Battle Start

"Does it hurt?" Lyghtning asked. "Because it looks like it hurts."

"It's fine… although I wish I could dampen down this game's pain settings a bit," Ath3na winced as she tried to flex her bandaged left shoulder. "The healers say it'll be back to normal in time for my next match…"

"It'd heal faster if you just replenish your soul core," the hobgoblin nurse commented as she passed by Ath3na's cot. "Don't know why you're being stubborn about that…"

After Ath3na had rolled her eyes at the NPC, she noticed that her friend was quietly observing her.

"What is it?" Ath3na asked.

"Nothing," Lyghtning answered. But then she frowned and placed her hands on her hips. "Fine… I think you're nutters for continuing with the challenger's cup when you're refusing to refuel…"

"I'm fine, Lyght," Ath3na replied.

Lyghtning leaned in as if what she was about to say next was not for prying eyes. "You've heard the rumors, haven't you? About what happens to a player's avatar if they deplete their soul cores?"

Ath3na did know. She'd heard the rumors too.

A player who'd spent days logged into the game and hunting in the Dark Forest with his friends had used up all of his soul energy in a fight with shadow beasts, and afterward, his body changed, turning into something too vile for even his friends to describe.

"Abomination," Ath3na answered.

"They say whatever he turned into attacked his own party like he'd gone mad. But they fought it off and it ran away into the forest… never to be seen again," Lyghtning whispered in a spooky voice.

"That's a myth…" Ath3na shook her head. "There's no way the devs would do something that cruel to their paying customers."

"I don't know, Ath3na," Lyghtning wrapped her arms around her chest. "I hear the player's friends couldn't even chat him up afterward… he just vanished IRL too."

"Please don't tell me you believe that," Ath3na smiled wanly. "This isn't some light novel where you die IRL if you die in-game…"

While the two ladies continued to debate the authenticity of the abomination rumor, their friend, Thorminator, walked into the infirmary looking like he had some dire beans to spill.

"Wundergurl lost…" Thorminator said in a huff. "Your next opponent is Don Coyote…"

"Bloody hell… That bloke's always chasing after you, isn't he?" Lyghtning frowned. "It would be almost sweet if he wasn't so creepy…"

Ath3na chose to ignore the implications of Lyghtning's statement and opted instead to ask Thorminator about the details of the match.

His response was a single foreboding sentence, "He killed her."

---

"Morgue? Really?" Leo asked the platinum-blonde girl smiling back at him from right below the referee's high chair. "You couldn't make it sound any less obvious?"

"No one's going to recognize me, silly," Morgana answered. "They're all too busy enjoying the show."

At her words, Leo's gaze shifted to the ring which only moments ago had been instantly repaired with a snap of Morgana's fingers.

It had been wrecked in the battle between Don Coyote and Wundergurl, a fight that had been a little too bloody for Leo's tastes, although the audience certainly ate it all up. He knew it wasn't their fault. They didn't know any better. They were clueless to the fact that they'd just goaded a man into murdering another human being.

Perhaps this was why Leo was so hesitant to roll out the PvP update. The idea of being responsible for more death — he couldn't repress the shudder that came when he thought about it.

"That damn Don Coyote was too f*cking brutal…" Leo frowned.

"I thought you'd be used to it by now, Leo," Morgana replied. "After all, death is a daily occurrence in the Abyss."

Leo's eyes were glued to the spot on the ring where Don Coyote had impaled Wundergurl with his [SANGUINE BLADE]. "You're free to smack me with your baseball bat if I ever say that I'm used to it…"

"I'll hold you to that," Morgana laughed her tinkling laugh which was cut abruptly by Donatella who had just announced that the next combatants were on their way to the ring. "That's my cue. See you later, Leo."

And after a snap of her fingers, Morgana vanished in a puff of white smoke. Seconds later, Leo could hear her voice over the speakers.

"Let's hope this next match will be just as interesting as the last one," Morgue commented.

"I really hope not," Leo whispered.

Narukami stepped onto the ring first, the folds of his dark blue robe billowing in the breeze. Waves of electricity trailed up and down arms which were wrapped in fel iron gauntlets that looked a lot like an MMA fighter's fingerless gloves. His legs were wrapped in similar gear.

Standing opposite him was Annabelle's Dolly, an apt name for a teenage girl who looked much like a doll to Leo's eyes.

She had extremely pale skin with sickly blue veins spread across her flesh which was quite similar to Argonaut's own appearance. She wore a red witch's hat over her long brown hair, and the red cape draped across her shoulders did little to hide the chainmail dress she wore underneath.

In her left hand was a witch's staff that was almost twice her height. Black flames licked the crystal at its tip.

"Battle start!" Maestro repeated the words being displayed on the screens above.

Narukami assumed a martial arts stance but did not move from his position. On the other hand, Annabelle's Dolly had already begun to cast a spell that caused the black flames on her staff to expand.

"Oh eldritch horrors who bathe in unholy fire, I beseech you, reduce my enemy into ash," she chanted. "I summon thee, Pillar of Blackest Flame!"

The fire on her staff winked out in time with the appearance of a column of dark flames appearing over Narukami's position.

Quick to react, Narukami raised his fist to the sky and yelled, "Lightning Bolt!"

A bolt of lightning struck the pillar of fire and cut it in half. And the collision of the two spells caused the sky above the ring to erupt in a shower of light and sparks.

Annabelle's Dolly shielded her eyes from the bright explosion.

Pitter-patter. Pitter-patter.

Leo's eyes widened after he saw the first drop of water splash down Annabelle's Dolly's head. He saw the girl open her eyes, the confusion obvious in her face.

To her, it must have seemed like the rain was pouring heavily over the arena but Leo and the audience could see that it was limited in its range. More like a storm cloud hanging over a single person really.

"Narukami must have cast [RAINFALL] during the explosion," Donatella reported.

"He used the circumstances to his advantage," Morgue agreed. "He's quite the tactician."

Pitter-patter. Pitter-patter.

"Thunder Runner!" Narukami yelled.

Leo saw the lightning wrap around Narukami as he charged forward with inhuman speed toward Annabelle's Dolly.

She barely managed to raise her staff and form an arcane shield between her and Narukami, but it simply shattered against his lightning-encased form.

Not surprisingly, Annabelle's Dolly screamed even before Narukami struck her with his body. Leo could guess why as he'd seen Narukami use a similar tactic back in the previous stage.

As soon as his feet touched the puddle of water forming around Annabelle's Dolly, Narukami had already won. For while the electricity snaked up her feet, causing her both pain and rendering her momentarily in shock, Narukami's [THUNDER RUNNER] would finish the job.

"Blame your shitty luck for making me your first opponent!" Narukami yelled. "Now, die!"

He slammed into her, and the force of his attack sent her flying backward.

"How forceful," Donatella noted. "She'll have a hard time getting up tomorrow after that tackle."

"But she's getting up right now," Morgue pointed.

She was right.

Although wobbly, Annabelle's Dolly picked herself off the floor. She wiped away the blood that trickled down her mouth and then pointed her staff in the direction of Narukami.

Leo was so impressed at her refusal to give up that it took him seconds to realize that the fight was already over. Annabelle's Dolly was no longer inside the ring.

That's when Leo realized that Narukami wasn't such a bad guy. Contrary to his warning, he didn't actually want to kill her because he'd planned to push her out of bounds.

Leo halted the match with his whistle, and in Maestro's voice, he yelled, "Narukami wins!"

---

After the stage had been wiped clean by the hobgoblin attendants, the next two combatants entered the arena at nearly the same time to thunderous applause from the packed stands.

Leo knew that Lyghtning was popular, but Cyborg Ninja had recently gained fans for her achievements in the first two stages. Now it was a toss as to which fan group was cheering loudest.

Of course, it was Lyghtning who'd climbed up to the ring first, and with a salute to her fan club, she yelled, "Cheer up, loves—"

"—I'm here to save the day!" they all chanted with her.

In contrast to Lyghtning's boisterous entrance, her opponent stepped onto the ring with little fanfare.

The edges of the ring began to glow, but neither challenger seemed eager to begin the fight. Cyborg Ninja bowed to her opponent, and Lyghtning bowed back. And only after this ceremony was completed did the two of them draw their weapons.

On the screens above, two words blinked to life, [BATTLE START].