Chapter 28: Prince and the invader

Fearless entered the pro-league of ROC as the youngest super star in their history. The media and fans were quickly to put the label of “The prodigy” on his shoulders and then “The Prince.”

His title “The Prince” was the result of his relationship with FY, being FY’s protégé and all.

FY used to play for the Taiwanese team ED- Everlasting Dynasty before he created The Alliance. He was their captain and was well-known for putting the entire roster of ED on his two shoulders throughout the years whereas ED was known for overhauling their roster every single year and those rosters were supposed to be built around FY. As the result, the fans gave him a nickname “The King”.

FY became “The King” of Everlasting Dynasty for five years and despite his super star level of talents, he could never carry that team beyond the Semi- Final of the ROC World Cup. No matter what he did or how brilliant he played, that was his limit. As the result, his doubters and anti-fans gave him a title, “The Crownless King.” That title stuck with FY until he won the first ROC World Cup with The Alliance.

The proof of a champion in ROC was the replica of the golden crown of power and FY had never come close to put that crown on his head while playing under the flag of ED. That’s aside, who could win a championship while carrying the flag of an organization with the name of ED? ED is such a self-defeating name. ED- Erectile Dysfunction is never a great name for any organization.

Being FY’s protégé and partner in crime, Fearless received his “The Prince” title which was also his title when he was small, a pleasant coincidence. Though, Fearless was more convinced that the reason he received that title had more to do with his well-crafted charming smile and how he received the flash of camera lens and presses like his long lost kin.

He was the “chosen one” and the poster child of ROC for many years, until that incident with Misery happened. Since the league failed to resolve that problem, he took it to his own hands. Fearless could not see what’s so wrong about that.

The community and the fans at that time did nothing to stop that situation from escalating. The media and the presses brushed over it like it was the usual trash talk. But that was no trash talk. It stopped being at the level of mere trash talk when the situation ballooned beyond the spectrum of a game of ROC. That was no trash talk.

That asshole attacked Misery psychologically, and thus Fearless retaliated with a psychological attack, destroying that asshole’s confidence and fan base all at the same time. What’s so wrong about it?

“Those who play with knives must be prepared to get cut. Those who play with fire must be prepared to get burnt.”

He cruelly attacked Misery like that and yet did not expect to be attacked in the end. What a jokester! The entire community, the fans and even the presses that refused to defuse the situation until Fearless stepped in, they were a giant joke.

They were always talking about how the entire league was a giant family. What kind of family is that? What kind of family that just stood and watched its family member being attacked and suffered like that? What a joke!

The Commissioner of the pro-league of ROC was also a big fat joke. He can issue a fine for players who got caught cheating or swearing on TV, yet, only issued a warning to that asshole. The Commissioner could stop that situation, put a fine on the entire team and organization of that asshole for escalating the problem and effectively stopped it. Yet, he did not.

That attack was not a problem until Fearless made it a problem; and since Fearless made it a problem, he took a fall for that.

“You were supposed to bring greatness to the league, not blemished it,” the Commissioner said when he asked Fearless to come to his office for a one on one conversation.

Fearless thought that the people who gave him the nickname “The chosen one” were very spot-on. He came to the league a prodigy just like Anakin Skywalker and just like Anakin Skywalker; Fearless was lured into the dark side of the league. He became a villain.

Fearless did not regret being a villain. In fact, he enjoyed being a villain ten thousand times more than he did being a proper “Prince” or being a “chosen one.” Being a villain was such a great experience, though, Fearless wished that he could receive cool title like Darth Vader or something like “Dark Prince” or the “Fallen One” or something more edgy and cool instead of “The Motherfucker” like some kind of lame villains that would appear in Kickass.

The greatness of being a villain was that Fearless was able to do and say things that he normally wasn’t able to. He got to do what he wanted to do and said things he wanted to say without fearing of affecting his image. If he wanted to crush someone in a trash talk, he could follow it through. If he wanted to go out partying with his fans and did something stupid with them, he could do it any time. If he wanted to be improper, to be vulgar or allowed a bottled side of him to come out, he could do that and got away being a villain.

Being treated as a villain by the community and the pro-league of ROC was one of the greatest thing that has ever happened to Fearless’ life. It was great… and all great things must come to an end at some point. Life is such a disappointment.

One particular moment brought Fearless back to the light side of the league. It was the infamous “445.”

One week before Fearless made his ninth appearances in the Final match of the ROC World Cup, he woke up to find himself in a somewhat familiar situation, locked up to a bed.

It was just the usual thing for Fearless. He wasn’t even surprise about it. He looked around the room for a little bit whilst fighting the head-splitting hang over. His head hurt so fucking bad that he regretted going for the fourth round with his fans. He should have stopped at the third round.

Fearless did not think that he was inside a motel because the room arrangement did not suggest so. He saw quite a number of personal belongings lying around the room with the addition of a bookshelf. No, this was not a motel room or guest house.

Fearless tried to sit up a lit bit to have a better view of the room. He did not appreciate the ring of scrubbing metal when his handcuffs rubbed against the metallic bars at both end of the bed. He criticized his abductor inwardly for her amateurishness, using a real police handcuffs instead of the leather one. These things left marks and they could seriously injure his wrists and ankles while he was in the middle of the play.

The lack of window in the room intimidated Fearless somewhat. The room had only one door. He quickly guessed that he was inside a basement from the distribution of pipelines on the wall and the lack of window. He started to feel scare.

Suddenly, the door opened and she appeared. It’s CJ- Katherine Jane. She was the number three on his list of most insane people that he has ever met. The only reason Fearless dumped her was that he could not keep up with her possessiveness at one point. He caught her red-handed planning to send his friends to another world with a truck to monopolize him and thus quickly ended their relationship after that. Even as possessive as his sister, she has never tried something like that… Kate has definitely won that trophy for being one of the most insane women ever.

“Those who play with knives must be prepared to get cut. Those who play with fire must be prepared to get burnt.” His sister’s word rang inside his mind.

Of course, Fearless knew the meme “Don’t stick it in the crazy one.” However, what else can he do? He did not feel complete if he did not stick it in the craziest one, thanks to his sister.

This was his karma.

CJ approached him with a bright lovely smile on her lips, “You awake.”

The smell of shampoo emanated from her body. She must have taken a bath recently. Though, other than the floral smell of CJ’s shampoo, Fearless could pick up that distinctive sweet smell, the smell of danger and insanity. She exuded that dangerous smell just like his sister, though, Fearless reckoned that the woman and sister belonged to different classes from their smell alone. One of them is venomous while the other is poisonous. Regardless, the both of them are toxic without a doubt.

Immediately, Fearless put up his defense system, a charming princely smile to greet that insane person, “You are just as lovely as I remember CJ.”

“So do you. You are just as handsome and forgetful,” she straddled her fingers on his cheek and then pinched it, “It’s not CJ. It’s Kate. How many times must I tell you before you start to remember it?”

Her pinch was painful and yet, it was addictive just like the playful slaps his sister gave him so very often.

“I know,” Fearless snickered while sweating inside.

“You are such a bad boy,” she giggled, suggestively caressing his lips with her finger.

“I know right?”

“A bad boy like you deserves a punishment,” Kate smiled, unbuttoned Fearless and stripped him to his birthday suit.

After that, they did the stuff that only an insane woman and insane man would do with each other on that bed. Fearless did his best to please Kate, going strong and deep just the way she liked it. Fearless kept going at it, pushing himself beyond the seventh round. By the time the ninth round started, Kate was down for the count, completely exhausted. Fearless whispered into her ears, telling her that he wanted to hold her in his arms.

Bathed in the afterglow of their sex, Kate sensually snickered and planted a light kiss on Fearless’ chiseled chin. “I know your tricks sugar,” she smiled.

“What’s trick?” Fearless asked, trying to look as innocent as possible while screaming from the inside.

“I love it when you are desperate,” Kate smiled, pinching Fearless’ cheek, and then fell asleep on his chest.

By the time his biological clock confirmed to Fearless that he has been trapped inside that basement room for over two days, he has become extremely restless even though he never showed it to Kate. After that, Fearless was able to guess the time from the meal Kate brought to him. Toasts and light meal for breakfast, lunch was always pasta and dinner was everything else.

The days would go on like that. Fearless was locked to that bed. Kate would feed him food and water. She would use a towel to clean up his body many times a day. She would wear a diaper on him for him to take care of himself whenever she was not inside the room.

Then, they would have sex whenever Kate felt like it.

Fearless felt like he was reduced to Kate’s personal human vibrator than her lover, but he did not dare to anger her. He let her do what she wanted. Whatever the game was, he played along. There was no benefit in angering her since he was completely at her mercy.

At first, Fearless was trying to escape by suggesting to Kate to remove his handcuffs. But of course, Kate of all the women in the world would know better that Fearless would definitely escape, that’s why she never removed the handcuffs. After that, Fearless considered putting his escaping skill to practice, except he found nothing that could help him picking the handcuffs.

Fearless knew an escape artist back when he studied under that old illusionist. That man piped Fearless’ interest with his incredible level of showmanship. As the result, Fearless would observe him from time to time. At one point, that man asked if Fearless wanted to learn his craft. Of course, any boy would say yes to such invitation. Fearless would then learn all sorts of tricks from that man, though he never became great at being an escape artist. He was good with tricks but generally became useless when it required the actual skill and fitness. The stuff he was good at was illusions and tricks.

He knew how to pick a lock but he was never good at that. He can perform an escape with all the fake locks and fake handcuffs. However, he had a lot of trouble with the actual locks and handcuffs.

This was the first time in his life Fearless regretted that he did not take those lessons seriously till the end.

On the fourth day, Fearless was literally begging Kate to let him go. He knew that FY and the rest of his team were definitely going crazy over his disappearance. They must have rung his phone over a thousand times already. But Kate told him not to worry since she has tossed his phone into a lake when she kidnapped him.

Fearless then promised to Kate with all the sugar and honey in the world, telling her that he loved her and she should let him go. He had to play that game. It’s the Final match of the ROC World Cup. He cannot allow the team to be disqualified because of his disappearance alone.

Kate said no, of course she would say no.

She knew that he was a liar, of course, she knew. Therefore, she said no, refusing to unlock those handcuffs. At that point, Fearless knew he could not count on Kate’s mercy to escape that room. He was on his own, literally.

“It’s just a game,” she said, “Forget about it.”

Kate is just like those girls Fearless has shortly dated. They don’t look at the world of ROC and the game revolved around it like something should be admired. It’s already 2060s and yet, there were people who would look at Esport and the world of pro-gamers like something meaningless and negative, like drugs. They still hold prejudice against pro-gamers as if they were still in the 2000s or the early 2010s. Kate is one of them. She loved Fearless but she did not appreciate his game. She loved his playboy persona. She loved his prince persona. She had no problem with his insane persona. And yet, she had a prejudice against his pro-gamer persona.

It’s just a game, of course Fearless knew that, but so what? Why do pro-gamers deserve to be looking down on when they are just doing the things they loved the most? The great Michael Jordan played a game called basketball and became immortalized for that. Pelé played a game called soccer and he was forever remembered by millions of people. Roger Federer played a game called tennis and he was celebrated as one of the greatest athlete in the history of mankind.

What’s so wrong about video game? What’s so wrong about ROC?

They said that it’s just video game, anyone can play that. Fearless once proved that they were all wrong about that on Jimmy Holland’s show. Still, he could not change everyone’s perception.

It’s just a video game, of course Fearless knew that. But it is a game that is played and admired by over 60 million of people. It is a game that Fearless traded his tears and sweat to position himself on the very summit of this game. It is a game that allowed Fearless to create his own family. It is a game that allowed him to know what freedom is. It is a game that returned to him something important that he has once lost. It is a game that allowed him to define himself to the world.

It’s just a game. But, it’s more than just a mean of living. It’s more than just the cheer of the crowd and the fanfare.

It is just a game, but without the game known as ROC, there would be no Fearless. But of course, there is no need to explain all of that to Kate. To love someone is to try to understand that person, accept that person and even compromise yourself to be together with that person, Kate did not understand that. She thought the reason Fearless dumped her was because of her insane self. But’s that wrong. He dumped her because she could not compromise herself to live with him. She could not accept everything about him. She did not even attempt to understand him. Whatever the affection she had toward him was, that was not love. That wasn’t love.

ROC is just a game and it is all that it would be, a game. However, it meant something to Fearless even if nobody even gave a damn about it.

On the sixth night Fearless put his plan in motion. He told Kate that he felt like having something Vietnamese for breakfast, maybe phở.

She looked up the closest place and thought about making delivery in the morning. But, that restaurant did not have a morning delivery service. He managed to deduct the general location of the house from that information alone. Fearless knew that place, of course, he knew it. Within the diameter of 200km around the Golden Era Arena, that was the only Vietnamese restaurant in the area. He searched for it before so he knew about it.

Fearless was glad that he was kidnapped and hid somewhere within that area.

Thus, he suggested Kate to have a quick drive in the morning to grab the food. She listened. All of his hard work at being the good boy and raised Kate’s affection meter up until that point paid. Fearless could not be more happy.

When morning came, Kate told him that she will go out and get the food and Fearless should be a good boy. Fearless laughed that he would love to be a bad boy and pushed Kate down the bed at that moment, though the handcuffs prevented him to be one.

Kate laughed, kissed him and left the house. She said that she would return soon. It would not take more than thirty minutes. That piece of information that Kate carelessly gave away was vital for Fearless. He was glad that Kate

When Fearless confirmed that Kate has really left the house with his ears, he moved to the second phase of his plan.

Fearless knew that he was about to do was beyond stupid. However, he has planned and considered all of his option. This was the only one option he had. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, trying to not think about what he was about to do.

Fearless squeezed on the joint of his right thumb with his left hand, trying to dislocate it. He saw that escape artist did this trick once, though Fearless had never had the stupidity to study this trick. His hands and fingers were his treasures; there was no fucking way he would do it. But this time, he had no other choice. He might not make it to the final match or even manage to escape this room for his entire life.

The idiom “Take it like a man” flashed in his mind. Fearless thought that idiom was stupid since no man has ever experienced the pain of labor and the pain of a woman on her period. Fearless gritted his teeth and took the pain like a pregnant woman who is giving birth.

There was no crisp snapping sound like those Hollywood movies depicted. There was no sound other the grunting noise that escaped Fearless’ mouth. Tears and snots watered his face. It was fucking painful.

He soon managed to remove his right hand from the cuff through a series of grunting and crying. He considered resetting the bone after that but it hurt so fucking badly when he tried. They made it looked so fucking easy in those kind of movies but in reality, it’s really hard. So he stopped. He leaned himself to one side of the bed and used his weight to shift the bed out of its position slowly.

Kate was a smart woman but she was not perfect. Even as smart as Fearless’ sister, she was not perfect. She made mistakes just like normal people do. So did Kate.

Kate did not know that Fearless know how to pick a lock. He had never tried to impress her with that kind of skill. Would she believe that a person like him would know how to pick a lock?

That’s why she left her hair clips lying on the nightstand like that. So Fearless tried to reach for the clips with his swollen left hand. He bent the clips and used them to pick his handcuffs. He got lucky with the handcuff on his left hand. It took less than three minutes, the one on his ankles, not so much. He broke Kate’s hair clips again and again as he tried to pick the cuff. He was never that good at lockpicking to begin with. Now he has to do it with a dislocated thumb, it’s was so much harder. His hands started to sweat. It was a race against time. By the time he was down to the last hair clip, Fearless started praying to all the gods he knew to help him.

It was a double.

“Hell yeah, baby.” Either the gods listened to Fearless’ prayer or his clutch instinct came through.

After that, he ran out of that room. It was a basement, his guess was correct. But Fearless’ happiness was short-lived. He quickly found himself in an audacious situation. The house was locked from the outside with ten locks and the windows were barred with steel bars. He was stuck inside the house.

Fearless tried to remain calm and not submitted to his panic attack. He saw a clock on the wall. He’s getting late for the game. He tried to look around the house to see if there was something he could do to get out of that fucking jail. He searched for a hammer or a mallet that’s heavy enough for him to break the locks on the door. Then, his eyes fell on the chimney and Fearless heard a bell ringing inside his head.

This could be it, he thought while surveying the chimney. It was then his ears registered a car engine sound. It was Kate’s minivan.

It’s not even twenty minute since she had left the house. He guessed that she must have forgotten something and come back for it. But then, he saw the image of Kate holding a motor chainsaw on her hands through the foggy windows. Fearless knew he fucked up. There must be a surveillance camera inside that room. Otherwise he could not come up with a better explanation for this.

“Sugar, you are such a liar. Bad boy, you are such a bad boy. I have to punish you.”

Fearless nearly crapped inside his diaper, listening to Kate’s voice as she opened the locks on the front door one by one. He considered ambushing Kate the very moment she opened the door but immediately changed his mind.

But how would he fight her? And with what? She had a motor chainsaw and he had none.

Fearless immediately snuck into the chimney and tried to climb up. Thankfully he did not possess a large body frame like Merleon or overly muscular. Otherwise, he would never be able to fit himself inside that chimney. He placed his back against the wall and tried to use his legs to push himself upward.

“Sugar, come out, come out, wherever you are.”

The high pitch sound from that motor chainsaw scared the crap of Fearless. He wanted no part in it. At one point, his legs slipped a bit and Fearless had to press his hands against the dusty wall inside of the chimney to prevent himself from falling. It hurt so fucking bad when that happened. His dislocated thumb contacted with the wall and Fearless could only grit his teeth to prevent himself from making any noise. His body started to sweat profusely from the pain and Fearless could feel himself slipping.

Shit, he cursed himself and put more force into his limbs, stopping himself from slipping. He hurt his thumb again and Fearless could feel the tears and snots were watering down from his face.

Kate was still down there inside the house, searching for him. He can hear her voice echoed within the chimney. He was afraid of making loud noise so he did not dare to move fast. He took it slow, one step at a time.

“There you are sugar.”

A frightening cackle echoed just like that of a devil. Fearless froze on the spot, hoping that Kate was just playing a mind game on him to make him to reveal his location. When he looked down to confirm that theory, Kate was down there, staring. He was spotted.

Fearless cursed and climbed to the top of the chimney as fast as he could. When he’s on top of the roof, he could already understand why he could hear no sound of travelling vehicles or people.

He was in the middle of the wood. However, Fearless could see that white telecommunication tower that was built next to the Golden Era Arena peeking out on the eastern side of the house. That’s quite a distance from where he was, he thought.

This wood was the Woodland forest that located to the west of the Golden Era Arena. Thanks god, Fearless muttered. Then he saw Kate ran out of the front door with that scary chainsaw on her hands. He slipped down the roof from the back side of the house and started running into the nearest thickets. He heard the noise of Kate’s chainsaw and her taunting voice. “Where do you think you are going sugar?”

“Escaping. What do you think?” He fired back as he ran.

“Do you think you can go out of this place? We are in the middle of the wood. You know what? You should return to me obediently. I will forgive you. ”

“Kate, do you think that your cabin is the only cabin in this wood? Do you think that I have never been here before?” Fearless taunted and ran as fast as he could.

Kate’s silence was all that Fearless needed.

Fearless ran. “Run, Fearless, run,” he inwardly told himself, kept running. The whipping bushes and slashing branches gave him no more pain than his dislocated thumb. His bare feet snapped dead tree branches on the ground as he ran. It hurt but he kept going. He turned his head back to watch Kate’s position once in a while. He’s losing her. When he discovered a thick bush, Fearless hid himself behind it, using it as a cover.

The high pitch sound of the chainsaw and Kate’s urgent footstep got nearer and nearer to him. Fearless held his breath, did not dare to peek out of the bush to look. Thankfully, Kate did not realize that she has been played. She kept running into the wood in that particular direction, searching for him.

Kate’s chainsaw betrayed her position to Fearless. He could still hear it even when Kate was over fifty meter away from his hiding spot. When his ears confirmed that Kate has gone pretty far into the wood, Fearless headed back to the cabin. He went for Kate minivan. But it’s locked. Kate must have the key with her. Fearless wished that Kate had been careless with her van like most of those Hollywood movies. He suddenly remembered seeing an army Swiss knife inside the kitchen and immediately went inside the cabin to get it. He picked up a few handy tools on the way that would help him start the van.

Fearless did not know how long it took him to start that van, but eventually, he did. He drove straight to the Golden Era Arena without slowing down. The match has not started yet. He still had an hour.

When he parked the minivan outside of the Arena and started running into the team’s room with nothing but a diaper, the securities stopped him, more like apprehending him right on the spot. He explained his situation to those guys but they did not listen.

Thankfully, some of the fans who came to watch the match recognized him and came to his rescue instead of just standing and filmed the scene like the rest of the people at the scene. Soon, he was escorted to his team room. The entire team went crazy the moment he entered the room.

There was still half an hour left before the match began. FY silenced the entire team from asking Fearless anything. His pathetic look has already said everything. Only then, Fearless revealed his dislocated thumb. “Anyone here knows how to put this thing back to its original position?” The joint has gone red and purple and swollen to the size of a golf ball.

“Fuck,” the entire team cursed when Fearless showed them his dislocated finger. Fantasy put his hand on his mouth, ran out of the room and threw up. The team manager immediately ran out of the room and soon returned with a medical staff.

That man talked to Fearless while holding his right hand. Fearless hated himself for realizing that the medical staff was trying to distract him with the small talk and then reset that bone in an instance to save him from the pain. Because he was anticipated for it, it hurt so much more.

The man soon taped Fearless’ hand and suggested that Fearless should forfeit the match. “There is no way you could play a game with a hand like that.”

Of course, Fearless knew. It hurt so freaking bad even when that man has applied ice on it. Fearless could tell that the throbbing pain from his swollen thumb really bothered him.

“I have come this far. There is no way I’m forfeiting this match.” Fearless ended the discussion.

It’s just a game. It’s just a match. Even if this match means nothing to other people, this match means something to Fearless. It means something to his team. It means something to the fans.

There was a man with the name Derek Redmond. In the 1992 Olympic Games, he tore his hamstring in the middle of the race. Despite all the pain and suffering, he still completed the race, limping to the finish line with the help of his father. Just like that race meant that much to Derek, this match meant that much to Fearless. He would not walk away today and forfeit the match.

“Consider this as a handicap I give to AG. How else they are going to win if I don’t give them a chance? It would not be fair, don’t you think?” Fearless put on a cocky smile. If FY was the head of The Alliance, Fearless was the heart. He could not afford to be down in this moment. So he can only put on that arrogant smile.

“You heard him,” FY chuckled, giving Fearless a pat on his shoulder. Of course, he knew that Fearless was putting up a bravado, so he played along. “Remember not to blame that finger if you lost the Final MVP to me.”

“I’m the best ROC player in the world. Two hands or one hand, I can still get that Final MVP trophy,” Fearless fired back and kept the bantering going on and on. FY would fire shots at him and Fearless would fire his own shots right back. The entire team laughed from their bantering. It’s good, Fearless thought. He did not want to weight the team down.

The medical staff saw that he had no way to convince Fearless to quit. He suggested giving Fearless a dose of aspirin and Fearless earnestly agreed.

Soon, it was time. Fearless put on his uniform while telling FY to relinquish the flag of The Alliance to him. FY did and passed the flag to Fearless. Fearless hold the flag and walked with his team toward the stadium, waiting for the broadcaster to give him the cue to enter the arena.

AG entered the arena first. The crowd went wild, cheering for the defending champion.

Once AG settled inside their game booth, the broadcasters gave Fearless and The Alliance the cue to enter. Fearless started to walk, bearing the black and gold flag of The Alliance. The team’s maxim “Greatness does not discriminate” on the flag started flying when an updraft blew his way.

Unlike most team, The Alliance played no music when they entered the arena. Some teams would play their national anthem to show how proud they were to represent their own country. Some played their own theme song as they entered the arena. However, The Alliance had no such theme song. They had none because there was no need for something like that.

When the black and gold flag in the hands of Fearless flew, the entire arena erupted. The fans stood up from their seats and chanted “TA, TA, TA.” Even the fans of AG stood up from their seats to clap their hands. For The Alliance, every court is home court. There is no away game for them whether it was in the State or Europe or Asia or Oceania. The chanting of the crowd is their only music. That was their special privilege.

As soon as the entire team entered their assigned room, Fearless planted the flag on a holder and decided to pay a short visit to AG’s room. He waved his hand and made signal to FY and the rest of the team that’s it would be very short.

As Fearless walked across the stage toward AG’s game booth, one of female fans on the special seat screamed, “I love you Fearless. Will you marry me?”

The entire arena broke into laughter. The broadcasters were hysteric. Fearless pointed his finger at that one naughty lady and showed his appreciation then knocked the door of AG’s game booth.

AG- Ancient Gods has been their rival for the last two years. They were a team composed of four superstar players T-R3X, 9tails, Gandwalf, and Sixy who were way past their prime and came out of their retirement in the hope of getting another golden crown. Each of those four was a legend in their own right.

There was also Superior, Fearless’ friend and rival. People always loved to discuss whether it was Fearless, FY or Superior the best ROC player of their generation. Also, he always competed with Fearless and Antiope on the leaderboard for who has the best APM in the game.

“What’s up guys? I come to say HELLO,” Fearless said and shook hand with the rest of AG’s team members.

“Where were you in the last few days? Your team was looking for you,” Superior asked, showing genuine concern on his face.

“Shooting a thriller movie inside a cabin in the middle of nowhere,” replied Fearless.

“Very funny,” commented Superior in monotone when he noticed the red marks on Fearless’ wrists as well as his swollen thumb. “Are you sure that you can play this game looking like that?”

“Don’t worry. I can beat your ass anytime I want. This? This is nothing. Consider this as a handicap,” Fearless laughed.

“Ah, you dick,” the entire roster of AG cursed, a small chuckle on their face.

“Let’s have good game,” Fearless bumped knuckled with Superior.

“You too,” Superior said.

“Before I forget, the Crimson Witch is my first pick today. Once I chose her, I will immediately go for your camp” said Fearless as he left the room, playing his little mind game on the entire roster of AG.

“Cocky bastard. Make sure you don’t cry at the end of the day like last year.”

Fearless heard Superior’s curse. Of course, Superior knew it was a mind game. However, the moment he thought about it, he has already lost. Superior understood that, that’s why he cursed.

As he returned to his seat, Fearless scowled when he saw a familiar looking woman sitting on the front row. He did not realize she was there until now. That woman was not supposed to be there, on that seat especially. He blinked his eyes. She was still there. Don’t people around her find her strange? He frowned but had no other choice than to return to his seat.

Soon, the game started.

The Alliance had the first pick that day. Fearless used the first pick to select the witch faction just like how he told AG. It was against the norm. People only select the witch faction with the fourth or the last pick. The witch faction was extremely similar to the bandit or pirate factions. They had no territory and were considered enemies by all the factions around them, making it extremely difficult to play at the beginning.

The advantages of the witch faction over other factions mainly stems from their high mobility and high firepower that allowed them to abuse the hit-and-run tactic to the extreme. The unique ability to fly allows the witches to travel over the most treacherous terrains like forest, mountains, or sea without being hindered. Their ability to fly also gives them the invulnerability over the ground melee units which is also a plus to have at the beginning of the game. Last but not least, since all witches were basically the descendants of the hero king Craxus, they inherited his gene. Their great affinity with fire is the result of atavism of the dragon blood Craxus received from killing the dragon Karijard.

However, the witch faction has a number of disadvantages which mainly stems from the lack of territory and their inability to defend a territory after acquiring one. As long as they do not possess a territory, they would not have an economy to sustain themselves or develop their technology, and thus, have to constantly raid the territories of the factions around them or leeched the supply of their allies to sustain themselves. Another disadvantage of the witches is that they are fragile, being the glass cannon of ROC. They can hit very hard but cannot receive hit.

However, the biggest disadvantage of the witch faction is that they are being treated as a hostile target by one of the strongest faction in ROC by default at the very beginning of the game, the Kingdom of White Winter.

Because of all the disadvantages the witch faction has, it’s better to select them as the fourth and the fifth pick to save a player from being counter-pick at the beginning.

However, Fearless made that decision to select the Crimson Witch and her faction with the first pick. It’s his secret winning strategy with The Alliance. They had never used this strategy in an actual match once. Today is the first day that they reveal this strategy to the world.

Fearless could hear FY gulping his saliva the moment Ancient God counter-picking that witch faction pick. Fantasy and Merleon soon picked their faction, still tricking AG into believing that Fearless was the main focus of The Alliance’s offense in this game.

It went accordingly to their game plan. One by one, the domino tiles fell according to FY’s game plan. AG committed three of their earliest picks to counterpick Fearless. They showed Fearless the respect he deserved since Fearless’ winning percentage when he controlled the witch faction is 79.7%.

They hoped to give Fearless the earliest game over by surrounding him. However, they did not anticipate the last two picks that FY and Misery made. That was game changing. Superior made the last pick to counter FY and Misery’s pick, trying to salvage the situation. But even he knew, his team had a terrible draft.

All of the warlords they picked resided on the Northern continent, it would be a short game, Fearless made his prediction. FY agreed, adding that unless both sides royally screwed up the game, the match would not last longer than 45 minutes.

The drafting phase was over and the game began in every sense.

Fearless made his attack like he has announced in the pre-game. He commanded his army to fly over the kingdom of White Winter to raid and burned all the objectives that he could while evading the Judgment Army of Sixy that was hot on his heels. He did not give a damn about army building and whatnot. AG was right behind him, cornering him with the combined of their army. However, FY and the rest of The Alliance pressed the attack, invading the territory of AG with their armies. The two of them made AG could not focus their attack on Fearless alone.

Fearless’ situation became a cat and mouse game. He could not afford to slow down or run into a corner. He could feel that his swollen thumb still bothered him a lot. He used that finger to control five shortcut keys on his custom-made gaming mouse. At one point, it hurt so bad that he could only grunt to will himself through the pain and play. He was sweating profusely on his seat, not from the anxiety but from the throbbing pain on his thumb. It hurt every time he moved the mouse or used one of the five shortcut keys.

It was unfortunate for Fearless that day because Superior had a terrific game. He played out of his mind and managed to save his team over and over again from the very edge of defeat. He had an incredible highlight where he saved one of his team mates from a game over at the forty minute mark.

FY’s game plan went relatively well but it was not enough to secure them a win. Fearless underperformed while Superior was simply having an unbelievable game. In the end, FY gave order to the entire team to regroup to rebuild their army for the next confrontation. Their offensive game did not work as planned.

AG was not on a better position. Other than Superior, the other four players had to regroup to rebuild their army and their territory from the scratch.

This game has lasted longer than FY anticipated. He has expected that it has ended within thirty minutes. Both sides started trading blows several times after that but there was no decisive victor in all of those confrontations. After the clock hit the one hour and twenty minute mark, FY stopped the game. He noticed that Fearless was suffering from his pain.

Had it been a year ago, there would be no way that FY could stop the game for a five minute time out like this. The punishing six hours historic final game that The Alliance had with Ancient Gods in the previous year has forced the league to implement this new rule into their rule book.

While FY was having a quick discussion with the team regarding the strategy they would use next, Fearless ran back into TA’s room with his manager waiting inside.

The moment he went out of the game booth, he heard the broadcasters discussing about how terrible his performance was. The fans were cheering for him, but their voices sound deflated and desperate. Fearless responded to their cheers by making a fist and raised it up high before disappeared into the tunnel that lead back to his team room.

“I need another dose of aspirin right now. It’s really hurt,” Fearless said, pinching his sore thumb with his left hand, hoping that he could ease the pain by doing so. His thumb has swollen to the size of a tennis ball inside the tape. He was extremely grateful that his manager has an ice bucket inside the room and immediately shoved his hand into it. The frosty water seeped into his skin and numbed the pain for just a tiny bit.

That medical staff gave Fearless another dose of aspirin, though he said that it would take another fifteen to twenty minutes until Fearless could feel the effect.

Fearless did not dare to complain. He just gritted his teeth and nodded. He brought this upon himself and he had to deal with it.

Then, his manager produced a piece of cigarette from his pocket, “Try this. It will help.”

“I don’t smoke. And what good does cigarette do?” Fearless rolled his eyes, questioning the manager’s sanity. He was the one who is dying from the pain, not the manager.

“It’s not cigarette.” His manager replied in a low and quiet tone.

“…” Fearless carefully observed the roll in his manager’s hand again, “Don’t tell me that it’s what I think it is.”

His manager said nothing and only nodded his head once.

“Why would you have this with you?” Fearless freaked out and asked while clutching his head in disbelief.

“Back pain,” his manager answered curtly and turned his head to the side. He did not look at Fearless when he gave his answer.

Fearless did not need his cold reading skills to know that the man was lying. Anyone looking at him would know that he was lying. Fearless felt the urge to execute the face-meet-palm sequence, no he had already done it before he felt that urge. Questions like how on earth did his manager managed to get through the airport security or how he did not get caught eluded Fearless.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

“Is it even legal for me to use it? It’s still considered illegal in my country.” Fearless turned his head at the medical staff and asked.

“Our country has legalized it for medication purpose in 2026,” the man gingerly nodded his head.

Fearless clutched his head once more and contemplated shortly. He was more stressed now, more so than when he was picking the lock on Kate’s minivan. Though, his time was running out. He had to make a decision.

“What’s your name mister?” Fearless asked the medical staff.

“John, sir,” he replied.

Fearless put his hand on John’s shoulder. “I’m no sir. So you can call me Fearless. John, please keep everything you see today in this room a secret. The last thing I wanted and the league wanted is linking the image of our team with me smoking weed on the final. Can you do that for me?”

John gave a small nod.

“Thank you, John. May god bless you,” Fearless immediately put the roll into his mouth and his manger lit it.

Fuck, it is really weed, Fearless thought. It was the one thing he stayed away during all of his time partying, fearing that he might be punished by the league or receiving a suspension as the result. The league had no problem with him partying and dating multiple women at the same time or being an alcoholic but it took itself very seriously when it came to weed, PED and whatnot.

Fuck this, Fearless took a big whiff and cursed himself for allowing all of this crap to happen to himself and his team. He choked on his first try. The last time he got tricked to try this thing was maybe five years ago.

After the sixth or perhaps seventh or maybe tenth or something whiff, Fearless passed the roll to John who just stood and watched him with a blank face. Of course, the man shook his head. He should.

Fearless passed the roll to his manager and went back to the arena. He tripped but his manager caught him.

“Now I think about it. This might not be a good decision after all,” the manager said.

“Fuck yeah. Now you tell me.” Fearless replied, choking a bit. His voice was strangely high-pitched.

“Please take care of it for me,” the manager put the roll into John’s hand, “I’m taking him back to the arena.”

John stared at them with a blank confused face, alternating his gaze between Fearless and the roll in own his hand.

After that, Fearless only had a vague collection of what happened. FY and the rest of the team were talking something regarding the plan. Though, Fearless could only hear words like “Attack” and “Defend.” He could not remember anything else. He should feel extremely worried and yet he wasn’t. What was the game plan anyway? Who care… it did not matter to him at that point.

The game resumed and Fearless swore that he could hear all sorts of profanities flying around inside the room. Somehow, those profanities attached with his name. Strange, why would they?

Then, Fearless noticed that the strangely familiar woman who should not be on that first row seat has stood up and walked up the stage.

“Do you see what I’m seeing now?” Fearless asked. Why would the security allow her to board the stage like that? Why would she stand and watch him like that? From such distance? She was standing in front of him, separating by the glass wall of the game booth.

“What the fuck are you talking about? Focus on the damn game Fearless.”

“Are you really not seeing this?” Fearless pointed his finger at the woman.

“Focus on the fucking game!”

“Yes, right, the game,” Fearless blinked, slapped himself and ignored that woman. However, she disappeared suddenly.

“Guys, my sister disappeared,” Fearless exclaimed. But then, he immediately thought that something went wrong. That woman was not his sister. There would be no way that he would mistake any woman for his sister. Why would he ever mistake her for his sister?

“What the fuck is going on with you? Focus on the game!” Merleon’s booming voice rang in Fearless’ ear canals.

Fearless then heard a clanking sound from the seat on his left. That was FY’s seat. Suddenly, a pair of hands forcefully grabbed his face and bent his neck to his left. It was FY.

FY pressed his face so damn near to Fearless’ that their forehead touched. It was like he was trying to kiss Fearless.

“Bro, I don’t know what is going on with you now. But, you are not allowed to give up now. You did not give up inside that room and take that pain like a real man. You should not allow yourself to give up now,” FY whispered in Mandarin. Why would he say that in Mandarin instead of English? The only two that spoke Mandarin within their group was him and Fearless. Perhaps, he did not want the rest of the team to hear. Perhaps, he was after something else. “Do you think you can do this for me, brother?”

The word 弟-(dì) brother that escaped FY’s mouth somehow bore a mysterious charm to it.

Fearless did not know what FY was after but he naturally nodded his head. FY was back to his seat and played the game again.

Fearless just rolled along. He had no idea what he was supposed to do in that game but he tried and tried he did. He barely felt the pain in his thumb anymore. It was but a minor nuisance, a pebble on the road.

He still heard curses and profanities flew around the room like a plague of flies. Of course, they attached to his name most of the time. That’s how he knew he did something wrong. He thought that the league would make bucket this time with all the fine money they got from his team.

Fearless kept playing the damn game, however, he felt that he has become an irrelevant factor as the game progress. His army flew around and around, mostly doing nothing. When they were out of supply, they leeched off Merleon’s camp. He was on a weed trip and so were his ladies. He was high as fuck, so did they.

At one point, he really questioned what’s going on with the game. Somehow, some way, he managed to recruit the iron dragoons into his army. AG messed up big time. They allowed him to have both the queen and king of the sky at the same time. Why would they allow him to recruit the dragoons?

“What the fuck are you doing Fearless? Help!”

Fearless heard Fantasy’s voice ringing.

“What?”

“Help me. They are sacking my base. Stop them.”

“Got it,” Fearless replied, sent his army flying across the map to help his friend. Only then Fearless realized that his army was a continent away from the battlefield. No wonder, thing got extra strange with this battle

“What the fuck are you doing?”

“Helping you,” Fearless yelled, raining down fire on the small army defending T-R3x’s camp.

“No, you are not. That’s not my base.”

“I know.”

“We don’t need a base race in this situation. Just help defending my base”

“Got it,” Fearless smiled and kept doing what he was doing. The best defense is a good offense.

As the result, Fantasy got a game over.

“Fuck you, bro,” Fantasy cursed, raging on his keyboard. He slammed his fist in the keyboard and sent all the keys flying.

“Don’t worry. I will avenge you,” Fearless replied.

“Fuck you bro.” Fantasy clutched his head and raged until Merleon gave him a pimp slap to snap him out of it.

T-R3x tried to bring out his warlord from his crumbling camp in an effort to delay the inevitable. That action alone brought him an extra 20 seconds against the dragoons in Fearless’ army. T-R3x went down within a single swoop of the dragoons. His army never made it back to the camp.

That pattern repeated when 9tails and Gandwalf ganged up on Merleon.

Fearless exploded a furious bombardment on Gandwalf’s camp, ignoring Merleon’s call for help. 9tails responded by pulling back his army to defend Gandwalf’s camp. However, Fearless has anticipated that… more like, the weed he smoked has anticipated that. Fearless stopped raiding 9tails’s camp and switched his target.

9tails’ human army could not catch up with the mobility of Fearless’ air force and could only smell the dust. Fearless raided Gandwalf’s empty camp and forced Gandwalf to return. The moment Gandwalf’s army has managed to return to his base to defend his warlord, the witches and dragoons in Fearless’ army had already disappeared and on the way to sack 9tails’ camp once again.

Gandwalf realized what Fearless was up to, hurrying his army to return to defend his camp. However, no iron hoof of Northern horsemen could race against the wings of wyverns and the brooms of witches. Gandwalf received a game over.

However, Superior managed to even the score after that, wiping Merleon’s dwindled army off the map with a storm of arrows from his Mistborn Elves.

“Noooo,” Merleon clutched his head and screamed. It was as if someone has just asked Merleon to do an impression of Darth Vader when he learned about his dead wife and children. He was a bit too loud for the liking though. Fantasy immediately returned the previous pimp slap to cut Merleon short. Only Fantasy had the gut to slap a two meters giant like Merleon just like that. After that, the two of them held hand and walked to the bench behind the gaming table and sat down like the good children they were.

At that point, FY told Fearless to stay out of the battle, a strange choice, but logical. He had enough of Fearless spinning the game out of the control. Fearless was literally taking the word “Chaos” out of the “Reign of Chaos” and smeared that “Chaos” on whatever he touched.

The Prince must listen to the King, pecking order, and Fearless did as he was told. He moved his army around the map, raiding easy targets to resupply his army. He picked off any easy objective AG presented to him while setting granaries and fields under AG control on fire to punish their economy. That was the only time he felt he did something right during the entire game.

The remained roster of AG had their hand full with the coordinate attack of Misery and FY. They could only watch as Fearless burned their extra camps and looted their granaries while dealing with Misery and FY.

Other than the Mistborn elven king that Superior picked, the entire AG chose the kind of warlords that were most suited for map control and army building. Their warlords and armies were meant to be sat comfortably inside their fortified fortress and reaping the harvest and benefit from their territory.

It was that moment when AG realized that they had to counter mobility with mobility and unity. They consolidated their armies into one and invaded the Starfell Island, FY’s main camp.

Fearless did not even have a camp and Misery had a mobile camp, a perk of choosing a bandit faction. Therefore, FY was the only logical target.

They took the risk and brought out their warlords to battle, preventing both Fearless and Misery from abusing his hit-and-run tactic on their camp.

If Fearless and Misery wanted to give them a game over, the two of them must engage with AG in a battle.

AG crossed the North Sea and then squared off against FY and Misery on an open field of Starfell Island, knowing that the composition of their army gave them a small advantage.

Misery’s army composed of over nine thousands of bandits under the command of the bandit lord Bloodbeard.

The bandit lord Bloodbeard of the North, the undying puppeteer of Sunken Isle and the pirate queen Maria of the South are Misery’s favorite warlords.

He is known for playing with these warlords just as much as Fearless is known for playing with his witches.

The advantage of choosing a bandit faction is not as obvious as the witch faction. However, there are some similarities between the two. Bandits are especially good for raiding and looting operations. They are opportunistic fighters. They are not good in direct confrontational situations and thus, have to pick their battle wisely.

However, they multiply quickly and are extremely easy to sustain. The way the bandit factions build their force is revolving around successful raid and battle. They turned the deserters and captives into one of their own. With every single successful raid, their armies would grow.

Thus, they are more or less treated as the cannon fodders and sacrificial pawns of the battlefield for most of the time.

Against the Mistborn elves of Superior, Misery had no chance in direct confrontation. He had to leave it to FY to be the vanguard.

The warlord that FY picked that day was Admundor the Third, the hero dwarven king of Starfell Island. His army is pretty much a Swish army knife, a jack of all trades.

Unlike the witch faction and the bandit faction that have only one or very limited type of units within their army, the dwarven army under FY control can be built with a variety of units to deal with a variety of situations. Also, the strength of any dwarven army is directly linked to the amount of investment that players spend on Engineering development.

FY has carefully composed his army with arbalesters, heavy infantry and heavy cavalry to deal with every line up that AG used. His arbalesters were meant to deal with the Mistborn elves that Superior employed. His heavy cavalry were meant for the Judgment Army of White Winter that Sixy used and his heavy infantry were meant to give cushion to Misery’s army.

“Stay,” FY told Fearless, “Wait for your chance,” he said while initiating the engagement.

AG was extremely cautious while dealing with Misery and FY. They knew that there was still Fearless who was waiting on the sideline, watching and expecting them to make mistakes. Thus, the two armies of AG and TA kept moving around in a circle while exchanging insignificant blows with each other. It was a stalemate.

“FY,” said Fearless. His army kept circling around and around likes a dog chasing after its own tail without getting to do anything. Fearless felt sick of that. Why wouldn’t he?

“No,” replied FY. He knew what Fearless was going to ask and gave a quick reply.

“FY”

“No!”

“FY”

“I said no. Stay where you are and wait.” Of course FY has detected something went wrong with the way Fearless played his game. The two of them were the best combo in the world of ROC. Of course FY would know. Otherwise he would never tell Fearless to stay put like that.

“FY,” Fearless called friend again, this time for another reason. That familiar looking woman was standing next to him since God know when, curiously staring at his PC screen.

“No, I said no,” FY replied adamantly.

Fearless tried to shoo that woman away. He wasn’t sure if he even knew her. However, he did not know that giant chest of her. Fearless tried to use his hands to cup her chest and double-checked whether or not he did not know that giant pair of jugs. His hands passed through her body. It was as if she was a ghost.

“FY, help!”

“You are fine. Just stay right there.”

“Fuck,” Fearless cursed, doing his best to ignore that woman. It was that moment that a man called Weed was born inside of Fearless.

Weed told Fearless that he could win the game by himself. The meek and trusting Fearless put all of his trust in Weed. In Weed he trusted. He launched a solo attack on that 15,000 man army of AG.

Fearless circled and targeted Superior’ Mistborn troops. He fired flaming spells and projectiles over the Mistborn elves under Superior’s control. Of course, Fearless heard FY’s desperate screaming “No, no, no, no, no…” but it’s already too late.

None of the projectiles and spells Fearless launched reached Superior’s army. Sixy’s Judgment Army erected “Sanctuary”, a defensive AOE spell to protect the Mistborn elves.

“Sanctuary” is a military grade spell. It is on a different level when comparing to the personal grade spells that can be casted individually by magic casters. A military grade spell can only be achieved by satisfying four major requirements.

First, have at least five hundred advance magic casters.

Second, have an advance mana storing artifact.

Third, have enough mana to cast the spell.

Fourth, unlock the “Military Grade” perk on Magic research.

It’s similar to the dwarf factions who receive an advantage in Engineering research at the beginning of the game which give them the ability to equip themselves with better weapons, armors and war engines than other factions. The Judgment Army of White Winter receives a huge bonus in Magic research and a small bonus on Alchemy research. As the result, the Judgment Army is feared for their affinity with magic.

The “Sanctuary” casted by Sixy formed an invisible dome shaped barrier above the Mistborn elves, protecting them from all sort of projectiles and spells launched by Fearless while allowing Superior to strike back with his own projectiles.

One volley of arrows pelted on Fearless’ army and his witches dropped like rain. The witches are glass cannons. They can hit hard but they cannot take a hit.

Fearless responded by steering his army away. He split the dragoons and the witches into three smaller units. He used one of the dragoon units to launch a kamikaze attack on Superior’s army.

Unlike the witches, the dragoon is meant for direct combat. They are the cavalry of the sky and are known for three things: Anti-air, Charge of the Dragoons, and suicide bombing.

While the Judgment Army is the bane of the witch faction in the initial phase of the game, the dragoons are created to counter the witches in the ending phase of the game with their anti-air attribute. Those wyvern riders are the only units in the game that can match the witches in term of mobility throughout the game. They can hit hard and take a punch unlike the witches.

If person had to give an analogy for people to easily understand the different between the dragoon and the witches, they would say that the dragoons are fighter aircrafts whereas the witches are bombers in the world of ROC.

The dragoons’ specialty is the skill “Charge of the Dragoons” which they would charge through the sky to deal with the witches or swoop down to the ground at high-speed to deal with ground units. If a dragoon unit was killed during the “Charge of the Dragoons,” it will explode just like a bomb, dealing Area of Effect (AOE) damage to the surrounding area.

Only Superior’s lightning reflex and better judgment saved himself from an instant game over. “Sanctuary” did nothing to stop the “Charge of the Dragoons,” Superior knew that. He did not bother firing a single volley and focus on moving his warlord out of the way.

The only similarity sharing between the Mistborn elves and the witches is that they are both glass cannons. They can hit but cannot take a hit. The Mistborn elves that were caught in the “Dragoon charge” were erased like a dirty spot on a paper against the eraser that was the dragoons.

Sixy did not let that kamikaze dragoon unit walked away unpunished. He conjured another military grade spell “White Snakes,” discharging a devastating thunder strike that lit up those wyvern riders just like Christmas neon lights.

Sixy must have grown old, Weed chuckled insanely and Fearless affirmed. That forty year old old-man had cracked under pressure.

A two hour game took a toll on his mental strength and physics. He did not anticipate the second “Charge of the Dragoons” by the remaining dragoon unit under Fearless’ control. It happened too fast. Even Superior who could see that attack coming could do nothing to save his team mate from that “Charge of the Dragoons.” His volleys did little to stop that attack.

The Judgment army is tough in nature. They can hit and take hit, but only when they have their spells ready. Ambush and surprise attacks are their Kryptonite.

Sixy went down to that attack. The Supreme Priest that was his warlord was turned into Pâté paste on the white snowy ground.

Weed was high, so was Fearless. They smashed their hand on the gaming table, shouting and celebrating. Yet, only Fearless was hurt from his swollen thumb.

9tails and Superior avenged Sixy with their bolts and arrows, wiping off 90% of that dragoon unit. Only the general and one hundred wyvern riders made it back to Fearless. That’s too small of a unit to deal any significant damage. Their HP was blinking red, a single attack would wipe them out.

Superior sent his Mistborn troops after Fearless’ army. A single volley would wipe out both the witches and the dragoons.

Fearless ran, Weed told him to, of course he listened. Those unicorn riding elves could never catch up with the brooms and the wings. But FY and Misery were there with their rushing cavalries just to make sure. They had no idea what Fearless would do in this game.

Misery’s cavalry was faster than FY’s. Fearless had no way of telling if Misery was eager to help him by applying pressure on Superior or simply eager to end the match out of impatience.

The bandit riders under Misery’s control had the minimum amount of armor to save themselves from Superior’s attack. Those Mistborn elves made a U-turn, galloping their unicorns backward while firing as they retreated.

One volley of elven arrows wiped out nearly half of Misery’s cavalry. That was nearly 1000 bandits died in a single attack. Misery regretted his decision and stopped chasing. Superior immediately turned back, releasing another rain of arrows on the bandit riders, erasing the last of the cavalry force that Misery has painstakingly raised.

It was then that FY knew he should order his dwarven cavalry to return. He did so while ordering his arbalesters to move forward. His dwarven cavalry were heavily armored and can take a lot of punishment from Superior. However, the difference in mobility between the Mistborn elves and his dwarven riders would make it impossible for him to land a hit on Superior’s army. He did not want to waste his cavalry meaninglessly.

Superior picked up on that, giving chase after FY’s dwarven riders and harassing with volleys upon volleys of arrows on the dwarves. At that point, Misery had to step in to save FY’s cavalry. The arbalesters would never make it in time with the speed they moved. He sent 2/3 of his bandit archers.

2000 bandit archers stepped forth to protect that retreating dwarven army, obvious to the result of that action unlike their master Misery. Their puny rain of arrows did moderate damage to Superior’s Mistborn troops.

The Mistborn unicorn rider unit is a hybrid unit, behaving both as cavalry archer and light cavalry at the same time. When they shot their war bows, they would stand on their unicorn saddles and send those deadly arrows flying. But when they switched into their light cavalry mode, they ride their unicorns just like normal horsemen would.

A single cavalry charge smashed through those 2000 bandit archers, leaving not a single soul alive.

Fearless could hear Misery cursed on him in Russian, letting all sort of profanities flew without restrain.

“Stay right there and wait.” FY told Fearless. He was not the type to yell at his teammate in an anger fit nor was he the type to curse and swear. The only time he got caught swearing in a game was during that “Walkaway” incident.

FY lost nearly half of his heavy cavalry by the time Superior quitted chasing due to the presence of the dwarven arbalesters.

After that, Fearless just stay in his seat, doing absolutely nothing other than sinking his sight into the deep valley of that familiar looking woman.

That strangely familiar looking woman was cosplaying as one of the Valkyria, daughters of Niwdar. That pink hair and red eyes fitted her image perfectly. The pair of white wings sprouting out from her back looked extremely real and authentic. They did not look like prosthetics at all. Fearless tried to touch her wings but his hands passed through her body. He then tried to gauge her butt size with his hands, same result, but Fearless was sure that he did not know her from the result.

He did not know that giant chest, or that beautiful backline or that rich buttock. In conclusion, he did not know her. Yet, she looked familiar to him.

That cosplayer gave him a look full of scorn and annoyance when she discovered that he was trying to touch her body. Why would she be so annoyed? It’s not like he could touch her. It should be him who was being annoyed.

However she was more interested in the game than Fearless’ useless attempt to touch her and just focused on the game instead. That scornful look on her face woke up the masochistic side of Fearless and made him ecstatic. He just sat in his seat and admired her beauty.

Fearless was sure if he knew this cosplayer, he would devote every second in his life to annoy her just so that she would show him that annoyed and scornful look. She reminded Fearless a lot of his sister and Iliva.

“Who is Iliva?” Weed silently asked.

“Who is Iliva?” Fearless silently replied.

Iliva, that’s a familiar sounding name. Who is Iliva?

“Блядь, нет, нет, нет,”

It was Misery’s scream “Fuck, no, no, no,” that snapped Fearless out of it. He checked the situation through the screen.

Misery was being routed by 9tails, being swallowed by 9tails’ army. His bandit ravagers fell to the spears and swords of the knights in shiny armor. His warlord Bloodbeard put up quite a struggle, but soon followed his army.

“Cука блять,” Misery hollered, standing up on his seat and plucking his own hair.

“Calm down,” FY told Misery, sending Misery to the bench with a pat on the shoulder.

FY too was in a rather unfavorable spot. He has retreated into his final fortress to defend himself against both 9tails’ and Superior’s relentless attacks. With the Judgment army of Sixy out of the game, he can comfortably sit inside his fortress for a while without having to fear about a siege.

However, 9tails spilt his force into two. One formed a blockage around FY’s fortress while the other was building a base within FY’s territory. Superior, too split his army into two; one to assist 9tails with the blockage while the other roaming around FY’s territory to raid and secure supply to feed his army. They were slowly squeezing the life out of FY’s army.

“FY, how many man do you have with you right now?” Fearless asked.

“5000,” FY replied.

“Convert all of them into heavy cavalry for me.”

“What are you planning?”

“Attack,” replied Fearless. He has exhausted all the options he had. He had a short Q&A session with his other persona Weed while watching Misery received his game over.

Fearless only had one base but it was in another continent. That base belonged to the leader of the dragoons that Fearless has wedded his warlord to. He could not afford to rebuild his army and play the long game any further. One of the biggest disadvantages sharing between the witches and the dragoons was the dreadfully slow replenishing rate of their army. It’s very hard to rebuild a dragoon or a witch army once they received a significant lost. Even if he succeeded to rebuild his army, FY would be out of the game before he could send reinforcement.

“No, that’s not what I meant. Do you have a plan?” FY clicked his tongue and asked.

“I do. Attack,” Fearless did not hesitate. He replied with confidence.

FY brought his palms up to press against his face. “Don’t you have a better plan?”

“I do.”

“Don’t you dare answering me with the word ‘Attack’ again,” FY suddenly switched to Mandarin and threatened.

“Let’s attack.”

FY sighed, pressing his fingers against his two temples. He quickly had a mental calculating on all the options he had, “Let’s do it,” he said resignedly. He was always the commander, the strategist of the team, the one who set the tone and pace for battles and the corner stone of the team. However, when shit hit the fan, when none of the planning and strategy seemed to work, it was always Fearless’ turn to be the commander of The Alliance.

FY knew that when the stage went dark and all the lights were off, Fearless would shine. He used one of his warlord’s special trademark ability and converted all of his units into heavy cavalry, “What are we doing with this fortress? I can’t just leave it to them to take.”

“I would love to see that happen,” Fearless chuckled and Weed silently agreed with him.

“What’s going on with this match?” FY lamented, rolling his eyes. Misery, Merleon and Fantasy nodded their head and approved that lamentation.

Winter, Year 1359 of Escana Solar Calendar, it snowed heavily on Starfell Island.

The door of Starfell castle opened and 5000 dwarves followed the banner of Admundor the Third to battle. The dwarves quickly split into three units, forming a Bison formation and charged as Admundor blew the horn.

Neither 9tails nor Superior has anticipated that attack. However, they had made preparations in the case that FY tried to pull out a desperate move like that.

The skull of the bison collided against 9tails’ long-spearmen, stopped short and incurred heavy damage. The left horn of the bison that was trying to flank 9tails’ army was checked by a heavy rain of arrows from Superior’s Mistborn troops. That left horn then switched its target, going after those stinking elves. However, those war chariots that Admundor the Third was so proud of could never catch up to the hooves of the Mistborn unicorns under the banner of the elven king himself. Those stinking elves fell back to their favorite hit-and-run tactic, allowing themselves to be chased by that broken left horn of the bison.

However, the right horn of the bison was intact. It pieced through 9tails’ army of knights from the flank, smashing through the five hundred heavy horsemen of 9tails with little resistance. That right horn of the bison turned footmen, bowmen and anything that is not long-spearmen into fertilizers to enrich the ancestral land of the dwarven king.

Only then, Fearless reminded AG that he was still inside the game even though he was practically invisible for almost an hour. His witches dropped those nasty flames on the long-spearmen of 9tails, turning them into ashes. Without the magic casters, bowmen or those Mistborn elves, there was nothing in the world could stop Fearless from baking those knights alive.

That left horn of the bison was unfortunately the sacrificial lamb for this battle. It kept chasing after those Mistborn elves while being turned into pincushion in the process. The last dwarf of that unit was its general and one of Admundor’s children. The dwarven general called for his father’s name for the last time before the rain of elven arrows sent him to the hall of mistress Death.

FY transformed the invisible fury that his warlord would feel from the loss of his son into a war cry. Misery, Fantasy and Merleon who have been relegated to the bench joined FY with their own war cry.

FY sent the remained of his force rushing toward that fortress 9tails was erecting with the remaining 2500 dwarves.

9tails desperately hurried his force to fortify the unfinished fortress, however, the speed of those amateur mason’s hammers was no match for the fury of the dwarven king and his chariots. 9tails could see the obvious. He split his force into two.

He ordered 500 knights to complete the fortress while taking his king and warlord with his remained 4000 army on a running for dear lives, hoping for a regroup with Superior’s Mistborn.

Of course, those 500 knights were a diversion, a delay tactic, and a sacrificial pawn to 9tails’ end game.

Funnily enough, 9tails did not remember that Fearless has never received a game over despite the earlier reminder. Since 9tails has grown old and forgetful, Fearless told him to retire with one single aerial bombardment from his beloved witches. Footmen and spearmen can do nothing against the witches. Thus, they went down with that unfinished fortress in a giant flame.

The dwarven army under Admundor’s banner never slowed down to deal with that diversion. They waded through the snow, chasing after 9tails’ retreating army.

It was then that Superior saw an empty dwarven fortress that FY left behind and so he used his elven king to capture it secretly under the falling snow while galloping the other half of his army to regroup with 9tails retreating army.

Superior was a genius. That was a genius move. The fans of AG cheering him for that genius move and even the broadcasters were praising him for making that move, though he could not hear them while playing inside that soundproof game booth.

The elven warlord of Murkwood decided to enter the empty fortress uncontested. His elves flooded the unmanned fortress, making way for their king. Then, the elven king regally trotted his unicorn, entering the Starfell fortress like a Conqueror with grace and dignity.

Superior did not see that group of one hundred and one dragoons who had sworn their allegiance to Fearless camping on the sky and waiting for that exact moment to happen. How could he? It’s snowing heavily and that negated the keen eyesight of his elves. Beside, why would he care about a mere 101 wyvern riders. He could just give them a single volley of elven arrows and they would be all dead. In fact, their presence was so insignificant that nobody even remotely remembered that they were not completely wiped out.

Nobody could blame Superior for what was about to happen to him. His elven king got stuck in a fortress-entering- animation, could neither move forward nor backward.

The sky was darkened to the shadow of the wyverns’ wings. A single pinpointed “Charge of the Dragoons” directed at the elven king. His elven mounted archers noticed the wyvern riders far too late. They set loose of their arrows far too late to save him.

The masked dragoon general turned himself into a red flower of death and destruction, bringing the elven king with him to the hall of Mistress Death.

The evil orchestrator of that vicious scene howled with laughter. The invisible Weed inside him laughed and the man himself laughed. Tears wetted his eyes from the sheer ridiculousness of that single play. What else can he do but to laugh? He was howling and laughing at the same time. It hurt. It really hurt. His stomach really hurt from all of that laughter.

His friends, they all missed that single instance when that blooper happened. They saw a humble line of notification ran right to left on FY’s PC screen. They did not join with him to laughter, they didn’t. In fact, they were sitting in their own seat in the dead of silence, trying to digest the meaning of that tiny line of notification for an entire length of 20 seconds.

He did not care. He laughed alone because it was just that hilarious. He laughed and laughed he did, watching that elven army scattered like a bunch of ants that unfortunately got caught in the heavy rain and disappeared into nothingness.

Nobody inside that game booth could figure out how he did that. Only when they understood what that evil orchestrator just did, they howled their war cries, smashing their fists against the wall like a bunch of maniacs. That cameraman who was filming them joined their yelling with his own hysterical war cry. Even FY could not stop himself from screaming and howling during that moment. The entire game booth shook violently.

Fearless was high as fuck. His entire team was high as fuck and even the cameraman filming his team was high as fuck. He was the one smoking weed and yet, the entire The Alliance was just as high as he was.

That Mistborn troops that were escorting 9tails’ retreating army went poof, completely wiped out from existence with a finger snap of an evil orchestrator.

9tails, poor old 9tails, he was an old fool for not give up and type the “GG” and put an end to that ridiculous game. Perhaps, he was secretly a masochist just like Fearless. Weed laughed and Fearless joined him.

9tails was hoping for the impossible, trying to retreat to the mainland in the hope of rebuilding his army once more. The moment his army reached the harbor, it was an inferno. There was only driftwoods and fire.

“I’m not trapped on this island with you. You are trapped here with me,” Weed used his precious time to type that meme to 9tails while Fearless was cheering for him from behind.

9tails was so angry that he actually typed some form of profanity to answer to Weed. However, the language policing codes inside the game decided that they needed to intervene.

“9tails-This player is muted for 5:00 for the use of profanity.” Thus the game decided to act as 9tails’ translator.

“Chết mất,” Fearless stopped holding the mouse and the keyboard, knocking himself over the gaming table and howled with laughter, “Chết mất,” he was hysteric. His swollen thumb hit against the gaming table but that give him no more pain than his wrecking stomach. He laughed, and laughed, and laughed, and tried to stop the laughter, but he could not do that. He tried to stop laughing to take a breath but he kept on laughing. He was literally dying from the laughter.

“9tails-This player is muted for 3:27 for the use of profanity.” That notification appeared on the screen as Fearless was trying to save himself from the laughter. He had no idea what 9tails was trying to say with that line.

“Stop laughing and play,” FY said. His voice started to crack up. Fearless’ laughter was infecting him and the entire team.

Fearless swiped his gaming mouse and sent his entire witches army to a suicide rush against 9tails’ army. They went down fast, not before dealing an insane amount of damage on that army and thus completed the “Four for Five” or also known as the “Heart of Champion” play.

“He was trying to type GG,” Fearless heard Misery’s cracking up voice. He managed to retranslate that second notification back to 9tails’ word.

That single line completely killed Fearless. There was nothing he could do to stop the laughter.

FY never galloped his cavalry to finish 9tails out of his sense of sportsmanship. Fearless was thankful that FY did not do that. Otherwise, two years would not be too short of a number of years that 9tails stopped talking to him.

FY waited for that mute to be lifted. 9tails swallowed his shame and typed GG and the most ridiculous final in the history of ROC ended just like that. On Fearless' screen, Mistress Death appeared, handing him the crown.

Fearless immediately stormed out of the game booth while Weed showing the fans his dance moves on that stage.

“The Alliance has done it. The golden crown has returned to its rightful king once more.” The broadcasters screamed and the fans went bananas.

Then, Fearless noticed that cosplayer floated next to him, watching the same scene that he was witnessing in awe.

“Who are you?” he asked.

The cosplayer blinked and all of a sudden everything around Fearless went poof.

The Golden Era arena just disappeared. The entire roster of AG went poof. Weed, Misery, Fantasy, Merleon, and FY went poof.

Only Fearless himself was spared from that fate. He stood staring at that woman. Fearless covered his face with his palm in suspense disbelief. Slowly, he removed that palm.

“Am I inside a divine dream?” he asked.

“I’m not surprise that you know,” the cosplayer replied, affirmed Fearless’ knowledge.

Finally, Fearless heard her beautiful voice. “Since when?” Fearless asked, finally came to himself. He’s dead from an unknown cause and now living in the world of Reign of Chaos. He woke up inside the Tomb of the Dark God. He met Iliva while travelling to Madukat. After that he traveled alone to Madukat. “When did you engineer the divine dream on me? When did this divine dream happen? How much of what I saw was real? How much of what I saw was not?”

“If you were a normal man, I would have killed you for such insolence, Outsider” the Valkyria said.

Yup, Fearless has confirmed that woman in front of him was no cosplayer. She was the real deal, a bona fide Valkyria, one of the twelve daughters of Niwdar. Either it was that or he has gone insane.

“Please Clariciel, please find the goodness in your heart and give me an answer. I’m losing my mind right now,” Fearless adopted a more submissive tone and asked. Out of the twelve daughters of Niwdar, only Clariciel has pink hair, that’s how Fearless knew the identity of the person he was talking to.

Clariciel gave Fearless a dangerous glare. Her long eye lashes curved upward and her red yes directed on him, “I have not given you the permission to address me by such name, Outsider.”

Fearless nearly lost himself in anger. He’s standing on the edge of insanity and sanity. He’s already an insane bastard but he would like to limit his insane self to a certain extent. He had no idea what’s real and what’s not anymore since the stuffs he saw a moment ago was a divine dream constructed by Clariciel base on his memory. She was the reason that he has lost his touch with the reality. And yet this woman, and yet this woman, and yet this woman… Fearless gritted his teeth.

The divine dream in the world of ROC is more than just a dream. It is not just a reconstruction of past memory. It is a lot more than that. It could be a test or a challenge that a deity gave to a mortal. It could be a prophetic warning that a deity give to a mortal. The divine dream is shaped like how the deities of Escana want it to be.

Did he really die? Did he meet Iliva for real? Fearless had no idea.

The person in front of him has the answer and she is a goddess in this world, a minor one, but still a goddess.

“Please forgive me for my etiquette. I’m foreign to the way of the people of this world receive a deity like you, my Lady,” Fearless bent his back and gave Clariciel a courteous bow.

“It’s not my Lady,” Clariciel warned.

Fearless quickly searched for the correct term within his astronomical library of ROC related knowledge.

“My apology, Goddess,” Fearless immediately adopted a correct term to address the Valkyria.

“That’s better, mortal. Now, what did you want to know Outsider?” The Valkyria nodded her head and asked with a more amiable tone.

Yes, Fearless thought. The normally useless trivial knowledge of the lore of ROC slowly surfaced from the depth of his mind. He was glad that he has spent time on building that stream channel with Misery to discuss about the lore of ROC in detail. Has Fearless not associated with Misery and his nerdy followers, this could have been a disastrous situation.

All the Valkyria were man-haters just like their mother, though the first born Valkyria Hilda and the fifth Valkyria Clariciel had more tolerance toward men. They did not have the same prejudice toward men like their sisters and mother. Fearless was lucky that the one he was talking to was Clariciel and not the other ten. Clariciel resembled her aunt Eogaill more than her mother and her sisters.

“Goddess, please tell me how much of what I have seen until now is a work of yours.”

“Ummm,” the Valkyria pondered, “When I contact you, you were already dreaming. So I just construct the divine dream upon that. But have no fear Outsider, your dream are yours. I only encourage and insert myself into it without changing anything.” She gave the reply as her expression brightened up.

Fearless pressed his temples as if he had a headache. Clariciel spoke true. A person who lied could only make a lying sound, hers was truthful. He consolidated his thought and memory like playing jigsaw puzzle. Slowly, all the pieces came together. That’s good, none of his memory was artificially induced.

“Goddess, how much of my memory have you seen?” a question popped within his mind and Fearless immediately voiced it.

The Valkyria put a finger on her cheek, thinking. “Pretty much everything until you discovered my presence.”

“Pervert, paparazzi, stalker.” Fearless inadvertently accursed the Valkyria for her misdeeds.

“What? No…” Clariciel flustered from the accusation. Then she became angry, “How dare you? I’m a goddess.”

“Is that all you have to say to defend yourself? Being a goddess or not, that does not give you the right to invade my privacy like that. In fact, that makes it worse because you are a goddess.” Fearless indignantly rebuked

“No, that’s the point of the divine dream. It’s to see if you are worthy or not. If I don’t know about who you are, how do I determine if you are worthy or not? And besides, my sisters and everyone in my family use this method.” Clariciel quickly defended herself.

“What a bunch of perverts!”

“Watch your tongue Outsider!” Clariciel’s voice turned razor sharp and all the flusters were removed from her demeanor.

“My apology, that was a bit too much. I was out of the line. I’m taking that back, sorry.” Fearless apologized, bending his back for a moment then fired up, “But that does not change the fact that you are a pervert.”

“No, I’m not. You are. Do you know how hard it was for me to watch you doing that kind of things to them, that and that and that… They were unwatchable.”

That did not sound truthful to Fearless. A lying person can only make a lying sound.

“Oh my god, you saw?” Fearless clutched his head, muttering deliriously “OMG, OMG,” then pointing his finger at the flustered goddess, “You are kidding me! So you watched CJ turned me into her human vibrator?”

“Yes… no, but, no, I did not watch that. I had my eyes closed through those scenes.”

A lying person can only make a lying sound.

“OMG. I can’t believe it. So you were there as well when I do S&M with my sister?”

“No”

“OMG,” Fearless clutched his head. He just caught the Valkyria lying again. With all of the evidences he gathered until now, he could actually sue her for a case of serious breach of privacy on the court and win the case easily. “You are the worst stalker and the biggest pervert I have ever encountered in my entire life.”

“Watch your tongue Outsider. I’m a goddess,” the Valkyria warned again.

“Yes, a perverted goddess,” Fearless corrected.

“I will not give the warning again Outsider. I will erase your entire existence the next time you call me a… pervert. How dare you make me say that?”

“If you don’t want me to call you a pervert, unsee and unhear everything now.”

“Do you think I did not want to do that? I can’t just unsee and unhear them.”

“OMG. You just admitted that you saw them.”

“…” Cat got her tongue. The Valkyria just stood with her mouth gaping.

“I don’t believe it. You are not just a pervert. You are a closet pervert, a closet perverted goddess.”

“Outsider, do you think I would not erase you just because I like you this much?” The Valkyria shot Fearless a dagger glare and made a visual estimation with her thumb and index finger.

“Then unsee everything right now!” Fearless demanded once again, waving his arms in an exaggerate motion.

“I can’t,” said Clariciel, nearly mimicking Fearless’ waving arms motion by reflex. She managed to stop it from happening by grabbing them.

“Erase me please. I don’t want to live anymore. You are going to show my entire past and all of those to your sisters and mother and aunt and uncles. You people would probably watch them like you would binge-watch a Netflix TV series. And after you have done watching you would probably rewatch them since you have nothing to do. OMG. This is too shameful. I don’t want to live anymore. Erase me please. Make it quick. Don’t go slow. I don’t want it slow.” Fearless wept exaggeratedly, banging his head against his palms.

“No, I would never do that. Why would I do that?” The Valkyria loudly stomped her feet and questioned.

“Yes, of course. You would not do that. I’m taking that back. You would never do that because you are a closet pervert. You would close your door and watch that in secret without letting anyone know.”

The Valkyria hissed sharply. Her face was scarlet red. She violently flapped her white wings and her feathers shot out like bullets.

There was nothing Fearless could do. He crumbled to his knees and dropped flat on the floor. He looked at his own body. There was no wound. But it hurt so fucking bad and he howled. He thought he did but only a muffled wheezing sound escape his throat. The pain, it was like nothing he has ever known. It was searing, like someone stuck millions pieces of red hot shrapnel into his body. That pain, it was beyond his capacity and understanding. “You shot me,” he wheezed like a man approaching death’s door.

“I have warned you fool!” The Valkyria gnashed her teeth and replied angrily.

“You got it wrong.” Fearless wheezed, tears wetted his cheeks and he submissively crawled into a fetal position. However, he has confirmed one thing after taking that attack once. He has confirmed that his knowledge regarding the divine dream was true.

“Do you deny insulting me Outsider?” Clariciel gnashed her teeth and challenged

“No, not that. You got it wrong again.” Fearless tried to raise his hand, waving in denial.

“Where did I go wrong?” She asked.

“Everything. I get it that this is the first time you try S&M, so it’s natural for you to make mistakes like th…”

The Valkyria did not permit Fearless to finish his line. She fumed red. She wordlessly shot him again with a dozen of her feathers.

Yup, his useless knowledge of the lore of ROC regarding the divine dream was all real. Yup, even if they were killed in the divine dream, people would not die. As long as they are still inside the divine dream, people don’t die even if they were killed. Fearless has confirmed that myth with his own body. “I have told you that you got it wrong…”

Clariciel furiously hissed, shooting Fearless again and again and again. “Must you insist to insult me Outsider?”

“Just admit that you are a closet pervert,” he said. She shot him again, “And apologize to me,” and again, “And pay the compensation,” and again.

“Have you no fear human?” the Valkyria growled. She was obviously angry from Fearless’ defiance and stubbornness.

“Bitch please, Fearless is my name.”

“This is ridiculous.”

“Yes, this is ridiculous. I find the fact that you invaded my dream without asking for my permission and just watched my dream and memories like you own them is ridiculous.”

“This is ridiculous. You should have so much pain that you could not even talk.”

“Bitch please, it only hurts during the first time. Don’t you know that?” Fearless retorted. He was lying. It still hurt a lot. However, another characteristic of the divine dream was that if the pain and death kept on repeating themselves, they would lose their effectiveness. According to the lore, that was how the dragon slayer Craxus was championed by both Sinintee and Wonten. He won against the two of them with his tenacity and stubbornness, taking all the pain and punishment that the two gods rained down on him until he could no longer feel the pain. Fearless has just confirmed that myth.

“This is not supposed to happen. I’m a goddess.” Clariciel stared at Fearless in disbelief. She must have not known about these imperfections of the divine dream just like Sinintee and Wonten.

Seeing that Clariciel has made a mistake in her claim, “A perverted goddess,” Fearless immediately rectified her error.

The furious Valkyria completely stopped talking to Fearless. She blackened his sight with an absurd amount of feathers from her flapping white wings. After that, she stomped on his head with her boots again and again and again and again. She did not allow him to open his mouth to say a single word. She clobbered his face with her boots and shot her feathers through his body without giving it a rest.

It felt endless like an eternity of pain and suffering, but the Valkyria never stop. She would not stop. Fearless thought that she kept doing that for eons, only then she stopped. Thus, Fearless took it to himself and opened his mouth again, “You don’t learn, do you? You are still doing it wrong.”

Clariciel beat the living day light out of him. Day would become night and night would become day. The stars would spin and shine just like the scorching sun. The sun would darken and turn pitch black just like a black hole. She beat him senseless. Nothing made sense anymore. She growled and howled and kept the beating going on and on and on, never slowed down, and never stopped.

The pain he received from her attacks at the moment was no more than the kind of playful slap that his sister would give him.

And then, it stopped hurting for real.

“Thank to you that I would never again experience the joy of being a masochist,” Fearless said and the Valkyria smashed her fist into his mouth.

“Bitch, please. It doesn’t hurt anymore. I have told you.” He told her with a dead pan face.

Clariciel at this point was literally mounting on his body to give Fearless a pummel. She kept raining her fists against his face despite he kept telling her that it did not work any longer. He stopped feeling the pain. Her attacks stopped working since some time ago. He could no longer feel the effect of her attack. It felt exactly like he was playing a virtual reality punching game with this Valkyria where he would become a punching bag.

“I thought that you take after your aunt. Why are you being so stupid? How many more time must I tell you that it has stopped hurting?”

“How long would you keep insulting me Outsider?” She growled, raining pummel on his face still.

“Until you admit that you are wrong and tell me that you are sorry and compensate for the damage you incur on me.”

“I have told you that it was a test,” Clariciel quickly defended herself.

“And I have told you that I did not sign up for that test. If you want to test me, ask for my permission first. I have never given you the permission to test me”

“That test is a privilege,” she argued

“Thank you, I did not know that having your entire life being turned into a tape for people to watch without your permission is a privilege. How about you go find yourself a man, have sex with him, tape it and let me watch it? If you thought that it is a privilege at that point, I will tell you that I’m sorry. I will be your fucking slave and do everything you tell me even if those demands gave a new meaning to the word pervert.”

The Valkyria slapped him, stood up, sent Fearless flying with a kick and stomped the floor with her boots while tearing her beautiful pink hair with her hands. “Grrrrrrr,” she released a Rage Monster from within herself right on the spot.

Fearless was no stranger to such sight. Being a pro-gamer, he has grown accustomed to such sight. That’s a Rage Monster, a common sight to every gamer. At one point in their lives, gamers would have encountered or confronted that terrible monster within themselves or people around them. Fearless has expected that it’s only time before that Rage Monster transformed into the Rage Quit Monster, a more terrible and more hideous form of that Rage Monster.

Surprisingly, Clariciel did not PP-pull the plug. If she did, Fearless would have lost the battle. All the pain and suffering he has endured until this moment would have been for nothing.

“I apologize. I was in the wrong. I should not enter you dream like that,” The Valkyria reluctantly said, clenching her fist. Her eyes were fury and shame.

OMG, what is this incredible level of sportsmanship? OMG, she did not release the rage quit monster, Fearless was beside himself with surprise.

It was that moment that Fearless felt that there was hope for mankind. No, that’s wrong, Fearless thought. Clariciel was not a part of mankind. She is a deity. She is a Valkyria.

So, it had to be like this. It was that moment that Fearless found peace within himself, knowing that his prayer was heard and that the gods and goddesses are not all unredeemable dicks and morons.

“Thank you, Goddess. I have forgiven you for that. I understand that you did not realize that you were in the wrong, so it’s okay,” Fearless respectfully bowed and kindly smiled. Since Clariciel could put away her pride as a goddess to tell him that she was sorry, of course, he as a mortal should find the goodness within his heart to forgive her. “Now, admit that you are a perverted goddess…”

Clariciel shot her feathers and they harmlessly tore through Fearless’ body. It made Fearless questioned how come Clariciel could keep shooting her feathers like that without going bald a long time ago. There should not be a single feather left on those wings by now.

“Okay, I could spare you from that today. But, one day, I’m going to make you admit that,” Fearless said and Clariciel meaninglessly released a volley upon him. “Let’s move to the next part. How are you going to compensate for your mistake? As a goddess, should you not take responsibility for your own misdeed?”

“Okay, what do you wan…” Clariciel gritted her teeth and asked but she trailed off in the end. She used her hands to cover her chest. “You sex fiend. I know what you are after. Your trickery only work on those foolish women.”

“Please. You are not even the most beautiful woman I have ever met. Who do you think you are? You are delusional if you think I would want to tap that booty of yours,” Fearless twisted his face in disgust. Clariciel angrily shot him right in his face as he was talking. He had no idea why she would even try doing that at this moment. He felt no pain from that. And since he felt no pain from that, her attack attempt became comical at this point.

He scoffed at Clariciel’s powerlessness to put up a verbal fight against him. He thought that if his encounter with Iliva and this Valkyria were in fact boss battle, he must have been playing the game in Easy Mode by default.

These morons did not even know how to pick a fight. Iliva took on him without even knowing what deception was. And this Valkyria Clariciel, she picked up a fight with him inside his own dream. What a moron! She might have the ability to reconstruct it to her advantages but it was still his dream in the end. Of course, she would lose the battle.

That Menace Serpent was more dangerous to Fearless than the problem that these two morons could give him when they combined.

This is ridiculous, Fearless thought. He would have understood it if the person in front of him was the youngest Valkyria who was vain and prideful but utterly stupid. Clariciel was supposed to be smart just like her bookworm aunt. She was supposed to be intelligent and brimmed with curiosity about all the mysteries of the world.

Ah, a bell suddenly rang inside Fearless’ head. That’s why she binge-watched my memory via the divine dream as though it was a TV series, Fearless has finally realized the reason why Clariciel has been stalking him.

Damn it, Fearless inwardly cursed, he fucked up. He finally remembered that Clariciel has told him that she liked him even though that “like” was only about one centimeter. He should have converted her into an ally and not made an enemy out of her.

There were three types of people that Fearless hated the most in the world. First, people force their will on him and did not respect his freedom. Second, people invade his privacy without requesting for permission. Lastly, the type of people keeps telling him what to do and what not to do without trying to listen to him.

Shit!!!! He was so angry at her for invading his privacy that he has completely missed that. He has just wasted an opportunity of converting a goddess to his camp. That could have been a plus one to the harem. Fuck!!!!!