The Stage She Set...

"Lucia, I'm going to give you until the count of three before we charge and kill you. I would advise that you tell us the location of the kingdom."

Meros was getting annoyed with Lucia and began to count down. Lucia, what is your plan? How do you intend to get out of this?

"3..."

Are you depending on Matthew or Aegis? They're good, but not even to handle members from two separate guilds...

"2..."

Is there a specific skill from the Repeller class that'll turn the fight in your favor?

"1..."

Are you hiding a yellow item that'll turn the tides? That must be it. That's all I can think of. Yellow items can pretty much do anything, so it isn't a far fetch to say that that may be the case.

"Zero. EVERYONE! CHARGE-"

A rush of sands and winds took over the entire area. Everyone braced themselves and when the smoke cleared, two new players set themselves on the battlefield. The first was the tall paladin that wore silver armor, had shaggy, chestnut brown hair, and smiled with confidence as we presented his shield to his enemy.

"No one man is an island. Every man is a piece of the continent. HOWEVER! I'm certain the world would be better if poorly kept land like yourselves washed away at sea for good!"

"Dude, really? You said that with me!"

"Well do you blame me?! That's probably the best thing I've said in a while! Shakespeare would be jealous!"

The second man wore heavy white armor and had piercing red eye. It was the marauder of white himself, Matthew. He held Lucia in his arms and away from the danger in front of him.

"The first time, you saved from getting jumped. Now on this second time, I'm saving you. We gotta stop meeting like this!" He gave a smile to Lucia.

This isn't going to be enough Lucia. Show me it...

Show me that scenery!

"Matthew, Aegis, and... oho? Who's this?" Lucia asked.

"Oh that's Violet. She's our healer." Matthew vouched for her.

"H-hi-"

"She's so cute! You need to accept my friend request ASAP!" Lucia sent Violet a friend request and the healer's face flushed red.

"U-um..."

Meros grew impatient once more and told everyone to charge.

As they charged, Lucia explained the situation and the three were more than prepared to fight these guys. The worm mouth opened its mouth and six members of Co-live charged out with weapons drawn. The ten that recovered from Matthew and Aegis's entrance started charging him and Matthew lead the charge.

He did his best to cut through the crowd, but when he noticed that the weren't dying so easily, he started using his skills more.

"CLANG!"

The sound of metal against metal constantly went off as everyone surrounded the three tried attacking one after another, but Aegis effectively blocked every one of them.

The three were like a well-oiled machine. Matthew attacked, and if he left any openings, Aegis would cover him. And if Aegis got hurt in the process or couldn't block an attack in time, Violet covered for him with her healing. They were quite possibly the most efficient trio I have ever seen.

They dispatched of the majority of the aggressors and when they did, only the guild leader of Anarchy, two Anarchy members, and three members of Co-live including the guild leader and vice leader.

Petal and her vice leader stepped in. Petal made multiple tamed monsters and sent them after the three. When they focused on fighting the monsters, the vice leader of Co-live used one of his rogue skills to deliver a fatal blow to Violet, but Matthew stopped him just in time. Just like any of his other attacks, there wasn't any indication that that was a skill from the rogue class.

"впечатляющий. There are very few people that are able to read my attack. What is your name, Bloodfallen?"

"Matthew! Yours?" Matthew said with a wicked grin.

As the two continued their battle, Violet and Aegis kept the monsters that attempted to interfere at bay with their skills.

The two were on a complete other level. I'm glad I never chose a non-magic class because I'm pretty sure I was looking at peak PVP. They were weaving their skills in with their constant flow of battle against one another.

"Mitree, you're pretty good at pulling off moves that are improvised be honest...what's your military ranking?"

"I've never been in any army..."

"Oh... then that leaves one other option I can think of. Be honest with me...have you killed people?"

Silence quickly overtook the battlefield. The only thing that opposed it were the sounds of Violet and Aegis fighting off Petal's monsters.

Is Matthew suggesting what I think he's suggesting? Is he suggesting that Mitree is a professional assassin? There's no way that Matthew's right. Why would an assassin be playing this game?

Unless...he was hired to kill someone here...

"I...WAS a professional assassin..."

Everyone's eyes widened. Even Petal's. This must be the first time she's hearing this. Poor girl.

"My day to day life was killing people without a second thought. I was a monster that would do anything to get my kill. But one day, I came across a naive daughter of a politician. She thought of the world and everyone in it as precious and... that fascinated. In the world of darkness I inhabited, she was a glaring light that I was attracted to."

"Mitree..." Petal began to tear up.

"Awww-ARGHHH!" Violet showed empathy to the assassin, but was quickly interrupted by a monster.

"Wow... it's a damn shame that right after giving up your past, you're gonna die right in front of your girlfriend." Matthew readied his weapon once more and charged towards the rogue.

As Matthew charged towards Mitree, Mitree's body began to glow and he dodged Matthew's swing. Once he dodged it, he whispered something and Matthew swung to block an attack to his right that never came.

He must've used audio projection. with that, any sound the caster can think of can be mimicked. He probably mimicked his sword swing.

With that, Mitree began his real attack. He drove his dagger into Matthew's back and twisted it. Matthew lost a substantial amount of HP and retaliated by using Deathly Lunge to get to a safer position. He took the knife out of back and went back in.

The two went back and forth in a constant game of cat and mouse, with each fighter trying to land a significant blow on the other. If Mitree launched a surpris attack on Matthew, he surely would have a higher chance of winning. However, he is facing Matthew head-on. Which makes the fact that he's able to hold his ground as a rogue against a Bloodfallen impressive-

"ROXLINE!"

I looked over to the source of that voice and noticed Aegis running towards me. What's he running to me for? I'm not gonna save his ass from whatever's chasing him-

That's when I noticed it. A glaring red light enveloped the entire area and the source of it was Meros, the guild leader of Anarchy. He pointed his large broadsword at me.

"Dark Caliber."

His sword let out a colossal wave of red energy my way, obliterating everything in it's path. It moved with speeds that I could barely keep track of. I have no time to move out of the way. I just barely have time to react to it. How the hell did he get ahold of such a powerful item?! I'll just have to use a high level skill to counter it. Damn it! I don't even think I have a spell stronger enough to counter this!

That's when the idiot Paladin ran right between the death wave and I. He readied his shield and took the brunt of the attack.

"GAH!"

As the attack hit Aegis's shield and deflected into several different directions, the paladin held his ground and continued his defense. He did so until the way started pushing him more and more backwards and finally... his shield broke.

"I'M NOT DONE YET! HOLY SHIELD!"

Aegis casted a transparent yellow shield in front of him that was broken seconds after it got casted.

The attack got smaller, signifying that it was almost over, and Aegis took the rest of it. His HP depleted almost instantly and he entered FYL. As he stood on his last leg, we wobbled and was about to collapse.

And before anyone else, I was the one to catch him...

"My sword is a red item called Expoli. It's a large broadsword that has a skill called dark caliber. The longer one waits to use the skill, the stronger it is. I thought I might as well take care of the situation and use it on you, Roxline-"

"SHUT THE HELL UP! VIOLET, GET OVER HERE!"

"Y-yes ma'am!" Violet ran over and began to stabilize Aegis's health. That's when I went off on the idiot.

"Are you stupid or something?! I had the situation under control! I could've stopped his attack! Do you not know how strong I am?!"

"I don't know... when I saw you in immediate danger, my body just moved on its own. I didn't want to see you get hurt, I guess... damn. Why the hell am I being yelled at? Let me protect you. Let me put my life on the line for you..."

This guy... w-what is he even on about?! Protect me? Put his life on the line for me? But he barely even knows me! Why would he?!

"Do you need healing too, Roxline? Your face is red." Violet asked me.

"ARE YOU STUPID OR SOMETHING?! Just focus on healing the idiot over here." I stood up to face Meros.

I wonder how long you planned for this moment, Lucia. This must've been it. The stage that you set... the stage you wanted me to see. These people you've gathered are insane. They rush into danger headfirst, they try to push their righteous ideals onto you, and they're willing to fight with the odds stacked against them.

They're good people...I can't believe it took me so long to figure that out!