A gust of movement heralds Post's first strike—her axe arcing through the stale basement air like a scythe. Velt's form ripples, and he leans backward, the blade whooshing past mere inches from his side.
PVP sure is trickier than PVE… he muses internally as Post swings again. He weaves aside effortlessly, but her relentless assault forces him back—one slash grazes him, and his body fractures into glittering shards. In an instant, he knits himself back together and rolls aside, breath steady.
She's leagues more proficient than I am… Velt concedes, planting his feet. He summons a sleek, pulsating arrow of pure ebony in his palm and flings it toward Post. The projectile hurtles like a night-black comet—only for Post to cleave it clean in two. With a roar, she surges forward and bisects Velt's torso; again, he shatters and reforms, emerald eyes blazing.
"How do I even kill you?" Post hisses, breathing hard. "You just keep coming back."
Velt brushes a stray lock of hair from his face. "You don't kill me—that's how."
He conjures another arrow, nocking it on the winds of his power. Post lunges—but he vanishes at the last heartbeat.
I'm still trying to figure out what makes this mythical art so mythical. Maybe it's all in pushing its boundaries, he thinks, flicking his wrist. The arrow pivots mid-flight and streaks back toward Post.
Holy shit, that worked?! Velt is startled—Post barely scraps free, the arrow grazing her shoulder. Seizing the moment, Velt springs upward in a lightning-fast lunge and delivers a crushing blow to her chest.
"CRITICAL HIT!!!" he bellows. Post staggers but remains upright.
Post's lip curls. "You hit like a girl."
Velt grins wolfishly. "Well, you wouldn't mind if I did it again!" He snaps his leg out in a vicious kick—Post ducks beneath it.
"You've gotten faster…" she pants, eyes narrowing.
"Yep, and I shan't expound further!" With that, Velt unleashes a blitz of kicks and punches—each a blur of motion. Post parries and dodges, her axe swinging in wide arcs, but none find purchase.
"Still not quick enough!" Post roars at last, bringing her axe down in a crushing overhead slash. The blade cleaves him in two—yet again, Velt's form splinters before he somersaults backward, reforming with statuesque grace.
Damn it, I lost my buffs! I need multiple criticals without taking damage… He narrows his focus and watches as another arrow materializes in his hand.
Perhaps the essence of Arrow Smith is its boundless creativity, he realizes. With a thought, dozens of colossal black arrows bloom from his back, fanning out like a deadly bouquet, all pointing at Post.
Post stumbles back. "What the—"
In a breath's span, the arrows launch. Post charges through their storm, slashing them mid-air, until she's upon him again—axe raised high.
"Nimble flip!!!" Velt cries, vaulting over her blow and twisting in mid-air to plant a kick atop her helmet.
"CRITICAL HIT!!!" The impact reverberates—Post barely steadies herself before retaliating. Velt ducks the swing and vaults forward.
"CRITICAL HIT!!!" he declares a second time, his fist shredding the air into her midsection and sending her skidding back.
Post gasps, clutching her ribs. "I can feel it—you just keep getting stronger!"
"I can only ascend from here!!!" Velt exhales, closing his eyes to channel every ounce of focus, then surges forward with renewed fury. Post's axe cuts through empty space as he weaves around her defenses.
The power of my super-class, Zone Bather, is immense. As long as I land criticals, level advantages vanish. But these buffs fade too quickly… He watches her opening, heart thrumming.
"CRITICAL HIT!!!" Velt bellows again, his fist smashing into Post's cheek. She flies against the wall, carving a crater in the stone. Blood blooms on her lip; she pants heavily.
At that moment, pixelated letters flicker over Velt's head: Level up!
Post staggers to her feet, wide-eyed. "What… what's happening? Why are you hitting me so many times…?"
Did I just—level up in mid-punch? Velt marvels. He glances at his inner readout: Dexterity 30 → 40, Speed 30 → 40, Strength 10 → 15, Stamina 15 → 25. A new acrobatic technique also gleams in his skills menu.
She rushes him again. Velt slips her attack as if dancing. "And just like that, I should be leagues above you!!!"
Post breathes raggedly. "Why… why are you so fast!?"
Calculating… Three criticals doubled my stats thrice. My dex and speed should now be 320, strength 120… That's stronger than Yuli! In a blur, Velt rockets in front of Post and hammers her across the face. The wall shudders; she collapses into a gaping hole, limbs trembling, blood seeping from fresh wounds.
Post glares up, voice raw. "You're pissing me off… how are you getting so strong!?"
Velt steps closer, fist clenched. "Shut up. Consider yourself lucky that wasn't another critical."
Above, Yuli's Warhammer splinters shields and armor alike, but he pauses as the ground trembles from Velt's seismic punch. A small smirk curls on his lips, and he fixes Fell with a defiant glare.
Fell's laughter ripples through the vaulted chamber like shattered glass. "These men truly are pathetic," she purrs, voice smooth as silk. "Many of them surpass your level, Yuli, yet you still topple them with ease."
Yuli straightens, warhammer resting on his shoulder. "How the hell did you ever become Tessa's ruler?" he snaps. "You don't even grasp basic logic. They're weak because they're nothing more than mindless zombies. What is raw power without skill?"
Fell's crimson eyes flare, a soft glow edging her irises. She inclines her head, considering him. "I suppose you're correct," she concedes. "I'll have to unleash my greatest soldier."
Yuli scoffs. "Throw your worst at me. I guarantee it won't stop me."
"Are you so sure?" Fell crooks a finger, and her pale left hand shimmers with rose-tinted light. Between her fingers, a slender, sparkling pin materializes—its surface flecked with stardust.
"As a hive-mind, I am the queen, and these are merely my subjects," she intones, voice low and triumphant. "But what is a queen without her nuclear arsenal?"
Yuli's brow furrows. "What kind of cliché is that—"
Before he can finish, Fell plunges the pin into the very fabric of reality. A thunderous tearing sound rends the air as she drags it downward, carving open a vast, pulsating portal of rose-hued energy beside her.
"Under my command, these insects gain strength," Fell explains, stepping forward, "but only to the degree I decree… except one."
From that shimmering doorway strides a figure wreathed in hot-pink aura: veins blazing with light, hair swirling weightless, eyes aglow with power. Yuli's breath catches as he recognizes the towering form of his father, Bawi.
"Behold the pinnacle of my empowerment," Fell whispers, lips curling into a satisfied smile.
Yuli's voice catches in his throat. "W-Why…?"
Fell's expression hardens. "I was a fool to misjudge Post's devotion to you. Had she not intervened, you'd be long dead."
Yuli's heart hammers as realization dawns. "What are you saying?"
Fell tilts her head. "You believed your father killed your mother of his own volition—but you were mistaken."
Yuli's eyes widen, horror and betrayal blazing in their depths. "You… it was you…"
Fell's laughter is cold and brittle. "I suspected you'd end your own life when your mother died. I tried to free myself of you."
A single tear escapes Yuli's stony composure as he watches her smug triumph. His grip tightens on the hammer, and the ground trembles beneath his planted feet. With a roar, he swings the hammer at the air—tearing it apart in a shockwave of splintered wind and shards of glass-cold force, hurtling toward Fell.
She merely smiles, but Bawi steps between them, arms crossed. The shockwave slams into him, and he braces for impact. Then, like a living mountain, he surges forward, fist clenched, and hammers down at Yuli's shoulder. Yuli twists aside at the last moment—only for Bawi's punch to smash into the stone floor, sending Yuli careening skyward and crashing him against the opposite wall. His body crumples, limbs twisting unnaturally. Blood trickles from his lips.
Summoning healing energy, Yuli clasps his palm. Silver light washes over him, knitting flesh and bone until he stands whole once more, though the echo of pain still lingers.
Fell drifts from her throne, voice lilting. "You have strength in abundance, boy—but not enough to challenge one who shares my power." The very stone beneath them begins to quake. "Don't forget—this guild hall has wings. We're taking flight. You will never escape again."
Yuli staggers as the walls bend skyward. He whirls toward the shattered doors: they hover amid an endless sea of clouds. "Dammit…"
"Bawi, finish him," Fell commands.
Bawi vaults toward Yuli, fist cocked. Yuli ducks aside at the last heartbeat, hammer raised in a counterstrike—only for Bawi to catch the haft with effortless ease and shove him back. Before Yuli can recover, Fell projects five luminescent pink pellets from her fingertips. They slam into Yuli's back, and he convulses with each strike, muscles spasming as shockwaves of pain ripple through him. Limp, he crumples, and Bawi seizes him by the collar, slamming him face-first into the floor with bone-shredding force.
Yuli gasps, tasting blood. He closes his eyes, and healing light blooms once more, sealing wounds even as he coughs up fresh crimson. "That's… all my healing…"
Fell's voice is soft as a guillotine's blade. "Just surrender, Yuli. You could be elevated—a servant at my side."
His eyes blaze. "I'd rather die than serve you."
"Choice?" Fell arches a brow. She conjures a dozen radiant orbs of pink magic and sends them spiraling into him. Bawi holds Yuli fast as the orbs erupt into a massive sphere of shimmering light. When the radiance fades, Bawi stands unharmed; Yuli lies charred, muscles glistening with a sheen of seared flesh. Bawi releases him, and the boy collapses, back arching as Bawi's boot stomps down in a sickening crack. Yuli's scream echoes, blood sputtering from his mouth.
"My rib cage—" Yuli gasps, vision blurring. Fell's grin is merciless. "You threatened to bash my head in. How about I pulverize your spine instead? Be grateful I still intend to use you as a pawn, or you'd be nothing but paste on the ground."
Yuli chokes out a single, ragged word. "Damn…"
Below, the cadence of battle thrums like a war drum. Velt darts beneath Post's unrelenting strikes—each collision a tribute to his escalating skill.
Post's battle cry slices through the air: "It's like trying to kill a cockroach with you!"
Velt grins, weaving around her sweeping axe. "Funny you should say—" He's already launching a swift kick. Post pivots on a heel, narrowly evading the blow, and lunges forward with a storm of jagged slashes. Velt arches backward, the blades whistling inches past.
A moment's pause, and Velt's eyes narrow. Perfect timing for something new. "Now it's the perfect moment to use my new technique!" he thinks, just as Post brings her axe down in a brutal arc. Velt springs up, agile as a cat, clearing the strike.
"Gotcha," Post hisses, following his ascent, swinging her blade at his mid-air form.
Velt tucks his knees. "New technique… DOUBLE JUMP!" He propels himself higher, hooks a fingertip over the rafters, and dangles in the shadowed corner.
Post staggers beneath him, panting. "Okay… what the hell!?"
"Acrobat, baby!" Velt taunts, arms splayed wide.
Post snarls. "You're insufferable."
A grin splits Velt's face. "Now, I'm going to puncture you full of fucking holes!" In an instant, dozens of obsidian arrows erupt around him, hovering like vultures in formation.
"No," Post breathes, raising her axe defensively.
"Yes," Velt replies coolly—and the arrows plunge downward in a merciless rain. Post swings with every ounce of her strength, metal against shadow, but a few missiles carve shallow gashes into her thighs and nick her cheek. Still, she refuses to relent.
"This is me delivering karma—to you!" Velt howls.
One arrow drills through her guard effortlessly, severing her right arm. Post's roar of agony reverberates off the walls as blood blossoms from the wound. Another arrow finds her left eye, and she howls again, crimson spilling across her face. Her remaining strength flares as she hacks at the dying hail, though fatigue seeps into her bones.
Velt halts the onslaught, closing his eyes to concentrate. Then, with a single bound, he descends from the rafters.
"It's over!" he declares, sword already materializing in his hand.
Post's vision blurs, but she summons a desperate strength. With a single, violent headbutt, she shatters Velt's form into a cascade of ebony shards. In the space of a heartbeat, he rematerializes before her.
Damn… my buffs! Velt's thought flickers away.
Post's remaining eye ignites with an ember glow; a faint crimson aura coils around her frame. She plants her stump of an arm on the haft of her axe, bracing it like a battering ram.
"You're not the only one with a cheap-ass ability," she growls, voice low and furious. "The lower I am… the stronger I get!" Her muscles knot and bulge wildly beneath her skin.
Velt's shield flickers. I… lost? Almost before he finishes the thought, Post's frenzy resumes. Every reformation of his body is met with a flurry of lethal blows—shatter, reform, shatter, reform—an endless cycle of brittle death.
Unbeknownst to most, each resurrection sears his mind with fresh anguish, an ever-deepening dread that threatens to trap him forever in splintered ruin.
Eventually, Post's breaths grow ragged. Her fiery hair drapes over her shoulders like a curtain as she surveys the broken fragments of Velt's body—silent, still, no longer coalescing. She staggers up the stairs, each step weighted by exhaustion and triumph, leaving behind only the scattered shards of her adversary.
Above, silence draped the corridor like a shroud as Yuli's form lay motionless, breath shallow but alive. His limbs were paralyzed; all he could do was watch and listen. Directly before him stood Bawi, expression carved from stone. The door clicked open, and Post appeared on the threshold, her battered frame illuminated by the flickering torchlight.
Fell's gasp cut through the stillness. "Post… did that bastard do this to you?!" Her voice shook with outrage.
She offered a wry smile, though pain flickered in her one remaining eye. "Yes—but he's no longer moving. I won. I'll be fine."
At "no longer moving," Yuli's chest tightened with horror. His vision swam.
Fell knelt beside Post, concern etched in every line of her face. "Are you sure you're okay?"
"Very," she replied, her voice steady. "I just need a doctor. And I see you dealt with… him."
Fell's eyes flicked toward Bawi's crumpled body. "He posed no challenge. I'll leave his fate to you, babe. Should I kill him… or make him another puppet?"
Post shrugged, sliding her axe from her grasp to lean against the wall. "I couldn't care less."
"Don't fall asleep now." Fell's tone snapped, and two battle-weary men approached Post with makeshift bandages and water.
"Thank you," she murmured, closing her eye against a wave of dizziness.
Fell stood and turned to Yuli. "Well, you heard her. She doesn't care."
Yuli mustered a rasping voice. "Just kill me."
"That's what you want?" Fell advanced, crimson light glinting in her eyes. "I won't do you that kindness."
"Why… must you spite me like this? What have I ever done to you?"
Fell's smile was cold. "You stood in my way."
Below, far from prying eyes, Velt's ebony shards trembled on the floor before drifting together as though drawn by unseen strings. He reformed, piece by piece, clutching his head as pain exploded behind his eyes.
"Goddamn… headache…" he muttered, swaying. Gathering his bearings, he crept up the spiral stairs and peered around the banister. Yuli lay defeated, and beside him, Post and Fell exchanged tense glances.
"My friend… he lost too," Velt whispered, dread knotting his stomach. "I can't—"
Fell's voice, low and hypnotic, drifted down. "Now, Yuli—your will is weak. I will take you over." Her eyes flared, magic rising like blood around her palms as she stepped forward.
"No…!" Velt erupted from the shadows, racing toward Yuli's prone form. Fell and Post whirled toward him.
Fell cocked an eyebrow. "Oh?"
Post's single eye widened. "No…"
Velt scooped Yuli into his arms and strode toward the ledge of the floating fortress, the yawning abyss below revealing the dizzying height.
"You have nowhere left to run, Velt," Fell called after him. "You may save him—but you'll plummet to your death."
I'm glad they don't know about game tech, Velt thought. With a swift kick, he sent Yuli's massive hammer tumbling over the edge, then leapt from the parapet, Yuli in his embrace.
Fell watched him fall. "What a fool."
They pierced a cloud, the world unfolding beneath them in a tapestry of forests and fields. The drop accelerated, wind roaring in Velt's ears.
If I'm right… he braced himself.
They hurtled toward an open meadow. Velt tucked his knees, aiming his boots downward.
"Double jump!" he bellowed—and just before impact, he sprang upward, arresting their descent. They landed softly on the dew-speckled grass; Yuli's hammer slammed into the earth nearby.
Velt cradled Yuli, setting him gently on the ground. "Yuli! Don't die on me! You can heal yourself, right?!"
Yuli coughed, blood flecking his lips. "Velt… this might be it."
"What do you mean? You can't die this early!"
"Why not?" Yuli rasped.
"Because I want you to live. If you fight for someone, first fight for yourself… and most of all, fight for me!"
Morning light spilled across Velt's face as the sun rose.
Yuli's eyes glowed, soft golden energy knitting his wounds until he lay unscarred.
"Holy shit! Yuli!" Velt exclaimed.
Yuli exhaled, relief washing over him. "Oh… thank God."
"You almost died, man," Velt said, shaking his head. "If the sun had risen any later…"
"I thought that was the end," Yuli admitted, pushing himself into a seated position. "But I live to see another day."
"Man, we're so damn lucky," Velt grinned.
Yuli cocked an eyebrow. "You've got guts, Velt. Doing two dumbass things in a row rarely ends well."
"Wha—what two dumbass things?" Velt protested.
"First, charging blind into an enemy stronghold to save me—you'd be toast if a single blade hit you. Second, jumping off a flying fortress with me!" Yuli shook his head with mock exasperation. "I'd rather have been a worthless slave than die because you carried me off a thousand feet up."
Velt rolled his eyes. "Hey, that's a lot of whining! I saved your life."
"And I thank you," Yuli said softly. "And about fighting for you—I will."
"Oh?" Velt planted his feet firmly.
Yuli stood, crossing his legs in the grass. "Yeah. Just be sure to fight for me, too."
"I always will." Velt raised his fist.
"You're a good leader," Yuli agreed, bumping Velt's fist with his own.