What Took You so Long?

Swords clashing, as the sound of metal hitting metal echoes throughout the horizon.

From a distance, two silhouettes of fast-moving bodies dash to each other, and on their union, sparks along with a loud clang illuminate their faces.

A blond female exchange blows with another female that gives off a cynical grin every time the edges of their swords meet.

"Been a while, Carol, it's very nice of you to visit me." The female which gives off a savage grin while fighting the blond said, then leaps off backward in an acrobatic way, ensuring a safe distance from the blond.

The blond disregards the words of her foe and continues to their fight, charging forward and the tip of her sword pointing towards her opponent as she dashes to her with incredible speed.

'If I can't wear her off, I won't be able to bring her back!' Carol though, knowing how stubborn the person in front of her is.

[You Used: Forward Thrust]

Seeing the forceful charge of the blond, the female uses the blunt side of her sword to block the incoming stab and successfully defends herself from it.

"I think you are too serious about attacking me?" The female said to Carol then her insanely wicked grin appears again on her face.

"Isn't that great!" She said loudly in a high-pitched manner while she shows an insane facial expression towards Carol, and then powerfully swings the sword she used to block Carol's attack, throwing Carol a few meters back away from her.

The insane female points her sword to Carol and then wipes the edge of it with her bare hands. The palm of her hand touching the sharp edge leaving a trail of blood as her hand passes to it until it reaches the tip of her blade.

[You Used: Blood Lust]

The female's sword shimmers with a crimson hue while visible on her face is her desire for carnage.

'A sword buff?!' Carol thought, focusing her attention on the person in front, carefully watching her and the slightest move she will make for it will be her cue to strike or to defend herself.

"Here… I, Come…" She said and then disappears in an instant.

Turning her head around looking for the missing opponent, Carol heard quick dashing footsteps coming closer to her from behind.

Trusting her instinct, Carol swings her sword in that direction and a loud noise of metal strike resonates but the trouble is, her opponent is still can't be seen on the field.

"Hey!"

Carol heard the call from above and saw her attacker above and is about to land her sword downwards.

"Where are you looking at?!"

Carol blocks her attack using her sword but the hard swing combined with the force of gravity as she lands initially made Carol kneel down to the ground due to the incredible impact she received.

"Tell me… is it that amusing to bully players that you even made yourself an outlaw?" Carol asked the female.

The female shows a face filled with wonder why she would blurt out such a question unexpectedly.

"Well… I don't know. I enjoy it I guess…" She said while thinking a few more reasons why she would do such a thing and when she reached a self-satisfying conclusion, she let out a grin.

"No… I think it's actually the sensation that makes my whole body tingle with pleasure as I can feel that weird slashing sound as I cut my opponent to pieces along with that squishy-popping noise it makes." She said while mesmerizing herself as she recalls it, eventually making her face red due to the excitement she felt by recalling the memories she had that time.

"And that agonized look they express, ah… what a bliss." The female added as if she recalls the happiest moment of her life.

Hearing it, Carol parries her sword back to the female and steps back a few steps away from her.

"I don't understand what you mean by that, but I think you have some serious mental health issues," Carol said while pointing her sword to the female.

"Huh?" The female grunted

"You think I'm crazy?!" She added, annoyed of what Carol just said, then dashes to Carol with a full swing of her sword.

Carol, barely able to block the forceful swing, tries to convince the woman on coming back with her to the guild peacefully.

"Luca, please listen! The guild master only wants to speak with you, so if you just come with me peacefully…" Carol said, but Luca rejected it immediately.

"Shut up! If that guy sincerely wants to have a chat with me, he could come here by himself instead of sending someone." Said Luca.

Luca slides her sword downward to divert Carol's attention to her sword and right after Carol turns her eyes to Luca's blade, Luca landed a roundhouse kick to Carol's unguarded side, badly hitting her torso.

Carol used her sword to support her body on crashing to the ground while gasping for air since the recent impact cuts down a certain amount of air coming into her body.

Luca then swings another fierce slash, this time targeting Carol's neck, but Carol still managed to block it using the back of her sword, yet the attack still managed to knock her back towards the cave's wall.

Luca walks closer to Carol that is battered by her.

"You know, this game is weird. Not just the mechanics of it that seems so life-like, your in-game avatar actually feels like it is your actual body that is being tormented." Luca said as she leans closer towards Carol's face for them to have a closer look at each other.

"Have you ever wonder why even if you shut the pain receptor you still feel this 'pain' inside the game?"

"Well… of course you don't, because you only restrict yourselves on attacking monsters that you are capable of dealing with and it won't do that much damage since your armor and character status can withstand it so you don't actually feel the pain…"

"But have you ever thought of, what if a monster that is going to attack me can actually defeat me in just one blow? Will the pain be emphasized? And if it does, then my brain in my actual body might have also felt it? Will it shock my brain and eventually collapse?"

"Will I die because I die inside the game?" Luca said, ending her long trail of what-ifs.

"That sounds like a theory." Carol responded to Luca, looking at her straight in the eye.

Then Luca joined her palms, performing a sudden clap as if she just uncovered the truth about the universe.

"Then what if I test my theory on you?" She said.

Luca then opens her inventory and then took a jewel-looking item out from it. The jewel glimmers in a fiery hue in its center that one might think it has a molten core inside it.

Carol who doesn't know what it is, since it's the first time she saw something like it, stares at the jewel in awe as she watches it beams off blinding rays of light coming from its core.

Noticing Carol's astonishment and somehow ignorance about the capabilities of the jewel, Luca explained to her the value of the jewel she is holding.

"Beautiful isn't it? This is the Crystal of Vulcan, one of the few relic items in this game that grants a player sub-admin privileges." Luca said.

Right after the brief introduction that she made about the jewel that she is holding, Luca then taps it and a window appears on the jewel she is holding in her hand then taps forward to Carol and then another window appears and in Carol's surprise, it is her personal settings.

"Now let's see… change the pain receptor from triggering when receiving pure damage to triggering when receiving damage, afterward raise the pain receptor to the maximum." She said while tweaking Carol's settings.

After that, a 'confirm' button appears after she tweaks the settings. Pressing the confirm button, Luca finished her personalized setup of Carol's game setting, and to test if it works, Luca takes her sword and slowly pierced it on Carol's shoulder.

As the tip of Luca's sword slowly pierces thru her, Carol also then gradually feels a sting until the sting became an aching pain that generally made her stabbed shoulder numb. While it continuously goes deeper, Carol felt agonizing pain as the tip of the blade somehow hits a hard object making it stop on going further.

When Luca noticed the sudden stop due to something hard blocking the way of the sword she is holding, Luca then uses her body mas to help her arms push thru the hard blockade, forcing the tip thru as it produces a snapping sound as it goes further inside, making Carol scream in pain.

"Oh no! I think that is your collar bone I just snapped into two!" Luca said while looking a bit worried if she does it right.

"Or is it your shoulder blade I wonder?"

"Hey, how does it feels being stabbed?"

"Why don't you set your own pain receptor to maximum just like you did to mine's and stab yourself?" Carol said as she suffers the agony of being stabbed by a sharp object.

"Aw, you're no fun." Luca said, while she twists the sword she is holding that is currently stabbed on Carol's shoulder and pierced it back and forth, at the same time, Carol screams helplessly as she strokes the sword in and out while twisting it at the same time.

"Hey let me tell you a trivia, it's common knowledge though, but did you know that a person could die just by receiving a drastic amount of pain? Forget about decapitation or blood loss or head injury, we're talking about something that a person experiences every now and then." Luca said as she forcefully twists the sword pierced on Carol's shoulder again.

Not being contented, Luca pierced Carol's other shoulder and does the same thing she did from the latter and then after that returns to the previous shoulder and then back to the other while Carol could only scream in pain every time Luca pierce her shoulder.

Seeing Carol's agony, Luca uncontrollably smirks as her smirk generally turns into a burst of uncontrolled laughter.

"Okay then, play time's over, time to send you to the pearly gates." Luca said, pulling out the sword on Carol's shoulder and is about to slash her vertically when suddenly, Luca hears an incoming footstep charging from a distance and suddenly disappears.

Luca turns in the direction where she heard it coming from and saw nothing. She thought that it might just be her imagination but the moment she turns her view back to Carol, a familiar voice calls for her attention.

"Hey, where are you looking at?"

A loud swirling sound filled the area, echoing thru the ears of the two females.

Then, there is a sudden loud crash, followed by Luca being thrown away to a distance and then, a dense cloud of dust began dispersing on the place where Luca was recently standing.

Carol coughs off the dust that entered her lungs and then gazed at the thick cloud in front of her and saw a silhouette behind the dust cloud.

"Sorry if I'm late."

As the fog of dust slowly settles down, the image of the figure that knocks Luca away becomes clearer, as Carol saw a man wearing an all-black attire while holding a dagger in both hands.

"Are you alright? Woah, you don't look okay!"

Carol could only twist her head disagreeing with what the person just said, but the pain combined with the glad feeling she felt because of him saving her couldn't be concealed by her any longer as she breaks down in tears while she holds her voice from coming out by holding her mouth, covering it.

Yet, the restrained sobs that she tries so hard for him to prevent it from hearing, slowly exit her mouth, reaching the person in front of her.

"Don't worry, I got this." The person said and then directs his attention to Luca that has already recovered from the attack he did.

"Now let's see, I know I owe you one."

But instead of being wary, Luca giggles in a halting manner

"Hm-hm, hm-hm."

"Please be gentle on me." She said while having an erotic smug on her.