I’d applied four stacks of evisceration. Not nearly enough to kill Annath, especially not if I landed my crit against her helmet. I’d need to land a vital hit on open skin if I wanted to one-shot her, which would be impossible, considering she was fully covered in metal.

  I didn’t activate [Eviscerate] to kill her. I did it because Sablethorn’s defence stealing mechanic could also crit.

  The dagger’s blade hit her helmet with a deep twang. The stacks of evisceration ripped open and cracked her helmet, dealing 4% damage. Sablethorn glowed bright, and my defence shot straight to 1728.

  Annath’s next swing came, and I calmly lifted The Immortal for the block. Blades collided.

  I didn’t flinch anymore. The most famous mythic sword, enhanced by [Sword Dance] and [Touch Of Godhood], wasn’t scary anymore. Blocking it was now as easy as dealing with any mid-game tank.

  Annath danced back, realizing her mistake. She tried to keep slashing at the very edge of her sword’s range.

  I didn’t let her, [Shadow Dashing] straight through her swing. I hit again, grazing her helmet for another 91 defence. She still had more to offer.

  Annath hopped, then [Double Jumped] backward, taking flight to escape, out of my arm’s reach.

  Veyra’s staff followed her flight path perfectly as she cast [Ray Of Time]. The spell tracked Annath’s chestplate like a laser burning through. Annath’s health bar dropped rapidly, falling to 71% in three seconds. Now that her defence was crushed, Veyra’s spells dealt serious damage. She still had a lot of elemental resistances, meaning Veyra couldn’t one-shot, but defence was still partly a contributor to resisting magic.

  The glow around Annath’s sword suddenly disappeared. She hopped, and instead of buffing her sword with [Sword Dance], an aura enveloped her armor. [Sword Dance] also had a defensive variant to buff her defence and resistances.

  I still had the defence I’d stolen earlier. I ran after Annath, while she cast ranged attacks at me, continuing to escape, trying her best to escape until Sablethorn reset. I side-stepped the first blow, ducked underneath the second, and simply blocked the third, until [Shadow Dash] finally came off of its cooldown.

  Annath was forced to land to reset [Double Jump], and I dashed, hitting her once again in the helmet. The defence she’d just buffed herself with made it straight to my dagger.

  Her attacks were even lighter now, enhanced by nothing. I blocked easily.

  [Immortal Parry - Active Conditions Met]

  Her posture was blown open, and I hit thrice more, stealing 481 defence in total.

  The left side of her helmet cracked open, revealing a grimace. Annath hopped—still with perfect footwork, somehow staying composed—and used [Sword Dash] straight to Veyra, who stood beside the mountain at the edge of the arena.

  But Veyra still had her portal. She cast [Chronorift] on Annath’s path, taking her health to 52%, and hopped in.

  She didn’t teleport to safety, however, but the portal took her straight up to the flat mountain wall. She closed her eyes, her staff glowing while she fell.

  Annath activated [Super Sensitivity], and her head panned upward, sensing Veyra right away. She planted her foot on the ground and threw a heavy uppercut at Veyra.

  No you won’t! I thought as I [Shadow Dashed] straight up. I materialized in the air just below Veyra, blocking Annat’s swing. I slashed at it with The Immortal.

  In the air, I missed the perfect block, but it didn’t matter. I had too much defence. My health dropped to 13% and I survived.

  I then hugged Veyra in the air, my face just above her waist. [Time Freeze] blew up.

  Slash.

  Annath’s wings fell limp, and she collapsed on the ground with a metallic thump. Her body began disintegrating.

  [You Have Won Round Two]

  [Team Solo Mage 1 - 1 Team Celestial Order]

  I laughed, still hugging Veyra at an awkward angle. I didn’t let go, however, but fixed the angle and pressed my forehead against hers. “Holy shit. That was awesome.”

  “Aiden, we’re live…” Veyra sighed. “This is the Worlds stage.”

  I chuckled as the arena went black, and we found ourselves back in the loading screen. We won. We actually won against one of the five gods. My impulsive decision to purchase Sablethorn let me fight against the swordmaiden herself!

  Maybe we wouldn’t have to move to the losers’ bracket, after all.

  The adrenaline of the fight remained for the entire loading screen, while I waited to load for the third and final round. The pop-up to load back in eventually came. I loaded in next to Veyra with a huge grin on my face, ready to bring this home.

  That grin faded immediately when I spotted two more players having loaded in with Annath.

  DJmikolele and Prancer2 stood nonchalantly behind their guild leader. Miko wore a warlock’s robe: the type of outfit one could imagine a cultist wearing, except his robe was filled with rainbows, and his crooked staff was painted pink. Next to him, Prancer was a long-haired man in a full-coverage robe with a disinterested look on his face, as if he was already bored. Prancer was known to be a player who rarely ever moved in combat, though he also used quick-casting. Their team had already clicked the ready button, waiting for the match to start.

  The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  “Yeah, I figured,” Veyra said. “Annath wouldn’t just give us the win.”

  She was already studying the new arrivals’ items, though the look on her face wasn’t determined or hopeful.

  “Looks like they both have supportive playstyles,” Veyra said. “Prancer has a classic parry healer build, and Miko is a swamp warlock. Nothing complex, but I don’t think we can beat them.”

  “Let’s learn all we can now and give it our best shot in the finals,” I said. “It’ll be a best of five.”

  “We should focus on other opponents,” Veyra said. “The prize for second place is still a hundred thousand gold split between us.”

  I frowned at that. Miko and Prancer were both good, but it wasn’t like they were gods. They were just supports for Annath, making her even stronger. Surely, a few support players couldn’t completely turn the tide against us.

  We used four of our five minutes to discuss strategies, until we believed we were ready. We clicked the button for the battle to start.

  How different can this be? I thought. Annath is still our only serious opponent.

  The arena opened, and immediately I activated [Shadow Dash] with the exact same strategy as I’d used in round two. Overwhelm her, steal her defence before her healers can do shit!

  My dash missiled straight to her, my daggers clinking against her armor. I stole 121 defence. So far so good.

  Until I landed on the ground, and my feet got stuck in mud.

  [Warlock’s Territory: Your Movement Speed, Defence, and All Resistances are reduced by 50% inside the Warlock’s swamp.]

  The stone ground turned into a swamp as the tip of Miko’s staff glowed a dark green. My resistances and defence dropped to practically zero. My legs felt stuck, and my arms flailed sluggishly.

  But Annath is affected as well. It’s an AoE spell!

  Except, Annath was just fine. Miko angled the spell’s area to hit in a circle around my legs, leaving Annath untouched. She fought at the very edge of the swamp, still with full movement speed.

  Her sword came. I lifted The Immortal as usual.

  I was too slow. The movement speed debuff made it impossible to fight. I saw perfectly where her sword was aimed, but my arm just felt too sluggish.

  Her sword cut straight through, and Veyra’s spell saved me. [Astral Rage] activated, and the aura of time magic surrounded my body.

  I pushed forward by force, straight to Annath. I lifted a foot and planted it outside the swamp. But with one foot in, my hands were still slow. Annath’s sword was crashing down on me.

  [Shadow Dash] was still on cooldown. I couldn’t block. I literally could not fight.

  A portal spawned underneath my feet, and I fell in just as Annath was about to kill me. I got out of the swamp, and the weight on my limbs disappeared. I could move once again.

  “Holy shit,” I said next to Veyra. The defence I stole with my initial attack dissipated. “I can’t touch her.”

  She bit her lip. [Astral Rage] was also running out. We’d used our moment of invincibility, and I hadn’t gotten a single hit in.

  [Warlock’s Territory] was usually a skill cast only on enemy backlines, or on approaching frontlines, because the skill’s debuffs also applied to allies. Annath’s [Sword Dance] would also be hindered if she fought inside the swamp.

  But if Miko could cast it with enough precision to only apply it to me?

  “I’ll need to save Shadow Dash for that,” I said. “The swamp’s cooldown is ten seconds, right?”

  “It’s around seven with his cooldown reduction,” Veyra said. “We’ll need to kill the supports first, or Annath will be impossible. Four more seconds for the portal cooldown.”

  Annath had activated [Touch Of Godhood] and was flying toward us. She slashed wide, hitting us both with a ranged attack.

  I moved in front and blocked with The Immortal. My feet screamed, and my low defence stat struggled to deal with the weight of her swing. No supportive spells buffed her. The only difference was that my initial push on her had failed. I didn’t have any defence now.

  She [Sword Dashed] straight to Veyra. I gritted my teeth and [Shadow Dashed] in front to block. Annath hit me with a heavy two-handed swing. Her sword exploded against my daggers, and I was sent flying to the side, my health falling to 11%.

  Veyra still had a second for the portal cooldown. She cast [Absolute Zero] and shot an icicle, though neither did much against Annath in her armor. Veyra tried to run.

  Annath hopped, buffing her sword, then slashed from a range. Veyra cast an [Elemental Barrier], but the ranged projectile ripped straight through. Veyra’s health dropped to 15%.

  She dipped a foot into a portal just as Annath’s next slash followed. The slash resounded, and Veyra died.

  Her supports stood at the same spot they’d started at with Prancer picking his nose, having done nothing the whole fight.

  It’s our loss, I realized. There was no chance to win this.

  But with Annath way off on the opposite side of the map, maybe I could kill one of their supports. I ran toward the back-line as fast as my legs took me.

  Miko reacted with another swamp under my legs, My run slowed to a trot, and Prancer shot a simple [Fireball].

  I [Shadow Dashed] through, angling Sablethorn to land into Miko’s neck.

  My figure materialized with a loud thump as my blade cut into wood. Miko protected his neck with his staff. He smiled smugly with his head behind the crooked tip.

  His staff glowed red, and he sucked the magic with a strong inhale, cheeks puffing up. He breathed out, casting [Flame Lungs] straight to my face.

  The flames grazed me, taking me from 11% to 2% health, but I ran to the side, still alive. I slashed Sablethorn at Prancer.

  The support mage finally cast a spell, activating [Wisp Of Enhancement] on his golden staff—a skill that buffed the melee swinging power of a weapon. He cast it on his own staff.

  Then the fucker swung wide, meeting my attack head-on.

  Blocking it was easy enough, but with my health at 2%, all it took was a few more of Miko’s flames to graze my back.

  Slash.

  I died.

  [You Have Lost Round Three]

  [Team Solo Mage 1 - 2 Team Celestial Order]

  [Match Over]

  I found myself back in the loading screen, gritting my teeth. Goddamn.

  Had I really just died to their supports? Not Annath’s sword, not even a trap; I just straight up died to their supports?

  Sure, I had rushed in without any support from Veyra, and without any plans of my own, but still, Annath’s supports were much more problematic than I’d assumed. They weren’t there just to boost her stats. They could actually hold their own as well.

  [Waiting for the cinematics to end. Please wait…]

  [In case of emergency, log out by clicking here.]

  That text bothered me for half a minute, until it changed to,

  [You may now log out and leave the stage.]

  My senses returned in the real world to the sound of cheers. Annath and the Celestial Order were already out of their game pods, waving at the audience.

  I, as the loser, got out silently. I saw my sister’s saddened eyes amongst the crowd of Annath’s fans. I moved to Veyra’s pod. Aree lifted her out of the pod, onto her wheelchair. Veyra met my eyes and bit her lip, but the cheers were still far too loud to speak. Quietly, we made it backstage.

  “Well, that was to be expected,” Veyra said. “We got unlucky with the brackets, having to fight her in the first round. Let’s focus on our next matches.”

  “It’s possible,” I said. “It has to be. We already beat her once. There has to be a way to beat the three of them as well.”

  “It’ll be a great achievement if we make it to the finals at all,” Veyra said. “We’ll have two more matches today.”

  Awkward silence followed as we both took in the fact that we were already in the losers’ bracket. Any loss now would eliminate us, and we’d leave Worlds with nothing at all.

  Annath and the Celestial Order returned backstage. Annath’s face was as stoic as ever. The smile she’d given to the crowd was already gone. She walked up to us, looking down at us while we sat. “You’re good, but not good enough. Maybe we’ll meet again in the finals. Good luck either way, Seven.”

  She walked off. Miko shrugged apologetically, with Prancer yawning as they followed their boss out.

  “Asshole,” I said under my breath.

  From now on, we’d need to win everything to make it back to the finals.

  20 chapters ahead on !