“It's ridiculous…” Hae-won spoke breathlessly as she looked at the battle unfolding before her. “To survive an assault like that from a Warmaster’s Essence of War skill, combined with the deadly threat of the Sword of Hatred, in my history of casting video games, I think I can count on one hand the number of players who could do that. Yet, despite surviving that and fighting Seraxus in a two vs one, it still feels…”

“So hopeless,” The VGN caster continued Hae-won’s sentence for her, and the two exchanged strange abyssling glances for a moment. “Did anyone else ever even have a chance against this guy?”

Aegis glanced down at his right hand, wielding the reforged claws of jealousy extending beyond his knuckles. He was looking at his hand to confirm what he felt from it—it was trembling. He clenched his fist to try to stem it as adrenaline pumped through his body, wracking his nerves, both in and out of the game, and the sim-box was converting it perfectly into his avatar. He wasn’t the only one, though, as several feet away, despite trying to put on a calm appearance, Seraxus understood his situation. He did his best to pose calmly and relax his hands at his sides as the three orange weapons hovered behind him seamlessly, but this made his trembling more visible until he clenched his fists just as Aegis had.

“20 seconds left on that skill,” Aegis mumbled under his breath, but either it was loud enough for Seraxus to hear, or Seraxus read his lips—Aegis wasn’t sure which.

“Bouta be the longest 20 seconds of your life," Seraxus replied, assuredly loud enough for Aegis to hear his retort before he swung the hovering weapons in Aegis’ direction, sending out waves of orange energy.

This time, Aegis didn’t raise his shield. He jumped backward to avoid the strikes and watched as they crashed into the arena floor, sending up sand and debris from the impacts. No longer able to heal himself, he couldn’t afford to block unnecessarily, and Seraxus was painfully aware of this, firing desperate attacks from a safe distance in the hopes of putting any possible dents into Aegis’ health.

Once Aegis dodged the first few, Seraxus jumped into action by charging forward at him while keeping his weapons a safe distance away to avoid them taking any more hits. Aegis responded to this aggression by firing off his smite spell while his remaining mana struggled to recover after the grand purification spell. The smites, like the orange waves coming from Seraxus’ weapons, were very linear in their trajectory, making it easy for Seraxus to move his weapons away from just as Aegis was having a relatively easy time avoiding the Essence of War strikes as they came from the front.

As Seraxus charged, he fanned out his weapons to surround Aegis, but Aegis continued to back away and avoid this, shifting to the left any time Seraxus maneuvered his floating weapons through the air on the right. Aegis had his eyes glued to the movement of the weapons, even when Seraxus finally reached Aegis with his fists and started swinging at him. The game plan had stayed the same: to destroy those weapons.

It was a long, tense 20 seconds of very precise and careful movements. When the orange glow around the three weapons finally faded, Aegis had gone unscathed, and Seraxus pulled back immediately from the engagement to get some distance between the two.

“Aite. Not bad, not bad. You know…” Seraxus began pacing while moving his weapons back behind himself. “I got some respect for you. Unlike most of ‘em dumb PvE streamers, you ain't fake. You ain't puttin' on a show, stoppin’ every 5 minutes to chat with your audience. You playin’ the game for real.”

Aegis listened to him, using the talking time as an opportunity to let his mana recover, but he didn’t reply.

“You make a lotta the same mistakes they do, though. You should never reveal your strategy to yer stream, bro. Chatters, they jump between our chats. Ain't no way I’m not gonna hear about it. You and I both know that you ain't good enough to take me one-on-one, so the schemes were all you had,” Seraxus chuckled forcefully.

“You also don’t get the situation since you’re new to this scene. See, guys like me, who are the best, always get hidden behind a sea of all these fake wannabes who take all the credit for our hard work. So this,” Seraxus motioned to the sword of hatred hovering behind him with a head nod, “It ain't personal. I’m just rectifyin’ an injustice. I’d think you of all people’d understand that, with all that shit your dad’s been spewin’.”

“Kill him…” The sword of hatred hissed into Seraxus’ ear.

“You take advantage of people to get on top, then throw them aside when you no longer need them. You take no responsibility for your actions and do whatever you want. Then you try to justify it with some bullshit reasoning. I despise people like you. It’s personal,” Aegis answered coolly.

“Bullshit reasoning? Bro, don’t be talkin’ to me like that. You actin’ all tough in a matchup you can’t even win. Haven’t you realized? This is already over,” Seraxus mocked as he motioned to the arena around them.

“Then end it.”

“I am,” Seraxus shrugged. “I’m takin’ a page outta your book,” Seraxus smirked, and Aegis took a second to realize what he meant. “How much longer you got left on those wings, huh?” The smirk grew, and Aegis realized now why Seraxus had gotten so talkative—he was trying to wait out the Avatar of Eirene.

Aegis let out a frustrated sigh to himself, eying his mana to confirm he now had more than enough to cast a Virabhadra, then began slowly walking towards Seraxus.

“Can he win?” Ren asked as he nervously hopped around the tavern. He was being ignored by the other patrons, who’d all fallen silent, watching Aegis’ stream. “Last time he was in a one-on-one with Seraxus, Aegis lost, right? But this time, Seraxus has fewer weapons. But he still has a spell eater. Guys? Can h-”

Sapphire slapped her hand over his mouth as he paced behind her chair, quieting him enough to get him to see the look of worry on all the faces of his guildmates.

Yuki, too, was pacing around. She was in the throne room of the Kordas' keep. Several Royal Kordas guards were standing at the doors into the chamber, and atop the oversized throne at the center of the room sat a worried but elegantly dressed Queen Savika of Kalmoore.

“How is the battle going? I wish I could watch it alongside you otherworlders…” Savika asked Yuki, seeing the concern on her face. “Has Aegis won? Has he been defeated?”

“Neither,” Yuki paused to look at Savika. “He’s still fighting.”

The moment Aegis took a few steps towards Seraxus, Seraxus backed off to keep the distance between them the same. He pulled his sword of hatred back into his hands and twirled the hilt to show off his swordsmanship.

Aegis picked up his pace, and Seraxus matched it backward. Aegis went from walking to powerwalking to jogging until finally sprinting at Seraxus at full speed, which Seraxus matched by running away from him at full speed and smiling as he did, keeping his spear and axe as high up in the air as possible.

“You’re faster with chargestrike, but can’t use that while running away from me,” Aegis shouted.

“Hah, I don’t need chargestrike to be faster than you.”

“We’ll see about that,” Aegis tilted his head downwards, dug the tips of his wings into the ground, and dropped on all fours, using the wings as extra limbs and propelling himself forward along the ground at an incredible speed. His movement looked remarkably similar to how the Mosmir’s crawled through their hive, and the speed that Aegis gained from this maneuver caught Seraxus completely off-guard.

He closed the distance fast, and once he was close enough, he used a burst of speed by releasing a powerful gust of wind backward with his wings of light while simultaneously projecting a guard to block Seraxus’ movements temporarily.

Seraxus was quick to maneuver around the projected shield, but it was enough for Aegis to close the gap with a lunge forward of his shield. Seraxus saw the engagement inevitable, and just as Aegis was about to reach him, he threw his sword of hatred from his right hand to his left to get around Aegis’ shield.

Aegis matched this by projecting his second guard in front of Seraxus’ left hand to block the strike, then spun his shield outward so that his left hand could grab Seraxus’ right shoulder and hold him in place. The moment Aegis’ hand gripped him, he spoke.

“Virabhad-” Aegis spoke, and Seraxus’ eyes went wide with shock and disbelief at Aegis’ bold, rushed tactic. Before the spell could even finish casting, Seraxus had switched his sword of hatred for his floating battleaxe to ready the spell-eater enchantment. Aegis stopped at the last syllable and instead immediately grabbed at the axe with his right hand, taking advantage of its large hilt to grip it underneath Seraxus’ grip.

With it held, Aegis knew that Seraxus could no longer execute the switch skill to send it away. Seraxus also knew this and immediately pulled his head back and slammed it with full force into Aegis’s nose. Aegis stumbled backward from the strike but refused to let go of the hilt of the axe, abandoning his defenses to strike it with his claws of jealousy in his free hand.

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

Seraxus yanked it back defiantly, desperate to break Aegis’ grip on it. Simultaneously, he sent the other two weapons barreling out of the sky at Aegis to assist himself. The sword of hatred shot at Aegis from above his head, attempting to skewer him, but a projection of his shield stopped it. The spear came at Aegis from the side, and he sidestepped, causing it to crash into the floor where his feet had been. Aegis pulled his left arm back to slash at the spear, then thrust it forward to slash at the axe again, the metal of his weapon clanging loudly throughout the arena as if it was the only sound to be heard.

Seraxus kicked out at Aegis, but Aegis pulled his left wing in front of himself to absorb the force of the kick and redirect it back to the ground. Seraxus switched his sword of hatred above Aegis for the spear beside his feet and took a swipe at Aegis’ legs with the sword, but Aegis pulled his left arm down to block the sword with his shield, creating a blinding eruption of light and shadow.

This action tied up Aegis’s hands, while Seraxus attempted to move his other hand onto the hilt to overpower Aegis’s grip. Aegis used his right wing to block Seraxus’s right hand from reaching the axe so that Aegis could avoid being overpowered and maintain his grip on it.

The spear was then moved to Aegis’s back and struck him directly between his wings, dealing piercing damage.

You take 731 piercing damage.

From this position, Aegis only had one avenue of attack on the battle-axe if he wanted to keep damaging its durability. He pulled his head back and slammed it into the flat side of the battle-axe’s blade, headbutting it and taking damage unto himself.

You take 611

Slashing damage.

Seraxus switched the sword of hatred with the spear, so that the sword was now at Aegis’s back. Aegis spun to the side so that his right side was facing Seraxus, and his left side was facing the sword to block a strike from it. That left the spear before him, shooting at him like a bullet. Aegis attempted to smack it downward with his left wing, but Seraxus maneuvered the spear around his wing and pierced it directly into Aegis’ red salamander-scaled armor.

You take 844 Piercing damage.

Aegis ignored the pain from the attack and the headbutt and turned his head to the side once more. He held the axe in place, shielding it from Seraxus’ right hand, and pulled it in to headbutt it again. This time, it was enough. The accumulated damage that had been dealt to the axe’s durability up until this point, thanks to both Aegis and Rakkan, had finally reduced it to 0. The axe disintegrated into tiny pieces and fell to the ground. Aegis immediately swarmed his wings around Seraxus to pull him in while projecting a guard above Seraxus as he attempted to jump up and away from Aegis to disengage from him.

Seraxus, locked in, pulled his sword of hatred through the air and attempted to slice at Aegis as it moved from the side of Aegis, around him, and into Seraxus’ hands, but Aegis followed the sword with the shield of light on his left arm to prevent it from cutting him.

As Seraxus caught the sword of hatred in his hands, Aegis saw the wide eyes of terror on Seraxus’ face. He was stuck, with no battleaxe to bail him out.

“Virabhadra!” Shouted frantically, releasing a dome of white light from his body. The red arms of Shiva formed from his shoulders, unleashing the damage he’d taken up to this point from all of those sustained attacks he’d received from the Essence of War skill.

Just as the dome of light encapsulated Seraxus, though, he switched his sword of hatred out for the spear, and tiny blue mouths appeared on the spear’s head. They opened wide and absorbed the magic of the Virabhadra, causing Aegis’ eyes to go wide with disbelief.

The fake look of terror on Seraxus’ face changed into a grin, and he burst out laughing as Aegis took several quick, frustrated swings at the spear, destroying it. Seraxus didn’t seem to care, though, and let Aegis take a few more swings at him even after the spear had disintegrated.

“Aha, alright, okay, calm down, that’s enough,” Seraxus finally sighed, jumping backward away from Aegis to create some distance.

“The enchantment was on the axe. How?!” Aegis asked him in confusion.

“Bro, seriously? You announced your plan on your stream. Shit, look at you. You gotta know how easy it is to predict someone who only has one way of winning, right? You think you’re the first person to try some shit like that?” Seraxus shook his head at him disapprovingly. “I got multiple Spelleater echants on all weapon types, with spares in my inventory. I swap 'em in and out randomly. Do you think I would keep it equipped on my axe after you saw that? C’mon, bro,” Seraxus continued. ”You shoulda seen the look on your face. You thought you had me, didn’t you?”

Aegis took several steps backward to create more distance between them. It wasn’t more than a few steps before his glowing wings of light faded away, signaling the end of his Avatar of Eirene spell.

“You get it now. I’m the best, period. You see this, folks?” Seraxus turned to look up at the audience of NPCs in the stands, now all disguised as abysslings. He directed his words specifically to Hae-won and the others standing on the raised platform. “Aint no one can stop me. I run this game. This is MY Shattered World!” Seraxus shouted triumphantly.

“I bet VGN regrets not backing me now, eh? All you goofy clowns playin’ music, boppin' around and teamin’ up, and you STILL couldn’t stop me. His voice carried through the arena, with no other sound in the immediate vicinity to compete with it—the closest thing was the loud, distant explosions erupting throughout the city of Stormtop.

“Look at that. They dunno what to say,” Seraxus turned back to Aegis. “They don’t get it’s over yet. You’re gonna have to explain it to 'em,” Seraxus pointed his sword at Aegis with a big grin on his face. Aegis straightened himself out and tightened the straps on his shield to his left arm, taking a deep breath.

“You won’t? Maybe Hae-won will?” Seraxus turned to look up at her, but she remained silent. “Fine, aite. Don’t worry, I got this. I’ll explain it. It’s now mathematically impossible for Aegis to win. The amount of damage he needs to take for his Virabhadra to kill me now far exceeds how much health he has, and his claws do barely any damage, thanks to my sword’s armor bonus. Even if he blocks every single hit from my last remaining weapon,” Seraxus twirled his sword of hatred around playfully, “I can just punch his ass to death leisurely, and I’ll come out on top.” He let out a laugh as he finished this sentence.

Aegis glared back at him in defiance.

“Is he right?” The VGN caster asked Hae-won, to which Hae-won hesitantly nodded yes.

“Damn,” Kenji grunted as he and Serenity witnessed the exchange.

“It’s okay… we’re still out here. We can beat him when the tournament ends together,” Serenity shouted with desperation in her voice. “Don’t worry, Aegis!” She called out. “We can still win together, right?”

Seraxus shook his head condescendingly. “She doesn’t get it. Look, forfeit, and I’ll show ‘em all,” he said to Aegis. “You logged out for our first match in Rene and forfeited our other matches. You still ain't got your soul sucked by this sword, so if you forfeit, you’ll at least be able to say that. ‘I fought Seraxus, and he didn’t steal my soul; he only destroyed everything and everyone else.’” Seraxus spoke in a voice that mocked Aegis’, then laughed again.

“I said it when I got to this island, didn’t I?” Aegis took a fighting stance. “You’re not getting past my shield."

Seraxus let out an elongated sigh. “Fine. Alright, let’s do it the hard way.” He reluctantly stomped forward to meet Aegis head-on, sending his sword into the air to hover while he readied his fists.

“At least he’s still pretty damn cool, right? He’s the number one streamer right now,” Tommy said into a voice call with Shinji. They were both watching Aegis’ livestream footage in their respective office simulations, though Shinji was actively manipulating and editing the feed rather than just watching it. “That’s gotta count for something, right?”

“I don’t think he cares much about that,” Shinji replied without losing focus on what he was doing.

“Can he win?” Tommy asked.

“I don’t see a way,” Shinji replied without emotion.

“Then why’s he still fighting?”

“He’s stubborn.”

Nicholas, also watching from his office simulation, turned towards Samantha, standing idle in the corner of the room.

“Is there any way that Aegis can come out on top in a one-versus-one against Seraxus, given their currently known player states?” Nicholas asked her.

“The only possible victory path for the player Aegis is if his opponent loses connection or forfeits,” Samantha replied in her robotic female voice. Upon hearing it, Nicholas put his hands over his head and tilted them downwards as he ran his fingers through his hair and sighed.

“He’s gotta have some trick left, right?” Ren asked the others in the tavern. “Anything? Some spell he hasn’t used?”

“There’s nothing left,” Herilon replied coldly, tilting his head down to avoid looking at the stream any longer.

“Nah, no way. He’s always got a trick up his sleeve. This is Aegis we’re talking about!” Ren replied desperately. “C’mon, Quinn. Tell ‘em. You probably already know what he’s planning, right?” Ren asked her with hopeful eyes, but Quinn could only shake her head and dispel any hope Ren had left.

Aegis and Seraxus’s following clash was brutally personal. Seraxus no longer had any other weapons besides the Sword of Hatred, and Aegis had no wings left, just his shield and claws. The red damage numbers that Aegis got onto Seraxus with the claws were barely in the triple digits, while Seraxus was managing to land hits with his feet and fists closer to the quadruple digits.

They held their own, letting out angry, violent grunts as their attacks connected. Still, Aegis never let up his focus on making sure to block the hovering sword of hatred from ever getting through the defense of his shield, but Seraxus wasn’t putting in a whole lot of effort to land a hit with it.

As he saw the wincing pain on Aegis’ face from his punches, he started to enjoy hitting him.

“C’mon. You can’t be havin’ fun lettin’ me kick your ass like this, can you? Have some dignity. Stop tryin’ to act all tough. You know you can’t win,” Seraxus sighed as Aegis reeled from a series of punches, retaliating barely with a single strike from the claws.

“You were right,” Aegis recovered and straightened himself out before lunging into another exchange of blows. “About both things you said earlier, you were right.”

“Oh yeah? I said a lotta things. Which ones?” Seraxus asked after landing a clean right hook on Aegis’s jaw, despite Aegis’s attempt to dodge it. Aegis rubbed his chin briefly as the sting of the crushing damage rattled through his head for a moment before retaliating with a swipe of his claws, which Seraxus leaned backward to avoid.

“One, you said I couldn’t beat you one-on-one. It’s true. You’re insanely good at this game, by far the best player I’ve encountered,” Aegis explained.

“Oh, why, thank you.” Seraxus did a small curtsey. “And the other thing?”

“Two,” Aegis took a step back for a moment to catch his breath and looked Seraxus carefully up and down to see that he, too, was breathing heavily, indicating they were both low on stamina. Once Aegis confirmed this, a slight grin began to creep over his face, which raised Seraxus's concern.

“Only an idiot reveals his plans on stream,” Aegis turned his head from Seraxus to look at the far side of the arena–the very same side from which he and his party had entered. Seraxus followed Aegis’ eyes but saw an empty arena behind him. “His stamina is low enough. It’s now or never!” Aegis shouted across the arena.

“Got it,” A familiar female voice replied from the direction Aegis was facing, and it only took seconds for Seraxus to recognize the voice. A wave of blue magic rippled outward around the silhouette of a beautiful elf with long blonde hair, her hands held up in the air as her invisibility spell faded from her body.

“What the f-” Seraxus couldn’t even get the words out.

“PYROCLASM!” Pyri shouted at the top of her lungs.