Cold sweat dropped from just hearing that creepy voice. The giant shadow with 2 bloody red eyes overflowing with hatred and chaos slowly started walking towards us. The closer and closer the monster got close to us, it turned into a human form. We kept our guards up and pulled out our swords. The amount of aura it was giving off caused fear. I was shivering without even knowing it. Looking at the items I had, I knew I couldn’t kill him. Even Loyd was shaking.

“We have to kill him as quickly as possible.” Loyd rushed towards the shadow. When he flew and landed his sword on that monster, it made a shing sound then deflected Loyd. He was pushed back and landed near me.

“That’s not a very polite way to welcome your old friend is it Loyd?” The shadow creeped towards Loyd.

“Fuck off you jester. No one ever wanted you to return, Duk.” Loyd shouted towards Duk. “The only thing you contributed to this town was to cause conflict and fucking destroy it!”

I soon realized who that was. The mischievous laughs, the aura of chaos and madness, and the fear of Loyd. It was Duk, the only enemy that was able to defeat Loyd. He never beat Loyd through battles but through his actions. If we were talking about strength, Duk would probably be one of the weakest people on the server but if we talk about him causing damage to each other, he would be on the top. He causes traumas to people and attacks them mentally. That’s how he was able to win against Loyd the last time they fought.

The town was everything to Loyd. It was his pride, his home, and his legacy. But Duk destroyed the town and set it on hell fire. Loyd was traumatized for life eversince and promised to protect the town at all cost. After the ‘Frost War’, Duk was locked up in prison for life but ever since he was overthrown, Duk was set free again and he continued to mentally attack Loyd. When Loyd was exiled out of the town, Duk changed the town into his own taste and continued to hurt Loyd. Eventually, before the ‘Deconstructed War’, Loyd kills Duk but now, he is back.

When Duk was about 30 steps in front of us, we were finally able to see him clearly. He was in the uniform of the middle ages European duke. I wondered for a second why he was wearing that but I remembered that his gamer tag in the game was “Duknotduke”. I knew that he was Loyd’s biggest nightmare and he should be killed but I at least wanted to try talking with him. But before I even tried, Loyd quickly dashed towards Duk and striked his sword once again. A major shock flowed out from Duk’s deflection. He used a pack of cards to defend himself against Loyd. He swung at the pack a few times before Loyd stepped back. As Loyd prepared to attack again, Duk threw the cards in various directions this time. They all conclusively directed to Loyd. Right before the cards hit Loyd, he hit them all out of his way. When the card lost its balance, it hit the ground then exploded.

There was absolutely no way I could help Loyd right now. The battle was escalating quickly and they were both moving very swiftly. If I ever stepped into the fight, I would get in Loyd’s way and hit me. I searched for Crimson who could possibly help him but he was nowhere to be found. I swear he was next to me a few seconds ago but he disappeared as soon as we saw Duk.

“Yes Loyd yes! Continue to fight with your anger and despair! I will recreate your nightmare everyday so that you can replay it in your dreams!” Duk shouted towards Loyd. Loyd didn’t reply to him but I felt him agitate

[Ability, “Sin of Pride” is currently weakening itself.]

Not only is ‘Sin of Pride’ the name of his role as a sin but it also describes his abilities. For sins, there are about 3 to 4 skills, 1 of them being a passive ability. Loyd’s passive ability is to have dominance and a higher chance of winning against someone that he thinks is weaker. If he just has confidence in winning against his opponent, he can win. But if it’s telling me that his core ability is weakening itself, it means that Loyd doesn’t have confidence in winning this battle. He is scared that he will lose and his worst nightmare will be replayed.

I couldn’t just wait and let Duk finish Loyd. At this rate, Loyd’s mind will collapse and become a puppet. Right when I was about to shout Loyd’s name to tell him to get his head together, a series of black hands spread from Duk’s cards that he threw. The hands then tried to grab Loyd. When Loyd cut the hands, they evaporated like ashes but when he accidentally missed one and the hand reached him, it absorbed into Loyd. When the hand was fully absorbed into him, Loyd collapsed on his knees. I quickly screamed out his name and ran towards him but he was unconscious. His eyes were all white.

Is this how Duk defeated Loyd last time? I checked for his pulse and when I checked he was still alive, I stood up and looked at Duk.

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“Hmm… Who are you? His friend? Companion? Slave? I know Loyd doesn’t take just anyone with him. Also, do you know what happened to Crimson? I have to talk to him about something.”

Duk walked slowly towards me while pulling out another card from his hand. But behind his card, there was a small dagger. He is probably trying to kill me now.

“And now if you don’t mind, could you move out of the way so I could finish my business with Loyd?” Duk smiled mischievously. Everytime I looked at his smile, it made me feel very unpleasant that I wanted to punch his face and give him physical plastic surgery.

I refused to move out of the way. I know that he can kill me with his hidden dagger but I can’t let Loyd die here. I have to protect him.

“Loyd wake up! You can’t give up here!” I screamed in his ears.

I pulled out my iron sword and tried to fight with it. When I swung my sword, he easily dodged it and kicked me. I missed miserably but I recovered and ran towards Duk. I tried to slash him again and this time, it did some damage. I was able to make him bleed. Although it was a small scar, I saw hope. Although his mental abilities are very skilled, his physical body and abilities aren’t very strong.

I continued to swing my sword and push him away from Loyd. I know that the more and more time I wasted, it wasn’t good for me. There wasn’t anything that I could do. Loyd had to wake up from whatever spell that Duk put him in but there weren’t any signs of him waking up.

Please… Someone help or I’m actually gonna get killed by this jester.

*

Loyd woke up in an empty space. It was completely black. He walked for a little bit. Everytime he took a step, he heard a raindrop touch the ground. When he closed his eyes and opened it, he saw the town. The same town where his home was but a little bit older version. It was the town during the ‘Fallen Justice Arc’. He remembered this arc better than everyone. It was the arc where the town developed the most but it was also when he was exiled from the town. A wise and cunning man named Ulysses teamed up with Duk and others to overthrow the government and hold power.

He walked around the town for a little bit. When he approached the central park, he couldn’t believe what he saw. There were showers of blood and corpses of his friends he had. And after another blink, the whole town was set on fire. When he looked up, there was Duk flying in the sky. He had a horn of the devil and black wings with a crimson red coat.

“You shouldn’t have told me about the sins, Loyd!” The new sin of pride glided down towards Loyd. It was Duk who was mocking Loyd. He became the sin of pride and laughed at Loyd for his failure.

“You failed to protect the town and your loved ones. I am the demon of this world! I am the one who will take you to the deepest pit of hell! I will be the villain in your history. You failed. I won.”

Loyd couldn’t believe what he was seeing. There was no way he failed to retake the town. The person who should never have the power of the sin earned it and destroyed the world.

[Demon King, “Jester of Doom” calls the apocalypse in this world.]

From Duk’s last announcement in this world, the fire spread even more. It was blazing so much that Loyd wasn’t able to handle the heat anymore. He started to believe that all of this was real, that he failed to protect his home and family and Duk successfully took over the town and killed everyone. He wanted to deny all of this but his senses were telling that he failed and this is the result. Loyd would never give up on anything but this time it was different. His worst nightmare became real and he wasn’t able to focus on anything. Only guilt of him failing. The situation was so hopeless. Even if Loyd defeats Duk here, he can’t recover the damage that Duk caused. And at this point, he didn’t even think that he could win against Duk.

It was then when he heard a ringing noise from nowhere.

“Loyd wake up! You can’t give up here!”

The anonymous voice confused Loyd. Who is speaking to him? The stars in the sky that aren’t even visible anymore? Or a ghost? Who could possibly tell him to not give up. Who wouldn’t give up in a situation like this where nothing is left to protect. If there's nothing to protect, why should he continue on with his life? Loyd thought continuously.

Duk landed in front of Loyd and walked towards him, who was kneeling on the ground. Loyd was looking up at Duk. The despair and tragedy was too cruel for a single soul to handle. Duk took a knee and whispered into Loyd’s ears.

“I am your worst nightmare, Loyd. This is your nightmare. I am inevitable. You will never win against me.”

Everything he said was true. This was his nightmare. But if this is his worst nightmare, it may also mean that this is all just a dream. Loyd then pulled his mind together and reminded himself this is not real. He was with Luke and was fighting Duk the catastrophe.

‘This is all a delusion.’ Loyd thought.

Loyd quickly grabbed his sword, ‘Requiem’ and stabbed Duk the demon king straight in his chest. Duk threw up blood and soon got knocked out.

“What are you going to do if you are my worst nightmare? A nightmare is still just a dream. It’s not real. It doesn’t happen if you don’t think about it.”