Son of a Nutcracker

Through snow and thick air, Andres led the team up to a bridge. Frost was so thick you could barely see past 15 meters.

Vanessa pointed towards the bridge, "Whaat are those two big statues"?

Both were made of marble and covered in rime. One was a strong man holding a full-grown lion under one of his arms. His curly beard was thick and wide, passing his chest. He wore great metal armor, almost like a knight of some sort. His face was pleased and his eyes were charming. His locks flowed halfway down his back like a god of some sort.

As they got closer, Vanessa saw more in detail the second statue. This was also a big man with a beard. But he was rather a contrast to the first. He appeared to be a bit darker. His beard was a little shorter. Yet his much longer hair was dreaded and wrapped on top of his head. He barely wore any clothes. His body was in fact covered with enough hair already. Both noses of the statues were big. But this one also had big lips and eyes to match. Vanessa giggled at the goat standing next to him.

Andres chuckled, "Yeah, that's Gilgamesh and Enkidu. You never want to fight those two".

"Who?" asked Vanessa.

"For now, don't worry about it," he answered, "We have other problems than those two. At least, I hope".

They were now approaching the big white bridge. If the two statues were real they could've both stood on it easily with room to spare. On the other side of the bridge, an odd-shaped castle. It was like that of an upside-down triangle painted black and purple.

Standing on the bridge was R'bi. Andres halted the team. He held his shield up, gripping his sword tight. The commander stood in place further away on the bridge waiting for his opponents to face him.

Jeff got his team in a battle formation. Gingerbread men were first. Jaivva, Logan, Andres, Vanessa, with Mina centered between them stood in a row. Leira, Jeff, and Dani, who was fully charging her gun, had all stood in the rear.

Surely, there was no way he could win.

R'bi stood tall watching his opponents, "Tell me, why do you defend these two girls"?

His gravelly voice reached across the bridge perfectly to the ears of The Wild Bunch. Intimidation didn't work on the veteran players. They refused to respond.

"No answer," he said, "Very well".

"Why is he standing there?" asked Jaivva.

R'bi clenched his sword tight and squatted down in preparation for an attack.

"I guess he plans to take Dani's attack head-on," said Logan.

"He can't do that," stuttered Vanessa.

It irked Logan that his teammates thought so little of a level 4 stage. He shook his head, "Then you're not ready".

Jeff guided Dani to the front, allowing her to shoot R'bi. A giant grey ball of energy shot across the bridge, brushing away all snow.

With a single swing of his red aura-coated sword, R'bi had completely destroyed Dani's attack. He rotated his sword, flexing the giant curved end to his attackers.

He rose his shoulders once more, squared towards Jeff and his team. It was clear to everyone that merely blowing up this opponent wasn't an option.

Jeff rubbed his chin, and whipped his forehead, "Alright".

He sighed to his gingerbread men, "Attack"!

The gingerbread men charged towards R'bi who placed his sword on his back. He used his small rifle to shoot down each gingy. When done, he stabbed his rifle into the bridge, leaving it as a prize for the damned.

Dani watched what appeared to be a perfect being, "The fuck"?

After throwing his arms Jeff stated, "I got nothing. Maybe go back and find some ancient weapon in a tunnel or something. I don't know".

Hearing Jeff's cowardice, R'bi took the fight into his own hands. He gripped his sword, running towards them. A red glow emitted from his body the closer he got.

After gesturing Andres, Logan switched his fighting style

Dani didn't have enough energy to stop R'bi in his tracks. Everyone else grew scared as R'bi's red aura was at its peak once again.

Andres gripped his shield tight and ran out towards R'bi.

"Let's go!" yelled Logan as he sprinted a couple of feet behind Andres.

Once near, R'bi swiped his sword at Andres who blocked the fatal blow with his shield.

"Cancel," he yelled as the impact knocked him back.

R'bi stepped towards Andres to dodge Logan's strike. He grabbed the shield and kicked Andres away.

He threw the shield at Logan's face before releasing a barrage of heavy strikes.

The man was so fast that Logan could barely keep up with his short sword.

Bolts of lightning shot at R'bi of which he dodged every one. As Logan attempted to move in, R'bi kicked him twice.

Logan flew back on the second kick while Vanessa sliced towards his neck.

R'bi let go of his sword to grab Vanessa's. He rotated her blade into her stomach and punched her triceps. He continued to smack her jaw with his palms ignoring his blade which was standing straight from the bridge.

Logan slid aiming for his feet while Jaivva aimed to grab his sword.

Upon touching the hilt, red spikes shot through her hand. Tears fell from her eyes as pain scourged through her arm. It didn't take 3 seconds before it was covered in blood and the sword was pulling towards R'bi's side.

Having jumped to dodge Logan's attack, R'bi stomped his back in while palming the katana in Vanessa's stomach further, launching her away.

He reached out, grabbing his sword in an immediate attempt to decapitate Logan. Andres threw his shield in the way and swung an axe at R'bi.

Having R'bi's blade blocked, Logan seized the opportunity to stab him in the calf. Andres attempted to slice the pride demon with his sword and axe but was countered by a swing of R'bi's sword.

Andres fell away from the commander with a giant gash across his chest and blood pouring. Jeff and Dani began firing ranged magical attacks at R'bi while he was persistently stomping Logan and blocking with his sword.

Before Jeff or Dani realized it, R'bi was fully coated in red-aura again. His eyes were glowing a bright red color as his smile stretched from ear to ear. His teeth were like that of a vampire.

Logan held onto Andres' shield as a last line of defense, watching as R'bi's powers grew. The elf slammed his blade down, near completely smashing Logan to death.

Jaivva attempted to counter with her double ninja blade, but R'bi sliced towards her too soon.

Jaivva was now off balance watching as R'bi slammed his blade into her within each passing second without pause. Her blade finally snapped allowing R'bi to slam her down with his powered blade.

Each hit push her limits of pain. She helplessly watched as her vision faded to purple and white until the Isekai System told her she was dead. Jaivva wanted to look up at the mechanical robot that had killed her but didn't have it in her to see colors much less move her neck.

R'bi didn't stop. He leaped towards Andres for a finish just to be countered by Vanessa once more.

He rotated to slice at Vanessa. He tore through her follow up attack to almost a perfect hit. But Logan ran under his blade, holding a card.

R'bi had his blade swinging down quicker than anybody could process his movements. Logan tossed the card square into his chest.

This didn't stop R'bi's attack from tearing down into Logan, causing him to bounce back up. Logan felt the pain hit his back as though his spine was ripped out, pulling his throat with it.

Though she had been pissed at him, something in seeing Logan die had hit a nerve in Vanessa that threw off her balance.

R'bi kicked Logan's body and dashed an uppercut of his sword towards Vanessa.

She managed to jump away once and had noticed something strange taking place. Just when R'bi was about to land his hit, a compressed explosion was heard.

R'bi was completely frozen in place. His aura had left and blood from his mouth spewed onto Vanessa. He began shaking, dropping his sword. His face crinkled with hate. His nose snarled with disgust at the filth he had lost to.

Vanessa didn't understand what had caused this. Rather, she was simply relieved that she didn't have to watch her friends be in his position.

Both R'bi and Vanessa had shed tears for their failures with R'bi himself falling to his death.