Lily charged forward, boosted in speed as a strong current of air bowled after a flap from her wings. She was heading toward Arka in front of her—again in the same blinding speed. Due to her new, unfamiliar movement, Arka was unable to telegraph where her incoming attack was about to hit from afar.

As Lily closed in, she swung her spear leaving Arka to guess or react.

She swung her sword—

Sounds of metal clanging—their blades struck each other dulling more of their steel.

She guessed correctly, locking their weapons.

"Fascinating," A thundering voice overlapped and ameliorated with Lily's, echoing amongst them. She sounded thrilled despite her cold glare. "Despite that false body, you indeed have that split-second decision making and the resolve of moving forward no matter the consequence," she told her.

"Perhaps... you could be a formidable warrior after all, if you were born in our world."

Arka ignored her. She was fueled by adrenaline, making sense between her confused fight or flight responses. She had to focus on what's in front of her; especially against an opponent like this... was it impossible to defeat them since they came in after all?

Under her closed-helmet, her teeth gritted on her virtual avatar. She can't afford any mistakes. She knows she has to adapt, and quickly.

Her opponent sounded a hum under her voice. "But, still..."

Lily exerted more strength into locking weapons with Arka... she was surprised—Lily was gaining the upper hand.

Her strength tripled?!—She thought, but that was a misconception. This was Lily's true strength... monstrous, and utterly inhuman.

Her legs were starting to give in, forcing her to kneel...

This is Lily's true physical prowess... This her demonic nature... she acknowledged it.

Lily continued, looking down at her. "The fact that you're only human... will be the reason that you will surely die,"

Halvund suddenly approached from Arka's right side. He ran toward them the moment when Lily and her locked weapons.

He continued his advance, yelling a battle cry—shield-first into the demon spearman.

Lily quickly stepped to the side, making Halvund miss his attack. She followed it up with a quick spin of her body and swiped her spear, slamming it into him. The force of the impact was enough to knock Halvund off his feet in the process.

He flew back, crashing into a wall; surprised at this demon's newfound strength. His avatar dropped to the ground with a thud, disarming him of his shield.

Mikrim prepared another healing arrow beforehand. She stood tall, back straight, three fingers on the bowstring with her left hand on the lower limb. Particles of green light illuminated from the bauble between her bow's limbs which formed an arrow held by her right hand on her bowstring. Her aim was sure, straight, and true toward Halvund.

Her hands shook as she released it.

At the same time, after Lily struck Halvund, she saw an opportunity to finish off the magic archer... she prepared to throw her spear. While in the momentum of her spinning body, she held her spear up high to her head and leaned back with the aid of a foot behind.

Arka had to move fast as she foresaw what was about to happen. While still forcibly knelt after their exchange, she immediately propelled upward, lunging her Kampilan toward Lily's face.

While already in motion of throwing her weapon, Lily too, saw the swordsman's incoming attack due to her supernatural reflexes. Her eyes narrowed knowing she had to defend herself from this incoming blade.

As Arka's sword neared, Lily tilted her head to the side. The Kampilan grazed her scale armored cheek.

Her spear’s throw ensued.

Lily clicked her tongue.

It flew with maintained precision, flying toward its target. Mikrim turned to see—

—It missed her. The spear soared just above her shoulder.

The missile-like object punctured the giant metal doors behind her, blasting a violent crash thereafter. Mikrim looked at the destruction caused by the white demon, revealing a deformed metal door with a giant hole from her spear throw... all brute strength.

The walls crumbled with the castle door's now-unattached hinges.

Arka went for another lunge of her sword toward Lily's face only for her to tilt her head once again to one side, evading it with ease.

Arka didn't have much of a choice where she could strike her sword on Lily. From the spearman's shoulders, up to the hairs on her head seemed to be the only vulnerable places left on her scale-armored body.

After making another quick slash of her sword aimed at her neck, Lily backed away aided by a flap of her newfound ligaments.

A distance of about six meters was made and she stretched her wings. Six, scaled tendrils with small, bio-luminescent, pink growths suddenly emerged beneath its secondaries.

The scaled tendrils lunged forward with each, seemingly independent with each other's locomotion—Erratic, and nimble. Arka had no time to comprehend their course.

She raised her sword in hopes of defending against it.

However—

Halvund was able to get in the way to block four of these scaled tendrils aimed at them. He grunted as his Pavise protected them. The two, remaining tendrils quickly circumvented his shield, prepared for a decisive strike.

"Hal!" Arka shouted, as she dashed forward and swung her sword at one tendril, jolting it away from them.

She swung her sword again in the other direction to deflect the second, scaled tendril.

However, she was too late.

Halvund's left shin got punctured by the scaled tendril. It suddenly expanded, locking onto it, burrowing to his foot. He was suddenly lifted in mid-air, carried by the attacking, white, scaled tendril.

As he was lifted, A bright, pink light instantly shone on his pierced body part. And then—

An explosion of blood and gore occurred. Halvund's leg from his shin, down, was gone.

Arka saw Halvund fall to the ground, now with a missing limb. He then held his shield as makeshift support for his disability. The scaled tendrils saw an opportunity to finally strike this shieldsman down. They ensued in their relentless assault, only for Halvund to swing his shield upward, knocking away some of the circumvented scaled tendrils. He dropped forward to the ground.

Arka stuck close with Halvund striking another incoming, scaled tendril, jolting it away from them.

In the heat of that moment, she assessed their situation: Multiple, scaled tendrils, a seeming, impenetrable opponent that can plant biological bombs once one of her limbs pierces anywhere on them... truly a match made in heaven.

She was sure she couldn't win, as it was only a matter of time until the scaled tendrils will finally leap in all at once... but this didn't faze her... she couldn't let this faze her. At this moment, she was more hellbent in defeating Lily and fast. She feels that the more they delay, the lesser their odds of winning this battle will become.

Arka looked over to her opponent beyond the throne room.

Only six meters... close, yet Arka feels she was so far. Another scaled tendril suddenly lunged toward her way.

She jumped to the side evading it, and immediately swung her sword at the next ligament that came at her.

Mikrim shot another one of her healing arrows at Halvund, healing him and regenerating the missing leg on his avatar. A cold shiver ran down her spine to her fingertips due to witnessing the explosion, giving her a troubled expression. Her eyes were widened—more alert.

Other than that, her bauble for healing magic was running out. Miniscule portions of its ashes remained within the bauble that was attached to her bow's limbs.

"K-Krim...! We need crowd control!" Arka called out to Mikrim while fending off the numerous ligaments aimed at them. She evaded them by stepping away to the side and deflected each one with every swing of her sword.

Arka and Mikrim were fifteen feet apart; Arka stuck close with Halvund and his shield.

However, she couldn't hold out much longer as each scaled tendril was breaking through her dead-on defense, grazing and pounding into her darkened-steel armor.

"G-Got it!" She began to replace the bauble in her bow for her storm arrow magic from her leg bag.

"Fire above of me! I'll tell you when!" She said to her as she struck away another scaled tendril.

Arka looked at Lily once more. A pathway was about to be cleared. She prepared to dash forth.

She only has once chance, she can't waste the resources and sacrifices of her party.

She looked at her, her yellow eyes stood out, dead-set on Halvund.

She needs to time this right.

And then—

Arka and Lily focused on each other.

"Now!" She ran toward her, both hands held on the grip of her sword. There's no other way, she thought. They had not many resources left.

A bold move it was, as Lily expected. She welcomed her headstrong approach, understanding it was a race whoever strikes first. Although, Lily knows there was no way of outrunning her extended limbs. It was going to be easy catching the swordsman, just like reaching out to her desk, for various paperwork.

There was also the magic archer... despite her Chaos being subpar on the battlefield, she can still pose the greatest threat having a plethora of unfamiliar spells she can cast that she has yet to see.

Still, she found her insignificant for being the easiest to kill.

Furthermore, the speed of her attack was par excellence... what was there left that the magic archer can threaten her?

She turned her scaled tendrils at Arka, and attacked. Just as she expected, the distance to reach the swordsman would be covered within seconds.

And then—

Multitudes of bluish-white light rained down behind Arka in a ten-meter radius over her scaled tendrils.

It was Mikrim's Storm Arrows. The magic arrows were unable to damage Lily, however, each collision of Mikrim's magic arrow jolted her tendrils down on impact, hindering their movements. This gave Arka enough time to farther her distance toward her opponent.

Lily realized... even with all her supernatural reflexes, there was nothing else that she could do as she was also bound by her wings at that moment. Her extended limbs proved to be... a liability.

She watched with the same, cold, glare as the incoming blade was about to head toward her.

It was checkmate, she welcomed her defeat.

Arka pierced her sword through her skull, both hands gripped tightly on the handle. She then stopped in her tracks, feeling the resistance of this solid body part that Arka presumes was all programmed into the game's coding. The amount of force Arka produced pushed the spearwoman's head backward in return.

However, confusion befell upon her as she saw Lily was—

"S-Still standing?" Arka let out.

Lily grabbed onto the blade with one hand that was pierced through half her face. Her blood spilled out, as it trickled down on her white scales. In reaction to this, Arka attempted to pull her sword away from her; but the demon's grip strength proved to be too strong. She can't even make her sword budge.

Lily pulled the sword out.

She expressed another hum in her overlapped, voice, echoing amongst Arka's ears and all her surroundings.

Her functioning right eye sets its sight upon the sharp blade gripped in her hand. "It seems, you've bested me," she then looked at Arka, with her left eye.

"What...?" Arka uttered.

Lily forcefully pushed Arka with her free hand and released the grip she held on her blade. Arka was sent flying, sending her feet off the ground and knocking her down with her Kampilan within three meters.

As she landed, she immediately sat up and looked up at Lily in confusion with a squinted eye within her close-helmet. Lily was staring down at her.

Arka saw her disfigured face even more clearly. Her wounds started on her chin, to her mouth and up to her left eye, leaving her horn. The flesh on her cheek was torn away, showing her broken teeth within exposed that resulted from the aftermath of her sword stab. After that, they heard bones starting to crack, conjoining in her skull.

Flesh to flesh reconnected, regenerating her cheek, and other facial muscles. The gaping wound across half her face soon closed, stopping further ensued bleeding. And then, her right eye grew back showing its yellow lens once again.

Her face reconstructed itself to which Arka, Halvund, and Mikrim just witnessed leaving an unsettling image in their mind.

"The result of this battle has been... unimaginable." Her scaled tendrils withdrew back into her wing's secondaries. "You could say, I've underestimated your abilities... it was a surprise to have fought against you."

Being able to move freely again, she had no hint left of killing intent or malice. All she had was the acceptance of her theoretical defeat.

"It seems my time is up, however," A wide, floating, sphere of black and red energy suddenly emerged that touched the floor at the top of the staircase. A powerful squall sprang out from this sphere, emitting heat. "Let this be our last meeting, Arakar... lest, we cross paths again,"

She then held her hand up, and suddenly, a small sphere emerged in front of her palm. The sphere showed a dark center taking up a fourth of the orb's diameter, with a dark blue edge. A flash of white light in the shape of a long object then replaced the sphere. It hovered in front of her hand.

It was her Spontoon, with the same etchings and serrated edges. She grabbed onto it, and held it in the same style of a handshake grip, pointed downward.

She then turned her back at the swordsman, ascending the staircase.

Unimaginable...? Underestimated them...? Arka knew this wasn't a victory.

It was painstakingly clear now... there was no way of winning against these demons from the start. After all that they've done, all they have exhausted... all hint of strategy and resource they possess—a normal person can't defeat these creatures.

You could say it was cheating. To be given with the resources and talents you were born to possess and make use of; the best she can do for people like herself was consistently try to improve, maximize, and create different ways of resolving different situations.

But for this situation... this was on another whole level.

She was... only human—these demons told her. To fight as a human, to survive as a human... to think as human, was all she could do.

Was she really that powerless...?

Arka clenched her fist. Her heart began an irregular, ugly beat. Her teeth gritted, and her eyes narrowed seething with rage at the one person at the top of the staircase whose back was turned at her.

She hated this situation. It reminded her of the times she was always looked down upon, always shunned... always seen as nothing but an object of rejection and broken promises whose backs were only meant to be faced. She doesn't want to have any of this.

Not anymore.

She began to stand with the support of her Kampilan with a quick, piercing shout, "Don't fuck with me!" Lily stopped in her tracks. Then, she turned her head partly to one side. She was aware she has hurt the swordsman's pride. "I... I'm not... having any of this crap. You demons look down and toy with us... and for what? J-just something to kill your time?"

She gripped her sword, with two hands.

"All because... y-you don't see us, humans, as equals... with your biased understanding and thinking...!" and widened her feet back into her fighting stance.

"I won't stand for it..." Her voice lowered, in tired rage.

Lily heard her loud and clear. "Don't you see, I'm letting you off easy?" She finally turned to her in the middle of the staircase with the same cold, glare. "There's nothing left to do here, and there's nothing you can do to us. You should realize that by now,"

Arka stepped forward with sword in hand, ignoring Lily.

"If you insist—"

"Arakar!" Mikrim called out to her interrupting Lily, as she and Halvund clutched on her darkened-steel shoulder plates. Halvund uttered a "Hey," at her.

The swordsman calmed down and lowered her weapon after seeing her party with their exhausted looks. It dawned on her just how selfish she was being against them.

Mikrim and Halvund released their grip.

Lily sheathed her spear on her back and took one last long look at them. As she did, her scaled wings started to shrink, along with her scales. She turned her back at them, and continued ascending the staircase moving to Tyr's portal.

"That looked fun..." Stan told Lily, as she drew near. She ignored and moved past him however, entering the portal without a word or another look at the annoying devil who can't seem to read the mood.

Stan followed in suit with his hands and shoulders in a gestured shrug with the same upturned smile on his mouth. Tyr simply walked in with them.

After that, the portal quickly shrunk and disappeared leaving a faint, black and red trail.

Arka sheathed her sword slowly. "I think we should get out of here..." It was Mikrim who spoke. "there's... nothing else for us left to do here..."

"Y-Yeah..." Arka replied. "you're right," She said, displeased after the turn of events... It was all for null.

Other than that, her mind was still muddled about the fight they had with these demons. Whoever thought they'd encounter people like them?

Also, what is this war that they mean? Just how would that even work?

Just then, Arka noticed a notification symbol at the right corner of her HUD. She accessed it to see it was a group of broken sentences from Banelfsing. They were sent to her by the time he respawned.

"Ara, the respawn point's a mess..."

"like, remembr that large hole we crossed?"

"dude remember the"

"actually u know wat

"ill just wait for you guys here"

"it's best to see for urself."

Arka closed her message window after a minimal effort.

"Ban said we should head to the city..." She said to her party.

Arka, Mikrim, and Halvund exited the castle gates. What greeted them next was another line up of dead guards and carcasses of monsters on the stone bridge they previously crossed.

These guys fought hard... She thought, empathizing with the NPCs. Other than that, Why aren't they respawning? A broken script within the game world, perhaps? But after all that's happened, Arka couldn't see it like that.

The numerous bodies and monster carcasses; smoke clouds and rubble expressed a poignant scene. An eerily, quiet scene... they were at least thankful it was safe to cross, for there was nothing to draw any aggro toward them any longer.

They pressed on in crossing this stone bridge.

After finally reaching the end, they saw a mass of players from a distance across both sides of the giant pit at the center of the city.

"Arakar," Halvund spoke to her. "I believe this is where we part ways. Your party was a big help for me.”

Arka remembered that Halvund still has to return to the NPC kid. It was none of her business to ask anymore, understanding their distance and unfamiliarity. "Alright, thanks for joining our party, Hal... I mean, I guess you didn’t really join but I-I'll see you around." She told him.

"Yeah... sorry that things didn't turn out the way we planned."

"It's fine..." Arka said, hiding the displeasure in her voice.

Halvund left, heading into the rundown and broken, burnt houses.

I forgot to send him a friend request... Arka thought.

Arka and Mikrim continued walking toward the center of the broken city. There were lesser amounts of smoke and rubble left from the aftermath of the city invasion. It didn't get to overcome their senses that much.

Lingering amounts of monster carcasses were fading in their view. No more wanted to attack and invade the city. She thought it must be connected with the murder of the King and Queen of Fellmoria.

It was obvious the demons accomplished their objective.

Arka clenched her fist for a moment realizing their failure once again; narrowing her eyes and gritting her teeth within her darkened-steel helmet. Mikrim was beside her. She made it discreet as not to alarm her. She has worried her enough already, and she was glad her close-helmet didn't reveal what she felt at that moment.

Soon, they finally arrived at the end of the beaten and broken path of cobble and stone. More of the populace surround, signaling the end of their exploration.

It was still dark because of the rust-colored sky. The place was crowded and noisy with loud murmurs and controversy of players.

"Ara!" Banelfsing spotted them among the groups of players. "You gotta see this..." He gestured toward Arka and Mikrim.

Arka and Mikrim followed Banelfsing, leading them on.

They squeezed through among some players who were also standing at the edge of the humongous pit. More of them at the other side, peering into the abyss, with further chatter that echoed across.

They reached their destination, and they found the pit once again, this time, all of the light that shot up from it was gone.

Seeing the pit once more—it was humongous, spanning over two hundred meters in diameter. It ate up a large portion of the city along with certain buildings that will never be seen again.

This was what destroyed the city. This mysterious, anomaly that just broke the main city at its core. They were unsure of what to make of it.

Arka looked down at this pit, and something glinted into her eyes as she stared directly at the end of this gigantic hole.

She felt drawn to it.

"Man, what do you think the devs are gonna do about this?" Banelfsing said beside them. He was standing to the furthest right of them with Mikrim in the middle.

Strangely, it was a familiar feeling looking at it. Arka wasn't sure why.

She drew closer, stepping forward.

Her eyes narrowed within her close-helmet.

"Well, this is gonna be a lot of fuckin' work for them, I guess. Might as well take a group photo before it gets fixed right?" Banelfsing continued.

Arka stared intently into the pit... her thoughts then raced her,

This isn't a game. Stan previously said.

This world is real. His words repeated in her mind.

One last step.

She was tired of all the fighting... She wants to—

"Hey...!" Banelfsing called out to her, as both him and Mikrim noticed her unusual actions.

Arka finally fell into the pit, feet first.

Her avatar continued falling. Virtual air resistance hitting through her close-helmet against her face. Her cloak fluttered wildly, preparing for what awaits in the end.

She was sure of this choice. There was nothing else left but to move forward.

She was focused intently at the center of this abyss. Afterward, a small energy of blue light emerged at the pit's core, growing brighter, and larger.

A blinding flash of white light followed, overwhelming her and her avatar and then—

Blackness.

There was nothing... she felt all her senses suddenly disappear, leaving only her thoughts, and her identity. She felt everything came to a stop at that moment.

Then, a voice suddenly spoke to her.

"Finally..." it was a feminine voice. The direction the voice came from sounded like it came from all directions, echoing and resounding in her head. Other than that, a strange sensation... a humanoid figure was coming into view. Not from her vision, but in her mind. She felt confused, but at the same time, she felt understanding... familiarity, even.

Arka found it hard to discern her outward appearance due to the light that radiated around this humanoid shaped being. Arka can tell by the shape of this figure though that she had wings... but they were different from the people she fought. They were just like an angel’s wings.

"You've come... finally, you've come, my hero,"

Then, another flash of light.

Again, her senses overcame her... The sound of horns, and the smell... of carbon dioxide.

She opened her eyes and found herself standing on flat ground. She moved her body; her darkened-steel gloves and armor came into view. She was standing next to the giant pit... but something was afoot. She looked at her surroundings.

Blue skies, trees planted in man-made cemented walls, tall buildings, solid pavements, and roads—the honking of cars and people in casual clothes keeping their distance.

It can't be... Arka blinked and looked again. She wanted to make sure of what she was seeing.

Alas, her eyes weren't tricking her.

There was no mistaking it... this was...

This was the real world. Her world.