Apparently, everything that Tier had built himself for wasn’t enough to plough through obstacles as strong as Lyra. Even with the snow jaguar, he wasn’t capable enough to tilt the scales to benefit his team. In the end, all he could do was to let an equal number of combatants present on the field. And that was partially due to Grok’s superior capability in taking down two of them with the help of Nubram.

Now, both sides had the melee magical knight type, a wizard that can use pure and ice type magic, and a physical attacker. Talking from the point of view of experience and equipment alone, Tier’s side was clearly at a disadvantage.

Lyra and Manna started to heal up their respective teammate without pressing on the attack. Lyra’s side had the advantage of staying near the portal in which Tier had to go through. She could just sit around and wait for the portal to close up, stopping Tier from registering and making the whole ordeal tonight pointless.

Meanwhile, Tier was not ready to strike despite knowing Nubram’s portal could only last around 8 minutes and the closing of the registration would be in around 24 minutes Zurefgar time. He explored the idea to actually walk away and recast a portal somewhere else. Yet, he doubts that Lyra would let him be for whatever reasons.

“You know, what…” Nubram suddenly spoke to Tier. He stretched his arms upwards as if trying to fix up some sore muscles and continued, “Winston Chuchill once said, ‘Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts’.”

The sentence rang nice in his head, yet some part of Tier’s brain questioned the authenticity of the quote. He just nonchalantly answered, “You know that he might have not actually said that?”

“Deskmate…” Manna sighed, “He tried to cheer you up…”

“Oh, for once, we’re on an agreement there, Mana.”

“For once, just for this one time, Pitoy Marbun, just this occasion.”

Tier wheezed a soft laughter. The small talk had reminded him of how his friends had changed throughout their whole journey together. He mused that it would have been a shame if he remained unchanged, the same coward that gave up easily and walked away instead of trying to face the challenges ahead.

The latter part of the proverb that his parents often told him had rang once more in his mind. Learning is a lifelong process. There is always a new thing to learn. Even if he might not be good enough earlier to deal with Lyra, he gotta try to break through anyway. Else, he won't be able to learn anything.

With a bit of regained resolve, Tier reached his cheekbone and said, “Let’s feign retreat then counter at them, by focusing on Xildur?”

[A sound plan.] Nubram nodded his agreement.

Manna gazed at Tier for a while. She then gave a quick yet chilling answer. [You two on Xildur, leave the others to me.]

Then, the female paladin tied her ponytail into a bun. Her steel tiara glowed and transformed into a full blown steel helmet with its visor closed. It has a round shape on the back and a bit pointy on the front and at the visor.

Tier couldn’t explain it well, but he felt a very different pressure emanating from Manna. The often chilling yet welcoming aura around her hand turned into something that felt akin to a steel-like determination to defeat the opposing force. A will forged by fire.

There was a weird glee singing in Tier’s heart at the sight. It’s like a brief moment when he felt like telling the world that there is no way he would be wrong if he fell in love with such an interesting girl.

“Your hubris was always your downfall, little girl,” Lyra shouted at them, “Only after you’re cornered do you opt to be serious?

”I am always serious, Lyra,” Manna answered calmly. “It is just that… this time, I know my allies could keep up.”

“Tch,” Lyra groaned in annoyance. She turned to Tier and growled, “And by being idle, I thought you’ve given up on Clashing Realms.”

Tier grinned mockingly, he countered, “Like you?”

“Shut your….”

“RUN!”

The hunter knew well the words would trigger Lyra. He put [Mark of Prey] on each opponent while running towards the opposite direction, followed by the other two. He drew a deep breath and activated [Primal Unleash] and [Hunting Pods].

“You can’t run! [Lightning Cage]!”

As Tier had expected, Lyra would use that one particular ability to stop them. With a swift exchange of glances, Nubram quickly caught Tier’s intention.

“[Warp], [Mirror Force]!”

The wizard turned around, teleported, then swung his flaming blade right at where Lyra’s axes almost crossed paths. The flames of his sword turned a bright white as it met the two axes and threw them around. Lyra’s axes fell between the shaman and the portal, creating a lightning net right there.

“You idiot wizard!”

Slicer lunged at the seemingly defenceless wizard. His blades were glistened with wicked poisons.

“[Stardust Lancer]!”

“[Eagle Aim]!”

Tier spun on his heels, he took Manna’s pollaxe and aimed it at Slicer’s direction. However, he sensed another movement behind the rogue. Predicting the rogue would evade whether Tier’s attack was on spot or not, Tier steadied his aim.

The pollaxe flew past Nubram in blazing speed. Slicer rolled aside to avoid the polearm, as Tier had expected. And, due to the evasion, it struck squarely at Xildur who was moving right like Tier had felt earlier. The difference in mass and momentum had managed to drag the svannire right to the lightning net.

“[Primal Unleash], cease.” Tier turned his attention to Slicer. He pointed at Slicer and snapped his finger. “Galung, [Silent Break]!”

The spirit panther tapped into its ethereal form then almost instantly appeared at Slicer’s right side with extreme velocity pounce. Slicer was dragged quite far to the right side of the battle and was held on the ground, giving Nubram ample time to release [Blaze Bolt] at Xildur.

And without Tier noticing her prior movement, Manna had already reached and started fighting Lyra.

Right then Galung let go of Slicer, Tier shot [Insularis’ Assault] with only five of the arrows hitting the rogue. However, the rogue was slowed enough for Nubram to close the gap and throw him away towards Manna and Lyra with [Magma Core]. The chain of attack was closed with an [Ankle Break] to stop Slicer from getting away from Manna’s range.

Tier then spun his right hand above his head while snapping his fingers. He commanded, “Galung, command: encircle, set stance: opportunist.”

The jaguar dashed out of the battlefield and encircled the perimeter. The stance was a special one designed for feline and hyena type companion beasts that enabled them to strike when the opportunity arises.

“[Lightning Storm]!”

Tier’s call was rather spot on, as Lyra suddenly released dozens of lightning bolts that struck everything around her, including Nubram. With the typically low HP of feline type beasts, it was lucky that the jaguar was able to get out just in time.

And in that short amount of time, Xildur managed to fly up again and stormed the battlefield from every angle possible.

As Tier had known before, the svannire was really painful to deal with. Xildur had all sorts of hindering abilities that slowed, blinded, or reduced the armour of a player. Abilities that Tier himself would be more than glad to have in his arsenal of annoying stuff.

The last type was definitely the most dangerous for Manna who was skilfully able to defend herself against the assault of two opponents at once. However, the reduced armour severely limited her options as the incoming physical attacks would deal more damage to her.

Both Tier and Nubram acted like anti-air systems against the flying Xildur. Tier was more of an anti-air battery that employed all sorts of projectiles to limit the movement and occasionally hit the svannire while Nubram was akin to SAM that hits hard on the svannire. The problem was that Xildur had healing abilities, enabling him to recover some of the damage received.

As ordered, Galung stuck once in a while at a target that lost their focus, especially Xildur and Slicer. After launching a pounce, bite, or slash from its claw, it quickly ran away to avoid counterattack. This stance had greatly reduced the need to heal Galung, thus preserving more of Tier’s instinct.

Tier himself had to properly take care of his instinct during the whole ordeal. His shots were more focused on limiting the movement of his opponent while hoping for [Slither Drag] to trigger. He saved his [Eagle Aim] only for Xildur since the svannire’s movements were getting faster. He felt that there was something amiss with the mystic.

Tier pointed at the svannier and shouted, “[Analyse]!”

The profession specific ability had revealed everything to Tier. There were several buffs applied to the mystic, one of which gave him more speed as he received attacks.

And due to [Hunting Pods], Tier knew that Nubram instantly gained the same knowledge. The wizard pushed Slicer - who managed to get away from Manna for a moment - using [Magma Core] then focused his attention to Xildur. The two spellcasters had around two fifths of their full HP remaining.

“[Spellbreaker Force]!” Nubram roared as he stretched his hands forward. There were several small white explosions around Xildur, none of them dealt any damage. In that instant, the svannire’s speed significantly dropped.

“[Cataclysmic Inferno]!”

As if sensing the impending danger for her teammate, Lyra suddenly stomped the ground. There was a brief yet massive shaking, followed by flaming pillars sprouting from the ground randomly.

Tier ran back to avoid the damage, yet Manna and Nubram fell victim to the relentless assault from the ground. Nubram was trapped and unable to cast his spell smoothly due to the interruptions. On the other hand, Manna’s advantage against Lyra and Slicer was steadily reduced. The flaming pillars from the ground had cut her HP more than expected due to her obnoxious positioning to not let Lyra or Slicer get past her to Nubram.

Yet, among the explosions of fire, there was another kind of energy explosion that was unleashed.

“[Overclock]! [Warp]!”

Nubram’s presence in the game was often felt like a harrowing shell that drains bravery from the opposing force. However, this time, it turned out different. The [Overlock] had caused a visible burst of energy flowing out from Nubram’s body.

The wizard teleported several times in quick succession to avoid the flaming pillars or some attack from Slicer who finally managed to get away from Manna. And everytime he teleported, he unleashed a very fast [Fireball] and [Winterblade]. No one could predict his movement, not even Tier without his [Primal Unleash].

The best the hunter could do was, again, to restrict the movement of both Slicer and Xildur. Those attacks were not as effective to Slicer as it were to Xildur. Slicer seemed to be completely out of his mind and just rampaged forward without even heeding that Lyra’s ability also damaged her allies on top of the damage Tier had done to him.

“Akh!”

Nubram finally fell down to his knees. Tier could see the skin of the wizard blistering due to heat and there was visible smoke that was steaming off Nubram’s body. The extended usage of [Overclock] seemed to make the wizard enter a state of overheating due to energy exposure. However, Nubram still brandished his sword and prepared a [Blaze Bolt] to strike at the dying Xildur. And Slicer was hot behind the mage.

“Galung!! [Silent Break]!”

Right before Nubram released his shot, Galung appeared to stop Slicer. The jaguar and the rogue’s body was flown across the battlefield in the worst way possible due to the interference from the explosions. Xildur was able to use the two’s bodies to hide from Nubram’s line of sight.

For a split second, Nubram glanced at Tier, then shot the blue fireball straight at the hunter.

Tier pull out his staff, he dashed at the incoming fireball, his eyes aimed at Xildur as he whispered with a sigh, “[Eagle Aim].”

He held the staff with both hands. His eyes now aimed at Xildur, locking the target on the svannire. Spinning on the heels of his feet, Tier swung the staff, smacking the fireball straight at Xildur. The mystic’s struggle finally ended.

Yet, it was not euphoria that Tier felt. There was a tingling spark of static electricity that felt the air right after Xildur and the flaming pillars died off. Tier tried to shout a warning at Nubram, yet he was too late.

Lyra’s axe was already thrown and stabbed Nubram’s back. Tier’s shouting was engulfed by the deafening roar of thunder. And it did not end there.

Just like what happened with Arkengrad, Lyra took advantage of everyone’s shock due to the recent massive lightning strike and smacked her axe at Manna. The force was enough to throw Manna near Nubram’s charred lifeless body and enable Lyra to execute her [Static Induction].

The giant lightning struck once more. It roared loudly and again drowned Tier’s words which were now calling out for Manna. Yet, Tier heard nothing coming from Manna’s direction. There was no screaming, not even a grunt was heard.

Manna didn’t die. She hung on by a thread on her HP. Yet, she was kneeling, holding her pollaxe tightly. Tier tried his best to hinder both Lyra and Slicer that lunged towards her.

“[Insularis’ Assault].”

Tier shot his venomed arrows at Lyra. Yet, Lyra spun around and let Slicer fall victim to all arrows that instantly disabled him. It was then that Manna quickly rose up and charged with her left hand shining bright.

“Lyra, [You Will Pay for Your Transgression].”

“Lyra you assh…!”

Right when Manna was about to land the ability at Lyra, the shaman picked the unmoving Slicer front he ground and used him as a shield. Undoubtedly, Slicer’s body was the one that got dragged by Manna to the sky and slammed back to the earth, killing him instantly.

Lyra’s resourcefulness was way beyond Tier’s expectation. He was shaken, but he knew he needed to act to rescue Manna. Shooting rapidly, he also sent Galung to pounce on Lyra.

“You’re all predictable!”

Lyra shouted as she blocked Galung’s attack with an axe while ignoring Tier’s arrow. Manna took the chance to tackle her feet with her pollaxe and caused the shaman to lose balance.

It was the wrong move to take. Lyra took the chance of her falling body to twist mid fall and slammed her axe at Manna, ending the paladin’s struggle. The sight of Manna’s lifeless body had shocked Tier and he instinctively called Galung back to regroup. No shots were released, Tier was just standing there dumbfounded.

“I told her that her hubris is her downfall, she thought she could handle the two of us alone, really…” Lyra said as she stood up. “And that Clashing Realms thing. Did she really think she could bring changes? They are losing already, even Rosdan admitted it.”

Lyra then stared at Tier, she sighed as she continued, “You got your companion beast already, don’t force yourself. Nothing will await you in Clashing Realms other than defeat and disappointment. I’ve been there. I felt that. Predator’s Tactics, huh? It won’t work, Tier. It didn’t work with the other hunters, and only somewhat functional with you. But you need other players don’t you? You need to support them to let them shine? Are you a fool? Enough, I’m saving your time and effort here. Just go home, what are you trying to prove? It’s just a game, boy.”

Tier sighed. To be honest, he had kind of half given up. Lyra was kind of right, Tier being alone here fighting against her would be difficult. The shaman’s remaining HP was ten thousand while Tier had eight thousand left. She had better equipment and more experience. However, some part of him wanted to see this through.

If he had turned tail, he would still be the same person that Mana had saved years ago. At least, though small, he wanted to change for the better. He wanted to forgive himself. Also, there were some parts of Lyra’s words that he didn’t agree with.

Seeing Tier try to stand up, Lyra commented, “Really? It’s useless, there’s only betrayal and disappointment there.”

There Tier remembered how he and Lyra were in similar positions in the past. The difference between them were the people among them and perhaps the choice they finally took. Tier took a deep breath and answered, “It is exactly because it’s just a game that I am allowed to fight and fall again and again no matter how many times I try. It is exactly because it’s a game that I can force myself to change right here and right now! [Primal Unleash]!”

Tier’s awareness heightened, everything else but Lyra was blurred in his vision. He pointed at the shaman and commanded, “Galung, [Silent Br…] Ukh!”

The hunter fell down to his knees. The burden and pain from previous usages of [Primal Unleash] in quick succession had its toll on his brain. He cursed at his own weakness. Right when he needed to stand tall the most, his own sef betrayed him.

“You’re just all talk in the end! Just like the others!” Lyra shouted as was dashing towards Tier to end the fight.

Tier glanced at Galung who approached him slowly from the side. He tried to stretch his hand towards the beast. A crazy idea popped up in his mind. Could he synchronise with Galung?

“LYRAAAA!!!!!”

A loud shout pierced the earth from the heavens. Up there, though Tier couldn’t see it clearly, there was a familiar figure diving at high speed. It was an eagle that swiftly turned into a Javan tiger. The tiger clasped the two of his one bladed claw weapons on its front leg together and spun like a drill.

“[Flameshield]!”

Lyra crossed her axe and made a flamewall on her weapons that parried Rushvatte's crazy skydiving attack. It was not enough to stop the raging tiger and the attack went through, pushing Lyra away from Tier.

However, the damage done was miniscule.

Rushvatte the tiger ran away from Lyra, he glanced at Tier and called, “Share the load!”

Tier had no other choice, he pointed at Rushvatte and shouted, “[Synchronise], Rushvatte.”

In that instant, his mind cleared up. It was light and clear, much better than what Tier usually felt. He didn’t feel burdened in any way with the ability’s side effects. “To share the burden…” he whispered to himself.

“Oh, so this is [Primal Unleash]...” Rushvatte grinned with glee. With the help of Tier’s arrow bombardments, the mystic struck several times at Lyra. Yet again to deal only miniscule damage.

“Idiot! What can you do with resurrection sickness, huh?!” Lyra raged at Rushvatte. She slashed her axe at the mystic mercilessly without heeding the arrows coming from Tier.

“I can do this, Bjornur!”

Despite having barely any HP left, Rushvatte was still confident. He leaped away from Lyra and turned into a massive cave bear. Smacking the ground to stand strong, Rushavtte roared, “[Desperate Roar]!”

The shockwave from Rushvatte reverberated throughout the whole valley. The force from close impact was strong enough to throw Lyra away although not causing much damage. However, Rushvatte managed to recover half of his own HP.

“I’ll hold her, you’re the DPS now! [Brutal Impact]!”

Rushvatte roared and he headbutted Lyra away.

Though under the clarity of [Primal Unleash], Tier was stunned by the voices that appeared in his head that instant. He retorted, “But I suck at being a DPS, I can’t.”

“Nonsense! Get the glory for yourself once in a while, just like that time in the arcade simulator. Right here in this place, at this moment, you are the ACE!”

You are just a replacement, kid. Not an ace like him.

Let other people admit one’s proficiency

Are you always like this?

Floods of memories and words came crashing down in Tier’s mind for a very brief moment that felt like eternity. The words of hate, encouragement, and questioning regarding that one thing had rang again. Reminding him that, though he still can’t accept himself as he is due to his past mistakes, there are still those who are willingly there for him.

Trembling, the hunter took a crouching stance as he whispered, “[Mimic switch: Eagle]... two.”

The roaring jet engine was heard in place of an eagle’s cry. Above Tier, who was crouching while semi-leaning on Galung, appeared the silhouette of an advanced eagle, F-15EX.

“You gotta be kidding me,” Lyra groaned as she pushed Rushvatte aside. She then dashed towards Tier.

“[Ankle Break]!” Tier shot an accurate arrow at Lyra’s ankle, accompanied by the silhouette of the jet plane above him shooting a missile in the same direction. Tier then quickly moved sideways as Lyra tumbled and got struck by Galung.

With a renewed resolve, Tier unleashed wild attacks on Lyra while commanding Galung to move in unison with Rushvatte to distract the shaman. The silhouette of the F-15EX flew across the battlefield and unleashed missile or machine gun fire silhouettes alongside Tier’s attacks. Though the silhouette dealt no additional damage, it was a worthwhile distraction to his opponent.

Tier felt rage coming from Lyra. The shaman spun her axe around then shouted, “[Lightning Strike]!”

Tier rolled sideways to evade. In his mind he was not moving as fast as lightning, it was just that he moved before the lightning started to roll towards him. The hunter then continued his assault but felt something was rather off.

He indeed dealt more damage with the current [Mimic]. However, he gave less hindrance to the shaman and caused Rushvatte and Galung having harder time to work properly since Lyra was not an easy opponent to catch off guard.

Tier knew this was not his true style. He knew he could sacrifice a bit of firepower for the sake of a better chance at victory, at least now he had Galung on his side.

“[Mimic: switch…]!”

“Eh, Pras, why?”

“[...Rhino].”

This time, it was not the rumbling rhino noises that was heard. It was another jet sound as the silhouette of F-15EX was replaced by F/A-18 Super Hornets ‘Rhino’.

The first shot Tier released was right at Lyra’s wrist, weakening her grip on her axe and giving Galung ample opportunity to land a vicious bite.

The hunter then shot an [Ankle Break] at Lyra’s foot, staggering her. With that Galung and Rushvatte pounced at her from both sides and made her fall. Galung managed to land a few more slashes from its claw before jumping back to safety. And when Lyra stood up, Tier struck an arrow right at the joint of the elbow of her right hand that she was about to use to slash, thus giving Galung another opportunity to attack. Not to mention Rushvatte also performed the same annoying knockback with his ability that gave Galung another opportunity to land a hit.

And thus, the damage output given by Tier had significantly increased, simply by enabling his most powerful tool, the snow jaguar named Galung. The one that would bring victory.

“Enough! [Molten Crash]!”

Frustrated with the relentless assault on all sides, Lyra tried to break through by summoning lava beneath Tier.

Knowing the danger and the risk involved, the hunter didn’t budge and kept attacking despite the burning lava constantly damaging him. It was until he reached below ten percent of his total HP that Tier finally rolled aside to stop taking damage as well as to avoid another [Lightning Strike] from Lyra.

The stage was finally set for the finale. Tier knew everyone was on their edges at this moment. Rushvatte started to lose the defence buff from his roar, Lyra was running low on both HP and MP, while Tier’s [Predator’s Tactics] was almost at its end.

Thus he roared, “[Racial Active: Warcry]!”

[Temporary Harmonical Replacement Enhancement Ability Triggered!]

As he howled maddeningly, Tier saw the message appeared in his sight. He glanced at Rushvatte and somehow both of them acknowledged that they saw the same thing. In unison, they both called out the written letter, “[Scattershot Squadron]!”

From the sky, two silhouettes of F-35 plane descended and accompanied the movement of both Galung and Rushvatte. Tier felt an electrifying speed in his muscles, yet he felt no heat nor bloodlust from it. The urge from within him was serene, yet wild.

And like a unified squadron, each of them attacked at Lyra harmoniously. Strikes were landed precisely as where they were supposed to be, both hampering and damaging the opponent. Tier shot Lyra’s ankle, followed by Rushvatte’s [Brutal Impact], and finished with a savage bite from Galung that slammed Lyra to the ground.

Galung dashed away before Lyra managed to counter. Tier landed another arrow on her before Rushvatte smashed Lyra to the ground again. Lyra tried to use her [Father Sky’s Judgment] and managed to smack her axe at Tier. Normally, it would be a worrisome condition, but not now.

Against all odds, Rushvatte jumped aside while transforming into a tiger, avoiding the massive lightning strike with ease.

Every step that Lyra took, there was always Tier, Rushvatte, and Galung that stopped her dead in her tracks. The three of them attacked without thinking much in a rather scattershot manner but yet brutally effective.

Lyra tried to use [Cataclysmic Inferno] to hamper her opponents, but Tier just took advantage of it by using [Cobra’s Manoeuvre]. Everytime a lava sprouted from the ground, Tier would avoid it and took the chance to land more arrows at Lyra. And thus, more chances were given for Galung to land brutal blows.

However, when Lyra had almost lost all of her HP, Tier realised that Primal Unleash was almost over. If Rushvatte were not affected by resurrection sickness, he would ask for his friend to do the final blow. But now, it is up to Tier. and he knew one ability that could do it.

“[Bowbreaker], [Eagle Aim].”

Yet, I have a feeling that a certain someone might find a use for it.

Manna’s sweet words were clear in Tier’s mind as he prepared for the bow breaking shot. Tier holds his bow with his foot while pulling it with his opposite hand. The ammunition being loaded was the Phantom’s Pillar itself. As he turned himself into a living ballista, the plane silhouette flew next to him horizontally.

Then, as the bow broke, the strongest shot Tier ever released had been released.

“You fool! [Flameshield]! You wasted it!”

Lyra crossed her flaming axe and blocked the Phantom’s Pillar with a wall of shields. The weapon’s special ability was nowhere near enough to pass through such a thick shield made of raging plasma.

Yet, [Bowbreaker] was not the ability that Tier had thought that could finish Lyra with. It was from his trusted partner. The one who could bring victory.

“Galung, [Silent Break].”

With brutal velocity Galung and the jet plane silhouette above it entered the spirit realm and became corporeal right before it landed a pounce on Lyra. The shaman’s stance was already imbalanced due to the attempt to block [Bowbreaker].

“Damnit!”

Lyra tried her best to block the attack with the axe on her left hand. And it was nowhere enough to stop the snow jaguar from breaking her axe and pouncing her to the ground. Then, the shaman finally lost her remaining HP as the jaguar bit her on the neck.

The storm of the fire pillars stopped. Tier fell to his knees and now felt the nausea as well as the heat on his muscles. Then lied down due to the heavy burden that now embraced him while the effect of [Primal Unleash] finally faded away.

Tier gazed at the sky above. He still couldn’t believe he had faced and defeated the dark mirror of himself in the form of Lyra. He was so relieved that he couldn’t think anymore about the registration. In any case, he couldn’t move a muscle thus he couldn't walk to the portal.

But, was it really that important now? Tier had achieved his goals to start breaking away from his own bindings and facing himself. These past two months were a journey he shouldn’t forget. He might not have been able to truly break free from his past. But at least, he succeeded in taking the first step. He had to fight on and live on.

And for that, he was grateful… he was beyond satisfied.