The Prince of Imps moved fast, crossing the distance between them in seconds. Edgar held his claws at the ready, queuing his new [Parry] skill. Knowing the win condition was just outlasting the timer, he tried to prepare his defenses.

Before he could settle his feet into a proper stance, the Prince of Imps was between them. He was taller than either of them, with a body that was lean and wiry. His hands were low at his sides with claws drawn. Each of his hands were nearly the size of Edgar’s torso.

Glancing past the Prince, Edgar was grateful to see that Mirai also had her defenses prepared, her sword glowing with the defensive [Parry] skill as she raised it to block the Prince. They could do this. They had to do this.

Then, a sickening, self-satisfied smile split the Prince’s face as he turned his face towards Edgar. Edgar tightened his stance, preparing for an attack. On the Prince’s other side, now its blind spot, Mirai took a half step forward and the glow of [Parry] switched to one of her attack skills as she strove to take advantage of the opening.

Without looking at her, the Prince’s hand whipped forwards, each claw leaving a trail of dark energy in the air. Without her defensive skill active, the attack hit her full on. Her cloak flew off her shoulders and the blow launched her fifteen feet backwards.

“Mirai!”

In the corner of his view, Mirai’s health bar dropped heavily, turning from green to orange. A condition appeared under her name, [Bleeding] and [Stunned].

Condition: [Bleeding]

* Creatures affected by this condition continually take damage proportionate to the amount of blood lost.

* Removed by healing.

“Better focus on yourself, boy!” The Prince smirked, licking one of his claws and circling Edgar.

Edgar wrenched his attention back to the Prince, not having a chance to read about her other condition, but it was clear she was out of the fight for now and in real danger. At the very least, he knew she wasn’t dead—yet.

Besides, her wounds were grave, but if he didn’t survive, he wouldn’t be able to help her. Realizing that, he gave the Prince his full, undivided attention.

“Here I come,” the Prince announced, prideful and cocky.

With his [Parry] skill ready, Edgar knocked aside the Prince’s attack, but the force of it rippled through his body, sending him staggering backward. The Prince spun, attacking a second time with his claws.

Mentally reaching for his [Parry] skill, he found found it gray and lifeless. With only a split second to react, he dove to the side, rolling away. His Riftling body handled the maneuver much better than he expected, but the Prince was even faster. Mid-roll, he felt a foot impact his chest, knocking the air from his lungs and sending him skidding across the ground.

Blinking to refocus his watering eyes, he rose to his feet. His own health bar dipped heavily, nearly a third of its total. Checking on his [Parry] skill, he suddenly remembered reading about one of his skills having a cooldown and realized this skill must have a cooldown too. The resemblance of this world to a video game was really too much.

His attention snapped back to the sprinting figure of the Prince of Imps, whose claws once again glowed purple, leaving trails of dark energy like streamers behind him. Thankfully, when Edgar reached for [Parry] now, it was available. Knowing the damage Mirai took from this attack, he knew he would be dead if it landed. As the Prince neared and swung his claws in horizontal swipe, Edgar noticed the trail of darkness disappear. A Feint! He hastily released his [Parry] skill, blocking the attack with only his naked claws.

The attack landed so hard he slid backwards multiple feet and he took a chunk of damage despite the full block, but it was less than the kick. It was good to see his un-skilled blocking was working against unskilled attacks. If not for the vast power difference between himself and the Prince, he had a feeling that his blocking would have blocked all damage. Of course, this particular fight was stacked against him and with this last chunk of damage, his health bar dipped to half and turned from a healthy green color to orange.

The Prince smiled, sensing the damage and danced forward, preparing an upward swipe. At the last second, dark energy appeared around the Prince’s claws and Edgar hastily activated [Parry].

The skilled block deflected most of the direct damage, but the force of the upward blow sent Edgar spinning into the air. Instinctually, he used his tail as a counter balance to steady his flight.

New Skill:

[Acrobatics]

Looking down, the Prince positioned himself with a hungry expression on his face, watching as Edgar began to fall back towards the ground. Time seemed to slow as he fell towards the Prince, who prepared a finishing strike.

A handful of memories flashed through his mind, but most of his memories from before his reincarnation were dulled. Poppy’s face was the only clear image that lingered in his mind.

I hope you are okay out there, Poppy. This world is cruel.

With [Parry] on cooldown once again, Edgar wracked his brain. Maybe he could deflect the Prince’s attack with his own attack. It was a long shot, but his instincts told him it was worth a try. He only had two to choose from, [Scratch] and [Tail Whip]. [Scratch] was new, untested, and probably too weak.

He activated [Tail Whip] at the last second, folding his body into a somersault so his tail whipped downward with the added force of his fall.

For a split second, the Prince’s smile dipped into a frown as he momentarily struggled against the fall-enhanced strike. To Edgar’s surprise, his strategy worked and their attacks canceled each other out. As he fell the last few feet to the ground, the Prince pivoted and kicked. Seeing this, Edgar tried to block, but his position was too awkward and the kick caught him full on.

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Edgar rolled halfway across the room, bouncing painfully off the stone floor. His health cratered into critical territory. His whole body ached and he could feel what must be cracks in his sternum and ribs, if not outright breaks. He pushed himself to his knees and coughed up blood, watching as the Prince sprinted towards him, fury radiating from his eyes.

The Prince raised his claws to strike, throwing himself through the air and flapping his wings to gain even more speed. Even [Parry] couldn’t protect the pitiful amount of health he had left, but he forced his broken limbs to move and raised his claws one last time.

He didn’t want to die.

A pleasant chime sounded and a purple barrier flashed into existence around Edgar.

The Prince face-planted into the shield. To Edgar’s endless satisfaction, the shield didn’t so much as flinch and the Prince peeled himself off the shield, huffing angrily.

Across the platform, he could see another barrier had appeared around Mirai as well. His eyes flicked back towards the timer.

The timer had run out!

A grateful, exhausted breath slipped from his lips.

“We… passed?

“You passed!?!” The Prince patted angrily at his clothes, brushing away dust. “I must be getting rusty.”

To Edgar’s dismay, the purple bubbles evaporated after only a few seconds, but the Prince didn’t attack. Instead he flared his wings and flew up to the alcoves above, with his Hourglass trailing behind him.

He smiled at them, eyes cold. “Good on you, Riftling. A boon to celebrate your achievement.”

With a wave of his hands the purple fires ringing the chamber winked out, along with all the other torches in the chamber. In the darkness, the stone floor began glowing with a giant magic circle. The Prince’s cackling echoed through the chamber as he disappeared among the gargoyles at the base of the domed ceiling.

Edgar felt himself lifting off the ground. He could feel something cruel in the magic. He wanted no part of this boon.

“No thanks! Pharaoh? GM!? I’m good! No reward necessary, really!!”

A feeling like boiling water poured across his back and he screamed. In the corner of his vision, he could see Mirai lifting off the ground too. The magic circle glowed and its Runes rose into the air, floating in a slow circle around him and Mirai.

New Ability:

[Curse of the Grand Imp’s Bloodline: Level Corruption]

* Leveling is now more difficult.

* Level: 1

* Progress to level 1: 0%

The purple Runes faded away and Edgar fell back to the ground. The pain on his back faded to nothing as well. He dismissed the screens and turned to Mirai. Her condition was bad and quickly worsening. The [Bleeding] condition was only taking small bits of her health at a time, but it was relentless. Healing seemed like the only way to clear it, but he had no way to heal her.

Event Cleared:

[Survive the Prince of Imps]

Rewards:

…

Edgar ignored the notifications and attempted to stand, but he was too weak, and fell back to his knees. He blinked, trying again to will himself onward. His stamina was completely empty. Not to mention his critical health and likely broken ribs and sternum. He managed to find his feet, but stumbled forward, tripping on the body of one of the fallen Imps.

He glanced between the corpse and Mirai.

“So this is how it is, huh? Gonna make a monster out of me to save my friend?” Edgar mumbled to no one at all.

He clenched his fists, reluctant to let the remaining bits of his humanity slip away, but he would stomach this indignity.

“Gahh!” Bearing his claws, he slashed at the imp and carved off a slice of flesh.

Item: [Imp Flesh]

* At least it’s fresh.

Edgar frowned, seeing no ‘Consume’ option in the menu.

“Bottoms up!”

His teeth sunk into the flesh and he tore away a piece. He chewed reluctantly, eyes closed.

It was… tender…

It melted on his tongue like… butter…

“Damn it all, Pharaoh! Did you really have to make it taste so good?”

The flavor was savory, with undertones of cinnamon and chocolate. Against his better nature, he gobbled up the last few bites of the [Imp Flesh] and jumped to his feet, completely refreshed.

A sound somewhere between rumbling and tearing filled the air as a thin line of blackness appeared in the center of the room. It widened an inch or two before stabilizing.

Rift Exit: Black Mountain.

* Conditions: [unstable]

* Rift will collapse in 1 minute.

* … in 59 seconds.

* … in 58 seconds.

“That’s our cue, Mirai! Let’s go.”

He ran over to her side. Her health was dangerously low and, even as he looked, another sliver of it was taken by the [Bleeding] condition. He heaved her up onto his shoulders and began walking to the Rift’s exit. As he moved, he had to step over a few of the imp corpses.

“Man, if this were a game, we should have been looting all those imps.”

At the word ‘loot’ a display appeared in front of him.

Ability: [Friend of Pharaoh]

* Can comprehend and speak all languages spoken within the Network.

* Effect [Friend List]: Pharaoh is automatically added to your friend list.

* Effect [Voice Chat]: Request an audio chat with anyone in your friend list. Chatting with Pharaoh specifically has a 30 day cooldown.

* Effect [Map]: All explored areas of a Rift are stored in [Map].

* Effect [Bulk Loot]: Loot all corpses within a 15 foot radius.

* Level: 0

* Progress to Level 1: 0%

“Why is it so hot and cold with you, Pharaoh? Do I really have to open the Ability to get the skills?”

Edgar kept walking, but focused on the corpses nearest him, reaching within himself to activate [Bulk Loot].

The corpses shimmered and then turned to dust. Amid the rush of notifications from looting the nearest imp corpses, Edgar stared into the narrow exit and walked doggedly towards it. As he approached, he wasn’t sure if he got narrower or if the Rift got wider, but everything seemed to distort as the rift sucked him in.

~~~~~~~~~~

* Check out the Stats Page for this Chapter here