The Last Experience Point

Chapter 130: Breath of Invigoration

Jimmy wasn’t sure how far they ran or how much farther they needed to continue running. He did not know who was after him or why. He did not even know if they were still chasing him or if he and Tena had finally gotten away. All he knew was that his life was hanging in the balance, and he was the least suitable person on Earth—err, Galterra, sorry—to engage in some kind of “superhero” brawl in the middle of this hot city that seemed to have been built on a coastal desert. His survival instinct in full gear, he pushed beyond the tiredness he felt in his legs and refused to stop. He was determined to keep going until he could not possibly move anymore.

And so, on and on he ran, Tena’s hand held in his own. The two of them raced their way from street to street while sweat poured down Jimmy’s forehead as though it were an open faucet. He had no idea where he was going; this was an unfamiliar city located in an unfamiliar world. All he knew was that he needed to keep moving. Thus, from one open-air market to the next, the two of them bolted away as far and as fast as their legs could carry them.

“You two hungry?” a merchant asked him and Tena as they darted by. He was a middle-aged man who had a large picnic blanket set down on the floor, on top of which were various sandwiches and cold beverages. He smiled at them from where he sat in a chair beneath the awning of a two-story home.

“Special price on all hand-made rugs,” another merchant said. “Hey, you two,” he called to them as they approached. “Wouldn’t you like to custom order one of these beautiful—ahh, okay, then,” he finished with a sigh as they shot right past him without paying him any notice.

They hurried through an archway that led to an incredibly narrow alley, which ran between two sand-colored apartment complexes, and then they emerged on the sidewalk of a much wider street. His feet stomping down on the pavement, Jimmy panted as he struggled to keep up the pace. He was taking deeper and deeper breaths, but he was still hanging in there. Adrenaline served as an invaluable source of fuel: one that stopped him from collapsing due to exhaustion.

As they continued onwards, he started noticing that the roads were gradually beginning to widen, and eventually, the densely packed markets became lesser so the farther they continued to move in what he assumed was a northerly direction. Eventually, the wagons, camels, and horse-drawn carriages were replaced with actual DEHVs, and though the city maintained its colorful, unique architecture, there was clearly a shift from commercial to residential as things became more spacious, more open, and overall less confined. The roads became busier, too. Thankfully, there didn’t seem to be much traffic as they approached what, for the first time, looked like a modern intersection.

Tena stopped short as they drew nearer as if to gather her breath. “We don’t have the crossing light,” she said, breathing heavily.

“It’s okay,” Jimmy said, trying to pull her onwards. She stayed firm, and her hand slipped out of his. “There’s no cars. We’re good. Come on.” He waved her along. “Please. We gotta keep moving.” While still beckoning her, he continued to head towards the street.

Tena’s face flared with alarm. “Huh? Oh, n-no! Jimmy, stop! You don’t understand!”

“It’s fine!” he shouted back at her. “I’m not gonna leave you here! Come on!”

He saw her begin to approach him, but now, she held her hand out as if in warning. Jimmy wasn’t sure why. But as long as she was following him, it was all good. And so, with her once more on the move, he took off at a run—then immediately yelped in surprise, confusion, but not all that much pain as a gigantic red wall of light popped into existence from out of nowhere and physically repulsed him, throwing him backwards and onto his ass.

“What the hell is that?” he asked, pointing at the reddish barrier of energy, which disappeared shortly after he collided with it. “Goddamn! Is that a forcefield?”

“It’s a DEHV crossing barrier,” Tena said, extending her hand and helping him up. “You can’t cross until we have the crossing light. Isn’t that how it worked in your world?”

“Uh, hell no,” he said, flabbergasted. “We didn’t have no damn forcefields. We just disobey and go whenever we want. It’s called jaywalking. Everyone in New York does it.”

Tena giggled, though only slightly. Jimmy was surprised she could laugh at all given the situation.

“You probably have enough strength to break through it, but that could cause the whole intersection system to fail, and people might die.”

Jimmy looked over his shoulder, checking to see if they were being followed. It seemed that, at least for this moment, the coast was clear. “All right. We’ll wait.”

Anxiously, he waited with her for it to change and allow them to cross. Despite having completely left the massive market area behind them, he still wasn’t satisfied that they’d gone far enough away. He wanted to keep moving.

Tapping his foot as he waited, he tried to calm his nerves by making conversation. “If you guys got forcefields, why don’t people use them in wars? Like the one going on right now that they’re always talking about on TV.”

Tena averted her gaze and lowered her head as if thinking carefully before replying. “It’s hard to explain,” she said after a brief moment. “Galterran wars are not usually like this. We don’t build for things we don’t expect. Nobody ever thought there’d be another conventional war. I don’t even know if these barriers would work the way you’re thinking. I’m guessing you’re talking about using the DEHV crossing barriers to shield cities from bombs, right?”

“Well, yeah.”

She licked her upper lip, stared at him for a few seconds, then asked, “Does—or maybe I should say did—that kind of thing happen a lot in the past? Bombing places from the sky, I mean.”

“Oh yeah,” Jimmy said. “It’s never not happening. Everybody’s always bombing someone else.”

She shuddered as if at the very thought of it. “I don’t get how you miss your world so much. It sounds even more dangerous than whatever’s happening to us here.”

He sighed. “Naw, it’s not like that. It’s…complicated.”

“How so?” she asked.

“Well, the wars are always going on, but they don’t affect everyone equally. So like, if you live in America or whatever like I do, you don’t gotta worry about war.”

“I see,” she said, her tone contemplative. “So your guild doesn’t fight in wars very often?”

“Oh, no, we definitely do,” he said, nodding. “Probably more than most nations, not gonna lie.”

“But you just said…”

“Okay, let me rephrase it. We do fight in a lot of wars, Tena, but like, we’re more advanced, so we don’t have to worry about getting hit at home.” She paused as if to consider his words. Jimmy could see that she still didn’t understand. “Okay, let me put it this way. Imagine if every guild in North Bastia all joined together and became one unified guild and everyone was ruled by the same, uh, ruling guild.”

“You mean like the Brayspark monarchy?” she asked.

“I dunno, maybe. But let’s run with that. So like, imagine if all of North Bastia was just called ‘America,’ okay? And imagine if those jets they were showing on the news were used to attack the Orcs or someplace far away instead of somewhere close. That’s more like how my world is. Basically, if that happened, the Orcs can’t do shit about it because they don’t have jets of their own, right? And they obviously can’t just come here whenever they want. So while you and I eat lunch or hang out, we might not even be thinking about the fact that we’re bombing the Orcs, so it doesn’t even bother us. Hell, we might not even know at all. It’s like that.”

Tena frowned. “That sounds awful,” she said. “So you’re saying your guild was some kind of evil empire?”

Jimmy snorted. “What?” he asked, shocked by her takeaway. “No, Tena. We were the good guys.”

“But…but you just said you bombed people across the world who can’t defend themselves.”

“Well, yeah, but…”

“I don’t get it. Your guild sounds evil.”

“It was for freedom,” he mumbled defensively.

“It was for what?”

“Okay, you know what? It’s one of those things you had to be there to understand. Let’s leave it at that.”

Upon those words, the crossing light finally lit up, and with a briefly exchanged nod, the two of them dashed across the intersection and made their way farther into the northern part of the city. With each step they took, Jimmy could smell the breeze of the ocean just a little bit stronger. It made him wonder if he’d made a mistake in heading north, because at some point, they’d hit the coast, and then there’d be nowhere left to run without slightly backtracking.

“We need to get back to Angelica’s,” he said. “Do you know any other ways we can get there?”

She shook her head. “I only know the way through the grand library. And also…” She lowered her voice. “I’m really worried about Zach and Kalana. I don’t want to leave here without them.”

“I kind of feel the same,” Jimmy agreed as they headed into a large community filled with massive, beautiful homes that were well distanced apart. Each had multiple domes along with rounded, colored glass windows and swimming pools the size of entire fields. Many even had circularly shaped rooftops, which gave them the appearance of miniature palaces. As Jimmy jogged his way with Tena by his side through the winding, concrete road that led to the other end of the community, he marveled both at the homes and the sizes of some their front lawns. Yet even as he took in the spectacle of it all, he couldn’t help but feel a fair bit of unease in the back of his mind as he wondered how Zach and Kalana were making out.

He felt bad for bailing on them, but what choice did he have? Zach had specifically asked him to run—demanded it, even. And truthfully, Jimmy wasn’t much of a fighter anyway. Back home, he avoided physical confrontation at all cost, as he knew he’d only get his ass whooped. As good as he was in PVE, he was equally bad in PVP. And he was even worse at fighting for real. It was just not a strength of his. He had no good instincts for fighting living, thinking, and breathing beings, and he really hated the fear that erupted in the pit of his stomach just at the thought of it.

I hope they don’t die because of me, he thought, becoming worried. I can’t have that on my conscience.

Exiting the community, he and Tena found themselves on the sidewalk of a somewhat busier street. To their right were a bunch of more traditional storefronts—as opposed to the booths, tents, or small huts of the market area—and to their left was a large, two-lane street where cars—or DEHVs, rather—were zipping along back and forth. As he and Tena continued onwards along the sidewalk, he realized he was just about out of gas. His robes were so drenched in sweat they were practically sticking to his skin, and he was becoming dehydrated.

“You think we lost them yet?” he asked as he walked, rather than sprinted down the sidewalk.

“I don’t know,” Tena said nervously. “Maybe Zach and Kalana dealt with them and everything’s okay.”

Jimmy hoped that was the case. But he just couldn’t bring himself to believe it. He was too scared to stop. Yet he was so badly drained and needed to rest. If only he had been fighting mobs, he would be able to use his “legendary unique” ability, which allowed him to cast a five-minute stamina regeneration buff each time he did a certain amount of poison damage to his target. It was how he was able to last ten hours fighting a single boss, such as the one on F40 in Tower of Eternity. Unfortunately, he couldn’t cast the buff without first dealing the requisite amount of damage.

Just got to keep going somehow, he thought. Ignore the heat. Keep moving.

At the end of the street, there was an overpass that led to a separate, similar street, as well as an immediate right turn he could make that would keep him on the same sidewalk. Not wanting to stand still and wait for the DEHV crossing light, he chose to lead Tena down the next block beside him. “We’re moving too slow,” he said, panting.

“I’m okay to start running again. Are you?”

“No, but I’m gonna do it anyway.”

And that was what he did. Clumsily, exhaustedly, and barely able to control his locomotion, Jimmy forced his aching, tired legs to obey his commands, and he entered into a pathetic half-limp, half-run that saw him staggering and stumbling. At one point, he even lost his balance, knocking over a barrel filled with water outside of a fish store, and causing people to give him dirty looks outside of a pet shop after he came very close to kicking a dog by accident.

“S-sorry,” he managed to say, limping onwards.

“Jimmy, if we need to rest, we can—”

“No, Tena. We have to keep going.”

Trying to keep his body under control, he managed to more or less head straight down to the middle of the next block. And he almost did so without stumbling at all. In fact, it was only as he nearly reached the end that he accidentally knocked over a trash can, bumped into a guy on a bicycle, who thankfully wasn’t hurt, and then accidentally kicked over some cat’s food bowl by mistake, causing heaps of chicken and tuna to spill out onto the sidewalk in front of the “cat café” where it was eating. The cat immediately hissed at him.

“Sorry,” he panted again, mostly ignoring it as he tried his best to make it to the end of the next block. To Tena, he said, “Maybe you’re right. Maybe I do need to—”

“Stupid human is not sorry!” a childish, male, yet eerily cartoonish voice shouted angrily at him.

Jimmy wasn’t sure who shouted it or why, but he ignored it and kept on trekking forward—until he was forced to stop on a dime, his knees nearly buckling as a random bolt of lightning simply emerged from a cloudless sky and slammed with a thwap down onto the sidewalk in front of him.

“Stop ignoring me!”

Confused and now suddenly afraid, Jimmy turned around, looking for whoever was shouting at him, terrified it was another one of those robed assassins trying to kill him. Tena also turned around, though rather than fear, her eyes lit up with recognition and hope.

“Fluffles!” she called out, running forward and dropping to her knees in front of the cat whose food bowl Jimmy had accidentally knocked over. And it was only in this moment that Jimmy realized that the cat had been the one speaking. But with everything he’d experienced this morning still fresh in his mind, this revelation somehow lacked the shock effect it might’ve had on a different day.

Mystified, Jimmy watched as Tena extended her arm, reached out, and made as if to pet the cat, but the cat raised his paw as if threatening to scratch her, and he hissed again. “Tena and Tena friend knock over Fluffles’ chicken bowl. No petting!”

“We’re so sorry, Fluffles. You don’t understand. We’re in danger.”

“That right! Humans in big danger from Fluffles. I want chicken and tuna or Fluffles scratch.”

She shook her head. “No, you don’t understand, little guy. We’re here with Zach and Kalana.”

“Zach…come back already?” Fluffles asked nervously. “Fluffles not supposed to sneak out for more food. I get in trouble. Tena not tell.”

“I won’t,” she promised. “But please, Fluffles, we need your help.”

“Help?”

Jimmy observed in a state of utter fascination as Tena actually prostrated herself before a cat of all things and began to beg it. Now this, he found surprising. For some reason, she actually started to plead with the animal. Jimmy loved cats too—and had one that he still refused to believe he’d never see again—but he couldn’t recall ever begging one as though it were some kind of deity whose blessing he required. Because that was how this was coming off.

“Please help us, Fluffles. Please!” she begged him.

“Why do humans need help?” the cat asked, making a meow that somehow sounded inquisitive.

“There are assassins that are trying to kill my friend Jimmy,” she said, pointing at him. Feeling awkward, he waved. “We’re too exhausted to keep running. If they come after us, I don’t know how we’ll survive. Please help us.”

Fluffles meowed. “Only if Jimmy buy ten cans of tuna and apologize.”

“Of course! Jimmy, come here and apologize to Fluffles.”

As crazy as all this seemed, Jimmy still did not fully understand the rules of this world or what was possible. And so, he felt no shame as he knelt down before the cat and did exactly what Tena asked him to do. “I’m so sorry I knocked over your bowl of food, uh…Fluffles, is it?”

“Yes.”

“Very good name,” he remarked.

Fluffles purred. “Yes it is!”

His throat having gone dry from dehydration, he found it difficult to speak. Yet he tried, anyway. And in as few words as possible, he explained to the cat what had just happened while he, Tena, Zach, and Kalana had been eating ice cream. It was almost hard to believe what he was doing: kneeling there on the sidewalk next to Tena and explaining his dire situation to a fluffy, black-and-white cat with amber-colored eyes. Yet that was exactly what he did.

When he finished, Tena said, “Everything he just told you is true. And we don’t even know if Zach and Kalana are okay.”

“I check,” Fluffles said.

“Check?” both he and Tena asked.

Fluffles closed his eyes and began to chant. “Zach, Kalana, Zach, Kalana, Zach, Kalana.” As he did so, hundreds of little specks that looked like little grains of sand began to float over his head, appearing out of thin air. Only, unlike sand, they were purple in color, and they were dark and did not cast any shadows on the sidewalk. Yet as quickly as they emerged, they vanished just the same, and then the cat reopened its eyes.

“Zach and Kalana okay,” the cat said. “I protect Tena and…” Fluffles made a loud meow that actually startled Jimmy. He got up quickly, turned his head, and then darted forward before lifting up onto his hind legs while placing his front paws on Jimmy’s knees. Now, he locked eyes with Jimmy, and it felt as though the cat was reading his soul or something.

“Jimmy Green,” Fluffles said. “Jimmy not supposed to be here.”

“Yeah, believe me, I know. How do you know that?”

The cat again meowed, and he looked confused. “I appraise. Jimmy die. Jimmy not supposed to be here.”

“Like I said. I know.”

“Jimmy cheat death.”

“That’s…right,” he whispered.

If Fluffles had anything else to say, he did not voice it, because instead, he abruptly spun around and hissed, though Jimmy was not sure why. But then Tena jumped back up to her feet, and a wave of nervous uncertainty rushed through him. This only worsened as he himself lifted his head and looked down the block in the direction that he and Tena had come from, and now, he watched as a man with spiky hair in full black plate armor with bladed gauntlets marched over to them in a way that was both intimidating and threatening. Scars running down both sides of his face, the crooked-jawed man looked like he was up to no good. It put Jimmy immediately on guard.

Is that one of them? he wondered. No robe or mask, though.

As he came a bit closer, Jimmy climbed back up to his feet and got a much better look at his eyes, and now, he could tell that this was indeed one of the two men who had attacked him: the one who’d been wielding the large, curved sword. And though he no longer wore the robe, the mask, or carried that curved, elongated blade, Jimmy was sure of it—it was definitely the same dude. The realization caused him to groan. He was now too exhausted to run. He was done for.

“Tena,” he said, fighting back the rising fear. “I think he only wants me. You have to go.”

“No!” she shouted. “Not a chance.”

“I don’t think he’s after you, Tena. If you leave, I don’t think he’ll come for you.”

“And you’d be right about that,” the man said, clearly having entered earshot as he marched closer and closer. He wore a confident, sadistic grin. “I’m not interested in anyone but you, Jimmy Green. So tell your girl and the Shadowfang to leave, and I won’t have to hurt them.”

Jimmy had absolutely no idea what a “Shadowfang” was, but based solely on the context, he ventured a guess that the man was referring to Fluffles. Standing back up, he realized there was no longer any running away. This was it for him, wasn’t it? He’d cheated death for a reason he didn’t know—only to end up killed by someone he didn’t know for a reason they probably wouldn’t tell him. Even still, he couldn’t help but ask.

“What did I do wrong? At least tell me that. I don’t got a clue what I ever did to you or anybody else to deserve this.”

“Nothing,” the spiky-haired assassin said as he approached ever closer to where Jimmy was standing behind Fluffles and Tena. “None of this is your fault. But I still gotta take care of business, and the fact of the matter is you shouldn’t be here. You’re human.”

Jimmy mouthed something in reply, then let the words fall off as it fully dawned on him what had just been said. It was so bizarre it was actually stunning. Finally, he managed to find his nerve, and he said, “Aren’t you human? What kinda bullshit reason is that?” He lifted his arms and waved them around him. “Almost everyone in this city is human. Why you picking on me?”

The man shrugged, his demeanor uncomfortably casual. “Well, Jimmy, there’s human, and then there’s human. You’re the real thing, old timer. Not supposed to be any more of you. Again, not your fault, but here we are. Just make this easy for yourself and die willingly, how about it?”

Old timer? Jimmy thought. He’d be amused if he wasn’t so terrified.

Upon coming within ten feet of where Jimmy stood, the spiky-haired assassin stopped. He lowered his eyes down to Fluffles. “Move, feline.”

Fluffles hissed. “You move, stupid man!”

Jimmy gulped. This was going to end in tragedy, wasn’t it? This guy looked like a fucking Terminator. Jimmy was in big, big trouble. “Who are you, anyway?” he asked. “Why do you even care where I’m from or how I got here?”

“None of your business,” the man replied, his voice deep and gravelly. “It would take too long to explain, anyway, and you’d end up with even more questions. You’re better off not knowing who I—”

“Mean stupid man is Zylor Ursock,” Fluffles said. “I appraise. Zylor is level 75 and has 240 strength.”

The man scowled. “Gods-cursed Shadowfangs.” He glared at the cat, who stood his ground and hissed right back at him. “Not that it matters. All he did was make it so that I can’t spare any of you now. Seeing my face is one thing: knowing my name, though? A fatal mistake.”

If Jimmy was frightened to begin with, he was doubly so now. He didn’t know how the cat was able to do what it did, but clearly, he had no reason to doubt its words. And if true, it meant he was in a whole world of trouble. More so than he’d realized.

“Level 75?” he asked, his knees trembling. Yet even as he worried that his legs would buckle, he shook with more than just fear: he trembled with rage, too. With a sense of unfairness and disbelief at just how pathetic this all was. Words began to slip out of his mouth: words he didn’t even intend to say. The juxtaposition of the reality he knew and the reality he’d found himself in merged with his moment of deathly terror, and as a result, he began to speak like someone caught between worlds.

“This isn’t even a fair fight,” he said. “What kind of level-75 scrub has to gank a dude in their 40s? You must suck ass if you have to PVP against a lowbie because you’re too bad to find someone your own level to 1v1. You're the type of shit-tier tryhard who gets stuck in bronze but still thinks he’s good.”

“Yeah!” Fluffles shouted at the man. “Zylor is a scrub and is smelly and stupid! Right, Jimmy?”

“He’s low-ELO trash,” Jimmy said with a nod, unable to believe he was provoking this man. He was simply too spent and too dehydrated to do anything but vent his exhausted frustrations. “He probably mains Karthus for R spam.”

Jimmy’s words seemed to momentarily stun the guy—the one Fluffles had called Zylor. His face cringed, and he actually stopped in his tracks. But then, a moment later, he released a bout of laughter. “That’s right,” he said, the grin returning to his lips. “This all used to be a game to you, didn’t it? I don’t know half of that jargon, and I doubt anyone else in the world does, either—probably not even Adamus. Looks like you’ll be taking it with you to the grave, huh?” He raised his bladed gauntlets threateningly. “Now let’s get this done with. I have a species to make extinct. I’m done talking.”

True to his word, he bent his knees and then took off towards Jimmy at a dash, blasting right by Fluffles and Tena. He moved so fast that Jimmy struggled to react and panicked. He reached his arm over his shoulder and tried to remove his staff, fumbling in the process. He ended up dropping it onto the sidewalk, where it then began to roll away from him; this, as the spiky-haired assassin known as “Zylor” was on him in a second, drawing back his arm and whipping it across as if to slit Jimmy’s throat with his gauntlet-blade.

Jimmy, horrified, remained perfectly still. He was like a deer caught in headlights. He didn’t know what to do. Terror raced through him. He didn’t even try to avoid the attack or move out of the way. All he could do was tremble where he stood as his body seized up and he became gripped with so much fear it rendered him immobilized.

“Jimmy!” Tena cried. “No! Stop!”

The blade tore through the air. It was coming for his throat. Jimmy bade his body to move, but it would not obey. He held his breath. Was this the moment of his death? He grinded his teeth together in anticipation of the pain that was soon to come.

Yet, rather than pain, what he instead got was surprise. A strange sound came from in front of him on the sidewalk. It was something that began as a hiss from Fluffles but soon ended as a roar from something else entirely. Before Jimmy’s eyes, the little kitty transformed itself into a much larger, much more ferocious cat. It turned fully black, its teeth sharpened, as did its claws, and it grew to a size that was unquestionably larger than a lion. Then, with another roar, it sprang forward, opened its mouth widely, and chomped down on Zylor’s upper bicep.

“Argh!” the man cried, a sound that surely indicated he felt the bite.

There was a crack that sounded a little bit like the breaking of ice, and now, Jimmy could visibly see the cat’s monstrous teeth sinking into the plate armor, cracking through it as though it were hard candy. With a vicious tug of his head, Fluffles pulled the assassin’s arm away from Jimmy’s face only a moment before the silvery blade jutting from his gauntlet opened up his throat and caused him to bleed out over the sidewalk. And with that, the man took his eyes off Jimmy—at least for the moment. Widening with rage, he refocused them on Fluffles, turning his head and scowling at the massive cat.

“Get the fuck off me,” he growled, shaking his arm. Despite Fluffles’ huge size, he managed to shake the cat wildly, yet somehow, Fluffles was able to hold on. Flailing his arm around in way that actually looked panicked, Fluffles’ body ended up knocking over a trashcan and smashing a hole in the brick wall of a nearby storefront—but still, he could not be dislodged.

“Get off!” he shouted a second time, twisting his body so that he could jab the cat in the stomach with the blade of his other gauntlet, puncturing Fluffles six or seven times in the stomach before finally succeeding in flinging him off and throwing him through a glass window, which made a noisy crack as it shattered and set off a store alarm. People on both sides of the street, as if finally becoming aware of the situation, began to flee the opposite way.

With the cat shaken free, the man, Zylor, once more faced in Jimmy’s direction—but only for the briefest of moments. Tena, having drawn her staff, held it out in front of herself horizontally in one hand with her palm facing downwards and her fingers gripping it directly in the middle. From both the very base of the staff as well as the end, two orange balls of fire erupted, and Jimmy watched as she lifted her staff-wielding arm with a dramatic motion, causing both fireballs to pop up and off the staff in a way that reminded him of two tennis balls about to be served.

Then, as both began to fall back down, Tena quickly shifted her grip on her staff so that she held it in both hands like a baseball bat, and giving two quick swings one after the next, she sent both balls of flame shooting directly at the level-75 prick who had completely ruined their day. His scowl deepening, Zylor again turned away from Jimmy, and he twisted his hips from left to right, then right to left, each time throwing a hook in the air, which he used to rip his blade through the incoming projectiles. Both erupted into an even larger flame upon contact with his bladed gauntlets, and both vanished from existence an instant after.

“You’re next,” he said to her, spitting out a wad of saliva on the concrete sidewalk.

Having warded off yet another attack against him, he made a grunt, and for the third time, he began turning his body around towards Jimmy—only to pause halfway as, with another shattering of glass, Fluffles reemerged. The cat came crashing through a window adjacent to the one he’d been thrown in, and with a loud, angry roar, he once more clung to the man’s upper arm, this time on the opposite side of his body. Jimmy noticed that a trail of blood led from the window to the spot where Fluffles was now viciously biting his way through the plate armor. Even as he hovered midair and resisted Zylor’s attempts to throw him off, there was a growing puddle of red as more and more blood leaked out of him while he continued to make grunts and roars. The sight of it was enough to finally snap Jimmy out of his stupor.

He'll die from those wounds!

Scrambling away from the sidewalk, Jimmy raced towards the street to retrieve his staff, which had rolled off the curb and was continuing to move away from him. Yet in his attempt to chase after it, he was nearly flung directly onto his back as another reddish wall of light popped into existence and barred his passage. This time, however, he refused to be stopped. He could not afford to wait; no, this was a genuine emergency. He needed to force his way through. And while he only had 18 points into strength, he knew that he was still many, many times stronger than even the greatest Olympian to ever walk the face of the Earth. There was no way the anti-entry barrier could stop him if he used every ounce of his strength and tried to break his way through. Clearly, whatever devices powered the barrier were made to ward against ordinary, level-1 people: not people like him.

And so, using his left shoulder like a battering ram, he shoved himself into the forcefield-thing with all his might, and to his satisfaction, there was a loud, electric-like snap, and with much greater ease than he expected, the energy dissipated, and his body slipped through. With that, he bolted out into the middle of traffic, threw himself onto the road, grabbed his Epic-Rare staff he’d earned from soloing the boss on F30, and then had just enough time to race back across the street before a car traveling well over 150MPH burned its way across the road where he’d been standing.

DEHV, he told himself. Not car. How many times you gonna mess that up?

Bracing himself for impact, he charged through the crossing barrier a second time, and now, raising his staff high above his head, he called down greater gift of mending, targeting Fluffles, who Zylor had once again succeeded in dislodging, throwing the cat onto the sidewalk with enough force to send him smashing through a giant chunk of it. The poor cat was now whining, clearly in pain. Thankfully, Jimmy had just the thing for him.

Like a spotlight shined down during a Broadway play, a circular green light appeared above him, and then an instant later, the more than a dozen piercing stab wounds he’d suffered closed up all on their own. Immediately, Fluffles stopped whining and once more started hissing.

“Thank you,” he said—causing Jimmy to recoil, as his words now came out in a deep, dark, masculine, and loudly booming voice that sounded more like “THANK YOU!”

Clearly feeling much better, Fluffles unsheathed his claws, roared in defiance, and ran forward as if to attack—only to stop a moment before engaging, coming to a sudden, complete halt just inches in front of the man. He’d even raised his large paw as though intent on striking with his claws. But for some reason, he’d simply…stopped. And now, after remaining frozen for several seconds, he lowered his paw, backed away a few steps, and turned his head as if to look behind him—and then he flinched and jumped off to the side for some reason. Jimmy wasn’t sure why. Was the cat still hurting? Did he need another heal?

Before he could consider the answer to these questions, he realized that Tena was rushing over to him, and now his confusion quadrupled as she leapt into him, essentially tackling him so that the two of them fell down together onto the sidewalk right next to Fluffles. “What are you doing?” he yelled at her. “Are you trying to get us—”

Jimmy shut his mouth and let his words fall off as he felt a slight vibration on the ground along with the sudden sound of thudding, one that was growing louder by the millisecond. At the same time, Zylor shifted his stance as if to brace himself. At the moment, he had his eyes pinned on something behind Jimmy, and it occurred to Jimmy that he was no longer focusing any attention on him, Tena, or Fluffles.

“Should’ve just stayed away,” he muttered, speaking the words so quietly that Jimmy wasn’t even positive he’d heard them correctly. Lifting himself up into a seated position, Jimmy glanced behind him—and gasped as a highly unusual sight greeted his eyes. It took his mind a moment to register what he was even seeing. Was there another cat heading their way?

The hell…?

There was indeed another cat heading their way, one that was moving at an immense, DEHV-like speed. It was a large, orange, black-striped saber-toothed tiger, and it was moving so fast and stomping down so hard that bits and pieces of sidewalk were being ripped up in its wake. But there was more, too: someone was mounted on top of it. With a start, Jimmy recognized the rider as he drew nearer thanks to the menacing glow in his eyes, which Jimmy knew was caused by the hood of the cloak he wore over his head.

“Get away from them!” Zach shouted as he and this tremendous cat—that looked to be an NPC called “Kralzek’s Beast”—tore their way down the street. And unless Jimmy’s eyes were playing tricks on him, the thing was level 85: fully ten levels higher than what Fluffles claimed Zylor was! The man seemed to realize this, because his demeanor rapidly changed upon seeing it. Jimmy was sure he spotted some degree of alarm in the assassin’s eyes. But the saber-toothed, monstrous beast was not what he should have been focusing on; no, it was its rider who was clearly the bigger threat.

Zach looks mad as hell!

A moment before colliding directly into Zylor, Zach stood up on the mount and launched himself into the air, flipping once before slamming his sword down on top of the man with another angry shout. Zylor, who was grappling with the tremendous saber-toothed tiger, only just had time to spin his body around and hip-throw the big cat off to the side and into—and through—a nearby wall, barely managing to then straighten his torso and raise both his gauntlets to defend himself as Zach crashed down on him; with an audible grunt, his two short blades met Zach’s sword, and the result of their collision was another shower of sparks. A scowl on his face, Jimmy thought Zylor was beginning to look increasingly nervous.

“Think you can just kick me through a fucking building?” Zach shouted at him. “Oh, you’re in for it now. I’m pissed!”

With a ferocity Jimmy could hardly believe, Zach exploded into a manic frenzy of heavy, yet blindingly fast sword strikes. From the way his body lurched with each one, Jimmy could visibly see the amount of effort and power he put into each attack. Zach raised his sword high and then slashed it down low, shouting out with the effort of doing so, but Zylor again blocked it with both of his gauntlets. This did not seem to deter Zach, however, as he struck four more subsequent times, alternating between the left and right side with each strike; each one came in harder and faster than the one prior, and Zylor now looked genuinely flustered as he defended himself. The man pivoted on his hips and raised his left hand, followed by his right, and then he repeated the movement again, making circular motions with his arms as Zach’s blade crashed into his gauntlets four times, causing a loud metallic ringing to echo on the street with each impact.

But all that seemed to serve as just some kind of warmup, because then Zach really exploded. He slashed five more times, punctuating each one with a shout, and Zylor grunted each time he moved his body to block. And though he succeeded in guarding against each blow, Zach continued to go after him with even more ferocity. Jimmy doubted he was holding anything back, and honestly, he had no idea from what place Zach was finding the strength to maintain such an intense, all-out assault against someone who was clearly the stronger of the two; yet, that was exactly what he did.

Swinging his sword upwards, Zach attempted to cut the man open from his groin to his chest. But Zylor was able to make a downward, circular motion with both his arms, this time in reverse, causing three clangs to fill the air simultaneously. Then, with Zach’s arms now raised, and his sword moving from low to high, the kid made an abrupt change in motion, cutting directly across from left to right, and Zylor was now forced to compensate with his own motion, which meant awkwardly lifting his right hand and waving it above his shoulder like someone trying to swat away a fly buzzing in their ear. Zach, with his body also now in a somewhat awkward angle, chose to reset rather than attempt a third strike. He took a step back and returned to a more defensive stance, which allowed Zylor to seize the initiative.

“I’ve had it!” the man snapped, finally finding an opening to retaliate. “I’m putting you down!”

With a speed even faster than that shown by Zach, Zylor barked out a few curse words and brought his right, gauntleted fist down on top of Zach’s skull like a hammer as if trying to slice the kid’s head apart down the middle. But Zach seemed to see this coming, because with minimal motion, he leaned over towards his left, and the gauntlet-blade cut only the air. He then retaliated with two fast strikes of his own, both of which Zylor warded off using his left hand before swinging around his right once more.

This time, not only did Zach dodge, but he did so by jumping backwards, kicking off a brick wall behind him, and then launching himself forward while slashing his sword down on top of Zylor, who despite appearing to have more speed and faster stat-based reflexes, was nevertheless caught off guard. Thus, Zach successfully scored a hit; Jimmy let out a cheer as his new friend lobbed off an entire piece of the man’s left shoulder guard, which made a soft clank as it landed onto the sidewalk and caused the man to grunt as he was thrown back with enough force that he came very close to falling over. Zach then gave a confident flourish with his blade, and it was here that Zylor made a slight, almost unnoticeable trembling motion. It was barely visible, but Jimmy was sure he saw it.

He’s shook, Jimmy realized, inhaling sharply as he also noticed a nervous crease forming on the assassin’s forehead. Zylor’s scared of him!

Zach continued his wild assault, and to Jimmy’s surprise, Zylor actually began to backpedal—but Zach pressed him, moving forward as Zylor continued to back away; this, while sparks lit up in the location of each collision of sword against gauntlet.

Eventually, Zylor began to duck, weave, and dodge, but Zach showed no sign of slowing down. The man squatted beneath a horizontal slash aimed at his throat, then bent his knees a second time to avoid a similar, follow-up attack. He tried to counter, throwing around his own blade, but Zach parried and then riposted, managing to hack off another piece of Zylor’s armor, this one near his right hip. As though becoming desperate, Zylor made a gesture with his left hand, and from somewhere behind Zach, a giant bang erupted as a crater formed in the middle of the sidewalk, and from within this crater emerged a granite boulder, which was then hurtled at Zach.

Jimmy opened his mouth to call out in warning, but it turned out not to be necessary, as Zach was somehow aware of the large rock, which was approaching him from behind. And not only was he aware of it, but he managed to deal with it as part of a four-strike combination. Coming at Zylor from both diagonals, he attacked the man’s left, then his right, then he spun around, slicing the boulder in half, and finally, he delivered a fourth attack, this one ripping free a fist-sized chunk of plate armor that had been protecting Zylor’s chest. It too joined the growing collection of scrap metal.

With sweat pouring down his face, Zylor once more resorted to backpedaling as the intensity only increased from there. Now, Jimmy had to slide farther away on his butt as they moved closer to him. God help him if he actually got caught in between those two!

Zach, whose hands and feet were continuing to release an impossibly black smoke, and whose body was glowing, continued to hammer away. He unleashed attack after attack at Zylor, including one that saw him spin completely around, hop a few inches into the air, grunt, and then crash his blade down with incredible force. Zylor, scowling, spun his own body around while raising his right hand; both forces seemed to neutralize the other upon impact, and both Zach and Zylor were each put off balance as a result of this clash. But Zach, whose eyes burned with fury, was the first to recover, charging forward again and continuing his onslaught. From the way Zylor was now wincing each time he absorbed another attack, Jimmy was beginning to get the impression the man was experiencing some degree of pain, likely from the shock of repeated, high-intensity impacts. But it seemed like the herculean effort was beginning to take its toll on the kid.

Zach was now panting, and it was clear he was burning himself out. His attacks slowed, and eventually, as if running out of energy, he stopped attacking Zylor entirely; after delivering one final slice of his sword, which Zylor succeeded in evading, he abruptly dashed backwards and pulled away from the man. Then he bent forward, opened his mouth, and began breathing heavily, yet he did so with a big grin on his face, one that seemed to egg Zylor on, because as though sensing an opportunity to turn the tables on Zach, he became the one to push forward—but only for about one or two steps.

With a roar almost as vicious as one from Fluffles, the level-85 creature known as “Kralzek’s Beast” reemerged from within the crumpled section of the wall it’d been thrown through, and it did so already at a run; racing forward on all fours, it went straight for Zylor. Jimmy watched as it opened its giant mouth, which he estimated was large enough to fit Zylor’s entire face inside of it. Its teeth were so sharp it was enough to make the beast deadly even without factoring in its claws.

“Son of a bitch,” Zylor growled.

The sight of it seemed to force the man to reconsider his plan to attack Zach; instead, he threw himself backwards and away just as the beast chomped down, causing it to bite only the empty air. But the beast, like its master, was unable to be deterred. And now, like some kind of bizarre tag-team match, it took Zach’s place, and began pressing him—and after a short moment, so too did Zach, rushing back in the moment he seemed to have regained his breath. This meant Zylor was now forced to guard against Zach’s attacks with only his his left gauntlet while keeping the Kralzek’s razor-sharp teeth and claws away with just his right. This, unfortunately, left him with nothing free to protect himself against Fluffles, who made a roar of his own and reentered the fight, lunging at the man’s right thigh and biting down on it. This time, he managed to crack all the way through the plate and sink his teeth into flesh.

“Gahhh!” he cried out. “Fucking rabid animal!”

Tena chose this moment to attack as well, swinging two more fireballs off her staff, both of which landed in the same exact spot in the middle of Zylor’s back. Each one expanded and became a much brighter, larger flame upon impact; the first vanished quickly after appearing, and though it did no damage, it seemed to dramatically weaken the armor, because the second managed to linger, burning a decent amount of it away and causing liquid metal to sizzle on the sidewalk after running down his hips.

Jimmy, sensing an opportunity for victory, decided to also pile on. Still exhausted, and way out of his element, he somehow found the strength to stand back up and fight. Drawing a deep breath, he eyed Zylor and pursed his lips. He didn’t like the idea of hurting someone. He wasn’t a violent person. But this was a matter of life or death, and he really didn’t have any choice, did he?

Gotta do it.

Now on his feet, Jimmy made a swinging motion with his staff and activated one of his three poisons; given Zylor’s close proximity to his allies, he couldn’t use anything that had an area of effect, so he went with his single-target ability called Poisonous Miasma, which functioned in a way that was similar to a landmine.

As Zylor continued to backpedal, now somewhat unsteadily due to Fluffles clinging onto his thigh, which was steadily dripping blood, he was clearly far too preoccupied to be aware of the rust-colored, oblong-shaped object that had appeared on the sidewalk immediately behind him. And just as Jimmy hoped, he stepped on it, causing it to explode into a purplish cloud, which enveloped him, turned his eyes a similar shade of purple, and caused his skin to take on a dry, flaky look as he visibly winced every few seconds as though in agony. The moment it seemed to dawn on him that he’d been poisoned, a look of absolute misery filled his expression, and soon he began to express his pain vocally, crying out each time there was another tick of the poison.

Jimmy forced himself not to look away. He watched, disturbed but vigilant, as pieces of the man’s flesh around his cheeks and forehead began to peel off and leave behind bloody, red clumps of damp skin. The man began coughing even as he struggled to keep in the fight, and Jimmy had to work extra hard not to feel any pity or sorrow over the fact that he was the one who’d caused this pain. And that was not all he did, too.

Glancing downwards, Jimmy was stunned to realize he’d somehow filled the most important bar that he kept in his field of vision at all times. In fact, it only took five ticks of the poison to fill the bar completely, which was far faster than it usually took when fighting a boss or a mob.

Breath of Invigoration: 100%

Jimmy widened his eyes in delight as he saw the bar fill. Having already exhausted himself just on the way over here, the use of his poison, which had a Moderate exertion cost, left him feeling so weak it was a miracle he was able to remain on his feet. This would have him back to full strength in no time. Straightening his back, he raised his staff high and prepared to cast what, in his opinion, was his single-greatest ability. Yet he paused as he caught sight of Zach’s condition. Despite continuing to fight, the kid looked like he was in even worse shape than Jimmy was in. He was also doing a whole lot more to contribute, too.

He needs this way more than I do, Jimmy thought.

“Zach!” he called out. “Hold still!”

“Why?” Zach shouted back, huffing as though he was failing to catch his breath.

“Just please don’t move for two seconds. You gotta trust me!”

“I only have thirty seconds before I pass out!”

“Huh?”

“My ability’s about to end!” he shouted, though Jimmy still didn’t know what the hell he was talking about. Did he mean the thing with the smoke? He had no idea how that worked. Regardless, Zach’s movements were now becoming so sluggish that Jimmy feared it was only a matter of time before Zylor would somehow reclaim the advantage.

“Just trust me!” Jimmy insisted. “Please!”

Zach, looking annoyed, nevertheless relented. He halted in place, assumed a defensive position, and then eyed the battle taking place before him. Jimmy also stole a glimpse. For the moment, the two cats and Tena were able to keep Zylor occupied, and the lot of them were moving farther and farther down the sidewalk as they fought. But without Zach adding that last bit of needed pressure, it seemed like Zylor would prevail over all three of them even despite the fact that the Kralzek’s Beast had ten levels on him. Jimmy supposed this proved that level meant less than stats and skills.

At any rate, he knew he needed to act quickly, and so Jimmy forced his aching legs to move and hurried his way closer to Zach, as this spell only had a range of 8. Once he was close enough, he again raised his staff high above him, and with that, he activated Breath of Invigoration, targeting Zach. The moment he cast it, the last of his strength was spent, and he collapsed right there into a sitting position on the sidewalk and rested his staff in his lap. He knew he wouldn’t be able to move for a moment; his body was coming perilously close to passing out from E-debt.

Fighting not to lose consciousness, Jimmy turned his attention towards studying Zach’s expression as the buff took effect. Impatiently, Zach craned his neck to look upwards at the big, blue, and cartoonish depiction of a heart that was now floating just a few feet above his head. It began to spin as it dropped lower and lower onto him before simultaneously vanishing and bathing Zach in a blueish white light, which slowly faded along with the heart.

“Some kind of buff?” Zach asked, still panting. “Really didn’t have time for…huh?” He inhaled, sharply. “Did I just activate my stamina ability on my sword or something?” He gasped. “Why’s my time going up? Jimmy, what did you just do to me?”

Jimmy was too tired to answer, and so he didn’t. From the way Zach’s eyes lifted and his head turned slowly left to right, he took a guess that Zach had pulled the buff’s information up for himself. This turned out to be correct, and the level of excitement Zach gave off was almost enough to rouse Jimmy from his own state of exhaustion.

“Constant passive…stamina regeneration?” Zach finished in a shout as if in disbelief. “There’s such a thing as that? My Unleashed Phase is going up now, not down. It’s…it’s actually ticking up! This is fucking unbelievable! Jimmy! Jimmy I can’t believe this!”

Zach turned completely around and looked down at where Jimmy was sitting, and the expression on his face was one that was both unforgettable and haunting. He stared intensely at Jimmy with a look that combined wonder and gratitude, but also, there was so much more to it as well. He eyed Jimmy as though Jimmy was some kind of puzzle piece or solution to some kind of riddle. It was a strange, disconcerting look that was in no way malicious or likely even intentional but was nevertheless one he knew he would not forget for so long as he continued to live in this world. Rather than rejoin the fight, Zach stayed put for nearly half a minute, then closed his eyes and drew a full breath.

Reopening them, he said, “It’s going up even faster now that I’m back to full stamina.”

Jimmy could visibly tell that he was back to his full strength. He sure looked it. Yet, even still, he continued to stay right where he was, even as Zylor finally shook Fluffles and the Kralzek’s Beast free and turned his attention towards dealing with Tena. “You don’t understand, do you?” Zach asked, shaking his head as he looked at Jimmy.

“Understand what?” Jimmy asked nervously, becoming fearful that something might happen to her.

Zach laughed. “You don’t get it. You just don’t.”

“What don’t I get?”

Zach laughed a second time. “Do you have any—any!—idea of what a buff like this means when used on someone like me? I don’t think you can even imagine it. But she must have known.” Even without saying who “she” was, Jimmy had a fairly good idea he was referring to Eilea.

“What can you do?” Jimmy asked, genuinely curious.

Zach reached down and offered him his hand. He took it, and Zach pulled him back to his feet. “We just won the fight because of this buff. It’s over. For real.”

“Are you sure? Because he’s about to attack Tena. Please, you can’t let him hurt her. You’ve got to do something before he—”

“It’s fine,” Zach said, raising his blade.

Zylor was now charging at Tena, who sent multiple projectiles at him from the end of her staff, which consisted of green, exploding flowers, none of which stopped his momentum. Jimmy became nervous—then outright panicked as he reached her, lifted his arms, and then swung the blades down at her throat. “Zach! Please! Oh my God, man! PLEASE! You’ve got to—”

“It’s fine!” he shouted. “Trust me now, Jimmy.”

A blue orb wrapped around Tena’s body a moment before the blades attached to the gauntlet bled her dry, and then this orb began to shrink until it vanished entirely. It reappeared a moment later beside Zach, and now, standing there with them was Tena. A second later, the same became true of Fluffles, who Zach had also seemingly rescued.

“Watch this,” he whispered to Jimmy. Then he faced Zylor and cleared his throat. “You just lost!” he called to the man at the other end of the street. “Give up!”

Zylor didn’t even seem to pay attention to Zach’s words. The last tick of Jimmy’s poison elicited one final groan from Zylor while he reached out, grabbed the Kralzek’s Beast, and for the third time, he flung it through another storefront wall before turning his body to face the three of them; with that, he took off at a mad dash in their direction.

“Zach,” Jimmy said nervously, beginning to back away. “If you’ve got something up your sleeve, now’s the time to do it.”

Zach laughed confidently. “Oh you better believe I do. Just watch.”

“I’m watching, man. But that dude’s getting real close!”

“He’s done,” Zach said with absolute certainty. He assumed a combat stance, and then he raised his blade high and swung it down. “Phase Slash!” he shouted. Then he lifted it up and swung it down a second time. “Phase Slash!”

Jimmy lurched, becoming startled as he heard a loud, mysterious sound that was like…like a jacket zipper being opened or closed only a billion times louder and coming from seemingly everywhere; it rang out and filled the entire street to the extent it drowned out every other noise. He opened his mouth to ask what in the hell that was, but then he flinched a second time as he heard it yet again. Now, from the point of Zach’s blade, there seemed to be a distortion in the air itself, one that had a rippling, shimmering effect, and which moved so fast that Jimmy would’ve missed it had he blinked.

Zylor, who was three quarters of the way towards them, came to a sudden halt, and then he bent his knees, raised his bladed gauntlets, and delivered a boxer-like one-two combination into the air; the blades on his gauntlets ripped through these rippling disturbances, and both dissipated on contact. Then he lowered his gauntlets and prepared to—

“Phase slash!” Zach shouted again. “Phase slash!”

An audible, angry growl came from Zylor as, a moment from taking off at a run, he again bent his knees and again boxed down two more of whatever it was that Zach was sending at him. For the second time, he lowered his hands and—

“Phase slash! Phase Slash! Phase Slash!”

His growling turned to loud, rambling and muttering as he began defending himself from—

“Phase slash! Phase slash! Phase slash! Phase slash! Phase slash! Phase slash! Phase slash! Phase slash! Phase slash! Phase sl…wait I don’t want to kill him by mistake. Okay, he’s fine. Phase slash! Phase slash! Phase slash!”

Jimmy’s mind was blown by what he saw. Zach was now sending out abilities back-to-back in a way in which his buff should not have allowed. No matter how much stamina he had, it shouldn’t have been possible for him to do this. Zylor also seemed confused, because he literally shouted out, “How is he doing this?” as he entered into a full-on panic, wildly swinging his blades around and knocking the attacks down as soon as they arrived. But eventually, as Zach kept up the intensity without faltering, one managed to slip through his guard—then two. Then three.

Now, Jimmy watched as his armor began to explode all over his body. His chest piece suffered a full break, vanishing, and so did his leggings, leaving him down to just a pair of plain brown breeches and a matching shirt. Then he was hit full on, and his nose burst as though broken, and blood escaped both it and his mouth as he was thrown backwards and onto the ground.

“Holy shit!” Jimmy shouted, unable to believe his eyes. “You’re spamming. How? My buff regens stamina fast, but not that quickly.”

“I built it up,” Zach said.

“Huh?”

“My ability is on a timer, and I learned recently it can go down or up. Earlier, when I was resting, I was letting it build up. It’s even building up right now. I’m getting like a minute of time every five seconds. This is the craziest, most unbelievable shit ever. I can’t believe you exist, Jimmy.” He rubbed his eyes with his forearm. “You and I should probably not exist in the same universe.”

“That’s…the point!” screamed Zylor as he clawed his way back to his feet. “Now you’re getting it! He’s a threat to us all.”

Zach lifted his sword and eyed Zylor. Then he looked at Tena and Fluffles. “Let’s finish this. But do not kill him. Okay?”

“Of course not,” Tena said without hesitation. “I can’t even imagine killing someone—ahh! Sorry, no offense.”

“It’s all right,” Zach said. He turned his head and glanced at Fluffles. “Understood?”

“No!” Fluffles shouted, his voice booming. “Fluffles kill stupid man.”

Zach sighed. “I’ll give you 5000g and an extra dinner tonight.”

“Three dinners,” Fluffles said.

“Two.”

“Three!”

“Two!”

Fluffles meowed, but in his current form, it sounded like a crazed screech. “Okay. Fine. Two dinners.”

Zach removed one hand from his sword, leaned over, and lifted his arm to rub the chin of the massive black cat, who purred in a way that at least sounded normal. “I also won’t ask you why you’re here as a bonus. Now come on. Let’s take him alive.”

With that, Zach moved in towards Zylor along with Tena, Fluffles, and the level-85 NPC, though the latter merely hovered around him and was no longer actively attacking the man. Jimmy backed away a bit so he could lean against and rest on the nearest wall of the store behind him. He was too exhausted to contribute. Hopefully, they had things under control now and he wouldn’t be needed. Sure, Zylor might have been really strong, but surely at this point, things were now well in their favor.

And indeed, they were. Zach raised his palm then gestured for Tena and Fluffles to surround him without attacking. Zylor, as if enraged, darted forward and moved to engage Zach with his bladed gauntlets, which had somehow not yet been destroyed. From the way he was wobbling, Jimmy could tell that the very last “Phase Slash” that Zach had used—which landed on his exposed, unarmored body—had done real damage to him, because he was coming across as significantly weakened compared to only a moment prior.

Now, the man cried out in pain as Zach easily deflected two of his desperate, throat-slitting attempts, and then methodically retaliated with a few carefully aimed and precise strikes of his own. His blade ripped off piece after piece of Zylor’s remaining armor, mostly that which was around his shoulders. He also cut into a bit of flesh, as he was wide open and exposed. Blood was dripping down his thigh from when Fluffles’ teeth had sunk deeply into him, and he had a three-inch gash on the right side of his face from an earlier swipe of the Kralzek’s Beast that Jimmy must not have seen; it was deep enough that it might possibly add a new scar to his collection.

As though finally accepting he was beaten, he released a pained groan then fell down to his knees while swearing aloud; there was no mistaking the look of genuine terror in his eyes as Zach turned his blade so that the pointed end faced forward, and with a single lunging motion, he sent it straight towards the man’s exposed chest. Jimmy wondered if he should look away. For all that talk of taking him alive, he had a feeling Zach was going to end up killing him anyway, and he wasn’t sure if he wanted to see this shit. After all, Zach had a bit of a reputation for not taking any prisoners and executing his enemies in some pretty brutal ways. Jimmy knew this because everybody at Angelica’s talked about it in a way that was boastful, though he himself did not see what was so great about not showing any mercy.

Right now, the point of Zach’s sword looked like it was about to pierce Zylor straight through the heart; it was just an inch or two away from plunging into and through the skin and finishing things for good. But Zach did not press any further; he merely held it there, making contact with—but not breaking—the man’s flesh.

“Give up,” Zach said to him, his weapon pressing threateningly against the left side of the man’s chest. Jimmy was surprised to see that the bloodthirsty Zachys Calador was actually giving him this opportunity. Honestly, he thought the kid would’ve run him through without a second thought.

Zylor lowered his eyes as if to look down at the weapon that was a mere thrust away from ending his life. Then, for some reason, he grinned and began to laugh. “You should’ve just done it, you fuckin’ moron. Now you’re dead.”

“Don’t push your luck!” Zach warned. “I’ll kill you! I’m giving you a chance.”

“No, you had a chance, and you just lost it.”

Zach inched the weapon ever so slightly, just enough to scratch, but not to deeply wound. “I’m warning you!”

“You should’ve just done it, kid. You should’ve just done it.” Zylor began to laugh even harder.

As the scene unfolded before him, Jimmy blinked. And in the time between his eyelids closing and reopening, something changed—something significant. And yet, he was the only one to see it. Behind Zach, and spinning like a top, was one of those Frisbee-looking things from before. “Zach!” he yelled out, pushing himself off the wall and pointing with his staff. Zach turned his head around and looked, and the two briefly made eye contact. “Zach, behind y—”

Jimmy raised his right arm to shield his face as concrete, dirt, dust, and numerous small rocks blanketed him on the heels of a loud boom, which had enough force that it caused him to fall backwards onto his rear even despite being safely outside the blast radius. Horrified, he immediately jumped back up to his feet, and despite the fact that he was in no condition to fight, he nevertheless found his courage and took off at another limping, stumbling run towards the site of the blast, which was too obscured by smoke for him to see much of anything.

“Tena!” he yelled, terrified that something might have happened to her. “Zach! Fluffles! Tena! Oh, God. Please tell me you guys aren’t—”

“We’re okay!” she shouted back at him.

The smoke cleared just enough so that Jimmy could see the three of them sheltering behind a large, golden shield, which floated in the air above them. It vanished from existence the moment Jimmy was able to lay eyes on it. An instant after disappearing, a few spurts of blood trickled down Zach’s nose, and a scrape appeared on his forehead. Other than that, the kid looked okay. Tena was also unharmed, and so was Fluffles. The Kralzek’s Beast, on the other hand, had lost a quarter of its HP.

Thank God, he thought, breathing out a sigh of relief.

There was no longer any sign of Zylor with them. He’d somehow slipped away. Eager to help in any way that he could, Jimmy began stumbling towards Zach. “I really thought they got you guys,” he said, wiping sweat away from his forehead as he hurried over to them. “I should’a known you weren’t about to let some—”

Zach’s face tightened, and he took off like a rocket in Jimmy’s direction. Before Jimmy could understand what was happening, he found himself being shoved forcefully by Zach, which caused him to slam hard enough into a nearby wall that he left a dent in it in the shape of his body. It also hurt like hell and would likely leave him bruised all over the next day.

“Owe, shit,” he groaned as the sound of two blades clashing filled the street.

Trying to ignore the ache in his body, he lifted his head and saw Zach once more engaging Zylor. Only now, the man wasn’t alone. With him was a man covered in a brown robe wearing a plain, expressionless mask that revealed only his eyes—exactly as Zylor had appeared until shedding it at some point between now and when Jimmy had first encountered him by the park.

“Where were you, Gruesome?” he asked, his words coming across as bitter and hateful.

“Ohh, I am so very sorry, yes I am. Mhmmm! Had to deal with the little Elvish girl. She was hard to get away from, that one.” He chortled like a schoolgirl. “I’m here now. Yes, yes. We can finish the job.” He giggled some more, and the sound of it was sickening.

He pointed his weapon at Jimmy as if to launch another one of the exploding discs at him. But Zach as if noticing this, tried to charge through Zylor as if to stop him from firing. Unfortunately, even badly beaten, Zylor proved himself to still be a threat, and he intercepted Zach, the two of them locking blades with one another.

“Not this shit again,” Jimmy moaned.

Squeezing the trigger of the oddly shaped “gun,” Jimmy gritted his teeth in apprehension as a spinning red disc silently escaped the completely flat “barrel” of the weapon and headed straight for him; it moved at a speed so fast that it would likely land before Jimmy could move so much as a muscle, which meant he’d have just a second or two to get away before it detonated, and he was clearly too weak to do so.

Mesmerized, he watched as it sailed across the air, moving beyond where Zach and Zylor were dueling before flying right over Fluffles’ head. The cat tried his best to save him; Fluffles jumped up and attempted to bite it right out of the air, and he came very close, too. But his jaws slammed shut just a fraction of a second too late, and it continued onwards. Tena also tried to whack it out of the air with her staff, but she didn’t even stand a chance. It passed them both by with such speed that Fluffles was still airborne as it traveled almost the full distance to Jimmy.

As it drew nearer and nearer, Jimmy, so terribly exhausted, wondered if he even had the strength left to run. Even worse, it looked like he was being attacked from multiple angles, too. Someone—or something—had launched a second attack of some kind at him along with the red, exploding disc. This, he noticed from off to his left, where he caught a glimpse of a streak of pure flame, one that was moving even faster than the exploding disc and heading right towards him. Jimmy opened his mouth to scream. He was going to be burned alive!

In no time at all, the flames reached and surrounded him, and now Jimmy braced himself for the intense pain—and then he continued to brace himself as they passed him by completely. Or no, not passed. Went through him. The fire entered the left side of his body, vanished, and exited the right, all without harming him. It simply continued to move on until finally disappearing for good once it crossed paths with the oncoming disc about three feet in front of him.

What the…?

As the flames disappeared, they left an Elvish girl behind in their wake. She simply appeared in their absence with her daggers already drawn. Swinging them in an x-shaped arc, she cut the disc into two uneven pieces, causing both to turn from red to a lifeless dull grey as they fell to the ground before fading away into nothingness.

Kalana!

“Are you okay, Jimmy?” she asked. “I’m so sorry if I scared you!”

He nodded. “I’m okay.”

She smiled at him. Then her face became deathly serious as she turned to face Zylor and the still-anonymous sniper assassin. She pointed one of her daggers at them and frowned. “You two better surrender right now! Cause I dunno if I can save you after she gets here. I’ve only got like a fifteen second head-start on her.”

“On who?” Zach asked, bending backwards to avoid the blade of Zylor’s gauntlet and then lashing out with three quick strikes of his own, all of which were guarded against. He was no longer fighting at his best. Jimmy could tell he was deliberately holding back. He was going out of his way not to kill the man. Jimmy was sure of it.

“My mom,” Kalana said. Now, she spoke with even more urgency. “I’m serious! You guys better give up. Umm, she’s like, really mad right now, and I’ve never seen her this angry before.”

Jimmy didn’t know why Kalana was wasting her words. These men clearly weren’t the type to take threats seriously. If they were, they already would’ve surrendered after Zach came so close to killing one of them. Hell, if anything, they’d probably only fight harder as a result of her—

“Th-the queen’s here?” Zylor shouted, an overt look of fear crossing his features. “Queen Vayra is coming?”

“She’s over level 100, isn’t she?” the one Zylor had called “Gruesome” asked. “And she’s an Elf! That’s like being 150. And they say she’s brutal. I’ve heard the things the pretty queen has done, oh no-no-no. Zylor, I will call for extraction. Please hold them off!”

He nodded, and Jimmy could see him become pale as though the blood was draining from his face. Together, they both began to back away; this, as Zach started glancing around nervously while Fluffles muttered about how he was just about to unleash “a special attack” that would’ve made Zach and everyone think he was the “strongest and best cat.”

Jimmy had no idea what was going on—and he continued to remain clueless as the look of abject terror only seemed to heighten in both men as they turned their heads towards him of all people. They looked at him as though he, Jimmy, was the source of their ultimate fear. Their eyes spoke of gloom and death as they regarded him, and honestly, he wasn’t sure why—at least not until he felt a gentle hand touch down on his right shoulder blade. And then there was a small, equally gentle nudge as someone pushed him aside. No, not even “pushed.” That was too strong of a word. It was more accurate to say that someone just sort of politely inched him off to the left in a non-aggressive way so that they could pass.

“Excuse me, human,” a soft voice whispered.

“Oh, fuck,” Zach said, alarm in his words. “Fylwen, wait! No one’s died today. They didn’t succeed in killing a single person. You don’t have to do this.”

“Mom, don’t!” Kalana shouted at her. “Please!”

With a queenly grace, Jimmy watched as a beautiful woman who looked like an older version of Kalana glided calmly over to the two assassins, who began to look around themselves as if to plan an escape. He vaguely recognized her as Queen Fylwen Vayra, though he knew little about her other than that she was Kalana’s mother and the leader of the Elvish people.

Zach sheathed his sword, and in an act that was so confounding it actually hurt to watch, he positioned himself right in front of Zylor, turned his own back to the man, and then said, “You better run. I’ll try to talk her down.”

“There’s no point running,” he said. “We’ve basically already died.”

Now, Zylor shoved Zach aside just like the queen had shoved Jimmy—only a lot less politely—and with a loud battle-cry, he charged forward at the Elvish woman, who was armed only with a shortsword that looked to Jimmy like a gladius.

“Come, humans,” she said, her voice eerily lacking in emotion. “Let me show you what happens when you have the audacity to attack my daughter and start conflict on our island’s doorstep.”

Zylor swung at her with both bladed hands, primed to rip into her flesh. Unfortunately for him, both missed the mark. She effortlessly stepped back and away from the first, then angled her body to the side to avoid the second. Then, with a speed that was so fast that Jimmy’s eyes were literally unable to follow it, she somehow got behind the man, and once there, she dropped down, made a spinning motion, and then sliced open his Achillis tendon, causing him to howl in pain and fall immediately forward onto his face, which she then stomped into the concrete with so much force it went partially through it. He literally had his head in the ground.

The other one pointed his weapon at her—but before he could even squeeze the trigger, she’d already cut it in half, causing a full item break. The man made an actual squealing noise as the weapon evaporated in his hand, leaving him unarmed. Hastily, he reached inside his robe and removed a dagger, which he attempted to stab into the Elvish queen’s chest.

The queen, however, parried with her Gladius, striking the dagger hard enough that it flew out of his hand until it ricocheted off the red crossing barrier and almost ended up flying right back at him; instead, it came to a stop after landing with a clink somewhere farther down the sidewalk.

“Human,” she said to him, her tone hauntingly cold. “You would dare attack me?”

With her opposite hand, she sent her palm forward, striking him dead center in his chest, causing him to double over and gasp. Then she snapped her left foot upwards, kicking him in the chin and planting him on his back. Even as her foot was still being withdrawn, she turned her head towards Zylor, who had pulled his head out of the ground and was now attempting to crawl away like a worm while leaving a blooded trail behind him. She waved her shortsword in his direction, and then from the depths below, the forces of nature arose in the form of numerous vines, which wrapped themselves around him and bound him in place.

“Mom, please,” Kalana begged. “Don’t kill them.”

She looked at Kalana and grinned. “Of course not, my sweet daughter. That would be irresponsible.”

“It…it would?”

“Of course.” Her grin became sadistic. “First, I shall have them brutally tortured for information. Then, I shall take their heads.”

“Mom!”

Fylwen chuckled. “Oh, I’m teasing you, Kalana.” She smiled, and her sinister look was replaced with one that abruptly came across as far more motherly and warm. “They’ll be treated as any other prisoner in the newly established Elvish justice system. You didn’t think I’d worked so hard to revive our customs for nothing, did you?” She shook her head. “We have real power now, Kalana. We are not the same as we were before. I too, must change—as will all Elves.”

Kalana breathed out a sigh. Then she glared at her mother. “I really thought you were serious, mom!”

“I did too,” Zach said. He also breathed out a sigh. “But I actually do think you should torture them, Fylwen. Ouch, Kal! I’m kidding, fuck. That really hurt.”

“Sorry, baby.” Kalana looked down at both men. “They need healing, too. Jimmy, my heals aren’t so great. When you feel up to it, umm, maybe you can—”

“You’re all making a terrible mistake,” coughed Zylor. Kalana frowned at him as he glared up at her. “We were the nice guys. You’re all abetting a criminal. Jimmy is not supposed to be here. You should’ve just let us do our jobs. The next time you see someone in the brown robes, they aren’t going to do much talking. You should think twice before you challenge a God!”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Queen Vayra asked, folding her arms across her chest. “Explain, human?”

Rather than talk, he merely chuckled. “I doubt we’ll meet again.”

Following those words, two bolts of perfectly golden lightning from somewhere far above streaked down at the exact same time, striking each man in unison and causing their bodies to disappear in a screen made of pure, bright gold, which soon vanished together with the two of them. They left not a trace—other than their blood, which stained most of the sidewalk.

“Who were they?” Queen Vayra asked, setting her gaze upon Zach.

Swallowing nervously, Zach shrugged. “No idea. Bandits, probably.”

She narrowed her eyes. “We’ll talk about this later. You and Kalana have some explaining to do!”

Zach groaned, and so did Kalana as she then began lecturing them both about the value of honesty and the consequences of telling lies. What should have been an upbeat mood—a celebration of survival—turned into an outright scolding of two young adventurers by the Elvish queen. As surreal as it was, Jimmy was too exhausted to attach much emotional investment to it.

“…having said all that,” the queen continued, “Kalana, there is someone who has been very much wanting to meet you.”

“Hm?”

She raised her voice. “Peter, sweetheart, you can come out now, child.”

From the opposite end of the block, a little boy crept out from the corner and began walking towards them. Kalana’s eyes lit up, her mouth dropped open, and without even seeming to know who he was, she was already reaching out as if to hug the child. “And who is this?” she asked. “Who’s the little cutie? Come here!”

Jimmy looked at Zach, who shrugged at him. “I just want to play in the pool.”