The declaration of surrender, uttered in the midst of the heated conflict, hung in the air like an unexpected gust of wind in the calm of a storm. It left the battlefield in a state of suspended disbelief, the silence speaking volumes as both adversaries and onlookers grappled with Matty’s decision. King Saul himself was lost. His own representative had given up.

The King of the Israelites assumed Matty would have fought to the death. Frankly, William understood avoiding a death match but still. The battle felt disappointing.

“Good work, Matty!” Jules’ voice sliced through the tension like butter. “You can come back now.”

Matty’s scowl softened and he returned to her with the smallest of smiles.

Goliath was unable to evoke a protest or a fighting stance. Clearly, for Matty, the battle was over. “Fine. Fine!” He stabbed his spear into the river. “The woman spared one of my men; therefore, I shall allow this. However!” Goliath pointed his sword at King Saul. “The next time you dare challenge me, do not expect such leisure! I am worth two men!”

A rumble of murmurs began to emerge from the Philistine side of the battlefield. Slowly but steadily, the whispers swelled into a unified chant, resonating with admiration and respect for Goliath's undeniable might and unwavering spirit.

"Goliath! Goliath! Goliath!" The chanting rose higher and higher until it transformed into music. "The one who stands against the giants! The one who fought the Son of Hercules! The one who conquered the king of the Kurds! Goliath! Goliath! Goliath!"

The ground beneath shook as the men on the other side became riled up. Their cheers descended into messy stomps. Their stomps turned to confidence and pride. No long term damage had been dealt to their champion. To an ordinary onlooker, the battle looked to be a waste of time. A demonstration of Goliath's might. Matty returned with purpose though, ignoring William, Kazi, Marta, Ksenia, and Nikolai in favour of his ally.

“Goliath uses his spear for offence and sword for defence. Specifically, he does a slow shift before a powerful thrust,” Matty told Jules. “So plan for that.”

‘Kazi could have told you that,’ William said in his head, before the thought dawned on him. ‘Huh. Wow, he really was right. About…literally everything.’

Down to Goliath’s usage of his spear to his sword, Kazi deduced everything with…what? A single glance? It didn’t seem so unbelievable till Matty went out there to actually confirm it.

“You gave up,” Nikolai stated. “Why?”

“None of your business,” Matty replied.

Nikolai looked him up and down, judgmental. His gaze went over to Jules, then back to Matty. A big grin broke out. “Ho! So you did for the lady! I approve!”

Matty glared at him, but softened again at Jules’ voice. “So do you think I can win?” she asked politely.

Matty jabbed at his shields. “He’s strong. One clean hit to the head and you’re dead. Goliath is nothing like the monsters we’ve fought in the past. They had magic and instincts. This guy is pure brute strength combined with a keen eye and a decent brain. Keeping a long distance will be a tough job. I doubt he’s going to let you do what you want. He aims to win and kill.”

“You gave up.” King Saul appeared, looking down at Matty. His kingly aura had a small effect on Matty, unlike Nikolai. “Did you get what you desired, warrior of shields?” A small shake in Matty’s demeanour as he nodded. The king’s stare flew past him and became fixated on the woman with the cat. “And you believe she can do it?”

“That hasn’t been decided yet,” Ksenia interjected. “I will fight him.”

“No, I will—”

Nikolai and Ksenia were arguing again. Great. William wished they could just decide.

“We have eight hours till the next battle with Goliath,” Kazi pointed out. “We will discuss and return to you, King of the Israelites.”

“Hrn.” Even King Saul in all his authority heeded Kazi’s words. A dash of bewitching good looks and a steady tone that insinuated intelligence and even the king mistook him for an advisor. He was curt yet optimistic. King Saul nodded. “I understand. None of my men could possibly stand up to the giant. I hope you are able to succeed where they fail.”

The king’s horse went off to go back to his camp. Ksenia remained silent, her eyes locked on Kazi.

“I hope you realize I still haven’t forgotten what you did last time,” Ksenia said.

“I don’t expect you to,” Kazi replied.

“The more I think about it, the more I believe we should have killed that old man. Instead, you bribed everyone into sparing him.” Ksenia’s brown eyes dimmed. “I don’t know what you were thinking. I seriously can’t fathom why you would let a killer walk around scot-free.”

William didn’t either, till Kazi told him about Jack. The real danger amongst the players, a threat that would, from Sun-young’s words, crush everybody with his mere presence.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

Still, he understood where she was coming from and William wasn’t sure if he could hate her for it. The tension and anger wouldn’t boil down even as the sun fell and evening turned to night.

***

Nikolai was amazing at the gym, the type that was so kind and warm and strong that you had to give props regardless of personal feelings. Sitting around a campfire deep into the night, Nikolai was exactly who William thought he was: a bit loud, dense, but ultimately a super welcoming guy.

“A wish. That is why we are here! But look at everyone! No wishes! No ambition! Aimlessly finishing gate after gate, collecting points, and for what? Money in the real world?”

William was taken aback by his proclamation. “I mean…money doesn’t hurt anyone. Plus, I mean, what else are we going to do?”

“I have no intention of going back to Earth. My time there is over,” Nikolai declared. The magical flame twisted, his smile revealed. “I am having so much fun here! So many friends, so much to learn…it’s a world of possibility!”

“Do you really not have a wish?” William asked.

“My wish?” Nikolai slapped his own tight and guffawed. “It is the same as it has always been: to push people to their utmost limits!”

“He was a gym trainer,” Ksenia explained.

“My father did it, and his father’s after,” Nikolai explained. “I feel it is my purpose to help people reach their limits. It is in my blood!”

‘I’m jealous.’ William stared into the fire. ‘I wish I could have been proud of my family like that.’

His own dad was…

It didn’t matter. Not anymore. In this world, he had to focus on himself.

He glanced at Kazi and Marta who were lying in their sleeping bags. The older man pointed at the starry night, saying, “You see that? No north star. The closest in the first millennium BC is Kochab. Whoever created this simulation must have been super thorough.”

“A simulation? What makes you say that?” Marta asked.

“I doubt we’re actually back in the days of King Saul. Time travel would cause too many paradoxes. So the Heavenly Tower has to be a simulation. Plus, multiple attempts and versions?”

“...you ever think everything is a simulation?”

“Nah.”

“Why not?”

“Dunno. I just don’t think the things everyone else has felt and experienced are fake.”

William pretended not to listen, despite verbally agreeing. He had taken a lot of weird shit when he was young. Even in the thick of it, where the world became faces of creatures he did not recognize, nothing indicated to him that the world was simulated. If everything was a simulation, then William would have discovered it then.

Unlike him, Nikolai overheard their conversation and directly responded. “A simulation? As if.”

“Another point to my side.” Kazi grinned as he turned his face over.

“Allow me to demonstrate!” Nikolai demonstrated. “William, come!”

“Huh?” Before he knew it, he was several feet away from the vampire and standing across from Nikolai, facing off in a deadly distance. William blinked again. “Huh?

“Let us spar!”

“S-spar?” Nikolai grinned and raised both fists, suddenly combat ready. Awkwardly, William went into a high-guard boxing stance. Nikolai was bigger than him. Judging by muscle alone, stronger too, though that remained to be seen. The interference of the System could shift the advantage at the snap of a finger.

Ksenia sighed. “I’m going to sleep. Try not to go too crazy, people.”

His one deterrent gone, Nikola beckoned him. “Come at me, friend!”

“What are we doing exactly?”

“I’m bored and I want to prove this isn’t a simulation by inflicting some fun!”

‘Fun? Or pain?’

Nevertheless, William wasn’t completely turned off by the idea of a spar. As a matter of fact, he welcomed it. With Kazi, winning was never an option. It was like going up against an uncategorically difficult NPC that never made mistakes. Maybe against Nikolai…

“Ah, that’s a good look in your eye. Come at me! Grab your victory, William!”

Channelling the frustration from his losses against Kazi, William charged at him, only for his world to flip.

‘Huh—?’

He hit the ground hard, his shoulder slamming head first. There came a deafening crunch, followed by an unrestrained groan.

“Haha!” Nikolai rolled his shoulder, his grin above him like a cloud. “You were heavier than I expected. Let’s go again.”

Nikolai offered a hand, which William took. He purposely put a bit more distance between them, wanting to be on the counter side. Nikolai’s grin didn’t waver. Instead, as soon as the two nodded at a rematch, he came forward. His feet twisting, Nikolai went for a punch.

Miss.

Nikolai put his whole shoulder into it and William attempted to capitalize on the grand opening. A second punch was arriving but William wasn’t worried. His own fist was almost to his face. Whatever damage he was going to take would be negligible.

Bam! Direct hit. Nikolai stumbled back, shocked at his strength. The two of them understood in that point of contact that in terms of strength, they were dead even. In terms of raw numbers, William was superior, with Nikolai making up for the System numbers with his weight and stature. There was some shuffling, feet going in circles, with William throwing out a few unsuccessful jabs.

‘His footwork is amazing. It’s probably better than my old coach,’ William thought. ‘I mean, I should have figured. He’s a gym coach too.’

A swirl of fear struck his heart. He didn’t want to lose. Not again. Not against an equal. A flurry of impatience taking hold of him, William sent out a sweeping jab. A clean read from Nikolai, who proceeded to send out his own sweeping jab. William thought he blocked it. No, he did block, but Nikolai proceeded to literally dive into another move: a throw.

“Ngh!”

His head in his stomach, William was unable to do anything as—Slam! He was forced to the ground. There was nothing he could do. He attempted to kick him off but Nikolai wormed his way into a shoulder joint lock.

“Got you, haha!”

A small part of him was pissed off for losing. A larger part was in awe. “I give!” he said.

Nikolai released him, though remained on one knee. “You did great work, William. I am impressed.”

“Thanks. To be honest…” William contemplated telling him that he had wanted to spar with him at the gym. In the end, he elected to praise him. “...I just couldn’t react to your moves. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“Haha, do you wish to go again?”

William thought long and hard about it. “Sure.”

Round three: another loss.

“Again!”

Round four: a little closer. William was starting to get the hang of it. He was a mixed martial artist but there was something more to it. His grapples and throws were astonishingly smooth. The instant he was grabbed, William was dead.

“Again!”

‘Seriously! Why—’

Four, five…

‘Why—’

Six, seven…

‘Why can I never win!?’

William experienced a total of eight losses. There was frustration. There was anger. Yet through it all, there was envy and admiration. He wasn’t sure if he hated him or if he thought the world of him.