Vol. 1, Ch. 2 - Act 2

"Phoenix ashes, huh? Yikes," Tye sighed as she, Iris, and Annie walked through the fields of Eden, heading back to the hilltop above the babbling brook that they'd sought out the day before. Having stopped by a nearby town to sell off and *ship drop items after their run-in with Carter and Gene, they (or well, Annie) decided to head back to stock up on more holy water before leaving Eden altogether. Instead of taking the airship back to the clearing, they opted for walking, taking out mobs on their way there for sparse grinding. "Picking up feathers while dodging attacks is one thing, but actually having to kill one? More potions might not be a bad idea after all. At least until I can upgrade my *ammo," Tye considered, her arms raised, and her hands folded behind her head of poofy, curly brown hair, being careful not to press against her cat ears.

"I still think we'd be fine for travel and quests," Iris argued, her bare arms folded over her chest.

"Travel, maybe. But I agree with Annie for having some back up on quests if we're still planning on going in with three people," Tye said.

"Ha!" Annie blurted out from beside Tye, who was walking just a few steps behind Iris.

"Yeah. If we had more than one healer, we probably wouldn't have to worry as much. We've had some pretty close calls on tier one quests as it is."

"With mobs," Iris protested. "And we do have more than one healer."

"Yeah, a Symphonic that hates singing. You hardly count as a healer," Annie grumbled. "Plus, I already told you, you can't split your attention like that while you're fighting."

"You seem to handle it just fine," Iris argued.

"Yeah, because I'm helping from a distance most of the time. Plus, how are you supposed to sing the right notes while you're fighting? Humming and singing are two different things, you know. You're going to end up paralyzing us."

"Two zip," Tye snickered, making Iris groan, throwing her head back.

"Ugh, whatever."

"Why don't we just scout more party members?" Tye suggested. "We should probably think about forming a guild soon anyway to make things a little easier."

"Yeah, Iris. You're only two levels away from being able to register one," Annie reminded.

"You think of any names, yet?" Tye cheesed.

"We don't need more party members or a guild. Most players are inept trolls and being in a guild just means you're easier to track down."

"Aren't you a ray of sunshine," Annie groaned. "You know if we don't like the players, we can always kick them out, right? We need numbers!"

"No, we need skill and trust," Iris protested with a shake of her head as they approached the hilltop above the stream.

"Ugh," Annie grumbled, throwing her head back in frustration.

"Speaking of skill … Did you really think you could brew an elixir with a level three brewing skill?" Tye snickered, sending Annie into peak frustration as she stormed forward.

"You know what? Forget the both of you," Annie seethed, marching past both Tye and Iris ahead into the field's clearing. "You want to get yourselves killed, fine by –"

"Annie!" Iris shouted as she jerked forward to push her out of the way, one of her dual blades being drawn to clash with the sword that had been heading straight for her from above.

Chidori (lvl 23) HP – 90%.

Glaring above her, her burgundy eyes made contact with the bright red ones of the *demon from the day before. Smiling as his feet hit the ground, Carter pressed forward, though gained no traction against Iris' defensive force, the two locked in a cross of swords as Tye rushed over to help Annie to her feet.

A *critical hit ambush from above? Was he trying to take her out? Iris thought to herself as she struggled to hold her ground against the demon's persistence, only to have him break the contact and leap back a few feet a moment later.

"Well isn't this a coincidence?" Carter scoffed, his body crouching as if ready to attack again, which persuaded Iris to do the same, a grimace of annoyance etched into her expression.

"What the hell?" Annie carped. "Aren't these the guys from yesterday? What are they still doing here?"

"Then … That means …" Tye mumbled, her eyes narrowed as they darted about, landing on Gene a moment later, who was once again off in the background, leaning against a tree on the field's edge. Arms crossed and gaze indifferent, he didn't seem too interested in helping Carter's poorly planned endeavors this time around, either. Gasping as her face lit up with joy, Tye waved to him, practically bouncing. "Hiiii, Techie!" she almost sang, making Gene flinch, his face immediately scrunching in confused discomfort.

"Stop flirting with the enemy!" Annie barked with clenched fists.

"What do you want?" Iris asked, her focus sharp.

"A rematch," came Carter. "And to wipe out your inventory."

"Oh great. *Griefers," Annie groaned, her shoulders slumping. "Don't worry about the supplies, they said. We're not gonna get attacked, they said."

"I don't think they're griefers…" Tye argued. "I've never seen a group of griefers without a Mage. There's only so many items you can take from a player when they've despawned without spells to loot their inventory."

"Unless … there's another player somewhere?" Annie proposed, looking around in worry. "A Mage that can cast loot spells is bound to be a higher level than me … Or at the very least, have a higher casting skill."

Pulling down her goggles, Tye gave a quick look around the field. "It looks like they're the only ones."

"We'll pass," Iris declined, coming out of her crouching stance with an arched brow.

"We?" Carter challenged, making Iris' brow arch in question. "I want you and me. In a *duel. Loser forfeits their inventory."

There was a pause amongst the group before Annie spoke up. "What are you, stupid? Yesterday's ass whooping wasn't enough for you or something?"

"Can it, fish paste!" Carter jabbed. "This is between me dreadlock!"

"Fish … paste?" Annie mumbled, her fins twitching in offense. Being a *Mer, it wasn't the most creative of insults she'd come across – yet somehow, it was more triggering than usual. "Tye," Annie droned, looking over to her. "Shoot hi – eh?" But when she looked over, she was nowhere to be found.

Such a waste of time … Gene sighed in thought. It's not like we're going to be able to get double our quota from these guys … Such a stubborn ego… Eh?" Feeling a shift in his hair, back, and tied back in a long, low ponytail, Gene looked over his shoulder, wondering if a neutral mob was passing him by.

"Your hair is so long … Is it this long in real life? It looks so good on you," Tye gushed, having snuck her way around through the trees along the edge of the field to where Gene had been distancing himself. She had the end of his ponytail in her hands and was proceeding to rub it against her cheek. "So soft."

Body stiffening, Gene snatched his ponytail from her as he leaned away in stifled shock, while Tye simply kept smiling at him. "!

"Tye!" Annie roared from across the field.

"Well? Are you going to accept, or are you going to run away like a coward?" Carter challenged, making Iris frown, resisting the urge to groan.

"I beat you, you stop following us," Iris offered, wanting assurance that this would be their last run in with each other.

"What? You're actually going to fight this hack?" Annie gawked, feeling like the situation was going into a bit of a spiral.

"Deal," Carter happily obliged, pulling up his menu and sending a duel request soon after. Iris was quick to accept, her HP instantly returning to 100% as she stepped forward, leaving Annie in dread behind her.

Moving closer towards the center of the clearing, the two Fighters circled one another, one gaze indifferent, the other wild with excitement. Wanting to make this quick, Iris drew both of her dual blades as she came to a stop, Carter stopping directly across from her and switching out his long sword for a pair of gauntlets and making Iris raise a brow. Gauntlets? She thought. Well, whatever. Not like it'll make a difference.

And with that thought, she charged forward, drawing one hand back to deliver a slicing blow to Carter's center, but to her surprise, her sword's blade was drawn upwards and away by the open palm of Carter's gauntlets. The successful block caught her off guard, and her sword being sent upwards left her midsection wide open, inviting Carter to connect a direct hit in the form of a punch.

The hit sent Iris stumbling back a few steps and left both Tye and Annie in shock. The field grew dense as Iris lifted her head from being doubled over, her gaze narrowed as her arm wrapped around her midsection. Gauntlets to defend against a sword? She'd never seen them used like that before – and neither had Tye or Annie. Maybe her opponent wasn't as daft as they thought.

Armageddon (lvl 25) HP – 98%

Chidori (lvl 23) HP – 89%

He switched to gauntlets to defend against my blades? Iris thought to herself as she entered back into a crouching stance to reanalyze the situation. I see … He can move more fluidly with gauntlets to block my attacks as opposed to timely strokes with a long sword. And because he diverted the attack's power instead of taking it head-on, the damage is minimal… Hmph. Not bad, she thought, scoffing to herself with a smirk.

"Heh," Carter snickered, clutching his bulky hands into fists. "Come on!" he roared, this time being the one to charge.

Iris stood her ground as he did, cocking his fist back and coming at her while she appeared to still be recovering from the blow. Stabbing one sword into the ground, she used her reverse grip on its hilt as leverage to lean back before his punch could connect, her legs bending at the knee and holding herself almost parallel to the ground. Eyes wide, Carter looked down to Iris, his body unable to stop its momentum, and groaned out when her second blade slashed across his midsection from below.

But he's still too cocky. Letting his opponent gather their thoughts after he's caught them off guard, Iris noted as she stood back up, pulling her sword free and turning around.

Armageddon (lvl 25) HP – 88%

His defense is even lower than I thought. Looks like I was right … Pooling his *stat points towards attack and stamina. Typical of a Brawler.

Stumbling forward, now the one with both his arms wrapped around his midsection, Carter turned around with a glare, only to gasp when seeing that she'd already closed the distance. Carter's hands shot up as fast as they could, managing to block a portion of the damage Iris had intended to deal.

Armageddon (lvl 25) HP – 84%

"Damn," he winced as he cocked one hand back after Iris' blades made contact.

But he grunted in shock a moment later when she dipped downwards, despawning her blades and sweeping her leg out behind Carter's feet and sending him falling onto his back beside her. Drawing her blades again a moment later, she raised one, aiming to pierce it into his chest and end the duel, but Carter rolled out of the way in time, scrambling to his feet and rushing to put some distance between them before she could catch him off guard again. Getting back to her feet, Iris turned to face the now panting Carter, whose eyes were wide with anger, his pride as a fighter wounded and his already weak reputation in jeopardy.

Keep him flustered. Attack his ego, Iris instructed herself as she started into a dash towards him.

Come on, Carter. Don't let her win! Carter silently rallied as he ran towards her.