With her SP depleted, Maria could no longer maintain her flight so she began falling from the skies. Her head was also a little fuzzy and she couldn’t concentrate as she felt as if a large boulder was weighing down on her brain and chest.
“Well, I can’t always win...Primals are strong opponents and this isn’t the first time I lost against one so it’s fine…”
However, while she was falling to the ground, Thor quickly made his recovery and growled at Maria before lunging at her who was falling from the sky. Maria had lost a lot of HP from taking on Thor’s attack earlier so another few combos would kill her. The Primal didn’t relent and immediately threw his two weapons at Maria, striking her body and flinging her up into the air again.
“Oh no! Mary!” Lizzy stood up and yelled when she saw her friend helplessly take the boss monster’s attacks.
“...She’s exhausted...I bet her SP gauge is completely empty now…” Emily said with a pained look.
“...” Amanda was frowning hard when she saw her friend being helplessly beaten up by the monster.
Maria was already too exhausted to even scream out in pain as Thor’s attacks relentlessly connected with her body.
“Ugh…”
She had already resigned to her loss but something completely out of expectations happened in the next instant when Thor depleted her HP to 1%.
*DING*
Passive skill: [God Save the Queen], has been activated. As a Queen you are not easily killed! You are now invincible for the next 5 seconds!
‘...What use is that going to─oh wait…’
Maria remembered something the moment her Queen subclass skill had activated.
‘What the heck, it doesn’t hurt to try…I’m already at my wit's end now.’
“Please work... [Summon: Ash], [Summon: Carmilla], [Summon: Alexa]!”
Nothing happened when she tried summoning her subordinates using her [Royal Decree] sub-skill but what she didn’t see was that behind her, 3 glowing balls of light had suddenly appeared. The balls of light morphed into people and just before Maria fell face-first into the ground and Thor’s hammer and ax struck her once again, a slender pair of pale arms extended from one of the balls of light and lightly blocked the two weapons before another light ball embraced her and stopped her fall.
“...Heh...who knew?” Maria weakly said as she stared up at Ash’s face that had appeared once the ball of light burst, revealing the people behind them.
“My Queen, you called?”
“Your Majesty, where are we?”
“Big sister, you’re here! Oh no! You’re injured!”
The three newcomers that appeared on the battlefield were Maria’s trusted vampire subordinates from her faction, Alexa, Ash, and Carmilla. She had never thought of using her [Royal Decree] skill in battle before because Maria always tackled any kind of situation by herself but it wasn’t like she was against seeking help from her subordinates, it’s just that most of the time, she forgot.
The audience watching was quite alarmed to see the trio of beautiful people suddenly appear in Maria’s direst moment and manage to save her. Everyone also didn’t forget the moment when Carmilla had suddenly appeared and easily blocked Thor’s attack like it was nothing.
“Who are these 3 people? They don’t seem to be players but...NPCs?” Tyler exclaimed in question. He gave voice to all of the perplexity that everyone was currently holding as Maria had suddenly summoned 3 unknown beings, who appeared quite powerful, to her side.
Most people didn’t know who they were but Maria’s long-time regulars of her stream knew who they were as they cheered in unison. As people who watched Maria’s streams, they knew all about her undefeated streak when fighting alone so it was hard for them to watch as their favorite player was on the losing side of the battle this time. When all hope seemed lost, Maria was actually able to pull another card from her sleeve so all of her stream’s viewers cheered in elation when she managed to pull herself out of her current predicament.
Yun Chi had been waiting for information which was quickly brought to her so she quickly began talking, “I’ve just received news! Apparently, this is a product of one of player Maria’s skills from her subclass which allows her to summon her subordinates from her faction to help her! From the information I acquired, these 3 are all very powerful NPCs who player Maria has managed to recruit!”
Back on the battlefield, Carmilla and Alexa were cautiously sizing up Thor who had stopped in his tracks as he too sized up the 3 newcomers that had suddenly appeared. Ash was still cradling his Queen in his arms but after feeling the lifeforce left in her, he quickly noticed that Maria was already on the verge of dying. Just a light tap on her body could kill her.
“My Queen, please use my blood and restore yourself,” Ash said as he leaned close to Maria’s lips and showed his neck to her.
Maria groggily opened her eyes before she opened her mouth and bit down on Ash’s neck. The audience could see that fangs had appeared in Maria’s mouth when she bit down and began sucking on Ash’s blood as she invoked her Awakened Racial skill: [Blood Drain]. She had awakened using a high concentration of pureblood from 2 ancient vampires so it gave her the abilities of an ancient vampire, minus the detriments that came with being an actual vampire. She drained Ash’s HP to restore her own. Once she recovered a good amount of her HP, MP, and SP through [Blood Drain], she stopped and quickly stood up with Ash’s help.
“My Queen, here,” Ash said as he bowed and handed her a handkerchief.
Maria silently took the handkerchief and wiped her bloodied mouth before she immediately burnt the piece of cloth into cinders using [Fire].
“Ah...that was...never mind…”
Ash had a dismayed look on his face when Maria burnt the cloth but he only sighed and shook his head. He could tell that Her Majesty was quite angry, not at anyone, but at herself.
Carmilla began cracking her fingers as orbs of blood began forming around her. She turned to Maria and asked, “Shall I get rid of this insect, Your Majesty?”
Maria walked in front of the trio who already began taking out their weapons in preparation for battle. Thor also readied himself for another bout and to everyone, it seemed that way because Maria extended her two arms and telekinetically pulled her two weapons, Calamity and Zantetsu-R, back into her hands. However, instead of immediately rushing at Thor, Maria sheathed her weapons on her back and said, “Enough...I lost today’s battle.”
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
“...My Queen?”
“Your Majesty?”
“Sis?”
“???”
“?!”
“Oh?”
The three vampires who looked ready to tear Thor into a million pieces because he had harmed and nearly killed their Queen were immediately puzzled when they heard her words. It was the same for the audience. They expected another awesome fight to begin as Maria had suddenly pulled another trick up her sleeve but their expectations were dashed when she announced that it was her loss.
“I already lost this fight the moment I was forced to summon you three to save me. I won’t stoop so low as to gang up on an opponent who won against me just to save my pride...In fact, it’ll only tarnish it.”
“...As you wish, my Queen.”
“By your command, Your Majesty.”
“I’ll listen to you, big sis…”
“Mhm...now return to Vanhal. We’re done here.”
“Yes!”
The three bowed to her before Ash began invoking the reverse summoning spell. The three sent a glare at Thor who seemed ready to fight and since he was acting so threatening, Ash clicked his tongue before raising a finger and firing off a [Blood Ray] at the Primal. The red laser was cast so fast that it caught Thor off guard and struck him square in the chest, blasting the Primal far into the distance. The [Blood Ray] launched the Primal through trees and hills before eventually, he struck a mountain peak which began crumbling as he crashed into it.
Maria just silently stared at the destruction her subordinate’s technique had caused without saying anything.
“My Queen...that insect...was looking at you quite threateningly…I apologize if I stepped out of line.”
“Just go back.”
“Yes.”
In the far distance, Maria could hear an indignant roar that was followed up by clashes of thunder and lightning. She saw off her 3 vampire subordinates before turning to the sky and saying, “I give up! I acknowledge my loss so can you bring me out now?”
“...”
“...”
Everyone watching was rendered speechless by her words and actions. After summoning 3 very powerful helpers, it was obvious that she should have taken advantage of their numbers and strengths to thoroughly take revenge and beat the crap out of Thor but instead, she announced her loss and wanted to be sent out of the game. The team monitoring the fight lagged for a moment before they immediately executed the order and announced Maria’s loss as well as the end of the final Boss Hunting battle.
“Th-The battle...it just ended like that?” Tyler asked in question after seeing Maria being logged out of the game and the large ‘Challenge Failed’ wording being displayed on the large screens hanging above the event ring.
“Oh my, Player Maria sure has her own ways of handling things! To think she’d announce her loss when it was quite obvious that the tide had shifted in her favor!” Hadez said as he shook his head.
Yun Chi thought differently and said, “Player Maria could have easily pulled this card out at the start of the match, but she didn’t. It’s obvious that she wanted a fair, 1vs1 battle against Thor. Although pets and NPCs aren’t banned from participating in the battle as it’s not stated in the rule book that they were prohibited, Maria could have easily defeated the already Red HP Thor with her 3 subordinates. Did you not see that the final attack that blew away Thor had depleted his HP until there was only 1% remaining?”
“Hmmm, I’m not saying it’s wrong, but it’s such a waste since Player Maria has essentially given up the rewards from winning the event! However, I must praise her for her good show of sportsmanship! This is a true testament to Player Maria’s upright nature! Hahahaha!”
Hadez executed his signature laugh as he ended his words on a good note and praised Maria for her actions. Everyone in the crowd did think it was a waste of a victory and a somewhat anticlimactic end to such an awesome battle, but they started appreciating Maria’s actions now that a little bit of light was shed on it.
What Yun Chi and Hadez said was true, however, Maria didn’t do this because of sportsmanship or whatever. She did this to preserve her dignity as a Queen and a Warrior. She lost the moment she was forced to unleash a full-force [Shin-Zantetsuken] which killed both her and her opponent. She couldn’t kill her opponent so the only outcome was her death. Maria didn’t like the feeling of dying because it was too vivid for her because of her bugged settings so she had fearfully cast [Royal Decree] in hopes that her subordinates would save her from her inevitable death.
Once she was outside of the game, Maria walked out of the booth but to everyone’s surprise, it was like the game’s character had walked out as Maria hadn’t put on her hood nor her mask. Her beautiful face was laid bare as the cameras zoomed in on her and her platinum blonde hair cascaded down her back until the ends of her hair nearly met the floor.
Everyone who laid eyes on her all had the same thought, the game's character had come to life! Lizzy and the girls all cried out in alarm when they saw her but it was too late to do anything now. She had shown her face already but they noticed that something was wrong. Her usually blank face was scrunched up into a frown and her eyes were as cold as ice as she walked past the casters, the MC, and all of the other participants without a word or pause in her steps.
The aura she was radiating appeared so bloodthirsty that it stopped people from approaching her and this made the people nearby even more convinced that instead of the real-life, shy, and timid Maria who had walked out of the booth, it was Unitale's Bloodthirsty Queen, Fallen Angel Maria. With the way she was acting, everyone could see that she was upset about something.
Although she had taken the loss against Thor and acknowledged it herself, it didn’t mean that Maria was happy with it. This was her second-ever loss since starting the game and she was beyond just feeling upset about it, she was furious.
Maria was so angry with herself that her usually blank expression had cracked into a furious look and she no longer cared about keeping up with her appearance as she revealed her face to the world and released the personality she had developed inside of the game in real life.
Just before she walked off the stage, Yun Chi quickly ran up to her and stopped her. She then asked, “M-Maria, before you go, do you have any thoughts of the battle?!”
Maria glared at her before answering after a short pause, “...Next time...I won’t lose...and next time, I’ll tear that Primal bastard’s limbs out of his sockets and feed them to my hellhound.”
“...”