purity.

Oh boy, I bet that wouldn’t feel to good.

“Ah, so you’re a puss type of person. This should be fairly annoying.”

“Screw you dude! Who wouldn’t be scared of a huge friggin sword coming at you with the power of god and the speed of light on its side?!”

Hearing the person sigh with irritation in their armour, Effryn heard him lifting his heavy shield, and the bracing of his feet along with some clinks.

“Defoncer!”

The knight yelled with clear agitation, and busted down the entire wall of the house with a swing of his shield, which was now also glowing white.

“You and God must be real close for him to let you use his powers like this!” Panicking, Effryn rushed up the stairs trying to buy himself time to think.

“What else would you expect from a Templar, dumbass.”

How holy of you.

Slapping his cheeks, Effryn breathed deeply to clear his mind and focus on a way to get out of this alive. With only a limited amount of time before he: A. Climbs the stairs himself, reaching Effryn and more than likely insta killing him. Or B. Causes the entire second floor to collapse with a single flick of his shield. None of them sounded to desirable to him, so he had to think of something before any scenario plays.

The reason he ran to the second floor instead of outside is his because his perferece is not getting insta backstabbed from a mile away. Knowing he can’t run away in public areas, Effryn cancels that idea.

The ability to instantly close the gap between an opponent, even getting a possible hit in if done right. I can’t run, so I guess that leaves…

Fighting. Unless he wanted to play a never ending game of tag/hide and seek, it wasn’t possible. His stamina would run out as fast as three back to back thermite uses, and even with the nearby houses, he’d just bash them down one by one until eventually there’s no more safe points.

“Come out already boy, I’m tired of this game of tag.” Sounding even more annoyed, the knight started to slowly walk up the stairs. Each step made a heavy creak in the floor, sounding like each one would instantly break with even one more force.

Crap.

So if he fought, he would have to prioritize using everything except his magic as much as possible…

Wait, why don’t I use thermite on him? It should be an instant kill!

Peeking down the stairs, he saw the knight slowly ascending the stairs with his sword cutting below him, making the path unuseable.

Bracing himself, Effryn focused his mind on the knight, preparing for the huge loss of mana. “Thermi-”

Invalid use of ability

Huh?!

“What’s wrong worm? Can’t squirm your way out of this one?”

Quickly opening his skills screen and reading his ability, it read:

Thermite! A great but costly skill, hot enough to melt even the strongest of steel available. Can be used at a distance for walls, BUT must be physically touching a player to ignite them.

Whyyyyyyyyyy!?!?

His mind was racing to figure out another plan, and so, he checked his other skill explode. It basically read the same thing about the players, except it had a larger blast radius, but lacked the high damage output thermite had.

With the sound of heavy clunking approaching, Effryn scrambled to find a solution.

Ok, realism check. In theory, if I could get close to him to set off thermite, he should be melted to death, if not burned alive.

Effryn knew this, but had to set his mind on the bigger problem-getting close without being ripped in two.

“Alright bug, it’s time to die.” Before Effryn knew it, the knight stood on the same level with him.

Crap...ok, new plan. Survive this maniac befor-wait, why is his thingy glowing white already!?

Watching the terrifyingly long sword illuminate white, Effryn did the only thing that had the highest chance for saving him. He bolted to the furthest wall, while hearing the intensity of the sword grow, and blew up the floor at literal face value. Praise be for passives!

After a flash of light directly in his eyes, followed by some dust, Effryn found himself falling. Adding in the wall bash from earlier, it seems the poor house just couldn’t handle a little explosive.

Oh yeah, I’m gonna feel this one. Was the only thing surging his mind as he could only wait for the impending hurt of this fall. That was…

...until he saw the shadow of some huge knight above him. Flipping around instantly, he saw the true image of horror, worse than any cursed image he’d seen.

Plunging attack?! When and how did you…

Then Effryn thought of how it must have went down. After blowing the house, the knight had to of cast his lunge ability, which would explain why a knight with full heavy duty protection was now above him in a span of a second.

“Sorry knight’o, but I can’t have you taking me out now!”

Seeing the knights blade being pushed towards him, Effryn prepared a surprise in his right hand, waiting for the exact moment to cast it. Then…

“Explode!!”

...with the sword only inches away from his chest, Effryn lightly tapped the sword at an angle on its safer side. Putting a little more energy into this attack, Effryn was able to push the sword away, and like he wanted, the knight flew back with it. He was able to prevent both a stab from above and a crushing death, all while keeping himself safe.

Great! Now I just need to mentally prepare myself fo-ACK!

Feeling the nice comfortable ground calmly welcome his back, Effryn felt a nice tingling sensation as soon he landed. Excluding the intense amount of back pain.

Speaking of painful landings, Effryn knew by the sound of the knights fall it wasn’t the most pleasurable fall he’s ever had. Actually, thinking about it realistically the knight should most definitely be dead. Beyond dead. That weight should crush anyone, no matter their strength.

But of course, game logic has to be a pain.

“Whew...how annoying. You deserve a promotion from mosquito to rat.” With a cocky sneer, the knight proudly stood, dusting away the debris from the house he had landed in. “Now to hell with you!”

“N-no intermediate break or something?!”

Before getting a chance to think about his next steps, the knight was already in position for his next strike, with the sword already starting to glow white.

He’s spamming attacks, how’s that fair in any way?!

But there was one thing off with the glow from the ones before, like it was missing a bit of spark. Holy...It’s missing the tip!

The sword was missing the tip, which had to have been blown off from the explosion. A true godsend from the explosive deity.

With the tip gone, the sword at least loses some of its range. But even with the pointiness striped away, a lunge at the speed of light would still cause some incredible hurt.

Glancing around, there were some houses in running distance. He might have a chance at making it if he made a run for it. But then what? Just keep doing repeats on each house until he’s gripping only the hilt of a longsword?

It tempted Effryn...but checking his mana, he used around a sixth of his bar with the double charge explosion, and that would last only six more houses, which would require him the cover of the gods protecting him after each house knockdown.

No, it has to be done now.

“Now rat! Stay still so I can kill you with a single blow. It’ll make this a hell of lot easier for me and you!!” Laughing insanically, the knight seemed to have lost his patience and his mind. “If only I was Beth...then I could have killed you while having you overfill from lust in your brain!!”

With his sword on the brink of being ready, Effryn ceased all thoughts on his mind, and prepared for what came next.

“Charg-”

“Explode!” Waiting for the moment the knight used his lunge, Effryn casted his explode on the ground in front of him, side jumping away while the smoke protected him from being seen.

“Huh...damn you rat! You’re really pissing me off!!” The knight, most likely angered by Effryn not being drenched in blood by his sword, swung his shield to break the smoke.

Ok...I all I need now is to pray he doesn’t roll catch me…

“Here rat, this one’s for that blondy girl you’re with, who doesn’t even compare to Beth!”

The knight got in position like before, but this time...his sword was nearly charged. He must have pumped all his mana and stamina to speed this attack.

Good, I rather not have to hear you much longer.

“Charge!!!!”

“Explode!!”

Waiting for the attack, Effryn shot an explosion doubled the power from before on the ground, creating a bigger mask of smoke of the area. But instead of jumping away…

“...Huh?”

...he ran straight towards him, sliding underneath his legs after noticing a pattern on his charging ability that kept a good amount of space opened underneath his legs.

-After which, Effryn turned around jumping on the back of the knight.

“Sorry bud, but no one, I mean NO ONE, makes a fool of my best girl!!”

Climbing the knights armour, Effryn reached his arm around the neck, and put every bit of mana into both his palms.

The knight flailed his sword and shield, trying to get the young mage off his back. He squirmed, but something prevented him from using all his strength. He dropped his sword, and held his nose shut.

-It was the sewer stench making it harder for the knight to do anything.

“THERMITE!!!!” With his hands shaking from the mana, Effryn propelled himself up to clap the helm of the knight. A bright light began vibrating inside the knights helm, causing him to writhe, knocking Effryn off.

“NO! NO!! NOACCKKK-”

BCK

The knights helm, or head now, popped with a loud boom. Fire began erupting from the inside of the armour, making the suit have a reddish fire effect.

Holy…

With his head clean off, the knights body fell onto the ground, making the ground shake from the armours weight.

Getting up, Effryn went to check the corpse of the knight. He didn’t want a skill with resurrection or something ignorant like that to suddenly pop up.

...But it didn’t seem like that would be the case. Effryn saw the head burned clean off, with the body burned to oblivion. He wondered if he burned the body well enough to cauterize the blood from overflowing out the neck.

Yep, it would be pretty hard to come back from that…

Thinking about his first kill, Effryn stretched with a light grin on his face. Oh boy, I got my first kill! I wonder if Evvryn’s done with hers yet? Ending with bending his arms, Effryn walked away, leaving the burnt corpse of the knight behind to find Evvryn.

***

Echoes of the crowd roared in Eizers ears as the screen display showed Effryn and the knights battle coming to a close. It was like this whenever any battle occured, although not to this degree of eardrum piercing.

Sounds like y’all are having the time of your lives… Eizer thought to himself, looking around at the entire crowd before looking at the little girl before him with his hands covering her eyes. She looked excited when she saw it was Effryn on the screen, but that didn’t leave Eizer too happy he had to be on standby for kiddo protection.

He lost count of the times he had to cover her eyes from the violence. It wasn’t just from player fights, oh no, some people are sadistic creeps who just love killing people for money, or they go on rampages on against the police for fun. They play too much GTA to be having this much fun for something like that.

Although that was pretty bad itself, the main thing scaring Eizer was not the players blowing off steam, no-it was how realistic the slaughter seemed.

From the arrow impaling, sword slicing, hell...Effryn’s BBQ on that knight. It all had a little too much detail for deaths.

Especially too much for this little one here… Frael, with her eyes being covered, swinged her feet humming a hymen. She’s way too innocent for this shitshow of a horror game.

There was the gore for the Npc’s, and the actual PVP events that occured. Eizer noticed after a player has died, someone comes from the hallway on the lowest floor where Effryn came from, and sits in chairs that were recently put in, which were probably for players who died but still want to watch the game end.

With each player death, he saw people slowly trickling inside, each looking excited they got to experience something so fast pace or gorey. Some looked disappointed at first, but they usually got around to laughing it out with the others. So far mostly everyone seemed to be having a good time.

Mostly everyone.

The most recent person, who must have the knight as he was the latest one to die, was enraged. He was on the phone the whole time with someone on the phone, but he was tuned out from the cheers and screams from the audience.

His face was covered with a scarf, so he couldn’t get much of a view. He also was pretty far ahead in the crowds to get a good look at his build, so there was that too.

Be careful, Effryn. I feel trouble from that guy, and I feel like his partner isn’t any better…

Back on the monitor, was another big fight happening between a necromancer and a magic archer. Or in other words, Evvryns big fight against the psychos partner.

Feeling a chill run down his spine, Eizer watched the battle as his mind tuned out from the roars of cheers all around him, while the player count reached five remaining...

***

Running from house to house, Effryn heard the groans of undead hounds, followed by sounds of arrows penetrating them by the masses.

He’s been trying to follow the battle for some time now, but who knew that a necromancer could actually keep up with an athletic archer?

Finally, he reached a house that seemed close enough to the battle. He slid underneath the broken windows, hoping to get any kind of viewing advantage.

While panting, he peeked through rags acting like curtains.. He saw the same purple headed girl from earlier, who was spamming her dogs ability, while dodging the many magic arrows Evvryn was also spamming.

Talk about button mashers...Thinking to himself, he crouched down to make sure he wouldn’t get caught. Why is she still fighting? I killed her duo guy...so why is she still fighting knowing I’ll be here soon?

“C’mon bitch, stop using those dumb dogs of yours as a meat shield!!”

“I think I’m fine, unless you want to cease your arrow usage?”

“Like hell!”

“Fine by me. Once my partner arrives after killing yours, we’ll finish this if I don’t take you out by then.”

As their exchanging remarks ended, Effryn heard more dogs being summoned, while Evvryn jumped from house to house sniping said dogs.

Woah...I didn’t get a notification when her knight died? Wait, all I got was a confirmed kill, but there was no world announcement to tell that he did die. With this information, I wonder how many people are actually left?

Effryn’s head began to swirl with this information, making him question if they were slowly dwindling down in players, or the game was just starting.

No Effryn thought, shaking his head. Just think of the problem on hand first.

Taking another cheeky peek, Effryn saw the slaughter of spawning dogs as the the purple haired girl, or Beth as the knight called her, continued spawning them as a shield against the arrows.

As she was spawning, Evvryn fired away, turning dogs into mince meat from the barrage of arrows.

It was a battle of attrition of sorts, to see who could keep up the longest, until one finally grew tired. If Beth ran out of mana, she would run out of a shield, meaning it would be open season for Evvryn. But if Evvryn ran out of stamina or mana, whichever one her bow used, it would be harder to keep up with dog spawns, essentially being over ran.

It was a stalemate until one of those two happened, unless...a third party joined the fray.

Ok...don’t be too stupid Effryn, just be somewhat useful for her. This IS for her.

Mentally preparing himself, Effryn took yet again another deep breath, feeling all of his built up anxiety pile into his chest, until realising it all with an exhale. Here goes probably everything!

“Explode!”

“The hell…”

“Huh!?”

Both shocked by the sudden implosion of a house, each looked to see smoke arising and…

“Effryn!? The hell are you-”

“N-not now Evvryn! Just focus!!”

...saw a short, dusty robbed mage sprinting behind Beth at full speed.

Please Evvryn, get what I’m trying to do!

“Why the...is he really that much of a failure to stop a little mage!?” Gazing at the mage running towards her, she let her lips curl into a deivent smile. “Fine!! If you wish to die here, then be my guest!”

Seeing Beth focus her attention to him with a smile like that, Effryn made sure to get behind her for what came next-the dog spamming.

Oooook, this should be a perfect angle! Now it’s your turn Evvryn, so please, DO YOUR JOB!!!

Although he was able to grab Beth’s attention for some time, giving Evvryn a chance to fire at her with less shields, that didn’t mean he was safe. Especially with her passive, he had to survive without even having a sight on the dogs. Mission objective: survive.

“What’s wrong boy? I thought you wanted to die, so at least use your eyes!” He heard beth say, as summoning magic was spammed.

“Maybe, maybe not. But you can’t take more than one front, germany could barely handle it! And you’re nothing compared to them!”

Staying in a area that was directly opposite of Evvryns shooting, Effryn made a quick suicidal diversion for her. Even with his eyes closed, he could hear the groans of some hounds, giving away their position and letting him know when they were close. Using every fiber of his will to slap the hounds of rotten flesh, Effryn used Explode on the hounds that leaped towards him.

“Huh? Who said anything about german-ACK!”

After exploding dog from dog, Effryn heard a heavy impact with a sound of rippling flesh. Waiting for a second, he also noticed the lack of dogs rushing at him.

“H-how the, why the...wow, this...hurts…”

Opening his eyes, he saw the necromancer Beth, with a hole gapping in her stomach, and a colorful blue arrow resting on the ground.

Beth turned to look at him with a pair of hateful eyes. A look he’d never seen before. She started turning to give the same look to Evvryn, but before her eyes could lock with Evvryn’s…

...he saw her get struck down with multiple arrows, never getting the chance to look at Evvryn.

“Fiiiinally...that took way longer than it needed!!” Rejoicing in victory, Evvryn let out a cry knowing she’ll be able to relax. “You could work on your timing squirt, but other than that, you did well!”

“W-whaaa...it was nothing…” Effryn hid his face as Evvryn flashed him a grin and a thumbs up. “I-it...was all you.”

“Hey now. It was both of us!” Evvryn beamed, melting Effryn’s insides more. “Mostly me though.”

“H-hey...you’re not wrong there actually…”

Even though it had been a short time they’d been apart, he felt happy to see her again. Feeling his chest burning up with each smile she gives, it gets harder and harder to think on anything else but her.

I think I should tell her how I feel after this is all over, whether we win or lose.

Making his mind, Effryn felt determined to tell Evvryn how he felt about her. He didn’t care if they won or lost-although maybe it would set the mood better if they win-Effryn had to tell her.

How could I resist such a frightening yet collective person, whom I’ve spent my entire life with? I would have to be an absolute mad lad, or just pretty stupid to NOT fall for her.

“Over here!” Evvryn called, pointing at a rundown inn she used as high ground for the necromancer battle. “We should rest up in here.”

“S-sure!” Effryn responded with a faint voice crack. “B-be right there.”

Catching up to Evvryn, Effryn looked around to see torched marks over the ground, most likely from her arrows. Among a few of the marks, there were splatters of dried blood from the dogs indicating they were hit, but disappeared after Beth was killed.

“Y-you sure did a number to each others...resources, but did any of you guys actually get a hit in before I came?”

“Shut up! It’s cause that bitch refused to do anything else!!”

“Sheesh...leave that poor witch alone.”

Having reached the inn, she began checking out the place to see how safe it was before using it as a rest area to recover their energy. It’s as they say, a tired soldier with no mana’s a dead soldier. Or at least in this context. Someones said it with mana before, right?

“Mmm, looks clear enough” Evvryn exclaimed, before flopping down on a straw bed. “Whew! Man am I tired…”

“D-did you even look around fully? There could be-”

“Ah, screw it. I’ve never been this tired in my life.”

Poor sheepy Evvyrn… Effryn thought, watching her rest peacefully.

Effryn began to look around the place from somewhere to rest himself, and found himself a nice wooden stool that was screaming for his butt. I know Evvryn must’ve used quite a bit of energy, but how much do I have left? Effryn prompted his menu, seeing he had about a sliver left in his mana bar, or about enough for two explosions.

Staring at the slowly regenerating gauge, Effryn began to worry. What if we run into trouble? It’ll be a miracle if I even recharge one spell…

With his mana, added in with Evvryns usage of mana and stamina, the next battle would be a pretty tough one to handle unless the next group turned out to be actual brain deads. That, or they would need the gods right beside them.

Well, I’ll just pray the next group won’t be so difficult.

While Effryn was thinking away prayers, hoping they wouldn’t encounter anybody or thing for a while, he heard the angels of death burning his hopes to ash.

“NEI, WHY DID WE COME OVER HERE?”

“Shhh. Because I could hear a battle, and we need more action. It feels like nobody else is here, so instead of waiting for them to come to us, we find them after their fight, striking them down when they are the most tired.”

“OH-”

“-Shush! They could be anywhere, so please don’t alarm them just yet.”

Effryn felt his heart get anxious as he heard the muffled exchanges between two players-the group he dreaded most.

Crapcrapcrap! Why these two? Why now? Evvryn… Checking on her, she was still sleeping peacefully, as if nothing in the world could ruin her nap.

Effryn slowly made his way to her side, careful not to bring any dangerous attention before they could do a thing. Good, smoothish so far. Now it’s time for wakey time.

“Psst, Evvryn…” He whisper in Evvryns ear, while carefully listening to the any footsteps near the front door. “...bad people are hear!”

“Whaaa-just send them away…”

Evvryn had brushed him off groggily, rolling back into her sleep.

“What does that even...Evvryn, just wake up.” Effryn pressured more hoping she would listen even if just for a second. He kept his hopes up, even with how badly this situation could pan out. They were low on strength, with little mana. The highest possibility of them coming surviving were only if they either ran now, or they pulled everything together in one strong, swift move.

That was, until Effryn’s brain thought of how perfect this situation could actually be for them. For one attack to finish this, we would have to use teamwork to pull off an incredible double team finisher, which could only be used if we had an open window of opportunity-which thank God, we do! Praise be for ambushes!!

Although they had low energy to work with, if they worked together on a sneak attack, it just might actually work!

“Effryn, hurry and wake. This is our only to strike while we ca-”

“Just let me sleep already Effryn, goddamn!!!!” Evvryn yelled with all her might, sitting up to face Effryn with anger filled eyes.

Oh, son of a…

“Towu!”

“RIGHT, Stampede!”

As the gods may hate man for overstepping their boundaries, Effryn hated himself for existing as he witnessed a nearly naked giant burst through the wall with his bare body.

“What the hell!” Evvryn questioned as she instantly became somewhat more awake to her surroundings. “Effryn, you got a lot of explaining to do!! Now run!!”

The two bolted away from the monster, running deeper into the apartment-like complex.

“Towu, please give our acquaintances a nice hug, one enough to make the two of you inseparable.” Nei said in a delightful tone.

“YAAAY, COME HERE EFFRYN!!!”

“W-wait, why me!?”

But Before Effryn could come to a logical reasoning on why, the two encountered their first problem-a wall. Or rather, the bathroom wall.

And charging behind them at a worrying speed was Towu with his arms in position for giving Effryn a hug.

“Effrrrryyynnnn!!!”

“R-right, get behind me!” Effryn yelled while preparing a spell. “ Explode!”

Effryn did what any sensible human being would have done if they were being hunted down by a killer hug-run.

Through the fog, Effryn had virtually no sight whatsoever. Luckily, though, Evvryn being the wonderful elf she was, took hold of Effryn’s hand, and guided him through the smoke filled mansion.

“E-evvryn, what exactly should we do?!”

“Step one: run. Step two: worry about later!”

“T-that isn’t too assuring!”

Blindly moving behind Evvryn, Effryn thought about their odds of winning this fight-which weren’t high. Taking into that his mana regened enough to use only two more spells before he became completely useless, and that Evvryn was only barely able to recharge her stamina or mana, there chances aren’t high to begin with. Plus adding in the man in direct pursuit behind him, not even adding the loli elf added in the battle yet, wasn’t really helping the situation out either.

“Watch your step, we’re going up!”

After a series of turns and cuts, Evvryn led him to the stairs of the inn. Still, Effryn had no idea where he was going, so he let his fate rest on Evvryns competence.

Ahhh...the smoke dissipated up here. I wonder how the laws of physics would explain how smoke filled just about an entire frickin mansion!! There’s no way Newton would allow something like this to exist, unless…

“E-evvryn! We can’t go up or we’ll die!!”

Halting in the middle, Effryn refused to go any further up the stairs, and even held Evvryn to stop her from going any higher.

“Are you stupid?! I’d really like to see you do anything in the fog that YOU created!!”

Evvryn pulled at him trying to get him to keep going up while the behemoth was drawing closer.

“T-think about it. Could my ability really cause something as big as a fog screen?”

“Well, you probably used too much-”

“There’s no way I could this much smoke unless I had some smoke ability. Just think, we’ve been facing a two man party, but only one member is chasing. So what could the second member possibly be doing?”

“What, you think I didn’t see those mines up there? I’m a ELF damnit! I was born to see traps Nei put down!”

...Huh?

“W-wait, if you knew, then why are we…”

“Nope-just me.”

Completely confused, Effryn tried to piece together what she was planning. That was…

“-H-hey?!”

...before Evvryn pushed-or rather, tossed-Effryn off the stairs, he watched her fade as a star in a mist. Before he knew it, his time spent soaring the mansion skies ended abruptly with a bullseye landing directly in a bookcase.

“Awwwuu...why the-”

“-EFFRYN!!!”

Still feeling a tad woosie, Effryn looked up at the doubled Towu standing over him with an overly happy smile. He wasn’t too sure on exactly what he was smiling on-either finally catching up to him, or just genuinely happy to see him.

“I’M SO GLAD I CAN FINALLY SEE AN OLD FRIEND!!”

With his nerves trembling at the thought that he was about to be crushed to death by a hug, Effryn prayed maybe Towu wasn’t focused on winning. Yeah, maybe the big fella just needs a friend to talk to!

“L-listen, Towu, maybe we could just hang out in the kitchen, or make some food. Hey, speaking of which! Did you know I could make some mean eggs?” Putting in all his enthusiasm in his one, Effryn put up a delighted face the entire time. Please...just say yes to eggs! Anything but violence!

“WELL, I GUESS I COULD GO FOR A FE-”

“Don’t you dare consider eating!! Kill-err, hug him already!!!” Nei yelled above while being masked in the smoke..

“Effryn!” Just survive a little longer!”

The moment after Evvryn finished what she had to say, Effryn could hear and feel the two elves having a shootout from above. Based on where he heard Nei’s voice, it sounded like more arrows were being fired then Evvryns side. Much more. The ratio of normal:magic arrows scared Effryn, and he wondered how Evvryn was managing in her battlefield.

But right now, he couldn’t think to much on her side of things...when he was in quite a nutty situation himself.

Screw it! Ru- Before getting the mere chance of finishing a thought to escape, Effryn was embraced by a pair of overly welcoming arms.

Way over welcoming.

“argck-”

Feeling his entire body nearly break from the hug, Effryn could feel his breath being exasperated from him, as if it was stolen all in one swoop. He opened his mouth, but nothing would come out, just small pants of air.

crap,thisisit. Idon’tevenhaveenoughmanaforathermite...justtwoexplodes.

Although his thoughts were tangled from the lack of breathing and intense pain, Effryn remembered of his only two weapons he had left-explode.

Focusing everything on this one attack, Effryn was able to pour enough mana in his arm to produce a small explosion.

Explode! Thinking the spell, Effryn placed his arm on Towu’s head, causing an explosion that may have cleared the room from smoke, but…

H...how?!

...Towu’s head was still screwed on, with the same smile on his face, and the same crushing pain on his body.

“HEY, WHY’D YOU SLAP ME??”

Effryn felt a sense of hopelessness fill him.. He lost the ability to speak, much less think. There was no plan he could think up to save him. It was just him, and the waiting death of being crushed by a hug.

Feeling the life slowly sucked out of him, Effryn gazed at the stairs he was ‘forcibly’ thrown off of into the fog. The smoke screen might be gone, but what good does that do now?

Effryn glanced around the room, seeing a few chairs stacked around a fireplace, with a glimmering shield beaming above it. It had the same nice design the dragon from earlier, and-

Then, gazing at the shield, Effryn could see the battle happening on the next floor from the reflection.

Evvryn had a tired face, hiding behind a table she was using as cover that held several arrows on its front side. She was nearing her limit, probably with no more mana and hardly any stamina left.

Nei was putting pressure on her with arrows, advancing after a burst or two. She was probably doing too well on arrows and stamina.

Watching Evvryn, Effryn felt a burning passion envelope from within. He didn’t want to see all her hard work get burnt here, and watch her get killed. He wanted her to win, to be able to brag about how she was able to carry them to victory. To have the best smile possible for when they awake from their headsets.

...N...O…

Practically willing himself to use everything left from his body, Effryn put everything he had left in him to focus an attack at Nei. He didn’t care how many times he would hear the error of his flawed combat usage, he just wanted to help Evvryn in any way possible.

-For her.

Ex...plo...de…

The spell raced on his mind, with it being the only thing he dedicated his life to at that very moment.

Glaring at Nei, he watched as a miracle happened-Effryn bypassed the error of no hitting other players. Whether it be a glitch, or some way the explosive mage class can actually do competent pvp, Effryn amazed himself. A sudden explosion erupted form Nei’s shoulder, causing her arm to be thrown back, hitting the wall.

“-!!”

She stumbled backwards, using her remaining arm to cover the missing gone.

He kept watching as Evvryn picked up her head, noticing the sudden imploding of Nei, and leaped over the table with every bit of energy she had. As she was charging Nei, she pulled a dagger from her boot and readied herself. Before Nei was able to fully recover, Evvryn struck her in the throat, jamming her in deep, until pulling out the blade to release blood painting the walls a crimson brown, all while Nei had a face of pure horror.

Evvryn looked around searching for what could have done the gods work, until her eyes met up with his. Effryn tried his best to put on a smile, but he couldn’t tell what kind of face he had. Everything just began fading to dark, his life slipping further and further away.

…

“Hhhhaaaaa”

A feeling of warm air rushed his nostrils as he could feel himself gasping again.

What..?

Trying to get a sense of what happened, Effryn was rushed with nausea as he tried to opened his eyes. Everything was clouded in a blurred vision, with a overwhelming feeling of fatigue.

With his senses slowly returning, Effryn began to feel something wet on his face. But as he felt the nausea leave, Effryn felt wet on his hands, then chest, then legs. Soon enough he felt like he had been soaked!

Then, getting his eyes to focus on the world, everything got into motion, and he found himself in a pool of blood-Towu’s blood.

As he put the pieces together Effryn looked over at his back to see an elven dagger deeply engraved in his neck, with Evvryn hand in hand as she soundly slept.

How are you sleeping after everything that just happened?! Evvryn thought as she snored. But then again, you pulled of some amazing moves just now. So I say you deserve it.

Slumping himself against the wall, Effryn thought to himself on how much they lucked out in that fight. Letting out a sigh, he wondered how far they got with pure luck on their side, and how much longer it’ll last.

I swear if we get into another fight, then we might as well just resign before we get completely wiped…

Taking advantage of the placid surroundings, Effryn let his mind loose and relaxed. He looked at the giant lying before him, then in the mirror that reflected Nei’s corpse, before slumping his shoulders releasing his tension.

If only this could last forever…

Congratulations!!

Ack! Effryn jumped, scanning the room from the sudden booming voice on par to God.

You two are the last survivors! You win!!

We...did it? But if I’m not wrong, we only got four. Did the other just kill each other off?

“Gah...shut up.” Evvryn sluggishly remarked, probably still half asleep.

“S-so...what now?”

Please wait a moment while we power off the consoles and get your prize. It may also take a few moments for your consciousness to regain, so please wai-

Then, in just a matter of a microsecond, Effryn went from seeing the beautiful vibrant colors of the Virtual Reality RPG, to seeing and feeling nothing. Like a small period of being stranded in a mind of darkness.

***

What a game...Is what Eizer would have thought if he didn’t have to protect the innocence of some kid from realistic stabbings and human imploding.

“Yaaaaaaay, Effy and Evvy won!”

“I’ll admit, it was a tense game they earned to win. Though, it’s best to not think on how they won it, just know, they won.”

Saying he didn’t enjoy it completely was a lie. The action was fun to watch, probably a million times and over to actually play the damn thing. The crowd seems to agree He thought, as the cheers echoed throughout the entire building.

But the one thing bothering him was the knight guy Effryn had taken out near the end, and his partner. Ever since he was killed, the only thing he was doing was pacing back and forwarth, barking at someone on a phone while periodically glancing at the battle going on with Evvryn and the dog summoner.

But the moment she was killed, he dropped him phone, completely falling still.

I get losing to bullshit you know you should have one but...even I know my limits dude.

What made matters worse was when the necro-girl walked in, and started arguing with the knight guy about something. I’ll admit, it was funny at first to see people arguing over this crowd, kinda like being a single water particle in oil. But after a while, the two left in the hallway, and haven’t came back since.

I don’t know why, but I’ve got a cold breeze running down my arms from this.

Eizer was usually cool with everything, not really caring about what can and will happen to him and most of the others around him. But like every rule, Effryn was the exception to this. And he had a special touch to know when shit was really off, or about to go off with him.

Evvryn may have been with him their entire lives getting to know each other from being together for pretty much everyday, but that’s only second rate compared to the friendship Effryn and him had.

They’ve seen, talked, and been through things that only buds could go through. When two people open up to each other, they get to know everything they like and dislike about. The things they love and hate.

Eizer knew Effryn liked Evvryn. The way he locked up, breaking down entirely whenever she walked by or was even slightly mentioned. He noticed this by being with him, paying attention to his visible patterns and speech patterns.

It can be the little things giving off the biggest signals, meaning someone is experiencing some kind of new challenge or feeling in life.

Then, there are the feelings of dread for someone else. A feeling of knowing something bad is going to happen to that person, in any way, shape, and form.

Though having only two past feelings of this dread, Eizer knew in an instant that it was the same feeling asthose other two. They were able to prevent the other two from getting out of hand before, but this time was different. There are sooo many people here, including him watching over this little girl, and not Effryn was in a different area of the building than him.

The feeling of dread built dwelled higher inside of him, while the lights and echoes of the stadium swirled around, writhing.

Cheers, lights, win, knight, necromancer, mage, elf, Frael, yelling, bright, angry, players, livid, pacing, call, who?, left early, screams, no return, blur, Effryn, seething blood, the loss of a dear friend-

Thoughts streamed through Eizers consciousness, flashing different images of throughout the entire stadium.

-think, I have to think. What could they be doing…

“Excuse me, Mr?”

A small light voice overran all of Eizer’s thoughts, bringing him back to the present.

“-Eh, yeah?

“I want to give Effy and Evvy a BIG hug for winning something they liked very much. Can we go see them, please?”

The voice that brought him back was none other than the little girl he’d been babysitting-Frael.

“Well...how could I say no to that? I can see why Effryn thinks of you so highly now. Lets go.”

“Uuuuuuuu, what does that mean?”

Putting on a sly smile, Eizer have her a pat on the head.

“Don’t worry, and...thanks.”

Freal only responded by tilting her head, wondering why he was thanking her.

Walking to the lowest part of the stadium, Effryn noticed the cheering seemed to die down, and the lights were turned off. Everything seemed calmer around him, which made him calmer.

Luckily with the hallway being close, they could easily get in-

“Excuse us, but audience members are not permitted beyond this point. Please find another exit.”

A guard? Now?! Why the hell…

His calm demeanor began to wither.

“Hey pal, we’re friends with one of the players. We just want to see them and congratulate them-”

“I said this the first time, no one is allowed here except the players who participated here.”

“Screw you!! Let me thought!” Eizer tried running through the guard, only to get grabbed from behind. “Let me go! I need to help him!”

“Eizer..?”

“Sir, calm down immediately, or we’ll have to remove you from the building!”

Eizer gave up, and calmed himself from getting out of control.

Effryn...I have a really bad feeling about this. Please, be careful.

Fully giving up, he succumbed to the guards. He lift his head one last time, and wished Effryn luck for whatever challenge presented to him next.

***

“Hey, dumbass. Wake up.”

...huh?

His body felt dead, like all of his energy had been sucked dry.

Taking off the head-set, he was greeted by the same hurtful girl he’s always been with, along with the same darkened tent when they’d first started the game.

“Took ya long enough. Anyway, it’s time to get up.”

Aw man, no more elf. But her normal blond hair and eyes are wayyyy better than artificial ears anyday.

“U-umm...wai-”

“Congratulations!” The covers were pulled off, letting light pour into the darkened room. People swarmed the two, with cameras and microphones in hand, shooting questions left to right. “How does it feel to win the first full Virtual reality game in a competition?”

“H-huh?”

“-Can I get your name?”

“-How old are you?”

“-Where are you two from?”

“Eh...uhhhh…” Being shot with questions everywhere, Effryn looked down to hide his embarrassment. “I...uh, don’t really…”

“We’re from somewhere, and we forgot our names. Is that all? Cool, thanks. Let’s go Effryn.”

The crowd was silent as the dead while watching the two abruptly leave the console room, with only the flashes of photographs were the only noise in the room.

Effryn kept his head down, hiding the redness on his face from everyone, while being escorted out with Evvryn’s hand. His heart was beating faster than any other time. It was weird, Effryn wondered if this was from the crowd surrounding him, or from holding her hand.

Soon...it has to be soon.

They entered the hallway that connect the stadium to the console room, and were greeted by familiar, dead faces.

“EFFRYN!!!”

“Ah, I’m surprised you got though that crowd. Nice job on winning, by the way.”

It was Nei and Towu, standing by a doorway to some room Effryn didn’t recognize.

“It was annoying, but we got out. And GG!” Evvryn flashed a bright smile, followed with a thumbs up.

“GG, EFFRYN!!!”

“Y-yeah, gg.” Effryn replied while still hiding his face.

“Oh yeah, we’re about to head out, but the developers wanted to give you your prize through here.” Nei moved aside, pointing at the door. “But before we do so, let’s exchange numbers. I’ll definitely want a rematch.”

Effryn glanced at Evvryn, who had already pulled her phone out and was at the dial screen.

“Of course! Here.”

Effryn watched as the two new friends happily exchange phone numbers, smiling and giggling as they did so.

“I-I’ll head on in first, you can finish up out here.”

“OKAY EFFRYN, SEE YOU LATER!”

“S-sure thing big guy.”

It’s nice we made two friends from something like this. I wonder how mad Evvryn will get at Nei online?

Imagining the sight, Effryn couldn’t help but to laugh to himself. Who knew you could make friends from a tournament like this?

Opening the door, Effryn entered the room, which looked like any old plain room. The only noticeable differences were the tables set up with the VR headset, and a fire exit.

I thought there was supposed to be someone here, or something like that?

Effryn saw no one around. Only the console and the fire exit.

But upon further inspection, Effryn saw the door was open, although only barely.

“H-hello? I was called here…”

Reaching the exit, Effryn opened the door, wondering where everyone went.

“S-sorry if I’m intrud-”

The next moment, Effryn could only feel a sharp pain across his face, with the main point being his nose. And from the moment after that, he felt his body hit the hard ground.

...what…?

He felt his body being dragged, but he couldn’t tell where to. The only thing occupying his mind was the pain he was feeling, and his mind slowly slipping to unconscious.

“Effryn, I got their numbers!” Evvryns voice rang through his ears, echoing over and over throughout his head. “Dumbass, where are you?”

He tried everything in his power to talk, to move-but everything was fading away too fast. He couldn’t do anything to warn her.

R...un...

“Where in the gods name did you run off t-”

Her voice was cut off by the sound of metal vibrating after hitting something with great strength.

He heard her body fall, then dragged into the place where he was. She was placed in front of Effryn, where he saw blood running down her unconscious face.

Effryn felt his mind slipping more and more, with him reaching towards her.

I...I’m sorry. I…

...before Effryn was able to finish his thoughts, he fell unconscious, right beside Evvryn.