It was under a new sky, and the battle would take place. The city's Golden Skyline becomes abrupt by the gaze of a night sky. The city no longer glittered. A strange clarity it brought. As peerless as the blood moon should’ve been, it was now as big as the sky. Graphically, it was astonishing. The eclipse looked like a dark hole, yet looking into it wouldn't cause a player to go blind like a real eclipse. The sheer darkness was like a black hole, that could suck in your senses if you looked too long. Aluxan thought twice if he could trust the illusion. Was it a skill of the guildless player in front of him or was it a graphical glitch? Either way, The area was bound to be destroyed by powerful meteors. The damage they would do to the players and the city could be immense. It would wipe out everyone if he didn’t do something. But, “How many meteors were there?” He thought. He looked up but the Guildless player would speak out. “That one right there.” She said, “It is wrapped with a bow just for an old friend.”

Aluxan could inspect each one and noticed that the meteors all had the names of players they were targeting, in their names, with a health bar, and timer. The Guildless player would continue to answer his thoughts. “As you would guess, I targeted every player in the city, and cast my meteor skill, homing on each player.” Aluxan eyes widened. “That would take immense skill. Not only that the amount of mana to cast over a hundred meteors…”

“Exactly 63759030 mana.” She replied to his thoughts.

“How are you in my thoughts? He wondered. “Get out!”

“Present and Future.” It was then that the guildless players' hair rose. “I am always one step ahead.”

While Aluxan could no longer pay mind to the battle on the ground, he messaged Gaston, “There is another threat. You must take the lead down there.” His brawny arms clashed with the villain character’s sword, and they both flew backwards regaining their stance. “These two Guildless players are pesky, but we should be able to get the best of them.” As he landed, he waved his hands and the ranged characters on the walls began to fire at the Guildless Villain. He dodged each projectile, effortlessly, and acrobatically until he reached a low stance. Surprisingly, the way he dodged left the missed shots on the ground in a picture of a smiling face. “You’ll have to do better than that!” The members of Humanity tried toe and toe against the two, splitting into two forces. Gaston took the helm lunging at the Villainous guildless player, while Aethera led the other group, against the other. While Gaston could hold the lead at the front, with archers, Aethera used a different strategy. She led the foot soldiers, and slowly moved towards the Guildless player and stopped. “This should be good enough!” she yelled out to the other players.

“Oh. You have assembled very nicely for me.” The other guildless player said. “Your pack versus mine.” She would then let out a howl. The sky was rightfully set for her. Her howl would be loud and Even Gaston would notice and stop for a moment, acknowledging the event. Aethera’s band of warriors held too. “Don’t let her taunt you!” she yelled. “Hold formation.

From the corners of different buildings, the growls of animals churned into the city. Then suddenly wolves began to enter the scene through thin air surrounding Aethera’s group.

“PBE: Skill Purebred.” What seemed to be wolves all grew until finally, they took the forms of Aur-Aluns.

“Wait! It can’t be!” one of the players in Aethera’s formation yelled.

They would feast their eyes on not one but dozens of Aur-Aluns rising to the battlefield, taking positions.

Aethera inspected the first Aur-Alun and then another. She was certain. They were all under her command and bound to her.“Usually a player could summon 2 familiars at maximum, but how did she summon so many?” she pondered. But her thought would be cut short when suddenly, the Guildless player would swipe her screen, and the Aur-Aluns began to growl.

“Aren’t Aur-Aluns only found in Gandora!” one of the players yelled.

As one of the players inspected one, it began to run towards the group jumping onto the formation, but Aethera would yell. “Hold!”

As the Aur-Alun landed, it was deflected to the other side, flipping onto its back and sliding a distance. The player was able to inspect the monster quickly. “Level 700!” he yelled. It immediately came back onto its feet, barking towards the formation. “Keep your shields up, I will hold my Defensive Skill.”

“A legionnaire!” The guildless player said. “That’s quite a handy skill you got there.”

Aethera would inspect her mana. It was 80% but with each attack, it drained 20% of her mana to negate the damage of a single blow. The skill could also be channelled with other players, who had shields and each player that participated, increased the caster’s mana regeneration by 120% as well as lowering the cooldown of the skill, and the effective range of the skill. As long as Aethera had mana, and the sections of warriors she had held their shields, they were an impenetrable fortress. Each strike would generate enough resources to take further attacks with the number of players channelling the skill. Each player channelling held a “Defensive Formation” pop in the Status Bar with a timer that reset each time a wolf would attack. After the first Aur-Alun failed, another jumped and it would be deflected. I wouldn’t stop another three to pounce and be deflected. This continued until finally instead of them blocking, Aethera roared, “Offensive strike!” Each player turned to face the impending wolf, and struck it, defeating it in the blow. “Defensive formation!” All the players returned to their defensive stance with their shields up. Their resolve was simple. Follow the plan, and don’t falter. Another Aur-Alun would manifest next to the Guildless player. She ran her hand through its thick fur, and it rose its head gently towards her hands. “Good boy!” She played with the wolf for a moment until finally pointing at the formation. The wolf nodded, walking slowly towards the group of players. It then let out a howl. Suddenly, a shield flew from the sky onto the battlefield at its feet. It grabbed the shield between its teeth and a yellow glowing energy coursed through its skin. IT then began to be equipped with metallic armor that wrapped around its body, creating a large disc behind it, and a large shield at its side. Its shoulders are covered in armour, as well as its front legs.

“Baradacus! Fight!” The Guildless player yelled, and it quickly sprung forward towards the players. As it ran towards the group the Aethera inspected the wolf and noticed something odd. “How does the summon have a class?” As she looked at its name, it had an icon on its health bar that signified it was a Shield Warden.

“Impossible, how can a pet summon, have a player class?” She thought. As the wolf came close it bashed its shield at the formation, and the shield took the blow, with a grid pulsing in the form of the shield. Aethera would lose 20% of her mana, but quickly be filled back to her maximum mana. It then ran around the group attacking again and the same thing happened.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“Fenwrath! Come!” Another Aur Alun came to her side and quickly turned back. It too would howl and manifest armour. This time the armour was lighter, with a belt that had weapons attached inside. “Rogue, nice!” The guildless player said to herself. “Go, on boy!” She pointed and the wolf also leaped into battle. It attacked the formation with a dagger, causing it to be knocked back, but as the blow was repelled, it moved quicker than before and attacked again, dodging the blowback from the defensive skill. ‘Are they learning?” Aethera thought. “That can’t be. Pets are not that intelligent. The AI is not able to do that.” What was concerning to Aethera was not just the AI of the Aur-Aluns but the fact they were using skills normally only players could use. Something the Guildless player was doing was allowing them to transcend the normal abilities of pets. The fact they were level 700 each meant that she had been training them for a long time. Finally, she called upon a wolf that seemed to be shy to battle, but yearning to enter the fray. “Reika.” Hearing the name caused the wolves to smile and pant. She would do the same, petting the Aur-Alun, and then letting it go, but this time her wish came to be. The wolf would be donned in Shamanic attire. A large blue-filled flower raised from its fur. It was dazzling with snow twirling around it. When the snow subsided, it faced the defensive formation and howled. Around the formation, dozens of wolves emerged.

“Did that wolf just become a Wolfmother class?” one of the players yelled.

Quickly analyzing the situation, Aethera could only surmise one thing. “She can have more than one pet. Does she have the ability to give pets player classes? That must be her PBE: Skill, but what is the extent of the skill?” She could only think as many wolves began to attack the formation. The attacks would be deflected but this time the attacks were occurring much faster.

“At this rate, we're not going to be able to hold.”

While there were around 40 players in the formation, Aethera’s one block with the group would generate 800% mana regen, based on her maximum mana, but with the amount of attacks she was receiving it would be soon that they would lose the ability to hold the formation. From side to side, wolves were attacking. “I don’t know if we can take this much longer!” a person in the formation said, in stress. As the shieldman buckled it was finally when one loosened his grip and for a moment the formation broke. The opportunity wouldn’t be missed by the Guildless player. She snapped her finger, switching her position with one of the wolves that attacked and infiltrated the formation. “Hey there? She said, beginning to growl. From the formation the guildless player began to rush towards Aethera, pushing the players aside like a stone skipping on water. The players that were pushed aside quickly became prey to the Aur-Aluns. Each player quickly became gnawed and bitten, and those with classes quickly came to neutralise the players. The Guildless player grabbed Aethera by the neck, holding her up. “Surrender,” she said.

“Never…” Aethera grunted. She held her hands on the Guildless players, and as she struggled, her Health was draining slowly. “What are you doing?” she said, confused. To do damage with this action was no ordinary feat. Most platters cannot perform a grapple unless they have levelled. She then looked at her hands and noticed the guildless player’s hands were claws. Her health would quickly drain until she was less than 5%. “Is this how it ends?” she thought. She wondered about Jun and Julia, and even Madder. She remembered what Madder had said and it was then that she began to smile. “I will never surrender…I will never…” And with that, her last life point drained. The guildless player tossed her to the side, and her body ragdolled over. As the guildless player turned, she felt a crushing in her abdomen. It was Gaston. His eyes pierced, with a dark aura emanating from him. As he connected his blow, the guildless player was sent flying through several buildings, causing rubble to fall and the player covered herself. When she finally landed, she tumbled, until coming to a stop. “Rise.” Gaston would yell. “Rise!”

“Who is Gaston speaking to?” a player thought. His words would resonate in her head until finally, she opened her eyes. She peered upon a land she’d never seen before. She saw a large shack with shields, a bridge made of spears, and bodies on the floor lying just like her. She rose walking across the bodies on the floor, carefully through the bridge, and finally through the door. Inside she would see a figure. “So you have finally arrived…” The figure reported.

“Who are you? Where am I?” She questioned, but the figure continued, pulling up a scroll. “This is your first…” It said looking through the scroll. “Please look here.” It turned to a long scroll towards Aethera, and she looked at her in-game statistics throughout her entire gameplay. It showed how many items she had looted, it showed how many potions she had used. It displayed her favourite weapon and most used skills. It even showed her current health, and what items were currently slotted. It showed her chat log, with a certain message glowing. It was the message of her defeat. It read, “Aethera has been defeated.” There was also a statistic on her scroll that the figure emphasized. “This is the first time you’ve been defeated.” He then spun the scroll as it showed she had been alive for 5000 hours. It then paused and looked at her, as if spectacles dropped from its eyes to its nose. “Until now.”

Aethera thought, for a moment, and realized that this had been her first actual in-game death. It still didn’t come to why it mattered. She was defeated and could no longer participate in the Domination Event. Or at least she thought as much.

The figure ripped the scroll in half. “You are meant for the battlefield. To fight. Forever.”

The figure then handed out its hand with a bright evanescent formless object. Aethera noticed the aura recede and grabbed hold before its light would fade. Instead, the light pulsed through her. On the battlefield, Gaston and the Guildless player were hand in hand pushing each other in a grapple. “Come on you brute! Is this all those muscles could do?”

The Aur Aluns had begun to jump on Gaston and tear him away. Slowly he took massive chunks of damage while she held onto him. As Gaston attempted to move he couldn’t, and while he looked at his status he saw he was rooted, a status like being stunned but causing him unable to use skills. While this was happening his health slowly decreased. He struggled but the wolves continued. “Is this all the strength I have on this server!” the guildless player yelled. “Then she looked to the side and saw her comrade fizzling. “Huh?”

As she quickly noted, his arrival meant he had defeated the guildless player, and thus came to help his ally. She knew from here that she couldn't hold back. He may revive shortly, but she just had to hold out.

Gaston struggled in her grasp and the Aur Aluns with the ones with class continued to barrage him. As he was mauled he remained helpless taking damage. “Rise!” He yelled.

In the distance where Aethera lay, a ray of bright yellow shone from the sky, like a spotlight. It pierced into the heavens even reaching Madder and Julia. “Another one of your tricks,” Mad said to Madder.

“No, it's one of Humanity’s Triumphs.”

Aethera’s body rose as if lifted to its feet, springing with life, and she stood, opening her eyes in a stoic nature. She felt power through her skin emulated by the Naeuropatch 2. Although his breaths were short, Gaston would explain. “There is a reason I trained you so carefully! Rise!”

Aethera inspected the area. A feat she hadn’t been able to do before. Even she was surprised. She looked at her statistics and revealed she had gone through a class change. She was no longer a Legionnaire but an Eiherjar. “A class change through death?.” she thought. But she looked and saw Gaston in the clutches of the Guildless Player at an ounce of life. “Unto Death.” She placed her hand over her heart, then clutched the armour. “This is no longer needed.” Her Legionnaire armour that she equipped no longer gave her any stat bonuses as it no longer could be used. Instead, as she tossed the armor a new armor manifested over her. It was a simple light armour, with dark woolly, leather strands wrapped around her arms, and legs, while a fur cloak over her shoulders, felled by a long black cape on her back. She raised her hand and summoned a mace and grasped it with her two hands. Her hair although long was knotted in many braids, which were gently let down to her back.

It was only an instant when the Guildless player looked upon the risen Aethera, and she appeared at her side holding her side with her mace readying to strike down.”Let go…” As the mace descended the guildless player was struck, sent straight into a boulder.

“Gaston. Mend your wounds.” She said to him, Her impression was slightly different, and her aura gave him a sense of the power in her transformation. From the distance, the Villain would reappear.

“Nox, what took you so long?” The Guildless player yelled.

“Shut it, Yanderes!” He rolled his shoulder, amping up for the coming fight. “

The Aur Aluns surrounded the players creating an arena. Behind, the city of Dydas was in ruins, with player loot boxes all over. Aluxan would look unto his comrades disappointed but the Guildless player wouldn't let the chance slip.

“We can’t let Mad down.”

Aluxan saw a slight surprise in the Guildless player and took the chance to strike, but she looked towards him, holding him in place with her gaze. “Stand down Aluxan, I’m here to talk.” She kept her glare at Aluxan, entering his mind. "I had to pretend to fight you. Please trust me. She would return to speaking but it didn;t seem as if it was to Aluxan. "it's those two." The Guildless player said under her breath.” She held her hand towards her ears. “Madder, we found the two.”