"Can someone explain to me what just happened?" Threr asked from across the way.

I had no actual idea what just happened, so I just looked over toward Lviyr, which is becoming the norm for this particular round.

Lviyr expressed amusement. "This is actually how Nemesies are supposed to spawn. Once an inhabitant kills a particular number of champions, or just a full-fledged Nemesis by itself, it becomes a Nemesis. That's what you just saw."

I looked at Lviyr as if staring hard enough would allow me to peer into his mind and understand what this was coming from.

Lviyr looked back at me. "I'm going to just leave it a surprise for later."

I left that ominous statement as it was, trying to focus on my current task.

"Does that mean it will attack, say, a nearby champion?" Threr asked smugly.

"Not necessarily, Nemesis is just a class of inhabitant, it actually has nothing to do with having a grudge with something per se. That said, inhabitants usually get more aggressive after the change... I'm actually not sure what will happen in this case though."

I was trying very hard not to listen, I knew they were trying to tease me...

It didn't make it any less annoying!

"So does this mean that they'll drop loot if they die?" Threr continued.

"I'd imagine that would be-"

"Damn it! Either tell me or shut up!" I interjected.

Everyone in a good distance laughed at my expense.

We'll see who's laughing after everything is said and done.

----------------------------------------

Andrew

I opened my eyes, and then tried to rub the blurriness out of them.

The last thing I remembered was the bird falling out of the sky because Sydui shot it.

"Sydui!"

Suddenly I was being hugged... and it actually kinda hurt. "I'm glad you're awake." I hear Sydui say, as my face was full of fur and surprisingly toned muscle at that very second.

I tapped her back with desperation, it was getting hard to breathe.

She pulled away and looked at me with confusion.

I took a deep breath in. "Wow Sydui, when did you get so strong?" I asked.

"Okay, so I'm not really sure I understand either, but I'm a Nemesis now."

I blinked a couple times in confusion.

Then I saw the message.

[Sydui The Night Ripper, Nemesis First Stage]

"Wow, that's definitely a change, really cool title by the way."

Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

"Oh? I can't see what it is." She asked.

"Apparently you're known as 'The Night Ripper', I think it sounds super badass."

Her expression was clearly conflicted. "It's definitely something... I also apparently gained a [Skill]."

"Oh, that reminds me of something important actually, but I can go second."

She nodded slowly, and then spoke. "I've gained a [Skill] called [Berserk], it allows me to increase both my Strength and Fortitude."

"I got an item called the 'Gem Of Resilience' from The Purple Outcry, it did a similar thing... actually, what happened to The Night Taker and did you get anything cool from it?"

She looked at me with sheer pride, and then held up a small glass sphere. The inside swirled about in a nigh-hypnotic pattern. "I did."

"What is it?!" I asked, not able to hold back my excitement.

She handed it to me.

[Special Skill Orb: Nightfire. This Skill does not use gamemaster resources and instead activates as if the slain Nemesis used it against your enemies. Crush the orb to gain this Skill.]

What the hell was a 'Gamemaster'?

I'll just add it to the pile of things I can't answer.

I held the orb back out to Sydui, but she wouldn't take it. "I wanted you to have it." She said.

I shook my head. "No, it's yours. Besides, it'd be a lot more helpful for you to be the one to be able to shoot fireballs out of your mouth."

She hesitantly took it back. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, of course I want a girlfriend that can spit literal fire from her mouth, are you joking?"

She looked embarrassed as she crushed the orb in her hand.

The orb pieces turned into small motes of energy which then absorbed into her.

I looked at her excitedly. "Do you want to try it out?"

We reconvened at our makeshift training area.

"Are you ready?" I asked Sydui.

She focused and her breath suddenly became a blackened haze. "I am."

I pretended to turn a hat I wasn't wearing backward and then pointed emphatically at a target we had set up. I then spoke in the most 'I'm a nineties kid' voice I could muster and said the following: "Sydui! Use Nightfire!"

She complied, sending a ball of blackish fire into the target.

I laughed so hard I fell over.

Everyone looked at me with concern, but I waved them off. "D-don't worry about m-me, put out the target!"

As they did so, I regained my composure. "I'm so sorry, I couldn't help myself, I promise it'll just be that once." I told Sydui as soon as I had regained said composure.

She obviously didn't understand why I thought it was demeaning, but just went with it. "You're forgiven I suppose?"

I considered some things. "Maybe we should start trying to pick off Nemesises... Nemesi? Whatever the plural of 'Nemesis' is."

Everyone who hadn't already gone to do something else, looked at me in shock and horror.

"I mean, if we're going to be attacked anyway, we may as well get the first hit in right?"

Hund looked at me with an intensely. "What if the Nemesis wasn't going to attack us, and so we're just depleting our dwindling resources for no reason?"

"But consider that we're going to get lots of cool stuff from it, and who knows... maybe you guys can get as strong as Sydui." I countered.

That turned some heads.

Hund seemed unconvinced. "Are you sure this is a good idea?"

"Not any more or less than any of my plans before this one."

"That does not fill my heart with hope."

So then 'Operation Nemesis Culling' began.

----------------------------------------

???

I opened my eyes and it hurt.

What was this place? Where was I?

Suddenly, a bunch of information entered my mind at once, all of it seemingly random.

Apparently my purpose was to kill champions, that was the reason I was created.

And a champion is... a person who existed from before and was brought here.

What about everything else? Where did it come from?

...It was brought here too.

I see.

That's when I saw it, my first champion.

[Juyaia The Blood-Drinker]

Danger Level: Moderate

How poetic that my first blood would be a blood-drinker themselves.

I stretched as I followed the unaware champion with my eyes, getting used to how my body moved.

It seemed that I had four legs that each ended with claws... but I walked on my knuckles to keep them sharp.

My flesh was covered in a thick scaly hide, but I had fur over that... apparently it was what was known as 'min-maxing', how so or why that applied to me I didn't really understand, but beggars and choosers I suppose.

I stalked the hapless Juyaia as they looked around, attempting to be as alert as their overly tired mind could muster.

I pounced, knocking them onto their back.

They squirmed and squirmed until they managed to get a hand free and point it at me.

"[Frostburst]!"

I was suddenly in immense pain as my leg fell off.

I dug my remaining claws into Juyaia's shoulder and calves, strategically tearing the tendons of one arm and both legs.

Juyaia screamed, trying to aim their final movable limb at me.

That when my [Regeneration] finally activated, and I used my fresh new leg to simply push their arm to the ground.

"Quiet now little one, I have yet to fulfill my purpose."

Juyaia looked at me in terror as I bit off their head.

I chewed a couple times.

I spit it out... it wasn't my favorite.

I wonder if cooking the next one would make it taste better.