Chương 88: AW Chapter 84 - Last Chance

"Um…" Veyra said.

"Maybe?" Her tone was optimistic enough. She added, "What if I carry you instead?"

"In that case, maybe I'll become your boyfriend?" I said. An amused smile appeared. She had her hands behind her back, cutely holding her staff.

"And what if me making promises doesn't actually give you any superpowers, and we just lose like we're expected to?"

"Then, I guess we'll just have to start dating like regular people." She chuckled.

"I really hope they don't show player discussions live." That wasn't really a response. I chuckled with her, feigning what I'd said as a joke, though my chest pinched a little. We'd already agreed to go on a date after the match today. What was the point of rushing things now?

"Team discussions aren't allowed to be shown, right?" I said.

"I wouldn't just say this with the whole community listening in. It'll just be security guys or whatever watching."

"You're looking for a serious answer, aren't you?" Veyra asked.

"Well…" I said.

"I guess it's pretty obvious that I like you. I was serious, yeah. But I won't push you into a decision now."

"Mm." She stood beside, vaguely eyeing me from the side.

"I can't say no. I won't let you escape from me now."

"But you're not saying yes either?" I asked.

"I just know I'll be busy for the next few months," she said.

"I'm not sure if I'll have much time to be online. You know, with my mom's surgery and all." We were silent for a bit, until she smirked and said, "If you actually carry the match, though… Then I think I'll accept your offer." More awkward silence came.

"Just to confirm," I said, "I don't want to pressure you with a bet. I'll only do it if you'd agree without a bet as well." Veyra stood with an amused smile.

"My statement stands." My heart was racing like crazy.

"So if I beat Annath right now, you'll consider being my girlfriend?"

"Only if you destroy her twice in a row," she said.

"Then I'll say yes right away. Otherwise… You'll have to find a better time to ask me out. How does that sound?" Annath and her team were ready, idly discussing and glaring daggers at the fact that we were smiling. The timer read one minute until the arena opened. I spun my daggers.

"Alright, her career is done for," I said. Veyra wheezed a laugh.

"Looking forward to it." We spent the last minute discussing our own strategies. Not that we had much we could change. Veyra could position in our back-line as a full-on support, but she was much more suited for mid-to-close range combat with the way she liked to use [Chronorift] and [Absolute Zero]. Having her behind the enemy back-line to disrupt their casting gave us by far the most value. Portaling behind them also forced Miko and Prancer to deal with Veyra.

They couldn't use any tricks to get rid of her, making it a full skill matchup. And while Veyra was at a severe disadvantage, any safer play would result in our loss. When the timer reached fifteen seconds, the mood of our light-hearted teasing had turned back to serious. We readied up. I breathed in, and out with a long exhale. One mistake from either of us, and we'd be done for. I don't need to fight perfectly, I reminded myself. I just needed to be better than Annath. The best swordmaiden the game had ever seen.

The arena opened up. Annath sprouted wings, her armor glowing with heavenly might as she flew forward. She slashed in a wide arch and a sharp projectile shot forth, forcing me to duck under. Annath hopped with an overhead swing, initiating the duel on her terms. It truly felt like the glowing piece of armor above me was a mythical angel coming to punish me. I'd been far too lucky lately, from meeting Veyra to getting ten percent contribution damage on Embridge, and that was thanks to an oversight by the developers.

This type of lifestyle change just wasn't supposed to happen in under two months. Annath intended to ensure I wouldn't rise any further than this. I just barely got back to my feet, side-stepping her overhead swing, only for her to jank her sword back up, hitting me with the tip. The attack didn't carry much weight, but I was still blown slightly back by its force, during which Annath loaded a ranged attack straight at my head. I was forced to block that as well, knocking me further back.

[Warlock's Territory: Your Movement Speed, Defence, and All Resistances are reduced by 50% inside the Warlock's swamp.] That was my cue to use [Shadow Dash] to Annath, pushing myself to a range where I could attack her. I couldn't allow to give her a single more free attack. Except, Annath was ready, her sword pointed exactly at where my dash was about to land. In a panic, I dismissed the plan and dashed further. I didn't eat her sword, but I dashed straight past, missing my opportunity to force a duel.

Annath weaved ranged attacks at me right away, hopping toward me to once again press the advantage. Simultaneously, a sneaky [Sigil Of Impairment] flew toward my way. I barely caught it from the side of my eye, dodging, but not before Annath's sword crashed onto The Immortal. I failed the perfect block and was blown across the arena, health dropping to 47%. I gritted my teeth. If I won this, I would literally be the king of the world I knew for many months to come. Sponsorships would come rolling in.

Annath, one of the game's five gods, would lose to two rookies, and the forums would go crazy. My hug pass with Veyra would upgrade to dating status. The stakes didn't matter when Annath was just better than me. She was fully warmed up, reading my every move, as if all of my practice had merely turned me into a predictable dummy. The glowing runes of her sword covered my vision upon another dominant overhead swing. I couldn't see a single opening. Annath only kept moving faster.

I still had three seconds of [Astral Defiance] remaining. Annath's sword came. I had to use it now. I stopped myself. Annath was in position to tackle me right away. I could not panic. I may have been faced with a god. A cocky one, who was showing her superiority in my face with every swing, as if telling me she was better than me. The moment I accepted that, I would lose. Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings. Two seconds remained. She would give me an opportunity.

I watched her footwork as she hopped an inch back to keep me at the very tip of her blade's range. Her stance was cautious, almost defensive. She knew [Astral Defiance] was running out, and she knew I was about to make a move. She expected me to make a move. I cast my [Afterimage] straight at her face. She cut it and tackled it down in one swift motion as if to finish me off straight through [Astral Rage]. My afterimage turned to mist.

And I drove Sablethorn to the side of her helmet, my dagger blinking with a critical hit. She didn't hesitate for a second as she threw everything she had to cut me down. Her sword cut me cleanly in half. [Astral Rage] became active for its remaining duration of one second alongside [Blood Desperation]. Annath's body was wide open. My opportunity couldn't have been more perfect. The [Afterimage] caught her completely out of guard, her sword now out of position.

I had time to plant both of my feet for a perfect footing, and I could take aim at any part of her body. Would a single attack be enough? No; I tossed The Immortal at her chestplate weakly. The blade did no damage, but it gave me another stack of evisceration. And just as the dagger left my hand, I gripped Sablethorn with two hands. With all of my weight in the attack, I activated [Eviscerate] and thrust Sablethorn at the middle of Annath's chestplate.

A satisfying impact of metal on metal came as Annath's footing wavered. I pressed the advantage, hitting her once again while using [Recall Daggers]. By some miracle, Annath retained composure. She knew the worst of it was over, with [Astral Rage] now gone. She hopped back, once again keeping me at the edge of her sword's range with the same precision she'd displayed throughout the round. You're not going anywhere, I thought.

When Annath hopped, I was already matching her footwork, keeping myself straight at her face. I hit her first, too close for her greatsword to reliably deal with me. And now that I'm this close, she'll tackle me. She could also dash away, but I knew she was far too cocky to make an escape. Her gauntlet came as she threw an uppercut. I already had The Immortal ready to block her fist, with more than enough defence for the perfect block to stop her dead in her tracks. I hit her again.

My defence reached a thousand, and I grinned. You're dead. To Annath's left, with the side of my eye, I spotted Veyra with her health at 26%. Above her head, a status effect read, [Snared]. Miko was in the middle of casting [Flame Lungs]. No! I thought, and by instinct, I dashed between Veyra and Miko. The burst of flames hit me directly in the face, rapidly taking my health. Only [Emerald Aurora] kept me even slightly alive as I noticed [Blood Desperation] come active.

I didn't care, pushing forward and driving my dagger straight through the colorful warlock's head. I landed a critical strike, and even without evisceration, I heard a slash, killing Miko. Veyra must have lowered his health bar considerably. I knew by instinct that Annath still had both [Sword Dash] and [Celestial Slash] still up. The question was, would she target me or Veyra? With Miko dead, I jumped and rolled across the ground just as the sky split where I'd just stood. She'll go for me, I knew.

She had to kill me, while I still had her defence up. Even if she killed Veyra, the fight would still be in my favor. I jumped to my feet from the roll and scanned the battlefield. Prancer kept Veyra snared as he hit [Binding Illumination]. Veyra had 4% health, as she was casting a spell—something to fight back against Prancer, whose health bar was at 34%. Annath's sword blinked as she hopped, attacking me. Veyra's spell was the first to cast, and suddenly, Annath's feet froze on the ground.

Veyra had cast [Absolute Zero], not on Prancer, but at Annath. With Annath's defence lowered, the [Freeze] took effect. Immediately after a slash resounded as Prancer finished Veyra off. With her death, the fairies of [Emerald Aurora] disappeared from around my body. Annath's health was at 58%, and her feet would remain frozen for what I guessed was one second. A vision came to me. I ran at Annath with one hand behind my back, sliding The Immortal to my inventory.

Annath was ready to swing, as only her feet were frozen. I ran straight to her sword, prompting her to swing, just as I equipped Soul Orb Of Rathax. I [Shadow Dashed] through her sword, and my daggers missiled to Prancer's neck. The slash came, and [Reset] came through. I dashed immediately again, back where I'd come. Annath's swing was just finishing, her feet still frozen, when I landed behind her, quickly grazing her with both of my daggers for stacks.

I activated [Eviscerate] and landed a heavy blow to the back of her head. Her health fell to 5%, the blow strong enough to make her stumble weakly forward, her armor a shell of its former greatness as all I required was one more attack to finish her off. [You Have Won Round Four] [Team Solo Mage 2 - 2 Team Celestial Order]

"Absolute Zero lands on Annath, Veyra is finished off, Shadow Dash goes through Annath's sword—" Artonis shot out words rapidly as people died left and right on screen.

"—Assassin, what was that!" Silence followed as Aiden placed a foot on Annath's fallen armor. The displays read " Team Solo Mage 2 - 2 Team Celestial Order" with a large font. Nobody seemed to register what had happened. Nobody cheered, and in the silence, Anna wasn't sure if she should lift her banner or not. Was this not a score, like an offside in football or something? Next to her, Patrick snorted a disbelieving laugh.

"What the hell?"

"Prancer and Annath both fall…" Leona said.

"As team Solo Mage takes the second point, advancing to the final match!" Some cheers finally came, enough for Anna and mom to lift the banner and join in. Patrick hastily followed, as if remembering he was supporting Aiden as well, but his face was wide open in shock. The displays switched to the casters' desk, showing both Artonis and Leona next to each other with very similar expressions as Patrick. Neither knew what to say.

"What's going on?" Anna asked Patrick. He took a moment to respond.

"Your brother just… destroyed a god."

"It seems," Artonis said, "that we have just landed in the outplay montage of Worlds twenty-twenty-six. I have one humble request to the cameramen to please show the replay in slow-motion." The display switched again to a replay. Slow-motion Aiden inched toward Annath, whose sword was about to cut him down. He tossed one of his daggers out behind his back and equipped some sort of orb instead. He dashed straight through Annath's sword. The next bit was too fast for even slow-motion to properly keep up with.

The support mage died in almost an instant, only for Aiden to be behind Annath immediately afterward.

"Oh my god," was all Artonis said. The casters that usually explained every situation with perfect clarity merely gawked at what they'd seen. They dialed the replay back once again.

"Bear with me, everyone," Artonis said, "as it looks like Assassin A just performed three perfect trickshots in the span of half a second, starting with a mid-combat item swap from his inventory, bringing in his Soul Orb, which offers him a dash reset for every finishing blow.

"He Shadow Dashes through The Celestial Runesword, killing Prancer with all the defence he stole from Annath. He immediately re-cast Shadow Dash to land behind Annath, while she was just finishing her initial swing. Assassin A finishes Annath off before she even realizes Prancer has died."

"Wow," Leona said.

"For those that don't know… Shadow Dash is widely considered to be just as clunky of a game-feature as quick-casting. Assassin A's use of the skill has led to many cheating allegations. He just offered us the best display of the skill yet, on the Worlds stage, to save his team from elimination." Mom and Dad were looking at each other in bewilderment. Anna glanced at Patrick, who said with a huge grin, "I have his signature." Anna couldn't even come up with any quippy remarks as the arena loaded for the final round.

I loaded back in and wiped my forehead. Sweating wasn't really a thing in virtual reality, but I felt like I'd just ran a marathon. Veyra spawned in utterly baffled.

"Aiden, you're serious? What did you just do?" I grinned at her, breathing heavy.

"Told you I'd kick her ass." Holy fuck, what did I just do? Around us, the weather in the arena kept getting worse and worse. The air was humid and cold, the ground lightly wet, as if it had somehow been raining above the clouds. The dragon silhouettes in the distance had settled on one of the mountains, and it looked like one of them was dead. Veyra faced the enemy team.

"I can't believe we're in the final round…" There was something about her look that I couldn't quite identify. A longing of sorts. A very similar expression I'd seen on Annath when talking about the past.

"Everything alright?" I asked.

"Yeah…" Veyra said.

"I'll be honest, I didn't think we had any chance last round. That was your best play so far. I'm shocked."

"You ready to bring it home?" I asked.

"Ready to give this my all. I'm just a bit nervous, I guess. Facing my old guild." She wore a difficult expression.

"Annath isn't as bad of a person as she looks. She supported me so much. I don't know how to feel about... possibly knocking her out."

"We've eliminated plenty of better people than Annath."

"I know," Veyra said.

"But I made plenty of mistakes when I was in her guild. Things I still regret. Everything just feels surreal." She gave me a smile.

"I'm glad you managed to convince me not to repeat history."

"One more round, Veyra," I said.

"Annath might not be evil, but I'm going to fuck her up anyway." She chuffed a laugh.

"Yeah. Solo together, or how did you say it?"

"Win together," I said.

"We're taking this home. Let's go." I clicked the ready button.