Chapter 211: Protector of a Shattered World

There was a loud silence that overtook the all of the Shattered world. Within the taverns of Lanusk, Savringard, and beyond. Within the homes of those viewing in the real world, and the broadcasting studio of the Fanta-see network. Hae-won, with tears in her eyes, watched Aegis’ broadcast as he made his desperate last stand. Aegis, with his eyes shut, remained stoically in front of the Avatar of Jealousy as she glared at him from a few meters away.

“There’s just no way.”

“He can’t even see her, how is he gonna win this?”

“Win this? He won’t last another minute.”

“Hey, shut up, all of you.” She yelled at the chat as she briefly glanced at it, before looking back at the livestream feed. The viewership shot up above 8 million, putting him in the 3rd streamer slot, below just Feng and Makaroth.

Samathara, who continued to broadcast from atop the Skyport Tower of Kordas, was rapidly losing her viewership due to people tuning in to Aegis’ stream instead. She’d dropped from 4 million down to 300,000, but continued to call out the events unfolding before her.

She maintained her split stream broadcast of both Rene and Kordas, showing that Savika led the people of Rene to destroy the last juggernaut, and with just Josephine and Yuki still standing, the pair fought hard alongside the NPCs and were retaking control of the wall.

Architect NPCs were working feverishly to repair the damage done to the walls of Rene as the abysslings that made it inside the town were being taken out by the desperate efforts of Ulaipu, Clara, Farlion and Celestian.

“Rene is holding them back. They’re surviving. And here, in Kordas as well…” Samathara motioned to the sea of darkness flowing up against the walls of the capital city, with lightning strikes continuously crashing down from the gray clouds above and breaking apart the mist repeatedly. “They’re surviving. They’re holding out for as long as they can. They all believe in Aegis, desperate to survive. But, what ca…” Samathara’s voice trailed off as her jaw dropped with disbelief, spotting something amongst the sea of reapers soaring through the sky in the distance. “Impossible...” She said with wide eyes.

Aegis heard the sound of Jealousy thrusting her feet off of the dirt and launching herself towards him, but after that, she used her wings to keep herself airborne so that he couldn’t rely on the sound of her footsteps to keep track of her location. The light that made it through his virtual eyelids picked up on shadows cast by her body moving in front of the sunlight from the clear skies above, letting him know she’d arrived at his location.

He vaguely heard the sound of her claws swiping down at him through the air and lifted his shield to block one hit, but failed to brace it properly.

You take 31,530 slashing damage.

You take 6,250 Shadow damage.

Upon taking the hit, Aegis jumped backwards to avoid the swipe from her other claw, then anticipated a tail strike to follow it so jumped to the side, and by some miracle managed to avoid the third strike. He quickly healed himself up, taking a deep breath and focusing intently on the little sounds she was making as she flapped her wings and moved through the air above him, soaring around behind him.

The simple change in lighting that he was able to pick up on due to his eyelids being incredibly immersive and his virtual eyes receptive to light was allowing him to keep track of her general location, despite not being able to watch her directly. He saw where she’d flown, maneuvering behind him to strike at him from his back, and was able to jump forward to create distance between himself and her once more.

“Focus, anticipate. Where does she want to strike?” Aegis repeated the words Lina had taught him, and he remembered practicing how to block Lina's attacks despite not being able to keep up with her speed. This, in Aegis' mind, wasn’t much different. He couldn’t see Lina and had still managed to block her. He just had to do the same thing here.

“Mumbling to yourself? Fighting desperately to survive?” Jealousy hissed at him in annoyance, giving away her location and allowing Aegis to dodge her next few strikes. “To what end, light walker? You delay the inevitable. Your mana is not endless. I will tear you down, and this island along with you. Why not accept your fate?” She got progressively more annoyed as he continued to dodge, but Aegis realized how much easier it was to predict her and keep track of her movements while she was talking.

“You’re so sure you’ve got the good life down in the abyss, but, have you ever considered living up here?” Aegis replied, causing her to audibly suck her teeth. “I mean, we hide our dark emotions, and keep them under control, sure, those parts are not appealing to you… but, we’re really good at cooking.” Aegis smirked, causing her to hiss and roar loudly, further revealing her position as she soared through the air to get behind him again.

“You mock me? Do you know who I am? Do you know the darkness that lies in the hearts of those who live on these islands? It’s pathetic how you are all so afraid of your own darkness, that you cower up here in the light of Eirene. I say, you should face your dark emotions. Accept them. You included.” Jealousy replied between her strikes, which Aegis was managing to either dodge or block and heal through. “Tell me, what is it that makes you so angry, Priest of Eirene?”

“You made me kill my gryphon.” Aegis replied in monotone.

“Hah. No, that isn’t it. I smelled your anger long before you lost your precious ‘Snowflake’. You were angry long before that. Something deeper, more sinister, entrenched in your heart. It’s unbecoming of a priest of Eirene to hold so much of that inside you. Why not… RELEASE IT!” She shouted while firing a sudden blast of black energy out of her hands. It was an attack Aegis hadn’t witnessed, so was unfamiliar with it and unable to dodge, taking the blast in his right shoulder. The impact knocked him back off his feet and forced him to roll on the ground a few meters.

He struggled to stand back up and cast a heal on himself to recover from the hit before Jealousy flew through the air to an unknown location to Aegis, and began charging up another shot. He did his best to use his hearing to locate the source, but by the time he realized where it was coming from, the black energy hit him again, knocking him down once more before he could raise his shield up to block it.

“The Simbox keeps track of our vitals. Your primitive attempts to read my emotions are just based on simple things like hormone levels and heart rate. You don’t know anything about how I’m actually feeling.” Aegis snapped back as he stood up, healed, and the process repeated. Jealousy had found a method of attack that Aegis couldn’t keep up with, and was cackling as she continuously knocked him down, speeding around him and firing from various angles.

“Oh, but I do.” Jealousy replied between her attacks. After a few shots, he got the handle of it and was able to brace a few, but she simply sped up and fired the bolts faster, and soon Aegis was forced to do nothing but roll on the ground and heal through the damage, squinting his eyes shut. “Die, light walker! BE CONSUMED BY DARKNESS!” Jealousy screeched with laughter. Aegis looked at his interface to see his health bar and mana bar, both dipping as he repeatedly healed himself and flailed his shield out desperately to try and block some damage, but failed. Then, while staring at his interface and seeing it clearly despite his eyes being shut, an idea came to mind.

In between heals, he hit the livestream interview button to prompt Hae-won to respond.

“Aegis? Now’s not the best time for an interview, I’m thinking…” Hae-won’s voice reached his ear immediately as if she was speaking inside his head.

“I can ask you questions, too, right?” Aegis replied.

“Well, sure, yeah.”

“Is it against the rules to watch my own live stream? Even if it's in real-time?” Aegis asked her.

“No, not really, that doesn’t break the terms of service. Why would you?” Hae-won asked, but Aegis didn’t answer.

Instead, he quickly fidgeted through his interface and opened up his livestream viewer, quickly navigating to his own livestream in between heals.

Shinji caught on faster than Hae-won had, and was fast forwarding the editing to playback Aegis’ livestream in real-time, with no delay. Shinji’s camera controls were angled to view Aegis from a bird's-eye perspective, capturing all the action of the battle from a distance.

With his eyes shut, Aegis was still able to see it all thanks to his interface. He could keep track of Jealousy’s position using his own livestream. It took him a few seconds to orient himself with the point of view he was seeing his own body from, and he swung his shield wide and missed blocking a few black bolts, but after the third try, he nailed it.

He braced one shot, then another, then a third. Soon, he was blocking, bracing, and dodging them all with perfect accuracy, lessening the damage the bolts did massively and allowing his mana recovery to begin offsetting the lost mana, due to him needing to heal himself less.

“Why do you struggle so persistently? You have not even put a single scratch on me. You truly are just delaying the inevitable. My power is far greater than yours.” Jealousy shouted in frustration as her attacks began to fail in hitting him, despite her speeding up even further.

“You’re right… It’s an MMORPG, it’s all about the numbers at the end of the day.” Aegis mumbled to himself, repeating Pyri’s words in his head. “But I’ve got another number I’m keeping in mind. 20.” Aegis replied as he remained focused on her attacks and dodged a few more. “The number of hours left until Tullan, Anazia, and Artaphernes will be able to log back into this game world.”

“HAH!” Jealousy let out a loud laugh. “You plan to hold me back from destroying this island stone for the next 20 hours? You think your defenders will be able to protect your city's walls that long?” Jealousy continued to laugh at him hysterically, while ceasing her attacks against Aegis.

“Your surrender is also an option, if you wouldn’t mind doing that.” Aegis smirked in her general direction.

“Let us test your devotion to your cause.” Jealousy shouted as she flapped her wings violently in Aegis’ direction, releasing a black shockwave of energy out from her body. Aegis used his livestream to angle his shield in the direction of the shockwave, holding it up to block it. Unfortunately, this was not an attack that could be blocked by a shield, and it passed through the shield and engulfed him.

You take 231 Shadow damage.

You take 219 Shadow damage.

It was minor in the damage it dealt as the black energy clung to his body and began writhing over his skin. The real problem was the pain - something he’d felt before back when he fought Suffering in Hrath’mir, only this pain was significantly worse. The pain surged violently through his entire body as if every nerve in his system was warning him of an injury, signaling his brain to feel pain from every point from his organs to his muscles, and aches in his bones.

*WARNING*

Mental Stress Levels are nearing the safe limit. You will be forcibly removed from the simulation if the current level of stress continues or increases.

[Force Log out] Take a break from the game and relax, you will respawn at the nearest Graveyard.

[Lower Pain Threshold] Threshold Change is currently Available for your account.

[Ignore] Keep Playing, acknowledging that Averon is not liable for any damages caused by continuing Simulation. (If conditions persists or worsen you will be logged out against your will as part of our Terms of Service)

Aegis knew how quickly it would log him out, based on his past experience with this attack. His mind went blank and he felt his focus and consciousness fading. He desperately reached out and touched the lower pain threshold, lowering it to the minimum amount of 10%. Immediately, he felt relief as the intensity of the pain lessened drastically, but not completely. He still felt dizzy, his knees weakened, and his body burned with a surging pain. It was bearable, but still horrific, and he quickly collapsed to his knees and shouted out in agony, wincing his eyes tightly shut to make sure not to accidentally open them.

“I have seen many other-worlders act tough. But at the end of the day, this is not truly your world. When things get too hard, you all flee from here to the safety of your reality.” Jealousy spoke, and Aegis briefly looked at his livestream viewer to see she was holding her palms out in his direction now, maintaining a black magical beam of energy that extended from her hand out towards him, sending repeated pulses of shadow damage at him.

Aegis frantically swung his shield at the connection, but the shield just passed through it. He tried moving away, but it followed him.

“You can’t escape this, not with the magic you have available to you.” Jealousy commented as she watched him struggle. “Like I said, this is a test of your devotion to this cause. How long are you willing to suffer this immense pain, for a world that is not your own?” Jealousy asked in a condescending tone. Aegis gave up trying to break the connection, and his knees gave out once more from the repeated surges of pain coursing through his body.

He let out another violent grunt, followed by a cough as he began clutching at various parts of his body, trying to lessen the pain by rubbing and scratching where it hurt, but nothing helped.

“I’m not going anywhere.” Aegis shouted as he struggled to get back up onto his feet, breathing heavily and facing in her direction using his livestream viewer.

“We’ll see about that.” Jealousy replied as she stomped forward and shot her tail towards him like a spear. Aegis lifted his shield and braced it, then healed through the damage. She followed up with another strike with her tail, and a swing of one of her claws.

Aegis struggled to stand and tried to move, but his legs gave out from the surging pain of her linked spell and he failed, taking the hits with his shield instead but failing to brace them. His mithral armor and shield was allowing him to survive the damage, but just barely, and he frantically healed himself back up through it just in time before she’d landed a few more strikes.

“It’s incredible.” Jealousy roared with a big smile on her face, landing a few more strikes. “No matter how much pain I inflict on you, the only emotion that grows within your heart is anger. Give it up, Light walker. You cannot win.” She shouted gleefully. Aegis took another strike from her tail before falling onto his back, his body beginning to go numb from the repeated surges of pain. Rather than keep attacking, she stood over him with a smile on her face, watching him writhe on the ground in pain - breathing intensifying.

Lowering the pain threshold wasn’t enough, his mind was going blank, and more than anything he was desiring for it to just end.

*WARNING*

Mental Stress Levels are nearing the safe limit. You will be forcibly removed from the simulation if the current level of stress continues or increases.

[Force Log out] Take a break from the game and relax, you will respawn at the nearest Graveyard.

[Lower Pain Threshold] Threshold Change is currently Available for your account.

[Ignore] Keep Playing, acknowledging that Averon is not liable for any damages caused by continuing Simulation. (If conditions persists or worsen you will be logged out against your will as part of our Terms of Service)

It popped up again, despite the pain being significantly less than before. He didn’t wave it off immediately, but instead began to stare at it as it floated in his peripheral vision, in front of his closed eyelids. The low supply of mana he had left, the pain he was feeling, and the amount of damage Jealousy kept doing to him - it all made him begin to feel hopeless. Surviving for another 5 minutes seemed impossible, let alone 20 hours.

Eventually, though, he saw on the inside of his eyelids the face of Quinn, tears falling down her cheeks. The last look of Herilon as he faded from the gameworld. Savika, Snowflake, Farlion, Celestian, Ren, all of them.

“They’re all depending on me.” Aegis shouted out ferociously as he struggled to stand back up, hitting the ignore button and taking a weakened fighting stance in Jealousy’s direction. “I’m not going to let them down.”

"YOU'VE ALREADY LET THEM DOWN!" Jealousy roared in anger at his persistance.

“Aegis, you kept the interview open. I can’t say much, but hang in there just a bit longer, okay?!” Hae-won shouted to him through the livestream interview interface.

“YOUR WORDS MEAN NOTHING IN THE FACE OF MY STRENGTH, PRIEST OF EIRENE! YOU. CANNOT. WIN!” She shouted in annoyance, sending out several more strikes towards his shield with her claws and tail. But Hae-won’s words had given him a second wind - he wasn’t sure what she meant, but he desperately dodged and blocked Jealousy’s attacks again, despite the pain surging through his body. His mana was now dwindling below 15%.

“You seem, tch,” Aegis sucked his teeth at the pain as he stumbled backwards on his feet to try and avoid another strike, “to be misunderstanding something.” Aegis got the words out with great difficulty. “You attacked my island, and my friends. I was never trying to win anything. All I care about is making you lose.” Aegis shouted back.

“You spiteful little shit. I tire of your impertinence. I tire of your tricks. Your gryphon. Your oil. Your poison. Your manacles. Your guards. Your blind sight. Most importantly, I tire of standing up here, in the light.” Jealousy stopped channeling the beam spell on him and stood a few meters away from Aegis. He watched what she was doing through his livestream, but she moved too quickly with a sudden burst of speed, lunging forward towards him.

Aegis jumped backwards to avoid her claws, but she made no claw attack. Instead, she lashed her tail out at him from the front, extending it under his shield as Aegis attempted to block it, and wrapped her tail around his right ankle. She then yanked at his ankle to knock him off of his feet and onto his back, and jumped forward to land on top of him.

She retracted the claws from her fingers so that they were once again normal and human-like, while slamming the ends of her wings down on his arms to pin them to the ground, and stomping her hooves down onto his legs. Aegis struggled against her, but it was clear to him immediately that her strength stat was far superior to his, it felt as if an elephant was holding him down and he couldn’t budge.

He tightened his eyes shut as he prepared for what attacks she might do with her hands free, only seeing her back from above through Shinji’s birds-eye angle of the broadcast until Shinji quickly moved a second camera to angle Aegis and Jealousy from the side. There, he saw what she was doing. She reached her right hand down to Aegis’ eyelids, and began forcefully prying them open.

“Look upon my beauty, Priest of Eirene. Accept the Darkness within your heart!” She shouted at him as the tendrils on her head hissed and whipped around excitedly, leaning in expectantly as she forced his eyes open. Try as he might, he could not keep them closed - her strength was too much.

As his right eyelid separated, Aegis shouted out in frustration. He knew deep inside him that it was over, he was out of tricks, he had nothing left to stop this from happening, and could do nothing but yell and struggle helplessly. A level 200 raid boss was something far too much for a single player to handle, especially an elite one.

“You’re. Not. Destroying. This. ISLA-” Aegis tried to shout, but the last word didn’t make it out of his mouth. From his right eye, the petrification grew outwards, expanding to his entire face, then down his neck. Jealousy jumped back with a big grin on her face, shouting up towards the sky triumphantly as Aegis’s shoulders, torso, arms, waist, legs, and then finally his feet, all turned into stone.

“I will allow you to witness your failure, and despair, light walker. Say goodbye to your precious island stone.” Jealousy shouted as she moved to stand beside Aegis petrified body as it lay on its back at her feet, and extended her palms out in the direction of the grove, and the glowing white island stone that hid underneath its yellow canopy.

Once it finished forming, the black beam of energy shot out from Jealousy’s palms. It soared through the air towards the island stone, but was stopped as it impacted something at the edge of the treeline, exploding for a third time before reaching the trees.

“WHAT NOW?!” Jealousy shouted in anger as she saw her attack fail to hit the island stone. She waited for the dust and debris to settle, only to see a projection of Aegis’ shield floating there. “HAH?” She yelled in confusion, glancing towards Aegis’ statue as it lay on the ground.

As she eyed his statue more carefully, she saw what had happened. At the last moments of Aegis’ petrification, after Jealousy had jumped up off of him, Aegis took the empty vial of de-petrification oil from his inventory and plunged the index finger of his left hand into it. The trace amounts of the de-petrification oil still in the vial was enough to prevent just his index finger from turning to stone, and he had wiggled it to cast a guard skill and protect the island stone from her shot, despite the rest of his body being stone.

“YOU INFURIATE ME, LIGHT WALKER! YOU WASTE MY TIME.” Jealousy shouted in a rage as she stomped her hooves towards him, extending her claws out of her fingers once more and lifting them up into the air in order to slash them down onto Aegis’ helpless body. “I changed my mind. You will not witness the end. You will die, and join your gryphon.” She screeched before swinging her claws down at him.

Before hitting, though, a blade appeared between Aegis and the claws. More specifically, a long, meticulously crafted and enchanted iron katana. Standing over Aegis was an unfamiliar player wearing a blue and white kimono, [Kaito - Level 171] floating above his head.

“This time, we were not too late. I am glad.” Kaito spoke with relief before swinging his katana out at Jealousy several times in rapid succession, forcing her to jump back away from him to avoid the strikes.

Simultaneously, Aegis began to hear a strange echoing sound that was vibrating through his petrified body. A buff appeared on him titled [Endless Rhythm], which he quickly read as he felt control of his body slowly coming back to him.

[Endless Rhythm]

While you are able to hear this song, you are immune to all forms of crowd control that would prevent you from dancing to it.

Source: Yumily