As a result of using the egg to drain Rilen’s power, something unexpected happened: we effectively swapped places.

Sort of.

The egg slammed into me and my perspective shifted as I was transferred into the nine-limbed creature that had a moment ago been controlled by Rilen, while where I had been standing now stood Rilen—actual Rilen, not him as a monster.

Everyone was looking between me and Rilen, all wearing expressions of varying levels of shock, save for Koren, who was grinning like a fool, and Sarixia, who looked like she might be contemplating the reason for existence.

“What did you do!” Rilen cried, looking down at himself and apparently not liking what he was seeing.

“It’s not about how ugly you are on the outside,” Koren said. “It’s that it matches your insides. Harmony is everything, after all.”

Rilen cast a withering look at Koren, then turned his attention to me, and though I could only feel the faintest of tingles, I could tell he was inspecting me. “I’ll make you—” He suddenly stopped, paled, then stumbled away from me, looking around frantically for an exit. “Get me out of here!” he called to no one in particular.

Koren cackled. “You may be Steel, little boy, but you’re no match for him.”

He was right. Rilen was Steel. But I… I was Gold.

“He’s the one who’s Gold now,” Sarixia observed, not seeming all that perturbed. “Looks like you guys swapped. How unexpected. There definitely couldn’t have been anything in the synopsis about that.”

“But… that’s my body!” Rilen said, sounding utterly flabbergasted.

I felt the energy and power coursing through whatever passed for veins in this monstrosity I inhabited. I closed my eyes and focused my mind, sensing the mana of the world around me.

My eyes popped open, and saw more than they ever had before.

I could see the mana everywhere, coming from the tree monsters that were Rilen’s team, stretching off into some far dimension. I could see that emanating from the actual trees and the ground and even the air itself.

And all felt utterly insignificant compared to that which flowed through me in that moment.

“You’re not scared of a little old Copper, are you?” I flexed my nine fists, feeling the power flowing through them. It crackled like electricity. Everything was different. The power distorted my view of the world. I knew no fear. Nothing could stop me.

I was invincible.

But, the form was awkward. Having so many arms—not to mention an uneven number of them—was distracting.

So I changed it. I made it my own. Nothing could resist my will, not even my own body.

“Uh, what’s he doing?” Jadriel asked nervously as he watched me wearily.

“Don’t just stand there, attack him!” Rilen ordered, taking several more steps away from me.

“That’s better,” I said, my nine arms becoming two.

“He’s Gold!” Jadriel protested.

“I don’t care!” Rilen snapped.

“But… he’s… Gold!”

Rilen grunted. “Sarixia—” he began, but I leapt forward, covering the distance between us in an instant.

Arcturus came between us to try to stop me, but I slapped him aside with an ease that shocked everyone, myself included.

The scene froze on this for benefit of those watching, a nameplate flashing describing Arcturus:

Durable Forest Golem

Behemoth-class Monster

Level: 43

With the might of a great thousand-year tree, this guy is nigh-on invincible and can take more damage than even most Gold’s could dish out.

I of course wasn’t privy to that bit of information.

The scene unfroze and Rilen cursed as he rolled out of the way of Arcturus’s body.

“Bloody corrupt event!” he complained as he popped to his feet. Being Steel, he was incredibly fast and nimble, but even still, if it hadn’t been for Arcturus, he wouldn’t have been able to dodge me.

A Steel was no match for a Gold.

The only reason Arcturus had been able to get between us at all was because I hadn’t been paying attention to him.

“Sarixia!” Rilen cried, putting his ‘friends’ Jadriel and Arcturus between himself and me. “Help!”

Sarixia was watching dispassionately from several yards away, leaning against a tree—which looked peculiar given that she herself was more or less one—leafy-arms crossed.

Another scene freeze and nameplate for benefit of the audience.

Brutal Forest Golem

Behemoth-class Monster

Level: 178

Watch out for this one. She may only be Behemoth class, but she punches far above her weight.

Her voice was calm as she spoke, but possessed of a menacing undertone. “I’m just your temporary substitute for her, aren’t I?” Sarixia accused. “You’d replace me in an instant if you could get her back.”

“What? No! I would never. You’re irreplaceable.”

“That’s not what you said a minute ago.”

“There’s no reason you both can’t have me. There’s plenty to go around.”

Sarixia grunted in disgust.

“Sarixia of Troekn,” Jadriel implored, “you must help. It is your duty! We’re a team.”

She shook her head and scoffed. “So now not being vorian isn’t a problem, now we’re a team, now you address me with respect. Now, as always, when you want to use me for my body.”

“Of course! Your body is strong. And beautiful. We need it to defeat him.”

“No,” she said coldly, the finality in her voice sending a chill through all present. “Burn this. And burn you all. I’m not fighting a Gold for you, avatar or not.”

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With that, a flash of mana erupted from her and the connection was severed, the monster she was controlling turning back into a simple tree, which toppled over with a faint rustle of leaves.

“That little—” Jadriel clenched his jaw. “She abandoned us! I knew we shouldn’t have trusted a telandrian.”

Prolific Forest Golem

Behemoth-class Monster

Level: 33

You’ve heard of growing like weeds; this guy regrows even faster.

“Well now,” I said, “how about we get this party started?” I smiled, holding up a fist crackling with power. “This might hurt.”

Before Jadriel had a chance to react, I was beside him. I threw a quick punch at his head without much effort behind it.

Still, it caused the treeman’s neck to snap and the side of his wooden head to cave in before his body was launched across the field and sent crashing into a tree, which was felled from the impact.

The group watched the body land with a thud, then turned to the man they all knew would be their doom.

Me.

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∎ ∎ ∎

Noah tries to interrupt, interject that this is not what he was thinking at the time, but it’s no use, the broadcast has him.

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∎ ∎ ∎

“Jadriel!” Daranth cried. He glared at me.

Another freeze, another nameplate I couldn’t see.

Noxious Forest Golem

Behemoth-class Monster

Level: 56

Just one touch. That’s all it takes from this uncommon specimen to spell its opponent’s doom.

“You filthy inferior!” Showing more mettle than could reasonably be expected of anyone, the Behemoth launched himself at me with impressive alacrity. His fist landed with an audible crack as it slammed into my head.

Daranth cried out, not in victory, but pain, for it wasn’t my skull which was damaged.

He looked down at his now broken and mangled wooden hand, then up at me as I regarded him dispassionately.

The punch had less impact than a whispered breath.

At least that might have rustled my leaves.

“You know,” I said calmly, “if you were really here, I might have let you live for that bravery. Too bad for you, you’re just an avatar.”

Daranth glared at me, but didn’t beg or run.

Instead, he took on a martial stance, his mana instantly condensing, and lunged forward, his broken hand transforming into a massive, clawed fist.

With a snarl of rage, he swung it at me, aiming for my head.

But I was too quick for him, dodging to the side and delivering a swift counter-punch that caught him off-guard.

My fist slammed into his own with a resounding crack, and Daranth once more cried out in pain as he stumbled backward, clutching his once-more broken and mangled hand.

He looked up at me with a mixture of shock and fear, realizing for the first time just how powerful his opponent truly was.

For my part, I regarded Daranth with an expression of dispassionate curiosity.

Still reeling from the pain of his broken hand, he tried to gather himself and launch another attack.

But I was already in motion, moving with lightning-fast speed as I sidestepped his clumsy assault and delivered a powerful kick to his chest.

The force of the blow sent him flying into Arcturus, who due to his massive size managed to catch him without himself being knocked over.

That was when I noticed Jadriel. He was still alive, and seemed to be channeling… something.

I let him. For one, it was interesting to watch. My ability to watch mana was even better now in this Gold-rank body. And two, there was nothing a Behemoth could do that would harm me.

So I assumed.

But monsters are not the same as people.

Daranth shouted something and fuzzed out to me, but not to everyone watching.

“I’m going to hit him with poison, then you trap him.”

They reappeared just as Jadriel punched into the ground and a moment later roots erupted around me, anchoring me in place.

Daranth dashed forward and with a thrust of his hand shot a burst of mana straight into my chest.

I remained perfectly still, feeling the foreign enemy mana enter into my body.

It was poison-infused, and I could feel it attempting to destroy me from the inside out.

“Not good enough.” I smiled, and crushed it with hardly a thought. “My turn.” I sent an open palm flying at the treeman’s chest, the roots anchoring me tearing apart like wet tissue.

It impacted with such sharp force that Daranth didn’t even move.

Or most of him didn’t, anyway.

The spot where my palm had contacted however was completely vaporized, the air behind Daranth filled with a mist composed of atomized bark, wood, and sap, in place of flesh, bone, and blood.

Daranth looked down at the hole in his chest where one might expect a heart to be, the only thing keeping him alive the fact that this was an avatar he was inhabiting and not his own body.

But even this remote transference wasn’t enough to overcome the grievous wound for long, and a moment later he collapsed to the ground, dead.

“Why’s he not using any abilities?” Rilen asked from where he cowered behind Arcturus’s bulk.

“Don’t tempt him,” Arcturus grunted.

“He doesn’t need abilities for trash like you lot!” Koren taunted, happy to simply watch the show.

A Gold certainly didn’t need his help.

He looked at Vyrania. “Is it wrong that I’m enjoying this?”

She smiled. “Yes. Yes it is.”

Meanwhile, I now had Jadriel by the ‘neck’ as he squirmed helplessly in my grasp, his monstrous tree bark oozing out of my fingers like bread dough as I squeezed.

There was a snap, and the body went limp.

I tossed the arboreal corpse aside as though it weighed nothing at all.

This was proven not to be the case when it slammed into Arcturus, this time with enough force to knock him to the ground and break his arm with an audible crack.

Rilen, who’d been cowering behind him, skittered out of the way.

“You came to kill me because I beat you? Because I freed your slaves?” I stated more than asked.

“No! No!” Rilen whimpered, moving back behind Arcturus as if for protection, as though the broken and sap-leaking tree could stop me. “This is all just a big misunderstanding. It’s The Corporation’s fault. They let me take over the monster.”

I shook my head. “You can’t take responsibility for anything.”

Movement caught my eye and I saw Jadriel getting up, roots shooting off into the ground. He’d healed.

“You’re supposed to stay dead.” I covered the distance between us before he could respond and yanked him to his feet, tearing the roots loose, which ruptured with a sound like rending flesh.

I held the moaning and whimpering Jadriel out in front of me. I shook him, and his moans turned to screams as his broken body jostled. “Stay dead this time, yeah?”

“Please!” he begged. “Mercy!”

“Sure. I’ll give you mercy.” With that, I tossed him up toward the ceiling, hundreds of feet overhead, which he slammed into with a crunch that could be heard even all the way down here.

Everyone watched his limp body fall and slam into the earth, creating a small crater even as the body burst into fragments.

“Let’s see you come back from that.”

I returned to where Rilen was hiding behind Arcturus, the giant tree not possessing the healing powers of Jadriel, passing Koren who wore a broad smile, and Vyrania who wore a look I couldn’t interpret.

“Where were we?” I asked Rilen.

He didn’t answer.

“Ah, right, I remember now. You like to feel in control of others, do you?” This statement was accompanied by my mana, which felt deep and endless now, pressing down on him with such crushing force that it took all his will not to be pressed flat against the ground.

He couldn’t even get a response out. The weight of my mana made it hard for him to even breathe, and tears began filling his eyes.

I knelt down in front of the man, still absolutely dwarfing him. “Let’s see how you like it.”

I took his shoulder in one hand, his arm in the other, the one he’d used to cast his ‘chains’ on Koren, Vyrania, and me with, and gave a gentle tug.

The arm tore free with no notable resistance.

I let the arm fall to the ground as blood leaked out from it and spurted from the shoulder.

“Don’t worry,” I told him, “you’ll bleed out soon enough.”

“Bravo!” Koren cheered.

Vyrania grimaced and looked away, while simultaneously managing to look pleased, but also disappointed that she wouldn’t be the one to kill him.

I turned my attention to Arcturus, who had gotten to his feet. He let out a put-upon sigh, glancing down at his broken arm. “This is hardly a fair fight.”

“Neither was five against three.”

He sighed again. “I suppose.” Then he dashed forward, slamming a fist into me.

Surprisingly, it actually knocked me back a little. Despite being only Behemoth, he was incredibly strong.

He was already swinging at me again, but this time I didn’t let it hit me, skirting around behind him and wrapping my giant hand around his giant neck.

He only struggled briefly, then, once he realized he couldn’t get free, let out a final put-upon sigh as I ripped his head loose.

The body fell to the ground and I tossed the head to the side, then crushed it for good measure.

Rilen was still alive, and trying to crawl away.

“Or maybe you won’t bleed out,” I amended. “Where do you think you’re going?”

I slowly stalked toward him.

He rolled over onto his butt, holding out his remaining hand. “Wait wait!” he pleaded. “We can work this out! It’s all a big misunderstanding. I’ll pay you!”

“I don’t want—” I began, then stumbled. I suddenly felt woozy.

Apparently, there was a time limit to this Gold-rank golem thing.

“Uh-oh,” Koren said.

A grin slowly spread across Rilen’s face as realization dawned.

Despite his injuries, he decided this would be a good time to kill me.

He leapt toward me, but only moved a few feet. He scowled. “What?” He was confused at his card which granted him such profound leaping ability not working.

He looked at his hand, then up at me, a crazy smile replacing the scowl. “I’m not really here.” He may not have been the smartest vorian, but for all his faults, he wasn’t entirely stupid.

Feeling my strength leach away, I moved forward and attacked.

He easily dodged the first attack, but he was too cocky, trying to deflect the second. It sent him sprawling.

I may have been severely weakened, but I was still Gold.

I collapsed on top of him, not meaning to but going with it.

I shoved my elbow against his face and heard a crunch as his skull caved in, then I was forcibly ejected from the golem.

I flew through the air, landing a few feet away in complete and utter agony. I was totally drained of both life and mana.

Koren and Vyrania were at my side, but I couldn’t hear what they were saying.

I blacked out, then died.