Fists of lightning and earth collided. Ksenia felt like her knuckles had broken upon contact. She reeled back while her opponent was already moving towards his next move. Counterflow Stance kicked in and an axe kick brushed her chin. She went in close and uttered, “Thunderous Uppercut!”
“Rocky Chin.”
Her fist crashed into a brick wall and she swore loudly. The casted skill instantly granted Zhong Ren super hard skin and he didn’t so much as flinch from her attack. Ksenia’s knuckles once again felt like they shattered and in the next instant her stomach was ignited with a piercing pain. Zhong Ren didn’t counter with a measly punch, he went straight for a sharp strike with his four fingers. Like a knife, he penetrated her stomach and with his other hand he choked her.
“Ugh—nghhh!”
Zhong Ren lifted her in the air, neither his hold or his stab weakening. Both sets of fingers went deeper and her throat let out a gurgling noise. Her eyes reddened and her arms dangled helplessly as air refused to enter her system. Ferocious dark brown eyes watched as blood trailed down her throat.
Suddenly, energy flowed into her and her once futile arms twitched and came together in a resounding clap! An electric shock erupted and shot into Zhong Ren’s abdomen. His breath hitched and he stumbled back, black smoke rising from the point of contact.
Ksenia dropped to her knees, coughing and sputtering, yet always keeping an eye on her foe. “Aaak! Ugh…” She wiped the saliva with her sleeve.
‘So he can briefly increase his defence to the point of invulnerability. It’s an Intermediate skill too.’ She slowly got up, watching the fumes disappear. ‘Thunder Clap is also an Intermediate move, so obviously it was effective. But I doubt it’ll work twice. Its range is super short despite the crazy amounts of damage it does.’
Without defence calculation, it did about 220 points of damage. If she assumed that his defence took away a hundred, then that still dealt a hundred points of damage. A third of his HP, if her estimates of his visible HP gauge were correct. Her own HP had taken the same amount of damage. ‘That attack to my stomach must have been a forced critical hit. Something like Static Swipe that increases your chances exponentially.’
Warriors were trading blows. Battles were loud and intense, yet right now, all Ksenia could see was her opponent. He was truly strong. ‘Not infallible though,’ she reminded herself.
She charged at him and noticed the slight narrowing of eyes. He went into a defensive position with his right arm out in front of him. Ksenia stopped in her tracks. ‘Shoot! Gotta be careful! These Imperial guys are all grapplers!’
He beckoned her to come at him. Ksenia inhaled, taking her time to think. ‘I have to get in close and land a Thunder Clap. That’s my only option, grappling be damned. If he gets me, then he gets me.’
Five metres of distance. Ksenia didn’t think she would be able to build sufficient momentum but she chanced it anyway. If she started shifting back, he might pounce on her. Fending him off would be impossible given his superior speed and strength. It wasn’t a huge gap but in close-quarters combat it meant everything.
His outstretched arm coiled together as they went to grab her. The world seemed like a blur, until she muttered, “Counterflow Stance.”
A skill’s activation time was instantaneous when she said out loud as opposed to the mind. It was a law concerning all skills. She jerked her body to the side, avoiding his little stunt, and clapped her hands together right in his face. “Thunder Clap!”
The bolt of lightning struck. There were two conditions to the attack: the hands needed to come together and the bolt had to be in range of half a metre.
“Earthquake Combo.”
“Wh—”
A leg slammed into her side, followed by a hook to the left cheek, the right cheek, and then a harsh charged-up punch to the face, which blasted her away. She blew through the doors of the throne room and toppled across the hall to the midway point.
“Unh…” Her teeth were sticky with her own blood while her mind swirled. “How did he…?”
The System healing factor kicked in and she recovered a sufficient amount of her HP. She pulled herself up, listening to the light footsteps of the cultivator. There was an unwavering confidence to him, silent and deadly.
“Rocky Chin…you must have activated that.” Did he read her moves or was it plain luck? It didn’t matter, he was here in the same space as the High King. The royal soldiers appeared by her side, helping her stay steady as she swayed left and right.
“Are you alright, ma’am?”
“I’m good.” She wasn’t. He got her good. The combo was the earth equivalent to the Storm Surge Combo and Blazing Fury Combo. On top of hurting like hell, it hit her in five different places.
Zhong Ren quietly observed her. There were fifteen soldiers stationed to protect the king. Even he would have trouble alone. Luckily, he wasn’t alone. Three players soon ran by his side, fresh and healthy, and instantly the tables were turned.
Ksenia peered over her shoulder. “Your Highness, if there’s a time to run to a secret entrance, it would be now.”
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Level 15 and a Master Axeman, the High King shook his head and stayed in his seat. “I will die as a king, not a coward.”
Ksenia didn’t have the strength to argue. “Fine.”
The three players that arrived were a bit hasty in making their move. Ksenia might have been the sole player—injured, to boot—but she was not helpless. Her MP hovered a little over 180 and the grappling-specalized Imperials did not yet realize she had formulated a counter against their fighting style.
While the royal guards fended off two of the players, Ksenia went head-to-head with one by herself. The palms of his hands were powered up by Inferno Palm, intending to increase damage of the throw. Ksenia was certain that if that attack landed, she would be done for.
“Counterflow Stance—”
Which was why she didn’t let him even graze her. She mirrored her movements from before, sliding to the left side of her opponent and clapping her hands together for a direct bolt of thunder to his face. “Thunder Clap!”
Her opponent widened their eyes by a fraction before being struck and defeated. Black smoke flowed from his face. The joy of victory did not last long as a shadow loomed behind her.
Counterflow Stance activated on reflex and she jerked her head down and twisted her torso forward to see her attacker. She bounced backwards and Zhong Ren chased after her, throwing punch after punch and receiving Counterflow Stance after Counterflow Stance. The world became a series of blurs, zipping fast and slow at a moment’s notice.
He suddenly stopped running and fighting. In the air, leaping back, Ksenia didn’t believe this was over for a second. She was correct as her back slammed into someone.
“Huh—”
“Ah—”
It was one of Zhong Ren’s allies. Both pairs of eyes widened and both started up their attacks.
“Fire Fist—”
“Lightning Strike Fist!”
Ksenia was a second faster, her punch slamming into his cheek and sending him away. The guards that had been fighting him immediately finished him with several sets of spears. It was a gruesome sight and Ksenia looked back at Zhong Ren. He seemed oddly tense. Ksenia glanced around and smiled.
‘We’re winning.’
One player remained other than Zhong Ren and he was struggling against the seven royal guards. The High-King’s personal bodyguards, though lacking magic, were Level 15 regardless. Draped in distinct red armour, they were able to hold their own in numbers.
“Phew.” Ksenia rolled her neck around, smirking. “I trained like hell with a former Champion. You can't catch me off-guard.”
Zhong Ren didn’t speak. He didn’t need to. He had attempted to beat her through trickery. In other words, he was getting desperate. At this rate, he was going to be outnumbered. While watching the royal guards fight off the Imperial player, she attempted to strike up a conversation. “Were you in the military or something?”
No answer again. That was fine, she just needed time to heal. She counted the seconds in her head and…
‘There it is.’ She gained fifty MP per minute. Taking her stamina into account, she figured she could go for another two rounds and Thunder Claps.
All of a sudden, the royal guards backed away. They went towards their feeble king, who had remained seated throughout the battle. The lone player was puzzled though limped his way over to Zhong Ren. Zhong Ren maintained his stoic silence as Ksenia continued to assess the situation. The battleground had shifted, the royal guards having withdrawn behind her to protect their king.
There was a swish of metal.
Ksenia was barely able to comprehend it. One second the battlefield was descending into silence and strategy and the next blood was spilled. A shiny metal axe sailed through the air, cutting through the battlefield, and promptly finding its mark in the form of the limping player. The impact echoed through the throne room, causing Zhong Ren to widen his eyes in shock.
An eerie silence was left in its wake.
Ksenia’s gaze swiftly turned to the source of the unexpected throw, and to her astonishment, it was none other than High King Brian Boru himself. The king had finally risen from his seat, eyes dead yet flickering with life. The axe returned to the High King's hand with a fluid grace that defied the laws of the world.
For a moment, time seemed suspended as the realization dawned upon her. The feeble king, who had been content to observe from the sidelines, was a formidable human with skills that rivaled the best of players. The royal guards had stepped aside for a reason and casted admiring glances at their sovereign.
Kazi was correct. Of course he was correct.
The feeble little king never existed. The withered old man was but a figment of her imagination. There was no aching father, no sadness towards his locked away daughter. There was no mourning for the enemy that had once been his family. There was only the High King Brian Boru, the lone man that had united Ireland, who had subdued the Ulstermen in the north.
A king above kings.
“Choose your next move wisely, Otherworlder.”
The king's threat was thinly hidden in the daunting echoe of his voice. Zhong Ren stared at the corpse of his ally and slowly backed away. He understood at that moment that there was no defeating the forces in front of him. With the High King, victory was all but assured.
The Imperial martial artist silently left the room. With a sigh, Ksenia dropped to the ground, arms sprawled out. "We did it! Haa...! Hahahaha!"
She had won. The throne room was at peace. Her laugher was accompanied by the sound of the High King returning to his throne. He sat there, all-powerful and all-mighty. A king unquestionably chosen by a higher-power to bring victory and order.
“The Battle of Clontarf…and the objective is to kill the enemy generals. Simple enough.”
…until humanity's curse descended upon them and the throne room suffocated from a sudden thickness in air.
Someone new had arrived. A player joining Gate 10 in the last hour. A voice unrecognizable and undeniably powerful, being deep and cold and calm all at once. A voice that jolted Ksenia upright and forced her to turn like a half-frozen owl. Her heart was pounding in her chest and her breathing became shallow. 'Whatthehell, whatthehell—"
The newly summoned player looked down at her with a white mask. The same mask she had seen John Smith give to Kazi Hossain. The same mask that was said to belong to a killer.
Her instincts told her to run, yet her mind screamed at her not to move, to stay put. As she stared into those makeshift dots of eyes, a drip of sweat fell from her temple.
“Then you must be my teammate.” The figure in the white-mask casually walked past her, his white cloak fluttering behind him. One arm in his dark-red gi, almost lazy, everything about him radiated dark, foreboding energy. Every step caused her own mana to fluster.
‘W-who the hell is this guy!?’
Standing frozen at the front entrance was Nikolai. He was taller and buffer than the figure, yet even he looked like an ant in comparison. As her vision became clearer, she was able to see his name: Jack. No equipped class. “The Sapphire Order…you wouldn’t happen to work under the King of Vikings, would you?”
Nikolai swallowed thickly. “What if I was?”
He raised an electrifying hand. “Tell him that I said hi.”
Jack tapped his chest and sent him crashing into the castle walls. Ksenia wanted to cry out for him. Her body wanted to save him. But if she moved, she’d die. Nobody was able to say a thing. All of them simply held their breaths until Jack disappeared in a burst of speed.
“What…” Ksenia barely broke from her frozen stupor. “...was that?”
The High King Brian Boru narrowed his eyes. “A monster.”