The Gamer's System

There was nothing in the way of Vask anymore. He not only destroyed all of the illusion and the monsters along the way but also, prevented his [Chaos Energy] from falling below [80%]. Balancing both usage and regeneration.

Quinn was feeling confident that their main objective would be cleared right there and then. And even Vask had this thought on his mind. That was probably why Quinn was surprised when the Monarch suddenly halted.

"Why did you stop?" 

"Can't you feel it? Something dangerous is approaching us."

The silence was something that Vask normally enjoyed. On the first few minutes this meant that he was successful in clearing out all the barricades and hurdles. However, that same silence was dreadful for him because of the aura he felt closing in and, after a few more seconds, someone finally appeared.

"You must be that Monarch which wounded my master while I was unconscious." 

Glade was almost back to his elven form. His hair was still white while his eyes glowed a chaos purple color. The [Chaos Crystal] on his chest was hidden with the armor he had on while the seven horns stuck out of his forehead. 

On his hand was a single had sword which oddly had a handle that was longer than the blade itself. Making it extend to a point that it would be mistaken for a spear. In the middle of it was something that made Vask a bit cautious. A core that beat like a heart, reminding him of the weapon of the Blood King.

But this was not enough to make him retreat. Aside from the appearance and the aura, there was nothing much going for this person. In fact, even if it would take some effort, Vask knew that he could win against the odd creature.

"And you are?" The Monarch asked as it was customary for his kind to remember the names of worthy opponents.

"I am Glade Leonis. First of my name and sole survivor of the household of Lions. Servant of the great god Pier…as well as the person to end your life." Before Vask could even say anything, Quinn already butted in.

"That's our objective! That's the elf which we are supposed to kill!"

"Well that actually makes things more difficult." 

"What do you mean?"

"Quinn, as soon as your main objective is finished, what do you think would happen?"

The reason why Glade was the perfect opponent for Vask was not because he could overpower the said Monarch. On the contrary, in terms of skill, power, and tactics, Vask had a great advantage over Glade. Under normal circumstances Glade would have no chance against Vask. But the situation was actually against his favor because, defeating and killing Glade meant that Vask would immediately lose his vessel.

"As soon as your main objective is done, you will be transported back to the realm of the gods. I can't enter that place because your bodies would turn incorporeal at that time. Forcing my soul out as I do not meet the requirements for entering it."

"Master Pier was right. You really are clever. Although being clever doesn't necessarily take you out of this predicament." Glade said, pointing his sword on the Monarch.

"And I guess those horns on your head aren't mere decorations am I right?" Vask mentioned, finally taking notice of Glade's eight horns. Formed in the shape of a crown.

"These are proof that I stand on top of evolution. I do advise that you take me seriously from the start if you do not wish to die in a regretful way."

Vask remembered all the monsters in Gaia. How there were only two seven horned monsters which were considered to both be the rarest as well as the strongest among the horned beasts. It was his first time seeing an eight horned variant but, he also knew that this was not a natural phenomenon. It was something which Pier created. And if he could create something like an eight horned monster, then he was surely capable of much more.

Glade began releasing his aura and it was no laughing matter. The sheer amount was enough to take down Quinn. Limiting Vask's options even more as he was the only one who could face it.

"Why do I feel like I'm being lured into a  trap here." The Monarch told himself. A thought which was immediately pushed to the back of his head as Quinn asked.

"So what do we do? Are we going to retreat?" The elite had no better idea at the moment. Things didn't seem to be in their favor simply because of the effects to come in the death of Glade. But the Monarch had other plans.

"Don't be stupid. We've come this far right? I'm going to deal with him don't worry." Vask said in reply as the battle finally began.

Glade jumped up in the air, releasing crow like summons that rained down on Vask. The Monarch thought that this was a wasted move as it also gave a lot of openings for him to strike his opponent.

"Let's see here, breaking a few limbs wouldn't kill him at least." Vask snapped his fingers which made all the crows vanish – getting sucked in the spatial distortions created by the Monarch.

During this quick interval, Glade was able to escape from the Monarch's field of vision. Only to reappear under him and making a rising slash. Vask countered this by immediately adding space on top of Glade -pushing him down until he was buried on the ground.

But then Glade suddenly vanished from where he was caught. Leaving a thick violet mist where his body was a few seconds ago. He then reappeared at the back of Vask and, this time, the Monarch didn't have time to use the same move. 

He dodged; although barely as the tip of Glade's blade grazed his cheek. The Monarch immediately felt poison from the wound and he dealt with it accordingly. Removing all the flesh and liquid in the said area on his face and storing it on a separate space.

"That's not fair you know. I worked hard to get past your defenses and you simply remove it that easily?" Glade mentioned. Realizing what happened right away because of the spurting blood which Vask also stopped.

"Well I can't allow a horned beast to beat me at the very least." Vask said as both limbs and arms of Glade suddenly got torn.

"You didn't actually think that you stood a chance now did you?" The Monarch continued as he watched the body of his opponent turn to mist once again.

"The wind will not always blow in your favor. I suggest that you leave your comments for when the fight is truly finished." Glade appeared in the sky. Floating as he held on to his one-handed sword.

All the wounds generated by Vask got taken away. He was perfectly fine with both arms and limbs intact. This was not some illusion nor some cheap cloning technique. The Monarch knew that from the beginning of their fight until that moment, there was only one Glade. The same one which didn't sustain any injury.

"That's one heck of a skillset you're using on me. Too bad it won't work for long."

Suddenly everything didn't feel right for Glade. The sky above him was heavy. The ground below looked liquid. His whole body felts all sorts of uneasiness; like his organs were shaken so badly that their positions all got jumbled.

He tried to move from where he stood but it didn't work. He was caught in the middle of a spell casted by Vask.

"From the start of this battle up to this point, I was focusing a lot of my attention in the creation of this spell. You were right though, I should probably erase you entirely before you could cause more trouble."

Vask took out his blade and prepared to strike. Glade could still move while inside the spell but even his motion was being limited to the point that it didn't feel like he was the one controlling it. Glade didn't even have any chance to dodge as the Monarch made four slashes. Taking away all of Glade's limbs and arms once again.

The elf thought that this part was a bit futile. With his skill, he could immediately restore his body back to normal and, in a matter of seconds this happened again. But as soon as it did, his body fell apart once more. 

"What the…"

"I've thought hard about that skill you are using and I had the idea that, it must have something to do with time distortion. Specifically a skill that allows your body to work on a different dimension altogether. Of course that would be no easy feat to accomplish and so were the twenty other assumptions I had on the nature of your regenerative skill."

Glade tried putting his body together again. Yet the same thing occurred. Even without Vask making another move, his body was cut to pieces. On the exact location where Vask made the cuts. 

"Don't bother. My blade can permanently distort the space in between the things I cut. I don't just slice thigs apart. I literally remove any chance for them to be placed back together again." 

"I see. Then you leave me no choice." Glade emitted a black aura that coated the whole surroundings in the blink of an eye. It enclosed them in a cube and within this same area, Glade was able to create new body parts made of the same substance.

"You really are full of surprises aren't you?" Vask said; ready to resume the fight.

"Oh believe me. You haven't seen nothing yet."