I stood up from my throne. Walking out the doors of a balcony I had created I looked out over the battlegrounds. The area was massive and there were various points of interest that were probably locations that could be captured for points. The spot my tower was built on was one such point, as long as I kept the enemy from capturing it I would continue to earn some passive points.
The problem this led to was simple, numbers. This game gave the side with more people a large advantage since they could capture and hold multiple points at a time. My faction had a total of three people, or two people and one dragon depending on how you looked at it.
You’re thinking of this wrong, Ares said.
How so? I asked him mentally.
You don’t need to capture lots of points, you just need to take away the enemy’s ability to do so, Ares said.
I nodded in realization. We kill every last one of them.
No, Ares said. While that would work it would take to long and the risk is to great. You have the ability to shape the earth, use it to destroy the control points so they can’t be used.
That does make more sense, I admitted.
You should also have Exar’kun remain behind, Ares advised me. His presence should be hidden until it gives you the greatest advantage and someone needs to defend your own capture point.
He’s not going to be happy about that, I said.
He’s existed for centuries slowly gathering power, Ares said. I think you underestimated his patience.
Turning around I entered the tower’s throne room again. “Ok I’ve got a plan; I’m going to destroy the capture points across the battlefield to keep the enemy from gaining points from them. Exar’kun, I want you to remain behind, your my trump card and I want your first appearance to have the most impact.”
“Very well,” Exar’kun said. “But if they come here my existence will be revealed.”
“That’s where Guinevere comes in,” I said turning to her. “I want you to hit their bases, you don’t need to destroy them but cause as much of a distraction and damage as you can without dying.”
“You want me to take on groups of Champions by myself?” Guinevere asked skeptically.
“Even if you don’t believe you can do it, I do,” I said. “You’re more powerful than you know Guinevere, it’s time for you to discover that for yourself.
--
My feet pounded the grass and stone, I jumped fifty feet into the air with the momentum I’d gathered spotting my target and teleporting two-hundred-and-thirty feet I arrived at the base of ruined stone fortification.
You have discovered a strategic location. Hold this position to gain points passively over the course of the Event.
“Hell-Dragon’s Armory,” I said.
This time I didn’t reinforce the structure, I obliterated it. A compressed smooth bowl was all that was left when I was done.
Capture point destroyed; no point gained.
I smiled; true I hadn’t gained any points from its destruction but now no one would ever get any points from it. I was about to go scorched earth on these people. Just like in ruling a kingdom the principals of realpolitik held true here, take power, keep power, and deny it to others. If I couldn’t hold the capture points, than no one would.
Taking off running again I set to work.
---
While Mordred was confident in her Guinevere was not so sure, champions were beings of legend who strove for the highest rank there was, godhood. She was talented sure, a prodigy of her time she knew but standing against people with divine abilities? She wasn’t sure if she would have agreed to the task if she didn’t have the extra lives.
Her black armor glistened like the shell of a beetle as she charged across the grassy plains. She was drawing close to short stone walls. Someone must have constructed them like Mordred did, but one look told her these walls didn’t have the raw strength and near indestructibility of his creations. The ability Mordred had gifted her a year ago, Foresight, let her roll to the side as an arrow struck the ground behind her blasting a crater into the ground.
Keeping to her feet she kept running, jumping up into the air she used her ability Ice Flash to teleport to the top of the wall. Instead of the usual icy gale that accompanied her this time there was an inferno left behind as she appeared behind the archer on the wall. Before they had time to react, the crimson edge of the sword Mordred had made for her slashed through the back of their spine.
25 rank points gained, further halved for killing a creature of a lower rank.
That was another advantage she had. Mordred hadn’t seen anyone above Veteran on his side of the battlefield and it stood to reason it was the same on this side. The advantage of being a higher rank than her foes was not a small one, all the damage she inflicted on them would be increased and the damage they did to her would be reduced.
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The alarm sounded as she stabbed another champion through the heart.
37 rank points gained, further halved for killing a creature of a lower rank.
She spun through their ranks, while she had been taught to stand and hold her ground, she hadn’t been the only one learning while teaching Mordred. He was all motion and momentum and she’d picked up some tricks from his unorthodox if effective methods of fighting.
A party of five champions awaited her. Their bodies glowing with various buffs and augments they’d activated as they prepared to meet her assault.
“Cursed Crown,” Guinevere said.
She had never used this ability before but now wasn’t the time to hold back. She’d upgraded it to max rank and now was the time to see just all it could do.
Cursed Crown (Rank 20, Max Rank): You have slain a prince of the forest alongside a champion of the gods earning you the notice of both the gods of law and chaos. Your regal bearing now takes the form of a halo of flames above your head that lasts for 20 minutes. All your attacks deal an additional Extreme amount of curse damage, any creature striking you with a melee attack receives an Extreme amount of curse damage.
Your attacks inflict the Desolation condition.
Your attacks inflict the Mana Rot condition.
A Spector rises from the corpses of enemies slain by you while this ability is active, they last until they are destroyed and are under your control as their ruler, they will have lesser versions of the abilities the creature they came from possessed. They have all the bonuses from Curse Crown applied to them and inflict the same amount of curse damage and conditions as the ability.
Your authority lets you mark a single target within 120 feet of you, they will take x3 damage from you and your specters for the duration of this ability.
Max Rank Bonus: You can transfer any damage you would take to one your Specters instead.
*Desolation: Target cannot regain mana or stamina for duration.
* Mana Rot: Targets lose 15 mana per second they are inflicted with this ability.
Cost:
60 mana
Cooldown:
1 minutes
Upgrade this ability to increase the damage and duration of its effects. Each rank of this ability increases your Power attribute by 1.
A dark halo of red and black fire appeared above her head and purple flames spread down the edge of her blade. Teleporting into their midst she slashed about her, her attacks weren’t instantly lethal but the agony that curse damage inflicted made all her assailants fall back. One of them in heavy armor swung down a heavy warhammer towards her head. She slid to the side only taking a glancing blow off her shoulder. The hit still staggered her slightly but the effect it had on him was far greater as purple flames raced down his own weapon consuming his body.
Guinevere ran her sword through his neck ending his suffering.
28 rank points gained, further halved for killing a creature of a lower rank.
A dark Spector made of black smoke and purple flames rose from his corpse it lashed out at the groups healer who was trying to purge the debuffs on her party. The healer screamed in agony as more cursed purple flames spread out. The Spector was a mockery of the man it had come from, although its form was static and made of smoke it bore the visage of a knight in plate armor its sword made of violet energy. The sword slashed across the healer’s robes, and she collapsed her body a smoldering pile of flesh and bones.
The equipment vanished from every corpse leaving behind a body covered in rags. The features of the deceased still remained, and Guinevere shuddered as she imagined looking down on her own corpse. Pushing that thought from her mind she continued with her mission, her job was to draw as much attention as she could and cause as much destruction as possible. She didn’t have the wide area effect abilities that Mordred possessed but what she did have was a decade of training from the finest tutors in the world. Another Spector rose up from the body of the healer.
Guinevere cut down a rogue who tried to sneak attack her from behind Foresight letting her dodge and eviscerate him easily. She didn’t even look at the names or which god the champions she slew served, that didn’t matter. This battle wasn’t real, not in the sense that mattered there would be no permanent death for anyone here. That made her angry, everyone else had to fight and risk death to gain power but the chosen of the gods were given these opportunities to gain power with no risk.
A snarl twisted her face as she cut down the last remaining champion from the party of five, he had been an armored mage of some type, but his extra armor hadn’t helped him. The spectral variants of the party now gathered around her. The spectral healer was able to still repair their spirit forms and the knight whose spirit had been filled with holes from the mages attacks was returned to a more solid appearance.
More and more champions arrived, brought in by the cries of alarm and the screams of the dying. It was time to leave, she had done her part in causing a distraction and destruction. Regardless of how powerful Mordred thought she was fighting dozens of champions at once over open ground was not something she could do. Guinevere ordered her specters to remain behind and fight until they were destroyed to buy her as much time as she could. With that done she began running back to the tower.
---
Mira stood beside Lancelot as they looked over the grassy plains around them. They had found a capture point and had to remain here to capture it.
“Are you alright?” Lancelot asked. “I don’t mean to pry but you seem… different.”
“My team lost one its members,” Mira said. “The Warlord killed him, after that… it shook my faith.”
“The Warlord?” Lancelot asked. “Guinevere didn’t mention anything about encountering your party.”
“You’ve seen Guinevere?” Mira asked. “I thought the Warlord had her under his control, he ordered her to stand aside and not interfere when we fought him.”
“Guinevere is different now,” Lancelot said. “A spell might explain it but she’s immune to domination effects, her father made sure of that.”
Mira shivered and rubbed along her collar bone remembering Guinevere telling them of the enchantment engraved into her bones. “Then I don’t understand how she could just stand by. The Warlord… he wasn’t human in the way he fought. I saw his flesh stripped down to the bone and he kept moving as if his entrails weren’t hanging out of his stomach.”
“Could be a berserker skill,” Lancelot said.
“I’ve seen those,” Mira said. “This was different, it was as if he didn’t feel any pain at all. His weapon was something else also, it was made of crimson lighting and had a growl like beast. Whenever he swung it it turned into a scream.”
“What rank was he?” Lancelot asked.
“Under four hundred,” Mira said. “We were all higher ranks than him, but it didn’t matter. I saw him fight before against Guinevere it was brutal swings but no real skill or training; when we fought him it was like he was a different person.”
“What will you do if we see him again,” Lancelot said.
Mira’s fingers tightened around her bow, her knuckles turning white from the force of it. “I’m going to get some payback.”