Upon the confusion, players in all parts of Peppermint’s game space would see the eerie message and those in the top 4 cities saw what they had never seen before. No longer were players basked in the rays of the blood moon, but now in the blight of the seeming eclipse that Madder created. The event seemed to create a new status called Domination. Similar to the Blood Moon, It gave any player with it, the ability to PVP players without consequence of raising Infamy, but there was a grave difference. Jun would look upon the Status he received. “Players who are defeated are given a respawn timer of…” He looked at the number and couldn’t believe it. He was confused. “There is no number.” Julia, who was present with Jun, looked at it as well. “Sir Yggsalad, what does this mean?” She read her status and looked at the sky. “Madder, what are you really up to?” They would soon hear footsteps approach them. They heard buckles knocking on the floor.

Meanwhile, in each of the cities, battles would adjourn. Most players in the Peppermint server were very traditional players, which meant their playstyle and game culture were straightforward. Players would generally only dabble in classes that were of the meta. General strategies that would be used to defeat bosses, would be thought of as, tank, healer, physical damage per second and potentially, and a range damage per second player. Straying from the meta was something that most of these players did not do. Otherwise, most players invested in the roleplaying aspect of the game. The difference in mentality could only explain why those at the top were different from the general players of the Peppermint Server. As the fog dispersed and players finally became visible out of the smoke, There were no red names, no affiliations, just simply a player.

From outer space, an ominous voice would caress Madder. It came from the beast in her cloak. “They’ve done well. You seem to have assembled some capable allies. Will it be enough?”

Madder looked through the game’s reality. From where she was, Asper Online looked like a dot, in a trance as if she was travelling at lightspeed through space. “There’s only one I'm worried about.”

The monster looked surprised. “Oh really! And who might that be?”

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Asper Online was a very unique game that rather than forcing players into a class system, required players to acquire classes through class change, and then acquire skills from that class. However, as long as you were using a class from that it showed you were that class, You could have skills and passives, active and inactive. This meant the cultivation of skills was more aligned with how Asper Online was played, yet players in the Peppermint server weren’t so inclined to dabble in this fact. In Vice’s homestead, Juwin, the first of the battles would occur. “So this, is the Great Juwin?” The player would say. Juwin was a gusty, snow-filled land. Its buildings were rustic, yet due to how aligned everything was, gave it a modern appeal.

“Snow-1 to Snow-2” The players were dressed in arctic army combat gear, with headset telecoms. “This is Snow-2.” The players were perched on a building with sniper rifles peering into the impact zone.

A helicopter flew in the clear skies, above transporting other players. “This is Snow-5, to Channel-Bergamot. Eyes on Tango…”

“Tango is Level 743…” The player continued as he reported in disbelief. “I repeat 743. No weapons, no class aesthetics. Flames on boot equipment?”

“Snow-4 to Snow-11. This is going to be some hellcat.”

As they flew closer to the player, they were able to see something odd about the player. Juwin was a city whose weather was snowy. Due to their location, in the north, it was always winter. So the game would display snowy effects. Something about this player caused these graphical effects to weather away.

“Snow-5 to Captain, Descent?”

On top of one of the buildings nearby, Vice would stand. He looked upon the figure. “So it's begun. We’ll give them one hell of a fight. 10-4, Operation Counterfuge.”

“10-4!”

Players began falling from the helicopter, parachuting to the ground near the crater. At first, it would seem that the helicopter was piloted by a player but it was one of Vice’s summons.

As the fog faded, they glanced at the player. “He’s a Guildless. Captain.”

“It must be him…” Vice responded. “Circle Formation!”

The players began to surround the player with their weapons. Most had rifles, and they pointed it at the player. Vice from his distance began making hand signs, that emitted sound waves from his helicopter to the players. The players seemed to receive a buff. “On my count.”

“3,” The players raised the weapons.

“2,” They looked into the sights of their rifles.

“1” They clenched their triggers.

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“Fire!” Vice yelled.

A barrage of bullets would begin to fire at the player, and it would go. The helicopter would continue to pulse a buff to the players. “Such a tiring strategy.” The player would say.

The player began to spiral his hands, swaying them in front of him, and then behind which seemed to deflect the bullets but in actuality, it was containing them, preventing them from reaching him.

“Snow 3 Damage confirmation?” Vice asked. “Snow-3?”

Thud. Vice heard a nearby noise and turned to face it. It was Snow-3. “Found You!” As Vice turned the player confronted him with its arms and legs raised, as if rising at the peak of a jump. “Weathering…”

Vice readied himself for an attack. He called forth his helicopter to his location in front of him. “Durandal!” The helicopter transformed into a tank that pushed away the player with it as it flew away. Vice looked at the players. Snow- 1 to 5 had been defeated but they weren’t respawning.

He looked at the Domination Status, and read the respawn condition. “1 Life per Veil achieved…”

“Snow Captain, to Sand Captain, Gold Captain, Cyber Captain.”

“I’m not going to get used to these comms…” Diggy yelled. A little busy here!“

"That's Pink Captain to you!" Mandy yelled

Aluxan did not respond. They must be dealing with their own Guildless player. “I must protect Juwin..with everything I have.” He then looked upon his tower. “I guess it's time for that.”

“Snow Captain to Snow Troop. I need you to hold off Tango for 5 minutes!”

“Roger that”

From his Tank his allies began to spawn, again surrounding the player. This time with various weapons and classes. “Boss says he needs 5 minutes. That's what we’ll give him.” This time these players were much stronger than the first. All ranging from level 400 up and much more in numbers. The player then looked at the players all with the same guild name and chuckled.

“Humanity.”

Vice would run back to his tower, and into a chamber finding a chest. It was his inventory chest, which held items that he kept aside from his main inventory for rare situations. He looked at an item and put it into his inventory. “I never thought I’d see the day.”

“Snow 20 to Snow Captain! The player is. The player is. It's me. Nero.”

As the voice came through the communication device, Vice’s eyes widened. It was as if the player was right behind him, but then Snow 20’s voice changed back to their original voice.”Snow 20 to Snow Captain. Durandal needs healing!”

Vice shook his head. “These Borealis players and their tricks.” He swiped his hand moving through his skills and selected it. The tower began to shake until finally, it levitated. It began to fly and shift, and Vice jumped landing on it, riding it towards the player. When Vice reached the battlefield his Snow players were attacking the player. He peered into the player, whose name finally appeared. ‘Nero.”

He looked at the player who had no weapon in hand. He wore boots on his feet and his hands were wrapped. “A pugilist class?”

As he said this, a player would be sent right by him with a gust of wind, hundreds of meters away fizzling. Something was evident and familiar to Vice. “ Nero then jumped into the air, doing a flying roundhouse at a set of other Snow players. These players instead were hit with a crescent-like flame energy that sent them flying and fizzling. The other play would come from behind Nero with a Hammer attempting to slam it upon his head. The player yelled but Nero turned right upon impact. “Moon Form, Rising Wave.” Whatever Nero did caused the player with the hammer to begin levitating. Nero then swayed his arms again, this time towards the sky and then towards another set of players. The Snow player with the hammer was then sent flying towards them.

‘What class is this guy?” Vice thought. “One second he's using Martial Art skills, then he's using Elemental Skills.”

Although the players were being defeated, and could not respawn, their souls still stood above their dead bodies, as if they were waiting for something. Enough was enough for Vice and he activated a skill for his Summon. “Heal!” The tank got up and began to fire at Nero. Nero dodged the shots, cartwheeling away from the barrage. Then he entered a low stance with his arms out towards Vice. He breathed in and slowly let his breath out. The air that was released from him would surround him in a spiral mixture of elemental energy. He then put his hand in front of him and waved his fingers taunting him. “Come on, Snow Captain.”

There was one advantage of how the event worked in favour of Vice. His class required one resource that made use of his skills. “Rise. Snow Troops.” The Snow Troops that had fizzled.

“A Necromancer?” Nero commented observing. “I’d never think a Necro would be at the top of this server..”

“I’m not just a Necromancer,” Vice said. He then began to raise his arms. “Metal Rejuvenation!”

All of his allies who had fallen began to manifest where they had fallen. “Snow 3- Resurrected.”

“Snow 4, Resurrected!”

“Snow 17, Resurrected.”

Snow Player after Snow Player was resurrected by Vice. “You seem to have an interesting class as well,” Nero said.

As Nero observed the players manifest around, the Durandal that Vice had summoned rose towering over him. “We may fall, but we will always rise. We are Humanity.”

Nero smiled. “Well, I hope to have a challenge.

The players descended upon Nero once again, but Nero simply evaded and neutralized each player once again, but this time after defeating the players leapt towards the Durandal, kicking it towards Vice. As the Durandal was right in front of Vice, it fizzled. He then snapped his finger and the Durandal was falling towards Nero. It crashed towards the floor, with its impact creating an explosion on the ground causing Nero to jump back. But while he was in the air, Vice used this opportunity to strike at Nero. “Got you now!” A string of metal came from the Tower into Vice’s hand forming a spear which he thrust into Nero, piercing right through him. He then threw the spear into the sky, commanded all players and summoned them to fire at the flying player. “Fire!”

The sky was lit with missiles and other attacks and spells.

“You think we got him?” Snow 6 yelled into the comms.

As Vice’s spear fell to the floor, a body lay staked. It was Nero’s. One of the Snow troops went to inspect the body which seemed to show 0 HP, but it then fizzled into water. “It was a clone!” The player yelled. “It was a..” The player would then fizzle and from it, a voice would resonate on the battlefield

“Mystifying Form: Seething City.” The battlefield instantly became engulfed in flames. All of the Snow players instantly fizzled. From a single flame, Nero would emerge. “I think I understand what class you are in now.”

Vice was not impressed by Nero’s skill but accepted that he was in the presence of a strong player, one that deserved his full effort to defeat him. He would raise his head, inviting the hypothesis to the strongest player head ever take on.

“A Tenecromancer.” Nero supposed. "A Combination of the Necromancer and War Machine class."

Vice smiled. “And I know what classes you are in as well.”

“Is that so?“ Nero responded. “Then you should know…” He entered another fighting stance once again. His feet quenching over the fire. “Unveil.” A burst of energy jetted from behind him.

Vice agreed, nodding his head. “I didn’t think it would be any other way. Unveil.”

Vice’s tower began to separate into small pieces forging an armor around Vice. Finally when his form was complete, Vice appeared as a Metal Grim Reaper.