Debt of Mortality

It had been 4 and half years since this game of death has started and it was nowhere near its end. As time went on, we saw more bizarre changes. The ranks of the clearers was reducing as only the most experienced players stuck through the ranks while many took on other lifestyles. Fortunately, some mid-level players began joining our ranks but they were offered more training and battle experience before taking them out for battle.

Nearly a hundred thousand players had their HP run out and disappeared from this world. I didn't know whether they were removed by the real world as well or they simply woke up on the other side. The latter had very little chances as if it really was, it would have caused uproar and our relatives would have ripped off our Soul Boxes off us. The fact that we were still logged in was the proof of the fact that the players have not woken up on the other side.

It was Vansant 15, 0004 when I was attending a meeting regarding the strategy of the 230th stage. The stage was based on Ancient Greece and was particularly very dangerous as many players who were not even warriors and just tourists had been killed here by monsters. "We have a new party of 9 players, who want to fight the clearers. Their skills are above expected as of their levels but still they are quite under leveled. So, Naperjet you must bear the responsibility of training these guys in fighting and get them ready for the assault on the SM by the end of this month." I was literally taken aback by Arthur's judgment this time. Apparently, if the highest leveled player in the present scenario trained these rookies it would be easier for them to gain experience.

I hung my head in despair, all the 50 eyes there were on me and I sighed, "Okay! I got it." The same day we formed a group of our own and began hunting down monsters in some exclusive hunting fields that only I knew. The nine members in my group were:

1. Alice Lv-175, 2-H Straight Sword, H. Metal Armor

2. Mark Lv-190, 1-H Straight Sword, Leather Armor

3. Shaw Lv-185, 2-H Battle Axe, L. Metal Armor

4. Jack Lv-195, 2-H Assault Spear, Cloth Armor

5. Kyra Lv-187, 1-H Straight Sword Shield, Cloth Armor

6. Laura Lv-192, 1-H Rapier, L. Metal Armor

7. Simon Lv-189, 1-H War Hammer, H. Metal Armor

8. Emanuel Lv-191, Bow, Cloth Armor

9. Rose Lv-179, Bow, Cloth Armor

I was a level 250 swordsman, donning cloth armor. Kyra once asked, "What is your level, Naperjet? Your skills seem to go beyond the charts for even a front-line player." I blushed but hesitated to reveal my level. Though over a period of two days, I had grown familiar and friendly with them but I thought that revealing my true level and the fact that I was 'The Rogue Swordsman' and 'The Hoarder' that possessed more information than the info brokers would cause them to feel alienated. He apologized, "If you are uncomfortable with it then it won't be an issue."

I lied, "No, it's not any problem? I am level 200 and I joined the ranks of front-liners in the last stage only." Over the next few days, we ended up ransacking the previous stages' dungeons and looked for any unexplored parts or mysterious quest giving NPC's. Our efforts were paying off as they leveled up ten times reaching the buffer levels set by the clearers while I leveled up six times reaching Level-256.

It was the night of Vansant 27, the assault on the SM was scheduled on the 30th and all of us were training in a recent found hunting spot in the 228th stage. The beasts here were really powerful and gave us sweet rewards. "This is so tiring." Laura complained. "Stop it, Laura. The rewards are worth the effort. But still let's rest now."

We all lay down on the soft grass of the hunting field, chatting about all our adventures since the starting of this death game. They were in a group since the very start and knew each other before BWS and had originally met in some other MMORPG game. The chit-chat seemed to go without the sense of time until…

"What happened, Naperjet? Something's bothering you." Jack seemed concerned. "Some player cursors have popped up in my Search radius and I'm really worried about that." "Can be an assault party trying to farm here." Mark said, "Or can it be an ambush from criminal players. How can you know without visual confirmation?"

The group converged towards us, and our worst fear came true. We were completely surrounded by players whose cursor referred them as criminal players. However, they seemed to be involved in some less serious crimes as their cursors were indicating mild criminal nature; meaning they must have been involved in less serious crimes like theft, robbery and other small crimes. We converged ourselves into a full circle, weapons ready for combat.

"What are you all doing' here? You kids should not be in our monopolized area." A player who looked like their leader came forward and continued; "Now you shall pay the tax for hunting in our area. Surrender all your money and items and we'll let you live." I gritted my teeth as more and more C-players emerged until their strength was well beyond 20. "That's a full C-guild. It's not good." I murmured, looking for an opening to let my whole group escape. C-players, or criminal players had only one advantage; i.e. their numbers. Mostly C-guilds had mid-level players who'd ambush unsuspecting players and force them to trade all the money and items with them. This time however, their luck seems to run dry.

"You don't know who we are? We are the front-line clearers. We can take you down easily." Alice shouted, 'What an idiot she is' I thought. Now they were really alert about their targets and seemingly, clearers had more rare materials than other players that would make their mouth water for sure. "Clearers, huh? Then you must be the weaklings who'd been joining them recently." The leader smirked.

Suddenly, all the members began throwing small throwing knives at us. "Dodge them" I shouted but for no use, all of my group mates suddenly fell on the ground; unable to move. 'Paralysis venom' the thought jumped in my mind and I blindly deflected all incoming blades until all ran out of them. Throwing knives were indeed a great ranged weapon like bows, but unlike bows which had unlimited arrows which would appear whenever the string is pulled they were limited and once used the user must either recollect all knives back within an hour or buy new ones.

"You are really skilled. Let's see how you are going to deal with us directly. Kill him!" The leader shouted. Apparently all 18 members showed off their weapons mostly swords and axes and charged. Trying to calm down, I closed my eyes and imagined the sequences of their attacks. Axe from left… Spear in the center… Sword from above… Evidently I countered everyone attack, yet it did cost my HP but I wasn't worrying much as I had the Battle Healing ability at pretty good proficiency.

My HP regained the amount faster than it depleted. Still, I couldn't just stand there and stare; they can hurt my paralyzed friends. "You are not going to hurt my friends anymore." I yelled and initiated a low ranked weapon art Knock Back. It wasn't a damaging art but a disabling one; I had it stored only for PvP battles. The art created a shockwave and disabled their weapons. "I can't move…" a player struggled while others followed the pursuit.

"Your weapons are rendered useless now. And very soon you will go to the prison." I chuckled. "I don't think so. Your strategy was indeed great but it seems I outwitted you." A player came forward of the crowd donning a heavy metal armor and a katana in hand. "I guess that armor saved you from the wave." I was worried about his next move.

But he didn't hurt my friends, instead he charged straight at me initiating a weapon art which the system recognized as Crescent Moon; a 3-hit combo attack using charged slashing like a crescent moon. I backed off in defense and initiated a long-distance charge attack Sonic Dive moving downwards aiming at his lower torso. Our attacks clashed with two strikes of Crescent Moon missing their marks due to the dive; the third slash however intercepted my dive cancelling our attacks.

As the post-motion delay passed, I shifted my focus and began aiming for his weapon. I immediately initiated the Quad Circle art and got a response by Vertical Rhombus. All four hits cancelled each other but I seriously got at point blank range and waited for the delay to end. As the delay ended and started Incline aiming for the weapon and armor before his delay ended.

And as I wanted, his weapon's durability ran 0 and it shattered. At the same time, the reinforcements from the clearers came in and arrested the C-players. We all returned to the base town of Garston in 230th stage, making final preparations for the assault. Arthur took me aside and asked for a report, "All have leveled up at least 10 times. I guess they are in the safe buffer zone and their weapons and armor are well honed." I replied, looking at the all cheerful group and sighed thinking about the lie I told.

"As expected from the hoarder of information." Arthur smirked towards me and I almost landed a serious Flash Punch on him. "Well, we have known each other from Stage One SM fight; when you were rewarded the title of 'The Hoarder' and 'The Rogue Swordsman'. And honestly over all these years, I have never seen you genuinely as happier as you are now."

I didn't reply just looked outside the window and wondered 'Why did he bother to make this world? Are we gaining something here that we usually lose?' I remember each and every word he said during the official tutorial of BWS and seeing the change I have undergone in that time, well I was aware of the answer.

It was the eve of assault, i.e. Vansant 29, 0005 the time being 20:54 when I got a message from Kyra saying, "Alice had gone training at 18:00 and hadn't returned yet." I was in a strategy meeting with some of my close friends and their friends; and I rushed out immediately with other members of the meeting. We searched all round the city and even ventured inside the dungeons to find her. Our only clue apart from the message was the fact that she was still showing up in the friend list of mine and her cursor was on this stage only.

After a two hour long search, I found her; barely conscious and trembling in fear. At first, I could not make up the reason for her being in such a terrible state. Somehow, we moved her to the inn where the meeting was going on and tried to console her when she let out her experience:

"I went out at 18:00 today to train in the wilderness near the city, when I was attacked by a field master there. I couldn't kill it but it rendered my HP to 2% when I ran away and hid at the lone dark alley. I was …No… I am scared. I don't want to die, I want to live and go back. I am sorry."

She began sobbing and we could do nothing other than to console her. Taking my friends out of the room, I asked "She is too terrified. Do you think it would be wise if we let her stay here and help her to restart her life as a non-clearer?" Asri was now apart from clearer, a businessman; while Neetto was a builder. So it wasn't a really big deal that Alice might be able to take a second profession here.

All my friends nodded in agreement. But Neetto was a little worried, "We sure must help her. But what about that David guy. After all, he is the proxy in charge of the clearers and thinks that part-timers are not much contributing. Moreover, he hand-picked the group and would not want anyone to back-off." David was really a headache; after all he was the nuisance who gave me all the negative publicity I had till date.

I went back in the room and asked Alice, "Alice, if you are afraid then… I want you to reconsider your position here and try restarting your life. My friends would help you with everything. Anyways, I'll give the news of your inability to come tomorrow, to the main group." I noticed Alice didn't respond but shiver. I felt sorry for her and left the inn.

I arrived at the assault team's temporary HQ at Paschal after nearly 15 minutes of travel. I was greeted by Arthur and David, who seemed to be wondering about the next day's strategy. "I am here to inform that Alice of my group will not be taking part in tomorrow's raid." I was in no mood to listen about their reasoning or formalities, so I turned and was about to leave when a voice called me. "Wait! What do you think about yourself? It's me who would decide whether anyone leaves the group."

No doubt it was David; I turned around and smiled at Arthur indicating his lack of control and authority. David was red with fury, no doubt as the emotion engine cannot conceal the emotion and reveals it mostly exaggerating them. "Sorry, I did not come here for your permission. I just wanted to inform you, that's all." Hearing these words, he was almost riding the wave of rage. Arthur trying to control the situation said, "I would like to hear that from Alice, Naperjet. If that's what she says then it would be okay."

We all went to the inn where Alice was staying with my friends guarding the room. Arthur saw her shiver in fear, I already told them the story en-route; Arthur declared, "Okay, I allow Alice to forfeit tomorrow's assault on the SM." Alice gave a little smile and muttered a barely audible 'Thank You'. "I can't believe that I introduced such a weakling… Or did you brainwash and manipulate her into thinking the way she is." David's accusation left us baffled. "This is the craziest idea a person can give here. The sword of death hangs on the head of each and every one present here. It's no doubt that Alice is traumatized after the encounter with the field master." Arthur bellowed.

We all were left red in rage by David's casual approach. I manipulated my menu and sent him a duel challenge in full decisive mode. "If you are so brave, then dare to accept the challenge by the highest level player of the game." I yelled on David, who was taken by surprise by the sudden decision. "What should I say? I am honored by this challenge by 'The Rogue Swordsman'. Huh… I am not afraid; a measly hoarder like you can never defeat a front-line leader like me." David was swelling with pride when he hit the 'ACCEPT' button.

The room was quite spacious and all the furniture was immortal as the duel began. David pulled out his two-handed pole-axe and charged at me right when the timer reached 0. Weapon arts clashed; though he had a greater variety of arts like Spear-Class arts, Staff-Class arts and Axe-Class arts none of them could match my speed of parry. At last both had our HP run to red and both of us initiated weapon arts to take off the final chunk of HP. It was a match of Triple Chop against Nail and Hammer. As our first attacks were ready to hit each other, a shout of "STOP!!!" came out and led our alignment go awry cancelling the arts.

"Stop it, you guys" Alice yelled pointing at us, "You have no regards to anyone's life, not even yours. I don't want to be a cause of fight between the clearers." We couldn't help but stare at her, "Only for this SM and after that I will choose my own way." David and Arthur nodded in agreement and our duel ended up in a draw.

We decided to let Alice stay in that inn and a message was sent to the group that Alice has been found. It was near mid-night when I heard a knock at my door. I woke up and opened the door; there was Alice, "Um… I wanted to apologize for shouting at you. I didn't mean it but I don't think that I deserve to be the reason of clash among the clearers."

I let her in and tried to console her, "You were worried about the duel." I looked up and she nodded in agreement. "Well… I don't know how to put it but even a fully decisive duel, where all HP is at risk; is safe inside a city. Our HP's there are just a copy of the original and the actual HP won't be affected by our duel in the city. Outside the city…"

I gave up a smile and she also smiled innocently, "How'd you know?" "Easy! It's impossible for anyone to kill inside the city; the system must know that this logic can be easily overridden by the duel in full decisive mode. Then I got this info that the system uses a copy of your original HP inside the city and safe zones. And one day, I took some of my friends with me and tried it; the ones who were guarding you. We had a friendly duel and equipped a healing crystal in case things go awry." We laughed over it and then Alice's face changed suddenly and she lightly said, "I don't want to die. I want to go back." There were tears in her eyes and I could do nothing but assure her, "I promise that I will protect you tomorrow and later help you to restart your life here. You will have no reason to fear then."

She smiled and went in her room. I began wondering about the SM. Alice's fear was genuine I knew that but there was something that was off-charts. Since the day this game-of-death began, hardly any time has come when I felt more energetic and more alive than these days, which went training with the group. I was still feeling guilty of lying about myself. I wondered, 'Should I tell them about my level and the truth that I was probably the most hated player in this world.' I shrugged off the thought, I would tell them after the SM raid; whatever would happen after that will be dealt later.

The next day, we all went through the now cleared dungeon right into the SM chamber. The SM was named, 'Chiron the Battle Healer'. 'A battle healer, he must have the power to heal himself' I thought. Usual healer type SM's, could only regenerate health if attack on them is paused. This one was not supposed to be any different. Arthur commanded, "Initiate Assault!" The whole 60 member team leapt on the SM slowly chipping off his HP while managing to defend against the stomps and arrows from his bow.

However, something seemed very wrong there. Though our attacks were successful and there were gaps during switching, we never saw Chiron to regenerate his HP. On the contrary, our healing items were almost finished by the time the last HP bar went red. Exhausted and almost out of HP, we still had only one chance when Arthur commanded, "Everyone Retreat to safety, the attack pattern must be changing. Move out." Everyone slowly moved out to a distance.

"What are you doing Arthur? He is a healer type if we don't attack soon, he will regain his HP back." An argument between me and Arthur ensued, "Same happened at Stage 1, when I rushed in without calculation and was about to be annihilated. We are out of healing items and if something like that happens, it might prove fatal." "Exactly, we are out of healing items, if he restores his HP then everything would be a waste."

I turned around without paying any heed to them, and initiated the motion for my most trusted weapon art Hyper Vortex and charged into the monster. The art unleashed massive damage on its target and completely annihilated its HP. The post-motion delay had set in, and suddenly out of nowhere the SM regenerated his 2 complete HP bars and stomped. A stun of full 1 minute showed on my status bar.

Chiron bellowed loud enough for whole room to tremble. He pulled the bow high upwards and initiated a weapon art Life Drain. An arrow bolted straight up and returned right onto him and beneath him several vines emerged and engulfed a medium-range area, stealing HP from the only target engulfed; i.e. me. I saw my HP go down from 55% to 50%... 45… 40… 35… going near the red zone.

My HP was at 25% when my team members came in to attack and rescue me. "St…ay…away" I could only mumble these words but to no avail. My team members attempted to take down the SM, resisting the effects of the draining art. Our HP ran down at astonishing speed, though I was immobilized but they managed to land some critical hits from high-output weapon arts depleting one full bar and leaving the last one at 90% when the effect wore off.

I was at merely 10% HP while my team members still had HP in yellow zone, we managed to regroup and make our way out; when Chiron jumped in front of us and stomped on us. The damage was massive and I saw my HP bar deplete to merely 4%. I just managed to breathe out in relief when I heard a shattering sound. I turned around to see that all my friends had their HP running down to 0; I sprinted towards them while most of them disintegrated into countless fragments. I managed to pull out the last of the healing potion and dash towards the last remaining team member, Alice.

But lady luck didn't seem to favor me and her HP dropped to 0, despite her extremely defensive build and armor. As she lay on my knees, her avatar breathing last while tears would not stop from my eyes. "Do…a…favor. Find…a meaning of all thi…" and her avatar disintegrated in front of my eyes. A burning sensation was felt throughout my body, I didn't know whether this was from my body back in the real world or the emotion engine was over-exaggerating but I knew that it was rage, building up in me.

And in a blind rage, I attacked Chiron with everything I had; prepared to go down like them. Suddenly, I noticed a change in my stats but decided to ignore their meaning. Initiating the most heavy damaging area effective weapon arts, I chained everything I had to create an endless cycle of slashes, thrusts and parries. At last after a full 20 mins of struggle I landed the final hit of Quad Circle eliminating Chiron; while rest of the assault team watched to either their surprise or horror, but I was least concerned about their views on the battle.

Even without bothering a second look, I walked up the bridge towards the next stage. My HP had lost only 15 units in the last phase of battle which contributed close to 0% of my vast 65,000 HP value. Wondering about what happened, I staggered towards the main town of 231st Stage. I entered the main town named Sheba and received a safe-zone message. I activated the transportation and later retreated into a dark alley of the town, sobbing and wondering about my actions back there.

The key to survival in Blade Work Saga isn't reflexes, or stats, or weapons—it's adequate knowledge. I'd given them a quick step up, an advanced course in power-leveling, but I didn't give them information. That was a tragedy waiting to happen. I promised to Alice that I'd protect her, so she could start her life anew; and I ended up killing her.

"Hey Naperjet! What's wrong with your HP bar? It's still red." A voice came from behind. I turned behind to see Asri behind me with Neetto panting to follow up. I wiped out my tears and shrugged off their concerns, walking past them when everything blackened out.

I woke up; I don't know how many hours it has been, in my home in the 65th stage. A sat up immediately and found myself surrounded by Neetto, Asri and some of their friends; all of them sleeping. I called up my menu and had a look at the time; it was 01:32 of the next day, "Wow, I slept for nearly 12 hours." Without disturbing others, I made my way into the kitchen and made myself food. Cooking in Arcadian was quite complicated; the ingredients must be manually put together and in a proper quantity-ratio or else the food will taste worst.

They all woke up around 6 in the morning, "Morning! You guys surely slept like logs. Hop around, breakfast is in 5 minutes." They all were taken in surprise by my sudden change in mood, Neetto stepped forward, "We are really sorry about yesterday. We know they…" I stopped him mid-way, "Thank you, for both your concern and your help. But I don't deserve it, it was my arrogance that led them down and may be the lie I said as well is responsible. If they'd known that I was the highest level player then they wouldn't have jumped into their apparent demise."

I brought out the breakfast and put it out in the table at the center of the living room. Everyone sat down when Asri asked "But how did you managed to kill Chiron, despite his active healing status that had started after the Life Drain?" I didn't notice that his healing had started in my rage; moreover I had to search my all ability and skill records overnight to find out the skill that gave me the superhuman power. "It is called The Last Resort. This skill comes under the Meditation ability when the proficiency reaches 7000. It raises all the stats of the user by 2x to 10x; depending upon the proficiency. However, it activates only when user's HP is red."

There was utter silence when Joe shouted out, "Man! This skill is awesome; I should have taken up Meditation when I had the chance." Neetto calmed Joe down, "Joe, I guess you don't know its cost. Have a closer look there." And everyone began looking above my head, towards the cursor pointing above me and the HP bar.

Achilles shrieked, "It is still red. But we are inside a safe zone, I couldn't be possible." I let out a deep breath and explained, "Unless the cool-down of the skill expires, your HP will not regenerate; no matter what you do." "Aah!" came out a sigh from Joe, the most excited member a few minutes ago, was pale as snow. "How long's the cool-down?" "In my case, because I used it the first time; the proficiency is not high. So it is 7 days but with increase in proficiency the cool-down increases to 35 days." I replied with everyone looking blank-faced towards me.

The group decided that I would not be leaving the safe zones until the cool-down was over, while Asri and Neetto volunteered to keep an eye on me. I was quite depressed due to the fact that I caused a whole group to die, while my temporary bodyguards even tried to cheer me up and prevented me from doing anything desperate. Somehow, the cool-down period had passed and my HP regained to its maximum value. I changed my equipment and readied myself for the upcoming battles.

Equipping the Night Sky Coat and The Silver Shield I got from Melmaster from the quest in Stage 100, I also changed my point of view for the game. I had seen people die right in front of me and as Alice asked "I must find a meaning of all this that happened here." I murmured ready with my barely equip-able leather armor and shield.