As Ryu neared the fortress, he got a closer look at its walls. Plates of metal bolted together in layers composed the majority of what he could see, but the closer he got the more he could tell there was more. The fortress seemed… fuzzy, like it was out of focus. From a distance it made no difference, but up close it became apparent that something was off.

Running until there was nowhere left to run, Ryu came to a halt in front of the fortress’ doors, and knocked, gently. Nothing happened. Probably because the point of hulking metal walls to keep people out and opening the gates wasn’t at all conducive to that.

But the army of people rushing in Ryu’s direction wasn’t going to stop just because no one was willing to answer the door. Oh hell no. They fucked that shit up. The horde of players rushing in Ryu’s direction charged up their hardest hitting abilities, and the friendly NPC’s even formed a shield around them.

However, there was one fatal flaw.

“Shit.”

Ryu was standing in ground zero.

The first volley of spells were let loose, flying through the air in a dazzling array of colors, like a million small comets streaking through the sky. Ryu didn’t shut his eyes, if he was gonna die he would do it with his eyes open. Not because he wanted to watch his impending doom, but rather the quest required him to die an honorable death and keeping his eyes opened seemed pretty cool.

The volley closed in, and as the faster projectiles were mere meters away from Ryu, they exploded, as if they’d hit an invisible barrier. The projectiles that followed after did the same, detonating preemptively right in front of Ryu, without even leaving a scratch on him or the fortress’ walls.

Soon eyes were on Ryu, who turned his head left and right.

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“It wasn’t me…” said Ryu, to no one since everyone was too far away to hear.

Mages began channeling again and archers pulled back their bows, and, confused, Ryu looked back.

The gates were opening, sliding to the side to reveal rows of shiny metal soldiers as far as the eye could see. Their eyes glowed blue, and their bodies moved with inhuman precision, every step perfectly in sync such that their steps formed a single earth shaking thump. In their hands they carried spears and a sword, the spear shafts all parallel and raised into the air, and the swords also raised at a perfect angle, with a shield attached to their spear arm.

“AUTOMATONS! ANNIHILATE THEM!”

Ryu didn’t have time to find the source of the voice as he jumped back moments before the automatons brought down their spears, forming a wall of spearheads at their front, before they charged. The players ahead of Ryu could see the oncoming attack and braced themselves. Arrows flew past Ryu’s head, shards of ice rained from the sky alongside burning meteors, and the ground turned to mush as mages cast a quagmire to slow the advance.

Ryu barely made it out as he stopped and looked around. On one front was a storm of spells and projectiles bombarding the oncoming automatons, and on another was a wall of NPC’s and players fight back the same.

The bombardment came to an end, and Ryu waited to see if it’d worked. Dust blocked his view, and some players turned around to begin helping the other front.

Thump

Through the dust shot out the automatons, ramming their spears through the backs of those who’d assumed them to be dead.

“This is so fucked!” shouted someone beside Ryu, moments before a spear impaled their chest.

Ryu did what he was good at - dodged, and took cover behind more of his comrades, who proceeded to get slaughtered as both sides fell apart.

“KILL THEM ALL!”

The same voice from earlier reached across the battlefield, and the enemy fought with newfound bloodlust. No longer was this a battle. It was a massacre.

Ryu’s evasion led him towards the center of the slaughter, where he could see players being felled from every angle, and as the last of his allies were skewered he shut his eyes and emptied his lungs.

When he opened them again he was standing in the plaza, looking up at the white bricked castle of Sanctuary.

[Quest failed: DOOM]