The Gamer's System

"Regret that you have invoked the wrath of a god."

"Ah yes, another cocky speech for a future corpse." Quinn thought to himself, measuring his opponent properly before the fight could begin.

"Give me the elf before I kill you." He began in a passively aggressive tone.

"Yeah, that's not happening." Quinn said as he prepared to cast a spell.

"You've grown a bit too bold for your own good kid. I said – " Pier was still in the air but Quinn could feel a blade positioned on his throat.

"Give me the elf." Pier was in a position where he could make threats and demands. That is, until he felt a sword aiming at the back of his head.

"Cheap tricks like that won't work you know."

It must be remembered that Quinn was still in the [Avarice Serpent] form. With this he could utilize all of the skills that he has seen with his own eyes but, with a reduction on their effects. However, Quinn could also merge skills together. Allowing him to reach the same level of effectiveness as any original skill by mixing it together with skills of the same nature.

"You seem to have grown quite a bit from our first encounter."

"And you seem to be falling behind."

Everything that was happening was within Zeke's computations. He knew that Pier would somehow have a way of communicating with Glade. This presumption heavily relied on the fact that Pier had a way of monitoring the whole operation and, if he could do this, then he could also monitor the fight between Glade and Quinn.

That was the reason why Zeke specifically instructed Quinn to give every detail of the skill he was going to use. How he could trap Glade without any hopes of him dying by himself. Left with this option, Pier would have no other choice but to show up or at least, leave traces by deploying some other monsters.

"You and your monarch can probably take him down. I won't interfere because the Pier which could appear may also be a double. It would really be bad if that's the case because I'm sure he can wipe out the elites as soon as we let our guard down." These were the exact words told by Zeke. It was hard for Quinn to believe it himself but, the gamer was basically giving him the mission of taking out the main opponents in order to save Mythos from ruination.

"You know what's so funny about this whole situation? It's that you actually think that your level of deception is the same as mine." Pier vanished, with the one floating in the air being his only copy left.

"I am the god of deceit. The god of trickery itself. And I would not let a mere human take me down."

"That's just the thing, I'm not only a mere human." Quinn said as the marks of Vask finally began coming out of his body. The monarch was preparing for that day, getting a much-needed slumber in order to fully cultivate his powers. And he still was.

Vask didn't switch places with Quinn. He just allowed the human to borrow a portion of his powers. Explaining why the markings only appeared on Quinn's hands.

"Fascinating! Truly fascinating! Entertain me more!" Pier also released a portion of the power which his Monarch had. Showing similar markings all over his body. And without further notice, he pounced at Quinn.

It was an easy dodge for the human. Or so he thought as wounds tore open all around his body. There was no contact, Pier wasn't even close to getting near him. But the wounds were as real as they could get.

"You may be thinking how that happened. But I'm not gonna give you time to figure it out." Pier multiplied into ten, with all attacking at once. Quinn countered this by using [Flash Freeze] but, even as his enemies crash landed to the ground as ice statues, more wounds still appeared on his body.

"Is that all you can do boy?" Pier taunted, releasing the same number of clones. But Quinn did not falter. In fact, he waited for this pause in Pier's attack in order to activate:

"Event Horizon."

The whole battlefield became a mush of distorted space. Pier tried to move normally but, each step he took was a bit different from the last. It was only Quinn who could move freely at that point but, this was not the true power of the skill. As a space altering domain, it allowed him to reach a level close to Vask.

"Kneel." Immediately all of the copies of pier got forced to their knees. However, the fake ones did not disappear, making it difficult for Quinn to know which he should attack. But this dilemma did not stick around for long.

"Hawk's eyes. Chaos Sight. Mana Sight. All-Seeing Eyes. Odin's Sight. Quinn used a combination of all the sight enhancing skills he has seen thus far. Through it, even Pier would have great difficulty fooling him. It was a sure checkmate move. That is, if Pier was really there.

As Quinn looked at all the copies of the god within the area, there was one thing that was certain. All of them were clones. Each had the same mana signature; there was no difference he could detect nor see.

"Like I told you boy, you can't defeat me."

"This is bad, I need to report this to mister Zeke." Quinn already figured things out. He knew where their enemy was hiding. But he found himself trapped in another subspace. It was all black once again, without any light penetrating through the area.

[Teleportation skills are disabled]

[Event Horizon has been disabled]

[Voice chat and telekinesis are disabled]

"Judging by the look on your face, you already know what's happening."

"The only thing happening here is me escaping." Quinn said, confident that he could still win.

"Oh I doubt that boy. You see, this skill is called [Field of Silence]. It is made by focusing all the [Chaos] I dispersed in this continent to a single spot. Namely, this area." Two copies of Pier appeared near Quinn, attacking right away.

The human was able to dodge by using [Overdrive]. He then raised his guard a bit more as the Pier floating above gave him a devilish grin. He then proceeded with his explanation.

"The skill deletes all connection you have with the outside world while also preventing you from escaping. There's a bunch of other surprises in store for you. In fact, let me show you right now."

Five more copies of Pier came out. Quinn casted [Overdrive] once again but, it didn't activate. This placed him in a dangerous spot as the blades of the five clones all made their way through his flesh. He didn't let things end here however as he made one full swing; twisting his body and extending the amount of damage done by the clones. Yet he was also able to cut off all their heads.

"I believe the name of my skill is enough for you to understand why your skill didn't work the second time around." Pier mentioned, still with a haughty look on his face. But he was right, Quinn did understand.

The space created by Pier allowed him to use his skill only once. He tested out this theory by activating a power-up skill and trying to reactivate it soon after. The second time did not work which left him in a difficult spot. Quinn proceeded to healing his wounds, optimizing the most useful regenerative spell he could think of while Pier finally came down and took Glade to his side.

"Dear me. Look what you did to my precious servant."

Glade was already bleeding to death. His vitals were all damaged to the point that, he was not fit for battle anymore. While examining him, Pier made sure that Quinn was properly occupied. Sending 20 more clones to fight in his stead.

Quinn was fully healed at this point. He had no choice but to let go of glade because he needed to focus his attention on his own healing and survival.

"Skill combination. Inner Ring and Darkness Veil."

There was a single flaw to Pier's [Field of Silence]. Although it could cancel out the next activation of any skill, those that have long lasting effects would last until the end of the fight. A goof example of this were the enhancements used by Quinn.

The human avoided the clones easily through this. Even with their added stealth and agility, Quinn found no problem taking them down. But Pier also put this into consideration, adding a bit of surprise hidden within each clone.

"Shift." Pier commanded, turning some of the clones into a fury of daggers. With each aiming at Quinn's vital parts. One by one, the daggers found their way through Quinn's defenses. He was able to destroy some, but not all of them.

"I bet that Zeke fellow brought you here thinking you can handle both me and Glade. But man, look at you. HAHAHA." Pier watched in entertainment as Quinn clung to dear life. Making the most of all his skills while also thinking of a way to counterattack.

"Here's a bit of information for you, a parting gift if you will." Pier summoned twenty more clones while he made some of the daggers explode.

"Your defeat is inevitable." Quinn used a gravitational spell on Pier, killing him in one blow. But another one simply came up to continue his speech.

"Even if you destroy all of [Chaos]. Even if you somehow miraculously destroy my mortal body. Even if you kill all monsters on the continents, I will still win." More daggers hit Quinn's body. Two clones were able to grab his wrists tying him down the ground, forcing Quinn to use [Weapon Blink] to escape.

"I'll be going now. My dear servant should be able to deal with you at this point."

Quinn was still recovering when Pier's aura vanished entirely. The field of darkness was also being taken away but, not in a good way.

"AHHHHHHH!" Glade, who was still floating in the sky, began absorbing all of the [Chaos] found in Elysium; taking the combined power of all the [Horned Beasts] summoned by the same energy. In the midst of all this, a notification window came up. One which made Vask switch with Quinn immediately.

The Monarch immediately healed all his wounds and tried to take down Glade. But it was too late. Pillars of [Chaos Black Flames] covered the elf, preventing Vask from entering.

"Hey what gives?" Quinn asked.

"Shut up kid. This is beyond what you can handle." Vask coldly commented, looking at the notification one more time and seeing the same ominous words.

[The Monarch of War - Pilliade has been resurrected.]