Controlling The Battle’s Flow

The two charged towards each other. The Leader thrust his spear forward, aiming at Akiol's heart. Following this attack several chains with sharp tips shot out, aiming at the places where Akiol would have to dodge.

Akiol abused the strength given to the Leader by the Berserk Skill. He moved his body into a vertical position and gripped the spear. Using it he pulled himself closer with a single pull and kicked the chest of the Leader with both his feet.

Before the Leader could react Akiol used Leap and increased the distance between the two of them. The Leader grunted and stabbed his spear into the ground. Dozens of chains sprouted like plants and zoomed straight towards Akiol.

Dodging the ones he could and deflecting the others Akiol steadily moved closer. The Leader suddenly shouted, "Now!"

Akiol's vision warped onto the Defender. A pulse extended from them. Akiol stumbled from the strange sensation, but nothing else occurred. He looked at the Defender with a confused face.

~~~

Wrock shuffled the deck for a new game, "What do you all want to play now?"

Yielya spoke, "How about-"

A pulse went through them. A bell appeared above Yielya. Tilia was suddenly surrounded by a bronze semi-translucent mountain. Kan'na had a strange rune form above her. And Wrock's arms were covered in a blue flame crackling with electricity.

This happed in only a second. The moment after everything returned to normal. Kan'na immediately looked over at the general location of Akiol, "Someone who can make us use our War Sights?"

Wrock's hands were shaking, "That- that isn't important."

They looked over at Wrock, then at his hands. The deck of cards were half burnt and half frozen. Yielya immediately took no blame, "You were insistent on shuffling them."

Wrock looked to the sky, "I… I owe Akiol cards. I'm officially in debt!"

~~~

The effects were clearly not the expectations of the enemy team. For confusion was placed on their faces as well.

Akiol took the initiative, "Uh, mind telling me what that was all about?"

The Leader didn't answer, instead dozens of chains immediately charged towards Akiol, "Together!"

The Sorcerer used multiple spells, attacks of different kinds came from all angles. The Defender smacked their Shield and Akiol's attention was forcefully dragged over. Arrows descended from the sky. The Sword Master swung rapidly, crescent attacks formed cutting through the air towards Akiol.

He was completely surrounded. Despite this he naturally had no sense of panic. Instead he wanted to test something.

Tick~

Time slowed and stopped. Akiol knew he had about a single second to move, but that was enough. He quickly manipulated his body through the chains and escaped the onslaught of attacks.

Tock~

The attacks hit nothing but each other. Surprise spreading across the enemy team. Before they could quickly gather their wits Akiol made a move.

Tick~

Tock~

He appeared behind the Sorcerer and stabbed them in the heart. Despite the obviously fatal attack, the Sorcerer did not turn to light just yet. Akiol assumed either his damage was only slightly short, or it was a rare lifesaving ability.

The Leader was the first to react, he quickly turned and began exchanging blows with Akiol.

Sparks flew as their weapons clashed. With the Leader's Berserk Skill they had the advantage in stats. Additionally with their abundant experience they would make an incredibly strong opponent.

Yet despite these advantages the Leader felt more and more pressure from his opponent. Every strike they made felt like it was already seen by the opponent. Every missed strike, deflected or blocked, would make him struggle to block the incoming one. Even with such advantages, he was losing the battle!

Yet he wasn't alone!

The Sword Master charged into the fray. A horn sticking out of their temple and pointing backwards. A strange mark was on the left part of their forehead. Connecting to the horn.

Akiol was constantly on the move. With the Skill used by the Sword Master he was now facing two opponents who held an advantage with their stats.

The Pugilist joined in the battle, their upper half looking like a bear. With a swing of their arm Akiol knew that such strength was not to be blocked. However their speed only got a mediocre increase. It seemed like the Berserk Skill was more Strength oriented.

The Trapper began shooting various arrows. Several of which that looked suspicious enough to where Akiol opted to dodge instead of deflect.

The Defender now joined in the battle, unlike the others he did not have a Berserk Skill. But in battle his basic Skills would give an edge a Berserk one cannot.

Akiol found his attention occasionally being forced away and towards the Defender. The ways to rid of these effects were either by touching the Defender, or the victim or caster being interrupted. The time stopping Skill was one of such reasons. However Akiol knew that such a skill would have an extraordinarily long cooldown. So using it again was out of the picture.

They had him surrounded, and the pressure was switched. The Leader began using more chains into the battle, increasing the pressure on Akiol.

Stars noticed the unfavorable situation and said, 'These guys looks so confident. It's kind of annoying.'

Givale added, 'Yeah! Kill them and their arrogance!'

Akiol chuckled, "You irritated some folks who are now rooting for your demise."

"Ha! So be it!"

An aura of orange rapidly encompassed Akiol. He moved rapidly and the four attacking him were repelled at the same time. The Trapper hesitated on shooting, wondering what had happened.

Akiol put his sword into a basic stance, "The reason why I hadn't killed you right away was due to those specific individuals wanting a show. It is different now."

Stars suddenly interjected, 'Use the {Order of Mortem}!'

"The what?"

'The skill you used against the horde of players. When you wanted to show Givale about mana control!'

"You named it {Order of Mortem}?"

'Hundreds of years ago the great Emperor Mortem ordered the execution of thousands of traitors. His mighty general had killed them all with a single swing, all their heads had fallen off. That day the skill reminded me of that story. So when you said I could name it I decided on that.'

"Well with a backstory like that is sounds nice. Alright."

Mana swirled and absorbed into the blade. His hand blurred as he made a horizontal slice throughout the air.

The enemy team was hesitating on their next move. Just as the Leader had come up with another plan, his entire team had turned to light!

Before he could even process this he too turned to light!

Akiol sheathed Stars, "So, how was the show?"

'It was good! I am satisfied!' -Stars

'Hmph, if I was there they would die from a mere stare.' -Givale

'Sure, as if you wouldn't die from their stare.'

'Hey!'

~~~

To prevent conflict when a team loses they will not be sent back to the Matchup Room. Instead they would be sent to their spawn point.

The enemy team had all set their spawn point at the same location. Meaning they were together upon dying.

"What… what?!"

"That's so unrealistic! God this is why I hate fantasy games."

"We died… just like that?!"

The Leader suddenly burst out laughing, gaining questioning glances from bystanders and his own team. Shaking his head he explained, "I see now. No wonder it seemed like he could read our movements."

"What do you mean?"

"He never read our movements, he made us choose them. We were mere puppets to orchestrate a show. Every time we thought he had an opening and took it… that opening was created by him. A false hope baiting us to take it. To think… to think that such a guy exists!"

"So… we were played?"

"Yeah. If such monsters exist in this game, perhaps we are just frogs in a well. It looks like we vastly underestimated our opponents. Let's familiarize ourselves with this game before we try something like this again."

There was no objections. Their Leader had brought them out of situations that would guarantee death. Such trust was formed during those situations. So naturally they did not question his judgement.

"Well, let's get to grinding. Gaining knowledge will take a long time."

~~~

"Akiol… man, we're buddies right? We've been through death and back!"

Akiol held a pack of ruined cards with an unreadable expression.

Wrock claimed his innocence, "It was an accident! You know I would never truly destroy your cards intentionally!"

Akiol did not respond, merely staring at the cards.

Wrock felt some sweat at the back of his neck, "I'll get you a new pair! I promise!"

Akiol absorbed the ruined cards and nodded, "Good, you better."

Wrock nodded enthusiastically, "No problem! Once I get some money I'll purchase a pair!"

Yielya spoke up, "Speaking of money you need to give your share for our house."

Wrock made a face, he then solemnly swore to never gamble with Yielya again.