His heart beat like a fox who let the rabbit escape. The shadow of a grin still lingered on his weighted face, and he couldn’t remember feeling this thrilled in a very long time. He exercised often. His skills had never grown dull. But his mind and body had never struggled to this point before. To the point of death. Resurrection had not been in his plans, but now that he stood there, his right hand gripping after a sword that was no longer material, he truly didn’t mind it.

No, he didn’t mind this at all.

As a matter of fact, he might just enjoy this game a little more than he originally thought he would.

“Wowzers. That was a doozy. And at this hour of the-,” Tin must have realized something, since her words stalled to a halt and her eyes widened. “-Shoot! What’s the time, what’s the time... “ she glanced down at her wrist, “-okay, Will! We’ve got five minutes to get you some proper armour, and then we’re gonna meet up with my party! They’re great people, I’m sure they’ll accept you just fine.”

That last part seemed to be more for herself than for Will, though the reason for her uncertainty was still beyond him. “Sure, I’d love to get a real sword.”

She flashed a smile. “Hell, I’ll even give ya some money to buy something real nice!”

“Oh, no, I couldn’t, I’d rather not be in your debt if I can help i-,”

“Hah! Nonsense, you’re an adult manly man! Can’t stand being in the debt of a teen? Well, whatever! Come on, we’ve gotta hurry to keep the time!” Tin said, already dragging Will away by the hand. Hers was so small and his was so big but to Will it felt right. He only ever shook hands and signed papers with that hand. To think he’d be allowed to touch a civilian with it…

“Alright, take me there.”

The shopping itself went very quickly. It was obvious that Tin wanted to look at armours and daggers for herself as well, but she was willing to disregard it in order to get Will suited in time. Will, in turn, appreciated her punctuality. He always did try to be on time. People like The Donkey who seemed more interested in being fashionably late were not his style. In the end, buying a suit of combined leather and iron armour (Leather-Iron Armour Rank E), as well as a proper sword (Iron Sword Rank E), had cost him a pretty sum of 76 gold coins, 26 of which he unhappily borrowed from Tin. He’d pay it back in time, he was assured of it.

The shops themselves deeply interested Will. They were often barren or petty in design, with a focus on use over looks. A few of them contained a smithy, but the one Tin brought Will to did not.

After that was done and Will was properly dressed in his armour, they headed to the meeting-spot the party had designated. The time was 20:34, and they were standing behind a rowdy bar. Nobody had arrived yet. As the clock hit 35, the time chosen, Will noticed once again that they were alone. “They’ll be here,” Tin mumbled. “They’re usually just a little late.”

Lo and behold, in a few minutes, people started appearing one by one until a whole squad was assembled. A squad of teenage girls who did not seem to take kindly to his presence.

“Um.” The one who spoke up was a strawberry blonde girl who seemed a year or so younger than Tin with a diminished stature to match. Yet, with her crossed arms and plentiful armour, discontent glare on full display, it was clear she held leadership over the party. “Tin, who the hell is that? Is he like, your dad or something?”

It might have been a joke, but nobody laughed. “N-, no, he’s just-... Okay, listen, I know this is an all-girls party and all, but… He’s like an actual martial artist. And he doesn’t seem like a bad guy, so-,”

“Look, Tin. This isn’t a matter of how fit he is or anything we just…” the leader girl turned to the other members. they all seemed equally uncomfortable, but Will wasn’t really paying attention to that. He could care less if these girls accepted him into his party or not, the only thing his mind lingered on at this time was the fact that Tin had said he wasn’t a bad guy. Now that… that was a first. He almost felt like correcting her, though he really couldn’t tell her he was a Villain. “...What level is he?”

Will was brought out of his head by Tin elbowing him in the side. He didn’t physically react to it, but it did make him realize that it was his turn to speak. “I’m level 4, thank you for asking.”

The leader’s eyebrows scrunched together and she turned to Tin. “Are you serious?” Tin nodded. The girl considered the facts for a second, tapping her foot as the thoughts raced through her mind. In the end, she sighed, glanced back up and craned her neck to establish eye contact with Will. She was a very small girl, but Will appreciated her bravery. Few girls her age would dare stare at him with such blatant disrespect. “-Are you really that good?”

“Yes,” Will said. “I am that good.”

As it turned out, this was not enough to convince the leader, and instead of readily accepting him into the party, they led him outside the gates and back to the barren lands where all the moles hung around.

Or, rather, where they used to hang around.

“Die! Die! Die!! HAhahahaha, die, you stupid insignificants!!” someone shouted, followed a loud bang that made a portion of the sandy ground erupt into a cloud of dust and red pixels. Will and the girls he’d been following all stopped, staring blankly as the dust and pixels faded away, revealing the cause of the madness.

He was wearing a sky-blue robe and a matching wide-brimmed wizard’s hat. Despite all the moles being long-since dead, the man simply kept twirling his long, metallic staff as if it was a pole weapon. In this movement, his long, ginger hair twirled along as well. It went down to his waist, where the otherwise straight hair suddenly became extremely curly, as if he’d had a ginger afro that grew out and didn’t just become a bigger afro. In line with his hair, his sharp face was also pale as can be, speckled with freckles and crowned with a predatory grin. His only visible eye turned on them. He seemed to be about 18 or so. Thin, with a sharp face and an almond eye that matched his blue robe, rimmed with dark bags. “Huh? Who the fuck are youse?”

He stopped twirling, and the party leader took the moment to step closer to him. “Um, could you like, leave? We wanna hunt for a bit.” She paused for a moment, considering the scene before speaking again. “...Seeing that you literally killed all the moles in this place, I’d seriously say you’re too high-levelled for this place.”

“Hah!” he laughed. “Wait, you’re serious? Bro, I can kill wherever and whatever I like. Are you the Horn-Eyed Mole-police or something? Here to toll me on my kills?”

“No, we just want to test out if this guy’s good enough to join our party.”

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He stared at them for a moment, his one visible eye sharpening just a tad. Then, it widened in realization. “-Whoa, seriously?! The girly club’s got itself a sugar daddy or something?? That’s fuckin’ hilarious!” the man said unabashedly, grinning even wider than before.

The leader waited a few moments before turning around, making eye-contact with the other girls present for a good five-ten seconds before giving a final, hard look at Will and turning back to the man. “I, CucumberSpaghettiEllie, challenge you to a party battle. State your name.”

His grin faltered a moment, his eyes dropping to look at something in front of him, likely a message.

“You’re challenging me?” he asked. “You’re seriously challenging me?? I’m level 14, I’ll wipe the floor with you scrubs!” His grin returned with a vengeance, but despite his apparent confidence, he didn’t accept the challenge immediately.

The leader turned to me. “Geezer. What’s your username?”

“William Ainsworth.”

“Weird name but okay… William Ainsworth, will you join our party, the Purple Panthers?” she asked, and with that verbal command, a little box appeared before Will’s eyes.

You have been invited to join 'The Purple Panthers' by player CucumberSpaghettiEllie

-Do you accept?-

He had no reason to reject the offer, although he personally didn’t care whether he was apart of it or not. “I accept.”

You have joined party: The Purple Panthers

With that done, the leader, her name presumably being Ellie (or Cucumber, Will couldn’t know) turned back to look at the guy she had challenged to a battle. On closer thought, it might have been a bit unfair, a whole party fighting a single guy. “State your name and accept our battle or leave this place!”

His eyebrow twitched at her harsh words. “You-, I-, grrr… fine! The name’s TrackAndKill69! And I-, I accept this duel! Prepare to be destroyed!”

Receiving player TrackAndKill69 has accepted duel

Timer: 5:00

With those words and that box, a barrier suddenly materialized, capturing both TrackAndKill69 and the Purple Panthers inside a large, semi-transparent dome. Will watched with great interest as all the members of his party materialized weapons. Ellie and Tin summoned a sword and a pair of daggers respectively, while the three other members summoned a staff, a book and a pair of knuckle braces. Taking the unsaid cue, Will materialized his own sword.

TrackAndKill69 raised his staff, face scrunched together in concentration, and shouted out, “Magic Arrow!” The words summoned a floating, light-blue aetherial-looking arrow, true to its name, and as soon as he had summoned it, he fired it.

It hit square in the chest of the girl wielding a book (however that worked) and she gasped, staggering back.

Ellie, Tin and the knuckles-girl all ignored this and threw themselves at TrackAndKill69 without care. In stark comparison, Will did not move. He stood where he stood by the side of the staff-girl, waiting for something interesting to happen. Contrary to the kind of battle Will would have assumed to happen now (when a lot of Superheroes swarmed a single hero they were usually in for a beating), TrackAndKill69 did not seem to take their triple-attack too well.

“Owch-, fuck-, geez, stop that, shit! Let me-, fuck-,” he stammered, trying desperatly to block Ellie’s clumsy but well-meaning attacks with his iron staff. It didn’t really help. “Shit, Bind! Bind! Bind!!”

And now, something interesting finally happened. All three of his attackers were suddenly swept up in a barrage of magical binding plants, sprouting from the ground with life of their own. He grinned triumphantly. “Fire-,”

“Magic Dart!” the staff-girl at Will’s side shouted, causing a small but clear light-blue needle to shoot out and strike TrackAndKill69. The sudden attack made him stagger, though more out of surprise than pain. “Liz, you okay?” she asked with clear concern, turning to the book girl.

“Yeah, I’m fine, though he did take out about half of my HP… Mend!” she said, her body suddenly enveloped in a soft, warm light that probably did something good. Though Will had no idea what-, oh, their eyes met. “Y-, you! Go fight him or something!”

Had Will been a bit more knowledgeable in the game, he might have considered it rather inconsiderate of her to toss a level 4 at a level 14. “Alright,” he said, walking towards where TrackAndKill69 had now recovered. He gave a low growl, scowled and turned to Will, staff raised. In turn, Will raised his own weapon, feeling the weight of it, letting the sword bind with his arm, becoming one. He was as sharp as his blade. “Let the best man succeed.”

TrackAndKill69 looked him up and down. “Um, bro, are you like a roleplayer or something? I’m not sure if-,”

With the taste of a fulfilling and dangerous battle still lingering on his tongue, Will didn’t even let the youngster finish speaking before throwing himself at him, closing the distance in an instant. One slice to the chest,

Critical Hit!

one slice to his neck,

Critical Hit!

and a stab to his stomach.

Critical Hit!

Will quickly avoided a desperate wave of TrackAndKill69’s staff, getting in yet another slice to his midsection before coming to a brief stop, letting his opponent breathe. “D-, dude, what the fuck-, how are you getting this many critical hits?? And how is it doing so little damage?!” Somehow, TrackAndKill69 almost seemed disappointed in how little damage Will was doing. Will didn’t mind chipping away at his enemy’s health, little by little. Considering how book-girl's health was cut in half by a single one of his hits, it was only logical that a single well-placed spell would end him. Which was fine. It made the battle exhilarating. “Fuck-, Fireball!”

TrackAndKill69 reached out his staff and a large, pulsating ball of fire appeared before him. Will knew where it would hit before TrackAndKill69 even tried to shoot it. All he had to do was jump out of the way, taking the time to slice at the mage again.

It was a game of chicken.

Will sliced at him, TrackAndKill69 summoned some sort of projectile, Will dodged and sliced again. And for some reason, none of the Purple Panthers intervened.

That is, until TrackandKill69 actually did something apart from attacking.

“Bind!” he shouted, prompting those same vines to emerge from the ground and restrict Will before he could dodge them. “Hah! Gotcha, you old man! Prepare yourself to-”

“Flare!”

“Slash!”

“Chain Slice!”

A brilliant white light practically exploded in Will’s face as three people attacked all at once in all sorts of ways. That same moment, the Bind spell released, letting Will step closer to the commotion.

TrackAndKill69 was on the ground, groaning. Not dead, but almost. “G-, guh…”

Will stood above him, flanked on his sides by the Purple Panthers. “You may have lost, but you were a respectable enemy. You fought bravely, despite the odds. Young man, you have potential.”

Ellie gave him an odd look. “-Why the hell are you praising him?”

“Any man who fights and loses with pride is worthy of praise.”

“...If you’re gonna, like, be on his side and tell us not to kill him, I’m kicking you out of the party, even though you were a really good warrior.”

Tin bristled. “I told you he was a great warrior!”

“-If you’re on his side, and he’s on this idiot’s side, I’m kicking you both out.”

Will didn’t really care. “If he is on my side, then I will have no qualms with calling for his mercy.”

TrackAndKill69 raised one hand. “Yeah, um, I’d like to be spared, thank you. Getting my ass kicked by a bunch of girls isn’t really something I want on my resumé.”

Ellie gave him a disgusted look before turning back to Will and Tin. “I’m kicking you both out.”

“No, wait, Ellie, pl-,”

You have been kicked from party 'The Purple Panthers'

Tin groaned as her (former) party left, leaving Tin, Will and TrackAndKill69 alone.

Will grabbed their former enemy’s hand and pulled him to his feet.

“Why the hell did you have to do that?...”

“-It is through battle that you make true allies, Tin.”