The siren blared, beginning the championship battle.

It was something between a wail of a baby and a shrill scream. It split Aisaiah’s ears. It grated her nerves, making her clench her fists.

Aisaiah’s heart jumped into her throat. Even if she heard it several times already in the whole ladder of tournament, it always jarred her out of her composure. A surge of panic rushed on her veins, urging her to run and hide. Racing thoughts of failure set her brain on fire. Would she carry the weight of pressure of being the only girl in the finals throughout the game?

You are the best… our Queen! She remembered many players cheering for her before getting on to the last battle. All of her hard works would be paid off here after a week of sleepless nights grinding experience points and hunting the best equipment.

When she opened her eyes, the sunlight blinded her. Aisaiah blinked several times before her sight adjusted to it. Excitement replaced her fear. All of her worries freed her mind. A huge grin cracked her face. The warm breeze touched her skin as she dashed, making her feel pumped and more alive than she had ever thought.

Before her laid the terrain blanketed with grass. It glistened to life as the sun shone on the horizon. Scattered clusters of daffodils hummed the music of spring. At a great distance rose mountains touching the clouds gliding in the sky.

A tall oak tree stood in the middle of the plain; the branches coated with moss. Gotcha! Aisaiah told herself. That would be the perfect spot to watch for her opponents since she couldn’t find any cliff and other trees in this place. Perhaps that tree was the middle point of this battlefield.

Aisaiah cast a skill and leaped. A strong force sent her body flying towards the tree. She landed in front of it and climbed up. It took her 10 seconds to reach the top.

Just as Aisaiah made herself comfortable on the foliage, her eyes caught a white flash 200 meters away from her. Pillars of smoke and dust ballooned in the air. Maximum Sight, a passive skill, activated when she gazed through it.

“I’m not late,” Aisaiah mumbled as she saw two players fighting each other. At first, she could only see dancing silhouettes. But as the figures moved, the cloud disappeared.

Two of her opponents were fighting. The wizard cast spells one after another while the swordsman dodged them and tried to launch a sword skill combo which always failed as his opponent kept great distance.

She called out a name. A light glowed in her hands, forming the shape of a long bow – the Mythic Long Bow, one of the powerful bows in the game. Made of light itself, there would be no difficulties in carrying this bow. Aisaiah took an arrow from her quiver. It was made of ivory and the point was a combination of silver and gold. She put it on the nook, pulled the string and aimed for the wizard.

Magic filled the arrow. When it reached the limit, Aisaiah fired it away towards the wizard in a blistering speed.

The wizard tried to tumble yet the arrow still hit him, causing him to stagger. The swordsman took this opportunity to crash him with heavy attacks. The wizard shouted in annoyance and cursed as he saw a 2-second countdown in his front.

The arrow exploded and dealt enormous damage to the wizard and the swordsman. The impact blew both of them away.

“The brat is here!” the swordsman yelled, getting up to his feet. He glared up to the tree using Maximum sight and saw Aisaiah laughing. He spat rancid saliva to the ground.

“Let’s finish her off first,” the wizard suggested.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

The swordsman didn’t say a word and dashed toward the tree. The wizard followed him. They closed the distance between them and the archer in a few seconds.

Aisaiah cast the same leaping skill she used earlier and jumped out of her cover. The wind lifted her up. While in the air, she discharged another skill – shooting several arrows at the two guys – but nothing hit them. Before landing on her feet, she took three arrows from her quiver, tumbling and shooting the arrows. She used the force against the arrows to jump backwards and repel her enemies.

The swordsman blocked the arrows using his great sword; the wizard made a fire shield then launched a fireball to Aisaiah.

The archer wasn’t able to dodge it, her left leg burned. She hadn’t recovered from the attack yet when the swordsman charged with a cry – a buff to make his attack stronger. His sword gleamed as he brought it up to his head and struck Aisaiah. She dodged, but the swordsman thrust his blade and pierced through her body, inflicting a great damage.

With one fluid move, Aisaiah sidestepped and jumped away to keep her distance. She cast another spell, charging her arrow up with energy that will surely tear her enemies’ bodies when they got themselves near her. She held her stance and used a skill – manipulating natural energy to add up on her mana arsenal.

She forgot that she had four enemies in this round.

A huge wave of earth knocked Aisaiah off. Another blow, stronger than the first one, smashed her – 20% of her HP depleted. She lifted her head to her attacker.

“Brother.” Aisaiah rolled away from him and rose. Their eyes met. In his arrogant triumph, his brother’s lip tugged upwards and proceeded to attack the other enemies.

“Well, hello, Elysia.” Their eyes met as he called the archer in her real name. In his arrogant triumph, her brother’s lip tugged upwards and proceeded to attack the other enemies.

Aisaiah hissed. “Pathetic jerk.” She aimed at her brother and poked him with weak attacks. His brother roared in laughter as he staggered, still ignoring his little sister.

Another enemy jumped up in the air and paused to conjure energy. White light lumped in his knuckles. Her heart skipped a beat. That’s an ultimate skill, she screamed in her mind. She tumbled away without even looking on the ground or using her hands until she was out of reach. The brawler slammed his fist into the ground with huge power; it dealt a shockwave and cracked the earth, knocking off her brother, the wizard and the swordsman. Aisaiah felt the force too but she didn’t get any damage.

The wizard died - his body shattered in million pieces of silver dust.

“Maximillian defeated Blue!” the in-game announcer yelled.

The brawler didn’t stop that from unleashing advances. He glanced at Aisaiah while attacking the other enemies.

The girl couldn’t see any emotion from his eyes.

Aisaiah used invisibility and ran away from the clash. Surely, her brother and the swordsman would cast their ultimate skills now. That was what she would do too, but she needed to find an area where she could cast her ultimate perfectly.

But there was nothing. The terrain setting was plain. No cliffs. Neither ups nor downs. The only thing that would give her elevation was the tree. I knew it! The field looks infinite but it’s just flat. She just kept her distance. A good 50 kilometers. Enough to tease them with her long ranged skills. Though from her position, it was difficult to see the clash of her three remaining opponents since her Maximum Sight had to cool down. She waited for the right timing to attack.

And it came. Aisaiah immediately dashed towards the swordsman who was trying to escape from her brother’s and the brawler’s deadly combo. She took seven arrows from her quiver, stopped, and aimed for the swordsman. She shot and cast a spell. The arrows released magic circle which bound the swordsman and the two other players behind him. A string of curses raveled out from their tongue as they couldn’t move their limbs and arms.

Aisaiah revealed herself and charged a shot. She focused her energy on the arrow and fired it. The arrow flies towards the swordsman in such speed faster than the light. The swordsman blocked using his sword, but it was too late because the arrow struck his body and torn it in half. Perhaps Aisaiah’s attack diminished his remaining HP.

“Aisaiah defeated Jed!”

The force of the arrow’s speed knocked down the brawler while her brother used a passive skill to dodge the after-effect. Aisaiah tumbled and activated her speed buff. Yet her brother cast his ultimate skill, making a hurricane by swinging his axe back and forth. The wind sucked her in, hitting her several times. When the hurricane is over, only 55% was left on her HP. Aisaiah immediately used all of her evasion skills to run away.

But suddenly, the in-game announcer cheered that Zen, the brawler, defeated her brother.

Aisaiah gasped. She could have had her brother killed if only she didn’t save her ass first. Without even aiming the brawler, she used her ultimate skill.

In an instant, the brawler appeared behind her and initiated the infamous 100-hit combo of his class. It stopped Aisaiah from casting her ultimate skill, to her disappointment. With an unfathomable speed in his side, the archer wasn’t able to dodge or move a muscle because she used up all of her escaping skills, bringing her HP in critical level. The brawler overwhelmed her with extra attacks – an excellent mastery of his class.

The last hit – a powerful kick that sent Aisaiah flying to the sky – put the battle on end. Her body disintegrated to pixels.

A short and lively music played loudly with trumpets. The table of standing materialized – Zen on the first, Aisaiah the second, her brother the third, the swordsman the fourth and the wizard the fifth.

A second later, a blinding light ate the world.